Tag Archives: race

Beyoncé’s Album Promo Photos Are Unrecognizable

Rachel KrauseJanuary 18, 2012 //

The rampant white-washing of models, actresses, and musicians of color is not a new concept. Freida Pinto, Rihanna, and Aishwarya Rai have all previously fallen victim to white-washing on magazine covers and in promotional images. Beyoncé’s skin was lightened dramatically in a 2008 cosmetics ad by L’Oreal, where she is the spokesperson. These incidents can be contributed to digital retouchers and the outlets that choose to release the images … but what about your own album cover and promo ads? The photos accompanying Beyoncé’s most recent release, 4, have stirred up controversy and it’s not a struggle to see why. Beyoncé is a fairly light-skinned black woman and she generally keeps her hair lightened to a shade that’s more caramel than chocolate. But these shots have her looking straight up like Lindsay Lohan with a subtle tan. If you showed me this image on its own and asked me who it was, Beyoncé would be my last guess.

Again, these light-skinned images are promotional ads for Béyonce’s own album, which leads me to believe that she absolutely approved the photos. [NYMag.com]

Stephen Colbert Gets Schooled On Stereotypes Of Black Women

Jessica WakemanJanuary 10, 2012 //

Black People Targeted

New anti-abortion billboards are targeting black people. Read More »

Magazine Racism

Psychology Today asked "why are black women less attractive?" Read More »

Today's Lady News

Is the TSA singling out black women for a pat-down? Read More »

If you’re not already a fan of Melissa Harris-Perry, you will be soon: she’s a Tulane University political science professor who appears often on “The Rachel Maddow Show” and just scored her own show on MSNBC. Last night she went head-to-head with another talking head, the inimitable Stephen Colbert, while promoting her new book, Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes and Black Women In America. As was to be expected, Stephen is not too keen on talking about this “race” thing. or stereotypes experienced by black women. I dare you not to snicker a little when he asks, “Of these stereotypes, which one are you?” This is Stephen Colbert and Melissa Harris-Perry at their best. [Colbert Nation]

Bill Introduced To Ban Abortions Based On Sex & Race

Jessica WakemanDecember 10, 2011 //

Abortion Lies

CPCs scolded for misleading women about abortion. Read More »

Black Men Targeted

This anti-abortion billboard targets black men. Read More »

Womb Is "Dangerous"

"The most dangerous place for a black person is in the womb." Whoa. Read More »

Abortion rights are being screwed with yet again! The Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act seeks to criminalize abortions based on the race or the sex of the fetus. That might sound good to some people: supporters of the bill quickly point out how many female fetuses are aborted in China, where there is a one-child policy in most areas and a nationwide preference for boys. However, a closer look at the bill reveals that it’s yet another tricky-dick move by abortion opponents to restrict abortion rights and make life more difficult for abortion providers. Keep reading »

Isaiah Mustafa Apologizes After Saying He Wants His Wife, Kids To Have “Good Hair”

Jessica WakemanOctober 3, 2011 //

"Good Hair" Review

A review of Chris Rock's documentary, "Good Hair." Read More »

TSA Searches Afro

Has the TSA been singling out black women with natural hair? Read More »

Racist Obama Shirt

What's wrong with this shirt from Urban Outfitters? Read More »

Don’t you hate it when one of your favorite hunks opens his mouth and says something boneheaded? Old Spice Guy Isaiah Mustafa got in trubs this weekend when he made offensive comments about black hair. He was chatting with Guiliana Rancic on E! News about his new show, “Charlie’s Angels,” and she lobbed him a softball question about what he looks for in a woman. Mustafa then asked if she had taken a look at his hair, implying it looked bad, and how he wants someone to make him look better. Rancic then asked if he wanted a woman with “real hair” and he replied:

“Yes, it does have to be real hair. I want my kids to have nice hair so she better have good hair. Cause, I don’t know if you’ve checked my hair out lately. Aside from today it’s normally nice. Today it’s slightly nappy.”

Oh dear.

Keep reading »

Black Men Targeted By Anti-Abortion Billboard

Jessica WakemanSeptember 26, 2011 //

Not content to just shame black women for having abortions, an anti-abortion group is now targeting black men with their controversial billboards. “Fatherhood starts in the womb,” reads a new billboard in California paid for by Issues 4 Life and The Radiance Foundation (the same group behind billboards in other states that compared abortion to slavery and other offensiveness). It depicts a black man kissing his partner’s pregnant belly — which, judging by the size of it, is about nine months along. “The abortion industry has created a culture of abandonment. Responsibility has become someone else’s concern, and death the solution to ‘unplanned’ pregnancies — the natural result of sexual behavior,” anti-abortion activist Ryan Bomberger, told LifeNews.com. “There’s nothing natural about an industry that generates over $200 million, annually, by killing a child left defenseless by the absence of a father.” Keep reading »

New Book Asks, “Is Marriage For White People?”

Jessica WakemanSeptember 9, 2011 //

I almost feel bad for black women. It seems like the majority of the time they’re written about in the mainstream media, it’s about one of two topics: Why aren’t any of them married? as a question or None of them are married! as a statement. How frustrating that their representation in culture is thinned down to their marital status, right? The latest example is a new book by Stanford law professor Ralph Richard Banks called Is Marriage for White People? How the African American Marriage Decline Affects Everyone about the so-called “man shortage” among middle-class blacks. As promotion for his book, Banks also published a piece in The New York Daily News last week entitled, “Why Black Women Are Justifiably Bitter: The Bleak Relationship Picture For African-American Females,” which began with the paragraph:

“Stereotypes of black women as angry or bitter are pervasive. They are also more accurate than many people would like to acknowledge: many black women have perfectly good reasons to be angry or bitter.”

Oof. Keep reading »

Nivea Apologizes For Racist “Re-Civilize Yourself” Picturing Black Man

Jessica WakemanAugust 19, 2011 //

This Week in Racially Insensitive Advertising News: the skin care company Nivea was forced to apologize yesterday after people objected to an ad that ran in the men’s magazine Esquire. The ad depicts a handsome, well-dressed black man holding a black, Afro-ed and bearded head in his hands, preparing to throw it into the distance, with the words “Look Like You Give A Damn: Re-Civilize Yourself.” Keep reading »

Racist Or Raving: What Critics Are Saying About “The Help”

Jessica WakemanAugust 11, 2011 //

Unavoidable this week: everybody going coo-coo-bananas about “The Help,” which opened in theaters last night. “The Help” is based on Kathryn Stockett’s novel of the same title, which tells the story of Skeeter, a young white woman who gets a job writing for her local newspaper in a small Mississippi town, and Aibileen, a black maid who works for one of Skeeter’s childhood friends. Skeeter returned from college to find all the friends she grew up with are married with children and employers to black “help,” who are second-class citizens in 1960′s Jackson, Mississippi. The story follows Skeeter as she interviews Aibileen and other black maids for a secret book project that exposes the ugly day-to-day racism in Jackson’s domestic life to the rest of the world.

Some critics, both armchair and professional, say the new flick starring Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Allison Janney is a white-washed, even racist version of the civil rights movement that praises a white woman as the savior of the poor black folks. (Cough “The Blind Side” cough.) They ask why Hollywood makes films about civil rights through the lens of white people, instead of giving due credit to the African-Americans who fought for their rights. And that is certainly a worthy question to ask.
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White Girl Films A Video Titled “How To Be Asian” — What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Jessica WakemanAugust 9, 2011 //

The valuable “don’t be racist, especially not on video” lesson taught by the infamous UCLA “Asians need to learn American library manners” video has escaped at least one white chick with a webcam. The website World Star Hip Hop has posted a video of an unnamed girl who explains “how to be Asian” as a birthday present to her (Asian!) friend Jess. The girl smears mustard on her face and Scotch-tape her eyes shut to “get the look” and suggests you change your last name to “Ching Chong.” Oh dear. Bitch even splices in two seconds of porn for good measure. Congratulations, girl. You’re even more of an embarrassment to humanity than the UCLA library chick. [ColorLines] Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: Summer’s Eve Pulls Their Racist Douche Ads Offline

Jessica WakemanJuly 27, 2011 //

Summer’s Eve pulled two of their racist douche commercials offline after an outpouring of complaints over their depictions of black and Latina women. Summer’s Eve’s PR defended their ads — like the sassy black vagina spoke with an “urban” accent and talked about how much money she spends on her hair — as “empowering” women and even said they had “in-house multi-cultural experts” who OKed the commercials. Actual women who don’t believe we need vaginal cleaning products thought otherwise. [Twitter.com/FleetSummersEve]
A Planned Parenthood clinic in McKinney, Texas, was attacked last night with a Molotov cocktail (a homemade bomb made from diesel fuel inside a glass bottle). Fortunately the inside of the clinic was not harmed and there were no injuries. This is called domestic terrorism, people. [McKinney Courier-Gazette]

Keep reading »