Tag Archives: racism

Zoe Saldana: “There Is No Such Thing As People Of Color”

Jessica WakemanMay 17, 2013 //

Is Hollywood still colorstruck? The search for Nina Simone is skin deep. Read More »

Onion Under Fire

Some feminists are upset about The Onion's piece on Chris Brown. Read More »

Tokenism?

Erica says lay off "Girls" for being all-white and give black girls a show. Read More »

quotable

“I find it uncomfortable to have to speak about my identity all of the time, when in reality it’s not something that drives me or wakes me up out of bed everyday. I didn’t grow up in a household where I was categorized by my mother. I was just Zoe and I could have and be anything that I ever wanted to do…and every human being is the same as you. So to all of a sudden leave your household and have people always ask you, “What are you, what are you” is the most uncomfortable question and it’s literally the most repetitive question. I can’t wait to be in a world where people are sized by their soul and how much they can contribute as individuals and not what they look like. … Keep reading »

The Soapbox: I Don’t Want Your Yellow Fever

Kelly KanayamaMay 10, 2013 //

"Seeking Asian Female"

A new documentary explores the phenomenon of "yellow fever." Read More »

Geisha Outfit

Victoria Secret offends with "sexy little geisha" outfit. Read More »

Dating While Asian

I'm an Asian woman and I date ... screw it, it's complicated. Read More »

On Hot Asian Dudes

Jeremy Lin reveals our weirdness with Asian-American male sexuality. Read More »

As a kid, I was used to standing out for lots of reasons, like my “Star Wars” obsession or the black eyeliner and vampire chic that made up my high school wardrobe.

I never expected my race to be one of those reasons.

I grew up as an Asian-American among Asian-Americans, so I certainly wasn’t used to being viewed as what we English Lit majors call “the exotic other.” Even when I went to college in St. Louis, it wasn’t that much of a problem. I did go on a date with a guy who went on about his trip to Japan and the extreme “femininity” of its women, but that was about it.

It wasn’t until I moved to the UK that it kicked in: men – and it was always men – shouting “NEE HOW MA” or “KOH-NEE-CHEE-WAAAH” or even “Me love you long time!” as I walked down the street; starting conversations with “Soooo … are you from … China?” before they’d even asked my name; playing up their supposed interest in Asian culture while going on about how “feminine” and beautiful Asian women are. Keep reading »

Some Feminists Are Upset About The Onion’s Piece On Chris Brown Beating Rihanna To Death

Jessica WakemanMay 7, 2013 //

Yesterday, we, and many, many others, breathed a sigh of relief when Chris Brown told a radio station that he and Rihanna had once again broken up. (They’re both too young for him to be “wife”-ing her, he said.) Humor site The Onion did their spin on the story today, penning the story “Heartbroken Chris Brown Always Thought Rihanna Was Woman He’d Beat To Death,” in which Brown (obviously, not really Brown) laments he’ll never get to murder her in a domestic violence incident. Here’s a sample:

After revealing yesterday that he had recently split up with longtime girlfriend Rihanna, a heartbroken Chris Brown tearfully told reporters that he always thought the 25-year-old singer was going to be the woman he’d beat to death one day. “Despite all the ups and downs, I was so sure Rihanna was the one I’d take by the throat one day and fatally assault, and even toward the end I continued to hold out hope that we’d be together until the day she died at my hands from blunt-force trauma,” Brown, 24, said in a radio interview this week, telling DJs he still has abusive feelings for his ex-flame and is hopeful that he might punch her again one day.

Simply, I thought the piece was cringe-inducingly hilarious — it’s supposed to make you viscerally uncomfortable about how far domestic violence can go. Not everyone agrees, instead seeing it as mocking violence against women of color. Keep reading »

Color Of Domestic Violence

On Kasandra Perkins and the color of domestic violence. Read More »

I Witnessed DV

Jessica watched a man commit domestic violence on the street. Read More »

Domestic Violence Advice

... from a prosecutor who has seen it all. Read More »

Former Black Panther Assata Shakur Becomes First Woman On FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist List

Amelia McDonell-ParryMay 3, 2013 //

Assata Shakur, an ex member of the Black Panthers who escaped from prison and fled to Cuba in 1979, has officially been added to the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorist list, making her the first woman ever. Shakur — born JoAnne Byron (married name Chesimard) — was a member of the Black Panthers and the Black Liberation Army when she was convicted of killing a New Jersey police officer in 1973. In 1979, she managed to escape from prison and fled to Cuba, where she was granted political asylum and has been ever since. Since 2005, the FBI has classified her as a domestic terrorist and has offered a $1 million reward for her capture. Yesterday, the 40-year anniversary of the New Jersey Turnpike shootout, they upgraded her to the 10 Most Wanted List. Keep reading »

Yes, Blackface Is Still Offensive, Vogue Netherlands

Jessica WakemanApril 18, 2013 //

wtf?

You might have been sitting at your desk at work wondering to yourself, “Hmm, I wonder if it’s a good idea now for fashion magazines to hire Caucasian fashion models and smear their faces in blackface paint.” I am here now to put your mind at ease. No, it’s still not a good idea. You got that, Vogue Netherlands?

The magazine’s May 2013 issue depicted light-skinned, Dutch model Querelle Jansen wearing a dark black face as she poses in homage to dancer Josephine Baker (right) and model/actress Grace Jones (left). (Both were inspirations to Marc Jacobs’ Louis Vuitton collections, fall 2008 and spring 2009 respectively.) Yet instead of hiring actual, you know, black models, the magazine used a white model in blackface.

Vogue realizes that actual black models do work in the fashion industry, right? It’s not like they are unicorns. [Clutch Magazine]

Brad Paisley & LL Cool J’s Song “Accidental Racist” Is All Kinds Of WTF

Julie GersteinApril 8, 2013 //

America On Racism

She was once asked to wear "whiteface" in a role. Read More »

Schooled on Racism

How I learned to question my beliefs. Read More »

Racism At The RNC

A black camerawoman was mocked by two RNC attendees. Read More »

The South. It’s a beautiful but haunted kind of place, filled with the vestiges of the Civil War, slavery and romantic longing for a “different way of life.” You may ask, “What does this Jewish girl living in Brooklyn know about the South?” but I actually lived there as a kid, in Fort Worth, Texas. It is something of a different world down there. And later, when my parents moved us to Southern New Jersey, I experienced a different kind of south — because the tip of New Jersey is below the Mason-Dixon line, there is a contingent of people who live in New Jersey who consider themselves southerners. They have “southern pride.” Is this crazy? Perhaps.

But whether you’ve lived there or not, it’s clear that there are still some rather mighty problems when it comes to race and the South. I mean, there are still segregated proms in Georgia.

Enter Brad Paisley’s new track, “Accidental Racist,” featuring LL Cool J. Keep reading »

Was Kerry Washington’s Skin Lightened On The Cover Of Entertainment Weekly?

Jessica WakemanApril 3, 2013 //

Fresh off a week of the Internet wondering whether singer Indie.Arie lightened her skin on the artwork for her new single, there’s a new Black woman looking awfully light-skinned. “Scandal” stars Kerry Washington and Tony Goldwyn posed in flagrante on the cover of this week’s Entertainment Weekly and if you aren’t distracted by Goldwyn’s chest hair peeking out from underneath his shirt, you’ll notice Washington’s looking a lot lighter-skinned than her usual gorgeous chocolate brown skin. The reason, I suppose, is probably the same reason as it was for Indie.Arie: the set lighting and camera flashes wash her out. Given all the attention paid to magazine covers by an art department staff (and trust us, there is a ton of attention paid — covers are what move magazines), we know the choice to leave it that way is deliberate. I think Kerry Washington looks gorgeous no matter what. But I also think women of color are beautiful no matter the darkness or lightness of their skin. I wish our culture, including our pop culture, didn’t privilege the light-skinned and lighten darker women. [Entertainment Weekly]

India.Arie's Light Skin

"I have no desire to bleach myself," says India.Arie. Read More »

L'Oreal Lightens Freida

Freida Pinto's skin looks so much lighter in this L'Oreal Paris image. Read More »

Beyonce Lightened

Whoa, this doesn't look like Beyonce at all. Read More »

India.Arie Responds To Skin Bleaching Accusations: “I Have No Desire To Bleach Myself”

Jessica WakemanApril 1, 2013 //

Has India.Arie been bleaching her dark skin to a lighter color?!?! That didn’t sound right to me when tongues started wagging last week that the famously self-accepting singer behind the song “I Am Not My Hair” might have either used skin bleaching creams — which is notoriously terrible for skin — or purposefully been lightened through the magic of Photoshop a la Beyoncé or Freida Pinto.

The alleged evidence was the artwork for her new single “Cocoa Butter” off the album Songversation, in which Indie.Arie is leaning against a beige wall and her normally-Serena-Williams-colored skin is more of a Kim Kardashian hue.

But Indie.Arie responded on Twitter on Friday and told us all to chill: Keep reading »

L'Oreal Lightens Freida

Freida Pinto's skin looks so much lighter in this L'Oreal Paris image. Read More »

Sammy Sosa Bleaches?

It looks like Sammy Sosa has bleached his darker skin lighter. Read More »

Beyonce Lightened

Whoa, this doesn't look like Beyonce at all. Read More »

The Soapbox: It’s Impossible To “Not See Color,” No Matter What Kim Kardashian Says

Christiana MbakweMarch 29, 2013 //

Kimye Procreates!

These two are having a baby. Not cool. Read More »

Schooled on Racism

How I learned to question my beliefs. Read More »

My Interracial Marriage

What it's like being in an interracial marriage. Read More »

As most people already know, the ubiquitous Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are expecting a baby. I’m happy for them. Unlike most people, I don’t mind Kim Kardashian. She makes an obscene amount of money for being herself (or the version of herself she wants us to see). I’m someone who’d be happy to make an obscene amount of money the same way.

Despite being here for the media blitz surrounding the Kimye bebe, a recent statement the mom-to-be made gave me to pause. And, no, I’m not talking about that weird fake tweet.

In an interview with BET, Kim Kardashian said, “I have a lot of friends that are all different nationalities, and their children are bi-racial. So they have kind of talked to me a little bit about it, what to expect and what not to expect. I think that the most important thing is how I would want to raise my children, is just to not see color. That’s important to me.” Keep reading »

The Soapbox: Should White Women Be On The Cover Of ‘Black Magazines’?

Shanelle MatthewsMarch 26, 2013 //

Racism In Modeling

Chanel Iman has been told "We already found one black girl." Read More »

Black "Bachelorette"

Dr. Misee Harris wants to be the first-ever black "Bachelorette." Read More »

Know About Black Women

10 things every non-black person should know about black women. Read More »

The always-inquisitive Jada Pinkett-Smith recently posed a question that has many people scratching their heads and some folks outright upset. In short, she’s wondering if black women ask to be represented in mainstream media, on the covers of magazines like Vanity Fair, shouldn’t white women be represented on the covers of traditionally black magazines like Essence, Ebony and JET?

The answer? Yes and no. Keep reading »