CVK
(Thanks to Anna for this!) The New York Times Magazine just did a long profile on American Apparel and its founder, Dov Charney. Now, we’ve been harping on about this company for a long time. Back in February of last year, guest contributor and Like Minded People founder Jamie Tibbetts pointed out how AA was […]

JC & CVK
A brand-new episode of Addicted to Race is out! If you haven’t already, please subscribe to our podcast in iTunes. Click here to launch iTunes and subscribe today, it’s absolutely free. Here’s a rundown of episode 21:
RANT
The limitation of racial satire is the subject of Carmen’s rant today. What happens when people take […]

JC
Thanks to T for the heads-up on this story! The LA Times reports on this year’s Miss Chinatown competition. Angela Chao Roberson won 3rd place, but she is the first black and Chinese contestant in the history of the pageant. There was another mixed contestant participating, so it looks like the face of Miss Chinatown […]

JC
The Yale Daily News ran an article by student writers of an on-campus publication (Rumpus), that basically serves as an explanation and apology. In their April edition, they featured two articles (Me Love You Long Time: Yale’s Case of Yellow Fever and Miscegenation Station: Interracial Dating at Yale) that poke fun at interracial couples, and specifically hone in […]

JC
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Poor race. Must feel bad that everyone just keeps it around until we can figure out a better way. This is another example. From The Economist, a good article about how race is being used to predict the frequency of health problems within a certain race. I put predict in bold because the article points […]

CVK
More great analysis from blog blac(k)ademic, on the comparisons people keep drawing between the Duke Lacrosse rape case and the case of Tawana Brawley:
when the media and other folks continue to compare her story to tawana’s, they yet again, reinforce the idea that if a black woman claims rape, she must be lying. that black […]

CVK
(Thanks to Angry Asian Man for this one!) Not only are Americans outsourcing jobs to India, now some couples are outsourcing their pregnancies too, via surrogate mothers. From the LA Times:
Driven by many of the same factors that have led Western businesses to outsource some of their operations to India in recent years, an increasing […]

KP (new MMW guest contributor!)
Talk about interracial!!!  The new drama Thief is hard-hitting, gritty and REAL.
Andre Braugher, the star is (was) married to a white woman who dies in Episode One.  He is forced to care for her teenage daughter (Mae Whitman) while also planning a heist for over 40 million with his multicultural cohorts (think […]

JC
This story has been circulating for the past few days and I am finally getting a chance to post about it. Prosecutors in this case charged that the mixed-race Frank Jude Jr. was brutally beaten by three white police officers in 2004. They claimed that he had stolen a badge at a party (how they thought that this justified […]

CVK
According to Yahoo! News, Alicia Keys has been cast in the big-screen adaptation of the best-selling book, “The Nanny Diaries.” The film features Scarlett Johansson as a nanny for a wealthy Manhattan family. Keys will play the nanny’s best friend.
The character is a far cry from the assassin she plays in the upcoming action flick […]

CVK

This an interesting article that takes a look at both versions (1934 and 1959) of Imitation of Life. The author argues for a reinterpretation of Peola/Sarah Jane as a progressive feminist, rather than simply a tragic mulatta:
Even though Sarah Jane is the most self-loathing character, she’s still the most progressive; foreshadowing a future where the box checked on the census […]

CVK
It’s great to see that colleges continue to openly discuss the complexities of race, ethnicity and culture. This article from the University of Maryland’s school paper discusses the phenomenon of students joining cultural organizations that they may not necessarily belong to. For example, a “full” Taiwanese student who joined the mixed race group, or a […]

JC
Wow. Looks like things are really going to change for mixed heritage people in Korea. The Korea Times reports on all of the steps the government is going to take in order to right the wrongs and support the mixed race citizens of Korea.
The government and the ruling Uri Party Friday agreed to grant legal status […]

JC

Jazmine of the Boondocks has moved to a new neighborhood with her mixed family. Check out the comic from Friday where she has an interaction with a white girl who assumes that Jazmine is also white. She has what Carmen and I like to call the “racial spy” experience. It’s the phenomenon of being mixed/ambiguous-looking and […]

JC
Central Michigan Life takes a look at a student discussion and offers a brief account of some of the attitudes that were expressed regarding interracial dating. Aside from the usual selling out concerns and the why-are-you-taking-all-the-good-men sentiments, one of my new pet peeve myths was mentioned: the idea that culture disintegrates with interracial couples.
I understand why this is a […]

JC
Keep an eye out – the next issue of ALO magazine will have a feature on inter-marriage. It’s not yet online, so check back if you want the web version. Thanks to Geraly for the heads-up!

JC
Thanks to Megan for the heads-up on this article! A CBS News Opinion piece reports on the briefing that the US Commission on Civil Rights had regarding the 2010 census. This article talks about the efforts being made by the US Census Bureau to improve the ways in which it asks about race and ethnicity.
“Improvement” […]

JC
ABC News names Hines Ward its ”Person of the Week.” I won’t make this a long post because I think we have pretty much heard the entire Hines story at this point. Go Hines! Way to use your celebrity status to put some issues on the table!

JC
Author Thomas Brooks just contacted us to give us a heads-up about his soon-to-be released book, A Wealth of Family. It tells his own story of adoption and finding his biological parents and families.
Brooks grew up as the only child of a struggling single mother in inner-city Pittsburgh. He was battling racial stereotypes at school and […]

JC
Yet another article that offers the idea that the “mixed” label is a way for people to run away from their “darkness.” The Seattle Times reports on a survey that took a look at the way parents identified their mixed children. First, the talk about the one-drop rule is a bit problematic. By placing it in opposition to mixed identity […]