CVK
Kimora Lee Simmons was on the Tyra Banks Show earlier today, mainly to plug her new book Fabulosity : What It Is and How to Get It. She talked about how hard it was growing up mixed Asian/Black in the Midwest, how people called her a “chinky giraffe,” how other black girls would pick on […]

CVK
(Thanks Suzanne for letting us know about your article!) In this opinion piece for Advertising Age’s Marketing Y Medios magazine, Suzanne Irizarry de López questions the usefulness of racial categories when marketing to consumers:
And what does labeling people for socio-political advocacy purposes have to do with marketing anyway? Is it useful for a marketer in […]

CVK
(Thanks to Barbara for this tip!) Wow, this is something else. Larry Darby, a Democratic candidate for Alabama attorney general, not only denies the Holocaust took place, but wants to “reawaken white racial awareness:”
Speaking in an interview with The Associated Press, Darby said he believes no more than 140,000 Jewish people died in Europe during World War […]

CVK
Here are several articles I’ve come across recently, all out of California, all on issues related to mixed race identity and interracial relationships:
State may start counting its mixed-race residents
Contra Costa Times
“California is poised to become the first state in the nation to allow people of mixed ethnicity to officially identify with more than one race. […]

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.
RACE ON CAMPUS
We share a story from one of our listeners, a college student, about his experiences with race on campus.
INTERVIEW WITH ANGELA […]

CVK
Did you know that we send out an email newsletter once a month with updates on all our projects? It’s a great way to keep up with the full spectrum of our work.
If you’d like to sign up, please fill out the form below:

CVK
(Thanks to Susan Ayoob for this tip!) Nice job, Halle! Check out this story from MSNBC:
What was meant to be a friendly chat to promote the new “X-Men” movie turned into a frosty discussion about race on a popular morning radio program, but the British Broadcasting Corp. defended its disc jockey.
Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry appeared […]

CVK

Apologies for the late notice on this one folks, but if you’re in the Philadelphia area, be sure to swing by spoken word duo Yellow Rage’s CD release parties tonight (Fri) and tomorrow (Sat).
Check out this recent profile of them in the Philadelphia City Paper, and visit their official Web site at YellowRage.com to read […]

JC
Here is another story about a school in Staten Island, NY that is struggling with how to classify its students — actually, the school isn’t struggling in this case. They feel absolutely fine with forcing one of their biracial students to pick one — black OR white. Well, her mom won’t do it, and this might mean […]

CVK
I just read this review in Elle magazine of a new memoir by a mixed writer. Of course we’ll bring you more details once we get our hands on it! Here’s Elle’s review:
The story of how mixed-race children often struggle to belong and to solidify an identity is by now a familiar one—no longer shrouded as […]

CVK
It’s good to see some legal action being taken against the still-common phenomenon of cross-burnings. These burnings often target interracial couples and families. Interesting that in both of these cases, the defense’s case centered around painting the incident as a “prank” rather than as racial intimidation.
First, a Utah man convicted of burning a cross in […]

JC
An article in the Telegraph talks about how South Asian women are the new hot thing — yet another group of ethnic and exotic women for men to fetishize. Watch out my South Asian sisters!

In general, American men perceive Indian women as being feminine, demure, sensual and family oriented. A typical Indian woman’s […]

CVK
Check out this opinion piece on interracial relationships in the South by a senior at the University of Alabama:
During my senior year in high school, I fell for a somewhat nerdy guy.
After a coy, flirtatious back and forth between the two of us, I held my breath and just asked him why he wouldn’t date […]

CVK
Back in October, we told you about an interview that Soledad O’Brien did in which she discussed what it was like growing up mixed. Now along comes a… not-so-sophisticated interview with her, to say the least. I’ll let blogger TheThink handle this one. Below is what he wrote on his blog about the story:
Here’s an […]

CVK
(Thanks to Danise for this!) A bear believed to be half polar bear, half grizzly was found in Canada last month. Now it’s been confirmed that it is indeed, a hybrid bear. How did they know? You guessed it: they did a DNA test! From the Associated Press:
Northern hunters, scientists and people with vivid […]

CVK
(Thanks to mtevc for this!) New Jersey’s Star-Ledger discusses a new document being circulated among Conservative Jewish temples, that may signal a thawing towards interfaith couples:
For decades, Jews marrying outside the faith have been sermon fodder for Conservative rabbis, who have lambasted intermarriage as the bane of the American Jewish existence.
The rabbis have feared that […]

CVK
I’ve been meaning to post this story for a couple weeks now. The New York Times profiles a musician named Eddie Butler, who has been chosen to represent Israel in this year’s Eurovision contest: “the kitschy, annual, pan-European extravaganza in which viewers will crown the region’s best pop song.”
Woah… flashback time. Tangent: OMG I used to LOVE watching […]

CVK
Good riddance. According to tne New York Daily News, NYC hip hop radio station Power 105 fired Star, the guy who does their radio show, after he made ridiculously racist and violent remarks about the wife and children of a rival DJ:
“Yes, I disrespect your seed,” Torain ranted. “If you didn’t hear me, I said […]

CVK
I really shouldn’t make fun of this but I can’t help myself. I just read about this event at Oklahoma State University called “the Tunnel of Oppression.” Students were guided through different rooms where actors portrayed different scenarios representing various kinds of “religious, racial, physical and emotional abuse.”
The first room in the Tunnel of Oppression […]

CVK
Walter Mosley’s latest book, Fortunate Son : A Novel, sounds great. Here’s the Publisher’s Weekly review:
White Los Angeles heart surgeon Minas Nolan, a very recent widower, meets African-American flower-shop employee Branwyn Beerman when her son Thomas is born prematurely with a hole in his lung, and without a father in his life. Minas has a […]