media – Contemporary Racism

The Current Hispanic Crisis

MG — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 14:57:36 +0000

Within the history of the United States, the notion that White people are the superior race and that minority groups are perceived as less has not changed much as all throughout the years. Hispanics are the largest minority group in the United States, yet the narrative about this group is not positively portrayed within our society. I believe that the perception of Hispanic communities has gotten worse specifically with the upcoming 2024 presidential election just ...

Hey Google, Why Are You Biased?

Comack — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 14:54:16 +0000

When using the search engine of Google as your primary method of acquiring informational resources, you would hope that the generated sources would hold an abundance of factual and unbiased information. Good arguments are founded on premises that are in fact true, and the logic that follows that groundwork must be valid and sensible. Think back to the basic spelling tests and mathematical problems taught by your elementary school teachers. Did you ever doubt that ...

The Unseen Narratives: Deconstructing Why Women of Color Miss the Disney Fairytale Love

Kaylin Foss — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 20:08:15 +0000

In a world where fairy tales often depict the quintessential love story, women of color find themselves facing unique challenges in the realm of dating and relationships. The Disney fairytale, with its conventional representations of love and romance, seldom mirrors the complex realities experienced by women of color. Narratives of these women navigating a dating landscape that is often subtly biased and sometimes overtly discriminatory. Disney princesses have long epitomized the romantic ideal – delicate, ...

White Kids: Let’s be Antiracist

Maya Illovsky — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 13:23:06 +0000

White parents, you all really need to step up… If we want to better our society in opposition to issues of racial injustice and inequality, we must begin at a young age. As White parents, you must really talk to your children before these ingrained, societal beliefs corrupt their brains in believing they have privilege due to the color of their skin. White children need to speak out, become educated, and appreciative of other races, ...

The White Savior Complex

Emily Garber — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 15:16:44 +0000

The White Savior Complex is something that has been around for decades, and although the intent might seem pure, it is actually much more sinister than it appears. Seen in the real-world and portrayed in movies, I’ve seen this topic being discussed more since the Black Lives Matter movement where people are starting to critically analyze society. So what is The White Savior Complex and why is it harmful? Well, it is a white person’s ...

The Disturbing Phenomenon of Missing White Woman Syndrome

Emily Garber — Tue, 13 Oct 2020 16:11:18 +0000

On the news, think about the last time you saw media coverage about a missing young, attractive white woman. Now, what about a woman of color? Do you often see extensive media coverage about a missing person of color? I didn’t think so. This phenomenon has been called “missing white woman syndrome” – the term used to describe when missing upper-class white women make up a majority of the media coverage surrounding disappearances as opposed ...

The Phantom Menace was Racist and Here is Why That Matters

D. Adamczak — Sun, 08 Dec 2019 17:19:36 +0000

With a title as grandiose as that, it is easy to predict reactions from those who do not want their beloved franchise besmirched. As someone who has loved the franchise since I was a toddler, it was difficult to come to terms with some of the more problematic issues that take place within the ‘first’ Star Wars movie. Opening one’s mind to see the bias or prejudice attitudes taken by a series is a hard ...

The Perception of Violence, Racism, and the Bombastic Personality of Conor McGregor

D. Adamczak — Sun, 08 Dec 2019 16:29:32 +0000

Kung-Fu, kickboxing, karate, boxing, wrestling, kickboxing, judo, and jiu-jitsu. All of these incredibly diverse and unique fighting styles can be referred to under the wide umbrella term of combat sports. Many see these niche forms of exercise as ‘violent catharsis’ that turn people into ‘bullies’, however this could not be further than the truth. An underlying message across all of these differing combat sports is the fundamental rule of respect. Whatever hate or anger someone ...

Highlighting Black Artists: Kehinde Wiley

M_Moss — Sun, 08 Dec 2019 16:15:28 +0000

Painting is about the world that we live in. Black men live in the world. My choice is to include them. This is my way of saying yes to us. -Kehinde Wiley I think that an interesting way to examine racism and its various permutations within the U.S., is to look at art created by Black American artists. In my experience, more museums have begun to feature exhibits by black artists and many of these ...

Trump’s Racist Tweets

Devin — Sun, 20 Oct 2019 16:39:13 +0000

Sadly, my main source of news these past few weeks has been Twitter. If you’ve played around with Twitter, you know that it is intended to grab audience attention with short statements and hashtags. After scrolling through my own feed, I’ve just begun to browse hashtags that are “trending”, meaning lots of people are using them in their own posts. Today, I was struck by one hashtag in specific- “PABPOTUS”. At first glance, I was ...

Nipsey Hussle’s Death

Maia Brint — Wed, 08 May 2019 13:23:10 +0000

On March 31st, 2019, Nipsey Hussle, otherwise known as, Ermias Joseph Asghedom, an up and coming rapper was shot right outside of his store in the front parking lot. Prior to the shooting, the perpetrator and him had gotten in a small altercation inside the store. Nipsey’s community was immediately up in arms about his untimely death; they had a vigil for him in his parking lot the night he was shot. In a CNN ...

Race, Terror and Mass Shootings

Sarah Prince — Tue, 01 May 2018 11:24:47 +0000

White males do the majority of mass shootings, yet people tend to associate violence and crime with people of color and minority groups. When the Stoneman Douglass school shooting happened it was rare to see media outlets talk about the shooters history of violence against minorities and it took days to find out that the shooter was apart of a white supremacist group. If this were a person of color someone associated with the Muslim ...

“The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity” – Viola Davis

Julia Beatley — Tue, 01 May 2018 11:06:57 +0000

Stereotypes of gender and race permeate our everyday discourses from classrooms to politics and throughout the media. When we aren’t viewing individuals through the impressions granted by stereotypes, we are commonly white-washing our outlooks across matters; from mental illness, physical health, poverty, education and so much more, we downplay the intersections of race and gender. There is typically little room in society for minority groups to speak up for themselves, to challenge the stereotypes allocated ...

Racism in The Simpsons

Benjamin Starr — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 18:51:07 +0000

The long-running animated series The Simpsons features a character named Apu, an Indian man who works at the local convenience store and is a close friend of the family. When the show first aired in 1989, the character was instantly beloved by viewers and rose to be one of its most popular characters. However, as almost 30 years as past, Apu has become more and more controversial. Last year, Indian-American comic Hari Kondabolu released a ...

Tarte Shape Tape – 50 Shades of White

Mia Shmariahu — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 17:38:17 +0000

Notice anything in this photo? Do you think you’d be able to pick out your shade? Tarte is a cosmetics company, prominent in high-end make-up stores like Sephora and Ulta Beauty. On their website, they boast their dedication to cruelty-free, vegan skincare and cosmetics that are both ecologically friendly and high quality. Tarte has recently made headlines for their controversial new line of Shape Tape Foundation. By glancing at the photo above from the lens ...

Take a Knee

Morgan Weiss — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 20:44:10 +0000

Coming from a family with a military background and a brother currently serving in the United States Navy, the NFL protest of the flag has been very important to both my family and myself. Many NFL players, specifically Colin Kaepernick, decided to use their platforms to raise awareness about social issues that people of color face, such as police brutality, by not standing for the national anthem and instead taking a knee. Originally, I was ...

The Media: More Harm than Good?

zachkatz — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 20:18:29 +0000

Our country is an an extremely sensitive era in regards to racism, homosexuality, anti-semitism and a variety of other topics. People being accused of racism is becoming more of a normality, even considering the fact that racism has long been around even before the birth of our nation. It’s seeming as if it’s becoming the one and only accusation that is made, of white American’s, some having good reason, others have really no legitimacy at ...

Dungeons and Dragons, Fantasy and Racial Homogenization

Kyle Watkins — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 18:56:44 +0000

With the 2016 release of the popular Netflix series, “Stranger Things,” the 1970’s role playing table top game known as “Dungeons and Dragons” has been making a comeback – entering into mainstream media in several facets from live streaming web-series to podcasts to TV shows. In a 2017 New Yorker article that describes this comeback, Neima Jahromi describes the time spent submerging into the fantasy make believe of Dungeons and Dragons as an “escape” from ...

Two Sides to Every Story, I Wish I Knew Yours

Morgan Weiss — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 18:38:52 +0000

Everyday we are surrounded and presented with racial tensions, whether we notice them or not. Black oppression dates back to the 1800’s, yet it is still more prevalent in 2018 than ever before. After reading a portion of Michelle Alexander’s book, The New Jim Crow, I have become more familiar with how history intersects with our present day racial divisions. Evidently, the life experiences of blacks and whites are very different, as well as the ...

Social Stigma Against Black Men and Mental Health

Ashley Kemper — Mon, 12 Dec 2016 01:49:19 +0000

After engaging in an onstage rant and ending his concert prematurely, it was reported in November that rapper Kanye West had suffered a “nervous breakdown.” After going on a lengthy tirade about a personal conflict with Jay-Z and Beyoncé, West warned, “Get ready to have a field day press, ‘cause the show’s over,” dropped the microphone, and walked offstage. While the rapper’s antics have become rather commonplace and even expected, something was different this time. ...

Designated Survivor: A Hypersensitive Culture?

a_note — Sun, 30 Oct 2016 14:59:00 +0000

I sit down every Wednesday to watch a new show called Designated Survivor. The show revolves around the idea of the designated survivor: the person the government picks to stay home when holding the State of the Union address at the capitol. The reasoning behind the idea of having a designated survivor is in case something were to happen to all three cabinets of the government during the address, there is someone to take over ...

Racist Comments in the Public Eye and How We Deal with Them

mtroyka — Sun, 02 Oct 2016 18:13:39 +0000

There are moments when a comedian goes from funny to offensive, or an ordinary college student goes from innocent and ordinary to an ignorant offender of a racist action. These are pivotal moments, because the way the world and those involved choose to respond can make all the difference of how the racial discourse continues on. Melissa Villaseñor was recently announced as the first Latina cast member of Saturday Night Live, and will start her ...

Accusations of Reverse Racism on Hamilton: An American Musical

Ashley Kemper — Sun, 25 Sep 2016 22:10:13 +0000

After taking home a record-setting 11 victories at the 2016 Tony’s, performing for the president at the White House multiple times, and selling tickets for record-breaking prices, there is no arguing that the success of the Broadway musical phenomena, Hamilton, has been revolutionary in its own right. However, these accomplishments have not come without controversy. Earlier this year, a casting call for Hamilton was released on social media, indicating that the producers were “Seeking NON-WHITE ...

Contesting White Feminism

VictoriaJean — Sun, 25 Sep 2016 21:08:37 +0000

In my feminist media studies class, we’ve moved into the topic of the representation of black women in the media and how mainstream feminism is essentially white feminism, and neglects to acknowledge women of color. Over the last few years however, Beyoncé has really been promoting feminist ideas in her work, becoming a strong feminist voice for women of color. She has always championed the strong and independent woman even back in her TLC days, ...

Listen to Tupac. Really listen to Tupac.

Haleigh Jacob — Sun, 25 Sep 2016 20:52:10 +0000

Tuesday, September 13, 2016 marked the 20th anniversary of the death of Tupac Shakur. Tupac was a prominent hip-hop artist in the early 1990s well known for his deep, progressive lyrics in popular songs such as “Changes” and “Keep Ya Head Up.” However, he was more than just a rapper – he was a poet, a philosopher, and an activist. From a young age, he expressed incredible insight on contentious topics such as education, poverty, ...

Placing Chris Rock in Conversation with Beverly Daniels Tatum

Ashley Kemper — Sun, 18 Sep 2016 20:38:28 +0000

It seems as though anytime there is a widely-publicized instance of police brutality in the United States, my Facebook timeline is flooded with the same grainy YouTube clip entitled “How to Not Get Your Ass Kicked by the Police.” In the faux public service announcement filmed in 1998, comedian Chris Rock provides black viewers with a comical step-by-step guide to follow in order to avoid getting into trouble with the law. The skit is ...

Which one is better?

Julisa Fabian — Mon, 09 May 2016 00:44:22 +0000

For my final blog post I decided to revisit the question that kind of stuck with me during our last class. I don’t remember the question exactly but it essentially said: isn’t bad media representation better than none because it is a start? I sort of answered it in class, but I was still struggling after. And I still, sort of, am struggling with it now. So I’m determined to find an answer by the ...

We Want A Black James Bond… But Is That The Most Productive Fight To Be Fought?

Joseph Rorem — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 12:46:42 +0000

There’s been a great deal of controversy these past couple of years about the future of the James Bond film franchise, a favorite among movie-goers who are into explosions and tuxedos. Current Bond actor Daniel Craig is poised to put down the 007 mantle before long, and of course a new Bond needs to emerge in his wake. When an email between Sony and Columbia film executives was leaked in 2014, fans of the franchise ...

Is Acknowledging Differential Media Treatment of Black Americans and Other Minorities “Anti-Black”?

Joseph Rorem — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 02:02:26 +0000

As a lover of comedy and a sometime dabbler, the past few years have given me a new hero: Aziz Ansari. In addition to emerging as an influential feminist, Mr. Ansari has made a name for himself one of the country most prolific comedians- having produced four stand-up specials, co-authored the book Modern Romance with sociologist Eric Klinenberg, starred in the majorly successful Parks and Recreation while accepting roles in other television shows and films, ...

From Blackface to Blaxploitation: Racism and Representation in Entertainment

jsykgrl — Wed, 24 Feb 2016 15:14:33 +0000

At some point this week, I came across a BuzzFeed post entitled, “The BuzzFeed Black History Reading List,” which included a series of essays and articles reflecting upon the end of Black History Month. One of the articles in this post shines an accusatory spotlight down on Hollywood’s use of Blackface today. After some initial disbelief and some precursory digging, I found the amount of performers who have performed in blackface appalling and the names I ...

Does Black History Matter

Ave.MariaLewis — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 16:41:22 +0000

Originally posted February 24, 2014 While stumbling around the internet this week I came across two articles that made me stop and think, this can’t be real. http://jezebel.com/last-night-on-jeopardy-no-one-wanted-to-answer-qs-about-1525439303 The first one that I came across was about Jeopardy, which on the night of 02/17, had a category called “African-American History.” The panelist were all white college students and they avoided the topic to the best of their ability. Reading the comments under the article, ...

Nick Cannon…in Whiteface?

Annie — Mon, 31 Mar 2014 00:36:11 +0000

A few days ago, I came across this article about Nick Cannon in Whiteface on the website Jezebel. At first, I wasn’t even sure that it was Nick Cannon. Then, I kind of hoped that it was some weird joke or botched Photoshop job. Neither turned out to be true. Turns out, it’s a promotion Cannon was doing to promote his new album: “White People Party Music”. Apparently, his White alter ego is named Connor Smallnut, which ...

Planet of the Apes or the Obamas?

Chelsey — Sun, 30 Mar 2014 19:09:31 +0000

Recently in the opinions section of a Belgian Newspaper, one article, said to have been submitted from Russian President Vladimir Putin, shows the Obamas depicted as apes. On the picture it says, “First Black President, starts selling weed.” I thought this was a really interesting thing to bring up because it related to the Eberhardt studies that we looked at in class relating Blacks to Apes. Many people make the implicit association of blacks to apes ...

“Wholesome Families”

Annie — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 02:42:21 +0000

Earlier today, a friend of mine posted a link to a commercial made by Honey Maid that features several different families goofing around while sentimental music played in the background. What made this commercial stand out to so many people was the purposeful use of diverse types of families: there’s an interracial family, a family that features a tattooed, “punk rock” looking father, a single dad, and a gay couple. The marketing slogan for the ...

Annie is Black!

AmandaRG — Sat, 15 Mar 2014 20:27:44 +0000

I just heard that Annie is being remade and was very excited to watch the new trailer. Although I think Annie is not the best or most interesting musical, it has a happy ending and the songs are easy to sing along to. However, I was even more excited to see that Quvenzhané Wallis is playing the part of Annie! She is an extraordinarily talented actress, especially at such a young age. After a quick search ...

The Oscars

Tatianap — Mon, 10 Mar 2014 22:41:13 +0000

Recently the Oscars took place. From John Travolta’s hair and speech mishaps to the anticipation and sort of letdown of Leo not winning another golden statue, it was exceptionally entertaining. But, arguably the most entertaining thing about the Oscars this year was the host Ellen DeGeneres. She started and ended the show like a true champ and even though she did things like break twitter with one picture and order pizza for cinema’s most elite, ...

Daily News Roundup?

EmilyBlakeslee — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 13:42:11 +0000

This morning, I had my coffee with my parents as we watched the morning news. When you watch the news with a critical eye, race, sex, and sexual orientation have a tendency to pop out. Racism, sexism, and heterosexism touched almost every news story, either within the content itself or by a comment the reporter makes. I could do a detailed analysis of just one story, but I think the sheer volume of things that ...

Crash

rachelbrookland — Thu, 27 Feb 2014 00:02:13 +0000

Ever since starting this class I consistently think back to the movie Crash. I first saw Crash when I was a senior in high school and instantly it became one of my favorite movies. This movie is filled with racial stereotyping and prejudice. Not only does this movie display examples of the racism among black and white people, but also the racism among Latinos, Koreans, Iranians, the rich and poor, and so many more. What ...

The contributions of the N-word to Modern Racism

cmr3991 — Mon, 24 Feb 2014 04:44:13 +0000

Some of you may have heard about, or even watched, the ESPN special on “The N-Word” that was shown on Outside the Lines. The hour long special invited influential African American athletes to discuss the word and its meaning, as well as younger student athletes. Bob Ley stated that the purpose of the special was to: “have an honest conversation about this word, which is on the third rail of American society.” He added: “We’re going ...

“If the US media were a person, he’d be an old white guy.”

Annie — Mon, 24 Feb 2014 04:16:05 +0000

“If the US media were a person, he’d be an old white guy.” That’s a line from the beginning of an article on the website Mother Jones called “Hollywood’s White Dude Problem”. In summation, the article lists a bunch of charts that exemplify the ways in which women and people of color get discounted from high profile media exploits. Some notable stats include that only 6.6% of the top-grossing films made between 2007 and 2012 ...

An Attack on Richard Sherman

AmandaRG — Mon, 24 Feb 2014 03:45:32 +0000

I enjoy watching football every once in a while, especially when my favorite team – the Giants – is not sucking. Even though they weren’t playing the Super Bowl this year, I watched a little bit of the game and saw when the Seahawks won. I missed the very short interview that Seattle cornerback Richard Sherman had with Erin Andrews (a Fox News sports reporter), though, which was also apparently very news-worthy. Although the clip ...

A Social Experiment on Crime and Color

jena.verlin — Sun, 23 Feb 2014 17:10:46 +0000

This week, I was browsing Buzzfeed instead of doing homework (as per usual), and I stumbled across an article/video about a “social experiment” done by two men: one black, one white. They parked their car on a public street and proceeded to fake break into the car and watch what happened. The white prankster tried for 30 minutes to break into the car, horn blaring, and nothing happened. A cop car even drove by and ...

On Being a Black Olympian

jena.verlin — Sun, 16 Feb 2014 17:22:28 +0000

The Washington Post came out with a tongue-and-cheek article this past week on the complete and utter lack of racial diversity at the Olympics. The article tells the story of a black Olympic intern who was greeted in Sochi by a group of police officers who wanted to take their picture with him based on a fascination with seeing a black person in the flesh. Something else I learned from this article was that the ...

What Would You Do?

AmandaRG — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 04:38:30 +0000

I recently watched a video from the What Would You Do? reality show about a black woman harassing a white woman because she is dating a black man. (You can watch the video here) The scenes were filmed in Denny Moe’s barber shop in Harlem. The black woman (Rachael the barber), white woman (Kristen the girlfriend), and black man (Gabriel the boyfriend) are all actors and the premise of the show is to see how ...

Racism in the Media?

Lauren B. — Sat, 08 Feb 2014 19:45:20 +0000

After reading the Eberhardt article, I was left thinking about how her studies can be seen in the media. There are plenty of TV shows, movies, and books about the criminal justice system, and I started thinking about how her findings show up in these media outlets. The first thing I thought of was an episode of Law and Order Special Victims Unit, where a rich white celebrity shoots and kills and unarmed black teen. ...

Life Lessons in Youth Media

jena.verlin — Fri, 07 Feb 2014 19:09:42 +0000

It is always interesting to me to see how psychological theories play out in real life, as well as in the media. I am curious as to whether these occurances are purely mapping an academic concept onto a convenient pop culture item or whether the creators of the content are intentionally trying to teach lessons in an attempt to build a more tolerant future. One such example came to mind, an episode of The Fairly ...

Attribution Errors due to Negative Media Coverage

Chelsey — Sun, 02 Feb 2014 18:23:27 +0000

After reading the James, Dovido, and Vietze article, “Social Cognition and Categorization Distinguishing Us from Them,” I have been thinking about stereotypes and attributions a lot. How do they start? Why do we still believe in them, even though we are constantly told that they are only stereotypes? While looking through the list of key terms at the end of the article, I realized that almost each term could be caused by the images and ...

Miley Cyrus and the West African Origins of Twerking

Connie — Mon, 02 Sep 2013 14:16:27 +0000

Sadly, yes. I did feel that including Miley Cyrus in the title and tag of this post would garner more attention. Here is one of several thoughtful pieces I’ve seen – not about misguided Miley’s image – but about how the dancers that surrounded her were used “as props.” It also provides a brief history of twerking – a dance I found awkward and mystifying in Miley’s performance. We owe it to twerking to read ...

True Match Foundations: The Link Between Ethnicity and Foundation

nashkrod — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 01:55:38 +0000

L’Oreal has released a series of commercials that make me a little uncomfortable. The commercials are for L’Oreal’s True Match foundations which are supposed to “precisely match your skin’s tone and texture.” The commercials feature a few celebrities: Beyonce Knowles (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc50e02zDt8&feature=BFa&list=PLF68B3695EF7533DC), Jennifer Lopez (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njIKU3sZy4E&feature=BFa&list=PLF68B3695EF7533DC), and Aimee Mullins (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0GbUTjQdaY&feature=BFa&list=PLF68B3695EF7533DC). The script for each commercial is the same. They start with “There’s a story behind my skin. It’s a mosaic of all the faces before it. My ...

Taking The Next Step

Tory — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 00:59:55 +0000

Throughout the past few weeks I have noticed many people posting comments about Trayvon Martin on Facebook. Their comments range from different news articles, pictures of a boy holding skittles and their own personal opinions filled with anger at the injustice of the situation. Whereas I am glad to see that these individuals are clearly outraged by what happened, I also know that these postings are their only efforts to speak out against this problem. ...

The Help and Oscars

Michela — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 00:16:03 +0000

Last week in my Psychology of African Americans class, a student presented a PowerPoint on the latest book she had read: The Help. When I saw the movie this summer, I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of a White woman speaking on behalf of Black women—which is ironic as White women have been a source of oppression to Black women. In blog post by Miss Caldonia—which was written on the blog “The Ladner Report”—the author ...

The World as a Mob

Daniel.Greenfield90 — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 04:02:18 +0000

So, as many of you may know, I am part of an all male music group here on campus. My involvement in this group has been a source of laughter, an immense amount of fun, and, of late, a really interesting focus group of people to think about from a social justice standpoint. The group, when it comes down to it, are really a social experiment in a pietri dish. This experiment is one that ...

The Unknown Gravity Of Stereotyping

Tory — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 03:29:07 +0000

The following links provide news coverage about an assault that took place at Trinity College, which is about 15 minutes from the town I live in CT. http://vimeo.com/37918446 http://articles.courant.com/2012-03-05/community/hc-trinity-assault-0305-20120304_1_frederick-alford-trinity-tripod-trinity-college The victim was a Sophomore at Trinity College and the incident occurred in the early hours of the morning on Sunday March 4, 2012. Trinity College is located in Hartford, Connecticut, an area that does not hold a very good reputation for being safe. The second ...

Trayvon Martin: ‘Racism without Racists’

nashkrod — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 04:06:39 +0000

Everyday people of color, especially young men of color are profiled. They are seen as criminal, unsafe, suspicious, etc. Unfortunately, this issue has to be brought to light to the eyes of many Americans through the story of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was shot and killed for appearing “suspicious.” Trayvon was unarmed, wearing a hoodie, and about 100 lbs lighter than his killer, George Zimmerman, but for some reason Zimmerman felt threatened. Zimmerman has yet ...

Kony 2012: An Observer’s Perspective

nashkrod — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 17:14:51 +0000

As of right now, I have remained a sideline observer of the Kony 2012 initiative. I have read countless facebook status updates, tweets, and quite a few articles from everything from news sites to blogs on Invisible Children and the make Kony famous initiative. I have been apprehensive about deciding whether I am for or against Kony 2012 for a few reasons, most of which are about the racial issues about it. A few of ...

It’s funny because its racist

Connie — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 21:14:48 +0000

It’s Funny ‘Cause It’s Racist – The Chronicle of Higher Education.

College denies diversity?

AbbeyRab — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 04:39:18 +0000

In this blog post I want to bring up something that actually discovered earlier today. A friend of mine transferred from Muhlenberg to Smith College, an all girls college in Massachusetts a couple years ago. When speaking with her today, she told me about a Smith alum, Anne Spurzem, who posted a letter about how adding diversity to Smith College is virtually ruining it. Here are two links that discuss (and present) the letter to ...

What’s wrong with this picture?

Alex — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 06:00:17 +0000

Modern Clark Study

Keith — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 02:12:02 +0000

During Thursday’s class discussion, we compared speeches from Dr. King and President Barack Obama. Though forty one years apart, we agreed that the speeches called for similar action; time had not changed much. I found the same to be true of the results of a landmark social psychology study. In the course of reading James Jones’s article “Psychological Knowledge and the New American Dilemma of Race”, I found myself wanting more details about the Kenneth ...

The Revolution will not be televised

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 13:59:38 +0000

YouTube – The Revolution Will Not Be Televised – Gil Scott-Heron.

The Daily Show’s Racism Satire Presents Racism Truth

Alex — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 08:44:48 +0000

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-january-24-2011/bird-like-me The link included in this post is an excerpt from The Daily Show. I don’t watch the show on a regular basis, but I find that I agree with a lot of the ideas and opinions that John Stewart and the other people involved in the show try to convey to their audiences. I stumbled upon this video, which is a satirical representation of an actual community in Mississippi called “Turkey Creek.” Turkey Creek ...

Dosomething.org

Alex — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 19:55:41 +0000

My friend showed me the website, Dosomething.org, which is an action-based website that encourages people to learn about various issues in America and how people can affect change in those issues. Some of the issues include education, disaster response and relief, discrimination, HIV and sexuality, and other such problems. I was very interested in the area of the website dealing with discrimination and was delighted to find that it had an entire section for racial ...

Episode of The New Adventures of Old Christine “White Like Me”

KristinK — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 20:23:06 +0000

This episode of the New Adventures of old Christine has a lot of race issues and shows colorblind racism in a comedic form. http://www.megavideo.com/?v=38KP9OEA

Chris Rock Speaks about Progress and Racism in America

Alex — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 03:02:29 +0000

In this youtube clip, Chris Rock talks about progress and racism in America. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_L7qoP17-w

Muslims in America

Jordan — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 02:35:29 +0000

http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/03/05/46966119.html I found this interview very interesting because it shows how Arab Muslims in the United States are the most recent group to be oppressed because of their social identities in a country which has a long history of doing that just that to many different groups. Dr. Bagby insightfully notes that while on paper American Muslims succeed in America, in reality they often face overt racism. He also calls on the American Muslim community ...

It’s Everywhere!

Liz — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 23:32:53 +0000

After learning about modern racism in class a few weeks ago, I have been becoming more an more aware of racism in society. We have learned that modern racism is subtle and usually unconscious from our awareness. Therefore this type of racism is harder to see and become aware of compared to previous forms of overt racism. From what I have learned and observed I feel like a lot of modern racism tends to come ...

Automatic Stereotyping

Liz — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 00:15:26 +0000

After reading the Devine study this week, I was fascinated by the findings of this study and what it says about racism and the use of knowledge of stereotypes. The study had three main findings: first, that both high and low racist subjects had the same knowledge of the racial stereotypes. Second, that when primed with racial stereotypes (not aware of priming) this influenced the way both high and low racist groups viewed racial minorities, ...

Super Bowl fail: PepsiMax “Love Hurts” Ad

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 19:51:34 +0000

Super Bowl fail: Halftime show and ads misfire on big night with video!. Regarding the PepsiMax “Love Hurts” ad, Eric Deggans said the ad “wrapped up sexism, weird racial overtones and violence against women in one toxic package.” What elements of the ad might lead him to those conclusions, and do you interpret those elements in the same way he did?

What Would You Do?: Racism in America

Alexa — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 21:26:34 +0000

The Macrae experiment that we read in class this week, (Stereotypes as energy-saving devices: A peek inside the cognitive toolbox) found that the use of stereotypes is actually a cognitive tool our brain uses. In the study, whenever a stereotype label was present (regardless of whether the stereotype label was present consciously or unconsciously) participants remembered more stereotype consistent words and performed better on the additional task than participants who were not provided with a ...

White Flight in Social Networks

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 00:31:05 +0000

White Flight in Social Networks? A Story of Another Digital Divide. (from Anthropology in Practice)