Tag Archive for "People of Color"

Posts Tagged People of Color

The Despicable Last Airbender

Alright, so I caved. I broke The Last Airbender boycott! Eek! I had the choice of staying at home watching instant Netflix on my computer (like I do every other day in my unemployed life) or I could get out into the world and watch The Last Airbender, with someone else paying my ticket. Meh. I chose the latter.

But lucky for you I can now share something new I actually gleaned from the movie that I didn’t already suspect going in:

IT’S A LOT WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT, FOLKS!

If you don’t already know why there was a boycott and why it’s such a big deal, there’s a BUNCH of stuff you can

Alright, so I caved. I broke The Last Airbender boycott! Eek! I had the choice of staying at home watching instant Netflix on my computer (like I do every other day in my unemployed life) or ...

By Samhita • 13 years ago

Sex and the City’s Women of Color Problem.

When I went to see the much-reviewed Sex and the City 2 this weekend with four other women of color, I was reminded of an essay by bell hooks, “Oppositional Gaze: Black Female Spectators”:

Within my family’s Southern black working-class home, located in a racially segregated neighborhood, watching television was one way to develop critical spectatorship. Unless you went to work in the white world, across the tracks, you learned to look at white people by starting at them on the screen. Black looks, as they were constituted in the context of social movements for racial uplift, were interrogating gazes. We laughed at television shows like Our Gang and Amos ‘n’ Andy at these white representations of ...

When I went to see the much-reviewed Sex and the City 2 this weekend with four other women of color, I was reminded of an essay by bell hooks, “Oppositional Gaze: Black Female ...

By Lori Adelman • 13 years ago

Peruvian Organization Threatened with Violence After Protesting Racist TV Show

In Peru, a debate is raging over whether the two disturbingly racist television characters pictured above should be banned from television. I think it’s time that those who defend the racism and sexism of these characters be forced to do so on the international stage.
As pictured above, the characters “El Negro Mama” and “La Paisana Jacinta” have long been broadcast on the popular television station Frecuencia Latina. As described by my colleague Lucina Di Meco, who works closely with the organization spearheading efforts to ban these characters, the characters represent the worst and most racist stereotypes of Afro-Peruvian and indigenous people:

In Peru, a debate is raging over whether the two disturbingly racist television characters pictured above should be banned from television. I think it’s time that those who ...

By Jessica • 13 years ago

Sexual justice and Arizona’s immigration policy

I just wanted to take a minute to point out this great post from sexologist and minister Debra W. Haffner, Arizona Immigration Policy: Why It Matters To A Sexual Justice Advocate.

At its core, my strong faith commitment to the dignity and worth of all persons means that I do not think any person is “illegal” or unworthy of equal treatment. But, these issues also intersect in more practical ways. What’s going to happen to Hispanic women in labor in Arizona when they go to a hospital? What about when they visit a public health clinic for birth control? What happens to gay and lesbian Hispanic immigrants who live with U.S. citizens in families but because there is no marriage ...

I just wanted to take a minute to point out this great post from sexologist and minister Debra W. Haffner, Arizona Immigration Policy: Why It Matters To A Sexual Justice Advocate.

At its core, my strong faith ...

By Samhita • 14 years ago

Street to Senate: Get to Work for the Jobless

Colorlines hits the streets to send a message to Congress–Get to work on joblessness.

As Kai Wright blogs, as many as 400,000 people are at risk of losing unemployment insurance as soon as April 5th. Republicans are going to fight any extension of benefits in the face of a crisis of epic proportions. Because all of a sudden when it is about helping out working class, mostly people of color, deficits are a huge problem.

Colorlines hits the streets to send a message to Congress–Get to work on joblessness.

As Kai Wright blogs, as many as 400,000 people are at risk of losing unemployment insurance as soon as April 5th. Republicans are ...

By Lori Adelman • 14 years ago

Erykah Badu’s New Video for “Window Seat”: Feminist Art or Shameless Publicity Stunt? (NSFW)

This weekend, the blogosphere was taken by storm when Erykah Badu released a music video for “Window Seat,” the first single off her brand new album. Definitely check it out if you haven’t already, although please be warned that this is most definitely Not Safe For Work.
In the video, Badu is seen stripping down from a hoodie and pants to her birthday suit on a public street. I won’t spoil the rest of the video for you, but let’s just say the ending definitely caught me off guard. A surprise “plot twist” turns this video into something much deeper than your average music video “striptease”.
Or does it?
The video was meant to be a statement against “groupthink” ...

By Chloe Angyal • 14 years ago

The Feministing Five: Selly Thiam

Selly Thiam is the founder and executive producer of None on Record, a sound documentary project that collects the stories of QLGBT Africans from the African Continent and the Diaspora. Selly, who is of Senegalese descent, was born and raised in Chicago. She came out in high school, and found herself searching for women like her – West African lesbian women – but couldn’t find any. Her search for people who shared her intersectional experiences led her to community organizing and activism and, ultimately, to None on Record.
Thiam started None on Record in 2006 in response to the murder of a Sierra Leonean QLGBT activist, and since then, Thiam and her colleagues have collected thousands of ...

By Samhita • 14 years ago

Celebrating Black Women Writers: Zora Neale Hurston

The Frisky has an awesome series of images and stories about black women writers and artists, that are not as often heard of, including Ntozake Shange, Judith Jamison, and my very favorite Zora Neale Hurston.

I recently re-read Their Eyes Were Watching God, for the book I am writing, because I was reminded of Hurston’s ability to write a story about finding love in a time when it was very difficult for a black woman to do so and have her story be heard on her own terms. Rereading it as an adult gave it a new political resonance and importance that I had not felt as a teenager, when I had first read ...

The Frisky has an awesome series of images and stories about black women writers and artists, that are not as often heard of, including Ntozake Shange, Judith Jamison, and my very favorite