In case you missed it…

by Jen Chau and Carmen Van Kerckhove

Every Friday afternoon we sum up the week’s best posts from New Demographic‘s various projects. Here we go!

Race Changers
a community of people working towards an anti-racist future, one week at a time

• Assignment 3 – Stereotypes in the Media: Stereotypes are all around us. Grab a friend, a co-worker, or a family member (or all!) and discuss some of the stereotypes that you see in film, on TV, etc. Since there are so many, we would like you to focus specifically on representations of black men and women in the media.

Addicted to Race
a podcast about America’s obsession with race

• Episode 44: Jen and Carmen rant about the tendency for people to dress up as folks of other racial and ethnic groups for Halloween. They also do a Race Changers update by discussing the issue of racial profiling. They ask whether people would be less inclined to see protests to racial profiling as “political correctness” if they were likely to be the target of such profiling themselves.

Anti-Racist Parent
a blog for parents who are committed to raising children with an anti-racist outlook

• I wish my parents knew…: As adults, my brothers, my mom and I have talked about Hebrew School. It was so interesting to me that my mother thought that we were just being lazy or stubborn and didn’t want to go for no good reason. When I explained that it was hard to be there because we were basically discriminated against on a regular basis, she was shocked. She had no idea. And why was this? Well, we didn’t tell her. No questions were asked about it, but we also didn’t say anything.
• Columnist intro – Karen: white students who viewed me as “not really black” would confide in me their frank beliefs about black people. African-American students who considered my skin colour proof I was one of their own would make sweeping comments about white students – statements to which they were certain I would agree. Then there were the kids who were neither black nor white, but who found something familiar in my “foreign-ness”, and therefore would seek consensus in their opinions about students of all the other races.

Racialicious
a blog about the intersection of race and pop culture

• The ad industry’s mascot of cultural cluelessness: When confronting issues of diversity and exclusivity, a Marc Brownstein openly displays passive bias. For guidance on race-based questions, a Marc Brownstein seeks counsel from a Black friend (who is often the only Black person in the Marc Brownstein social network).
• 10 hints for my white friends: What follows are ten rules that may help you blend in easier with black Americans and reduce frictions between yourselves and them. Consider it a study abroad guide to black America.
• Too hood for MySpace? Try CrackSpace!: From the man who brought you that masterpiece of African-American cinema, Soul Plane, comes a brand-new venture: a social networking web site called Crackspace.
• YouTube Wire: conservatives, yellowface, and white teachers in the ghetto: Our intrepid YouTube correspondent Luke Lee sums up the latest videos you should know about. Michelle Malkin discusses racist and misogynistic attacks on her, an aspiring comic dons yellowface to mimic Kim Jong Il, the latest angelic white teacher in the ghetto movie Freedom Writers releases a trailer on YouTube, and more.
• Foods that aren’t really “ethnic:” Most of you probably know (I hope!) that fortune cookies are about as Chinese as as a Burger King Whopper. But there are a lot of other foods marketed as “ethnic” that actually aren’t at all.