In case you missed it…

by Carmen Van Kerckhove

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

ADDICTED TO RACE
a podcast about America’s obsession with race

• Episode 50: Jen and Carmen discuss Jen’s transition out of the New Demographic co-director role.

ANTI-RACIST PARENT
a blog for parents who are committed to raising children with an anti-racist outlook

• Jealousy: Everytime I hear about an adoptee who has reunited with their families, the green-eyed monster makes a visit. I have witnessed three reunions and have had many more friends reunite with their bio families and while I am beside myself with happiness for them, it also reminds me that I am still waiting.
• Columnist Intro – Dawn: I remember cradling him while my exhausted husband slept on the pull-out couch in the corner of my hospital room. I gazed lovingly into his perfect little scrunched up face and thought, “Oh my god – I had a white male!”
• Gratuitous Cute Kid Pic: Anti-Racist Parent Rebecca writes: “This picture was taken at my moms house as Lauren (6) and Jacob (2) were meeting their baby sister Norah for the very first time. They were so excited and so gentle with her. This shot perfectly captured that sweet moment.”
• Columnist Intro – Michelle: I guess at first glance, I would appear to be a good candidate as a contributor for the Anti-Racist Parent: I’m a biracial woman (mother is Korean, father is white) who is married to black man, and we have 3 mixed race children: 2 girls (9-years-old and 20 months) and 1 boy (3-years-old). I also have 4 black, teenage stepsons.

RACIALICIOUS
a blog about the intersection of race and pop culture

• Cop makes black men rap for him to get out of a ticket: The mayor and police chief of Tempe, Arizona are apologizing after a video surfaced of a local cop making two black men rap for him, in exchange for not giving them a ticket for littering.
• Stranger than fiction: Wentworth Miller’s real-life “Human Stain” experience: Not only did Miller possess a similar racial background, but he also caused a controversial incident during his time at Princeton, when he was mistakenly believed to have written a derogatory remark about African-Americans, similar to the situation with his character in the movie.
• Damon Wayans fined $320 for using the n-word at the Laugh Factory: Said Wayans: “I’ll be damned if the white man [Michael Richards] uses that word last. …This is part of our culture now…don’t take that from us.”
• Rest in peace, James: James Kim’s death has been absolutely heartbreaking. Is it shallow to feel a special connection to this family because they’re a mixed family, like mine? I don’t know. But I’ve been very affected by this story.
• Rosie O’Donnell mocks Asians with ching chong joke: The rumors have been confirmed. Rosie O’Donnell did indeed pander to the lowest common denominator by doing the ole ching chong routine on The View on Tuesday morning.
• Mastercard’s ‘Meet the Family’ commercial promotes perpetual foreigner stereotype: Now the commercial started to incense me a bit, based on how the Asian mate in the commercial, once again, just has to be from a foreign country (Japan), whereas her white fiancé’s family is from Chicago. This reinforces the mainstream media’s view that white = American.