links for 2007-05-10
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Tom the Dancing Bug - Salon Comics
Thx Kyla. Poking fun at Uncle Ben’s rebranding and imagines how other racist marketing icons might be reinvented: Chief Wahoo, The Frito Bandito, Lucky the Leprechaun, and Mrs. Butterworth, an “offensive stereotype of the WASP matron.”
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Indictment in civil rights-era killing - Yahoo! News
Thx Kyla. “A 73-year-old retired state trooper was indicted Wednesday in the 1965 shooting death of a black man — a killing that set in motion the historic civil rights protests in Selma and led to passage of the Voting Rights Act.”
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Student apologized at University of Delaware forum on racism
Thx Tereza. “University of Delaware sophomore Lauren Boroski says she wasn’t thinking when she and others dressed as Latino gardeners and gangsters for a South of the Border party that offended a campus Latino group.”
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Catholics and evangelicals leap to Romney’s defense - deseretnews.com
Thx ananser. “”Extraordinarily bigoted” was how Romney described Sharpton’s [who] said, “as for the one Mormon running for office, those that really believe in God will defeat him anyway, so don’t worry about that, that’s a temporary situation.”
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Child’s arrest angers Minn. tribe - Yahoo! News
Thx Kyla. “The 11-year-old boy was led from his school in handcuffs, held overnight in a juvenile detention center, and hauled into court in shackles and an orange prison jumpsuit. His crime? Missing a court date to testify as the victim of an assault.”
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For African-Americans, Folly of This War Hits Home - CommonDreams.org
Thx Tereza. “Even today African-Americans by far lead the way in calling the war a mistake. According to Gallup, 85 percent of African Americans say it was a mistake, compared to 53 percent of white Americans.”
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jessica biel as chun li in street fighter? - angry asian man
Oh hell no. Jessica Biel is going to play Chun Li in the new Street Fighter movie? 2007 is just all about the yellowface/blackface/colorface.
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Verizon Drops Pop Singer From Ads - New York Times
“Verizon…quietly moved to end its affiliation with Akon last week after critics, including conservative political commentators, called attention to a video of him simulating sex with a fan onstage during a club performance in Trinidad several weeks ago.
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Bookstore Ghettoes - RealClearPolitics
Thx Latoya via Stereohyped. “If Rachael Ray had been black, there are bookstores where her cookbook would not be displayed in the same section with all the other cookbooks. It would be displayed off in a special section for black authors.”
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Latino group criticizes University of Delaware honor fraternity’s party as offensive - U.S./ Northeast Region - BostonHerald.com
Thx Wendi. Here we go again. “Party photographs…showed some students at the unsanctioned, off-campus party dressed as gardeners wearing work shirts with “Pedro” and “Jose” name tags, and a racist slur scrawled across the back.”
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‘NAPPY HEADED HO’S’ – THE DVD: Porn producer films black women with tightly curled hair willing to have sex for money. - EURweb.com
Thx Wendi. “Porn company Kick Ass Pictures is attempting to capitalize on the Don Imus ordeal with the release of its new DVD “Nappy Headed Ho’s,”…will feature “girls with closely twisted or curled hair…who have sex for cash”
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of 
Lyonside wrote:
Re: The Party: “a South of the Border party that offended a campus Latino group”…
Right there is the problem I have with how the media reports incidents of ethnic insentivity and intimidation: the college group was the ONLY one offended? No, they’re just the ones who were in a position to ACT on their offense.
I’m not Latino and my husband isn’t Mexican, but damn if we’re not offended! I’d hope anyone with a brain and a spine would be offended too.
Posted 11 May 2007 at 9:09 am ¶
Lyonside wrote:
The arrest of a minor WITNESS is pretty scary stuff. The article mentions that there are ethnic tensions on a lot of levels (the Ojibwe band is the main employer, so they have some financial clout, yet they’ve had their reservation rights negated for years, which is likely how the white majority in the area prefers it), but that doesn’t excuse the treatment at all.
If they knew where the kid went to school (as that’s where they arrested him), then couldn’t a court official have FOUND the kid and his family week before the trial and told them to show up? Sounds like someone dropped the ball…
Posted 11 May 2007 at 9:20 am ¶
Adina wrote:
Even though many parts of Akon’s image/actions are too over the edge, it seems like mainstream media is using him as a scapegoat to put Imus back up on his throne.
Interested to see another side of Akon, check this out…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9YE8dHMxvw
Posted 11 May 2007 at 10:15 am ¶
hoo_boy wrote:
I posted another comment before, but I say it again about the UDel party: Sen. Biden had this forum in his *own* state and no comment and he didn’t attend. If Obama says something before he does and makes him look bad *again* on racial stuff, Biden only has himself to blame, man.
And Sharpton’s beating up Mormon’s now?
I don’t know about the black book thing– maybe it only applies to the big chain stores, and with the built-in audiences that expect to find the titles in those sections. If Rachel Ray were black, she’d have a loyal following in both camps, but there would be a howl and protest if her boks *weren’t* available in an African-American section. So you’re screwed either way, huh? That’s why I shop online now.
Posted 11 May 2007 at 4:00 pm ¶
Rob wrote:
RE: Right there is the problem I have with how the media reports incidents of ethnic insentivity and intimidation: the college group was the ONLY one offended? No, they’re just the ones who were in a position to ACT on their offense.
I’m not Latino and my husband isn’t Mexican, but damn if we’re not offended! I’d hope anyone with a brain and a spine would be offended too.
Lyonside, thanks for pointing that out.
The MSM (Mainstream Media) did the same thing when Asian Americans were complaining about the Doghouse radio show and trying to get them canned.
They kept referring to these protesting organizations as “special interest groups” and made it look like just a small segment was offended by it.
I have said it before and I’ll say it again; I think our media system is actually retarded racial discussion in this country. It’s gotten so bad that they believe the media is intentionally doing this.
Posted 12 May 2007 at 8:31 am ¶
gatamala wrote:
“but there would be a howl and protest if her boks *weren’t* available in an African-American section”
(why ‘howl’?) no there wouldn’t be.
I never expected to find Thug Lovin’ & Hustlin’ (whatever) next to Langston Hughes next to Frantz Fanon next to Terry McMillan next to Octavia Butler next to a bio on Paul Robeson.
Smaller (independent) stores just have a smaller ghetto.
Posted 16 May 2007 at 8:41 am ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:
Re: Bookstore Ghetto
Call me crazy, but I always tend to think of books being grouped by subject matter (damn Dewey Decimal system! You’ve ruined me!)
So, in any major bookstore, you have the serious fiction,the humor, the chick lit…it can be quite unfortunate to find heavily subject influenced books (like a financial book) stuck in the African American section. I wouldn’t go to the Asian section to look for Guy Kawasaki.
What disturbs me more than just what books are placed where is the prominence of certain books. In recent years, I have come to see the African-American section dominated by street lit, interspersed with a few classics. So, you mean to say after James Baldwin, black thinking is limited to the streets and hustle of Richmond?
Posted 16 May 2007 at 11:47 am ¶
Mina wrote:
“Re: Bookstore Ghetto
“Call me crazy, but I always tend to think of books being grouped by subject matter (damn Dewey Decimal system! You’ve ruined me!)”
Yeah, and what if someone looking for a book doesn’t know the author’s race?
Posted 17 May 2007 at 7:11 pm ¶