by Latoya Peterson

Over the weekend, I received two email bulletins about recent events surrounding ethnic studies programs, one focusing on Asian Americans in Maryland and one focusing on Latin@s in Arizona.
Lee Fang wrote in with an Action Alert: Save Asian American Studies at the University of Maryland:
Asian American University of Maryland Students Mobilize [...]

by Guest Contributor Wendi Muse, originally published at the Coup Magazine Blog
I woke up a bit late on Friday morning, yet despite my tardiness, I decided to humor myself with the usual banter of morning television. While simultaneously slipping on shoes and attempting to do something with my hair without the help of a mirror, [...]

by Guest Contributor Juliana, originally published at Juliana Goes International
Latoya’s Note: Juliana and I have been friends since freshman year of high school, so we’ve been kicking it for about a decade now. A few years ago, she decided to decamp from the United States and spent a lot of time abroad, including [...]

Education Week: Black-White Gap Widens Faster for High Achievers
“New research into what is commonly called the black-white “achievement gap” suggests that the students who lose the most ground academically in U.S. public schools may be the brightest African-American children.”
(tags: education achievementgap race via:veggiegrrl)

‘Millennial Generation’ set to rock the vote
“Unlike the conservative Gen-Xers who preceded them, [...]

by Latoya Peterson
BrownfemiPower – Final Post
(I want to pause here to note three things: 1. Do you realize how fucked up it is that for some reason it is “wrong” for a woman of color to want the same advantages that white women get for doing the same work? 2. Do you realize how much [...]

Revealed: The Cartoonishly Racist Faked Memoir That Fooled the NY Times | MediaCulture | AlterNet
Cliff Notes to Love and Consequences! “By now, even on the book’s own terms, it’s barely working as a memoir, in which someone thinks about their life. Instead it’s like a doll’s house of African-Americans, displayed for us in supposedly authentic [...]

Blog brings human face to big-city murder – CNN.com
“Two or three people are killed each day by others in Los Angeles County. Most of them died anonymously until Jill Leovy and her blog, The Homicide Report, came along…Leovy made it her job to document every homicide”
(tags: violence africanamerican latino)

When Latino Corporate Fighters Win Awards, The [...]

by Guest Contributor Nadra Kareem, originally published at The Whirliest Girl

Years ago my mother was an avid reader of the Harlequin Romance series, while I read what some would view as the young adult version of those books—Sweet Valley High. From about fourth through sixth grade, I was obsessed with the central characters of the [...]

by Guest Contributor Tami, originally published at What Tami Said

I admire a good ghost story, especially a “true” one. I read tales of the paranormal. I watch those ghost investigator shows on television. And I’ve been known to take ghost tours in cities that I visit. I am intrigued by the idea of unknown realms [...]

by Racialicious Special Correspondent Fatemeh Fakhraie
…and he can kiss my Iranian ass.
Last weekend, Larry Beinhart posted a piece for AlterNet entitled, “Report From Iran: Should We Really Bomb These People?”
There’s a whole lot wrong with that question, as many of the article’s commenters [...]

Chinese Student in U.S. Is Caught in Confrontation – New York Times
“A student who acted as a referee between a pro-Tibet vigil and a pro-China group has been accused of being a traitor.”
(tags: activism china humanrights tibet)

Tom Shales – In Pa. Debate, The Clear Loser Is ABC – washingtonpost.com
“He came up with such tired tripe [...]

by Carmen Van Kerckhove
Hat tip to Ta-Nehisi

by Carmen Van Kerckhove
I was speaking at Rutgers University last night, so I missed ABC’s Democratic candidates debate. But judging from what I read this morning, it was a hot mess.
Lerone Wilson at Blackline compared the debate to an old Lakers game:
…in place of Kobe dazzling viewers with his superior ball control and perimeter shooting, [...]

Excerpted by Latoya Peterson
From “A Conversation with Rashida Jones,” published in the April 2008 edition of Women’s Health Magazine:

[...]
RJ: My parents were crazy cool and I was a straight up geek. I wanted to be a lawyer, a judge, president…
WH: And instead, you became…an actress!
RJ: That was never the plan! But I always wanted to [...]

by Pat M., originally published at Token Minorities
I spent the last few days away from this blog, commenting occasionally and picking a few fights on Internet forums. What makes me far, far more upset than the actual RE5 trailer is the systematic dismissal of this kind of conversation across the ‘net. The best conversation I’ve [...]