by Latoya Peterson
I think every other Friday I’ll do a random open thread just to see what’s going on with y’all.
Here’s what I am heading into the weekend with:
Music
Something compelled me to listen to the Cruel Intentions Soundtrack while I was at work yesterday. While cubicle-jamming to Skunk Anansie’s “Secretly” I realized I had never […]

by Latoya Peterson
After much discussion, Carmen and I have decided to start an announcements thread that will run every Friday.
The thread will serve two purposes:

1. To call attention to events/films/conferences/etc that our readers may be interested in.
2. To highlight reader blogs and submissions, in a similar fashion to the Feministe Shameless Self-Promotion Sunday thread.
If you […]

by Latoya Peterson
Deesha sent in these two ads for the skin-lightening product Fair and Lovely. Targeted to the Indian market, the ads promise job advancement (and the perception of beauty) after you lighten your skin by a few shades.
This ad is in English:

Notice, when the actress mentions that four is her lucky number, they […]

Philly’s Black Muslims Increasingly Turn to Polygamy : NPR
“Zaki believes ultimately, polygamy is good for society — especially in the inner city, where intact families are rare and many kids grow up without their fathers.”
(tags: muslim black africanamerican culture)

Miami’s Muslims Suit Up to Fight Crime | RaceWire
“Seeking a balance between outreach and enforcement, Miami is […]

by Special Correspondent Fatemeh Fakhraie, originally published at Muslimah Media Watch
Asia Alfasi is a talented manga artist in the U.K. The BBC covered a talent competition she’d won (barikallah!), but managed to irritate me through mislabeling Ms. Alfasi’s drawings and misuse of the word “Arabian.”
Ms. Alfasi won a competition given by the International […]

by Guest Contributor Merq
As much as we clamor, beg, and plead for minority representation in the mainstream media, when we get it, it seldom seems to work out as we’d hoped. Many people of color can attest to squirming uncomfortably in front of their televisions, praying for that character of color to finish up and […]

by Guest Contributor Tami, originally published at What Tami Said
Taigi Smith, in the brilliant essay “What Happens When Your Hood is the Last Stop on the White Flight Express” in the book “Colonize This: Young Women of Color on Today’s Feminism,” describes gentrification like this:

Gentrification: The displacement of poor women and […]

by Latoya Peterson
Let it never be said that I can’t see the humor in ridiculous situations.
A pro-Hillary site has just linked to the article I wrote on re-examining the Oppression Olympics to back up their claims as to why HRC should be president.
Ain’t that a bitch.
Obviously, I’m not too happy about that one, but it’s […]

by Guest Contributor dnA, originally published at Too Sense
Michael Calderone has this video of Geraldine Ferraro claiming black journalists, (and I assume she means black male journalists) of being surrogates for Obama and ignoring sexism on the trail.

by Guest Contributor Calabar, originally published at Girl in the Machine

Natan: …
Remember the good ol’ days after the first world war when European vampires still embarked on sabbaticals to the American south-west, cat-people ran Hollywood from behind the scenes, and cheeky teenage detectives could break into high-security compounds like Alcatraz without consequences?
Oh wait—that’s not real […]

by Guest Contributor HighJive, originally published at MultiCultClassics
To commemorate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, it seems appropriate to note the debate ignited by Chicago Sun-Times advertising columnist Lewis Lazare. The writer recently criticized a new commercial for Quiznos starring an Asian American woman working at a Laundromat. Created by Cliff Freeman Advertising, it can be […]

by Guest Contributor Average Bro, originally published on AverageBro.com

Not that anyone’s really noticed, but the NAACP’s been asleep at the wheel since they ran off their most recent President, Bruce Gordon over a year ago. This weekend, the organization quietly introduced their new President, the oddly named Carlos Solis[1] Ben Jealous.
A 35-year-old human rights […]

The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan
“The model etched in Clinton’s head - and it is part and parcel of her entire worldview with respect to minorities - is: you vote for us, we’ll take care of you. And “we” is always white and straight and connected. Obama represents an end to those categor
(tags: via:lokmon […]

by Latoya Peterson

I am interrupting my own self-imposed silence on Hillary Rodham Clinton’s most recent comments* to address something I have been seeing with disturbing frequency on pro-Hillary blogs.
Hillary Clinton is not Robert F. Kennedy. They were not in the same position. They are not fighting the same kind of fight. So […]

by Latoya Peterson
I’m excited to announce that starting this week, Nadra Kareem will be joining us as a special correspondent for Racialicious!
You’ve already seen some of her work covering the Sweet Valley High books, South of Nowhere, “The Visitor,” and tackling interracial dating with a vengeance.
Here’s a little more about Nadra:
Nadra Kareem is […]