links for 2009-06-16
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"Being a journalist means reporting the facts and making sure the story makes it out to the people. But along with that duty comes obstacles. That’s what Josh Wolf, Staff Writer for the Daily Post and independent reporter faced. Wolf has been following the story of Current’s reporters very closely, and not just because it’s making headlines: Wolf served prison time for sticking to his principles as a reporter."
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"As a mixed-race Filipina, I have often felt like I was being implicitly judged by Filipin@s & found wanting: I don’t speak Tagalog (much)? I don’t go to church? I don’t… eat adobo??? To me, veganism is just one other thing to add to the list of things that make me feel awkward at times. It’s not enough to make me forsake the way I eat, of course, but I can sense the pressure, & can imagine how it could be even more intense for people who are more culturally connected than I."
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"Over 100 kids who would otherwise have been denied, admitted because of thier family income. And over 100 kids who played by all the rules, got admitted to their “reach” school, and were then were sent away.
So, if you’re mentoring kids who will be high school seniors next year, what do you tell them? To reach and dream big or to be “realistic”?"
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"Vietnam Brides International has teamed up with Diners Club to offer a payment plan for the women they sell, the first such partnership that I know of. It's basically a layaway plan for human beings, except you get the "product" before you even make the first payment. And when I thought it was not possible for these two companies to objectify and dehumanize these women any more, I read what the Assistant General Manager of Diners Club Singapore had to say about situations where the buyer defaults on his bride payments."
Note: The article has been updated, with a statement from Diner's Club saying they are ending their relationship with Vietnam Brides International. – LDP
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"Racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are alive and well in America. That we know. That is what is so painful. But, let us not let the pain cloud our judgment. We must work to let Officer Stephen Tyrone Johns’ legacy be a renewed commitment to fight the abhorrent racism that continues to plague our country. Let us stop pointing fingers at others, and begin to truly examine ourselves and strive to a place of love and respect, rather than hate and tragedy.
Let us cleanse the hatred from within."
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"Skokie police drew their guns and surrounded a Bank of America Monday morning because two "suspicious" men wanted to open an account.
Detained Men Say It Was Racial Profiling
Watch VideoThe two men describe what happened and tell NBC Chicago they were unfairly singled out by bank employees and police because of how they look.
Oops.
The men who were targeted by police called it “racial profiling” and a police over-reaction."
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"The revelation came in the first five minutes of J.J. Abrams' reboot of Star Trek: Faran Tahir should play Captain Nemo in the upcoming prequel by Disney. He fulfills all the criteria of the character, and between playing a villain in Iron Man , a hero in Star Trek, and displaying dramatic scope in Charlie Wilson's War, he has the proper balance of unknown and recognizable features the part would require. Further, to play Nemo, one must be able to play the heroic Prince Dakkar who becomes the villainous Nemo before transforming into the repentant and humanitarian Mystery of the Island. Most importantly to this Steampunk Scholar, he has a Pakistani heritage."
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"Crazies. Lone nut jobs. Isolated loonies. Those are frequent descriptions of people like James von Brunn, the 88-year-old white supremacist accused of opening fire at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and killing a black guard.
Others believe he represents something more dangerous: a growing racist movement motivated by a number of converging factors, including the first African American president. "
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"Somehow, my nationality has become a dirty word. If you say "Mexican" in America, you are not referring to the citizens of a specific country, you are using a blanket derogatory term for "people who came out of nowhere and took our jobs".
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
jen* wrote:
ok, I like scifi, but not enough for that to always be the first place my mind goes…
so when I’m scanning stuff, and I see “Nemo”, and “Disney” and “prequel”, I start wondering if we’re going to get to know Nemo’s mom, and maybe see Dorie when she was growing up.
definitely didn’t get why Faran Tahir should be in the Nemo prequel….
Posted 16 Jun 2009 at 2:02 pm ¶
Sadface wrote:
I don’t know the actor, so I cannot comment on whether or not he’d be suitable, but’s one thing in that article is definitely true. In all his movie incarnation, Nemo was played by an Indian actor only once (out of like 15 or so), and that was in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, if I remember correctly, the movie you’d least expect to get it right.
There are countless classic literary roles that Asian actors don’t get to play because of their ethnicity. Macbeth. Gandalf. Sherlock Holmes. So do they get to play the few classic literary characters who are Asian? No.
Posted 16 Jun 2009 at 5:32 pm ¶
Paz wrote:
“Why does the US hate my Mexican heritage?” moved me. It’s true that the word Mexican is more closely connected to dirty, brown, welfare-sucking, Spanish only speaking aliens. I know it’s horrible of me, but sometimes I feel a bit ashamed to say I’m Mexican just because of the negative connotations it has. I’m not ashamed of my heritage at all, I think it’s a beautiful thing, but sometimes I worry about what other people think when they just hear the word. Sigh. I’m working on that.
only in America could [my Mexican and British heritage] be viewed as such a clash of classes.
I can relate to this. I’m half white, half Mexican, and I’ve wondered if my light skin and English last name have equaled a golden ticket for me in life. I get uncomfortable when I go to places such as Whole Foods where most of the customers are white and the people working there are Latino. I’ve actully had people tell me to my face that they were nervous being in x neighborhood because it was full of blacks and Mexicans. I don’t really know how to respond at the time, but later I think I should have said “And what do you think they will do to you?” or something.
Posted 16 Jun 2009 at 11:39 pm ¶