links for 2010-04-22

"In candid remarks made before a group of students at DePaul University, RNC Chairman Michael Steele said African-Americans “don’t have a reason” to vote for Republicans because “we haven’t done a very good job of giving you one.”

"Remember “I Am Not a White Bitch” Beth Rankin? She won a $2000 scholarship for that “editorial.” It came in first place in the Hearst Journalism Awards Program. Now that says just about everything you needed to know about Hearst Journalism."

"[An adoptive parent] complained that I did not give her one concrete suggestion for how she might go about creating relationships with people who shared her daughter’s ethnicity. And then she begged me to tell her just one thing that she should do.

So I told her to move to a diverse neighborhood.

It’s not like adoptive parents haven’t heard this before. Prospective adopters have access to a wealth of information provided by adult adopted persons. Some of the transracial adoptees are in their fifties now. Over and over we hear the same concrete suggestion for white adoptive parents of children of color:

Move.

Yet overwhelmingly the narrative we hear from white adoptive parents not only ignores this advice, but assumes the opposite is true. It goes beyond simple ignorance, however. It posits the all-white environment as the unspoken norm. Like whiteness, this goes unremarked upon and unnoticed."

"Queercore has been defined as ” a cultural and social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of punk. It is distinguished by a discontent with society in general and a complete disapproval of the gay and lesbian community and its oppressive agenda. Queercore expresses itself in DIY style through zines, music, writing, art and film. ” I have, however, been specifically studying the musical and theatrical aspects of Queercore. After listening to and watching videos of many bands and artists who consider their music to be under the genre of Queercore, it seems there is a lack of racial diversity in this music that is written and played mainly for queer individuals, obviously including queer-identified people who are in racial minority groups. I was, however, able to find several musicians and artists of various racial minority groups that consider themselves to be part of Queercore."