links for 2011-02-16

By On February 16, 2011 · 5 Comments
  • Why Don't More Black Mothers Breast-Feed? | The Root
    "There were babies everywhere, and not a bottle in sight! And for me, another sadly familiar scene: The rough count of nursing brown mommies I saw wasn't even one in 10.

    But the actions of those African-American mothers who were present served to make a larger statement: Black women can and do nurse their babies, and even though nursing in public still bears a stigma, it's a natural and loving activity. And it's one that more black people need to see."

    (tags: via:andreaplaid washingtondc blackwomen breastfeeding protests)
  • 2011 Community Day of Remembrance, February 19 | angry asian man
    "Each year, the Day of Remembrance is held around February 19th to commemorate the day that President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, resulting in the incarceration of over 110,000 Japanese Americans during World War II. If you're in the Los Angeles, the Japanese American National Museum invites you to take part in its Community Day of Remembrance.

    "This year's theme, 'September 11: Ten Years After' was selected to address growing anti-Muslim sentiments and attacks on mosques across the country, and to affirm the importance for Japanese Americans to support the parallel concerns of the Muslim American community."

    (tags: via:andreaplaid holiday japaneseamerican history muslims coalitions)
  • WTF Files: Teacher Allegedly Sprayed Air Freshener On Kids Who Smelled Like Curry | Jezebel
    "A disciplinary hearing was held[sic] for Elizabeth Davies, a nursery school teacher in Wales who allegedly accused Bangladeshi children of smelling like onions or curry, then sprayed them down with air freshener, The Telegraph reports."
    (tags: via:andreaplaid food racism school wales bangladeshi childrenofcolor)
  • Assimilate! Assimilate! | Resist Racism
    "You may remember that Boroz previously demanded that a full line of foods encompassing “all ethnic groups” be available. So how is that 50-50 thing going to work? How would you determine that 50 percent of your vegetables are Asian? And will Chinese people be allowed to purchase Oreos?

    Boroz additionally had these complaints:

    After visiting the store, Boroz said too many of its products are Chinese, the deli is insufficient and many of the products’ packages do not have English translations.

    How many of the “American” products have Chinese translations? Since we’re being all 50-50 here.

    As somebody who cannot read much Chinese, I haven’t had any real difficulty in the Chinese grocery store. I can’t think of anything that didn’t have an English label. But if I didn’t know what it was, I probably wouldn’t buy it anyway."food

    (tags: food politics racism xenophobia assimilation)
  • Are All Modern Day Healthy Living Gurus Beautiful, Rich People? Where Are the Gurus From The Hood? | StephanieQuilao.com
    "I want to find someone I can better relate to…

    * someone more like me who grew up in a typical suburban neighborhood and took the bus to school and grew up on McDonald's and pre-cooked rotisserie chicken from Safeway.
    * someone who cannot afford a trainer, a chef, days at the spa, or fresh organic foods 24/7.
    * someone that works a regular day job and is pressed for time, energy, and resources.
    * someone who is of color, an immigrant or a mix who has had to contend with cultural (non-American) issues like, "How not having the Asian skinny genes affected my body image" growing up in the U.S."

    (tags: health race media celebrities wellness privilege class)
 
Spread This Idea
Reddit Facebook Twitter Delicious StumbleUpon
  • Yunasai8612

    Why not enough breastfeeding Black mothers?

    Because our job may not be as supportive of our breastfeeding by giving us clean and safe space to pump while at work.

    Because not enough of us have the luxury of staying at home to nurse as frequently if we do breastfeed.

    Because our bodies are sexualized by society due to racism and misogynism that we feel vulnerable or embarassed to breastfeed in public even if we do it at home.

    Because formula is pushed on us at high rates via advertisement or clinic not educating women about breastfeeding or hospitals sending us home with formula and coupons for it.

    Because our grandmothers and mothers didn’t or were ashamed of their body and didn’t educate us on merits of breastfeeding.

    Because many of us work and don’t get to spend as much time with our babies or burn out the breastfeeding bandwagon without support from our employers (no nursing room at the job and employers unwilling to negiotate time to stop working to pump)

    Even though my mother breastfed she stopped before I was one because she was exhausted between the demands of her job, a baby who wasn’t sleeping through the night, no pumping room at work and dealing with leaky breasts at work while unable to pump.

    Breastfeeding is great for babies yet it’s a luxury that not everyone has the resources to do.

  • http://twitter.com/skinnyjeans Stephanie Quilao

    Thank you for the link! I appreciate the help to bring awareness to this healthy living topic.

  • sk

    I was in tears reading about the children in the school in Wales. I am a preschool special education teacher and I simply cannot understand how this teacher treated her students so cruelly. She should be barred from the profession for life. I can only hope that the children are young enough to forget this abuse and their next teacher is someone who cares for them.

  • Anonymous

    Are you familiar with Erika Nicole Kendall, who runs the blog “A Black Girl’s Guide to Weight Loss”? She discusses very similar topics that you’re asking about. In fact….am wondering….I’d like to get the two of you together for a possible Addicted to Race podcast. If you’re on Twitter, DM me, and we can chat about this.

  • http://DeadAmericanDream.blogspot.com AngryBroomstick

    WTF at the Wales incident at the racist teacher spraying air freshener on Desi students. Humiliating and shameful.

    What is wrong with smelling like curry? Curry tastes and smells great.

Switch to our mobile site