- "Smith says he believes painting African Americans as Confederate sympathizers plays down the real causes of the Civil War. 'What gets professional historians concerned is when certain people start calling these people soldiers. It all goes back to how you define soldier. And for me, the story of so-called black Confederates is not as important as the story of why it keeps coming back.'
He added, 'I think it keeps coming up because there are certain people who resist the idea that slavery and white supremacy were the cause of the Civil War.'"
- "Many immigrants and second-generation Americans go by nicknames rather than their legal names for a number of reasons. I’m one such example. I grew up up in a small, rural and mostly-white Maryland town, and my parents decided I should go by the nickname Ele rather than my real, very Persian name: Elahe, the Arabic word for goddess (pronounced Eh-la-heh). They went by 'Americanized' names themselves in an effort to make life easier, to assimilate as quickly as possible in a foreign land. And for 21 years, I was Ele (pronounced Elie). It wasn’t until after college that I decided to make the switch to my real name, both in my personal and professional worlds.
"My decision was like Ismail’s; why must I accommodate or change my identity to convenience others or make them feel more comfortable?"
- "There's an embarrassing gaffe in British Vogue's article: A photograph of Chinese model Liu Wen walking in Derek Lam's spring show (pictured) is misidentified as a different Chinese model, Du Juan, who didn't even walk in the show."
- "Well, we need to see ourselves reflected: our skin, our shape, our age. Young women need to know they are beautiful, no matter what colour their skin, how kinky their hair.
The black model I quoted at the start of this piece sums it up: ‘I was being made up and I heard the make-up artist say that my skin was “so chalky”.
‘It’s not chalky, you just need to know what to put on it. We need more of us, so the industry changes, and stops making us feel like we stick out.’ - "Cyril argues that it’s no surprise that young people of color consume more media. 'We’re building up this technology infrastructure to avoid and to relieve stress and we’re losing public and community infrastructure [that could help youth relieve stress],' Cyril said. 'Recreation facilities are being decimated. Arts programs are being decimated. Basically all the places a person goes to transform stress.'
"The point for minority youth, Cyril suggests, is not to limit their media consumption but to engage them and empower them with education. By learning about the relationship between the Federal Communications Commission, telecom and media companies, and the Department of Justice, youth can hold accountable the media and technology industries they keep in business."
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