When I first came to the U.S., Americans asked me about that “dot on the forehead.” Now, Madonna wears a bindi. Bollywood borrows Hollywood plotlines (well, two or three for one three-hour film). Now, the Kronos Quartet reinterprets Bollywood composer R.D. Burman. Birthday cards are reproducing old kitschy Indian matchbox covers. Body-hugging T-shirts worn by gay guys in the Castro say “San Francisco” in Devnagari script. There are even Bollywood appreciation classes at universities. My kitsch has become their cool.

Of course, not everything has been alchemized into cool. My big, fat Indian wedding might be hot (“I want one,” a gay man with a Southern accent told me at my neighborhood lesbian bar while sipping a sweet cocktail), but it doesn’t mean the Indian cabdriver, the 7/11 clerk or the Gujarati storeowner are any more acceptable.

Our Krishnas and curries are now public property to be sampled, remixed, chewed up and spat out as millions of cookie-cutter lunch boxes. (Probably Made in China).

It almost makes me nostalgic for the old days when people came up to me and said, “You are from Calcutta? My doctor is Indian. Dr. Harry Patel. I think he’s from that other big city—Bombay?” And they would pause expectantly, as if waiting for me to recognize Dr. Patel. Now, they want to know what restaurant I would recommend in the Bay Area for “authentic Indian food, you know, a hole-in-the-wall place where Indians go, not your white-people-Maharaja-Thali stuff.”

And I am wondering, do I want to tell you?

—Sandip Roy, “My Kitsch is Their Cool,” Colorlines

(Image Credit: Colorlines)

In New York, a woman is suing a Flushing Queens co-op board for trying to force her and her family out of their apartment building because she’s Chinese: Woman sues co-op for saying: Live with your people.

Lisa Sheen says board members at her building have made her life miserable, both directly and indirectly, since she purchased a sixth-floor unit for herself and her family in December 2004. At one point, they actually said that she should “live with her people”:

They waited months after she applied for an apartment to schedule her interview and then stonewalled her mortgage company until she lost its financing offer, according to legal papers.

When Sheen raised the money with the help of her employer, a real estate company, board members took a more active approach - telling her boss “to convince me to leave the building and move to the Chinese part of town,” she claims.

Boss Steve Silverberg wrote in a sworn affidavit that board members approached him during a visit to Sheen in February. They asked if he was Jewish, which he said he was. They told him “as a Jew, I should understand [that Sheen] should live with her people … in the Chinese area,” he said in legal papers.

When she filed papers for an apartment, the board was apparently already being sued by a tenant for racial discrimination against Asians. That case is still pending in Queens Supreme Court. The board countersued Sheen for $9 million for defamation and libel. That suit was dismissed. That’s racist!

–
Photo credit: New York Daily News

Wow! I just checked our stats and it turns out we had close to 400 people registered for my free teleseminar yesterday, “Love and Sex: What’s Race Got to Do With It?”

Those of you who joined me live - thank you! Those of you who missed it, don’t worry. If you registered, you will get an audio recording via email. (You can still register for the audio now if you’d like to hear it.)

As you know, this call was a preview to a new program I’m launching called The Racialicious Experience.

Let me tell you more about it.

I’ve been really inspired by the quarter million people who visit our blog Racialicious each month.

Our readers have told me that the blog is a refuge for them, a place where they can come to feel sane, and that it provides them with something that’s missing in their offline lives: a safe space in which they can have relaxed, authentic, and productive conversations about race.

So I began thinking to myself: would it be possible to replicate those qualities of our blog into something bigger? Into a live experience?

And that’s how The Racialicious Experience was born.

It’s a 6-week program in which we’ll explore how race impacts the way we view the world, our experiences in the workplace, our family life, our sexual and romantic relationships, and even the way we do or do not express our authentic selves. We’ll conclude with the biggest question of all: Why does it even matter? At the end of the day, what’s the human cost of racism?

One of things that I believe is missing from a lot of programs out there that explore race or diversity, is this human element. (more…)

by Special Correspondent Wendi Muse

I hate to even give this guy web time, but here goes…

While doing some research on beauty industry revenue and plastic surgery in Brazil, I stumbled upon a little gem called Playing Brazil. At this point, I started holding back the bile coming up in my throat. It was hard, so I decided to channel my disgust in writing this piece, which basically wrote itself, meaning I just threw up in my mouth a little instead of puking up the contents of my entire stomach.

Check out the site introduction:

This website is a comprehensive guide to picking up brazilian women, for you the tourist. I’ve spent a long time figuring this out, so if you follow this advice you are seriously going to increase your chances of getting with a beautiful brazilian girl! There is also an easy to use phonetic Portuguese section, which is key for pick up. You will only need a few!

(more…)

A recent New York Times article broke the story that a preference for boy children is leading to an unlikely preponderance of boy babies among Chinese-Americans and, to a lesser but still notable extent, Korean- and Indian-Americans.

Explaining the trend, Roberts writes:

In those families, if the first child was a girl, it was more likely that a second child would be a boy, according to recent studies of census data. If the first two children were girls, it was even more likely that a third child would be male.

Demographers say the statistical deviation among Asian-American families is significant, and they believe it reflects not only a preference for male children, but a growing tendency for these families to embrace sex-selection techniques, like in vitro fertilization and sperm sorting, or abortion.

The article explains the preference for boy children as “cultural,” as if Chinese, Indian, and Korean cultures, alone, expressed a desire to have at least one boy child. Since white and black Americans do not show an unlikely disproportion of boy children, the implication is that a preference for boys is not a cultural trait of the U.S.

(more…)

In a January 2006 article published by the Village Voice, Jon Caramanica ended a largely celebratory piece on reggaeton with a somewhat sudden, cryptic remark: “Fuck a Slim Shady,” he quipped, “Hip-Hop’s race war begins here.” Caramanica thus suggests that the most prominent “racial” tensions around hip-hop are not between African Americans and whites (represented by prominent white rapper, Slim Shady, a.k.a. Eminem) but between African Americans and Latinos. Similarly, blogger Bryan Crawford’s tongue-in-cheek March 2006 post for XXL magazine’s website, “Ban Reggaeton: Fight the Real Enemy of Hip-Hop,” makes one wonder how exactly -snide and enigmatic remarks aside - the perceived rivalry between hip-hop and reggaeton is informed by extramusical tensions between African Americans and Latinos.

—From the introduction to Reggaeton, edited by Raquel Z. Rivera, Wayne Marshall, and Deborah Pacini Hernandez

“In the colonies the truth stood naked, but the citizens of the mother country preferred it with clothes on.”- Jean-Paul Sartre

Prologue

When I first became interested in steampunk last year, I posed a question to one of my friends.

Me: “So… I was wondering about steampunk, where does colonialism fit in?”

Friend: “Colonialism? Like in the Colonies?”

Me: “Like being from the colonies.”

Friend: “Oh, you can do that. They’re different types of subgenres in steampunk, and it can take place in America.”

Pause right there. I wasn’t referring to America. Or was I? Yes, my friends and I are from the US and steampunks, and most identify our personas as being from the “Colonies.” Yet their idea of what the Colonies represented in steampunk—aka an alternative America that was still under control of the British Empire during the Victorian Era—and my interpretation of the colonies—aka the actual ones that had existed during the Victorian Era—were vastly different. Which leads to the questions I’d like to explore here. Why is the concept of the United States as a colonized America so appealing to steampunks? Is this notion damaging to steampunks of color (SoCs), whose histories are negatively intertwined with the realities of colonialism? Does the idea of a colonial America promote or denounce the imperialism that existed during the Age of Empire?
(more…)

The above sign was spotted in the neighborhood of Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. Seriously. Seriously? I’m aware that this sign is probably intended to invoke a sentiment of multiculturalism and racial inclusion. But surely, there could have been a much better way of illustrating what I’m guessing is an Asian child. I mean, come on, the conical rice paddy hat? Silly. We only wear those on special days. (And dude, is it me or does that other kid have gray skin?)

I got a call yesterday morning from a radio show producer asking if I thought it hypocritical for African-Americans to celebrate Michael Jackson as a black man, since it seems to many people that he spent most of his life turning himself white.

She stopped short of calling Jackson a race traitor, but the implication was clear. And it did get me thinking about the strange role that race played — and didn’t play — in Jackson’s life and career.

Race is never simple, especially when it comes to a complex artist like Michael Jackson.

Jackson often expressed in his music a hopefulness — “It don’t matter if you’re black or white” — about race relations that many found naïve. And yet had no qualms about using anti-Semitic lyrics in his song “They Don’t Care About Us” — “Jew me/Sue me/Everybody do me/Kick me/Kike me.”

We will never know what drove Jackson to alter his appearance so drastically during his adult life. Jackson said that he suffered from vitiligo, a condition that eliminates pigment from skin leaving white blotches. His dermatologist and others close to Jackson, including Deepak Chopra, have also said he had vitiligo, even though many people have expressed doubt about it, fueling debate over whether Jackson was “trying to be white.”

But what about the plastic surgery, the nose, the hair, and other obviously altered aspects of his appearance? On our blog Racialicious, Readers have been speculating about whether he was driven by internalized racism or something else: an extreme form of artistic expression, an obsessive desire to fix one’s appearance called “body dysmorphic disorder,” or a desire to erase any resemblance to Joe Jackson, his abusive father.

One of the best insights we have into Jackson’s emotional life is a television interview he did with Oprah Winfrey in 1993. He admitted then to being a perfectionist and added, “I’m never pleased with myself. No, I try not to look in the mirror.”

Whatever drove this apparent self-loathing, I don’t believe we can separate race from the equation. Race cannot be separated with precision from body dysmorphic disorder, hatred of his tyrannical father, or any potentially relevant theory being discussed right now.

Why?

Because if he hated his body, he was hating a black man’s body. If he hated his father, he was hating a black man. Race ran through it all; we cannot and should not dismiss its effect. (more…)

“It’s done in fun. I don’t know if it’s stereotypes — they are robots, by the way. These are the voice actors. This is kind of the direction they were taking the characters and we went with it.”
– Michael Bay, as quoted by the Associated Press

This argument is, of course, sophistry. Bullsh-t, if you prefer. As was discussed over the weekend, Revenge Of The Fallen brought out the worst in Bay and writers Ehren Kruger, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. And the “twins,” Skids and Mudflap, have only become a joke. As you read above, Michael Bay was content to throw voice actors Tom Kenny and Reno Wilson under the bus for the uproar they’ve caused. And let’s not forget, this film just flat-out sucks.

But in this story, it’s alleged that Bay had a heavier hand in making the twins “fan-friendly.” It’s also been explained in the novelization of the film that their inability to read extends only to ancient Cybertronian, rather than contemporary language. In the Film School Rejects story, Wilson, who is black, offered this slightly more plausible explanation for Mudflap’s behavior:

“It’s an alien who uploaded information from the Internet and put together the conglomeration and formed this cadence, way of speaking and body language that was accumulated over X amount of years of information and that’s what came out … If he had uploaded country music, he would have come out like that.”

(more…)

by Special Correspondent Wendi Muse

“So, are the girls hot?”

This is the most common question I receive from American men when I explain that I have been living in Brazil. These men come from all walks of life, are of various racial, ethnic, and class backgrounds, and of varying levels of education, exposure to other countries, etc. Long story short, this question seems to be on the minds of many men. It is, for better or for worse, a universal curiosity.

But in my response, I quickly put things in perspective.

“Well, for one, Ugly travels. I see just as many unattractive people in Brazil as I do in the States, and equally as many beautiful people on both sides as well. But I can safely say that the majority of women in Brazil work really hard to be beautiful, more so than the majority of American women.”

There are usually follow-up questions about body types (butts being the primary focus, of course) and clothing styles (are the clothes all skimpy?) and I handle those accordingly. The preoccupation with appearance in Brazil-related questions is to be expected considering that one of the primary portrayals of Brazil in the United States relates to beach culture, scantily-clad women, and sex. But when one takes the time to consider the reasons behind the high standards of beauty in Brazil, it is obvious that there is more to being beautiful and participating in the process of achieving that than just a bikini wax or the perfect nails. Beauty in Brazil is a complex matter involving gender, race and, most certainly, class. (more…)

SCOTUS split 5-4 in favor of Ricci.

From the New York Times:

The Supreme Court has ruled that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a decision that high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor endorsed as an appeals court judge.

New Haven was wrong to scrap a promotion exam because no African-Americans and only two Hispanic firefighters were likely to be made lieutenants or captains based on the results, the court said Monday in a 5-4 decision. The city said that it had acted to avoid a lawsuit from minorities.

Michael Jackson is dead.

My reaction is complicated. On Facebook my high school classmates and I are mourning Michael Jackson and sharing memories. Claudia wrote, “I remember when someone brought the Thriller video to school and there was a ‘viewing’ before 1st period in the auditorium….was one of the few times I wanted to get to school early.” And Anissia wrote, “cannot speak right now. I will be up all night watching these new reports. Is it a dream?”And then, “woke up this morning thinking ‘What a horrible nightmare,’ only to turn on the news to see it is real.” My classmates and I are exactly the right age to get this news like a punch in the gut. We were the kids that made Michael Jackson a superstar. Whether we liked him or not (and we liked him) Michael was an integral part of our childhoods. And his passing, especially at a relatively young age, is an unsettling reminder of our own mortality. I can close my eyes and see the auditorium Claudia mentioned, but that morning was decades ago now. It is an odd feeling.

Still, my ambivalence about Michael Jackson was best captured on Facebook by two people I did not know in High School: Mark wrote, “(I am) not sad that michael jackson the pedophile is dead… whatever”. While Stacia wrote, ” (I am not) happy with this two-edged sword media coverage. Can we get a *day* before ya’ll whistleblow the sordidness? 24 hours, yo.” (more…)

– davidle630: “In americas ghetto anacostia… If i get scared i will just yell chinese carry out! They will not shoot me.”

From the “none too swift” files, David Le was fired after his twitter messages about his slacking off at work and hating Anacostia surfaced.

The D.C. Department of Employment Services fired a contractor who was working with youths in the city’s summer jobs program after officials became aware of messages on his Twitter site that Anacostia is “ghetto” and that he was loafing at work.[…]

Reached through Facebook, Le declined to comment. In a Twitter message, he said he is Asian. The profile photo shows him shirtless and in sunglasses. Hobson said he began working on June 10 and was paid $13 per hour to oversee participants in the Summer Youth Employment Program.

In addition to the racist comments, he was happy to talk about how much he wasn’t working:

– davidle630: “thank goodness my boss is making things easy, he told me to pretend to do work so he can mark me down for hours…

– davidle630: “They decided to just pay us for 40 hours a week bc we are too lazy to sign in and out…”

by Carmen Van Kerckhove

What is it about the combination of race and sex that makes it so explosive? How is race getting in the way of your relationships without you even knowing it? What racial dynamics are driving the unconscious choices you’re making when it comes to your relationships?

I’m going to share that and much more on a FREE CALL happening THIS Wednesday, July 1, 2009 at 1:00 pm Eastern time.

“Love and Sex:
What’s Race Got to Do With It?”

Sign up to reserve your line for this FREE call today

On this lively, information-packed 60-minute call, you’ll learn:

• What “racial scripts” are and how they influence your interactions with others.
• Why an increase in the numbers of interracial couples is NOT evidence that racism is declining.
• What assumptions people are making about you right now based on the race of your partner.
• How these assumptions can interfere with everything from the friendships you form to your career prospects.
• Hidden influences you may not even be aware of and what to do about them.

Reserve your line for this FREE teleseminar now

Limited lines are available for this call, so you’ll want to make sure you reserve your spot right away.

Just click the link above, enter your information in the boxes on the page, and you’ll receive the complete call details via email.

We will record the call, but only people who have registered will receive instructions on how to download the audio recording. So even if you’re not sure if you can make the call live, register now!

This call is a content-rich preview to an exciting new program I’m launching called The Racialicious Experience. If you’re a fan of this blog, you won’t want to miss it!

Addicted to Race is New Demographic’s podcast about America’s obsession with race. Here’s a rundown of what you’ll find in this episode:

We dedicate this episode to the memory of Michael Jackson and explore the role that race played in his life and career. In what ways did his music break racial barriers? What did the changes in his physical appearance say about his relationship to his racial identity? Carmen Van Kerckhove and Arturo Garcia discuss.

Right-click here to download an MP3 of Addicted to Race Episode 108
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