by Guest Contributor Minh-ha, originally published at Threadbared
This post is supposed to be about the latest occurrences of blackface in fashion — specifically, the 14-page editorial featuring Lara Stone, a white Dutch model, painted black and shot by Steven Klein for the October 2009 issue of French Vogue and also Carlos Diez’s show at Madrid [...]

by Guest Contributor J Chang, originally published at INIT_Moving Pictures
I think I overestimated my capacity for brevity and so what was supposed to be a three part series will probably end up spreading out further as I try to unpack and look into the long relationship between race and cinema.
Last time, I established the tension [...]

by Carmen Van Kerckhove
The trailer for the new Ben Stiller comedy we discussed last week, starring Robert Downey Jr. as a white actor who puts on blackface to play a role originally written for a black man, is out. (Hat tip to Undercover Brother.)
What do you think?

by Carmen Van Kerckhove
Fatemeh and reader Nae tipped us off to this upcoming Ben Stiller comedy, in which Robert Downey Jr. appears in blackface.
But wait – his character is a white actor who dons blackface to play a role that was originally written for a black man. So… is this a way of skewering the [...]

by Carmen Van Kerckhove
Today’s WTF moment for you. (Thanks Dorothy!) From Yahoo! News:
“The Great Debaters,” a film based on the real-life victories of a black debating team in the 1930s, topped the list of nominees announced Tuesday for the 39th NAACP Image Awards…
Nominated for outstanding actress: Jurnee Smollett for “The Great Debaters,” Angelina Jolie for [...]

by guest contributor The Thin Black Duke, originally published at Slant Truth 2.0
I’m not a fan of Sarah Silverman. I find her humor juvenile and often offensive. She will stoop to the lowest level possible to try and get a laugh. Yet I was still shocked to learn that a recent episode of her [...]

by Racialicious special correspondent Latoya Peterson
A Mighty Heart has gotten a lot of play on this blog (see here and here).
We’ve debated everything from the motives in selecting the lead actress to Marianne Pearl’s experiences to neo-blackface.
Personally, I’ve been keeping an eye out for an answer. In last month’s Glamour (or it could have [...]

by Carmen Van Kerckhove
Wow. Now it’s not only college students playing with blackface, faculty and staff members are getting in on the act too. This Fresno, CA Christian school even played a game of “catch the runaway slave!” From Fresnobee.com:
Members of Fresno’s black community said they were stunned this week to see pictures of adults [...]

by Carmen Van Kerckhove
Racialicious has been tracking “A Mighty Heart” since last July, when we first heard that Angelina Jolie would be cast to play the biracial Mariane Pearl. Well, the film debuted at Cannes and the trailer for is out now. Hat tip to Stereohyped. Check it:

by Carmen Van Kerckhove
I’m a fan of thrillers, but this movie looks kinda awful, judging by the trailer (thanks to Kimberly for the tip!). Here’s a summary from Slant Magazine:
The wackest film of 2007 stars James Todd Smith—LL Cool J if you’re nasty—as Luther, a record store employee who walks into a police station to [...]

by Carmen Van Kerckhove

It seems like college students across America were really busy on January 15th coming up with ways to mock the memory of Martin Luther King. Not only did students at Tarleton State University, University of Connecticut School of Law, and Clemson University throw “ghetto parties” on MLK Day, now comes word that students at the University of Arizona did the same (thanks for the tip, Kynn).

Only this party didn’t even go with the vague “ghetto” theme. They actually asked attendees to dress up as their “favorite black person.”

by Carmen Van Kerckhove
The latest in the rash of racist incidents sweeping across college campuses come from William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri (hat tip to Rachel) and Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota.
From KMBC-TV:
Last Wednesday night, one student at William Jewell College is accused of painting his face and hands black, and then jumping [...]

by Carmen Van Kerckhove
A brand-new episode (No. 58) of Addicted to Race is out! Addicted to Race is New Demographic’s weekly podcast about America’s obsession with race.
Carmen is joined by guest co-host Liam McGrath in this episode. Liam is a long-time listener of the show, and is the man responsible for the voiceovers in our [...]

by Carmen Van Kerckhove
I’m with Philip on this. These pictures make me want to vomit. As if the head-to-toe blackface wasn’t enough, some girl had to stuff the seat of her pants to give herself an exaggerated butt?
According to this article, the students did not realize their “gangsta theme” party would coincide with MLK day [...]

by guest contributor Philip Arthur Moore, originally published at TheThink
I knew I should have put a bet in for when we’d hear about college kids throwing ghetto parties on Martin Luther King Day. Absolutely despicable:
Authorities at Tarleton State University said they plan to investigate a Martin Luther King Jr. Day party that mocked black stereotypes [...]