Educate and excite, inform and infuriate.
May 19th, 2008 — Controversy, Fashion, Politics, Race
I have a colleague who says that, if one were to sum up the relationship between white people and non-white people, from white people to non-white people, globally, the best way to describe it, in toto, would be with what he calls the Three T’s: Tacky, Trashy, and Terroristic.
I thought of his words when I saw this stylish little number, above on the web: A hoodie with the words, “WHO KILLED OBAMA?” emblazoned across the chest. Continue reading →
May 16th, 2008 — Controversy, Culture, Politics, Race
They prefer Americans, not Muslims: W. Virginians Tracy and Janet
The Real News Network (Motto: “The Future Depends On Knowing”) describes itself as “a television news and documentary network focused on providing independent and uncompromising journalism.”
So, it was fitting, a little before this past Tuesday, that TRNN journalist Matthew Palevsky went down to West Virginia to cover what this traditionally blue collar, Democratic-voting bloc was saying about the then upcoming primary. (Huffington Post linked to this video, but TRNN‘s own page contains a transcript to the video, part of which is reproduced below.)
May 16th, 2008 — Controversy, Fashion, Politics, Race
CNN covers a protest outside of the Marietta GA bar selling OBAMA IN ’08 shirts adorned with the Curious George picture, above.
May 14th, 2008 — Children, Controversy, Politics, Race
That’s a T-shirt, above, being sold and distributed by Mike Norman, 63, proprietor of Mulligan’s Food & Spirits in Marietta GA.
The image is of children’s book character Curious George. Some may remember a caller to Rush Limbaugh’s radio show, back in March, reporting that his twelve-year-old daughter had said Obama looks like the famed chimp. Must be in the air.
May 14th, 2008 — Education, Race, Youth
What does it mean, conceptually, when the class valedictorian, at a school created to educate Black men, is white?
If you’ve never considered this question, your time to answer it is already up: Meet Joshua Packwood, representing Morehouse College this Sunday as the school’s first white val in its 141-year history.
May 12th, 2008 — Entertainment, Humor, Pop Culture, Race
The fact that, in 1974, Barack Obama was 13 and living in Hawai’i means nothing to the time-stuttering, narrative-bending comedian in this absurd, high-larious short.
Freddy Lockhart’s BARACKin74 series imagines an alternate universe in which Obama is a rising, ambitious, yet somewhat naive and full-of-himself freshman at Occidental College in Los Angeles.
Captured in the faux, promotional video-style of schools at that time, mixing archival footage with his own impersonation of the senator, I have a hard time putting my finger on why I love Lockhart’s cerebral act. Dave Chappelle doesn’t, though. So, listen to Rick James, if that’s what it takes to get you to watch this.
May 9th, 2008 — Books, Controversy, Entertainment, Humor, Internet, Pop Culture, Race, Writing
Margaret Seltzer: Liar, yes; fraud, affirmative…but sex symbol?
As you’ve perhaps noticed, our little MEDIA ASSASSIN YouTube, “Margaret B. Jones / Seltzer’s Lie-All Gangsta Video—Exposed!”, which debuted exactly ten days ago, with an accompanying breakdown of the imaginary memoirist’s tall tales, became something of a sensation, returning the blog’s highest page view numbers to date.
Thank you, everyone.
May 7th, 2008 — Politics, Race
The answer is “Yes.”
The question is, when people talk about Barack Obama’s “electability,” or ask “can he get elected?”, is the word “electability” a white code word for race? (You know: Kind of the way many white people talk about “good neighborhoods” and “good school systems.”)
May 7th, 2008 — Controversy, Entertainment, Race, Radio
A reported conversation between Oprah Winfrey and BFF Gayle King on XM Satellite Radio, as transcribed and editorialized by listener “Mayme,” and posted to the comments section of Costas Panagopoulos’s Politico.com piece on white viewer flight from Winfrey’s show, after her Obama endorsement.
Reply #1
Date: Apr. 8, 2008 – 12:35 AM ESTIT’S ABOUT TIME THE DUMB “white” HOUSEWIVES WOKE UP FROM THE DAZE !!!
Transcript from Oprah’s XM Sattelite conversation with Gayle:
Gayle King: You could work for some good White folks.
Oprah (in Black slang accent, making fun of her grandmother): I hope you get some good White folks like I did ‘cuz I worked for some good Folks.
May 7th, 2008 — Politics, Race, Youth
“Where’s the brothers?”: Obama college mixer’s half-mixed crowd
Barack Obama puts himself forward as a unifier, pointing to his campaign, itself, with its multi-hued, multi-aged-, multi-multied constituency as an example of the change he is helping to create, in America.
But a recent Wall Street Journal piece, “Race on Campus: Beyond Obama, The Unity Stops: After Campaign Rallies, Black, White Students Go Their Separate Ways,” argues that, well, after campaign rallies, Black and white students go their separate ways.
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