Entries Tagged 'Race' ↓
May 6th, 2008 — Controversy, Culture, Entertainment, Media, Politics, Race, Religion
Actually, no: Cartoonist Daryl Cagle underestimates white backlash
How has Oprah Winfrey’s standing with her overwhelmingly white audience been affected by her association with Barack Obama?
In her piece for The Root.com, “The Trouble With Transcending Race: Why the Double O’s are standing on shaky ground,” Majorie Valbrun expands on what most Black women probably long expected, even before Fordham professor Costas Panagopoulos’s Politico.com piece, which she quotes, below, made it explicit:
“Ten days after she went on the stump for Obama, Oprah’s favorability ratings dropped to 55 percent, the lowest level of favorability ever registered for Oprah in opinion surveys,” the article states. “Oprah’s negatives also spiked, with one in three respondents (33 percent) reporting unfavorable impressions of her.”
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May 2nd, 2008 — Africa, Controversy, Journalism, Media, Politics, Race, Religion
Photo by ProtestShooter.com
“Hillary ain’t never been called a n-gger!”
Have you noticed that, of all Jeremiah Wright’s decontextualized quotes, this one has been completely dropped out of the mediated discussion of his statements?
When USA Today‘s Donna Leinwand, vice-president of the National Press Club, moderated the now-infamous Q&A with him on Monday, she asked him about Farrakhan, AIDS, “chickens coming home to roost,” etc., but not one question about this statement.
Why?
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May 1st, 2008 — Controversy, Fashion, Internet, Media, Photography, Race
Twice as nice: Somebody’s pretending they run VOGUE
Thought I’d show faithful MEDIA ASSASSIN readers something that came through here last month.
On April 10, I received this. You can click on and read it:
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May 1st, 2008 — Controversy, Government, Politics, Race
Bravo to Black Agenda Report executive editor Glen Ford for his smart analysis of the Obama-Wright debacle. Titled, “Obama’s ‘Race Neutral’ Strategy Unravels of its Own Contradictions,” the piece argues that, in the wake of pastor Jeremiah Wright’s three-day, “televised Black Liberation Theology tour de force,” Obama is withering, not from what Wright hath wrought, but from a fundamental disconnect built into Obama ’08.
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May 1st, 2008 — Black Music, Entertainment, Hip-Hop, Journalism, Music Video, Pop Culture, Race
If you get a chance, do please take a gander at my review, in Wednesday’s Village Voice, of the Roots’ new, this-is-the-way-the-world-ends-ish album, Rising Down, above.
“Get Busy,” the first single, burns like the bombing of MOVE, mating a weighty kick-and-snare to a morbid chorus of fuzzy synth drones. “My squad half-Mandrill, half-Mandela,” rapper Black Thought intones. “My band ’bout 70 strong, just like Fela.” Coupled with guest lyrical maestros Dice Raw (“I’m half-dead/Never felt more alive”; “I’m kinda W.E.B. DuBois meets Heavy D & the Boyz”) and the reedy Peedi Crack, the whole fest bristles with the nervous energy of riot control on dust.
It’s a jaunty read, if I, myself, say so. Enjoy!
April 30th, 2008 — Controversy, Culture, Government, Military, Politics, Race, Religion
As anyone whose read MEDIA ASSASSIN, or any significant portion of my two decades-plus writing about race, might venture, I probably agree with almost everything Jeremiah Wright, the former pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, above, has said, in his oft-quoted and misquoted public statements.
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April 30th, 2008 — Africa, Controversy, Crime, Gaming, Law, Race, Sports
Beats dogfighting any day: Three of Sean Bell’s five killers
This past December, former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in Federal prison for dogfighting.
Of what significance is the fact that, for that cruel sport, he will serve far more time than New York Police Department detectives Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora, and Marc Cooper, above, will do for killing Queens resident Sean Bell, in a hail of 50 bullets, the morning of his wedding day? Continue reading →
April 29th, 2008 — Books, Controversy, Entertainment, Journalism, Media, Pop Culture, Race, Writing
Keepin’ it real unreal: Margaret “B. Jones” Seltzer gets into character
Who, exactly, is Margaret Seltzer? Empathic writer? Gangster wannabee? Estranged daughter? One-time aspiring eco-terrorist?
MEDIA ASSASSIN has obtained what appears to be the only known copy of a damning video that Margaret “B. Jones” Seltzer’s publisher, Riverhead/Penguin, buried last month, once the book documenting the author’s foster home-living, gangbanging, drug-running past—Love and Consequences: A Memoir of Hope and Survival, right—was revealed to be completely and totally fabricated.
The 10:10 video, shot and edited before she was exposed as a liar, may be the only existing footage of Seltzer in her full-on “hood” persona.
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April 25th, 2008 — Controversy, Crime, Culture, Entertainment, Law, NONFICTION, Photography, Politics, Race, Sex, Terrorism
An estimated 5,000 Black human beings were lynched in the United States between the years 1890 and 1960. By averages, that’s one African-American dying horribly, in racist mob violence, every five days for seventy years. In almost all of these cases, no one was ever charged for the crimes. So affirms the guest on my WBAI-NY / 99.5 FM radio show, NONFICTION, this afternoon, Friday, April 25, 2 pm ET.
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April 23rd, 2008 — Advertising, Entertainment, Film, Media, Race, TV
I’m surprised Racialicious hasn’t picked this apart, yet: Six Flags’ “More Flags, More Fun!” campaign, and its English-gargling Asian pitchman.
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