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Admitting you screwed up is half the battle.

And why black hair is such a big deal.

A timeline on Donelle Woolford’s website provides visitors with some background on the artist. Following a somewhat lonely childhood spent in private education, she started at Yale University in 1999. While studying she took a job as studio

Per our discussions about minstrelsy, and moreover considering discussions we’ve had and will have concerning cultural/racial appropriation, what do you think of this artist’s work?

Last year, Danity Kane's Dawn Richards uploaded a selfie on Instagram that lead to plenty of backlash from her fans. Aside from the apparent plastic surgery, many suspected that she had bleached...

I saw this article and it made me think about our conversation from class about the racial dynamics/aesthetics involved in technology’s creation -- i.e. the question of “who is the particular subject/person that the creator is imagining as the technology’s user”? It also made me think about the history of lighting within photography. Someone brought up this theme in class the other day when we were discussing photography.

In any case, what do you think about the author’s argument about Instagram filters?

"'Indian piece of s---' was a verbal assault on my identity," said Rini Sampath, the student government president at the University of Southern California.

I meant to post this earlier this week and bring it up in class. I was very disturbed to see this story on Monday; I know there are various other incidents -- macro-racial aggressions and micro racial aggressions -- that occur on a daily basis on and off campus that go unreported, unobserved. Nonetheless this serves as reminder of the need for more meaningful discussion, debate, and institutional action concerning the dynamics of race, class, and gender at USC.

One of your classmates sent this to me and I think it offers succinct and helpful bullet points on how to think about racism. Are there other bullet points that should be added?

I would add this one: race and racism are also impacted/mediated by gender and class (and vice-versa), i.e. how black men experience race and racism both intersects with and is different from how black women experience race and racism.

Post additional ones.

The U.S. Open may not have gone her way, but the world's no.1 isn't done

In lieu of some of our recent readings on the exoticization/fetishization and disavowal of the black body (particularly black and nonwhite women’s bodies), what are your thoughts on the different ways Serena Williams is represented and represents herself in the media, popular culture, and popular consciousness? How has Williams responded to the naysayers? What does she represent in terms of sport, femininity, and race?

Both artists—along with Lauryn Hill and Dave Chappelle—were derided for confrontational public performances, but their defiance was a deliberate expression of independence.

Here’s an interesting take on Kanye West’s speech at the VMAs and the broader issue of reception/treatment/fetishization of black artists. While I think the writer’s outlook is more optimistic than my opinion (esp. in his closing remarks where he lauds the fact that MTV allowed West to speak for 13 mins), I do find his ideas interesting and worth conversation, most centrally his statement about our contemporary world(s), which he describes as “a fractured culture whose values often seem to be in direct conflict with practice.”

What do you think?

His message on race is just what Republicans want to hear.

When I was a kid I admired Dr. Ben Carson; his story was shared by my parents and others as a example of intellectual excellence that us kids should use as a model for our future endeavors and pursuits.

Today it’s interesting how he and others within the Republican establishment and party base, as well as some media commentators, are making use of his personal story to reinforce particular ideas about race, most especially negative stereotypes about working class and working poor black and brown people.

Any thoughts?

The star of The Office and The Mindy Project talks about failure, why now is a great time for ‘chipper’ comedy – and being the only woman of colour in the room

One of Mindy Kaling’s statements that stands out is: “When I get invited, I’m often the only woman and I’m often the only person of color at this event. So if I can’t make it because of my work, I get an enormous amount of pressure to come, because if I’m not there, a minority and a woman will not be represented. That pressure sometimes is a little unfair, because me being included makes other people seem like they’re open-minded and diverse.”

What do you think of her remark, especially the last sentence?

#television #culture #television & radio #comedy

*shameless self-promotion*

This article talks about Eddie Huang's unapologetic misogyny pepper with anti-blackness, what that means for Fresh Off The Boat, and why members of the APA community need to continue to hold each other accountable when we laterally inflict wounds and call it "pushing for diversity." If this "push" for diversity means pushing women down, then I'm not here for this brand of multiculturalism.

Author Kovie Biakolo writes an interesting piece about black celebrities who believe in a "New Black" where blacks focus less on race issues or even identifying themselves as black, and focus more on issues of "unity". This article reflects a new type of "multicultural" struggle similar to the one we've been looking at in class of the nineties in Jeff Chang's book.

This is a compelling read on what we were talking about in class regarding "whiteness" as a universalized standard for art, and the "double bind" discussed in How We Be for communities of color when it comes to creating and producing their own art. It centers on the semi-autobiographical film, God Help The Girl, in addition to talking about how a musician's race is inextricably tied with their politics (ie: the villification of M.I.A. versus the high-praise for someone like Kathleen Hanna).

"The optimistic, happy-go-lucky and painstakingly adorable aesthetic evidenced in every character he created is founded in Whiteness. Whiteness is beauty; Whiteness is what gives the character the ability to dream of fostering a career in music; Whiteness is what enables the audience to empathize with Eve’s character. A recurring filler in the film was a fictitious radio show where two men try to decipher what "real" indie is and every band mentioned is white, enforcing the film’s aspirational Whiteness. While Belle and Sebastian aren’t the only examples of perpetuating Whiteness through indie rock, this movie serves as a microcosmic view of what is wrought by racial exclusivity that is omnipresent in indie rock."

Here is the article that Jenevieve mentioned in class on Thursday where the writer claims that the increase in network television programming organized around nonwhite casts is extremely problematic and works against the idea of building a colorblind society and entertainment industry.

What do you think of the writer’s argument? Is it compelling? Do you disagree?

And what do you think of the author’s push for Hollywood and the entertainment industry to become colorblind?

A group of academics and journalists is accusing 60 Minutes of turning black Africans into background extras in its recent segments from the continent. “60 Minutes has managed, quite extraordinarily, to render people of black African ancestry voiceless and all but invisible” in a series of recent segments, says a letter signed by more than 150 people.

What do you think? Is it important that a major American news program and visual journalism series such as 60 Minutes give adequate coverage to events and issues related to Africa and Africans, and offer representations of Africans that humanize them (rather than simply stigmatize them)?

And where is Africa and issues related to Africa on your intellectual and political radar? Where do you get your information or ideas about the continent?

I meant to post this article last month. The writer offers a provocative argument regarding the different conditions, circumstances, and double standards faced by white pop artists and nonwhite pop artists (particularly black artists), and the role white privilege plays in how these artists’ creative work and identities are received by the music industry, the media, and the public at large.

The quote the stands out for me is: “It’s a different context, but the same lesson my dad taught me years ago–as a minority, you have to accept that you can only get ahead by working incredibly hard at technical, objective achievements that can be scored on quantitative metrics. Getting by on “intangibles,” on “being yourself,” on being vulnerable and revealing your failures–that’s for people who aren’t cultural outsiders. Which is a shame. Because white people don’t actually have a monopoly on intangibles....The white artists I mentioned–whom I genuinely like and genuinely respect–are able to do what they do because whiteness is a roomier identity, an identity where you can screw up and fall on your face and be a fool without letting your people down.”

Re: the previous post on Banksy in Palestine, here are some of works he completed by Banksy while there. For more on his experiences there and these works go to: http://hyperallergic.com/185876/new-banksys-highlight-plight-of-palestinians-in-gaza/

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