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Poll# 18

The Editors — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:06:47 +0000

The Wrong Kind of Color-Blindness in Hollywood

How “new” can an all-white Hollywood be? Controversy is swirling around the latest cover of Vanity Fair magazine, which features nine young Hollywood actresses and muses—all very young, very thin and exclusively white. There are no Asian, Black, Middle Eastern or Latina actresses featured in “A New Hollywood 2010.”

Poll# 17

The Editors — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 19:42:41 +0000

KFC: We Do Racism Right

Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), whose slogan, “We do chicken right,” was part of an ad campaign to appeal to African Americans, is under fire for an Australian ad, titled a “Cricket Survival Guide,” shows a white guy uncomfortable at being surrounded by dancing black West Indians at a cricket game. His solution for that “awkward” situation? To hold up a bucket of KFC to placate the “natives.” Video included.

Poll# 16

The Editors — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 21:43:59 +0000

An Associated Press story reported that, “First lady Michelle Obama chose to wear a gleaming silver-sequined, flesh-colored gown Tuesday night to the first state dinner held by her husband's administration.” Whose flesh color was the writer referring to—certainly not the First Lady’s or millions of others around the world.

Poll# 15

The Editors — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 02:52:29 +0000

Tensions are building around an image depicting President Barack Obama as the Joker from Batman, many times with the world “socialist” under his face. A banner with the image is displayed outside of a club in Richmond, Virginia, which led to a protest by the NAACP, which says that the image attacks not only the President, but all men and people of African descent. Others feel the image is a reflection of some people’s frustration with the administration’s policies.

Poll# 14

The Editors — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:13:21 +0000

“A Cohort of Kids…” A poster to a community listserv in an upscale small-town suburb, population around 39,000—nearly 60 percent white and 32 percent black, with a sprinkling of Asian, Latino, Middle Eastern and other—wrote to say that the town’s high school, which sends some 92 percent of its graduates to college, “…is an urban school. We have a cohort of kids who don’t have consistent middle-class parenting, who come to school hungry, angry, and belong to a culture that abjures learning … deifies certain sports, criminality, and entertainment above all else. The size of this cohort varies from decade to decade but they suck up a lot of the educational oxygen…”

Poll# 13

The Editors — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 03:39:29 +0000

Is Black-on-White Teen Beating a Hate Crime? Brian Milligan, Jr., a white teen in Buffalo, N.Y., was beaten by a group of 10 to 15 black male teens wielding a large chunk of concrete, allegedly for dating a black girl. Mulligan, who suffered a 3-inch gash to the back of his head and a broken jaw after being kicked repeatedly about the head and face, was hospitalized and now his jaw is wired shut. His father, Brian Milligan, Sr., and his girlfriend, believe this is a hate crime.

Poll# 12

The Editors — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:46:28 +0000

Microsoft has taken some heat for changing the head, but not the hands, of a black man to a white man in a workplace-type photo, which also featured a white woman and an Asian man, whose images, on the website of its Polish business unit. The photo shows a black man on its US website. Microsoft pulled the altered image, apologized, and said it would investigate to learn who had made the changes.

Poll# 11

The Editors — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 20:46:31 +0000

Inventor sues AOL & Google, alleging racism

John Ishmel Henry of Soso, Mississippi, who invented the vibrating toilet seat, filed a lawsuit in May claiming that “he was called and depicted as a n----r on two of the Internet service provider search engines, AOL and Google.”

Henry said he has been harmed by Internet racism on various web sites and in the two search engines. In July, Google and AOL filed motions in federal court requesting that Henry’s lawsuit be dismissed.Ishmel Henry of Soso, Mississippi, who invented the vibrating toilet seat, filed a lawsuit in May claiming that “he was called and depicted as a n----r on two of the Internet service provider search engines, AOL and Google.”

Henry said he has been harmed by Internet racism on various web sites and in the two search engines. In July, Google and AOL filed motions in federal court requesting that Henry’s lawsuit be dismissedJohn Ishmel Henry of Soso, Mississippi, who invented the vibrating toilet seat, filed a lawsuit in May claiming that “he was called and depicted as a n----r on two of the Internet service provider search engines, AOL and Google.”

Poll# 10

The Editors — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:39:23 +0000

Costco, the mega-box store giant, reportedly pulled thousands of “Cuddle Me” toys—black baby dolls wearing a cap with “Lil’ Monkey” on the front, next to a stuffed monkey. The set also includes a half-peeled toy banana and baby bottle. According to news reports, some parents found the whole thing racist. The Costco website shows African American, Latino and white babies with a panda. The toy is made by Brass Key; a spokesperson for that company said the offensive meaning was not “within their realm of thinking.”

Poll# 9

The Editors — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:34:40 +0000

“We’re dumbing down the Naval Academy,” Bruce Fleming, an academy English professor, told the Washington Post in response to the recent swearing in of the U.S. Naval Academy’s most racially diverse class ever. From its most diverse applicant pool, the number of African-American students grew from 6 to 10 percent, and Latino students from 10 to 14 percent. Fleming also complained that “We’re dumbing down the officer corps.”

Poll# 8

The Editors — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:45:00 +0000

Is racism the “resident evil” in some video games? “Left 4 Dead 2,” set in post-Katrina Orleans, has players fighting their way through crowds of zombies, many of whom appear to be African American. The game “Resident Evil 5” transports players to the heart of the African continent as a white person to attack zombies who are black. Then there’s “Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood,” with players as Confederate soldiers battling Union troops, but no chance to play for the other side.

Poll# 7

The Editors — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:49:48 +0000

What’s in a name? Sometimes, more than the creators bargained for. Gazprom, a Russian company, and Nigeria’s state-operated NNPC formed a joint oil and gas venture. They named it Nigaz (pronounced “nye-gaz”). In response, the group “Nigerians No NIgaz,” has formed on FaceBook, saying that Nigaz could be pronounced in a way that might offend black people.

Poll# 6

The Editors — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 04:31:59 +0000

‘Chia’ Obama Cut from Walgreens Walgreens removed the “Chia Obama” from its Tampa, Fla., and Chicago stores, explaining that the ceramic-plant figure of the Commander-in-Chief with a green chia Afro is “inappropriate for sale.” Walgreens spokesman Robert Elfinger told Wired.com that, “We got some complaints from people that they thought it was racist.”

Poll# 5

The Editors — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:56:11 +0000

Video: Old Navy Mannequin Commercial- Nudes

Poll# 4

The Editors — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:48:18 +0000

Video: Old Navy Mannequin Commercial- Butts

Poll# 3

The Editors — Mon, 25 May 2009 16:44:28 +0000

An auto shop ran a want ad for a mechanic in the Alburquerque Journal that included “no chile peelers” among the qualifications listed. James Sanistevan, the owner of the auto shop said there is nothing racist about “chile peelers,” saying that he considers it to mean “being lazy.”

Poll# 2

The Editors — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:45:05 +0000

Video: President Obama's "swagga" on CNN.

Poll# 1

The Editors — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 21:06:34 +0000

In blaming white people for the world economic crisis, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva criticized the United States and the European Union for tariffs on products from developing countries. “The crisis was caused by the irrational behavior of white people with blue eyes, who thought they knew everything and now show they know nothing,” Lula da Silva said after meeting with the United Kingdom Prime Minister Gordon Brown.