Posted on July 24, 2005 - by Administrator
ATR 1 – Jul 25, 2005
Jen Chau and Carmen Van Kerckhove explain why they decided to call this podcast “Addicted to Race.”
The U.S. as a whole has been obsessed with race since its very inception. What country other than the U.S. could have come up with phenomena like the one drop rule, racial classifications like quadroon and octoroon, drapetomania, the brown paper bag test, the bell curve, just to name a few.
Race has also played a central role in some of the biggest scandals in the last couple years (Justin and Janet at the Superbowl, Kobe Bryant, Bill Cosby).
But the backlash against so-called political correctness since 9/11 has hampered discussions about race. Many of us are being told that talking about race is passe, and that we should get over it and stop crying racism. But if racism is still all around us, should we just ignore it?
Jen and Carmen hope that “Addicted to Race” will provide an open and honest forum for discussion about the real, underlying dynamics driving race relations.
Their core beliefs are:
1) Race is a social construct
2) Everyone has the right to self-identify however they want
3) Conversations about race must go beyond black and white
4) Mixed people are also a part of their communities of color, we shouldn’t try to separate ourselves
Jen and Carmen talked about their backgrounds, and the organizations they started: Swirl, Inc., Mixed Media Watch, and New Demographic.
They explained the format of all future episodes of “Addicted to Race”:
1) Rant
2) Mixed Media Watch news roundup
3) Discussion of a hot topic or an interview
The next episode will consist of:
1) A rant about the self-fetishizing ways of mixed people
2) Mixed Media Watch news roundup
3) A dicussion on the importance for parents to talk to their mixed kids about identity
Listen to an MP3 of Addicted to Race Episode 1
Monday, July 25, 2005
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About the Host
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of New Demographic, a diversity education firm. Her perspectives on race and diversity have been featured on CNN, MSNBC, NPR, USA Today, and The New York Times.
She hosts the podcast Addicted to Race and blogs at Racialicious and Anti-Racist Parent.
You can reach her at 646.400.5270 or team@newdemographic.com.-
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August 9, 2005
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Thea Hopkins said:
Bravo to Carmen and Jen for working to make these topics part of a much needed national dialogue.
Continued success!
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August 11, 2005
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MC said:
I am a Mom of two mixed children and I read the Mixed Media Watch website regularly. Glad to see you have begun podcasts and am looking forward to listening to future ones. My only complaint is that the audio quality is not very good, especially if you are both talking or laughing, compared to other podcasts I’ve heard. Maybe this is a budget issue of not being able to get better microphones? Not a big deal, but just thought I’d mention it.
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December 22, 2005
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Ric said:
Can you put links transcripts of your show or make downloadable links to the mp3? It takes too long to get it to come up on the net, and when it comes up, i cannot see anything and i can’t scroll back and forth between segments.