by Jen Chau and Carmen Van Kerckhove
Every Friday afternoon we sum up the week’s best posts from New Demographic‘s various projects. Here we go!
Race Changers
a community of people working towards an anti-racist future, one week at a time
- Assignment 2 – Stereotypes and You: “Was there a time that you made a generalization and were proved wrong? Do you find yourself subscribing to any stereotypes now? If you do find yourself giving in to any stereotypes, why do you think you believe them to be true? Can you point to any instances where the stereotype does not hold true?”
Racialicious
a blog about the intersection of race and pop culture
- Halle Berry to star in movie based on white woman’s life: It’s based on the true story of a teacher who accepted a challenge from her sixth grade class to run for Congress. But get this: the original woman was white.
- Eddie Murphy in yellowface: Murphy plays a dorky, meek Black man adopted as a child by an old Asian man and, in adulthood, who is dominated by a fat black woman stereotype. The catch? Murphy plays Norbit, Norbit’s girlfriend, and the Asian man who adopts him.
- Angelina Jolie in brownface as Mariane Pearl: Click over to see the photo. That says it all, really.
- Burger King ‘Eat Like a Snake’ commercial: Why a snake? And why does the Asian man have to do a bunch of kung fu right at the end there?
- Maury paternity test for biracial child: this clip also says a lot about how interracial relationships and interracial sex are framed. The focus is on the humiliation of the cuckolded white man, whose wife can’t resist the sexual power of the black man. Not coincidentally, that’s pretty much of the plot of every interracial pornographic film too.
Anti-Racist Parent
a blog for parents who are committed to raising children with an anti-racist outlook
- Columnist intro – Ji In: Unequipped to deal with racism, poorly prepared for the challenges that accompanied parenting children of color, my parents couldn’t offer me the type of firsthand understanding that I craved, and they instead encouraged me to simply “ignore.â€
- Columnist intro – Jason: In my education classes, we used to talk, somewhat naively, about “teaching for social justice†and “teaching to change the world.†This, then, is about parenting for social justice, and parenting to change the world.
New Demographic
an anti-racism training company
- Jen Chau featured in Backstage magazine: Jen discusses Hollywood’s lack of awareness surrounding mixed heritage issues and discusses the difficulties mixed race actors face in being cast for roles.
- Carmen Van Kerckhove will speak at Denison University in Granville, OH on Thursday, October 19 on Not Just Fetishists and Race Traitors: Challenging the Ways We Look At Interracial Relationships.
- Jen Chau will be the keynote speaker for Brown University’s Multiracial Heritage week on Thursday, October 19.
