COLORLINES

5 Signs You’re Acting Like a White Guy (Or, How To Not Be Gene Marks)

by W. Kamau Bell on December 19 2011, 9:07AM

You need not be white or a guy to act a fool in public, says stand-up comedian W. Kamau Bell. So here are some warning signals that you might be “getting all Gene Marksy up in here.”

Topics: Media

‘If I Were A Poor Black Kid’ Dude Responds to Baratunde Thurston’s Satirical Letter

by Jorge Rivas on December 15 2011, 2:23PM

Despite all the controversy, Gene Marks still thinks that if poor black kids in Philadelphia study hard and apply to the best schools they’ll turn out fine.

Topics: Media, Now, Schools & Youth

If I Were A White, Male Middle Aged Forbes Columnist…

by Akiba Solomon on December 14 2011, 10:11AM

The lesson of Gene Marks’s “If I Were a Poor Black Kid” column: If you don’t have firsthand knowledge of structural inequality, you have to put in time and rigorous research to write about it. Or you could just stay in your lane.

Topics: Akiba Solomon, Media, Schools & Youth

Black Website Shows Us the Right and Wrong Ways to Talk HIV

by Akiba Solomon on December 6 2011, 10:04AM

Loop21.com gave HIV/AIDS lots of play on World AIDS day. Two of its stories show how far we’ve come and where we still need to go.

Topics: Akiba Solomon, HIV/AIDS at 30, Health

5 of the Dumbest Things Said About the Occupy Wall Street Movement

by Jorge Rivas on October 11 2011, 11:28AM

It was a given that conservative pundits would fear-monger around the Occupy Wall Street Movement. But we’ve rounded up their most outlandish insults.

Topics: #Occupy, Economy

Iman: Italian Vogue ‘Might As Well Have Called Those’ Slave Earrings ‘N— Earrings’

by Jorge Rivas on August 24 2011, 3:55PM

Italian Vogue editor Franca Sozzani has since apologized for the “inconvenience.”

Topics: Arts & Culture, Media

Chicago CBS Affiliate Makes 4-yr.-old Sound Like a Thug, Says Sorry

by Jorge Rivas on August 1 2011, 12:01PM

Turns out the kid who supposedly bragged about wanting to have a gun when he grows up really said he wants to be a police officer. The station acknowledges “mistakes were made.”

Topics: Media

You Maaad!—How Fox News Uses Hip-Hop to Create Race Panics

by Adriel Luis, Nico Cary on July 19 2011, 9:47AM

How the network uses black rappers to scare white parents, court their kids and make millions.

Topics: Arts & Culture, Media

Jose Antonio Vargas Talks American Identity on Rachel Maddow Show

by Asraa Mustufa on June 28 2011, 2:09PM

The Pulitzer Prize winning journalist is quickly becoming a gamechanger in the debate over the Dream Act.

Topics: Immigration, Media

Jose Antonio Vargas Came Out as Undocumented, NOT “Illegal”

by Mónica Novoa on June 23 2011, 9:43AM

So why do so many of his journalism colleagues still insist on using the slur to describe him? Monica Novoa explains why it is long past time for news media to Drop the I-Word.

Topics: Drop the I-Word, Drop the I-Word, Immigration, Media

White Male Bloggers Want Everything But the Burden of Oppression

by Akiba Solomon on June 16 2011, 10:00AM

There’s a historical precedent for Internet hoaxers Tom MacMaster and Bill Graber. And trust that there will be more to come.

Topics: Akiba Solomon, Gender & Sexuality, Global Affairs

The NY Post Makes DSK’s Alleged Rape Victim an AIDS Predator

by Akiba Solomon on May 20 2011, 12:20PM

In its lust for a salacious scoop, Rupert Murdoch’s chronically race-baiting tabloid has made both the alleged victim and her community into the villains.

Topics: Akiba Solomon, DSK Rape Case, Health, Media

Students Push to Get Satoshi Kanazawa Fired in London

by Jamilah King on May 19 2011, 10:27AM

Meanwhile, angry Psychology Today readers are moving to have the evolutionary psychologist dropped for his racist research.

Topics: Gender & Sexuality

The Pseudoscience of “Black Women Are Less Attractive”

by Akiba Solomon on May 17 2011, 12:33PM

A London School of Economics psychology professor creates bar graphs to show how black women are uglier than women of other races. Psychology Today publishes it. Sigh.

Topics: Akiba Solomon, Media

CNN Anchor Don Lemon Talks About Being Gay, Black and on TV

by Akiba Solomon on May 16 2011, 11:30AM

He told the Times that he couldn’t write a feel-good black memoir without being honest and challenging what he says is one of the community’s biggest taboos.

Topics: Akiba Solomon, Gender & Sexuality, Media

I Didn’t Watch the Royal Wedding, But It Still Won’t Go Away

by Akiba Solomon on April 29 2011, 12:32PM

If we’re talking royal fantasies, I’d choose Prince Akeem over Prince William any day.

Topics: Akiba Solomon, Media

Slow Job Recovery for Journalists of Color

by Jamilah King on April 29 2011, 11:56AM

Newsrooms don’t reflect the country’s growing racial diversity.

Topics: Media

May Day Rallies Reveal America’s True Self—Its Promise and Its Fear

by Rinku Sen on April 28 2011, 10:03AM

Several hundred thousand very diverse people will assert their Americanness on Sunday. Rinku Sen explains why a few loud voices will freak out as a result.

Topics: Immigration, Rinku Sen