Newsweek reports that Asian flush can actually have a health risk for those who ignore it and continue to drink.
A series of studies by Dr. Akira Yokoyama of Japan’s Kurihama Alcohol Center found that those people are six to 10 times more likely to develop esophageal cancer than people who drink a comparable amount but aren’t enzyme-deficient.
So, here’s the big question: what heartburn medicine can you take to subdue the Asian glow?
The Boston Globe has an op-ed piece about dying print and what that means for reporting ethnic media. What I was surprised about were the dismal figures in ethnic reporting throughout mainstream outlets.
More than 42 percent of print newsrooms across the country employ no black, Asian American, Latino, or American Indian journalists at all. According to even the most generous analyses, they consult white sources at least two-thirds of the time.
Via Racialicious.
A compelling short essay about the racial transparency (and lackthereof) that occurs in a subway fist fight.
I stared at him until he noticed me. His eyebrows shot up. He looked away and looked back. His face was beery and pink. My face was blank. “You want something?” he said. I said nothing. I just waited. “You got a problem?” I shook my head. I wanted him to see me and know who I am. I thought to myself, “Look at me, you son of a bitch. Look at me and see me.”
For all the pride our American culture has about homogeny, we take simply but cruel acts to break that barrier. At these moments we are thrown into a thin line between awareness and cowardice. This reminds me a lot of my observations and experiences while living in New York, even as a well-to-do and overprivileged student, I was surely made aware of my race while living in Brookyln. At other times I had to make it be known.
Via Racialious.
A high school student from Storm Lake High School has been suspended for refusing an English Secondary Language exam that she believes to be racist.
Phanachone, who was born in California and lived in upstate New York before moving to Storm Lake with her family in 2006, said she has never been enrolled in any English Language Learning or English as a Second Language program.
“Someone told me I should have put English as my first language when I registered for school,” Phanachone said. “But I refused. I will not deny who I am. And I will not disrespect my culture or my mother.”
Smart girl. Stupid high school administration.
Phanachone said school administrators have told her her college scholarships — $86,000 at Buena Vista University and more at Iowa State University, if that is her choice — would disappear. “That’s a lot of money. I worked for that. Nothing has been handed to me. I earned it.”
Reminds me of how much school administrations would play into student fears and use bully tactics like that to get what they want. Nothing is going to scare a kid more than taking away their hard earned scholarship. This is just bad press and a bad look in general. She needs to get the fuck out of Iowa.
So, I guess I really don’t need a pair of Slanties, right? I guess I could be outraged at this, but honestly, if you can make bank selling the idea of slanty eyes as a positive, maybe it’s a step in the right direction. I’m just saying it could be worse. It’s based on ancient Inuit history, so at least they didn’t call these things Chinkies.
In a recession, all the recessive traits are starting to look attractive. Mmm.
After telling my friend about an episode of This American Life on Chicago Public Radio, I went right back to the television episode where they feature Chicago’s infamous Weiner Circle.
Racialicious writes a great bit about a letter from a reader citing an awkward work-related situation. Sometimes in-office jokes and community newsletters can rub people the wrong way, and even make you look like an asshat. A great idea is, when presented with an awkwardly racist joke, to just play dumb.
Put on a bewildered expression, act as if you don’t understand the joke, and ask your co-worker to explain it to you. He will not be able to explain why the joke is funny without evoking a racist stereotype.
I’m taking note of this for the next time something like that comes up. Often times I fume at moments like this and really go off. It would be a better, and smarter, play to feign stupidity just to increase the awkward racial tensions.
Racist jokes rely on an unspoken, shared knowledge of racist stereotypes. Without the stereotypes, there is no humor.
Being so critical of race sometimes, I suppose it would be interesting to play the opposite role just to see what happens next time.
Newsweek writer Raina Kelley attempts to seal the large divide that seems to have been a result of our newfangled black President. No one seems to know what to do or say, and how to fess up when they cross a line. She swings in the right direction, but still falls prey to a glaring lack of empathy.
Just because the New York Post got into hot water for an editorial cartoon depicting cops shooting a chimp identified as the writer of the stimulus plan does not mean that all pictures of monkeys “inadvertently … conjure racial stereotypes,” as The Washington Post wrote in its apology to readers. Will The Washington Post now forgo pictures of chickens and basketballs in case it brings to mind unbidden racial stereotypes?
In case? Make sure the chicken is fried and the basketball players are apes coached by a white man, and I’m sure there won’t be many doubts left. My point is, this is too easy, and to dismiss the rabid watchdogs of racial injustice makes the cartoon no less offensive. If you can pick and choose the obvious examples of chickens and basketballs, there’s some merit to the outrage. And just to make it clear, if you seriously are going to look at that comic and the first thing you think about is the woman attacked by a chimpanzee, then you’ve got heavy blinders on. The responses are beyond frustrating, too.
How are we supposed to have a conversation about race, when we can’t even have a conversation about monkeys?
Or, in conjunction with that daft little one-liner, a comment so off that it’s ironically on point.
Coming next week: the Post regrets using the phrases “attacked and badly mauled woman” and “conjure racial stereotypes” in the same paragraph.
(cartoon of a monkey carrying a white woman away from a white man)
Yeah, cuz when I see “monkey carrying white woman over his shoulder,” I totally think “black dude”!
Maybe she’s never heard of jungle fever. Another sad but oft example of White privilege. When it’s funny, laugh. When it’s wrong, feign ignorance. If you dismiss it, we’ll just shut up and stop talking about that chip on our shoulder.
Undercover Black Man has a lengthy but informative post on where the possible origins of the monkey as a symbol for black men came to exist.
Southern whites didn’t have to bother defining Negroes as animals while they were enslaved. But once the Negro was free – and politically empowered during Reconstruction – that’s when the defeated white Southerner felt the need (psychologically, not just politically) to put forth this ugly idea.
And guess what? When white Southerners reclaimed their political dominance and disenfranchised black people, the monkey thing stuck.
It’s a real eye-opening post, and written a little ways back in 2007, but still very relevant to the today. Despite this misstep, the article by Raina Kelley does transition into a bigger and, thankfully, better idea.
Meanwhile, nobody’s having the kinds of discussions African-Americans would like to have—like whether increased diversity in the newsroom can prevent the negative racial stereotyping we saw during Hurricane Katrina, when black people were reported as “looting” while white people were said to be “foraging.” Why can’t we debate why, according to “The Black Image in the White Mind” written by Robert Entman and Andrew Rojecki, a mug shot of a black defendant is four times more likely to appear in a local television news report than one of a white defendant?
Ultimately, we want to get to the deeper issues that plague our country, but it’s hard to root for the good guys if they don’t field any of the dirty punches. And while I’m all for lightening up the mood a bit, many people are, sadly, not on the same page.
This is just another roadblock, pandering to our inability to communicate certain inalienable truths.
Resist Racism does a good job of tackling recent debacles of imitating slanty Asian eyes, and the knee-jerk defense of the anonymous masses (whom I assume are mostly non-Asian). This particular defense, by a white adoptive parent no less, kind of rubs me the wrong way.
What about kids who hold up their fingers and do bunny ears in photos? Should rabbits start holding town meetings to cry racism??
One thing I haven’t gone over much about is White privilege. Often times you’ll feel bad just for bringing up the race card in a discussion, but few seem to stand put in their vocalization of the issue. And, I will admit to feeling like an ass after being that stubborn guy who wants to bring up race. When did it become commonplace to feel like it’s wrong to defend yourself and the color of your skin?
Over and over again. And they don’t seem to understand why it bothers you. Nobody understands how you feel. They tell you to get a thicker skin. To stop walking around with a chip on your shoulder. To let it roll off your back.
In reality, this exercise can’t replicate what people of color experience. Because racism is not only about these types of actions and denial of your reality, it’s about a system that is fed by these actions. And the system responds by saying that you’re inferior. You’re not equal. Your treatment often reflects the belief that you are lesser-than.
That about sums up how I feel on the issue. Even reading the comments on various articles reporting on these acts of blatant racism stirs me to no end. Sometimes the drivel that people allow themselves to type while under a veil of anonymity is shocking. Sadly, most of the time I talk to people about things like this, they either deflect it like the aforementioned snippet, or they simply tire out and say I’m overanalyzing it.
Via Racialicious via Resist Racism.
Crappy studies on interracial love
A blog post in the NY Times brings up a study on interracial dating and its correlation to height.
As ridiculous as this study seems, the comments are much more telling. To nobody’s surprise, the first comment is in regards to varying penis sizes amongst men of different ethnicities.
Please don’t be such a size queen. Alas, the hits keep on coming.
I’m kind of speechless, but that usually is the case with articles meant to pander to extremely vitriolic comments rather than intellectual discussion.