Tommie Smith, the Olympic gold medalist who, along with fellow Olympian John Carlos, staged the Olympics’ most infamous political protest, the iconic image of which can be seen plastered on dorm room walls from coast to coast, has changed his tune about mixing politics and the Olympic Games. International disapproval of the Chinese government has led to numerous protests and threats of protests over the upcoming games in Beijing, but the former track and field medalist says athletes should focus on their events.
Gym Class Heroes frontman Travis McCoy was performing “Peace Sign” on stage with his group during the St. Louis Warped Tour stop when a black audience member called him a “fucking ignorant nigger.” That’s when things went downhill.
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Remember last month when Tila Tequila claimed credit for California’s legalization of same-sex marriage, because her groundbreaking reality television show put sexualities other than the hetero variety on the map? Or something ridiculous? Now tell us if you heard the one about 24 actor Dennis Haysbert, who played President David Palmer, taking credit for the possibility of a black man becoming president. CONTINUED »
Don’t expect to see many black models at Paris Fashion Week. Top designers, who are doing some preemptive damage control, say so themselves. They blame the agencies, which they say have a limited selection of models and color and an overwhelming number of Eastern Europeans.
There are some things in life that simply do not need to be “studied,” because when the research is finished and the analysis is performed, you will end up with a lengthy report explaining, in excruciating detail, a generally accepted norm that you already knew existed. Phenomenon like this include: 1) Increased motorcycle sales will increase the number of motorcycle deaths; Combining Valium, Cialias, Vicodin, and Klonopin could put your health in serious danger; and 3) That the sports departments at newspapers are mostly made up of white guys. CONTINUED »
You see Barack Obama’s touch everywhere — in the new generation of voters he’s moved to register to vote and support his candidacy, in the smiling faces of elderly blacks, in the starry-eyed gazes of political pundits, and in the message boards on white supremacist sites. Wait, what?
Maybe Don Imus’ latest racist flap isn’t attracting the outcry last year’s “nappy-headed hos” remark did because there are fewer people to cry out to. In this type of situation, the infuriated classes have two people to sound off to: The broadcasters who carry his show (his new five-year $40 million gig is through Citadel Broadcasting and Rural Media Networks) and the advertisers who pay to reach his audience.
Except every since losing his old gig and finding new partners, his reach has slid; he no longer averages the 2.25 million listeners per week he did with CBS Radio. But more importantly, the advertisers who fund his operation – which reaped $20 million a year to CBS’ WFAN flagship, plus $20 million collectively to other affiliates – are nowhere to be found. CONTINUED »
The fresh-faced, newly-minted JDs who graduated from law school this decade with a hankering for a career at the U.S. Justice Department might have proudly listed some of extracurricular activites — say Greenpeace, the Poverty and Race Research Action Council, or the American Constitution Society — on their resumes without knowing that they were actually screwing themselves out of a job interview. How, exactly?
A very damning report on the attorney-hiring practices at the Justice Department shows that aides used liberal “buzzwords” in applications and resumes to weed out lawyers with Democratic leanings. It’s been happening since 2002, but it apparently became markedly worse around 2006 (yay, Alberto Gonzales!).
Cranky pants racist Don Imus, who forced himself into the headlines yesterday with a new bigoted remark to add to his collection, is now explaining away his statement as a just a little something everyone misunderstood. Discussing Dallas Cowboys cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones yesterday morning, Imus was told on air that Jones has “been arrested six times since being drafted by Tennessee in 2005.” Imus asked, “What color is he?” and was told, “He’s African-American.” Said Imus: “Well, there you go. Now we know.”
To the casual observer, this might’ve sounded like Imus was saying, “Well of course the guy who’s been arrested six times has skin that’s been kissed by the sun!” But that’s not the case, insists the ignoramus. CONTINUED »
If there was one person who could attempt to trump NBC Sports’ lead golf analyst Johnny Miller anti-Italian remarks against Rocco Mediate, it’s none other than America’s Favorite Racist Don Imus. On this morning’s show, Imus & Co. were discussing suspended Dallas Cowboys cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones, who wants to drop his nickname. During the segment, one of his cohorts (perhaps Warner Wolfe?) tells Imus that Jones has “been arrested six times since being drafted by Tennessee in 2005.” Asks Imus: “What color is he?” Response: “He’s African-American.” You know where this is going. CONTINUED »
Comics? Check. Coupons? Check. Parade? Check. Magazine on racial and ethnic issues in the U.S.? Starting this Sunday, check. Along with the cheesy Parade and the piles of paper-wasting inserts from Best Buy and Wal-Mart, many Sunday paper readers will find Rise Up, a Kansas-City-based weekly magazine that purports to “celebrate race and ethnicity and help us better understand our differences, celebrate our commonalities and build a great foundation to bridge the gaps that divide us.” And, if it comes sandwiched between the latest Dilbert comic and a Parade cover story about Valerie Bertinelli’s battle to overcome her coke addiction, it might actually force people to notice or talk about things they spend a lot of time not trying to notice or talk about.
Surprise, surprise: Barack Obama was one of Vogue Italia editor Franca Sozzani’s inspirations when she decided to dedicate July’s issue of her magazine to black models. Of course, he wasn’t the only inspiration. Sozzani was well aware of the problem of the rapidly-disappearing black model.
Fearful that some Republican 527 group, or Michelle Malkin, might grab an image of Barack Obama with two Muslim women wearing headscarves in the background, Barack’s campaign volunteers barred a pair of his supporters from sitting behind the podium at a rally in Detroit, where Al Gore officially endorsed him.
This is mean, because it’s, uh, kinda racist, and Obama is supposed to be the candidate that transcends the buzz phrase known as “identity politics.”
This is also a very calculated move, because Obama has a Muslim “problem,” in the sense that many of the voters he’s trying to reach actually think he’s Muslim, which isn’t inherently bad, but isn’t, sadly, the best thing to be for a presidential candidate. (Obama, meanwhile, has gone to great lengths to shoot down rumors that he’s Muslim. And you know where that got him.)
And lest you think there was some other reason for why the two women were not seated within Obama’s camera range – beside the campaign issuing an official denial – there’s the pair of first-person tales. CONTINUED »
And where would you naturally turn for a sensible discussion on the phenomenon of “angry black women”? Fox News and its talking heads, of course! Here’s Dan Abrams calling out the network’s resident media critic Cal Thomas who lays out how the images of black women that America sees on television are just a bunch of ladies always angry about something. Even Mrs. Huxtable was always chewing someone out!
Around Jossip HQ, we’ve taken Stereohyped’s lead in wasting time by plugging our faces into The Face Transformer, changing our editors’ races and, in one instance, humanity (hello, manga!). Whitney at Mollygood did it over here. Below, Jossip’s own David Hauslaib transforms into West Asian, an old man, East Asian, a Manga character, and a black man.
The Utah-based purveyors of this Obama monkey doll (brilliantly named “The Sock Obama”) say, in response to a barrage of criticism, that they, “perhaps, naively,” felt that there was nothing wrong with portraying a black man, particularly one who has a pretty great shot of becoming the next president of the United States, as a monkey.
JC Watts, the former Republican Congressman who is making news after his announcement that he plans to launch an all-black cable news network some time this year, says that issues like the Reverend Wright scandal show that such a network is sorely needed.
Most of what we hear in the news about black dads is that they’re absent, ne’er do wells who leave all the rearing to black women and fail to pay child support. All of us who do have great dads, myself included (Hi, Daddy!), know this is not the case. Below, check out some celebrity dads (the ones who aren’t out there getting sued for paternity and delinquent child support) in honor of Father’s Day this Sunday.
Surprise, minorities: Hollywood doesn’t like casting us as leads in films, even if that means completely shifting around facts to accommodate white actors.
Although director Spike Lee just dressed down the wizened Clint Eastwood for not including black extras in his WWII dramas, a new ABC News article takes issue with the way Hollywood consistently uses whites to fill major roles written for blacks, Hispanics and Asians. To wit:
Now that The Wire is gone for good, Lost is my favorite show on television — even though the writers have an interesting history of making major black characters die horrible deaths. But, hey, don’t take my word for it. Here’s what Harold Perrineau, whose character, Michael, got blown to smithereens in last week’s season finale, has to say about it.
Editorial Director
