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Strollerderby
Unless you're Muslim, that is.
The TLC reality show “All-American Muslim” premiered last month and chronicles the lives of five families from Dearborn, Michigan, a Detroit suburb with a large Muslim and Arab-American population. Chances are you might not have heard of the show if it weren’t for Lowe’s Home Improvement, which pulled its ads from the show “after a conservative group known as the Florida Family Association complained, saying the program was ‘propaganda that riskily hides the Islamic agenda’s clear and present danger to American liberties and traditional values,’” the AP reports.
***Spoiler alert: The Dad in one of the five families profiled in the show is a cop. THERE’S A TERRORIST ON THE INSIDE, YOU GUYS! The only reason he’s giving you a speeding ticket is because he’s trying to DESTROY YOUR WAY OF LIFE!***
Anyway…
Response to Lowe’s decision to stop advertising during the program has been mixed. California Senator Ted Lieu called the decision “un-American” and “naked religious bigotry.” Lieu told The Associated Press “he would also consider legislative action if Lowe’s doesn’t apologize to Muslims and reinstate its ads.”
Meanwhile, average Americans have posted appreciative sentiments on Lowe’s Facebook page like, “Congratulations to Lowe’s for having the guts to stick up for traditional Americans!” (Visit BuzzFeed for more pro-Lowe’s comments made by less articulate folks.)
So in light of the split reaction this ad controversy created, where does Lowe’s stand now? Continue reading »
A group of students at Ohio University has banded together to fight against offensive Halloween costumes that promote racial stereotypes.
The group, Students Teaching About Racism in Society (STARS), has created a campaign called “We’re A Culture, Not A Costume” that depicts students of various ethnicities holding photos of costumes that are supposed to represent them but are instead insulting to their culture. The poster’s key message? “This is not who I am and this is not OK.” The creative and intriguing campaign has caught the attention of the press, and has now been featured everywhere from CNN to Time magazine to ABC News.
As CNN reports, ethnic stereotype costumes still exist in abundance: ”… even after widely publicized controversies such as the “Ghetto Fab” wig at Kohl’s and Target’s illegal alien jumpsuit, costumes of stereotypes abound. On Google’s shopping section, several pages of Mexican costume ideas are available, from gauchos and ‘Mexican donkey costumes’ to sexy serapes and tequila shooter girls.”
Ignorant prank or blatant racism?
Parents packed into a Utah high school last night to discuss racism allegations at Alta High School. Members from Canyons School District and a member from the federal Department of Justice fielded questions from the public at the meeting.
The Canyons School District has been investigating what they are calling very serious cases of alleged racism at Alta High School after a white junior, during a March 17 spirit assembly in which juniors wore white, donned what looked like a Ku Klux Klan hood, which had holes for his eyes. Continue reading »
America's most racist kid?
Wonkette just posted a heartbreaking video of a young boy identified only as Andrew (for soon to be obvious reasons) who hosts his very own YouTube show. What’s his show about, you ask? Tween culture? Sort of. He does review Marmaduke. Politics? Kinda. He shouts out a book he found in the children’s section of the library about Barack Obama.
Mostly, though, it’s about his fear of Mexicans and Black people. That’s right, for eight episodes now, Andrew has been at the helm of a video series “for all the white kids out there” wherein he spews propaganda taught to him by The White Nationalist Movement.
I’ve dealt with openly racist adults – and children – before. Back in 2005, I wrote a very short blog post about then prominent twin, tween duo Prussian Blue, who were famous for their white supremacist tunes. Continue reading »
Race Relations Act reveals toddler racists.
In the United Kingdom, over 250,000 school children – some as young as three – have been labeled as racist and reported to authorities by teachers following the guidelines of the Race Relations Act 2000.
The purpose of the Act is to “eliminate unlawful racial discrimination and promote equality of opportunity and good relations between people of different racial groups.” But while that sounds like a fine idea and is surely well-intended, the devil is in the details. Continue reading »
Should a toy ruin a child's educational career?
Sam Burgos, an 8-year-old school boy in Broward County, FL, was suspended last November after bringing a toy gun to school, NBC reports. Pembroke Pines Charter School has a zero-tolerance policy against weapons, and because the toy was capable of firing projectiles, they considered it a threat.
Burgos’s parents respected the school’s decision to suspend their son for the year, but they received quite a shock when they tried to re-enroll him in class this fall. Broward County school officials have informed the family that Sam will not be allowed back into second grade this year – unless he’s willing to attend a correctional school for problem children. What gives? Continue reading »
With all the tension in Arizona over immigration law, wouldn’t it be crazy if some local politician with a radio talk show started a campaign to have the faces of black and Hispanic children on a school mural lightened so that they looked white? That would be totally insane, right?
Right.
Which is why all hell broke loose this weekend in Prescott, AZ. Wonkette first reported Friday that “a group of artists has been asked to lighten the faces of children depicted in a giant public mural at a Prescott school. The project’s leader says he was ordered to lighten the skin tone after complaints about the children’s ethnicity.” Ordered by the principal of Miller Valley School, no less, because of pressure led by Prescott city councilman Steve Blair.
Prescott residents were riled by Blair’s inflammatory comments about the appropriateness of depicting a black student in the center of the mural. Blair said on his radio show, “I am not a racist individual, but… to depict the biggest picture on that building as a black person, I would have to ask the question, ‘Why?’” Continue reading »
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