Race Relations

No one has a problem with interracial marriage anymore, right? Poll after poll shows that public support of these unions is at record highs. The 2010 census revealed not only that interracial marriages are up but also that mixed-race children are the fastest growing group of young people. These days television shows feature interracial couples in storylines where race never causes tension. Altogether that means that interracial marriage is simply a non-issue in post-racial America, doesn't it? Not quite. The online reaction to Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg's wedding on Saturday to Priscilla Chan is a clear reminder that the country has a long way to go before interracial marriage becomes widely and genuinely accepted. Read More...

Back in December the U.S. Justice Department accused Sheriff Joe Arpaio of "unconstitutional policing" for the egregious way he and his staff treated Latinos in Maricopa County, Ariz. On Friday, the Justice Department made an official complaint against Arpaio and the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office spelling out just how badly they trampled on the civil rights of Latinos, regardless of citizenship status. That's right. Undocumented immigrants, permanent legal residents and U.S. citizens have all been subjected to police brutality, according to the Justice Department. The website Think Progress has listed some of the most shocking behavior exhibited by police in Maricopa County. The behavior supports claims that racism is fueling controversial practices and laws in the state of Arizona rather than concerns about illegal immigration. Read More...

The day after President Barack Obama's groundbreaking announcement Wednesday that he supports gay marriage, I received calls from people eager to weigh in on the issue. One wanted to know if I thought Obama would lose support from black voters for backing same-sex marriage. Another complained that once again the media had made sweeping generalizations about the black community's views on gay marriage in particular and homosexuality in general.

For the record, I don't think that President Obama will lose a significant amount of support from black voters because of his stance on gay marriage. That's largely because I don't think blacks are the ignorant homophobes the media has portrayed them to be. I've made this point before and have been vilified by some who've taken it to mean that I don't think heterosexism is an issue in the black community. I certainly think it is, but it's not a problem exclusive to African Americans. Blacks don't exist in a vacuum and if heterosexism is a problem in the black community, it's because it's an issue in society at large. I can't count the number of times as both a student and an educator, I heard white youths use the word "gay" as a put down or even f----t and then look at me like I've gone batty for objecting. It's even difficult to watch a mindless television show without getting a hearty dose of homophobia. On predominantly white sitcoms such as "The Big Bang Theory," "New Girl," "Friends" or "King of Queens," the running joke is always that the male characters have behaved "gay" in some way and that homoerotic undertones color their male relationships. The message is that being gay is gross and therefore hilarious. Yet, I'm supposed to think of homophobia as just a black thing? Read More...

Hispanics are the largest minority group in the United States. Approximately one out of six Americans is Latino, but Father Albert Cutié argues in an opinion piece for CNN that mainstream America fails to recognize the magnitude of the Latino population in the U.S. Why? Because Latinos are so diverse their presence often goes undetected by the majority population.

"I'm often surprised how in the United States, this wonderfully pluralistic nation of ours, we often hear people speak of Latinos and Hispanics as if we were all of the same exact culture, race and ethnicity," Cutié writes. "It bothers me to hear people say, 'but you don't look Hispanic,' as if there is only one appearance in our big umbrella of races and cultures." Read More...

I've lost count of how many times I've advised whites not to darken their skin to play minorities. That's because a white person wearing blackface or brownface is kind of like a white person saying the N-word. You can do it but brace yourself for an angry backlash. That's exactly what actor Ashton Kutcher is enduring after appearing in a new ad for PopChips in which he dons dark makeup and assumes an Indian accent to portray a Bollywood producer named Raj.

In response to the controversy Popchips has pulled the ad, which parodies online dating sites and features Kutcher playing a series of "World Wide Lovers." Other characters, including a gay man named Darl, have also been criticized as offensive. A representative for the company released a statement saying, "The new Popchips worldwide dating parody featuring four characters was created to provoke a few laughs and was never intended to stereotype or offend anyone. At Popchips we embrace all types of shapes, flavors and colors, and appreciate all snackers, no matter their race or ethnicity. We hope people can enjoy this in the spirit it was intended." Read More...

Twenty years ago today residents outraged that an all-white jury chose not to convict the four police officers who savagely beat black motorist Rodney King of a crime set fire to Los Angeles. Looting and violence spread throughout the city, which suffered approximately $1 billion in property damage. Few telltale signs remain of the uprising that highlighted racial tensions throughout the United States. And as we all know, a black man now runs the country. But could the L.A. Riots happen again under the "right" conditions?

Sylvester Monroe, a Time magazine writer who reported on the riots, discussed the possibility of another urban uprising in a piece for TheRoot.com. Current residents of South Los Angeles, the epicenter of the 1992 uprising, told him they doubted the likelihood of a repeat rebellion. Read More...

Drawing $33 million over the weekend, "Think Like a Man" opened No.1 at the box office. In a David and Goliath move, the film knocked the blockbuster "Hunger Games" out of first place. The media is describing the success of the film, which features a mostly black cast and is based on Steve Harvey's dating advice book of the same name, as a surprise. "Think Like a Man" cost just $13 million to make and earned that back on Friday alone. Sony executives reportedly expected the film to bring in just $17 million altogether on opening weekend.

"It was a wild ride. It just got better and better as the night went on Friday. Then to be up so much on Saturday," Rory Bruer, head of distribution at Sony, told CBS News. Read More...

This week Acura made headlines--and not in a good way. TMZ reported on Wednesday that an ad agency the car company used in a casting call for a Super Bowl commercial specified that the African-American actor to play the part of a car dealer be "nice looking, friendly, not be too dark." Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno starred in the Super Bowl ad.

A source involved with the casting process told TMZ that dark-skinned blacks were ruled out because it would have made the lighting logistics trickier. But others, including "The View's" Whoopi Goldberg, seemed to think that colorism was the real culprit. Goldberg remarked Thursday that light skin is perceived as less threatening. Read More...

More than two years ago, I wrote a blog post asking why all of the bachelors featured on the hit ABC dating show have been white. Did the producers of the show fear that the viewing public wasn't ready to see a diverse group of women vying for the affections of a black, Asian or Latino man? Did they believe that no man of color would be considered a catch?

I wrote the blog post in response to a piece Newsweek contributor Joshua Alston wrote exploring why the bachelors and the women competing to their brides were overwhelmingly Caucasian. "Could they cast a black man? Sure. Would it be smart to? Probably not," Alson wrote in February 2010. "'The Bachelor' is one of many pop-culture artifacts that highlight the uncomfortable gap between the way we'd like to think of racial integration and the way it actually is." Read More...

It's no secret that African Americans and Latinos have been particularly hard hit by the recession. A new report from the Center of American Progress called "Communities of Color in the U.S. Economy"--shows just how bad the economic situation is for these two minority groups. It's not just that blacks and Hispanics suffer from higher rates of unemployment than other groups. It's also that blacks and Hispanics with jobs earn lower pay than their counterparts, contributing to lower household incomes. Below are key findings from CAP's report: Read More...