Category: United States

  • As a kid, I was biracial (and black). Today, I’m black (and biracial). The Washington Post 2015-06-24 Kristal Brent Zook, Professor of Journalism, Media Studies, and Public Relations Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York The box we check on census forms is only half the story. A recent Pew study, “Multiracial in America: Proud, Diverse and…

  • America’s largest multiracial group doesn’t think of itself that way Vox 2015-06-18 Jenée Desmond-Harris People who have both white and Native American heritage make up America’s biggest multiracial group. But they’re the least likely to embrace the label. This is one of the findings of a Pew Research Center study that took an incredibly detailed…

  • Texas woman discovers she’s white after 70 years KHOU Houston, Texas 2015-06-22 Marvin Hurst, Reporter KENS 5 TV, San Antonio, Texas Byrd with her adoptive family. (Photo: (Photo: Family Photograph)) The mere mention of Rachel Dolezal’s name sets Verda Byrd off like a stick of dynamite. “She lied about her race,” Byrd said. “I didn’t…

  • Why Rachel Dolezal Needed To Construct Her Own Black Narrative BuzzFeed 2015-06-13 Adam Serwer, BuzzFeed News National Editor In order to pass as black, Dolezal took advantage of the black community’s long tradition of inclusion regardless of skin tone. In 1895, when Justice Henry Billings Brown ruled that Louisiana’s law segregating train cars was constitutional,…

  • Episode 613 – President Barack Obama WTF with Marc Maron Monday, 2015-06-22 Marc Maron, Host Barack Obama, President of the United States Marc and President Obama in the garage (Photo: Pete Souza) Marc welcomes the 44th President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, to the garage for conversation about college, fitting in, race…

  • What the 1920s Tell Us About Dolezal and Racial Illogic The Chronicle of Higher Education 2015-06-19 Carla Kaplan, Stanton W. and Elisabeth K. Davis Distinguished Professor of American Literature Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts Carla Kaplan is author of Miss Anne in Harlem: The White Women of the Black Renaissance (Harper, 2013). What does it mean…

  • U.S. ‘Not Cured’ of Racism, Obama Says, Citing Slavery’s Legacy The New York Times 2015-06-22 Michael D. Shear, White House Correspondent Christine Hauser, Reporter WASHINGTON — Just days after nine black parishioners were killed in a South Carolina church, President Obama said the legacy of slavery still “casts a long shadow” on American life, and…

  • Misty Copeland: meet the ballerina who rewrote the rules of colour, class and curves The Telegraph 2015-06-21 Jane Mulkerrins Facing opposition about her race, shape, even her hair, the ballet dancer Misty Copeland battled the establishment – and her own mother – to make it to the top Misty Copeland can pinpoint the precise moment…

  • The problems with Rachel Dolezal and the social construction of race Nerding Out with Dorian Warren MSNBC 2015-06-17 Dorian Warren, Host and Associate Professor of Political Science and International and Public Affairs Columbia University, New York, New York Christina Greer, Assistant Professor of Political Science Fordham University, The Jesuit University of New York Allyson Hobbs,…

  • An open letter to President Obama: This is a moral emergency Jewish Journal 2015-06-19 Todd Samuel Presner, Professor and Director, Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies University of California, Los Angeles Dear President Barack Obama, I appreciate your comments on the “heartache and the sadness and the anger” that many Americans are feeling after…