Tag: Jenée Desmond-Harris

  • Americans Say Obama’s Not Black? How Pew Got This Wrong The Root 2014-04-14 Jenée Desmond-Harris, Senior Staff Writer and White House Correspondent Saying “Yes, Obama is mixed race” is not the same as saying “No, he’s not black.” Racial Identity 101: You can be both. Twenty-seven percent of Americans say President Barack Obama is black,…

  • Biracial Girls Will Be Fine If Their Dolls Don’t Look Like Them The Root 2013-12-27 Jenée Desmond-Harris Race Manners: A rainbow of toys is great, but how kids live is much more important than how they play. “Hello. I’m wondering if you can offer some broad guidance before I head out to the malls for…

  • The Future of Race in America The Root 2013-11-05 Jenée Desmond-Harris, Senior Staff Writer Editor’s note: This is part 2 of a three-part series. To read part 1, click here. Will we ever abandon stereotypes? Will “people of color” act as a group? Here are four possible theories about where we are headed as a…

  • We are going to need new terms that reflect numerical reality and social-political reality. Part of that implies thinking about what race and ethnicity mean in general and what specific racial and ethnic, and multiracial and multiethnic, identities mean in particular. At the same time, we’ve got to remember that every racial or ethnic community…

  • I Found One Drop: Can I Be Black Now? The Root 2013-05-01 Jenée Desmond-Harris Race Manners: Time for a racial gut check. Has your African-American ancestor really changed anything? “I recently availed myself of my university’s online resources and did some genealogical digging about my white conservative family. It turns out that one of our…

  • ‘Mixed Kids Are the Cutest’ Isn’t Cute? The Root 2013-04-08 Jenée Desmond-Harris, Staff Writer “I’m a Caucasian woman with a biracial child (her father is black). I live in a predominantly white community. Why is it that whenever people discover that I have a ‘mixed’ child, they always say things like, ‘Oh, he/she must be…

  • The Obamas and a (Post) Racial America? Oxford University Press January 2011 336 pages 6-1/8 x 9-1/4 Hardback ISBN13: 9780199735204; ISBN10: 0199735204 Edited by Gregory Parks, Assistant Professor of Law Wake Forest University, Winston Salem, North Carolina Matthew Hughey, Associate Professor of Sociology University of Connecticut The United States has taken a long and winding…

  • Browner America: Marcia Alesan Dawkins says an increase in nonwhite births doesn’t mean more social justice.

  • The Biggest Lie About Race? That It’s Real The Root 2011-07-26 Jenée Desmond-Harris, Contributing Editor Dorothy Roberts says race is a social and political construct, and she won’t rest until we know it. There’s a reason we’ll never come to a consensus on the most accurate racial classifications for Barack Obama or Tiger Woods. There’s…

  • Reverse Passing? Kidding… Right? The Root 2010-12-14 Jenée Desmond-Harris A report that biracial people are denying their white parents seems absurd to me—but I’m paying attention anyway. Ever heard of Barack Obama? You know, the first black president? The one who won an election and near-deity status in the African-American community while openly discussing his…