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Vacation!

Okay, not exactly. But after nearly two years of blogging, I am taking time off. I’ll be spending the next ten weeks (until mid-January-ish) cobbling together a manuscript for a book that sums up a good deal of what I’ve learned through writing and posting on Race Files.

That means there won’t be much in the way of new content from me. Instead, I’m unplugging, rejuvenating, reading, writing (long form this time), and reflecting off line. But, that doesn’t mean there won’t be any new content on Race Files. In fact, there’s a lot we’ll be re-posting and new content … Read more “Vacation!”

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Sirius XM: Does that Umbrella Come with a Pink Slip for Babchik?

“I want to buy an umbrella [that comes] with an Asian girl…In my experience, girls who stand next to me longer than 20 seconds get a creampie.” Mike Babchik, Host of “Man Banter” on SiriusXM to an Asian American woman at Comic Con, October 2013

You may have heard about the racist misogynist Mike Babchik who sexually harassed at least one Asian American attendee at Comic Con this month, right here in my hometown of New York City. Mike Babchik is a creep. But we’re all familiar with creeps like him. All you have to do is walk outside or … Read more “Sirius XM: Does that Umbrella Come with a Pink Slip for Babchik?”

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Alan Grayson is Wrong About the Tea Parties…Sort of

The dust up created by Florida Congressman Alan Grayson’s recent fundraising appeal featuring a burning cross as the “T” in “Tea Party” is making the talking heads at Fox absolutely gleeful. After all, it’s providing them with the perfect foil against which to present themselves as champions of racial sensitivity.

Megyn Kelly of Fox’s Kelly File had this to say in an interview with former Congressman, Alan West (because some of their best friends are Black),

You know, there are certain things you don’t touch in American politics, you don’t mess around with. And you know, this referring, equating somebody … Read more “Alan Grayson is Wrong About the Tea Parties…Sort of”

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The Solitary Confinement of Herman Wallace

Earlier this month, Transformation: Where Love Meets Justice, a digital publication of openDemocracy, published an article I wrote about the solitary confinement of Herman Wallace, one of the Angola 3, held in solitary confinement for more than 40 years for allegedly murdering a prison guard at the Angola Prison.

No physical evidence ties Mr. Wallace to the murder. The testimony of the only witness in the case has long been discredited. Mr. Wallace and the other two men accused of the crime claim that they were framed in retaliation for forming a chapter of the Black Panther Party … Read more “The Solitary Confinement of Herman Wallace”

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The Power of Thinking Small

 

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.

– Margaret Mead

This quote is often repeated in order to remind us that, in the midst of an apathetic majority, a small minority of people can make big changes. Even major social movements begin with small acts like lunch counter sit-ins, or consciousness-raising groups for battered women held in living rooms and over kitchen tables.

The antics of the Tea Party Caucus of Congress serves as a good, contemporary reminder of the power of relatively … Read more “The Power of Thinking Small”

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I Know Haters Are Gonna Hate Cuz That’s What They Do, But This?

Remember back in November of 2011 when Herman Cain called the House Minority Leader “Princess Nancy during one of the seemingly endless debates leading up to the GOP presidential nomination?

I was reminded of that comment when reading this report from Democracy Corps, Inside the GOP: Report on Focus Groups with Evangelical, Tea Party, and Moderate Republicans. There are two parts to the brief that together describe the result of focus groups organized to figure out what gives the Republican base juice.

Number one on the list? Obama-hatred. Here’s what they have to say on that front –… Read more “I Know Haters Are Gonna Hate Cuz That’s What They Do, But This?”

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A New Slant on Hate Speech

The United States Patent and Trademark Office is refusing trademark protection to a Portland, Oregon based rock band called The Slants. Apparently, they believe the name the band is seeking to protect is disparaging to Asians.

When I first heard about this I wasn’t sure what to think. On one hand, it seems like a marker of progress that the U.S. government would deny trademark protection of a racial slur. But, on the other, this sounds like censorship, right?

Wrong. The fact that trademark protection is being denied doesn’t mean the group can’t use the name. This isn’t censorship. This … Read more “A New Slant on Hate Speech”

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Asian Americans Are the Same as Other Americans, But Not in the Way Frank Wu Seems to Think We Are

Frank H. Wu (author of Yellow: Race Beyond Black and White, a useful if not entirely satisfying examination of the racial status of Asian Americans) has been making waves with his recent Huff Post editorial, Jeremy Lin and the End of Asian Americans? In it, he makes the point that Asian Americans are distinct from Asians globally, both because Asians in Asia don’t share a pan-Asian identity, and because Asian Americans are neither well known to nor very much like the peoples of the countries in which we are ethnically rooted.

Good enough. I don’t disagree with that point. But … Read more “Asian Americans Are the Same as Other Americans, But Not in the Way Frank Wu Seems to Think We Are”

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Series Premier: Open Season on Asians in the Media (starring actual Dragon Ladies!)

[Spoiler Alert] This weekend, I watched the new blockbuster Gravity with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, ironically at a Queens, New York movie theater next door to a Hooters that was sued last year for inputting a customer’s order under “Chinx”. The movie had me and my friends cracking up in our seats.

Maybe you’re thinking, Wait, but it’s not a comedy! It’s a movie about the rugged individualism and determination of a White American woman astronaut under space duress! I suppose, even though the protagonist is ultimately saved by the apparition of her White male … Read more “Series Premier: Open Season on Asians in the Media (starring actual Dragon Ladies!)”

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Why I’m an Anti-Racist

People often ask me why I’m so obsessed with anti-racism. I talk about it, read about, and, obviously, write about it constantly. People wonder why I devote so much time, thought, and virtual ink to just one source of human suffering when there are so many to choose from.

I get where they’re coming from. There’s lots of injustice out there. Children live in poverty and suffer hunger and abuse. Women are denied reproductive justice. People with disabilities are routinely denied access to public life. And then there’s the privatization of everything, from basic services to water. Surely, turning shared … Read more “Why I’m an Anti-Racist”