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Sofia Vergara Doesn�t Think Stereotypes Are a Problem

Sat, 25 May 2013 00:00:17 +0000

"Modern Family" star Sofia Vergara remarked during a recent interview that she doesn't take issue with racial stereotypes. Her character Gloria on the show has often been criticized for fueling Latina stereotypes that create the impression that Hispanic women are overwhelmingly loud, crazy and melodramatic, to name few.

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Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia and Racist Jokes

Fri, 24 May 2013 04:13:07 +0000

It's no secret in the golf world that Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia have never been friends. But the men's adversarial relationship took a racially tinged turn on Tuesday when Garcia, a Spaniard, quipped that he would serve fried chicken if he and Woods dined together at the U.S. Open. After public outcry, Garcia predictably apologized. He tried to pass the comment off a "silly remark" and said that it "in no way was the comment meant in a racist manner." If that were true, however, why didn't Garcia suggest that the two have steak or pizza or fish or any number of other foods unassociated with racial stereotypes. Garcia wasn't simply trying to be silly he was trying to perpetuate myths about black people by telling a tired racist joke.

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The Debate Over Richwine�s Work on Hispanics and IQ

Thu, 23 May 2013 20:23:08 +0000

Jason Richwine's 2009 doctoral dissertation about Hispanic immigrants and IQ has been headline fodder for two weeks now. That's because conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, where Richwine worked as an analyst, recently slammed the Senate's proposed immigration bill as a financial disaster in the making. Because Richwine's dissertation posited that Hispanic immigrants to the U.S. have lower IQs than white natives, critics have accused Richwine and, by extension, the Heritage Foundation of opposing immigration reform due to racism. Moreover Harvard University, where Richwine presented his dissertation, has come under fire for not rejecting his argument as drivel rooted in racist pseudo science. In fact more than 1,200 Harvard students have urged the Ivy League university to repudiate the dissertation, according to the Boston Globe.

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Survey Identifies World�s Most Racist Countries

Thu, 16 May 2013 18:40:49 +0000

Is it possible to determine the world's most racist countries through a single poll? Not likely. But the World Values Survey set out to do just that by asking citizens of more than 80 different nations to "identify kinds of people they would not want as neighbors," the Washington Post reports. Race was among a list of qualities respondents could choose from to rule out people as neighbors.

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Are White Americans Unaware of Their Racism?

Mon, 13 May 2013 11:10:34 +0000

The problem with white America, according to attorney Dawn Cutaia, is that "we are racist and we don't even know it." Cutaia, who's white herself, says in an opinion piece for the York Daily Record that many whites have the impression that they have to belong to the KKK to be racist. By denying the prevalence of racism, however, whites have done a disservice to America, Cutaia asserts.

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Arizona High Schools Celebrates "Redneck Day"

Mon, 06 May 2013 01:11:20 +0000

An Arizona high school is in hot water after celebrating "Redneck Day" last week to stir up school spirit before prom. Students at Queen Creek High School in Maricopa County were encouraged to dress up as "rednecks" like the people featured on the reality program "Duck Dynasty," which chronicles a Louisiana family who cashed in on a duck-call hunting product called the Duck Commander.

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Obama Pokes Fun of Bigotry at Correspondents� Dinner

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 01:24:27 +0000

At the White House Correspondents' Dinner on Saturday, President Barack Obama did not shy away from the xenophobic and Islamophobic smear campaigns that have dogged him throughout his presidency. Using humor, he took aim at the detractors who have accused him of being a Muslim born outside of the United States. The president also discussed the Republican Party's lackluster attempts to win over racial minority groups.

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Race, Religion and the Boston Marathon Bombing

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 14:22:05 +0000

As Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" has pointed out, some of the media coverage following the bombing of the Boston Marathon on Monday has proven to be downright abysmal. It's not only that major news outlets have reported false information related to the bombing but also that some of this false information has had a racist and xenophobic streak that's impacted anyone who's watched television coverage of the event or read about it on or offline.

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Does The �Accidental Racist� Miss the Mark?

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 23:48:56 +0000

To say that Brad Paisley's new single "Accidental Racist" has sparked controversy would be an understatement. News outlets as diverse as NPR, CNN, The Atlantic and the Christian Science Monitor have been picked apart the song's lyrics. Critics such as The Atlantic's Ta-Nehisi Coates argue that the "Accidental Racist" is plain racist. I don't know if I would go that far, but I certainly find the song problematic because it simplifies U.S. history and the racism that characterized that history. In the song, which features rapper-actor LL Cool J, Paisley remarks...

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Celebrating Arab American Heritage Month

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 17:53:15 +0000

April is Arab American Heritage Month. It's my first time in four years on the Race Relations website writing about this cultural observance month. I wish I hadn't waited so ...

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