Bigots love hunting for situations in which blacks discriminate against whites. And not because they care so much about preventing acts of racism, but because they are bent on justifying them. On Saturday, scholar and TV show host Melissa Harris-Perry expressed her sincere regret for what some critics thought was an inappropriate attack on one […]
Need a last-minute gift that fights gender stereotypes and racial oppression? Khadijah Costley White offers 20 awesome ideas. As we face the last gift-buying weekend before Christmas, I’m sure many a procrastinating feminist is wondering what to buy that little girl (or boy) in their lives. While most feminist gift lists focus on toys that […]
What does the recent arrest of two black men traveling with a young white woman say about where we are as a country? Khadijah Costley White weighs in. Very early on Sunday morning, two young dance instructors on a field trip with a teenaged student pulled over at a gas station to get directions. Immediately, […]
It is absurd to draw a hard and fast line across a swath of people that contains such a multitude of human faces and figures, says Emily Heist Moss. Is it racist to categorically not date people of a certain race? Yes. But, what about…no. But, what if…no. But, but, but, but…no. Why is it […]
I believe that you can win a football game without being racist, sexist, and homophobic. I believe that you can be great without demeaning and subjugating others. But we all have to believe that. Sports are a hot mess right now. In the last three months, we’ve seen at least two incidents of a white […]
White privilege means getting to be black one day of the year. But we are black always, says Khadijah Costley White. This week’s internet meme is Racism: The Halloween Edition. All over the Web, people have been posting photos of folks doing insanely offensive racial mimicry or mockery. Clearly, no one’s seen this new poster […]
It’s impossible to be human, live in our culture, and not be biased, says Soraya Chemaly. Mahzarin R. Banaji was as an assistant professor of psychology at Yale University in the late ’80s when she was involved in memory experiment, the end of which involved asking subjects, based on a list of names, which people […]
This originally appeared on Alternet.org. Republished here with permission. Like many women, I’ve been sexualized since before I really knew what sex was. The honking, leering, and whistling began when I was about 11 years old, and it happened almost everywhere in my Mexican working-class neighborhood. On a few occasions, men followed me in their […]
This originally appeared on Everyday Feminism. Republished here with permission. It seems like a noble, enlightened thing to say: “I don’t see race.” And in a sense it is, right? I mean, race isn’t a biological fact, it doesn’t determine the content of a person’s character, and it really shouldn’t matter. But I’m tired of […]
Neither woman has used their public platform to really address the racism they face as Asian American women. Here’s why Khadijah Costley White thinks they should. Last week, the victorious bid of the first Indian-American Miss America, Nina Davuluri, and an admission about plastic surgery from TV personality Julie Chen has recently pushed forward a widespread […]
The project to turn black Americans into “real citizens” seems never-ending, despite its racist and paternalistic roots, says Khadijah Costley White. Over the last week, 7-year-old Tiana Parker has been breaking hearts around the nation. Booted out of her school for wearing her hair in locks (known to some as dreadlocks), news cameras rolled as […]
Not long ago it was socially acceptable to say, “I won’t read that book, it’s about black people” in the same way that boys routinely reject stories about girls today, says Soraya Chemaly. One day, a few years ago, when my daughter was in third grade, she had to explain to a classmate what sexism […]
