An Open Letter to ABC’s 20/20 regarding “Islam: Questions and Answers”

In light of the highly problematic portrayal of Muslims in ABC’s 20/20 September 29, 2010 episode “Islam: Questions and Answers,” a colleague of mine, Margari Hill (who is also an amazing blogger in her own right), and I wrote an open letter to the production team of the program. If you are interested in supporting this effort and endorsing this letter, please click on the link here to fill out the requested information and share with others who shared similar sentiments about the episode.

An Open Letter to ABC’s 20/20 regarding “Islam: Questions and Answers” Season 31, Episode 3

Racial Privilege or Persecution for Arab Americans

According to the US federal government, this guys is white:

Yes, if following the categorization of race in the upcoming Census, which directly takes its taxonomy cues from the Office of Budget and Management, Sudanese refugee turned American olympian (Beijing 2008) Lopez Lomong. According to the Office of Management and Budget’s Directive 15, passed in 1997, “whites” are defined as descendants of “the original peoples of Europe, North Africa or the Middle East.” Hispanic or Latino people, according to the same government agency, are of “Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American or other Spanish culture.” Considering that Sudan is considered a part of “North Africa,” this would render Lomong and other nationals from Sudan white, while the famous Cuban below, could receive minority protection for her nonwhite federal classification:

Spirit Airlines Banks on Annoying Race Talk Around Sotomayor Nomination

Spirit Airlines is running a marketing campaign called, “Justice Ochita Suprema,” which means ‘supreme justice eight’ in Spanish. The number refers to the low fares they are selling, as low as $8 each way. The email flier announces, “Justice Ochita Suprema has ruled against high fares and they are now out of appeals.” So apparently, [...]

Nobody Loves Brad Garrett

Brad Garrett who is known for his sitcom work, most notably on Everybody Loves Raymondignited a new racial controversy yesterday when he dropped some racial slurs at a paparazzo during a heated argument in the middle of the street. His words proof that bizarre things happen in real life not just in sitcoms. In the [...]

OBAMA: “Brothers should pull up their pants”

Another victory for whiteness. Whether through chastising Blacks for feeding their kids fried chicken for breakfast; by spending Father’s Day reprimanding black men for acting like “boys” rather than responsible adults; or by spewing out nonsense like “the single biggest thing” that we could do to reduce inner-city poverty “is to encourage teenage girls to [...]

Commentary: Arabs and Muslims Voting Against Their Own Interests Out of Elitism Only Reap More Hardship

Emily’s latest post down below features an interesting link to a commentary from Black America Web (BAW) from last June. It talks about how poor whites vote against their own interests by voting Republican. I usually find that such pieces miss important opportunities because they fail to recognize what politics is. Politics, for them, is [...]