Category Archives: race

Shame Day: Donald Sterling, the Los Angeles Clippers, and the NBA

Today’s Shame Day has a multitude of facets, the first and largest of being that Donald Sterling is a straight-up racist.

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To begin with we have the very recent news of TMZ’s recording [since authenticated by his lawyer] of the LA Clippers’ owner talking to his half-Black half-Mexican girlfriend and telling her the following:

– “It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people. Do you have to?” (3:30) 

– “You can sleep with [black people]. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want.  The little I ask you is not to promote it on that … and not to bring them to my games.” (5:15)

– “I’m just saying, in your lousy f******* Instagrams, you don’t have to have yourself with, walking with black people.” (7:45)

– “…Don’t put him [Magic] on an Instagram for the world to have to see so they have to call me.  And don’t bring him to my games.” (9:13)

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The Context and Cultural Appropriation of Avril Lavigne’s “Hello Kitty” Music Video

To begin with, I’m not the most unbiased person to be writing about this. “Sk8ter Boi” came out when I was attending a Canadian public school for the first time, and it had a fairly indelible effect on me. My being a fan of Avril Lavigne extended out into high school, and I can still remembering a friend getting me Let Go for my fourteenth birthday. As far as I’m concerned, some of her stuff continues to hold up.

Like most people I liked Under My Skin a fair amount, but wasn’t a huge fan of The Best Damn Thing. Watching the punk-pop star cavort around to the infectious beat felt wrong, like this was some sort of betrayal of who she started as. Of course, people change, and I eventually came around to tracks like “Hot” and “What the Hell”.

Years passed, and eventually she fell off my radar. I noted when she and Deryck Whibley of Sum 41 got a divorce and gawked at her marriage to the widely reviled Chad Kroeger of Nickelback. They recorded a song together and I thought not much of it.

Then I woke up one morning and signed online to a barrage of accusations leveled against her with “racist!” being the common denominator among them. Being fairly invested in this entire thing [as a lapsed Avril Lavigne fan and a person in staunch opposition to racism in any form] I of course had to check out the “Hello Kitty” music video post-haste. I do want to inform you all that I’ve had to watch it several times for the writing of this post and have not enjoyed it once.


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Shame Day: Michelle Malkin

We deal with a lot of complicated issues here at Culture War Reporters, with subjects ranging from war to feminism to internet shows about gigantic hamburgers. Every once in a while, it’s nice to return to cover a simple and straightforward subject.

The sky is blue.

Birds go chirp.

Michelle Malkin is an evil, evil person.

I mean seriously. We’re talking about a woman who has written a book defending- I kid you not- the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII.

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2 Broke Girls, S3E20 “And the Not Broke Parents”: A TV Review

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Here’s something regular review readers don’t get from me very often: I wish this episode had been longer. After what was basically a filler issue last week [and one that seriously had me picking apart Han’s place on the show] this Monday night had us returning to the narrative that this half of the season has built itself around: the pastry school and Max’s relationship with Deke.

That’s right, Eric Andre is back after his character had the flu and went on a skiing trip. Every move this show has made so far, including the mild inconvenience that was Max finding out he was wealthy, has pointed towards him sticking around. She’s not one for relationships or even trusting others, and the way they’ve grown closer has made it seem like nothing short of death/something truly dramatic could break them apart. So this week the two girls meet Mr. and Mrs. Bromberg [as in the Bromberg Elevators, the ones that are in every building in the city, as in the Bromberg Colo-Rectal Centre at the New York Hospital].

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What Do We Want From America [In Terms of Diversity]?

As I was walking around doing errands yesterday I began to muse on one of my favourite topics: diversity in media. While this could’ve been a very pleasant stroll on an afternoon that felt much more like spring than winter, my mind felt the need to challenge itself with a question I’m sure often leaves the lips of those who are sick of “having diversity crammed down their throats”: Why is the US held responsible for all of this? Continue reading

Ms. Marvel, #2: A Comic Book Review

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Kamala Khan ain’t your average superheroine, and this is an idea that G. Willow Wilson et al. continue to push in the second ever installment of the brand new Ms. Marvel.

Yes, she’s a teenager with problems and responsibilities à la Peter Parker, but one of the many places where she and the New Yorker differ is how much her faith and culture influence her heroic narrative. The webslinger’s path is marred by loss as well as the modern day adage from his dying uncle that “With great power comes great responsibility.” While this is a lesson Kamala will certainly have to learn for herself, the words that spur her on to heroic feats are rooted in a certain religious text.

When she’s faced with the opportunity to save someone she’s reminded by a passage her father likes to quote from the Quran, Surah Al-Ma’idah 5:32- Continue reading