Tag: hipster racism

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The Exploitation of Asian Girlz

By now I’m sure you’ve heard about the controversy concerning the Day Above Ground video Asian Girlz. In response to an avalanche of protest, the band took the video down, though only after announcing they would leave it up for a while to give us all a chance to look at it again (and drive up their views) and see it for “what it really is.”

I’ll tell you what it really is. It’s one of the worse examples of hipster racism on the internet. The song and accompanying video are intended to “parody” the popular sexual fetish for … Read more “The Exploitation of Asian Girlz”

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What We’re Fighting About When We Fight About Racism

A few days ago the Q-Center, Portland, Oregon’s aspiring LGBTQ community hub, hosted a discussion about racism. The event was organized in response to a mostly-online fight that erupted over a local gay bar’s Facebook ad for a performance by white drag performer, Chuck Knipp.

Knipp’s bread and butter is the character, Shirley Q. Liquor, whom he describes as “an inarticulate black welfare mother with 19 children.” I’ll spare you video. The act is performed in black face and plays to damaging and hurtful stereotypes for laughs.

Hundreds weighed in on whether Shirley Q. Liquor is an example of racism, … Read more “What We’re Fighting About When We Fight About Racism”

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We’re Not Over Overt Racism

 

I often hear political commentators and activists talk about how the Civil Rights Movement defanged overt racism as a politically and socially viable form of expression. Nowadays, folks claim, racists must speak in codes in order to mobilize white resentment.

I disagree. Yes, I get that things were once worse. I also agree that coded racism is a big problem. However, I don’t believe that overt racism is dead and buried. In fact, I think it’s making a comeback.

Here’s an example:

This picture appeared in a story in Jezebel criticizing the racism of these sorority members. Apparently higher … Read more “We’re Not Over Overt Racism”