Colorlines Magazine articles from December 2005

Colorlines Magazine archives from December 2005

How will our movement respond?(helping disaster victims )(Editorial)
December 22, 2005... For the past month, friends and colleagues have been telling me that Katrina signals the end of the Bush administration. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] It is obvious now that the devastation caused was preventable and that New Orleanians lost...

Chicago's politics of containment.(letters)(Letter to the Editor)
December 22, 2005... Upon reading Mick Dumke's article on mayoral politics in the city of Chicago, I am glad to see that a magazine such as yours does not fear to print stories highlighting the "other" side of the political machine. Mr. Wilen (from the National...

Gujaratis behind rural meth craze?(READING BETWEEN THE HEADLINES)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2005... Federal prosecutors have charged 49 convenience store workers in rural Georgia for allegedly selling materials used to supply makeshift meth labs. "Operation Meth Merchant" netted dozens of unrelated Patels who are being accused of selling cold...

'Ghetto camp.'.(special events)
December 22, 2005... Rather than creating meaningful economic opportunities, the City of Miami issued a press release for a picnic, promoting a "Ghetto Style Talent Show" and a "Watermelon Eating Contest." "Campers who think they know the true meaning of ghetto...

Ethical treatment of people?(READING BETWEEN THE HEADLINES)
December 22, 2005... People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) posted giant photos of Black people being lynched, beaten and sold next to pictures of cattle and sheep being slaughtered. "You can't compare me to a freaking cow," local resident John Darryl...

Ain't no party like a white people's party.(Brief Article)
December 22, 2005... As if displacing low-income residents weren't enough, the white hipsters who have colonized the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn now celebrate a monthly hip-hop event called "Kill Whitey!" Yes, they themselves are white. That's the...

Sometimes, justice is served.(Casey Nethercott conviction)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2005... Casey Nethercott, a leader of a border vigilante group, was convicted of owning a gun after he allegedly used it to beat two immigrants. The judge ordered him to pay $850,000 in restitution. When Nethercott couldn't come up with the cash, the...

History class can be relevant, too.(Black history class)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2005... Decades after Black parents began denouncing Eurocentric curriculum in local high schools, Philadelphia high schools now require students to take a Black history class. The requirement was welcome news to parents of Philadelphia high school...

Just in time for the 2008 Iowa primary.(voting rights for ex-offenders )(Brief Article)
December 22, 2005... Under pressure from the Right to Vote coalition, a voters' education group, Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack announced in July that the state would restore voting rights to all ex-offenders who had completed their sentences. People convicted of...

Must-see TV.(disaster relief to blacks)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2005... Days after Hurricane Katrina ripped through New Orleans, Kanye West ripped back. On a nationally televised NBC telethon, West nervously stammered through a condemnation of the incompetent response by the federal government. After denouncing...

I was a playboy bunny.(in focus)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2005... Jaki Nett: I was actually the third Black bunny that was hired in L.A. I was a Playboy bunny from 1967 to 1979. Out of 50 or 60 bunnies, there were probably three or four Black bunnies. I became the International Training Bunny so I trained...

Sometimes, I straighten: my journey with my hair has shown me how much ethnic identity is entangled in aesthetics.(to the point)
December 22, 2005... Suheir Hammad starts her book, Drops of This Story, by cutting off her hair--the hair that had been as much a part of her aesthetic as the nose on her face. "I told her to chop it all off. I didn't want the weight of it bending my neck no more....

Breathing life into policy: Rinku Sen talks to Mallika Dutt about how to create a culture of human rights, and win a music video award at the same time.(Breakthrough executive director)(Interview)
December 22, 2005... As the founder and executive director of Breakthrough: Creating a Human Rights Culture, Mallika Dutt thinks hard about how to bridge policymaking and popular culture. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Dutt has been working on human rights...

Catching big brother in the act.(Brief Article)
December 22, 2005... In August, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released a series of memos obtained from the FBI and its Joint Terrorism Task Force, which makes possible the collaboration between federal and local law enforcement agencies. The memos...

Unsafe work conditions.(immigrants arrested at North Carolina Air Force base )(Brief Article)
December 22, 2005... In July, workers at a North Carolina Air Force base attended a mandatory safety meeting that turned out to be an immigration sting. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 48 workers who are immigrants from Mexico, Honduras...

Still mining for recruits.(database management for military recruits)(Brief Article)
December 22, 2005... The Pentagon has been working with a private marketing firm since 2002 to build a database of about 30 million potential recruits. The database includes all college students and high school students from 16 to 18 years of age, as well as the...

Paid in full? A federal judge closes the door on a reparations suit.(news)(Charles R. Norgle)
December 22, 2005... Lionel Jean-Baptiste wasn't surprised when a white federal judge dismissed a lawsuit in July that had asked corporations to pay for past dealings in slavery. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] But Jean-Baptiste, the lead attorney for the...

What the hurricane revealed: organizers in New Orleans look at the long fight ahead.(news)(Interview)
December 22, 2005... Katrina has forever changed the physical landscape of New Orleans. But for community organizers, the challenge is to rebuild with a focus on the conditions that Black and poor people in New Orleans confronted long before Katrina blew inland....

Super infector: with the U.S. epidemic larger--and Blacker--than it's ever been, the growing consensus among health officials and community activists alike is that the only way to stop the spread of AIDS is to control the behavior of those who already have it.(Cover Story)
December 22, 2005... Garry Wayne Carriker had a pretty promising life ahead of him. He'd graduated from the Air Force Academy back in 2001 and at age 26 was prepared to graduate from Emory University's prestigious medical school this past spring. He probably never...

Political Black male: despite all the studies and statistics, it was decades before the plight of Black male children and adults hit the national conscience. That appears to be happening now with rising media and philanthropic interest.
December 22, 2005... Last summer, the Congressional Black Caucus, among others, endorsed the Millions More Movement. With this ten-year commemoration of the 1995 Million Man March, organizers hoped to "gather the best, brightest and most willing minds to mobilize...

What's love got to do with it?(interracial marriage)
December 22, 2005... Nowhere in our lives, perhaps, is race trickier than when it comes to affairs of the heart, bedroom and joint savings accounts. It is one thing to craft public policy or organize the masses--but it's quite another to get race issues sorted out...

Hardcore desire: Black women laboring in porn--is it just another job?
December 22, 2005... Turn on MTV or BET and you will see beautiful, young Black women dancing in various states of undress. Nelly's "Tip Drill" video took the hyper-commodification of Black women's bodies to another level, when he slid a credit card down one...

Let's talk about sexo: Spanish-language radio beats Howard Stern and takes over the airwaves.
December 22, 2005... It's 7:00 Monday morning. On a Spanish-language radio station, DJs Luis Jimenez and Moonshadow tell listeners, "Llamanos y cuentanos lo que sucedio en el fin de semana" ("Call us to tell us what happened over the weekend"). The responses? ...

Her body, her choice? More Latinas are getting abortions. One young woman shares her story.
December 22, 2005... Cold is what Coral Lopez remembers about the Planned Parenthood clinic where she had her first abortion in 1996. Not the care, but the temperature, and it made the South Central L.A. resident feel unsettled. At 17, Coral was the youngest in the...

Labor pains: the labor movement's latest crisis leaves workers of color wondering if the new coalition will deliver.(feature)
December 22, 2005... The labor movement is in decline and no one disputes this. Working class and poor people of color are at the heart of the issue--facing the worst unemployment rates and economic problems seen in decades. But as part of the fastest growing...

Under the varnish: Vietnamese nail salon workers face the highest exposure to dangerous chemicals--but who's responsible for their safety?(feature)
December 22, 2005... Myly Vo, 33, has been working as a manicurist in Springfield, Massachusetts ever since she was laid off from her assembly job. Her sister-in-law, who owns a nail salon, asked her if she would be interested in working for her, and she now works...

Lit for chicks of color: a girls' guide to desirable reading.(culture)(Brief Article)(Book Review)
December 22, 2005... Walk through any chain bookstore, and you're likely to be bombarded with alluring titles and brightly designed covers in a special section: chick lit. It's the publishing phenomenon that has developed over the past decade of romance literature...

Hip-hop for kids: one journalist's ideas for introducing young children to the music and culture--without the sex.(culture)
December 22, 2005... As a 35-year-old parent, I have seen many changes in rap music and hip-hop. When I first started listening, hip-hop was new and exciting. The music was intoxicating. Now as a father of a 7-year-old son and a 4-year-old daughter, I take a...

Hung: A Meditation on the Measure of Black Men in America.(Book Review)
December 22, 2005... Hung A Meditation on the Measure of Black Men in America By Scott Poulson-Bryant Doubleday, 224 pages Hung is a mix of entertaining personal anecdotes and sweeping popculture criticism that takes on one of our culture's...

Bloc Party: Silent Alarm (Vice/Atlantic).(Sound Recording Review)
December 22, 2005... The South London quartet's full-length debut (following several EP releases in the U.K.) brings a welcome burst of enthusiasm and creativity to the current major label epidemic of cookie-cutter garage and new wave-influenced rock outfits....

Various Artists: Funk Comes A-live! (Intersound Records/Compendia Music).(Sound Recording Review)
December 22, 2005... This recently released two-disc compilation features a wonderful selection of mid-90s live performances by a number of funk and R & B outfits. A mix of uptempo tracks and ballads by Con Funk Shun ("Ffun" and "Love's Train") and the Ohio...

Madeline Hsu-Li: Smashing the Ceiling (Chick Pop Records).(Sound Recording Review)
December 22, 2005... An inspirational independent artist success story, Hsu Li's latest release is a shiny, uplifting piece of piano pop flourish and meticulous folk songcraft. Though extremely personal in their essence, Hsu-Li's stories are related in an...

Head-Roc: Negrophobia! (self-released).(Sound Recording Review)
December 22, 2005... Indie hip-hop stalwart Head-Roc returns with his second full length, a collaborative project following his recent solo The Return Of Black Broadway. Tighter flows and inventive beat-making undergird Head-Roc and partners DJ Eurok and Noyeek the...

Desdemona: The Ledge (Zlink Entertainment).(Sound Recording Review)
December 22, 2005... Desdemona, three time winner of the Minnesota Music Award for Best Spoken Word Artist, has put out a new full-length disc that serves up a beautiful jazz and boom-bap laden soundscape detailing her personal and artistic journeys through poetry....

No poser here: acclaimed artist Kehinde Wiley paints Black masculinity anew.(culture)
December 22, 2005... Kehinde Wiley talks about passing and posing--the themes of his critically acclaimed paintings--with an infectious excitement. Surrounded by the giant canvasses that line the walls of his studio, the artist is earnest and modest; his...

My name is not Julie: when I least expected it, racism ruined the party.(transformations)
December 22, 2005... The day after the Pope passed, I attended a gathering in New York City to promote Jewish-Dominican relations, instead of going to mass like I had promised my mother. The event marked the launching of an exhibit on Sosua, a town in the Dominican...