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Each month we ask bloggers, activists, and others to write guest posts on issues they are passionate about.

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ARCHIVES

Recent Posts by Guest Blogger

 

The New Jim Crow
Posted by Guest Blogger, March 17, 2010 5:25 PM

MichelleAlexander_RS.jpgThis post was first published at TomDispatch.

BY MICHELLE ALEXANDER

Ever since Barack Obama lifted his right hand and took his oath of office, pledging to serve the United States as its 44th president, ordinary people and their leaders around the globe have been celebrating our nation's "triumph over race." Obama's election has been touted as the final nail in the coffin of Jim Crow, the bookend placed on the history of racial caste in America.

Obama's mere presence ...


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3 comments


 

How Do You Define YOUR Beauty?
Posted by Guest Blogger, March 12, 2010 3:31 PM

TraciLee_RS.jpgThis is an excerpt from an article first published at BabyGirlz Magazine.

BY TRACI L. LEE

On a February 16, 2010 episode of The Tyra Show, there was a segment titled: "I'm 9 and I Hate my Face." There were several girls featured, but the caption belonged to a young African-American girl that felt un-pretty based on negative comments that had been made to her by someone she thought was her friend. To feel pretty, she said, her preference ...


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3 comments


 

Earned Citizenship
Posted by Guest Blogger, February 24, 2010 11:15 AM

BY GABRIEL THOMPSON

The hardships that undocumented workers suffer, which I witnessed firsthand while reporting my book, has me thinking about a term that is frequently used in debates around immigration: "earned citizenship."

The phrase is meant to highlight the fact that immigration reform wouldn't just grant people amnesty, but force them to follow a path to citizenship that they must "earn" by paying fees, taking English classes, etc.

I understand the strategic purpose of highlighting this idea, but it still makes me want to punch the nearest wall.

The truth is that most undocumented immigrants have already demonstrated ...


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no comments


 

Take the Pronoun Test
Posted by Guest Blogger, February 10, 2010 10:29 AM

BY DANIEL PINK

In the early 1990s, I had the good fortune to work for Robert B. Reich, then the U.S. Secretary of Labor. He taught me a simple (and free) tool for diagnosing the health of an organization.

When he visited companies and talked with employees, Reich listened carefully for the pronouns people used. Did employees refer to their companies as "they" or as "we"?

"They" suggested at least some amount of disengagement, and perhaps even alienation. "We" suggested the opposite -- that employees felt that they were part of something significant and meaningful.

(VIDEO: Two questions ...


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no comments


 

When the Cameras Stop Rolling
Posted by Guest Blogger, January 26, 2010 3:15 PM

masonjamal_headshot-RS2.jpgThis post was first published at www.masonsays.com.


BY MASON JAMAL

Haiti, unfortunately, is no different from the others. Tragedy strikes and the media arrives in full occupying force. It's the story of the moment. Everyone cares. The information and images take up temporary residence in our collective conscience. Our hearts go out. But, invariably, so do the lights. The bulbs stop flashing. The cameras stop rolling. Heads stop talking. Then what? Do we look the other way, as usual, and ...


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no comments


 

Life in Mogadishu
Posted by Guest Blogger, January 18, 2010 12:25 PM

JR_Kampala-MOG 020_RS.jpgThis post is from Reese's travels to Somalia. The East African nation has been devastated by factional fighting that has lasted for two decades and has been without a functioning central government since 1991. About 1.5 million of Somalia's people are internally displaced.

BY JOHNATHAN REESE

The sun burned my skin through my t-shirt and the ocean wind was relentless. The beautiful white sands were thrown with each gust to batter me inside the bombed-out building that we called home.

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no comments


 

Biking for Obama: One-Year Reflection
Posted by Guest Blogger, December 6, 2009 10:30 PM

RyanBowen-RS.jpgA version of this post was first published at BikingforObama.com

BY RYAN BOWEN

This week marks the one-year anniversary of that fateful Tuesday last December when I took off on my bicycle from Los Angeles, en route to see President Obama's inauguration in Washington D.C. to document this historic moment in our nation's history.

I gained so many positive things from that 3,000-mile trip: new friends, a passion for cycling, a belief in the American people, optimism ...


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no comments


 

KARENCHILTON-RS.jpgBY KAREN CHILTON

While the introduction of three new voices to talk TV--all African-American and all women--is historically significant, what is equally relevant is the relative ease with which they've been acknowledged and accepted by viewers across the demographic spectrum. 

Whether it is the shoot-from-the-hip style of Mo'Nique, the bawdy comedy of Wanda Sykes (pictured below), or the girlfriend-next-door gossip of former on-air radio personality Wendy Williams, television networks now offer audiences a choice of Black female ...


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2 comments


 

BrandyHagelstein.jpgBY BRANDY HAGELSTEIN

Each year, the President of the United States issues a proclamation that sets aside November as National Adoption Month. In addition to the presidential proclamation, many state governors also issue proclamations, in an effort to raise awareness of the need for loving and permanent homes for children in their states.

National Adoption Month, which was originally put in place to make adoption from the foster care system an important social issue, has now become the ...


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1 comment

  • TOPICS

 

MartaEvry-RS.jpgThis post was first published at VeniceforChange.com.

BY MARTA EVRY

I have a tiny, 750 square-foot house. But I've somehow made room for one of those enormous Obama "Hope" posters. You know the one. You've seen it a million times. This one sits framed in my kitchen. On it are the signatures of many of the volunteers I worked with on the Obama campaign last year.

Every day I am reminded of the miracle we pulled off. Every day ...


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2 comments


 

KATHY-ELLENKUPS_RS.jpgBY KATHY-ELLEN KUPS

I have been taking some college classes recently, with students just out of high school. It is exciting to get to know these young men and women and hear about their goals, their dreams and their strategies for the future.

When I tell a woman in her twenties that I had breast cancer, I see her eyes glaze over. It is pretty obvious that this is a topic that she is just not interested in.
 
...


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4 comments


 

Yes, There Are Black Women in Europe.
Posted by Guest Blogger, October 23, 2009 12:01 PM

ADRIANNEGEORGE-RS.jpgBY ADRIANNE GEORGE

I remember summer vacations with my family--my sister and I in the back of our parents' station wagon. We traveled from Washington, DC as far and as wide as Canada, Mexico and many states in between. But I never left the continent until I was an undergraduate and joined a group of African American students on a pilgrimage to Dakar, Senegal.

I made a point of kissing the ground after deplaning. And I will never forget how thrilling ...


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9 comments


 

amita parasharBY AMITA PARASHAR

It was an unseasonably hot day in Washington D.C. when tens of thousands of activists marched to the capitol Sunday demanding federal rights for gay and lesbian Americans. Supporters walked two miles past the White House, decked out in rainbow flags, rainbow tights, rainbow scarves. There was even a giant rainbow flag stretched on the Capitol lawn. If there ever was a day to march, this was it.

Not everybody was seeing rainbows, though. Openly ...


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2 comments


 

matt-palazzolo.jpg

BY MATT PALAZZOLO

The passage of Proposition 8 in California led to a dramatically increased awareness of homophobia around the country as well as the launch of a new generation of activists.

What I didn't realize until recently, though, is that Prop. 8 was also a unique catalyst in battling racism and faith-phobia.

Following the LGBTQ (lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender/queer) community's sometimes racist reactions to false reports that the African American community overwhelmingly supported Prop. 8 as well as faith-phobic language written on ...


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4 comments


 

South Africa's ANC: Before and After 1993
Posted by Guest Blogger, September 22, 2009 9:17 AM

adam-clayton-powell.jpg

This excerpt is from a post first published at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy. Powell is blogging while in South Africa.

BY ADAM CLAYTON POWELL III

GRAHAMSTOWN, South Africa - Here in South Africa, the downfall of apartheid, the first multi-racial election in 1993 and the victory at the ballot box of the formerly outlawed African National Congress remains a source of considerable pride and celebration. And there is also an examination of the public diplomacy tools used by the ANC ...


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no comments


 

It's Not About Van Jones. It's About Barack Obama.
Posted by Guest Blogger, September 11, 2009 10:28 AM

Rosa Clemente

BY ROSA CLEMENTE

Over the Labor Day weekend, Van Jones, a member of the hip-hop generation and special advisor for green jobs at the White House Council for Environmental Quality, tendered his resignation, and it was accepted by the Obama administration. I will be the first to say that I never found Van Jones to be a radical, a Black Nationalist or a communist as Fox News suggested.

Although I appreciate his book The Green Collar Economy, I ...


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29 comments