All-White Runways: 'Are They Racist or Just Dumb?'
Want more women of color walking the runways at New York's Fashion Week? Talk to the industry's new fiefdom, the casting director, reports The New York Times. Casting directors have taken over hiring models for many of Fashion Week's most glamorous shows, and casting directors are the problem. They get into "this Stepford Wives mentality," says Bethann Hardison, a 1970s Black model who has been organizing efforts to raise awareness about the lack of diversity among runway models. The Council of Fashion Designers of America has been lobbying designers to hire a broader range of models this fashion week, reports the Times.
"The tricky thing about this business is that [designers and casting directors] can always say it's a matter of personal and aesthetic freedom," says Roman Young, an agent at Elite Model Management. "You wonder, 'Are they racist or are they just dumb?'" Young says he hasn't been aggressively scouting models of color because, until now, designers haven't demanded them, reports the Times. Find out how to adhere to corporate fashion without losing your cultural identity. Also, is the fashion industry racist? This supermodel says yes.
Are You in the KKK? Rev. Jesse Jackson Criticizes MLB for Umpire Inquiry
The Rev. Jesse Jackson is criticizing Major League Baseball for conducting background checks into umpires' pasts by questioning their neighbors about possible Ku Klux Klan ties. "Major League Baseball has done a disservice to its progressive social history by equating southern whites with white supremacists," Jackson said in a statement, reports Black America Web. "I am surprised the professional league, which helped change social attitudes in all sports leagues about segregation by championing Jackie Robinson, would make such a destructive move." The World Umpires Association reported that Tom Christopher, the Milwaukee-based supervisor of security and investigations in the MLB commissioner's office, had asked the neighbors of umpires Greg Gibson and Sam Holbrook and Ron Kulpa if they are affiliated with the KKK. "Major League Baseball's false impersonations of friendships and ill-contrived questions further press sensitive racial stereotypes, with no basis for suspicion," Jackson said.
Also, read how PepsiCo's silent Super Bowl commercial will break barriers.
National Council of La Raza Targets CNN Anchors
The National Council of La Raza (NCLR), a national advocacy organization for Latinos, has launched a campaign aimed at silencing CNN hosts Glenn Beck and Lou Dobbs for their crusades against undocumented workers. NCLR also seeks to silence MSNBC political contributor Pat Buchanan and have GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee renounce the endorsement of Jim Gilchrist, a cofounder of the Minuteman Project, an anti-immigration group, reports The Huffington Post. NCLR, which has requested to sit with CNN, FOX and MSNBC to discuss the views of their anchors and commentators, will catalogue the use of code words that paint immigrants as threats through a web site that will include facts and video samples of rhetoric targeting immigration policy. "The immigration issue deserves serious debate and serious solutions," says Janet Murguía, president of NCLR. "We cannot have that debate as long as hate has the floor." Read the Southern Poverty Law Center's response to Lou Dobbs.
Barack Obama Enlists Record $32 Million From New Donors
Sen. Barack Obama is flush with cash following a January in which his campaign raised $32 million from 170,000 donors, reports The New York Times. Obama's campaign collected mostly from small donors, while Sen. Hillary Clinton's coffers have been filled by a smaller pool of big-money donors, many of whom have given the maximum allowed by law, reports the Times. Meanwhile, the two remaining Democratic presidential contenders struck a more conciliatory tone at Thursday's debate in Los Angeles, reports the Los Angeles Times. In the days leading up the debate, the media ran stories about the bad blood between Obama and Clinton, even noting that Obama appeared to snub Clinton at President Bush's final State of the Union address. But Thursday night, there were little fireworks and only a minor dustup over which of them is better equipped to lead the country out of Iraq. From the outset, though, the two made an effort to show that they remain friends. "I was friends with Hillary Clinton before we started this campaign. I will be friends with Hillary Clinton after this campaign is over," the Los Angeles Times reported Obama as saying. Clinton added, "The differences between Barack and I pale in comparison to the differences that we have with the Republicans." Get more Election '08 news from DiversityInc.
'Don't Drop the Soap' Game Causes Controversy
Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is fielding questions about her 23-year-old son John's board game "Don't Drop the Soap," a game about prison life, reports KCTV. Characters include bags of cocaine and handguns, stereotypical Black, Italian and Latino characters, and a warning to not drop the soap; if you do, you must start over. "Don't Drop the Soap" is a phrase often used to refer to male rape in prison, reports KCTV. A local store is selling the board game, but the address where a person can get more information about the game is the governor's mansion, reports KCTV.
