Category Archives: politics

blog, diversity, journalism, news, politics, race

VIDEO: Classy, teary apology from MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry should be more than enough to satisfy the aggrieved on the Right

We can debate whether it was  a trumped up controversy or not, but MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry gave an apology anyway for comments made on her show about the adopted African American grandchild of Mitt Romney.

The apology sure wasn’t one of those infamous non-apologies that people who aren’t really sorry tend to give.  MHP’s was heart-felt, emotional, and sincere. As the namesake of the show, she showed real courage and integrity by standing up to the heat.  It’s the kind of apology that makes you like the person more, not less. And based on the alleged “crime,” I don’t think the Right needed much more than a clarification.  It shouldn’t have required  such a full blown apology.

But she did one. And took responsibility for everything.  She didn’t deflect, try to blame guests, producers, etc.  She put it all on her shoulders.  You’d think that should earn her  some brownie points from her critics. But she continues to be bashed on conservative sites for her “crocodile tears.” The woman’s from New Orleans, but those weren’t crocodile tears.

She deserves credit for putting aside the b.s. of political TV talk and just being real.

Here’s the apology:

 

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blog, diversity, journalism, news, politics

Unemployed critic, a journalist of color gets aid from internet: Craig Lindsey shows minority journalists aren’t part of some protected class

 

I feel for Craig Lindsey, a laid off critic, who went on-line saying he will be “snarky” for food.

 

He’s also African American.

 

At least he didn’t  have to go on traffic island and get red-light donations.

 

It was the first news story of 2014 that I saw, reported in Richard Prince’s Journa-lisms blog. (See link below).

 

When I got laid off at NPR, a top network TV exec had lunch with me and offered no job.

 

Said exec: “Time to be entrepreneurial.”

 

That’s what modern corporatists call” do-it-yourself welfare.”

 

That was in 1991, the beginning of the end of the notion of “safety net.”

 

Republicans have perfected the idea since then. More than a million lost their unemployment benefits last week. Another million could lose benefits by February.

 

Craig’s story reminded me how there’s some myth that journalists of color are spared from layoffs, as we’re somehow part of some “protected” class. You know, how minorities got their jobs to fill some imaginary quota to have diversity in newsrooms.

 

Never been my experience. There’s  still a form of “last hired, first fired” at work out there.

 

Call it “Reverse Equality.”

 

As I was reading about Craig,  I saw a network report on a morning show by a reporter, who 15 years ago was the hot female anchor on the network. Now she is rarely seen and plays utility reporter, national news quickies from the New York desk.

 

But she’s weathered all economic storms. She’s white, female. And protected.

 

See Richard Prince in “Journal-isms” on Craig Lindsey:

http://mije.org/richardprince/jobless-critic-raises-4g-stave-homelessness

 

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Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF) blog, blog, diversity, movies, news, politics, race

“Hobbit” big, “Anchorman 2” smaller than expected, as weekend box office receipts tallied

“The Hobbit: the Desolation of Smaug” was again the No.1 movie in the nation with $31.5 million in tickets, giving it a two week take of $127.5 million, according to the NY Times.

“Anchorman 2,”lived up to its name and finished 2nd at $26.8 million. But it opened on Wednesday and is up to $40 million total, well on its way of making back the $50 million it cost to make.

Now instead of showing up in ads and free media everywhere plugging the movie, maybe producers will start showing up to Filipino community fundraisers or consider giving a little bit in aid to the typhoon victims in the Philippines.

As I pointed out on my blog post for the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the silly anchorman was sullied by an ignorant joke that promotes a Filipino stereotype.

http://aaldef.org/blog/anchorman-2-movie-didnt-need-racist-ethnic-joke-against-filipinos.html

It was just one line, am I being too sensitive?  I don’t think so.

If all you see in the media about Filipinos is negative, then such jokes are indefensible. If there were something to counteract the throw away line in the movie, it would have been easier to take.

For example, there were a number of tasteless jokes about African Americans in the movie, as well. But there were African American actors in the movie  who were able to clearly rebut Ron Burgundy/Will Ferrell.

Read the piece on the blog.

http://aaldef.org/blog/anchorman-2-movie-didnt-need-racist-ethnic-joke-against-filipinos.html

And let’s hope that once the producers hit their $50 million nut, they will consider giving aid to the victims of the typhoon in the Philippines. The typhoon displaced millions of people, many of whom are hungry.

And not eating dogs.

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blog, LISTEN to Emil's PODCASTS, news, politics

PODCAST:It’s the 40th day, and counting after Typhoon Haiyan. Rick Rocamora, UN photographer, talks about his images of the typhoon that was called Yolanda in the Philippines, and the best way people can help the nearly 4 million displaced victims there.

Rick Rocamora, an award-winning Filipino American photographer, was in the Philippines when the typhoon hit. Coincidentally, he got an assignment from the UN to document the disaster. He talks of how difficult it was to get to the region, and how tough it was to take images when there’s tragedy all around. He talked to a 7-year old boy, Ferdinand Gonzaga, suddenly orphaned, who held on to a teddy bear. He talks of people like Walter Valdez, 33, who lost his whole family and home. Valdez has left Tacloban  to live with relatives in Manila. But even there, he doesn’t know where they are.

Rocamora says the best way to help is to give to a reputable charity.( I like Catholic Relief Services out of Baltimore, MD, as it has a reputation for using money efficiently. But there are others, too https://secure.crs.org/site/Donation2;jsessionid=9A142990A14AADFE61CBDC06ADF1E4AB.app260b?df_id=6140&6140.donation=form1 )

Rocamora’s photographs are on display in San Francisco at the Exposure Gallery through mid-January.

[powerpress]http://www.amok.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Rick-Part-1.m4a[/powerpress]

Rick Part 1

 

My piece on the typhoon on CNN.com:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/12/opinion/guillermo-typhoon-haiyan/index.html?iref=allsearch

 

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