Month: May 2012

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Dominant East Asians face workplace harassment, says study

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Dominant East Asians face workplace harassment, says study

May 8, 2012

When they don’t conform to common racial stereotypes, such as being non-dominant, even people of East Asian descent are “unwelcome and unwanted by their co-workers,” says a new paper from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.

 

They have been stereotyped as a “model minority.”

But when they don’t conform to common racial stereotypes, such as being non-dominant, even people of East Asian descent are “unwelcome and unwanted by their co-workers,” says a new paper from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.

The study shows there is a difference between “descriptive” racial stereotypes – what people believe to be true about members of a particular group – and “prescriptive” – how people want members of a particular group to behave.

One experiment showed that participants held descriptive stereotypes of East Asians as being competent, cold, and non-dominant.

A second showed that the most valued expectation of East Asians was that they “stay in their place,” and don’t take a dominating role. A third experiment showed that participants preferred a white co-worker over an East Asian co-worker if that co-worker had a dominant personality.

“In general, people don’t want dominant co-workers but they really don’t want to work with a dominant East-Asian co-worker,” says Jennifer Berdahl, a Rotman professor who co-authored the study with graduate student Ji-A Min, after conducting similar research into workplace gender stereotyping.

A fourth study, found that East Asians who exhibited a dominant personality at work reported higher levels of harassment than other workers. Those who “stayed in their place” did not.

Although stereotypes support the interests of the group that dominates in a society, Prof. Berdahl says, “Everyone buys into them to some extent … even the group that they hurt.” That may explain why the study’s East Asian participants also seemed to hold the same limiting stereotypes about other East Asians.

“If you stay in your place – as a woman or as a minority – the workplace may not be actively hostile to you,” says Prof. Berdahl. “But that in itself is a form of social coercion.”

“The first step to remedying the bamboo ceiling created by these prescriptive stereotypes of is to be aware of them and how they can lead to backlash against those who defy them,” says Prof. Berdahl. “Holding East Asians to different standards than whites – reacting negatively to them when they engage in leadership behaviors – holds them, and all those who might benefit from their leadership, back.”

More information: The study is forthcoming in an issue of Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology.

Provided by University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management

 

 

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Opinion: Minorities? Try ‘people of color’

Opinion: Minorities? Try ‘people of color’

 

Editor’s Note: Rinku Sen is the President and Executive Director of the Applied Research Center (ARC) and the publisher of Colorlines.com.

 

By Rinku Sen, Special to CNN

(CNN) –With the news that, for the first time in U.S. history, the majority of American babies are not white, it should put to rest use of the term “minorities” as a reference to America’s black, Latino, Asian and Native American residents.

Nearly 30 years ago, I learned to think of myself as a person of color, and that shift changed my view of myself and my relationship to the people around me.

It is time for the entire nation, and our media in particular, to make the same move.

I am an Indian immigrant, and became a citizen in 1987.

My family came to the States in 1972 when I was five, just seven years after Congress passed the
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which removed bans on Asian immigration.

My father was a metallurgical engineer and we lived in predominantly white factory towns in New York and Pennsylvania.

All I ever wanted was to be fully American. But everything around me, from the population to the television, taught me that being American meant being white.

I lived in a household, similiar to others, where only white people were called Americans, and everyone else got a more specific title (black, Indian).

I grew up with the weird mix of pandering (“You’re such a genius like all your people! Let’s skip you to seventh grade!”) and exclusion (none of the white girls showed up to my 13th birthday party, and no, they didn’t call) that I would later learn characterized the “model-minority” experience of many Asian Americans.

Not yet aware that it was not only me who was treated this way, I had to develop alternative explanations to deny the racial reality in which I found myself, searching for “anything-but-race” reasons for my experiences.

At the beginning of my sophomore year at Brown University in 1984, the African American, Latino and Asian student groups ran a campaign for campus-wide policy changes – more professors, new curriculum, a new Third World Center.

There had been meetings and a rally, and I had skipped them all, just as I had skipped the school’s pre-orientation program for incoming students of color when I entered college.

One night I was with my friends Yuko, a Japanese national who had been raised in the U.S., and Valerie, a biracial black and white woman, who wanted me to attend a rally the next day.

I gave them the 1980s version of “I’m not feeling that.” And they gave me a serious talking-to. “You’re not a minority,” Yuko said. “you’re a person of color.”

I went to the rally.

It was the first time since immigrating that I felt I belonged in an American community.

That was the moment I realized that being an American wasn’t about looking like Marcia Brady. It was about making a commitment to the community you were in, and doing all you could do to make that the most inclusive, most compassionate, most effective community possible.

I have been building multiracial social justice organizations ever since.

Long before the press starting talking about changing demographics, community organizers needed to connect the communities that fell under the “minority” rubric.

Our specific groups were outnumbered by whites. But when we came together, the proportions shifted in a way that forced institutions to deal with us.

The term “people of color” has deep historical roots, not to be confused with the pejorative “colored people.”

“People of color” was first used in the French West Indies to indicate people of African descent who were not enslaved as “gens de couleur libre,” or “free people of color,” and scholars have found references to the term in English dating back to the early 1800’s.

American racial justice activists, influenced by Franz Fanon, picked up the term in the late 1970s and began to use it widely by the early 80s.

As an Indian immigrant, calling myself a person of color enabled me to identify with African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans.

The new identity freed me from the model-minority slot that I had been given by the media, politicians and by Americans themselves.

To build a multiracial movement, I had to expand my identity in a way that tied me to African Americans’ struggle to access the promise of the American dream, rather than as the ringer that would suppress that struggle.

“People of color” is now commonly used far beyond political circles, as “minority” fades into the category of things that used to be true.

It is past time for the media and the general public to embrace the phrase.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Rinku Sen.

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Israeli Likud MK calling for internment camps for African Refugess

 

 

Day after violent anti-African protest, Likud MK calls to ‘distance infiltrators’ immediately

Police extends remand of 17 Israeli protesters arrested during rally for attacking African asylum seekers; Danny Dannon calls to remove African migrants from city centers.

 

 

Following Wednesday’s violent protest against African migrants in Tel Aviv, Likud MK Danny Dannon called to remove African asylum seekers from population centers in Israel.

Speaking to Haaretz, Dannon said that the immediate solution for calming the situation and for putting a stop to the violence requires the evacuation of the African migrants from south Tel Aviv.

“The infiltrators must be distanced immediately,” he said. “We must expedite the construction of temporary detention facilities and remove Africans from population centers.”

MK Michael Ben Ari (National Union), who makes regular appearances at protests against the migrant population of Tel Aviv, nonetheless said he was “very upset by the violence.” Ben Ari pointed out, however, that “there are things that are outside of my control, that’s the reality.”

Ben Ari expressed satisfaction that his campaign to remove the migrant population from Tel Aviv has begun to gain momentum. “Suddenly we see MK’s from Likud and Kadima showing up at protests. Suddenly I hear the Interior Minister saying things I’ve said myself,” said Ben Ari.

Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin, called for public officials to stop encouraging passionate reactions. “When the masses are furious, public leaders must try to contain that anger and offer a solution, not to fan the flames. We must not use the same language anti-Semites use against us. We are a people that suffered a great deal of incitement and harassment, and we have an obligation to be extra sensitive and moral,” said Rivlin.

On Thursday, 17 demonstrators who were arrested during the protest were brought before the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court for an extension of their remand.

Several of those arrested were detained while beating African migrants who passed on the street and shattering windows of businesses that tend to the foreign worker community.

Some 1,000 protesters rallied in Tel Aviv’s Hatikva neighborhood on Wednesday and called for the ousting of African asylum seekers from Israel.

Protesters launched attacks on African migrants who passed by, while a group of demonstrators stopped a shuttle taxi and searched for migrant workers among the passengers, while banging on the windows.

The crowd cried “The people want the Sudanese deported” and “Infiltrators get out of our home.”

Also on Thursday, the remand was extended of two members of a gang suspected of systematically targeting African migrants in south Tel Aviv. Police suspects that the 11-member gang, comprised of residents of south Tel Aviv, was set up in order to attack African migrants, in particular citizens from Sudan and Eritrea. The nine other members are minors, who will be tried in juvenile court.

African migrants with car windows shattered by demonstrators in south Tel Aviv, May 23, 2012.

African migrants with car windows shattered by demonstrators in south Tel Aviv, May 23, 2012.Moti Milrod

Danny Dannon, who participated in Wednesday’s protest, told Haaretz that he condemns the violence.

“Violence is not the answer and it cannot be justified,” he said. “The government neglected the residents and they are frustrated and that must be addressed. It is a ticking time bomb on the part of the infiltrators as well as on the part of the margins of society.”

“I arrived at the protest relatively early. The crowd was pretty irritated – also toward me. I spoke for several minutes and the main message was deportation.”

Dannon said that the immediate solution for calming the situation and for putting a stop to the violence requires the evacuation of the African migrants from south Tel Aviv. “The infiltrators must be distanced immediately. We must expedite the construction of temporary detention facilities and remove Africans from population centers.”

Meanwhile, Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai began a campaign on Thursday that calls to imprison and deport illegal migrants.

The campaign was initiated and funded by Huldai, who has called for implementation of the government’s decision to expel migrants to their home countries, or to relocate them to holding facilities. In addition, local authority heads are claiming that they are carrying the burdens of dealing with infiltrators, such as funding the “Mesila” organization, an acronym in Hebrew for “center for information and assistance for the foreign community.”

Six mayors have pledged to take part in the campaign, including Yehiel Lasry, Mayor of Ashdod, Yaakov Asher, Mayor of Bnei Brak, Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaknin, Petah Tikva Mayor Yitzhak Ohayon, and Eilat’s mayor, Meir Yitzhak-Halevi.

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Apartheid on the Beach: Racism in Lebanon

Lebanon like it’s neighbor Israel is filled with institutionalized racism. Anti-Black and Anti-Asian sentiment is common in the region

 

Apartheid on the Beach: Racism in Lebanon

by Franklin Lamb

May 25, 2012

BEIRUT — As many visitors to Lebanon can attest, some Lebanese have the rather charming habit of asking them, “Do you love Lebanon?”  One assumes they actually mean to inquire if the visitor likes Lebanon and is enjoying their visit.  No doubt most do, given this country’s kaleidoscope of attractive and hospitable features that, to name just a few, include idyllic spring weather, wonderful topography, delicious food, a nearly unmatched collection of archeological remains from half a dozen civilizations, and not least, a friendly people who make visitors feel at home.

But with the arrival of the vernal equinox and the rebirth of flora and fauna, accompanied by rising water temperatures of the Mediterranean an uglier facet of this gifted country surfaces: racism.

Discrimination and endemic racist practices are mainly directed against foreign female domestic workers from the Philippines, East Africa, and Ethiopia, who work as maids and nannies for Lebanese families, and against dark-skinned men. At the same time, Palestinian refugees are even denied rights the others who are targeted receive, the most elementary civil rights to work and to own a home outside their cramped, fetid camps.

According to Human Rights Watch, some resorts do not even allow African and Asian domestic workers to wear bathing suits or sun themselves.  In 2005, filmmaker Carol Mansour produced a documentary on the conditions that foreign workers encounter in Lebanon titled “Maid in Lebanon.”

Each spring and summer, reports surface in the media of the many beaches and private swimming pools that are segregated and off limits to people of color and those judged to be of lesser socio-economic worth.  Among those cited regularly for blatant discrimination are several hotels whose swimming pools are off limits, as one sign at the Sporting Beach Club warned: “Maids are not allowed.”  Among the more egregious violators, according to Beirut’s Daily Star, are Villamar in Khalde, Beirut’s Coral Beach, Beirut’s Les Creneaux, and Beirut’s Sporting Club, but there are more than a dozen others.

Human Rights Watch has claimed that more than 50 percent of Lebanon’s beach clubs do not allow migrant guest workers from Asia and Africa in their swimming pools, and some even physically block their entrance at the door.

Race-based discrimination is practiced not just at private beaches but also has been attempted at Beirut’s only free public beach, the nearly mile long Ramlet al Baida shore, located within walking distance of Hamra and three Palestinian refugee camps, Mar Elias, Shatila, and Burj al Barajeneh as well as the Hezbollah area of Dahiyeh. With its wide beach, excellent sand, generally sparse flotsam and jetsam from Saida’s huge garbage mountain that Lebanon’s south to north current deposits during storms at all beaches to its north, and no entrance fee, Ramlet al Baida is popular with foreign workers and low income and refugee families from several countries in the region forced recently into Lebanon by western invasions of their country.

For years, some residents from the more than 150 high-rise apartments buildings, across from Rafik Hariri Boulevard from RAB beach, many owned by wealthy foreigners from the Gulf, have been trying to get this beach closed down in order to privatize it for their exclusive personal use.  Hezbollah and some progressive civic organizations have to date blocked the theft of this priceless public space and following a series of beach cleanups, some by Palestinian ‘camp kids’ and environmental groups, the Beirut municipality, to its credit, has started regular trash collections from RAB beach and to educate beach goers to deposit their picnic waste in the recently placed trash bins.

But this has not stopped certain publicly paid lifeguards from trying to segregate this public beach and shunt certain targeted beach users, including foreign domestic workers, Middle Eastern refugees from Iraq, Kurdistan, Africa, and Palestine, to the north end of RAB, very close to where the black brook of untreated sewage from the apartment buildings across the road enters the Mediterranean.

An investigation conducted recently by the Washington DC-Beirut based Palestine Civil Rights Campaign is instructive. One particular lifeguard at RAM justified his attempts at segregation at this public facility by claiming authoritatively that “It’s better for them (those of color and refugee status).”  When asked in what ways “it is better for them” his ideas became vaguer but he did offer his clear view that “Palestinians should leave Lebanon and that they do not work and anyhow they often don’t know how to read or write—most are illiterate.” The gentleman is from Tripoli and may have been unaware that Palestinians in Lebanon are barred by law from working in nearly every possible job, more than 70 professions at latest count. But he may know something about illiteracy up north where he hails from, including the recent United Nations Development Programs survey of Tripoli which reveals a 21 percent illiteracy rate for 15-29 year olds, by far the highest in Lebanon and one of the highest in the world, due to high drop-out rates, especially among boys in the area.

By contrast, Palestinians, even while barred generally from Lebanese public schools and with school dropout and illiteracy rates higher in Lebanon’s 12 camps than in any of the 58 UNWRA organized Palestinian refugee camps in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, or Syria, still somehow managed in 2011 to keep illiteracy among their countrymen at 4.7 for those aged 15 years and above, including 2.1 percent among males and 7.4 percent among females. These figures are contained in the recent report by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics’ Special Statistical Bulletin on the 64th Anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba.

Clearly Lebanon’s Parliament needs to do much more to help their disadvantaged communities such as north Lebanon with its high unemployment rates (men more than 52 percent, women at 97 percent according to the UNDP study) and to allow Palestinians the same right to work as other foreigners are allowed.

Racism-driven attempts at segregation at Ramlet al Baida public beach as well as private beaches are reminiscent of South Africa’s apartheid era, current accelerating trends in Israel toward segregating Palestinians generally from claimed “open to all” public facilities, and American hostility towards blacks that in many southern communities were enshrined in law as recently as the 1950’s with racist practices and profiling continuing today.

To their credit, a few Lebanese civil society organizations such as the activist groups Anti-Racism Movement and the Migrant Worker’s Task Force are fighting against these racist practices and some Lebanese government agencies are also.

Following a frank and at times heated meeting between a PCRC delegation and Lebanese officials at the Mar Elias offices of the Beirut Municipality at which the RAB beach situation was thoroughly  discussed including the possibility of a sit-in/swim in and open-ended demonstration, or issuing a call for Ahmed Jibril’s Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command to conduct an onsite “investigation”, Beirut Municipality officials pledged an immediate investigation with serious remedial actions as warranted.  To  their credit they kept their word and no sooner had the PCRC expressed its gratitude,  than Nada Sardouk, director-general of the Tourism Ministry, sent a letter addressed to the owners of beach clubs and pools demanding  “quality in receiving customers, with no discrimination in terms of race, nationality or … special needs.” Among the circular’s other stipulations are requirements for lifeguards and free drinking water. Sardouk pledges that citations and fines will be issued to all violators.

Lebanon, its people and government, is very capable of removing this blight of bathing facility discrimination from their seemingly simultaneously blessed and cursed country.  As Nadim Khoury, Lebanese investigator for Human Rights Watch noted recently,  Lebanon’s  Ministry of Tourism edict baring race based discrimination or attempts at segregation, “ is encouraging in principle, the key will be whether it is enforced”.

 

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But racism is unlikely to be erased overnight, either in Lebanon or in many other Middle Eastern countries where blacks are routinely looked down on. Racist taunts are often heard on Egypt’s streets, and in Yemen, darker-skinned people, known as al-akhdam (“the servants”), who make up perhaps 5% of the population, are confined to menial jobs and tend to dwell in slums. In Libya rebel militias often targeted darker-skinned people from nearby countries such as Chad and Mali and from countries further south, accusing them of being mercenaries of Muammar Qaddafi.

Filipinos, Sri Lankans and Chinese-Americans, among others, whisper of racist slurs both at work and on Lebanon’s streets. “When black or Asian friends visit,” says a young Lebanese professional, “I’m at the airport the moment they land to make sure immigration officers don’t ask inappropriate questions. It’s a disgrace.”

 

 

 

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50 Cent Sued For Plagiarism

just another normal day in the rip off Anglo-American shit music industry

 

Rapper 50 Cent is being sued for knowingly sampling a riff without permission.

The star released the track for free a few years ago, thinking that he would be immune to legal dispute if he didn’t make any money from it, according to TMZ.

However, Robert Poindexter of The Persuaders is filing a lawsuit regardless, after his band’s song ‘Love Gonna Pack Up And Walk Out’ was used on his song called ‘Redrum’.

He says in the suit: “Fifty Cents [sic] has not denied the infringement, but appears to be basing his defense solely on a frivolous and immaterial claim that the illegal version is not being commercially exploited, but is given away for free.”

He is allegedly suing for $600,000 for punitive damages, plus interest.

 

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Honor student Brittany Rowley claims she was roughed up cops in Brooklyn in case of mistaken identity

Exclusive: Father says daughter was racially profiled after police thought she matched description of shoplifter

A black teen honor student at an all-girl Catholic high school claims she was roughed up by plainclothes NYPD cops who thought she matched the description of a shoplifting suspect, the Daily News has learned.

Police later realized Brittany Rowley didn’t commit the crime — but she is still haunted by the nightmare she experienced on a Park Slope street and the three hours spent handcuffed to a bench in a police stationhouse.

“It was terrifying,” Rowley, 15, said in an exclusive interview. “It is the most horrible thing I have ever experienced.”

Her father said hes outraged by the incident and on Tuesday filed notice of a $5.5 million lawsuit against the city and Sgt. Jonathan Catanzaro and Officer Stephen Nakao of the 78th Precinct. The court papers allege false arrest and excessive force, including that the sergeant slammed Rowley to the pavement and flung his keys at her.

“I feel my daughter was racially profiled,” Delmus Rowley said.

“They had no proof, just a description of a black young lady with braids,” he added. “It wasn’t necessary to tackle a 15-year-old girl. It was excessive.”

There is no dispute that two black teen girls shoplifted shorts and jeans from Rivet, a clothing store on Seventh Ave., last Friday around 3:30 p.m. A description of the suspects was broadcast by police at 3:44 p.m. — two female black teens, dark hair, one had a ponytail, police said.

Catanzaro and Nakao were patrolling in an umarked car when they spotted Rowley and a friend walking on Prospect Park West. Rowley had braided hair extensions tied together.

Rowley, a freshman at St. Saviour High School, and her friend were going to the library when she noticed a vehicle trailing them.

The accounts diverge at this point. Rowley said the car suddenly reversed and a male yelled, “Get them!” The cops claim they said, “Excuse me ladies,” with their badges out.

Rowley and her friend ran. “I thought we were being abducted,” Rowley said.

Catanzaro tackled Rowley and threw her to the ground. He threw his keys, she said, hitting her leg. She recalled him saying, “Why did you f—— run? I should punch you.”

She claims Catanzaro yanked her up, whipsawing her neck. She says police also snapped on cuffs, causing bruises. Her friend returned and was collared too.

An NYPD official insists the incident was good police work, noting that Catanzaro obtained surveillance tape from the clothing boutique that exonerated Rowley, even after the store manager identified her as the suspect.

“But for him viewing the videotape, the young lady would still be in custody,” said Inspector Kim Royster, an NYPD spokeswoman.

The Rowleys’ lawyer, Sanford Rubenstein, said the arrest shows the growing concern civil rights advocates have with the NYPD’s crimefighting tactics.

“It is not a surprise that parents fear more that their children will suffer violence at the hands of the police than from common criminals,” Rubenstein said.

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Racist Mob, Incited by Israeli Leaders, Attacks African Refugees in Tel Aviv

An Israeli mob in Tel Aviv burns garbage and sings, “The people want the Africans to be burned.”

 

 

Southern Tel Aviv is home to a number of blighted and struggling neighborhoods – areas where Israel’s income inequalities and economic disparities are acutely on display in the shadow of the city’s high rises. And it is here – in the neighborhood of Shapira – where large numbers of African refugees and asylum seekers from Sudan and Eritrea have sought shelter from forces much more dire than poverty.

On Wednesday evening, that shelter was shattered by a 1,000-strong protest which turned violent and, ultimately, into a race riot targeting those seeking relief from violence.

How did this happen?

 

The short answer begins by examining the protest, which was organized by Likud activists and attended by several Knesset members, who (for obvious political reasons) stood before the masses and blamed their hardships on African refugees with incendiary catch phrases.

Addressing the “infiltration problem,” Knesset Member Miri Regev (Likud) criticized the Israeli government for not sending the African refugees from whence they came, calling them “a cancer in our body.” Danny Danon (Likud) followed up his incendiary speech by posting on Facebook, “Israel is at war. An enemy state of infiltrators was established in Israel, and its capital is south Tel Aviv.” And Michael Ben-Ari, a former member of the racist Kach party, incited the crowd by tapping both into their economic despair and xenophobia, warning them that the Africans would take all available jobs and leave everyone else with nothing.

A woman with a shirt that reads, “Death to the Sudanese.” Photo by Tomer Neuberg.

The crowd, already gathered to vent their rage, in part, at the African community – blaming them for a rise in crime and the theft of opportunity – suddenly turned violent and streamed into the Shapira neighborhood, attacking Africans on the street, in cars, smashing storefronts belonging to migrants and vandalizing shops.

Eritrean refugees react moments after their shop was attacked by an angry mob.

“A mother with her baby cries minutes after she was attacked by a mob, with the baby thrown to the ground, following a protest against African refugees and asylum seekers in Tel Aviv’s Hatikva neighborhood.” – caption by Activestills

The violence and rampaging through Shapira happened spontaneously, as though a tinder box had suddenly been set alight by a flint’s sparking surface. And Israeli parliamentarians are to blame for creating that spark, for setting alight a crowd already on the edge of combustion.

Regarding the refugee community in Israel targeted last night, Noam Sheizaf writes:

According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, there are presently some 60,000 African asylum seekers in Israel. Most entered the country by foot through its southern border. While they are termed “infiltrators” by the government, some 85 percent are from Eritrea and Sudan, to which Israel has agreed until now not to return them in light of the situations in those countries. They fall under a form of group protection from deportation, but their individual refugee claims are not processed.

A few recent crimes against Israelis that were linked to the African community have recently received considerable attention in the local media. They led to a wave of protest and declarations by politicians against the refugees and asylum seekers. MK Ofir Akunis, a member of Likud and a Netanyahu proxy, is set to promote a Knesset bill which will criminalize Israelis who employ, drive or give shelter to refugees.

Aside from a deeply-rooted racism that exists within segments of Israeli society, last night’s race riot occurred because of corrupt economic policies and the rising gap between the rich and poor in Israel – a situation which has left many teetering on the economic precipice. The root cause of what occurred last night is partially the same root social justice activists targeted last summer when they crippled Tel Aviv, chanting, “The people demand social justice.”

Last night, poverty-stricken Israelis focused their rage (and racism) on a community of dark-skinned scapegoats. And several Israeli leaders were only too happy to help an angry mob push them off the cliff.

 

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PBS-NOVA – The Bible’s Buried Secrets

 

In this landmark two-hour special, NOVA takes viewers on a scientific journey that began 3,000 years ago and continues today. The film presents the latest archeological scholarship from the Holy Land to explore the beginnings of modern religion and the origins of the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Old Testament. This archeological detective story tackles some of the biggest questions in biblical studies: Where did the ancient Israelites come from? Who wrote the Bible, when, and why? How did the worship of one God—the foundation of modern Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—emerge?

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Racist BookCover WhiteWashing “The Immortal Rules”

 

 

 

This latest book published by Harlequin teens is about  the protagonist girl named Allie Sekemoto  who is turned into a vampire. She is described as having East Asian Descent:

My reflection stared back at me, a dirty-faced girl with straight black hair and “squinty eyes,” as Rat put it.
“Or maybe I’ll just save it for that sweet little Asian doll. We don’t get many whores through here, do we, boys?”
“I should have known,” he said, coming forward. “I should have known you would be drawn to that. It’s very fitting, actually.”
“It’s perfect,” I said, holding up the sword. “What is it, anyway?”
Kanin regarded me with amusement. “What you’re holding is called a katana.”

 

the publishers display their racist nature by choosing to place a picture of a White/Caucasian woman on the cover what’s more insulting and dehumanizing is that the Author Julie Kagawa is herself a Japanese American

 

there is a movie adaptation planned and due to Hollywood’s racist hatred against people of colour, a white actress may be picked to portray the East Asian Character Allie Sekemoto

 

 

 

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Beastie Boys sued over alleged copyright infringement

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Beastie Boys are once again being sued over their alleged use of unlicensed samples. The rappers used parts of two songs by the US go-go band Trouble Funk without permission, according to papers filed just one day before the death of Adam Yauch.

Yauch, his Beastie bandmates, and their labels are all named in a lawsuit by Tuf America, the company that represents Trouble Funk. The suit alleges that Trouble Funk’s tracks Drop the Bomb and Say What, both issued in 1982, were sampled repeatedly by Beastie Boys in the late 80s. The lawsuit was filed in New York federal court on Friday. Yauch died on Saturday morning.

According to Tuf America’s complaint, the Beasties’ song Shadrach allegedly samples Say What, while Drop the Bomb is apparently used on two tracks from the rappers’ debut album, as well as on Car Thief, from 1989’s Paul’s Boutique. Although the statute of limitation for copyright infringement has passed, Tuf America say the Beastie Boys never declared the samples had been used, and accuse the group of “purposely concealing the integration” of Trouble Funk’s original music. “Only after conducting a careful audio analysis of Shadrach,” they wrote, “[were we] able to determine that Shadrach incorporates the Say What sample.”

Despite Tuf America’s allegations, all of the Beastie Boys’ Trouble Funk samples have been noted on the website Who Sampled – and on Wikipedia – for some time. The Beastie Boys’ labels did attempt to license all of the samples on their records, even before 1991’s landmark sampling case between Gilbert O’Sullivan and Biz Markie.

Tuf America alleges copyright infringement, unjust enrichment and misappropriation. In addition to seeking punitive damages, it has requested a permanent injunction forbidding the Beastie Boys from selling recordings that contain these samples.