“High school yearbooks that labeled special needs students ‘mentally retarded’ recalled”

Taken from: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/high-school-yearbooks-labeled-special-needs-students-mentally-131931649.html

May 22, 2012

A Texas high school has recalled copies of its yearbook after special needs students were described as “mentally retarded” within its pages, angering teachers, students and their parents.

Mesquite High School’s yearbooks were initially distributed on Friday, but were recalled by school officials within hours.

“They told the entire class that they have a slight mistake that needs to be fixed,” a senior at the schooltold Fox’s KDFW affiliate.

An introduction to the “Special Education” section read, “Some of the disabilities the students in the Special Education Program have are being blind, deaf or non-verbal” and described two students as “both blind and deaf, as well as mentally retarded.”

“There was an oversight in the editing approval process,” Laura Jobe, communications director for the Mesquite school district, told The Dallas Morning News. “Those who work inside the special education department know these requirements.”

The yearbooks will be redistributed this week, school officials said, without the offending pages.

“We earnestly regret the term ‘mentally retarded’ was included and offer our apologies to our students and their families,” Jobe said. “The use of the words ‘mentally retarded’ is something we would never condone.”

Mesquite High’s graduation is scheduled for May 26.

“Ashton Kutcher’s Popchips Ad Pulled After Racist Outcry”

Taken from: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/entertainment/2012/05/ashton-kutchers-popchips-ad-pulled-after-racist-outcry/

May 3, 2012

Perhaps brownface and offensive accents aren’t the best way to sell potato chips. Earlier today, an advertisement for Popchips starring Ashton Kutcher as an “Indian” man looking for love was taken down following an online outcry. While Popchips appears to have removed the ad from their Facebook page and YouTube channel, unofficial versions can still be seen.

In the ad, the “Two and a Half Men” star plays a Bollywood producer named Raj. He talks about his dating virtues in a sing-song accent with his face painted brown. Popchips, a potato chip snack, are not mentioned at any point. Three related ads feature Kutcher playing a diva, a hippie, and a biker.

Indian-Americans quickly bashed the ad and Kutcher, who serves as the brand’s “president of pop culture” and developed the $1.5 million ad campaign with Popchips’ CEO, the ad agency Zambezi, and Alison Brod PR.

On his blog, tech entrepreneur Anil Dash called the ad “a hackneyed, unfunny advertisement featuring Kutcher in brownface talking about his romantic options, with the entire punchline being that he’s doing it in a fake-Indian outfit and voice. That’s it, there’s seriously no other gag.”

He added, “if you find yourself putting brown makeup on a white person in 2012 so they can do a bad ‘funny’ accent in order to sell potato chips, you are on the wrong course. Make some different decisions.”

The indie hip-hop band Das Racist called out to Kutcher’s Twitter handle: “Hey @aplusk, what’s with the racist brownface video you talentless, pretending to care about sex trafficking piece of s**t?”

Dash later blogged that Popchips CEO Keith Belling offered him a “sincere and contrite” apology over the phone.

As for an official response to the outcry, a Popchips representative told ABCNews.com, “The new popchips worldwide dating parody featuring four characters was created to provoke a few laughs and was never intended to stereotype or offend anyone. At popchips we embrace all types of shapes, flavors and colors, and appreciate all snackers, no matter their race or ethnicity. We hope people can enjoy this in the spirit it was intended.”

Belling also apologized on the company’s blog, writing “i take full responsibility and apologize to anyone we offended.”

Kutcher has yet to tweet about or otherwise comment on the controversy

“Shampoo ad using Hitler’s image sparks outrage, calls for removal”

Wrong on so many levels…

Taken from: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/shampoo-ad-using-hitler-image-sparks-outrage-calls-152755213.html

March 26, 2012

A new Turkish shampoo commercial featuring video of Adolf Hitler declaring the hair rinse a product for “real men” has been met with formal complaints from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and others who say it is deeply offensive.

“We follow with sadness and regret the use of Hitler figure in the Biomen Men Shampoo advertisement, which was brought to the screen in recent days,” the Turkish Jewish Community said in a statement.  ”It’s totally unacceptable to make use of Hitler, the most striking example of cruelty and savagery. … Using him in an advertisement for whatever reason is an unacceptable situation and could not be accepted by us at all. This is beyond all ethics as well as a huge insult to human rights.”

The ad has been running on Turkish television stations for about a week, AFP reports.

In the ad from shampoo maker “Biomen,” archived video of former Nazi leader Adolf Hitler is played in which he is seen yelling and gesturing wildly with his hands, while a fictional text translates his message across the screen. “If you are not wearing a woman’s dress, you should not use her shampoo either,” Hitler says in the ad. “Here it is, a real mens’ shampoo, Biomen.” The video then cuts to a picture of the shampoo bottle with the on-screen message, “Real men use Biomen.”

ADL National Director, and Holocaust survivor Abraham H. Foxman called the advertisement “disgusting” in a statement released by the group. ”The use of images of the violently anti-Semitic dictator who was responsible for the mass murder of 6 million Jews and millions of others in the Holocaust to sell shampoo is a disgusting and deplorable marketing ploy,” Foxman said. “It is an insult to the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust, those who survived, and those who fought to defeat the Nazis.

“Oscar’s Racist Black Actress Joke: Are You Serious?”

Taken from: http://news.moviefone.com/kim-kane/oscars-billy-crystal-racist-joke_b_1304234.html

February 27, 2012

I had to literally rewind my tivo during the 84th Annual Academy Awards to confirm Billy Crystal’s offensive joke about black women in Hollywood. Post Octavia Spencer’s Supporting Actress win for The Help, the Oscar host returned from commercial break:

I loved that movie (The Help)… when I saw it, I wanted to hug the first black woman that I saw. Which from Beverly Hills is about a 45 minute drive.

Tweeters responded:

@moviefone: Billy Crystal: Race and old jokes. Yep, this is what you wanted, Hollywood.

@sonshinewiley: Billy crystals comment was both offensive and prejudiced regarding black women in Hollywood! #NoBueno #Oscars

@VanObserver: Billy Crystal makes a really weird #racist joke after Octavia Spencer’s win for The Help.

@mytitleguy: RT @patstagepage: RT @MadeFromClay: Yo… did anyone hear that terribly racist joke by Billy Crystal a few minutes ago? yep – the world did.

@jimmymcarthur: A fine way to set the tone Billy Crystal. Follow up a win for The Help with an inappropriate racist joke. #oscars

@Khalv612: Billy Crystal is not funny!!! The racist joke was just uncalled for?!

@thewanderingjew: Will Billy Crystal apologize for the racist joke? #oscars

@JohnTrowbridge: Billy Crystal will kill this buzz with a slightly racist joke #oscars

@Avemarie80: Me too @suzieq23: Was that a racist joke Billy Crystal gave after that great win…… Ughhhhhhh”. I thought so too!! Awful.”

How were Oscar writers comfortable enough to write a joke like that? A host has a script — and especially in the case of a big awards show like the Oscars — there are several “copy check points.” Crystal ultimately delivered (he could have refused), but I believe the scriptwriters understood how highly inappropriate that joke would be. But they just didn’t care enough to leave it out, and every message has meaning.

It bothers me that none of the writers stopped to think about the feelings of the other black actors and actresses in the room. It bothers me that some in the audience were so de-sensitized that they laughed out loud. It bothers me that no one considered the sensitivity of the situation — Octavia Spencer had just won an Academy Award for playing a maid, a role she’s defended to those who feel blacks are rewarded with Oscar only when their character is subservient/enforces a stereotype onscreen. It bothers me that no one will be accountable for writing such insensitive copy. It bothers me to think about struggling black actors and actresses who fall in love with an industry that lets them down. It bothers me that I’m writing this blog in 2012… that society is still recovering from the damage done by bigots who advocated racial segregation. It bothers me that the Academy would go so far as to emphasize the sentiment that black women are invisible in Hollywood, as far as they’re concerned.

While Oscar writers found humor in all this, I didn’t get the joke.

STARS: “We’re Not a Costume” Campaign

Taken from: http://lissawriting.wordpress.com/2011/10/23/racism-think/

STARS (Students Teaching Against Racism) mission: “to educate and facilitate discussion about racism and to promote racial harmony and to create a safe, non-threatening environment to allow participants to feel comfortable to express their feelings.”

The “we’re not a costume” campaign may be timed for Halloween, but it’s a reaction to an attitude that’s accepted every day as normal. It’s hard to explain exactly what is so wrong about being a geisha or a sheik for Halloween. It’s unsettling. It’s a feeling I’ve always struggled to articulate — a discomfort that sort of just sits in the place between your heart and your stomach, quietly nagging. It’s a sense of being wronged without knowing exactly what was done to you.

People who think racism is dead think so because they don’t see active discrimination. They think, “But minorities are allowed to do everything I’m allowed to do, so where’s the harm?” STARS’ poster campaign calls attention to another problem: Minorities are often made into caricatures.

And that’s why Ohio University’s Students Teaching About Racism in Society exists. STARS aims to “educate and facilitate discussion about racism and to promote racial harmony and to create a safe, non-threatening environment to allow participants to feel comfortable to express their feelings.”

STARS exists because racism is only playing dead. It manifests itself not in slurs and exclusion, but in stupid jokes and really inaccurate costumes. As a minority, you’re a character, not a person. People dress up as you on Halloween. On TV, you’re the token black guy, easily replaced by some other black guy after one season.

Racism is so much stealthier now. It doesn’t announce itself, and it’s complicated.