Russell Simmons, who has done PSAs about animal cruelty in the past, appeared in a clip about dog fighting that was released on YouTube yesterday. I’m waiting for the one starring Michael Vick.
• Black teens love them some Michael Vick, dog fighting and all. [ET]
• Environmental racism could be going on right under your nose. Literally. []
• Minorities, young people, hip hop, and the internet — a recipe for profit. [BW]
• T.I. sincerely looks forward to being exonerated. He said so himself. []
• LL Cool J is still pouting about Def Jam. [EUR]
Since I had you guys vote for the most popular blackface Halloween costume, the least I could do was search Flickr for some real life examples. While there were a few Michael Vicks – check one out after the jump — I found this one to be the most egregious. According to the Flickr site, this guy is supposed to be Zwarte Piete (Black Pete), who, to make a long story short, is Santa Claus’ black assistant in Dutch folklore. Considering the fact that this guy had the nerve to tag his photo “blackface,” I’m pretty sure he knew what he was doing.
More fun with ignorant blackface costumes Flickr after the jump.
CONTINUED »
Let’s be real. A football player is probably the easiest sort of black person a white person can impersonate, since a helmet over the face can at least partially obscure one’s skin color. I guess that would be too easy — or too hard, I can’t figure out which.
The readers of Stereohyped have spoken, or at least voted, and you officially predict that Michael Vick will be the most popular inspiration for blackface enthusiasts this Halloween. You also felt that a nappy-headed ho look would be popular.
Some of you wrote in your ideas, which include:
Barack Obama — How could I forget about him! All you need is shoe polish and a suit.
Barry Bonds — How could I forget about him? All you need is shoe polish and ‘roid rage.
A Rasta with dreadlocks — Eh. I wasn’t so sure about that when I saw it. But ‘lo and behold, a band of University of Illinois students were photographed dressed as the Jamaican bobsled team. I’m pretty sure none of them were Rastas, but they hail from the same geographic region.
Check out the results from Stereohyped’s Halloween Poll after the jump.
CONTINUED »
• Jermaine Dupri was named after Jermaine Jackson. That’s just weird. [People]
• Chaka Khan doesn’t seem like the nervous type, but she’s shaking in her boots over her upcoming debut on Broadway in The Color Purple. [SP]
• More senseless racism. More Al Sharpton. [SIA]
• The Apprentice made Omarosa a “celebrity,” and now she’s going to be on Celebrity Apprentice! She’s come so, so far. [Jossip]
• Michael Vick lost his house. Bummer? [EUR]
• If there was any doubt that Zahara is the most amazing Jolie-Pitt. [MG]
• Calling all We Got To Do Better producers! [TAN]
• Janet Jackson describes her yo-yo dieting as something “like a fighter getting ready for a fight.” []
• This is just sick, but I’ve grown to expect little from college football fans. [DS]
• A blog post after my own heart. [FN]
• Al Sharpton’s going on The O’Reilly Factor tonight, presumably to discuss this. It’s sure to be a productive show. []
• It makes sense for Nike to make a shoe just for Native Americans, since they make Air Force Ones just for blacks. []
• An Egyptian antiquities expert says he doesn’t know why some African Americans are all up in arms about King Tut’s race, because, he says, Ancient Egyptians weren’t black or Arab. []
• I think we’ve all seen this before. [Gawker]
• Clearly, Michael Vick is not interested in holding onto the few supporters he has left. [FOX]
Michael Vick’s federal plea deal, in which he admitted guilt to dog fighting conspiracy charges, saved him a hefty amount of jail time, but will probably hurt him now that a prosecutor in the Virginia county where the dog fighting occurred has plans to present evidence to a grand jury.
“Most of the matters that I’m presenting have already been admitted in sworn statements authored by the defendants in the federal proceedings,” Poindexter said.
Poindexter couldn’t detail the exact indictments he will pursue, but said the local investigation and the federal investigation largely focused on different crimes.
“The killing of dogs is one of those statutory prohibitions. Dogfighting is a crime, the mistreatment of animals is a crime, so you could take your pick, or take them all,” Poindexter said before cutting the conversation short. “I don’t have anything else to say about it. I’m through with it. Hopefully it’s coming to an end.”
It’s possible that he could get an additional 40 years in prison. I’m just a few hairs short of PETA with my animal rights opinions (if only meat didn’t taste so good), but even I think that’s pretty damn excessive — and highly unlikely. I don’t mind the fact that the possibility is keeping him up at night, though.
[ESPN]
• Donovan McNabb says America has it out for black QBs. When one of them gets caught fighting killing dogs, it probably makes things a little worse. []
• As more details come out about the West Virginia kidnapping/torture/rape case, police pile more charges against the six suspects. Do any of the new charges carry a mandatory sentence of burning in hell for all eternity? []
• Stars are not immune to acne any more than we are, and it’s also not a secret that Alicia Keys has some skin problems. But if you’re beautiful with cover-up on, then I don’t buy the argument that if you have acne you aren’t pretty. [SR]
• Lou Gosset, Jr.’s bringing the social activism in his old age. [NR]
• From what I know about Jena, the residents are just going to love it when swarms of unhappy black folk/northern white liberals swarm their town for the Sept. 20th rally. [USAT]
…the person who wrote this headline. Yeah, we know Michael Vick participated in some way in the hanging of dogs, but a noose around a black man’s neck isn’t really the best image to convey right about now. Heard of the Jena Six?
[Racialicious]
