Contributor Carole McDonnell’s short stories and essays appear online and in print, in speculative fiction, ethnic, and Christian publications. She lives in New York with her husband, two sons, and their pets. Wind Follower, published by Juno Books, is Carole’s first novel. Her voice adds plenty to our discussion, so I welcome Carole and her column Faith in Color to Allaboutrace.com.
I love praise and worship music. I just got DSL so I’ve gone wild downloading sermons and inspirational music of all genres and types.
I’ve always liked music. I like …

I was pleased to read that my ‘alma mater’ ABC has refocused its ‘Cavemen’ sitcom toward ‘outsider’ humor rather than racial humor. If the writing is sharp and funny, the series may have a shot in this new context. There is nothing I like more than ‘fish out of water’ comedy; as long as it’s not ‘Blackfish out of water’ comedy.
READ – My original post about ABC’s ‘Cavemen’ The Problem with Cavemen

Do you remember the publishing debacle that was OJ Simpson’s book entitled If I did it? There was almost unanimous agreement that OJ was confessing his murderous antics under the guise of merely providing an imagined “how to” or “what if” instead. Well, Zogby International has conducted a poll on racism in America where questions were posed in such a way that respondents would not have to self-disclose directly. Instead, respondents answered what they thought about other people’s preferences and prejudices. You know, the old, “I’m not prejudiced, BUT…” Here …

Check out the TMZ.com video interviews
Is that rumbling I hear the sound of Al Sharpton’s approaching footsteps? According to interviews posted on TMZ.com, Lindsay Lohan pulled the ‘race card’ after allegedly playing race car driver on Tuesday. According to the interviews, Lohan hopped into the driver’s seat of a car belonging to friends of her former assistant’s boyfriend. The owner of the car Dante (who was in the passenger seat), is white. One of the other passengers Ronnie, is black.
Dante realized the mother was driving to the police station …

If there were going to be several statues of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the Mall in DC, who created those statues would not matter as much. But, there will be one statue and the fact that the selection committee went all the way to China to find an artist they deemed suitable to create this statue is an insult to the vital and diverse creative community right here in America. Here’s the story laid out in the Los Angeles Times:
CHANGSHA, China — Someday, a great monument in Washington …

According to Gawker, Andrew Morton’s latest tell all entitled Posh & Becks, includes the following passage:
Thanks to his taste in extravagant clothes and jewelry, penchant for rap music and his flash lifestyle, the blond footballer should be considered an honorary black man.
Gawker, David Beckham is an Honorary Black Man
Oh, well then, we should welcome Sir Elton John post-haste!

Note from the Editor: The following post was written by Douglas Harper and first appeared on his site The Sciolist on February 12, 2001. I am reprinting it (with the author’s permission) because I think it’s smart and addresses a number of issues I think about all the time. I don’t agree with everything he writes here. For example, I think the issue of “acculturation” is more nuanced than Harper expresses in this article. But still, Harper gives us a lot to chew on. This essay is well worth your …

It never ceases to amaze me but I am totally convinced there is some kind of Christian travel network out there. Traveling ministers frequently pop up in churches. I’ve been in white churches and I’ve been in black churches. There is always some guest speaker or another. But the Hispanic churches seem to have more visiting preachers than the rest. I’m not talking about the typical church visits where everyone from one church piles into cars and SUV’s to visit a “sister” church. I’m talking about actual foreigners; people who …

As far as first impressions go, I try to never judge people by initial appearance. I’ve had enough experiences with bizarre scenarios like rough looking black guys that start into “Ahllo’ chap, top o’ the day” or Asians with thick Southern drawls to know better. I find these encounters most refreshing. On the other hand, what really tweaks me is people who go out of their way to be ignorant and reinforce with words and actions their negative stereotypical image. I recently have had contact with two young women, Jazzmyne …

Alan Bean of ‘Friends of Justice’ has written a comprehensive update and analysis of the events in Jena, Louisiana. This account fascinates because Bean’s optimism is palpable. Bean believes that a sea change is headed toward Jena. I hope it gets there in time to help the young men on trial.

When you talk about race, there are times when you just want to pull your hair out because you want everybody to see what you see. You believe if everybody could just see what you see, then everybody could agree on the problems and then maybe even agree on ways to solve these problems. A case in point: Affirmative Action. Discussions of Affirmative Action tend to boil up into one of those confrontational, philosophical stews that spill over the sides, scalding every one arguing around the cauldron.

“I am afraid to open my mouth. I don’t want to be called a racist.”
But, what if you are?
“I am not racist.”
You probably are.
“How do you know?”
See, here’s the reality. If you have been raised in America, Europe, Asia, Central America or South America, you probably have racist tendencies. You have some belief that whites are better than blacks. Some of us have more racist tendencies, some of us have fewer, but almost all of us have them.
Most recently, my own racism confronted me as …

My Israeli friend recently was peeved at her church’s movie night program. She’s a messianic Jew who goes to a primarily black pentecostal church. She doesn’t go to a Messianic Jewish synagogue because she likes Mount Olivet. She’s always telling me that the deacons and “priest” –yep, she calls the minister a priest– understand the Jewish experience.
Another reason she attends Mt Olivet is that she is pretty much part of the town’s black culture. She has experienced some of the experiences many poor black folks have …

Eddie Pinder, an outstanding and award winning ABC News producer, has died of complications following heart bypass surgery. He was 36. Eddie was a friend and valued colleague. If you take a moment and click over to ABC News’ web page, you will read about his wonderful presence over and over again. But there is something more. Eddie was one of a few strong, black male producers at ABC News. His work was excellent and he never compromised his voice in coverage of any kind of story. His passion was …

I’ve been working on a couple longer posts and frankly, I’m a little worn down today. When I’m worn down, I most like to head to the gym. But since we cannot do that together dear reader, I thought we could share a laugh.
From Paul Mooney:
There was a white lady baking a cake for her little white son. She turned her back and he took the chocolate icing and smeared it on his face and said, ‘Mommy, look! I’m black!’
She slaps him and says, ‘Don’t ever do that …