So it turns out that HP’s face tracking webcams only work with white folks. Bwahahahaha. “Technology is colorblind” in your face. Check it out via Current.com:

Make sure you watch until near the end. Turns out “Black Desi” has a surprise for his wife to boot.
HP responds:
“We are working with our partners to learn more. The technology we use is built on standard algorithms that measure the difference in intensity of contrast between the eyes and the upper cheek and nose. We believe that the camera might have difficulty “seeing” …

Double Click the link to read Paulo Serodio “Africa 102: A more colorful view than black and white”
Since my first post on Paulo Serodio’s lawsuit against the New Jersey Medical School, related to allegations that Serodio was harassed and unfairly suspended for calling himself a “white African American”, the comments section has been very active. The discussion caught Mr. Serodio’s attention and he has submitted the article, that at least a couple of commenters, cited to justify Serodio’s suspension. I appreciate that Mr. Serodio submitted the article here. We …

As a former ABC news investigative journalist, I know that researching one story can lead you to a bigger, more important one. From the comments following the Paulo Serodio post, it appears that the ABC article I referenced in my original post only got a small part of the story.
That is disturbing to me on a profound level.
I have looked everywhere I know to look for the NJMS Plexus article Serodio wrote, that was referenced by a commenter. I would like to read and post Serodio’s article so we …

I cannot give you a short answer about why I call myself black. I guess it has to do with my predominant racial heritage, being born in the 60’s and being a testament to experiencing the world from a particular kind of frame. Overall, I think the common labels we use when discussing amorphous concepts like race, gender, sexuality and attractiveness are uncomfortably constricting and lousy at describing the nuance of human experience.
With this in mind, I was surprised and disappointed by the story of Paulo Serodio. Paulo Serodio …

If you’re a black male and want to be a successful CEO, it’s better to have a non-threatening ‘babyface’ than one that conveys maturity and power. According to a new study conducted by Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, some people find a serious, mature face on a black man just too scary. Read on:
Black Fortune 500 CEOs with a “babyface” appearance are more likely to lead companies with higher revenues and prestige than Black CEOs who look more mature, an upcoming study says. [American Express CEO, Ken Chenault, pictured above, …

Note to the international community: cut it out! Stop using President Obama to sell snacks and services.
First there were "Obama Chicken Fingers" from Germany, now there’s "Duet" ice cream out of Russia to add to the subtly racist Obama food pyramid:
MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian advertising agency has used an image resembling U.S. President Barack Obama to promote a new vanilla-and-chocolate ice cream, drawing the ire of human rights groups who said the ad was vulgar.
Ice Cream Plant No. 3 in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg launched last week …

In the latest installment of its ‘What would you do?’ series, ABC News turns on its hidden cameras to show the world what racism, indifference, compassion and solidarity look like up close in the real world.
The setting for ‘Would you stop racism?’ is an upscale New York boutique. Actors portrayed a black woman verbally insulted and falsely accused of stealing by a white actress who plays a racist sales girl. The black actress is then patted down in rough style, and further insulted, by a white male portraying the security …

I believe there will come a time when skin color will be a non-issue in terms of how human beings classify themselves in America. Ancestry may still be a factor in how people treat each other at first encounter, but almost nothing will be known about a person by looking at his or her skin because we will all be closer to some rich shade of tan – lighter than most black people and darker than most white people. Nature will handle this evolution over the next many …

Here’s my beef. If you equate every perceived transgression in the world with the worst of the Nazis or the Klan then we can easily become desensitized to the horror of the acts actually committed by these organizations. As a dog lover, and proud Mama to two rescued, mixed breed, furry children, PETA sure as heck has ‘harshed’ my mellow when all I was trying to do was enjoy a little canine shenanigans. Here’s what happened:
The animal rights group, which every year stages a protest at the Westminster Kennel Club …

The most ravaging aspect of racism and bigotry is that they allow the racist or the bigot to strip away all nuance of humanity from entire groups of people. And when we don’t see the “other” as human, we can choose to do horrible things to them without much self-reflection.
I fall prey to the impulse of easy generalizations too, of course. I watch world events and start to feel that all of the brutal African dictators look alike, all of the radical Israeli West bank settlers look alike, all the …

Does this look like Barack Obama to you? A German manufacturer thinks so.

Does this look like Barack Obama? A Utah Couple thinks so. Or thought so. And they think “he’s so cute and cuddly.” TheSockObama doll, not Barack. Well, maybe Barack; they don’t say. But as of today they have stopped selling their odd lil’ monkey doll product.
**UPDATE** – The Lawsons are indicating that they may continue to sell the doll. Disregard everything I say about naivete below. They now know EXACTLY what they are doing.

On August 15th, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black and Ben Stiller are set to star in Stiller’s latest comedy ‘Tropic Thunder’.

According to reports, Downey Jr. plays a white actor who takes a role originally written for a black actor and dyes his skin to play the role as a black man. His character does all this in hopes of winning an Oscar. Frankly, I like Ben Stiller’s comedy so reading about ‘Tropic Thunder’ I am laughing out loud and queasy at the same time.
Here are two of my favorite …

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’m getting older. No, I don’t look super-old, but I look old enough. For about twenty years – from age fourteen to about thirty-five, I’ve had the same face. Unchanging, …

Precious left this as a comment in the Open Thread and I think her story provides an interesting look at race as experienced by a biracial South African/Austrian.
Hi Carmen
I am a young woman living in Vienna, Austria now for 15 years. I thought I would like to share some thoughts with you, maybe it would help. I have also being laughed at a few times with no explanation, starred at insulted and have received a few nice compliments too.
I am actually mixed, my father is white and my mother …

Looks like UNICEF’s latest campaign to support African children missed the mark. The campaign featuring white children with their faces covered in mud, has been pulled. No one would argue the fact that UNICEF does a lot of good work in a lot of forlorn places, but…

What were they thinking?
Hat tip to Black Women in Europe & Radar Online
READ the details.