Marcia Dawkins's Blog

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Marcia Dawkins

Marcia Dawkins
Location
Los Angeles, California, USA
Birthday
December 31
Bio
Award-winning writer and educator interested in how people figure out who they are. She shares what she's found--and her fresh perspectives on media, identity, religion, rhetoric and politics--through a variety of creative outlets. She resides on the web at www.marciadawkins.com

MY RECENT POSTS

Marcia Dawkins's Links

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JULY 3, 2011 4:08PM

TV Appearance re Interracial Relationships

Please check out and share my 1st TV appearance on @CityLine5 re interracial relationships http://t.co/DUgqDB4

2 Comments
JULY 2, 2011 10:17AM

Devils, Doppelgangers and Darkness from Eminem

 

On a clear night in June I watched a man kill himself. He said he was going to do it.  I don't know why.  And I'm not the only one.


All we have to go on is the note he left behind.  It said that he was "space bound." Everybody seems… Read full post »
1 Comments
JUNE 12, 2011 1:48PM

Giving Loving Day It's Due

Giving #lovingday it's due. How will you honor it?

...As we celebrate Loving Day this year, let’s do it justice. Let’s remember our ongoing interracial history, diversity and struggle. Let’s remember the truth that the Lovings fought so hard for—that every race, ethnicity,… Read full post »

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FEBRUARY 17, 2011 1:43AM

Feature in TIME Magazine

...full text available at TIME Magazine

"Historically, racism is equated with segregation, separating people," says Marcia Alesan Dawkins, a visiting scholar at the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America at Brown University. "In turn, we think racial progress is racial mixing. But t… Read full post »
1 Comments
SEPTEMBER 21, 2010 5:07PM

The Powers and Problems of Passing as a Boy

While conducting research for my forthcoming book on passing-- the fact of being accepted, or representing oneself successfully as, a member of a different group--I came across the amazing story of Ellen and William Craft. The Crafts were an enslaved couple who escaped when Ellen passed as Mr. Johnso… Read full post »

1 Comments
APRIL 21, 2010 6:26PM

So in Style: Barbie's Mixed Race Makeover

The Supreme Court heard many arguments about the negative effects of racial segregation on children of color in the United States over 50 years ago in the landmark case Oliver Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.   Kenneth and Mamie Clark’s 1939 “Doll experiment&r/… Read full post »

4 Comments
Editor’s Pick
MARCH 17, 2010 1:38AM

Stressed Out of the Box

Robert M. Groves, Director of the U.S. Census Bureau, sent me a letter today. Mr. Groves told me that my 2010 Census form will be arriving sometime next week and that my "response is important. Results from the 2010 Census will be used to help each community get its fair/… Read full post »
16 Comments
Editor’s Pick
MARCH 3, 2010 3:15PM

Passing as Mixed Race

Alexandre Dumas has always been one of my favorite writers. Works like The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo and Georges took me on countless adventures in worlds and times much different from my own. But there’s a kinship I’ve always felt with the author despite our difference/… Read full post »
28 Comments
FEBRUARY 12, 2010 12:06PM

John Mayer Doesn't Have "Jungle Fever"

In a candid conversation with Rob Tannenbaum of Playboy Magazine musician John Mayer said, “I think the world would be better off if I stopped doing interviews.” Mayer has proven himself right. In what can only be described as a serious error in judgment, Mayer addressed his preferences… Read full post »

5 Comments
FEBRUARY 11, 2010 1:42AM

Fear of a Multicultural Planet

Last Thursday night former Congressman and 2008 Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo made opening-night remarks at the inaugural National Tea Party Convention in Nashville. Tancredo fired verbal shots at Barack Obama, Sen. John McCain and “the cult of multiculturalism,” stating… Read full post »

2 Comments
JANUARY 29, 2010 12:52PM

Matthews on Obama: "I forgot he was black"

obama-chris-matthews-turning 

The second decade of the 21st century has ushered in changes in technology, economics, politics, culture and narratives of identification.  From the advent of social media, to the Great Recession, to health care reform, to the revised racial categories on the U.S. Census, American/… Read full post »

7 Comments
JANUARY 27, 2010 11:55AM

Notes on Disney's Princess & The Frog

Everyone is talking about Disney’s latest “fairy tale with a twist” The Princess and The Frog. However, a few things seem to be missing from the conversation. Like, where is Maldonia? What sense can we make of Naveen's racial and ethnic identities? How does the film compare to E. D./

… Read full post »
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JANUARY 26, 2010 12:39AM

All-White Basketball League?

Census projections indicate that by the year 2050 white people will be a minority in the United States.  A lot of this has to do with immigration, but even without any immigration, minorities would still constitute a majority of the population under age 5 in 2050.  According to The New York… Read full post »

1 Comments
JANUARY 21, 2010 6:12PM

Wentworth Miller: One of Today's Underrated Actors

I think one of today's most underrated actors is Wentworth Miller.  I've been following his career since his performance in The Human Stain a few years back.  His work in this film made some important connections between particular mixed race, Jewish and African American responses to Americ… Read full post »

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JANUARY 20, 2010 7:05PM

On Avatar...

Oel ngati kameie. Today is Day 6 since my screening of James Cameron’s Avatar.  Part action film, part sci-fi, part horror, part fantasy and part cautionary tale, Avatar has shaped up to be one of the biggest blockbusters of all time.  Figures don’t lie.  Avatar passed t… Read full post »

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