COLOR INITIATIVE REPORT 5: Coloring Iraqis

THE COLOR INITIATIVE: On The WORLD-PRI/WGBH/BBC

Color and the US view of Iraq (4:30) http://www.theworld.org/?q=taxonomy_by_date/1/20080321
email this page | permalink | rss | del.icio.us | digg | facebook

Mike Prysner was 21 when he was deployed to northern Iraq in 2003. Prysner said just about every day, for the entire year he was in Iraq, he heard derogatory language being used to describe the Iraqi people; Phrases like……:

" …..Towel head and camel jockey and most disturbing of all, sand nigger. And these words did not initially come from my fellow soldiers but from my platoon leader, my sergeant, my company first sergeant."

An added barrier is Americans’ wholesale ignorance of Islam, says Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban. She teaches the anthropology of race and racism at Rhode Island College and is an advisor to the US military:

"Right after Baghdad had been secured one of my students says they heard in the early morning hours the dawn call to prayer and they thought it was a call to arms and they were at the battle ready –ready to shoot anything that moved. He came back and said how awful he had felt—because he is an African American man—He had stereo-typed people the way that he had been stereo-typed at home."

==============================================================

The Color Initiative is funded by the Ford Foundation, with additional resources provided by the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities and the Funding Exchange (Paul Robeson Fund).

COLOR INITIATIVE REPORT 4: Malaysia's Ethnic Indians

THE COLOR INITIATIVE: On The WORLD-PRI/WGBH/BBC






March 7, 2008
COLOR REPORT FOUR:Malaysia's ethnic Indians protest (5:00)
http://www.theworld.org/?q=taxonomy_by_date/1/20080307
email this page | permalink | rss | del.icio.us | digg | facebook

Ethnic Indians in Malaysia have long supported that country's ruling party. But not this time around. On the eve of Malaysian elections, ethnic Indians are taking to the streets to protest discrimination. I report from Kuala Lumpur as part of my series on the role of color and culture in shaping national identities.

The Color Initiative is funded by the Ford Foundation, with additional resources provided by the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities and the Funding Exchange (Paul Robeson Fund).

COLOR INITIATIVE REPORT 3: European Immigrants, Whiteness and Why it Matters Today, Part I

COLOR REPORT THREE: My third report in the COLOR INITIATIVE series on The World (BBC/WGBH/PRI) looks at how some European immigrant groups to this country--many whom were originally regarded as NON-white--became white, and the relevance to current immigration concerns. This is part one of two reports on this issue.

(Listen to report on The World by clicking on the link below and scroll down to January 21st story)

http://www.theworld.org/wma.php?id=0121088

I traveled to Chicago's Greektown and also spoke with Iranian, Italian and Brazilian immigrants in putting together these two stories. A key resource for understanding the role of color in America's hierarchical construction is the book:

Working Toward Whiteness: How America's Immigrants Became White: the Strange Journey from Ellis Island to the Suburbs by David R. Roediger, who was also interviewed for this story.

The Color Initiative is funded by the Ford Foundation, with additional resources provided by the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities and the Funding Exchange.

COLOR INITIATIVE REPORT 2: US Race Relations and American Film

THE COLOR INITIATIVE: On The WORLD-PRI/WGBH/BBC

For many people outside the U.S, race is an essential part of what defines America. And it is Hollywood that is helping to supply many of the images. That's the subject of the second in our on-going series on Color around the world-- TODAY on The World. http://www.theworld.org/?q=taxonomy_by_date/1/20071219

The Color Initiative is funded by the Ford Foundation, with additional resources provided by the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities and the Funding Exchange.

COLOR INITIATIVE REPORT 1: "Race as a marketing tool"

THE COLOR INITIATIVE: On The WORLD-PRI/WGBH/BBC
Race as a marketing tool (6:00)
November 8, 2007 | permalink | email | Yahoo! Buzz
Tune into the BBC program The World to listen to the first color report in my year-long Color Initiative series. It's about BENETTON, a European company that champions racial diversity (even as racism escalates across the continent). Learn how Benetton built a global brand on skin color. 

The World - a joint production of WGBH, BBC and PRI - is a daily news program heard on 236 public radio stations across the United States. Check local listings for broadcast times.