Mixed Race Studies

The Life and Work of Doctor-Turned-Photographer Zun Lee

PetaPixel
2016-02-13

Michael Zhang, Founder & Co-Editor

By day, Zun Lee is a doctor in Toronto, Canada. When he’s not working, he’s often unwinding from stress with a camera in hand. As a self-taught photographer, his documentary and street projects have caught the eye of The New York Times, The New Yorker, Magnum, and more.

The 8-minute video above by Format’s InFrame is an inspiring look at Lee’s life and work.

Lee first got into photography in 2009 after a colleague gifted him with a camera…

Read the entire article here.

Made Black

Jersey City Theater Center
Merseles Studios
339 Newark Avenue, 2nd Floor
Jersey City, New Jersey
Saturday, 2016-05-07 20:00-23:00 EDT (Local Time)

JCTC New Play Reading presents Schwarz Gemacht (Made Black) a cutting-edge, controversial play exploring race and identity through one of the most overlooked subcultures of the 20th century – mixed-race black German citizens during the 1930’s. This uniquely provocative work by Alexander Thomas, is on research and true stories of the people caught between two worlds in one of the most racially conflicted eras in history. Schwarz Gemacht (Made Black) premiered in Berlin at the English Theater of Berlin last year, then at the 2015 New Black Fest at The Lark, receiving a rave Playbill review by Olivia Clement: “Set in 1938 in Berlin, the play is centered on an Afro-German actor and his encounter with an African-American musician and activist that leads to questions about identity and the treatment of people of color both in Germany and in the United States.”

For more information, click here.

“One Drop of Love”: The Keynote Performance for the Mixed Heritage Conference at UCLA

University of California, Los Angeles
James West Alumni Center
325 Westwood Plaza
Los Angeles, California 90095
Saturday, 2016-04-30 14:30-16:00 PDT (Local Time)

Join us for some or all of this enlightening and affirming conference. One Drop will start at 2:30 pm in the James West Alumni Center.

TICKETS: FREE and open to the public!

We remain so very grateful for your continued support and look forward to sharing One Drop with you.

For more information, click here. To RSVP, click here.

Tribute to Prince

Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni
2016-04-24

One Drop of Love pays tribute to the one and only Prince with: June Snow (& Billy), G. Reginald Daniel, Paul Spickard, Nancy Fathi, Michael Prewitt, Alex Regalado, Chandra Crudup and Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni

With ‘Keanu,’ Key & Peele Break Into Feature Films — With Kittens in Tow

The New York Times
2016-04-20

Dave Itzkoff, Culture Reporter

There is no longer “Key & Peele,” the razor-sharp Comedy Central sketch series that ended in September. There are only Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, the comic actors and writers who used the five seasons of that show to shine a satirical spotlight on racial stereotypes and injustice (not to mention the increasingly distinctive names of college football players). And so the two men started pursuing their individual career paths.

A few months later, those paths have brought Mr. Key and Mr. Peele back together on their first movie, “Keanu,” which Warner Bros. will release on Friday, April 29. In this comedy, they star as cousins in Los Angeles who take in an adorable kitten they name Keanu. (It can mean “cool breeze,” too, you know.) But, unaware that Keanu once belonged to a notorious drug lord, the strait-laced pair must navigate the city’s criminal underbelly to reclaim Keanu when he is stolen from them.

…There’s a running idea in “Keanu” about black men who don’t fit traditional stereotypes having to navigate a world of stereotypical characters. Is that drawn in any way from your real-life experiences?

PEELE Part of it is a commentary on the lack of representation in movies. Certainly, there’s an overwhelming amount of stereotypes in movies. We’ve placed ourselves in a more typical world of Hollywood stereotypes.

KEY African-American culture’s not a monolith. You could take 56 pictures, and there’s one picture where you make this face [contorts his features], and that’s the picture they pick. “He loves to make that face!” No, dude, you didn’t look at the other 55 pictures. If we’re black nerds, we write from a point of view being black nerds. But we’re still African-American. In my life, it’s been frustrating when someone says, “You’re not black enough.” And I’m going: I’m black enough to not get that cab you also didn’t get. They didn’t pick me up either…

Read the entire article here.

Mexican-Punjabis relation through dance

NewsGram
2016-04-17

Megha Sharma

the performance held on 10th and 11th april credits: kalw.org

Mexican-Punjabi is a vanishing tribe

The United States had always been an open land to possibilities. It is visited by a huge number of immigrants every year. California which is not only a land of renowned universities, it consists of various fertile farmlands which gave opportunity to numerous Indians who wanted to have a hand in the agricultural field.

It is recorded that through Canada many people from Punjabi communities came here to grow peach and plums. However, restrictive immigration stratagem didn’t allow these outsiders to find a wife in their countries. As a result, what came out were interracial marriages of these refugees and the native Mexican women who used to work in the farms.

This gave rise to cultural amalgamation and this intermixing is now at the end of its league as the generations of this sub-culture are reaching the end of their lives. To overcome such a drastic loss a new dance series “Half and Halves” has been organised…

Read the entire article here.

Seeing Baltimore’s Native Americans Clearly

BmoreArt
Baltimore, Maryland
2015-05-26

Cara Ober, Founding Editor

An Inverview with Ashley Minner about her Exquisite Lumbee Project, currently on display at Trickster Gallery

Ashley Minner is a community based visual artist from Baltimore, Maryland. She holds a BFA in Fine Art, an MA and an MFA in Community Art, which she earned at MICA. A member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, she has been active in the Baltimore Lumbee community for many years. Her involvement in her community informs and inspires her studio practice. Ashley is currently a PhD in American Studies student at University of Maryland College Park, where she is studying vernacular art as resistance in tri-racial isolate communities of the U.S. South and Global South…

Read the entire interview here.

Tonight: Syfy Premieres New Alien Terrorist Series, ‘Hunters’

Shadow and Act: On Cinema Of The African Diaspora
2016-04-11

Tambay A. Obenson

Britne Olford – HUNTERS

Tonight, Syfy premieres the first season of “Hunters” it’s new fantastical procedural thriller produced by Universal Cable Productions (in association with Valhalla Entertainment and Atlas Entertainment, respectively).

Britne Oldford (“American Horror Story“) plays the female lead in the 13-episode loose adaptation of Whitley Strieber’s best-selling novel “Alien Hunter,” which tells the story of a brilliant police detective’s obsessive investigation into the mysterious disappearance of his wife, which he eventually concludes wasn’t at all voluntary, even though it initially appears that way. Somebody is taking people and making it look like they walked out on their own. As the detective gets closer to the truth, his work comes to the attention of a Special Agent, a member of the most secret police unit on the planet, tasked with seeking out the most brilliant and lethal criminals, but from another world – alien terrorists. The Special Agent leads the detective into a hidden fantastical world of extraordinary challenge and danger, as they take on the most difficult police assignment ever known to man…

Read the entire article here.

Misty Copeland Opens Up About ‘Lack of Diversity’ in Ballet World

Variety
2016-04-09

Misty Copeland spoke from the heart at Variety’s third annual Power of Women New York event about her journey “from living in a motel to dancing on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House.”

Jussie Smollett Talks About Growing Up in a Biracial Home and Pranking His ‘Empire’ Costars

ABC News
2016-04-08

Angela Williams, Entertainment TV Producer

There is lots of great music, loads of drama and plenty of surprises packed into each episode of Fox’s “Empire.” And much of it is centered around break-out star Jussie Smollett who plays singer/musician Jamal Lyon, son of fictitious music moguls Cookie and Luscious Lyon (played by Taraji P. Henson and Terrance Howard). It’s the role that has thrust Smollett into the spotlight – something he’s still wrapping his head around.

“I was sitting in a restaurant yesterday and I was just in a lunch meeting and then I look and there’s paparazzi out there taking pictures. And I’m like, ‘That’s so weird. It’s not normal,’” Smollett told ABC News. “At first you’re looking around, and you’re like, ‘Is One Direction here? Where’s Michael B. Jordan?’ And then you realize that they’re there for you. And I’m like, ‘There’s gotta be something better to do than follow me around,’” joked Smollett.

Smollett’s character is struggling to gain his father’s approval.

“And because he’s gay, Luscious, played by the great Terrance Howard, is not very supportive,” said Smollett. “He’s not happy. He’s not going on any marches with his son, let’s just say that. He ain’t gone be there.”

A gay, black man living in the world of hip-hop is a role rarely seen on prime-time television. But Smollett said he feels no added pressure on how he portrays the character…

…Smollett’s confidence likely stems from his upbringing. He grew up in a tight-knit family with a diverse background — his mother is African American and his father is Russian-Polish — and he’s one of six siblings.

“We’re a very close family, a functioning family, instead of dysfunctional – unlike the Lyons,” Smollett said. “No one’s ever loved me in spite of who I am. They’ve always loved me because of who I am.”…

Read the entire article here.