Racebending.com

Welcome to another edition of the Saturday Link Roundup! This week we’ve got statistics on online interracial dating, a mother’s take on The Last Airbender casting, and Roger Ebert wondering what’s up with this year’s Valentine’s film.

• My Race-Based Valentine – by Jenée Desmond-Harris of TIME Magazine
  

  TIME Magazine reports on how personals sites show how race affects dating choices. The anonymity of online dating combined with easily tabulated statistics shows stark differences in how men and women react to people of different races.

• How I Became an Anime Fan—Not a Racebender – via Martha Nichols of Salon.com
  

  Martha Nichols, a parent of an eight year old boy adopted from Vietnam, talks about how her family fell in love with “Avatar: The Last Airbender” only to be disappointed in the casting of the film adaption. She explains how the show has a particular meaning for her blended and adoptive family, and how the casting symbolizes “why Asian adoptees often feel like honorary white people.”
  
  The article talks about how her son’s questions about the mature themes depicted in “Avatar:The Last Airbender” led to complex family discussions, and why it’s so important for parents to “challenge racism, unconscious and otherwise, and to name it for what it is.”

• ‘American Indian 101’ encouraged representation – by Eva Thomas of Indian Country Today
  
  An overview of a panel held last November about representation of Native Americans in the media. The gathering involved many prominent writes and creators in Hollywood, including the showrunner of “Saving Grace” and the makers of the documentary “American Century.”
• New Crayons: What’s New Our Our Shelves – via Color Online
  

  Color Online shares some of the new novels they’ve stumbled upon that feature protagonists of color. Definitely worth a look if you’re trying to find something new to read.

• Your suffering is not worth losing sleep over – via Florence Ringo Discussion Blog
  
  A wonderful response to Topless Robot’s post encouraging people who combat bias, ignorance, and racism to “settle down.”
• Valentine’s Day Review – by Roger Ebert
  

  Acclaimed film critic Roger Ebert takes a hard look at the film Valentine’s Day – and takes it to task for its typical vanilla casting. Where, he asks, are the other faces of love in American society. Where is the color in this film about relationships?

• ‘Faces of America’ reveals family ties – by Matea Gold of the Los Angeles Times
  
  Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. created a documentary, “Faces of America,” a genealogical project for PBS. The documentary uses historical archives and cutting edge genetic research to trace the ancestry of American celebrities including Stephen Colbert, Meryl Streep, Kristi Yamaguchi, Eva Longoria and Yo-Yo Ma.
  
  “No matter what laws of segregation, the one thing that DNA shows is that when lights came down, we were all getting down,” Gates said. “We are all mulattos.”
• My Race-Based Valentine – by Andrea Plaid of Racialicious
  

  In case you somehow missed the John Mayer debacle, Racialicious correspondent Andrea Plaid runs us through the numbers. What exactly did he say? Does it mean anything? Are his words isolated or do they represent something about how Americans view blackness – and black women?

• “Ethnic, Ethical, and Excellent” – by Latoya Peterson of Racialicious
  

  A look back at “Soul Train” – entertainment with a mission and a purpose. The idea that entertainment can aspire and achieve, can inspire and represent.