Two really great articles on CNN International that touch on race

'Django, in chains'
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/19/opinion/williams-django-still-chained

..."Django Unchained" is being projected on screens around the world, out of context: A slim percentage of consumers have any real understanding of what took place during slavery, one of history's most prolonged, barbaric and celebrated human rights violations. Sadly, for many Americans, this film is the beginning and the end of that history lesson.

...Hey, remember when Tarantino was selling those emaciated Jewish prisoner action figures with the concentration camp tattoos? So funny and ironic and harmless, right? No. That would have been cheap and disgusting.

Yet the filmmakers agreed to the release of action-figure slave and slaver dolls to help promote "Django." It was an especially offensive decision because selling slave figurines falls directly in line with the centuries-old American tradition of desensitizing us to the horrors of slavery with cute, palatable commodities. Tarantino didn't invent this tacky strategy; he just dug it back up."

The whole article is one hell of a read. And the fact that the brother that wrote it is that pretty little thing from Grey's Anatomy just makes me love him a bit more.

The other article was

'Model Cameron Russell: I get what I don't deserve'
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/17/opinion/russell-model-genetic-lottery/index.html?iid=article_sidebar

The real way that I became a model is that I won a genetic lottery, and I am the recipient of a legacy. What do I mean by legacy? Well, for the past few centuries we have defined beauty not just as health and youth and symmetry that we're biologically programmed to admire, but also as tall, slender figures, and femininity and white skin. And this is a legacy that was built for me, and it's a legacy that I've been cashing in on.

Some fashionistas may think, "Wait. Naomi. Tyra. Joan Smalls. Liu Wen." But the truth is that in 2007 when an inspired NYU Ph.D. student counted all the models on the runway, of the 677 models hired, only 27, or less than four percent, were non-white.

I applaud this woman for speaking up about this. Often, it is only black/Asian/Hispanic/Middle Eastern etc. women that make these types of comments. So glad to hear that she is smart and obviously honest enough to say out loud what everyone has already noticed.

And in light of the head-shaking stupidity of that Sports Illustrated photo shoot, I applaud her even more.