Mikhail Lyubansky, Ph.D., is a member of the teaching faculty in the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he teaches Psychology of Race and Ethnicity and Theories of Psychotherapy. His research and writing interests include racial/ethnic group relations and restorative justice. He is a regular contributor to anthologies on popular culture, including Harry Potter, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and House MD, published by BenBella and recently co-authored a book on the Russian-Jewish diaspora: Building a diaspora: Russian Jews in Israel, Germany, and the United States. In addition to his PT blog Between the Lines, he is a managing editor at http://www.OpEdNews.com All material on this site published under his byline remains the property of Mikhail Lyubansky, copyright 2009, 2010. Permission is granted to repost and distribute, with proper attribution. Born in Kiev, Mikhail immigrated with his family to the United States as a child in 1977.
The racial scoop on NYPD officers’ dirty dancing on duty
My friend sent me this Huffington Post article link on facebook. “Curious what you think of this,” she writes. The article’s teaser is For the uninitiated, the dance move you’re about to see is called “daggering” (watch this Major Lazer video for a full introduction) and although we’re pretty sure “daggering” may violate some [...]
This post consists of twenty tweets (in chronological order) from my Twitter account late last night concerning Troy Davis. For those who may not be aware, Davis is due to die by lethal injection at 7pm EST. The evidence against him is controversial and, for many, not at all compelling, especially given the track record in [...]
Continue reading …
The X-Men franchise draws deliberate parallels between the oppression of mutants and that of other marginalized groups. What does it have to teach us about our own culture’s racial history and prejudices?
Continue reading …Dictionaries do a lousy job defining race. A new study suggests that the social cost of this may be higher than we thought, but there is also reason for optimism.
Continue reading …Japan’s “civilized” response to the earthquake and tsunami has inspired all the wrong questions
March 17, 2011 2 CommentsFriday’s devastating earthquake and tsunami have evoked an outpouring of support for Japan. Oh sure, facebook has seen a handful of clever updates like “Japan had it coming…” and “The earthquake is just God’s way of getting you back for Pearl Harbor,” but overall the response has been overwhelmingly supportive, sometimes to a (pardon the [...]
Continue reading …On Sunday afternoon, I sat down with one of my favorite race bloggers, Tami Harris (What Tami Said) to discuss the Colorlines report that “a group of white male college students in Texas have taken their antipathy to new levels by offering scholarships exclusively for white males.”According to the Colorlines story, William Lake, an MBA [...]
Continue reading …When it comes to non-white characters in fiction, is it better to be stereotyped, tokenized, or erased?
March 7, 2011 No CommentFriend and fellow blogger Tami Harris (@whattamisaid) asked an interesting question on her blog a few days ago: In your consumption of media, which is better–to be triggered, tokenized or erased? Harris, who is a fan of the urban fantasy genre, which includes True Blood, Vampire Diaries, and a variety of book series such as [...]
Continue reading …Does focusing on individual change distract from fighting structural racism?
October 27, 2010 No Comment
I’m horribly late to the whole “No Wedding No Womb” thing, but I figured it’s about time to give it a few words. If you’ve missed it, “No Wedding No Womb” (#NWNW on Twitter) is essentially a “don’t have kids out of wedlock” movement started September 22 by Christelyn Karazin (picture below) and targeted [...]
Continue reading …
I just came across a video I’m pretty sure was intended as a statement of anti-racism. I’m also pretty sure its intention fails. More than that, I think it’s one huge step backwards. I hate writing anything critical of any attempt at anti-racism. It’s hard to put yourself on the line. By any measure, [...]
Continue reading …Rich Benjamin, an African American journalist (yes, his race matters) spent over two years (2007-2009) criss-crossing the country, traveling some 27,000 miles to document the latest manifestation of “white flight” — the migration of white residents from cities and integrated suburbs to cloistered, racially homogeneous enclaves that Benjamin calls “Whitopias.” Along the way, he bumps into a white separatist group that, by his own account, treated him with respect and dignity. What exactly does this “niceness” mean in contemporary U.S. race relations?
Continue reading …
Recent Comments