More Django Dolls

More Django Dolls

If you really want to see the Django slavery dolls, (see story below) you can see them at this link:

Django unboxed: Doll tie-ins from Tarantino movie Django Unchained pulled from sale - Features - Films - The Independent

Ebay Pulls Django Dolls

EBay pulls Django Dolls

Django unboxed: Doll tie-ins from Tarantino movie
Django Unchained pulled from sale

If there was ever a set of toys worthy of the tag "not suitable
for children" then it would have to be the official merchandise
produced in conjunction with Quentin Tarantino's much-lauded
spaghetti Western-meets-blaxploitation epic Django Unchained.
The dolls depict the film's main characters: revenge-seeking
freed slave Django (Jamie Foxx), bounty hunter Dr King Schultz
(Christoph Waltz) and brutal slave owner Calvin Candie
(Leonardo DiCaprio), none of whom would be particularly
comforting to snuggle up in bed with.

Following criticism from civil-rights groups, production of the
dolls was swiftly brought to a standstill by film producers the
Weinstein Company, but they could still be found being sold at
massively inflated prices on eBay – some going for thousands
of dollars. Last week, however, eBay also made the decision
block sales of the dolls, stating they were "in violation of eBay's
offensive-materials policy".


But despite the dolls being withdrawn, the film which inspired
them continues to show in cinemas. For Andrea Plaid, associate
editor of Racialicious, a US blog that looks at the relationship
between race and popular culture, this is because toys quite
literally "play with slavery".


"It's one thing for an adult to spend money to see a racially
insensitive film. The assumption is an adult has the capacity to
understand it is historical fiction.

"But a toy is viewed as something to give a child who is
developing their understanding of the world. I suspect the toys,
and their associations with children, became a controversy that
the film studio just really didn't want to get into."

Multiracial Data Representation

Multiracial Data Representation 

Below is the student population pie chart from the California Department of Education. It is the closest illustration to what we need! The only difference is we would have preferred to see "Multiracial" instead of "Two or More Races." Also, if multiracial people are in the combined format used by the US Census Bureau, we do not have an important aggregate number of multiracial people. I wish some of the government folks and "advocates" could understand this concept. -Susan 

"Multi-ethnicity" Statistics Included

"Multi-ethnicity" stats included by Community College League of California

Medical Facts

Medical Facts

The health of first-degree relatives --your parents, siblings, and children--is always most key to your medical history, since you share 50 percent of your genes with them.

Grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren are second-degree relatives; you have 25 percent of your genes in common, so their wellness may be relevant to yours, but to a lesser degree.

First cousins are third-degree relatives and you share just 12.5 percent of genes, so the association is even weaker.
Source: HEALTH.COM

New Project RACE Advisory Member!

We are honored and thrilled to announce a new Project RACE Advisory Board Member. Barbara Showalter, MD earned her medical degree at UC San Francisco, and did her family practice residency in Merced, California, where she continues to work as a family doctor. 

She has worked with people from many cultural backgrounds, and enjoys learning languages and interpreting medical jargon into English. She has volunteered in community groups that have worked with medical issues, with building strong communities (working to decrease violence and bullying), and with youth activities.

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Showalter to our Project RACE family.

First Multiracial President Sworn in for Second Term

***Congratulations to President Barack Obama, our first   
         Multiracial president, on his second term in office.*** 


Sunday’s subdued ceremonies are a function of the calendar and the Constitution, which says presidents automatically begin their new terms at noon on Jan. 20. Because that date fell this year on a Sunday — a day on which inaugural ceremonies historically are not held — organizers scheduled a second, public swearing-in for Monday.

Law Bans Genetic Discrimination

Law Banning Genetic Discrimination Doesn't Apply To Some Insurers

TOPICS: INSURANCE, MARKETPLACE, PUBLIC HEALTH

JAN 18, 2013

NPR examines a key loophole in the law designed to keep health insurers from raising rates or denying coverage because of genetic issues. The law doesn't apply to life, disability or long-term-care insurance.

NPR: It's Legal For Some Insurers To Discriminate Based On Genes
There's a federal law that's supposed to protect people from having their own genes used against them, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, or GINA. Under GINA, it's illegal for an employer to fire someone based on his genes, and it's illegal for health insurers to raise rates or to deny coverage because of someone's genetic code. But the law has a loophole: It only applies to health insurance. It doesn't say anything about companies that sell life insurance, disability insurance or long-term-care insurance (Schultz, 1/17).

Meanwhile, a new study shows that people who offer their DNA for medical research may not be able to remain anonymous.

NPR: Anonymity In Genetic Research Can Be Fleeting
People who volunteer for medical research usually expect to remain anonymous. That includes people who donate their DNA for use in genetic studies. But now researchers have shown that in some cases, they can trace research subjects' DNA back to them with ease. And they say the risk of being identified from genetic information will only increase (LaCapra, 1/17).

Medpage Today: No Privacy Guarantee For Genomic Data
Supposedly anonymous individuals who have contributed their genomic information for research can sometimes be identified through free, publicly available Internet tools, researchers found. An effort to find the full names of 10 participants in a Utah-based genomic research project was successful for five of them, reported Yaniv Erlich, of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Cambridge, Mass., and colleagues. In fact, the researchers said in a report in the Jan. 18 issue of Science, they were able to identify not only the participants but their entire families, a total of nearly 50 people -- relying entirely "on free, publicly available resources," they wrote (Gever, 1/17).

This is part of Kaiser Health News' Daily Report - a summary of health policy coverage from more than 300 news organizations. The full summary of the day's news can be found here and you can sign up for e-mail subscriptions to the Daily Report here. In addition, our staff of reporters and correspondents file original stories each day, which you can find on our home page.

Source: KHN: Kaiser Health News

DNA Testing Ordered

Race May Be Considered To Determine Paternity


A child’s racial appearance can be considered to establish paternity
declared a Rochester Family Court judge. In doing so, the Court
ordered a DNA test to establish the paternity of two children who
appeared to be bi-racial, born to a married Caucasian couple; the
petitioner seeking to establish paternity was an African-American
man.

While there is a strong presumption that a child, born to a wed couple is the natural child of the couple, the presumption is rebuttable.

Apparently, the child’s racial appearance may be a factor to rebut the presumption. In reaching its decision, the court noted that while there is ample case law for providing that “appearance” cannot be considered in determining paternity, there is no case law preventing a court from considering the child’s race.

While the white husband was identified on both children’s birth
certificates as the father, the petitioner had regular visitation with the children and paid child support to the couple. The petitioner sought to establish paternity after he realized that absent an order declaring him the children’s parent, the married couple could unilaterally cut off all access to the children.

The children apparently had a complexion noticeably darker than the couple identified as their birth parents and their sibling, who was natural child of the married parents.

In ordering the paternity test which the court noted definitively
establishes paternity, the court stated: the adults' history of behavior all points to a likelihood that [the petitioner] is the biological father of the subject children, and the children's behavior indicates they understand that he is their biological father to the extent children are able to do so. . . . If [petitioner] were not in the picture, the girls would still have to recognize—at some point—that either Mr. G. or
Mrs. G. is not their biological parent. The court has no magic
wand to change these realities.

Given the unique set of facts where the African–American petitioner, seeking to establish paternity, had an existing relationship with the biracial children, had an established access schedule, and was paying child support to the “legal” Caucasian parents, the children’s racial appearance probably was not the determinative factor in the Court’s decision.
Source: Posted by Daniel Clement on January 17, 2013 New York Divorce Report
Copyright © 2013, Daniel E. Clement. All Rights Reserved.

New Study on Demographic Groups and Smoking

Graphic Warnings On Cigarettes Effective Across Demographic Groups

Jan. 14, 2013 — Quitting smoking is a common New Year's resolution for Americans each year, but research has repeatedly shown it is not an easy task. Some groups, such as racial/ethnic minorities, have an even harder time quitting. New research suggests hard-hitting graphic tobacco warnings may help smokers of diverse backgrounds who are struggling to quit. A new study by researchers at Legacy® and Harvard School of Public Health provides further evidence that bold pictorial cigarette warning labels that visually depict the health consequences of smoking -- such as those required under the 2009 Family Smoking and Prevention Tobacco Control Act -- play a life-saving role in highlighting the dangers of smoking and encouraging smokers to quit.

The study is one of the first to examine the effectiveness of pictorial warning labels versus text-only labels across diverse racial/ethnic and socioeconomic groups. Although a growing body of research has shown that disadvantaged groups may differ in their ability to access, process and act on health information, little is known about communication inequalities when it comes to cigarette warning labels.

The study authors note that text-only cigarette warnings have been repeatedly characterized as unlikely to be noticed or have an impact, and cite prior research indicating pictorial warning labels are more effective.

"Interventions that have a positive impact on reducing smoking among the general population have often proven ineffective in reaching disadvantaged groups, worsening tobacco-related health disparities," said Jennifer Cantrell, DrPH, MPA, and Assistant Director for Research and Evaluation at Legacy®, a national public health foundation devoted to reducing tobacco use in the U.S. "It's critical to examine the impact of tobacco policies such as warning labels across demographic groups."

Senior author Vish Viswanath, associate professor of society, human development, and health at Harvard School of Public Health, said, "There is a nagging question whether benefits from social policies accrue equally across ethnic and racial minority and social class groups. The evidence from this paper shows that this new policy of mandated Graphic Health Warnings would benefit all groups. Given the disproportionate burden of tobacco-related disease faced by the poor and minorities, mandating strong pictorial warnings is an effective and efficient way to communicate the risk of tobacco use."

The new study, published January 14, 2013, in the journal PLOS ONE, examined reactions to cigarette warning labels from more than 3,300 smokers. Results show that hard-hitting, pictorial graphic warnings are more effective than text-only versions, with smokers indicating the labels are more impactful, credible, and have a greater effect on their intentions to quit. Moreover, the study found that the stronger impact of pictorial warnings was similar across vulnerable subpopulations, with consistent reactions across race/ethnicity, education, and income.

"The implementation of graphic warning labels appears to be one of the few tobacco control policies that have the potential to reduce communication inequalities across groups," Cantrell said.
"Tobacco use is a social justice issue," added Donna Vallone, PhD, Senior Vice President for Research and Evaluation at Legacy®. "Given that low income and minority communities have higher smoking rates and suffer disproportionately from tobacco's health consequences, studies like this show us that graphic warning labels can help us reach these subgroups in a more effective way, ultimately saving more lives."
Source: ScienceDaily and Harvard School of Public Health, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.