For many, Chris Matthews's post-speech comments took the luster off President Obama's first State of the Union address. I offer a few brief thoughts about Matthews's comments, what he probably meant to say, and why many didn't hear it that way. Read More

On the surface, multiculturalism seems a little like apple pie: It's American and seemingly everyone wants a piece. No wonder, then, that corporations are trying to sell it to us, one slice at a time. In Disney World's every theme park, in practically every corner, multiculturalism is for sale - sometimes as the featured attraction. Why bother with intercontinental travel? In the Animal Kingdom, the African Safari is just a short walk away, while Epcot's World Showcase features rides, restaurants, and shows from China, Mexico, and 9 other nations. Is this commercialized multiculturalism symbolic of progress or yet another cultural faux pas?

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Avatar is so heavily loaded with racial allegory that it's impossible, even for a casual viewer, to ignore its sociopolitical currents. On the surface, Avatar is an obvious, at times even heavy-handed, pro-environmental and anti-war missive. Its purpose (besides entertaining) is to hold a mirror up to humanity and show us the folly of our greed and disregard for human life, while at the same time showing us what our own planet could have been like if its indiginous peoples were allowed to retain their cultures rather than being overrun by European colonialization. But that's just the top layer. Underneath it is a bevy of subtle story lines and images that both arise from and comment on contemporary racial politics.

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One of the many privileges of whiteness is the ability to make choices about which racial groups are worth listening to, when, and under what circumstances, and this choice is often so taken for granted that many of us often make it without any awareness of doing anything at all. And because this choice-making is silent and invisible, it is easily denied, and, for the past decade, has been almost impossible to address in a structural manner. What are the psychological underpinnings of privilege, and might Web 2.0 provide new opportunities for anti-racism activists and writers?

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