(Click Here to Read FULL article @ The Grio…) - From The Grio — In Zoe Saldana’s recent Allure interview, the Afro-Latina actress has once again stated that she is unconcerned with any backlash she receives for playing legendary singer and activist Nina Simone. In a perplexing statement, she compares her controversial casting as “The High Priestess of Soul” to Elizabeth Taylor playing Egyptian Queen Cleopatra VII in the 1960s.

“Let me tell you, if Elizabeth Taylor can be Cleopatra, I can be Nina — I’m sorry,” Saldana, 34, said unrepentantly. “It doesn’t matter how much backlash I will get for it. I will honor and respect my black community because that’s who I am.”

Who Saldana is may be clear to her, but her understanding of who Nina Simone was and from where the criticism stems appears to be minimal.

Saldana: Out of touch with African-American audiences?

Contrary to Saldana’s personal beliefs, the vast majority of observers who have weighed in on director Cynthia Mort’s decision to cast Saldana, from India.Arie to Nina Simone’s daughter, Simone Kelly, are black and view it as the ultimate show of disrespect. Not only because it is an aesthetically horrific choice that relies on blackface and prosthetics to pull off, but because Nina’s rich, dark skin, kinky hair and full lips shaped her life’s experiences, subsequently shaping her music.

Nina Simone would not have been able to conjure “Mississippi Goddam” and “Four Women” from the depths of her soul had she been born with more European features and straighter hair.

Further, it is both fitting and unsettling for Saldana to compare herself to Taylor. Cleopatra, whose black African heritage has been passionately argued for and against, has been described as both “tawny” by Shakespeare and a “negress” in some historical texts. For Saldana to claim that casting the extremely pale Elizabeth Taylor to play her somehow justifies her own misguided role as Nina Simone is a slap in the face of the black community she claims to represent.

Her history of ignoring racial history

And this is not Saldana’s first time brushing off criticism as inconsequential.

“What keeps me focused and what kept me from getting stressed from being hurt by the comments is I’m doing it for my sisters, I’m doing it for my brothers, and I don’t care who tells me I am not this and I am not that. I know who I am, and I know what Nina Simone means to me,” Saldana said in an interview with HipHollywood.com.

“I can only rely on that and maintain as much humility as possible, so that when I have to face the world and we have to then give the movie to the world to see, and share it with them, that if it comes back in . . . a negative fashion or positive, I’m gonna keep my chin up. And Nina was like that too. I did it all out of love for my people and my pride of being a black woman and a Latina woman and an American woman, and that’s my truth.”

Colorist privilege with questionable consequences 

That curious blend of arrogance and accessibility seems to be the root of criticism aimed at Saldana. She is not embracing her community; she is saying through her dismissiveness that how we feel doesn’t matter. By ignoring the hurt of Nina’s family and the pain of black women who have been deemed too dark, too heavy, too ugly to be portrayed on film as anything other than maids, slaves, and whores, Saldana becomes part of the problem.

(Continue Reading @ The Grio…)

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Marco McMillian (Image via ‘Marco McMillian for Facebook)

From THE GRIO – It’s been 82 days.

Eighty-one days since the body of Marco McMillian, a black mayoral candidate, who was also gay, was found on the Mississippi River levee, unclothed.

After 82 days of utter apathy from our collective community—the black community, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, our allies, and communities at the intersection—we are breaking the silence and calling out the paralyzing hypocrisy plaguing us.

Lives are at stake

On May 9th, in response to the autopsy results of the late Marco McMillian, the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), Parks & Crump law firm, and the McMillian/Unger family demanded a federal investigation at a national press conference held at the family’s home in Clarksdale, Mississippi. It was on their front lawn, with an oversized portrait of Marco behind us, that we declared that we will stop at nothing until the Department of Justice takes over the investigation.

As I’ve previously noted, justice sluggishly shifts when the lives of our black boys and girls are at stake. The public outcry is even more hushed, if at all audible, when it is a life of a black LGBT person on the line.

On March 3rd, four days after McMillian’s lifeless body was found, his parents released a statement saying that he had been beaten, dragged and set afire. But the Coahoma County coroner, Scotty Meredith, said McMillian was found with “two little bitty burns” and that “there was no beating, although there may have been an altercation.”

Brutalized, tortured and left for dead

March 5th, NBJC, the nation’s leading black LGBT civil rights organization, submitted a letter to the Attorney General Eric Holder, calling for the Department of Justice to launch a federal investigation.

Seventy-five days after Marco was found, we received an autopsy report detailing injuries the family outlined in their statement two months ago. The same statement that the Coahoma County coroner challenged by saying, “I don’t know where that is coming from.” Contrary to the coroner’s attempt to minimize McMillian’s murder, the young superstar aspiring to be a public official was brutally murdered.

It was not a random act of violence. He was brutalized, tortured and left for dead.

The report states that the victim died from a lack of oxygen. It goes on to detail that blunt force trauma most likely contributed to the Clarksdale mayoral candidate’s death, but what exactly caused the asphyxiation remains unknown. The report also notes that there were abrasions and lacerations on McMillian’s head, back and legs and multiple “areas of second and third degree burns,” and that the manner of death was a homicide.

Where’s the outrage

While an arrest has been made in this disturbing case, after 75 days of silence and virtually no public outrage, we are left with more questions than answers.

Back in March, the Coahoma County Sheriff’s Office announced that a suspect, Lawrence Reed, faces a murder charge in the death. Reed, 22, was found in McMillian’s wrecked SUV. He later provided authorities with the location of the victim’s body. Some say the two were romantically involved while others are pleading the “gay panic” defense, insinuating that Marco McMillian made unwanted advances to the murder suspect, Lawrence Reed.

Not only was this defense dangerous, it was problematic. It reeked of victim-blaming and ignored the egregious acts of violence committed against LGBT people of color.

(Continue Reading @ THE GRIO…)

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From The Grio

Specifically, African-American users on Twitter have become a particularly powerful force. Termed “Black Twitter” (or #BlackTwitter), this networked group of users has emerged as the 21st century extension of our barbershops, salons, college campuses, and church socials.

In this virtual space, issues such as feminism, race and politics are disseminated and dissected with the abandon often reserved for live conversations on topics about which many blacks are passionate.

What is “Black Twitter”?

Black Twitter has grown in influence and popularity recently, coming into its own just as the black blogosphere has risen into prominence as an alternative to the traditional press. Denizens of the Black Twittersphere include activists who seamlessly interact with widely recognized media personalities, popular bloggers with large followings, and everyday people.

This mysterious sub-culture to many mainstream Twitter users can be a gift and a curse.

Political analyst and author Goldie Taylor, who is arguably a Black Twitter star, opines that it is problematic and powerful in its scope.

“One first has to understand that one in four Twitter users is African-American,” shares Taylor. “Such a platform, including the ability to cloak one’s self in anonymity, affords space for both the profound and the pathetic. I am always a bit bemused with #BlackTwitter. As with any other digital segment, #BlackTwitter can be profound, pathetic and even profoundly pathetic.”

Black Twitter brings power to the people

Yes, people use this web of interconnected African-Americans to engage in loads of celebrity gossip, among other frivolities.

Yet, even with the negativity sometimes witnessed on this broad platform, #BlackTwitter has also been a virtual political tool for an intelligent and eclectic group of thought leaders.

These Black Twitter power users are changing how race and privilege are perceived and re-examined.

Never has this been more obvious than in the last month, as accusations of “black privilege” spread like wildfire through the Twittersphere, sparked by a Tumblr blog entitled “This Is Black Privilege.“

The #BlackPrivilege backlash

In late April, the blog, written by a young white woman, was introduced to the micro-blogging network otherwise known as Twitter.

The backlash from Black Twitter was sharp and instantaneous.

Although it might have drawn emotional picket lines in the real world of the ’90s, the assertion that something dubbed “black privilege” could trump ever-present white privilege was met with dripping with irony and bitter humor on social media.

Black Twitter transformed into a bully pulpit through the use of the #BlackPrivilege hashtag. A hashtag on Twitter — a word or phrase without spaces following a “pound” or number sign — can be used to connect tweets between users who may have nothing in common but the desire to weigh in on the idea the hashtag represents.

The #BlackPrivilege hashtag on Black Twitter became a beacon, like a flag during a revolution, drawing all verbal fighters to a battle against the idea that some whites are suffering, as the Tumblr creator believes, under conditions created by blacks getting “too much.”

(Continue Reading Page #2 @ The Grio…)

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Tarikuwa Lemma appearing on Melissa Harris Perry Show April 28, 2013.

From The Grio — Nineteen-year-old Tarikuwa Lemma is a survivor, of an international adoption scandal. When she was 13, she was effectively sold from her native Ethiopia to an American family. The corrupt “adoption agency” convinced her father, who was a widow, that Tarikuwa and her younger sisters were headed to the U.S. as part of an educational exchange program, and that they would return home every summer and on holiday breaks. Little did he know, his daughters had been placed with adoptive couples in the U.S., never to return. Tarikuwa’s name was changed against her will, and she was forbidden by her American “family” from speaking her native language. The issue of transnational adoption, its evangelical Christian component, and the exploitation of communities that sometimes results, is the subject of the book, The Child Catchers: Rescue, Trafficking and the New Gospel of Adoption by Kathryn Joyce, who appeared, along with Tarikuwa, on last Sunday’s “Melissa Harris Perry” show on MSNBC. Below is Tarikuwa’s satirical look at the “rescue” of children from her home country, to “better lives” in America.

…

It is a tragedy to travel to this deeply historical country of Ethiopia. We see the streets, the roads, the shack doors, crowded with poor Ethiopian mothers, women who have been collecting whatever scraps they can find to feed their hollow-eyed children. Teenagers, living on their own on the streets, shoot their own looks of desperation. Ethiopian men lie on the ground with exhaustion from not having been fed for days, for instead of eating, they feed whatever tiny amounts of food they get to their children.

I think it is agreed by all parties overseas that we should come up with a solution to help Ethiopian children we see on a late night TV programs: children with flies on their faces, no clothes, no food or water, begging for families to sponsor or adopt them. It is time that America comes up with an easy and simple solution to save all these children.

After all, as an adoptee, I have already been saved, and no longer feel attached to the Ethiopian ways, since everything in America has been so much better. So many malls, convenient fast-food restaurants, smooth roads, and everyone has a car. My intention is to help my fellow Ethiopians, as I was helped, when perfect strangers sought to save me from my family.

Ethiopian children are dying on the streets by their mothers’ — sometimes their father’s — sides. I can no longer stay silent. It is time for me to address this world crisis by joining American Christians, who are on the mission to save the world’s orphans. Americans are sick and tired of hearing about everyone in Ethiopia with HIV/AIDS along with their other diseases, starving and uneducated. Life is so much better in America because everyone is living in better conditions — and let’s not forget that we have democracy.

For example, what will happen to the family of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who ruled Ethiopia for 21 years and died recently, leaving his wife, his three children, his extended family and Ethiopia. What is going happen to those children? I must worry, because by United Nations (UN) standards, a child living with one parent is defined as an orphan. One of the American adoption agencies surely will save them from their horrible life with a single mother, and bring them to America so they can have better opportunities. They will have to start a new life. They will learn a new language, their names will be changed to American names, they will have to go to a new school or even better be home-schooled. They will have everything they ever wanted including things like: ipod, iphone, Wii, etc. Once you give them all those things, they will forget about their country, their culture and their loved ones because they will be living a better life here in America.

How uncaring are the Ethiopians who had children when they are poor. How could they offer their children opportunities when they can’t even feed them? They should have thought twice before deciding to have a big family. And they say it is their “culture.” Don’t worry because American superheroes are ready to save Africans, but first they will start with Ethiopians.

Therefore, dear friends, we will have the Ethiopian government sign over all the current and future children of Ethiopia to America. Americans will give them better opportunity. I, along with many other grateful Ethiopian adoptees, will be helping with this American Christian mission. The Ethiopian government, along with American missionaries and with the assistance of Ethiopian Airlines, will start delivering children age eighteen and younger to the United States. A mother or a father who fight to keep their children will be put in jail, since all this is happening in the best interest of the children. The Ethiopian government surely will give death sentences to anyone who tries to stops this Christian practice. The Ethiopian and American government won’t let the Devil stand in the way of this Christ-like act.

We understand that there will be mommies and daddies that will be crying as American missionaries take the children from their “homes” and pluck them from the streets. Once the children have left their homeland, we will prevent their heathenish childrearing. We will exceed the rationale of China and have a NO CHILD policy for Ethiopia. How are we going to make this work? Well, scientists are in the process of testing a one shot solution. Then, when our Ethiopian mission is complete, we will move into another ruined African country.

Continue Reading @ The Grio

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But far from displaying her maternal instincts the image has sparked criticism from her loyal fanbase because she writes “My lil n***a” in the caption.

In response, her followers are begging her to stop using the n-word on her Twitter account.

One person wrote, “The word is derogatory. If some cultures aren’t allowed to say it, no-one should.”

Another said, “So I love the hell out of her but that word I hate.”

Celebs need to read carefully

Still, the “We Found Love” singer has made it a hobby to keep herself in the spotlight with provocative and titillating photos. No doubt the Barbadian songstress believes playing up to the cameras keeps her relevant.

Though, Treavion Davenport, a Los Angeles-based PR expert and celebrity publicist, who helped launch the careers of Gucci Mane and Chrisette Michele, says celebrities need to tread carefully when using an unfiltered social media tool like Instagram.

“Unfortunately many celebs get caught up in the moment and the common folk norm of posting thoughts, observations, and candid photos; that they underestimate the potential negative and far reaching impact,” says Davenport.

April Love, a celebrity publicist and brand strategist in Atlanta, agrees.

“I advise clients that social media can be our best friend one day and our worst enemy the next,” says Love, who has worked with the likes of Monica, Cee-Lo Green and the media personalities from the Real Housewives of Atlanta.

A visual backstage pass

Instagram, a quick and easy way to share photos, was launched just two and a half years ago but has quickly gained popularity, with more than 100 million active users a month. In fact, it has become a favorite among celebs to showcase their extravagant lifestyles and give fans a “visual” backstage pass.

“The pure nature of social media such as Instagram gives fans, and foes, that instant gratification to connect with and feed off of the celeb in question,” says Davenport.

“It is another way to feel in tune and as if they have an up close and introspective view into the psyche and private lives of the object of their cyber-stalking.”

Vivia E. Armstrong, a marketing and social media strategist from Atlanta, says when used properly, Instagram can be an effective tool for marketing and creating brand awareness. “It allows people with few words to make their life more of a collage.”

Nevertheless, if things go wrong the possibility of it going viral is high, she says. “It can be damaging for an image or brand, which can last for a few days, weeks or months, or even be difficult to ever come back.”

When Instagramming goes wrong

Indeed, R&B songstress Fantasia Barrino learned this life-lesson the hard way.

Last year she posted anti-gay marriage sentiments on Instagram and there was uproar.

Barrino quickly backtracked and her management was forced to issue a damage control statement. Later she attempted to say her words were “taken out of context.”

(Continue Reading @ The Grio…)

The post Rihanna’s n-word Incident Raises Questions About Celebs on Instagram appeared first on Clutch Magazine.

From The Grio

Never mind the fact that the vast majority of Latinos in America are already citizens, born in the United States, and that not every immigrant — documented or otherwise — is Hispanic. The easy stereotypes make for simplified storytelling. But the issue of immigration, as you might expect, is far more complex.

For black America, the conversation about comprehensive immigration reform has often seemed disconnected from the core experience of most members of the community.

So it might come as a surprise to some that Ben Jealous, head of the NAACP, will keynote today’s Washington D.C. rally calling on Congress to pass an immigration bill.

African-American leaders rally to the cause
“We need common sense solutions that uphold our nation’s values and move our nation forward,” Jealous said of his reasons for participating in the Wednesday rally. “It is time to put to rest far-right-wing delusions about mass deportations and massive racial profiling programs like those in Alabama and Arizona. The very idea of America demands and deserves that we fix our nation’s broken immigration system in a way that would make Lady Liberty proud.”

Jealous is not the only African-American engaged on the issue. On Tuesday, New York representatives Yvette Clarke and Hakeem Jeffries, along with Nevada Congressman Steven Horsford, co-chairs of the Congressional Black Caucus’ immigration task force, held a form on “immigration reform in black America” at Howard University.

And on Saturday, CBC member Rep. Donald Payne will participate with the SEIU union in a pro-immigration reform rally at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, NJ.

“America is a nation of immigrants.  Nowhere is that more evident than in the 10th Congressional District. We have welcomed large populations of different immigrant groups from Africa, Asia, Central America, and the Caribbean,” Payne said in a press release Tuesday. “It is our diversity that is our incredible source of strength, and we must remember that many of our parents and grandparents faced the same challenges immigrants face today – opposition, incredible prejudice, and the challenge of learning a new language.”

It’s the economy, stupid
So why should black America care about immigration reform? It’s simple — the numbers, and the economy.

According to the Migration Policy Institute’s National Center on Immigrant Immigration Policy, which released a series of recent studies on black immigrants to the U.S., black Africans are among the fastest growing U.S. immigrant groups — comprising 3 percent of all foreign-born Americans — some 1.1 million people. Their numbers have grown at accelerating rates in recent decades — up 200 percent during the 1980s and 90s, and up nearly 100 percent since 2000.

Diversity visas — a program whose goal is to increase the share of immigrants from underrepresented countries, are the most common way African immigrants come to the U.S., and in recent months, black caucus members have fought to save the program, and its approximately 55,000 annual visas, from sequestration cuts.

(Continue Reading @ The Grio…)

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From The Grio – “It don’t even make a difference, miss. It’s like I don’t even need to go to school or nothing because I’m just gonna die before I can finish.”

These were not the words of a terminally ill child, but of a healthy teenager I met on a summer night in Harlem not long ago. On July 4, 2012, a 21-year-old college graduate named Matt Shaw was killed by a stray bullet on Lexington Avenue. He was getting ready to go to graduate school in the fall. When I visited with some local high school students after his funeral, I found an utter lack of surprise.

Mayor Bloomberg likes to trumpet the latest declining crime numbers, but his words are no consolation for the 1,600 shootings that took place in 2012. Today I will join hundreds of activist groups, including the NAACP, for a rally in Harlem to support the NY SAFE Act. The law, signed into law just last month, is already under fire in the courts from weapon manufacturers. Similar legislation is struggling in Congress and other states. Today we hope to show that New York stands behind strong gun control, and that others should too.

I helped work on the SAFE Act, along with other community activists, when Governor Cuomo’s office reached out to us shortly after the Sandy Hook tragedy. As an NAACP activist and the Founder of Street Corner Resources at Harlem Renaissance High School, I work with children who live in high risk of gun violence. I believe that this legislation will help prevent more tragedies like the murder of Matt Shaw.

Stronger background checks for guns and ammunition will keep weapons away from people who might sell them or use them for crime. A new system for reporting stolen guns will give police a heads up when another weapon finds its way onto the streets. A more frequent renewal system for pistol permits will provide law enforcement with more complete information to do their jobs.

(Continue Reading @ The Grio…)

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From The Grio

“We don’t raise boys to be men,” said former NFL quarterback turned feminist Don McPherson. “We raise them not to be women, or gay men.”

That brutally honest statement delivered at the March 8^th launch of “Ring the Bell” — a bold campaign developed by global human rights organization Breakthrough  to secure “concrete, actionable promises” from 1 million men to end discrimination and sexual assault against women — speaks directly to the entrenched gender roles and expectations that have made rape one of the most pervasive crimes in our society.

Violent words — hit, bang, beat, cut, smash – have been reappropriated to refer to enjoyable, consensual sexual activity, particularly in African-American communities where, not surprisingly, sixty percent of black girls have experienced sexual abuse before the age of eighteen. This is a barely-sheathed nod to the reality that for many men, masculinity is defined by the authority — indeed, the right — to objectify, dehumanize, violate and destroy. Some people refer to this as “rape culture,” while many accept it as part of life. If that threshold of so-called manhood must be crossed by penetrating unwilling women, then so be it.

The Steubenville rape case and the sympathetic reactions to the plight of the young men who were found guilty of penetrating an incapacitated young woman shows that this mentality is still very powerful.

But recently there has been a perceptible shift in the zeitgeist, which was prompted in part by the statements of conservative politicians during the 2012 presidential election. Republicans from Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock, to Rick Santorum and Paul Ryan made headlines for claiming that there are varying degrees of rape. From “forcible” rapes, to “legitimate” rapes, to rapes that are “God’s gift,” what came to be called the “War on Women” quickly became polarizing in a highly contentious election cycle heavily skewed towards women’s issues and how they intersect with and reflect on the collective society.

It became painfully clear that these leaders understood little of the needs of women, from our needs for reproductive health, to the right to feel safe from being raped – period.

Following on the heels of Rep. Gwen Moore revealing her own history of sexual assault on the House floor in an effort to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, these statements from Republicans rendered the political landscape fertile for change. And these seeds for change have been sown internationally. Rape and sexual violence against women, a quietly accepted fact of life since the beginning of civilization, is finally being attacked with the same force as any aggressor.

When the horrifying gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman in New Delhi exploded in the international news, the sheer brutality of the crime forced people all over the world to pay attention and reexamine the prevalence of violence against women.

The young Indian victim boarded a bus on December 16, 2012 with her fiancé. She was then raped by six men, including the driver. After taking turns with her, and beating her fiancé until he began to lose consciousness, they impaled her with a metal rod that shredded her internal organs before hurling them both from the moving vehicle to die.

This heinous crime prompted members of this traditional culture to vociferously demand justice for women who are victims of sexual violence — demands made on an unprecedented scale. It also led feminists around the world to look closer at rape cases near their own homes.

(Continue Reading @ The Grio…)

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Malik Kofi playing the cello: Photo Courtesy Jerome Smedley

From The Grio — Malik Kofi is extraordinarily talented; a child prodigy, musical genius, awe-inspiring orator, with intellectual gifts well beyond his years.

Not only is the 11-year-old academically brilliant but his superior musical abilities leaves audiences spellbound.

An impressive multi-instrumentalist, Kofi plays the piano, drums and guitar. However, his passion is for the cello.

“Malik is a musical prodigy,” says Craig Hulgren, a cellist in the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, who has been Kofi’s teacher for the past five years. “He has advanced technological and interpretative abilities as a child. Beyond that he also puts in the hard work to develop those talents.”

Born into a working-class family in Birmingham, Alabama, Kofi’s unique story is a testimony to excellence against all odds.

The product of a teenage mom, Kofi’s maternal grandmother, Ruby Cox, has raised him as her own since he was an infant.

She says Kofi came out of the womb curious and eager to learn.

As far-fetched as it sounds, Cox says he started talking in sentences at 8-months-old, by the age of 2 he was putting puzzles together. He had mastered reading music at 4.

When it became obvious that Kofi had something special, 59-year-old Cox, a divorced mom of four who never finished college, took the decision to homeschool her youngest grandchild along with his older twin brothers, Robert and Reuben.

She says she has a disciplined schedule and keeps abreast of what is being taught at top boarding schools. “In order for them to compete with the best in the world they need to be able to perform at a certain level,” says Cox, who also put her own four children through college.

Indeed, the twins now aged 23, are also musically gifted and exceptionally bright. They passed their SAT college entrance exam at 12-years-old and both went off to college at sixteen.

Cox, who happens to be a strict vegan, can’t explain why Kofi is so bright but is convinced his diet is a factor. From the time he started eating solids he has been on a raw foods diet, eating mainly veg, fresh fruit, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and herbs in their whole, natural state.

“Junk food is like any substance abuse,” says Cox. “Kids that eat junk don’t focus, can’t sit down, are noisy and disruptive and are not imaginative.”

Although the family has a computer they do not own a television set or have access to an internet. If Kofi needs to do research he visits libraries and perhaps takes out a CD or DVD for background information, says Cox. She believes having no technological distractions, “keeps him focused and creative.”

(Continue Reading @ The Grio…)

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From The Grio

I was into my third dozen eggs when a curious thing happened. I cracked the shell of a boiled egg, broke it open and two grey yolks fell out. Some people might have thought, “Ooh! Two for one!” But I stared at the paper towel in horror. Twins, I thought. It hit me then that some chicken somewhere was expecting babies and I was eating them. For reasons I’m not quite sure of, I quit eggs, beef and pork that day in 1996. Two years later, I did away with poultry. I haven’t touched meat since.

That’s not a story I tell to offer a high-handed moralizing of eating versus not eating meat, or to convince you to change your diet. I don’t impose. What you eat is your business, American meat lovers. I just wonder if in the last few days, given certain news stories, you’ve ever questioned what’s in your food as I have.

A recent two-year study on American seafood found compelling evidence of “seafood fraud.” Researchers found fish sold as snapper and tuna were likely to be mislabeled, 87 and 59 percent of the time, respectively. Overall, one-third of all samples used for the study were misidentified out of over a thousand samples taken.

And this is why I empathize with carnivores. Over the last several days, major international companies, including Tesco, Nestlé and Ikea, have pulled food from shelves in 14 countries after tests showed that products labeled 100 percent beef actually contained small amounts of horse meat.

Tests of Taco Bell meat found traces of horse meat in Europe. Allegedly “100 percent beef” burgers from the UK shopping giant Tesco were found to contain 29 percent horse meat. Over in the Czech Republic, traces of horse meat were discovered in the iconic meatballs of Swedish furniture retailer Ikea. And in South Africa, researchers found that biltong, which is supposed to be dried antelope meat strips (a local delicacy), turned out to contain horse, pork, beef, giraffe or even kangaroo.

(Continue Reading @ The Grio…)

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