Of(f) Color, Or Black Like Me

A new addition to the New York Times annual Holiday Gift Guide has sparked a minor(ity) uproar after a blog devoted to critiquing the paper termed it "racist." What? Now people actually care what bloggers think?

Included in this year's guide, which was published in November and only finally sparked outrage, is a page titled "Of Color/Stylish Gifts." This first-time feature is described by the paper as "gifts created for and by people of color." After going virtually unnoticed by critics for a month, the guide's been widely slammed in the past week as a collection of "backhanded insults" which are "bordering on offensive" and "out of touch." You mean, this is like the shirts I had to see in the 90s that said "It's a black thing...you wouldn't understand"?

The "Of Color" section was compiled by African American (bona fide, yo) reporter Simone S. Oliver and was inside the "Style & Travel" section of the 2009 Gift Guide. Its contents include:

• "The Mocha Guide to Military Life," a book for African American women with family members serving in the military.

• A "Wise Latina" t-shirt, an obvious play on a controversial statement made by Sonia Sotomayor that became an issue during her Supreme Court confirmation hearings.

• "Hair Rules," a product for people of color with "problem hair."

• "Baby Jamz," which was created by Beyonce Knowles' father and sister, is "an interactive hip-hop and rhythm-based toy line."

Predictably, media watchdogs and Times critics have pounced on the paper for its publication of a gift recommendation list for non-whites. The conservative website Newsbusters blasted it as a guide for "race-based holiday shopping," while the liberal-leaning media gossip blog Gawker.com called it "a celebration of the racist assumption that 'people of color' are defined by their colors." Mediaite questioned the paper's editorial process in putting the guide together, saying that they were "utterly amazed it made it past the editing process," adding that they're "baffled why anyone felt the need to separate these gifts from the more generalized categories into which all these items fit, to one based on skin color."

New York Times spokeswoman Diane McNulty provided the following statement:

Our online gift guides are intended to offer holiday gift ideas for a wide variety of audiences and interests, with Times writers and editors making smart, informed choices that might appeal to those different audiences.

The "Of Color" guide, in the Style & Travel category, is in keeping with that philosophy, and with the efforts of a diverse Times staff to directly address minority readers with our content.

Of course, we expect our readers to use the guides however they choose, and we hope they'll find interesting ideas in many different categories. But we'll continue our effort to provide content that's relevant and appealing.

Congratulations to the New York Post, who finally spent a day being the classier rag in the city.