COLORLINES - Channing Kennedy

Channing Kennedy

New Media Producer / Community Manager
Oakland, CA

Channing Kennedy is the new media producer for Colorlines.com, tending the site's community and social media presence while managing larger social media campaigns. He's responsible for most of Colorlines' original video content, working with reporters, researchers, advocates, and community members to tell the human stories behind the news — from net neutrality, to the Asian model minority myth, to Detroit's foreclosure crisis, to racial profiling by police. Channing is also an enabled media-analysis junkie; he's written for Colorlines on the agendas of right-wing pundits and the politics of anti-racist internet jokes.

In 2010, he co-wrote and edited the half-hour TV special "Colorlines: Race and Economic Recovery," which met with viewer acclaim and which still airs on stations across the country. Channing came to Colorlines from the world of no-budget guerilla art — making videos, running a record label, and performing in touring bands, while using existing technologies to criticize art's role in society and to explore new methods of artist-audience interaction.

Channing served in Americorps*NCCC in 2000, where he and his team worked hands-on with housing, education, and environmental projects. He trains nonprofits on how to use social media and video in strategically goal-oriented campaigns, and has written at length on the need for a proactive approach to cultural privilege in the internet's still-forming status quo. He enjoys exploring the intersection of nerd culture and social issues, in comics, video games, and comedy.

Channing has written for the American Prospect, and has been a guest on the PostBourgie podcast; his work has also appeared on The Root, Alternet, and Feministing.

Channing is @thatssochanning on Twitter, and is the human behind @colorlines.

What Defines Asian-American Masculinity? [Reader Forum]

by Channing Kennedy on May 20 2011, 8:19PM

Readers discuss a controversial New York Magazine cover story, about the unique trials of Asian-American men.

Topics: Gender & Sexuality

If Black Power’s Not Gone, Where Is It? [Reader Forum]

by Channing Kennedy on May 16 2011, 9:30AM

Victor Goode and Tim Jones-Yelvington add context and questions to the ongoing conversation about racial and political identities.

Topics: History, Politics

Uganda’s ‘Kill the Gays’ Bill Stumbles, But Still Not Off the Table

by Channing Kennedy on May 13 2011, 3:06PM

After international outcry, parliamentary session ends without a vote on the bill.

Topics: Gender & Sexuality, Global Affairs

Where is Our Culture’s Racial Subconscious? In Comic Books

by Channing Kennedy on May 13 2011, 10:54AM

Gene Demby and Alexander Chee detail the industry’s past efforts to include people of color.

Topics: Arts & Culture

Love for Tiny Mysterious Keyboard Virtuosos

by Channing Kennedy on May 12 2011, 4:00PM

This girl is a monster of Casio funk.

Topics: Celebrate Love

Walkout by Female MPs Delays Uganda’s ‘Kill the Gays’ Bill Until Friday

by Channing Kennedy on May 11 2011, 5:32PM

LGBTQ advocates in Uganda say that hate crimes and violence against their community have increased following the bill’s introduction in 2009.

Topics: Global Affairs

Community Rallies Behind Homeless Mom Tanya McDowell

by Channing Kennedy on May 11 2011, 2:50PM

Out of 26 kids enrolled illegally in Conn. schools, only McDowell faces criminal charges.

Topics: Schools & Youth

NYPD Filmed in Bloody Arrest of Elderly Chinese Musician

by Channing Kennedy on May 11 2011, 11:34AM

Residents say this is part of a larger trend of gentrification and police negligence in Chinese neighborhoods.

Topics: Criminal Justice

Trump’s Silly Response to Campaign Urging Stars to Dump the Donald

by Channing Kennedy on May 10 2011, 12:17PM

He says he can’t be racist, since a black person won his game show once.

Topics: Media, Politics

When Do Young Moms Get to Speak for Themselves? [Reader Forum]

by Channing Kennedy on May 8 2011, 12:42PM

On Mother’s Day, our readers tell us their own stories about motherhood, and clear away the myths about teen moms.

Topics: Gender & Sexuality

Missouri Pushes Voter ID, Birther Bill

by Channing Kennedy on May 6 2011, 2:04PM

HB 121 has some more hoops to jump through, and will need voter approval to go into effect.

Topics: Politics

Comics Industry Rep Accidentally Shows How Pop Culture Stays White

by Channing Kennedy on May 3 2011, 4:38PM

Racialicious’ Arturo R. Garcia highlights the effort to get Marvel Comics come clean about race’s role in the creative process.

Topics: Arts & Culture

How Do You Feel About the President Showing His Papers? [Reader Forum]

by Channing Kennedy on April 30 2011, 11:28AM

A powerful video by writer Baratunde Thurston sums up the racially coded horror-show of Donald Trump’s birth certificate crusade.

Topics: Politics

After Nine Years of Pressure, DHS Finally Drops ‘SB1070 for Muslims’

by Channing Kennedy on April 29 2011, 3:51PM

Advocates say it’s a last ditch effort by a department that’s already lost credibility.

Topics: National Security

Love for Retro-Futurism That Raises Up Racial History

by Channing Kennedy on April 28 2011, 6:00PM

Beyond Victoriana attempts to re-write steampunk’s Eurocentric framework.

Topics: Celebrate Love

Apple Rejects ‘Smuggle Truck’ Game About Immigrant Deaths

by Channing Kennedy on April 28 2011, 5:27PM

Back in January, we reported on the game Smuggle Truck, a game by Boston-based developers Owlchemy Labs. In Smuggle Truck, the player races an old pickup truck through a desert, attempting to cross the border without letting too many immigrants…

Topics: Immigration