Domestic Workers Use Oscar Buzz Around ‘The Help’ to Create Change

by Rinku Sen on February 24 2012, 10:05AM

The film isn’t perfect, to be sure, but it offers a strategic opening to organizers fighting for domestic workers’ rights. And they’ve been smart enough to exploit it.

Topics: Oscars 2012, Rinku Sen, The Help

8576 Comments

‘The Help’ Today Still Don’t Have Rights, Actually

by Rinku Sen on August 11 2011, 11:23AM

Fifty years after the Jim Crow era in which this much-discussed film is set, the largely immigrant women taking care of rich people’s families remain ignored by most labor protections.

Topics: Rinku Sen, The Help

7360 Comments

Why I’m Just Saying No to ‘The Help’ and Its Historical Whitewash

by Akiba Solomon on August 10 2011, 12:50PM

Despite the hype and the ensemble of fine black actresses, I’m opting out of “The Help.” The trailer alone features too many group hugs to be trusted as an accounting of the civil rights movement.

Topics: Arts & Culture, History, The Help

7350 Comments