Oct

31

Serious questions about the upcoming US election….

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This is really an open thread.? I wanted to give people the opportunity to vent about the upcoming election.? Do you have any races you are following closely?? What about those looney campaign ads?? Do you want to get in any endorsements?? This is your chance.

Oct

30

A Must Listen: National Public Radio Explores the Post 9/11 Lexicon

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I heard part one of this special today.? You can hear the whole series, which explores the language that has emerged after 9/11, focusing on? the political and cultural significance of language.? The first part of the series discusses the meaning of “jihad.”

Oct

30

Racism Round-Up 10/30/06

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1. Michigan has a ballot proposal aimed at ending affirmative action.

2. Fraternities behaving badly: University of Memphis fraternity is accused of racism (by one of its own members) and a John’s Hopkin’s University fraternity has one of those “ghetto themed” anti-black parties.

3. The University of New Hampshire decides not to fire a resident assistant who used racial slurs on the University’s TV station.

4. An anarchist website, challenges the racist media portrayals, of current events in Oaxaca, Mexico.

5. Thanks to a conservative blogger, I found that another liberal blogger has decided to use blackface.? It’s not like the conservatives are blameless, but it is worth it to checkout his round-up of blackface on blogs.? The blogger billmon at a blog called Whiskey Bar decided to blackface Wolf Blitzer in this post,? and then he follows it up with a justification/commentary on why he should be able to do this. Perhaps we need to review “Ebogjohnson’s Famous Should I Use Blackface”? flow chart.

6. Schools seek to end racial integration.? This is a good article about the rapid dismantling of school integration in the US.? It may shock many people to know that schools are more segregated today than they were in 1970s.

Oct

29

What is the cost of a child? White Baby $35,000, Latin@ Baby $10,000 and Black Baby $4,000

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Should supply and demand determine the cost of adoption?? Tariq? sent me this article? about a campaign by Rev. Ken Hutcherson in Washington state.? Hutcherson is taking on the adoption industry.? Here’s a quote:

When a couple seeking to adopt a white baby is charged $35,000 and a couple seeking a black baby is charged $4,000, the image that comes to the Rev. Ken Hutcherson’s mind is of a practice that was outlawed in America nearly 150 years ago the buying and selling of human beings.

The practice, which is widespread among private adoption facilitators, of charging prospective parents different fees depending on the race or ethnicity of the child they adopt is one that Hutcherson is fighting to change from his Redmond, Wash., church. The Antioch Bible Church has established its own adoption agency, and is lobbying state legislators to change Washington’s laws.

I don’t have time to write about this in detail, but this article outlines? some of my concerns about the adoption industry and American’s views on children in general.? Read the article, and tell me what you think.

Oct

28

French Suburbs Heat Up on Anniversary of Suburban Riots

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This week marked the one year anniversary of the riots in France.? The anniversary was commemortated by a march in honor of the two boys who died after being chased by police.? The was sporadic violence, makring the anniversary(although it seems that car fires are relatively common in France).? Here’s a brief quote from? an associated press article:

Six police were injured and 47 people were arrested, ministry officials said. Still the Interior Ministry described the night as “relative calm,” noting that up to 100 cars are torched by youths in troubled neighborhoods on an average night.

Police had braced for a bigger replay of violence in the poor suburbs predominantly made up of Muslims from former French colonies in Africa. Friday marked the one-year anniversary of the deaths of two teens that ignited three weeks of riots in 2005.

The rioting was fueled by anger at France’s failure to offer equal opportunities to many minorities especially Arabs and blacks and France’s 5 million-strong Muslim population.

France’s trouble integrating minorities and the suburban unrest are becoming hot political issues in the campaign for next year’s presidential and parliamentary elections. The government passed an equal opportunities law this spring and has poured funds into “sensitive” areas, but disenchantment is still pervasive.

The latest unrest centered on the troubled suburbs that ring Paris. Half the cars burned nationwide overnight were torched in the region around the capital. Of the 47 arrests, 33 people were taken into custody in the Paris suburbs, mostly for throwing projectiles, burning cars or generally vandalizing property, police said.

Oct

26

Racist Pee Wee Football Fans Taunt Black Children

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Blackface Parties, Pop Culture, Race and Racism | 45 Comments

blackface.jpgIn yet another case of blackface racism, a group of white Ohio football fans, including children, taunted their black opponents.? The racist fans, including this white boy on the left,? yelled racial slurs, painted their faces black, beat on frying pans, and wore Afro wigs when their team played a predominantly black opponent.? This is really disturbing to see young children engage in this sort of behavior, which really challenges the whole kids are colorblind argument.? The coach of the predominantly black team, Jeffrey Saffold, called the head of the youth football association for the white team to complain.? Here is a quote from the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

“I think this was a way of supporting the team by showing up in bigoted costumes to mock their minority opponent,” Saffold said.

Saffold said he twice previously complained to Hudson coaches about the use of the N-word.

He said after Sunday’s game, he complained to John Elffers, president of the Hudson Hawks Youth Football Association, who sent him a letter apologizing for the fans’ actions.

Elffers, however, said the first complaint he heard came Monday when Saffold called him and said parents of Shaker players were offended. Elffers said he doubted supporters meant to be offensive.

“Their actions, albeit unwise, foolish and insensitive, were meant to be totally supportive and not intended to insult or offend anyone in any way,” Elffers wrote in his letter to Saffold. “We regret what occurred and apologize for any righteous indignation these actions may have caused to the coaches, players, parents and family members of the Shaker football organization.”

What I found very disturbing is not only the actions of these kids, but also the most insincere pathetic apology I have ever seen.? John Elffers tries to argue that these actions were not meant to offend or insult, and I don’t see how else this? behavior could be interpreted.? Using the n-word and painting your face black is insulting, no matter how you try to frame it.? Moreover, in the statement above he is apologizing for the righteous indignation of the black kids and their fans when he needs to be apologizing? for the racist behavior of these white children and their parents.? (FYI–I am not the one who edited out the white child’s face.? The local TV station did that.)? ? ?

This case also seems to follow the typical pattern in these blackface cases.? The whole “we didn’t mean to offend them argument”? is the standard defense in these cases.? However, this clearly should not be taken at face value.? If any news reporters are reading this, I would recommend asking people who makes these claims two questions 1) What did you intend? 2) How do you expect blacks to respond to this sort of behavior?? I’d we love to see these white people’s responses to those questions.? Reporters, and people in general,? need to go a little deeper, and not just accept these sorts of claims.? Let’s not be so quick to let the “we didn’t mean to offend” argument slide.

Oct

25

6th Erase Racism Carnival is Up

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Check it out at Taking Place.

Oct

24

Source Magazine Loses Major Discrimination Lawsuit

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As if the Source hasn’t had enough problems, now beleaguered Source owners Raymond “Benzino” Scott and David Mays have lost a major lawsuit brought by for Source editor Kimberly Osorio. There is some dispute over the amount of the damages, and it was a little unclear from initial reports exactly what charges the defendants were guilty of. The New York Newsday said the suit did not award Osorio damages for sex discrimination, but they did find that she was fired in retaliation for making sex discrimination claims. Here is a quote from Newsday:

The jury rejected Osorio’s claims that she was subjected to sexual discrimination when she worked at the magazine from 2000 until 2005, becoming the magazine’s first female editor-in-chief.

But it concluded she was fired in retaliation after she made her sexual discrimination claims, complaining of a workplace in which pictures of G-string-clad women hung on the walls and an X-rated movie was shown in the mail room.

On Tuesday afternoon, Osorio expressed satisfaction with what she believed was a $15.5 million verdict, and her lawyers painted it as affirmation that sexual discrimination should not be tolerated at any workplace, despite the jury’s rejection of that claim.

“I definitely hope this has an impact on the attitude of hip-hop toward women,” said Osorio in a news conference. “It was very hard for me emotionally. There was a lot of harm to my reputation.”

I’m waiting for the final outcome, but I think this is a landmark case that sends a signal to some of Hip Hop’s head misogynists. Many women love Hip Hop, but we don’t have to take this sort of brazen anti-woman bigotry. Moreover, the two former owners continue to tarnish their own reputations.

Editor’s Note: Of course, this case is not just about Hip Hop. Sex discrimination is pervasive in many workplaces, but this is one of the first big cases in the Hip Hop industry.

Oct

24

Technical Difficulties

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I’m not sure just what has been going on lately, but I keep having a problem with the site hanging when it’s time to load the sidebar.? I am experimenting to try to see just what is causing the problem.? I tried installing a ne theme, which I actually like better than the old one.? However, the old them wasn’t the problem.? We also deleted the traffic monitor for the site.

For the next couple days, the site won’t have the recent comments on the sidebar because this is one of the potential problem areas.? If the site operates well without the recent comments script, then I will try to get someone to fix the script.? In the mean time, we are still troubleshooting.? The next step is to delete and readd the entire blogroll, which I dread doing.

This has been ongoing problem for the last couple weeks, and we are working on it. Thanks for you patience.

PS-I hve also been meaning to update and expand the blogroll. I actuall have about 5 or 6 blogs I’ve wanted to add, but I’m procrastinating until this problem gets fixed.? If you have any suggestions for some good new blogs, not in my blogroll, feel free to put them in the comments section.? Please do not be ashamed of self promotion here.

Oct

24

Racism Round-Up

Filed Under Racism Round-Up, Uncategorized | 5 Comments

  1. Check out these quotes from an old journal article. The Police State USA Blog argues that racism is at the root of gun control legislation. (A Nice Libertarian perspective to change things up.)
  2. The Hartford Courant has a good article on race and swimming. (Thanks to Kirsten)
  3. 8 former Syracuse University football players are honored for taking a stand against racism in 1970.
  4. A racist Connecticut woman, who verbally threatened a Black couple, is forced to do community service at the predominantly Black church of her victims. The couple actually asked for this “punishment” for the woman.

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