Mar

30

A Very Cynical Version of the National Dialog on Race

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Race and Racism | 1 Comment

I thought this was a funny visual representation of the right-wing reaction to “dialog on race”.

We Aint the Same Color When the Police Show Up*

Just as a heads up, the piece does contain racial slurs.

Mar

26

Serious Question For Everyone About Affirmative Action

Filed Under Serious Questions | 29 Comments

I saw this article on MSNBC.? I’m curious what people think.? Can Clinton and Obama talk affirmative action during this Presidential campaign? Why or why not?

Am I the only one who is not surprised that Ward Connerly likes Obama enough to give him money?

Mar

21

Nauseating Racist Email Makes Snopes.Com

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Politics, Race and Racism, Uncategorized | 3 Comments

ARRRGGGHH

I can only hope these things backfire and incite more disgust at the hatred than hatred itself.

Mar

18

A Few Reactions to Obama’s Speech

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Politics, Race and Racism, Uncategorized | 26 Comments

I really identified with this part of Obama’s speech:

I can no more disown him [Rev. Wright] than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.

These people are a part of me. And they are a part of America, this country that I love.

I love America, dammit! Now I’m getting teary-eyed.

I also just read a post over at Poplicks by Junichi that takes a very insightful perspective on the speech.

It’s not often you see multiple news channels broadcasting lengthy speeches by major presidential candidates on white privilege and systematic racism. And by “not often,” I really mean “never.”

The speech further contributes to the fascinating study of how Obama deals — and doesn’t deal — with issues of race. As a political maneuver, Obama brilliantly crafted a text that simultaneously connects and disconnects himself with the civil rights movement and black leaders today. He carefully criticized the black community in exchange for being able to criticize the white community, all the while maintaining a positive and hopeful stance.

And I definitely agree with Junichi on his last and more critical point. I’m an Obama supporter, but I really wish Obama would adopt a more balanced approach to Palestinian-Israeli relations. On the other hand, that would probably be political suicide. I can only hope that when he’s elected and the pressure lets off a little, he can afford to distinguish himself by promoting more even-handed solutions to peace in the Middle East.

I hate to open a can of worms here, but it seems obvious to me that the United States will never help to achieve peace in the Middle East until it is willing to acknowledge the moral and legal wrongs of both Palestinians and Israelis, the wrongs of the U.S., other western occupiers, and cultural imperialists, as well as the fundamentalist, violent nutjobs who undeniably perpetuate the endless cycle of violence.

In my book, any politician who focuses on the 1,033 Israelis who have been unconscionably killed since September 29, 2000 — while ignoring the 4,494 Palestinians who were unconscionably killed by Israeli security forces — is not bringing the change needed to our foreign policy. (Source for stats: Israeli Information Center for Human Rights.)

Obama’s opposition to the war on Iraq only goes so far in extending a hand to the other countries and people we should be reaching out to in the hopes of becoming stalwart allies.

Given that Obama is constantly forced to deal with ignorant whispers that he is secretly Muslim, I understand his need to firmly renounce the “hateful ideologies of radical Islam” and to reach out to the Jewish community. Anti-Semitism is a real, ugly, and major problem here and abroad. But so is anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bigotry, and I wish Obama were willing to take those on, as well.

*Here’s a link to the transcript and a video of the speech.

Mar

17

Bunch-O-Links All Privilege All The Time

Filed Under Bunch-O-Links, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

1. LaToya’s series of posts at Racialicious “Has Class Trumped Race?” Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 3.5.

2. Education and Class blog on denial of Class Privilege.

3. Amp’s List of Privilege Lists

4. Original author’s discussion on the list and the blog responses.

5. The first place I saw this meme was at Gradmommy’s

6. The Virtual Origin of the class privilege meme–Quaker Class Blog

Mar

10

The Hilary Clinton Feminists Strike Again

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Politics, Pop Culture, Race and Racism | 19 Comments

H/T to Prometheus6

Huffington Post has Roseanne Bar’s post “Bow to the Woman” up the first paragraph:

Barack Obama: Bow to the woman, and take the vice presidency. Let our country heal. You will run in eight years and be unstoppable as a visionary world leader. You must pass through this filter first though: bow to the woman.

So far this is the candidate who is leading in the most number of pledged delegates and states, but we’ve gone from him waiting his turn to taking second place? What is it with Hillary Clinton Feminists who rationalize their vote by employing racist narrative?

Mar

9

Quick Link: Love and Consequences Coverage Sequence

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Class Classism and Economic Inequality, Racism Round-Up | 10 Comments

Rachelstavern.com commenter ExpatJane has a series of posts on the “Love and Consequences” faked memoir. As a South Central native and ex-insurance adjuster, she’s working off her irritation by thoroughly listing the various kinds of incompetence involved in the whole sorry affair.

An excerpt:

Half white, half native American? My ass. Yes, I know, sometimes it’s hard to tell by looking at someone that they’re half this or half that, but considering the tall tale she was spinning complete with a big black mammy, I’d get suspicious.

I actually think that had they had someone who was from L.A. on this they would have picked up on something too. The publishing industry seems to be a nice derivative of the white shoe East Coast tradition where legacies and nepotism dominate the industry.

Mar

4

Anybody Out There in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island, and Vermont? How was voting?

Filed Under Uncategorized | 10 Comments

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you probably already know that I was raised in southern Ohio, and my friends and relatives are spread between northwestern and southeastern Ohio. I don’t know what happened after I moved away, but all the sudden Ohio is a political hotbed (LOL! I saw this article on Yahoo! right after I posted: Why is Ohio such a strong barometer of the country’s pulse?). One of the infamous purple, swing states. Since I have a family full of Ohio swing voters and most of them are those coveted blue collar folks, they are every politician’s “friend” these days. My mom says that she and my Dad get called constantly this time of year, and Bill Clinton even came to my hometown last week. In the meanwhile I’ve been living in New York and Connecticut, which are about as Democratic as you can get, so I don’t get to see the crazy political ads or rallies that they get.

So…can somebody who’s actually on the ground in Ohio or Texas (or Rhode Island or Vermont for that matter) tell me what’s going on? Are the polls busy? Is the weather causing problems? My Mom and Dad went to vote at 7AM this morning, and my Mom said it was surprisingly empty. I’m curious what are other folks seeing? I know y’all Ohio and Texas people are out there; what’s going on?

Mar

4

Support Vivian Stringer’s Book

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Education and Academia, Gender and Sexism, Pop Culture, Race and Racism | 1 Comment

Vivian Stringer is the head coach of the Rutger’s women’s basketball team,? so? many of you may have heard her name in the wake of Don Imus’s racist and sexist comments.? ? However,? her story and her influence as a pioneering woman extends well beyond the Imus controversy.? ? She has an amazing biography, and she is undoubtably a pioneering African American woman.? Her influence? as a role model extends well beyond her coaching background, as revealed in the press surrounding the book:

? A gifted athlete, she had to fight for a place on an all-white cheerleading squad in the sixties. In 1981, just as her coaching career was taking off, her fourteen-month-old daughter, Nina, was stricken with spinal meningitis. Nina would never walk or talk again. Still grieving, Stringer brought a small, poor, historically black college to the national championshipsa triumph hailed as Hoosiers with an all-female cast. In 1991, her husband, Billher staunchest supporter, the father of her children, and the love of her lifefell dead of a sudden heartattack, but that same year, she led yet another young team to the Final Four. Through these dark times and othersincluding her bout with cancer, shared here for the first timeStringer has carried her burdens with grace. Given her history, it was no surprise that she led her team to respond to Don Imuss slurs with dignity and courage.

Standing Tall is a story of quiet strength in the face of punishing odds. Above all, it is an extraordinary love storylove for the game, for the players she has coached, for her close-knit family, and for the husband she lost far too soon. It will resonate long after the last page.

Stringer releases her autobiography today and I encourage everyone to check it out.? ? It’s often that I? put up stories about the mistreatment of black women in the US,? so it is nice to have an occasion to celebrate some one who helps challenge those images of black women.

Update: Here is an interview I heard with her today.?

Mar

2

A Big White Lie About Race and Hiring

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Education and Academia, Mail Bag, Original Essays and Analysis, Race and Racism, Sociology | 38 Comments

I received this comment a few days ago, and quite frankly it’s hard not to critique something like this. The writer calling him/herself chiba said,

Heres an interesting one.

I cant get a full-time job at my school because Im white. The administration (dean) has made it clear to the departments (hiring committees) that there WILL be 50% minority professors in all departments.

Im not sure what the double standard is there, but it kinda bugs me. I always thought they were supposed to hire GOOD teachers, not black/Hispanic/Asian/etc. teachers.

I don’t think for one minute there is a predominantly white University in the United States of America where half of the employees (especially faculty members) in all of the academic departments are people of color. In fact, it is rare that people of color make up more than 20% of faculty members, and in the data I’ve analyzed as part of my old job, Black, Latino, and Native American faculty members are all highly underrepresented compared to their percentage of the population (which would be about 12%, 13.5%, and 1%). Furthermore, these groups are even more underrepresented among PhDs. I’m sure the Dean knows this, and I don’t believe for one minute that any University Dean would issue such a mandate. Here’s why: 1) Because setting a rigid number would be illegal and 2) Because it would NOT be possible to meet such a goal. In fact, when I sit at faculty meetings and go to conferences like the American Sociological Association conference, I’m always amazed at how white the professoriate is. I’ve been at several conference sessions and faculty meetings in my lifetime where there was not a single person of color in the room.

I also find it interesting that the commenter suggests in the final statement that “black/Hispanic/Asian/etc” teachers are somehow not good teachers. Unfortunately, this rhetoric is typical when many whites talk about how they think race plays out in the hiring process. Many white Americans assume that they are somehow more qualified than the people of color who apply for the same job. Unless a person has looked through the entire applicant pool, how would that person know if the “black/Hispanic/Asian/etc” teachers are not good teachers. How would the person know that white teachers are somehow more qualified? They clearly don’t know and are making a guess based more on prejudice than data.

To me the “I’m white so I can’t get a job” line seems more like a lame excuse. There are studies showing that whites often have advantages in the job interview process, so rather than chalking up one’s difficulty getting a job to people of color, perhaps (white) people should look over their resume. Send out more applications. Try revising their cover letters. Beef up their qualifications. Blaming people of color and whining about how hard it is for a white person to get a job is not going to help anyone: Not the whiny white job seeker and not the people of color in the same applicant pool.