Jan

9

(Pt 1) 2007 The Year in Race, Ethnicity, and Racism: The Top 10 List of the Most Fashionable Racial Trends

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Crime/Hate Crimes, Jena 6, Original Essays and Analysis, Pop Culture, Race and Racism, Racism Round-Up, Uncategorized, Xenophobia and Immigration | 15 Comments

In 2006, inspired by Racialicous, I put up a post of the top trends in race and racism for 2006. Given the popularity of that post, and the general enjoyment I get from discussing folks’ perceptions of trends, I figured I would make a list again this year. Here is the list in no particular order:

1. Return of the Noose and Lynching Metaphors–Nooses were everywhere this year. Some think the Jena 6 Case brought the noose as a hate symbol back to the forefront. In reality, it’s hard to know if there actually were more hate crimes this involving the brandishing of nooses, since there are not concrete statistics kept on this. Diversity Inc., which attempted to keep track of noose incidents across the US, notes 67 noose incidents across the US1. Whether or not the rates of noose related hate crimes were up, discussions of the noose and it’s connection to lynching were everywhere even CNN had a special called “The Noose An American Nightmare.

2. Rise of Black Bloggers as a Political Force– While I have noticed a big increase in the number of African American blogs since I started blogging in 2005, this was the first year black bloggers seemed to coalesce as a social force. Group blogs like the Afro Spear and What About Our Daughters helped focus debate on cases such as the Jena 6 and Dunbar Village. Now to be fair these were just two groups of bloggers, several more independent bloggers2 also helped shed light on stories that were generally ignored in the mainstream media. In some cases like Jena 6, blogs were created specifically for the issue at hand, and those blogs helped organize thousands of people to write, march, and speak out. Thanks to the organizing power of black bloggers thousands of protesters turned out in Jena, LA and this was just the most widely known social movement fueled by black blogs.

3. Anti-Chinese Rhetoric–You’d think there was a vast Chinese conspiracy to poison American children and pets if you watched one media outlet after another report on product recalls. The problem with most of these stories is what they didn’t tell you. For example, most toys sold in the US are from China, so it should come as no surprise that most of they toys being recalled are from China. For a good comparison, checkout recalled food products, since most foods eaten in the US are grown in the US, you will see a list with many US based growers and companies. Does this mean we should not eat food made in the US? What reporters also didn’t tell us is that most toys were recalled for design problems not manufacturing problems, and guess what? The toys weren’t designed in China. Furthermore, only a tiny portion of Chinese made toys were actually recalled. The vast majority of Chinese made toys were safe! I think the popularity of Chinese toy phobia, is related to some of our general stereotypes of Chinese people in particular and Asians in general. It reminds me a little of the 1980s when similar comments were made about Japanese products. It seems that every time an Asian country starts to become a strong economic competitor these stories emerge. I’m not disputing that there are problems in China’s labor and safety standards, and I think the plethora of stories on rampant pollution in China are accurate, but the primary people harmed by these social problems are the Chinese people. Furthermore, the American news media’s rhetoric greatly exaggerated the extent and significance of these problems. I can help thinking that the smear campaign is also related to the upcoming Olympics being help in China, but that remains to be seen.

4. Xenophobia and Anti-Immigrant Sentiment– Immigrant haters were out in full force this year. In fact, the xenophobes have single-handedly attempted to turn the word illegal in a noun. Bigots like Lou Dobbs banged the anti-immigrant drum the loudest. They encouraged Americans to believe that illegal immigrants were destroying America. They opposed laws that would allow undocumented children, who were brought to the US by their parents, to get college financial aid; they separated breastfeeding mothers from their infants; they blamed undocumented immigrants for crime even though studies have shown immigrants have a lower rate of crime than native born folks; and some even suggested the US get rid of birthright citizenship. What is incredibly fascinating about most of the debate on immigration is that most Americans don’t have a clue about immigration trends and laws. Today’s immigrants are wealthier and more educated than ever, but this doesn’t seep into the debate.

5. Asian Male TV Characters– Late in 2006, Racialicious had a series of posts on the 5 (Part 1; Part 2) most fascinating Asian Male TV characters. There was a time not long ago when there weren’t even 5 recurring Asian male characters on network television. While there is still a long way to go, I think this was a relatively good year for Asian men on TV. I even noticed more commercials with Asian men in them, and as atlasien noted in a recent comment, several reality TV shows had Asian cast members prominently featured. Some may wonder why I said Asian men and not Asian women. Although I don’t have any numbers in front of me, the representation for men seem to increase much more rapidly.

In a few days, I’ll post the next 5 trends that I thought were most popular this year. Since it may spoil the discussion on the next post, please try to focus on these 5 trends, rather than speculating about the next 5 (because I know y’all will bring up some of those ) I also realize that this list is very US biased, so I’m curious to see what some of the readers outside of the US noticed in their countries this past year.

  1. Unfortunately, they do not specify a time frame for the 67 incidents. [back]
  2. Sorry I don’t have the space to promote everyone’s site here, but a quick scroll through the blogroll on the left will reveal some great blogs that are often overlooked. [back]

Oct

7

John Mellencamp’s Jena Song

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Jena 6, Media Praises and Critiques, Politics, Pop Culture, Race and Racism, Sociology | 13 Comments

john-mellencamp1.jpgAs all my real world friends can yell you John Mellencamp is my favorite singer and has been for over 20 years. If he makes an album, I buy it.

Today he’s in the news because the mayor of Jena, Louisiana is angry about his song and video. People on Youtube have flagged the video, for adults only, so I’m putting up the link directly to Mellencamp’s site, where you can hear the song.? Mellencamp has also added the following statement to his site in response to the Jena mayor.

I am not a journalist, I am a songwriter and in the spirit and tradition of the minstrel, I am telling a story in this song.

The story is not, strictly speaking, about the town of Jena or this specific incident but of racism in America.

The song was not written as an indictment of the people of Jena, but rather, as a condemnation of racism, a problem which I have reflected in many songs, a problem that still plagues our country today.

The current trial in Jena is just another reflection of prejudice in our nation. If the song strikes an emotional chord with people and if they examine it and interpret it as they will, something will have been accomplished. The aim here is not to antagonize but, rather, to catalyze thought.

As I said in a previous post, the attention the Jena case has received is not about one specific incident, but the larger problems with the criminal (in)justice system. It can’t hurt to remind people of this over and over again. Unfortunately, it is hard for many people, especially whites to see, racism as anything other than isolated incidents. It’s nice to see Mellencamp driving that point home in his song and with his statement.

Oct

4

More Nooses, More Blackface – Qui annus est?

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Blackface Parties, Bunch-O-Links, Education and Academia, Jena 6, Race and Racism, Racism Round-Up | 7 Comments

These incidents may result in follow-up posts, so consider this the first discussion thread.

First, nooses were left twice in Coast Guard Academy bags -? the first noose was? in the bags of a black cadet, and the second was in the bag of a female instructor AFTER diversity training resulting from the FIRST noose. Why do I think someone slept through the class? I guess nooses are now de rigeur for people with a warped sense of “humor.” Part of the problem may very well be “diversity seminars” that deal in platitudes and extremes instead of valid, practical ? information.

Then, as reported by Pam’s House Blend, Shakespeare’s Sister, and The Smoking Gun, a crew of likely-drunk white college students do improptu blackface (mudface?) and hold up 6 fingers (for the Jena 6) and otherwise strike thug poses. Hint: deleting offensive material from Facebook doesn’t make it disappear, folks… Have they not heard of YouTube? Or even, copy-save?

And here I thought the collegiate wave of blackface parties was SO 2006. All I can really add right now is not the righteous indignation I should feel, but a huffy, annoyed *sigh.* All the excuses for the Jena blackface so far are nothing I haven’t heard before. It’s the same playbook, the same justifications, the same denials. And I’m betting dollars to donuts that we’ll hear the same thing from anyone implicated in the Coast Guard case. I’m tired. I don’t want to be, but I am.

———–

ON a lighter note: in case anyone’s curious about the top (and knows no Latin), the post title is cribbed from a button I own: “Hostes aliengenii me abduxterant -? Qui annus est?”? (roughly: Aliens abducted me – what year is it?)

Sep

20

Jena 6 Rally Today

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Jena 6, Media Praises and Critiques, Race and Racism, Uncategorized | 11 Comments

free-the-jena-6.jpgI haven’t covered this story thoroughly, mostly because so many others have done a great job. It’s great to see the power of African American blogger activists.

At this point, I’ve read so many posts on the story that I don’t even remember where I first heard about it.

Here are a few links. If you still don’t know the story, here’s a summary on the background of the race.

The Color of Change

FreetheJena6.org

Elle PhD has the list of contacts and the petition so you can support the Jena 6.

This case, and the Shaquanda Cotton Case are glaring examples of criminal justice inequality. Next stop the war on blacks drugs.