Dec

7

Shakesville Comment on Whiteness and Racial Awareness

Filed Under Race and Racism | Leave a Comment

http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2007/11/trying-to-get-white-people-to-talk.html

Thank you for this post!I teach American history, so race is something that inevitably comes up, and it’s one of those topics that makes me hyper-aware of everything coming out of my mouth when we discuss it in class.Similarly, when I find myself walking past a black person in the street, I feel very aware of how I’m looking at him or her, and how I want to come across as friendly and not bigoted.Or I’ll be describing some person to another, and find myself being very deliberate in not using racial categories as a shorthand for “blond person with pale skin” or “dark, curly-haired person with dark skin and wide face.”The very fact that I’m self-conscious of my thoughts in such moments is, for me, a reminder that, decent though I may wish to be, I do live in a racist society, my thoughts are indeed influenced by a weight of racist patterns and presumptions, that being neutral and genuinely color-blind is not possible in such a society – and that even my best efforts to use my privilege to challenge the system that supports it are small and nothing I should be unduly proud of.I think the fear of seeming stupid or being offensive is a real one, but if you don’t face it, how can anything get better? What is my fear of embarassment compared to the generations of bigotry faced by the people whose judgement frightens me?The hardest days in class are ones where I find myself balancing the need to not put my minority students on the spot while being respectful of their position relative to the issue, the need to challenge my white students to recognize their structural privileges while not blaming them for everything ever done by white people in the past, and the need to be as balanced as possible myself, while recognizing that I carry my own racist baggage and that balance and neutrality are frequently at odds.I’m not surprised that people avoid the issue – and isn’t that the very essence of privilege, that white people can avoid it, if they want?Rana

Jul

21

Arrested for BAHWB (Being at Home While Black)

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Education and Academia, Race and Racism | 6 Comments

Preeminent scholar Hanry Louis Gates was arrested for “breaking into” his own home.   It’s one of those moments, that I’d love to use to challenge those people who suggest that the discrimnation people of color face is reduced to “class” disadvantage.  All the degrees in the world, huge grants, and the class status that being a Harvard Professor affords, still doesn’t shelter one from racism.

Here’s the story on Yahoo!.

Feb

19

Eric Holder Says Americans Are Cowardly on Race Issues

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Race and Racism, U.S. History, history | 13 Comments

I don’t agree with every little tidbit of his speech, but I do think he’s right.  The deny, avoid, ignore pattern is so prevalent when it comes race, and it doesn’t serve the interest of racial justice at all.

Here’s a quote about Holder’s speech, and a link to the entire article:

In a speech to Justice Department employees marking Black History Month, Holder said the workplace is largely integrated but Americans still self-segregate on the weekends and in their private lives.

In the speech, Holder urged people of all races to use Black History Month as a chance for honest discussion of racial matters, including issues of health care, education and economic disparities.

“Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and I believe continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards,” Holder said.

Race issues continue to be a topic of political discussion, but “we, as average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race.”

Holder’s speech echoed President Barack Obama’s landmark address last year on race relations during the hotly contested Democratic primaries, when the then-candidate urged the nation to break “a racial stalemate we’ve been stuck in for years” and bemoaned the “chasm of misunderstanding that exists between the races.” Obama delivered the speech to try to distance himself from the angry rhetoric of his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Holder cited that speech by Obama as part of the motivation for his words Wednesday, saying Americans need to overcome an ingrained inhibition against talking about race.

“If we’re going to ever make progress, we’re going to have to have the guts, we have to have the determination, to be honest with each other. It also means we have to be able to accept criticism where that is justified,” Holder told reporters after the speech.

Feb

10

Truth and Reconciliation American Style

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Crime/Hate Crimes, Race and Racism, U.S. History, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

In this video, former Klu Klux Klan member Owen Wilson discusses his apology to congressman John Lewis. The story is very powerful, and it’s a classic feel-good redemption story.

On the one hand, it is really nice to see someone come around and realize the error of their ways. On the other hand, it’s sad that we don’t have more people from Mr. Wilson’s generation (and other generations) coming forward to apologize for their roles in these historic events.

Feb

3

Miley Cyrus Mocks Asians–Why We Need to Start Talking About Racism to the Young

Filed Under Pop Culture, Race and Racism | 2 Comments

Apparently teen star Miley Cyrus has been caught in a photo mocking Asians. Is this another “youthful indiscretion”?

A snapshot of Cyrus, 16, best known as the star of the Disney Channel show “Hannah Montana”, and friends posing with an Asian friend and pulling their eyes sideways surfaced on the Internet this week.

The OCA, a national organization in the United States dedicated to advancing the social and political welfare of Asian Pacific Americans, called on the singer-actress to apologize.

The group said the image “falls within a long and unfortunate history of people mocking and denigrating individuals of Asian descent.”

“Not only has Miley Cyrus and the other individuals in the photograph encouraged and legitimized the taunting and mocking of people of Asian descent, she has also insulted her many Asian Pacific American friends,” OCA executive director George Wu in a statement issued on Monday.

Wu said the fact that an Asian friend was included in the photo “does not make it acceptable.”

Representatives for Cyrus did not immediately return calls for comment on Tuesday.

She is relatively young, so I’m a little more sympathetic to the youthful indiscretion argument, but she’s old enough to have a sense of the offensive nature of making “slant eye” gestures.

As a culture, Americans need more avenues for young people to talk openly about racism and racially insensitive behavior.  I wish we didn’t totally avoid race as a topic of discuss with the youth.  As I write this I’m trying to think how I would explain the problems with this to a 9 year old Hannah Montana fan like my step son.

Jan

27

Racist Mobs at it in Australia (Again)

Filed Under International Racism, Race and Racism | 4 Comments

This from the Telegraph:
Each January 26, Australians gather in parks and on beaches to celebrate all that is great about their country: mateship, sunshine, barbecues and free-flowing beer.

But this year, across the country’s most populous state, the day of national pride turned violent when groups of youths rampaged through suburbs targetting non-white shopkeepers in a display of racism that echoed the ugly scenes of the 2005 Cronulla riots.

In the affluent Sydney suburb of Manly, where hundreds of families had set up their picnics for the day, more than 100 shirtless young men draped in “Aussie pride” flags smashed car windows and vandalised shops.

Carrying signs that read “—- off we’re full”, they paraded up and down the seafron threatening bypassers.

One 18-year-old Asian woman was injured when the gang smashed her car window, showering her in glass and causing several cuts to her arms.

There were also reports that the group attacked a taxi driven by an Indian Sikh and an Asian shopkeeper.

In scenes reminiscent of the Cronulla riots, when 5,000 white Australians congregated in the Sydney beachfront suburb and attacked Lebanese immigrants, groups of men jumped on cars that were stopped at traffic lights and chanted racist slogans to the terrified passengers.

Jan

23

Now That We Have a Black First Family

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Family Issues, Media Praises and Critiques, Original Essays and Analysis, Race and Racism | 3 Comments

I saw this article by John Blake on CNN’s website. The author discusses how having a “married” Black first family could potentially affect African American relationships.  The basic argument is that the Obama’s are good role models because they are a married and financially successful Black couple, who are openly affectionate and loving.

I’m often struck by these kinds of articles–the underlying notion is that Black Americans are in desperate need of role models.  I’m down with role models, but if we want to address the problems of racial inequality and black families, role models are a small piece of the puzzle.

The high rates of divorce and single parenthood in the African American community probably will not decline because we have a married black couple in the White House. Addressing poverty, educational quality/opportunities, and racial discrimination will go a lot further to provide stability to African American families.  I’m not one that thinks the government should spend our tax dollars promoting marriage and I don’t think single parents should be demonize.  My sense of it is that parents and children benefit from loving, stable, and (relatively) happy realtionships.  Much of the resonsibility for maintaining those happy/loving/stable relationships rest with parents, but we also have a societal responsibility to promote and create conditions that help make families happier, more loving, and more stable.  As long as poverty rates, unemployment rates, and other indicators of socio-economic standing lag behind those of whites, its going to be much harder for the typical black family be like the Obama’s.  The Obama’s are clearly a privileged Black family.  They have numerous resources at their disposal that will help them maintain their relationship.  Wouldn’t it be nice if we did more to help create the social conditions that would lower the racial gaps in poverty, divorce, and other family related problems.

Sep

22

A Great Study on Race and The Presidential Election

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Politics, Race and Racism | 15 Comments

Here’s a summary of the study sponsored by AP and Yahoo!:

Deep-seated racial misgivings could cost Barack Obama the White House if the election is close, according to an AP-Yahoo News poll that found one-third of white Democrats harbor negative views toward blacks many calling them “lazy,” “violent,” responsible for their own troubles.

The poll, conducted with Stanford University, suggests that the percentage of voters who may turn away from Obama because of his race could easily be larger than the final difference between the candidates in 2004 about two and one-half percentage points.

However, what I found most interesting was the chart on the side of the article.

ap_poll_race_obama.jpg

What is most interesting is how pervasive a few of the racial stereotypes are. It’s not surprising that white Democrats tend to be the least prejudice on most of these measures, but keep in mind that the chart only goes up to 40%, so it means that a minority of whites hold all of these views. That’s good when we are talking about things like “violent,” “lazy,” or “irresponsible,” but not so good when we are talking about “intelligent,” “hardworking,” and “law abiding”

Sep

16

“This is Your Nation on White Privilege”

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Politics, Race and Racism | 13 Comments

A great essay by Tim Wise.

A quote I really like from the essay:

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because every family has challenges, even as black and Latino families with similar challenges are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

White privilege is when you can call yourself a fuckin redneck, like Bristol Palins boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you’ll kick their fuckin’ ass, and talk about how you like to shoot shit for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.

White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.

White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people dont all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means youre untested.

Click the link above for the whole essay.

Sep

12

More Diverse Pundits Although the White Guys Still Run the Shows

Filed Under Black/African American Issues, Gender and Sexism, Media Praises and Critiques, Original Essays and Analysis, Politics, Race and Racism, Sociology, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

When I was reading Racialicious a while back I ran across this New York Times article, which notes that political pundits are more diverse than ever before:

Both MSNBC and CNN this election season have given new prominence to a handful of contributing commentators from varied backgrounds and perspectives: blacks, Hispanics and women. Whether such moves signal real progress in diversifying the punditocracy or merely reflect the needs of a particular news cycle is the question, some media experts say. The most prominent positions on television remain overwhelmingly with those who are white and male, and some critics note how striking that non-inclusion can seem during this election year.

As someone who has watched political shows for years, this is the first election where I have seen many panels with multiple white women, multiple African Americans, or any African American women (besides Donna Brazile). Overall this is a good sign.

There is still room for improvement. First of all, it appears that women of all races and men of color are not getting to be the primary host for political related shows. For example, take MSNBC, which had had a huge surge in viewers and is attempting to have a more liberal bent than the other networks, all but one of their shows has white men as the primary host–Keith Olbermann, David Gregory, Tom Brokaw, and Chris Matthews. The lone exception is Rachel Maddow, who is the new kid on the block. While the people who appear on those shows as commentators have become diverse the hosts still are not. A brief trip around the Sunday morning political shows reveals the same phenomenon. I also rarely see Asian American or Native American pundits, which is an other area where there can be improvements.

One of the more interesting observations I have about the racial make-up of Black and Latino political pundits– is that conservatives are overrepresented. I frequently see conservative Black and Latino pundits. If the pundits matched the political inclinations of these two groups, one would expect conservative Black pundits to be rare (definitely less than 20%) and conservative Latino pundits a little more common, but still less than half.

In spite of the areas for improvement that I identified above, I am very impressed with the dramatic difference over previous presidential elections. I’m not sure what the exact reasons are for this. Maybe it helps that we have had one black man and two white women who are knocking their heads on the glass ceiling that has kept everyone but white men out of our highest political office((Obviously, wealthy white men.)) . Maybe the networks were already trending in this direction–I tend to think they were moving in this direction, but they got a little jolt from the emergence of Obama and Clinton as groundbreaking candidates.

What do you think?

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