Ellis Cose On Race And The Obama Presidency

Writing in Newsweek, Ellis Cose argues that, in the wake of the election of Barack Obama, the "idea of a glass ceiling is almost laughable. Serious thinkers are searching for a new vocabulary to explain an America where skin color is an unreliable marker of status."

Black Test Takers And The Obama Effect

Here is a newspaper report on a study of what the researchers call the "Obama effect, showing that a performance gap between African-Americans and whites on a 20-question test administerered before Mr. Obama's nomination all but disappeared when the exam was administered after his acceptance speech and again after the presidential election."

The Bobby Jindal Watch

Governor Bobby Jindal (R.-La.) will be the headliner at the National Republican Congressional Committee March 2009 fundraiser. Let the 2012 presidential election campign begin.

Obama's Election: The Backlash

From the Southern Poverty Law Center: "The backlash [following Obama's victory] was evident in the aftermath of the election as scores of racially charged incidents--beatings, effigy burnings, racist graffiti, threats and intimidation--were reported across the country."

"At least two hate groups--Stormfront and the Council of Concerned Citizens--said their websites crashed because of heavy traffic. Stormfront also claimed to have gained thousands of new members immediately after Obama was elected on Nov. 4."

The "Drunken Negro Face" Cookie

The Lafayette French Pastry in New York City has "a 'Drunken Negro Face' cookie [supposedly] in honor of President Obama." Ted Kefalinos, the owner of the store, "also apparently suggested to a customer that Obama will 'get what's coming to him' just like President Lincoln."

As we celebrate, don't forget.

Video: "Walking In The Front Door"

Go here to view Skip Gates' video. From the story: "Many of us today can remember when it was a huge deal for a black person to enter the White House through the front door, and not through the servants' entrance. As the Obama family takes up residence at the White House, Henry Louis Gates Jr. gives the history of this remarkable journey."

"Why Black Preachers Are Better"

From Howell Raines, writing in The Daily Beast.

Ethnic And Racial Health Disparities

Click here for a story on the Kaiser Family Foundation's webcast on the existence of and need to address and eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health care.

64%

That is the number of African Americans who use the Internet, up from 56% in December 2007.

President Obama "Does Not Have Any Slave Blood In Him"

So said Southern Christian Leadership Conference president Charles Steele. The response on Michelle Obama Watch: "File this one under foolishness and chicanery . . ."

"Black Man Given Nation's Worst Job"

From The Onion.

President Barack Obama

What an amazing day.

The First Black President Indeed

I just saw on C-SPAN President-elect Obama and his wife Michelle at today's community service day lunch at the Coolidge Senior High School in Washington, D.C. Moving around the room and talking to those in attendance, he said "preciateya" a couple of times, something my mother and aunt say, and "What's going on, man?" in a way I often hear when brothers greet and talk to one another. As Michelle said to those who (ridiculously) questioned whether Obama is "black enough," "Stop it."

Dyson On King And Obama

Michael Eric Dyson, writing in The Root: President-elect Obama "may be the realization of [Martin Luther King, Jr.'s] dream, but he is not the extension of King's prophetic ministry. Neither should he be expected to carry that mantle. As the first president who is black, Obama has made millions of black hearts, including mine, swell with pride. But he is a politician, not a prophet, and should be judged as a political figure."

On post-racial, "a term Obama has never used": "Obama's success should not move us toward a post-racial society, but it should move us toward a post-racist society. A post-racist society aims for racial justice and harmony by removing racial impediments and social obstacles that prevent folk from flourishing. A post-racist society creates opportunity for all people to realize their ambitions and goals without unjust restraint and unfair barriers."

Gates & Stauffer On Lincoln

An article by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and John Stauffer asks the question "what would the man who is remembered for freeing the slaves say about his first black successor?" Noting that is difficult to answer that question, Gates and Stauffer contend that "Lincoln would have been, um, surprised. Lincoln was thoroughly a man of his times, and while he staunchly opposed slavery--on moral grounds and because it made competition in the marketplace unfair for poor white men--for most of his life he harbored fixed and unfortunate ideas about race." Lincoln favored abolition but not equality and had "ambivalent feelings about blacks themselves, especially about whether they were, or could ever be, truly equal with whites." According to the authors, in the month prior to emancipation becoming law Lincoln "proposed a constitutional amendment guaranteeing financing for blacks who wished to emigrate to Liberia or Haiti." Lincoln also used the words "Sambo," "Cuffee," and "nigger," told "darkie" jokes, and enjoyed minstrels in black face. Lincoln met with more black leaders than any preceding president and "became quite taken with one black man, Frederick Douglass," who, like Barack Obama, had one black and one white parent and was one of the greatest writers and speakers of his generation. "Lincoln, seeing this masterly orator of mixed-race ancestry [Obama], would most likely first have been reminded of his exceptional friend, Douglass."

President-Elect Obama On Race

From the President-elect's Washington Post interview: "There is an entire generation that will grow up taking for granted that the highest office in the land is filled by an African American. I mean, that's a radical thing. It changes how black children look at themselves. It also changes how white children look at black children. And I wouldn't underestimate the force of that."

"What I hope to model is a way of interacting with people who aren't like you and don't agree with you that changes the temper of our politics. And then part of that changes how we think about moving forward on race relations. Race relations becomes a subset of a larger problem in our society, which is we have a diverse, complicated society where people have a lot of different viewpoints."

Malia Obama On Her Daddy

Malia said: "First African-American president. Better be good." Priceless.

From Slavery To The Inauguration

Consider this: "The inaugural itself will be at the Capitol, which was built by slaves who baked the bricks, sawed the timber and laid the stone for its foundation. When Mr. Obama delivers his Inaugural Address, he will be looking out across the National Mall, which was once a slave market, beyond the White House, also built by slaves, to the Lincoln Memorial, honoring the president who freed the slaves."

Frank Rich's "White Like Me"

Recommended: Frank Rich's "White Like Me" piece in the January 18 New York Times. A snippet: "Last week I joined a group of journalists at an off-the-record conversation with the president-elect, a sort of preview of the administration's coming attractions. But as I walked some desolate downtown blocks to the standard-issue federal office building serving as transition headquarters, ghosts of the past mingled with hopes for the future. The contrast between the unemployed men on Washington's frigid streets and the buzzing executive-branch bees inside was, for me, as old as time."

And: "Today the nation's capital still has no voting representation in Congress and is still a ward of the federal government, reduced to begging, pleading and cajoling for basic needs. Some 19 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, and that 19 percent remains a secret to many who work within the Beltway."

Michael Eric Dyson On Obama's Use Of Language

Michael Eric Dyson, writing in the Washington Post on President-elect Obama's use of language, opines that "as much praise as [Obama] has justly received for speaking in a way that doesn't assault the white eardrum or worldview, his rhetoric is firmly rooted in black soil." Dyson recounts a January 2008 Obama speech in Sumter, South Carolina in which the then-candidate, speaking to a largely black audience about efforts to misrepresent his ideas, said "They're trying to bamboozle you" and "It's the same old okie-doke." In Dyson's view, "if you weren't familar with black culture, most of what he said and how he said it went right over your head--and beyond your ears."

A Mississippi High School's First Racially Integrated Prom

Charleston High School, located in the Mississippi delta, had its first racially integrated prom in 2008, ending a tradition of separate and privately organized proms for black and white students. In 1997 actor Morgan Freeman offered to pay for an integrated prom; that offer was finally accepted last year and the event was captured on film for a documentary entitled "Prom Night in Mississippi."

School Resegregation

UCLA's Civil Rights Project recently released a report on the increasing segregation of minorities in highly unequal schools.

Prince A Plagiarist?

From Billboard: "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World," Prince's 1994 hit, was plagiarized from a song written by two Italian composers, according to an Italian appeals court.

America's New Face(?)

From Politico: "Like the entertainers and athletes who preceded them as crossover pioneers, Obama and a new generation of smart, well-educated black professionals have unlocked the secret to political success by offering a broad-based, non-threatening agenda to whites while retaining their racial integrity with black voters." According to Sam Fulwood, "a new generation of black politicians--including Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.)--is challenging the Bible-toting civil rights leaders rather than joining them in reflexive protest marches. Obama is an exemplar of this group."

Tuskegee Airmen To Attend Obama Inauguration

At Tuesday's inauguration the living members of the Tuskegee Airmen, the nation's first black pilot squadron, will attend. The Airmen were invited by President-elect Barack Obama.

Recommended

KROI, Praise 92.1 FM, Houston.

Kansas Senate's First Black Female Senator

Congratulations to Senator Oletha Faust-Goudeau, sworn into office on January 12, 2009.

Prince Harry's Video

Click here to view it. As the News of the World story begins, "The soldier prince pours shame on the Royal Family as he calls an Asian squaddie 'our little Paki friend' and tells another officer cadet jokingly wearing a camouflage veil off duty: 'F*** me, you look like a raghead'--an offensive term for an Arab."

Politicized Hiring And Improper Personnel Actions In The Civil Rights Division

A July 2, 2008 report by the U.S. Department of Justice's Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility was released publicly today. The report concluded that throughout his tenure in the Department's Civil Rights Division Brad Schlozman improperly considered political and ideological affiliations in selecting attorneys for the Department's Honors Program and summer law intern program.

Of particular interest is the report's finding that Schlozman transferred a lawyer identified as "Attorney A" out of the division's appellate section. As set out in the report (page 37, note 30), Attorney A (apparently an African American) graduated magna cum laude from a top law school, worked as an attorney advisor in the Office of Legal Counsel, clerked for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and assumed a career position in the Civil Rights Division. Her work in the appellate section received positive performance evaluations, including the observation that she had "strong analytical and writing skills," and she was commended for "an excellent job . . . in one of the most important Establishment Clause cases decided by the Supreme Court in recent years . . ." According to the report, Schlozman stated that Attorney A was "a Democrat in hiding and is not going to hide in my Appellate Division" and told a colleague that Attorney A "wrote in Ebonics," "was an idiot," and "was an affirmative action thing."

The report also refers to an August 2004 incident in which an e-mail to Schlozman from Voting Section Chief John Tanner asked Schlozman to bring coffee to a meeting. When Schlozman's reply asked how Tanner liked his coffee, Tanner responded," Mary Frances Berry style--black and bitter." (At that time Berry, an African American, was the chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.) Schlozman forwarded the e-mail to several DOJ officials with the message "Y'all will appreciate Tanner's response."

These people worked in the Civil Rights Division. The Civil Rights Division!!

Affective And Behavioral Responses To Racism

The current edition of Science magazine contains an interesting discussion of the paradox of the condemnation of overt racial prejudice and the frequent occurrence of blatantly racist acts. From the report's abstract: "The present research demonstates that although people predicted that they would be very upset by a racist act, when people actually experienced this event they showed relatively little emotional distress. Furthermore, people overestimated the degreee to which a racist comment would provoke social rejection of the racist. These findings suggest that racism may persevere in part because people who anticipate feeling upset and believe that they will take action may actually respond with indifference when faced with an act of racism."

Oscar Grant, Dead At 22

On New Year's Day Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old African American, was shot to death by Bay Area Transit Authority police officer Johannes Mehserle. Grant was unarmed. A video of the shooting can be viewed here.

UPDATE: The officer who shot and killed Mr. Grant has been arrested.

Racial Discrimination In The Advertising Industry

The NAACP has issued a press release announcing a new study of racial discrimination in the advertising industry. The Madison Avenue Project found, among other things, that racial discrimination in the industry is 38% worse than in the overall labor market of the United States and is twice as bad today as it was 30 years ago.

Adolph Grimes III, Dead At 22

Tragedy in New Orleans: Adolph Grimes, a 22-year-old African-American man, worked in Houston and was in New Orleans visiting his family for the New Year's holiday. In the early morning hours of January 1 he became the first New Orleans homicide of 2009 as he was shot 14 times, including 12 times in the back, by New Orleans police officers. Seven officers who fired their guns at Mr. Grimes and two additional officers at the scene of the shooting have been reassigned pending an internal police department review of the incident. According to the police department, Mr. Grimes started a "gun battle" by firing at an unmarked police vehicle.

Racial Diversity In The GOP?

"As the nation is on the verge of inaugurating its first black president, the Republican Party is facing a telling choice: whether to elect its first black chairman." As noted in this account, of the six candidates for Republican Party chair four are white and two (Michael Steele and Ken Blackwell) are black. The white candidates include Katon Dawson of South Carolina, who resigned from membership in an all-white country club just before becoming a candidate, and Chip Saltsman of Tennessee, who sent to party members a holiday CD containing the song "Barack the Magic Negro."

More On Black In Bellaire

For discussion of black residents' interactions and experiences with police officers in Bellaire, "a comfortable, mostly affluent enclave in the middle of Houston," see this story.

Recommended

Glenn Loury, Race, Incarceration, and American Values (2008). The principal thesis of Loury's argument: "[W]e law-abiding, middle-class Americans have made decisions about social policy and incarceration, and we benefit from those decisions, and that means from a system of suffering, rooted in state violence, meted out at our request. We had choices and we decided to be more punitive. Our society--the society we have made--creates criminogenic conditions in our sprawling urban ghettos, and then acts out rituals of punishment against them as some awful form of human sacrifice."

Black In Bellaire

In the Houston Chronicle: "A mistaken police dispatch about a stolen car led to an early morning shooting on Wednesday of a Bellaire man in his own driveway and a demand by his lawyers that the officer who shot him be brought up on criminal charges." Robert Tolan, who happens to be black, and his cousin Anthony Cooper, who happens to be white, returned home from a fast food restaurant where Tolan works. After they pulled into the driveway and exited the car two Bellaire police officers, acting on an erroneous report that the car was stolen, ordered Tolan and Cooper (both unarmed) to the ground. While on the ground "Tolan looked up to protest officers' treatment of his mother, who had been drawn outside by the commotion. He was then shot once by Bellaire police Sgt. Jeff Cotton. At least two other shots missed." Tolan's attorney, David Berg: "There's no doubt in my mind that if these had been two white kids, they never would have been shot."

Tolan was hospitalized and is expected to recover. Sergeant Cotton, a certified mental health officer and crime prevention inspector who has taken several cultural diversity classes, has been placed on administrative leave.

The Chronicle story notes that in 1995 Travis Allen, an unarmed 17-year-old, was shot in the back and killed by a Bellaire police officer as Allen lay on the floor with the officer's foot on Allen's back. A grand jury declined to indict the officer.

Black College Students And White Roommates

According to a new study, living with a white roommate can result in as much as a .30 increase in the grade point averages of African-American college students.

The Rising Murder Rate Among Black Teens

A report by Northeastern University professor James Alan Fox states that the murder rate among African-American teenagers has increased since 2000 while murders committed by young whites have not grown or have declined. In 2000 539 white juveniles (ages 14 to 17) and 851 black juveniles committed murder. In 2007, murders were committed by 547 white juveniles and 1,142 black juveniles. Between 2000 and 2007 the number of young black persons in Houston suspected in murders increased 139%, placing Houston at the top of a list of 28 cities. For more on this report, click here and here.

"Katrina's Hidden Race War"

Check out this interesting and important article by A.C. Thompson published in a recent issue of The Nation. Thompson discusses, among other things, events occurring in Algiers Point in the days following Hurricane Katrina's devastation of New Orleans. "Facing an influx of refugees, the residents of Algiers Point could have pulled together food, water and medical supplies for the flood victims. Instead, a group of white residents, convinced that crime would arrive with the human exodus, sought to seal off the area, blocking the roads in and out of the neighborhood by dragging lumber and downed trees into the streets. They stockpiled handguns, assault rifles, shotguns and at least one Uzi and began patrolling the steets in pickup trucks and SUVs. The newly formed militia, a loose band of about fifteen to thirty residents, most of them men, all of them white, was looking for thieves, outlaws or, as one member put it, anyone who simply 'didn't belong.'"

And Thompson writes that an anonymous source stated that her "uncle was very excited that it was a free-for-all--white against black--that he could participate in. For him, the opportunity to hunt black people was a joy." One of her cousins "sent an e-mail to her" and "attached a photo in which he posed next to an African-American man who'd been fatally shot. The tone of the e-mail, she says, was 'gleeful'--her cousin was happy that 'they were shooting niggers.'"

The Shrinking Black Woman

From a recent report: "The average height of a black woman born in the 1980s is just under 5 feet 4 inches; her mother, born in the 1960s, is more than a half an inch taller. Even her grandmother, born in the 1940s, is a bit taller. The average white woman born in the 1980s is about half an inch taller than her mother." Upper-income black women are growing taller. One expert comments that the "only reasonable explanation we can come up with is diet and the obesity epidemic among (middle- and low-income) black women."

Lynchings: Images And History

The Atlanta Center for Civil and Human Rights has acquired a collection of lynching images displayed in the "Without Sanctuary" exhibition previously shown in New York and Atlanta. Brent Staples notes that "many of the people who attended lynchings as children in the 1930s and 40's must still be alive and walking the streets of the principal states of the lynching belt. They include Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas, all of which voted against the first black president."

"Barack The Magic Negro"

From the "just plain ignorant" portion of our program: As reported in the December 27, 2008 edition of The Hill, Chip Saltsman is running for the position of the chair of the Republican National Committee. Sending Christmas greetings to RNC members, Saltsman sent them a CD containing the song "Barack The Magic Negro," a so-called parody first heard on the Rush Limbaugh talk radio show. (Check out the May 6, 2007 entry on this blog for a brief description of the airing of the song on Limbaugh's show.) The Michigan Republican Party chair expressed his view that the song was not appropriate and is in bad taste. Saltsman blames liberal Democrats and the media for the controversy.

Reeling Detroit And Black Workers

From The New York Times: As the Detroit automobile companies stuggle for survival, African-American workers, "who occupy most rungs of the car production ladder, from plant workers to white-collar employees to auto suppliers and car dealers," are suffering siginificant job losses. Through November of this year approximately 20,000 black auto workers lost their jobs in the period commencing with the recession beginning in December 2007. Black unemployment nationally rose to 11.2 percent in November (compared to a national unemployment rate of 6.7 percent).

"How Post-Racial Was Obama's Victory?"

From The Boston Review: ""Why . . . did Obama win? Closer examination of exit polls points to a surprising conclusion. Obama won because of race--because of his particular appeal among black voters, because of the changing political allegiances of Hispanics, and because he did not provoke a backlash among white voters."