Sunday, August 2, 2009
Shem Walker
From The Root, a story entitled "What About Shem?" According to the story, Shem Walker was recently killed by an undercover police officer. Please read this.
The 911 Call And The Gates Arrest
To hear the call, click here.
From the Associated Press: "The 911 caller who reported two men possibly breaking into the home of black Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. did not describe their race, acknowledged they might just be having a hard time with the door and said she saw two suitcases on the porch." Sgt. James Crowley, who arrested Gates on a later dismissed charge of disorderly conduct, spoke with the caller, Lucia Whalen, after he arrived at Gates' home and wrote in his report that Whalen told him "that she observed what appeared to be two black males with backpacks on the porch." Whalen's attorney says that Whalen never mentioned the mens' race to Crowley. The New York Times reports that Crowley's attorney, Wendy Murphy, said that Whalen "never used the word black and never said the word backpacks to anyone."
From the Associated Press: "The 911 caller who reported two men possibly breaking into the home of black Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. did not describe their race, acknowledged they might just be having a hard time with the door and said she saw two suitcases on the porch." Sgt. James Crowley, who arrested Gates on a later dismissed charge of disorderly conduct, spoke with the caller, Lucia Whalen, after he arrived at Gates' home and wrote in his report that Whalen told him "that she observed what appeared to be two black males with backpacks on the porch." Whalen's attorney says that Whalen never mentioned the mens' race to Crowley. The New York Times reports that Crowley's attorney, Wendy Murphy, said that Whalen "never used the word black and never said the word backpacks to anyone."
Recommended
"Prom Night in Mississippi," a documentary airing on HBO about the first ever racially integrated prom ever held at Charleston High School.
Leonard Pitts On The Gates Arrest
The columnist writes that Professor Henry Louis Gates "is a man who did the things African Americans are always advised to do--work hard, get a good education, better yourself, only to discover that in the end, none of it saved him. In the end, he still winds up standing on his front porch with his wrists shackled, just like any drug dealer or carjacker anywhere."
"Because sometimes, they just don't see you. It's one of the most frustrating verities of African-American life. Sometimes you simply know: they are looking your way but seeing their fears, their preconceptions, their stereotypes, that other black guy who did them wrong--everything except the one and only you."
"Because sometimes, they just don't see you. It's one of the most frustrating verities of African-American life. Sometimes you simply know: they are looking your way but seeing their fears, their preconceptions, their stereotypes, that other black guy who did them wrong--everything except the one and only you."
Harold Hill (Glenn Beck): President Obama Is A Racist
According to Hill . . . uh, Beck, President Obama has a "deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture." And, "I'm not saying he doesn't like white people. I'm saying he has a problem. . . . This guy is, I believe, a racist."
Monday, July 27, 2009
The Cambridge Police Report On The Gates Arrest
If you'd like to see what's in the report, click here.
History And The Texas Board of Education
The Texas Board of Education is considering revisions to the state's social studies curriculum. An op-ed by John Fea notes, among other things, that a report by Peter Marshall, an outside reviewer selected by certain members of the Board, states that Cesar Chavez "is hardly the kind of role model that ought to be held up to our children as someone worthy of emulation." Fea: "Perhaps the study of Cesar Chavez might help an 11th grade white student from a conservative Southern Baptist home learn something about the plight of her Mexican-American neighbors or the suffering of poor migrant workers."
When David Duke Posts Your Column On His Website . . .
David Duke posted (MSNBC commentator!!) Pat Buchanan's column about Judge Sonia Sotomayor on Duke's website. I'm just saying . . .
Ann Coulter On The "Obama Birthers"
When Ann Coulter says that those who think that President Obama is not a citizen are cranks you know that those pushing and covering this absurd "story" need to stop this silliness.
President Obama The "Witch Doctor"
Thinking that it was "Funny stuff," a Florida neurosurgeon and American Medical Association delegate forwarded this image of President Obama as what was supposed to represent an African witch doctor. The doctor has apologized.
A colorblind nation indeed.
A colorblind nation indeed.
Glenn Loury On The Gates Arrest
Loury, a professor at Brown University, finds "laughable, and sad, Professor Gates's declaration that he now plans to make a documentary film about racial profiling. Is this as far as his scholarship on the intersection of race and policing in America extends? Where has this eminent scholar of African-American affairs been these last 30 years, during which a historically unprecedented, politically popular, extraordinarily punitive and hugely racially disparate mobilization of resources for the policing, imprisonment and post-release supervision of those caught up in the criminal justice system has unfolded?"
Arguing that the nation has chosen to employ the police, courts and prisons to deal with "the antisocial behaviors of our fellow citizens," Loury posits that "such behavioral problems reflect failures elsewhere in our society--racial and class segregation in our cities; inadequate ducation for the poor; and the collapse of the family as an institution in some communities. Because of these failures, we have large numbers of under-socialized, undereducated and virtually unemployable young men in our cities and towns. (They are not all black, to be sure, but they are disproprotionately so.)"
Arguing that the nation has chosen to employ the police, courts and prisons to deal with "the antisocial behaviors of our fellow citizens," Loury posits that "such behavioral problems reflect failures elsewhere in our society--racial and class segregation in our cities; inadequate ducation for the poor; and the collapse of the family as an institution in some communities. Because of these failures, we have large numbers of under-socialized, undereducated and virtually unemployable young men in our cities and towns. (They are not all black, to be sure, but they are disproprotionately so.)"
"Meet the New Elite, Not Like The Old"
Check out Helene Cooper's piece in the New York Times on what she calls "the children of 1969--the year that America's most prestigious universities began aggressively recruiting blacks and Latinos to their nearly all-white campuses,"and her argument that today "America is being led, to a striking extent, by a new elite, a cohort of the best and the brightest whose advancement was formed, at least in part, by affirmative action policies." (Every time I see the phrase "the best and brightest" I think about what David Halberstam really meant when he placed that label on those in the Kennedy-Johnson administrations who formulated and implemented the policies resulting in the nation's involvement in the Vietnam War.)
A Critique Of CNN's "Black in America"
Sam Fulwood, writing in The Root: "CNN turned being black in America into a form of pathology, something to be cured. If black folks work hard, show respect to teachers and other authority and express gratitude for this nation's bounty, only then success may come their way."
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Sherrilyn Ifill And Richard Thompson Ford On The Arrest Of Henry Louis Gates
Ifill writes: ""We shouldn't need celebrities to bring home the seriousness of racial profiling. The pain, humiliation and injustice experienced by average, poor, black men and women should be a compelling enough story to hold our attention."
And Ford comments: "The president got it right: There's no plausible justification for the arrest. It was worse than stupid--it was abusive."
"And even racial profiling in the sense of using race as a part of a generic composite of a typical crimnal isn't necessarily racist. It's a tragic fact that blacks as a group commit a disproportionate number of certain types of crime. The trouble is that racial profiling--even if it's based on accurate generalizations--imposes a disproportionate share of the costs of law enforcement on innocent blacks, like professor Gates. Let's face it: It's hard to imagine that police would have presumed that a middle-aged white man who walks with a cane was a burglar."
And Ford comments: "The president got it right: There's no plausible justification for the arrest. It was worse than stupid--it was abusive."
"And even racial profiling in the sense of using race as a part of a generic composite of a typical crimnal isn't necessarily racist. It's a tragic fact that blacks as a group commit a disproportionate number of certain types of crime. The trouble is that racial profiling--even if it's based on accurate generalizations--imposes a disproportionate share of the costs of law enforcement on innocent blacks, like professor Gates. Let's face it: It's hard to imagine that police would have presumed that a middle-aged white man who walks with a cane was a burglar."
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Pat Buchanan's Supremacist Worldview
If you missed it, watch MSNBC commentator(!!) Pat Buchanan's recent appearance on Rachel Maddow's MSNBC show in which he sets forth his views on race. Maddow's comments on Buchanan's statements are worth viewing, as is this take by the Young Turks.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
More Pat Buchanan
On his website: "The Supreme Court, far from being the last redoubt of the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant in America, reflects the collapse of that WASP establishment, and a rising racial, ethnic and gender consciousness and solidarity."
The Arrest Of Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. was arrested in his home near Harvard University after a neighbor called police and reported that two black men were breaking into the home. According to newspaper accounts, after returning to his home from a trip to China at about 12:40 p.m. last Thursday, Gates placed his key in and tried to turn the lock on his front door but the door would not open. Gates, wearing a blue blazer and leather shoes, and the car service driver who delivered him to his home pushed the front door until it finally opened. Gates entered his home and the driver left. Police officers appeared at Gates' home and, according to the Cambridge police department, Gates was arrested for disorderly conduct after he yelled at a police officer. That charge has been dropped and the police department issued a statement calling the incident "regrettable and unfortunate."
For stories on the arrest, see here and here. For an interview with Gates, go here.
For stories on the arrest, see here and here. For an interview with Gates, go here.
Colored Demos' "Empthy, Racism and Our Highest Court"
Luis Fuentes-Rohwer writes: ""The Sotomayor nomination has taught me two things. The first is that the American public might in fact be dumb and dumber. The second is that Chief Justice Roberts might well be a racist."
On the first point: "Is there anybody out there stupid enough to believe that" Judge Sotomayor is a racist?
On the second point: Roberts has "demonstrated deep antipathy towards the interests of persons of color, on issues as far ranging as voluntary racial integration plans, voting rights, or hiring and promotion."
On the first point: "Is there anybody out there stupid enough to believe that" Judge Sotomayor is a racist?
On the second point: Roberts has "demonstrated deep antipathy towards the interests of persons of color, on issues as far ranging as voluntary racial integration plans, voting rights, or hiring and promotion."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)