Saturday, May 29, 2010
Leave Malia Obama Alone
Yesterday Glenn Beck mocked and questioned the intelligence of Malia Obama. Eleven-year-old Malia Obama. Disgusting. But he apologized, so it's all good, right?
Garrett Epps On Rand Paul
Garrett Epps comments on Rand Paul's argument that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is constitutionally suspect. From the piece: "Dr. Paul was channeling ancestral voices--in his case literally, because his father ('Big Paul'?) cast the lone House vote against a resolution saluting the fortieth anniversary of the Act."
Trying Jon Burge
Jon Burge, a retired police commander in Chicago, is currently on trial for lying in a civil lawsuit about abusing and torturing dozens of suspects in the 1980s in order to obtain confessions.
CNN's "Black Or White: Kids On Race"
Click here for CNN's special series on children's attitudes on race. The series is based on a version of the "doll test" developed decades ago by the late Dr. Kenneth Clark and his wife Mamie Clark. The CNN study tested white as well as black children. A 5-year-old Georgia girl, who happened to be white, viewed five cartoon pictures of girls ranging in color from light to dark. "When asked who the smart child is, she points to a light-skinned doll. When asked who the mean child is she points to a dark-skinned doll. She says a white child is good because 'I think she looks like me,' and says the black child is ugly because 'she's a lot darker.'" The mother of the child, watching these responses, cried.
Leonard Pitts' column on the CNN series is recommended. He writes: "Children are not idiots. They hear and see us. They watch television, they listen to radio, they read magazines, they live in our world. So very early on, they know what we think. And often enough, it becomes what they think, too."
Leonard Pitts' column on the CNN series is recommended. He writes: "Children are not idiots. They hear and see us. They watch television, they listen to radio, they read magazines, they live in our world. So very early on, they know what we think. And often enough, it becomes what they think, too."
Sam Tanenhaus On Rand Paul
Check out this interesting discussion of Rand Paul,"a kind of libertarian originalist."
Black Women And Reality TV
From Kristan Brent Zook: "From 'The Real Housewives of Atlanta' to 'What Chilli Wants,' these days, reality TV is fixated on black women. But only when we act the fool."
Jonathan Rhys Meyers Dropped The N-Bomb
Actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers, "drunk and disorderly," reportedly used the N-word during a flight on United Airlines.
The Black-White Wealth Disparity
Aiyana Jones, Rest In Peace
Aiyana Jones, a 7-year-old girl, died during a police raid in Detroit videotaped for the A&E show "The First 48." Aiyana was sleeping on a sofa under a window through which police threw a stun grenade and died when she was struck in the neck by a bullet.
Fighting Racism In Cuba
From The Grio: "According to Afro-Cuban activists, racism against blacks in Cuba is systemic and institutional. They say, to this day, blacks are excluded from tourism related jobs, relegated to poor housing, have poor access to health care, are excluded from managerial positions and are more likely to be imprisoned."
43 Percent, 63 Percent
According to CBS News, forty three percent of African Americans who enter college graduate, compared to sixty three percent of whites.
John McWhorter On "Treme"
If you watch "Treme" on HBO and are interested in John McWhorter's take on authenticity and New Orleans, read this. A snippet: the show is "mesmerizing in its ways (I intend to keep watching) but leaves you beaten over the head every week about just how vibrantly real New Orleans is. Realer than where you live. Realer, really, than you."
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