September 2009
You are browsing the archive for September 2009.
Hate Crimes, Free Speech, and Hypocrisy
posted by Mike Jefferson That’s a photo of Brian Milligan with his girlfriend, Nicola Fletcher. He’s white, she’s African American. Young and in love. Here’s the short version of the story: On August 18, Milligan was beaten nearly to death on a Buffalo street by a group of black males because he was dating Fletcher. [...]
Those Mexicans Will Have Us All Speaking Spanish
posted by Sam Richards Do you have any idea how many times you’ve been lied to and didn’t know it? Really…think about it. How often does your silly, gullible self accept something as true because…well…because you believed the source? And how often have you passed on the lie to others? It’s painful for me to [...]
It’s Easy to Forget
posted by Sam Richards Clearly slavery is one of those touchy subjects for people in the United States. White people don’t fully understand it’s lasting legacy and often have the idea that after the Civil War ended in 1865, slaves were free to climb on up the mobility ladder as far as they wanted to [...]
Is President Obama Racist?
posted by Bryson Nobles Probably. The 2009 definition of racist seems to be: a person who carelessly says or does anything race-related within earshot of a race member other than their own that at least one person with an active imagination could take exception to, irregardless of the merits of the statement. So maybe Glenn [...]
ACORN nuts for all.
posted by Chenjerai Kumanyika What’s good? This is crazy. DON’T WATCH THIS WHOLE VIDEO (unless you’re hooked on politics like me) but skim through it quickly to get the details on this ACORN investigation. You can get the main idea by watching the first 3:00 minutes and then watch from 5:30 -6:15. A little background: [...]
The "Real Haters" or Old School Critique?
posted by Sam Richards So Harry Allen has an interesting critique of white racist rants about Kanye West that spread across twitterlandia in the hours (make that minutes) after the tantrum he threw at the VMA ceremony. If you’re not aware of what that means, it’s a yearly gathering of corporate created celebrities (along with [...]
The Other Side of Skin Coloring
posted by Laurie Mulvey Let’s not forget about skin darkening practices—and the premature aging, painful burning, sun poisoning and skin cancer that result because light-skinned people often don’t feel good about themselves when they’re “too white.” As a white person myself, this is a refrain I’ve heard many times—and one that taught me that it [...]
Over the Top Racism
posted by Sam Richards In my twenty years of teaching about race I think I can count on my ten fingers the things that I’ve heard or read that I thought were utterly and unquestionably “racist.” That’s a word that gets kicked around far too liberally and to which people apply far too many non-sensical [...]
Close That Door
Hypocrisy occurs when we use standards to evaluate other people’s thoughts and actions that we do not use for ourselves — largely as a way of feeling good about who we are and what we are doing. While there may be no way to avoid being hypocritical, it’s quite revealing when we don’t judge our [...]
Cultural Transformation and Our Personal Lives
Returning to Tuesday’s class in which I discussed the dynamics of cultural transformation and how such transformation generally occurs on the fringes of collectivities… When we encounter the “change makers” in a culture, more often than not they’re people who have moved away from the mainstream and sought out ways to think outside the box. [...]