It’s tough to read this article and not experience a rise in one’s blood pressure by the end of it. Particularly unsettling is where the author discusses the differences in experiences between his sons and the young black men from the MCC. And then the boot in the face example. It’s incredibly difficult for me to NOT see this as the blue tone of racism. But perhaps someone has a different take and, if so, I’d love to hear what you have to say — because as open-minded and balanced as I try to be, I just can’t see a way around my interpretation.
SOC 119 – Voices from the Classroom
SOC 119
Racial profiling appears to be alive (and not well) in NYC
An example of a “resume generating event”
There’s been a lot of racial conflict and dissension in the past few weeks. Much of it started with the Trayvon Martin killing, but it’s been in the air in many quarters of our nation and culture. And then along comes this blog article by John Derbyshire. He really jumped into the deep end here. WOW! This is the sort of thing that one really needs to vet — perhaps only because it’s touching on some emotional issues. In any event, I’m quite curious about what some of you think.
Check out the article: “The Talk: Nonblack Version”
The saggy pants problem
If you have not heard about this law, it is likely because the state representative who wrote/proposed it is black. Had he been white, then we’d have surely had at least a moment of national conversation about the racism that some would say inspired it. Of course, saggy pants have gone far beyond black/brown urban culture and deep into the heart of middle class white suburban and rural youth life. But they (the pants) are still largely seen as something that people who are not white do to show how different they are from the mainstream.
In any case, here is an interesting take on this national crisis: “Alabama House Passes Ban On Saggy Pants”
The Hunger Games and race relations in 2012?
I’ve not seen this movie nor read any of the books and so I don’t have much to say about this article. However, reading it, and in particular the comments that the author pulls from Twitter, leave me questioning the full extent to which people’s relationship with “race” is driven most entirely by political correctness and not some sort of deeper understanding. In other words, how many of us are really just parroting ideas about race when we engage in conversations — and then secretly saying things in private that we’d never say in public? Mind you, people sending out these tweets probably never expected someone to find them and put them up on the www, but when they wrote them they surely had the inner sense that they were saying something privately to a small group of people. In any event, really, what’s going on?
Check out the article about the disappointed and, it would seem, racist fans of the Hunger Games.