Author's archive
The Screening Process 0
Honest to Pete and Betsy both, you can’t make this stuff up.
The Invisible Hand 0
In a thoughtful piece in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Jennifer Nelson muses on how she has benefited from white privilege throughout her life. Here’s a bit:
The deceptive thing about privilege is this: If you have it, you are unlikely to notice it, because it just is.
Trump in Translation 0
Dick Polman deciphers the hieroglyphics.
Parallels of History (Updated) 0
Paul Krugman see similarities between Trump and Caligula.
Writing a week later, Nicholas Kristoff suggests that Caligula comes off looking pretty good in the comparison.
Addendum, Early the Next Day:
Meanwhile, some buffoon at Forbes asserts that Caligula was a Democrat.
Words fail me.
White-in-more-than-one-way-wash 0
In The Roanoke Times, historian Robert Willingham points out just who, exactly, is guilty of “whitewashing history.” A nugget; follow the link for the rest:
__________________
*The statues were erected during the beginning of the Jim Crow era, roughly about a century ago.
Fatal Attraction 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Alice LoCicero explores reasons why “good kids” may be susceptible to appeals to join white supremacist groups. She theorizes that a misguided, even misappropriated, sense of justice may form part of the equation. An excerpt:
I’m not sure I buy her theory in toto and her article has a few leaps of logic (not that I necessarily disagree with the gist of what she says, but that the connections are not well-made), but I do think she’s on to something.
It’s only in cartoons that the bad guy twirls his mustache, and says, “What kind of evil shall I do today?” In real life, the baddest bad guy thinks that his actions are somehow justified or, at least, excusable.
Still Hanging on 0
In The Des Moines Register, Cameron Carr reminds us that white America has never faced up the the legacy of chattel slavery and the embrace of racism. Here’s a bit of what he says:
Read the rest, then look at this month’s news and dare argue that he’s wrong.
QOTD 0
George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax:
Anger is never without an argument, but seldom with a good one.
A Legacy Indeed in Deed
0
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports on a project to locate and expunge segregationist covenants that linger in the legal language of residential deeds. The covenants no longer have force of law, but, as property transfers have taken place, they continue to exist in the fine print. Here’s a bit:
It’s long been rendered unenforceable by state legislation and federal law, but it’s jarring nonetheless for Holman, a construction attorney, who said he’ll try to get a court to nullify it.
(snip)
So far, members of the Mapping Prejudice project have discovered some 5,000 deeds with racist restrictions. The covenants appear to be concentrated in the whitest Minneapolis neighborhoods, illustrating the long historical reach that racial restrictions have had on the city’s residential housing, while helping to explain the de facto segregation housing patterns that exist today.
If you are foolish enough to think that the past does not live into the present (or even if you are not), read the whole thing.
There’s an App for That 0
Thom speaks on several off-beat topics, then discusses how your smartphone spies on you. The relevant portion starts at the five-minute mark.