“That Conversation about Race” category archive
A Picture Is Worth 0
At the Inky, Tim Tai explains.
Immunity Impunity
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The card that enforcers always use to trump their way out of being held responsible for their venality.
Mob Fuel 0
Nassir Ghaemi, writing at Psychology Today Blogs, explores the psychology of the current federal administrator and of his dupes, symps, and fellow travelers, and the interaction between them led to riot and destruction.
I’ll not paraphrase or excerpt it. I just commend it to your attention.
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
If you want to follow news of the “breaching” (why would they call it that instead of what it is–an attack and occupation?) of the Capitol, I recommend the WTOP radio stream. You’ll get more news and fewer no pictures.
The original post scheduled for this update is below the fold. Methinks it quite relevant to today’s events.
Mummers of Discontent 0
In the three decades I lived in the Philadelphia area, I never–not once–had any desire to go to the Mummers Parade. The idea of standing on Broad Street in freezing temperatures did not appeal to me as the way to usher in the New Year. That some of the Mummers had a history of less than proper and considerate behavior was not a factor in my thinking; the thermometer was.
In recent years, some of the Mummers have been criticized for racist and bigoted undercurrents (in some cases, overcurrents) in their costumes and conduct. Note that I said “some of,” as the parade is composed of many different groups; pretty much the only thing they have in common is the parade.
At the Inky, Daniel Gold, one of the marchers, writes of wanting to see this aspect of Mummery improve and considers why such improvement is a struggle. His comments are perceptive and can be extended to the larger society. Here’s a bit (emphasis added):
To be blunt, most Mummers don’t understand the problem. And not enough are interested in figuring it out. They don’t feel racist, so they can’t understand why the public would see them that way. They view individual acts of racism as individual problems, and assume if they’re not the one doing it or getting caught, they’re not the problem.
But that’s not how it works. Racism is complex. Though it often occurs at the individual level, it is a cultural problem. In western society, it has artificially pit Black against white and historically created a hierarchy placing white at the top. When people speak of systemic racism, this is what they mean. In America, we all live with this and play a part. We either work to combat it or escalate it.
Immunity Impunity
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I’m almost–not quite–as old as the man who filed this suit.
I don’t think police would have treated me as they did the plaintiff in said action, but, then, I’m Not Black.
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
E. J. Montini relates news of the unreconstructed, in Arizona no less.
The First “Cleveland Indian” 0
The Bangor Daily News tells the story of the first Native American major league baseball player, a member of Maine’s Penobscot Nation. It is not pretty.
Here’s a bit; follow the link for the rest.
That legacy of racist language and iconography lived on after Sockalexis, and in 1915 the team that was known as the Cleveland Spiders became the Cleveland Indians — a name that the team and its fans claim was chosen to honor Sockalexis and Native people in general, but in reality had a far more complicated, racist origin.