“That Conversation about Race” category archive
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
0
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.
Know Them by the Company They Keep That Keeps Them
0
Farron wonders why that, even if Kelly Loeffler does not know neo-Nazi Chester Doles (and Farron concedes that she likely does not), Chester Doles is a Loeffler fan-boy.
What Did I Say? 0
The Party of the New Secesh fails yet again. The Supreme Court has refused to do them a favor though.
Parallels 0
Will Bunch joins Sam and his crew to discuss the similarities between Frank Rizzo and Donald Trump. (My two or three regular readers will know that I link to Bunch’s articles fairly regularly.)
Read the Will Bunch’s article about Rizzo and Trump.
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
WVEC, my local ABC-affiliated television station, has an excellent article about the raising of Confederate monuments across the South during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The writer does an excellent job of placing those memorials to treason in context; if you don’t understand what the statues and the movement to remove them (is that a removement?) is about, I urge you to give it a read
It includes this prophetic quotation from John Mitchell, who edited a black newspaper in Richmond, Va., during that time period:
Tales of the Trumpling: Snapshots of Trickle-Down Trumpery 0
A PTA Trumpling, that is, parents Trumpling academicians.