“That Conversation about Race” category archive
Flag Daze, Reprise 0
At AL.com, John Goodman remarks on NASCAR’s recent decision to ban the Confederate battle ensign from its events and properties (while wondering how said ban will be enforced), but notes that we should not forget that NASCAR waged a long and enthusiastic campaign over many decades to associate itself with said flag. Here’s a bit:
When South Carolina senator Strom Thurmond and his Dixiecrats started waving the Confederate battle flag to associate it with their pro-segregation politics, Thurmond used NASCAR to advance his agenda. NASCAR was happy to help because it was a profitable partnership.
Flag Daze 0
In Delaware, where I used to live, there is a NASCAR race track. If you ever drove by a NASCAR track on race day, you likely saw more Confederate battle ensigns than were at Gettysburg.
My brother told me–this was probably 15 years ago at time when NASCAR was trying to broaden its audience and especially attempting to attract more minorities–that my nephew had asked (I don’t remember his exact words), “How are do they expect to do that with all those Confederate flags in the parking lots?”
I guess that push has come to shove.
NASCAR has banned Confederate flags.
H/T to my brother for giving me a heads-up on this story.
“That Conversation about Race” 0
In a particularly timely post at Psychology Today Blogs, Camille S. Johnson explores why it is so difficult for some of us white folks to have that conversation about race.
I’m not going to spoil it by attempting excerpt it or summarize it. Just give it a read.
America’s Racist Fundament 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Neil Shpancer suggests that incidents of outright racist brutality, such as the recent killings of George Floyd and others for being while black, as horrifying as they are, may distract us from the true character of day-to-day racism. He argues that racism is embedded so deeply within American culture, laws, and public life that it propagates itself, even in the absence of individual acts of overt racism.
Here’s a bit, including four elements he identifies as blinding us to the systemic character of said systemic racism:
(snip)
- First is the process of habituation, by which nervous system activation decreases after prolonged exposure to a stimulus. In other words: things we get used to no longer register. . . .
- Second is internalization, defined as the integration of others’ attitudes, values, standards and opinions into one’s own sense of self. . . .
- Third is learned helplessness, defined as the sense of powerlessness arising from trauma or persistent failure. . . .
- Fourth is the one-two punch of confirmation bias . . . .
(Slightly edited for grammar and clarity.)
From the “No Self-Awareness” Dept. 0
Bob Molinaro, sports writer extraordinaire, catches the irony:
Slippage 0
I’m a Southern boy.
I grew up under Jim Crow, went to segregated schools, and used segregated facilities for functions that are common to all human beings.
I know from my own experience that the N-word doesn’t “just slip out.”
It’s either part of how you think, or it isn’t.
Monumental Reasoning 0
The Roanoke Times’s editorial board channels Isaac Newton’s third law of motion. A snippet (emphasis added):
For some Virginians, this is a disorienting moment, to the say the least. State Sen. Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield County, and a candidate for governor next year, took to Facebook to say: “Let’s be honest, there is an overt effort here to erase all white history.” This would be laughable if she didn’t mean it so seriously.
Taking down a statue is not “erasing” history. It’s re-appraising whether we’re honoring the right people from our history.
The Rotting Orchard 0
At the Tampa Bay Times, Steven Buckley writes of the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. This passage left out at me:
Follow the link for the complete article.