“That Conversation about Race” category archive
Misdirection Play, the Projection Project Dept. 0
The SPLC analyzes how the right-wing blames everyone else for its violent ways. An excerpt:
The right’s refusal to acknowledge actual political violence only aids white nationalists, not only by downplaying their culpability but also by allowing white nationalists space to push the narrative that the “violent left” is the real threat. . . . Accordingly, the right wing has strategically pushed what one commenter on the neo-Nazi website the Daily Stormer called “the ‘out of control, violent left’ meme.”
For a large swath of extremists on the far right, violence is the ultimate goal; it’s not a desire they try to hide. On social media and white nationalist platforms, they openly pine for the opportunity to attack and kill leftists and fantasize about a potential civil war.
Tales of the Trumpling: Snapshots of Trickle-Down Trumpery 0
Speaking of polling places, we voted in the primary today. When we were there midmorning, there were more polling stations than voters–six polling stations and two voters.
Twits on Twitter 0
(Remember that Texas was part of Mexico far longer than it has been part of the U. S. A. and these kids of whom this twit twits may have deeper roots in Texas than she.)
Facebook Frolics, Rule of Lawless Dept. 0
Will Bunch considers the Philadelphia police officers who have been outed for racist rants on the Zuckerborg and the implications of their behavior. An excerpt:
In a related item, the Philadelphia Inquirer’s editorial board points out that
That’s why the existence of these posts represents a crisis in this city and elsewhere.
It’s not just in Philly, folks.
“Hick Hop” 0
The Sacramento Bee’s Marcos Breton explores the new musical trendlet.
What’s in a Name? 0
In the Idaho State Journal, Mike Murphy wades into a dispute over the “Redskins” name of a local high school team. After noting that a local Republican state representative defended the name because it “honors” Native Americans and because “tradition is important,” he responds
Follow the link for the full skewering.
Deseg 0
It was my junior year in high school when my school district decided that integration was inevitable. One I’m certain carefully picked black girl joined the senior class. The next year, when I was a senior, in a bold step, eleven I’m certain just as carefully picked black students joined the senior class. (Simultaneously, two seg academies sprang up and the prom was canceled).
I know of no incidents among the students, at least not at school, and, had there been any outside of school, I probably would have heard of them; it was a very small school (there were 70 in my graduating class). I do know that many of the older white teachers retired or moved to the seg academies rather than face the advent of “full integration,” in which, as in many Southern school districts, the former black high school became a junior high and the former white high school became a senior high, because school spirit or something.
I recall that one of the older lady teachers was mortified when, in a photo of the track team, the local paper switched my name with that of one of my black team mates. (I got the full story from my mother, who was a math teacher.) Me, I didn’t care–he and I got along just fine.
This is by way of commending to your attention an article in my local rag about the “Norfolk 17,” the first black students to attend a previously all-white high school in Norfolk, Virginia, and the reception they faced. Here’s a bit:
The springboard for the article was that four students won an award for their documentary about the Norfolk 17. As a footnote, one of the things that struck me was the names of the four student documentarians: Javier Miranda-Castro, Kaleem Haq, Jacob Hill, and Kobe Nguyen.
In the Zone 0
Update: Grammatical erorrs correxted.
At The Charlotte Observer, Mary Newsom reminds that “single family residence” zoning (as opposed to residential vs. industrial vs. commercial zoning”) has its origins in racism. A nugget:
Meanwhile, federal rules and redlining kept black families from getting mortgages, and housing developers couldn’t get financing without whites-only covenants in the deeds.