“That Conversation about Race” category archive
Arms and the Boy 0
Solomon Jones looks at the spate of school shootings and reflects on the white privilege to bear arms. A snippet:
Until America is willing to confront these obvious truths, we won’t be able to solve the scourge of school shootings. Because acknowledging that white males in non-urban environments are most likely to commit school shootings would require America to abandon its most treasured stereotypes. . . .
In a country that has long portrayed city-dwelling people of color as the main purveyors of violence, that kind of acknowledgement would require a fundamental reshaping of who we are. America would have to profile white suburban males with the same fervor it does urban males of color. Police officers would have to claim they fear for their lives in the presence of white rural men and boys. The veil of suspicion that drapes over the lives of males of color would have to be extended to white males, as well.
Do please read the rest.
The Lie of the Land 0
My local rag’s editorial today is certain to provoke a reaction. I look forward to an outpouring of Lost Cause bilge in the week’s Letters to the Editor. Indeed, the fun has already started in the online comments.
Here’s a bit to give you an idea of why:
The same goes for schools or public buildings named for leaders of the rebellion. Surely a community can identify other figures more deserving of such tribute.
At the very least, cities and counties should be free to make these decisions independent of Richmond’s consent. Lawmakers need to get out of the way.
I realized this morning even before I opened the paper, that one (not the only one certainly, but one) of the dynamics in the refusal of the Secesh, old and new, to recognize that the Old South was built on cruelty, exploitation, and theft of labor; that the narrative of racial superiority was created as an elaborate rationale so the exploiters could tell themselves and others that what they were doing was not only okay, but divinely ordained.
Persons now do not want to admit even to themselves what their ancestors did (and they still like the idea of theft of labor), so they perpetuate and nourish the lie.
The lie will live until white Americans cease the denial and make peace with the history they have, not the history they made up.
Tales of the Trumpling: Snapshots of Trickle-Down Trumpery 0
Trumpled on the way to the convenience store:
Dusty Leo, 27, and Maurice Diggins, 34, have been charged criminally with aggravated assault. They also could face up to a year in prison and fines of $2,000 on the civil complaint if they are convicted of committing what prosecutors say was a racially motivated attack on the African-American as he walked toward a convenience store near his home in Biddeford on April 15.
More at the link.
Chartering a Course for Disaster 0
Two North Carolina charter school teachers speak out about the rot inside the charter school movement. A nugget (emphasis in the original):
This realization led to greater clarity: regardless of our intentions, we had become part of the problem of school resegregation*.
________________
*Which, or course, was part of the plan all along. Charter schools are the new seg academies.
Facebook Frolics Meets Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
USA Today staffers read every phony Russian Facebook ad. What they found should not surprise. Here’s their first paragraph:
Follow the link for why they said that.
Tales of the Trumpling: Snapshots of Trickle-Down Trumpery 0
Trumpling sportsmanship.
(snip)
The incident allegedly occurred May 1 when the Sterling and Haddon Heights girls’ track teams competed at Haddonfield in a tri-meet. A member of the Haddonfield boys’ lacrosse team allegedly told a ninth-grade competitor to “get off the track” and called the girl the N-word, according to the complaint.
I’m certain that the complaint will be found valid, because, honest to Pete, you can’t make this stuff up.
Tales of the Trumpling: Snapshots of Trickle-Down Trumpery 0
The racism. The presumption of guilt. The privilege of whiteness.
Words fail me.
(Well, actually, they don’t fail me. I just know when to stop.)
Via Raw Story.
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
Patrick Rael discusses the theatrical you will pardon the expression white-washing of the Old South.
Snowflakes 0
(If the embed doesn’t work, click here. And, no, I don’t know what the problem is. The code looks fine.)
And this surprises you how?