“That Conversation about Race” category archive
The Voter Fraud Fraud 0
Gene Nichol comments about North Carolina Republicans’ gut-out-the-vote effort; he minces no words, though he does mince Republicans’ lame justifications for racial discrimination in the franchise. A nugget:
I can attest that Republican leaders take potent umbrage at being compared to the segregationists of a half-century ago. But why is that? Is it because they seek only to disenfranchise blacks, not to hang or shoot or beat or use water cannons on them? Is the implicit suggestion that, given the treatment their grandparents got, African-Americans today ought to be grateful their government now pursues only electoral suppression?
A Deplorable, in His Own Words 0
It would seem that the new term for “white” is “European.”
Jesus.
H/T to Susie Sampson for having the tenacity to confront him.
Root Causes 0
This is America.
Of course it’s about race. Slavery is America’s original sin and race is the filter that distorts everything else.
Video via Raw Story.
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
I recently had occasion to take issue with someone who, in the context of another discussion, characterized the American Civil War as a “mass uprising” against government misconduct.
As my two or three regulars readers might guess, I begged to differ. Well, maybe “begged” isn’t exactly the right word. I’m rather proud of what I said, so I’d like to share it here, with some slight editing. It’s below the fold, if you are interested (in fact, it’s below the fold even if you are not interested).
What’s in a Word? 0
Using the actions of Maine’s Governor LePage as a starting point, Christine Emba marvels that some persons seem more concerned about being called “racists” than about being racist. A snippet:
The Rendering 0
It would seem that everything gets rendered unto Caesar.
These persons worship no Jesus that I know.
When Will White Folks Stop Lying to Themselves? 0
Tony Norman points out that it was called “slave labor” for a reason.
Left Untaught 0
I never ran across this in any of my history classes.*
H/T to BadTux, who’s been on a roll this week.
___________________
*My degree is in history, with a focus on U. S. Southern. I did know that many persons thought that “America, the Beautiful” would have been a better choice, but I was unaware that “The Star-Spangled Banner” had a history of being sung at lynchings.
Take a Walk in the Park 0
Thom takes a serious look at Donald Trump’s rhetoric about crime (“It’s a war zone out there”), the actual crime rate (down significantly over the last 30 years), and the roots of crime. (You can skip the first two minutes–it’s recitation of Trump’s rhetoric. The facts start after that.)
If One Standard Is Good, Two Must Be Better 0
Solomon Jones points out that one thing is not like the other thing. A snippet:
Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte is facing criminal charges in Brazil for falsely reporting he was robbed at gunpoint, and, while he lost several endorsements as a result, he ultimately was rewarded with a stint on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.”
Both men are accomplished athletes. Kaepernick appeared in Super Bowl XLVII. Lochte is a 12-time Olympic medalist.
But Lochte is white, Kaepernick is black, and when black men stand up against American oppression, the fears of the white establishment arise. Fears that a single man seated on a bench is the forerunner to violent rebellion; that an athlete with the gall to think for himself is a danger to the order of things.
Image via Job’s Anger.