Archive for the ‘Race’ tag
Does Race Still Matter?
Does Race Still Matter?
Interrogating “Post-Racial” Notions in the Age of Obama
Panel Discussion / Open Forum
Tuesday, May 12
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Memorial Union, Room 213
Oregon State University
Corvallis, OR 97331
Google the term “post-racial” and one will find plenty of debate surrounding our current historical moment and the significance-or insignificance-of race in US society today. After all, did we not elect our first African American President? How then can one argue that race is still a factor of any substantive consequence in American life? Clearly, given Obama’s election we have reached a point in our history where race no longer constitutes a barrier to opportunity or socioeconomic mobility-or so the argument goes.
What exactly does it mean to assert we are now living in a “post-racial” US? What is at stake? Does race still matter, and if so, in what ways?
Join the Oregon State University Association of Faculty for the Advancement of People of Color (AFAPC) in a panel discussion and open forum as we grapple with these very questions.
Not an ideological question
Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Thursday blamed the global economic crisis on “white people with blue eyes” and said it was wrong that black and indigenous people should pay for white people’s mistakes.
“It’s not an ideological question — the fact is that once again we find that most of the poor who have not even participated in globalisation have been the first victims of the crisis.”
Speaking in Brasília at a joint press conference with Gordon Brown, the UK prime minister, Mr Lula da Silva told reporters: “This crisis was caused by the irrational behaviour of white people with blue eyes, who before the crisis appeared to know everything and now demonstrate that they know nothing.”
He added: “I do not know any black or indigenous bankers so I can only say [it is wrong] that this part of mankind which is victimised more than any other should pay for the crisis.” via LR, FT & BT
Chris Rock from The Black List
“Chris Rock: In my neighborhood there’s like three, four black people in my neighborhood in Alpine. OK, it’s, me, Gary Sheffield, Mary J. Blige, Patrick Ewing. Hall of famer, hall of famer, greatest R&B singer of our time, decent comedian. Who lives next to me, what’s the white man next to me? He’s a dentist. He didn’t invent anything. He’s just a dentist. That’s what America is.”
“True equality is the equality to suck like the white man.” – Chris Rock
So say we all
At one point the discussion lit a fire under the Admiral, and the talk of human rights turned personal for Edward James Olmos. The “Old Man” launched into a passionate speech about casting off the idea of race as a cultural determinant, and said we were one race, the human race. His voice echoed throughout the chamber growing louder until – I kid you not – he was yelling, “So Say We All,” and the crowd answered right back. Hell, even I yelled it, I was in the fraking United Nations with Adama, the gods themselves could not have stopped this moment. It was surreal – the entire audience turned into one massive optimistic/role-playing/saddened goosebump, because who knows when we’ll ever hear those words again?
White History Year Resumes
Sad satirical truths courtesy of the Onion:
WASHINGTON, DC—With Black History Month over, U.S. citizens are putting aside thoughts of Harriet Tubman and George Washington Carver to resume the traditional observation of White History Year.
White History Year, which runs annually from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, with a 28-day break for Black History Month in February, is dedicated to the recognition of European-Americans’ contributions to American politics and culture.
Tim Wise on White Privilege
This is Your Nation on White Privilege
By Tim Wise
September 13, 2008For those who still can’t grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for an easy-to-understand example of it, perhaps this list will help.
White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you, or your parents, because “every family has challenges,” even as black and Latino families with similar “challenges” are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.
Space Race Matters
One of the bitter ironies anti-racists face when working to end white-supremacist thinking and action is that the folks who most perpetuate it are the individuals who are usually the least willing to acknowledge that race matters. (bell hooks, Teaching Community, 2003, p. 28)
You may be wondering what 7 astronauts have to do with a quote about anti-racism work from bell hooks. I too would be curious. Well, let me attempt to fill in several bits of context and hopefully you’re wonder will be satiated.
Last week, while checking out a NASA-related post from one of my favorite blogs, the Boston Globe’s “Big Picture Blog,” I happened to observe that none of the 7 astronauts for NASA’s latest space shuttle mission were people of color.
There were already 15 comments on the post. Most of the comments praised the ingenuity of NASA or extolled the fantastically big pictures on the post/site. I decided to post a seemingly innocent question regarding the racial makeup of the 7 astronauts in picture #23:
The pool of astronauts isn’t the most diverse is it?
7 white people. 6 guys and only 1 woman. Where are the astronauts of color??? ~Eric Stoller
I had no idea that my comment would generate a shower of racist rhetoric and inflammatory comments.
Students of Color and PWI’s
Surviving and thriving as a student of color at a less than diverse university via Anti-Racist Parent
Asha Jeffers, an African-Caribbean-Canadian student, offered this article, originally written for a college magazine, that highlights her experiences as a person of color in a predominantly white institution and shares advice for tackling the associated challenges.
Each section of the post offers up some advice for students of color who attend a predominantly white institution (PWI).
- If you don’t want to answer a question, then don’t.
- You can speak any language you damn well please. Any time you please.
- There is nothing wrong with wanting to hang out with other people of color.
- That said…befriending people you identify with ethnically is easy; having a more diverse group of friends takes work (but it’s totally worth it!)
- You are not the spokesperson for your ethnicity.
- Exoticization is just no fun.
- When you are away from school, stock up on culturally specific food/stuff, because it’s likely a lot of it won’t be available where you are.
- It’s not your job to educate everyone, but if you want to, go for it.
The Sanctuary on Postville, Iowa
The Sanctuary has in-depth accounts and critical analysis of what happened in Postville, Iowa:
On Monday, May 12, 2008, at 10:00 a.m., in an operation involving some 900 agents, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) executed a raid of Agriprocessors Inc, the nation’s largest kosher slaughterhouse and meat packing plant located in the town of Postville, Iowa.
Start with this post for a comprehensive examination of what went down in Postville:
Erik Camayd-Freixas, an interpreter, speaks about the proceedings against undocumented immigrants arrested at a meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa:
This is my hometown
Many of you know that my hometown is Columbus Junction, Iowa. I posted several times in June about the floods that consumed Eastern Iowa, including my town – the “CJ”. Home of the Wildcats. The place where I grew up.
I’ve had a Chicago Tribune article that references Columbus Junction in my bookmarks for quite sometime now. The article was published on the Tribs website in June.
I wanted to share the article and post it, not as something that tarnishes my hometown, but as an example of the realities of where I come from.
Excerpts after the cut…
