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“African-American literature felt like an intellectual home, this place where I fit and belonged,” he says gratefully. Like the late playwright August Wilson, Johnson seems to identify almost exclusively with the African roots of his biracial family t
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Thanks Tariq! “Residents of a remote Chinese village are hoping that DNA tests will prove one of history’s most unlikely legends — that they are descended from Roman legionaries lost in antiquity…”
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Thanks Rob! “Limbaugh asked: “What do they do on an airplane? Go to the cockpit and say, ‘I got some box cutters, and if you don’t turn this airplane 45 degrees for the next two minutes, I’m going to hijack you’?”
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Thanks Geoffrey. “Producers of some of the shows say the influx represents a positive evolution demonstrating that such romances are no longer a big deal. But other producers and observers argue that the move toward colorblind romance oversimplifies race
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“If wealthy black athletes donate money to charity, are they obligated to donate their personal time as well? If they donate their time, are they obligated to become spokesmen for a political or social cause as well? How much is enough? And who decides?”
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“A judge Friday sentenced four black teenagers to probation and 60 days of house arrest for their roles in the mob beatings of three white women on Halloween night, evoking tears of joy among the defendants and their relatives and gasps of indignation amo
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Thanks Liam. “Few middle-class whites will say it openly, though many whisper it over their back fences: They fear that their children won’t receive a good education at such a school. Perhaps they’ll be with rough kids. …”
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Thanks Kyla. “”Why don’t you have any black workers?” Floyd recalls the minister asking as she threatened to snatch the contract. With many blacks living in the neighborhood and sitting in the church’s pews, shouldn’t Floyd be hiring them, she wanted to k
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Thanks Tariq. “There seems to be an emerging consensus that the system of racial classification that has dominated national politics and the census for nearly two centuries is so fraught with imprecision… that it should eventually be dropped altogether.
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Thanks Rob. “His conscience, he said, had overtaken him. He told the world what he had privately told his superiors months earlier: that he believed the war was illegal and immoral, and he would play no role in it.”
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of 
Brad wrote:
I sincerely hope the other five dirtbags who took part in the long beach assualt don’t get off as easily as these girls did. If they do your going to have a very time convincing a white person there is no reverse racism whent they read this. I know it’s juvenile court and it mostly focuses on rehabilitation and all. But this was attempted murder! I’m sorry but Bill had a valid point, the anti-racism movement (not this site in particular) criticizes white people all the time. But this case comes along and it’s like nobody in the anti-racist community cares about it at all. When I first posted some one actually replied that they didn’t pity the girls at all becouse of past wrongs done to minorities.What in the world did these girls do to anyone to deserve to be ambushed and beaten with in an inch of their life! Did it ever cross anyones mind that the new generation of white racists are coming from a very different point of veiw that the old generation did? If you read what stormfront and other websites like theirs post, you will see that they use some of the anti-racists more radical anti-white rhetoric and using it as a propaganda tool to recruit more members into their ranks. I think it would be very wise for your organization to show more of a good faith effort to show that this is not an anti-white movement but a true anti-racist effort, otherwise if someone like Bill or another angry white male tells me the anti-racist is an anti-white movement, its going to be very hard for me not to disagree with them.
Posted 12 Feb 2007 at 11:57 am ¶
berrybrowne wrote:
just wanted to take a moment to comment on the interracial relationship article link, which i think makes some great points. one point it does NOT make however, is the lingering paucity of loving relationships between people of the SAME race - on the big or small screen. often, when a person of color gets a lead role, they’re either alone romantically, or with a person not of their race. whether or not interracial relationships onscreen or a sign of progress or not, there’s clearly room for more…
Posted 12 Feb 2007 at 1:28 pm ¶
Rob wrote:
I’m not sure why articles are being written in a black context only.
Every single one of these articles about diversity just seems to reflect America and it’s infatuation with dealing with black men and, to a lesser extent, black women.
Are there no other races around that aren’t acknowledged in American media? I’m also not so sure why the attention is focused on the black community so much honestly. If you just turn on your TV, every other ad or show has at least one black person in it.
Blacks are fighting for more blacks to head shows rather than not being content with having more than enough representations while Hispanics, Arabs, and Asians are cheering when they see a non-stereotypical portrayal from an extra that was onscreen for 10 seconds. Literally.
I’ve also read that blacks are the only demographic that is actually overrepresented in American media.
Posted 12 Feb 2007 at 2:18 pm ¶
Markos wrote:
Dear Brad,
I definitely share some of your sentiments here. But I don’t think it is reverse racism at work here. The same judge who gave out the “ light” sentences is the one who did not hesitate to convict the teenagers of hate crime and who refused to release them to their families as the trial went on. I think this has to do with how the juvenile court works- I didn’t expect these sentences either. These are minors nonetheless and I hope the opportunity should be created for them to appreciate the gravity of their crimes.
Institutional racism historically and as exists today is predominantly white racism. Study after study has shown that. Militant, violent racism also tends to be associated with white supremacist groups. Though we have traditionally defined racism to mean white racism I agree with you completely that any anti-racist movement should condemn all race related crimes including those committed on white people. Any thing short of that is moral hypocrisy.
Rob,
Most of these articles are written from/in a “black context” because ( I am guessing here) we are taking time to celebrate/think about black history and culture in this month of February?! Let us see how others ( including the moderator) deal with your question………..
Posted 12 Feb 2007 at 4:39 pm ¶
kim wrote:
“Every single one of these articles about diversity just seems to reflect America and it’s infatuation with dealing with black men and, to a lesser extent, black women.”
We got that, Rob, but I still must say that this idea of ‘otherness’, as framed from the lens of Whites, is always going to be viewed through a perspective of that ‘other’ groups proximity to Blackness - its ideologies, tones, economics, educational and political achievements and strides- and the converse fluidity into Whiteness that groups can ‘achieve’.
The model minority syndrome, stigma, and backlash, are outgrowths of a move away from the association with Blackness, with frustrations and issues belonging to a ‘minority within the minority’ groups held in check, and therefore set aside, while Whites deal with their preoccupation with the scary, conspicuous Black/ness.
As some benefit from NOT being singled out for differences, differences not as stark or unsavory as Blackness, and then seek a mainstreaming, due to their acculturation and acclimation, inclusion and contributions across all the spectrums of life in this country, so, too, do their upsets and issues get placed, due to an activist voice, in the forefront of the American consciousness.
I like to think of this preoccupation, this obsession, as a 3-d expression of that which we see in the visual arts as a stunning subject and composition, when we look at black-and-white photography: there is something there which absolutely fascinates, and inhabits, the eye when we examine light and shadow as it crosses two hands entertwined, one hand white, one black.
It is the poetry of geometric differences rendered for the eye, as both something which is intended to repulse and attract.
Yet, when we seek to turn the camera onto other subjects (as you are seeking to have done), we find that that which we thought was a singular, eclipsing visual beauty is a poetry of little rhyme and reason.
Posted 12 Feb 2007 at 4:48 pm ¶
Tereza wrote:
Interesting Washington Post article on school choice. I am frustrated by the fact that the discourse in the media usually centers on comparing test-based achievement among schools and groups of students while the whole premise of judging student achievement according to test scores is rarely questioned. In this article Schulte attempts to show that test scores need to be interpreted correctly to be understood, but doesn’t really challenge the very premise of determining the quality of education on test scores.
I was insulted by this:
“For middle-class kids — regardless of racial and ethnic background — schools tend to matter relatively less (than for poor students), because parental influence matters so much more. To take the two extremes, it is hardly surprising that a middle-class child who has been read to often, taken on trips to museums and is surrounded by books and talk of college from an early age will score better on tests than a child living in a crowded apartment with non-English-speaking parents who work multiple jobs, or a child experiencing the often chaotic and hopeless environment of intergenerational poverty.”
Yikes! As if the achievement of poor students had everything to do with “poor” or absent parenting!
In her piece Standardized Tests: A Clear and Pleasant Danger, published in Rethinking Schools: An Agenda for Change, Dr. Terri Meier, professor at Wheelock College specializing in cross-cultural communication and language development, discusses language socialization among different groups of children. She writes:
“Numerous studies of language socialization in white middle-class communities indicate that the largest percentage of questions addressed to preschoolers by mothers and other primary caregivers consists of simply structured questions to which the questioner already has the answer (e.g., . . . ‘How many fingers is mommy holding up?’). The purpose of such questions is not for the questioner to gain information, but for the child to display information, for which she is typically rewarded with extensive verbal and non-verbal praise.
“When reading stories to preschool children, many middle-class parents often intersperse their reading with questions that focus the child’s attention on noting and recalling specific details of the text.
“. . . Research indicates that many working-class and minority children come to school with very different values and assumptions about what constitutes meaningful communication. In a 1983 study, Shirley Brice Heath found that in the working-class black community where she spent eleven years studying language socialization, children were almost never asked questions to which the adult or older child already knew the answer. . . ., the assumption being, why would you ask someone something you already know the answer to?
“Reading was also often perceived differently, according to Heath. It tended to be a social event in which listeners, young and old, were free to throw in comments or to elaborate on some connection with their personal experience, rather than a context for testing children’s reading comprehension or teaching appropriate school behaviors. People in this community were admired for their ability to tell a good story, draw insightful analogies, or present an interesting and unique point of view, rather than for their ability to display information or show off knowledge for its own sake.”
So, Schulte doesn’t have it quite right. She makes a whole lot of messed up assumptions about the white middle class vs. the working class home culture.
In one respect she is right - schools do have a huge impact on academic achievement of poor students. If students feel alienated by the values and expectations of the institution they’re in, this will likely reflect on their achievement. If they experience racism or are otherwise treated like crap by the teachers or administrators, likewise.
The status quo definition of academic success (high test scores & GPA…) requires that one buy into the system and play the game in order to be viewed as successful. Standardized tests are modeled on intelligence tests, which were created to screen out “undesirables”, as is well documented (see the book Standardized Minds, for example). What makes people believe these tests have any meaningful value whatsoever? They are all about separating the elite from the masses and lining the pockets of the fat cats (corporations).
When I was a teacher and teacher assistant at a public alternative school, serving predominantly students of color, many low-income and most first generation US-born immigrants, I saw firsthand the clash of the values students were supposed to subscribe to and their own. During a standardized testing session, I saw students filling in bubble sheets randomly – all d answers, for example. Because they didn’t care. Because they didn’t buy into the status quo.
My point is that it’s important to keep going deeper with our questions, keep on challenging what is accepted as true, which Carmen & co do so well.
Posted 13 Feb 2007 at 2:17 am ¶
Tereza wrote:
Forgot to mention that Meier’s point was that white middle-class children are primed from day one to do well on standardized tests which reflect the very values taught to these children via communication styles prevalent in their circles.
Posted 13 Feb 2007 at 2:37 am ¶
Rob wrote:
Markos:
I don’t think so, guy. I challenge anyone to find any type of article that talks about “diversity” or “minorities” in media which included other demographics.
Also, it has nothing to do with if the black community is the largest minority demographic since the Latino community has already surpassed in terms of population size.
In fact, Latinos got the raw deal because in regards to their population and media presence ratio, they have the worst odds.
I’m starting to believe that the ability to be acknowledged in this country is a zero sum gain because the white mind can only hold so much. It’s like trying to pour a gallon of water into a shot glass; if you pour too much, the old information spills out.
Therefore, if one minority gains, another loses.
Posted 13 Feb 2007 at 9:17 am ¶
Kyla wrote:
Rob,
I agree, I think that there is a lot of focus on representation of African Americans in the media, and not a lot about other minorities, but I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that African Americans were, until recently, the largest minority in the U.S., and aside from Native Americans, had the longest history in the country. This focus is beginning to shift:
Minorities Always Miscast in the Media - http://media.www.dailytitan.com/media/storage/paper861/news/2007/02/06/Opinion/Minorities.Always.Miscast.In.The.Media-2700302.shtml
‘Grey’s’ Leads the Charge in Ethnic Diversity on TV - http://www.accesshollywood.com/news/ah3029.shtml
Maggie Q (about how Asian Americans have to hit it big in Asia before Hollywood will hire them) - http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/11/movies/11ito.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Diversity is Latest Goal of Ad Firms - http://www.columbusdispatch.com/business-story.php?story=dispatch/2007/02/11/20070211-G1-02.html
Most of the focus seems to be on Asian Americans, with not a lot on Latinos, Arab Americans, or Desis. Of course, I only spent about fifteen minutes looking, and I spent half of that trying to weed out non-U.S. sources and ethnic magazines and newspapers.
Posted 15 Feb 2007 at 12:26 am ¶
Kyla wrote:
Whoops, missed one:
The Struggle Between Hispanics and TV - http://www.sptimes.com/2003/07/28/Floridian/The_struggle_between_.shtml
Posted 15 Feb 2007 at 12:27 am ¶
kim wrote:
Tereza–
Great comment, which touches on concerns I have. Thanks for that, and mention of the second study (Meier).
Posted 15 Feb 2007 at 12:33 pm ¶
kim wrote:
Oh my goodness, I’d missed this piece on Mat Johnson.
Wow, so many echoes of my own life, it is scary, and wonderful.
No African-American students in his creative writing classes? Now I understand why Bard seemed interested in me, yeeeeaaars ago.
That is unbelieveably unfortunate, considering the level of discussion and connection that seemed to happen between the Blacks in a room, even and especially between the students and the professor, in creative writing classes I took.
The level of discussion and actual language used changes- and is changed by- the energy brought into the rooms by the various students, regardless of ethnicity or culture (but certainly informed by those things), and can be particular to what is considered polite, or out-of-bounds, or threatening or humorous, etc.
I have seen more than my share of suppressed smirks and raised eyebrows on the faces of professors when a comment I made (or one made in response to mine) in class penetrated a student from a different background. I have seen the professors dig in, and get ready for the long haul of the back-and-forth that naturally occurs in the classroom.
Johnson’s path to writing, his eclecticism and breadth and range of the material he is willing to produce, across genres, intrigues, and offers up a little nudge: “publish or perish, publish or perish, publish….”
And on that note, my eight-year-old has pushed before me a sheet of paper with the hang-man sequence of dashes and letters across a page, and asked, “why do you talk to people on the internet if you don’t even know them?”
‘Night.
Posted 16 Feb 2007 at 11:28 pm ¶