links for 2007-05-16
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If Obama Won’t Support Affirmative Action, Then I Won’t Support Him - Too Sense
Thx Latoya. “Obama’s appearance on ABC’s “This Week” appeared to not only accept several Right Wing myths about affirmative action, but the Senator from Illinois suggested that the program were no longer needed to correct black underreprestentation.”
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War among blacks is too easy to ignore :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Mary Mitchell
Thx Latoya via Stereohyped. “What are we to do now? …Blair was the 16-year-old Julian High School junior who was killed Thursday when a 16-year-old gang member opened fire on a 103rd Street CTA bus.”
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Is Oprah the new Imus? Joan Walsh - Salon
Thx Latoya. “Oprah Winfrey, one of the most powerful moguls of media, is getting away with bragging to Howard University graduates on Saturday that she has “some really good white folks working for me.”"
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Eugene Robinson - A Question Of Race Vs. Class - washingtonpost.com
Thx Latoya. “Barack Obama doesn’t think anyone should cut his two daughters any slack when they apply to college — not because of their race, at least. In the unlikely event that the Obama family goes broke, then maybe.”
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Many Whites Still Smugly Tie Their Racial Blinders Tight - AlterNet
Thx Deb. “Too many liberals bash Bush policies, cheer Michael Moore, and swoon over Obama, yet see absolutely no harm in racial stereotypes, especially anti-black stereotypes.”
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“TV just got a lot whiter,” says George Lopez (LA Times TV Tracker Blog)
Thx Ananser. “Lopez’s show outperforms frosh comedies, survives “Idol”, personal setbacks, and lack of network support only to die at the hands of… The Cavemen!”
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of 
LM wrote:
It’s interesting to see the comments after each article in this set of links… with the exception of the Post article, there seems to be quite a few following the “what’s good for blacks ought to be good for whites” lines.
Is Oprah the new Imus? Her highlighted comment at Howard’s commencement was, uh, different in myriad ways from Imus’s insult over the airwaves last month. So the question seems inane to me — but I’m glad it was asked, ’cause many of the Salon.com commenters answer in the affirmative, which shows we’ve got a long way to go in our civil discourse.
Same theme with Earl Ofari Hutchinson’s piece.
Eugene Robinson got it right in discussing Obama’s stance, or lack thereof, on affirmative action: his “… remarks were more Socratic than declarative”. For the record, Obama endorses affirmative action; I think he’s politically smart to talk about it the way he does and I think the idealists among us believe the conversation on affirmative action can be broader than it tends to be. A lot has changed since 1964 re: African-American opportunities; that doesn’t mean affirmative action isn’t useful/vital still.
New faces and names on an ongoing tragedy in Mary Mitchell’s column. Without question there are threads going back centuries in this sttory that intersect with the pieces on Winfrey and Obama. When that can be seen by the broad sweep of people in America, we’ll know the dialogue has expanded past the “racial blinders” stage.
George Lopez seems like a nice guy to me. His comments on his show’s cancellation sound a lot like bellyaching to me, too. But he’s right on the facts. If his complaining makes it harder to shut the door to future opportunities for Latino/a actors/shows, all the better.
Posted 16 May 2007 at 3:29 pm ¶
makethelogobigger wrote:
Lopez’s show though was preety much like every other generic sitcom Everyone Loves The King of Three Dads bs. Maybe he should revamp his show, give it a little edge and get on cable. If Mencia can make it with his ripped-off material, Lopez should be able to. His stand-up is more original.
Posted 21 May 2007 at 12:17 pm ¶