1-27-12 Links Roundup
- Racist hate crimes in Vancouver mobilize community (Vancouver Observer) (WARNING: Trigger Alert)
After a series of high-profile hate crimes in B.C., including damage to a Jewish cemetery in Victoria last month – and recent criminal charges for the burning of a Filipino man and assaults on Black, Hispanic and Native people several years ago – anti-racist activists are organizing a renewed drive to stamp out racism in Vancouver.
With three alleged members of the hate group Blood and Honour facing trial – one of them tomorrow – for a string of attacks on people of colour, several groups are organizing around the upcoming February 13 trial of Alistair Miller and Robert de Chazal.
The pair – who were arrested in December – are accused of pouring kerosene over a sleeping Filipino man and lighting him on fire in 2009, and then attacking a black man who intervened. Tomorrow’s trial centres around another alleged Blood and Honour member, Shawn MacDonald, charged with separate attacks on an Indigenous women, a Hispanic man and a black man in Vancouver.
“We’re interested in building an anti-racist campaign,” said Krystle Alarcon with the Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance (FCYA). “People think of multicultural Canada, and of Vancouver as a beautiful and diverse city. But racism exists in Vancouver.
“These were very clear acts of outright racist ideology.”
- Christie says like same-sex marriage, civil rights movement could have been settled through ballot referendum (New Jersey Newsroom)
The comment that the civil rights movement of the 1960s could have been settled through a national or southern states voter referendum stunned Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver (D-Essex), who became the first African-American woman to head the lower house in 2010.
“Gov. Christie better sit down with some of New Jersey’s great teachers for a history lesson, because his puzzling comment shows a complete misunderstanding about the civil rights movement,” Oliver said. “It’s impossible to ever conceive that a referendum on civil rights in the South would have been successful and brought justice to minorities. It’s unfathomable to even suggest a referendum would have been the better course.
“Governor – people were fighting and dying in the streets of the South for a reason,” the Assemblywoman said. “They were fighting and dying in the streets of the South because the majority refused to grant minorities equal rights by any method. It look legislative action to bring justice to all Americans, just as legislative action is the right way to bring marriage equality to all New Jerseyans.
Is Tebow’s privileged status from just being white (male heterosexual Christian), or is it from just being Tebow (the Florida Gator God)? While the answer is “both”, a closer look is necessary to see how much Tebow’s privileges extend to other white NFL quarterbacks.
One of Tebow’s greatest privileges has been his “freedom to fail”. When he had a truly atrocious training camp, he wasn’t cut, but promoted to back-up. When his humiliating loss against the Lions revolutionized the term “incomplete pass”, he was still granted another start. When his arm failed, the offense was changed to suit his legs. If he was terrible for 58 minutes, he was never benched for the final two (yes, I’m looking at you Mike Shanahan). Those last few magical minutes were called “Tebow Time”, but never “John Fox Time” (Denver’s head coach). The difference between Jesus and football is that NFL Resurrections require a coach’s permission.
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