Democrats Racially Diverse; Republicans Mostly White
Eighty-nine percent of Republicans nationwide in 2012 were non-Hispanic white. The percentages of independents (70%) and Democrats (60%) who are white were substantially smaller.
If media covered America the way we cover foreign cultures
Brian McConkey, 27, a Christian fundamentalist militiaman living in the formerly occupied territory of Alabama, gunned down three men from an opposing tribe in the village square near Montgomery, the capitol, over a discussion that may have involved the rituals of the local football cult. In this region full of heavily-armed local warlords and radical Christian clerics, gun violence is part of the life of many.
African American and Hispanic communities continue to face significant disparities in the slow US economic recovery.
Stephen Colbert Responds To ‘Accidental Racist’ With ‘Oopsie-Daisy Homophobe’
On Wednesday night’s Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert addressed the new song from Brad Paisley and LL Cool J, “Accidental Racist,” which happens to be, apparently, accidentally racist. Colbert described the song as “uniting all of us… to join our voices as one and declare, ‘This song sucks!’”
Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal Won't Respond To Group's Call To End Segregated Prom
This is 2013. Time to catch up
The Good, Racist People
In modern America we believe racism to be the property of the uniquely villainous and morally deformed, the ideology of trolls, gorgons and orcs. We believe this even when we are actually being racist. In 1957, neighbors in Levittown, Pa., uniting under the flag of segregation, wrote: “As moral, religious and law-abiding citizens, we feel that we are unprejudiced and undiscriminating in our wish to keep our community a closed community.”
A half-century later little had changed. The comedian Michael Richards (Kramer on “Seinfeld”) once yelled at a black heckler from the stage: “He’s a nigger! He’s a nigger! He’s a nigger!” Confronted about this, Richards apologized and then said, “I’m not a racist,” and called the claim “insane.”
The idea that racism lives in the heart of particularly evil individuals, as opposed to the heart of a democratic society, is reinforcing to anyone who might, from time to time, find their tongue sprinting ahead of their discretion. We can forgive Whitaker’s assailant. Much harder to forgive is all that makes Whitaker stand out in the first place. New York is a city, like most in America, that bears the scars of redlining, blockbusting and urban renewal. The ghost of those policies haunts us in a wealth gap between blacks and whites that has actually gotten worse over the past 20 years.
People of Asian descent become the model minority when they are depicted to do better than other racial minority groups, whereas they become the yellow peril when they are described to outdo White Americans. On one hand, Asian Americans as the yellow peril embody ‘‘foreignness’’ and ‘‘masculinity’’ that threaten U.S identity as a White, Christian nation; on the other hand, Asian Americans who make efforts to succeed silently and diligently— without demanding or protesting anything —symbolize ‘‘the model minority’’ and ‘‘docility’’ or ‘‘femininity’’ and confirm colorblind ideology. Considering Lee (1999) and Okihiro’s (1994) arguments, it is possible to think that the construction of the model minority stereotype is tied to creating a less threatening face of the yellow peril.
(via aglitteryfool)
Divide and Conquer: How the Exclusion of LGBT Latinos Weakens Our Community
I came to this country from Costa Rica when I was 9 years old, to be reunited with my family. I know firsthand the importance of immigration protections; it is how many people in my own neighborhood, on my own block and in my own family have been reunited. But as a gay man, I worry that large segments of our community are in danger of being left behind if immigration reform is not LGBT-inclusive.
In an attempt to use our community as a political wedge, some members of Congress have already declared that comprehensive immigration reform cannot move forward if it includes equal protection for LGBT people. This divide-and-conquer strategy assumes that immigrants, particularly Latinos, will be complicit in discrimination because they are more likely to be homophobic. These politicians fail to appreciate that our community — like everyone else in the U.S. — continues to evolve on issues of LGBT equality.
Full article here
Why the GOP is and will continue to be the party of white people
We are left with the profound historical irony that the party of Lincoln—of the Gettysburg Address, with its reiteration of the Declaration’s assertion of equality and its vision of a “new birth of freedom”—has found sustenance in Lincoln’s principal intellectual and moral antagonist. It has become the party of Calhoun.
Full article here
Blacks, Hispanics Waited Almost Twice As Long To Vote As Whites In 2012
During the November 2012 election, Black and Hispanic voters waited nearly twice as long to vote as whites, according to a Massachusetts Institute of Technology analysis. New York Times graphs summarizing the analysis show that white voters waited an average of 12.7 minutes, while Black and Hispanic voters waited an average of 20.2 minutes
Full article here
Victory Over Tucson School District Could Lead to Mexican American Studies Reinstatement
A federal judge has ordered the Tucson Unified School District to end segregation and implement culturally relevant courses such as the ones taught in the Mexican American Studies Program that were recently banned by an Arizona law.
In his ruling announced Wednesday, Judge David C. Bury ordered that the courses reflect the history, experience and culture of Mexican American and African American communities. The courses could be offered to students starting this upcoming school year.
Nancy Ramirez, a lead attorney in the case, applauded Judge Bury’s order, saying culturally relevant courses have been proven to “engage students and helps them do better academically.”
Full article here
