Tag Archives: racism

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A principal, a rapper and Bill O’Rielly

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I am not uncritical of rap music, but I am also cautious to judge a culture I am not a part of and have not sought to understand.

As someone who has worked in the education system and with youth who are a part of this hip-hop culture, I have a deep interest in it’s affect on our generation.

I found this video intriguing because I feel there where valid points made by each of the people speaking. I feel bad that the conversation happened on a show like this because it seems to only ‘showcase’ a tension and disagreement for an audience that is mainly (from what I know) made up of people who have no true understanding of the culture of either the rappers, nor the principal.

I’m curious of your thoughts on this video.

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Hair, deception, entitlement and more

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First, just watch the clip:

Question #1: Did you find anything wrong with what you just saw? (Answer it in the comment section below, preferrably before you continue reading).

I can’t remember when the fact that this occurs was first pointed out to me, that many black women have had the experience of people asking about their hair and then touching it without permission. I’ve had dreadlocks and funky goatees and people have asked about it, but I would certainly be weirded out if they just reached out and touched or pulled on my facial hair!

A couple things to point out here. First, the deceptive idea about hair. At some point one learns that some women use hair extensions, ‘weave’ and straightening or curling irons to do their hair. An even deeper secret is that most women in their 30’s (even some late twenty’s) are already greying and regularly dye their hair to cover up that fact. And then there are plenty out their who wear wigs, hair plugs, and all kinds of other things. When I first learned of some of these things it saddened me that we live in a culture that does not embrace ones natural beauty, whether it be cultural or age differences. So, along these lines, why is it that a black women is often confronted about her hair, when it is no more curious then the thousands of women dying their hair to met our “youthful” cultural standards. “So do you dye your hair?” (I ask as I comb through to take a close look at the roots)

Second, there is the issue of entitlement also needs to be dealt with here. Commenter, gatamala, puts it well on Mixed Media Watch’s post about the video:

I think it is a sense of entitlement/ownership masked in “curiousity”. It is dehumanizing to have someone poke/prod/pull to ostensibly check you out. I guess some people can’t put the auction block of the mind away.

Finally, there is the issue of us. Does seeing things like this, hearing people rise up and say something about it, or just letting it fall by the wayside change things? How do we make this world a better, more caring, more informed, more loving, and more real place for all of us?

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Race and the Media: It’s not just a Katrina thing.

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Some of you might have been paying attention during the Hurricane Katrina coverage and hopefully at least considered the idea that our media is sometimes biased in the way that it covers news stories.

Mixed Media Watch, one of my new favorite blogs, has posted on some recent coverage of two murders written about in the Washington Post:

I just read an interesting column by the ombudsman of The Washington Post, attempting to shed some light on how the paper handled two equally horrific murder cases. A reader had written in to note that the murder of the white man, Alan Senitt (pictured), landed on the front page of the paper, while the murder of the black man, Chris Crowder, only made the front of the Metro section. The reader asked:

“Can you think of a reason why the white man would get front-page treatment while the black man wouldn’t? Why does the white man merit a photo with the story but the black man doesn’t? Did geography and skin color have any impact on where these two stories were placed in the newspaper? I don’t see anything about the Senitt story that would merit front-page treatment over that of Crowder.”

Read the response and the rest of the story…

What’s your take on this one? Is it normal and your tired of raising concern about it? Is this the first time you’ve considered something like this? Are you busy validating the justification in your mind and writing this one off?

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A new favorite podcast: Addicted to Race

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The women of New Demographic and bloggers of Mixed Media Watch, have a podcast that I find extremely interesting: Addicted to Race.
Jen and Carmen co-host the show which discusses our obsession with race and provides thoughtful commentary on many race-related issues in our society. They discuss big news events as well as personal stories and I appreciate their balance in it all as well.

It bothers me to no end when folks try to ignore racism or try to belittle the effects of race. “Race” is only a social construct one might argue, but regardless it has a profound affect on the way people view one another and they way they are treated in our world.

I don’t necessarily agree with Jen and Carmen’s perspective all the time on the show, but who am I to argue with them. It’s good to learn and try to understand a different perspective.

I’m going to need to chime in and ask them a few questions sometime. I was pretty shocked at the lack of discussion of race at the event I went to last weekend, so I’ll be discussing that later.

For now, take a moment and listen to the latest episode of Addicted To Race.

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When Mixed Families where illegal

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Yesterday marked the 39th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision to overturn anti-miscegenation laws. That is not ancient history, it’s just a short time ago. When some of your parent’s where getting married they could not have married a person of a different race (actually only whites and other races couldn’t marry, a black person could happily marry a Korean person).

From The Anniversary of Loving v. Virginia

It’s also crazy that so many people don’t even realize that this case exists — that at one time, it was illegal for mixed families to exist in many places. Think about that, and ask yourself, how far have we come? Sure, it’s legal now, but I would caution anyone against celebrating this win and stopping there. If we remain satisfied with the basic rights we are given, we are in huge trouble. Having the right doesn’t negate the fact that there are still many ways that interracial couples are targeted and subjected to racism and discrimination.

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An explanation of that magazine’s name

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Because I was sure it would inevitably be mentioned, here is the explanation from the website about that magazine’s name:

For as long as we’ve been publishing B****, there’s one question that gets asked over and over. And over. “Why did you choose that word as the name of your magazine?” While we’re aware that our title is off-putting to some people, we think it’s worth it. And here’s why.

When it’s being used as an insult, “b****” is most often hurled at women who speak their minds, who have opinions and don’t shy away from expressing them. If being an outspoken woman means being a b****, we’ll take that as a compliment, thanks.

Furthermore, if we take it as a compliment, it loses its power to hurt us. And if we can get people thinking about what they’re saying when they use the word, that’s even better.

And, last but certainly not least, “b****” describes all at once who we are when we speak up, what it is we’re too worked up over to be quiet about, and the act of making ourselves heard.

Now for my quick two-cents: I’m not sure whether I necessarily agree full-heartedly that these sorts of negative words can be redeemed, but I have to agree the words seem to lose “its power to hurt us.” Maybe that’s not the case at all though, maybe it’s a sign that the agressor wins. The “N” word is another example, and there is heated disagreement about it between the younger and older generation. Is there a fully right answer one way or the other? I’m not sure.

I do know as a male, I’m not sure I’m really at liberty to enter my opinion into the conversation. If these women choose to use B**** as an empowering term, I’m not one to argue. Nor do I think that gives me any excuse not to listen.

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Dr. Cornell West: Preaching at Saint Sabina

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I’m listening to a sermon by Cornell West, courtesy of Logan. It’s quite amazing thus far, and I’m not even half way through. He’s saying some very good things. Here are my brief notes.

  • Coretta Scott King’s funeral was co-opted by the White House. People who where important parts of her life where uninvited to the funeral.
  • The imperialism of the United States is a Gangster mentality, and we should all be honest about that.
  • Our criticism of terrorist and yet our violent and aggressive war and torture and spying are very hypocritical.
  • 20% of children live in poverty in the richest nation in the world is injustice.

Cornell West
Interested now?

Listen to a Real Audio Recording of Dr. Cornel West> at Saint Sabina.

UPDATE: Cornell West St. Sabina.mp3

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“Race Card” an intro to “Black. White.”

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I’m going to blog about the recent TV series “Black. White.”

It was on FX recently and I saw the show and wanted to encourage others to see it when they get a chance. For now I don’t have time to write much but thought you’d enjoy the intro music video by Ice Cube.

Did you get your race card?
I didn’t get my race card
Did you get your race card?
Hell no, I didn’t get my race card!
Did you get your race card?
Homeboy, where’d you get your race card?
Did you get your race card?
White boy, what is a race card?

Please don’t believe the hype
Everything in the world ain’t black and white
Everybody ain’t a stereotype
Just because I look wrong, I’m about to do right
Please don’t believe the hype
Everything in the world ain’t black and white
Everybody ain’t a stereotype
Just because I look wrong, I’m about to do right

Black as midnight, or bright as Snow White
You’d better do me right, or I’ma have to take flight
Put you on ice, blast on you twice
If you’re a zebra, better come out them stripes
Just because I’m dressed like I’m straight out of jail
Make more money then them white boys at Yale
And got more sense than your fucking President
That college graduate? He can’t pay his rent
But don’t call me brother, man
Unless your ass got my money in your other hand
Pull that black man shit, that white man shit
But see a suit and tie, and I’ll still get your ass euthanized
Cuz I never got my race card in the mail
Is that the reason why my life still hard as Hell?
I’ve been to jail, just like Martha Stewart
And we both told the judge that we didn’t do it

Did you get your race card?
Hell, no, I didn’t get my race card!
Did you get your race card?
Everybody, show me your race card!
Did you get your race card?
Yo, what the hell is race card?
Did you get your race card?
Can anybody tell me what is a race card?

Please don’t believe the hype
Everything in the world ain’t black and white
Everybody ain’t a stereotype
Just because I look wrong, I’m about to do right
Please don’t believe the hype
Everything in the world ain’t black and white
Everybody ain’t a stereotype
Just because I look wrong, I’m about to do right

Did you get your race card?
Did you get your race card?
Did you get your race card?
Did you get your race card?

Please don’t believe the hype
Everything in the world ain’t black and white
Everybody ain’t a stereotype
Just because I look wrong, I’m about to do right
Please don’t believe the hype
Everything in the world ain’t black and white
Everybody ain’t a stereotype
Just because I look wrong, I’m about to do right

Did you get your race card?
Did you get your race card?
Did you get your race card?
Did you get your race card?

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On using icons and depictions of Jesus in the church

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In church the other day I was surprised to see two small paintings toward the front of the building depicting Jesus. I recognized them and I believe the appropriate term for them is an “icon.” (I could definitely be wrong on that).

White JesusThey where obviously painted a few centuries ago. They didn’t look exactly like this but similar. By similar I mean it was the long haired white Jesus we seem to see portrayed everywhere we look. So much so I think we actually think he looked something like that. Now I don’t know much about historical looks and fashions but I’m fairly confident that is NOT what he looked like.

Jesus JesusIn fact, I just so happened to see that educational show the other day where they went through all kinds of evidence and have come to the conclusion that he looked something like this. I’m really not quite sure if they are right, but at least they gave it a good long consideration.

Black JesusNow the reason I’m bringing this up is mainly that I think it’s a dangerous and troubling thing that we’ve got all these white Jesus pictures hanging around. The main argument I hear in response when I bring this up is that they are historical, and thus because of their history have value, regardless of how inaccurate they are. I think that is just ridiculous. I also hear people talk about how Jesus becomes like one of us, so a white church can have a white Jesus, a Hispanic church can have a Hispanic Jesus, etc. Now if we are happy and content with our racial divided churches then this might seem slightly feasible, especially if we wanted to promote our racial superiority in our theology (That was extremely sarcastic and I hope you see the terrible flaws in it). I’ll write more at some point about the damage these sorts of imagery cause to children with different skin colors (then the one on the Jesus picture).
For now, I’d just like to say to every person who goes to a church where there are white Jesus’ hanging around, that it’s time you either get a vastly more accurate picture of what Jesus looked like, or you start putting up more depictions of Jesus from other cultures. I guess next Sunday I should bring in this depiction of Jesus.