Group items tagged

Paul Ryan claims that he and Romney lost because of the unexpected "urban" voters ("urban" being a dog whistle for "black"), rather than because of his policies (which exit polls showed were central for many voters)

We often think of voting demographics in terms of "minorities," which makes groups of "white voters" an invisible norm. This article asks the question of why white people are proportionally voting for Romney.

This is posted here in Wisconsin and was a lead story on last night's local news. Is this hate speech? See picture of the sign above. The man says he supports the President and it is a showing of support. Is he simply unaware of the connotations of putting a noose on a sign for a black man? For any person? Or is he lying? See if you can follow the story. Will he have to take it down or is it protected by the First Amendment. Should it be classified as Hate Speech?

I really like this article for all the different issues it brings up and how it connects to another case that went viral about a year or so ago. This is the case of Henry Louis Gates Jr (who, by the way, edits The Root, which I suggested you add to your news feeds. He is a famous (black) scholar and porfessor at Harvard Univeristy. He locked himself out of his house and had to break into it. He was arrested doing so and the (white) policeman did not allow him to retireve identification. Long story short, the policeman treated him like a criminal, the professor got indignant and things went from bad to worse. This incident went viral and was seen as a clasic case of racial profiling. It got so heated that the President of the United States had to bring Professor Gates and the Policeman to the White House to resolve the dispute over "a beer." Try interchanging races on this one--Would it end up at the White House? Anyway, This article compares what happened to Professor Gates to what happened to Trayvon Martin. Very interesting analysis. Thanks Zach!!

Two Jewish organizations are calling on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to stop what they say are anti-Semitic attacks by his government's media

It is smart for us to realize that racism is everywhere--not something that is seen it the US alone. We seem more sensitve to it becasue our values (All men are created equal, equal opportuint, the American Dream etc) tell us that there shouldn't be inequality here.