Supreme Court Decision Part I

Bloggers from around the blogosphere voice their concern and outrage over the Supreme Court’s recent ruling.

Christopher Bracey over at blackprof.com:

I’m sick and tired of having to respond to this silly argument. Given the prevailing disparities in health, wealth and society between blacks and whites, you have to be an idiot or a sophisticated bigot not to appreciate the difference between state action that excludes minorities and subordinates people on the basis or race, and state action designed to bring together people of all races. The voluntary – yes, voluntary – efforts by the local school boards in Seattle and Louisville fall into the latter category, and ought not be confused with the former. Whatever you may think about the virtues of diversity, it is abundantly clear that the motivation behind such a policy is light-years removed from the motivations of segregationists of years past.

Rick Perlstein writes:

Though call me crazy – when official municipal policy judges blacks as attempted murderers for the same actions whites commit without consequences, is it that hard to imagine that within Jena’s dual school system, the black schools might be less well taken care of? And that those same town fathers who claim they deliver equal justice to blacks and whites would claim these schools were equal, even if separate? That, as Chief Justice Earl Warren ruled with ringing finality in that decision Justice Roberts affects to so respect, “separate but equal,” when the separation is between a historically privileged race and a subaltern one, is inherently unequal?

Under Justice Roberts’s new ukase, we would never know. We wouldn’t be allowed to call Jena’s new schools “separate.” Because that would require counting how many students of each race attended them.

And we can’t do that. Because counting is racist. “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.”

The Field Negro:

We all know by now that the Supremes in a very close decision (5-4) came down with a ruling yesterday, that in essence, invalidated programs in hundreds of public school districts all over the country. Programs that sought to maintain school by school diversity by using race as one of the factors to admissions to certain schools. The Seattle and Louisville School Districts had actually been victorious in lower Federal court, but…well you know some white folks weren’t going for that: “Honey it’s just not fair, why should those black kids get special treatment over our child just because they are black? This is not what Martin Luther King was talking about being judged by the content of their character. I spend good money on private tutors and I will be damned if I let some bureaucrat let my child miss out on a good education.”

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Porn and Liquor Made Them Do It!

Ridwan blogs about Prime Minister Howard’s latest attempt to “save” the Australian Aboriginal population:

Luckily, Australia is led by a ‘great-white’ leader who has a plan to save the Aboriginal from extinction. Prime Minister John Howard, the Grand-Wizard of Australian racism, wants Aboriginals to live beyond their pathological destructiveness.

According to the BBC, the benevolent Howard has decided to ban alcohol and pornography in almost all of the Northern Territory’s Aboriginal communities. And, to show that he is serious, he is going to use the police and the military to protect the Aboriginals from themselves.

What a great plan hey? Ignore all the destruction of racist colonialism and instead blame the Aboriginals for not living up to the wonders of white civilization. And, typically forget the fact that Australia stands on the backs of those who once walked everywhere without the paternalism that now reduces them to no more than children.

Identity Politics

In a post on Slant Truth about identity politics Thinking Girl blogs:

Relativism is thrown out when someone wants to derail a discussion. It’s the philosophical equivalent of trolling, if you ask me! Relativism is supposedly about giving equal weight to all points of view, cultural contexts, systems of social organizing, etc. Which, to many, sounds fine and dandy. But in reality, what this does is quite similar to totalization, because it ignores relations of power. One can’t claim to have a view from nowhere, and one can’t claim to have a view from everywhere, either. We are all of us steeped in our own contexts; we cannot simply escape them or set them aside, not ever – and we can’t simply adopt another viewpoint or context just like that. Just as we can’t claim to inhabit a neutral position, we also can’t claim to inhabit every position equally. It’s an epistemological limitation.

Immigrant Dentention Camps Being Built Around U.S.

Latina Lista writes:

Found in Raymondville, Texas, the detention camp houses mostly undocumented immigrants from El Salvador, and according to peace activist Elizabeth Garcia, the people are not being treated humanely.

On the outside, the tents look like a model city of the future, but when you think about 200 unrelated people living in each shelter – well, thoughts are as scary as it was for the people from New Orleans who tried to call the Superdome home.

These modern concentration camps, whether in Raymondville or Hutto or other points around the country, are an inhumane way to treat people whose only crime was such desperation for a better life that they pushed their way to the front of the line so they could work for substandard pay — but it was more money than they could have made back home.

Yet, to appease all these voices who claim to be compassionate conservatives, Homeland Security has been working overtime to round up the undocumented and dump them in these places if they are not Mexican citizens.

Chelsea Handler Mocks Asians

The Angry Asian Man writes:

Is anyone else tired of this? Is anyone else sick of the fact that a “comedian” can go on national television and casually disrespect half the world like it ain’t a damn thing? Is it because she thinks we’re easy targets, and we won’t complain or get angry over something like this? Because I have to wonder if Chelsea would make similarIt’s a cheap laugh that ultimately results in way more harm than just a ten second jab on television—talk to the population of Asian Americans who have had to deal with stereotypes and prejudice on a daily basis, tacitly reinforced by “harmless” joke moments like this.

White “Guilt” and Being Guilty

Eugene at Pudgy Indian writes about a recent conversation he had with a co-worker:

“I don’t want to feel guilty for something I didn’t do.”

No where in our conversation, whitey, did I ask you to feel guilty. That, many of you, is your own fucking problem. I could really give a rats ass. This, in my opinion, is what you are really saying. “There is a perceived threat to my privilege. I don’t have to feel guilty about MY privilege. That’s just the way it is. It isn’t my fault.” No where, whitey, did I say anything about you having to feel guilt. A reminder; That is your own fucking problem and maybe something you should deal with. But here you go, getting all defense about a perceived threat because you do feel guilt, reacting in a way that brings all the issues back to you, whitey.

White “Guilt” and Being Guilty

Eugene at Pudgy Indian writes about a recent conversation he had with a co-worker:

“I don’t want to feel guilty for something I didn’t do.”

No where in our conversation, whitey, did I ask you to feel guilty. That, many of you, is your own fucking problem. I could really give a rats ass. This, in my opinion, is what you are really saying. “There is a perceived threat to my privilege. I don’t have to feel guilty about MY privilege. That’s just the way it is. It isn’t my fault.” No where, whitey, did I say anything about you having to feel guilt. A reminder; That is your own fucking problem and maybe something you should deal with. But here you go, getting all defense about a perceived threat because you do feel guilt, reacting in a way that brings all the issues back to you, whitey.

Leaving Socialism

Fire Fly blogs about organizing and leaving the socialist movement:

…it’s always white men who lead these demonstrations, who are given the opportunity to speak, and who set the agendas.

These means of engaging can be really alienating for lots of people. Speaking at demonstrations involves loud, angry invective — talking at people, not to or with them. Inevitably they engage in every other conversation this way as well. Speaking to them is very one-sided (and that’s a criticism I’ve heard from people both within and outside the activist community), which makes it difficult to work with them or to get one’s priorities represented at organising meetings where the real decisions get made.

The reason they behave like this is because they get a sense of entitlement from their ideology. One of my interlocutors compared it to evangelical Christianity: aside from the need to evangelise (recruit), there’s also a single book/prophet (Marx, who has canonical interpreters), a teleological view of human history that will end in a single protracted moment where everything will be set right (in Christianity it’s the Second Coming, in socialism, it’s Revolution), inability to acknowledge any problems other than the ones they prescribe (e.g. patriarchy), and an inability to analyse with any other perspective (e.g. environmentalism).

2nd Carnival of Radical Action

Fire Fly hosts the 2nd Carnival of Radical Action at She Who Stumbles:

Welcome to the second Carnival of Radical Action!

This month has been full of ups and downs, so promoting and writing for this carnival hasn’t been a huge priority for me. But a handful of dedicated people have made wonderful submissions — this edition of the CORA is about quality, not quantity!

The theme of this edition of the carnival seems to have been “community” by default. The physical spaces that people live in and the things they do in those spaces, amongst their existing networks. The radicalism of people changing the way they relate to others.

Time To Stand UP Against…Straight Bashing??

Yolanda, fellow editor at The Blog and the Bullet, writes on her blog:

Four African American lesbian women from Newark, New Jersey were sentenced this past June 14th to excessively long prison terms in New York for the crime of defending themselves against homophobic harassment and violence. These young sistas were railroaded by both a dismissively misogynist judge and by the reactionary, sensationalist media.

Time To Stand UP Against…Straight Bashing??

Yolanda, fellow editor at The Blog and the Bullet, writes on her blog:

Four African American lesbian women from Newark, New Jersey were sentenced this past June 14th to excessively long prison terms in New York for the crime of defending themselves against homophobic harassment and violence. These young sistas were railroaded by both a dismissively misogynist judge and by the reactionary, sensationalist media.

White Males and Privilege

Responding to a post in where Rob Knop laments that despite taking on white male privilege he is still considered privilege (and regards the fight as un-winable) Irrational Point states:

It is true that men who speak out about these issues risk not being taken seriously by their white male colleagues. But staying quiet de facto upholds the status quo (it’s not possible to be neutral on this issue — to do so is to avail yourself of the privilege of being white, male, etc). That’s not to trivialise the whacking that men get when they bring up equality issues — yes it’s hurtful, yes it’s unfair. But men who talk about gender equity might come under fire, but it’s women and minorities who are on the front line. The going is tough for women and minorities all the time, not just when they speak out about equality issues.

This isn’t about “I’m more oppressed than you” competitions. It is about accepting that challenging your own privilege isn’t easy or pleasant work, but it is necessasry if men are going to take part in changing the structural inequalities that exist.

Hollywood, Iraq, and Darfur

Quuer Arab writes:

Vietnam had Jane Fonda… countless rock stars and actors spoke up… not this time. And I can’t help wonder wether it’s because Arab lives are the victim here. Arabs after all are supposed to be villains in the Hollywood mindset. Barbarians… Savages… Darfur was “cool” because Arabs were the bad guys… and Africans are the victims.. very chic.. nice contrast pics for Angelina and Oprah… not Iraq. No John Lennon benefit CD for the victims of US Occupation in Iraq…

Rushdie: Blasphemer or Critical Thinker?

 Cubano, of Eccentric Optimism, blogs:

Like most Muslims, I was raised to think that Sulman Rushdie was some sort of a demon.  It wasn’t until recently that I decided to actually read a few books written by Rushdie and realized that his writing is simply brilliant.  Pakistanis and other Muslims should be proud of a writer of such caliber.  The National Assembly of Pakistan is an embarrassment for the people of the country.

Underground White Hip-Hop Snobbery

Dective Mat writes (the link isn’t working as of now):

Oh hip hop…what has happened to you…I really don’t know what to expect out of you anymore. At least I know what crap to expect from the commercialized mainstream. But the underground? I completely give up. It’s not a flourishing culture that addresses the needs of urban youth anymore. Now, it’s just a pissing contest between suburban snobs to see who knows the most unknown underground artists. The underground is depressing. At any given underground show, the crowd will be filled with college-aged suburban guys who somehow discovered their consciousness in school, and now dive blindly into anything labeled as “underground”. You must like Hieroglyphics, Atmosphere, and Aesop Rock or else you “aren’t hip hop”. They’ll always come at you with their collection of trendy underground groups, telling you “this is REAL hip hop”, when in actuallity, theres little diversity in the styles they listen to.

“4th of July Needs Some Pazaz! Not History!”

SteveAudio posts:

How far from institutionalized racism have we come in America? Well, you’d think a 4th of July parade in Huntington Beach would be miles away from any controversy:

Organizers of Surf City’s Fourth of July parade said Wednesday they would let the producer of the documentary chronicling the 1947 Mendez v. Westminster school-desegregation case take part this year.

Parade officials reversed a decision to deny Sandra Robbie’s application for her Magical History Tour bus on grounds that it lacked entertainment value.

I suppose the American Revolution, which is what the holiday is about, was chocked full of entertainment value, too. What with people dying for . . . you know, freedom.

“4th of July Needs Some Pazaz! Not History!”

SteveAudio posts:

How far from institutionalized racism have we come in America? Well, you’d think a 4th of July parade in Huntington Beach would be miles away from any controversy:

Organizers of Surf City’s Fourth of July parade said Wednesday they would let the producer of the documentary chronicling the 1947 Mendez v. Westminster school-desegregation case take part this year.

Parade officials reversed a decision to deny Sandra Robbie’s application for her Magical History Tour bus on grounds that it lacked entertainment value.

I suppose the American Revolution, which is what the holiday is about, was chocked full of entertainment value, too. What with people dying for . . . you know, freedom.

Racism, Sexism and the Video Game Industry

Latoya Peterson, from Racialicious, blogs:

To illustrate the issue of racism, let’s play a little game. Off the top of your head, name 5 black video game characters. Now, exclude any characters that were not main characters. Now exclude any that appear in a sports game or hip-hop based game. Finally, exclude any characters that embody stereotypical representations of African Americans. (Yes, that means excluding CJ from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.) How many are left in your list?

Black and White on Daily Kos

The Field Negro writes about race and racism in the Daily Kos:

With the exception of My Left Wing, I rarely read any of the big progressive blogs such as Huffington Post, or Daily Kos. But today I found myself reading over at Kos (or as some of my fellow black blogers would spell it, KKKOS), and I read an interesting post from a blogger by the name of “Dr Steve B” titled “White Kossacks Should Read Some Black Blogs” (These people call themselves “Kossacks” for crying out loud). I have blogged about the schism between the white and black blogs in the blogosphere before, and my interest in the subject caused me to read the entire post as well as the comments that followed.

That One Black Kid

Vegan Kid posts a comic strip about “That one Black kid” in his blog.

The Hostility of the Hospitality Industry

Jan In San Fran blogs about hospitality workers taking on Woodfin Suites in the blog Happening Here:

The struggle of workers at Emeryville’s Woodfin Suites Hotel for a living wage and a measure of respect has taken some wild twists and turns in the last few days. I’ve written about this previously here, here, and here.

Like much of the “hospitality industry” this hotel keeps up its profit margin up by paying low wages to immigrant workers to do the dirty stuff. The city of Emeryville, collectively, said “enough already,” in 2005, and passed a living wage ordinance. The hotel unsuccessfully contested the law in court; workers brought a class action lawsuit for back pay. All of a sudden, the hotel began to question the workers’ immigration status, citing problems with their Social Security numbers.

Black “Mecca” Disapearing

Exodus Mentality blogs: 

Here in Atlanta, the so-called Black mecca of the south, we are undergoing a gentrification phase that will almost certainly change the color characteristics of the city. Basically the Black people are disappearing. Nobody is quite sure where they.went, but they are indeed going. Places I used to live, where 15 years ago you could only find a white person looking for street pharmacueticals, are now sprinkled with more and more non-Black faces.

…

I am a native Atlantan, and although it is true that you see a lot of Black people here who appear to be doing well for themselves, this is far from some Chocolate oasis where people of color come to be refreshed and replenished. Outside of a select clique, the prosperity never really trickled down to the general Negro population. Inner city schools were still a pure mess, the city infrastructure debilitated, cops still cracked Black heads just as hard and often.

Black “Mecca” Disapearing

Exodus Mentality blogs: 

Here in Atlanta, the so-called Black mecca of the south, we are undergoing a gentrification phase that will almost certainly change the color characteristics of the city. Basically the Black people are disappearing. Nobody is quite sure where they.went, but they are indeed going. Places I used to live, where 15 years ago you could only find a white person looking for street pharmacueticals, are now sprinkled with more and more non-Black faces.

…

I am a native Atlantan, and although it is true that you see a lot of Black people here who appear to be doing well for themselves, this is far from some Chocolate oasis where people of color come to be refreshed and replenished. Outside of a select clique, the prosperity never really trickled down to the general Negro population. Inner city schools were still a pure mess, the city infrastructure debilitated, cops still cracked Black heads just as hard and often.

Carnival of Liberals 41

The Carnival of Liberals is up at the World Wide Webbers:

Is there something in the air? For whatever reason, the crop of submissions for Carnival of the Liberals #41 was especially strong. We’re proud to be hosting such a fine collection of leftist propaganda here at World Wide Webers.

Black Feminist Organizations

Queer Dewd blogs:

I finished Living for the Revolution: Black Feminist Organizations, 1968 – 1980 last night and started in on Tricia Rose’s Longing to Tell: Black women talk about sexuality and intimacy. I don’t know how I could do what I normally do with a book reivew with Rose’s book. There’s little discussion from Rose. Rather, she has simply compiled the stories of the women, told in their first person voices, with little structure. They talk about a range of things, often family relationships, first experiences, first orgasms, interracial dating and sex, experimentation with lesbian sex if they’re straight, pregnancy and childbirth, and often feeling very unfulfilled in their relationships.

…

Meanwhile, I left y’all mostly with an overview of the rather thick first chapter. I think I need to first start with an overview of the black feminist organizations (BFOs) she deals with.