Race, Politics, and Cynicism

What can these people do to damage their credibility. Presidential candidate Mitt Romney suffers no backlash for embracing and fundraising with Donald Trump who openly questions whether the President is an American. Ron Paul published racist newsletters throughout the 90s and he’s also a politically viable Presidential candidate who must be listened to and taken seriously. Why is it open association with racism doesn’t disqualify people from running for the highest office in the land. What’s more troubling is the cynicism with which this is discussed. Race-baiting is just another tool in the American mailbox to be deployed and debated as if there are no real world consequences to American citizens or I guess Americans of any importance.

- C.S.

 

How Race Interacts with Justice

Salon has an excellent interview with American law scholar Kenneth Mack on the way race and the law intersect and define each other. Here’s a quote on civil rights lawyers and their personal experience in the black community at the time.

“What did you learn about the relationship between race and the law by writing it?

By looking at the civil rights struggle through the lives of black civil rights lawyers we learn about the contested nature of racial identity, even in an era where segregation was supposed to make race into something fixed, not fluid.”

I think this speaks to how we think of race as an unchanging dynamic today even though it’s been in fluctuation since the concept was created. Also it works to disabuse people of the notion that there was an overwhelming consensus in the Civil Rights Era as it’s been properly defined when our heroes of yesteryear had many of the intra-community pressures and differences that people still hold today. The interview is great and I’d recommend folks to go read the whole thing.

The color-blind scales of justice?

x-posted @ theybc

- C.S.

 

Reflections of a once discouraged Black Man that can’t get into “certain” clubs

 

 You likely know exactly what I’m about to say. And likely, exactly what I’m about to call out. To most of you reading,  this subject isn’t a surprise. It’s not even news anymore. It’s a story that happens…and continues to happen on a regular basis. For those unaware of such activities, let me sum it up for you: 

Black people have a hard time getting into “certain clubs”.

 

Wow.....wow....

And we’re not the only culture, but I can only speak from my perspective and experiences. I’ve even recently heard of cases of folks getting in trouble who stood up for their peers (in this case, teammate) who were discriminated against. If this hasn’t happened to you yet as a black male, you either don’t go out, you’re always over-dressed when you do go out, or you simply just stay ‘in your comfort zone’.

Going to college in Austin, TX, I learned these lessons at an early age. Ya see, back in 2004 when I was a freshmen, brothas were still in the blazers, long button-ups, jeans, and Air Forces.