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No Simple Answers to Achieving Racial Justice But One

I’ve been reading transcripts of six months worth of episodes of the Big Five Sunday political talk shows to wrap my mind around how these shows talk about people of color.

The excerpts on African Americans reveal some predictable trends. Among them, that one of the most popular “solutions” to intergenerational poverty in African American communities is education. And that’s too bad. Yeah, that’s what I said. I know that seems counter-intuitive, but bear with me.

On one episode of Face the Nation, James Peterson, Director of Africana Studies at Lehigh University, and Condoleeza Rice, who needs no introduction, I’m … Read more “No Simple Answers to Achieving Racial Justice But One”

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What “Racial Equity” Does and Doesn’t Mean

An article I wrote responding to UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh’s Washington Post editorial, “How the Asians Became White ” ended up creating a bit of a flap. There was a flood of angry comment, most of which was deleted.

Note to readers: comments that begin with “you f**king Nazi,” or that refer to me as a “genocidal maniac” don’t ever make the queue because, well, comparing racial equity in employment to the Holocaust is not something I support. Genocide, as well, is not something to be trivialized. If you want to do something to stop genocide, I suggest … Read more “What “Racial Equity” Does and Doesn’t Mean”

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The Colorblind Racism of Michael Bloomberg

The September 7 issue of New York Magazine featured an interview with outgoing New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg that I’m guessing you’ve heard about. In it, Bloomberg accused Bill de Blasio, the Democratic frontrunner in the current mayoral primary, of running a racist campaign because some of his ads feature his black wife and bi-racial children…seriously.

It’s a case of the salt calling the pepper white that would be funny is it wasn’t an example of colorblind racism, the prevailing racist logic of our supposedly post-racial age. Here’s what I mean.

Bloomberg’s accusation imposes a double standard on de Blasio … Read more “The Colorblind Racism of Michael Bloomberg”