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The Stuff You Can Learn From Late Night TV

Since it’s Friday, I thought I ought to post something short. This video made me laugh out loud.

It’s made the rounds so you’ve may have already seen it, but it’s the kind of thing that deserves multiple looks. And it’s gotta be one of the best things to happen on late night talk TV in a while.

Louis C.K.’s point about slavery being just “two 70-year old ladies living and dying back to back” behind us in history is a good one, especially in light of what’s happened since abolition.

We’re one of those old lady’s middle aged younger … Read more “The Stuff You Can Learn From Late Night TV”

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McCain’s War

A video of a town hall meeting in Arizona led by Sen. John McCain has been making the rounds lately. I’m sure you’ve seen it, but in case you haven’t, here’s a link.

You may prefer to simply avoid all the arguing, especially since it’s over a bunch of lies. If so, allow me to share. The video is of some really angry guys in an argument with the Senator because, in spite of McCain’s pandering to white nationalism in ads that promise he’ll “complete the dang fence,” undocumented immigrants, at least according to said angry gentlemen, keep coming, and … Read more “McCain’s War”

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Whites Won’t Give Up on Racism

Mychal Denzel Smith recently posted an article on The Nation that’s a worthy read. In it, he argues,

…White people have to let go of racism. From the avowed racist, to the anti-racist activists, to the “I’m not a racist, I have two black friends” folks, to the “I don’t see color” people and everyone else between or on the margins…

I loved the article. It raised points we rarely see in print, even in places like The Nation. But, as I’m sure Smith would agree, white people aren’t really going to just give up racism. Why? Here goes.… Read more “Whites Won’t Give Up on Racism”

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The Stigma of Affirmative Action

Stigma: (stgm)
1. A mark or token of infamy, disgrace, or reproach
2. A small mark; a scar or birthmark.

While in Atlanta recently I went on a walk through Piedmont Park with a friend who works in higher ed and a colleague of his, an academic. We were three men of color, two African Americans and me, and all racial justice advocates. Unsurprising then that we would eventually get around to the subject of affirmative action.

I am an affirmative action baby. The combination of affirmative action, life experience, and a high written test score made up the point … Read more “The Stigma of Affirmative Action”

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Those Inscrutable Asians

I’m in the middle of doing a survey of the Sunday TV political shows, reading through transcripts of discussions of Asian American voting behavior just prior to and immediate after the recent elections. I was inspired to do this research when I witnessed with shock the complete surprise among pundits across the political spectrum over the overwhelming percentage of Asian American voters who chose Barack Obama over Mitt Romney. I figured I should check my perception of what went down against the record.

I won’t get into too much detail concerning the findings since a detailed report is forthcoming. But, … Read more “Those Inscrutable Asians”

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Refueling, Reading, Learning

I’m taking the week off of serious blogging, or at least I’m trying to, mainly by escaping into books. I tend to read books in bunches, often matching fiction and non-fiction covering related subject matter. This week’s reading list is no exception.

Among my books is a collection of poetry by Robinson Jeffers. I picked up the collection at the recommendation of John O’Neal, a brilliant playwright of the Civil Rights Movement and one of the architects of the historic Freedom Schools. He seduced me into reading Jeffers by describing poems written about Tor House and Hawk Tower… Read more “Refueling, Reading, Learning”

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The Great Migration of the 21st Century

Ta-Nehisi Coates published an article this week that speaks to an idea I’ve been pondering lately. After finishing Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns, a brilliant historical account of the Great Migration of African Americans out of the South and into Northern and Western cities in the early through mid-late twentieth century, Coates wrote,

…What becomes clear by the end of Wilkerson’s book is that America’s response to the Great Migration was to enact a one-sided social contract. America says to its citizens, “Play by the rules, and you will enjoy the right to compete.” The black migrants did … Read more “The Great Migration of the 21st Century”

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What’s Wrong with Inclusion? The Case for Radicalism

Radical (adj.):

1. of, relating to, or proceeding from a root.

2: of or relating to the origin : fundamental.

3: marked by a considerable departure from the usual or traditional.

A few days ago, I made the argument that attacks against LGBT rights, including the right to marry, rely on a template that is as much about racism as homophobia. We should all get behind the LGBT agenda in order to strengthen democratic rights for everyone.

Having said that, however, I do have a bone to pick with pundits and political strategists who’ve been popularizing the meme that LGBT … Read more “What’s Wrong with Inclusion? The Case for Radicalism”

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A Case for Solidarity: Same Sex Marriage and the Fight for Civil Rights

The president’s support for LGBT rights, especially the oblique reference to marriage equality in his inaugural address got me thinking about the last time his “evolution” on the issue of LGBT rights got him talking about same sex marriage. On that other historic occasion, the right reacted as it always has, trying to draw a line around civil rights that excludes LGBT people.

RNC chair Reince Priebus summed things up for the opposition saying,

“I don’t think it’s a matter of civil rights. I think it’s just a matter of whether or not we’re going to adhere to something that’s … Read more “A Case for Solidarity: Same Sex Marriage and the Fight for Civil Rights”

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White Guys With Guns

All this talk lately about stockpiles of weapons and images of white men shouting at cameras about the 2nd amendment has gotten me thinking about the 1980s. I don’t mean the 1980s writ large, as in the last time that vigilante white supremacists looked like they might grow into a significant movement. I mean my 1980s, the years during which I was no longer a child but, in so many ways, not yet  an adult.

Underneath all the shouting about guns on the daily news, I sense a palpable fear of the possibility of facing what many perceive to be … Read more “White Guys With Guns”