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What Is Racial Justice?

I recently received this email from a reader.

Hi.  Came across your website.  What exactly do you mean by “racial justice”?  I realize the question might sound trollish, but it’s a serious question.  Does your definition include settling old scores?  Is it more focused on current injustice?   What are some policy recommendations?  Do you believe disparate impact to be racially unjust?  Is equal opportunity only truly equal when there is equal results?  Thanks for your time.

Duke of SaMo

Troll or not, the questions are interesting. So, I figured I’d try offering some answers. Here goes.

First, no, my … Read more “What Is Racial Justice?”

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The N-Word

This article on Salon.com about Brittney Cooper’s experience with the N-word on the 4th of July got me seriously annoyed. It’s time to end the ridiculous, manipulative and/or intellectually lazy (you pick) argument over the double standard regarding the use of the “N-word.”

Okay, so black people can use it and the rest of us can’t. I get that. Actually, I like that.

We live in a country that for generations had laws that said that only white people could own land, enjoy wage and hour protections, and vote. Conceding just one word to a group so royally screwed over … Read more “The N-Word”

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When Xenophobia Trumps Common Sense, Common Decency Often Goes By the Wayside

I’ve written here before about the dilemma Washington Apple Growers were faced with in 2011 because of crack downs on undocumented immigrants. It turns out that the majority of documented immigrants who answered a poll by saying that undocumented immigrants mostly take low wage jobs that no one wants are right. No amount of recruitment was able to produce enough American-born workers to replace immigrants who were scared out of the fields, and what should have been one of the best years on record for the Washington apple industry ended up being a bust. Farmers in Georgia and Alabama have … Read more “When Xenophobia Trumps Common Sense, Common Decency Often Goes By the Wayside”

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Asiana Airline Crash Brings Out the Racists on Twitter

Yesterday, an Asiana Airlines passenger jet crashed at the San Francisco International Airport. Upon impact, the plane was smashed to pieces and then caught fire. At least two passengers are reported dead and 181 more were injured among whom at least 26 are children. Hilarious, right?

What, you don’t think so? Then you obviously haven’t been following twitter where a bunch of people heard about the crash and then laughed so hard their racism popped out. Some cringe worthy examples of the kind of ranting joking going on are on the Public Shaming tumblr. Here’s a taste:

 

 

That … Read more “Asiana Airline Crash Brings Out the Racists on Twitter”

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Why Are White People So Touchy About Being Called Racist?

I’ve often pondered the question, why are white people so touchy about being called out for racism?

I know some of you will say that racism is much more than the hurtful prejudice of a marginal few. Agreed. Racism is also inherited structural and political inequity by race resulting in persistent poverty, health disparities, and deficits of opportunity in communities of color. And as with all kinds of oppression, racism is ultimately kept in place by violence and the threat of violence (think in terms of lynchings, cross-burnings, KKK raids, etc. throughout our history). Simple prejudice seems pretty minor by … Read more “Why Are White People So Touchy About Being Called Racist?”

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On Racial Healing

 

“We live in a society that has so deeply internalized race, that race, and by extension racism, is at the very core of who we are as a people. As Americans, our history of racism is the story of us. Until we deal with that, we will never coalesce across the divisions that history has created.”

Read my latest article, “For racial healing, we need to get real about racism” on Transformation .

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Guest Bloggers

Racial Justice After Fisher and Shelby

In the wake of last week’s Supreme Court rulings in the Fisher affirmative action case and the Shelby County Voting Rights Act case, the post-mortems are in.

Race-based affirmative action in higher education is on its deathbed. Anti-discrimination protections for many voters are imperiled.

For the Court’s majority, two of the proudest achievements of the long Civil Rights Movement have become burdensome and outmoded, like a payphone on a troubled street corner. Even in liberal policy circles, the shibboleth of “class over race” (as if they were mutually exclusive) seems quickly becoming the new common sense.

At their … Read more “Racial Justice After Fisher and Shelby”

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5 Things Not To Do When Accused Of Racism: A Note To Paula Deen And The Rest of White America

Okay, I know this subject has been beat to death but I need to go there one more time. Why? Because Paula Deen’s crying, pleading, borderline belligerent I is what I is, and I’m not changing play for forgiveness mirrors the way that too many white people react to accusations of racism. And that reaction is no small thing. It’s one of the obstacles to ending interpersonal racism which, as we know, is the justification for institutional racism and the perpetuation of racial inequality.

So, for white people who want to be good allies, here are five things not to … Read more “5 Things Not To Do When Accused Of Racism: A Note To Paula Deen And The Rest of White America”

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Why for Some, SCOTUS Same Sex Marriage Ruling Just Doesn’t Feel Right

While most of LGBT America celebrates the legal defeat of the Defense of Marriage Act, some of us are finding this moment bittersweet. We recognize the decision is a real and meaningful victory, but we’re worried about what this victory means for those of us who wish to exercise the right not to marry, and about whether winning this right will diminish the transformational potential of the LGBT movement.

LGBT people have struggled for decades in the face of hate and exclusion to create new definitions of family, and community. Over those decades, we created intentional families as places to … Read more “Why for Some, SCOTUS Same Sex Marriage Ruling Just Doesn’t Feel Right”

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Marriage Equality Is Step in a Much Longer Journey

The Supreme Court struck down Bill Clinton’s discriminatory and down right offensive Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Their decision was just, and it was a long time coming. The first words out of my mouth when I heard it was “about f**king time!” followed shortly by, “is it too early for cocktails?”

Moments like this come few and far between. But even as we celebrate, we ought not overlook the fact that DOMA fell in a week when the Supreme Court also effectively neutered the Voting Rights Act. So even as rights are expanding for same sex couples, one … Read more “Marriage Equality Is Step in a Much Longer Journey”