To ban discussions of uber-scary "Critical Race Theory" is to ban discussions of racism in America and, by necessity, the works of -- Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and Langston Hughes.
That's a very cursory start, of course.
And this is America, of course.
"Among these attacks, there are notable patterns: Women were more likely than men to say they were targeted, several assaults involved children, and harassment was more likely to occur at retail stores and pharmacies since people have been limiting their activities during the pandemic.'So many of us have experienced it, sometimes for the first time in our lives,' says Manjusha Kulkarni, the executive director of the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council, a group that helped set up this tracker. 'It makes it much harder to go to the grocery store, to take a walk, to be outside our homes.'
This rise in anti-Asian harassment has occurred as the US continues to grapple with Covid-19, and it follows months of xenophobic rhetoric by former President Donald Trump, who frequently used racist names for the virus and associated it with Asian Americans.
The broader uptick in racism, however, isn’t just fueled by the pandemic. Although the uncertainty of the outbreak — coupled with the former president’s rhetoric — has amplified it, this prejudice is rooted in longstanding biases toward Asian Americans that have persisted since some of the earliest immigrants came to the US generations ago."
Among the many pathologies of Trump supporters, the one that's always jumped out at me is how quick they are to blame other people for their own anxieties and personal deficiencies as human beings.
"In July, the team said they were considering changing their name in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, which sparked a widespread debate about racism in America. 'We are committed to making a positive impact in our community and embrace our responsibility to advance social justice and equality. Our organization fully recognizes our team name is among the most visible ways in which we connect with the community,' the team said in a July statement. The team’s manager, Terry Francona, has said he believes it is time to 'move forward' from the name.
Cleveland were known as the Lake Shores, Bluebirds, Broncos and Naps before settling on their current nickname in 1915."
Let's face it -- if "Indian" had no connection to "Chief Wahoo" this might not have happened. And I like "Shores" or "Lake Shores" or "Lakers" -- let's make the 2020's the decade of geographical and topographical sports mascots!
"All this explained my discomfort in publicly asserting my affection for fried chicken. But it did not diminish it. I understood why some African American friends of Momofuku restaurateur David Chang refused to be seen eating fried chicken on camera, as he described in an episode dedicated to the southern delicacy on his Netflix series Ugly Delicious. They didn’t want to be perceived as a cliche.But while the US was trying to unpick the racist issues surrounding fried chicken, the UK’s Conservative government was stoking the flames. The Home Office’s decision to put anti-knife crime messages on fried chicken boxes perpetuated yet more racist stereotypes about knife crime and chicken shop customers.It all feeds into that same shame. During a recent podcast recording, I was asked what my final supper would be. As I said 'fried chicken', I couldn’t help hearing an imagined, knowing, 'Of course!' in response.The US comedian Dave Chappelle got it. In one sketch, he mimics white people watching him as he eats some chicken. 'Look at him,' they say in amazement, 'he loves it just like it said in the encyclopedia.'"
Everything is political, even the crispiest and deliciousist of fried poultry.
"You cannot be Black in America without a sense of idealism and hope for this country. Even the most obstinately 'woke' among us must tacitly admit it. We do not trust in the common good of mankind or that the moral arc of the universe bends toward righteousness. And, because this country starts whittling the candy-coated optimism of youth down to a bitter nub from the moment a Black child emerges from the protection of the womb, most of us stopped placing our hope in the benevolence of white men long ago. There isn’t a sliver of evidence in the majestic mountains or the amber waves of grain that allows us to believe that white people will ever do what’s right.
All our lives, we had to fight.
In the last 244 years, one month and twenty-two days, no one has sacrificed their safety, well-being and their lives to perfect this union more than Black Americans. This is our shit. Not only did our ancestors build this country by investing blood and brow-sweat, but they are also the only group in our nation’s history who did this without the expectation of receiving dividends.White men love America like birds love their wings."
"Three of the biggest bases in the United States are named after Confederate leaders, including some who were famously inept.
Fort Bragg in North Carolina, the headquarters of the Special Forces, bears the name of Gen. Braxton Bragg, a commander often assailed as one of the most bumbling commanders in the war. Bragg was relieved of command after losing the battle for Chattanooga in 1863, then served as a military adviser to Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
Fort Benning in Georgia, the home of Army infantry and airborne training, is named after Brig. Gen. Henry Benning, who led troops at Antietam and Gettysburg. In remarks in 1861 laying out slavery as the reason for secession, Benning warned that abolition would lead to 'black governors, black legislatures, black juries, black everything. Is it to be supposed that the white race will stand for that?'
Fort Hood in Texas is named after John Bell Hood, who resigned his commission in the U.S. Army to fight against it. His 'reckless' command hastened the fall of Atlanta, one historian wrote, and his losses at the Battle of Franklin were so disastrous that they have been called the 'Pickett’s Charge of the West,' in reference to Gen. Robert E. Lee’s failed charge at Gettysburg."Thing is, I have a little history (ahem) with this issue. Way back in 2013 I posted an article to Metafilter on this same issue. Even blunter and from the New York Times, "Misplaced Honor" by Jamie Malanowski asked:
Summer of 2020:
— Antifa Means "Kill All Nazis" James (@wetcasements) June 11, 2020
we learn the sound of Confederate/slave owner statues hitting pavement is beautiful beyond words.
"A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released Sunday found that a majority of Americans are more troubled with the actions of the Minneapolis police that led to Floyd’s death, rather than by violence at some protests. The poll was conducted among 1,000 people from May 28 to June 2, just days after Floyd was killed on May 25 by a police officer who pinned him down by the neck with his knee, and early on in the (largely peaceful) protests.
Despite some criticism surrounding images of looting and arson, the poll found that only 27 percent of voters thought the violence of protesters was more concerning than the actions of the police and Floyd’s death — a contrast to the 59 percent that found the latter far more troubling. A big caveat: As with much else in American life, there’s a stark partisan divide. Nearly half of Republicans (48 percent) said they were more concerned about the protests, while 81 percent of Democrats found the police killing of Floyd a bigger issue."I'm sure folks like my FOX-loving father are positively awash in images of broken glass and burning convenience stores, but anybody earnestly watching social media this past weekend saw almost nothing but peaceful (joyful?) protests by multiracial crowds, singing and marching for peace in their cities and towns.
What's clear to me mid-2020:
— Antifa Means "Kill All Nazis" James (@wetcasements) June 3, 2020
A solid 1/3 of humanity _wants_ dictatorship(s).
"Under no regime but racism could kneeling for eight minutes and 46 seconds on the neck of a man who had already been handcuffed – and who was pleading for breath as bystanders screamed that he was dying – be considered a fitting police response to the suspected use of a counterfeit $20 bill. Five years ago, New York City police choked Eric Garner to death for selling untaxed cigarettes at about $1 apiece. Through such grim arithmetic, we learn exactly how much Black life is worth to America’s police forces.
Each year, more than 1,000 civilians nationwide are killed by police – and Black people are three times more likely to be slain than white people, despite also being more likely to be unarmed. Only 1% of those officers ever face charges. This kind of weaponized racism takes a toll on Black people nationwide. It starts early: the vast majority of Black families find it necessary to have 'the talk' with their children. No, not the one about the birds and the bees. This talk prepares them to expect unfair and disrespectful treatment from police – and to accept such treatment because the slightest objection could result in their death."How any sane person could look at America right now and think a #BLM protester is more dangerous than a cop is beyond me.
"The frame of war allows the president to call for the collective sacrifice of laborers without taking the measures necessary to ensure their safety, while the upper classes remain secure at home. But the workers who signed up to harvest food, deliver packages, stack groceries, drive trains and buses, and care for the sick did not sign up for war, and the unwillingness of America’s political leadership to protect them is a policy decision, not an inevitability. Trump is acting in accordance with the terms of the racial contract, which values the lives of those most likely to be affected less than the inconveniences necessary to preserve them. The president’s language of wartime unity is a veil draped over a federal response that offers little more than contempt for those whose lives are at risk. To this administration, they are simply fuel to keep the glorious Trump economy burning."The whole thing is worth reading.
"Encounters like those experienced by Cruz’s parents have become commonplace for Asian Americans in the wake of the current global public health emergency.
Because COVID-19 originated in Wuhan, China, Asian Americans have been widely scapegoated, regardless of whether they’re Chinese or not. (Asian Americans ― Indonesians, Chinese, Koreans, Thai, Filipinos, and others ― aren’t a monolith, but for Americans with bigoted views, that hardly matters.)
Asian Americans of every descent are dealing not only with the virus itself, but verbal and physical violence from xenophobic neighbors. The choice to wear a mask or not is widely debated among friends and relatives ― do you wear one to protect yourself from the virus or does it draw unnecessary attention?"This virus is killing so many, disrupting lives and families, and simultaneously traumatizing the fuck out of all of us.
"'People of colour are constantly under attack, and not just by guns and the police, by all sorts of structural violence like corruption, food deserts, educational and health inequalities,' said Amanda King, founder of Shooting without Bullets, an arts and social justice organization in Cleveland.
Rid-All’s ethos is community building through education and experience: over the past decade, hundreds of Clevelanders – mostly African American men – have completed its urban farming training programmes, including most recently a group of veterans with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Aided by an army of volunteer sustainability converts, the farm has become a community hub, hosting vegetarian food festivals, weddings, cooking classes, school visits and guided tours."There's a lot to cheer for here, obviously. And this was a relatively tough article for some of my students, since one of the great things about Korea is that you can find fresh, cheap produce being sold on sidewalk corners easily, or even in roving blue Bongo trucks. (The stinky ones sell fresh seafood, even.) The idea of a blighted neighborhood with no fresh produce options is simply unthinkable throughout the developed world, except America.
"'In those two to three minutes, students had already gotten a hold of it,' Hatchett said. 'We started getting panicked messages from students, who again, want to know, "Are we on lockdown?" "Do we need to evacuate?" "I called my mom, she wants me to get on a flight, like, right away."' So it was almost mass panic there for a good hour and a half before we finally figured out that everything was calm and safe.
'There wasn’t any concern that there was an active shooter in the building, but there was a concern that it would be happening sometime today. At that point, a lot of people just wanted to get as far away from here as they could.'"This is a quality university in what is usually known as a fairly safe area. This is life in America ca. 2019, where a mix of racism and racist ideology masquerading as "muh free speech" and the ability of anyone, regardless of criminal or psychological background, to buy a military-grade assault weapon on a whim, has allowed its citizens to have such unprecedented "freedoms" and "rights." (To be shot in the face by an angry white guy, perhaps.)
the startling possibility that "edgy" comedians who are persecuted for their brave, insightful jokes are actually, deep down, just unfunny racists.
— Winterfell Barista James (@wetcasements) September 18, 2019
"There’s an elephant in the room that I’ve been thinking about a lot over these last few weeks. It’s the fact that, demographically, if we’re being honest: I have more in common with the fans in the crowd at your average NBA game than I have with the players on the court.
And after the events in Salt Lake City last month, and as we’ve been discussing them since, I’ve really started to recognize the role those demographics play in my privilege. It’s like — I may be Thabo’s friend, or Ekpe’s teammate, or Russ’s colleague; I may work with those guys. And I absolutely 100% stand with them.
But I look like the other guy.
And whether I like it or not? I’m beginning to understand how that means something."Let's face it -- nine times out of ten in 2019, rooting for any professional sports team means supporting an owner / ownership group that is filled with unrepentant, overly wealthy, and racist assholes. So a piece like this goes a long way to make me more optimistic that things are changing for the better, and that being an ally doesn't take any huge moral leaps -- it just requires you to shut up and think about the experiences of others, and to re-align yourself accordingly.
