Race Is a Biological Concept(?)

In Chicago in 1980, black and white women died of breast cancer at the same rate. Today, despite being slightly more likely to get breast cancer, white female Chicagoans are half as likely to die from it. Could the difference in death rates be due to genetic differences between black and white women?
. . .

Race is a political category that has staggering biological consequences because of the impact of social inequality on people’s health. Understanding race as a political category does not erase its impact on biology; instead, it redirects attention from genetic explanations to social ones.

Check out this article in Boston Review by Anne Fausto-Sterling: Bodies with Histories: The New Search for the Biology of Race.

In it, Fausto Sterling reviews these three important and thought-provoking books:

• Richard C. Francis, Epigenetics: The Ultimate Mystery of Inheritance. W. W. Norton, $25.95 (cloth)
• Ann Morning, The Nature of Race: How Scientists Think and Teach about Human Difference. University of California Press, $26.95 (paper)
• Dorothy Roberts, Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-first Century. New Press, $29.95 (cloth)

Do We Have Any Rights Whites Are Bound to Respect?: State of Georgia vs John McNeil

Even when we're unarmed, you can "justifiably" defend yourself against us. Other the other hand, even as you threaten us and our families and ignore our warning to back-off, we can't "justifiably" defend ourselves against you! Race isn't an issue my ass! I don't see the NRA clamoring to protect John McNeil's "2nd amendment" rights!

When “Stand Your Ground” Fails

by Rania Khalek

John McNeil killed a white man who assaulted him on his property. But, unlike George Zimmerman, he's serving life.

Trayvon Martin's tragic murder has brought much-needed scrutiny to "Stand Your Ground" laws. If you read or hear about a local "Stand Your Ground" case that isn't getting much national press, blog about it on Open Salon.

Here Comes Another One: Miss Jada Williams!!

h/t New Black Man



You better do it girl!! Come on! - Blaque Swan

Jada Williams, Student, Allegedly Harassed For Award-Winning Essay Comparing School To Modern Slavery

(Strike-through mine.)

You Down with O4P?

Yeah, you know me!

You down with O4P?

Yeah, you know me!

Who's down with O4P?

Everybody!! [Updated to include a link to a fabulous story over at Racism Review.]

Sorry, I got caught up. But Occupy Wall Street has gained my respect. It's not just Wall St they're occupying anymore. No, they're now occupying prisons and jails, too. And the reason I've decided to give them a second thumb's up? They've come to realize that:

Mass incarceration is the new Jim Crow. Between 1970 and 1995, the incarceration of African Americans increased 7 times. Currently African Americans make up 12 % of the population in the U.S. but 53% of the nation’s prison population. There are more African Americans under correctional control today—in prison or jail, on probation or parole—than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began.

The prison system is the most visible example of policies of punitive containment of the most marginalized and oppressed in our society. Prior to incarceration, 2/3 of all prisoners lived in conditions of economic hardship. While the perpetrators of white-collar crime largely go free.

If the "New Rule" Fits . . .

If I find a clip with better sound, I'll post it.

Answer: Number of Years Black Americans Have Actually Been Free

Question: What is 47?

Read more here: Racial Jeopardy and American Politics
                                   by Lisa Sharon Harper

Has Columbus Just Discovered Injustice, Too?

Yes, it could be that I've spent too much time discussing global capitalism's reliance on racism and the oppression and exploitation of people of color. Organizations and people who advocate for people of color and the poor, like ACORN, have been dismantled, disparaged, and dismissed. The Rev. Jesse Jackson led a march on Wall St as early as December 2007. (Boy, has it catch on!)

But now that the shit has hit the fan, and white unemployment is as high now, during this economic crisis, as black unemployment was low in 2007, you see fit to organize and Occupy Wall St. Now that even you, average white American, can be knocked around - but not shot and killed while handcuffed - by the police, you want to protest police brutality.

Extra, Extra! It's Not So Bad When White People Do It

Here what you need to know:

Upper classes are marrying late, while poorer women are deciding that they’re better off single.

You can read the article analyzing a recent Census report yourself.  But the basic gist is this: due to a changing economy, middle- and upper-class individuals are marrying later than before while working- and lower-class singles may not marry at all.

It's good that people are marrying later, and indeed, the divorce rate has gone down. These are people who're taking the time to establish themselves financially before marriage and children.

The changes of the last quarter century indicate that marriage is increasingly becoming a marker of class — the delayed marriages of the middle class produce steadily lower divorce rates, very few non-marital births, and substantial resources to invest in a falling number of children. For the rest of the country, the statistics may simply confirm a greater move away from marriage altogether.

What about everybody else? The working- and lower-classes?

Working class women, however, have become more likely to have children without marrying. If the father is chronically unemployed, uncommitted to the relationship, immature or simply unreliable, young mothers may decide that they are better off on their own.

Douthat, Really?

h/t portside:

Carl Bloice starts his blackcommentator column like this (I got it via portside):

On April 17, conservative columnist Ross Douthat wrote on the opinion page of the August New York Times:

Historically, the most successful welfare states (think Scandinavia) have depended on ethnic solidarity to sustain their tax-and-transfer programs. But the working-age America of the future will be far more diverse than the retired cohort it's laboring to support. Asking a population that's increasingly brown and beige to accept punishing tax rates while white seniors receive roughly $3 in Medicare benefits for every dollar they paid in (the projected ratio in the 2030s) promises to polarize the country along racial as well as generational lines.

I'm not a Douthat reader, and I've been trying to avoid overdoing politics again. My nerves can only take so much stupidity. But the title of Bloice's, "Beware of the Racial Demagoguery & the "Middle Ground," caught my attention. I couldn't finish his take before letting out my on aggression.

First of all, Douthat's right that the more homogonous a country is, the easier it is to pass social programs. Think of this - everything was going fine with America's social safety net, labor, and even the tax system right up until the social movements of the 60s and 70s. Then, the white South abandon the Democrats, joined, the Republicans, and have been refusing to pay for "welfare queens" every since. That is no coincidence.

Second and most importantly, isn't this country, one of the most racially and ethnically diverse in the world, already racially polarized? Nothing new is gonna happen by the 2030s. So I can't believe he had the audacity to come accusing future workers of color of racism. Like white folks ain't racist - just people of color? As though a whole bunch white folks ain't right now trying to undo the FDR's New Deal. As though white folks haven't been alleging that "taxes = white slavery."

Where has he been? I mean, is he serious with this? Aren't people of color the base of the Democratic party? The ones trying to keep and strengthen the social safety net?

I really wanna scream!

Rose vs Hill? Nigg*r Please!

Believe you me, I made sure to understand what both Jalen Rose and Grant Hill said and had to say before launching into the deep end of this pool myself. And first, let me say that Grant got it all wrong. Jalen was not disparaging black kids from two-parent homes. The tale-end of Jalen's comments explain his thoughts quite nicely: ". . . I looked at it as they are who the world accepts and we are who the world hates." It's not coming from a two-parent home that Jalen disparaged. As I've explained here (and other places), what's at issue isn't one's fidelity to certain standards of blackness; the issue is one's fidelity to equality for all blacks and not just the acceptable ones. Don't sweat it, I'll explain it again soon at some point.

Cause that's not the point.

Here's the point. There's a point in the documentary where they discuss all the racist hate mail they received. Even some Michigan alum were livid and ashamed that Coach Steve Fisher, now with San Diego State, had dared to start five "niggers." Apparently, that just wasn't the Michigan way.

So why exactly is the "Uncle Tom" comment more important than all the hate mail they received . . . in the 1990s! I'll tell you. It's "important" because it served as another avenue for whites to avoid self-examination and focus on perceived problem within the black community.

To wit, I call bullshit!!


White folks would do well to stop being such cowards and start facing their own demons. Cause until you address your issues, white America, race will be an issue. 

So Slavery is "The S-Word" Now

And to all y'all who complain that (white people) paying taxes is equivalent to slavery, I say this: at least your dumb ass can vote. You do have some control over the situation. Not unlike the control Lebron James (even though I'm not a Prince J fan) and Carmelo Anthony (of whom I am a fan) took this past year. Have no misconception of confusion about it, I'm 100% for the NFL union. And Wisconsin's AFSCME, too, for that matter!

Dumb ass.

It’s a league where collegiate players hoping to be drafted show up to the NFL combine to be poked, prodded and have various body parts judged and measured. Teams basically do everything short of having someone run their finger along the players’ gums.

Oh! And I agree with Jalen Rose, too. I first heard of black Duke ball players being called "uncle toms" from a professor who had attended Duke as an undergrad. It has nothing to do with their living in two-parent homes or anything else so superficial to the issue. My professor pointed out the servile-like acquiescence black players, and even some white players, displayed towards Coach K. So get off that, too, white sports fans.

Slaves to the Game? Adrian Peterson and the 'S' Word
Dave Zirin | March 16, 2011

Merry Christmas!

h/t Racism Review: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, "The Christmas Message of Hope" (entire piece here for free registration)

Melissa Harris-Perry, Breaking It Down

h/t racismreview. The share a clip that precedes this one, but I like this one best.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Gov. Paterson Got This Right; Barbour Should Do Likewise

Personally, I don't think John Harris White should've been convicted in the first place. Perhaps NY Gov. David Paterson should've pardoned him, but at least he's free and out of prison. And rather than going around denying the experience of black Mississippians and campaigning for 2012, Gov Haley Barbour needs to pardon the Scott sisters.

And speaking of Barbour and his fond memories of his childhood - parched up on his upper-class white male privilege in Mississippi, I'm sure the Civil Rights era was anything but terrifying and violent. That doesn't mean that it wasn't hell for black folks, nor does it mean that he didn't contribute to problem of institutionalized racism.

Progressives, Your Approval Waiting is Low

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
National Displeasure
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

Stewart puts it nicely. He makes us laugh. Or at least, he makes me laugh. Fair warning: after the jump, I stop laughing.

You Know I Had to Get Me Some: Privilege Denying Dude

It's a big thing over at memegenerator. There's an article about it, “Privilege Denying Dude” and the Fight for the Right to Snark over at colorlines. Basicially, it's a rip at cyber and "enlightened" racism, sexism, and other 'isms. If you're not familiar with "enlightened racism," Jessie at racismreview has written several posts about it.

The Opposite of Love Is Not Hate

Last week, I posted some thoughts on the Boston club that shut down because too many people on line were black. I've since updated it.

The guy who organized the private party shares his "[dismay] that after having spent the last few hours with the club owner, I do not believe him to be a racist." Of course, the guy is, but that nonetheless made ptcruiser over at Prometheus6 wonder why guy's "deeper feelings" was even an issue. To which I responded that:

@ ptc - Okay. Let's set aside his deeper feelings. Discrimination took place. If the white-US can't accept that at least 93% of them are racist, then they need to accept that fact that discrimination happens, it happens primarily to people of color, and it's perpetrated primarily by whites. I'm not sure how we're going to at least end discrimination, if not racism, if white US-Americans won't live in reality.

That Degree Don't Turn Ya White (Updated)

So let's stop it with that whole, "If black people would just value education, blah, blah, blah" nonsense. And let's also disabuse ourselves of that, "He/she/I'm not racist, but he/she/I just did some racist mess," uh, mess. Make no mistake about it, that club owner is racist. That doesn't mean he burns crosses on the weekends to relax. It just means he'll hurt his own profit margin if too many black folks show up at his club. If black alum from Harvard and Yale can't even wait in line to enter an invitation-only party at club, then that black Harvard alum in the White House doesn't really mean much, does he? And yes, they had been invited.

A party for black Harvard and Yale alums at a Boston club this weekend was shut down just after 11pm. Why? The club owner was concerned that a long line of black people outside would make the club look bad.

Update:

What Do You Call a Black Man With a J.D.?

Again, This Is Why People of Color Don't Go for "States' Rights"

h/t prometheus6.org

It's freakin deja vu all freaking over again! The South wanted the rest of the country to "mind their business" before the Civil War, and after. "Wah, wah, wah! We shouldn't have to prove we're not being racist before we do something racist!" The NAACP's Legal Defense Fund is filing a motion for a summary judgment to uphold the constitutionality of Section 5 of the 1965 Voters' Rights Act based mostly on the fact that racism is ongoing. And by ongoing, I mean that just recently as 2008, the DoJ disapproved the redistricting because it eliminated the city’s sole majority-minority district. Of course, nonminorities in Shelby complained that the DoJ had annulled the will of majority, "Wah, wah, wah! We don't get to exert political tyranny over our racial minorities!"

Reading, Riting, and Rithmetics (sic) (Additional Info)

(According to the first-ever comprehensive study (pdf) comparing the percentage of U.S. students in the graduating class of 2009 who have advanced skills in math with the percentages of similar high achievers in 56 other countries, approximately 6 percent of U. S. students perform at the advanced level in math compared to 28 percent of Taiwanese students and more than 20 percent of students in Finland and Korea, for example.)

A new study has found that the achievement gap is larger (pdf) than we thought. According to the NY Times:

Only 12 percent of black fourth-grade boys are proficient in reading, compared with 38 percent of white boys, and only 12 percent of black eighth-grade boys are proficient in math, compared with 44 percent of white boys.

 Yep.

Only 12 percent of black fourth-grade boys are proficient in reading, compared with 38 percent of white boys, and only 12 percent of black eighth-grade boys are proficient in math, compared with 44 percent of white boys. (emphasis mine)