Posts tagged racism
Tumble DC 25
Marginally better than silence
John Green's tumblr: How to Get Your Book Banned in Arizona
Step 1: Write about people who aren’t white.
Step 2: THERE IS NO STEP TWO.
You will very rarely see me curse, tumblypoos, but…but…I mean, what the fuck? How is this even possible? This reads like an Onion article.
To be clear, it is now ILLEGAL to teach de la Pena’s novel (which I’ve read…
This whole article is amazing. First they shut down a successful program and ban books that teach the history of the civil rights movement, then they spend six figures on an “audit” that just confirmed that this school district’s Mexican-American studies program was “doing a good job”. It further noted that, “students who took Mexican-American studies were more likely to attend college, and that the program helped close the achievement gap”. Of course, after spending six figures on this comprehensive and complete analysis, the state then immediately disregarded it as “flawed”, for no other reason than it disagreed with their preconceptions.
They take money from the incomes of hard working members of the community, then spend it on nonsensical ‘studies’ that they reject (unless, of course, they agree with their conclusions).
We live in a country where white serial rapists are celebrated as “American Heroes”, while children who were born not looking white enough are shot in the chest for walking home with a bag of Skittles or deported to unfamiliar countries without so much as a double-check on their identity. Please, please, PLEASE fucking tell me to my face again that this is the best country in the world. Please.
Because I will fucking shove those words back down yr throat so damn fast, you won’t even have time to choke on the bullshit.
Um…I’m sorry I’ve lived in America for almost 24 years and I don’t remember any white serial rapists being celebrated as “American Heroes.” And yes in this country RACISM STILL EXISTS…but racism exists all over the world believe it or not. I’m not saying America is the best country in the world because it’s not but people cross borders and seas just to get here to escape the lives they are living in their home countries so there has to be SOMETHING about America that appeals to them.
…I guess you’ve never heard of Thomas Jefferson? The man who purchased another human being and raped her while writing about everyone being born equal? The man we hail as an American hero? Howabout George Washington, who told Oney Judge that unless she returned to being his slave, he would hunt down and enslave her children?
And gee, maybe that “something” that people come to the US for is a small slice of the wealth that these violently racist white supremacists (who we label ‘heroes’) stole from the indigenous populations of America and Africa?
Ron Paul on the 1964 Civil Rights Act
Ron Paul’s vote against the 1964 Civil Rights Act has has stirred much controversy during the campaign trail. I’m reading way too many posts by individuals who have clearly not read or heard what he had to say on the issue. I am still undecided on what he has to say, but from what I have read in his speech, I do not see racial bigotry, but the establishment of libertarian principle. His stance in the speech is clearly that the Civil Rights Act did not act to create the racial equality it had intended to create.
Here is the text from his speech in 2004 addressing Congress:Ron Paul: Mr. Speaker, I rise to explain my objection to H.Res. 676. I certainly join my colleagues in urging Americans to celebrate the progress this country has made in race relations. However, contrary to the claims of the supporters of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the sponsors of H.Res. 676, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 did not improve race relations or enhance freedom. Instead, the forced integration dictated by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 increased racial tensions while diminishing individual liberty.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 gave the federal government unprecedented power over the hiring, employee relations, and customer service practices of every business in the country. The result was a massive violation of the rights of private property and contract, which are the bedrocks of free society. The federal government has no legitimate authority to infringe on the rights of private property owners to use their property as they please and to form (or not form) contracts with terms mutually agreeable to all parties. The rights of all private property owners, even those whose actions decent people find abhorrent, must be respected if we are to maintain a free society.
This expansion of federal power was based on an erroneous interpretation of the congressional power to regulate interstate commerce. The framers of the Constitution intended the interstate commerce clause to create a free trade zone among the states, not to give the federal government regulatory power over every business that has any connection with interstate commerce.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 not only violated the Constitution and reduced individual liberty; it also failed to achieve its stated goals of promoting racial harmony and a color-blind society. Federal bureaucrats and judges cannot read minds to see if actions are motivated by racism. Therefore, the only way the federal government could ensure an employer was not violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was to ensure that the racial composition of a business’s workforce matched the racial composition of a bureaucrat or judge’s defined body of potential employees. Thus, bureaucrats began forcing employers to hire by racial quota. Racial quotas have not contributed to racial harmony or advanced the goal of a color-blind society. Instead, these quotas encouraged racial balkanization, and fostered racial strife.
Of course, America has made great strides in race relations over the past forty years. However, this progress is due to changes in public attitudes and private efforts. Relations between the races have improved despite, not because of, the 1964 Civil Rights Act.In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, while I join the sponsors of H.Res. 676 in promoting racial harmony and individual liberty, the fact is the Civil Rights Act of 1964 did not accomplish these goals. Instead, this law unconstitutionally expanded federal power, thus reducing liberty. Furthermore, by prompting raced-based quotas, this law undermined efforts to achieve a color-blind society and increased racial strife. Therefore, I must oppose H.Res. 676.
Source: http://www.ronpaul.com/on-the-issues/civil-rights-act/
Only a white person could hear a speech where another white person says that desegregation causes “increased racial tensions” and diminished “individual liberty” and say it’s not racist. How you can honestly read about a wealthy white male fighting desegregation and equal voting access and think, “well gee, must not be anything racist here”.
Hindu Prayer Interrupted In Senate By Christians
Huh, they don’t like it so much when it’s not a christian prayer.
So you think The Help is a good movie.
(via bad-dominicana)
Fox News host tells Rep. Maxine Waters to "step away from the crack pipe." Can't wait to hear a Fox News spokesperson tell us how not racist this is.
After mentioning Whitney Houston, no less. Eric Bolling, you are a class act.
(Source: inothernews)
Just marginally less racist than ‘Willy Horton’ing someone.
Gingrich seems to understand the historical weight of the view among some southern whites, many of whom have migrated to the Republican party, that blacks are lazy and addicted to handouts. He is able to give voice to those feelings without using those words. He is able to make people believe that a fundamentally flawed and prejudicial argument that demeans minorities is actually for their uplift. It is Gingrich’s gift: He is able to make ill will sound like good will.
(Source: The New York Times)
Justice Department: Sheriff Arpaio Engaged in Systemic Racism Against Latin@s [PDF]
After three years of investigation, the Justice Department has finished it’s investigation of Joe “America’s Sheriff” Arpaio and the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO for short). It’s conclusion?
[The MCSO], through the actions of its deputies, supervisory staff, and command staff, engages in racial profiling of Latinos; unlawfully stops, detains, and arrests Latinos; and unlawfully retaliates against individuals who complain about or criticize MCSO’s policies or practices, all in violation of [The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994]
Arpaio also personally “forwarded racially charged and derogatory emails about Latinos to his senior staff”. No one familiar with Joe Arpaio is surprised at this. He detains Latin@s until they produce their social security cards, while letting white drivers pass with just their driver’s license. He was found to be violating the constitutional rights of inmates (disproportionately latin@ of course) by “feeding them moldy bread, rotten fruit and other contaminated food, housing them in cells so hot as to endanger their health, denying them care for serious medical and mental health needs and keeping them packed as tightly as sardines in holding cells for days at a time”, and misused over $80 Million of taxpayer dollars on things like investigations into his political opponents.
The Justice Department details how MCSO can come back into compliance with the law (a list of specific policy grievances to be addressed as well proactive measures, such as an internal affairs department- we’ll have to see how Sheriff Joe reacts. It’s unprecedented that someone in his position would refuse to comply, but then again it would not be the first time he broke precedent with his lack of cooperation with federal authorities.
Federal Judge: Republicans Only Cooperated With FBI In Alabama Bingo Bribery Case Because They’re Racists
U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson in an order today lambasted two key prosecution witnesses in the State House vote-buying case as being motivated by political ambition and racial prejudice.
Thomson said Republicans Sen. Scott Beason of Gardendale and formerRep. Benjamin Lewis of Dothan had ulterior motives when they assisted investigators in the case. Beason and Lewis were key prosecution witnesses in the case, in which VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor and others were charged with offering and taking bribes to try to get a gambling bill approved in the Alabama Legislature. The two Republicans said they approached FBI agents after they felt gambling interests made improper offers to try to secure their votes on the bill.
“The evidence introduced at trial contradicts the self-serving portrait of Beason and Lewis as untouchable opponents of corruption. In reality, Beason and Lewis had ulterior motives rooted in naked political ambition and pure racial bias,” Thompson wrote.
“The court finds that Beason and Lewis lack credibility for two reasons. First, their motive for cooperating with F.B.I. investigators was not to clean up corruption but to increase Republican political fortunes by reducing African-American voter turnout. Second, they lack credibility because the record establishes their purposeful, racist intent,” Thompson wrote.
Beason wore a wire for the FBI, and the recordings picked up a conversation among Republicans talking about the effect a gambling referendum would have on voter turn-out during an election.
They talked about how “every black, every illiterate,” would be taken to the polls on “HUD-financed buses.”
In another conversation, Beason used the word “aborigines” to refer to people at Greenetrack, a casino in predominately black Greene County.
Thompson said such statements “demonstrate a deep-seated racial animus and a desire to suppress black votes.”
Voter suppression by the GOP: a tried and true method for racists to get ahead.
