My first instinctive response, before I actually read this article was negative, as I read the first two paragraphs I continued to feel that way. But as I read on I found myself liking what was said. Silence about race in the presidential campaign underscores the problem.
I am shocked by the commentary on the prominence of race as a theme in the Democratic Party primaries. Shocked not because race is a theme but because so many in the media seem to think that race would not be or should not be mentioned. It is as if we think that not speaking about race is the equivalent of making progress on race issues.
The only thing more amusing than the use of a new term, "post-racial," to describe the positive response to Barack Obama's campaign is the lamentation at the loss of "post-raciality."
This entire narrative is a media-concocted fiction. America is decidedly not "post-racial." One need only observe the prosecution of the Duke University lacrosse team or the Jena Six, the debate about race-based affirmative action and the atrocity that was and is Hurricane Katrina to know that racial issues are still with us. The desire that the subject of race be set aside in the current "post-racial" political conversation shows that society is unwilling to openly face its worst fear: Not only could a black man ably lead this nation, but the mere fact of a black president would force both the majority and minority populations to reset our parameters for normality.
Some (perhaps many) white Americans don't think it's normal for a black person to be successful; their stereotypes can't accommodate the fact of a black person having gone to Harvard and achieved some prominence. As an African American writer, I am reminded of this each time I finish a reading, when without fail a white person overzealously praises my speaking ability. The most recent version of this was a 15-year-old high school student who was amazed that I had actually attended college.
Also telling is Obama's initial lack of support in the black community, which may have been a result of an African American unwillingness to see him as representative of traditional (very different from stereotypical) black America. The majority of Americans are comfortable accepting successful blacks in stereotypically prescribed fields such as entertainment or sports, where blacks are expected to be physically and emotionally strong and yet largely politically mute. When a black person becomes successful in another field, he or she becomes a "surprise" to the majority and is subsequently stripped of color.
How many times have you heard a white person say that he or she thinks of Obama not as a black man but as a man, or of Oprah not as a black woman but as just, well, Oprah? I have lost count. This well-meaning, praise-expectant affirmation of colorblindness may seem like progress, but it's really indicative of having avoided the central issue: Someone who looks different (read black) could be just as qualified, just as deserving as a "normal" person (read white).
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CULTURE
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Tensions are simmering between the civil rights and hip-hop generations. Can they close the gap?
The furor over the name of rapper Nas's forthcoming CD perfectly illustrates the divide between the civil rights generation and the younger hip-hop generation, which has benefited from the social advances the elders fought for.
Nas announced in October that he would use a certain racial slur as the title of his 10th CD, which will be released in February - Black History Month. The news came a few months after the NAACP had shown its disapproval of the word by holding a mock funeral for it during its convention in Detroit.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson and representatives of the NAACP quickly criticized Nas's decision. In response, Nas told MTV News, "If Cornel West was making an album called [racial slur], they would know he's got something intellectual to say. To think I'm gonna say something that's not intellectual is calling me a [slur], and to be called a [slur] by Jesse Jackson and the NAACP is counterproductive, counterrevolutionary."
Tension between the hip-hop and civil rights generations has been brewing since C. Delores Tucker began complaining about the content of rap lyrics in the 1990s. Lately these clashes have become more frequent. Some members of the younger generation criticize older leaders such as Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton for demonizing hip-hop and focusing on the use of the racial slur rather than addressing social ills, such as black-on-black crime or high dropout rates. The other side is represented by such people as actor and activist Bill Cosby, who in his 2007 book "Come On People" blamed the crisis in the poor black community on "the gangsta rap industry and their white enablers."
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I have been waiting for the publishing of this book, The Race Card: How Bluffing About Bias Makes Race Relations Worse, I have been wondering how this book will look at America's original sin, and how it operates today. I'm not sure if I will love or hate this book. In the first excerpt Does George Bush Care About Black People?
Slate "Richard Ford examines the claims of bias that pervade modern American discourse in an attempt to understand why a growing number of people claim to be victims of bigotry in a country with fewer and fewer real bigots. In today's selection, drawn from the first chapter, Ford explores the claim that racism on the part of the Bush administration animated its shoddy response to Hurricane Katrina."
No one talked about race at first. After senses and sensibilities recovered, it was hard not to notice that almost all of the stranded victims of Katrina were black. Black people huddled in the Convention Center and the Superdome after their houses and apartments were destroyed. Black people on buses to Houston, Atlanta, and Albuquerque, where they would wait for the recovery or, more likely, stay and start afresh. Black people on rooftops and in the upper floors of apartments, stubbornly refusing to leave their homes behind or desperately waiting for help in escaping the aftermath of a storm they had gambled wouldn't be so bad. Black people "stealing" loaves of bread, fresh water, baby formula. Black people happening upon plasma TVs and platinum watches in abandoned stores. Black people as far as the eye could see.
Then came the photo captions. There couldn't have been much time even to fact-check those captions, much less vet them for political correctness. But there they were, two pictures, two captions, on the same day no less: August 30, 2005, the day after the levees broke. Both front and center on Yahoo News.
One shows a black man wading through the water carrying a sack: "A young man walks through chest-deep floodwater after looting a grocery store in New Orleans on Tuesday." The other one shows a white couple wading through the water; the woman is carrying a sack: "Two residents wade through chestdeep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store. ..."
The black guy is a looter, a gangbanger, a stone-cold Crip out for an easy score. Isn't that a boom box in his hand? Oh, wait, it's a pack of diapers. The white couple: Jeannie and Jean Valjean, driven by adversity to take a loaf of bread, no doubt to feed their small children who are, unfortunately, just outside the frame. I bet they even left their names and telephone numbers and a note apologizing.
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MONEY
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Most Diversity Training Ineffective, Study Finds
Most diversity training efforts at American companies are ineffective and even counterproductive in increasing the number of women and minorities in managerial positions, according to an analysis that turns decades of conventional wisdom, government policy and court rulings on their head.
A comprehensive review of 31 years of data from 830 mid-size to large U.S. workplaces found that the kind of diversity training exercises offered at most firms were followed by a 7.5 percent drop in the number of women in management. The number of black, female managers fell by 10 percent, and the number of black men in top positions fell by 12 percent. Similar effects were seen for Latinos and Asians.
The analysis did not find that all diversity training is useless. Rather, it showed that mandatory programs -- often undertaken mainly with an eye to avoiding liability in discrimination lawsuits -- were the problem. When diversity training is voluntary and undertaken to advance a company's business goals, it was associated with increased diversity in management.
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When I went to U of Mich. I noticed this. Models & Money, The Economics Behind the Big Auto Shows Don’t necessarily trickle down
Auto shows generate big, big bucks. Detroit’s North American International Auto Show will ripple $500 million through the local economy. In New York, it was estimated that for every $1 million spent on producing the auto show there, $1.6 million in revenue was generated for local businesses.
In Chicago, which hosts the biggest auto show in terms of space, 1,700 professional carpenters, decorators, teamsters, riggers, electricians, cleaners, porters, crate handlers, stage hands and official contractor personnel help put together that show.
And the Windy City’s auto show is like most of the more than 100 automotive consumer, fleet and commercial shows held annually in the U.S., it’s a turnkey operation. Local dealer associations sponsor auto shows but they contract for the set up, dismantling and day-to-day operation of their shows. Contracts even include manning the turnstiles and depositing the daily receipts.
Meanwhile, automakers contract with outside companies to create, produce and supply every aspect (except the vehicles) of their auto show exhibits including the product specialists.
Here’s the beef. Most of the primary contractors, general contractors, sub contractors and small service businesses like audio and video firms, caterers, computer technology outfits, detailers, graphic artists, travel agents, florists, hair stylists and makeup artists that work auto shows are white-owned. That would be just dandy – if all auto shows were held in mostly white Montana.
But the convention centers and exposition halls that host most auto shows are located in the nation’s urban centers. Go into any auto show and ethnic consumers abound. Yet businesses rooted in minority communities don’t benefit from the auto shows held in their midst .
In other words, the auto show production industry is one of the last bastions where the good ole boy system in the extreme is still at work.
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INTERNATIONAL
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OOOOWAAAAY The African Cup of Nations, were all the countries in Africa play for the soccer fooball championship is here.
African Cup of Nations
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Kibaki and Odinga meet for first time in Kenya crisis
The two rivals in Kenya's political crisis met on Thursday for the first time since a disputed election and pledged to seek an end to weeks of unrest that have killed nearly 700 people. President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga shook hands and smiled after the closed-door talks, brokered by former U.N. boss Kofi Annan. "I think we began to take some fair steps towards a peaceful solution," Annan told reporters gathered outside Kibaki's central Nairobi office, where the discussions took place.
The two leaders had not talked since the December 27 polls despite intense pressure from Western powers and millions of anxious Kenyans horrified by their country's slide into chaos. Odinga, who says Kibaki stole the election, said talks would continue until a solution was found."I pledge to all Kenyans that my team and I will spare no effort to resolve this crisis," he said. Kibaki vowed to personally lead the east African country to unity and peace."I appeal to all Kenyans to remain calm and to shun violence as we endeavor to find solutions," he said. "I am confident that together, our experience, unity and determination will make it possible for us to overcome the challenges." When the pair shook hands, hundreds of onlookers cheered.
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I can't think of a country with a story as sad as Congo's. Congo’s Death Rate Unchanged Since War Ended
Five years after Congo’s catastrophic war officially ended, the rate at which people are dying in the country remains virtually unchanged, according to a new survey, despite the efforts of the world’s largest peacekeeping force, billions of dollars in international aid and a historic election that revived democracy after decades of violence and despotism.
The survey, released Tuesday, estimated that 45,000 people continue to die every month, about the same pace as in 2004, when the international push to rebuild the country had scarcely begun. Almost all the deaths come from hunger and disease, signs that the country is still grappling with the aftermath of a war that gutted its infrastructure, forced millions to flee and flattened its economy.
In all, more than 5.4 million people have died in Congo since the war began in 1998, according to the most recent survey’s estimate, the latest in a series completed by the International Rescue Committee, an American aid organization. Nearly half of the dead were children younger than 5 years old.
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I will believe these "reforms" when I see it! Zimbabwe Tests Political Reforms With Protests
Zimbabwean police dispersed hundreds of opposition demonstrators with tear gas Wednesday afternoon in the first major test of reforms that were supposed to guarantee political freedom in one of Africa's most repressive nations.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change said the demonstrations were designed to reveal whether President Robert Mugabe was prepared to loosen his grip on Zimbabwe after nearly 28 years of increasingly authoritarian rule.
Despite months of negotiations, including what appeared to be significant concessions by the government on a new constitution and bill of rights, the clashes Wednesday showed that true freedom remained elusive, opposition officials said. They estimated that dozens of their members were arrested.
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ART AND ENTERTAINMENT
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Terry Glover blogs from Park City, Utah on Black films at America's premiere movie fest
When former New York Times film critic Elvis Mitchell and photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders got together for lunch, they walked away with more than a satisfying meal; they had the beginnings of a magnificent project. The two friends ultimately collaborated on The Black List, a feature-length film they aptly describe as "a living coffee table book."
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DIARIES OF NOTE ON DAILY KOS
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I don't find this diary disgusting because I'm an Obama supporter. I find it insulting that people think I and others like me are supporting Obama only because he is black. I guess I didn't notice Sharpton was Black, because i supported Edwards in 2004. Notice Black people didn't vote for Michael Steele in Marryland, guess we didn't notice that and swiched parties.
Black Voters Deserve to Lose Their Influence by yankeeliberal
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The Media's Virtual Disenfrancisement of the Black Vote by poblano
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Is Tiger Woods A Coward? by civilrights
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This was a great read. Minority Recruitment: Athletics Success, Admissions Failure by blmiller
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More of the sad racial degeneration of this race. "They're not ready to for a black president," the man said. by Steven R