Check out the following article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/03/nyregion/03firefighter.html?_r=1&hp
It is fascinating how complex race and affirmative action can be. Mr. Vargas, the lone man of color involved in the lawsuit, should be applauded for his conviction, regardless of the fact that many of us would deem his position naive and misguided. Nonetheless, it is unfortunate that our court systems are regressing by ignoring the fact that inherent institutional racism and racial disparities still exist.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Troy Davis! Sign the Petition!
I am sure you have heard about Troy Davis, the innocent black man who is on death row for a crime that he did not commit.
Please sign the petition:
http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/2446/t/4676/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=369
You can get involved in many ways. The NAACP and Amnesty International are doing a lot of great work on this issue. Get in touch with your local NAACP or Amnesty International Chapter and see how you can help. There have been rallies, marches, and campaigns organized all around the country about this. Don't sit back and allow such an injustice to happen!
I am sure that there are some skeptics who would say that this is an isolated event, but it is not! Such injustices occur everyday within our judicial system. This case represents so much of what it wrong with the system as is. By standing up and making your voice heard, you are enabling change to occur.
You can also see what others are doing to raise awareness here at:
www.troyanthonydavis.org
Please sign the petition:
http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/2446/t/4676/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=369
You can get involved in many ways. The NAACP and Amnesty International are doing a lot of great work on this issue. Get in touch with your local NAACP or Amnesty International Chapter and see how you can help. There have been rallies, marches, and campaigns organized all around the country about this. Don't sit back and allow such an injustice to happen!
I am sure that there are some skeptics who would say that this is an isolated event, but it is not! Such injustices occur everyday within our judicial system. This case represents so much of what it wrong with the system as is. By standing up and making your voice heard, you are enabling change to occur.
You can also see what others are doing to raise awareness here at:
www.troyanthonydavis.org
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Diners Club and Mail Order Brides
Diners Club Offers Payment Plan for Vietnamese Brides (http://humantrafficking.change.org/blog/view/diners_club_offers_payment_plan_for_vietnamese_brides)
Diners Club Ends Relationship with Mail Order Brides Service (http://humantrafficking.change.org/blog/view/diners_club_ends_relationship_with_mail_order_brides_service)
I saw this original link on Racialicious and it was updated with the second one. Basically a Diners Club affiliate partnered with Vietnamese Brides International to provide a payment plan option to purchase a mail-order bride with your credit card. It cost $167 monthly (interest-free ?!?) and you don't even need to make your first payment before you receive your new wife! And if you fail to pay for your wife, you didn't need to return her! There are other ways for the creditors to recoup their losses. (WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?!?)
This sickened me. I'm glad the concerned people of change.org were able to alert Diners Club so that they terminated the relationship, but it's a scary world when you can purchase a human on credit.
Diners Club Ends Relationship with Mail Order Brides Service (http://humantrafficking.change.org/blog/view/diners_club_ends_relationship_with_mail_order_brides_service)
I saw this original link on Racialicious and it was updated with the second one. Basically a Diners Club affiliate partnered with Vietnamese Brides International to provide a payment plan option to purchase a mail-order bride with your credit card. It cost $167 monthly (interest-free ?!?) and you don't even need to make your first payment before you receive your new wife! And if you fail to pay for your wife, you didn't need to return her! There are other ways for the creditors to recoup their losses. (WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?!?)
This sickened me. I'm glad the concerned people of change.org were able to alert Diners Club so that they terminated the relationship, but it's a scary world when you can purchase a human on credit.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Happy Birthday Malcolm
He would've been 84. I wonder what he would be saying if he were around today. Any thoughts?
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Obama at the White House Correspondents Dinner
Not only does Obama have "swag", but he's got jokes to. Check out this footage from the White House Correspondents Dinner:
Cleary, Obama's "got it." He definitely gave the dinner some "fla-va." Enjoy.
Cleary, Obama's "got it." He definitely gave the dinner some "fla-va." Enjoy.
Justice Appalachia Style
Mix the following ingredients:
"Former high school football stars"
"All-white jury"
"Small town of Shenandoah, Pennsylvania"
"The beating death of a Mexican immigrant"
Injustice.
It's hard sometimes to make sense of something like this. But lets go for the obvious--what does this story tell us?
To humans, to society the value of human life is variable. In Shenandoah, the death of a Mexican is worth less than the death of a white citizen. Simple assault charges were given for a gang beating that, according to the medical examiner, resulted in the "brain oozing from his skull." And even if Ramirez wasn't blameless, he was fatally kicked in the head after being knocked unconscious. I can hear the underlying the sentiment of the jury. It just doesn't make sense to punish these fine young men just because a Mexican died. Why inconvenience them? The DA probably thought the same thing.
Boys will be boys.
Now there is a statement that I've heard before. It's used to explain away a lot of mischief that boys find themselves into. But why have I felt that it hasn't and doesn't apply to me? As a black man (and very recently a black boy) I was never the recipient of this sort of grace. Not in the classroom and certainly not in a street fight.
Imagine for a moment if I, along with a few of my football playing black friends, beat up and killed a white man, I don't think things would've been explained away this easily. The resulting narrative would've certainly played out differently. Perhaps we were in some sort of defacto gang. Sure we were talented football players but we were always the selfish and egotistical, not the hardworking "lunch-pail" types that Piekarsky and Donchak were.
Subconcious racially tinged narratives are all around us. They bleed into many parts of our lives, regardless of race and affect both how our actions are perceived and how we are treated. For some it helps us and for others it constrains us. For Donchak and Piekarsky, I have a hunch that this dynamic played a role in jury deliberations. It probably helped them and I am certain that it didn't hurt them as it would've for me in the other scenario.
Regardless of the details of the story, the life of Luis Ramirez was brutally taken, and his family has not found justice. That is the profound tragedy in this story. Sadly, the justice system often fails to live up to its name and even in the age of Obama, we find no dearth of examples. Even sadder; we aren't surprised by stories like that of Ramirez.
"Former high school football stars"
"All-white jury"
"Small town of Shenandoah, Pennsylvania"
"The beating death of a Mexican immigrant"
Injustice.
It's hard sometimes to make sense of something like this. But lets go for the obvious--what does this story tell us?
To humans, to society the value of human life is variable. In Shenandoah, the death of a Mexican is worth less than the death of a white citizen. Simple assault charges were given for a gang beating that, according to the medical examiner, resulted in the "brain oozing from his skull." And even if Ramirez wasn't blameless, he was fatally kicked in the head after being knocked unconscious. I can hear the underlying the sentiment of the jury. It just doesn't make sense to punish these fine young men just because a Mexican died. Why inconvenience them? The DA probably thought the same thing.
Boys will be boys.
Now there is a statement that I've heard before. It's used to explain away a lot of mischief that boys find themselves into. But why have I felt that it hasn't and doesn't apply to me? As a black man (and very recently a black boy) I was never the recipient of this sort of grace. Not in the classroom and certainly not in a street fight.
Imagine for a moment if I, along with a few of my football playing black friends, beat up and killed a white man, I don't think things would've been explained away this easily. The resulting narrative would've certainly played out differently. Perhaps we were in some sort of defacto gang. Sure we were talented football players but we were always the selfish and egotistical, not the hardworking "lunch-pail" types that Piekarsky and Donchak were.
Subconcious racially tinged narratives are all around us. They bleed into many parts of our lives, regardless of race and affect both how our actions are perceived and how we are treated. For some it helps us and for others it constrains us. For Donchak and Piekarsky, I have a hunch that this dynamic played a role in jury deliberations. It probably helped them and I am certain that it didn't hurt them as it would've for me in the other scenario.
Regardless of the details of the story, the life of Luis Ramirez was brutally taken, and his family has not found justice. That is the profound tragedy in this story. Sadly, the justice system often fails to live up to its name and even in the age of Obama, we find no dearth of examples. Even sadder; we aren't surprised by stories like that of Ramirez.
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