News for 5-29-2007:
Here's an interesting article from Utne reader regarding racism in the blogosphere:
Bigotry and the Blogs
Related link:
The Segregated Blogosphere
Tell me what you think of the above articles.
More news later. Have a nice day!
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
She Was More Than King's Daughter by Earl Ofari Hutchinson
She Was More Than King’s Daughter
Earl Ofari Hutchinson
The applause was loud and sustained virtually every moment that Yolanda King was on stage performing her one-woman theatrical performance. The audience beamed with love, joy and most importantly appreciation for her. This writer did too as I sat spellbound in the first row of the Los Angeles church where King performed. The occasion was the annual King Day celebration last year held at a popular Los Angeles church. The audience didn’t embrace and idolize King solely because she was the daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Most of those in the audience weren’t even born when King was alive. And the applause for her wasn’t solely out of a misty nostalgia for the civil rights movement.
Most there had no first hand knowledge or involvement in the civil rights battles four decades. No, their applause and respect was for her, and her moving on stage recapture of the pain, suffering, and sacrifice as well as the triumphs of the civil rights movement. Their sustained applause was also given out of deep appreciation for her impassioned crusade to keep Dr. King’s dream alive by actively opposing Bush’s wasteful and ruinous Iraq war, championing women and gay rights, and fighting for economic justice for the poor. In between her theatrical skits, she would pause take a deep breath, and in measured but passionate tones remind the audience that King’s dream still was unfulfilled. She in turn prodded, cajoled, and implored the audience that the best way to keep her father’s dream alive was to be active fighters for peace and social justice.
Yolanda King understood that decades after the great civil rights battles of the 1960s blacks are still two and three times more likely to be unemployed than whites, trapped in segregated neighborhoods, and that their kids will attend disgracefully failing, mostly segregated public schools. It ignores the reality that young black males and females are far more likely to be murdered, suffer HIV/AIDS affliction, to be racially-profiled by police, imprisoned, placed on probation or parole, permanently barred in many states from voting because of felony convictions, are much more likely to receive the death penalty especially if their victims are white, and are more likely to be victims of racially motivated violence than whites.
She well knew that middle-class blacks that reaped the biggest gains from the civil rights struggles often find the new suburban neighborhoods they move to are re-segregated and soon look like the old neighborhoods they fled. They are ignored by cab drivers, followed by clerks in stores, left fuming at restaurants because of poor or no service, find that more and more of their sons and daughters are cut out of scholarships and student support programs at universities because of the demolition of affirmative action, and denied bank loans for their businesses and homes. Then there are the fierce battles over affirmative action, police violence, the segregation laws still on the books in some Southern states, and the nightmarish scenes of thousands of poor blacks fleeing for their lives from the Katrina floodwaters in New Orleans, and the big fight over what if anything should be done about the plight of the black poor. These are further bitter reminders of the gaping economic and racial chasm in America. Yolanda knew that as well, and was a resolute fighter for the poor.
In the decades after King's murder, Yolanda stormed the barricades against racial injustice, economic inequality, military adventurism, and against hate crimes and violence. She wrote countless letters, gave speeches, and participated in direct action campaigns. She continued to fiercely protect King's legacy from the opportunists that twisted and sullied his words and name.The civil rights struggle has now become the stuff of nostalgia, history books, and the memoirs of aging former civil rights leaders. Yet, millions remain trapped in poverty, and racial discrimination still pervades much of American society. Dr. King’s dream was to free them from that plight. Yolanda King and her father shared that same dream. And like her father she did more than dream. She brought her relentless passion and vision for peace and social justice to that battle. Her and her father’s vision of what America still can be continues to challenge us to do our part to make that vision a reality for millions of Americans of all races. We’ll deeply miss Yolanda King. But it can be truly be said that she was more than just King's daughter.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His new book The Latino Challenge to Black America: Towards a Conversation between African-Americans and Hispanics (Middle Passage Press and Hispanic Economics New York) in English and Spanish will be out in October.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson
The applause was loud and sustained virtually every moment that Yolanda King was on stage performing her one-woman theatrical performance. The audience beamed with love, joy and most importantly appreciation for her. This writer did too as I sat spellbound in the first row of the Los Angeles church where King performed. The occasion was the annual King Day celebration last year held at a popular Los Angeles church. The audience didn’t embrace and idolize King solely because she was the daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Most of those in the audience weren’t even born when King was alive. And the applause for her wasn’t solely out of a misty nostalgia for the civil rights movement.
Most there had no first hand knowledge or involvement in the civil rights battles four decades. No, their applause and respect was for her, and her moving on stage recapture of the pain, suffering, and sacrifice as well as the triumphs of the civil rights movement. Their sustained applause was also given out of deep appreciation for her impassioned crusade to keep Dr. King’s dream alive by actively opposing Bush’s wasteful and ruinous Iraq war, championing women and gay rights, and fighting for economic justice for the poor. In between her theatrical skits, she would pause take a deep breath, and in measured but passionate tones remind the audience that King’s dream still was unfulfilled. She in turn prodded, cajoled, and implored the audience that the best way to keep her father’s dream alive was to be active fighters for peace and social justice.
Yolanda King understood that decades after the great civil rights battles of the 1960s blacks are still two and three times more likely to be unemployed than whites, trapped in segregated neighborhoods, and that their kids will attend disgracefully failing, mostly segregated public schools. It ignores the reality that young black males and females are far more likely to be murdered, suffer HIV/AIDS affliction, to be racially-profiled by police, imprisoned, placed on probation or parole, permanently barred in many states from voting because of felony convictions, are much more likely to receive the death penalty especially if their victims are white, and are more likely to be victims of racially motivated violence than whites.
She well knew that middle-class blacks that reaped the biggest gains from the civil rights struggles often find the new suburban neighborhoods they move to are re-segregated and soon look like the old neighborhoods they fled. They are ignored by cab drivers, followed by clerks in stores, left fuming at restaurants because of poor or no service, find that more and more of their sons and daughters are cut out of scholarships and student support programs at universities because of the demolition of affirmative action, and denied bank loans for their businesses and homes. Then there are the fierce battles over affirmative action, police violence, the segregation laws still on the books in some Southern states, and the nightmarish scenes of thousands of poor blacks fleeing for their lives from the Katrina floodwaters in New Orleans, and the big fight over what if anything should be done about the plight of the black poor. These are further bitter reminders of the gaping economic and racial chasm in America. Yolanda knew that as well, and was a resolute fighter for the poor.
In the decades after King's murder, Yolanda stormed the barricades against racial injustice, economic inequality, military adventurism, and against hate crimes and violence. She wrote countless letters, gave speeches, and participated in direct action campaigns. She continued to fiercely protect King's legacy from the opportunists that twisted and sullied his words and name.The civil rights struggle has now become the stuff of nostalgia, history books, and the memoirs of aging former civil rights leaders. Yet, millions remain trapped in poverty, and racial discrimination still pervades much of American society. Dr. King’s dream was to free them from that plight. Yolanda King and her father shared that same dream. And like her father she did more than dream. She brought her relentless passion and vision for peace and social justice to that battle. Her and her father’s vision of what America still can be continues to challenge us to do our part to make that vision a reality for millions of Americans of all races. We’ll deeply miss Yolanda King. But it can be truly be said that she was more than just King's daughter.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His new book The Latino Challenge to Black America: Towards a Conversation between African-Americans and Hispanics (Middle Passage Press and Hispanic Economics New York) in English and Spanish will be out in October.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
My Favorite Uncle Has Passed Away
Phillip Whatley (1955-2007)
I lost someone close to me last night. He's my uncle Phillip Whatley. He died last night at Good Samaritan Hospital in Dayton Ohio at 11:30. He was 52 years old. In fact, he just turned 52 a month ago. I remembered his as not just my favorite uncle. He had a lot of wisdom and sense of humor as well. It was he who encouraged my intellectual talent. I remember when I was 10 years old, he gave me the entire set of encyclopedias, therefore encourage my love for learning. He will be sorely missed by me and my family members. My mother and Phillip's wife and kids took his death the hardest, for he was the heart and soul of the family.
May God be with my family and may he rest in peace until we meet again in paradise Earth.
I lost someone close to me last night. He's my uncle Phillip Whatley. He died last night at Good Samaritan Hospital in Dayton Ohio at 11:30. He was 52 years old. In fact, he just turned 52 a month ago. I remembered his as not just my favorite uncle. He had a lot of wisdom and sense of humor as well. It was he who encouraged my intellectual talent. I remember when I was 10 years old, he gave me the entire set of encyclopedias, therefore encourage my love for learning. He will be sorely missed by me and my family members. My mother and Phillip's wife and kids took his death the hardest, for he was the heart and soul of the family.
May God be with my family and may he rest in peace until we meet again in paradise Earth.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Boycott Aunt Jemima!
Ann has a well written article discussing the vicious racist/sexist stereotype of Aunt Jemima and its impact upon the status of Black women in America then and today. Here's the article:
Towards the End of Aunt Jemima
Also read:
The Mammy Caricature
The Cultural Image of African American Women
After reading the article, I want people to sign the petition denoucing the mammy/Aunt Jemima stereotyping of all Black women in America at:
http://www.petitiononline.com/aj461153/petition.html
Towards the End of Aunt Jemima
Also read:
The Mammy Caricature
The Cultural Image of African American Women
After reading the article, I want people to sign the petition denoucing the mammy/Aunt Jemima stereotyping of all Black women in America at:
http://www.petitiononline.com/aj461153/petition.html
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Yolanda Denise King and Jerry Falwell, R.I.P.
First news, the death of Martin Luther King's eldest daughter Yolanda Denise King. She died yesterday in California. She was 51 years old.
Andrew Young, a lieutenant of Martin Luther King Jr.'s during the civil rights movement who remained close to the family after the civil rights icon's death, said Yolanda King had just spoken at an event for the American Heart Association. Last year, Yolanda King became a spokeswoman for the organization, and promoted a campaign to raise awareness, especially among blacks, about stroke.
For more on the untimely passing of Yolanda King, please go to:
Also, in the news, the Rev. Jerry Falwell died yesterday at home in Virginia. He was 73 years old.
For more, click on:
For more, click on:
May they rest in peace!
Monday, May 14, 2007
Consuelo Yznaga's Twin Daugthers Depicted In Stained Glass Window
Chapel stained glass window depicting Consuelo Yznaga's twin daughters receiving blessings from Mary. Her daughters died in their teens, leaving her distraught and alone, for her son proved to be just as immoral like his late father. Her daughters meant the world to her. Here's a link where I found this neat photo at:
http://www.standrew-kimbolton.org.uk/Guide.htm
What's your opinion on this?
Friday, May 11, 2007
Commentary on Barack Obama and Racism
A COMMENTARY ON OBAMA AND RACE
Obama's protection reveals ugly 'secret'
Leonard Pitts, a syndicated columnist in Washington:
McClatchy-Tribune NewspapersPublished May 8, 2007
Not Rudy Giuliani, who is a supporter of abortion rights.
Not Tom Tancredo, who is a hard-liner on immigration.
Not John Edwards, who is a critic of the war in Iraq.
Only Barack Obama, who is black.
No other presidential candidate, no matter his or her polarizing positions, has felt it necessary to seek protection from the Secret Service. But last week we learned that Obama has sought and will receive that protection, the only candidate ever to do so this early in the process. Only one other candidate even has a Secret Service detail: Hillary Rodham Clinton. And that's because she's a former first lady.You know who else required early protection? Jesse Jackson, when he ran for president in 1984 and '88.Neither Obama's campaign nor the Secret Service will comment on precisely what went into the decision to assign a detail to the senator, beyond saying it was based on no specific threat. But one need not be a seer to divine the reason. Put it this way: The darker the candidate's skin and the more serious his candidacy, the earlier he seems to need protecting.All of which adds a telling dimension to the ongoing debate about Obama and blackness that has percolated for months beneath the surface of his candidacy.On the one side, you have earnest white people insisting that, because his mother was white, Obama is not really black, but "biracial."On the other side, you have earnest black people insisting that, because his heritage does not trace to slavery, Obama is not really black enough -- that is, not black in a cultural sense.Apparently, however, he is both black and black enough for whatever individual or individuals unnerved his handlers enough to seek Secret Service protection.That's a truth that cuts the clutter.In a sense, the fact that we have the luxury of debating "what" Obama is testifies to the racial progress this nation has made.
Once upon a time, nobody had to debate. Back before Colin and Cosby and Condoleezza, before Air Jordan took wing and Johnson made Magic, before Oprah was America's favorite sister girl and Martin spoke of dreams, back when a Southern restaurant caused an international incident by refusing service to an African diplomat -- back in the day, there was no need of abstract rhetoric on what black is.You knew. The world made sure of it.If we have moved beyond that day, if we are proud to think ourselves more enlightened now, it is nevertheless naive to believe the naked meanness of that day has wholly disappeared.It is fashionable now to speak of systemic racism and the need for black folk to take a greater hand in their own salvation. Those discussions are valid. But it is also occasionally instructive to remember that old-fashioned mean-as-a-snake, thick-as-a-brick hatred is still alive and well and living in the U.S.A.
Sometimes, it lolls in the shade of the intellectual cover provided it by the likes of Rush Limbaugh.
Sometimes, it is dressed in suit and tie and sounds reasonable when told by the likes of David Duke.
Sometimes, it is sung in wobbly adolescent voices by the likes of Prussian Blue.
And sometimes, it just rears up on its hind legs and brays that it will commit violence rather than accept a black man as its president.
We like to pretend this bile is not still in us. We like to pretend we are beyond it. Then the man who could be our next president must ask to be protected from those who think him too dark for the job. Something to remember next time you are tempted to debate what black is. The world still has ways of making you know.
And people have a nerve to say that we're colorblind. Colorblind my foot! Racialism is alive and well and it's not going away as long as bigots in high places promote, reproduce, and tolerate antiblack racism as a means to maintain the status quo.
Obama's protection reveals ugly 'secret'
Leonard Pitts, a syndicated columnist in Washington:
McClatchy-Tribune NewspapersPublished May 8, 2007
Not Rudy Giuliani, who is a supporter of abortion rights.
Not Tom Tancredo, who is a hard-liner on immigration.
Not John Edwards, who is a critic of the war in Iraq.
Only Barack Obama, who is black.
No other presidential candidate, no matter his or her polarizing positions, has felt it necessary to seek protection from the Secret Service. But last week we learned that Obama has sought and will receive that protection, the only candidate ever to do so this early in the process. Only one other candidate even has a Secret Service detail: Hillary Rodham Clinton. And that's because she's a former first lady.You know who else required early protection? Jesse Jackson, when he ran for president in 1984 and '88.Neither Obama's campaign nor the Secret Service will comment on precisely what went into the decision to assign a detail to the senator, beyond saying it was based on no specific threat. But one need not be a seer to divine the reason. Put it this way: The darker the candidate's skin and the more serious his candidacy, the earlier he seems to need protecting.All of which adds a telling dimension to the ongoing debate about Obama and blackness that has percolated for months beneath the surface of his candidacy.On the one side, you have earnest white people insisting that, because his mother was white, Obama is not really black, but "biracial."On the other side, you have earnest black people insisting that, because his heritage does not trace to slavery, Obama is not really black enough -- that is, not black in a cultural sense.Apparently, however, he is both black and black enough for whatever individual or individuals unnerved his handlers enough to seek Secret Service protection.That's a truth that cuts the clutter.In a sense, the fact that we have the luxury of debating "what" Obama is testifies to the racial progress this nation has made.
Once upon a time, nobody had to debate. Back before Colin and Cosby and Condoleezza, before Air Jordan took wing and Johnson made Magic, before Oprah was America's favorite sister girl and Martin spoke of dreams, back when a Southern restaurant caused an international incident by refusing service to an African diplomat -- back in the day, there was no need of abstract rhetoric on what black is.You knew. The world made sure of it.If we have moved beyond that day, if we are proud to think ourselves more enlightened now, it is nevertheless naive to believe the naked meanness of that day has wholly disappeared.It is fashionable now to speak of systemic racism and the need for black folk to take a greater hand in their own salvation. Those discussions are valid. But it is also occasionally instructive to remember that old-fashioned mean-as-a-snake, thick-as-a-brick hatred is still alive and well and living in the U.S.A.
Sometimes, it lolls in the shade of the intellectual cover provided it by the likes of Rush Limbaugh.
Sometimes, it is dressed in suit and tie and sounds reasonable when told by the likes of David Duke.
Sometimes, it is sung in wobbly adolescent voices by the likes of Prussian Blue.
And sometimes, it just rears up on its hind legs and brays that it will commit violence rather than accept a black man as its president.
We like to pretend this bile is not still in us. We like to pretend we are beyond it. Then the man who could be our next president must ask to be protected from those who think him too dark for the job. Something to remember next time you are tempted to debate what black is. The world still has ways of making you know.
And people have a nerve to say that we're colorblind. Colorblind my foot! Racialism is alive and well and it's not going away as long as bigots in high places promote, reproduce, and tolerate antiblack racism as a means to maintain the status quo.
