Rolling 2016 Thread on Race

I was wondering if dude was going to get offered a pass for being NZ or for being in Oklahoma.

Yeah, I was referencing Americans being apologetic for Australians being dumb about race. Like, say, an American rapper who had to walk back his comments about an Australian he mentored

Our racism is surely different than in the US: its all about "we grew here, you flew here"/"go back where you came from" BS. And it is very ugly. Anyway I'm sure I'm preaching to le choir here on this.

― Stoop Crone (Trayce)

Surely they don't say that to the native (pre-Euro) Australians.

don't underestimate the idiocy

No, they just call all koori folk drunks and welfare cheats :(

http://www.citylab.com/housing/2016/05/brown-v-board-v-airbnb/483725/

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2016/05/five-elected-as-overseers/?link_id=0&can_id=63bc3a82f39ac828495b3b3ffa5194d3&source=email-congratulations-to-the-newly-elected-overseers&email_referrer=congratulations-to-the-newly-elected-overseers&email_subject=congratulations-to-the-newly-elected-overseers

This is really insider-baseball stuff around the Harvard Board of Overseers election but the breakdown is this:

- The admissions process takes into account both tangible and non-tangible factors when attempting to build a talented, diverse freshman class; one of those factors is race
- A group of conservatives who were opposed to the inclusion of race as a distinguishing criterion put together a slate of nominees under the name "Free Harvard, Fair Harvard" advocating for much greater financial aid across the board for all students oh and removing some the considerations that were allowing some of the black and Hispanic students in the door; they allied with a group of disgruntled Asian-Americans who felt that these considerations were artificially keeping the number of Asians at Harvard low to make space for less worthy students (side note: one does not need to be a Harvard graduate to run for Overseer)
- A good segment of the alumni base was appalled by this and put forward their own slate of nominees who were committed to the overall diversity initiatives that Harvard had committed to and was trying to improve, both in terms of admissions and on-campus support for the students who needed it once they got there; this group operated under the name Coalition for a Diverse Harvard
- A seriously contentious argument between the two factions raged across social media, with one side-effect being the discovery that one of the "Free Harvard, Fair Harvard" people was an attorney who sued UT Austin over "racial quotas" and another had spoken at an event with some white power groups
- As shown in that link, the Coalition won, thank god

oh ALSO Ralph Nader was helping lead the charge on the Free Harvard/Fair Harvard side and was one of the names on the slate

wtf Nader

never forget, Nader wondered if Obama would be "an Uncle Tom for corporations" immediately after Obama won the presidency:

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/05/nader-defends-obama-slur/?_r=0

He then redefined his entire political brand into "racebaiting from the left" so it's really not at all surprising that he would dive headfirst into this bullshit

on the flip side, the thing Nader does best these days is lose elections so I have no idea why FHFH were so eager to partner with him

http://theundefeated.com/features/mission-impossible-african-americans-analytics/

(TW: sports) this is a really interesting topic that i wish were tackled by a better writer, and not one who's a stats-hating dinosaur

(ftr i have a lot of respect for wilbon's career, obviously, but i don't think it's a controversial opinion to say the industry's passed him by)

the second half of that article is a lot more interesting, to be sure, once i got through the groaners

Good, long Guardian piece on "the enduring whiteness of American journalism" by Howard French

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2016/may/25/sports-analytics-african-americans-michael-wilbon-article

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/05/25/white-high-school-football-players-in-idaho-charged-with-raping-black-disabled-teammate-with-a-coat-hanger/?postshare=3241464184999722&tid=ss_fb

Hang onto this the next time someone says "kids are growing up less racist"

that is insanely fucked up and sad beyond words.

stuck somewhere beteewn nausea & rage myself

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/05/24/commencement-speaker-gets-booed-after-speaking-briefly-in-spanish-and-criticizing-trump/

Gizmodo jumps straight to the point:

http://gizmodo.com/yo-fuck-this-commercial-1778914903

Without even clicking, I'm guessing that's the Chinese detergent ad.

Anyway. I thought it was a better idea when it went the other way.

http://i.imgur.com/Y2uIS04.jpg

It wasn't a better idea

I'm really bothered by the cal state fullerton thing. how the shit do you graduate in a class that's 40% latino and then get screaming mad when part of the commencement speech is in Spanish? How fucking pathetic and stupid and tiny-dicked do you have to be to think you have any cause to act like that? Who fucking raised you? I'm from fucking Alabama. I don't understand you children. Please leave.

This Alesha Dixon thing on another thread?

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/long-lost-manuscript-contains-searing-eyewitness-account-tulsa-race-massacre-1921-180959251/

Wait so this Alesha Dixon thing, the controversy is that a black woman told a bunch of black men that they were awesome black men? Is this accurate?

(also I am bookmarking that Smithsonian link for a time when I am less likely to cry while reading it)

goes w/out saying, but avoid the comments

Stop fucking avoiding the comments. Read them and understand what people are capable of.

Wait so this Alesha Dixon thing, the controversy is that a black woman told a bunch of black men that they were awesome black men? Is this accurate?

― DJP, Tuesday, 31 May 2016 16:35

She called them "sexy chocolate men" and people on social media demanded she apologize or be fired and it has been said she isn't allowed to perform her new single on the talent show (might be unconnected though).

I think it's mostly white people who were complaining.

lol at mostly

I didn't want to assume too much because I haven't trawled through enough

So... yes, then.

What a stupid controversy

Stop fucking avoiding the comments. Read them and understand what people are capable of.

― DJP, Tuesday, May 31, 2016 8:55 AM (3 hours ago)

well, i mentioned it because i didn't avoid them and learned nothing. ymmv.

re Trump's history of racism:

http://theweek.com/speedreads/569355/donald-trumps-first-quoted-words-new-york-times-42-years-ago-thats-ridiculous

Well, our (Scotland's) First Minister has said she won't meet Trump when he visits Scotland. It's for his golf resort, which was widely opposed but went ahead anyway. It's odd how much this election campaign has mentioned Britain - arguments about the mayor of London etc.

Also, I don't think Trump wants to be president - he just wants to be elected president. I.e. He wants to win, but that's all. Can you imagine how bored he would be as president? His biography doesn't show a guy who commits to jobs well. He's a quitter, really. (Not that quitter is an insult - I come from a long line of quitters, and I am proud to count myself amongst their ranks)

It's odd how much this election campaign has mentioned Britain - arguments about the mayor of London etc.l

and yet trump had not the first fucking clue what brexit was in that hollywood reporter article from the other day

I didn't know his golf resort went ahead, I thought everyone opposed it. How did he get permission?

Ask Alex Salmond.

wtf is wrong with people?

http://addictinginfo.org/2016/06/10/racist-conservatives-wish-sasha-obama-a-happy-15th-birthday-hope-u-get-raped-screenshots/?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link

I have nothing to say about Alton Sterling. We've seen this so many times already, I have no idea what can be added to the conversation.

I guess I can say it's been 68 years since this happened in my family and we're still seeing it happen:

http://nuweb9.neu.edu/civilrights/mississippi/samuel-bacon/

CW: lynching, suicide

http://heavy.com/news/2016/07/piedmont-park-hanging-atlanta-georgia-stone-mountain-police-report-suicide-lynching-social-media-twitter-kkk-ku-klux-klan-closed/

things have gotten edgy at The CW since America's Next Top Model went off the air

(sorry)

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-ramona-hate-crime-20160707-snap-story.html

Feel like this anecdote is bound to get swallowed up, given all of the high-profile news these days. I just attended a wedding for two of my wife's colleagues. The bride was a white American. The groom was an immigrant from Chile. His entire family traveled to Maryland for the ceremony. After everyone walked up the aisle, the pastor (from the groom's side) began the ceremony in Spanish. About 15 seconds into it, from the wife's side: "Speak English!"

At a fucking wedding.

It came from a teenage kid, and his mother hushed him down immediately. And for our part, and like most of the guests, we were very friendly to the groom's family. But what the fuck, people?

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/corey_menafee/

faces a felony charge! fuck