Recently there has been a national conversation about race and racism, but this conversation has been inadequate at best and detrimental at worst. The problem is that the conversation has not been about racism as a systemic and institutional problem, but the conversation has been about whether or not individual acts of prejudice constitute racism. This conversation then completely ignores the structural problems that create racial disparities, and therefore completely misses the point of what our national conversation about race should be about. Perhaps the most significant source of structural racism is the United States justice system, where justice is not always blind.
According to a recent study, a defendant accused of killing a white person in North Carolina is nearly three times as likely to get the death penalty than someone accused of killing a black person. This study looked at death sentence in North Carolina over a 28 year period, and examined 15,281 homicides in the state of which 368 resulted in death sentences. The results of the study where that the odds of receiving a death sentence in cases where the victim was white were 2.96 times as high as the odds in cases with black victims. This finding is not unique. According to another study, blacks who kill whites are significantly more likely to face the death penalty in Maryland than are blacks who kill blacks or white killers
Race is not only one of the determining factors in who receives the death penalty, but in who is stopped by the police, especially when police are racially profiling. In New York 575,304 people stopped and frisked by the New York Police Department last year, and information was gathered on individuals being detained to build a database on citizens who had not committed any crime. According to a report by New America Media, 87% of those who where detained where people of color. While Governor Paterson recently signed a law that made it illegal for police to randomly detain and frisk individuals and to compile their private information, this illustrates another example of the structural racism that exists in the justice system.
The economic downturn has had devastating effects on all Americans, and economist are predicting that there are long to be long term affects and that the economy will not recovery fully for a significant amount of time. According to the last report from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, 14.6 million people are currently unemployed, 9.5%. The long term unemployed, those who have been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer, make up 6.8 million of the jobless Americans. However, the economy has had a disproportionate effect on people of color, in an economy where people of color have already long been at a disadvantage. The latest statistics show that while the overall unemployment rate for whites is 8.6%, the unemployment rate for Latinos is 12.4% and the unemployment rate for blacks is 15.4%. While white America may be in the middle of the Great Recession, people of color in America are in the middle of a prolonged depression.
At yesterday's press conferencing announcing (for the 15th time) her candidacy for Governor, Kay Bailey Hutchison longed for the days of her old high school education -- back when her high school was segregated and only whites could attend.
"I want to help to create an education system like I had," said Hutchison, La Marque High School, class of 1961.
No thanks. I'll pass on that.
Yes, 1961 was a great time to be in Texas public schools — if you were white and didn't face learning disabilities. La Marque High School was segregated when Hutchison attended.
Ken Herman doesn't stop there:
Yes, education has become far more challenging these days. And it's for a positive reason. We've decided to challenge ourselves to educate everyone, not just the healthy white kids. So let's be wary of any graduate of a segregated school who wants to "create an education system like I had."
This comes on the heels of Senator Hutchison voting against Sonia Sotomayor -- despite the fact that Hutchison admitted she was a strong judicial candidate. Don't forget this video from the Texas Democratic Party:
Anyone who thinks Senator Hutchison is a "moderate" think again. She longs for the days of segregation and votes against qualified Hispanics. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is either completely ignorant or outright dismissive of the Texas minority communities. Any Democrat that still thinks she's not that bad needs a reality check. Fast.
(This is a really interesting piece, worth reading the full extended entry. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
"This is not Jasper, Texas."
I have heard that phrased used more than once, in conversations referring to how Bryan and College Station are not as racist as other places. That phrase is actually ridiculous when you think about it because it is comparison based on what is well known as the location of one of the most racist events in recent history. What that phrase is really saying is that there are racist here but we have not yet dragged anyone behind a truck.
When you listen to conversations or read the comment sections on the local newspaper you will see code words. These are words that are used in place of the racial epitaphs and the racist language, and give people of privilege the plausibility deniability of saying that they are not racist. Even the names of the cities, Bryan and College Station, have themselves been turned into code words.
"I have a dream that my four little children
will one day live in a nation where they
will not be judged by the color of their skin
but by the content of their character."
This election marks a potential turning point in American history. The American people will either elect the first black President, following the dictates of logic, self-interest and absolute common sense... or they will elect John McCain and prove that at least a slim majority of the voters in this nation are ignorant fools, religious extremists, blind believers of the partisan propaganda of the right wing, outright racists -- or some horrifying combination of those descriptors.
"Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom."
-Martin Luther King Jr.
The United States is on the cusp of something historic; the United States is on the brink of electing the first African-American president. More than that, America could possibly elect the first president that is not a white man. This possibility raises many questions. How is this going to affect the racial landscape of America? How will this effect how we discuss race issues in America? How will this effect race in America, and racism in America?
There is another question. If Senator Barack Obama is elected President of the United States, it is going to have a profound impact on race in America. How will a black president affect white America?
Following up on the outstanding 4 point margin shown in the Rasmussen Poll earlier this week, here is yet more online buzz about the changing tide in the Texas Senate race.
...I think that some realignment is taking place, both in Texas and nationally... Texas is not immune from national trends, and the wind is definitely blowing in the Democrats' direction... If Democrats can continue to be motivated into the fall, yes, I can see Noriega being very competitive in this race.
Texas Democrats are basking in the latest state polls from Rasmussen that suggest Sen. John Cornyn is vulnerable and Democrats could be competitive statewide this fall.
David posted yesterday about some of the Bloggers for Cornyn taking "high offense" at Rick Noriega's "en Espanol" version of his campaign website (yeah, seriously...) and another comparing it to their disagreements with businesses that offer a greeting in "english and mexican".
Well, the racially toned remarks continued today as two more Bloggers for Cornyn added to the conversation.
Added as a note prior to posting the same forwarded "fundraising facts" tipsheet sent around by the Cornyn campaign, the author of "but, that's just my opinoin" writes...
There is no way in hell Noriega can win with a name like that.....
What kind of name would that be? A Hispanic one? That's either suggesting the writer has a few racial issues of their own or suggests a rather low opinion of the Texas electorate. (I'm going to assume the author has no problem with the "Rick" in Rick Noriega.)
Note: Is it just me or can someone have fun with the Texas Noriega and the 80s Noriega?
And then posts this image.
This is no better than the right-wing blather about Barack "Hussein" Obama which hold about zero weight with any voters. No significant number of Texans are really going to think that a now imprisoned, former Panamanian general is really the Democratic nominee in Texas for U.S. Senate. It's just right-wing racially tinged fear-mongering.
Drop Rick Noriegaa donation to thank the Bloggers for Cornyn for their fine work this week.
So sayeth Wayne Slater of the Dallas Morning News in his piece entitled "Offensive remarks usually difficult to overcome".
Few political campaigns can survive a candidate's sexist joke or racially charged remark.
Sen. George Allen's flippant use of the word "macaca" to address an Indian-American man has damaged his prospects for the White House, and Clayton Williams' infamous rape joke in 1990 doomed his gubernatorial hopes in Texas.
So when racially incendiary remarks from Kinky Friedman's past began circulating in the governor's race, his opponents were quick to denounce him. Some Democrats demanded he drop out.
Mr. Friedman said his remarks – including using the n-word in his music and stand-up comedy act – were meant as satire.
But the episode has raised fresh questions about whether different standards apply to different candidates and what constitutes the line that a politician cannot cross.
I read another piece in a Chronicle blog that I put a more human face on all this (mind you, the writer is a Democrat turned Republican).
This is the thing. Growing up in the middle of the civil rights movement in Jackson Mississippi in the 60's makes me a little sensitive to "N" word jokes. When I think of all blacks went through to get away from that word, and for it now to be Ok to use as long as you are "joking," or a teenager speaking to your friends, or you're a rapper. Then use it freely.
I was at a high school football game recently. Sitting a few feet from me was a black lady about my age. The crowd of kids behind us was mostly black and we could hear them yakking at each other and calling each other "n*gger" (affectionally of course) The woman I both looked at each other shook our heads and then turned to glare at the kids behind us. Slowly but surely as they noticed us glaring they stopped. The other lady then stomped off. I knew she had to be thinking what I was thinking. Did her generation give so much for this?
I'm of a different generation, far younger, and one that has been inundated with 'humor' of this type for years now thanks to cable. But what we often forget, and I always try to remember, is that there plenty of those still alive today that experienced the hate, the prejudice, and the threats to their own livelihood because of the issue of race. While I haven't experienced anywhere near the same type of discrimination because of my sexuality, I can identify with it on certain level personally.
There are plenty of reasons why Friedman doesn't deserve to have a serious part to play in Texas politics. But the ability to govern requires a certain degree of respect and tolerance, both by officeholders and the broad array of citizens they represent. Because of Kinky's pattern of commentary, it appears he is critically deficient in this respect.
Talk like this only confirms previous reports on the kind of politics Kinky Friedman practices. Kinky may be a lot of things, but a progressive, populist alternative to Chris Bell he ain't. Racism like this has no place in our public life, and candidates like Friedman who spread it deserve neither our respect nor our support.
