Category: Society

We’ll Tell You If You’re Black Or Not – National – The Atlantic

His response is a caricature of the worst stereotypes of white liberalism. Note the invocation of a “Marxist View Of Race.” Note the sense that blackness is strictly the work of “Southern Whites.” Note the arrogance of assuming that “blackness” is defined by 17th century racists, and that the people being defined have no agency. In one fell column, Judis anoints himself High Arbiter of Blackness, and then dismisses Obama’s complicated and arduous process as the president simply doing “what was expected of him.”

The only appropriate response to this sentiment is to regrettably resort to the language of my folks and ask the following–Who the fuck is John Judis?

via We’ll Tell You If You’re Black Or Not – National – The Atlantic.

But seriously, who the f— is he?

BBC News – Pope accused of failing to act on sex abuse case

A canonical trial authorised by Cardinal Ratzinger’s deputy was halted after Fr. Murphy wrote to the future pope asking that proceedings be stopped, despite objections from a second archbishop.

The accused priest said in the letter that he was ill and wanted to live out the remainder of his time in the “dignity of my priesthood”.

Victims say Fr Murphy – who died in 1998 – assaulted boys while hearing their confessions, in his office, his car, at his mother’s house and in their dormitory beds.

He was quietly moved to the Diocese of Superior in northern Wisconsin in 1974, where he spent his last 24 years working freely with children in parishes and schools, according to one lawsuit.

via BBC News – Pope accused of failing to act on sex abuse case.

What bothers me is the Vatican’s response to this.  Instead of quiet dignity, we find defiance: it’s about the pope and not about the children who were abused under his watch.  Directly or not, you are responsible Pope Benedict.  Take responsibility.  Accusing the media and critics of “petty gossip” about really serious matters only serves to paint you as petty and seeking to deflect attention from those sins you may have committed.  Focus on what matters.  Further, you are the Vicar of Christ; so much for blessing those who curse you.

More Reasons Why I’m not Conservative

In the 20th century, it was conservative intellectual William Buckley who defended white supremacy in the South. I hear people talking about how National Review–a magazine that speculated that the Birmingham bombing was the work of a “crazed Negro”– has, of late, betrayed its holy intellectual roots and I wonder what planet they’ve been living on. People mournfully claim that conservatism has “died,” and I wonder if they’ve forgotten what “conservatism” had to say to black people in apartheid South Africa. Meanwhile, conservative intellectuals are attacking gay marriages because it might reinforce “black social failure.” These are the intellectuals.

There is a fundamental problem here, one that can’t be elided by pointing out the differences between “true” conservatism and Republicans. A bias toward time-tested, societal institutions almost necessarily means a bias toward institutional evil. Likewise, a skepticism of change almost necessarily means a skepticism of those who seek to expand democracy beyond property-owning white men. Taken in sum you have an ideology, whatever its laudable merits, that will almost always, necessarily, look charitably upon those with power, or those who control the institutions, and skeptically upon those without power, or those who seek to change those institutions.

As a black person, I find that really hard to take.

via Conservatism And Power – National – The Atlantic.

Exactly.  Even though conservative has it’s purposes in democracy, I prefer loving justice than institutions, than what is.

Villaraigosa shocked at celebration of O.J. Simpson, RuPaul, Dennis Rodman at L.A. Black History Month event | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Unified School District spokeswoman Gayle Pollard-Terry said Supt. Ramon C. Cortines learned about the incident Tuesday and had the teachers, who are white, pulled from their classrooms for the duration of an investigation. The suspension is without pay for the first three days.

via Villaraigosa shocked at celebration of O.J. Simpson, RuPaul, Dennis Rodman at L.A. Black History Month event | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times.

We’re not post-racial yet.

American Takfiris – Ta-Nehisi Coates

The American conscience, when it decides to act, is mighty–but it is also sluggish and vain. Americans are crushed by the weight of not fulfilling their own high expectations–so the shameful acts of one generation are often rectified by a subsequent generation unencumbered by their own complicity in such acts…The American conscience is often slow to action, but not because it cannot recognize evil–but because our view of ourselves as a people guided by justice is so important to who we are that when confronted with proof of our own shortcomings, we recoil in shame and precious vanity. Eventually, with the big stuff, we usually find our way–we see this with our slow, staggering, but inevitable march towards full personhood for gays and lesbians.  And while those who stained America’s honor with war crimes have escaped accountability for now, these American takfiris will eventually be judged by history with a clarity we cannot muster today.

via American Takfiris – Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Great post by guest Adam Sewer.  Definitely worth the read.

God, these people annoy me

Back to that clueless bumper sticker. Let me rewrite it in ways that have a greater basis in American history:

“The last time we mixed religion and politics, we got Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”

via God, these people annoy me | WHYY News and Information | WHYY.

Exactly.  You can’t inveigh against bigotry and ignorance by being bigoted and ignorant.

Eric Holder and the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed trial : The New Yorker

Greg Manning, whose wife, Laura, was severely burned in the World Trade Center attacks, stood before the crowd and said, “Thousands are already dead because of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s choices. We do not want to see . . . hundreds of thousands dead because of the Attorney General’s choices.”

Andrew McCarthy, the former Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney who led the prosecution of the 1993 World Trade Center attacks, also gave a speech, declaring that Holder didn’t “understand what rule of law has always been in wartime.” He said, “It’s military commissions. It’s not to wrap our enemies in our Bill of Rights.”

“Traitor!” someone shouted.

Edith Lutnick, who works for the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund, told the crowd, “My brother, Gary, lost his life that day.” The 9/11 victims, she said, “were murdered by the terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and we do not want him and his fellow-terrorists tried in that building. . . . We need to tell Eric Holder that we will be victims no more.”

“Lynch Holder!” an onlooker cried.

via Eric Holder and the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed trial : The New Yorker.

Our fear is on display.  (Not to mention our racism.)  I can’t help but think how “the terrorists” are chuckling at us over this.  I think Jon Stewart had it right when asked about the KSM trial.  Skip to 4:05.

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Earning The Temporary Hatred Of Your Children – Ta-Nehisi Coates

Earning The Temporary Hatred Of Your Children – Ta-Nehisi Coates:

“This is hard for a lot of people to hear, but in my family, in my neighborhood, and in my community this is what part of what parenting meant. If you weren’t feeling the edge of the sword on your ass, then you were responding to the possibility of it. One thing I learned, while touring for my book, was that a lot of people consider this to be child abuse. It really was news to me and ultimately unthinkable. Almost everyone I’d ever known had come up the same way. My book editor would joke, while reading, the manuscript about his grandmother coming up from the South and making him go search for a switch. In Harlem.”

(Via Ta-Nehisi Coates.)

Truth be known, I’m trying to avoid it as much as possible. But push come to shove, I’m going to shove. Better me than the police who will not temper their assault nor will give or repeat verbal warnings prior.

Why I Love Thinking: It’s a Rare Commodity

This morning I saw some college undergrads analyze the healthcare bill more incisively than any legislator, policy wonk, or pundit. That is both a source of pride in the students I’m privileged to teach and terror in that none of our leaders in Washington seem to get what the hell is going on.

This is a black eye most of all on my President Barack Obama who, as a generally supportive but frustrated professor said, “should have brought doctors and economists together to craft a real solution” to be debated in Congress. I once thought his standards too high, but mine were too low. And it is clearly reflected in the bill.

I’m still optimistic because our system seems to be self correcting over the long haul. I pray we correct soon. Until then I’ll at least enjoy the GOP get pummelled by fact checks.

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The Limits Of Compassion

The Limits Of Compassion – Ta-Nehisi Coates:

“I am aware of all the socio-economic forces at work they make black communities more subject to violence. I’m in all for trying to ameliorate those forces. In the meantime, I’m all for doing whatever it takes to protect the rest of us–particularly young black kids–from hooliganism. “

(Via Ta-Nehisi Coates.)

That’s pretty much the black position. Both-and vs. either-or. But I don’t think there is a limit to compassion, it’s a sense of justice. These cats need to be punished for doing something wrong and unnecessary.