Category: Society

Connecting The Dots – Ta-Nehisi Coates

Connecting The Dots – Ta-Nehisi Coates:

“There’s a lot at work here: 1.) Race-baiters have, for the past few decades, repeatedly outfoxed anti-racists. Beck and Cornyn know how to walk up to the line. Carter is from a generation of liberals who never understood why people didn’t agree them about Willie Horton. Thus Carter doesn’t insinuate, he doesn’t calibrate, he just speaks, political effects be damned. 2.) The dominant school of journalism holds that it’s safer to talk about the effect of talking about race on Obama, rather than actually talking about its effects, period. That’s true for most things though–reporters are generally more interested in gamesmanship, than issues. 3.) A lot of reporters take Beck and Cornyn’s race-baiting is taken as a given. I’ll be shocked if anyone asks Cornyn about this. I don’t think they much care.”

(Via Ta-Nehisi Coats.)

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Losing Reality

I have been disturbed lately by the apparent lack in basic common sense in our public discourse. In other words, shit is getting real crazy lately. Between people disputing demonstrable facts and holding positions they undermine in defending said positions, it’s like we are debating reality. I’m going to put up a fuller post soon as I think on this a bit more.

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[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

It’s Kanye’s Fault – Ta-Nehisi Coates

It’s Kanye’s Fault – Ta-Nehisi Coates:

“This is history through the veil, again. It’s virtually impossible to be a black person and believe that Americans were somehow more humble in the past. Our very exists springs from an act of immodesty.”

(Via Ta-Nehisi Coates.)

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How To Represent – Ta-Nehisi Coates

How To Represent – Ta-Nehisi Coates:

“But the portion that always amazed were the black kids (a significant number of them biracial) who hailed from these nice suburbs (River Forest, Walnut Creek etc.), excelled in school, but came to Howard, almost out of a kind of fatigue. The fatigue is exactly what Andrew describes here–the pressure to be a representative, to explain your groups ‘position,’ the stifling inability to, say, be an asshole and not have it say something about your folks. “

(Via Ta-Nehisi Coates.)

Experienced that for a long time in school.

Race Is A Factor But… – Ta-Nehisi Coates

Race Is A Factor But… – Ta-Nehisi Coates:

“There’s a tendency to lump anti-black racism in with all the serious problems presented when you try to make a democracy work. There is always a danger of becoming single-minded, of bringing to bear a myopic analysis which sees one thing in everything. Moreover, watermelon jokes are a long way from red-lining, and in seeing how far we’ve come, the temptation is to dismiss how far we have to go.But from a black perspective, it’s a temptation you can ill-afford. Racism cost us dollars a half-century ago. Today it costs us quarters–but it still costs.”

(Via Ta-Nehisi Coates.)

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Tragedy

“One of the great tragedies of the past half century or so, is how patriotism has been coopted by people who claim the Confederate flag, while black leaders, from King to Obama, are dismissed as communists/socialists and now Hitlerite. These are people whose heroes routinely flouted the federal government and assaulted black troops carrying the Union flag.”

Ta-Nehisi Coates

Amen.


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What We Have Seen and Heard, Part 1

Very soon a Black Catholic Bishop named Steib will be coming to speak to my parish about a pastoral letter on evangelization he co-authored titled “What We Have Seen and Heard” because my parish is considered to be one of the 800 or so in the country that are predominantly African American. We are reading the letter in preparation for the talk, discussing it and it’s implications. It’s a pretty long letter and I’ll be reflecting on it in the coming days.

Very soon a Black Catholic Bishop named Steib will be coming to speak to my parish about a pastoral letter on evangelization he co-authored titled “What We Have Seen and Heard.” Because my parish is considered to be one of the 800 or so in the country that are predominantly African American, we are reading the letter in preparation for his talk, discussing it and it’s implications amongst ourselves. It has been very fruitful so far and I have been reflecting on it daily. The letter is pretty long so this will be a serial post. Let’s begin.
Part 1 of the letter is titled “The Gifts We Share” and talks about our call as black people to share our gifts. It enumerates them all. The first is our culture.

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Continue reading “What We Have Seen and Heard, Part 1”

Roger Keith Coleman – Ta-Nehisi Coates

Roger Keith Coleman – Ta-Nehisi Coates:

“I came up in an era where young boys thought nothing of killing each other over cheap Starter jackets. I don’t have any illusions about the criminal mind. I don’t believe in the essential goodness of man–which is exactly why I oppose the death penalty.”

(Via Ta-Nehisi Coates.)

Exactly.

Skin Deep – Black Hair, Still Tangled in Politics – NYTimes.com

Skin Deep – Black Hair, Still Tangled in Politics – NYTimes.com:

“Anyone who thought such preconceptions were outdated would have been reminded otherwise by some negative reactions to the president’s 11-year-old daughter, Malia Obama, who wore her hair in twists while in Rome this summer. Commenters on the conservative blog Free Republic attacked her as unfit to represent America for stepping out unstraightened.”

(Via NY Times.)

So, a black child’s natural hair is unfit to represent America. Only straightening it to approximate Caucasian hair, would. Right. And why should black people trust this party? Ever?

Jon Stewart on Death Panels

UPDATE:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Betsy McCaughey Pt. 1
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes		 Political Humor Healthcare Protests
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Exclusive – Betsy McCaughey Extended Interview Pt. 1
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes		 Political Humor Healthcare Protests
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Exclusive – Betsy McCaughey Extended Interview Pt. 2
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes		 Political Humor Healthcare Protests

Jon Stewart keeps pointing out that the fact that conservatives are simply making up everything they say. they have no evidence or stand in truth. Period. McCaughey says she has evidence but can’t answer the simple question, “WHERE?” QED.