Tag Archive for "post-racial America"

Posts Tagged post-racial America

By Verónica Bayetti Flores • 10 years ago

On being “obsessed with race” in America

My fave comedian, Hari Kondabolu, has a new album coming out, Waiting for 2042 (i.e., the year that, by most estimates, there will be more people of color in the U.S. than white people). And if this teaser is any indication, it is gonna be exactly more of what I love: dark, feminist, social justice-y, and truly hilarious commentary on life in this weird place we both call home.

My fave comedian, Hari Kondabolu, has a new album coming out, Waiting for 2042 (i.e., the year that, by most estimates, there will be more people of color in the U.S. than white people). And ...

By Chloe Angyal • 11 years ago

Just a regular Tuesday in “post-racial” America

On Tuesday, the President was in Phoenix, Arizona, giving a speech about home ownership, when people in the crowd began protesting, using racial slurs. “He’s 47 percent Negro,” one shouted. Another held a sign that read, “Impeach the Half-White Muslim!”

Deanna Bartram, the 17-year-old college student holding that sign,

…lashed out at people who call her racist for not supporting Obama. She believes Obama supporters use the “race card” against her because they disagree with her political message.

“Obama is ruining American values. He is ruining the Constitution. He needs to go back to where he came from because obviously, he is a liar,” she said. “I am not racist. I am part Indian. Obama’s half Black, ...

By Syreeta McFadden • 11 years ago

Why the VRA matters

Today Texas Governor Rick Perry signed into law one of the most draconian pieces of legislation destroying reproductive health to Texas women as Congress continues its hearings on the reinstatement of the Voting Rights Act.

Last month, the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in an extreme act of hubris by a 5-4 vote. Roberts, in writing the majority ruling remains unclear as to which parts of the constitution were in violation of the 40 year law that protected voting rights for African Americans, requiring several southern states (and some Northern districts) to be pre-cleared before implementing new voting rules. There’s no mention of the 15th Amendment in the majority decision for Shelby County v. Holder. The Court ...

Last month, ...

By Maya Dusenbery • 13 years ago

Obama Racism Watch: GOP Rep says associating with him is like touching a “tar baby”

The latest dispatch from a post-racial society. Via Think Progress:

Appearing on the Caplis and Silverman radio show last Friday, Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) said, “Now I don’t even want to have to be associated with [Obama], it’s like touching a tar baby and you’re stuck, you’re part of the problem now. You can’t get away.”

A spokesperson for Lamborn said, “Congressman Lamborn regrets any misunderstanding. He simply meant to refer to a sticky situation or quagmire.” Look, I think your everyday Joe Shmoe could perhaps reasonably claim they didn’t know the derogatory history of the term.

But a politician? When the Oxford American Dictionary makes note of its racist connotations? When not one, not two, but three ...

The latest dispatch from a post-racial society. Via Think Progress:

Appearing on the Caplis and Silverman radio show last Friday, Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) said, “Now I don’t even want to have to be associated with [Obama], ...

By Maya Dusenbery • 13 years ago

“I’m not racist or sexist but…”

Gee, I’m glad that I live in a post-racial, post-sexist society!

Via Colorlines, here are two of the most brilliant–and most depressing–new tumblrs on the internet. “I’m not racist but…” and its sister site “I’m not sexist but…” are curated by a couple college students who simply search public Facebook posts for those respective phrases and grab screenshots that reveal just how not racist and sexist our culture is these days.

This is an ingenious illustration of exactly where many Americans are when it comes to racial and gender equality. Being seen as racist or sexist is generally acknowledged to be a “bad” thing. But actually saying racist and sexist shit? Well, just preempt and ...

Gee, I’m glad that I live in a post-racial, post-sexist society!

Via Colorlines, here are two of the most brilliant–and most depressing–new tumblrs on the internet. “I’m not racist but…” and its ...

By Jos Truitt • 13 years ago

It’s hard out here for whitey: a reality-free idea of racism

Imagine a world where the legacy of U.S. racism against black people – the middle passage, slave labor, the rape of black women to reproduce a workforce, Jim Crow laws, the KKK, lynching, workplace discrimination, the massive over-incarceration of black folks – was erased. Where the legacy of racism against other groups – the genocide of indigenous peoples, laws explicitly excluding Asian populations from the U.S., Japanese internment, the current vilification of Latinos and Muslims, not to mention prejudice against Jewish, Irish, and Italian immigrants before they were brought into whiteness – imagine if this wasn’t even a consideration.

Imagine pretending massive inequality doesn’t exist in the U.S.,. Pretend there’s not a racial wage gap that intersects with the ...

By Jos Truitt • 13 years ago

What is wrong with people? Hate speech edition

*Trigger warning*

Some news days seriously make me question my faith in humanity. Last week Chloe posted about just such a day, and again today there are just too many stories about people being hateful and heartless.

First, there’s the inhuman responses from some to the devastating tsunami and now nuclear disaster in Japan. A meme exploded on Facebook and Twitter saying this was some sort of karmic/God-sent pay back for Pearl Harbor. A few celebrities, including Gilbert Gottfried, also decided it was a good idea to make light of the devastation on Twitter. And of course there’s the religious extremists and Glenn Beck-types who are quick to say any natural disaster is a message from God.

Then there’s ...

*Trigger warning*

Some news days seriously make me question my faith in humanity. Last week Chloe posted about just such a day, and again today there are just too many stories about people being hateful and heartless.

First, ...

By Lori Adelman • 14 years ago

America Is So Post-Racial, We Don’t Even Need Black People in Our Senate

Florida Senate candidate Kendrick Meek, who lost in yesterday’s election.

By now, many of you have heard the bad news that yesterday’s elections didn’t go so well for Democrats. Though they were able to hold onto control of the Senate, Republicans took the House and expanded their presence in the Senate.

While zillions of news outlets will be offering their analysis of the election results, I wanted to raise awareness around the rather unbelievable fact that the next United States Senate will not have ONE African-American in its ranks.

Florida Senate candidate Kendrick Meek, who lost in yesterday’s election.

By now, many of you have heard the bad news that yesterday’s elections didn’t go so well for Democrats. Though they were able to ...