What I’m Reading, December 10, 2014

Posted on December 10, 2014 by wellsdc

The years of Obama-bashing have helped bring racism, sexism, and all the other “-isms” of hate out of the shadows, Ken, Down with Tyranny!, December 6, 2014

Last night I indicated that I meant to come back to Ian Welsh’s post yesterday, “In Light of Eric Garner,” in which he urged us: “Understand this, if you understand nothing else: the system is working as intended.” He argued that the Staten Island prosecutor case who succeeded in getting the grand jury to bring no indictment in Garner’s death —

made the decision that the system wants: police are almost never prosecuted for assault or murder and on those rare occasions that they are, they almost always get off.

Donovan did what the legal system wanted him to do.

As for the police in question, well, they did what the legal system wants them to do, as well.”

Where are several points here I wanted to come back to.

(1) THE PROPOSITION THAT “THE POLICE IN QUESTION
DID WHAT THE LEGAL SYSTEM WANTS THEM TO DO”

***

(2) THE FACT THAT PEOPLE “OUTSIDE THE MAINSTREAM”
REALLY NEED TO LEARN THE FUTILTY OF RESISTANCE

***

(3) THAT RACE ISN’T AN ACCIDENTAL COMPONENT OF THIS

[Emphasis, links in original.]

How to Talk to a Skeptic About Rape Culture, Rants and Rambles, March 29, 2013 Continue reading →

MLK’s Nonviolence Meme (UPDATED x 2)

Posted on November 26, 2014 by wellsdc

I’ve seen the following meme passed around on Facebook in recent days, generally in response to the protests in Ferguson. I think that the quote lacks context.

The meme, in case you can’t see the image, it quotes Martin Luther King, Jr. as follows:

Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones. Violence is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding: it seeks to annihilate rather than convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends up defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers.

A common tactic to discredit a movement is to point to illegal acts of some people and associate that with the entire group. That way, people start to see nothing but violence in months of peaceful protests with only sporadic violence by some people, combined with people’s reactions to a grossly disproportionate police response (and I don’t think that ought to be a controversial characterization of the situation in Ferguson from August until a few days ago, but others may disagree).

I think it’s important to look at the MLK quote in its broader context. He drew a considerable amount of inspiration from Gandhi, who for all of his virtues had an almost comically naive view of how people should have responded to Germany in WWII. That said, nonviolence is a strategy that is much more complex than just saying “don’t be violent.” Without expressly defending certain things that may have happened on the protesters’ side in the past few months, I will say that history reveals again and again that you can only push people so much before they start to push back, and people in Ferguson have been pushed quite a bit. Now, getting back to the MLK quote, here’s a larger section from the speech (his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964):

Continue reading →

What I’m Reading, October 20, 2014

Posted on October 20, 2014 by wellsdc

Property Rights, Gin and Tacos, October 15, 2014

It’s equal parts intriguing and disturbing how often men treat women with respect – not invading their personal space or shouting things at them that they would prefer not to have shouted at them – not because they think women deserve to be treated with respect but because they are with a man. The inebriated young men didn’t refrain from making suggestive comments because they realized that it’s inappropriate; they refrained because I was next to her. Old creepers and “pickup artists” do not leave accompanied women alone at bars because they recognize that ignoring all the “please stop” signals is behavior that trends toward Rapey. They do it because the has a Sold tag on her and is already the property of some other man. And many men who would happily treat women with the utmost disrespect would recoil at the thought of disrespecting another man by hitting on his Property.

The right’s Lena Dunham delusion: Anger, misogyny and the dangers of business as usual, Katie McDonough, Salon, October 17, 2014 Continue reading →

“White, white, white and Will Smith”

Posted on October 8, 2014 by wellsdc

A friend started a discussion on Facebook the other day about how she is constantly asked where she is from—this is something that white people like me do not seem to experience nearly as much, and when we do, a simple answer like “San Antonio” will suffice. No one ever asks me where I’m really from besides the American city I just named, or where my ancestors are from (unless it was during a family tree project.) The Facebook discussion led to this comic by Shing Yin Khor, originally published on The Toast and reposted on Upworthy. This is just one panel; the whole thing is worth a look (some NSFW language).

By Shing Yin Khor, via Upworthy

Before “Post-Racial” America…

Posted on October 2, 2014 by wellsdc

…the U.S. government implemented an immigration enforcement initiative that was actually called “Operation Wetback”:

Operation Wetback was an immigration law enforcement initiative created by Director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service Joseph Swing. The program was implemented in May of 1954 by the U.S. Attorney General Herbert Brownell, and utilized special tactics to combat the problem of illegal border crossing and residence in the United States by Mexican nationals. Ultimately, the program came as a result of pressure from the Mexican government to stop illegal entry of Mexican laborers in the United States based largely on the Bracero Program. After implementation, Operation Wetback was met with allegations of abuse and suspension of certain civil rights of Mexicans that were captured and deported by U.S. Border Patrol

I wouldn’t go so far as to say we’ve progressed to a more “enlightened” point in our culture, though. I think the main lesson we, as a society at large, have learned is that programs like that shouldn’t have such overtly derogatory names.

An Expectation of “Gratitude and Humility”

Quote

Posted on September 29, 2014 by wellsdc

It is as though the partners at my former dental practice believe that a black person who has made it to success in a white-dominated field like dentistry is expected to show gratitude and humility, and to “act white.”

– Dr. Misee Harris, Racial discrimination & resignation of Dr. Misee Harris – An Open Letter to media

What I’m Reading, September 18, 2014

Posted on September 18, 2014 by wellsdc

There’s nothing “shocking” about growing up, Mary Elizabeth Williams, Salon, September 11, 2014

Along with the gotcha! wardrobe malfunction, the “Can you even believe it that a human being is subject to the laws of time and physical progression?” story is a reliable page views grabber. Throw in wrinkles, weight or any possible cosmetic surgery and you’re particularly golden. Three years ago, the Internet blew a gasket when Sinead O’Connor, who was once 20 years old, appeared in public, in the words of an Inquisitr headline, “No Longer Bald or Skinny.” Fortunately, she had the decency to lose weight before the release of her new album earlier this year, prompting inevitable headlines about her “dramatic makeover.” And when the 81-year-old Kim Novak appeared at the Oscars this winter with an unusually taut, immobilized countenance, critics were swift to mock her “wax museum” appearance. These are your options, people. You can get older in whatever natural form that may take and be made fun of for it, or attempt to remain youthful and be made fun of for it. Basically, unless you master some vampire-like secret of remaining a fixed age and size for eternity, you’re screwed.

Colorblindness is the New Racism, Lauren Rankin, Policy Mic, July 22, 2013 Continue reading →

What I’m Reading, September 8, 2014

Posted on September 8, 2014 by wellsdc

The long and ugly tradition of treating Africa as a dirty, diseased place, Laura Seay and Kim Yi Dionne, Washington Post, August 25, 2014

This week’s Newsweek magazine cover features an image of a chimpanzee behind the words, “A Back Door for Ebola: Smuggled Bushmeat Could Spark a U.S. Epidemic.” This cover story is problematic for a number of reasons, starting with the fact that there is virtually no chance that “bushmeat” smuggling could bring Ebola to America. (The term is a catchall for non-domesticated animals consumed as a protein source; anyone who hunts deer and then consumes their catch as venison in the United States is eating bushmeat without calling it that.) While eating bushmeat is fairly common in the Ebola zone, the vast majority of those who do consume it are not eating chimpanzees. Moreover, the current Ebola outbreak likely had nothing to do with bushmeat consumption.

Far from presenting a legitimate public health concern, the authors of the piece and the editorial decision to use chimpanzee imagery on the cover have placed Newsweek squarely in the center of a long and ugly tradition of treating Africans as savage animals and the African continent as a dirty, diseased place to be feared.

Bob McDonnell Showed Us The Meaning of Conservative Family Values Depends On The Circumstances, Adalia Woodbury, PoliticusUSA, September 6, 2014 Continue reading →

Gosh, Who Could’ve Seen This Coming?

Posted on September 4, 2014 by wellsdc

The fundraisers for Officer Darren Wilson of the Ferguson, Missouri Police Department have surpassed $400,000, much more than the fundraisers for the kid he shot and killed. Wilson currently has no legal expenses to speak of, although even if the prosecutors never bring charges, a civil wrongful death claim is still a possibility. The kicker, of course, is that no one seems to know for certain what the $400,000+ is for, or where it is going:

This is one of those “read the whole thing” stories, because there’s just an unbelievable amount of Really Damn Sketchy going on. To sum up: Continue reading →

When Cluelessness, Privilege, and Entitlement Meet, It’s Not Pretty

Posted on August 23, 2014 by wellsdc

@ReignOfApril @rdevro: Statement read at today's rally for Officer Darren Wilson pic.twitter.com/p8IjloeeAd"

— \o/ I am MikeBrown (@Tpa_ismyhome) August 23, 2014

In case you can’t see the image in the above tweet, I have transcribed the entire statement at the end of this post. I just want to look at a few parts of the statement.

Our mission is to formally declare that we share the united belief that Officer Wilson’s actions on August 9th were warranted and justified, and he has our unwavering support. We believe that the evidence has and will continue to validate our position.

Everyone else, however, should wait until all the facts come out. Even if that takes forever. Continue reading →

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