Tag: Racial Bias

What Cost Racism?

This country is once again trying to have that much needed conversation on racism and as usual we are failing miserably.

For instance did you realize that the US could have been $16 trillion (yes, that is trillion with a “T”) but systematic racism deprived the nation of the money.

A report issued by Citigroup, a bastion of capitalism and not some phony Left wing think tank…..

America could have been $16 trillion richer if not for inequities in education, housing, wages and business investment between Black and White Americans over the past 20 years, new research concludes.

The study, released this week by Citigroup, is the latest in a body of research that attempts to quantify the economic impact of systemic racism. Citigroup arrived at its $16 trillion figure after estimating that:

  • Black workers have lost $113 billion in potential wages over the past two decades because they couldn’t get a college degree.
  • The housing market lost $218 billion in sales because Black applicants couldn’t get home loans.
  • About $13 trillion in business revenue never flowed into the economy because Black entrepreneurs couldn’t access bank loans.

What’s more, the U.S. could have $5 trillion in gross domestic product over the next five years if those gaps and others were closed today, the study indicated.

“Racial inequality has always had an outsized cost, one that was thought to be paid only by underrepresented groups,” Citigroup Banking Chair Raymond McGuire said in a statement.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-gdp-growth-missed-16-trillion-systemic-racism-inequality-report/

If you cannot understand the cost of racism from the point of social issues then maybe you can put your small head around the monetary cost of hatred.

Does this change anything?

Of course not.

This subject will never be settled until until people learn to talk to each instead of at each other.

Or until the country moves past the silly tribalism that is griping our society by the nuts.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–25Sep20

Every time Donald the Orange opens his mouth or picks up a pen (sorry….Sharpie) he proves what a racist pig he truly has become.

His newest Executive Order bans diversity training in corporations…..now he is telling business what to do….a dictator at heart….no a fascist dictator at heart……

Donald Trump announced that he signed an executive order prohibiting government contractors and grantees from providing racial sensitivity and diversity training to employees. In it, the President claims he is taking action to combat “harmful and offensive race and sex stereotyping and scapegoating.”

The Daily Beast reports that Trump announced the new executive order in a series of tweets, because of course he did.

“A few weeks ago, I BANNED efforts to indoctrinate government employees with divisive and harmful sex and race-based ideologies. Today, I’ve expanded that ban to people and companies that do business… with our Country, the United States Military, Government Contractors, and Grantees. Americans should be taught to take PRIDE in our Great Country, and if you don’t, there’s nothing in it for you!”

This executive order is similar to the one that Trump signed earlier in September which directed federal government agencies to cancel or divert funds away from any contracts for training sessions that mentioned “white privilege” or “critical race theory.” Tuesday’s executive order comes less than a week after Trump gave a speech on the importance of “patriotic education” and once again condemned critical race theory, arguing “the crusade against American history is toxic propaganda, ideological poison that, if not removed, will dissolve the civic bonds that tie us together.” Well, if the civic bonds are really that weak….

https://theslot.jezebel.com/trump-signs-executive-order-banning-federal-contractors-1845149417

There can be no doubt to anyone that is NOT a racist pig that this person, Trump, is a bigot with NO empathy for anyone but himself.

All that is missing these days is a special salute to the leader.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Battling Histories

First it was the so-called liberals that started an educational program called the 1619 Project…..and as you would think I wrote about it…..https://gulfsouthfreepress.wordpress.com/2020/08/30/that-1619-project/

Not to be out done by the “liberals” the fascists have talked Donald the Orange into a more racially inspired educational program….it will be called the 1776 Commission.

President Trump says he’ll sign an executive order to “promote patriotic education” after bashing a New York Times project investigating how the the legacy of slavery impacts Black Americans as “toxic propaganda.” In what the AP sees as “a defense of white culture,” Trump on Thursday painted the 1619 Project—named after the year in which the first slaves arrived in Virginia—as “ideological poison that if not removed will dissolve the civic bonds that tie us together. It will destroy our country.” The Pulitzer Prize-winning project, which now offers curriculum for schools, teaches that “we were founded on the principle of oppression, not freedom. Nothing could be further from the truth,” the president said during the White House Conference on American History, per Axios.

He said America’s founding had led to the abolition of slavery and “the most fair, equal, and prosperous nation in human history.” Trump said the 1776 Commission that will be launched as a result of his executive order will encourage educators to teach “the miracle of American history,” per Politico. 1619 Project founder Nikole Hannah-Jones’ response: The attempts “to censor a work of American journalism” and dictate what children “should and should not learn should be deeply alarming to all Americans who value free speech.” Elsewhere, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos praised the 1776 Unites curriculum, launched this week by the group 1776 Unites as a direct response to the 1619 Project. The group says its curriculum offers “a more complete and inspiring story of the history of African-Americans” in the US.

As usual a service for those afflicted with an allergy to reading….a short video…..

During his presser he once again attacked teachers/professors as somehow agents of evil…..and I , as you would think, wrote about this type of thinking by the fascists in the GOP…..https://lobotero.com/2020/02/22/those-damn-liberal-professors/

A side note here….I will stop referring to them as ‘fascists’ when they refrain from labeling anyone that does not agree with them as a “socialist”…..until then my labels remain.

You know those “dog whistles” that Trump throws out for his supporters?  It is racism plain and simple!

President Donald Trump’s rhetoric is often referred to as “dog whistle politics.”

In politician speak, a dog whistle is language that conveys a particular meaning to a group of potential supporters. The targeted group hears the “whistle” because of its shared cultural reference, but others cannot.

In 2018, The Washington Post wrote that “perhaps no one has sent more dog whistles than President Trump.”

https://theconversation.com/trumps-appeals-to-white-anxiety-are-not-dog-whistles-theyre-racism-146070

Why does this rhetoric appeal to these people?

There’s no gentle way to put it: People who give in to racism and prejudice may simply be dumb, according to a new study that is bound to stir public controversy.

The research finds that children with low intelligence are more likely to hold prejudiced attitudes as adults. These findings point to a vicious cycle, according to lead researcher Gordon Hodson, a psychologist at Brock University in Ontario. Low-intelligence adults tend to gravitate toward socially conservative ideologies, the study found. Those ideologies, in turn, stress hierarchy and resistance to change, attitudes that can contribute to prejudice, Hodson wrote in an email to LiveScience.

“Prejudice is extremely complex and multifaceted, making it critical that any factors contributing to bias are uncovered and understood,” he said.

https://www.livescience.com/18132-intelligence-social-conservatism-racism.html

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

8 Point Plan To End Police Brutality

The protests as usual have brought about lots of talk about what is need to make the use of police brutality a thing of the past.

Operating with the backing and encouragement of President Trump—who has threatened to deploy the military to suppress protests—and the aid of thousands of National Guard soldiers, police forces throughout the US are engaged in an ongoing rampage.

More than 11,000 people have been arrested in the less than two weeks of protests that followed the police murder of George Floyd. Most have been attacked by police and arrested for “failure to disperse” or violating curfews, under both Democratic and Republican mayors.

Thousands of peaceful demonstrators have been teargassed, pepper sprayed, shot with rubber bullets and beanbags, beaten with truncheons and pushed to the ground, leading to serious injuries and in some cases death. While largely ignored by the mainstream media, video after video of police attacks have gone viral on social media, fueling popular outrage.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/06/06/viol-j06.html

Lots of talk, especially from politicians, it is a good subject to pad the resume for the next election….I am sorry but I doubt see many of them as sincere……

These protests and the brutality are NOTHING new.

Police brutality has been with us for many many years…..

Eugene Williams, a 17-year-old black boy, was stoned to death by white people in 1919 after he swam into what they deemed the wrong part of Lake Michigan.

In response, black people in Chicago rose up in protest, and white people attacked them. More than 500 people were injured and 38 were killed. Afterward, the city convened a commission to study the causes of the violence.

The commission found “systemic participation in mob violence by the police,” Khalil Muhammad, a professor of history, race, and public policy at Harvard Kennedy School and author of the book The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America, told Vox. “When police officers had the choice to protect black people from white mob violence, they chose to either aid and abet white mobs or to disarm black people or to arrest them.”

https://www.vox.com/2020/6/6/21280643/police-brutality-violence-protests-racism-khalil-muhammad

We all, except for the racist, want to see an end to the brutality….and there is a proposal that I kinda like…..it has an 8 fold path…..

Amend federal civil rights laws to allow more effective prosecution of police misconduct by changing the standard from willfulness to recklessness;

Abolish “qualified immunity,” so police officers can be held civilly liable for abuses; Prohibit the transfer of offensive military equipment to police departments

Strip federal funds from departments that violate civil rights;

Create a federal model policing program that emphasizes de-escalation, non-lethal force and culturally competent policing in which access to federal funds depends upon the level of reform adopted. As part of this effort to modernize and humanize police departments we need to enhance the recruitment pool by ensuring that the resources are available to pay wages that will attract the top-tier officers we need to do the difficult work of policing;

Provide funding to states and municipalities to create civilian corps of unarmed first responders to supplement law enforcement, such as social workers, EMTs, and trained mental health professionals, who can handle order maintenance violations, mental health emergencies, and low-level conflicts to aid police officers;

Require agencies to make records of police misconduct publicly available;

Require all jurisdictions that receive federal grant funding to establish independent police conduct review boards that are broadly representative of the community and that have the authority to refer deaths that occur at the hands of police or in police custody to federal authorities for investigation.

In addition, the boards would be authorized to report to federal authorities other types of abuses by police including patterns of misconduct. This would be supplemental to current federal authority to commence investigations. Clearly we need to enhance federal funding for such investigations.

So far these are the best I have heard…..

I see where there can be cheating on these requirements…but that is nothing unusual….there is always fudging federal statutes….there has been too much for too long…..

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

That White Privilege

The protests continue and for the most part are less violent (for now)….I did see a sign that states “All Life Matters”…..I look at that as the same as a white person saying “I have black friends”…a sure signal of a racist.

What is white privilege?

White privilege means your skin color offers you a certain measure of protection in our society—and that privilege can be used as a tool. That might mean stepping in with your voice when you witness injustice happening, knowing that a fellow white person or person in authority is more likely to listen to you than a person of color. Sometimes it means physically standing between a person of color and someone who is trying to harm them. We may not think it makes much of a difference, but it does. White folks are less likely to be viewed by other white folks as a threat or a suspect or a potential criminal, and we can physically disrupt racial injustice simply by placing our white self in front of it.

https://www.upworthy.com/white-americans-asking-what-can-i-do

I cannot wait for the retorts to start (mostly by whites)…..(I await the “All Lives Matter”…excuse)

So many of the incidents have involved traffic stops….but what about at night?

That is one of several examples of systematic bias that emerged from a five-year study that analyzed 95 million traffic stop records, filed by officers with 21 state patrol agencies and 35 municipal police forces from 2011 to 2018.

The Stanford-led study also found that when drivers were pulled over, officers searched the cars of blacks and Hispanics more often than whites. The researchers also examined a subset of data from Washington and Colorado, two states that legalized marijuana, and found that while this change resulted in fewer searches overall, and thus fewer searches of blacks and Hispanics, minorities were still more likely than whites to have their cars searched after a pull-over.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200507094621.htm

I have been saying for many years that all these “conversations” are not accomplishing anything at all….all it is a rehash of grievances and little about solutions other than a real conversation is needed.

A conversation that is never actually held.

And with all the protests and violence in the latest edition of “Racial Inequality” is another call for a ….you got it….a conversation.

Demands for systemic change in the U.S. grow louder by the day following the police killing of George Floyd, an unarmed African-American man in Minneapolis.

Activists say white populations need to listen, but also take action in their own lives.

Those demanding change say in states such as Wisconsin, which is 83% white, it might be uncomfortable for some to openly discuss racial issues.

Tim Cordon, board president of the Wisconsin Network for Peace, Justice and Sustainability, says whites who feel guilt over the generational pain expressed during the protests shouldn’t worry about how they’re viewed in openly examining their contributions to that pain.

https://www.publicnewsservice.org/2020-06-04/housing-homelessness/wisconsin-group-time-to-peel-off-band-aid-discuss-race-openly/a70433-1

How about how the police feel about race issues they face?

In that survey, 67 percent of officers said they thought the deaths of black people in encounters with the police were isolated incidents, compared with 31 percent who said those deaths were part of a broader pattern. The public,

by comparison, had almost exactly the opposite reaction — only 39 percent of Americans said the police killings of black Americans were isolated incidents, while 60 percent said they were part of a broader pattern. (More recent surveys of the public also indicate that around 60 percent of Americans think that these incidents are part of a broader pattern.)

Just 35 percent of officers in the 2016 survey said they thought protests against the killings of black Americans were motivated at least in part by a “genuine desire to hold officers accountable” for their actions. In separate questions, almost all officers (92 percent) said that these protests reflected at least some long-standing bias against the police, and 86 percent said that the attention surrounding high-profile incidents of police killings of black men and the resulting protests has made their jobs harder.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-the-police-see-issues-of-race-and-policing/amp/

Time for America to have that conversation…..(a typical call I know…but it is time)….if we want to lead the world ever again then we need to step up….

The United States arguably has one of the most dynamic political systems in the world, with powerful legal protections for the news media and expansive freedom to associate and peacefully protest. Yet journalists covering the recent demonstrations have been harassed, assaulted, and arrested even as they identify themselves as reporters—a profound breach of constitutional guarantees. And the right to assemble is being denied, as militarized police forces tear-gas peaceful protesters in many cities. These immediate abuses must stop, but the nation must also come together to address the underlying problem.

Racial Injustice Remains the Great Weakness of American Democracy

One obstruction to a real talk on solutions is the media and its enabler social media….these influence the feelings of the masses….so are we seeing riots or resistance?

The general public’s opinions about protests and the social movements behind them are formed in large part by what they read or see in the media. This gives journalists a lot of power when it comes to driving the narrative of a demonstration.

They can emphasize the disruption protests cause or echo the dog whistles of politicians that label protesters as “thugs.” But they can also remind the public that at the heart of the protests is the unjust killing of another black person. This would take the emphasis away from the destruction of the protests and toward the issues of police impunity and the effects of racism in its many forms.

The role journalists play can be indispensable if movements are to gain legitimacy and make progress. And that puts a lot of pressure on journalists to get things right.

https://theconversation.com/riot-or-resistance-how-media-frames-unrest-in-minneapolis-will-shape-publics-view-of-protest-139713

I have never believe that the media was to help solve the problems…..they get too much traction out of reporting the problems….”If it bleeds it leads” is the motto of all media outlets.

What we are witnessing in real time is a fascist politics that believes in racial purity, social Darwinism, and supports the collapse of moral and political accountability. We see evidence of this in the viciousness of Trump’s everyday language, as for instance when he criticizes a reporter for wearing mask for being politically correct, when in actuality the journalist was being socially responsible–a notion Trump despises. We also see it in its more obvious toxic forms as when he states in the aftermath of the mass protests, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.” All the while echoing a racist phrase by a former Miami Police Chief Walter Headley who liked to brag that he only hired white police officers and prided himself for using violence against Black people. There is nothing new about the police killing black people. Nor is there anything new about the United State engaging in state sponsored violence by way of a racially marked mass incarceration system.

Racial Domestic Terrorism and the Legacy of State Violence

I admit that I have no answers…..I will not pretend that I know what it is to be treated like so many black people…..and there is where I think the opposition comes from……they are afraid if they treat blacks as equal it will come back and bite them so they turn a blind eye at the problems and make up silly excuses for it happening…..and silly reasons why protesters get support….like they want to destroy our country (of course they do not say who “our” are (but we know)).

Seems everybody is afraid of being labeled on social media and we know what kind of damage that can do to one’s rep, right?

Be The Change You Want…a believe that is a paraphrase of a thought by Gandhi.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Summer 1919

Closing Thought–24July19

Happy Birthday Mom….she would have been 98….I miss you.

A hundred years ago history was made…..it was made but seldom taught nor spoken of in most circles…..it is known as the “Red Summer”…..

America in the summer of 1919 ran red with blood from racial violence, and yet today, 100 years later, not many people know it even happened.

It flowed in small towns like Elaine, Arkansas, in medium-size places such as Annapolis, Maryland, and Syracuse, New York, and in big cities like Washington and Chicago. Hundreds of African American men, women and children were burned alive, shot, lynched or beaten to death by white mobs. Thousands saw their homes and businesses burned to the ground and were driven out, many never to return.

It was branded “Red Summer” because of the bloodshed and amounted to some of the worst white-on-black violence in U.S. history.

America in the summer of 1919 ran red with blood from racial violence, and yet today, 100 years later, not many people know it even happened. It flowed in small towns like Elaine, Arkansas, in medium-size places such as Annapolis, Maryland, and Syracuse, New York, and in big cities like Washington and Chicago. Hundreds of African American men, women and children were burned alive, shot, hanged or beaten to death by white mobs. Thousands saw their homes and businesses burned to the ground and were driven out, many never to return. It was branded “Red Summer” because of the bloodshed and amounted to some of the worst white-on-black violence in US history. Beyond the lives and family fortunes lost, it had far-reaching repercussions, contributing to generations of black distrust of white authority. But it also galvanized blacks to defend themselves and their neighborhoods with fists and guns; reinvigorated civil rights organizations like the NAACP and led to a new era of activism; gave rise to courageous reporting by black journalists; and influenced the generation of leaders who would take up the fight for racial equality decades later.

“The people who were the icons of the civil rights movement were raised by the people who survived Red Summer,” said Saje Mathieu, a history professor at the University of Minnesota. For all that, there are no national observances marking Red Summer. History textbooks ignore it, and most museums don’t acknowledge it. The reason: Red Summer contradicts the post-World War I-era notion that America was making the world safe for democracy, historians say. But that could change, the AP reports. A monument has been proposed in Arkansas. Several authors have written about the bloody summer. A Brooklyn choral group performed Red Summer-theme songs like “And They Lynched Him on a Tree” in March to commemorate the centennial. At the National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Mathieu and an author plan to present some of their findings July 30. (The AP’s full story is worth a read)

Ask ten people what the Red Summer was about and you will get answers but none would be accurate.

Learn Stuff!

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Mississippi–Is It 1950?

Speaking of Mississippi…….

When I write about the racial tensions that still exist in my state, Mississippi, many people think I am making it all up…..

If only they knew……

This is just one area where the racial bias is happening….but not the only area…..

For generations, black residents of Canton, Mississippi have lived under siege from a heavy-handed sheriff’s department. Now the ACLU is suing the system.

The sheriff’s deputy has his hand around Khadafy Manning’s neck. Manning, a 35-year-old black man, is standing rod straight, or at least as straight as someone with a debilitating spinal injury can, with his hands cuffed behind his back, dressed in his underwear, asking why he is being humiliated in his own living room.

“Officer, please. Why are you handling me like this?”

“Because you ain’t acting right,” the deputy responds.

Source: Police Roadblocks Are Rights-Free Zones In Madison County, Mississippi – Reason.com

There should be a sign on the highways that lead into Mississippi and they should read….

“Welcome to Mississippi

Set Your clocks back 150 years.”

Will Racism End When Old Bigots Die?

Today of all days is a good day to address racism and bigotry….(more along this line in another post)…..today we celebrate the life of Martin Luther King, Jr…..

Angry old white guys….my late father who died at age of 93 was a huge bigot.  He and I would argue at length whenever he opened his mouth…..and many of his “friends” that were part of the coffee clutch at a local mall were pretty much in line with his thinking….

When I saw the title of this piece I thought of my father and his constant bitching about those “people”……

Do people still believe the age-old notion that the next generation will deliver us from racism? Code Switch asked young and old(er). They rarely agreed on the answer.

Shelly Fields is a 46-year-old white woman living in Richton Park, a racially diverse Chicago suburb. She says she’s raised her four daughters, who are biracial, to see people of all races as equal, just as her parents raised her. Fields doesn’t think that racism will ever disappear completely, but she’s hopeful that it lessens with each passing generation.

“The more biracial children there are, the more equality we see,” Fields said. “The more people of color we see in positions of power – it will help to change the way people see race.”

Source: Will Racism End When Old Bigots Die? : Code Switch : NPR

This piece asked a good question….and from my observations the answer is NO…..bigotry is passed down to off-spring…..(it is learned trait not inherited)…..not all buy into the stereotyping but then again many do….especially here in the South (there is NOTHING New about today’s South…they try and hide their bigotry).

Read my post about the incident in Biloxi, Mississippi(coming soon)….believe it or not…except in Mississippi….it is the 21st century.

Old habits die really hard in the Deep South….even in the New South.

How Much Do Americans Really Fear ISIS?

Let me start with a congrats to USA women’s soccer they beat New Zealand 2-0…….Iraq men soccer team plays to a draw with Denmark…

I made my tour of blogs today and of course the more Right leaning ones have the same information that have almost everyday……”Muslims Bad”…….only because some mouth breather told them they were…..

If you read some of the more knuckle dragging blogs you will believe that the “bad guys” are marching down Main street or they are converting people along the way or they are secretly invading the government…..most of it is just wishful thinking by old farts and their unfounded biases…..

But with that said….do Americans fear ISIS?  Yes they do…they are terrified of something they know little about……this is a waste of time to try and educate the unwashed masses but what the Hell….someone has to call them on the ignorance.

I read a pretty good piece in the National Interests blog…….

Polling isn’t a useful guide.

The horrific attack in Orlando by a man who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State once again has many Americans on edge and worried about terrorism. Yesterday CIA Director John Brennan amplified those concerns, telling the Senate Intelligence Committee that the Islamic State remains a dangerous threat “despite all of our progress against ISIL on the battlefield” and that “We judge that it will intensify its global terror campaign…” Referring to the gunman in Orlando, Brennan acknowledged that lone wolf attackers are “an exceptionally challenging issue.”

All that sounds pretty bad. So just how worried is the public about ISIS? Even though the question seems straightforward enough, the answer is more complicated than you probably think.

Source: How Much Do Americans Really Fear ISIS? | The National Interest Blog

Americans will not do their own research….instead they prefer to let politicians and pundits make their minds up for them…..

Maybe if most Americans weren’t too goddamn lazy then they might have a clearer picture of ISIS and their fears.

A perfect example of what I am talking about……

And now thanx to the corporate media the disinformation is greater than Casey would have anticipated….and may I say…..it is working extremely well.

Race in the US: Know your history

Last summer the question of race once again crept into the dialog of America…..it began with the killing of Mr. Brown by a police officer……

The situation spilled out of control as more and more killings were reported…..

We as a country need to have the honest racial dialog…..but there is the rub….HONEST….something in short supply in the good old US of A……

Before that conversation can take place we all have to know what it is we are talking about…..ignorance just feeds the hate and the misinformation…..if we understand history then we would be able to see why the killing of Brown became the “boiling” point……..

This article is well written and should be read……and read by everyone……

 

Race in the US: Know your history – Al Jazeera English.