Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Current Topics On Race

How we talk about race has changed considerably over the years, but as the following sample of stories illustrates, our conversations about race are generally bad and still involve reactionary politicians (I'm talking about you Steve King).

Dylan Matthews says race affects American's support of welfare programs. That's been painfully obvious since the 1930s. Conservatives deny this charge, but as a commenter rightly says, "they're just putting their heads in the sand." Read Ira Katznelson's When Affirmative Action Was White to get a full picture.

Devona Walker picks up on a Republican's ridiculous raghead comments in South Carolina.

An unintended consequence of high black male incarceration rates is the high number of unwed, black females.

In the partisan sense, Obama may have made life more difficult for black candidates by activating white voters motivated by racial animus.

1 comment:

Brian said...

Thanks Dr. King. Have enjoyed the Loop21 discussions.

On black incarcerations - the so-called "Black Community" has yet to address this issue seriously. It has been a huge problem for well over 3 decades. But Black opinion leaders always seem to point to external factors as the source of the problem...suggesting that it's someone else's fault, rather than looking seriously at the internal problems plaguing Black communities. They have been playing the same tune since the 70's. Which is why I started ignoring them 15-20 years ago. (not that they don't make a few valid points.... but for the most part, the Black establishment continues to be on the wrong track when it comes to identifying the true sources of the problems and coming up with the right solutions).