Posts Tagged ‘Race’
Newt Gingrich’s triumph in the recent South Carolina Primary has been largely attributed to his sharp performances in two recent televised debates.
The signature highlight of debate #1 was a confrontation Newt had with Fox News correspondent and former-NPR reporter Juan Williams.
Williams asked Newt Gingrich if calling President Obama the “Food Stamps President” could be considered offensive to low-income people and people of color.
Gingrich’s indignant response, showcased in the clip above, largely blew-off the question. Williams followed up the former Speaker of the House’s response with his assertion that Gingrich might be coming across as “belittling people.”
Gingrich dismissed the claim.
Clearly “Food Stamp President” was meant to be a pejorative slam. But it’s not a surprise that the statement carries a racial connotation for many.
It is reminiscent of President Ronald Reagan’s 1976 presidential campaign term “Welfare Queens” that many studies have shown carry a clear racial code. Representative Clyburn and Representative Sheila Jackson Lee condemned the label as racially coded.
“Food stamps” is the now-outdated term for SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that President Bush had a large part in rebranding and de-stigmatizing.
When taking a look at the hard numbers, the President who hailed the largest number of food stamps recipients and who experienced the largest program growth was President George W. Bush, with a 63% jump in recipients and an increase in recipients for 7 out of his 8 years in office.
What was arguably more despicable was Gingrich’s pointed comment about Juan Williams after the debate:
I had a very interesting dialogue Monday night in Myrtle Beach with Juan Williams about the idea of work, which seemed to Juan Williams to be a strange, distant concept.
Hmm, not sure we follow you there, Newt. Especially when considering the way Williams reacted during the debate – oh, and the fact that Williams has been pretty prominently employed as a journalist, author, and commentator for years.
We tend to agree with this quote by senior editor at The Atlantic Ta-Nehisi Coates, which pretty much sums it up:
The notion that Gingrich is somehow unaware of that “food stamp president” has racial connotations, that he is being on the level when he says the black community should not be satisfied with food stamps, requires an extension of supernatural generosity.
Flow Chart from Fineness & Accuracy
Have you ever gotten into a heated argument and wondered to yourself, “Should I compare my opponent to a member of the KKK?”
Well, in case you ever have – and didn’t know how to determine if you should or not – we at USDemocrazy have a nifty flow chart for you! Examine and use wisely.
The flow chart came out of a recent controversy, involving Princeton Professor of Political Science and African-American Studies Melissa Harris-Perry. Well-known for her writings and commentary on race issues in American politics, Harris-Perry published an article in the Nation this week.
Harris-Perry’s article entitled Black President, Double Standard: Why White Liberals are Abandoning Obama makes the argument that one reason for Obama’s declining support is at least partially because of racial bias. She argues that white supporters have held the first black president to a higher standard than they have white presidents from the recent past (read: Bill Clinton).
Her article caused quite a backlash, including this response on Salon.com, which not only presented a non-sensical critique of Harris-Perry’s assertion but also compared her views to those of the KKK.
Harris-Perry addressed some of these critiques in another piece, but the whole controversy has apparently brought up a much more important question – when is it okay to compare someone to a member of the KKK?
Thankfully, the controversy also has brought us an answer…in the form of a flow chart.
Thanks to The Huffington Post!
Looking to make money? Stay in school.
We know, we know, you’ve heard it before…
But now it’s backed by facts!
The U.S. Census Bureau has determined education now has the largest impact on what you earn.
Based on data from before the recession, between 2006 to 2008, the report estimates that over a forty-year career, the variation in annual earnings between the least educated (or those with an eighth grade education or less) and the most educated (those with a doctorate degree) is $72,000.”
Don’t be fooled. Race and gender are each still contributors, as well.
Among full-time, year-round workers, white men with professional degrees make nearly 49 percent more in lifetime earnings than white women with a comparable education level. The gender gap is narrower for blacks with professional degrees: black men with professional degrees earn 24 percent more in lifetime earnings than their female counterparts.”
If a certain Republican presidential contender has their way, we all might be getting quite the return on our tuition.
Thanks to AP and The Huffington Post!
We here at USDemocrazy are not legal experts.We usually leave all that legal stuff for judges to decide.
But today… we’ve decided to be a judge!
That’s because we have learned that a judge in Louisiana has made a particularly boneheaded decision. …read more.
We at USDemocrazy are constantly perplexed. (Don’t worry — that’s not our news for the day.)
What’s perplexing us today is the controversial arrest of eminent African American scholar, professor, author (and the list goes on…), Henry Louis “Skip” Gates, Jr.
Dr. Gates was apparently struggling to get into his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts (home to Harvard University), as his front door was jammed. According to the story in the New York Times,
Cambridge police say they responded to the well-maintained two-story home after a woman reported seeing ”two black males with backpacks on the porch,” with one ”wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry.”
When the police arrived, Gates was in his home. What happened next is the point of contention.
Professor Gates says he produced a drivers license and a Harvard ID to the dispatched officer. The white policeman on call had a different take:
”Gates continued to yell at me, accusing me of racial bias and continued to tell me that I had not heard the last of him,” the arresting officer wrote.
Gates’ colleagues and peers spoke out immediately, loudly crying “racial profiling” to anyone who would listen - which, it turns out, was everyone.
Since his arrest, the charge of disorderly conduct against him has been dropped, but the race debate goes on. Blackpoliticsontheweb.com wrote:
The charge was dropped Tuesday, with a statement from the city of Cambridge calling the incident last Thursday “regrettable and unfortunate.” Police offered no apology, nor did the officer accept blame.
So, though the charges have been dissolved, the mug shot remains, the news stories are still circulating, and the implications of the arrest of the head of the W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African and African American Research remain, and no apology means no closure.
After the incident, all eyes turned toward President Obama, who has addressed the topic of race numerous times — and most recently at the meeting of the N.A.A.C.P. last week. During this speech, Obama stated,
Make no mistake: The pain of discrimination is still felt in America.
No kidding.
He went on:
We have to say to our children, Yes, if you’re African-American, the odds of growing up amid crime and gangs are higher. Yes, if you live in a poor neighborhood, you will face challenges that someone in a wealthy suburb does not. But that’s not a reason to get bad grades, that’s not a reason to cut class, that’s not a reason to give up on your education and drop out of school. No one has written your destiny for you. Your destiny is in your hands and don’t you forget that.
Obama was asked in his press conference on Wednesday night for his take on the arrest, to which he responded:
But I think it’s fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home.
(Someone just got called stupid by the president of the United States!!)
And though outraged, Dr. Gates has been honorably tolerant of the situation, as the website Gawker points out.
He also granted an interview to his daughter, Elizabeth Gates, a contributor to the Daily Beast, in which he said:
If I had been white this incident never would have happened. He would have asked at the door, “Excuse me, are you okay? Because there are two black men around here try’na rob you [laughter] and I think he also violated the rules by not giving his name and badge number, and I think he would have given that to one of my white colleagues or one of my white neighbors. So race definitely played a role. Whether he’s an individual racist? I don’t know—I don’t know him. But I think he stereotyped me.
Gates’ take on the incident is insightful (we would expect nothing less), and we recommend reading the entire thing for a better understanding of the role of racism in his arrest.
So, what does everyone think? Is anyone outraged? Let’s hear it.
1. Please tell us your full name and state and provide a sentence describing who you are for our readers:
Anna Shields, native Alabaman and director of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County’s Honors College.
2. What makes your state distinct?
SHIELDS: Alabama is defined by: its hot humid summers, beautiful rivers and lakes, football, and a church every half-mile.
3. If your state were a person, describe its, his, or her personality:
SHIELDS: If Alabama were a person, he’d be a middle-aged “bidnessman,” gunrack optional on his white Ford-F150, which he drives to his cabin on the lake. He is suspicious of the rest of the world, never goes farther than Atlanta (which he hates when he does have to go there, as do all right-thinking people), and happy to root for his football team (Auburn or Alabama), vote Republican, do his work, and go to church.
4. What’s the funniest thing about your state
SHIELDS: Ricky Bragg, the writer. Funny and poignant at the same time.
11
‘Game Change’: A game-changer?
by ForeverPlaid
News
From Politico
We here at USDemocrazy know what it’s like to say stupid things. Fortunately for us, we can always rely on our elected representatives in Washington to outshine us in the “stupid” department.
This week’s foot-in-mouth champion is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.(Thanks for helping us out, Harry!)
Reid’s blatantly bad blooper comes from a book set to come out this week, Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime by political journalists Mark Halperin and John Heilemann.
Here’s his quote, provided by the Atlantic,:
This isn’t even the first “oh darnit” moment Reid has had, but the GOP’s Michael Steele is taking advantage of the situation to call upon Reid to resign. …read more.