Thanks to FIFA.com

If you watched almost any FIFA soccer game since 2006, you’ll notice all of the bright yellow signs that say things like “My Game is Fair Play” and “Say No to Rascism.”

Such displays have been a policy of the international soccer organization since 2002 when President Joseph S. “Sepp”  Blatter proclaimed:

Racism is a blight that we must eradicate forcefully and resolutely. Football has a unifying power that can and must be used to combat discrimination of all kinds.”

Mr Blatter’s pledge to eradicate racism “forcefully and resolutely” seems, however, not to include actual soccer players.

Recently Liverpool’s Luis Suarez hurled racial abuse on Manchester United defender Patrice Evra.

When asked about racism on the field during a CNN Sport interview, President Blatter gave this eloquent response:

I would deny it. There is no racism, there is maybe one of the players towards another, he has a word or a gesture which is not the correct one, but also the one who is effected by that, HE should say that this is a game. We are in a game, and at the end of the game, we shake hands, and this can happen, because we have worked so hard against racism and discrimination. I think the whole world is aware of the efforts we are making against racism and discrimination. And, on the field of play sometimes you say something that is not very correct, but then at the end of the game, the game is over and you have the next game where you can behave better.”

And that’s how Sepp steps in it.

Hey, at least racism is over!

Image Thanks to the Tomahawk Take

Everybody loves an underdog…errr, bird: the Cardinals come back and win the World Series!

Twitter, China, and Human Rights

Who has student loan debt? A Colorlines infographic breaks it down.

Whack-a-swamp rat!

When do Halloween costumes cross the line?

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.

Image from change.org

A small-town high school student, deals with adversity, racial discrimination, and teen motherhood, only to come out with a near perfect grade point average and be named valedictorian of her high school class…

…sounds like a pitch for a new ABC Family TV show, right?

Except it’s not. It’s reality for Kymberly Wimberly (…and you thought Juliet Capulet had it hard!). And unfortunately, her story didn’t conclude with a happy ending like the TV-version would have.

Wimberly was an exceptional high school student at McGhee High School in racially-divided small-town Arkansas. During her junior year of high school, she got pregnant.

Rather than dropping out or signing up for an MTV reality show, Wimberly stayed in school – missing only three weeks and returning back to school for finals after she gave birth.

She worked hard balancing her new responsibilities as a mother with her studies in school.

But Kymberly had a slip up in English class: she got a B…her first ever.

During her senior year, Wimberly was determined to overcome her “slip” in grades. The young woman signed up for a full course load of Advanced Placement classes, which she got all A’s in, bringing her GPA back up and placing her first in line for the valedictorian slot at graduation.

The school guidance counselor told Kimberly’s mom, Molly Bratton, the good news. Bratton was overjoyed.

This is where the TV show’s season finale would end, maybe with a closing emotional graduation montage. But this is where the real life injustice started for Wimberly and her family.

The next day, Bratton, who works at the high school, heard another staff member talk about

the big mess

that having Kymberly as valedictorian would cause.

Her mother, and media sources since the story has become public, have interpreted this comment and the school’s subsequent actions to be both because of Wymberly’s race (the majority white school hasn’t had a black valedictorian in almost 20 years) and because of her status as a teen mother.

The next day, McGhee principal Darrell Thompson announced that this year, the high school would break tradition and name a co-valedictorian – a white student, with a lower GPA.

Bratton attempted to file an appeal to the decision, but the school system informed her she would have to wait until the end of June to have her petition heard, a month and a half after Kymberly’s graduation.

Her father then contacted a civil rights attorney from Little Rock who quickly called the superintendent Thomas Gathen, who assured the lawyer that he would

fix the problem

Apparently, fixing the problem to Gathen means defending the status quo. Believing that the situation was indeed fixed, the lawyer didn’t file an injunction. Then Gathen took to the air waves, defending the school’s decision.

Now months after graduation, Wimberly’s lawyer is suing Gathen, the school board, and Thompson for racial discrimination – both against Wimberly and on behalf of other African-American students at McGhee who claim to have been discouraged from taking AP classes.

Meanwhile, a former teen mom is taking up for Wymberly through online activism.  Bee Lavendar started this petition on change.org to stand allow people across the nation to stand in solidarity with Kymberly and demand that the school system apologize and give her the honor she deserves.

What do you think?  Will you be signing the petition in support of Kymberly?

Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street? Courtesy of The Muppet NewFlash

Who doesn’t love a furry puppet who is smart and can tell you how to count and say the alphabet??? ( kinda sounds like our editor at USDemocrazy without the “smart” bit…)

Our favorite gang of Muppets, who are lovable puppets that live on Sesame Street, are celebrating their 40th Anniversary! (Can you count to 40?… let’s do it together…!)

Don’t bother asking how to get there- no one will answer your question even if you sing it to the world EVERY DAY! Although there are many shows that may currently surpass Sesame Street in popularity- its longevity is unmatched.

The Children’s Television Workshop, a non profit production company, gave the world its first glimpse of Sesame Street in 1969. Some of us from the newer generations may be surprised to know that the aims of this iconic show weren’t just to entertain but instead

to present enjoyable and beguiling preschool education to poor children who did not have access to decent preschools while bringing diversity to children’s programming.”

Fighting cultural norms of racism and problems of inequality ? Not what you first think of when you imagine  a cuddly puppet named Big Bird or Elmo!

Still times have changed, and television as a learning tool isn’t looked on so kindly these days. Some think youngsters like two-year old toddlers should not be in front of the tv in the first place. Experts agree that both physically and developmentally, television (even Sesame Street) is harmful at young ages.

Despite this, we at USDemocrazy must applaud Sesame Street- and NOT because President Obama gave his seal of approval in his introduction of Sesame Street’s 40th season. Instead we cheer because under the fur and fabric efforts toward social change remain at the Street’s core.

Cookie Monster Eating Some Fruits and Veggies with those Cookies

This show has presented an integrated neighborhood during a time of racial turmoil.

It made a certain monster who is fond of cookies and sweets, add some veggies to his diet in a time where obesity runs rampant in America.

Sesame Street has made strides globally by introducing the first HIV positive muppet to Sesame Street South Africa.

So next time you are flipping through the channels and pass that familiar green and white sign, pause and take a closer look.

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.