Is The Deck Stacked Against Black Boys In America? : NPR Ed : NPR: The numbers are grim. Black boys are more likely than white boys to live in poverty, and with a single parent. They're also more likely to be suspended from school and land in prison, and less likely to be able to read.
But what to do about it? That's the question before My Brother's Keeper, a White House task force created earlier this year. On Friday, President Obama released the team's first 90-day progress report. The $200 million, five-year initiative was announced in February. At its inception, Obama traced the idea for My Brother's Keeper to the killing of Trayvon Martin, the Florida teenager whose death sparked a heated, national debate about race and justice.
"We've got a huge number of kids who have as much talent and more talent than I had, but nobody is investing in them," Obama said Friday, one day after discussing the report's findings with his Cabinet. "And I want to make sure that I use this platform, and every Cabinet member here wants to make sure that they use the tools that they've got, so that these young men, young boys, know somebody cares about them, somebody is thinking about them, and that they can succeed, and making America stronger as a consequence."
Friday, May 30, 2014
NFLPA’s Smith weighs in on Redskins name; social media goes into overdrive - The Washington Post
NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith offered his thoughts in a statement to The Post, issued in response to a letter sent by Native American groups to all NFL players earlier this week. That letter had asked the players to support a name change by the team.
Smith stopped short of pledging any direct action by players or the
union, saying his conversations on the matter with the Redskins and NFL
Commissioner Roger Goodell should remain private.
“I have conveyed
my thoughts on this issue both to Roger and to the team,” Smith said in
the statement. “They understand our position and I believe that those
conversations are most effective when they can remain private. As I have
stated publicly, though, I do not believe anyone should inflict pain,
embarrass or insult, especially given the racial insensitivity of the
term ‘Redskin.’
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Magic From The Margins In Long-Awaited 'Long Hidden' : NPR
That twisty point becomes the double edged sword upon which the fantasy tradition continuously spears itself — if it speaks to you, why concern yourself with acknowledging the grotesque gaps and silent spaces where the narratives of marginalized voices have been relegated? The collected stories in Long Hidden create a bridge between history and fantasy that allows for even deeper truths to be told.
Opinion: Why are Hispanics identifying as white? - CNN.com
Consider a new study of census returns released by the Pew Research Center, which reportedly showed significant numbers of Hispanics are now identifying as white.
Some news reports suggested that Hispanics, rather than solidifying a distinct ethnic identity and becoming the driving force of a "majority-minority" future, might instead try to be just the latest group of immigrants, such as Italians or Jews, to "become white."
Maya Angelou Life in Photos : The New Yorker
13 of Maya Angelou's best quotes
She was known for her inspiring words that shed light onto the beauty and injustices of the world. USA TODAY Network lists 13 of her best quotes:
1. "I believe that each of us comes from the creator trailing wisps of glory."
- Interview with the Academy of Achievement (1990)
2. "I am a Woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal Woman,
that's me."
- Phenomenal Woman, poem (1978)
3. "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
- Interview for Beautifully Said Magazine (2012)
4. "You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them."
- Excerpted from Letter to My Daughter, a book of essays (2009)
5. "My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and
to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some
style."
- Angelou's Facebook (2011)
6. "The need for change bulldozed a road down the center of my mind."
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969)
7. "Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud."
- Letter to My Daughter, a book of essays (2009)
8. "I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt
on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back."
- Interview with Oprah for Angelou's 70th birthday (2000)
9. "We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated."
- The Art of Fiction No. 119, the Paris Review
10. "You are the sum total of everything you've ever seen, heard, eaten,
smelled, been told, forgot - it's all there. Everything influences each
of us, and because of that I try to make sure that my experiences are
positive."
- Interview from the April 2011 edition of O, the Oprah Magazine (2011)
11. "One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with
potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with
consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest."
- Interview in USA TODAY (March 5, 1988)
12. "Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope."
- Angelou's Facebook (Jan. 11, 2013)
13. "Nothing can dim the light which shines from within."
- Date unknown
Scholars Reflect on Passing of Maya Angelou - Higher Education
Scholars Reflect on Passing of Maya Angelou - Higher Education: INDIANAPOLIS — With grace and elegance, Dr. Maya Angelou did it all.
She was the last of a generation of artists whose life work was deeply connected to a commitment toward social justice. A gifted author best known for her poetry, she was also a pioneering actress, singer and dancer, all the while remaining a staunch advocate for civil rights.
But for the hundreds of young people who passed through her class at Wake Forest University where she was the Reynolds Professor of American Studies for many years, Angelou was a mesmerizing teacher who pushed them to become agents for social change.
Yesterday, they, and indeed the world, paused to mourn the literary giant who died at the age of 86, having left behind a body of work that includes I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and Phenomenal Woman.
Diverse Docket: Court Sides with Thomas Jefferson U. in Discrimination Case - Higher Education
Angela Miller, who is African-American, began the program at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia in 2006.
She encountered problems with her first two clinical supervisors, including “leaving a blood pressure cuff on a patient’s left arm, resulting in the operation being performed on the wrong arm,” according to the 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision.
She complained to a program administrator about racial tensions but didn’t file a complaint with the university’s student services office as the administrator recommended.
Equity, Inclusion Take Center Stage at NISOD Conference - Higher Education
NISOD presenters also focused on diversity and equity issues, highlighting strategies designed to make community college campuses more inclusive. Dr. Edward J. Leach, NISOD’s new director, is proud to be a part of an organization that showcases the latest advances in postsecondary education at community and technical colleges while helping to ensure all students — especially minorities and the underrepresented — have access to higher education.
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
The Desire For A Reckoning Meets The Wish For A Reset : Code Switch : NPR
The Desire For A Reckoning Meets The Wish For A Reset : Code Switch : NPR: The title of Ta-Nehisi Coates' much-discussed cover story at The Atlantic, "The Case for Reparations," might be something of a misnomer.
Coates' opus is really calling for a collective reckoning with America's history, and he uses a call for reparations as the vehicle. He aims to disabuse readers of the notion that the most destructive policies toward black wealth creation were from some long-ago time. So he recounts a dark — and fairly recent — history of black wealth being plundered.
The Case For A Reckoning
From the kleptocratic local governments of the Jim Crow South to the redlining and housing discrimination of the post-World War II period, Coates points to a pattern that continues into living memory. He traces this pattern to the current day — his conclusion links the recent housing crisis that devastated black wealth to this same fundamental impulse — and argues that it will persist until we grapple with it.
Coates' opus is really calling for a collective reckoning with America's history, and he uses a call for reparations as the vehicle. He aims to disabuse readers of the notion that the most destructive policies toward black wealth creation were from some long-ago time. So he recounts a dark — and fairly recent — history of black wealth being plundered.
The Case For A Reckoning
From the kleptocratic local governments of the Jim Crow South to the redlining and housing discrimination of the post-World War II period, Coates points to a pattern that continues into living memory. He traces this pattern to the current day — his conclusion links the recent housing crisis that devastated black wealth to this same fundamental impulse — and argues that it will persist until we grapple with it.
In College Lacrosse, Two Brothers Flirt With Making History : Code Switch : NPR
This year, Miles and Lyle Thompson, brothers from the Onondaga who are teammates at the University at Albany, State University of New York, are among the five men's finalists for the award. Miles led the nation in goals per game, and was second in overall points. The only player with more points this season was Lyle. Along with their cousin Ty Thompson, they fuel the highest-scoring offense in the sport, and if either of the Thompsons were to win it, he would be the first Native player to do so.
It's a juxtaposition that's hard to miss: Lacrosse was created by Native Americans; Tewaaraton is the Mohawk name for the sport.
"When you're born, you're given a wooden [lacrosse] stick, and it just goes to show that lacrosse is in our tradition," Miles told me. "Being Native American, everyone plays the game."
Maya Angelou, Poet, Activist And Singular Storyteller, Dies At 86 : The Two-Way : NPR
Growing up in St. Louis, Mo., and Stamps, Ark., she was Marguerite Johnson. It was her brother who first called her Maya, and the name stuck. Later she added the Angelou, a version of her first husband's name.
Angelou left a troubled childhood and the segregated world of Arkansas behind and began a career as a dancer and singer. She toured Europe in the1950s with a production of Porgy and Bess, studied dance with Martha Graham and performed with Alvin Ailey on television. In 1957 she recorded an album called "Calypso Lady."
D.C. STEM Symposium Examines Equity Issue - Higher Education
To address this issue, education stakeholders convened at the Symposium on Advancing Equity through More and Better STEM Learning at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. yesterday. In her keynote, Catherine Lhamon, assistant secretary for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Education, pointed to problems in the public school system. While strides have been made with regards to equality, some schools, as Lhamon put it, have failed to live up “to the promise of Brown.”
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
First Lady Rebuts Effort to Weaken School-Lunch Rules - NYTimes.com
The standards, approved by Congress and the president in 2010, set limits on sodium, fat and calories, and require that unhealthy menu items be replaced with fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
Some big food companies and Republican lawmakers have criticized the rules, calling them inflexible, ineffective and expensive. Representative Robert B. Aderholt, Republican of Alabama, has attached language to a spending bill that would waive the requirements for financially ailing school districts.
In response, Mrs. Obama met with a half-dozen school officials on Tuesday from New York, California, Virginia, Maryland, Georgia and Tennessee who attested to the success of the new standards in their school systems. The standards have been introduced gradually over the last two years.
Co-ed or Not? Women’s Colleges Pondering Path to Survival - Higher Education
“They have an incredible women’s studies program and amazing professors,” says Zelinger. “Once I got there, I saw that there was a ton of incredible benefits for women and lots of opportunities for women’s leadership.”
Now a junior studying sociology, Zelinger says she’s glad she chose Barnard.
“The classes tend to be a lot smaller,” says Zelinger, founder of “FBomb,” a blog and online community dedicated to women’s rights that is targeted at teenage girls.
Equiano Celebrated at Howard University Event - Higher Education
In the preface to his autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African, Written by Himself, Equiano wrote: “I am not so foolishly vain as to expect from [this book] either immortality or literary reputation.”
Yet, the former slave and self-made man achieved just that.
Equiano’s narrative, widely read in colleges and universities across the nation, describes an early childhood in an Igbo village in present day Nigeria. According to the author’s account, he was kidnapped at age eleven and transported to the West Indies via the Middle Passage where he was sold into slavery.
Monday, May 26, 2014
Miss. Judge Allegedly Struck, Yelled Slur At Mentally Disabled Black Man
The family of Eric Rivers, 20, filed a complaint against Madison County Justice Court Judge Bill Weisenberger, who is white, accusing him of striking Rivers at the market on May 8 in Canton, Miss.
"This is 2014, not 1960, where someone could slap a young man and call out, 'Run, n-----, run,'" former Canton Mayor William Truly, now president of the Canton branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, told the Clarion-Ledger.
An apparent witness, Tammy Westbrook, told the newspaper Rivers was offering to help flea market vendors unload their goods when Weisenberger slapped him twice, then yelled "run, n----, run" as he fled.
Why My Sons Won't Have To Ask Their Mom For Her Old Pantyhose : Code Switch : NPR
My high school and college friends often joked that I had (*ahem*) "slave hair" — that is, hair so tightly curled that it could not be tamed even with repeated attempts to straighten it out. They were able to style their hair with waves, and my uncooperative hair was endlessly entertaining to them. I'm certain the opposite sex noticed the deficiency too; I neither made waves in my hair nor with the young ladies.
Saturday, May 24, 2014
Cornell Brooks, new president of NAACP, is a relative unknown but has deep civil rights background - baltimoresun.com
Cornell Brooks, new president of NAACP, is a relative unknown but has deep civil rights background - baltimoresun.com: He'd been leader of a New Jersey social justice organization since 2008, making inroads on housing and employment issues, when Cornell Brooks, a soft-spoken lawyer and minister, got an opportunity he didn't see coming.
The NAACP, a national organization based in Northwest Baltimore, was looking for a new president. A search committee wanted to talk. He had to decide whether to seek the job as successor to the charming, sometimes controversial Ben Jealous. A friend remembers telling the 53-year-old Brooks that it might be hard to handle the competing factions within the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which has a famously unwieldy 64-person board, hundreds of local branches and periodic financial problems.
The NAACP, a national organization based in Northwest Baltimore, was looking for a new president. A search committee wanted to talk. He had to decide whether to seek the job as successor to the charming, sometimes controversial Ben Jealous. A friend remembers telling the 53-year-old Brooks that it might be hard to handle the competing factions within the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which has a famously unwieldy 64-person board, hundreds of local branches and periodic financial problems.
Congress To Award Highest Honor To Army's Only Latino Unit : Code Switch : NPR
Named after Borinquen, the TaIno name for the island of Puerto Rico, the Borinqueneers follow a number of other segregated military units that have received the medal, including the Navajo Code Talkers, Tuskegee Airmen, Montford Point Marines and Japanese-American soldiers of World War II.
Why Chipotle Is Accused Of Contributing To A Culture Of Invisibility : Code Switch : NPR
Let me explain: Chipotle — the fast-casual chain that goes by "Chipotle Mexican Grill" — plans to roll out a series called "Cultivating Thought," in which the chain prints original stories by famous writers on its paper goods.
Hat tip for that idea goes to Jonathan Safran Foer, author of Everything Is Illuminated. Foer was enjoying his meal in a Chipotle when he found himself without anything to read.
Friday, May 23, 2014
Remembering Sam Greenlee Through His Most Famous Book : Code Switch : NPR
Greenlee died on Monday after a few years of declining health, and as word gets out, appreciations are rolling in — for Greenlee's astute, sometimes acerbic personality, for his love of community (both for his Chicago home town and black America in general), and for writing a book that became a favorite at a turbulent, uncertain time.
Part thriller, part satire and part social commentary, The Spook Who Sat By The Door begins when Gil Hennington, a powerful US Senator, decides the black vote is his answer to winning a tight election. To boost the flagging interest of his black constituents, Herrington needs a race issue. Most of the big ones had been done already, so he decides to point out that the CIA is completely lacking in black agents.
How To Tell Who Hasn't Read The New 'Atlantic' Cover Story : Code Switch : NPR
In this month's issue, it's done it again. Ta-Nehisi Coates' cover story sketches out the trajectory of historical disadvantages accrued by black folks over the last several generations and argues that it's time for Americans to have a reckoning with this legacy.
Two African-American Scholars Join Ranks of Deans - Higher Education
Dr. Jonathan Holloway, a professor of history and American Studies and chair of the Department of African American Studies at Yale, was named dean of Yale College by the university’s president, Dr. Peter Salovey.
Dr. Alondra Nelson, a professor of sociology and director of the Institute for Research on Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Columbia, was named dean of social sciences—a newly created position within the College of Arts and Sciences—at the New York Ivy League institution.
Thursday, May 22, 2014
The Case for Reparations - The Atlantic
Clyde Ross was born in 1923, the seventh of 13 children, near Clarksdale, Mississippi, the home of the blues. Ross’s parents owned and farmed a 40-acre tract of land, flush with cows, hogs, and mules. Ross’s mother would drive to Clarksdale to do her shopping in a horse and buggy, in which she invested all the pride one might place in a Cadillac. The family owned another horse, with a red coat, which they gave to Clyde. The Ross family wanted for little, save that which all black families in the Deep South then desperately desired—the protection of the law.
Senate To NFL: Change The Redskins' Name : It's All Politics : NPR
Snyder has vowed to never change the name of one of the NFL's most historic franchises. But the letter from the senators — 48 Democrats and two independents who typically vote with them — is a sure sign that the Senate isn't going to accept Snyder's "no" as the last word.
In the aftermath of the NBA's Donald Sterling-Los Angeles Clippers controversy — and Commissioner Adam Silver's quick and punitive response — the Democratic senators see an opportunity to increase pressure on the football commissioner to do the right thing, from their point of view.
Report: Financial Aid, Student Support Reforms Should Embrace Non-Traditional Black Students - Higher Education
In “From Access to Completion: A Seamless Path to College Graduation for African Americans,” the National Urban League (NUL) concludes that independent and non-traditional students “require a comprehensive, customized approach that includes strengthening the Pell Grant program to better align with rising tuition costs and student need.” The report is the second completed by the civil rights-focused community and economic development organization as part of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Reimagining Aid Delivery and Design (RADD) project.
Diverse Conversations: Training Tomorrow’s Educators - Higher Education
Recently I sat down with Dr. Maria del Carmen Salazar, associate professor of curriculum studies and teaching at the University of Denver’s Morgridge College of Education, to discuss this challenge of training tomorrow’s educators and what can be done to make these efforts a success.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
A Model Minority? A National Look at Asian-Americans and Endowed Professors of Education - Higher Education
In addition to the prestige that endowed professorships and chairs confer to their holders, these honors have also proven to be extremely beneficial for the institutions of higher learning that award them. For instance, colleges and universities normally use these prestigious positions as tools for recruitment or retention; both uses benefit the institution directly. The endowed positions may be used to recruit talented faculty members, or to retain highly productive faculty members who might otherwise wish to leave for greener pastures—in other words, those professors who may be receiving offers of higher pay and opportunities if they go somewhere else.
Endowed positions also have been used to diversify departments and colleges, something that benefits both the university and its students.
Social Activism Loses ‘Peaceful Warrior’ Vincent Harding - Higher Education
By most accounts, Dr. Vincent Harding was prolific, penning classic texts such as There is a River: The Black Struggle for Freedom in America and Martin Luther King: The Inconvenient Hero even as he held down teaching positions at institutions like Spelman, the University of Pennsylvania, Swarthmore and Temple University.
But the classroom was his second calling.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
The Job Market Discriminates Against Black College Grads
The 2013 unemployment rate for recent college grads who are black was almost twice that of recent college grads overall, according to report released Tuesday by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a left-leaning think tank that studies inequality and other economic issues. As the chart below from CEPR shows, that gap has widened during the recovery.
Lessons From A Year Of Discussing Race And Culture Online : Code Switch : NPR
I've found exactly one consistently notable exception: Ta-Nehisi Coates' blog at the Atlantic. Reading Coates' posts and the ensuing conversation, you come away with a portrait of a hearty band of explorers, remixing one another's ideas, challenging each other, collectively endeavoring to understand our intertwined histories and appreciate our individual experiences.
So when we started Code Switch, we decided to shamelessly steal Mr. Coates' playbook (with appropriate credit): holding our commenters and ourselves to a high standard; editing our conversations assertively to maximize thoughtfulness, empathy and insight; striving to bring new voices into the discussion whose experiences are not often heard.
Experts: Intentional Race-conscious Outreach Needed in Admissions Process - Higher Education
So argued two leading researchers of Asian American issues in higher education Monday at the national seminar of the Education Writers Association.
“The idea that grades and test scores are objective is debatable,” said Robert Teranishi, education professor at UCLA’s Asian American Studies Center.
He cited recent changes to the College Board’s SAT as evidence that the college entrance exam lacks validity.
“If it were perfect in defining merit, why would they change it?” Teranishi said.
Low Profile of New President of NAACP Might Be Obstacle for Group’s Growth - Higher Education
“I’ve never heard of this guy,” said one national civil rights activist, who was surprised by the pick but who asked not to be identified because he did not want to appear critical of the organization’s choice. “No one I know has ever heard of him or has worked with him. It’s a really bizarre choice.”
Likewise, many academicians who write about race and social issues say that they too are unfamiliar with Brooks and the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, the Newark organization that he’s led.
Monday, May 19, 2014
60 Years Ago the Supreme Court Told Schools to Desegregate. Here's How Fast We're Backsliding. | Mother Jones
Of course, that doesn't tell the whole story. In honor of the Brown anniversary, UCLA's Civil Rights Project released a report that analyzes the progress of desegregation since 1954. According to the report, starting in the 1980s, schools began to ditch integration efforts and shift focus to universal education standards as a way to level the playing field for students in unequal schools. In 1991, when the Supreme Court ruled that school districts could end their desegregation plans, it put the nail in integration's coffin.
The Stereotype Threat to Workplace Diversity: Dr. Claude Steele Mesmerizes Audience
Drawing from his new book, “Whistling Vivaldi,” Steele offered corporate leaders and diversity executives attending a DiversityInc event an insider’s look at his groundbreaking research on stereotypes and identity and the role they play in academic achievement and underachievement among Blacks and women.
“You must read this book,” Luke Visconti, CEO of DiversityInc, told the audience. “You will end up buying boxes of it for your corporation. Make sure your white men get a copy of it. Why do you think the educational resources aren’t there in the inner-city schools? Society believes those children are not capable of learning. Now we are aware of this. Think about mentoring. Think about employee-resource groups and the role [this information] can play in getting people to perform and eliminating bias.”
Who Gets to Graduate? - NYTimes.com
Vanessa’s mom did better than most teenage mothers. She married her high-school boyfriend, and when Vanessa was 9, they moved to Mesquite, a working-class suburb of Dallas, where she worked for a mortgage company. Vanessa’s parents divorced when she was 12, and money was always tight, but they raised her and her younger brother to believe they could accomplish anything. Like her mother, Vanessa shone in school, and as she grew up, her parents and her grandparents would often tell her that she would be the one to reach the prize that had slipped away from her mother: a four-year college degree.
A First Black Professor Remembers Her Segregated Education : NPR
Her father's parents were slaves, and McClinton grew up in a completely segregated society, the all-black town of Boley, Okla.
"I didn't realize how segregated everything was," she tells NPR's Lynn Neary. That changed after a visit with her uncle in Guthrie, Okla.
"I went to the movies and I didn't know blacks were supposed to sit upstairs. And I sat down and they told me to go up," she says.
"Well, later that evening when we were eating supper, I was talking about it, and I said they make the children sit upstairs," McClinton says. "My uncle said, 'They make you sit upstairs because you're colored.' And that was my first experience."
Sterling and Bundy: And the Racist Beat Goes On - Higher Education
Now, we are being inundated with the racism of a clueless rancher and NBA team owner. To be honest, there was and has been so much intense coverage of Cliven Bundy and Donald Sterling that I had initially decided that I was not going to discuss the issue. The story had been covered from so many angles that it seemed that all bases had been covered.
Bundy is the anti-government cattle rancher whose actions sparked armed confrontation against federal agents. He denounces minorities for receiving welfare and other government benefits, yet he has been a prime beneficiary of government subsidies for more than two decades. The situation seems to have subsided for the moment.
Slain Legal Immigrant to Receive Posthumous Degree - Higher Education
We still haven’t had justice, but we got a little bit this week.
For those new to this story, my cousin, Stephen Guillermo, 26, was shot and killed when he got off on the wrong floor of his San Francisco apartment building and entered an identical apartment on May 3.
He was shot and killed by a gun-owner, who was arrested for suspicion of murder.
By the following Tuesday, the San Francisco District attorney ordered the man released.
This is the power of the gun laws that favor the mistaken shooter, but not a mistaken victim.
It’s a “shoot first, ask questions later” world.
The law in California is based on something called the “Castle Doctrine,” where one’s home is one’s castle. It allows justification of deadly force on an intruder if one is in imminent danger.
But those who know Stephen find it hard to believe he posed any threat at all.
Much is made of Stephen being inebriated, but he was no worse than a college student on a typical Friday night.
IU Professor Describes the Origins of the Asian ‘Model Minority’ in the U.S. - Higher Education
It’s also a story about a huge shift in image. Over several decades, these Asians have gone from being “the yellow peril” to “the model minority.”
True to the stereotype, many Asians are hard workers, are law-abiding, value family ties and excel at school.
But the “model” image, which Asians have actively fostered themselves, hasn’t always had positive effects.
It may have made Americans see Asians in simplistic ways, says Ellen Wu, author of the recently published book “The Color of Success: Asian Americans and the Origins of the Model Minority.”
But isn’t “model minority” a “good” stereotype?
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Mirror, Mirror: Does 'Fairest' Mean Most Beautiful Or Most White? : Code Switch : NPR
We all recognize the mantra of Snow White's evil stepmother. But what, exactly, is she asking? In the Grimm Brothers' German original, she asks who's the most beautiful in the land. But in English, it's a little more complicated.
On the one hand, fair is an archaic word for beautiful. But in modern usage, it usually refers to a light complexion – and it's hard to forget that we're talking about a story where the main character's claim to fame is that her skin is extraordinarily pale.
Snow White isn't the only story where "beautiful" and "light-skinned" start to overlap. The title of My Fair Lady doesn't just quote a children's song — it also echoes the fact that in the original Pygmalion legend, the lady in question was carved from ivory (which is one of the very few ways to be even paler than Audrey
Hepburn.) And some of Shakespeare's most famous sonnets were directed to
a "Fair Youth": Was he blonde, or just handsome?
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum 60 years after Brown v. Board, how to stop schools from re-segregating
The struggle for integration has shaped my life from the very beginning.
When my father, an art professor at Florida A&M University, sought to pursue his doctorate in art education at Florida State University, the state of Florida chose to pay his transportation to Penn State rather than open its doors to an African-American graduate student.
In 1957, he completed his degree at Penn State, and in 1958 became the first African-American professor at Bridgewater State College, now Bridgewater State University, in Massachusetts, where I grew up. My parents were part of the great migration, moving to the North to escape segregation.
U.S. marks 60th anniversary of Brown ruling that desegregated schools - Los Angeles Times
The 1954 ruling in Brown vs. Board of Education opened the door to the civil rights revolution of the following decades as legalized segregation was ended. But according to a recent study by UCLA’s Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles, segregation of schools based on race and poverty remains after decades of efforts.
Segregation 2.0: America's school-to-prison pipeline | MSNBC
Were the painting done today, it might show law enforcement acting in a very different capacity. Instead of leading a black child safely into school, the image might very well be of police officers escorting a child out. Sixty years after the Brown decision, de facto segregation persists because of a complex web of factors rooted in our nation’s long history of discrimination. But segregation is only one of the issues faced by students of color. Increasingly, minority children are drawn into the so-called school-to-prison pipeline – the phenomenon in which draconian disciplinary policies force students out of the educational system and into the criminal justice system.
Brazile: 60 years after Brown, integration is falling apart - CNN.com
In Milwaukee, parents, educators, students and community members are coming together to support educational opportunities for young people, and to challenge the increasing segregation and lack of resources facing young people of color today. I will join them in that celebration.
But Milwaukee is among the most racially and economically segregated major metropolitan regions in the country. It registers the largest discrepancy in employment rates between African-Americans and whites. Wisconsin has the widest gap in test scores between black and white students.
Holder: Subtle Racism Is Greater Threat Than 'Outbursts Of Bigotry' : The Two-Way : NPR
The Kansas City Star reports that Obama spoke at the graduating ceremony for five Topeka high schools Friday night. According to the paper, Obama said schools, for example, are still segregated and "too often, those schools aren't equal, especially ones attended by students of color, which too often lag behind with crumbling classrooms and less experienced teachers."
Nostalgia For What's Been Lost Since 'Brown V. Board' : Code Switch : NPR
The decision overruled several states' two-tiered system of providing very separate and, usually, inherently unequal schools for white and Negro children. It was a first step in trying to create the level playing field Americans believe they value.
Despite the indignities of being made to live within certain physical parameters and being assigned schools based on the color of their skin, many black Americans who are old enough to recall their segregated childhoods remember some aspect of that time with some fondness.
NAACP selects Cornell William Brooks as president, CEO
An overwhelming majority of the organization's board of directors picked Cornell William Brooks late Friday night during a meeting in Fort Lauderdale, NAACP chairwoman Roslyn Brock told USA TODAY. Brooks replaces former president Benjamin Todd Jealous, who announced his resignation last September, saying that he wanted to spend more time with his family.
In a telephone interview with USA TODAY, Brooks said he plans to "fight to insure voting rights, economic equality, health equity and an end to racial discrimination for all people."
At A New Orleans High School, Marching Band Is A Lifeline For Kids : Code Switch : NPR
On an afternoon this school year, the buses were late, the horns broken. Like most days, the Edna Karr marching band would play on instruments held together with duct tape.
Before heading to the pep rally to perform, Christopher Herrero, the band's director, led the group in a moment of silent reflection. He bowed his head, standing atop a chair in the band room before the kids — 80 in all. He was 27 years old when school started last August, so young that at times he's mistaken for a student. Still, he's transformed the band, doubling its size since taking over four years ago and making it relevant once again, like it was when he marched for Karr.
Dean Baquet becomes first black executive editor of the New York Times | theGrio
The company didn’t give a reason for the change. Abramson and Baquet had both been in their current positions since September 2011.
Baquet, 57, who would be the first African-American to hold the newspaper’s highest editorial position, received a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting in 1988.
“It is an honor to be asked to lead the only newsroom in the country that is actually better than it was a generation ago, one that approaches the world with wonder and ambition every day,” Baquet said in a statement released by the newspaper.
The move comes amid a continued shift in the Times’ focus, and that of the newspaper industry overall, toward digital products and away from traditional print papers as print circulation and advertising revenue declines.
In its most recent quarter, the Times Co. saw overall advertising revenue rise for the first time in three years, jumping 3 percent to $158.7 million. The company’s print and digital advertising rose compared with the same period a year ago.
Before 'Brown V. Board,' Mendez Fought California's Segregated Schools : Code Switch : NPR
"I was 9 years old," she says. "I just thought my parents wanted us to go to the nice-looking school."
But her parents, Gonzalo and Felicitas, were fighting for integration. Seven years before the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, the Mendezes brought a class-action lawsuit with other Latino families against four Orange County school districts that had separate schools for whites and Mexicans. Their case went all the way to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. And in 1947 they won: Segregation in those districts ended, and the rest of the state followed.
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