I have done a great deal of reading in the past couple of years on The Civil War, slavery, Reconstruction, the Jim Crow laws that followed it, Black Codes, and the mythology of The Lost Cause. An obvious and irrefutable conclusion to be drawn is that America is a racist
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Politics and its Discontents: A Time Of Reckoning
Most have probably heard about or seen the video of the violent confrontation occurring in Montgomery, Alabama the other day. A riverboat was unable to dock because a group of white louts took up its berth. After 45 minutes of trying to get them to move their small vessel via
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Much-Needed Perspective
I don’t know about you, but I have always felt deeply uneasy about fervid professions of patriotism, especially the kind that Americans are given to. Their earnest hands over their hearts, their shedding of tears upon hearing the national anthem, their stout professions of “My country, right or wrong,” have
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Plague Nation
I wonder if Americans realize that is how their country is seen by the rest of the world, in no small measure thanks to their having elected a raging racist psychopath as their president. The following video takes a few seconds before beginning to play: Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: "The System Can’t Reform Itself"
So says the always fearless and indefatigable Cornell West. As I watched the following, I couldn’t help but think that if one feels threatened, distressed, dismissive of or outraged by what he has to say, a long and unsparing look in the mirror is likely in order. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Being Black In America – The Story Is Always The Same
There is much more graphic video available online, but the following succinctly shows the horror of being black in the United States: Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Meanwhile, In The Land Of The Free And The Home Of the Brave
An Entire Black Family Nearly Excuted By #Police Because A 4 Year Old Kid Walked Out Of A store With A Barbie Doll Without The Family Noticing It.#TheNewNormal4Blacks Use This Hashtag & Stand In Solidarity .#PoliceBrutality #Policeterrorism #BlackLivesMatter #justiceorelse pic.twitter.com/NT2HRcjtE6 — Black 24/7 (@Blackmediagrp) June 14, 2019 You can read
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Kaepernick Effect
I recently wrote a post entitled, The Vindication of Colin Kaepernick, in which I opined on the decision by Nike to use the former NFLer for a new advertising campaign. I subsequently received a request by an American website entitled Writer Beat to use the piece. The commentary it received
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Vindication Of Colin Kaepernick
Colin Kaepernick is someone I admire. As previously noted in this blog, the former NFL player, whose decision to protest police brutality against blacks by taking a knee during the American national anthem, has paid dearly for his integrity. But vindication has finally arrived, vindication sure to end Donald Trump
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: America The Beautiful
There’s no country like it, eh? Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: She Stands By Her Man
When we talk on the phone, my good friend Dave in Winnipeg often talks about the twin ‘curse’ of intelligence and education. Life would be so much easier, he says sardonically, without them. I was thinking about Dave last night as I watched an NBC News report detailing the actions
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Power Of Real Communication
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Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A True American Hero
Colin Kaepernick speaks a truth that, unfortunately, too many of his fellow Americans refuse to acknowledge. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: No Matter What His Motivation Might Have Been, This Is Just Wrong
ATLANTA—A white Cobb County police lieutenant has been moved to administrative duty for telling a white woman during a traffic stop, “Remember, we only shoot Black people.” Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Trump’s Bitter Harvest
This may not surprise us, but it should still horrify us. In the middle of a crowded bar, Adam Purinton yelled at two Indian men to “get out of my country,” witnesses said, then opened fire in an attack that killed one of the men and wounded the other, as
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Trump’s Bitter Harvest
This may not surprise us, but it should still horrify us. In the middle of a crowded bar, Adam Purinton yelled at two Indian men to “get out of my country,” witnesses said, then opened fire in an attack that killed one of the men and wounded the other, as
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Trump’s America
Somehow, the greatness is conspicuously absent: Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: At The Altar Of Baal
All along, Trump seemed like a twisted caricature of every rotten reflex of the radical right. That he has prevailed, that he has won this election, is a crushing blow to the spirit; it is an event that will likely cast the country into a period of economic, political, and
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Will A Change Of Tone Be All It Takes?
Over at Northern Reflections today, Owen has a timely reminder via Henry Giroux of what Donald Trump really stands for: fascism, hatred, bigotry and exclusion. I noted in my response to his post the following:It is interesting to note, Owen, now that T…
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Where Ignorance And Racism Reign Supreme
Yep, that would be Fox News. Watch the following ‘deep’ sociological discussion between Bill O’Reilly and Donald Trump as the former discusses why black youth are unemployable. How many stereotypes can you spot? Start at about the 3:50 mark:Recommend t…
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