Here are some interesting links on race, racism and white supremacy. The blogosphere seems to be heating up on some of these issues. There is no shortage of racism material to write on!
The Holocaust Museum Attack and Cyberhate
- Rinku Sen writes about The White Supremacist in All of Us at the Huffington Post. Sen criticizes the discussion of the Holocaust Museum shooting has boiled down to the idea that racism is an intentional, violent act of a lone crazy white man. She writes “Collectively, we bemoan the backwardness of ‘some’ people before we move on, thinking of racism as isolated extremism.”
- Christopher Wolf, a D.C. attorney and former head of the International Network Against Cyberhate, writes about the Hatemongers New Tool: The Internet for CBS News.
- C.N. at The Colorline has an excellent analysis of Internet Technology, White Supremacy & Internet Technology
- Leonard Lopate of WNYC interviews Leonard Zeskind about von Brunn and the history of the white supremacist movement in his Blood and Politics: The History of the White Nationalist Movement from the Margins to the Mainstream.
- David Niewert writes at Crooks and Liars about the infiltration of the army by neo-nazis, first reported by Salon this week. Jim Burroway at Box Turtle points out the irony of a military that is happy to include white supremacists but not openly LGBT members.
- Jesse Walker thinks the threat of right-wing terror has been blown out of proportion.
- Joshua Holland at Alternet has some probing thoughts on the Eliminationist (that is, killing) Mindset of many on the racist right.
Judge Sonia Sotomayor
- Transgriot calls out Pat Buchanan – and others of the “vanilla privileged” class – for their treatment of Sotomayor.
Education
- Over at DailyKos, Tristero 312 has a good analysis of the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE) charges at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that argue the educational policies of school “turnarounds,” one of the “Renaissance 2010” policies, is discriminatory, especially for black teachers.
Demography
- Over at Asian-Nation, there is an interesting analysis of some U.S. demographic data showing that among Asian-Indian, Chinese, and Korean Americans, there is a significant gender imbalance among children, boys being more common than girls, as in some Asian countries—apparently mainly for Asian immigrant couples in which both spouses are foreign-born.
Pop Culture
- Feministing offers a discussion of Melissa Harris-Lacewell’s critique of Tavis Smiley’s recent documentary “Stand,” in a provocative post called, Aretha v. Beyonce: Please Don’t Let this Be the Future of Political Discourse
- And, Newsweek did a cover story on Oprah’s controversial on-air medical advice (related to ‘cures’ for autism) and then poses the question “Is it Racist to Criticize Oprah?”
Idiocy in America
- And, though not online and not exactly on racism issues, there is the new book Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free by Charles P. Pierce. The book is uneven, full of ranting on conservatives like Limbaugh (who deserve it), but the general points are quite accurate about stupidity becoming a virtue. Here is his response to a question in an interview: “With the election of President Obama, is Idiot America coming to an end? Or, will there always be a place for idiocy in America?” [Pierce answers]: Look at the political opposition to President Obama. “Socialist!” “Fascist!” “Coming to get your guns.” Hysteria from the hucksters of Idiot America is still at high-tide. People are killing other people and specifically attributing their action to imaginary oppression stoked by radio talk-show stars and television pundits.
Black Masculinity
- Mark Anthony Neal offers his readers a review of the book, Performing Black Masculinity: Race, Culture and Queer Identity (AltaMira Press, 2006), by Bryan Keith Alexander.