Northam Part 2

First, Northam implicity admits that he submitted the photo to be included on his yearbook page. That alone is despicable and inexcusable enough to require nothing less than resignation. Then he really steps in it: "...I am not surprised by [the photo's] appearance in the EVMS yearbook. In the place and time where I grew up, many actions that we rightfully recognize as abhorrent today were commonplace" with the tone of voice and facial expression on "commonplace" conveying a dismissive attitude that I find infuriating. It was 1984, not 1954. It was Norfolk, not Mississippi. You were 25 and a medical doctor in training, not a 16 year old redneck hooligan. It was a medical school yearbook, not a neighborhood Xeroxed newsletter for kicks. Resign already. You are embarrassing all of us Virginians, and making a fool of yourself. #RalphNorthamResign#Whatthehelliswrongwithwhitepeople?

Are we to believe that when friends saw the yearbook, they never mentioned to him that there was a photo of a white man in blackface and a man in a KKK hood and robe on his yearbook page? Or are we left to believe that of course they did, but it didn't seem important enough to him to raise holy hell about such a "mistake" by the yearbook 

I'll pay attention to state politics again when our commonwealth is governed by a Fair- consideration of the -fax (see what I did there?) Until then, I'll be like a groundhog who saw her shadow.

Ralph Northam's Gotta Go

What a jerk. Candidate Ralph Northam knowing that yearbook page was out there (at least several dozen classmates knowing, too) yet never pre-emptively addressing it with heartfelt contrition (makes me think he had none) and letting the public decide what to do about it; instead, sitting on it, knowing it could drop at any time but cowardly hoping against hope his ugly past wouldn't be revealed. Jerk.

https://bigleaguepolitics.com/yearbook-ralph-northam-in-blackface-photo/

Two Ironies, 2 Misconceptions

Irony: that it has often been considered more desirable (by many white people and many black people) that African Americans be lighter skinned, even though that lighter skin is evidence of white ancestors, historically often by way of rape (or at least coercive, grossly power-imbalanced relationships)

Irony: the notorious 3/5th's compromise, is often taken (not entirely wrongly) to denigrate the worth of black slaves, having considered them just 60% of a person; in actuality, those favoring slavery at the Constitutional Convention favored slaves being counted as fully as free people when it came to apportioning representation in the House of Representatives, while those against slavery favored them being counted at a smaller fraction, or not at all. Thus, the odd 3/5th's fraction they agreed on (where ½ might have been the logical, split the difference compromise) was an indication of the strength of the pro-slavery faction.

Misconception: that affirmative action has primarily benefited African Americans and other people of color. In fact, research will bear out, I believe, that the lion's share of the benefits have been experienced by white, largely middle-class, women.

Misconception: that most Medicaid expenses go to treating poor, largely nonwhite Americans. In fact, I believe research shows that the long-term institutional care of aging, ailing parents of middle-class white people takes up the lion’s share of Medicaid expenses.

My Slam Poem on Shootings of African Americans

Written in the summer of 2015, so it doesn't reference more recent shootings; this is the first time it is publically seeing the light of day.

Eric shoulda not resisted

Eric shoulda not resisted garner sellin’ doze eyeloveloosies didn’t he staten know that was a ‘spectable hood ny pantaleo hadda takimdown

John looked dangerous crawford pointing that III gun at walmart shoppers (nflers brought ‘im to notice) that cracker called and oh williams for the public safety hadda takimdown

Levar no quick moves jones getcher regis bam quick trig soc groubert just about (not thank god dead) tookimdown

Tamir threatenin’ the public rice looked older who knew it was just a toy tackle his sister cuffer and thrower in back oh loehmann in 2 secs hadda takimdown

Eric don’t do th’crime harris wasn’t reserve dep’s fault certified sort of ok bates oops haddit comin’ tookimdown

Walter shouldn’t a run scott noc slager’d still be a cop ‘cept for that video thrown to the wolves ‘cause he in cold blood tookimdown

David failure to follow orders washington are you on drugs sprayed and tased runover foot va jerkins you understand hadda kinda (still alive) takimdown

Freddie why’d you run gray knee in neck shackled no strap give ‘im a ride alright whole m(a)d gang of them hadda takimdowntowndown

All of ‘em haddit comin’ no not gonna mention michael handsup (bs) holdup brown but mo collardcops needed a little corruption here and there tookimdown

Bryant heyward rekia boyd akai gurley thaddeus mccarroll cedric bartee tony robinson enuffnow jonathan Ferrell we getcher point daniel please covarru stop bias the protectorservers tookemalldown

Ervin tasered to death Edwards big deal tanisha bodyslammed anderson so what Natasha tased and died mckenna doesn’t prove noth

Abner (who?) louima (wait) amadou (huh?) diallo (hold it) ousmane (really?) zongo (how far back you gonna?) sean (gimme a break!) bell (no more!) rodney (don’t say it!!) cali (whew) kerner (there’s a blast from the) commishking (dammit!) and so on and so forth and on and on

Who’s the brute reality?

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Times When POC defeated Whites militarily

Four times (I'm sure there are many more) in History When People of Color decisively defeated white or white-led powers or nations on the battlefield:

1) Ethiopia over Italy, Battle of Adwa, March 1st, 1896, the culmination of the First Italo-Ethiopian War

2) The Haitian Revolution overthrowing the French colonial power that had ruled the slavery plantation enterprise, 1791-1804

3) The Battle of Pollilur (the one I just learned about and that prompted this post) Sept. 10, 1780, when the forces of the South Asian (current-day southern India) Kingdom of Mysore defeated the forces of the colonizing British East India Company.

4) Little Bighorn, June 25-26, 1876. 'Nuff said.

When the "creationists" got it right!

I've been teaching college classes on race for almost 10 years, and for most of that time I've been showing some part or other of an excellent video series called Race: the Power of an Illusion. I've always found it ironic that, in one part of the story, we find that in the 19th century a debate raged about "monogenesis" vs. "polygenesis." the monogenesists insisted that, like the account in the Hebrew book of Genesis, that there was one creation, one pair of man (Adam) and woman (Eve) from which all subsequent humans were descended. The polygenesists, on the other hand, argued that, because they (white people) had nothing in common with the inferior Asian and black African and American Indian people of their day (as they saw it), that the book of Genesis must only relate to the origins of white people, and that those other groups must have had their own, separate origins, with no common ancestors shared.

In this case, then, while the reasoning (an unquestioning dependence on scripture as literal truth) was wrong (in my opinion), the religious adherents actually ended up with the accurate conclusion, whereas the other folks, many of them scientists, who started with an unquestioned presupposition based on the racist ideology that white people were superior, and thus justified in oppressing nonwhite peoples, were led to a grossly inaccurate position.

This stands in stark contrast to the debate in the 20th century over Darwin and evolution, which led the religionists to reject the truth, and the adherents of science to get it right.

How about that?!

ETS admins decision looks fishy to me

Check it out:

African American teen girl denies cheating