Mixed with White Isn't White

http://hyphenmagazine.com/blog/2014/7/22/why-mixed-white-isnt-white?utm_content=buffer4f33a&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
In the 1990s, psychologist and mixed-race scholar Maria P.P. Root wrote the famous Bill of Rights for People of Mixed Heritage, stirred by her examination of mixed-race identity, interviews with hundreds of multiracial folk across the U.S., and the struggles multiracial people face in forming and claiming a positive sense of self. “I have the right not to justify my existence to the world,” it reads. “To identify myself differently than strangers expect me to identify. To create a vocabulary about being multiracial or multiethnic.”Almost two decades later, these proclamations still ring so true. Some people are completely unwilling to honor my family’s choice to identify as mixed-race and Asian because it doesn’t align with their own ideas about how we should identify. The right of a mixed-race person to self-construct and self-define, even today, endures continual policing from people with their own agendas.

Telling my child he’s white also won’t help him understand why children who were less than one-quarter Japanese were interned during World War II; why a stranger would look at him and say there are no “pure races” anymore; why a leading theatre company in our city unabashedly staged a yellowface production of an operetta; why kids on the playground pull back their eyes in a slant and spit out one of those ridiculous anti-Asian chants that just won’t go away. When I tell my son that he is Asian, mixed-race, multiracial, and a person of color, I’m not denying him parts of his ancestral-ethnic heritage. I'm teaching him about the race politics that intrude upon our lives whether we want them to or not. I’m preparing him to exist in a world that obstinately persists in being racially divided. And I’m trying to let him know something about the ways he has and will continue to be judged throughout his life, not because he’s white -- but because he’s mixed with color.

Beverly Daniels Tatum - Cultivating the Trust of Black Parents and How Racial Identity Affects Performance

Beverly Daniels Tatum says we need to “put our values on our wall."  Putting up posters and having books with people of color or multiracial or both go a long way to showing care and understanding of differences so a child will feel comfortable in the classroom. 

We need to locate ourselves for students and parents by honestly and openly carrying “ . . . the weight of the history of interracial relations” and acknowledging the possibility that our judgment may be biased (naming the elephant in the room).

Research has shown that how you think about your race (in developing your racial identity) impacts your perspective on your ability to be successful in school and in life.  Also, students of color are more likely to be engaged in the exploration of their racial identity than their white counterparts.  In addition, teachers are going through their own stages of RCID and, therefore, need to be cognizant of how that affects their learning and teaching pedagogy, as well as how they respond to students of color who are trying to cope with issues encountered in their own RCID process.  The potential disconnect is obvious.  It’s even a bit scary; in terms of the potentially crucial role they play in helping a student achieve.

Rachel Dolezal

Perspectives:
http://www.democracynow.org/blog/2015/6/17/watch_four_perspectives_on_race_and

Why Rachel Dolezal's story is one of deception, and trans folks, coming out as trans is about truth.
http://www.upworthy.com/a-black-trans-woman-explains-changing-gender-vs-changing-race?c=ufb1

When the story of Rachel Dolezal (the white NAACP chapter president who has been masquerading as a black woman) went viral, the Internet exploded with countless memes and even more think pieces.

Rachel Dolezal and the surprisingly common practice of ‘racial shifting’
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/06/15/what-rachel-dolezal-has-in-common-with-half-a-million-americans/  (watch both videos in succession)

In fact, between 2000 and 2010 (the nation’s two most recent Census counts) the share of people who identified themselves as part Native American grew by a whopping 39 percent in a single decade, nearly four times faster than the nation's population as a whole. That’s nearly 650,000 people who were multi-racial in 2012 who did not consider themselves thus in 2000. Racial shifting is real.

And just to be clear, we aren't talking about a Native American baby boom or surge in people who identified as being of multiracial heritage because of changes made to Census forms. The latter happened for the first time in 2000, not 2010.

The vast majority of this change – according to U.S. Census staff and population experts around the country – happened as a result of shifting racial identification among adults. We're talking about 644,986 people who, for the most part, described themselves as white on the 2000 Census and then described themselves as white and Native American in 2010.

Rachel Dolezal a lesson in how racism works
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/06/13/rachel-dolezal-story-lesson-how-racism-works/J8R27qgq2YfDRUuOVhpYGI/story.html?event=event25

But that’s not how racial identity and racism work. The racial categories inherent to institutional racism are the product of law and social custom, but they are not randomly generated or freely chosen. They are informed by and inscribed in our legislative history, and they are violently policed by civilians and stewards of the state such that white people benefit at nonwhites’ expense.

These benefits are manifold. White households have far more wealth than black and Hispanic households, as economic class privilege has been generated, passed down, and protected through slavery, Jim Crow, and continued discrimination in housing, banking, and the labor market. Whites are presumed innocent and nonthreatening, and are allowed to assemble freely and move through all sorts of public spaces without being labeled deviants or “thugs.” Racial identity is always linked to privilege.

So the problem is not simply that Dolezal lied. Her choice to give up whiteness was a privilege enabled by a racial logic that allows for the possibility of a light-skinned black person, as centuries of racist legislation mandated that “one drop” of nonwhite blood resulted in racial categorization in the lower status group. This same enduring racial logic categorically denies the possibility of a brown-skinned white person, and it does so in order to restrict and protect whiteness as exclusive, “pure,” and the basis for full citizenship and respect.

About Rachel Dolezal the Undercover Sista and Performing Blackness 
http://www.awesomelyluvvie.com/2015/06/about-rachel-dolezal-blackness.html

I was more amused than anything until I kept finding out about all the lies that Rachel has piled up over the years to make this fantasy work. She’s told people her father is a Black man, even taking Fake Black Daddy to some event. She’s reported that she’s been a victim of several hate crimes, even going as far as placing this in her bio. She says she has a Black son but he is actually her adopted brother from her real WHITE parents. At best, she’s a pathological liar and at worst, she might be suffering from delusions of grandeur, which means she might need to be on meds because isn’t that one of many symptoms of schizophrenia? Except she actually isn’t because her brother Ezra said she told him not to blow her cover. Rachel ain’t curling all the way over, like many of her weaves.

What's Wrong with Cultural Appropriation?
http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/06/cultural-appropriation-wrong/

In short: Cultural appropriation is when somebody adopts aspects of a culture that’s not their own.

But that’s only the most basic definition.

A deeper understanding of cultural appropriation also refers to a particular power dynamic in which members of a dominant culture take elements from a culture of people who have been systematically oppressed by that dominant group.

That’s why cultural appropriation is not the same as cultural exchange, when people share mutually with each other – because cultural exchange lacks that systemic power dynamic.

It’s also not the same as assimilation, when marginalized people adopt elements of the dominant culture in order to survive conditions that make life more of a struggle if they don’t.

Some say, for instance, that non-Western people who wear jeans and Indigenous people who speak English are taking from dominant cultures, too.

But marginalized groups don’t have the power to decide if they’d prefer to stick with their customs or try on the dominant culture’s traditions just for fun. 

When the last living survivors of massacred Indigenous tribes are fighting to save their language before it dies when they do, and Native students are suspended for speaking in their own Indigenous languages, mirroring the abusive US boarding schools that tried to wipe out Native American cultures up until the 1980s, it’s clear that not every person who speaks English does so by choice.

In other words, context matters.

Which means it’s not about saying that you, as an individual, are a bad person if you appropriate someone else’s culture.

It’s a complicated issue that includes our histories, our current state of affairs, and our future, as we act to eliminate oppression, instead of perpetuating it.

So if you’re still baffled about why people would get upset about this issue, consider the following contexts.

1. It Trivializes Violent Historical Oppression
2. It Lets People Show Love for the Culture, But Remain Prejudiced Against Its People
3. It Makes Things ‘Cool’ for White People – But ‘Too Ethnic’ for People of Color
4. It Lets Privileged People Profit from Oppressed People’s Labor
5. It Lets Some People Get Rewarded for Things the Creators Never Got Credit For
6. It Spreads Mass Lies About Marginalized Cultures
7. It Perpetuates Racist Stereotypes
8. White People Can Freely Do What People of Color Were Actively Punished for Doing
9. It Prioritizes the Feelings of Privileged People Over Justice for Marginalized People

The Truth About Rachel Dolezal That You Won't See on T.V.
http://mic.com/articles/120784/rachel-dolezal-interview-matt-lauer

While Dolezal said her story raises the question of what it means to be "human," her philosophical statement misses the point that not all human beings are treated equally in a society that privileges some because of the color of their skin. Dolezal is fighting to humanize her journey so that the public can better understand her move from whiteness to aspirational blackness, but her notion of what it means to strive towards a shared humanity just obscures the particularities of black peoples' lived experiences in this country as they continue to fight to be seen as worthy of being alive in the first place.  

For all of the discourse on race and "transracialism" seemingly spurred by Dolezal, there is comparatively little focus on the material effects of racism in actual black people's lives right now. Dolezal might receive attention because she is a white woman identifying as a black woman fighting for black issues, but that won't prevent black people from being twice as likely as white people to be killed by police when unarmed, disproportionately imprisoned, overwhelmingly impacted by income equality, affected by health disparities and beset by unemployment.

Cultural Appropriation vs. Cultural Exchange

 

More examples of cultural appropriation:

http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/07/cultural-appropriating-outfits/?utm_content=bufferdd75c&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Halloween Costumes

In preparation for dressing up at Halloween…  In case you didn't know, this is a good summary to avoid perpetuating racial stereotypin.

1. Race is not a costume.
2. Do not wear racist costumes.
3. It’s okay to dress up as a person whose race is different from your own.

4. Let your child's interest determine their costume.

5. Say no to blackface.

6. Do not adjust features for race. 

7. Don't perpetuate negative stereotypes.

8. Don't perpetuate negative stereotypes ON A CHILD.

9. Did I mention don't perpetuate racist stereotypes?

Read more: http://www.rageagainsttheminivan.com/2014/10/nine-steps-for-avoiding-racist-costumes.html#ixzz3GSM3xuev

If _____ Said the Stuff White People Said

Every race has its own annoyingly repetitive tropes to deal with: for Latinos, it's often things like, "I love your accent," or, from the spoof, "I hooked up with a white guy once. He was crazy!" There's always the,"if you went to a really good college it must be because of your race," bit of offensiveness, too.

If African Americans Said the Stuff White People Said

If Asians Said the Stuff White People Said

If Latinos Said the Stuff White People Said

 

Stuff White People Say About Multiracial People

Stuff White People Say About Adopted People

 see above

33 Photos That Prove There Is No One Way To Be An American Family

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/03/what-the-american-family-looks-like_n_5552409.html

The American family looks different than it did 50, or even 10, years ago.

The number of children living with two married parents has steadily decreased since the '80s. A 2012 Pew study found that 2 million dads stay at home with their kids -- a statistic that is also climbing. Around six million kids and adults have an LGBT parent. Minorities make up 37 percent of the population, but will increase to 57 percent in 2060. The U.S. Census Bureau projects that by 2043, no group will make up a majority.

It's clearly time to celebrate all of the families in this country. So to ring in the Fourth of July this year, we asked our readers for family photos that represent the real America. The images we received include a single mom by choice who adopted her son when he was 2 years old, a military family with a dad who is in active duty in the Air Force, and a Sikh family who takes an annual road trip to Washington D.C. to celebrate the Independence Day.

Ethnic Identity

Great article about the importance of racial and ethnic identity:  http://www.education.com/reference/article/ethnic-identity-and-academic-achievement/
 

Excerpts: 
During adolescence, individuals begin to construct a general sense of their identity, or their personal definitions of who they are, what is important to them, and appropriate ways to think and behave. During this period, youth also differentiate their various social identities, the self-constructed definitions of who they are in relation to the social groups to which they belong. A sense of ethnic identity becomes salient for many ethnic minority adolescents as they explore the significance of their ethnic group membership in defining who they are (Spencer & Markstrom-Adams, 1990; Phinney, 1990). Ethnic identity has multiple components, including individuals' views of the importance of their ethnic group to their self-definitions, the meanings they attach to their ethnic group, and their thinking about how their ethnic group affects their position in society. Thus, ethnic identities are descriptive (e.g., “I am a Mexican American”; “I am an African American”), affective (“I feel positively about being an African American”; “I think others regard my ethnic group positively”), as well as prescriptive (“I know how Chinese Americans act”; “I know how African Americans act”). Adolescents' understandings of the meanings of their social identities influence their adaptations and responses within domains in which those identities are salient. Because race and ethnicity often are salient in the domain of education, adolescents' ethnic identities may be particularly relevant in shaping how youth interpret and respond to their social and classroom contexts at school.

Relative to younger children, adolescents have more highly developed cognitive abilities related to understanding themselves and their experiences in more complex, abstract, and indirect ways, and this period also involves intensification of particular social-cognitive attributes, e.g., heightened awareness of how they are viewed by others. Thus, they become more cognizant of the relevance of race and ethnicity in society and have a higher likelihood of perceiving experiences in terms of race and ethnicity (Spencer, Dupree, & Hartmann, 1997).

Academic engagement requires linking one's personal identity to the roles of student and learner (Garcia & Pintrich, 1994), showing sustained curiosity and interest in class, and displaying intense efforts in learning tasks (Connell, Spencer, & Aber, 1994; Skinner & Belmont, 1993). Adolescents' academic engagement has been linked to social identities that are made salient in the academic domain (Garcia & Pintrich, 1994). The academic domain is one in which race often is salient for many ethnic minority adolescents. For instance, entry into secondary schools is associated with increased racial cleavage, social comparison, and heightened salience of racial and ethnic stereotypes (Fisher, Wallace, & Fenton, 2000). Thus, it is likely that minority adolescents' levels of academic engagement are influenced, in part, by their ethnic identity beliefs. Theory and research suggests that ethnic identity may serve as a risk factor for lower academic motivation and achievement as well as promote academic motivation and achievement. The risk and promotion approaches are described below.

Also, there is growing evidence that having a strong, positive sense of ethnic identity may protect minority adolescents from the negative psychological and academic impacts of perceiving ethnic group barriers or experiencing interpersonal discrimination based on their ethnic group. For instance, in a 2006 study, Sellers and colleagues found that Black youth having an ethnic identity characterized by feelings of strong group connection and group pride showed more positive psychological well being when experiencing racial discrimination compared to those adolescents with less strong feelings of connection to and positive attitudes about their ethnic group. Wong and colleagues in their 2003 study found that African American adolescents who held a strong connection to and pride in being Blacks were protected from the negative impact on academic attitudes and performance of experiencing racial discrimination at school relative to those with less of a strong, positive connection with their ethnic group.

Thus, school practitioners must receive training about the development of youth from multicultural backgrounds. This training should not only acknowledge the unique risks associated with membership in ethnic minority groups in the United States but also consider how youths' ethnic identities can serve as cultural assets in relation to their achievement and how to use this information to create inclusive classroom contexts for all students. Without such training, it is likely that teaching approaches and practices will be based on popular views of common sense approaches not supported by empirical research. Additionally teachers should be mindful of endorsing their own ethnic identity beliefs in the class contexts they create.

SPECIFIC ETHNIC IDENTITIES

Asian American Identity Development

http://prezi.com/jdsct8dwpzvt/asian-american-identity-development/

Racist, Sexist, and Class Oppressive Societies are Created Over Many Years

Racism is not defined as "individual acts of meanness."  All "-isms" are defined as a SYSTEM which advantages one group over another (sometimes this "advantage" is defined as "power").  Just as sexism advantages men over women and classism advantanges those "who have more than enough" over "those who do not have enough," racism advantages people of white European descent over people of color.  The term "people of color" is a political phrase grouping folks based on such categories as marginalization in society, ethnic minority status, and lack of power in the larger social structure of laws, politics, land owning, corporations, etc., not actual skin color, or actual "numbers" as the word "minority" might imply.

These ADVANTAGES or "privileges" are best defined by Peggy McIntosh in her paper , "White Privilege:  Unpacking the Inivisible Knapsack." http://www.nymbp.org/reference/WhitePrivilege.pdf  They are not asked for, often unknown, and notoriously not noticed, however, they DO EXIST.  Power and privilege is created within a societal system.  Those that have it, don't typically notice unless it is pointed out.  Those that do not have it, know all too well what it looks like and what they can and cannot do or have access to.

A SYSTEM is when cultural norms benefit one group over another, as when Christian observances are marked on a calendar (or officially taken as a day off), but the same benefit (privilege) is not given to Jewish observances.

A SYSTEM is when laws (or rules) directly benefit one group, and not another.  Laws are particularly problematic because their impact can continue for generations.  For example, if your ancestors were taken from their land (African), or their land was taken from them (Native American), or they were not allowed to buy land (people of color) because of "red lining," then the advantages of owning land, building equity, using that equity to create a business or send a child to college, were not available.  The impact of land owning (or lack of it) trickles down from generation to generation.  

This video has an excellent summary of some legislation that advantaged people of white European descent, while disadvantaging people of color - and land owning is only a small part.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFjKQVZLk1g

3 Pitfalls To Avoid When Talking About Race

Click the link for the complete article www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2014/04/26/306822684/3-pitfalls-to-avoid-when-talking-about-race?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20140426
 
Reaction 1: People of color have a special interest in talking about race, sometimes to win special advantage. 
If it's about indicating that I have an expertise or special interest in the subject of race, it would be better to note that I've been writing about the intersection of race, pop culture and media for nearly 20 years. Or point out that I wrote a book published in 2012 about these issues. Or note that I've won awards from the National Association of Black Journalists, the Florida Press Club and the Society of Professional Journalists for my work covering racial issues.

For those who believe things are working just fine when it comes to race and society in America, words like Sotomayor's are dismissed as coming from someone who is biased to favor her own racial experience. But it seems obvious that everyone involved in the case has a racial background that informs his or her view, even white people.

Reaction 2: Arguments for diversity demand that people ignore facts for emotion.
Talking about race issues always stirs lots of passion. But implying that an argument is rooted in emotion dismisses it without consideration, which doesn't seem fair.

Reaction 3: If the lack of diversity isn't complete, then it isn't an issue.
We are often uncomfortable with the idea that it takes a specific focus on racial, ethnic and gender diversity to break down these long-standing traditions in hiring, education, housing and more. We don't want to believe we could still be living in an America where race makes a difference.
I'm convinced we won't really learn how to deal with these issues until we learn how to talk about them. It's time to break down the patterns; they're only keeping us from really relating to each other on a subject that's too important to get right.

Honey Maid Commerical "This is Wholesome" and Their Rebuttal Against Those Who Would Say, "No"

Diversity: A Reflection by Claudia A. Fox Tree

Anti-Semitic Intolerance Forum - Letter to Editor
http://www.thebedfordcitizen.org/2014/04/03/diversity-a-reflection-by-claudia-fox-tree/
First published in The Bedford Citizen on April 3, 2014

I just came from the follow up public forum about “Anti-Semitic Intolerance for those interested in turning suggestions into actual programs and practices.”  I know Mr. Sills wanted to have break out groups that could take ideas and begin putting them into action, however, it was clear that the folks who came wanted to discuss topics as a large group. Bedford High School students spoke eloquently and many ideas emerged that I’m sure will be communicated to all by the Superintendent.  I wanted to take up one of the suggestions – to write to The Citizen.  There are some related issues, not discussed tonight, that I wanted to highlight.

Given the title of the forum, I am compelled to reiterate that using the word “tolerance” is highly problematic. When it comes to talking (or writing) about diversity, no one wants to be “tolerated”?  In a world of anti-Semitism, racism, sexism, heterosexism, able-ism, etc., there are the “Haves” and “Have-not’s.”  And, you can guess in which category the “tolerated” fall.  I would suggest calling these activities what they are, “Anti-Semitic Hate Crime Forums” or “Creating A Place at the Table for All.”

Undoing the impact of the oppression that is connected to an “ism” is complex.  It is not simply about “celebrating diversity” or even “honoring differences.”  That may (or may not) be a good place to start, but it is simply is not enough. One of the few things we can “control” and change immediately to create a better world responsive to cultural differences is our choice of language.  Language has power and we need to be careful and thoughtful with the words we use for they will be heard by others, and they can reinforce oppressions or work toward social change and justice.

A glance around the room, which was quite full, holding a large circle of constituents, revealed a noticeable absence of other marginalized group members from town.  For example, no one spoke up who identified as Muslim, Chinese, Asian Indian, Buddhist, African American, or Thai, to name a few, and I know that these communities are also representative of Bedford.  Why didn’t they come to tonight’s meeting? How many times do people from these groups deal with prejudice, stereotypes, discrimination, etc. related to their group membership, and feel no systemic response? Are there public forums or educational opportunities for them?  We need to consider that responding so publically to anti-Semitism now, may bring up hurtful memories for others who have not seen their issues and concerns addressed in the past.  Perhaps, there needs to be more reaching out to specific groups within the larger community?   

As a Native American, my own experience has revealed an uphill battle.  It is difficult to keep educating others about the Native culture while also dealing with racism, at worst, and stereotypes, at best, on a monthly, if not weekly basis.  Just this passed week, one of my children was asked to do “Indian Sprints.” While not a hate crime, as what the Jewish community is currently experiencing, it is an example of how easy it is to say inappropriate and offensive things.  Without education, role-playing, practice, and conversation, “blurts” like this happen over and over again.  Bedford would be remiss in not addressing broader issues of unawareness and perpetuation of stereotypes, given the context of what is currently happening.  This is a wake up call to build allies within our community – active bystanders who speak up on behalf of others and model for the future generations that we are a place that not only responds to differences in culture and celebrates diversity, but does not accept oppression in any of its many forms.

This past fall, Bedford's Varsity Football team faced Pentucket.  There were racist caricatures of Native Americans via mascots, logos, and stylized non Native music being called Native.  It was awful.  This is not something that would be allowed for other ethnic or racial groups and, yet, it has been so “normalized” within the NFL that there were no forms of protest from Bedford.  The "mascot issue" was problematic enough, however, my football-playing son was also spotlighted by name in a negative way (due to his heritage) in the Cape Cod Times when the Varsity team was about to play on the south shore!  It was through friends and allies that a flood of emails forced the Times to remove the article within hours of its posting.  We have to stand up as one, against all forms of hatred, or fall because we are too divided to come together.

I am concerned that a comparative religion course planned at the high school would highlight three Judeo-Christian religions and Hinduism, but not Buddhism, Confucianism, or more contemporary religions like the Quakers or Baha'i.  I am concerned that students are asking for more conversations and report that teachers aren’t prepared to have them.  I’m concerned that Senior Prom was scheduled on a Jewish holy day this year.

How many times have baked goods been sold during Passover at a school event?  How many times have football games been held on Friday nights?  While not Native American issues, that these events conflict with Jewish traditions reminds me that we have a long way to go in truly opening up a place at the table where everyone can not only share and express their culture, but be able to be present at the table because they can actually attend since it does not conflict with a cultural tradition.  We need to consider a calendar that takes into account conflicts of culture, maybe not every time, but more times than it does now. 

I want to close by saying that it is not really the job of the oppressed to educate those with the power to make change.  It is the responsibility of those with the power to educate our/themselves, and respond accordingly, making space for all voices on an equal playing field.  If the “Have’s” aren’t willing to give up some of what they have, then there will always be “Have-nots.”  It’s not as easy as saying, “Work a little harder” or “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps.”  Women have worked really hard, but it was not until that first man in the boardroom hired a woman, giving up being surrounded by his own gender, that women were able to access traditional male dominated occupations.  Have-nots can work as hard as Have’s, but not have the same access without an ally.

UPDATE:  http://www.thebedfordcitizen.org/2015/09/04/reflection-bedford-embraces-diversity/

Claudia Fox Tree, veteran Native American educator, was an active participant in the aftermath of the episodes. She applauded the response of the public schools.

“Jon (Sills) took a risk to ‘go public’ and allow a window into what was happening in Bedford,” she said. “He forged a relationship with social justice organizations; provided much needed professional development for faculty and staff; built relationship with community organizations; revised curriculum K-12; and improved the Peer Leaders programs.   He also established a K-12 Equity and Diversity Support Group of teachers who are/will be leaders with these particular initiatives.  What is amazing is that he did it in just over one year.”

“The evidence that I can see is that initiatives are working,” Fox Tree observed. “On the other hand, some issues are long standing and have not had the attention they deserved.” Referencing the student video, she said, “African-American students have been reporting issues for years and felt unheard.  They were, justifiably, angry when the concerns by the Jewish community were made public, with forums, town-wide support, and almost instant action. “

“If we don’t understand the true issue, it can never really be addressed, and will keep coming around again and again,” she continued. “When a story becomes about the ‘politics’ instead of the pain and hardships that students of color experience in their community, then we need to take a closer look.  Jon (Sills) set up a climate where kids feel like they can finally talk, and that’s what you’re getting — the voices of kids of color.  This is actually a very good thing! We need to listen.”

They Cast Whom?! Actor Choices To Offend Every Racial Sensibility

They Cast Whom?! Actor Choices To Offend Every Racial Sensibility
http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2014/03/22/292548038/they-cast-whom-actor-choices-to-offend-every-racial-sensibility?utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=npr&utm_campaign=nprnews&utm_content=03222014

Click the link to read an interesting article.  One thing that is NOT highlighted is the following difference.  When the dominant group (white, when talking about race) makes space for a historically marginalized group to play a particular role, that creates equity.  When a marginalized group is not portrayed by a person from their group (even if they are portrayed by someone from another marginalized group), then the marginalized group is still marginalized and the group that is dominant is still dominant.  It's not the same thing.  Racism does not "work" both ways. 

Folks have strong opinions about how the race of actors should or shouldn't relate to the characters they play, but regardless of the position you take on this front, let us count the various ways that certain actors getting cast in certain roles might make you squirm

What A Week Of Groceries Looks Like Around The World

What A Week Of Groceries Looks Like Around The World
http://fstoppers.com/what-a-week-of-groceries-looks-like-around-the-world

Click the link for photos of different families around the world

The Race Analogy

http://www.slate.com/blogs/saletan/2014/03/12/homosexuality_and_racism_why_gay_marriage_and_interracial_marriage_are_different.html?wpsrc

Click the link for the whole article.

In many ways, today’s debate about same-sex marriage resembles earlier debates about interracial marriage. I’ve drawn this analogy myself.  In at least two ways, however, the situations differ. From the discriminator’s standpoint, opposing same-sex marriage is more defensible. At the same time, from the target’s standpoint, it’s more oppressive.

From the perspective of a would-be spouse, being denied the right to same-sex marriage can be, in some ways, worse. If you’re attracted to someone of another race, and the law won’t let you marry anyone of that race, you can find someone of your own race to marry. You shouldn’t have to do that, but you can. But if you’re exclusively attracted to people of your own sex, and the law forbids you to marry such a person, then everything conservatives praise about marriage—the sharing, the happiness, the fulfillment, the solemnity, the respect—is denied to you.

Do White People Understand White Privilege?

Cracking the Codes: Being Multiracial and Being in an Interracial Relationship

Yeah, this has happened to me before.  I wish I had had a white ally!  Use your privilege to make a positive difference and "influence everyone in that space." 

Joy DeGruy, A Trip to the Grocery Store

Tamera Mowry Responds to Critics of Her Interracial

For some, steep odds to find a bone marrow match

For some, steep odds to find a bone marrow match
http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/2013/08/20/awaiting-transplant-cancer-patient-chances-depend-her-korean-heritage/oXksbeVUYTNez8KcaS6trM/story.html
Now, the 40-year-old’s Korean heritage has suddenly become central to her life in a way she never expected. After being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia in July, Manocchio-Putney faces a disturbing reality shared with many minorities in the United States — getting a bone marrow donation to save her life will be much harder for her than it would be for one of her two Caucasian siblings.

While 93 percent of Caucasians are able to find a match among the 10.5 million potential donors registered nationwide, the likelihood of finding a match is lower for Asian-Americans — 73 percent — said Chris Mulcahy, northeast district supervisor for Be the Match, which oversees marrow drives and registries.

And it’s even more difficult for mixed-race individuals, African-Americans, and some subsets of Asian-Americans, particularly South Asians, to find a match, said Dr. Joseph Antin, chief of stem cell transplantation at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Bone marrow donors must have similar genetic history to recipients, Antin said. Though race has no genetic basis, the genes that determine the success of transplanted cells, called human leukocyte antigens, correlate with individuals’ ethnic backgrounds.

Humans developed distinct resistances to pathogens depending on what diseases proliferated in which parts of the world, meaning different ethnic groups evolved with different HLA genes. 

That genetic diversity in human leukocyte antigens makes it hard for everyone to find a bone marrow match. But it’s even tougher for people of Asian and African descent, because the more diverse an individual’s evolutionary history is, the harder it becomes to find a match. Since populations in Africa and Asia developed in the face of some of the most diverse conditions, many of its people have unique genetic types.

But sometimes, in cases like Manocchio-Putney’s, one individual’s case can generate enough momentum to expand the registry. For many years, Antin said, it was nearly impossible to find bone marrow matches for Ashkenazi Jews, whose families came from Europe. When one such Jew got sick, the community mobilized, and now many are registered as potential donors.

Who Do You Think You Are?

http://www.tv.com/shows/who-do-you-think-you-are/episodes/

My favorite episodes are the ones which trace back the lines of African Americans, cause you know what they are going to find --- or do they?

From Wikipedia
Who Do You Think You Are? is an American genealogy documentary series that premiered on NBC on March 5, 2010. The show is an adaptation of the British series of the same name, aired by the BBC. Each week a celebrity goes on a journey to trace his or her family tree. Lisa Kudrow is an executive producer for the series, which is a partnership between Shed Media, NBC Entertainment and Ancestry.com.
The series ran for twenty-seven episodes, broadcast over three seasons, before it was cancelled by NBC in 2012.^[1] The series has since been picked up by TLC.^[2] The fourth season is scheduled to premiere on July 23, 2013.^[3] A how-to companion book to the series, also called Who Do You Think You Are?, is available to help viewers research their own roots.^[4]

Put the Shoe on the Other Foot… On Being Multiracial

Complicating White Privilege: Poverty, Class, and the Nature of the Knapsack

Complicating White Privilege: Poverty, Class, and the Nature of the Knapsac
http://www.tcrecord.org/content.asp?contentid=16687
by Paul Gorski — February 06, 2012

Since its popularization in the 1990’s, the term “white privilege” has become, perhaps, the central focus of “diversity” and “multicultural” education discourses. Although the concept can be a critical component of understanding and undermining racial hierarchies in schools, it has been co-opted (largely by white scholars and from scholars and activists of color) and often used in overly-simplistic ways. I discuss, for instance, the enforcement of dialogic controls in conversations about white privilege, and particularly in white educator caucus dialogues, that disallow consideration for intersecting oppressions, including economic injustice, thereby ignoring tremendous differences in access to privilege, even among white anti-racist educators. As a result, the popular “white privilege” discourse in education appears to be stuck in a state of arrested development that actually further privileges white keynoters and consultants who have built economically solvent careers by writing and speaking about it, sometimes without acknowledging how their privilege operates differently from that of white people who do not enjoy the leisure time or resources to write essays about white privilege. I argue that these complexities must be explored more earnestly, especially by white people in the education milieu, including me, who have strengthened our privilege through an increasingly profitable white privilege “industry.”

Great cartoon:  http://www.buzzfeed.com/michaelblackmon/17-harrowing-examples-of-white-privilege-9hu9