Stewart on Obama-Wright

And so, at 11:00 am on a Tuesday, a prominent politician spoke to Americans about race as though they were adults.

Not his funniest bit, but he shows that we have a potential philosopher king, and the bit is still worth a look.

Stuff I’ve been meaning to post…

Dilbert & Religion:

Thank you for taking time out from feeding the poor to complain about comic strips. I know Jesus would have played it the same way.

–Scott Adams (Dilbert)

I don’t typically read Scott Adams’s blog, but this post is great.

Obama & McCain: I’m really bummed I didn’t get around to ordering a green O’Bama shirt in time for St. Pat’s (maybe they’ll be cheaper now), but his speech today, I believe, will be remembered long after he’s gone. Folks, this could be a real turning point in the nation’s dealings with race. It may lose him the election by causing subtly racist moderates to finally have their reason to jump ship, but it’ll force a bunch of folks to face some ugly truths.

Incidentally, if you weren’t scared enough of McCain before (I’ve been guilty as considering him a relatively minor threat, but I thought the same about W way back when, so I’m guilty), consider that he actively solicited the support of John Hagee, who said this:

All hurricanes are acts of God because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God and they were recipients of the judgment of God for that.

In that interview, he goes on to say that there was to be a parade with homosexual sex at unprecedented levels. The lack of rationality that goes into these kinds of statements (like, what about Rita? No storm hits a god-fearing region?) just blows me away, so to speak. What a prick.

HomeStretch: Like some respected not-really-lent-type others, I’ve been on the wagon for Lent. E did this a few years ago, but I decided to join her this time. It sucks, but I’ve learned some things. More on that later. Believe me, this level of masochism deserves its own post. If you see someone puking on Chris Owens Sunday, that’ll be me.

T-Mac Watch: Tomorrow E and I are going to watch the Hornets kick the Rockets’ asses and end that streak and take over 1st in the West. Big prize to anyone who helps me incorporate my hatred of McGrady into a concise sign. Remember these words:

If I don’t feel like it’s going to be safe, if I’m on that team, I will think about not going.

That was the first thing I thought about [regarding the game being held in New Orleans next season]. I thought about how much safety and security there’s going to be for the players. I don’t think it’s the right city right now. Safety has to come first.

BTW, I’ve never personally seen a player take over a game the way Chris Paul did last night. G & I thought we were toast, and we were already lamenting how we gave away a game to a mediocre team (even if 2 KU players are on the team), when Paul became superman and decided he WOULD NOT LET US LOSE. So tomorrow we play to end the streak and take over 1st in the West and in the division. I’m drooling.

BTW2, I’ve been elated to see JuJu come alive and get some game, becoming a crowd favorite in the process. I think he’s going to be an impact player, and I hope we can keep him. Also, props to Bonzi, who I’d been critical of before last night. Jeez, I love the Hornets. Keep supporting them folks! I need them here for my fix!

Super-Duper Sunday: Man, was the weather great, and our “dead city” showed its unique spirit and a great time. Too many pix here.

Family: How old do you get before your family starts giving guilt trips about your personal weaknesses? Just wondering.

More later.

Update:  I didn’t realize Houston played Boston tonight.  Not sure if I should root against Houston (I guess I will, for NO’s sake and for KU’s Paul Pierce), or for Houston (have I mentioned I hate Tracy McGrady) so we can end their streak instead of Beantown.

New Orleans Magazine calls By Invitation Only a “Hatchet Job”

At least that’s what I think they’re talking about. In the Speaking Out section (p. 32 of the January 2008 issue), you find this:

Carnival can count on at least one hatchet job a year. In 2006, it was a documentary that, in preaching against perceived intolerance, was as close-minded, uninformed and unfair to innocent people as the bigotry it portended to erase.

Awkward writing aside, this statement is a crock. By Invitation Only may have ruffled the feathers of elite New Orleanians, and they may have been duped a bit, but Rebecca Snedeker and her colleagues did a hell of a job exposing some people for what they are–racist, sexist, classist pricks who give a bad name to our city. I’m not sure why NOM thinks this was a hatchet job, but I’d like to know more about what it considers to be unfair and uninformed. In fact, the fact that Snedeker was informed allowed her to make the movie and to make it effective. I, for one, was glad to see what was there, even if there may have been a touch of misinformation on the part of the (willing or not) participants in the film.

Part of what chaps me is that shit likes this gives people the perception that NO is more racist than other places. I feel strongly that although there is plenty of racism here, and more than most of us would like to see, the average New Orleanian is pretty damned tolerant, and that tolerance is one thing that leads us to love the city. Yeah, this is the area that spawned David Duke and the “Wake Up White People” bumper stickers around town, but I’ve certainly never lived where my neighbors were so diverse. Nowhere growing up, Topeka-Tulsa-Lawrence-Lincoln-Beaumont, did I or my family ever have neighbors any blacker, poorer, or much different in any way than ourselves. Yet here, where I choose to live, it’s a different deal. And yet I’m painfully aware that some people wish we could go back to the “good old days” of race and class separation. This movie exposes that, and cheers to Rebecca for illuminating the rest of us.

Nevertheless, when I worry that maybe the world’s perceptions are right, and we are assholes, or I read the comments in the nola.com blogs and see the outright bigotry that they show, I come across something like this, from the progressive West. Just take a look at the article and the comments; pricks everywhere, indeed.

UPDATE:  Here’s the letter I sent to NO Magazine…

I assume the above passage refers to Rebecca Snedeker’s documentary “By Invitation Only.”  I would like to know exactly what about the film you believe to be so “close [sic]-minded, uninformed and unfair to innocent people” as to warrant the label of “hatchet job.”  As a non-elite New Orleanian, I found the film to be enlightening and strangely sympathetic to the well-connected citizens who are sometimes blissfully unaware of the hideousness of their organizations’ traditions. 

As Harry Connick, Jr. showed us in founding Orpheus, Mardi Gras need not continue to embrace the discriminatory norms of old line Mardi Gras krewes in order to be exciting, flamboyant, and traditional.  The film didn’t “portend” (I assume you meant purport) to erase bigotry but to expose it, and it did so effectively.  It’s true that some people may have been somewhat deceived as to the purpose of the filming, but as we are often told when it comes to things like the Patriot Act, if you’re not doing anything wrong, you should have nothing to hide. 

Would the krewe have admitted Snedeker’s Black boyfriend?  Did they not lampoon Darwin in past themes?  Do some of the traditions not hearken back to a time of antebellum simplicity and clarity of class standing?  If not, then rebut these claims in your magazine (I searched for any coverage of the film and found none), rather than broadly dismissing the film as irrelevant or off-base. 

I don’t disagree with the article’s premise that Mardi Gras has saved New Orleans; indeed, we all felt the presence of something like a miracle in the exuberance of Mardi Gras 2006.  Still, Mardi Gras does what it does in spite of, and not because of, the bizarre and discriminatory history of the celebrations.  Tradition is great to a point, but times change, and Mardi Gras is changing with it.  All hail Zulu & Muses!

Trashy Racism

Few things rankle me more than someone illegitimately playing the race card. By that, I mean that I hate it when someone calls racism on an issue that isn’t racism, mainly because it calls attention away from the real racism. The straw racism argument does a detriment to everyone who’s trying to fight actual racism. In fact, probably the only thing that pisses me off more is actual racism.

In my prejudice seminar, we spend a good bit of time discussing what leads someone to determine that another’s behavior is the result of prejudice. There are individual difference variables that lead some people to see it in ambiguous situations more than others would. But we also take situational and historical data into account.

If a black man goes into a restaurant and receives bad service, he takes into account whether everyone’s receiving bad service, whether only the other black customers are receiving bad service, whether he’s received bad service from that waiter before, and so on. And, if he’s really thinking through it, he might consider whether he’s done something to elicit bad service or whether his perceptions are biased by expectations or racism or a bad mood. Not that we’re all so analytical in our everyday lives, but that’s some of the process that the research documents.

In Jena, we know that none of us ever heard of tennis shoes being considered deadly weapons, and we never heard of any white kids being tried for attempted murder when they beat up a classmate. We know that there is a history of racial harassment and tension in the school. So the sentences look pretty damn racist, especially for those of us inclined to think that the image of a group of black kids beating up a white kid strikes an all-white jury as a lot scarier than a group of white kids beating up a black kid.

In Atlanta, when we hear that a black 17-year old gets 10 years for consensual oral sex with a 15-year old, we can think there’s racism in the sentencing, especially among those of us inclined to consider the sexual primitive stereotype an aggravating factor in the judge’s thinking.

When powder cocaine gets a feathery sentence relative to crack, and we know that powder cocaine is associated with rich whites and crack with poor blacks, those of us inclined to be cynical about society’s treatment of different groups are going to see racism.

And of course, when people make it easy for us–Don Imus, Michael Richards, Dog the Bounty Hunter, and so on–we can see the racism, despite the perpetrator’s efforts to convince us it’s not the real them.

But when a trash company doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do and charges us a premium, firing them isn’t racism. In fact, their ripping off a poor majority-black city is doing more to hold down black citizens than a couple of companies that are overcharging at best and gouging and profiteering at worst.

I personally believe strongly in affirmative action to make sure that minority owned companies get a fair shot at the work, and I’m glad we did that. But this situation looks shady, and the people calling racism are doing a disservice to the people who are suffering real racism. Especially in a city that seems to think that Tony Soprano’s garbage business was legitimate.

UPDATE:  Here’s the link to the T-P article I’m referring to, but please don’t lump me in with the commenters.  Thanks.

Pigs

So I’m scanning radio stations in the car today, and I come across that stupid “Spud’s” show.  He makes a fine Ignatius, but I don’t think I’d like him as much, so I shouldn’t have been surprised by his approach to the Virginia Tech murders.  He was interviewing some therapist or something, and he starts getting into the shooter’s S. Korean background.  They discussed how this wasn’t consistent with Asian stereotypes of aggression (although they didn’t even acknowledge their use of stereotypes; they simply talked in general terms about how Asians are serious students and nonviolent as a people).

Then Spud starts saying that he hopes the South Korean government will issue an apology or at least a statement of condolence.

WTF?  Folks, this is white privilege as its ugliest.  Spud, we’d like you to apologize for Katrina victims who looted food or have stolen copper.  You need to let us know what you plan to do about these murders.  Hell, how do you live with yourself after what you did in Oklahoma City?

In social psyc, we have a concept called illusory correlation, where people make connections between two rare events.  Here, a Korean student is a murderer, and now we start to say that there’s some sort of link.  Jeez, maybe he was left-handed too!

Salon has documented more atrocities here.

Wow! I Agree with Couhig!

Adrastos did a nice job covering this morning’s Nagin absurdity (somehow, I knew he would), but wanted to weigh in a little bit.

What gets me is Couhig’s at least implied point:  Who’s the “they” and how can the pull this off?  If anything, “they” would rather make New Orleans a black ghetto.  Do “they” want poor black New Orleanians in their neighborhoods?  If anything, “they” would conspire to keep New Orleans black.

What pisses me off the most about Nagin’s comments (aside from the alarmism that they generate) is that they create a straw man for the real shame of the government’s response.  Yes, we were treated badly, and the government screwed our city, and I do believe that much of this is because the people who live here are a lower priority.  But that doesn’t mean that there’s a plot afoot to change the demographics.  It’s our demographics that allow “them” to save a few bucks.

Finally, Ray, golden boy or not, you need Landrieu’s help.  You need EVERYONE’s help, so please stop alienating yourself and us.

Cornel West & MLK

Tonight I attended a lecture by the great Princeton scholar Cornel West. I like him a lot. Don’t agree with everything he says, but I think he’d like that. Yesterday I painted chairs at McDonough High, which wasn’t quite the enlightening experience I was hoping for, but I hope the students appreciate how diligent we were painting over their graffiti. Oh well, I guess I’m glad I did something.

Tonight was more stimulating. I would have liked to ask the following question after his lecture: I am torn between two key emphases of his address. I truly value critical thought, and I truly admire bravery and conviction. The problem is that when I focus on thinking critically (which is usually my habit), I find myself seeing so many sides to an issue that I don’t know what to do. It’s as though I’ve critically thought myself into inaction. I preach to my students that intelligent people can disagree about important things, but I still can’t bring myself to commit. How do I handle this dilemma?

Now, I have to admit that much of my problem is simply a fear of confrontation. I don’t like to make waves, and I’m ashamed of that. I firmly believe that I would have been in line with King’s goals, but I can also see myself being persuadable that another approach toward the end justice would be better. In hindsight, almost everyone thinks King’s great and should be revered. I do too. But would I then? I’m not sure.

A parallel issue (for me anyway) came up tonight at the talk. West expressed some reservations about Obama running for president. Well, I’m a fan, and he pretty much has my vote at the declaration. Is he perfect? No. Do I wish he was a little more progressive? Probably so. West wishes he showed more “courage,” and I can see what he means. On the other hand, could Obama be the best weapon for creating realistic change at this point? Maybe it’s a sellout, but part of what I like is that he can persuade without ostracizing.

Slidell’s Sheriff Strain

Here’s another letter to the editor that apparently won’t be published:

[update, 18 July 06--Was published this morning, unedited, above the fold!]

 

Like many other people, I was alarmed by Slidell Sheriff Strain said that anyone in St. Tammany with dreadlocks or �chee wee� hairstyles should expect a visit from his deputies.

I asked friends and my students what he meant, and very few had heard of a �chee wee� hairstyle, so I�ve decided to give Sheriff Strain the benefit of the doubt and assume that his approach does not constitute racial profiling.

Because �chee wee� doesn�t appear in the dictionary and apparently isn�t in common usage, I�ve decided that it refers to hair that is straight and brown or gray, sometimes with a bald spot in the middle. This would clearly describe such unwanted thugs and criminals as the late Kenneth Lay, Jack Abramoff, and Ted Bundy. Think how much the country would have benefited if Sheriff Strain could have locked up Jeffrey Skilling, Dennis Kozlowski, and Timothy McVeigh before they struck. The list goes on.

I�m so glad that the good sheriff has decided to pre-empt crime by these types and get them off the streets so they can�t torment the rest of us with regular hair. So if you live on the northshore, keep an eye out for suspicious figures with these hairstyles and alert the deputies!

 

I just saw that Michael Homan had a similar perspective on the mystic coif that Strain thinks is so commonly discussed.

Now, predictably, Strain is saying he was taken out of context, but this is racial profiling, pure and simple. No offense to people who live in the ‘burbs, but it’s people like Strain (and Gretna’s sheriff) and the masses who support them that give suburban living a bad name and make people like me that much more committed not to live there. Sure Nagin’s Choco-City comments have given me some ’splaining to do with people from around the country, but I still don’t feel much need to distance myself from them, perhaps because I was the “profiled” group in those comments. So I might have been offended (I wasn’t), but at least I didn’t have to be particularly ashamed.