Category Archives: News

08.25.13
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A Majority of Black Americans Feel They’re Treated Unfairly by Just About Every Major Civic Institution by EMILY BADGER, The Atlantic Cities

“With the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s“I Have a Dream” speech approaching next week, Pewreleased today a new survey on public perception of the progress blacks have made in America since then. The top-level finding is unsurprising: African-Americans are much more pessimistic than whites are in rating the extent to which they still face inequality and unfairness in American society. And they’re significantly more likely to say that a lot of work still needs to be done.”

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2013/08/majority-black-americans-feel-theyre-treated-unfairly-just-about-every-major-civic-institution/6636/

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08.19.13
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Comparing US and World Covers for Time Magazine – by David Harris Gershon

A great resource for talking about social construction of reality and perceptions/knowledge about the world! 

“Yes, what you see is TIME devoting its cover in international markets to a critical moment in Egypt’s revolution – perhaps the most important global story this week – while offering Americans the chance to contemplate their collective navels (with a rather banal topic and supposition, to boot).

This is not an isolated incident, for perusing TIME’s covers reveals countless examples of the publication tempting the world with critical events, ideas or figures, while dangling before Americans the chance to indulge in trite self-absorption.”

time

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/11/25/1039957/-STUNNING-Comparing-U-S-World-Covers-for-TIME-Magazine#

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08.16.13
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Conflict in Egypt – Cultural Case Study

The situation is Egypt is discouraging for democratic ideals and the violence is disturbing. Not even addressing the problem of the military coup and the illegality of removing an elected president (and the US and other foreign governments’ approval/disapproval/complicity), from an intercultural perspective it is an example of how differences between groups can result in societal and governmental conflict. However, we can also use this case with students to demonstrate the different ways that reality is constructed and the role of the media in that process. Much of the coverage in outside of Egypt has focused on one version of reality, but there are opportunities for us to find alternative perspectives, thanks to technology.  As this situation continues to evolve, the difficulty of ongoing, generational cultural conflict becomes clearer. While not unique to Egypt, this certainly can be used to demonstrate and try to understand a bit of the complexity of culture, politics, power, and identity.

 

08.16.13
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Moment African American firefighter and pastor was cuffed after he waved at cops – who thought he was flipping them off, Daily Mail

Another case study of race and perceptions in the United States. Even if the officers thought he was making an obscene gesture, why would they do this? What about freedom of expression?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2395250/George-Madison-The-moment-African-American-firefighter-pastor-handcuffed-waved-police.html#ixzz2c85ej67r

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08.13.13
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Race and Violence: White-on-White Violence

There have been a number of stories lately about race and violence. In reaction to stories about black on black crime (especially by conservative pundits), a number of people have written about the problem of white and white-on-white violence. Here are some examples:

Cord Jefferson a “deftly skewers media stories bemoaning a violent black youth with his satirical reflection on the Huntington Beach violence and the tragedy of ‘thuggish white youth.'” A Dangerous and Irresponsible Culture: “They’d like to bury their heads in the sand and pretend that all white children are as sweet and harmless as Taylor Swift. But the reality is that the statistics tell a different story. For instance, according to research from the Department of Justice, 84 percent of white murder victims are killed by other white people[PDF]. Similarly, white rape victims tend to be raped by other whites [PDF]. White-on-white violence is a menace to white communities across the country, and yet you never hear white leaders like Pastor Joel Osteen, Bill O’Reilly, or Hillary Clinton take a firm stance against the scourge.”  http://gawker.com/video-of-violent-rioting-surfers-shows-white-culture-o-954939719

Tim Wise: “But not only does the white right overlook any number of positive trends in the black communities of this nation; more to the point, they manage to completely miss the evidence of substantial pathology in the very communities where they, as white folks, tend to live. As the data make clear, when it comes to several destructive behaviors, whites often lead the pack, but somehow manage to escape the harsh cultural judgments so regularly reserved for persons of color (1).”  http://www.timwise.org/2013/08/whats-the-matter-with-white-people-a-modest-call-for-personal-responsibility/

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08.08.13
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The Legacy of Henrietta Lacks: “A Family Consents to a Medical Gift, 62 Years Later” By Carl Zimmer, NYTimes

Issues of ethics, privacy, socioeconomics, racism, research, science, consent, justice, and voice are all present in this case. Henrietta Lacks was a poor black woman with dying from cancer in 1951. Without her consent, some of her cancer cells were removed, cultured, and have subsequently been used in many thousands of research studies (and resulting in profits and careers for scientists and corporations). Her family only found out about the widespread use of her cells when researchers approached them, asking for blood samples. This story is chronicled in Rebecca Skloot‘s 2010 best-seller, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.”

From the NYTimes article: “Henrietta Lacks was only 31 when she died of cervical cancer in 1951 in a Baltimore hospital. Not long before her death, doctors removed some of her tumor cells. They later discovered that the cells could thrive in a lab, a feat no human cells had achieved before.

Soon the cells, called HeLa cells, were being shipped from Baltimore around the world. In the 62 years since — twice as long as Ms. Lacks’s own life — her cells have been the subject of more than 74,000 studies, many of which have yielded profound insights into cell biology, vaccines, in vitro fertilization and cancer.

But Henrietta Lacks, who was poor, black and uneducated, never consented to her cells’ being studied. For 62 years, her family has been left out of the decision-making about that research. Now, over the past four months, the National Institutes of Health has come to an agreement with the Lacks family to grant them some control over how Henrietta Lacks’s genome is used.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/08/science/after-decades-of-research-henrietta-lacks-family-is-asked-for-consent.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

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08.07.13
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Let Freedom Ring! August 28 at 3 p.m. – the 50th Anniversary of MLK’s Dream Speech

Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” Speech:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/07/i-have-a-dream-speech-mlk_n_3683657.html?ncid=txtlnkushpmg00000038&ir=Black+Voices

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08.07.13
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“Orange Is the New Black”: Just an edgier version of “The Help” by Elissa Strauss, Salon.com

I haven’t seen “Orange is the New Black,” yet, but plan to. However, I’ve seen several articles and posts that discuss that, in spite of the show’s complex presentation of sexual orientation, issues of race and socioeconomic status are undeveloped and stereotypical.

http://www.salon.com/2013/08/05/orange_is_the_new_black_just_an_edgier_version_of_the_help/

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