Thursday, January 9

Tag: american

Gifted And Talented Black, Latino Or Native American Students Are Often Overlooked In Schools
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

Gifted And Talented Black, Latino Or Native American Students Are Often Overlooked In Schools

About a decade ago, I was working with a large, urban school district on creating a gifted and talented program that would include all kids, regardless of their race or income. In this district, Black children and children from poor families were rarely identified for gifted education services. These services include enrichment, special classes and focused projects intended to help students excel in areas in which they show signs of exceptional potential and talents. I visited one school, near a prestigious university in an upscale neighborhood, where 48% of all students received services for gifted and talented students. There, about 50% were white, 22% Black and 12% Asian. Few were being raised in low-income families. At another school I visited a short 10-minute drive away, no student...
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American society teaches everyone to be racist – but you can rewrite subconscious stereotypes
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

American society teaches everyone to be racist – but you can rewrite subconscious stereotypes

Progress toward a more just and equitable society may be on the horizon. Since the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in May, around the United States, millions of people have taken to the streets, statues have been felled, leaders have been fired and pressured to resign, and activists-turned-politicians have gained traction in prominent political races. But until people recognize that racism is wired into the American mind, we believe that few of these efforts are likely to actually reduce racist behavior. Our work provides a way to understand how race and society influence the brain. One of us (Waddell) is a sociologist who researches social inequality; the other (Pipitone) is a psychologist who examines the biological implications of human behavior. Our respective work...
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American environmentalism’s racist roots have shaped global thinking about conservation
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ENVIRONMENT, IN OTHER NEWS, VIDEO REELS

American environmentalism’s racist roots have shaped global thinking about conservation

The United States is having a long-overdue national reckoning with racism. From criminal justice to pro sports to pop culture, Americans increasingly are recognizing how racist ideas have influenced virtually every sphere of life in this country. John James Audubon relied on African Americans and Native Americans to collect some specimens for his ‘Birds of America’ prints (shown: Florida cormorant), but never credited them. National Audubon Society, CC BY This includes the environmental movement. Recently the Sierra Club – one of the oldest and largest U.S. conservation organizations – acknowledged racist views held by its founder, author and conservationist John Muir. In some of his writing, Muir described Native Americans and Black people as dirty, lazy and uncivilized. In an essay coll...
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Latin American women are disappearing and dying under lockdown
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COVID-19

Latin American women are disappearing and dying under lockdown

It’s a pandemic within the pandemic. Across Latin America, gender-based violence has spiked since COVID-19 broke out. Almost 1,200 women disappeared in Peru between March 11 and June 30, the Ministry of Women reported. In Brazil, 143 women in 12 states were murdered in March and April – a 22% increase over the same period in 2019. Reports of rape, murder and domestic violence are also way up in Mexico. In Guatemala, they’re down significantly – a likely sign that women are too afraid to call the police on the partners they’re locked down with. The pandemic worsened but did not create this problem: Latin America has long been among the world’s deadliest places to be a woman. Don’t blame ‘machismo’ I have spent three decades studying gendered violence as well as women’s organizing in Lati...
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Racism linked to cognitive decline in African American women
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HEALTH & WELLNESS, Journalism

Racism linked to cognitive decline in African American women

African Americans have higher rates of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease than white Americans. Chronic stress, associated with cognitive impairment and reduced volume in the brain’s memory area, could be a culprit. But racism may be one of the ultimate causes. And for African American women, the problem may be particularly pernicious. We are epidemiologists at Boston University. Our work is focused on the Black Women’s Health Study (BWHS), a landmark investigation that has followed 59,000 African American women since 1995. Previous data from our study showed that racism experiences are associated with increased risks of premature birth, obesity, Type 2 diabetes, uterine fibroids, adult-onset asthma and insomnia. More recently, we wanted to see how racism might impact cognition in African...
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African American teens face mental health crisis but are less likely than whites to get treatment
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HEALTH & WELLNESS

African American teens face mental health crisis but are less likely than whites to get treatment

Black youth in the U.S. experience more illness, poverty, and discrimination than their white counterparts. These issues put them at higher risk for depression and other mental health problems. Yet Black youth are less likely to seek treatment. About 9% of them reported an episode of major depression in the past year, but less than half of those – about 40% – received treatment. By comparison, about 46% of white youth who reported an episode were treated for depressive symptoms. Instead, some turn to suicide, now the second leading cause of death among Black children ages 10 to 19. That rate is rising faster for them than any other racial or ethnic group. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show the rate of suicide attempts for Black adolescents rose 73% from 1991 to ...
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Black Lives Matter must avoid being co-opted by American corporate philanthropy
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POLITICS

Black Lives Matter must avoid being co-opted by American corporate philanthropy

US corporations including Walmart, Nike and Sony Music pledged up to US$450 million for social and racial justice causes in the wake of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The sudden outbreak of brand activism among major corporations in recent months is likely to be related to surveys which suggest consumers shift spending according to the political and social stands that businesses take. But this raises significant concerns in the wake of a longer pattern of philanthropy through foundations attached to American corporate wealth that has focused on racial equality and civil rights causes. Black Lives Matter emerged in 2013 but gained national attention from 2016 as the effective face of the Movement for Black Lives. It has expanded to local chapters across the US, Canada and the...
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Supreme Court upholds American Indian treaty promises, orders Oklahoma to follow federal law
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IMPACT

Supreme Court upholds American Indian treaty promises, orders Oklahoma to follow federal law

Land in eastern Oklahoma that the United States promised to the Creek Nation in an 1833 treaty is still a reservation under tribal sovereignty, at least when it comes to criminal law, the Supreme Court ruled on July 9. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority, “Because Congress has not said otherwise, we hold the government to its word.” The eastern part of Oklahoma, about half of the state’s total land, was granted by Congress to Native American tribes in the 19th century, and is still under tribal sovereignty, the Supreme Court has ruled. Kmusser, based on 1890s data/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA To most Americans, it may seem obvious that a government should live up to its word. But the United States has regularly reneged on the promises that it made to American Indian nations in the ...
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Vigilantism, again in the news, is an American tradition
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IN OTHER NEWS

Vigilantism, again in the news, is an American tradition

It’s a contentious time in the U.S., with a pandemic, racial equality, police violence and a presidential election all occupying people’s attention. Given all that stress, it can seem like people are taking the law into their own hands more often. In recent weeks, there have been confrontations over removing monuments to the Confederacy, clashes over the use of face masks, attempts to protect – or intimidate – Black Lives Matter protesters and even a renewed interest in “citizen’s arrests.” Some of these events have turned tragically violent and deadly. These events show Americans moving beyond differences of opinion and free speech into private displays of force. Their participants may be trying to enforce their own ideas of what the law is, or protect property or defend their communiti...
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Where are the African American leaders?
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

Where are the African American leaders?

As protests rock the country in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, there is a notable absence in the national public discourse: African American community leaders. My scholarship in the discipline of black politics can explain why there aren’t any national African American leaders at this moment, filling roles like Martin Luther King Jr., Fannie Lou Hamer and others once did. In past eras, leaders of the African American community were instrumental in creating huge social and legal changes, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. Sweeping changes were possible because black leaders were willing to call out problems before they became crises, and risk their lives and livelihoods to eleva...
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