Tag: legacy

A Legacy Of Racism In Home Ownership And Making Costly Repairs Endured By Black Women
Journalism

A Legacy Of Racism In Home Ownership And Making Costly Repairs Endured By Black Women

Yolanda, 61, owns a home in the predominantly Black 7th Ward neighborhood in New Orleans. To fix her leaking roof in 2020, she had to borrow money. “It’s one of them credit card loans,” she said. “Like interest of 30% and all that, you know. I was kind of backed up against the wall, so I just went on and made the loan, a high-interest loan.” As a sociologist who has spent the past 10 years studying housing conditions in the U.S., I led a research team that conducted interviews with homeowners who are struggling with basic maintenance such as rotting wood siding and floors, mold, crumbling brickwork, outdated plumbing and leaking ceilings. Our first paper from this project is currently under peer review. Like Yolanda, our interviewees – whom we gave pseudonyms to protect their privacy –...
Legacy, A New Novel Of A Mother And Daughter, Ambition And Romance
BOOKS

Legacy, A New Novel Of A Mother And Daughter, Ambition And Romance

#1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts presents Legacy, a new novel of a mother and a daughter, of ambition and romance, and of a traumatic past reawakened by a terrifying threat… Adrian Rizzo was seven when she met her father for the first time. That was the day he nearly killed her—before her mother, Lina, stepped in. Soon after, Adrian was dropped off at her grandparents’ house in Maryland, where she spent a long summer drinking lemonade, playing with dogs, making a new best friend—and developing the stirrings of a crush on her friend’s ten-year-old brother. Lina, meanwhile, traveled the country promoting her fitness brand and turning it into a billion-dollar business. There was no point in dwelling on the past. A decade later, Adrian has created her own line of yoga and wor...
SOCIETY

College Women Embracing More Diverse Sexuality -The Feminism’s Legacy

Most adults identify themselves as heterosexual, meaning they report being attracted to, and engaging in sex with, only members of the other sex. However, women ages 18 to 29 are increasingly rejecting exclusive heterosexuality and describing their sexual orientation in other ways. These changes in women’s sexuality are not mirrored by their male peers. That’s the primary finding in our most recent report on nine years of surveys at the Binghamton Human Sexualities Research Lab, just published in “Sexuality in Emerging Adulthood.” Together with our Binghamton University colleagues Richard E. Mattson, Melissa Hardesty, Ann Merriwether and Maggie M. Parker, we conclude that changes in young adults’ sexual orientation are not just as a result of increased social acceptance of LGBT people – b...
To Defend Confederate Monuments – And Sam Houston’s Legacy – Texas Distorts Its Past
POLITICS

To Defend Confederate Monuments – And Sam Houston’s Legacy – Texas Distorts Its Past

At least 160 Confederate symbols were removed from public spaces across the United States in 2020, according to the the Southern Poverty Law Center. Even Virginia, the former capital of the Confederacy, has removed a statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee from the Richmond Statehouse and is trying to take down others seen as offensive by an increasing numbers of Americans, including those whose ancestors were enslaved. Huntsville reveres hometown hero Sam Houston. And he did not revere the Confederacy. Jimmy Henderson/flickr, CC BY-SA Texas has largely declined to participate in this nationwide reckoning with the symbols of the Old South. Instead, local officials are doubling down on their Confederate monuments. Republican State Sen. Brandon Creighton, who represents the city of Conroe, near Houst...
Is It Time For The US To Pay Its Debt For The Legacy Of Slavery?
SOCIAL JUSTICE

Is It Time For The US To Pay Its Debt For The Legacy Of Slavery?

Some 156 years after the end of the Civil War and the official abolition of slavery through the 13th Amendment, the idea of reparations is gaining currency in Washington. On March 1, Cedric Richmond, a senior adviser to President Joe Biden, suggested the White House could “start acting now” on the issue. The comment comes just weeks after a House committee chaired by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Democrat of Texas, heard testimony on H.R. 40, a bill that would establish a commission on the legacy of slavery that would look at possible payments for descendants of enslaved people of African descent. Having researched slavery for the past three decades, I have concluded that there are many rationales for reparations. There has never been a leveling of the playing field, or payments for the debt ...
The Best Way To Help Workers And Preserve FDR’s Legacy – Ensuring The Minimum Wage Keeps Up With Economic Growth
BUSINESS

The Best Way To Help Workers And Preserve FDR’s Legacy – Ensuring The Minimum Wage Keeps Up With Economic Growth

The US$1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill that the House just passed includes a gradual increase in the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2025. While its chances in the Senate appear slim, the proposal has brought national attention to the minimum wage, which has been stuck at $7.25 since 2009. Supporters argue a higher minimum wage would translate into higher incomes for millions of low-wage employees, such as restaurant waiters, retail salespeople and child care workers, and thereby lift a lot of people out of poverty. Opponents claim it would hurt businesses and lead to a lot of job losses. As an economist who studies labor markets and income inequality, I believe both claims exaggerate the impact and miss a key point of what the minimum wage is meant to achieve. The current deba...
The Complicated Legacy Of The Pilgrims Is Finally Coming To Light 400 Years After They Landed In Plymouth
LIFESTYLE

The Complicated Legacy Of The Pilgrims Is Finally Coming To Light 400 Years After They Landed In Plymouth

The 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims’ voyage to Plymouth will be celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic with a “remembrance ceremony” with state and local officials and a museum exhibit in Plymouth, England. IBM has even outfitted a replica of the Mayflower with an AI navigating system that will allow the ship to trace the course of the original journey without any humans on board. Plimoth Plantation, in Plymouth, Mass., is a living museum that’s a replica of the original settlement, which existed for 70 years. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA Yet as a scholar of early 17th-century New England, I’ve always been puzzled by the glory heaped on the Pilgrims and their settlement in Plymouth. Native Americans had met Europeans in scores of places before 1620, so yet another encounter was hardly...
John C. Calhoun Authorities are yanking the legacy of the slaveholder but his bigotry remains embedded in American society
EDUCATION, SOCIAL JUSTICE

John C. Calhoun Authorities are yanking the legacy of the slaveholder but his bigotry remains embedded in American society

When I toured the South Carolina Governor’s Mansion in 2019, I noticed the multi-volume papers of John C. Calhoun on display. It struck me as remarkable that Calhoun’s ideas would be featured so prominently given his vigorous defense of slavery and his role in laying the groundwork for the Civil War. But the reality is Calhoun’s legacy until now has been quite prominent in American society – and not just in the South. His statue stands between the two chambers of the House and Senate in the South Carolina Statehouse. However, a separate statue in Charleston has been removed from the town square following nationwide protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd during an encounter with police. The statue had stood for 124 years just a block from Mother Emanuel Church, site of the horrif...
Why does the racist legacy of blackface endure?
SOCIAL JUSTICE, VIDEO REELS

Why does the racist legacy of blackface endure?

Practice of darkening skin to portray people of other races is rooted in racism.  Video of Why does the racist legacy of blackface endure? | The Stream The latest controversy over the racist practice of blackface involves Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who last week apologised for instances in his past where he darkened his skin to portray people of another race. Photos republished by Time magazine show Trudeau dressed as Aladdin at an Arabian Nights-themed party in 2001 and as a black person singing "Day O" at a high school talent show. The controversy has reignited conversations about racism and white privilege. Blackface, though, isn't just an embarrassing episode of the past. It continues to appear in popular culture, media and advertising around the wo...
Martin Luther King had complicated legacy on gun violence
SOCIAL JUSTICE

Martin Luther King had complicated legacy on gun violence

FILE - In this April 3, 1968 file photo, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. stands with other civil rights leaders on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., a day before he was assassinated at approximately the same place. From left are Hosea Williams, Jesse Jackson, King, and Ralph Abernathy. King is one of America's most famous victims of gun violence. Just as guns were a complicated issue for King in his lifetime, they loom large over the 30th anniversary of the holiday honoring his birthday. AP Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article55187105.html#storylink=cpy On April 4, 1968, King became one of America’s most famous victims of gun violence Martin Luther King Jr. was surrounded by guns, even though he didn't like them. At times, armed ...