racism – Page 3

To fight US racism, research prescribes a nationwide healing process

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

To fight US racism, research prescribes a nationwide healing process

As the U.S. prepares to celebrate another year of its independence, the country is paying renewed attention to the founders, and how their legacy of slavery is linked to systemic racism. Calls for reform to policing across the nation can help to directly reduce police violence against civilians but don’t address the centuries-old underlying problems in American society. Our research indicates that the country is not likely to escape its historic cycles of violence and racial oppression without addressing this painful and troubled history. Sparked by the killing of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police, protests have emerged across the United States demanding police and criminal justice reform. Reform efforts abound – including Minneapolis city councilors declaring they will...

Viral videos of racism: how an old civil rights strategy is being used in a new digital age

8Jun

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

Viral videos of racism: how an old civil rights strategy is being used in a new digital age

After a black bird-watcher filmed a white dog-walker on May 25 calling the police on him in response to his request she obey the dog-leash laws in the Ramble woodlands area of Central Park, New York, the video went viral. “I’m going to tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life”, Amy Cooper informed Christian Cooper (no relation) before she called 911 and made a deliberately dramatic false accusation. Melody Cooper, discussing her decision to post her brother’s footage online, told hosts of American talk show The View that she “wanted to shine a light on” Amy Cooper’s weaponisation of racism “so that no other black person would have to go through it from her”. Over half a century ago, African Americans viewed the potential of the newest development in communications te...

George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery deaths: Racism causes life-threatening conditions for black men every day

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery deaths: Racism causes life-threatening conditions for black men every day

High-profile police shootings and deaths of black men in custody – or even while out jogging – bring cries of racism across the country. The May 25 death of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis and the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, Georgia on Feb. 23, 2020 by a white father and son have resulted in outrage and protests in cities across the U.S. But, as a public health researcher who studies the effects of racism on the health of black men, I have found that the life-and-death effects of racism in the U.S. go far beyond police shootings. I also have found that, while racism harms many groups of people, black men are paying the highest cost. As a result of racism, and associated poverty and injustice, life expectancy at birth of black men is 71.9 years, fa...

Racism and the black hole of gun control in the US

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

Racism and the black hole of gun control in the US

Would tighter gun laws help protect African Americans or make them more vulnerable to racism and police brutality? I will never forget the day in eighth grade when my friend pointed a pistol at my face and pulled the trigger. I am old enough now that many of my childhood memories have faded into blurry black and white pictures, but 30 years later, that scene is a vivid colour film in my memory. I can see the smirk in his brown eyes as he points the pistol at my forehead, the slightly blue shimmer of the metal in the afternoon light, the way that the flat side of the barrel reached a nipple of an opening, suddenly curving inward, and the explosion of sound as he pulled the trigger. Time stretches in moments like these, and as time expanded before m...

How Do We Teach “To Kill a Mockingbird” and Honestly Confront Racism?

9Jul

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

How Do We Teach “To Kill a Mockingbird” and Honestly Confront Racism?

Harper Lee’s novel is the closest thing America's had to required reading. But the book’s failings in confronting racism are more apparent than ever to White educators—and Black ones wonder what took so long. I am sitting in my eighth-grade civics class learning what it is to be an American. Around me, the cool kids wear Abercrombie & Fitch, and I do too, ever since I persuaded my parents to buy me some. (I cycle relentlessly through my three precious items; one is a dark olive-green “muscle T” whose purpose is entirely lost on my slight frame.) Our textbook cover bears the rippling glory of the stars and stripes. In it, we learn about the three branches of government and major Supreme Court cases. We read and discuss novels like Lord of the Flies and To Kill a Mock...

5Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Racism and the Off-Duty Doctor

How my hospital ID has become an “I exist” card. In medical residency, I trained at a county hospital in Los Angeles. Black and Brown patients lay on gurneys in the emergency room and lined the halls on the wards. Our patients were mostly poor, often undocumented. The doctors were mostly White. One of my Guatemalan patients told me that on the difficult, monthlong walk into the U.S., contending with blisters and diarrhea, she’d learned that our hospital was the first place to get decent, free care. As residents, we worked and lived in the hospital so many nights, it felt like home. On one of my days off, in street clothes—jeans and a T-shirt—I went into the hospital to finish dictating some patient notes. It was morning. As usual, I went through the metal detector coming into the h...

The Black and the Blue: Tackling Police Racism and Abuse on a Systemic Level

21Aug

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL JUSTICE

The Black and the Blue: Tackling Police Racism and Abuse on a Systemic Level

An African American law enforcement expert finds hope in the firing of a racist police chief. Sixty miles south of my home is a small municipality in New Jersey called Bordentown Township. The population is 11,367, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. Two very important things happened there in 2016. One alarmed me; the other gave me hope. The first was the arrest of the town’s former police chief, Frank Nucera Jr., who had just stepped down after years on the force. Nucera was charged by the FBI with committing a federal hate crime and violating a person’s civil rights while he was chief. Nucera, I would learn, is a confirmed racist. Once, when discussing a situation where he believed an African American had slashed the tires on a patrol cruiser, he told a fellow officer, “I wish that ...

After Centuries of Housing Racism, a Southern City Gets Innovative

23May

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

After Centuries of Housing Racism, a Southern City Gets Innovative

Denise Fitzgerald’s property abuts the string of quiet, empty lots that line Ewing Street in Jackson, Mississippi. Recently she was leaf-blowing detritus shed by the enormous sycamore tree dominating the yard of her tidy Habitat for Humanity home. She says she’d cut the tree down herself but knows it’s big enough to take out both her house and the house beside her if she dare try it. Fitzgerald is familiar with the empty lots of Ewing Street, just a few blocks from Jackson State University. She’s lived here since 2008, and she remembers when Ewing was a series of derelict buildings smeared across the neighborhood. Only two empty houses remain. The rest is a collection of oak and hackberry trees, with some untamed vines. There is some human intervention, however. Every other week ...

Why I Teach a Course Called “White Racism”

16Feb

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

Why I Teach a Course Called “White Racism”

The need for students to learn about racism in American society existed long before I began teaching a course called “White Racism” at Florida Gulf Coast University earlier this year. I chose to title my course “White Racism” because I thought it was scholarly and succinct, precise and powerful. But others saw it differently. Many White Americans (and some people of color) became upset when they learned about this course. Thousands took to social media and far-right news sites and racist blogs to attack the course and me personally. Some 150 of these individuals sent me hateful and threatening messages. It might be tempting to blame the hostility to my course on the current political climate, in which the president of the United States routinely makes overtly racist statements and ...

25Nov

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

Does Focusing On Racism And Sexism Lead To More Racism And Sexism?

If someone pays attention to the mainstream media, they are likely to have read stories about racism and sexism. And the amount of stories that they have come across can all depend on the news sources that they pay attention to. The reason for this is that there are certain publications that focus on these kinds of issues, while others don't. One way of looking at this would be to say that there are only certain sources that give these issues the attention that they deserve. Identity Politics Another way of looking at this would be to say that there are certain publications that are obsessed with these kinds of issues. This is not to say that racism and sexism are trivial issues, far from it. What it comes down to is that due to what side of the political spectrum a publication lean...