white – Page 5

Code-Switching Surviving White Culture Not Trying to Fit in to It

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IMPACT

Code-Switching Surviving White Culture Not Trying to Fit in to It

The voice that sprung from my throat was unfamiliar as I introduced myself to a classroom of White students. Its tone was high-pitched and enthusiastic—a far cry from my naturally soft raspiness. It wasn’t the first time I was unsettled by being the sole Black person in a room, but these moments had a profound effect on me. Without thought, I’d shifted my demeanor and speech. My thoughts were calculated, quickened, and in search of the “right” things to say. The words poured from my mouth pointed and stiff. I enunciated each consonant and vowel, and stressed each syllable. The production of it all, though a departure from my normal self, was seamless. It was the first time I noticed I had code-switched. Admittedly, I was later ashamed for abandoning my native tongue—African American Ver...

White ladies cooking in plantation museums are a denial of history

13Dec

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

White ladies cooking in plantation museums are a denial of history

Fall is almost gone and winter is coming, as are hundreds of hearth cooking demonstrations at countless historic homes and plantations throughout the nation. Like an automated clock, historic kitchens become the center stage for historical storytelling at this time of year. In New England, these stories sit firmly in the mythos of Thanksgiving, focusing on sterilized versions of the 1621 feast between Pilgrims and Wampanoag. In the mid-Atlantic, these stories blend their Amish, German and Dutch roots to talk about Colonial fare in early America. But while these two regions must always deal with issues of accuracy, the South’s historic sites have remained locked in a myth of their own. Misrepresenting reality I spent a decade researching and writing about enslaved plantation cooks and le...

Why support for the death penalty is much higher among white Americans

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

Why support for the death penalty is much higher among white Americans

Sentencing a person to die is the ultimate punishment. There is no coming back from the permanence of the death penalty. People who oppose the death penalty cannot serve on juries in those cases. Crazy City Lady/Shutterstock.com In the U.S., the death penalty is currently authorized by the federal government, the military and 29 states. The primary rationale for using the death penalty is deterrence. As public policy, I believe that capital punishment has largely not proved to be an effective deterrent. Nevertheless, for decades the death penalty has been popular. However, support for the death penalty has been declining over the past 25 years and is near historic lows. Critics point to issues such as inhumane killing procedures, a plunge in crime rates and the death penalty’s high cost...

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

White Officer Aaron Dean Charged With Murder Of Atatiana Jefferson

Texas police officer Aaron Dean shot and killed Atatiana Jefferson as she stood inside her home on Saturday morning. Bouquets of flowers and stuffed animals are piling up outside the Fort Worth home where a 28-year-old black woman was shot to death by a white police officer [Jake Bleiberg/AP Photo] A white police officer who shot and killed an African American woman in her Fort Worth, Texas, home in the presence of her eight-year-old nephew was charged with murder on Monday after resigning from the force. The Fort Worth Police Department said its officers were responding to a call from a neighbour, who reported to a non-emergency line, that Atatiana Jefferson's front door had been left open. The responding officer fired a shot through a window, killing 28...

Leveraging White Privilege for Racial Justice

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL JUSTICE

Leveraging White Privilege for Racial Justice

These White people aren’t just checking their privilege. They’re using it to bring about positive racial change. Social justice demands more now than we’re used to giving, and it isn’t only the responsibility of people of color to demand change. These White people are not just checking their privilege, they’re also leveraging it to bring about justice. Jane Elliott The morning after Martin Luther King Jr. was killed in 1968, Jane Elliott tried something new in her Iowa classroom. “I exposed 26 third-grade students to an exercise in discrimination based on the color of their eyes,” she says. This became known as the Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes exercise, and has been demonstrated as an effective tool to teach children about racism. Racism could be learned, she realized, and ther...

4Oct

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

White officer says leading black man by rope would look ‘bad’

Bodycam footage of white Texas officers leading a homeless black man by a rope down Galveston streets released. The incident sparked outrage in the US [Screenshot/City of Galveston YouTube] A white Texas police officer could be heard twice on a body camera video saying that leading a homeless black man by a rope down city streets while he and his partner were on horseback would look "bad", according to the footage released on Wednesday. Two Galveston police officers arrested 43-year-old Donald Neely on August 3, accusing him of criminal trespass. Galveston is about 80km (50 miles) southeast of Houston. Images shared online of the two white officers leading Neely using a rope tied to his handcuffs - reminiscent of pictures showing slaves in chains - sparked...

How White Supremacy Intensifies Summer Heat

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

How White Supremacy Intensifies Summer Heat

“Like racism, violence and white supremacy, heat is inextricable from the Black American experience.” July arrived steamier than ever with potentially deadly heat waves. The month was followed by equally high August temperatures—and, alas, the heat of Augusts past, which generations of African Americans have yet to escape. Historically, racism has aggravated the summer heat with mayhem, trauma, and even death for Black people. The onslaught of slavery is but one calamity of note. Enslaved Black bodies—considered and treated as property—performing fieldwork from the dawn of day till the sun receded, on meager sustenance, with unsuitable provisions, beneath the crack of a whip was only the beginning. All else that followed forced servitude was par for the course, so much so...

White Supremacy and Artificial Intelligence

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

TECHNOLOGY

White Supremacy and Artificial Intelligence

Developing technology that doesn’t perpetuate racism demands putting social values before profit. In her new book Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code, Ruha Benjamin breaks down the “New Jim Code,” technology design that promises a utopian future but serves racial hierarchies and racial bias. When people change how they speak or act in order to conform to dominant norms, we call it “code-switching.” And, like other types of codes, the practice of code-switching is power-laden. Justine Cassell, a professor at Carnegie Mellon’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute, creates educational programs for children and found that avatars using African American Vernacular English lead Black children “to achieve better results in teaching scientific concepts than whe...

Why isn’t the US dealing with the rising threat of white supremacy?

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS, VIDEO REELS

Why isn’t the US dealing with the rising threat of white supremacy?

Despite growing white nationalist violence worldwide, US conservatives are pushing for antifa to be designated a "terrorist" group. Twenty people are dead in a weekend shooting at an El Paso Wal-Mart. The incident is being called one of the worst attacks on Latinos in US history. The suspected shooter is in police custody, and posted an anti-immigrant manifesto online before the attack. Authorities are charging him with “domestic terrorism .” Around the country, calls are growing for the US to starting taking white nationalism seriously. In July, FBI director Christopher Wray said the majority of the 100 "domestic terrorism" arrests made by the bureau this year involved white supremacists. And white supremacists were responsible for 49 homicides in 26 attacks in the...

White Supremacy Has Always Been Terrorism

5Aug

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

White Supremacy Has Always Been Terrorism

And Donald Trump is fanning the flames by encouraging the violent ideology. White terroristic activity has been around since the nation’s birth. But the failure to acknowledge the escalation as a result of President Trump’s continual hateful rhetoric is itself aiding and abetting its proliferation. In moments like this, the script is sadly predictable. Some will blame everything from mental illness to video games for the carnage. Others will self-righteously claim that this is not the time to “play politics.” But speaking truth about this president is far from a political game. It is peddling in a sobering reality. There are no “both sides” here. There is only right and wrong. Never forget, this is a president who described himself multiple times as a “nationalist.” This is ...