In my last blog, I passed along a progressive black man's take on the massive George Floyd protests. It was written by a Harvard Law grad who is a proponent of nonviolence. I'm giving time in today's blog to a moderate black man's take on the issue of racism raised by the protests. Attorney Bryan Stevenson, also a Harvard Law grad, is having a bit of a moment. The movie of his book Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption has just been released. It stars Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx, … [Read more...]
Unusual and Usual discrimination in America – George Floyd’s death.
My blogs and this website concern themselves in large part with unusual types of discrimination. So I write about the discrimnation in favor of wealthy, smart, or talented people. For example, the criminal justice system is biased towards many celebrities. They essentially get away with murder, as I explain in my forthcoming book, Privileged Killers. But recent weeks have shown me that we must deal with the usual kinds of discrimination in the U.S. And it's not just the underprivileged … [Read more...]
‘Bombshell,’ #MeToo, and Hollywood’s inability to portray its own villains.
As promised I will share your questions and comments and update mine now that I’ve seen Bombshell and thought about the #MeToo tie-in. First, I was dazzled by Theron's spot on depiction of Megyn Kelly. And the movie kept my interest and my companion's. Mostly, though, my concern in my prior blog - that Bombshell might gloss over institutional #MeToo issues - was unfortunately borne out. Additionally, I kept thinking, is Hollywood the best industry to lecture us about #MeToo behaviors, … [Read more...]
Do you know 10 key things about whiteness?
This quiz testing your knowledge of key things about whiteness gives you the answers. So, don't cheat. I'm posting this because my recent blog about privilege and whiteness showed there's a lot of interest in the topic. Since Aussie Luke Pearson and Sophie Verass put the following post together, you'll encounter some Down-Under spelling and examples. What's interesting is that Australia, as well as many other countries, wrestles with the same issues and problems as the US … [Read more...]
White supremacy increasing. Need civil rights activist heroes.
Calling the civil rights activist — wherever you may be. We need you now. Why" To combat the rise in hate crimes experienced worldwide. Data from multiple sources suggest this is so, not just info from news accounts about egregious crimes. The latest being the terror attacks on two New Zealand mosques, killing 50 and injuring 50. We need the likes of Martin Luther King, Jr. and many of the men and women in his orbit. We know a lot about the civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, for … [Read more...]
Discrimination, Blackface and the Bullying Connection.
Worries about discrimination and racism are at the heart of efforts to get Virginia Governor Ralph Northam to resign from office. But did you know there's a connection to bullying in all this? More on this later, but first the controversy. Northam's 1984 med school yearbook page shows a picture of a person in blackface and another wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood . . . next to different pictures of the then doctor-governor-to be. Discrimination and racism. Northam's many critics feel that 1) … [Read more...]
Understanding White Privilege – its sociological origins.
In an effort at understanding white privilege from an historical perspective, I wrote a post back in January. In this post, I'm into understanding white privilege from a sociological perspective. For a variety of reasons, one engaging perspective of this sort by sociologist Alan G. Johnson starts off with the notion that the British were instrumental in the development of the idea of racial superiority. According to Johnson's perspective, the British were not the first to believe that … [Read more...]