Category: Race

Note: This is from a discussion with a friend on the feasibility of reparations for the descendants of enslaved Africans. No doubt, it is a difficult, contentious and painful topic. It is now making headlines in the news as its done every few years since I can remember. Below is my thinking on the subject a few years ago the last time it was in the news  followed by my thinking now.

I do not know if I’ve ever seen somebody actually workout the numbers R. However, in my case and the millions like me, there is a bit of the “devil is in the details” aspect. Half my ancestry is European (on my mother’s side) and he limits himself to those enslaved in the states. How about the rest of the African diaspora of the “New World” from which the other half (father’s side) of my ancestry stems from? Continue reading

Note: This is an older post from my Blogger days.

I commend Bill Van Auken On his piece “America on a Killing Spree” (http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/nov2004/kill-n18.shtml). He is absolutely correct in saying that “That the massacre of an innocent people more than 5,000 miles away can be promoted as a means of boosting public morale and fostering national unity is an indication of a society suffering from protracted and profound degeneration.” This degeneracy was again made perfectly apparent domestically with the uproar over football player Terrell Owens and “Desperate Houswives star Nicollette Sheridan’s plug for her T. V. show before the start of MNF (ABC’s intro showed Sheridan wearing only a towel and provocatively asking Owens to skip the game for her as the two stood alone in a locker room. She then drops the towel and jumps into Owens’ arms). Never mind that Sheridan’s show is a monument to trash and that football is a very violent sport that glorifies war and militarism. What most of the mainstream press concentrated on instead was the trashiness of the plug while little was said of the raced based sexual taboos raised and the violent culture that helps make the NFL the most popular sport in the U.S. This whole episode is yet another example of how far off the moral compass of U. S. society is. This is particularly true in regard to race and this is where I believe Mr. Van Auken falters. While he touches upon many bases he does not directly address the endemic racism within U. S. society. It is racism, as well as militarism, nationalism and cultural hubris, that is a defining characteristic of the face that American society is now perhaps more clearly than ever presenting to the world. Continue reading

Note: This is an older post from my Blogger days.

In “The Affair” Courtney Vance (Travis) gives a strong performance as a Black G. I. stationed in England during W. W. II who meets and falls in love with a married Englishwoman (Maggie). It is a compelling story because it dramatizes how dangerous love, whether extra-marital or not, could be between a Black man and a White Woman. It should be recalled that during W. W. II black and white soldiers in the U. S. still served in separate divisions. Racism, though somewhat less pronounced, still was rampant within the U. S. military and with that came the usual strong prohibition against sexual relations between the races. However, war, perhaps more than any other setting, allows for all kinds of situations. It was within this volatile mix of war and entrenched racism that a Black G. I. meets and falls in love with White Englishwoman Maggie.   Continue reading