And yet, a 2013 Pew Research Center study showed that half of white Americans surveyed do not feel that African Americans are treated less fairly by the police, employers, doctors and others. Only 13% of blacks felt the same way. Amid the current backdrop of the Black Lives Matter movement and increasing wealth disparity, Clive Myrie from the BBC's This Week's World delves into what white Americans understand - or don't - about race.
Showing posts with label race. Show all posts
Showing posts with label race. Show all posts
Thursday, August 31, 2017
Inside the Mind of White America - BBC News
And yet, a 2013 Pew Research Center study showed that half of white Americans surveyed do not feel that African Americans are treated less fairly by the police, employers, doctors and others. Only 13% of blacks felt the same way. Amid the current backdrop of the Black Lives Matter movement and increasing wealth disparity, Clive Myrie from the BBC's This Week's World delves into what white Americans understand - or don't - about race.
Thursday, October 13, 2016
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Let's Talk about Race - Kleberklärt | ZDF
Thursday, July 14, 2016
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Bill O'Reilly Challenges Obama & Black Caucus to Address Race Problem - The Factor | July 22, 2013
Saturday, February 02, 2013
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Francois [sic] Hollande is to have the word "race" removed from the French Constitution's guarantee that all citizens will be treated equally.
The French president declared "there is no place for race in the Republic" in March last year while campaigning against his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy.
Mr Hollande's election commitment will be honoured before the summer, aides told Le Figaro on Friday, as part of a wider programme of constitutional reform.
The French Constitution, drafted in 1946, states: "France shall be an indivisible, secular, democratic and social republic. It guarantees equality before the law for all citizens without distinction of origin, race or religion." » | Foreign Staff | Friday, February 01, 2013
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Dr Rowan Williams warned that identity had become a “slippery” word and that, while much had been achieved for minority groups, it was time to focus on the common good.
He also attacked a culture of dependence on welfare handouts, which he said was harmful to society, in an address to members of the Welsh Assembly in Cardiff.
Addressing a group of teenagers during the visit, he also spoke about the possibility that Britain could break apart as Scottish and Welsh nationalism grows in importance.
Dr Williams, who is stepping down as leader of the Anglican Communion later this year, has made a series of outspoken interventions since announcing his resignation.
He signalled last week that he plans to use his final months in office to speak out forcefully on issues which on which he feels passionate. » | John Bingham | Religious Affairs Editor | Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
THE GUARDIAN: On the eve of its GOP primary, South Carolina's deep racial divide has been brought into focus by Republican rhetoric that many feel is intent on dividing the poor by race
It was billed as a unity celebration.
But there was not much evidence of that as Spartanburg's African American residents streamed in to the city's main auditorium as part of a week of "celebrating people of all cultures and ethnicity".
"Only a few white folks will come out to something like this," said Lisa Campbell, an African American student. "It's racism. Racism is still prevalent here. It's not real subtle."
That's why Campbell laughs at the question as to whether she'll be voting in South Carolina's Republican primary election on Saturday. So does another woman at the concert to mark Martin Luther King Day, Kathy Edwards.
"It's all about this with the Republicans," she says pinching her own black skin. "I'm 58 now. It's better than it was but with the Republicans it's all about race even if they don't say it."
South Carolina runs an "open" primary which means that any resident of the state who cares to can vote to choose the Republican presidential candidate.
More than one in four people in South Carolina are African American, as is half the population of Spartanburg in the deeply religious and conservative northwest of the state.
But very few vote in Republican primaries even though a significant black turnout could have a major impact on the outcome. Four years ago, less than 2% of those voting in the Republican primary were from racial minority groups whereas more than half of those who participated in the Democratic primary were black.
Ask why and the explanations spill out. For some it is the residual racism they see evident in issues such as the recent South Carolina law requiring voters to have photo identification, a measure widely seen in the black community as intended to disenfranchise poorer African Americans who don't have driver's licences. The federal government agrees and has blocked implementation of the law. » | Chris McGreal in Spartanburg | Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: David Cameron branded Oxford University "disgraceful" after claiming that the institution admitted only one black student in the last academic year.On a visit to the north of England, the Prime Minister singled out Oxford for criticism when he accused elite institutions of having a "terrible record" of enrolling teenagers from state schools.
Senior officials at the university described the figure as "highly misleading" as it related only to British students who described themselves as black Caribbean. They said Oxford admitted another 27 students who described themselves as black African and another 14 who were mixed race.
The university also said that only 452 black students across the country had even achieved the A-level results demanded by Oxford to meet its minimum entry requirements for the 2009-10 academic year.
Leading academics and MPs said Mr Cameron risked undermining the ancient institution with his "ignorant", "absurd" and "mind boggling" comments. It followed controversy last week over Mr Cameron's claim that Britain was responsible for many of the world's historic problems, including the conflict in Kashmir between India and Pakistan.
The latest fallout will add to growing controversy that the Coalition is attempting to "socially engineer" university admissions by asking top institutions to set targets for recruiting students from state schools, poor backgrounds and ethnic minorities. » | Andrew Porter, Graeme Paton and James Kirkup | Monday, April 11, 2011
Monday, May 17, 2010
THE INDEPENDENT: What does it mean to be white? An explosive new book by an American academic argues that whiteness isn't biological at all – in fact, it can be learned. Precious Williams* disagrees
It is tempting to tell ourselves that we're on the verge of an inclusive, multicultural new age.
An era where colour doesn't matter all that much, where race doesn't define us. After all, society is changing. Radically. The Conservative Party's first-ever black female MP, Helen Grant, has just been elected. And across the pond, there is a black man in the White House. Or is there?
A controversial new book, The History of White People, claims that Barack Obama is, to all intents and purposes, white. Not because he had a white mother but because of his educational background, his income, his power, his status. The book's author, the eminent black American historian Nell Irvin Painter, has written a fascinating, sprawling history of the concept of race, looking specifically at the idea of a white race and at why and how whites have dominated other, darker-skinned races throughout recent centuries. The conclusion of Painter's book – which has taken more than a decade to research and write – is explosive. Race, she argues, is a fluid social construct, entirely unsupported by scientific fact. Like beauty, it is merely skin-deep.
Technically, she has a point. The $3bn Human Genome Project revealed in 2003 that every human being has a unique DNA sequence which differs from that of any fellow human being by just 0.1 per cent, regardless of ethnic origin. Thus, all humans beings are 99.9 per cent the same and, from a scientific viewpoint, there is no such thing as racial difference. >>> | Monday, May 17, 2010
*Precious Williams's memoir, 'Precious', is published by Bloomsbury on 2 August. 'The History of White People' by Nell Irvin Painter is published in hardback by Norton (£19.99). To order a copy for the special price of £17.99 (free P&P), call Independent Books Direct on 08430 600 030, or visit www.independentbooksdirect.co.uk
Saturday, January 16, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama's election did not usher in a post-racial America. Instead, speaking honesty about race is taboo, writes Toby Harnden in Washington
A year ago, Americans were basking in what many believed was a post-racial new dawn. The United States was just about to inaugurate its first black President. Across the world, those who had pronounced the country too mired in its past to elect an African-American were being forced to reassess.
Fast forward to last week and the American chattering classes were engaged in the kind discussion about race that makes one despair. I use the term "discussion" but that's over-egging things - it was really a mud-slinging contest in which Republicans and Democrats shouted tired old slogans at each other.
The matter at issue was comments by Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader, made during the 2008 election campaign. Obama was electable, Reid observed, because he was "light-skinned" and did not "speak with a Negro dialect unless he wanted to have one".
Reid knew he was in big trouble and immediately rushed out a statement of apology when his words, quoted in a new campaign book, became public.
He had forgotten that race was a taboo subject.
His use of the term "Negro" was a little anachronistic, though the National Council of Negro Women and United Negro College Fund still exist. But it wasn't exactly the other N-word.
Reid, who is fighting for his political life in Nevada, where polls have him trailing badly in his November re-election contest, has said many stupid things. Three years ago, he declared that the Iraq war "is lost".
Last month he compared Republicans who opposed healthcare reform to those who once clung to slavery.
But this time his sin was really to speak the truth. Part of candidate Obama's special appeal was that he was a black man who made white people feel exceedingly good about themselves - not least because he was half white and had been raised by a white mother and grandparents.
At the same time, Obama showed himself to be at ease among blacks who had, unlike him, lived through the civil rights area and were descended from slaves.
Thus, Obama walked the tightrope between being too black and being not black enough. One of the ways he did that was to alter his tone and cadence depending on the audience he was speaking to - as many politicians do. >>> | Saturday, January 16, 2010
Saturday, July 25, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: American police unions have demanded an apology from Barack Obama after he accused an officer of "acting stupidly" by arresting leading black scholar, Prof Henry Louis Gates.
Police representatives queued up at a press conference to insist race had played no part in the incident and the president should retract his "disgraceful" comments and apologise to Sgt James Crowley.
However Mr Obama refused to apologise at a hastily arranged White House press conference where he said: "In my choice of words, I unfortunately gave the impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sergeant Crowley specifically."
"My words didn't illuminate they only added to the media attention," he added.
He also revealed that he had telephoned Sgt Crowley.
Mr Obama criticised police earlier this week after the incident involving Prof Henry Louis Gates who was arrested after trying to force a jammed front door at his home near Harvard University. >>> Alex Spillius in Washington | Friday, July 24, 2009
Sunday, April 27, 2008
THE SCOTSMAN: IT IS the question that has hung over Barack Obama's presidential primary campaign: why has he been unable to win over enough working class and white voters to wrap up the Democratic nomination?
Lurking behind that question is another: is the Democratic Party hesitating about race as it moves to the brink of nominating an African-American to be president?
Obama remains ahead of Hillary Clinton in delegates, in the popular vote and in national polls, and Clinton certainly has her own problems trying to herd Democrats into her corner.
But just when it seemed that the Democratic Party was close to anointing Obama as its nominee, he lost yet again – in Pennsylvania, a big general election state – dragged down by his weakness among blue-collar voters, older voters and white voters. The composition of Clinton's support – or looked at another way, the makeup of those voters who have proved reluctant to embrace Obama – has Democrats wondering, if not worrying, about what role race may be playing. Race Question Threatens to Derail Obama >>> By Adam Nagourney | April 27, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
THE INDEPENDENT: Trevor Phillips, Britain's most influential black figure, has warned that the election of Barack Obama as US president would prolong rather than end America's racial divide.
The chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission accused Mr Obama of "ruthless cynicism" and said he would not be "the harbinger of a post-racial America" if he becomes the country's first black president.
Mr Phillips' surprise attack on the favourite to win the Democratic Party nomination comes in an article for Prospect magazine published today. Mr Phillips dismissed attempts by the Obama camp to hail their man as a "new JFK", predicting he could emulate the "charm, skill and ruthless cynicism" of Bill Clinton.
Mr Phillips believed there were two types of influential black figures in America, both of whom keep race at the heart of US life -- "challengers", whose ambitions are limited to winning piecemeal concessions for blacks, and "bargainers", who do not make an issue of "white racism" if whites do not play the race card against them. He described Mr Obama as a "natural bargainer".
"In truth, Obama may be helping to postpone the arrival of a post-racial America and I think he knows it," Mr Phillips wrote. "If he wins, the cynicism may be worth it to him and his party. In the end he is a politician and a very good one: his job is to win elections." He backed the argument of Shelby Steele, who said in his biography of Mr Obama: "If he fulfils the hopes of whites, he must disappoint blacks – and vice versa."
Mr Phillips said he would be surprised if Mr Obama saw off Hillary Clinton to win the Democrats' nomination, as many commentators expect as she struggles to stay in the race. He conceded that it might happen.
The broadcaster and former Labour politician wrote: "For the black underclass and beyond, Obama may be the latest messiah, but there is anecdotal evidence that, where blacks have prospered to the extent that they are grimly competing for jobs and property with whites, they don't buy 'Obamania'. I would guess this is because the people who actually experience just how far America remains from post-racial harmony are those blacks who work with whites."
Mr Phillips said the guilt associated with slavery is an everyday reality for white America. "But if Obama can succeed, then maybe they can imagine that [Martin Luther] King's post-racial nirvana has arrived. A vote for Obama is a pain-free negation of their own racism. So long as they don't have to live next door to him; Obama has yet to win convincingly in white districts adjacent to black communities." Britain's equality chief: Obama will only prolong America's racial divide >>> By Andrew Grice, Political Editor
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)
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