Race & Racism (News)
Chinese report documents human rights disaster in the United States
The United States is the only country in the world that claims to be superior in every aspect, especially in human rights, and that lie is again exposed, this time by a report from China on the United States, all from US sources. The US is in fact a backward cesspool, the most backward country in the industrialized world.
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Obama Administration Denies BART $70M in Stimulus Funds Citing Civil Rights Failures
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 12, 2010
Obama Administration Denies BART $70M in Stimulus Funds, Citing Civil Rights Failures Funds Shift to Bay Area Transit Operations
Federal Transit Administration Chief Peter Rogoff today [February 12] sent a letter to BART and MTC rejecting BART’s corrective action plan to address Title VI violations found in an investigation prompted by a complaint from civil rights, transportation and environmental advocates. Due to action taken by MTC at its January meeting, the funding will now be reallocated to transit projects across the Bay Area, where it is desperately needed to preserve jobs and transit service.
In the first action of its kind, the Obama Administration has pulled $70 million in federal stimulus funds from a proposed Oakland Airport Connector (OAC) project due to multiple civil rights violations by the Bay Area Rapid Transit district (BART). The strong action underscores a recent promise made in the President’s State of the Union address to continue “prosecuting civil rights violations.”
Letters to Haiti
Editor's Note: As Haiti begins the long road toward recovery, incarcerated youth from The Beat Within in Washington D.C wrote letters of encouragement and condolences to young people in Haiti.
Letters for Haiti,
H … is for Hell because that’s what you going through
A … is for Angel because God got his hands on you
I … is for Intelligence because you learn from what you’ve been through
T … is for Time because that’s what’s going to heal you
I … is for Infinite because you will live on forever.
- Dennis
Letters for Haiti,
H … is for Hell because that’s what you going through
A … is for Angel because God got his hands on you
I … is for Intelligence because you learn from what you’ve been through
T … is for Time because that’s what’s going to heal you
I … is for Infinite because you will live on forever.
- Dennis
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Obama Administration Threatens to Yank Stimulus Funds Over Civil Rights
For the first time since President Obama signed the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act a year ago, his administration has threatened to withhold stimulus money from a transit agency because it failed to comply with federal civil rights laws.
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) threatened to pull $70 million in stimulus funds from Northern California’s Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system because it failed to comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VI prohibits agencies that receive federal funds from discriminatory practices.
Notes from the Mehserle Trial's "Change of Venue" Hearing, Day One
Rains’ brief argues that Oakland jurors will not be fair and impartial throughout the criminal trial given the influence of corporate and independent media coverage of the criminal trial, as well as the threat and influence of what Rains’ suggests are “enraged” Oakland resident protests directed at the issue of police brutality and the unjust murder of poor, Oakland residents. We the people reject any attempt by Rains’ to mischaracterize the moral conscience of informed and democratically engaged Oakland residents who want a safer and healthier city in which all peoples can be free of unjust trauma, violence, and dehumanization by law enforcement.
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Justice Department to Recharge Civil Rights Enforcement
WASHINGTON — Seven months after taking office, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is reshaping the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division by pushing it back into some of the most important areas of American political life, including voting rights, housing, employment, bank lending practices and redistricting after the 2010 census.
“I think the wounds that were inflicted on this division were deep, and it will take some time for them to fully heal,” said Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.
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When Racism Comes A Knockin...
Can white liberals keep their eye on the prize?
I've been disappointed by white liberals and progressives' unwillingness and incompetence combating racism for 20 years. The inaction of large green groups on Van Jones resignation is yet another example.
The NAACP, Equal Justice Society and Color of Change explicitely supported Van Jones before his resignation. On the white side, Treehugger, Grist and a few other small white organizations did. But the Sierra Club, Environmental Defense Fund, Greenpeace, and NRDC, who together must represent more than $100 million of mostly liberal and progressive foundations, big donors, and individual contributors money, were MIA. These groups either took a dive because the attacks on Van were racist, or they incompetently let the right set the terms of debate before entering. Either way America deserves better greens.
I've been disappointed by white liberals and progressives' unwillingness and incompetence combating racism for 20 years. The inaction of large green groups on Van Jones resignation is yet another example.
The NAACP, Equal Justice Society and Color of Change explicitely supported Van Jones before his resignation. On the white side, Treehugger, Grist and a few other small white organizations did. But the Sierra Club, Environmental Defense Fund, Greenpeace, and NRDC, who together must represent more than $100 million of mostly liberal and progressive foundations, big donors, and individual contributors money, were MIA. These groups either took a dive because the attacks on Van were racist, or they incompetently let the right set the terms of debate before entering. Either way America deserves better greens.
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Racism Blindness in Van Jones Political Lynching
White liberal leaders generally racismblind response to Van Jones’ political lynching bodes badly for next right wing wedge attack
My previous piece "Can white liberals keep their eye on the prize when
racism comes a knockin?" (Firedoglake, TheRoot, Alternet) pointed out
that while significant people of color groups including the NAACP and
the Equal Justice Society released statements supporting former WH
Green Jobs advisor Van Jones before his resignation, no major white
green groups--Sierra Club, National Resources Defense Council,
Environmental Defense Fund, or Greenpeace--did (environmental online
magazines Grist and Treehugger, and Campaign for America's Future's
blogger notwithstanding). This, despite their heavy beltway-focused
staffing, alleged connections to the administration and congress, and
political expertise.
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Fight Heats up over Discriminatory Housing Laws in New Orleans Area
Alice Walker, Oprah Winfrey, and President Obama are pulled into local battle
Rebuilding efforts in St. Bernard Parish, a small community just outside New Orleans, have recently gotten a major boost. One nonprofit focused on rebuilding in the area has received the endorsement of CNN, Alice Walker, the touring production of the play The Color Purple, and even President Obama. But an alliance of Gulf Coast and national organizations are now raising questions about the cause these high profile names are supporting.
Rebuilding efforts in St. Bernard Parish, a small community just outside New Orleans, have recently gotten a major boost. One nonprofit focused on rebuilding in the area has received the endorsement of CNN, Alice Walker, the touring production of the play The Color Purple, and even President Obama. But an alliance of Gulf Coast and national organizations are now raising questions about the cause these high profile names are supporting.
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Oakland: How I Really Got This Black Eye
By Josh Healey
Last year, when I told friends I was moving to the Bay Area, they would all respond with equal parts joy and jealousy. "The Bay? Man, you're going to love it. The weather, the culture, the politics -- they've got all that." When I told them I was going to be living in Oakland specifically, the responses started to sound a little different. "Oh shit, The Town? You better watch your back." While folks were still down with the left-leaning, hip-hyphy, biracial baby that is the city of Oakland, they also made sure to tell me that this baby would jack me for my stroller if I wasn't smart.
But those were just scare stories. Right? Growing up in Washington, DC in the mid-90s, I'd seen both the reality and the exaggerated stereotype of the "murder capital." Violence at my high school and in some neighborhoods was all too real, but it was also an excuse for suburban commuters and absentee politicians (in this case, Congress, which controls DC's purse-strings) to disinvest from those same schools and neighborhoods, creating further inequality and violence.
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