By now we all know about the ridiculously stupid email that Harvard Law student Stephanie Grace sent out to a few fellow students that has since taken over the interwebs.  Just in case you haven’t heard, she posits that African American people might be intellectually inferior to white people, wrote it in a email and sent it to some friends. Like I said, ridiculously stupid.  She is an example of someone who could use some black friends and a lesson in electronic media 101, imo.

If you google search, you’ll find a boatload of articles/blog poses on the subject, here I’ve chosen two of my faves. I’ve chosen them because they are smartly written and bunches of comments that add to the discussion. These articles also provide links to other articles, if you choose to read further.

Here’s an article of all the reasons S. Grace is a fool from a white feminist point of view and here’s a article from a black male point of view. Be sure to stick around for the comments on each, as they are invaluable.

[changing the subject with zero transition]

If you haven’t had a chance to click over to Cosmopolitan Urbanist lately, I’ve been writing there too. YAY! Since I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about homeless people, that’s the topic of the series I’ve been writing over there. Check it out.

Homeless In the City

My Friend, The Homeless Lady

Where Do the Homeless Go In the Winter

AND last but not least for your reading and listening pleasure,

Larry King interviews newly out Christian entertainer Jennifer Knapp, uber-conservative Ted Haggard, Pastor Bob Botsford of the Horizon Church, and some other gay people.  The topic of discussion? Being Gay and Christian.

I decided to include this I get so frustrated by the visceral hatred being spouted by supposed Christians.  One of the reasons that I’m going to Divinity School is to add more modern sensible voices to the Christian debate. I’m sick of the the Church excluding people for stuff that Jesus wouldn’ t have cared about. (video via Autostraddle- if you’re gay and/or a woman you should be reading them, fyi)

I recently went to a lecture on race relations.  As one of 3 people of color in the room, It was hard not feeling like a fly in the buttermilk.  On the other hand, I reminded myself that these required diversity lectures and race awareness stuff isn’t necessarily for me.  There for the 30+ white people who may or may not have very much experience dealing with people who do not look like them.

 I spent most of the lecture bouncing between unease, nonchalance, and boredom until nearly the end of the lecture.  As she wrapped up her speech, the lecturer asked the audience to talk among ourselves about the myriad policy implications of American race relations.  At first, I resigned myself to sit back and listen to what the white people had to say.  (I find that I can often learn more by listening than speaking).

 However, I love my classmates and I don’t want them going out into the world thinking and saying stupid stuff because one of the few examples of diversity in the classroom refused to get involved and speak up.  So I joined the conversation and asked them to look around the auditorium and see the 3 black students in the room.

 Be aware of white privilege: I reminded them that our building is full of pictures of old white men; that the university was built on racism and slavery; that we have only one professor of color on staff at MPA School.  I asked them to think about how it might feel to constantly be a minority in an environment that (based on the previous description) doesn’t seem to value people that look like you. I want them to go out in the world appreciating and seeking out diversity.

I told them what it was like to be me.  In both academic and workplace settings, I am often the only black person in the room.  I get a little excited that Old Navy commercials have black and white mannequins. And I smile when I see the same Pantene commercial with a white and black girl.  I’ve walked into interviews and seen the slightly shocked faces of interviewers. I can fairly assume that they weren’t expecting a black girl.  I told my classmates that sometimes I feel like the defender of all Black people, everywhere and that I sometimes feel that I should be careful of what I say because someone may attribute my attitude to all Black people.

 The virtue of white privilege is never having to think about race.  Every day something happens to remind me of my race.  Not in big overly racist ways.  It’s subtle. Like in class when someone says something about “gentrification” or “low-income neighborhoods”, and everyone turns and looks back at me.  Or when a class presenter shows a powerpoint presentation full of little poor black and brown kids, and smiling happy white kids.  Couldn’t find ONE happy brown kid, could ya?

That sh*t pisses me off.

Race is still an issue. It’s not something that we should or can ignore.

In the lecture, someone asked, Since Barack Obama was elected president, aren’t we now living in a post-racial world?

 *my thought bubble: Uhm, no.

The lecturer rightly asked what does post-racial mean.  The student said something about being colorblind. 

Colorblind? Really?  Is there something wrong with noticing someone’s race? I don’t think so.

Should we strive to be colorblind?  I think not. We should acknowledge race and move on!  Not seeing race is like not seeing the booger that someone has in their nose or the pimple in the middle of your forehead.  The more you try not to notice, the bigger and nastier it gets.

 Being colorblind suggests that we should overlook our differences.  I disagree.  I think we should embrace our differences. 

When I enter a new situation, I like to look around and find the person that is the least like me and befriend them. (I often find myself sitting and cutting up with the old white men or little Asian ladies). 

I love cities like Boston or Miami or San Francisco, where there are SO MANY different kinds of people.  I’m not just talking about racial diversity. I love it when I walk down the street and I can’t understand all the languages that are being spoken, or none of the restaurants that I see serve hamburgers and french fries, or when I people-watch and the fashion styles of the people that I see are “weird”.   Weird and different indicate that I’m going to learn something new.  Someone is going to broaden my horizons.  And that makes me happy.

Should we be colorblind? Hell NO! We shouldn’t fear or overlook the ways that we are all different.  We should appreciate and nurture those differences.  If we are to create something fresh and new and different, we should not ignore the ways our differences come together.

Every since Jesse Helms died a few weeks ago I’ve wanted to write about it. His death reminds me that evil does die, sometimes it just takes a little longer than usual. His death means that there is a generation of people whose purpose in live seemed to revolve around the oppression and subjugation of others who are all dead or dying. Is it wrong that this makes me happy?

I mean, I’m southern and proud of it dammit (sometimes, at least) and I’ve lived in North Carolina for a number of years, so I’m quite familiar with Jesse; the homophobic, racist, asshole . I know a bit about his hatred of blacks and gays. I’ve heard for years about how strongly he opposed civil rights for Blacks and the way he killed a black man’s chance to be NC’s governor. I remember reading about how he reportedly said that NC should fence off Chapel Hill and call it a zoo (there are a large, active gay community in Chapel Hill). I know about this man who would quote Bible scriptures and condemn entire populations of people to death and hell in the same breath.

Needless to say, I want to give his dead corpse the finger and say good riddance (but that wouldn’t be nice) And unfortunately, there isn’t anything else that I could come up with to write that didn’t make me come off as a hateful bitch who didn’t care that someone had died. Since I’m trying to be a better person, I’m not allowed to be a hateful bitch, that would be stooping to his level, and that would take too much of my time.

Fortunately for me, I found this very tasteful and well-written article that expresses my sentiments on this subject much better than I can. Enjoy!

I’m doing research at work on governmental digital inclusion policies. One of the cities that I am looking at is Chaska, Mn. Chaska is cool because they have low-cost wi-fi that they offer to their citizens (cheaper than Time Warner, Comcast or any of those guys)

What I’m bothered by is the make-up of the city council. Now, I’m from the South and I have worked with local governments and I’ve NEVER seen a local government board that looks like this. Maybe I have been really spoiled by all the diversity in the cities where I have worked and lived.

Not there is anything wrong with the people that make up this board…maybe everyone in the city looks just like them, maybe they should recruit more diverse groups of people to run for office or maybe these are the best that Chaska has to offer. Sure looks funny to me, though!

Can you guess what the problem is?