Issue of the Week
Issue Of The Week XIX: The Help: A Harmful Fairy Tale
The Help has certainly garnered its share of attention and awards. Many critics, including some highly respected reviewers, have unreservedly praised the film. The performances of Viola Davis and others mesmerized many moviegoers and are indeed outstanding. Some people have complained about the trite and oversimplified plot — that it is more fairy tale than history — but these comments often get lost among the raves and award mentions.
Issue Of The Week XIII Fall 2011-2012: Addressing Institutionalized Racism In Education Is Required To Close Achievement Gap
A federal study released last week on the achievement gap between black and white students in the nation’s major urban school systems paints a dismal picture. According to the statistics from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, considered the nation’s report card, in most major urban areas there has been little or no progress in closing the gap.
Issue Of The Week XII Fall 2011-2012: What Does the “Sunday Self-Segregation Phenomenon” Say About Race Relations In America?
Sunday, whether intentional or non-intentional, is arguably the most racially-segregated day of the week in America. Whether you attend worship services in a church located in the urban core, a suburban area, or in the valleys and hillsides along winding country roads, it is very likely that the parishioner beside you or across the isle is of the same race if not the same ethnic group.
Issue Of The Week XI Fall 2011-2012: Immigration Reform And The 2012 Presidential Election
Currently, it is estimated that more than twelve million illegal/undocumented immigrants from Mexico live in the United States. At the same time, the 2010 Census confirmed that Hispanic Americans are the largest and fastest growing minority population in the United States, not including the twelve million undocumented Mexican immigrants.
Issue Of The Week VIII Fall 2011-2012: Privilege And Resistance
In her classic article, “White Privilege and Male Privilege,” Peggy McIntosh (1988) offers a long list of examples of white privilege she experiences. She notes that white privilege includes being able to assume that most of the people you or your children study in school will be of the same race; being able to go shopping without being followed; never being called a credit to one’s race, or having to represent one’s entire race; as well as simple details like finding flesh colored bandages to match one’s skin color. These examples highlight the unearned nature of privilege.
Issue Of The Week VII Fall 2011-2012: Stereotypes And Labels Wield Persuasive Power, Intentionally Or Unintentionally
Stereotypes and labels wield a lot of persuasive power, intentionally or unintentionally in our daily lives.
We trust the labels on the commodities (clothes, foods, etc.) that we buy, often grabbing and purchasing without reading the fine print — totally unaware of the content or any changes, updates that could be there. And, yet we fancy ourselves as being informed consumers.
Issue Of The Week VI Fall 2011-2012: Getting Real About Race Relations
Each week, the White Privilege Conference and the Matrix Center for the Advancement of Social Equity and Inclusion, housed at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (UCCS), hosts a half hour radio show called Intersections Radio that features an interview with a different author, scholar, and/or speaker. Last week featured Christian Lander, author of the “Stuff White People Like” books and blog, and the week before featured a dialogue on micro-aggressions.
Issue Of The Week V Fall 2011-2012: The Martin Luther King Memorial: What Does It Mean To America, To You?
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial was officially dedicated this past Sunday, October 16, 2011 at the National Mall in Washington, DC. In addition to the 30-foot memorial being erected near that of three U.S. presidents, Abraham Lincoln among them, the significance is far-reaching. As a caring ordinary citizen, King was motivated to fight for racial, social, economic, and educational equality.
Issue Of The Week IV Fall 2011-2012: Politics And The Potential Influence Of The Changing Face Of America: What Are The Implications Of America Becoming A Nation Of Minorities By 2050?
In 1916, the people of Montana elected Jeanette Rankin to serve n the United States House. Ninety years later, we finally had our first female Speaker of the House. 214 years after the signing of the constitution, Sen. Joe Lieberman was nominated as the Democratic Candidate for Vice President. He was the first Jewish American to be on a national ticket. 10 years later Eric Cantor became our first Jewish House Leader.
Issue Of The Week III Fall 2011-2012: DNA Testing Frees Wrongfully Convicted Minorities
This video provides a look at many of the men wrongfully convicted and then exonerated by DNA evidence during the first decade of the 21st century.
Although "White Americans" constitute approximately 70 percent of the U.S. population, about 70 percent of those exonerated by DNA testing are members of minority groups, according to the Innocence Project.
Have people of color been wrongly convicted in a systematic manner?
