Let’s find the racist! And then let’s shame the racist!

by Jen Chau, originally published at The Time Is Always Right

This is – I think – our favorite game to play when it comes to race. Locate the racist, focus on the racist, blog and tweet the crap out of that racist, and shame that racist as much as possible. The racist shouldn’t be able to carry on life as he knew it. I too hope for change in the person who took a misstep, but I think we are missing the bigger picture. We use magnifying glasses to focus on individual events rather than seeing the connections and the patterns that point to larger societal problems.

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The False Positive

by Leotis Martin

Acquaintance: “So what are you doing in Florence?”

Me: “Spring vacation…I’m studying in Paris.”

A: “Oh, so where are you from in the States?”

Me: “Well, I’m originally from South America, but I grew up in the Bronx…”

A: “Oh, how is that?”

Me: “It’s the Bronx, so all the rumors you’ve heard are definitely true.”

A: “Hah. Well you made it to [insert private institution of higher learning here], right?  That means you had to be, like, extra super smart huh?”

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Separate and Unequal: A structural analysis of educational inequality in America

by Jeff Garrett

Fifty-five years ago, the United States Supreme Court ruled in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case that school segregation policies are unconstitutional.  Yet despite the moral victory of the Brown decision, in the decades since 1954 we have failed to create educational equality in America.  Despite countless initiatives, hundreds of billions of dollars invested in various school improvement efforts, and the passage of a federal law that mandates that no child be left behind, we continue to see gaps in educational opportunity that disproportionately impact the lives of low income communities and communities of color across the fifty states.  

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