News Cut Category Archive: Race

Wangster Day exposes some racial divisions in Red Wing

Posted at 12:06 PM on October 20, 2009 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)
Filed under: Race, Schools

Every now and again -- too often, actually -- we get an entry for the "what were they thinking?" file.

Students at Red Wing High School provided a recent entry when they held an unsanctioned activity during homecoming week -- Wangster Day. "Students dressed as gansters and rappers in a way that some students felt mocked black students and emphasized racial stereotypes," the Rochester Post Bulletin reports.

Two weeks ago, African American parents asked the school board to send messages home to parents noting the district's policy against events such as "Wangster Day."

Last night the board declined to take that action. "We have faith in our young people," Red Wing Superintendent Stan Slessor said.

Some students have formed a group called Togetherness and Awareness Makes Greatness or TAG, which will tackle racial issues at the school. The school's senior class president says a diversity club at the school failed in its job before falling apart a few years ago.

Comment on this post

A descendant of slavery, in a House it helped build

Posted at 10:11 AM on October 8, 2009 by Than Tibbetts (0 Comments)
Filed under: Race

Perhaps because it wasn't much of a shock, or because Michelle Obama herself hadn't made any public effort to shed light on her distant past, but the revelation that Mrs. Obama is descendant of African-American slaves comes as a simple underscore to the history of a nation that has struggled to deal with race issues.

If there was a surprise after genealogist Megan Smolenyak and The New York Times examined the records and determined Mrs. Obama's ancestry, it was that Obama's great-great-great-grandfather was white; he fathered a child with enslaved and illiterate Melvinia Shields.

In 1850, the elderly master of a South Carolina estate took pen in hand and painstakingly divided up his possessions. Among the spinning wheels, scythes, tablecloths and cattle that he bequeathed to his far-flung heirs was a 6-year-old slave girl valued soon afterward at $475.

In his will, she is described simply as the "negro girl Melvinia." After his death, she was torn away from the people and places she knew and shipped to Georgia. While she was still a teenager, a white man would father her first-born son under circumstances lost in the passage of time.

As complex a path as Michelle Obama's to the White House may be, the story resonates with a little bit of that "yea, well..." feeling. That feeling where you're not quite sure what something means, and you're already late for your 10:30 meeting.

That Michelle Obama now lives in the White House — a house that slaves helped build — is surely a sign of progress in American society. That, before her husband became president, eight presidents owned slaves while in office leaves a sour tinge on the praise we casually heap on the country's forefathers.

While President Obama's biracial background has drawn considerable attention, his wife's pedigree, which includes American Indian strands, highlights the complicated history of racial intermingling, sometimes born of violence or coercion, that lingers in the bloodlines of many African-Americans.

Admittedly, my background as a young, white male from Minnesota limits my ability to put this in proper context. Does this mean anything to you, dear readers? Is this one more step towards a realized, post-racial society, or just fodder for presidential trivia?

Comment on this post

Black and white at the Supreme Court

Posted at 11:39 AM on June 29, 2009 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Crime and Justice, Race

If you didn't know any better, you'd think the issue in today's Supreme Court decision that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, is Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, whose Appeals Court decision is the one the high court overturned. It's not. It's more black and white. It's about race and whether you have a right to be promoted, according to the decision.

Both sides claim discrimination to some degree. African American firefighters say the test, itself, was discriminatory. White and Hispanic firefighters say failing to promote based on the test discriminates against them. One of them Frank Ricci, studied long and hard to win the promotion. He's dyslexic, and "found it necessary to 'hire someone, at considerable expense, to read onto audiotape the content of the books and study materials," the court noted.

Justice Anthony Kennedy said the firm that built the test, rode along with firefighters and oversampled minority members of the department.

At every stage of the job analyses, IOS, by deliberate choice, oversampled minority firefighters to ensure that the results--which IOS would use to develop the examinations--would not unintentionally favor white candidates.

But here's the big question: Can you throw out test results merely because of the race of those who stood to be rewarded by the result? "Without some other justification, this express, race-based decision-making violates Title VII's command that employers cannot take adverse employment actions because of an individual's race," Kennedy wrote.

Justice Antonin Scalia sees the ruling as the first step in resolving a long-simmering debate. "The war between disparate impact and equal protection will be waged sooner or later, and it behooves us to begin thinking about how--and on what terms--to make peace between them."

Good luck with that.

Justice Ruth Ginsberg, in a dissent, first takes away the right to promotion:

"The white firefighters who scored high on New Haven's promotional exams understandably attract this Court's sympathy. But they had no vested right to promotion."

And then appears to convey it based on a community's racial make-up:

"By order of this Court, New Haven, a city in which African-Americans and Hispanics account for nearly 60 percent of the population, must today be served--as it was in the days of undisguised discrimination--by a fire department in which members of racial and ethnic minorities are rarely seen in command positions."

Which, of course, sets the stage for the subsequent public opinion debate: Who's fault is that? Is it the test? Or is it the culture of fire departments, a profession which have a long history of racism?

Ginsberg smelled the latter:

"At least two candidates opposed to certification noted unequal access to study materials. Some individuals, they asserted, had the necessary books even before the syllabus was issued. Others had to invest substantial sums to purchase the materials and 'wait a month and a half for some of the books because they were on back order.'"

Is this the beginning of the end for affirmative action? Few seem to think so. Marc Ambinder, writing on his Atlantic blog, says there's no net gain for politicians on the issue:

It's telling that affirmative action isn't the stuff of campaign ads and fiery political speeches. During the Bush years did Republican Washington make big efforts to repeal federal affirmative action policy? This isn't a consuming passion of the GOP and given its faltering efforts to appeal to Hispanic voters it isn't likely to be.

What's your opinion?

Comment on this post

Senate to slave descendants: 'Sorry'

Posted at 11:29 AM on June 18, 2009 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)
Filed under: Race

The U.S. Senate today passed a resolution apologizing for slavery and racial segregation. It now goes to the House.

Iowa Democrat Tom Harkin first introduced the measure years ago. Today he suggested, however, that it passed in light-year speed, by Senate time-keeping standards. "Let's face it, it's more meaningful to those who fought discrimination for years, many of them still alive today," Harkin said. "I mean we didn't really end segregation in this country until 1964, the Civil Rights Act."

Republican Sam Brownback of Kansas co-sponsored the resolution but it took more than a year of negotiations to agree on the language.

A film released last year suggests the reckoning should involve more than just the Senate...

Comment on this post

Live-blogging: The future of affirmative action

Posted at 8:51 AM on March 19, 2009 by Bob Collins (13 Comments)
Filed under: Race

MPR's Midmorning is debating whether there's still a need for affirmative action. Guests in the 9 a.m. hour are Mary Frances Berry of the University of Pennsylvania and former chairperson of the Commission on Civil Rights; and John McWhorter, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, and author of "Losing the Race: Self-Sabotage in Black America."

Live-blogging:

Kerri says the show stems from an appearance on the show by Gwen Ifill. She says the phones lit up when the subject of affirmative action came up so her staff knew they had to do an entire show on it.

9:09 a.m. - Berry says people have always referred to affirmative action as a quota to hire unqualified people and that's incorrect. She says it's clearly needed now. She says until the country comes up with something better, "we have to keep trying."

9:12 a.m. - McWhorter says a "very white person" has had it hard too. He says he witnessed a transition from race-based factors in universities where people would "automatically get affirmative action. You get it whether you want it or not." Basing it on skin color -- as opposed to, say, socio economic inequity -- in appropriate. (His article on the subject)

9:15 a.m. - "Nothing you've said is anything I think," Berry said. She says universities only "affirm." She says she's had many white people who don't do well on standardized tests who she's recommended. "It's about our country and our demography and who we include and what we think will be the future of our country." She says she looks at the "whole person."

9:20 a.m. - McWhorter: "People with brown skin are admitted with lower test scores".
Berry: "I don't know anywhere where that happens."

9:21 a.m. - Caller: Many people benefit who are white. She's a college instructor who says her class benefits. McWhorter says he sees "just as much diversity from the white Catholic who's 7 feet tall, from Chinese...."

9:22 a.m. - Online commenter says admission policies should be "class based." McWhorter agrees. Berry says most universities do admit people based on trying to get the working class and poor "a free ride." She does not think people who are poor should be admitted if the school isn't looking at "the whole person."

9:26 a.m. -- Kerri references the link I'd already provided above. McWhorter says he never met someone who scored well on an SAT 'who wasn't a great student.' Berry says she had one who flunked out in the first year.

9:28 a.m. - Berry explains her comment above. What she meant was that people are not admitted simply because they were black or Latino. McWhorter says he's seen that happen. "Outrageous," said Berry. First time today they've agreed on something.

Tangent time: California's ban on affirmative action under court scrutiny.

9:32 a.m. - A student at William Mitchell School of law calls to tell Berry about two cases before the Supreme Court (aside: Students, you might want to just bring up these cases for clarification, instead of trying to 'school' lawyers who live these things and probably have more intimate knowledge of the cases.).

9:36 a.m. - Pressed on whether policies of 'race only" is the consideration, McWhorter concedes "not only." But "they're trying to make 'race neutral' policies tip toward race," he said.

"In none of those California or Georgia cases did people say all they wanted to do is look at race, that's just academically irresponsible," Berry says. "You're making it sound like they're saying, 'oh, black people, let's put them in this pile.'"

"Nobody's saying that," McWhorter replied.

9:39 a.m. - "In the age of Obama, his being elected to the presidency does not resolve these issues," says Berry. "We still have all these propositions around the country... trying to get rid of affirmative action.

Tangent time: Life after affirmative action, Nebraska is trying to figure it out.

9:42 a.m. - If you're listening live, you're hearing references to Richard Sanders. Here's what they're talking about

9:43 a.m. - "Cosby" cited as an example of African American middle class. An attorney married to a doctor. That's usually not middle class in any race.

Debate over whether there should be more people of color on TV news. Berry says, "John, do you think that there are more people of color who are well educated who can read the news?" McWhorter says "yes."

This is an area where there is a lot of concern in journalism circles, that as the industry continues to die, it's taking out gains made by affirmative action first.

9:48 a.m. - Does MnDOT stiff minority-owned contractors? A caller says so and Berry says that's been the case in the construction industry for quite awhile.

"If there's evidence of discrimination in the contracting in Minnesota, then, yeah, you have to have some kind of program," McWhorter says.

9:50 a.m. - Mark from Woodbury calls to relay personal story. When he was an ungrad in Boston, he applied to several grad schools. He got a phone call from professor at U of Washington who said he could apply for many grants, and realized they were "Hispanic grants." Looking at his file later, he said he realized he was only accepted at the school because they thought he was Hispanic. He says he believes in affirmative action "when it's done right."

Berry says affirmative action is illegal in the state of Washington by referendum.

9:54 a.m. - McWhorter and Berry both say Obama probably won't make any statements above affirmative action. "He's a politician, he wants to be popular, and he wants to get re-elected," Berry says.

She says the images of he and his family has moved the discussion into an undesirable area of people thinking "we're done and we don't have to do any more."

Comment on this post