San Diego Free Press

Grassroots News & Progressive Views

You are here: Home / Archives for Politics / Race and Racism

An Email to NewsManager@FoxNews.com

by

Laura Ingraham’s put down of LeBron James on your network was so out of line and unnecessary and ridiculously insulting and dismissive. What does his grammar have to do with anything or his perceived “lack of education”? Why should he, in a country where he has the right to express himself, “Shut up and dribble”?

As a 79-year-old black man, it’s refreshing for me to see young black people like this great athlete speak out on what’s happening in the world — in this case, expressing his views on our president — who really “doesn’t give a f**k about the people” as he pointed out.    [Read more…]

End the NRA and Its Reign of Hate and Greed

by

The National Rifle Association needs to be put out of its misery. Despite all the talk about mental health, thoughts and prayers, a national conversation, and sensible gun laws, the solution to our gun madness is obvious.

The gunman in Parkland, Florida did not act alone as he carried out the 18th school shooting of 2108.

He was assisted by 52 Republican Senators, 298 Republican Representatives, and the NRA. Many, if not all, of those GOP legislators were elected or persuaded to vote the ‘right way’ with $140 million in help from this vile organization in the 2016 election cycle.   [Read more…]

Race and Class in a Time of Crisis: Jeff Daniels’ ‘FLINT’

by

The Purple Rose Theatre Company’s production of FLINT, written by Jeff Daniels and directed by Guy Sanville, is a powerful, evocative, and moving work packed with “tough language.” The 75-minute performance gives witness to two sets of families — an African American couple Mitchell and Olivia and a white couple Eddie and Karen — responding not only to the Flint water crisis but also to the current political, social, and cultural climate.

Set in Mitchell and Olivia’s home in September 2014, five months after the city switched the water supply, the couple attempts to decipher the city’s confusing and conflicting instructions through postings on their phones.

The setting provides a realistic feel — a small kitchen complete with sink, cupboards, a refrigerator, a small dining table, and three chairs. This humbly furnished space becomes the site for conversation, contention, and confrontation. The thrust stage of the intimate 168-seat theatre allows for the complete digestion of the external and internal damage, and pain of each character   [Read more…]

Free Health Clinics, Sickle Cell Testing, Acupuncture – The Black Panther Connection | Video Worth Watching

by

The first associations that come to mind when someone says “Black Panthers“ are not likely to be items connected to health care. But in practice, the bulk of activity of the Panthers was related to the health and well-being of the community. Self-defense was a critical, but small part of daily affairs; health clinics, meal programs and education were the core elements.   [Read more…]

Sam Bee: FBI Criminalizes Being Black and Angry | Video Worth Watching

by

Samantha Bee’s Full Frontal shines a spotlight on a recent decision by the FBI to create a new category of threat: Black Identity Extremists (BIE).   [Read more…]

Yahoos on a Saturday in Chicano Park

by

Last Saturday a bunch of yahoos known as the “Bordertown Patriots” decided to have a “patriot picnic” at Chicano Park because they were under the illusion that the park excludes people who aren’t Chicano or Mexican.

What that says to me is they had never ventured into the park before with their families and just sat down to a regular picnic and enjoyed themselves -– like so many “normal” people of all ethnicities have done for years.

As for me, Chicano Park is one of my favorite places to take friends and family from out of town, folks who after their visit to the site, leave loving the park as much as I do.

I get so weary of narrow minded white supremacists like these people and their tired off-the-wall “reverse racism” take on the world.   [Read more…]

Trump Gets “Cotton” Mouth on Immigration!

by

For years, those of us advocating for comprehensive immigration reform have heard the loudest objections be “no amnesty” or no reward for “illegals.” In objectors’ minds, this includes even those legalized by DACA — those who were brought here as children by their parents without documents. Those objectors say simply these immigrants “broke the law” and the only acceptable remedy is for them to return to their native countries — all 11 million of them.

When confronted by the total impracticality and immorality of this task, they have no answer.  Trump’s repeated calls to “Build the Wall” and “Make Mexico Pay” are attractive to these folks because, for them, it’s not a question of practicality or even the billions of dollars’ in expense, but rather something else entirely. 

In fact, there is something quite irrational about advocating for the blanket deportation of 11 million people, but it goes beyond that. There’s a viciousness to it.  Candidate Trump has made it clear what kind of irrationality it is – racism at its core – when he coupled his demand for the wall with the demonizing of the Mexican people as a nation.  He didn’t invent this stuff, but he made it a key rallying cry to his supporters who cheered and jeered in enthusiastic support all the way to his election and now during the current debate on a deal for immigrant youth under DACA.   [Read more…]

Way to Go, Wildcats!

by

Every now and then in this world that seems to be spinning out of control, something comes along that literally energizes my soul and gives me hope.

Like just a few days ago when I clicked onto Wildcat Wednesday, the newsletter that University of Arizona Athletic Director David Heeke sends out to the school’s sports fans.

What he wrote about on January 17, “The Sumlin Era Starts Now,” really resonated with me because when I was an athlete at the UofA and a member of a group called Students for Equality trying to talk to fellow students and the community-at-large about eradicating Tucson’s Jim Crow Laws we were looked at as though we were a communicable disease.

A lot of the response to what we were seeking was the same as groups like Black Lives Matter receive today, all about how we, with our colorful signs highlighting our “Blacks and Whites Together” sentiments, were going about our mission in the wrong way, with not a word about what the right way might be.   [Read more…]

Who Is Calling Whom a Terrorist? | Video Worth Watching

by

Amy Goodman and Juan González of Democracy Now! interview Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Khan-Cullors and journalist asha bandele on the release of their new book When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir.   [Read more…]

Behind the Bars – From Harvard to Homeless | Video Worth Watching

by

From the Vimeo website:

Throughout the course of his life, poet Edward Smyth Jones faces an uphill battle through the oppression that the institutions of the world hold against men of his race. As the obstacles surmount and things begin to seem hopeless, he turns to the written word to find solace in his experience – finding meaning in his struggle and passing down the story of his life in order to teach future generations how to find comfort in a life hindered by inexplicable prejudices.

  [Read more…]

Public Schools Best Fulfill Dr. King’s “Purpose of Education”

by

By Steven Singer / Common Dreams

What is the purpose of education?

Is it to train the next generation of workers?

Or is it to empower the next generation of citizens?

Is it to give children the skills necessary to meet the needs of business and industry?

Or is it to provide them the tools to self-actualize and become the best people they can be?
  [Read more…]

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. – A Mini Bio | Video Worth Watching

by

The Biography Channel’s Mini-Bio of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.   [Read more…]

©2010-2017 SanDiegoFreePress.org

Code is Poetry