Alleged Racist Manifesto, Photos of Charleston Shooter Surfaces The aftermath of the tragic shooting at a historic Black church in Charleston, South Carolina has exposed the dark side of race relations in the Southern state. Now, a racist manifesto posted on a website alongside photos of the shooter Dylann Storm Roof gives us the clearest look yet inside the mind of the mass murderer. Though it has not been confirmed who wrote the words or created the website (the domain name was, however, registered under the name Dylann Roof in February, the New York Times reports), the manifesto, entitled "An Explanation," is written in Roof's voice and details the reason for the attack. “I have no choice,’’ it reads. “I am not in the position to, alone, go into the ghetto and fight. I chose Charleston because it is most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to Whites in the country. Following his arrest, the judge presiding over Roof's hearings, James B. (Photo: Courtesy of Dylann Roof via LastRhodesian.com)
A Black Family Stood Up to this Racist White Couple a Restaurant A black teenager used Facebook Live to reveal just how ugly racism is at a Chester's in San Antonio, Texas. The 15-year-old went with her family to the restaurant after attending church services, and according to her, when she got her beverage she heard a white family cursing at her for an unknown reason. With her camera in hand, and another relative by her side, she walked up to the white family and said, "So, Facebook, this is what racist people looks like." Without skipping a beat, the white family immediately started using racial slurs and obscenities at the teen and her family. The white woman in the film began shouting, "You're a fucking nigger!" Then the white woman in the film began charging at the black family, while the white man tried to hold her back. The white woman also shouted, "Take your nigger ass back to Africa, hoe." The white man then turned and responded: "My ancestor brought your black ass over here." "We're monkeys, guys." she said at the 4:20 mark.
Let's Stop Pretending the Confederate Flag Isn't a Symbol of Racism I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen a Confederate flag: walking through my cousin’s Atlanta suburb, on a road trip passing through rural Maryland, and in history textbooks. As a full-fledged “Yankee” who hails from the Constitution state, it’s just not something I come across all that often. On a recent trip down to South Carolina, however, I was in for a rude awakening. My grandpa has seven living siblings who call different parts of America home, but everyone gathered in Myrtle Beach for a major family reunion with all of their kids, grandkids, and even one great-grandchild. The Southern hospitality was impossible to ignore, but so were all of the Confederate flags. There were two topics that were off limits at the family reunion — baseball and politics — but after stumbling upon an entire section of Confederate flag-themed beach gear at surf shops, I had to ask some Southern family members if this wasn’t completely out of the ordinary. Ah, justice.
A short comic gives the simplest, most perfect explanation of privilege I've ever seen. Privilege can be a hard thing to talk about. Oftentimes, when it's implied or stated that someone is "privileged," they can feel defensive or upset. They may have worked very hard for what they have accomplished and they may have overcome many obstacles to accomplish it. And the word "privilege" can make a person feel as though that work is being diminished. The key point about privilege, though, is that it doesn't mean that a person was raised by wealthy parents, had everything handed to them, and didn't have to do much other than show up. Privilege means that some of us have advantages over others for any number of reasons we don't control — like who we are, where we come from, the color of our skin, or certain things that have happened in our lives. Even when things haven't come easy for some people, they can still have privileges that others don't have. Illustrator Toby Morris did some thinking about the concept of inequality and privilege, and he found one major problem. True story.
I, Racist What follows is the text of a “sermon” that I gave as a “congregational reflection” to an all White audience at the Bethel Congregational United Church of Christ on Sunday, June 28th. The sermon was begun with a reading of The Good Samaritan story, and this wonderful quote from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah. Credit for this speech goes to Chaédria LaBouvier, who’s “Why We Left“ inspired me to speak out about racism; to Robin DiAngelo, who’s “White Fragility“ gave me an understanding of the topic; and to Reni Eddo-Lodge who said “Why I’m no longer talking to white people about race“ long before I had the courage to start doing it again. A couple weeks ago, I was debating what I was going to talk about in this sermon. I told Pastor Kelly Ryan I had great reservations talking about the one topic that I think about every single day. Then, a terrorist massacred nine innocent people in a church that I went to, in a city that I still think of as home. I love my aunt. That’s too easy.
What It’s Like To Spend A Week At Confederate Summer Camp With calls mounting for the Confederate flag to be removed from government buildings in South Carolina, some kids are getting ready to attend a Confederate youth camp run by an organization with ties to hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan. The Sons of Confederate Veterans holds an annual summer camp that it bills as a place for young people to learn the “truth” about Southern history. That, according to the group, includes abandoning “the liberal, politically correct view of history” through “thoughtful instruction” on “our Southern history and culture.” “Our kids aren’t getting taught this stuff in the schools,” said Phil Walters, who helps organize the group’s Sam Davis Youth Camp. “Probably one of the largest…problem[s] that all of these heritage organizations…. On the surface, the Sam Davis Youth Camp seems like a normal summer camp—there’s archery, swimming, boating and fishing. The Confederate camps have been around since the mid-2000s. The SCV’s history with hate groups is complex.
Fox News Chinatown segment is just blatant racism It's nearly impossible to sit through Jesse Watters' latest Fox News segment without cringing, at least once, at its flagrant racism. Watters, a street prankster who often appears on Bill O'Reilly's "The O'Reilly Factor" on Fox News, walked through New York City's Chinatown to get insight, purportedly, on what Chinese-Americans think about Donald Trump and the 2016 presidential election. The segment aired Tuesday night, and features hackneyed gong music in the background and vintage East Asian-themed movies spliced between its interviews. Overall, it was nearly five minutes of offensive racial stereotypes and unoriginal juvenility. You can watch the full segment here: In the piece, Watters mocks several men and women when they can't speak English or don't have perfect pronunciation when he asks them questions. He then accuses a watch vendor of selling stolen goods and visits nail salons while speaking to workers in a derogatory manner. Jesse Watters is a fucking racist.
This Poet's Powerful Take On ‘Black Privilege' Will Give You Chills “Black privilege is a myth, is a joke, is a punchline, is a time a teacher asks a little boy what he wanted to be when he grew up and he said alive.” This is just one of the chilling and painfully honest statements poet Crystal Valentine delivered at the finals of the 2015 College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational in April. In a video published to YouTube last week, Valentine -- a talented performer, activist and student at New York University -- powerfully expressed the raw emotions and experiences of what she feels being black in America means today through a poem titled “Black Privilege.” “Black privilege is me having already memorized my nephew’s eulogy, my brother’s eulogy, my father’s eulogy, my unconceived child’s eulogy,” she recited. “Black privilege is me thinking my sister’s name is safe from that list.” Valentine is one of six performing poets who represented NYU at the poetry slam.
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