May God comfort the families of those that He called home tonight in New York.
Motor vehicle traffic deaths
- Number of deaths: 33,736
- Deaths per 100,000 population: 10.6
All firearm deaths
- Number of deaths: 33,594
- Deaths per 100,000 population: 10.5
If you want to save lives by banning something, there is more than one solution.
As I mentioned in my last post – we still have work to do as a nation with regards to racial relations. We do. A even pedestrian awareness bears that out. Also in my last post, I mentioned:
And, as long as there is work to do, we should do it. And measure it. And always keep the eye on the ball.
And measure it.
As in, keep track of progress, or lack of it, so that one day we’ll know when we ‘have arrived’. Which is an interesting thought. What will ‘we have arrived at a post racial world’ look like? I’m not sure, but I think I have one characteristic.
We will identify our heroes and villains based on qualities not race racial in nature. We might like a football player because he is a great athlete [are we here already in this case?], or an actor for her skills on stage. Perhaps a politician for his policies, or a movie character for his -her- ‘coolness’ as portrayed in a movie.
This might look like, for example, a black kid from Nigeria, or say randomville Indiana, might wanna dress as Cinderella. Or, in a similar manner, a white kid might wanna dress as Moana.
Not because they wanna go as a white girl from Western Europe or because they wanna go as a brown girl from the Pacific Islands. But because they wanna go as the heroic, or loveable, character they have fallen in love with in the screen or in their book.
And the fact that those characters are white or fall on some spectrum of color is as incidental as the fact that they have shoes, boots, slippers or no footwear.
That seems to me the world we’re striving for. A world where the color of a person is not important in the calculus to the determination of their worth.
So why this?
At this point, you might be saying something like: “But, I dressed up as Jasmine as a child, and I’m not a racist!”, or, “It’s just a Halloween costume, please chill the f*ck out.” But one of the best things about time is that it moves forward. You should too. You can (and should) strive to be better than you were 10, 20, or 30 years ago. If you missed the mark when you were younger, maybe think about using this Halloween as an opportunity to teach your kids about the importance of cultural sensitivity. If your child’s dream costume feels questionable, don’t just throw up your hands and hand over your credit card. You’re the parent here, and the onus of what your child wears falls on you. If your kid wears a racist costume … you’re kind of wearing it too.
Recognize this: Moana is a really special character to young girls of Polynesian descent who have never seen a Disney Princess who looks like them, just like how Tiana from The Princess and the Frog likely resonated with young Black women who had waited decades to see themselves represented. White girls have plenty of princesses to choose from — there’s Belle, Ariel, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty … you get the idea. If your Caucasian son or daughter doesn’t get to be exactly what they wanted for Halloween, encourage them to take a step back and realize that they’re awash in privileges that the real Moanas and Tianas of the world will likely never see, because the world is full of racist assholes.
It’s views like this that drive me crazy. Simply crazy.
So, Cosmo, NYPost and Race Conscious.org – chill. White parents letting their white kids idolize people of color is a meaningful step in the right direction. Celebrate this development, not bash it.
First, I need to say this.
My life is easier than the same life of a man who is black. Same background, same education, same income, kids, cars, job and all the rest of it. My life is easier.
Drop me off in any random city/town in the US of A and I’m almost surely going to be alright.
But today is better than yesterday. And yesterday is WAY better than it was when I was born.
Way.
And until my life isn’t easier because I’m not black than it is form my friends who are black, we have work to do. And, as long as there is work to do, we should do it. And measure it. And always keep the eye on the ball.
All that being said, and what was said is much more than just over 100 words typed, I have to say, this is some crazy shit. Ca-Razy:
A university professor has claimed teaching maths perpetuates “unearned” white privilege.
What? How..? Are you kidding me?
She is not:
Titled “Building Support for Scholarly Practices in Mathematics Methods”, Ms Gutierrez argues a focus on Pythagorean theorem and pi feed into the idea that maths was developed by the Greeks and Europeans.
“On many levels, mathematics itself operates as Whiteness. Who gets credit for doing and developing mathematics, who is capable in mathematics, and who is seen as part of the mathematical community is generally viewed as White,” she wrote, according to Campus Reform.
Does she know what we call our numeral system? Does she know who is credited with the discovery of zero? The development of algebra? She must – she teaches this. But how can she ignore those facts?
But now moving forward, history being history, she begins to question math itself:
“Are we really that smart just because we do mathematics?”
She also believes society’s focus on maths as a key skill can perpetuate discrimination against minorities.
“If one is not viewed as mathematical, there will always be a sense of inferiority that can be summoned,” she wrote.
Umm, yes. We are really THAT smart because we can do math. And yes, math is a key skill. Key in getting a job, key in keeping a job. Key in organizing one’s life. And living it well. And increasing the odds that upon death, there will be a legacy to leave behind for the next generations.
As I mentioned, there is work to be done; less than yesterday, but enough labor to go around. Such labor would be easier to ear without the addition of unrelenting false victimization that we see in these times.
Mike Ditka waxing poetic the other day on the issue of football players kneeling during the National Anthem, had this to say:
All of a sudden, it’s become a big deal now, about oppression,” Ditka said. “There has been no oppression in the last 100 years that I know of. Now maybe I’m not watching it as carefully as other people. I think the opportunity is there for everybody. … If you want to work, if you want to try, if you want to put effort into yourself, I think you can accomplish anything.
Mike.
Over here sparky.
I get that you might not see color when you are dealing with players or colleagues. I get that you might not be guilty of the profiling and bigotry that many folks are experiencing. But pssst ….. things have been bad, WAY bad, for black people well inside of 100 years.
Think not being able to vote.
Own a house.
Go to school.
Play in Major League Baseball.
Marrying people you love.
Walking without fear of being killed.
There has been significant oppression in the last 100 years. And a guy with your platform can’t afford to say otherwise.
I have not been shy about the fact I didn’t vote for my president; I took the pot smoker. I don’t like the Twitter. I don’t like The Game of Thrones aspect to his White House. I do,Do, DO have a man crush on Gorsuch.
But mostly I have a deep affection for the constitution. And so I was offended when Trump weighed in on the NFL; what ever I might feel about the players and their right to kneel, I am convinced the government has nothing to say on the matter.
Shame on me for not posting.
But his most recent recent position has crossed my line – the President of the United States does not, repeat NOT, get to threaten news organizations.
Yes NBC failed to report on Weinstein.
Yes Brian Williams worked for NBC.
Yes Brian Williams works for MSNBC.
Shit, yes, Rachel Maddow works for MSNBC.
But. The President. Of these United States. Crosses a line when he threatens to take away NBC licenses.
The government of the Beacon of the Free World just Tweeted [for fuck’s sake] that NBC should be ‘challenged for their license’.
The first amendment is a cherished bedrock foundation that supports not only this nation, but as alluded to above, all free nations. The freedom of the press, of the religion and of the association is nearly the whole point of everything else. As we say, the 2nd protects the 1st.
Going after a bunch of highly paid athletes who clearly are missing the mark is bad enough, but going after the press, and yes – can you say IRS – is too far. It’s my line in the sand.
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A couple of months ago I stumbled across a story regarding fast food workers, minimum wage and Labor Day – they decided that they needed to strike to protest the current minimum wage.
Their arguments are as old as they are wrong minded. They claim that everyone deserves a living wage and that the best way to accomplish this is to increase the minimum wage.
Fast food workers in several states and abroad plan to walk off the job today to call for higher pay and better working conditions. The Associated Press reports that the protesters in the U.S. are demanding a $15 minimum wage. In Massachusetts, they are also pushing for union rights and paid medical leave.
Forget for a second that very few people work for the minim wage, most of those that do end up with a raise, and even of those that don’t – a significant number live in a household that has earns enough money to live on.
The fact is, labor, not the laborer but the labor, is a commodity. Raise the price of it and people will purchase less of it.
Case in point – McDonald’s simply hires fewer McWorkers to work in their McBurgerJoint. I witnessed this first had just a few short weeks ago.
Raising the minimum wage might help the very few who earn it but it will certainly hurt those who fail to obtain employment as a result of being priced out of the market.
It’s been a week now since a man in Vegas opened fire on thousands of people at a concert outside his hotel.
Many are questioning when we’re gonna have a conversation regarding gun control.
My answer?
We have – you just don’t like how it went.
The United States of America protects her citizens through the Constitution. And that document guarantees the right of a citizen to bear arms.
And make no mistake about it; it is not discussing the right to hunt deer and duck. Or to defend my home from danger. Not at all.
The second amendment gives me the legal a-ok to shoot back at a government gone tyrannical.
The conversation has been had.