by Rupe | Mar 29, 2022 | Social-Race Issues
ONCE upon a time in my younger years and in the dawn of this century I wrote: “The problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color line.” It was a pert phrase which I then liked and which since I have often rehearsed to myself, asking how far was it prophecy and how far speculation? Today, in the last year of the century’s first quarter, I propose to examine this matter again, and more especially in the memory of the great event of these great years, the World War. How deep were the roots of this catastrophe entwined about the color line? And of the legacy left, what of the darker race problems will the world inherit?
Source: Worlds of Color | Foreign Affairs
by Rupe | Oct 23, 2021 | Social-Race Issues
Britain ended its slave trade in 1807, and abolished slavery in much of its
colonial empire in 1834. Four years later, Queen Victoria was crowned. For British liberals, the timing was auspicious, and the lessons were obvious. The 18th-century empire of enslaved labour, rebellious colonies and benighted protectionism had been purified by the ‘sacrifice’ of the profits of slavery to the principles of free trade, free labour and free markets. But the empire that slavery made endured.
Although individual enslaved people were often brought to Britain by the people who claimed to own them, for most Britons, mass enslavement was something that happened ‘over there’ – in the colonies, especially the sugar-producing islands of the Caribbean. This fact of geography shaped British antislavery. The ‘mother country’ could also be the stern but benignant ‘father’, correcting children in the ‘infant colonies’. In the slave colonies, opposition to slavery could be a revolutionary threat to the social order. In Britain, antislavery affirmed Britain’s superior virtue in relationship to its empire.
Source: The British Empire was built on slavery then grew by antislavery | Aeon Essays
by Rupe | Jun 1, 2021 | Military-Political, Social-Race Issues
For Stephanie Davis, who grew up with little, the military was a path to the American dream, a realm where everyone would receive equal treatment. She joined the service in 1988 after finishing high school in Thomasville, Georgia, a small town said to be named for a soldier who fought in the War of 1812.
Over the course of decades, she steadily advanced, becoming a flight surgeon, commander of flight medicine at Fairchild Air Force Base and, eventually, a lieutenant colonel
Source: Deep-rooted racism, discrimination permeate US military
My Comments:
This article is right on point. I can attest to that. lived it.
by Rupe | Apr 24, 2021 | Social-Race Issues
Darnella Frazier changed the course of history by tapping record on her smartphone. We can learn a lot from her about what to do when facing down badges, guns and a potentially dangerous situation.
On the way to the convenience store last May, Frazier came upon George Floyd being arrested by police officer Derek Chauvin. Then 17, Frazier recorded for 10 minutes and nine seconds, during which Floyd was murdered.
Source: How to record police with your smartphone – The Washington Post
by Rupe | Apr 11, 2021 | Education, Money Matters, Social-Race Issues
Je’lon Alexander is a Morehouse Man who graduated in 2018. He has roughly $55,000 in debt, even after a $15,000 annual scholarship. His parents, who have advanced degrees and close to $400,000 of debt between them, deferred their loans and took jobs on opposite sides of the country so they could contribute as much as they could to his education. (Je’lon, too, is deferring his loans while he pursues his master’s degree at Georgia State, with plans to get his PhD.) When Je’Lon’s mother was interviewed for my book, “The Whiteness of Wealth,” she said she did not regret any of these choices, despite the steep costs.
This is an absolute read for parents of black kids – Source: WAPO
by Rupe | Feb 26, 2021 | Money Matters, Social-Race Issues
Income and wealth disparities along racial lines have repercussions for all aspects of life in the U.S.: education, health, homeownership, retirement, and life expectancy.
Racial inequality in the United States has many dimensions, but one of the most impactful and broad-ranging is economic. On average, people of color experience significantly lower levels of income, retirement savings, and rates of homeownership than white Americans. Those shortfalls contribute mightily to other ill effects: poorer healthcare outcomes, lower educational attainment, and shorter life expectancies, for example. The pandemic has exacerbated many of these issues.
Source: MorningStar
