Understandably, millions of people across the world were elated by the news of Derek Chauvin’s conviction for the death of George Floyd. For almost a year, the world has been painfully anticipating the verdict, hoping for the justice that prevailed on April 20th when Chauvin was found guilty on all three counts: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/20/us/chauvin-guilty-verdict-sentencing.html …
By Tom Pace, Ph.D. and Elwood Watson, Ph.D.
Americans of previous generations, when they were in their 40s and 50s, were often viewed as being in charge, as leaders of government, at the height of their earning power, and largely as setting the agenda for the larger, dominant culture. Contrast this with the Americans currently in their 40s and 50s — Americans of the generation known as Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980). To declare them as leaders or setters of any agenda cannot be further from the truth. Indeed, the broader society, at least at the current moment…
“Hear me clearly America is not a racist country. I have personally experienced ‘the pain of discrimination’ — being pulled over for no reason and followed around in stores.”
This statement was made by Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, who was selected by the Republican Party to give a rebuttal to President Biden’s State of The Union speech on April 29. Unsurprisingly, fierce reactions ensued immediately, with both sides of the political spectrum aggressively weighing in on social media. Hashtags such as #UncleTim, which were quickly removed from Twitter, and other intensely abrasive terms were hurled toward the senator…
There have been some deeply ominous and disturbing warning signs as the George Floyd trial progresses. On March 20th, a Black student at Duke University came upon George Floyd’s toxicology report on a Black History Month bulletin board. Interestingly, there was no negative information about Chauvin on the board: there was no lengthy record of the numerous misconduct complaints against him or any information about his eventual termination. Rather, the board was populated with unflattering news about Floyd. It was ugly. The situation resembled the unsettling USA/Ipsos poll published on the eve of the start of the Chauvin trial (https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2021-03/usat-ipsos_racial_injustice_topline_030421.pdf.
…
Good article. The president of NBC Universal is Rashida Jones. a Hampton University graduate.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/all/rashida-jones-named-next-president-msnbc-n1250296
Just when you thought the outlandishly abominable antics and disturbing and derelict rhetoric coming out of the Republican party could not get any more ludicrous, party members have managed to outdo themselves. Earlier this month, South Carolina senator Tim Scott made the claim that woke supremacy was as bad as White supremacy. Yes, you read that right! Truth be told, given the deliriously frantic level of media coverage devoted to “all things seemingly provocative” or likely to get political pundits, bloggers, cultural critics, and other assorted political junkies riled up, ears perked and tongues were set wagging.
Excellent article. As a person i my mid 50s , i can count the number of Black male teachers I had during my k-12 experience. Obviously, things have not improved that much! This must change
It didn’t take long for the right-wing media, here in America and in Britain, to gin up their propaganda/outrage machine towards Meghan Markle, better known as The Duchess of Sussex. “Unreasonable,” “entitled,” “ungrateful,” “spoiled,” “Liar! Fake Outrage!” “Fights, Camera, Action,” “Megxile,” “So Who is The Royal Racist?” and so on. Tucker Carlson, Ben Shapiro, Brian Kilmeade and other right wing darlings and the usual suspects readily weighed in on the drama. Hell, perennial Meghan Markle antagonist and fierce critic, Piers Morgan, literally screamed and stomped off of the sethttps://medium.com/the-polis/meghan-markle-the-royal-family-right-wing-media-animus-and-the-specter-of-deeply-entrenched-38e829ba3bd9?sk=33ae6dfbb8a6aa27e113da80abb08889 (https://youtu.be/sG9rX6Ifzhw) of the program Good Morning Britain. …
Last week, Morgan Wallace, the country music star, endured a torrential downpour of backlash after Wallace hurled the N-word all too often used by White people to a Black person during a dispute. On February 2nd, TMZ posted a video Tuesday night, showing Wallen loudly returning home with friends this past weekend. A neighbor, apparently annoyed by the racket, started filming the scene and caught Wallen using the despicable racial slur (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO9iFWcK1).
He was dropped by several music stations, declared all but dead by many radio disc jockeys and was dragged through social media with the force of a prisoner…
The above picture is outrageously racist and speaks volumes.
So does this equally anarchistic one.
Elwood Watson, Ph.D.
Historian, public speaker, social-cultural critic. Professor of African American and Gender Studies, Post-WWII U.S. History, at East Tennessee State University.
