Racial divide

“Now, I’m not a racist but … .” Don’t you just dread to hear that opening? In most cases, you have been forewarned that the next few words you’re going to hear will be cringe inducing. I t is a sign of progress, maybe, that people now feel compelled to make those kinds of disclaimers. There was a time, now thankfully receding in memory, when white Southerners in particular felt no need to mitigate the meanness of their remarks before launching into the vilest comments. We can all be grateful that blatantly racist remarks are far less common in the South than they used ... Read Full Story

O nce in a very long while, a book comes along that can revise a people’s view of their own culture — not through abstract theories or appeals to ideology, but by constructing a true narrative based on long-forgotten facts and the stories of real people. Douglas A. Blackmon’s “Slavery by Another Name,” which won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction Monday, is such a book. Those who read it are forced to accept a new understanding of the American South — that racial injustice was more violent, widespread and recent than most of us realized, and that it played a larger role ... Read Full Story

Lafayette Rep. Rickey Hardy, authored a bill to make it illegal to place a noose with the intention of intimidation.  Hardy's HB726 is now heading to the Senate for consideration ."Anybody who feels like they've been intimidated" by someone displaying a noose on another person's property or in a public place can file a complaint with a district attorney's office , said Hardy, as reported by the Shreveport Times . After an investigation, the district attorney would decide whether to prosecute under the new law. Dressed in a white suit, black shirt and white tie, Hardy told the House his bill was plain and ... Read Full Story

Picture this: you're a pre-med student sitting in your UMass dorm room with a couple of friends when one friend looks out the window and sees two white guys looking in. One white guy says he wants to be "friends" with your female friend; when you go to the window and tell them to go away, they start calling you "nigger" and one of them breaks your dorm window. You call a friend to come over for support and when he enters the dorm, the two guys force their way in. One of the guys throws the first punch, hitting you in the face ... Read Full Story

As of June 1, FEMA has plans to evict the  last of the Katrina survivors living in trailers, unless less they could prove to City Hall that their rebuilding plans or other circumstances make that timeline impossible, two city officials said Wednesday.  The government is concerned that should another hurricane hit the area, the trailers will turn into flying missiles, as well as the concern regarding toxic fumes.  More on this story can be read here,   here, and here .   There can be no denying that the aftermath of what happened has revealed exactly what bodies matter in the US.  Who can ... Read Full Story

Last week arrests were made in the January 16 burning of the predominantly African-American Macedonia Church of God in Christ. Benjamin F. Haskell, 22; Michael F. Jacques, 24; and Thomas A. Gleason Jr., 21, all of Springfield MA, face a minimum of ten years in prison for violating the civil rights of the Macedonian congregation. Judging by what I read on Springfield's Masslive forum and what I heard in the community before the arrests, many whites were sure the burning wasn't arson or if that it was, it wasn't a hate crime, and many African-Americans just knew the burnings were related to the election ... Read Full Story

CNN's Ed Hornick reported on the New York times interview with President Obama aboard Air Force One on Friday. Obama when questioned about the controversial remark Eric Holder made about Americans being a "nation of cowards replied, "I think it’s fair to say that if I had been advising my attorney general, we would have used different language". The President probably would have used different words, and wouldn't we all with some hindsight. The furor over the remarks by Holder came at a time when America had gone through the longest presidential campaign in history. Those who did not support Obama were and still ... Read Full Story