On April 12th, two Black men were arrested in a Philadelphia Starbucks. They had not placed an order; they were just sitting at a table in a public coffee shop, waiting for their friend to arrive. And an employee working at the Starbucks called the police on them. When the police asked the two Black men to leave, they did not, because it was absurd that they were being asked to leave a public store; …
On April 18th, Syracuse University decided to permanently expel the Theta Tau fraternity after footage emerged of its members participating in a racist and anti-Semitic skit. The Chancellor of the University, Kent Syverud, emailed a statement to students, faculty, and staff affirming that the video included, “words and behaviors that are extremely racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, sexist, and hostile to people with disabilities”. He continued: “The conduct is deeply harmful and contrary to the values and …
Models Sophie Applegarth and Julie Iovenitti dressed up as tennis players Venus and Serena Williams for a Christmas party through the use of blackface. “There is nothing racist about backing [your] favorite sport stars,” Applegarth and Iovenitti said in defense. Later, Applegarth put out a statement saying that they had no intent to be racist when they put these outfits on. Blackface has always been a contested issue in the United States. When these girls …
I have scrolled through my Facebook and found far too many videos’ that capture police brutality. There are very few times I have been able to go on my Facebook feed without coming across a video that captures racism in violent acts. After which I would leave and log off of my social media. Not only has there been an increase in media coverage of these events but there has been an increase in occurrence …
When we were first learning about the differences between old-fashioned, modern, and aversive racism, the definitions made sense to me. I saw that there were differences between the three, each different speeds at which we move down the moving sidewalk of privilege. But now I’m a little less certain about the differences between old-fashioned and modern racism. I agree that in practice they’re different, but I’m less sure that within the person harboring these prejudices, …
This past week was the premier of the live re-creation of “Hairspray” on TV. The movie revolves around a mother, daughter pair that go through their typical ups and downs during the ‘60s. In addition, it revolves around a TV show that stars students, primarily white except for one day a month which is titled Negro day. The movie tackles the ‘60s and the difficulties between whites and blacks and the acceptance of those of …
I cried when I found out the results of the 2016 presidential election. I cried hard. I fell asleep the night before quite early, because I was tired of being bombarded with political ads and the disgusting hate that I would see every day on Facebook. I went to bed early believing that I would wake up to Hillary Clinton being our next president. It didn’t happen that way and the several paragraphs that were …
It seems hard not to write a blog post reflecting on the events of this week. Donald Trump is officially our president elect, and there’s so much that could be said about it that I don’t even know where to begin. On Tuesday night, I refused to watch the live coverage with my roommates because for some reason I just had a horrible gut feeling about the results. I went to bed early, scared of …
I write this on November 2nd, less than a week before the presidential election. I choose to write this now for multiple reasons: 1) it’s becoming pretty clear who the next POTUS will be, and 2) I’m honestly afraid of what the consequences will be. This evening in my Facebook Newsfeed, towards the bottom of the trending bar, was the label “Black Church Burned” (The Atlantic, 2016). Immediately I felt my stomach sink, and when …
I’ll admit it. I’m a coffee addict. It’s gotten to the point where I cannot make it through the morning without a headache if I don’t have my coffee. I got a Keurig machine for my birthday and cried. I know it’s bad, but when it comes to drugs of choice, I could be worse off. On rare occasions I will treat myself to the capitalist franchise of Starbucks. Something about their coffee gives me …
David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the KKK, narrowly reached the 5% voting support he needed to be considered a legitimate candidate for Senator of Louisiana. Although according to his numbers he doesn’t actually stand a chance in winning the seat, it’s horrifying to realize that a substantial number of people are voting for him. What’s even more disturbing is that he was now allowed to participate in the November 2nd debate which was …
At some point this week, I came across a BuzzFeed post entitled, “The BuzzFeed Black History Reading List,” which included a series of essays and articles reflecting upon the end of Black History Month. One of the articles in this post shines an accusatory spotlight down on Hollywood’s use of Blackface today. After some initial disbelief and some precursory digging, I found the amount of performers who have performed in blackface appalling and the names I …