Racism In European Football Kicked Into Spotlight

The lid has come off of Euro-football after Italian fans insisted on making racist monkey gestures/sounds directed to AC Milan star-player, Kevin-Prince Boateng, in a 'friendly' game Jan 2 against team Pro Patria. (here)

It seems that the German-Ghanaian Boateng walked off the pitch (field) at the repeated actions of a group of Italian fans. His teammates followed, and the game ended. Boateng also received the support of his team president, Silvio Berlusconi. The former Italian prime minister, media mogul, and non-stranger to controversy said, "This is an uncivilised problem that needs to be stopped. I congratulated my players for their decision to leave the field during the friendly in Busto Arsizio." (here)

It is interesting watching Europeans and their authorities attempt to deal with such obvious racism in their most beloved sport. The more the authorities try to curb it, the more determined the fans seem to become, especially the Spanish and the Italians. Gone is the smug superiority the Europeans had when witnessing images of US racism, back int he 1960's, eh?

James C. Collier

READ MOST RECENT POSTS AT ACTING WHITE ACTING BLACK...

Technorati Tags: Drive: Racism In European Football Kicked Into Spotlight, Kevin-Prince Boateng, AC Milan, Silvio Berlusconi, Monkey Chants, Acting White

Letter to a future Republican strategist regarding white people

The Following post in italics is from Eric Garland (here):

To whom it may concern regarding the United States federal elections of 2014, 2016 and beyond:

Allow me to introduce myself to you, the existing (or aspiring!) strategist for the Republican Party. My name is Eric Arnold Garland and I am a White Man. Boy, am I ever – you need sunglasses just to look at my photo!

If I read the news correctly, I fit a profile that is of extreme importance to the GOP, as I embody the archetype that fits your narrative of Real Americans. Just how much should my profile interest you? Are you sitting down?

My family lineage goes back to the MAYFLOWER, BOAT ONE!!! (Garland family of New England-> John Adams -> Howard Alden -> Plymouth colony ->KINGS OF MUTHAF***IN’ ENGLAND)

I am a heterosexual, married to the super Caucasian mother of my two beautiful children who are, inexplicably, EVEN WHITER THAN I AM. I am college educated (Master’s degree!) and affluent. I am a job creator and small businessman. We pay a lot of taxes! Every year! I grew up in a rural area and despise laziness! Having started my own business, I have complained at length about the insanity of federal, state and local bureaucracy – and its deleterious impact on the innovative small businessman. I currently live in the suburbs in a historically Red state. HOLY WHITE PEOPLE, BATMAN!!! Wow, you’re thinking – this is not some Mexirican in the Sun Belt we need to attract via harsh anti-Castro policies or appeals to “valores de familia” - this is the BREAD AND BUTTER OF THE GRAND OLD PARTY, a Mayflower-descended small business owner, burdened by taxation, looking out for his beautiful White family in the suburbs of a city (St Louis) surrounded by racial tension and urban blight! How can I put this gently? My wife and I are not sensitive to your messaging, nor did we vote for the candidates you proposed for us this past Tuesday. B-b-but, what? Aren’t we investors, hard-workin’ white folk surrounded by same in a manicured cul-de-sac, scared by a vision of economic collapse amidst the takers in a land of fewer givers? Didn’t Mitt Romney’s strong family, wealth, leadership history and chiseled chin give us the uncontrollable urge to high-five him into the White House? No. May I explain why not, purely for your education, such that you might be interested in winning an election on the national level at some point in the future? It bears pointing out that I should be your Low Hanging Fruit, the easy vote to get as opposed to, say, African-Americans, Latinos, or Asians – and you’re not even speaking well to me. The reasons why ought to concern you deeply.

As a Card-Carrying White Male I love expressing my opinion irrespective of whether people care to hear it, so let’s get started. >>>>>>

Science - One of the reasons my family is affluent is that my wife and I have a collective fifteen years of university education between us. I have a Masters degree in Science and Technology Policy, and my wife is a physician who holds degrees in medicine as well as cell and molecular biology. We are really quite unimpressed with Congressional representatives such as Todd Akin and Paul Broun who actually serve on the House science committee and who believe, respectively, that rape does not cause pregnancy and that evolution and astrophysics are lies straight from Satan’s butt cheeks. These are, sadly, only two of innumerable assaults that the Republican Party has made against hard science – with nothing to say of logic in general. Please understand the unbearable tension this might create between us and your candidates.

Climate - Within just the past 18 months the following events have come to our attention: a record-breaking drought that sent temperatures over 100 degrees for weeks, killing half the corn in the Midwest and half the TREES on our suburban property – AND – a hurricane that drowned not New Orleans or Tampa or North Carolina but my native state of VERMONT. As an encore, a second hurricane drowned lower Manhattan, New Jersey and Long Island. The shouted views of decrepit mental fossil Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma that this is a fraud perpetrated on the American people by evil, conspiring climate scientists is belied by such events and is looking irresponsible to even the most skeptical.

Healthcare - My wife and I are quite familiar with America’s healthcare system due to our professions, and having lived abroad extensively, also very aware of comparable systems. Your party’s insistence on declaring the private U.S. healthcare system “the best in the world” fails nearly every factual measure available to any curious mind. We watch our country piss away 60% more expenditures than the next most expensive system (Switzerland) for health outcomes that rival former Soviet bloc nations. On a personal scale, my wife watches poor WORKING people show up in emergency rooms with fourth-stage cancer because they were unable to afford primary care visits. I have watched countless small businesses unable to attract talented workers because of the outrageous and climbing cost of private insurance. And I watch European and Asian businesses outpace American companies because they can attract that talent without asking people to risk bankruptcy and death. That you think this state of affairs is somehow preferable to “Obamacare,” which you compared ludicrously to Trotskyite Russian communism, is a sign of deficient minds unfit to guide health policy in America.

War - Nations do have to go to war sometimes, but that Iraq thing was pretty bad, to put it mildly. Somebody should have been, I dunno – FIRED for bad performance. Aren’t you the party of good corporate managers or something? This topic could get 10,000 words on its own. Let’s just leave it at: You guys suck at running wars.

Deficits and debt - Whenever the GOP is out of power, it immediately appeals to the imagination of voters who remember the Lyndon Baines Johnson (!) administration and claim that the Republican alternative is the party of “cutting spending” and “reducing the deficit.” The only problem with your claim is that Republican governments throughout my entire 38 year life (Reagan, Bush 41, Bush 43) have failed to cut spending and deficit and debt EVEN ONCE. I hope you understand that your credibility suffers every time you promise one thing for three decades and do the EXACT OPPOSITE. Egads – if you actually were the party of fiscal responsibility – you might win our votes despite your 13th century view of science!

Gay marriage - As the child of Baby Boomers who got divorced (as was the fashion!) in the 80s and 90s, and for whom 50% of my friends had their homes broken by divorce in the critical years before age 18, I sure am unsympathetic to your caterwauling bullshit that “gays will destroy the sanctity of marriage.” Perhaps if everyone in your generation didn’t take the period of 1978 – 1995 to start surreptitiously banging their neighbors and coworkers, only to abandon their kids because “they just weren’t happy,” I would take your defense of marriage more seriously. The institution of Middle Class suburban marriage was broken by the generation of aging white Baby Boomers who populate what is left of the Republican Party, so your defense is wrongheaded and disingenuous. And moreover, as someone who got called “faggot” about 127 times a day from the years 1985 through 1991 – guess what – I grew up to be pretty good friends with actual homosexuals, whose sexual orientation is usually the least significant thing about them. The Republican perseveration on homosexuals as any sort of threat consigns them to history’s trough of intellectual pig dung. >>>>>>

That’s quite enough for one essay, wouldn’t you say? Now, given my initial description as a wealthy, hard-working, job creating, heterosexual, married suburban White Male – doesn’t your current platform look woefully insufficient to the task of gaining my vote? This doesn’t even get into the demographic tensions that show that people of my exact profile are going away permanently in America. You can’t even win on what you perceive to be “home field advantage.” Uh oh, wait, I can already hear you through the web browser, dismissing all of my above points because THAT GUY WAS NEVER GONNA BE A REPUBLICAN ANYHOW, CUZ HE’S A LIBRUL WHO HATES AMERICA AND…

All right, let’s do one last point: Meanness- Your party is really mean, mocking and demonizing everyone who does not follow you into the pits of hell. You constantly imply – as Mitt Romney did in his “47% speech” – that anybody who disagrees with you does so not by logic or moral conviction, but because they are shiftless, lazy parasites who want “free stuff” from “traditional Americans.” Wow, you guys managed to follow up a stunning electoral defeat with insulting the very people you wish to attract for a majority in the political system! Brilliant! You are losing elections because being angry and defensive and just-plain-mean is more important than being smart and winning elections – and thus you deserve everything happening to you.

If you want to know exactly where you failed in 2012, and will continue to fail, here it is. Look you assholes, I’m as traditional an American as it gets, and I do not “want free stuff.” I am a taxpayer, and ALWAYS HAVE BEEN. I got my first job – dragging bags of cow manure, horse feed and fertilizer around a farm store – when I was 12. I started my first company when I was 28. I have followed the vast majority of the rules set out for middle class white males (for good and for ill.) And if it weren’t bad enough that your policy positions are a complete clusterfuck for the reasons I lay out in great detail, you manage to follow up the whole exercise with insulting me, my wife, and my friends of every stripe who didn’t vote for your political party – all of whom are hard-working, taxpaying, job creating, law abiding, great AMERICANS of EVERY COLOR AND CREED.

From this white, Mayflower-descended strategic analyst, allow me to offer you the three strategic options you have before you: 1. You drastically moderate your platform to harmonize with the policy positions I present above 2. You disband the party and reorganize it to reflect current realities 3. You kick and scream and stamp your feet and call me and my friends names – and submit to several decades of one party rule While I do not want a one-party system, I also don’t particularly care which of these options you choose. If you look carefully at the numbers on Tuesday, nobody else cares, either. Just a word to the wise from one White Man to (presumably) another.

James C. Collier

READ MOST RECENT POSTS AT ACTING WHITE ACTING BLACK...

Technorati Tags: Letter To A Future Republican Strategist Regarding White People, Election, Eric Arnold Garland, White Men, Battleground State, Acting White

Jezebel Exposes Young Bigots In-Training

Young people are known for mixing up the sequence "ready, aim, fire" to something more akin to ready, fire, uh...aim", but Tracy Egan Morrissey, over at Jezebel has certainly taken some of the kiddies to 'school' on how responsibility goes hand-in-hand with the First Amendment right to free speech (here).

It seems that quite a few young white folks took to Twitter just after the presidential election to let their worlds know just how they feel about four more years of Mr. Obama. What many had to say was not indicative of good anything...parenting, schooling, coaching or anything else. Mrs. Morrissey/Jezebel simply gave these young people a greater public forum for their youthful vileness. Good for her. It is important for us to know the kids we are raising.

Black parents certainly get a daily dose of what vileness their kids can produce left unattended, but this time around it was white folk's turn to say 'what the hell?'. I also know that kids speak in ways that they were not taught, so I do not automatically blame parents for any particular kid, however, all parents collectively share the blame. You cannot assume that what your kid says in front of you is what they say to others. Parents need to be a little crafty in order to really know their kids - because kids are crafty. And for many parents, it all begins with setting a good example.

In the coming days their will be more made of this, but one thing is for sure, what you say in public forums, electronic or otherwise, follows you and is sticky like syrup. I'm sure Mr. Romney wishes he could take back "self-deportation", "binders of women", "the 47%...", and the like, when he considers how Latinos and women reacted to those words. Mitt certainly wasn't dropping N-bombs, but his gaffes showed that someone could have schooled him a little better about measuring his words.

James C. Collier

READ MOST RECENT POSTS AT ACTING WHITE ACTING BLACK...

Technorati Tags: Jezebel Exposes Young Bigots In-Training, Tracy Egan Morrissey, Jezebel, Racism, Twitter, Acting White

Racist Gov. John Sununu (R) Stumps For Obama

Everytime one of these Republican gadfly's opens their mouth to spout some racist dribble, Obama gets more votes because of race. How stupid is that?

"Frankly, when you take a look at Colin Powell, you have to wonder whether that's an endorsement based on issues or whether he's got a slightly different reason for preferring President Obama," Sununu said in an interview on CNN. When pressed on what those reasons might be, he replied, "Well, I think when you have somebody of your own race that you're proud of being president of the United States, I applaud Colin for standing with him."

Former NH Gov. Sununu claimed that General Powell is endorsing Obama because of race, despite all that Republicans have come to know about this most widely respected modern-day Black Republican - serving three Republican administrations, and Democrats as well.

So in response, a bunch of otherwise centrist 'Rockefeller' Republican voters, who had planned to hold their noses and vote for Mitt, decide to hold their noses and vote for Obama, so at least they can look themselves in the mirror and imagine that they are NOT as Mr. Sununu portrays them.

Everyday it becomes more clear, the Dems don't need a good story to stay in power, just a story that is slightly better than their opponents. It seems to be the job of these gadfly politicians and pundits, like Sununu, to continuously pump stupidity into the contest.

James C. Collier

READ MOST RECENT POSTS AT ACTING WHITE ACTING BLACK...

Technorati Tags: Racist Gov. John Sununu (R) Stumps For Obama, Colin Powell, Endorsement, Republicans, Democrats, Acting White

Voula Papachristou Booted Off Greek Olympic Team

Under most circumstances, public urination earns the offender a ticket. But, if you do it in front of the ladies auxilary it's a much bigger deal - lewdness, exposure, indecency, etc.

Voula Papachristou's joke about about Africans and West Nile virus was, by itself, in poor taste, but to tweet it to the world, as an Olympic representative, during the Olympics, was something else, as well. Recall that the Greeks invented the Olympics, so they might be a little bit touchy about its besmirching, especially by one of its own.

Papachristou offended a whole continent and made Greece look stupid. To control the damage, authorities forfeited her Olympic participation. Sometimes it's not just what you say, but who you say it to (sic), that makes the difference.

James C. Collier

READ MOST RECENT POSTS AT ACTING WHITE ACTING BLACK...

Technorati Tags: Voula Papachristou Booted Off Greek Olympic Team, West Nile Virus, African Joke, Racist Tweet, Expelled, Acting White

Disintermediation: The End of Black America

If the economic troubles of this country were a swimming pool - black folks, including their inability to swim, are definitely in the deep-end. Low-level jobs, not just the ones in manufacturing - are disappearing at an alarming rate.

I was buying something at the Apple store recently and was told that I did not need a sales clerk to 'check out'. There is now an app for this. I found my item, scanned and paid for it with my iPhone, and walked out without any intervention. I even asked the black security guard how he knew I was not shop-lifting, whereupon he instantly pulled up my name and picture of my purchase on, you guessed it, his iPhone.

Expect to see this capability in all retail stores soon - along with more double-digit black unemployment. It's called disintermediation when middle channel jobs go away due to whatever the reason - technology, globalization of labor, etc. - you name it. It is the process of squeezing out every penny of cost from the goods we just can't live without.

Blacks, as the lowest educated/skilled demographic (of size) in this country, are unemployed at minimally 2x the national average, and well beyond the reach of the Congressional Black Caucus, President Obama, or Bill Gates/Warren Buffet. Add to this the carte-blanche that US financial institutions have been given to exploit black financial ignorance (via financial deregulation), and you get one unmitigated economic and social disaster, with no end in sight!

James C. Collier

READ MOST RECENT POSTS AT ACTING WHITE ACTING BLACK...

Technorati Tags: Disintermediation: The End of Black America, Unemployment, Apple, Globalization, Middle-man, Acting White

Rodney Glen King: 1965 - 2012

James C. Collier

READ MOST RECENT POSTS AT ACTING WHITE ACTING BLACK...

Technorati Tags: Rodney Glen King: 1965 - 2012, Can We All Just Get Along, LA Riots, The Riot Within, Police Brutality, Acting White

Can White Parents Make Black Children?

The other day I was asked if white parents can produce black children. I though it was possible, but could not say for sure, until I looked into it. The answer is yes, but like black parents producing 'white' children, it is rare, but further proof that even small amounts of a different ethnicity can produce offspring that appear very different than their parents.

Perhaps the most famous example, written as a book entitled "When I Was White", was of white South African/Afrikaner, apartheid-era, parents who bore a 'colored'/black child, Sandra Laing. The long-odds and geographic location created a tragic circumstance for Sandra and her family, with a legacy that continues to this day. (here)

The technical reasons on how this occurs is pretty simple. Each parent carries a combination of genes whose phenotype (expression) is dominant toward one ethnic group, while even a small number of genes are also resident, but without expression. At conception, the 'minority' expression of the genes may combine in such a way to have the minority ethnicity to 'poke through' and express itself in a one-in-a-million scenario. In the case of Sandra Laing, she is every bit the offspring of her parents, including her wrapping. She simply shows something that is unseen in her parent's outward appearance - that is a very small amount of recent generational black heritage.

James C. Collier

READ MOST RECENT POSTS AT ACTING WHITE ACTING BLACK...

Technorati Tags: Can White Parents Make Black Children?, Sandra Laing, When I Was White, Judith Stone, Black From White, Acting White

Black vs. White Women And Eating Disorders

I asked a black female friend if her group suffers from eating disorders, similar to white females. She laughed and said, "yes, we eat too much!" I said no seriously? Again, she said yes, black women do all the crazy things white women do - anorexia, bulimia, binging and purging, but "we mostly binge, with no purge". She went on to say black women have the same body image hang-ups as white women.

After a bit of digging, I think my spokesperson may have been right on the money, even as she joked. It seems that there are some researchers who believe over-eating, or binge-eating, to be a disorder on par or greater than various earlier recognized eating disorders. Unreconciled anxieties can drive people to either starve themselves or over eat. But it also seems that over-eating may have a socio-economic/cultural influence tied to obese tendencies and negative childhood experiences related to weight, as well as poor dietary habits. (here)

So, as I see black women (and men) morbidly leading the obesity parade, I will think twice of the role mental health plays, and the need for improvement. America is literally eating itself to death.

James C. Collier

READ MOST RECENT POSTS AT ACTING WHITE ACTING BLACK...

Technorati Tags: Black vs. White Women And Eating Disorders, Obesity, Over-weight Black Women, Fat, Binge-eating, Acting White

Gloom Of Our Doom: Money, Power, And Wall Street

I just watched Part One of a PBS Frontline show on the financial crisis in America, and how it came to be.

I thought I was fully aware, yet I was amazed at the level of greed and incompetence of the financial community, willing to take us to the brink of another 1929 type of disaster. Alan Greenspan and his supporters are true idiots to have believed and behaved as though the bankers, and their markets, would regulate themselves. When bankers are allowed to prey upon the ignorant masses, without scrutiny or fear of reprisal from the authorities, our great society is destined for the scrap-heap - an so we are.

Sadly, no one has or will go to jail for the biggest heist in history. The taxpayers are left with the bill, while Long Island is up to its neck in estates, and the country has more million and billionaires than ever. Decline is our fate, regardless of the color of your state, party, or skin.

Go to "MONEY, POWER, AND WALL STREET", at PBS Frontline (here) - if you dare!

James C. Collier

READ MOST RECENT POSTS AT ACTING WHITE ACTING BLACK...

Technorati Tags: Gloom Of Our Doom: Money, Power, And Wall Street, Frontline, Credit Default Swaps, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Acting White

Justice Department Study Says Black Juveniles Victims Of Racism

Upon reading a summary of a just released justice department study (here), that revealed disparate treatment upon apprehension, I wondered if black kids are simply more dangerous, as Jesse Jackson spoke of (here). I will have to spend more time with the study, but I suspect that the question may not have been asked. This can often be the case in these studies when the answer is something that might wake the elephant in the living room.

In any case, the first two comments to the HuffPo article (here) set the context for my question, better than I ever could.

Comment One: (from Jamar Jahi),
"another reason why whites make themselves the enemy".

Comment Two: (from Truthseeker427),
"The truth is to[o] scary to print.
African "youths", will knock you out,
then blow your guts out,
and then group steal everything off your dead body,...
To prove it, take a walk in the hood tonight.

That is to[o] scary to comprehend, so let's be in denial,..."

James C. Collier

READ MOST RECENT POSTS AT ACTING WHITE ACTING BLACK...

Technorati Tags: Justice Department Study Says Black Juveniles Victims Of Racism, Memphis Study, Shelby County Study, shelbycountyjuv, Jesse Jackson, Acting White

Is Hockey Racist? Ask Joel Ward

Joel Ward is a professional hockey player for the Washington Capitals, who happens to be Canadian, like most professional players, but also black. Ward scored the winning goal against the Boston Bruins the other night, sending his team to the Stanley Cup quarter finals. So what if some of the Boston fans used Twitter to show their sour grapes at losing. Those fans hurt no one, but their own sorry asses, by throwing the n-word around at Ward, because the Bruins lost at the hands of a black player. Hockey is a great sport, but it attracts more than its share of neanderthals, so no big whup. Next.

James C. Collier

READ MOST RECENT POSTS AT ACTING WHITE ACTING BLACK...

Technorati Tags: Is Hockey Racist? Ask Joel Ward, White Game, Boston Bruins, Racial Slur, Stupid Hockey, Acting White

The Riot Within By Rodney King, With Lawrence Spagnola

I place Rodney King in a similar iconic category with actor/politician Ronald Reagan, with no intent to offend either. Their individual significance is not about who they are/were, but rather what they reflect about their fellow Americans, from their respective moments in the sun until now.

The emblazoned images of King being beaten with no mercy by the LAPD, and the acquittal of his captors by an all-white jury, galvanized how blacks felt and still largely feel about law enforcement and justice in America.

Even today, the Trayvon Martin killing and George Zimmerman trial have people wondering what will happen once a jury speaks. Will blacks riot? Will vigilantes re-double? 

As for the book itself, beyond its macro-relevance, I enjoyed the easy and honest read of how King, the man, came into infamy. I stopped to think of how the fifty-one person death toll of the riots hit him harder than the bone-breaking baton strikes of Officer Stacy Koon, and others that night. I realized how logical it was that the events of those days would only accelerate the litany of abuse he would continue to heap upon himself, as an alcoholic. It was also interesting to know just how little compensation he actually received ($1.8M of a $5.4 settlement and fees), and how his lawyers, black and white, beat the hell out of him financially, on top of it all.

The up-shot is that whether you loved or hated Rodney Glen King, he is forever a part of history that represents quite the tragic tale of race and the pursuit of justice in America.

James C. Collier

READ MOST RECENT POSTS AT ACTING WHITE ACTING BLACK...

Technorati Tags: The Riot Within By Rodney King, With Lawrence Spagnola, LA Riots, 51 Dead, Trayvon Martin, Racial Profiling, Acting White

Werdesheim Assault Of Black Teen Parallels Trayvon Martin

The assault and false imprisonment trial of two Jewish brothers kicked off today in Baltimore, MD (here). The case has resemblance to the Trayvon Martin killing, except the fifteen year old black male victim sustained a broken wrist and laceration, at the hands of Eliyahu (24) and Avi (23) Werdesheim. Eliyahu, a member of a neighborhood watch organization, and his brother confronted the teen as he walked through a predominantly Jewish neighborhood. Like Zimmerman, in Florida, the Werdesheims are claiming self-defense, but with neither the probable cause or authority to stop and confront the victim. The case includes the charge of racial profiling. The trial may be delayed, as the Werdesheim's counsel is expected to argue that the attention of the Trayvon Martin murder trial makes it difficult to mount a fair defense. Authorities and media across the nation are looking to the case to provide some clues as to how the drama of the Martin case will play out.

James C. Collier

READ MOST RECENT POSTS AT ACTING WHITE ACTING BLACK...

Technorati Tags: Werdesheim Assault Of Black Teen Parallels Trayvon Martin, Shomrim, Neighborhood Watch, George Zimmerman, Racial Profiling, Acting White

Racist Jury Selection Rescues Death Row Inmate in N.C.

A N.Carolina judge recently ruled that prosecutors 'have intentionally discriminated' against murder defendants - such as Marcus Robinson - by using the peremptory challenge to eliminate black jurors at twice the rate of whites. (here)

The judge found no reason, other than race, for the exclusion of so many blacks from cases with black defendants. Robinson's death sentence was automatically commuted to life without parole.

A Michigan State professor, Barbara O'Brien studied 160 capital murder cases, including Robinson's, to build a convincing argument for the statewide racism. The professor studied selection outcomes for 7,400 capital jurors.

The peremptory challenge is a legal bastion of racism that poisons the judicial process in this country.  Only Kentucky and North Carolina have such laws available to capital inmates who may have been the recipients of racist conduct by prosecutors.

James C. Collier

READ MOST RECENT POSTS AT ACTING WHITE ACTING BLACK...

Technorati Tags: Racist Jury Selection Rescues Death Row Inmate in N.C., Marcus Robinson, Death Row, Racial Justice Act, Prosecution Racism, Acting White

All-Non-Black Juries Harder On Black Defendants Than Whites

In a new study, referenced here, if there are no blacks on a jury, the chance of conviction of a black defendant increases by 16%, over a similar white defendant. The study also presents that having one black juror in the jury pool (not the actual jury) eliminates the disparity in verdicts. Okay - hmmmm? So, from the fairness standpoint, the question is what is at play in attaining that lone black juror in the pool to even up the chance at a fair verdict?

As a part-time trial consultant, I know that getting blacks into the jury process and onto actual juries is easier said than done. The first issue is one of jury pool selection, the greater starting group of people from which the petit jury (trial jury) is selected. Selection algorithms exclude blacks by virtue of the nature and quality of public records keeping upon which they depend. Second is attendance, whereby blacks who are selected will no-show at a rate often reaching 80%. Third and finally, there is the dastardly peremptory challenge, whereby attorneys get to exclude whatever blacks remain, without giving the judge any reason. It is here where racial stereotyping runs amok. For more on this go here (Race and Jury Selection).

The result - blacks are significantly absent, as jurors, from the judicial system, and more black defendants are convicted, than if they were white. My solution? It starts with requiring jury pools to be representative, including hitting no-shows in the pocketbook (tickets) along with driving restrictions. Tax rolls and refund check addresses are the most accurate and up-to-date point of contact. Also, juror compensation must take the economic penalty out of serving. Finally, we must eliminate the peremptory challenge, in the case where doing so would exclude a classification that was present in the initial jury pool (not just blacks). Challenge for cause would remain.

James C. Collier

READ MOST RECENT POSTS AT ACTING WHITE ACTING BLACK...

Technorati Tags: All-Non-Black Juries Harder On Black Defendants Than Whites, Peremptory, Dismissed For Cause, Racism, Jury Bias, Acting White

Acura Embarrassed By "Not Too Dark" Casting Revelation In Seinfeld Ad

While I think it is reasonable, in casting, to seek specific actor attributes, requesting an "African-American" that is "not too dark" should have seemed a bit over the line, I think. Darkness, as used here, would seem to connote a negative attribute working against the desired positive representation of Acura - at least in someone's view. The lame excuse of 'lighting issues' makes the screw-up worse.

The actual casting document is an interesting read, and unambiguous. So what do you think?

James C. Collier

READ MOST RECENT POSTS AT ACTING WHITE ACTING BLACK...

Technorati Tags: Acura Embarrassed By "Not Too Dark" Casting Revelation In Seinfeld Ad, Light-Skin Preference, Jerry Seinfeld, Racism, Superbowl, Acting White

Swedish Culture Minister Celebrates With LIVE Genital Mutilation Cake

"STOCKHOLM (FRIA TIDER). A macabre scene with racist undertones took place on Saturday when Swedish minister of culture Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth attended a tax funded party for the Stockholm cultural elite. The self-proclaimed "anti-racist" Liljeroth declared the party officially started by slicing a piece of a cake depicting a stereotypical African woman.

(Minister) Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth was invited to open the festivities by performing a clitoridectomy on the cake, which she did by slicing off the part of the cake depicting female genitalia. She then proceeded to feed that part of the cake to a performance artist, done up in blackface, his head protruding through the table." (here)

Sometimes you just have to see things with your own eyes to believe that someone with intelligence and authority actually thought it was a good idea. YouTube below: WARNING: VIDEO IS DISTURBING!!!



James C. Collier

READ MOST RECENT POSTS AT ACTING WHITE ACTING BLACK...

Technorati Tags: Swedish Culture Minister Celebrates With LIVE Genital Mutilation Cake, Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth, Female Circumcision, Genitalia, Blackface, Acting White

Does The Race Of My Real Estate Agent Matter?

I just read an article (here) that lumps the race of your agent, together with looks and gender, as a support/challenge to the price you get in a sale. Hmmmm??? While I can accept that attractiveness and gender matter (all other things held equal)(here), the race of the agent matters much less, if at all, when compared to greater demographic influence. The influence of the ethnic make-up and trends of the neighborhood should not fall upon the race of the agent.

Following the flawed conclusion of this article, I fear that some people will avoid non-white agents for the fear of not getting the most in their sale, while supporting continued professional segregation.

Selling prices are influenced by the combination of many factors beyond the agent, such as crime, schools, maintenance, etc., and yes, some of those factors correlate to the socio-economic attributes of race/ethnicity. Without getting into macro-influence and causes, identical houses in white and black neighborhoods will predictably sell for different amounts, having nothing to do with the ethnicity of the agent.

So, in contrast to the article, I would offer that choosing your agent by race, rather than individual merit, is financially unwise for both sellers/buyers, and unfair to real estate professionals of color.

James C. Collier

READ MOST RECENT POSTS AT ACTING WHITE ACTING BLACK...

Technorati Tags: Does The Race Of My Real Estate Agent Matter?, Attractiveness, Gender, Sales Price, Real Property, Acting White

What Is Second Degree Murder In Florida Per George Zimmerman

Murder with a Depraved Mind

Murder with a Depraved Mind occurs when a person is killed, without any premeditated design, by an act imminently dangerous to another and evincing a depraved mind showing no regard for human life.

The primary distinction between Premeditated First Degree Murder and Second Degree Murder with a Depraved Mind is that First Degree Murder requires a specific and premeditated intent to kill.

Penalties for Second Degree Murder
The crime of Second Degree Murder is classified as a First Degree Felony and is assigned a Level 10 offense severity ranking under Florida's Criminal Punishment Code.

If convicted of Second Degree Murder, a judge is required to impose a minimum prison sentence of 16¾ years in prison and can impose any additional combination of the following penalties:

Up to Life in prison.
Up to Life on probation.
Up to $10,000 in fines.

Defenses to Second Degree Murder
In addition to the pretrial defenses and trial defenses that can be raised in any criminal case, specific defenses to the crime of Second Degree Murder are:

Excusable Homicide
The killing of a human being is excusable, and therefore lawful, under any one of the following three circumstances:

When the killing is committed by accident and misfortune in doing any lawful act by lawful means with usual ordinary caution and without any unlawful intent, or
When the killing occurs by accident and misfortune in the heat of passion, upon any sudden and sufficient provocation, or
When the killing is committed by accident and misfortune resulting from a sudden combat, if a dangerous weapon is not used and the killing is not done in a cruel or unusual manner.

Justifiable Homicide
The killing of a human being is justifiable homicide and lawful if done while resisting an attempt by someone to kill you or to commit a felony against you.

Self Defense
Also known as the justified use of deadly force, self defense is a defense to the crime of Second Degree Murder. Please view the Florida Self Defense section for more information.

Source: (here)

James C. Collier

READ MOST RECENT POSTS AT ACTING WHITE ACTING BLACK...

Technorati Tags: What Is Second Degree Murder In Florida Per George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin, Prosecution, Racial Profiling, Racial Politics, Acting White