Race & Ethnicity
South Africa Isn’t Post-Racial Either
Fri, 06/26/2009 - 12:07 — Dave CulverConversations about race in places like Cape Town sound eerily similar to those happening in the United States.
Reuters/ Mike Hutchings
Robert Jensen, Color Lines
Apartheid is dead in South Africa, but a new version of white supremacy lives on.
“During apartheid, the racism of white people was up front, and we knew what we were dealing with,” Nkwame Cedile, a Black South African, told me. “Now white people smile at us, but for most Black people the unemployment and grinding poverty and dehumanizing conditions of everyday life haven’t changed. So, what kind of commitment to justice is under that smile?”
As he offered me his views on the complex politics of his country, Cedile, a field worker in Cape Town for the People’s Health Movement, expressed a frustration I heard often in my two weeks in the country: Yes, the brutality of apartheid ended in 1994 with free elections, but the white-supremacist ideas didn’t magically evaporate.
That shouldn’t be surprising. How could centuries of white supremacy simply disappear in 15 years? What did surprise me (as a white U.S. citizen) is how much discussions about race in South Africa sounded just like conversations in the United States.
Time for Immigration Reform is Now
Fri, 06/26/2009 - 11:44 — Dave CulverNew America Media Editor’s Note: This editorial was produced in association with New America Media, a national association of ethnic media, and was published by ethnic media across the country this week to bring attention to the urgency of immigration reform.
Staff, New America Media
The White House and members of Congress must move quickly on enacting a just and humane immigration reform package that will reunite families, reinvigorate the economy, and remove the term “illegal or undocumented immigrants” from the dialogue in this country. Ethnic media, which reaches over 60 million adults in the United States, calls on Congress to move decisively on immigration reform because there are few issues as important to the nation's well-being as an overhaul of the inefficient, inhumane and economically debilitating immigration system. More importantly, we are also urging our readers and viewers to contact their Senators and Congressmen and let them know that immigration reform must be a national priority.
Florida Hunger Strike Over Bank of America's Minority Lending
Fri, 06/26/2009 - 11:25 — Dave CulverThe Florida Minority Community Reinvestment Coalition (FMCRC) believes the bank's practices violate the spirit of the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, which was passed to prevent banks from denying loans to people in underserved areas -- a practice known as "redlining."
Rob Kuznia, Hispanic Business, in New America Media
Florida activist Al Pina has launched a community campaign against Bank of America over its minority-lending record and practices.
Pina, founder and chairman of the Florida Minority Community Reinvestment Coalition, is staging a hunger strike in protest of what he views to be Bank of America's lack of transparency toward low-income minorities.
He said the bank has a high rate of foreclosures, rising credit-card interest rates and a failure to increase credit for struggling businesses -- all while accepting billions in federal bailout money.
Armed Radical 'Minutemen' Kill Father and 9-Year-Old Daughter in Anti-Immigrant Hate
Sat, 06/20/2009 - 17:13 — Dave Culver
Right-wing hate groups are hijacking America's economic distress to push their lethal agendas.
Sally Kohn, Center for Community Change, in AlterNet
Brisenia Flores
