Race

If “No” Is Racist, then Race Must Be an Ideology

By Justin Katz | September 30, 2008 |

Jerry Landay provides an inkling as to why the Left is so viciously anxious to destroy any successful minorities who do not carry its water: They scuttle a semantic game that otherwise allows disagreement to be portrayed as bigotry. Consider: Race determined the primary outcome in three industrial swing states. Hillary Clinton, a white, won…

A Difference of Unification

By Justin Katz | September 9, 2008 |

We’ve been having this conversation hereabouts, and Jonathan Zimmerman puts it well: Beneath all of this talk, of course, lies the fallacy of race itself. Although America is a richly diverse place, we’re told, people in any given race are the same — or should be. That’s why you still hear whispers in the African-American…

Are There Valid Criticisms To Be Made of Sanctuary and Amnesty Policies?

By Carroll Andrew Morse | July 24, 2008 |

Over at RI Future yesterday, Matt Jerzyk wrote…When the immigration debate becomes about “them” and the “them” is largely determined by race and ethnicity, then racism is a clear component of the debate.But how about the definition of “them” in other areas of public debate? In a post from just two days earlier, Paul Bovenzi…

Clarity on Profiling

By Justin Katz | May 4, 2008 |

Race’s status as an umbrella term for an amorphous category of qualities — from skin color to lifestyle choices — justify a significant degree of skepticism about claims of racial profiling. In the context of a recent University of Rhode Island investigation of state police traffic stops and searches (concerning which, I haven’t been able…

Obama’s Effect on Race Relations

By Justin Katz | February 22, 2008 |

A few weeks ago, Dan Yorke brought one of his coworkers (a sports guy) into the studio to discuss his Massachusetts primary vote for Barack Obama. That coworker characterized himself as the only non-racist person he knew and sought to explain why it was appropriate to look at Obama and see only a black man…

New Jersey’s Apology for Slavery

By Mac Owens | January 11, 2008 |

I have a piece in today’s Christian Science Monitor about the recent resolution by the New Jersey legislature apologizing for slavery. On the one hand, such an apology is harmless. But on the other, it feeds off of the idea that the United States has been racist from the start, obscuring the fact that it…

Al Sharpton’s Hollow Indignation

By Monique Chartier | January 10, 2008 |

It’s one thing for Reverend Al Sharpton to use the racial gaffes of others principally as a means of attracting a spotlight or a microphone to himself. It’s an annoyance but the ultimate impact is on the credibility of Reverend Sharpton. It’s another thing for him to do so when the gaffe involves the word…

Institutional Racism, Quotas, and Cranston

By Carroll Andrew Morse | November 6, 2007 |

State Republican Chairman Giovanni Cicione touched off a minor firestorm in political circles with his statement that unions are a source of institutional racism. Monday’s Political Scene column in the Projo summarized and exchange between Chairman Cicione and reporter Bill Rappleye on WJAR-TV‘s (NBC 10) 10 News Conference…State Republican Chairman Giovanni Cicione’s description of labor…

Crossword Clue (Seven Letters): Whites, by Definition

By Justin Katz | October 28, 2007 |

It’s been clear that the sort of thought that the Providence Journal editorial board criticizes has been permeating university faculty halls for decades: The Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence has been making use of a handbook called “dismantling racism 2006” put together by a consultancy called Dismantling Racism Works. Here’s a passage: “Racism =…

What Black Men Think

By Marc Comtois | August 23, 2007 |

I recently caught a C-SPAN Q&A with Janks Morton, Jr., who was promoting his new film, What Black Men Think. It attempts to dig into some of the problems–both cause and affect–facing African-Americans today. According to his website: Since the triumphs of the civil rights legislations of the early 1960′s havoc and decimation has been…