In commenting on the murder of Trayvon Martin last year, I wrote: The killing of Trayvon Martin is a classically American nightmare: a suburb somewhere, a dark night, a young black man on the streets, guns in the hands of people who imagine it will make them safer, calls to 911 that provide grim, brief,Continue reading “The All Too Inevitable Denouement of the Trayvon Martin Story”
Tag Archives: racism
With Trustees Like These, Who Needs Enemies? Part Two
Today’s entry–after yesterday’s union-busting lawyer Peter Pantaleo–in the City University of New York‘s Board of Trustees Roll of Dishonor is Jeffrey S. Wiesenfeld. He is: [A]n investment banker at Bernstein Global Wealth Management, appointed to the Board of Trustees by Gov. Pataki in 1999. Wiesenfeld’s primary qualification for being a trustee is his loyal service toContinue reading “With Trustees Like These, Who Needs Enemies? Part Two”
Marriage: It Ain’t a Religious Thing
Last year, I wrote a post on same-sex marriage, or rather, on Barack Obama’s evolving views on it. In that post, I handed out some unsolicited advice to the President, suggesting he view marriage in its social and economic context, and noting that there were too many similarities between the explicitly institutionalized racism of theContinue reading “Marriage: It Ain’t a Religious Thing”
Martin Luther King Jr.: Menace II (Racist) Society
As a callow boy, I used to confuse Martin Luther and Martin Luther King Jr. Fortunately, that ignorant conflation didn’t last too long and I soon got the two of them sorted out. The first one complicated my understanding of Christianity, the second that of my home for twenty-five years, the United States of America,Continue reading “Martin Luther King Jr.: Menace II (Racist) Society”
About Time, Mr. President
The following was intended as today’s post. It has been pre-empted by Obama’s endorsement, today, of same-sex marriage. Barack Obama will soon sit down for an interview in which he will, in all probability, attempt to explain his ‘evolving’ views on gay marriage. Perhaps he will come out strongly in favor of gay marriage. OrContinue reading “About Time, Mr. President”
Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman, and the Fallacy of the ‘Lone Gunman’
It is worth remembering, the next time you see Trayvon Martin‘s parent’s on television, trying to explain their pleas for justice, that you are looking at human beings who, in the giant totem pole that mankind has constructed of Humans Who Have Suffered Terrible Losses, occupy a fairly high position. The killing of Trayvon MartinContinue reading “Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman, and the Fallacy of the ‘Lone Gunman’”