Malena Amusa

Week in Review

Thanks in part to Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign for presidency, race was front page news last week.

But I’m more alarmed than intrigued. Many people believe Barack “is the first mainstream African American” to break political bread with white people, explaining the deluge of “is Obama black or white?” stories struggling to rationalize his intelligence and charisma. Pres. Clinton was called Black when he played the sax and had an affair. Obama isn’t Black enough…because he has a Harvard law degree and his father’s from Africa? I’m gonna need somebody to break this down for me and NOT Debra Dickerson.

Here are some other news stories you may have missed while sifting through the crap on CNN:

—Last Friday, Black MIT professor James Sherley ended his hunger strike, the Boston Globe reported Feb. 16. After being denied tenure, Sherley went on a 12-day strike claiming Massachusetts’s Institute of Technology’s decision reflects racism on campus.

“I will in fact break my fast, in celebration of the attention that has been brought to bear on issues of equity, diversity, and justice at MIT and in higher education,” he wrote in a statement.

Sherley, who said he lost 20 pounds, shows that affirmative action is about more than who colleges admit, it’s also about how institutions fail to promote and retain faculty members of color.

—More gay bashing from super stars, the Miami Herald reported Feb. 16. Heat guard Tim Hardaway declared: “I hate gays” on a Florida radio show, costing him play in this week’s NBA All-Star Game activities and an endorsement deal. He apologized profusely. But who believes him? It didn’t take a day to become a homophobe, it won’t take a glitzy press conference to undo his bigoted sentiments.

—College campuses across America protested Iraq War Feb. 15 to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the largest anti-war protest in history, where millions around the world demonstrated against Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. This past Saturday, the World Can’t Wait organization held a New York summit to talk about the impeachment of President Bush.

Posted at 7:33 AM, Feb 19, 2007 in News | Permalink | View Comments