Video & Multimedia: August 2009 Archives

Crossposted at Huffington Post.

Last week, the world's central bankers got together for a little strategy session in Colorado, and declared that the recovery is on its way. This is the way it works with recessions. They ravage the world, leave millions hungry and homeless, and are eventually said to be 'over.'

For communities of color, 'recovery' can be a vapid term. People of color consistently face rates of unemployment higher than what whites experience in the worst recessions. Meanwhile, people of color in the labor market are pulling in wages of 60 cents for every dollar that white people earn. If this is what recovery is going to look like, we've got a problem.

In this video, community organizer Shaw San Liu of San Francisco's Chinese Progressive Association explains what the inequitable economy means for her community — before, during, and after the officially recognized recovery.

It's time we take seriously that some people are locked out from the onset and build a truly fair economy for everyone.

Hey all: Thanks for participating! Head on over to the new caption contest post, and bring your A game!

Last week's winner below the jump.

Courtesy of Sum of Change, here's our own Rinku Sen (executive director of the Applied Research Center, publisher of ColorLines, author of The Accidental American) at Netroots Nation 2009.

Speaking on the "Stepping it up: Creating Powerful Multiracial Alliances with Progressive Bloggers" panel, Rinku takes on the questions — why are race-related social justice issues so often forfeited by the predominantly white liberal blogosphere? And how is policy affected when the discourse is dominated by uncontested racism? Rinku outlines how we fall into the trap of staying within the established racist frames, and how this has led to policies that punish people of color disproportionately and leave them vulnerable to injustice and exploitation.

Yesterday, we posted Rinku's appearance on "Myth of Post-Racial America." Be sure to check out all of Sum of Change's video from Netroots Nation at their site.

American Prospect executive editor Mark Schmitt has a thought-provoking piece about organized labor's diminishing role in the Democcratic party, as evidenced by resistance to the Employee Free Choice Act on both sides of the aisle. On the party that won with Obama:

The new progressive coalition follows the lines of the "emerging Democratic majority" that Ruy Teixeira and John Judis predicted in their 2002 book of that name: minority, professional, and younger voters, with help from a large gender gap. This is a coalition that can win without a majority of white working-class voters, whether union members or not. (Those who were union members were always solid Democrats.) In many ways, that's good because it helps to bring an end to the culture wars that limited the party's ability to speak clearly about matters of fundamental rights and justice.

But it's also dangerous. A political coalition that doesn't need Joe the -- fake -- Plumber (John McCain's mascot of the white working class) can also afford to ignore the real Joes, Josés, and Josephines of the working middle class, the ones who earn $16 an hour, not $250,000 a year. It can afford to be unconcerned about the collapse of manufacturing jobs, casually reassuring us that more education is the answer to all economic woes. A party of professionals and young voters risks becoming a party that overlooks the core economic crisis--not the recession but the 40-year crisis--that is wiping out the American dream for millions of workers and communities that are never going to become meccas for foodies and Web designers.

By positioning EFCA as a harbinger, rather than the heart, of the Left's problems, Schmitt raises some interesting points about who's really getting ignored in our government. The recession has hit people of color longer and harder than anyone else — and suggestions like 'education' and 'job training' don't help constituents who are already working three jobs to make ends meet, or who don't have the language skills to take classes.

Courtesy of Sum of Change, here's our own Rinku Sen (executive director of the Applied Research Center, publisher of ColorLines, author of The Accidental American, list goes on).

Speaking on the "Myth of Post-Racial America" panel, Rinku takes post-racialism head-on, saying that we in the movement need to realize that those outside of the movement just don't know about racism. That is, the average person thinks that racism is always 'individual, intentional, and explicit' — a definition that neatly precludes the acknowledgement of, and action against, systemic and structural racism in all their forms.

Check in tomorrow for Rinku's appearance on "Stepping it up: Creating Powerful Multiracial Alliances with Progressive Bloggers," and be sure to check out all of Sum of Change's video from Netroots Nation at their site.

Because one can never get too much of Aasif Mandvi trying to edge his way into the conversation about Shah Rukh Khan's being pulled aside by airport security as he tried to enter the country. And thank goodness they have him because it's a little uncomfortable hearing Jon Stewart pronounce Khan's name...

Last year, a speculator showed up to inspect Karen Mims' home. That's how Karen found out that her home of 12 years was getting foreclosed on.

Fast-forward through a year of legal struggles and unanswered phone calls. At 6:00 AM on Tuesday, August 11, a crowd of over 50 people gathered outside Karen's house in East Oakland's foreclosure-plagued District 7, as part of Just Cause Oakland's protest of her eviction. Karen has found herself nearly out of options, and at this point must file with the court for a stay of eviction on a day-by-day basis.

Karen's story is by no means uncommon these days. Homecoming, the company that initially took on her refinanced loan in 2007, lost a payment of hers. After Homecoming was bought out by Delaware-based Aurora Loan Services, Aurora agreed to place Karen in a repayment plan. They also could have modified Karen's loan, changing either the number of payments or the amount of each payment while leaving the total sum owed the same. Instead, Aurora filed for a court order to evict.

Foreclosures have hit communities of color hardest of all. As the Applied Research Center's Race and Recession report notes, redlining and other racist policies in past decades helped make communities of color into prime territory for unregulated subprime loans and predatory lenders. As a result, middle- and upper-income Black families were more likely than low-income white families to be sold a subprime loan.

What makes Karen's story so frustrating, thought this is by no means unique to her, is Aurora's response to her attempts to get her loan modified. Aurora's approach has been -- very simply -- not to pick up the phone. Ever. For anyone. The office of District 7 Councilman Larry Reid had called Aurora 22 times as of two weeks ago, with no response. Just Cause Oakland has a campaign organized specially to call Aurora until someone answers.

Love this oldie but goodie. I would buy anything the Queen sells--though maybe not the new line of perfume she's hawking--but I know we could all use us some Excedrin - Racial Tension Relief in our lives.

Happy Friday!

Larry Wilmore on The Daily Show two nights ago lays out the racial ridiculousness the healthcare debate is devolving into. It's a funny bit to be sure, but the whole time I was watching this clip I kept shaking my head thinking, "If only! Wouldn't it be nice if the tables were turned and progressives and people of color really had this much power to wield!" I wanted to reach out to that poor woman sobbing for the America she misses to tell her: Lady, Don't you worry. People of color are getting exploited and getting unequal treatment everywhere! The America you long for is still here!

Sometimes it seems the only rational response (short of tearing my hair out) is to throw up my hands and laugh. Oh, America! You can be real ignorant, you big hulking behemoth of a country!

But Kai Wright, writing for The Root, helps make sense of what's happening right now.

If ever there was a “teachable moment” about race in modern America, now is it. With the birthers and the reparations conspiracy theories and the Nazi imagery at health care meetings, someone’s gotta explain why all these white folks are wilding out. We need an articulate, impassioned race man to clarify things.

When financial crisis hit, the California legislature didn't raise taxes, end tax giveaways, or cut corporate welfare. Instead, they cut services to the people made most vulnerable by the recession -- children, the elderly, the sick, victims of domestic violence, AIDS patients, and people just trying to get back to work. Now -- where could our legislature have learned their priorities? Too many movies? ColorLines' Darlene Pagano takes on the Governator in this new video.

Former California State Senator Sheila Kuehl has written an excellent essay detailing exactly who the cuts affect. Spoiler alert: it's not anyone who can bear the burden. Also check out this L.A. Times article that digs into the question of whether Schwarzenegger's last-minute vetoes were constitutional.

This promo trailer for Chris Rock's upcoming documentary will have you laughing, shaking your head and sharing it on FaceBook (at least that's what I did). It's a refreshing take on race and gender.

Apparently, Rock was inspired to make the film when his daughter asked him, "Daddy, how come I don't have good hair?" The comedian set out to have frank discussions with Black women about their hair. Oh yeah, he also talked to men about how they handle their women's weaves in bed.

The movie's supposed to hit theaters Oct.9 for a limited time.

I know Daisy just beat me to the punch on posting this trailer, but stick with me.

I remember very clearly an exchange I had with a Black woman I'd just met, shortly after I'd left my rural Missouri hometown to join Americorps*NCCC. My new teammate told me, casually, that her hair was about the same length as mine.

I had, you know, scruffy hipster hair, like Shaggy from Scooby-Doo. My friend had a million thin black braids that poured past her shoulders.

Just nod, I thought to myself. I know that you don't understand what she just said. We'll figure it out later. I nodded.

Eventually I found out about braids (oh), but it was still years before I learned anything about the social and economic implications of Black hair. Or even the scheduling implications. Not that I wouldn't have been interested — it was simply a non-subject in my world. They never talked about it on Friends, if you know what I mean. I couldn't even find out that I didn't know about it.

I bring it up because of two posts I just read about the trailer for Chris Rock's new documentary, Good Hair. Trailer and ruminations below the cut.

Via our @racialjustice Twitter account, from RaceWire reader @JoseDelBarrio, comes this video with some all-too-familiar themes.

A Latino family in Manassas, Virginia, is celebrating the baptism of their two young boys, at a party held in their grandfather's backyard. The police arrive in response to a noise complaint, and ask to see the grandfather's ID. The family's account says that he provided it, but the police report say that he refused; both accounts agree that the grandfather was then Tasered three times in rapid succession, on his own property, and then charged with 'public intoxication.' The pregnant mother of the two boys ran to help him as he lay on the ground — and was also Tasered, then charged with assaulting a police officer.

I'll say it again — all parties agree that county police officers arrived at a children's baptism party being held at a private residence, then Tasered a 55-year-old Bible study teacher three times and Tasered a pregnant woman once, in front of a yard full of kids, including her kids, and family members. Then they read rights. To the grandfather and the pregnant woman. For 'public intoxication' and 'assaulting a police officer,' respectively. As they lay temporarily paralyzed on the ground.

Can you imagine being one of those two boys, and watching as your own mother, pregnant with your sibling-to-be, is electrocuted by police officers and arrested, for rushing to the side of your grandfather as lay paralyzed on the ground? How would that make you feel about your relationship to the police, as a young Latino man about to grow up in the astonishingly xenophobic state of Virginia?

Does that make you angry? It makes me angry. It's natural to feel anger in this situation.

So let's be angry. Let's be so angry that we don't call anyone a racist.