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What if the “Militants” Were Not White?

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Response to Oregon Standoff Has Invited Comparisons

N.Y. Times Could Have Made “Real Difference” in Flint

Trump Boycott Leads to “Sense of Confusion” at Fox

Gates, Ex-Defense Chief, Alarmed by GOP Hopefuls

Ta-Nehisi Coates Says Clinton Repeats “Lost Cause” Dogma

Effect of Obama Order on Youth in Prison Is Limited

Variety Cover on #OscarsSoWhite: “Shame on Us”

T-Shirt Photo Alters Lives of High School Girls

Asian American Men Report Race-Related Obstacles

James Merriweather Dies at 64, Reporter in Ark., Del.

Short Takes

Response to Oregon Standoff Has Invited Comparisons

“A siege of more than three weeks at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge came to a sudden and violent end Tuesday when five militants — including leader Ammon Bundy and his brother, Ryan Bundy — were arrested in a traffic stop and another militia member was shot and killed, the FBI said,” Jeff Wright reported Wednesday for the Register-Guard in Eugene, Ore.

Such a standoff would not have lasted three weeks had the militants not been white, according to commentators who have written on the subject during the confrontation.

“When armed militants seized a government building in Burns, Oregon, on Saturday, stating their willingness to ‘kill and be killed’ and promising to stay for ‘years,’ the official response was cautious and restrained,” Nick Wing wrote Jan. 6 for the Huffington Post. “Many onlookers wondered whether this would still be the case if the militants were people of color instead of white people.

“If you’re not familiar with the history of protest in the U.S., you might not know that the armed occupation of government buildings hasn’t always been just for white guys. In fact, on May 2, 1967, a group of 30 Black Panthers walked into the California state Capitol building, toting rifles and shotguns and quickly garnering national headlines.

“Just to be clear, there are a world of differences between the Black Panthers’ demonstration and what’s happening in Oregon now (although it is noteworthy that you have to go back to 1967 to find an example of something even remotely analogous). The two groups employed different tactics, fought for different causes and — predictably — elicited different reactions in vastly different places and times.

“But the 1967 incident serves as one example of the way Americans tend to respond to black protest — which some say is always likely to be vastly different from the way Americans react when it’s white people doing the protesting. . . .”

Wing concluded, “The Black Panther protest in 1967 is not the ‘black version’ of what’s happening in Oregon right now. Those demonstrators entered the state Capitol lawfully, lodged their complaints against a piece of racially motivated legislation and then left without incident. But for those who see racial double standards at play in Oregon, the scope and severity of the 1967 response — the way the Panthers’ demonstration brought about panicked headlines, a prolonged FBI sabotage effort and support for gun control from the NRA, of all groups — will serve as confirmation that race shapes the way the country reacts to protest.”

On Jan. 15, Joseph Rose of the Oregonian | OregonLive wrote, “The drama unfolding with armed occupiers holed up at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Burns is similar to a standoff that made national headlines 37 years ago in Harris Neck, Ga.

“But there are also stark differences, including the race of the Harris Neck occupiers — mostly displaced descendants of West African slaves — and the tactics used by the FBI to quickly remove what the media casually called ‘squatters.’

“Also, the 40 members of People Organized for Equal Rights who set up a camp on the patch of land south of Savannah on April 30, 1979, were unarmed.

“Instead of guns, the demonstrators, including prominent civil rights leaders, brought concrete blocks and bags of mortar to build new homes.

“Their protest was straightforward and, upon reflection, heartbreaking.

“Following the Civil War, a white plantation owner deeded the land on the Georgia coast to a former slave. In the decades that followed, the descendants of slaves moved to Harris Neck to build houses, factories and boats. They fished, hunted for oysters and grazed cattle.

“Harris Neck evolved into a thriving community. Its members were recognized as a culturally unique group of African Americans called Gullah.

“But in 1942, U.S. military officials gave Harris Neck residents just three weeks via eminent domain to leave their property so they could construct an airbase for training pilots and conducting anti-submarine flights. . . .”

“Instead of giving the land back to the black landowners and their descendants after World War II, the government left it in the county’s care and eventually converted it into the 2,762-acre Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge. . . .

“However, four of the unarmed protestors — Edgar Timmons, Jr., Hercules Anderson, Christopher McIntosh and the Rev. Ted Clark — refused to leave.

“On May 2, 1979, U.S. deputy marshals ‘forcibly removed’ the men, according to a story in The Oregonian. ‘Their bodies taut and motionless,’ the men were dragged out of their tent, handcuffed and hoisted into a waiting van.

“Supporters taunted the police, shouted insults. One woman screamed, ‘Slavery is over with!’

“At a Savannah news conference, Timmons protested: ‘You can’t tell me that geese, wild birds, cows, lizards and snakes have priority over a taxpaying American citizen.’

“A judge sentenced the four men to a month in jail for trespassing. . . .”

Mlive.com, the online umbrella site that includes the Flint Journal, prepared this video on the Flint water crisis. (video)

N.Y. Times Could Have Made “Real Difference” in Flint

“Almost a year ago, last March, The Times published a frightening article about the drinking water in Flint, Mich.,” Margaret Sullivan, public editor at the New York Times, wrote on Wednesday.

The Times was proud of that story, Sullivan wrote, but editors said they did not have the resources for sustained follow-up.

“My take: The Times got off to a strong start with its initial Flint story in March. It was good to return to the subject in October; and this month’s coverage has been thorough. But there could have been, and should have been, much more,” Sullivan wrote. “If — for example — the March article had been followed up with some serious digging, and if the resulting stories had been given prominent display, public officials might have been shamed into taking action long before they did. . . .

“Yes, that takes journalistic resources. Investigative reporting is notoriously time-consuming. But are such resources really unavailable?

“After all, enough Times firepower somehow has been found to document Hillary Clinton’s every sneeze, Donald Trump’s latest bombast, and Marco Rubio’s shiny boots. There seem to be plenty of Times resources for such hit-seeking missives as ‘breadfacing,’ or for the Magazine’s thorough exploration of buffalo plaid and ‘lumbersexuals.’ And staff was available to produce this week’s dare-you-not-to-click video on the rising social movement known as ‘Free the Nipple.’

“Isn’t it a matter of choosing how to deploy the 1,300 members of the newsroom staff? Call it a question of priorities. Given all that’s happened, especially on issues involving race, maybe it’s time to beef up that talented Midwest staff.

“If The Times had kept the pressure on the Flint story, the resulting journalism might not have made the ‘trending’ list — but it would have made a real difference to the people of Flint, who were in serious need of a powerful ally.”

Trump Boycott Leads to “Sense of Confusion” at Fox

“Tonight, Donald Trump’s months-long war with Fox News entered a chaotic and — for both sides — perilous new phase when Trump called Roger Ailes’s bluff and announced he was boycotting Fox’s debate to protest Megyn Kelly’s aggressive coverage of his campaign,” Gabriel Sherman wrote Wednesday for New York magazine.

“Instead, Trump said he would host his own Iowa town hall to raise money for veterans and let other networks cover it. One clear sign of the gravity of tonight’s development is the sense of confusion that is swirling throughout Fox. The network is split between Kelly’s allies like Brit Hume and conservative anchors that are furious that Kelly — who graces the cover of Vanity Fair this month — has become the face of the network. An anchor fumed that Kelly hosted Michael Moore on her program tonight and the lefty filmmaker defended her against Trump.

” ‘That would be like Rachel Maddow laughing along with Charles Koch as he trashed Hillary Clinton!’ the anchor said. One producer speculated that Fox could go ‘National Review’ on Trump and start attacking him. . . .”

Gates, Ex-Defense Chief, Alarmed by GOP Hopefuls

“Robert Gates, a Republican stalwart and former US defence secretary who served under eight presidents, has derided the party’s election candidates for a grasp of national security issues that ‘would embarrass a middle schooler,’ ” David Smith wrote from Washington Tuesday for the Guardian.

“An ex-CIA director who first joined the White House under Richard Nixon, Gates joked that if frontrunner Donald Trump wins the presidency, he would emigrate to Canada. He condemned the media for failing to challenge candidates from both parties on promises he believes are unaffordable, illegal or unconstitutional.

” ‘The level of dialogue on national security issues would embarrass a middle schooler,’ Gates said of the Republican contenders at a Politico Playbook event in Washington on Monday. ‘People are out there making threats and promises that are totally unrealistic, totally unattainable. Either they really believe what they’re saying or they’re cynical and opportunistic and, in a way, you hope it’s the latter, because God forbid they actually believe some of the things that they’re saying.’ . . . “

In a visit to the Ebony magazine offices in New York, Hillary Clinton responds to editor-in-chief Kierna Mayo about whether she has been pandering to African American audiences. (video)

Ta-Nehisi Coates Says Clinton Repeats “Lost Cause” Dogma

“Last night Hillary Clinton was asked what president inspired her the most,” Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote Tuesday in his Atlantic blog. “She offered up Abraham Lincoln, gave a boilerplate reason why, and then said this:

” ‘You know, he was willing to reconcile and forgive. And I don’t know what our country might have been like had he not been murdered, but I bet that it might have been a little less rancorous, a little more forgiving and tolerant, that might possibly have brought people back together more quickly.

“But instead, you know, we had Reconstruction, we had the re-instigation of segregation and Jim Crow. We had people in the South feeling totally discouraged and defiant. So, I really do believe he could have very well put us on a different path.’

“Clinton, whether she knows it or not, is retelling a racist — though popular — version of American history which held sway in this country until relatively recently. Sometimes going under the handle of ‘The Dunning School,’ and other times going under the ‘Lost Cause’ label, the basic idea is that Reconstruction was a mistake brought about by vengeful Northern radicals. The result was a savage and corrupt government which in turn left former Confederates, as Clinton puts, it ‘discouraged and defiant.’ “

Coates also wrote, “Notably absent from it is the fact that Lincoln was killed by a white supremacist, that [President Andrew] Johnson was a white supremacist who tried to curtail virtually all rights black people enjoyed, that the ‘hope’ of white Southerners lay in the pillage of black labor, that this was accomplished through a century-long campaign of domestic terrorism, and that for most of that history the federal government looked the other way, while state and local governments were complicit. . .”

Coates added, “I have spent the past two years somewhat concerned about the effects of national amnesia, largely because I believe that a problem can not be effectively treated without being effectively diagnosed. I don’t know how you diagnose the problem of racism in America without understanding the actual history.

“In the Democratic Party, there is, on the one hand, a candidate who seems comfortable doling out the kind of myths that undergirded racist violence. And on the other is a candidate who seems uncomfortable asking whether the history of racist violence, in and of itself, is worthy of confrontation. . . .”

Effect of Obama Order on Youth in Prison Is Limited

“The news sounded bold: [President] Obama announced Monday he would ban solitary confinement for juveniles in federal prisons,” Beth Schwartzapfel reported Wednesday for the Marshall Project. “But beneath this week’s headlines lie the reality: almost no one fits that definition. When the Bureau of Prisons last counted, in December, there were 26 people under age 18 in federal custody.

“That’s because there are usually only two paths into federal custody for minors: commit a felony on tribal lands or in Washington, D.C., where the federal government handles prosecutions.

“Even the few juveniles who fall into those categories aren’t in actual federal prisons.

“Because federal prisons lack programs and services appropriate for young people, juveniles in the federal system are sent to local prisons and jails around the country. One of these is the jail system in the District of Columbia, which holds minors convicted of felonies until they enter the federal prison system at 18. Sylvia Lane, a spokesperson for the district’s corrections department, said there are currently nine such people.

“So while there are juveniles in the federal system, the new rules would essentially direct state-level jails and prisons under contract with the feds not to put them in solitary confinement. . . .”

T-Shirt Photo Alters Lives of High School Girls

“Several days after a photo of six smiling girls wearing T-shirts depicting the N-word brought national attention to a Phoenix high school, the ripple effect continues to alter the lives of the girls, fellow students and the community,” Kaila White reported Tuesday for the Arizona Republic | azcentral.com in Phoenix.

“At least one of the girls at Desert Vista High School may have lost the opportunity to play soccer for an Arizona university.

“Another has hired a public-relations firm to represent her, according to the Rev. Jarrett Maupin, a civil-rights activist who contacted all of the girls’ families and coordinated one’s appearance and public apology at a protest Monday. . . .”

Asian American Men Report Race-Related Obstacles

“In late fall of 2015, I ran a survey of 354 Asian men living in the United States on their experiences at work, in dating, and in day to day life,” Jason Shen wrote Friday for medium.com.

“As an Asian man born in China but raised in the US, I feel there’s been a dearth of understanding of the Asian male’s experience. It’s not often discussed, either between our own community, and with society at large, and we all suffer because of it.

“The survey is by no means comprehensive or exhaustive, but I hope it can shed light on some of the experiences of the nine million Asian men living in the United States and perhaps spark some important conversations.

“Executive Summary

“Most Asian American men feel they are treated worse than white people but better than non-Asian minorities.

“While proud of their Asian heritage, not all Asian American men think it’s important to uphold ‘traditional’ Asian values in their lives, though older men (35+) are more likely to say yes to this statement.

“Nearly all Asian men have been made uncomfortable by some kind of racial stereotype, the most common ones being ‘good at math’, ‘small penis’, and ‘good with computers.’

“Many Asian American men feel that there are still race-related obstacles holding back themselves and their ethnic peers at the workplace though they report very little overt harassment at work.

“Most Asian men have been asked ‘Where are you from’ where the asker is looking to determine country of origin more than six times.

“Most Asian men report dating and having dating preference within their own subethnicity (East, Southeast, South) though dating white people is very common.

“Nearly half of Asian men have heard someone say ‘I don’t date Asian men’ in their presence. . . .”

James Merriweather Dies at 64, Reporter in Ark., Del.

“Facebook bears sad news — the death of James Merriweather, a veteran newspaperman with whom I shared newsroom seats, laughs and not a few beers,” Max Brantley wrote Monday for the Arkansas Times.

“He was 64. I hope no one minds the perhaps irreverent photo chosen from many on Facebook to illustrate James. It captures his personality and his glow in the healthy days before a 17-year battle with congestive heart failure, including a transplant.

“He was a somewhat foreboding figure behind an upright Underwood when I entered the Arkansas Gazette newsroom in 1973. It turned out that what might appear to be a scowl melted readily and often into a big grin. He was the only black reporter on the staff, a lack in journalism not much improved in the 43 years since. By the time the Arkansas Gazette closed in 1991, he was chief of the important Capitol coverage and a columnist.

“James was born and reared in Clinton, a rare black family in those parts. He was bused to school in Conway every day. I treasure the photo he posted on Facebook of youth baseball days . . . . He moved easily in a world that often didn’t include many people who shared his skin tone, but he never forgot for a second who he was. He was a football letterman at UCA [University of Central Arkansas] and, with schooling in journalism there, embarked on his newspaper career.

“When the Gazette folded and we converted the Arkansas Times to a weekly in 1992, he was the first person I called about joining us in our slightly quixotic plan to keep a liberal print news alternative alive against the now monopoly conservative daily newspaper. He couldn’t afford to leave the Gannett Corp., last owners of the Gazette, and moved to that company’s Wilmington, Del., paper, where he was state Capitol correspondent for the News Journal until retirement. . . .”

Short Takes

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