This week, the full 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to hear any more arguments on gay marriage. Appellate Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain’s dissent was scathing: “Based on a two-judge majority’s gross misapplication of Romer v. Evans, we have now declared that animus must have been the only conceivable motivation for a sovereign state to have remained committed to a definition of marriage that has existed for millennia,” he said. Worse, the judge went on, the decision overrules the votes … [Read more...]
N-Word goes international
Personal trainer and author David Sylvester’s 2009 article about his encounter with the n-word during a bike trip across Africa captured so much attention, The article also will appear in Sylvester’s upcoming book: “Traveling at the Speed of Life: a Story of 4 Bicycle Treks Across 3 Continents By 1 Smiling Big Man.” Sylvester describes it as “a book of short stories about my growth-maturation-evolvement over the decade since I decided to honor my friend’s death [in the 9/11 attacks in New York] … [Read more...]
Is Trayvon Martin this generation’s Emmett Till?
The February 26th shooting death of 17-year-old Martin by George Zimmerman -- a self-appointed neighborhood watch captain in Sanford, Florida -- has captured national attention and garnered universal outrage. Martin was gunned down near his father's home, wearing a hoodie and armed with little more than an iced tea and Skittles. The senseless killing of an innocent boy, and the failure of the police to arrest the professed gunman, is now a turning point in American history, and not just for … [Read more...]
Living with the legacy of white privilege: How I got here from there
By Kristl Smith Tyler Special to The Austin Times Continued from last week. If you missed last week’s installment, please visit theaustintimes.com Once slavery was made illegal, blacks were no longer representative of a white man’s investment. They were simply expendable. If you were a former white master of great wealth who had seen his net worth plummet to near nothing with the stroke of Lincoln’s quill, you might be pretty pissed. You might take out your anger by killing a few black … [Read more...]
Living with the legacy of white privilege
A funny thing happened at the end of December. We got a check in the mail for $3,600. First, we paid off some bills. Next, we bought a new couch and matching loveseat. Husband got a new game console and a couple of games. We partnered with another family to throw a cool Kwanzaa party. With the bit we had left over, we added to our savings. By New Year’s Day, the money was gone and we’d had a fun week spending it. It was a lovely end to 2011 for us. What’s even more excellent is that we’re … [Read more...]
Nicki Minaj Grammys backlash: Has the rapper put her career at risk?
Nicki Minaj probably envisioned her 2012 Grammy performance was going to be a game changer, and a lot of people went along for the ride. Grammy announcers hyped it up to be an unforgettable performance. Show producers placed it towards the end of the Grammys, the dangling carrot luring viewers to stay tuned. However, Minaj's big gamble failed to pay off. Her "Exorcism of Roman" routine was panned by critics and viewers. Could the pop star be losing her artistic direction and risking her … [Read more...]
Santorum, other republicans ignore broader view of economy
By Cynthia Tucker Rick Santorum -- who gained the media spotlight after coming in a close second to Mitt Romney in Iowa -- has long been a hard-right social conservative: opposed to reproductive rights, adamantly homophobic, hostile to contraceptive use. But he hasn’t previously been known as a race-baiter. The scion of a working-class Pennsylvania family, he spent his career in Congress pushing the right-wing dream list, including attempts to restrict the teaching of evolution. While … [Read more...]
Saying farewell to my mother who just passed away
By Linda Chavez Death is never easy to accept, much less embrace, but it taught me that the end of life need not be frightening. She lived 90 years — the last three of them in my home — healthy, independent and happy, despite a life that others might have regarded as difficult, if not tragic. She was born Velma Lou McKenna in Sheridan, Wyo., in 1921. Her mother’s family were pioneers who came west by covered wagon. Her father was the son of Irish immigrants and left his wife and four small … [Read more...]
Special MLK message from reader
Even though MLK Jr. died fifteen years before I was even born I still feel a strong connection to his work because he did something that no one was able to do before. He was able to give the African American community their true freedom by helping them to integrate into all corners of society. MLK Jr.’s work also sparked the civil rights movements in the LGBT, Native American, and Feminist movements for equal rights that began in the 1960s and still continues to be active to this very … [Read more...]
Opinion: A.D. 2041 — End of White America?
By Pat Buchanan John Hope Franklin, the famed black historian at Duke University, once told the incoming freshmen, "The new America in the 21st century will be primarily non-white, a place George Washington would not recognize." In his June 1998 commencement address at Portland State, President Clinton affirmed it: "In a little more than 50 years, there will be no majority race in the United States." The graduates cheered. The Census Bureau has now fixed at 2041 the year when whites … [Read more...]
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