http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/the-real-roots-of-the-slumdog-protests/#comment-20883
New York Times copyright
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/21/opinion/21srivastava.html
Taking the Slum out of 'Slumdog'by By MATIAS ECHANOVE and RAHUL SRIVASTAVA
Published: February 21, 2009
New York Times copyright
--------------------------------
Comment February 21, 2009 9:44 pm Link
The "Slumdog" protests in India, which are quite limited, illustrate several points:
. Slumdog drew attention, albeit Hollywood-Bollywood style, to India's poverty. Neither our politicians nor our civil society can ignore hunger, poverty, homelessness in our country.
. It appears protesters were concerned with the word "dog" than with the word "slum."
Shouldn't they have been more concerned that millions of people live in slums, which by any other name are still places of poverty and inequality of opportunity.
.India has a vibrant and exponentially growing civil society, where protests of various types can take place without beheading or flogging.
.India’s billion plus people are likely to have the whole spectrum of diverse opinions, rather than only a few, because they have been practicing democracy, with lots of trial and error, but it's still democracy for all to see.
.The poor and the disenfranchised are especially vulnerable, more so during an election year, to:
vote-seeking criminal politicians, pseudo-nationalists, and cultural fundamentalists, (occasionally they are all rolled into one).
.Lost in translation — "dog" in English doesn’t translate favorably in a score of South Asian languages, let alone "slumdog."
.The so-called ” slum” kids in the movie are coming to the academy awards — more power to them. The rest of us will have to be content to watch it on TV.
.The vast majority of Indians don’t keep dogs as pets — ill-treatment of street dogs is rampant. Our canine friends in India need a whole lot of loving and more SPCA and PETA protection. If and when that happens every Indian will be happy to be called a dog.
.Controversy will boost Slumdog box office receipts for the movie in India and elsewhere, to stratospheric levels.
Go Oscar! And after that, Slumdogs of the World Unite!
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
— Chithra KarunaKar
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Racism Rides Again: Whiteness in the Age of Obama
A Nation of Cowards? by Charles M. Blow
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/21/opinion/21blow.html
New York Times copyright
http://community.nytimes.com/article/comments/2009/02/21/opinion/21blow.html#postComment #91
New York Times copyright
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/21/weekend-opinionator-a-nation-of-cowards-stimulus-wielding-chimps-and-hip-hop-republicans/
Weekend Opinionator: A Nation of Cowards, Stimulus-Wielding Chimps and Hip-Hop Republicans
By Tobin Harshaw
New York Times copyright
-------------------------------------------------------------
A version of my post(s) on the above topic appeared earlier (see link above)
Comment #91 NYT
Racism Rides Again: Whiteness in the Age of Obama
Blow has offered new data and analysis to argue what has already long been established in 50 years of study on the subject. Racism is for real. And it is about power. New data and analysis on this topic are always welcome.
Blow is correct to chide Holder for overstepping the perimeters of constructive dialogue, by using language that impedes it. I too object to Holder's characterization. But then I also cringed when Obama described himself as "a mutt." Both the confrontational "cowards" and self-disparaging "mutt" remarks equally speak to what I call "Systemic Whiteness."
But really, what language is appropriate to counter institutionalized racism? Or sexism or worse,genocide or invasion/occupation? Shoe throwing at a foreign tyrant is a better option than blasting a bomb under children riding a bus, for sure. But the problem is still perceived INJUSTICE of the worst sort.
I'll go ahead and offer my Theory of Systemic Whiteness which I developed after long years of living and working as an immigrant woman of color in the US, and which of course can be googled. Whiteness is the SYSTEM of unequal, un-shared, dominant POWER in US society, not merely an individual's feeling or opinion or prejudice or attitude or behavior.
I am thinking that a non-judgmental, non-prescriptive Self-in-Society curriculum of open inquiry leading to personal growth, from the earliest days of schooling (in which parents are directly involved),can present an opportunity to overturn the mindset and behavior-set of Systemic Whiteness.
-----------
The NYTimes weekend opinionator comment (see link above)
Comment #66. February 21, 2009 6:39 pm Link
Racism Rides Again: Whiteness in the Age of Obama
The White House was the Whites’ House until just last month.
Holder pushed a button. Racism is for real. Racism is alive and well. There is no such thing as being post-racial, because race is a socially constructed category and we keep constructing it. No surprise. What we call racism is primarily about dominant unequal POWER exercised by one self-selected group using its unearned privilege over everyone else. It’s so pervasive it feels ‘natural.’
Holder overstepped the perimeters of constructive dialogue, by using language that impedes it. But Holder himself is as much a part of the Whiteness System as anyone else (including you and me) who lives in US society.
I object to Holder’s characterization. But then I also cringed when Obama described himself as “a mutt.” Both the confrontational “cowards” and self-disparaging “mutt” remarks, equally speak to what I call “Systemic Whiteness.”
But really, what language is appropriate and sufficient to dismantle Whiteness — - institutionalized bias and unearned privilege by one self-selected group over all others?
Again, what language is appropriate sufficient to counter other forms of bias similarly rooted in power — sexism or worse, genocide or invasion/occupation? Shoe throwing (the Iraq example) at a foreign tyrant (a white male who embodies and exemplifies Whiteness as power), is a better option than blasting a bomb under children riding a bus, for sure. But the problem is still lived experience of INJUSTICE of the most egregious sort. To my mind, that is what Holder is really talking about.
Holder made an overstatement about race and the nation, that is nevertheless substantially accurate. So let’s not privilege style over substance, that is a diversionary tactic employed by those who hold power and commit injustice.
Another famously incendiary statement By Any Means Necessary still contains the powerful threat of menacing violence without actual violence, and that has been a powerful deterrent originating in the activist politics of the late great pacifist, yes, pacifist and liberatory internationalist, Malcolm X.
I’ll go ahead and offer my Theory of Systemic Whiteness which I developed after long years of living and working as an immigrant woman of color in the US, and which of course can be googled. Whiteness is the SYSTEM of unequal, un-shared, dominant POWER in US society, not merely an individual’s feeling or opinion or prejudice or attitude or behavior.
Finally, I am thinking that a non-judgmental, non-prescriptive, Self-in-Society curriculum of open inquiry leading to personal growth and lived pluralism, from the earliest days of schooling (in which parents are directly involved), can present an opportunity to overturn the mindset and behavior-set of Systemic Whiteness.
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
— Chithra KarunaKaran
====================================================================================
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/21/opinion/21blow.html
New York Times copyright
http://community.nytimes.com/article/comments/2009/02/21/opinion/21blow.html#postComment #91
New York Times copyright
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/21/weekend-opinionator-a-nation-of-cowards-stimulus-wielding-chimps-and-hip-hop-republicans/
Weekend Opinionator: A Nation of Cowards, Stimulus-Wielding Chimps and Hip-Hop Republicans
By Tobin Harshaw
New York Times copyright
-------------------------------------------------------------
A version of my post(s) on the above topic appeared earlier (see link above)
Comment #91 NYT
Racism Rides Again: Whiteness in the Age of Obama
Blow has offered new data and analysis to argue what has already long been established in 50 years of study on the subject. Racism is for real. And it is about power. New data and analysis on this topic are always welcome.
Blow is correct to chide Holder for overstepping the perimeters of constructive dialogue, by using language that impedes it. I too object to Holder's characterization. But then I also cringed when Obama described himself as "a mutt." Both the confrontational "cowards" and self-disparaging "mutt" remarks equally speak to what I call "Systemic Whiteness."
But really, what language is appropriate to counter institutionalized racism? Or sexism or worse,genocide or invasion/occupation? Shoe throwing at a foreign tyrant is a better option than blasting a bomb under children riding a bus, for sure. But the problem is still perceived INJUSTICE of the worst sort.
I'll go ahead and offer my Theory of Systemic Whiteness which I developed after long years of living and working as an immigrant woman of color in the US, and which of course can be googled. Whiteness is the SYSTEM of unequal, un-shared, dominant POWER in US society, not merely an individual's feeling or opinion or prejudice or attitude or behavior.
I am thinking that a non-judgmental, non-prescriptive Self-in-Society curriculum of open inquiry leading to personal growth, from the earliest days of schooling (in which parents are directly involved),can present an opportunity to overturn the mindset and behavior-set of Systemic Whiteness.
-----------
The NYTimes weekend opinionator comment (see link above)
Comment #66. February 21, 2009 6:39 pm Link
Racism Rides Again: Whiteness in the Age of Obama
The White House was the Whites’ House until just last month.
Holder pushed a button. Racism is for real. Racism is alive and well. There is no such thing as being post-racial, because race is a socially constructed category and we keep constructing it. No surprise. What we call racism is primarily about dominant unequal POWER exercised by one self-selected group using its unearned privilege over everyone else. It’s so pervasive it feels ‘natural.’
Holder overstepped the perimeters of constructive dialogue, by using language that impedes it. But Holder himself is as much a part of the Whiteness System as anyone else (including you and me) who lives in US society.
I object to Holder’s characterization. But then I also cringed when Obama described himself as “a mutt.” Both the confrontational “cowards” and self-disparaging “mutt” remarks, equally speak to what I call “Systemic Whiteness.”
But really, what language is appropriate and sufficient to dismantle Whiteness — - institutionalized bias and unearned privilege by one self-selected group over all others?
Again, what language is appropriate sufficient to counter other forms of bias similarly rooted in power — sexism or worse, genocide or invasion/occupation? Shoe throwing (the Iraq example) at a foreign tyrant (a white male who embodies and exemplifies Whiteness as power), is a better option than blasting a bomb under children riding a bus, for sure. But the problem is still lived experience of INJUSTICE of the most egregious sort. To my mind, that is what Holder is really talking about.
Holder made an overstatement about race and the nation, that is nevertheless substantially accurate. So let’s not privilege style over substance, that is a diversionary tactic employed by those who hold power and commit injustice.
Another famously incendiary statement By Any Means Necessary still contains the powerful threat of menacing violence without actual violence, and that has been a powerful deterrent originating in the activist politics of the late great pacifist, yes, pacifist and liberatory internationalist, Malcolm X.
I’ll go ahead and offer my Theory of Systemic Whiteness which I developed after long years of living and working as an immigrant woman of color in the US, and which of course can be googled. Whiteness is the SYSTEM of unequal, un-shared, dominant POWER in US society, not merely an individual’s feeling or opinion or prejudice or attitude or behavior.
Finally, I am thinking that a non-judgmental, non-prescriptive, Self-in-Society curriculum of open inquiry leading to personal growth and lived pluralism, from the earliest days of schooling (in which parents are directly involved), can present an opportunity to overturn the mindset and behavior-set of Systemic Whiteness.
Chithra KarunaKaran
Ethical Democracy As Lived Practice
http://EthicalDemocracy.blogspot.com
— Chithra KarunaKaran
====================================================================================
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