June 2013
17 posts
“This is the first time you have whites thinking they face more discrimination than blacks do,” said Camille Charles, a sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania who studies class and race. “You have people who have come to believe the system is set up to benefit black people at the expense of white people.” Such beliefs, she said, reflect ignorance about the persistence of discrimination, about how much harder minorities were hit by the Great Recession, and about how affirmative action actually works (many incorrectly conflate “affirmative action” with “racial quotas,” which the Supreme Court long ago ruled unconstitutional).”
—Dr. Camille Charles
“We as people — men — in my experience, we are told we are superior to women, they come from our rib and this and that. That’s all our insecurity, to make us feel like someone, like a slave master. I’m so happy to reach a stage in my life, a paradigm shift. Everything I did believe was a goddamn lie.”
—Mike Tyson
“We would like to apologize for our recent actions that displayed an undeniable insensitivity to persons of color, especially women of color.
As an organization, we strive to speak truth to power and stand for human rights for all. We respect intersectionality and strive to stay aware of the many forms of privilege among our group. We would like to make an unequivocal apology to Michelle Obama, Alicia Keys, and everyone who took offense to messages we posted on Twitter.
By tweeting about how Michelle Obama “should have” responded to Ellen Sturtz’s interruption, we behaved in such a way that reflected a long history of white women dictating how Black women should behave. Our actions were not in keeping with our own values as an organization. While yesterday’s interruption was not a CODEPINK action, it is exemplary of CODEPINK tactics, and the way we responded to it was insensitive and thoughtless.
When the process of petitioning, lobbying and writing letters fails, and when mainstream media ignores the real issues, interruptions of high-profile officials are one tactic to make our voices heard. Because it crosses the line of agreed-upon civility, this tactic is always messy.
We appreciate all the people who gave us instant feedback over Twitter and it has been and will continue to be a learning opportunity for CODEPINK. We are immediately reviewing our process and criteria for social media use, as an organization, and we invite any of our our critics to speak with us directly about issues of race and privilege in order to prevent a similar occurrence in the future.
Onward to peace and justice,” —
As an organization, we strive to speak truth to power and stand for human rights for all. We respect intersectionality and strive to stay aware of the many forms of privilege among our group. We would like to make an unequivocal apology to Michelle Obama, Alicia Keys, and everyone who took offense to messages we posted on Twitter.
By tweeting about how Michelle Obama “should have” responded to Ellen Sturtz’s interruption, we behaved in such a way that reflected a long history of white women dictating how Black women should behave. Our actions were not in keeping with our own values as an organization. While yesterday’s interruption was not a CODEPINK action, it is exemplary of CODEPINK tactics, and the way we responded to it was insensitive and thoughtless.
When the process of petitioning, lobbying and writing letters fails, and when mainstream media ignores the real issues, interruptions of high-profile officials are one tactic to make our voices heard. Because it crosses the line of agreed-upon civility, this tactic is always messy.
We appreciate all the people who gave us instant feedback over Twitter and it has been and will continue to be a learning opportunity for CODEPINK. We are immediately reviewing our process and criteria for social media use, as an organization, and we invite any of our our critics to speak with us directly about issues of race and privilege in order to prevent a similar occurrence in the future.
Onward to peace and justice,” —
The CODEPINK Staff
Reactions?
“According to the Body Image Report 2013 by WhyFive, whites have the least healthy body self-image whereas blacks are the most comfortable with their physical appearance.”
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“The vainest are white women, according to the survey .
About 1210 people, with an average monthly household income of about R10000, were asked to complete a 20-minute online questionnaire.
It was hoped that the results would help the fashion, health and beauty industries in their marketing campaigns.
Aspects taken into consideration included consumption of alcohol and red meat, smoking, the use of nutritional supplements and dieting.
The majority of those surveyed were married with children and most (34%) between 35 and 49.
Just over half (55%) of the respondents agreed that they felt good if they looked good, but white women (69%) were especially prone to agreeing to this statement. The people least likely to agree with this statement were black men (64%).
White females (87%) were the most likely to diet and black males (41%) the least.
Only 7% of the total sample had gone under the knife to improve their looks - but white women were the most likely to consider cosmetic surgery, and black men the least.
Men (39%) were more likely to feel happy with their health than females (27%).
Of the 18% who were smokers, most were black men. According to the responses, 10% drank daily, especially white men.
The report said: “It’s noteworthy that [in the media] the “official body” is predominantly pale.
“This is the most likely reason why white people have such poor body images compared to their black counterparts.”
WhyFive director Stuart Lowe said yesterday: “Generally, white people are subjected to a European construct - skinny and unobtainable - that black people either don’t care about or have not necessarily been exposed to.”
Responses?
May 2013
21 posts
“I am 100-percent happy,” she says. “When I was at Baylor, I wasn’t fully happy because I couldn’t be all the way out. It feels so good saying it: I am a strong, black lesbian woman. Every single time I say it, I feel so much better.” Brittney Griner”
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