Strollerderby : racism

What's the Difference Between a Palestinian Kid and an Israeli One?

JeanneSager — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:26:00 GMT

If you're looking for some trick answer here, I'm sorry to disappoint.

A simple but brilliant advertising campaign about tolerance in the Middle East sporting a nearly identical set of kids actually depicts two kids who share no blood. They've never even met.

But the Israeli girl looks an awful lot like the Palestinian boy beside her in the project put together by Belgian artist Olivier Suter as part of his series of "Enemies" advertisements. Meant to help people celebrate their differences, the project began in Belgium, where Suter asked people to compare a French and Flemish speaker. But it's a bit more poignant in the Middle East for obvious reasons (hello Gaza, West Bank, bombs . . . ).

Using kids is a genius move for equally obvious reasons. It's hard to look at the pictures and not think about allowing their fresh faces to make up for centuries of mistakes, about letting them just be kids. Or maybe that's just me. If you're dead set on destroying the "other kind," these pictures probably won't have much affect. But for those good souls have simply gotten caught up in the fervor of the crowd, the face of a child (or two children who look like one) may be just what it takes.

The kids, by the way, are named Hadas Maor (that's the Israeli girl) and Adam Shurati, who was a little upset to learn people thought he looked like a girl (come on, he's a little boy, he's allowed to bristle at this one). Adam's mom had his hair cut to help Suter with matching the kids. She thought the project was brilliant, as did Hadas' dad, a supporter of a "two-state" system that would allow for the peaceful co-existence of Palestinians and Israelis in the region.

Image: Haaretz

WTF: KKK Selling Kids T-Shirts

JeanneSager — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:03:00 GMT

I'm vacillating between speechless and spitting with venom. How else do you respond to news that the Ku Klux Klan is selling t-shirts for kids?

T-shirts at a Website that actually trumpets itself as a go-to source for "Christian" purchases.

I'm not sure if I should be thanking my husband for pointing this one out to me (he found it while working on a paper about domestic terrorism, FYI), but I guess the news that the KKK is targeting kids is hardly new. Kids don't come out of the womb seething with hate, so it does have to come from adults peddling bigotry to little kids. Remember, kids learn by imitating.

But making the hard Aryan sell face-to-face is disgusting enough. Sharing with the world that "Klan Kids Kare" is absolutely terrifying.

I've got to wonder, honestly, what Klan Kids Kare about. I was thinking Lynching, but according to the t-shirt, they "kare" about loving Jesus, white power and their heritage. Note to the Klan: Jesus lived in the Middle East - it's highly unlikely that his skin was white. And he certainly wasn't Aryan.

My big question, of course, is where are these kids going to wear these shirts? Besides Klan rallies, of course. Is there anywhere in public that they wouldn't be told to leave? I'm all for free speech, but if a kid walks into a school wearing a shirt that says "white power," I'd hope they get sent home to change. It's a gang symbol (yes, similar to the red of the Bloods - albeit on the opposite end).

And perhaps even more shocking here (to some of you anyway), this t-shirt is being sold by a Christian bookstore, a site that proudly proclaims itself as the "exclusive distributor of the Knights Party designs" (yes those Knights - the white ones). This to go with their "wide variety of Christian oriented t-shirts and sweatshirts." And no, I didn't find a "turn the other cheek" tee - the kind you'd sort of expect out of a Christian t-shirt selling site (OK, maybe only I would?).

Honestly, I'm not going to provide you with a link to this site. But if you REALLY need to find it for yourself (for some voyeuristic pleasure, we hope, rather than to make your purchase), enter the words "Christian books and things" into Google. It's the fourth site in the list.

Image: Christian books and things

Kid to Malia Obama: Save my Dad

JeanneSager — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:27:00 GMT

His letters to her father weren't working, so a Brooklyn fifth grader set his sights on President Barack Obama's daughter, ten-year-old Malia.

Tween to tween, child to child, Chigozie Okorie asked President Obama's eldest daughter to help keep his father from being deported to Nigeria.

The letter, handwritten by the fifth grader, begs Malia to bend her father's ear on behalf of Okorie's dad, a Nigerian immigrant who spent eighteen months in prison twenty years ago on drug charges (he was the driver for a heroin ring in 1989). Chibueze Okorie, now forty-seven and a respected member of his Brooklyn community, where he is a minister who works with prisoners to help them re-enter society at the end of their sentences.

A federal law passed in 1996 targets all immigrants who have commited crimes for deportation - no matter the severity of the crime, no matter their current status. Okorie's name came up during the crackdown on illegal immigrants under President George W. Bush. His request for a pardon made big news last year when a pardon lawyer wrote to then-President Bush "This might sound racist, but [the applicant] is about as honest as you could expect for a Nigerian. Unfortunately, that's not very honest." The lawyer, Roger Adams, was canned for his racist remarks, but Bush took his advice - he denied Okorie's request for clemency.

Now Okorie is facing imminent deportation - and separation from his ten-year-old son, a United States citizen, after more than two decades of living in here and becoming a productive member of society. His son's letter congratulates Malia Obama on her father's election as president and notes that he's happy she and her sister have found a new school. He hopes their mom will have time to help them with their homework like his father does with him.

The senor Okorie is hoping that the appeal of a child to a father will help his cause. "A good father will understand the need of his child," he told the NY Daily News. "It is the need of my son to see me get the pardon so that I can be free to continue to take care of him."

I admit a bias here - my biggest gripe with the plight of illegal immigrants is the word "illegal." Regardless of what kind of life you are escaping, if you came here illegally, you still have that abuse of the law to contend with - and face. If they came here legally, however, I don't see why the government can't work with them - especially when there are children involved. And Chigozie Okorie did come here legally. He's hit his stumbling blocks, but he's more than made up for his mistakes. Is there any legally born American who can say they've never made a mistake? Is there any legally born American who can say they would take being separated from their child lying down?

I don't know that it's up to Malia Obama to speak to her dad about this; I'd hope for the children's sake that the Obamas keep their girls separate from these kinds of letters - if only because they're so young and explaining all of these issues is so complex. But I'd hope the president himself gets hold of this letter and takes a look at all the issues, and thinks not just as president but as a parent.

Image: NY Daily News

Another Hospital Baby Mix-Up, Now With Added Racism!

Kate Tuttle — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:01:00 GMT

Despite all the modern technology that's meant to keep newborns from being given to the wrong parents in the hospital, there seems to be a rash of inadvertent baby swaps going on. The latest took place in New Hampshire, at the Portsmouth Regional Hospital, late last month. And the parents of the newborn in question -- a baby girl who was handed to the wrong mother for either five minutes (according to the hospital) or significantly longer (according to her parents) -- are hopping mad.

Calling it "every parent's worst nightmare," the father has taken to the media to publicize the mistake, because, he says, "the public has a right to know." Also, I'm guessing, to lay the groundwork for a lawsuit. Because here's the crux of the matter: when their baby, whom they had sent back to the nursery after the mother had ("reluctantly"!) taken a sleeping pill, was given to another mother, that mother did something truly horrific. She breastfed the baby. Now the parents are waiting for results of tests for HIV and Hepatitis C (despite the fact that doctors estimate a risk of HIV transmission at one thousandth of one percent per liter of breastmilk consumed). They are terrified the other mother took drugs during her pregnancy (although it's not clear how this would affect their baby). They feel violated, assaulted, scared. The father says his wife is "physically sick" over it.

Could it be because they are both white, and the other couple is a white woman and a black man? I'm sensitive to making unwarranted charges of racism (it's too easy, and not fair), but in this case it's hard to escape the feeling that the parents' overwrought horror of contagion may have something to do with their (all white! 100% caucasian!) baby's having been sullied by the possibly unclean nipple of a race traitor, a nipple meant for another, darker baby. The racial difference has the white baby's parents especially confused as to how the other mother (and the nurse) could have made this error. Why didn't she notice, he asks, and "give our baby back?"

The thing is, biracial babies aren't necessarily any darker at birth than white babies -- believe me, I've given birth to both! My children, born 13 years apart and with different husbands, looked enough alike as newborns to be twins, and it's a well-known fact that many black and biracial babies don't come into their skin tone until they're older. At any rate, newborns are newborns -- the reason hospitals go to such trouble to set up systems to avoid baby-swapping is because they do tend to look so much alike.

Of course, now I guess I'll have to believe something a little bit uglier: that hospital policies to avoid baby mix-ups exist to allay the fears of parents who think that another woman nursing their child for five minutes is their "worst nightmare" (I can think of worse, and have friends who have lived through worse, and I'm sure you all do, too). I genuinely hope this is the worst thing that ever happens to this family; if it is, they'll have lived a blessed life.

Babies Switched in NYC Hospital

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What They're Babbling About: It's All Relative

JeanneSager — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:26:00 GMT

One of the best things about blogging are the varied looks at similar subjects in the news every week - just adding more to the conversation. Take a look at how we're related to everyone else in the blogosphere this week - and how we're not - in this week's What They're Babbling About.

After reading Hannah's post this week about the black girls showing preference for white baby dolls, a review of the new book "I'm Chocolate, You're Vanilla" is apropos. The book on raising black and multiracial children gets the full treatment at The Anti-Racist Parent.

Always bragging about your family tree that goes back to someone great? The joke was on you this week with Familylink.com's April Fool's e-mail claiming addressees had been confirmed as relatives of President Obama. - Salt Lake Tribune

Madeline's look at the names that aren't coming back went hand-in-hand with the April Fool's Name post by The Name Lady this week. Can you spot the fake? - ParentDish

I shared the secrets to the childcare tax credit . . . and Lil Sugar's got a question for you - do you pay your nanny taxes? - Lil Sugar

Shannon helped us hop into spring with her Peep show - now find out what it's like to pull a Mythbusters on Peeps. - CafeMom

Image: PeepResearch

Playdate: Anti-Racist Parent Offers Philosophical Commraderie and Practical Advice

Shannon LC Cate — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 21:02:00 GMT

After reading about the horrific cartoon depiction of Barack Obama as the chimp who wrote the stimulus bill in the New York Post this morning, I was gripped again with the odd paradoxical feeling Obama's presidency gives me as the mother of African American children. On the one hand, I feel the visceral opening of possibilities previously cut off from my girls by virtue of race--and more importantly, racism--and its place in American culture. On the other hand, I am terrified by the new daring racism popping out of the woodwork of our society, now that the true, self-conscious racists have such a clear target for their animus.

Add to this a third feeling of itchy annoyance whenever anyone suggests that racism--even race itself--is "over" now that the United States has a Black (biracial!) president and now I'm so conflicted and bothered I can barely get out of bed.

What's a parent who believes in racism and is passionately committed to its eradication to do on such a morning? Click immediately on my browser's "ARP" bookmark. Anti-Racist Parent is a group blog dedicated to parents of all races with children of all races who want to take positive action to eliminate racism from their lives and their society. ARP is no place for the "color blind," the believers in a "post-race" society; the singers of kumbaya. It is a place instead that looks race and racism squarely in the eye, meets its logic with intellectual rigor and offers experienced opinions and practical advice to all who'd do the same.

If you are devoted to an anti-racist stance, but are not sure what to do or where to start when it comes to educating your children in same, Anti-Racist Parent is a great place to get started and meet some like-minded peers.

Sharing African American History and Culture Through Kids' Books: Preschool Edition

Sharing African American History and Culture Through Kids' Books: Elementary Edition

No Great Outpouring of Support for Sudanese Mother of Quints

Only English Here Says Kansas School

JeanneSager — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:03:00 GMT

Did I miss some crucial Supreme Court ruling, whereby we took free speech from the mouths of minors? A Kansas court judge has OK'd a Catholic school's decision to ban all non-English speech within its walls.

The way he sees it, telling kids they can't speak in any language but English does not create a hostile learning environment. Parents of three kids in the school district disagree - all Hispanic, they want their kids to have the right to speak Spanish within the walls of the building.

What's wrong with that?

Honestly, yes, I think people should make every attempt to speak English in our country - the same way that we should make every attempt in Franch to speak French or in Mexico to speak Spanish. When in Rome and all. . . BUT denying children the chance to speak in their native tongues with friends and siblings on the playground or in the lunchroom (we're not talking about in a classroom) is simply mean-spirited. And, wait for it . . . counter-productive to their education.

You heard me. American kids now take another language in school in an attempt to help our children compete with the multi-lingual residents of just about every other advanced nation on the planet. Parents pay for their kids to have extra language lessons, and they park them in front of the television with Dora or Diego turned to full blast. We are trying to make a bilingual nation, and here is a school smack dab in the middle trying to take away from the group that's already achieved that.

To have children sitting in the lunchroom speaking Spanish with their friends is an incredible resource for this school - it's essentially immersive language education for their classmates. The rest of the kids in the lunchroom are going to be trying to figure out WHAT those kids are saying - in other words, learning from them.

The children who grow up speaking two languages have a gift that will provide them advantages later on in life, when their unique skill sets are demanded in the workplace, when their ability to learn another language makes it easier to learn another . . . and another. It's a gift to be fostered by their teachers, not forced out of them.

If you're getting ready to respond with the standard, "This is America, we speak English here," please, stop. Think about it. As I said, it's preferred that people learn English for the day-to-day operations of American life, and in the classroom where all the kids and teachers are speaking English, that is appropriate (with ~~acceptions~~ exceptions, of course, for the kids who are just learning English).

Let's face it - kids do learn English. Adults are another story, but kids DO learn English - they can't help it, with their friends speaking English, their teachers speaking English, and often the need to translate for their parents. Allowing children to retain their cultural identity does not make them less American, and it won't make this nation - the so-called melting pot - any less American.

If anything, it will make a stronger nation, one better able to compete on a global scale where the language of trade is English and Mandarin and Spanish and . . .

Our forefathers called it freedom of speech because they were granting us the freedom to speak our minds, but in today's global economy, speech begets our kids freedom.

Image: St. Anne Catholic School (the school in question)

White Firefighter Reunited with Black Baby He Saved Forty Years Ago

JeanneSager — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 16:31:00 GMT

It was the height of the sixties, when racial tensions were taught in the City of Boston and across the United States. A white fireman was caught by a photographer, his lips pressed to the face of a black baby girl, his face racked with determination to save her life.

This week, more than forty years later, that baby and her grateful godmother finally met the man who saved her.

"November, 1968, a report of children trapped inside the building," William Carroll says into the camera. "Those things you remember like it was yesterday."

The baby was covered in soot, Carroll remembers, unable to breathe with no pulse pumping in her tiny wrist. He'd crawled on his stomach through the thick smoke to find her lyin in a crib in the burning Roxbury Housing Projects, clad only in a diaper. He grabbed Evangeline Harper - now Evangeline Anderson - and rushed from the building. The picture snapped by a photojournalist on scene would shape the future of the city, and he would earn commendations for bravery.

But Caroll wasn't thinking about any of that. He had a child to save.

Forty years later, Anderson met up with a Boston Globe reporter at a community meeting. She saw an opportunity to track down the man who'd saved her - through the newspaper that made famous her picture. Caught on tape by the Globe as a companion piece to their article, the meeting is worth watching (here) for one of those "restores your faith in the good of man" moments.

First delving into it, I thought the race issue would have the bigger pull - making me all weepy to see racial tensions melting away. Instead, all this brought out in me was the mother side, the part that wanted to wrap my arms around a guy who saved a baby. As Anderson tells him - "had it not been for you, I would not be here today."

"We did a good thing that day," Carroll said, "I hope I gave her a shot."

Awww. Maybe every day should be hug a fireman day?

Image: Boston Globe

Babble Talk – The Color Blind Kid

Brett Singer — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:00:00 GMT

I'm not one of the people who thinks that racism is over now that Barack Obama is President. (Call me when Black people can hail a cab in Manhattan.)

That said, I do think that it's fair to hope that future generations will be less inclined to judge others by the color of their skin. This quote from Kids Say The Cutest Things illustrates this point:

Six year old Hanna.."Daddy why are Black people Black and White people White"...Daddy "Well because that is the way God made us"...Hanna "Oh..well can you tell God that my favorite color is PINK!"

Aw. Maybe one day we can all just get along. Or at least get a cab.

Read more stuff from kids that will give you nachas for the future of our nation right here. You can also submit your own aspirational aphorisms.

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The Queen of England Sells Racist Toys?

SunnyChanel — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 18:30:00 GMT

Need to pick up a racist toy for your kid? Until recently you could have gotten one courtesy of the Queen of England.

At one of the Queen's estates, amongst the Queen Elizabeth II memorabilia, castle snow globes and commemorative decorative teaspoons, you can get your self some good old school racism in the form of a Golliwog doll. The Golliwog is a minstrel like rag doll character created by the children’s author Florence Kate Upton in the late 19th century. The doll depicted in her books became a popular toy and was widely produced until the 1960s until people realized “oh wait, this is pretty uncool.” But the Queen’s Sandringham Estate in Norfolk apparently didn’t get the memo.

The 20,000-acre estate was, until very recently, selling the doll in their gift shop. But don’t blame the queen, “Buckingham Palace has stressed that the Queen is not personally involved in deciding what is sold in the shop.” They stated they didn’t mean to offend anyone and have taken them off the shelves.

Is the selling of this doll an act of remembering history or a racist statement?

Also check out the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia at Ferris State University here for more Golliwog info.

Source: AP
Image via Wikipedia

Hitler Mom Wants Her Kids Back

Brett Singer — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:45:00 GMT

You know, with a story like this one, you want to give it a somewhat serious treatment. But it's difficult to avoid using "Hitler Kid" and "Hitler Mom", especially when that's what every news outlet leads with. So I'm a sheep. Sorry.

Anyway, the mother of Adolf Hitler Campbell, JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell is defying a judge's order and speaking out about having her children removed by Family Services.

We have a few more details now. A neighbor called Family Services, claiming that the kids were being abused physically, mentally, and emotionally. Proud parents Deborah and Heath Campbell deny it all. They say that they are "not racists," and that they have the right to give their children whatever names they like. The Daily News had the best quote of all: "The parents insist they're not racists and want only to honor the heritage of the Third Reich." Right. It's that whole "trains running on time" thing. That's all they want to remember. Must be railroad enthusiasts. What's the problem?

All kidding aside, I do still have some misgivings here. If the only abuse was the names and the fact that the parents are racists, is that enough of a reason to remove the children from the home? If it is, aren't there a lot of other kids that should also be removed?

On a side note, could the article on MyFoxSpringfield have any more misspellings? Sheesh.

Source: Fox (1, 2)

Image: NY Daily News

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Kid Named Hitler Taken From His Parents By Family Services

Brett Singer — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:30:00 GMT

I bet you thought we'd never hear any news about this family again. Or maybe you just hoped you'd never hear from them again. Or maybe that was me. I get us confused sometimes.

Anyway, for reasons that are not being disclosed at this time, 3-year-old Adolf Hitler Campbell was removed from his home by the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services. Adolf's sisters, 1-year-old JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell, and the comparatively normal-named 8-month-old Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell, were also removed by authorities.

As far as I know, it's unusual for Family Services not to give a reason to the public when kids are taken from their parents. According to the Daily News, "Holland Township police chief David Van Gilson told the site they had not received any reports of abuse or negligence." Which makes this even stranger.

In case you've forgotten, the Campbells' received some fame in December when a store refused to make a cake for little Adolf Hitler. At the time, the father, Heath Campbell, said, "They're just names, you know. Yeah, they (the Nazis) were bad people back then. But my kids are little. They're not going to grow up like that."

The swastikas that decorate the Campbell home, and the fact that they are reported Holocaust deniers, tells a different story. (Post-racial America? Um, I don't think so.)

We don't know the details yet, but the parents were scheduled to attend a hearing on Tuesday to discuss their children which "was apparently postponed", according to the News. So something is definitely going on.

That said, I’m not sure if being a Nazi lunatic is illegal. If it were, wouldn't Hutton (Mel's dad) Gibson be in jail?

UPDATE: Here is a video report via Yahoo! News. Listen to the reporter say the kids' names.

Source: NY Daily News

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Ethnic Unity 101: Coming to China's Schools

JeanneSager — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 13:28:00 GMT

The country that's spent years playing its xenophbic reputation to the fullest is about to cut ethnic intolerance off at the knees. Yes, China, a place not exactly celebrated for its views on human rights, is introducing "ethnic unity" classes in its primary schools.

It will depend on its execution, but promoting the melting pot theory to the youngest members of a society is really the best way to guarantee future generations will have a more tolerant viewpoint than their elders (my generation included).

A Reuters report, quoting a translation of the Chinese government's announcement, says school kids will get up to fourteen hours of school-based education to promote the "basic awareness of the vital nature of 'encouraging ethnic unity, protecting national unity and opposing ethnic separatism'."

Technically, China's constitution guarantees religious freedom and equal treatment for all minorities, including the country's 56 different recognized minority groups. Where have we heard that before? Oh yeah, the United States Constitution - you know, the one that people conveniently forget when they put into place regulations like the atrocity that is Prop 8.

Would something like this fly in U.S. schools?

Image: TWR

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Store Refuses To Make Cake for Toddler Adolf Hitler

Kelly Mills — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:31:00 GMT

Oh, the hardships of being a white supremecist. Heath and Deborah Campbell tried to get ShopRite and a local grocery store to make a birthday cake for their three-year-old, named Adolf Hitler. And they actually wanted the cake to say "Happy Birthday Adolf Hitler" (I guess just using "Adolf" was out of the question, hmmm?) But apparently they are so persecuted that the stores refused, though the grocer did offer to leave room for their own inscription. The story has some awesome quotes, like Deborah lamenting how sad it is the store can't make a cake for a kid, and Heath saying, "Other kids get their cake. I get a hard time. It's not fair to my children. How can a name be offensive?"

Um, yeah. I have no idea. Oh, and believe it or not, ShopRite won't make a cake for their two-year-old either. Her name? JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell. Oh boy. By the way, Wal-Mart is willing to do the cake.

A psychologist quoted in the story says he believes the names will cause problems for the kids later in life. Hmm, ya think? But he also points out that the parents' views are kinda likely to damage the kids too. Oh, and that any problems they face in school later "would be icing on the cake." Get it? Icing? Riiiight.

Of course Adolf and siblings live in a house decorated with swatstikas, but the Campbells insist the swatstika "doesn't really have a meaning. It's just a symbol." Just a name, a symbol, and a few kids who are gonna have a rough road. Seems like an inscribed cake might be the least of it.

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Parents Must Give Adopted Son Back to Native American Mother

JeanneSager — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 13:26:00 GMT

He was born addicted to drugs to a woman who has already lost custody of her four other children for being unfit, but Heather and Clint Larson have to return their six-month-old boy to his birth mother.

They can't fight it - because they're not Native American.

The boy's birth mother is a member of the Leech Lake Band of the Ojibwe. The tribal court voted the birth mother deserves her baby; and they're citing the federal Indian Child Welfare Act to make it happen.

Normally I'd support a birth mother's decision to change her mind about signing adoption papers in the days after her child was born. It's why birth mothers are generally given a short period of time to make that decision - because an unborn child and a child you have carried into this world can have two very different affects on a parent. But this mother isn't your average confused teen mom. This is child number five, and she didn't keep her nose clean during her pregnancy - she gave birth to a baby boy addicted to drugs. More importantly, her tribe isn't fighting for her rights. They're fighting for the right to keep this child "Indian."

"The child is not the Larsons', and the Larsons are not Indian as far as I know and this is an Indian child," an attorney for the tribe told KUTV, a Salt Lake City, Utah news station last week.

What does that matter? Yes, the Native Americans were dealt a raw deal, and the people living on many of our reservations are suffering greatly. Yes, theirs is a culture that needs to be preserved, and the stories of the atrocities need to be shared with our children. But this is akin to arguing that white parents can't adopt a black child or vice versa. It is racism, plain and simple. A child needs good care from parents who love him, parents who can provide that care. The Larsons have proven to an adoption agency they can. The boy's mother has not.

This doesn't sound like it's truly in the best interests of the child - and I'm disturbed to hear that a judge in an American court says she has no power to overturn the tribal decision because, well, it's tribal.

Has the tribe considered talking to the Larsons about an open adoption, about ensuring that the boy is raised with an understanding of his heritage? Has the tribe offered to step in to provide the child with an education about his culture, provided the Larsons with the means to raise the little boy not only as an American but as a member of Ojibwe nation? The Larsons have kept the boy's name as "Talon," a name that sounds to me like it is cultural - a sign that they seem willing to provide the little boy with a sense of his place in the world.

There are immense problems on a number of reservations with teen pregnancy and poverty. How can tribes expect potential adoptive parents to step in to help with that, to rescue some of these babies born out of wedlock to mothers who can't care for them, if they always have to worry that they will have to give up their child because they "aren't Indian?" Is this a precedent the tribes want to set? Or do they simply not care?

Source: The Salt Lake Tribune

Image: KUTV

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Mom Gets Hate Mail for Ending Kids Thanksgiving Party

JeanneSager — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 16:08:00 GMT

The mom who put an end to the kindergarten Thanksgiving traditions at two California elementary schools this year has been getting some pretty nasty holiday greetings. Racial epithets, wishes that her daughter (a member of one of the kindergarten classes) would be beat up.

I shared Michelle Raheja's fight and her comments here on the 'Derby right before Thanksgiving, opening up the question to the readers of whether the old standby "Pilgrims and Indians" recreations in kindergartens are really racist or not. A host of opinions came down on either side of the fence, but I'm happy to say not one reader took Raheja's defenseless five-year-old to task.

You can read the original post for the whole story, but basically the professor who spends a portion of her teaching focusing on Native American literature told the school district that the four-decades old event was racist. She likened kids from one school dressing as "Indians" and walking to the other school where kids were dressed as "Pilgrims" to enjoy a meal was like replicating a meeting of the Jews and the Nazis and trying to put a happy face on it.

It's an emotional issue, to be sure, and one that gave me conflicting feelings (thus my original headline, Are Elementary School Thanksgivings Racist Or Just Outdated?). There are members of my own family who are Native American, who live on reservations, who are feeling today's affects of yesterday's injustices visited upon their culture as a whole. We can't brush the more sordid bits of American history under the rug. On the other hand, these are five year olds learning about multi-culturalism. You do have to simplify things a bit. And dressing up to break bread doesn't have to be entirely devoid of teachable moments regarding Native American history.

Either way, I thought I wanted to hear other opinions as I tried to make my own. But even in thinking there might be some merit to these sorts of traditions - even if they are updated to be more racially appropriate - I'm with the readers. I didn't think Michelle Raheja deserved to be have her daugher threatened, to be maligned for her own Native American heritage.

Have we really gone so far that we vent our frustrations on other parents by bashing their kids? I'm not defending the racial comments, but at least they were attacks on an adult. To focus your most hateful thoughts on a child is disturbing, but to do so because you hate their parents' decisions simply makes no sense.

My daughter is only three at this point, so I am only beginning to navigate the world of "other parents." I've tried my best to separate kids in my daughter's nursery school from what I might think of their parents. But is this kind of attitude what I have to look forward to?

Image: Los Angeles Times

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No Worker's Comp For Son of Woman Murdered

Kelly Mills — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 22:33:00 GMT

Taneka Talley was stabbed to death at her job---she was a clerk at the Dollar Store in Fairfield, California. Now the company is denying worker's compensation benefits to her surviving eleven-year-old son. The boy's grandmother, who won custody, is fighting the case, and her lawyer says, "They're saying (the killing) didn't arise out of her employment, except that in this case she wouldn't have been killed if she hadn't been at work. This person didn't know her, just walked into the store and picked her out."

See, the murder was motivated by racism. The man who is going to stand trial for killing her allegedly decided he wanted to kill a black person, and Talley was the first person he saw. He walked into the store where Talley was stocking shelves, stabbed her, and fled.

Worker's compensation benefits don't cover injuries or deaths that have a "personal" motive, such as a spouse attacking someone at work. The company is arguing that in this case, Talley's murder was personally motivated, even though she did not know her attacker, and therefore her son should be ineligible to receive $250,000 in death benefits. Personally I think that it's a crappy case to make, and in drawing this line, they obviously harm her young son, the one she was working to support. Heartless.

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Students Make Rev. Phelps Followers Run Away

Kelly Mills — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 18:35:00 GMT

Feel-good story? Members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, gathered a small protest near Omaha Central High School. The church is led by the Reverend Fred Phelps, and I'm sure you know who these folks are. They became famous when they protested at the funeral of Matthew Shepard, and have gone on to protest everywhere it would horrify you to see picketers, including the funerals of slain service members. You know, the "God Hates Fags" people. (Biting tongue now...)

However, when the group held up anti-homosexuality and anti-Obama signs near the high school last Friday, they were met by hundreds of student counter-protesters. The students chanted "Diversity" and "Gay is OK" and even busted out the Pledge of Allegiance. And, well, the kids got a little riled up, and they threw hamburgers and lemonade bottles and milk at the Westboro protesters. Ahem. Maybe I'm supposed to feel bad about the sort of violent reaction, but I really don't.

The police then advised the Phelps folks that the situation was getting a little out of hand and they might want to leave for their own personal safety. And so they did, ahem. So far no students have been disciplined, and the school spokeswoman said, "This hate group came to Central High at dismissal to provoke students... To some extent, we need to understand that these are young people, and we have to take into consideration this kind of extreme provocation." Totally. I'm with you, lady.

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Are Elementary School Thanksgivings Racist Or Just Outdated?

JeanneSager — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 14:35:00 GMT

Every November when I was a kid, we spent at least one day cutting out brightly colored "feathers" to afix to a band of brown construction paper and stick on our heads, another snipping white, yellow and black squares to form the "buckles" for our faux hats. But an increasing number of elementary schools are saying goodbye to the Thanksgiving play in favor of political correctness.

In Claremont, Calif., parents were fighting this week over a tradition that dates back to the days when little boys still played "war" and "cowboys and Indians" in their backyards and no one gave a second thought. Leading the charge is Michelle Raheja, whose mother hails from the Seneca tribe. The mother of a kindergartner and professor of Native American literature, Raheja called for an end this year to a four-decade long practice of five-year-olds dressing as Native Americans and walking to a nearby school to join another set of five-year-olds (dressed as Pilgrims, naturally) for a meal. Rajeha likened the practice to dressing children as slaves and slaveowners or Jews and Nazis.

On the other side? Parents like Kathleen Lucas, who is proud of her Choctow heritage, and prouder still that her son still wears the construction paper garb crafted last year in kindergarten when it was his school's turn to play the role of the Native Americans at the feast. She and other parents have complained that the school's decision to put the kibosh on costumes means they're bending too far for political correctness. Some parents have even accused Raheja, who called on several other professors to speak with her on the issue in front of the school board, of using her five year old to further her own political agenda.

I'll go out on a limb and guess the Native Americans didn't sport brown paper vests at the first Thanksgiving, but I will admit to seeing some merit to having the kids dress up as two distinct groups then bringing them together for the Thanksgiving lesson. It's a chance to learn about accepting each other's differences - especially in schools that lack diversity. Setting that aside, however, we need to stop glossing over the nasty bits of America's history regarding treatment of Native Americans. It may not be the lesson plan for Thanksgiving Day - it is, after all, a day for positive thinking. But where German children should spend a portion of their education on the Holocaust to understand their nation's past, we need to ensure our children learn about the Trail of Tears and the countless other atrocities we subjected fellow human beings to in the name of enlightenment and spreading the American ideals (hmmm, sound familiar, Iraq?).

Should part of that education include setting aside the paper head dresses too?

Image: Los Angeles Times (Kathleen Lucas' son in his construction paper outfit with a "Pilgrim" friend)

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First Black President Triggers Rise in Hate Crimes

Brett Singer — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 20:00:00 GMT

On November 4th many people celebrated the fact that The United States elected our first African-American President. But not everyone is feeling the love. The Christian Science Monitor says that, "The election of America's first black president has triggered more than 200 hate-related incidents, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center – a record in modern presidential elections." For example: "In rural Georgia, a group of high-schoolers gets a visit from the Secret Service after posting 'inappropriate' comments about President-elect Barack Obama on the Web. In Raleigh, N.C., four college students admit to spraying race-tinged graffiti in a pedestrian tunnel after the election. On Nov. 6, a cross burns on the lawn of a biracial couple in Apolacon Township, Pa."

And how about this little gem? "In some parts of the South, there's even talk of secession." Secession! Alec Baldwin only threatened to move to Canada.

They only good thing that can come of this news is that maybe all of the people who have been running around saying that Obama's election will trigger a "post-racial" age will stop saying that. I'm all for thinking positive, and maybe future generations will see a reduction in racist feelings and actions. Until that happens, let's try to keep our rose-colored glasses on the shelf.

Source: Christian Science Monitor
Image: Wikipedia

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Hannah Tennant-Moore — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:30:00 GMT

I'm going to be irritatingly positive for the first in my life and point out the tiny silver lining to the Obama election pushback (KKK cross burnings, Idaho schoolchildren chanting, "Assassinate Obama," nooses hung from trees in Maine). It's no longer possible to deny that racism is alive and well in the U.S.--which means that we're all being forced to talk and think about the monumental impact of race relations in this country. Perhaps some people will be more likely to support, say, affirmative action now that they have been awakened to the deeply ingrained racism of many of their fellow Americans.

In the interest of keeping the "audacity of hope" Obama's election inspired in us going for as long as possible, check out these amazing photos taken at an Obama rally by a 17-year-old girl named Nida Vidutis. (The photo quality is better after the jump.)

They were posted to April Winchell's blog with some comments that are alternately moving ("a summation of the American dream in action) and hilarious ("later that evening the dads decided to get married").

Photos: Nida Vidutis/Flickr

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Kids Yell Assassinate Obama on Idaho School Bus

JeanneSager — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:49:00 GMT

Warning: if you’re having a bad day, don’t read this story. Because nothing about a bunch of kids chanting “Assassinate Obama” can make you feel good. Even if you’re a McCain supporter, we’re still talking children supporting murder.

In fact, the parents who brought this case to an Idaho TV station are McCain supporters. But like most parents in America, they’d rather not hear their kids spewing hate and homicidal recommendations on the school bus.

The kids from a Rexburg, Idaho school were actually shouting “Assassinate Obama and Kate,” throwing in the name of one of the bus passengers. Matthew Whoolery’s kids, second- and third-graders who were riding the elementary bus, came home and asked their dad what “assassinate” meant.

First he called the school. Then he called the media. He said he’d like more parents to realize they need to be careful of what they’re saying in front of their kids. Even a flip comment can be picked up by little pitchers and become an anthem for the pint-sized masses.

I’d like to think that this was a flip comment taken out of context by a child. I’d like to think that people in this country who are angry over the results of an election don’t automatically begin thinking about assassination as a means to salve their frustrations. The beauty of democracy is our ability to all have our say. So your candidate lost. You can fight a little harder in four years, and maybe you’ll succeed.

But killing the candidate? That’s hate. That’s extremism. That’s un-American. Is that really what you want to pass on to the future of our country?

Image/Source: 2News.TV

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Teacher's Aide Suspended For Racial Obama Jokes

Brett Singer — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:30:00 GMT

To quote outgoing President George W. Bush, what is our children learning? Apparently the curriculum is Truly Tasteless Jokes. (Anyone remember those?)

An instructional aide at a McCandless vocational school is serving an unpaid suspension for making what a student described as racist comments directed at President-elect Barack Obama.
During a lunch period last week, the aide at A.W. Beattie Career Center said Obama would be killed, KFC would be emblazoned on the American flag and the national anthem would become "Movin' on Up," according to the student's mother.

Mara Gilligan is the parent of a student at the school who complained. She said that her daughter says that the aid becomes "infuriated when anyone mentions Obama…That's fine, you can have your own beliefs, but when you start yelling at someone, that's unacceptable."

This is doubly true with regard to teachers. First of all, I don't want to hear that they express their political views from either side of the aisle. (If McCain had won, would the aide have done a week-long "nyah-nyah" dance?) And the jokes – oof. On what planet does anyone think that's an OK thing to say to a student? It's one thing to have dumb thoughts like that, but when it pops out of your mouth in a school setting, maybe you need to consider a different line of work.

Not that it should matter, but the article mentions that the school's student body is 2.8 percent African-American; the student who complained was biracial. I know at my high school, any teacher who had made a joke like that would have found themselves locked in a closet for a few hours. And that was when Reagan was President.

The aide, identified by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review as Chris Skertich, has been suspended without pay "pending a further investigation." In a way, I sort of hope this isn't true. Although a kid making up a story like this wouldn't be much better than a teacher who made those jokes. A little bit better. But not much.

Source: pittsburghlive.com

Image: Amazon.com

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Mississippi Students, Postal Worker, Punished For Wearing Obama Shirts

Brett Singer — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 22:00:00 GMT

I hoped this was a hoax but it appears to be legit.

PEARL, MS (WLBT) - Teachers are prohibiting students from talking about President-Elect Barack Obama. WLBT's newsroom has been flooded by calls and emails from angry parents in several cities. These parents say their children were threatened with suspension if they said Obama's name or wore clothing that supports him.
…
"One student was sent home to change because she had on a Barack Obama T-shirt and on the back it said "yes we can," said Loten.

And then I found this:

JACKSON, MS (WLBT) - A U.S. Postal worker says he was sent home Saturday after refusing to take off a Barack Obama T-shirt.
Fifty-year old Roger Thompson works at the main post office in downtown Jackson. Thompson said workers were told Friday that they could not wear President-Elect Obama T-shirts, hats or other paraphernalia.
He says the post office plant manager told employees they would receive disciplinary action if they wore Obama attire because some workers complained that it upset them.…employees were told the Obama ban would be put in writing Monday.

Both of these reports are from WLBT in Mississippi.

Lest anyone think the school thing is made up, watch the video at wlbt.com and see for yourself. According to WLBT, "Magee High School teachers read a memorandum in class the day after the election." A copy of the memo is in the video, as is the statement from the school stating, "It is unfortunate that some employees mishandled this situation, but they have been disciplined and I have spent the day clarifying our policies." The thing is, the memo seems pretty clear, although I don't think it advises school staff to suspend kids for wearing Obama shirts, which is what some parents say is happening.

As for Roger Thompson the postal worker, WLBT was, "told by a postal supervisor today that the plant manager would not be available for comment until Monday." Stay tuned.

Source: WLBT via detentionslip.org, and WLBT via me searching for something else and finding the second story

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Babble Talk: Tackling Race

Jen Chaney — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 18:02:00 GMT

The past few days in America have been extraordinary, intense and record-setting, and not just in terms of the number of people who cast votes. I am pretty sure we collectively set a new world record for the number of times the sentence, "I never thought I'd see this in my life time," has been uttered in a one-week period.

All of us have undoubtedly participated in conversations about the historic nature of Barack Obama's election as President, as well as discussions about whether we should be placing so much emphasis on his "blackness." Not surprisingly, Obama's presidency is sparking new dialogue about race, dialogue that will undoubtedly continue, in heated fits and illuminating starts, over the next four years.

Which brings us to our kids, and this week's "Bad Parent" essay, written by Erin Blakely and entitled "Baby Bigot." In the piece, Erin expresses concern about whether her toddler might be prejudiced after what she refers to as "the Laurence Fishburne incident": the time her little boy saw the esteemed "Matrix" star in a New York restaurant, pointed at him and shouted, "Doggie!" She subsequently noticed that he only referred to African-Americans as "doggies," something that worried her and also forced her to do some soul-searching to determine whether she and her husband really embrace diversity as much as they like to think they do.

It sounds like Erin is still working through those issues, as so many of us are. I haven't quite experienced a Fisburne episode yet, but -- to bring this all back to the election -- one of the first high-profile people my son successfully identified was Barack Obama. He could have been helped by the fact that, as this super-awesome video demonstrates, Obama is a really easy name for babies and kids to say. I am sure it didn't hurt that on a couple of occasions, my husband and I pointed to images of Obama and told our son who he was.

But I got that ugly Fishburne-esque wake-up call a couple of times when my son saw other African-American males on television, pointed and said, "Obama." Geez, I thought, does he really think all black people look the same? That can't be, I told myself. He goes to daycare with students and teachers of virtually every variety of race and creed. And I'm pretty sure he doesn't think Obama is one of them.

Ultimately, I concluded that he's not even two and is still figuring things out. When he sees vague similarities between people and items, he tends to refer to them using words he knows, then waits for one of us to correct him. This explains why he often refers to any thirty-something-ish woman he sees in a book or on TV as "Mommy" -- regardless of her skin color, hair style or general demeanor --or why he thinks that any elongated object is a "tenn-y racket." (Actually, that might just be because he likes to hit crap.)

The key phrase, though, is that he waits for one of us to correct him. Which means as parents, we always have to be there, steering him on the right path. Like Erin, I strive to encourage him to treat all people equally, without regard to their skin color. I strive to make him a warm-hearted, open-minded young man. That process starts now, but the hard work will come when he gets older. The touch challenges will arise when he really begins to understand that there are differences between people and that, sometimes, those differences bring out the ugliest sides of human nature.

In the meantime, I take some comfort in the positive signs I see. Like this one: A few weeks ago, my son walked into our house and spotted a penny on the floor. He picked it up, the head-side gleaming in his hand. He looked down at the copper profile of Abraham Lincoln, then he looked at me and -- completely unprompted -- said, "Obama." A few days later, he did the same thing with a quarter: Took one peek at a silvery George Washington and declared, "Obama."

For some reason, he saw those founding fathers and perceived them as being the same as the presidential hopeful from Chicago. One could see that as a sign that he looked at something beyond race. It's a nice thought, and maybe it's true. But I didn't even think about race at the time. All I thought was, "Wow, that kid knows a president when he sees one."

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