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Social Justice Black Lives Matter Discussion Thread

As Deru pointed out, its part of evolution. It was transmitted from parent to child. Now society does that in lieu of the parents via technoloy and media culture. Right now we are in uncharted territory with regards to where we are going.
 
Cheshire_Kat said:
As Deru pointed out, its part of evolution. It was transmitted from parent to child. Now society does that in lieu of the parents via technoloy and media culture. Right now we are in uncharted territory with regards to where we are going.
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Evoluntianary, globally and individually - we're in uncharted territory every time we take a new breath (edit - apologies for stupidly stoned semi-pedantic nonsense)
 
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alasdairm said:
i think that's only true if you choose to think that black lives matter = only black lives matter and not black lives matter = black lives matter too

because, black lives matter too = all lives matter

so you can make a choice to see it as an intended statement about equality not supremacy.

alasdair
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I'll be honest right from the start I always took "black lives matter" as a statement to be saying "black lives matter too". Not "black lives matter only".

I think it's kinda silly to suggest that saying black lives matter is saying anything other than black lives matter too.

Like, protesting that black lives matter is basically a protest against the feeling that black lives don't matter. Which seems to be the feeling often felt when authorities seem to have so little regard for if their actions will kill someone if that someone is black. Compared to if they were white.

So if there's a problem where law enforcement officers act like black lives don't matter, then it makes sense to protest and say black lives do matter.

Arguing that saying that black lives matter means anything else seems a bit disingenuous to me.
 
^ indeed.

i use the band analogy - if somebody says "radiohead are a great band" there's no way anybody would think they were saying "only radiohead are a great band"...

alasdair
 
alasdairm said:
i think that's only true if you choose to think that black lives matter = only black lives matter and not black lives matter = black lives matter too

because, black lives matter too = all lives matter

so you can make a choice to see it as an intended statement about equality not supremacy.

alasdair
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Perhaps, though, the fact that this has to be explained so often indicates that "black lives matter" was a poor choice for the name of the organization. Same with "defund the police"... Just about every time it comes up in a discussion; someone has to similarly explain that it doesn't mean getting rid of them entirely; but diverting some (NOT all) of their budget to social and mental-health services to reduce criminality before the police need to get involved, and actually get help for people experiencing a mental health crisis versus cavalierly gunning them down. And likewise, that the explanation has so happen so damn often indicates, to me anyway, that "defund the police" is similarly poor branding.

Marketing and advertising are a skills and careers and industries for a reason. Branding matters. Tone matters. Connotation matters at least as much as denotation. To pretend that's not the case... or to whinge about "policing" of them... is to ignore the human psychology that makes some people so much better at mass-communication than others.
 
"To Kill a Mockingbird," other books banned from California schools over racism concerns

Schools in Burbank will no longer be able to teach a handful of classic novels, including Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, following concerns raised by parents over racism.

Middle and high school English teachers in the Burbank Unified School District received the news during a virtual meeting on September 9.

Until further notice, teachers in the area will not be able to include on their curriculum Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, Theodore Taylor's The Cay and Mildred D. Taylor's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.

Four parents, three of whom are Black, challenged the classic novels for alleged potential harm to the district's roughly 400 Black students.

All but Huckleberry Finn have been required reading for students in the district.

Carmenita Helligar said her daughter, Destiny, was approached by a white student in math class using a racial taunt including the N-word, which he'd learned from reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry while both attended the David Starr Jordan Middle School.

"My family used to own your family and now I want a dollar from each of you for the week," another boy is said to have told Destiny.

Helligar, who is one of the parents who filed a complaint in the case, claimed the boy's excuse was that he had read it in class and the principal had been dismissive of the incident.

"My daughter was literally traumatized," Helligar said. "These books are problematic ... you feel helpless because you can't even protect your child from the hurt that she's going through."

Nadra Ostrom, another Black parent who filed a complaint, argued that the portrayal of Black people is mostly from a white perspective.

"There's no counter-narrative to this Black person dealing with racism and a white person saving them," she said.

Ostrom added that the current education given to students assumes "that racism is something in the past."

However, other teachers, organizations and students have argued that the books' inclusion in teaching material is essential for supporting a conversation about contemporary racism and framing class discussions about race.

The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) sent a letter to BUSD urging the district to allow teaching of the books while the challenges are under review.

"[W]e believe that the books... have a great pedagogical value and should be retained in the curriculum," read the letter from the NCAC, as cited by the LA Times.

PEN America (an acronym for Poets, Essayists, Novelists) also released a petition calling to reinstate the banned books.

"Each of the books in question deal with difficult subject matter from our country's complicated and painful history, including systemic racism," an excerpt from the petition reads. "Blocking engagement with these important books is also avoiding the important role that schools can and should play in providing context for why these books inspire and challenge us still today."

Sungjoo Yoon, 15, a sophomore at Burbank High School, also launched an online petition on Change.org to stop what he called a "ban on antiracist books."

"In a time where racism has become more transparent than ever, we need to continue to educate students as to the roots of it; to create anti-racist students," Yoon wrote. "These literatures, of which have been declared 'Books that Shaped America' by the Library of Congress, won Newbury Medals, and are some of the most influential pieces, cannot disappear."

The debate comes after months of protests held across the country calling for an end to systemic racism and police brutality against Black people.

A 15-member review committee will issue their report to the superintendent by November 13.

A decision will then be made which can be appealed to the board of education.
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tl;dr = Books that have been taught in American schools for decades are not allowed to be taught any further in Burbank, CA. The article outlines a single student using a racial slur learned from the books.

Absurdity. The books are not a celebration of, nor promoting, racism. They are a reflection of our real and true history and should not be ignored, forgotten, or pretend they didn't exist. We should teach our mistakes, so they aren't repeated.
 
TheLoveBandit said:
"To Kill a Mockingbird," other books banned from California schools over racism concerns




tl;dr = Books that have been taught in American schools for decades are not allowed to be taught any further in Burbank, CA. The article outlines a single student using a racial slur learned from the books.

Absurdity. The books are not a celebration of, nor promoting, racism. They are a reflection of our real and true history and should not be ignored, forgotten, or pretend they didn't exist. We should teach our mistakes, so they aren't repeated.
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I always find book banning to be chilling.
 
TheLoveBandit said:
"To Kill a Mockingbird," other books banned from California schools over racism concerns




tl;dr = Books that have been taught in American schools for decades are not allowed to be taught any further in Burbank, CA. The article outlines a single student using a racial slur learned from the books.

Absurdity. The books are not a celebration of, nor promoting, racism. They are a reflection of our real and true history and should not be ignored, forgotten, or pretend they didn't exist. We should teach our mistakes, so they aren't repeated.
Click to expand...

I remember my freshman year of high school To Kill a Mockingbird was banned along with a few others (back in 2001), with the exception of my English class (AP Honors) as we had to read it over our summer break. I remember it being a pretty contested issue, and I thought it was entirely ridiculous as well.
 
Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, Theodore Taylor's The Cay and Mildred D. Taylor's Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
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Honestly, I liked TKaM and Huck Finn, and OfMaM. Though, I was likely too young (HS) to soak in the deeper meanings, and I haven't gone back to them. I've never even heard of the other two listed at the end. Never heard of them.
 
TheLoveBandit said:
"To Kill a Mockingbird," other books banned from California schools over racism concerns




tl;dr = Books that have been taught in American schools for decades are not allowed to be taught any further in Burbank, CA. The article outlines a single student using a racial slur learned from the books.

Absurdity. The books are not a celebration of, nor promoting, racism. They are a reflection of our real and true history and should not be ignored, forgotten, or pretend they didn't exist. We should teach our mistakes, so they aren't repeated.
Click to expand...

I have good news. Nobody learns anything in school anyway so technically nothing has been lost. :P

Also in fairness, we are talking about California. :D
 
BLM Founders Demand Joe Biden Support A 'Roadmap' To Abolition Of Police, Prisons

Despite indications that the “Defund the Police” movement had a negative impact on Democrats’ election success, leaders of Black Lives Matter are petitioning for a meeting with an incoming Joe Biden-Kamala Harris administration, and demanding that Biden support the “BREATHE Act,” which includes a “roadmap’ to abolishing law enforcement and a demand for reparations.
...
“Cullors, who has written a letter to President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris requesting a meeting, told The Hollywood Reporter she is requesting that the new administration work to pass the BREATHE Act within the first 100 days,” Fox notes.

Although the report only notes a “summary” of the BREATHE Act’s, the Act’s campaign website notes that it includes a full divestment of “federal resources” from law enforcement — defunding the police and immigration enforcement on a federal level — and ending incarceration, a priority that also includes the “full decarceration of federal detention facilities within 10 years and enacts a moratorium on all new federal prison, jail, immigrant and youth detention construction.”

The act suggests that any money saved by not enforcing the country’s criminal laws be rerouted to minority communities to address income inequality and other progressive pet issues.

Cullors penned an op-ed for “Teen Vogue” last week that makes it clear that she not only expects the Biden administration to pass the BREATHE Act, she believes Joe Biden and Kamala Harris should use the legislation as a means of “repaying” support from the black community.
...
Biden, at least, has been reticent to engage BLM. On the campaign trail, he dithered on the subject of defunding the police — and issue that, the Wall Street Journal reports, cost Democrats dearly in statewide and local elections – and his “transition team,” taking shape despite the contested election results, has yet to respond to Cullors’ demands.

“Black Lives Matter Global Network sent a letter to the Biden-Harris team to really ask for a seat at the table,” Cullors noted in her op-ed. “We have not heard back from them. I really hope my first fight with this administration isn’t whether they will meet with us.”
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assclass said:
If you have leverage, you don't need to write public letters, your phone calls get answered.
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Ehh, it depends. But in this case yes I agree.

Abolishing law enforcement is just stupid. It's astounding anyone is seriously talking about it.

It's like saying that because your government is corrupt the solution is total anarchy. It's not. The solution is stopping corruption.
 
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