Black and White in the U.S.
A few data points for anyone who thinks what’s been happening in Ferguson, MO is an isolated incident as opposed to an ongoing, systemic problem. Ferguson Mayor James Knowles was asked about the...
View ArticleLovecraft Apologists and the World Fantasy Award
About three years ago, World Fantasy Award-winning author Nnedi Okorafor wrote an essay about Lovecraft’s Racism and the World Fantasy Award Statuette. Earlier this year, author and editor Daniel José...
View ArticleBlack Lives Matter
This is a companion piece to go with the charts I posted in Two Thoughts on Ferguson. That post showed the disproportionate number of police-inflicted deaths in the U.S. compared to Australia, Germany,...
View ArticleBoycotts and “Ironic” Racism
So a handful of trolls decided to start a Boycott Star Wars VII hashtag on Twitter, claiming that the movie erases white male heroes and promotes white genocide and whatever. Star Wars: Aftermath...
View ArticleJ. K. Rowling and #MagicInNorthAmerica
Over at Pottermore, J. K. Rowling has been releasing background information and history about magic in North America, and … okay, I loved the Harry Potter books, and I have a lot of respect for Rowling...
View ArticleRacism and the Backlash Against Black Hermione
I had a long layover in Minneapolis when I was flying out to Launch Pad at the start of the month, and ended up in a bit of a heated Twitter exchange, as one does. It started with this Tweet. Folks...
View ArticleGuest Post on Policing in Problematic Times
I blogged last week about the police shooting of a black man in Florida. I’ve talked about Black Lives Matter as well, and I’ve been trying to follow the reporting and discussion online. Recently on a...
View ArticleRacism and the Romani People
In some respects, this is a retread of a blog post I did on Halloween three years ago, about the way we as Americans treat “Gypsies” as imaginary fantasy beings, like elves and wizards. But I keep...
View ArticleExcerpts from MLK’s Letter From a Birmingham Jail
You deplore the demonstrations taking place in Birmingham. But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure...
View Article“A Riot is the Language of the Unheard”
I keep coming across people asking what these riots are supposed to accomplish, how burning down buildings helps anyone’s cause, why people are “destroying their own neighborhoods,” and so on. I’m not...
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