white privilege

July 22, 2016 Image

Comparison of Political Parties through Congressional Interns

Pictures say it all… Intersectionality is the face of the Democratic Party. With the Republicans? It’s almost always white men. Women and people of color are essentially invisible.

Nel's New Day

Watching the GOP convention this week was painful on a large number of levels, one of them being the struggle to show minorities in both the speakers and the audience. Out of 2,472 delegates, only 18 are black–less than one percent. That’s down from the peak of seven percent in 2004. Only 20 percent of the 71 prime-time speakers are white. This is the party of Donald Trump.

The look of whiteness at the RNC is patterned in this photograph of GOP congressional interns, proudly taken by House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI).

PaulRyan interns

Below is the photograph of Democratic congressional interns, thanks to Audra Jackson, an intern working for Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX). What an amazing difference!

democratic interns

According to Valcy Etienne, Johnson said that Jackson’s selfie was an “excellent idea” because the interns “represent the future of our party and where we’re going.” She added:

“I wonder if the Republicans…

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the word '"racism" embedded in circle with a slash through it.
August 19, 2015

Racial Lenses

the word '

End Racism Now

White privilege.  It’s a system that is embedded in our culture “to overempower certain groups. Such privilege simply confers dominance because of one’s race [white/Caucasian] or sex [male]”.

In looking and thinking about white privilege, I periodically read other civil rights bloggers to see what that have to say on the issue of white privilege, racial inequities, and how people of all races and ethnicities view the world.  One of these bloggers had a link to a new person [to me]; Glenn Robinson is this “new” blogger. He writes about mixed cultures, mixed heritages, and mixed identities in what I believe is an effort to speak the truth about other views of our world in an effort to help break down some of the barriers that white privilege creates.

Glenn maintains several different civil-rights based blogs. Topics range from Amerindian issues [500 Nations], to immigration and multiculturalism [Community Village], to views about mixed cultural heritage [Mixed American Life], to systemic oppression, violence, and disenfranchisement [Oppression Monitor].

The blog that initially caught my eye is called Mixed American Life.  And the article that I first honed in on is called Racial Lenses.  Here are a couple of excerpts from this blog.  If you are interested in more of his work, please check it out. I’m impressed. I hope you are too.

What is a racial lens?

A racial lens is what influences how you view the world by way of your own experience, your own racial and ethnic experience. -Glenn Robinson

Xenophobic Racial Lenses

Some ways cultures describe their own color

  • Africans – Black
  • Asians – Gold
  • Chicanos – Bronze
  • Native Americans – Earth tone, Golden
  • Europeans – White, Pink, Red

Mixed Heritage Racial Lens

Bill of Rights for People of Mixed Heritage

I HAVE THE RIGHT…
Not to justify my existence in this world.
Not to keep the races separate within me.
Not to justify my ethnic legitimacy.
Not to be responsible for people’s discomfort with my physical or ethnic ambiguity…. [and more, this is just a start of the list of rights Glenn presents in his blog]