(As a sidenote, I've actually grown to appreciate that slidey format that the young folk are doing with the Webpages of Today, but this one is a little over the top. The slideshow stuff ends, though, and there actually is a text article after it.)
We've been asking around for someone to teach coding to teens this Summer. I was put in contact with someone from Detroit Labs. I got curious and looked him up. I'm just going to leave this link here with no comment.
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"freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order."
- Justice Robert Jackson, West Virginia State Board of Ed. v. Barnette
We've been asking around for someone to teach coding to teens this Summer. I was put in contact with someone from Detroit Labs. I got curious and looked him up. I'm just going to leave this link here with no comment.
Okay, this has been rolling around in my brain since I first saw it, and I can't shake it. I keep wanting to say "carpetbaggers" but I don't know enough about the actual demographics of Detroit to know whether that's just my own unconscious bias coming through. This isn't the one white dude riding the bus, this is a whole gaggle of them, all isolated from the city around them by (I presume) the thick walls of formerly productive industrial buildings converted into live-work creative spaces. Or maybe I'm just reading too much about the gentrification everywhere else. But I just keep thinking, they can't all be locals, can they? Can they all be out-of-towners? Who are these people?! How did they manage to assemble themselves, and only themselves, in downtown Detroit? Seriously.
Appalling. For comparison, the country with the current lowest life expectancy in the world, Sierra Leone, has a life expectancy of 45 years. Aboriginal males in Toronto have a life expectancy of 34.
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Cēterum cēnseō factiōnem Rēpūblicānam dēlendam esse īgnī ferrōque.
“All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.” -Adam Smith
ES, the city of Detroit is surrounded by predominantly white suburbs, so it's quite possible that many of them are "locals" but didn't grow up in the city proper.
We've been asking around for someone to teach coding to teens this Summer. I was put in contact with someone from Detroit Labs. I got curious and looked him up. I'm just going to leave this link here with no comment.
Okay, this has been rolling around in my brain since I first saw it, and I can't shake it. I keep wanting to say "carpetbaggers" but I don't know enough about the actual demographics of Detroit to know whether that's just my own unconscious bias coming through. This isn't the one white dude riding the bus, this is a whole gaggle of them, all isolated from the city around them by (I presume) the thick walls of formerly productive industrial buildings converted into live-work creative spaces. Or maybe I'm just reading too much about the gentrification everywhere else. But I just keep thinking, they can't all be locals, can they? Can they all be out-of-towners? Who are these people?! How did they manage to assemble themselves, and only themselves, in downtown Detroit? Seriously.
You are completely correct. I've already listened to my friends, who are Black male nerds from Detroit, complaining that nobody local is getting any of the grant money to start businesses in Detroit. People are moving here for the trendiness and the cheap rent and most of them don't go outside the hipster enclave of midtown.
By the way, when I mentioned to the same friend that I had heard these people calling themselves Urban Pioneers and it really pissed me off, he responded that he was just waiting for the smallpox blankets. So yeah, that's kind of how the locals are feeling.
One of the worst things about the hipster carpetbaggers is that they genuinely don't want Detroit to become a functional city again. They like it there because property is cheap and the cops are stretched too thin to care about under-aged drinking or smoking pot. I have already heard some of them complain that the proposed sale of acres of property to a millionaire who wants to make it forests to increase the value of remaining property will make their rent go up. Selfish bastards!
__________________
"freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order."
- Justice Robert Jackson, West Virginia State Board of Ed. v. Barnette
So Donald Sterling, the owner of the LA Clippers is the latest racist asswipe to be caught on tape.
Quote:
Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling told his girlfriend that he doesn't want her to bring black people to his games or post pictures with black people on Instagram, according to audio obtained by TMZ.
The tape begins in the middle of an argument between Sterling and his girlfriend, V. Stiviano. Sterling appears to be upset that Stiviano, who is black and Mexican, has been posting photos to Instagram of herself with black people -- in particular, with Magic Johnson.
....
Stiviano says that all she did was take a picture with someone she admires. "I think the fact that you admire [Magic] -- I've known him well, and he should be admired," Sterling replies. "And I'm just saying that it's too bad you can't admire him privately. And during your ENTIRE F****** LIFE, your whole life, admire him -- bring him here, feed him, f*** him, I don't care. You can do anything. But don't put him on an Instagram for the world to see so they have to call me. And don't bring him to my games. OK?"
Well I guess Snoop Dog has something to say about that...
Well the tape is 9 mins long, so there is a lot more to it. Plus he's been up on other discrimination charges in the past... but I think this quote I didn't copy-pasta probably makes it pretty clear:
Quote:
"It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people," he is heard saying. "Do you have to?"
Which is a strange thing to say to your black/mexican girlfriend.
Thanks, I was wondering what this tweet was about.
Quote:
@scott_tobias: RT @GuyEndoreKaiser: Magic Johnson combines two of Donald Sterling's least favorite things: blackness and winning championships.
__________________
"freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order."
- Justice Robert Jackson, West Virginia State Board of Ed. v. Barnette
Even if you divorce it from the obvious loathsomeness of what he's saying, that is one of the strangest human conversations I think I've ever heard. He sounds like some kind of demented Furby or something.
1. Smile and say hi to your neighbors when you see them, even if they seem scary or don’t say hi back. Sometimes it takes time to build a rapport and gain the trust of the community. And it's important to remember that in many communities, saying hi is seen as a sign of respect, and not saying hi is a sign of disrespect.
2. Recognize all the people outside of your door as your neighbors, even if they look different from you and live under different circumstances. This includes single mothers with three jobs and migrant workers who might not speak any English, as well as the homeless people who sleep in the park, the drug dealers who sell outside the liquor store, and the prostitutes walking nearby streets. Treating all of these folks with respect and dignity from the beginning will give you later leverage to talk to them about changing their behavior and getting out of the life.
3. Change the way you perceive neighbors by changing the language you use to describe them. Think about the motivations for their actions. Instead of “that illegal immigrant standing on the corner all day” think “my neighbor (insert name here), who happens to be undocumented, stood out in the sun all day waiting for the chance to work so that he could send some money back to his family." See if that doesn’t change your opinion of him.
4. Really think before you call the police. Ask yourself, 'Is this something that can be fixed by a simple conversation? Did a violent crime just happen?' If so, then of course you should call the police! But your neighbor playing their music too loud is not a police issue. Remember many communities have experienced, and still experience, real trauma at the hands of the police. While you may think a person has nothing to fear if they didn’t do anything wrong, an African American may be holding Oscar Grant, Trayvon Martin and Michael Dunn in their mind. A simple interaction with the police can trigger the collective PTSD from which the entire community may suffer.
It goes on, and I'm like yeah those are all good ideas and all, but it's so fucking tone deaf it reads like it was written for 21-year-old newly rich tech assholes ... by a 22-year-old newly rich tech asshole.
Also...
Quote:
Treating all of these folks with respect and dignity from the beginning will give you later leverage to talk to them about changing their behavior and getting out of the life.
Sterling is banned for life from the nba. He cannot attend any games or practices or be involved in any meetings about personnel. He can't go to the clippers facility. He is to be fined 2.5 million. The NBA hopes to force a sale of the team as well.
Good job, Silver, owners like Mike and Magic, players both current and former. I'm proud of the NBA.
Re: More blithe racism
Linear Mode
