Category Archives: Race

Confessions of a white baby boomer on race relations By Alex Alben Special to The Seattle Times (thanks to Sue P. for sending this) Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were my heroes growing up in New York … Continue reading

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Abolish the Police? Those Who Survived the Chaos in Seattle Aren’t So Sure

What is it like when a city abandons a neighborhood and the police vanish? Business owners describe a harrowing experience of calling for help and being left all alone. By Nellie Bowles in the New York Times SEATTLE — Faizel Khan … Continue reading

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The meaning of the monument to Teddy Roosevelt

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HONORING A LIFE’S MISSION

By Debra Adams Simmons, HISTORY Executive Editor – National Geographic Thanks to Gordon G. for sending this in. President Lyndon B. Johnson summoned John Lewis to a private meeting in the Oval Office on the morning of August 6, 1965. … Continue reading

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Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our Nation

By John Lewis Mr. Lewis, the civil rights leader who died on July 17, wrote this essay shortly before his death, to be published upon the day of his funeral. While my time here has now come to an end, I want … Continue reading

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Seattle is no progressive paradise

From the NYT by By Margaret O’Mara SEATTLE — Seattle’s police-free “autonomous zone” is coming to an end. After two largely peaceful weeks, shootings over the last several days near the Capitol Hill Organized Protest area, CHOP for short, left a 19-year-old … Continue reading

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Racial inventory –

Thanks to Mary Jane F. – this is based on one developed by the Wellesley College Women’s Center some years ago. A Preface to this Inventory…. Since the subject of race has been brought again to front and center in … Continue reading

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The movement to defund the police is wrong, and here’s why

By Jacqueline B. Helfgott Special to The Seattle Times Jacqueline B. Helfgott is professor and director of the Seattle University Department of Criminal Justice Crime and Justice Research Center. She serves on the Seattle Police Department’s Crisis Intervention Committee. In the days … Continue reading

Posted in Race, Safety, Social justice | 1 Comment

Reach out, listen, be patient. Good arguments can stop extremism

From Aeon: Many of my best friends think that some of my deeply held beliefs about important issues are obviously false or even nonsense. Sometimes, they tell me so to my face. How can we still be friends? Part of … Continue reading

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Juneteenth 2019 and the Black National Anthem

From Wikepedia: Juneteenth, also known as Juneteenth Independence Day or Freedom Day, is an American holiday that commemorates the June 19, 1865, announcement of the abolition of slavery in the U.S. state of Texas, and more generally the emancipation of enslaved African Americansthroughout the former Confederate States of America. Texas was the … Continue reading

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The Racial Reckoning Comes – by David Brooks

From the NYT: When I was a boy I was taught a certain story about America. This was the land of opportunity. Immigrants came to this land and found an open field and a fair chance to pursue their dreams. … Continue reading

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Our Disgrace at the Border by David Brooks

Suppose one night there is a knock on your door. You open it to find 100 bedraggled families shivering in your yard — exhausted, filthy, terrified. The first cry of your heart would be to take them in, but you’d … Continue reading

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Dissecting the Dreams of Brexit Britain

Ed Note: Could anyone please enlighten us as to what’s really going on in the existential crises called Brexit. Are they really dreaming of a lost empire? Is it white nationalism? Is it mainly reflecting the long simmering differences between … Continue reading

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A black man’s dialogue with the KKK

Thanks to Gordon G. An amazing dialogue brings about understanding and change.

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Operation InfeKtion: How Russia Perfected the Art of War

Ed Note: This is a superb piece of investigative journalism by the NYT: “Russia’s meddling in the United States’ elections is not a hoax. It’s the culmination of Moscow’s decades-long campaign to tear the West apart. “Operation InfeKtion” reveals the ways … Continue reading

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The Roots of Seattle’s Filipino Community

Ed note: My sister-in-law always calls me Kuya Jim. And have you noted the suffix “po” used by Filipinos as a term of respect? This video talks about the generational shift in the international district and the contribution of the … Continue reading

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E Pluribus Unum – a warning about the rise of fascism

             A warning. Where is America heading? I met Dr. Wolfgang Mack briefly in the Skyline dining room last evening and was given a copy of his most recent book. He had the traumatic experience … Continue reading

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Ta-Nehisi Coates – My President was black

Ta-Nehisi Coates is an essayist and and book author. In this piece titled My President was Black from the Atlantic he discusses race as viewed during the Obama era. In the interview with Obama below, it tells the story of Obama’s experience with race … Continue reading

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Factfullness: Ten reasons we’re wrong about the world – and why things are better than you think

Ed note: Hans Rosling has written a fascinating book that Bill Gates called the most important book he’s ever read. Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World–and Why Things Are Better Than You Think. Rosling explains how and why our thinking … Continue reading

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Remembering the Queen of Soul

A four-day celebration of Aretha Franklin begins today in her hometown of Detroit. Her funeral will take place on Aug. 31.  “R.E.S.P.E.C.T. As a Black girl in segregationist Virginia, I did not yet know “feminism” or “Black power” but I … Continue reading

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The Black National Anthem

Ed note: In November I’m attending a caregivers conference that opens with the Black National Anthem. “Lift Every Voice” was unknown to me and it’s taken a bit of research to bring it to life for me. Hope you like … Continue reading

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Understanding American for the Non-American Black: American Tribalism

At the Skyline book club last night, Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was discussed. How does a non-American black begin to understand our tribal system in the USA? (By the way, if you like to read and discuss the books, please … Continue reading

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But where are you really from?

It’s getting more and more complicated? Do you like the question, do you get annoyed or does it seem impossible to answer?

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As Seattle grows, a storied Black church searches for its place

Ed Note: Mt. Zion Baptist Church is finding it needs to change. As the neighborhood gentrifies, who is to be included in their potential congregation? Membership has fallen from a peak of 3000 down to about 800. Should the church … Continue reading

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Why Whitman College teams are no longer “the Missionaries”

Have you visited Walla Walla (not sure why it needs to be more than one Walla), but then there’s others (wasn’t there an old poem about these double names where the maiden’s heart goes Hamma Hamma)? There’s more there than the … Continue reading

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