Aviral video of a student in an US school seen hitting and racially abusing her African-american teacher has sparked intense outrage in the past two days, leading to the school finally putting out a statement over the same. The Castleberry High School in Texas has ignited conversations on the need to immediately arrest such behaviour in schools. The Castleberry Independent School District officials put out a statement praising the teacher for maintaining a calm demeanour despite the situation escalating badly. The statement said the teacher’s way of handling of the situation was exemplary ‘throughout the entirety of the incident even when the situation turned violent and offensive.”
The authorities stacked up their support behind the teacher and the district officials said that since the incident was criminal in nature, the district has turned the matter over to the law enforcement. The District said it will also conduct a separate investigation of their own by looking through video footage and talking to the others who were present in the classroom then.
“Harassment, racism and violence against our teachers will not be tolerated at Castleberry ISD, and we will take swift and effective action to protect our teachers so that they can perform their duties and educate students in a safe environment,” the statement said.
The incident seems to have taken place 1-2 days ago.
The shocking video captured the white female student who storming towards the teacher’s desk where the latter is seen trying to place a call but the student disconnects it and as the teacher tries to take her hand off the phone, the student hits her arm with full force.
The teacher, while still being very calm, then comes out from behind her desk and says, “No, no, no, You touched me. I did not touch you!” The student then picks up the telephone and as the teacher tries to reason with her, the teenager shouts, “I am calling my momma, you ain’t about to f*** me up b****!”
Source: News18
Also Read: ‘No one wanted me there’: Family speaks up about racist bullying in Westfield schools
Health care providers are supposed to help us get well or keep us well. But a doctor who’s studied the issue says bias and racism in decisions about treatment can affect the outcome.
Dr. Quinn Capers is an interventional cardiologist at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He’s also associate dean for faculty diversity and vice chair for diversity and inclusion.
He told KERA’s Sam Baker hundreds of studies of hospitals across the country clearly show bias and racism at work.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS:
How racism and bias can impact health care decisions
You know, doctors are human, too. And so we have these unconscious biases where we ascribe certain characteristics to people based on what we see: Race, height, age, weight. What we perceive their religion to be, et cetera. And if in our mind we ascribe something negative to that demographic that we’re seeing that can influence our behavior.
For example…
So, for instance, studies have shown that doctors who take a certain online test tend to ascribe non-compliance or being less cooperative with Black and Hispanic patients. And so if I’m a doctor in a situation to treat you, and there is a therapy that requires strict adherence and you’ve got to follow the rules. If in my even unconscious mind, I see that you are a man of color, you’re a Black man. And if my mind says, well, Black people are usually less compliant, then I might not even offer that therapy. So that’s one example of how that can go.
A paper you co-authored and published in 2020 suggested ways to reduce bias in hospitals, like increasing diversity on decision-making bodies — who gets a transplant, for instance.
One problem struck me as interesting and odd: How does burnout and sleep deprivation contribute to bias in health care decisions?
Our unconscious biases tend to take over when we are exhausted, times when we’re tired, times when we are thinking of two or three things at once. The brain is overloaded, and that’s when reflexive unconscious biases take over.
So the doctor who is sleep-deprived, called in different directions, the beeper keeps going off: That doctor is at risk for their biases really driving the bus in terms of their behavior.
Source: KERA News
Also Read: Institutional racism exists in American health care
A group of universities and colleges from across Canada are signing a charter to fight anti-Black racism in post-secondary institutions.
The 22-page document requires those signing it to respect certain principles as they develop their own action plans to foster Black inclusion.
Referred to as the Scarborough Charter, the document was drafted by an advisory committee that emerged from an event hosted by the University of Toronto last year as anti-Black racism was in the international spotlight.
“There was an opportune moment for us to say, ‘well, there are a lot of statements being issued, but this may be the time for us to come together and do this together,” charter committee chair Wisdom Tettey said in an interview.
The committee asked universities and colleges for their feedback to refine the charter and met with several organizations and groups, including Universities Canada and the parliamentary Black caucus, said Tettey, vice-president of the University of Toronto.
Forty-six universities and colleges, including the country’s largest post-secondary institutions, are signing the charter virtually on Thursday.
They include the University of Toronto, McGill University, York University, the University of British Columbia, the University of Calgary and the University of Waterloo.
Tettey said more universities and colleges are expected to sign the charter in the near future. There are 96 publicly-funded universities and 139 publicly-funded colleges in Canada.
“We expect each partner institution to commit to the principles of black flourishing,” Tettey said.
“The idea of black flourishing is to make sure that our institutions are places where Black people, faculty, staff, students and community members can feel a sense of belonging, can see themselves in our mission and can be supported to flourish.”
At the University of Toronto, part of the school’s plan to remove barriers faced by Black students includes providing better mental-health support for them, Tettey said.
Source: Global News
In Wednesday, on Twitter, in a retweet of a claim of his from Sally Goldenberg, Politico‘s New York City Hall bureau chief, the Brooklyn borough president declared, “Yup. Racism is built into our infrastructure, and we need to confront and combat it. Capping the Cross Bronx Expressway is just the start!”
With his tweet, Adams joined Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, as well as New York Rep. Ritchie Torres, who all noted that racism inspired a lot of the design of America’s highway system.
For example, a freeway cap — also known as a freeway lid — is a type of deck bridge built on top of a controlled-access highway or roadways like the Cross Bronx Expressway. Adams, Schumer and Torres all support the idea of adding a cap to the Cross-Bronx, which would — according to an Adams interview on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show, per The New York Post — “roll back the Robert Moses division of our city and reunite neighborhoods and communities,” the mayor-elect said, “and I love that idea.”
“You cap it. You bring communities together. Greenspace. There’s some great things we can do with that,” Adams said.
Schumer, at a press conference Tuesday in New York, was joined by Torres and a host of local activists and advocates as they celebrated the passage and plans of the newly-passed infrastructure bill, which includes $7.5 billion for programs that can reduce the impact of highways on surrounding neighborhoods, including making a positive impact on environmental injustice.
“We are here to hit the gas on a plan to mitigate the harmful effects of the Cross Bronx Expressway,” Schumer said. “This expressway built by Robert Moses is one of the greatest examples of environmental injustice. When it was planned, they didn’t give a hoot about the community.”
Source: Yahoo!
Also Read: NYC Chinatown museum reopens with anti-Asian racism exhibit
NYC NYC
Black mother sues school board for failing to protect her daughter amid rape threats, racial slurs
Natasha Shakespeare had hoped her daughter could have a more normal classroom experience this fall. Their family had moved into a different neighborhood in the region in which they live, an area of southern Ontario located between Georgian Bay and Lake Simcoe, and there’d be a new school for their 13-year-old daughter.
The youngster had experienced ongoing anti-Black racism and bullying, including racial slurs lobbed at her and other Black children during recess, at her last elementary school. Shakespeare, who felt repeatedly brushed off when she had reported these incidents, filed a civil lawsuit in March against the Simcoe County District School Board in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
Shakespeare’s lawsuit seeks $200,000 in damages, plus legal costs. The board has yet to file a statement of defence.
Note contained threats, slurs
However, the fresh start the Barrie, Ont.-area mother had envisioned for her young teen hasn’t materialized.
“She got a note the first day of school [in September]. Someone had drawn a picture — hand-drawn a picture of a noose — and put it in her backpack,” Shakespeare said.
This progressed to other disturbing harassment of the Grade 8 student, including sloppily scrawled racial slurs, threats of rape and missives goading her to take her own life. Shakespeare’s daughter brought a note home three weeks ago, threatening rape.
Having experienced anti-Black racism herself while growing up in the same area, Shakespeare feels heartbroken that her daughter is suffering from the same 30 years later: targeted for abuse at schools because she’s Black and receiving inadequate support from school leaders in response.
The situation has sparked a wave of emotions for Shakespeare: shock, horror and fear to anger and fury.
When Shakespeare contacted school administrators about the series of disturbing notes left for her daughter this fall, she says she was told “it was investigated and they concluded that they couldn’t come up with anything.”
Source: CBC
Also Read: School investigating racist Snapchat messages targeting middle school students
Speaking at a White House news briefing Speaking at a White House news briefing Monday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg described how the recently passed federal spending bill would allow his agency to address a number of issues and problems marring Monday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg described how the recently passed federal spending bill would allow his agency to address a number of issues and problems marring the country’s infrastructure. In response to a question, he acknowledged that that potentially meant doing away with the racism that guided past decisions on how roads and bridges were built.
The question was asked because Buttigieg has mentioned those design decisions before.
“I’m still surprised that some people were surprised when I pointed to the fact that if a highway was built for the purpose of dividing a White and a Black neighborhood,” he said, “or if an underpass was constructed such that a bus carrying mostly Black and Puerto Rican kids to a beach — or it would have been — in New York, was designed too low for it to pass by, that that obviously reflects racism that went into those design choices. I don’t think we have anything to lose by confronting that simple reality.”
When the Hill shared a video of Buttigieg making that claim, it quickly (again) became a focus of mockery among right-wing commentators and some Republican politicians. But in short order, Buttigieg’s comments also served as an opportunity not only to elevate the specific story to which he was referring but the utility of educating Americans about a complicated history of systemic racism.
The secretary was referring to a story from Robert Caro’s “The Power Broker,” a book that is generally recognized as one of the premier examples of journalism in modern American history. It centers on Robert Moses, a mid-century New York City official who set out to reshape how the city’s residents moved — mostly successfully. In that book, Caro describes one particular goal of Moses’s: keeping poor Black people from busing to Long Island’s Jones Beach.
Source: The Washington Post
Also Read: Institutional racism exists in American health care
The conversation about how to teach race in schools continued this week when an author of two commonly challenged books spoke to a northern Michigan audience.
“People have always come to me and said ‘I don’t know why we have to talk about race,’ and I always tell people: ‘because we ain’t talked about it yet,'” said author Jason Reynolds, to more than 260 attendees at a virtual event Thursday hosted by the National Writers Series.
Reynolds spoke about his young-adult nonfiction book “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You”, which is meant to teach young people about race and racism, with author and journalist Rochelle Riley. Organizers of the event emphasized the need for this conversation in northern Michigan, and Traverse City in particular.
Incidents such as one from the summer in which Traverse City high school students held a mock slave auction over Snapchat reveal why northern Michigan needs to learn more about the history and present-day experience of race and racism, said Jillian Manning, NWS executive director.
“We know our community is grappling with [race and racism] and we have seen instances where a lot of harm has been done because people don’t know how to have these conversations and don’t know how to sometimes treat other people with the respect that they deserve,” Manning said. “And we’re hoping that this event for a lot of people will open hearts, open eyes and give people the tools to learn and treat everybody in our community with kindness, respect and a sense of belonging.”
Two of Reynolds’ books are on the American Library Association’s list of the Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2020. Challenges are documented requests to remove materials from schools or libraries.
None of Reynolds’ books are banned or have been formally challenged in TCAPS libraries or Traverse Area District Libraries, said TCAPS Elementary Library Coordinator Stephanie Luyt and Traverse Area District Library director Michele Howard.
Source: Yahoo!
Also Read: Scholarly Groups Condemn Laws Limiting Teaching on Race
Frederick Douglass is regarded as one of the most prominent abolitionists the world has ever seen. Alongside his extraordinary contributions as an influential speaker, writer and human rights advocate, Douglass – who was born into slavery and gained freedom in September 1838 – also wrote openly about his struggles with suicidal thoughts.
Douglass’ writings are both revolutionary and transformative, particularly when considering that he lived during a time when several anti-literacy laws prevented enslaved Blacks from learning to read and write.
Douglass published his first autobiography – “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” – in 1845. In it, he boldly shared, “I often found myself regretting my own existence, and wishing myself dead; and but for the hope of being free, I have no doubt that I should have killed myself, or done something for which I should have been killed.”
It’s not hard to imagine why formerly enslaved persons like Douglass would consider ending their own lives. It may, however, be harder for some to understand the links between racism, discrimination and thoughts of suicide among Black Americans today.
The United States abolished chattel slavery through the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865. However, Black Americans are still grappling with the effects of both structural and everyday forms of racism that permeate U.S. customs, culture and laws.
As a researcher and assistant professor at the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice, I explore how factors like discrimination, stigma and depression contribute to suicide risk in Black Americans. I also assess how positive psychological forces – like having a sense of life purpose or receiving social support from others – may improve an individual’s mental health outcomes.
Several studies have reported that exposure to discrimination is related to negative mental and physical health outcomes in Black Americans. These can include increased rates of depression, hypertension and sleep disturbance. Fewer studies have explored how racial discrimination is related to suicidal risk.
Source: Louisiana Illuminator
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The NBA is launching an investigation into the Phoenix Suns following a strongly denied report published Thursday that says owner Robert Sarver has a history of racist, misogynistic and hostile incidents during his 17-year tenure in charge of the franchise.
“The allegations contained in today’s ESPN article are extremely serious, and we have directed the Wachtell Lipton law firm to commence a comprehensive investigation,” NBA executive vice president of communications Mike Bass said in a statement. “The NBA and WNBA remain committed to providing a respectful and inclusive workplace for all employees. Once the investigation is completed, its findings will provide the basis for any league action.”
ESPN said it talked to dozens of current and former team employees for the story, including some who detailed inappropriate behavior by Sarver. Most of the allegations are from anonymous sources but a few are on the record.
In ESPN’s report, Sarver denied or disputed most of the allegations through his legal team.
“I would entirely welcome an impartial NBA investigation which may prove our only outlet for clearing my name and the reputation of an organization of which I’m so very proud,” Sarver said in a new statement issued through the team Thursday.
Among the allegations: Former Suns coach Earl Watson said Sarver was upset that a Golden State player used the N-word during a game in 2016 and that the owner repeated the N-word several times when voicing his displeasure. Watson said he told Sarver that he can’t use that word.
Watson was the Suns’ coach for all or part of three seasons before being fired three games into the 2017-18 season.
Sarver said in his statement that Watson was “clearly not a credible source.”
“While there is so much that is inaccurate and misleading in this story that I hardly know where to begin, let me be clear: The n-word is not part of my vocabulary,” Sarver said. “I have never called anyone or any group of people the n-word, or referred to anyone or any group of people by that word, either verbally or in writing. I don’t use that word.”
Source: NBC News
Also Read: NBA star decries ‘underlying racism’ as fans physically attack players
Military police and civilian law enforcement have investigated up to 70 cases of alleged hateful conduct and racist attitudes within the Canadian Army since a crackdown began in September last year, CBC News has learned.
A briefing prepared for the army’s acting commander last winter and obtained under access to information legislation shows 115 cases were catalogued up until that time, with 57 of them being investigated by military authorities.
Figures updated to the end of August — and released to CBC News — show an additional 28 allegations. Of those, 13 were deemed serious enough to warrant a police investigation.
The former top army commander and current acting chief of the defence staff, Gen. Wayne Eyre, ordered a broad crackdown after a series of high-profile incidents and investigations.
Review looked at new and historic cases
He issued a 25-page directive that requires soldiers to report to their superiors when they witness or become aware of racism and hateful conduct. If they fail to do so, there could be serious consequences, with Eyre saying they intend to “hold our members accountable for their actions.”
The majority of the hateful conduct cases in the army assessment were reported early this year and in the latter half of 2020 after Eyre issued his order. The scope of the statistical review goes back to 2019. Some of the actual incidents, however, go back as far as 1997.
The general’s tough line came following the case of a now-former Canadian Ranger who was involved with two well-known hate groups and who referred to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as a “treasonous bastard.”
Just last week, another ex-reservist, Manitoban Patrik Mathews, was sentenced to nine years in a U.S. prison for his role in what investigators called a violent plot to trigger a “race war” in the United States through the right-wing extremist group The Base.
Source: CBC