Sesame Place issued a new apology Thursday night after a video appeared to capture a costumed character ignoring two Black children during a parade last weekend at the theme park in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
“We sincerely and wholeheartedly apologize to the Brown family for what they experienced. To be very clear, what the two young girls experienced, what the family experienced, is unacceptable. Sesame Place
It happened in our park, with our team, and we own that. It is our responsibility to make this better for the children and the family and to be better for all families,” a portion of the statement read.
Jodi Brown says her daughter and niece were snubbed by the Rosita character on Saturday, July 16.
The nine-second video, posted to Instagram by Brown, showed the character high-fiving a white child and woman, then gesturing “no” and walking away from the two girls who had their arms stretched out for a hug and high-five during the parade.
Brown says the character was intentionally racist toward her family.
“Right after the character passed them, there was another little girl next to them who was of a different race and (Rosita) hugged her,” the mother said.
Brown was joined by her attorney B’Ivory LaMarr Wednesday for a press conference outside Sesame Workshop in New York City.
LaMarr said they don’t want to sue the company and it isn’t about money; he said it is about making things right.
“You told these kids for years ‘come and play, everything’s OK, friendly neighbors there, that’s where we meet, can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?’
And once these kids figure out how to get to Sesame Street…they reach out in open arms to these friendly neighbors, for what? To be dismissed? To be rejected? And to leave your park inferior,” LaMarr said.
A woman has described how she was branded a “racist” after asking a Black man she found walking around her neighborhood if he was lost.
However, while the woman said she was left “feeling shocked” at such an accusation, others felt she crossed a line by making the remark.
Racial discrimination remains alarmingly commonplace in the U.S. According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2021, 80 percent of Americans polled said Black people face at least some form of discrimination in the U.S.
Racism can sometimes take an insidious form; an off-hand remark that magnifies a certain subtle prejudice. But while thoughtless and ill-advised comments of this kind do exist, identifying and addressing them can prove difficult, as one recent Mumsnet post demonstrated.
In the post, a concerned woman described how, while walking home with her husband one night, she noticed a young Black man “peering” at his phone down an alleyway close to where she lived.
The woman said she asked the man: “Are you alright? Do you know where you’re going?” He replied: “Yes, I definitely know where I’m going” and walked on. Though she initially thought “nothing of it,” he then called out to her saying: “Hey maam, you know that was really racist.”
Though she shouted back: “You had your phone out, I thought you were looking for directions” her explanation fell on deaf ears. “I’m now home and feeling shocked that I should be called racist,” she wrote. “How was that racist?”
The responses to the post perfectly demonstrated the difficulty in addressing subtle racism. In this instance, many thought the man was wrong to claim her remarks were racist.
Rainbows said: “I can’t see anything racist in that,” with CantStandMeCow agreeing: “I wouldn’t say it was racist. You’d have said the same to white person staring at their phone?”
Yzed thought the man was being a bit “touchy” with his response while Stopsnowing insisted it was just a “misunderstanding” and urged the woman to “move on.”
An Iowa woman who attacked two children, a 12-year-old Black boy and a 14-year-old Latina girl, with her car in 2019 was sentenced Thursday to 25 years in federal prison.
Nicole Poole Franklin, 43, had pleaded guilty to both federal hate crime charges and state attempted murder charges.
On Dec. 9, 2019, the 12-year-old boy was walking with his older sibling when Franklin hopped the curb in her car and tried to run him over. The boy suffered minor injuries.
Franklin said she thought the child was an ISIS terrorist out to get her.
Less than an hour later, Franklin launched another attack, this time on the 14-year-old girl, who was walking to a basketball game. The girl suffered serious injuries, including a concussion, according to police.
Franklin said she thought the girl was a Mexican who “wasn’t supposed to be in the country,” and was taking “our homes, our jobs.”
Police said Franklin fled both scenes and went to a convenience store, where she launched into a racist tirade against two Black men. She was not charged with a crime for the tirade.
Franklin admitted to both attacks and was sentenced in May on the state charges, getting at least 17½ years in prison, the Associated Press reported.. She’ll serve her 25-year federal sentence concurrently, and she will not be eligible for parole.
Source: NY Daily News
Also Read: Florida educator removed from classroom after racist rant video surfaces
Iowa woman Iowa woman
A Toronto woman who asuffered a racist verbal assault in her own backyard has had hundreds rushng in to offer support.
Kelly Zhang took to the South Etobicoke Community Facebook group on June 6 to explain how “after 6 years of living in this wonderful community, we have won the jackpot of experiencing anti-Asian racism first hand last night.”
Zhang says that after trying to tell a next door neighbour to wind down a non-socially distanced gathering for the third time at 3 a.m., one man told her he “would not want to be dictated by f#*cking Chinese people” and that she “was not in China anymore.”
She’s lived in Canada for 28 years, and currently lives with her partner and two children ages five and nine.
“I have seen a lot of love, compassion and support from this group in the past year. I know we are better than that and collectively do amazing things. And I would really appreciate the continued support from this group to raise awareness and educate others,” reads Zhang’s post, which concludes by asking people to share her message.
In less than 48 hours, the community rallied around her, with 570 people expressed moral support, with more than 150 posting messages of outrage, sadness and and cameraderie, with comments like “SOUTH ETOBICOKE does NOT claim those type of people. Miserable and disgusting humans,” “Horrible. Disgusting behavior! Not cool” and “It is so sad you had to experience this in a place that you should feel safe in.”
“I’m very encouraged to see all the support from y’all. You have shown me that hate and racism definitely don’t have a place here,” Zhang responded in the comments, later clarifying, “This individual has just moved in the house next door to us, which is a rental property. He’s definitely not reflective of our community.”
Read the complete article at: blogTO
Also Read: How Asian American athletes are addressing anti-Asian hate and racism
Toronto Toronto
Heartbreaking stories of Black maternal deaths, pregnancy complications, racism related at hearing
When U.S. Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri was pregnant with her first child, Zion, she saw a sign in her doctor’s office encouraging her to speak up about anything unusual she was feeling.
She did so, telling her physician that she was having severe pains, but her concerns were swiftly dismissed. The doctor told Bush, who is African American, that she was fine and sent her home — and one week later, Bush went into early labor.
“At 23 weeks, my son was born, one pound, three ounces,” Bush told a congressional hearing Thursday on Black maternal mortality. “His ears were still in his head. His eyes were still fused shut. His fingers were smaller than rice, and his skin was translucent, a Black baby, translucent.”
Bush recalled that the doctor who delivered her son apologized for not listening to her.
But when she was pregnant with her second child, she faced the same situation. She again went into early labor, and a different doctor refused to help her, telling Bush in a clear reference to her race: “You can get pregnant again, because that’s what you people do.”
Her story is far from unusual.
Mothers, spouses and loved ones of Black people who have died as a result of childbirth complications described their experiences to the House Oversight and Reform Committee in heartbreaking detail.
Black birthing people are three times more likely to experience pregnancy-related death when compared to their white counterparts, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They also experience higher rates of pregnancy complications, infant loss, and miscarriage.
Affluent Black Americans also are disproportionately affected: a Black person with a college degree is twice as likely to experience a severe physical or mental complication from childbirth than a white woman without a high school degree, said Dr. Veronica Gillispie-Bell, medical director for the Louisiana Perinatal Quality Collaborative.
Read the complete article at: Florida Phoenix
Also Read: HOW MEDICAL RACISM ROBS BLACK FAMILIES OF JOYOUS BIRTH EXPERIENCES
The COVID-19 pandemic affects us all, but it has taken an especially severe toll on Black and Hispanic state residents, magnifying inequities that have long produced worse health outcomes for people of color.
This reality has led to many policy proposals to address health inequities, as well as conversations that center on the role of racism in producing disparate health outcomes. In response, some have asked why focus on race or racism, rather than other factors, such as income, education, or geography.
As the leader of a foundation focused on health equity, I hear these questions often, and I would like to offer some answers.
First, why focus on race?
It’s important to understand that even controlling for income, education, and other factors, people of color face worse health outcomes than their white counterparts. For example, a Black woman with a college degree or higher is 1.6 times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than a white woman without a high school diploma. While other factors, such as income, play a role in health, we will not achieve equitable outcomes if we do not address race.
People often assume there could be genetic differences behind these disparities. While genetics contribute to some conditions, such as sickle cell anemia, there is no genetic explanation for the racial and ethnic disparities we see in conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, infant mortality, and adverse maternal outcomes.
So what causes worse health outcomes for people of color?
There are several explanations, both within the health care system and outside of it.
Research shows that Black and Hispanic patients receive less aggressive treatment than white patients. One study found that Hispanic patients were half as likely to be given pain medication in the emergency room when they had a broken bone. Another study of pediatric patients with appendicitis found that Black children and teens were significantly less likely to be given opioids to treat pain.
Read the complete article at: CT Mirror
Also Read: Health Care Conference Addresses the Legacy of Racism in Black Health
Beginning at 5 p.m., March 16, the first horrific news of the murders of four people and the wounding of a fifth at Young’s Asian Massage in Acworth, a city in Cherokee County northwest of Atlanta, was breaking news on local TV stations. That was quickly followed around 6:00 p.m. with details of another four women killed at the Gold Spa and the Aromatherapy Spa in the Buckhead area of Atlanta.
In total, six women of Asian descent, four of whom were Korean, and two white people, a man and a woman, were shot and killed. In addition, a Latinx man was wounded.
A 21-year-old, white, Cherokee County man, Robert Aaron Long was captured in south Georgia a few hours later and identified as the suspect in these mass murders.
Read the complete article at: Workers
Beginning at 5 p.m., March 16, the first horrific news of the murders of four people and the wounding of a fifth at Young’s Asian Massage in Acworth, a city in Cherokee County northwest of Atlanta, was breaking news on local TV stations. That was quickly followed around 6:00 p.m. with details of another four women killed at the Gold Spa and the Aromatherapy Spa in the Buckhead area of Atlanta. In total, six women of Asian descent, four of whom were Korean, and two white people, a man and a woman, were shot and killed. In addition, a Latinx man was wounded. A 21-year-old, white, Cherokee County man, Robert Aaron Long was captured in south Georgia a few hours later and identified as the suspect in these mass murders. In total, six women of Asian descent, four of whom were Korean, and two white people, a man and a woman, were shot and killed. In addition, a Latinx man was wounded. A 21-year-old, white, Cherokee County man, Robert Aaron Long was captured in south Georgia a few hours later and identified as the suspect in these mass murders.
Working Women’s Double Dose Of Discrimination: Gender And Ageism
Working Women’s Double Dose Of Discrimination: Gender And Ageism
Mark Twain wrote:
Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of 80 and gradually approach 18.
Really? As a woman in her late 60s, I’m not sure I want to go back to my twenties or even my teens. Battles with sexism and ageism in the workplace aside, I rather enjoy the peace and happiness that comes with age.
Everyone begins the aging process at birth. Then at some point in our lives (generally following our teen years), we begin to become wary of the process. The ancient Greek poet Homer called old age “loathsome” and William Shakespeare called it the “hideous winter.” Each wrote their descriptions of old age while in their twilight years, leaving a legacy of loathing for younger generations to study. Over thousands of years, human beings have learned to see old age as a disease, something to be avoided even though we know it is inevitable.
Read more at: Forbes
Really? As a woman in her late 60s, I’m not sure I want to go back to my twenties or even my teens. Battles with sexism and ageism in the workplace aside, I rather enjoy the peace and happiness that comes with age. Everyone begins the aging process at birth. Then at some point in our lives (generally following our teen years), we begin to become wary of the process. The ancient Greek poet Homer called old age “loathsome” and William Shakespeare called it the “hideous winter.” Each wrote their descriptions of old age while in their twilight years, leaving a legacy of loathing for younger generations to study. Over thousands of years, human beings have learned to see old age as a disease, something to be avoided even though we know it is inevitable.
Mom, daughter allegedly attacked in Boston for speaking Spanish
A bigoted Boston duo beat up a mom and her teenage daughter because they were speaking Spanish, the woman alleges.
The Feb. 15 encounter has outraged a Boston civil rights group, which is calling for more Spanish-speaking police officers to prevent similar attacks.
The 46-year-old woman, identified only as Ms. Vasquez, and her daughter, 15, were walking through East Boston — chatting in their native tongue — when two women approached them, Vasquez told reporters this week.
“My daughter and I were attacked, punched, kicked and bitten by two white women,” Vasquez said, through a translator. “As they beat us, they yelled, ‘This is America, speak English.’”
A video shows both sides exchanging blows under the streetlights before onlookers separated them.
A bigoted Boston duo beat up a mom and her teenage daughter because they were speaking Spanish, the woman alleges. The Feb. 15 encounter has outraged a Boston civil rights group, which is calling for more Spanish-speaking police officers to prevent similar attacks. The 46-year-old woman, identified only as Ms. Vasquez, and her daughter, 15, were walking through East Boston — chatting in their native tongue — when two women approached them, Vasquez told reporters this week. “My daughter and I were attacked, punched, kicked and bitten by two white women,” Vasquez said, through a translator. “As they beat us, they yelled, ‘This is America, speak English.’” A video shows both sides exchanging blows under the streetlights before onlookers separated them. A bigoted Boston duo beat up a mom and her teenage daughter because they were speaking Spanish, the woman alleges. The Feb. 15 encounter has outraged a Boston civil rights group, which is calling for more Spanish-speaking police officers to prevent similar attacks. The 46-year-old woman, identified only as Ms. Vasquez, and her daughter, 15, were walking through East Boston — chatting in their native tongue — when two women approached them, Vasquez told reporters this week. “My daughter and I were attacked, punched, kicked and bitten by two white women,” Vasquez said, through a translator. “As they beat us, they yelled, ‘This is America, speak English.’” A video shows both sides exchanging blows under the streetlights before onlookers separated them.
Woman Accused in Racist Attack Is Charged in 2nd Incident
An Iowa woman who told police she intentionally ran over a 14-year-old girl because she believed the girl was Mexican has been charged with a hate crime for an incident that occurred shortly after the girl was struck.
Nicole Franklin, who also goes by the name Nicole Poole, was charged Sunday with assault in violation of individual rights and with operating under the influence, second offense. Her attorney didn’t immediately return a call Monday from The Associated Press.
Franklin was charged with attempted murder following the Dec. 9 attack on Natalia Miranda in the Des Moines suburb of Clive. Miranda suffered a concussion and severe bruising and was hospitalized for two days.
An Iowa woman who told police she intentionally ran over a 14-year-old girl because she believed the girl was Mexican has been charged with a hate crime for an incident that occurred shortly after the girl was struck. Nicole Franklin, who also goes by the name Nicole Poole, was charged Sunday with assault in violation of individual rights and with operating under the influence, second offense. Her attorney didn’t immediately return a call Monday from The Associated Press. Franklin was charged with attempted murder following the Dec. 9 attack on Natalia Miranda in the Des Moines suburb of Clive. Miranda suffered a concussion and severe bruising and was hospitalized for two days. Her attorney didn’t immediately return a call Monday from The Associated Press. Franklin was charged with attempted murder following the Dec. 9 attack on Natalia Miranda in the Des Moines suburb of Clive. Miranda suffered a concussion and severe bruising and was hospitalized for two days.