Fri 20 Mar, 2009
| Tags: Apologies, Connecticut, Legislation, Racial discrimination, Slavery |
On Monday, the State of Connecticut will begin debating an apology for its role in slavery and and racial discrimination.
Mon 9 Mar, 2009
| Tags: Civil rights, Racial discrimination, U.S. Supreme Court, Voting Rights Act |
In a split decision, the U.S. Supreme Court today limited an important protection provided by federal voting rights law, ruling that election districts benefiting racial minorities are only protected if the minority in question comprises a majority of the entire voting-age population of the district.
Tue 3 Mar, 2009
| Tags: H.R. 40, Jim Crow, John Conyers, Racial discrimination, Reparations, Slavery, U.S. Congress |
Congressman John Conyers (D-Mich.) has re-introduced H.R. 40, the “Commission to Study Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act,” for the 111th Congress.
This legislation is enthusiastically supported by several DeWolf family members who appear in Traces of the Trade, and Rep. Conyers prominently mentioned our documentary when he introduced the bill. He is also a long-time supporter of our work, having flown to Park City, Utah last year to appear at the film’s world premiere on Martin Luther King Day at the Sundance Film Festival.
Tue 10 Feb, 2009
| Tags: Racial discrimination, Racial inequality, Reparations, Ron Peden, Slavery |
I’m writing to highlight a book by Ron Peden, entitled Notes on the State of America: Black to the Future, or White from the Past? (Cambridge, Mass.: OAU Publishing, 2008).
Ron is a writer and activist here in the Boston area, and he has graciously taken the time to comment on this blog regarding his concerns over the DeWolf family and Traces of the Trade.
In Notes on the State of America, Ron writes powerfully and eloquently about the impact of our history of slavery and discrimination on racial inequality today.
Wed 4 Feb, 2009
| Tags: Baseball, Racial discrimination |
There is a new working paper in economics available from the Institute for the Study of Labor which finds that when there is little outside scrutiny, umpires in major league baseball give preferential treatment to pitchers who share their race or ethnicity.
Wed 28 Jan, 2009
| Tags: Privilege, Racial discrimination, Racial identity, Racial inequality, Sundance Film Festival |
The Los Angeles Times has a review out about films exploring the subject of teenagers and race at the Sundance Film Festival.
The films covered include Prom Night in Mississippi, about the practice of holding racially segregated high school proms in Charleston, Miss.; Don’t Let Me Drown, a drama about racial and other tensions in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001; Push, a brutal yet hopeful examination of the cycle of poverty and despair in Harlem; and Toe to Toe, a drama about racial prejudice set at an elite private school.
Prom Night in Mississippi is perhaps the most shocking of these films, especially for those previously unaware of the ongoing practice of racially segregated proms in smaller towns in the Deep South.
Wed 10 Dec, 2008
| Tags: Human Rights Day, Jimmy Carter, Modern slavery, Racial discrimination, Universal Declaration of Human Rights |
Today marks the sixtieth anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNDR) by the United Nations General Assembly.
