StarfishSaver
StarfishSaver's JournalOnce again, a sister delivers the goods
https://twitter.com/mayatcontreras/status/1217580002163732482Excuse me while I take a moment to, once again, thank Democrats across the country for the Blue Wave
If anyone EVER tries to tell you voting doesn't matter, remind them what life would be like had we not flipped the House in November 2018.
"Iowa is more diverse than tonight's debate"
Can't argue with that ...https://twitter.com/LeslieProll/status/1217266730663280642
Did Pelosi know about the Parnas bombshell and hold the Articles to give it time to explode?
Biden says he'd consider Harris "for anything" she wants
https://twitter.com/Lawrence/status/1217185292362403846Bottom line problem: No black or brown person will be on any primary ballot
because the media and polls - not voters - determined, before a single primary took place, whom voters should and shouldn't have a choice to vote for. And race plays a role in this, whether people want to admit it or not.
That is a serious issue that we can't ignore.
Early in my career, I worked for a large, all-white law firm. I was literally the only person of color in the entire office. Other than me, every single person in the office - lawyers, paralegals, secretaries, etc. - was white.
I knew why there weren't any black lawyers - The firm had a long history of never hiring minority attorneys and I was their "experiment" (no pressure, or anything). But I hoped that they would hire some secretaries of color. So I asked the secretarial coordinator why we had no black secretaries. She looked surprised and said, "I don't know. I guess because no one ever applied." With some more digging, she and I discovered that the agency they used to screen applicants never sent any black applicants to them because, given the firm's history, they assumed they wouldn't hire any black secretaries. And the firm never noticed and never asked about it - because white secretaries seemed normal to them.
The agency wasn't being racist. They often placed black secretaries throughout the city. They just didn't send black secretaries to my firm because they thought it was a waste of time. They thought they were protecting black applicants from bring discriminated against.
This is how institutional racism works. Individuals don't have to harbor racist feelings or intentionally discriminate against anyone. But history and practice create systems that perpetuate discrimination and exclusion without anyone having two take a particular discriminatory action.
That's what's at play here. Most people aren't intentionally discriminating against candidates of color. But the systems, often unintentionally, perpetuate exclusion while on the surface appearing to be innocuous.
Giving certain candidates more airtime because the reporters have come to know them over the years or passes because "they've been around" or "yes, he misspoke, but that's just how he is" advantages people who had the benefit and privilege of getting into the system and building a reputation and relationships when the circle was largely closed to women and people of color.
Constantly asking "can a black candidate win over working class voters (i.e., white)" plants doubts that find their way into polling numbers that eventually determine who can get onto a ballot even before the candidate has a chance to convince voters they should support them.
And while this type of discrimination is not the sole reason minority candidates didn't get to the primaries - there are complex combinations of reasons that various candidates stumble - it is an additional obstacle thrown in their way that white candidates just don't face. And ignoring or dismissing it because other factors are at play, too, only makes it worse.
This is an issue that needs to be addressed and telling people who are concerned about it to be quiet or "stop whining ... your candidate just didn't catch on" compounds and exacerbates the problem.
If you don't think there's a double standard in how Duchess of Sussex has been treated ...
The contrast is pretty striking. Thanks to BuzzFeed for putting this together.
Over the years, Meghan has been shamed for the same things for which her sister-in-law, Kate, has been praised.
and 19 more at link ... https://www.buzzfeednews.com/amphtml/ellievhall/meghan-markle-kate-middleton-double-standards-royal?__twitter_impression=true
It is wrong for the press and polls to have so much say in who even gets before the voters
They weed out candidates before voters ever have a say.
This is deeply distressing.
"Pity the Nation"
And whose shepherds mislead them
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars
Whose sages are silenced
And whose bigots haunt the airwaves
Pity the nation that raises not its voice
Except to praise conquerers
And acclaim the bully as hero
And aims to rule the world
With force and by torture
Pity the nation that knows
No other language but its own
And no other culture but its own
Pity the nation whose breath is money
And sleeps the sleep of the too well fed
Pity the nation oh pity the people
who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away
My country, tears of thee
Sweet land of liberty“
(After Khalil Gibran)
https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/2019/03/ferlinghetti-pity-the-nation-whose-people-are-sheep.html
Speaker Pelosi: "Make no mistake, we know exactly what path we're on"
She said this back in June (when some naysayers were claiming she was scared, moving too slowly, didn't know what she was doing, etc.), but it still applies now. She's calculated all of her options (even the ones that haven't occurred to any of us), has gamed out her moves, and knows when to lay low and exactly when to strike.
She's killing it.
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Member since: Mon Apr 22, 2019, 03:26 PMNumber of posts: 18,486
