Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
A grand jury declined Monday to indict the rookie police officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice in a Cleveland park in November, 2014. In yet another racially charged case in which a black youth was killed by a white officer, the grand jury refused to indict either of the two officers involved in…
It’s the most wonderful time of the year and a winter of discontent, a season of police bullhorns and Christmas lights. Demonstrators protesting police shootings of black men confronted last-minute holiday shoppers and travelers in California and the Midwest this week, seeing the crowds as an opportunity to draw attention to their cause. In Chicago…
Earlier this week, Rich Juzwiak published a deeply-researched history of director Quentin Tarantino’s love affair with the word “nigger,” a word he has always used liberally in his screenplays. Juzwiak unearthed and examined twenty years worth of Tarantino’s varied and contradictory defenses of his use of the word. He also produced this video, a supercut…
The family of a man shot and killed by police in suburban Atlanta denied on Wednesday that he pointed a gun at an officer. At a press conference, a sobbing Cynthia Daniels said her husband, Bobby Daniels, “would never, ever point a gun at an officer.” (Reuters) Douglas County sheriff’s deputies got the call around…
A white Jacksonville, Fla., woman faces five years in prison after pleading guilty to lying to a federal officer about whether she’d placed an image of a Confederate flag on a black co-worker’s desk. Susan Thompson and the co-worker were federal workers at the Jacksonville office of the Army Corps of Engineers, according to Newsweek….
by Jamal Igle Star Wars: The Force Awakens is a juggernaut. Critically acclaimed and the current holder of the title of “biggest film opening of all time.” It’s an engaging film that engrosses the viewer and harkens back to the early days of franchise. As it is with all things pop culture, particularly in the…
Haters on Twitter were not happy with the decision of Hermione “turned black.” …of the Harry Potter books, why has Hermione, a described white character, been cast as black? It makes no sense. — Dylan (@RandyGiles_) December 21, 2015 @Hypable this is not a question of racism or whatever, the character of Hermione was white,…
Suffragette: No people of color allowed. I really didn’t want to write this review. I still don’t. Not because Meryl Streep is a lie (she appears for like 15 seconds). Not because the main character never existed in this supposedly historical film (the director calls it a “composite character”). Not because Suffragette is a…
Is Hermione Granger black? This is the question prompted by the casting of a black actor, Noma Dumezweni, as Hogwarts’ cleverest pupil in an upcoming theatre production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The answer is twofold. First, why the hell not? Second, what a stupid question! A better one to ask is whether…
Political arguments over the impact of racism in America can often devolve into a stalemate of feelings. Here is one very concrete way to measure what racism has done—and is doing—to our country. No honest person (not even a Republican) can doubt that the legacy of slavery and the subsequent awful periods of racial atrocity…