Steve Cotler Steve Cotler

Tag: racism

MLK Day and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

— 4:12 pm · One comment

esq-kareem-bioAmerica is struggling in the aftermath of police killings of black men in Ferguson, New York City, Cleveland, Florida, and more…and more. Today Time published an essay by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar entitled “Why I Have Mixed Feelings About MLK Day.” Few celebrities utilize their celebrity status for the well-being of society. Mr. Abdul-Jabbar does.

I reprint the beginning of it below. I encourage you to click through and read the whole thing.

Screen Shot 2015-01-19 at 3.13.58 PM
Glenn Philips

[Full disclosure: I have no interest in the NBA, but I have been a fan of this intelligent and articulate man for years. In fact, I included “Kareem” in Cheesie Mack Is Sort of Freaked Out as the middle name of one of Cheesie’s friends, Glenn Philips…and he, according to Cheesie, is the smartest kid in school.]

Abdul-Jabbar’s essay begins:

I have mixed emotions about Martin Luther King Jr. Day. For me, it’s a time of hopeful celebration — but also of cautionary vigilance. I celebrate an extraordinary man of courage and conviction and his remarkable achievements and hope that I can behave in a manner that honors his sacrifices. And while Dr. King still has his delusional detractors, who have a dream of dismissing his impact on history, it’s not them I worry about. Continue reading “MLK Day and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar” →

Un-Racism: You Have to Be Carefully Taught

— 5:21 pm · View all 2 comments

James Michener‘s short story collection, Tales of the South Pacific, a bestselling Pulitzer Prize winner in 1948, was eclipsed a year later by South Pacific, the blockbuster Richard Rodgers–Oscar Hammerstein musical that includes some of the most memorable songs written for the stage. One song, “You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught,” includes this verse:

You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made
And people whose skin is a different shade
You’ve got to be carefully taught

The converse is also true: you have to be carefully taught to be color-blind. Witness this exchange between one of my daughters and her almost-four-year-old son:

Continue reading “Un-Racism: You Have to Be Carefully Taught” →

Racial Identity: “Hapa” Obama

— 5:06 pm · One comment

A comment on my recent post (Rule Book Racism: Can a Black Athlete Celebrate?) deserves a full response.

Lanny writes:

“A young, black, athletic man will soon be our president.” Why don’t you call him white? He’s just as much white as black. Is my wife, Karina, yellow or white, Japanese or American? Her mother is 100% Japanese, and her father from Georgia is white with a touch of Native American.

Lanny has an excellent point, and one that I have often shouted at the screen when cable news pundolts do as I did.

Mea culpa.  I reflexively adopted the bigoted and long-established Jim Crow “one-drop rule” which states that to be white is to be pure; even one drop of Negro blood makes one black. Continue reading “Racial Identity: “Hapa” Obama” →

Steve with students at an author event

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