Boricua on Sabbatical: February 2009

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Apology: It's Time

Click to see the video by Nomad Two Worlds

Saturday, February 21, 2009

OP-ED COLUMNIST: A Nation of Cowards?
By CHARLES M. BLOW
NYT

Published: February 21, 2009

Most whites harbor a hidden racial bias that many are unaware of and don’t consciously agree with. And getting them to talk frankly about race is still hard.

click for complete piece.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

The Color of Fear - The 'Red Ground' Scene

Thanks, Debbie, for telling me about this film.

How To Tell People They Sound Racist

Let's get to it.

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Just Sayin'

English is my jet lag

One word

Per time zone.

Spanish is peanut butter

Stuck to the top of my mouth.

Spanglish criollo mix

¿Que, que? No way.

¿Vihte? I told you so.

OMG. Ay, dio' mio.

This is my language.

A language that is not

my mother’s tongue

Or my grandmother’s

It's the craaaazy mix of dis place ment.

Ven pa' ca' que tengo platano y una hamaca

Vamo pa' la barbacoa, you know, the bar-b-q

Bring something sweet.

No te preocupes. Just bring yourself.

Talk some of that mezcla. It's easy.

¿You going back?

¿Cuando vienes?

Las cosas estan bien malas.

And when I talk in English

And when I talk in Spanish

¡Ja! I’m flying through the time zones

I’m chewing down the ground up nuts

I’m choking it out como agua sala’

Gone down the wrong way.

Talk with me in this third tongue

Mix it up with me

Llora. Cry. Mira como todo cambia.

Oh, well. Bendito. Nevermind

Porque de tripas corazones

And sure I’ll do that.

Mañana.

Just as soon as I get home.

Un dia de estos. Okay.

"White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack"

"I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group... I have come to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets which I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was 'meant' to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, assurances, tools, maps, guides, codebooks, passports, visas, clothes, compass, emergency gear, and blank checks... In proportion as my racial group was being made confident, comfortable, and oblivious, other groups were likely being made inconfident, uncomfortable, and alienated. Whiteness protected me from many kinds of hostility, distress, and violence, which I was being subtly trained to visit in turn upon people of color."
Peggy McIntosh

Boricua on Sabbatical

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Apology: It's Time

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Implicit Bias

Sunday, February 1, 2009

The Color of Fear - The 'Red Ground' Scene

How To Tell People They Sound Racist

Henry James

But, really, enough about me