THE OTHER SHOE DROPS: Updates To Previous Posts
† Now Is Not The Time To Talk About Race: In a follow-up to the recent AP-Yahoo News poll that found one in three Dems (second item) believe negative racial stereotypes that could deter them from casting a vote for Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), the Associated Press asks: “[W]hen it comes to race, what is understood? And what is misunderstood?”
To find out, AP sent one white reporter and one black reporter to Detroit, MI to interview “people of both races living on either side of Alter Road, which separates the city from the tony Grosse Pointes near Lake St. Clair, and 8 Mile Road, the vast northern border between a mostly black Detroit and its mostly white suburbs”:
They found people of both races living just blocks apart who nonetheless spoke of each other like strangers. There was suspicion, contempt - and yet, for many, a desperate hope that Obama's candidacy might be the final step in America's long path to racial equality. For whites, their support of Democratic economic policies forces them to confront their racial prejudices. …
Whites say their neighbors consider blacks to be violent and solely responsible for problems in the black community.
Blacks say many of their own consider whites to be spoiled and condescending.
But nobody - well, hardly anybody - acknowledged their own prejudices. Both blacks and whites instead blamed "they," a vague and unaccountable surrogate for their own racial attitudes.
"They" are whites who say Obama is unqualified when they really mean he's black.
"They" are blacks who say all whites are bigots. …
You can talk for hours about “they” and “them” along 8 Mile Road. Though race relations are nowhere near as bad as they were in the 1960s, a white person can live for years in the suburbs without ever coming in contact with a black and, conversely, a Detroiter can grow up in the city without getting to know a white suburbanite.
Here, it's unfamiliarity that can breed contempt - or at least misunderstanding.
† The Poor Shall Always Be With Us, If Environmentalists Have Their Way: Part II: Last week U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, economist Jeffery Sachs, Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen and U2 star-cum-activist Bono presided over the launch of the Irish Hunger Commission Report, which examines the root causes of chronic famine in Africa and offers solutions, reports The Associated Press:
Bono says Africa has the potential to become a major food producer rather than the epicenter of much of the world's starvation. …
The report calls for increased productivity for African agriculture, targeting infant and maternal nutrition and changes in government and leadership priorities. It also called for the appointment of a special envoy to lead the fight against world hunger.
Walsh, a former Irish agriculture and food minister who led the group writing the report over the course of a year, said world hunger could be defeated only if people remained vigilant and called on governments to implement commitments already made.
“We must never lose our sense of outrage, our sense of anger that 862 million people that do not have enough to eat, because if we lose our anger about this then we have lost our humanity,” Walsh said.
The report calls the global hunger crisis – fueled by a 44 percent increase in food prices worldwide over the last 12 months – “the most critical issue facing the world today,” as evidenced by “food riots in many developing countries.” The report also notes that 160 years ago, Ireland “suffered first-hand the devastating effects of crop failures coupled with the failure of political response. Not enough seems to have changed in the world in the intervening period” and that “despite advances in food production, the extent of global hunger has remained almost unchanged.”
To enable Africa to grow enough food for all, the report enumerates several goals, including “[i]ncreasing agricultural productivity in Africa – with a particular focus on women who account for up to 80% of food production in most developing countries” and offers several strategies to accomplish this, including:
† Support agricultural interventions which encourage appropriate diversification amongst small-scale farmers;
† Support the international agricultural research system in a research programme that contributes to the elimination of hunger and the development of resilient food systems. In that context, Ireland should support initiatives to ensure that small-scale farmers can benefit from the research being undertaken by national, regional and international research bodies, and also support the strengthening of African agricultural research and extension/advisory services;
† Support improved rural infrastructure, both at national and local levels. Poor rural roads, in particular, block access to markets and are one of the major constraints faced by small-scale farmers in trying to move from a subsistence basis to a more sustainable scale of production.
The report notes that “hungry people themselves … have little or no voice in policy-making and little or no power in local markets” – something that do-gooder environmentalist NGOs should consider when they pressure African governments to adopt their discredited ideas of utopian agrarianism.
Agricultural productivity using modern methods is the only solution to intractable famine.
† The Right To Bear Arms Belongs To Us All: Part II: After three hours of deliberations, a TX jury of eight men and four women acquitted Jose Luis Gonzalez, 63, of murdering 13-year old Francisco Anguiano, who broke into Gonzalez's trailer in Laredo one night in July 2007 with three friends to steal snacks and soda, reports The Associated Press. AP notes that many residents of the border town didn’t think Gonzalez ought to have been charged and tried, as TX law allows homeowners to use deadly force to protect themselves and their property:
“I feel vindicated for Mr. Gonzalez and his family and for all of the homeowners and all of the seniors in Laredo,” said Isidro “Chilo” Alaniz, Gonzalez's attorney. “This case has huge implications across the board. We always, always believed in Mr. Gonzalez's right to defend his life and his property.” …
However, Assistant District Attorney Uriel Druker maintained during his closing arguments that the case was not about homeowners' right to protect their property, but about when a person is justified in using deadly force to do so.
“What really took place here was a case of vigilantism,” he said after the verdict. “A 13-year-old boy was killed because a man was enraged.”
Gonzalez’s trailer had been broken into several time before this incident, and Laredo is plagued by drug-related violence that spills across the Rio Grande river from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.
† What Freedom Of Speech Means To Muslims: Police arrested three men ranging in age from 22 to 40 years old in north London under anti-terrorism legislation in connection with a fire at the offices of Gibson Square, the publisher of “The Jewel of Medina,” reports Agence France-Presse. Last month U.S. publisher Random House announced it had cancelled publication of the fictional tale of the Prophet Mohammed’s relationship with his youngest bride Aisha by American author Sherry Jones States over fears that “outraged” Muslims would react violently. Martin Rynja, publishing director at Gibson Square, published the book because in “an open society there has to be open access to literary works, regardless of fear.” But with publishers like Random House giving in to that fear, over time Western societies will become increasingly less open until Sharia law has trumped constitutional rights of free speech and expression.
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