Race
Opinion, please: teaching slavery
The story of the fourth grade Norfolk teacher who used a mock slave auction in demonstrating the Civil War has spread like wildfire. It seems nearly everyone is outraged about it. But a question remains: just how do you teach about slavery, the Civil War and race? In an editorial today, The Virginian-Pilot discusses the … Continue reading
An effort in futility
Leonard Pitts of the Miami Herald wrote an interesting article on futility, opening with this: This will be a futile column. Experience dictates that it will change no minds, inspire no reconsideration among those who disagree. It will sit on the computer screen or the newspaper page taking up space, affecting nothing, until another column … Continue reading
Fiscally irresponsible through any eyes
My latest op-ed, title above, appeared in The Virginian-Pilot Wednesday. The topic, of course, was the now-failed effort to build an office tower. Despite all of this, there was something else going on with this project, an invisible hand pushing it as it rose, phoenix-like, from the ashes for the third time. In various reports … Continue reading
First female chief justice SCOVA
The first ever female chief justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia was sworn in Wednesday. My congratulations to Justice Cynthia Kinser. Whenever one of these “firsts” comes along, I’m reminded of a post of mine from from four years ago where I first (at least on this blog) discussed the whole dynamic of race … Continue reading
Black History Month: Recognizing our shared heritage
My latest op-ed appeared in The Virginian-Pilot last Wednesday. (Although I love the fact that the columns are online, I have to admit that the printed newspaper looks a lot better.) A couple of points in the piece that bear a little additional information.
Top 10 for 2010
A quick look at the top 10 posts (in terms of views) on blog this that were written this year. Military Spouses Residency Relief Act: it’s gonna cost us American Idol results 4/28/10: down to five American Idol results 5/12/10: top 3 Why Nye lost Joint Forces Command to close Report: Hampton City Council candidates’ … Continue reading
Didn’t think I lived in Texas
Virginia 4th-grade textbook criticized over claims on black Confederate soldiers A textbook distributed to Virginia fourth-graders says that thousands of African Americans fought for the South during the Civil War — a claim rejected by most historians but often made by groups seeking to play down slavery’s role as a cause of the conflict. Local … Continue reading
Sen. Webb’s diversity diversion
My latest op-ed, with the title above, appeared in The Virginian-Pilot Wednesday. Since I wrote this blog post, the response of the Virginia NAACP”s executive director was made public and he was interviewed on TV. The discussion of Sen. Webb’s op-ed continues, both online and off. (Just ran across this post last night.) I suspect … Continue reading
Webb’s curious op-ed
Virginia Senator Jim Webb started a firestorm when his op-ed, “Diversity and the Myth of White Privilege,” appeared in the Wall Street Journal. What Webb said is nothing new. His is a nuanced argument: that affirmative action, under the umbrella of diversity, has benefitted groups of people that it never was intended to benefit, and … Continue reading
A sad state of affairs
Gotcha politics took center stage over the past couple of days in the case of Shirley Sherrod. A good run down of events can be found here. After that post was written, the full video of Sherrod’s statement was made available by the NAACP, who retracted their earlier condemnation of her. This morning, there are … Continue reading
Upsides and downsides
When I started this blog more than four years ago, it was because I had something to say and felt like my opinion was not one of those being voiced elsewhere. Whether anyone read it or not wasn’t an issue; it was just me putting it out there. As time has passed, I’ve learned an … Continue reading
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