by Jeff Hitchcock

The economy is facing a meltdown and racism was a central player. No, this is not your typical liberal progressive white radical playing the race card in some sort of mindless one-size fits all critique. Anyone who has been paying attention knows the financial sector is suffering from a glut of bad mortgage loans. During the first part of 2008, before the domino-like toppling of major financial corporations, the media was running stories about loan defaults and home foreclosures. Seems like lenders had created and sold all sorts of mortgages, basically to anyone who would sign the papers. Why should they care? They got their fees up front, sold the loan to someone else, and made a tidy profit.

Some of the stories probed a little deeper. Although people of all races were hurt, the disturbing truth was that borrowers of color were targeted for subprime loans. With little protection from regulators, limited wealth, and often lacking a multigenerational history of home ownership, people of color were attractive targets. After all, when people of color holler, who listens?

Now the right wing - the same folks who brought you ineffective regulation and gunslinger capitalism - are blaming the government and people of color for the problem. Heaven forbid that the government should encourage fair mortgage lending, or that a single individual borrower should not be matched against mountains of fine print developed by a team of experts with six-figure salaries, packaged and sold as the promise of a little piece of America. Government pressure and individual irresponsibility caused the problem, they say.

It's doubtful affairs would have continued unquestioned as long as they did if the same greed-driven techniques had targeted the middle class white community. As Malcolm X said, the chickens have come home to roost.

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AWARE-LA calls upon the white anti-racist community to mobilize around the upcoming election.

Damali Ayo announces nationwide street-oriented event set for October 10, 2008.

"Last year over 70 people in 20 states sat out on street corners with homemade signs, cups, and banners and collected and distributed hundreds of dollars in reparations."

See reparationsday.com

A Boston white anti-racist workshop received coverage in July. Do Americans expect their business leaders to be white? Yes, study says. Multiracial social networks needed to quash racism in U.S., professor says. A DiversityInc article points to a Pew Research Center study finding that recent polls of white voting behavior for black candidates may be more accurate than people think. The recent Republican convention was, incredibly, whiter than usual (Article 1, Article 2). Ironically, so too was the opposition outside in the street. New Orleans continues to whiten itself. Renewed heat on civil rights cold cases yields limited results. Racism expert, in Canada at invitation of Royal Canadian Mounted Police, is tailed by Mounties. Did a Georgia congressman really call Obama 'uppity?' South Carolina GOP chairman quits whites-only country club. Hawaii tourism chief sends racist and sexist jokes by email.

Every once in a while Tim Wise hits a national nerve, and so it seems when two weeks ago his essay, "This is your nation on white privilege," became an internet phenomenon (Examples 1, 2, 3, 4). Maybe Tim might help tip the election. Not everyone was agreed. Of course Tim received a lot of pushback, and so he wrote a follow up essay.

Over the summer the Canadian government apologized for native residential (boarding) schools (Article 1, Article 2). The U.S. House of Representatives apologized for slavery. And the American Medical Association apologized for exclusionary practices.

White supremacists are for Obama, really. A black president is not something they want, but it's good for business. David Duke is holding a conference in Memphis in November. But don't despair, Memphis, the White Privilege Conference will visit next April. October rally in Louisville to support white supremacist terrorist. A New Jersey group is the first to distribute racist campaign fliers. Across the river in Philadlphia, a white supremacist is convicted of conspiracy to murder. In California one white supremacist is sentenced to death for murder, and another has a prior death penalty sentence upheld.

Not something to brag about: 1 in 10 Aussies are racist. Malaysia recently approved a race relations act. Some like it, others don't. Young white South Africans are not feeling good about themselves. A national museum does not help. So they act out, the theory goes. Meanwhile, white people are leaving South Africa in significant numbers. Italy has turned against immigrants, especially the Roma. The United Nations doesn't like it. Not all Italians share the government's sensitivities, as an incident this summer revealed. In the United Kingdom, Scotland Yard is called racist by ethnic minority officers. White on white trash talk lands man in British court.

A white University of Pennsylvania student now understands need for campus center for black culture. Is Madison, Wisconsin racist? Yes it is, says one U. Wisconsin student. No, it isn't replies another. Is he or isn't he? A high school student arrested for bringing a knife to school first claims, then disavows a white supremacist identity.

Mixed couples, Mexican and white, face harassment in Pennsylvania.

White parents and "blended" families encounter many issues.

A child of Taiwanese immigrants grows up white-identified in suburbia.

Advice to white people joining anti-racist discussions.

Why can't we get over color a white woman asks, and DiversityInc answers.

Christian Lander, creator of the blog, Stuff White People Like, explains his reasoning behind it.

A black cartoon lead character and series adds color to the otherwise pale new season, but the voice is supplied by a white actor (Article 1, Article 2).

Danny Glover finds support difficult for film without white leads.

White masculinity questioned in film, Pineapple Express.

What makes a murder sensational?

The National Football League is becoming more racially diverse, but race still impacts roles on field and off.

The College Baseball World Series remains 'incredibly' white.

A black NBA player disses the Star Spangled Banner and creates controversy.

"The racial implications of a Barack Obama presidency," by Mikhail Lyubansky. OpEdNews, September 25, 2008.

"Boxing Ourselves In: The Sad Irony of White Supremacy," by Tim Wise. Tim Wise's Blog, September 21, 2008.

"Reflections on White Anti-Intellectualism," by Tim Wise. Tim Wise's Blog, September 21, 2008.

"John McCain is white; Talk about that, Rep. Westmoreland," by Renee Martin. GlobalComment, September 13, 2008<./p>

"White Christian America versus everybody else," by Sara Robinson. Campaign for America's Future, September 4, 2008.

"White like me: 10 codes of ethics for white people in hip hop," by JLove Calderon. illvox.org, August 7, 2008.

"White by the numbers," by Tammerie. Truecolors, August 4, 2008.

"American medicine and white supremacy," by Glen Ford. Black Agenda Report, July 16, 2008.

"Why should white people fight racism? Take three," by One Drop. Too Sense, June 20, 2008.