WACANupdate A fortnightly e-magazine, circulation 1,393 News and opinion of interest to the white anti-racist community June 10, 2009 Contact: news@wacan.org Publication schedule Letters to the editor Submission guidelines Privacy Advertising About WACAN   Reruns on demand by Jeff Hitchcock It’s the end of the road, time to close another season. If you have just subscribed, I hope this notice is not too disconcerting. Long time subscribers know by now our next issue will arrive the week before Columbus Day. It’s time for some well earned rest and relaxation. But there is more to it than that. Summer, and that first piece of early fall, is the time for working on structural matters of web design and redesign, focusing on publishing projects, and catching up on other lagging projects, recordkeeping, and administrative tasks. It’s when we hold our annual planning session. The WACANupdate is a 1-person project, and that same person, me, is responsible for the other duties I just listed. Thus the WACANupdate has a season. And that’s part of the fun of the WACANupdate as a publication, not that there is anything funny about our topics of focus. I hope you feel a little lift when you receive our latest edition in your email. Fun in that sense. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. This past season we gained 179 new subscribers, for a 15% rate of growth. We published 18 issues, and finished our 4th complete season. This issue of the WACANupdate is Number 108. Next season we’d like to improve on these numbers, and we thank you for your help making this season a success. We will be back on October 7, 2009 with our traditional anti-Columbus Day rant and call for action (hand out a flyer). In the meantime there are always reruns on demand. We’ll be doing a little maintenance on the archives this summer, but they will remain open and accessible. Enjoy your summer.   Letters to the Editor No letters since the last WACANupdate. Spring fund drive ends midnight today, June 10 We have raised a modest $661 toward our goal of $1,500. Times are hard and we have not pushed our appeal as much as in past years. But today is the final day, and we can use your support. If you can, donate to WACAN today.   NEWS ITEMS General News UN expert tells US government to fight racial profiling. A government report details the changing demographics of US schoolchildren. Teacher transfers linked to influx of black students. What happens when white is the standard in training for paramedics? A town in the Mississippi delta remains divided by race. New Urban League report documents racial disparities. Reformed Church of America declares racism a sin. Murder of white man looks like a hate crime. Murder counts against white defendants dropped in dragging death of black man in Texas. Protests follow. But one seasoned racial justice fighter in the South questions the reaction. Nominee Sotomayor The GOP attacks Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor. The right characterizes her as a member of the Klan, or as a Buddhist with Asian features. Democrats respond. And pundits take on white men (Article 1, Article 2, Article 3, Article 4, Article 5). Racism Black Harvard student removed from dorm and denied graduation under mysterious administrative action. Replicating past boarding school racism in present day Canada. Waffle House sued for discrimination. Walmart sued for racial profiling. Shipyard workers cite racism in lawsuit. Morris Count, NJ, jail officers sue corrections department claiming racial discrimination. Ex-employees claim racism in Wells Fargo subprime loan push. Kina, racist Swedish candy bar. Eat a filipino. An odd case with no good outcome takes place in Idaho. Law and order A white Oklahoma state trooper halts an ambulance carrying a patient to a hospital to give the black ambulance driver a ticket. There’s a video. Black New York City cop in plain clothes shot in error by white officer. Dare anyone suggest there’s a racial angle? Another ‘black man did it’ hoax sparks outrage. Missouri blacks racially profiled. Somali group to file racism complaint against Minneapolis Police Department. Anti-immigrant activist pleads guilty in bizarre racial assault on black woman. 65 years for feeding the hungry. Seattle men arrested after yelling racial slurs at store clerk. White supremacists Trial for Nevada white supremacist gang members to start. Hatewatch interviews expert on white nationalism. Canadian court hears of white supremacist parenting. Ann Coulter defends white supremacist group. White supremacists in Calgary make a disturbing appearance. Good things Regarding the fatal police shooting of Oscar Grant in an Oakland subway in January, the shooter will now go on trial. Formal apology for Connecticut's history of slavery passes House. Race relations committee looks for consultant. Survey brings up question of race relations in Charlotte. A new civilian watch group in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, is bringing together blacks and Jews. San Francisco public education activists score a victory for racial equity. Native American protest turns friendly after regulations clarified. Unitarians from Long Island attend antiracism training in New York City. St. Cloud, MN, to hold film discussion about slavery. Studies show... White young men are often binge drinkers. Racism impacts psychosis rates in the UK. White people prefer baby faced black men. Canada’s integration problem is racism, not multiculturalism. ABC News revisits the Clarks’ famed doll experiment. International A pattern of murders of immigrants from India is Australia has led to much discussion between the two countries. One Indians finds Australians racist. We’re not the racists, replies an Australian. The Australian government denies racism as a motivation for the attacks. The economic reaction begins to sink in. The Australian Prime Minister assures his Indian counterpart that actions will be taken on racial attacks. In another story from Australia, indigenous Australians are healthier when living a traditional lifestyle. Police in the UK discover stash of deadly poison, Ricin, in raid of white supremacists. The police suspect a plot. Anti-terror police arrest suspected white supremacist. Payout given to drinker over beer garden racism. Council sorry for racism threat. Anti-racist group launches anti-facism spot against BNP prior to election. But the BNP won a seat anyway and the next day anti-racism protestors pelt BNP leader. Germany is called upon to step up anti-racism efforts. Oil firms and loggers push indigenous people to the brink of extinction in Brazil, Peru and Paraquay.         HUMOR   A WACAN member and newsletter subscriber send us this comedy video, based on her experiences in Europe "where we are really feeling the rise of extremism and racially-motivated violence, especially against the Roma (Gypsies). In the video, Sue Hamster takes on a bunch of angry shaved heads to show them who’s boss. 5 reasons why only white males are Supreme Court material.     PEOPLE & LIFESTYLE   What it’s like to go undercover and infiltrate some of America’s most dangerous hate groups. The contemporary fate of white settler families in Africa. When your uncle is also your father. The experience of race in Brazil and the US. The blog Stuff White People Do has several new entries: Go to amber-alert when a male person of color is near her toddler. Raise their children in isolation from people of color. Hang back like Boo Radley during discussions of race. Think that doing something racist is okay if you somehow distance yourself from the racism. Think of race in America in terms of black and white. This is where white guilt comes from.     BOOKS   Book review: Witnessing Whiteness: First steps toward an antiracist practice and culture, by Shelly Tochluk. Interracial family prevails in 1920s Alabama. Book review: How Race survived in U.S. History: From settlement and slavery to the Obama phenomenon, by David Roediger.     OPINION & ANALYSIS White Muslims and white privilege White Muslims blog about their experience of white privilege. Radio interviews In the past two weeks, Eddie Moore, Jr. and Tim Wise have appeared on the C.O.W.S. (Context of White Supremacy) radio program for in-depth discussions of white supremacy. Articles "Stealing the language of empathy and anti-racism," by Joe. RacismReview.com, June 7, 2009. "Environmentalism is political white privilege," by Jeremy R. Levine. Social Science Lite, June 5, 2009. "Conservative justice and the Ricci firefighter’s case: African American leadership," by Dr. Ron Walters, PhD. the Black Commentator, June 4, 2009. "Harpooning the great white wail: Racism, the Supreme Court and right-wing buffoonery," by Tim Wise. Red Room, May 31, 2009. "A redneck view of Obama’s presidency," by Joe Bageant. AlterNet, May 27, 2009. "If Hello Kitty had a mouth she’d be screaming by now," by Czerina Salud. HuffingtonPost.com, May 25, 2009. "Elite colleges are promoting a culture of selfish, cutthroat behavior and we are all paying the price," by Peter Schmidt. AlterNet, May 23, 2009.     EVENTS How to submit an event CLICK June 7-8; 9-10, 2009 Richfield, MN "Seeing the face of God in each other: Province VI anti-racism training for The Episcopal Church" Workshop Province VI Anti-Racism Network and the Advocacy Center at The Episcopal Church Center in New York CLICK June 16, 2009 Cambridge, MA "White people challenging racism: Moving from talk to action" 5-session workshop White People Challenging Racism CLICK July 7-12, 2009 Lyons, MI "Doing our own work. A seminar for anti-racist white people" Seminar Allies for Change CLICK July 23-26, 2009 Los Angeles, CA "Unmasking Whiteness Institute" Institute AWARE-LA       Your donation counts!   We have raised $661 toward our goal of $1500 for our 2009 Spring Appeal. Fax or USmail: (print this form) Phone: (click) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Your donation is tax-exempt. All donations acknowledged with receipt. For more information about the Center for The Study of White American Culture, see www.euroamerican.org Our online credit card donations are processed by Groundspring.org, a reputable partner to many activist organizations. For more information about Groundspring.org, see www.groundspring.org GO ONLINE TO WACAN www.wacan.org