Former USDA official Shirley Sherrod claims she was abruptly fired by the Obama administration because the White House feared Glenn Beck would target her in a segment on his show. (Which he did anyway, of course.) Ben Jealous, NAACP president, claims that he was “snookered” by “the right” into misrepresenting, exploiting and demonizing Sherrod. The way the Obama administration and the NAACP bungled the case of Shirley Sherrod should disturb and alarm everyone concerned with fairness, courage and racial honesty.

Denied due process, Shirley Sherrod was misrepresented, exploited, demonized …

While some people are overly invested in the trial of former BART transit cop Johannes Mehserle who was convicted Thursday of involuntary manslaughter for shooting Oscar Grant, life will go on. It seems much of the outrage stems from those who have focused primarily on the race of the cop in question, making Oscar Grant the poster child for racism conspiracy theories.
What most do not realize is there is little “new” about cases such as these. While historically there has been an established pattern of aggression where innocent men were …

Displaying more dignity and grace than most anyone else could have mustered under the circumstances, Haiti’s Ambassador to the United States, Raymond Joseph, offered a precise explanation of history to address the odious comments Pat Robertson made yesterday while men, women and children lay trapped in agony.

I am absolutely sick of people defending hate filled oratory.
Trent Lott’s comments “weren’t said with malice”.
Rush Limbaugh’s “just trying to rile people up”.
Both words and deeds count.
Think about it.

Being an honest, yet enthusiastic American requires the ability to consistently integrate the pretty, mythic narratives that our nation holds dear with the always more complicated and often very ugly truth of our American story. Like my experience of George Washington’s birthday, some American Indians refer to the Thanksgiving I celebrate as a National Day of Mourning. And with good reason.
Far away from the fables we learned as schoolchildren, the truth is that Pilgrim “settlers” came onto a land that had already been “settled”: corn planted, fields cleared, seeds …

Given discussions about health care reform and mental health care swirling around right now, I thought I would re-post this piece which first appeared here at All About Race in 2008. People love to cast me as an example of the American dream. And I love being an example. But I continue to examine what my success really means; and in large part it means I had a lot of help. Please share your thoughts in comments.

My conservative friends think I’ve gone and lost my mind. They think so because …

As I read Andrew’s second essay, I begin to accept that we live in mutually exclusive social realities. And that’s a painful recognition for me. As friends we share revulsion at the exploding deficit, clarity about keeping government out of our bedrooms and the belief that it is an inalienable right to keep guns in our homes. Further, we both do our best to accept each person we encounter as an individual without slathering on layers preconceived notions and expectations of stereotypical behavior.
But on the broader political plane, we’re …

By Andrew Padula
The Democratic party has been very effective at painting Republicans with the label of “racists”. I can understand why we are an easy target and vulnerable to racial persecution. Much has happened culturally in the past half century. Imagine the reaction that people would have today to the uncut images portrayed in Disney’s “Song of the South” or the language of “Blazing Saddles”. Try to visualize the images of urban ghetto life as portrayed in the police shows of the 70’s or …

One of the most interesting black conservative blogs around is Booker Rising. I recommend it. Shay Riley and I don’t agree on everything, but I almost always understand her point of view and I don’t recall her reflexively calling black people who disagree with her one derogatory name or another. I admit I figured folks over at Booker Rising would all be doing back flips of joy over the Black Conservative Town Hall Glenn Beck show. [Click Here for Full Show Transcript]
Not exactly.
A number of Booker Rising readers and other …

A Black conservative town hall filled the studio audience of Glenn Beck’s Friday the 13th show. I wouldn’t characterize it as a horror story, far from it. Solid points about the need to instill more black urban kids with a love for education and learning were made. But I will say right off that it was frightening to observe the monstrous delusions of many who spoke during the show. And what had me gasping in cynical laughter, was that every time a ‘black conservative’ stood up and said anything that …

“Does Conservative Mean Racist,” kicked off a dynamic discussion over on twitter yesterday. If you have an account, please follow me @allaboutrace and I hope others in the All About Race community will leave their twitter accounts in the comment section here so we can rap through our tweets. Anyhow, reactions to Andrew’s post ranged from frustrated and fed up, to tempered disagreement, to full on support.
I felt some disappointment about the conclusions he reached, but I know he often feels the same about mine. Still, obviously, I am steadfast …

There is nothing more anti-American than to lie about our nation’s multi-colored history. To see our nation in all of her glory is to see our remarkable democracy as an awesome human undertaking. But Pat Buchanan, and so many others like him, will never be able to embrace the promise and the purpose that the Founding Fathers laid out because it now includes all people who seek freedom not just white men.

Since the presidential campaign of 2008 and the election of our nation’s first black president, Patrick J. Buchanan has …

I voted today. Here, in Los Angeles, I was one of the few to do so. With prospects of skyrocketing taxes, deep cuts to education and healthcare hanging in the balance, almost nobody cared enough to cast a vote. At the time I write this on Tuesday night, a 12% voter turnout is predicted.
What happened to us?
And by us I mean all of us who gathered last November to stand in line for as long as it took to cast our vote. For a moment, when I stepped into my …

Latoya Peterson of Racialicious has put together an overview post that incorporates most of the arguments and observations surrounding the meteoric rise of white rapper Asher Roth. [See 'New York Times' article] I’m a fan of classic rap and hip hop. The new stuff that I like is not the type of music to get radio play. Put out a song with too much melody and sophisticated lyrics about real issues and you are sure to have limited spins.
Asher Roth’s catchy little ditty “I Love College” did catch my …

Katherine has spoken of being on a journey to learn more about the reality of racism in 2009. Sometimes that journey gets bumpy, as it did this week. Here are her reflections:
When Carmen posted the stunning and unbelievable lyrics from Rolling Stone’s “Brown Sugar” it revealed a shocking tale of slave rape. Carmen asked us if we knew of any other popular music that hummed of racism. I got right to it and began my hunt. Surely and sadly there would be many songs that may have hidden …

Have you ever listened to the actual lyrics of the rock and roll classic "Brown Sugar" by The Rollingstones? Well, here they are:
Brown Sugar(The Rolling Stones)
gold coast slave ship bound for cotton fields,sold in a market down in New Orleans.Scarred old slaver know he’s doin’ all right.Hear him whip the women just around midnight.
brown sugarhow come you taste so goodbrown sugarjust like a young girl should
drums beating coldEnglish blood runs hotlady of the house wondrinwhere its gonna stop.house boy knows that he’s doin’ all right.you shoulda heard him just around …