swirlspice

746 (Taken with Instagram at Lakewood Cemetery)

Mon, 28 May 2012 09:30:52 -0500

746 (Taken with Instagram at Lakewood Cemetery)

sinidentidades: How Student Debt Impacts Students of Color anticapitalist: On July 1 the interest...

Mon, 28 May 2012 08:40:44 -0500

How Student Debt Impacts Students of Color

anticapitalist:

On July 1 the interest rate on federally subsidized Stafford Loans will double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent if Congress doesn’t act. Though this rate hike will have devastating consequences on more than 7 million students nationwide who currently hold a Stafford Loan, change will hit students of color especially hard.

The facts below show how students of color depend on financial aid to finance their college education and how they are uniquely impacted by student debt.

1. Students are having trouble paying back their college loans. Studies show that only 37 percent of students are able to repay their loans on time. Students of color are more likely to depend on financial aid to attend college and have higher trends of student debt.

2. For the first time, student loan debt has surpassed credit card debt in the United States. Student college loan debt is now higher than all credit card debtin the country put together. Nationwide, student debt is at $867 billion compared to credit card debt at $704 billion.

3. People of color, particularly African Americans, are graduating with more student debt. African American students in particular are graduating withmuch more debt than white students. A 2010 study by the College Board Advocacy & Policy Center found that student loan debt levels of $30,500 or higher were more common among 27 percent of black bachelor’s degree recipients compared to 16 percent of their white counterparts.

4. Youth unemployment (ages 16 to 24) is higher for people of color, making student debt a significant financial burden. Youth unemployment is highest among youth of color, with rates for African American youth at 30 percent and Latino youth at 20 percent, compared to the white youth unemployment rate of 16 percent.

5. Students of color rely on other forms of financial aid, such as Pell Grants, which are also facing significant cuts. Students who will lose eligibility or be cut from the Pell Grant program—a means of access to higher education and social opportunity for low-income families—will likely turn to loans to make up the difference.At a majority of historically black colleges and universities in particular, two-thirds or more of all enrolled students receive Pell Grants, with more than 90 percent of students receiving these grants at eight such institutions of higher learning.

6. While educational attainment increases among Latinos, the achievement gap continues. From 2001 to 2011 the number of Latinos with a bachelor’s degree or higher education increased 80 percent from 2.1 million to 3.8 million. But there’s still an achievement gap: By 2012 only 14 percent of all U.S. Latinos over the age of 25 had bachelor’s degrees, compared to 34 percent of whites. A 2009 Pew Hispanic Center survey found the most common reason for the gap was pressure to support their families financially, forcing them to choose between college and their families. This means that low-interest-rate loans are that much more important to Latino youth in completing their college careers.

7. More students of color are taking out private loans, exposing them to more financial risk. There was an approximate 16 percent increase and 12 percentincrease among black and Hispanic students, respectively, that took out private loans, from the 2003–04 to 2007–08 school years. While federal loans have lower interest rates than private loans, doubling the rate will bring the two closer together, making students of color more vulnerable to defaulting on their loans.

8. Students of color are more likely to enroll in for-profit schools, which currently account for nearly half of student loan defaults. For-profit colleges and universities tend to have higher tuition, increased dropout rates, and insurmountable debt for students. This puts economic and academic barriers on students of color, making it more difficult for them to graduate.

9. Students of color with higher student debt are left with fewer options.Deferments and forbearances often provide short-term debt relief, but the interest on the loans may accrue and capitalize during the forbearance or deferment period, making the loans more expensive in the long term.

10. Student debt hinders students of color from homeownership. Past-due payments hinder borrowers due to lower credit scores and having their wages used for loan repayment.According to the Federal Reserve, fewer young people are getting mortgages—just 9 percent of 29-to-34-year-olds got a first-time mortgage from 2009 to 2011, compared to 17 percent in 2001.

Allowing Stafford Loan interest rates to double would make the cost of college skyrocket—the cost of college for those relying on Stafford Loans would increase by 20 percent. Given that students of color are more likely to rely on financial aid to finance their college education and graduate with higher student debt, increasing these interest rates would disproportionately impact them. We need to focus on making college more affordable, particularly at a time when students need a good education to be competitive in the international economy.

"Last week at Racialicious HQ, we were delighted to see the term “hipster racism”—coined by our very..."

Sun, 27 May 2012 17:03:03 -0500

“

Last week at Racialicious HQ, we were delighted to see the term “hipster racism”—coined by our very own Carmen Van Kerckhove in 2006*—suddenly enter mainstream parlance, thanks to Jezebel’s publication of Lindy West’s “A Guide to Hipster Racism.” In a flash, the words “hipster racism” papered themselves across Facebook and Twitter feeds across the continent (and maybe the world?). Words are wonderful, and when more people have access to language that helps them name the racism of everyday life, we’re happy.

There was only one glitch. While West linked to one Racialicious post (a short piece Carmen wrote in 2007 about white girls and gang signs) she never once name-checks Racialicious or Carmen…or any of our amazing pals and allies who have been writing about this stuff since the main target was Gwen Stefani’s Harajuku Girls (i.e. a long time ago).

On the one hand, no one takes up social-justice work to see their name in lights and, at the end of the day, the point is just to get the message across, no matter who gives it the signal boost. On the other hand, we’re only human. It hurts when work that we, as a collective, have been jackhammering about for seven-plus years gets credited to someone else. (Seven years, y’all! Back to the dawn of skinny jeans! Before Facebook was open to the public, for cripes’ sake.)

And as our friends at Bitch pointed out, it is also distressing, though not in the least surprising, that the words “hipster racism” are more palatable, resonant, and listenable when they come from the mouth of a white blogger. It’s enough to make you get real low and start thinking terrible emo thoughts, like one white blogger is worth more than ten bloggers of colour.

”

- See, you know it’s bad when your fooliganery brings someone out of retirement to cuss you out. But Jezebel’s failure to credit writers of color—specifically the R’s founder Carmen (Van Kerckhove) Sognonvi—for bringing the term “hipster racism” into the daily vocabulary brought back the R’s former Associate Editor Thea Lim. Her snap is on the R today. (via racialicious)

powells: fuckyeahreading: What speed do you read? (Remember,...

Sun, 27 May 2012 16:24:24 -0500

powells:

fuckyeahreading:

What speed do you read? (Remember, it’s not a race!)

PS: photo-reply is turned on :)

This was fun. (Seems, perhaps not surprisingly, we read pretty fast.)

The average adult reads more slowly than the average college student.

"Let me get this straight. Millions of outraged Americans are just credulous amateurs fooled by a..."

Sun, 27 May 2012 15:37:52 -0500

“Let me get this straight. Millions of outraged Americans are just credulous amateurs fooled by a cynical left wing ploy to stir up racial division? A man murders a kid. The police botch the investigation. Race appears to play a crucial role in both outcomes. Then a bunch of people find out about it and are outraged. And we’re the ones stirring up racial discord? This is the absurdity that the modern ideology of colorblindness will bring you to. Colorblindness has nothing to do with eradicating racism. It is about denying its existence and power. And so when faced with actual racism in such stark form, the colorblindness zealots must cast blame on those drawing attention to the racism. There is a significant segment of white opinion that continues to find efforts to combat racism more objectionable than the racism itself.”

- Jesse Curtis (via azspot)

Today’s sermon.

The doors of the church are now open…
(via racialicious)

"Family is the epicenter of Black life, community and culture. For Black LGBT people, its importance..."

Sun, 27 May 2012 14:53:26 -0500

“

Family is the epicenter of Black life, community and culture. For Black LGBT people, its importance is just as great. Studies show that Black lesbian partners parent at almost the same rate as Black heterosexual couples (45 percent and 51 percent, respectively). In comparison to their white counterparts, Black lesbian couples are more likely to be raising children. But without the legal protections that marriage provides, our families are some of our nation’s most vulnerable.

Robbed of the 1,138 federal protections and benefits available to married couples, including Social Security survivors benefits, Medicaid spend-down protections, and workers’ compensation, our Black same-sex families are disproportionately put in harm’s way. And it doesn’t stop there. According to the report LGBT Families of Color: Facts at a Glance, 28 percent of children raised by Black female same-sex couples live in poverty. That’s more than double the poverty rates of children raised by Black married heterosexual parents (13 percent) and white married heterosexual parents (7 percent).

Despite these challenges, Black lesbians continue to care for children in need of a loving and supportive home. Research shows that same-sex partners who become foster parents are more likely to be families of color than among heterosexual married couples. Yet 40 states plus the District of Columbia are silent on fostering by LGBT parents, while two states restrict it. Same-sex couples also face uncertainty about joint adoption in 28 states and are prohibited entirely in 5 other states.

”

- National Black Justice Coalition, “Happy Mother’s Day: Saluting Our Black Lesbian Moms“

(via Son of Baldwin)

(via Twin Cities thinking ahead about electric-car charging...

Sun, 27 May 2012 14:07:02 -0500

(via Twin Cities thinking ahead about electric-car charging stations | MinnPost)

I just like that logo.

"It’s a sad irony that we promote self-defense classes as a way of combating violence against women,..."

Sun, 27 May 2012 13:16:43 -0500

“It’s a sad irony that we promote self-defense classes as a way of combating violence against women, yet many of the women of color, trans and cis alike, are currently imprisoned precisely because they fought back against violence in their homes and in the streets.
Too often trans and queer women of color survive violence in their homes and on the streets only to have the police, courts and prison-industrial complex come after them for having the audacity to survive in a world where, as Audre Lorde said in her poem “A Litany For Survival,” they “were never meant to survive”.”

- The Trans Women’s Anti-Violence Project: Self-Defense and the Criminalization of Survival (via lavender-labia)

"The second perspective that restricts race-talk is the common notion that spirituality, much like..."

Sun, 27 May 2012 12:35:47 -0500

“

The second perspective that restricts race-talk is the common notion that spirituality, much like life in America, is a personal matter. From prayer, to worship, and even to acts of compassion, American evangelicals find their worldviews thoroughly enculturated in individualism.

One of the hallmarks of individualism is what many racial scholars call “the bootstraps model.” This states that the key factor for an individual’s or groups’ success is their value system. Ethnic minorities achieve via hard work and sacrifice; Christians through effort and growing in the “Fruit of the Spirit.” The former perspective is usually espoused by those who believe America is a land of equal opportunity, where all people, regardless of their racial, gender, or economic backgrounds can attain the American Dream by pulling themselves up by their bootstraps.

Asian Americans are held up as the bootstraps’ poster children. Since I will address this more in the next section, I’ll only say this here. Wonder why Amy Chua, author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, rose to Time Magazine’s 2011 Top 100 People List? My speculation: to maintain the belief that hard work, sacrifice, and helicopter parenting are the “keys” to success. And Asian Americans, like Chua, have a monopoly on it.1

Please don’t misinterpret me: value systems that include the aforementioned qualities are extremely important to progress. But this argument, when applied to America’s racial dynamics, works by ruling out all other external factors from why certain groups succeed and others don’t. It does not analyze how racial groups are treated differently on account of their race, both historically and presently.2

Michael Emerson, in Divided by Faith, wonderfully demonstrates how this bootstraps argument is one of the main culprits for American evangelicals’ lack of racial concerns. As his research studies white Americans, he shows how they often perceive moral choices (i.e., value systems) as the root cause for why whites and Asian Americans do well while Latinos and African Americans do poorly. They are, thus, never taught to look at other institutional culprits that affect certain racial groups’ opportunities, access, and lives. For example, how Bank of America intentionally charged Blacks and Latinos higher interest rates than whites on home loans; or how research shows “blacks and whites use drugs at about the same rate, yet African Americans are 10 times as likely to be imprisoned for drug offenses.”

Despite American evangelicalism’s individualistic history, it brings me great joy to know that much of the American Church is returning to its roots of biblical justice. In particular, addressing the vast disparity between rich and poor is becoming a priority. Christians’ understandings of the causes of poverty and all its residual effects are becoming more complex than the oversimplification of poor life choices.

If Christians can make the connections between how structures of power shape and (can) determine the outcomes of people’s lives, perhaps they can expand this understanding to American racial politics. Forty Catholic leaders recently released a rebuking open letter to some of the Republican presidential candidates, challenging them to “reject the politics of racial division, refrain from offensive rhetoric, and unite behind an agenda that promotes racial and economic justice.” These Catholics understand how racialized and disparaging comments can perpetuate and reinforce the way race shapes our views, categorizations, and treatment of certain groups.

”

- I deeply apologize for not posting this sooner. ::side-eyes tablet::

However, I am so loving Paul Matsushima’s post on how the tenets of US exceptionalism and The Model Minority Myth isn’t helping conversations about race—and strategizing ways to deal/combat racism—in some Asian American evangelical churches at the R today.
(via racialicious)

"…while one can dismiss these comments as outliers, as representative of trolls or extremists, or..."

Sun, 27 May 2012 11:48:29 -0500

“

…while one can dismiss these comments as outliers, as representative of trolls or extremists, or even link these comments to the whiteness of hockey, it is crucial to reflect on the larger context. These comments reflect broader trends online, within contemporary racial discourse, and within American sports culture.

From recent tweets from model/actress Jessica Leandra Dos Santos to those directed at webseries showrunner Issa Rae and those following the release of The Hunger Games, Twitter has become rife with racial epithets, sexism, and other forms of hate speech. The level of vitriol and the ubiquity of epithets and violence language have been well-documented: therefore, the tweets directed at Ward reflect a larger pattern of racism online, as opposed to a hockey-specific manifestation. At one level, racism online reflects the technology and aesthetics that define an online environment.

Whether emboldened by anonymity, or the fact that millions of people now have a platform to disseminate their views, ideologies, and world view, the nature of online racism merely reflects the available technology. A 1993 cartoon in The New Yorker captured the appeal of virtual reality for people to voice and show the worst in themselves and society at large.

As Northwestern University professor Pablo Boczkowski told NewsOne, “We always had people shouting on the street. It was a handful of people, and the sender of the message could be clearly identified. Now the audience is much bigger, it’s more unknown, it’s more diverse potentially, and this has changed the dynamics of the game.”

The existence of avatars, online handles, and twitter accounts that can be deleted in a moment notice fosters a culture where epithets and racist pronouncements are seemingly detached from the real-body giving voice to them. The author is unclear, yet the consequences are daily evident. Brendesha Tines, professor African-American studies and psychology at the University of Illinois, describes an online world rampant with racism. In her study of high school youth, she found that 29 percent of African Americans and 42 percent of those identifying as “other” or mixed race experienced racial epithets or other forms of racism online; some 71% of African Americans and 67% of whites and mixed-race youth “witnessed discrimination experienced by same-race and cross-race peers.” It would be a mistake to look at the tweets directed at Joel Ward as an aberration but rather a visible manifestation of the daily realities of online racism.

It would also be a mistake to particularize these tweets as evidence of the sordid debauchery of online spaces. While reflecting online culture, and the presence of “trolls,” the racism directed at Joel Ward, as with other examples, reveals the nature of racism within contemporary society.

”

- BOOM! David Leonard does an incredible analysis on the linkages between sports, casting, and other aspects of pop culture on the R today. (via racialicious)

Photo

Sun, 27 May 2012 11:03:22 -0500

"The more I think about it, the more it seems to me that this debacle, and the media response to it,..."

Sun, 27 May 2012 10:12:45 -0500

“The more I think about it, the more it seems to me that this debacle, and the media response to it, tell a story about the subtle ways in which white supremacy remains deeply embedded in our culture–in the media, in academia, and in our “national conversation” about race and racism in general. Four ways this story is about white supremacy:”

- On The CHE‘s Reinforcement Of Suspicion Of Black Academia | Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture

Click through to find out what those four ways are.

"Scandal was renewed last week, and thank God, because their ex-CIA torture specialist needs at least..."

Sun, 27 May 2012 09:27:51 -0500

“

Scandal was renewed last week, and thank God, because their ex-CIA torture specialist needs at least two seasons to experience a full mental break, it’s going to take more than seven episodes for the president’s marriage to completely fall apart, and— wait, did someone just get stabbed in the back of the neck with a pair of scissors? The show has successfully combined the elements necessary for a semi-decent and well-received political drama: White House intrigue, lawyer, a broad ensemble cast, and the unabashed promotion of Democratic policies delivered via epic monologues that don’t actually reflect the way anyone speaks. Renewed, Kerry Washington automatically becomes the longest African-American female lead on network television since 1974.

None of that matters in Scandal’s DC though, where Washington’s Olivia Pope’s race has so far been a non-issue. Given her affair with the sitting (white) president it could very well have been an issue tackled by Shonda Rhimes (and still might be— the show is only six episodes in). Some reviewers question the fact that it hasn’t been mentioned, but it is ‘refreshing’ to be introduced to a leading black character in the modern world through the lense of their personality, profession, and actions rather than their race—you know, the way every other character on television is viewed. Furthermore, it’s proof for certain people that writing a character of color doesn’t need necessarily need to be any more complicated than writing a white one.

Scandal might not be the deepest or best written show on television right now, but it’s an entertaining distraction and certainly deserves more than seven episodes. Besides, after cancelling my other guilty pleasure, GCBs, ABC owes me one.

”

- Yeah, Scandal’s my guilty pleasure, too, so I’m glad ABC renewed it, too. Check out what else TV Co-correspondent Kendra James & Managing Editor Arturo R. García said about the Upfronts on the R today. (via racialicious)

dumbthingswhitepplsay: esmeweatherwax: vizzz: straighttohelvet...

Sun, 27 May 2012 08:45:46 -0500

dumbthingswhitepplsay:

esmeweatherwax:

vizzz:

straighttohelvetica:

dumbthingswhitepplsay:

vizzz:

(twenty trans women who were killed by hate crimes.)

All are women of color, I believe.

Great graphic. I wish there were names attached so I could learn more about the women it features.

yr wish is my command, friend!

the women pictured here are, row by row:

bella evangelista, agnes torres sulca, amanda gonzalez andujar, chanelle pickett, angie zapata

emonie spaulding, deoni jones, duanna johnson, myra chanel ical, gwen araujo

rita hester, sanesha stewart, paige clay, ruby ordeñana, robyn browne

stacey blahnik lee, taysia elzy, victoria carmen white, venus xtravaganza, and tyli mack.

Reblobbing again for the list of names

for the names

"You’ll go through this, because I went through this in my early 40s, which is you start getting..."

Sat, 26 May 2012 19:10:00 -0500

“You’ll go through this, because I went through this in my early 40s, which is you start getting really obsessed with age. You start to feel really old, and you start doing this math: ‘How long do I have for this, and how long do I have for to hit this age?’ You start to feel super old. And then weirdly it will pass, once you kind of go, ‘I can’t do anything about it. It’s happening.’ Do this, because this is always a nice salve: Look back on the first time you thought you were old and it was over, and it was probably some time in your mid-30s, and you’ll go, ‘Well s—, I’m 40 now, and what an a–hole I was for thinking that back then, because look how young I was then!’””

- Paul Feig (director of Bridesmaids) on turning 40 in Entertainment Weekly.

I’ve been so obsessed with age lately. I don’t like it, but I dislike getting older even less.
(via skeskali2)
I’m really enjoying my 30s, and I only just turned 34, but I’m already starting to wonder about 40.

ethiopienne: thg cast appreciation - “My mom reminds me that...

Sat, 26 May 2012 19:01:26 -0500

ethiopienne:

thg cast appreciation - “My mom reminds me that all things are possible. If I’m feeling unsure, she’ll say, ‘Hey, you’re Rue!’ Within months after reading the novel The Hunger Games, I went from telling my mom that I could see myself as this character to actually getting the role. My mother reminds me that if I could manifest such an important role just because I wanted it so much, all of my dreams are possible” - Amandla Stenberg

tell me she is not the most precious child in the world, i dare you.

RUE

mauricecherry: Awkward Black Girl Season 2 - Trailer (by...

Sat, 26 May 2012 18:46:54 -0500

mauricecherry:

Awkward Black Girl Season 2 - Trailer (by iamOTHER)

Season 2!

YES

racialicious: sapphrikah: cakedonuts: vintageblack2: LMFAAOOOOO...

Sat, 26 May 2012 18:38:52 -0500

racialicious:

sapphrikah:

cakedonuts: vintageblack2:

LMFAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

::dies, holler-laughs with Jesus and Buddha::

Ignorance (is a poor excuse)

Sat, 26 May 2012 18:38:33 -0500

racialicious:

biyuti:

So that thread going on about cis people being ignorant of what ‘cis’ means and generally not knowing all the ‘politically correct’ things. And that we should be polite and forgiving, I guess if someone is using the wrong language or whatever.

There is a reason why focusing on impacts, rather than intent, is important. To use an analogy that I think Riley has before…

If you are standing on my neck, but don’t know, it doesn’t actually change the fact that you are standing on my neck.

If I ask (or tell) you to get off my neck, responding with, “I didn’t know I was standing on your neck!” as you continue to stand on my neck doesn’t actually change shit.

If I ask, perhaps with some amount of anger, you to get the fuck off my neck, responding with, “Well, if you said please, I’d get off but you are being rude,” WHILE STILL STANDING ON MY FUCKING NECK.

If, while standing on my neck, you finally hear my chocking and gasping breath, you say, “It appears I’m standing on your neck, maybe you could share your experience with me,” but not actually getting off my neck.

Tell me. At what point is it okay for me to blame you for standing on my neck? Why do you even think I care about why you are doing it? I don’t.

All I want is to breath and live, BUT YOU ARE STANDING ON MY FUCKING NECK!

I don’t care that you didn’t know. I don’t care that there may have been some magic word that would elicit your cooperation. I don’t care if you just want to learn.

I don’t care why someone is oppressing me. Don’t care and I don’t want to hear it.

Because you never fucking get it: all I want to do is live and breath but all I can see is your fucking foot on my throat. Maybe get the fuck off and maybe I’ll start caring about why you were doing it.

Produce-themed bike rack. Apropos for the building adjacent to a...

Sat, 26 May 2012 14:38:35 -0500

Produce-themed bike rack. Apropos for the building adjacent to a farmer’s market. (Taken with Instagram at Kingfield Farmers Market)