Racism

In his June 11 commentary denouncing white racism, David Bradley offers several horrific examples to make his case. He never mentions any equally horrific hate crimes where whites are the victims. The tone of his article seems to be that racism is only the province of whites. According to the Clinton Justice Department, which is about as politically correct an agency as you can get, 90% of interracial violence is perpetrated by blacks against whites. Given such a statistic, only the incredibly naive or those with an agenda would deny that in many of these instances whites were targeted because of the color of their skin.

The Jackie Robinson biopic "42," which opened in theaters nationwide Friday, presents an opportune moment for adults to have meaningful conversations with their kids about the history of racism in the United States. But with that opportunity comes an array of challenges, especially for younger audiences keen on seeing a story of an iconic sports hero. It really comes down to language. Given a PG-13 rating for "thematic elements including language" from the Motion Picture Assn.

Most everyone in the low-income housing projects in northern Bondy knows about "Intouchables," the hit French film about a poor black man from their neighborhood who is hired to take care of a rich white quadriplegic. But as dark settled over the northeast Paris suburb's labyrinth of high-rise projects, few of the young men who huddled under awnings in a stark central square said they had actually seen the film. Even though most knew of a cousin or friend who had played a bit part when scenes were shot in Bondy, "we're too poor to go to the movies," said Ibrahim, 28, who runs the kebab restaurant in the square and declined to give his last name to a stranger.

It was a sad moment for many Republicans during the 2008 presidential contest when Arizona Sen. John McCain refused to let his staff use the fiery left-wing sermons of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright against Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. Yoking Obama to his Chicago pastor's unforgiving views on American imperialism and racism was so tempting that four years later, a Republican strategist came up with a plan to use the material against Obama “to do exactly what John McCain would not let us do.”  The plan, criticized as blatantly racist, was scuttled and the strategist later apologized.

Every morning during television coverage of the World Cup, on the Mexican equivalent of the "Today" show, co-hosts chat, trade barbs and yuck it up. Behind them, actors in blackface makeup, dressed in fake animal skins and wild "Afro" wigs, gyrate, wave spears and pretend to represent a cartoonish version of South Africa. Yes, in the 21st century, blackface characters on a major television network. But this is Mexico, and definitions of racism are complicated and influenced by the country's own tortured relationship with invading powers and indigenous cultures.

I struck a nerve two weeks ago when I suggested that all Americans, Latinos especially, owe a collective thank you to black people for their struggles for equality. Recognizing this truth, and teaching our children that black people fighting for their own freedom helped free all of us, I argued, can help combat intolerance in communities where blacks and Latinos live side by side. I got more than 300 messages, mostly positive. Dozens of black people thanked me for "saying what someone . . .

When Henry Hearns moved to Lancaster in the 1960s, the city's reputation for racism compelled him to go door to door, warning neighbors that he was black. "I wanted them to know I love my wife, I love my children and I don't want any problem," he said. But the prejudice he anticipated faded as the years passed, he said. Hearns, a pastor, was even, for a time, the city's only black mayor. His experience points to a little-known distinction of this high desert city: Lancaster, population 157,000, leads Los Angeles County in black-white integration.

They were once hailed as a potent symbol of France's ethnic melting pot; the French soccer team, known as Les Bleus but nicknamed the "black-blanc-beur" (black-white-Arab) squad. Today, French soccer officials stand accused of hatching a secret plan to limit the number of nonwhite players in line to eventually make the national squad. A secret recording has members of the country's soccer federation discussing capping the number of 12- and 13-year-old black and Arab hopefuls at sports academies to 30%. Quotagate, as it is being called, emerged on the investigative website Mediapart last week, sparking controversy and official inquiries.

I agree with the basic premise of Haywood's article that racism is not dead. Racism will undoubtedly never completely disappear; it will continue to ebb and flow for the duration of man's existence. Our task is to make sure that it ebbs more than it flows. But in his discussion of white apathy, in which Haywood compares himself to Chicken Little, he would have done well to consider another fable, that of the Boy Who Cried Wolf. The charge of racism, often hard to prove or disprove, has been made countless times over the years.

As usual you missed the mark and fell short of the target in your editorial analysis of racism on campuses. Believe it or not, there are no panacean halls absent racism in today's American society, be it college institutions, employment, sports or entertainment. We as black people are "married" to racism and not unlike a marriage we deal with the problems it breeds on a daily basis. Black people are "estranged" in that marriage when we continually watch the white power structure make decisions that are not in our best interest and continue to victimize us and our children.

On the day Christopher Dorner was fired from the Los Angeles Police Department, officials took the unusual step of summoning armed guards to stand watch at his disciplinary hearing downtown. Those present were nervous that Dorner might do something rash when he learned that he was being stripped of his badge. He was a hulking, muscled man and his body language left no doubt about the anger seething out of him. "It was clear… that he was wound way too tight," said a police official who attended Dorner's termination hearing and requested anonymity because of safety concerns.

Re "Family driven out by racism," Nov. 21 The horrifying ordeal endured by the African American family in Yorba Linda that was forced to move to safety because of the abuse heaped on them by unknown assailants brought back painful memories. My family moved to L.A. in 1970, and we lived next door to people who never knew us - but did know we were Jewish and hated us for that. They used to scream over the fence that we should have died at Auschwitz. They threw rocks at our home, smashed bottles against our windows and finally poisoned our dog. The police advised us to get a gun, but we moved.

He sits on the second row. The moment he gave up the throne, he moved back to the second row. It suits him there. His journey makes sense from there. He is as close to the ushers as the superstars. He is midway between his deepest roots and wildest dreams. "I'm the guy you look at and say, 'Oh,' " said Bernie Bickerstaff, his gap-toothed smile widening. "You see me and say, 'Oh, him.' I'm the forgotten guy. I'm the guy who just does his job. " In a young Lakers season dominated by coaching narratives, the most compelling cannot be found along the beach with Phil Jackson, or on crutches with Mike D'Antoni, but in that second row, in the thick mountain drawl of the gray-haired man who traveled unimaginable miles to get there.

Rock band No Doubt quickly found itself in hot water after releasing a new video last week for the song “Looking Hot,” which featured an Old West theme and singer Gwen Stefani in Native American-style clothing and taking part in native rituals. The band pulled the video from YouTube and Vevo and offered an apology on its official website. “As a multi-racial band our foundation is built upon both diversity and consideration for other cultures,” the statement reads. “Our intention with our new video was never to offend, hurt or trivialize Native American people, their culture or their history.” The Facebook page for For Accurate Indigenous Representation Media, or F.A.I.R., flagged the video and sent a message to the band: “Gwen Stefani - You may think you are 'Looking Hot' - but you are not. You are just looking like yet another insensitive, entitled, Hipster who is letting her white privilege slip show.

I knew I'd be navigating a minefield in my Saturday column, which dealt with two combustible topics: race and politics. I said that the Republican campaign, in the run-up to Tuesday's presidential vote, has resorted to a not-so-subtle nativist appeal that relies on racial animus and fears. All that "It's time to take our country back" rhetoric you hear at GOP rallies makes me wonder just whose country they think this is. I know race-baiting when I hear it. INTERACTIVE: Battleground states map The response to the column on public comment boards tended toward the ugly - as anonymous forums often do. But the hundreds of emails I received revealed a divided but thoughtful populace, harboring fears and resentments as real as my own. My column accused the campaign's rhetoric of creating a haven for prejudice, promoting Barack Obama's other-ness as a socially acceptable proxy for racial prejudice.

NEW YORK--Lena Dunham found her show "Girls" under criticism earlier this year for an absence of minority characters. The controversy only mushroomed after, in an apparent bid to make light of the issue, "Girls" writer Lesley Arfin tweeted sarcastically that she didn't think "Precious" offered a representation of her either. At an event Sunday hosted by the New Yorker and its TV critic Emily Nussbaum, Dunham offered some context on the incident. After saying that Arfin had actually no longer worked on the show at the time she sent the tweet, Dunham elaborated on what was happening on the "Girls" set during the controversy.

Randy Newman has fired his satirical barbs at racism and the gruesome legacy of slavery before, most notably in "Rednecks" and "Sail Away. " Now he's taking aim again with a new song that's related from the perspective of a (presumably white) voter who declares that, "I'm dreaming of a white president. " One line goes: "He won't be the brightest, perhaps, but he'll be the whitest, and I'll vote for that. " The 68-year-old singer and composer, who's backing President Obama for reelection, told the Associated Press that he wanted "I'm Dreaming" to convey his thoughts about the pervasiveness of racism -- which he called "the great issue of this country" -- albeit with his trademark wry comic touch.

Chelsea is reportedly in negotiations with West London rival Queens Park Rangers over protocol for pregame matters, including the obligatory handshake between all team members, in the wake of Chelsea defender John Terry's racial abuse trial over a heated exchange he had last season with QPR's Anton Ferdinand, who is black. The two teams meet Saturday in an English Premier League game. Chelsea is currently atop the EPL standings with three consecutive wins to open the season. QPR is near the bottom of the 20-team standings with only one point for a draw, but it did defeat Chelsea, 1-0, in an FA Cup game earlier this year.