In “Blood,” Naomi Shihab Nye grieves the massacres of Lebanese Palestinians in a poem that calls out for us to see each other as individuals and not as racial Others.
Tag Archives: racism
What Does a True Arab Do Now?
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Blood", Beiruit massacre, Naomi Shihab Nye, Palestinians, politics Comments closed
Remembering the Freedom Riders
King’s speech, not surprisingly, was the most memorable part of the weekend. At the time, he was upset at the violent race riots underway in Newark and Detroit. I remember him thundering, “Therefore I tell you, not ‘burn, baby, burn’ but ‘build, baby, build!’” and I carried those words with me into college.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Freedom Rider:Washout", Civll Rights Movement, James Emmanuel, Martin Luther King Comments closed
Dance with the Enemy, Then Go Wash
Film Friday The Western, Hollywood’s quintessential genre, can tell us a lot about race relations. I was reminded of this on Wednesday when I taught John Ford’s The Searchers in my American Film class. Rewatching the movie got me thinking about the Congressional hearings on “Muslim American Radicalization,” which began yesterday. I will have more […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Film, Islam, John Ford, John Wayne, Searchers, Westerns Comments closed
Mexican-U.S. Relations: A Touch of Evil
Film Friday I have been teaching an adult film class this semester in conjunction with a fascinating exhibit on fences that our college’s art gallery has mounted with help from the Smithsonian Museum. My contribution is to exhibit and talk about films that focus on fences, walls, and other types of boundaries. This past Tuesday […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Mexican border, Orson Welles, politics, Touch of Evil Comments closed
How Life Looks When One Is Property
Last week we had another fine presentation in the series of Twain lectures that my colleague Ben Click has been running. Once again a talk about race and Huckleberry Finn deepened my respect for that magnificent book. Here are some of the ideas I picked up, which I share with you from memory since I didn’t […]
Damn the N-Word, Full Speed Ahead
Writing about interracial friendships in yesterday’s post brings to mind the most famous interracial friendship in literature, that between Huck and Jim. The novel is once again in the news (is it ever out of it?) with a new edition of the novel where the n-word is changed to “slave.” The edition is the brainchild […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged censorship, Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain, teaching literature Comments closed
Behn & Friendships across Race Lines
Recalling an interracial friendship from my days in my newly integrated high school, I turn to Aprha Behn’s “Oroonoko” to understand why such friendships are so difficult, even for the best intentioned people.
