Blame WordPress. I didn’t intend to link race and class issues today. In fact, I was feeling much more lighthearted. Then I hit the wrong button and everything was gone. And unlike LJ, you have to actually press the draft button to get anything saved. So I got grumpy and pissed off. Went to soothe my annoyance with some kirk/mccoy slash…and when I returned, found the links leading me to a heavier theme. oops. I shall strive to collect lighthearted stuff next week, I promise….
Massachusetts decides to curtail healthcare coverage for 30,000 legal Immigrants Huh. And in a progressive state too. Funny thing how budget cuts never seem to affect the military industry, but somehow human resources are blithely targeted. Interesting priorities we’ve got here.
In the press this week were intriguing portraits of young people finishing high school during turbulent economic times, stories that individually — and especially collectively — illustrate the powerful ways in which starting points shape one’s life trajectory.
The Nouveau Poor, The Working poor The New York Times has been lately consumed with profiling the straits that the obscenely rich have now plummeted to, now that they can no longer afford that extra yacht or whatever. Contrast that that, of course, with those of us whose health care is caput, or whose children are suddenly on free lunches, or who have lost their homes entirely….
Teaching With UrgencyThe difference between teaching in a school with resources as opposed to a school with little or none.
Teachers File Racial Discrimination Suit Against Obama Administration’s School “Turnaround” Plan What I want to know, is how exactly does the United States expect to remain on top when it keeps squandering all its human resources like this? Commons sense would tell you that this is BS. Then again, educating the young does not make megabucks. Unlike creating weapons of mass destruction.
On the rec list for today is RaceWire a blog that you all should be reading. Here’s a selection:
Food Inc. Shines a Light on the Immigrant Labor That Makes That 99c Patty Melt Possible [VIDEO]
Race Wire goes to teh Movies: Harry Potter Edition
What Race Really Has to Do with The CA Central Valley’s Fight for Water
While all of that is going on, Adam Sheppard, a college educated, able-bodied young white straight single American, decided to prove that you can too, pull yourself up by your bootstraps! (With a credit card in your back pocket just in case. And the ability to get off the experiment when your dad gets ill. But I digress.) Naturally, he got a book deal I, having had quite enough of the BS, dug up the following series (sparked by teh wide interest in the introduction to the priviledge checklist to teh blogosphere) by Racialicious last year.Has Class Trumped Race Part 1 Part Two Part Three And they address some of his shenanigans here.Part Three Point Five From the same period:Has Class Trumped Race? From The Rickshaw Diaries
Book of the week: Accidental American: Immigration and Citizenship in the Age of Globalization This is one of the best books on immigration that I have read so far. Here’s an interview with the author and here’s an excerpt. Have yourselves a good week!
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The link to “The Nouveau Poor, The Working poor” goes to Racewire: Harry Potter.
I don’t think the state of Mass. does military funding much. And the link about teachers being fired does not seem to understand how disparate impact works, but does seem to consider “corporate” a sufficient indictment without providing any data about how these teachers and schools have been doing. I am totally with you about Adam Shepard, however. I read the first few pages of his book, and not only does he come across as a head-up-his-ass poseur, the book was poorly written and edited.
Yeah, i was wondering the same thing: blaming the feds for military spending makes sense; blaming the states (who don’t really control it), not so much.
Also–i live in mass.–the health care program is still a bit of an experiment. Various folks around the country as well as in the state are watching to see how/if it works. Given its relative short life so far, it’s unsurprising that they have to fiddle with it a bit, or more than a bit. I doubt i could draft a health care plan which wouldn’t require changes in the future, and I’m not surprised that massachusetts can’t either.
I’m about to discover if Hispanics really will do work that white people won’t. My friend Stephen, who is as white as they come, has refused to do piece work for me. He’s a stay-home Dad and former tech worker with lots of free time on his hands. My son, who is part Hispanic (his Mom’s side — my father claimed to be Hispanic, but it takes more than being born in Brazil …), has been offered the same gig.
I’m going to call this a “Research” project with a data set size of 2. If figure if I refuse to give my son gas money, I can force him to work for me, thereby getting the results I want.
As regards the health care plan in Massachusetts — WTF?!? This was precisely what they shouldn’t have done. What they SHOULD have done is what most service providers do in a crunch — look for efficiencies, or find ways to reduce services to the people who need them the least. Instead they completely cut services to 30,000 non-disabled people in the 18 to 65 year old bracket. Surely they could have trimmed services to other similarly situated people so that at least everyone would have SOME coverage.
@ All:Apologies for giving you the wrong links for the article “The Noveau Poor, the Working Poor” This is the proper link Sorry!