Blackness – Page 2 – Philosophical Issues in Race and Racism

New Zealand All Blacks

The All Blacks are New Zealand’s national rugby team and the most successful international rugby side of all-time. With a winning percentage of 76.4 over 526 Tests (1903-2014) they are noted as one of the most prolific teams across any sport. It’s interesting to see this wholly positive association with the color black. Also, the team just won the World Cup of Rugby today!

Click here to read more about the team.

Click here to see their fearsome Haka.

What We Mean When We Say ‘Race Is a Social Construct’

“In a world where Kevin Garnett, Harold Ford, and Halle Berry all check “black” on the census, even the argument that racial labels refer to natural differences in physical traits doesn’t hold up.”

Click here.

See the Changing Face of American Marriages

According to a TIME analysis of U.S. census data, mixed-race marriages are growing at rapid rates. Click here for an interactive graph tool that allows you to choose any combination of race and gender to see whether such marriages are on the rise or decline.

It’s interesting that they chose to include “non-white” (Hispanic, Black, Asian, American Indian, or Multiracial) as it’s own variable amongst the racial identities. It brought to mind the racial binary Professor Gordon writes about in Race, Biraciality, and Mixed Race — In Theory.

VIDEO: 2 Videos by The Atlantic

Mass Incarceration, Visualized

“In this animated interview, the sociologist Bruce Western explains the current inevitability of prison for certain demographics of young black men and how it’s become a normal life event. ‘We’ve chosen the response of the deprivation of liberty for a historically aggrieved group, whose liberty in the United States was never firmly established to begin with,’ Western says.”

The Enduring Myth of Black Criminality

Ta-Nehisi Coates explores how mass incarceration has affected African American families. “There’s a long history in this country of dealing with problems in the African American community through the criminal justice system,” he says in this animated interview. “The enduring view of African Americans in this country is as a race of people who are prone to criminality.”

The new threat: ‘Racism without racists’

Article Highlights:

Whites and blacks don’t speak the same language when they talk about racism
For many minorities, racism is less about overt hostility and more about bias
One sociologist calls it “racism without racists” and says “we are all in this game”
A new conversation on race can start with three phrases that often crop up

Click here.