Race

The 28-page open letter -- which uses classical religious references and covers 24 issues such as "the killing of innocents," "killing of emissaries," "jihad," "declaring people non-Muslim," "torture," and "the caliphate" -- is a result of deliberations by dozens of experts on Islamic law and offers a point-by-point deconstruction of any claimed religious justification for ISIS's brutal actions.

In its executive summary, the letter notes that Islam forbids the killing of innocent people, including diplomats, journalists and humanitarian aid workers. It also states that any jihad may only be defensive in nature with strict rules of conduct, that it is forbidden to harm religious minorities like Christians and Yazidis, and that it is forbidden to practice slavery, destroy religious shrines or deny the rights of women.

The letter's conclusion states:

"Islam is mercy and its attributes are merciful. The Prophet (peace be upon him), who was sent as a mercy for all the worlds, summarized a Muslim's dealings with others by saying: 'He who shows no mercy, will not be shown mercy;' and: 'Have mercy and you will be shown mercy.' But, as can be seen from everything mentioned, you have misinterpreted Islam into a religion of harshness, brutality, torture and murder. As elucidated, this is a great wrong and an offence to Islam, to Muslims and to the entire world. Reconsider all your actions; desist from them; repent from them; cease harming others and return to the religion of mercy."

To read the entire letter and initial list of signatories, go to: http://lettertobaghdadi.com/index.php

Imagery and sounds from television, film, music, the Internet, and other media bombard American youth; dictating to them how they should act, think, or what they should believe. They often do not realize that they find much of their identity and belief systems in messages put forth to them by popular culture (Du Gay 1997; Hall 1997). Young people should think critically about their media choices and reflect on the degree that they shape their identity (Considine 2009; Youngbauer 2013). Even when it comes to the topic of race, the media has messages and values readily available for youth to adopt (Bresnahan and Carmen 2011). Based on the work of many popular musicians, African American identity is associated with violence, misogyny, materialism, and deviancy (Balkaran 1999; Ruffner-Ceaser 2012; West 1993). Other forms of popular culture, such as television and film, communicate the same negative messages. In what ways are black stereotypes perpetuated through popular culture? Can social studies classrooms facilitate conversations about race? This article explores how social studies educators can integrate popular culture into their curriculum to unpack racial stereotypes in American society, thereby helping students become more critically aware of the media they consume and how it impacts their lives and self-image.

This extended piece will examine the treatment of race by Shakespeare through analysis of three different characters. Aaron from Titus Andronicus and the eponymous Othello are both moors, and the character of Shylock from The Merchant of Venice is Jewish. Aaron is the primary antagonist of Titus Andronicus and Shakespeare’s earliest Moor whereas Othello, created over a decade later,
can be seen to echo the anti-hero of classical tragedy. Both characters in some way subvert racial stereotypes, from Aaron’s rejection of white superiority to the honourable nature of Othello. The question of race is complicated further in Othello through Shakespeare’s creation of the villain Iago, the play’s whiteequivalent of Aaron. Much like Othello and Aaron, Shylock conforms to Jewish stereotypes, including his seemingly overwhelming desire for riches and wealth regardless of the moral cost. However, he does much to challenge such expectations. The rationale for his actions promotes sympathy for the character, and highlights the double standards present in the Elizabethan period. This paper will also consider the chronology of Shakespeare’s plays and the social conventions of the time regarding race, with the intention of
discerning how the playwright’s own racial prejudices, if any, evolved during his career.

Despite the widely documented benefits associated with racial diversity in higher education, less is known about why and how race matters. A potential answer may be found in how students conceptualize race. This qualitative study explores students’ underlying racial conceptions, which have been shown to influence various attitudes and behaviors. Semistructured interviews with 18 undergraduates at one racially diverse campus reveal four distinct racial conceptions that are related to the line of inquiry in which race is evoked and influenced by campus contexts. The findings suggest a potential model of campus racial conceptualization with implications for student affairs research and practice.

During the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s, the Black Freedom Struggles pushed for minority inclusion into “mainstream” institutions, seeking integration in schools and housing as well as access to social safety net policies — all gains that would signify acceptance into larger society. As these preliminary steps toward inclusion occurred, we have witnessed large-scale reconfigurations in the very institutions that represented minority access to the public in these struggles. White racial resentment has seen expression in tax revolts, anti-welfare and “social entitlements” discourse, and the decimation of cities’ tax bases through white withdrawal to suburbs. The past few decades have also seen the growth of seemingly neutral tax policies at local, state and federal levels that privilege whites at the expense of blacks (and other people of color too). Through collective as well as corporate interests, whites have sought to lessen their tax obligations for those public services seen as disproportionately benefitting blacks. We have also seen the diversion and hoarding of public tax funds to private pockets in for-profit charter schools, economic development and “urban renewal,” and the growth of private prisons, all of which capitalize on the suffering of a racialized war against the poor...

The American political thriller television series Scandal, starring Kerry Washington and creat-ed by Shonda Rhimes, who constitutes today an undeniable force in Hollywood stirred a few contradictory feelings since it was first aired on April 5, 2012, not only in the press, but also in social media because of the depiction of a black woman, for some a whore, for others a “sister” in power.
As the story goes character Olivia Pope, the star of the show, is partially based on former George H.W. Bush administration press aide, 56 year old Judy Smith. Washington’s is the first black woman leading in a network drama in almost three decades. Controversy doesn’t mean that writer Rhimes remove totally the weight of race and racism in the show. Sex, race and con-flict is nothing new in performing, but also the conspiracy theory of crime and politics and high levels in the houses of power to capture the involvement of the audience.
For some in social media Scandal is a communal experience and with 4.3 million tweets for 2013 season alone the show becomes a social phenomenon through the use and manipulation of social media, what some called “the show that Twitter build”, this combo of a promotions strat-egy and thriller show, a high-stakes soap opera, involving election rigging, a presidential assas-sination attempt, a failed internal White House coup, and many other crazy shenanigans, could be preposterous on virtually every level, but also an fun in a certain way as a “telenovela” –or a “soapy political drama”.
In reality, without the “push” of Twitter and social media the show probably would have being canceled in the first season, all the cast of the show has “live-tweeted” extending their brand image into the digital area, in which we have proof of how –we like it or not- social media change television “enhancing” the way people do their TV viewing.

This essay explores the prescient explorations of race and racism in two episodes from Rod Serling's classic series: "The Big Tall Wish" and "To Serve Man."  Drawing upon resources from Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Frantz Fanon, the author interprets these episodes as addressing problems of nihilism, representation, and will in the face of forces that militate against dreams, imagination, and human resilience, and that they manage to bring the "alien" into intimate proximity, which is an important task of all anti-racist work.