invisible blog

Links to news that matters to you.

1. Reactions are slowly rippling across the world to Barack Obama’s nomination by the Democrats. The nomination itself has raised the world’s view of the United States and its political process, according to the Christian Science Monitor.
2. Though not everyone is happy. Maverick Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi said, according to the Guardian, that his “Kenyan brother of American nationality” might have an “inferiority complex which will make him behave worse than the whites.” He went on to say that if so, it would be a “tragedy”, and “We tell him to be proud of himself as a black and feel that all Africa is behind him.”
3. Paul Street writing in Black Agenda Report gives us “Seven Reasons Not to Get Overly Excited About the Fact That Obama is Black”, including #3: “*Burying Institutional Racism Deeper”.*
4. Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal discusses the close scrutiny of the media’s attitudes in this campaign, inspired by the angry reaction to Fox News‘ captioning of a speech by Michelle Obama with the words “Obama’s Baby Mama”.
5. Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times joins the chorus of those saying that Obama needs to give a speech about gender comparable with the one he gave about race.
6. A tribute in the Washington Post to Mildred Loving, whose marriage to Richard Loving caused the Supreme Court to strike down bans on interracial weddings as unconstitutional.  The writer reminds us that “Every year on June 12, interracial couples across the country celebrate Loving Day, commemorating the ruling in *Loving v.
     Virginia* that made our unions lawful.”
7.  The Chicago Tribune reports on a new initiative in the South Side of Chicago to bring famrmer’s markets to areas without grocery stores - and not ordinary farmers markets, but markets specialising in ingredients common in ethnic and African-American cuisine.
8. Orange County, Virginia, is just one of the places celebrating Juneteenth across the country. The Orange County Review breaks down the
   origins of the holiday, and lists events in the county - representative of many such elsewhere.
9. BackStage, the theatrical magazine, discusses how difficult it is for predominantly minority companies to get noticed in the competitive marketplace.  Many of those feel that they are not being supported by their home communities enough: ” for theatres of color to gain clout …collaboration within their communities is crucial.”
10. Not every high school reunion is previewed in the Washington Post. Douglass High in Virginia’s fortieth is an exception, though - the historic school’s 1968 class was the last all-Black class; school segregation was ended when they graduated in 1968.