Monthly Archives: March 2011

Written by SpearIt “Post-racial” is rhetoric for a state of social consciousness that has moved beyond the antiquated trappings of white superiority.  In post-racial discourse, the American cosmic race progresses past the oppressions of old, credence to which is lent … Continue reading →

The 13th Annual! That phrase in some ways is numbing. It is a solemn reminder that it has been fifteen years since Trina Grillo, our colleague, friend and inspiration, too soon left the planet, three years shy of her fiftieth birthday. That phrase – the 13th Annual – is also inspiring as it demonstrates the lasting power of Trina’s legacy and the persistence of the struggle in which we all engage and to which the annual retreat is dedicated. Continue reading →

Following the SEC’s securities fraud wrist slap of former Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo to the tune of $67.5 million civil fine (only $22.5 million was paid by Mozilo, who received $521.5 million in compensation from 2000 to 2008) for his … Continue reading →

Peter King is my representative in the United States Congress! There I said it. I apologize to everyone and assure you I have never done anything to get him elected or reelected. One would think that living in Nassau County, Long Island, under an hour by car or train to New York City, would mean I was living in a fairly progressive community. When I moved here in 1987, I thought I was. But Long Island has a nasty history: in the 1730s, there were more enslaved men and women living here than anyplace else in the north. The Levitt family which singlehandedly created the concept of the cookie-cutter suburbs that soon led to white flight and sprawl, had restrictive covenants in the leases and deeds to their homes in Levittown. (Levittown still is less than 1% African American!) Long Island has 127 individual school districts, each devised to assure homogeneity and racial purity. So Peter King as an elected official somehow fits the demographics of a region trying to stave off modernity despite its proximity to Manhattan. Continue reading →

President Obama and Attorney General Holder say they will no longer defend Section 3 of DOMA in cases currently being litigated in federal court. But that does not mean that DOMA is gone. Continue reading →