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July 18, 2006
The Africana Racism Threat Index: 10.13.03
This following appeared on Africana.com October 13, 2003.
The Africana Racism Threat Index is a weekly indicator assessing the level of threat racism poses to African Americans and black people throughout the African Diaspora. As a public service, every week the editorial staff of Africana will re-assess the Racism Threat Level and upgrade or downgrade our assessment as needed.Following a week of mixed indicators on the international and domestic scene, the Africana Racism Threat Level holds steady at HIGH...
I had been planning to re-post these old articles without comment, but can't resist a word or two here, as the Racism Threat Index is my favorite of the new feature I introduced to Africana. The Threat Index was a kind of universal bullshit magnet, offending large numbers of people and also provoking a ton of humorless "hear hear!"s and "it's about time!"s from folks who saw no irony in our appropriating a tool of Republican fascism.
The column started with little more than an intuition that there was some fun to be had with an Africana graphic riffing on Homeland Security's bullshit terror threat level alerts. Once our designer created the image I then (doh!) was faced by the problem of actually writing the thing, and was very quickly completely terrorized by the thought/possibility that the Index indicated or pointed to something bigger than my yucking. The "joke" (whatever it was; even I couldn't have told you) had come unmoored from its origin, and once it was unmoored it set about (of course) reproducing. I stared stumbling into a Racism Threat Index buttons on random blogs and website and each time got a thrill/chill that I really can't describe. The thing was fucking alive. It was out in the world doing something, but what?
Anyway...
The Africana Racism Threat Index: 10.13.03
The RTI holds steady at HIGH.
The Africana Racism Threat Index is a weekly indicator assessing the level of threat racism poses to African Americans and black people throughout the African Diaspora. As a public service, every week the editorial staff of Africana will re-assess the Racism Threat Level and upgrade or downgrade our assessment as needed.
Following a week of mixed indicators on the international and domestic scene, the Africana Racism Threat Level holds steady at HIGH.
Assessment: Last week saw the great state of California elect as its new governor a man whose history of groping women, admiring Hitler and former Nazi Kurt Waldheim, and reportedly using the N-word when referring to black bodybuilders ought to give us all pause. Instead, the Total Recall Terminator Man is now happily ensconced in Sacramento, while his buddy Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), ponders the bill he introduced in the US Senate back in July that could clear the way for a future Schwarzenegger presidency. Oy vey!
On the flip side, the same electorate did shut down the latest hostile ballot measure to come from the foul imagination of Ward Connerly. Connerly, architect of the dismantling of affirmative action in California's higher educational system, had been pushing his "racial privacy initiative" for years -- its defeat was a shining triumph of the forces of commen sense (and decency!) in an otherwise sordid "special" election.
In non-electoral news, today is the day we are meant to celebrate the feats of Christopher Columbus, who was neither the first person to set foot on American soil nor the first European to do so. The holiday, which once was presented as a commemoration of the spirit of exploration and discovery that gave birth to a whole "new world," is lately seen as a twisted glorification of colonization, exploitation and genocide. Whichever way you like to think of it, we hope you enjoy the day off!
Indicators: The number of Austrian-born bodybuilder/tycoons in the upper echelon of American politics is RISING. The potential "privacy" Ward Connerly enjoys, as his political star falls, is RISING. Our childlike admiration for Christopher Columbus' brave adventure is FALLING, while our ironic glee at celebrating his holiday while gambling in an Indian Casino is RISING.
If you would like to add the Africana Threat Index graphic to your own webpage or website, please cut and paste the following HTML code and insert it where the graphic should appear:
[redacted; the code, she is dead.]
Check back every Monday as we update the Africana Racism Threat Index!
About the Author: As a public service, every week Africana's editors and staff writers take the nation's racial temperature and update the Africana Racism Threat Index.
Posted by ebogjonson in garchival, on July 18, 2006 11:44 PM
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