Photograph: AP

I keep waiting for that magical day when race and religion are no longer a focal point of discussion in the United States. Most recently, I was reminded just how polarizing the issues are – especially pertaining to terrorism. If the U.S. is truly a tolerant country, why must we always bring race and religion to the forefront when an act of terrorism is committed? On April 15, two bombs detonated close to the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Innocent people were killed and maimed; unknown assailants were on the loose. Immediate speculation began as to who would be able to pull this off.

By Richard Montgomery, ‘98

Thank you for your interest in my Open Letter to the Kent State University President regarding the defunding of the Department of Pan African Studies. I would like to address your response on behalf of the department, which you posted on the Culturelovefamily.com website.

In my letter to Dr. Lester Lefton, I argued three points.  First, there has been a significant loss of faculty in the Department of Pan African Studies over the past several years, many of which have not been replaced.  As a result, the department must offer fewer revenue generating courses.  This has compounded the second problem, the reduced capacity to teach core courses. This reduced capacity has resulted in a $600,000 budget deficit in the department.]]>http://culturelovefamily.com/culture/rss-comments-entry-33415998.xmlSuzy Lee Weisscultural awarenesscultural competenceculturediscriminationeducationworforceCultureLoveFamilySun, 14 Apr 2013 13:52:31 +0000http://culturelovefamily.com/culture/2013/4/14/the-case-of-suzy-lee-weiss-a-small-mind-attracting-big-ten-a.html710546:8326932:33339457By Richard Montgomery

I am happy to report that over the past week there has been national outrage about the Open Letter that Suzy Lee Weiss wrote about being rejected from the Ivy League Colleges to which she applied for undergraduate admission.  In her letter, published in the Wall Street Journal’s Opinion section, her self-described “bitterness” and feelings of “failure” about not gaining Ivy League  admission were overshadowed by her blame of others, presumably in terms of Affirmative Action or diversity initiatives.  Weiss’ letter included questionable comments about same sex couples, Muslim women, people of color, and people from poor and impoverished areas, all of whom she presumes have a leg up on her in terms of college admissions.  A number of national media outlets (e.g. Huffington Post, Forbes.com) rebuked Weiss’s homophobic and racist commentary.  Interestingly, however, some schools in the Big Ten seemed compelled to accept Ms. Weiss as a student.

Rappers have had to survive in a fairly hostile social climate.  Scholars like Dr. Boyce Watkins have mobilized movements against more controversial artists.  Recently, Roland Martin suggested that rap music negatively impacts the Black community, and the list of hip-hop detractors is surprisingly long.  But to them I ask, is it really rap music that is behind the increasing number of African American teens committing violent offenses; is it really rap music that invokes early curiosities about sexuality and drug use?

Associated Press

As white smoke billowed from the chimney at the Vatican, the throngs of people gathered outside in St. Peter’s Square began to cheer. Celebrating began around the world, especially in Latin America, as we learned Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires would be the next Pope. The first Latin American Pope in history, who is also a Jesuit, took the name Francis I, after St. Francis of Assisi. The patron saint believed in radical poverty, living with nothing to happily serve those with nothing. The founder of the Franciscan order, St. Francis lived as a man of peace within his self-imposed poverty. In this tradition, reports and testimonials of Francis I living a simple lifestyle and working among all people in Argentina spread like wild fire.

A no-growth sector is crisis manufacturing of automatic spending cuts - courtesy of the United States Congress. March 1^st is the current date for fiscal Armageddon; the country officially falls off the fiscal cliff we have been hanging on to since 2011. Where are the legislators? Since January, only nineteen scheduled days were devoted to working on legislation. Both the House and Senate are set to reconvene in the capitol February 25^th.  During this time of major crisis, Congress has kept its normal schedule.  Will sequestration really affect working class people, youth, seniors, the poor, and the coveted middle class – especially those of color? Absolutely, if the House Republican bill is passed and mirrored in the Senate. Enter partisan gridlock, and we are back at last-minute debt reduction politics as usual.

Last week, Ohio’s Governor unveiled his 2014 and 2015 funding proposals for the state’s elementary and secondary schools. The Governor proposes a $1.6 billion increase in funding to K-12 public institutions over the next two years. Among the major provisions were: 1) equalization grants for districts with low yield local contributions; 2) a continued reliance on local districts to levy property tax revenue; 3) increased funding for school vouchers to low income students; 4) funding for charter school facilities; and 5) $300 million for competitive statewide grants to districts trying new strategies that increase student learning. At face value, the elements of this budget are similar to many across the United States, but closer inspection of the allocation of this funding shows a significant number of affluent high performing school districts receiving 100% increases in their budgets, while a unanimous proportion of low performing urban districts received little if any increases.

At approximately 10:44pm on February 3, 2013 Ray Lewis played his last down of professional football in Super Bowl 47. Lewis will go down in NFL history as one of the most notable defensive players to play the game.  In last night’s game, he finished with a career record of 1,558 solo tackles, 492 assisted tackles, 41 sacks, 31 interceptions (returned for more than 500 yards) and 3 touchdowns.  Among defensive players, he finished the 2012 season ranked second.  His career performance will make him a prime candidate for the Football Hall of Fame, however his lauded performance on the field cannot replace the lives of the two men he was accused of murdering. 

People often ask wonder why so many African Americans are imprisoned. The simple answer is that Black and Brown people are often not afforded the privilege of reasonable doubt. Most Americans have heard, in detail, about the case of Trayvon Martin. Trayvon, a 16-year-old African American male, was pursued by George Zimmerman in a Florida neighborhood because Zimmerman thought Trayvon looked suspicious. In defiance of police orders, Zimmerman continued to follow and ultimately confronted and murdered an unarmed Trayvon Martin. In a similar but lesser known Florida case, Marissa Alexander, an African American mother of three, has been charged with felony aggravated assault for firing a warning shot into the air after being attacked by her husband.