Belief:
Mythmaking 101: Why Millions Have Bought into 'Death Panel' Propaganda
Kenny Smith
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace:
Why We're Fighting a Trade War with China Over Tires
Marie Cocco
DrugReporter:
What's the Matter with San Diego? An Anti-Marijuana City in the Green Oasis of California
Phillip S. Smith
Environment:
Can Condoms Save Us From Climate Change?
Tara Lohan
Health and Wellness:
Unbelievable: As a Lesbian Mother, I Have to Pay More For Health Care
Elizabeth G. Hines
Immigration:
Arguments Against "Birth Right" Citizenship Run Against Constitutional Principles
Elizabeth B. Wydra
Media and Technology:
Time Magazine's Dishonest and Incompetent Profile on Glenn Beck Enables His Sick Lies
Jamison Foser
Movie Mix:
Michael Moore's 'Capitalism' Flick Rips into Crimes of Wall Street
Xan Brooks
Politics:
Racism in America Doesn't Stop with Glenn Beck and His Fans -- It's in Our Health Care Debate Too
Allison Kilkenny
Reproductive Justice and Gender:
The Insurance Industry's Heartless Logic: Getting Beaten by Your Husband Is an Excuse to Deny Coverage
Ryan Grim
Rights and Liberties:
Why We Need a Government Agency to Defend the Pursuit of Happiness
Walter Mosley
Sex and Relationships:
What Happened When I Had Sex With Married Women I Met on a Website for Cheaters
Jack Harrison
Take Action:
Stop GOP Hooligans From Stalling Health Reform
Byard Duncan
Water:
Take Back the Tap and Keep Supporting Municipal Water Systems
Robin Madel
World:
Why I Threw My Shoes At Bush
Mutadhar al-Zaidi
President Obama has long suggested that he would like to move beyond race. The question now is whether the country will let him.
He woke up on Wednesday to a rapidly intensifying debate about how his race factors into the broader discussion of civility in politics, a question prompted in part by former President Jimmy Carter's assertion Tuesday that racism was behind a Republican lawmaker's outburst against Mr. Obama last week as the president addressed a joint session of Congress. -- via Political Memo – As Race Debate Grows, Obama Steers Clear of It – NYTimes.com.
There is a prevalent misconception that racism is a self-contained problem. The myth goes like this: unless a hooded clansman is burning a cross on an African American family's lawn, the United States is not dealing with traditional racism. Our country has transcended race, since the election of President Obama, this myth says. Furthermore, race is only a relevant factor when something overtly hostile happens to our leader, who happens to be black (not that any of us notice, since we have transcended the problem of racism). The myth leaves no room for discussions of institutionalized racism, or the acceptance that race and racism are always in the room with us, and not just when President Obama delivers nuanced, thoughtful speeches about them.
Aside from the obvious targets of a Joe Wilson or Rush Limbaugh, the problem of racism infests every facet of the American experience, including the ongoing health care debate, though few politicians and journalists seem to realize racism is bigger than a few of Glenn Beck's disciples shouting something about Obama being Kenyan. "Race issue lingers over health care debate," an AP headline declares, but what it fails to mention is that the health care debate is also a race debate, and the racism issue does not belong exclusively to the province of zaftig, paranoid white Conservatives, flawed reasoning that comforts many liberals.
Another Reuters headline reads, "Healthcare, anger, and race," presenting the three nouns as if they are separate, autonomous entities. Such compartmentalization seems to suggest we can only talk about one issue (healthcare, anger, or race) at a time. We're either chatting about Obama's plans for health care reform, or we're snickering about those crazy birthers, but we're never talking about the same thing. However, in reality, the broken healthcare system and anger are subsidiaries of racism, and the three share a deeply interconnected relationship.
According to a study by researchers at Dartmouth, race and place of residence have a huge impact on the kind of medical treatment a patient receives. For example, blacks with diabetes or vascular disease are nearly five times more likely than whites to have a leg amputated. The widest racial gaps in mammogram rates within a state were in California and Illinois with a difference of 12 percentage points between the white rate and the black rate. The country's lowest rate for blacks — 48 percent in California — was 24 percentage points below the highest rate — 72 percent in Massachusetts. In all but two states, black diabetics were less likely than whites to receive annual hemoglobin testing. But blacks in Colorado (66 percent) were far less likely to be screened than those in Massachusetts (88 percent).
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