White People, Solving Kansas City's Problems

Both news weekly programs on KCPT this week were lily-white, bleached Caucasians.

Yet again.

One more time.

Not one "person of color." No one from any minority other than one woman on each show.

Kansas City Week in Review - KCPT

Kansas City Week in Review | Watch Online 

| Kansas City PBS ... - KCPT

Kansas City Week In Review | KCPT

Ruckus | KCPT

Ruckus | Watch Online | Kansas City PBS Video

 - KCPT

Watch online: Ruckus | KCPT

Shame on you, KCPT. You should know---and do---better.

Far better.

In their, KCPT's, defense, I will point out they have minorities in their commercial segments.

Oh, and, again, they will, however, accept their financial contributions to the station from minorities, to be sure.

Pretty ironic--and awful--any time but seems even more so in Black History Month.

KCPT and Their Lily White "Ruckus"

The local PBS station, KCPT, has a weekly news/conversation program each Thursday evening called "Ruckus" it is widely known. And it's usually a pretty good program, definitely, discussing local government and business current events. Given the shrinking of the Kansas City Star in town, it becomes an even more important outlet, if brief, at 30 minutes.

Last night's program, however, had at least one glaring problem I and I believe a lot of others would agree.

There was the very white, Right Wing host, three white men and one white woman.

That was it.

I swore there were Black Americans and Hispanics and other races that lived in our city.

I swore there was. Is.

There wasn't even any indication there was a Liberal or Left Winger on the program. Honestly, not one. You'd think they might have one so they could gang up and verbally beat up on and abuse them, the way now-deceased John McLaughlin used to do to Eleanor Clift on "The McLaughlin Group."  Maybe Steve Glorioso wasn't available? Someone else? The program has had "people of color", minorities on it in the past, as anyone who watches it knows, just not last night.

Apparently, their idea of "inclusion" is letting a woman sit with them. Heck, the host, Mike Shanin, even asked her a question. Two, even.

Between the host and the crotetchety, deeply Right Wing attorney Steve Mirakian  and, again, the Libertarian, they got the Republicans and Right Wing covered, 10 ways from Sunday. (I will say one good thing about the Libertarian. At least he's against the unnecessary boondoggle of a new, billion dollar airport). 

The other part of this inclusion of theirs is letting a self--professed Libertarian (whatever that means) on the show.

But a Black person from the city this week? A Hispanic? Heck, an Asian? Anything else?

I guess that would make a ruckus.
Understand, I love my KCPT and PBS, absolutely. I wouldn't want to live without it.

I just thought their standards were and would be higher, and more inclusive, than this.

Link:  Ruckus | KCPT

Thus also explaining far too many Kansas Citians' opinions

When I read comments in newspapers and especially on blogs (one local blog in particular, ahem), I am frequently stunned to read how some white people think they're oppressed by some racism because of, of all things, black people especially but minorities in general.  Today, on the interweb, I found out why:

Study Finds White Americans Believe They Experience More Racism Than African Americans

Pretty stunning stuff, however wrong:

There’s a saying that “the new racism is to deny that racism exists.” If that is the case, it may explain a study conducted by researchers from Tufts University’s School of Arts and Sciences and Harvard Business School. Their findings claim that self-described white Americans believe they have “replaced blacks” as the primary victims of racial discrimination in contemporary America.

The authors say that their study highlights how the expectations of a “post-racial” society, predicted or imagined in the wake of Barack Obama’s presidency, has far from been achieved.

The study finds that while both Caucasian and African Americans agree that anti-black racism has decreased over the last 60 years, whites believe that anti-white racism has increased. 

And that's all pretty bizarre--and, of course, wrong, deeply wrong--but here's the really big kicker:

...the study finds that the majority of Caucasians believe that anti-white racism is a “bigger problem” than what African Americans face.

Right.  Got it.  Sure it is.  Whatever.  Whatever you say, honkie.

 ”It’s a pretty surprising finding when you think of the wide range of disparities that still exist in society, most of which show black Americans with worse outcomes than whites in areas such as income, home ownership, health and employment.”  --Tufts Associate Professor of Psychology Samuel Sommers, PhD

Yes, it's "pretty surprising", all right.

Freaking wow.

"Pity party on aisle five!"

If people who are losing their jobs or getting their pay cut or whatever, would realize who's doing that to them---the boss or the corporations, you know, the wealthy people---maybe they'd realize who the real problem is.

But no.  Just like with our current president.

Blame the black guy.

Links:   

Whites See Racism as a Zero-Sum Game That They Are Now Los

Perspectives on Psychological Science.

Whites Believe They Are Victims of Racism More Often Than Blacks

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Mitt Romney, Candidate for President of Caucasiastan

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

No surprise. Jon Stewart hits it out of the ballpark yet again.

People will be flipping out about this

In the news today: Census shows whites lose US majority among babies: From the article: "WASHINGTON – For the first time, more than half of the children under age 2 in the U.S. are minorities, part of a sweeping race change and a growing age divide between mostly white, older Americans and fast-growing younger ethnic populations that could reshape government policies. I can almost hear the racists and rednecks now, can't you? Link to original article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110623/ap_on_go_ot/us_census_white_minority

Republicans, Libertarians and now Tea Party members

Seven demographic characteristics of Tea Party supporters: --78% are Republicans or independents who lean Republican; --77% are non-Hispanic whites; --69% are conservatives; --62% are married; --56% are men; --47% are 55 or older; --23% are under 35; What they believe Seven defining attitudes of Tea Party supporters: --92% believe the federal government debt is a very serious/extremely serious threat to the nation’s future well-being; --90% believe terrorism is a very/extremely serious threat to the nation’s future well-being; --90% are dissatisfied with the way things are going in this country; --87% disapprove of the job congressional Democrats are doing; --85% believe the size and power of the federal government are a very/extremely serious threat to the nation’s future well-being; --83% say most members of Congress don’t deserve re-election; --83% say President Obama doesn’t deserve re-election; Source: USA TODAY/Gallup Polls taken May 24-25 and June 11-13 of 697 Tea Party supporters. Margin of error +/–5 percentage points. Analysis by Jim Norman. Link to original post: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews_spec/20100701/pl_ynews_spec/ynews_spec_pl3006;_ylt=AuTyFFo0tMwX7xWzJOYkgDayFz4D;_ylu=X3oDMTJvZmwxdWY5BGFzc2V0A3luZXdzX3NwZWMvMjAxMDA3MDEveW5ld3Nfc3BlY19wbDMwMDYEY3BvcwMyBHBvcwM1BHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA3dob3RoZXlhcmU-

Whole new world

The American people, by and large, don't know that the world around them is changing, wholesale, in so many ways, and isn't going back to the way it used to be.

At all.

One study I saw recently pointed out how our workforce is going to end up being occupied, mostly, by females.

Don't get me wrong--I'm no sexist.

This, to me, is not a bad thing, it's just a matter-of-fact.

And the thing is, up to now, it's not been the other way around, uh, let's see--FOREVER?

And the thing is, it combines two factors.

One is that it is cheaper in the entire world, sadly, to hire women than men so that lends to this trend significantly.

The other thing is that, at least in the United States, more women are going to college than men--and that's a change, too, of course.

There are so many worldwide and nationwide changes that are taking place right now, it's hard to keep up.

Many, many political scientists and economists think that it's highly likely that the United States may have already lost its position in the world, politically and financially.

Smaller issues are about the fact that Caucasians are fewer in number all the time in the US. Hispanic and Latino populations are growing in size every year. We've already passed the place where "White" people were the majority.

If the financial situation pans out the way so many economists warn, America will have fallen from our place of power and strength, at the same time the White Man realizes he's lost his place alongside both women and Hispanics and Latinos.

Believe me, it's not a problem for me.

Let's hope it's not a problem for people of lesser educations and financial means.