Burnt Orange Report


News, Politics, and Fun From Deep in the Heart of Texas






Ad Policies



Support the TDP!



Get Firefox!


March 19, 2005

More on the Park Cities People Editorial

By Byron LaMasters

I wrote on Thursday my objection to this remark in the Park Cities People editorial on HB 3 - "First, a few unpleasant facts. In just 10 years, Anglos will be a minority in North Texas". Wick Allison of the D Magazine Blog, The Frontburner posted this in reply:

RACE, RACE, RACE, RACE

According to the Burnt Orange Report, we're not supposed to talk about it. Staggeringly high birth rates for teenagers? The second highest dropout rate in the nation? Declining household income? Apparently, we are supposed to treat these social disasters as mysteries too deep to plumb. The fact that Texas is about to become a majority-minority state has profound consequences that need to be faced now. And you can't face them if you are too politically correct to talk about them.


Here's my response:


I agree - we should talk about race, and the serious factors regarding our changing demographics in north Texas. High teen birth rates, high dropout rates and declining household incomes are serious problems that must be solved. My point is that the Park Cities People editorial addressed those issues in a highly insensitive manner. Stating that Anglos being a minority is an "unpleasant fact" suggests racial insensitivity at best, and blatant racism at worst. We'll never solve our problems by scapegoating one race or ethnicity or another. We'll solve our problems by working together towards common ground with mutual respect - something that the writers of the Park Cities People editorial page certainly lack.

Posted by Byron LaMasters at March 19, 2005 01:08 PM | TrackBack


Comments

The editorial writer did nothing insensitive. He didn't demonstrate "blatant racism." However, the editorialist probably could have proofed his work a little better.

Of course, BOR feels free to regularly attack civil rights leaders who were leading the charge to dismantle REAL, institutionalized racism decades before BOR writers were born. Why don't we show BOR's body of work to Congressman Al Green, Houston's longtime NAACP leader, and ask him to compare it to the Park Cities People's body of work. Then someone who knows what the hell he is talking about can decide what is or is not racist.

Posted by: JW at March 19, 2005 05:47 PM

Birth rates go down when standards of living go up. And increased standards of living are tied to better education and female literacy in particular.

Unfortunately, the current administration favors policies which do little to increase standards of living, except among the already rich.
A federal minimum wage still stuck at $5.15/hour is a lousy start. Add to that the lack of affordable daycare for working moms. And as the only developed country without a national healthcare program, a poor family could be ruined for life by an unexpected illness or injury.

Making kids spend lots of time learning to take standardized tests while not providing sufficient aid for education is downright moronic.

Increasing population, regardless of the ethnic composition of the people, can put stress on local ecosystems.
But singling out certain groups as demons does nothing to get to the root of the problem.

Posted by: Tim Z. at March 19, 2005 07:19 PM

Good God. I guess that someone is still bitter from my endorsement of Chris Bell over Al Green in the 2004 primary. The only time I attacked Al Green was for taking GOP money in that primary. Other than that, I supported Al Green in the 2004 General election, and I think that he's doing a fine job as a congressman. I certainly respect his past record as a civil rights leader.

Posted by: Byron L at March 19, 2005 07:42 PM

The Park Cities People (which I assume is owned by the D Magazine) can say what they want. Its Republican and other supporters, at least one of whom also who supports Al Green, can say what they want.

When one comments that Anglos being a minority is a very unpleasant thing, and implies that blacks and browns are "to blame" for social ills - this is gross insensitivity at best and outright racism at worst.

If the author was intending to imply that there is a statistical correlation between certain social ills and race (e.g. unemployment, high out-of-wedlock birthrate) then the author could of stated so without suggesting that race is the cause of the problems, as opposed to being either another effect or part of a greater problem of social inequity.

The problems of which the author complain all stem from poor education, part of which stems from little & unequal funding and part of which stems from parents who do not involve themselves in the roles of their students (I have enough friends who are teachers in schools with parents from low-socio economic conditions to know this as fact). These problems do not stem from the mere skin color of those who suffer from these problems. (Except perhaps to the extent that those suffering are victims of racism, but this is clearly not their fault)

What is troubling is that some cannot see the difference between that and a primary endorsement between two good men. There is enough racism in the world, don't go creating any more with false labels.

Posted by: WhoMe? at March 20, 2005 07:49 AM

Let's see...
"...unpleasant facts..."
"...these social disasters..."
Cuz I'm whites being the minority shows exactly how American society is degrading.
If they talk like a racist, they're racist.

Posted by: Sonia at March 20, 2005 07:00 PM

I am all in favor of making it illegal for Mormons and other white trash religious people to have more than 1 child each couple. (not implying Mormons are white trash, but I think that will go a long way to solving alot of our future problems.)

Posted by: Steve Talbert at March 21, 2005 02:34 PM

The park cities statement was racist and they don't even have the facts right. "Robin hood" was a republican idea and a cheap fix for a court order. Look it up.
Wick's statement is even more racist and offensive than the PC's one. He never misses an opportunies to show his ass does he.
He is an elitist prick and probably reads BOR to steal ideas for that lame rag of his.
Love your comments B. Keep it coming.

Posted by: redcat at March 23, 2005 08:52 AM
Post a comment









Remember personal info?






BOA.JPG


January 2006
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30 31        


About Us
About BOR
Advertising Policies

Karl-Thomas M. - Owner
Byron L. - Founder
Alex H. - Contact
Andrea M. - Contact
Andrew D. - Contact
Damon M. - Contact
Drew C. - Contact
Jim D. - Contact
John P. - Contact
Katie N. - Contact
Kirk M. - Contact
Matt H. - Contact
Phillip M. - Contact
Vince L. - Contact
Zach N. - Conact

Donate

Tip Jar!



Archives
Recent Entries
Categories
BOR Edu.
University of Texas
University Democrats

BOR News
The Daily Texan
The Statesman
The Chronicle

BOR Politics
DNC
DNC Blog: Kicking Ass
DSCC
DSCC Blog: From the Roots
DCCC
DCCC Blog: The Stakeholder
Texas Dems
Travis County Dems
Dallas Young Democrats

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett
State Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos
State Rep. Dawnna Dukes
State Rep. Elliott Naishtat
State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez
State Rep. Mark Strama
Traffic Ratings
Alexa Rating
Marketleap
Truth Laid Bear Ecosystem
Technoranti Link Cosmos
Blogstreet Blogback
Polling
American Research Group
Annenberg Election Survey
Gallup
Polling Report
Rasmussen Reports
Survey USA
Zogby
Texas Stuff
A Little Pollyana
Austin Bloggers
D Magazine
DFW Bogs
DMN Blog
In the Pink Texas
Inside the Texas Capitol
The Lasso
Pol State TX Archives
Quorum Report Daily Buzz
George Strong Political Analysis
Texas Law Blog
Texas Monthly
Texas Observer
TX Dem Blogs
100 Monkeys Typing
Alandwilliams.com
Alt 7
Annatopia
Appalachia Alumni Association
Barefoot and Naked
BAN News
Betamax Guillotine
Blue Texas
Border Ass News
The Daily DeLay
The Daily Texican
DemLog
Dos Centavos
Drive Democracy Easter Lemming
Esoterically
Get Donkey
Greg's Opinion
Half the Sins of Mankind
Jim Hightower
Houtopia
Hugo Zoom
Latinos for Texas
Off the Kuff
Ones and Zeros
Panhandle Truth Squad
Aaron Peña's Blog
People's Republic of Seabrook
Pink Dome
The Red State
Rhetoric & Rhythm
Rio Grande Valley Politics
Save Texas Reps
Skeptical Notion
Something's Got to Break
Southpaw
Stout Dem Blog
The Scarlet Left
Tex Prodigy
ToT
View From the Left
Yellow Doggeral Democrat
TX GOP Blogs
Beldar Blog
Blogs of War
Boots and Sabers
Dallas Arena
Jessica's Well
Lone Star Times
Publius TX
Safety for Dummies
The Sake of Arguement
Slightly Rough
Daily Reads
&c.
ABC's The Note
Atrios
BOP News
Daily Kos
Media Matters
MyDD
NBC's First Read
Political State Report
Political Animal
Political Wire
Talking Points Memo
Wonkette
Matthew Yglesias
College Blogs
CDA Blog
Get More Ass (Brown)
Dem Apples (Harvard)
KU Dems
U-Delaware Dems
UNO Dems
Stanford Dems
GLBT Blogs
American Blog
BlogActive
Boi From Troy
Margaret Cho
Downtown Lad
Gay Patriot
Raw Story
Stonewall Dems
Andrew Sullivan
More Reads
Living Indefinitely
Blogroll Burnt Orange!
BOR Webrings
< ? Texas Blogs # >
<< ? austinbloggers # >>
« ? MT blog # »
« ? MT # »
« ? Verbosity # »
Election Returns
CNN 1998 Returns
CNN 2000 Returns
CNN 2002 Returns
CNN 2004 Returns

state elections 1992-2005

bexar county elections
collin county elections
dallas county elections
denton county elections
el paso county elections
fort bend county elections
galveston county elections
harris county elections
jefferson county elections
tarrant county elections
travis county elections


Texas Media
abilene
abilene reporter news

alpine
alpine avalanche

amarillo
amarillo globe news

austin
austin american statesman
austin chronicle
daily texan online
keye news (cbs)
kut (npr)
kvue news (abc)
kxan news (nbc)
news 8 austin

beaumont
beaumont enterprise

brownsville
brownsville herald

college station
the battalion (texas a&m)

corpus christi
corpus christi caller times
kris news (fox)
kztv news (cbs)

crawford
crawford lone star iconoclast

dallas-fort worth
dallas morning news
dallas observer
dallas voice
fort worth star-telegram
kdfw news (fox)
kera (npr)
ktvt news (cbs)
nbc5 news
wfaa news (abc)

del rio
del rio news herald

el paso
el paso times
kdbc news (cbs)
kfox news (fox)
ktsm (nbc)
kvia news (abc)

fredericksburg
standard-radio post

galveston
galveston county daily news

harlingen
valley morning star

houston
houston chronicle
houston press
khou news (cbs)
kprc news (nbc)
ktrk news (abc)

kerrville
kerrville daily times

laredo
laredo morning times

lockhart
lockhart post-register

lubbock
lubbock avalanche journal

lufkin
lufkin daily news

marshall
marshall news messenger

mcallen
the monitor

midland - odessa
midland reporter telegram
odessa american

san antonio
san antonio express-news

seguin
seguin gazette-enterprise

texarkana
texarkana gazette

tyler
tyler morning telegraph

victoria
victoria advocate

waco
kxxv news (abc)
kwtx news (cbs)
waco tribune-herald

weslaco
krgv news (nbc)

statewide
texas cable news
texas triangle


World News
ABC News
All Africa News
Arab News
Atlanta Constitution-Journal
News.com Australia
BBC News
Bloomberg
Boston Globe
CBS News
Chicago Tribune
Christian Science Monitor
CNN
Denver Post
FOX News
Google News
The Guardian
Inside China Today
International Herald Tribune
Japan Times
LA Times
Mexico Daily
Miami Herald
MSNBC
New Orleans Times-Picayune
New York Times
El Pais (Spanish)
Salon
San Francisco Chronicle
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Slate
Times of India
Toronto Star
Wall Street Journal
Washington Post



Powered by
Movable Type 3.2b1