Tag Archives: race

Darren Ranco on seeing racism and white supremacy beyond individual incidents

This evening I will be hosting an event called Think + Drink, which has been organized by Maine Humanities Council: Think & Drink will be offered again in winter 2015 at SPACE Gallery, and the broad theme for this series will be “Disruption.” We’ll examine, in turn, the disruption of whiteness, authority, art, and gender. […]

In which we ignore context to excuse our own racist attitudes

After receiving a good deal of positive feedback on my recent post about race, particularly from folks who struggle with the topic and typically feel unheard, I received the following message to which I will respond below. Clearly you have never been victimized by black crime. You have never had your girlfriend  held up at […]

Rest well, Shaman King: On Robin Williams

I don’t have much to offer about the passing and legacy of Robin Williams outside of what has already been written, Tweeted, shared via status updates, exchanged at kitchen tables, or conveyed in shocked text exchanges. Beginning with the syndicated episodes of Mork and Mindy that aired in the early 80s, Williams has always been […]

The customer is not always right: local restauranter confronts racist customer

Everybody in the service and hospitality industry knows that the adage “The customer is always right” is absolutely wrong. Even for those who are not in the industry, we all have had enough experience with humanity to know that there are more than a handful of duds in the bunch. Customers can be great, but […]

LePage told Republicans that President Obama “hates white people”

Really. I wonder how Adrienne Bennett‘s conscience is treating her these days. Photo Source: It’s from that time I imagine Bennett was like, you know what, screw it. Let’s just pretend that I am really a reputable newswoman who hasn’t sold out her integrity and that you are really a governor. Note: A friend in […]

Talking the Zimmerman trial and “making things about race” with Samuel James

The following exchange is extracted from a conversation I had with Samuel James about the social media response to the Zimmerman case. I reached out to Sam because so much of the commentary I had seen online, particularly from within my immediate circles, sounded very much as if it was written by and for white […]

When do I respond to racists and/or trolls?

A friend recently asked how I formulate responses when I am engaged by racists, as I was on my Tumblr blog a few weeks back. Further, she wanted to know how I choose when to cease engagement, and whether or not I get bummed out by these exchanges. With regard to the racist, I said […]