NRU -- race edition

It seems like race has exploded in the news as a theme of late ... at least on one day in particular (March 17th -- go figure) there were an enormous amount of stories ... and then some others here and there ... what do you think?

I am ambivalent at best about this story ... the race card project -- awkward not very descriptive name ... what is it supposed to illuminate?

What does it mean when the students vote out the racist mascot and the tribe volunteers to underwrite the cost of changing the mascot?

Ok... March 17th ... let's start here where the question is about the status of Latinos.  Is it a race? An ethnicity?  I am interested in the historical reason the AP gives for why Latinos were not considered a race ...and I have also heard from some other sociologists (closer to home) that believe that changing Latino to race would be a bad idea... of course, from her perspective, as a Black Latina, she doesn't have to choose to identify with "white," as I might if I gave in to the notion that my race is defined by a census taker.

This is all background, of course, for the next story in the lineup:  the brown scare.  Sorry, I mean the story about the growing population of Latinos.  Though they find a way to tie in the scary part, in this case, they use the words "blur the racial line." For those old enough to remember, miscegenation laws were all about keeping racial lines clear.

The next piece I read seemed to be in only fuzzy communication with the first two because it once again brings race to the line between Black and white, as if in Brazil, of all places, there were only these two groups to consider.  Apparently those indigenous folks will have to leave, die out or choose a color.

Finally, I read the piece that starts: In colorblind France... yeah, just because a country refuses to count people by color doesn't mean that they aren't treating people by color ... or that they haven't been doing so for thousands of years.

Late entries:
It was only a matter of time until someone figured out that there might be some questions to ask about the "Latino" pope.  Here the AP takes a stab at popular definition mixed with some pseudo-historical references.  Bottom line, there were several unasked questions wrapped up in the humble, Latino pope story that no one got around to -- namely, is this guy was the runner up in the pope pageant last time, doesn't that make him a whole lot like Bennie?  And, should the follow up question to Francis' statement about ends of the earth -- to find a European hiding out in Latin America?  I am not trying to jump to conclusions about this poor man, I wouldn't want his job.  But, I am just saying that amid the confetti throwing there wasn't a lot of clear headed questioning, rather there was a lot of fawning in the guise of faux questioning.

This story is not really about race -- at least it is not the intention of the journalist.  However, it is... race, class, education, and money ... it's all here.  This school (or complex of schools) was supposed to be a charter school in an urban setting for Native American students ... the acronym for the name, AIM, belies the political nature of the original gesture, however much it *stands* for something other than the American Indian Movement.  As a site of foment during the movement, the Bay Area has inextricable links to the original AIM.  That this complex of schools spoke to Asian immigrant parents who are *stuck* in a district struggling in every way is just another wrinkle on the struggle for equity.  I will continue to follow what happens to this movement.