Tag: racism

American Airlines Flight Makes Emergency Diversion, Two Passengers Arrested After Racial Slur Heard Onboard

An American Airlines flight originally scheduled to depart from Dallas, Texas and arrive at Los Angeles, California was diverted to Phoenix, Arizona last week after airline staff became aware of an onboard altercation that involved the use of an unspecified racial slur.

Two Hispanic women from the Bronx neighborhood of New York – Leeza Rodriguez, 29, and Kelly Pichardo, 30, – were arrested after the flight landed safely in Phoenix.

“Witnesses reported that the two women were using racial slurs when a male passenger asked them to stop using that language. Kelly Pichardo became upset and allegedly spit at the male passenger who had asked her to stop using that language,” Phoenix police spokeswoman Mercedes Fortune told The Arizona Republic.

When the man began filming the incident with a cell phone camera, Rodriguez allegedly struck his hand in an effort to make him drop the device.

Pichardo was charged with disorderly conduct and Rodriguez was charged with assault and disorderly conduct.

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Biden Omits Mention of Dr. Seuss From ‘Read Across America Day’ Amid Concerns of Racist Undertones

President Joe Biden appears to have removed legendary children’s book author Dr. Seuss from “Read Across America Day,” which is observed on March 2, the birthday of author.

In a proclamation Monday, Biden declared Tuesday “Read Across America Day,” but left out mention of the children’s author, as has been presidential tradition in recent years. Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama both recognized the author in their respective proclamations during their time in office.

Read Across America Day was launched by the National Education Association (NEA) in 1998 to encourage children to read. The association had, until 2018, partnered with Dr. Seuss Enterprises, before the contract ended.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment and clarification.

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Dr. Seuss Enterprises to Stop Publishing Six Books Due to Racist Imagery

Dr. Seuss Enterprises, which oversees the work of the late children’s book author, said it will stop publishing and licensing six books because they contain racist and insensitive images.

The decision was announced on the official Dr. Seuss website Tuesday, March 2nd, which also marks the author’s birthday. The six books are And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, If I Ran the Zoo, McElligot’s Pool, On Beyond Zebra!, Scrambled Eggs Super!, and The Cat’s Quizzer.

Dr. Seuss Enterprises said it came to this decision last year after reviewing its catalog with the help of a panel of experts, including educators. “These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong,” the statement reads. “Ceasing sales of these books is only part of our commitment and our broader plan to ensure Dr. Seuss Enterprises’ catalog represents and supports all communities and families.”

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Ivy League University Offers Rock Climbing Class — No White Students Allowed

Cornell University was offering a racially-segregated rock climbing class for their students physical education — but no white students allowed.

The physical education class, “BIPOC Rock Climbing,” was originally slated to be restricted to “people who identify as Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, or other people of color.”

After Campus Reform reached out the university for comment about the discrimination, the course description was edited to state that the class is “designed to enable Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, or other people of color underrepresented in the sport of rock climbing to learn the sport and to feel included and supported.”

The original listing for the course, set to begin during the Spring 2021 academic semester, was archived and can be viewed here.

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Amid protests against racism, scientists move to strip offensive names from journals, prizes, and more

For Earyn McGee, terminology matters.

McGee, a herpetologist, studies the habitat and behavior of Yarrow’s spiny lizard, a reptile native to the southwestern United States. The University of Arizona graduate student and her colleagues regularly pack their things—boots, pens, notebooks, trail mix—and set off into the nearby Chiricahua Mountains. At their field site, they start an activity with a name that evokes a racist past: noosing.

“Noosing” is a long-standing term used by herpetologists for catching lizards. But for McGee, a Black scientist, the term is unnerving, calling to mind horrific lynchings of Black people by white people in the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries. “Being the only Black person out in the middle of nowhere with a bunch of white people talking about noosing things is unsettling,” she says. McGee has urged her colleagues to change the parlance to “lassoing,” which she says also more accurately describes how herpetologists catch lizards with lengths of thread.

McGee isn’t alone in reconsidering scientific language. Researchers are pushing to rid science of words and names they see as offensive or glorifying people who held racist views.

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Smith College fails to defend their own employees after false accusations of racism

Smith College, an elite college in Northampton, Massachusetts, failed to defend its working-class employees against false and damaging accusations of racism levelled by a teaching assistant, The New York Times reports.

The story began when Oumou Kanoute, a black teaching assistant at the college, was found eating in the Tyler house dormitory cafeteria, which during that summer was off-limits to students as it was being used for a children’s summer camp.

Kanoute was approached by a cafeteria employee named Jackie Blair, who informed her that the cafeteria was off-limits to students at the time. This caused Kanoute to go to the dormitory lounge, which was also closed to students for the summer, where she was noticed by a janitor.

The janitor, who has been advised to call campus security if he sees someone trespassing, decided to give them a call. “We have a person sitting there laying down in the living room,” he said to dispatchers. He did not mention her race.

When security arrived, the officer recognized Kanoute as a student and had a brief conversation with her. Kanoute expressed her discomfort with the situation, saying she felt threatened, and the security guard apologized for bothering her.

That evening, Kanoute took to Facebook to lambast a number of college employees as racists. “It’s outrageous that some people question my being at Smith, and my existence overall as a woman of color,” she wrote.

Smith College president Kathleen McCartney immediately apologized for the incident without conducting an investigation or contacting the accused employees, and put the janitor who called security on leave.

The actions of both Kanoute and McCartney stunned the employees. Ms. Blair, who did not call security, had her name, picture, and email included in the post. “This is the racist person,” Kanoute wrote.

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Citing Racial Inequities, Boston Public Schools Suspend New Advanced Learning Classes

A selective program for high-performing fourth, fifth and sixth graders in Boston has suspended enrollment due to the pandemic and concerns about equity in the program, GBH News has learned.

Superintendent Brenda Cassellius recommended the one-year hiatus for the program, known as Advanced Work Classes, saying the district would not proceed with the program for new students next year.

“There’s been a lot of inequities that have been brought to the light in the pandemic that we have to address,” Cassellius told GBH News. “There’s a lot of work we have to do in the district to be antiracist and have policies where all of our students have a fair shot at an equitable and excellent education.”

New students will be admitted in the fourth grade by standards to be determined at the school level, according to a BPS spokesman.

There will be no new students admitted in the fifth or sixth grades, the spokesman said, but those already in advanced work will be allowed to continue.

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