Tasty Morning Bytes – Teaching Arabic, How to Talk About Race and a Giant Inconvenience
Good morning, DCentric readers! Before you head off to your holiday weekend, check out these links:
Glenn Beck: Is The Term ‘Colored’ Really Such A Bad Thing? “[Beck] added that all the PC labels we have for another end up making Americans afraid to speak with one another, because Americans don’t inherently want to offend one another. We want to say the ‘right’ thing and take the kindest course of action…His advice? Have no fear and ‘dismiss these human rights frauds.’” (Mediaite)
Chicago school to expand Arabic offerings to district, community In the words of the Principal: “When I get the question from parents ‘why?’ I say regardless of how you feel about it, we’re involved in the Middle East and the more that people here know about language and culture, the better off we’re all going to be. We know that there are not enough Arabic speakers…And it seems to be something everyone understands is a need but few people put into place.” (WBEZ Chicago Public Media)
Practice Makes Progress (How to Talk About Race) “Our ways of dealing with race don’t progress as a nation because we don’t have momentum carrying us. Something bad happens (truth), we talk about it for a while, and then conversation dies out until another bad thing happens (i.e. a hate crime). Our national dialogue never gets practiced because we talk in spurts. In pockets, people initiate dialogues on race all the time (see activists, academia, or other such educational entities). We have to figure out how to connect the pockets so it becomes a more wide-spread conversation.” (Racialicious)
O Street Giant To Close Sept. 8, Chain To Offer Shuttle Inconvenience in Shaw: “What are residents who usually use the supermarket supposed to do until the new store opens in 2013? Fortunately, Giant will operate a free shuttle between the Gibson Plaza apartment building at 1301 7th Street NW and the Tivoli Giant in Columbia Heights at 1345 Park Road NW.” (DCist)
Despite Controversy, The Help Has Earned $100 Million (So Far) “But The Help has been plagued by controversy: The movie is based on the 2009 best-selling novel, written by Kathryn Stockett, and features a fictional character, a black maid named Aibileen Clark. Kathryn Stockett’s brother, Robert Stockett III, has employed a nanny — who is black — for years. Her name? Ablene Cooper. She calls the portrayal of Aibileen ‘embarrassing,’ and has filed a lawsuit against the author.” (Jezebel)