racial discrimination

China slams US Human Rights Report

China has bashed the US with its own “Human Rights Record of the United States in 2014”, argumentatively advising Washington that it should take a look in the mirror before pointing fingers.

Beijing has answered the US with its own annual Human Rights Record of the United States in 2014, which was released by the country’s State Council Information Office on Friday, a day after Washington published its Report on Human Rights Practices for 2014.

It brought into focus the grave human rights violations both inside the US and those it has exercised all over the world.

“While its own human rights situation was increasingly grave, the US violated human rights in other countries in a more brazen manner, and was given more ‘red cards’ in the international human rights field.”

“In the field of international human rights, the US has long refused to approve some core human rights conventions of the United Nations and voted against some important UN human rights resolutions.”

The report also stressed that the US National Security Agency had spied on world leaders and civilians all over the world.

The report pointed at the problems of racial discrimination within US, especially stressing how Washington treats its minority groups and indigenous people, which are “subject to unfairness in environment, election, health care, housing, education and other fields.”

American women and children’s rights were also not fully protected within their own country.“Money is a deciding factor in the US politics, and the US citizens’ political rights were not properly protected,” the report concluded.

Source: Sputnik News

SA has highest number of dollar millionaires

South Africa has the highest number of dollar millionaires on the African continent and this number is set to rise in coming years, according to Old Mutual’s New World Wealth Africa Report for 2015 released on Wednesday.

The report predicted an increase of 55 500 in the number of dollar millionaires in the country by 2017, despite a weakening local currency. The group had grown by nine percent since 2007.

This projection, said Luke Martins, a financial planner at Old Mutual Private Wealth Management was realistic, but dependent on the country’s future economic situation.

While individual attitudes toward building wealth, such as investing and having a clear vision plays a role in the success of high net worth (HNW) individuals, the performance of the local economy was equally important, he said.

Martins said there was great potential for South Africans to create wealth, despite educational and socio-economic challenges, which may slow down the growth of HNW individuals.

“The continued growth in numbers of high net worth individuals in South Africa can be attributed to a combination of factors, including the country’s continued position as a business and investment gateway into Africa and its appeal as a global investment destination, and its robust physical and financial infrastructure.”

A financial planner for Old Mutual Private Wealth Management, Lesego Monareng, said South Africa’s Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policies had done much to create wealthy South Africans.

“In South Africa, the political will to drive economic empowerment of previously disadvantaged persons has been a major contributor to wealth creation for many. It has both built the middle market as a feeder into individual wealth achievement and allowed many individuals to position themselves to take advantage of the resulting opportunities,” Monareng said.

Source: ANA

Black and white justice: Oscar Pistorius and the Xhosa King

The question of whether Oscar Pistorius is a murderer or not will now be argued in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) following the successful application by the State to have his culpable homicide conviction reviewed.

Judge Thokozile Masipa handed down her ruling in the High Court in Pretoria on Wednesday.

Pistorius was sentenced to five years in prison for the Valentine’s Day shooting of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

But the State just can’t explain why DA-darling Xhosa King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo has for five years managed to avoid a 15-year jail sentence for culpable homicide, while the State dithers over what to do about him.

SCA sources have confirmed that no appeal papers were filed by either side in the case. As there’s no appeal, Dalindyebo should have started serving his 15-year sentence, but he remains free.

“We are still dealing with the matter. We are unable to divulge any details at this point,” Nathi Mncube, national spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), said last week.

“It will be resolved soon.”

The Star had asked again why Dalindyebo wasn’t in jail, following the collapse of an appeal in the matter in early August.

He was convicted in 2009 of culpable homicide, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, arson, kidnapping and attempting to defeat the ends of justice, relating to disciplinary actions he ordered against his subjects in 1995 and 1996.

He was sentenced to an effective 15 years in jail.

Dalindyebo never filed appeal papers with the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA), and in early August, the Department of Justice said the appeal had lapsed as he was now out of time.

He was expected to go to jail, but didn’t.

At the same time, the NPA explained the lack of action against Dalindyebo by saying it had also appealed against the culpable homicide conviction. But the NPA also never filed any appeal papers.

Dalindyebo openly admits to smoking dagga and has been accused of assaults, including on relatives.

Clearly the prosecutor in the Pistorius case loved the international media attention he was getting by attacking the famous white athlete. Gerrie Nel complained that the mercy shown Oscar Pistorius was “over-exaggerated”.

Nel called the sentence “shockingly inappropriate”, openly playing to the race-baiters.

“It’s like taking someone charged with murder and then convicting him on, say, public violence. It cannot be,” Nel ranted, while appealing the acquittal on murder of Pistorius.

Whites see harmony where blacks see racism

Alice Singen had always seen her home town Ferguson, Mo., as an integrated, harmonious place. Like many other white residents, she prided herself on staying here even when others began to leave.

But since the death of an unarmed black teenager at the hands of a white police officer, some African Americans are calling it segregated and racist. Now Singen has found herself talking in terms of “us” and “them,” “we” and “they.”

“I didn’t have any problems with anybody or any color, and all of a sudden it feels like we are being held responsible for something that’s not our fault,” Singen, 70, said as she left Faraci Pizza, a 46-year-old Ferguson business that has become a focal point of racial tension. “I don’t get it.”

That sense of shock is common here among Ferguson whites in the wake of 18-year-old Michael Brown’s death and the explosive protests in the days that followed.

The situation has forced many white Ferguson residents in this majority-black city — from small-business owners to the mayor and police chief — to question their beliefs about the community’s racial dynamics.

They have discovered that blacks and whites here profoundly disagree about the existence of racism and the fairness of the justice system. And now, whites who once believed their town was an exception in a country struggling with racial divisions have to confront the possibility it is not.

Between 2000 and 2010, the white population plummeted from 44 percent to 30 percent, while the black population grew from 50 percent to 67 percent.

In her majority-black neighborhood, a white house-owner staked an “I ♥ Ferguson” sign on her lawn.

Some of her neighbors reprimanded her for it. They interpreted the campaign as another way to mask the city’s injustice. Even the sign had two sides.

A Mexican American woman complained about how horrible it was to witness [black] teenagers getting tear-gassed.

“Well, we don’t know all the facts,” a white woman answered.

“But we do know that [Brown] had stolen those cigars, because we saw the video. And we know that the officer called him aside because he was jaywalking.”

Source: Washington Post

SAIIR says state actively discriminating against whites

Public service managers are being encouraged to keep posts vacant rather than fill them with whites, an SA Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) says.

“In the name of transformation, managers in the public service have actually been incentivised to keep whites out for racial and ideological reasons. Better to leave a vacancy unfilled than to put a white person into it,” SAIRR consultant John Kane-Berman said in the newsletter, published on Tuesday.

He said this was a “lose-lose-lose situation” and “madness”.

In the newsletter, Kane-Berman was responding to the death of three babies in Bloemhof, North West, due to water contamination caused by a sewage spill.

Earlier in June, the SAIRR reportedly blamed affirmative action for the deaths, and said the policy should be scrapped.

The institute said black empowerment policies had seen unqualified people appointed to positions where their incompetence affected poor and vulnerable communities.

“The Bloemhof municipality lost its capacity to maintain the sewer plant,” chief executive Frans Cronje was quoted as saying at the time.

“There is no doubt that the officials responsible for these deaths were appointed, at least in part, on grounds of race-based affirmative action and that a direct causal link therefore exists between the policy and the deaths.”

Kane-Berman said those appointed to posts were unqualified and were appointed only because they are black.

“Posts are sometimes left vacant if the only person available to fill them is white. It further means that experienced people who happen to be white get out of the public service because they are denied promotion or encouraged to take early retirement.”

The problem is further complicated by a lack of accountability in government, with politicians accountable to party headquarters, rather than to the electorate.

“People who fail to do their jobs, or who defraud the state, do so because they know they can get away with it,” he said.

The mix, he said, was toxic.

“Our system of government is indeed poisoned by a toxic mix of affirmative action, cadre deployment, and impunity.

“Filling a racial quota or supporting the right party, or the right faction within it, are often more important.”

South Africa was suffering from a crumbling health system and a rising disease burden, he said.

“Hospitals and clinics don’t run themselves. They are run by people. When things go wrong… it is not the result of happenstance or bad luck or just one of those things. It is the result of decisions made or actions taken, or not taken, by those people.

“So it is a logical inference that something is wrong with the criteria according to which appointments in these facilities are made.”

He said healthcare management was in crisis, infrastructure and equipment in health facilities were in a desperate state, facilities in rural areas faced dire shortages, and those in urban areas were under severe strain due to a growing population.

“Again, it is a reasonable inference that affirmative action and cadre deployment in the public service compound the problems arising from the country’s skills backlogs, and failure to train government professionals,” he said.

Kane-Berman said anger at nepotism, corruption, and lack of accountability were behind numerous protests across the country.

Quoting from a report by the Commission for Employment Equity, he said Africans presently held 69 percent of top management jobs in government.

“But Africans within the 35 to 64 age cohort from which one would expect top managers to be drawn make up only 36 percent of the economically active population, while only 4.1 percent of over 20s have post-school training.

“This suggests that affirmative action has been rigorously implemented in the public sector regardless of levels of experience or formal qualification.”

He said it was widely recognised that South Africa was plagued by corruption, nepotism, incompetence, and lack of accountability.

“A few people are beginning to identify cadre deployment as a problem. Very few people are willing to identify affirmative action as part of the problem,” he said.

“South Africans need to wake up to the tragic results of the policies being implemented in their name.”

Whites only to pay for water soon?

Talks are under way to stop providing 6000litres of water a month free to residents deemed able to pay for all the water they consume.

Since 2001 the government has been allocating free basic water to white and black consumers indiscriminately.

But this might come to an end if proposals on the table are made law.

For an average household with a monthly water bill of R919, factoring in the cost of the 6kl into the equation – at the lowest tariff category – will add about R150 to the bill.

William Moraka, director of water services at the SA Local Government Association, confirmed yesterday that talks on the issue had begun.

Salga’s proposal is that the net increase per household would depend on how tariffs are to be structured.

White ratepayers will probably be punished anew.

‘I kill white people like you’

Following takeoff from Nashville Sunday afternoon, a United Airlines passenger warned a fellow flyer that, “I kill white people like you” when she was asked to turn off her cell phone, investigators allege.

The disruption on Flight 4205, which was bound for Houston, resulted in the Embraer 135’s return to Nashville’s airport, where Lashonda Lee Williams was arrested for assault.

The 43-year-old Williams, seen at right, was asked by another female passenger to “turn off her cell phone due to the aircraft being in flight,” according to a court affidavit. In reply, Williams allegedly said, “I kill white people like you.”

Investigators noted that Williams told the other passenger, K. Colleen Coult, 50, that she would follow her upon reaching Houston “and find out where she lived.” The comments “created fear in Coult for her safety,” the affidavit notes.

A United flight attendant told cops that Williams’s statements “were causing anxiety and fear throughout the cabin.”

After being booked into the Davidson County jail, Williams, a Houston resident, was released on $3000 bond. She is scheduled for a June 25 County Court appearance.

Source: thesmokinggun.com

Michelle O says students of colour lag behind

Sixty years after the Supreme Court outlawed “separate but equal” schools for blacks and whites, civil rights advocates say American schools are becoming increasingly segregated, while the first lady, Michelle Obama, lamented that “many young people are going to schools with kids who look just like them.”

“Today, by some measures, our schools are as segregated as they were back when Dr. King gave his final speech,” Mrs. Obama told 1,200 graduating high school seniors Friday here in the city that gave rise to the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case.

In a speech that was part commencement address, part policy pronouncement and part journey into her own past, Mrs. Obama said that Brown’s advances were being reversed. “Many districts in this country have actually pulled back on efforts to integrate their schools, and many communities have become less diverse,” she said, leading to schools that are less diverse.

“And too often,” Mrs. Obama said, “those schools aren’t equal, especially ones attended by students of color which too often lag behind.”

Source: NYT

University wants to rid itself of white students

A public university in Washington state is looking for advice on how to rid itself of white people.

According to Campus Reform,Western Washington University included a survey in its daily newsletter that read: How do we make sure that in future years “we are not as white as we are today?”

Several links offering additional information are listed below the question, including a link to a blog post from Western Washington University President Bruce Shepard, who believes the school will have “failed” if the number of white students remains constant in the years ahead.

Campus Reform included a quote from a 2012 Shepard address:

“Every year, from this stage and at this time, you have heard me say that, if in decades ahead, we are as white as we are today, we will have failed as university.”

The obsession with skin color is on full display in Shepard’s blog post.

“In the decades ahead, should we be as white as we are today, we will be relentlessly driven toward mediocrity; or, become a sad shadow of our current self,” he wrote in explaining his position.

It’s enough to make one wonder if white students walk around campus with their heads hung in shame, apologizing for bringing failure upon the school. How is it possible for a student not be judged by the color of their skin in an environment where their value is directly attributed to their skin pigmentation?

Pointing to the “rapidly decreasing” number of high school graduates the school has “traditionally drawn upon” — code for white people? — Shepard insists ”it’s not about keeping whites out.”

“It is about whether we will have the wisdom, the culture, the commitment, to be able to attract a sufficient number of students from diverse backgrounds,” he stated.

Meanwhile, the marginalization of white people to correct the marginalization of people of color continues unabated on college campuses across America. But then, isn’t that what critical race theory is all about?

Perhaps Western Washington University should just hang a sign it’s door that reads “whites need not apply.”

Source: BIZPACReview

US tries to keep blacks out of school-to-prison feed

The Obama administration is urging schools to abandon policies that civil rights advocates say “lead to a school-to-prison pipeline that discriminates against black students”.

The wide-ranging series of guidelines issued Wednesday in essence tells schools that they must back down or face strong action if they don’t. The American Civil Liberties Union called the recommendations “ground-breaking.”

“A routine school disciplinary infraction should land a student in the principal’s office, not in a police precinct,” Attorney General Eric Holder said.

Holder said the problem often stems from well intentioned “zero-tolerance” policies that too often inject the criminal justice system into the resolution of problems. Zero tolerance policies, a tool that became popular in the 1990s, often spell out uniform and swift punishment for offenses such as truancy, smoking or carrying a weapon. Violators can lose classroom time or become saddled with a criminal record.

Source: breitbart.com

Police have become a more common presence in American schools since the shootings at Columbine High School in 1999.

In American schools, black students without disabilities were more than three times as likely as whites to be expelled or suspended, according to government civil rights data collection from 2011-2012. Although black students made up 15 percent of students in the data collection, they made up more than a third of students suspended once, 44 percent of those suspended more than once and more than a third of students expelled.

More than half of students involved in school-related arrests or referred to law enforcement were Hispanic or black, according to the data.

The recommendations encourage schools to ensure that all school personnel are trained in classroom management, conflict resolution and approaches to de-escalate classroom disruptions.

Among the other recommendations:

_Ensure that school personnel understand that they are responsible for administering routine student discipline instead of security or police officers.

_Draw clear distinctions about the responsibilities of school security personnel.

_Provide opportunities for school security officers to develop relationships with students and parents.

The government advises schools to establish procedures on how to distinguish between disciplinary infractions appropriately handled by school officials compared with major threats to school safety. And, it encourages schools to collect and monitor data that security or police officers take to ensure nondiscrimination.

The recommendations are nonbinding.

Already, in March of last year, the Justice Department spearheaded a settlement with the Meridian, Miss., school district to end discriminatory disciplinary practices. The black students in the district were facing harsher punishment than whites for similar misbehavior.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan has acknowledged the challenge is finding the balancing act to keep school safe and orderly. But, he said that, “we need to keep students in class where they can learn.”

Research suggests the racial disparities in how students are disciplined are not explained by more frequent or more serious misbehavior by students of color, according to a letter sent to schools with the recommendations by the departments.

“For example, in our investigations, we have found cases where African-American students were disciplined more harshly and more frequently because of their race than similarly situated white students,” the letter said. “In short, racial discrimination in school discipline is a real problem.”

Mayor of Paris, minister call for ban on French comedian Dieudonne

The mayor of Paris is also calling for comedian Dieudonne M’bala M’bala, known for his anti-Jewish humour, to be banned from performing in public.

France’s interior minister, Manuel Valls, voiced his displeasure first in wanting Dieudonne, as he is known, banned from the stage.

The well-known comedian, started out years ago with a Jewish partner in sketches that mocked racism.

But in 1997, he fell out with Elie Semoun over money owed to him.

He has now joined the political right and alienated some fans with anti-Jewish comments. Dieudonne maintains that most people find joking about blacks in order, but not humour about Jews.

His latest joke about gas chambers has irked Paris mayor Bertrand Delanoe, who likened Dieudonne to a criminal who “defends crimes against humanity”.

“We must ban the performances” he said, echoing recent comments made by interior minister Valls. Valls himself has been accused of discrimination after he said in September that Roma did not want to integrate.

Dieudonne has already been fined a couple of times for defamation, insults, hate speech and racial discrimination, and over his salute, called the “quenelle”.

The “quenelle” has been used by several personalities since, including footballer Nicolas Anelka, who recently used it to celebrate a goal.

But the 47-year-old comedian says the Holocaust gets too much attention to the exclusion of other crimes.

Valls, meanwhile, has said he wants to ban performances by Dieudonne on his nationwide tour this month, after the comedian joked about Jewish radio presenter Patrick Cohen.

“When I hear Patrick Cohen speak, I tell myself, you know, the gas chambers… A shame,” joked Dieudonne.

Despite the criticism, the comedian has scores of die-hard fans who feel he is unjustly being hounded by the media and politicians.

Dieudonne’s official page has 466,000 likes.

He won fans by exposing a well-known Jewish author’s denials of ethnic focus as flimsy and insincere.

The French-born son of a Cameroonian father and a white mother, Dieudonne M’Bala M’Bala shot to fame in the 1990s in a double-act with his childhood friend Semoun.

He stood for EU-wide elections in 2009 on an anti-Zionist platform, describing Holocaust commemorations as “memorial pornography”.

But his shows at a small theatre in Paris that he manages attract packed audiences.

At his show on Thursday, the comedian joked about “kippa city” and “the banking slave master” to general hilarity.

Black racists at school ‘sickening’

A report that pupils were being racially abused at a Boksburg school is disturbing, the Inkatha Freedom Party in Gauteng said on Thursday

“We are sickened by the reported racial discrimination doing the rounds at schools in Gauteng,” provincial leader Bonginkosi Dhlamini said in a statement.

The Star reported on Thursday that several parents of pupils at the Parkdene Primary School in Boksburg claimed the children suffered racial abuse and discrimination.

This was apparently because they wore red strings around their wrists as part of the Hindu faith.

A Grade 3 pupil was reportedly discriminated against by his music teacher, who is the principal’s wife, for wearing red strings on his wrists.

His parents claimed he was called a “coolie” several times in front of his classmates and told to take the string off.

After complaining, the parents were told the pupil had to wear a red jersey to hide the string.

The principal refused to comment, saying the department was dealing with the matter.

Dhlamini said the teacher’s alleged behaviour “demonstrates the dwindling humanistic culture in our society”.

“This unendurable action by the teacher is a regressive sign of racial battles still protruding in our society, and strict measures needs to be taken against those who… blatantly attack innocent children because of their race and religion.”

Education spokesperson Charles Phahlane was not immediately available for comment. – Sapa