Archive for the ‘Politics’ Category
Costs of Caregiver Discrimination Increasing for Employers
New Report Says Family Responsibilities Discrimination Cases on the Rise, Cost More Treating employees less favorably because they have family caregiving obligations can land employers in court and result in significant liability, a new report by the Center for WorkLife Law concludes. Litigation aimed at bias against U.S. workers who care for children [...]
Brooklyn Borough Chief Is Deposed in Bias Suit
New York Times reports on the suit filed by former Borough President Communications Director Regina Weiss. By DAVID W. CHEN Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is not the only city official who has been forced recently to answer questions about employment discrimination. Marty Markowitz, the Brooklyn borough president, was deposed on Friday at his offices in [...]
Remembering Howard Zinn (August 24, 1922 – January 27, 2010)
By Saswat Pattanayak “To be neutral is to collaborate with whatever is going on, and I as a teacher do not want to be a collaborator with whatever is happening in the world today.” (Howard Zinn) In the grossly unequal world that we inhabit, it is always tempting to remain apolitical, especially if one is [...]
First Year Costs of Obama’s Illusions
By Saswat Pattanayak Despite his constant denial of race dynamics necessary to dissect American political roadmap, Barack Obama is going to be the first American President to be judged, also by his color. During his first year, several cartoons, news articles, political mentions – both innocent and deliberate – have brought up the issue of [...]
Manhattan Courts Getting Used to Transgender Name Changes
From today’s New York Times article by William Glaberson Changing a name might seem like a minor matter for those who are changing their gender identities and, for some, facing challenges like finding knowledgeable doctors, trying hormones and experimenting with painful hair-removal procedures. But many who have gone through the switch say a name change [...]
Have We Been Silencing Dr King?
By Saswat Pattanayak Whenever a progressive leader of the masses, a politically fundamental agent of change, a spirited revolutionary demands replacement of existing social order, the oppressive ruling class never dares confront the person; instead it iconizes him/her after stripping off the necessary radical components. Through an utopian mythification of the leader, the courage to [...]
NYC Purposely Discriminated Against Blacks
In what turns out to be one of the most discriminatory patterns, a process that has subjected African-Americans to series of disturbing disadvantages, a federal judge has ruled against one of New York City’s legacies. New York Times reports, that according to judge, Nicholas G. Garaufis, New York City “intentionally discriminated against black applicants to [...]
Lucy Parsons :: Revolutionary Feminist
By Saswat Pattanayak No legal case in American history has been more cited than The Scottsboro Trial. Nine young African American men, aged 13 and up, were jailed in Scottsboro, Alabama to await trial over an accusation that they had raped two white women on a train in the Spring of 1931. The nature of [...]