As you see from my sidebar, like everyone else, I have a blog roll. One unique section of my blogroll are of brothers and sisters that are expats or international travellers in locations outside of the US, African nations, and Brazil.  

 It's all good to have a list, but I like to visualize information. This custom google map was easy to create, and gives a unique perspective on the afro-precense in the world.

 Mostly the links are to blogs, but I plan to directly link posts from the Black Travels forum to their respective locations on the map.

The goal is to aid networking for business, travel planning, and plain old fun.

Almost weekly we hear about supreme court rulings, law enforcement incidents, and the blatant law breaking of our elected officials, so much so that it is becoming hard to be enraged anymore.

Last month, we found that

• The top officials in the Bush administration discussed and approved torture techniques.
  
• Another seemingly cut-and-dry police murder of an unarmed civilian was sanctioned by a judge.
  
• The presumptive republican nominee was found to violate his own campaign laws.
  
• The people of Zimbabwe have been wrestling with fundamental democratic issues.
  
• We have a right-wing talk show host that is inciting riots and illegally encouraging election law violations from his soapbox.
  
• A jury has for a second time given a mistrial for the case of a group of so-called terrorists in Miami, and the feds have elected to try these railroaded black men for a third time.

The commonality of all of these events is that they are about legal issues. And these issues are of particular importance to African Americans. These nuanced issues could best be addressed by, say, a blog of black law professors.

Yes, it would really be nice to have a group of proud African American law experts weigh in on these important issues. Luckily such a blog exists! Blackprof.com even has a banner with the faces of 11 black law professors to testify to the integrity of the blog posts. Oh Joy.

So, with the above legal issues in mind, what did Blackprof.com find worthy of discussion last month?

THE NATIONAL BLACK POLICE ASSOCIATION: THE SEAN BELL VERDICT EMBOLDENS LACK OF CONFIDENCE IN JUDGES

Juanita Bynum: Do Blinged Out Pastors go to Heaven

Dog the Bounty Hunter and Neo-Nazi Relative

Vogue Seems to Think Black Men Make Good Monkeys

Judgmental Judges and The Art of Fear: Come On People, Let’s Stop Being So Damn Scared

Why the World Hates Kwame Kilpatrick

Why I Won’t Be Watching March Madness 

Granted, these were by a guest blogger (a finance professor!, no less).

So, what did members of the core group talk about over the last month? Two entries on Obama. One MLK memorial. And "The Gangsta Lifestyle on Trial".

This is par for the course for Blackprof.com. Par for the course.

Over the last few years of astounding, frightening and important legal events and stories, Blackprof has amazingly been silent on many of these issues, let alone distilling any black view of them. They have chosen instead to produce a blog that competes more with the tabloid genre than one that could hold its own with the legal or political space. They have forgone hardhitting analysis for trite and cheap pop commentary.

I used to read them regularly, until I figured out that the authors did not want to rise above tabloid blogging, and that aside from the rare gem in the rough, I could expect to be disappointed month after month.

Imagine a college-educated analyst in a little office, working an excel sheet that describes a bunch of homeowners borrowers. This "quant" lacks crucial expertise and visibility into the mortage market, but he sure can work a pivot table!

This ignorant, but well-meaning analyst has been a crucial cog in the mortgage mess. They, and their employers, have been key influencers in the international market for mortgage-backed securities. The ratings given to mortgage backed bonds are critical to their acceptance to investors, and thus the growth of this market.

The growth of this market for mortgage-backed bonds, in turn incentivized banks and lenders to prime the lending pump, encouraging shaky borrowers, cajoling loan officers and generally cutting corners to approve more home loans. Thus, we have the growth of the mortage industry, fueled not by demand from the housing market, but by demand from the bond market.

One of my interests is in quantitative finance, partucularly in finding ways to model and price "real" assets. One of the things I have learned, and is illustrated in this article, is the fact that many folks who have to model markets and assets, have little connection to what they are modeling. The analysts had no good method of checking the validity of their models or assumptions. And the people who depended on these models to make decisions misvalued investments and misread risk. The same thing happens all the time in banks, product companies, and marketing firms.

(hat tip to Agonist)

(Update2: Another great article that gets closer to my point about scientific legitamacy, but tackles it from both ends: IQ and "race".)

Whatever you call IQ, don't call it science.

I have recently had a few discussions with colleagues about intelligence testing and the racial correlations researchers have drawn from various studies of IQ. Cnulan has covered alot of these controversies well in various posts.

Many of the people in these conversations take the social conclusions drawn or implied from these studies at face value and as fact. The assumptions is that these studies are science, and thus a large psychological weight is placed on their implications or conclusions.

Any study, statistical or not, that you may peruse is not, in fact, science. The field of IQ is pseudo-science at best, and to consider conclusions drawn from such studies as fact because of the authoritarian veneer of science placed upon IQ practitioners is simply wrong.

Why isn't "IQ-ology" science?

Let's start by what is being measured. Just what the heck is IQ? From what I have seen, it is the score that is given to a subject after said subject answers a series of exam questions. The definition of IQ is fully subjective, and depends on who makes up the questions. There is no way to objectively and logically derive the definition of IQ. It depends upon the bias of those who make up the exams and the weight that they assign to a subject's responses. That is why people say that since white guys have made up most of these questions, these exams are strongly biased toward european cultural memes.

By contrast, the gravitational constant, the mass of an electron, and the speed of light are all quantities that can be objectively measured and fit within a theoretical framework which allow them to objectively derived. No committee of guys in white coats agreed on c, the speed of light. There is an extremely specific definition of what c is, which is based on concepts which are themselves objective and logical. IQ is nothing like this.

I realize that social sciences by their nature can lean away from objective quantities and objective measurements, but when the item of measurement is absent of objectivity, social sciences become social "sciences". Any measurement could be held up as science if this is not the case. Measuring "mackadociousness", or "MQ" is science under the standard that we give "IQ". Credit scoring is science. Any man with a yardstick is a scientist.

Another reason I reject IQ as a science is more fundamental. Scientific conclusions or "facts" should deliver predictions that are observable by independent parties. These predictions should be specific and repeatable. What does IQ predict? What repeatable predictions have IQ-ologists made that can be verified by independent parties? I know of none.

By predictions, I'm not talking about a Johnny Carson swami-type of prediction, but specific outcomes being forecast based on specific inputs/conditions. A controlled environment. Some think that IQ predicts educational achievement and "success", but where are the controlled conditions to prove this? How do you eliminate these factors enough to make a prediction that is observable? You can't and maintain a modicum of legitmacy.

Without predictable results and specificity around the measured quantity, calling IQ-ology and results derived from IQ studies science and fact is raising this pseudo-science to a level of authority is has not merited.

This is the title of an article by Phillip Jackson (thanks Native Son). Good question, and asked with the best intentions, but approached with too many wrong assumptions, IMO. I will address part of the article here and finish in a later post.

Firstly Mr. Jackson assumes that blacks are a monolith or at most bi-sected into a large majority of those doomed by globalization and a sliver of beneficiaries.

Secondly, Jackson assumes that everyone else is doing well by comparison. One of his opening statements says it all: 

"While much of the world has adapted to the new-world economy and new-world standards of existence, most of Black America is still operating much the same way it did in the 1950s and 1960s."

Most of the world has "adapted" in a most curious way. Not everyone in China and India (and the dozens of other examples held up as symbols of globalization) are techno-saavy millionaires. Most of those people are locked in economic binds that relegate them to the status of neo-serfs. I would argue that only a few people are truly benefiting from globalization, and since black americans just happen to live in the world's superpower, they benefit from globalization alot more than the person on the street in Mumbai benefits. Try to tell someone from rural india or china about black american poverty, and they will laugh in your face.

So, "adapting to the new world economy" could mean resigning yourself to never leave the dorm-room living conditions of the factory of Corporation X - that is until the powers that be kick you out for a younger assembly line worker that can twist on bottlecaps faster. Is this what we want black people to emulate?

I guess Jackson is refering to the winners of the "new economy". There are however few winners. And being left out of the new economy is not a black-exclusive problem:

Black people who live in different parts of the country, saying to each other, “We are in trouble!” We know it and the rest of the world knows it! Black America, as we know it, is in danger of not surviving globalization.

Replace "black" with any racial/ethnic group that has been in America for more than a generation, and you would still be on the money. Ask these white corporate drones who are being laid off and having their job downsized and/or outsourced Foreigners from Mexico are benefiting. The Mexican-American population is a different story. Whites probably have it worst. They are in a worse position than blacks because they actually have a strong feeling of entitlement to the rewards of American empire: safe jobs, cheap or subsidized credit, etc.

Although education has become the new currency of exchange in the 21st century, the old American educational paradigm stopped working decades ago for Black Americans. Simply sending Black children to American schools without a clear purpose or goal has contributed to the demise of the Black community. Black America watched formerly third-world countries catapult over America to become educational super powers while America rested on its old, stale educational laurels and fell way behind much of the world in educational performance. And because Black America unthinkingly depended on the American education system to educate its children, we have fallen way behind.

What 3rd world countries are being referred to? Only the elites of these countries have catapulted, the majorities of these nations are mired in poverty and social/economic stagnation, relative to Americans, even Black Americans. And many black people have indeed taken advantage of educational opportunities, ask any HBCU graduate, or the people on the blog links on the leftside of this page. Black kids indeed have been sent to school with a clear purpose; many may not have been paying attention----like most americans. However, unlike the majority, a mediocre black kid will be eaten alive by the system.

The problem is that black people are not using their educations to create a block of wealth and affluence. Many educated black people are content to work for corporations, and not enough establish their own businesses. Of those with businesses, I don't see any concerted effort to get create a coalition with the economic influence to shake things up.

They shoulda dragged his brown behind out of the Justice Department in handcuffs for facilitating torture and for lying and obstruction of justice in the U.S. Attorney firing scandal.

Better yet, the Democrats shoulda filibustered his nomination to be Attorney General based on his torture record. That would have been a whole lot simpler than listening to him perjure himself for 6 months.

To act without understanding and to do so habitually without examination, following certain courses all their lives without knowing the principles behind them---this is the way of the multitude.

                                                                                                                               MengZi, 4th Century, BCE

Illustration: The Macaca Moment

George Allen, a politician of long experience and with presidential aspirations, has a long and distinguished resume that included a state governorship, service in the US House and US Senate. Going into Virginia's senate race of 2006 as an incumbent against Jim Webb, Allen was a favorite to win. Many predicted that his anticipated victory would catapult him into a presidential run in 2008. Indeed, as of 2006, Allen had already made a few trips to Iowa and New Hampshire, to shore up support in these two early primary states.

By August 2006, Allen enjoyed a wide lead in the polls: 56% to Webb's 37%. During this time, a volunteer of Jim Webb's campaign, S. D. Sidarth, started accompanying and filming Allen and his retinue at campaign appearances. This cameraman, while playing a passive role, had an effect on his hosts with his obvious East Indian phenotype.

During one run-of-the-mill event, attended by about 100 supporters, Allen played to his exclusively white crowd by calling attention to his visibly east-Indian guest. What was meant to be an inside joke to a limited crowd of staunch supporters became broadcast all over the world via web-video sites and blogs.

Allen's lead took a hit, dropping in a few weeks to a mere 3 point lead.

His campaign lost control of the momentum of the electoral race as more revelations about his racist past came to the fore. He was accused of vandalising the home of a black family in his college years. He was reported to have hanging nooses in his office as a state officer. And

On November 5 2006, George Allen conceded the election to Web. Allen had been beaten by 0.3%. He has not entered the 2008 presidential race, and after leaving office, works for the Young America's Foundation. He declined publicly to run for the 2008 republican presidential nomination.

Interpretation:

Allen had all the cards in his favor and a commanding lead going into the last stretch of the election. He was also campaigning in many strongholds that supported him. Thus, he was ostensibly deep into his home territory. This helped to soothe Allen into an unfounded sense of security.

In reality, the presence of a camera in the hands of possible opponents put his words and deeds on a global stage. More importantly they were brought to the attention of Allen's constituents, many of whom were demonstrably against Allen's overtly racist antics. The camera also eliminated the deniability of Allen's words and attitudes. His words and expressions are still floating around cyberspace for all to see. Though certainly much of Allen's base of supporters agreed and endorsed his racial ideology, outright endorsement clashed with their sensibilities in an era when "subterfuge" racism is preferable.

Webb's planners obviously placed Sidarth and his camera in the midst of Allen's campaign to chronicle any potentially damaging behavior and quotes from Allen. And Allen, an experienced politician, must have realized this. However, because of the force of habit, buttressed by the comfort of his surroundings, Allen couldn't resist delivering a racist slur, even with the camera of his opponents trained directly on him. Such is the arrogant folly of the bigot.

It is not known whether or not Sidarth's racial heritage was a factor in his assignment by Webb's staff, but his appearance obviously had a stirring effect on Allen and his staffers, leading to the Macaca moment. Because of their racial beliefs and attitudes, the mere presence of a dark-skinned member of the opposition's campaign was enough to stir the snakes.

It's that force of habit of which the astute can take advantage.

Recommendation:

If you must endure prejudiced thickheadedness from individuals and groups in life, career, and daily struggles, why not use these attitudes to your advantage? Bigotry is always a convenient and predictable Achilles heel.

The bigot, whether overt or subtle, often operates under an unshakeable ideology. He also thinks and acts under a strong habit. In a society that tolerates and even panders to prejudice, such a person will see his attitudes and biases as normal, and will assume that the world shares his views.

The judo strategy takes the strong momentum of habit and tradition, and turns them against the bigot. This can be by exposing his views to an unsympathetic audience, or by using the bigot's presumptions to guide her into a situation of your choosing. The transparent emotional and intellectual state of the bigot provides the predictability that ensures the success of this strategy.

As a minor example, if you know your quarry routinely crosses the street to avoid every black male, you can use this to ensure such a person will arrive on your side of the road.

When used on a larger scale, the judo strategy has been used by politicians to encourage people to vote against their economic interests, on the basis of racist sentiment. The southern strategy is without question one of the most successful political strategies in modern American politics, still going strong after several administrations and generations of voters.

In this case, politicians have used the prejudices of a segment of people to gain the political power to enact policies that are directly harmful to this same segment. Even with highly harmful policies to the biased white voter, the politician need only fervently shroud the policy as harmful to a stigmatized group. Take the welfare reform of the 90s. Most recipients of state and federal assistance are white. It stands to reason that welfare reform has adversely affected the wages and wealth of poor white families. Yet since many saw it as a program dominated by lazy black people, they were willing to sell themselves and their group down the river by supporting it.

Reversal:

Be wary of your own bigotry, and do everything in your power to extinguish it. Otherwise, your opponents will use your blind spots and ignorant passions against you.

Related Links:

13th of The 36 Strategems: Beat the Grass to Stir the Snakes. Link1 Link2 Link3

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Content: 

Black People of Talent

Feast or Famine

The Light on the Hill

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If you are a black person of talent, there is no need to consign yourself to living in the United States. Indeed, there are many places in the world where anti-black racism is much less egregious or impactful, than in America.

For me, my tolerance for American-style anti-black racism has hit a low point, and I am actively looking for places outside of the US to settle. 

From the brief thread mentioned above, I observed that many folks believe that the US is the best place for a few reasons:

1) Feast or Famine: There is a belief that the only nations free of anti-black hostility or white supremacy are war-torn and destitute 3rd world countries.

2) The Light on the Hill: The US has freedoms and rights that can't be matched elsewhere.

3) The Roaches Behind the Wall: There was also an attitude that if one or two cases of racism against blacks or any other group was documented in a particular country, it hinted at a racist society on the level of the US.

I'll talk about 1 and 2 for now, and deal with 3 in another post. 

Feast or Famine

One group of people believe that the only viable choice to the United States for a black person are places like Somalia, Sierra Leone, and Albana. Countries that are either war torn, or destitue.

The choice between the US and the worst 3rd world countries is a false choice. 

So, given that, where can one find opportunities in the world?

The most obvious place to start is Africa. Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, and South Africa come to mind as countries that are ripe with opportunities. While Americans and Europeans are rushing to Asia, the Asians (Indians and Chinese) are rushing to Africa. Why aren't more African Americans doing the same? And though such places have norms which place tribe and ethnicity over race, the question is can a black american be treated with more dignity than the US?

Asia is a place that I have traveled extensively, and the treatment I receive in places like Singapore, Hong Kong, and even mainland China, far excels the US. Again, yes, there is racism there, but the inherent respect given and lack of anti-black hostility make even working trips there like a vacation.

As far as Europe goes, we know there is racism in parts, but the above question still applies: is this racism worse than the American version? This is the region I know the least about. But Mahndisa, just because the originator from Nazism is from Vienna, what does that have to do with the state of that city today? What about anti-black occurrences today? If we use your standard, note that some of the worst anti-black bigots have been born in the US of A, so what does that say about our choice to live here?

Latin America is another viable alternative. Yes, yes, I am familiar with the racial dynamics down there in many countries, but we have to take the long-view. Consider one of the so-called BRIC countries, Brazil. Most of the people in that country look like me, and are making gains every year in that nation. As that nation rises to be an economic and regional power, and blacks gain more and more power, this may be a place to establish roots or allies, in my book.

On Canada, yes, there are cases of racism, but I have seen no proof that Toronto and Vancouver surpass or equal your average american city in terms of racism.

The Light on The Hill 

Another assertion is that only in the US, under our constitution, will one find the highest freedoms, and protections of liberty and rights.

I wish. Frankly, it's getting harder and harder to distiguish our system of rules from that of Mainland China. 

First of all, Americans over the last few years have seen the erosions of all of our civil liberties. Due to the Military Commisions Act, the government can lock up anyone, including US citizens, indefinitely and practically without cause. If the president or the relevant agencies think that you are an "unlawful enemy combatant", you too can get a one-way ticket to the nearest secret prison, without a lawyer.

Our privacy has been compromised, both by technology, and by unscrupulous leaders. Under the so-called Terrorist Surveillance Act, the electronic communications and phone calls of American citizens can be spied upon without warrants or oversight. And even these rights have been admittedly abused. 

For blacks, these should be more of a concern to us than anyone. Because these unjust laws and directives will eventually be target us, if history is any indication.  To the racist electorate, an anti-muslim/anti-arab mob can easily be turned into an anti-black mob. Especially light of the fact that a significant number of american muslims are black. And the government has indeed started using this strategy. Remember the Miami Plot? No evidence of Al-Qaeda links, and no credible threat to the US. Yet, the FBI and newspapers called these black guys, "The New Face of Terrorism."

So, for all Americans, this is a dangerous time. For black people in particular, we have had freedom for the shortest time and run the highest risk of losing our freedom.