Have you Seen Prejudice and/or Racism in the Inlander?
January 13, 2012 
9 Comments
Updated: 5:32pm 1/12/2012
The Inlander asked five people on the street if they had seen prejudice and/or racisim in the Northwest in their 1/12/2012 issue.
I can’t help but laugh that they chose a panel of only the majority race and excluding entirely the minority.
The weirdest thing about this particular On the Street section is that it is in an issue of The Inlander that specifically involves race and racism in Spokane.
It’s great the Luke Baumgarten and The Inlander are talking about the Maxey family’s importance in the history of Spokane, but I just expect equal representation throughout the issue.
About the Author
Be fair:
http://www.inlander.com/spokane/article-17386-surviving-is-one-part-of-it.html
Thanks for sharing. As somebody that has been called the n-word, sand n-word, and many other lovely things being born and raised here I would have had some interesting perspective. Maybe it was better that they didn’t ask.
I can see where Apostate is coming from here though. You would think that an issue devoted to equal treatment would also include equal representation.
But who am I to talk, I am an alter-ego in a cartoon.
This was so ridiculous and clueless on the part of The Inlander. Embarrassing,really. Would have liked to hear more from people of color about what they think about racism in Spokane.
The Inlander is a typical liberal alterative wannabe birdcage liner…their mantra is don’t do as we do; do as we say…. They also strongly supported Mary ‘Give me my money’ Verner…
That says it all…
(Will your comment hurt your chances of the Inlander 2012 Blog of the year???)
As you know Spokane is a geographically isolated outpost in “Indian Country”, “conquered” by the white man through massacres, hangings, and genocidal acts like poisoning of wells, killing of horses, burning of grain stores, etc. We stole their name, their land, their river, and the rest. Yet we have the nerve in our schools to teach our children that they are “Spokanites”, telling the kids in about 4th grade that that means they are “children of the sun”, the meaning of the word “Spokane” in Salish.
It would be interesting to take the Business Beat column in the Spokesman-Review over the years it has existed and count the number of people of color portrayed on that page. I would doubt it would reach 1/4 of one percent. (That is the page that runs pictures and brief bios of people moving up in the world of business in Spokane).
There is so much to look at in terms of racism in Spokane. In about 1998, shortly after returning to Washington state from Latin America, I looked at extrapolated US Census information. At that time, Spokane was the second whitest city per capita in the US after Lincoln, Nebraska, for all cities its size of larger (of which their were about 100 cities).
A city of our size, in particular one with a US military base, only maintains its whiteness through some sort of racist pressure and “air” of intimidation, in my opinion.
And I say all this as someone born here who has lived half his life here. So, as I always say, I have a right to criticize it. It’s racist. And, yes, you and I are racist occupiers, something that we also don’t talk about.
Just a couple suggestions:
Republicans invite racist extremist to town as patriot – http://spokaneracism.wordpress.com/2008/01/29/spokane-republican-party-invited-racist-extremist-to-town-as-patriot-33107/
Zero diversity in Spokane’s major law firms – http://spokaneracism.wordpress.com/2008/02/10/zero-diversity-in-spokanes-major-law-firms/
Oh David what a sad man you are….
Yes, there is racism, sexism, creedism, place of origin –ism , weightism, looksism ageism going on in Spokane EVERY DAY…
Why does a cop give a ticket for a minor traffic infraction to a plain gal but ignores the same exact infraction by a busty beauty?
I’ve personally known folks who didn’t get into their medical school of choice simply because of their race…I’ve also known others in the same University who were academically much less qualified, yet were accepted into a top medical school simply because of their race….
Was it fair? Hell no it’s wasn’t fair, but it happened.
I remember the LC student who was assaulted solely due to his race in 2005.
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/tools/story_pf.asp?ID=101812
Was that fair? Did the assailant get convicted of a hate crime? No.
One can waste a lifetime begrudging what might have been; the best revenge; work hard and live well…. If you brood, wait and wither for what you perceive as fair in this world; you will have nurtured yet another injustice; denying the world the joy or verse of your life that you have to share.
That is truly the greatest tragedy of racism and hate.
I too thought it odd to ask people who may not even know they benefit from white privilege every day whether they thought there was prejudice or racism in Spokane, in the issue on the street for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. They don’t put the question article up on their site so you can’t comment there, which is unfortunate.
The Spokesman Business Beat, however, isn’t analogous to the Inlander’s reporting choice and isn’t a fair assessment of career advancement for people of color. Those items are submitted by the company or the individual and don’t represent every promotion in town, so you can’t use that to judge whether people of color rise in their companies (or women, for that matter, or people who are GLBTQ, which certainly isn’t going to show in a photo anyway–the invisible diversity).
I remember similar discussions several years ago about the whiteness of the marriage announcements, which are also self-submitted. If I remember correctly the SR made a point of reaching out to communities of color to invite submissions. They can only run what they receive.
More submissions to those columns in the paper genuinely could convey a different picture (ha!) about Spokane as a community.
Oh Barb, are you campaigning for office yet again…