Evergreene Digest A Journal of Progress for the Rest of Us

• We cannot conquer "the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism" until we "shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society." -- Martin Luther King
• A new legal caste system?

Jeff Nygaard, Nygaard Notes

Martin Luther King, Jr., in his famous speech "Beyond Vietnam" on April 4, 1967, said that we cannot conquer "the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism" until we "shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society."

In recent months Nygaard Notes has been wandering far afield, from Afghanistan to Rwanda, from NATO to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, and the focus has been on the Third Triplet, militarism. But in this issue I come back very close to home, with a look at the First of the Triplets, which is the racism that aids and abets the extreme materialism of some in imposing extreme deprivation on others. In these times of economic malaise, when so many are suffering, it is painfully true (as the title of one of this week's essays says) that "not all areas have suffered equally."

Join us in calling on Facebook to remove Unilever's racially charged application today.

Change.org Weekly

This past week (July 11-17), Vaseline launched a controversial Facebook application that encouraged users to lighten the appearance of their skin. The application was targeted at users in India, who were asked to upload their profile photos and whiten their faces.

This isn't the first time Unilever -- which owns Vaseline -- has used less-than-discreet attempts to market the virtues of white skin in India. Back in 2008, the multinational began hawking a skin-whitening product called "White Beauty."

The difference now is that by using Facebook, Unilever has the potential to reach its more than 500 million users around the world, and spread its racially charged message that white is beautiful.

The skin whitening industry has taken off across India and other Asian countries, and creams are sold on shelves in black neighborhoods in the U.S. as well. The last thing we need is a tool on Facebook to extend this disturbing trend online.

• "It is the civil rights issue of the era," said Memphis attorney Webb Brewer, an attorney representing Memphis in its lawsuit against Wells Fargo.
• Brewer said discriminatory or predatory lending has done more than anything else to reverse financial gains made by African-Americans since the beginning of the civil rights movement.

Adrian Sainz, Associated Press, in theGrio

(AP Photo / J Pat Carter)

Predatory lending in the African-American community is the main civil rights issue of this era, witnesses told a House Judiciary subcommittee Monday (July 19).

U.S. Reps. Steve Cohen and Sheila Jackson Lee listened to nine witnesses discuss foreclosures and bankruptcies during a field hearing held Monday at the University of Memphis' law school. Cohen is the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law.

• I want to be furious at (Mel Gibson), but the only thing I feel is pity. If these accusations are true, he is a troubled and conflicted man. I hope he gets better soon.
• The Good News About Mel Gibson

Leonard Pitts Jr., Miami Herald | FL

Submitted by Evergreene Digest Contributing Editor Ken Mitchell

He got in touch with his feminine side in the movie "What Women Want," directed by Nancy Meyers. But he hates women. He famously partnered with Danny Glover and lent his voice to a documentary celebrating African-American military history. But he hates black people.

Or so you must conclude if you believe last week's bombshell from Radar Online, a celebrity gossip Website. It reported on July 1 that Gibson's estranged girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva, had taped him in the throes of a profanely and profoundly hateful rant. He reportedly called Grigorieva, with whom he has an infant daughter, a "whore," a "b——" and a particularly vulgar term for the female pudendum that begins with "c." Then there is this pungent quote: "You look like a f——— pig in heat and if you get raped by a pack of n——— it will be your fault."

More...

Related:

The Good News About Mel Gibson, Frank Rich, New York Times | NY

• The Justice Department has adamantly stood behind the decision to reduce the case to the charges against Samir Shabazz.
• Conservative media use New Black Panthers case as excuse for race-baiting

Benjamin Armbruster and others, Think Progress

On Election Day in 2008, two members of a separatist hate group -- the New Black Panther Party (NBPP) -- stood outside of a polling place in a majority-black precinct in Philadelphia, dressed in paramilitary clothing, with one member carrying a billy club. The two men, King Samir Shabazz and Jerry Jackson, flung insults like "white devil" and "you're about to be ruled by the black man, cracker" at poll watchers before the police arrived and made Shabazz, who was holding the weapon, leave while allowing Jackson, a certified poll watcher, to stay. The incident was caught on video, which "was played again and again on local and cable news," becoming "a cause célèbre in the conservative media world."