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Protesting Women's Rights to Wear What they Want, When they Want too

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Women in Rhode Island are taking a stand against body shaming.

After a man in Barrington, Rhode Island, wrote in to the local paper to complain about women who wear yoga pants in public, women in the area organized a Yoga Pants Parade on Sunday to peacefully protest his words.

"I want women of all ages, shapes and sizes to know that it is okay to wear whatever makes them feel comfortable," parade organizer Jamie Patrice .

The letter-writer, Alan Sorrentino, argued that wearing yoga pants in public is "the absolute worst thing to ever happen in women fashion [sic]."

"Not since the mini-skirt has there been something worn by so many women who should never have it on in the first place," he wrote. "They do nothing to compliment a women [sic] over 20 years old. In fact, the look is bad. Do yourself a favor, grow up and stop wearing them in public."

"To all yoga pant wearers, I struggle with my own physicality as I age. I don't want to struggle with yours."

Patrice says she created the parade not to attack Sorrentino, who told the Boston Globe that he's received death threats since the letter was published, but to protest the constant criticism of women's bodies.

"While yoga pants seem to be a silly thing to fight for, they are representative of something much bigger - Misogyny and the history of men policing womens bodies," Patrice wrote on the Facebook page for the event.

"[T]his is NOT a hateful protest against Alan [Sorrentino]. This a wonderful group of people celebrating our bodies and our right to cover them however we see fit."

The parade drew a large crowd - all donning yoga pants - who quietly marched down Sorrentino's street and past his house, where he had put up a sign that said "FREE SPEECH," while police officers stood on the edge of the property.

The parade ended with a yoga session.

"So #blessed that I can always count on my hometown to tackle the tough and polarizing issues of 2016#freetheyogapants #yogapantsparade #imwithyogapants," wrote one marcher on Instagram.

"I took my daughter to @paradeyogapants because someone else's approval is not her responsibility. It's not about pants. It's about entitlement and arrogance. It's about misogyny and disrespect. I don't want her to shrink herself to fit into that space. I want her to stay brave and bold and badass, to never apologize for who she is and to live her life to the fullest," added another.

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Women in Yoga Pants Parade Past the House of Man Who Wrote They Should 'Stop Wearing them in Public'

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Women in Rhode Island are taking a stand against body shaming. After a man in Barrington, Rhode Island, wrote in to the local paper to complain about women who wear yoga pants in public, women in the area organized a Yoga Pants Parade on Sunday to peacefully protest his words.

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Social media trend gets strong critiques

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It is time now for the "Heat index" and this morning's hot button. Called the don't judge challenge. A campaign launched to encourage teens to stand up against body shaming but in a twist it's being criticized for making fun of people. Abbie Boudreau has the story. Reporter: A bizarre beauty trend blowing up on social media. Teens posting thousands of videos transforming from this to this. The #don'tjudgechallenge used over 2 million times in less than two weeks. The trend starting off as a campaign for teens taking a stand against body shaming. Essentially the idea was, you know, this is not what I really look like but you judged me. I think that's the awareness they wanted to create. Reporter: Attempting to make themselves appear less attractive painting on thick unibrow, acne, missing teeth and wearing glasses then transforming into what they perceive as beautiful. But now this popular hashtag causing backlash online. Shouldn't don't judge me mean you shouldn't care what someone looks like at all. Reporter: Thousands criticizing it saying the videos don't empower people. They mock them. Doing more harm than good. When you do things like beauty shaming you're still focusing on someone's external world and you're really not getting to know somebody. Reporter: 17-year-old Abigail taking to Twitter to voice her outrage. Don't judge challenge is so stupid. Reporter: Saying the movement missed its mark. You're making it seem like people who wear glasses and acne and don't have good eyebrows are ugly and unattractive. It makes no sense. Reporter: Now a new hashtag striking back called beauty in all challenge encouraging them to embrace their true beauty like this girl teased because of her eyes and forehead but now she says I'm beautiful. We need to accept each other for who we are and accept ourselves for who we are. Reporter: For "Good morning America," Abbie Boudreau, ABC news, Los Angeles. Ah, how about the no selfie challenge. Yeah, how about the don't look at me challenge, right? Ooh. Two word, community service. That's what we talk about.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

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Video: Viral Social Media Trend Protests Body Shaming and Promotes Acceptance

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It is time now for the "Heat index" and this morning's hot button. Called the don't judge challenge. A campaign launched to encourage teens to stand up against body shaming but in a twist it's being criticized for making fun of people. Abbie Boudreau has the story.

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NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) - Anti-abortion activists emboldened by the new administration of President Donald Trump are staging rallies around the country calling for the federal government to cut off payments to Planned Parenthood. But in some cities the demonstrations are being dwarfed by counter-protests.

Thousands of Planned Parenthood supporters turned out Saturday morning for a rally in St. Paul, Minnesota. In Detroit, about 300 people turned up outside a Planned Parenthood office, most of them supporting the organization.

About 300 pro-choice protesters gathered outside the Planned Parenthood office on Bleecker Street, chanting "fund Planned Parenthood, one in every neighborhood" and carrying signs that read, "My uterus, my choice."

Across the street, there were about 50 pro-lifers. Some of them were praying the rosary, 1010 WINS' Carol D'Auria reported.

Pro-choice protester Rebecca Bigsby proudly said she was for abortion and funding for Planned Parenthood should continue.

"This is for low-income women, this is contraceptives, this is where kids go when they're 16 years old instead of having babies," Bigsby said.

"So many people equate Planned Parenthood with abortion, and in fact, abortion is a tiny percentage of services they offer," another pro-choice protester, Brigette Marmion, said.

"It is a woman's fundamental right to control what happens to her own body and because of that the right to have an abortion for any reason under any circumstance is pivotal to the freedom of women," another said.

Pro-lifer Jesse Espinosa said the government should not be paying for abortions.

"Planned Parenthood should stop getting $500 million from the government when that money could be used in a better way, not abortion," Espinosa said.

Both groups said they were for women's rights, D'Auria reported.

Trump last month banned U.S. funding to international groups that perform abortions or even provide information about abortions. His newly confirmed health secretary, Tom Price, has supported cutting off federal money to Planned Parenthood.

Federal dollars don't pay for abortions, but the organization is reimbursed by Medicaid for other services, including birth control and cancer screening.
(TM and © Copyright 2017 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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Anti-Abortion Activists, Counter-Protesters Rally Around US

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NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) - Anti-abortion activists emboldened by the new administration of President Donald Trump are staging rallies around the country calling for the federal government to cut off payments to Planned Parenthood. But in some cities the demonstrations are being dwarfed by counter-protests.

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Women's March Protesting Abortion Ban Act

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A film documenting the 2004 March for Women's Lives in Washington DC. The march highlighted issues such as abortion rights, family planning, workplace equality and domestic violence. It was a time when women felt they were under attack from the forces of the conservative right, from the president on down.

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If you need some feminist inspiration read some signs (:

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WASHINGTON, D.C. ― People from all over the country traveled to D.C. to march alongside each other at the Women's March on Washington. The streets were packed with singing, cheering and peaceful marchers. It was a powerful show of resilience and solidarity.

One of the most empowering (and entertaining) aspects of the demonstration was seeing the many feminist signs that were held high and proud by marchers.

Below are 89 signs from the Women's March on Washington that remind us exactly what a feminist looks like ― and fights for.

BEFORE YOU GO

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89 Badass Feminist Signs From The Women's March On Washington

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WASHINGTON, D.C. ― People from all over the country traveled to D.C. to march alongside each other at the Women's March on Washington. The streets were packed with singing, cheering and peaceful marchers. It was a powerful show of resilience and solidarity.

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Online Activism Supporting Women in the STEM Fields

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In 2008, we started Women Who Tech, a nonprofit organization, to bring together talented and renowned women breaking new ground in technology to transform the world and inspire change. Since then, we have produced several Women Who Tech TeleSummits packed with some of the most thought-provoking discussions led by startup investor Joanne Wilson, Arianna Huffington, WordPress usability expert Jane Wells of Automattic, Shaherose Charania of Founders Labs and Women 2.0, Shireen Mitchell of Digital Sistas, Elisa Camahort Page of BlogHer, and more.

We have been inspired by the rise of women in tech organizations who are working to change the ratio and advocating for STEM. Equally important is getting women startups more access to funding. A whopping 90% of investor money worldwide goes to startups founded by men. That number has barely budged in a decade. To help address this enormous problem, we launched the Women Startup Challenge. We know that there are many women startups that have the right ideas, whose products can solve problems, and can change the world. But to scale and be successful, these startups need funding, advice, and guidance. The Women Startup Challenge will give women a platform to showcase their startups and get the support that they need. Interested in learning more, sign up here to get more info.

Our Goals

To Break Down Barriers and Get More Women Startups Funded

Women are founding innovative startups more than ever before, yet only 10% of investor money worldwide goes to women-founded startups. We want to help women pitch their ventures, and get their startups funded.

To Mobilize a Network of Women Startups

Investors say that they want to fund more women startups. Women startups want to pitch more investors. We want to help connect the dots and start a network to introduce women startups to investors.

To Highlight that Women-Led Startups Have Big Exits

Check out just a few of the women-led startups whose companies either went public or were acquired:

Sandra Lerner: Co-founded Cisco. They went public in 1990.

Sheila Lirio Marcelo: Founded Care.com. They went public in 2014.

Gail Goodman: CEO of Constant Contact. They went public in 2007.

Xochi Birch: Co-founded Bebo, which was acquired by AOL for $850M.

Kass Lazerow: Co-founded Buddy Media, which was acquired by Salesforce for $689M.

Diane Greene: Founded VMWare, which was acquired by EMC for $600M+.

Heidi Messer: Founded Linkshare, which was acquired by Rakuten Inc. for $425M.

Victoria Ransom: Co-founded Wildfire Interactive, which was acquired by Google for $250M.

Rashmi Sinha: Co-founded SlideShare, which was acquired by Linkedin for an estimated $119M.

Wendy Tan White: Co-founded Moonfruit, which was acquired by Yell Group for £18M.

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In 2008, we started Women Who Tech, a nonprofit organization, to bring together talented and renowned women breaking new ground in technology to transform the world and inspire change.

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Activism through Movies

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Hidden Figures | Teaser Trailer [HD] | 20th Century FOX

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Hashtag Activism

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HeForShe is an invitation for men and people of all genders to stand in solidarity with women to create a bold, visible and united force for gender equality. The men of HeForShe aren't on the sidelines. They're working with women and with each other to build businesses, raise families, and give back to their communities.

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HeForShe is an invitation for men and people of all genders to stand in solidarity with women to create a bold, visible and united force for gender equality. The men of HeForShe aren't on the sidelines. They're working with women and with each other to build businesses, raise families, and give back to their communities.

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The Role Singers Play on Society and Music Media Activism

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Beyoncé - ***Flawless ft. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's views on Trans Women with male privilege

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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's views on Trans Women with male privilege

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"It's not about how we wear our hair, it's about the way the world treats us." Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie says she finds it difficult to equate the experience of trans-women with that of women.

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White Feminists Lack of Interest in Women of Color

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White Feminists Lack of Interest in Women of Color

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As writers and have stressed, the news that a viral meme stating that 14 girls of color went missing within a 24-hour timeframe last week in Washington, D.C., turned out to be false does not negate the problem of girls of color in D.C. and other American cities who go missing. The real statistics are clear on that. The actual number of girls who went missing in this particular case, 10, is no less frightening and unacceptable, nor is the fact that the girls reportedly went missing over a span of 10 days instead of 24 hours, as originally believed.

One missing Black and Latina girl is, should be - hell, must be - one too many. It should send us arm-in-arm to the trenches.

So, here's my question: where, oh where, are all the white feminists who were, by their own lights, radicalized into action by Donald Trump? And - not just white feminists, but white feminists of an intersectional persuasion? Is mum the word, or what?

Where are all the liberal and left white women who, just two months ago, put on pink pussy hats and assembled in record numbers on our nation's capital to protest the governmental, capitalist powers that be, and present a mass united front against the forces of patriarchy, misogyny and sexism?

I mean, come on. Ten black girls go missing within 10 days to scant or no media attention? And hardly an intersectional white feminist so much as bats an eye?

Really? Is that how it is? Is that how the majority of white women internalize an intersectional feminist praxis?

Let me make one thing clear: the silence of white intersectional feminists about these missing girls of color is not only worse than that of plain ol' white feminists, but is very fulcrum of un-intersectionality. For, intersectional activism, as I understand it, demands that everyone concerned about the welfare of the species - the theoretician, the activist, the artist, the parent, the educator, on and on - account for the reality and lived experiences of every category of woman and how every mode of oppression forms an intricate matrix that strengthens, interpenetrates and reinforces one another. And intersectional feminism, as I understand it, demands of us the ability to view the world beyond the natural and culturally-imposed circumscriptions leveled on the journeys of different women negotiating the world in different bodies in a multitude of ways.

In essence, what an intersectional position requires of us is to go beyond the physiological and neurological stop signs of our gendered, social selves.

I realize that's tough to do in a world that continues to prioritize the hurts, needs and desires of white bodies in compliance with the dictates of an evolved version of white supremacy. It's tough to do when there are racial and class perks to doing the opposite, behaving in an un-intersectional manner, as, historically, plain ol' white feminists tend to specialize in.

However, if you intend to be intersectional in your feminist praxis, there's no way of skirting around this.

This early national history of white women resisting the patriarchy and invoking women's rights to substantiate their own claims to a top slot in the social hierarchy and accrue protections and entitlements for their group sets the ruthless precedent for the more modern phenomena of white feminism and, from where I'm observing, its intersectional offshoot, like the "missing white woman syndrome," with its ostentatious bias of bringing the cases of missing white girls, like Natalee Holloway and Elizabeth Smart, to the undivided attention of the country.

Meanwhile, missing girls of color like Jacqueline Lassey (15), Yahshaiyah Enoch (13), Antwan Jordan (15), Juliano Otero (15), Dashann Trikia Wallace (15), Aniya McNeil (13), Dayanna White (15), Talisha Coles (16), Morgan Richardson (15), except in certain media and social media spaces, go unspoken of and unwritten about.

Go ahead and blurt "WTF," if you so feel the urge.

It just means that, like me, you understand that the exclusionary politics of white feminism has been the dilution and demise of social justice agendas in the past and, by the look and feel of it, is destined to be the death of this radical moment we presently find ourselves in. That feminist work which turns a blind eye to the problems of women and girls of color is doomed to fail, recycle and repeat the mistakes of the past.

Inserting the term "intersectional" into the name and description of your political position to prove your progressive bona fides, to graduate plain ol' white feminism into something more radical and befitting the times, doesn't mean shit if your actions betray the theory.

Honestly, it's not as if white feminists lack the capacity to digest the accumulated insight that comes with hindsight about feminisms of the past to make better decisions about shaping the form and content of this new chapter of intersecting identities. They simply lack the will.

I continue to remain hopeful and act on the belief that all is not lost. But - this silence certainly adds to the recognition that a lot of white feminists have many more miles to go before they truly grasp what it means to see and exist in a world through an intersectional lens.

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Intersectional White Feminists: Why Are You Silent About DC's Missing Girls?

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Inserting the term "intersectional" into the name and description of your feminism to prove your progressive bona fides doesn't mean shit if your actions betray the theory. As writers here and here have stressed, the news that a viral meme stating that 14 girls of color went missing within a 24-hour timeframe last week in Washington, ...

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Intersectionality Concerns that Minorities Face

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Intersectionality Concerns that Minorities Face

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Public housing tenants in Baltimore who alleged they were sexually harassed and abused by maintenance workers will share up to $8 million in a settlement of a

"When you're talking about racism, the default assumption is that you're talking about a black man," says Eden, a peer navigator for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center of Baltimore and Central Maryland.

Baltimore police routinely violated the constitutional rights of residents by conducting unlawful stops and using excessive force, according to the findings of a long-anticipated Justice Department probe to be released Wednesday.

The Reginald F. Lewis Museum of African American History and Culture is diving into current controversies raised by the Freddie Gray case in Baltimore, declaring 2016 the year of the black male and planning an exhibit on black-on-black crime

mary.mccauley@baltsun.com

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Public housing tenants in Baltimore who alleged they were sexually harassed and abused by maintenance workers will share up to $8 million in a settlement of a "When you're talking about racism, the default assumption is that you're talking about a black man," says Eden, a peer navigator for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center of Baltimore and Central Maryland.

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The importance of Intersectional Feminism during the Womens March

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This Woman Just Nailed The Importance Of Intersectionality At The Women’s March

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If feminism isn't for ALL women, who's it even for?

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If feminism isn't for ALL women, who's it even for?

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How black people are treated while shopping and how the white witnesses react

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Shopping While Black - Social Experiment

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Children are asked to pick between white and black dolls

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Macklemore & Ryan Lewis's song Same Love

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Macklemore & Ryan Lewis's song Same Love

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A screenshot of the song lyrics that described heterosexism

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10 Sexist Commercials looking down upon Women

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10 Sexist Commercials looking down upon Women

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Top 10 Most Sexist Commercials of All Time!

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21 Facts About International Gender Inequality 

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21 Facts About International Gender Inequality 

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Issues many women face outside of the United States

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21 Facts About Gender Inequality You Need To Know Now

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Do you feel that? That's the cultural shift that's happening because women are creating modern-day movements towards real change now. At MAKERS, we are committed to highlighting the changeMAKERS who are leading the charge towards ending sexual harassment across all industries, providing resources...

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Trans Men Discuss How They Experience Male Privilege

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Trans Men Discuss How They Experience Male Privilege

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Some people still don't think male privilege exists!!! So we talked to five transgender men who have experienced life on both sides of the gender divide. And they can all confirm that life is pretty different when everyone sees you as a man.

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White privilege example in the show Arrested Development

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White privilege example in the show Arrested Development

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With the ugly history of discrimination against them, it is understandable that Black artists would feel awards shows disregard them solely because of their race... but is that perception accurate?

Earlier this month, Adele grabbed the Grammy for Best Album over Beyonce, and there have been cries of racism in the media against the Recording Academy ever since. The next morning, both the New York Times and Washington Post were carrying articles decrying the awards as racist and making claims of #GrammysSoWhite.

The New York Times opined, "The Grammys' race problem is so pernicious that some white winners have chosen contrition over exuberance."

While The Washington Post wrote, "Somehow, lots of listeners are fine with shrugging this off. Some balk at taking a nice Sunday evening television show and making it about race (Counterpoint: It would be irresponsible not to)."

This Grammy controversy, combined with the #OscarsSoWhite uproar last year over the absence of Black actors nominated for Oscars, gives the impression that both the music and film industries have serious racial issues. But do the Grammys and Oscars actually have a "pernicious" race problem? A closer look at the relationship between the Grammys, Oscars, and race is warranted to determine whether these charges are factual and substantial - or emotional and scurrilous.

A good place to start the investigation is to see if Black artists are under-represented in awards in relation to their population percentage. According to the US Census, African-Americans make up 12.6 percent of the population. A review of the number of Grammy and Oscar nominations and wins for Black artists over the last thirty years (1988-2017) will indicate whether or not they are under-represented.

The four most prestigious categories for the Grammys are Best Album, Record of the year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist. Over the last thirty years, 37 percent (56) of nominees in the Best Album category were Black artists and they won 23 percent of the awards.

In the Record of the Year category, Black artists have scored 36 percent (54) of the nominations and won 20 percent of the awards.

In the Song of the Year category, Black artists have received 28 percent (42) of the nominations and prevailed in winning 23 percent (7) of the awards.

And in the Best New Artist category, Black artists have been nominated 32.6 percent (49) of the time, and triumphed 40 percent (12) of the time.

It is obvious upon reviewing the data that, over the last 30 years, Black artists are, in fact, substantially over-represented at the Grammys in relation to their percentage of the US population.

Regarding this year's supposed racial controversy, Beyonce has won a total of 22 Grammys (one in the big four categories) over the course of her stellar career, which is the 8th most all-time. Of the top four Grammy winners in history, three are Black artists - Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, and Beyonce. Alyson Krause is the only white artist on that list. It seems to me that if the Grammys have a "pernicious" race problem, they sure have a funny way of showing it.

Statistics on the success of Black artists at the Academy Awards over the last 30 years (1988-2017) are quite illuminating as well. In the Best Actor category, Black actors have received 10.6 percent (16) of the nominations and won 10 percent (3) of the awards.

For the Best Supporting Actor award, Black actors have been nominated 8 percent (12) of the time and taken home the golden statue 10 percent (3) of the time.

Black actresses have been nominated for 9.3 percent (14) of the Best Supporting Actress awards and won 16.6 percent (5) of the time.

Lastly, the Best Actress category has had Black nominees 4 percent of the time, and only Halle Berry has won the award, which amounts to a paltry 3.3 percent of the awards.

At first glance, it would seem that, unlike the Grammys, the Oscars definitely have a race problem, as in only one category (Best Supporting Actress wins, at 16.6 percent), do Black artists equal or surpass the percentage of African-Americans in the US population. However, looking more deeply into the numbers reveals that this alleged race issue is more illusion than reality.

If you expand the parameters of the debate beyond US borders - and I think it is fair to do so since Hollywood draws the overwhelming majority of its acting talent from the US, UK, Canada, Ireland, and Australia, also known as the 'Anglosphere', which consists of all the major countries that speak English as their first language - then the supposed dearth of nominations and wins for Black actors all but disappears. If you combine the populations of Anglosphere nations, Black citizens make up 9 percent of that general population.

When taking into consideration that Blacks make up 9 percent of the population of the Anglosphere, Black actors are actually over-represented in Best Actor nominations (10.6 percent) and wins (10 percent), Best Supporting Actress nominations (9.3 percent) and wins (16.6 percent), and in wins for Best Supporting Actor (10 percent). However, the numbers reflect a slight under-representation in Best Supporting Actor nominations (8 percent) and a large under-representation in the Best Actress category in both wins (3.3 percent) and nominations (4 percent).

In addition, if the Black actors nominated this year win, then the data is even more compelling against the Oscars having a race problem. If Denzel Washington wins Best Actor and, as expected, and Marshehala Ali wins Best Supporting Actor, then the Black actor win rate over the last thirty years in those two categories becomes 13.3 percent, which is not only higher than the Black population percentage of the Anglosphere (9 percent), but also of the US (12.6 percent). If heavy favorite Viola Davis wins Best Supporting Actress, the win rate for Black actresses in that category will swell to 20 percent, more than double the Anglosphere's Black population percentage (9 percent), and considerably more than the US percentage (12.6 percent). If Ruth Negga wins Best Actress, which would be a huge upset, then the win rate for Black Actresses in that category would grow to a still lackluster 6.6 percent.

The #OscarsSoWhite argument also makes claims that Black artists are discriminated against in casting, but those charges ring just as hollow when you look at the data. According to the Screen Actors Guild, Black actors make up 12 percent of their members, just below the African-American population percentage (12.6 percent). A Screen Actors Guild study from 2008 (the most recent year available) reports that Black actors are cast in 14.8 percent of all film and television roles, including 13.2 percent of leading roles and 16 percent of supporting roles.

What these studies and the historical data prove is that Black artists are not under-represented at the Grammys, or the Oscars, or in films, or on TV, but in many cases actually over-represented in relation to their population percentage. So why does the perception that racism is prevalent in these entertainment fields persist? I believe the biggest reason is a failure to set aside emotional arguments and put the statistical data into proper demographic context.

A case in point was when The Economist magazine conducted a study last year that found Black actors have been cast in 9 percent of "top roles" in films since 2000. The Economist used this evidence to conclude that Black actors are under-represented due to the 9 percent "top role" number being below the 12.6 percent US population percentage of African-Americans. What The Economist failed to take into account was the broader population of the Anglosphere, which would put this 9 percent "top role" number right in line with the Black population percentage in major English speaking countries.

Another example of this sort of analytical blindness was on display this week in The Guardian, where a writer was horrified to learn that Black artists had only won 10 Best Album Grammys since 1959. When you put the fact of "only" 10 Black artists winning Best Album over 58 years into demographic context, you discover that means Black artists won 17.2 percent of the Best Album awards over that time, which is considerably more than their population percentage in the US.

Simply put, Black artists are thriving in show business. As an example, the Forbes 2014 list of the ten most powerful people in entertainment had Beyonce in the number one spot and African-Americans in seven of the top ten positions.

These knee-jerk cries of racism after alleged awards snubs are emotionally-driven and undermine more substantial claims of discrimination regarding issues that are much more serious, such as police brutality, incarceration rates, economic opportunity, and healthcare quality.

These scurrilous accusations of award show prejudice make a mockery of the struggle against the scourge of racial inequality and injustice. There's no accounting for taste, but to chalk up awards losses by Black artists to racial animus is a cheap way to avoid artistic responsibility and ignore demographic reality.
Michael McCaffrey, for RT Michael McCaffrey is a freelance writer, film critic and cultural commentator. He currently resides in Los Angeles where he runs his acting coaching and media consulting business. mpmacting.com/blog/
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

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#GrammysSoWhite: Is White privilege really repressing Black entertainers?

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With the ugly history of discrimination against them, it is understandable that Black artists would feel awards shows disregard them solely because of their race... but is that perception accurate?

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Black student at University of Pennsylvania traumatized by white professors

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A black University of Pennsylvania student recently declared that his fall semester at the Ivy League institution was "traumatic" because he had three white professors who refused to acknowledge their privilege, and one scholar in particular who "constantly perpetuated these systems of oppression ... [that] led to me mentally breaking down in the classroom."

Student James Fisher wrote about his experience earlier this month in an op-ed in the Daily Pennsylvanian campus newspaper.

In it, Fisher opens by saying: "Last semester was honestly the worst semester I've had at Penn so far. And all because of one thing: the white professors I've had at Penn. It appears that the term 'privilege' does not apply to them. Nor do they care to learn what it is."

Fisher wrote about his experience with one professor, noting that there "were countless times that his lack of acknowledgment of his privilege led to some of the trauma that I experienced in class. He would show images of slaves on plantations and even allow students to say ignorant comments in class."

"... So, because my professor wanted to protect the voices of the white students who benefit from black oppression, the oppression unfortunately continued. It even led to me mentally breaking down in the classroom," Fisher wrote.

"And while trying to console me, [the professor] said, 'There is no way that I could acquire the wisdom that you possess.' That was exactly what I needed to hear! I think he thought that that was a compliment," Fisher continued.

"I stopped going to his class for a month. With different emotions going through my head from not only this class but from the Trump election, I did not want to step foot into another white space until I made sure that my mental health was restored."

The column ended by arguing: "The truth is, you as a single person cannot make up for the horrific things that white people have done to us throughout human history. But that does not mean that you do not have the power to stop yourself from oppressing the students that you teach every day. You have to be invested in stopping racism and oppression every day, not just on your free time."

Reached for comment by The College Fix, Fisher was asked how he thought white people at Penn benefit from oppressing black people.

"Well, the same way white people in general benefit from black oppression," Fisher told The Fix.

"So, since we're oppressed, right, we're not able to perform at our best, so they use that and they take advantage of their privileges of not being the types of people to be looked at by police, right, by not being the types of people that are constantly scrutinized by American society, and they use that to their benefit," Fisher said in a telephone interview.

Fisher added that he thinks other black students at UPenn "strongly" agree with him, and that colleges and universities could better accommodate black students if they would stop talking and start listening.

"If the majority of people in that classroom, or the majority of voice that we here in a typical class section, is a white male's voice, maybe it shouldn't be heard that much," Fisher told The Fix. "You know there's something wrong with that narrative if other narratives are not getting sort of more recognition or more clout."

"I get that you're always searching for us [minority students] to get the answer," he said, "when all you have to really do is just shut up and listen."

UPenn University Communications declined to comment on this story.
MORE: Here's what oppression REALLY looks like MORE: Protest against 'oppression' offered echoes of a race war
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