The New Yorker and Hipster Racism, (what a great phrase, hipster racism, I will have to remember that).

With friends like these

Truly, it is really an offensive cover. It only thinks it is satirical. It reinforces serious lies and does great damage to our public discourse.

Sorry, I couldn’t let it slide. I don’t even like Obama. But, the thunderous righteous indignation coupled with hypocritical silence is just too much. Sweetie? Really? You got your panties in a bunch because somebody called you sweetie? *@#&! Nobody said a mumbling word about Michelle Obama. For real, hands off.  Read more 

For my mere support of Hillary Clinton, I have been called a racist, more times than I can count. One of the refuges I have found in this crazy blogosphere, has been Anglachel’s Journal.

In her post today, she touches on a subject very close to me.  Read more 

Jeff Fecke with a thoughtful, timely reminder on the need to stay vigilant to our own blindness.

3 NYPD detectives cleared in wedding-day shooting

NEW YORK (AP) — Three detectives were acquitted Friday in the 50-shot killing of an unarmed groom-to-be on his wedding day, a case that put the NYPD at the center of another dispute involving allegations of excessive firepower.

What does it take to send thug-cops to jail?

Via Crooks and Liars comes this YouTube of Reverend Michael Pfleger giving a FAWKS interviewer a brief tutorial on what is what and why what is what is what it is.

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Geoff Davis “doesn’t want that boy near the button…”

Seems he thinks Barack Obama might not blow shit up fast enough. Perhaps Mr. Davis is worried that Obama’s mojo isn’t up to nuclear snuff porn…

Via Talk Left, Rep. Geoff Davis (R-KY) on Barack Obama:

I’m going to tell you something: That boy’s finger does not need to be on the button. He could not make a decision in that simulation that related to a nuclear threat to this country.

Not that there is ever any excuse for calling an African American man “boy,” but in case you’re wondering this racist jackass is 49, not 79. And, yes, Geoff Davis is his real name.  Read more 

Part 4 of Misogyny, Sexism, & the Gender Gap in the 2008 Election

In choosing a nominee, the Democratic Party will not merely be deciding who deserves to win, or who would make the best candidate. It will also be a decision about which poisoned landscape the Party wishes to compete upon —- one in which toxic wildflowers of misogyny and sexism are in full bloom, or one in which the poisonous weed of racism is a constant part of the environment, and needs the merest watering to completely despoil the land.  Read more 

Can someone explain this to me?

According to Tweety & the Gang, it’s no big deal for David Bellavia to compare Barack Obama to Tiger Woods, because Tiger is a great golfer.

But when Bill Clinton compared Barack Obama’s win in South Carolina to the earlier victories in South Carolina by Jesse Jackson, it was vile racism.

Boo tells an interesting story about an encounter he had after the speech:

I had a sad experience yesterday that, while anecdotal, gives saliency to the point. I had just left the Constitution Center after watching Obama’s uplifting speech. I was walking through The Gallery, which is an urban shopping mall on Market Street. I decided to sit down on a bench and see if I could get a wireless signal. An elderly white woman sat down next to me and was silent for a little while. Then she said, “That’s where my tax dollars go.”

I looked up at her, not knowing what she was referring to, and asked, “excuse me?”.

She nodded at a group of young early-20’s black people (some with a baby carriage) walking by, and repeated herself.

The people she was referring to were nicely dressed and appeared to be enjoying themselves as they window shopped in the mall. I think I just mumbled something like “Mmmn” and returned my attention to my laptop. Then the elderly woman said, “Do you know that Hillary is coming here today?”

I nodded, “Yes. I just came from seeing Obama.”

She frowned at this news and then said, “I’m very excited to see Hillary. She knows how to deal with [she swept her hand around to indicate the mall crowd] this.”

I excused myself.

Race is going to be an issue in this race, and we can either worry about it or we can go to work to make sure tolerance and enlightenment prevail. Obama’s speech accomplished a lot, but he is no miracle worker. Let’s not forget that.

This confuses me. Why did you “excuse yourself,” Boo? I mean, if we shouldn’t forget that Obama alone can’t overcome the racism of millions, isn’t what you did passing up a golden opportunity? Here’s what I would’ve said:

“How can you be sure they receive gov’t aid? That’s pretty racist of you. And anyway, more white people receive welfare than Black or other minority groups, and even so, spending on aid to poor people is not even a drop in the bucket compared to what we’ve spent on the war or worthless programs like Star Wars. The difference between them is billions vs. trillions. That’s an order of magnitude, and if you care about waste, look there.”

I’m sure it’s occured to all of us that Obama’s run is “historical” and presents us with wonderful opportunities to make racism and race a conversation topic like never before.

But Dood- ya gotta speak out, yo? I’m a Black, gay woman, and I’ve learned: Silence = Death. Mumbling and walking away are NOT effective techniques for social change.

I like Boo a lot. We disagree on candidates this year, but I still read his work and respect his efforts a lot. However, I think that this anecdote of his is really, really telling of the progressive community and many Obama supporters. You love him, you believe he’s “transformational,” but the only people whom you will yell at and get all “here’s my detailed argument, bitch!” with are…progressives who support another candidate. Racists get a free pass.

That’s just not right. It’s certainly not going to help combat racism.

A casual elegance, appropriate for both day and evening wear…

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Uh-oh! I guess someone wasn’t proud of America!

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LIMA, Ohio — The air of Southside is foul-smelling and thick, filled with fumes from an oil refinery and diesel smoke from a train yard, with talk of riot and recrimination, and with angry questions: Why is Tarika Wilson dead? Why did the police shoot her baby?

“This thing just stinks to high heaven, and the police know it,” said Jason Upthegrove, president of the Lima chapter of the N.A.A.C.P. “We’re not asking for answers anymore. We’re demanding them.”

Some facts are known. A SWAT team arrived at Ms. Wilson’s rented house in the Southside neighborhood early in the evening of Jan. 4 to arrest her companion, Anthony Terry, on suspicion of drug dealing, said Greg Garlock, Lima’s police chief. Officers bashed in the front door and entered with guns drawn, said neighbors who saw the raid.

Moments later, the police opened fire, killing Ms. Wilson, 26, and wounding her 14-month-old son, Sincere, Chief Garlock said. One officer involved in the raid, Sgt. Joseph Chavalia, a 31-year veteran, has been placed on paid administrative leave.

Beyond these scant certainties, there is mostly rumor and rage. The police refuse to give any account of the raid, pending an investigation by the Ohio attorney general.

—Police Shooting of Mother and Infant Exposes a City’s Racial Tension  Read more 

This doesn’t surprise me at all, indeed, I would name it a “feature” and not a “bug.” Democracy Now!

A startling new report has predicted the subprime mortgage crisis will cause people of color to lose up to $213 billion, leading to the greatest loss of wealth in modern U.S. history. The figure appears in a new report from United for a Fair Economy called “Foreclosed: The State of the Dream 2008.” The group accuses mortgage lenders of deliberately targeting the poor and people of color with high-cost loans.

Predatory lending is as old as 40 Acres and a Mule. Poor people are the easiest to scam when it comes to complex financial vehicles, and I would like more bloggers to speak about this angle of “how we got this crisis.”

It’s pretty clear that greed, willful ignorance, Bushist “logic” and a criminal lack of regulation brought about the mortgage crisis. But so too did racism- again and again I’ve read of poor and brown and black people conned into believing they could afford mortgages when they couldn’t. Now this report confirms this endemic of racist lending practices. Want to impress me, Obama, Hillary? Speak about this angle of the mess one of you will be cleaning up soon.

CLICK the pic to the left to find yourself magically transported to a page hosting my latest MTV Street Team ’08 video, which was shot in Eugene, Oregon at a Martin Luther King Jr rally and march on January 21, 2008.

All shooting, editing, and sleeplessness by Nezua.  Read more 

I got this in an email from another Black blogger; I haven’t confirmed the victim’s race, but even so, it’s a horrible intersection of several issues we’ve been speaking of lately. And likely, one example of something that happens daily in this country. Here’s the short story:

A man died early this morning after being Tasered by Fayetteville Police Department officers.

The dead man has been indentified as Otis C. Anderson, 36, of the 2700 block of Providence Street in Fayetteville.

One police officer has been place on administrative duty pending the outcome of the investigation. The State Bureau of Investigation has been called in to investigate. Fayetteville police also are conducting an internal investigation.  Read more 

I suppose it’s unfair to overly associate a man with each and every supporter, but at the same time, one has to ask why these fine and upstanding White Supremacists chose him. I’ll let them explain in their own words:

via Heywood

“Once in a great while a presidential candidate is presented to us. A candidate who not only speaks to us, but for us…I am supporting Ron Paul in his run for the presidency,” the Stormfront endorsement says. The endorsement praises Paul’s plans to reduce taxes, close the borders and eliminate trade deals, such as NAFTA.

“Whatever organization you belong to, remember first and foremost that you are a white nationalist,” the endorsement continues. “Put your differences with one and other aside and work together. Work together to strive to get someone in the Oval Office who agrees with much of what we want for our future. Look at the man. Look at the issues. Look at our future. Vote for Ron Paul 2008.”  Read more 

So I’m doing some reading and some folks are chatting about how Hillary has a lot of support in the Black community; perhaps more than Obama. I don’t know and I don’t really care, or rather, I think that polling on that question is so twisted as to be scientifically irrelevant. What matters in both their cases is how well they can work the population of Black voters in early primary states. That’s a very different population than “all of Black America.” Very, very different.

Anyway, I just wanted to throw out a personal anecdote, for those who haven’t encountered such before, or thought about it much. In my family, there are Black radicals, Black evangelicals, Black Muslims, Black Jews (yes!), Hafrican/Oreos, Blacks who live on the farm, Blacks who live in the Hood, Blacks who have criminal convictions, and Blacks who have sentenced White criminals to long prison terms. Some of us are gay, some of us are str8, some of us have a whole mess o’ kids, and some of us don’t have any. Most of us are educated through a college degree of some kind, and almost all of us have jobs; some of us are even Rich and play golf with Preznits.

The question I have for you: is there a “White American vote?” I’m pretty sure that if you were to describe your family, it would be in a way very similar to what I’ve just done. So should I speak of Hillary’s lock on the “White American vote” because she’s White and speaks to You People?  Read more 

The comments on this post are what make it most interesting, but in general it’s the kind of post that many of us have written, or read, or understood, many times in the past. It’s late and I need to go to bed, but I just have to share this one thought, one that always comes to mind when silly people who don’t understand how the drug trade works are talking.

Simply: who owns planes, big rig trucks, and large boats, in this country? Whatever your answer, if you’re reality-based, it’s not “cholos from the barrio” and “thugs in the hood.” No matter what propaganda you may believe about the overarching all-powerful nature of “gangs,” the simple truth is that without some kind of government help, there would be no illicit/illegal drug trade in this country. The Barrio isn’t filled with people who own planes that fly back and forth from Columbia; the military is. And the military leadership is mostly white. Same when it comes to fleets of boats and trucks- yes, there are black people who work on/with them, but not so many who own fleets of them, certainly not when compared to white people. White people in the Republican party, to be exact.

If you don’t like illicit drug use, or people who are addicted when you think they shouldn’t be, please don’t blame us (gay, brown, or poor people). We may be ’street level’ dealers and peddlers, but without rich, MIC/prison industrial complex types, there would be no illicit drugs in the United States. This is a matter of common sense, and I’d like to see more people accept this as they speak of these issues.

It is to laugh:

LONDON — Britain’s first Muslim government minister said he was “deeply disappointed” Monday after his luggage was searched for explosives at a United States airport as he returned from official talks.

International Development Minister Shahid Malik was detained for about 40 minutes at Washington Dulles airport Sunday by the Department of Homeland Security after meeting officials from the same department to discuss terrorism.  Read more 

Christ, don’t let Xenophon see this one. Really, this is the sort of thing that makes me want to scream. The best part? It’s been going on for two years, and they are just now realizing it’s “insensitive.” Racism is institutional, fo shizzle:

Over 100 sixth graders at Grover Cleveland Middle School in Caldwell spent several days last week taking part in an assignment where they used terms like “build a plantation” while completing their “Lap of Luxury” social studies project.

The project instructed students to create an advertisement defending the use of slave labor to run a newly built plantation in South Carolina. Students are told to come up with a ’”catchy” name for the plantation and give three reasons why slave labor is the “best idea” and to add illustrations.

One student, who is not being identified because of his age, read to CBS what he wrote for the assignment: “Slave labor is the way to go because slaves aren’t paid, so all money is profit.”  Read more 

Like in other places and times in Asia, the Fear of the Black Man takes on different forms, and is expressed in different degrees and brutalities. You think we need to be careful of our police state here? Get a load of this very scary scene from a macbre, high speed techno action flick complete with Tarantinoesque levels of violence. I don’t think they got to eat chicken and breakdance back at the station either. Time to jump on the Boycott the 2008 Olympics Bandwagon, Folks:

Beijing Vice: a brutal bust reveals the strong arm of the Chinese law
Tuesday, September 25, 2007 11:55 AM
By Melinda Liu

Where have all the foreign drug dealers gone? Ask the men in black. Beijing expats are buzzing about a weekend crackdown in Sanlitun that struck many of us as more brutal than the norm. (Yes, here brutal can be the norm.) With Beijing pouring controversial investments into Africa — and preparing to host the 2008 Summer Olympics — you’d think officialdom would want to avoid incidents perceived to have racist and repressive overtones. Like rounding up dozens of black men — reportedly including the son of a Caribbean ambassador — and beating many of them in public during a drug raid. Pan Yali (an expat who’s using his Chinese name due to fear of retaliation) filed this eyewitness account about the bust:

One sees shocking things in China. Sometimes they are also not surprising. That they are not surprising may be one of the most disturbing things of all.

Saturday night, I hesitantly pedaled into a small street in Sanlitun, the bar area most popular with expats in Beijing. It is a shoddy, miniature replica of some of the most unappealing carnival-esque streets in the world, the Fourth Circle of Western expat-in-Asia bar hell, a circus that Bosch would appreciate. Two weekends ago, an Australian architect — a former contestant on the TV show Big Brother — ordered a drink at a bar here at 3 AM, then slumped over his table, and never woke up. (Drugs or foul play were suspected, but police dropped the case for lack of evidence.) Tonight the entire cast of characters was out in force: drunken foreigners, the locals who “love” them, the shady bar owners, the homeless children and their decrepit pimps, the flower-sellers and the African drug dealers.

And then, the young men in unmarked black jumpsuits wielding batons.  Read more 

“The present racial crisis in this country carries within it powerful destructive ingredients that may soon erupt into an uncontrollable explosion. The seriousness of this situation demands that immediate steps must be taken to solve this crucial problem, by those who have genuine concern before the racial powder keg explodes.” Malcolm X 1963

Malcolm said it in 1963, King said it in 1967, America we have a problem; separate and unequal. When the powder Keg explodes, if you read this blog, you’ll know why. If you don’t change this, you’ll know why. This is what America does to Black Children:  Read more 

Of course, they’re just Black People so it’s not really that important. But I though you’d like to know, and Steven is wondering about a Second Civil Rights Movement.

Thousands of chanting demonstrators filled the streets of this little Louisiana town Thursday in support of six black teenagers initially charged with attempted murder in the beating of a white classmate.  Read more 

This is not the argument I’d make, but I find it interesting and want to know your thoughts:

The New Orleans Fetish: The Real Reason New Orleans got no help after Katrina

I like it when people list reasons to save New Orleans:

1.It’s morally the right thing to do
2.It’s the government’s obligation to protect it’s cities and citizens
3.Because New Orleans is so special

The third reason, perhaps the most compelling argument to some, is actually what is hurting the systemic relief effort the most.  Read more