Where's the Outrage?

The folks on the right are very good at capturing the media’s attention. Whether it is Rush Limbaugh making some outrageous statement or Glenn Beck’s lastest Nazi reference, for some reason the mainstream media will focus on these antics for 24 or 48 hours and help these guys boost their ratings. The latest example was Doctor Laura Schlessinger. Some time after the outrageous statement you get the apology and the boost in the ratings.

From HuffPo:

In conversation Tuesday with a black female caller who was complaining about her white husband’s racist friends and their use of the word, Schlessinger said:

Black guys use it all the time. Turn on HBO and listen to a black comic, and all you hear is n****, n*****, n*****. I don’t get it. If anybody without enough melanin says it, it’s a horrible thing. But when black people say it, it’s affectionate. It’s very confusing.

After a break, the caller said she was appalled by Schlessinger’s use of the word.

“Oh, then I guess you don’t watch HBO or listen to any black comedians,” she said. “My dear, the point I am trying to make…we’ve got a black man as president and we’ve got more complaining about racism than ever. I think that’s hilarious.”

Schlessinger and the caller then got into an exchange about the use of the word:

CALLER: Is it OK to say that word? Is it ever OK to say that word?
DR. LAURA: It depends how it’s said. Black guys talking to each other seem to think it’s ok.
CALLER: But you’re not black, they’re not black, my husband is white.
DR. LAURA: Oh, I see, so a word is restricted to race. Got it. Can’t do much about that.
CALLER: I can’t believe someone like you is on the radio spewing out the n***** word, and I hope everybody heard it.
DR. LAURA: I didn’t spew out the n***** word!
CALLER: You said “n*****, n*****, n*****” and I hope everybody heard it.
DR. LAURA: Yes they did, and I’ll say it again: n*****, n*****, n***** is what you hear on HBO.
[Crosstalk]
DR. LAURA: Why don’t you let me finish a sentence? Don’t take things out of context. Don’t NAACP me, leave them in context.
“If you’re that hypersensitive about color and don’t have a sense of humor, don’t marry outside of your race,” Schlessinger said after hanging up with the caller.

I’m going to try to stick to the old boring issues that plaque this country. We need jobs. I’m sorry I really don’t care what Dr. Laura has to say about almost anything.

Tags: Economy, Media, Race by ecthompson
View Comments

This morning I watched the Rachel Maddow Show on-line. She was talking about the connection between ACORN, Van Jones, the New Black Panthers and Shirley Sherrod. I thought it was Brilliant.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I talked about this today on Local Edge Radio. Many people never evolve. Some you do change never talk about it because in today’s world it is showing weakness. Shirley Sherrod changed her world view and had the nerve to talk about it. She should be bronzed.

From Glen Greenwald:

Everyone is presumably aware by now of the facts surrounding the disgusting fraud perpetrated on Shirley Sherrod, engineered by Andrew Breitbart, amplified by Fox News, and meekly submitted to by the Obama administration.  Those who aren’t can read excellent commentary from Jamelle Bouie, Joan Walsh, and Chris Martinez.  Much has been written about the incomparable sleaze of Breitbart, the standard propaganda boost from Fox News, and the typical cowardice of the administration in the face of such attacks.  All of that is well established by now and quite unsurprising, so I want to focus on what ought to be the enduring lesson from this ugly episode:  the courage of Shirley Sherrod.

Just as CNN fired Octavia Nasr for one of the few insightful and interesting observations she ever voiced about the Middle East, Sherrod’s speech — which caused her to be fired — is simply inspiring in its uncommon candor, courage and wisdom.  Few people are willing so publicly to confess to tribal biases and detail how they struggle to overcome them, even though that’s a challenge whichany person who evolves at some point must confront.  That process — far more than the pretense of having always been bias-free — requires difficult self-examination, and its public discussion offers vitally needed lessons for everyone.  Many people are unwilling ever to engage that process privately, let alone candidly describe it publicly.  Those with the courage to do so, like Sherrod, should be heralded for that candor.  Instead, she was slandered, falsely disparaged, and fired.

Contrary to the excuse being offered by those who did all of that, her actual message — that she was plagued by racial biases decades ago and overcame them with the recognition that it is poverty that unites people in need — was clearly evident even from the deceitfully edited Breitbart video.  This is part of what she said on that edited video:

That’s when it was revealed to me that it’s about poor versus those who have.  And not so much about white. It is about white and black, but you know — it opened my eyes.

But – just as happened with Octavia Nasr and so many before her,including the now-destroyed ACORN — the blinding, lying,depressingly common right-wing hysteria churned out by Brietbart/Fox meant that no nuances were permitted, no reason could breathe, and few people had the courage to defend Sherrod or even demand that she be allowed to speak before being thrown to the trash heap. (more…)

Tags: Civil Rights, Party Politics, Race, Rachel Maddow Show by ecthompson
View Comments

National Tea Party

I’m sorry. I know I have really spent way too much time on the subject, which is exactly the kind of thing conservatives want. They love for us to focus on things that really don’t matter. I had a small post the other day, which was really meant for my readers to briefly look at and say, “well, that was obvious.” It didn’t really work out that way. So, I’ve written a lot of responses and comments covering three things — The National Tea Party, the new Black Panthers and the NAACP.

Conservatives, for the most part, hate answering questions. Instead, they like to stay on offense. They like to answer a question with a question. If you asked them, for example, why they tolerate racists in the National Tea Party, they will respond with something like, “Why didn’t the NAACP condemn the horrible rhetoric of the New Black Panthers?” Well, the NAACP did condemn the garbage that was spewing out of the New Black Panthers. The NAACP even pointed out that the new Black Panthers are not part of the NAACP. Really, many of the racist statements are coming from representatives of the Tea Party.

The New Black Panthers are a smokescreen to avoid talking about the real issue, racism in the Tea Party. They are a nothing group. They have little or no membership. They do not speak for a large group of African-Americans. They have no power to influence policy. In my mind, I will throw them in with many of the hate groups on the right who are part of those armed militias. I do not believe that they accurately represent any major religion. I find nothing that I’ve seen or heard from this group to be attractive. As a matter fact I find them rather repulsive. A call to kill babies, White or Black or Brown, makes Mister Shabazz an evil, twisted man. Oh, finally, no one attested to being intimated by the New Black Panthers. Not one person.

The National Tea Party is a major element within the conservative movement. Top Republican officials have begun to distance themselves from the racial rhetoric of people like Mark Williams. The frustration that many Americans feel is legitimate. I believe that the Tea Party has taken those frustrations and is trying to use them for personal gain. Specifically, Republican gain. The problem isn’t taxes. The problem is Congress. The problem is that good people on both the right and the left have worked hard to elect who they thought were “good” officials. Whether it was the Contract with America or the recent Democratic takeover of Congress, Americans have had their expectations dashed time and time again. We’ve seen Congress become a rich man’s country club. More than half of the Senators are millionaires. A significant number of Representatives are well off. Lobbyists are smiling. Major corporations are smiling. Profits for major corporations continue to increase while wages have been stagnant for almost 25-30 years. This is our problem. Wedge issues are not our problem. Until we fix Congress, we’re going to continue to have groups like the Tea Party prey on the frustrations and anger of Americans.

Tags: Congress, Media, Race by ecthompson
View Comments

Geraldo Rivera, media celebrity for Fox News, invites Malik Shabazz, member of the New Black Panther organization, to talk about his views on America. Nothing good can come out of this conversation. The video is here. I am completely unable to watch this video. It simply sucks IQ points out of my head. You have one guy asking leading questions and another guy, who has an agenda, wants to point out to America the impression that Whites has inflicted on the world over the last several centuries.

This is the problem with race relations. He cannot talk past each other. You have to talk to each other. If you go to start a conversation suggesting that you are aligned with Al Qaeda and the Taliban, that conversation is a nonstarter. If you start a conversation weighing out the litany of abuses that Whites have inflicted upon Africa and Asia in the North American Indians, you’re not getting anywhere. The atrocities are well-known. So, move forward.

Tags: Race by ecthompson
View Comments

I think that this is a legitimate question. Hell, with Beck’s craziness, Hannity almost sounds sane. (JJP had a nice piece on this yesterday.)

Now, let’s see what Tim Wise had to say about this. This gets good:

Let’s play a game, shall we? The name of the game is called “Imagine.” The way it’s played is simple: we’ll envision recent happenings in the news, but then change them up a bit. Instead of envisioning white people as the main actors in the scenes we’ll conjure – the ones who are driving the action – we’ll envision black folks or other people of color instead. The object of the game is to imagine the public reaction to the events or incidents, if the main actors were of color, rather than white. Whoever gains the most insight into the workings of race in America, at the end of the game, wins.

So let’s begin.

Imagine that hundreds of black protesters were to descend upon Washington DC and Northern Virginia, just a few miles from the Capitol and White House, armed with AK-47s, assorted handguns, and ammunition. And imagine that some of these protesters —the black protesters — spoke of the need for political revolution, and possibly even armed conflict in the event that laws they didn’t like were enforced by the government? Would these protester — these black protesters with guns — be seen as brave defenders of the Second Amendment, or would they be viewed by most whites as a danger to the republic? What if they were Arab-Americans? Because, after all, that’s what happened recently when white gun enthusiasts descended upon the nation’s capital, arms in hand, and verbally announced their readiness to make war on the country’s political leaders if the need arose.

Imagine that white members of Congress, while walking to work, were surrounded by thousands of angry black people, one of whom proceeded to spit on one of those congressmen for not voting the way the black demonstrators desired. Would the protesters be seen as merely patriotic Americans voicing their opinions, or as an angry, potentially violent, and even insurrectionary mob? After all, this is what white Tea Party protesters did recently in Washington.

Imagine that a rap artist were to say, in reference to a white president: “He’s a piece of shit and I told him to suck on my machine gun.” Because that’s what rocker Ted Nugent said recently about President Obama. (more…)

Tags: Congress, Obama administration, Party Politics, Race by ecthompson
View Comments

I don’t think that the tea party is going to be able to take America back to the 50’s, too much as changed. A friend of mine sent me an e-mail which really illustrates this point. He wrote:

Amid all the clamor in public debate —every now and then a snapshot speaks volumes about our culture –as does people’s reaction to the photo.

Look at the next photo in the attached photo gallery. For some reason it touched my heart about America —and I couldn’t stop gazing at it. Black and Brown Presidents walking in front of an incredibly diverse crowd of school children and a few adults. Compare it w White House lawn photos of 50’s , 60s and even 70’s.

Click on photo for larger image

The wide eyed joy and wonderment on the kids faces. A few other adults who are more sanguine either due to maturity or detachment. The seriousness of the task that Secret Service agents bring to their jobs at all times.

How America has and is changing.

What’s more—this is the type of photo that probably elicits very different reactions—particularly on the eve of an anticipated divisive immigration reform debate—based on the viewer’s life perspective. It touched me very deeply.

It reminds me of 2 other photos that offer similar commentary on different world views.

The famous 1965 photo of Cassius Clay standing triumphantly over a fallen Sonny Liston (click on photo to see enlarged image) while the background was full of “objective “ journalists and photographers with looks of disgust and amazement on their faces.

The 1974 photo of Ali’s knockout of George Foreman in Zaire with a background picture of unanimous unadulterated ectasy amongst the Black Africans.

This one is similarly etched in my mind as an updated snapshot of where we are in history.

Tags: Domestic Issues, Race by ecthompson
View Comments

Please watch the video:

CNN has painted this exercise as one about race, but maybe it’s not. If what the mother has said is true (not really been exposed to other races) then the child knows that she is good and she is white. The only figure that looks like her must also be good. The figures that don’t look like her but be bad. Now, if the mother had a Black friend that came over with her daughter then this exercise could be about race. As far as I can tell this is about being different.

Tags: Race by ecthompson
View Comments

I barely remembered this. All I remember was shock that the city of Philadelphia would bomb it own citizens. Very weird and tragic.

From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

MOVE members and their supporters gathered at City Hall yesterday afternoon to mark today’s 25-year anniversary of the Osage Avenue disaster.

“We never ever want anyone to forget the vicious murder of our family,” said MOVE member Pam Africa.

“These people dropped a bomb and did that to stop us from exposing what’s wrong in the system.”

Carrying posters bearing the name of MOVE founder John Africa and signs with the face of convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal, about 40 peaceful demonstrators listened to speakers and handed out fliers to passers-by.

May 13, 1985, was the day Philadelphia police dropped a bomb on the roof of the fortified MOVE house, sparking a fire that killed 11 people and destroyed an entire city block. (more…)

A little more from another article in the Philadelphia Inquirer:

The MOVE Commission investigating the events of May 13 was critical in its findings. “The plan to bomb the MOVE house was reckless, ill-conceived and hastily approved. Dropping a bomb on an occupied rowhouse was unconscionable and should have been rejected out of hand . . .” by the mayor, the managing director, the police commissioner, and the fire commissioner.

Charles W. Bowser, a member of the MOVE Commission, wrote separately that “Mayor Goode cannot be held responsible for the dark tragedy of May 13 for the worst reason of all: He was not leading when it counted the most.”

But Goode is not interested in second-guessing. Instead, he has distilled the MOVE catastrophe into a handful of lessons.

First: “Make sure you understood what the total plan is before authorization to do it,” he said. Goode was criticized for delegating too much authority to Police Commissioner Gregor J. Sambor and for being in the dark about details of the plan.

Second: “If you want to negotiate with people holed up inside a facility, don’t send police officers. Send trained negotiators. And don’t allow the police officers to be in charge of what happens at the scene. Make sure someone else is there at the scene.”

Goode remained at his home and then his office for much of the day, discouraged from being on site or at the command center by threats against him and by his conviction that the confrontation was a police operation the mayor should not direct.

Third: “The third lesson is all life is important. Any loss of life is tragic, especially when it did not have to happen.”

Fourth: “You need not be a bad person to have bad things happen on your watch.”

I just don’t understand the loss of live. Very sad.

Tags: Civil Rights, Domestic Issues, Race by ecthompson
View Comments

I grew up in the South. I spent most of my adult life in the South (Dallas, Shreveport, Atlanta, Tyler and Asheville). I have tried to explain to my friends, from the north, how, for some inexplicable reason, the Civil War lives on down here. There are battle enactments. They’re those who romanticize about the time. I even have friends who know every single battle and the generals that were in each of those battles. I’ve tried to explain that the legacy of the Confederacy is more than bullheadedness, slavery and the staunch determination to make money at all costs. I have talked about, unfortunately, at length, the honor of the Southern gentleman. I have waxed poetically about how the South stuck together in spite of being outmanned and outgunned. Then, we have the governor of Virginia with his Confederate history month proclamation. There’s nothing honorable in such a proclamation. Nothing noble. Just in case some of us in the South, were hanging onto some of the good that I believe a true southern gentleman represents, then there’s current Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour. I’m done. I’m through defending the indefensible.

From Ta-Nehisi Coates:

Ken Burns’ Civil War documentary makes note of the fact that General Lee was opposed to slavery. I basically took that as true, until–in all honesty–some of my commenters informed me that it, in fact, was not. One of the saddest, and yet telling, aspects of the War, for me personally, is that on the two occasions when Confederate troops headed North, they kidnapped free blacks and sold them into slavery. Ditto for black soldiers who were captured and “lucky” enough not to be killed. Anyway, if you have a moment check out this lecture a reader was kind enough to send to me. At about the 55:00 mark, Elizabeth Brown Pryor talks about Lee’s relationship to slavery, and more interestingly, how the myth that he was somehow anti-slavery came to be.

It was sad to hear frankly. If the war actually weren’t about slavery, I think all our lives would be a lot easier. But as I thought on it, my sadness was stupid. What undergirds all of this alleged honoring of the Confederacy, is a kind of ancestor-worship that isn’t. The Lost Cause is necromancy–it summons the dead and enslaves them to the need of their vainglorious, self-styled descendants. Its greatest crime is how it denies, even in death, the humanity of the very people it claims to venerate. This isn’t about “honoring” the past–it’s about an inability to cope with the present.

The God of History bounds the Confederacy in its own chains. From the declaration off secession in Texas…

…in this free government *all white men are and of right ought to be entitled to equal civil and political rights* [emphasis in the original]; that the servitude of the African race, as existing in these States, is mutually beneficial to both bond and free, and is abundantly authorized and justified by the experience of mankind, and the revealed will of the Almighty Creator, as recognized by all Christian nations; while the destruction of the existing relations between the two races, as advocated by our sectional enemies, would bring inevitable calamities upon both and desolation upon the fifteen slave-holding states….

To Virginia…

The people of Virginia in their ratification of the Constitution of the United States of America, adopted by them in convention on the twenty-fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, having declared that the powers granted under said Constitution were derived from the people of the United States and might be resumed whensoever the same should be perverted to their injury and oppression, and the Federal Government having perverted said powers not only to the injury of the people of Virginia, but to the oppression of the Southern slave-holding States.

To Mississippi…

….Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery– the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has been long aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching its consummation. There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work out our ruin… (more…)

Tags: Domestic Issues, Race by ecthompson
View Comments

A couple months ago there was a story about Don “Moose” Lewis, the League Commissioner of the All-American Basketball Alliance. This basketball league would ban anyone born outside the United States. This guy stated that he wanted to “emphasize fundamental basketball instead of the streetball played by people of color.” Many blogs talked about the stupidity of these statements and the blatant racism his statements were laced with.

I’m watching Butler versus Duke. I’m watching white guys and black guys playing basketball at its highest collegiate level. This is great team basketball. This is American basketball at its best.

Update: Duke wins. This is one of the best games that I have ever seen. It was as good as some of the basketball games from the early ’80s. Both teams played great team basketball. They moved the ball around well. They moved well without the basketball. They rebounded. They played defense. I mean real defense and not just shot blocking. I thought that Butler got out of their offense in the second half. It seemed that they were hoping that their rebounding superiority would get them more second chance points. I thought Duke slowed the game down (with about five minutes to go) when there was no need. They needed to take the ball to the rim more. Still a GREAT performance by both teams. Congratulations to Duke and Butler for showing America what American Basketball is really about.

Tags: Race, Sports by ecthompson
View Comments

Okay, here’s what I want to know. How do you know a person’s race just by listening to him/her? Seriously. Yes, we make some generalizations based on a person’s speech patterns and word choice, but how do you call into a national show and talk about the number of Blacks who call in when we don’t actually see their faces? How do you do that? The brazen stupidity of this particular “gentleman” is mind-boggling.

Tags: Race, The Daily Show by ecthompson
View Comments

Good Morning!!

• Healthcare Reform updates here and here. We are really, really close.
• House Minority Leader John Boehner (Republican — Ohio) told bankers last week to fight financial reform and stand up to “little punk staffers.” Yesterday, Representative Barney Frank handed out buttons to many Capitol Hill staffers which read, “Little Punk Staffer.”
• The racism and homophobia that is rampant in the Tea Party Movement was on display once more on Saturday. This cannot be what America is about. I do appreciate the Tea Partiers for showing America who they really are.
• Representative Tim Ryan took to the floor of the house to denounce the ugly slurs. Good for him. Watch below:

• Glenn Greenwald points out the hypocrisy of Glenn Reynolds, who called for Israel to bomb Iran and cause as much trouble for Russia, China and the United States as possible. Wouldn’t this be treason? If you incite another country to take actions which causes America to take military action, isn’t that treason? I’m just asking.
• Police in Aruba are following up a possible lead which may lead to solving the mystery of Natalee Holloway ’s death.
• Do you have old video games? I mean from the early 1990s? They could be worth a lot of money.
• While I find it impossible to keep up with March Madness, there are somewhere around 1000 games played over two weeks. Who’s got time to watch all of them? Well, somebody does. Whether you love basketball a lot or can barely stand it, everybody has to cheer for Northern Iowa. The Northern Iowa Panthers have knocked off the number one seed Kansas Jayhawks. The Jayhawks looked incredibly good all season. Almost everybody had been going to the final four. Outstanding performance by Northern Iowa!!

Tags: Healthcare, Party Politics, Race, Sports by ecthompson
View Comments

Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) — one of the most conservative members of Congress, according to a new National Journal ranking — decried the strained state of political discourse in an interview today with blogger-activist Mike Stark. While defending hate radio host Rush Limbaugh, Franks said bipartisanship and “true tolerance” is about “being halfway decent to each other in spite of the differences.” But when the conversation turned to abortion, Franks made a clearly indecent comment, claiming that African-Americans were probably better off under slavery than they are today:

FRANK: In this country, we had slavery for God knows how long. And now we look back on it and we say “How brave were they? What was the matter with them? You know, I can’t believe, you know, four million slaves. This is incredible.” And we’re right, we’re right. We should look back on that with criticism. It is a crushing mark on America’s soul. And yet today, half of all black children are aborted. Half of all black children are aborted.Far more of the African-American community is being devastated by the policies of today than were being devastated by policies of slavery. And I think, What does it take to get us to wake up?

(Ed. I will clean up this video later.)

 

 Starks interviewing Rep. Franks: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: House of Representatives, Party Politics, Race by ecthompson
View Comments

Lawmaker in Utah suggests that Martin Luther King should share his holiday with John Browning, Utah gunmaker.  I think that this is nothing more than a publicity stunt. It worked.

From TP:

Utah State Sen. Mark Madsen (R) is introducing legislation to create a holiday honoring John Moses Browning — the Utah native and “gun pioneer” who founded the Browning Arms company — on the same day as Martin Luther King Day. Browning’s birthday is believed to be around Jan. 21, so “Madsen proposes doubling up Browning and King”:

“I see them as complimentary,” [Madsen] said. Browning is known for developing a variety of guns, including the gas-operated machine gun. Madsen said he plans to meet with the NAACP to discuss his proposal.

“We’ll see if they can take it in the spirit it’s intended,” Madsen said. [...]

“Guns keep peace,” [state Senate Majority Leader Scott] Jenkins [R] said. “I kind of like the idea of making his birthday a holiday. I’m all over that.”

Salt Lake NAACP President Jeanetta Williams said she was “furious” about the idea. “It is not acceptable for the name John M. Browning to jointly share the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday,” she said. “Dr. King was assassinated by a man using a gun. John M. Browning was a gun manufacturer. … To me it’s a very mean-spirited act.” King would probably be outraged aswell, having said that by allowing guns to be “purchased at will and fired at whim…we have created an atmosphere in which violence and hatred have become popular pastimes.” For several years, Utah “purposely” omitted King’s name from the holiday, calling it Human Rights Day until 2000. Madsen noted that he’s not committed to MLK day and will find another day “if the race baiters are out there looking for an opportunity” to start a controversy.

Tags: Civil Rights, Race by ecthompson
View Comments

So this is what the teabaggers have to offer the US? Racism? BTW, they cna’t even spel!

Tags: Party Politics, Race by ecthompson
View Comments

Bill Powell (pic from AP)

Today, we take a lot of things for granted. Back in the 1970s it was unusual to have more than one TV in the house. Most people only had one car. My father, a family practitioner, took off every Wednesday. For a time, he played golf on his day off. The simple game of golf itself has reflected the great change that we’ve undergone in the last 30 years. The clubs are lighter and more flexible. The balls are more compact; therefore, they can be hit harder and go farther. It is taken for granted that Tiger Woods can play anywhere in the world.

Bill Powell is not a household name. I’d never heard of him until today. He died at the age of 93 of complications from a stroke. He was the first Black man to build, own and operate a golf course in the United States, a course in Clearview, Ohio. The course was built in 1948. His life was chronicled in his autobiography, which I did not know about until today, Clearview: America’s Course. I look forward to reading his autobiography. My condolences go out to his family and friends. I wish I could’ve met him.

From AP:

“Bill Powell will forever be one of golf’s most unforgettable American heroes,” PGA of America president Jim Remy said. “Bill made us appreciate the game and each other that much more by his gentle, yet firm example.

“He was born with a fire within his heart to build on his dream. In the process, he made golf a beacon for people of all color. The PGA of America is better today because of individuals like Bill Powell. We will miss him dearly. We extend our thoughts and prayers to his family as we remember a wonderful man.”

In August, Powell received the PGA Distinguished Service Award, the association’s highest annual honor. In November, he was inducted into the Northern Ohio PGA Hall of Fame and honored as the Person of the Year by the Ohio Golf Course Owners Association.

The Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce also recently presented the Powell family with its Community Salute Award.

“My father made a mark,” said daughter Renee Powell, the second black player to compete on the LPGA Tour. “And, I believe that God wanted people to know the mark that he made on this nation.” (more… )

Tags: Race, Sports by ecthompson
View Comments

I’m sorry. Every now and then I am completely taken aback by current events. Whether it is a completely obscure Congressman yelling, “You lie!” at our President or Publishers Weekly spending a considerable amount of time and effort to come up with a cover for their magazine which is clearly offensive. I think — I may be mistaken, but I think that Publishers Weekly was trying to be funny. This issue is about black literature.

This is what happens when you don’t have any black friends. Your black friends would not let you do this. You know that this cover had to go through the chain of command. Several people signed off on this and they thought it was funny. No. It is not funny.

Maybe it is just me. Do you think it’s offensive?

From Blogher:

Here we are in this brave new world of so-called post-racial sensibilities and yet each day reality pokes us in the eye, mocking us with “You have not yet arrived.” Any effort to comment on the beauty of our differences or attempt to address the ever-present wound of our inequalities while trumpeting inclusiveness is a balancing act that lands us on our collective rump. So, it’s unsurprising that today, part of the Twitterverse erupted in outrage over Publishers Weekly’s latest cover, “Afro Picks! New books and trends in African-American publishing.”

Tags: Race by ecthompson
View Comments

Nope, I don’t hate you. I think that you’re ignorant and ill-informed, but I don’t hate you. So you got that wrong, too.

From RS:

Terence McKay: ‘If it wasn’t for interracial couples … we wouldn’t have our president’

Beth and Terence McKay wouldn’t be married today if Keith Bardwell, a justice of the peace in Hammond, Louisiana, had his way. Bardwell became the subject of intense controversy last week when he refused to grant a marriage license to the interracial couple, saying he fears for the offspring of mixed-race marriages.

Since then, the Louisiana chapter of the ACLU has called Bardwell’s decision “tragic and illegal,” and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has called for the justice’s license to be revoked. But Bardwell is refusing to resign.

“Despite calls for his resignation, the justice himself says he’s not going anywhere, that he’s not sorry, and that in fact he’s done nothing wrong,” CNN’s Kieran Chetry reported Monday morning.

Asked by a WFAB-TV interviewer if he was a racist, Bardwell responded: “Absolutely not. My definition of a racist is to hate black people, or treat black people differently than anybody else.”

“Everybody hates me,” Bardwell told the Associated Press. “Really. I don’t know why. I treat people, I figure, equal. I have one problem with mixed marriages and that is the offspring.”

Tags: Race by ecthompson
View Comments

More racial problems.

From MSNBC:

A Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have.

Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long.

Neither Bardwell nor the couple immediately returned phone calls from The Associated Press. But Bardwell told the Daily Star of Hammond that he was not a racist.

“I do ceremonies for black couples right here in my house,” Bardwell said. “My main concern is for the children.”

‘I feel the children will later suffer’
Bardwell said he has discussed the topic with blacks and whites, along with witnessing some interracial marriages. He came to the conclusion that most of black society does not readily accept offspring of such relationships, and neither does white society, he said.

“I don’t do interracial marriages because I don’t want to put children in a situation they didn’t bring on themselves,” Bardwell said. “In my heart, I feel the children will later suffer.”

If he does an interracial marriage for one couple, he must do the same for all, he said. (more..)

Either this guy just wants the publicity or he is breaking the law because he wants to be fined and possibly jailed. What a moron.

Tags: Race by ecthompson
View Comments

I’m guessing that Michael Steele and JC Watts are out?  The Republican party is the party for you if you are White.

From TPM:

“Republicans are struggling right now to find the great white hope,” said Jenkins. “I suggest to any of you who are concerned about that, who are Republican, there are some great young Republican minds in Washington.” As examples, Jenkins mentioned Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI).

Tags: Party Politics, Race by ecthompson
View Comments