Columbus: Still a holiday. Still a Genocidal Asshat.

I'm humbled and, frankly, shocked shitless, that many of you apparently remembered my 2007 rant about Columbus, bold discoverer of genocide and thievery.

If you want some truth about Columbus, check it out: Columbus: Bold Explorer or Genocidal Asshat? I even reread it my damn self, just to see if it still had the same effect on my blood pressure. Check.

Also, as some of you know, I've been attempting to butcher learn the Spanish language. As such, I've plowed through some simple articles, most of which kicked my non-comprehending cerebrum in the dirt, but I laboriously learned some cool stuff about various revolutions and other historical tidbits.

Like the fact that in Venezuela, Hugo Chávez renamed it Día de la Resistencia Indígena in 2002. A couple of years later, some students celebrated that auspicious October day by toppling the statue of Columbus that had stood in Caracas. Nice. One year on Oct. 12, Chávez gave 1.65 million acres back to some of the indigenous peoples in particular areas. I think it'll be a cold day in Alabama before we see anything like that here, but it was nice to hear that someone somewhere realizes that celebrating this man's "contributions" to the world is just a shameful way of condoning genocide.

Anyway, click the link if you haven't read it. No, you know what? Click it if you have. We all need to remember...

Dear Mom, Yeah, It's Racist.

Recently I opened an email from my mom. And felt so sick I couldn't sleep.

It was titled What Every White Person Needs to Hear. I knew I shouldn't open it. I never open them. But we'd recently had an okay conversation about race, and I thought maybe I could use it as a jumping off point for another conversation. Get an idea of where she's coming from.

I shouldn't have opened it.

And now, I can't erase from my brain what my mother, my children's grandmother, really thinks. What she thinks I should think. It was pretty awful. A video, a Black guy, a pastor at some Harlem church. J@mes D@vid M@nning. I won't link to him.

Think Rush Limbaugh + internalized oppression, and imagine how that might look. Makes Clarence Thomas look like a progressive Panther. The things this guy was saying, the words he used, the way he stirred White people to action, to knock the chips right off those Black folks' shoulders! Knock 'em OFF!! To hear this man telling White people they didn't need to put up with the attitudes and arrogance of Black people, that they're justified in stepping up to do whatever needs to be done in order to feel comfortable around Black people, to stop walking on eggshells ... I don't even want to write more about what he said.

 It was sickening, in a literal way.  It made me wonder, what has happened in that man's life?

When something like that floats around the Interwebs, you can click it closed, shake your head, and move on. When something like that comes from your mother ... what do you do with that?

I know my mom would say it's not racist, it's someone's opinion. She'd say we're all the same, all given the same opportunities, that race shouldn't be a factor. In fact, how can it be racist, if a Black man said it? How could I possibly find fault with it?

It's weird how people are willing to listen to Black man's point of view, even use the speaker's race to validate his words, IF it's supporting what they already think. There could be 1,000 other people of color with studies and evidence and data, with researched, logical, statistically supported points saying the opposite, and the Right will come back with that doesn't count; they're just saying that because they're Black. They're biased. But let one Black man come along and echo their bootstrapping, assimilation, racism-is-over, the-system-is-fine rhetoric, let one Black man come along and say that you don't have to change anything, that it's Black people who need to do the changing, and watch how quick they now laud that Black man's point of view.

Yes, I've let her know how offensive the religopolitical email stream is to me. I've let her know it doesn't help to "bring me back to the Light", and if anything, pushes me irreconcilably farther from it. I've let her know that the racial "jokes" and commentaries are hurtful and damaging. That I don't want to see them. I've said to her, Mom, your grandchildren are Black ... they are not exceptions, they are the people targeted in these emails. I've written her long and heartfelt letters on more than one occasion asking her to stop forwarding things to my work email. She finally did, but I think it was more about inappropriate use of state resources threatening my job rather than the fact that it was hurtful to me. When I wrote to her I did not tit for tat. I've never sent her anti-conservative, anti-religion emails in return. Not once. I've asked her to please respect my values and beliefs as I have respected hers. I've done unto others, and I'm not the Christian here.

And still, she sends these things to my home email. Why? Seriously, Mom ... why?

My mom used to be a left-wing, war-protesting agnostic. Then she was a mainstream caring Christian. Now ... somehow my parents have come to be of similar thoughts as the Birthers and Tea Baggers. It's taken me some time to admit that to myself. How do I reconcile that?

She's my mother. I love her. I miss her. A lot. She was a fantastic mom, I had a good childhood. If you've got some image of a crochety, mean old lady stewing with hate in her housedress, you'd be wrong. Someone knowing nothing other than The Emails, wouldn't know the whole of her. My mom is lovely, young-looking, with a radiant smile and laughing eyes. My mom is hilariously funny. She's kind and smart. And yeah, she was a big reason why I came up believing racial prejudice was a bunch of bullshit. How does that change so drastically?

And it's more complicated: my mom was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis years ago. Stress can easily present in the form of physical exacerbations, causing the MS to hit her body harder, even to the point of hospitalization. I can not be a cause of additional stress for my mom. So a big lay-it-on-the-line discussion is not happening here.

I don't have the $ to fly me and the kids out for regular visits. My mom can not travel. She's an early-to-bed person, I'm always out late for work or community meetings or kids' sports, plus I'm on the wrong end of the time zones. So we do weekend morning phone calls. Not even every weekend.  Not even every month.

It's hard to discuss things like race on weekend morning phone calls from opposite ends of the country. From opposite ends of the political, religious, and ideological spectrums. Without causing stress that could affect her.

But it is so deeply hurtful. It hurts me to my core. I look at my children, I think of the things they have experienced, that they will experience, and it just kills me to know what my mom thinks White people need to know. And I don't know that there's much that can be done. Which makes me incredibly, broken-heartedly, sad.

Adventures in Spanish Class

So I'm taking two classes this quarter, including Spanish. Given the work I'm doing with the school district and the commissioner position with the city, I figured I need to get off my ass and hablar. My German and Hungarian aren't doing me much good these days.

Please. Look at me, acting like I ever could ever actually speak Hungarian.

This is the first time I've tried to learn a language without living in a country where that language is spoken. Immersion is the way to go, folks. Also, having learned other languages is an advantage because concepts are familiar, but it's a disadvantage when the teacher calls on you, and you  pop out with something like, "Igen, tengo harom Kinderek," or some other fucked-up linguistic amalgam.

The instructor is excelente. He's a native Spanish speaker who doesn't baby you or move at a snail's pace. Thankgawd. My kids' high school Spanish teacher was this white lady with the absolute worst gringa accent ever. Like when you jam pencils in your ears to make it stop. School districts won't hire qualified native speakers but will hire less-proficient people to teach a language. The only native speaker in my district is the Chinese teacher, and I bet you $10 that's only because they couldn't find a non-Chinese person who speaks passable Chinese. Sounds kind of like affirmative action for white folks.

But I digress. So, my class. It's amazing, the comments that fall out of people's mouths. The instructor sometimes mutters under his breath that he only has X number of years before he can retire. He gives "cultural points" for extra credit. You have to write about one of his recommended books, films, restaurants or dance places.

I wish he'd never assigned that shit.

Classmate 1 (raising hand): So, for the cultural points ... does Azteca count?

No. Not even kidding. But that was fine compared to what came later.

Classmate 2 (to me): Well, for my cultural points, I had a coffee date with a Spanish man!

Me: (ohmyfuckinggod) I ... didn't realize you had a friend from Spain.

Classmate 2: Oh, he's not from Spain! I wish!

Me: (here we go) So, he's not Spanish.  He speaks Spanish.

Classmate 2: (blank stare) Um ...

Me: If he's not from Spain, he's not Spanish.

Classmate 2: Well, he's ... where is he from? Oh! Brazil! He's from Brazil.

Me: Brazil? And he speaks Spanish? That's interesting ...

Classmate 2: Well, not really, seeing as he's from Brazil!

Me: They speak Portuguese in Brazil.

Classmate 2: (blank stare) Well ... I don't know about all that, but a date with a Spanish man should work for cultural points! And, he was muy caliente!

Then there was the time she slipped me a note about our instructor that said, "He's such a Latin macho! But I like him!!" Yeah, I'm sure the professor will be thrilled that he meets with your approval in spite of his alleged machismo. The reason he has been pegged as such is that he insists on proper grammar and pronunciation, and doesn't do a lot of hand-holding.

 I'm thinking that makes him a "good instructor" rather than a "Latin macho", but what do I know.

So I go to this study group the other day. I was invited by a woman who speaks English fluently after only two and a half years in-country. Spanish will be her fourth language. I figure she knows how the hell to learn a language, I'm studying with her. Another woman in the group, a self-professed conservative Republican proceeded to trash President Obama, informing the younger students that the President is a socialist who's gotten the country into debt. Yeah, honey, I think the last eight years had something to do with that, actually. Anyway, she had these gems to offer:

Classmate 3: Well, my introduction to this culture was dating a Spanish man for five years. I was practically a member of his family! But I never learned the language.

Me: (Again with the Spanish man.) So ... he was from Spain?

Classmate 3: Well, he was half Mexican and half Apache on his father's side, so you know ... [waves hand, dismissively] but his mother, she was born in Spain, so ...

Me: So he was Mexican as well.

Classmate 3: Well ... anyway, you know how most Mexicans have, you know, Aztec or Maya background? Well, he had Apache, so he had the very defined cheekbones. He never cut his hair; his father told him never to cut it because he was a warrior, you know. I got in touch with him some time later, and asked if his hair was still long, and he was all [mimes annoyance] "Yeeesss...", and I was like, dude, you're 55 years old now!

Me: That's his culture, it doesn't have an expiration date.

Classmate 3: Oh, totally! I know! He was just beautiful! So exotic! Anyway, the reason I'm taking this class is so I can move somewhere and teach English as a Second Language. I want to get certified to teach Spanish too.

Another classmate: Really? Where?

Classmate 3: Well, I lived in Arizona for years, but never even crossed the border, because you know, [dismissive wave] Mexico, I just didn't care. But Spain or Argentina ... I'd love to go there! Yep, much more interested in Spain or South America than Central America or Mexico. But I wouldn't say that to my friend!

Everyone else: ...

Classmate 3: In fact, another friend -- he's a very wealthy Argentinian -- actually said to me [mimes snootyassedness] "You're speaking with a Mexican accent!"  But I wouldn't say that to my friend, the one I was telling you about!

Me: What friend? (wondering how this chick is picking up a Mexican accent when our instructor is Puerto Rican)

Classmate 3: Oh, my friend who helps me with my assignments. She checks all my homework for me. She's Mexican.

Are you fucking kidding me? So ... your friend is good enough to check your homework, work on your assignments with you, and basically help you get an A in the class, but you don't want to pick up her accent or visit her country? In fact, you want to learn her language in order to move to one of the countries with a higher population of what you consider white people, and get paid to teach -- probably in a position where your friend, the native speaker who helped your ass pass this class, wouldn't be hired.

 What the hell, people?

Needless to say, she clammed up when I started up about how great it is that our instructor is a native speaker, because some schools pass over the native speakers to hire gringos, and then you don't get good instruction, because they're, you know, [dismissive wave] not as qualified.

I'm going to go off before I hit Spanish III, I just know it.

History

So this isn't so much a post, more like commentary to point you toward two others' posts.

Not long ago, I read a piece at PPR Scribe's place that shook me. The piece was about taking her two young daughters to the Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.

PPR Scribe does these black and white photos on her site. They are always striking, but the photo of her daughters, in this place, taking this wicked history into their tender hearts, just wrenched my guts. I started to comment that it made me think of the Bohemian's trip to Ghana because ... but I couldn't make it mean what it means, so I deleted it and just said, "Thank you for sharing this" or some such lame nothingness.

Today, Scribe commented about the Bohemian, mentioning her own daughters, and the importance of role models. It got me thinking again about the histories that our daughters share. The Bohemian wrote quite a few posts about Ghana, but there were two that to this day make me feel like my insides are falling.

Yesterday we went to the River of the Last Bath. Basically, when the Europeans had marched their captives through Africa, they dunked them in this river so they'd be clean when they got to the coast, where all the buying was going on. A clean captive brings more money.

All the towns we passed through on the way had the the word "Assin" before the name of the town. In Twi, it means "passing", because the men and women the slave traders captured walked through there in chains. [snip]

I was afraid to go down there and look that in the face. I wished I could refuse to go. I wished that option was there. But of course it wasn't.

If you want to understand why people "can't just let it go", read about the River of the Last Bath.

After that, if you want to know why history still hurts, why it's not all-over-now-anyway, read about Elmina Castle, that splendid structure where the Portuguese, Dutch, and British processed enslaved Africans for their passage to the New World. The photo above is from Elmina.

Whenever we pull up to these places I'm never ready. I'm like, could we come back and do this later? After my lunch has settled - after the air gets cooler - after I take some pictures of the harbor - just hold on a second. But we go in anyway and see the castle, and because of the river I handled it better than I thought I would, but it wasn't something you could look at every day and still be human.

I don't know how anyone can read the rest of those posts without having a perspective shift, without having the air sucked out of them, but reading the words from my daughter ... holy hell, people. That hurts. More so knowing that I can't even understand it. Not really. She is my child, of my body, but as a white person, I can never know the pain she felt. Not really. I'll never be able to shield her from it or take it from her. It was her history, her experience, not mine -- she had to walk there without me, get gutpunched without me, internalize it, mourn it, fight it, and (try to) heal from it without me. She walked with her friends, her sisters, who carried that horrible heaviness with her. I can imagine it, I can think I understand it, but I can not. Not really.

When I read Scribe's post, read about her daughters' tears, about looking out the windows across the Ohio, another River, it hurt my heart to think of all the little girls and boys who have to face this history, reconcile it. Other little girls and boys get to choose whether or not to face it - and their part in it. But it made my heart glad to read about a parent who is teaching her daughters, who is there to walk with them, to share the weight of it. To arm them.

It must've been hard for PPR Scribe and the Bohemian to write these things down, to share them. I hope you take the time to read their posts. And teach your children. Thank you, ladies.

Luis Ramirez's Murderers Walk

Last August I wrote about the murder of Luis Ramirez. Today I read that his murderers, local football heroes in the small town of Shenandoah Pennsylvania, have been officially deemed not guilty of murder by an all-white jury. Apparently they are merely guilty of "simple assault".

I am sickened, but not surprised.

My original post was called Hate, Murder, and Small Town Football, because it was as much about the particular dynamic between small rural communities and their football heroes as it was about the brutal murder of Luis Ramirez. When I read the details last summer, my first thought was, these boys are going to walk.

Shenandoah is a small town of 5,000 in Pennsylvania. I went to high school in a town of about 6,000 in southern Ohio. When I read the quotes from local police, the histories of the accused boys, and the comments of some of the townspeople, it was familiar territory. Not the murder, but that certain feel within an insulated community of "born 'n raised" folks and the relationship they have with their football team. It's not something that can be found or understood in cities, or even the suburbs. It's not something easily explained. But it is real. Real enough that I knew - and I bet the people of Shenandoah knew - that in the end, these boys would walk.

What message does this verdict send, as our country becomes more and more polarized, the anti-immigration crowd becomes more strident, and Swine Flu is associated with a nationality, a skin color? What message? Will the next drunken mob of high school heroes, amped up on testosterone and hate, take heed from this verdict, or will they feel righteous and invincible?

Last August I hoped justice would win out in the end. I hoped I would be surprised by the verdict. In the end, those boys walked. And I am not surprised.


Photo: Joe Spring, New York Times, Sep-07

Steele - They Love Him, They Love Him Not.

So Michael Steele is having to backtrack again. Remember when his party got their panties in a bunch about his "sea of white faces" comment at their convention? Then recently, he had to apologize for calling Rush Limbaugh's rhetoric "incendiary" and "ugly". Now he's in hot water for saying maybe abortion should be left up to the states, and implying that it's a matter of choice. Mercy. The Repubs had him backtracking so fast on that one, I'm surprised the man didn't trip over his shoelaces.

Watch out Mr. Steele - the far Reich isn't down with that whole marching to a different drummer thing. They prefer a nice uniform lockstep. Like the Borg. No dissension in the ranks.

I really don't see what all the apologizing is about. I mean, come on, Rush Limbaugh is a right-wing radio host. He gets paid to be incendiary. Saying he's incendiary is not an insult, it's a job description. And the Republican convention WAS a sea of white faces. I mean, damn, I'd have been scared to be there, and I'm white.

And states' rights -- aren't the Repubs all about states' rights? Wasn't that whole "war of Northern aggression" thing over states' rights? Well, when it comes to women's bodies, they're apparently not for states' rights. My bad. I guess big government up in your business is OK in that case.

Yeah, I'm pretty disgusted with that slum love comment he threw at Bobby Jindal, and some of the ways he's going about his mission of Republican change make me cringe, but I have to admit, I feel for the man. The Repubs are just salivating all over themselves, they can't wait for him to fail. They are on his ass like, well, white on rice.

I'm sure Steele knows what's up. Whether he can say so publicly or not, he's got to know the Repubs didn't give a good goddamn about diversity in the ranks until they saw the Dem candidates for president. Then all of a sudden, up they pop with Palin, Jindal, and Steele.

Kumbaya, y'all.

I think Steele genuinely does want to bring change to the Right. Granted, his methods are odd, but let's face it, ANY way the Right tries to bring hip hop to the ranks is going to seem odd as hell, right? I don't agree with most of his views -- hello, Republican -- but I can see that he sees his party imploding. He sees they need to branch the hell out, quit letting the wingnut evangelicals run the joint, bring in the young people. Balance out the old white men. So he's trying to make change to save his party, poor guy.

Problem is, the GOP doesn't really want to change. They know they need to -- thus their new shining stars -- but they don't want to. They don't want Steele to actually do anything different. They just want him to stand there, look diverse, and do what the hell they tell him to do.

Gee, Michael, we didn't expect you to take this Change thing seriously! Stop fooling around and get in step!

So as much as I'm delighting in the ongoing right wing implosion, I'm thinking what they're doing with Michael is pretty fucked up. They put him in place to illustrate change, but that's all they wanted to do - illustrate it. Once they saw him taking it seriously, using his position of power to do things differently, they got nervous. Now they're circling like sharks, waiting for him to step too far out of line, and at that point, it's win-win for them: they get that cookie for hiring the Black guy, without actually having to deal with him being in power. They can say it's not their fault. They tried, but gee, he just wasn't up to the task. The unspoken message being, of course, those people just aren't up to the task. Which allows the good ol' boys to get back to normal. I can see them now, mopping their brows with their handkerchiefs, "Whew! That was close! I thought he was one of the good ones, too!"

I'm no more a fan of Mr. Steele than I am any other right winger, but I hope he hangs tough. Either way, his party is pretty much in the toilet for the forseeable future. Come on, Mr. Steele, look around. Those old white dudes are basically pushing you out on a plank. If you decide to jump ship and come to Blue side, let us know.

Steele Yourself for Some Slum Love.

(The last of the drafts from my sick day. It's outdated now, but what the hell, it's a post.)

So, did you all catch Michael Steele, newly minted chairman of the Republican National Committee yukking it up with a white conservative talking head about giving Bobby Jindal some "slum love"?

Curtis Sliwa: Now, using a little bit of that street terminology, are you giving him any Slum love, Michael?

Michael Steele: (laughter)

Curtis Sliwa: Because he is -- when guys look at him and young women look at him -- they say oh, that's the slumdog millionaire, governor. So, give me some slum love.

Michael Steele: I love it. (inaudible)...some slum love out to my buddy, Gov. Bobby Jindal is doing a friggin' awesome job in his state. He's really turned around on some core principles -- like hey, government ought not be corrupt.

WTF, Michael? You think that's acceptable? You think that's funny? Why would you not call his ass on that? What kind of message is that to send out to a national audience?

Sadly, there's more. Click on the link up there to catch Steele's comments about Obama having bling-bling in the stimulus package, Sliwa imagining Mitt Romney high-fiving Ludacris, offering to play Jay-Z while Steele exits, and more condescending banter.

I find it hard to believe that Michael Steele didn't recognize what Sliwa was doing - almost every word out of Sliwa's mouth was that patronizing crap White folks do when they want to show they're Down With Diversity. Here's the thing, it's good to see Republican POCs in leadership positions within their party, but if the Republican party will only choose those who tout the far-right party line, people who are safe, who will laugh this kind of racist bullshit off -- who will participate in it rather than call it out -- I don't know. I mean, congrats on your new position and all, Mr. Steele, but I'm thinking that in some ways, you're doing more harm than good.

I've written before about the difference I've seen in my son since President Obama's election. I would like for my son to see POCs in leadership positions across party lines. It's healthy to hear differing opinions, apply those critical thinking skills. What's not healthy is for young people of color to see the results of internalized racial oppression played out on a national stage like it's comedy hour or something. What's not healthy is for young white kids to see the flip side of that and get a nice confirmation for their internalized racial superiority that they're probably not even aware of.

How many Indian kids in our high schools and middle schools are catching slumdog jokes this week? Do you feel OK perpetuating that, Michael Steele? Participating in it?

I've heard a lot of talk about how we're now in a post-racial society. Really? Because I'm having more conversations than ever with my son about all of these things. Seems like every time I turn on the news, something else needs to be addressed: the RNC's Magic Negro Christmas CD, the infamous Post cartoon, the backlash to AG Holder's "nation of cowards" speech, Miley Cyrus' I-wasn't-mocking-Asians bullshit, Michelle Bachman's "you be da man" gushing to Michael Steele, the slum love thing ... just to name a few.

Basically, that slum love situation sends a message to young people of color that you'd better step in line, ignore racism, even participate in racist jokes if you want to get anywhere, at least on the conservative side of the house. And you'd best suppress any pain or anger or resentment -- laugh that shit off, because hey, you know we're just joking, buddy. You know we don't mean you. Golly, we don't even think of you as Black! We don't even see color!

Well I'm sorry, but that interview was bullshit. And yes, I know it's easy for me to pontificate from my couch, to criticize, when I'll never have to live Steele's reality as a man of color. Fair enough. But when my son sees Michael Steele laughing with some White conservative hack about Bobby Jindal being a slumdog millionaire governor, my son needs to know that is not OK.

I've a feeling this is just the beginning of a long line of fucked up racist situations to be paraded across our nightly news, as the Repubs get Down With Diversity. Lately, I feel like it's all I can do to keep up, and honestly, you're making my job harder, Michael Steele.

I understand that arming my son with the knowledge to recognize and work against systemic racism is my responsiblity, not yours, but damn, I sure wish he could've seen YOU call it out, Mr. Steele. We expect that stuff from the Rush Limbaughs and the Curtis Sliwas out there, but having to battle against your example with my son ... that's something else altogether. It matters.

Hate, Murder, and Small Town Football

On July 12, Luis Ramirez was viciously kicked and beaten by at least six white teenagers in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. The attack left him bleeding, convulsing, and foaming from his mouth. He died of head injuries two days later, the imprint of his crucifix still indelibly stamped into his chest by an attacker's boot. He was 25 years old.

Three of the attackers were finally charged for the crime on July 25th. Colin Walsh, 17, who punched Ramirez in the face, causing him to fall and hit his head, and Brandon Piekarsky, 16, who kicked him in the head after he lost consciousness, were charged as adults with homicide, ethnic intimidation and related offenses. Derrick Donchak, 18, who apparently chased Ramirez down and tackled him, was charged with aggravated assault, ethnic intimidation and related crimes.

Luis was engaged to Crystal Dillman, with whom he was raising three young children. Luis supported his family by working two jobs: one in a factory, the second picking strawberries and cherries.

Despite the fact that there were eyewitnesses to the brutal attack -- including a retired police officer and Arielle Garcia, a friend of the couple who went to school with the attackers and named them to police -- it took two weeks for charges to be made.

Each of the eyewitnesses heard racial slurs directed at Ramirez throughout the fight, yet town officials were not convinced that the attack was racially motivated.

Retired Philadelphia police Officer Eileen Burke, who lives on the street where the fight occurred, told The Associated Press she heard a youth scream at one of Ramirez's friends after the beating to "tell her Mexican friends to get out of Shenandoah, or you're going to be laying next to him."

~The Morning Call

Now, you all know my dad was a cop. Cops, in general, don't go around telling tall tales about racially motivated attacks in their communities. They'd prefer that racial disputes never happened, regardless of their personal views on anything. They are not prone to go around crying wolf about this, trust. So if a cop says this attack had racial motivation, guess what? Most likely, she's not saying that just for the hell of it.

The investigating officers, though, were not so keen to listen to witnesses, even those who could actually identify the perpetrators. Check out Democracy Now's interview with eyewitness Ariella Garcia. She went to school with the attackers. Knew them by name. Saw where they ran.

The police, however, decided to stay and search her husband's car for guns. Her husband is also -- you guessed it -- Latino. So instead of going after the white attackers whom an eyewitness named and pointed out the direction of escape, the police stayed to search the witness's car for a nonexistent gun, and rough up her Latino husband a bit.

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Shenandoah is a small coal town of 5,000 about 80 miles from Philadelphia. All six of the young men who carried out this crime were on the high school football team.

I went to high school in a small farm town of about 6,000 in southern Ohio. Football was big doin's, let me tell you. Friday night lights, baby, nothing like it. Of course there's high school football where I live now, and I'm at most games because of the kids. But here, it's just a high school thing. Most fans not directly connected with one of the high schools are more interested in the Seahawks or the Husky-Cougar college rivalry.

Small town football though, that's different.

It's a community thing. The whole town comes out, every Friday. In my town, there was the fish fry early in the season, second only to the county fair as far as social events. Later in the season, even the smaller surrounding towns would turn out on Fridays to watch us march our way to State, game by game. Our football team was the pride of that town. Hell, the county. Those boys got free tickets at the local movie theater, and free pizza slices at the Wig-Wam, so named to match our high school's mascot, the Indians. (I know. That's another post.) Anyway, our football players were local heroes. If they got caught driving too fast while cruising on Saturday nights, the cops - whom we all knew by name - would issue a stern warning with an admonition to "pay that off with a win this Friday, y'hear?"

The basketball team enjoyed notoriety too, but there's just something about football in a small town. The marching band, the lights, the crisp, cold air, moms and dads reliving the glory days in their own letter jackets from 20 years back. In a small town, thing is, all the adults graduated from that same high school. They all knew each other back in the day, and they know everybody's kids and grandkids now. They all remember sitting in those stands or riding the away-bus. When the town turned out to that field on Friday night, there was connection. Pride. History. Shoot, you didn't even need to go to the class reunion; just show up on Friday night.

I don't know that I can even properly explain what football means to a small town. Truth be told, I'm not sure I can fully understand it, seeing as how I wasn't "born and raised". I think that's one reason my parents were still seen as "the new folks", even years after we'd moved there, and sis and I had long left home. Not being raised that way, they didn't quite get the thing about Friday football. They didn't have any kids on the team or the cheer squad or in the band, so why would they go freeze their butts off in the stands? Didn't they go to all my concerts and watch me sing? Daddy could watch the Bengals on Monday night from the comfort of his own chair. Real football. They thought it was just a high school thing.

But it wasn't.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

So, back to Luis Ramirez and the young men who killed him. As I read different articles and the comments to go with them, all of those memories came rushing back. Folks in Shenandoah are not only reeling from a brutal murder in their town, they've also been blindsided with the fact that it wasn't a bunch of thugs who did this.  Hell, it wasn't even the white trash who live in that sorry shack out yonder on Route 24 past Pine Ridge Road, no, these were football players. The good boys. The quarterback even, who's off to college come fall.

Seriously people, this is a big fucking deal in a small town.

So it didn't surprise me that the charges were so long in coming. It didn't surprise me to read that the beating was not recorded in that night's police log. Yes, I'm serious. "Standard practice", according to police. It didn't surprise me that "despite the witness statements, Borough Manager Joseph Palubinsky said he doesn't believe Ramirez's ethnicity was what prompted the fight," or that the police chief doesn't think it has anything do with racism either. (AP)

I have reason to know the kids who were involved, the families who were involved, and I've never known them to harbor this type of feeling.
~Borough Manager Joseph Palubinsky

From what we understand right now, it wasn't racially motivated. This looks like a street fight that went wrong."
~Police Chief Matthew Nestor

I think any time there's a fight, and any time you have one ethnic group fighting another, there's going to be racial slurs. I've seen that since I was a kid on a playground 20 years ago, but they never called it ethnic intimidation until very recently.
~Roger Laguna, Walsh's lawyer

All quotes from the Associated Press

A street fight that went wrong? Really? Boys will boys. I wonder, Mr. Laguna, if school-yard scuffles would have been called "ethnic intimidation" in your day had someone died on the playground?

Damn. I don't know about you, but I'm not feeling real confident about justice being served here, people.



Neither did it surprise me to read the horrible, hateful comments following the local articles, though in fairness, they were balanced by plenty of folks who were horrified by the blatant racism and cruelty, shocked at the hate that's crawled out into the light for everyone to see.

That's another thing about life in a small town. Things can seem fine on the surface, especially if you're white. Underneath though, it's very, very carefully balanced. As long as everyone acts right, life goes along just fine. Folks are friendly. And if you're making big yards for the football team, it doesn't much matter what color you are. Whoo-eee, that boy sure can run, cain't he? Only color anyone sees when you're driving down the field with that ball tucked under your arm, is the red and white of that uniform.

Until you start dating Judge Hapner's niece. Then it matters a whole lot. Folks see color real quick then.



I bet a lot of people in Shenandoah truly do not understand how this possibly could've happened in their community. They're good-hearted, well-intentioned folks who have never had to see things any other way because life has always gone along according to their way, and they don't even know it. I can well imagine how this has torn through this little town.

I also know there are plenty of people there who know exactly why this happened. People of color who have to be hyper-aware of their white neighbors' approval and comfort level every day of their lives. You can bet they're under no illusions. But there are also people who left comments like these in the local paper's accounts of the story:

TNT: Nothing he did in the U S was legal! Now my taxes are going to investigate his death and prosecute his assailants > Parasitic even in death!

Mary: Illegals...the name says it all ...goodbye and good riddance!! Those kids did us a favor, too bad they will have to face unpleasant consequences

Deer Hunter: Follow the leads of the good Sherrif and Hazleton's honorabe American leader. Nobody wants these illegals in town. Nobody! ... They have no rights. They are in your town and are bleeding it dry. Shenandoah residents should legally carry cocealed weapons to protect themselves, their property and their young women.

Tina: If these children were such cold blooded murderers they would have killed him there he died later on, yes because of the injuried these kids inficted on him, but they did not intend to murder him, it was an accident.

ddd: These boys are not cold blooded killers it was just an unfortunate mistake. Yes they must pay for their actions but if you knew them and their parents you would not be making such harsh statements against them.

John: Every city in America has a bad section. It usually has a high amount of minorites. When minorites move into a predominately white, safe and quiet town like Shenandoah, people are only assuming the worst because their reputation speaks for themselves.

Dakota: heres my 2 cents the big question ...Does his being illegal mean he deserved to be beaten to death.... YES!!! HAHAHAHAHAAH!!!!
~Comments from articles in the Pottsville Republican & Herald

You get the idea. Tip of the iceberg. Many seemed to regard the death as secondary, with Luis's immigration status firmly establishing itself as the real topic of discussion. In a nutshell: if he weren't here illegally, they wouldn't have killed him.

Again, other commenters did talk about how much more difficult the immigration process is now and how it's not really possible to "do it like our grandparents did" any more. Some local commenters even brought up globalization and US corporate colonization as the real issue behind modern immigration. These commenters condemned the beating and the boys responsible; they called it out as racism and were candid about the ongoing racial tension in their town. I was somewhat relieved to see a number of comments in this vein.

In the end though, it comes down to the fact that people were justifying murder of a human being because they disapproved of him being in the US. A man was killed by some angry racist teenagers with Town Hero complexes, and the biggest discussion point was the dead man's immigration status.

There's something very very wrong with that.

House Apologizes for Slavery & Jim Crow

The US House issued a formal apology today for slavery and Jim Crow.

So everything's fine now. Move along, nothing to see here.

My gut reaction: Gee, mighty white of them. An apology. That helps.

On the other hand, they can either apologize or not apologize. It's not like the choice is apologize or ... go back in the magic congressional time machine and just nip that nasty little horror in the bud before it starts. Oh, and while you're back there time traveling, guys? Don't colonize. Just don't colonize this time around, mm-kay?

Unfortunately though, that's not the choice. The choice is to apologize or not. And we will not be able to move forward to address the system born from that "peculiar institution" until we publicly acknowledge our part -- as a nation -- in slavery, and the fallout that still affects our nation today. So let me put my disgust and cynicism aside for a minute and say yes, I'm glad they apologized. It's a step, as they say.

After stumbling across this news online, I made the mistake of trying to find out more. Inevitably, there were a whole lotta online comments. Those in the "against" crowd, predictably, had the same tired arguments. Like these:

I believe the blacks owe America an apology for tearing our moral, economic and social fabric. The illegal immigrunts can join them.

My ancestors owned slaves and I have no desire to apologize for the actions of my ancestors. In fact, I think that the federal government should give me reparations for the lost assets caused by emancipation and the confiscation of my ancestors' lands as a result of the War of Northern Aggression. How about that?

Wonder what the black folks in Africa think of the living conditions of blacks in America? They might say you were done a favor.

How many times do these people have to be apoligized to? They were apologized to at the end of the Civil War, they were apologized to during civil rights movements, again during the intergration of schools and all other places. I never owned slaves and neither did my parents. I don't think anyone alive today was ever a slave. It seems to me that the race card is being played only by the African-Americans who just want more and more free handouts from the government. I am sick of it.

Tell all those a-holes to vote to drill for oil and forget about the apology.

I haven't done anything to apologize for. Blacks have got it made here in America and they know it. Everything gets handed to them. They work for nothing and I'm sick of it. Like someone else said here, where are the "thank yous" from these people.

These people couldn't care less about equality, they want DOMINANCE!

Who gives a rats-rear what happened to the slaves over 150 years ago. Where is my apology from them for me having to listen to this bullsh-- on a daily basis living here in Atlanta? . . . Get over it. The Civil War is over. Get a job. Get a life and stop throwing slavery up in my face. You may not like what you hear if you don't. Idiots...

We are going to make a black man king of America. When is enough enough.

You White people better wake the hell up or youll be the next American 'negros'.... Im not apologizing and I'll laugh at the faces of these inadequate and inept beings and hope it ****es them off enough so I can practice my second amendment against them. What a glorious day that will be!!...

You get the idea.

So the argument of the day is -- say it with me, boys and girls:
I didn't own slaves, my grandparents didn't own slaves, I had nothing to do with slavery!

Any time the subject of race relations comes up, so too does this argument. Even "nice white people" use this one. I used it too, back when I believed myself to be colorblind. Why, I remember when the Bohemian was a four-year-old little tyke, and we were reading My First Book of Africa from the library. Everything was fine until we turned to the double-page spread of a slave ship cut-away. I was not prepared to see my daughter go very quiet, touch the pages with her little fingers, and ask, "But ... who would do that to people, Mommy?" So, in trying to explain this atrocity to my four-year-old daughter, my African American daughter, I heard myself saying, "... but Mommy's family didn't believe in that. Remember, Mommy's family came from Norway? Well, they settled in the North, they came much later, after slavery was over." Then I launched into how lots of white people were abolitionists, lots of white people fought against slavery, not all white people's families were slave owners ... ad nauseum.

I needed to justify it. I needed to remove myself, in my daughter's eyes (and my own), from that horrible history. It was important to me that she know that I, and by extension, she, had nothing to with this. It was those bad white people what did that. The racists. Not us. Not me.


Here's what I didn't understand: it is not about individuals. It's about a system. It's about laws.

Let me be clear -- this is about the legalized system of oppression put in place by our government, not about whether individual white folks owned slaves or not. If you think we became a superpower so quickly because we're just that good, think again. We got here by stealing Native land, working it with free human labor, and enacting laws to back it up. No start-up costs, no overhead, just pure growth and profit. That's what put us on the fast track to superpower status.



Here's what else I didn't understand: if you are a white person in the United States, you and your family have benefited from this system.

It doesn't matter whether Grandpa Beauregard's granddaddy owned slaves or whether his house was a station on the underground railroad. The laws were on his side. Grandpa Beauregard, if he so chose, could read. Go to college. Live where he wanted. Get a loan to buy land, a house. Pass that property down to his children who then start off a little bit farther ahead in life than he did. And Grandpa Beauregard likely wasn't worrying about being lynched, either.

Land and education. White folks had access to it, Black folks were legally excluded from access. Property equals wealth. It appreciates and is sold for profit or passed on. Education equals opportunity and increased wealth. It raises the probability that your children will also be educated. Now, would you rather be the great-granddaughter of the guy with access to the land and education (not to mention better health care), or the guy who didn't have jack shit and wasn't allowed to build it? Which side of that system would you choose?

Oh, please. Don't even play like you're hesitating.



Which brings us to our next recurring theme: They just need to work harder and quit expecting handouts. Nobody gave me a handout; everything I got, I earned with hard work and effort.

I'm sure you do work hard. And I'm sure you believe no one ever has given you anything. Did your grandparents pass property on to your parents? Did your parents go to college? Do they own a home? Do you? Do people really believe that two men -- one black, one white -- both equally motivated and working equally hard, would get the same results while operating under the legal confines of this system in 1910? How about 1940? 1960? Today?

What about the 2000 Housing Discrimination Study? They sent out 4,600 pairs of testers, separately, in 23 US cities. The testers were identical on paper, but one was white, the other black. Consistent preferential treatment for white testers occurred 21.6% of the time.

Now ... if you rented an apartment tomorrow, you'd have no way of knowing if a black applicant with your same qualifications had been turned down the day before, would you? You'd have no way of knowing that you'd just benefited from a racist system, would you? You didn't choose to benefit from it, you didn't put it in place, you may even be outraged by it; but that doesn't matter. You'll sign that lease thinking you got that apartment solely on the basis of your good credit and consistent work history. But did you earn it? Did you earn it any more than the black applicant who was told it "wasn't available", or who was quoted a price $400 higher than yours?

And did we really work for everything we have? What about unearned wealth?

[As of 2002], 24% of whites receive an inheritance, just 11% of blacks do so. Among those who get an inheritance, whites receive $115,000 on average compared to $32,000 for blacks.15 And these figures do not reflect the gifts children receive during their parents' lifetimes.
To illustrate the significance of these disparities, whites on average are more than twice as likely as blacks to be able to provide a healthy down payment on a home even in the nation's most expensive housing markets or to pay tuition for four years at almost any college or university for one child from an inheritance.

~Gregory D. Squires, Reintroducing the Black/White Divide in Racial Discourse

Okay, I know some of you are like, "Shoot, I never got $115K, or even $30K, you're crazy!" We're not talking about individuals -- everybody has a story -- we're talking about a system set up to benefit some and oppress others over time.

My own story, you all know: I'm a single mom, three kids, money problems, yada-yada. But even with all that, I've benefited from a system that has historically been better to my family than families of color. My dad lent me money to put down on my house. Without that, I never could've owned a home. And without his college education and occasional loans from his parents when he was young, he probably wouldn't have been in a position to loan me that down payment. No idea how I'm going to pay him back now that the market has tanked, and I can't imagine ever being able to help my kids like that, but I'm in the house. I was approved for a loan, even though I probably shouldn't have been. (excellent credit, shit for income, but hey, White! Just don't let Citimortgage see the kids.)



How about this one: Okay, things may have been bad after slavery, or even in the '50s, but now there's affirmative action! Now I'm the one discriminated against! Where's my apology? A white man can't get a job these days!

Right. Check out the 2005 Princeton University study in which they had white, black and Latino men with comparable résumés apply for jobs. You know what they found? Employers would hire a white convicted felon before they would hire a black man with a clean record. Yes. This was 2005, people. That playing field is not level.



And then there's the always-dependable: Slavery ended 143 years ago! It's over! Why can't they just move on and get over it?

Yes, technically slavery ended in 1865. The system did not magically change with that announcement, though. Matter of fact, new laws were put in place to strengthen the system! Slavery was over, but it gave birth to segregation, unequal education, Jim Crow, sundown towns, redlining, and lynching.

Michael Donald was lynched in 1981. This was during my lifetime, people, not ancient history. It was my 15th birthday to be exact. Of course, I didn't know that at the time. I was obliviously blowing out my candles in small-town Ohio, comfortably deluded in the belief that slavery was over and things were fine now, the day 19-year-old Michael was hung from a tree in Alabama. In 1998, James Byrd Jr. was chained to the back of a truck and dragged for miles until he was decapitated. One of the guys who did it had a tattoo of a black man hanging by a noose. In 1998. Just ten years ago! This was during my youngest child's lifetime, people. 1998.

And the President vetoed the Hate Crimes Act just last year. Slavery might be "over" but the fallout poisons our country to this day. Is a lousy apology really too much to ask?



Anyway.

Today's apology is not about whether individual white people owned slaves or not. It is about our government acknowledging that the racial inequities existing today are a direct result of slavery and the legalized system of oppression that came from it.

It's about how that system has affected people over the course of generations.

It's about facing the uncomfortable reality that some people continue to benefit from this system today -- whether we choose to or not, whether we consider ourselves racist or not, whether our people owned slaves or not.

Judging from the last four statements from our online commenters above, it's also about fear, power, and not wanting to shift the existing arrangement. Usually the people wanting to keep a given power structure in place are the ones sitting on top of that structure. Just sayin'.

That's why this apology was so long in coming, and why some people feel so threatened by it.

FOX Noise: Lincoln-Douglass Debates

I'm a bit late to this party, as it's already out on the Internets, and our man Keith Olberman already busted this out on the airwaves, but it was too good to pass up.

You all remember when Hillary Clinton challenged Barack Obama to some good old fashioned, unmoderated, Lincoln-Douglas style debating? Now, I assumed she was referring to this:

The Lincoln-Douglas debates were a series of 7 political debates that took place across Illinois in 1858 between Abraham Lincoln and his opponent, Stephen A. Douglas, in the race for an Illinois seat in the US Senate.

Apparently, the folks at FAUX News were a mite confused at the Douglas part of that deal, as seen in their "reporting" of Senator Clinton's suggestion:

This is the split-screen from the FOX version:





Oh yes they did.

The Douglass to which they referred, of course, is Frederick Douglass -- abolitionist, author, lecturer, newspaper publisher, international traveler, former slave. Black man.




And here on the right, we have Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln's opponent in the aforementioned debates. Senator, pro-slavery politician, racist, unsuccessful presidential contender. White man.

Different guys. Different beliefs. Different locations. Different jobs.

Hey FOX, I'm pretty sure Stephen is your man.

Of course, this begs the question: are the folks at FOX really that ignorant? Did they seriously think that Lincoln debated Frederick Douglass in a series of debates that focused largely on the issue of slavery? Did they really not know the difference between these 2 radically different men? Did they simply not pay attention? Not catch it?

Or, some proffer, did they do it on purpose?

Neither would surprise me. Lord knows that the "history" taught in our schools is Eurocentric and leaves a whole lot of information out. I can certainly believe a future FOXer could make it to graduation without having more than a vague recollection of Frederick Douglass's name. On the other hand, I can also believe they'd pull that shit on purpose.

I just continue to marvel at the fact that the conservatives expect people to take FOX seriously as a news source.

Gmail: Big Brother in Your Sidebar

Things have been busy in the land of Cowbell. I'm going to try and update about what's been going on, and also get some of these drafts posted before they die the quiet death of forgotten drafts. Who knows how many of these things are languishing in the nether pages of the Edit Posts tab. Anyway, here's one from a day when Gmail was chapping my ass.

----------------------------

I'm about over Gmail. Never mind that their whole "conversations" organizational method is, in practice, annoying as hell. Ever notice those helpful links over to the side? Ever wonder how the links are always mysteriously related to whatever you've been writing about? Yeah, the text in your emails triggers some kind of freakish link recommendation autobot. Like Match.com for email or some shit. It's disturbing in a 1984, Homeland Security, Big Brother kind of way. Like Halliburton is running Gmail or something.

For instance, if you send an email to your friend asking for a recipe for cupcakes, Gmail might hook you up with some links like these:

Make Fun, Cute Cupcakes
200 Piece Kit from Betty Crocker

Decorate Cupcakes, Cakes and More
DecoratorKit.com
www.LINK.REMOVED because I'm not advertising for them.

Buttercream Frosting
Watch Amazing Cake Decorating Tips Tricks & Secrets Of The Pros
Try it out now!
www.LINK.SIMILARLY.REMOVED .

Disturbing, right? Look Gmail, I appreciate the suggestions, but I prefer to keep my cupcakes to myself, thank you! I guess this advertising method enables them to offer free email. OK, fine, whatever. But Betty Crocker isn't the only one profiting from Gmail's linky love. I discovered this about the time I wrote the post on Sales Genie's racist Superbowl commercials. There was some email traffic regarding that post making the rounds of my inbox then, and Gmail took it upon themselves to provide me with some helpful linkage.

Things like this:

Funny Foreigner Jokes
It's Not Because They're Different, We Laugh Because They're Inferior.
http://www.CanYouBelieveThisBullshit.crap

Are you kidding me? "We laugh because they're inferior"? Who is Google hiring these days? Nice, Gmail. But hey, let's not stop there. It seems the current political climate is having an ugly effect on what's considered appropriate in the world of corporate advertising:


Guantanamo Bay T-Shirt
"Come for the beaches... Stay for the waterboarding."
http://www.BushCo4u.crap/

Yes, that was actually in the sidebar of my Gmail account. I'm sorry, but didn't the Google folks hit the big leagues some time back? I'm thinking they can afford to be a little more choosy (and responsible) regarding their advertisers. There's just no excuse for that. But hey, since our Commandant in Chief doesn't classify waterboarding as actual "torture", I'm probably just being overly sensitive, not to mention unpatriotic. Alright, how 'bout this one:


Funny Chinese Ringtones
Ringtones in 30 seconds!
Download Funny Chinese Ringtones
http://www.NotReallyFunny.crap/

I guess foreigners are not only inferior, they're also here for our entertainment. Funny! But if it's a different kind of entertainment you're after, there's always this site:

Get a Chinese Wife

Meet Chinese Wives Near You Today.

100% Free. Join Now!

www.CulturalExoticaForYou.crap

Or, if you want a broader pool from which to pull your multiculti romantic experiences,

Interracial Relationships

Start A Interracial Relationship!

View Profiles 100% Free. Join Now!

www.exotic.excitement.crap

OK, the Chinese Wife site, self-explanatory on the fuckedupness scale. That is something I'd expect to find on some $1 per click site, not in my own friggin' Gmail account.

If you're scratching your head over the Interracial Relationships site, thinking, "What the hell ... where does Cowbell get off griping about an interracial dating site? Aren't her kids biracial? What a bunch of bullshit," I don't blame you. Good point. It's a complicated subject that is not the point of today's bitchery, so for now I'll leave it at this -- when I delved headlong into marriage, I was blissfully ensconced in the whole "we all have the same hearts" deal, completely clueless as to the historical issues around the Black/White relationship paradigm. My Ex was, in hindsight, affected by some of those very issues, but I was clueless about that as well, and wasn't able to face that reality until years later. Also, I was a child who had no business getting married in the first place, but hey, I was 18 and knew everything, so on we charged.

Anyway, no, of course I am not against interracial relationships. I'm not against any type of relationship between consenting adults that is based in equality, honesty and respect. What I'm against is specifically seeking out an interracial relationship around some fucked up fetish deal, or as a public display of being Down With Diversity, or an attempt to somehow assuage liberal guilt, or because it seems "exotic", or whatever, just to touch on some reasonings from one side of the equation.

That's a whole different deal than a relationship eventually developing with a real person you've already met and with whom you share a connection.

Whew, this needs to be a subject for another day - sorry.

What I'm getting at is that this advertisement in my Gmail sidebar reduces people's relationships to one thing, race, largely by capitalizing on the whole Exotic Experience thing. Sure, it's usually framed in kinder gentler terms like, "Everyone has their preferences, just like hair color!" or "I just find dark skin so beautiful!" or "I just don't even see color!" Well, yes, actually you do if you're signing up for an interracial dating site: you're looking to purposefully hook up with someone you haven't even met yet on the basis of one thing -- race. And stepping into a culture for no other reason than to satisfy your own "preference" is ... just bullshit.

Anyway, by itself I likely wouldn't have paid that one much mind, but when combined with all the other unwelcome links in my mailbox, it annoyed me along with the rest of them.

OK. On to the next link to arrive unbidden in my email. Since we're on the subject of relationships, you may be glad to know that when it comes to holding on to your man, Gmail has your back, ladies.

Understand Why Men Leave?
Learn The Real Reason Why Men Leave
And How To Become Irresistable!

http://www.dr.laura.crap/

Wow. If only Eliot Spitzer's wife had had Gmail. Because we all know when a man leaves a woman, it's because she has somehow been found lacking in appearance, desirability, and effort. I mean really, why should men be villified for leaving our asses? If we were more irresistible, they wouldn't! Boys will be boys, ladies, best keep up on the waxings and step it up a notch.

Come on Gmail, if I want to hear that kind of crap, I'll tune in to Dr. Laura's show and listen to her blast resistible women for causing their men to lie and fuck around without protection.


Better yet, I'll just click this link in my sidebar:

Ann Coulter's Column Free
Get Ann Coulter's weekly column delivered to you
Free via email!
www.KissMyAssGmail.crap

Blech! My eyes felt violated. No wonder Blogger -- Google creation that it is -- won't let me change the email address that was used to register this blog -- they know their next ad would have to be:

Understand Why Gmail Subscribers Leave?
Learn How Not to Piss Off Your Customers!
http://www.GetOutOfMyInbox.crap/

Bastards.

Unnatural Causes

I want to let you all know about a new documentary, Unnatural Causes, that begins airing nationally on PBS tonight at 7pm PST for HDTV viewers, and on April 2nd at 11pm PST for analog/cable viewers. It is a 4-part series addressing health equity in the US.

Unnatural Causes, a four-part series for PBS broadcast and DVD release, will, for the first time on television, sound the alarm about our glaring socio-economic and racial disparities in health—and seek out root causes. But those causes are not what we might expect. While we pour more and more money into drugs, dietary supplements and new medical technologies, it turns out there is much more to our health than bad habits, health care or unlucky genes. The social conditions in which we are born, live and work profoundly affect our well-being and longevity.

The website is part of the impact campaign that the documentary is meant to kick off. It is a fascinating interactive companion site to the series, and is loaded with activities, info, and resources. I was blown away by the wealth of information on this site, and the interesting ways they present it. There are video clips, interactive activities, a quiz, an Action Toolkit, discussion guides, handouts for educators, and more. They even have a panel of experts who will answer questions sent in by John & Jane Q. Public. Really interesting stuff.

The opening 56-minute episode, In Sickness and In Wealth, presents the series’ overarching themes. Each supporting half-hour episode, set in a different ethnic/racial community, provides a deeper exploration of how social conditions affect population health and how some communities are extending their lives by improving them.

Episode descriptions here.

In my area, there will actually be facilitated community discussions at local hospitals after the complete series has aired. Check your local community organizations for similar events.

----------------------------
BROADCAST INFO:
This info is for Pacific Standard Time (PST).
For other time zones, check your local TV listings here at PBS.

• HDTV episodes will air on:
  -- 4 consecutive Thursdays @ 7pm, starting March 27th, or
  -- 4 consecutive Sundays @ 1pm, starting March 30th
  
  
• Analog/Cable episodes will air on:
  -- 4 consecutive Wednesdays @ 11pm, starting April 2nd, or
  -- 4 consecutive Saturdays @ 1pm, starting April 5th

Episode 1: In Sickness and in Wealth
HDTV viewers: 27-Mar-08, 7 pm PST

Analog/Cable viewers: 2-Apr-08, 11pm PST

Channel: PBS (Seattle: KCTS)

Alternate Times, Episode 1:
27-Mar-08, 10pm PST -- PBS (HD only)
30-Mar-08, 1pm PST -- PBS (HD only)

2-Apr-08, 11pm PST -- PBS (Analog/DT)
5-Apr-08, 1pm PST -- PBS (Analog/DT)
---------------------------


I encourage everyone to check this series and the website out.

Geraldine Ferraro: Obama's Lucky He's Black.

I just couldn't let this one go, now could I? Geraldine Ferraro, former congresswoman, former vice-presidential nominee, and staunch Clinton supporter, had this to say about Barack Obama's incredible run for the White House:

If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.

What? Did she really just throw that card down? You'd think Kellyanne Conway was her new BFF or something, slinging that kind of talk around.

So, if Barack Obama is so lucky, in this election process, to be Black, why is he the first to really have a shot? To say that he wouldn't be there if he were a White man ... I'm sorry, it's ludicrous. What, do you mean like the 40+ presidents who came before? You mean those White men?

Every previous president of this country came up through a system set up by White people, for the benefit of White people. Our own friggin' FUBU, y'all, For Us, By Us. A system built with free Black labor and free Native American land, a system purposely built for the advantage of some, and the disadvantage of others.

A system which mightily resists change.

It's not easy to become president, even with that system in your pocket. It's a lot of work, and a hell of a longshot. But let's be clear: every single president of this country had the support of that system working for him. That's why every single president of this country has been White, and that's why every single president of this country has been a man.

There's a reason for it, people, it didn't happen by chance. That's how it was supposed to be, and that's how it has been.

Until now.

Neither one of our candidates would be where they are if they were White males, you got that right, Geraldine. Had Hillary been issued the penis, she may have been President before Bill. And if Obama were White, as Ferraro suggests, he may already have the nomination.

Hell, had Ferraro been male, maybe she'd have been president years ago. Ever think of that, Geraldine?

------------------------------------
UPDATE:

And Ferraro's response:

Any time anybody does anything that in any way pulls this campaign down and says let's address reality and the problems we're facing in this world, you're accused of being racist, so you have to shut up.

Racism works in two different directions. I really think they're attacking me because I'm white. How's that?

Are you kidding me? I've got nothing.

Kellyanne Trips to the Back of the Bus

Did anyone else catch Larry King Live tonight? Larry's subject this evening was "Campaign Clash". Republicans against Democrats. I fixed a snack and settled in for a good round of political fisticuffs. One of his guests was Kellyanne Conway, Republican strategist and CEO of the Polling Company.

I just heard Kellyanne say this, live,

This is what [John McCain] is doing behind the scenes now while Hillary and Obama argue about whether she should let him sit on the back of the bus of her presidential ticket, or he argues whether or not she lied us into war in 2002.

Oh, yes, she did.

And then had the nerve to act like she had no idea what the problem was, while she continued gnawing on her foot. Like a fox caught in a trap.

Jamal Simmons, cool-headed Democratic strategist and an Obama supporter, handled it beautifully, calling her out on her gaffe, clarifying that the remark had absolutely no connection to the Clinton campaign, and settling back to watch her try to extricate that foot. But here, check out the transcript for yourselves. (emphasis mine)

SIMMONS: Larry, we have to address that. We have to address that. This back of the bus comment is beyond the pale. I think Senator Clinton, whatever our disagreements are between the two candidates, Senator Clinton has never done or said anything that would imply that she would rather have Barack Obama sitting in the back of her campaign bus.

CONWAY: No, as VP. You aren't paying attention.

SIMMONS: No, you are not speaking clearly, because that's out of line.

CONWAY: No, she doesn't want him to be the first Black president. She wants him to be her VP. She said that this week. She would consider putting him on her ticket, but I guess he wouldn't consider putting her on his ticket, would he?

KING: Did you use the term back of the bus?

CONWAY: I did. I just said ---

KING: Meaning?

CONWAY: Meaning that she wants --- she has said she would have Barack Obama as her VP. Thereby she is denying something that many Republicans are not denying, that Barack Obama has a very strong chance of becoming this country's first Black president, that someone like me respects.

SIMMONS: We can move along. I was there for a lot of Bill Clinton and Al Gore's time and Al Gore never sat in the back of the bus.

Go on, Mr. Simmons. Call it out.

Now, if Ms. Conway's back of the bus comment truly had no racial context, why then, does she proceed to bring up race -- twice? I'm sorry, but there is a world of difference between saying that Clinton doesn't want Obama "to be the first Black president", and saying Clinton doesn't want anyone to become president but her, right?

What did Black have to do with anything? No one brought that up, Kellyanne.

Careful, honey; your slip is showing, and it's cut on the bias.

And that entire last comment of hers ... where do I even start? She says that Clinton "would have him as her VP", and that this somehow means Clinton is denying what Republicans are willing to face, which is that Obama could become the first Black president.

What?

First off, that's not accurate. Clinton has not said that. Second, even if she had said she wants him as VP, how does it follow that she's denying anything? And third -- again -- what's Black got to do with it? That was not part of the conversation until you brought it in, Kellyanne.

But hey, at least she pointed out that the first Black president would be a person whom "someone like her respects". Points to Kellyanne!



But here's something really interesting. Turns out that Conway is the coauthor of the book, What Women Really Want: How American Women Are Quietly Erasing Political, Racial, Class, and Religious Lines to Change the Way We Live.

Really? Because it didn't seem like she was erasing political or racial lines tonight. It would stand to reason, seeing as how Conway has literally written the book on erasing racial lines, we could expect her to have some inkling of the historical context around the phrase she used tonight.

Of course she did. She knew exactly what she'd said as soon as it fell out of her mouth.

In fact, Conway has been involved in sensitive discussions regarding her party's need to tread carefully around the areas of race and gender. She sure has. Seems the upper echelon of the GOP is quietly setting acceptable sparring guidelines for this election, seeing as how the good ol' boys' club has now been infiltrated. They've even come up with a benign term for the unseemly racist/sexist language they're desperate to avoid: undisciplined messaging.* Not easy, I suppose, when you're used to saying whatever the hell you want. Ms. Kellyanne had this to say just a few short months ago:

Republicans will need to exercise less deafness and more deftness in dealing with a different looking candidate, whether it is a woman or a Black man. But at the same time, really charge back at any insinuation or accusation of sexism or racism.

You can’t allow the party to be Macaca'ed. I think the standards are higher and the bar is lower for the Republican Party.

~Kellyanne Conway, Nov. 2007

Well what do you know. She's not so adept at following her own advice, is she? Seems Conway slipped into a bit of undisciplined messaging herself this evening. Oops.

I call bullshit. This was a shrewd but blatant attempt to attribute GOP racist rhetoric to the Clinton campaign, in hopes that it will stick and stir up further division and discord between the two democratic camps. The poo-flinging didn't work, Kellyanne, you got called out on it and were left with shit stuck to your hand.

I do agree with her on one count: that bar is hanging mighty low for the Republican party.


*David Paul Kuhn, Politico