Halfrican On Rice

This is a good point, and I'd forgotten about it:

Just a quick history note for those who are shocked by Condoleeza Rice publicly stating that America has a "birth defect" when it comes to race: Rice grew up in Birmingham, Alabama in the late 50s and 60s. One of her childhood playmates was among those four little girls who were murdered by a Klansman's bomb in the basement of their own church. Stop and think about that: four beautiful little black girls, attending church on a Sunday morning, blown up with dynamite by a white racial terrorist. This was not an event that Condoleeza Rice heard about on t.v., or saw in the paper. It was her personal friend torn apart by racial hatred. Rice has every right in the world to have the opinions that she does when it comes to race. To suggest that she does not, that somehow she is out of line to voice those opinions (as Dobbs did below), is simply obscene. It is an insult to the history that Rice has lived through firsthand, and a devaluation of the price that she has had to pay for America's racial sins.

That puts the profound stupidity of Lou Dobbs in greater perspective, no?

Lou Dobbs--Fool

Yet more evidence for why any national conversation on race should ban all squawkers from the Cable news blabberfests. Witness the buffoonery that is Lou Dobbs. I don't much care that he almost said "Cotton Pickin black leaders." What I want to know is, who are all these black leaders telling Lou he can't talk about race? Names please, screw the weak, lazy generalities. Then I want to know why he listens to them. Oh right--he doesn't. Roll tape please.

More On McCain's Claim To The Holy Roman Crown

From my good buddy Brendan Koerner, whose book will be hitting in May;

Interesting post re: McCain claiming to be a descendant ofCharlemagne. This is actually very common practice among American genealogical fanatics. Funny how no one wants to admit that they're descended from some dude who spent the 11th century whacking the soil with a stick, praying that a passing knight wouldn't chop off his arms for sport.

Also, note the importance of lineage claims to Arab politics--the head of virtually every Arab regime claims to be descended from the Prophet Muhammad. That includes our friend Saddam, as well as his Hashemite cousin in Jordan.

First Post At TPMCafe's Discussion On Race

Here it is. The Essence:

We err when we talk about racism as this force that ultimately helps whites, but hurts blacks. The truth is that white people have paid terribly for America's original sin. Consider that while other countries were able to relatively peaceably excise themselves from slavery, America had to sacrifice some 700,000 of its young in order to move forward. That is a horrible toll. Look at the Civil Rights movement and compare, say, the fates of Atlanta and Birmingham, and then look at how the two cities handle the impending epoch of integration. I confess no hard evidence here, but is it a mistake that some of the least prosperous states in the country are also some of the most historically anti-black? Beyond history, from the perspective of cold capitalism, we are in a dog fight for dominance with rising powers. Isn't every black child we lose to a broken educational system a soldier lost before we could even enlist her for the coming battle?

At some point, this has to move beyond a "do the right thing white people" discussion and become a "this is for the good of America" discussion. We have to start convincing people that closing the racial gap helps everyone. The good news is we're starting to see some action that moves down that path. Glenn rightly alluded to the continuing crisis of the large portion of black men residing behind bars. One of the more promising developments is that states are starting to own up to some of the foolishness of their criminal justice policies. But they're not doing it out of any love for black folks, they're doing it because it's in their economic interest—they simply can't afford to keep warehousing black men. I think there's a light in that reasoning. We have to begin to show people how this discussion benefits them.

Ta-Nehisi Tries to Keep Up At TPMCafe

So the folks over at Talking Point Memo are holding  a discussion around race and Obama's speech. I'm one of the guest asked to comment. But truthfully dog, I'm just gonna try to keep with Glenn Loury, knowahmsayin? Naw, seriously though, it should be a good panel. In addition to me and Prof. Loury we have Prof. Joseph Lowndes,  Prof. John Skrentny and Carmen Van Kerkhove. I've some of what will being going up throughout the week. Definitely some good stuff going down. Stay up, folks.

John McCain Traces Lineage Back To Charlemange; Claims The Holy Roman Crown

Heh, people kill me when they attack black folks for the whacky isht we believe and for transforming Africa into this glorious continent, pre-whitey. Over the years I've been one of the people doing the attacking. But I never act like white folks--indeed all folks--don't do the same damn thing.

Witness John McCain who claims that he is not just a descendant of the 13th century Scottish King Robert The Bruce, but also of the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of modern Europe, the 9th century monarch Charlemagne. Understand with that means. John McCain would have had to have traced his lineage through literally millions of relatives, and over a millenea. Haha. Bridge in Brooklyn anyone?

...the ancestral link appears to originate from a 1999 family memoir, Faith of My Fathers. In it the senator said his great-grandparents "gave life to two renowned fighters, my great-uncle Wild Bill and my grandfather Sid McCain."

Wild Bill, he wrote, "joined the McCain name to an even more distinguished warrior family. His wife, Mary Louise Earle, was descended from royalty. She claimed as ancestors Scottish kings back to Robert the Bruce." The passage goes on to say that Mary Louise Earle was also "in direct descent" from Emperor Charlemagne.

Not so, according to Dr Katie Stevenson, a lecturer in medieval studies at the University of St Andrews. "What wonderful fiction," she said. "Mary Louise Earle's claims to descent from Robert the Bruce are likely to be fantasy. Earle is not a Scottish name. I think it is incredibly unlikely that name would be related to Robert the Bruce. Charlemagne and Robert the Bruce were not connected - that's ludicrous."

More Evidence That The Clintons Are Overrated Politicians

Gotta love this, at least as someone who wants Obama to win. Who does James Carville think he's helping with his foolish fulminations? Does he think people are gonna see his full-throated defense of that stupid Judas remark and say, "I had it all wrong. I think I'll vote for Clintons." These guys are a hamfisted bunch I tell you.

I know enough to know that comparing a former Cabinet secretary and sitting governor to Judas is inflammatory and provocative.

Ahh but you don't know enough to see how it just stains the candidate you claim to endorse. Oh, the humanity.

Condie Rice On Slavery--"America's Birth Defect"

This bears reading. It's interesting in that it cuts against the stereotype of the black conservative as shill who will say anything to get over. I don't know if the world is more open to comments like these, or what. But as I've said before I think a viable cadre of black conservatives is a good thing. Black folks shouldn't have to reject Republicans because of the whiff of latent racism. They should be free to reject them because they are wrong--at least in the opinion of this flamin' lefty.

Blogging Light This Weekend

Sorry guys, blogging will be an off and on affair until Monday. I'm running around doing promotional stuff for the book. I'll be back at it by mid-Sunday, early Monday. Have a good weekend all.

Lebron And Gisele Or This Week's Fake "Black People Are Too Sensitive Story"

So there's this game that media plays--find a few black people who've got a beef with something and then tar all black people with it. Typical is this Lebron/Gisele foolishness. The story in question is headlined, "Vogue Cover with Lebron stirs up controversy." The Essence:

...the image is stirring up controversy, with some commentators decrying the photo as perpetuating racial stereotypes. James strikes what some see as a gorilla-like pose, baring his teeth, with one hand dribbling a ball and the other around Bundchen’s tiny waist.

It’s an image some have likened to “King Kong” and Fay Wray.

Well yeah, if you define "some" as a writer at ESPN's website, some guy who analyzes magazines, and a woman on the street. This is the sort of thing editors publish because they know if you even whisper "racism" a bunch of white people--preconditioned to believe that blacks are always complaining--will come running. DIg the poll at the end of the story. Of course Jason Whitlock ways in with his usual illogic. Whatever. White people out there. Are you listening? Most black people could give two flying monkeys about who Vogue puts on the cover.

UPDATE: The Today Show featured this "controversy" apparently. I think this ultimately about white people's need to turn racism into a dumb debate about magazine covers, and thus quickly dismiss it. When will you Negroes get it? There is. No. Racism.

Why We Fight

I saw No End In Sight a couple nights ago on Netflix streaming service. What an incredible documentary, and it really reminded me of what was at stake in this election. I urge everyone to check it out, as well as the Frontline documentary  Bush's War, which you can watch on PBS's website. It's important that we don't get bogged down in the Clinton-Obama tit for tat and remember what's really at stake here. Below is the trailer

Obama Leading Us Out Of The Wilderness?

Sullivan posts an interesting note he got from a reader:

I worked four years as a teacher in the Black community in Oakland in the early 90's and these ideas from Wright's sermons were endemic. To me the remarkable thing about Obama is that he has positioned himself, and set as a goal for himself, to lead Black culture towards one of participation and non-victimization. You can't do that if you're not participating as a member of the Black community, whatever state you find it in.

How do we go forward? 3 percent of all Black men are in prison, and it's 11 percent of black men aged 25-29. Mostly on drug charges. The community has been in crisis for decades. And here come many conservatives with a message to marginalize the Black community further. 

What is more helpful here? That, or putting into a position of leadership someone who has really heard and understood all these arguments in the Black community, disagrees with
them and says so and yet is still respected there, and asks young Black men to take responsibility and shows how it's possible to live a decent life in America?  It seems pretty obvious.

The reader makes a huge mistake by conflating his experiences in the black community with the entirety of black America. Also, to put it bluntly, he thinks too much of "mainstream" white people. A healthy percentage of black folks may believe that the government concocted HIV to kill us, but the conspiracy theories of white America are legion--and  much much deadlier. A sample:

In a February CNN-Time poll, 76 percent of those surveyed felt Saddam provides assistance to al Qaeda. Another poll released in February asked, "Was Saddam Hussein personally involved in the September 11 attacks?" Although it is a claim the Bush administration has never made and for which there is no evidence, 72 percent said it was either very or somewhat likely.

That was in 2003. It is also an incredible number, and it led to arguably the largest military blunder in the history of this country. Black people do not need to be lectured about conspiracy theories when fully THREE QUARTERS of this country believed Saddam was behind 9/11. This is to say nothing of the religious fictions of the wing-nuts, which Chris Hayes outlined, last week.

Evangelical Christians believe that anyone who has not accepted Jesus as his personal lord and saviour will be sadistically tortured for the rest of eternity, which means that each of the 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust now spends each instant from here to end of time suffering torture far worse than what they faced in Dachau or Treblinka.

Continue reading "Obama Leading Us Out Of The Wilderness?" »

Oppressed-A-Thon Defined--Or The Olympics For Historically Screwed-Over People

So I used the term "Oppressed-A-Thon" in another post and I thought I should define it. I got the idea from this brilliant entry.

Oppressed-A-Thon--An unintentionally amusing pastime, in which flummoxed pundits unable to make heads or tails out of actual human beings, engage in a dubious contest to prove that said human beings' respective group is more doomed, victimized, and otherwise shat-upon than all other doomed, victimized and presumably shat-upon groups.

"Misoginy is the last acceptable prejudice"--Katha Pollit

"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."--Geraldine Ferraro

"Hillary ain't never been called a nigger."--Rev. Jeremiah Wright

Why It's Easier To Elect A Black Man Than A Woman

Because George McGovern says so. And he's an expert on race and racism.

"I have a feeling that in this country where we're at today in our thinking, it's going to be harder to elect a woman than to elect a black man...I wish that weren't true ... I'd love to see Hillary as president."

For the record, I have no idea whether it's easier to elect a black man or woman, and frankly I could care less. I refuse to become embroiled in an Oppressed-A-Thon, during which we try deduce whether playing the back for most of human history is worse than enduring colonialism, slavery and Vanilla Ice. But after listening to this line repeatedly bellow out from Hillary supporters, I'm starting to understand why the Democratic party has been such a zero in presidential politics. These cats deserve great credit for being so forward thinking on integration. But that same vision has seemingly forced them into a dumb, crude, hamfisted politics in which your gender/race/sexual orientation can be separated out from who you are as an individual.

The "Who's it easier to elect?" query is uniquely suited for white Democrats. There is no agency in that question, no individualism, no sense that Barack Obama isn't Alan Keyes, and Hillary Clinton ain't Libby Dole. (Notice how black women never even show up in this equation.) Basically if you have a chance to win you become your respective grievance group. It's disgusting, simple-minded, stupid, reductive and condescending way of seeing the world. And it's likely no mistake that it comes from one of the men that led liberals into the winter that we're now so desperately trying to find our way out of. Rid us of these fools please. I beg you voters out there. Rid us of them. Their stupidity is a plague on all our houses, and the future of my son.

Slate On The Black And White Women Divide

Interesting post here at Slate's XX Factor.  Melinda Henneberger tries to understand why black women and white women struggle to find common ground. The obvious reason, to my mind, is segregation. Black women live around, and in most cases with, other black men or boys. They have fathers (not enough), they have husbands (not enough), and they have sons (maybe too many, hehe). But they don't have these sorts of close relationships with white women, under any circumstances.

The same, I suspect, is true of white women, which is what explains Gloria Stienem and Geraldine Ferarro. I'm just going to guess that neither of them know many black women. I'd bet money that if you ask them to name three different black families they'd sat to dinner with, they'd probably have to reach back a decade for each equation. Without some tangible understanding of each other, it seems to me it's going to hard to find much transracial unity. Until segregation falls, sadly, I think this will always be the case.

The Audacity Of Liberalism

I meant to post on this piece in the Times yesterday, which I think perfectly captured what, exactly, Obama brings to the table. Basically, the piece contrasts Obama's bipartisan pitch with the old Clinton "New Democratic" pitch. The Essence:

In many ways, the Obama campaign is challenging the fundamental political premise that has prevailed in Washington for more than a generation: that any majority coalition must be carefully centrist, if not center-right. Bill Clinton ran in 1992 as a candidate willing to break with liberal orthodoxy on many issues, including crime and welfare, and eager to move the party — which had lost five of the six previous presidential elections — to the middle. Mr. Clinton’s New Democrats assumed a certain level of conservatism among voters.

Mr. Obama and his allies are basing his campaign on a different bet: that the right-leaning political landscape Mr. Clinton confronted has changed. Several major Democratic strategists, and outside analysts as well, argue that the country has shifted to the left because of the Iraq war, the economy and seven-plus years of President Bush, and that it has become open to a new progressive majority.

This is basically the reason I'm an Obama supporter. I believe that the progressive agenda, unfreighted by empty identity politics, can actually work. We deserve a candidate who does not condescend to people, but at the same time is deft enough as a politician to communicate and not be boxed into anyone's caricature. Anyway, it's a good piece. Check it out.

Kevin Drum Finally Comes Around

Drum has mostly defended Hillary from some of the more outrageous attacks, and granted, they've been a few. At any rate, Hillary's latest tactics seem to have pushed him a bit too far. Also check out Josh Marshall's take on Hill's resurrection of the Wright flap.

Of Rednecks And Niggers

In my piece over at The Root I put out the following challenge:

I saw no picket signs when Toby Keith declared himself—on his sixth album—White Trash With Money. I'm still looking for the white Al Sharpton, who'll deign to protest Jeff Foxworthy for his album, You Might Be A Redneck If…While we were hemming and hawing over potty-mouthed MCs, Steven Spielberg was backing a magazine called Heeb.

Challenge accepted. A commenter over there linked to an absolutely fascinating article on the word "Redneck." In the piece the writer, Will Campbell, basically argues that Redneck is a racial slur. I think that's pretty inarguable. But he actually goes further and parrellels many of the argumunets that people make about nigger. The Essence:

I am growing weary of people like Jeff Foxworthy making millions of dollars with their "You may be a redneck if..." books and television shows.  If what?  You may be a redneck if you eat fried squirrel and Moonpies for breakfast, for example.  Well I ate fried squirrel for breakfast of necessity, sir, but Moon pies were a delicacy for the more affluent. We didn't have the nickel the Moon pie cost in

Amite   County

,

Mississippi

in those days.  You may be a redneck if you mix Jack Daniels with butterscotch malted milks.  Don't knock it if you ain't tried it, Mr. Foxworthy, but those of the poor, rural, working class of the South of my youth had neither a surplus of Jack Daniels nor butterscotch ice cream around the house to mix.  You may be a redneck if you hang around the bus station all day and pick your nose.  Very funny.  But put those putdowns in front of the epithets used to describe and insult African-Americans, women, Jews, people of Polish, Italian, Japanese or Chinese extraction, or any other ethnic, racial, or gender minority and see how many of your politically correct friends laugh. But redneck isn't indexed yet. Well, let's index it.  There comes a time when a body gets weary.

There seems to be a subtle difference in that if feels like Campbell's beef is that people are basically making fun of poor Southern whites, not that it's been reinvented with a measure of cool. Anyway, it's a fairly interesting piece. Worth taking a look.

Continue reading "Of Rednecks And Niggers" »

America's Latest Export--Fat

From Mclatchy, a depressing accounting of Mexico's attempt to overtake America as the world's fattest country:

Some Mexicans say there's less space on an already crowded Mexico City subway because riders are getting larger. At a flea market in the south of the city, vendors hawk clothes brought from the United States made for overweight individuals.

Francisco Princegali knew he was eating too much junk food when he bent down last week and heard a tear.

"I ripped my pants because of the fat," said Princegali, who's 20, crumbling up a wrapper of sweetened bread he'd purchased from a vendor. "I think I'm addicted to junk food."

Princegali, sucking in his stomach, said that many of his pants were too tight these days. Some people are addicted to alcohol and smoking, he said: "My problem is I love fried chicken — Kentucky Fried Chicken."

Halfrican On The Racist Pat Buchanan

A much needed rhetorical beat-down. The one thing that amazes me is how this thing hasn't really been an issue, except amongst black bloggers. It's amazing this cat can spread this foolishness and still be on a major network.

I Was Gonna Respond To Hitch's Hit On Obama...

..But Sullivan did a better job than anything I was thinking.

Were The Clintons Just Overrated?

I've been thinking about this as I've watched this campaign unfold. There's this standard narrative which holds that Bill Clinton is the greatest politician in a generation, and that the Clinton machine is a juggernaut, the likes of which  have not been seen in the Democratic party in decades. And yet, in the midst of the War years, Hillary Clinton is loosing to a first term African-American senator with a Muslim name and a black nationalist pastor. On a paper, can you think of a plausibly worse mixture for a candidate? The daily feed of information and controversies blinds us to this essential narrative--the Clintons are getting their clocks cleaned by a rookie who's damn near straight out the state legislature.

How can this be? I think in large measure, the Clintons are basically running a campaign which depends heavily on smoke and mirrors, spin and narrative, and various other optical illusion. Whenever the discussion turns to Clinton, I keep hearing vague political-speak like "inevitability," "momentum," or "change the narrative." Remember at the start of the year when her campaign switched their slogan damn near every week? Meanwhile Obama has run a fact-based campaign that focuses on delegates. Clintonistas can crow all day that Obama has yet to win a big state, but that doesn't make it true. No narrative can alter the basics of delegate math.

Continue reading "Were The Clintons Just Overrated?" »

Chris Matthews Has A "Chris Wallace" Moment

By way of commenter over at Jack and Jill. Man, is there something in the water? About three minutes in, it gets very uncomfortable in the MSNBC studios.

LOL Of The Day: Me And My White Trophy Wife

From Baratunde. The following is hilarious. Her name is Erin Jackson, by the way.

The Myth Of The Reagan Democrat

Fascinating deconstruction here of white working class racism. Peter Dreier exposes the lie that working class whites are Obama's biggest problem.

Ta-Nehisi Speaks On The N-Word At TheRoot

So here is something I did on the word "nigger," and why I love it. I recognize I'm going to loose half of my minuscule readership over this mess, but please bear with me guys. The Essence:

When I consider nigger, I think of Doug E. Fresh pulling the funk of an old Inspector Gadget ditty. I think of the kids I used to watch in Chocolate City who could take a few buckets and turn them into a percussive orchestra. I think of my father, after work, dog-tired in the kitchen making cans of beans do things that they were not meant for. This is what we do.

As I said, this is about first impressions. How would I feel if my introduction came from a group of menacing troglodytes in the backwoods of some Confederate state? Writer or not, I don't think I'd ever be able to hear anything more than evil from the word. Thus to those who refuse to say nigger, and don't want it used in reference to them, I say, Respect Due. But it's another thing entirely to seek to restrict the vocab of a group who've come up completely different. There is something essentialist about it all, a spirit of "blacker-than-thou" in the word-police who claim that only they may decide how and when to use the allegedly abominable word.

Anyway. Read the whole piece. And holla back, if you dare.

The Myth of The Tuskegee Experiments

Guys, it's time to stop claiming that the government injected blacks men with syphilis. They did not. They refused to treat them, and prevented them from getting a cure. I know it's only a minor difference, but it's an important one. We don't have to embellish, folks. The truth is horrid enough.

The Amazing Racism Of Pat Buchannan

I really don't want to give Pat Buchanan any attention at all. There are  a list of people in this country--most of whom talk for a living--who stand to loose a lot if Barack Obama's take on race and racism bears out. Buchanan's stock and trade is ancient and straight out of Mississippi circa 1919. He peddles in anger and plays to that shrinking contingent of America that believes that their biggest problem is people who don't look like them. Nevertheless, the following bears comment. Here is what Pat Buchanan thinks of you.

First, America has been the best country on earth for black folks. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known.

Second, no people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans. Untold trillions have been spent since the ’60s on welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits and poverty programs designed to bring the African-American community into the mainstream.

Governments, businesses and colleges have engaged in discrimination against white folks — with affirmative action, contract set-asides and quotas — to advance black applicants over white applicants.

Churches, foundations, civic groups, schools and individuals all over America have donated time and money to support soup kitchens, adult education, day care, retirement and nursing homes for blacks.

We hear the grievances. Where is the gratitude?

Wow. There is a lot wrong here, but one central thread of errant logic undergirds it all. Buchanan, like most racists, doesn't actually believe that African-Americans are Americans. This isn't an interpretation, Buchanan's argument that white Americans, in the form of social programs, have done more for black people than any group (including presumably the entire Civil Rights Movement!) assumes that black people have never paid any taxes for those programs. He quite literally doesn't categorize black people as Americans, but useless layabouts who've never contributed anything to the country. All those charities that Buchanan lays out, presumably none of them were run by black folks.

It goes without saying that Buchanan ignores Jim Crow, the epoch of lynching and housing discrimination. That's what bigots do. And Buchanan's rhetoric shouldn't make us angry. He's always been a racist. That said, it's always frustrating to see rank neanderthals, half-wits, and fools making the argument that black people should be thankful to them. Intellectually, Pat Buchanan can't carry Barack Obama's unwashed boxers--from last week. I just got done jogging down Lenox Ave and passed no less than five brothers that would smash Buchanan in any debate.

But Buchanan has always been big media's favorite bigot. And unlike the unsavvy racist (like say Steve Sailer), Buchanan is tolerated among polite society. He's not worth a full fisking. But anyone looking for a primer on Buchanan's thoughts regarding blacks and Jews should check out Jacob Weisberg's  piece from a few years back over at Slate. Among Buchanan's greatest hits? Supporting apartheid and dabbling in Holocaust denial. Man--makes me glad I'm cutting off my cable.

Blogging TBS: The Uncanny X-Men

I tell you these days, it almost feels cliche to cite the X-Men as an influence. But what can I say? I don't think I'd have much of a memoir, without them. If it's true, it's true. I mentioned in one of my other posts that absence of religion in my house caused me to search for god-like figures in other places. The X-Men seemed cut right out of what you'd expect from Greek mythology, but with a twist--they were like us. I think in some respect all kids feel alienated. I just knew it was my destiny to be living out in Columbia or Randallstown, going to a school where every day I wasn't thinking about how to not catch a bad one. I just knew there'd been some horrible mix-up. And I just knew I was possessed with something that the wider world wasn't recognizing. Later I discovered what that was--a huge ego.But in those days, when I was trapped in a victim narrative, the X-Men were an allegory for my life--or at least how I wished my life was.

Here it was--It's not because of jacked-up fade, my NBA kicks (Next time Buy Adidas), my ashy knees or big lips that I got teased. It's because I can walk through walls, because my bones don't break, and eyes shoot that sort of darts that punch through steel. Later, as I got older, and became conscious, I developed a more mature interpretation and came to see the X-Men, and all mutants, as like a stand-in for West Baltimore, the South Bronx, and North Philly. In other words, the X-Men repped for anyone in the grand scheme who was under pressure.

Continue reading "Blogging TBS: The Uncanny X-Men" »

Chris Wallace Pwns Fox and Friends

Uhm, Ouch...

Wright's Sermon In Context (No Soundbites)

It's worth checking this out. I gotta say there ain't much I disagree with here. Hat-tip to Andrew Sullivan. Yeah, I've come almost full circle...

The Second Ammendment And Race

Very nice piece from my old editor Stephanie Mencimer on the inherent racism of the Second Amendment. What you didn't know? I'm telling you, it poisons everything. The Essence:

Last week at an American Constitution Society briefing on the Heller case, NAACP Legal Defense Fund president John Payton explained the ugly history behind the gun lobby's favorite amendment. "That the Second Amendment was the last bulwark against the tyranny of the federal government is false," he said. Instead, the "well-regulated militias" cited in the Constitution almost certainly referred to state militias that were used to suppress slave insurrections. Payton explained that the founders added the Second Amendment in part to reassure southern states, such as Virginia, that the federal government wouldn’t use its new power to disarm state militias as a backdoor way of abolishing slavery.

This is pretty well-documented history, thanks to the work of Roger Williams School of Law professor Carl T. Bogus. In a 1998 law-review article based on a close analysis of James Madison’s original writings, Bogus explained the South’s obsession with militias during the ratification fights over the Constitution. “The militia remained the principal means of protecting the social order and preserving white control over an enormous black population,” Bogus writes. “Anything that might weaken this system presented the gravest of threats.” He goes on to document how anti-Federalists Patrick Henry and George Mason used the fear of slave rebellions as a way of drumming up opposition to the Constitution and how Madison eventually deployed the promise of the Second Amendment to placate Virginians and win their support for ratification.

Jeremiah Wright On Gays And Lesbians

The more I read about this, the more depressed I become. This is from Andrew. I know I took a pretty hard line on Jeremiah Wright from jump. Increasingly I feel that was presumptious. Maybe I'd watched too much MSNBC? And also, i did disagree with much of what he was saying--I think it's a bad idea to blame AIDS on the government. That said, this is pretty revolutionary:

He started one of the first AIDS ministries on the South Side and a singles group for Trinity gays and lesbians—a subject that still rankles some of the more conservative Trinity members, says Dwight Hopkins, a theology professor at the University of Chicago and a church member.

I have never really bought the whole "blacks, all things being equal, are more homophobic than whites" argument. But I do buy the whole "blacks on the South Side of Chicago are more hompophobic than whites on the Upper West Side of Manhattan." My point is that this was a pretty brave thing to do, given the enviorenment as compared to other places where it usually happens. The problem of course is that the same people who aren't going to vote for Obama because of his pastor, probably hate gays also. Sad.

How White Racism Kills White People

I just finished Chris Hayes excellent take on Jeremiah Wright. Amidst many, many good points in the piece, there was one in particular that caught my eye:

And if, of all things, it is his pastor's heated denunciation of American injustice that undoes the candidacy of an African American with a legitimate chance at the White House, any conscientious observer could be forgiven for thinking: God damn America indeed.

Basically. But I don't think people understand what this really means. For years we've watched as black leaders and white liberals have presented the fight against racism as a battle of morals and justice, not as one of self-preservation. What people fail to understand is that the final victims of racism are always white.

Virtually every pundit who's spent the last week commenting on Rev. Wright has taken the position that Wright's views are likely not Barack Obama's. And yet many of them still believe that it is--and evidently should be--a tremendous hurdle for him to the presidency. This, to me, is the equivalent of standing in the middle of the street while a tractor trailer is barreling down on you, and getting pissed because the people telling you to get out the way happen to be yelling.

Continue reading "How White Racism Kills White People" »

Sarah Jessica Parker vs. Maxim

So not sure if you guys have heard, but Maxim named Sarah Jessica Parker the "Unsexiest Woman Alive." I don't have a complicated case against this one. It's just another example of how superficially mean magazines are these days. They would counter by saying that their just trying to sell copies--basically the crack-dealer argument. This is the sort of thing that really brings home that whole "sexism is alive and well" thing. Not that I really doubted, but it's so blatantly the sort of thing that no women's magazine would do. I mean even if you don't get down with her like that, do you really have to put the weight of your magazine behind a bashing of this sort?

Man I'd love for some of their editors to have stand up and be judged. Maxim is one of the few "men's magazines" that I ever read and afterward, actually felt my self-esteem seeping out of every orifice. It's product by, for and about pathetic men. But don't just take my word for it.

Newsflash: A Lot Of Americans Think Thier Friends Are Sexist, Racist

Nice post over at the Washington Monthly.

Why Black People Won't Join The Republican Party

There's an interesting debate about Obama's speech going on between Ross Douthat and Andrew Sullivan over at the Atlantic's site. Sullivan sees the Right's reaction to Obama's speech as tinged with racism, while Douthat thinks that the problem is that the Right is, well, Right. I think Douthat has a point, but with the following line, and Andrew's rebuttal, he really summed up for me why, despite a strong conservative tradition in the black community, there will be never be any black Republican presence in the near future. Here's Douthat on what white conservatives would like to see out of black people:

The conservative idea of a candidate who's "transformational" on race is someone who sounds like Bill Cosby and works with Ward Connerly

Here's Andrew's smart rebuttal:

I admire Connerly and Steele and Rice and even Thomas after a fashion. But they have obviously not brought black America along with them - or much of white America either. And all of them have failed to be elected nationally or even locally.

Continue reading "Why Black People Won't Join The Republican Party" »

Blogging TBS: Transformers The Movie (The Real Won Fools)

One of the things I tried to do with the book was construct a personal mythology, something that pulled together all the elements of my adolescent life and invokes them in such a way as to make them feel real. A lot of the the things you'll see me speak on in these entries may not stand the test of time. But that's not the point. At the time when the memoir takes place, they felt gigantic. Being young in the 80s was a constant assault of ideas and emotions. Obviously that's part of being young. But to be young and black, a that point, only amplified things. Black folks had existed in this tragic way for so long, and now we were shaking ourselves out of our slumber and assuming this new identity.

So speaking of new identities, I present a few scenes from the original Transformers: The Movie. (I know odd segue) Largely regarded as a commercial and critical flop, I thought this flick was one of the greatest things I'd ever seen. I was 12, this was like 86. I was raised agnostic. But there's a biological impulse to theology, you know? And so I constructed my own out of some disparate source material ranging from Malcolm to Jayce and The Wheeled Warriors (we'll get to that eventually). Anyway, when I was 12, the Transformers were like Zeus in my loose cosmology--they ruled.

I loved how they all had different personalities, motivations, and ways of speak. Even though the Autobots were the good guys--Ironhide wasn't Prowl wasn't Beachcomber wasn't Huffer wasn't Brawn. Transformers The Movie took things a step further and did something that no one (save, maybe Robotech) was doing in the 80s--they killed main characters. Let me not be nostalgic--they did it so they could clear out a toyline and make some cash off a new one. But that wasn't how we saw it. To see Ironhide and Prowl and even Prime go down was world-shaking.

I selected a few scenes from the movie which have lived in my head ever since. One of the most impressive to me, was Prime's heroic death-scene ("Megatron must be stopped"). Then too, the transformation of a mortally wounded Megatron to Galvatron and the subsequent murder of Starscream. I'm sure it won't be apparent why this stuff was shocking--these days, the murder of central characters is basically the main way people gin up ratings (as we'll see on Lost this week). But in those days it never happend, much less on a cartoon. Anyway, check it out and enjoy.

LOL of the day--The Onion On Barack Obama

Simply Classic:

Those who encountered the black man Tuesday said he engaged in erratic behavior, including pointing at random people in the crowd and desperately saying he needs their help, going up to complete strangers and hugging them, and angrily claiming that he is not looking for just a little bit of change, but rather a great deal of change, and that he wants it "right now."

"I'll be honest, when that black guy said he would 'stop at nothing' to get change, it kind of scared me," local mechanic Phil Nighbert said. "Just leave me alone."

Mike Huckabee Says Cut Jeremiah Wright Some Slack

This is the whole interview, but part the way through Huck speaks on Wright. He came off as totally honest. Maybe the discourse is changing. He did call him Louis Wright though...

New Speed Racer Trailer

Doubt I'll see it. Why, in my mind, did I think this part would go to an Asian cat? Oh well...

Especially The Blacks And The Jews (Part 7458575)

Nice piece from Hillary-supporter (I believe) Leon Wieseltier on why Obama scares some portion of the Jewish community. I didn't buy it all, but there's some good stuff in there.

Should The Race Talk Have Been A Gender Talk Too?

Pretty interesting discussion going on over at Feministing. Some folks are arguing that Obama should have tackled gender issues also. That point springs from Wright's argument that Hillary had not been called a nigger. A lot of folks took umbrage with that, because they saw it as another entry in the Oppression Olympics. I can see that. Though to say that someone has never experienced racism, isn't the same as saying sexism doesn't exist.

More to the point, I think it would have been a bad idea for Barack to have included gender in the discussion. The case he was making was complicated enough. Too complicated, according to some folks. I don't subscribe to that school of thought, but I just don't know why you have to tie in gender at this point. If Barack was addressing homophobia, I wouldn't expect him to address Affirmative Action also. Still, it's a good convo. Go over and get some. Knowledge, that is.

Video Of Obama's Speech

TNR On "The Race Speech"

Michael Crowley wanted to hear more welfare/crime/affirmative action/black people bashing from Obama:

Instead he argued that "I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community." This is a complex and nuanced point--one which, taken from the context of Obama's larger assessment of race in America, won't satisfy people horrified by a preacher who blamed 9/11 on U.S. policies. Other headlines are likely to focus on Obama's overall call for racial reconciliation and a more perfect union. Obama said, quite rightly, that the recent flaps over Wright and Geraldine Ferraro "reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through--a part of our union that we have yet to perfect." But the question is whether working class voters in Ohio and Pennsylvania and West Virginia and elsewhere believe, particularly in a stalled economy, that racially perfecting the union really ought to be a central goal of the next president. I would like to believe so. I'm not convinced they do.

This is the same logic which led Clinton, in 2004, to tell Kerry to throw gay people off the bus. Crowley is addressing the political implications here. But from my perspective, we deserve to know how sharp the rest of America really is. Have we gotten past Willie Horton and welfare? We deserve to know that.

There are people who bear the brunt of cynical welfare-bashing and to us, it looks neither smart, nor insightful. In fact, I'd argue that sort of calculating, inauthentic triangulation does absolutely nothing to close the racial chasm. We deserve to know what we are, to have a campaign fought on issues. We deserve politicians who are willing to risk something, not a bunch of sniveling cowards, huddled around a mass of spreadsheets and demographic data. At some point the question becomes, What are you willing to loose for? What is so essential to you that you won't toss it aside? It was beautiful to hear Obama cite the black community AND his white grandmother as two things he would never disown.

Samantha Power On Colbert

Looks like she's doing fine. Glad to see it.