You Know I Had to Get Me Some: Privilege Denying Dude

It's a big thing over at memegenerator. There's an article about it, “Privilege Denying Dude” and the Fight for the Right to Snark over at colorlines. Basicially, it's a rip at cyber and "enlightened" racism, sexism, and other 'isms. If you're not familiar with "enlightened racism," Jessie at racismreview has written several posts about it.

The Opposite of Love Is Not Hate

Last week, I posted some thoughts on the Boston club that shut down because too many people on line were black. I've since updated it.

The guy who organized the private party shares his "[dismay] that after having spent the last few hours with the club owner, I do not believe him to be a racist." Of course, the guy is, but that nonetheless made ptcruiser over at Prometheus6 wonder why guy's "deeper feelings" was even an issue. To which I responded that:

@ ptc - Okay. Let's set aside his deeper feelings. Discrimination took place. If the white-US can't accept that at least 93% of them are racist, then they need to accept that fact that discrimination happens, it happens primarily to people of color, and it's perpetrated primarily by whites. I'm not sure how we're going to at least end discrimination, if not racism, if white US-Americans won't live in reality.

Double Life Sentences for $11? Som'em Ain't Right

So, will two black Mississippi women, whom so many agree have been unjustly imprisoned, now be freed?

On Sunday, syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. of the Miami Herald became the latest to raise his voice. He wrote:

"Let’s assume they did it.

"Let’s assume that two days before Christmas in 1993, a 22-year-old black woman named Jamie Scott and her pregnant, 19-year-old sister Gladys set up an armed robbery. Let’s assume these single mothers lured two men to a spot outside the tiny town of Forest, Miss., where three teenage boys, using a shotgun the sisters supplied, relieved the men of $11 and sent them on their way, unharmed.

"Assume all of the above is true, and still you must be shocked at the crude brutality of the Scott sisters’ fate. You see, the sisters, neither of whom had a criminal record before this, are still locked away in state prison, having served 16 years of their double-life sentences.

"It bears repeating. Each sister is doing double life for a robbery in which $11 was taken and nobody was hurt. Somewhere, the late Nina Simone is moaning her signature song: Mississippi Goddam."

Did You Get the Email?

No? Neither did I.

Wanna know why?

Cause there was no email!!! It was just a joke!

Still, apparently Fox posted it like it really happened, and readers took the bait. Dumb-dumbs!

"We Don't Eat Pumpkin Pie!"

LOL!! Oh my goodness! Marcellus Wiley is hilarious! He and Doug Gottlieb were hosting the ESPN tv/radio show, "Mike and Mike" today, and in discussing their families' Thanksgiving traditions, Wiley explains that black folks don't eat pumpkin pie! You have to scroll down the link I share, but someone else twitters about it, too.

Wow! Hilarious! I know I prefer sweet potato pie. But I was hesitant to make that generalization. That Wiley said it on national TV no less, and discussed it several times on other programs . . . Oh! That's just great stuff!

But let's be honest. Thanksgiving ain't a holy day for everybody, and Shari Valentine over at Racism Review shares a brief and poignant description of the 4th Thursday of November in her Lakota Souix home:

That Degree Don't Turn Ya White (Updated)

So let's stop it with that whole, "If black people would just value education, blah, blah, blah" nonsense. And let's also disabuse ourselves of that, "He/she/I'm not racist, but he/she/I just did some racist mess," uh, mess. Make no mistake about it, that club owner is racist. That doesn't mean he burns crosses on the weekends to relax. It just means he'll hurt his own profit margin if too many black folks show up at his club. If black alum from Harvard and Yale can't even wait in line to enter an invitation-only party at club, then that black Harvard alum in the White House doesn't really mean much, does he? And yes, they had been invited.

A party for black Harvard and Yale alums at a Boston club this weekend was shut down just after 11pm. Why? The club owner was concerned that a long line of black people outside would make the club look bad.

Update:

What Do You Call a Black Man With a J.D.?

Again, This Is Why People of Color Don't Go for "States' Rights"

h/t prometheus6.org

It's freakin deja vu all freaking over again! The South wanted the rest of the country to "mind their business" before the Civil War, and after. "Wah, wah, wah! We shouldn't have to prove we're not being racist before we do something racist!" The NAACP's Legal Defense Fund is filing a motion for a summary judgment to uphold the constitutionality of Section 5 of the 1965 Voters' Rights Act based mostly on the fact that racism is ongoing. And by ongoing, I mean that just recently as 2008, the DoJ disapproved the redistricting because it eliminated the city’s sole majority-minority district. Of course, nonminorities in Shelby complained that the DoJ had annulled the will of majority, "Wah, wah, wah! We don't get to exert political tyranny over our racial minorities!"

You'll Thank Me Later

Especially if you've been supporting Republicans without knowing the facts.

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

Budge This!!

This just in: I'm a genius. Let me at the budget cause I can balance the thang like riding a bike! 25% of the savings I found came in cuts, including cutting our "Cold" War era-military spending. I would've cut the Drug War spending, too, if it were an option. The other 75% came from tax increases, including increases on dividends, capital gains, and reinstating the estate tax.

Listen, when we say the rich aren't paying their "fair share," what we mean is that they use the roads more, and gain more from protection by the military, which is usuually made up of soldiers from lower- and middle-class families. With the exception of the police state of most inner-city neighborhoods, it's their wealth and property the police are most interested in protecting.

Don't worry. You can't getchu some, too. Go to this interactive link via NYTimes and see if you can balance the budget.

Is This What You Mean by "Pro" Life?

h/t racismreview

The Tennessee report has discussed the comments of a Tennessee state representative thus:

Rep. Curry Todd remarked during a Fiscal Review Committee presentation this week that the idea of government-funded care for pregnant women [Mexican immigrants] who cannot prove they have United States government permission to be in this country struck him as not unlike inviting a rat infestation. The Collierville Republican made the comments after asking CoverKids program managers whether the state checks the citizenship status of care recipients. . . . [They] responded that CoverKids doesn’t provide medical coverage to pregnant women, but it does offer “unborn coverage …. ”Rep. Todd responded: “Well, they can go out there like rats and multiply, then, I guess.”

It's Too Late to Plead the Fifth

Okay, so I could've posted about W Bush's confession that he authorized torture last week. But I decided to be a downer the week of Veterans' Day. However, that was last week, and I just got an interesting reminder via Portside, and an idea just occured to me. The reminder, the actual text of which I share later, is that there are two investigations related to the U.S. torture program pending in the National Court of Spain.

And the thought? Since the Republican party has decided to go tea pot crazy and co-sign the idiocy that Obama is some sort of jihadist Manchurian president, and since they promise a series of investigations into the Obama administration, Obama should go after BushCo full board. What does he have to lose? And is it really worth permiting the injustice of not holding war criminals accountable for their crimes?

1st and 15: Black Coaches and ADs in the NCAA

Guess what! It's getting better! Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida released a study yesterday about diversity college football's executive positions of power.

The bad news is that when it comes to athletic directors and college presidents, there's a very, very long way to go. The study found that all conference commissioners, 93 percent of school presidents and 88 percent of athletic directors at these colleges were white.


The good news is that [a] record 15 coaches of color led FBS teams at the start of the 2010 season.
 
Okay, so it's nothing earth shattering. But after releasing somewhat more negative energy earlier today, I wanted to celebrate some good news.
 
Now on to Prometheus6.org to discuss what I'm now calling the National Commision on Fiscal Reform for the Rich.

It's Not the Economy, Stupid! It's the Stupid!

You can just read my previous post if you haven't already. But the point is, regardless of the fears of the tea pots and kettles, the economy is don't relatively fair. It's not what anyone'd want. It's not what it would've been with a larger stimulus. But the sky isn't falling. At least not for white America. (So black folks, lets start working on our ungrammatical "Boehner Doesn't Care about Poeple" posters for our anti-Republican rallies.) Even conservative economists agree that the stimulus worked. Economists at Heritage and American Enterprise Institute agree raising taxes now would increase revenue. There's no economic value to keeping the Bush tax cuts for the rich.

So, assuming you're neither racist nor stupid even though I think you're both, exactly why are you supporting policies that have never been, and weren't supposed to be, in your economic interests? Quit blaming your stupid voting on the economy. Blame the economy on your stupid.

A 3rd Problem I Have with Tea Partyists: North Dakota

Listen, this isn't about embarrassing anyone, so I won't call any names. But a commenter for another post expressed concerned about her congressman's representation of and concern for the "working man" of her state, North Dakota.

Now, in addition to having no policy behind their rhetoric, all too often tea partyists actually believe the exaggerations and hyperbole's they hear coming from the people who feign concern but are, in fact, exploiting the country's "working man." Facts don't matter to folks who cry out about being "taxed enough already" just as their taxes are being cut, who think their taxes were raised, and then really get upset that they're portrayed as racists.

So, what're the facts about North Dakota's economy? According to politifact's "Pants on Fire" rating of an ad from one of Karl Rove's organizations, Crossroads GPS:

Reading, Riting, and Rithmetics (sic) (Additional Info)

(According to the first-ever comprehensive study (pdf) comparing the percentage of U.S. students in the graduating class of 2009 who have advanced skills in math with the percentages of similar high achievers in 56 other countries, approximately 6 percent of U. S. students perform at the advanced level in math compared to 28 percent of Taiwanese students and more than 20 percent of students in Finland and Korea, for example.)

A new study has found that the achievement gap is larger (pdf) than we thought. According to the NY Times:

Only 12 percent of black fourth-grade boys are proficient in reading, compared with 38 percent of white boys, and only 12 percent of black eighth-grade boys are proficient in math, compared with 44 percent of white boys.

 Yep.

Only 12 percent of black fourth-grade boys are proficient in reading, compared with 38 percent of white boys, and only 12 percent of black eighth-grade boys are proficient in math, compared with 44 percent of white boys. (emphasis mine)

Another Issue I Have with Tea Pots!

It just accord to me, so I gotta share it now before I forget. I'm sure someone has probably addressed this somewhere else, but another problem I have is that there's not policy behind the rhetoric.

They're concerned about government spending. Okay, what programs do you really wanna cut? I saw a few thousand or so amening Glenn Beck's assertion that in order to get the country back to where it's supposed to be, they may have to sacrifice their own social security and medicare benefits. Are they willing to do that?

A commenter named Teila made an interesting point in response to the open question post (not the page): government should only do for people what they can't do for themselves. So you know what? I'm going to list some of the things President Obama, but more generally and importantly progressives, want to see government do:

Look at that Zebra! [Improved]

No, I am not about to post about zebras! Nor am I about to discuss the importance of working together across races and ethnicities to create a just society. I just figured for fun, why not throw up a pic! (May start using pics more often. Kinda like having a pic.)

But I do have a point. And it this: are you familiar with the law of parsimony or Occam's razor. Maybe you've heard the saying, "When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras?" What it boils down to is that the simplest answer is the right answer.

I bring this up because I've heard people respond to a description of the impact of racism by saying something to the effect, "Have you considered any other explanation?" I find that response insulting, as though I'm so intellectually lazy or even so stupid that despite the obviousness of other explanations, I choose race for the hell of it. In fact:

Just In: Felony Convictions Hurt Employment Opportunities

"Eh, duh," you say. (H/t Tim Wise)

So obviously, I'm hoping to make a point, right.

EAGLE, Colorado — A financial manager for wealthy clients will not face felony charges for a hit-and-run because it could jeopardize his job, prosecutors said Thursday.

Eagle, Colorado? Where have I heard . . . oh, yeah! That's where Kobe Bryant was charged with rape. But surely there must be a different DA. Kobe's case was seven years ago.

One would tend to think so. But . . .

Haddon and Hurlbert have squared off before. Haddon was one of Kobe Bryant's defense attorneys, with lead attorney Pamela Mackey, when Bryant faced sexual assault charges in Eagle County. Hurlbert was the lead prosecutor in that case.

Figure that out and get back to me. No seriously, cause that doesn't make sense. Cents, yes. Sense, no.

Let's Be Honest with Ourselves

via Racism Review

Would you be willing to admit or accept (insert group)
• To close kinship by marriage?
• To my club as personal friend?
• To live on the same street as my neighbor?
• To be a co-worker in the same occupation?
• To citizenship in my country?
• As only visitors in my country? Or
• Would you be willing to exclude (insert group) from my country?

I'm not shy about it. With only a few exceptions, I prefer to keep my free time and space minority dominated. Don’t get it twitted, though. I graduated from UNC and attended multiracial churches back in college. But in general, I prefer spaces where I’m normal. Or, to put in better, spaces where I know I’m not being judged.

Cause I've Had It with Progressive Nihilists!

When a Picture's Worth 1000 Words . . .

It saves me a whole lot of time!!
(h/t profgeo)

PLEASE CHECK OUT THE LINK SO I HOPEFULLY WON'T BE SUDED USING THIS POLITICAL CARTOON!!

A House Divided Cannot Stand

Toot, toot!

Prometheus6 thought enough of a comment I left to make it a post. So yeah, I'm tooting my little horn. And I'll share the comment with you. I linked the posts I'm referring to:

THIS IS COMMENTARY ON THIS POST AND THE EARLIER "BOEHNERIZATION OF OBAMA" POST
Posted October 31st, 2010 by Blaque Swan
[P6: No1KState posted this comment after changing her tag to Blaque Swan. I promoted it to a post because she's talking about a major concern of mine]