American Extremists Aren't Allowed in the UK!

This gives me endless delight and amusement. The UK ain't allowing us to spread racism and homophobia. Bwa ha ha ha ha!

To our credit, we do allow free speech here in America. But there are some things I wish people weren't allowed to say. ~ No1KState

Anyway, h/t to Btx3 via a comment at jjp and from bloomberg.com:

U.K. Denies Entry to Islamic, Baptist Preachers, Michael Savage

By Kitty Donaldson

May 5 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. radio broadcaster Michael Savage and the pastors of a Baptist church are among those barred from entering the U.K. for allegedly stirring-up hatred and fostering extremism, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said.

Savage, whose real name is Michael Alan Weiner, has authored books such as “Liberalism is a Mental Disorder” and was one of 22 foreigners named by Smith as ineligible to visit Britain. She published a list of those banned between October 2008 and March 2009 for “fostering extremism or hatred.”

Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church, which preaches against homosexuals, and fellow church spokeswoman Shirley Phelps-Roper (They're website is www.godhatesfags.com. You can go there if you like, but I'm not going to link it.) were also banned for “unacceptable behavior” that might stir up “inter-community violence” in the U.K.

“Coming to the U.K. is a privilege, and I refuse to extend that privilege to individuals who abuse our standards and values to undermine our way of life,” Smith said in an e-mail today. “I will not hesitate to name and shame those who foster extremist views. They are not welcome here.”

Britain has toughened measures to exclude so-called preachers of hate after the bombing of the London Underground and bus network in 2005. The rules also target Islamic clerics and people with links to the al-Qaeda terrorist group.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government now is banning about five people a month under the current policy, more than double the previous rate.

Preachers Abdullah Qadri Al Ahdal, Yunis Al Astal, Safwat Hijazi and Amir Siddique were also banned, the U.K. said. Also on the list were Mike Guzovsky, the leader of a violent group, and the creator of a white supremacist Web site Stormfront, Stephen Donald Black.

Web radio broadcaster Eric Gliebe was also denied entry as was Artur Ryno and Pavel Skachevsky, who lead a gang accused of beating migrants.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kitty Donaldson in London at kdonaldson1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 5, 2009 06:58 EDT
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Girlfriend, You Must Be Crazy!

All right. So I promised this post a while ago. But then, I felt the pressure of knowing someone was waiting for this post. Good to know I'm being read; I just felt a little pressure. Also, I found out at least two of Lauren's children had reached their limit. Poor babies. Then, I tried to find this song I love that's in my head. Not only can I not find it, it may not even be an actual song. Cause I do have a habit of merging two songs into one in my head.

But anyway, as promised, my open letter of sorts to the white LGBT community, re "You Got Privilege, Too."

I need to kinda set the stage. First of all, this isn't a letter to gays and lesbians of color. If you wanna complain about what happens in your communities, have at it. Uh, yeah, I'm making the distinction.

Secondly, I empathize with a lot of the issues. Now, understand, I do regard homosexuality as a sin. But I don't think me or anyone who so happens to be straight is better than anyone who's not. I feel gays and lesbians deserve all the "inalienable" rights everyone else enjoys. That includes marriage - but it is this whole argue over marriage that instigates my disregard for white gays and lesbians.

Thirdly, since time began, marriage has been understood as a relationship between a man and a woman. Even the Greek philosophers who were known to carry on amongst each other didn't classify their relationship as marriage. But, be that as it may - you wanna get married, hey, why not? The way I see it, the tax credits and shared insurance is something that falls under "inalienable" rights.

Now, my rant.

So you lost proposition 8? Oh, I hear you pain, but you can quit with the "gay is the new black" whining. From what I understand, part of the reason so many in the black community voted against gay marriage is that you didn't do any outreach. Couldn't find your way into the black community, huh? Thought that just because we vote Democrat and weren't considered part of the Evangelical movement that we don't have religious sentiments? Or, maybe you just made the assumption that black people would side with you automatically because of our own harsh history? But, whatever you were thinking, it seems like you weren't.

Cause, let me make it clear to you, with all the discrimination you face, I don't imagine that when you look for a new house, you get tracked to the "less discriminate" neighborhoods. I mean, from what I've heard, wherever you move becomes the place to be! And I know you face job discrimination. How about earning less just because you're gay? Or being pulled over for driving in the wrong neighborhood at the wrong time of night? Or being stopped because you fit the description of a suspect who two feet taller and ten shades gay-er? Or being stopped just because the cops need to pad their records, and they think that just because you're gay, you probably do drugs. How they would know is beyond me.

Now, do you face senseless discrimination? Yeah. But my guess is that it's not coming from the black community. My guess is that your boss, your realtor, the waitress at your neighborhood Applebee's are all white. I bet you've been beaten up once people discovered you're gay. I also bet your attackers where white.

Which is why I'll allow gays and lesbians of color to complain about communities of color. They're the ones who deal with homophobia within those communities; not you. In fact, when it comes to communities of color, exactly what do you have to deal with. And not as an individual. I'm sure there're some white gays who live and/or work in communities of color. I mean as a group. Besides voting mostly for the same party, what dealings do you have with communities of color?

In fact, come on. You can't really expect a lot of support from the black community when you haven't done the work in the black community that you've done in the white community. It's kinda funny, you're ignorance of the black community. Rush Limbaugh complained about your protests in front of white mega-churches and wondered why you weren't protesting in front of black mega-churches. And I imagine that's because you don't know there are black mega-churches, wouldn't know where to find one, and wouldn't know whether or not the members of that church supported gay rights.

So really, I think you're just pissed because you can't believe that there're black people who think they're better than you. Huh? And some of the truth that I've come to learn is that most black people don't see themselves as better than others, unless you're talking about the relationship between the genders. But mostly, we don't. We see people as people. And don't get me wrong. There is genuine homophobia within the black community to the extent that a lot of folks don't want gay kids. But when it comes to matters of the law, the vote against gay marriage is purely religious. And what needs to be done is to separate legal components of marriage from whatever religious components people might see. Or, you could take John Meachem's tack and make it clear that you want to be in a stable, loving, supportive relationship, too.

Most churched black people regard homosexuality as a sin. Sorry, it's plainly there in the Bible. Now, there're lots of things that people attribute to the Bible that aren't actually there, but the description of homosexuality as sin is there. And yes. Slavery is, too. But American slavery would've been against the Mosaic Law as well as the teachings of Paul. And if you don't believe the Bible or all of it, tough. The people you need to convince do, and there's actually a lot there you can use. Cause at the end of the day, most black folks are able to recognize the humanity in everybody. I don't imagine it would've comparatively been that difficult to get black support had you tried - instead of doing things like protesting a concert that included Donnie McCurklin thinking it was somehow anti-gay politically when it wasn't.

But. You just never prepared for the idea that "those" people would vote against you. After all you've done for us . . . which reminds me, what have you done for us? I've heard that argument before, but never really gotten an answer. I know Rustin Baynard was gay, and I'm sure there were countless more in the movement, but I know you ain't placing your claim to black support on the actions of probably mostly all black gays and lesbians, are you? In fact, there was apparently so little support from the white gay community for civil rights that I can't even google it!

So, the way I see it, you're just really confounded that it appears to you that black people think they're better than you. And you're just all to willing to looking down on us from your self-righteous perch instead of doing the hard work of education in the black community that you've done in the white community. Because you're just all to accustomed to the privilege your whiteness affords you whatever hardships your sexuality causes you.

And when it comes to the debate concerning civil unions vs marriage, please stop the whole argument that separate is inherently unequal. That's what the lily white Supreme Court said. Not what the black community intended. It's not like our students just have to be around white students to learn. It's that states and local communities were spending thousands of dollars on white students for every few dollars that spent on black students. What we wanted was actual equality, whether or not that meant sitting next to you. It just so happens that when you actually give every student the same education, integration is cheaper than segregation. So, it's not that separate is inherently unequal; it's that the separation blacks faced was unequal. And most voters, white and black, are more willing to support civil unions than they are gay marriage.

So, when you get to the bottom of it, all your righteous indignation at the audacity (That's not a reference to President Obama. The word "audacity" is part of the black lexicon.) of black folks not to support your cause comes down to an argument over semantics. And you think all you moaning and condemnation is going to change black people's minds when we know very well your indignation comes from your privilege? Ha! You must be crazy. Girlfriend.

Which reminds me of something else. Since it's so obvious you think you're better or at the very least are used to white privilege, quit using our words!

Oh My Lord!

Some people are apparently pissy because in his inaugural speech, Pres. Barack Obama mentioned "non believers." People, get over it. We live in a nation the protects religious freedom, including the freedom to not be religious, and has protected this freedom since it's founding. The idea of religious freedom wasn't that people are free to choose whatever form of Christianity they wish; it's that people are free to choose or not choose whatever belief-system they wish. This whole idea that the USA has been and must always be "Christian" is nonsense. Many of the founders weren't believers themselves. Get over it.

Now that that's clear, there's another issue I have with the news. Melinda Hennenberger points out, ". . . some of the stiff criticism about Obama’s religious inclusiveness is coming from African-American Christians who maintain that no, all faiths were actually not created equal." It leaves me wondering what her point was. Is she surprised that some blacks aren't "hopeful" about Obama? Why? Not every single black voter actually voted for Obama. Granted, well over 90% did, but 90% ain't everybody.

Or is it this false notion among whites that black people should be the most tolerant of all, considering our past. Well guess what! There are those among us who don't "tolerate" any and everything. And here's the racism in this myth among white people that black people are the most tolerant of any people: it denies black people the same humanity as everybody else to the extent that black people can never be wrong. Listen, that's an old trick played against African Americans since someone realized that dark-skinned servants couldn't just mix in with the crowd and run away. The idea has been that in order for whites to give blacks social equality, all blacks have to be absolutely perfect. The few blacks who aren't ruin everything for everyone else. Right? Can't let any black person move in the neighborhood because some don't keep up their property value. Can't let any black person vote because some don't know how to read.

I mean for the past few centuries, any excuse to deny black people equality has been used. The recent excuse is that since some black people deny equality to others, the entire black community most be held at fault and denied equality. Which, of course, is odd because white folks in general just pick and choose who is worthy of equal rights and who isn't all the time. But, we already know that some white people are bigots, so it's no big deal. Except that it is. To err is human, and to deny some people other human rights because they err is, well, inhumane.

Kinda like the big to do over black people being the force behind the passage of California's proposition 8. The whole interest is that black people would deny other's equality. But the whole point is that, "See? Darkies just can't get it together. That's why we don't have to treat them equal." Right? Because in the end, the fact is that black people weren't the driving force behind the passage of prop 8. But pointing out some perceive wrong by the black community is just all too profitable. And sadly, easy.

Keep in an out for my diatribe about the LGBTQ community racism. It should be coming very soon.