Archive for the Race and race related entries Category

Repiglicans and the Sheet

Posted in Race and race related entries on June 8, 2016 by admin

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One of the main features of the Trump campaign is the level of duplicity and hypocrisy that has been revealed in the great majority of white Americans. While the actual number of white supremacists is probably a minority of whites, the greater majority, who know the minority is wrong, do nothing. At most, they give lip service on their way to meeting them for happy hour. This behavior has been distilled in the reactions to Donald Trump by the repiglicans. Time and time again Republicans of all stripes, all the way up to the repiglican speaker have on one side of their mouths have condemned his actions yet on the other side of their mouths proclaim support for Trump. They remind me of that old Stephen King movie ‘The Stand’ where all of the demon’s lieutenants know the Demon Flag is evil. Nevertheless, they continue on anyway and that is why they were condemned to hell. While some have said the correct thing to do would have been to denounce Trump, the reality is they cannot. The reason they cannot is the Republican establishment has talked in this coded racist language for so long they can’t escape it. Furthermore, I would alleged it is how they really feel. Another reason why they can’t condemn Trump is that by taking the sheet off, the rank-and-file white conservative racist has someone who speaks plainly and in their language. This reveal perplexes the crafty repiglican establishment tool to no end because it shows America what they have been about all along. This reveal is not politically expedient but to deny it would cause them to completely lose all credibility with the very racist they have been courting in secret for decades. This is no more evident than in the political races where repiglicans find themselves being challenged with the threat of loss. They must reach out to the racist base they have always counted on. However, this time they can’t use coded language because Trump has removed the sheet and you must now, as a repiglican, stand up and be seen for who and what you have been for all these years. It hasn’t been very pretty. Republicans like Tom Cole Nikki Haley and John McCain continue to support him despite his racist, misogynist and duplicitous pronouncements and actions. What is so revealing is even Republicans like Kelly Ayotte are doubling down on Trump support despite being in a traditionally Democratic state. It would seem that she would repudiate Trump in a bid to gain votes from the so-called Blue Dog Democrats. She has to tow the party line in order to get the Republican support. So instead of doing what is right, she does what is wrong for the purely self-serving reasons (as most racism reveals itself to be). So now they are running around looking more and more like tools everyday as they attempt to promote what they disapprove of. The key factor is they do it anyway. The fact that they disapprove but still support Trump is a key understanding people must take away from this. Repiglican establishment knows Trump is appealing to the same racists that they appealed to all along.  The problem is that the whites who hid their racism underneath the ‘benefit of the doubt’ cover provided by using coded language is no longer available. One author wrote that Trump’s baggage is now their baggage but he has it backwards. The repiglicans and their racist supporters’ baggage is still their baggage, it’s now just being carried in Donald Trump’s clear plastic bag.

 

Who divided America?

Posted in Race and race related entries on March 7, 2016 by admin

Listening to the repiglicans blame President Obama for making the country so divisive is like watching a heavyweight slug-fest end in an upset…brutal, shocking and unbelievable. Recently, Donald Trump (during a cult of personality rally replete with Nazi salutes) blamed  President Obama for creating hate in the country. Obama didn’t create the hate, the hate was always there, in the hearts of the white supremacists who follow Trump. The indignity felt by these whites at the sight of a Black US President is what has brought the hate to the surface. The whites are mad because a Black man 1) had the audacity to run for President 2) received enough votes to win not once but twice and 3) winning is evidence of the changing demographics of the country. If you want to get right down to it, the white supremacists who seceded from America to establish a slavery based nation are the ones who divided America. The repiglicans and other conservative/confederate/white supremacists are the ones keeping America divided. Their hatred and refusal to acknowledge the humanity of Black people is the deal breaker that keeps America fractured.

Louisana Governer Bobby Jindal also accused  Barack Obama for the rise of Donald Trump. Jindal, an Asiatic Indian, is such a sellout  that his own people have created a hastag, #BobbyJindalissowhite. Indians both in America and India talk about him contemptuously. In reality a large number of opinion writers  blame the repiglicans for the rise of Trump. The racist appeals of the repiglicans to the all white base, the vilification of President Obama for everything from the economy to police officers who have been shot at to unemployment to immigration. The repiglicans have even blamed President Obama for the conservative flag not being removed.

The repiglicans made it their number one priority to cast as divisive and obstruct everything that President Obama sought to do. If anything, Obama tried too hard to reach across the isle to work with repiglicans whose hatred could barely be contained. The hate has been so palpable that one racist could not contain himself and called the President a liar  during a presidential speech to Congress, an unprecedented breach of civility , respect and protocol. Oh, and by the way, although Rep. Wilson was mildly rebuked by Congress, are you surprised he was re-elected to Congress?

The insane arguments the conservatives and repiglicans use to justify their positions reflect the psychosis they collectively suffer with. They twist facts to conform to a racist world view founded on a sense of entitlement born of white supremacy. They devise policies to reinforce and maintain the world view that non-whites (and some poor whites) are here for their benefit and exploitation. The desire to ruthlessly implement these evil policies is paired with the profit motive of predatory capitalism and the greed it engenders. This is why reasoned dialogue with these wicked men and women is impossible. How can you come to a reasoned compromise with individuals that see you only as prey? As Malcolm X once said, you must speak the language these ‘people’ understand. It is the language of force and strength. They will never like you, but they will respect what you can do to them in response to their aggression. Speaking their language, along with the vigilance to not be fooled by clever words and sly gestures are the only way to contain their evil.

Christopher Dorner and the LAPD

Posted in Race and race related entries on March 16, 2013 by admin

Very few of us know the demons that tortured the days and nights of Christopher Dorner, but we know about the one he identified, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). The story will be about the alleged murders of two innocents and a police officer, all paragons of the community. While there are many unfortunate aspects of this saga, there is the question of how it will obscure the accusations Dorner has made against the LAPD. Sure, the LAPD Police Chief Beck has stated that there will be an investigation into the firing of Dorner, but how often have we seen these investigations result in the officers involved found to have acted properly?

 

In my mind, this is another example of a Black man destroyed by the system.  Once he filed a report on the misconduct of another cop, he went from commended prospective law enforcement officer to a lying bully who had to be driven from the police force. How often have we seen that the loss of the job lead to the loss of the marriage? If what Dorner said was at least partially true, he has been waging a personal battle against bias and racism since childhood. He found himself shunned by the cadets at the police academy for reporting the behavior of other cadets. If his claims are true (they are certainly within the realm of the possible, given the history of the LAPD), then here is a guy that played by the rules, received commendation after commendation from the military for service to his country and then became ‘black-balled’ when he spoke out against the injustice and bias he found in his profession. While on one hand, if he has been outspoken against bias, he shouldn’t have been disillusioned by the response of the law enforcement community. On the other hand, it is true that there are many Blacks who feel the system can be changed from within. It is not unreasonable to conceive that Dorner ‘lost it’ with the realization that the system he was passionately committed to was irredeemable and mocked him with a string of processes and protocols which concluded with his termination.

If, as is alleged, Dorner is guilty of murdering innocents, that is never good. However, the extreme lengths some go to in their efforts to paint the police as victims can be shocking. One of the most ridiculous diatribes of BS  spewed forth were uttered by former police officer Frank Rodriguez, who served as a patrolman in Progresso, Texas, during the 1990s and is now an assistant professor in the Criminal Justice Department at Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pa., “When an officer goes rogue and turns on the public, it undermines the communication police rely on between the public and law enforcement to do their job,” he says, adding, “the public can’t help but think if this officer can go bad, then maybe someone else can too.” First of all, Dorner was no longer a cop… he was fired. You would think that a law enforcement professional would be certain to get the facts straight. Second, the large numbers of cops who have been guilty of crimes uncovered and otherwise  have destroyed the public trust of police long ago. Thirdly, he hasn’t turned on the public, he is targeting the police. More of this BS is articulated by Frank Scafidi, a former Los Angeles deputy sheriff and FBI agent, “because a cop has the ultimate power to deny your freedom – indeed, your life. You don’t need bad cops reinforcing all of the negative cop stereotypes served up to the population in TV shows and Hollywood movies,” says Mr. Scafidi, adding, “so when a cop goes bad, good cops go into hyper-drive to, in this case, apprehend him before any more damage is done.” Again, he was no longer a cop, he was fired. Furthermore, it is the lack of prosecution and punishment of “rogue cops” by the various police departments that generates and re-enforces the so-called negative stereotypes of police officers. Additionally, it is the harassment of unjustified activity, such as stop and frisks  that undermines the public trust.

More proof of the reasons why the public has little reason to trust the cops is the often insane and arbitrary manner in which they place individuals (mostly African Americans) in mortal threat of death. In their mad and fear-filled search for Christopher Dorner they put society in greater danger than Dorner ever thought about. If you don’t believe me, ask the two ladies where shot up as they delivered newspapers. Their crime was only to be driving a truck that merely remotely looked like the truck which was burned by Dorner a little more than a hundred miles away. The LAPD didn’t take the time to notice the difference between a 71 year old Latina and her 47 year old daughter and Chris Dorner; instead they peppered their truck and the neighboring homes with dozens and dozens of bullets. To be so shamelessly driven by fear regardless of the safety of others is the definition of cowardice. One wonders if providing the two a new truck (which wasn’t even paid for by the police, it was donated) is enough to absolve the LAPD from the liability which would garner charges of attempted murder and reckless endangerment if this drive-by/ambush was conducted by any of the other gangs in Los Angeles.  One would equally wonder about the liability assignable to the Torrance police department  for their acts of cowardice in shooting up and ramming a white man’s truck for being another Chris Dorner lookalike. The ridiculousness of the police position is very accurately captured in the comments of the victim’s attorney, Robert Sheahen; “These lunatics broadsided the side of his truck, spun him around and started shooting at him,” Sheahen said. “Now they’re attempting to say they couldn’t tell if the guy they were shooting at was a white guy or a black guy because David’s airbag went off.” If the police want to re-establish public support, they would be transparent in the investigation and punishment of these cops for their recklessness and cowardice in the line of duty.

Mission Statement

Posted in Race and race related entries on January 3, 2013 by admin

Motivated to action by the rampant injustices heaped upon Black people daily over the centuries. Inspired by Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X to provide reflective thought and calls to action on the issues that Black people face. Dedicated to uplift and inspire Black people to take control of the the conditions, images and events that impact our lives. Mobilized to daily make a difference in the lives of ourselves and our future generations.

Django Unchained

Posted in Entertainment, Race and race related entries on January 3, 2013 by admin

Deconstructing Django Unchained reveals several layers. On one level, it is satisfying to see the Black man as the action hero who rides off into the moonlight with the beautiful Black woman at his side. Too many movies have little or no heroism from African American leads. In this movie the Black man rises from the lowest social status, chattel slave, to one of the highest, including a license to kill. Case in point, I just watched a movie called Brothers in Arms, a western with black cowboys. By the end of the movie two of the three Black brothers were dead. In Django Unchained, the hero,  Jaime Foxx’s character Django , survived without deformities or injuries along with his woman. To a certain degree, it is satisfying to see the triumph of Django. It is definitely refreshing change from the narrative of the beat-down, submissive Black person who must constantly choke down their anger at the constant abuse, indignities and inhumanities forced upon Blacks by whites in power and position. It is a true testament to the strength of this imagery that there has been such an outcry from conservatives regarding the movie. The fear of images of strong Black leading men also is the reason behind the difficulty Blacks have to tell our own stories. They want little or no one to know that strong Black men and women fought and died in the war against slavery.  Movies are unacceptable to the white power structure when they don’t involve images that reinforce the comforting stereotypes that many whites want to believe about Black people.

Spike Lee has made very clear his disdain for this movie. I can completely understand his position. First of all, there too many instances that had that cheesy ‘spaghetti western” feel. It was really a bit much to hear the thematic music that was also the exact music in one of my 1980’s martial arts films. The font of the opening credits looked cheesy (I thought of the high school Photoshop student) and it was cheesy to end the movie with audio clips form the original western Django. Also, the mix of levity juxtaposition with severe scenes such as the Black man eaten alive by the dog pack is really inappropriate. Yet the fact remains that Quentin Tarantino is a cheesy filmmaker. His movies are entertaining, and contain quality performances by various actors and actresses, but that makes no difference. The common thread throughout all the films I have seen is that he makes cheesy movies. They all have a pulp fiction feel to them, right down to the music he chooses. It’s no wondering that although the movie was about a period of American history that the mainstream continually seeks to deny (remember Chris Rocks 4th of July tweet), Tarantino couldn’t help but give it a certain amount of cheesiness. The issue is why can’t a less cheesy filmmaker who would like to do an entertaining yet insightful movie about the Black experience using a strong successful Black lead be made.

On another level, there was the lesson that not all white people are bad, and not all Black people are good. The role played by Sam Jackson was typical of so many sell outs whom go beyond the point of working against their own self interests. They manifest significant self hatred in the dogged prosecution of their own. Jackson’s character reminded me of the recordings of Malcolm X when he talked about the house Negroes who loved the master more than the master loved himself. The character, Stephen, was very well portrayed by Jackson (I wonder if he will get an award nomination for being the white man’s lap dog). These boot-licking sellouts where the reason a great many slave revolts were not successful yesterday, and why so many Blacks are being held back today.

Likewise, there are those white people who, like Christoph Waltz’s character, abhor injustices like slavery. Much like the need to deny the existence of strong Black leaders, there is the need to deny and denigrate those who would actively work against anti-Black racism. Never the less, white men such as John Brown, Joseph Wood, Green Herdon and many other white people gave their lives in armed conflict against the forces of white slavery and inhumanity. Although these men and women have been called ‘nigger lovers’, love of Black people is not as important as the love of justice and truth. It was not a love of the character D’Artagnan that motivated the murder of the character Calvin Candie; the love of justice, decency and humanity motivated the actions of the character Dr. King Shultz.

The liberal use of the word nigger in Tarantino movies has not made me a great fan of his work. I agree with Spike Lee that white guys, film makers or not, should not feel they have license to call Blacks niggers. Most, if not all of the time, it is used to degrade and disrespect Black people, regardless of who is using the term. However, in the context of this movie, I can see that it was appropriate to use the word nigger. In the antebellum and post Civil War south white people used the word nigger like it was every Black person’s first name. Along with the neck irons and the other torture devices, it may have brought to the conscious awareness of modern society some of the barbarism of the whites of the antebellum south. One can hope that with the creation of more movies that tell stories of the pre and post Civil War south, and reveal the graphic nature of the horrors that where enacted upon African Americans, a more honest dialogue about race in America can begin. Hopefully people, young and old will see why terms like nigger are so repulsive and should be abandoned.

One overall benefit of this movie is the role it plays in creating dialogue about issues of race in America. Movies, if they told Black stories from Black perspectives, and not from the perspectives of others, would be a good starting point for such dialogue. There must be effort, however, to combat those who seek to prevent such a discussion. Conservative whites refuse to even consider the issue, practicing the policy of admit nothing, deny everything, and make counter accusations. They can never tolerate seeing a strong Black man who can defeat white antagonists. They must always have images of whites in positions that are superior to Blacks, a total opposite to the successful Black man. Why is it other than racism that allows these guys to watch a white man like Bruce Willis or Arnold Schwarzenegger kill white man after white man yet when a Black man kills a white man it is tantamount to the first shot in the coming race war? Why is it other than racism that keeps these same white men quiet when whites like Steven Segal or ‘fill-in-the-blank’ white actor kills scores of Blacks, yet causes them to create an uproar when the races are switched? Why isn’t it racism that the Black woman can be paired in movies with various races of men but the Black man can’t be paired with a woman of any race, including his own? Why isn’t it racist that a Black woman can’t be a kick-ass action heroine? America will never improve as a society as long as there are factions high in the paradigm of racism that benefit from divisions such as those surrounding the legacies of slavery and racism. These things are done to maintain a hierarchy of racism and classism that keeps the now infamous ‘one percent’ on the top of the socio-economic pyramid.