The present day image of Senator Robert Byrd as the born again Christian, kindly old grandfather shedding tears for his friend Ted Kennedy is not the image that comes to my mind when remembering him at his passing today. For much of my life, Senator Robert Byrd was a segregationist who stood along side the likes Strom Thurmond, Jesse Helms, Trent Lott, Tom DeLay and George Wallace, to name a few.
He is said to have repented his racist feelings, apologizing over and over. Well, apology accepted. However while all may be forgiven, It will never be forgotten.
Robert Byrd in his own words:
“I shall never fight in the armed forces with a Negro by my side ... Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds.” -Klansman and not yet Congressman Byrd-quote taken from letter written to another segregationist Congressman about Truman attempting to desegregate the armed forces..
“The Klan is needed today as never before and I am anxious to see its rebirth here in West Virginia and in every state in the nation.” -1947 letter to the Grand Wizard KKK
Byrd claims to have renounced the Klan in 1952 when he became a Congressman, however his racist views continued well in the 1960's when he helped filibuster the 1964 Civil Rights Act arguing that the Declaration of Independence..
“did not intend that these words should be taken literally to be true” when they wrote that “all men are created equal.” “Men and races of men differ in appearance, ways, physical power, mental capacity, creativity, and vision,” Byrd said. “One man is born blind. Another is born lame. Geniuses are not made; they are born. Between two individuals, as between two races, there are broad differences.”
Byrd went after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, attempting to cajole the FBI into a more aggressive investigation of the civil rights leader. The FBI declined..
As late as 2001 Byrd was caught up in trying to express his feelings, when he was interviewed by the late Tony Snow and asked about race relations in America....Byrd said:
"They're much, much better than they've ever been in my lifetime ... I think we talk about race too much. I think those problems are largely behind us ... I just think we talk so much about it that we help to create somewhat of an illusion. I think we try to have good will. My old mom told me, 'Robert, you can't go to heaven if you hate anybody.' We practice that. There are white niggers. I've seen a lot of white niggers in my time. I'm going to use that word. We just need to work together to make our country a better country, and I'd just as soon quit talking about it so much."
Rest in Peace, Senator
Showing posts with label Martin Luther King jr. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Martin Luther King jr. Show all posts
6.28.2010
4.09.2010
Friday Rap
The Prez and the Tour Guide
While President Obama spent his Thursday signing an anti nuke treaty with Russia, designed to make the future safer for the world, Sacajawea-lite, the former governor of Alaska spent that same day tearing into the diplomatic break through with her standard attack lines, while her new female friend, Michele Bachmann, played Thelma to her Louise (has anybody told the ladies that a T&L reference is a another way of calling them Dykes?) I digress...
What is different today is that since the passage of health care, Obama has become President of the comeback. In other words, he's started playing that old ghetto game called “the dozens.”
So when Lady Sarah got her dig in...so did President O...He told Gentleman George from ABC News, when asked about Palin's harpy esque criticism..
"I really have no response. Because last I checked, Sarah Palin's not much of an expert on nuclear issues,".... "If the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff are comfortable with it, I'm probably going to take my advice from them and not from Sarah Palin."
aaaahhhh! Busted!
Now, O, I know your mother told you, just like mine told me...don't make fun of the dumb kids because not everyone is as academically gifted as you are. Now behave! Hehehehehe!
-0-
Tiger's Back
Finished at 4 under, which puts him 2 off the lead. He's rusty on his putting, otherwise he would be at least 2 up, probably 3 considering the eagles he missed. He did make 2 eagles on the day.
I don't care about his personal life. But I do love watching him play golf.
-0-
Threatening Pelosi
Nancy's latest nut case, jailed for threatening bodily harm for her votes on healthcare, cried in court when arraigned on the charges. He apparently left dozens of obscene and violent threats on her answering machine.
Well, his mother says in defending him, FOX News made him do it. She says he spends his days listening to extremist commentators. Care to guess who?
They made her baby do it.
Maybe in the interest of everyone's mental health and safety the government should unplug FOX. Now that would be real health care reform.
-0-
SRLC Meets
Whoa! JC Watts has surfaced. Watts, in case you forgot was the illusion of inclusion paraded around by Republicans as their example of liking Black people, before they leashed up Michael Steele. Watts addressed the Southern Republican Leadership Conference going on in New Orleans this week.
Liz Cheney was there, too and told the gathering, "Nothing makes people more convinced of the rightness of conservative causes seeing the alternative in action.”
According to the Times Picayune, Cheney, Watts, and Newt Gingrich among others, spent time talking about NOLA food, NOLA football, and NOLA culture. They talked everything except about the 900 pound gorilla on guard at the door who answers to the name of Katrina.
Statistics show that only 75% of the population has returned to the once vibrant city after the storm.
Most of those who haven't come back are minorities, according to the stats and the stories in the newspaper. Furthermore, Amnesty International has slammed America and the GOP occupied White House at the time of the hurricane with human rights violations.
Amnesty cited failings in housing, healthcare and police action in the wake of the storm and beyond for directly causing the deaths of 1800 people as well as minority inability to rebuild their lives.
The organization singled out Louisiana and Mississippi Republicans specifically, for scorn.
Yet the original wind up Black Republican Ken doll said, "History’s going to be kind to George W. Bush, “ implying that the more America deals with the Obama Administration, the more the country will want to have the GOP back in power.
You know, maybe we don't need to legalize marijuana. Maybe we just need to legalize, package , sell and tax whatever it is the GOP is toking.
-0-
Mammogram, You don't need no Stinking Mammograms
That's what a clinic told a man who walked in and asked for the procedure.
-0-
Executive Order 13528
Establishes a Council of Governors chosen by the President to approve Pentagon mandated contingency plans to take over control of the National Guard in the event of an emergency.In other words, bringing martial law and military take over of America, one step closer to reality.
Executive Order signed by Bush.....No....signed by Obama...
I have a real problem with this...
Thanks to laws passed by Bush in 2006, the troops are here, they're legal, and they've been signed off on by Obama. Don't believe me...look up the law....starting with this EO signed in January 2010, the Military Commission Act of 2006 and the Warner Defense Act, of around the same time, 2006.
Until Bush signed off on these laws, it was illegal to station American troops on American soil for action against American citizens. This changed in 2008. The first batallion is already in residence under the command of NORTHCOM.
Under Obama's EO, the National Guard also falls under NORTHCOM's command if he, meaning Obama or some other president, deems necessary to control the population.
-0-
My Favorite Conspiracy Theory
Ask anyone who grew up, when I grew up, who killed Martin Luther King and many, if not most, will tell you the government killed him.
It was a hit because of his views on Vietnam. MLK's murder had nothing to do with civil rights for Black people. Martin was safe until he started to question foreign policy.
Interesting commentary here, with some juicy links to follow.
1.15.2010
Friday Rap
Obama's still half steppin'....this time on Haiti...
President Obama did good with his initial response to the Haitian crisis. The 100 million dollars in aid is getting there, and it will get better in days to come.
However, there is still a problem, that I've written about before. The American government has always treated Haiti and immigrants to this country from Haiti as backward step children.
In the past, and up until the earthquake a couple of days ago. Haitian boat people, those found stowed away,or those trying to swim to America, are routinely scooped up by the Coast Guard and sent back to their island.
Thousands of Haitians who make it to America are locked up awaiting deportation.
Why?
Because Haitian immigrants, unlike Cuban immigrants, don't have protected status in America. A Cuban who decides to leave Cuba and swim to America or boat to America or secretly sprout wings and fly to America, is greeted with open arms by our government as just another indication that Castro is a bad man...so bad his own people don't want to be around him..
But Haiti? Haiti is poorer than a church mouth. The poorest country in the western hemisphere. American news agencies are reporting this phrase over and over as if they just learned that bit of information when they descended on the island yesterday.
Yet, The United States likes to pretend Haiti doesn't really exist except as a vacation spot for pedophiles and missionaries.
Granting protected status to Haitian immigrants would go a long way in changing the cycle of despair that envelops this small country. Protected status has been granted to other immigrants in the past by other Presidents in time of crisis, so Obama would not be setting precedent.
He would however, be showing some courage by going farther than he usually does. He is on the good side of many issues...He just doesn't seem to go far enough....Obama has a chance to rectify a big mistake he made by not granting protected status when four hurricanes hit Haiti last year...Like Dubya.....Obama turned a deaf ear....sending boat people back...and letting the island flounder..again..
It is a glaring double standard that exists in how Cubans are treated and granted asylum, while Haitians are allowed to sink into watery graves in the Gulf of Mexico...
The government, after all, does not bother to count the number of boat people who have drowned trying to get to the land of the so called free..
This is a time for big steps....not baby ones....Immigrants who have protected status can get a work permit and a driver's license which would allow them to send money home to support their families and to begin to break the poverty cycle...
Before the quake...Haitian families lived on a $150 a month....Protected status would allow more money to flow into the ravaged island, some experts say to the tune of about $50 million annually..
If Obama is looking to prove his Blackness to Black America....this is it...
If Obama is looking for a way to say “thank you” Haiti...this is it...
Why should America thank Haiti...Well it goes back to the Haitian revolution...yeah that same one that Pat Robertson was talking about.. when the Black African slaves threw France and Napoleon off their island....This small feat broke french influence in this part of the world, enabling America to make the Louisiana Purchase and become the bull in the china shop that it remains to this day..
Amazing what all that Black slavery action has done for this part of the world...and nobody wants to say thanks...
Protected status from the US would go a long way to right a wrong that has yet to be corrected...
And how good it would taste were it served by a brother in the White House on another brother named Martin's birthday...
President Obama did good with his initial response to the Haitian crisis. The 100 million dollars in aid is getting there, and it will get better in days to come.
However, there is still a problem, that I've written about before. The American government has always treated Haiti and immigrants to this country from Haiti as backward step children.
In the past, and up until the earthquake a couple of days ago. Haitian boat people, those found stowed away,or those trying to swim to America, are routinely scooped up by the Coast Guard and sent back to their island.
Thousands of Haitians who make it to America are locked up awaiting deportation.
Why?
Because Haitian immigrants, unlike Cuban immigrants, don't have protected status in America. A Cuban who decides to leave Cuba and swim to America or boat to America or secretly sprout wings and fly to America, is greeted with open arms by our government as just another indication that Castro is a bad man...so bad his own people don't want to be around him..
But Haiti? Haiti is poorer than a church mouth. The poorest country in the western hemisphere. American news agencies are reporting this phrase over and over as if they just learned that bit of information when they descended on the island yesterday.
Yet, The United States likes to pretend Haiti doesn't really exist except as a vacation spot for pedophiles and missionaries.
Granting protected status to Haitian immigrants would go a long way in changing the cycle of despair that envelops this small country. Protected status has been granted to other immigrants in the past by other Presidents in time of crisis, so Obama would not be setting precedent.
He would however, be showing some courage by going farther than he usually does. He is on the good side of many issues...He just doesn't seem to go far enough....Obama has a chance to rectify a big mistake he made by not granting protected status when four hurricanes hit Haiti last year...Like Dubya.....Obama turned a deaf ear....sending boat people back...and letting the island flounder..again..
It is a glaring double standard that exists in how Cubans are treated and granted asylum, while Haitians are allowed to sink into watery graves in the Gulf of Mexico...
The government, after all, does not bother to count the number of boat people who have drowned trying to get to the land of the so called free..
This is a time for big steps....not baby ones....Immigrants who have protected status can get a work permit and a driver's license which would allow them to send money home to support their families and to begin to break the poverty cycle...
Before the quake...Haitian families lived on a $150 a month....Protected status would allow more money to flow into the ravaged island, some experts say to the tune of about $50 million annually..
If Obama is looking to prove his Blackness to Black America....this is it...
If Obama is looking for a way to say “thank you” Haiti...this is it...
Why should America thank Haiti...Well it goes back to the Haitian revolution...yeah that same one that Pat Robertson was talking about.. when the Black African slaves threw France and Napoleon off their island....This small feat broke french influence in this part of the world, enabling America to make the Louisiana Purchase and become the bull in the china shop that it remains to this day..
Amazing what all that Black slavery action has done for this part of the world...and nobody wants to say thanks...
Protected status from the US would go a long way to right a wrong that has yet to be corrected...
And how good it would taste were it served by a brother in the White House on another brother named Martin's birthday...
10.31.2009
Martin's Daughter Making Her Own Kind of History
It's been a relatively good and historic week for Black and LGBT people in America. After all this was the week that President Obama signed an expansion of the hate crimes law named after Mathew Shepard and James Byrd....
Shepard the young gay man brutalized and left to die by two homophobic neanderthals tied to a fence..James Byrd the black man tied alive to the back of a pick up truck by racist white men and dragged until his body was strewn in pieces all along the roadway..
The expansion, which was opposed by every Republican in Congress added gender and sexual orientation to the protected status for Americans. In other words, you can't attack someone who you believe is gay or lesbian just because you feel like it.
Gay bashing is no longer a sport in America...
Obama also signaled his intention to repeal the bigoted travel ban on HIV/AIDS positive people, that prevented them from coming into this country....
And Health and Human Services is creating a resource center designed to help elderly gay and lesbian people...this announced by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius...
This was the good stuff....However there was a not so good thing that happened this week as well..
I will tell you upfront that I'm making a judgment call based on past actions...Bernice King...the youngest daughter of MartinLuther and Coretta Scott King has become the first woman elected to preside over the Southern Christian Leadership Conference...her father's historic organization..
While her election is a history making event for women...it is not a good thing for the Black LGBT community.
King has been very outspoken in her hatred of the gay community all the while cloaking her bigotry in religion.. She has been very outspoken against LGBT equality, leading marches and protests against same sex marriage.
“I know in my sanctified soul that he (Dr. King) did not take a bullet for same-sex marriage.”
-Bernice King
Talking about her father and same sex marriage....When both Dr. King and her mother Coretta Scott King were known for their support of the LGBT community...contrary to the words of their daughter.
In a time when Black civil rights organizations and the Black church need to step forward and lead the fight against the problems within the Black community...I fear she will feed the fires of hatred, further alienating Black gays and lesbians sending them deeper into the closet...
And this is not the time to be in the closet considering how many within the Black community are infected with and dying as a result of the HIV virus. AIDS is killing straight Black people..not just lesbians and gays....
Black women are the most victimized...by men sleeping with other men and refusing to acknowledge their sexuality and by an uncaring system of neglect from the government, from the Black church, and from Black civil rights organizations, which remain silent....
I take no joy in seeing Bernice King ascend to the presidency of the SCLC because I believe that based on her past words and actions the Southern Christian Leadship Conference is about to become a cudgel wielded against the Black gay and lesbian community by another homophobic bigot this one of magnificent lineage and a bigger than life name... who routinely wraps her hatred in religion in order to make it more palatable to the masses..
Shepard the young gay man brutalized and left to die by two homophobic neanderthals tied to a fence..James Byrd the black man tied alive to the back of a pick up truck by racist white men and dragged until his body was strewn in pieces all along the roadway..
The expansion, which was opposed by every Republican in Congress added gender and sexual orientation to the protected status for Americans. In other words, you can't attack someone who you believe is gay or lesbian just because you feel like it.
Gay bashing is no longer a sport in America...
Obama also signaled his intention to repeal the bigoted travel ban on HIV/AIDS positive people, that prevented them from coming into this country....
And Health and Human Services is creating a resource center designed to help elderly gay and lesbian people...this announced by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius...
This was the good stuff....However there was a not so good thing that happened this week as well..
I will tell you upfront that I'm making a judgment call based on past actions...Bernice King...the youngest daughter of MartinLuther and Coretta Scott King has become the first woman elected to preside over the Southern Christian Leadership Conference...her father's historic organization..
While her election is a history making event for women...it is not a good thing for the Black LGBT community.
King has been very outspoken in her hatred of the gay community all the while cloaking her bigotry in religion.. She has been very outspoken against LGBT equality, leading marches and protests against same sex marriage.
“I know in my sanctified soul that he (Dr. King) did not take a bullet for same-sex marriage.”
-Bernice King
Talking about her father and same sex marriage....When both Dr. King and her mother Coretta Scott King were known for their support of the LGBT community...contrary to the words of their daughter.
In a time when Black civil rights organizations and the Black church need to step forward and lead the fight against the problems within the Black community...I fear she will feed the fires of hatred, further alienating Black gays and lesbians sending them deeper into the closet...
And this is not the time to be in the closet considering how many within the Black community are infected with and dying as a result of the HIV virus. AIDS is killing straight Black people..not just lesbians and gays....
Black women are the most victimized...by men sleeping with other men and refusing to acknowledge their sexuality and by an uncaring system of neglect from the government, from the Black church, and from Black civil rights organizations, which remain silent....
I take no joy in seeing Bernice King ascend to the presidency of the SCLC because I believe that based on her past words and actions the Southern Christian Leadship Conference is about to become a cudgel wielded against the Black gay and lesbian community by another homophobic bigot this one of magnificent lineage and a bigger than life name... who routinely wraps her hatred in religion in order to make it more palatable to the masses..
8.06.2009
In Her Father's Footsteps
Bernice King in the running to head SCLC
The youngest daughter of the late Dr. Martin Luther King is one of five being considered to head the civil rights organization famously helmed by her father, back in the day. You can find the details here.
If she is successful in being chosen, King will become the first woman to preside over the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. That is a good thing. We need more women to take charge of these organizations injecting new blood and a new way of thinking. Bernice King does represent in that respect.
However, the youngest daughter of Martin and Coretta Scott is also a fundamentalist preacher and a leader in the anti gay movement.
Her many homophobic stances are in direct conflict with the teachings and practices of both of her parents, who were always inclusive in practice and toward the end of their lives, in speech.
The blatant homophobic tendencies of the Black church are literally killing our people and our community.
Choosing the Reverend King to head the iconic SCLC would be a major step backward instead of forward into the 21st century. The Black church has failed to lead when it comes to the issues destroying our communities.
Rather than face the scourge that is AIDS or the violence that permeates our neighborhoods, the church has chosen to hide behind outdated thinking, wrapping itself in the irrelevance of the past, while wondering out loud why their congregations are shrinking.
It is time for all Black organizations to rejoin the fight for civil rights in the way the fight was defined by Martin and Malcolm and Fannie and Bayard and the others who go nameless...
It was a fight for the rights of all people....not just some people...
As long as one is bound..so, too, are the rest of us...bound and not free..
Reverend Bernice King would be a refreshing change, but she would be the wrong change for a struggling Black Community that desperately needs direction free of false platitudes ...
The youngest daughter of the late Dr. Martin Luther King is one of five being considered to head the civil rights organization famously helmed by her father, back in the day. You can find the details here.
If she is successful in being chosen, King will become the first woman to preside over the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. That is a good thing. We need more women to take charge of these organizations injecting new blood and a new way of thinking. Bernice King does represent in that respect.
However, the youngest daughter of Martin and Coretta Scott is also a fundamentalist preacher and a leader in the anti gay movement.
Her many homophobic stances are in direct conflict with the teachings and practices of both of her parents, who were always inclusive in practice and toward the end of their lives, in speech.
The blatant homophobic tendencies of the Black church are literally killing our people and our community.
Choosing the Reverend King to head the iconic SCLC would be a major step backward instead of forward into the 21st century. The Black church has failed to lead when it comes to the issues destroying our communities.
Rather than face the scourge that is AIDS or the violence that permeates our neighborhoods, the church has chosen to hide behind outdated thinking, wrapping itself in the irrelevance of the past, while wondering out loud why their congregations are shrinking.
It is time for all Black organizations to rejoin the fight for civil rights in the way the fight was defined by Martin and Malcolm and Fannie and Bayard and the others who go nameless...
It was a fight for the rights of all people....not just some people...
As long as one is bound..so, too, are the rest of us...bound and not free..
Reverend Bernice King would be a refreshing change, but she would be the wrong change for a struggling Black Community that desperately needs direction free of false platitudes ...
6.02.2009
Gay Pride Month...Big Whup!
Pardon me for being a day late, since I’m writing this on June 2nd, but there were other things on my mind from this past weekend....
Yesterday President Obama signed the first ever national proclamation designating June as LGBT Pride Month. Check out the statement here.
I will be perfectly honest with you, I feel the same way about Gay Pride Month that I feel about Black History Month....
I’m Black since birth....58 years....I’m lesbian since well, probably from birth, but I had the epiphany at the age of five the first time I fell in lust for a girl, so I figure I’ve been officially gay for the past 53 years...
So since I’m this way all of my life....24/7...365...366 during leap years.....one month don’t cut it....simply ain’t enough...I prefer to celebrate my fabulousness everyday and will....
However...
Black history is American history....I will not celebrate until all...history is taught as a part of the regular curriculum, period...It should not be a separate but unequal section in the Library, as it still is...There is more to Black history than Martin Luther King and the Black Panthers or Malcolm X....
The same holds true for LGBT Pride/history....let’s start with the Black openly gay man who stood beside Martin Luther King, yet is never mentioned when talking about the Black Civil Rights struggle....I’m talking about Bayard Rustin. You can read more about him here.
Suffice to say never got his due respect...
Obama’s proclamation comes 40 years after Stonewall...
Check out Stonewall history here...
During those 40 years, too many of us have been beaten or been killed.... The Black Community and Black Church remains as homophobic as ever.....Hate crimes continue to happen....two this past week in my neck of the woods...one passed off as a street robbery..but it was covered on the news...the other passed off as bar fight...instead of a homophobic attack...it, too received coverage on the news...that’s a good thing.....that is progress....
However...
I’m trying to be patient with Obama...but his foot dragging is honestly getting on my nerves...
Instead of the platitudes and "let’s all respect each other crap" I would love to see a little fire and kick ass attitude.... like.....I don’t know...."I’m the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces....and it’s gonna be this way from now on.....No More Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell..."
Worked for Truman when he desegregated the troops....
Or maybe...."I’ve changed my mind....gay marriage is better than civil unions... and prop 8 is bad law."
Smart man that he is Obama knows that there are a thousand federal benefits difference for couples between civil unions, domestic partners and marriage....so let’s cut the crap.....marriage between consenting adults is the only real equality....
Even if he can’t automatically reverse these crappy policies....he can at least speak out about them...decisively...instead of this namby pamby BS of....."We’ve got to love one another and respect one another".....or silence.....
Especially since I don’t see any bipartisan respect coming back in anything Obama’s done....
Don’t matter what he does....the so called right wing conservatives are so pissed off about having a Black man in their White House that he will never be able to do right in their eyes....
So...
When somebody spits in my face....I throw a left hook....plain and simple....Obama needs to flex those well honed muscles of his....
I would...
Obama’s got the people behind him....He’s got the numbers on Capital Hill....What are they going to do.....impeach him?....
they can try.....
Okay...given the choice of having an LGBT proclamation from the most powerful leader on earth....I am happy he did it....
Thank you Mr. President....
But I wish you’d put the hammer down and get to work....on some of the things that you promised during your campaign...
Yesterday President Obama signed the first ever national proclamation designating June as LGBT Pride Month. Check out the statement here.
I will be perfectly honest with you, I feel the same way about Gay Pride Month that I feel about Black History Month....
I’m Black since birth....58 years....I’m lesbian since well, probably from birth, but I had the epiphany at the age of five the first time I fell in lust for a girl, so I figure I’ve been officially gay for the past 53 years...
So since I’m this way all of my life....24/7...365...366 during leap years.....one month don’t cut it....simply ain’t enough...I prefer to celebrate my fabulousness everyday and will....
However...
Black history is American history....I will not celebrate until all...history is taught as a part of the regular curriculum, period...It should not be a separate but unequal section in the Library, as it still is...There is more to Black history than Martin Luther King and the Black Panthers or Malcolm X....
The same holds true for LGBT Pride/history....let’s start with the Black openly gay man who stood beside Martin Luther King, yet is never mentioned when talking about the Black Civil Rights struggle....I’m talking about Bayard Rustin. You can read more about him here.
Suffice to say never got his due respect...
Obama’s proclamation comes 40 years after Stonewall...
Check out Stonewall history here...
During those 40 years, too many of us have been beaten or been killed.... The Black Community and Black Church remains as homophobic as ever.....Hate crimes continue to happen....two this past week in my neck of the woods...one passed off as a street robbery..but it was covered on the news...the other passed off as bar fight...instead of a homophobic attack...it, too received coverage on the news...that’s a good thing.....that is progress....
However...
I’m trying to be patient with Obama...but his foot dragging is honestly getting on my nerves...
Instead of the platitudes and "let’s all respect each other crap" I would love to see a little fire and kick ass attitude.... like.....I don’t know...."I’m the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces....and it’s gonna be this way from now on.....No More Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell..."
Worked for Truman when he desegregated the troops....
Or maybe...."I’ve changed my mind....gay marriage is better than civil unions... and prop 8 is bad law."
Smart man that he is Obama knows that there are a thousand federal benefits difference for couples between civil unions, domestic partners and marriage....so let’s cut the crap.....marriage between consenting adults is the only real equality....
Even if he can’t automatically reverse these crappy policies....he can at least speak out about them...decisively...instead of this namby pamby BS of....."We’ve got to love one another and respect one another".....or silence.....
Especially since I don’t see any bipartisan respect coming back in anything Obama’s done....
Don’t matter what he does....the so called right wing conservatives are so pissed off about having a Black man in their White House that he will never be able to do right in their eyes....
So...
When somebody spits in my face....I throw a left hook....plain and simple....Obama needs to flex those well honed muscles of his....
I would...
Obama’s got the people behind him....He’s got the numbers on Capital Hill....What are they going to do.....impeach him?....
they can try.....
Okay...given the choice of having an LGBT proclamation from the most powerful leader on earth....I am happy he did it....
Thank you Mr. President....
But I wish you’d put the hammer down and get to work....on some of the things that you promised during your campaign...
1.19.2009
From Whence We've Come
We're caught up in another freeze frame moment and need to take the time to look how far we've travelled. We celebrate Dr. King's birthday, today while looking forward to the inauguration of Barack Obama tomorrow....
"I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"....Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
11.08.2008
Still Holding My Breath
I knew it was serious when I saw all the young men and women dressed as if they’d only just gotten out of bed and needed to run out for some milk for the baby or smokes to jump start their day. The hood rats were up and out, but not on the corner. Not on this day, election day. The young men who sometimes make me cringe when I look at them, or hear them curse for no reason were up early. Usually cursing is the norm. It’s just the way they talk to everyone. But not today. The way they choose to dress, allowing their jeans to dangle to their knees in order to show off their designer boxers, makes me uncomfortable.
Pricey baseball caps seated sideways on their heads covering their doo rag, which covers their hair. Walking billboards from head to toe screaming out their favored clothing line. The hood rats were not restless this day. This day they were in line ahead of me at the poll, waiting quietly, talking respectfully to their elders, patiently allowing themselves to be directed by the poll officials, because like everyone else they were there to cast a vote for Barack Obama. They got it. They are not lost souls. They understood the importance of what was happening. America was aligning itself with the universe. Karma at work.
As I looked around, Sly Stone was ringing in my ears...”it’s a family affair..” Mothers showed up with their grown kids. They young ones followed, playing musical chairs and chowing down on chocolate chip cookies while the old ones took care of business. The wait was roughly 40 minutes..no one complained or got ugly, or walked out.
I like election days at my polling place.. it’s the one day of the year that you spend a little time hanging out with your neighbors. The conversations were friendly, meandering, passing time until the voting booth became available.
My precinct is like a village, young and old participate and they bring their kids. The poll workers are the same folks. I know them on sight and they know me. Pleasantries fly up and down the table, catching up since the primaries, which was the last time I’d been there or seen them. I flash ID only because it’s the law, pick up my two page ballot and step into the booth.
Voting was easy. The wait until the polls closed was excruciating. Just couldn’t keep myself busy or my mind off the subject at hand. Barack Obama.
I’ve already written about what I was feeling after his victory was announced. I’ve spent the past couple of days crying, thinking and tearing up. It’s been a very long catharsis. One that I don’t think is over even now.
Too many times, we’ve been to the mountain top, or looked out over the river and not been allowed to cross over. I was too young to vote for Kennedy. I was only 13 when he was killed. I remember the assassination of Malcolm X and the killing of Martin Luther King as if it was yesterday. I remember going to bed thinking Bobby Kennedy had won the California primary and would soon be our president, only to wake up and learn that he, too had been killed. I recall the run of Congresswoman Shirley Chisolm. It made me proud, but no one, not even I, took her seriously. The runs of the Reverend Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton were little more than punch lines for late night TV.
Always, one step forward, two steps back. Never in my lifetime did I think a black man or woman could cross over the summit. Right up until the time the vote was called for him, I had trouble believing. Voter suppression, racism, ballot errors..something was going to screw it up.
And you know what.....I’m still holding my breath until January 20th, 2009. So many things can go wrong in the next 75 days.
But even at this point, I’m grateful....thank you white people for putting away fears of the boogie man. Thank you for turning out and finally, finally, allowing us to feel, for the first time, that we are simply Americans, real Americans.
It’s okay.....you don’t have to like us, but by voting for Barack you have finally conceded that all humanity does not necessarily look, act, or talk like you.
Pricey baseball caps seated sideways on their heads covering their doo rag, which covers their hair. Walking billboards from head to toe screaming out their favored clothing line. The hood rats were not restless this day. This day they were in line ahead of me at the poll, waiting quietly, talking respectfully to their elders, patiently allowing themselves to be directed by the poll officials, because like everyone else they were there to cast a vote for Barack Obama. They got it. They are not lost souls. They understood the importance of what was happening. America was aligning itself with the universe. Karma at work.
As I looked around, Sly Stone was ringing in my ears...”it’s a family affair..” Mothers showed up with their grown kids. They young ones followed, playing musical chairs and chowing down on chocolate chip cookies while the old ones took care of business. The wait was roughly 40 minutes..no one complained or got ugly, or walked out.
I like election days at my polling place.. it’s the one day of the year that you spend a little time hanging out with your neighbors. The conversations were friendly, meandering, passing time until the voting booth became available.
My precinct is like a village, young and old participate and they bring their kids. The poll workers are the same folks. I know them on sight and they know me. Pleasantries fly up and down the table, catching up since the primaries, which was the last time I’d been there or seen them. I flash ID only because it’s the law, pick up my two page ballot and step into the booth.
Voting was easy. The wait until the polls closed was excruciating. Just couldn’t keep myself busy or my mind off the subject at hand. Barack Obama.
I’ve already written about what I was feeling after his victory was announced. I’ve spent the past couple of days crying, thinking and tearing up. It’s been a very long catharsis. One that I don’t think is over even now.
Too many times, we’ve been to the mountain top, or looked out over the river and not been allowed to cross over. I was too young to vote for Kennedy. I was only 13 when he was killed. I remember the assassination of Malcolm X and the killing of Martin Luther King as if it was yesterday. I remember going to bed thinking Bobby Kennedy had won the California primary and would soon be our president, only to wake up and learn that he, too had been killed. I recall the run of Congresswoman Shirley Chisolm. It made me proud, but no one, not even I, took her seriously. The runs of the Reverend Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton were little more than punch lines for late night TV.
Always, one step forward, two steps back. Never in my lifetime did I think a black man or woman could cross over the summit. Right up until the time the vote was called for him, I had trouble believing. Voter suppression, racism, ballot errors..something was going to screw it up.
And you know what.....I’m still holding my breath until January 20th, 2009. So many things can go wrong in the next 75 days.
But even at this point, I’m grateful....thank you white people for putting away fears of the boogie man. Thank you for turning out and finally, finally, allowing us to feel, for the first time, that we are simply Americans, real Americans.
It’s okay.....you don’t have to like us, but by voting for Barack you have finally conceded that all humanity does not necessarily look, act, or talk like you.
11.04.2008
BELIEVE!
“A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history”. -gandhi
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams”. -eleanor roosevelt
“Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent”-martin luther king jr..
“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek”-barack obama
Nothing in my lifetime has prepared me for this day, none the less...I'm ready. So I ask you...
DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES?
My answer is an emphatic.... YES!
.
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams”. -eleanor roosevelt
“Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent”-martin luther king jr..
“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek”-barack obama
Nothing in my lifetime has prepared me for this day, none the less...I'm ready. So I ask you...
DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES?
My answer is an emphatic.... YES!
.
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