December 1, 2016

It just seems so much easier

for a lot of white folks in REFUSAL (because they are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay past the stage of denial) to either scapegoat POC and others on the grounds of

A) "Identity Politics" or

B) Those (relatively few) POC and LGBT that voted for a Ku Klux Klan-endorsed candidate.

Anything...ANYTHING but to blame the folks that look like (or may be) your parent, sibling, spouse, or neighbor

No one is saying that that there were not multiple factors that led to Clinton's loss...

But to pretend that "economic anxiety" is a sufficient reason for those that voted for man that campaigned on policies such mass deportation of Mexican immigrants, reviving stop and frisk, banning Muslims from entering the country; a man that received the endorsement of a white supremacist terrorist organization...to pretend that none of that even MATTERED or that wasn't a major part of his "sales pitch"...but..."economic anxiety"...as if other groups of people aren't going through economic anxiety.

?1478013833

August 22, 2016

Well, CFs preseason AP Top 25 is out...Here's the Top 10 (first place votes in parentheses)

1. Alabama (33)
2. Clemson (16)
3. Oklahoma (4)
4. Florida State (5)
5. LSU (1)
6. Ohio State (1)
7. Michigan (1)
8. Stanford
9. Tennessee
10.Notre Dame

Big time Michigan fan here...quite satisfied at #7 (even though preseason polls don't mean much)

I think that Oklahoma and Tennessee are a bit overrated but oter than that, this is fine...we shall soon see all!

July 29, 2016

I'm With Her...but is Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party with us?

That is the question that Terrell Jermaine Starr asks over at Fusion.net

Will the Democratic Party truly stand with black people?
by Terrell Jermaine Starr

Will the Democratic Party truly stand with black people? Or will it continue to support the institutional white supremacy that murders us and disenfranchises us?

That is the real question Hillary Clinton needs to answer as she accepts her party’s nomination for president. As she moves toward November, she needs to articulate a message that the Democratic Party will not be business as usual on race.

But almost certainly, she won’t. Still she needs to be pushed to the limit on her commitment to the black people who she will need to win the White House.

She needs to challenge Democrats, especially white ones, way down the ballot to introduce legislation in their statehouses to challenge police unions that protect cops who kill the children of black women. Black women’s votes are responsible for her history-making nomination.

As everyone knows, I was not impressed with Clinton or Sanders during the primary regarding their commitments to the specific problems that the black community faces; problems that need solutions (which would be incremental in nature, THAT I can accept).

My position has always been that the integrity of 100% of the black vote should be respected by everyone...after all, our people worked too damn hard to get that vote.

Yes, 70-75% of the black vote in the primary went to Hillary Clinton. But I don't think that vote should be interpreted as meaning that we were electing Hillary Clinton as "Queen of the Black People" or that black folks love Senator Clinton so much....some of us do, of course...(but as page 38 of this IBD/TIPP poll , taken just before the California primary indicates, black people had a very favorable view of Bernie Sanders, as well...in fact, black people had a more favorable view of Sanders than any other racial/ethnic group...it was simply that black people had an even more favorable view of Hillary Clinton).

Mr. Starr is not simply throwing out rhetoric in his Fusion piece...he does provide a few clear-cut examples of where the Democratic Party, at all levels, can be considered to be...well, a bit suspect.

Take Rahm Emanuel, the Democratic mayor of Chicago and President Obama’s former chief of staff.

For one, his administration closed six of the 12 mental health clinics in Chicago in 2014, a move that disproportionately hurt people of color. Black people are the least likely to have access to mental health treatment.

His handling of police brutality is equally egregious. Critics have long accused his office of attempting to bury video of a Chicago police officer shooting LaQuan McDonald 16 times, including while he was lying on the ground.

Yet black people still supported him during his contentious re-election; and so did Obama. In return, what has Emanuel offered black voters, who have been loyal to him, yet have been subjected to the city’s neglect and abusive policing?

********************************************************

And we have to call out Sen. Tim Kaine, Clinton’s running mate, for his complicated history on criminal justice reform. His support for a program called Project Exile, in particular, deserves some inspection.

The program, which started in Virginia and which Kaine backed as the mayor of Richmond, moved the prosecution of certain gun crimes into federal court rather than state court, making it more likely that the convicted would face harsh mandatory-minimum sentences. The program’s opponents argue that it disproportionately hurt black people.

Yes, I am all for unity right now.

I think that Hillary Clinton is an incredibly intelligent, highly competent choice that the Democratic Party has chosen to be the presidential nominee. I would be proud to have Senator Clinton serve as the 45th President of the United States.

But even more important than that is...the integrity of the black vote and that the vote for Mrs. Clinton (because Cheeto Jesus ain't an option) is not the end but the means to an end.

Trust....but verify. And push.

(Personally, I think that Mr. Starr could have been a little tougher on black elected officials...but that's a conversation that I don't think I would want to air out here).

July 26, 2016

My two cents on the Elijah Cummings thing

Look...

For decades on end, black folks have had to listen to white folks explain to us what the issues are and what our issues are (for the benefit of white folks of course).

For the most part, we listened to what white folks had to say and if we dissented...well, we kept a lot of that dissent to ourselves, our media (black newspapers and radio stations); critiques most white people did not listen to or think was worth the time.

Now POC are in elected office at the highest levels and they are deserving of the same respect that POC(for the most part) have always given to white speakers...

So all that black folks are really saying about the heckling of Elijah Cummings is to give us (and black politicians, generally) the same respect that we have almost always given white politicians.

After all, POC are now the base of the Democratic Party...you need us to win and...yes, we need you to win.

So yes, this type of disrespect hurts you as well as us...

Or you can always go over to the party that had all of 18 black delegates out of thousands.

Because the Democratic Party belongs to all of us and all of our concerns...

I did not see and will not look at the heckling of Elijah Cummings earlier today at the Democratic Convention....and from what I have heard about it, I find it preferable not to watch it at this point.

July 26, 2016

But did you catch FLOTUS throw some shade?

You know it’s hard to believe that it has been eight years since I first came to this convention to talk with you about why I thought my husband should be president. Remember how I told you abut his character and conviction, his decency and his grace, the traits that we’ve seen every day since he served our country in the White House.

Michelle Obama Democratic National Convention speech July 25, 2016

Now why would FLOTUS say a thing like that?

July 15, 2016

Posted to the **AA Group**

Haven't been around here much...but I did have to rant about that town hall last night.

With all due respect, Mr. President, that town hall was bulls*it
by Chitown Kev

I love you Mr. President, but that town hall was weak sauce.

First of all, law enforcement officials appear to not to want to accept any culpability in these problems whatsoever and you seem content to let them get away with it.

Again with the black male-on-black male crime and the fact that the police perceive black men as a threat.

Mr. President, you know that most people (male and female) in black communities are law abiding American citizens who would like to have crimes like murder and drug trafficking and gang violence reduced in their neighborhood.

We need law enforcement in our communities to do their job in capturing the criminals that are a threat to our own safety.

A man selling bootlegged CDs to make a few extra bucks is not perceived to be a threat; in fact, he had the permission of the store owner to be there.

And Alton Sterling sure didn’t deserve to be shot in cold blood.

A broken taillight (or having a “wide-set nose”) was enough to get Philando Castile killed even after he duly informed the LEO that he had a firearm and a permit to carry it. He was murdered in front of his child.

Selling loose cigarettes got Eric Garner killed.

And I don’t even remember the minor traffic violation that resulted in the eventual death of Sandra Bland in Texas.

Rekia Boyd, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Laquan McDonald...that list goes on and on and on…

And I’m just talking about the legally sanctioned killings of black people...lets not EVEN get into issues involving LEOs that use black communities to gin up city revenue (such as what happened in Ferguson).

Let’s not even get into police departments infested with “ghost skins” and Klansmen...those LEOs are probably not going to be a threat to white people….and that was reported by the FBI a decade ago.

Mr. President, a problem cannot be solved if one of the parties is unwilling to admit that there is a problem and/or whines and rationalizes when confronted with solid evidence.

Police unions are not dealing in good faith with black communities in that regard and you know it.

Oh well...it’s an election year and have to keep the white folks happy I guess...after all, it is an election year.

In regards to what BLM is protesting, black citizens are not the problem, law enforcement is the problem.

And until you and law enforcement admits that, there’s really nowhere we can go with the problem of policing in black communities, nothing to be reconciled, and no healing to be had….except for the white folks, that is.

You can agree or you can throw tomatoes if you wish.
This is my story and I am sticking with it.

Oops. Forgot to link!

June 22, 2016

Mark Cuban on Donald Trump: "It's rare that you see someone get stupider before your eyes..."

and oh, there is so much more:

In an interview with Extra, Cuban said, "It's rare that you see someone get stupider before your eyes, but he's really working at it...You have to give him credit. It's a difficult thing to do, but he's accomplished it."

http://sportsday.dallasnews.com/dallas-mavericks/mavericks/2016/06/21/mavs-owner-mark-cuban-donald-trump-rich-says-campaign

(FTR, Cuban maybe be an asshole but he is a likable asshole that seems to have some good sense)

Now Cuban has been throwing shade at trump for months, and the shade gets darker and and darker but here's my thing.

Donald Trump never responds to him.

Trump responded to Hillary during her foreign policy speech, he traded insults on Twitter with Elizabeth Warren.

Trump tossed out all sorts of nonsense (and maybe some things that weren't nonsense at all) at his Republican opponents...

But Mark Cuban tosses bombs out at him and he NEVER, to my knowledge, has responded to ANYTHING that Cuban has ever said...

Why is that?

Inquiring minds DO want to know...

April 13, 2016

Nice white progressive Bernie supporter outrage over this is actually a thing?

Sorry that I'm running on CP time getting to this thread.

April 9, 2016

Here's one reason why I am glad I didn't vote for Hillary Clinton in the Illinois Primary

Now we are starting to have this conversation all over again

http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/4/8/1512792/-Marc-Lamont-Hill-slaps-down-Bill-Clinton-surrogate-hard

Bill "Sister Souljah" Clinton strikes again.

I'm am glad I don't have a primary vote for Hillary Clinton on my conscience right now.

EDIT: Let me be clear.

Heather Mac Donald is in no way, shape, or form (that I know of) a surrogate for the Hillary Clinton campaign.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_Mac_Donald

She is regurgitating talking points very similar to what Bill Clinton said yesterday, though.

March 30, 2016

The Craving for Public Squares

This is a really good article in the NYRB.

The Craving for Public Squares
by Michael Kimmelman

The twenty-first century is the first urban century in human history, the first time more people on the planet live in cities than don’t. Experts project that some 75 percent of the booming global population will be city dwellers by 2050. Dozens of new cities are springing up in Asia, their growth hastened by political unrest, climate change, and mass relocation programs that have cleared vast swaths of the Chinese countryside. Much of the growth in countries like India and Bangladesh is chaotic and badly planned. In many growing cities across the Global South there are serious shortages of water, sanitation, and housing, along with increasing air pollution. The United States has some of the same problems on a smaller scale, while here urban development is also being stimulated by growing numbers of university graduates and empty-nesters who are rejuvenating downtowns and rejecting suburbia, the culture of commuting, sprawl, and the automobile.

Not that suburbs have stopped growing, but since the late 1990s, the share of automobiles driven by people in their twenties in America has fallen from 20.8 percent to 13.7 percent. The number of nineteen-year-olds opting out of driver’s licenses has tripled since the 1970s from 8 to 23 percent. Electric, self-driving vehicles may soon revolutionize transportation and urban land use. Meanwhile, deindustrialization, plummeting crime rates, and increasing populations of singles and complex, nontraditional families have reshaped many formerly desolate urban neighborhoods.

People are moving downtown for jobs, but also for the pleasures and benefits of cultural exchange, walkable streets, parks, and public squares. Squares have defined urban living since the dawn of democracy, from which they are inseparable. The public square has always been synonymous with a society that acknowledges public life and a life in public, which is to say a society distinguishing the individual from the state. There were, strictly speaking, no public squares in ancient Egypt or India or Mesopotamia. There were courts outside temples and royal houses, and some wide processional streets.

I especially love the historical overview of the concept of a "public square."

I also think that an article like this has some applicability for our "public squares" in cyberspace, as well.