Hollywood movie star reacts to Philadelphia racism

When it comes to a news story about entertainers doing a good thing and kids, I just can't stay away. It's these kinds of things we all need to hear more about.

In this case the news starts off in a negative. In Philadelphia, a city known for its negative overreactions of its police force, there was the added negative news that 65 kids were turned away from a private swim club.

The story goes like this. Valley Swim Club is private, but declares they are open membership. Creative Steps Day Camp paid nearly $2000 to allow 65 kids (that happen to be Black and Hispanic) to be able to use the pool to swim. The day camp made one visit, which seems to have caused a ruckus. Not because the kids were rude or badly behaved, but because of race.

"I heard this lady, she was like, 'Uh, what are all these black kids doing here?' She's like, 'I'm scared they might do something to my child,'" said camper Dymire Baylor."

It seems that not only were comments like this stated, but the parents (who it seems were all White) pulled out all of their kids from the pool once the kids of color got in the pool. Which is insulting in far too many ways.

It got worse though. Valley Swim Club then rejected the day care. The very next day the membership was revoked, with an offer to refund the money paid offered. But this was not about money, but a chance for kids to swim.

Valley Swim Club stated

"There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion … and the atmosphere of the club," John Duesler, President of The Valley Swim Club

In just that statement I think the case was clear. Valley Swim Club is open to everyone, as long as they have the right skin color. It's a page right out of Jim Crow and segregation. I'm sure Philadelphia was proud.

But the story was not over. Because after this hit the news on July 9th, people around the nation started to hear what happened. One of those people had the ability to do something about it. That was Tyler Perry.

Perry found this to bne an outrage. That no child deserves such treatment, especially over their race. He said

"It broke my heart and I wanted to do something. I want them to know that for every act of evil that a few people will throw at you, there are millions more who will do something kind for them. Show them they are just as good as anyone else that they can do or be anything they want to be no matter what anyone says."

Then he went a step further. Since the kids couldn't go to Valley Swim Club, Tyler Perry is going to send them to Disney. He has paid for all 65 kids to go to Disney and a Disney Water Park for 3 days.

I applaud Perry and what he has done. I hope that the people of Philadelphia abandon the Valley Swim Club, and write to John Duesler about this. People like him need to be reminded that this is not the 1950's, that even then such actions were never acceptable, and that all of America is better because of the various people that make up this great nation.

Tyler Perry has helped the 65 kids of the Creative Steps Day Camp, and all of us that hear this story, realize that the small minds of a few cannot prevent them from attaining great things in their life. It's a message that I am more than happy to spread.

**You can reach John Duesler and Valley Swim Club at:

22 Tomlinson Rd
Huntingdon Vly, PA 19006
(215) 947-0700

A discussion of police, race, America, and what to do - part 2

Concluded from A discussion of police, race, America, and what to do

That brought up a point for my friend. I was being unfair to the police. Because they must be more aware and on guard in high crime areas. Which I agree with. But that does not justify their actions, nor does it excuse them.

My friend brought up a case he felt that was an example of such an understandable use of deadly force. The Amidou Diallo case. Which I lost my mind on. The fact that a man can be shot at his door 41 times, while unarmed, is inexcusable to me. My friend felt that in the heat of the moment, with adrenaline pumping, and the sound of shots going off these officers feared for their lives and thus it was understandable.

Except I noted, that Diallo was unarmed, so the police had no reason to begin shooting in the first place. And the police continued to shoot Diallo after he was laying flat on the ground, since it was found that he was shot through the sole of his foot. And this was a violation of police procedure as they are trained, and to my knowledge is part of written policy (correct me if I am wrong), to shoot in small bursts to protect the populace and prevent such overkill events.

Worse yet, I reminded my friend that in the last decade alone, we have seen dozens of times where police confront an armed individual, that may have already killed innocents, and is an obvious danger to their lives. Yet in those documented, and occasionally video taped, events the suspect is fired upon maybe 6 times by multiple officers. With the same adrenaline, the same fear, though with a real threat and a White antagonist. If police overkill is so understandable, why do police never kill armed White murderers with hails of 30, 40, 50 bullets?

Again we came back to the central thought, how can this be changed or prevented. My friend noted that he felt the Black community must stand up and kick out the criminals, not allowing them to continue. And he noted that the White community must learn to recognize that people of color are not an unequivocal threat.

But again I find fault with that argument. Because often in the most poor areas of major cities, where crime is highest, there is no where else to go. Where can the Black community move its criminals to? There is no where else to go. And it avoids the root of the cause of crime, education.

In any poor community, the one factor that is the same is the fact that the education system is abominable. School books are older in many cases than the students. Teachers are burnt out, or unqualified. The buildings and resources sub-standard. Yet it is expected that students from these schools should be the equal of those with far better resources? That these students will have the means, en masse, to improve their standard of living?

Yet something else came to me as I decided to write about this event. The discussion of what is ailing America and influencing crime, prejudice, and racial disparity is not just one thing. It is a multitude of events and actions. Each plays a part in creating the whole. And in trying to limit the subject to 1 thing we fail to reach a point of reasonable change.

I understand that most police officers are good people. I realize they have a difficult job, and do not question the actions they take to defend themselves and the populace from criminals, in general. But I also realize that these same reasons are not excuses to act in a manner that harms those they are supposed to have been sworn to protect.

I understand that the Black community has its share of fault in this process. But I realize at the same time that it is difficult to wage such a battle when the community is being assaulted by the media (with a message of inevitably), denied a fair education, presumed at large to be wrong and violent, and poisoned by dreams of instant wealth (either through attainment of entertainment's highest circles or by enlisting in the inner circles of hell and selling drugs - both of which are presented as equally available options).

But I am left with a horrible thought in the end. America is ingrained with the residual thought that people of color are not equal or similar, and that means inferior. This thought started with the first slave, no later than 1619, and was reinforced with Jim Crow laws until 1965. And even then it was not until the mid to late 1980's that the nation accepted people of color into positions of familiarity (television and movies) or power (politics, business, ect) with any regularity or trust.

The seeds of our past still continue to grow, though at a far slower pace today than ever before. That is an improvement, but it still hides the causation and thus a remedy.

There is no one answer to the problems that plague America. There is no one cause for the racial divide in the nation. Though it is clear that the longer we do not address the causes we will keep having more incidents of violence and discord among our people and thus law enforcement too.

I know that I do not see these issues objectively. I cannot because I have been their victim, and may be so again in the future. As well as my family and friends of color. It prevents a calm and separate view. At the same time the completely dispassionate view of some Whites is just as wrong. Because it refuses to see the multiple vines of this infestation, refuses to acknowledge that this is all connected since it will never truly affect them in their life.

So again I come to the thought that communication is the key. Angry, calm, loud and quiet. Passionate and dispassionate. An ebb and flow of discussion that will annoy and grate on the nerves of everyone involved at one point or another. Because if we cannot communicate fully, with all that is vested in the conversation, with all the things we are wrong about, we will never resolve this. It will just create another vine and choke off some other aspect of our lives, plaguing yet another generation of Americans.

But what do you think?

Reflecting on V for Vendetta and American politics

So I was sitting home responding to comments on the VASS blog site, when I ran into a comment to my post thanking the Marines, the Armed Forces, and veterans for all they have done for this nation. The comment was an attempt to mock my heartfelt thanks. My reply was direct and obviously in direct opposition. Then I watched V for Vendetta.

It seems a bit ironic that I would watch a movie about how wrong a Government can go immediately after defending a Government that some feel has gone wrong. But there is the issue. Of late there have been a horde of movies demanding that America realize that utter chaos is ruling the nation. According to some there are no freedoms left. Such was the comment made at the abovementioned post. Such is the fare of movies.

Yet the reality is far from this. In V for Vendetta we see a government that has used its own people for biological experimentation. A scary thought for a movie. Except when you consider that America has already done this. They were called the Tuskegee Experiments. And America did not fall.

In the movie similarities are drawn to the Nazi’s, and fanatical Islamist governments that persecute the unwanted parts of their societies. Not unlike the way America had legal lynchings until 1922 (after 7 years of trying to pass the law) and Jim Crow to replace slavery. And America has not fallen.

In the movie the media is used to manipulate how people think. Unlike the direct commentary in the silver screen; reality only has pictures in newspapers (like the photo in post-Katrina New Orleans showing a Black man with a bag in flood waters called a looter, but a White man with a similar bag in waters equally as high is called a survivor looking for food), or news programs that attack the death of an athlete (Sean Taylor – his murder was a discussion of his actions as a teen) versus the months-long sorrow for drug addicts (Heath Ledger, Anna Nicole Smith, Britney Spears – oops she’s still alive right? Well you get the point). And yet America lives on.

For all the fears and horrors that movies imply, state, or hint at America remains the greatest nation in the world. Year after year, for centuries we have seen people across the globe come to this nation by any means they can. The fact America has issues with people of color is not only known, it’s advertised in every medium we have – and still they come. And all the detractors stay.

Why?

Because we aren’t losing all our freedoms. That even if we had half the freedoms that exist now we still would be the freest nation in the world. That we have the greatest ability to allow virtually anyone, or their kids, to have a better life. Because we are more than rich in wealth, we are rich in freedom which has no price tag.

Now this is not to say there aren’t problems in bundles. I do not hide from the issues that need to be dealt with, nor do I accept the word of the Government as Gospel. There are reasons why some think that the Government killed its own people on 9/11 (and this is not about V for Vendetta), or that drugs and AIDS were shoved into the poorer, more racially diverse parts of cities across the country. But at the same time, the people still have power to change how the Government acts.

Fear, some say, it the motivation of the day. But I also see the other side. The fear being feed like a crack dealer via the major media stating not that a terrorist is under your bed, but that the Government is out of control.

We cannot allow ourselves to be blinded by fear – of fanatical religious groups that believe sex with children is ok (Texas), that killing abortionist is ok (Christian), that women have no rights or that suicide bombs make sense (Islam). All those fears are real, existing in this country and outside of it, but they cannot destroy us unless we allow them. In the same manner we cannot be drugged with the opiate of the masses (television, movies, the internet) when some choose to use it to tell us to fear the very thing we control.

If a movie like V for Vendetta tells us anything it is not that we have lost everything. We haven’t even though we have done everything that they fear we might. But if we get lulled by this fear we will be no better off, in fact worse off, than the reality that surrounds us.

I love my country. That why I vote, and promote others to do so. It’s why I cover the Presidential race. It’s why I point out the schism in the media. It’s why I defend what I think is right, and address what is wrong. And it’s why we cannot blindly fight against one fear to just accept another.

I want to leave you with a quote from that movie, apply it as you will

“What we need right now is a clear message to the people of this country. This message must be read in every newspaper, heard on every radio, seen on every television. This message must resound throughout the entire Interlink! I want this country to realize we stand on the edge of oblivion. I want every man woman and child to understand how close we are to chaos. I WANT EVERYONE, TO REMEMBER WHY THEY NEED US!”

What if they took away Black History Month? - 2.29.2008.1

What if Black History Month was removed? Would anyone have noticed? Would anyone complain?

It seems not.

Why would I say this? Because I just learned that the school system in Endicott New York has removed all Black studies in the curriculum. There was nothing discussed in this past month about Black History, not even Dr. Martin Luther King, because the entire subject was deemed unimportant.

Hello, stop and read that again. Unimportant and having no place in the minds of any of the children, including those that are African American. And this was all done without a single word to the parents, a single complaint from ANY of the students. It was just wiped out without a concern as if it was no more than a piece of errant string found on a piece of clothing.

Why am I upset? What if the school decided not to discuss the Holocaust, or Native American history? What if all the history about England was removed, or France, or Ancient Rome? What if history in schools forgot about President George Washington, just not ever mentioning what he did, or the Constitution?

People would be up in arms. Parents would be inflamed. Jewish communities would claim its anti-Semitic, Native American Indians would say it’s a slap in the face. Whole communities would demand a reason why their rich pasts were being denied their children. Cries that the fundamental based of what is America was being corrupted.

And I ask, in what way is this different? How are the lives and blood of the African Americans that helped build and shape this nation any less important than anyone else? I am not just talking about the Slaves that literally built the foundations of the nation, but the inventors that created thousands of items we use every day, like the stoplight, or save millions of lives, like blood transfusions. How can we value the lives of soldiers like the Tuskegee Airmen, or those that fought in the Civil War, or the American Revolution with any less honor than every other American.

I don’t know how we can equate those lives and contributions as less, but obviously this town in Upstate New York has. I’m willing to bet that they aren’t the only ones. What are the odds that kids in Montana, or Florida, or Ohio, or any other State have no idea about these inventions or people? How many believe that being a slave, less than a dog or piece of furniture, was no different than having trouble getting a job? I know there are more than a few as I’ve read comments that insist that the trouble the Irish had in getting a job was the same as working 20 hours a day for your entire life, with no days off or concern for your health, without pay, and with the reality that at any moment your entire family may be sold away from you and that you can be killed for no more than amusement or the crime of looking at the wrong person.

If we can allow these schools to just toss away a piece of American History, a history of an essential people that helped found and defend this nation, what will go next? Dr. Martin Luther King’s Holiday? A holiday that over half the nation fought from coming into existence, and many still ignore? Maybe the laws dealing with segregation could be next. And if we get that far, why not restate Jim Crow? Hell, just bring slavery back and make it national.

It’s not that crazy. Slavery was just 5 lifetimes ago for some families. Jim Crow was just 2 or 3. Segregation was just 1. And a people without a history aren’t really a people are they?

And this was so important an issue, that not one child mentioned it. Not one parent noticed. Not one meeting was held. It was just understood that it was ok. As long as no one spoke about it, and no one asked why.

So as long as no one asks you if you are Black, or Hispanic, or whatever color, religion, or background you claim, you are nothing. And you can’t hurt nothing. You can’t defend, offend, steal from, brutalize, rape, murder or anything to nothing. And in Upstate New York, that’s what they are equating being African American with. Perhaps the Jews will be next?

Are you nothing? Is your history, your family nothing? Are you sure?

“Don’t learn Black History because of what you know, learn it because of what you don’t know” – C. Miller

I don’t have children. I’m not a teacher or involved in the school system. Maybe that’s a cop out, maybe not. But I am now aware, and so are you. Part of my responsibility is to let you know, and ask for your comments. What will you do?

Golfweek sought attention on Tiger Woods lynching - 1.19.2008.1

Tiger Woods. It is a name that when uttered brings up images and thoughts of success, achievement, dedication, fame, recognition, respect and wealth. To some. For a few the only image is that of a Black man in a White sport. Like Fuzzy Zoeller who’s only comment about the success of Tiger winning his first green jacket (an honor few professional golfers ever get – and Tiger now has several) was a stereotyped reference to fried chicken. Or Kelly Tilghman who envisioned Tiger Woods hanging from a tree.

Before I go further I want to take a moment to reflect on something. In 2007 there were several events that stood out. A few were highly covered by the major news media; others were followed and discussed in blogs like this one. Those events included Don Imus verbally attacking the Black members of the Rutgers Women’s Basketball team without provocation, Duane ‘Dog’ Chapman hurling the N-word as he rebuked his son for the interracial relationship he was in, the kidnapping torture and sexual abuse of Megan Williams in West Virginia, the reports of roughly 50 nooses throughout the nation, and the Jena 6.

Let’s focus on the Jena 6 and the nooses. It was a noose that caused the inflammation of that event. In fact it caused multiple events, all racially based, across the country. The sight of a noose from a tree, implying the potential lynching of African Americans, evoked violence and highlighted the imbalances that exist in the application of the law in America.

All of these things are facts.

Given these facts, it should be obvious to most that a noose is little different than the swastika or the confederate flag to most African Americans. They are all symbols of hate and violence unleashed for the pleasure of people too absorbed with the skin tone of those around them. These small minds needed big symbols to evoke the fear they felt and they made them huge.

How powerful are these connotations? Considering that the conservative counts of African Americans that were lynched numbers at least 3500 over 93 years (which ends in 1958). That after 7 years of debate and stalling, lynching became illegal in the United States in 1922. That given those numbers and the recent timeline, most African Americans need only look back 2 generations to find members of their family that were affected directly by either lynching or the Jim Crow laws and prejudice that fueled it. That’s 2 generations, even if you are just 20 now.

So yes nooses are not jokes or objects of laughter any more than say Nagasaki, or a concentration camp, or the Japanese internment is. It is a visceral reminder of violence against Blacks merely because we exist. And there is no equivalent that I am aware of that White Americans have ever known.

Perhaps it’s the fact that there is no equivalent that makes it so easy for some White Americans to minimize the impact of a noose, or to call for lynching a person. Perhaps the fact that far fewer White Americans can point to any time in America and their family trees when they were considered, by law, property or less than human or deserving of death because they exist. IF a nuclear bomb had destroyed Kansas City, I’m sure they would understand as I do. IF from say now until 2254 every White American was hit with a whip, 5 times every day for a half-hour each time, I guarantee they would understand.

But the fact is most don’t understand and never will. And that is why Tiger Woods is involved in a news story that deals with golf in the most meaningless way. That is the reason that Ms. Tilghman said the remarks she made (which I discussed previously – Tiger Woods comment impacts Dr. Martin Luther King birthday), why she only received a 2 week suspension, and Golfweek thought a noose on the cover of their magazine was appropriate.

Because if anyone stopped to think about it, or the events that filled the hours between intense discussion about Sanjiah still being on American Idol, how Anna Nicole Smith died and why (it was a drug overdose and she was an addict – seemed simple to me), and Ellen DeGeneres crying on television about breaking a contract and losing a puppy she had no right to give away, then you might have noticed that the prominent display of a noose pisses off most African Americans.

Obviously the editor at Golfweek missed all the abovementioned events, though I would bet that they know about American Idol. I would have thought the comments by the Golf Channel and the reaction of most (not Tiger Woods sadly – he missed a huge opportunity to make a valid and needed point) Blacks would have been a clue. Obviously they took that, and the entire Jena 6 situation among others, as the elephant in the room.

"...we consider Golfweek's imagery of a swinging noose on its cover to be outrageous and irresponsible. It smacks of tabloid journalism. It was a naked attempt to inflame and keep alive an incident..." - PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem

There is no justification for the noose on the cover. It was a blatant attempt to profit off of a serious and offensive event. It seems apparent that they must have felt that since golf in America is so predominantly White their actions would slip through the cracks and the major news media would ignore it. Mostly they are correct, but not enough thankfully.

Let me say this clearly, I hope many in the major news media hear this and remember it. A noose is required for lynching. Neither is a positive nor funny (as many in Americas past felt they were). Both evoke memories of a time in America when we were not the land of the free, not for all not for a long time. Both evoke thoughts of words whose only use is the degradation and minimalization of an entire race of people for no reason other than their genetic birthright. The use of either of these things is no more worthy of profiteering than using videotape of 9/11 to promote political gain or an air ionizer.

There is a manner and way of using both the term lynching and a noose such that a positive is reached. That would be education and sensitivity on what those things mean and what they involved. That would help fill in some of the missing parts in American history, where African Americans are concerned.

But that would involve an understanding that I mentioned previously is missing, and that Golfweek seems far too obtuse to understand.

NJ considers apology for slavery Part 4 - 1.3.2008.4

Concluded from NJ considers apology for slavery Part 3...

Should New Jersey, Georgia, Missouri, and every single state (with the exception of perhaps Hawaii and Alaska) make an apology, I think so. Each and every one has benefited and could not exist without the efforts of slaves and Jim Crow era African Americans.

Should the American government make an apology? I cannot see a justification why it has not already. Nor can I find a single reason why reparations have not been made as precedence exists.

“Yet reparations have been made to Japanese Americans and Native American Indians, at least to some degree."

and a means of reparation exists. Not only the one I outlined at Black & White Blog (where I am co-author), which was challenged and questioned as any controversial idea should be – but it must be discussed, but also elsewhere.

We can do a lot of things. But the first thing must be acknowledging the wrongs done and APOLOGIZING for them. And along with that must be the major media and news covering this issue and presenting it to the American public.

Skeletons in the closet may be a reality of life, but they never benefit anyone. They always come out, and in doing so strife is usually attached when they are forced out against our will. There is no difference in governments and people in this regard.

Real points on reparations Part 2 - 10.9.2007.2

Continued from Real points on reparations Part 1...

And lastly there is the FACT of precidence.

“Yet reparations have been made to Japanese Americans and Native American Indians, at least to some degree. Remorse has been expressed by the Government to both groups. Yet the United States Govenment has never apoligized nor acknowledged the wrongs done with slavery and its actions/attitudes in the over a century since that time.”

Perhaps Michael Medved would like to dispute these facts. He cannot nor can any person against reparations. That is why they seek out any and every other argument.

As for how to pay the reparations I offer this idea. Provide a tax credit, of say $3,000 for any African Americans that can provide proof of heritage. This will also cover all children of those African Americans from the inception date to 18 years later, thus covering all children born the year of the reparation. The proof would come from authenticated family trees that date back to at least 1865 and can show slavery. This tax credit is a lifetime credit, meaning that you have a total of $3,000 for life, being used over that lifetime. If you use it all in one year its gone. If it take 10 years at $300 a year then so be it. You don’t get more and the max is the start amout of $3,000.

This plan builds the economy, providing jobs for researchers and companies providing authenticated certificates. The Government would increase workers that would manage the list with the I.R.S. Oversite groups could be created to ensure that the fund is not mismanaged. Enforment jobs could be created to protect that scams could not take advantage.

Plus there is the fact that the economy would get a boost from the additional money being used to pay for goods and services. Credit cards coulds be paid off, downpayment and improvements on homes, pay for college tuition and supplies, investments in 401K’s and the stock market. Not to mention purchases of food, clothing, and whatever else.

Explain where this is a bad, or impossible thing to accomplish?

America had slaves, and made them build the nation. America profited and grew from this slave labor. Some of the worst attrocities known to man were commited to the slaves and their descendants, for centuries. America refuses to acknowledge what it did, or the benefit it received. At the same time America has apologized and made reparations to others of its people who were arguably far less abused and persecuted.

I will not put my head in the sand. I will not allow half-thought, tangent laden, slippery-slope arguments to obfuscate and distract me and others from the facts. I do not accept the romanticized arguments and media imagery.

America owes reparations and an apology to African Americans. They can be paid and must. America will always have over it’s head this division of it’s people while avoiding the honest debate and response.

Medved may enjoy this denial, and others like him, but the fact is that this is a rot in America. And given time, any rot will eventually destroy whatever is rotting. The same holds true for America.

This is what I think, what do you think?

Real points on reparations - 10.9.2007.1

This is a continuation of a discussion based on the comments by Michael Medved against reparations. It can be seen at Responding to Michael Medveds rant against reparations - 10.9.2007.1

It is long, but I feel it's worth the time.

**This post can also be found at Black & White Blog a forum for both sides of controversial issues.**

So how about I actually discuss the reasons why reparations make sense? How about we actually talk about American slavery and not detract from the subject in discussion of eras and societies that are not American?

There were millions of slaves that were forcibly taken from Africa to America, and died. That means families experienced the loss of fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters, in a boat under duress. Murder is punishable, and as we have abundantly seen with the OJ Simpson case, profitable. Genocide, since this was a willful act done repeatedly to a singular and specific group of people, would seem to up that exponentially.

Of the surviving Africans, they were sold of without regard to their families or any factor other than their perceived ability to work, in the most humiliating manner. They were placed on display similar to a car in a showroom, with potential buyers pawing and prodding them. That is further duress and suffering.

Once sold, the slaves were guaranteed a lifetime of work. This work was menial at its best, without breaks, without pay, without time off. Medical care, which was not guaranteed, could range from intense to minimal and provided no guarantee of time off to recover.

Slaves were routinely beaten, mutilated, physically and mentally abused, sexually harassed and raped while forced to work. Any one of these is enough to cause the employer to be jailed, then or now, if it were done to another human being.

Slaves were denied their right to freedom of religion. They were denied an education. They were fed and clothed just enough to allow them to continue to work. They were denied freedom of speech. They were denied the right to have and/or raise a family.

Slaves built cities, roads, infrastructure, and agriculture. Every aspect of any business and establishment that exists in America today that has a tie to colonial America is connected to the slave workforce. That’s North or South.

If the average slave worked only 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, 360 days a year for 4 decades of life that’s 158,880 hours of work per slave. If we assume that there were 3 million slaves from 1619 to 1865 (which is a low-ball estimate) then that is 476,640,000,000 hours of work done. Those are BILLIONS of hours. This does not even touch the Jim Crow era. Assuming a pay of just .05 cents an hour in 1865 money (no adjustment for actual worth in money today) that means $23,832,000,000. If I adjust by taking an increase of just 10% for each year for 55 years that’s a 9150% increase to $2,180,628,000,000. That’s TRILLIONS of dollars, adjusted just 55 years at 10%. There’s still another 87 years to go and we are adjusting from .05 cents. If anyone feels that more than TRILLIONS of dollars of work did not change America, they are stupid in my opinion.

In addition

“Jim Crow and other equally repressive laws and actions hindered Black African Americans. Incidents have occured even in the 20th century and include the Tuskegee syphilis experiments in the 1930’s, the destruction of Tulsa’s Black neighborhoods in 1921 and the loss of life and property when the all-Black town of Rosewood was destroyed by a white mob in 1923.”

Continued in part 2...

Response to 'Average American' comment on comparing news coverage Part 4 - 9.28.2007.4

Concluding from Response to 'Average American' comment on comparing news coverage Part 3...

You go on to say that OJ was freed, actually he was found innocent by a jury of his peers which included Whites. He did nothing more than what other rich men have done. Afforded a great legal team. How much time did Senator Ted Kennedy spend for Chappaquiddick?

The D.C. Mayor was elected. Drug use or not. And how many politicians are duplicitous in their actions? Perhaps you might also find fault that Senator Hillary Clinton took $850,000 from a man (Norman Hsu) that had a warrant for his arrest, evaded prosecution, and scammed people for that money. Even after the fact of his past was revealed, the Clinton campaign spent weeks before mentioning how much money he had given. They even initially tried to give away only $32,000 AFTER they knew of his record. You want to speak about questionable political figures; a Presidential candidate may be where you want to start.

And the Duke Lacrosse team. Those innocent boys, that hired strippers for a drunken party with minors. Whose actions prior to this event gave pause to their credibility and claim of innocence. That had every media outlet defending them from day one. That received justice, fame, and monetary gain for their troubles. Do I feel bad for them? No, they are richer today, several having graduated, and have no long term problem.

“How is it that so many black people care so little for truth? With the turnout at the Jena march it suggests there is a huge disparity in understanding that exists between the black population and the rest of America.”

Truth? I think I have clearly stated the events involved. What part of the events in Jena do you see as a lie? You disagree that there were nooses hung? You already said they were. You dispute the honesty that the White boy was attacked? No one has said he wasn’t. That all of this was started because of remnants of the segregation that was rampant in the South in your youth? While no one has said it exactly as I just have, everyone agrees that the source of all this was Blacks sitting under a tree that was considered Whites only. So what lie have African Americans assumed as truth?

I agree there is a disparity, but not in the manner you suggest. If you are the ‘Average American’, which I severely doubt having read your words several times, then there is a large disparity between Americans living in the 21st Century and yourself. The rest of us are willing to say a law or action is wrong. White, Black, Hispanic/Latino or any other minority. The average person I know in America wants a rule of law that is fair and equal, in execution and meaning. Those I know would not only write in protest, but march for what they believe. An even smaller portion, and no less or more loyal, have taken an oath, as I have, to defend this nation and ALL her people.

I have given an oath, as did my father, both grandfathers, and a sister. I believe in the Constitution and the Amendments. I have and those before me, and many today, have sweat and bled for this nation. That means I believe in your right to have your opinion and voice it. I further invite and encourage commentary on the posts that I make. But that does not mean that either of us has to agree.

I feel that you have a mind that is closed to some aspects of life. I believe you cannot accept that things happen in this nation that you would never allow to happen to a White American. I believe you think that life in America is fine as is, and because I believe you are White and have never faced any of the events and problems I, my family and friends have encountered they don’t exist in your mind.

If rose colored glasses could work in reality, the world would be far better. But they don’t. Slavery was real, as was Jim Crow laws. Segregation lasted longer than the 60’s, and racism persists today. That doesn’t mean I will blithely accept these things. I am successful and strive for better.

At the same time, I am constantly reminded that I am an African American Puerto Rican, and that everything I have made can be lost quickly. I am reminded that for every obstacle I surmount there is another waiting. And I am reminded that people that share your views will make my life difficult, sometime without their own conscious intent, to live.

I leave you with this thought. Life is fluid and in constant motion. The moment you stop trying to improve you start to decay. This is true of Justice, Equality, and personal actions.

This is what I think, what do you think?

Tancredo and Hargrove - 2.2.2007.1

Leave it to Mr. Stephen Colbert to hit the nail on the head. In discussing Black History Month he brought to light the question of Virginia wanting to express “profound regret” about slavery. Yes the state legislature of Virginia has considered saying they are strongly remembering with feeling a loss the act of slavery they imposed on Africans taken against their will and brought to America to build the nation that has become what we know today. It’s only taken 140+ years since the abolishment of slavery.

Of course not everyone agrees. Mr. Frank Hargrove, a delegate, thinks that Black Americans should just “get over” 246 years of slavery and consideration as property. That the subsequent 100 years of Jim Crow laws and segregation and de facto third-class status should have been more than enough to adjust. I would imagine that he feels that the Civil Rights movement was all the reparation that was due to the descendants of more that 4 million slavers in America. The fact that Hargrove doesn’t want to “apologize for anything” seems to support that thought. Since I infer that Hargrove thinks its such a great idea, or at least no big deal, he wouldn’t mind having all of the stuff he and his family (all of them) own taken away and to have them all go into the fields of farms in his state, owned by Black Americans, and work 20 hours a day seven days a week with out healthcare and no pay. I’m sure they will get over it.

Of course Mr. Colbert pointed out another joyous thought by a politician, in this case Mr. Tancredo. Mr. Tancredo feels that minorities having a caucus is just hypocritical and discriminatory. As Mr. Colbert mentioned it’s not like Congress is anything but overwhelmingly comprised of 45+ year old white men (for the last 200 years or so). Yes, according to Mr. Tancredo minority caucuses need to include the majority so they can fairly represent the views of the minorities in this nation. What a visionary. I’m so happy he his around to help me understand the political goals that will help improve my life as a Black Puerto Rican American.

It’s not like either man would be able to survive a day if they were to live as a minority in this nation, I imagine. Especially if they had to encounter others with views such as their own, I think. But maybe they were able to see how ridiculous they seem, thanks to Mr. Colbert. Hopefully everyone else could see it just by reading what they said.

This is what I think, what do you think?