Dang Those Slaves Were So Ungrateful

How someone thought that CPAC, one of the most conservative gatherings in America, was a good place to hold a panel on reaching out to minorities is beyond me. So I am not surprised this happened:

A panel discussion on race at the Conservative Political Action Conference turned into a debate over slavery and segregation when an attendee from North Carolina said that “young, white, Southern males” are being disenfranchised by Republicans.

Scott Terry, 30, rose from his seat to question the discussion leader, K. Carl Smith, from the Frederick Douglass Republicans, over the role of race in the Republican Party. Terry said that the growth of diversity in the party and outreach to black conservatives has been “at the expense of young, white, Southern males like myself.”

“I think my demographic is being systematically disenfranchised,” Terry said.

Smith responded by telling a story about a letter that abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass wrote to his former slaveowner forgiving him for holding him in servitude.

“For giving him shelter and food?” asked Terry, as some members of the audience gasped and others laughed.

Think Progress reported that Terry later said he supports segregation.

Terry told Think Progress following the panel discussion that he believed that whites have been “systematically disenfranchised” by the federal government. He also told Think Progress he’d “be fine” with a society with blacks subservient to whites. African Americans, he said, should vote in Africa. He claimed the tea party agrees with him.

Good heavens. Slaves should have been grateful they were provided room and board?! And the guy was serious. Wow.

Colin Powell Calls Out Republican Party

Gotta love people who are willing to speak the truth no matter the criticism. If the Republican Party were smart they’d listen to the man. Demographics is destiny.

The Overreaction File – Terry Bradshaw Was Not Being Racist

Terry is just a funny guy.

Sometimes people need to relax and recognize that not everything is meant to be racist.

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Terry Bradshaw became the subject of some controversy after a joke he made during Fox’s NFL studio show didn’t come out as he intended.

On Sunday, Bradshaw was discussing highlights of the first half of the Miami Dolphins-Indianapolis Colts game with fellow Fox studio analysts Howie Long, Michael Strahan and Jimmy Johnson. During a clip that showed Miami’s Reggie Bush making an impressive 18-yard touchdown run, Bradshaw said: “Look at this, Jimmy — like he was chasing that bucket of chicken that the wind was blowing the other day.”

Many wondered if that comment held an element of racism as Bush is an African-American.

During the segment, Strahan (also an African-American) suggested that the comment had been directed at Johnson, quipping: “I’m glad you’re talking about Jimmy and not me.”

And on Monday, Bradshaw was quick to apologize, confirming that Johnson was the target of his remark.

“[I'm] so sorry if I hurt anybody and I’m shocked I’m in this position,” Bradshaw told USA Today.

He said he meant to say “you” (as in Johnson) instead of “he” (as in Bush) and hadn’t realized he had made the mistake until Monday morning, when Fox staffers played the tape for him.

“I can’t defend myself,” Bradshaw said. “I’ve never been in a situation like this. I don’t know how to react, except to apologize for something I didn’t know I said. I’ve been upset today. It’s not me. I’m shocked.”

He added the comment was part of a running joke Sunday.

Johnson’s “big thing is chicken, Kentucky Fried Chicken. He won’t share it with anybody,” Bradshaw said.

For his part, Johnson echoed that sentiment Monday on Twitter: “Terry Bradshaw was referring to me about ‘chicken’..I eat 4 pieces on the set every Sunday! Now I’m in trouble with my wife.”

I can understand that since viewers didn’t know the context at the moment he said it, it could have been misconstrued. But once it was  explained, people need to let it go. Clearly there was nothing there.

Obama Symbolizes What’s Great About America

He embodies the promise.

Reposted from The Huffington Post

Finally it’s over. No more debates, commercials, endless campaign speeches and subsequent news reports. No more talking heads and spinning. No more polls. The only poll that counts was the one from Tuesday night. And thank goodness the best man won. Now that it is over, after a week or so of post election analysis and celebration (at least for the Democratic side) and whining on the losing side, we can go back to being one, clearly divided nation.

Read more here.

Does Obama’s Skin Color Fuel The Anger Of The Right?

Hatred gone wild.

This article sums up the so-called “white elephant in the room” and no pun is intended by this reference by the way, though it is in retrospect kind of an ironic fit.

Is it because he’s black?

The question of whether race fuels opposition to President Barack Obama has become one of the most divisive topics of the election. It is sowing anger and frustration among conservatives who are labeled racist simply for opposing Obama’s policies and liberals who see no other explanation for such deep dislike of the president.

It is an accusation almost impossible to prove, yet it remains inseparable from the African-American experience. The idea, which seemed to die in 2008 when Obama became the first black president, is now rearing its head from college campuses to cable TV as the Democratic incumbent faces Mitt Romney, the white Republican challenger.

Four years after an election that inspired hopes of a post-racial future, there are signs that political passions are dragging us backward.

“We’re at a tipping point,” said Susan Glisson, director of the Institute for Racial Reconciliation at the University of Mississippi. “But I don’t know which way we’re going to tip.”

I really don’t think all people who are against President Obama are against him because he is part Black. Many of those people dislike all Democrats and liberals and I think really believe he is simply too far left. But you do have to wonder about the level of hatred and all the references to him not being fully American, not born here, possibly Muslim, etc., etc. The guy in Austin, Texas who lynched an empty chair in his front yard, an obvious reference to Eastwood using an empty chair to symbolize Obama, is the latest example.

Food for thought. It is just hard to believe that his skin color is not a factor for many of these “we want our country back” people.

Here is the full article. Well worth the read.

Randy Newman Is Gonna Make Some People Mad With This Video

OK this is very clever of Randy Newman. Makes its point well. And sure to rile up a few people.

Mitt Romney’s America Doesn’t Seem To Include Me

Mitt Romney’s first major campaign ad came out a couple of weeks ago that shows his idea of what America should look like. It is scary for what it doesn’t show. Take a look at this ad, which I know campaigns plan in detail, with nothing in it being unplanned, and you will see that in Romney’s idea of a better America, it is lilly White. Try to see how many Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, or others that are non-White you see. I glimpsed maybe one, in the background, with his head turned. To think they did this on purpose, showing only Whites, in such a diverse country as this, is amazing in the message it sends.

Take a look at Mitt’s America:

Are Racist People Just Dumb? Well, A New Study Suggests So.

Closed attitudes come from closed minds.

There’s no gentle way to put it: People who give in to racism and prejudice may simply be dumb, according to a new study that is bound to stir public controversy.

The research finds that children with low intelligence are more likely to hold prejudiced attitudes as adults. These findings point to a vicious cycle, according to lead researcher Gordon Hodson, a psychologist at Brock University in Ontario. Low-intelligence adults tend to gravitate toward socially conservative ideologies, the study found. Those ideologies, in turn, stress hierarchy and resistance to change, attitudes that can contribute to prejudice, Hodson wrote in an email to LiveScience.

Oh Wow. This is something I always suspected but now there is evidence of it. Oh boy, this is going to be controversial. But let’s be honest. It makes sense. Racism is dumb. It makes no sense. So logically it makes sense that people who are racist just aren’t thinking very much. Believe me, I have gotten into debates online with racist people and often I walk away shaking my head as I realize how impossible it is to use logic and reasoning with these people.

Here is the rest of this must read article.

Tea Party Says Slavery Wasn’t All That Bad

Tea Party craziness

Come on now, people. At first I didn’t believe this story. But it is true. The Tea Party in Tennessee now wants the schools to go easy on slavery and slave owners, to point out that they weren’t all bad people or bad intentioned.

O.M.G.

Check the story out here.

The Ups And Downs Of Race Relations In One Week

The Leader of The Free World.

What an interesting week this has been in terms of ethnic and cultural relations in this country. As I wrote about in my last blog post, there was the crazy press conference of Marilyn Davenport, who felt it would be a hoot to send around a photo of the President as a chimpanzee. Additionally there has been the very ugly incident in the Baltimore area of the two Black girls beating the transgendered White woman almost unconscious in a McDonald’s.

Both incidents show that no matter how far we have progressed we still have a long way to go. And they also show that Whites are not the only people who can commit stupid and racist actions. No matter who commits such a despicable act, we need to call them out for it. Let me go on record and say that I am aware that the incident in Baltimore may not have been about the woman being White as much as it was about the girls finding what they saw as a man in the women’s bathroom.

But nevertheless their reaction was way over the top and completely uncalled for. People should not treat each other the way they treated this woman no matter what. And Marilyn Davenport’s action was equally painful considering the connotations of her “non-violent” act of hatred.

With both incidents happening back to back, I was beginning to feel that the dream of ever getting beyond this ethnic and cultural lunacy was just that, a dream. But then I noticed a breaking news report on local TV here in Los Angeles that changed my mood completely.

President Obama had been here in Los Angeles for a fundraising trip and was about to leave the city from LAX. The local news stations broke in to the scene at the airport as the President’s Marine helicopter was coming in from wherever he had been in L.A., as Air Force One awaited him. I turned my attention to the TV screen for this somewhat routine departure.

The helicopter landed on the tarmac. Two Marines marched up to the doors of the chopper in full dress and opened the doors, standing at attention for a moment, then raising their hands in a crisp salute as the President came through the chopper doors. President Obama saluted back and strode across the tarmac the short distance, with all the cameras, reporters, and military personnel, all transfixed on him as he walked confidently up the stairs to the open door of Air Force One. At the top, he turned, waved to the crowd, then entered the majestic jet.

It was a simple scene and one I had seen many times before. But this time it was different. For me. This time, what I saw, what made me smile in awe and gratefulness as I watched it unfold, was a brown-skinned, part Black man as the most powerful man in America and possibly the world. Those two white Marines and all the others there, were saluting the President of the United States. who happened to look like me and who got to this place because the American people chose him to be their highest representative. He represented all of us. This man had the responsibility of the whole country on his shoulders and he carried it well.

That short news report put the other two ugly incidents into perspective for me. There will always be bigots like Davenport and there will always be people, of all colors, like those two girls in McDonald’s, who represent the worst behavior possible. But what President Obama proves by his presence in the role of President, is that the American people can get beyond “race.” Not only does Obama symbolize that by the fact that he is both White and Black, but his election would not have been possible were it not the for the coalition and coming together of people of all ethnicities and colors who agreed it was time for a major change in who could run this country and what color their skin could be.

We are better than the Marilyn Davenports of America, who though they may try to belittle people of color, they cannot stop what is happening. And we are better than those two girls in Baltimore, who cannot seem to understand that violence is not the appropriate response to people we do not understand or may not like. The best that we are is symbolized by one man’s solitary walk across an L.A. tarmac, because what got him to that place was a country that can and does occasionally get beyond what divides us.