Showing posts with label prejudice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prejudice. Show all posts

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Shepard Fairey's thoughts on barry's choice of Warren

december 19, 2008

TIME Magazine named barry 2008 Person of the Year and used as its cover a poster made by Shepard Fairey. See his video interview on the making of the poster.

Name Goeshere

FAIREY: Tomorrow my illustration for Time Magazine’s “Person of The Year” hits the newsstands. While I’m very honored to be validated by a periodical that is nothing short of an American institution, the moment is bittersweet because I’m very disappointed by Obama’s appointment of Rick Warren to deliver his invocation during Obama’s inaugural address. Rick Warren is against gay marriage and reproductive rights, and he does not believe in evolution (maybe he offers himself as proof of lack of evolution). I understand that Obama is trying to appeal to conservatives and evangelicals, but this move is symbolically a slap in the face to many people.

Warren is not a uniter, but a divider… he is intolerant in many of his views. I still think Obama is the best choice for president, but I can’t condone Warren’s involvement in Obama’s inauguration, no matter how insignificant it is. While I’m on the subject of gay marriage, I will be donating a chunk of the proceeds from an inauguration poster of Obama I was asked to create to the movement to overturn Prop 8. At first I was considering pulling my inauguration poster, but I think re-directing funds from it to put into a cause I care about is actually more constructive. Plus, I wouldn’t want withdrawing the image to come across as a blanket boycott of Obama. I’m sure I will ultimately disagree with Obama about many things, but I think I will agree with him on more. I think it is important to speak one’s mind, but also to not let the narcissism of petty differences sabotage our unity and progress.


Saturday, December 27, 2008

Quote of the day: "What do you mean by 'my community'?"

December 22, 2008

Hardball

Barnicle, Rev Rivers and Mike Rogers are discussing barry's choice of Rick Warren and the impact on the LGBT community. Where is Keith Boykin hiding? How Warren is a divisive figure politically with his opposition to Prop 8 and the misinformation he promulgated. Rev Rivers thinks it's just a "pseudo-controversy". Listen to the righteous indignation in his voice and how he talks over Mike Rogers. His loud defensiveness and dismissive body language gives him away. He does not like gay folks. Why is there an extra stigma in the black "community" - especially for men? Mr Rogers sits there calmly explaining his position. Really quite remarkable. Kudos. I would have enjoyed watching him handle barama matthews.



courtesy of firedoglake

BARNICLE: What bothers you about Barack Obama inviting Rick Warren?

ROGERS:...In picking Rick Warren, [barry] picked somebody who has basically used gays in the cultural war by attacking gay relationships in the Prop 8 battle. And I think he was a bad choice, not again because of his religious beliefs, but because of his political activity. I think that the community has a right and in fact mandate and a need to stand up and object to theat behavior.

He mentions how Saddleback's website has toned down the previous openly homophobic language -- like Wright's did and barry did after Wright, Pfleger, New Black Panther Party...

BARNICLE: We're already making progress here. Rev Rivers, isn't tolerance a larger issue here than Mr Warren's appearance at the Inauguration?

RIVERS: Oh, absolutely! I think this is basically a pseudo-controversy that's been fabricated by the sorta anti-religious left. [Then he goes a'ranting - loud and angry.]...Anyone that has actually does their homework and researches what Rick in fact does...

BARNICLE: Gene, are you saying that Mr Rogers hasn't done his homework?

RIVERS: Obviously! Listen! Point of fact--

Slaps his hand in his palm (3:30) and talks louder and louder and continues talking over Rogers. Barnicle can't host a show. Eventually he lets Rogers speak but Rivers speaks over him again.

ROGERS: ...where you are forced to come on and defend Rick Warren- the very fact that this argument is happening shows the power if the gay community...

RIVERS (4:11) laughs dismissively, shrugs and turns his head to the right. Power, yeah right...who cares. This sure reveals a lot about him. He goes beyond defending warren and barry - he shows his obvious disdain for the gay community. And he does so freely without any attempt to hide it. I've watched him a lot of times starting when he came out against wright and was pist at barry - but this is the most agitated I've seen him.

Now this is absolutely ridiculous. Barnicle has spent the last two years referring to the African American *community*. They don't listen to their guests and it's clear not even to themselves. Don't they ever get embarrassed by their lunacy?

BARNICLE: Hey, Mr Rogers, let me ask you a question. You just referred in your response to - you used the phrase *my community*. What do you mean by my community? Aren't we all part of the one community in this country? Or ought we not to be part of one community?

RIVERS: Amen!

Amen is right. How many times have we hear Rev Rivers say that white America doesn't understand the black community? That wright isn't so bad because whites just don't understand black churches. And what barry's election is doing for the black community - African American if you like. Why don't these folks listen to themselves?

Rogers then makes his point that the gay community hasn't changed - but Warren has because he was confronted.

RIVERS: Mr Rogers. Listen! Mr Rogers, if YOU are happy and feel better, president-elect Obama, Rick Warrren and myself are happy. It's a great advent experience. If you're feeling better that's a good thing. Issue resolved!

What can you say to this? He interjects himself and puts himself on par with barry and Warren.

ROGERS: I think it is an improvement. What I would like to see, and I'd like to hear you agree with it, is that Rick Warren convenes and sits down, again, behind closed doors, none of the showmanship up on the stage, and trotting everybody out. But sits down with the leadership of our community--the gay leadership--and says I'd like to build a bridge. Sit down with the Human Rights Campaign, sit down with National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Religious Roundtable and show me that your speech is really about reaching out and that it's really about uniting America. And if you can't sit down, and have those meetings with the community, then I think that really shows what you're really about.

Barnicle tries to speak and Rivers cuts him off.

RIVERS: (INDIGNANT!) No. No. No. No. Mr Rogers. Mr Rogers, listen ...

ROGERS: (Calm) Sure.

RIVERS: Uhm, it would be presumptuous of you to suggest that if Reverend Warren doesn't sit down with your particular CREW [He sits forward and shakes his body in a dismissive manner], that somehow that's an act of bad faith. That's a political trick.

Imagine the black community being referred to as a "particular crew". Never happen. Nothing is taken seriously but race.

ROGERS: If Rev Rick Warren is a so-called leader in the evangelical movement who represents the evangelical movement on a national level--

RIVERS: White evangelical.

ROGERS:...certainly it's appropriate for him to sit down with the national leaders of the gay and lesbian movement -- let's not parse the exact phrases-

BARNICLE: We've got to wrap it up there.

RIVERS: We're all happy now! [laughs]

BARNICLE: We're all happy now.

Yeah because they did their bit. What are the chances warren is going to have such a meeting? And what's the likelihood of the proobamedia making sure it happens and Rev Rivers is there?

Monday, December 22, 2008

What entails a hate crime?

December 22, 2008

Morning Joe

They're discussing barry's pick of Rick Warren and the LGBT outrage.

JOE: When you call people who don't agree with you're a bigot--

MIKA: You're cutting off the conversation.

JOE: If, I disagree with somebody on same sex marriage, then I'm immediately called a bigot. The conversation ends right there.

Do they even listen to themselves? What did we hear from them during the election season? People not voting for barry were bigots. They couldn't get their heads around a black man being president. They weren't voting for another candidate they were automatically voting against barry and therefore bigots.

This exhausts me.

The Double Standard and hierarchy of -isms is alive and well. Racism has it's own rules and wins out over any other type of prejudice. What is "white racism"? Or "reverse racism"? When did racism become color-coded? Sexism, ageism and prejudice against homosexuals are ok in various forms. Women are whiny man-hating, sweatshirt and Birkenstock-wearing feminazis. Ageism is a punchline. And gays are being unreasonable because it's a moral not civil issue.

Human rights are human rights.

And barry can do no wrong. He's bringing people together...he's uniting America...he's the greatest president-elect who hides behind a federal prosecutor when they did nothing wrong.

So why the silence?

It's just another politically expedient decision. What else would it be? barry is most certainly not going to lose the LGBT vote and is pandering to the right. Didn't he used to be the most liberal senator when it suited his needs? Voting 97% time with his party with no dissenting votes of consequence? He is trying to ensure his place in history without having done anything but nominate people and the proobamedia is coronating him as the second coming of Lincoln, FDR, Kennedy and Reagan.

Name one great senator he resembles - a job he has actually had.

Anyone?

Sexual "orientation" is not universally covered as a hate crime whereas race is. Matthew Shepard was savagely murdered 10 years ago and there is still no all-inclusive bill. Since then only 8 states have added sexual orientation. The Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007 passed in the Senate 60-39 on September 27, 2007. All Dems yea - plus Coleman, Collins, Gregg, Lugar, Sanders, Smith, Specter, Snowe, Voinivich, Warner. McCain not present. It was eventually dropped mainly because Bush vowed to veto it. barry says it's going to be a priority.

We'll see, won't we?

2006 DOJ Hate crime statistics

12,620 law enforcement agencies participated in the UCR Program's hate crime data collection. Agencies provided 1 to 12 months of data about bias-motivated crime, and of those agencies, 2,105 (16.7%) reported 7,722 incidents. 83.3% of the 12,620 participating agencies reported that no hate crimes occurred in their jurisdictions.

Alabama and Mississippi reported ZERO cases. That's an absolute impossibility.

51.8% racially motivated -- 64.4% anti-black

15.5% sexual orientation -- 98% anti-homosexuals (transsexuals not categorized)

Now consider that only 3% of the population identify themselves as homosexuals. So, from this data, hate crimes against homosexuals are disproportionately high and hate crimes in general are markedly under reported.

And 45 states (+ DC) have statutes covering race, religion, and ethnicity but only 31 of them cover sexual orientation.

The stats speak for themselves and the LGBT community should be allowed to speak. And to be heard. And not referred to as "fascists" like scarborough just did.

==============

You may know about the gruesome torture and murder of Matthew Shepard.

Now consider the case of the white female nurse's aide who hit a homeless black man with her car and then went home and had sex with her boyfriend while the homeless black man bled to death in her garage.

The force of impact impaled him in the windshield - forcing his head and torso inside her vehicle. His right leg was fractured in two places and his left nearly amputated.

It is unclear if she stopped and tried to extricate him. She would have had to pull on his legs.

She drove several miles home, his face inches from hers as she apologized for hitting him and he moaned in pain and pleaded for help. She ignored him. She then pulled into her garage, shut the door and left him there to bleed to death. She didn't know how long it took him to die because she eventually stopped checking on him.

He did not suffer a head injury or any type of internal injuries. He would not have died from his leg injuries. He knew what happened to him and was in severe pain. He begged her for help. She promised she would get him some. She never did - even though she continued to check on him. She did not give him the water he asked for. She did not render any type of first aid even though she was a nurse's aide and knew how to do so. She did nothing to cover him - his pants and underwear were hanging off his leg.

She let him bleed to death, naked from the waist down, impaled in the windshield of her vehicle, with his mangled legs splayed on the hood of her car.

Eventually he knew he was going to die. Alone. He knew help would never come. He knew the people he could hear inside the house weren't going to help him. He knew she had lied to his face each time she came out to see if he was dead yet. He knew he was going to die impaled in the windshield. He knew that his naked body would then have to be disposed of. He knew there was a chance his family would never know how or where he died. He knew he would never again see his son or attend his marriage. He knew he would never see his grandchildren or say goodbye to his family. He knew there was a chance his body would never be found and thus not receive a proper burial. He knew that the women who hit him and allowed him to bleed to death like an animal might never be found. And he knew that she might never be punished for killing him while withholding medical assistance and torturing him with assurances that help was coming.

I don't know how someone can be so evil. What possesses someone to do this to another human being? How could she continue to go out and listen to him beg? How could she walk away? A nurse's aide? Pure evil.

The case was broken after the nurse's aide giggled to her friend: "I hit this black man." And then she went on to say she had sex with her boyfriend while the naked homeless man moaned in agony. She later denied saying it. She said she was afraid to call for help because she was high on alcohol, marijuana and ecstasy.

The woman's attorney, MIKE HEISKILL:

[His client] not the animal or monster the police are portraying her to be. [She is] not this cold inhumane person that we've heard about. I think this is overreaching on the part of the prosecution and the police and, in the end, I believe the law will shake out that this was simply a case of failure to stop and render aid.

Read that again.

Her two male friends - both white - eventually yanked the dead homeless man's body out of the windshield - leaving behind his tissue and hair and a big pool of blood - took him to a local park and dumped him like garbage - still naked.

The coroner said he could have been rescued even after he was inside her garage. He had no other life-threatening injuries. There were no head injuries that would have rendered him unconscious. It took approximately two hours to for him to bleed to death.

Did you hear about this case?

Did you hear Revs Sharpton and Jackson or Johnny Cochran in the news raging about the reckless disregard for human life? That a white woman allowed a black man to die in her garage impaled in her windshield and then threw him away like trash?

No. You didn't. For a very good reason. Change the races on all the players. The woman was black and the man was white. It was not prosecuted as a hate crime. And if the races were reversed it most assuredly would have been.

How can a crime be more heinous? How is what she did not extreme indifference for a human life? Why should there be a difference relative to their skin color?

Her statement to the son of the man she lied to and allowed to die:

MALLARD: I am so sorry, Brandon. I am so sorry for what I have caused your family. And I'm sorry for the pain that I have put my family through.

The victim's son Brandon went on Larry King after the verdict and had this to say:

BIGGS: Well, I believe there is something good in every situation. Positively, it's making me a stronger person. It's going to make me able to speak with other people who are going through a tragedy like this and not just with sympathy but with empathy. But negatively, there are probably too many to even list. He will not be around for the rest of my life and that's -- that's a very sad thing.

CALLER: Brandon, I would like to know how in the world could your family sit back and let your father be homeless?

Sick and heartless. Brandon was 18 at the time and his father had been homeless for approximately 2 1/2 years. His father struggled with bipolar disorder but Brandon had a relationship with him - seeing him at the shelter where he lived.

KING: And what was it like for you and him?

BIGGS: Well, it was great. We did a lot of fun things together. We went shopping. We went fishing. Just had a good time with each other....He would stay in a shelter on Lancaster Avenue in Ft. Worth and he would actually pay rent there. It was kind of a place for people who were down to get back up on their feet. And so, when he told me that he was living there, I would go visit him as much as I could and we would still go do the things that we had always done.

KING: Did he -- was he able to look for work? Was he trying to get his life straightened out?

BIGGS: Yes, he was, Larry.

KING: So, you can say the two of you were very close?

BIGGS: That's right.

Brandon wants to be a pastor. He forgave the woman who allowed his father to suffer and die and be thrown away like garbage. He went to court everyday. He heard the testimony and saw the gruesome pictures. He heard how her accomplices "got rid of the dude". And he forgave her. He was 20 y/o at the time (2003).

BIGGS: The forgiveness, well, it comes because I've been forgiven of so much. And I just -- I can't not forgive other people, no matter how grievous -- no matter how grievous. Life is too short to live with all the anger and the bitterness. It's just too short for that.

She was found guilty and sentenced to 50 years. What would they have done to her in Iran?

Gregory Biggs (37) and convicted murderer, Chante Mallard (27)

Saturday, December 20, 2008