NABJ Comments On The Lack Of Debate Moderator Diversity

I had my say about the problematic lack of diversity when the presidential and vice presidential debate moderator selections were announced.  So did the NAACP and Univision's president on behalf of the Latino/a community. 

It was appalling that in an election year which will feature the most diverse electorate ever in American history and has an African-American president running for re-election, those October debates with have no African-American, Latino/a or Asian journalists posting questions to the 2012 presidential and vice presidential candidates. . 

In case you're wondering, the last African-American male journalist to serve as a presidential debate moderator was CNN's Bernard Shaw in 1988.

Former ABC News anchor Carole Simpson was the last African-American female to moderate a presidential debate, doing so in 1992. 

Gwen Ifill of PBS has moderated two vice presidential debates in 2004 and 2008.  

The National Association of Black Journalists are definitely not happy about the vanillacentric debate moderator selections whitewashed by the Commission on Presidential debates either, and here's what they had to say about it on August 17:

NABJ is disappointed that the journalists chosen to participate in the presidential debates don't reflect what has become the most diverse electorate in U.S. history. 

While we commend the selection of the first woman moderator in 20 years, we find it unacceptable that no journalists of color will be involved. The Commission on Presidential Debates, which announced the selections this week, blamed the omission on "debate arithmetic." Frankly, the math doesn't add up.

There is no absence of qualified journalists of color, or those with experience as debate moderators, such as NABJ Hall of Fame member Gwen Ifill, of PBS.

By excluding journalists of color, the commission failed to satisfy an important public interest given that racial and ethnic minorities will contribute roughly one quarter of the votes cast on Election Day. Any credible analysis has shown that their turnout, or lack thereof, will be a decisive factor in the presidential contest. This year, both presidential campaigns and their parties are devoting more resources than ever to reaching non-white voters.

Yet the commission has minimized the significance of our nation's changing identity, as well as the role of minority journalists in informing an increasingly diverse public. We believe the commission wasted an opportunity to use its unique platform in a manner that encourages more citizens to participate in the democratic process.

"The commission had a chance to embrace the racial kaleidoscope that the American electorate is fast becoming, and chose instead to remain blind to it," Sonya Ross, chair of NABJ’s Political Journalism Task Force, said. "It is time to end this cyclical charade of treating equally deserving, equally capable journalists of color as if they are invisible, unqualified, or both. I would like to invite the commission, along with leading entities in political media, to join the task force in making a concerted effort to ensure a truly diverse set of presidential debate moderators for 2016."

So why is this lack of debate moderator diversity a big fracking deal to POC's?   In addition to the fact there has never been an Asian or Latino presidential debate moderator of either gender, non-white voters will be the decisive voting blocs in several swing states.

We need to hear the presidential and vice presidential candidates answer debate questions that are geared toward our policy concerns and issues as people of color. 

As NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous stated, “The lack of diversity among this year’s debate moderators is representative of the overall lack of diversity in news media. Whether it’s as primetime news anchors, debate moderators, or commentators on the influential Sunday morning political talk shows, people of color — and African Americans specifically — are strikingly underrepresented.”

That is what we POC Americas are complaining about, the lack of representation.

A debate setting is one of those times Republican candidates, who avoid non-white media outlets on a routine basis because they don't want to answer those tough questions from POC journalists, have to do precisely that, especially if the moderator is a person of color. 

Some of those issues and policy concerns (let's be real here) white journalists aren't culturally fluent in or it wouldn't immediately occur to them to ask those types of questions from our non-white points of view because we do live in two vastly different American realities.      

If you are going to run for president of the United States, then you have to be president for ALL Americans, not just a vanillacentric 63% slice of th population.   If you are setting up debates to ask the people running for the highest political offices in the land questions, the journalists asking those questions also need to reflect the diversity of our nation.

 

Damn, Can A Gold Medal Winning Sistah Enjoy It?

Gabrielle Douglas was a major part of the first USA women's gymnastics team Tuesday night effort to win the team competition gold for only the second time since the 'Magnificent Seven' pulled off that feat in Atlanta in 1996.  

Gabby then followed it up on Thursday by making more history.   She became the first African-American gymnast to win the all around title and the first American gymnast to win the team and all-around gold medals in the same Olympiad.

Serena Williams dominated the Olympic women's tennis singles competition field at 'Williams'-don so throughly she only dropped a total of 17 games and didn't lose a set.

In the gold medal match it took her a mere 63 minutes to win in dominating 6-0, 6-1 fashion over Russia's Maria Sharapova.

In the process Williams became the first tennis player ever to win golden slams in singles and doubles.

She and her big sister Venus go for a golden repeat title in Olympic women's doubles on Sunday against the Czech Republic's duo of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka in the gold medal match.in a few hours. 

But did whiteness and white supremacist addled people give these women or their proud African-American community a chance to celebrate their hard earned victories in peace?  

Hell naw.   Black female trailblazing athletes are always catching hell from somebody that has a problem with them on some level .

First came the snide comments from some quarters because reigning gymnastics world champ Jordyn Wieber failed to qualify for the all-around competition and her tears were beamed all over the world.   I'll admit I even felt sorry for Wieber for a moment until some of the online conversation and even the media started trying to minimize Gabby's contributions to that Fab Five's win.

Then I got pissed. 

That was rapidly followed by ignorant knee-grow Twitterverse peanut gallery obsessing about Gabby's hair which whiteness then picked up on.

It was folowed up on Thursday night by NBC's clueless running of a promo commercial for one of the fall shows it's heavily promoting called Animal Practice which featured a monkey doing ring gymnastics.

Cute commercial, only one major problem.   NBC ran it immediately after Bob Costas had just done a  segment commenting on Gabby's historic all around win that was tape delayed in the US to show in primetime.



What's the problem with that?  Plenty.  It may have been unintentional, but when Black people of both genders have been disrespectully compared to animals for over four centuries, that was a seriously problematic timing for that ad somebody in the production truck should have caught. 

Combine that with people already being pissed off about how far too much of NBC's televised coverage for the London games has been tape delayed.  

NBC apologized for it, but yeah, as much as I riff on Fox Noise for their racism and I'm about to do again, I have to call it out when questionable race related stuff happens even on networks I watch on the regular. 

Now moving on to Serena.  She celebrated in the aftermath of her microwave tennis win by doing the crip-walk dance before changing into her USA warmup suit and receiving her hard earned gold medal.

Cue all the Williams haters and the racist idiots at Fox Noise trying to stir some stuff up I've gots to call their  vanillacentric privileged hater tots chomping behinds on.



Fox Noise has been hatin' on Serena Williams for a while and took the opportunity to swipe at her again courtesy of a Reid Forgrave article posted on their website..

Seriously Reid Forgrave?  You conservafools are really trying to live up to your hatin' on Black folks reputation.

You GOP propagandists trying to claim that Serena's crip-walk dance celebration of her Olympic singles gold medal is 'embarrassing the USA in front of the UK and the world' is laughable.

Hell, even Gabby briefly danced the Dougie after her wins.

Let's be real for a moment. Your boy Mittbot caused far more embarrassment to the United States in front of the UK and the world on that travesty of a foreign trip last week to the UK, Israel and Poland than a few seconds of Serena happily dancing for a few seconds after celebrating her well deserved golden win ever will.   Serena's celebratory dance didn't inflame Middle East tensions, piss of the Palestinians, Prime Minister David Cameron, London mayor Boris Johnson, and cause multiple international incidents like Mitt Romney cluelessly did.

Y'all are just pissed off that the Williams sisters, despite injuries, the constant micro and macroaggresive racist drama y'all put them through continue to kick the butts of your eastern European tennis glamazons on the world tour on a regular basis and are unapologetically Black while doing so.

But damn, can a gold medal winning sistah enjoy it?

They Mad

Whether it's the African-American occupants of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to the Olympic all around champion and my favorite tennis playing siblings, the vanillacentric privilege that drives the hate, snide comments and animosity aimed at trailblazing African Americans is still prevalent in 'post-racial' America.

Time To Pay Us Black Trans Speakers, Too

One of the things that irritates me and other African-American trans community people who have gotten the opportunity to do speaking engagements is running into a meme, mindset or mistaken belief by organizers and planners of these events.

It's a mistaken belief that because we African-American trans speakers don't get as many of these speaking opportunities vis a vis our white counterparts, we are so starved for the attention that we'll do these for free or severely reduced rates.

We African-American trans peeps have bills to pay and need to replenish our bank accounts like just like our white trans community counterparts do.  To be honest, it's our stories that urgently need to be heard by society in addition to us getting the visibility that white trans people have had since 1953.

Our chocolate trans people not only need to be heard because they bring fresh perspectives and innovative thinking to the ongoing rainbow community human rights discussion, frankly y'all need the 'ejumacation' about what our lives are like and what we think about the hot topic issues inside and outside our rainbow community. 

And Black trans speakers also need to be standing up at podiums inside the Black community as well doing the 'ejumacation' and sharing our knowledge as Kylar just did at the recently concluded NAACP convention in Houston..

Black transpeople need to be showcased far more frequently than they are nowadays because it will blow up the erroneous perception in communities of color and society that thoughtful, visionary trans people like us don't exist.   It also is concrete evidence we have out and proud unapologetically Black trans people who are involved in the rainbow human rights struggle and we Black trans people have some ideas about where the movement needs to go..

And yes, those fresh perspectives are worth paying for to hear them.if you have the ability to do so.

Two years ago Dan Choi was getting flack because either he or his agent was allegedly asking for $10,000 before he'll even step to the microphone to speak.  It was something a then Texas Tech student complained about and I rebutted in my Activists Need To Get Paid, Too post.

My fee is not even close to that.  

A few years ago in the wake of my keynote speech at the 2008 gender conference I was part of at the University of Colorado, I had an inquiry come in about my availability to speak at a large west coast city's pride march.   They were willing to go as far as fly me roundtrip out from Louisville and put me up in a hotel, but when I asked for a mere $500 on top of that there was cricket chirping silence.

Considering my profile in the trans activist community and status, they were getting off extremely cheap.  I also believe that had I been a melanin free trans human being I would have been standing at the podium that day and had more money than that mere $500 in my purse on the way back to Da Ville.   

I'm also hearing the same complaints from other African-American activists who have had a few colleges or groups balk at paying speaking fees when we are quite aware they had no problem shelling out far more money for white activists who don't have one-tenth of the activist resumes many of us have put together.

But yes, if you want to help speed up that day when trans African-Americans can do our parts to help uplift our community and be financially stable enough to be able to donate to your causes, y'all have make that investment in our talents as well.

Time to pay the Black transman and Black transwoman for their stories and valuable time that they are willing to spend to enliven you event when you summon the courage to ask them to do so.

Williams Sisters Win, Cue Racist And Transphobic Slurs

Didn't take long for the haters to start posting racist negativity aimed at the Williams sisters as they had a very successful fortnight at 'Williams'-don and captured the Ladies singles and doubles titles.

Loved this post by NewBlackMan (In Exile) Entitled 'Ain't I A Champion?'

If you think I'm kidding about the racist negativity, just peruse some of the comments that were directed at her on Twitter this week.

Today a giant gorilla escaped the zoo and won the womens title at Wimbledon... oh that was Serena Williams? My mistake.

      Serena Williams is a gorilla

     Watching tennis and listening to dad talk about how Serena Williams looks like gorilla from the mist

     I don't see how in the hell men find Serena Williams attractive?! She looks like a male gorilla in a dress, just saying!

   
You might as well just bang a gorilla if you're going to bang Serena Williams

     Earlier this week I said that all female tennis players were good looking. I was clearly mistaken:

The Gorilla aka Serena Williams.

      serena williams looks like a gorilla

      Serena Williams is half man, half gorilla! I'm sure of it.

     Serena Williams look like a man with tits, its only when she wears weave she looks female tbh, what a HENCH BOLD GORILLA!

       
Serena Williams is a gorilla in a skirt playing tennis #Wimbledon

      My god Serena Williams is ugly! She’s built like a silver backed gorilla

      I would hate to come across Serena Williams in a dark alley #nightmare #gorilla #notracist

      Serena williams is one of the ugliest human beings i've ever seen #Gorilla

Note to you scientifically illiterate bigots.   Gorillas also look like this.

I don't hear you comparing those Eastern European tennis playing amazons who lose to the Williams sisters on a regular basis on the world tennis tour to this animal, calling them ugly or men. 

I'm just sayin'. 

But I'm more than a little sick of the Williams sisters getting 'unwoman' shade spat at them by you haters who bitterly resent the fact that international tennis since 1999 has been dominated by two Black women who grew up in Compton.

Serena went through the defending Wimbledon champ in Kvitova, the presumptive world number one and 2012 Australian Open champ in Azarenka and Radwanska to get her fifth Venus (Williams) Rosewater Dish, so yeah she earned it.

You haters want so desperately to write them off, ignore their accomplishments and their status as two of the greatest tennis players in the game, but they continue to win Grand Slams.  You resent the fact the Williams sisters have had injuries, battled illnesses stared death in the face and still come back after an almost two year layoff to spank those behinds on the various world tennis courts. 

By the way, in case you weren't aware of this, the 2012 Olympic tennis tournament will be conducted at the All England Club.  Who are the defending tennis doubles gold medallists?   Serena and Venus.  . 

And still they rise.   They look damned good doing it too. 

Sharon Needles' Clueless Bigotry

Why am I not surprised that a RuPaul's Drag Race winner doesn't have a clue why it is not fracking cool to sign a photo with 'Black is the new Black ♥ you Ni***r."? 

Especially since the creator of the show supports a drag queen who thinks (and the white gays who support the tired 'act') it's humorous to watch a obese gay white male dress up in blackface and portray 'a welfare mother with 19 'chirren' all named after venereal diseases and discount stores.

This time I'm not talking about Shirley Q. Liquor, but 30 year old Sharon Needles, AKA Aaron Coady.

There's been an increasing firestorm of criticism being aimed at Needles from the rainbow POC court of public opinion  who considers that autograph in the photo problematic.

The vanillacentric circling the rainbow wagons around Needles is only pouring gasoline on the smoldering anger of African American rainbow peeps and especially when we hear the tired 'lighten up' comment come of the mouths of Sharon Needles fans.

The anger of the African American SGL community went up a few more notches after this YouTube video surfaced with Needles trying to gaysplain it.

The other night me and a couple of my friends went out to have a good time, and there's this young thing. I call her a "thing" because, you know, I don't know how to tip-toe around gender rules or queer politics. I'm 30 years old, rich, and famous; I don't have to deal with that shit anymore, you know what I mean? So we'll just call them "him"/"her"/"thing," whatever. And you know she really finds my shows offensive. ... So anyway she got upset that I paint myself brown, that I would use language that she found offensive. ... She made me an unnecessary poster child for post-racial change."

  
Sniff sniff, I smell industrial strength vanillacentric privilege in the rainbow air from Coady.   And yes Aaron, whether you and your vanillacentric fan base think otherwise, you exist with white privilege.  If a POC is telling you that your show is offensive and why, maybe you need to stop and think about that for a moment and then correct you behavior instead of trying to defensively justify it.

Let me say this once again for you peeps to understand.  Just as you hate being called the f-word that rhymes with maggot, we don't like the n-word.
It is not okay to perpetuate negative stereotypes and problematic language and flying the rainbow flag doesn't change that or give you a pass on that. 

And Aaron, you can best believe I will address the transphobic nature of what you said in that YouTube video in another post

It is NEVER okay for you white peeps inside or outside the rainbow community under ANY circumstances to say the n-word.  When it comes out of your mouth we're instantly thinking about all the four centuries of negative history behind that word and the cuss out (or beatdown) that results from you doing so will be swift and sure.

Once again it is highlighting an issue that needs to be addressed in the overall rainbow community in terms of racism in the rainbow community ranks. 

It doesn't help and pisses us off when white BTLG people not only knee-jerk circle the wagons around the people we POC's call out for the offensive bigoted behavior, but arrogantly try to tell us trans and SGL folks of color what we should and should not be offended by.

Non white LGBT people are aware that we can't eradicate racism in our rainbow ranks unless we can have a serious conversation about it and the will to do so.  

We also know much of the heavy lifting on this issue has to be done by white GLBT peeps since they still are reluctant to come to grips with the fact or play the 'if we ignore it it'll go away' game there is a rainbow community race problem.   

And Sharon Needles, you definitely need to check yourself before you end up walking in your idol RuPaul's and Chuck Knipp's pumps and find yourself becoming a community pariah and your shows being consistently protested

We Know Why You Conservafools Are Hatin' On AG Holder

Been watching the jacked up right wing shenanigans playing out this week in Hollywood for Ugly People (AKA Washington DC)  concerning the bogus Fox generated Fast and Furious kerfluffle that BTW, started under the previous occupant of the Attorney General's office Michael Mukasey

We know why y'all hate Attorney General Eric Holder.  

Besides the obvious facts that he was appointed to the job by President Obama and he's African-American,  Issa and his fellow conservafools hate Attorney General Holder because he's not defending DOMA, is vigorously enforcing the Voting Rights Act, taking down your ALEC sponsored voter suppression laws and going after your Juan Crow anti-immigration laws.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) basically said the same thing I'm saying in this post. "It is no accident, it is no coincidence, that the attorney general of the United States is the person responsible for making sure that voter suppression does not happen in our country," Pelosi said at her weekly briefing. "These very same people who are holding him in contempt are part of a nationwide scheme to suppress the vote. They're closely allied with those who are suffocating the system: unlimited special interest secret money."

Sen John Cornyn (R-TX) let the comment slip about Holder fighting Texas' voter suppression laws during the recent Senate hearing that was held on Fast and Furious and called for Attorney General Holder's resignation ."You still resist coming clean about what you knew and when you knew it with regard to Operation Fast and Furious," Cornyn charged. "You won’t cooperate with a legitimate congressional investigation, and you won’t hold anyone, including yourself, accountable. Your department blocks states from implementing attempts to combat voter fraud. In short, you’ve violated the public trust, in my view, by failing and refusing to perform the duties of your office."

You Fox Noise watching conservasheeple may believe the bull feces that's being fed to you by the conservamedia but reality based America knows what's up here.  Y'all think that by stirring up a replay of the Shirley Sherrod episode and stirring up all this crap, you can get him to resign.

Well, to quote a Diddy rap song, Attorney General Holder ain't going nowhere or resigning.

So keep on hatin' him conservafools.   We know why you hate him.
  .

There The 1% White Gay Peepul Go Again

I've been keeping up with the ENDA executive order kerfluffle being stirred up by some quarters of Gay, Inc. It reminded me of something that Kat Rose said on her FB page last year.

Why is it that when a politician changes his mind to the detriment of trans rights its 'political reality,' but when a politician changes his mind to the detriment of same-sex marriage, he becomes the embodiment of betrayal - Benedict Arnold multiplied by Julius and Ethel Rosenberg with a Quisling chaser?. 

I would also add to that statement by Kat, anytime a politician doesn't immediately jump to the will of what white gay peeps demand at that moment in time. 

And I have to wonder did anyone in Gay, Inc leadership ranks or the Gayosphere take political science, think strategically about issues that affect this community or have any fracking common sense?  

What's going on in rainbow political world is that elements of the white GL community started going apoplectic because President Obama hasn't signed an executive order that is alleged by the GL 1% to be the elixir for stopping anti-GLBT discrimination. 

The ENDA executive order elements of the Gayosphere are loudly complaining about would only protect a small slice of the GL population.  It would if signed only prohibit discrimination for those rainbow community people employed by federal contractors, not the entire community..  

As they like to say when any issues surface that affects them short of full legislative equality, it's crumbs.   

It was also interesting that within days after the screaming started in the Gayosphere, the unanimous trans friendly EEOC ruling in the Mia Macy case came down.

But back to discussing the executive order drama.  

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which is a trans community political Holy Grail, is more comprehensive than the proposed executive order the Gay 1% is pimping.  ENDA would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in both public and private employment..

So why are they tripping, especially since the trans community has repeatedly urged them since 2004 to focus on passing an inclusive ENDA, local and state level GLBT employment protection and human rights laws like New York's GENDA instead of this 'all gay marriage all the time' push?  

I submit to you that the reason the Gay 1% boys and girls went on that 2010 full court DADT repeal press was desperation for a policy win in the wake of another devastating marriage equality referendum loss in Maine that dropped the marriage referendum record to 0-31. 

And don't think we trans peeps forgot about Rep. Barney Frank cutting trans people out of ENDA in 2007 or the fact that people like Americablog's John Aravosis (who cheerleaded that decision) is one of the gay bloggers chewing on the POTUS' behind about that executive order. 

Um John, I trust a constitutional scholar and former law professor over you any day.  In addition I don't buy for a moment you have 'evolved already' on the issue of trans inclusion in ENDA.


There's a Houston connection to this GLBT political theater because the questionnaire that the POTUS signed to get the Houston GLBT Political caucus endorsement over Hillary back in 2008 mysteriously found its way into the gay media via MetroWeekly.   The Caucus denied they leaked the questionnaire, but my suspicions are it came from some Hillary supporters that are still pissed that then Senator Obama won that Caucus endorsement by a razor thin margin.

GetEqual is making noises about protesting Obama campaign headquarters over the executive order, which if they do go there is not going to sit well with African-American TBLG people and exacerbate our already testy post Prop 8 relationship with our white GLBT counterparts. 

But sure as making money betting Dan Savage is going to say something insulting to another group, the White Gay Peepul are going to go there anyway. 

You longtime TransGriot readers know I have called out GetEqual and Gay, Inc orgs at times for their penchant of knee-jerk protesting of President Obama anytime in their vanillacentric viewpoint they perceive he's on the 'wrong' side of GL issues.  But GetEqual won't lift a finger or expend the same levels of energy to protest their real Republican gay oppressors to the Black rainbow community's disgust .

So GetEqual.  I eagerly await the posts describing your upcoming protests of Romney campaign headquarters around the nation and the upcoming GOP convention in Tampa.

Umm hmm,  That's what I thought.

Never mind the fact President Obama has been the most gay friendly one that have ever occupied the Oval Office and the best ever on trans issues.    Mitt version 2012 damned sure won't be signing any GLBT friendly legislation if we are unfortunate enough to have him win on November 6, much less nor will any progressive GLBT friendly legislation be coming out of a House or Senate controlled by bat guano crazy conservative politicians.


The smart political play would be to ensure that the POTUS gets reelected to a second term, bust your rainbow asses to ensure the Democrats hold the Senate and if possible increase senate representation (think Senator Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin) , and get the House back in Democratic (and Nancy Pelosi's hands) while gearing up for a full court press to pass an inclusive ENDA in 2013.


But what we're getting right now is a replay of what happened in 2010 in terms of elements of the white gay community demanding the POTUS sign an executive order in the middle of a tight political campaign year on an issue that demands and needs a legislative solution to distract from another anticipated marriage equality loss, this time in North Carolina.

NBJC and NAACP Leaders Condemn NOM Race Baiting Tactics

Wasn't surprised by the recent revelation that the National Organization for Marriage was attempting a cynical strategy to split African-Americans and Latinos from the coalition supporting same gender marriage and LGBT rights.

“The strategic goal of this project is to drive a wedge between gays and blacks — two key Democratic constituencies,” read the NOM memo that outlined a plan to recruit African-American spokespeople to speak out against gay marriage, then organize a media campaign around their objections.

Of course, NOM is unrepentant about getting busted and went into damage control mode, with NOM president Brian Brown boasting that they proudly bring together people of difference races, creeds and colors.  

"We have worked with prominent African-American and Hispanic leaders, including Dr. Alveda C. King, Bishop George McKinney of the COGIC Church, Bishop Harry Jackson and the New York State Senator Reverend Rubén Díaz Sr., all of whom share our concern about protecting marriage as the union of one man and one woman."

Let's be real for a moment and cut the conservabull.  It's more like you work with sellouts and human rights oppressors from those communities.

African-American leaders from the NAACP and NBJC began calling out NOM for their reprehensible tactics.  NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous stated in a press release:

“This memo only reveals the limits of a cynical agenda,” stated Jealous. “The truth is that no group, no matter how well-funded, can drive an artificial wedge between our communities. People of color understand what it is like to be the target of discrimination. No public relations strategy will make us forget that.”

It followed up a statement by former NAACP chairman Julina Bond in The Hill in which he called out NOM, stating the strategy memo "It confirmed a suspicion that some evil hand was behind this.”

National Black Justice Coalition Executive Director Sharon Lettman-Hicks also blasted NOM and expressed her concerns about their attempts to exploit the African-American faith community to push their reprehensible agenda..

"These documents expose NOM for what it really is--a hate group determined to use African American faith leaders a pawns to push their damaging agenda and as mouthpieces to amplify that hatred.  NOM is fighting a losing battle. With these memos made public, the black faith community must refuse to be exploited and refuse to deny their fellow brothers and sisters equal protections under the law."

Now can we get some other African-American leaders to step up to the plate and condemn this hate group?