Lowe's Caves To Islamophobia

Y'all know I don't really care too much about reality TV shows, but in light of what is going on with the TLC Network's All-American Muslim show and right wing Islamophobes pressuring companies to remove their advertising from it, may just have to start watching this one in protest.

The show premiered last month and focuses on the lives of five Muslim-American families in Dearborn, MI.   The Detroit suburb has the largest Muslim population in the United Stares and boasts the country's largest mosque. 

But a Tampa based group of Islamophobes called the Florida Family Association has been hatin' on the show and pimping a boycott of it.    The FFA claims that it has gotten 65 of the 67 companies they targeted with  boycott letters to comply with their wishes.

One of those companies is the giant North Carolina based home improvement megastore Lowe's, which acknowledged they pulled their advertising from the show.  

While they received praise from conservafools and the FFA about their decision it is getting increasing backlash from fair minded Americans.

"Hate groups are entitled to their bigotry — that is the beauty of America, people have the right to their own opinions," Said Hussam Ayloush, the executive director of the Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "However, when a large corporation takes their side or caves in to the requests of hate groups, that is of concern."

Rep Keith Ellison, (D-MN) the only Muslim in the US congress issued a statement that Lowe's had "chosen to uphold the beliefs of a fringe hate group" and given in to intolerance.

"Corporate America needs to take a stand against these anti-Muslim fringe groups and stand up for what is right because this is what it means to be an American," said Rep. Ellison.
Lowe's spokeswoman Karen Cobb said the company had a "long-standing commitment" to diversity and pulled the ads only after the show became "a lightning rod for people to voice complaints from a variety of perspectives."

Yeah, right Lowe's  You caved to bigots...

UH ESPN GameDay Notes: Corso Picked The Coogs!

 But not so fast my friend, Corso dropped the f-bomb in doing so and had to apologize for it later. 



Still doesn't detract from the fact he knows his football.

New BET Show 'Reed Between The Lines '

The networks may be canceling shows with African American or multicultural casts without giving them a chance to develop an audience, but BET isn't.  

They not only renewed The Game and Let's Stay Together for another season, on Tuesday nights they have added the show  Reed Between The Lines to their lineup.



The show stars Tracee Ellis Ross and Malcolm-Jamal Warner, and focuses on psychologist Carla and English professor Alex as they juggle careers, marriage, blended family and life's ups and downs.   It also has as cast members Anna Maria Horsford,  Robin Givens and Melissa De Sousa

Definitely will have to check it out..

Pan Am's Flying Again

But only on Sunday nights on ABC at 9 PM CT.

As a former airline employee, I was definitely looking forward to seeing this show when it started on September 25 but was tied up with other more pressing business in DC.  

Caught the tail end of the 'We'll Always Have Paris' episode last Sunday and finally took some time to sit down and watch the pilot and the full first episode and fell in love with the show.

Pan Am is set in 1963 and follows a group of Pan Am pilots and flight attendants as they live, love and work at 30,000 feet and on their layovers.  In some cases they are front line covert soldiers in the Cold War. 

It tells some of the story in flashback form, as it did in the pilot episode when we see Captain Dean Lowery flashback to a 1961 flight from Cuba in which they flew out the released Bay of Pigs invasion prisoners with Bridget showing up at the last moment.   There was another in which Laura is shown leaving her fiancé Greg at the altar on her wedding day with big sis Kate's help..  


We get to watch Maggie Ryan, sisters Kate and Laura Cameron, and Colette Valois endure all the hassles of being flight attendants during that glamorous era of jet travel such as weight checks, sexism, the no marriage rule and the joys and pains of dealing with the public such as drunken businessmen who think grabbing the flight attendant comes with the price of their ticket as happened to Maggie in the 'We'll Always Have Paris' episode .



Trilingual Kate finds herself being recruited as a covert intelligence operative while dealing with the fact her fresh out of training baby sister has become a celebrity due to a LIFE magazine shot of her in her Pan Am uniform.  

Maggie is on probation for not wearing a girdle and was reinstated when Bridget quit.  She isn't afraid to test the rules and her Pan Am supervisors last nerves. 

Colette is a French flight attendant with a tragic past that has yet to be revealed, but we do know from the pilot episode she discovers that a former lover of hers is on her New York to London flight with his wife and child.   

Oops.  Can you say awkward?

Captain Dean Lowrey is in love with his girlfriend Bridget Pierce, a British flight attendant who was the purser on his crew until she had her MI6 cover blown on an undercover assignment.in which she failed to follow orders and was forced to quit Pan Am and vacate her London flat. 

Dean is searching for her and is mystified as to what happened to her.   In his search for answers to the mystery,  he isn't getting any straight answer out of the people that can shed light on what happened to Bridget or her current whereabouts.

Interestingly enough, the Association of Flight Attendants released a statement after the Pan Am pilot episode aired:     

"The premiere episode of the new Pan Am drama on ABC may be a nostalgic escape to the days before deregulation, but it also highlighted the myriad of social injustices overcome by the strong women who shaped a new career. Weight checks, girdle checks, the no marriage rule, sexism, gender discrimination, racism – all of this was challenged by intelligent, visionary women who helped to usher in the call for social change throughout the country and around the world." 

That they did, and I have much love for the flight attendants of mine and any airline and what they had to endure during my Air Marshal days and now.

But I'm still going to chill out and watch this drama that gives us a glimpse of what pre-deregulated air travel was like on not only one of the iconic airlines in the United States, one that has a deep impact in our popular culture as well.  .

The TransGriot 'A Different World' Quiz-The Answers

Did y'all have fun racking your brains trying to answer the questions to my TransGriot A Different World Trivia Quiz ?   Or did you peeps not even try and just wait for me to post the answers to it?

For your reading pleasure, here are the answers to the trivia quiz.




1-What was Dwayne Wayne's middle name?
Cleophus

2-Which one of these well known actors DID NOT appear on the show?
d-Vivica A. Fox

a-Halle Berry 
b-Eriq LaSalle  
c-Damon Wayans
d-Vivica A. Fox

3-What real life HBCU was used in the still photos and shots used to represent Hillman College?
Spelman College in Atlanta

4-What actor played Jaleesa's ex husband Lamar?
Thomas Mikal Ford
(extra credit if you can name one of the two shows he was a cast member of
Martin and New York Undercover

5-What was Whitley's boyfriend's name before she started dating Dwayne and what school did he attend? Julian-and he attended Georgetown University
 
6-What were Whitley's and Dwayne's pet nicknames for each other?
Whitley's was Pookie for Dwayne and Dwayne called her Bunny

7-Freddie Brooks was from what state?
New Mexico

8-True or False- Young and the Restless star Kristoff St. John made an appearance on A Different World. (True-in season one as the student in charge of the tutoring office)

9-What political office was Byron Douglas running for?
state senator

10-Colonel Taylor fought in the Vietnam War. What was his rank at the time?
Lieutenant

11-True or False. Whitley slapped Dwayne during the first season.
True

12-Who was the lead singer of Ron's band Xpressions?
Kim Reese

13-Match the A Different World parent with the job they held.

Mercer Gilbert (judge)
Adele Wayne (accountant)
Joni Brooks (psychologist)
Clinton Reese (police officer)

14-Name the actors who played these A Different World parents

Mercer Gilbert (Ron O'Neal)               
Clinton Reese (Richard Roundtree)
Col Bradford Taylor (Glynn Turman)     His kids Suzanne and Terrence attended Hillman
Marion Gilbert (Diahann Carroll)

15-What was the name of the university that Kinu Owens and Freddie's cousin Matthew attended?
Avery University

16-What was Jaleesa's sister's name?
Danielle-played by Vanessa Bell Calloway

17-Ron has had three girlfriends during his time at Hillman. Name them.
Millicent, Kim and Freddie

18-What was Lena and Gina's fast-talking roommate Charmaine's full name?
Charmaine Tyesha Brown
(bonus points if you can name her boyfriend)
Lance

19-Who played Freddie's attempted date rapist Garth Parks?
Taimak

20-What state was Hillman College located in?
Virginia


21-What was the name of Ron's fraternity?
Kappa Lambda Nu
(bonus points if you can name what the pledges were called)
Roaches

22-How many years did it take Shazza Zulu to graduate from Hillman with his BA?
six years

23- What Caribbean island was Gina's family from?
Martinique

24-Who played Lena's Baltimore ex boyfriend Piccolo?
Tupac Shakur

25-What was the name of Kim's medical school lab partner and where was he from?
Spencer Boyle and he was from Jamaica

***

Now it's time to score your quiz

0-5     Hillman freshman
6-10   Hillman sophomore
11-14 Hillman junior
15-18 Hillman senior
19-21 Hillman BA
22-23 Hillman Masters
24-25 Hillman PhD