This holiday weekend edition of the Shut Up Fool! Awards is not only taking place on the weekend of the 233rd birthday of my country, but another Sister-Sister ladies singles final will be taking place on July 4 at 'Williams'-don.
And which Williams sister will I be rooting for? When it's a head to head matchup, I lean toward Big Sis since I'm an older sibling myself, what can I say?
But I have much love for both of them. I'll also be rooting for them to win another Wimbledon Ladies Doubles title, since they have reached the finals of the doubles tournament as well.
So back to the purpose of this post, which is to shine an unwavering spotlight on our Fool (or Fools) of the week.
So let's get down to business and reveal who that fool is.
Our winner this week is for the first time in the short history of the SUF awards is a group award, and it goes to Faux News!
Our favorite GOP propaganda organ masquerading as a 'news' network. Pumping out disinformation 24-7-365 and riling up the sheeple with crazy talk.
TransGriot Note: Guest post by Dawn Wilson, 2000 IFGE Trinity Award winner and the first African-American trans person to win the award.
Once again the forces of ignorance in the TG community show themselves. When my friend Monica wrote about the lack of African American transgender persons at the recent event in the White House she was kinder than I would have been.
It is well noted in many surveys that the minority transgendered population suffers the most in today’s society.
Case in point, the 2000 Washington DC Transgender Needs Assessment Survey (WTNAS) which pointed out the gross disparities faced by many young minority men and women
It was compiled from 263 questionnaires collected from September 11, 1999 to January 31, 2000. Duplication was prevented by the use of an acrostic as a unique identifier for each participant. Subtraction of duplicated and incomplete/inconsistent questionnaires produced a final total of 252.
Participants range in age from 13 to 61, with nearly 80% 36 years and under. Seventy-five percent or respondents report being born anatomically male, 24% female and 1% intersexed. Over 94% are of color, with nearly 70% African-American and 22% Latino/a. Eighty-four percent are U.S. citizens, and 20% have immigrated to the U.S., mostly from Latin American countries. The majority of the participants self-report their sexual orientation as Gay (65%), their gender identity as Transgender (69%) and their relationship status as single (69%).
The WTNAS survey found and I quote:
Forty percent have not finished high school, and only 58% are employed in paid positions. Twenty-nine percent report no source of income, and another 31% report annual incomes under $10,000. Fifteen percent report losing a job due to discrimination from being transgendered. Forty-three percent of the participants have been a victim of violence or crime, with 75% attributing a motive of either transphobia or homophobia to it.
Almost half of the participants (47%) do not have health insurance, and 39% do not have a doctor whom they see for routine health care.
Ratings of accessed regular health care services with regard to their quality and sensitivity to the participants as transgendered individuals range from Good to Excellent, but the numbers reporting indicate a low level of overall access.
The most common barriers to accessing regular medical care reported are lack of insurance (64%), inability to pay (46%), provider insensitivity or hostility to transgendered people (32%), and fear of transgender status being revealed (32%).
With disparities like these, the question is clear. Where were the trans minorities of color?
As author Alice Walker pointed out, “No person is your friend who demands your silence or denies your right to grow.”
It was pure arrogance on the behalf of imitation French vanilla transgendered activists to think they have the power to dictate to the transgender community at large who is acceptable in their eyes to meet with the President of the United States.
If they were truly our allies, they needed to talk to the leaders in the African American transgendered diaspora that we chose to represent us.
Unfortunately, some people fell for that ‘okey-doke’ illusion of inclusion strategy and instead of giving a multicultural panel a chance to represent us, went out and formed another white-dominated panel and anointed its leader as THE spokesperson for the community. Because of this, the tranquilizing drug of complacency was injected into the transgender community and put us in the position once again of being sold out.
As reprehensible as those actions were, there was a silver lining in all of this. People are beginning to question this community’s commitment to diversity.
One of the lessons I was taught by my Sunday School teacher Sister Willie Mae Lewis was a mantra drilled into us that I remember to this day that resembles a math equation.
Accountability + Responsibility = Credibility
She also reminded her students that before one can lead, one must be willing to follow and hold themselves accountable for their actions.
It seems that some transgender community leaders and other people inside the Beltway have forgotten that lesson, much less been taught it.
It is time for them to learn the folly of their ways and school is in session.
There are several predictions I can make with absolute certainty for Saturday's Ladies Singles final at Wimbledon.
*An African-American will win it. *It'll be played on Independence day *The champion's last name will be Williams.
My favorite tennis playing siblings made it to the finals of the Ladies Singles earlier today but took different routes to get there.
Little Sis had to play a knockdown drag out three set semifinal match for the ages in subduing 2008 Olympic gold medalist Elena Dementieva of Russia 6-7 (4-7), 7-5, 8-6.
It was the longest semifinal women's match ever played in the open era at Wimbledon at two hours and 49 minutes, and Serena had to battle, claw, scrap, chase and hustle for every point. She also got some critical points that clipped the line by millimeters that were verified by the automated Hawk-Eye system.
Dementieva was considered the underdog despite having some recent success against Serena. She knocked Serena out of the Olympic singles tournament last year and had won two other recent non-Grand Slam tournament matchups with her prior to Wimbledon.
She also brought her A+ game to Wimbledon as well.
But this is a Grand Slam tournament, and the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club is the Williams sisters home away from home.
A few hours later two time defending Wimbledon champion Big Sis destroyed Dementieva's countrywoman and world Number 1 ranked player Dinara Safina to set up an all 'Williams'-don ladies final for their fourth time in their careers.
Safina was eliminated in a 6-1, 6-0 rout that only took Venus 51 minutes to complete.
It took 27 minutes before Safina even won her only game of the match and she was already trailing 5-0 in the first set.
And don't look now peeps, the Williams sisters are in the Ladies Doubles semifinals, so they may be taking another check home before their successful business trip to England is completed.
Should be a very interesting 4th of July. But as an elder sibling I'm rooting for Big Sis to take home another Venus (Williams) Rosewater dish on Saturday..
We are counting down to the July 13 start date for the trial of Dwight DeLee, the alleged killer of Lateisha Green.
Since the media ain't doing it, with the help of my trans brothers and trans sisters, allies, and fellow bloggers, I'll do my best on TransGriot to try to keep you informed and updated about the developments in the upcoming DeLee trial.
I had this post last month jump starting it, but my game plan is to do more frequent updates from now until the end of the trial.
Bear in mind that I'm a long way from Syracuse, NY, so if you live in the area, help a sistah out. Help us shine a glaring spotlight on the case and generate buzz so it gets covered properly. Shoot me an e-mail reporting what's going on from time to time. You might catch something I miss, especially since you live in the area.
July 2 News
Got an e-mail from Gina stating that the Justice For Teish site on Facebook has now garnered 1,000 members. However, the site for Angie had 5,000 members at the same time period, and there's been a huge disparity in the media coverage vis-a-vis the two trials.
I'm having conversations with peeps at GLAAD and will be attempting to get in contact with people at TruTv to get them to cover his trial.
Far too many of the victims of anti-trans violence happen to share my ethnic background and far too often their killers are other African-Americans who either get away with it or get a legal slap on the wrist.
You long time TransGriot readers have probably noticed that I write a lot of posts geared toward our northern neighbors.
It's not an accident. Even before I ended up with a dear friend who resides north of the border I was fascinated by the Great White North. I noted as an African American the close cultural, spiritual and historic ties we share with our African descended brothers and sisters north of the border.
The Canadians are our largest international trading partner, and we share a long 5000 kilometer (3145 mile) border with them stretching from the Arctic Ocean along the Alaskan frontier, through the Pacific Northwest, passing through the Great Lakes and eventually ending at the Atlantic Ocean.
So it amazes me sometimes just how ignorant some Americans are about basic Canadian geography, much less their politics and their culture.
There are Canadians who can break down the US political system better than American natives and know our capital is in Washington DC. I'm willing to bet my next paycheck that many Americans not only couldn't tell you what the capital of Canada is but find it on a map.
Hint, it's in Ontario. And no it ain't Toronto. That's Ontario's provincial capital.
Speaking of provincial capitals, how many Americans can tell you what those provincial capitals are, much less name the provinces and territories off the top of their heads?
In terms of politics, who is the Prime Minister of Canada? What party does he belong to? Can you name the five major Canadian political parties? You get bonus points if you can name the leaders of those five parties as well.
Like I said, Canadians not only can tell you that, they can break down our politics as well.
When you have the second largest nation on the planet next door to you, it behooves you to know as much about them as they know about us.
For example, one thing you can't underestimate is a Canadian's love for Tim Horton's. They're a quintessential slice of Canadiana that symbolizes 'home' to just about every Canuck living inside or outside of the Great White North.
Timmy's coffee's is the bomb, too.
Wanna make an expat Canadian your BFF? Find a way to get them some Timmy's coffee.
I guess because I'm a person who wants to be informed, desires to be able to intelligently converse with anyone on the planet on any issue, maybe mine is a minority opinion.
Hey, they're our neighbors, and we should know as much about Canada as possible instead of walking around in ignorance. Maybe some Americans feel comfortable wallowing in it, but I'm not one of them.
On that note, in honor of Canada Day, I'm going to do some more reading on famous Black Canadians. It'll also be checking the Timmy's website to see how close one is to Louisville.
The day you get your first bra is a right of passage moment for many cisgender girls. It's also a sign that a transwoman is moving towards the feminine side of the gender fence.
In the days when you are early into your transition and hadn't developed your girls yet or are simply cross dressing, all you did was stuck your breast forms (or whatever you used for the purpose) in your bra and went out and about in the world.
Now that you've been swallowing hormones or taking your shots for a sustained period, you have either developed a pair of your own girls, or got impatient and spent some cash to buy some.
No matter which way you got there, the burning questions become not only what's my bra size, but how do I put it on correctly?
Let's start by answering the size question. My endo was doing breast measurement during my visits my measurements to track my development progress, and I'd gotten up to a 34C.
It's estimated that 8 out of 10 women are wearing the wrong bra size, which can lead to back and other problems.
So unless you have contortionist skills that will lead to a professional career with the circus, getting accurate measurement is something you'll need a helping hand to do.
To ensure their customers are getting the correct size, a comfortable fit and reduce the risk of those potential problems, every so often your local department or lingerie store will have a bra fitting event where you can get properly measured for the correct size. They can also do so without you removing any clothing to be measured, unless you are wearing thick or bulky clothes.
If you're comfortable going out and about in the world, that's probably a good way to do it. But if you're still developing that confidence to boldly go out and about in the world, you'll have to have a trusted friend grab a tape measure and help you do so.
The key to a proper fitting bra is determining our accurate cup size, not what we wish our cup size to be.
You'll have that trusted friend start with a tape measure just underneath your breasts and around your back, making sure the tape is flat against your skin.
Add four inches to this measurement, and you have your band size. If you encounter an odd number, round up to the nearest even number since bra sizes only come in even numbers.
To find out your cup size, you will again pull out your trusty tape measure, and make sure it's once again flat across your back.
But instead of measuring under your breasts, measure across their fullest peaks. Add four inches, and compare with your band size measure. The difference between the two is your cup size, keeping in mind the following:
Negative Number AA A Less than 1" AA 1" A 2" B 3" C 4" D 5" DD or E 6" DDD or F
Now that you know your size, time to find out how to put it on correctly.
After sticking arms through the straps, lean forward a bit and let gravity help the girls settle into the cups of the bra. You then make sure the nipples are in the crosshair point of the bra before hooking it.
Then again, the ways that women have of putting on their bras are as varied as the woman herself. So what ever way you put it on, make sure that you and the girls are comfortable when you're done.
i went nuclear last year when there was a historic committee hearing on transgender issues and not one African-American transgender person was invited to participate.
There was another historic gathering of importance to GLBT people that took place on Monday. It was in the wake of the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots that took place June 28, 1969.
This time the host was none other than the POTUS, and it took place in the building at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue that my ancestors helped construct with their unpaid labor.
So did the white transgender community learn its lesson from last year and make sure in the twelve transgender people that were selected to be there, there was some African-American representation?
Nope.
As usual, the white transgender community was well represented on the transman and transwoman side, and Latino Diego Sanchez was there in his new role as Rep. Barney Frank's chief legislative aide. The NCTE folks were present and we even had one former NTACer in Kathy Padilla there.
But if y'all think I'm not gonna light your asses for making the same dumb ass mistake you made 365 days ago, y'all don't know me very well do you?
This was supposed to be a commemoration of Stonewall, and Miss Major, one of the few African-American transpeople left who are Stonewall veterans is still alive and well.
Why wasn't she there? Come to think of it, there were people in the trans community such as Vanessa Edwards Foster and Marti Abernathey who busted their derrieres in swing states like Ohio and Indiana to help get President Obama elected.
Washington DC itself is 61% African-American, which translates to Chocolate City having chocolate flavored transpeople. Where were they?
I also have to ask the question who put the list together this time or had input for it, knowing that you'll shunt the blame to the Obama White House for the 'oversight'?
And what pisses me and many African-American transpeople off even more about this dissing is the bitter irony that we weren't invited to an event that an African-American president we helped to elect called to celebrate an event and a movement we helped jump off.
You know, I and the African-American transgender community are beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of the frequency of these 'oversights', the weak excuses that freely flow from white transpeople and their gay-lesbian allies trying to justify them, and the empty promises that flow from their lying lips that they'll do a better job next time to fix the problem.
It's obvious you don't want to fix the problem. You want to keep perpetuating the impression that this is a whites only movement.
If that's not the case, prove me wrong. But it's hard to not overlook the fact that the two major historical media events involving transpeople in the capital that was built with slave labor have had a glaring lack of African American transgender representation.
The ossifying impression of a whites only trans movement are also not helped by these oversights and trans movement leadership ranks that are as lily white as the Republican Party.
And what infuriates me and many African-American transpeople off even more about this dissing is the bitter irony that we weren't invited to an event that an African-American president we helped elect called to celebrate a historic event and a movement we helped jump off 40 years ago.
I wonder what the African-American president and first lady's thoughts were as they perused a so-called diverse group of transgender people that didn't have anyone of their ethnic background represented?
Once again, you vanilla flavored privileged peeps have demonstrated your utter lack of ignorance, respect and regard for your so called African descended transgender 'allies'.
It results once again in a situation in which another historic meeting takes place that has a melanin free transgender contingent.
Will you people ever learn? Obviously not, and neither does it seem you care to either.
Happy Canada Day to all my north of the border readers!
Last year in honor of it I wrote a post in which I revealed the Top Ten places I'd love to visit in the Great White North.
As you long time readers know I love road trips and have chronicled a few of them on the blog for you. I have traveled much of the US Interstate highway system in pursuit of business, fun or just to get away for a few hours from my at home drama.
I've always dreamed of one day driving on the German Autobahn system, and that dream of fast driving on foreign soil also extends to driving the highways and byways of Canada.
The Queen Elizabeth Way, or the QEW for short has my attention because it leads to the city in which a certain Canadian home girl of mine resides and is part of Ontario's 400 series of expressways.
I'm particularly interested in not only driving the 400 series routes in Ontario, but Quebec's kissing cousins to our interstate highway system, the 1,900 kilometer provincial system of expressways known as Autoroutes.
I'm well aware peeps that the speed limit on the expressways and autoroutes is 100 kph (62 mph for the metrically challenged). It's a little slower than the 70 mph (110 kph) we're allowed in Kentucky and some parts of the States, but if I am blessed to do that trip I'm not going any faster than 5 kph over that.
The TransGriot hates and will do her utmost to avoid speeding tickets.
I'd also have a blast taking in the scenery as I happily motored along scarfing up the Timmy's doughnuts as well.
The Autoroutes history dates back to 1959 when the first Autoroute, the Autoroute des Laurentides was built as a toll road.
One of the Autoroutes that Americans are familiar with is the A-15, which connects with Interstate 87 at the US border to provide a continuous link between Montreal and New York. It was completed in time for the 1967 World's Fair that was hosted in Montreal.
Another one is the A-55, which connects with Interstate 91 at the Vermont border.
The A-40 intersects with Ontario's Highway 417 at the Ontario-Quebec border along the north side of the St. Lawrence River. It runs from there to Montreal and continues to Quebec City. The A-20 runs along the southern side of the St. Lawrence.
So yeah, I'm keeping up with the ongoing Autoroute construction updates via Scott Steeves cool website CanHighways similar to AA Roads that focuses on Canada's highways.
And maybe one day soon I'll get to say bonjour to not only a certain blogger in Niagara Falls, but hopefully get to visit Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal at the same time.
TransGriot Note: In honor of Black Music Month, it's time for another song rewrite.
This one's dedicated to the WWBT's, our community's haters. So fire up those iPod's and sing along with the fresh new lyrics
Get Real (sung to the tune of 'I'm Real' by James Brown.
All you copy cats out there
Get offa my chip
'Cause I'm Moni R with the full, full force
Ain't takin' your lip
Heey, good God
Moni R, Moni R
Peeps in the blogosphere, check out what I say
The WWBT's think they're bad
They're delusional that way
I'm the cool transsistah
Who started TransGriot and I'm glad
I'm the award winning, original
I know I'm bad
All you assorted haters, bitin' me so hard
Posting clueless racist nonsense on your so called blogs
I don't care about you, or your ludicrous goal
This transwoman's Brown and Moni's got soul
Get real
Get real, I'm the real super bad
And there's no WWBT good enough
Or has the juice I have
Get real
I'm the real super bad
And there's no WWBT good enough
Or has the skillz I have
Que pasa, que que pasa
Que pasa, people, que pasa, hit me
The WWBT haters think that they got pull
I take your links off my blog posts
Cause you're full of bull
You peeps denigrate me
In your cyberhomes
And falsely claim I'm racist
Yo bitches, now it's on
Can't do what I do
You latte sippin' girls
Peeps know I'm nice, I'm so real
You wanna be me, boo
All you copy cats out there
Get offa my chip
'Cause I'm Moni R with the full, full force
Ain't takin' your lip
Get real
Get real, I'm the real super bad
There's no WWBT good enough
Or has the skillz I have
Get real
I'm the real super bad
There's no WWBT good enough
Or has the skillz I have
Peeps, can I take you to the bridge
Can I take you to the bridge?
Can I take you to the bridge?
Can I take you to the bridge?
Good God
There it is, WWBT's
Someday you might be good as me
You tramps ain't smart enough to rhyme
What's your Technorati? Minus three?
Admit it, I'm your mama, baby
Get real
Come on y'all, do the camel walk
And get the hop out your back, hit me
Get busy, yeah, make it funky
Hit me, get on the good foot
Hit me, get up
Cool time, mama's got a brand new bag
Give it to me, give it to me
Give it to me, give it to me
Give it to me, give it to me
Give it to me, give it to me
Get real
Get real, I'm the real super bad
There's no WWBT good enough
Or has the skillz I have
Get real
Get real, I'm the real super bad
There's no WWBT good enough
Or has the skillz I have
Get real
Get real, I'm the real super bad
No WWBT out there
No WWBT out there
No WWBT out there
No WWBT out there
Get real, Get real
I'm the real super bad, I'm the real super bad
There's no WWBT out there
That has the skillz I have
Almost eight months and two recounts after the 2008 election, the Minnesota Supreme Court threw out Norm Coleman's last ditch legal Hail Mary to overturn the electoral will of the people.
The Minnesota Supreme Court earlier today ordered that Democrat Al Franken be certified as the winner of the state's long-running Senate race.
Franken won the razor thin race by 318 votes, and he graciously embraced his hard fought victory at a press conference.
It means that Franken will become the junior senator for the state of Minnesota Minnesota. It also means the Dems have the magic 60 votes they need to shut down filibusters.
And not a moment too soon.
With critical votes coming up on health care, energy policy, ENDA and hate crimes, and the upcoming Sotomayor confirmation hearings, Sen. Franken will definitely be welcomed with open arms by his Democratic colleagues.
President Obama said in a statement, "I look forward to working with Senator-Elect Franken to build a new foundation for growth and prosperity by lowering health care costs and investing in the kind of clean energy jobs and industries that will help America lead in the 21st century."
Congratulations Sen. Franken. Today Paul Wellstone and Hubert Humphrey are smiling. May you serve the people of Minnesota and our country ably and well.
Still thinking about that heartbreaking loss the Team USA men suffered Sunday at the hands of Brazil after being up 2-0 at halftime.
It would have been fun to see Team USA shock the world again, but hey, we're talking about five time World Cup champion Brazil here.
We're playing a nation where soccer is life and they gripe about poor international soccer performances and losses like we did when either the Team USA men or women screw up in international basketball competition.
The Team USA men have nothing to be ashamed of. They played hard for 90 minutes and gave it their all. It just wasn't enough. The Brazilians have much game.
It was also another step on the long road in the Team USA men's quest to become consistent contenders in world football competition.
It was a remarkable run as well as being a learning experience for our international footballers. I also like the fact they were pissed they lost. One of the signs that they are improving is they want to win and feel they can compete with the elite level programs.
Hopefully the next time they're in a set piece situation like that, they'll remember what happened in Johannesburg that night, have the confidence in themselves and their teammates to know they can withstand the pressure, and every player will mark their man close enough to smell his cologne.
I decided I wanted to talk about for a moment the Tell It WOC Speak Blog Carnivals.
I participated because it's a great way to get new people exposed to my writing that may not have ever heard of TransGriot, nor may ever pass by this blog otherwise. I've gotten some dedicated readers from it as a result of my involvement in this carnival.
It was also an honor to me personally that I was invited to do so, and one of my posts was the featured one for the February edition.
It did bother me though that there wasn't enough participation from WOC bloggers for whatever reason, but I looked at it as their loss because they didn't seize the opportunity to promote their work to a wider audience.
But at the same time, by not participating, those peeps who declined to do so were silencing their own voices in addition to denying themselves access to the rest of the Netizens.
So if you wish to check out the previous carnivals, here's the link to the website that hosts it.
You have to be taught to be second class; you're not born that way.
Today is Lena Horne's 92nd birthday. This iconic beauty was born in New York on this date in 1917.
Her civil rights chops were nurtured by her activist grandmother, who took young Lena with her to the NAACP, the Urban League and the Ethical Culture Society meetings.
Lena began working at Harlem's Cotton Club when she was 16. She was a dancer first, then she became part of the chorus and later a solo singer.
She branched out and began singing with orchestras, and was discovered while singing with white orchestra leader Charlie Barnet. Lena then began playing clubs in Greenwich Village and performed at Carnegie Hall.
Beginning in 1942 Lena Horne appeared in films, broadening her career to include movies, Broadway and recordings.
My identity is very clear to me now, I am a black woman.
Lena Horne was the favorite pinup girl for Black GI's serving during World War II. She is not only an iconic beauty to our people, she was a passionate civil rights warrior. She has been honored with dozens of awards for her lifetime of success and service to her people.
When I grow up, I want to be just like her. Aging gracefully and regally while still speaking truth to power.
TransGriot Note:My latest piece for Global Comment
To the average American sports fan, football is played with two eleven member teams of massive men struggling to score with an oblong ball on a striped 100 by 53 yard field with U-shaped goalposts at either end.
The Canadian version is played with twelve men and an oblong ball on a longer and wider field. The Aussies play their eighteen man version of what they call 'footy' on a field with an oblong ball as well with four goalposts on either end.
To the rest of the planet, football (or soccer as we call it here in the States, Canada and Australia) is played with two eleven player teams of either men and women battling to kick a round ball into a netted goal on a variable 100–110m by 64-75m pitch.
Oh yeah, national pride and sporting prestige is on the line as well.
No pressure!
Every four years the pressure and fan frenzy gets ratcheted up another level when international football supremacy is up for grabs in the FIFA World Cup.
The Olympics, World Cup qualifiers, or major FIFA international tournaments such as the Confederation and Gold Cups also grab the attention of die hard football fans, yet most sports fans in the USA are rather ho-hum about it.
But as a US sports fan, I have to give kudos to the first men's USA football team to ever qualify for a FIFA tournament final.
That's the extent of the good news for American football fans. The bad news is they were playing the mighty Brazilians, who knocked off the host South Africans 1-0 in the other semifinal match.
Team USA took a surprising 2-0 lead into halftime before the Brazilians woke up and scored three second half goals to capture the 2009 Confederations Cup tournament title in South Africa.
The Confederations Cup is held every four years and includes the winners of various continental tournaments plus the host nation of the upcoming World Cup. Team USA qualified because they won the CONCACAF region championship in 2007.
Many world football fans are still shocked that Team USA knocked off FIFA number one ranked Spain 2-0 June 24 to reach the finals of this tournament in South Africa.
But if world football fans had been paying attention, it really shouldn't have been. Team USA is currently in second place in the CONCACAF region and in a great position to qualify for next year's World Cup competition in South Africa.
However, they have a critical August 12 qualifying match with the Tricolores in Mexico City, where they are 0-11-1 all time.
As evidenced by their performance in this tournament, Team USA over the last few years has been making groundbreaking strides in recent international competitions.
But the Team USA men aren't playing just for the respect of the football world or moral victories any more, they want to win.
Team USA's Landon Donovan stated as much in an ESPN interview conducted moments after their disappointing 3-2 loss to Brazil.
But the interesting thing to me as a US sports fan is that the usual sporting script is flipped. It's the FIFA world number one ranked Team USA's women footballers who get the media attention and love, not the men.
The Team USA women rock.
They are the two time Women's World Cup champions (1991, 1996) and were runners up in the 2000 final. They are three time Olympic gold medalists in 1996, 2004 and 2008. They are one of the teams favored to take home the championship in the Women's World Cup tournament being hosted by Germany in 2011.
The USA men are trying to step up to that level. Their FIFA world ranking has climbed to number 14 from their FIFA 28th world rankings a year ago. After failing to do so in 1998, Team USA qualified for the 2002 and 2006 World Cup competitions. They made a remarkable run in the 2002 tournament but fell to Germany 1-0 in the 2002 quarterfinals.
They qualified for the 2008 Beijing Games after failing to do so in 2004 and finishing fourth in 2000.
When I took a vacation trip to New York back in May 2000, little did I realize that I would get a chance to meet a historic figure at the same time.
It was back during my NTAC days and the same weekend as the Millennium March. I had no intention of going to DC because the trans community was dissed and ignored in the planning for the march, then made extremely late additions of Riki Wilchins and Jamison Green to the list of speakers when other transpeeps griped about HRC's 'bidness' as usual 'ignore the trannies' approach to community event planning.
That's a story for a later post
Since I was in the Big Apple I was invited by the denizens of Transy House to meet some of the peeps living there.
One of those peeps as I discovered two hours into the visit was Sylvia Rivera.
Thanks to my dad's job and my then airline one I was used to meeting historical figures, celebrities, public/political figures and icons. It really didn't faze me that I was meeting the Mother of the Transgender Rights movement.
After I received a big hug from her and she had a chance to eat something, we started talking. Sylvia carried herself with a regal elegance, and she was ever the activist. We discussed in a long conversation the state of the trans movement, especially after she discovered I wasn't bamboozled by HRC either and couldn't stand Jim Fouratt's transphobic behind.
We had a long conversation about her Gay Liberation Front days, STAR (the first political organization for transgender rights in the world), the chopping of transpeople from New York City's gay rights bill in 1971 that failed to pass, some of the drama and hateraid that was directed her way when the gay community ejected her, Marsha P. Johnson and our transsisters out of the GLF in order to appear more 'mainstream', and her adamant belief that we needed to do more as transpeople to fight for our rights and ensure we weren't erased from GLBT history.
When Sylvia discovered I was a proud Texan, she started criticizing President Lyndon Johnson and the Vietnam War.
I politely pointed out that as an African-American transperson from the Lone Star State I have a much higher opinion of LBJ. I also pointed out that an Austin high school and NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston are named for him, an Austin radio station bears his initials in addition to his presidential library (which I've visited) being ensconced on the University of Texas campus.
We agreed to disagree on that subject.
It was a little past midnight before we wrapped up the conversation. I ended up staying overnight at Transy House because I was staying in Yonkers with a friend and would have had a long crosstown subway and commuter rail ride there from Brooklyn through Manhattan in the wee hours of the morning. Once I arrived at the Yonkers train station, it would be a 30 minute walk to my friend's condo from the station unless there was a cab parked there. I also wasn't sure if the commuter rail trains were still running all the way to Yonkers that late either.
I was planning to return to expand on our conversations, but my life took a different direction several months later. Sylvia died way too soon in 2002 from lung cancer at age 50. I smiled when I heard that even on her deathbed, she was giving the powers that be hell.
One thing I've regretted over the years is that I didn't have a tape recorder or a notepad with me to record for posterity everything we talked about or I didn't get to see her again. But then again I wasn't expecting to meet a legend either.
I think about the things we discussed when we approach the Stonewall anniversary or when I'm looking at some situation that crops up between the transgender and gay communities that illustrates perfectly the points Sylvia warned me about almost a decade earlier.
I'm also a firm believer in listening to the wisdom of my elders. Some of what Sylvia divulged to me has served me well over the years. I'm also aware of the fact that I'm walking in Sylvia's pumps.
The conversation at times felt like she was passing a torch to me that night. It's my job as I see it, to hold that torch aloft and keep the transgender rights flame lit until it's time for me to pass it on to the next generation.
After more than two years of protesting, writing phone calls and thousands of people descending on Jena, LA to protest this outrageous retro Jim Crow case, the Jena 6, Jesse Ray Beard, Carwin Jones, Robert Bailey, Theo Shaw, Bryant Purvis and Mychal Bell are all free to move ahead with their lives.
The five remaining Jena 6 cases were brought to a conclusion Friday when Beard, Jones, Bailey, Shaw, and Purvis pleaded 'no contest' to misdemeanor simple battery charges.
They will spend no time in jail, serve seven unsupervised days on probation, and fined $500 and court fees.
It's a remarkable outcome considering the Jena Six were originally and outrageously charged with attempted murder in this small Louisiana town with a racist past for what basically was a schoolyard fight.
Thanks to the efforts of Black bloggers, the Jena Six got the attention of Tom Joyner, the African-American community, our civil rights orgs and later the rest of the MSM. They began to get attention about their plight, funding and high profile legal representation.
It culminated in 50,000 people coming from all over the United States to peacefully descend on Jena in a televised September 20, 2007 protest.
Because people stood up, these six young men are not rotting in a Louisiana jail for basically BS charges. While Judge JP Mauffray was removed from the case because of the appearance of bias, unfortunately the person largely responsible for the drama in the first place, LaSalle Parish District Attorney Reed Walters, still has his job.
Nevertheless, justice prevailed. It's now up to the Jena 6 to ensure that they take advantage of the opportunity the African-American community and our allies collectively fought to give them and ensure they never do.
This holiday weekend edition of the Shut Up Fool! Awards is not only taking place on the weekend of the 233rd birthday of my country, but another Sister-Sister ladies singles final will be taking place on July 4 at 'Williams'-don.
Our winner this week is for the first time in the short history of the SUF awards is a group award, and it goes to Faux News!
