The 2012 edition of Creating Change kicked off on the 25th. Since Creating Change is happening in Baltimore this year, the headquarters city of the NAACP, last night NAACP President and CEO Benjamin T. Jealous was on hand to give the keynote speech for Friday's evening plenary session.
If and when I find a transcript of it or a full video for his plenary speech, I'll post it to the blog.
A proud unapologetic Black trans woman speaking truth to power and discussing the world around her since 2006
Friday, January 27, 2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012
More Conservafool Disrespect Of The POTUS
She's lucky there's an election in November. The POTUS knows the GOP with their 'Great White Hope' strategy is desperately trying to do anything to trigger him and create any incident or scandal they can exploit all the way to November 6.
As for her weak azz excuse trying to justify it? He's 'thin skinned'? Seriously? Seems like to only thin skinned person on the tarmac yesterday was Janice Kay Brewer. .
African-American voters are really tired of right-wing racist disrespect of this president. We know this president has been subjected to unprecedented levels of disrespect from the left and right in addition to death threats and at least two attempted assassinations already going back to the when he became the Democratic nominee for president.
We plan on getting even by sticking our fingers in the face of the GOP this November. It'll be the extended middle one, right after we do our part in casting enough votes to get him reelected to office and give him a Congress he can work with at the same time.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
2012 Team USA Women's Olympic Soccer Watch- On To The Semis
FIFA number one ranked Team USA went into this marquee soccer matchup against our southern neighbors with a lot on the line and much to prove. In addition to keeping their hopes for an Olympic threepeat alive, they came into this match against Mexico with the Group B title on the line.
They also wanted to prove that Mexico's 2-1 upset win on November 10, 2010 in Cancun was just a bad day at the CONCACAF qualifying office.
They did so in convincing fashion as Carli Lloyd scored the first of her three goals in this crucial match in the 7th minute and Heather O'Reilly followed up with another one a minute later to stake the USA to a 2-0 halftime lead they never relinquished. Any hope that Mexico had coming out of the locker room of getting back into the match died with Lloyd's second goal in the 57th minute that effectively sealed it. She completed the hat trick in the 86th minute on a set piece play.
With the 4-0 win the USA clinched the Group B title while unapologetically piling up a +31 goal differential to do so. They now reap the rewards of topping the group with a Friday semifinal matchup with FIFA number 41 ranked Group B runner up Costa Rica and a trip to London on the line.
The other semifinal at BC Place Stadium will feature the FIFA seventh ranked host Canadians and winners of Group A playing Mexico for the other CONCACAF Olympic berth. The anti-climactic tournament final will be played on Sunday.
The USA women are now 11-0-1 in CONCACAF Olympic qualifying, 26-1-1 against Mexico, still has never lost a match on Canadian soil and are now 9-0-0 when playing in a domed stadium.
But the most important game and streak for Team USA to maintain right now is the one that happens in the semifinals Friday against Costa Rica.
Red Hook Summer And Why Spike Lee Isn't A Racist.
At the Sundance film festival, Spike recently premiered his independent movie, Red Hook Summer. Spike has had several problems over the years getting funding for his films, and I firmly believe that at least part of the issue, is Spike's commitment to telling our stories without the coonery that is featured in the typical Tyler Perry film. To be clear, Spike's male privilege has at times made some of his work problematic and in fact, other than She's Gotta Have It, strong female roles have been few and far between. Even She's Gotta Have It, includes a rape as punishment for failing to agree to a monogamous relationship.
The reviews for Red Hook Summer have been decidedly bad. I have not seen the movie, so I cannot argue any faults or biases the reviews may contain. In the question and answer period, Spike Lee and Chris Rock had a verbal scuffle.
Rock, who appeared to be joking around, said, "You spent your own money ... What would you have done differently if you'd actually gotten studio money? What else would have happened? Would you have blown up some (bleep)?"I have to agree with Spike when he points out that no White studio head has the slightest clue of what it to be a 13-year-old Black boy and girl. This is especially true if we consider the class aspect that the movie seeks to interrogate. These White men of class privilege are only interested in the bottom line, and not about depicting the true experiences of kids of colour, or even why such movies are desperately needed.
Lee, apparently unamused, responded, "We never went to the studios with this film. I bought a camera and said we're gonna do this mother(bleeping) film ourselves. I didn't need a mother(bleeping) studio telling me something about Red Hook! They know nothing about black people! Nothing!" Lee then added, "And they're gonna give me notes about what a 13-year-old black boy and girl do in Red Hook? (Bleep) no!" [Source]
A negative reaction has become common place to much of what Spike says or does. The following are some comments on the discussion between Spike and Chris Rock.
Bluelife4: I like Chris Rock. He pokes fun at any race. But Spike Lee? He's a racist.These comments all appeared on the first page of the article, and as you might imagine, they continue in the same vein no matter how deeply into the article you go. Spike speaks without apology about race and racism in the U.S., and this makes people uncomfortable. Many either have bought into the bullshit idea that the world is now colourblind, or they very firmly believe that their thoughts, or actions, are not part of the problem -- and this includes the sell out negro -- who made sure to announce that he is Black.
Wallace: Spike Lee is one of the biggest racist I have ever seen. Man I'm tired of his low budget films. Enough already. Yes I am a black man. Racism from any person is wrong. I think this guy sucks. I'm a middle class worker who live one of the most racist states in the US (S.C.) and to hear this guy speak is crazy. Man grow up. Please. I think his anger comes from his height. Blame ur parents not the world.
Nicolas: Spike Lee is an angry, racist little bigot. Always has been. No such thing as "reverse racism". The whole idea that you can say racist things about your own race is laughable. Racism is racism, black, white, yellow, brown, red, blue, etc....
The Love Doctor: I've been wondering for more than 20 years, when are we going to start saying that being racist towards white people is wrong too????
I was always taught that racism is wrong period. But it seems in our modern culture, discriminating against and being racist towards white people seems to be accepted in our culture...
Duntov: Seems like an Angry African-American that continues to prey on racism for his own gain and agenda. Go away until you can talk like an intelligent human. Stop the hate and move on.
Jack Plummer: Why is it okay for a black person to be a racist?
Hustonman: On the Yahoo homepage it said Spike Lee went on a surprising tirade. Who is surprised? This agitator has had one tirade after another for twenty plus years. No class, no truth, just a little disgruntled man. A racist with a Napoleon complex.
Whiteness may not like to admit it, but Blacks of the African diaspora are entitled to our continued rage, and the very suggestion that we should moderate our speech to suit their comfort level is only an indicator of how far we still have to go, rather than the unreasonableness of our position. Spike Lee is not a perfect man, but he is most certainly not a racist. No Black person speaking out against White supremacy will ever be a racist.
These commenters are not the first to refer to Spike Lee as racist for his approach to race and film, and they most certainly will not be the last. Whiteness would very much love the definition of racism to be prejudicial thoughts, acts, or language against another race. It's a nice and simple definition, which allows Whiteness to be able to claim to be oppressed by people of colour. It allows Whiteness to be able to circumvent our rage, and once again center themselves in the conversation. Most importantly, it allows Whiteness to deny and alternately censure our speech on the alleged grounds that we are all equal. This is why the co-option of the term racist, is an absolute disservice to people of colour. It's ahistorical, in that it ignores the ongoing inequality in power relations between Black and White. When a White person acts, ze does so with the full institutional weight of Whiteness at their behest. An analysis of race without an acknowledgement of power is an incomplete and faulty analysis. This is specifically why it is necessary to understand and accept that racism equals privilege plus power. No matter how angry, or hate filled a person of colour may be, they do not exist with the institutional power to act on their feelings. For all of the class privilege that Spike Lee has managed to amass over the years, the fact remains that he still a Black man in America and that makes him an oppressed person.
Spike's status as a racially oppressed Black man means that his speech is not welcome, and that is particularly so when he is confronting racism. While I may not agree with everything that he says and does, there can no be denial that he continues to be relevant. He has forged ahead to make movies that White run studios have not seen as important, and it is because of this struggle that he is so derided. When he spoke of being tired of yet another White WWII war movie, Clint Eastwood's response was to tell Spike to "shut his face". If you cannot acknowledge that Black blood was shed in the battle fields of WWII, only to come home to Jim Crow, then you fail to see the truth. When he spoke about the coonery and buffonery engaged in by Tyler Perry, Mr. Perry was affronted. He was happy to ignore the tradition in which his movies were made and the negative effect that they have had on Blacks.
There are certainly many criticism that can and should be levied at Spike Lee, but being a racist is not now or ever will be a legitimate charge. The truth of the matter is that Whiteness loves to engage in revisionist history, and at times it is supported by Blacks, but finding even hundreds or thousands of Blacks to agree to their own continued colonization and oppression does not make the truth less true, or any less relevant. Truth tellers are never embraced in their lifetimes and as Dr. King has shown us through his life and death, in the end, until their speech can be used to bolster the oppressor they are relegated to being understood as angry, disgruntled and hateful. By this statement I am not saying that Spike Lee is the equivalent of Dr. King, only that truth when told without embellishment, to favor the ruling class will always be unwelcome.
The POTUS 2012 State Of The Union Speech
The TSA Exists Because The Free Market Failed At Airport Security
I believe their hatred of the organization is partially based on the fact the TSA operates under the premise that EVERYBODY is a potential airline travel security threat.
It gets on their vanillacentric nerves about them getting searched by people in a position of authority making a decent hourly wage despite their white privilege fueled sense of entitlement. They hate the fact that everybody has to go through security and it irritates peeps with the vanillacentric presumption that they are 'the good peepul' who should be left alone to quickly board their flights without much hindrance. It's those 'dark people' who are the 'security threats' who need to be profiled, jacked up and if necessary strip and body cavity searched to keep the 'real American' flying public safe. The conservafools are also piling on the TSA in their zeal to reflexively hate on any job the federal government takes on and has any success at versus the documented spectacular failure of the private sector.
The conservafools spout their usual bull feces that the almighty private sector can do the job of airport security better and cheaper than a large government agency.
Um, no they can't and didn't when I worked in the airline industry for over a decade before the TSA was cranked up Sometimes as part of my supervisory duties I ran the security tests on the private company we used at Terminal C to screen our passengers. I was alarmed and appalled about some of the things I was able to get through the screenings at times.
And oh yeah, I guess you peeps forgot why we have the Department of Homeland Security and the reason the TSA exists in the first place? If you conservafools did, let me refresh your selective memories since it happened under a GOP president.
Does September 11, 2001 ring a bell?
The TSA was created two months after that horrific event because of the well documented failures of the vaunted private security companies to do the important job of safeguarding the nation's aviation system and passengers well before that fateful day.
The 9-11 attacks were the impetus for federalizing the airport security screening process, and the GOP has hated the Transportation Security Agency ever since.
The TSA growing pains and the well publicized PR stumbles of the agency along with the bitterly sarcastic joke that has people coming up with sometimes profane meanings for the agency's acronym ('Take Stuff Away') combined with the constant drumbeat of right wing talk radio, Fox Noise and Republican politicians hating on the TSA only exacerbated the problem.The fact that Transportation Security Agency employees are fighting for collective bargaining rights only adds to the political hatred of the TSA in conservafool eyes as well.
The Repugs are also pissed off that current TSA head John S. Pistole granted them extremely limited collective bargaining rights that only cover transfers and shifts and not salaries. To show their displeasure they cut $270 million from the 2012 TSA budget which would force them if approved by the Senate to lay off 10% of their screeners.
Translation: that means it takes longer for you and me to get through the TSA security lines at the nation's airports with less TSA employees there to process you through it.
The Republifools are also upset that Pistole limited a program that allows 16 airports to opt out of federal protection
and contract with private security companies under TSA rules. The sixteen airports
already in the SPP program could continue, but no others could join without
demonstrating "clear and substantial advantages" But there is no doubt that the existence of the TSA has made air travel in the United States safer and the organization isn't going anywhere, much less being disbanded any time in the near future.
It's past time that the Congressional conservafools stop playing games with airline security for politically partisan and union busting reasons.
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