Seems The Valley Swim Club in Philadelphia - the site of his highly touted "Race Speech" - missed that little part:
(As much as it chaps my ass to offer white validation for my people being "articulate" or "well-behaved" or any-damn-thing ('specially when they risk nothing by not using their whole name), The Michael Smerconish Daily Show had an eyewitness account from "Jan" about the nanoseconds those damn KIDS were in that pool.)
In his "This Week in Blackness," Elon James White says all I care to say about this shit right now:
Allison Kilkenny's piece, "Philadelphia Private Swim Club Forces Out Black Children," gives a clear and unvarnished truth about white privilege and the White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy in which we continue to live here in America. Her closing paragraph begins with a succinct, and sadly, dead-on description of the way it's always been, and I fear, the way it will always be for those of my kinfolkin this country who still don't get that the "selection" of skinfolk like the Changeling doesn't mean a damn thing in our continued struggle for equality:
What a terrible lesson to teach two children -- one white and one black. The white child learns to fear those who are different from them. The black child learns there is something "wrong" and "dirty" about their very existence.
Yet another generation of Black kids with foot-firmly-planted-on-neck. And the beat goes on...
I don't know where I got this from, but it's been in my head for a long time: Death comes in 3s (Don't ask me now, I just told you - I don't know where it came from!).
But when my husband told me Ed McMahon had died Tuesday at 86 years old, I knew there'd be two more - and soon. Sure enough, 48 hours later and within a short span of about five hours, both Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett were also dead - at the relatively young ages of 50 and 62 respectively.
While most of us remember Farrah's hair and this most famous pin-up and her Jill Munroe on Charlie's Angels - the role I absolutely most admired was her portrayal of Francine Hughes in "The Burning Bed." Back in 1984, it spoke to domestic violence against women by their spouses in a way that no one expected from the former "angel." The little blond from Corpus Christi had finally nailed a grown-up role, and she was good in it.
I remember watching the movie with some girlfriends. And when that damn bed went up in flames - with her abusive husband in it!??! Well, let's just say - we'd all had enough of his ass!!
Men had some real problems with that movie though (FEAR of frying maybe?). They totally ignored the brutal and constant beatings she suffered at the hands of this man who supposedly loved herand instead, zeroed their criticisms in on the way women all over the country were "celebrating" (according to them) his death. Lumps!! They couldn't even see beyond the patriarchy far enough to understand what the real celebration was about.
It's been 25 years since that movie came out and women worldwide are still being beaten, killed - and in more cases than we as a human race care to own - locked up for simply defending themselves.
I was asleep on the couch today when my youngest son called at 6:23 p.m. to ask had I heard that Michael Jackson had died. I thought I was dreaming. I turned on CNN and there was Wolf Blitzer saying they couldn't confirm it. I switched to CBS - and there was Katie Couric saying it was so. I started to cry.
My oldest son, who just celebrated his 28th birthday a week ago, was just a year-old when Thriller came out. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was still in the Navy, we were living in beautiful Key West and yes, I was still clubbin' - dancing the night away to that album (think what you like, I don't front). He was still "Black and Beautiful" then, but his appearance was starting to change. That didn't matter much to me though because, IMHO, he was a musical genius with magic feet - and he was OURS.
I absolutely loathe Jeffrey Toobin. I don't think there's a person on this earth that doesn't know, or have their own opinion about, the child molestation trial, the settlements - all of it. But, among all the panelists on CNN talking about Michael'sCAREER, Toobin was the only one who continuously marginalized the MAN, talking only of his "unhealthy relationships with children" and the fact that the money Michael had made was not necessarily due to his talent, but because he'd bought the Beatles catalogue! Ass-wipe!
My heart's been so heavy lately just thinking about my people and this surreal, allegedly post-racial age of the Changeling. I've been trying to write about it, but it's been difficult. Michael's death today has made it that much harder because for the second time in 52 years - mortality speaks. As I talked to my son, all I could do was cry. He kept asking me what was the matter. I tried to explain it to him, but there just - were no - words.
I'm still cryin' ya'll. Maybe I'll be able to 'splain it later on. For now, hoping the YouTube links still work...(Remember Alfonso Ribiero in this?)
UPDATE II: The link to von Brunn's biography I posted is broken, but this is what it said (he has many admirers who quote it online; cutting and pasting this from one of them):
From his biography: "James W. vonBrunn holds a BachSci Journalism degree from a mid-Western university where he was president of SAE and played varsity football. During WWII he served as PT-Boat captain, Lt. USNR, receiving a Commendation and four battle stars. For twenty years he was an advertising executive and film-producer in New York City. He is a member of Mensa, the high-IQ society.In 1981 vonBrunn attempted to place the treasonous Federal Reserve Board of Governors under legal, non-violent, citizens arrest. He was tried in a Washington, D.C. Superior Court; convicted by a Negro jury, Jew/Negro attorneys, and sentenced to prison for eleven years by a Jew judge. A Jew/Negro/White Court of Appeals denied his appeal. He served 6.5 years in federal prison. He is now an artist and author and lives on Maryland's Eastern Shore."
Now I don't know if all of this is true but, he is an artist, living in Maryland. And the bit of biographical information you can read without "joining," on that same AskArt site, is pretty interesting.
And Oh, Fenty said nothin'.
UPDATE I: 88 year-old, white man from the Eastern Shore! A domestic, dare I say it - Terrorist?
(Nah-h-h-h, Deb! He's just a crackpot - an isolated incident. Gir-r-r-l, where you been? Don't you know we're post-racial?!)
==================================
With all the security measures erected in DC since 9/11, somebody please tell me HOW a man - with a "LONG GUN" - walked up into the FRONT DOOR of the Holocaust Museum in DC - and started shooting at people?????
Bo-o-o-o-y, I can just hear the many ways this will play out right now! M-m-m! I'm sure there'll be a lot of political expediency (make that opportunism) involved in the crossfire! Particularly since, Eric Holder and friends were to attend the play, "Ann & Emmett," (a conversation between Emmett Till and Anne Frank) there at the museum later on tonight. And of course, the Changeling's recent trip to the Middle East and - "The Speech" - will provide plenty of fodder for everyone!
I'm going to go listen to Fenty. When I know more, I'll write more.
From: Eric Sheptock Sent: Monday, June 08, 2009 5:14 PM To: undisclosed recipients: Subject: Fw: SICK HOMELESS WOMAN DIES IN FRONT OF CCNV ON 6/7A homeless woman who was living with a certain illness died while sitting on a bench in front of the CCNV Shelter on June 7th. DC Government failed to house her, even though she was one of the "most vulnerable". This situation has raised the ire of the homeless community. A memorial service will be held for her this evening from 6 to 7 PM at the corner of 2nd and D streets, NW in front of the sidewalk bench where she died. That is the corner of the CCNV building that is nearest the 3rd Street tunnel. This matter will be brought up at the ICH meeting, which will be held where she often ate at Thrive DC. I hope there is high attendance this evening.
I got this email from my homeless-advocate friend, Eric Sheptock yesterday. During the many times I met with him to talk for the paper I was writing, I've either driven past, or sat in my car talking to Eric outside that bench at the Community for Creative Nonviolence (CCNV). So much so, that other residents at the shelter took to teasing him, calling me his "new girlfriend." That a woman died on that bench, right outside that shelter is not only appalling, but IMHO, very telling - considering the mayor's puported drive to provide Permanent Supportive Housing to DC's "most vulnerable" through the Housing First program. When I graduated from my small, liberal arts HBCU in 1978, I moved to DC - the first "big city" I'd ever actualy lived in. I fell in love with it - still am. During that time, there was another advocate/activist who reminds me a lot of Eric for his outspokenness. His name was Mitch Snyder. His advocacy, like Eric's, was instrumental in getting help for the many people about whom I can only say, "There but for the grace..." Mr. Snyder has since died but I'm convinced, he is reincarnated in one, Eric Sheptock.
NPR aired this piece on my friend today: "A Voice for the Homeless." Like a mother hen, I was there with him and Ms. Fessler during the first part of this interview but missed the follow-ups at The Church of the Epiphany and Thrive DC because I came home on summer break. Eric made sure to call me today though - he wanted to be sure I wouldn't miss it! I'm so very proud of him.
While FLOTUS made a much-ballyhooed, one-day visit to Miriam's Shelter to feed the homeless shortly after moving into the Big House, it'll be interesting to see what kind of sustained influence she can have on the daily lives of the homeless living in the shadows of her shiny, new home. Eric's hopeful - I'm not.
The only alarm bells that went off for me about the Changeling's pick for SCOTUS was, well - that she was the Changeling's pick for SCOTUS. That she'd be Latina, I kind of expected.
But, cautiously optimistic, I tried to find out more about her opinions and her two previous appointments by Daddy Bush and Bill Clinton, just to see what SHE was about.
Now who woulda thunk it? After doing all that reading, it only took these three things to pretty much convince me she's probably just another woman - among the many it seems (Jarrett, Michelle, Hilary to name a few) - who's forfeited her voice, in exchange for a smooth ride to glory on his coattails - as long as she says and does whatever he says:
She said, 'Obviously it was a poor choice of words if you read on and read the rest of my speech you wouldn’t be concerned with it but it was a poor choice of words,'" Feinstein told reporters.
According to The Post piece:
Neither Obama nor Gibbs said how they knew that she would say this, and Gibbs acknowledged, "I have not talked specifically with her about - this."
Rather, he said, he had had "discussions with people" that led him to believe that "if she had the speech to do all over again, I think she'd change that word."
Come on now Giblet!!! You know damn well both of you talked to her! As Cinie says, "Lying Liars Indeed Lie."
Now I know this seems a petty litmus test, but when something hits me, it just hits me. First, the (all-male?) "handlers" marginalized the importance of what she said. Then, it looked like it might not go away so they trotted the Changeling out to further marginalize it. And the-e-e-n, she goes a courtin' on Capitol Hill in a series of supposedly "private meetings" with Senators - and, using their words, takes backher words just like those "wise men" told her. And the-e-e-n, they used a female senator to put the marginalization out into the ether. Brilliant I tell you, just brilliant!
Unless, of course, she's playing the "Undercover Hermana" role like the Changeling's alleged "Undercover Brotha" role that so many Black people keep telling me he's playing because, I ought to know he can't go up in there talking 'bout what he's going to do for us because "they" won't let him (Damn, here I am in 2009 thinkin', "we is all free ya'll!" - stupid me). If that's the case, I have no respect for her either. I might be a helluva lot poorer than them, but trust me - I am far freer (guess it depends on what's most important to you).
I tell you, POTUS, FLOTUS and SCOTUS are lookin' more like Wynken, Blynken and Nod each and every day I breathe.
The Changeling's upcoming visit to Germany is not being called an "official state visit." Instead, he and the crew are billing it as a "search for some family history." Too funny! (Man, if looks could kill, he'd be a dead somebody!) Some in the German media said, "Okay. We'll print that. But we're also going to say what we think is really going on - and it aint' pretty." On May 6, Spiegel Online International framed the visit this way - Obama to Trace Family History in Germany. It opens like this:
US President Barack Obama is coming to Germany again in June, but he won't be visiting Berlin. Instead, he is planning a more personal trip to Dresden and the concentration camp Buchenwald in search of his family history. There will be no photo op with Merkel in the Chancellery -- a deliberate move on Obama's part. (emphasis mine)
Guess he wants to shore up his facts about that great-uncle, Charles Payne, whose service he used on the campaign trail to bamboozle Jewish and veteran voters. You remember him don't you?
Poor Baby, even being President of the United States doesn't help get that which you truly seek now does it? It must really suck, or be really Machiavellian - or both - to have to piece together a "family" story for people to like and/or accept you.
In any event, "Mr. Charlie" (wonder if he's married to"Miss Ann?") obviously missed that memo. And I'm still not sure if he's gotten a copy based on what he said about his kinfolk's upcoming visit in this May 26 Spiegel Online article:
SPIEGEL: Mr. Payne, early in June your great-nephew, President Barack Obama, will visit the former concentration camp Buchenwald, which you helped liberate at the end of the war. Will he be travelling in your footsteps?
Charles Payne: I don't buy that. I was quite surprised when the whole thing came up and Barack talked about my war experiences in Nazi Germany. We had never talked about that before. This is a trip that he chose, not because of me I'm sure, but for political reasons.(emphasis mine).
He was hardly the old, "uncle in the attic" about whom Obama so "unknowingly" spoke. During this interview, he was quite clear on who he is/has been to the Changeling - and who the Changeling is/has been to him. Quite interesting.
In Germany, Obama plans to skip the capital in Berlin and instead visit the eastern states of Thuringia and Saxony.
And even there, the German government has had little influence over his itinerary. The White House has so far blocked the wishes of the German government, which would like to see the president appear side-by-side with Merkel and local dignitaries and attract massive publicity during his stops in Dresden and Weimar...But Obama's advance team rejected the suggestions, SPIEGEL has learned.
If this is about her not wanting him with his faux-Doric columns all up on the Brandendburg Gate during his "Magical Mystery Tour" as "SENATOR,I'm-not-president-of-a-damn-thing-yet, Obama" last year, he's shallower, and more megalomaniacal than I thought. Either that or 2 years old! (Cinie, your "Magical Mystery Tour" description still cracks me up! Where's that post so I can link to it?)
You have to admit, it'd be just a little embarrassing for him to show up in Germany, snub Ms. Merkel in Berlin, then have Ms. Merkel grant asylum to this very outspoken brotha' who, in fighting the Army against serving in what he feels is an unjust and illegal war, sought assistance from a foreign government rather than his own - a first, in all the cases of this kind.
Elsa Rassbach: Do you think President Obama is going to change any of this?
Shepherd: No. Obama has the backing of the international corporations. And the people who gave him the most money are the ones whose interests are going to be served first. And it's quite obvious. He won't go after the prior administration for the war crimes; he won't pull out of Iraq. He's leaving 50,000 soldiers to conduct combat missions in Iraq. That means the war is continuing. He wants to escalate the war in Afghanistan. He wants to keep pushing for AFRICOM, the U.S. command for Africa based in Stuttgart, and he's pushing for the missile shield to try to encircle Russia and Iran. These things show me that Barack Obama is not going to change anything. And Obama is only one guy. He still has to deal with the entire Congress, the court system, the Pentagon. The military has been around for over 220 some years, and they're not going to change overnight just because there's a new Commander-in-Chief. They're still arresting people who refuse to fight. They're still putting them in jail, giving them dishonorable discharges, and some are facing possible felony convictions. But Obama has yet to speak of the growing number of soldiers refusing to fight for him - well, first Bush, and now him. So I don't see President Obama granting anyone clemency until the entire "war on terror" is finished, and Afghanistan and Iraq are part of the same war. (emphasis mine - h/t to Joseph at Cannonfire for that right-on-time rendition!)
It's an interesting piece in which he also talks about why he went to the Germans instead of following his own U.S. chain-of-command, about not being able to expect any help from within the military. The case of Hawaiian-born, Lt. EhrenWatada who, just last month, won against the military for trying to pull the double-jeopardy thing comes to mind. He still, however, has two charges pending which the military, so far has refused to dismiss. Well beyond his discharge date due to the trials, he is being held in an administrative position, until they decide. He has been fighting from within since 2006.
Like Shepherd, Lt. Watada believes the war in Iraq is both unjust and illegal. They believe the previous administration should be held accountable for their lies and torturous behavior. Since the Changeling's foisted that huge defense budget on taxpayers to keep it, and the war in Afghanistan going, they're his wars now - and I don't think he wants to deal with any of that on this little stroke-me-some-more mini-tour.
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