All in what game???

I purposely omitted this last - "What the hell are you talking about Earl?!" - from the previous post. It was directed toward all the broken promises the Changeling made to the Latino community as he bellowed his co-opted, “¡Sí, se puede!” from both the campaign trail and the Big House. They were so numerous, and so blatantly flaunted, I had to stop, take a breath and gather myself before I wrote another word.

In the interim, I received two “new post” alerts from similar-but-different sources within hours of each other. One was Earl’s - Obama Plays the Race Card, and There's Nothing Wrong With That; the other was - News With Nezua Empire Games - MAJOR POWERS PLAY MAJOR GAMES (posted below).

While both were impassioned entreaties to their respective kinfolk about the Changeling, upcoming elections and the “games people play” - it was impossible to miss that they were clearly polar opposites in both their motivation and in their giving a shit about the whole of humanity.

As if in “response” to my “call” – Nezua posted his honest, enlightened and documented account, of exactly what I wanted to say. I knew I couldn’t say it any better, so I asked him to let me post it here, and he graciously consented:



I'm so proud of Nezua for standing up and saying, “No! Using us for votes – is NOT okay! Lying so you can “claim credit” – is NOT okay! And having the unmitigated gall to come back again, after screwing us over so brazenly - is certainly NOT okay!”

In solidarity, I too say - “This is not a game!”

As I told my friend Kitty in the comments a couple posts ago, “Latinos “don't need "aid." What they need – is a clear path to the same citizenship opportunity made available to the European immigrants who came here - and later became "white." Once they get that, no "Dream Act" - which would again, pit them against each other, and us - would be necessary.” And I stand by that statement.

Yet, even though the pain of Obama’s deception obviously cut very deeply, Nezua, in stark contrast to Earl, advised his “gente” - in truth, love and respect for their decision-making - to do what they believe is right for them - not the Changeling - in November. Imagine that!

Now my brother, Earl on the other hand, took a decidedly different tack in advising his kinfolk. As I read his above-linked post, I lost all the respect I was trying to have for this man.  All I could do was shake my damned head in disgust and say, "Man, you have no shame at all do you?”

Instead of presenting some useful, sensible, truthful analysis on which Black voters could rely to help make informed decisions next week, he chose to ratchet-up his speechifying instead - peppering it with the same fear, lies and disrespectful, parroted blather being spewed by the other side of the same coin:

The pitch to black voters is to get out in November and vote like your life depends on it. That means voting to save a slew of endangered Congressional Democrats. The stakes are well-known. A GOP grab of the House, even without the Senate, will almost certainly mean endless committee investigations of Obama administration actions, funding and appropriation stalls and sabotage, and a relentless no to every Obama initiative from energy to immigration reform. The escalation of congressional wars would be distracting, debilitating, and pose deep danger to Obama's reelection bid in 2012. (link mine)

Translation:

• “Yeah, Black folk, he’s coming back to USE you to help him keep those do-nothing clowns in office. And that’s okay.
• Forget he’s given you nothing but his ass to kiss since he came begging and lying the first time. That’s okay too!
• Forget you’re unemployed, or have been for some time, or still do not make a living wage. All okay.
• Forget that your “American Dream” homes are being foreclosed upon as we speak, or you can barely pay your rent. Of course, that’s okay!
• Forget he and his, continue to “play games” not only with your very lives, but with those of your children, by continuing to funnel Byrne Grant money to states, which then use it to hurt, not help our community - by funneling it to their respective agencies overseeing their prison industrial complexes. I’m sure that’s okay witcha!
• As a matter of fact, forget ALL of their hypocrisy and just run on out there and Pull That Lever for whomever the “O” man says you should. There’s nothing wrong with that!

I swear I felt like I’d been transported to Bizarro World, with Earl blasting the Bizarro Code from his perch at HuffPo:

"Us do the opposite of all Earthly things! Us hate beauty! Us love ugliness! Is a big crime to make anything perfect on Bizarro World!"

Why on earth should people be trying to “save a slew of endangered Democrats” who’ve not done one thing they’ve been saying they would do – for two administrations??  Personally, I welcome the “endless committee investigations of Obama administration actions and funding (seeing as over the last few years, they’ve raised enough money to feed, clothe and house a small nation for eternity!).” And since he’s not had an “initiative” worth two cents since his transcendance ascendance to the throne - to what exactly, will the Republicans say “No?”

When one cannot point to any substantive change in an existence, after throwing all that support behind a man who did his damndest to degrade them – when he wasn’t ignoring them, the time for “playing games” are over. It’s time now that we create a new reality for ourselves – one that reflects the love, power, humility, persistence, strength, knowledge and grace - that got us this far in the first place.

Sure, the Republicans, and their red-headed (no offense HT!), Tea Party step-children, are - without a doubt - the epitome of the White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy. With their privilege still very much intact, their racism is palpable and their fear-stoked, twisted lies are even more obvious than they’ve been in a very long time. But, so what! At least now you know exactly with whom you’re dealing!

And who, in their right mind, will stand with them in their overt hatred and spiteful bigotry toward their fellow countrymen that is sure to come? I say -no better way to find out than if their supposed Congressional take-over happens (now had the Changeling really been a “change agent” from the jump, we’d have all been well on our way to figuring that out by now! Just sayin’).

But rather than be afraid of their supposed, Congressional take-over (which I doubt will happen completely), I look forward to it. Why? Because I know they won’t be able to contain themselves - perhaps then, ushering in the “real revolution” this country sorely needs.

Politicians are always on the stroll for the next deep-pocketed John or Jane, willing to pay handsomely (both literally and figuratively) for their “favors.” Sadly, that's what democracy looks like in these United States. But trust me, there is something very wrong with joining that cabal of “the greedy-using-the-needy” for "sport" because, again – this is not a game. But if it were, just keep in mind - no team goes undefeated forever!

Black Republicans not the only ones "peddling fantasy"

Earl Ofari Hutchinson's been churning out what I can only describe as lunacy, amid dribs and drabs of truthfulness lately. His Black Republicans Peddle Fantasy of Ousting Democrats in November" had me talking back to him just like one of my great-aunts used to do while watching TV a long time ago (she was in her 70's then). But instead of her, shouted-at-the-screen warnings to the unsuspecting good guy to, "Watch out! He's right behind you!" - my "conversation" with Earl went like this:

EOH: Blacks in the past have groused at and bashed the Democrats. But they still overwhelmingly vote for them.

ME:  I agree, which has set us up for Democrats to shit on us quite openly and often (particularly during this administration) - just like the Republicans have for decades.

EOH: The off the chart vote blacks gave President Obama is repeatedly cited even by black Republican hopefuls as an aberration in that blacks turned the election into a holy crusade to get one of their own in the White House. That's wrong on two counts. Obama was more than just the fulfillment of a civil rights dream. He had a solid program for change that frontally challenged and promise of reversing the social and economic damage, race baiting, and neglect that characterized three decades of Republican rule in the White House and the sledgehammer attacks on or malign neglect of civil rights leaders and concerns when Republicans were out of the White House. (emphasis mine)

ME: I beg to differ there, Earl - on both counts. First, whether Black folk want to own that unholy holy crusade or not, it was an aberration - born out of the very need "to get one of their own in the White House" that you deny.  But as it turns out, he was skinfolk, not kinfolk.  And from Rev. Wright, to Pookie eatin' cold chicken in the a.m. - he made sure everybody knew it.

Now, if the "fullfillment" of which you speak, merely involved havin' skinfolk in the Big House, then yes - the Changeling is that.  But here's my pesky two cents, which basically boils down to - He's not fulfilled a damned thing!  Quiet as it's kept, the civil rights movement was never about merely havin' skinfolk in the White House, bruh.  Please, let's not join the ranks of the revisionists on either the intent of Dr. King, or the civil rights movement, m'kay Earl?; because some of us do know the whole story:



"If other civil rights leaders, for various reasons, refuse or can't take a stand, or have to go along with the administration, that's their business!"  I'm definitely with Dr. King on that one.

Secondly (and it's a long secondly), regarding your "solid program for change that frontally challenged and promise of reversing, blah, blah, blah," I must ask - What the hell are you talking about, Earl? What exactly has he frontally challenged or reversed - particularly for Black folk?

It certainly couldn't be his hastily cobbled together, written-mostly-by-the-for-profit healthcare industry, no-Public-Option havin' (forget single-payer!), fine-mandated-if-you-don't-have-it, health insurance bill.  But if that's what you mean, could you tell me how that "solid program" will work for folk who already don't have health insurance - because they can't afford it?  And if they already can't afford, even the subsidized insurance - how, pray tell, can they afford the mandated fines?  I'm with Bill Moyers on that whole thing:



- Nor could you be talking about his bait-and-switch with the Lilly LedbetterAct, the first bill he signed once selected - which allegedly provided pay equity for women - seeing as both he and Pelosi lied (yeah, I said it - LIED)...





...because that bill had nothing, at all, to do with pay equity - for women of any color. C'mon, Man, political analyst that you are, haven't you even read the bill!

Despite the inequity in pay and wealth just between white women and Black women (forget between men and women!) - his signing Ledbetter into law hasn't done jack about pay equity except maintained the status quo because - Ledbetter wasn't ever about that!

The Paycheck Fairness Act (S.3772) on the other hand - which Reid waited to bring up for a cloture vote (more pre-mid-term elections sleight of hand) - WAS about that!  But, so smooth at conflating it with Ledbetter and getting brownie points for something they didn't (and may not ever do!), the Changeling and his crew bamboozled the hell out of plenty of people - especially women.  Poor Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), whose been working on this thing diligently for some time - she just keeps pluggin' away, trying to get the rest of them to do the right thing. {smdh}  This out-of-work-for-so-long-I'm-not-even-counted-among-the-unemployed, Black woman says:

- Nor could it be his signing of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010, which simply says, "Y'all still ain't equal - but at least your less unequal" (Now there's some real "solid," social and economic damage reversal fantasy right there!).

- Nor his unflinching support of businessman-never-been-a-teacher, Secty. of Education, Arne Duncan in his push to privatize public schools (where we disproportionately find our kids, and those of our Brown brothers and sisters) for money - which many (if not most, parents) do not have (not e'erybody can get into Sidwell Friends, as he so unabashedly reminds).

Instead of getting to the root of why Johnny can't read - no matter where he's economically situated - they say, Johnny can learn better through incentivized programs like Michelle Rhee's, "Capital Gains Program" - blessed, I'm sure by Duncan, since he did the same thing in Chicago with the "Green for Grade$ Project" (even the names of the programs show you how greedy for money they are!) - which only keeps them non-critically thinking, self-hating cripples with a little change in their pockets, since they're still learning all the "Lies My Teacher Told Me,"

Sorry Earl, when education is reduced to a "Race to the Top", or a demeaning lottery, or paying kids for good grades, attendance, appearance, and two other categories I don't remember right now - there's nothing "solid" going on but the Benjamins.

EOH:  President George W. Bush escalated the assault on education, health, jobs programs. His refusal to do what other presidents routinely did and that's speak at or send a congratulatory message to the NAACP annual convention until the last year of his second White House term was the ultimate snub and insult, and final proof to black voters that the GOP was a party of closet race baiters, bigots, and race panderers. (emphasis mine) 

ME:  Just a small quibble here, Earl.  I agree Shrub escalated the afore-mentioned assault, but - "final proof?"  Really?  Tell me, how can a five-and-a-half year refusal be characterized as the straw that broke the camel's back for Black folk knowing "the GOP was a party of race baiters, bigots, and race panderers?"  I've been Black my whole life and I hate to break it to you but, Shrub's Snub notwithstanding,  for my whole life, there's been PLENTY proof of the GOP's racism - nothing closeted about it (and plenty from Democrats too!).  Just thought I'd throw that last in there for the clean, articulate, well-spoken, light-skinned, no-Negro-dialect-havin' of us who think the GOP has a lock on racism and bigotry.

Maybe it's just me, but you make it sound like Black folk weren't really sure it existed until that moment (and please, don't tell me you think Black folk believed a word he said when he finally did show up!).

EOH:  Despite the shots they take at the Democrats for taking them and their vote for granted, black Democrats and civil rights leaders are still highly respected. Most blacks still look to them to fight the tough battles for health care, greater funding for education and jobs, voting rights protections, affirmative action, and against racial discrimination. (emphasis mine)

ME:  Still highly respected for what they did before forking over their cultural consciousness for "the price of the ticket" - maybe; cuz I sure don't see them "fighting the tough battles" for any of the issues you mentioned.

EOH:  Even when black Democratic politicians stumble and engage in borderline corrupt and self-serving feather their own nest antics, they are still regarded as better bets than Republican candidates to be more responsive to black needs. (emphasis mine)

ME:  Oh-h-h, I see - they're "antics."  Earl, Earl, Earl - I'll just not touch the stumbling , nor the engaging in - it'd take too long.  But let me just say, that whole, "better bets to be more responsive" thing is pretty instructive.  Seems you're saying Black folk are just comfy settling for the lesser of two evils, just hoping a little something will shake out for them when it's all said and done.  If you are - I happen to agree with you.  It wasn't always that way though.

EOH:  ...deepened black suspicions that the GOP is chock full of bigots.

ME:  You really should  stop acting like this is something new to us.

EOH:  But most black voters do fit that template. And since they do black Republicans talk of ousting Democrats in November is a fantasy.

ME:  Again, let's not join the ranks of the revisionists here, Earl.  Even if every Black person, in every district, in every state actually voted for them - talk of ousting Democrats in November is hardly a "fantasy" - for all the many reasons you listed in the two paragraphs in the piece, above your statement here.  It ain't just about the Changeling, it's about their totally unfounded fear about losing their inherent privilege and supremacy under his presidency, which IS a "fantasy."  Because really, he's right there with them - if they could just get past the color of his skin...

Wyclef, mon coeur pleure pour le Haïti aussi...

(Updates I, II, III & IV below)

I say in the title, "Wyclef, my heart cries for Haiti too."  And it does, and it has, and it will - still.  Because with all of the monetary aid pouring in, with all the "temporary suspensions" of debt and policies, Haiti will continue to be at the mercy of countries (including our own), who fail to understand - worse yet care - how self-determination works for those who've not had the luxury of calling the shots.

My heart cried for Haiti when I wrote the following column for my small South Florida paper back on November 15, 2002 after a wooden vessel ran aground just southeast of downtown Miami near Virginia Key.  It was an attempt to explain what I saw as yet another example of the entrenched, White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchal (WSCP) behavior continuing to divide and conquer Blacks and Browns - at the expense of the Blacks this time:

Cuban Adjustment Act continues to create discord

A 50-foot wooden vessel ran aground about 500 yards from Miami on Oct. 29. Onboard were well over 200 Haitians migrants seeking a better way of life. At sea for a number of days without food and water and weakened by those conditions, they began jumping and/or dropping their young children overboard into 10 to 12 feet of water, hoping against hope that they could elude the Coast Guard vessels that had been following them for two hours and make it to shore. Twenty-one Haitians had to be rescued from the water after jumping from that overloaded boat.

And what of those who made it ashore? They ran onto the busy, six-lane Rickenbacker Causeway, trying desperately to stop motorists, hoping they could somehow escape the Border Patrol agents they knew would detain them. Their ultimate goal? To flee the abject poverty and despair of the hemisphere's poorest country where two-thirds of the population is unemployed or underemployed and most people survive on less than $1 a day.

But unknown to them, their return was all but guaranteed by a Nov. 8, U.S. Department of Justice announcement which restated the United States post-9/11 stance taken in December 2001 - "As of Nov. 13, all undocumented migrants who arrive by sea - except Cubans - will be detained without bond and placed in expedited removal."

The reason the Bush administration reversed its policy of releasing all asylums seekers into the community after they had established a "credible fear of persecution?" They claimed that releasing the Haitians could threaten national security by prompting a mass exodus, tying up Coast Guard resources that he said should be committed to "homeland security" and the "war on terrorism."

And what of the large number of Cubans who've come ashore in the Keys alone last year? Were there no resources committed to them? While most asylum seekers from every other nation continue to be released within days in Miami, practically all migrants from Haiti are jailed. Does anyone else out there see the blatant double-standard being applied to those of a decidedly darker hue?

Fast forward to earlier this week when, described by a Nov. 12 Miami Herald article as an "escort to freedom," two Air National Guard jets scrambled to accompany a yellow single-engine cargo plane carrying eight family members from Cuba as it taxied into Key West International Airport. According to an airport employee, the article went on to say, "They were dressed like they were on vacation, smiling and casually walking with Customs and INS agents as two Key West police cruisers followed them."

Secure in the "wet foot/dry foot" policy of the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, this group had nothing to fear once they set foot on American soil. There was no need for desperate measures. They were home free because Cubans who arrive at designated ports of entry into the United States - i.e. airports, seaports and land ports located at the border - are released on bond and granted permanent residency after a year.

And according to an April 1999 memorandum, then INS Commissioner Doris Meissner "clarified" the policy further stating, "Cubans - along with their spouses and children - who arrive at other than designated ports of entry into the United States are eligible for parole, as well as eventual adjustment of status to that of permanent resident, under the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act. This policy clarification, effective immediately, helps define in specific terms those Cubans who are eligible for parole and adjustment of status under the Cuban Adjustment Act, regardless of how they arrived in the United States."

Even if a Cuban national is in the United States without having been admitted or paroled by INS, all they have to do is first surrender into INS custody, receive a grant of parole and wait one year before applying for permanent residence under the CAA. With the grant of parole, he/she is then eligible to apply for employment authorization.

Though the CAA was not a product of this administration's watch, its perpetuation and retooling of this obvious "divide and conquer" piece of politics smacks of the days of Jim Crow - a period in this nation's history that seems unwilling to die the ugly death it deserves. By affording special status to one race, another is completely devalued and a wedge is driven between the two that will, yet again, take generations to heal.

Rather than laying out all the historical reasons why our government - in consort with others - has much for which to account in Haiti, I think Earl Ofari Hutchinson's, Where Was the World When Haiti Really Needed It? sums it up pretty well and is truly worth the read.

My heart cries for Haiti as I see how this recent (because it's hardly the first), natural disaster continues to play out the privilege and racism inherent in our society.  Though I felt these parents' pain as I sat watching this interview by Ann Curry on the Today Show, the "quiet riot" deep in my gut said, "If only their pleas were for ALL the children."  Listen, and tell me if you hear the inherent privilege seeping out amidst the anguish:




And when you're done, listen to Wyclef having to defend his NGO -Yéle Haiti:





Look, having worked with Black non-profits, I admit there's always the probability of someone absconding with some or all of the organization's funds - and I even understand why, which is oftentimes different from why whites do it, but not always (neither makes it right).  But that's not, IMHO, what the current attack on Wyclef is all about.  Quite frankly, I think it's about the possibility of HIM, HAVING THE ABILITY NOW,  TO DO WHAT MANY WHITE, NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED NON-PROFITS (the Red Cross for example) HAVE BEEN DOING FOR AGES - period.  That, and the fact that - due to the high volume of donations he's receiving - he's blocking their "Let's line-our-pockets" blessing (some people just want ALL the damn money) of course.  The outrage, coupled with the massive encouraging of people to donate any and everywhere else BUT Yéle Haiti, is quite telling - if you just listen. 

As for me, I'm giving my few pennies (and my volunteer efforts as soon as I can find a way) to a "Native Son" who really knows the people, the language and the lay of the land - instead of those other "saviors" (the Changeling included) who are rolling in - and out.

UPDATE I:  Wyclef to Oprah: "Haiti Don't Need No More Photo Ops"
UPDATE II:  Credit Card Companies Profit Off Tragedy in Haiti 
UPDATE III:  US Mercenaries Set Sights on Haiti - this piece from Jeremy Scahill at The Nation is particularly disturbing given the reputation of mercenary groups like Blackwater (now "Xe") in Iraq, Afghanistan and New Orleans.  A brief excerpt:

On January 15, a Florida-based company called All Pro Legal Investigations registered the URL Haiti-Security.com. It is basically a copy of the company's existing US website but is now targeted for business in Haiti, claiming the "purpose of this site is to assure construction and reconstruction companies considering a Haiti project that professional security is available."


"All Protection and Security has made a commitment to the Haitian community and will provide professional security against any threat to prosperity in Haiti," the site proclaims. "Job sites and supply convoys will be protected against looters and vandals. Workers will be protected against gang violence and intimidation. The people of Haiti will recover, with the help of the good people from the world over."

With THESE GUYS on the ground - Yéle Haiti's the least of the world community's "aid" problems!  Unless of course they seek out their "protection" services.

UPDATE IV:  It's not All about That!:  Wyclef Jean is fronting in Haiti - from the Haitian Information Project on Black Agenda Report.com.

I have to say that I was not aware of Wyclef's familial connections to the U.S./CIA-backed overthrow of Aristede.  I obviously need to read more shit!  That being said, I still will not donate to the Red Cross in this effort.

Obama's Nobel Peace Prize: Seems A Bit Premature, No? (from a HuffPo comment)

I got an Earl Ofari Hutchinson post notification and sauntered over to see what he had to say.  It was refreshingly and surprisingly palatable - for Earl.  Since I was there, I read Jason Linkins' post and decided to read the comments.  Shouldn't have.

I came across this one from LALAW and immediately bristled at the blatant attempt to manipulate Dr. King's Nobel acceptance speech, in order to somehow justify Obama's getting the gold:

In 1964, when southern schools were still segregated, Martin Luther King, Jr. won the Nobel Prize. He died in 1968 and schools in the south were still segregated until a year after his death. When he won the award, he said, in part:

"I accept the Nobel Prize for Peace at a moment when twenty-two million Negroes of the United States of America are engaged in a creative battle to end the long night of racial injustice. I accept this award in behalf of a civil rights movement which is moving with determination and a majestic scorn for risk and danger to establish a reign of freedom and a rule of justice.

I am mindful that only yesterday in Birmingham, Alabama, our children, crying out for brotherhood, were answered with fire hoses, snarling dogs and even death. I am mindful that only yesterday in Philadelphia, Mississippi, young people seeing to secure the right to vote were brutalized and murdered. And only yesterday more than 40 houses of worship in the State of Mississippi alone were bombed or burned because they offered a sanctuary to those who would not accept segregation...

Therefore, I must ask why this prize is awarded to a movement which is beleaguered and committed to unrelenting struggle; to a movement which has not won the very peace and brotherhood which is the essence of the Nobel Prize."

Congratulations, Mr. President, on another great accomplishment.

Before I even knew it, my fingers were typing this:

LALAW...You conveniently ended your excerpt to seemingly conflate Dr. King with Obama. The very next sentence of the speech, along with others that follow, describe precisely why Obama can - in no way - be compared to the prescient MLK:

"After contemplation, I conclude that this award which I receive on behalf of that movement is profound recognition that nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral question of our time -- the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression...If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.

...The tortuous road which has led from Montgomery, Alabama, to Oslo bears witness to this truth. This is a road over which millions of Negroes are travelling to find a new sense of dignity."

Since Obama's not familiar with that "tortuous road," I'm not surprised he's twisted that "new sense of dignity" into continuing aggression and "loving" the poor into destitution.

And the beat goes on...

Can't seem to stop letting revisionist get under my skin.  (Decided to see if their "Post to Blogger" thingy worked.  It did, but I had to edit it, adding a few words of explanation as well as a couple links.)

I went over to Cinie's earlier and "You Go Away For One Minute..." was definitely worth it!  We are more often than not on the same wavelength me and Cin (I busted out laughing when I saw the same Urkelbama that she'd let me have gracing her post!).  Succinct and dead-on as ever - she's ba-a-a-ck!!!

I'd dedicated this in my comment to my Sister-Friend over at her place, but I think all of us who truly believe in a better world - in spite of, not because of, the Changeling, could use it:

Okay, now I'm done with this whole Nobel Prize thing - except to say that with all this international, political "capital," - UNIVERSAL health care, a living wage, disparity in sentencing Blacks and Browns, reigning in the "stupidly" acting police, saying no to McChrystal, telling AIPAC and Israel to get their shit together regarding Gaza and the Palestinians, getting out of Gitmo - for real, stopping torture and renditions - for real, brushin' off:  the Federal Reserve, those banks "too big to fail" and insurance companies Jay-Z style, getting AFRICOM to really be 'bout it and for Chrissakes, stopping the state/federal-sanctioned foot-on-neck policies at our borders - all should be a piece of damn cake!

P.S.S.  What about Morgan Tsvangirai of Zimbabwe?  And Dr. Sima Samar of Afghanistan?  Hey, wonder if Ms. Magazine feels stupid as hell - writing about her and then doing THIS craziness!  -------> Obviously they weren't  even listening during the interview they, themselves conducted when the good doctor said:

"We need solidarity to free women—solidarity with women everywhere.  Women must support each other; we are our own class."

Just sayin'

Black "Royalty" fools no one at the IOC

I know, I know.  I said there'd be a Part 2 to the last post - and there will be, right after I get this off my chest so I can sleep tonight!

Yes, I do lay awake some nights pondering why, in the hell, people can't or won't see, that when it comes to "competing loyalties" for the Changeling, there never seems to really be any competition.  At least not when it comes to a choice between what to do for money, prestige and perceived power, versus what is, and always should have been - right!

Two things happened that had "the voices" going in my head all night long (and spawned this brief diatribe, I might add).  First, as I sat at the kitchen table yesterday reading blogs, I could hear the 6 o'clock news, but I wasn't watching it.  I heard it go to the sportscaster and his piece on Denmark and the Olympics.  I looked up, because just the other day, I'd asked Pips over at Cinie's World, about Danish reaction to the Paul Revere-esque, "Obama is coming!  Obama is coming!"   I wanted to see what she'd described.

And at that very moment, he was running videos of Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey and David Robinson respectively, during various stages of arrival and introduction in Denmark, adding, "And the president will be there too!"  All of a sudden, I had the strangest damn feeling - in my heart!  It was a sadness combined with a deep disappointment that I just could not reconcile the Black pride that I should have been feeling - as the faces of my skinfolk (in Denmark!  Representing America!) flashed across the screen - with the nauseating feeling I had in response to the charade-parade being perpetrated before my eyes.

The local news guy was excited though. He could barely contain his glee, saying how, with all these "heavy-hitters," Chicago was lookin' good for capturing those "5 Rings" in 2016.  Putting that "glee" into perspective, however, let's just remember that even in the "belly of the beast" that is Texas - gettin' those "dollar bills ya'll," trumps e-e-e'rything else).

I looked across the table to my youngest, sitting at his laptop, and said, "Damn!  I really should be feelin' so proud, right now!"  He looked at me with that, "What you talkin' 'bout Willis??" wrinkle in his brow, and looked up too.  Then, he slowly shook his head, knowing what was coming next.

I was at once, angry and hurt.  Angry because, the charade-parade was truly a vision I'd long hoped to see in this country.  That of strong, smart, beautiful Black people, doin' the damn thing  - and doing it well!  Hell, doing it better than it had ever been done before, because we were doing it - right!  And hurt - because that so-o-o wasn't the case (Yeah that's my shit, I know.  Still workin' on it).

I couldn't hold it in though - that  "quiet riot" had already started  rumbling deep in the pit of my stomach. 

"I can just hear my people right now, chests all swole 'cause of this shit on TV!  I bet you, not many of  them see, or even connect this charade-parade to that other charade-parade of him sending Eric-damn-Holder and Arne-ain't-never-taught-a-single-kid-Duncan to Chicago to meet with school officials and kids about youth violence  - next week, after that 16 year-old boy got beaten to death - last week!  I tell you, he gets on my last nerve!"

After the rant, I realized both my son and husband were smiling and just shakin' their damn heads (they've come to expect my "sharing" on topics such as these).  I calmed down - for a minute.

The youngest left, and the oldest came home from work while the husband and I were in the bedroom having a conversation on Skype with my nieces and nephews in the hinterlands (I must admit, I'm so glad I'm still  alive to see the Jetson-esque way technology has made it possible for us to sit, see and talk to one another in our respective living spaces - in real time!).

After catching up since the wedding in July, and talking about  various and sundry things, somehow or another, the conversation turned to the Changeling and Yep, you guessed it!  The rant was rewound and I hit play all over again!  My nephew (I wrote about his email in the last post) started laughing, because he knew, I'm sure, just what I was going to say.  And I did  - no need to rehash the whole thing here, except to say, where was he then???  Finished, I said, "Okay, I'm going now," as I went to the kitchen to get a glass of wine.  There was none.  (That didn't help!)

I tossed and turned all night, struggling with the feelings I was having:

Voice #1:  "Can't you just accept that we've come this far???"

Me:      " No!  Because we haven't  - come this far!"  We just look like we did!  And everybody else, but, us, knows it!!!"

Voice #2:  "Just look at that cast of characters tonight!  You gotta admit now, that was something!

Me:  "More like somethin'-damn-else!!  First of all, we have the Queen of Daytime talk who opened a school for South-African girls, while Chicago girls are still dodging bullets and beat-downs!  And, just  stop!  Don't say one damn word!  I know it's her cash to do with what she chooses, but come on, now!  You're grinnin' in the face of the IOC Chair, a part of the beggin'-to-bring-the-games to that same city where you didn't give two shits about looking out for the safety, education and well-being of girls!  And don't start me on Michelle Obama and her husband!  Derrion Albert was but one, of the many children who've lost their lives to violent crime in Chicago since - and way before - they moved into the damn Big House!  Of those I saw, only "The Admiral," seems to be walkin' that talk with his Carver Academy!  Hell, it's in the decidedly Black, East side of San Antonio, AND, 98% of the student body is on scholarship!

Voice 1 & 2:  Well, you've got a point there.  A few, actually.

And so it went, off and on, until almost morning (haven't refilled my Lunesta since I got here).  Then, the Second thing happened - in two parts.

I subscribe to Earl Ofari Hutchinson at HuffPo (What?  I read everything!  Hell, before Obama won, I thought my boy was on to him!  Not!!) -  Chicago Beating Death Shocks White House -- But Now What?   It began like this:

“There's an outsized map of Chicago on the wall of the office of the Black Star Project. In the center of the map there's the letter "A". The letter is the Chicago home of the Obamas. The "A" is surrounded by yellow stickers that make the map look like the bullseye of a dart board. The analogy is deadly fitting because each one of the stickers represents a child under age 18 who was murdered. 

The victims were all African-American…”

My "quiet riot" was validated.  Please read the piece to see what I mean.  Needless to say, I forwarded the link to my nephew who replied:

CRAZY! Well said!  Awesome "hanging" out with you guys last night!!!!!!!!!!!! We all left happier, gotta love the power of the internet.Love you,
Lar

Then, I sauntered on over to Salon and came upon Joan Walsh and this, Reading "The Clinton Tapes," thinking about Obama.  Predictably, when I got to this line, I lost it - again:

"I have to start by saying Taylor Branch's trilogy, "America in the King Years," is my favorite work of history. He brought the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. alive for me. And to see my favorite civil rights historian -- so far, there are some up-and-comers that deserve a look, too! -- grappling with the president who, until Obama, thought and did more about civil rights than any president before him, well, it's a thrilling combination."

I just had to post this response:

Really, Joan...

"He brought the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. alive for me. And to see my favorite civil rights historian -- so far, there are some up-and-comers that deserve a look, too! -- grappling with the president who, until Obama, thought and did more about civil rights than any president before him, well, it's a thrilling combination."

Joan, if Taylor Branch brought the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. so alive for you, why is it that you cannot see Obama is NOTHING LIKE HIM - except of course, a little brown! Please.

And Joan? Could you please tell me exactly WHAT Obama has done for civil rights??? Except of course, be a little brown!

Joan, is that all it takes for you to feel this country is moving forward on the civil rights/human rights issue??

I am a Black woman who WAS alive when Dr. King fought and died for civil rights in this country. Please, do not sully his achievements with that of your "Paper Tiger."  Sorry my dear, Obama is no MLK - not even close!

The-e-e-en, I stumbled on this and it was confirmed, Karma is a definite bitch:



Not even in the damn running!  Knocked out in the first draft!  The whole charade-parade was for naught -as it should have been.

And don't get it twisted, I'm not all HAPPY that Chicago missed the opportunity for jobs, exposure, etc.  It's just that I know that if they DID get the games, the people who needed it the most would not  have benefitted, all while the Changeling would have been able to happily tell his numerous Chicago backers like, Penny Pritzker,  "I told you not to worry about investing your funds in me, I got this!"

The charade-parade fooled no one on the other side of the pond or anywhere else.  They know - when will we?

(Found the Port....better now)

Richardson steps down, before he even steps up

In my No Permanent Friends, no permanent enemies... post back in April '08, I pretty much summed up what I thought about Gov. Richardson - nothing's changed. Though I am a bit surprised that in exactly one month, we went from this... To this...

M-m-m-m... *smdh* This Andrea Mitchell video is interesting: "The Obama team has been rigorous about demanding......to have everything examined before their hearings are scheduled." Yep - and they knew about this too - even as he was being nominated. From the Hartford Courant: "A senior Obama adviser said Richardson gave assurances before he was nominated last month that he would come out fine in the investigation and the president-elect had no reason to doubt it. But as the grand jury continued to pursue the case, it became clear that confirmation hearings would have to be delayed for six weeks or even longer until the investigation was complete, said the adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity."

So what was this one-month appointment real-l-y about? Hubris? Strategy? What? I just do not believe Obama & Co left such an obviously long, and potentially garment-ripping thread hanging off the presidential cloak this close to the crowning for no reason. Look at the number of people jammed up under those huge charter buses of his for reasons way less important. Unless, there is a reason.

When asked, "Any idea who might be on this next list then to take over this job?" Ms. Mitchell said she frankly wasn't sure which way it'll go. Is that other Daley, you know, William M., former-Secretary-of-Commerce-in-the-Clinton-Cabinet-integral-cog-in-the-Chicago-Daley-Machine Daley? Is he still lurking around?

And doesn't it sound like there should be violins in the background as she quotes him saying he said, "I will remain in the job I love, governor of New Mexico and will continue to work every day..." (under investigation). More ammunition for Blagojevich? Hey! He only has to show there was no actual quid pro quo right? Then he can return to the job he loves - until impeachment and conviction anyway.

I read Earl Ofari Hutchinson's, "Richardson the Odd Democrat Out" over at HuffPo (Yes, I go there - sometimes). While I found nothing new as I scanned it, that very last paragraph seems awful prescient - for a few people, not just Richardson:

"The play for pay scandal just reinforced the notion that politicians who try so hard to be major players in the political ranks will often wheel and deal, cut corners, and or not averse to lining their campaign and even personal coffers with dubious contributions to get ahead. When they do, and they're called out on it, it insures that they remain not just odd men out of the rarified political circles they desperately want to crack, but disgraced ones too."

I'm sure if Molly Ivins were alive today, she'd have told the governor in that deep, smoke-laced, Texas drawl, "Now Bill, ya'll know ya'll gotta dance with them what brung you if you want to get anywhere!"

By the way, any statements from the Clintons yet? Why am I picturing that car insurance commercial with those squirrels jumping up and down, high-fiving each other as the car runs off the road?

Hutchinson's Support of Ferraro's Statement Courageous - and Right

Earl Ofari Hutchinson's recent piece, "Don't Fire Geraldine Ferraro, Pin a Merit Badge on Her for Having the Guts to Tell the Truth" in The Huffington Post, regarding her now-fateful comments about the Obama run for the White House, stirred up a hornet's nest of controversy in which I felt I had to have my say. Here are my comments: "Earl, kudos man for saying - out loud - what many others have definitely been thinking, Hats off for your courage in telling the truth all around. Edwards was my original candidate because, out of the gate, he spoke directly to all those elephants ganged up in our respective corners. It was a refreshing change. When his (Sen. Obama's) campaign headed to my home state of SC, I'd already spoken to family there and they were awash in the Kool Aid as I’d anticipated. And you know what? I even understand why. When I asked, "What exactly do you expect he will do for you there? I got no concrete answers. Many Black’s, 30 - 50+ years old, who grew up there still remember the long history of Jim Crow and James Crow Esq. in their lives. But more importantly, they understand it really hasn’t changed that much regarding the balance of power. It has informed who we've all become, white and Black. The chance at having a Black president is not only vindicating, it offers, in their minds, an opportunity to change (there’s that word!) the dynamics of power - but that's not ever going to be said out loud in “mixed company.” That being said however, all is not lost when it comes to building cross-cultural relationships or reconstructing the face of this country. But that won't happen without serious, open dialogue about race, something neither Blacks nor whites seem really ready to have -out loud. Sen. Clinton's comments on Dr. King and LBJ we're true, but that rains on the momentum parade if the statement is considered for accuracy. Here, Joe Califano, President Lyndon Johnson's special assistant for domestic affairs from 1965 to 1969 gives an account of what happened - he was there: "It Took a Partnership." I understood the "fairytale" comment from former Pres. Clinton to mean, Sen. Obama’s comparison of speaking out against the war versus Sen. Clinton‘s voting for it, was a fairytale given that once in the Senate, his votes mirrored hers. He, in my opinion, wanted the senator to drop the "fairytale" and tell the people the whole truth – me too. I'd have respected him immensely for that. Since he wasn't yet in the Senate for the vote, with no access to the erroneous information to which Congress was privy, making a comparison at all was like comparing apples and oranges. But to then vote in tandem with her on all war issues, once elected to Congress, makes what he’s telling the American people very disingenuous. And I don’t respect him at all for that. Here's a very long, yet interesting article written by Sean Wilentz, entitled "Race Man." It further illustrates how racism has been employed by the Obama campaign to paint Sen. Clinton with that ugly brush. And before anybody jumps on me, I know he's a Clinton supporter, but does that make his points any less true? I’ve had several conversations with Black and white friends and family of mine regarding the “white guilt” thing long before you wrote this piece. Some agree it exists, some don’t. Some say there are whites who feel electing Sen. Obama would finally put to rest the idea that America is racist. To them, I’ve said, “Bad Reason.” That’s just more prettying up a longstanding problem with no real move toward facing and fixing the truth AND it opens the floodgates for some whites who are racist to say, “See, we’re not racist, we elected a Black president” - and then continue to support all of the institutional racism entrenched in our society. Some say, it is time for a Black president. To them, I’ve said, “Thank you Miss Ann for finally deciding it’s time.” When pressed, they say that’s not what they meant and I know it isn’t, just had to let them know what that sounded like without them further supporting their point. They just think that throne is, and always should have been, open to all and feel for the first time, there are others who agree. As for Ms. Ferraro’s statement, I’m not all up in arms. As a woman, I totally agree with her. Men have historically and consistently found ways to minimize and marginalize the role of women in this country if we’re honest. Blacks got the right to vote long before women did! I believe that’s where she was trying to go with the statement."