Real People
“I believe in the brotherhood of man, all men, but I don't believe in brotherhood with anybody who doesn't want brotherhood with me. I believe in treating people right, but I'm not going to waste my time trying to treat somebody right who doesn't know how to return the treatment.” You believe in treating everybody right whether they put a rope around your neck or whether they put you in the grave. Well, my belief isn't that strong. I believe in the brotherhood of man, but I think that anybody who wants to lynch a Negro is not qualified for that brotherhood and I don't put forth any effort to get them into that brotherhood. You want to save him and I don't.”
~Malcolm X, Speech to the Peace Corps, December 1964.
june 18, 2018
A people who elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves, and
traitors are not victims, ...accomplicies - "George Orwell"
something to think about!!!
more american students have been killed in school shootings in 2018 than the total number of american troops killed in war zones around the world!!!
---------
reflections on today's events
*you have to look really hard to not find a racist in the trump white house, even the few blacks working there hate themselves.
*israeli soldiers killed 58 people protesting the american embassy and the us supports the murdering regime led by the netanyahu
*trump's infrastructure plan is a roadmap to privatization of the commons while his budget plan is a roadmap to starvation of the people.
*why don't repubs emphasize collecting taxes instead of lower taxes? perhaps if everyone paid what they should we could have a fairer system.
*trump's grandfather was an ignorant immigrant and he was admitted to america.
*Why does the demo. party not heavily recruit for black voters because it is run by fools who think republicans will vote for demos.
*if you are not embarrassed by america's history, then you are living a history based on lies.
*trump voters elected a liar and thief as president who is now under multiple investigations, it just shows that you cannot tell stupid people anything
*if you pay attention, you will realize that you don't have a government that gives a shit about working people.
*Ignorance, religion, and war are the greatest enemies of mankind.
*GOP plans to kill endangered species act, i guess they won't be happy until their are no animals/birds in the US.
*the great thing about having trump as president is that now there is no reason to watch main-stream-media for truth and "fair and balanced" journalism, you know that it is all bullshit.
*republicans pretend having taxpayers pay for stupid border wall is the same as Mexico paying for it. but what is sad, their dumbass supporters will believe it.
*everything you think is true about american institutions: media, banks, businesses, education, healthcare, etc. is a lie.
*the colonizers and their descendants claim to own this hemisphere like a burglar owns your tv set.
*if america had a real government, then there would not be homeless people, starving children, POLLUTED air and water...
Jim Carrey : what in God's name have we become ?
Detroit Graduates Lose Job Offer After Being Told Diploma’s Are Not Legitimate
By Tia Berger - atlanta black star
June 18, 2018
After 12 years of striving for their high school diplomas, two former students of a Detroit academy are told there’s “no proof” of their accolades.
Miona Jones and her friend are having a rough time securing a potential job because employers are unable to locate proof of their diplomas.
“Chrysler called and they wanted proof and they wanted proof of my high school diploma,” Jones explained to WJBK. “I sent them the diploma but there is no proof of the school.”
The graduate said the car dealership wasn’t able to verify she or her friend Devanni Robinson’s education. The two women graduated from Detroit Cares Alternative Academy in 2012, but there’s no proof of their schooling.
“I worked 12 years, fighting in school, fighting to be top of my class and you tell me it was all for nothing?” Jones asked.
She and Robinson tried obtaining their school records from The Detroit Public Schools Community District and one of the representatives told the women that “they had no records of our transcripts, diplomas stating that we graduated, nothing.”
Jones said the opportunity to work for Chrysler is a dead end “thanks to the Detroit Public School system and Rev. Sheffield” who led the nonprofit that ran Detroit Cares Alternative Academy until it permanently closed in 2012.
“The Detroit Public Schools is responsible for the management and the maintenance of these records,” Rev. Horace Sheffield told Fox 2 by mobile. “All of this has been submitted by us and somewhere along the line, some of these records have been lost, misplaced or I’m not sure what happened.”
A DPSCD spokesperson admitted the district failed to input student records into their system while they were under emergency management in 2011 and 2012. The district told the news station they plan on updating the records for students.
Miona Jones and her friend are having a rough time securing a potential job because employers are unable to locate proof of their diplomas.
“Chrysler called and they wanted proof and they wanted proof of my high school diploma,” Jones explained to WJBK. “I sent them the diploma but there is no proof of the school.”
The graduate said the car dealership wasn’t able to verify she or her friend Devanni Robinson’s education. The two women graduated from Detroit Cares Alternative Academy in 2012, but there’s no proof of their schooling.
“I worked 12 years, fighting in school, fighting to be top of my class and you tell me it was all for nothing?” Jones asked.
She and Robinson tried obtaining their school records from The Detroit Public Schools Community District and one of the representatives told the women that “they had no records of our transcripts, diplomas stating that we graduated, nothing.”
Jones said the opportunity to work for Chrysler is a dead end “thanks to the Detroit Public School system and Rev. Sheffield” who led the nonprofit that ran Detroit Cares Alternative Academy until it permanently closed in 2012.
“The Detroit Public Schools is responsible for the management and the maintenance of these records,” Rev. Horace Sheffield told Fox 2 by mobile. “All of this has been submitted by us and somewhere along the line, some of these records have been lost, misplaced or I’m not sure what happened.”
A DPSCD spokesperson admitted the district failed to input student records into their system while they were under emergency management in 2011 and 2012. The district told the news station they plan on updating the records for students.
MSNBC’s Ali Velshi puts his religion degree to work fact-checking Sessions and Sanders: ‘We’re going to church’
Bob Brigham - raw story
15 JUN 2018 AT 13:27 ET
MSNBC anchor Ali Velshi has a bachelor's degree in religious studies from Queen's University. The university also awarded the MSNBC anchor an Honorary Doctorate of Laws.
MSNBC anchor Ali Velshi surprised viewers on Friday by “taking them to church” with a factcheck of claims made by the Trump administration to rationalize their new policy of separating parents from children at the border to deter immigration.
While Velshi is best known for his business and economics reporting, he earned a bachelor’s degree in religious studies from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.
“We’re about to go to church,” Velshi explained. “Sticking with the spirit of what would Jesus do, we actually did dig through the Bible to find passages that lent themselves to the current border practice of separating migrant children from their parents.”
Velshi said the White House “has forced this discussion upon us, because they have said it’s the biblical thing to do.”
“I don’t think there is a Christian, a Muslim, or a Jew in this country who can find me in their holy book references that suggest that that is appropriate,” Velshi concluded.
“I think you’re right,” said James Martin, a Jesuit priest. “I think what they’re doing is called proof texting, you take a verse of the gospels or the Old Testament out of context and throw it at people, weaponizing the Bible.”
While Velshi is best known for his business and economics reporting, he earned a bachelor’s degree in religious studies from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.
“We’re about to go to church,” Velshi explained. “Sticking with the spirit of what would Jesus do, we actually did dig through the Bible to find passages that lent themselves to the current border practice of separating migrant children from their parents.”
Velshi said the White House “has forced this discussion upon us, because they have said it’s the biblical thing to do.”
“I don’t think there is a Christian, a Muslim, or a Jew in this country who can find me in their holy book references that suggest that that is appropriate,” Velshi concluded.
“I think you’re right,” said James Martin, a Jesuit priest. “I think what they’re doing is called proof texting, you take a verse of the gospels or the Old Testament out of context and throw it at people, weaponizing the Bible.”
The ‘Black Panther’ actor who is an undocumented ‘Dreamer’
Agence France-Presse - raw story
13 JUN 2018 AT 08:13 ET
Actor Bambadjan Bamba -- shown here at an American Civil Liberties Union event in Los Angeles on June 8 -- hails from Ivory Coast, and is now living in the US as an undocumented immigrant AFP / Frankie TAGGART
On the hit sitcom “The Good Place,” Bambadjan Bamba plays an eternal being in the afterlife. In reality, the Ivorian actor is living in limbo in the United States as an undocumented immigrant.
The 36-year-old Bamba, who most recently appeared in “Black Panther,” is one of 700,000 “Dreamers” — immigrants brought illegally to America as children who were protected by the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
“For a while, I wanted to share my story but I was paralyzed in fear,” he said in an interview with AFP as he picked up a human rights award in Los Angeles from the American Civil Liberties Union.
“I just didn’t want to ruffle any feathers. I didn’t want to put my career on the line, and even my family on the line.”
Bamba’s family fled political instability in the west African state of Ivory Coast in 1993 and he arrived in the US when he was 10.
Bamba then spent his teenage years between New York’s South Bronx and Richmond, Virginia.
The young French speaker learned English quickly and got into New York’s Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, driving taxis to pay the fees.
It was during the college applications process, when Bamba was thinking about financial aid, that his parents revealed they had no legal status in the United States.
They were eventually granted political asylum, but Bamba was 21 by then — too old to share the new rights they had won.
– ‘A lot of fear’ –
Despite his undocumented status, the aspiring star began picking up acting jobs and has appeared in more than two dozen television shows such as “Law and Order,” “ER” and “Grey’s Anatomy.”
In 2016, he secured a recurring part as a human rights activist and secret celestial torturer in NBC sitcom “The Good Place,” and has since appeared in small roles in two comic book blockbusters — “Black Panther” and “Suicide Squad.”
Like thousands in his situation, Bamba felt like his world had collapsed when President Donald Trump canceled the DACA program last year, leaving Dreamers vulnerable to deportation at any moment.
“It has really been volatile. There’s so much uncertainty in our communities. There’s a lot of fear and we don’t know what’s going to happen next,” he told AFP.
“Most of us have families, degrees, have careers, have made our lives here, and we really don’t know what’s going to happen month to month.”
Bamba had told very few people of his citizenship status but decided to speak out in an interview with the Los Angeles Times in November of last year.
“I have a wife and a daughter. She’s one-and-a-half years old. Back in November, that really spurred my decision,” Bamba told AFP.
“I looked at her and I wanted her to know her father stood for something and stood for her, especially right now when families are being torn apart at the border.”
– Black cloud –
Bamba says friends and colleagues have been incredibly supportive since he “came out,” and his fears that it would nix his career turned out to be unfounded.
He told the LA Times his biggest worry was being hauled off set by immigration officials during a shoot. He works a lot in Canada or elsewhere abroad but always worries about getting back into the United States.
The Republican-led Congress failed earlier this year to pass immigration reform proposals, including one championed by Trump that would have resolved the legal status of 1.8 million migrants.
Lawmakers are working on a new solution that would include measures to boost border security and reform legal immigration but, for the time being, the uncertainty is a black cloud hanging over the Dreamers.
“I’m still being vocal but, to my surprise — I guess this was a little naive of me — I thought we would have a solution by now. I thought we would have a Dream Act passed by now,” said Bamba.
“I thought, with the government shutdowns and all those things that happened, that we would have something on the table. So the fact that we don’t have anything helps me know that the fight continues and that I have to continue to do my part.”
The 36-year-old Bamba, who most recently appeared in “Black Panther,” is one of 700,000 “Dreamers” — immigrants brought illegally to America as children who were protected by the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
“For a while, I wanted to share my story but I was paralyzed in fear,” he said in an interview with AFP as he picked up a human rights award in Los Angeles from the American Civil Liberties Union.
“I just didn’t want to ruffle any feathers. I didn’t want to put my career on the line, and even my family on the line.”
Bamba’s family fled political instability in the west African state of Ivory Coast in 1993 and he arrived in the US when he was 10.
Bamba then spent his teenage years between New York’s South Bronx and Richmond, Virginia.
The young French speaker learned English quickly and got into New York’s Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, driving taxis to pay the fees.
It was during the college applications process, when Bamba was thinking about financial aid, that his parents revealed they had no legal status in the United States.
They were eventually granted political asylum, but Bamba was 21 by then — too old to share the new rights they had won.
– ‘A lot of fear’ –
Despite his undocumented status, the aspiring star began picking up acting jobs and has appeared in more than two dozen television shows such as “Law and Order,” “ER” and “Grey’s Anatomy.”
In 2016, he secured a recurring part as a human rights activist and secret celestial torturer in NBC sitcom “The Good Place,” and has since appeared in small roles in two comic book blockbusters — “Black Panther” and “Suicide Squad.”
Like thousands in his situation, Bamba felt like his world had collapsed when President Donald Trump canceled the DACA program last year, leaving Dreamers vulnerable to deportation at any moment.
“It has really been volatile. There’s so much uncertainty in our communities. There’s a lot of fear and we don’t know what’s going to happen next,” he told AFP.
“Most of us have families, degrees, have careers, have made our lives here, and we really don’t know what’s going to happen month to month.”
Bamba had told very few people of his citizenship status but decided to speak out in an interview with the Los Angeles Times in November of last year.
“I have a wife and a daughter. She’s one-and-a-half years old. Back in November, that really spurred my decision,” Bamba told AFP.
“I looked at her and I wanted her to know her father stood for something and stood for her, especially right now when families are being torn apart at the border.”
– Black cloud –
Bamba says friends and colleagues have been incredibly supportive since he “came out,” and his fears that it would nix his career turned out to be unfounded.
He told the LA Times his biggest worry was being hauled off set by immigration officials during a shoot. He works a lot in Canada or elsewhere abroad but always worries about getting back into the United States.
The Republican-led Congress failed earlier this year to pass immigration reform proposals, including one championed by Trump that would have resolved the legal status of 1.8 million migrants.
Lawmakers are working on a new solution that would include measures to boost border security and reform legal immigration but, for the time being, the uncertainty is a black cloud hanging over the Dreamers.
“I’m still being vocal but, to my surprise — I guess this was a little naive of me — I thought we would have a solution by now. I thought we would have a Dream Act passed by now,” said Bamba.
“I thought, with the government shutdowns and all those things that happened, that we would have something on the table. So the fact that we don’t have anything helps me know that the fight continues and that I have to continue to do my part.”
Tired of Searching for Good Beer, HBCU Grads Team Up to Open First Black-Owned Craft Brewery In Harlem
By Tanasia Kenney - atlanta black star
June 13, 2018
Tired of searching for god beer, owners owners Kevin Bradford, Kim Harris and Stacey Lee decided to open their own bar in the heart of Harlem. (Image courtesy of HarlemHops.com)
Three HBCU graduates are offering their personal touch to a trendy craft beer bar in the heart of Harlem, N.Y. — and beer lovers are already flocking to it.
Owners Kevin Bradford, Kim Harris and Stacey Lee made history on June 9 when they opened the doors to Harlem Hops, the first craft beer bar in Harlemowned and operated by African-Americans, ESPN’s “The Undefeated” reported. The debut bar sits on Adam Clayton Powell Jr Boulevard surrounded by independently owned businesses, convenience stores and other establishments.
“We want Harlem Hops to be ‘Cheers’ for a lot of people in the neighborhood,” said Harris, an alumna of Clark Atlanta University. “We want it to be the safe haven where you can just come and learn about something different.”
Speaking to The Undefeated, Harris said the vision for Harlem Hops unfolded nearly five years ago. The Harlem native said good beer was hard to come by in her neighborhood, so she’d often travel to Brooklyn to find what she was looking for.
“I thought, there’s something missing here,” she said. “And that’s when it came to me that we should do a beer bar in Harlem. That’s was one of the reasons I thought about it.”
Harris soon met with restaurant consultant Jason Wallace, who put her in touch with soon-to-be business partner Bradford. It turns out Bradford, a Hampton University graduate, was facing the same problems when it came to finding good beer. He said he would find himself bringing back beers from his hometown of Detroit back to New York City.
“I had to travel these far distances to get beer I liked,” Bradford recalled. “I live in Harlem, and I wanted to open a bar in my neighborhood, but the zoning was residential. I couldn’t have a commercial space in my property. That’s when Jason Wallace introduced myself and Kim and I was like, this is it.”
From there, Lee, a fellow Clark Atlanta grad and trusted businesswoman Harris had worked with in the past, joined the duo and they all set off to open the borough’s first Black-owned craft beer bar.
“I have business sense, Kevin is focused on the beer and Stacey brings in the creativity and helps me keep my thoughts together,” Harris told The Undefeated. “… We’re all married to each other. We love each other. It’s the perfect combination.”
The bar owners pride themselves on serving unique craft beers with all natural ingredients and having a variety of beers on tap made by brewers of color. Their menu also features small bites like pretzels and bratwurst, and “small-batched craft cocktails and spirits from small, family-owned distilleries.”
“There are brewers of color all over the country, and it takes time to get your distribution and things of that nature,” Harris noted. “As they get their distribution into the New York area, then that’s when we’ll be featuring them as well. We’ve been in contact with a lot of brewers and building our own network.”
After working feverishly to pin down a color scheme for the bar decor and settling on tasty menu items, the trio was ready to finally open its doors to the public. The owners said they now look froward to watching their business grow and credited historically Black institutions for giving them the guts to pursue such a venture.
“We love our HBCUs,” Lee said. “… I think HBCUs taught us about humility, taught us about drive and it’s also very nurturing attending an HBCU. They have the mentality that you can do anything that you want to do.
This started out as a dream with no money, no dollars and here we are about to open the first 100 percent all African-American-owned craft beer bar in Harlem,” she added. “If you don’t have the money, find a way or make one.”
Owners Kevin Bradford, Kim Harris and Stacey Lee made history on June 9 when they opened the doors to Harlem Hops, the first craft beer bar in Harlemowned and operated by African-Americans, ESPN’s “The Undefeated” reported. The debut bar sits on Adam Clayton Powell Jr Boulevard surrounded by independently owned businesses, convenience stores and other establishments.
“We want Harlem Hops to be ‘Cheers’ for a lot of people in the neighborhood,” said Harris, an alumna of Clark Atlanta University. “We want it to be the safe haven where you can just come and learn about something different.”
Speaking to The Undefeated, Harris said the vision for Harlem Hops unfolded nearly five years ago. The Harlem native said good beer was hard to come by in her neighborhood, so she’d often travel to Brooklyn to find what she was looking for.
“I thought, there’s something missing here,” she said. “And that’s when it came to me that we should do a beer bar in Harlem. That’s was one of the reasons I thought about it.”
Harris soon met with restaurant consultant Jason Wallace, who put her in touch with soon-to-be business partner Bradford. It turns out Bradford, a Hampton University graduate, was facing the same problems when it came to finding good beer. He said he would find himself bringing back beers from his hometown of Detroit back to New York City.
“I had to travel these far distances to get beer I liked,” Bradford recalled. “I live in Harlem, and I wanted to open a bar in my neighborhood, but the zoning was residential. I couldn’t have a commercial space in my property. That’s when Jason Wallace introduced myself and Kim and I was like, this is it.”
From there, Lee, a fellow Clark Atlanta grad and trusted businesswoman Harris had worked with in the past, joined the duo and they all set off to open the borough’s first Black-owned craft beer bar.
“I have business sense, Kevin is focused on the beer and Stacey brings in the creativity and helps me keep my thoughts together,” Harris told The Undefeated. “… We’re all married to each other. We love each other. It’s the perfect combination.”
The bar owners pride themselves on serving unique craft beers with all natural ingredients and having a variety of beers on tap made by brewers of color. Their menu also features small bites like pretzels and bratwurst, and “small-batched craft cocktails and spirits from small, family-owned distilleries.”
“There are brewers of color all over the country, and it takes time to get your distribution and things of that nature,” Harris noted. “As they get their distribution into the New York area, then that’s when we’ll be featuring them as well. We’ve been in contact with a lot of brewers and building our own network.”
After working feverishly to pin down a color scheme for the bar decor and settling on tasty menu items, the trio was ready to finally open its doors to the public. The owners said they now look froward to watching their business grow and credited historically Black institutions for giving them the guts to pursue such a venture.
“We love our HBCUs,” Lee said. “… I think HBCUs taught us about humility, taught us about drive and it’s also very nurturing attending an HBCU. They have the mentality that you can do anything that you want to do.
This started out as a dream with no money, no dollars and here we are about to open the first 100 percent all African-American-owned craft beer bar in Harlem,” she added. “If you don’t have the money, find a way or make one.”
Missing US air force officer found in California after 35 years
Capt William Howard Hughes had top security clearance
Ex-officer charged with desertion after arrest in fraud inquiry
Associated Press in Albuquerque, New Mexico
the guardian
Mon 11 Jun 2018 07.46 EDT
An undated handout photo made available by the US air force office of special investigations (AFOSI) showing Captain William Howard Hughes. Photograph: Afosi Handout/EPA
A Kirtland air force base officer with top security clearance who disappeared 35 years ago has been found, alive and well and living under another name in California.
The air force office of special investigations said in a news release this week that William Howard Hughes Jr was apprehended at his home after a fraud investigation involving a fake identity he had been using.
Hughes was involved in classified planning and analysis of Nato control, command and communications surveillance systems during the cold war. He specialized in radar surveillance.
A captain, he was 33 years old and single when he vanished, according to news reports from the time of his disappearance.
Hughes was last seen withdrawing more than $28,000 in Albuquerque in the summer of 1983 after returning from a two-week vacation in Europe. He had just completed a stint in the Netherlands, where he worked with Nato officers on the airborne warning and control electronic surveillance aircraft. He was supposed to be back in Albuquerque by August of that year.
An office of special investigations spokeswoman told the Albuquerque Journal that there was no indication Hughes was involved spying for or passing information to the Soviet Union or that any classified information was leaked.
Hughes told authorities after his capture on Wednesday that he had been depressed about being in the air force and had simply decided to leave. He created a fake identity and lived in California ever since.
Hughes was charged with desertion and was being held at Travis air force base in California. It was unclear if he had an attorney who could comment on his behalf.
The air force office of special investigations said in a news release this week that William Howard Hughes Jr was apprehended at his home after a fraud investigation involving a fake identity he had been using.
Hughes was involved in classified planning and analysis of Nato control, command and communications surveillance systems during the cold war. He specialized in radar surveillance.
A captain, he was 33 years old and single when he vanished, according to news reports from the time of his disappearance.
Hughes was last seen withdrawing more than $28,000 in Albuquerque in the summer of 1983 after returning from a two-week vacation in Europe. He had just completed a stint in the Netherlands, where he worked with Nato officers on the airborne warning and control electronic surveillance aircraft. He was supposed to be back in Albuquerque by August of that year.
An office of special investigations spokeswoman told the Albuquerque Journal that there was no indication Hughes was involved spying for or passing information to the Soviet Union or that any classified information was leaked.
Hughes told authorities after his capture on Wednesday that he had been depressed about being in the air force and had simply decided to leave. He created a fake identity and lived in California ever since.
Hughes was charged with desertion and was being held at Travis air force base in California. It was unclear if he had an attorney who could comment on his behalf.
26-Year-Old Wins Local Office in Georgia, Takes Her Oath of Office on Autobiography of Malcolm X
Angela Helm - the root
6/7/18
Mariah Parker, a Ph.D. student and rapper who goes by the name Lingua Franca, was sworn into office as Athens-Clarke County, Ga., commissioner on June 5, 2018.
Screenshot: jay dexter
Since Tuesday’s elections held throughout the nation, an already-iconic photo has been sweeping the internet, as 26-year-old Mariah Parker took her oath of office as Athens-Clarke County (Ga.) commissioner, District 2, with her mother holding not the Bible or Quran, but another good book—Alex Haley’s Autobiography of Malcolm X.
Parker, who reportedly only won by 13 votes, ran as a progressive, and on her campaign website declared that “it’s time for bold, progressive leadership in Athens.”
“My platform centers around economic and racial justice,” said the millennial,
according to the Red & Black. “The policies of this town have been structured, deliberately, to ensure that a certain class of people will continue to thrive and a certain class of people will continue to not.”
Athens-Clarke County has recently been in the news for one of its police officers deliberately hitting a black man with his cruiser.
In a discussion after her election, Parker says that she wants to take on affordable housing and gentrification, particularly as it relates to the University of Georgia.
“The university extracts a lot of resources from this community and doesn’t give back enough,” said Parker, who is a Ph.D. student in linguistics and a rapper who goes by the name Lingua Franca.
She adds, “The racists have all the money, still, so it’s economically advantageous to cater to them. If we had a black middle class, those places would integrate on their own.” Parker listed her No. 1 priority as setting aside 30 percent of city contracts for black- and Latino-owned companies, according to Flagpole.
Parker filled the county commission seat vacated by Harry Sims, who left his seat to run for mayor. After her swearing-in ceremony on the steps of Athens City Hall, Parker walked into the commission chamber to take her seat behind the rail.
Parker takes her place in a burgeoning movement of black, progressive candidates who eschew neoliberalism and embrace the so-called radical politics of economic and social empowerment for marginalized communities, aka power to the people.
Parker, who reportedly only won by 13 votes, ran as a progressive, and on her campaign website declared that “it’s time for bold, progressive leadership in Athens.”
“My platform centers around economic and racial justice,” said the millennial,
according to the Red & Black. “The policies of this town have been structured, deliberately, to ensure that a certain class of people will continue to thrive and a certain class of people will continue to not.”
Athens-Clarke County has recently been in the news for one of its police officers deliberately hitting a black man with his cruiser.
In a discussion after her election, Parker says that she wants to take on affordable housing and gentrification, particularly as it relates to the University of Georgia.
“The university extracts a lot of resources from this community and doesn’t give back enough,” said Parker, who is a Ph.D. student in linguistics and a rapper who goes by the name Lingua Franca.
She adds, “The racists have all the money, still, so it’s economically advantageous to cater to them. If we had a black middle class, those places would integrate on their own.” Parker listed her No. 1 priority as setting aside 30 percent of city contracts for black- and Latino-owned companies, according to Flagpole.
Parker filled the county commission seat vacated by Harry Sims, who left his seat to run for mayor. After her swearing-in ceremony on the steps of Athens City Hall, Parker walked into the commission chamber to take her seat behind the rail.
Parker takes her place in a burgeoning movement of black, progressive candidates who eschew neoliberalism and embrace the so-called radical politics of economic and social empowerment for marginalized communities, aka power to the people.
Interview
'I can feel aggression because of my color': Americans tell of everyday racism
A cross-section of Americans tell the Guardian about the racial bias they routinely encounter in their day-to-day lives
the guardian
Wed 6 Jun 2018 06.00 EDT
Albert Price, 53, Florida
Price was in a chain restaurant in Margate, Florida, when the assisted living facility where he’s a senior manager called his cell. He stepped outside briefly to take the call, but on returning, a bartender, server and the restaurant manager were hovering at his table, about to call police. “To them it was simply a black man skipping out on his check – for two damn draft beers,” said Price. He finds himself saying “excuse me” in public, “to let white people know I’m behind them, because I don’t want to surprise them, being 6ft 4in and black.”
Brianna Wilkins, 33, Texas
When Wilkins moved into her new home in Houston, neighbors called the police, saying she was breaking in. “We were moving our stuff in, we weren’t taking anything out,” she said. “We had to pull out our lease [to show them] and everything.” Soon after, it happened again. “We don’t dress up, we’re real basic, just wear regular clothes. They’re trying to say we look homeless, that people are coming here selling drugs. They call the police, call our landlord. We feel like we’re in prison in our own house,” she said.
Malika Bilal, 34, Washington, DC
Bilal hasn’t forgotten a Fourth of July fireworks and picnic when she was in middle school in Chicago. Her family were piling into their station wagon afterwards, when a white man in a pick-up rolled by, shouting: “Go back to your country, we don’t want you here.” Her mother wore a headscarf and it was unclear if the problem was race, religion or both. “Sometimes it’s hard to differentiate between racism and what we now know as Islamophobia,” said Bilal, a journalist. Common micro-aggressions include store clerks speaking extra slowly, while other people question why she “talks white”. “It’s not always malicious,” she said. She tries to give the benefit of the doubt, but acknowledged that’s sometimes a coping mechanism.
Andres Raygoza, 20, California
“I’ve had racist people while working in customer service,” said the movie theater assistant, who is also an intern at a youth radio and media non-profit program in Oakland. “They won’t want to be helped by me, or they come at me with a certain tone, I can feel aggression because of my color or my demeanor. I laugh it off.” While working as a barista in San Francisco, previously, some customers would behave uncomfortably around him for no obvious reason other than that he is Latino. “I have to keep a smile on my face to be professional,” he said. He recalls a white customer bringing a Confederate flag into the coffee shop.
Chiaunte’ Arnolie, 30, Louisiana
Meeting friends at a favorite New Orleans bar on her birthday, a bartender told Arnolie, a medical lab technician, there was a new policy – to collect an ID with a customer’s credit card when opening a tab. Arnolie handed over her ID, but noticed no-one else arriving was asked for an ID with their credit card – and none of them was black. Another time, she was browsing wigs in a beauty store, but was rushed along by a sales associate. Leaving, discouraged, another associate yelled at her to stop, accusing her of stealing the wig she had been wearing when she walked in. The first sales associate vouched for her innocence, and the second said: “Well, you know, you people steal a lot, so excuse me. I’m sorry.”
Cameron Belton, 26, Texas
Belton acknowledges past felony convictions but is keen to move on. However, the Houston musician says he’s overly scrutinized. “I walked to the store, came back and there were cops in front of my apartment. I guess [they] thought, ‘Oh, this guy sells drugs right here’,” despite his being newly moved in. Belton said police ask him to take his shirt off in public. “Going to the store they might roll up alongside me, leaving the store they might pull me over – seems like just to pull me over,” he said. He’s regularly quizzed at length, he said. “I’ve been with a white friend of mine, pulled over. They never searched the white friend’s car.”
Price was in a chain restaurant in Margate, Florida, when the assisted living facility where he’s a senior manager called his cell. He stepped outside briefly to take the call, but on returning, a bartender, server and the restaurant manager were hovering at his table, about to call police. “To them it was simply a black man skipping out on his check – for two damn draft beers,” said Price. He finds himself saying “excuse me” in public, “to let white people know I’m behind them, because I don’t want to surprise them, being 6ft 4in and black.”
Brianna Wilkins, 33, Texas
When Wilkins moved into her new home in Houston, neighbors called the police, saying she was breaking in. “We were moving our stuff in, we weren’t taking anything out,” she said. “We had to pull out our lease [to show them] and everything.” Soon after, it happened again. “We don’t dress up, we’re real basic, just wear regular clothes. They’re trying to say we look homeless, that people are coming here selling drugs. They call the police, call our landlord. We feel like we’re in prison in our own house,” she said.
Malika Bilal, 34, Washington, DC
Bilal hasn’t forgotten a Fourth of July fireworks and picnic when she was in middle school in Chicago. Her family were piling into their station wagon afterwards, when a white man in a pick-up rolled by, shouting: “Go back to your country, we don’t want you here.” Her mother wore a headscarf and it was unclear if the problem was race, religion or both. “Sometimes it’s hard to differentiate between racism and what we now know as Islamophobia,” said Bilal, a journalist. Common micro-aggressions include store clerks speaking extra slowly, while other people question why she “talks white”. “It’s not always malicious,” she said. She tries to give the benefit of the doubt, but acknowledged that’s sometimes a coping mechanism.
Andres Raygoza, 20, California
“I’ve had racist people while working in customer service,” said the movie theater assistant, who is also an intern at a youth radio and media non-profit program in Oakland. “They won’t want to be helped by me, or they come at me with a certain tone, I can feel aggression because of my color or my demeanor. I laugh it off.” While working as a barista in San Francisco, previously, some customers would behave uncomfortably around him for no obvious reason other than that he is Latino. “I have to keep a smile on my face to be professional,” he said. He recalls a white customer bringing a Confederate flag into the coffee shop.
Chiaunte’ Arnolie, 30, Louisiana
Meeting friends at a favorite New Orleans bar on her birthday, a bartender told Arnolie, a medical lab technician, there was a new policy – to collect an ID with a customer’s credit card when opening a tab. Arnolie handed over her ID, but noticed no-one else arriving was asked for an ID with their credit card – and none of them was black. Another time, she was browsing wigs in a beauty store, but was rushed along by a sales associate. Leaving, discouraged, another associate yelled at her to stop, accusing her of stealing the wig she had been wearing when she walked in. The first sales associate vouched for her innocence, and the second said: “Well, you know, you people steal a lot, so excuse me. I’m sorry.”
Cameron Belton, 26, Texas
Belton acknowledges past felony convictions but is keen to move on. However, the Houston musician says he’s overly scrutinized. “I walked to the store, came back and there were cops in front of my apartment. I guess [they] thought, ‘Oh, this guy sells drugs right here’,” despite his being newly moved in. Belton said police ask him to take his shirt off in public. “Going to the store they might roll up alongside me, leaving the store they might pull me over – seems like just to pull me over,” he said. He’s regularly quizzed at length, he said. “I’ve been with a white friend of mine, pulled over. They never searched the white friend’s car.”
Star Wars actress Kelly Marie Tran deletes all her Instagram posts after suffering months of racist trolling
Noor Al-Sibai - RAW STORY
05 JUN 2018 AT 09:06 ET
Kelly Marie Tran as Rose Tico in "Star Wars: The Last Jedi." Image via screengrab.
The first woman of color to play a leading role in the Star Wars films has deleted all her posts on Instagram after enduring months of abuse from racist and sexist fans.
NME reported Tuesday that the trolling of Vietnamese-American actress Kelly Marie Tran began in December 2017, shortly after the film came out.
The report noted that a Star Wars-themed wiki page for Rose Tico, Tran’s character, was edited to feature racist and sexist language about the actress. An alt-right YouTuber also took aim at the actress’ appearance, comparing her unfavorably to another Asian film star.
In “The Last Jedi,” Tran played a mechanic that befriended and ended up saving the life of Finn (played by star John Boyega). Despite rave reviews lauding the franchise’s increasing diversity, some pro-Trump fans took aim at the film for “promoting feminism,” and unsuccessfully tried to game Rotten Tomatoes’ rating system to make it appear as if the film was doing worse than it was.
NME reported Tuesday that the trolling of Vietnamese-American actress Kelly Marie Tran began in December 2017, shortly after the film came out.
The report noted that a Star Wars-themed wiki page for Rose Tico, Tran’s character, was edited to feature racist and sexist language about the actress. An alt-right YouTuber also took aim at the actress’ appearance, comparing her unfavorably to another Asian film star.
In “The Last Jedi,” Tran played a mechanic that befriended and ended up saving the life of Finn (played by star John Boyega). Despite rave reviews lauding the franchise’s increasing diversity, some pro-Trump fans took aim at the film for “promoting feminism,” and unsuccessfully tried to game Rotten Tomatoes’ rating system to make it appear as if the film was doing worse than it was.
Chelsea Clinton: Trump Degrades ‘What It Means To Be An American’
The 38-year-old philanthropist didn’t hold back in her interview with The Guardian.
By Hayley Miller - huff post
05/27/2018 09:52 am ET
helsea Clinton skewered President Donald Trump’s character in a recent interview, accusing him of degrading “what it means to be an American.”
Clinton, a philanthropist and the daughter of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, tore into Trump when asked about his planned July visit to Britain during an interview published Saturday in The Guardian.
“If I lived in Britain I would show up to protest, because I don’t agree with what he’s doing to degrade what it means to be an American,” Clinton said.
Clinton, 38, also told the newspaper that she’s been the target of “vitriol” for as long as she could remember and credited Trump for prompting her decision to start firing back at people who say “hateful” things to her.
“The reason, now, I no longer ignore it when people say hateful things to me on the street or on social media is, I think we have to shine a light,” Clinton said.
“I think those of us who have platforms to do that have to say this is wrong and unacceptable, so we don’t normalize it but try to detoxify what has been unleashed,” she said. “Because if we don’t, we leave a vacuum. And I think the darkness fills that vacuum.”
Trump has continued to call for Hillary Clinton, his 2016 election opponent, to be jailed for her e-mail practices as secretary of state, even though the FBI almost two years ago concluded no charges were warranted. The president has also mocked women’s appearances and promoted bigoted views.
“I think that the way that our president and many people around him have not only mainstreamed hate, but mainlined it, is so deeply dangerous,” Clinton said.
“I think the wreckage that we’re seeing at this moment is one that will, I hope, be repaired on the policy standpoint when we elect Democrats,” she continued. “But I think we will still then have work to do on repairing the tone in our country, the exposure of the real racist and sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic feeling which is on the rise in our country ― a rot that has been exposed.”
Clinton praised the “hugely important” First Amendment, but said “freedom of speech” doesn’t mean there should be a “freedom of consequences.”
“Sure, you should not be in prison because you said something racist,” Clinton said. “But you also shouldn’t be able to run for president. And yet here we are.”
Clinton, a philanthropist and the daughter of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, tore into Trump when asked about his planned July visit to Britain during an interview published Saturday in The Guardian.
“If I lived in Britain I would show up to protest, because I don’t agree with what he’s doing to degrade what it means to be an American,” Clinton said.
Clinton, 38, also told the newspaper that she’s been the target of “vitriol” for as long as she could remember and credited Trump for prompting her decision to start firing back at people who say “hateful” things to her.
“The reason, now, I no longer ignore it when people say hateful things to me on the street or on social media is, I think we have to shine a light,” Clinton said.
“I think those of us who have platforms to do that have to say this is wrong and unacceptable, so we don’t normalize it but try to detoxify what has been unleashed,” she said. “Because if we don’t, we leave a vacuum. And I think the darkness fills that vacuum.”
Trump has continued to call for Hillary Clinton, his 2016 election opponent, to be jailed for her e-mail practices as secretary of state, even though the FBI almost two years ago concluded no charges were warranted. The president has also mocked women’s appearances and promoted bigoted views.
“I think that the way that our president and many people around him have not only mainstreamed hate, but mainlined it, is so deeply dangerous,” Clinton said.
“I think the wreckage that we’re seeing at this moment is one that will, I hope, be repaired on the policy standpoint when we elect Democrats,” she continued. “But I think we will still then have work to do on repairing the tone in our country, the exposure of the real racist and sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic feeling which is on the rise in our country ― a rot that has been exposed.”
Clinton praised the “hugely important” First Amendment, but said “freedom of speech” doesn’t mean there should be a “freedom of consequences.”
“Sure, you should not be in prison because you said something racist,” Clinton said. “But you also shouldn’t be able to run for president. And yet here we are.”
This Ex-NFL Player Has a Great Suggestion Regarding the League’s New National Anthem Rule
Surely it’s just as disrespectful to sell beer and chili dogs during the ceremony?
BY JACK HOLMES - esquire
MAY 25, 2018
First things first: NFL players who protest during the national anthem are not protesting The Anthem anymore than Rosa Parks was protesting public transportation. They are demonstrating against racial injustice in policing and in the criminal justice system. (Their grievances have the benefit of being borne out by the facts.) They are using the patriotic rituals before football games—a time for celebrating American Greatness, and when they know they will have the broader public's attention—as an opportunity to bring attention to the fact that America is not all great, all the time, for everyone.
Still, critics of the protest insist that it is unpatriotic to suggest ways the country could improve—or at least to do so while others are celebrating how great it is. This is bizarre, but it is our reality: When the NFL owners voted to essentially ban the protests this week—though it now appears they may not have formally voted at all—commissioner Roger Goodell cited concerns that the protests brought questions about the players' patriotism and whether they were disrespecting The Anthem, or The Flag, or our armed forces.
(In this formulation, the troops are defending The Flag, not the First Amendment, the Constitution more broadly, and more broadly still, our rights as citizens to express ourselves freely in the public square.)
One ex-pro, Marvin Washington, followed this logic to ask a very good question: If it's disrespectful for NFL employees to kneel during the anthem, surely it's disrespectful to continue selling beer and chili dogs during the ceremony?
After all, this is about Respecting the Anthem. Both the players and the various concession vendors are employees and representatives—directly or indirectly—of the National Football League as an enterprise. Shouldn't they all be held to the same standard? Shouldn't everyone have to stop what they're doing, stand, take off their hats, and put their hands over their hearts? Maybe the stadium employees who work the gates should stop swiping fans' tickets and allowing them into the stadium while the anthem ceremony is underway. You have to arrive before or after the anthem, you can't come in during. Show some respect.
Or maybe none of this is about the anthem, but about fans being reminded—for less than two minutes—about how maybe the country isn't all great before they get to watch The Big Game. Maybe it has something to do with the complexion of most of those protesting, and the fact they've made many millions of dollars more than most of those watching will in their lifetimes--and they're still not "grateful." And maybe the owners are worried that embracing the social consciousness of their employees might cost them some money. So, after all, would closing the concession stands. The most important freedom in America is the free flow of dollar bills.
Still, critics of the protest insist that it is unpatriotic to suggest ways the country could improve—or at least to do so while others are celebrating how great it is. This is bizarre, but it is our reality: When the NFL owners voted to essentially ban the protests this week—though it now appears they may not have formally voted at all—commissioner Roger Goodell cited concerns that the protests brought questions about the players' patriotism and whether they were disrespecting The Anthem, or The Flag, or our armed forces.
(In this formulation, the troops are defending The Flag, not the First Amendment, the Constitution more broadly, and more broadly still, our rights as citizens to express ourselves freely in the public square.)
One ex-pro, Marvin Washington, followed this logic to ask a very good question: If it's disrespectful for NFL employees to kneel during the anthem, surely it's disrespectful to continue selling beer and chili dogs during the ceremony?
After all, this is about Respecting the Anthem. Both the players and the various concession vendors are employees and representatives—directly or indirectly—of the National Football League as an enterprise. Shouldn't they all be held to the same standard? Shouldn't everyone have to stop what they're doing, stand, take off their hats, and put their hands over their hearts? Maybe the stadium employees who work the gates should stop swiping fans' tickets and allowing them into the stadium while the anthem ceremony is underway. You have to arrive before or after the anthem, you can't come in during. Show some respect.
Or maybe none of this is about the anthem, but about fans being reminded—for less than two minutes—about how maybe the country isn't all great before they get to watch The Big Game. Maybe it has something to do with the complexion of most of those protesting, and the fact they've made many millions of dollars more than most of those watching will in their lifetimes--and they're still not "grateful." And maybe the owners are worried that embracing the social consciousness of their employees might cost them some money. So, after all, would closing the concession stands. The most important freedom in America is the free flow of dollar bills.
From south central LA to Sotheby’s: the record-breaking rise of Kerry James Marshall
The $21.1m sale of his 1997 painting Past Times was a record for a black artist and a vital next step in a fascinating career
Nadja Sayej
the guardian
Wed 23 May 2018 05.00 EDT
Kerry James Marshall: ‘My ambition was never to make a lot of money. I was really just struggling to make the best pictures I could make.’ Photograph: Brad Torchia for the Guardian
In 1997, African American artist Kerry James Marshall painted Past Times, an artwork depicting a black family in high-class leisure – playing golf, playing cricket, as well as water skiing and driving a motorboat across a lake. It’s a take on a pastoral scene typically filled with European aristocratic types yet instead filled with black figures.
Last week at Sotheby’s, it sold for $21.1m, breaking a new world record, making Marshall, according to reports, the highest-paid African American artist.
“My ambition was never to make a lot of money,” the Chicago-based artist told the Guardian in 2017. “I was really just struggling to make the best pictures I could make.”
The buyer of Marshall’s painting was Sean Combs, AKA Diddy, the founder of Bad Boy Entertainment and Harlem rapper who, in the same year this painting was made, debuted his album No Way Out at number one on the Billboard chart.
Jack Shainman, Marshall’s gallerist, said Combs was the right art collector “with purpose and an eye toward preserving legacy”.
Marshall has always felt like he had a social responsibility, growing up in South Central Los Angeles during the peak of the civil rights battle. Having lived near the headquarters of the Black Panthers, his art reflects the reality of many working-class African Americans, painting scenes of his neighborhood community, housing projects to boisterous group gatherings and intimate moments that range from romantic interludes to pensive solitude.
Over his 40-year career, Marshall has exhibited at the Tate Modern and the Museum of Modern Art and counts Michelle Obama as a fan. One of his prime motivations has always been to work against the whitewashing of art history. “If no one is out there working to produce paintings with a racially different set of figures, non-white people will always be in trouble,” he said in 2016.
“That is why I keep making pictures that aim to make their way into museums.”
However, with ongoing police brutality as well as a string of recent, publicised incidents of racial discrimination, such as two black men arrested for sitting in a Starbucks in Philadelphia, Marshall’s work feels especially relevant now.
“His deep exploration of black identity and visibility, especially at a moment when black people are under assault for getting coffee, golfing, napping, barbecuing and shopping, is relevant,” said Steven Nelson, the director of the Africa Studies Center at the University of California. “His work takes its cues from the history of western painting and expands how we can conceive of figurative painting.”
Marshall has been a major artist for decades, but his career trajectory has come into the spotlight following retrospectives in 2004 and 2016. “Aligned with a decade of Marshall’s growing prominence and the fanfare surrounding his recent retrospective, it’s not surprising to see this painting break records at auction,” said Nelson.
To Nyugen Smith, an artist based in Jersey City, this art sale signifies something that has been brewing all along. “All of his work has positioned him to receive the acclaim that he is receiving at this moment, just as black people have been fighting against racism and injustice while affirming our self-worth since we were brought to the Americas,” said Smith. “This work affirms our humanity and it celebrates our history, culture, ideas, beauty, our genius, our natural mystic and legacy.”
While the price tag is putting the artist in the spotlight, it’s a byproduct of what’s really important for this historic moment. “If market value is a sign of worth – admiration, appreciation for artistry, skill, imagination, creativity – this development is good,” said Jacqueline Francis, author of Making Race: Modernism and “Racial Art” in America. “It’s good for painting as a practice, and it’s also an opportunity to explain Marshall’s work to the public because it needs it; I’ll do cartwheels when as many people, black people, are talking about this painting as [Childish Gambino’s] This is America.”
The artist’s trajectory is hope for elder artists, too, as Marshall is now a 62-year-old art star in an industry that is obsessed with young stars, or the Jean-Michel Basquiat fetish. “The interest in Marshall’s work has greater relevance today, as museums expand the traditional canons of art history to embrace a more diverse approach,” said Julián Zugazagoitia, director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, which owns an early work by Marshall. “Personally, I have enjoyed witnessing how the attention to a contemporary artist like Kerry James Marshall has opened the door to fresh consideration of older artists.”
While Past Times will be put in Combs’ private collection, it’s paramount that Marshall continues to have a major presence in museums around the world.
After all, being on public display is all part of the artist’s mission. “When most people go to a big museum like the Louvre, it reaffirms their idea of what real art is supposed to look like,” Marshall told the Guardian. “If you don’t see black people in those pictures, then you don’t think black people belong in those kind of pictures … people need to start thinking that these pictures belong in those places, too.”
Last week at Sotheby’s, it sold for $21.1m, breaking a new world record, making Marshall, according to reports, the highest-paid African American artist.
“My ambition was never to make a lot of money,” the Chicago-based artist told the Guardian in 2017. “I was really just struggling to make the best pictures I could make.”
The buyer of Marshall’s painting was Sean Combs, AKA Diddy, the founder of Bad Boy Entertainment and Harlem rapper who, in the same year this painting was made, debuted his album No Way Out at number one on the Billboard chart.
Jack Shainman, Marshall’s gallerist, said Combs was the right art collector “with purpose and an eye toward preserving legacy”.
Marshall has always felt like he had a social responsibility, growing up in South Central Los Angeles during the peak of the civil rights battle. Having lived near the headquarters of the Black Panthers, his art reflects the reality of many working-class African Americans, painting scenes of his neighborhood community, housing projects to boisterous group gatherings and intimate moments that range from romantic interludes to pensive solitude.
Over his 40-year career, Marshall has exhibited at the Tate Modern and the Museum of Modern Art and counts Michelle Obama as a fan. One of his prime motivations has always been to work against the whitewashing of art history. “If no one is out there working to produce paintings with a racially different set of figures, non-white people will always be in trouble,” he said in 2016.
“That is why I keep making pictures that aim to make their way into museums.”
However, with ongoing police brutality as well as a string of recent, publicised incidents of racial discrimination, such as two black men arrested for sitting in a Starbucks in Philadelphia, Marshall’s work feels especially relevant now.
“His deep exploration of black identity and visibility, especially at a moment when black people are under assault for getting coffee, golfing, napping, barbecuing and shopping, is relevant,” said Steven Nelson, the director of the Africa Studies Center at the University of California. “His work takes its cues from the history of western painting and expands how we can conceive of figurative painting.”
Marshall has been a major artist for decades, but his career trajectory has come into the spotlight following retrospectives in 2004 and 2016. “Aligned with a decade of Marshall’s growing prominence and the fanfare surrounding his recent retrospective, it’s not surprising to see this painting break records at auction,” said Nelson.
To Nyugen Smith, an artist based in Jersey City, this art sale signifies something that has been brewing all along. “All of his work has positioned him to receive the acclaim that he is receiving at this moment, just as black people have been fighting against racism and injustice while affirming our self-worth since we were brought to the Americas,” said Smith. “This work affirms our humanity and it celebrates our history, culture, ideas, beauty, our genius, our natural mystic and legacy.”
While the price tag is putting the artist in the spotlight, it’s a byproduct of what’s really important for this historic moment. “If market value is a sign of worth – admiration, appreciation for artistry, skill, imagination, creativity – this development is good,” said Jacqueline Francis, author of Making Race: Modernism and “Racial Art” in America. “It’s good for painting as a practice, and it’s also an opportunity to explain Marshall’s work to the public because it needs it; I’ll do cartwheels when as many people, black people, are talking about this painting as [Childish Gambino’s] This is America.”
The artist’s trajectory is hope for elder artists, too, as Marshall is now a 62-year-old art star in an industry that is obsessed with young stars, or the Jean-Michel Basquiat fetish. “The interest in Marshall’s work has greater relevance today, as museums expand the traditional canons of art history to embrace a more diverse approach,” said Julián Zugazagoitia, director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, which owns an early work by Marshall. “Personally, I have enjoyed witnessing how the attention to a contemporary artist like Kerry James Marshall has opened the door to fresh consideration of older artists.”
While Past Times will be put in Combs’ private collection, it’s paramount that Marshall continues to have a major presence in museums around the world.
After all, being on public display is all part of the artist’s mission. “When most people go to a big museum like the Louvre, it reaffirms their idea of what real art is supposed to look like,” Marshall told the Guardian. “If you don’t see black people in those pictures, then you don’t think black people belong in those kind of pictures … people need to start thinking that these pictures belong in those places, too.”
Past Times, 1997. Photograph: Nathan Keay, © MCA Chicago/© Kerry James Marshall
Terry Crews: Marvel, toxic masculinity and life after #metoo
The Deadpool 2 star made his name as the NFL player-turned-comedic gentle giant. Now, in the wake of his own sexual abuse allegations, he’s become the voice of the male #metoo movement
Jonathan Bernstein
the guardian
Tue 22 May 2018 05.00 EDT
A man apart... Terry Crews. Photograph: Benjo Arwas
Terry Crews sits in the cabana of his Pasadena mansion looking out at a spectacular view of the San Gabriel mountains. With mounting emotion, he speaks with trepidation about the future of his career: “Lincoln freed the slaves but was killed. Martin Luther King did the I Have a Dream speech and he was murdered. Hollywood has seen a couple of murders, too. The mindset is: sit tight, we’ll get you. Retaliation is real. You say something now but there will be backlash against anybody who comes forward.”
A year ago, the notion that the name Terry Crews would inspire anything but universal positivity would have seemed surreal. The former NFL player – who transitioned into acting in 1997 – is the embodiment of the well-worn term “gentle giant”. He has used his imposing physicality for comedic effect in films such as the agreeably dumb White Chicks, Friday After Next, Get Smart and Mike Judge’s prescient Idiocracy, where he played the reality-star head of state President Camacho. Crews has also utilised his linebacker physique in more visceral projects, including playing one of the sprightlier members of Sylvester Stallone’s OAP action ensemble The Expendables. “I’ve done a lot of movies to make the white superstar look good,” comments Crews, 49. “I’ve done movies where I got beat up by guys who could never touch me.”
As well as being a regular on sitcoms such as Everybody Hates Chris, Arrested Development and Are We There Yet?, he’s perhaps best known for his five seasons as hulking-but-weepy desk sergeant Terry Jeffords on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. These are not the credits of a controversial figure. But on 10 October last year, five days after the New York Times’s first exposé on Harvey Weinstein, Crews sent a chain of tweets detailing his experience of what he says was sexual harassment at the hands of a then-unnamed Hollywood agent, whom he accused of grabbing his crotch at a party hosted by Adam Sandler. “I saw my social media and men specifically were calling these women gold diggers and opportunists who just wanted a pay day. And it had happened to me. I’m reading all these guys calling these women all these names and I was like: ‘I can’t let this happen.’ I would have been the biggest farce ever. I’m just going to say what happened to me and let everybody else be the judge.”
A month later, interviewed on Good Morning America, Crews identified his alleged assailant as Adam Venit, the head of the motion picture department at William Morris Endeavor. By the end of the year, Time magazine named the burgeoning #metoo moment its collective person of the year, and Terry Crews its most prominent male voice. “My wife was there when I was molested,” he recalls. “I was yelling at this guy and pushing him away. I wanted to knock him out I was so angry. I didn’t know Adam Venit but here he was, the head of the motion picture department of my agency.”
Even though the Weinstein exposé saw the end of numerous high-profile male entertainment industry careers, behind and in front of the camera, William Morris Endeavor allegedly took a different stance. (Crews claims he reported the incident at the time to his agents but William Morris disputes that he reported the incident to it immediately.)
“I went to Ari Emmanuel, the head of the agency,” says Crews, “and I printed out a letter that he wrote when he wanted Mel Gibson blacklisted from Hollywood for antisemitic remarks. And I took that same letter, crossed out ‘Mel Gibson’, put in ‘Adam Venit’, crossed out ‘antisemitic remarks’ and put in ‘sexual assault’. I gave him the letter and said: ‘You know what you have to do.’ And he said: ‘It’s different, we have to deal with this in a different way.’ I said: ‘Is the only thing that can get you kicked out of Hollywood, antisemitic remarks? Where is murder on the list?’ So I fired him. I fired the agency and I told my wife that we had to be ready to never work again.”
The agency says that when it heard about Venit’s alleged conduct he was immediately suspended without pay and when he returned to work he was demoted. Crews made a complaint to the police about Venit but the prosecution did not file charges; Venit’s defence to the lawsuit is that it was merely drunken horseplay not sexual. Crews has subsequently filed a civil suit against Venit, which has a court date of July next year.
Crews’s initial fears for his career have so far proven unfounded. He is already ensconced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, playing X-Force member Bedlam, both in the upcoming Deadpool sequel and an X-Force spin-off. “I have not gone broke,” he assures me. “New opportunities are coming simply because it’s a new day. It’s almost like the reconstruction when you have the emancipation proclamation and slavery is over. Now you have to deal with the new rules.” His mood darkens. “I did have some backlash. Avi Lerner, who is the producer of The Expendables, had the nerve to call my manager and say that if I dropped the case against William Morris, I could avoid problems on the set of the next Expendables sequel. And I’m going: ‘What problems? Why would that even be a topic of conversation as regards my employment?’ Turns out Sylvester Stallone is represented by Adam Venit. He’s connected to so many people in this business that it’s going to affect me.”
He continues: “I’m getting support now, which is awesome, but what happens in two years? What happens in three years when no one remembers, when people have all moved on?” He drops his voice and gives an ominous stare. “Agents are like Catholic priests,” he says. “If they’re good, the whole community loves them. But when they’re bad, it gets as evil as it can ever get. An agent can rape a client but he got her a show so she has to pay him. The guy who molested me, I have to send him a cheque every time I do a job. A guy can molest you and then sue you for not paying him!”
Until recently, Crews was regarded as an affable presence. Now, like Brendan Fraser and James Van Der Beek, he is acknowledged as a voice against toxic masculinity and an advocate for harassment victims. I ask Crews if he feels what’s happened to him is in some way predestined: “I feel like this whole thing is the reason why I’ve been put on Earth. The silence allows this stuff to breathe and grow and I want to shine a light on it because it’s everywhere. It was in sports, in business, in politics, in religion. Anywhere there’s success, there’s temptation. I tell people this is not a witch hunt, it’s a fumigation. And I’m going to tell you something right now: I have forgiven Adam Venit,” he insists. “That’s the only way I can be free. He messed up. We all messed up. But we have to be held accountable.”
A year ago, the notion that the name Terry Crews would inspire anything but universal positivity would have seemed surreal. The former NFL player – who transitioned into acting in 1997 – is the embodiment of the well-worn term “gentle giant”. He has used his imposing physicality for comedic effect in films such as the agreeably dumb White Chicks, Friday After Next, Get Smart and Mike Judge’s prescient Idiocracy, where he played the reality-star head of state President Camacho. Crews has also utilised his linebacker physique in more visceral projects, including playing one of the sprightlier members of Sylvester Stallone’s OAP action ensemble The Expendables. “I’ve done a lot of movies to make the white superstar look good,” comments Crews, 49. “I’ve done movies where I got beat up by guys who could never touch me.”
As well as being a regular on sitcoms such as Everybody Hates Chris, Arrested Development and Are We There Yet?, he’s perhaps best known for his five seasons as hulking-but-weepy desk sergeant Terry Jeffords on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. These are not the credits of a controversial figure. But on 10 October last year, five days after the New York Times’s first exposé on Harvey Weinstein, Crews sent a chain of tweets detailing his experience of what he says was sexual harassment at the hands of a then-unnamed Hollywood agent, whom he accused of grabbing his crotch at a party hosted by Adam Sandler. “I saw my social media and men specifically were calling these women gold diggers and opportunists who just wanted a pay day. And it had happened to me. I’m reading all these guys calling these women all these names and I was like: ‘I can’t let this happen.’ I would have been the biggest farce ever. I’m just going to say what happened to me and let everybody else be the judge.”
A month later, interviewed on Good Morning America, Crews identified his alleged assailant as Adam Venit, the head of the motion picture department at William Morris Endeavor. By the end of the year, Time magazine named the burgeoning #metoo moment its collective person of the year, and Terry Crews its most prominent male voice. “My wife was there when I was molested,” he recalls. “I was yelling at this guy and pushing him away. I wanted to knock him out I was so angry. I didn’t know Adam Venit but here he was, the head of the motion picture department of my agency.”
Even though the Weinstein exposé saw the end of numerous high-profile male entertainment industry careers, behind and in front of the camera, William Morris Endeavor allegedly took a different stance. (Crews claims he reported the incident at the time to his agents but William Morris disputes that he reported the incident to it immediately.)
“I went to Ari Emmanuel, the head of the agency,” says Crews, “and I printed out a letter that he wrote when he wanted Mel Gibson blacklisted from Hollywood for antisemitic remarks. And I took that same letter, crossed out ‘Mel Gibson’, put in ‘Adam Venit’, crossed out ‘antisemitic remarks’ and put in ‘sexual assault’. I gave him the letter and said: ‘You know what you have to do.’ And he said: ‘It’s different, we have to deal with this in a different way.’ I said: ‘Is the only thing that can get you kicked out of Hollywood, antisemitic remarks? Where is murder on the list?’ So I fired him. I fired the agency and I told my wife that we had to be ready to never work again.”
The agency says that when it heard about Venit’s alleged conduct he was immediately suspended without pay and when he returned to work he was demoted. Crews made a complaint to the police about Venit but the prosecution did not file charges; Venit’s defence to the lawsuit is that it was merely drunken horseplay not sexual. Crews has subsequently filed a civil suit against Venit, which has a court date of July next year.
Crews’s initial fears for his career have so far proven unfounded. He is already ensconced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, playing X-Force member Bedlam, both in the upcoming Deadpool sequel and an X-Force spin-off. “I have not gone broke,” he assures me. “New opportunities are coming simply because it’s a new day. It’s almost like the reconstruction when you have the emancipation proclamation and slavery is over. Now you have to deal with the new rules.” His mood darkens. “I did have some backlash. Avi Lerner, who is the producer of The Expendables, had the nerve to call my manager and say that if I dropped the case against William Morris, I could avoid problems on the set of the next Expendables sequel. And I’m going: ‘What problems? Why would that even be a topic of conversation as regards my employment?’ Turns out Sylvester Stallone is represented by Adam Venit. He’s connected to so many people in this business that it’s going to affect me.”
He continues: “I’m getting support now, which is awesome, but what happens in two years? What happens in three years when no one remembers, when people have all moved on?” He drops his voice and gives an ominous stare. “Agents are like Catholic priests,” he says. “If they’re good, the whole community loves them. But when they’re bad, it gets as evil as it can ever get. An agent can rape a client but he got her a show so she has to pay him. The guy who molested me, I have to send him a cheque every time I do a job. A guy can molest you and then sue you for not paying him!”
Until recently, Crews was regarded as an affable presence. Now, like Brendan Fraser and James Van Der Beek, he is acknowledged as a voice against toxic masculinity and an advocate for harassment victims. I ask Crews if he feels what’s happened to him is in some way predestined: “I feel like this whole thing is the reason why I’ve been put on Earth. The silence allows this stuff to breathe and grow and I want to shine a light on it because it’s everywhere. It was in sports, in business, in politics, in religion. Anywhere there’s success, there’s temptation. I tell people this is not a witch hunt, it’s a fumigation. And I’m going to tell you something right now: I have forgiven Adam Venit,” he insists. “That’s the only way I can be free. He messed up. We all messed up. But we have to be held accountable.”
The Crime of Being Poor and Black
Chris Hedges - truthdig
APR 29, 2018
NEWARK, N.J.—This is the story of Emmanuel Mervilus, who got locked up for a crime he did not commit, whose life was derailed and nearly destroyed by the experience and who will graduate this spring from Rutgers University. It is a story of being a poor black man in America, with the exception being that most poor black men never get a second chance.
The only reason Mervilus got a second chance was because of one man, history professor Don Roden, who founded the Mountainview Program at Rutgers for formerly incarcerated students. This program accepts, among others, the students I teach in prison, one of whom, Ron Pierce, also will graduate this spring.
There are only a few saints in this world. Professor Roden is one.
Mountainview staff, students, professors and families gathered Friday at Rutgers’ Newark campus to speak of the struggles and hardships endured by students such as Mervilus and Pierce. Those at the two-hour meeting spent much of the time weeping or fighting back tears.
Mervilus is 6 feet tall and broad-shouldered and has long, thick dreads. He was never in a gang. He was not a drug dealer. He had a job. He came from a good and loving family. But he was cursed with being black and poor and living in a city, Elizabeth, N.J., where if you are black and poor you are always one step away from being arbitrarily shot or arrested or tossed into jail. This is true in nearly every city in America.
There are cops in poor communities who hunt black boys and men as if they are prey. To them it is a sport. These cops are not always white, although they are often white. But they are always sadists. Intoxicated by the power to instill fear, use lethal force indiscriminately and destroy lives—and allowed to do so by a judicial system that no longer protects the most basic rights of the poor, including due process, adequate legal representation and the right to a jury trial—they circle around their victims like human vultures. If we were to use the strict dictionary definition, these police officers are criminals.
“There is a cop who used to tell me when I was a boy he was going to give me my first adult charge,” Mervilus said. Mervilus said he did not want to name the officer, now a detective, for fear of retribution.
This cop made good on his threat when Mervilus turned 18 and was a senior in high school. He saw Mervilus on the street smoking a joint. Mervilus ran. The cop chased him. Mervilus turned, put his arms up and shouted, “I give up! I give up!” The cop threw him on the hood of a police car.
“I don’t remember anything after that,” he said. “I saw a flash. Next thing I’m in the back of the police car. There are scratches on my face.”
“I’m not a saint,” Mervilus said to me. “I did things. But everything I did I owned up to.”
When he got to the police station he was charged with having a dozen bags of marijuana. The charge was a lie.
“They need more than simple possession to lock you up so they plant drugs,” he said. “It makes the charge stick.”
He was in the county jail for two weeks and was assigned a public defender who told him to plead guilty. “The public defender told me, ‘How are you going to prove this [your innocence]?’ ” he said.
“No one wants to believe cops lie,” Mervilus said. “Why would a cop lie? Lots of reasons. Promotion. Quotas. And I don’t look like a regular citizen. I’m black. I got dreads. I fit the description. I figured I ran. I didn’t know much of anything at that time, you feel me? So, I said, I’ll take it. I thought that probation could be expunged if I did good. But I was wrong. From that day on, I said I would never, ever, plead guilty to something I didn’t do.”
He went back to high school, repeated senior year, and graduated. He got a job in the kitchen of a nursing home in Linden, N.J. He earned minimum wage. It was 2005. He was 21. He was living at home. He was stopped randomly one afternoon on the street by a cop. The cop ran his name in the system.
“He says there is a warrant for my arrest,” he said. “He says I just jumped two fences and put something under a rock. It was a total lie. I am arrested with another guy for manufacturing and distribution. I spent a month in Union County jail. And when you spend a month in Union County jail it makes you want to plead guilty. You’re confined to a little area. You don’t get out.”
“I was first put in a holding tank with someone else, some type of drug dealer going through withdrawal,” he said. “It was nasty. Throwing up. Diarrhea. Two steel bunks. One steel toilet. No windows.
“They put my bail at $75,000,” he said. “I paid $7,500—10 percent—and bailed out. I tried to get my old job back. They refused to let me back, said ‘abandonment of work.’ I didn’t want to hustle [illegal drugs]. When your back is against the wall, you can’t find a job, and you have to pay a lawyer, often all you can do is hustle. But if I hustled I’d probably catch another charge and go to prison.”
Eventually, his girlfriend’s stepfather helped him get a job at the port in Newark. He was making $12 an hour. But the criminal justice system was not done with Mervilus. On leaving a Dunkin’ Donuts in October 2006 he met a friend and they started walking down the street. Cops stopped them. There had just been a stabbing and robbery. The victim told the cops that Mervilus and his friend had attacked him.
“Why would he [the victim] point a finger at me?” Mervilus asked searchingly. “I look the part, a black man with dreads. But there was no evidence to corroborate his story. I didn’t have any blood on me. He said we stole his bookbag.”
The cops rushed him and his friend. They shouted, “Put your hands on the wall!” He complied. He was put in jail, and his bail was set at $100,000.
The loss of his job while he was in jail meant he could no longer support his mother, who was dying of breast cancer, his sister and two brothers. His father had left the family.
“Rent has to be paid, everything has to go on as if I’m there,” he said. So he told his family not to use their paltry resources to bail him out. “My younger brother was 16. I played the father role. The system failed me. It failed him. He lost me.”
His family believed the cops. That hurt the most.
“I’m Haitian,” he said. “My family is looking at me like, what? This guy’s robbing people? He stabbed someone who almost died? I get blackballed. No one comes to see me, not even my mom. My mom raised me better than that. All these Haitian people were saying, ‘Well, why is he locked up if he didn’t do it?’ I was hurt and depressed.”
One night after he had been in jail for seven months he was jolted awake in his cell. “It felt like there were claws digging into my stomach,” he said. “The pain was horrible.”
His mother, he found out later when his brother visited, died that night. She was 52. After the visit he insulted another prisoner and got into a fistfight. “It didn’t fill the void,” he said.
He finally got out on bail. His family had taken his mother’s body back to Haiti for burial, and he visited her grave. It was made out of white painted cement blocks and surrounded by a small gate. He brought flowers.
“I told my mom I was sorry I wasn’t there when she died,” he said. “I told her I was innocent. I wasn’t going to plead guilty. I told her I had let her down by not watching over my little brother. I was sitting talking to her for two or three hours. It was very emotional. It was the first time I cried. Her dying [always had been] my biggest fear. My mom would be asleep; I would stand at the door looking in to make sure she was breathing. I was a momma’s boy. Serious. Every day when I came home from work I brought her a chicken sandwich with mayo and pickles from Wendy’s.”
The prosecutor offered him a deal of five years in prison if he would plead guilty to the crime in which the man was stabbed and robbed. He refused. He was facing 20 years. He went to trial. The victim changed his story several times and at one point when asked if his assailant was in the courtroom pointed to someone other than Mervilus. It did not matter. Mervilus was sentenced to 11 years for first-degree robbery.
His younger brother worked at any job he could find to pay for a lawyer for Emmanuel. When the brother got the $12,000 needed to retain an attorney, Emmanuel filed an appeal. The lawyer exposed a series of discrepancies and inconsistencies in the testimony of the man who had been stabbed. Mervilus was retried, acquitted by a jury and freed after having been behind bars for four years. The process, which cost his brother $32,000, achieved an almost unheard-of result for a poor person in our dysfunctional court system. The lawyer, John Caruso, called the acquittal “a Halley’s Comet occurrence.”
The only reason Mervilus got a second chance was because of one man, history professor Don Roden, who founded the Mountainview Program at Rutgers for formerly incarcerated students. This program accepts, among others, the students I teach in prison, one of whom, Ron Pierce, also will graduate this spring.
There are only a few saints in this world. Professor Roden is one.
Mountainview staff, students, professors and families gathered Friday at Rutgers’ Newark campus to speak of the struggles and hardships endured by students such as Mervilus and Pierce. Those at the two-hour meeting spent much of the time weeping or fighting back tears.
Mervilus is 6 feet tall and broad-shouldered and has long, thick dreads. He was never in a gang. He was not a drug dealer. He had a job. He came from a good and loving family. But he was cursed with being black and poor and living in a city, Elizabeth, N.J., where if you are black and poor you are always one step away from being arbitrarily shot or arrested or tossed into jail. This is true in nearly every city in America.
There are cops in poor communities who hunt black boys and men as if they are prey. To them it is a sport. These cops are not always white, although they are often white. But they are always sadists. Intoxicated by the power to instill fear, use lethal force indiscriminately and destroy lives—and allowed to do so by a judicial system that no longer protects the most basic rights of the poor, including due process, adequate legal representation and the right to a jury trial—they circle around their victims like human vultures. If we were to use the strict dictionary definition, these police officers are criminals.
“There is a cop who used to tell me when I was a boy he was going to give me my first adult charge,” Mervilus said. Mervilus said he did not want to name the officer, now a detective, for fear of retribution.
This cop made good on his threat when Mervilus turned 18 and was a senior in high school. He saw Mervilus on the street smoking a joint. Mervilus ran. The cop chased him. Mervilus turned, put his arms up and shouted, “I give up! I give up!” The cop threw him on the hood of a police car.
“I don’t remember anything after that,” he said. “I saw a flash. Next thing I’m in the back of the police car. There are scratches on my face.”
“I’m not a saint,” Mervilus said to me. “I did things. But everything I did I owned up to.”
When he got to the police station he was charged with having a dozen bags of marijuana. The charge was a lie.
“They need more than simple possession to lock you up so they plant drugs,” he said. “It makes the charge stick.”
He was in the county jail for two weeks and was assigned a public defender who told him to plead guilty. “The public defender told me, ‘How are you going to prove this [your innocence]?’ ” he said.
“No one wants to believe cops lie,” Mervilus said. “Why would a cop lie? Lots of reasons. Promotion. Quotas. And I don’t look like a regular citizen. I’m black. I got dreads. I fit the description. I figured I ran. I didn’t know much of anything at that time, you feel me? So, I said, I’ll take it. I thought that probation could be expunged if I did good. But I was wrong. From that day on, I said I would never, ever, plead guilty to something I didn’t do.”
He went back to high school, repeated senior year, and graduated. He got a job in the kitchen of a nursing home in Linden, N.J. He earned minimum wage. It was 2005. He was 21. He was living at home. He was stopped randomly one afternoon on the street by a cop. The cop ran his name in the system.
“He says there is a warrant for my arrest,” he said. “He says I just jumped two fences and put something under a rock. It was a total lie. I am arrested with another guy for manufacturing and distribution. I spent a month in Union County jail. And when you spend a month in Union County jail it makes you want to plead guilty. You’re confined to a little area. You don’t get out.”
“I was first put in a holding tank with someone else, some type of drug dealer going through withdrawal,” he said. “It was nasty. Throwing up. Diarrhea. Two steel bunks. One steel toilet. No windows.
“They put my bail at $75,000,” he said. “I paid $7,500—10 percent—and bailed out. I tried to get my old job back. They refused to let me back, said ‘abandonment of work.’ I didn’t want to hustle [illegal drugs]. When your back is against the wall, you can’t find a job, and you have to pay a lawyer, often all you can do is hustle. But if I hustled I’d probably catch another charge and go to prison.”
Eventually, his girlfriend’s stepfather helped him get a job at the port in Newark. He was making $12 an hour. But the criminal justice system was not done with Mervilus. On leaving a Dunkin’ Donuts in October 2006 he met a friend and they started walking down the street. Cops stopped them. There had just been a stabbing and robbery. The victim told the cops that Mervilus and his friend had attacked him.
“Why would he [the victim] point a finger at me?” Mervilus asked searchingly. “I look the part, a black man with dreads. But there was no evidence to corroborate his story. I didn’t have any blood on me. He said we stole his bookbag.”
The cops rushed him and his friend. They shouted, “Put your hands on the wall!” He complied. He was put in jail, and his bail was set at $100,000.
The loss of his job while he was in jail meant he could no longer support his mother, who was dying of breast cancer, his sister and two brothers. His father had left the family.
“Rent has to be paid, everything has to go on as if I’m there,” he said. So he told his family not to use their paltry resources to bail him out. “My younger brother was 16. I played the father role. The system failed me. It failed him. He lost me.”
His family believed the cops. That hurt the most.
“I’m Haitian,” he said. “My family is looking at me like, what? This guy’s robbing people? He stabbed someone who almost died? I get blackballed. No one comes to see me, not even my mom. My mom raised me better than that. All these Haitian people were saying, ‘Well, why is he locked up if he didn’t do it?’ I was hurt and depressed.”
One night after he had been in jail for seven months he was jolted awake in his cell. “It felt like there were claws digging into my stomach,” he said. “The pain was horrible.”
His mother, he found out later when his brother visited, died that night. She was 52. After the visit he insulted another prisoner and got into a fistfight. “It didn’t fill the void,” he said.
He finally got out on bail. His family had taken his mother’s body back to Haiti for burial, and he visited her grave. It was made out of white painted cement blocks and surrounded by a small gate. He brought flowers.
“I told my mom I was sorry I wasn’t there when she died,” he said. “I told her I was innocent. I wasn’t going to plead guilty. I told her I had let her down by not watching over my little brother. I was sitting talking to her for two or three hours. It was very emotional. It was the first time I cried. Her dying [always had been] my biggest fear. My mom would be asleep; I would stand at the door looking in to make sure she was breathing. I was a momma’s boy. Serious. Every day when I came home from work I brought her a chicken sandwich with mayo and pickles from Wendy’s.”
The prosecutor offered him a deal of five years in prison if he would plead guilty to the crime in which the man was stabbed and robbed. He refused. He was facing 20 years. He went to trial. The victim changed his story several times and at one point when asked if his assailant was in the courtroom pointed to someone other than Mervilus. It did not matter. Mervilus was sentenced to 11 years for first-degree robbery.
His younger brother worked at any job he could find to pay for a lawyer for Emmanuel. When the brother got the $12,000 needed to retain an attorney, Emmanuel filed an appeal. The lawyer exposed a series of discrepancies and inconsistencies in the testimony of the man who had been stabbed. Mervilus was retried, acquitted by a jury and freed after having been behind bars for four years. The process, which cost his brother $32,000, achieved an almost unheard-of result for a poor person in our dysfunctional court system. The lawyer, John Caruso, called the acquittal “a Halley’s Comet occurrence.”
It's Him or Us
NanceGreggs - demo underround
Yes, Republicans, we’re there – the place none of us ever wanted to be. But nonetheless, here we are just the same.
Your “pResident”, Donald Shithole Trump, is a proven liar, a self-proclaimed pussy-grabbing sexual predator, an immature idiot who spends his days in office tweeting, watching TV, and playing golf.
He is lazy, mentally incompetent, and too stupid to understand the responsibilities of his office – oh, and he’s also under investigation for possible collusion with Russia in order to interfere with our elections, and the “great people” he was going to surround himself with are also under investigation and/or have already been indicted – and through it all, you have defended and supported him.
But there can no longer be any debate as to whether Donald Shithole Trump is a racist. He has called Mexicans “rapists and drug dealers”, has declared that all Haitians have AIDS, has tried to keep Muslims from entering the country because they’re terrorists, has stated that Nigerians live in “huts”, called white supremacists and KKK members “very fine people” – and he has now labelled countries with black and brown populations as “shitholes”.
Donald Shithole Trump epitomizes everything America stands against – misogyny, ignorance, divisiveness, bigotry, and racism. And there is no viable argument you can offer that alters that fact.
We are now at the crossroads, that place where you have no choice but to pick a side. The time for vacillating, obfuscating, parsing words, and defending the indefensible is over.
You either stand with Donald Shithole Trump, or you stand with your country. You either side with a racist, or you side with your fellow citizens. You either defend a lying, ignorant bigot, or you defend the principles our nation was founded upon.
There is NO middle ground here. You are either with US, the American people who believe in equality and justice for all, or you are with HIM, the man who thinks non-whites should be barred from the American dream because they’re from “shithole countries”. You are either with US, the citizens who want to welcome immigrants in the same way their own ancestors were welcomed, or you are with HIM, the man who wants that welcome restricted to people from lily-white countries like Norway.
It’s time to grow a pair. Either stand up for your country, or stand up for a man whose every action, every statement, every attitude is anti-American, and exemplifies everything our country is opposed to.
Silence is consent. And your collective silence on your “pResident’s” remarks about “shithole countries” is beyond consent – it is nothing less than collaboration with our nation’s enemies, foreign AND domestic.
If anyone ever wondered whether the GOP is the party of racists and bigots, you have finally managed to remove all doubt.
TOWARD A POLITICS OF UNGOVERNABILITY: SHUTTING DOWN AMERICAN-STYLE AUTHORITARIANISM
BY HENRY GIROUX | APRIL 17, 2017
"The established political parties and politicians are nothing more than crude lobbyists and shock troops for the financial elite who believe everything is for sale. The boundaries of humanity are now inscribed and defined exclusively through the metrics of the twin logic of commercial transactions and the politics of disposability. The horrors unfolding under the Trump administration are not only abetted by white supremacists, religious evangelicals, but also by liberals who still believe that capitalism and democracy are synonymous, and who appear to delight and rush to support any military intervention or act of aggression the United States wages against a foreign power. Liberals are affronted over alleged charges of Russian spying but say nothing about their own country which does far more than spy on other countries it disagrees with, it overthrows them through either illegal means or military force."
Reasons why I will NEVER, EVER forgive Trump voters
Coventina
From Demo. Underground: All these things were done BEFORE the election, so don't try to tell me that Trump voters didn't know EXACTLY what they were voting for:
Calling Mexicans rapists
Shaming women for having menstrual cycles
Saying John McCain is not a hero for surviving torture
Signing up a white nationalist as a delegate
Saying he is against the First Amendment
Refusing to condemn the KKK
Mocking a disabled reporter
Praising Saddam Hussein
Praising Vladimir Putin
Re-tweeting white nationalists
Tweeting that most murders of white people are done by African Americans
Mocking women's personal appearance
Sexualizing his daughter
Lying about American Muslims celebrating on 9/11
"Two Corinthians"
Talking about his penis during a national debate
Saying a judge was partial due to his ethnic heritage
Supporting the Obama "birther" lies
Threatening to end the free press
Defrauding students of "Trump University"
Not releasing his taxes
Saying pumping breast milk is "disgusting"
Asking Russia to hack the United States
Of course there is so much more, but this hits the high (low) lights for me.
Calling Mexicans rapists
Shaming women for having menstrual cycles
Saying John McCain is not a hero for surviving torture
Signing up a white nationalist as a delegate
Saying he is against the First Amendment
Refusing to condemn the KKK
Mocking a disabled reporter
Praising Saddam Hussein
Praising Vladimir Putin
Re-tweeting white nationalists
Tweeting that most murders of white people are done by African Americans
Mocking women's personal appearance
Sexualizing his daughter
Lying about American Muslims celebrating on 9/11
"Two Corinthians"
Talking about his penis during a national debate
Saying a judge was partial due to his ethnic heritage
Supporting the Obama "birther" lies
Threatening to end the free press
Defrauding students of "Trump University"
Not releasing his taxes
Saying pumping breast milk is "disgusting"
Asking Russia to hack the United States
Of course there is so much more, but this hits the high (low) lights for me.
*real people short takes on reality*
june 11, 2018
-democratic underground, etc-
He's like shit on your shoe
Cyrano - demo underground
6/10/18
Wipe it. Wash it. Scrub it.
It lingers.
America stepped in it in 2016.
The stench remains.
Someday, perhaps, it will be gone.
But the odor of his rot will remain.
It's what America will have to live with.
If we survive.
-------
It lingers.
America stepped in it in 2016.
The stench remains.
Someday, perhaps, it will be gone.
But the odor of his rot will remain.
It's what America will have to live with.
If we survive.
-------
Trump Supporters I Know?
busterbrown - demo underground
Every single one of them has no interest in understanding the truth..It's just so much easier that way..The Truth is so much more complicated than the lies...Most Trump supporters are watching their lives pass by and really are living miserable lives.. Their wages suck, they are hardly involved in any of the new tech jobs. They are getting old and now gas prices are gonna hit em hard ..
Their salvation? Donald Trump.. and Trump is telling them, the thing they should fear most is our Federal Law Enforcement Agencies.. and they're buying it.. Lock, Stock and... Ah fuck it!
But by far and away the thing that Trump Supporters find most attractive ? Is Trump's Racist attacks.! Without their hate to keep them occupied, Trump Supporter's have little going for them.. And Now that the NFL is in trouble.. What the hell are they gonna do on Sundays?
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Retweeted Ron Perlman ON TRUMP
G_j - DEMO UNDERGROUND
Collusion? Corruption? Treason? Put all that aside for a moment. This story...THIS STORY is emblematic of how savage, how without humanity, how UN-American this dangerous, animalistic, soulless piece of shit is as a man sullying high office from its core. #NotMyPresident!!! https://t.co/LCC3RCTpWq
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Laughing at match.com
tavernier - demo underground
I’ve been widowed for a while now and out of sheer curiosity, thought I would check a dating site, specifically in the seniors category. The entire first week I got a whole bunch of replies, compliments on my picture, personality, etc., but didn’t answer any because the whole thing seemed a bit cheesy and I’m probably still not ready.
So, I decided to go for broke and added to my profile with the words: I am a card carrying liberal who believes in equality and global warming. If this is a problem, please do not reply.
And that was the last time I heard from anyone.
-----
White people have always
heaven05 - demo underground
used the police as their weapon. Interest article BBC on this subject. And in looking at the photo of pigs writing her up, harassing her they are AA. Why can't some police officer with integrity speak up and try to stop this bullshit?
Title of article, "Police called after black Yale student fell asleep in common room". I bet unless the student was making a commotion or couldn't be awakened, NO white student EVER got the police called on them for sleeping in a college day/common room. This white racist shit is getting insane. And the black student was a post graduate student from Nigeria.
Welcome to trumps ameriKKKa. Always been this way, always will be. Period. White person just have to say, "nigger acting up", the police are there lickety-split. Very depressing time in ameriKKKa and extremely dangerous for POC, especially AA.
"I just think this is just a part of a much bigger problem that speaks to who america is as a country".
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Slap them the fuck down.
LuckyCharms - demo underground
I don't know why Sunday mornings do this to me.
These "people" with the MAGA hats. Fox News. Rush Limbaugh. Mark Levin. All these motherfuckers.
These "people" who influence policy, and allow a lizard like Trump become POTUS.
Because of these people, your life will never be the same again. Ever. You won't live long enough to see significant improvement. Pandora's box has been opened.
It's not the tweets. It's not Trump. It's the people who allowed him to rise. It's THE LACK OF PROGRESSION that will literally kill us.
It's not unfortunate or discouraging, but rather, it is dangerous and fatal. Because of people who are dumbasses. These COWARDS who need a daddy to fix things for them. These COWARDS who perceive that their lives will get better if others who are not like them get hurt.
Slap them down. Belittle them. Mock them. Shame them. Go all snowflake on their ass. Anyone who supports Trump at this point in time deserves it. Make them socially unacceptable. It was done with cigarettes, it can be done with assholes too.
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By definition, anyone who voted for Trump is an idiot.
MineralMan demo underground
Further, as everyone knows, talking to idiots makes you stupid by osmosis.
Therefore, talking to Trump supporters is not only a waste of time, it can harm your own ability to reason.
I recommend against doing that on general principles.
And that's my opinion for this Sunday.
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When idiots say "both parties are the same"
SHRED
From Demo Underground: Here's a partial list.
Things that Democrats would not be doing:
Escalating towards nuclear war with NK.
Pulling out of Paris Climate Agreement.
Reducing National Monuments.
Defunding renewable energy.
Defunding CHIP.
Not helping Puerto Rico sufficiently.
Threatening and deporting DACA.
Building a wall on the southern border.
Attacking our allies and praising Russia.
Trying to revive the war on cannabis.
Backing expansion of private prisons.
Sabotaging the ACA.
Pushing an obscene tax bill which trigger cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.
Preparing to decimate the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau.
A State Department in shambles.
Privatization schemes against public education.
Expanding the private prison system.
Attacking the BLM movement.
Praising White Supremacists.
Renewing attacks on our LGBT brothers and sisters.
Destroying Net Neutrality.
To name a few for those idiots who think "both parties are the same".
I've shutdown fools online with this list.
----------
Things that Democrats would not be doing:
Escalating towards nuclear war with NK.
Pulling out of Paris Climate Agreement.
Reducing National Monuments.
Defunding renewable energy.
Defunding CHIP.
Not helping Puerto Rico sufficiently.
Threatening and deporting DACA.
Building a wall on the southern border.
Attacking our allies and praising Russia.
Trying to revive the war on cannabis.
Backing expansion of private prisons.
Sabotaging the ACA.
Pushing an obscene tax bill which trigger cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.
Preparing to decimate the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau.
A State Department in shambles.
Privatization schemes against public education.
Expanding the private prison system.
Attacking the BLM movement.
Praising White Supremacists.
Renewing attacks on our LGBT brothers and sisters.
Destroying Net Neutrality.
To name a few for those idiots who think "both parties are the same".
I've shutdown fools online with this list.
----------
stupid is as stupid does!!!
Please Stop Giving Trump Supporters a Stupidity Pass
babylonsister
From Demo Underground: Ignorance is not a compelling argument.
snip//
It’s time we stopped giving adult human beings the benefit of the doubt, simply because we think they’re not smart enough not to be fooled by religious shysters, fake news peddlers, and political snake oil salesmen. If that is true, then they’re also not smart or mentally available enough to be presented with objective data or compelling argument and to filter them responsibility. They are practically speaking, unreachable with rational measures.
I’m tired of having to treat people like children, when they aren’t capable or willing to see what even a child can see, what my children can see. They know hatred and bullying without needing to read a think piece or do online research or unpack layers of religion and history.
I’m over justifying bigotry and racism and the horrible stuff happening in the country, and giving people who perpetuate it a pass because they supposedly don’t realize they’re supporting a monster,—when most of the watching world seems to get it.
In a time when information is available at our fingertips and when conversation and study and exploration are limitless, I’ve through excusing adult men and women for not being able to make a decision that is based in reality, simply because they’re in some hateful, self-righteous, nationalistic bubble. That’s their fault, not ours. I don’t hate these people but I’m also not going to coddle them and encourage their ignorance anymore because lots of people are damaged when that happens.
Sooner or later we adults all have to own our stupidity–and choose to be wiser.
https://johnpavlovitz.com/2017/11/28/please-stop-giving-trump-supporters-stupidity-pass/
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snip//
It’s time we stopped giving adult human beings the benefit of the doubt, simply because we think they’re not smart enough not to be fooled by religious shysters, fake news peddlers, and political snake oil salesmen. If that is true, then they’re also not smart or mentally available enough to be presented with objective data or compelling argument and to filter them responsibility. They are practically speaking, unreachable with rational measures.
I’m tired of having to treat people like children, when they aren’t capable or willing to see what even a child can see, what my children can see. They know hatred and bullying without needing to read a think piece or do online research or unpack layers of religion and history.
I’m over justifying bigotry and racism and the horrible stuff happening in the country, and giving people who perpetuate it a pass because they supposedly don’t realize they’re supporting a monster,—when most of the watching world seems to get it.
In a time when information is available at our fingertips and when conversation and study and exploration are limitless, I’ve through excusing adult men and women for not being able to make a decision that is based in reality, simply because they’re in some hateful, self-righteous, nationalistic bubble. That’s their fault, not ours. I don’t hate these people but I’m also not going to coddle them and encourage their ignorance anymore because lots of people are damaged when that happens.
Sooner or later we adults all have to own our stupidity–and choose to be wiser.
https://johnpavlovitz.com/2017/11/28/please-stop-giving-trump-supporters-stupidity-pass/
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Tour exposes students to their unconscious bias
Ayana Jones Tribune Staff Writer
From Philly Tribune: CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion, the largest CEO-driven business commitment to advance diversity and inclusion within the workplace, has launched the “Check Your Blind Spots” tour at Villanova University.
The tour is visiting college campuses across the country to expose students to their unconscious biases and empower them to take part in diversity and inclusion conversations in their communities and with their future employers.
“We’re proud to be working with some of our signatory colleges and universities to bring the “Check Your Blind Spots” program to young people across the country,” said Tim Ryan, U.S. chairman and senior partner of PwC and chair of the steering committee for the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™.
“As CEOs of major companies, we’ve seen how valuable this coalition has been in helping our employees make better and more inclusive decisions. We believe that as tomorrow’s workforce, today’s students must leave school with the right set of skills for the job. This not only includes technical skills, but also the ability to be inclusive, and to support and encourage diverse perspectives and contributions.”
When the interactive tour stopped on Villanova’s campus this week, participating students, faculty and staff took an implicit bias test featuring 15 different blind spots that range from race to gender and workplace bias.
“It’s just another time at Villanova where we can sort of stop and think about diversity and inclusion in a real way and how it impacts our lives as people, “ Terry Nance, associate vice provost for Diversity and Inclusion and chief diversity officer at Villanova University, said in reference to the tour.
At each tour stop, students will be taken through a video experience, overhearing unexpected conversations that happen in the real world and reveal society’s biases – and ultimately, their own. Officials said this experience will equip students with the knowledge and resources needed to help address preexisting biases and better understand their role in advancing diversity and inclusion.
The first leg of the Check Your Blind Spots campaign will visit Bentley University, Miami University, Binghamton University and Pennsylvania State University.
The CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion is the largest CEO-driven business commitment to advance diversity and inclusion within the workplace.
By signing on to this commitment, the CEOs pledge to cultivate a workplace where diverse perspectives and experiences are welcomed and respected, where employees feel encouraged to discuss diversity and inclusion, and where best known and unsuccessful actions can be shared across organizations via a unified hub, CEOAction.com.
The initiative, which was launched in June, brings together more than 300 CEO of Americas leading organizations and leaders of colleges and universities. Villanova University President Rev. Peter M. Donohue has signed on to the commitment.
Nance said the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion is a timely initiative.
“If not now, when? I think of that old saying if you’re not part of the solution, then you’re part of the problem so I am so glad to see people really committing time, effort and energy to beginning to come up with solutions,” she stated.
“The other thing that I am excited about is breaking down the silos between business and the academic world. I am looking forward to the opportunity to learn from our colleagues in all arenas how we can ultimately do this business of diversity and inclusion better.”
The tour is visiting college campuses across the country to expose students to their unconscious biases and empower them to take part in diversity and inclusion conversations in their communities and with their future employers.
“We’re proud to be working with some of our signatory colleges and universities to bring the “Check Your Blind Spots” program to young people across the country,” said Tim Ryan, U.S. chairman and senior partner of PwC and chair of the steering committee for the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™.
“As CEOs of major companies, we’ve seen how valuable this coalition has been in helping our employees make better and more inclusive decisions. We believe that as tomorrow’s workforce, today’s students must leave school with the right set of skills for the job. This not only includes technical skills, but also the ability to be inclusive, and to support and encourage diverse perspectives and contributions.”
When the interactive tour stopped on Villanova’s campus this week, participating students, faculty and staff took an implicit bias test featuring 15 different blind spots that range from race to gender and workplace bias.
“It’s just another time at Villanova where we can sort of stop and think about diversity and inclusion in a real way and how it impacts our lives as people, “ Terry Nance, associate vice provost for Diversity and Inclusion and chief diversity officer at Villanova University, said in reference to the tour.
At each tour stop, students will be taken through a video experience, overhearing unexpected conversations that happen in the real world and reveal society’s biases – and ultimately, their own. Officials said this experience will equip students with the knowledge and resources needed to help address preexisting biases and better understand their role in advancing diversity and inclusion.
The first leg of the Check Your Blind Spots campaign will visit Bentley University, Miami University, Binghamton University and Pennsylvania State University.
The CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion is the largest CEO-driven business commitment to advance diversity and inclusion within the workplace.
By signing on to this commitment, the CEOs pledge to cultivate a workplace where diverse perspectives and experiences are welcomed and respected, where employees feel encouraged to discuss diversity and inclusion, and where best known and unsuccessful actions can be shared across organizations via a unified hub, CEOAction.com.
The initiative, which was launched in June, brings together more than 300 CEO of Americas leading organizations and leaders of colleges and universities. Villanova University President Rev. Peter M. Donohue has signed on to the commitment.
Nance said the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion is a timely initiative.
“If not now, when? I think of that old saying if you’re not part of the solution, then you’re part of the problem so I am so glad to see people really committing time, effort and energy to beginning to come up with solutions,” she stated.
“The other thing that I am excited about is breaking down the silos between business and the academic world. I am looking forward to the opportunity to learn from our colleagues in all arenas how we can ultimately do this business of diversity and inclusion better.”
Pastor Explains: When White Folks Say Obama Was an “Embarrassment”, Here is Your Response
By
cpowell
From Bluedot Daily: One of the common responses to criticism of Donald Trump by his mostly white voters is something along the lines “we were embarrassed by Obama for 8 years.” One pastor is calling out that nonsense.
Progressive pastor John Pavlovitz, a favorite of ours here, has penned an open letter to those white Trump voters, informing them that no, in fact, they weren’t embarrassed by the former President.
Were you embarrassed by his lone and enduring twenty-five year marriage to a strong woman he’s never ceased to publicly praise, respect, or cherish?
Were you embarrassed by the way he lovingly and sweetly parented and protected his daughters?
I remember the day after the Election, a friend of mine who happens to be white, remarked on social media that he “finally wasn’t embarrassed of America and our President.”
I sprained my eyes rolling them and they have never fully recovered.
Since then I’ve heard this sentiment echoed by more white folks than I can count, especially in recent months; supposed relief at once again having a leader who instills pride.
Since I don’t have the time to ask each of the individually, I’ll ask here:
So, you were embarrassed for the past 8 years, huh?
Really?
What exactly were you embarrassed by?
Were you embarrassed by his lone and enduring twenty-five year marriage to a strong woman he’s never ceased to publicly praise, respect, or cherish?
Were you embarrassed by the way he lovingly and sweetly parented and protected his daughters?
Were you embarrassed by his Columbia University degree in Political Science or his graduating magna cum laude from Harvard Law School?
Maybe you were embarrassed by his white American and Black Kenyan parents, or the diversity he was raised in as normal?
Were you embarrassed by his eloquence, his quick wit, his easy humor, his seeming comfort meeting with both world leaders and street cleaners; by his bright smile or his sense of empathy or his steadiness—perhaps by his lack of personal scandals or verbal gaffes or impulsive tirades?
No. Of course you weren’t.
Honestly, I don’t believe you were ever embarrassed. That word implies an association that brings ridicule, one that makes you ashamed by association, and if that’s something you claim to have experienced over the past eight years by having Barack Obama representing you in the world—I’m going to suggest you rethink your word choice.
You weren’t “embarrassed” by Barack Obama.
You were threatened by him.
You were offended by him.
You were challenged by him.
You were enraged by him.
But I don’t believe it had anything to do with his resume or his experience or his character or his conduct in office—because you seem fully proud right now to be associated with a three-time married, serial adulterer and confessed predator; a man whose election and business dealings and relationships are riddled with controversy and malfeasance. You’re perfectly fine being represented by a bullying, obnoxious, genitalia-grabbing, Tweet-ranting, Prime Minister-shoving charlatan who’s managed to offended all our allies in a few short months. And you’re okay with him putting on religious faith like a rented, dusty, ill-fitting tuxedo and immediately tossing it in the garbage when he’s finished with it.
None of that you’re embarrassed of? I wonder how that works.
Actually, I’m afraid I have an idea. I hope I’m wrong.
Listen, you’re perfectly within your rights to have disagreed with Barack Obama’s policies or to have taken issue with his tactics. No one’s claiming he was a flawless politician or a perfect human being. But somehow I don’t think that’s what we’re talking about here. I think the thing President Obama did that really upset you, white friend—was having a complexion that was far darker than you were ever comfortable with. I think the President we have now feels much better.
Because objectively speaking, if what’s happening in our country right now doesn’t cause you great shame and doesn’t induce the continual meeting of your palm to your face—I don’t believe embarrassment is ever something you struggle with.
No, if you claimed to be “embarrassed” by Barack Obama but you’re not embarrassed by Donald Trump—I’m going to strongly suggest it was largely a pigmentation issue.
And as an American and a Christian committed to diversity and equality and to the liberty at the heart of this nation--that, embarrasses me.
Well said, Pastor. Well said indeed.
Progressive pastor John Pavlovitz, a favorite of ours here, has penned an open letter to those white Trump voters, informing them that no, in fact, they weren’t embarrassed by the former President.
Were you embarrassed by his lone and enduring twenty-five year marriage to a strong woman he’s never ceased to publicly praise, respect, or cherish?
Were you embarrassed by the way he lovingly and sweetly parented and protected his daughters?
I remember the day after the Election, a friend of mine who happens to be white, remarked on social media that he “finally wasn’t embarrassed of America and our President.”
I sprained my eyes rolling them and they have never fully recovered.
Since then I’ve heard this sentiment echoed by more white folks than I can count, especially in recent months; supposed relief at once again having a leader who instills pride.
Since I don’t have the time to ask each of the individually, I’ll ask here:
So, you were embarrassed for the past 8 years, huh?
Really?
What exactly were you embarrassed by?
Were you embarrassed by his lone and enduring twenty-five year marriage to a strong woman he’s never ceased to publicly praise, respect, or cherish?
Were you embarrassed by the way he lovingly and sweetly parented and protected his daughters?
Were you embarrassed by his Columbia University degree in Political Science or his graduating magna cum laude from Harvard Law School?
Maybe you were embarrassed by his white American and Black Kenyan parents, or the diversity he was raised in as normal?
Were you embarrassed by his eloquence, his quick wit, his easy humor, his seeming comfort meeting with both world leaders and street cleaners; by his bright smile or his sense of empathy or his steadiness—perhaps by his lack of personal scandals or verbal gaffes or impulsive tirades?
No. Of course you weren’t.
Honestly, I don’t believe you were ever embarrassed. That word implies an association that brings ridicule, one that makes you ashamed by association, and if that’s something you claim to have experienced over the past eight years by having Barack Obama representing you in the world—I’m going to suggest you rethink your word choice.
You weren’t “embarrassed” by Barack Obama.
You were threatened by him.
You were offended by him.
You were challenged by him.
You were enraged by him.
But I don’t believe it had anything to do with his resume or his experience or his character or his conduct in office—because you seem fully proud right now to be associated with a three-time married, serial adulterer and confessed predator; a man whose election and business dealings and relationships are riddled with controversy and malfeasance. You’re perfectly fine being represented by a bullying, obnoxious, genitalia-grabbing, Tweet-ranting, Prime Minister-shoving charlatan who’s managed to offended all our allies in a few short months. And you’re okay with him putting on religious faith like a rented, dusty, ill-fitting tuxedo and immediately tossing it in the garbage when he’s finished with it.
None of that you’re embarrassed of? I wonder how that works.
Actually, I’m afraid I have an idea. I hope I’m wrong.
Listen, you’re perfectly within your rights to have disagreed with Barack Obama’s policies or to have taken issue with his tactics. No one’s claiming he was a flawless politician or a perfect human being. But somehow I don’t think that’s what we’re talking about here. I think the thing President Obama did that really upset you, white friend—was having a complexion that was far darker than you were ever comfortable with. I think the President we have now feels much better.
Because objectively speaking, if what’s happening in our country right now doesn’t cause you great shame and doesn’t induce the continual meeting of your palm to your face—I don’t believe embarrassment is ever something you struggle with.
No, if you claimed to be “embarrassed” by Barack Obama but you’re not embarrassed by Donald Trump—I’m going to strongly suggest it was largely a pigmentation issue.
And as an American and a Christian committed to diversity and equality and to the liberty at the heart of this nation--that, embarrasses me.
Well said, Pastor. Well said indeed.
“Ayn Rand's 'philosophy' is nearly perfect in its immorality, which makes the size of her audience all the more ominous and symptomatic as we enter a curious new phase in our society.... To justify and extol human greed and egotism is to my mind not only immoral, but evil.” - Gore Vidal
real people funnies
