Note: As of July 3, 2009, only the RSS feeds on this blog will be updated so I can focus my energies on my 
"To a certain extent, [Johnson] is a race man, a walking contradiction," Pulley said of black America's most successful male media mogul.
That could be an understatement. While Johnson has made millionaires of a loyal cadre that has stuck with him, Pulley's book also shows, according to its publicity material, that:
"The company has been successful despite three separate scandals involving executives who served as BET's top financial officers. One of them went to prison, and another has accused Johnson of improperly avoiding taxes."
"After a small group of founding executives became millionaires as a result of BET's growth, Johnson forced most of them to resign."
Johnson fired his own wife, Sheila Johnson, from BET.
Johnson engaged "in personal relationships with top female executives at his company. His now ex-wife, Sheila Johnson learned of one affair when she was subpoenaed to testify in a lawsuit against the company. Another executive who he had an affair with, Debra Lee, is now the president and chief executive officer of BET."
"Johnson's own sister, who was one of the company's first employees, sued him and settled for more than $1 million."
Pulley, 44, also writes that Johnson originally envisioned high-minded programming, but succumbed to the lucre made available by devoting more and more time to music videos supplied for free by the record companies. It is consistent with Johnson's philosophy of money first and social responsibility . . . whenever.
Full Story
20.4.04
Forbes Editor Describes a "Walking Contradiction"
From Richard Prince's article about Brent Pulley's new biography of BET founder Bob Johnson:
ASNE Survey: Newsroom Employment Down Slightly, Newsroom Diversity Up Slightly
The American Society of Newspaper Editors' annual report on newsroom diversity, released today, showed slight increases in minority group representation among the nation's newspaper staffs. However, both ASNE and the leaders of the largest professional organizations for journalists of color agree that much more needs to be done if the industry is going to meet its stated goal of having a news workforce that mirrors the diversity of the US population by 2025.
In addition, leaders of the National Association of Black Journalists, the Asian American Journalists Association and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists lamented the fact that so few staffers of color have risen to the supervisory and management ranks.
( via Richard Prince's Journal-isms)
In addition, leaders of the National Association of Black Journalists, the Asian American Journalists Association and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists lamented the fact that so few staffers of color have risen to the supervisory and management ranks.
( via Richard Prince's Journal-isms)
Madison Avenue: "The Last Plantation"
New York Daily News: Black media get aid in ad drive
The New York City Council is hoping to kick-start the campaign for black media to receive a fairer share of advertising dollars.
Charles Etheridge, co-host of the Sunday night "Week in Review" on WRKS (98.7 FM), says the council has scheduled hearings May 4 with a specific target: the billion-plus dollars the federal government spends annually on campaigns from the military to drug prevention.
Most of that money is channeled through agencies on Madison Avenue. Etheridge notes Ogilvy & Mather has the anti-drug account, for instance, and the Congressional Black Caucus has expressed concern that little of it goes to black media.
Several studies in recent years, as well as advertising revenue reports, say black media do not receive ad dollars proportionate to listenership or readership.
There have been several pushes for greater equity in recent years, including the Madison Avenue Initiative spearheaded by the Rev. Al Sharpton.
"But they have not led to any substantial changes," says Etheridge. "Madison Avenue remains the last plantation."
(Full Story)
The Village Voice: Features: Rap, Rage, REDvolution by Cristina Vera
Cristina Veran suveys the growing participation of Native Americans in hip-hop on the eve of the Gathering of Nations powwow in Albequerque, New Mexico this weekend. Andre 3000 Benjamin, whose stereotype-laden performance at this year's Grammies still has some Native folks upset, has been invited to attend the powwow for a dialogue.
Despite the fact that hiphop artists have borrowed liberally from Native American traditional and modern music over the years, Veran says mainstream artists and audiences seem unwilling to give Native artists credit for their contributions or the opportunity for a fair hearing. I think I'm feeling my age on this one, longing for the days when one of my favorite 70s groups, Redbone, happily shared the charts, radio airplay and the concert stage with the likes of Marvin Gaye and Parliament/Funkadelic. If I were a betting woman, I would wager that the same Ludacris fans who last May booed opening act Lightfoot, the Native American Music Award's Male Artist of the Year, hit the dance floor in an old-school minute when they hear "Come And Get Your Love."
Stop hating, people. Learn a little about where your music comes from.
Fans of Native music, as well as those who are willing to learn a little might check out the Gathering of Nations Internet Radio station.
Despite the fact that hiphop artists have borrowed liberally from Native American traditional and modern music over the years, Veran says mainstream artists and audiences seem unwilling to give Native artists credit for their contributions or the opportunity for a fair hearing. I think I'm feeling my age on this one, longing for the days when one of my favorite 70s groups, Redbone, happily shared the charts, radio airplay and the concert stage with the likes of Marvin Gaye and Parliament/Funkadelic. If I were a betting woman, I would wager that the same Ludacris fans who last May booed opening act Lightfoot, the Native American Music Award's Male Artist of the Year, hit the dance floor in an old-school minute when they hear "Come And Get Your Love."
Stop hating, people. Learn a little about where your music comes from.
Fans of Native music, as well as those who are willing to learn a little might check out the Gathering of Nations Internet Radio station.
Russell Simmons Backs Rally During Republican Convention
From The Black World Today:
New York--Hip Hop mogul Russell Simmons dug into his own substantial pockets to finance a public awareness rally about the unfairness of the Rockefeller Drug Laws and to register youth voters.
At a press conference at City Hall last Tuesday afternoon, Simmons presented Dr. Benjamin Chavis, president of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network and the Hip Hop Research and Education Fund with a $100,000 check to help defray costs of the rally to be held August 30 on the first day of the Republican National Convention here.
"This check is a sign that we are not backing down on this important issue," Simmons said, surrounded by his brother, Rev. Run, Andrew Cuomo, Donna Lieberman of the NYCLU, and Minister Kevin Muhammad of the Nation of Islam. "We intend to raise public awareness by mobilizing tens of thousands of young people to register to vote and to speak out about the unfairness of the Rockefeller Drug Laws."
Full story
Clarence Page to "Rummy:" People Are Not "Fungible"
Every so often, a high-profile Washington figure gets himself or herself into trouble by inadvertently revealing what he or she really thinks. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld knows. In a town where candor can be a crime, he's a repeat offender.
His latest score came in a Pentagon news conference Thursday when he revealed a new Rummy-ism: "People are fungible." My dictionary says "fungible," which is pronounced with a soft "G" as in "sponge," refers to something that can be satisfactorily replaced, either in part or in whole, with some other part or quantity of similar value.
"Oil is fungible," experts say, in arguing why no country or cartel can quite corner the market on it. If the price is too high in one place, you can buy it someplace else and the price in the first place will come down in order to compete.
Now, Rumsfeld wants you to know, our troops are fungible, too. His bold pronouncement came during an exchange with a reporter in a news conference during which Rumsfeld announced that about 20,000 American troops are about to have their tours in Iraq extended for at least three months.
(Full article)
This is How We Iraqis Do It
From Tell Me a Secret:
Few weeks ago, after the prayer was over, I took as soon as I left the mosque, and went to a supermarket to buy few things, I entered market and left the cab waiting for me outside, I found that I want lots of stuff that coasts more money than I have, so I just went out, and asked the driver to lend me some (it works in Iraq), I took 10 000 Iraqi Dinars = 8$, which is a lot of money for him, maybe equals what he makes in a whole day of working.
I bought the stuffs I wanted, and went back home with him, I went in to bring him money, normally, after a journey like the one I did, you would pay the driver about 1500 or 2000 Iraqi Dinars, but I was grateful to him, so I gave him 10,000+5000 ID.
He took the money without counting it (it's an Iraqi habit), said thank you and left.
Two or three weeks later, I met him again in the same place, outside the mosque, and I automatically got in the car with him, and he took me home, without any need to show him directions, isn't that nice? Well, wait for the best, as I was about to get of the car, he stopped me, and he sounded serious, he said: "remember last time when we went together to the market?"
I said: well, yes.
He said: "well, I counted the money"
I said: so?
He said: "why did you give me that much of money? It's too much, that’s more than what you were supposed to give me" he seemed almost angry.
I said (defending myself!): "well, you did me a favor, and I was grateful, I wanted to express how thankful I was."
That didn’t make him any happier!
He said: "look, I will take the money but under one condition, and I won't take no for an answer, starting today, I will get you home every Friday after prayer for free, case closed."
Nothing I said made him change his mind, and he kept his promise ever since.
Do you know that this kind of stories isn't really strange in Iraq? These things happen in Iraq, you see it in daily life.
(Full post)
Women in Black
From A Family in Baghdad:
Dear Faiza,
Many years ago, a Jewish Mother and a Palestine mother had had it with losing their children.,
They dressed in black and just silently went to the town square to ask for Peace.
Out of this an organization has sprung that is called 'Women in Black'.
They dress in black and silently stand in the town square at noon one day a week to pray for peace. This is going on ALL over the world.
There are groups of ' Women in Black' everywhere and in many, many cities, even way before the war in Iraq.
No marches, no leaflets, no meetings, no shouting. Just standing , ther edressed in black, as a symbol that war does kill.
My friend JoAnne has started doing this since 2002. We are a small 'town', 5000, maybe more in Summer...
(Full post
A Shock and Awe Attack on the Bush Administration
From Raed in the Middle
The Woodward War Secrets that he shared with us today were interesting, but not for Bush and the Axis of Liars.
I mean… there is a spontaneous Shock and Awe attack on bush and his administration!
The poor guy.
Kimmett said today that the withdrawal of the Spanish Army is NOT going to have any effect of the military situation, and I agree on that…
Most of the military presence for the “coalition forces” (except the US and Brits) is just symbolic, giving a fake political cover to the war of bush. (Full post
Urgent Appeal
From the Mesopatamian
Firmness must not be equated with intransigence. As our Book says, “ If they veer towards peace you do likewise” (Bad translation of the Qoranic verse). There is a very thin line that separates the two methodologies. Firmness must be exercised towards a political end, and must not be allowed to become counterproductive. Now the moderates from all parties who can exert real influence must be given support and attention.
Our previous posts should not tranquilize people to think that the situation is easy. I have advocated long ago the importance to control the neighborhoods, side streets and alleyways of the city. This was not achieved and consequently these are more or less under the control of armed bands at the moment. The new police force and ICDC have sadly become totally intimidated and largely ineffective, especially in Baghdad. This is the sad truth. In the last few days, things have become really bad, especially for the middle class inhabitants of Baghdad. In some areas they are knocking on doors to ask for “donations” in support of the “Mujahideen”. Some of my relatives have left their house and came to our house for refuge to escape them. We fear that the U.S. forces may become isolated in an urban sea of hostile gangs and a majority of powerless intimidated people.
A political solution must be quickly arrived at....(Full post)
On the Difference Between the Iraqi Occupation and the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
From Iraq at a Glance
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is due to the land.. territories.. and I think everyone will live in peace there once the stupid leaders give up their arrogance and pride.. and stop washing the youth’ brains with thoughts that always lead them to death instead of trying to use them to share in discussions and try to find a solution for their issue peacefully..
Stop weeping and stop telling stories about how you’ve been persecuted for years, you have persecuted yourselves ..you are so stubborn and you don’t want to solve it since your leaders have the absurd and silly concept of ‘ I don’t shake hands with Israelis’ .. if you will go on thinking like that; then you’ll stay carrying your genuine pebbles and bluffed by your leaders..
( Huh.. they appointed a new leader for Hamas 'secretly'!! I bet his name will be known tomorrow in Israel!)
Regarding the situation in Iraq.. you have to be a little clever and forget the ideas of occupation, persecution and exploitation that you’ve been taught since your birth.. and try to understand the American aims first:
Defeating terrorists, make sure that WMD are in safe hands and letting democracy rules the countries that are suffering from the dictators since those are so dangerous and of course they’re supporting and paying for the terrorists…
So if one of the above exists in a country, it’ll be so dangerous if it’s left, cause as it becomes strong enough, it’ll be a threat for the whole world..( Full post)
On Hating America and Americans
From Baghdad Burning:
It is a fascinating turn of events when opposition to a regime that most Americans did not vote for becomes synonymous with being anti-American.
I think western news networks are far too tame. They show the Hollywood version of war- strong troops in uniform, hostile Iraqis being captured and made to face "justice" and the White House turkey posing with the Thanksgiving turkey... which is just fine. But what about the destruction that comes with war and occupation? What about the death? I don't mean just the images of dead Iraqis scattered all over, but dead Americans too. People should *have* to see those images. Why is it not ok to show dead Iraqis and American troops in Iraq, but it's fine to show the catastrophe of September 11 over and over again? I wish every person who emails me supporting the war, safe behind their computer, secure in their narrow mind and fixed views, could actually come and experience the war live. I wish they could spend just 24 hours in Baghdad today and hear Mark Kimmett talk about the death of 700 "insurgents" like it was a proud day for Americans everywhere...
Still, when I hear talk about "anti-Americanism" it angers me. Why does American identify itself with its military and government? Why is does being anti-Bush and anti-occupation have to mean that a person is anti-American? We watch American movies, listen to everything from Britney Spears to Nirvana and refer to every single brown, fizzy drink as "Pepsi".
I hate American foreign policy and its constant meddling in the region... I hate American tanks in Baghdad and American soldiers on our streets and in our homes on occasion... why does that mean that I hate America and Americans? Are tanks, troops and violence the only face of America? If the Pentagon, Department of Defense and Condi are "America", then yes- I hate America.(Full post)
It is a fascinating turn of events when opposition to a regime that most Americans did not vote for becomes synonymous with being anti-American.
19.4.04
Australia: An Indigenous Voice Stilled
Richard Frankland, writing in the The Age [Australia] about the end of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, an effort to give aboriginal Australians limited self-determination:
Full Story
Only 38 per cent of indigenous children complete school, compared with the national average of 77 per cent. Indigenous people are 14 times more likely to be imprisoned and 16 times more likely to die in custody. Thirty-eight per cent of my people are unemployed.
I look at [my eight-month-old daughter] Nakaya and I know that today her life expectancy is 20 years less than that of a child born to my white friends. Will it be any better tomorrow? In fact, she is lucky to be alive: the indigenous child mortality rate is still more than three times higher than that for other Australian children.
Full Story
Stuck on the Wrong Side Of the Economic Divide
[Note: I know a lot of people in the position that this writer described. Some are close family members; others are friends from my student days at an elite public high school and private university that we thought would give us the knowledge and skills we needed to secure our future.Some of them occasionally adjunct for us. I often think, "There, but for timing and tenure, go I," and I know that even these are not secure, should the business model for state colleges change."]
By Susan Yuzna
Sunday, April 18, 2004; Page B03 Washington Post
SAN FRANCISCO
Full story
(via Prometheus 6)
Stuck on the Wrong Side Of the Economic Divide
By Susan Yuzna
Sunday, April 18, 2004; Page B03 Washington Post
SAN FRANCISCO
I never expected to find myself in this position in my mid-fifties -- single, jobless and without health insurance. But that's where I've been for the past 23 months -- just one of the 5.7 percent unemployed over whose predicament President Bush and his presumptive Democratic opponent, John Kerry, have been jousting.
With a master's degree and 10 years of teaching experience, I'm not yet prepared to give up on the ambition that propelled me 15 years ago to pursue my dream of becoming an English professor. But, before I resign myself to waiting tables or cleaning other people's houses, I'm getting some humbling insights into the lives of the chronically unemployed. I'm beginning to discover what a very scary way of life theirs is. And, believe me, it's a way of life that other well-educated Americans could suddenly face.
Full story
(via Prometheus 6)
The Image That's Been Missing From US War Coverage
In past military actions, when US service personnel have died, it was not unusual to see television or newspaper images of flag-draped coffins at Dover Air Force base. In the current war, those images have been banned. Thus, this Seattle Times photo from Kuwait takes on even greater significance. Editor Mike Fancher explains how they got the photo why they decided to run it, and the reactions they expect it will provoke.
Whatever the response, it's an image that needs to be part of the press coverage of a war. When you send a country's sons and daughters into combat, it's important that people be convinced that the objective is worth their lives.
Whatever the response, it's an image that needs to be part of the press coverage of a war. When you send a country's sons and daughters into combat, it's important that people be convinced that the objective is worth their lives.
I was looking for something else
... and I came across an interesting double-profile of two black pastors in Seattle on opposite sides of the the gay rights issue.
ROLAND S. MARTIN: Don't compare Dodd to Lott
Connecticut Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd is facing a brush fire after offering praise to his fellow Democratic Senate colleague, Robert Byrd of West Virginia.
It seems that in a tribute to Byrd, Dodd said that his irascible colleague could have been a great Senate leader at any time during our nation's history, including the Civil War. And that's when it got a little funky. Why? Because Byrd served briefly in the KKK in the 1940s; opposed the 1964 Civil Rights Act; and voted against Thurgood Marshall as the first black to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court. Those are not the kind of "accomplishments" needed to lead the Senate when secession from the union over northern opposition to slavery was at the heart of the war. (Could Byrd have been an obstructionist in the Senate during the Civil War? Possibly. But we have to keep in mind that West Virginia wasn't admitted to the Union until June 20, 1863, which was in the latter part of the war. The state provided nearly 32,000 troops to the Union Army, including nearly 200 black troops).
(Full Story)
Defendants in Arajuo Murder Trial Claim Slaying was "Crime of Passion"
Here's the scenario:
In the summer of 2002, two men each have sex with a 17-year-old girl named Gwen on two separate occasions. Something strikes them as odd about the encounters and sometime later, they compare notes. That October, they confront Gwen and find out that Gwen was biologically male. Angered and ashamed, these men, along with two others strangles her to death, beat her with a shovel, then bury her in a shallow grave. Got it?
That's the story that defense attorneys told to support their contention that the October, 2002 murder of transgendered teenager Gwen Arajuo in Newark, California was a crime of passion, according to press reports. (Here's a sample from The Advocate and the San Diego Union-Tribune.)
In the summer of 2002, two men each have sex with a 17-year-old girl named Gwen on two separate occasions. Something strikes them as odd about the encounters and sometime later, they compare notes. That October, they confront Gwen and find out that Gwen was biologically male. Angered and ashamed, these men, along with two others strangles her to death, beat her with a shovel, then bury her in a shallow grave. Got it?
That's the story that defense attorneys told to support their contention that the October, 2002 murder of transgendered teenager Gwen Arajuo in Newark, California was a crime of passion, according to press reports. (Here's a sample from The Advocate and the San Diego Union-Tribune.)
Like, Ewww, That is So Disgusting!
From today's Chronicle of Higher Education:
Okay, so maybe it's because I'm a woman in the Academy, or maybe I'm just strait-laced, but this is something that I have never understood...and I don't want to.
A RECENT EXTERNAL REVIEW of the University of Pittsburgh's communications department found that "senior faculty routinely and repeatedly have engaged in consensual sexual relationships with graduate students," creating an "unsafe culture" for women.
Okay, so maybe it's because I'm a woman in the Academy, or maybe I'm just strait-laced, but this is something that I have never understood...and I don't want to.
Cry, The Beloved Country
From the Kaiser Family Foundation Press Release:
Johannesburg, South Africa (April 7)– With South Africa in the grips of the devastating HIV/AIDS epidemic, an unprecedented survey found that 1 in 10 South African youth are HIV positive and more than three-quarters of them are women. Nearly one in four women aged 20-24 are HIV positive compared to 1 in 14 men of the same age.
The survey, HIV and Sexual Behaviour Among Young South Africans: A National Survey of 15-24 Year Olds, included in-person interviews in nine languages and biological testing for HIV of a nationally representative sample of approximately 11,900 15-24 year olds. This is the first survey to have a sufficiently large sample to provide reliable national baselines for HIV prevalence and behavioral trends among young South Africans. A report based on the survey is available on the Kaiser Family Foundation’s website at http://www.kff.org/southafrica/7066.cfm
Johannesburg, South Africa (April 7)– With South Africa in the grips of the devastating HIV/AIDS epidemic, an unprecedented survey found that 1 in 10 South African youth are HIV positive and more than three-quarters of them are women. Nearly one in four women aged 20-24 are HIV positive compared to 1 in 14 men of the same age.
The survey, HIV and Sexual Behaviour Among Young South Africans: A National Survey of 15-24 Year Olds, included in-person interviews in nine languages and biological testing for HIV of a nationally representative sample of approximately 11,900 15-24 year olds. This is the first survey to have a sufficiently large sample to provide reliable national baselines for HIV prevalence and behavioral trends among young South Africans. A report based on the survey is available on the Kaiser Family Foundation’s website at http://www.kff.org/southafrica/7066.cfm
Say What?
From 60 Minutes' page on their interview with author Bob Woodward, aired last night:
Update:
White House spokesman Scott Mc Clellan refused to confirm or deny the existence of such a deal.
Woodward told 60 Minutes that Saudi Prince Bandar has promised the president that Saudi Arabia will lower oil prices in the months before the election - to ensure the U.S. economy is strong on election day.
Update:
White House spokesman Scott Mc Clellan refused to confirm or deny the existence of such a deal.
What I Do Not Understand About Secty. Powell
The New York Times reports that sources close to the Bush administration are unhappy that the new book by Bob Woodward, Plan of Attack goes into detail about Secretary of State Colin Powell's disagreement with those who were pressing for war against Iraq. According to press reports, Powell repeatedly stressed that invading Iraq without a plan for a post-Saddam Iraq.
Powell's argument against invasion is not new. In 2000, PBS' Frontline aired a penetrating documentary about Saddam that reached similar conclusions. The interviews with former CIA officers, Iraqi officials and opposition leaders, transcribed on the documentary's website, make the point by themselves. They updated the documentary website after September 11, but the weight of the evidence they presented did not change, despite the fact that some of the experts they interviewed thought it utterly plausible that Iraq had nuclear weapons capabilities.
Given all of that, I do not understand why Secretary Powell has gone along with the Bush administration's policies. It does not suffice to argue that he is playing the good soldier, as some have said. In 1993, when he disagreed with Pres. Clinton's stance on gays in the military, women in combat and the defense budget, he retired as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. At the time, Gen. Powell insisted that the retiment was simply a matter of having put in 35 years in uniform, but friends and associates told reporters that his unhappiness with Clinton was the real impetus for the resignation.
The nature of Powell's differences with Clinton seem fairly marginal in comparison to Pres. Bush's decision to take the nation into a major war. If Woodward is right, why doesn't Colin Powell resign?
Powell's argument against invasion is not new. In 2000, PBS' Frontline aired a penetrating documentary about Saddam that reached similar conclusions. The interviews with former CIA officers, Iraqi officials and opposition leaders, transcribed on the documentary's website, make the point by themselves. They updated the documentary website after September 11, but the weight of the evidence they presented did not change, despite the fact that some of the experts they interviewed thought it utterly plausible that Iraq had nuclear weapons capabilities.
Given all of that, I do not understand why Secretary Powell has gone along with the Bush administration's policies. It does not suffice to argue that he is playing the good soldier, as some have said. In 1993, when he disagreed with Pres. Clinton's stance on gays in the military, women in combat and the defense budget, he retired as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. At the time, Gen. Powell insisted that the retiment was simply a matter of having put in 35 years in uniform, but friends and associates told reporters that his unhappiness with Clinton was the real impetus for the resignation.
The nature of Powell's differences with Clinton seem fairly marginal in comparison to Pres. Bush's decision to take the nation into a major war. If Woodward is right, why doesn't Colin Powell resign?
18.4.04
Mumia Abu Jamal Speaks to Democracy Now From Death Row
On Friday, April 16th, the syndicated radio and television show Democracy Now! aired a rare, exclusive interview with writer, activist and inmate Mumia Abu Jamal. Here is an excerpt:
(Emphasis mine.)
Everything that was illegal 30 years ago, the stealing of mail, the illegal break-ins, what they used to call in the FBI jargon, “black bag jobs.” All of those things were illegal back then. You know, the uses of informants and agency provocateurs to really destroy people's organizations who were working for – I’m putting quotes up with my hands, “constitutional rights guaranteed bit first amendment.” All of those things were illegal. Many of the people who engaged in those acts on behalf of the government were warned by their supervisors, “if you get caught, you are going to jail.” These were FBI agents who were going around breaking into people's houses, looking in their stuff and photographing stuff, and, you know, framing people. Everything. Well, that was illegal back then. But under the laws that have become law today, under the so-called Patriot Act, all of that becomes legal. You know. They can go in people's houses. They are tapping people's phones. Accessing computers. Going through library records and -- you know, building these files and infiltrating organizations, and all of these kinds of things. But it's now under the protection of the so-called law. That's -- that's obscene. You know, and it shows you the lengths that people will go when they're motivated by fear. And I’ll never forget, I was watching BET shortly after the Patriot Act passed, and a respected black member of the House of Representatives got on TV and he said, you know, “I signed the law. Most of us in the house, we signed the bill, but I didn’t read it.” And I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I mean, the guy was saying, you know, “we were told we have to do it now, and we have to do it immediately,” and this is the time of the anthrax scares and all of that kind of stuff. They were so afraid of saying no, with the exception of Barbara Lee, you know, that they signed a law that essentially signed away, certainly, the Fourth Amendment, and, in some senses, the First Amendment, and, in another sense, the Sixth Amendment.
(Emphasis mine.)
Salam Pax Has Left the Building
From Dear Raed, not long before he announced that he was going on hiatus:
Dear US administration,
Welcome to the next level. Please don't act surprised and what sort of timing is that: planning to go on a huge attack on the west of Iraq and provoking a group you know very well (I pray to god you knew) that they are trouble makers.
Oh and before I forget.........Help please.
Black, Gay, Christian and Married -- in Detroit
From NegroPhile:
We're gay and we're black and we're Christian," Houston says, back at the couple's first-floor flat in northwest Detroit. "God wants us to do this. This is something we prayed for." The couple couldn't let white activists fight alone.
"God bless them," Houston says. "I'm glad they're there. But they cannot represent our community."
In the gay marriage struggle, Belcher and Houston represent a segment rarely seen in the national debate, but one that is important, especially in Detroit.
Last year, the couple exchanged vows in a commitment ceremony in a small church in Ferndale. They're hopeful that their ceremony will be fortified by a marriage license. But Belcher and Houston have more to overcome than legal hurdles; they're also fighting culture. They are a minority within a minority.
The Tyranny of the Majority, With a Twist
From Queer Day:
One of the gay vacationers, Jim Pirih, told a television news reporter, "He said he had to appeal to the majority, and the majority of guests wouldn't want straight people there."
Three couples were kicked out of a hotel in Key West, Florida, recently, when the manager learned they were straight. The group had already settled into the hotel, so they were allowed to stay the night, but not any longer. Key West has an ordinance that prohibts discrimination based on sexual orientation, but the hotel, Big Ruby's, said it had a policy of not allowing heterosexuals on the property. The Gay & Lesbian Community Center of Key West condemned the discrimination based on legal and ethical reasons.
One of the gay vacationers, Jim Pirih, told a television news reporter, "He said he had to appeal to the majority, and the majority of guests wouldn't want straight people there."
17.4.04
African Polio Outbreak Spreads to Botswana
The World Health Organization this week confirmed the first case of polio in Botswana since 1991, according to a Afrol News.. In recent years, polio has been diagnosed in several countries in West and Central Africa. In a statement quoted in the Afrol story, the agency said, "Children across Africa will continue to be at risk of polio from such importations until the disease is eradicated everywhere."
New Anti-gay Initiatives in Africa
On Lesotho reports that Zanzibar has passed a law banning gay sex with unprecedented support from both of its major political parties. In the meantime, Anglican bishops are seeking ways to further protest the ordination of Bishop Eugene Roberts, who is openly gay.
Brown v. Board of Education at 50: Still Separate and Unequal
From Beyond Black, White and Brown: A Forum in The Nation
"The de facto segregation of so many of our nation's schools is no longer an issue that generates conflict and controversy. Like the growing prison population and homelessness, racial segregation is accepted as a permanent feature of life in America. Across the country, schools are segregated in terms of race and class, and as was true before Brown, the vast majority of poor children are relegated to an inferior education.
"For this reason, those who still regard the goals of Brown as important find themselves in a quandary. Given that white flight and legal barriers have made integration nearly impossible to achieve, the only way to revive the legacy of Brown may be to push for equity in the conditions under which children learn. Thus, efforts to pursue equalization in funding such as New York's Campaign for Fiscal Equity may be the only means available to insure that poor children are not permanently relegated to woefully inadequate schools. In effect, this means taking several steps back, to reclaim the unfulfilled promise of Plessy v. Ferguson: separate but equal. As problematic as this may be, it is the only course of action available to pursue justice in educational policy in areas where racial integration is no longer likely. ..."
The Politics of Knowledge
Allen Weinstein, the Bush Administration's nominee to head the National Archives and Records Administration appears to be an advocate of secrecy who has mishandled archival records in the past. Weinstein would take over NARA just as the agency would be expected to arrange public access to documents from the 9/11 Commission as well as from George H.W. Bush's administration. If that wasn't enough, Magpie at Pacific Views offers more reasons why we should be worried.
Psychiatrists on Both Sides of the Pond Agree: Racism Makes You Crazy
First, there's this recent article from The Drum online, which says, in part:
That sounds a lot like the point that a panel of black psychiatrists was making at last summer's National Medical Convention.. "Racism may be a direct cause of [Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder] but little literature is a available," said Dr. Johnny Wilkerson, MD, a psychiatrist from the Community Mental Health Foundation in Chicago, Ill. However, rather than have their PTSD identified and treated, another panelist notes that black patients are more likely to find themselves in jails, foster care and other non-therapeutic institutional settings.
One hopes that these researchers are talking to each other.
"[A}ccording to a report published by the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health, the relationship between Black communities and mental health services is characterised by fear and mistrust, with Black people reluctant to seek help from a service they see as punitive and racist. This is all the more alarming when you consider the large body of research literature suggesting that race has a powerful influence on risk of mental illness, with studies consistently reporting a higher incidence of schizophrenia and psychotic illnesses in Black than White populations in the UK.
"Dr Kwame McKenzie of London’s Institute of Psychiatry sees racism as aetiologically important in the development of mental illness. Writing in a January edition of the British Medical Journal, he identified racial discrimination as a major public health issue. Indeed, a 2002 survey of Caribbean, African and Asian people found that those who had experienced a racist attack in the preceding year were nearly 3 times more likely to be suffering from depression and 5 times more likely to be suffering from psychosis. ..."
That sounds a lot like the point that a panel of black psychiatrists was making at last summer's National Medical Convention.. "Racism may be a direct cause of [Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder] but little literature is a available," said Dr. Johnny Wilkerson, MD, a psychiatrist from the Community Mental Health Foundation in Chicago, Ill. However, rather than have their PTSD identified and treated, another panelist notes that black patients are more likely to find themselves in jails, foster care and other non-therapeutic institutional settings.
One hopes that these researchers are talking to each other.
2004 Winners of Goldman Environmental Prize
Cancer Alley Activist from Louisiana, Survivors of Worlds Worst Industrial Disaster, Among Winners
A former middle school teacher who fought for environmental justice from Shell Chemical in her hometown of Norco, Louisiana, has been named the first African-American to receive the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize. She joins two grassroots activists from Bhopal, India who have rallied the world in solidarity around Dow Chemical's accountability for the world's worst industrial disaster, and a brave Ghanaian public interest lawyer fighting the World Bank's plan to privatize his country's water supply. These activists are among the seven extraordinary recipients of the 15th annual Goldman Environmental Prize presented in San Francisco on April 19, 2004 and in Washington, D.C., on April 21, 2004.
The Goldman Environmental Prize, considered the "Nobel Prize for the Environment," is given annually to grassroots environmental heroes from six geographic areas: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, and South and Central America. (Two winners will share the Asia award this year.) The Prize includes a no-strings-attached award of $125,000, the largest of its kind. The Goldman Environmental Prize is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, and a survey of past recipients for the occasion revealed that their combined work has positively affected an estimated 102 million people worldwide.
Full story
A former middle school teacher who fought for environmental justice from Shell Chemical in her hometown of Norco, Louisiana, has been named the first African-American to receive the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize. She joins two grassroots activists from Bhopal, India who have rallied the world in solidarity around Dow Chemical's accountability for the world's worst industrial disaster, and a brave Ghanaian public interest lawyer fighting the World Bank's plan to privatize his country's water supply. These activists are among the seven extraordinary recipients of the 15th annual Goldman Environmental Prize presented in San Francisco on April 19, 2004 and in Washington, D.C., on April 21, 2004.
The Goldman Environmental Prize, considered the "Nobel Prize for the Environment," is given annually to grassroots environmental heroes from six geographic areas: Africa, Asia, Europe, Islands and Island Nations, North America, and South and Central America. (Two winners will share the Asia award this year.) The Prize includes a no-strings-attached award of $125,000, the largest of its kind. The Goldman Environmental Prize is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, and a survey of past recipients for the occasion revealed that their combined work has positively affected an estimated 102 million people worldwide.
Full story
Death Comes to Campus
From Black America Web:
“The university, at one time, was a sanctuary for black-college students — but things have really changed,” Millette, a professor of sociology at Lincoln (Pa.) University, told BlackAmericaWeb.com.
“That freedom and safety people used to have when they were on a college campus doesn’t quite exist anymore. We have gangs on campus now. And you have people in the local community that are into some bad things. Drugs, guns and physical altercations come into play on campuses now. When it all comes together, sometimes, it can be very unfortunate,” Millette said.
After Oprah's DL episode...
Informed comments on Oprah's DL show
From Keith Boykin:
From Donald at anziblog:
From Ernest Hooper:
More to come, perhaps...
From Keith Boykin:
If we seriously care about the spread of HIV, we can't isolate our concern and efforts on one segment of the community and ignore another. We have to create a climate of love instead of fear, where black men who have sex with men are not stigmatized by the church, the media, their families and their friends.
In fact, the whole DL mythology at some level acknowledges the struggle of the black man on the down low. He doesn't identify with the white gay community, and he's not accepted by the black community, so he goes underground and creates a secret fraternity of sex partners.
But if that's true, then our solutions are way off base. If we accept the premise that black homosexuality is that difficult, then why not break down those barriers? Why not use the media to portray the black gay and bisexual men who are out of the closet, living openly in their relationships, and who have reconciled their careers, their families and their faith with their sexuality.
From Donald at anziblog:
Oprah, there are many gay men who are subscribers to your magazine and who watch your show religiously. Oprah, we can relate to your audience in many more ways than you have presented. Oprah, we do not only infect women with HIV and do your hair and makeup. (Isn't the fact that HIV STILL continues to affect Black gay men disproportionately an emergency in of of itself and newsworthy?) Oprah, I realize that you don't talk about us because America still doesn't talk about us and still is in denial of our existence, but I implore you to be bold in your change.
Be bold and present our lives more fully. We are your brothers, fathers, uncles, cousins, teachers, bosses, assistants and your best friends. And some of us have taken the responsibility for raising the children that our communities tend to forget. Be bold and present the similarities of our lives. We love the women in our lives; we love you. Don't use us to regress back into a sensationalism that is beneath you - prove that you can see all of us, who we are wholly, our highs and our lows, our entire lives. True, it is up to us to tell our own stories, but we depend on you to tell the truth from your vantage point. Oprah, I beg you to do everything you are empowered to do to tell the whole truth.
From Ernest Hooper:
Lolita Emanuel Brown, a prevention team leader for the Tampa Bay AIDS Network, said the trend is as prevalent here as it is anywhere. In fact, one client told her he routinely travels to Fort Lauderdale to really keep things on the down low.
"It's prevalent in all races, but it's a term that came through the African-American community because we are so into this myth that African-American men can't be gay and they don't see themselves as being gay if it's a one-time thing," Brown said.
More to come, perhaps...
Air America Back on in Chicago
A judge has ruled in favor of Air America Radio in its financial dispute with Multicultural Radio Broadcasting, and the company is back on the air in Chicago, with Los Angeles to follow soon. AAR also announced on Thursday that it has signed an agreement with WCHL-AM 1130 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, raising the total number of its affiliated stations to 17.
(via Wonkette)
(via Wonkette)
16.4.04
Okay, I'll Play
From Prometheus 6:
1.Grab the nearest book.
I picked up "Yellow Journalist" by William Wong.
2.Open the book to page 23.
3.Find the fifth sentence.
…ignoring the fractional sentence that starts the page…
4.Post the text of the sentence on your blog:.
"But George Ong, who also grew up in Chinatown and is now one of its leaders, posited another key factor: a new law, enacted in the mid-fifties, that required a federal license to operate gambling establishments."
I suppose, if we end up with a series of these, we'll have a branching-story version of the add-a-sentence stories we used to make up in summer camp.
1.Grab the nearest book.
I picked up "Yellow Journalist" by William Wong.
2.Open the book to page 23.
3.Find the fifth sentence.
…ignoring the fractional sentence that starts the page…
4.Post the text of the sentence on your blog:.
"But George Ong, who also grew up in Chinatown and is now one of its leaders, posited another key factor: a new law, enacted in the mid-fifties, that required a federal license to operate gambling establishments."
I suppose, if we end up with a series of these, we'll have a branching-story version of the add-a-sentence stories we used to make up in summer camp.
Now That We Know it Works, Let's Trash It
Hope at Appalachia Alumni Association directs readers attention to two recent news items concerning publicly-funded health care for poor kids. The first item is a study from the Commonwealth Fund documenting the efficacy of said programs. The second is an article from Governing magazine noting proposals to cut funding for said programs.
Makes you wanna holler.
Makes you wanna holler.
BAW: Commentary: Pulitzer Prize Winner Pitts: Superhero with a Keyboard
The last time I wrote about a peer, it was to trash Jayson Blair; this time I write to praise Leonard Pitts, and this is not so much for him winning a Pulitzer Prize, although that is why Pitts is in the news.
Pitts is everything someone like Blair is not. For this I hope the Hampton University students whom he teaches twice a week in Virginia pay close attention, and students elsewhere seek out Pitts' work.
BAW: Commentary: Pulitzer Prize Winner Pitts: Superhero with a Keyboard
15.4.04
What Are Journalists For?
Going to where the silence is. That is the responsibility of a journalist: giving a voice to those who have been forgotten, forsaken, and beaten down by the powerful. It is the best reason I know to carry our pens, cameras and microphones into our own communities and out to the wider world.
-- Amy Goodman, David Goodman,A Sanctuary for Dissent
Keith Boykin on Gay Rights, Civil Rights
National Black Justice Coalition leader Keith Boykin elaborates on the ideas he expressed in our interview in a this post on his website. The ensuing discussion is worth a read as well.
Oprah Goes After the Dilly-O on the Down Low
The promo on the Oprah website hypes it this way:
"A Secret Sex World: Living On The "Down Low"(TV-14)
It's a shocker. It's called "living on the down low." Men with wives and girlfriends secretly having sex with other men. One man blows the lid off this sexual underground.
Well, it's not exactly a shocker, unless you've been walled up in a convent for the last 20 years.
The "one man," no doubt, is J.L. King, a popular speaker who has become nationally known for his efforts to promote HIV awareness and testing by talking about the "DL" lifestyle and its contribution to the high HIV infection rates among African American women in particular. HIV activists and health professionals have been trying to get the attention of heterosexual African Americans for years, but King has been particularly successful, probably because he is a straight-looking attractive black man who was, at least at one time in his life, married with children. (He features pictures of his two adult children on his website.) Judging by the number of e-mail forwards I've received in recent weeks and the traffic on Oprah's message board, this show will be a bigger topic of barber- and beauty-shop conversation than Mrs. Coretta Scott King's makeover last year.
Here are a few facts about HIV and African Americans:
According to the CDC, the leading causes behind these grim statistics are poverty,denial about sexual practices involving same-sex partners and/or multiple partners, andhigh rates of other sexually transmitted diseases, which increases vulnerability to HIV.
What is at issue here is the need for greater honesty, communications and personal responsibility among sexually active consenting adults.
I first heard about what we now call the DL lifestyle in 1975 or 76, from a openly gay male friend who told me about brothers on our campus who, along with other "brothers" would beat him up and then call him later to ask about "hooking up." He was in a relationship and had a considerable amount of pride, and he told me that he thought too much of himself to get involved in that kind of foolishness. He wondered, though what the girlfriends of these men knew. My friend died almost 10 years ago from AIDS, two years after he buried his life partner.
I next heard about something like the DL in 1990, when I wrote a magazine article about AT&T employees who had gotten involved in AIDS education, care and prevention. A woman who worked for a local AIDS foundation told me about African American women who were sleeping with older men for drug money, leading to the HIV problem we now are beginning to see among senior citizens. She also told me that black and Latina women were afraid to talk to their partners about safer sex practices, because their partners may take offense, or may accuse them of infidelity. (As in, "You want me to wear a condom? Why? What are you doing?)
Fifteen years later, African-American women, at least, seem to be more assertive about sex. However, some sisters -- and brothers-- are still in serious denial when it comes to safer sex, regardless of sexual orientation. I was particularly reminded of that recently as I watch the second episode of the Internet documentary Silence: the Search for Black Female Sexuality. Some of the women who described themselves as being sexually comfortable and free seemed blithely ignorant of the importance of safer-sex practices.
If Oprah and JL King can encourage a serious and mature conversation about what folks ought to be doing to be healthy and responsible, it will be, at the very least, a welcome surprise.
"A Secret Sex World: Living On The "Down Low"(TV-14)
It's a shocker. It's called "living on the down low." Men with wives and girlfriends secretly having sex with other men. One man blows the lid off this sexual underground.
Well, it's not exactly a shocker, unless you've been walled up in a convent for the last 20 years.
The "one man," no doubt, is J.L. King, a popular speaker who has become nationally known for his efforts to promote HIV awareness and testing by talking about the "DL" lifestyle and its contribution to the high HIV infection rates among African American women in particular. HIV activists and health professionals have been trying to get the attention of heterosexual African Americans for years, but King has been particularly successful, probably because he is a straight-looking attractive black man who was, at least at one time in his life, married with children. (He features pictures of his two adult children on his website.) Judging by the number of e-mail forwards I've received in recent weeks and the traffic on Oprah's message board, this show will be a bigger topic of barber- and beauty-shop conversation than Mrs. Coretta Scott King's makeover last year.
Here are a few facts about HIV and African Americans:
-
According to the 2000 Census, African Americans make up 12.3% of the population of the United States. However, they have accounted for 39% — more than 347,000 — of the more than 886,000 estimated AIDS cases diagnosed since the beginning of the epidemic.1 By the end of December 2002, more than 185,000 African Americans had died with AIDS.(CDC) -
For people diagnosed with AIDS since 1994, African Americans had the poorest survival rates of all racial and ethnic groups, with 55% surviving after 9 years compared to 61% of Hispanics, 64% of whites, and 69% of Asian/ Pacific Islanders.(CDC) -
[As of 2002] the AIDS diagnosis rate among African Americans was almost 11 times the rate among whites. African-American women had a 23 times greater diagnoses rate than white women. African- American men had almost a 9 times greater rate of AIDS diagnosis than white men.(CDC) -
The leading cause of HIV infection among African-American men is sexual contact with other men, followed by injection drug use and heterosexual contact.(CDC) -
The leading cause of HIV infection among African-American women is heterosexual contact, followed by injection drug use..(CDC)
According to the CDC, the leading causes behind these grim statistics are poverty,denial about sexual practices involving same-sex partners and/or multiple partners, andhigh rates of other sexually transmitted diseases, which increases vulnerability to HIV.
What is at issue here is the need for greater honesty, communications and personal responsibility among sexually active consenting adults.
I first heard about what we now call the DL lifestyle in 1975 or 76, from a openly gay male friend who told me about brothers on our campus who, along with other "brothers" would beat him up and then call him later to ask about "hooking up." He was in a relationship and had a considerable amount of pride, and he told me that he thought too much of himself to get involved in that kind of foolishness. He wondered, though what the girlfriends of these men knew. My friend died almost 10 years ago from AIDS, two years after he buried his life partner.
I next heard about something like the DL in 1990, when I wrote a magazine article about AT&T employees who had gotten involved in AIDS education, care and prevention. A woman who worked for a local AIDS foundation told me about African American women who were sleeping with older men for drug money, leading to the HIV problem we now are beginning to see among senior citizens. She also told me that black and Latina women were afraid to talk to their partners about safer sex practices, because their partners may take offense, or may accuse them of infidelity. (As in, "You want me to wear a condom? Why? What are you doing?)
Fifteen years later, African-American women, at least, seem to be more assertive about sex. However, some sisters -- and brothers-- are still in serious denial when it comes to safer sex, regardless of sexual orientation. I was particularly reminded of that recently as I watch the second episode of the Internet documentary Silence: the Search for Black Female Sexuality. Some of the women who described themselves as being sexually comfortable and free seemed blithely ignorant of the importance of safer-sex practices.
If Oprah and JL King can encourage a serious and mature conversation about what folks ought to be doing to be healthy and responsible, it will be, at the very least, a welcome surprise.
Lil Kim Indictment Also on TSG
She's accused of several counts of lying before a federal grand jury about a Feb. 25, 2001 shooting outside of a New York city radio station. One man was wounded in the incident. She pleaded not guilty and is free on $500,000 bond.
Source Magazine Sued By Creditors
Source Magazine has been hit by four lawsuits alleging that the hiphop trade failed to pay nearly $1 million in bills, according to a document posted on The Smoking Gun website.
Sakia Gunn's Friend on Today's Ricki Lake
As part of her "Exposed" series on taboo subjects today's Ricki Lake Show features gay teenagers who have faced rejection, harassment and violence. Among them is Valencia, the 16-year-old best friend of Sakia Gunn. Gunn died in Valiencia's arms May 11, 2003 after being stabbed to death by a man who's advances had been rejected by the girls.
14.4.04
Cobb on Condi
While you're browsing Africana.com. be sure to read Jelani Cobb's Past Imperfect: CondiGate:
"Rice's appearance before the 9/11 commission on April 8th was the definition of a Catch-22: a public failure on her part would invariably be read as yet another example of black incompetence. And a virtuoso political performance from Rice would be a victory for an administration that has squandered international goodwill, undermined the United Nations, used the horror of September 11th as a political trump card, run the economy into long-term recession and started a war to protect us from non-existent Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. For what it matters, Rice was convincing — even as her testimony was starkly at odds with the historical record, her own previous claims and those of other members of the administration. And the underlying point is this: in the long, tangled history of black people in the United States, we have at last reached the point where black politicians have earned the right to be just as dubious and questionable as their white counterparts. "
Spelman Sisters Spike Nelly Fundraiser
It's always seemed to me that Cornell Haynes, Jr.'s nom-de-rap locked him into the trap of having to constantly emanate hetero-hypermasculinity in order to be accepted in hip-hop's top tier. After all, I'm sure someone has told him by now that "Nelly" is gay slang for an effeminate man. I don't know whether that is an explanation for the vulgarity of his latest video, "Tip-Drill," but Mark Anthony Neal says that the video, with its image of "a young black male, running a credit card through the 'crack' of a young black woman's behind," has led to protests from students at Spelman College.
Writing in Africana.com, Neal says the Spelman sisters' protests led to the cancellation of the rapper's scheduled April 1 campus visit to help raise money for his charity, 4sho4kids, which raises money for his bone marrow transplants for leukemia patients. Nelly's sister, Jackie Donahue, met with protesting students, and discussions are underway to reschedule the visit according to Howard University's student newspaper.
Writing in Africana.com, Neal says the Spelman sisters' protests led to the cancellation of the rapper's scheduled April 1 campus visit to help raise money for his charity, 4sho4kids, which raises money for his bone marrow transplants for leukemia patients. Nelly's sister, Jackie Donahue, met with protesting students, and discussions are underway to reschedule the visit according to Howard University's student newspaper.
The Difficulties of Genocide
Jeff Sharlet at The Revealer says the Western press coverage of the tenth anniversary of the Rwandan genocide presented simplistic morality plays instead of informed exploration of the nation's complex history and ongoing challenges.
I'm currently reading Sharlet's new book, Killing the Buddha, an anthology of impressionistic essays and reports on the state of religious practice and belief in these post-modern United States. Many of the individual articles can be read on the Killing the Buddha website. I'll be posting a review in the next couple of weeks of this smart, thought-provoking book.
"A conflict originally written off as 'tribal' has been complicated in the Western mind, raised in status to a “legacy of colonialism.” Not many words are spared on explication of those two loaded terms.
"Nor, for that matter, on the complexities of Rwanda’s religious life, despite the fact that one of the legacies of colonialism ...results from bad biblical scholarship.
"Beginning in the late 19th century, German and Belgian ethnographers sharpened the vague line of division between Tutsis and the array of smaller ethnic and regional groups grouped under the term “Hutu.” In search of real world proof for the Bible’s stories -- and a local administrative class -- the scholars decreed that Tutsis were a superior race born of Ham, the biblical figure who for the sin of seeing his father, Noah, naked was sent into exile. The Hutu, they further “discovered,” had no biblical antecedents at all -- making them subhuman.
"Thus were the seeds planted. But it took a century of politics, bad theology, and even linguistics (the conflict was in no small part related to Francophone anxiety over continued dominance of the region) to result in the hundreds of thousands killed and the hundreds of thousands of killers now awaiting -- what? Justice? Forgiveness? “Reconciliation?....”
I'm currently reading Sharlet's new book, Killing the Buddha, an anthology of impressionistic essays and reports on the state of religious practice and belief in these post-modern United States. Many of the individual articles can be read on the Killing the Buddha website. I'll be posting a review in the next couple of weeks of this smart, thought-provoking book.
Air America Radio Struggles Continue
Air America Radio's website now reflects the diversity of its staffing and lineup, but its troubles deepened this week. Company executives today filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against Multicultural Radio Broadcasting, after MRB dropped Air America's programming from its Los Angeles and Chicago stations.
The issue is money. According to the Drudge Report, MRB says Air America bounced $1 million check to them. In a statement on its website that mimics Matt Drudge's story, AAR accuses MRB's owner, Arthur Liu, of grand larceny:
The issue is money. According to the Drudge Report, MRB says Air America bounced $1 million check to them. In a statement on its website that mimics Matt Drudge's story, AAR accuses MRB's owner, Arthur Liu, of grand larceny:
"This Liu-ser was ripping off our boss Evan Cohen big time (he can’t do that, that’s our job). Evan found out about it and he stopped payment on a check to keep Liu-cifer from ripping him off even more. You can touch Evan for the occasional meal or drinks but a million bucks is crossing the line. And if we ever get low on cash, we can always call Barbra Streisand. Or any of the Baldwins. Except Stephen."
Father Says North Carolina Car-Theft Murder May be Hate Crime
Three young Durham, North Carolina men targetted a gay man, then tortured and killed him when he tried to flee, one of the alleged perpertrators told authorities. According to the defendant's statement, Sean Ethan Owen, 23, died Feb. 17 after Matthew Lawrence Taylor, 16; Shelton Deangelo Epps, 21; and Derrick Arness Maiden, 18; found Owen through a gay chat room, and arranged to meet him with the intention of stealing his car.
However, the victim's father, Michael S. Owens, Sr., told a reporter, "They shot him before they even attempted to rob him of anything. From what I understand, my son had $10 in his front pocket when they found him. I think they were on the chat line talking to somebody to actually murder."
North Carolina's hate crime law does not include sexual orientation. However, anti-gay bias might be considered in assessing motive in the prosecution or sentencing phase of a trial. The three men are in custody, awaiting a grand jury indictment. Media industry columnist Richard Prince asks: Is this the Matthew Shepard case with a different cast?.
However, the victim's father, Michael S. Owens, Sr., told a reporter, "They shot him before they even attempted to rob him of anything. From what I understand, my son had $10 in his front pocket when they found him. I think they were on the chat line talking to somebody to actually murder."
North Carolina's hate crime law does not include sexual orientation. However, anti-gay bias might be considered in assessing motive in the prosecution or sentencing phase of a trial. The three men are in custody, awaiting a grand jury indictment. Media industry columnist Richard Prince asks: Is this the Matthew Shepard case with a different cast?.
12.4.04
Sakia Gunn Story Count Inches Along
I have been tracking the press coverage of Sakia Gunn's murder since it occured on May 11, 2003. This month, the Lexis-Nexis (TM) database shows 24 stories about the 15-year-old African American Newark lesbian whose murder will lead to the first hate-murder prosecution in the history of the state of New Jersey's hate-crime laws. This is an increase of two stories from last month. Both new stories pertain to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) March 26 announcement that CNN had been nominated for a GLAAD Media Award for its story: "The Death of Sakia Gunn: Live From the Headlines."
By comparison, there were 703 stories about 1998 gay hate murder victim Matthew Shepard 11 months after his death, slightly up from 698 stories at the 10-month mark. The new stories. like many others in the database, linked Shepard's murder to other hate crimes happening at that time, such as the lynching of James Byrd.
In New Jersey, Gunn's cousin Anthony Hall has become an anti-violence activist, working to bring together victims of street violence throughout the city of Newark. In a March 22 Star-Ledger story about a local family that lost two members to gun violence in less than a year, Hall was quoted as saying, "Let's come together and support each other. If we don't stay together, we'll be coming together at the next funeral."
Because of a capacity problem on the server that has my chart with the monthly story count, I cannot update it at this time, However, the you can see the month-by month totals here.
By comparison, there were 703 stories about 1998 gay hate murder victim Matthew Shepard 11 months after his death, slightly up from 698 stories at the 10-month mark. The new stories. like many others in the database, linked Shepard's murder to other hate crimes happening at that time, such as the lynching of James Byrd.
In New Jersey, Gunn's cousin Anthony Hall has become an anti-violence activist, working to bring together victims of street violence throughout the city of Newark. In a March 22 Star-Ledger story about a local family that lost two members to gun violence in less than a year, Hall was quoted as saying, "Let's come together and support each other. If we don't stay together, we'll be coming together at the next funeral."
Because of a capacity problem on the server that has my chart with the monthly story count, I cannot update it at this time, However, the you can see the month-by month totals here.
Group raises funds for slain teen
NYU's Black Allied Law Students Association rallied for funds and awareness Thursday for the family of teenager Timothy Stansbury Jr., who was fatally shot on Jan. 24 by a police officer.
Officer Richard Neri, who was patrolling a rooftop in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, shot Stansbury, 19, once in the chest when he and two friends entered the roof from a staircase, apparently startling Neri. Stansbury was unarmed and had no criminal record.
The NYU group, which collected pocket change from fellow students and faculty members at Vanderbilt Hall's second-floor lounge, hopes to present the money to Stansbury's family to aid their effort to hold the police department accountable for the shooting. The group collected about $50, half of its goal.
NYU's Black Allied Law Students Association rallied for funds and awareness Thursday for the family of teenager Timothy Stansbury Jr., who was fatally shot on Jan. 24 by a police officer.
Officer Richard Neri, who was patrolling a rooftop in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, shot Stansbury, 19, once in the chest when he and two friends entered the roof from a staircase, apparently startling Neri. Stansbury was unarmed and had no criminal record.
The NYU group, which collected pocket change from fellow students and faculty members at Vanderbilt Hall's second-floor lounge, hopes to present the money to Stansbury's family to aid their effort to hold the police department accountable for the shooting. The group collected about $50, half of its goal.
Full Story
Auditors' Report Tags Tennessee State President With Ticket Scandal
NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- Tennessee State University's president said Sunday he regrets he may have placed the school in an "unflattering light" after an audit found he used his position to obtain free Super Bowl tickets.
However, in a letter sent Sunday to students, faculty and staff, James Hefner did not admit to wrongdoing alleged by state auditors.
Full Story
Jimmy Carter on the "UnChristian" Christian Right
"When I was younger, almost all Baptists were strongly committed on a theological basis to the separation of church and state. It was only 25 years ago when there began to be a melding of the Republican Party with fundamentalist Christianity, particularly with the Southern Baptist Convention. This is a fairly new development, and I think it was brought about by the abandonment of some of the basic principles of Christianity...."
Full Story
9.4.04
African Independent: The World was Safer Without Saddam's Overthrow
If there is anybody happier today, it is Saddam Hussein. As Iraqis are being killed daily by the hundreds along with young American soldiers, the lesson that is imposing itself is that Iraq was safer under Saddam's dictatorial regime.
Rumsfeld and the beloved ally Saddam in 1980's.
The world is it safer without Saddam Hussein? Absolutely not, since Saddam was never a threat at all for the world. We now know that he had no weapons of mass destruction and was not backing Al-Qaeda, was not planning to attack any American interests.
Instead, the world has become unsafe due to the occupation of Iraq.
Full Story
Rumsfeld and the beloved ally Saddam in 1980's.
The world is it safer without Saddam Hussein? Absolutely not, since Saddam was never a threat at all for the world. We now know that he had no weapons of mass destruction and was not backing Al-Qaeda, was not planning to attack any American interests.
Instead, the world has become unsafe due to the occupation of Iraq.
Full Story
Happy Birthday, Paul Robeson!
I would be remiss to let April 9th pass without at least a mention of Paul Robeson, who was born 106 years ago today. The librarians at Princeton University, which would have been his alma mater were it not for T. Woodrow Wilson have amassed a helpful webliography. There's also a link to a nice 2001 NPR interview with writer Paul Robeson, Jr. Here, you can hear a few samples of the greatest bass voice of the century. But if you really want to understand Paul Robeson, read his book: Here I Stand.
Cousin George meet Cousin John
By now, you may have heard that George W. Bush is not only related to Colin Powell, he's also kin to his rival, John Kerry. (Some folks are still skeptical about that though.) Here's the family tree, courtesy of my friend TA.
Gado's Take on Domestic Violence
I had just been reading Subversive Harmony's entry on Sexual Assault Awareness Month when I wandered over to Gado's latest editorial cartoons Check out the second one. The first one's pretty interesting too, of course.
Richard Prince: Rice's Race
In his Journal-isms column, Richard Prince has a nice round-up of stories on National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice's testimony that tried to gauge the significance of her race to the proceedings. Rice, herself, only referred to her race once, and then only obliquely, when she said, "When our Founding Fathers said, We the people, they didn't mean me." More than one person drew the obvious comparison between Rice's moment to Prof. Anita Hill's 1991 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, although Rice's role in this proceeding was more akin to Clarence Thomas' back then.
Some expect the Administration to use Condoleezza Rice as a scapegoat, and they wonder whether she will try to find refuge in the black community when that happens. Black Commentator doesn't think blacks should welcome her in the same way that other prodigal kinsmen have been embraced :
Some expect the Administration to use Condoleezza Rice as a scapegoat, and they wonder whether she will try to find refuge in the black community when that happens. Black Commentator doesn't think blacks should welcome her in the same way that other prodigal kinsmen have been embraced :
History will judge Rice infinitely more harshly than the 9/11 Commission, which is concerned only with harms done to Americans. Rice, Colin Powell and a cellblock full of Bush Pirates deserve to be tried for the highest crimes yet delineated by mankind: crimes against peace (i.e., waging a "war of aggression"), war crimes and crimes against humanity. So, let’s hear no more about Condoleezza Rice being unfairly made a scapegoat.
The last thing a pirate should wish for is justice.
Black Kansas State Students Demand Firing of Newspaper Advisor
The Black Student Union at Kansas State University says the school's newspaper, The Collegian isn't paying enough attention to diversity issues. They think firing the newspaper's advisor will fix the problem. Editors say they have instituted new beats and training to improve diversity coverage.
Thirty years ago, I was involved in similar protests at my undergraduate school paper, The Daily Princetonian. Back then, we protested because those of us who tried to join the newspaper got tired of being belittled or dismissed if their ideas were seen as too "black." We also created an alternative publication, which became a magazine called The Vigil. I did do occasional stories for the paper -- mostly on the campus racial climate -- but that was about it. Several of the people who worked on The Vigil went on to journalism and media related careers, including yours truly, and eventually, the barriers fell at the Prince as well.
Now I'm the advisor at my school's newspaper, The Signal. We're a small program with a weekly paper, and the challenge of recruiting and keeping a strong, diverse staff is constant. Then too, so is the challenge of recruiting a diverse pool of students. It's the subject of continual dialogue with the staff. Here's what I've learned:
When such initiatives are properly implemented and pursued, college newspapers can do a good job of reporting campus news and training future journalists.
Thirty years ago, I was involved in similar protests at my undergraduate school paper, The Daily Princetonian. Back then, we protested because those of us who tried to join the newspaper got tired of being belittled or dismissed if their ideas were seen as too "black." We also created an alternative publication, which became a magazine called The Vigil. I did do occasional stories for the paper -- mostly on the campus racial climate -- but that was about it. Several of the people who worked on The Vigil went on to journalism and media related careers, including yours truly, and eventually, the barriers fell at the Prince as well.
Now I'm the advisor at my school's newspaper, The Signal. We're a small program with a weekly paper, and the challenge of recruiting and keeping a strong, diverse staff is constant. Then too, so is the challenge of recruiting a diverse pool of students. It's the subject of continual dialogue with the staff. Here's what I've learned:
-
At most schools, (mine included) newspaper advisors do not have the power of prior restraint or prior review of stories. We really are advisors. -
The best way to attack the problem is in the curriculum, as well as in the journalism school's outreach programs to high school students. About three years ago, we introduced a class on Race, Gender and the News that draws a consistent enrollment, even though it is not a required course. (I created the class, but I no longer teach it.) The class has stimulated a lot of good enterprise reporting on diversity -- just this week I had a conversation with someone who is working on a story about the lives of campus food service workers, for example.
A few years back, we were able to get funding to run a pilot program that exposed pre-college students of color to online journalism, unbound II. The program was an offshoot of our successful online magazine, unbound. -
Public journalism techniques are helpful.. -
One of the most helpful things a newspaper advisor can do is to help beginning editors think like managers so that they don't rely on their own limited backgrounds and experience in making decisions and responding to readers. -
Sometimes students, student affairs managers and administrators have to be educated about the particular needs and ethical imperatives governing newspapers. Students often forget that the people who work on the school paper are just students, not people with special powers. Administrators sometimes forget that that the newspaper isn't a public relations vehicle for the school. And student affairs staff can hinder operations with cookie-cutter rules that don't distinguish between the French club and a news operation that deals with tens of thousands of dollars annually.
When such initiatives are properly implemented and pursued, college newspapers can do a good job of reporting campus news and training future journalists.
8.4.04
On Watching the Hammer Hit Number 715
I remember. I recall. And I cried tears of joy.
Hammering Hank was my generation's Joe Louis. It may surprise you to read that, given that there was also Muhammad Ali but for me, Ali was a different kind of icon. Ali stood up to the white man's rules, and by some miracle, he won. Hammering Hank destroyed them.
In the city that had been a cherished symbol of the "martyred" Confederacy, where you played baseball under a banner that made light of genocide, Henry Aaron made the Old South give props to the New South by whacking the stuffing out of a hardball a total of 755 times.
No wonder a generation of black people flocked to Hotlanta the way that their grandparents had flocked to Harlem in the 1920s. Back then, they got North and found the landlords hostile and the bosses hateful and hot times turned to hard times overnight. They stood up a little straighter and found the strength to try a little harder after they gathered with their friends around the one good radio to hear Joe Louis beat down the latest Great White Hope.
Our situation was not so dire in the early 70s, but black folks were in dire need of a hero. The optimism born from the gains of the Civil Rights Movement was thinning; our leaders were dead and the way forward seemed uncertain, both morally and practically. Not that Americans' spirits didn't need lifting in general: there was neither peace nor honor in Indochina; the first of several OPEC oil shocks were pushing us into an improbable era of stagnant wages and high interest rates; the President was staging a last-ditch, futile effort to convince us that he was not a crook.
Hank Aaron was the perfect hero for the time: a team player but an individual star, a man who exuded dignity in the face of death threats and other attacks. A man whose hitting form had begun being perfected decades before in hours-long stickball practice sessions in which "the ball" could be a bottle top or a pebble. Like him, many of us were coming from the wrong side of the tracks into the Big Leagues: elite universities, corporate jobs, places most black folk had only been to as maids, cooks and chauffeurs. Hank Aaron's triumph was a Horatio Alger tale for Buppies everywhere: the world can be yours if you just keep swinging.
.Negrophile blogged a nice piece by Hall of Famer Joe Morgan: "Maybe it's Time for a Hank Aaron League." Sounds like a plan to me. Make sure it's co-ed.
Hammering Hank was my generation's Joe Louis. It may surprise you to read that, given that there was also Muhammad Ali but for me, Ali was a different kind of icon. Ali stood up to the white man's rules, and by some miracle, he won. Hammering Hank destroyed them.
In the city that had been a cherished symbol of the "martyred" Confederacy, where you played baseball under a banner that made light of genocide, Henry Aaron made the Old South give props to the New South by whacking the stuffing out of a hardball a total of 755 times.
No wonder a generation of black people flocked to Hotlanta the way that their grandparents had flocked to Harlem in the 1920s. Back then, they got North and found the landlords hostile and the bosses hateful and hot times turned to hard times overnight. They stood up a little straighter and found the strength to try a little harder after they gathered with their friends around the one good radio to hear Joe Louis beat down the latest Great White Hope.
Our situation was not so dire in the early 70s, but black folks were in dire need of a hero. The optimism born from the gains of the Civil Rights Movement was thinning; our leaders were dead and the way forward seemed uncertain, both morally and practically. Not that Americans' spirits didn't need lifting in general: there was neither peace nor honor in Indochina; the first of several OPEC oil shocks were pushing us into an improbable era of stagnant wages and high interest rates; the President was staging a last-ditch, futile effort to convince us that he was not a crook.
Hank Aaron was the perfect hero for the time: a team player but an individual star, a man who exuded dignity in the face of death threats and other attacks. A man whose hitting form had begun being perfected decades before in hours-long stickball practice sessions in which "the ball" could be a bottle top or a pebble. Like him, many of us were coming from the wrong side of the tracks into the Big Leagues: elite universities, corporate jobs, places most black folk had only been to as maids, cooks and chauffeurs. Hank Aaron's triumph was a Horatio Alger tale for Buppies everywhere: the world can be yours if you just keep swinging.
.Negrophile blogged a nice piece by Hall of Famer Joe Morgan: "Maybe it's Time for a Hank Aaron League." Sounds like a plan to me. Make sure it's co-ed.
ACLU Files First Nationwide Challenge to "No-Fly" List, Saying Government List Violates Passengers' Rights
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON (April 6) – A member of the military, a retired Presbyterian minister and a college student are among seven U.S. citizens who have joined the first nationwide, class-action challenge to the government's “No-Fly” list filed today by the American Civil Liberties Union.
“This case is about innocent people who found out that their government considers them potential terrorists,” said Reginald T. Shuford, an ACLU senior staff attorney who is lead counsel in the case. “For our clients and thousands like them, getting on a plane means repeated delays and the stigma of being singled out as a security threat in front of their family, their fellow passengers and the flight crew,” Shuford added. “What's worse, these passengers have no idea why they have been placed on the No-Fly list and no way to clear their names.”
The ACLU lawsuit, filed today in federal district court in Seattle, was announced at news conferences in Seattle, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C. Named as defendants in the lawsuit are Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and Transportation Security Administration Director David M. Stone and their respective agencies.
Full Story, along with legal documents and information on how innocent people can clear their names.
WASHINGTON (April 6) – A member of the military, a retired Presbyterian minister and a college student are among seven U.S. citizens who have joined the first nationwide, class-action challenge to the government's “No-Fly” list filed today by the American Civil Liberties Union.
“This case is about innocent people who found out that their government considers them potential terrorists,” said Reginald T. Shuford, an ACLU senior staff attorney who is lead counsel in the case. “For our clients and thousands like them, getting on a plane means repeated delays and the stigma of being singled out as a security threat in front of their family, their fellow passengers and the flight crew,” Shuford added. “What's worse, these passengers have no idea why they have been placed on the No-Fly list and no way to clear their names.”
The ACLU lawsuit, filed today in federal district court in Seattle, was announced at news conferences in Seattle, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C. Named as defendants in the lawsuit are Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and Transportation Security Administration Director David M. Stone and their respective agencies.
Full Story, along with legal documents and information on how innocent people can clear their names.
Aljazeera Images from the Fallujah Siege
Words fail me. Avoid this is you have a weak stomach, or if you suffer from post-traumatic stress.
Dr. Condoleezza Rice's Testimony to Commission on Terrorist Attacks : Annotated
I thought it would be helpful to annotate the White House's Press Release of Dr. Rice's opening testimony with the links supplied in the Center for American Progress's refutation of her factual claims.(CAP tip via Oliver Willis. Also, you can read the Question and Answer portion of the testimony here.)
I thank the Commission for arranging this special session. Thank you for helping to find a way to meet the Nation's need to learn all we can about the September 11th attacks, while preserving important Constitutional principles.
This Commission, and those who appear before it, have a vital charge. We owe it to those we lost, and to their loved ones, and to our country, to learn all we can about that tragic day, and the events that led to it. Many families of the victims are here today, and I thank them for their contributions to the Commission's work.
The terrorist threat to our Nation did not emerge on September 11th, 2001. Long before that day, radical, freedom-hating terrorists declared war on America and on the civilized world. The attack on the Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983, the hijacking of the Achille Lauro in 1985, the rise of al-Qaida and the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, the attacks on American installations in Saudi Arabia in 1995 and 1996, the East Africa embassy bombings of 1998, the attack on the USS Cole in 2000, these and other atrocities were part of a sustained, systematic campaign to spread devastation and chaos and to murder innocent Americans.
The terrorists were at war with us, but we were not yet at war with them. For more than 20 years, the terrorist threat gathered, and America's response across several administrations of both parties was insufficient. Historically, democratic societies have been slow to react to gathering threats, tending instead to wait to confront threats until they are too dangerous to ignore or until it is too late. Despite the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915 and continued German harassment of American shipping, the United States did not enter the First World War until two years later. Despite Nazi Germany's repeated violations of the Versailles Treaty and its string of provocations throughout the mid-1930s, the Western democracies did not take action until 1939. The U.S. Government did not act against the growing threat from Imperial Japan until the threat became all too evident at Pearl Harbor. And, tragically, for all the language of war spoken before September 11th, this country simply was not on a war footing.
Since then, America has been at war. And under President Bush's leadership, we will remain at war until the terrorist threat to our Nation is ended. The world has changed so much that it is hard to remember what our lives were like before that day. But I do want to describe the actions this Administration was taking to fight terrorism before September 11th, 2001.
After President Bush was elected, we were briefed by the Clinton Administration on many national security issues during the transition. The President-elect and I were briefed by George Tenet on terrorism and on the al-Qaida network. Members of Sandy Berger's NSC staff briefed me, along with other members of the new national security team, on counterterrorism and al-Qaida. This briefing lasted about one hour, and it reviewed the Clinton Administration's counterterrorism approach and the various counterterrorism activities then underway. Sandy and I personally discussed a variety of other topics, including North Korea, Iraq, the Middle East, and the Balkans.
Because of these briefings and because we had watched the rise of al-Qaida over the years, we understood that the network posed a serious threat to the United States. We wanted to ensure there was no respite in the fight against al-Qaida. On an operational level, we decided immediately to continue pursuing the Clinton Administration's covert action authorities and other efforts to fight the network. President Bush retained George Tenet as Director of Central Intelligence, and Louis Freeh remained the Director of the FBI. I took the unusual step of retaining Dick Clarke and the entire Clinton Administration's counterterrorism team on the NSC staff. I knew Dick to be an expert in his field, as well as an experienced crisis manager. Our goal was to ensure continuity of operations while we developed new and more aggressive policies.
At the beginning of the Administration, President Bush revived the practice of meeting with the Director of Central Intelligence almost every day in the Oval Office -? meetings which I attended, along with the Vice President and the Chief of Staff. At these meetings, the President received up-to-date intelligence and asked questions of his most senior intelligence officials. From January 20 through September 10, the President received at these daily meetings more than 40 briefing items on al-Qaida, and 13 of these were in response to questions he or his top advisers had posed. In addition to seeing DCI Tenet almost every morning, I generally spoke by telephone every morning at 7:15 with Secretaries Powell and Rumsfeld. I also met and spoke regularly with the DCI about al-Qaida and terrorism.
Of course, we also had other responsibilities. President Bush had set a broad foreign policy agenda. We were determined to confront the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. We were improving America's relations with the world's great powers. We had to change an Iraq policy that was making no progress against a hostile regime which regularly shot at U.S. planes enforcing U.N. Security Council Resolutions. And we had to deal with the occasional crisis, for instance, when the crew of a Navy plane was detained in China for 11 days.
We also moved to develop a new and comprehensive strategy to eliminate the al-Qaida terrorist network. President Bush understood the threat, and he understood its importance. He made clear to us that he did not want to respond to al-Qaida one attack at a time. He told me he was "tired of swatting flies."
This new strategy was developed over the Spring and Summer of 2001, and was approved by the President's senior national security officials on September 4. It was the very first major national security policy directive of the Bush Administration -? not Russia, not missile defense, not Iraq, but the elimination of al-Qaida.
Although this National Security Presidential Directive was originally a highly classified document, we arranged for portions to be declassified to help the Commission in its work, and I will describe some of those today. The strategy set as its goal the elimination of the al-Qaida network. It ordered the leadership of relevant U.S. departments and agencies to make the elimination of al-Qaida a high priority and to use all aspects of our national power -? intelligence, financial, diplomatic, and military ?- to meet this goal. And it gave Cabinet Secretaries and department heads specific responsibilities. For instance:
More importantly, we recognized that no counterterrorism strategy could succeed in isolation. As you know from the Pakistan and Afghanistan strategy documents that we made available to the Commission, our counterterrorism strategy was part of a broader package of strategies that addressed the complexities of the region.
Integrating our counterterrorism and regional strategies was the most difficult and the most important aspect of the new strategy to get right. Al-Qaida was both client of and patron to the Taliban, which in turn was supported by Pakistan. Those relationships provided al-Qaida with a powerful umbrella of protection, and we had to sever them. This was not easy.
Not that we hadn't tried. Within a month of taking office, President Bush sent a strong, private message to President Musharraf urging him to use his influence with the Taliban to bring Bin Laden to justice and to close down al-Qaida training camps. Secretary Powell actively urged the Pakistanis, including Musharraf himself, to abandon support for the Taliban. I met with Pakistan's Foreign Minister in my office in June of 2001. I delivered a very tough message, which was met with a rote, expressionless response.
America's al-Qaida policy wasn't working because our Afghanistan policy wasn't working. And our Afghanistan policy wasn't working because our Pakistan policy wasn't working. We recognized that America's counterterrorism policy had to be connected to our regional strategies and to our overall foreign policy.
To address these problems, I made sure to involve key regional experts. I brought in Zalmay Khalilzad, an expert on Afghanistan who, as a senior diplomat in the 1980s, had worked closely with the Afghan Mujahedeen, helping them to turn back the Soviet invasion. I also ensured the participation of the NSC experts on South Asia, as well as the Secretary of State and his regional specialists. Together, we developed a new strategic approach to Afghanistan. Instead of the intense focus on the Northern Alliance, we emphasized the importance of the south -? the social and political heartland of the country. Our new approach to Pakistan combined the use of carrots and sticks to persuade Pakistan to drop its support for the Taliban. And we began to change our approach to India, to preserve stability on the subcontinent.
While we were developing this new strategy to deal with al-Qaida, we also made decisions on a number of specific anti-al-Qaida initiatives that had been proposed by Dick Clarke. Many of these ideas had been deferred by the last Administration, and some had been on the table since 1998. We increased counterterror assistance to Uzbekistan; we bolstered the Treasury Department's activities to track and seize terrorist assets; we increased funding for counterterrorism activities across several agencies; and we moved quickly to arm Predator unmanned surveillance vehicles for action against al-Qaida.
When threat reporting increased during the Spring and Summer of 2001, we moved the U.S. Government at all levels to a high state of alert and activity. Let me clear up any confusion about the relationship between the development of our new strategy and the many actions we took to respond to threats that summer. Policy development and crisis management require different approaches. Throughout this period, we did both simultaneously.
For the essential crisis management task, we depended on the Counterterrorism Security Group chaired by Dick Clarke to be the interagency nerve center. The CSG consisted of senior counterterrorism experts from CIA, the FBI, the Department of Justice, the Defense Department (including the Joint Chiefs), the State Department, and the Secret Service. The CSG had met regularly for many years, and its members had worked through numerous periods of heightened threat activity. As threat information increased, the CSG met more frequently, sometimes daily, to review and analyze the threat reporting and to coordinate actions in response. CSG members also had ready access to their Cabinet Secretaries and could raise any concerns they had at the highest levels.
The threat reporting that we received in the Spring and Summer of 2001 was not specific as to time, nor place, nor manner of attack. Almost all of the reports focused on al-Qaida activities outside the United States, especially in the Middle East and North Africa. In fact, the information that was specific enough to be actionable referred to terrorist operations overseas. More often, it was frustratingly vague. Let me read you some of the actual chatter that we picked up that Spring and Summer:
In this context, I want to address in some detail one of the briefing items we received, since its content has frequently been mischaracterized. On August 6, 2001, the President's intelligence briefing included a response to questions he had earlier raised about any al-Qaida intentions to strike our homeland. The briefing item reviewed past intelligence reporting, mostly dating from the 1990s, regarding possible al-Qaida plans to attack inside the United States. It referred to uncorroborated reporting from 1998 that terrorists might attempt to hijack a U.S. aircraft in an attempt to blackmail the government into releasing U.S.-held terrorists who had participated in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. This briefing item was not prompted by any specific threat information. And it did not raise the possibility that terrorists might use airplanes as missiles.
Despite the fact that the vast majority of the threat information we received was focused overseas, I was also concerned about possible threats inside the United States. On July 5, Chief of Staff Andy Card and I met with Dick Clarke, and I asked Dick to make sure that domestic agencies were aware of the heightened threat period and were taking appropriate steps to respond, even though we did not have specific threats to the homeland. Later that same day, Clarke convened a special meeting of his CSG, as well as representatives from the FAA, the INS, Customs, and the Coast Guard. At that meeting, these agencies were asked to take additional measures to increase security and surveillance.
Throughout this period of heightened threat information, we worked hard on multiple fronts to detect, protect against, and disrupt any terrorist plans or operations that might lead to an attack. For instance:
This is a brief sample of our intense activity over the Summer of 2001.
Yet, as your hearings have shown, there was no silver bullet that could have prevented the 9/11 attacks. In hindsight, if anything might have helped stop 9/11, it would have been better information about threats inside the United States, something made difficult by structural and legal impediments that prevented the collection and sharing of information by our law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
So the attacks came. A band of vicious terrorists tried to decapitate our government, destroy our financial system, and break the spirit of America. As an officer of government on duty that day, I will never forget the sorrow and the anger I felt. Nor will I forget the courage and resilience shown by the American people and the leadership of the President that day.
Now, we have an opportunity and an obligation to move forward together. Bold and comprehensive changes are sometimes only possible in the wake of catastrophic events -? events which create a new consensus that allows us to transcend old ways of thinking and acting. Just as World War II led to a fundamental reorganization of our national defense structure and to the creation of the National Security Council, so has September 11th made possible sweeping changes in the ways we protect our homeland.
President Bush is leading the country during this time of crisis and change. He has unified and streamlined our efforts to secure the American Homeland by creating the Department of Homeland Security, established a new center to integrate and analyze terrorist threat information, directed the transformation of the FBI into an agency dedicated to fighting terror, broken down the bureaucratic walls and legal barriers that prevented the sharing of vital threat information between our domestic law enforcement and our foreign intelligence agencies, and, working with the Congress, given officials new tools, such as the USA PATRIOT Act, to find and stop terrorists. And he has done all of this in a way that is consistent with protecting America's cherished civil liberties and with preserving our character as a free and open society.
But the President also recognizes that our work is far from complete. More structural reform will likely be necessary. Our intelligence gathering and analysis have improved dramatically in the last two years, but they must be stronger still. The President and all of us in his Administration welcome new ideas and fresh thinking. We are eager to do whatever is necessary to protect the American people. And we look forward to receiving the recommendations of this Commission.
We are at war and our security as a nation depends on winning that war. We must and we will do everything we can to harden terrorist targets within the United States. Dedicated law enforcement and security professionals continue to risk their lives every day to make us all safer, and we owe them a debt of gratitude. And, let's remember, those charged with protecting us from attack have to succeed 100 percent of the time. To inflict devastation on a massive scale, the terrorists only have to succeed once, and we know they are trying every day.
That is why we must address the source of the problem. We must stay on offense, to find and defeat the terrorists wherever they live, hide, and plot around the world. If we learned anything on September 11th, 2001, it is that we cannot wait while dangers gather.
After the September 11th attacks, our Nation faced hard choices. We could fight a narrow war against al-Qaida and the Taliban or we could fight a broad war against a global menace. We could seek a narrow victory or we could work for a lasting peace and a better world. President Bush chose the bolder course.
He recognizes that the War on Terror is a broad war. Under his leadership, the United States and our allies are disrupting terrorist operations, cutting off their funding, and hunting down terrorists one-by-one. Their world is getting smaller. The terrorists have lost a home-base and training camps in Afghanistan. The Governments of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia now pursue them with energy and force.
We are confronting the nexus between terror and weapons of mass destruction. We are working to stop the spread of deadly weapons and prevent then from getting into the hands of terrorists, seizing dangerous materials in transit, where necessary. Because we acted in Iraq, Saddam Hussein will never again use weapons of mass destruction against his people or his neighbors. And we have convinced Libya to give up all its WMD-related programs and materials.
And as we attack the threat at its sources, we are also addressing its roots. Thanks to the bravery and skill of our men and women in uniform, we removed from power two of the world's most brutal regimes -- sources of violence, and fear, and instability in the region. Today, along with many allies, we are helping the people of Iraq and Afghanistan to build free societies. And we are working with the people of the Middle East to spread the blessings of liberty and democracy as the alternatives to instability, hatred, and terror. This work is hard and dangerous, yet it is worthy of our effort and our sacrifice. The defeat of terror and the success of freedom in those nations will serve the interests of our Nation and inspire hope and encourage reform throughout the greater Middle East.
In the aftermath of September 11th, those were the right choices for America to make -- the only choices that can ensure the safety of our Nation in the decades to come.
Thank you. Now I am happy to answer your questions.
CAP tip via Oliver Willis.
As Prepared for Delivery
NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR DR. CONDOLEEZZA RICE
OPENING REMARKS
THE NATIONAL COMMISSION ON TERRORIST ATTACKS
UPON THE UNITED STATES
Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC
April 8, 2004
I thank the Commission for arranging this special session. Thank you for helping to find a way to meet the Nation's need to learn all we can about the September 11th attacks, while preserving important Constitutional principles.
This Commission, and those who appear before it, have a vital charge. We owe it to those we lost, and to their loved ones, and to our country, to learn all we can about that tragic day, and the events that led to it. Many families of the victims are here today, and I thank them for their contributions to the Commission's work.
The terrorist threat to our Nation did not emerge on September 11th, 2001. Long before that day, radical, freedom-hating terrorists declared war on America and on the civilized world. The attack on the Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983, the hijacking of the Achille Lauro in 1985, the rise of al-Qaida and the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, the attacks on American installations in Saudi Arabia in 1995 and 1996, the East Africa embassy bombings of 1998, the attack on the USS Cole in 2000, these and other atrocities were part of a sustained, systematic campaign to spread devastation and chaos and to murder innocent Americans.
The terrorists were at war with us, but we were not yet at war with them. For more than 20 years, the terrorist threat gathered, and America's response across several administrations of both parties was insufficient. Historically, democratic societies have been slow to react to gathering threats, tending instead to wait to confront threats until they are too dangerous to ignore or until it is too late. Despite the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915 and continued German harassment of American shipping, the United States did not enter the First World War until two years later. Despite Nazi Germany's repeated violations of the Versailles Treaty and its string of provocations throughout the mid-1930s, the Western democracies did not take action until 1939. The U.S. Government did not act against the growing threat from Imperial Japan until the threat became all too evident at Pearl Harbor. And, tragically, for all the language of war spoken before September 11th, this country simply was not on a war footing.
Since then, America has been at war. And under President Bush's leadership, we will remain at war until the terrorist threat to our Nation is ended. The world has changed so much that it is hard to remember what our lives were like before that day. But I do want to describe the actions this Administration was taking to fight terrorism before September 11th, 2001.
After President Bush was elected, we were briefed by the Clinton Administration on many national security issues during the transition. The President-elect and I were briefed by George Tenet on terrorism and on the al-Qaida network. Members of Sandy Berger's NSC staff briefed me, along with other members of the new national security team, on counterterrorism and al-Qaida. This briefing lasted about one hour, and it reviewed the Clinton Administration's counterterrorism approach and the various counterterrorism activities then underway. Sandy and I personally discussed a variety of other topics, including North Korea, Iraq, the Middle East, and the Balkans.
Because of these briefings and because we had watched the rise of al-Qaida over the years, we understood that the network posed a serious threat to the United States. We wanted to ensure there was no respite in the fight against al-Qaida. On an operational level, we decided immediately to continue pursuing the Clinton Administration's covert action authorities and other efforts to fight the network. President Bush retained George Tenet as Director of Central Intelligence, and Louis Freeh remained the Director of the FBI. I took the unusual step of retaining Dick Clarke and the entire Clinton Administration's counterterrorism team on the NSC staff. I knew Dick to be an expert in his field, as well as an experienced crisis manager. Our goal was to ensure continuity of operations while we developed new and more aggressive policies.
At the beginning of the Administration, President Bush revived the practice of meeting with the Director of Central Intelligence almost every day in the Oval Office -? meetings which I attended, along with the Vice President and the Chief of Staff. At these meetings, the President received up-to-date intelligence and asked questions of his most senior intelligence officials. From January 20 through September 10, the President received at these daily meetings more than 40 briefing items on al-Qaida, and 13 of these were in response to questions he or his top advisers had posed. In addition to seeing DCI Tenet almost every morning, I generally spoke by telephone every morning at 7:15 with Secretaries Powell and Rumsfeld. I also met and spoke regularly with the DCI about al-Qaida and terrorism.
Of course, we also had other responsibilities. President Bush had set a broad foreign policy agenda. We were determined to confront the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. We were improving America's relations with the world's great powers. We had to change an Iraq policy that was making no progress against a hostile regime which regularly shot at U.S. planes enforcing U.N. Security Council Resolutions. And we had to deal with the occasional crisis, for instance, when the crew of a Navy plane was detained in China for 11 days.
We also moved to develop a new and comprehensive strategy to eliminate the al-Qaida terrorist network. President Bush understood the threat, and he understood its importance. He made clear to us that he did not want to respond to al-Qaida one attack at a time. He told me he was "tired of swatting flies."
This new strategy was developed over the Spring and Summer of 2001, and was approved by the President's senior national security officials on September 4. It was the very first major national security policy directive of the Bush Administration -? not Russia, not missile defense, not Iraq, but the elimination of al-Qaida.
Although this National Security Presidential Directive was originally a highly classified document, we arranged for portions to be declassified to help the Commission in its work, and I will describe some of those today. The strategy set as its goal the elimination of the al-Qaida network. It ordered the leadership of relevant U.S. departments and agencies to make the elimination of al-Qaida a high priority and to use all aspects of our national power -? intelligence, financial, diplomatic, and military ?- to meet this goal. And it gave Cabinet Secretaries and department heads specific responsibilities. For instance:
-
It directed the Secretary of State to work with other countries to end all sanctuaries given to al-Qaida. -
It directed the Secretaries of the Treasury and State to work with foreign governments to seize or freeze assets and holdings of al-Qaida and its benefactors. -
It directed the Director of Central Intelligence to prepare an aggressive program of covert activities to disrupt al-Qaida and provide assistance to anti-Taliban groups operating against al-Qaida in Afghanistan. -
It tasked the Director of OMB with ensuring that sufficient funds were available in the budgets over the next five years to meet the goals laid out in the strategy. -
And it directed the Secretary of Defense to -? and I quote ?- "ensure that the contingency planning process include plans: against al-Qaida and associated terrorist facilities in Afghanistan, including leadership, command-control-communications, training, and logistics facilities; against Taliban targets in Afghanistan, including leadership, command-control, air and air defense, ground forces, and logistics; to eliminate weapons of mass destruction which al-Qaida and associated terrorist groups may acquire or manufacture, including those stored in underground bunkers." This was a change from the prior strategy -- Presidential Decision Directive 62, signed in 1998 -? which ordered the Secretary of Defense to provide transportation to bring individual terrorists to the U.S. for trial, to protect DOD forces overseas, and to be prepared to respond to terrorist and weapons of mass destruction incidents.
More importantly, we recognized that no counterterrorism strategy could succeed in isolation. As you know from the Pakistan and Afghanistan strategy documents that we made available to the Commission, our counterterrorism strategy was part of a broader package of strategies that addressed the complexities of the region.
Integrating our counterterrorism and regional strategies was the most difficult and the most important aspect of the new strategy to get right. Al-Qaida was both client of and patron to the Taliban, which in turn was supported by Pakistan. Those relationships provided al-Qaida with a powerful umbrella of protection, and we had to sever them. This was not easy.
Not that we hadn't tried. Within a month of taking office, President Bush sent a strong, private message to President Musharraf urging him to use his influence with the Taliban to bring Bin Laden to justice and to close down al-Qaida training camps. Secretary Powell actively urged the Pakistanis, including Musharraf himself, to abandon support for the Taliban. I met with Pakistan's Foreign Minister in my office in June of 2001. I delivered a very tough message, which was met with a rote, expressionless response.
America's al-Qaida policy wasn't working because our Afghanistan policy wasn't working. And our Afghanistan policy wasn't working because our Pakistan policy wasn't working. We recognized that America's counterterrorism policy had to be connected to our regional strategies and to our overall foreign policy.
To address these problems, I made sure to involve key regional experts. I brought in Zalmay Khalilzad, an expert on Afghanistan who, as a senior diplomat in the 1980s, had worked closely with the Afghan Mujahedeen, helping them to turn back the Soviet invasion. I also ensured the participation of the NSC experts on South Asia, as well as the Secretary of State and his regional specialists. Together, we developed a new strategic approach to Afghanistan. Instead of the intense focus on the Northern Alliance, we emphasized the importance of the south -? the social and political heartland of the country. Our new approach to Pakistan combined the use of carrots and sticks to persuade Pakistan to drop its support for the Taliban. And we began to change our approach to India, to preserve stability on the subcontinent.
While we were developing this new strategy to deal with al-Qaida, we also made decisions on a number of specific anti-al-Qaida initiatives that had been proposed by Dick Clarke. Many of these ideas had been deferred by the last Administration, and some had been on the table since 1998. We increased counterterror assistance to Uzbekistan; we bolstered the Treasury Department's activities to track and seize terrorist assets; we increased funding for counterterrorism activities across several agencies; and we moved quickly to arm Predator unmanned surveillance vehicles for action against al-Qaida.
When threat reporting increased during the Spring and Summer of 2001, we moved the U.S. Government at all levels to a high state of alert and activity. Let me clear up any confusion about the relationship between the development of our new strategy and the many actions we took to respond to threats that summer. Policy development and crisis management require different approaches. Throughout this period, we did both simultaneously.
For the essential crisis management task, we depended on the Counterterrorism Security Group chaired by Dick Clarke to be the interagency nerve center. The CSG consisted of senior counterterrorism experts from CIA, the FBI, the Department of Justice, the Defense Department (including the Joint Chiefs), the State Department, and the Secret Service. The CSG had met regularly for many years, and its members had worked through numerous periods of heightened threat activity. As threat information increased, the CSG met more frequently, sometimes daily, to review and analyze the threat reporting and to coordinate actions in response. CSG members also had ready access to their Cabinet Secretaries and could raise any concerns they had at the highest levels.
The threat reporting that we received in the Spring and Summer of 2001 was not specific as to time, nor place, nor manner of attack. Almost all of the reports focused on al-Qaida activities outside the United States, especially in the Middle East and North Africa. In fact, the information that was specific enough to be actionable referred to terrorist operations overseas. More often, it was frustratingly vague. Let me read you some of the actual chatter that we picked up that Spring and Summer:
- "Unbelievable news in coming weeks"
- "Big event ... there will be a very, very, very, very big uproar"
- "There will be attacks in the near future"
- Troubling, yes. But they don't tell us when; they don't tell us where; they don't tell us who; and they don't tell us how.
In this context, I want to address in some detail one of the briefing items we received, since its content has frequently been mischaracterized. On August 6, 2001, the President's intelligence briefing included a response to questions he had earlier raised about any al-Qaida intentions to strike our homeland. The briefing item reviewed past intelligence reporting, mostly dating from the 1990s, regarding possible al-Qaida plans to attack inside the United States. It referred to uncorroborated reporting from 1998 that terrorists might attempt to hijack a U.S. aircraft in an attempt to blackmail the government into releasing U.S.-held terrorists who had participated in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. This briefing item was not prompted by any specific threat information. And it did not raise the possibility that terrorists might use airplanes as missiles.
Despite the fact that the vast majority of the threat information we received was focused overseas, I was also concerned about possible threats inside the United States. On July 5, Chief of Staff Andy Card and I met with Dick Clarke, and I asked Dick to make sure that domestic agencies were aware of the heightened threat period and were taking appropriate steps to respond, even though we did not have specific threats to the homeland. Later that same day, Clarke convened a special meeting of his CSG, as well as representatives from the FAA, the INS, Customs, and the Coast Guard. At that meeting, these agencies were asked to take additional measures to increase security and surveillance.
Throughout this period of heightened threat information, we worked hard on multiple fronts to detect, protect against, and disrupt any terrorist plans or operations that might lead to an attack. For instance:
- The Department of Defense issued at least five urgent warnings to U.S. military forces that al-Qaida might be planning a near-term attack, and placed our military forces in certain regions on heightened alert.
- The State Department issued at least four urgent security advisories and public worldwide cautions on terrorist threats, enhanced security measures at certain embassies, and warned the Taliban that they would be held responsible for any al-Qaida attack on U.S. interests.
- The FBI issued at least three nationwide warnings to Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies, and specifically stated that, although the vast majority of the information indicated overseas targets, attacks against the homeland could not be ruled out. The FBI also tasked all 56 of its U.S. Field Offices to increase surveillance of known or suspected terrorists and reach out to known informants who might have information on terrorist activities.
- The FAA issued at least five Civil Aviation Security Information Circulars to all U.S. airlines and airport security personnel, including specific warnings about the possibility of hijackings.
- The CIA worked round the clock to disrupt threats worldwide. Agency officials launched a wide-ranging disruption effort against al-Qaida in more than 20 countries.
- During this period, the Vice President, DCI Tenet, and the NSC's Counterterrorism staff called senior foreign officials requesting that they increase their intelligence assistance and report to us any relevant threat information.
This is a brief sample of our intense activity over the Summer of 2001.
Yet, as your hearings have shown, there was no silver bullet that could have prevented the 9/11 attacks. In hindsight, if anything might have helped stop 9/11, it would have been better information about threats inside the United States, something made difficult by structural and legal impediments that prevented the collection and sharing of information by our law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
So the attacks came. A band of vicious terrorists tried to decapitate our government, destroy our financial system, and break the spirit of America. As an officer of government on duty that day, I will never forget the sorrow and the anger I felt. Nor will I forget the courage and resilience shown by the American people and the leadership of the President that day.
Now, we have an opportunity and an obligation to move forward together. Bold and comprehensive changes are sometimes only possible in the wake of catastrophic events -? events which create a new consensus that allows us to transcend old ways of thinking and acting. Just as World War II led to a fundamental reorganization of our national defense structure and to the creation of the National Security Council, so has September 11th made possible sweeping changes in the ways we protect our homeland.
President Bush is leading the country during this time of crisis and change. He has unified and streamlined our efforts to secure the American Homeland by creating the Department of Homeland Security, established a new center to integrate and analyze terrorist threat information, directed the transformation of the FBI into an agency dedicated to fighting terror, broken down the bureaucratic walls and legal barriers that prevented the sharing of vital threat information between our domestic law enforcement and our foreign intelligence agencies, and, working with the Congress, given officials new tools, such as the USA PATRIOT Act, to find and stop terrorists. And he has done all of this in a way that is consistent with protecting America's cherished civil liberties and with preserving our character as a free and open society.
But the President also recognizes that our work is far from complete. More structural reform will likely be necessary. Our intelligence gathering and analysis have improved dramatically in the last two years, but they must be stronger still. The President and all of us in his Administration welcome new ideas and fresh thinking. We are eager to do whatever is necessary to protect the American people. And we look forward to receiving the recommendations of this Commission.
We are at war and our security as a nation depends on winning that war. We must and we will do everything we can to harden terrorist targets within the United States. Dedicated law enforcement and security professionals continue to risk their lives every day to make us all safer, and we owe them a debt of gratitude. And, let's remember, those charged with protecting us from attack have to succeed 100 percent of the time. To inflict devastation on a massive scale, the terrorists only have to succeed once, and we know they are trying every day.
That is why we must address the source of the problem. We must stay on offense, to find and defeat the terrorists wherever they live, hide, and plot around the world. If we learned anything on September 11th, 2001, it is that we cannot wait while dangers gather.
After the September 11th attacks, our Nation faced hard choices. We could fight a narrow war against al-Qaida and the Taliban or we could fight a broad war against a global menace. We could seek a narrow victory or we could work for a lasting peace and a better world. President Bush chose the bolder course.
He recognizes that the War on Terror is a broad war. Under his leadership, the United States and our allies are disrupting terrorist operations, cutting off their funding, and hunting down terrorists one-by-one. Their world is getting smaller. The terrorists have lost a home-base and training camps in Afghanistan. The Governments of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia now pursue them with energy and force.
We are confronting the nexus between terror and weapons of mass destruction. We are working to stop the spread of deadly weapons and prevent then from getting into the hands of terrorists, seizing dangerous materials in transit, where necessary. Because we acted in Iraq, Saddam Hussein will never again use weapons of mass destruction against his people or his neighbors. And we have convinced Libya to give up all its WMD-related programs and materials.
And as we attack the threat at its sources, we are also addressing its roots. Thanks to the bravery and skill of our men and women in uniform, we removed from power two of the world's most brutal regimes -- sources of violence, and fear, and instability in the region. Today, along with many allies, we are helping the people of Iraq and Afghanistan to build free societies. And we are working with the people of the Middle East to spread the blessings of liberty and democracy as the alternatives to instability, hatred, and terror. This work is hard and dangerous, yet it is worthy of our effort and our sacrifice. The defeat of terror and the success of freedom in those nations will serve the interests of our Nation and inspire hope and encourage reform throughout the greater Middle East.
In the aftermath of September 11th, those were the right choices for America to make -- the only choices that can ensure the safety of our Nation in the decades to come.
Thank you. Now I am happy to answer your questions.
CAP tip via Oliver Willis.
If, Like Me, You Get Knocked Off of C-SPAN
Air America Radio is carrying Condoleezza Rice's testimony live.
So far, Dr. Rice's Testimony is All Starch, No Meat
Like the rest of the blogosphere, I'm watching Dr. Condoleezza Rice's testimony on C-SPAN. The Blogging of the President has a running summary of testimony. Commission members keep bringing up evidence that before 9/11, people at lower levels of the intelligence agencies kept finding indications of terrorist threats against the US that went ignored by the higher-ups. The National Security Advisor keeps saying that the problem wasn't that the higher-ups weren't listening; it was that the FBI and CIA weren't sufficiently integrated because of old fears about those agencies' histories of violating Americans' civil liberties by spying on them.
From Academe Today
SELECTIVE COLLEGES should consider giving preferences to
low-income applicants to help level the playing field in
admissions, William G. Bowen, a prominent higher-education
researcher and former university president, urged in a speech
on Wednesday.
--> SEE The Chronicle of Higher Education
low-income applicants to help level the playing field in
admissions, William G. Bowen, a prominent higher-education
researcher and former university president, urged in a speech
on Wednesday.
--> SEE The Chronicle of Higher Education
Atrios Responds
This is from Atrios' comments board in response to my concerns about his remarks about criticism of the lack of diversity in Air America Radio's lineup.
Fair enough. By the way, please don't misconstrue anything I've said as a defense of Maddux. I'm not in New York, and I didn't even know he was involved in the matter until Atrios brought it up. I was paying attention to articles such as this one.
"Alton Maddux has a history of saying seriously anti-semitic things. The fact that he's involved in black progressive politics doesn't give him a pass.
I think a bit more diversity would be great - I don't think the criticism is entirely invalid - it's just amusing where the criticism is coming from."
Fair enough. By the way, please don't misconstrue anything I've said as a defense of Maddux. I'm not in New York, and I didn't even know he was involved in the matter until Atrios brought it up. I was paying attention to articles such as this one.
7.4.04
Okay, So Now I'm Annoyed
Atrios just appeared on Air America's Majority Report, and a generally intelligent conversation went south when they began discussing the criticisms of the network. I wasn't taking notes, but the consensus between Atrios and hosts Janeane Garofalo and Sam Seder was: first, the network is more diverse than people realize; two, right-wing commentators such as Tony Snow are opportunistically exploiting the criticisms of a few disgruntled critics; third, those critics are not credible because they include former Tawana Brawley lawyer Alton Maddox and the Nation of Islam, both of whom, they agreed, are anti-semitic.
I posted the following on Atrios' site in response:
I don't expect a response -- I realize that I'm not high enough in the blogosphere food chain for my comments to even be noticed, but we need real diversity in the media. Right now, most black folks aren't paying attention to Air America Radio -- after all, WLIB wasn't a national station. Keep up this kind of dismissive talk, though, and you'll give people such as Tom Joyner and Tavis Smiley to pay attention, and then, you won't like the consequences, because their listeners vote with both their money and their ballots.
I posted the following on Atrios' site in response:
I'm listening to your conversation about the criticism of the lack of diversity on Air America Radio and I think you are really off-base to characterize all of the criticism by blacks as coming from people such as Alton Maddux and the Nation of Islam. First, you're dismissing the role that WLIB-AM, in particular, played in black progressive politics in New York, in particular. Second, I pointed out in my blog that it doesn't help the network's PR that not even Chuck D's picture is on the site, nor is the show I heard on Saturday night, "Bring the Noise." This is to say nothing of all of the other dimensions of diversity that are not represented in the lineup. I want Air America to succeed, but let's be honest -- they need a more diverse lineup.
I don't expect a response -- I realize that I'm not high enough in the blogosphere food chain for my comments to even be noticed, but we need real diversity in the media. Right now, most black folks aren't paying attention to Air America Radio -- after all, WLIB wasn't a national station. Keep up this kind of dismissive talk, though, and you'll give people such as Tom Joyner and Tavis Smiley to pay attention, and then, you won't like the consequences, because their listeners vote with both their money and their ballots.
Prometheus 6: Onward the Crusade!
The same people who came up with the tactic of giving pro-civil rights sounding names to anti-civil rights initiatives plan to use the same ploy against Islam, according to a story at Prometheus 6.
Behind the Sudden Surge in Jobs: Blacks, Working Class Suffer Even More
After months of anemic growth, 308,000 new jobs were created in March -- about what Pres. Bush's former Business School professor says the economy has to produce every month to have serious hope of reducing the ranks of the three million unemployed in this country. At the same time, however, black workers' unemployment rate rose to 10.2 percent from 9.8 percent in February according to an article on Black America Web. The economists BAW consulted said discrimination is part of the reason that black unemployment continues to be nearly twice the national average of 5.7 percent, but Bush's former professor, Yoshi Tsurumi, says that the George Bush he knew as a student would have a different explanation:
The result, Tsurumi says is that under the Bush Administration, "America's skewed income distribution is rapidly making the U.S. resemble Argentina or Mexico." Such a trend can only further disadvantage black workers and others who have historically been on the margins in this economy.
"In my class, he declared that 'people are poor because they are lazy.' He was opposed to labor unions, social security, environmental protection, Medicare, and public schools. To him, the antitrust watch dog, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Securities Exchange Commission were unnecessary hindrances to 'free market competition.' To him, Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal was 'socialism.'.."
The result, Tsurumi says is that under the Bush Administration, "America's skewed income distribution is rapidly making the U.S. resemble Argentina or Mexico." Such a trend can only further disadvantage black workers and others who have historically been on the margins in this economy.
Randi Rhodes Invites Activists to Call Her on Air America
Air America afternoon talk show host Randi Rhodes is inviting black activists who are angry about Air America's takeover of WLIB-AM to call her live on the show, which airs from 3-7 pm weekdays. You can also e-mail them at my2cents@airamericaradio.com. "I believe the folks that made this deal made it for the larger good," she said.
Reflecting on Gibson's "Passion of The Christ"
It's Holy Week, and Boondocks is talking about "The Passion of The Christ," and even thought it's been out for a month, I just saw it on Sunday, so here are my thoughts.
In "The Boondocks," Huey echoes many blacks who criticized the movie because it repeats the white-supremacist myth that Christ and the members of the world he inhabited were white-skinned.. Indeed, as far as I know, the only recent film treatment that offers a Christ with the lambs'-wool hair described in Revelations is Blair Underwood's short, The Second Coming.
I'm troubled by Gibson's movie, and not just because of its pre-Vatican II theology (Pilate didn't want to kill Jesus; jealous Jews made him do it) . I appreciate, as well, the criticisms of the film's disregard for historical evidence and interpolations of scripture -- criticism that wouldn't matter so much if Gibson hadn't insisted that the film was faithful to both.
However, what gives me pause about this deeply affecting film, is what it says about its audiences. I wonder what the enthusiastic response to level of gore and cruelty in Gibson's film says about the degree to which our senses have been numbed to the demonic cruelty that we see around us every day. Do we have to have extended shots of jeering crowds and leering, laughing soldiers gleefully ripping flesh and sinew from a defenseless, blameless man in order to feel?
I am someone who does indeed believe that Jesus died for our sins, mine included. My belief though, is that Jesus' Passion requires that I do my best to emulate His love and ministry, just as I sacrifice for my own children in the hope that they will strive to do justice and love mercy in their own lives. I come to my clearest sense of what that means in moments of prayer and reflection, in times when I call myself to honest account about my thoughts, feelings and actions toward those whom Jesus called "the least of these" (Matt. 25:35, 37, 40). Aside from a vague injunction to love each other, however, I see nothing in The Passion to motivate reflection -- or action -- in that direction.
Perhaps the devotees flocking to the discussion site related to the movie -- My Life After "The Passion of The Christ" -- will prove me wrong. However, considering that the slaughter of innocents at home and abroad continues apace while most of us are busy watching Dave Chappelle and obsessing over the latest celebrity scandals, I'm not holding my breath. No wonder Jesus wept.
In "The Boondocks," Huey echoes many blacks who criticized the movie because it repeats the white-supremacist myth that Christ and the members of the world he inhabited were white-skinned.. Indeed, as far as I know, the only recent film treatment that offers a Christ with the lambs'-wool hair described in Revelations is Blair Underwood's short, The Second Coming.
I'm troubled by Gibson's movie, and not just because of its pre-Vatican II theology (Pilate didn't want to kill Jesus; jealous Jews made him do it) . I appreciate, as well, the criticisms of the film's disregard for historical evidence and interpolations of scripture -- criticism that wouldn't matter so much if Gibson hadn't insisted that the film was faithful to both.
However, what gives me pause about this deeply affecting film, is what it says about its audiences. I wonder what the enthusiastic response to level of gore and cruelty in Gibson's film says about the degree to which our senses have been numbed to the demonic cruelty that we see around us every day. Do we have to have extended shots of jeering crowds and leering, laughing soldiers gleefully ripping flesh and sinew from a defenseless, blameless man in order to feel?
I am someone who does indeed believe that Jesus died for our sins, mine included. My belief though, is that Jesus' Passion requires that I do my best to emulate His love and ministry, just as I sacrifice for my own children in the hope that they will strive to do justice and love mercy in their own lives. I come to my clearest sense of what that means in moments of prayer and reflection, in times when I call myself to honest account about my thoughts, feelings and actions toward those whom Jesus called "the least of these" (Matt. 25:35, 37, 40). Aside from a vague injunction to love each other, however, I see nothing in The Passion to motivate reflection -- or action -- in that direction.
Perhaps the devotees flocking to the discussion site related to the movie -- My Life After "The Passion of The Christ" -- will prove me wrong. However, considering that the slaughter of innocents at home and abroad continues apace while most of us are busy watching Dave Chappelle and obsessing over the latest celebrity scandals, I'm not holding my breath. No wonder Jesus wept.
Google-bombing Anti-Semitism
From Debra Galant Explains the Universe:
Bloggers across the country are engaged in a massive Joogling campaign, to try to teach the 'bots at Google a lesson or two about Jews. It's a high-tech, new-media response to anti-Semitism, and here's the reason. If you type Jew into Google, the top site listed is JewWatch, an anti-Semitic site. Joogling aims to knock JewWatch off the top of the list.
Joogling is a Googlebomb with altruistic motives. The idea is that every time somebody links to the word Jew, and the wiki encyclopedia entry on Jews comes up instead of JewWatch, that will move the wiki entry on Jews higher up in every Google search. And kick the Jew haters down.
As of 1:15 a.m., JewWatch was on still on top of the Google results list.
So, just Jew it. Even if you're not a Jew, or not a blogger, click on the word Jews a few times to send a message against hate.
6.4.04
Survey says...Half of Us Don't Have Safe Sex
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Research Triangle Park, N.C., April 6, 2004 - New survey results unveiled today by the American Social Health Association (ASHA) - an organization dedicated to preventing sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) - suggest that lack of awareness may put Americans at risk for contracting STDs. While an overwhelming majority surveyed (84 percent) felt that they take the necessary precautions to protect themselves against STDs, many people do not use protection on a regular basis when they engage in sexual activities*.
Furthermore, over half were unsure or had not been vaccinated against hepatitis A and hepatitis B, also known as vaccine-preventable hepatitis (VPH), which are the only STDs that can be prevented through immunization. It is important to note that hepatitis C, which can also be sexually transmitted, cannot be prevented via vaccination. The survey was conducted to assess the sexual attitudes, behaviors and knowledge of STDs of Americans aged 18-35 as part of an educational initiative surrounding STD Awareness Month in April.)
In addition, the survey showed some contrary findings when it comes to what people think they know about STDs. From a list of common conditions including heart disease, diabetes and depression, Americans said they felt the most knowledgeable about STDs. Interestingly, they said they felt the least knowledgeable about viral hepatitis, suggesting that Americans dissociate viral hepatitis from STDs, with the two at opposite ends of the awareness scale. In fact, a large number failed to recognize that hepatitis A and hepatitis B can be sexually transmitted.
“The findings in our survey are quite disturbing. Despite the fact that STDs are extremely widespread and have severe consequences, it is troubling that there is such a large portion of people who still feel invincible,” noted James R. Allen, M.D., M.P.H, president and chief executive officer of ASHA. “In addition, people’s lack of awareness about the various STDs only underscores the need for continued education to prevent the spread of these serious diseases.”
One in every four Americans will contract an STD sometime in their lifetime. In 2000 alone, there were more than 18.9 million new infections, which are a significant burden on the economy, costing an estimated $8 billion to diagnose and treat. And yet nearly 7 in 10 (68 percent) of people surveyed are not concerned about contracting an STD.
Full story
Research Triangle Park, N.C., April 6, 2004 - New survey results unveiled today by the American Social Health Association (ASHA) - an organization dedicated to preventing sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) - suggest that lack of awareness may put Americans at risk for contracting STDs. While an overwhelming majority surveyed (84 percent) felt that they take the necessary precautions to protect themselves against STDs, many people do not use protection on a regular basis when they engage in sexual activities*.
Furthermore, over half were unsure or had not been vaccinated against hepatitis A and hepatitis B, also known as vaccine-preventable hepatitis (VPH), which are the only STDs that can be prevented through immunization. It is important to note that hepatitis C, which can also be sexually transmitted, cannot be prevented via vaccination. The survey was conducted to assess the sexual attitudes, behaviors and knowledge of STDs of Americans aged 18-35 as part of an educational initiative surrounding STD Awareness Month in April.)
In addition, the survey showed some contrary findings when it comes to what people think they know about STDs. From a list of common conditions including heart disease, diabetes and depression, Americans said they felt the most knowledgeable about STDs. Interestingly, they said they felt the least knowledgeable about viral hepatitis, suggesting that Americans dissociate viral hepatitis from STDs, with the two at opposite ends of the awareness scale. In fact, a large number failed to recognize that hepatitis A and hepatitis B can be sexually transmitted.
“The findings in our survey are quite disturbing. Despite the fact that STDs are extremely widespread and have severe consequences, it is troubling that there is such a large portion of people who still feel invincible,” noted James R. Allen, M.D., M.P.H, president and chief executive officer of ASHA. “In addition, people’s lack of awareness about the various STDs only underscores the need for continued education to prevent the spread of these serious diseases.”
One in every four Americans will contract an STD sometime in their lifetime. In 2000 alone, there were more than 18.9 million new infections, which are a significant burden on the economy, costing an estimated $8 billion to diagnose and treat. And yet nearly 7 in 10 (68 percent) of people surveyed are not concerned about contracting an STD.
Full story
US Responsible for Western Powers' Decision to Ignore Rwandan Genocide, Says UN General
The former commander of UN peacekeeping troops in Rwanda said yesterday that Western powers ignored the Rwandan genocide in 1994 because the country lacked strategic value, according to an article on the allAfrica.com site. General Romeo Dallaire also told participants at a conference commemorating the genocide that the West placed more value on the lives of victims of violence in Balkans than it did on those of Africans. Dallaire also said the US led the drive to ignore Rwanda because of its failure in Somalia in 1993. "The UN should be offered far more capability to prevent world powers from throwing us in a state of insecurity," he said.
More coverage on the weeklong conference is available from allAfrica's Peace Africa website.
More coverage on the weeklong conference is available from allAfrica's Peace Africa website.
Nina Simone Foundation Announces Website, Cultural Village
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(*New York, New York*) The Nina Simone Foundation, a non-profit organization established by, Lisa Simone Kelly, for the preservation and celebration of the music, socio-political contributions and overall legacy of the late Dr. Nina Simone, and Corporate Performance Artists, leading provider of Web Art and Technology, announce the launch of The Nina Simone Foundation website.
The Nina Simone Foundation is about to open The Nina Simone Cultural Village in Jukwa, Ghana, near Cape Coast. It is to be officially inducted on April 21st, 2004. The Cultural Village is the result of an award to The Nina Simone Foundation by the Ghanaian Council in honor of the outstanding artistic contributions, support and human interest Nina Simone has demonstrated towards the region over the decades. As a result, the now international organization needed a new web site and online management system to coordinate its activities worldwide.
via Prometheus 6
(*New York, New York*) The Nina Simone Foundation, a non-profit organization established by, Lisa Simone Kelly, for the preservation and celebration of the music, socio-political contributions and overall legacy of the late Dr. Nina Simone, and Corporate Performance Artists, leading provider of Web Art and Technology, announce the launch of The Nina Simone Foundation website.
The Nina Simone Foundation is about to open The Nina Simone Cultural Village in Jukwa, Ghana, near Cape Coast. It is to be officially inducted on April 21st, 2004. The Cultural Village is the result of an award to The Nina Simone Foundation by the Ghanaian Council in honor of the outstanding artistic contributions, support and human interest Nina Simone has demonstrated towards the region over the decades. As a result, the now international organization needed a new web site and online management system to coordinate its activities worldwide.
via Prometheus 6
WSOCTV.com - Special Reports - Statistics Reveal Disturbing Trend In NC Hate Crimes
Police in Charlotte, North Carolina are concerned about new hate crime statistics that show an increase in crimes against blacks and homosexuals, althouh the absolute numbers remain small. "I think it's probably a trend we're looking at -- something we should be concerned with," Detective Perry Beaver told WSOC-TV.
Activists' Protest "Institutional Racism" in Radio, Allege Black Listeners Undercounted
From the April 3 issue of the Globe and Mail online:
Full Story
"Bob Law, an activist and former talk-radio veteran, convened the Thursday night rally in Harlem to help organize a response. In front of a small but vocal crowd that often echoed his words in a preacher's call-and-response, Law offered a primer on the economics of radio in the United States as he sees them. He accused the broadcast ratings service Arbitron of intentionally undercounting blacks and suggested Madison Avenue prosecutes an "anti-black strategy." "Ethnic radio stations are kept poor by design," he bellowed, promising a class-action lawsuit against Arbitron.
'The advertising industry is literally subsidizing white radio stations. They take your money for granted, just as the Democrats take your vote for granted.'
"In the audience, Amadi Ajamu nodded and spoke of her own frustration at the loss of 'LIB. "They're turning this into a white Democratic Party instrument, turning it into something drastically different than what had been built through the years," she said. 'We now don't have a voice for our issues like reparations, education, police brutality....'
Full Story
5.4.04
So I checked out Air America Radio
It wasn't bad, but why is it that Chuck D's Saturday night show, "Bring the Noise" isn't on the company website? The only reference to him is as co-host for another show. Given the criticisms from black activists who are upset that the liberal talknet is taking over popular black programming outlets such as WLIB-AM in New York, one would think that the powers that be would play up any people of color they have in the line-up. However, the site's homepage is distressingly monocrhomatic.
New Documents Suggest Clinton Administration Ignored Rwandan Genocide Until It Was Too Late
This is another new study from the National Security Archive: The U.S. and the Genocide in Rwanda 1994: Information, Intelligence and the U.S. Response
As Brazil Marks 40th Anniversary of Military Coup, New Documents Made Public About the US Role
The National Security Archive has documents and tapes online that illustrate the Johnson administration's active role in the overthrough of Joao Goulart.
New Study of Openly Gay Foreigners Who Served With U.S. Forces in Iraq, Other Joint Operations
While the US military regulations continue to probibit openly gay people from serving in the armed forces, US forces in Iraq have been able to work successfully with openly gay millitary personnel from other countries, according to a new study from the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military.
According to a CSSSM press release, Dr. Aaron Belkin, director of the CSSSM and a professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara:
The study directors said that the US and NATO have not issued policies with regard to cooperation between countries that do permit gay service people,such as the UK and those that do not, such as the US.
According to a CSSSM press release, Dr. Aaron Belkin, director of the CSSSM and a professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara:
"We found through academic investigation and analysis that the presence of acknowledged gay service members clearly has not compromised unit cohesion or operational effectiveness among U.S. military personnel. In fact, all of our evidence comes from situations where the U.S. military ordered American units to serve with these openly gay allied soldiers and officers in multinational units, such as those recently deployed in Operation Iraqi Freedom."
The study directors said that the US and NATO have not issued policies with regard to cooperation between countries that do permit gay service people,such as the UK and those that do not, such as the US.
The Africana QA: Gay Activist Keith Boykin
I've got an interview with Keith Boykin, president of the National Black Justice Coalition, on Africana.com today. Please check it out.
2.4.04
Krugman: Smear Without Fear
From Paul Krugman's April 2, 2004 column in the New York Times:
"A funny thing happened to David Letterman this week. Actually, it only started out funny. And the unfunny ending fits into a disturbing pattern.
"On Monday, Mr. Letterman ran a video clip of a boy yawning and fidgeting during a speech by George Bush. It was harmless stuff; a White House that thinks it's cute to have Mr. Bush make jokes about missing W.M.D. should be able to handle a little ribbing about boring speeches.
"CNN ran the Letterman clip on Tuesday, just before a commercial. Then the CNN anchor Daryn Kagan came back to inform viewers that the clip was a fake: 'We're being told by the White House that the kid, as funny as he was, was edited into that video.' Later in the day, another anchor amended that: the boy was at the rally, but not where he was shown in the video.
"On his Tuesday night show, Mr. Letterman was not amused: 'That is an out and out 100 percent absolute lie. The kid absolutely was there, and he absolutely was doing everything we pictured via the videotape.'
"But here's the really interesting part: CNN backed down, but it told Mr. Letterman that Ms. Kagan 'misspoke,' that the White House was not the source of the false claim. (So who was? And if the claim didn't come from the White House, why did CNN run with it without checking?)" Continue
Africana's A-List nails it again
Their headline on their item about National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice's impending testimony before the 9/11 Commission says it all:
Check out the A-List. We need a laugh.
Pinky to Let the Brain Testify
Check out the A-List. We need a laugh.
A message from Rep. Elijah Cummings
(Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) is chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.)
..Tomorrow morning, at least nine million Americans will face another day without a job - another day looking for work.
Overall, our national unemployment rate has been hovering around 6%.
For Americans of color, the jobless rate remains twice the national average.
These numbers are unacceptable.
Americans want to work.
For people without a job - people who desperately need to provide for their families - the words, “jobless recovery,” are a cruel travesty of the American dream.
There must be something that your government - the government of the strongest and most affluent country in the world - can do to put America back to work.
Well, there is.
The Members of the Congressional Black Caucus and our allies in the Congress have been arguing for practical, concrete investments in America’s working families.
Continued...
..Tomorrow morning, at least nine million Americans will face another day without a job - another day looking for work.
Overall, our national unemployment rate has been hovering around 6%.
For Americans of color, the jobless rate remains twice the national average.
These numbers are unacceptable.
Americans want to work.
For people without a job - people who desperately need to provide for their families - the words, “jobless recovery,” are a cruel travesty of the American dream.
There must be something that your government - the government of the strongest and most affluent country in the world - can do to put America back to work.
Well, there is.
The Members of the Congressional Black Caucus and our allies in the Congress have been arguing for practical, concrete investments in America’s working families.
Continued...
Now that black books are hot, black booksellers are dying out
The Associated Press and other news services are reporting that one of the nation's oldest and most-respected black book stores, Black Images Book Bazaar, in Dallas, Texas will close next year because of high rents and declining sales. One of only 12 black-owned bookstores listed by Black Issues Book Review nationwide, Black Images Book Bazaar is a popular venue for black authors showcasing their work.
In recent years, independent booksellers have been squeezed out of business nationwide in the face of tough economic times and stiff competition from superstores and online booksellers. However, black bookstores have, to some degree, been a victim of their own success. Twenty-five years ago, most major publishers, distributors and retailers looked at books by black authors or with black characters and subjects as niche products. You could count the number of black editors at major publishing houses on one hand -- and one of them, Random House's Toni Morrison -- wasn't full-time. I distinctly remember the 1991 New York Times magazine story heralding the fact that three -- count 'em! three -- black authors were on its best-seller list at once: Toni Morrison, Alice Walker and Terri Mc Millan. Suddenly, the industry discovered that black people read, and that people who aren't black will buy books by black authors. Quel supris!
In 2002, black folk earned $631 million; they spent $303 million of that money on books, according to Black Issues Book Review. It's ironic that so little of that money is going to the retailers who kept black books alive when not even their publishers believed they would sell.
In recent years, independent booksellers have been squeezed out of business nationwide in the face of tough economic times and stiff competition from superstores and online booksellers. However, black bookstores have, to some degree, been a victim of their own success. Twenty-five years ago, most major publishers, distributors and retailers looked at books by black authors or with black characters and subjects as niche products. You could count the number of black editors at major publishing houses on one hand -- and one of them, Random House's Toni Morrison -- wasn't full-time. I distinctly remember the 1991 New York Times magazine story heralding the fact that three -- count 'em! three -- black authors were on its best-seller list at once: Toni Morrison, Alice Walker and Terri Mc Millan. Suddenly, the industry discovered that black people read, and that people who aren't black will buy books by black authors. Quel supris!
In 2002, black folk earned $631 million; they spent $303 million of that money on books, according to Black Issues Book Review. It's ironic that so little of that money is going to the retailers who kept black books alive when not even their publishers believed they would sell.
Let me be a kid for a minute
One of my favorite stories: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is online! Now, if only they did Goodnight, Moon.
Poynter gives you a chance to be the editor
How do editors balance taste and newsworthiness when it comes to shocking and horrible images such as this week's scenes of mob violence against foreign civilians in Fallujah, Iraq? The Poynter Institute, a professional development website for journalists, has an excellent feature listing some of the questions editors consider. There's also a selection of alternate images that you can use to play editor, as well as a discussion board.
Gay or Asian? Give me a break!
You can be too glib for your own good -- that's the lesson Details magazine learned when it ran this snarky little caption next to a photo of an Asian man in its April issue:
Richard Prince's Journal-isms reports the piece incited such an outcry that Details editors issued apologies over a special office voicemail, in print and through its corporate parent, Fairchild publications. The editors said the piece was intended as satire, but as a letter signed by officers of the Asian American Journalists Association, noted:
"One cruises for chicken; the other takes it General Tso-style.
Whether you're into shrimp balls or shaved balls, entering the
dragon requires imperial tastes."
Richard Prince's Journal-isms reports the piece incited such an outcry that Details editors issued apologies over a special office voicemail, in print and through its corporate parent, Fairchild publications. The editors said the piece was intended as satire, but as a letter signed by officers of the Asian American Journalists Association, noted:
"Humor and "edginess" are not excuses for caricaturing and insult, and the particular caricatures being played upon here -- of gay men as predatory cruisers, of Asian men as exotic and effeminate (yet always scheming) -- are precisely those that have been most damaging through the years."
Rain Storm's Forecast for Iraq
A blogger with military experience, contacts on the ground and the ability to gather and synthesize ideas from a wide range of sources, Rain Storm has put together the clearest post I've seen on the possible outcomes from the US-led coalition's Iraq adventure. It's worthy of consideration and discussion, so go there and talk about it. And thanks, Travis, for the "Honorable Mention."
1.4.04
Black Women Rock the Vote, but which way?
This may be the electoral year of the Black Woman.
Odds are that the 2004 presidential election will be a close one, so analysts are slicing and dicing data from the 2000 contest in every conceivable way in an effort to identify the key constituencies whose influence will be a determining factor. According to Womansenews, black women voters are more likely to vote, and more likely to be politically active, than either white women or black men. In 2000, they provided the margin of Democratic victory in several of the key states that Gore won. While they have historically voted Democratic, they tend to vote on issues such as health care, education and jobs -- not party loyalty. Republicans hope to siphon off some socially conservative and politically independent sisters in the fall, but polls say that most black women still have more faith in a liberal approach.
Odds are that the 2004 presidential election will be a close one, so analysts are slicing and dicing data from the 2000 contest in every conceivable way in an effort to identify the key constituencies whose influence will be a determining factor. According to Womansenews, black women voters are more likely to vote, and more likely to be politically active, than either white women or black men. In 2000, they provided the margin of Democratic victory in several of the key states that Gore won. While they have historically voted Democratic, they tend to vote on issues such as health care, education and jobs -- not party loyalty. Republicans hope to siphon off some socially conservative and politically independent sisters in the fall, but polls say that most black women still have more faith in a liberal approach.
31.3.04
Tufts will hold conference, public webcast on racial health gaps
(From the Tufts University Public Health Forum)
National Public Health Week (NPHW)in DC, focusing on eliminating health
disparities, kicks off on Monday, April 5, with two events.
------------------------------------------------------------------
In Boston, NPHW @ Tufts will have events.
For more info, go to http://www.tufts.edu/med/gpph/Events/
Tufts Public Health Forum on Health Disparities
http://www.tufts.edu/med/gpph/PHSS/forum2004
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Ask the Experts about Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health - a LIVE
webcast
2) Town Hall on Eliminating Ethnic and Racial Health Disparities by Moving the
Nation from Statistics to Solutions
ASK THE EXPERTS:We invite you to watch this kaisernetwork.org live, in-studio
webcast of a panel discussion on racial and ethnic disparities in health.
Submit questions for the panel to ask@kaisernetwork.org.
The experts include: Georges Benjamin, M.D., F.A.C.P., executive director,
American Public Health Association; Alan Nelson, M.D., M.A.C.P., former chair
of the IOM Committee on Understanding and Eliminating Racial and Ethic
Disparities in Health Care; and Marsha Lillie-Blanton, Dr.P.H., vice president
and director, Race/Ethnicity and Health Care, Kaiser Family Foundation.
WHEN: Monday, April 5 at 2:00 pm ET
WHERE: Watch the live webcast at
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/ask/racialdisparities/05apr04
After the live program, an archived version of the webcast will be available
for viewing at any time.
HOW: The panel of experts will take your phone calls and emails. Send
questions in advance to ask@kaisernetwork.org or call 1-888-KAISER8 (524-7378)
during the live broadcast.
TOWN HALL: You are invited to attend this town hall meeting on eliminating
ethnic and racial health disparities, which is also being webcast by
kaisernetwork.org.
WHEN: Monday, April 5 at 10:00 am ET
WHERE: The Kaiser Family Foundation, Barbara Jordan Conference Center
Or watch a tape-delayed webcast, available at 5:00 pm Monday at
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/healthcast/apha/05apr04
For more information about the event, visit
http://www.apha.org/NPHW/town_hall/dc.cfm
National Public Health Week (NPHW)in DC, focusing on eliminating health
disparities, kicks off on Monday, April 5, with two events.
------------------------------------------------------------------
In Boston, NPHW @ Tufts will have events.
For more info, go to http://www.tufts.edu/med/gpph/Events/
Tufts Public Health Forum on Health Disparities
http://www.tufts.edu/med/gpph/PHSS/forum2004
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Ask the Experts about Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health - a LIVE
webcast
2) Town Hall on Eliminating Ethnic and Racial Health Disparities by Moving the
Nation from Statistics to Solutions
ASK THE EXPERTS:We invite you to watch this kaisernetwork.org live, in-studio
webcast of a panel discussion on racial and ethnic disparities in health.
Submit questions for the panel to ask@kaisernetwork.org.
The experts include: Georges Benjamin, M.D., F.A.C.P., executive director,
American Public Health Association; Alan Nelson, M.D., M.A.C.P., former chair
of the IOM Committee on Understanding and Eliminating Racial and Ethic
Disparities in Health Care; and Marsha Lillie-Blanton, Dr.P.H., vice president
and director, Race/Ethnicity and Health Care, Kaiser Family Foundation.
WHEN: Monday, April 5 at 2:00 pm ET
WHERE: Watch the live webcast at
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/ask/racialdisparities/05apr04
After the live program, an archived version of the webcast will be available
for viewing at any time.
HOW: The panel of experts will take your phone calls and emails. Send
questions in advance to ask@kaisernetwork.org or call 1-888-KAISER8 (524-7378)
during the live broadcast.
TOWN HALL: You are invited to attend this town hall meeting on eliminating
ethnic and racial health disparities, which is also being webcast by
kaisernetwork.org.
WHEN: Monday, April 5 at 10:00 am ET
WHERE: The Kaiser Family Foundation, Barbara Jordan Conference Center
Or watch a tape-delayed webcast, available at 5:00 pm Monday at
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/healthcast/apha/05apr04
For more information about the event, visit
http://www.apha.org/NPHW/town_hall/dc.cfm
Feds pledge help for Hispanic college students and educators
EDUCATION SECRETARY RODERICK R. PAIGE signed an agreement on
Tuesday pledging increased cooperation between the Department
of Education and the Hispanic Association of Colleges and
Universities. The document calls for, among other things,
increasing employment and educational opportunities at the
department for students and educators at Hispanic-serving
colleges.
--> SEE The Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription required)
Tuesday pledging increased cooperation between the Department
of Education and the Hispanic Association of Colleges and
Universities. The document calls for, among other things,
increasing employment and educational opportunities at the
department for students and educators at Hispanic-serving
colleges.
--> SEE The Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription required)
30.3.04
Newark Pride Alliance proposes "No Name Calling Day" as memorial to Sakia Gunn
The following letter was sent to Newark, New Jersey Superintendent Marion Bolden, according to Newark Pride Alliance chair, Laquetta C. Nelson.
March 18, 2004
Marion Bolden, Superintendent
The Newark Public Schools
2 Cedar Street
Newark, New Jersey 07102-3091
Dear Superintendent Bolden:
The Board of Directors of The Newark Pride Alliance, Inc. and our Youth Committee, for the past year, following the murder of Sakia Gunn, who was a student at Westside High School and was murdered May 11, 2003 (because she was a Lesbian), have been discussing ways that we could contribute to creating a safe and nurturing environment for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) students to grow and learn in. We believe that respect and dignity are important in all human interactions. Therefore, all of the LGBTQ students and teachers are just as worthy of being treated with dignity and respect as any other citizen of Newark. We also believe that when the schools are safe for these students and teachers, the schools will be safe for all.
The Newark Pride Alliance, Inc. and our Youth Committee are requesting that May 11, 2004 be declared a day of "No Name Calling". It is our hope that this will assist the schools in bringing attention to the bigotry, hate, and intolerance that exist in the Newark Schools. I have enclosed a booklet entitled, Responding to Hate at School, which will provide you with some guidance in "addressing the creation of an unwelcome environment for hate and teaching tolerance". Also, at 1:00PM that day the Youth committee request that we acknowledge a moment of silence throughout the Newark School System to pay respect to Sakia Gunn and all of the students who were murdered last year (2003). It is important that Sakias' name be mentioned in all of the discussions so that the LGBTQ students feel that they are included in these activities.
We thank you for your time and look forward to receiving your reply to our request.
Sincerely,
LaQuetta C. Nelson
Chair
Cc: Bessie White and Advisory Board Members
March 18, 2004
Marion Bolden, Superintendent
The Newark Public Schools
2 Cedar Street
Newark, New Jersey 07102-3091
Dear Superintendent Bolden:
The Board of Directors of The Newark Pride Alliance, Inc. and our Youth Committee, for the past year, following the murder of Sakia Gunn, who was a student at Westside High School and was murdered May 11, 2003 (because she was a Lesbian), have been discussing ways that we could contribute to creating a safe and nurturing environment for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) students to grow and learn in. We believe that respect and dignity are important in all human interactions. Therefore, all of the LGBTQ students and teachers are just as worthy of being treated with dignity and respect as any other citizen of Newark. We also believe that when the schools are safe for these students and teachers, the schools will be safe for all.
The Newark Pride Alliance, Inc. and our Youth Committee are requesting that May 11, 2004 be declared a day of "No Name Calling". It is our hope that this will assist the schools in bringing attention to the bigotry, hate, and intolerance that exist in the Newark Schools. I have enclosed a booklet entitled, Responding to Hate at School, which will provide you with some guidance in "addressing the creation of an unwelcome environment for hate and teaching tolerance". Also, at 1:00PM that day the Youth committee request that we acknowledge a moment of silence throughout the Newark School System to pay respect to Sakia Gunn and all of the students who were murdered last year (2003). It is important that Sakias' name be mentioned in all of the discussions so that the LGBTQ students feel that they are included in these activities.
We thank you for your time and look forward to receiving your reply to our request.
Sincerely,
LaQuetta C. Nelson
Chair
Cc: Bessie White and Advisory Board Members
29.3.04
Episcopal Diocese of Newark asks for progress report on Sakia Gunn center
Note: this resolution was actually adopted at the January, 2004 convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark, but I just came across it. This is the first official response to Gunn's murder by a mainline religious denomination that I have seen. I have not come across a response from Mayor James.
Resolution 2004-5
RESPONSE TO THE MURDER OF SAKIA GUNN
RESOLVED, That this 130th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark commends Mayor Sharpe James of Newark for his proposals in response to the tragic bias death of Sakia Gunn; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That this Convention urges Mayor James to continue his work to
· establish a community center and counseling program for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gendered (LGBT) youth in the city of Newark
· review police protection policies for downtown Newark
· foster dialogue between the city government and the LGBT community and; be it further
RESOLVED, That the Secretary of Convention convey this resolution to Mayor Sharpe James and request a progress report on these efforts.
full text of resolution
Resolution 2004-5
RESPONSE TO THE MURDER OF SAKIA GUNN
RESOLVED, That this 130th Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Newark commends Mayor Sharpe James of Newark for his proposals in response to the tragic bias death of Sakia Gunn; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That this Convention urges Mayor James to continue his work to
· establish a community center and counseling program for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gendered (LGBT) youth in the city of Newark
· review police protection policies for downtown Newark
· foster dialogue between the city government and the LGBT community and; be it further
RESOLVED, That the Secretary of Convention convey this resolution to Mayor Sharpe James and request a progress report on these efforts.
full text of resolution
Gail Shister: Showtime to try out 'Movies for Guys Who Like Guys'
So, will David Allen Grier and Damon Wayans be reprising their "Men on Film" characters for this show? If so, I'd give it three snaps in "Z" formation!
Sobering Facts
Compared to the white population in the United States:
African Americans
• experience a more than double infant mortality rate.
• have a 30 percent higher death rate for all cancers.
• are six times more likely to die from homicide.
• are more than seven times more likely to die from HIV/AIDS.
Hispanics and Latinos
• are almost twice as likely to die from diabetes.
• accounted for 20 percent of new cases of tuberculosis, despite only
comprising 11 percent of the population in 1996.
• have higher rates of blood pressure and obesity.
American Indians and Alaskan Natives
• experience diabetes rates that are more than twice as much.
• have disproportionately high death rates from unintentional
injuries and suicide.
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
• have higher rates of new cases of hepatitis and tuberculosis.
• demonstrate signs of being a healthy population, on average, but
exhibit great diversity within the population. For example, Vietnamese
American women suffer from cervical cancer at nearly five
times the rate of white women.
Source: Healthy People 2010
via Tufts University Public Health Forum
African Americans
• experience a more than double infant mortality rate.
• have a 30 percent higher death rate for all cancers.
• are six times more likely to die from homicide.
• are more than seven times more likely to die from HIV/AIDS.
Hispanics and Latinos
• are almost twice as likely to die from diabetes.
• accounted for 20 percent of new cases of tuberculosis, despite only
comprising 11 percent of the population in 1996.
• have higher rates of blood pressure and obesity.
American Indians and Alaskan Natives
• experience diabetes rates that are more than twice as much.
• have disproportionately high death rates from unintentional
injuries and suicide.
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders
• have higher rates of new cases of hepatitis and tuberculosis.
• demonstrate signs of being a healthy population, on average, but
exhibit great diversity within the population. For example, Vietnamese
American women suffer from cervical cancer at nearly five
times the rate of white women.
Source: Healthy People 2010
via Tufts University Public Health Forum
So, I can live with this judgment
You are Bob Herbert! You're not the most sparkling
writer, but one of the most solid and selfless
on the Op-Ed staff. You focus on New York
politics, the poor, race issues, and civil
liberties. You like to quote others, and rarely
place yourself in your columns. You keep it
real. Seriously.
Which New York Times Op-Ed Columnist Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
(via Sisyphus Shrugged. And thanks to Jay at Folkbum for telling us how to fix the image code.)
28.3.04
The conservative black intellectual hokum
One of the interesting and distinctive characteristics of the conservative movement of the last quarter-century is the way in which it has appropriated and adapted tactics, rhetoric and even some of the icons of the protests movements of the 1960s and 70s. One of those tactics is the recasting of historical figures as visionaries in service to a particular agenda or cause, such as insisting that insisting Dr. Martin Luther King's invocation of a day when his children would be judged "by the content of their character" means that the Great Dreamer would have deplored affirmative action. (For the record, King's daughter, Yolanda, notes that there is no real way of knowing what King would have thought about it, because the policy hadn't even been articulated during his lifetime.)
I was thinking about this today because, periodically, I come across articles claiming this person or that as a great "forgotten" conservative hero who undoubtedly would have supported __________ (fill in appropriate policy here). The writer also argues that this person's wisdom has been marginalized or ignored by Leftist Academic Bigots Who Indoctrinate Instead of Educating. The problem is that a full consideration of the evidence on most of these historical figures tends to complicate simplistic ideological characterizations.
I'm thinking of doing a periodic series citing examples of this kind of rhetoric. Today, I'm going to cite two examples from the website Issues and Views.
Issues and Views: Viewing Only the History That Supports Its Issues
Because of its comprehensiveness, Issues and Views is a conservative website that I read fairly often. It has a section called, "When We Were Colored" that champions black achievers in banking, science, politics and the arts, among other fields. Beginning with Booker T. Washington, Issues and Views insists that the figures whom they present have been maligned, mischaracterized or marginalized because they validate conservative politics. However, Issues and Views tends to leave out facts about these figures that don't suit its agenda.
Take for example, its biography of the outstanding black entrepreneur, Alonzo Herndon the founder of Atlanta Life Insurance Company. As its I-V biography states, "Like thousands of others who had been born in servitude and freed into poverty, [Herndon] was neither demoralized nor too dispirited to reach for a better future." However, I-V argues that leaders of the Civil Rights Movement have ignored Herndon, and others like him, because the success of black entrepreneurs during the Jim Crow era somehow undermines the Movement's insistence on government action to ensure racial equality. I-V writer Elizabeth Wright says that Civil Rights leaders think:
In the case of Herndon, such a characterization is belied by historical fact. It is true that Herndon rose from slavery to become a powerful and successful entrepreneur. However, Herndon was also a founder of the The Niagara Movement the civil rights organization that prefigured the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The Niagara Movement was established in direct opposition to Booker T. Washington. In fact, the Washington-controlled New York Age derided Herndon as "the owner of one of the largest barber shops in Atlanta, where no Negro need seek accommodation." These facts are conveniently left out of the I-V biographical sketch of Herndon.
I had the honor of knowing and interviewing another of the historical historical figures championed on the Issues and Views website, Dr. Walter Lincoln Hawkins. "Linc" Hawkins was the first black scientist at Bell Laboratories, an accomplished inventor, and a dedicated educator. I profiled him for a 1982 article for Black Collegian magazine that was recently reprinted on the CD-ROM produced by the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision.
Among other achievements, Hawkins invented the chemical compounds from which the sheathing on today's telephone cables are made.
Issues-Views correctly notes his upbringing in segregated Washington, D.C. and his attending the legendary all-black Dunbar High School, with its dream-team faculty of black Ivy-Leaguers who weren't allowed to teach in white institutions. Hawkins did, indeed, credit his success to the high academic standards at Dunbar. However, Issues-Views opposes Africentric and multicultural education, and Hawkins told me that part of the value of his Dunbar education was that he was taught an African and African-American history. He excelled at pressure-cooker institutions such as Renssalear Polytechnic Institute, he told me, because, "I knew who I was."
Issues-Views sees Hawkins achievements as an example of what blacks achieved many years before affirmative action...." . However, they are wrong to read Hawkins' life as a brief against affirmative action, because Hawkins himself was a founder and booster of the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, an organization whose stated mission is,
The point here is not that Herndon or Hawkins were leftists. They weren't. However, they weren't Booker T. Washington clones, either -- not that he was as simple as he's often made out to be.
I could cite many more examples of such manipulations of historical truth, and perhaps in later posts, i will. And in singling out these examples by black conservatives, I am not implying that they, alone, are guilty of such distortions. The groves of academia and of public discourse are fertilized with bad scholarship of every ideological stripe. One would hope that conservative intellectuals would want to do a little weeding so that their arguments can finally be rooted in the dispassion and rigor that they claim is lacking in their ideological opposites.
I was thinking about this today because, periodically, I come across articles claiming this person or that as a great "forgotten" conservative hero who undoubtedly would have supported __________ (fill in appropriate policy here). The writer also argues that this person's wisdom has been marginalized or ignored by Leftist Academic Bigots Who Indoctrinate Instead of Educating. The problem is that a full consideration of the evidence on most of these historical figures tends to complicate simplistic ideological characterizations.
I'm thinking of doing a periodic series citing examples of this kind of rhetoric. Today, I'm going to cite two examples from the website Issues and Views.
Because of its comprehensiveness, Issues and Views is a conservative website that I read fairly often. It has a section called, "When We Were Colored" that champions black achievers in banking, science, politics and the arts, among other fields. Beginning with Booker T. Washington, Issues and Views insists that the figures whom they present have been maligned, mischaracterized or marginalized because they validate conservative politics. However, Issues and Views tends to leave out facts about these figures that don't suit its agenda.
Take for example, its biography of the outstanding black entrepreneur, Alonzo Herndon the founder of Atlanta Life Insurance Company. As its I-V biography states, "Like thousands of others who had been born in servitude and freed into poverty, [Herndon] was neither demoralized nor too dispirited to reach for a better future." However, I-V argues that leaders of the Civil Rights Movement have ignored Herndon, and others like him, because the success of black entrepreneurs during the Jim Crow era somehow undermines the Movement's insistence on government action to ensure racial equality. I-V writer Elizabeth Wright says that Civil Rights leaders think:
"Progress must not be seen as the fruit of individual effort and enterprise, but only as the consequence of the noble deeds of a specific group of people initially headed by King. This is the real reason why King is hyped as Hero--to keep blacks beholden to the current leaders, who are to be viewed as direct "heirs" of the Hero. So, Kweisi Mfume, Jesse Jackson, and even the improbable Al Sharpton can speak of a debt due to those who, like themselves, made all progress possible. And, according to this civil rights vision, these worthies still make all progress possible.
"As a controlling device, it works. Cut off from the knowledge of the steady progress made by blacks into the 1950s, and the prudent measures taken by enlightened men and women who learned how to make the economic system work for them, the black masses continue to be manipulated by a cynical elite. "
In the case of Herndon, such a characterization is belied by historical fact. It is true that Herndon rose from slavery to become a powerful and successful entrepreneur. However, Herndon was also a founder of the The Niagara Movement the civil rights organization that prefigured the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The Niagara Movement was established in direct opposition to Booker T. Washington. In fact, the Washington-controlled New York Age derided Herndon as "the owner of one of the largest barber shops in Atlanta, where no Negro need seek accommodation." These facts are conveniently left out of the I-V biographical sketch of Herndon.
I had the honor of knowing and interviewing another of the historical historical figures championed on the Issues and Views website, Dr. Walter Lincoln Hawkins. "Linc" Hawkins was the first black scientist at Bell Laboratories, an accomplished inventor, and a dedicated educator. I profiled him for a 1982 article for Black Collegian magazine that was recently reprinted on the CD-ROM produced by the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision.
Among other achievements, Hawkins invented the chemical compounds from which the sheathing on today's telephone cables are made.
Issues-Views correctly notes his upbringing in segregated Washington, D.C. and his attending the legendary all-black Dunbar High School, with its dream-team faculty of black Ivy-Leaguers who weren't allowed to teach in white institutions. Hawkins did, indeed, credit his success to the high academic standards at Dunbar. However, Issues-Views opposes Africentric and multicultural education, and Hawkins told me that part of the value of his Dunbar education was that he was taught an African and African-American history. He excelled at pressure-cooker institutions such as Renssalear Polytechnic Institute, he told me, because, "I knew who I was."
Issues-Views sees Hawkins achievements as an example of what blacks achieved many years before affirmative action...." . However, they are wrong to read Hawkins' life as a brief against affirmative action, because Hawkins himself was a founder and booster of the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering, an organization whose stated mission is,
"To provide leadership and support for the national effort to increase the representation of successful African American, American Indian and Latino women and men in engineering and technology, math- and science-based careers. "
The point here is not that Herndon or Hawkins were leftists. They weren't. However, they weren't Booker T. Washington clones, either -- not that he was as simple as he's often made out to be.
I could cite many more examples of such manipulations of historical truth, and perhaps in later posts, i will. And in singling out these examples by black conservatives, I am not implying that they, alone, are guilty of such distortions. The groves of academia and of public discourse are fertilized with bad scholarship of every ideological stripe. One would hope that conservative intellectuals would want to do a little weeding so that their arguments can finally be rooted in the dispassion and rigor that they claim is lacking in their ideological opposites.
Guardian: In the UK, same sex marriage rights are winning the day
While the debate over same-sex marriage in the United States has prompted fractious debate and emotional demonstrations, similar measures received bi-partisan support in Britain this week, and and may shortly be passed in Ireland as well. And while US conservatives are using anti-gay animus to score points in this election season, British Tories are pitching their pro-gay politics.
27.3.04
The Trail of the Congo's "Cannibal Rebels"
Eliza Griswold's five-part series in Slate, On the Trail of the Congo's "Cannibal Rebels" is a well-told tale of horror past telling. However, without some history about US involvement in destabilizing the region, it comes across as yet another story of savagery and cruelty.
If you get an e-mail claiming there is a "new kind of breast cancer," read this
In the beginning of my career, I was a writer and lay counselor for the National Cancer Institute's Cancer Information Service. I spent a lot of my time responding to misinformation that people picked up from families, friends or the mass media. Now, that's spread to the Internet as well: this morning I got a message about Paget's disease, which was erroneously described as a "new form of breast cancer." It's rare, but it's not new. This NCI fact sheet has the details. And when it comes to cancer rumors, this page from the American Cancer Society can help you separate the facts from the folderol.
26.3.04
Poynter Online - Dr. Ink: "USA Today Scandal A Threat To White Privilege, Mediocrity"
Now, this is pretty doggone funny.
National Urban League: The Shaky State of Black America, 2004
Washington, DC, March 24, 2004— How much closer is America to achieving equality between blacks and whites since the civil rights movement? Not close enough, and black progress is precarious at best according to a report released today by the National Urban League, “The State of Black America 2004”.
As part of The State of Black America 2004: The Complexity of Black Progress, the League unveiled its first “Equality Index” a statistical measurement of the disparities that exist between blacks and whites in economics, housing, education, health, social justice and civic engagement. (Assigning whites a weighted index value of 1, the Equality Index value of less than 1 means blacks are doing worse than whites in a category, while a value of 1 or more means Blacks are doing equal or better)
The report finds that despite substantial progress, the status of African Americans is .73, or 73%, when compared to their white counterparts.
“African-American progress has been precarious since the civil rights era. While there have been increases in business formation, home ownership and educational attainment, equality gaps remain between blacks and whites, particularly in the area of economics,”said Marc H. Morial, President and CEO of the National Urban League. “As our nation becomes more racially diverse, we must work together to close these disparities. This is crucial if America is to maintain its position as an economic power and world leader.”
Highlights of the Equality Index Findings in Five Areas include:
read more
As part of The State of Black America 2004: The Complexity of Black Progress, the League unveiled its first “Equality Index” a statistical measurement of the disparities that exist between blacks and whites in economics, housing, education, health, social justice and civic engagement. (Assigning whites a weighted index value of 1, the Equality Index value of less than 1 means blacks are doing worse than whites in a category, while a value of 1 or more means Blacks are doing equal or better)
The report finds that despite substantial progress, the status of African Americans is .73, or 73%, when compared to their white counterparts.
“African-American progress has been precarious since the civil rights era. While there have been increases in business formation, home ownership and educational attainment, equality gaps remain between blacks and whites, particularly in the area of economics,”said Marc H. Morial, President and CEO of the National Urban League. “As our nation becomes more racially diverse, we must work together to close these disparities. This is crucial if America is to maintain its position as an economic power and world leader.”
Highlights of the Equality Index Findings in Five Areas include:
-
Economics – Black economic status measures 56% of white counterparts - Health - Blacks’ health status measures 78% of whites
- Education - Total educational performance is 76% as compared to whites
- Social Justice – When it comes to equality under the law, blacks’ status is 73%
- Civic Engagement – Blacks out measure whites in the area of civic engagement (voter registration, volunteerism, government service at 1.08)
read more
25.3.04
From Support to Combat -- Women in Military Action
Using personal experiences and journalistic accounts, Air Force Lt. Col. Kim Dougherty (ret.) traces the migration of women into combat support roles in US military aviation.
24.3.04
Plastic: Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied, So What Do You Call Justice Denied For Over 80 Years?
First you have to know what the 1921 Tulsa riot was: an instance of domestic terrorism, abetted by government officials, so deadly that an accurate death toll still has not been reckoned. You have to know also, that for decades, government officials and the mainstream press, lied about, scapegoated or ignored what happened, and the complicity of the city's most respectable citizens. You have to understand that some of the survivors, and certainly their descendants, are still alive and can still recount the horror they experienced and the damage they suffered in excrutiating detail.
If youv'e got all that, you're ready for this: "A federal judge has denounced 'the terrible devastation' caused by the Tulsa race riots in 1921 but ruled that it was too late for a historic lawsuit seeking to force the state and city governments to pay reparations for the harm done to black residents." Thie preceding link is to the discussion on Plastic.com; the story is in the Boston Globe.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs say they will appeal.
If youv'e got all that, you're ready for this: "A federal judge has denounced 'the terrible devastation' caused by the Tulsa race riots in 1921 but ruled that it was too late for a historic lawsuit seeking to force the state and city governments to pay reparations for the harm done to black residents." Thie preceding link is to the discussion on Plastic.com; the story is in the Boston Globe.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs say they will appeal.
Richard Prince's "Journal-isms:" Drugs, Not Race, Cited for Blair 's Second Chance
Raines: "Important, Explanatory Point" Was Missed
Former New York Times Executive Editor Howell Raines writes that it was learning that disgraced reporter Jayson Blair had undergone treatment for drug problems, not race, that caused him to approve the assignment of Blair to cover the Washington-area sniper shootings despite problems with his previous work.
(more)
Former New York Times Executive Editor Howell Raines writes that it was learning that disgraced reporter Jayson Blair had undergone treatment for drug problems, not race, that caused him to approve the assignment of Blair to cover the Washington-area sniper shootings despite problems with his previous work.
(more)
In Praise of Nell Irvin Painter: When and where she enters, she takes us with her
Next Friday and Saturday, Princeton University will pay well-deserved tribute to Dr. Nell Irvin Painter, Edwards Professor of American History, who is retiring from the classroom after 40 years of distinguished service to the Academy and to humanity. Popular histories and public discourse rarely give sufficient attention to the contributions of scholars and intellectuals to the ways in which we think and act in the world, but that inattention does not efface the importance of what they do.
Behind every contentious issue in the current political campaign is a revisiting of precepts from the days of Hobbes, Smith, Bentham and Linnaeus. For example, gay marriage challenges traditional Biblical interpretation, but it becomes a public policy issue because of the ways in which Biblical understanding affected the development of English Common Law, and by extension, US law. Affirmative action and welfare policy arguments invoke debates that, in earlier eras, gave rise to the eugenics movement and scientific racism.
A significant, but undercovered part of grappling with what Du Bois called "the problem of the 20th century" -- the color line -- fell to the culture workers. And when the history of the latter part of the 20th century is recorded, intellectuals such as Nell Painter will be found to be as important to the re-visioning of America in the 21st century as Du Bois, Anna Julia Cooper and their like were to the 20th.
Painter''s histories of the American South, as well as her analysis of the mythmaking surrounding such historical figures as Sojourner Truth, forced hidebound traditionalists to engage ideas they would have preferred to dismiss, and inspired a new generation of academic stars such as Robin D.G. Kelley.
As director of Princeton's African American Studies Program, she opened her home to hundreds of students, faculty, staff and alumni. She organized and attended public programs that many of Princeton's academic stars could not or would not make time for. I can attest personally to the generosity with which she has made herself available to people pursuing or considering an academic career. I am among those inspired by her advice, encouragement and her example, but I have also been privileged to witness that generosity.
Painter is not a constant media presence in the way that public intellectuals such as Henry Louis Gates, Cornel West, or Michael Dyson are, but her work is widely read in colleges and universities, and she enjoys widespread respect and esteem. Part of that respect owes not only to the quality of her work, but to her personal integrity and generosity. Anyone who was privileged to hear her memorial tribute to fellow Princeton professor and pioneering black feminist literary scholar Claudia Tate understands the degree to which simple human decency and caring is at the heart of Painter's life and work. Like Tate, Painter set a high ethical standard for the rest of us to follow.
Part of that respect comes from her willingness to speak out about what it really like to be black and female in the Academy. For example, she once told an interviewer:
Nell is leaving the classroom, but fortunately, she is not leaving intellectual life. A new book, Creating Black Americans is due out this year, and two more, The History of White People, and Personal Beauty:Biology or Culture are forthcoming. Thank God for you, Nell. And thank you -- you have done more good than you can possibly know.
Links:
Behind every contentious issue in the current political campaign is a revisiting of precepts from the days of Hobbes, Smith, Bentham and Linnaeus. For example, gay marriage challenges traditional Biblical interpretation, but it becomes a public policy issue because of the ways in which Biblical understanding affected the development of English Common Law, and by extension, US law. Affirmative action and welfare policy arguments invoke debates that, in earlier eras, gave rise to the eugenics movement and scientific racism.
A significant, but undercovered part of grappling with what Du Bois called "the problem of the 20th century" -- the color line -- fell to the culture workers. And when the history of the latter part of the 20th century is recorded, intellectuals such as Nell Painter will be found to be as important to the re-visioning of America in the 21st century as Du Bois, Anna Julia Cooper and their like were to the 20th.
Painter''s histories of the American South, as well as her analysis of the mythmaking surrounding such historical figures as Sojourner Truth, forced hidebound traditionalists to engage ideas they would have preferred to dismiss, and inspired a new generation of academic stars such as Robin D.G. Kelley.
As director of Princeton's African American Studies Program, she opened her home to hundreds of students, faculty, staff and alumni. She organized and attended public programs that many of Princeton's academic stars could not or would not make time for. I can attest personally to the generosity with which she has made herself available to people pursuing or considering an academic career. I am among those inspired by her advice, encouragement and her example, but I have also been privileged to witness that generosity.
Painter is not a constant media presence in the way that public intellectuals such as Henry Louis Gates, Cornel West, or Michael Dyson are, but her work is widely read in colleges and universities, and she enjoys widespread respect and esteem. Part of that respect owes not only to the quality of her work, but to her personal integrity and generosity. Anyone who was privileged to hear her memorial tribute to fellow Princeton professor and pioneering black feminist literary scholar Claudia Tate understands the degree to which simple human decency and caring is at the heart of Painter's life and work. Like Tate, Painter set a high ethical standard for the rest of us to follow.
Part of that respect comes from her willingness to speak out about what it really like to be black and female in the Academy. For example, she once told an interviewer:
Intellectually, any woman and any black person must prove that she or he is not dumb, and this applies doubly to black women who are assumed not to be producing important work. The phrase "qualified white man" simply does not exist. It's always a black man or woman who has to prove she or he is truly "qualified," which in academia is very hard to prove conclusively. You published an article in a leading journal? It's not really a smart article. Your book won a prize? It's not the right prize. This requirement means that women of color feel constantly as though we're being judged--which we are. This is tiresome in the extreme.
Nell is leaving the classroom, but fortunately, she is not leaving intellectual life. A new book, Creating Black Americans is due out this year, and two more, The History of White People, and Personal Beauty:Biology or Culture are forthcoming. Thank God for you, Nell. And thank you -- you have done more good than you can possibly know.
Links:
-
About Nell Painter -
About the Princeton conference: Constructing the Past, Creating the Future: The Legacy of Nell Irvin Painter
23.3.04
A New Direction for The Journal of African American History
(Washington, DC) Will United States African Americans use their collective economic resources—cultural capital—to improve the education of our children, to provide alternatives to the U.S. penitentiary system for our youth, and to assist in the advancement of African peoples throughout the Diaspora? These are questions and issues The Association for the Study of African American Life and History’s (ASALH), The Journal of African American History, will be investigating under the direction of its newest editor, Columbia University professor, Dr. V.P. Franklin.
Dr. Franklin is Professor of History and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University; and Research Scientist at the Institute for Urban and Minority Education. Between September 2000 and August 2002 he was the Rosa and Charles Keller Professor of Arts and Humanities at Xavier University in Louisiana. Dr. Franklin received his B.A. in History from Penn State University, the Master of Arts in Teaching from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in the History of Education from the University of Chicago. Dr. Franklin has served as the Director of African American Studies programs at Yale, Arizona State, and Drexel universities, and was a Scholar-in-Residence at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City.
In previous years, the Journal focused on topics that provided important insights into African American historical trends. “The essays in the ‘new’ Journal of African American History (JAAH),” asserts Franklin, “should be considered signposts in a journey of discovery, recovery and enlightenment.”
ASALH’s Journal, published since 1916, is the premiere publication of the Association. The cornerstone of the Association’s scholarly endeavors, it has traditionally been a publication in which African American educators and scholars could publish their research and writings about African Americans and African American life and culture. Today, the publication has a similar goal. In addition, Dr. Franklin has introduced an innovative mix of seasoned and new scholars who provide essays about peoples of African descent that are new and exciting from a historical and sociological perspective, according to ASALH’s immediate past National President, Dr. Gloria Harper Dickinson.
Under Dr. Franklin’s editorship the JAAH has published special issues devoted to “New Perspectives on African American Educational History,” “The History of Black Student Activism,” and “Africa and Globalization.” The Spring 2002 Special Issue on “Cultural Capital and African American Education” is being expanded into the forthcoming book, Cultural Capital and Black Education: African American Communities and the Funding of Black Schooling, 1860 to the Present (Information Age Press). The coming spring 2004 issue will be devoted to “African Americans and the Urban Landscape” and will include original essays on African American urban history. The summer 2004 issue is devoted to “New Directions in African American Women’s History.”
For more information about the Journal of African American History and Dr. V.P. Franklin visit the ASALH.
-- Danita Terry, ASALH
Dr. Franklin is Professor of History and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University; and Research Scientist at the Institute for Urban and Minority Education. Between September 2000 and August 2002 he was the Rosa and Charles Keller Professor of Arts and Humanities at Xavier University in Louisiana. Dr. Franklin received his B.A. in History from Penn State University, the Master of Arts in Teaching from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in the History of Education from the University of Chicago. Dr. Franklin has served as the Director of African American Studies programs at Yale, Arizona State, and Drexel universities, and was a Scholar-in-Residence at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York City.
In previous years, the Journal focused on topics that provided important insights into African American historical trends. “The essays in the ‘new’ Journal of African American History (JAAH),” asserts Franklin, “should be considered signposts in a journey of discovery, recovery and enlightenment.”
ASALH’s Journal, published since 1916, is the premiere publication of the Association. The cornerstone of the Association’s scholarly endeavors, it has traditionally been a publication in which African American educators and scholars could publish their research and writings about African Americans and African American life and culture. Today, the publication has a similar goal. In addition, Dr. Franklin has introduced an innovative mix of seasoned and new scholars who provide essays about peoples of African descent that are new and exciting from a historical and sociological perspective, according to ASALH’s immediate past National President, Dr. Gloria Harper Dickinson.
Under Dr. Franklin’s editorship the JAAH has published special issues devoted to “New Perspectives on African American Educational History,” “The History of Black Student Activism,” and “Africa and Globalization.” The Spring 2002 Special Issue on “Cultural Capital and African American Education” is being expanded into the forthcoming book, Cultural Capital and Black Education: African American Communities and the Funding of Black Schooling, 1860 to the Present (Information Age Press). The coming spring 2004 issue will be devoted to “African Americans and the Urban Landscape” and will include original essays on African American urban history. The summer 2004 issue is devoted to “New Directions in African American Women’s History.”
For more information about the Journal of African American History and Dr. V.P. Franklin visit the ASALH.
-- Danita Terry, ASALH
Black Clergy Rally Against Gay Marriage
Thirty black pastors and their supporters rallied at an Atlanta church Monday night to declare their support for a constitutional ban on gay marriage that is about to be considered in the Georgia legislature.
The ministers also objected to gay marriage being categorized as a civil rights issue. ``When the homosexual compares himself to the black community, he doesn't know what suffering is,'' said the Rev. Clarence James, an African-American studies professor at Temple University.
They released a statement arguing that homosexuality is a sinful lifestyle choice that should not receive legal sanction or protection.
In other news, c.e, adams explores the similarities and differences between representations of blacks and gays, in an article for the Advocate, "Is Gay The New Black?".
The ministers also objected to gay marriage being categorized as a civil rights issue. ``When the homosexual compares himself to the black community, he doesn't know what suffering is,'' said the Rev. Clarence James, an African-American studies professor at Temple University.
They released a statement arguing that homosexuality is a sinful lifestyle choice that should not receive legal sanction or protection.
In other news, c.e, adams explores the similarities and differences between representations of blacks and gays, in an article for the Advocate, "Is Gay The New Black?".
22.3.04
Bush's "militarized" foreign policy: just wondering...
Prometheus 6 has posted an article documenting the Bush administration's post-911 siting new military bases in regions such as the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Qatar and Djibouti in order to be prepared for possible future pre-emptive strikes against groups and governments that may threaten American interests.
The policy has sparked a much-needed ethical debate, but for me, it raises a different question: how will the presence of American military forces affect the relationships between ethnic and religious factions in these countries? In several instances, we are talking about states that have an underdeveloped political infrastructure, and limited experience with civil discord. Keeping in mind the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan's warning that ethnic loyalties can be more important than ideology or national ties in fomenting international conflict, I did some quick research to find out how ethnic groups in each of these countries are getting along. Here's what I found:
The fact that most of these countries border on China, which has its own problems with dissident ethnic minority groups, mostly Muslim, might also have figured in the Bush administration's calculations.
The policy has sparked a much-needed ethical debate, but for me, it raises a different question: how will the presence of American military forces affect the relationships between ethnic and religious factions in these countries? In several instances, we are talking about states that have an underdeveloped political infrastructure, and limited experience with civil discord. Keeping in mind the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan's warning that ethnic loyalties can be more important than ideology or national ties in fomenting international conflict, I did some quick research to find out how ethnic groups in each of these countries are getting along. Here's what I found:
-
Kyrgyzstan: LANGUAGE LEGISLATION COULD HEIGHTEN INTER-ETHNIC TENSION IN KYRGYZSTAN However, this assessment from 2000 says the risk of rebellion was "low to moderate. -
UzbekhistanINTER-ETHNIC TENSION THREATENS FRAGILE TAJIK-UZBEK RELATIONS 2/14/03 -
Djibouti Things seem relatively calm here. There have been tensions between the Somali majority and the Afar minority, but recently, many ethnic Somalis have left the country to settle in Somaliland, a self-declared republic that is part of Somalia.
The fact that most of these countries border on China, which has its own problems with dissident ethnic minority groups, mostly Muslim, might also have figured in the Bush administration's calculations.
Who was Yassin? Ask "The Revealer"
The Revealer does some digging and offers some insights into the life and popularity of Sheik Achmed Yassin, the founder of Hamas, who was murdered by Israeli forces today. Among the key revelations:
1. For most of his career, Yassin opposed violent action -- a belief he learned from the Muslim Brotherhood.
2. "He was more devoted to the revival of Islam than to the salvation of Palestine."
3. His religious convictions were shaped by his family's exile from its farm in 1948, the poor conditions of the refugee camp in which he subsequently lived, and the crippling accident he endured as a child. (The American press reports the accident, but makes no connection.)
4. He came to close study of the Koran at the University of Cairo as a literature major, engaging not with traditionalist texts but "radical interpretations."
5. His late-life turn toward violence was a political rejection of his spiritual ideals, which held that "re-Islamicization" of society was to be achieved through social work and preparation for jihad, not jihad itself.
"Self-Determining Haiti" on Africana.com
The full text of James Weldon Johnson's depressingly prescient 1920 expose, "Self- Determining Haiti is online at Africana.com, with an introduction by yours, truly. Check it out.
Gerald Boyd says Jayson Blair lied about Boyd's mother
If you grew up in tha hood, (or in my day, the ghetto), then you are familiar with "the dozens" -- the ritualized game of trading scandalous, but humurous insults. At the height of the game, the participants begin trading insults about each other's mothers. One wonders whether that's what disgraced former New York Times staffer thought he was doing when he claimed in his new book that former NYT managing editor Gerald Boyd's mother died young "after a long struggle with drugs." The truth, Boyd said, is that she died, at 29, of sickle-cell anemia. He continues:
Blair should be ashamed. But apparently, he doesn't know what that is.
"My mother's life was one of making the best of an awful situation, which she did with courage and without complaint. It is unconscionable that a journalist would write something so hurtful. The truth is that my mother did not drink or smoke, and she certainly never used drugs.
"My aim is not to critique Blair's book. But if he can write a lie so flagrant and mean-spirited, it has to cast doubt on everything else he writes, whether about former colleagues at the Times, who are some of the most ethical, professional and decent journalists anywhere and who certainly don't deserve this, or about conversations he recounts verbatim from several years ago...."
Blair should be ashamed. But apparently, he doesn't know what that is.
Richard Clarke interview transcript available
Hamas Threatens US in Wake of Israel's Killing of Leader
The South African Mail and Guardian's article on the the Israeli government's assassination of Hamas founder and spiritual leader SheikAhmed Yassin includes this disturbing news:
"For the first time, Hamas also threatened the United States, saying America's backing of Israel made the assassination possible. "All the Muslims of the world will be honoured to join in on the retaliation for this crime," Hamas said in a statement.
"In the past, Hamas leaders have insisted their struggle is against Israel, and that they would not get involved in causes by militant Muslims in other parts of the world."
According to Reuters US officials urged restraint on all sides and said it will look into the circumstances of the attack. According to the New York TImes, this was the Israeli government's second attempt to kill Yassin, who it said is responsible for sending suicide bombers into Israel.
In defending the attack, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon also insisted that Israel shoud have the right to take military action in the West Bank after its pending withdrawal from the region. That condition is likely to be contentious, as well.
"For the first time, Hamas also threatened the United States, saying America's backing of Israel made the assassination possible. "All the Muslims of the world will be honoured to join in on the retaliation for this crime," Hamas said in a statement.
"In the past, Hamas leaders have insisted their struggle is against Israel, and that they would not get involved in causes by militant Muslims in other parts of the world."
According to Reuters US officials urged restraint on all sides and said it will look into the circumstances of the attack. According to the New York TImes, this was the Israeli government's second attempt to kill Yassin, who it said is responsible for sending suicide bombers into Israel.
In defending the attack, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon also insisted that Israel shoud have the right to take military action in the West Bank after its pending withdrawal from the region. That condition is likely to be contentious, as well.
21.3.04
Tell Me He Didn't Say That. Please. Really.
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz seems to have further complicated US relationships with Spain people with recent remarks in an interview in which he cited bullfighting as an example of Spanish courage and added:
Wolfowitz was expressing the hope that Spain would not withdraw its forces from Iraq, as its new Prime Minister has announced it will do. It will likely not surprise readers to know that many Spanish people are offended.
"I don't think they run in the face of an enemy. They haven't run in the face of the Basque terrorists. I hope they don't run in the face of these people."
Wolfowitz was expressing the hope that Spain would not withdraw its forces from Iraq, as its new Prime Minister has announced it will do. It will likely not surprise readers to know that many Spanish people are offended.
Kautilyan: Speaking of Kelley...Remember Barnicle
It seems veteran plagiarizer Mike Barnicle is now working for the Boston Herald. Kautilyan has the details in a post that recalls the lenient treatment Barnicle got at the Boston Globe in comparison to another fellow columnist, Patricia Smith. (Do you know your name is almost the same as W.E.B. Du Bois' heroine in Dark Princess, Kautilyan?)
Political Animal: Jack Kelley vs. Jayson Blair
Kevin Drum of Political Animalis wondering why columnists Andrew Sullivan and Mickey Kaus aren't demanding that heads roll at USA Today after it was discovered that a star reporter faked stories. Sullivan and Kaus went after the New York Times' executive and managing editors hammer and tongs in the wake of last summer's Jayson Blair scandal.
Drum asked:
Andrew Sullivan was "fabulist" Stephen Glass' editor, wasn't he? That would seem to give him precious little room to pass judgment, but I know it's not beyond him.
As for Blair and the New York Times, The Siegal Report offers some pretty useful insights into the dynamics that allowed Blair to do what he was doing for so long. The issue at the Times was mismanagement, not race. I can tell you that there are a lot of black journalists to whom Jayson Blair and others like him are persona non grata. Among other things, his actions tarnished the career of a man who was widely regarded as one of the best in the business: Gerald Boyd.
USA Today's status in newspapering may not be the newspaper of record in the way the Times is, but it is still a major national paper. There is no excuse for fabrications.
Drum asked:
"I know that everyone — and I mean everyone — is probably tired of this comparison even before it's made, but, um, Kelley's fabrications are actually a lot worse than Jayson Blair's, right? And they went on for a much longer time, right? And there are a lot more of them, right?"
"But, er, um, Kelley is white, isn't he?"
Andrew Sullivan was "fabulist" Stephen Glass' editor, wasn't he? That would seem to give him precious little room to pass judgment, but I know it's not beyond him.
As for Blair and the New York Times, The Siegal Report offers some pretty useful insights into the dynamics that allowed Blair to do what he was doing for so long. The issue at the Times was mismanagement, not race. I can tell you that there are a lot of black journalists to whom Jayson Blair and others like him are persona non grata. Among other things, his actions tarnished the career of a man who was widely regarded as one of the best in the business: Gerald Boyd.
USA Today's status in newspapering may not be the newspaper of record in the way the Times is, but it is still a major national paper. There is no excuse for fabrications.
Death Penalty for Richard McCullough Petition
LaJoya Johson, the Michigan State University student behind a popular online petition to Newark New Jersey School authorities for a memorial for Sakia Gunn is now urging the death penalty for Gunn's alleged killer. Richard Mc Cullough, 29, is accused of stabbing the 15-year-old African-American lesbian to death after she and four friends rejected his advances by Mc Cullough and another man. Mc Cullough is awaiting trial on murder and bias intimidation charges. A trial date has not yet been announced. Under current law, the maximum penalty Mc Cullough could face if convicted is 118 years in prison.
While the petition has no legal force, the comments left by some of the signers reflect the powerful emotions sparked by Sakia Gunn's murder. I have listed some examples below with the names remoxed, because I can not verify them. However, I am leaving the locations and the presentations of the messages intact:
While the petition has no legal force, the comments left by some of the signers reflect the powerful emotions sparked by Sakia Gunn's murder. I have listed some examples below with the names remoxed, because I can not verify them. However, I am leaving the locations and the presentations of the messages intact:
"IF WE AS LESBIANS DON'T LOVE AND RESPECT ONE ANOTHER, NO ONE ELSE WILL LOVE AND RESPECT US, WE ARE ALL WE HAVE WHETHER YOU ARE FEMME OR STUD WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER, THIS IS WHAT WE LIVE, THIS IS WHO WE ARE."
-- Jersey City, New Jersey
"it was such a senseless crime. Continue to fight for what's right. Peace."
-- Williamstown, NJ
"We must stop the senseless death of women."
-- Victoria B.C. Canada
"Mr. Richard McCullough you have sinned by killing and judging a young child (that is in God's care now). Just know if the court does not condemn you Judgement Day is surely your punishment."
-- Columbus, MS
I didn't know Sakia...but when I heard her story I was hurt....not only because she was apart of the rainbow family, but because this is a sensless and stupid crime that should be punished to the fullest extent. She was such a young girl who had alot to live for...my prayers go out to the family...this man should be punished to the fullest extent...I think he'll suffer more if we take away his freedom....his manhood....and not just his life.
-- Houston, TX
She was a baby. I dont understand why a grown man can find it in his heart to kill a baby....You will meet your maker just like she has and what will be your reason?
Miami-Tally, Fla.