CW Political and Social Thought

A Strange Tale of Nooses, Sit-ins, and Murder

I heard about this story sometime ago, but it seems to be gaining some momentum in the major news media, so I think it would be appropriate to cover it here to do my part to bring much needed attention to this story.

I am not going to pretend that I know all the details of this story, but the facts seem to go like this. A group of six Black students sat under a "whites-only" tree at their high school. The white students retaliated by hanging nooses from the tree. In turn, the Black students staged a sit-in, whereupon the District Attorney, accompanied by the police, issued this threat, "With one stroke of my pen, I can make your life disappear." [1] Despite this, the school had an outstanding football season, some say that the Black athletes were the reason, nevertheless once the season was over, the academic building of the school was burned down. Each group is blaming the other.

Here is how NPR continues the story...[2]

"The next night, 16-year-old Robert Bailey and a few black friends tried to enter a party attended mostly by whites. When Bailey got inside, he was attacked and beaten. The next day, tensions escalated at a local convenience store. Bailey exchanged words with a white student who had been at the party. The white boy ran back to his truck and pulled out a pistol grip shotgun. Bailey ran after him and wrestled him for the gun.

                        

After some scuffling, Bailey and his friends took the gun away and brought it home. Bailey was eventually charged with theft of a firearm, second-degree robbery and disturbing the peace. The white student who pulled the weapon was not charged at all.

                        

The following Monday, Dec.4, a white student named Justin Barker was loudly bragging to friends in the school hallway that Robert Bailey had been whipped by a white man on Friday night. When Barker walked into the courtyard, he was attacked by a group of black students. The first punch knocked Barker out and he was kicked several times in the head. But the injuries turned out to be superficial. Barker was examined by doctors and released; he went out to a social function later that evening.

                        

Six black students were arrested and charged with aggravated assault. But District Attorney Reed Walters increased the charges to attempted second-degree murder. That provoked a storm of black outrage."

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Have We Lost All Decency

My acceptance of our celebrity-obsessed culture was at first welcoming. As a college student, it was a nice break from the endless stream of deadlines and lectures. Then again, who could resist the juicy gossip on the set of Grey's Anatomy when Marx's historical materalism is screaming in one ear and Kenneth Waltz's structural realism in the other? I have to admit that it does have the seduction of a mint chocolate chip sundae on a record-breaking August afternoon, but that can only last so long. Eventually, the sun's intensity will abate and the cold of winter will make that sundae, not to mention all things cold to the touch, seem slightly imposing. At a certain point, though for reasons having to do with my youth and naiveté, I then became disillusioned that this 'celebrity-this', 'celebrity-that' way of life was ephemeral. No doubt, I thought, viewers would get tired of hearing about Britney Spears' debauchery or Mel Gibson's tirade about Jews. They did of course, but they did not get tired of celebrities. Well, I am not only tired, but I am angry. Have we lost all decency? In fact, NPR jumped on the bandwagon today, covering Lindsay Lohan's recent failings. When NPR stoops so low, I can't help but to think that our values have gone awry. Don't get me wrong. I think that Oprah's school in Africa, Angelina Jolie's ambassadorship, and Ruben  Studdard's Scale Back Alabama are newsworthy (if it's a slow news day), but for NPR, a standard in the industry in my opinion, to talk as if Lohan's freefall is the end of the world is a disgrace. Moreover, the news industry is not oblivious to its watered-down version of news. You will often hear anchors preface a celebrity story with, " We live in such a celebrity-driven society" or "Everyone is talking about it". Sometimes you'd think that they really didn't want to do the story save the dollar signs keeping them from seeing the perversity of their actions.

"If it gets people's attention, then sell it!" That's how news is being carried out, but what about integrity? If people hear nothing but soft news, how is it possible to handle hard news? See, the effect of this pretend news is that our nation learns to think superficially and deal with problems superficially. Because we are lulled into thinking that the world is entertaining and child's play, we can't even begin to wrap our mind around how corrupt our government is, how elitist our politics is, how racist our  prison system is, neither how un-American America has become.

I wish I knew what it would take for Americans to wake up. Another 9/11? Very doubtful. Besides, even if it worked, I would never wish that upon my country. A better president? Well, the executive does seem to set a certain tone in American political discourse, but that has its limits. The impetus for change needs to come from the American polity itself.

Perhaps, it starts here.

The Michael Vick Trial: "A High Tech Lynching"?!

A Black female supporter of Michael Vick was on my  local news tonight and described the whole debacle with Michael Vick as a "high-tech lynching". Is this what Black people have become? Have we become so accustomed to being victims in a white racist society that we must always defend any Black person accused of committing a crime despite the fact that we have no clue as to their culpability? It's not just Michael Vick of course. I recently heard or read that the majority of African Americans still publicly defend O.J. Simpson's innocence. Even with the incident involving the Duke lacrosse team, the Black female was portrayed as the object of white violence and exploitation. I am not saying that the victim was truthful or a big fat liar, only that African Americans too easily buy into our victimhood as a people rather than protecting the rule and objectivity of the law. Personally, this paranoia is not altogether unfounded. We need only look at the Black population in U.S. prisons and jails (37%) [1] in order to question the equal applicability of the law, but this reasoning, that general Black injustice demands individual Black public support, is terribly flawed. It seems that these public outcries all are a response to a Black person being painted as the victim of a crime perpetuated by a white person, but how convenient it is for us forget that we are our own victims! We are killing more of us that white people are killing us. Black-on-Black homicidal crime made up for 42.3 percent of all homicides in 2005  and white-on-white homicidal crime made up 46% in the same year. [2] This seems to suggest that Black people need to speak out against self-lynching, not "high-tech lynching"! Of course, the reason why we won't do that is because we have not fully retired our slavery/Jim Crow mentality, i.e. victims whose identity is strictly defined by the need to combat white racism and violence. This mentality excuses us from properly attending to problems within our very communities, like the HIV pandemic that is sweeping this country and taking more and more Black people, especially young people. Also like the achievement gap between Black students and other populations. I don't think that the SAT is necessarily a good marker to judge achievement, because of its limited cross-cultural and trans-economic value, but I think that Black students' falling behind in the technology and higher institutional arenas warrant much more attention that they are presently being given. 

Much of the Black problem is not about trying to abate the color line, rather to dream it.

The Democrats Are Ready for Battle

I think that the Democratic presidential candidates demonstrated tremendous competence and passion tonight. Though they have had several debates in the past few months, with this being their first official party debate, they have finally conveyed that their approach to the War in Iraq, social security, healthcare, gay rights, racism, classism, and gender equality is a winnable platform. In fact, I found myself jumping up and down and applauding at the screen. This is a very exciting time for our country. We are not only reaching a milestone in terms of the type of representation (i.e. Obama, Clinton, and Richardson) but for the first time in a long time, I feel that the issues that I care about as a Black gay man are being represented on the national stage. The Democratic Party  is bringing about a change in the character of American politics in such a way that I and church-going Jimmy Bob of Kalamazoo, Michigan can rally around a party without engaging in a tragic and bitter face-off of who's the better American.

I really appreciated that Edwards was honest about his struggle with gay marriage because I feel that that agitation really resonated with most Americans. I was raised in the church, though I have no qualms or unanswered questions about my sexual orientation and my faith, but I fully understand that most Americans, especially those of the evangelical wing, have not come to terms with the issue of gay rights. As well, the candidates' candor about slavery reparations was very refreshing. I am no advocate of reparations, but the candidates, especially Obama, handled this question without conceding the legacy of white supremacy. Obama felt that investing in education and housing were better substitutes and I wholeheartedly agree with him. The candidates' response to health care could have put a smile on anyone's face. In fact, Clinton's passionate appeal to common decency and respect reminded me that she's not so cold and aloof as she leads on.

Overall, I think that the Party offered enough diverse views to cast a net over a sufficient number of potential voters while maintaining a relatively cohesive face and positive outlook.

Then again, the election is over a year away!

Let's not forget that.

The Professor and Me

I had dinner with a dear professor/mentor/friend of mine last night. We seemingly talked about everything under the sun including the poetry of an apparently well-known British poet named W. H. Auden (1907-1973). I say 'apparently' because I'd never heard of him, though he is regarded as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. I'm not sure of the extent to which Auden was public about his sexuality, nevertheless he was privately  a gay man. My professor actually read this poem to me and, as you can tell, it made quite an impression on me.

IX of Twelve Songs

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crêpe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

April 1936

X.
O the valley in the summer where I and my John
Beside the deep river would walk on and on
While the flowers at our feet and the birds up above
Argued so sweetly on reciprocal love,
And I leaned on his shoulder; "O Johnny, let's play":
But he frowned like thunder and he went away.

O that Friday near Christmas as I well recall
When we went to the Matinee Charity Ball,
The floor was so smooth and the band was so loud
And Johnny so handsome I felt so proud;
"Squeeze me tighter, dear Johnny, let's dance till it's day":
But he frowned like thunder and he went away.

Shall I ever forget at the Grand Opera
When music poured out of each wonderful star?
Diamonds and pearls they hung dazzling down
Over each silver or golden silk gown;
"O John I'm in heaven," I whispered to say:
But he frowned like thunder and he went away.

O but he was fair as a garden in flower,
As slender and tall as the great Eiffel Tower,
When the waltz throbbed out on the long promenade
O his eyes and his smile they went straight to my heart;
"O marry me, Johnny, I'll love and obey":
But he frowned like thunder and he went away.

O last night I dreamed of you, Johnny, my lover,
You'd the sun on one arm and the moon on the other,
The sea it was blue and the grass it was green,
Every star rattled a round tambourine;
Ten thousand miles deep in a pit there I lay:
But you frowned like thunder and you went away.

Charlottesville, VA- "The Discrimination City"

Having lived in Charlottesville, VA for five years now, I am not surprised in the least at this recent report by the Washington's National Community  Reinvestment Coalition, which concluded that...

Charlottesville, VA  is the worst place in the country when it comes to discrimination against African Americans in home lending!

Recent Racial Incidents in Charlottesville

"No One Wants a Nigger to Be President"

"Medical Center Manager Uses Nigger at Staff Meeting"

"Fuck You Nigger"

"Jaberwoke Targets Black Students"

"University Paper Encourages Intolerance and Insensitivity"

"White Partygoers Wear Blackface"

"Over Half of UVA Asian-Americans Experience Racism"

"Whites and Blacks Face Off Over Superintendent"

Obama with His Family

It's a shame that a clip of a politician playing cards, much less spending quality time,  with his family is such a rarity. Usually, the only image that we see of politician's families  is when they are being paraded on stage for a photo-op. While, I am sure that this is part of Obama's overall political strategy, I think that it's such a nice touch that I'll forgive the political motivation. When I think about political leadership, I don't want someone bombastic like Guiliani, someone calculating and cold like Hillary, nor someone screechy like Edwards. I just want a person who is normal, someone who I can relate to, as well as someone who can deliver on his/her campaign promises and be a symbol of everything that is good and wholesome about our nation. Obama's optimism and "common man"   approach alone win my vote.

Enjoy the clip!

Venus Joins Ranks of Billie Jean King

Ten Reasons Why I'm Not Feeling Patriotic

#10-  66.3% of Americans are overweight or obese and no one thinks that we should have public gyms. [11]

#9- The US Supreme Court turns back the clock on integrated schools [10]

#8- We will let the estimated 12 million undocumented workers sweep our floors, work in our fields, care for our young, and pay sales and food taxes, but we don't give them an option of becoming a citizen. [9]

#7- Although only 5% of the world's population, the US shares an astonishing 25% of the world's total prisoner population. While around 6% of the total US population, Black men make up 37% of the US prison population. [7] [8]

#6-  An estimated 37 million Americans live in poverty, among which the Black population has the highest percentage at 25% and we still don't have universal health care. [6]

#5- Fifteen states, including my state of Virginia, have hate crime laws that do not include crimes based on sexual orientation[5]

#4- Military victory in Iraq is not winnable. [4]

#3- Nearly 47 million Americans, or 16 percent of the population, were without health insurance in 2005, the latest government data available [3]

#2- The African American population accounts for 50% of all new AIDS diagnoses. [2]

#1- These are the issues, but they are by and large ignored or half-heartedly dealt with.

Other Important Issues

Source: http://www.publicagenda.org/issues/factfiles_detail.cfm?issue_type=gay_rights&list=14

This is a Call to Arms

I have noticed that traffic has increased on my site from people interested in David Ritcheson's apparent suicide. David, a victim of a violent hate crime, recently spoke to the House in support of The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007,

Read David's statement to the House here.  Also, here are the testimonies of Brad Dacus, Frederick Lawrence, Timothy Lynch, Jack McDevitt, and Mark Strutleff.

I'd also like to say that I wrote my congressional representatives to pass this bill. Senator John Warner, a Republican, wrote me back to inform me that he was in support of the bill. Of course, Virgil Goode, the infamous anti-Muslim and (I'm sure) homophobe didn't bother to write back, neither did Senator Jim Webb.

Here are more articles about David.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4936066.html

http://vivirlatino.com/2006/05/17/hate-crimes-against-latinos-increase-tied-to-debate.php

http://www.caller.com/ccct/editorials/article/0,1641,CCCT_840_4660740,00.html

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/03/news/TX-Party-Attack-Death.php

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4939505.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/02/AR2007070201668.html

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3338784

http://www.news8austin.com/content/headlines/?ArID=187311&SecID=2

http://www.postchronicle.com/news/original/article_21290002.shtml

The Cornel West Reader Inspires Me

One of the most defining issues for the United States is race. It is like politics and religion in that we evade it when we can, but when we don’t, it’s polarizing and volatile. From its inception to the present, the United States has been a country strongly defined by racial relations and its institutions, both public and private, and its attitudes, both societal and individual, have suffered in an infinite number of ways to reconcile the contradiction of freedom and bondage, privilege and equality, and the majority’s right to rule and the minority’s right to dissent. Unfortunately, for most of this history, tyrannical authoritarianism has triumphed. What has resulted is a society that is less humane, more indifferent, and completely resistant to admitting or even acknowledging, for that matter, that our society is built upon false and fraudulent values. Read More

All-Female Roundtable!

Kudos to This Week with George Stephanopoulos for featuring an all-female roundtable! I watch the show regularly and I don't think I have ever seen this! I am very encouraged by this. I'm so glad to see that we are moving away from white male supremacy in politics, at least when it concerns who is considered an acceptable source of authority.

Today's Show featured Donna Brazile, Bay Buchanan, Ruth Marcus, and  Cokie Roberts.