Bigotry overload
I don't know how much hate I can take in one week.
First, there was
Glenn Beck on Barack Obama:
BECK: Yeah, I -- you know, I was driving in today, and I was seeing -- because I saw this piece with him on 60 Minutes -- and I thought to myself, he is -- he's very white in many ways.
GIORDANO: Uh-huh.
BECK: And I thought to myself: Gee, can I even say that? Can I even say that without somebody else starting a campaign saying, "What does he mean, 'He's very white?' " He is. He's very white.
Then there was
Rush Limbaugh on Obama:
RUSH: So are we to conclude here that he didn't define himself as black, that the way he looks does? (Sigh.) Okay. We’ve got Obama's wife in here. We've got John Howard from Australia coming up, but, "I'm not sure I decided it"? Well, if you didn't decide it, then how did it happen?
Well, when you look like that, that's what you are.
Well, renounce it, then! If it's not something you want to be, if you didn't decide it, renounce it, become white!
Tonight on Countdown Keith Olbermann called this "sleek racism" and noted for a group of people who keep saying that we need to get beyond race they sure are obsessed with race.
Let's face it. The Re-thug-nicans are scared as hell about Obama. They know he brings something to the people that no Re-thug can. Hope.
And finally there was
retired NBA player Tim Hardaway:
On a Miami radio show Wednesday, Hardaway was asked how he would interact with a gay teammate.
"First of all, I wouldn't want him on my team," the former Miami Heat star said. "And second of all, if he was on my team, I would, you know, really distance myself from him because, uh, I don't think that is right. I don't think he should be in the locker room while we are in the locker room."
When show host Dan Le Batard told Hardaway those comments were "flatly homophobic" and "bigotry," the player continued.
"You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people," he said. "I'm homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States."
This comment comes on the heels of former Penn State and NBA player John Amaechi coming out in his new book. The NBA wisely banished Hardaway from its All-Star festivities this weekend.
This is what happens when conservatives rule our government and our media.
Labels: Barack Obama, Glenn Beck, LGBT, race, Rush Limbaugh, Tim Hardaway
Quote of the day
"Live your life every day so that when you leave, no matter at what age, somebody can say that your life meant something to someone."
--Rev. Al Sharpton
during a panel discussion at the State of the Black Union 2007
February 10, 2007
Labels: race, Rev. Al Sharpton
Shortest presidential campaign ever
One day.
Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, who announced his candidacy on Wednesday with the hope that he could ride his foreign policy expertise into contention for the Democratic nomination, instead spent the day struggling to explain his description of Senator Barack Obama, the Illinois Democrat running for president, as "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy."
Biden makes a lot of sense when he discusses policy, but something is not right with the guy when it comes to race. Last year
he made a comment about Indian-Americans, 7-Eleven, and Dunkin' Donuts.
"I've had a great relationship. In Delaware, the largest growth in population is Indian-Americans moving from India. You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I'm not joking," Biden said.
How can someone in the public eye be this clumsy on race?
Labels: Barack Obama, Joseph Biden, race
Race matters: Why this white guy supports affirmative action
I'm a 33-year-old white male. I grew up in the suburbs of Harrisburg with one younger sibling, and my parents' marriage is intact. If you profiled people who oppose affirmative action, I would fit the profile.
But I support it, and here's why. In light of all of the privilege I get as a white male, it doesn't bother me that in college admissions or employment, when all other factors are equal, minorities get an edge.
What would my life be like if I were a black male?
If I were a black male, I would be pulled over more. I've only been pulled over three times in my life, all deserved.
If I were a black male, clerks and security would watch me more closely in stores.
If I were a black male, women would clutch their purses when I get on to an elevator.
If I were a black male, people would look at me funny when I get on the bus.
If I were a black male, the chances would be greater that I got a sub-standard education at a "separate and unequal" public school.
We were with some friends recently who said they will give their daughter a black-sounding name to help her get into college. Too bad blacks can't name their daughters Sara Jane and then get an education at a school like Derry Township or Cumberland Valley.
When whites claim that minorities get extra privilege through affirmative action, they really need to look inward at all of the privilege they've had.
Labels: affirmative action, race
