Six Degrees of Barack Obama
Well, then. Stanley Kurtz of the National Review has scoured the files of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge and come up with…. jack squat. Extremely tangential, at its best. Homofascist’s wedding story, below, has more heft. As is usually the case. Please read his story, then mine. Kthxbai.
Here’s what the boy genius found: the Annenberg Challenge (1), gave a $200,000 grant to an education coalition in South Shore (2), a part of which was an outfit called the South Shore African Village Collaborative (3), which sought to introduce an “Afro-centric” adolescent program (4) — an offshoot, supposedly of the Pan-African movement during the 1960s and 1970s (4a).
This education coalition “sponsored a presentation on African-centered curricula by Jacob Carruthers, a particularly controversial Afrocentrist” (5a), who makes the bold claim that African-Americans need to look to their heritage and reject the excesses of Euro-American culture — capitalism, individualism, etc. His theories — raised in a damn presentation, not an actual class or anything — center on “the teachings of the ancient wise man, Ptahhotep (an historical figure traditionally identified as the author of a Fifth Dynasty wisdom book)” (5a-i).
This Carruthers guy — non-teacher, but presenter and advisor, remember — was “a defender of Leonard Jeffries, professor in the department of black studies at City College in Harlem, infamous for his black supremacist and anti-Semitic views (5a-ii).”
The conclusion of the South Shore African Village Collaborative (back to 3) from this presentation was as follows: “Our children need to understand the historical context of our struggles for liberation from those forces that seek to destroy us.” Which could be code for “kill Whitey,” but could also be a perfectly legit lesson plan. Could people be liberated from forces seeking to destroy, other than those named Whitey? Like — for example — drugs, gangs, crime, booze, domestic violence, TV, etc. etc.?
Another Afro-centrist was also a presenter before the SSAVC, named Asa Hilliard — who had the rotten luck of dying in 2007 (5b). This guy set up a private elementary school with… Jeremiah Wright (6), who gave his eulogy. (Rev. NAH NAH NAH also hosted Jacob Carruthers at a symposium kind of deal at Trinity.)
Meanwhile, Bill Ayers (7) is working with Carruthers to publish a book next year. This, somehow, was in the files of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, which doesn’t exist anymore.
Thus — imposing Wright’s worldview was the objective of the SSAVC, which was paid for through a grant to an education coalition by Chicago Annenberg Challenge, which leads to this conclusion:
“However he may seek to deny it, all evidence points to the fact that, from his position as board chair of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, Barack Obama knowingly and persistently funded an educational project that shared the extremist and anti-American philosophy of Jeremiah Wright. The Wright affair was no fluke. It’s time for McCain to say so.”
No it isn’t. A $200,000 grant from a wealthy private philanthropy foundation (out of a budget a hundred times as large) to an education coalition, which gave only a part of it to a local school advocacy group, which had two speakers with Afro-centric roots, who came up with a lesson plan that is no more offensive than Sesame Street (circa 1980s, before it went all crappy on us), and which was a group described by a right-wing hack as one “that puts its efforts into Kwanzaa celebrations and half-baked history,” and which has a tangential relation to a minister who Barack Obama has already disowned. Oh, and Bill Ayers wrote a book. Who hasn’t? This is it?
Verdict: EPIC FAIL. (And yet, there’s enough here for one more attack spot. Which is enough, perhaps.)
and Kwanzaa is celebrated in some neighborhoods of Philadelphia, and Kevin Bacon is from Philly ding ding ding!
Obama is a fan of the White Sox, who are managed by Ozzie “*A%*A$_#!” Guillen, who is from Venezuela which is led by RW boogey man and half crazed track suit wearing maximum leader Hugo Chavez who is bestest buds with fellow RW boogey etc etc Fidel Castro.
Where’s my $200K US American?
@nabisco: How was Hawk Mtn? Remember MOVE?
I attended an Afro-centric summer day camp in the 70s. I don’t think my parents had a clue. All I remember besides being terribly bored and, well, notbeing black enough, was that each morning we separated in to groups by age and sand some old Quincy Jones song. I was a Moor, and my group sang something like, “We the Moors from Morocco came, and for our freedom conquered Spain, we fought and won our country too, and now we’re free and far from few.” Chorus: “United for our cause. In blackness, now we pause. We pause to sense where we are from. We pause to sense what we’ve become…blahblahblah.” We sang (okay, shouted) that song every single morning. What a boring summer camp. None of the kids were into it. It was all for the adults. But I learned a little about the Moors, so I guess that’s good, right?
@JNOV:
That’s awesome. I want to attend a camp like that. Think a 40-year-old white guy would stand out?
@ManchuCandidate: Fidel Castro, whose rise to power caused Carlos Gutierrez to flee to the United States, where he was named Secretary of Commerce by… George W. Bush!
@JNOV: But did you learn to canoe, smoke cigarettes or experiment with the opposite sex? Cuz I did all of those at church camp, and forgot all about the jeebusy stuff.
Hawk mtn was great. A decent hike, not too crowded, fantastic weather, saw quite a few hawks and a couple kestrels and met someone who claimed to have seen a golden eagle. All of the wildlife biologists are foreigners doing internships, so we chatted up some friendly Spaniards which was appropriate given Chris Colo(n)mbus, Queen Isabel, etc. .
@Tommmcatt Yet Again: You’d have to give up your slave name first.
I hated that place! I wanted to go somewhere in the boonies where I could ride horses. Instead I was stuck in the gym of some old smelly church (without AC) in smelly Philly. AND, we had a dance where some boy grinded his hard on on my leg. I was not pleased. I left the dance crying, and everyone came to tell me that it was no big deal. Pfft.
@nabisco: I was stuck in the heart of West Philly. In the humid, stinky city. I think my folks could’ve sprung for a camp in the Poconos, but no. I don’t think they understood what the camp was all about, but they were hell bent on me learning about being black since I kind of don’t look it. Just living in West Philly taught me that. I didn’t need to be subjected to this weirdness.
As an adult, I understand the anger and the search for identity, but as a kid, all I knew was that they were boring and a little scary. And I’ve experienced prejudice from all over — not being black enough or being too black. The only community that ever accepted me with open arms were the NDNs at law school. They were like, “Hey, we don’t care what your blood quantum is — you’re family.” That and the time I was in Egypt were the only times I felt like I actually belonged somewhere.
Apologies for cold-med-induced rant.
@JNOV: Speaking of Philly, Princess Sparkle Pony has photos of the crowd at the Flyers game holding up Obama signs when Palin dropped the puck.
@SanFranLefty: Yay! That’s a great picture!
@JNOV: Thanks much for the early birthday wishes!
I saw some of those damned liberal news commentators – I think it was on CNN – talking about the 1980 election and how President Carter was something like 8 points up on The Great and Powerful Reagan in late October and still lost by 10%. They neglected to mention the whole business about the Iranians promising to release the American hostages if we’d only vote for the Gipper. We’ve had 28 unbroken years of governing by oligarchy since in the US, while Iran has safely remained a Muslim theocracy.
This reminds me of Bill Maher interviewing Garry Kasparov last October when he was a candidate for the presidency of Russia. At the end panelist Chris Matthews said, “You ever get the feeling they’re playing chess and we’re playing checkers?” US presidents have been fumbling their way through the big geopolitical game that we refuse to understand for too many decades. This country desperately needs a president, and VP, intelligent enough to sit at the big table.
I thought Oct surprises were supposed to benefit the Repubs.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/14/mccain-transition-chief-a_n_134595.html
@Dave H: The story that will be told about this election is that McCain was “winning” until the meltdown sunk him. Which, like 1980, remains true so long as you don’t look at the larger context.
My take remains that McCain lost the moment Palin was announced. His best argument was “experience,” and suddenly the president-in-waiting was to be a sheer novice.
Palin did make a huge splash after her convention speech, and under normal circumstances it would have taken a few weeks for the novelty to work itself through the system. But even had the campaign not taken a turn towards the world-historical absurd, there was plenty to be known about her that first day to make the “undecideds” uncomfortable, and those details would have started drifting into general consciousness in late September.
Palin was a fad, and we all know how fads work. That was the source of my calm during the worst of it: The fad would peak, and then it would collapse.
Before and after the fad, Obama had a commanding and growing electoral-vote lead over McCain — much different than 2004, when the chart lines for Bush and Kerry kept crossing like an earthquake needle. McCain’s response to the economic crisis only confirmed what everyone had already been thinking — the campaign and candidate had become caricature, and it’s very hard to recover from that.
ManchuCandidate: Actually, you know what would be an October surprise? Layton Krishnas in government. (Both cults rock the orange, of course.) Tonight’s the night, man. Dish — who’d you vote for?
Meanwhile, to your point about, you know, a Geezerplex honcho shilling for Saddam Hussein? I dunno. Casey Stengel’s “Can’t anybody here play this game?” Vince Lombardi’s “What de hell’s going on out here!?” Toss-up.
BREAKING: somebody yelled “kill him” at Tailbunny’s rally in Scranton. Tucker Bounds said, “I didn’t hear anything. That must have been just a gentle autumn breeze.”
Also from the same rally, Lee Greenwood is in the tank for Geezer. He was introduced by Palin, and then declared jihad against the decadent American infidels endorsed the ticket. So that’s where Lee Greenwood is, if you need him.
(Oddly enough, I think Lee Greenwood would make a better veep than Sarah Palin would. This thought has caused me to bleed out of my left ear.)
@chicago bureau:
I’m heading over to the polling station after I log off from work.
I went to high school with the Tory Candidate running in my riding. He was always a jumped up arrogant prick. So I’m mixing my intellect with personal reasons for not voting for the little shit.
I’ve know of the legend of Jack for over 20 years. Problem with Jack is that he acts a lot like a seagull. Makes a lot of noise, shits on something and leaves. Great for photo ops and dramatic entrances but a lousy way to govern.
I’ll probably do what I usually do. Go with the least worst choice (should be the Librul Perty’s motto.) Dion’s no plan election campaign annoyed the hell out of me although he did a bit better over the past week (not saying much.)
I’m pretty sure Dion won’t win. The status quo remains. Will probably go to the polls again next year.
ManchuCandidate: At least your elections are over in six weeks. Party leaders launch a campaign, have two debates (one in a language that you don’t understand very well), throw a few ads together, and POOF — election over.
Also: this thing about putting pen to a normal piece of paper, marking an X in a box, and having the votes counted by hand in a single evening. Novel. Seems to work well. Maybe we might consider it here.
@chicago bureau: I had the same reaction (the ear bleeding) when Kathleen Parker came across as completely rational, intelligent and charming last night on Colbert.
@chicago bureau:
Why spend 100s of millions on complex easily tampered machines when about $20k worth of pencils and some paper will do?
@nojo: Go outside, turn around three times, spit and curse, you fate-tempting fool. I bet you were always the one to utter the name of the Scottish play out loud backstage, too!
@BRB: Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth!
Silly superstitions. You’d think just by saying something, God’s hand would descend from the heaven and smite you as you ty
@nojo: Now, go get right with YodaPez and Cat Stick, now.
pe. Missed, you nearsighted deity!
@nojo: You’re 6’2″–maybe he’s farsighted.
@flippin eck: Actually, I’ve decided to use a large stuffed hippo as a decoy. Although looks like I’m gonna need another one.
@nojo: Hamsters, hippos…do you have a stuffed hedgehog, hummingbird, horse, hawk, and harbor seal too?
@flippin eck: In Hartford, Hereford and Hampshire, hurricanes hardly ever happen.
@chicago bureau: Keef O just ripped McCain a new one in a “special comment” about the lynch mobs their campaign rallies have turned into.
@nojo: Do we have to acknowledge your hippo too?
@Mistress Cynica: You may do so by watching relevant episodes of Harvey Birdman.
@nabisco:
beeeesko, jnov,
i just went to a regular old socialist pocono camp where:
i started smoking cigs, got felt up for the first time, and tippied a canoe!
that’s what stinquers do at camp. except my sibs were the neidermeiers, they pretended not to know me.
Mistress Cynica: That was about as pissed off as I’ve seen KO. And that’s saying something. Deserved, obvs.
i have a yoda figurine in a bar of clear soap.
sounds like a good ebay item.
but i would NEVER.
nojo is 6’2″. i’m stunned. didn’t picture that. awful big cage that is.
@baked: I went to a camp in Ala-fucking-bama one year, and the western mountains of N.C. the next. Fun, fun, fun (read: personal Jeebus + personal hell), being all plump and gay and everything. That, and a camp counselor the next year patted my ass for some reason which I never got then, but now I think I know that it helped me become the subversive, perverted individual I am today. Esp. considering I totally would date said cub or whatever he is now as an adult.
Yay, suppressed memories!
@baked:
My parents never felt the urge to ship me off to camp except once when I spent 3 weeks at “Korean” camp in, well, Korea.
What I liked:
1) Tour of a NK infiltration tunnel surrounded by live ammo 100 meters underground.
2) First girlfriend
3) I learned to deal with tropical heat. Heat waves don’t phase me anymore (annoying though.)
What I hated:
1) Despite what my parents told me, Koreans are just like everyone else.
2) Found myself rejected by folks who looked like me because I was a country bumpkin who hung out with white people. Ended up in a room with the guy who was friends with Chinese folks, a crazy guy, an asshole and a Korean guy from Alabama complete with accent.
3) First ever dumping as first girlfriend went for asshole from Houston a week later. Was pissed about it. Apparently, I wasn’t “Korean” enough for her…
4) Realized later that I’m not a part of the mainline North American Korean culture despite some shared DNA and appearance. It was tough to realize that you don’t belong anywhere. It wasn’t till university that I learned I was no longer a square peg.
Good times. Good times…
@baked: Nojo is also the runt of the family. Bro and Dad are taller.
cubbie,
that what camp is meant to do, turn us into the perverted and subversive individuals we proudly are.
funny you have an inapropriate touching memory. the perv that felt me up was 23 and i was 14. let us not dwell, mmkay?
except to say he was gorgeous, totaly without morals and most importantly, where is he now?
i would so date him now too! we are so twisted.
OMFG!! Rachel Maddow just said “Hungry, Hungry Hippo!” Prommie & Nojo, she’s talking to you!
Hi Rachel and her staff! Thanks for reading Stinque! Heart from another Cardinal!
@SanFranLefty: Heard that, thought immediately that inspiration has its own rewards. Wasn’t thinking of the reference yesterday, but the allusion for a food blog is exquisite.
@nojo:
they worth the climb like you?
@nojo: The Hungry Hungry Hippos are in the house. You may have to change the name of Prommie’s blog on the left side of the page.
@baked: Horizontal is the great equalizer.
@SanFranLefty: Took care of that this morning.
Never mind. Here’s the link: http://realsecretsquirrel.blogspot.com/
@chicago bureau: Only a three-minute rant? Heck, doesn’t hold a candle to The Epic Nine Minutes it took Olberman to properly dispatch Hillary’s RFK remark. I think I watched that about ten times, just so I could savor all the moments.
nojo: But he packed his little ball of hate into three minutes, instead of the standard ten. For pure intensity? This was good.
@nojo: Nothing will ever beat KO’s rant on Hillbot on RFK.
@ManchuCandidate: Wow. Now I’m just curious, what thoughts do you have about the identity crisis suffered by many Korean adoptees who wind up in white families in North America?
@SanFranLefty: I thought Angelina Jolie preferred southern Asia.
Jon Stewart just BROUGHT IT with his comparison of McCain’s ‘new’ speech and his one from the convention.
@SanFranLefty:
I feel for them (actually any adoptee.) It just depends on who they know. Some Koreans are understanding, but not that many as we can be a very insular culture like many around the world.
There were a couple of kids who were mixed and they got a pretty rough time.
A Korean girl I once dated told me that Koreans who leave the “community” don’t hang out with those that remain and visa versa. Just is. Problem is that it seems we who aren’t part of the community don’t really like each other (like Siamese fighting fish, put us in the same bowl and we go at it.)
@SanFranLefty: I’ll be checking in with Ped the week before the event, see whether he’s still up for it. Me, I’ll be going either way — I want to experience what it’s like to be amid that much ugliness.
Or I could just attend a Husky game.
@homofascist: Weird, huh? It’s starting to look like a right wing Yom Kippur up in here.
@Mistress Cynica: Is that today’s Countdown or did I miss it already?
@Bionic Bee-yotch:
Tonight’s Countdown. Watch our boyfriend Keiff Oh and our girlfriend Rachel. They’re in good form tonight.
Long time no see, sister Jamie. So are you going to do GOTV in NV with me, in NM w/ RedMan or in CO by yourself?
@Bionic Bee-yotch: Jamie! We’ve missed you!
@ManchuCandidate: Thanks. Like I told Mommy 1.0, I learn a lot from you.
I ask because I just saw clips from a documentary that talks about adult adoptees from Korea. Did you know that South Korea and the U.S. are the two developed nations in the world that export children every year for adoption by people in other countries?
I think I might have overdone the Topo Gigio schtick at CP tonight. Hunter eventually stopped replying. Heh.
@SanFranLefty:
Yes, I read that note to Mommy 1.0. Thanks.
I didn’t realize US shipped out kids as well. Considering how repressed areas of the south/midwest can be, I shouldn’t be surprised as I am.
My mom has met a few folks who adopted Korean babies. She seems to feel sorry for the kids for not having that good Korean parenting. Her attitude comes across as patronizing to me even though it might not be her intent.
The problem is that a lot of Korean adoptees and 2nd generation immigrants have to come to grips that they must make their own identities. It’s not enough to just rely on common features and culture in many cases we do not share. Ultimately we have to make our own and not depend on others for reassurance. It is very tough when you belong to a culture that believes in the saying, “the nail that stands out is always hammered down first.” Hard to break our own imprinted cultural programming.
I got the “You MUST marry KOREAN” speech from my mom about three weeks ago. Pissed me off and when that happens I don’t speak to her for about two weeks.
I haven’t met a Korean female that I wanted to marry let alone carry on a serious relationship with–all are from the “community.” Parially it’s because I’m still a bit sore from teenaged rejection and partially I realize that I’m not happy living in a small insular world (I’d like to say I’m worldly, but I’m not.) I like the big wide world despite the morans. My parents (mom in particular) don’t get that.
@ManchuCandidate: The Korean-American women I know are lesbians, so I’m of no use to you or your mom.
@SanFranLefty:
My mom would go into denial. She believes that Koreans are all straight.
HEY, ANDREW! GIT YER ASS IN HERE!
Oh hey threadjack alert! The heretofore disappointingly vanilla sex scandal of Tim Mahoney gets another diaper! A second mistress, but no mention of steamy threesomes. I guess it’s implied, though.
ORIGINAL ANDREW: In case my message gets blocked, send me the password you’d like and I’ll plug it in.
@ManchuCandidate: We have a lot in common.
@baked: I’d give ANYTHING to be a red diaper baby.
@SanFranLefty: She’s been on The Farm? Huzzah!
@ManchuCandidate: Seriously — we need to talk. I’d like you to write about identity on my blog. I’ve written two posts about race and passing recently, and I have a a few more in me, I think. I’d love to have your perspective.
@drinkyclown: Yeah, supposedly the most-famous mistress broke up with him because he had ((gasp)) other mistresses.
@JNOV:
email me dbdlee@yahoo.com
I’d be happy to be a guest poster.
@ManchuCandidate:
@JNOV:
I’ll look forward to this post at JNOV’s blog. I was fascinated with the complicated issues of identity, both cultural and national, that I came across in my time in Korea, and would love to read more of your own perspective Manchu. I have a good friend born and raised in Toronto who for the simple fact that his grandfather inscribed his birth in the family book down in Busan (without his parents’ knowledge), was nearly detained at immigration upon departure from a summer of visiting family for not having completed his Korean military service. I worked with migra attorneys and we helped work things out in his favor; funny thing is, he said that he would have been ‘interested’ in returning to do the service as a cultural immersion tool (and physical fitness test) but only after law school.
@nabisco:
I had that choice when I was 18–my birth was added to the family book.
I declined the honor of being a Korean citizen as I had applied to engineering school nor was I going to be the Korean Army equivalent of Gomer Pyle –not in shape at the time and didn’t grasp the language all that well plus ROK NonComs are pretty hardcore so I would have been well beaten.
@All: I’m thinking about writing about my experiences with Afro-centrism and fundamentalism. If you’d like to write about being a Red Diaper Baby or your Jeebus camp experience, let me know. I’m very interested in childhood experiences related to identity (ethnic, religious, geographic) that have shaped us. You can reach me at JNOVJezebel[at]gmail[dot]com. I won’t edit your words, and if you’d like to write a series, just let me know. If you have a Blogger account, I can add you as a contributor. Also, I have a short new post up that deals a little with identity, a little with religion and a lot with rude people.
@JNOV: I wrote my law school thesis on statutory and traditional forms of American Indian identity. Basically, one can be an “Indian” under the law, yet have no ties with his or her home community. Then there are those who have a traditional identity as recognized by the home community and family but who are not members of federally recognized Indian tribes. I’ll see if I can dig it up for you. Might be worth revisiting to show academic chops.
@redmanlaw: That would be teh awesome! Yeah, esp CA has a lot of bands unrecognized by the Federal gov’t. And take me — culturally, I am not an American Indian. But I have Eastern Band Cherokees cousins on a rez whom I’ve never met. And my great grandma was a Lakota “student” (slave, rape victim) at the Carlisle School in PA (Jim Thorpe!).
In law school, I was encouraged to join NALSA, but I was afraid I’d look like some poseur considering all I know about being NDN has come from books. But like I wrote before, the NDN community took me in without reservation (heh). The Farm has a very vibrant NDN community, mostly undergrads, but the people who run the cultural center and the house are amazing.
I never thought to ask — Yazzie is a pretty common Din’e name, but do you know Yvonne Yazzie? She used to be at the Farm, and she was also part of the Mormon Indian Placement Program. She was interviewed by NPR some years back. A lot of harm was done to many by that program. Some people still believe that their skin is brown as a punishment from God and that it will lighten as they become worthy. I think I could write a great post on the program.
@JNOV: In a few weeks, I’ll be putting letters written by the founder of the Carlisle School, RH Pratt, online at a site devoted to David Oakerhater, Cheyenne warrior and Episcopal saint. Oakerhater’s letters, some written when he was at Carlisle, are already online. I hesitate to say anything, a)because I’m sooooo white and WASP-y it isn’t even funny, and b) because I do know the horrors that the Indian Schools became, and the damage they did to individuals, cultures, and especially languages. While working on the Oakerhater project, though, I came to see a different side of the assimilation movement: people, who were in effect the bleeding heart liberals of their day, trying desperately to stop genocide in the only way they could figure out. Yes, they set out to eliminate the Indian religion, culture, and languages, but the other alternative on the table was extermination, Sherman and his “the only good Indian is a dead Indian” policy. For all their faults and mistakes and prejudices, Pratt and his supporters did see Indian as fellow human beings, and I think he would have been horrified at the abuse that went on in the schools he started. So anyway, there’s the guilty white liberal perspective on cultural identity.
@Mistress Cynica: Please don’t feel guilty or hesitate to write what you think. I understand the intent of the school, and one thing they were trying to do besides save the Indian physically was to save the Indian’s souls. My GGM became a Baptist and married a half-Welsh half-black coal miner. The family picture taken around the turn of the 20th Century is amazing in its rainbow coalition appearance.
But I also am bitter about her suffering. She took the Baptist saying that “God doesn’t give you a cross too heavy for you to bear” to the extreme. And I’m bitter that my ties to my Lakota relatives were cut when they changed her name and forced her to assimilate. But had she not been there, I wouldn’t have been born.
An Episcopal saint? I thought the Carlisle school was run by Baptists.
@JNOV: “without reservation” – *rimshot*
gotta go – CHINS hearing in a hour
@Mistress Cynica: “Kill the Indian, save the man” also makes me pretty bitter. I’m not so sure that the schools changed all that much over time. The first thing they did to those kids when they got there was cut their hair, a sign of mourning. Actually, that was probably quite appropriate.
@JNOV: I don’t know if Carlisle was Baptist — Oakerhater had converted to Christianity while in prison at Fort Marion, where Pratt was commander. (I think he was in the first group to enter Carlisle, when they were mostly grown men, not children.) The rich white Episcopalians who wintered in St Augustine were his sponsors/proselytizers, which is probably why he became Episcopalian. The English last name he took, Pendleton, was that of the US Senator from Ohio. The woman to whom all these letters were written, Nellie Burnham, was a very devout Episcopalian in NY, and the bishop of NY and others high up in the church were very keen on the assimilation plan. After Carlisle, Oakerhater went to an Episcopal seminary in NY.
Bitterness warning:
And notwithstanding Coptic and other North Africa/Middle Eastern Christians, I take issue with Christianity as it has been used (is still used) as a tool of oppression, mainly by European and US sects. The idea of a Cheyenne Episcopal saint is kind of mindboggling to me.
I mean, the message to slaves and other brown folks was: “Be a good little [insert racial minority here], and your reward will come in Heaven.” (Maybe I did absorb some of that Afro-centric stuff from my childhood.)
Religion is often used to keep mistreated people in line. It is a tool used to have them accept unjust treatment and circumstances as their lot in life, and they are told that there is a grand cosmic plan or scheme that put them in that crappy situation to begin with. Divine Will had them born into slavery or born as an Indian, and who are we to argue with that?
But lucky for them, there is this concept of Grace where their eternal souls can be redeemed through accepting the religion of the oppressor. Man, fuck that! That way of thinking made people who should have been outraged meek and complacent, and it fueled self-loathing for some. Slaves were told they weren’t even getting to go to white heaven. Segregation here and segregation there.
Well-meaning people throughout history have often harbored racist ideas. Take the first-wave feminists. They started agitating for the right to vote because male abolitionists didn’t take them seriously. But when slavery ended and they realized that black men were going to get the right to vote before women, they flipped out. Once trotted out by the suffragists as an example of what a free black man could accomplish, Frederick Douglas was kicked out of the club when he started making noise about blacks getting the vote. Not before white women, no!
It’s just an example of people with competing beefs not getting together and working toward common goals. On the ex-Mormon board I used to read, every single time Prop 8 came up, some wackadoo started bitching about how we should turn our attention toward the unequal treatment of women rather than that of LGBT folks. Can’t we do both? That whole, “My oppression is worse than your oppression” makes me nuts.
/end rant
@redmanlaw: I’d be interested in it. There is some hard-to-understand stuff going on here in CA over who gets to share in casino revenues.
@Mistress Cynica: I believe Pratt was Baptist. I learned about The Carlisle school from friends and from this ancient page from the 90s.
@Dodgerblue: @redmanlaw: I’m also interested – sometimes is hard to say whether ICWA applies to non-federally recognized tribes and figuring out when a tribe is a tribe for those purposes. I haven’t had the time to do the research on it.
Hey Stinquers: how do I get my avatar back?
@Dodgerblue: It’s tied to the email address you used to sign up, so if it’s a different address than the one you used at CP, you need to go to Gravatar and add it to your account there.
Or change the address here, I guess.
Instructions are on my to-do list, buried under everything else on my to-do list.
@Dodgerblue: I’m sure that Nojo will correct me, but here’s what I did. Click on your name where it shows up at the bottom of the page to open up your profile. Make sure that the email matches the one you used at gravatar.com to upload your avatar. Double check at gravatar.com. Wait a couple days or refresh your cache.
@Dodgerblue: I’m holding it hostage until the Phillies win the World Series.
@JNOV: Let’s talk after tonight’s game. I’ll be toggling back and forth with the debate, yelling at both channels. “McCain, you call that a strike, you asshole?”
@JNOV: what is the significance of your avatar, btw? I like it.
@Dodgerblue: I’m so glad you asked! I love every opportunity I get to talk about Bo Bartlett. Here’s the entire painting. He’s an artist from Georgia who lived in Philly for a while (he went to the PA Academy of the Fine Arts), and Andrew Wyeth took him under his wing.
Goddess is HUGE, and it’s supposed to be a depiction of what an infant sees when her mother looks into her crib.
Here’s more of his stuff: http://www.bobartlett.com/
Now he’s some sort of recluse living on some island somewhere. And he’s a big ole hippy. I heart him.
@JNOV: Cool! I see he has a show in LA next Spring. I won’t miss it.
@Dodgerblue: Awesome! I write fan mail to this guy. I was sad to find that he moved away from the area because I had a secret wish of meeting him on the street one day. And becoming his model. Heh.
@JNOV: Rush on JNOV’s summer camp.
http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/rush-limbaugh-says-blacks-are-angry-and
@redmanlaw: Are you trying to give me a coronary? And do Wright and Ayers explain why there are people living on reservations without running water and electricity?
Institutional racism is alive and well, and yes, that and your garden variety of racism are to blame for poverty. And don’t let me forget capitalism — there always have to be winners and losers for a capitalist society to function properly. The good old carrot and stick. Don’t get me started. I’m in a mood.
FLYINGCHAINSAW • TRUMP: MACHINE GUNNING ORPHANAGES AND CONVENTS BY ME IS CONSTITUTIONAL AND SOMETIMES IT MAKES ME ERECT WITHOUT PHARMACEUTICAL ASSISTANCE! Sen. sENEMA has a career ahead of her in giving designer psychedelic enemas to trust-fund…
MANCHUCANDIDATE • TRUMP: MACHINE GUNNING ORPHANAGES AND CONVENTS BY ME IS CONSTITUTIONAL AND SOMETIMES IT MAKES ME ERECT WITHOUT PHARMACEUTICAL ASSISTANCE! @¡Andrew!: She thought three's company. Nope.
¡ANDREW! • TRUMP: MACHINE GUNNING ORPHANAGES AND CONVENTS BY ME IS CONSTITUTIONAL AND SOMETIMES IT MAKES ME ERECT WITHOUT PHARMACEUTICAL ASSISTANCE! Gawd hates SIN, specifically Kyrsten SINema.
¡ANDREW! • TRUMP: MACHINE GUNNING ORPHANAGES AND CONVENTS BY ME IS CONSTITUTIONAL AND SOMETIMES IT MAKES ME ERECT WITHOUT PHARMACEUTICAL ASSISTANCE! So long, Senatard Glitter-trash. I hope she knows how much everyone H8s her :0)
¡ANDREW! • TRUMP: MACHINE GUNNING ORPHANAGES AND CONVENTS BY ME IS CONSTITUTIONAL AND SOMETIMES IT MAKES ME ERECT WITHOUT PHARMACEUTICAL ASSISTANCE! The racist kleptocratic MSM is really gonna have to crank up the bread and circuses now that their…
FLYINGCHAINSAW • TRUMP: MACHINE GUNNING ORPHANAGES AND CONVENTS BY ME IS CONSTITUTIONAL AND SOMETIMES IT MAKES ME ERECT WITHOUT PHARMACEUTICAL ASSISTANCE! @¡Andrew!: Ted Kazinski Sec of Interior Only the DEAD are extreme enough to serve in DONNIE…
¡ANDREW! • TRUMP: MACHINE GUNNING ORPHANAGES AND CONVENTS BY ME IS CONSTITUTIONAL AND SOMETIMES IT MAKES ME ERECT WITHOUT PHARMACEUTICAL ASSISTANCE! @FlyingChainSaw: Department of Health & Human Services: Charles Manson Defense Secretary:…
FLYINGCHAINSAW • TRUMP: MACHINE GUNNING ORPHANAGES AND CONVENTS BY ME IS CONSTITUTIONAL AND SOMETIMES IT MAKES ME ERECT WITHOUT PHARMACEUTICAL ASSISTANCE! @¡Andrew!: Right, the administration's all star line up: Pres: Trump VP: Ted Kaczynski…
FLYINGCHAINSAW • TRUMP: MACHINE GUNNING ORPHANAGES AND CONVENTS BY ME IS CONSTITUTIONAL AND SOMETIMES IT MAKES ME ERECT WITHOUT PHARMACEUTICAL ASSISTANCE! @FlyingChainSaw: Actually, FDLE would be the first to admit it. The state banks on it with 'sue me…
¡ANDREW! • TRUMP: MACHINE GUNNING ORPHANAGES AND CONVENTS BY ME IS CONSTITUTIONAL AND SOMETIMES IT MAKES ME ERECT WITHOUT PHARMACEUTICAL ASSISTANCE! I cannot wait for the Republinazi MAGAt trash to DEMAND that $hitler be allowed to be president…