esrosedotblog

Not because it is a holiday but because we had a condo board meeting and there is other stuff as well.

I am sorry but I am one of the people who has no investment in MLK. Great guy, hero to many, but not on my radar.

I suppose that is racist or thought to be for some. But then that is the whole thing around MLK. There is no ignoring him. Or no being detached.

Well, I am.

Now is the time for me to say that I am not a racist.

Or that some of my best friends are black.

Or some such thing.

But it would be a lie.

In my time and place there has been no connection other than professional.

To say that race makes no difference to me is, in itself racist. I think.

I have gone far enough here.

From an early age I went with my Dad to the black community, such as it was, in my little rural town.

Then there was Mr. Morgan who drove a woody station wagon and ran the whole servant thing at the local ritzy hotel.

No one in my house ever used the n word. Ever.

But this was rural Pennsylvania. Appalachia. Without the hotel we would all have been white trash hillbillies but we didn't use those words either.

When I went to college the only brown skins were Indians. A little hard to take because of the culture but still OK.

So I am tone deaf.

That said, I live in Palm Springs California which is carefully curated to be lily white. I didn't do it but someone did and does.

There are no blacks in our condo complex either.

I don't know why I am going on about it.

I grew up and live in a racist society and I am not proud of it but that is how I have turned out.

Here, in California, the emphasis is on Mexican culture and that separation. White people keep thing pretty well controlled.

That will do for now.

I have no more to say on it.

I am not capable of a decent discussion of the issues or the scene.

Labels: holidays, race

NOT TELEVISED

A lot of history passes by.

Labels: music, race

WHAT, ME RACIST?

Here is the ultimate rundown of the unravelling of white America over its not-white President.

I know that a lot of people don't want to see racism behind a lot of the shit that goes on but this will help you get over your denial. The opening para alone is worth the trip.

White America Has Lost Its Mind

Of course, no one wants to be a racist. So, remember. What we are talking about is behavior.

I gave this lecture awhile ago.

If you are with someone who uses the N-word or says something really stupid about our President that has a tinge of the race bait about it, point it out as racist commentary. Do not accuse anyone of being a racist. No one is. Not anyone who you would say that to.

The wide open racists will probably not be worth having within your designated area. It is the marginals, the innocent, who need to see what they are saying and putting out is racist.

And so on.

Labels: Barack Obama, race, republican whack jobs

MARGARET WRITES TO HELEN

We survived Bush. You’ll survive Obama.

For those who remember Margaret, you will enjoy this. For those who missed it, try her archives.

Labels: Administration Obama, race

HE WON'T DANCE

Just as the race baiting increases, even in the face of Jimmy Carter's frank assessment of the matter, comes this observation from Ta-Nehisi Coates

The nut of it.

Barack Obama, bourgeois in every way that bourgeois is right and just, will not dance. He tells kids to study--and they seethe. He accepts an apology for an immature act of rudeness--and they go hysterical. He takes his wife out for a date--and their veins bulge. His humanity, his ordinary blackness, is killing them. Dig the audio of his response to Kanye West--the way he says, "He's a jackass." He sounds like one of my brothers. And that's the point, because that's what he is. Barack Obama refuses to be their nigger. And it's driving them crazy.
It's about time.

Labels: Administration Obama, race

TRANSCENDING RACE? HOGWASH!

Brent Staples gets it just about right in todays NYTimes.

President Obama, Professor Gates and the Cambridge Police

I watched the police sergeant who arrested Gates this morning on CNN. He is casting himself as the victim.

Talk about not getting it.

I read elsewhere in the Times that very few blacks were surprised at Mr. Gates' treatment or at the over reaction of the Cambridge cop. This is quite normal operating procedure.

Did you know that you shouldn't walk outside in a situation like this? Inside your home you can say what you fucking want. Outside, well you see what happens.

Power is also involved here. Who is on top. A successful black man in a nice house near Harvard Square. Even if you know who he is, he has to be brought down a peg.

Gates, himself, said in an interview, that the only black family immune to this kind of incident was the one at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

And that may be just about right.

Add Hispanics to this. And Muslims, the obvious ones. You have the mix for this shit to happen.

I won't bring up "the gays". Let's just roll with race and color today.

By the way, it is interesting that while Obama sanded the edges of his comments the other night, he basically has held in tight proving Staple's point. Obama is not about finessing race or race issues. He is not the "magic negro" or the whiter than thou black who makes us white folk feel so good about ourselves.

Labels: Administration Obama, race

HIGH PROFILE

If you wanted to keep a lid on your racial bias you couldn't do worse than be the guy or the police department that arrested Henry Louis Gates, Jr. in his own home and then perp walked him with the cuffs on.

Obama Wades Into a Volatile Racial Issue

I agree with Obama. Racial profiling aside, it was really a stupid move.

Not only is Gates famous, he is notably testy.

They didn't know it was him? Well, no. A Cambridge cop. I know whereof I speak. But he is a sergeant. Or was.

Gates is a loud and vociferous opponent on any debate or question. Outspoken. Chutzpah to spare. And all the bristling pride of a man emancipated, until this, from daily confrontations with racism.

I have always admired Gates. He is a powerful voice on many fronts and he is also fun to listen to. Very bright and funny.

I know that he called up a ruckus on the cops. No question. He pissed them off.

And there you have it. The "uppity nigger". Kick his ass. Set him down. Humiliate him with the cuffs in the front so everyone can see them. Put him back to his own level.

There will be more of this. The frustration of having a black President sublimated to other acting out.

I know that this is how it is from my own experience as a gay man. We are under the PC umbrella now. So, if you are a homophobe, go around the side. Keep them guessing. You can't punch them out anymore but you can fuck with them another way.

I am not paranoic about this. I have had a relatively harm free life. The trick is to be able to see when this is happening to you and to label it. To speak out. Not to take any shit.

And we shouldn't be taking shit from cops anyway. It is not a crime to call him out and ask for a badge number and name.

Of course, it could be that there was nothing racial about this at all. We have some arrogant cop bastards in Palm Springs and it has nothing to do with either racism or homophobia. Some are black, some are gay and some are both. They are just arrogant bastards. But you still don't have to buy into it.

Well, maybe you think that you do but I do not.

Labels: Administration Obama, gay rights, race

RACISM

Suddenly there is a whole bunch of shit about blacks being responsible for the success of Prop 8.

Hold on.

The exits show that a major percentage of Asians, Hispanics and Whites voted for Prop 8 also.

This is not a matter of race.

Sure, we wish that some black people had a better grasp of the inherent genetic aspect of homosexuality. All that.

But that is our problem. Education.

This is largely a challenge for gay people to solve.

I am more sympathetic with the demonstrations against the Mormon folks. We even had one in Palm Springs.

They pumped a lot of dough into the race and they made the issue theirs. That is a lot different than what a class of people did or did not do in the voting booth.

I am not aware that any bloc of Black or Hispanics or Asians formed a campaign fund. The Mormons did and the Knights of Columbus did.

So cool it off.

Let's keep coming out. Let's keep the information flowing.

It has, is and will be our job to promote and educate. And demonstrate too if it comes to that. Boycotts anyone?

That is how it has been done historically.

I am warmed to the heart to see young gay men and women act out by marching and other forms of activism. It is their turn to take the baton. They have not really done so up to now.

Perhaps, now that they have felt the sting of homophobia—loss of rights in three state elections—they will be a tad less complacent.

Labels: gay rights, race

MORE ABOUT WHY IT IS MORE ABOUT RACE THAN YOU THINK IT IS

Visible Man

I think the term used to be "uppity'.

Labels: obama, race

THE BLACK ELEPHANT UNDER THE CARPET

This is one of the dumbest "analysis" pieces that I have read in some time and I have read some really, really dumb ones lately.

For Obama, a Struggle to Win Over Key Blocs

The conclusion here is that there 'might be' some problem with Mr. Obama's race with some key voter blocs.

Like older, working class, white people.

Gee. Do ya' think?

This kind of creeping up on a key issue is worse than the existence of the issue itself.

There is blatant racism in the Pennsylvania vote and the Clintons nudged the buttons on it.

Labels: obama, race

CONSIDERATION

Now that I have panned the movie, I should say that, in its ham handed way, Sayonara has its heart in the right place. It may, at the time, have made a great deal of impact.

It was made only ten years after WWII and feelings were still very strong against Japan.

My father, whose ship was hit by a kamikaze, held a lifelong prejudice against them and used all the hate words.

It is easy to scoff now about the film's double standards and inherent racism but, I suppose, they should get an E for effort.

They show the cultural side and the hero does get a war bride despite all the opposition.

Now, it is brown people who are getting the racist going over.

People from south of our border and, of course, your average person of middle eastern extraction.

It is always something.

Hate is portable.

This image is a work of art itself. It is called "White Liberal Mugs".

It'll work for the two Sayonara posts.

Labels: race

SLAMMING BACK

For those old enough to remember the Clarence Thomas hearings it will come as no surprise that the controversy still burns.

Thomas has an autobiography out where he hopes to settle old scores.

Anita Hill answers in todays NYTimes OpEd.

The Smear This Time

I can still remember watching the hearings (yes I was watching teevee then) and witnessing the moment that Hill entered the hearing room.

Quite a stir.

Quite an entrance.

And then the testimony. Riveting.

This bit of history is still unwinding itself and it is not over.

Labels: politics, race