"A promise is a comfort to a fool."
3 days ago
Monday, May 3, 2010
47 Years Ago Today a Nation Was Horrified (or at least a PART of it was)
As African American children ages 6-18 were prevented, by fire hoses and police dogs, from marching to protest segregation in Birmingham, AL. Bull Conner had already filled the jails the previous day--May 2, 1963. On May 3, 1963 the evils of racism and Jim Crow crept into the living rooms of whites throughout America and the world in a way in had not before. And it was a catalyst for long-fought-for change.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Goings on in California state college system
Here's a link to a site set up by UC-Sand Diego students, faculty and staff concerned about a series of incidents that have heightened racial tension and caused minorities to feel unwelcome and threatened. From a racist "Compton Cookout" to a noose in the library, the administration has allowed a climate of intolerance and ridicule to fester.
http://stopracismucsd.wordpress.com/
http://stopracismucsd.wordpress.com/
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Tea Party = Racism and Xenophobia
More evidence that the "Tea Party Movement" is racist to the core, from the first so-called Tea Party national convention in Nashville last week:
Opening speaker, former GOP primary presidential candidate Tom Tancredo said Obama won because "we do not have a civics, literacy test before people can vote in this country." Yeah, and we don't have poll taxes and near as many lynchings as we used to, either. Oh, those glory days of Jim Crow...
He went on to say that "people who could not spell the word vote or say it in English put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House — name is Barack Hussein Obama” and blamed our nation's problems on the "cult of multiculturalism." Hmm.
Opening speaker, former GOP primary presidential candidate Tom Tancredo said Obama won because "we do not have a civics, literacy test before people can vote in this country." Yeah, and we don't have poll taxes and near as many lynchings as we used to, either. Oh, those glory days of Jim Crow...
He went on to say that "people who could not spell the word vote or say it in English put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House — name is Barack Hussein Obama” and blamed our nation's problems on the "cult of multiculturalism." Hmm.
Celebrate aTriumph of Justice!
20 years ago today, one of the great moments in international racial justice happened, as Nelson Mandela walked free after 27 years as a political prisoner.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Beginning of the End of Jim Crow
Fifty years ago today, a few brave young souls from an historically black college in Greensboro, NC decided to lay their bodies on the line to express their conviction that they had as much right as white customers did to sit at the Woolworth's lunch counter. It wasn't the first such sit-in. It isn't commonly seen as the spark of the civil rights movement (Emmett Till's murder, or Brown v. Board, or the Montgomery bus boycott get credit for that). But the Greensboro sit-in movement, begun Feb. 1, 1960, sparked something. Within weeks, similar sit-ins had broken out in dozens of other towns. Within months, it was going on in 100s of places with novel variations. Jails started filling up as the common masses and college students took over what had been a somewhat elite-led movement. Three years later, the 1964 Civil Rights Law outlawed Jim Crow segregation in privately owned businesses that served the general public.
Friday, January 22, 2010
I Can't Make This Stuff Up!
Apparently, a minor league, or semi-pro basketball league for white players only is in the works. Only in America, O my God! I thought sure this was like an Onion satirical fake news story or something, but apparently not...
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2010/01/19/nba_563760.shtml
Basketball league for white Americans targets Augusta
By Billy Byler| Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
A new professional basketball league boasting rosters made up exclusively of white Americans has its eyes set on Augusta, but the team isn't receiving a warm welcome.
Sign up for breaking news alerts from The Chronicle
The All-American Basketball Alliance announced in a news release Sunday evening that it intends to start its inaugural season in June and hopes Augusta will be one of 12 cities with a team.
"Only players that are natural born United States citizens with both parents of Caucasian race are eligible to play in the league," the statement said.
Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver, who has publicly expressed his support for minor league teams in the past, said he would not do the same for this team.
"As a sports enthusiast, I have always supported bringing more sporting activities to Augusta," he said. "However, in this instance I could not support in good conscience bringing in a team that did not fit with the spirit of inclusiveness that I, along with many others, have worked so hard to foster in our city."
Clint Bryant, athletic director at Augusta State University, laughed when he heard the news.
"It's so absurd, it's funny, but it gives you an idea of the sickness of our society" he said. "It shows you what lengths people will go to just to be mean-spirited. I think at any basketball level, no matter if it's all black, all white, all Hispanic, all Asian or anyone else, the players should just be a basketball team."
Don "Moose" Lewis, the commissioner of the AABA, said the reasoning behind the league's roster restrictions is not racism.
"There's nothing hatred about what we're doing," he said. "I don't hate anyone of color. But people of white, American-born citizens are in the minority now. Here's a league for white players to play fundamental basketball, which they like."
Lewis said he wants to emphasize fundamental basketball instead of "street-ball" played by "people of color." He pointed out recent incidents in the NBA, including Gilbert Arenas' indefinite suspension after bringing guns into the Washington Wizards locker room, as examples of fans' dissatisfaction with the way current professional sports are run.
"Would you want to go to the game and worry about a player flipping you off or attacking you in the stands or grabbing their crotch?" he said. "That's the culture today, and in a free country we should have the right to move ourselves in a better direction."
The Atlanta-based league, which will operate as a single-entity owning all of its teams, is looking for local contacts to pay $10,000 to become a "licensee" in one of 12 cities throughout the Southeast. Lewis said he has already received threats from people opposed to the roster restrictions and several cities have told him to stay out of town. Lewis said he has yet to hear from any one in Augusta.
"We need a local person ingrained into the community to make this successful," he said.
Lewis said he expects to eventually find support in every town with a team.
"People will come out and support a product they can identify with. I'm the spoken minority right now, but if people will give us a chance, it'll work... The white game of basketball, which is essentially a fundamental game, works."
Lewis said he wasn't sure where the team will play.
Augusta has had problems with minor league basketball teams in the past, but the issues never centered around race. The Augusta Drive lasted less than a month before folding in 1995, citing financial reasons. The Augusta Groove made it through a full, 20-game schedule in 2009, but accusations from players and local businesses that the team wasn't paying its bills surrounded the team during the second half of the season. The team later shut down in the offseason.
From the Tuesday, January 19, 2010 edition of the Augusta Chronicle
http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2010/01/19/nba_563760.shtml
Basketball league for white Americans targets Augusta
By Billy Byler| Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
A new professional basketball league boasting rosters made up exclusively of white Americans has its eyes set on Augusta, but the team isn't receiving a warm welcome.
Sign up for breaking news alerts from The Chronicle
The All-American Basketball Alliance announced in a news release Sunday evening that it intends to start its inaugural season in June and hopes Augusta will be one of 12 cities with a team.
"Only players that are natural born United States citizens with both parents of Caucasian race are eligible to play in the league," the statement said.
Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver, who has publicly expressed his support for minor league teams in the past, said he would not do the same for this team.
"As a sports enthusiast, I have always supported bringing more sporting activities to Augusta," he said. "However, in this instance I could not support in good conscience bringing in a team that did not fit with the spirit of inclusiveness that I, along with many others, have worked so hard to foster in our city."
Clint Bryant, athletic director at Augusta State University, laughed when he heard the news.
"It's so absurd, it's funny, but it gives you an idea of the sickness of our society" he said. "It shows you what lengths people will go to just to be mean-spirited. I think at any basketball level, no matter if it's all black, all white, all Hispanic, all Asian or anyone else, the players should just be a basketball team."
Don "Moose" Lewis, the commissioner of the AABA, said the reasoning behind the league's roster restrictions is not racism.
"There's nothing hatred about what we're doing," he said. "I don't hate anyone of color. But people of white, American-born citizens are in the minority now. Here's a league for white players to play fundamental basketball, which they like."
Lewis said he wants to emphasize fundamental basketball instead of "street-ball" played by "people of color." He pointed out recent incidents in the NBA, including Gilbert Arenas' indefinite suspension after bringing guns into the Washington Wizards locker room, as examples of fans' dissatisfaction with the way current professional sports are run.
"Would you want to go to the game and worry about a player flipping you off or attacking you in the stands or grabbing their crotch?" he said. "That's the culture today, and in a free country we should have the right to move ourselves in a better direction."
The Atlanta-based league, which will operate as a single-entity owning all of its teams, is looking for local contacts to pay $10,000 to become a "licensee" in one of 12 cities throughout the Southeast. Lewis said he has already received threats from people opposed to the roster restrictions and several cities have told him to stay out of town. Lewis said he has yet to hear from any one in Augusta.
"We need a local person ingrained into the community to make this successful," he said.
Lewis said he expects to eventually find support in every town with a team.
"People will come out and support a product they can identify with. I'm the spoken minority right now, but if people will give us a chance, it'll work... The white game of basketball, which is essentially a fundamental game, works."
Lewis said he wasn't sure where the team will play.
Augusta has had problems with minor league basketball teams in the past, but the issues never centered around race. The Augusta Drive lasted less than a month before folding in 1995, citing financial reasons. The Augusta Groove made it through a full, 20-game schedule in 2009, but accusations from players and local businesses that the team wasn't paying its bills surrounded the team during the second half of the season. The team later shut down in the offseason.
From the Tuesday, January 19, 2010 edition of the Augusta Chronicle
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
"Father of Reparations" and President of "the Republic of New Africa"dies
RIP to a visionary or crazy guy--take your pick. I'll take visionary.
From http://www.wxvt.com/Global/story.asp?S=11849216
Imari Obadele "Father of Reparations" dies in Ga.
Associated Press - January 19, 2010 11:14 PM ET
ATLANTA (AP) - Imari Obadele, the former leader of the Republic of New Africa separatist group, has died. He was 79.
Obadele's daughters, Marilyn Obadele and Vivian Gafford, said Tuesday that their father died of massive stroke Monday in Atlanta.
Known as the "Father of Reparations," Obadele was a staunch supporter of Malcom X and eventually became President of the Republic of New Africa, which sought to establish its own nation in the South.
He was president when, in 1971, city police and FBI agents battled RNA members who were inside a fortified home in Jackson, Miss. One police officer was killed and two others were wounded in the shootout.
Obadele spent more than five years in prison for conspiracy but was not charged with murder.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
From http://www.wxvt.com/Global/story.asp?S=11849216
Imari Obadele "Father of Reparations" dies in Ga.
Associated Press - January 19, 2010 11:14 PM ET
ATLANTA (AP) - Imari Obadele, the former leader of the Republic of New Africa separatist group, has died. He was 79.
Obadele's daughters, Marilyn Obadele and Vivian Gafford, said Tuesday that their father died of massive stroke Monday in Atlanta.
Known as the "Father of Reparations," Obadele was a staunch supporter of Malcom X and eventually became President of the Republic of New Africa, which sought to establish its own nation in the South.
He was president when, in 1971, city police and FBI agents battled RNA members who were inside a fortified home in Jackson, Miss. One police officer was killed and two others were wounded in the shootout.
Obadele spent more than five years in prison for conspiracy but was not charged with murder.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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