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THE QUOTE
“Racism is a much more clandestine, much more hidden kind of phenomenon, but at the same time it’s perhaps far more terrible than it’s ever been.” — Angela Davis
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THE KEYS TO THE WHITE HOUSE
Have you seen this map yet?
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Weird, huh?
It’s the electoral map from Tuesday’s presidential election with all the women’s and blacks’ votes discounted. In other words had the female suffragists never been successful, nor had the 15th Amendment giving free blacks the right to vote been ratified, this is what we’d have been left with — one of the greatest electoral college landslides in the history of the United States.
For Willard “Mitt” Romney.
White men simply did not vote for Barack Obama. And for the last 223 years, white men have chosen the president.
No more.
Is it any wonder why they’re scared to death?
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SO WHO AM I?
Now here’s my own existential question: Why do I refer to white men as “they”?
A Young Mitt Romney And His (White) Pals
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Again, is it any wonder?
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SNITCHES
Jezebel, as you probably know, is part of the Gawker Media group of websites. As its name indicates, it’s directed at women. But I read it because, well, as indicated in the preceding entry, I’m not thrilled to be a part of the white male gang.
Speaking of whiteness, Jezebel has embarked on a campaign to blow the whistle on high school kids who’ve Tweeted racist and often threatening comments about the reelection of Barack Obama Tuesday.
Far too many of these little bastards are calling Obama a “nigger” and a “monkey” and some even express longing for the day he gets picked off by an assassin.
Now, I’ll refrain from revealing what I’d like to do to these brats only because it entails my shoe and their asses and, as I understand it, kicking the crap out of kids is frowned upon these days.
That said, I’m made a little uncomfortable by Jezebel’s tactics. See, the website is contacting the schools these racist kids attend and letting their principals know what they’re saying on the social site.
Not only that but Jezebel is publicizing the kids’ names as well as their schools on the site which is seen by perhaps 100,000 people a day (the latest figures show the combined daily hit total for Gawker’s sites is about a quarter of a million, so I’m estimating here.)
Anyway, I don’t like it. Kids are stupid. I know this because I was a kid once. Kids say stupid things. I remember once telling my mother that I was a communist. Communism, after all, seemed a very attractive alternative to me at the age of 17, what with the Vietnam War and racism and the Nixon White House defining this holy land at the time.
Should I have been called out in a national media outlet for saying so? IIRC, my flirtation with communism lasted all of a few weeks. Then I read about old Joe Stalin and his purges and idiosyncrasies. I also read that even though Stalinism had been declared old hat in the USSR, the new generation of leaders there were only slightly less, shall we say, stern than Stalin.
And here’s another thing. I’ve called some people “nigger” in my day. That’s the word we used in my neighborhood to describe black people. I wasn’t terribly comfortable using that terminology and I never used it as liberally as the vast majority of my peers. In fact, even during those few-and-far-between moments when I did drop an N, I knew I wouldn’t be saying the word once I freed myself from the neighborhood I grew up in.
Still, I felt an almost irresistible pressure to speak in the language of my environs. I did my best to resist, but sometimes I couldn’t. I was, after all, a kid. And kids not only are stupid, they’re apt to fall in line awfully easily.
I was overheard saying the word once by a black guy named Chris, whom I liked. I’ll never forget the look on Chris’s face: a combination of hurt and anger that I’d never seen before. I swore at that moment I’d never use the word as a descriptor again.
Nevertheless, I ran into the guy and his sister several years later on Michigan Avenue. Apparently, he’d never told his sister about what he’d heard me say. She greeted me like a long lost brother. All the while, the guy stood at a remove, eying me as one would a rat.
I wanted to say to him, “Chris, I’ve never used that word again,” but I knew it wouldn’t make his hurt and anger go away. It would only make me feel better to say so.
Speaking of rats, Katy Waldman wrote on Slate.com Friday that Jezebel is “ratting out” the kids. She, too, riffs on the stupidity of kids. She also posits that Jezebel’s campaign just might make the Tweeters in question bitter, which could very well preclude any magical reversal of their racist feelings.
For its part, Jezebel says it’s calling out these Tweeters and dropping the hammer on them via their principals in an effort to get them to see the error of their ways.
Perhaps. I still don’t care for the paternalistic (or should I say maternalistic) attitude Jezebel’s taking here. It reeks of Joe Friday on “Dragnet” preaching against hippies and LSD and extolling the values of hard work and sacrifice.
As kids, we all laughed at Joe Friday. The mere fact that he was anti-LSD to a large extent drove us toward it. He was the authority, someone to be resisted at all costs.
With its campaign, Jezebel’s putting itself in the role of authority. How hip is the term “nigger” going to become now?
Unless a kid has it in his heart to see black people as human beings who can experience hurt and anger, he’ll never stop dropping the N-bomb no matter how many people call him out on it.
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The only events listings you need in Bloomington.
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Monday, November 12th, 2012
LECTURE ◗ IU Maurer School of Law, Room 335 — A Case Study of China’s Administrative Law Crisis: The Unlawful Enforcement of Insider Trading Prohibition,” Presented by Nicholas Howson, professor of law at the University of Michigan; Noon
MUSIC ◗ IU Ford-Crawford Hall — Master’s Recital: Adam Walton, bass-baritone; 5pm
MUSIC ◗ IU Auer Hall — Doctoral Recital: Matthew Middleton on organ; 5pm
LETTERS ◗ Rachael’s Cafe — Creative writing workshop; 6-8pm
OPEN HOUSE ◗ Harmony School; 6:30pm
FILM ◗ IU Cinema — “Blind Chance“; 7pm
LECTURE ◗ Buskirk Chumley Theater — IU School of Journalism Speaker Series: Byron Pitts of CBS News; 7pm
MUSIC ◗ Muddy Boots Cafe, Nashville — Joe Sanford; 7-9pm
SPORTS ◗ IU Assembly Hall — Hoosier men’s basketball vs. North Dakota State; 7pm
MUSIC ◗ IU Auer Hall — Percussion Ensemble, John Tafoya & Kevin Bobo, directors; 7pm
LECTURE ◗ IU Sweeney Hall — Guest Lecture: Shinuh Lee, composer; 7pm
MUSIC ◗ IU Musical Arts Center Recital Hall — Horn Studio Recital: Students of Jeff Nelson; 7pm
MUSIC ◗ IU Musical Arts Center — MAC Lobby Concerts Series: Jazz Combo; 7:15pm
MUSIC ◗ The Player’s Pub — Songwriter Showcase; 8pm
MUSIC ◗ IU Musical Arts Center — Latin Jazz Ensemble & Jazz Combo, Michael Spiro & Jeremy Allen, directors; 8pm
MUSIC ◗ The Bishop — DJ Tyler Damon; 8pm
MUSIC ◗ IU Ford-Crawford Hall — Doctoral Recital: Julia Pefanis, mezzo-soprano; 8:30pm
MUSIC ◗ The Bluebird — Dave Walters karaoke; 9pm
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ONGOING:
ART ◗ IU Art Museum — Exhibits:
- “Paragons of Filial Piety,” by Utagawa Kuniyoshi; through December 31st
- “Intimate Models: Photographs of Husbands, Wives, and Lovers,” by Julia Margaret, Cameron, Edward Weston, & Harry Callahan; through December 31st
- “French Printmaking in the Seventeenth Century;” through December 31st
- Celebration of Cuban Art & Film: Pop-art by Joe Tilson; through December 31st
- “Threads of Love: Baby Carriers from China’s Minority Nationalities“; through December 23rd
- “Workers of the World, Unite!” through December 31st
- “Embracing Nature,” by Barry Gealt; through December 23rd
- “Pioneers & Exiles: German Expressionism,” through December 23rd
ART ◗ Ivy Tech Waldron Center — Exhibits through December 1st:
- “Essentially Human,” By William Fillmore
- “Two Sides to Every Story,” By Barry Barnes
- “Horizons in Pencil and Wax,” By Carol Myers
ART ◗ IU SoFA Grunwald Gallery — Exhibits through November 16th:
- Buzz Spector: Off the Shelf
- Small Is Big
ART ◗ IU Kinsey Institute Gallery — Exhibits through December 20th:
- “A Place Aside: Artists and Their Partners“
- “Gender Expressions“
ART ◗ IU Mathers Museum of World Cultures — Exhibits:
- “¡Cuba Si! Posters from the Revolution: 1960s and 1970s”
- “From the Big Bang to the World Wide Web: The Origins of Everything”
- “Thoughts, Things, and Theories… What Is Culture?”
- “Picturing Archaeology”
- “Personal Accents: Accessories from Around the World”
- “Blended Harmonies: Music and Religion in Nepal”
- “The Day in Its Color: A Hoosier Photographer’s Journey through Mid-century America”
- “TOYing with Ideas”
- “Living Heritage: Performing Arts of Southeast Asia”
- “On a Wing and a Prayer”
BOOKS ◗ IU Lilly Library — Exhibits:
- “The War of 1812 in the Collections of the Lilly Library“; through December 15th
- “A World of Puzzles,” selections from the Slocum Puzzle Collection
ARTIFACTS ◗ Monroe County History Center — Exhibits:
- Doctors & Dentists: A Look into the Monroe County Medical Professions
- What Is Your Quilting Story?
- Garden Glamour: Floral Fashion Frenzy
- Bloomington Then & Now
- World War II Uniforms
- Limestone Industry in Monroe County