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Secretary of State Condeleeza Rice made a thought provoking comment regarding race in America last month. The comments were overshadowed by rumors of her being selected as a running mate for John McCain, and the Tom Joyner, Tavis Smiley and J Anthony Brown nonsense.
It’s the same ole schickardy.
Take a listen to what Secretary Rice had to say by clicking the rice unplugged on race. See if you agree that it provides a different perspective on Rice as an African American. Feel free to comment.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in a wide-ranging interview with reporters and editors yesterday at The Washington Times, says boycotting the Summer Olympics in China would be ineffective.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that the United States still has trouble dealing with race because of a national “birth defect” that denied black Americans the opportunities given to whites at the country’s very founding.
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“Black Americans were a founding population,” she said. “Africans and Europeans came here and founded this country together — Europeans by choice and Africans in chains. That’s not a very pretty reality of our founding.”
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As a result, Miss Rice told editors and reporters at The Washington Times, “descendants of slaves did not get much of a head start, and I think you continue to see some of the effects of that.”
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“That particular birth defect makes it hard for us to confront it, hard for us to talk about it, and hard for us to realize that it has continuing relevance for who we are today,” she said.
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TWT Audio: Rice unplugged on race
Posted 5 years ago at 12:44 am. Add a comment
Last night in the Democratic Presidential Debate for Pennsylvania, George Stephanopoulos asked Barack Obama if Reverend Jeremiah Wright was patriotic.
You would think a journalist would know the answer by now. Personally I think that they do, but these folks think that it makes for good television to sling mud at the good guy.Â
Oh, snap! I forgot that these are the same people who did not check out Embellishing Hillary’s Bosnia bull until she was busted by Sinbad. After that revelation Hillary Clinton’s veracity is suspect.  The veracity of someone who is running for President of the U.S. should be more important than out of context statements made by the former minister of a Presidential front runner who happens to be African American.Â
George, no one from the news corp including you who worked for her husband’s administration during his first term questions why she continues to pretend to be happily married to “Blow Me Bill”.Â
Just like you pick your Church, you also pick your spouse, and choose to stay in the marriage after being cheated on and publicly humiliated time and time again. No one should question that personal choice.  George and all other journalist who won’t let go of the Jeremiah Wright story as well as the “bitter” statement, it’s the issues stupid! Once again, the same ole schickady, just a different butthole.
Well this one is for you George. Read it and please let’s move on to the issues!Â
In 1961, a young African-American man, after hearing President John F. Kennedy’s challenge to, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,” gave up his student deferment, left college in Virginia and voluntarily joined the Marines.
In 1963, this man, having completed his two years of service in the Marines, volunteered again to become a Navy corpsman. (They provide medical assistance to the Marines as well as to Navy personnel.)
The man did so well in corpsman school that he was the valedictorian and became a cardiopulmonary technician. Not surprisingly, he was assigned to the Navy’s premier medical facility, Bethesda Naval Hospital , as a member of the commander in chief’s medical team, and helped care for President Lyndon B. Johnson after his 1966 surgery.
For his service on the team, which he left in 1967, the White House awarded him three letters of commendation.
What is even more remarkable is that this man entered the Marines and Navy not many years after the two branches began to become integrated.
While this young man was serving six years on active duty, Vice President Dick Cheney, who was born the same year as the Marine/ sailor, received five deferments, four for being an undergraduate and graduate student and one for being a prospective father.
Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, both five years younger than the African-American youth, used their student deferments to stay in college until 1968. Both then avoided going on active duty through family connections.
Who is the real patriot? The young man who interrupted his studies to serve his country for six years or our three political leaders who beat the system? Are the patriots the people who actually sacrifice something or those who merely talk about their love of the country?
After leaving the service of his country, the young African-American finished his final year of college, entered the seminary, was ordained as a minister, and eventually became pastor of a large church in one of America ‘s biggest cities.
This man is Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the retiring pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ.
This information is on the email circuit and found its way to my attention. Unlike the original Bosnia story served up by Hillary, the facts have been verified.Â
 
Oh, and a picture is worth 1000 words.Â
Rev. Wright is located behind the poll.
 I dare you to clear up the airways to discuss the issues and be a legitimate fair and balanced journalist by reporting this George.
If you agree send this blog to George and other reporters who won’t move towards the issues. Also sign in under comments and let me hear from you. I want to know your views as well.
Posted 5 years, 1 month ago at 1:39 pm. Add a comment
This letter is now on the email circuit and was received to this blogger just this morning. It’s the same ole schickady that has Star Jones on the war path with the usual suspects. All I can say is Star, you go girl!
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Star Jones Open Letter To Bill O’Reilly
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“I’m sick to death of people like Fox News host, Bill O’Reilly, and his ilk thinking that he can use a racial slur against a black woman who could be the next First Lady of the United States, give a half-assed apology and not be taken to task and called on his crap.
This week O’Reilly gave the following response to a caller on his radio show who was making unsubstantiated negative charges against presidential candidate Barack Obama’s wife, Michelle Obama:
‘And I don’t want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there’s evidence, hard facts, that say this is how the woman really feels. If that’s how she really feels — that is a bad country or a flawed nation, whatever — then that’s legit. We’ll track it down.’
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What the hell? If it’s ‘legit,’ you’re going to ‘track it down?’ And then what do you plan to do?
How dare this white man with a microphone and the trust of the public think that in 2008, he can still put the words ‘lynch and party’ together in the same sentence with reference to a black woman; in this case, Michelle Obama? I don’t care how you ‘spin it’ in the ‘no spin zone,’ that statement in and of itself is racist, unacceptable and inappropriate on every level.
O’Reilly claims his comments were taken out of context. Please don’t insult my intelligence while you’re insulting me. I’ve read the comments and heard them delivered in O’Reilly’s own voice; and there is no right context that exists. So, his insincere apology and “out-of-context” excuse is not going to cut it with me.Â
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 And just so we’re clear, this has nothing to do with the 2008 presidential election, me being a Democrat, him claiming to be Independent while talking Republican, the liberal media or a conservative point of view. To the contrary, this is about crossing a line in the sand that needs to be drawn based on history, dignity, taste and truth.
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Bill, I’m not sure of where you come from, but let me tell you what the phrase ‘lynching party’ conjures up to me, a black woman born in North Carolina . Those words depict the image of a group of white men who are angry with the state of the own lives getting together, drinking more than they need to drink, lamenting how some black person has moved forward (usually ahead of them in stature or dignity), and had the audacity to think that they are equal. These same men for years, instead of looking at what changes, should and could make in their own lives that might remove that bitterness born of perceived privilege, these white men take all of that resentment and anger and decide to get together and drag the closest black person near them to their death by hanging them from a tree — usually after violent beating, torturing and violating their human dignity.
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Check your history books, because you don’t need a masters or a law degree from Harvard to know that is what constitutes a ‘lynching party.’Â Â Imagine, Michelle and Barack Obama having the audacity to think that they have the right to the American dream, hopes, and ideals. O’Reilly must think to himself: how dare they have the arrogance to think they can stand in a front of this nation, challenge the status quo and express the frustration of millions? When this happens, the first thing that comes to mind for O’Reilly and people like him is: ‘it’s time for a party.’
Not so fast…don’t order the rope just yet. Would O’Reilly ever in a million years use this phrase with reference to Elizabeth Edwards, Cindy McCain or Judi Nathan? I mean, in all of the statements and criticisms that were made about Judi Nathan, the one-time mistress turned missus, of former presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, I never heard any talk of forming a lynch party because of something she said or did. So why is it that when you’re referring to someone who’s African-American you must dig to a historical place of pain, agony and death to symbolize your feelings? Lynching is not a joke to off-handedly throw around and it is not a metaphor that has a place in political commentary; provocative or otherwise. I admit that I come from a place of personal outrage here having buried my 90 year-old grandfather last year. This proud, amazing African-American man raised his family and lived through the time when he had to use separate water fountains, ride in the back of a bus, take his wife on a date to the ‘colored section’ of a movie theater, and avert his eyes when a white woman walked down the street for fear of what a white man and his cronies might do if they felt the urge to ‘party’; don’t tell me that the phrase you chose, Mr. O’Reilly, was taken out of context.
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To add insult to injury, O’Reilly tried to ‘clarify’ his statements, by using the excuse that his comments were reminiscent of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ use of the term ‘high-tech lynching’ during his confirmation hearing. I reject that analogy. You see Justice Thomas did mean to bring up the image of lynching in its racist context. He was saying that politics and the media were using a new technology to do to him what had been done to black men for many years — hang him. Regardless of if you agreed with Justice Thomas’ premise or not, if in fact — Bill O’Reilly was referencing it — the context becomes even clearer.
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What annoys me more than anything is that I get the feeling that one of the reasons Bill O’Reilly made this statement, thinking he could get away with it in the first place, and then followed it up with a lame apology in a half-hearted attempt to smooth any ruffled feathers, is because he doesn’t think that black women will come out and go after him when he goes after us. Well, he’s dead wrong. Be clear Bill O’Reilly: there will be no lynch party for that black woman. And this black woman assures you that if you come for her, you come for all of us.” — Star Jones Reynolds
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Posted 5 years, 1 month ago at 6:54 am. Add a comment
Art teacher victim of classroom attackÂ
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AP
Posted: 2008-04-10 11:12:31
BALTIMORE (AP) – An art teacher at Baltimore’s Reginald F. Lewis High School says she was beaten by a student in her classroom in an attack that was recorded on a cell phone camera. Â
+ Video: Baltimore Students Beat Teacher
Jolita Berry tells WBAL-TV the attack happened Friday. The chief of the Baltimore City school police told the station Tuesday he had not been notified of the attack and planned to begin an investigation.
The video of a classroom fight showed up on MySpace.com. Berry says the person being beaten is her.
She says the attack began when she told a female student to sit down and behave. As the girl’s friends cheered her on, Berry says the girl hit her in the face.
Berry says her principal told her that telling the student she was going to defend herself triggered the attack.
It will be the same ole schickady if we don’t vote for a change we can believe in.
Posted 5 years, 1 month ago at 4:56 pm. Add a comment
 6:01 PM Central: The Reflection Of The Dream
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It is said no matter how long you live, you will be dead longer. That thought comes to mind as we now recognize the 40th anniversary of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. death. Dr. King a civil rights giant was assassinated on April 4, 1968 at the Loraine hotel in Memphis Tennessee. He was 39 years old.
At 6:01 PM on April 4, 1968 the world of African Americans changed. The world for white America also changed. For the first time they were faced with a choice in terms of their outward dealings with the African American community.  They could either accept King’s non-violent posture or face the wrath of generations of pinned up frustration of an oppressed African American community.
During his 39 years, King had made some progress in his non-violent campaign.  King ‘s leadership that was undeniably assisted through the work of Bayard Rustin, Thurgood Marshall and Charles Hamilton Houston persuaded President Johnson and the U.S. Congress to pass the civil rights bill and the voting rights act.  King also embarked on a poor people campaign to stomp out poverty in United States.
Now forty years later, we have more black males in jail than school. Our crumbling school systems are again segregated and unequal. Replacing the infamous deliberate speed language of the Brown decision is a Supreme Court decision forbidding the use of Race as a way to desegregate.  Â
As race was an issue during King’s short life, race still rules the day.Â
During 911 the media focused on the whites killed.  Several African American school children traveling to Los Angeles after winning a National Geographic award was killed when their plane was deliberately crashed into the Pentagon. Stephanie Erby perished in the catastrophic downing of the New York twin towers landmark. . Stephanie had just left her hometown of Mobile Alabama. Mobile is also the hometown of former Secretary of Labor, Alexis Herman. Alexis Herman was the first African American to be named to that post. Herman’s godfather Clarence Mathews an unsung civil rights leader and community activist of Mobile was Stephanie’s great uncle. Although the general public did not hear about Stephanie, they heard about conservative commentator Barbara Olson who was also the wife of Ted Olson. Barbara was on the same plane that crashed into the Pentagon
Katrina brought to light the poverty that is still in existence in this country.  In it’s coverage, the media characterized blacks as looters, and whites as finders.Â
Today we have people loosing their homes in foreclosure. Once again the focus is on whites. Jobs are leaving this country, and the focus is still on whites as the victims of the illegal border crossings of Mexicans.
No one should have to face what the homeowners are facing regardless of race.  No one should have experienced the tragic aftermath of Katrina regardless of race. No one should have to experience a pathetically broken school system regardless of race.
No one should have to look forward to going to prison as his or her only path in life regardless of race.
This was not King’s dream. King’s dream was a better America for all regardless of race, gender, religion and sexual preference. The dream also includes our Asian, Latinos and Native American brothers and sisters. Mexican border crossing is of no moment with the dream.
Forty years ago, the dreamer was killed, but the dream lives on in Presidential candidate Barack Obama. Many are afraid that he too will meet the same faith. We mustn’t give in to this fear We must exercise our rights under the King supported voting rights act and elect the first African American President and possibly the frist Hispanic Vice President. We must support Obama and protect him from the usual suspects who continue to fan the hate crackling flames with an out of context video snippet of a sermon delivered by Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Their action could get both he and Reverend Wright killed. These racially polarizing homophobic pimps don’t do this because they think Reverend Wright is un-American, they do this in the name of profit.Â
Hopefully voting Americans regardless of race, gender, religion or sexual preference will stop today at 6:01 PM central time to reflect on the dream and America’s new nightmare.  Hopefully, this reflection will permit them to realize that the profiteers are not losing their jobs and homes, but instead it’s the same ole schickardy but not just a different butt hole. Instead, it is now their white butt hole in the sling. Hopefully they will listen to the issues instead of the racial rhetoric. Hopefully, they will take their reflections into the voting booths in both the primary and the national election and select as our next President, the person who will make a change we can all believe in.Â
Today at 6:01 PM central time, regardless of race, regardless of gender, regardless of religion and regardless of sexual preference let’s not give into the same ole schichady for we are one.
Posted 5 years, 1 month ago at 6:24 am. Add a comment
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