By Jaweed Kaleem and Jenny Jarvie
In May 2015 in Jackson County, Mo., Long filed court papers declaring allegiance to the group, which has been monitored by the FBI and tied to sovereign citizen movements.
Showing posts with label blacks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blacks. Show all posts
September 07, 2016
Black nationalist "Washitaw Nation"
Black nationalist group Washitaw Nation distances itself from the Baton Rouge shooter, who had pledged allegiance to it
By Jaweed Kaleem and Jenny JarvieGavin Eugene Long was the killer. The empire was the Washitaw Nation, an "indigenous" black group that claims ownership over vast swaths of the United States and Canada and of which Washington is a top leader.
In May 2015 in Jackson County, Mo., Long filed court papers declaring allegiance to the group, which has been monitored by the FBI and tied to sovereign citizen movements. Comment: Another fake Indian tribe.
By Jaweed Kaleem and Jenny Jarvie
In May 2015 in Jackson County, Mo., Long filed court papers declaring allegiance to the group, which has been monitored by the FBI and tied to sovereign citizen movements.
March 03, 2016
Diversity lacking at 2016 Oscars
Chris Rock’s Oscars didn’t “fight the power”: A night of crude jokes and cynical deflection is a poor way to show progress
Rock's big night shows us Hollywood wants it both ways—for movies to be powerful art and blameless entertainment
By Arthur ChuThe stage was set with Chris Rock’s opening monologue, which, while it certainly directly addressed the #OscarsSoWhite issue, made two breathtakingly tone-deaf arguments in quick succession: One, that the Oscars (and representation in entertainment media in general) is really not that big a deal, and two, the reason people are making a stink about it now is that we are no longer dealing with things that are big deals, like the actual violence and murder protested by the 1960s civil rights movement.
This was an incredibly stupid thing to say. The fact that #OscarsSoWhite has trended in tandem with its preceding sister hashtag #BlackLivesMatter isn’t exactly subtle to anyone who’s ever glanced at so-called Black Twitter. (Which Rock clearly has, given his much-appreciated last-minute shout-out to #BlackLivesMatter at the end of the ceremony.) A #BlackLivesMatter documentary addressing the violence and murder going on in the streets right now was commissioned by HBO as a direct result of the uncomfortable negative attention #OscarsSoWhite put on the film industry.
Acting like caring about day-to-day violence in the streets and the impact media and culture have on that violence are somehow mutually exclusive—a common, frustrating, tired argument anyone who talks about racism in media will inevitably see dozens of times in the comments section—ignores history.
It ignores the many, many arguments that have been made about how the excuses made for the deaths of Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown frequently come verbatim from untrue stereotypes out of TV and movies, how the only way Darren Wilson’s description of Brown as a “demon” who was “bulking up to get through the bullets” could possibly make sense to anyone is after a lifetime of media portrayals of the scary superhuman black man. It ignores Martin Luther King going out of his way to call Nichelle Nichols and tell her not to quit “Star Trek” because having a black woman on TV who wasn’t a domestic servant mattered. It ignores the ongoing civil rights protests around the Oscars back in the 1960s and ’70s, including Marlon Brando making history as the first and only best actor winner to boycott the ceremony, sending American Indian Movement activist Sacheen Littlefeather to accept the award in his place.
It ignores the fact that at the very moment Chris Rock was talking, there was a “Justice for Flint” fundraiser going on in protest of the Oscars, hosted by two black prominent filmmakers snubbed for best director nods who used #OscarsSoWhite to bring attention to the cause of a predominantly black community whose water was literally poisoned. 8 Reasons Why I Hated Chris Rock's Oscars Monologue
Opinions about the funnyman's opener ranged from "he told the truth" to "I laughed at parts," to "it sucked." Here are eight reasons why Akiba Solomon wishes it never happened.
By Akiba SolomonOne: Rock was foul for saying that Jada Pinkett Smith was only boycotting the Oscars because she wasn't invited. I can see why some see Pinkett Smith's actions as calculated and insincere, but Rock didn't say that. Instead, he reduced everything—the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag, the boycott and the alternate events (including one starring his brother)—to the sour grapes of a self-centered, spoiled, unqualified Black woman. It was also dumb. Because Jada Pinkett Smith can get into the Oscars.
Two: #OscarsSoWhite isn't some silly little hashtag. This year, people of all races have used it to talk about the problems large and small with an awards show that nominates strictly White actors across 20 categories. Plus the hashtag, news coverage and discussions provided Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the Black woman who heads up the Academy, with the political cover I believe she needed to change membership and voting rules that have grossly privileged elderly White men for years.
Three: Claiming that Black people care about #OscarsSoWhite because we have nothing real to be mad about was hostile to the truth. Here is a man who made an (uneven, sexist) documentary about Black hair in 2009 because his daughter was sad about not having "good hair." But in 2016, Rock knows nothing of contemporary Black struggle? Like, when people say "Black lives matter," does he hear, "Tekjjdioj gj()gui p;/00+"? Does "I can't breathe" bring anything to mind? How about "Sandra Bland," "Michael Brown," "Eric Garner" and "not guilty"?
Four: Using the image of a Black grandmother hanging from a tree as a punch line was blasphemous. This country has never atoned for its history of lynching, castrating and fatally dragging Black people from pickup trucks. Nor has it meaningfully addressed the burning of entire Black towns, race riots and other lynching-adjacent crimes. Commentary: Joe Biden wasn't as funny at the Oscars as Chris Rock, but at least he didn't make an Asian joke
By Dexter ThomasAs the show progressed, some people who were watching used Twitter to ask why Chris Rock wasn't talking about all underrepresented people, instead of just black people. This has been a point of concern for a while, as some have assumed that just because the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag was started by a black woman, it must be black-focused, though the originator has repeatedly clarified that she was speaking of inclusion for all people.
The argument spun off into a separate conversation under the #NotYourMule hashtag, as people argued over whether black people should need to stand up for other people of color at every opportunity.
And really, Chris Rock shouldn't have to deal with this criticism: While he may have focused on the lack of opportunities available to black talent Sunday night, he is on record talking about diversity issues in Hollywood that go beyond black and white. In 2014, he wrote in the Hollywood Reporter:
But forget whether Hollywood is black enough. A better question is: Is Hollywood Mexican enough? You're in L.A, you've got to try not to hire Mexicans. It's the most liberal town in the world, and there's a part of it that's kind of racist—not racist like "... you, ..." racist, but just an acceptance that there's a slave state in L.A. There's this acceptance that Mexicans are going to take care of white people in L.A. that doesn't exist anywhere else.
That insight was nowhere to be found at the Oscars on Sunday when he made a cheap joke about Asian child labor. The Oscars’ awkward & insincere masochism: Why the #OscarsSoWhite ceremony felt like such a disappointment
Last night's show was defined less by Chris Rock's uneven hosting turn than by the Academy's cognitive dissonance
By Jack MirkinsonWatching this extended masochism session was a strange experience. We were told, time and again, how wrong the Oscars had gotten things, and then another award was given out and the violins swelled and an oh-so-worthy Oscar moment was had. The show was desperate for us to know how sorry it was to have failed us so thoroughly, but it also wanted us to remain utterly devoted to both the people who did get nominated and to the broader idea of importance and integrity of the Oscars. The cognitive dissonance seeped through the entire night.
One thing that really didn’t help was the ceremony’s complete tone-deafness about any diversity that didn’t fit into a black-white framework. Rock did a bit about Asians—using children, no less—that was so off-key, so glaringly unfunny that you wondered how it had gotten through in a year when the show was trying to prove that it had its finger on the pulse. Aside from winning director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu and a couple of short film awardees, Asians and Latinos had virtually no presence for the entire evening. It was, to say the least, an odd choice. After Oscars, Hashtags Ask: Does One Minority Group Have to Fight for Another?
By Karen WorkmanNo sooner had the curtains closed on the 88th Academy Awards, which was punctuated by Chris Rock’s scathing but broadly praised opening monologue on racism in Hollywood, than a new battle had reached a fever pitch on social media. And it had its own hashtag: #notyourmule.
Some viewers took issue with what they saw as the narrow focus of Mr. Rock’s opening monologue, which skewered racism in Hollywood but, they said, ignored the concerns of Asian, Latino and other minority artists. Others slammed the comedian’s bit involving Asian children posing as accountants as reinforcing negative stereotypes. Summing it up
Critic's Notebook: Chris Rock's Monologue Is All #OscarsSoWhite All the Time
By Daniel FienbergFor viewers who think that Academy Awards diversity is not a problem at all, it was presumably way too monomaniacal, especially if you were hoping that Rock would unload on Donald Trump for a few minutes just to soften the blow of Jon Stewart's absence from late night.
But for people who think this actually is a serious thing because movies are supposed to be a reflection of society—and the Oscars are supposed to be a reflection of the best in movies—the actual effectiveness may have been mixed. Rock attacked the problem, while minimizing it; announced the racism, but made it seem benign and friendly; offered solutions, but the main feigned solution was black-only categories like "best black friend" ("And the winner for the 18th year in a row is, Wanda Sykes!"). Comment: For more on the subject, see Asian Jokes at 2016 Oscars and Recapping the 2016 Oscars.
Rock's big night shows us Hollywood wants it both ways—for movies to be powerful art and blameless entertainment
By Arthur Chu
This was an incredibly stupid thing to say. The fact that #OscarsSoWhite has trended in tandem with its preceding sister hashtag #BlackLivesMatter isn’t exactly subtle to anyone who’s ever glanced at so-called Black Twitter. (Which Rock clearly has, given his much-appreciated last-minute shout-out to #BlackLivesMatter at the end of the ceremony.) A #BlackLivesMatter documentary addressing the violence and murder going on in the streets right now was commissioned by HBO as a direct result of the uncomfortable negative attention #OscarsSoWhite put on the film industry.
Acting like caring about day-to-day violence in the streets and the impact media and culture have on that violence are somehow mutually exclusive—a common, frustrating, tired argument anyone who talks about racism in media will inevitably see dozens of times in the comments section—ignores history.
It ignores the many, many arguments that have been made about how the excuses made for the deaths of Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown frequently come verbatim from untrue stereotypes out of TV and movies, how the only way Darren Wilson’s description of Brown as a “demon” who was “bulking up to get through the bullets” could possibly make sense to anyone is after a lifetime of media portrayals of the scary superhuman black man. It ignores Martin Luther King going out of his way to call Nichelle Nichols and tell her not to quit “Star Trek” because having a black woman on TV who wasn’t a domestic servant mattered. It ignores the ongoing civil rights protests around the Oscars back in the 1960s and ’70s, including Marlon Brando making history as the first and only best actor winner to boycott the ceremony, sending American Indian Movement activist Sacheen Littlefeather to accept the award in his place.
It ignores the fact that at the very moment Chris Rock was talking, there was a “Justice for Flint” fundraiser going on in protest of the Oscars, hosted by two black prominent filmmakers snubbed for best director nods who used #OscarsSoWhite to bring attention to the cause of a predominantly black community whose water was literally poisoned.
Opinions about the funnyman's opener ranged from "he told the truth" to "I laughed at parts," to "it sucked." Here are eight reasons why Akiba Solomon wishes it never happened.
By Akiba Solomon
Two: #OscarsSoWhite isn't some silly little hashtag. This year, people of all races have used it to talk about the problems large and small with an awards show that nominates strictly White actors across 20 categories. Plus the hashtag, news coverage and discussions provided Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the Black woman who heads up the Academy, with the political cover I believe she needed to change membership and voting rules that have grossly privileged elderly White men for years.
Three: Claiming that Black people care about #OscarsSoWhite because we have nothing real to be mad about was hostile to the truth. Here is a man who made an (uneven, sexist) documentary about Black hair in 2009 because his daughter was sad about not having "good hair." But in 2016, Rock knows nothing of contemporary Black struggle? Like, when people say "Black lives matter," does he hear, "Tekjjdioj gj()gui p;/00+"? Does "I can't breathe" bring anything to mind? How about "Sandra Bland," "Michael Brown," "Eric Garner" and "not guilty"?
Four: Using the image of a Black grandmother hanging from a tree as a punch line was blasphemous. This country has never atoned for its history of lynching, castrating and fatally dragging Black people from pickup trucks. Nor has it meaningfully addressed the burning of entire Black towns, race riots and other lynching-adjacent crimes.
By Dexter Thomas
The argument spun off into a separate conversation under the #NotYourMule hashtag, as people argued over whether black people should need to stand up for other people of color at every opportunity.
And really, Chris Rock shouldn't have to deal with this criticism: While he may have focused on the lack of opportunities available to black talent Sunday night, he is on record talking about diversity issues in Hollywood that go beyond black and white. In 2014, he wrote in the Hollywood Reporter:
But forget whether Hollywood is black enough. A better question is: Is Hollywood Mexican enough? You're in L.A, you've got to try not to hire Mexicans. It's the most liberal town in the world, and there's a part of it that's kind of racist—not racist like "... you, ..." racist, but just an acceptance that there's a slave state in L.A. There's this acceptance that Mexicans are going to take care of white people in L.A. that doesn't exist anywhere else.
That insight was nowhere to be found at the Oscars on Sunday when he made a cheap joke about Asian child labor.
Last night's show was defined less by Chris Rock's uneven hosting turn than by the Academy's cognitive dissonance
By Jack Mirkinson
One thing that really didn’t help was the ceremony’s complete tone-deafness about any diversity that didn’t fit into a black-white framework. Rock did a bit about Asians—using children, no less—that was so off-key, so glaringly unfunny that you wondered how it had gotten through in a year when the show was trying to prove that it had its finger on the pulse. Aside from winning director Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu and a couple of short film awardees, Asians and Latinos had virtually no presence for the entire evening. It was, to say the least, an odd choice.
By Karen Workman
Some viewers took issue with what they saw as the narrow focus of Mr. Rock’s opening monologue, which skewered racism in Hollywood but, they said, ignored the concerns of Asian, Latino and other minority artists. Others slammed the comedian’s bit involving Asian children posing as accountants as reinforcing negative stereotypes.
Critic's Notebook: Chris Rock's Monologue Is All #OscarsSoWhite All the Time
By Daniel Fienberg
But for people who think this actually is a serious thing because movies are supposed to be a reflection of society—and the Oscars are supposed to be a reflection of the best in movies—the actual effectiveness may have been mixed. Rock attacked the problem, while minimizing it; announced the racism, but made it seem benign and friendly; offered solutions, but the main feigned solution was black-only categories like "best black friend" ("And the winner for the 18th year in a row is, Wanda Sykes!").
February 29, 2016
Asian jokes at 2016 Oscars
If the Oscars were all about diversity, why the crude Asian joke?
By Jessica ContreraChris Rock opened his monologue by saying he’d never be the host if he had to be nominated for the job. We all got the joke—Chris Rock is black, and for the second year in the row, not a single actor nominated for an Oscar was black.
But they also weren’t Asian or Latino. Representation is a problem in Hollywood for all minorities, but all night long, the show’s jokes focused almost entirely on the problem as it pertains to black people.
During a sketch in which Rock altered top movies to include actors of color, he chose Whoopi Goldberg, Leslie Jones and Tracy Morgan. Stacey Dash wished everyone a happy Black History Month. Kevin Hart joked, wasn’t it about time they put him in the front row?
There was a lack of diversity in the lack of diversity. This became most apparent when Rock brought three Asian children to the stage, posing as “bankers” from finance firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. Chris Rock's Oscars joke about Asian American accountants stirs outrage
By Randall RobertsDespite an Academy Award ceremony focused on addressing issues of diversity in Hollywood, Asian Americans expressed outrage on social media after two jokes that poked at stereotypes. The comments, one by host Chris Rock during a skit and another by comedic actor Sacha Baron Cohen under his Ali G persona, were particularly notable due to the controversy surrounding the #OscarsSoWhite theme.
Rock's skit drew the most ire. In a rehearsed bit involving the tabulation of Academy Awards votes, he introduced the would-be PriceWaterhouseCoopers representatives overseeing the count. “They sent us their most dedicated, accurate and hard-working representatives," he said. "Please welcome Ming Zhu, Bao Ling and David Moskowitz."
Three kids of Asian descent, dressed in suits and carrying briefcases, walked toward center stage. Following a muted response from the crowd, Rock added: "If anybody’s upset about that joke, just tweet about it on your phone that was also made by these kids."
And react they did, many wondering how the gag made it out of the writers room. “Yellow people with tiny dongs”?: The Oscars have more than one diversity problem—and it shows
Tasteless jokes about Asians put a damper on what was otherwise a joyous celebration of diversity
By Sonia SaraiyaLast night’s 88th Academy Awards was a major platform, at the center of Hollywood’s glitterati, for a discussion of diversity in Hollywood. As I wrote last night, host Chris Rock made that the focus of the evening, paying an equally self-righteous and self-mocking attention to the contributions of black performers in Hollywood, from Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles to outspoken black conservative Stacey Dash as the Oscars’ “diversity outreach coordinator.”
But diversity in Hollywood isn’t just about black artists and performers in Hollywood. Writer Kelly Oxford observed on Twitter last night, “There have been more droids on the Oscar stage than Latinos or Asians,” after three “Star Wars” robot-characters rolled out and spoke or beeped to the audience. First Nations actors were only highlighted through their supporting roles in “The Revenant,” which nabbed both the Best Actor and Best Director awards.
And to add insult to injury, rather too much of the Oscars telecast mocked Asians and Asian-Americans. It’s one thing for a black host to play with stereotypes of both white and black people to create a commentary on inclusion in the Academy Awards, especially when notable roles by black performers were not recognized by the Academy. It is another for that same host—and that predominantly white show—to turn to making jokes about another marginalized race, as if that somehow neutralizes the issue. Comment: For more on the subject, see Recapping the 2016 Oscars and Facebooking the 2016 Oscars.
By Jessica Contrera
But they also weren’t Asian or Latino. Representation is a problem in Hollywood for all minorities, but all night long, the show’s jokes focused almost entirely on the problem as it pertains to black people.
During a sketch in which Rock altered top movies to include actors of color, he chose Whoopi Goldberg, Leslie Jones and Tracy Morgan. Stacey Dash wished everyone a happy Black History Month. Kevin Hart joked, wasn’t it about time they put him in the front row?
There was a lack of diversity in the lack of diversity. This became most apparent when Rock brought three Asian children to the stage, posing as “bankers” from finance firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.
By Randall Roberts
Rock's skit drew the most ire. In a rehearsed bit involving the tabulation of Academy Awards votes, he introduced the would-be PriceWaterhouseCoopers representatives overseeing the count. “They sent us their most dedicated, accurate and hard-working representatives," he said. "Please welcome Ming Zhu, Bao Ling and David Moskowitz."
Three kids of Asian descent, dressed in suits and carrying briefcases, walked toward center stage. Following a muted response from the crowd, Rock added: "If anybody’s upset about that joke, just tweet about it on your phone that was also made by these kids."
And react they did, many wondering how the gag made it out of the writers room.
Tasteless jokes about Asians put a damper on what was otherwise a joyous celebration of diversity
By Sonia Saraiya
But diversity in Hollywood isn’t just about black artists and performers in Hollywood. Writer Kelly Oxford observed on Twitter last night, “There have been more droids on the Oscar stage than Latinos or Asians,” after three “Star Wars” robot-characters rolled out and spoke or beeped to the audience. First Nations actors were only highlighted through their supporting roles in “The Revenant,” which nabbed both the Best Actor and Best Director awards.
And to add insult to injury, rather too much of the Oscars telecast mocked Asians and Asian-Americans. It’s one thing for a black host to play with stereotypes of both white and black people to create a commentary on inclusion in the Academy Awards, especially when notable roles by black performers were not recognized by the Academy. It is another for that same host—and that predominantly white show—to turn to making jokes about another marginalized race, as if that somehow neutralizes the issue.
Recapping the 2016 Oscars
I guess Chris Rock dropped a lot of truth bombs at last night's Academy Awards, but I didn't find his monologue especially incisive or entertaining. Let's see what others are saying:
“Is that the first ‘rape, lynch’ joke by a host in Oscars history?”: Twitter loses it over Chris Rock’s Oscars monologue and #OscarsSoWhite
Chris Rock’s Oscars monologue stuns: “When your grandmother’s swinging from a tree it’s really hard to care about best documentary foreign short”
So the point of his lynching comment was what...that diversity in movies is a trivial issue? "All you movie protesters don't understand what really matters, so shut up"? That's the way I heard it.
What if your short documentary was about grandmothers swinging from a tree? Or about war, climate change, disease, or another important issue? Should the host of an arts program really be dismissing the arts?
Someone wrote that Rock was trying to thread the needle, but they didn't say exactly how. It was by dismissing or belittling the protests and congratulating the people like him who showed up.
Hence the diss of Jada Pinkett Smith--that she wouldn't have been invited anyway. And the "Black History Month Minute" that seemed to honor Will Smith but switched to Jack Black.
The rest of the show
“This Oscar is going home in a Honda Civic”: Louis C.K. steals the show with a real tribute to an unloved category
I agree: Louis CK stole the show. Make him the host next year!
And the winning short documentary was about honor killing, Chris Rock. So yes, short docs can be as relevant to the world as someone's lynching. In this case, they're roughly about the same subject: heinous but quasi-legal murder.
VP Joe Biden speaks out at Oscars against sexual abuse: “We must and we can change the culture”
Yep, one of the night's best moments.
Finally:
Leo earned his Oscar for “The Revenant”—and he might be our greatest movie star ever
Or not:
Leo’s Oscar isn’t overdue: He hasn’t won before because he didn’t earn it
For more on the subject, see Facebooking the 2016 Oscars and Duane Howard at the Oscars.
“Is that the first ‘rape, lynch’ joke by a host in Oscars history?”: Twitter loses it over Chris Rock’s Oscars monologue and #OscarsSoWhite
Chris Rock’s Oscars monologue stuns: “When your grandmother’s swinging from a tree it’s really hard to care about best documentary foreign short”
So the point of his lynching comment was what...that diversity in movies is a trivial issue? "All you movie protesters don't understand what really matters, so shut up"? That's the way I heard it.
What if your short documentary was about grandmothers swinging from a tree? Or about war, climate change, disease, or another important issue? Should the host of an arts program really be dismissing the arts?
Someone wrote that Rock was trying to thread the needle, but they didn't say exactly how. It was by dismissing or belittling the protests and congratulating the people like him who showed up.
Hence the diss of Jada Pinkett Smith--that she wouldn't have been invited anyway. And the "Black History Month Minute" that seemed to honor Will Smith but switched to Jack Black.
The rest of the show
“This Oscar is going home in a Honda Civic”: Louis C.K. steals the show with a real tribute to an unloved category
I agree: Louis CK stole the show. Make him the host next year!
And the winning short documentary was about honor killing, Chris Rock. So yes, short docs can be as relevant to the world as someone's lynching. In this case, they're roughly about the same subject: heinous but quasi-legal murder.
VP Joe Biden speaks out at Oscars against sexual abuse: “We must and we can change the culture”
Yep, one of the night's best moments.
Finally:
Leo earned his Oscar for “The Revenant”—and he might be our greatest movie star ever
Or not:
Leo’s Oscar isn’t overdue: He hasn’t won before because he didn’t earn it
For more on the subject, see Facebooking the 2016 Oscars and Duane Howard at the Oscars.
February 28, 2016
Facebooking the 2016 Oscars
Some people live-tweet events such as the Oscars. This year I posted a running commentary on Facebook. Here it is:
Opening monologue
I guess Chris Rock is giving a speech rather than telling jokes this year? #OscarsSoWhite
"Writers, we know that you are the true backbone of the industry, and we love you for it. We also think you're all extremely hot."
So true! #WritersSoHot
Commercial break! Debuting next week on ABC: The Real O'Neals. Finally, an Irish American family gets a turn in the spotlight. #diversity
After #Blackish, #FreshOfftheBoat, #Empire, and #DrKen, it's about time someone featured a white family.
Kind of awkward to bring out Stacey Dash since everyone knows she's a Fox commentator and apologist for white supremacy. What's up with that? #OscarsSoWhite
Response: awkward silence from the audience.
Pretty average #Oscar show so far. Obviously they decided to make it mainly about diversity. Slamming the issue with a sledgehammer rather than slicing it with a scalpel.
Moving along
Jared Leto makes the first merkin joke in Oscar history.
Consider the Merkin: A Brief History of Pubic Wigs in Hollywood
Guy thanked his one-week-old daughter. Not sure what her role was in the years-long production of Mad Max: Fury Road.
The "thank you" crawl beneath the award winners is a good idea. Everyone gets thanked on-screen and the winner can focus on thanking the key people. Or saying something distinctive and memorable.
At least the show is zipping along nicely. None of Neil Patrick Harris's middling stunts.
Let's cut to Sofia Vergara every so often! She's pretty...and Latina! #OscarsSoWhite
We get to see some Indians on screen--usually savage warriors--whenever they play the standard clips from The Revenant. Yay? #OscarsSoWhite
Giving Andy Serkis recognition for, well, anything is a novelty.
So far nothing that qualifies as a memorable moment. #OscarsSoBland
Picking up the pace
Really? Selling your daughter's Girl Scout cookies? Is that supposed to be funny and charming rather than crass and competitive? #OscarsSoMercenary
The interview segment straight outta Compton was cute. #OscarsSoWhite
Louis CK was good. All the awards should be presented like that--with smart and seemingly spontaneous riffs.
Leonard Nimoy got the final spot in the "In Memoriam" montage! #SpockLives #OscarsSoVulcan
Vice President Joe Biden! Another white guy! What film was he in? #OscarsSoWhite
Cue the conservative Twitter outrage over the domestic violence segment. How dare the Oscars talk about the real world? It's only movies!
Unlike the Stacey Dash bit, that will go on the show's highlight list.
Pharrell has hair? Who knew?
Sacha Baron Cohen was entertaining. Thus proving my point re Louis CK.
Alejandro González Iñárritu mentions his Native American cast! #OscarsSoWhite
Where's Sean Penn to make a follow-up joke about immigrants?
Not sure why the show is over three hours. It's not as if they padded it with a lot of unnecessary bits. #NeilPatrickHarris #OscarsSoLong
The big awards
Gender confirmation surgery! I haven't heard that term before. #OscarsSoFluid
Forrest Goodluck featured in Leonardo DiCaprio's Best Actor clip! #OscarsSoWhite
DiCaprio won because of the kid!
"Climate change is real," says Leo. Cue the conservative numbskulls still raging over Lady Gaga and domestic violence.
Another one for the highlight reel. DiCaprio uses his speech time effectively.
2016 Oscar Winner DiCaprio Dedicates his speech to Mother Earth and Indigenous PeopleLeonardo DiCaprio used his Oscars speech to address climate change. He urged the audience to “support leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters or the big corporations but who speak for all of humanity, for the indigenous people of the world, for the billions and billions of underprivileged people who’ll be affected by this”.
"Making The Revenant was about man's relationship to the natural world, a world that we collectively felt in 2015 as the hottest year in recorded history. Our production had to move to the southern tip of this planet just to find now. Climate change is real. It is happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating.
We need to support leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters or the big corporations, but who speak for all of humanity, for the indigenous people of the world, for the billions and billions of under privileged people who will be most affected by this, for our children's children, and for those people out there whose voices have been drowned out by the politics of greed.
I thank you all for this amazing award tonight. Let us not take this planet for granted, I do not take this night for granted. Thank you so much." Glad to see Spotlight won Best Picture. Just because I hate it when a film gets "momentum" and sweeps.
Sorry, The Revenant. Better luck next year.
Thus endeth the Oscars. A few good moments in the second half, but still nothing special. #BlackLivesMatter
And Fight the Power plays over the final credits.
Journalism wins
A few final tweets:
Retweeted Kate Sheppard (@kate_sheppard):
I haven't seen any of these movies but hey, nice to see attn paid to sexual assault, climate change, and need for investigative journalism.
Retweeted Dave Pell (@davepell):
The message of Spotlight.
The media helps to protect us. Stop maligning it.
I forgot that conservatives also will rage at the Girl Scouts. Damn liberal feminist atheist girls!
For more on the subject, see The Best Indian Movies.
Opening monologue
I guess Chris Rock is giving a speech rather than telling jokes this year? #OscarsSoWhite
"Writers, we know that you are the true backbone of the industry, and we love you for it. We also think you're all extremely hot."
So true! #WritersSoHot
Commercial break! Debuting next week on ABC: The Real O'Neals. Finally, an Irish American family gets a turn in the spotlight. #diversity
After #Blackish, #FreshOfftheBoat, #Empire, and #DrKen, it's about time someone featured a white family.
Kind of awkward to bring out Stacey Dash since everyone knows she's a Fox commentator and apologist for white supremacy. What's up with that? #OscarsSoWhite
Response: awkward silence from the audience.
Pretty average #Oscar show so far. Obviously they decided to make it mainly about diversity. Slamming the issue with a sledgehammer rather than slicing it with a scalpel.
Moving along
Jared Leto makes the first merkin joke in Oscar history.
Consider the Merkin: A Brief History of Pubic Wigs in Hollywood
Guy thanked his one-week-old daughter. Not sure what her role was in the years-long production of Mad Max: Fury Road.
The "thank you" crawl beneath the award winners is a good idea. Everyone gets thanked on-screen and the winner can focus on thanking the key people. Or saying something distinctive and memorable.
At least the show is zipping along nicely. None of Neil Patrick Harris's middling stunts.
Let's cut to Sofia Vergara every so often! She's pretty...and Latina! #OscarsSoWhite
We get to see some Indians on screen--usually savage warriors--whenever they play the standard clips from The Revenant. Yay? #OscarsSoWhite
Giving Andy Serkis recognition for, well, anything is a novelty.
So far nothing that qualifies as a memorable moment. #OscarsSoBland
Picking up the pace
Really? Selling your daughter's Girl Scout cookies? Is that supposed to be funny and charming rather than crass and competitive? #OscarsSoMercenary
The interview segment straight outta Compton was cute. #OscarsSoWhite
Louis CK was good. All the awards should be presented like that--with smart and seemingly spontaneous riffs.
Leonard Nimoy got the final spot in the "In Memoriam" montage! #SpockLives #OscarsSoVulcan
Vice President Joe Biden! Another white guy! What film was he in? #OscarsSoWhite
Cue the conservative Twitter outrage over the domestic violence segment. How dare the Oscars talk about the real world? It's only movies!
Unlike the Stacey Dash bit, that will go on the show's highlight list.
Pharrell has hair? Who knew?
Sacha Baron Cohen was entertaining. Thus proving my point re Louis CK.
Alejandro González Iñárritu mentions his Native American cast! #OscarsSoWhite
Where's Sean Penn to make a follow-up joke about immigrants?
Not sure why the show is over three hours. It's not as if they padded it with a lot of unnecessary bits. #NeilPatrickHarris #OscarsSoLong
The big awards
Gender confirmation surgery! I haven't heard that term before. #OscarsSoFluid
Forrest Goodluck featured in Leonardo DiCaprio's Best Actor clip! #OscarsSoWhite
DiCaprio won because of the kid!
"Climate change is real," says Leo. Cue the conservative numbskulls still raging over Lady Gaga and domestic violence.
Another one for the highlight reel. DiCaprio uses his speech time effectively.
2016 Oscar Winner DiCaprio Dedicates his speech to Mother Earth and Indigenous People
"Making The Revenant was about man's relationship to the natural world, a world that we collectively felt in 2015 as the hottest year in recorded history. Our production had to move to the southern tip of this planet just to find now. Climate change is real. It is happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating.
We need to support leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters or the big corporations, but who speak for all of humanity, for the indigenous people of the world, for the billions and billions of under privileged people who will be most affected by this, for our children's children, and for those people out there whose voices have been drowned out by the politics of greed.
I thank you all for this amazing award tonight. Let us not take this planet for granted, I do not take this night for granted. Thank you so much."
Sorry, The Revenant. Better luck next year.
Thus endeth the Oscars. A few good moments in the second half, but still nothing special. #BlackLivesMatter
And Fight the Power plays over the final credits.
Journalism wins
A few final tweets:
Retweeted Kate Sheppard (@kate_sheppard):
I haven't seen any of these movies but hey, nice to see attn paid to sexual assault, climate change, and need for investigative journalism.
Retweeted Dave Pell (@davepell):
The message of Spotlight.
The media helps to protect us. Stop maligning it.
I forgot that conservatives also will rage at the Girl Scouts. Damn liberal feminist atheist girls!
For more on the subject, see The Best Indian Movies.
December 29, 2015
Blacks = "threat" to America
As you probably know, a Cleveland cop killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice for the "crime" of being black. Today a grand jury failed to indict the cop for wrongdoing. Two postings on the subject:
Until White America looks at Tamir Rice and sees their own children, there will be no racial justice in the U.S.
He was 12, playing with a toy gun, in a locale with open-carry laws. Tamir Rice was executed for being a black boy
By Chauncy DeVegaTamir Rice joins so many others, lives prematurely ended by the police, and their bodies put in the necropolis of Black Death in the Age of Obama. When protesters shout “Black Lives Matter” it is a statement of rage, protest and a demand for justice at that ugly national mausoleum.
In reflecting on the myriad of circumstances where the lives of unarmed and innocent black people have been stolen by America’s police—while surrendering; following police orders; sleeping in cars; sleeping at home; seeking help after car accidents; opening up wallets; walking down the street; shopping; playing in a park; standing outside; riding bicycles; asking for help with a mentally ill relative or neighbor; breathing air and just being nearby—it is abundantly clear that there is one unifying factor common to all of those examples.
To be black is to be under assault by American society and its legal system.
It is the stigma placed on those who because of an arbitrary melanin count and America’s ‘one drop rule’ are placed on the bottom of the country’s racial hierarchy.
To be black in America is also to occupy a place of fear and threat in the white popular imagination and collective subconscious: “black people” are “scary”; “black crime” is an “epidemic”; the “black family” is “broken”; “black men” are dangerous, violent, hyper-libidinal “thugs”; and “black women” are promiscuous “welfare queens.”
If you are black in America then preemptive violence by the state, its police, their allies, and white folks en masse under “stand your ground laws,” is presumed to almost always be legitimate and justified. To be black is to be guilty until proven innocent. America’s system of jurisprudence is inverted along the color line.
To be black in America is ultimately a state of existential terror, threat and violence. The American criminal justice system is guilty of killing Tamir Rice
If, as the prosecutor said, officers followed policy in the killing of Tamir Rice something is horribly wrong
By Daniel DenvirThere are no doubt many instances when officers break the law by beating, shooting and lying.
But the most brutal features of the criminal justice system aren’t a result of the system malfunctioning; the biggest problem is that the criminal justice system often functions explicitly as it has been designed to work by politicians, prosecutors and police chiefs. That’s why 2.2-odd million people were behind bars in this country at the end of last year. And:Injustice is a feature, and not a bug. America has a formidable gun culture, and an enormous number of guns. The country has extraordinary poverty concentrated in segregated neighborhoods, and lots of street violence. Americans use a lot of drugs and, because many drugs are illegal, a large illicit market to feed narcotic appetites. American politics has for decades fruitlessly tried to solve these problems through mass incarceration and aggressive policing. Police officers are on the front lines of a war created by politicians.
The challenge is not correcting dysfunction in the criminal justice system. In reality, the allegedly textbook shooting Tamir Rice is a chilling reminder that the fundamental problem is the criminal justice system’s very function. Comment: For more on the subject, see Police Shoot at Black Targets and Stop-and-Frisk = Controlling Minorities.
Until White America looks at Tamir Rice and sees their own children, there will be no racial justice in the U.S.
He was 12, playing with a toy gun, in a locale with open-carry laws. Tamir Rice was executed for being a black boy
By Chauncy DeVega
In reflecting on the myriad of circumstances where the lives of unarmed and innocent black people have been stolen by America’s police—while surrendering; following police orders; sleeping in cars; sleeping at home; seeking help after car accidents; opening up wallets; walking down the street; shopping; playing in a park; standing outside; riding bicycles; asking for help with a mentally ill relative or neighbor; breathing air and just being nearby—it is abundantly clear that there is one unifying factor common to all of those examples.
To be black is to be under assault by American society and its legal system.
It is the stigma placed on those who because of an arbitrary melanin count and America’s ‘one drop rule’ are placed on the bottom of the country’s racial hierarchy.
To be black in America is also to occupy a place of fear and threat in the white popular imagination and collective subconscious: “black people” are “scary”; “black crime” is an “epidemic”; the “black family” is “broken”; “black men” are dangerous, violent, hyper-libidinal “thugs”; and “black women” are promiscuous “welfare queens.”
If you are black in America then preemptive violence by the state, its police, their allies, and white folks en masse under “stand your ground laws,” is presumed to almost always be legitimate and justified. To be black is to be guilty until proven innocent. America’s system of jurisprudence is inverted along the color line.
To be black in America is ultimately a state of existential terror, threat and violence.
If, as the prosecutor said, officers followed policy in the killing of Tamir Rice something is horribly wrong
By Daniel Denvir
But the most brutal features of the criminal justice system aren’t a result of the system malfunctioning; the biggest problem is that the criminal justice system often functions explicitly as it has been designed to work by politicians, prosecutors and police chiefs. That’s why 2.2-odd million people were behind bars in this country at the end of last year.
The challenge is not correcting dysfunction in the criminal justice system. In reality, the allegedly textbook shooting Tamir Rice is a chilling reminder that the fundamental problem is the criminal justice system’s very function.
November 29, 2015
Conservatives project fears onto "others"
This is the entire GOP plan: Credibility destroyed after Bush debacle, their only strategy is to scare us
The party of security tanked the economy and unleashed Middle East disaster. Now they have nothing but fear itself
By Paul RosenbergConservatives had always been comfortable with blacks as other, as containers for their most unwanted projections. But before blacks were demonized, the pattern was initiated with Native Americans. Another Kleinian theorist, Robert Young, has written about racism and projective identification (here and here, for example), noting that “the price of admission into a culture is the acquiring of its projective identifications.” Young cites the example of a 1503 decree by Queen Isabella citing Native Americans’ purported “hard habits of idolatry and cannibalism” as justification for authorizing slavery:
The European charge of cannibalism was unfounded. Harmless and helpful natives were bad-mouthed as wild and bestial, thus legitimating the activities of a master race. The savagery of the conquistadors was projected onto their victims, who could then be seen as subhuman and could be treated in subhuman ways—which they extravagantly were.
A similar dynamic applied to enslaved blacks, regardless of the colonizing power involved. The savagery of conquest was projected into the conquered. However, when situations allowed, there was often a place for a few “respectable” tokens who served a variety of different functions for white slaveholders, and later white leaders who followed them—to endorse their views, make them seem more reasonable, provide pacifying “leadership” for the masses, etc.
Obama was threatening for a number of reasons, not least that he adopted a form of respectability politics, while remaining relatively loyal to the black base, and running as a Democrat, whose policies were anathema to movement conservatives. Hence, at the overt level, he disarmed the demonizing projective processes, particularly in courting conservatives outright—praising Ronald Reagan, inviting Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration, reaching out to conservative opinion writers, dining with them within weeks of taking office, etc.—but he would not validate the projection of otherness onto other blacks as a whole, which is a core purpose of the “respectable black” figure. And thus the need to otherize him (and project white evil acts, impulses, phantasies, etc. into him), as blacks had always been otherized, needed to find a new form, a new rationale. Which is precisely what the birther phantasy did. It said that everything about him was a lie, so nothing he did could make any difference. It invalidated any action he might take, leaving it to be reinterpreted by those who most despised him, without any regard to the facts. Comment: For more on the subject, see Conservative Freakout Over Denali = Racism and What the Crusades Controversy Is About.
The party of security tanked the economy and unleashed Middle East disaster. Now they have nothing but fear itself
By Paul Rosenberg
The European charge of cannibalism was unfounded. Harmless and helpful natives were bad-mouthed as wild and bestial, thus legitimating the activities of a master race. The savagery of the conquistadors was projected onto their victims, who could then be seen as subhuman and could be treated in subhuman ways—which they extravagantly were.
A similar dynamic applied to enslaved blacks, regardless of the colonizing power involved. The savagery of conquest was projected into the conquered. However, when situations allowed, there was often a place for a few “respectable” tokens who served a variety of different functions for white slaveholders, and later white leaders who followed them—to endorse their views, make them seem more reasonable, provide pacifying “leadership” for the masses, etc.
Obama was threatening for a number of reasons, not least that he adopted a form of respectability politics, while remaining relatively loyal to the black base, and running as a Democrat, whose policies were anathema to movement conservatives. Hence, at the overt level, he disarmed the demonizing projective processes, particularly in courting conservatives outright—praising Ronald Reagan, inviting Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration, reaching out to conservative opinion writers, dining with them within weeks of taking office, etc.—but he would not validate the projection of otherness onto other blacks as a whole, which is a core purpose of the “respectable black” figure. And thus the need to otherize him (and project white evil acts, impulses, phantasies, etc. into him), as blacks had always been otherized, needed to find a new form, a new rationale. Which is precisely what the birther phantasy did. It said that everything about him was a lie, so nothing he did could make any difference. It invalidated any action he might take, leaving it to be reinterpreted by those who most despised him, without any regard to the facts.
September 10, 2015
Stereotypical Reading Horizons textbooks
Publisher Of Children’s Books Blasted Over Texts Filled With Racial Stereotypes
By Andrew BradfordParents and members of the educational system in Minneapolis, Minnesota, are extremely upset by some books which were recently delivered to the school system from publisher Reading Horizons.
The books in question, which are intended for children, feature characters such as Lazy Lucy, an African girl, and Nieko the Hunting Girl, who is Native American and lives in a cave. The books also refer to Christopher Columbus’ “discovery” of America, which is historically inaccurate.
And as if that isn’t bad enough, in a book entitled Kenya, the residents of the African nation are said to be:
“Able to run very fast.” 
Negative or positive stereotypes
A page from the Kenya book showed it was all about running. This led to a brief discussion on the nature of stereotypes:Kenya's runners are a negative stereotype?
What Makes Kenya's Marathon Runners The World's Best? If it's a whole book about Kenyans and their centuries of history and culture, including a page about their running, great. If it's only about their running and nothing else, not so great.
Not for a grade-school primer, anyway. If you're writing an in-depth book on Kenyan runners, that would be another matter.
A stereotype doesn't have to be "negative" to be a problem, you know.
P.S. If I were a publisher, I'd avoid making the lazy character black or Latino. The smart character Asian. The violent character Native. And so forth.
By Andrew Bradford
The books in question, which are intended for children, feature characters such as Lazy Lucy, an African girl, and Nieko the Hunting Girl, who is Native American and lives in a cave. The books also refer to Christopher Columbus’ “discovery” of America, which is historically inaccurate.
And as if that isn’t bad enough, in a book entitled Kenya, the residents of the African nation are said to be:
“Able to run very fast.”
Negative or positive stereotypes
A page from the Kenya book showed it was all about running. This led to a brief discussion on the nature of stereotypes:
What Makes Kenya's Marathon Runners The World's Best?
Not for a grade-school primer, anyway. If you're writing an in-depth book on Kenyan runners, that would be another matter.
A stereotype doesn't have to be "negative" to be a problem, you know.
P.S. If I were a publisher, I'd avoid making the lazy character black or Latino. The smart character Asian. The violent character Native. And so forth.
August 11, 2015
My take on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
The Unraceable 'Kimmy Schmidt': Does Tina Fey's New Show Have a Race Problem?
With Jane Krakowski playing Native American and an Asian character right out of "Sixteen Candles," "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" is almost begging to be labeled "problematic." Is that so bad?
By Sam AdamsTiny Fey isn't a creator you naturally associate with provocation—a Shonda Rhimes, a Lena Dunham, heck, a Lars Von Trier. But "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt," the 13-episode series she created with Robert Carlock for Netflix, has been slapped with a scarlet P for "problematic," especially for its treatment of race.
On Vulture, Libby Hill took issue with the "Kimmy Schmidt" subplot involving Jane Krakowski's Jacqueline, a stressed-out Manhattan trophy wife who it's eventually revealed is Lakota, a refugee from a Native American reservation who's been passing for white for decades. Jacqueline's parents are played by Native actors Gil Birmingham and Sheri Foster and, within the context of "Kimmy's" generally farcical tone, the show works to ground the character in something resembling respect for Lakota culture. But for Vulture's Libby Hill, that doesn't offset an initial decision that seems arbitrary and ill thought-out:
Carlock positions the decision as a narrative choice. But this specific backstory is most frustrating because it doesn’t serve a purpose, either narratively or comedically. There must be more compelling (and funnier!) ways to give Jacqueline a backstory that don’t require sloppily marginalizing a group of people who are already as marginalized as you can get. It’s especially disappointing because "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" so deftly integrates race in other instances, mainly in the latter half of its first season. The most prominent example comes when Kimmy’s African-American roommate, Titus, gets a job that requires him to dress as a werewolf. The punch line: He discovers he gets better treatment from strangers while in a monster costume than he does as a black man. The point is sharp, and it works largely because Titus is the one pointing out the discrepancies. This is precisely what isn’t happening when it comes to the dynamic between Jackie Lynn and her parents.
In the Washington Post, Alyssa Rosenberg countered that the show is careful to make sure the joke is always about Jacqueline's own discomfort, and the contempt for her Native American she's internalized from the culture at large: She changed her name from Jackie Lynn, she explains, because it's "a cheap stripper name. Jacqueline is an expensive stripper name."
Going beyond Jacqueline, a BuzzFeed roundtable between Anne Helen Petersen, Ira Madison III and Alex Alvarez concluded that "Kimmy Schmidt" has "a major race problem." On the one hand, Madison says, "Kimmy Schmidt" has already developed Titus Andromedon (Tituss Burgess), Kimmy's gay, black roommate, more in one season than "30 Rock" developed Tracy Jordan in six. But at the same time, there's "Kimmy's" Dong (Ki Hong Lee), a Vietnamese immigrant who seems like a deliberate callback to "Sixteen Candles'" notoriously racist caricature, Long Duk Dong.
IM3: I know next to nothing about the intricacies of Native American culture and even I was like, um, this doesn’t seem…right? And just like Dong, it was a bunch of jokes that we’ve heard before but said in a winking, “isn’t it funny, we get it’s racist!” kinda way. Like, OK, cool. But in the real world, if a white person says those things to me, it’s a microaggression and I’m most certainly not here for that. So why is it OK when the white person puts those words into an actor’s mouth and just has them say it on TV? What’s the difference?
AA: Right. I hate couching racism under the term “hipster racism,” because, like, it’s the same thing. You’re saying the same thing. The result is the same. It’s racism whether or not you “mean” to be racist. Rob's review
My initial take while watching the show:
Watching Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (no relation). Waiting for the jokes to kick in after the first 15 minutes.
I guess the first episode is mostly setup. The humor must start in the second episode.
I hope the Hispanic maid reappears. Since the idea that she'd go to the cult leader for a job interview and stay voluntarily for 15 years, without even learning English, is flatly racist.
So Kimmie supposedly went underground at age 13 or so for 15 years? Y'know, 13-year-olds actually know a fair amount about the world already. Like you don't take a backpack with $13,000 to a dance club. Candy stores sell unlimited amounts of candy that you can eat for dinner if you wish. Horse-drawn carriages aren't some weird form of horse enslavement. Etc.
Maybe this hyper-naivete was funny the first time I saw it on The Beverly Hillbillies 50 years ago. Although that was never the funniest show either. But I'm not feeling it as a source of humor in 2015.
After the first three episodes...I didn't find the show at all funny. Most of the characters are caricatures, starting with the naive and optimistic Kimmy the repeated-rape victim. The gay black roommate loves Broadway shows and The Lion King. The old people--the landlady and Kimmy's first "date"--are a cat lady and a senile old coot, respectively. Jacqueline and her daughter are spoiled rich white people personified--even though Jacqueline is supposedly Native.
Then there are the minor characters. Besides the Latina maid and the Indians, there are the Hispanic performers dressed as a mariachi band. And the Korean mourners at a funeral. They're not strange, exactly, since they don't say anything. But they let Titus, a complete stranger, sing in their midst. They seem to be stereotypical Asians who'll passively let someone take over their ceremony because they don't know what's going on.
Hip to be racist
I gather Kimmy Schmidt's racial portrayals get better later on. But if it takes you six or seven episodes to get race reasonably right, I'd say you've failed.
"Hipster racism" seems like the right label for what's going on. I can imagine the writers saying, "We're not laughing at the stereotypical maid who can't speak English. We're presenting her so you can laugh at the ignorant people who would laugh at her."
Or, "We're not laughing at Indians who think planes are 'iron eagles.' We're laughing at the ignorant people who think Indians think planes are iron eagles. Even thought we don't show any of these ignorant people, much less laugh at them."
It's like Kimmy is trying to have it both ways. Which is evident in the Korean character named Dong. "His name is funny...ha ha! But we understand it's funny, so we're not laughing at him. We're laughing at you if you think his name is funny. You're the ignorant one in that case, not us."
This is a good example of hipster racism: presenting racism, then winking at it. And acting as if that's enough to excuse the racism. No, it isn't.
I'd say the Native subplot is a particular case of failure. In the first three episodes, Jacqueline doesn't show one iota of being torn between her Native and white identities. She's a white woman in her white world and even with her Native parents. That she has a Native upbringing is a gimmick, not a genuine character trait. It does nothing to distinguish her from millions of rich white women who look and act like her.
So she's Native because that's a "hip" way to make her more "complex." Look, she has a backstory! Even though it's little more than a few buzzwords: reservation, buffalo, eagle, etc. It's a Saturday Night Live version of race, which makes sense given Fey's background. And it's about as unsatisfying.
For more on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, see Racial Stereotypes in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Just a Comedy?
With Jane Krakowski playing Native American and an Asian character right out of "Sixteen Candles," "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" is almost begging to be labeled "problematic." Is that so bad?
By Sam Adams
On Vulture, Libby Hill took issue with the "Kimmy Schmidt" subplot involving Jane Krakowski's Jacqueline, a stressed-out Manhattan trophy wife who it's eventually revealed is Lakota, a refugee from a Native American reservation who's been passing for white for decades. Jacqueline's parents are played by Native actors Gil Birmingham and Sheri Foster and, within the context of "Kimmy's" generally farcical tone, the show works to ground the character in something resembling respect for Lakota culture. But for Vulture's Libby Hill, that doesn't offset an initial decision that seems arbitrary and ill thought-out:
Carlock positions the decision as a narrative choice. But this specific backstory is most frustrating because it doesn’t serve a purpose, either narratively or comedically. There must be more compelling (and funnier!) ways to give Jacqueline a backstory that don’t require sloppily marginalizing a group of people who are already as marginalized as you can get. It’s especially disappointing because "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" so deftly integrates race in other instances, mainly in the latter half of its first season. The most prominent example comes when Kimmy’s African-American roommate, Titus, gets a job that requires him to dress as a werewolf. The punch line: He discovers he gets better treatment from strangers while in a monster costume than he does as a black man. The point is sharp, and it works largely because Titus is the one pointing out the discrepancies. This is precisely what isn’t happening when it comes to the dynamic between Jackie Lynn and her parents.
In the Washington Post, Alyssa Rosenberg countered that the show is careful to make sure the joke is always about Jacqueline's own discomfort, and the contempt for her Native American she's internalized from the culture at large: She changed her name from Jackie Lynn, she explains, because it's "a cheap stripper name. Jacqueline is an expensive stripper name."
Going beyond Jacqueline, a BuzzFeed roundtable between Anne Helen Petersen, Ira Madison III and Alex Alvarez concluded that "Kimmy Schmidt" has "a major race problem." On the one hand, Madison says, "Kimmy Schmidt" has already developed Titus Andromedon (Tituss Burgess), Kimmy's gay, black roommate, more in one season than "30 Rock" developed Tracy Jordan in six. But at the same time, there's "Kimmy's" Dong (Ki Hong Lee), a Vietnamese immigrant who seems like a deliberate callback to "Sixteen Candles'" notoriously racist caricature, Long Duk Dong.
IM3: I know next to nothing about the intricacies of Native American culture and even I was like, um, this doesn’t seem…right? And just like Dong, it was a bunch of jokes that we’ve heard before but said in a winking, “isn’t it funny, we get it’s racist!” kinda way. Like, OK, cool. But in the real world, if a white person says those things to me, it’s a microaggression and I’m most certainly not here for that. So why is it OK when the white person puts those words into an actor’s mouth and just has them say it on TV? What’s the difference?
AA: Right. I hate couching racism under the term “hipster racism,” because, like, it’s the same thing. You’re saying the same thing. The result is the same. It’s racism whether or not you “mean” to be racist.
My initial take while watching the show:
Watching Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (no relation). Waiting for the jokes to kick in after the first 15 minutes.
I guess the first episode is mostly setup. The humor must start in the second episode.
I hope the Hispanic maid reappears. Since the idea that she'd go to the cult leader for a job interview and stay voluntarily for 15 years, without even learning English, is flatly racist.
So Kimmie supposedly went underground at age 13 or so for 15 years? Y'know, 13-year-olds actually know a fair amount about the world already. Like you don't take a backpack with $13,000 to a dance club. Candy stores sell unlimited amounts of candy that you can eat for dinner if you wish. Horse-drawn carriages aren't some weird form of horse enslavement. Etc.
Maybe this hyper-naivete was funny the first time I saw it on The Beverly Hillbillies 50 years ago. Although that was never the funniest show either. But I'm not feeling it as a source of humor in 2015.
After the first three episodes...I didn't find the show at all funny. Most of the characters are caricatures, starting with the naive and optimistic Kimmy the repeated-rape victim. The gay black roommate loves Broadway shows and The Lion King. The old people--the landlady and Kimmy's first "date"--are a cat lady and a senile old coot, respectively. Jacqueline and her daughter are spoiled rich white people personified--even though Jacqueline is supposedly Native.
Then there are the minor characters. Besides the Latina maid and the Indians, there are the Hispanic performers dressed as a mariachi band. And the Korean mourners at a funeral. They're not strange, exactly, since they don't say anything. But they let Titus, a complete stranger, sing in their midst. They seem to be stereotypical Asians who'll passively let someone take over their ceremony because they don't know what's going on.
Hip to be racist
I gather Kimmy Schmidt's racial portrayals get better later on. But if it takes you six or seven episodes to get race reasonably right, I'd say you've failed.
"Hipster racism" seems like the right label for what's going on. I can imagine the writers saying, "We're not laughing at the stereotypical maid who can't speak English. We're presenting her so you can laugh at the ignorant people who would laugh at her."
Or, "We're not laughing at Indians who think planes are 'iron eagles.' We're laughing at the ignorant people who think Indians think planes are iron eagles. Even thought we don't show any of these ignorant people, much less laugh at them."
It's like Kimmy is trying to have it both ways. Which is evident in the Korean character named Dong. "His name is funny...ha ha! But we understand it's funny, so we're not laughing at him. We're laughing at you if you think his name is funny. You're the ignorant one in that case, not us."
This is a good example of hipster racism: presenting racism, then winking at it. And acting as if that's enough to excuse the racism. No, it isn't.
I'd say the Native subplot is a particular case of failure. In the first three episodes, Jacqueline doesn't show one iota of being torn between her Native and white identities. She's a white woman in her white world and even with her Native parents. That she has a Native upbringing is a gimmick, not a genuine character trait. It does nothing to distinguish her from millions of rich white women who look and act like her.
So she's Native because that's a "hip" way to make her more "complex." Look, she has a backstory! Even though it's little more than a few buzzwords: reservation, buffalo, eagle, etc. It's a Saturday Night Live version of race, which makes sense given Fey's background. And it's about as unsatisfying.
For more on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, see Racial Stereotypes in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Just a Comedy?
August 09, 2015
#AmericanLivesMatter most to Americans
“All Lives Matter” has always been a lie: The brutality of Hiroshima and Nagasaki echoes in Ferguson and Iraq today
Americans have always valued their own lives above any other—except when their fellow Americans are the "other"
By Arthur ChuIt shouldn’t be rocket science why invoking “All Lives Matter” is, at best, insensitive and, at worst, an active attempt to derail activism and deny reality. Nobody is disagreeing that all people’s lives do, in fact, matter and ought to matter equally.
The point is that right now they are not treated as though they matter equally. Some people’s lives are treated as precious, others as disposable garbage. If you really do believe all lives matter, then your focus should be on black lives, which are demonstrably the most neglected lives in our country and, for that matter, the world. Treating a focus on black lives as a “special interest” or parochial concern requires willful ignorance about what kind of world we actually live in.
The charitable interpretation is that #AllLivesMatter folks just aren’t aware of this–they conceive of our justice and law enforcement system as a basically decent system that basically works the way it should where any instances of police brutality or unjust killings are unfortunate exceptions to the rule. They think of activists as just taking a few of those exceptions and singling them out because the victims “happen to be black.”
You can push back on this with statistical evidence—statistics that aren’t new or shocking to anyone, that have been known for years before putting names and faces to them like Mike Brown and Sandra Bland made them go viral. You can point to the obvious signs of a culture of racism, the ever-present context of a racist history in which these events occur. You can demonstrate that you’re not “picking and choosing” victims by signal-boosting just as loudly when a white teenager is killed, demonstrating that it’s not that you don’t care about white victims, but white victims are comparatively rarer.
You keep tweeting and keep marching and keep writing articles and books hoping that you will eventually “raise awareness” enough that the #AllLivesMatter crowd will stop their pointless derailing and actually act like all lives matter.
For some of them, this might work. But I’m coming to think that for many, it doesn’t–because they do not, in fact, believe that all lives matter, and consciously or unconsciously are excluding quite a lot of people from the “all” in that phrase.
Look at President Bush’s invasion of Iraq and President Obama’s withdrawal, both of which are being furiously relitigated at the moment in the run-up to the Republican primaries. Both pro-war and anti-war pundits talk endlessly about the 4,491 American deaths in that war, either arguing that withdrawal “saved more American lives” or caused those Americans who had died to have “died in vain.”
Going totally unmentioned are the more than 100,000 Iraqi deaths (we think, no one has been able to keep accurate count) in that war, the majority of whom were civilians, killed by violence in the war, and the untold more who died from disease or privation. This is a number at least 20 times as high as the number of Americans killed, possibly 40 times as high.
But we treat our people’s deaths as fundamentally more meaningful than theirs. Even the liberal anti-war crowd reflexively talks about “American troops” being killed and “the deaths of American citizens.” Whatever you think of the war, the American troops who died volunteered to go and made the choice to be there, while hundreds of thousands of Iraqis–including Iraqi children–died with no choice in the matter at all. Comment: For more on Iraq, see Phony "Patriots" Love American Sniper and Why Do They Hate Us 2013?
Americans have always valued their own lives above any other—except when their fellow Americans are the "other"
By Arthur Chu
The point is that right now they are not treated as though they matter equally. Some people’s lives are treated as precious, others as disposable garbage. If you really do believe all lives matter, then your focus should be on black lives, which are demonstrably the most neglected lives in our country and, for that matter, the world. Treating a focus on black lives as a “special interest” or parochial concern requires willful ignorance about what kind of world we actually live in.
The charitable interpretation is that #AllLivesMatter folks just aren’t aware of this–they conceive of our justice and law enforcement system as a basically decent system that basically works the way it should where any instances of police brutality or unjust killings are unfortunate exceptions to the rule. They think of activists as just taking a few of those exceptions and singling them out because the victims “happen to be black.”
You can push back on this with statistical evidence—statistics that aren’t new or shocking to anyone, that have been known for years before putting names and faces to them like Mike Brown and Sandra Bland made them go viral. You can point to the obvious signs of a culture of racism, the ever-present context of a racist history in which these events occur. You can demonstrate that you’re not “picking and choosing” victims by signal-boosting just as loudly when a white teenager is killed, demonstrating that it’s not that you don’t care about white victims, but white victims are comparatively rarer.
You keep tweeting and keep marching and keep writing articles and books hoping that you will eventually “raise awareness” enough that the #AllLivesMatter crowd will stop their pointless derailing and actually act like all lives matter.
For some of them, this might work. But I’m coming to think that for many, it doesn’t–because they do not, in fact, believe that all lives matter, and consciously or unconsciously are excluding quite a lot of people from the “all” in that phrase.
Look at President Bush’s invasion of Iraq and President Obama’s withdrawal, both of which are being furiously relitigated at the moment in the run-up to the Republican primaries. Both pro-war and anti-war pundits talk endlessly about the 4,491 American deaths in that war, either arguing that withdrawal “saved more American lives” or caused those Americans who had died to have “died in vain.”
Going totally unmentioned are the more than 100,000 Iraqi deaths (we think, no one has been able to keep accurate count) in that war, the majority of whom were civilians, killed by violence in the war, and the untold more who died from disease or privation. This is a number at least 20 times as high as the number of Americans killed, possibly 40 times as high.
But we treat our people’s deaths as fundamentally more meaningful than theirs. Even the liberal anti-war crowd reflexively talks about “American troops” being killed and “the deaths of American citizens.” Whatever you think of the war, the American troops who died volunteered to go and made the choice to be there, while hundreds of thousands of Iraqis–including Iraqi children–died with no choice in the matter at all.
August 05, 2015
Trump promises "normalcy" aka whiteness
The hideous truth about Donald Trump: Why the “Trump Surge” is here to stay—even if his campaign isn’t
The forces animating the Donald's soaring popularity are omnipresent: The deep-seated anxieties of white America
By Brittney CooperDonald Trump makes clear that he primarily cares about capitalism, about wealth, and about power. While I view his particular performance of right-wing politics and white masculinity as buffoonish, he seems to offer comfort to those on the right who are deeply invested in returning the country’s leadership to someone who looks and thinks like them. What’s interesting, then, is that Trump’s billionaire status likely indicates that he has little in common with the everyday citizen. But his brash and unapologetic political incorrectness bespeaks comfort, a seeming return to normalcy for those Americans who believe that progress and change are happening too fast.
While Democratic candidates like Hillary Clinton, Martin O’Malley and Bernie Sanders have become more explicit about saying “Black lives matter,” Trump recently argued that we actually need to “give power back to the police.” Nothing about the rampant culture of overpolicing in this country or the surveillance state in which most urban people of color live would suggest that this is a reasonable position to take. The police have more power than they have ever had, and they continue to use that power to intimidate and abuse ordinary citizens of all backgrounds, including African-Americans, Native Americans and white people. And:The explanations that suggest that Trump’s “refreshing honesty” and “lack of political corruption” make him popular are surface-level truths that point to a deeper set of lies. Trump legitimizes the most irrational and base impulses of those on the right. He makes it seem OK to have views that are politically retrograde and fundamentally at odds with a democratic project. He makes white discomfort with progressive discourse and policy feel like a legitimate anxiety.
The presidency of Barack Obama has so deeply unsettled such a significant segment of the American populace, that nothing but right-wing political zealotry will make them feel settled again. This is what Trump represents–the kind of zealotry meant to balance the extreme feelings that many conservative (read: white) Americans have about what they’ve been “forced to endure” for the last eight years. Comment: For more on conservatives, see "Restoring America's Greatness" = Disneyesque Dream and Obama's N-Word Controversy.
The forces animating the Donald's soaring popularity are omnipresent: The deep-seated anxieties of white America
By Brittney Cooper
While Democratic candidates like Hillary Clinton, Martin O’Malley and Bernie Sanders have become more explicit about saying “Black lives matter,” Trump recently argued that we actually need to “give power back to the police.” Nothing about the rampant culture of overpolicing in this country or the surveillance state in which most urban people of color live would suggest that this is a reasonable position to take. The police have more power than they have ever had, and they continue to use that power to intimidate and abuse ordinary citizens of all backgrounds, including African-Americans, Native Americans and white people.
The presidency of Barack Obama has so deeply unsettled such a significant segment of the American populace, that nothing but right-wing political zealotry will make them feel settled again. This is what Trump represents–the kind of zealotry meant to balance the extreme feelings that many conservative (read: white) Americans have about what they’ve been “forced to endure” for the last eight years.
June 29, 2015
Obama's "n-word" controversy
The GOP’s secret “n-word” politics: What their latest Obama outrage is really about
In the Age of Obama, conservatives continue their tradition of racial slurring—without actually saying the word
By Chauncey DeVegaThe faux-controversy over Obama’s use of “the n-word” in a discussion about white supremacy and racial animus in the United States is one more example of how conservatives have hijacked anti-racist language and concepts such as “colorblindness,” “discrimination” and “racism” in the post-civil rights era. Instead of abiding by the original intent of such language, as offered and used by progressives and liberals, the White Right has twisted those concepts to serve white privilege and protect entrenched systems of white supremacy.
Now, racism (what is, “power” plus “privilege”) is distorted as “reverse racism” (an oxymoron, a type of newspeak, as to reverse racism actually means that there is in fact no racism). The concept is rooted in the bizarre notion that it is white people who are the actual racists; rather, it is black Americans and those others who dare to talk about white privilege and white supremacy that are guilty of that sin. Similarly, when White America is asked to no longer use a racial slur, it is the former who are now somehow victims of “anti-white discrimination” and “unfair” racial “double-standards.” The ultimate effect of the right wing’s deft rewriting and reworking of the language of race in America is to fuel a white victimology and grievance industry, of which Fox News and the Republican Party are the main purveyors and beneficiaries.
The ugly irony of this latest fake outrage is that Fox News, the Republican Party, and the white right more broadly have been calling America’s first black President a “nigger”—normally in all but name, but sometimes even in plain speech itself—since his candidacy for president began, close to a decade ago.
While some conservatives and their defenders will immediately object to such a claim, the reality is that there are in fact many ways—deployed throughout modern history—to call a black person that word without ever saying it outright. The word itself came into common usage in the 19th century, as an “evolution” of earlier words used by white people in the context of white-on-black slavery, rape, violence, and the Maafa. Language has symbolic power. Words can be inherently provocative and violent acts against the minds and emotions of those individuals they are directed at. (The law even acknowledges such language as “fighting words.”) Some of the hundreds of examples for those unclear on the concept:Examples of such “dog whistles” include words and phrases such as “welfare queen,” “black crime,” “black pathology”; and references to black people’s bad culture,” “broken homes,” “dependency,” “laziness” and lack of “work ethic.” This language has even expanded in recent years to include such phrases as “makers versus takers,” fatuous distinctions about “real Americas,” as well as Mitt Romney’s infamous claims about “the 47 percent.” In the Age of Obama, the Republican Party, Fox News, the right-wing echo chamber, and movement conservatives have provided a litany of examples in which they have invoked racist attitudes toward Obama without actually having to directly utter that six-letter word.
Barack Obama was subjected to a racial litmus test known as “Birtherism.” His legitimacy as president of the United States was questioned because of a deep belief that he is some type of foreign Other, incompatible with what it means to be a “real American.” (Read between the lines: A white American.) Comment: For more on conservative racism, see Conservatives Can't Handle Roof's Racism and Black Professor Criticizes White Men.
In the Age of Obama, conservatives continue their tradition of racial slurring—without actually saying the word
By Chauncey DeVega
Now, racism (what is, “power” plus “privilege”) is distorted as “reverse racism” (an oxymoron, a type of newspeak, as to reverse racism actually means that there is in fact no racism). The concept is rooted in the bizarre notion that it is white people who are the actual racists; rather, it is black Americans and those others who dare to talk about white privilege and white supremacy that are guilty of that sin. Similarly, when White America is asked to no longer use a racial slur, it is the former who are now somehow victims of “anti-white discrimination” and “unfair” racial “double-standards.” The ultimate effect of the right wing’s deft rewriting and reworking of the language of race in America is to fuel a white victimology and grievance industry, of which Fox News and the Republican Party are the main purveyors and beneficiaries.
The ugly irony of this latest fake outrage is that Fox News, the Republican Party, and the white right more broadly have been calling America’s first black President a “nigger”—normally in all but name, but sometimes even in plain speech itself—since his candidacy for president began, close to a decade ago.
While some conservatives and their defenders will immediately object to such a claim, the reality is that there are in fact many ways—deployed throughout modern history—to call a black person that word without ever saying it outright. The word itself came into common usage in the 19th century, as an “evolution” of earlier words used by white people in the context of white-on-black slavery, rape, violence, and the Maafa. Language has symbolic power. Words can be inherently provocative and violent acts against the minds and emotions of those individuals they are directed at. (The law even acknowledges such language as “fighting words.”)
Barack Obama was subjected to a racial litmus test known as “Birtherism.” His legitimacy as president of the United States was questioned because of a deep belief that he is some type of foreign Other, incompatible with what it means to be a “real American.” (Read between the lines: A white American.)
June 25, 2015
Confederate flag vs. other flags
For some reason people continued to make derogatory comments about the Confederate flag. First, noting the circumstances that created it:
Comparing it to another symbol of white supremacy:
But what about the Germans' pride in their brave soldiers?!Retweeted Tim Wise (@timjacobwise)
Conservatives who say removing #ConfederateFlag = purging history -- Is that what u said when Berlin Wall came down? Or swastikas in Germany? Stars and Bars vs. Stripes
And finally comparing it to the world's greatest flag:
Didn't Southerners lead some of the attacks and massacres against Indians? And Northerners tolerated slavery as official US policy for about 70 years. So nobody is without blame here.
In the same vein, the Onion posted a semi-satirical comment:
U.S. Flag Recalled After Causing 143 Million Deaths
Then there was this:
White power! White men killing "savage" animals and people--that's pretty much America in a nutshell.
It's just "funny" to me how the hunters draped an American flag over their kill. Even better would be a Confederate flag. Both Americans and foreigners would get the message: that this is the epitome of America.
Leave it to Russell Means to spell it out:
For more on the subject, see The Best Indian Movies.
Comparing it to another symbol of white supremacy:
But what about the Germans' pride in their brave soldiers?!
Conservatives who say removing #ConfederateFlag = purging history -- Is that what u said when Berlin Wall came down? Or swastikas in Germany?
And finally comparing it to the world's greatest flag:
Didn't Southerners lead some of the attacks and massacres against Indians? And Northerners tolerated slavery as official US policy for about 70 years. So nobody is without blame here.
In the same vein, the Onion posted a semi-satirical comment:
U.S. Flag Recalled After Causing 143 Million Deaths
Then there was this:
White power! White men killing "savage" animals and people--that's pretty much America in a nutshell.
It's just "funny" to me how the hunters draped an American flag over their kill. Even better would be a Confederate flag. Both Americans and foreigners would get the message: that this is the epitome of America.
Leave it to Russell Means to spell it out:
For more on the subject, see The Best Indian Movies.
June 24, 2015
The Confederate flag must go
The biggest outcome of the Charleston wasn't new gun-control laws, or a reexamination of America's racist past. Apparently it was the removal of the Confederate flag.
It's a potentially big moment in the history of American race relations. Some postings on the subject:
The GOP’s delusional Charleston outrage shows just how desperate it has become
From "n-word" handwringing to ludicrous complaints about "politicizing" a tragedy, Republicans have totally lost it
By Heather DigbyOn Monday, the horrors of Charleston brought about a symbolic, but meaningful change: Republicans who had previously been unwilling to offend the neo-Confederate faction of their party took a deep breath and recommended the Confederate flag be removed from the grounds of the South Carolina Statehouse. It had been flying on the grounds somewhere since the early 1960s when white political leaders all over the South suddenly had an overwhelming urge to officially celebrate their “heritage,” just as African Americans were agitating for civil rights. In South Carolina, it was recently moved from the capitol to the grounds as part of a ”compromise,” and Republicans swore they’d been pushed to the brink and would move no further. But a massacre of nine people in a historic African American church by a white supremacist seems to have made them re-evaluate the value of their 50 year heritage of celebrating their resistance to civil rights. Walmart doesn’t get any credit for not selling the Confederate flag
A handful of major companies and red states are ditching the flag en masse. But this isn't courage. Far from it
By Bob CescaToday, in 2015, too many southerners continue to embrace it while refusing to embrace the hellscape; they refuse to own the century-plus waking nightmare that was so much a part of the African-American experience following the war, for which the South was almost entirely responsible. Flying the flag at the state Capitol or selling it in Walmart is a constant reminder, a constant reinforcement and ongoing legitimization of things that should otherwise be, in a sane world, shameful. And that’s exactly what the flag should rightfully symbolize to white southerners: shame.
Worse yet, it required the deaths of nine African-American parishioners in Charleston to finally begin to consider downplaying the flag. It should never have come to this, and every state—every retailer—that waited until after Dylann Roof opened fire before reconsidering the appropriateness of the flag should be justifiably shamed and scolded, rather than applauded.
Ultimately, if the South really, really desperately needs a symbol of its regional heritage, why not a mint julep or a pecan log from Stuckey’s? It doesn’t matter as long as it’s not that flag. The war is over. The Confederacy lost. And now’s the time to finally take ownership of what happened; to own what the flag really stands for. Enough of this childish cowering behind bogus, manufactured symbolism. Let the Confederate flag burnings commence in earnest, and dedicate each one to an African-American man, woman and child who was wronged under the symbolism of that banner. 
New/old flag to replace the Stars and Bars in the Confederate South.
The Southern heritage...of white supremacy.
The ‘Southern Avenger’ Repents: I Was Wrong About the Confederate Flag
States’ rights? Heritage? I was wrong: The Confederate flag has always been about race.A 14-year-old black girl attending a pool party in McKinney, Texas, had been manhandled and thrown to the ground by a police officer. ... The overwhelming response was that she was a “thug” who was “no saint” and needed to be taught “respect.” ... It bothered me greatly, probably because at one time I might have done the same thing. Rand Paul: Confederate Flag a 'Symbol of Human Bondage and Slavery'
"And that's okay by me," Paul might've added. "Slavery is the natural result of unrestrained capitalism aka libertarianism, and that's the god I worship."
Fox Panel Debates Whether Removal of Confederate Flag Is 'A Slippery Slope'
Removing the flag is "sterilizing history"? So keeping the flag is meant to remind us that the South's racist rebellion was based on slavery? I don't think so.
Let's remember the white stuff and forget the black and Native stuff!
Get over it, Confederate crybabies!
For more on the subject, see Natives React to Charleston Shootings and Conservatives Can't Handle Roof's Racism.
It's a potentially big moment in the history of American race relations. Some postings on the subject:
The GOP’s delusional Charleston outrage shows just how desperate it has become
From "n-word" handwringing to ludicrous complaints about "politicizing" a tragedy, Republicans have totally lost it
By Heather Digby
A handful of major companies and red states are ditching the flag en masse. But this isn't courage. Far from it
By Bob Cesca
Worse yet, it required the deaths of nine African-American parishioners in Charleston to finally begin to consider downplaying the flag. It should never have come to this, and every state—every retailer—that waited until after Dylann Roof opened fire before reconsidering the appropriateness of the flag should be justifiably shamed and scolded, rather than applauded.
Ultimately, if the South really, really desperately needs a symbol of its regional heritage, why not a mint julep or a pecan log from Stuckey’s? It doesn’t matter as long as it’s not that flag. The war is over. The Confederacy lost. And now’s the time to finally take ownership of what happened; to own what the flag really stands for. Enough of this childish cowering behind bogus, manufactured symbolism. Let the Confederate flag burnings commence in earnest, and dedicate each one to an African-American man, woman and child who was wronged under the symbolism of that banner.
New/old flag to replace the Stars and Bars in the Confederate South.
The Southern heritage...of white supremacy.
The ‘Southern Avenger’ Repents: I Was Wrong About the Confederate Flag
States’ rights? Heritage? I was wrong: The Confederate flag has always been about race.
"And that's okay by me," Paul might've added. "Slavery is the natural result of unrestrained capitalism aka libertarianism, and that's the god I worship."
Fox Panel Debates Whether Removal of Confederate Flag Is 'A Slippery Slope'
Removing the flag is "sterilizing history"? So keeping the flag is meant to remind us that the South's racist rebellion was based on slavery? I don't think so.
Let's remember the white stuff and forget the black and Native stuff!
Get over it, Confederate crybabies!
For more on the subject, see Natives React to Charleston Shootings and Conservatives Can't Handle Roof's Racism.
June 22, 2015
Natives react to Charleston shootings
Some Natives reacting to the Charleston shootings noted our long history of racial violence:
A day of lament...
By Mark CharlesI lament the words of our political candidates who promise to lead America back to its former "greatness", ignorant of the fact that much of America's "greatness" was built on the exploitation and dehumanization of its people of color.
I lament that today the dominant culture in America is in shock because in the city of Charleston South Carolina one individual committed a single evil and heinous act of violence, while minority communities throughout the country are bracing themselves because the horrors of the past 500 years are continuing into their lifetime.
I lament with every person and community, throughout the history of this nation, who, due to the color of their skin, had to endure marginalization, silence, discrimination, beatings, lynching, cultural genocide, boarding schools, internment camps, mass incarceration, broken treaties, stolen lands, murder, slavery and discovery.
Today I lament that the United States of America does not share a common memory and therefore is incapable of experiencing true community. 
Opinion / Making Sense of the Senseless
By Sherri MitchellIn the last 24 hours, I have seen posts that have blamed the NRA for their overbearing insistence that access to guns does not contribute to gun violence; the NRA in turn blamed one of the victims, claiming that his vote against guns in church made the victims less safe; another group blamed mental illness; while their opponents claimed that mental illness had simply become the catch-phrase for avoiding the larger problem, which was clearly psychotropic drugs. We blame, and blame, and blame, because it relieves us of taking any responsibility. The truth is that we are all complicit in the current state of affairs. By some unspoken, common agreement, Americans have chosen to overlook the fact that this country was founded on blood, and that it continues to thrive in blood. War has been the most significant and sustained truth guiding this country since its inception. And, despite all of the “progress” that has been made, American school children continue to be taught that genocide, slavery, and all other forms of subjugation and oppression, though terrible, are acceptable means to achieve noble ends. This is the true root of the problem. Until we are able to enter into meaningful dialogue about this truth, healing will not take place. And, we will all be doomed to repeat these devastating cycles over and over again. White America is complicit: Charleston, Dylann Roof and the country’s real race war
Questioning the motivations of the Charleston shooter is worse than obtuse. It is itself an act of violence
By Kali HollowayAt 21-years-old, Roof had fully absorbed the message his country has taught him, just like terrorists in every other country, in every other part of the world. He clung to the old American idea that white women are our most precious resource to be protected by any means, and felt it was his right as a white man to protect his birthright—this country and his privilege within it—which he saw as being taken from him. We are guns and violence and race hatred and systemic, codified, state-sanctioned terrorism against people of color and that is who we have always been. While our media is certain to attribute Roof’s heinous acts to mental illness (and the cops were careful to take him alive, which even the most innocent of black folks cannot count on), I consider him a particularly apt pupil. Just the latest of many. Though certainly not the last. Even President Obama had an opinion:
Obama rejects mass shootings as 'new normal' in America
"How can anyone call shootings the new normal," Obama might've explained, "when they go back to the Mystic Massacre of 1637?"
For more on the subject, see Conservatives Can't Handle Roof's Racism and Conservatives Make Excuses for Roof.
A day of lament...
By Mark Charles
I lament that today the dominant culture in America is in shock because in the city of Charleston South Carolina one individual committed a single evil and heinous act of violence, while minority communities throughout the country are bracing themselves because the horrors of the past 500 years are continuing into their lifetime.
I lament with every person and community, throughout the history of this nation, who, due to the color of their skin, had to endure marginalization, silence, discrimination, beatings, lynching, cultural genocide, boarding schools, internment camps, mass incarceration, broken treaties, stolen lands, murder, slavery and discovery.
Today I lament that the United States of America does not share a common memory and therefore is incapable of experiencing true community.
Opinion / Making Sense of the Senseless
By Sherri Mitchell
Questioning the motivations of the Charleston shooter is worse than obtuse. It is itself an act of violence
By Kali Holloway
Obama rejects mass shootings as 'new normal' in America
"How can anyone call shootings the new normal," Obama might've explained, "when they go back to the Mystic Massacre of 1637?"
For more on the subject, see Conservatives Can't Handle Roof's Racism and Conservatives Make Excuses for Roof.
June 21, 2015
Conservatives can't handle Roof's racism
Having failed to come up with any other explanation for Dylann Roof's assault, they still failed to address his expressed motives:
HuffPost BlackVoices @blackvoices
Fox News twists itself in knots to find an explanation other than racism for the #CharlestonShooting http://huff.to/1H24kHk
Wall Street Journal: Please ignore the Confederate flag on the South Carolina capitol — institutionalized racism “no longer exists” in the South
Dylann Roof murdered nine black people not because of racism, but some "problem that defies explanation"
Why Conservatives Still Won't Admit That Charleston Was A Racist Crime
The GOP’s staggering Charleston cowardice: Why are so many Republicans so scared of admitting the truth?
When it comes to the Republican Party, terrorism in South Carolina will never, ever be described as such
Short answer: Because many of their followers share Roof's views.
‘I know where he got his news': Bill Maher links Charleston terrorist to right-wing media
By Arturo GarciaLewis again tried to argue for religion as a motivation for Roof, only to be cut off by Maher and Reid.
“If you look even at the three flags that this young man adhered to, the Confederate flag emblem on his car, the Rhodesian flag and the South African flag from Apartheid[-era] South Africa, all three of those purported to be Christian governments,” Reid said. “The white Christian government in South Africa, which ruled over the majority-black population; in Rhodesia, the violent white government that ruled over that population considered themselves quite Christian. [Roof] could’ve been completely embraced in what those governments stood for.” The proof is in
As if we didn't have enough evidence of Roof's beliefs, someone found this:
Dylann Roof Photos and a Manifesto Are Posted on Website
Conservatives immediately announced they're still not sure why Roof acted. "It's senseless, unthinkable, and unfathomable," they said in unison, reading from their white supremacist talking points.
Here's a great summary of conservative confusion and cowardice:
Fox News Goes to Insane Lengths to Underplay Gun Violence
For years, Fox News and conservatives have routinely tried to underplay gun violence and even horrific bouts of mass murders.
By Eric BoehlertLike frantic shoppers running down a last-minute list, Fox News talkers last week desperately tried to cobble together an inventory of reasons why racist gunman Dylann Roof may not have been primarily motivated by racism.
As the conservative media anxiously and collectively searched for political cover, Fox News hosts and guests offered up an array of illogical explanations: Maybe the Charleston, S.C. church killing was an attack on Christians. Maybe it was an attack on South Carolina. Maybe political correctness was to blame. Or "diversity." Maybe pastors should be armed. (In any case, Fox Newsers agreed, President Obama was being very, very "divisive" regarding the matter.)
On and on, the alternative explanations were offered up in the face of overwhelming evidence that Roof allegedly had set out to kill as many black people as possible because he wanted to start a "race war." Period. And the way Roof allegedly chose to do that was to open fire, and then reload, in the basement of the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, killing the pastor and eight parishioners.
Like so many Americans, Fox News has been reeling in the wake of the massacre, except reeling in a different way. While Americans recoiled from the raw hate behind the gun rampage, Fox News wrestled with bouts of pathological denial.
Indeed, for Fox News and much of the conservative media, the horrific killings in South Carolina represented a political challenge because the act of mass murder revolved around two topics Fox News has long insisted don't really afflict America, or don't require pressing action: Racism and gun violence. That denial has made it nearly impossible for Fox to address the shooting in any coherent way. For more on the subject, see Were Charleston Shootings "Unfathomable"? and Initial Reactions to Charleston Shootings.
HuffPost BlackVoices @blackvoices
Fox News twists itself in knots to find an explanation other than racism for the #CharlestonShooting http://huff.to/1H24kHk
Wall Street Journal: Please ignore the Confederate flag on the South Carolina capitol — institutionalized racism “no longer exists” in the South
Dylann Roof murdered nine black people not because of racism, but some "problem that defies explanation"
Why Conservatives Still Won't Admit That Charleston Was A Racist Crime
The GOP’s staggering Charleston cowardice: Why are so many Republicans so scared of admitting the truth?
When it comes to the Republican Party, terrorism in South Carolina will never, ever be described as such
Short answer: Because many of their followers share Roof's views.
‘I know where he got his news': Bill Maher links Charleston terrorist to right-wing media
By Arturo Garcia
“If you look even at the three flags that this young man adhered to, the Confederate flag emblem on his car, the Rhodesian flag and the South African flag from Apartheid[-era] South Africa, all three of those purported to be Christian governments,” Reid said. “The white Christian government in South Africa, which ruled over the majority-black population; in Rhodesia, the violent white government that ruled over that population considered themselves quite Christian. [Roof] could’ve been completely embraced in what those governments stood for.”
As if we didn't have enough evidence of Roof's beliefs, someone found this:
Dylann Roof Photos and a Manifesto Are Posted on Website
Conservatives immediately announced they're still not sure why Roof acted. "It's senseless, unthinkable, and unfathomable," they said in unison, reading from their white supremacist talking points.
Here's a great summary of conservative confusion and cowardice:
Fox News Goes to Insane Lengths to Underplay Gun Violence
For years, Fox News and conservatives have routinely tried to underplay gun violence and even horrific bouts of mass murders.
By Eric Boehlert
As the conservative media anxiously and collectively searched for political cover, Fox News hosts and guests offered up an array of illogical explanations: Maybe the Charleston, S.C. church killing was an attack on Christians. Maybe it was an attack on South Carolina. Maybe political correctness was to blame. Or "diversity." Maybe pastors should be armed. (In any case, Fox Newsers agreed, President Obama was being very, very "divisive" regarding the matter.)
On and on, the alternative explanations were offered up in the face of overwhelming evidence that Roof allegedly had set out to kill as many black people as possible because he wanted to start a "race war." Period. And the way Roof allegedly chose to do that was to open fire, and then reload, in the basement of the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, killing the pastor and eight parishioners.
Like so many Americans, Fox News has been reeling in the wake of the massacre, except reeling in a different way. While Americans recoiled from the raw hate behind the gun rampage, Fox News wrestled with bouts of pathological denial.
Indeed, for Fox News and much of the conservative media, the horrific killings in South Carolina represented a political challenge because the act of mass murder revolved around two topics Fox News has long insisted don't really afflict America, or don't require pressing action: Racism and gun violence. That denial has made it nearly impossible for Fox to address the shooting in any coherent way.
June 20, 2015
Conservatives make excuses for Roof
Let's review what we've learned about Dylann Roof, the suspect in the Charleston shootings:
White Shooter Reportedly Told Black Victims: 'You're Taking Over Our Country'
In the wake of this heinous crime, right-wingers swung into action, blaming everything but Roof's explicit hatred of blacks. For starters, they tried their favorite "persecution of Christians" fantasy:
“Fox & Friends” just can’t stop the spin: In the wake of Charleston, we must arm our pastors and priests
It's "extraordinary" that it's being investigated as a hate crime, Steve Doocy said--it's an attack on Christians
Problem solved! Good guys with guns to shoot bad guys with guns. Pump 'em all full of lead and let God sort them out.
Santorum Calls Charleston Shooting 'Assault on Religious Liberty'
Ri-i-ight...it was an atheist assault on Christianity, not a white assault on blacks. Despite what the killer explicitly said. Thanks for demonstrating that none of my parodies is more extreme than the right-wing reality.
The following is not, I repeat not, an Onion satire:
White Supremacists Worried Charleston Shooting Makes Them Look BadStormfront commenters continued to hold out hope Thursday morning that perhaps Roof wasn't motivated by racism--maybe it was anti-Christian hatred instead--and their movement could keep what they think of as their good name. More from the lunatic fringe
Conservatives also floated the usual "crazed lone gunman" theory, which others shot down:
It’s not about mental illness: The big lie that always follows mass shootings by white males
Blaming "mental illness" is a cop-out--and one that lets us avoid talking about race, guns, hatred and terrorism
Racism Is Not a Mental Illness
Then Fox News agreed with Dylann Roof that "different cultures" was a reason for his mass murder:
Fox News host blames mass shootings on ‘different cultures’ living together in America
"All those brown people...so different from me...must kill them!"
And of course they blamed Obama, the root of all evil:
Frequent Fox guest: Whites might shoot up more black churches if Obama keeps calling them racist
Right...because the worse thing you can do to whites is call them out on their racism. It's practically a hate crime. It makes them so mad they literally can't stop themselves from pulling the trigger and killing more blacks.
For more on the subject, see Were Charleston Shootings "Unfathomable"? and Initial Reactions to Charleston Shootings.
White Shooter Reportedly Told Black Victims: 'You're Taking Over Our Country'
In the wake of this heinous crime, right-wingers swung into action, blaming everything but Roof's explicit hatred of blacks. For starters, they tried their favorite "persecution of Christians" fantasy:
“Fox & Friends” just can’t stop the spin: In the wake of Charleston, we must arm our pastors and priests
It's "extraordinary" that it's being investigated as a hate crime, Steve Doocy said--it's an attack on Christians
Problem solved! Good guys with guns to shoot bad guys with guns. Pump 'em all full of lead and let God sort them out.
Santorum Calls Charleston Shooting 'Assault on Religious Liberty'
Ri-i-ight...it was an atheist assault on Christianity, not a white assault on blacks. Despite what the killer explicitly said. Thanks for demonstrating that none of my parodies is more extreme than the right-wing reality.
The following is not, I repeat not, an Onion satire:
White Supremacists Worried Charleston Shooting Makes Them Look Bad
Conservatives also floated the usual "crazed lone gunman" theory, which others shot down:
It’s not about mental illness: The big lie that always follows mass shootings by white males
Blaming "mental illness" is a cop-out--and one that lets us avoid talking about race, guns, hatred and terrorism
Racism Is Not a Mental Illness
Then Fox News agreed with Dylann Roof that "different cultures" was a reason for his mass murder:
Fox News host blames mass shootings on ‘different cultures’ living together in America
"All those brown people...so different from me...must kill them!"
And of course they blamed Obama, the root of all evil:
Frequent Fox guest: Whites might shoot up more black churches if Obama keeps calling them racist
Right...because the worse thing you can do to whites is call them out on their racism. It's practically a hate crime. It makes them so mad they literally can't stop themselves from pulling the trigger and killing more blacks.
For more on the subject, see Were Charleston Shootings "Unfathomable"? and Initial Reactions to Charleston Shootings.
June 19, 2015
Rachel Dolezal = Indian wannabe
American Indians are Accustomed to Wannabes
On Being Onkwe:honwe: Thoughts About Rachel Dolezal
By Charles "Rain" BlackAmong Natives, if non-Natives come to us and ask how best to honor us, we are more than happy to give answers. Even if they approach our leaders with an existing idea (as Florida State did with the Seminoles) and say “We want to do this to honor you” or ask “Will this offend you?” we tend to give some consideration to the idea. However, doing it without getting our input, or worse, rejecting our feedback after the fact, is in no way honoring us. It's treating us as symbols, stereotypes or backdrops to colonialist activities. None of that honors Natives except in the self-centered thinking of the colonists doing so.
Now we see the same sort of behavior on the part of Rachel Dolezal. Much as with all the descendants of “Cherokee Princesses” who want to co-opt Native culture, she has decided on her own to be something she isn't--being black--never asking if her actions would offend those who have to deal with being black from even before they are born. That is the nature of modern American society, to be so wrapped up in rights and what “I want” that any sense of responsibility and what others want becomes secondary, or completely unimportant.
The situation with Rachel Donezal is bigger than just one woman unable to cope honestly with her family situation. It's about an entire society that has become so Narcissistic that people feel entitled to choose to be and do things that dishonor other people, yet claim they are doing so to honor them. The declaration is “If this is what I want to do to honor you, then you damn well better feel honored!” or be considered ungrateful or even prejudiced. Our society now too easily forgives or justifies people who do things without any regard for the impact their actions have on others.
Whether it's Rachel Donezal pretending to be black, or fashion models wearing war bonnets, such actions cannot be justified if the people groups directly involved in the representation of race or culture are not consulted and give their permission ahead of time. That is the real issue, not her personal rights to express her identity. Basic courtesy requires that those you are going to attempt to honor be consulted on the matter and give their approval. Rachel Donezal didn't do this. Washington football fans are as guilty of cultural appropriation as Rachel Dolezal
By Kevin B. BlackistoneFor much of my life, at least on fall and winter weekends, I was Rachel Dolezal.
I donned a T-shirt, sweatshirt or cap emblazoned with some image and nickname of my hometown football team and cheered it on. In the beginning, it was a gold-and-white spear and arrowhead festooned with a single feather. Then it became a burgundy R with a circle around it and a pair of white-and-burgundy feathers dangling down the back. Finally, the R gave way to the silhouette of a dark-skinned man with feathers cascading from his scalp.
He was an “American Indian,” as we’ve come to call the original and native people of the Americas. And the feathers, the golden spear and arrowhead, the paint that some who sat in RFK Stadium near Dad and me streaked on their faces, the headdresses that a few fans wore and nicknames they gave themselves, such as a guy who went by “Chief Zee,” were all that concocted Native American’s property—or his people’s.
We stole it. That’s called cultural appropriation. It’s misapplication. It’s misuse. It’s a callous disregard of the sensibilities of others who are not us.
That’s what too many of us continue to do in and around Washington, D.C., with native peoples’ culture, all for our selfish purpose as football fans. It’s the same as Dolezal—who Monday resigned her presidency of the Spokane, Wash., NAACP after her claim of being black was disproved by her white biological parents—stealing chunks of black American culture for her gain. Black and Red and White Like Me: Natives Know Too Many Rachel Dolezals
By Mary Annette PemberThe story of Rachel Dolezal, a white woman posing as an African American, shines a light on the strange practice of ethnic fraud. Unfortunately, this practice is old news in Indian country; non-Natives, mostly Caucasians, have been posing as Native people for years.
“Playing Indian” is so common that most Native peoples have grown inured to the cringe-inducing spectacle of white folks doing ungainly dances at hobby powwows all over the world. Not all participants at these events claim Native ancestry – many just want to be Indian for a day.
There are more and more individuals and groups, however, claiming Native heritage in order to reap benefits, either professional or monetary. Many of these imposters also present themselves to the general public as authorities and spokespeople for Native peoples. These practices are a line in the sand for some Native people like Ben Barnes, Second Chief for the Shawnee tribe of Oklahoma and Tribal Historic Preservation Officer (THPO). He and representatives from other Oklahoma tribes are joining together and taking action.
Barnes and leaders from the three federally recognized Shawnee tribal governments all located in Oklahoma (the Shawnee, Absentee Shawnee and Eastern Band Shawnee, as well as the Miami tribe), traveled to Illinois in May to oppose a state bill that would have conferred state tribal recognition to the Vinyard Indian Settlement. The group, located in Herod, Illinois, claims to be Shawnee.
George Strack, THPO for the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma described the group as hobbyists. My Native identity isn't your plaything. Stop with the mascots and 'pocahotties'
By Ruth HopkinsAre you a Pretendian? If you’ve ever worn a feathered headdress, clad yourself in head-to-toe Navajo prints or claimed without evidence that one of your great-great-great grandparents had some Native blood as a way to derail an argument about your white privilege, you’re the kind of person we Native Americans shame as seeking to co-opt Native identity.
When Pretendians seek to adopt Native identity to appear more exotic, or for some other perceived benefit, yet lack a genuine claim to Native heritage, their actions are little more than an extension of manifest destiny and colonial conquest – you could even call it racial identity theft. Sacred objects like warbonnets and peace pipes, and even the sexuality of Native women, are treated like the spoils of war, free for the taking.
Besides being descended from and related by blood to one of the more than 566 tribal nations recognized by the US government, Natives today agree that blood quantum is not the sole determinate of Native identity: kinship is key, because no true Native is an island. We have grandparents and cousins, blood roots and homelands. Pretendians lack kinship ties to tribal people.
Pretendians also have not lived through the systemic oppression that actual Native people face on a daily basis. They lack connections to reservations or urban Native communities who battle the effects of historical trauma. Pretendians aren’t the survivors of genocide; rather, it was their colonial ancestors who set up housekeeping on stolen lands built over the corpses of our dead, and Pretendians have benefitted from it. Insisting on inclusion when unqualified just exploits the people that Pretendians seek to imitate. Comment: Dolezal's Indian name is Stands with a Weave.
For more on the subject, see Churchill, Depp, Warren, and Dolezal and Making Sense of Rachel Dolezal.
On Being Onkwe:honwe: Thoughts About Rachel Dolezal
By Charles "Rain" Black
Now we see the same sort of behavior on the part of Rachel Dolezal. Much as with all the descendants of “Cherokee Princesses” who want to co-opt Native culture, she has decided on her own to be something she isn't--being black--never asking if her actions would offend those who have to deal with being black from even before they are born. That is the nature of modern American society, to be so wrapped up in rights and what “I want” that any sense of responsibility and what others want becomes secondary, or completely unimportant.
The situation with Rachel Donezal is bigger than just one woman unable to cope honestly with her family situation. It's about an entire society that has become so Narcissistic that people feel entitled to choose to be and do things that dishonor other people, yet claim they are doing so to honor them. The declaration is “If this is what I want to do to honor you, then you damn well better feel honored!” or be considered ungrateful or even prejudiced. Our society now too easily forgives or justifies people who do things without any regard for the impact their actions have on others.
Whether it's Rachel Donezal pretending to be black, or fashion models wearing war bonnets, such actions cannot be justified if the people groups directly involved in the representation of race or culture are not consulted and give their permission ahead of time. That is the real issue, not her personal rights to express her identity. Basic courtesy requires that those you are going to attempt to honor be consulted on the matter and give their approval. Rachel Donezal didn't do this.
By Kevin B. Blackistone
I donned a T-shirt, sweatshirt or cap emblazoned with some image and nickname of my hometown football team and cheered it on. In the beginning, it was a gold-and-white spear and arrowhead festooned with a single feather. Then it became a burgundy R with a circle around it and a pair of white-and-burgundy feathers dangling down the back. Finally, the R gave way to the silhouette of a dark-skinned man with feathers cascading from his scalp.
He was an “American Indian,” as we’ve come to call the original and native people of the Americas. And the feathers, the golden spear and arrowhead, the paint that some who sat in RFK Stadium near Dad and me streaked on their faces, the headdresses that a few fans wore and nicknames they gave themselves, such as a guy who went by “Chief Zee,” were all that concocted Native American’s property—or his people’s.
We stole it. That’s called cultural appropriation. It’s misapplication. It’s misuse. It’s a callous disregard of the sensibilities of others who are not us.
That’s what too many of us continue to do in and around Washington, D.C., with native peoples’ culture, all for our selfish purpose as football fans. It’s the same as Dolezal—who Monday resigned her presidency of the Spokane, Wash., NAACP after her claim of being black was disproved by her white biological parents—stealing chunks of black American culture for her gain.
By Mary Annette Pember
“Playing Indian” is so common that most Native peoples have grown inured to the cringe-inducing spectacle of white folks doing ungainly dances at hobby powwows all over the world. Not all participants at these events claim Native ancestry – many just want to be Indian for a day.
There are more and more individuals and groups, however, claiming Native heritage in order to reap benefits, either professional or monetary. Many of these imposters also present themselves to the general public as authorities and spokespeople for Native peoples. These practices are a line in the sand for some Native people like Ben Barnes, Second Chief for the Shawnee tribe of Oklahoma and Tribal Historic Preservation Officer (THPO). He and representatives from other Oklahoma tribes are joining together and taking action.
Barnes and leaders from the three federally recognized Shawnee tribal governments all located in Oklahoma (the Shawnee, Absentee Shawnee and Eastern Band Shawnee, as well as the Miami tribe), traveled to Illinois in May to oppose a state bill that would have conferred state tribal recognition to the Vinyard Indian Settlement. The group, located in Herod, Illinois, claims to be Shawnee.
George Strack, THPO for the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma described the group as hobbyists.
By Ruth Hopkins
When Pretendians seek to adopt Native identity to appear more exotic, or for some other perceived benefit, yet lack a genuine claim to Native heritage, their actions are little more than an extension of manifest destiny and colonial conquest – you could even call it racial identity theft. Sacred objects like warbonnets and peace pipes, and even the sexuality of Native women, are treated like the spoils of war, free for the taking.
Besides being descended from and related by blood to one of the more than 566 tribal nations recognized by the US government, Natives today agree that blood quantum is not the sole determinate of Native identity: kinship is key, because no true Native is an island. We have grandparents and cousins, blood roots and homelands. Pretendians lack kinship ties to tribal people.
Pretendians also have not lived through the systemic oppression that actual Native people face on a daily basis. They lack connections to reservations or urban Native communities who battle the effects of historical trauma. Pretendians aren’t the survivors of genocide; rather, it was their colonial ancestors who set up housekeeping on stolen lands built over the corpses of our dead, and Pretendians have benefitted from it. Insisting on inclusion when unqualified just exploits the people that Pretendians seek to imitate.
For more on the subject, see Churchill, Depp, Warren, and Dolezal and Making Sense of Rachel Dolezal.
Were Charleston shootings "unfathomable"?
People speculated about Dylann Roof's motive in opening fire in a Charleston church, though there wasn't much doubt about it.
Charleston terrorist reveals his motive: ‘You rape our women and you’re taking over our country—and you have to go’
Charleston terrorist acts on anti-Obama Tea Party hatred aka the Republican Party agenda. One Confederate flag-waver does what other Confederate flag-wavers only dream of.
We've seen thousands of examples of Obama called un-American, a foreigner, a tyrant, a terrorist, a Nazi, the anti-Christ, etc. Here's one such example:
Right-Wing Haters Slam Michelle Obama For Advocating Education For Girls
Michelle Obama supports "terrorists" => right-winger shoots blacks in Charleston. It doesn't get much simpler than that. Blacks are conspiring against (white) America, according to Roof, so kill the blacks.
"We'll never understand"?
Naturally, this was a hot topic of discussion on the Internets:alpha1906@gmail.com @alpha1906
That’s the talking point of the right: “We’ll never understand what’s going on in his mind.” Yes, we will. It’s racism. #CharlestonShooting
Retweeted Andray @AndrayDomise
Dissonance: Charleston's mayor calling a hate-motivated shooting "unfathomable." In SC. Where the Confederate flag flies over the Capitol.
Pin Head @TomAdelsbach
"Dylann Roof does not define South Carolina" - Mayor Riley
This flag flies over the SC Statehouse, so it kinda does. 
Dave Zirin @EdgeofSports
The past is not past when Gov. Nikki Haley can speak solemnly about the dead beneath a confederate flag. http://www.thenation.com/blog/210313/charlestons-mother-emanuel-church-has-stared-down-racist-violence-200-years …
Lincoln Michel @TheLincoln
The mental gymnastics white people go through.... http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/06/18/everything-known-about-charleston-church-shooting-suspect-dylann-roof.html … #CharlestonShooting 
Jeet Heer @HeerJeet
He made racist jokes, wore patches with flags of racist states & is alleged to have killed 9 black people. The motive is mysterious.
Nerdy Wonka @NerdyWonka
Terrorist comes to shoot black people. Media confirms he said he was there to shoot black people.
MSM: Was this really about race?
*Sigh*
Tim Wise @timjacobwise
The #CharlestonShooting was not "incomprehensible." Racism is encoded in U.S. DNA. The shooter learned the lessons this culture taught him
Clint Smith @ClintSmithIII
The shooter wasn't acting alone, he had 239 years of United States history telling him he was doing the right thing. #CharlestonShooting Plus a great comment from a friend of a Facebook friend:Just because a guy with a record of making racist remarks declares that he wants to kill black people before killing black people, does not mean he is a racist who sought to kill black people. Let's not jump to any conclusions here. We need look past the evidence. More on the subject
Here are 10 of the worst domestic terror attacks by extreme Christians and right-wing white men
Yes, America has been terrorizing brown people since 1492.
Charleston Shooting: Speaking the Unspeakable, Thinking the Unthinkable
"Unthinkable"? In a nation where people like Freddie Gray, Walter Scott, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, John Crawford, Jordan Davis, and Trayvon Martin get killed every day? I'm surprised whenever a white man doesn't kill black people for some reason.
Charleston terrorist reveals his motive: ‘You rape our women and you’re taking over our country—and you have to go’
Charleston terrorist acts on anti-Obama Tea Party hatred aka the Republican Party agenda. One Confederate flag-waver does what other Confederate flag-wavers only dream of.
We've seen thousands of examples of Obama called un-American, a foreigner, a tyrant, a terrorist, a Nazi, the anti-Christ, etc. Here's one such example:
Right-Wing Haters Slam Michelle Obama For Advocating Education For Girls
Michelle Obama supports "terrorists" => right-winger shoots blacks in Charleston. It doesn't get much simpler than that. Blacks are conspiring against (white) America, according to Roof, so kill the blacks.
"We'll never understand"?
Naturally, this was a hot topic of discussion on the Internets:
That’s the talking point of the right: “We’ll never understand what’s going on in his mind.” Yes, we will. It’s racism. #CharlestonShooting
Retweeted Andray @AndrayDomise
Dissonance: Charleston's mayor calling a hate-motivated shooting "unfathomable." In SC. Where the Confederate flag flies over the Capitol.
Pin Head @TomAdelsbach
"Dylann Roof does not define South Carolina" - Mayor Riley
This flag flies over the SC Statehouse, so it kinda does.
The past is not past when Gov. Nikki Haley can speak solemnly about the dead beneath a confederate flag. http://www.thenation.com/blog/210313/charlestons-mother-emanuel-church-has-stared-down-racist-violence-200-years …
Lincoln Michel @TheLincoln
The mental gymnastics white people go through.... http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/06/18/everything-known-about-charleston-church-shooting-suspect-dylann-roof.html … #CharlestonShooting
He made racist jokes, wore patches with flags of racist states & is alleged to have killed 9 black people. The motive is mysterious.
Nerdy Wonka @NerdyWonka
Terrorist comes to shoot black people. Media confirms he said he was there to shoot black people.
MSM: Was this really about race?
*Sigh*
Tim Wise @timjacobwise
The #CharlestonShooting was not "incomprehensible." Racism is encoded in U.S. DNA. The shooter learned the lessons this culture taught him
Clint Smith @ClintSmithIII
The shooter wasn't acting alone, he had 239 years of United States history telling him he was doing the right thing. #CharlestonShooting
Here are 10 of the worst domestic terror attacks by extreme Christians and right-wing white men
Yes, America has been terrorizing brown people since 1492.
Charleston Shooting: Speaking the Unspeakable, Thinking the Unthinkable
"Unthinkable"? In a nation where people like Freddie Gray, Walter Scott, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, John Crawford, Jordan Davis, and Trayvon Martin get killed every day? I'm surprised whenever a white man doesn't kill black people for some reason.
June 18, 2015
Initial reactions to Charleston shootings
White boy Dylann Roof allegedly shot nine black people in Charleston, South Carolina. Here are some initial thoughts from social media on this mass murder:Why is it always a white guy: The roots of modern, violent rage 
Dwayne Rodgers @DiggsWayne
Has anyone done a serious study of White male aggression? Or does their privilege exempt them from such studies? #DysfunctionIgnored
ella's homie @_BrothaG
There is a history to church folks being terrorized by white supremacy. Most lynchings & rapes took place during & after church #AMEShooting
TRiLL CLiNTON @iMadeSmartCool
Just as it was in the 1960's, the deliberate shooting of a Black church is to send a loud message:
You are safe nowhere.
daveweigel @daveweigel
Should you politicize a shooting? Use this test:
(1) The shooter is Muslim
(2) The shooter is not Muslim
If (1), feel free to politicize.
Salon.com @Salon
Racists take to Twitter to spew in wake of Charleston shootings http://slnm.us/1V2s91w 
Lawrence Brown @BmoreDoc
Nine killed in Waco. A "brawl"
Nine killed in Charleston. A "shooting"
Zero killed in Baltimore during resistance. The apocalypse.
BlueCornComics @bluecorncomics
Can we have a national outpouring of grief for Charleston with a "Charleston Strong" slogan? Oh, wait, the victims were black. Never mind.
Phillip Atiba Goff @DrPhilGoff
Disturbing to hear @nikkihaley say she never thought people weren't safe in churches. 32 Black churches in 18 months.
Salon.com @Salon
Call it what it is: The Charleston shooting is domestic terrorism http://slnm.us/gEYqO0p Comment: For more on the subject, see Santa Barbara Shootings Show America's Pathology and Newtown Shootings Show America's Pathology.
Has anyone done a serious study of White male aggression? Or does their privilege exempt them from such studies? #DysfunctionIgnored
ella's homie @_BrothaG
There is a history to church folks being terrorized by white supremacy. Most lynchings & rapes took place during & after church #AMEShooting
TRiLL CLiNTON @iMadeSmartCool
Just as it was in the 1960's, the deliberate shooting of a Black church is to send a loud message:
You are safe nowhere.
daveweigel @daveweigel
Should you politicize a shooting? Use this test:
(1) The shooter is Muslim
(2) The shooter is not Muslim
If (1), feel free to politicize.
Salon.com @Salon
Racists take to Twitter to spew in wake of Charleston shootings http://slnm.us/1V2s91w
Nine killed in Waco. A "brawl"
Nine killed in Charleston. A "shooting"
Zero killed in Baltimore during resistance. The apocalypse.
BlueCornComics @bluecorncomics
Can we have a national outpouring of grief for Charleston with a "Charleston Strong" slogan? Oh, wait, the victims were black. Never mind.
Phillip Atiba Goff @DrPhilGoff
Disturbing to hear @nikkihaley say she never thought people weren't safe in churches. 32 Black churches in 18 months.
Salon.com @Salon
Call it what it is: The Charleston shooting is domestic terrorism http://slnm.us/gEYqO0p
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