LEGITMATE RAPE

Last night's episode of Totally Biased with (my son) W. Kamau Bell, opened with a wry comment on Todd Akin's faux paus about the inability of women to get  pregnant when they are "legitimately raped." Bell said if that were true, "Why are there so many light-skinned folk in Alabama?" And he could have added, "Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, Virginia, North Carolina, the U.S. of A."

Then it hit me: RAPE WAS LEGITIMATE DURING SLAVERY! That's why we have such a large number of light-skinned folk in this country. In order to increase the number of slaves, and his net worth, the progeny born of the white master's  rape of an enslaved woman, was always black, another slave, never counted as white or bi-racial. THIS RAPE WAS LEGITIMATE! 

There wasn't a court in the country that would have prosecuted any white man for forcing any woman to have sex. The custom (and it may as well have been the law) was that white men could do as they pleased with any woman—black, white, married, or single. With a powerful white male protector some women were immune from being considered fair game, but any black man who objected to the exploitation or abuse of a woman could be killed with impunity. RAPE WAS LEGITIMATE!

W.E.B. Du Bois, the scholar, historian, and activist who was a founder of the NAACP put it this way. “To the ordinary American or Englishman, the race question at bottom is simply a matter of ownership of women; white men want the right to use all women, colored and white.” 

The ownership of women. This is what the Republican War on Women is all about: returning to the days when powerful men could do as they wished with women; to the days when RAPE WAS LEGITIMATE. Todd Akin's casual remark merely referred to what they've been doing for some time now with their attacks on Planned Parenthood, trying to criminalize abortion, forcing pregnant women to have unnecessary procedures. Todd Akin did not step out of line; he merely reiterated Republican policy. This is nothing new. It's a significant plank in their platform for the 2012 election. Todd Akin simply made it crystal clear that the Republicans want to return to the days when RAPE WAS LEGITIMATE.

WE MUST VOTE!

As Deepak Chopra points out; the only thing that can defeat us is our own apathy.

The progressive side of American politics feels done in by the nasty work of Karl Rove, following in the muddy footprints of the late Lee Atwater, a grinning, guitar-strumming master of demagoguery. The effectiveness of slamming Michael Dukakis with the horrifying tale of Willie Horton is now being revived using mug shots of William Ayers. Rove has been retooled as robo calls in a number of swing states, all of it to see if the old black magic will keep working. Instead of erupting in outrage and secretly dreading that a smear campaign will undo Barack Obama's lead in the polls, I return to the basics.

Why did the Republican smear machine work in the first place? The answer from many on the left is that the American electorate is stupid, malleable, covertly racist, easily frightened, and capable of falling for rich white Republicans who could care less about the common man. Let's say that all those things are valid (even though most are open to debate). Such factors can't be quantified, and if asked, many people give ambiguous or misleading answers about their personal beliefs. The second point to make is that Barack Obama owes his rise, in large measure, to overlooking people's worst instincts and appealing to their better ones. From the beginning, his campaign has posed a clear-cut choice between the best and worst in human nature.

The right-wing revolution went through three stages of moral deterioration. Stage 1 -- Resentment toward blacks, gays, immigrants, liberals, atheists, and the educated class was openly encouraged for political gain. Previously unrespectable, even anti-social beliefs were given entree into electoral debates. This was the Nixon 'silent majority' phase. Stage 2 - Splinter groups that preached intolerance and bigotry were praised for their "values." This was the Reagan phase, which preached the hollow slogan of "Morning in America" while ignoring AIDS victims -- just one symbol of institutional immorality. Stage 3 - As the right wing gained power, anyone who didn't agree with their ideology was smeared and labeled as immoral, unpatriotic, extremist, and disloyal. The term 'liberal' encapsulated all. of these. This was the high-water mark of the Tom DeLay, Karl Rove phase during the Bush years.

Obama isn't proposing a return to left-liberal politics so much as a reversal of these three stages of moral decline. His great adversary is apathy. As long as 40% of the electorate votes Republican out of inertia, the demagogues had an easy time getting another 8 - 10% to follow fear, intolerance, and xenophobia, the toxins that all democracies are susceptible to, especially in stressful times. Those wedge voters are probably still in place, even if they feel demoralized by the defrocking of their patron saint, Pres. Bush. Three million dedicated Christian fundamentalists, fired up by fringe issues like flag burning and gay marriage, can only sway a Presidential election if there is severely low voter turnout.

But now the apathetic majority has risen up for the first time since the Reagan revolution, not to vote for Democrats but against an immoral agenda that masked itself in sheep's clothing. I know many people who are afraid that McCain and the Rove machine can stir up the worst in human nature once again. For me, the right attitude isn't fear and suspicion but a clear-eyed realization that voters vote for immorality only when they are blind or asleep.

Waking up is Obama's best hope, and although it took an economic calamity to seal McCain's fate, the electorate seems more awake this year than in a very long time.

This is Your Nation on White Privilege by Tim Wise

For those who still can't grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.

White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because 'every family has challenges,' even as black and Latino families with similar 'challenges' are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.

White privilege is when you can call yourself a 'f***in' redneck,' like Bristol Palin's boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll 'kick their f***in' ass,' and talk about how you like to 'shoot s**t' for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.

White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.

White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don't all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you're 'untested.'

White privilege is being able to say that you support the words 'under God' in the pledge of allegiance because 'if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it's good enough for me,' and not be immediately disqualified from holding office – since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the 'under God' part wasn't added until the 1950s – while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.

White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you.

White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was 'Alaska first,' and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she's being disrespectful.

White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do – like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor – and people think you're being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college – you're somehow being mean, or even sexist.

White privilege is being able to convince white women who don't even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a 'second look.'

White privilege is being able to fire people who didn't support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.

White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God's punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you're just a good church-going Christian, but if you're black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you're an extremist who probably hates America.

White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a 'trick question,' while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O'Reilly means you're dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.

White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it, a 'light' burden.

And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren't sure about that whole 'change' thing. Ya know, it's just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain.

White privilege is, in short, the problem.

Obama's Vice President

I was going to write about this but somebody else already said everything I wanted to say, so check him out.

Thanks.

New Territory for Blacks

Some of us are not yet ready for prime time.

Jesse Jackson wants to cut off Barack's nuts.

Bernie Mac tells one of his standard hangin' on the corner jokes at a Barack fundraiser where people paid $2500 to attend.

Unfortunately, for people who have made a living exploiting black victimization, Barack Obama's being thisclose to becoming president of the U.S. is uncharted territory. Threatening uncharted territory.

Many of us who are interested in exploring the new territory are jubilant and excited. However, others may be inhibited by the fear of not knowing what to do. And some, like Jesse, don't want to go into the new territory at all because that means a total revision of a comfortable lifestyle dependent on casting blacks as victims.

Humans are notoriously resistant to change, even when it's for the better. There are black people who are having real problems with even the IDEA of a black president. It is just unbelievable for them. So much so that they are predicting some ominous secret looms over Obama that when revealed will stop him in his tracks. They are unsettled by the prospect of a black man in the White House. They never expected it; they don't know how to react. It alters their view of the world and their role in it.

The Pragmatic Obama

A NY Times column says we haven't been paying attention; that Barack has not moved to the middle; he's never been an ideologue.

And you know, she's right. We are so desperate for something new and better, we heard what we wanted to hear. But that's fine with me. All along I've observed that Obama actually wants to bring people together. Lots of politicians say that, but it's only rhetoric. Barack means it. And the older I get the more I understand that extreme positions, although absolutely essential, don't ordinarily get the job done because people are inherently resistant to 180 degree change, preferring things to change incrementally, if at all.

The best example of this occurred during the Civil Rights Movement. Malcolm and the Muslims, the Black Panthers, and SNCC made King's "radical" nonviolent demonstrations acceptable. And in turn all kinds of other things were accomplished. So, we extremists definitely have to keep Barack's feet to the fire, but I believe that with the support of the people his campaign is organizing, he will get some necessary things done--like universal health care, improving the economy and bringing troops back from Iraq.

Of course, we mustn't forget the importance of Bush's contribution. His extreme bad judgment like tax cuts and no-bid contracts for his wealthy friends (Halliburton, oil barons, etc.) have made things SO BAD that the country is seriously considering electing a black man president.

Note to Barack Obama

So, it's not just me, there are others who believe that the Barack Obama who managed to wrangle the Democratic nomination from the formidable Clintons, has abandoned his winning approach to appeal to the highly touted "middle."

Barack, that's not how you got here. It was your offer of CHANGE, not only in the way you run for office, but also in your policies, that so galvanized those of us who had become weary and disenchanted with the political process. If you become another Democrat who waters down his message to court Bush's minions, you could lose the enthusiasm you generated during your primary run, and lose those voters.

Arianna Huffington says the same thing in more detail.

Clarence Thomas Officially White

"All the judges are white and/or old; most are both."

The above statement is from a Newsweek column by Dahlia Lithwick. Now, I admit that there is nothing about Clarence Thomas's voting record on the U.S. Supreme Court to indicate he is a member of the group descended from Africans who were enslaved, but I hadn't realized that he is considered to be white. Or, is it that Ms Lithwick forgot about him altogether?

Am I Setting My Sights Too High?

I wasn't expecting perfection from Barack Obama. As a matter of fact, the one fear that I had about his run for the presidency was that he might find it expedient to behave like the same old politicians we've become accustomed to. And it's happened already.

I don't mind that he decided not to accept public financing for his campaign after pledging to do so. Changing your mind when you have more information happens to us all, even seekers of political office. What bothers me is that rather than saying, "I made a mistake when I made that pledge. I had no idea then that I would be able to raise so much money from such a broad base of the electorate. Now that I see that possibility, I am no longer interested in public financing."

Instead, Barack decided to "spin" his decision. That was such a typical run-of-the-mill political response. And I'm disappointed. I expected honesty and candor from him. Is that setting my sights too high?

Dishonoring Hillary Clinton

I am puzzled by the feminists who are so angry that Hillary Clinton did not win the nomination that they have organized to persuade other women to vote for John McCain.

This puzzles me, and it also seems to be yet another demonstration of racism. Why have these women decided to punish Barack Obama, the Democratic party, and themselves because Hillary Clinton did not win the nomination?

Is it because Obama refused to stay in his place when he decided to run against Clinton?

Because she's a woman, was Clinton supposed to be handed the nomination without opposition?

This is perhaps the saddest and most self-defeating act I've ever witnessed. It further corroborates that these women see themselves as victims. And in so doing, they dishonor Hillary Clinton. There are many things one can say about Hillary, but I have never seen her behave like a victim.

CONGRATULATIONS BARACK!

It was a long hard struggle, like everything worthwhile that we humans do, but you prevailed. If you can, relax for a while, then prepare for the next phase of the journey.

I am so proud of you. There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come. This is your time; our time, this country's time. Together, working as a unit, we will make the changes to move us all to higher ground. We've wallowed in the mud too long.

I have witnessed the coming and going of W.E.B. DuBois, John & Robert Kennedy, Malcolm X, Ella Baker, Martin Luther King Jr., and Fannie Lou Hamer. And now I will witness the first person of African descent become president of the United States. Something I never expected to see in my lifetime. I am happy to have volunteered and contributed to your campaign, to be a part of this historic occasion.

Clinton Desperation

Glad to see I am not the only one outraged at Hillary's repeated references to RFK's assassination. The longer the campaign goes on, the more the Clintons reveal who they really are. Is it possible this country would actually put these desperate, conniving, malevolent people back in the White House? Oh, that's right, we re-elected Clinton once before and the Bushes three times. Will we ever learn?

A thought on Hillary as Barack's VP

If Barack Obama selects Hillary Clinton as his running mate, he will need full body armor and two tasters, one for his food and another for his beverages.

GO BARACK!

...and furthermore

Hillary Clinton's overt appeal to racists that they should vote for her, is exploding in her face. Now the public officials who are superdelegates are rushing to support Obama so as not to be identified with Hillary's racist entreaties.

When this campaign is over and Obama has the nomination and does not select Hillary as his V-P, I will feel sorry for her. But not until then.

Besides, I have to agree with Chris Rock...does Hillary really want to occupy the same office where Bill got his blow jobs?

Tell it, sistah!

Can I Just Tell You?

by Michel Martin

Expect Obama to Walk Out on Wright? Spare Me

Sen. Barack Obama and Rev. Jeremiah Wright

Tell Me More, March 26, 2008 ·

It probably won't shock you to know that when I was in high school, I was an avid member of my school's debate team. I wasn't the first African-American on the team, but because kids' interests can change, I was often the only one. That's not so surprising, as there were not that many kids of color at my school back then, just as there were not that many in most of the other schools we competed against in our part of New England.

Frankly, I didn't think about it all that much — not until one debate competition, when my team was hosted for dinner at the home of one of our competitors, a dinner at which I was promptly invited by my young, white host to socialize with his black maid in the kitchen.

My teammates, with whom I hung out and lived 24-7 because we went to a boarding school, did and said nothing.

My coach, a faculty member who was extremely well regarded in debate circles — and was, in fact, a relative of a courageous civil rights advocate in the Kennedy Justice Department — did and said nothing. And, in fact, he said nothing to me about this for more than 20 years, until he called me up out of the blue one day to apologize for letting me down.

"I just did not know what to say," he said.

I mention all of this because I have had it up to here with members of the commentariat who keep lecturing us about how they would never have tolerated the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's more incendiary sermons, and they wonder why Barack Obama did. They would have walked on out [of the church].

Can I just tell you? I don't think so.

Setting aside the fact that I question how many of these people have actually darkened the door of any house of worship in recent years — because I hope they would not be so smug and cynical if they had — let me just posit the theory that if the tables had been turned, if it had been their church, their family, their friends, their turf, they would have sat right there.

They would have sat right there just like aides to Lyndon Johnson and Harry Truman sat right there when their bosses privately used the "N" word and other negative language to talk about the African-Americans on whose behalf they were often working, language which has been well documented on White House recording devices.

They would have sat right there just like the Rev. Billy Graham did when Richard Nixon used anti-Semitic language.

They would have sat right there just like countless good people do when their friends tell racist jokes, or when their employers refuse to return phone calls of applicants they suspect might be black or brown, or refuse to rent apartments or work with people of color.

I know this because, over the years, I have met too many white people who have told me how they have struggled to find their voices when language or behavior emerges from people they otherwise care about — who they believe to be good people — but who, nevertheless, say or do things they think are wrong.

I know this because I have met too many brown people who have struggled to find their voices when someone they care about has made an anti-Semitic or homophobic remark, and they agonize over how much to object, knowing that those views are deeply rooted. And they fear causing a breach over something they think won't change.

Obama has explained his relationship with his minister at some length. One is free to accept or reject his explanation. But please — spare me the moral outrage about what you would have done or would do in that situation. And just do it.

Democratic party for sale? Boycott Exxon & Mobil

Hi loyal readers of my blog,


I don't know if you saw this, but 20 big Clinton donors tried to bully Nancy Pelosi for saying that superdelegates should let the voters decide who becomes the Democratic nominee. This is the worst kind of insider politics, and it has to stop.

You and I and everyone who has ever given money or time to a progressive candidate make up the backbone of this party.

We need to send a strong signal that we, the small donors, will back Democratic leaders with the courage to stand up for Democracy in the Democratic party. Please join me and sign this statement today.

http://pol.moveon.org/democracy/?r_by=12391-9079751-D_Y2bj&rc=confemail


Also, please join the national boycott of the two largest oil companies, Exxon and Mobil. We need to flex our united muscles to bring down the price of gasoline before it rises to $4 a gallon during the summer. Spread the word!

Obama's speech on race

Thank you, Barack Obama. If I weren't already supporting you, I'd be forced to support you after hearing your speech yesterday.

Your speech served as a reminder of why you will make an excellent president, and of how you operate far above the usual political sound bites. You were honest, compassionate, direct, and eloquent.

You are the kind of person this country needs as president, and even if people are convinced otherwise, at least you will have elevated the discourse so that whoever is elected will have to operate on a higher level than if you had not been involved.

Despite the prevailing inclination of politicians and pundits to focus on our worst aspects, to spotlight our mistakes and flaws, you insist upon appealing to the better angels of our nature. This insistence will not go unrewarded because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.

Whatever the outcome of this presidential campaign, I know that you are and will be a powerful influence in this country and the world for many years to come.

Desperation setting in

Geraldine Ferraro says that Barack Obama has come this far because of his color.

We can expect even more outrageous and absurd comments from the Clintons' campaign and their supporters as Obama continues to add to the states he's won, gains more of the popular vote, and increases his delegate total.

The Clintons will not give up. They will try to change rules they previously agreed to abide by as they did to no avail in Nevada, and are now trying to do with Michigan and Florida. They will do ANYTHING in their effort to win. They want the power, glory, and money-making potential of the White House back! Just think, Bill has made millions since he left office. How much more can they rake in as the only couple to have both been president of the U.S. Not to mention double-dipping in the generous former president pension plan, plus Hillary will also have a pension from serving in the senate. Isn't this absolutely disgusting!

By the way, remember Hillary's claim that she helped bring peace to Ireland? Well here's what Former Northern Ireland First Minister William David Trimble — who shared a Nobel Prize for his peacemaking efforts in Northern Ireland had to say about that claim.

The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice. Even for the Clintons.