Anti-Abortion Advocates Use Of Race Is Out Of Bounds

I realize that abortion is a hot-button issue (one that could hardly get much hotter) that stirs a lot of emotion inside a lot of people.

While I do believe people are entitled to their own points of view, as far as the issue is concerned, I find it appalling that some extremists are using race as a way of promoting their anti-abortion agenda.

I saw this bullshit on the Web site toomanyabortions.com:

Abortion is not a me issue. It’s not a you issue. It’s not a personal issue, nor is it just a woman’s issue. It is a human issue. And today, with over 40% of all black pregnancies ending in induced abortion, it is a human crisis. The ‘Endangered Species’ campaign highlights the disproportionate impact of abortion on the black community. The Radiance Foundation has decried abortion’s impact on our entire society, regardless of race, but this particular campaign attempts to dig deeper and focus on abortion in an historical context with real present-day ramifications. This isn’t black versus white, or a me versus you. It’s the truth versus the lie. The truth is that abortion kills an innocent human life.

The end of this excerpt makes the comment that "this isn't black versus white," but clearly the whole campaign is about race and using race as a way to draw blacks to the anti-abortion side of the issue. This is completely foul and wrong. Trying to use the politics of fear and race, as a way to drum up support for an anti-abortion campaign, is disgraceful.

The Latest WTF Moment: Republican Congressman Suggests Blacks Are Worse Off Now Than During Slavery

Add Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) to the list of far-right nuts making absurd claims about black people and the issue of race. From the realm of the extreme far right comes Franks, who is out of the mold of fellow hate-driven talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh. Franks, in one of the most absurd comments ever, suggests that blacks were better off in slavery than they are now under current policies in the U.S.

FRANK: In this country, we had slavery for God knows how long. And now we look back on it and we say “How brave were they? What was the matter with them? You know, I can’t believe, you know, four million slaves. This is incredible.” And we’re right, we’re right. We should look back on that with criticism. It is a crushing mark on America’s soul. And yet today, half of all black children are aborted. Half of all black children are aborted. Far more of the African-American community is being devastated by the policies of today than were being devastated by policies of slavery. And I think, What does it take to get us to wake up?

Come on, now. Where are these far-right morons coming from with this unbelievably divisive rhetoric? Is it any wonder why the Tea Party gatherings are so diversity challenged? Honestly, why would black people want to be a part of a movement so extreme, hateful and antagonistic in its rhetoric. But, this is about more than just Tea Party turkeys. This is also about the far right and its constant yearning to pick at the scabs of racism to create fresh wounds from old wounds.

Think Progress:
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/02/26/franks-slavery-abortion/

Oath Keepers Nut Is Evidence of Extremism That Is Growing

When Bill O’Reilly looks moderate, while conducting an interview, it’s clear that the interviewee has to in all likelihood be an extremist nut. Enter Stewart Rhodes, who is president and founder of Oath Keepers. If this guy is symbolic of the rank and file membership of this organization then that speaks volumes about what this group stands for in this troubling period of our nation’s history. Here is an excerpt from Crooks and Liars from the interview O’Reilly conducted with Stewart.

O’REILLY: OK, so full members in the Oath Keepers have to have a military or police background. Or firefighters. Now, I’m gonna read you something from your website. “We will not obey unconstitutional and thus illegal and immoral orders, such as orders to disarm the American people or place them under martial law.”

Well, who’s gonna try to disarm people and place them under martial law? I mean, why would that even be something you would be discussing?

RHODES: Well, it happened as recently as Katrina. You probably have seen the videos there of the old lady being tackled in her kitchen, and disarmed of her revolver, and there was house-to-house searches for firearms. And you had the police chief declaring that no one would be allowed to have weapons, or he’d take all the guns. And he did.

So they disarmed Americans over some bad weather, as though the bad weather suspended the Second Amendment. So, that’s the most recent example.

Stewart refers to Hurricane Katrina as simply “bad weather” during this interview, and goes on to whine about guns being taken away to help ensure safety. Bad weather is eight inches of snow for which you have to brush your car off and scrape away some ice. Bad weather is not (estimates of) more than 1,800 people dying and putting New Orleans and a good chunk of Louisiana under water. This man is out of touch and scary.

Although even O’Reilly recognized this guy was an extremist, I did think that Bill took it easy on him with a subdued approach to the segment that would have been far different had he interviewed a left-wing extremist. As just about anyone knows, O’Reilly would have torn into a left-wing nut without hesitation, but instead approached the interview as if he was on anti-depressant medication.

Crooks and Liars:
http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/oath-keepers-chief-points-katrina-re

Bitches 2 … Starring Fox News’ Griff Jenkins

Every time I think of these Fox News “producers” (stalkers) like Griff Jenkins and Jesse Watters, I think of the Ice-T rap, Bitches 2.

Jenkins and Watters have dubious histories in relation to stalking people who do not fit the conservative ideology of Fox News as an organization that served as the public relations arm of the GOP. When someone crosses Fox News, and in particular big shot Bill O’Reilly, clowns like Jenkins and tough-guy Watters are put on the case in an effort to intimidate and/or shame targets into submission (ideally).

Among the most pathetic examples was the pathetic Jesse Watters stalking 5-foot, 100-pound Amanda Terkel, a popular blogger for Think Progress. Like a predator, Watters followed Terkel around while she was on vacation and then sprung out of nowhere and tried to intimidate her in pure ambush fashion.

Check out Terkel’s account of the ambush as she is interviewed by Keith Olbermann of MSNBC:

Notice in the video how the “fair and balanced” O’Reilly labels Terkel as a “FAR-LEFT BLOGGER” in the screen graphic.

This all brings me back to the Ice-T song, Bitches 2:

I knew this guy
That was never that fly
Couldn’t act cool
Even when he tried
When we played rough
He always cried
When he told stories, he always lied
A Black brother
Who was missin’ the cool part
He had the color
But was missin’ the true heart
When we would fight
He would always go down quick
So he took karate
and he still got his ass kicked
But now he’s married
And he kicks his wife’s ass
Says it comes from problems
That he had in the past
Doesn’t like Blacks
Claims he’s upper class
Joined the police, got himself a badge
Now he rolls the streets
and he’s cut to jack
Doggin’ young brothers
Cause they usually don’t fight back
Got a White partner
And he asked for that
and every night
Another head they crack
So now he’s big man
But he really ain’t shit!

Yo, how did he go out?
He went out like a bitch!
So ladies
We ain’t just talkin’ bout you
Cause some of you niggas
Is bitches too!

It’s hard to think of Bill O’Reilly, Griff Jenkins and Jesse Watters and not think of Bitches 2 as their potential theme music.

News Hounds and Think Progress have documented a recent attempt to interview Jenkins who, as Ice-T would wrap, “went out like a bitch.”

Here is the transcript of the conversation Think Progress attempted to have with Jenkins, who all but went into the fetal position:

JENKINS: I’m just covering CPAC for Greta, but listen, call the media relations people, we can do something about my coverage here, other than that, ask the media relations people.

[crosstalk]

TP: Do you ever extend that courtesy to the people you interview?

JEKINS: I gotta go buddy. [...]

TP: I’m just asking, when you ambush people, do you ever do that? [...]

JENKINS: I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but I’m working here.

TP: Yeah, but sometimes when you ambush people, they’re working too.

Griff Jenkins = Whack.

Utah State Senator Wants To Create Holiday Honoring A "Gun Pioneer" On Martin Luther King Day

I almost did not believe this story until I checked a couple of different sources.

If you ever needed any more evidence that some Republicans just don't get it when it comes to issues related to race then you have to check out this story on Utah State Sen. Mark Madsen.

It seems Madsen, a Republican (although that label probably will become obvious in a few more sentences) wants to create a holiday honoring John Moses Browning, who is a native of Utah, and is considered a "gun pioneer" by some people - on the same day as MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY. Are you kidding? Apparently, there is some controversy as to when Browning's birthday actually is, but supposedly it is around Jan. 21. Madsen wants to combine Browning's proposed holiday with MLK Day.

The depth and breadth of the stupidity of this is almost overwhelming and evident in the comment below from Madsen.

MADSEN: I see them as complimentary. We’ll see if they can take it in the spirit it’s intended.

When he says "they" I wonder who he is talking about, exactly.

Madsen, who wants to meet with the NAACP (yeah, it's amazing) to discuss his proposal, apparently has some support from Utah State Senate Majority Leader Scott Jenkins (also, you guessed it, a Republican):

JENKINS: Guns keep peace. I kind of like the idea of making his birthday a holiday. I’m all over that.

Are these guys too ignorant to understand how Dr. King was murdered and how that remains an open wound to a lot of Americans more than 40 years later? It's stunning someone could be so insensitive and it makes me wonder if he proposed this on purpose.

But, in an almost classic case of projection (from a guy who also said he wanted to meet with the NAACP), the story ends with this little nugget from Madsen:

"If the race baiters are out there looking for an opportunity, I'm not going to give it to them. I'll walk away and find another day."

The irony of that comment from Madsen is that race is not mentioned in the story until he brings it up.

Madsen would not have had to walk away if he had not walked there in the first place.

Daily Herald:
http://www.heraldextra.com/legislature/article_1ed94dc1-decb-5dcc-bfc0-681ffcb1e6f8.html

The Politics Of Personal Destruction Again Target President Obama

It’s an old saying these days, but once again the “politics of personal destruction” are back and the target this time is President Obama. Blogger Sandra Rose has an entry that discusses someone purported to be a college acquaintance (John C. Drew) of President Obama. Drew spots off the same old stuff we’ve heard people use to attack President Obama: Marxist, America as the enemy, yadda, yadda, yadda. There are also YouTube video clips from “Breitbart.tv” to further illustrate the FAR-right agenda at play here.

Here is an excerpt from Rose’s blog:

According to Drew, in 1980 Obama saw America as “the enemy” and he predicted a future where the people would “rise up” and “overthrow the government.”

A CNN poll out today shows that the majority of voters don’t think Obama will be reelected to a 2nd term.

An argument could be made that Obama was a young, impressionable, idealistic college student in 1980. But the facts prove that Obama still embodies the same communist/Marxist ideals that he was so passionate about in his college days.

Couple that with the fact that Obama refuses to release his college transcripts from Occidental which, some say, proves his participation in Marxist groups on campus.

Same old stuff: Marxist, socialist, communist …

What are the “facts” that will show us he “still embodies the same communist/Marxist ideals that he was so passionate about in his college days” for the people to see?

Just because people advance a smear over and over again (with either minimal evidence or no evidence to support it) does not make it true.

Misguided Republican Wrong About President Obama’s Polling Woes

Republicans believe some of President Obama's political woes are essentially because he is this radical, socialist and far left politician unwilling to work with the GOP.

Consider this blog entry (I am not necessarily saying this writer is asserting the above):

Ouch! The Hill is reporting that a CNN poll shows that 52% of Americans say Obama does NOT deserve a second term. Only 44% say they would vote for him again. This is true for both all Americans and registered voters.

Fifty two percent is almost the number that voted for all that Hopey Changey nonsense in the first place. Obama’s does have some “hope”. He can either move to the center on his own improving his reelection chances or he can be saddled with a Republican controlled Congress that will make the move for him. Other than that, Obama is looking very much like Jimmy Carter 2.0.

The "Hopey Changey" thing is cute, but overall this is misguided thinking.

I know our Republican friends want to reach back for Jimmy Carter comparisons, but they would be quite foolish to do so for a couple of reasons: Frankly, many of today's voters probably know painfully little about President Carter other than perhaps understanding he is a former president . They would be grossly underestimating President Obama.

It also is misguided because President Obama's struggles actually are due to the fact that he has moved too far to the right in an effort to reach out to Republicans who have become and will remain (as long as Obama is in the White House) the party of "NO."

Progressives that believed we would pull out of the deadly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, restore the worldwide respect of the U.S., rebuild coalitions with our allies around the world, lead the effort to rebuild the economy and push through domestic expected policies have become uneasy.

When President Obama reaches out to the people who elected him his numbers will go back up. They're waiting.

Great Video Captured By Media Matters Of Fox News Host Doocy Uttering A Falsehood/Stereotype

Since Sept. 11, 2001, people of Middle Eastern descent have been unfairly looked upon with a suspicious eye as terrorism paranoia has gripped the United States of America.

On the Feb. 16 edition of Fox & Friends, host Steve Doocy was corrected by his guest, Ahmed Rehab, after he falsely (saying he was speaking for “critics”) asserted that “All of the people who try to blow airliners out of the sky pretty much look alike.” This is the kind of dangerous stereotyping that helps create an atmosphere of hostility toward people who are perceived to be of Middle Eastern descent.

Doocy realized that he had been caught making what many people will consider a racial stereotype and tried to pull himself out of the hole by bringing up the name of Oklahoma City bombing terrorist Timothy McVeigh (a white guy).

Clearly, however, the damage had been done and Rehab should be thanked for correcting the false information (and potentially dangerous information) Doocy was feeding viewers.

Check out the video at the Media Matters for America Web site: http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201002160002

Ann Coulter And Credibility Are Enemies, But This Seals The Deal

Right wing extremist Ann Coulter, who like so many others of her kind finds a home on Fox News, attempted to come to the rescue of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. In her botched rescue event, however, Coulter ended up looking like even more of a nut when she attempted to push her foolish point that Palin (a two-term governor who quit on her beloved state to sell books, make money and work on Fox News) is 20 million times more qualified than Vice President Joe Biden, a long-time former U.S. senator.

COULTER: How about comparing Joe Biden with Sarah Palin? She’s twenty million times more qualified than he is.

GERALDO RIVERA: How do you say that? A two-year governor against a long Senate career. Anyway –

COULTER: How long are we gonna pretend Biden is not just some drunken Irishman embarrassing Obama?

There’s all the evidence you need of how much of an irrational nut Ann Coulter is and how she seems to fit in so nicely at Fox News.

Then, in the end, she shows how much of a hater she is with a vicious stereotype used to attack Vice President Biden.

Another quality Fox News personality.

Limbaugh Again Uses “Uppity” Code Word To Imply President Obama Is Out Of Line

Conservative leader Rush Limbaugh is at it again accusing President Obama of being “uppity” in the way he carries himself. As I’ve written before, the term uppity is a code word that several far-right (and prominent) conservatives have been using to attack this president. It’s a way of describing a black man who has overstepped his bounds and gotten out of line with a white man or white men who are perceived to know more than him, be in a higher social position or be flat-out better. It’s a term from a long-past era that many far-right conservatives, like Limbaugh, would love to see make a comeback.

Face it: “Uppity” is a term that has race written all over it and that is why Rush Limbaugh continues to come back to that term. Among Limbaugh’s goals are to agitate, degrade, inflame racial tension and create conflict.

This is from Media Matters for America:

LIMBAUGH: From InsideHigherEducation.com, you will not believe — well yeah, you will believe it. Everything that used to be unbelievable is not only believable it is happening. “Barack Obama has been called a lot of things since he hit the national stage: Celebrity, elitist and even one who ‘pals around with terrorists.’ But as his poll numbers come back down to earth, and an emboldened conservative movement sharpens its attacks, the label that seems to be sticking to Obama as much as any lately is that of ‘professor.’ Speaking to Tea Party activists in Nashville last week, Sarah Palin did her part to keep the ‘professor’ dig in circulation. The 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee told a frenzied crowd, ‘They know we’re at war, and to win that war we need a commander in chief, not a professor of law standing at the lectern.’ The use of ‘professor’ as a term of derision may have hit its stride in the 1950s, but it dates back to scolding characterizations of Socrates, according to Geoffrey Nunberg, a linguistics professor at the University of California at Berkeley.”

OK, fine. Frankly, I didn’t know that “professor” had become the number one dig. But if it is, fine and dandy. Now get this: “Charles Ogletree, Harvard law professor, founding and executive director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for race and Justice says that he sees the ‘professor’ label as a thinly veiled attack on Obama’s race.”

Yes, my friends, you heard me read that. I heard myself read it. So now when we call Obama a professor, we are racist. “Calling Obama the professor walks dangerously close to labeling him uppity, a term with racial overtones that has surfaced in the political arena before, Ogletree said. Describing his divisive confirmation hearings as a circus, Justice Thomas called the proceedings a high tech lynching for uppity blacks who in any way deigned to think for themselves, to do for themselves, to have different ideas. It’s perhaps ironic, then, that the Ogletree, who represented Anita Hill, now sees a bit of the ‘uppity’ label being placed on Obama.”

This is two different kinds of uppity that are being discussed about here. So now is professor the P-word? We’ve got the N-word, we have the R-word, and now we have the P-word? We can’t — we gotta — we gotta speak in code? And only people who don’t know what P-word is will understand what we’re saying.

“The idea that he’s not one of us, Ogletree says of the professor label. He has these ideas on that are left-wing that are socialist, that he’s palling around with terrorists. Those are buzzwords, but the reality was that they were looking at this president as an African-American who is out of place.” You know, Professor Ogletree, I hate to burst the balloon, but the single most important reason Obama was elected was his race.

A bunch of white people who thought electing a black president would assuage all of their guilt and erase our racial past voted for Obama. They couldn’t of cared less what he thought, what he said. He didn’t think of his as uppity, they were being selfish. They didn’t like feeling guilty over our racists past, slavery, and so they thought pulling the lever for Obama would absolve them. It wasn’t for his policies, as we are now quickly learning.

What Clarence Thomas meant by uppity, meaning he wasn’t a liberal black. When Clarence Thomas said uppity black thinks for himself means he’s off the reservation, so to speak. He’s not following the civil rights speech codes set forth by the Reverend Jackson and Al Sharpton and whoever else is in charge of them. But nobody — Obama is uppity, but not as a black. He is an elitist. He does think he’s smarter and better than everybody else. That’s what he was taught. He’s a Harvard man.

The fact that he needed to qualify his use of the word uppity by saying “not as a black” shows he had a full understanding of the racially-inflammatory nature of his words. He is playing into the undercurrent of racism he hopes is continuing to flow in this country to use it as a method of attacking President Obama.

Limbaugh then loses credibility stripes for quoting Clarence Thomas in regard to civil rights.

He also essentially calls white people (I am assuming liberal white people) stupid for voting for voting for a black man to be president of the United States of America.

While most people see a man who rose from humble roots to do great things, it’s clear Rush Limbaugh has an issue with what he sees as an uppity Negro in the White House.

It’s also clear that when most black people accomplish something in life he sees it as being the product of affirmative action (or white guilt) while when white people accomplish something it’s because they worked hard.

Doritos, Single Moms And Racism … Say What??

Leave it to conservatives to take an ad that most normal Americans thought was funny and turn it into some liberal plot to attack black people.

Yes, and many of these same conservatives are apt to accuse black people of playing the so-called race card. For some on the right, the formula is rather simple. Mix a tempting bowl of Doritos, an attractive single mom, an overprotective (albeit funny young son), a would-be date, and the fact that they’re all black, and conservatives see a sinister plot on the part of liberals to reinforce stereotypes of black people. We are in the middle of a discussion on the topic on one of my new favorite blogs, Diversity Ink. I was about ready to go on to the next topic when I became aware of a blog you will see referred to below.

First, however, is the Super Bowl commercial in question.

Some right wingers of color have lost their minds over this commercial.

Here is a fellow blogger’s take on the commercial she found to be far from funny.

I found NOTHING funny about this superbowl commercial for Doritos.

It is white liberal condescension towards black in its most heightened form.It has white liberal disturbing humor written all over it and reinforces its messages loud and clear.

Now if you’ve been reading here long enough, you know I don’t cry racism over racial situations. I see them for the individual events they are, driven by individual idiots, no matter what their color.

However, as a reminder to those who’ve been brainwashed all these long years by liberal and Democratic white ideologies, it behooves me to speak up about this buffoonish commercial.

It goes without saying that I completely disagree with that assessment of the Doritos commercial and the attempt to use it as a weapon against “liberal and Democratic white ideologies” and to advance the tired “brainwashed” theory. This blog I am citing seems less angered by the commercial and more interested in how it can be used as a weapon to attack liberals and Democrats.

The blogger adds:

The little boy’s reaction is instant hostility and violence. When his mother leaves the room he gives this adult male – who he’ll one day grow to be – a warning slap across his face about touching his food and/or his mother.

I don’t care what intentions an adult indicates in front of a child, short of violence, children should respect authority. It is not cute or funny to have them do otherwise.

Further, the message in the (no older than five, this child) boy’s actions suggests, this is a baby-mama, single-parent household, and the boy intends to keep it this way.

These days, we see beer commercial after beer commercial of white guys drinking beer and wanting to push up on white women. Is that indicative of something bad as far as white men and white women are concerned (drinking and potentially hooking up)? I don’t see it that way. I think it was just a funny commercial and I did not see the racism at all. Even more difficult than the racism is seeing the angle about some liberal Democrat plot. That line of thinking is farfetched to say the very least.

The blogger does not see a funny commercial, a young boy protective of his mom or the kind of dating that occurs every day in our society (there are a lot of single moms … whether we like it or not).

This was a cute ad and there was no racism or liberal plot.

Fox News Excuse Making For Sarah Palin Begins

Most of us could care less about whether or not politicians use teleprompters or read it off a sheet of paper when giving speeches. I do find it interesting, however, the large number of people using this to attack President Obama (as if no other president has ever used a teleprompter or read a speech off sheets of paper). So, whether it’s Barack Obama, President Reagan, President Bush, President Clinton or gold ole former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, it really makes no difference to me how they deliver a speech. But, for some reason, it does seem to spark something inside of Sarah Palin who seems to be taking wild shots at President Obama (like a boxer in the final round down on points and needing a miracle knockout to win). Getting in front of the Tea Party nuts sparked something inside of her to go after the president again and prove that the Tea Party movement is little more than an extremist splinter group of the GOP.

Fox and Friends, and its Republican hosts, went on the defensive to defend Palin for using notes to deliver her speech (as just about anyone on Fox is apt to do when it comes to Palin).

Gretchen Carlson, Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade (all right wingers) go out of their way to do damage control for the Fox News newbie Palin and her campaign (which is in the silent phase aided by the network conservatives trust).

CARLSON: I think she did it on purpose.

DOOCY: You do?

CARLSON: I think she did it on purpose. Yeah, because I think it’s an exact opposite of reading off the teleprompter. Reading off complete script written for you with every word in a sentence, and here she’s just taking crib notes on her hand. It makes it look as if she can just talk off the cuff and that she just jotted down a few couple notes before she went off to give a big, long speech.

KILMEADE: I am jealous.

DOOCY: I think she did — I think she did it because she probably does it a lot. I do that all the time.

KILMEADE: I personally am jealous, because I used to get in trouble if I wrote on my palms because my mom explained to me the ink would get through my pores and I would die. So I stopped doing that in the fifth grade.

DOOCY: Really?

KILMEADE: Why doesn’t she just — there’s nothing wrong with if she had a card. Just jot a card down — energy, taxes, hope, whatever it is. But — then no one has a problem. But to sit there and look at — do the interview and then look down at her hand, I think that is — it’s, like you said, Gretchen, before, folksy, absolutely. Down to earth. I can identify. But if you’re going to write it on your hand, why not just say, staffer, can you hand me a card? And then it would have been OK.

CARLSON: Like I say, I think it was on purpose. But anyway, we may never know.

Once again, Fox News comes to the rescue of their beloved Sarah Palin.

Check out how conservatives are rushing to the aid of Palin, who quit on Alaska (to make money selling books and gain publicity for herself) and yet criticizes other leaders for their leadership.

Sarah Palin Attacks Presidency, Barack Obama

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who quit on the state of Alaska, is now lecturing President Obama on what it means to be a leader in an appalling display at the far-right Tea Party Convention.

Once again, Palin proves that she didn’t get it then and she still does not get it now as she goes around the country cashing in on her fame and promoting herself on Fox News.

Media Matters for America:
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201002080002

Civil Rights Groups Decry Beck’s Questioning of Obama’s Name

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Friday, February 5, 2010

CONTACT Jess Levin (202) 772-8162 jlevin@mediamatters.org

Coalition to Fox News host: “America is not a country that defines citizenship or patriotism based on color, or creed, or name”

Washington, DC - Today, Media Matters for America joined six civil rights organizations in decrying Glenn Beck’s comments on President Obama’s name. Beck said “You don’t take the name Barack to identify with America,” but to identify with “your heritage,” “your father in Kenya, who is a radical.”

The coalition of organizations, which includes America’s Voice, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), Center for New Community, Color of Change, NCLR (National Council of La Raza), Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, and Media Matters, released the following statement:

Glenn Beck’s comments reveal the depth of his failure to grasp the true nature of America and of the American people. Ours is a nation of immigrants. Ours is a nation of proud individuals who celebrate their heritage as surely as they love the country in which they live. Ours is a nation that draws strength from its diversity, rather than rejecting it. And America is not a country that defines citizenship or patriotism based on color, or creed, or name.

In 2004, Senator Barack Obama explained that when growing up, he possessed “the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too.” And he was right. It does. Mr. Beck’s inability to accept this fundamental quality of our nation — or at the very least his willingness to pander to those who reject it — should trouble us all. He owes an apology to the people of this great country.

The coalition includes:

America’s Voice

Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA)

Center for New Community

Color of Change

NCLR (National Council of La Raza)

Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition

Media Matters for America

BACKGROUND

As Media Matters noted, Beck said on his radio show yesterday:

BECK: He chose to use his name, Barack, for a reason. To identify, not with America — you don’t take the name Barack to identify with America. You take the name Barack to identify with what? Your heritage? The heritage, maybe, of your father in Kenya, who is a radical? Really? Searching for something to give him any kind of meaning, just as he was searching later in life for religion.

Fair And Balanced Fox News

Fox News Conservatives Continue Riding Scott Brown’s Jock

Every time I see one of these Fox News hacks talking about recently elected U.S. Senator Scott Brown (some Republicans believe he is their Barack Obama) it reminds me of an episode of the Boondocks cartoon when Tom DuBois is trying to get in good with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Riley Freeman (pictured) quickly tires of DuBois trying to get in good with Dr. King and lets his feelings be known:

[The Freemans have Martin Luther King over for dinner]

TOM DUBOIS: Dr King, I just wanted to say that even though you’ve been catching a lot of flak recently, were very honored to meet you. Really.

RILEY: Get off his dick.
[Huey kicks him]

RILEY: Ow! Man, Im just sayin. Mr. Dubois riding Dr. King like a rodeo show.
[Huey kicks him again]

RILEY: Ow!

GRANDDAD: Stop it.

Check out the video (of Fox News continuing to ride Brown’s jock … this time in the form of playing with dolls on national television) at the link below:

Note: Look where Fox News host Steve Doocy’s right index finger is (on the Brown doll’s body) in the early part of the video.

This is the same hypocritical network that both made fun of Barack Obama’s celebrity status and lamented his popularity in the so-called mainstream media.

Media Matters for America:
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201002020004

Reggie Bush, A Victim Of Interracialism?

Reggie Bush, the football star of the New Orleans Saints, is gracing the cover of Essence magazine.

As a result of Bush's image on the cover of Essence, all hell has broken loose and Reggie has become a victim of what can best be termed: interracialism. First off, for those who are unfamiliar with Essence, it is a magazine largely designed for black women from their late teens to their late 40s. Reggie Bush, the cover boy for the magazine, is not being well received by many black women around the nation. The anger over the football star's appearance on the magazine has next to nothing to do with what really should matter about Reggie Bush as a man. The anger ignited by Reggie's appearance on the cover of the magazine is about interracialism - specifically, the fact that Bush is romantically linked to Kim Kardashian, who is perceived by people as being white.

Were Reggie Bush in a pre-approved relationship (with a black woman) then his appearance on the cover of Essence would be welcomed who would drool over his abs (the kind most guys wish they had) rather than seethe over the racial makeup of his girlfriend choice.

Thus, we have the genesis for a new "ism" today: interracial-ism.

Here is a definition of racism:

1. The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.

2. Discrimination or prejudice based on race.

Here is a proposed definition of interracialism:

1. The belief that the racial makeup of relationships accounts for differences in character or ability and that a particular racial relationship makeup is superior to others.

2. Discrimination or prejudice based on the racial makeup of relationships.

Here is an excerpt from a column written by Jenice Armstrong, a columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News.

The image of Bush has irritated a long-frayed nerve that is further aggravated by the fact that Essence, a magazine many black women think of as their own, made him its cover image. It's stirred up an old debate about high-profile black men and their preference for dating white or light-skinned women.

Perhaps, as Armstrong suggests in another part of the column, Bush was making an effort to appeal to black women a little more favorably. Or, perhaps he just saw an opportunity to market himself and thought little about whether it was Essence or some other magazine. Maybe Essence thought his sex appeal would transcend interracialism and appeal to black women. Or, perhaps Essence thought the controversy would get people talking about the magazine and sell more issues.

We're talking about Essence, aren't we? Would we be talking about Essence this much if it was LeBron James on the cover with the same pose? No way.

Here is one angry comment over the Reggie Bush Covergate:

“Why is there a white supremacist on the cover of Essence magazine? Because any person who thinks white women are better is indeed a white supremacists. Having this man on the cover is beyond offensive to me as an African American woman. He is just another crude reminder of all the black men who perpetuate racism against black women, by rejecting them and showing the utmost disrespect by choosing to date non-black women, Reggie Bush is even more offensive since his mate is nothing but some white trashy woman. I suspect those of you you do agree with this mess are either Aunt Jemima’s or products of an interracial relationship.”

“This Brotha don’t dig us, so why, pray tell, do we have to see his face staring back at us, on a magazine that celebrates US? This disappoints me. It’s an insult! Later for Reggie Bush and all the other Brothas who turn their back on the black woman once they are successful.”

“Why put a man who clearly prefers the bottom of the barrel of white women than a good black woman on your cover? Clearly, he has no love for the sisters. This magazine is supposed to empower black women not remind us of the disadvantages that we face in today’s society. Please don’t insult our intelligence.”

"White supremacist?" That is so nutty on so many levels it is ridiculous.

That is some powerful stuff right there. In fact, that is just downright ridiculous. The only reason I am showing this quote is to illustrate the hatred that still exists out there and the hostility that people who are in interracial relationships confront on an almost daily basis.

Now, you'll here people say it's not racist, it's not hatred, it's a magazine for black women, it's not racial and ... yadda, yadda, yadda.

Apparently, the page with comments on the Essence Web site has been taken down. From a few published reports, that number of comments had eclipsed the 1,000 mark.

It all comes back to interracialism.

There world needs a lot of things, but another "ism" is not one.

I'll leave with these two arguments from the BET (Black Entertainment Television) Web site:

Anonymous too Said on January 13th, 2010

I agree w/ anonymous. I’m not offended at all. I also wonder why some folks are so angry. Just b/c Reggie is dating an Armenian woman (Armenians are NOT Anglo Saxon), doesn’t mean he has never cared for or dated a “sista”. And why does black love have to be between two black people? Isn’t black love any love that comes fr. someone who is of the black persuasion or who loves someone who is black. It’s a good thing for people to date and love outside their economic level, local community, culture, and yes race – it promotes understanding and ultimately leads to people treating each other better. We are all God’s children, so why keep buying into separatist, racist ideals of segregation? Let’s love each other as God loves us all.

WTF Said on January 14th, 2010

Ok people, I am tired of black women speaking out about black men dating outside of their races. Stop soundling like a bunch of bitter, hard-up females. Move on with your life and live your life to the fullest. Reggie does not want your black ass, he wants Kim’s white ass, so get over it. Alot of black women are coming off as jealous, insecure women. Find love yourself and move forward. It is obvious that Kim and her sister like black guys, hell have you looked at their body types, white men consider then overweight and black men will date any white woman as long as she has a pulse. So don’t get offended, it’s not your loss, because truth be told, black men have always wanted what white men have tossed aside. Think about it.

RoRo Said on January 14th, 2010

I am disappointed in the ignorance people possess when it comes to social issues. As a single “black” female I feel that most of the people that are going to have anything negative to say are bitter “black” single females who are probably single because they are ignorant, judgmental, angry, and put to much thought into what others do in their personal lives. They are just looking for excuses as to why they can’t find a man. For one Kim Kardashian is not white she is Armenian. Second is Russell Simmons “a sale out” I don’t recall him being married to a woman of full black decent, and he is one of the most successful “black” entrepreneurs I know. Now I know that this issue is to support love, weather it be black yellow purple or green, I get it but love does not have a color. I have dated outside my race have been in love with a black man and someone of a different race, I even have a child that is “biracial” as a result of my “interracial” dating. I think people are really immature when it comes to this issue. Think about it would Obama be here if his daddy wasn’t a “sell out” and dated his white mama, did they not at one point and time celebrate “Love”. Let’s be real and stop making mountains out of molehills.

Some of the hatred directed at Reggie Bush and Kim Kardashian makes it seem as though the country has gone in a time machine back to the 1950s.

So much for living in post-racial America.