Here is the full version of the story: http://newsone.com/entertainment/sports-entertainment/casey-gane-mccalla/team-may-boycott-hs-basketball-coach-jason-popp-for-racist-comments/RICHMOND HEIGHTS — Racial tensions between a coach and his players have an undefeated high school basketball team threatening to boycott the rest of the season.
The Richmond Heights basketball team is 15-and-0, but the team planned to sit out Tuesday night's game, unless their coach was fired.
Monday, parents sent the school superintendent a letter, claiming he uses racist and degrading comments.
"Everybody in this room are responsible for these children, it's time to stop," said parent Nneka Slade Jackson, during a heated school board meeting Monday night.
"They been dealing with this for months (years), this ain't something that just started yesterday," said parent Alvin Fulton.
The parents are demanding the superintendent, Dr. Linda Hardwick, remove high school varsity basketball coach Jason Popp, alleging he uses inappropriate language, as well as racist comments towards his players.
Here is a letter from ColorofChange:
Kelley Williams-Bolar wanted to give her children a better life by sending them to school in the nearby majority-White school district where her father lives — and she went to jail for it. Now, as a convicted felon, helping her children will be even harder — she had been studying to become a teacher, but that dream may have ended as well.
Real justice requires that the punishment fit the crime; by any measure, this is cruelly unjust.
Please join us calling on Governor Kasich to take a public stand and do everything he can to right this injustice (including making sure that Williams-Bolar has the opportunity to become a teacher in Ohio). And please ask your friends and family to add their voices as well — it takes just a moment:
http://act.colorofchange.org/
Kelley Williams-Bolar is a single mother of two daughters, and she is a teacher’s aide in Akron city schools who has been studying to become a teacher. According to Williams-Bolar, after their home in a housing project was burglarized, she decided to protect her daughters’ safety by sending them to school in neighboring Copley Township, where her father lives.1
Williams-Bolar claims that she maintained a part-time residence at her father’s home, but the school district didn’t see it that way. Neither did County Prosecutor Sherri Walsh, who charged Williams-Bolar with grand theft and falsifying records — a third-degree felony. The judge presiding over the case recognized the harshness of the felony charge and encouraged Prosecutor Walsh to offer a plea bargain for a lighter charge — but Walsh flatly refused.2
Williams-Bolar was convicted on the felony charge, and sentenced to 5 years in prison. The judge suspended all but 10 days of the jail time, instead ordering 2 years of probation and 80 hours of community service. She’s out of jail now, but the repercussions could last a lifetime: unless the felony is eliminated from her record, Williams-Bolar may be unable to earn her teaching certificate under Ohio law. Williams-Bolar is only a few classes away from earning her teaching certificate.3
Any parent could understand why Kelley Williams-Bolar did what she did to try to give her children access to opportunity. It’s tragic that families around America must make choices like this every day in order to ensure their kids are safe and well-educated. And it’s tragic that this family’s opportunity to succeed stands to be limited because a single mom chose to put her kids first.
With just a moment of your time, you can make clear to Governor John Kasich that you expect him to lead in ensuring real justice that’s proportional to the facts of the case. By speaking out, you’re not just standing with Williams-Bolar — you’re standing with every parent who doesn’t have access to great schools, and who must make difficult choices.
Please join our call for justice for Kelley Williams-Bolar. And when you do, please ask your friends and family to do the same.
Thanks and Peace,
-- James, Gabriel, William, Dani, Natasha and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
January 28th, 2011
1. "Ohio Mom Kelley Williams-Bolar Jailed for Sending Kids to Better School District," ABC News, 1-26-2011
http://act.colorofchange.org/
2. "Kelley Williams-Bolar leaves jail but public outcry escalates," The Beacon Journal, 1-26-2011
http://act.colorofchange.org/
3. See Reference 1
I am coming to the conclusion that far too many people in the Republican Party simply don’t want black people up in their house.
The latest example of telling black people to back their black asses up is Minnesota State Senate candidate Mike Parry, who had a Twitter message about President Barack Obama that read, “Power Hungry Arrogant Black Man.” All I can say is that is amazing that Republicans will not stand up to racists and race-bating haters like Parry who use race to divide people and do it with not even a drop of shame.
Parry apparently tried to simply erase the message from his Twitter account. But, not the sharpest pencil in the bag, Parry failed go realize that when it is out there it is subject to someone screen-grabbing it and showcasing it for all to see.
Sadly, there are a lot of people who will vote for this guy.
From Huffington Post:
Confronted by reporters, Parry owned up to the Obama post and tried to explain himself — but he didn’t admit to writing, “what’s with Dems and Pedophiles?” after the passing of the Matthew Shepard Act.
“My opinion is that our president is arrogant and angry. The fact is that he is a black man,” Parry said. “Now if the Democratic Party and the liberals want to take my opinion and the fact and mix it together and use it to bring a bad light about me and keep them away from discussing the real issues they can do that all they want. They’re grasping for straws.”
Parry is telling Obama to shut his uppity black ass up.
It’s amazing how some people just let their own racism slide off of them without even so much as blinking while blaming the victims and those who call him out for his racism.
Candidate Parry was reminding people that there is an uppity black man in the White House.
A vote for Parry is pretty much a vote for racism.
Yeah, I wrote it.
Far-right conservatives have gravitated to this tired “race card” thing like flies on a pile of … well, you get it.
“Race card” become a racism-accusation shield for many on the far right.
This leads me to a column written in the Midland (Mich.) Daily News by Chris Stevens who is whining about criticism he says he has gotten for his criticism of President Obama. He goes to the hysterical concept that basically everyone who criticizes the president is considered a racist …
Not all are racists … most are just straight-up haters who were in full hate mode right from the beginning.
It begins …
It never fails.
Say something critical about President Obama and a response(or two or three) on the website always has to include something about race. As in, “You’re a racist, Stevens.”
It’s not always the main point expressed, but it is usually mixed in with the other comments critical of what I write.
Now, keep in mind, I’ve written several pieces about Obama, and I’ve yet to mention his race. Never dawned on me, actually.
If I had written a sentence such as, “Our president is a socialist, and by the way, did you notice that he’s black? …” then I think those playing the race card would have a reason to be upset.
First, you don’t need to mention race for racism to be a motive. If you’re smart you figure out better ways of making such a point. “I’ve yet to mention his race” Stevens writes. OK, maybe that’s true. He continues, “never dawned on me, actually.” Not buying that part. I have no evidence for my belief, but anyone who says President Obama’s race has never dawned on them seems unlikely to be truthful. In fact, this flat fails the truth test unless you live in that Bill O’Reilly imagined utopia … in a galaxy far, far away … where you supposedly don’t notice race (even though everyone knows he damn well does).
His last paragraph of that excerpt shows a classic case of trying to throw you off the scent. It’s the because-I-didn’t-mention-his-race-it-can’t-be-racism defense. Then, Stevens invokes the customary “race card” statement as a sort of boilerplate … the standard defense against any and all charges of racism (whether real or imagined). Similar to the old American Express commercials … the motto for this would be don’t enter a debate without (your Race Card Charge plate) … don’t leave home without it. Yes, when you’re accused of race (real or imagined) you automatically scream “race card” as your defense.
Stevens continues:
But I haven’t written a statement like that in my columns and I never will. That’s not me.
For a white man, such as me, it comes with the turf. You criticize someone who’s black, and, chances are, there’s someone out there who believes your real motive is that you don’t like people of color.
This is step two of the defense against a charge of racism (real or imagined). You turn the tables and begin to play the role of victim, “For a white man, such as me, it comes with the turf.” This is right out of the textbook.
Anyway, cutting to the end…
Stevens then proceeds to talk about a nutty columnist named Erik Rush who has been on Fox News from time to time to play his understood role (the black man who will come on and say negative things about President Obama so that the far-right nuts can keep their hands dry). Rush, who is nuttier than Mr. Peanut, shares this role with the likes of the dubious Jesse Lee Peterson (who is akin to a modern-day slave catcher) and others.
Yes, this is the same old stuff.
We should never be surprised by the very conservative and anti-black perspective that Sean Hannity always seems to bring to virtually any discussion about race. News Hounds points out a Thursday episode of Hannity’s Fox News show followed the right-wingers usual script. In a discussion about race, Hannity (as part of an all-white panel) predictably blamed the two black people involved in the issue: Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and President Obama while pretty much completely absolving Sgt. James Crowley of any wrongdoing in the highly-publicized incident that created a national conversation on the topic of race.
Honestly, it was probably best Hannity didn’t have any black conservatives on there to be showpieces to do his far-right bidding (while attacking the two blacks involved).
The depth and breadth of Glenn Beck’s stupidity is virtually beyond human comprehension. The crazed Fox News host, who has proven he has no business with a platform on any legitimate news network, recently said this: “The president has exposed himself, I think, as a guy, over and over again, who has a deep-seated hatred for white people, or white culture.” Beck, like a lot of the far-right conservatives, is working overtime to attack President Obama using racial politics as a result of the controversy surrounding the ridiculous arrest of Prof. Henry Louis Gates for, as Bill Maher described it, the crime of not kissing an officer’s butt.
From Think Progress:
Yesterday on Fox News, host Glenn Beck went on a rant about President Obama’s comments about the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and the upcoming meeting Obama will have with Gates, who is African-American, and the arresting officer, Jim Crowley. “This president has exposed himself, I think, as a guy, over and over and over again, who has a deep-seated hatred for white people, or white culture,” Beck complained, later adding, “He has a, this guy is, I believe, a racist.”
The NAACP came out with a statement chastising Beck for his comments. “We commend President Obama for having the courage to discuss an issue that all too many Americans consider a third rail,” the statement said.
Like the NAACP, I also commend President Obama not only for speaking out on the issue, but of standing up for a friend of his. He could have phrased his original comment better, but I think the sentiment was right on the money.
Also, as cited by Think Progress:
This morning, the crew on MSNBC’s Morning Joe ripped Beck for an entire segment of the show:
WASHINGTON POST’S JONATHAN CAPEHART: How is it possible that this guy can sit on national television and call this guy a racist? The President is half white!
MSNBC HOST MIKE BARNICLE: In reality, Glenn Beck is just show business. …The larger, dumber statement is that the President of the United States has a deep seeded hatred for white people. Hello Glenn!? His mother was white! He was raised by a white woman, his grandmother! Hello!? Glenn? … Come back down to Earth please!
HOST MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Outrageous is one way of putting it. I would say irresponsible, especially now…selfish, self-indulging.
Beck is disgraceful, but maybe it goes to show if you’re partially black to some people you’re all black. I honestly think there are times people forget that President Obama is half white.
If the man had any mind to begin with then he clearly has lost it.
Maybe it’s that whole one-drop thing.
From Wikipedia:
The one-drop rule is a historical colloquial term in the United States that holds that a person with any trace of African ancestry is considered black (unless they have an alternative non-white ancestry, such as Native American, Asian, Arab, Polynesian or Australian aboriginal).[1] It developed most strongly out of the binary culture of long years of institutionalized slavery.
This notion of invisible/intangible membership in a racial group has seldom been applied to people of other ancestry (see Race in the United States for details). The concept has been chiefly applied to those of black African ancestry. As Langston Hughes wrote, “You see, unfortunately, I am not black. There are lots of different kinds of blood in our family. But here in the United States, the word ‘Negro’ is used to mean anyone who has any Negro blood at all in his veins. In Africa, the word is more pure. It means all Negro, therefore black. I am brown.”[2]
Henry Louis Gates Jr. one of the most respected scholars in the United States of America, may have become the latest victim of racial profiling. Essentially, it appears that Gates was harassed by police officers because he forced his way into his own home a woman reported seeing “two black males with backpacks on the porch” with one “wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry.” Ah, the infamous two black males accusation. Apparently, two black males look a little bit more suspect in an upscale neighborhood, huh?
This is an excerpt from a Yahoo News/AP story:
BOSTON – Supporters of a prominent Harvard University black scholar who was arrested at his own home by police responding to a report of a break-in say he is the victim of racial profiling.
Henry Louis Gates Jr. had forced his way through the front door of his home because it was jammed, his lawyer said Monday.
Cambridge police say they responded to the well-maintained two-story home near campus after a woman reported seeing “two black males with backpacks on the porch,” with one “wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry.”
By the time police arrived, Gates was already inside. Police say he refused to come outside to speak with an officer, who told him he was investigating a report of a break-in.
“Why, because I’m a black man in America?” Gates said, according to a police report written by Sgt. James Crowley. The Cambridge police refused to comment on the arrest Monday.
Gates — the director of Harvard’s W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research — initially refused to show the officer his identification, but then gave him a Harvard University ID card, according to police.
It’s a disturbing tale because it does make (or should make) a person wonder would white guys trying to get into a house have been perceived the same way.
More from the story:
“Gates continued to yell at me, accusing me of racial bias and continued to tell me that I had not heard the last of him,” the officer wrote.
Gates said he turned over his driver’s license and Harvard ID — both with his photos — and repeatedly asked for the name and badge number of the officer, who refused. He said he then followed the officer as he left his house onto his front porch, where he was handcuffed in front of other officers, Gates said in a statement released by his attorney, fellow Harvard scholar Charles Ogletree, on a Web site Gates oversees, TheRoot.com
He was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after police said he “exhibited loud and tumultuous behavior.” He was released later that day on his own recognizance. An arraignment was scheduled for Aug. 26.
Gates, 58, also refused to speak publicly Monday, referring calls to Ogletree.
“He was shocked to find himself being questioned and shocked that the conversation continued after he showed his identification,” Ogletree said.
Yeah, why would a guy be upset about being harassed by police for trying to get into his own house and having a dime dropped on him by someone worried about the two black guys? The police come and harass a man getting into his own house and then arrest him on his own property for disorderly conduct. How much of an insult/slap in the face is that? I think most people would have “exhibited loud and tumultuous behavior” (how broad a description is that?) if they found themselves in a similar situation.
One more excerpt:
Allen Counter, who has taught neuroscience at Harvard for 25 years, said he was stopped on campus by two Harvard police officers in 2004 after being mistaken for a robbery suspect. They threatened to arrest him when he could not produce identification.
“We do not believe that this arrest would have happened if professor Gates was white,” Counter said. “It really has been very unsettling for African-Americans throughout Harvard and throughout Cambridge that this happened.”
It’s difficult (if not impossible) to get in the heads of the officers and the individual that called in the complaint. But, it is enough to make a lot of us pause and think about one of the many faces of racism – even in the Obama era.
The backlash against minorities continues to build since the election of Barack Obama as president of the United States of America. Now, in reality, this is hardly an unexpected occurrence as many older members of the Republican and conservative wing of the political spectrum are angry. The country they knew is slipping away and what many of these individuals see is the browning of America. And, they don’t like it one bit. These bitter and angry individuals show their frustration with the severe backlash to anything even remotely resembling affirmative action and with illegal immigration (with the way that the Latino population in this country is growing and the projections for the future).
This all brings me to a blog published on Big Hollywood by a man named Brian Jennings. Jennings goes on and on about how the country is going into debt (conservatives didn’t care as much about it when George W. Bush was president) and then laments bailouts (or potential bailouts) for minority broadcasters.
Here is what Jennings wrote (with the graphic included):
Well if we can spend millions to protect the salt marsh mouse in San Francisco Bay, we can surely shell out billions to bail out minority broadcasters. It’s good for the economy and after all Congress is on record as saying it needs to save our nation’s newspapers, too. So, the table is set for government financial intervention of the media.
Minority broadcasters are asking tax-cheat Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for financial assistance. Sounds like the financial and auto industries, and it is. These broadcasters, including the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, the Inner City Broadcasting Coalition, the Spanish Broadcasting System, and others say they can bounce back because “unlike the auto business, broadcasting has been healthy for many years.” Has it now?
Jennings continues:
As the nation digs itself further into debt and unemployment continues to increase, media is being hit as hard as any sector. But, there is an important point to be made. Perhaps suspect business models should be allowed to fail. If there is bailout money for minority broadcasters, what about bailout money for the nation’s non-minority broadcasters who face what many believe is their only path – bankruptcy. The answer to that is a forgone conclusion. Minorities will get a bailout because after all they are minorities and deserve special treatment. But, other broadcasters – especially the consolidated media will not get a dime. No media should be bailed out.
It’s the same old politics of fear in regard to under-qualified minorities supposedly getting so muchspecial treatment while “others” work sooooooooooooo hard and, well you know, just can’t get a break.
Jennings seems to think that minorities get all of this special treatment that “other broadcasters” don’t seem to get.
I doubt Jennings, or others like him, truly would want to trade positions with minorities.
He makes some reasonable points in regard to conflict of interest if the media is taking money (in the form of a bailout). So, maybe no media should be bailed out, but to take an obvious and angry shot at minorities (the way this writer did) has a bit of a smell of resentment and perhaps racism to it.
He also took an angry, partisan cheap shot at Timothy Geithner.
The New York Times has a story written (based upon recently-released tapes) that give insight to former President Richard Nixon’s views about abortion and about abortion related to interracial relationships and rape.
Nixon worried that greater access to abortions would foster “permissiveness,” and said that “it breaks the family.” But he also saw a need for abortion in some cases, such as interracial pregnancies.
“There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white,” he told an aide, before adding: “Or a rape.”
What an appalling comment.
New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/us/politics/24nixon.html?_r=1
Margery Eagan, a columnist for the Boston Herald, probably did not win any friends on the VERY far-right Fox News Web site, Fox Nation, with a recent piece she wrote.
Here’s a small taste of her column:
It’s been such fun watching the right-wing white boys sputtering over the Supreme Court nomination of Sonia Sotomayor, a Hispanic woman nominated by a black man!
“Our world domination’s slip, slip, slipping away,” you can almost hear them whimper. “What to do?”
Well, you can’t dump on the woman thing. That’s more than half the country. Can’t dump on the Hispanic angle. They’ll be more than half the country soon.
Knowing how so many people (particularly the loyal hardcore right-wing followers of Fox News) feel about racial issues, you can imagine the controversy this has sparked.
Boston Herald:
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view/2009_05_28_Men_in_throes_of_Supreme_panic/srvc=home&position=2
Fox Nation (check out some of the anger-driven responses):
http://www.thefoxnation.com/politics/2009/05/29/right-wing-white-men-threatened-world-domination-slipping
