Category: Society

Playing the Fool

White House Watermelon Email From California Mayor Dean Grose Inspires Outrage:

“The mayor of Los Alamitos is coming under fire for an e-mail he sent out that depicts the White House lawn planted with watermelons, under the title ‘No Easter egg hunt this year.’…
Grose confirmed to the AP that he sent the e-mail to [local businesswoman and city volunteer Keyanus] Price and said he didn’t mean to offend her. He said he was unaware of the racial stereotype that black people like watermelons.”
Watermelons on the White House Lawn

(Via The Huffington Post.)

If Grose expects anyone to believe him, he’s even dumber than his joke. What exactly would have been the point if not for the stereotype?

The Black Tax

The Source Of The Beef – Ta-Nehisi Coates:

“One last note. I’ve noticed something interesting about this blog–the complaints I hear from whites (‘Don’t lump as all together!’ We’re not a monolith!’) have an eerie familiarity. I don’t think it’s cool to simplify anyone, ever. But I would ask that we all take a moment and think about how it feels for this to be the conflict of your life, to constantly labor under the weight of idiots who you’ve never met. What if very few people ever cared to sort you out? What if the generalizations which raised your hackles in Henderson’s article weren’t a one-off–they were the media and really the world–as you’d always known it?”

(Via Ta-Nehisi Coates.)

Exactly. (Twice in one day. That’s why I love his blog.)

Why I’m not a Conservative…TNC Style

Some Off The Cuff Analysis – Ta-Nehisi Coates:

“I keep thinking about the big things that have always kept me from being a conservative–the knee-jerk worship of a past that branded me half a man, the elevation of the loud imbeciles who think science teachers should be using the Bible, the toleration and baiting of bigots who cloaked themselves in the garb of ‘States Rights,’ and now run under the garb of ‘protecting marriage.’ The common demonator here is an unreflective veneration of what was, a belief that tradition, no matter how backwards, can heal all.”

(Via Ta-Nehisi Coates.)

Exactly.

Signify Brother

Blacks, whites hear Obama differently – Nia-Malika Henderson – POLITICO.com:

On his pre-inaugural visit to Ben’s Chili Bowl, a landmark for Washington’s African-American community, President Barack Obama was asked by a cashier if he wanted his change back.
“Nah, we straight,” Obama replied.
The phrase was so subtle some listeners missed it. The reporter on pool duty quoted Obama as saying, “No, we’re straight.”
But many other listeners did not miss it. A video of the exchange became an Internet hit, and there was a clear moment of recognition among many blacks, who got a kick out of their Harvard-educated president sounding, as one commenter wrote on a hip-hop site, “mad cool.”

(Via Politico.)

For real. For real.

The Bottom of the Cage

Chimp-Stimulus Cartoon Raises Racism Concerns – City Room Blog – NYTimes.com:

Racist Cartoon

(Via NY Times – City Room Blog.)

I’d say the Post belongs at the bottom of a bird cage, but that would mean you’d have to buy it first.

The Messiah Myth – TIME

The Messiah Myth – TIME:

“It pains me to deliver this sobering news to those who think Obama will wave his hand and erase whole ghettos: Barack Obama is a black President, not black Jesus.”

(Via Time Magazine.)

PREACH!

Taking Their Kids

Op-Ed Contributor – Anti-Gay, Anti-Family – NYTimes.com:

“Most ominous, once ‘pro-family’ groups start arguing that gay couples are unfit to raise children we might adopt, how long before they argue that we’re unfit to raise those we’ve already adopted? If lesbian couples are unfit to care for foster children, are they fit to care for their own biological children?
The loss in California last week was heartbreaking. But what may be coming next is terrifying.”

(Via NY Times.)

Why the so-called “pro-family” agenda is all anti-gay and very little family.

Decision 2008 – Gary & Gary Unmarried | The Daily Show | Comedy Central

Decision 2008 – Gary & Gary Unmarried | The Daily Show | Comedy Central:

“”

(Via The Daily Show.)

Embarrassment.

Indecision 2008: America’s Choice – Barack Obama Wins

Indecision 2008: America’s Choice – Barack Obama Wins:

“”

(Via Indecision 2008.)

It’s deep when comics well up with emotion.

More on Prop 8 – Ta-Nehisi Coates

More on Prop 8 – Ta-Nehisi Coates:

“But if you believe black people are not just receptacles for bigotry, not just automatons programmed by centuries of racism, if you believe they consume oxygen like the Irish, that they ingest solid food like the Italians, that they enjoy a good drink like the denizens of Appalachia, that they like to party like gays of any color, that they like to dance like white women, then you understand that no group, anywhere, ever was ennobled by oppression.”

(Via The Atlantic.)

Embarrassing on a day we should be about freedom.