Sister Sarah She Ain’t

http://www.theroot.com/id/48601

on Ashley Todd

I could not resist putting this image here. Ashley Todd = B for effort.

I believe it goes without saying that Ms Todd is a nutcase– very nutty. She will walkaround for the rest of her life, well for as long as it will take that brand to heal, with a B on her cheek. How dumb is that? (If you haven’t heard about Ashley Todd, read the full story here)

Anyway, on a bigger symptom, that I will coin the Ashley Todd mindframe. Had she said a man, any man, even if an Obama supporter had attacked her then things would have been different. As it is, she has brought up the elephant in the room. Its not that race has not been discussed (do you know that CNN is more race-obsessed than any other channel…. not in a bad way, I don’t think. They are always interviewing black people for the black experience. And even though I like MSNBC their cast is not diverse), its not that we haven’t heard racial slurs in reference to Obama at McCain/Palin events, and to Obama volunteers…. . No, we have heard all that. What Todd has done is bring this discussion to a national audience. And I hope that there will be some discussion.

I hope that there will be “undecided” voters who will pause for a minute and think about why they are voting for McCain or not voting at all (white Democrats who are staying home on election day). I hope that this event will have Americans, especially white Americans, including liberal Americans, to reflect on this society and to be begin forging a way and a discussion that is not based on the “black narrative.

One more thing on Todd…. if there had been a black man around that ATM who resembled her description (which was very generic, well except for the shiny shoes… muggers do not wear shiny shoes), he would have been arrested… and if she had been smarter, like if she had lied that she had been mugged in a dark alley, and branded an “O” instead of a “B” then things would have been quite different. The archetypal black dude will never catch a break.

Obama is NOT an exception, there are intelligent blacks as there are asians and whites. Brown people are not different from white people. Road to recovery?

Watch Rachel Maddow and Princeton’s Melissa Harris-Lacewell.

Haterz

by Beve

There so many instances of hateration going on I don’t know where to begin. There’s the now famous instance of “terrorist” and “kill him” being shouted at a McCain/Palin rally. Or, the “bomb Obama” heard at a down-ticket rally for Saxby Chambliss.  Now some ballots in NY have turned up with “Barack Osama” written on.

Thoughts on the Looming Election

By Dr. Anon

As the debates draw to a close, and everyone’s fever for Election Day reaches blistering levels…

I hope you all take the time to become *informed* … TRULY INFORMED.

By all means, go and exercise your “ceremonial” right to vote, and may the best candidate prevail—but more so–May the People Prevail.

Many feel as if this election, with all of its historic implications, may usher in the Dawn of a New Amerikka…Indeed, I feel in these hopes–we are all like children, waiting on the promise of a good–true–word.  But this is the beauty of being child-like:  to have the capacity to dream, and the courage to pursue said dreams.

But, do not think that a Super-Structure such as Capitalism–which by it’s very nature fosters institutions of inequality–that such a beast will pass away the morning of November 5th.  That beast we’ve all been in bed with for too long, and our very core is saturated by its influence–the breath of its rhetoric is as a poisonous fume, suffocating our ability to not only dream of a different–a new PARADIGM, but to also have the Will Power to FIGHT for such.

Who am I, to hold such doubt in this *Grand* system of ours?  Who am I to share my sentiments of cynicism and contempt in the wake of this election?
I am but one of MANY–born in a foreign womb where Western Hegemony has always been the looping lullaby near the infant’s crib, hypnotizing the mind while coercing us to drink the hemlock of deceit from its bosom; I am one of MANY who was robbed of our ability to imagine a world where the shackles of oppressive systems could be obsolete, and instead–we had our dreams Dictated to us…One of MANY who have been directly and indirectly affected by the very mechanisms created to not only Build this country, but to allow its Oppressive system to self-perpetuate, and as much as we hate what we have often times felt from its bitter sting, we still seek to hold this system to its highest ideals.  We are still the lonely child who doesn’t give up on ‘Daddy’s’ promised visit, although the moments have leaped to multiple decades, and even centuries…still with no sign of ‘Daddy.’

We are encouraged to feel included in the dialogue of America, to profess our patriotism unto the end–all of this while lying on our backs with boots upon our necks–and we still scream AMERICA as we choke!

Those who profit from this SYSTEM need not actively feed us with its hegemonic melody; we have long since learned the tune, and have been humming it to ourselves and to one another, creating harmony in the discord…

What am I saying?  Is it that because of all of the crimes this SYSTEM has committed against the very souls who die and LIVE in/by its name –one should not exercise their rights to vote and fight to dream of a day when such atrocities –both blatant and sublime–will no longer be the lot of the people?  Emphatically, No!  Never in my short time on this Earth have I seen such an involvement in the political process by members of my generation, let alone several generations.  I applaud all who continue their struggle.

But consider this:  if the status quo remains in tact, and ultimately naught has changed save the representative faces who assist in maintaining this Systemic Mechanism, what then shall we do?  Will we have had enough of the looping melody?  Will we be prepared to aggressively Change the Tune?  And what of the consequences of those choices–will we have the courage to face ourselves?

I pray you all find what you seek in this election, or be prepared to TRULY exercise your RIGHTS.