Nelson Mandela Tributes Continue! (Yeah, The Racist Comments Too)!

The world mourns the passing of Nelson Mandela.

The world lost a great leader. We just learned that former South African president and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Nelson Mandela passed away at the age 95.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (Xhosa pronunciation: [xoˈliːɬaɬa manˈdeːla]) (July 18, 1918 – December 5, 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary and politician who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.

He was the first black South African to hold the office, and the first elected in a fully representative, multiracial election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid through tackling institutionalized racism, poverty and inequality, and fostering racial reconciliation. Politically an African nationalist and democratic socialist, he served as the President of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1991 to 1997.

Internationally, Mandela was the Secretary General of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1998 to 1999.

A Xhosa born to the Thembu royal family, Mandela attended the Fort Hare University and the University of Witwatersrand, where he studied law. Living in Johannesburg, he became involved in anti-colonial politics, joining the ANC and becoming a founding member of its Youth League. After the Afrikaner nationalists of the National Party came to power in 1948 and began implementing the policy of apartheid, he rose to prominence in the ANC's 1952 Defiance Campaign, was elected President of the Transvaal ANC Branch and oversaw the 1955 Congress of the People.

Working as a lawyer, he was repeatedly arrested for seditious activities and, with the ANC leadership, was prosecuted in the Treason Trial from 1956 to 1961 but was found not guilty. Although initially committed to non-violent protest, in association with the South African Communist Party he co-founded the militant Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) in 1961, leading a bombing campaign against government targets. In 1962 he was arrested, convicted of sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government, and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Rivonia Trial.

Mandela served 27 years in prison, first on Robben Island, and later in Pollsmoor Prison and Victor Verster Prison.

An international campaign lobbied for his release, which was granted in 1990 amid escalating civil strife. Becoming ANC President, Mandela published his autobiography and led negotiations with President F.W. de Klerk to abolish apartheid and establish multiracial elections in 1994, in which he led the ANC to victory. He was elected President and formed a Government of National Unity in an attempt to defuse ethnic tensions. As President, he promulgated a new constitution and initiated the Truth and Reconciliation

Commission to investigate past human rights abuses. Continuing the former government's liberal economic policy, his administration introduced measures to encourage land reform, combat poverty, and expand healthcare services.

Internationally, he acted as mediator between Libya and the United Kingdom in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial, and oversaw military intervention in Lesotho. He declined to run for a second term, and was succeeded by his deputy, Thabo Mbeki. Mandela subsequently became an elder statesman, focusing on charitable work in combating poverty and HIV/AIDS through the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

Mandela was a controversial figure for much of his life. The racist right denounced him as a terrorist and communist sympathizer.

He nevertheless gained international acclaim for his anti-colonial and anti-apartheid stance, having received more than 250 honors, including the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize, the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Soviet Order of Lenin. He is held in deep respect within South Africa, where he is often referred to by his Xhosa clan name, Madiba, or as Tata ("Father"); he is often described as "the father of the nation".

Mandela died following a long illness at his home in Johannesburg.

Leaders around the world expressed their condolences in the wake of the announcement, reminding the world of the strength and the compassion that characterized South Africa's remarkable leader.

South African President Jacob Zuma announced the death of Mandela. "Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father," Zuma said, according to CNN. "He is now resting, he is now at peace," Zuma added.

Speaking from the White House, U.S. President Barack Obama said "Mandela has achieved more than could be expected of any man, he lives for the ages." Obama added:

A great leader.

We've lost one of the most influential, courageous and profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time with. He no longer belongs to us, he belongs to the ages... His commitment to transfer power and reconcile with those who jailed him set an example that all humanity should aspire to.

British Prime Minister David Cameron was one of the first to express his grief on Twitter, calling Mandela "a hero of our time."

In the wake of his death, the world is reminded of the incredible impact Nelson Mandela had, not only on South Africa but in countries far from his own. The anti-apartheid icon was a champion for peace and equality, spreading a message of hope and reciprocity all over the world.

From his historic inaugural address, when he became the country's first black president, to his acceptance of the Congressional Gold Medal, Nelson Mandela's words will resonate through the ages carrying on his incredible legacy.

Of course, expect the racist right ignore it. Already Loserville, and the conservative agitators are pretty much saying they're glad that "NIGGER" is gone.

Some of the most vilest comments also came from the social networks of the racist right websites.

Thanks Bob Cesa of The Daily Banter.







 



, 

Nelson Mandela, RIP

RIP Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela, RIP

The following news is from the Chicago Tribune staff and wire services regarding the passing of Nelson Mandela.

Tribune staff and wire services

4:51 p.m. CST, December 5, 2013

Nelson Mandela has died at age 95, South African President Jacob Zuma announced Thursday.

Mandela guided South Africa from the shackles of apartheid to multi-racial democracy, as an icon of peace and reconciliation who came to embody the struggle for justice around the world.

Imprisoned for nearly three decades for his fight against white minority rule, Mandela emerged determined to use his prestige and charisma to bring down apartheid while avoiding a civil war.

"The time for the healing of the wounds has come. The moment to bridge the chasms that divide us has come," Mandela said in his acceptance speech on becoming South Africa's first black president in 1994.

"We have, at last, achieved our political emancipation."

In 1993, Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, an honour he shared with F.W. de Klerk, the white Afrikaner leader who freed him from prison three years earlier and negotiated the end of apartheid.

Mandela went on to play a prominent role on the world stage as an advocate of human dignity in the face of challenges ranging from political repression to AIDS.

Read more about Nelson Mandela's passing at:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-nelson-mandela-dead-20131205,0,6266118.story

More about South Africa's former president and human rights activist Nelson Mandela at:

http://www.nelsonmandela.org/p90/index.html

Rest in peace, Nelson Mandela!

Update

To all,

I'm sorry for the broken link on my latest post, Bob Dumas and Richard Cohen: Two of a Kind.  When you click the above article, it should contain my post and not the link to ABC affiliate in Raleigh. 

Thank you.

S.B.

Diff'rent Strokes!

Landry Thompson with her dance instructors. The instructors were her legal guardians and the Houston Police didn't buy their story. Now a controversy is brewing over racial profiling.

Landry Thompson, a White teenage girl living in Oklahoma didn't expect this to happen. The aspiring dancer was with her trainers were stopped by the Houston CPD.

The police questioned why is a young White girl hanging around with Black men?

They said they're her Black legal guardians. The police didn't buy that. So they were arrested.

KHOU (Houston) reports that the dancers were pretty shaken and upset over the whole ordeal.

“It definitely is life to me,” said Emmanuel Hurd.  “It means the world.  It’s everything to me.”

That’s why the trio from Oklahoma traveled to Houston in the first place.  To spend the weekend dancing and training with some of the industry’s best.

But that dream of a visit took an ugly turn shortly after leaving the studio Saturday night, when the group, exhausted from their work, stopped off at nearby gas station.

“We were on the GPS trying to figure out where the hotel was. And we sat there and we dozed off.”

They said before they knew it, the police showed up and surrounded the car.

“And so I was kind of freaked out and surprised by it,” said Landry.

“They just pulled us out of the car and put our hands behind our backs like we were criminals,” added Hurd.

“The officer asked me 'who’s the girl?' and I said 'she’s my student,'” said Hurd.

“I told him I had a notarized letter from her parents stating that we have full guardianship over her while we’re here.”

All three dancers said say they pleaded with the police repeatedly telling them their story, but that in the end, none of that seemed to matter.”

“They still put handcuffs on me and it really scared me,” said Landry.  “And they put me in the back of a cop car and I was terrified.”

Landry was taken to Child Protective Services.  Her mom couldn't believe it when she found out.

“I was horrified,” said Destiny Thompson. “She was with the people I wanted her to be with.  She was with people I trusted.  And now she was taken away from those people and in a shelter with people I didn’t know.”

Thompson claimed she was told she’d have to fly to Houston to get her daughter out.  But 11 hours later, following repeated phone calls to officials,  Landry was released back into the custody of her instructors.

“I would love an apology,” said Destiny.

Police officials still aren't commenting about what happened.

The group of dancers plans to return to Oklahoma Monday afternoon.

I guess the Houston Police believed that professional Black dancers are criminals!

This isn't Diff'rent Strokes. This was a reality show with real life drama.

In the synopsis of Diff'rent Strokes, Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges as Arnold and Willis Jackson were two African American boys from Harlem who are taken in by a rich white Park Avenue businessman named Phillip Drummond (Conrad Bain) and his daughter Kimberly (Dana Plato), for whom their deceased mother previously worked.

The series made stars out of child actors Gary Coleman, Todd Bridges, and Dana Plato, and became known for the "very special episodes" in which serious issues such as racism, illegal drug use, and child sexual abuse were dramatically explored.

After the show had ended, the lives of these stars were later plagued by legal troubles and drug addiction, as the stardom and success they achieved while on the show eluded them after the series was cancelled, with both Plato (1999) and Coleman (2010)  having early deaths. Bain died in 2013.

Todd Bridges is the only surviving member of the cast.

Before Richard Cohen, Bob Dumas had a Problem with Interracial, Intercultural, and Interethnic Relationships

Before Richard Cohen, there's another despicable guy had a problem with interracial/inter ethnic relationships.


This is the hateful and racist commentary from Raleigh's G105 DJ Bob Dumas commentary about a then-upcoming wedding of one of their interns who is married to a Lumbee Indian  back in 2008:

Rush Limbaugh Clone Bob Dumas

Bob Dumas April 2008:

"Did you tell your parents, 'hey, at least he's not black?'" Dumas asked during the broadcast. "After you guys get married are you going to have a tee-pee warming party? A tee-pee warming party? I hear Pottery Barn is making great stuff for tee-pees."-

Bob Dumas of Bob and the Show gram, G105, Raleigh, N.C., back in 2008.
___________________________________________________________________

Here's more despicable racism of Bob Dumas:

By Lorraine Ahearn
Staff Columnist 
Friday, Apr. 11, 2008 3:00 am 


How could this be OK?

That was the fundamental question when a Lumbee friend called last week, outraged, after her high school-age daughter heard a trio of shock jocks trashing the tribe on Raleigh’s WDCG (105 FM).

Now, the first thing that might come to mind is last year’s April fool, Don Imus, and the "nappy-headed hos" remark that earned him a you-know-what-storm and cost him his CBS Radio show.

But if you listened to last week’s "Bob & the Showgram" segment — which remained up on the G-105 Web site for several days until cooler heads prevailed — some differences became apparent.

First, Imus’ callous comments:

a) Were in passing, off the cuff.

b) Lasted less than a minute.

c) Forced Imus off the air despite several profuse apologies from Imus (who admitted his words were "racist and abhorrent"), a meeting with the Rutgers women and an appearance on the Rev. Al Sharpton’s show.

In contrast, the G-105 comments:

a) Were a clearly planned segment, with prepared background sound effects and traditional Native American music, in which the three white morning hosts derided an intern they called "White Girl" about her upcoming wedding to her Lumbee fiance.

b) Lasted 14 minutes, 33 seconds.

c) Brought a vague apology from the station manager "to any listener that may have found remarks or recordings played Tuesday, April 1st, 2008, during Bob and the Showgram to be offensive, derogatory or insensitive," and, a week later, resulted in a three-day suspension for the hosts.

So what, exactly, did they say, in remarks that Ruth Revels, founder of the Guilford Native American Association, called "the worst I’ve heard in all my years" of involvement?

The segment, led by DJ Bob Dumas, began as banter with a departing station intern who said she was leaving to get married. After the unnamed intern mentioned that she was marrying a Lumbee, stock sound effects such as fake "woo-woo-woo" Indian chants played in the background.

Dumas and his co-hosts quizzed the intern at length about her fiance, asking whether he was "full-blooded" and whether the couple planned to have a "teepee warming" after the wedding and suggesting she tell her parents, "At least he’s not black."

After making fun of the intern, who laughed along, Dumas and his co-hosts ridiculed Indians in general as "lazy" and Lumbees specifically as "inbred."

It was only after Greg Richardson, executive director of the N.C. Commission of Indian Affairs, on Wednesday demanded the hosts be fired that the station announced the suspension — eight days after the show aired.

But back to the original question from my friend, who was so angry at what her daughter heard that she was practically in tears: How could this be OK? And why was the reaction so lukewarm compared to Imus?

One reason, of course, is that Imus is national. Even though the Rutgers players don’t listen to his show, they soon got wind of it. But there’s a more fundamental difference: Lumbees are a minority’s minority.

True, they are the largest tribe east of the Mississippi, but there are only 50,000 of them in the state and only about 5,000 here in Guilford County. They have been invisible, easy to ignore. Which, incidentally, explains why they are still waiting for federal recognition after 120 years.

It also explains why someone such as Bob Dumas felt safe saying the things he said — statements he would never dare insert the word "black" into, at least not on the air.

Then again, cowards never pick on anyone their own size.

Contact Lorraine Ahearn at 373-7334 or lorraine.ahearn@news-record.com

http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dl … /756073241



More of his racist misogyny against American Indians and White women who date/marry outside of their race:

Shock jock comments about Lumbees labeled racist

By Michael Futch
Staff writer
ADVERTISEMENT

The N.C. Commission of Indian Affairs has demanded that a Raleigh radio
station fire the hosts and producer of a morning show over “racially
charged comments” made on the air.

The station — WDCG, “G105” — posted an online apology Friday for anyone
who was offended by the remarks, which singled out Lumbees and called
American Indians “lazy” and “in-bred.”

Members of the Lumbee and other tribes in the state have expressed outrage over the comments made Tuesday during “Bob and the Showgram.” The popular morning program is hosted by longtime Triangle radio air personality Bob Dumas.

Derogatory references were made on the air about the names of Pocahontas and Sacajawea. Traditional American Indian music played in the background as the “Showgram” team laughed at their own jokes.

“I think simply, it’s very sad that you would have a radio (station) like
that putting that kind of information out on the air,” said Greg
Richardson, executive director of the N.C. Commission of Indian Affairs.
“It’s inflammatory. I wonder if they understand how inflammatory those
remarks can be.”

Richardson, who belongs to the Haliwa-Saponi tribe, said Friday that his
office had been “absolutely bombarded” by e-mails and calls complaining
about the comments. Recordings of the show have circulated this week by
e-mail.

“I’ve never encountered anything like that before,” he said. “I thought we
were beyond that. This is 2008. I think people should have more respect
than to get involved in a discussion like that on the air.”

Dick Harlow, general manager of WDCG, said he would not comment Friday. He said Dumas would be unavailable for interviews, too.

On Friday afternoon, a statement was posted on the Web site for the radio
program, bobandtheshowgram.com.

“WDCG apologizes to any listener that may have found remarks or recordings played Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 during Bob and the Showgram to be offensive, derogatory or insensitive. WDCG does not condone inappropriate behavior, language or insensitive remarks.”

The N.C. Commission on Indian Affairs — established by the General
Assembly as an advocacy agency for the state’s Indian population — also
called for the Federal Communications Commission to investigate station
owner Clear Channel Communications Corp.

The state commission also wants the FCC to examine the company’s “history, tolerance, and promotion of this type of inflammatory and reprehensible programming.”

In a statement, the Commission of Indian Affairs Chairman Paul Brooks
said, “Such statements are further indicative of these individuals’
insensitivity, gross ignorance, and blatant bigotry against American
Indians across this great nation,”

The Lumbee tribe, in particular, was singled out in the 15-minute segment
that opened Tuesday’s show.

“This is the God’s honest truth,” Dumas said on the air. “You can look at
the statistics — Indians are lazy.”

The on-air exchange began when a white intern at the station — Chelsea
Pryor, who has attended the University of North Carolina at Pembroke —
told Dumas and his co-hosts that she was marrying a Lumbee.

“Hey, white girl. After you get married, are you going to have a
teepee-warming party?” someone quipped. “I could give you a pelt or
something.”

Morgan Brittany Hunt, a Lumbee who works with the tribe by talking with
teens about the consequences of smoking, called the comments racist.

“We have doctors, we have lawyers, we have businessmen,” she said. “We may have people who don’t have their four-year degree, but who get up and work hard to provide for their family. I was really upset.”

Hunt said the show is a hot topic in Pembroke.

“Everybody’s in an uproar,” she said. “It’s slander and racism. (Don) Imus
was fired for a lot less than what aired” on G105.

Nearly a year ago, MSNBC and CBS Radio fired Imus, a talk show host, after he made a slur about the mostly black Rutgers women’s basketball team. The Rev. Al Sharpton became the leading voice in opposition to Imus, calling for his dismissal.

Rebekah Revels, the former Miss North Carolina from Robeson County, was referred to as “the naked girl” during the show. Revels won the pageant in 2002 but was forced to give up the crown after her ex-boyfriend threatened to publicize topless photos of her.

“My situation was an ordeal I went through with my family that was
painful,” Revels said Friday. “I have learned to cope and deal with those
emotions. I was attacked publicly. Now they’re attacking my tribe. It’s
not about me. It’s about an ethnic culture that I love. Now it’s about
standing up for my people.”

Revels said the cast and crew of the “Showgram” and station owner Clear
Channel should be held accountable. “It’s unnecessary, uncalled for and
hurtful,” she said.

Earlier remarks

Dumas, who has been with WDCG for nearly 16 years, is not a newcomer to controversy.

In 2004, a Durham minister started an online petition to oust Dumas for
what the minister called “racially incendiary” comments about “American
Idol” winner Fantasia Barrino, who is black. Dumas used the terms “ghetto” and “low class” during the show to describe Barrino.

Five years ago, he drew the wrath of bicycling enthusiasts in the Triangle
for finding humor in motorists who assault cyclists or run them down with
their vehicles.

Staff writer Michael Futch can be reached at futchm@fayobserver.com or
486-3529.

Dumas' bigoted view of Asian women:

"Popular morning radio host Bob Dumas angered another constituency this month when he declared Asian-American women unattractive.

Dumas, who infuriated bicyclists last year with a broadcast that included jokes about running cyclists off the road, has sparked another crusade, this time by local Asian-Americans, to persuade advertisers to drop WDCG's "The Bob & Madison Showgram." The local UPN affiliate has pulled its sponsorship of the show.

A number of Asian-Americans in the Triangle heard about the Feb. 10 broadcast through a widely circulated e-mail calling Dumas' comments racist and asking advertisers to stop supporting the show.

Dumas encouraged listeners to send in pictures of Asian women, and predicted that none of them would be attractive.

"If he just wanted to get attention from the listeners, he succeeded, but unfortunately, it's in a negative way," said Rachel Chao, who lives in Cary and works in contract financing. "If he really thinks Asian-Americans are not attractive, then he has not seen enough or he has vision problems."

Raising hackles appears to be in Dumas' job description. In September, local bicyclists accused WDCG (better known as G105) and its owner, Clear Channel Communications, of encouraging violence against bicyclists. Two sponsors canceled their advertising on the show in protest, and station officials apologized and agreed to broadcast announcements about bicycle safety.This time, G105 backed up Dumas."
_________________________________________________________________________________
______________________

Despicable "closet racist" Richard Cohen

Richard Cohen November 2012:

"Today’s GOP is not racist, as Harry Belafonte alleged about the tea party, but it is deeply troubled — about the expansion of government, about immigration, about secularism, about the mainstreaming of what used to be the avant-garde. People with conventional views must repress a gag reflex when considering the mayor-elect of New York — a white man married to a black woman and with two biracial children. (Should I mention that Bill De Blasio’s wife, Chirlane McCray, used to be a lesbian?) This family represents the cultural changes that have enveloped parts — but not all — of America. To cultural conservatives, this doesn’t look like their country at all."-

Richard Cohen, Washington Post Columnist

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Here's more about his abysmal record on race and gender from Think Progress:

Tuesday’s Richard Cohen column, where the long-time Washington Post writer asserts that “conventional” Americans “gag” at interracial couples, has managed to unite the entire political world against him.

But the offending bit shouldn’t have been much of a surprise. Cohen’s piece, which managed to take bizarre swipes at both African-Americans and lesbians, represents something of an apotheosis for Cohen’s career, the past few years has been spent in something of an arms race with itself, stockpiling an ever-increasing stack of offensive comments about blacks, women, and LGBT Americans.

Cohen’s race problem dates back to 1986, when he defended store owners banning black boys from their places of business. For fear of crime, you see. The black community launched a massive wave of protests, the Post’s executive editor apologized, and even Cohen later admitted his critics were “mostly right.”

Fast forward to 2013, when Cohen used the same argument to defend George Zimmerman. Zimmerman was “understandably” suspicious of Trayvon Martin, because he was black, young and “wearing a uniform we all recognize.” Cohen concluded these musings with an argument for racial profiling based on a laughably basic statistical fallacy.

But lest you think Richard Cohen is blind to racism, never fear. He’s all over racism against white people — or, as it’s more commonly known, affirmative action. Because “for most Americans, race has become supremely irrelevant” (tell that to defender of profiling Richard Cohen), “it was not racists who were punished [by affirmative action] but all whites.”

In Cohenland, it’s not only whites who are victims of political correctness run amok, but also accused rapists. In his column defending Roman Polanski, he refers the 13 year old girl who the filmmaker raped after deliberately getting drunk as a “victim” (his quotes). Cohen concluded that there was “something stale about the case” and that he “dearly wishes the whole thing would go away.”

The Steubenville rape case was a “so-called” rape and more a matter of “decency” than criminality. It was also Miley Cyrus’ fault.

Cohen’s writing on gender in general is similarly horrifying. He bemoaned the rise of the use of smart phones for news consumption because print newspapers allowed “the first lady [to] adhere to gender orthodoxy and read the softer sections” while “just as in the old movies, papa could explain things, like what’s the purpose of NATO anymore.” He squealed over Daniel Craig’s “rippling muscle,” complaining that the expectation that the modern male beauty ideal exemplified by Our Bond made experience unsexy, especially to 23 year old girls. Totally coincidentally, Cohen had been accused of telling a 23 year old Post staffer to “stand up and turn around.”

Cohen grumbled that “every 20 years or so, some woman surfaces to accuse [Clarence Thomas] of being a male chauvinist pig — to resurrect an old term from the tie-dyed era — but falls frustratingly short of making a case for true sexual harassment.” Like, say, “stand up and turn around?” Cohen finds “the level of sexism applied” to Monica Lewinsky appalling, but wonders “where is the man for her?” He has worried about too many female acquaintances trying to kiss him. Richard Cohen does not like that.

Sexual orientation is a less-common subject of Cohen’s, but his writing on it isn’t much better. In 2005, his column blamed the spread of AIDS on “not only reckless but just plain disgusting” behavior by gay men. “It is the determination of some gays,” Richard Cohen determined, “to disregard all the rules for safe sex because being gay, they think, means you don’t have to follow any rules at all.”

Anticipating the charge of victim-blaming, Cohen wrote that “sometimes the victim needed to be blamed. This is the case now with gays when their behavior is both stupid and reckless.” No other causes of the spread of the plague beyond the perfidy of gays go mentioned in the piece.

It’s that deep simple-mindedness, that total incuriosity about a changing world that makes Cohen uniquely odious. There are talented, insightful critics of left-liberal positions on gender and race — Ross Douthat and John McWhorter immediately come to mind. But Cohen isn’t a culturally conservative intellectual; he’s just someone who passes off lazy stereotypes as profound insights.

There’s no better example of this than his 2009 column on Obamacare, which isn’t about health care reform so much as how much health care reform bores Richard Cohen. “For me, health-care reform is Missiles Redux — specifically the Reagan-era disputes over SS-20s and such.” Cohen complains about being “expected to know something about such matters, being a Washington columnist and all, but I could never keep the damn terms and numbers straight.” So he just throws up his hands: “The Soviet Union collapsed anyway.”

Richard Cohen doesn’t care to learn any more about missiles or health care than he knows about race, gender, or sexual orientation. But while he chooses not to write about the former, the latter appear to fascinate him. So his column becomes an evidence-free font of prejudice, the Platonic ideal of a useless old media dinosaur.

Another racist post from R. Cohen:

Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen is getting, and this is not racist, horse-whipped over a new column in which he seems to suggest that gagging at the thought of interracial marriage is not racist, but merely “conventional.”

But all the haters really ought to ease up on Cohen, who, as of last week, realized that American slavery wasn’t “a benign institution in which mostly benevolent whites owned innocent and grateful blacks.”

That’s gotta count for something, right?

This epiphany came to Cohen as he watched the new film 12 Years a Slave, which forced Cohen to “unlearn” the following:

• slavery was not a benign institution in which mostly benevolent whites owned innocent and grateful blacks.
• slavery was wrong, yes, that it was evil, no doubt, but really, that many blacks were sort of content.
• Slave owners were mostly nice people — fellow Americans, after all

Cohen says he learned all of this in school, but you’d be hard-pressed to produce a list like that from someone who was home-schooled by the banjo kid from Deliverance. If it’s even possible, the lessons he took from 12 Years a Slave are even weirder:

• “slavery was not only incomprehensibly cruel — it had to have had consequences.” – Sure, but like a butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazon, who could ever begin to guess at what those consequences could be without a movie to untangle them?
• “Families are broken up — not just like that, with a casual statement of fact, but with a rending of garments and an awful pain and a tearing of the soul.” – So it wasn’t all like “Hey, I’ll never see my kids again. BT dubs, I think they’re putting sage in this gruel, are you going to finish that?”
• “12 Years a Slave has finally rendered Gone with the Wind irrevocably silly and utterly tasteless, a cinematic bodice-ripper.” – Yes, who could have known the realities of slavery before last week, let alone in 1939?
• “(Solomon Northrup) goes from being a human being to a blotted entry on a ledger. We can all connect to that. At the same time, we connect less with the slaves he left behind when he was freed. He is restored to the life he once had. They remain with the life they have always had.” – Even with a really great movie as your guide, empathy has its limits.

Stay tuned for Richard Cohen’s next column, about how Birth of a Nation went kinda easy on the Ku Klux Klan.

For all of his racial insularity, though (and it is considerable), at least Cohen is a few steps ahead of Sarah Palin.

The Washington Post’s Richard Cohen Isn’t The Only Columnist Confused By The De Blasio-McCray Marriage

The Washington Post’s Richard Cohen made headlines this morning in a column, ostensibly about New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s presidential chances, that took a strange turn when he began to discuss the racial attitudes of the kinds of voters Christie and Sen. Ted Cruz will have to win over. “People with conventional views must repress a gag reflex when considering the mayor-elect of New York — a white man married to a black woman and with two biracial children. (Should I mention that Bill de Blasio’s wife, Chirlane McCray, used to be a lesbian?),” Cohen wrote. “This family represents the cultural changes that have enveloped parts — but not all — of America. To cultural conservatives, this doesn’t look like their country at all.”

Cohen’s phrasing here makes it somewhat difficult to figure out which disagreeable sentiment he’s expressing. Does he mean to say that De Blasio and McCray’s marriage is confusing to Americans on the grounds that he is white and she is black? In Gallup’s Minority Rights and Relations poll conducted earlier this year, 87 percent of respondents said they approved of marriages between African-Americans and Caucasians, a figure that would suggest that it’s not even close to conventional to have a gag reflex triggered by the sight of an interracial couple like the one that will be inaugurated as New York City’s First Family. Did Cohen mean to say that the conventional thing to do these days, the polite thing, is to suppress any lingering concerns or uncomfortable reactions one might have about couples who don’t resemble one’s own family? That’s a more charitable reading of Cohen, and one that would serve to marginalize the remaining Americans who both are repulsed by interracial couples and more than willing to express those sentiments publicly.

But the fact remains that Cohen seems to have seized on De Blasio and McCray as a locus of anxiety about cultural change, rather than treating them as a positive symbol of a new New York. And while a Change.org petition has, predictably, already sprung up demanding Cohen’s firing, he isn’t alone in treating De Blasio and McCray as exotic not just for reasons of race but of sexuality. The couple, it seems, has become a useful litmus test less for imaginary conservative voters in the forthcoming Republican primaries, than for prominent columnists at significant American publicans.

In an August column on De Blasio and McCray, Maureen Dowd lingered at even greater length on the fact that McCray used to identify as a lesbian, and that she’d treated questions about her sexual orientation from Essence as if they were fussy and old-fashioned. Then, Dowd went on to compare McCray and Christine Quinn’s wife to Anthony Weiner’s sexual escapades, suggesting that they were all part of an atmosphere of sexual strangeness that had engulfed the race.

“Besides the woman who wants to be the first first lady who used to be a lesbian, there is also Kim Catullo, the wife of Quinn, who would be the first first lady who is a married lesbian,” Dowd wrote. “Then there is the perverse Carlos Danger who wants to be the first mayor who plastered pictures of his privates online. The summer has been so drenched with the unthinkable and the unorthodox that the de Blasios, married for 19 years, seem quite conventional by comparison.”

The idea that sexual orientation is fluid, that a woman who believed herself to be exclusively attracted to women might fall in love with, marry, and have children with a man, does seem to be genuinely confusing to Dowd and to Cohen. To a certain extent, that might be the result of one of the great successes of the LGBT rights movement, making the argument that sexual orientation is innate and immutable. That idea is critical to everything from the push for legal protections for LGBT people, to pushback against so-called conversion therapy that claims to be able to change people’s sexual orientations and gender identities. But it’s not necessarily an idea that encompasses the entirety of every person’s lived experiences, whether they’ve lived a heterosexual life before falling in love with someone of the same gender, or they’re a self-identified lesbian who decides she wants to be with the man who would become Mayor of New York. The Kinsey Scale, which expresses sexual orientation as a continuum, does a better job of capturing that range of relationships and identities, but it’s a more sophisticated–and as a result, difficult–foundation on which to build legal and social change.

It doesn’t help that there’s lingering confusion about bisexuality, the possibility that a person might be attracted to people of more than one gender. The idea that bisexuality is non-existent or a transitional phase on the way to a more stable identity as a gay or straight person, is still deeply embedded in American culture. Glee, to name just one example, a show that’s been much more broadly inclusive of gay couples and transgender characters, has treated bisexuality with considerable skepticism.

It’s disappointing to see publications like the Washington Post and New York Times give column space to the idea that De Blasio and McCray’s marriage is some sort of revealing abnormality, even if they’re doing it in a rather back-door way by treating New York’s embrace of the couple of evidence of changing attitudes, or suggesting that it would be rude to treat them poorly. Bill De Blasio and Chirlane McCray, and the two children they’ve raised together, may not be a familiar sight for all Americans. Not even, as it turns out, people who are card-carrying members of the theoretically sophisticated coastal elite. But that doesn’t make their marriage and family unconventional. Instead, the reactions to them in some of the most rarified perches of the commentariat are a reminder of the unfortunate power of outdated ideas, and how little value we ought to place on certain so-called conventions.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Bob and Richard had made racist, sexist comments during the past 10-30 years in the media. They've been given a pass from the mainstream media during the same amount of time.  All they did were apologize, pay a fine, then repeat.  That's the beauty of white privilege. They're currently on the payrolls of both WaPo and Clear Channel and are staying put.  The same could be applied Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Bill Maher, Don Imus, Matthew Drudge, Ann Coulter, etc.  They continue to spew hateful views concerning people of Color, working class/poor people, immigrants/foreigners, women in general, feminists in particular, interracial/inter ethnic relationships, etc.

For bonus reading concerning those two bigots:

http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/11/22/2499420/g-105-apologizes-for-parade-float.html

http://americablog.com/2013/11/conventional-racism-richard-cohen.html

http://mediaconfidential.blogspot.com/2013/10/raleigh-radio-paris-rants-about-bob.html

http://www.popehat.com/2008/04/07/radio-host-calls-native-americans-lazy-jokes-about-reservations/

http://woodlandindians.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=3861

http://www.newraleigh.com/articles/archive/racist-dj-outrages-nc-native-americans/

http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/11/22/2499420/g-105-apologizes-for-parade-float.html

http://www.southernstudies.org/2008/04/nc-clear-channel-station-tries-to-make-nice-with-indians-but-takes-aim-at-mexicans.html

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/11/richard-cohen-just-the-worst

https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/blog/richard-cohen-acting-out-again

http://mediamatters.org/tags/richard-cohen

White Men Beat Black Teen To Death!

Undated photo of teen who was beaten and raped by two men. 

In Franklin, Ohio, two men are being held in Warren County lockup after they were accused of beating up a young dope boy. They managed to sodomize and rape him before they've dropped his dying body off at a local hospital.

Asshat Colin Flahtery and that bonehead conservative agitator Sean Hannity (known as That Guy Who Helped Obama Win) aren't covering this story because it doesn't fit their narrative of Black on White crime.

Oh, I forgot, they always need something to attack President Barack Obama.

White on Black crime. The suspects accused were either drug addicts or actual racists.

Yeah, I understand that the Black teen was a dope boy but it should merit for his death. The two men done something reckless and inhumane. These men may end up getting the gas chamber if they're found guilty of this teen's murder.

Of course, since this made it to the evening news, I am wondering if I could tip off Black America Web or The Huffington Post. I mean would it go viral?

Will it discredit the conservative talking point about the "knockout game"?

The Dayton Daily News and The Middletown Journal report that the teen is identified and the charges are serious for two men from the Franklin area.

While it's unknown if the teen knew his attackers, some point to the teen's history of being a dope boy.

The family of the victim knew from the jump that the tattoos on the wrist "SELF" and "MADE" were his.

The victim has been identified as Dione Payne, 16, of Dayton. Police said he was in Franklin to sell illegal narcotics when he was robbed and beaten.

Michael Geldrich and Michael Watson are being held in the Warren Lock Up on charges of felonious assault. They will bump the charges to CLASS 0 Murder.

Payne was left at the hospital early Sunday morning by two men in a black pickup truck with faded paint on the top and no tailgate, according to police. Payne was then transferred to Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton where he later died from his injuries, said Franklin Police Chief Russ Whitman.

The unresponsive teen was pushed in a wheelchair by a man described as a white male wearing a black hoodie, according to a Middletown police report obtained by the Journal-News.

The man then fled. Hospital personnel said the teen was in critical condition and had heavy damage to his head and was bleeding from his ears, according to the report.

After Payne was transported to Miami Valley Hospital, personnel there contacted Middletown police, stating that the teen appeared to have been sexually assaulted, according to the report.

A nurse told police she talked with a passenger in the truck who said they had found the teen and they didn’t know him.

Investigators worked through the weekend to identify the victim and the suspects. It wasn’t until the Journal-News posted a story with the vehicle description that police got a break.

A woman who had looked at the truck for sale at a Middletown car lot recognized the description and called police, according to Lt. Scott Reeve.

“We called D&D Auto Sales and found out who they sold it to,” Reeve said, noting that led to the search warrant and arrest of the suspects in Franklin.

The Middletown Division of Police initiated an investigation to determine where the assault against the juvenile occurred. Middletown police’s investigation brought them to Franklin where they combined their efforts with that city’s police department.

Sunday night, officers served a search warrant at 11 Vernon St. in Franklin, the confirmed site of the teen’s beating. The Warren County Major Crimes Unit was requested to process the vehicle found there and the crime scene, according to Franklin police.

Two men — Michael A. Geldrich, 36, and Michael J. Watson, 39, both of Franklin — were taken into custody and charged with aggravated robbery and aggravated murder, Whitman said.

Both men have a criminal history in Warren County, according to court records. Geldrich had been arrested for domestic violence, theft and driving under suspension, according to Franklin Municipal Court records. Watson has arrests for felonious assault, disorderly conduct, assault, resisting arrest and inducing panic.

We here at Journal de la Reyna send our condolences to the family of Dione Payne.