Commentary
Robinswing, Black Kos Editor
I’ve seen his face before. I’ve looked into the eyes of the soul twisted by its hatred of me and those like me. Without knowing me. Unlike Dorian Gray there is no portrait in the attic making it possible for the haters to hide the convolutions of the mind and soul that make hatred possible. It is etched clearly on the face. I’ve seen his face before.
I saw it as I marched with Dr. King through the streets of Cicero a long time ago. I looked into the eyes of a woman angry and ugly in her hating as she raised her hand to throw a bottle at me. I know she read my lips as I mouthed “throw it and I will kick your ass”. She restrained herself. It is always the same with them.
While we marched unarmed and defenseless they picked up objects to hurl and hurt. They are first of all cowards. Why else carry a rifle to shoot unarmed people? Why carry a gun to shoot an unarmed and unsuspecting man while he volunteered at his church?
Hatred is a sickness of the soul. It infects those so diseased with no access to decency. It wipes out both the humanity of the hated and the hater. It renders them useless to self and society.
When I was a young girl I used to wonder why someone could hate me just because of the color of my skin. It has taken most of my life to realize that they do not hate me. They do not know me.
They are failures each and every one of them. When they have wealth like rushbo they see themselves clearly enough to know that they are failures as human beings. There is not that much money in the world. The ones without wealth resent their failure to acquire and blame this on others they see as taking their part of the pie.
Of course the election of Barack Obama sets off all the old resentments. He is the realized fear of all the segregationist who fought tooth and nail against integration. Their daughter was not supposed to marry one. Her offspring was not supposed to be president.
When Barack Obama stepped onto the stage rather than admit perhaps they had been lied to and lying for generations about the inferiority of blacks, they mocked and lied and tried to twist to the point of secession.
For a while all this racist energy was hidden under the dog whistle. Since the election and unable to restrain themselves, the whistle was put away and the shout out became necessary. After all, the whistle had not been loud enough to prevent his presidency.
Rushbo didn’t ever bother with the whistle. Barack the magic negro half -frican was pretty clear.
Silence should have followed the inauguration. It did not. The noise grew until it became a cacophony of hatred and ignorance.
The haters and the ignorant heard it. And responded. They will likely continue to do so while the media does the lone wolf he acted alone bullshit drone.
No hater ever acts alone. They are always backed up in their cowardice by other cowards whose words act as inspiration and motivation. They are always backed up by other cowards who have no intention of doing anything other than fueling a fire that also burns within them.
They gather in secret and support each other in fear and loathing. It is self- loathing but they will never admit it. I figured out a while back that they loathe their lives. They loathe being white and not in charge. They loathe their cowardice and the lives of not so quiet desperation of being a zero in the number of humanity.
I am not afraid of these people. That hating woman on that hot day in August long ago did teach me one thing. I am not non violent. If they hadn’t restrained me by surrounding me I would have kicked her ass. Made it personal so that she could not hate me in the abstract. Glad I was restrained. And still feel like kicking some ass from time to time. Just too old to do it. And not quite mean enough to strike another person. I keep a list in case something changes.
I am not afraid of the Von Brunn’s of this world. Never will be. I will not live life afraid. That would turn me into them. I will not let them turn me into a hater. When this happens they win. They will never win.
Now run and tell that.
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Bank Accused of Pushing Subprime Deals on Blacks.
As she describes it, Beth Jacobson and her fellow loan officers at Wells Fargo Bank “rode the stagecoach from hell” for a decade, systematically singling out blacks in Baltimore and suburban Maryland for high-interest subprime mortgages.
These loans, Baltimore officials have claimed in a federal lawsuit against Wells Fargo, tipped hundreds of homeowners into foreclosure and cost the city tens of millions of dollars in taxes and city services.
Wells Fargo, Ms. Jacobson said in an interview, saw the black community as fertile ground for subprime mortgages, as working-class blacks were hungry to be a part of the nation’s home-owning mania. Loan officers, she said, pushed customers who could have qualified for prime loans into subprime mortgages. Another loan officer stated in an affidavit filed last week that employees had referred to blacks as “mud people” and to subprime lending as “ghetto loans.”
“We just went right after them,” said Ms. Jacobson, who is white and said she was once the bank’s top-producing subprime loan officer nationally. “Wells Fargo mortgage had an emerging-markets unit that specifically targeted black churches, because it figured church leaders had a lot of influence and could convince congregants to take out subprime loans.”
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Black expo couldn't come at better time.
When Kenneth L. Harris sends you a memo, he signs it "Entrepreneurially, Kenneth." He is not playing.
Harris is director of business development and strategic initiatives for the Michigan Minority Business Development Council Inc. But he feels his job is teaching a generation of workers, particularly black workers who have depended on the auto industry, to learn to fend for themselves.
"We've depended on the automotive industry for the last 100 years," Harris said. "What we have failed to do is diversify our industry base and employment skills."
Harris cited the rampant entrepreneurship connected to alternative energy and burgeoning film and entertainment industries as opportunities for African Americans -- if they change their view of success. He isn't just talking about opening a little business. Harris said that Detroit's entire recovery "is going to come on the backs of entrepreneurs and small-business owners."
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For Sotomayor and Thomas, Paths Diverge at Race.
If Judge Sonia Sotomayor joins Justice Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court, they may find that they have far more than a job title in common.
Both come from the humblest of beginnings. Both were members of the first sizable generation of minority students at elite colleges and then Yale Law School. Both benefited from affirmative action policies.
But that is where their similarities end, and their disagreements begin. For the first time, the Supreme Court would include two minority judges, but ones who stand at opposite poles of thinking about race, identity and opportunity. Judge Sotomayor and Justice Thomas have walked parallel paths and yet arrived at contrary conclusions, not only on legal questions, but on personal ones, too.
Judge Sotomayor celebrates being Latina, calling it a reason for her success; Justice Thomas bristles at attempts to define him by race and says he has succeeded despite the obstacles it posed. Being a woman of Puerto Rican descent is rich and fulfilling, Judge Sotomayor says, while Justice Thomas calls being a black man in America a largely searing experience. Off the bench, Judge Sotomayor has helped build affirmative action programs. On the bench, Justice Thomas has argued against them with thunderous force.
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Greenwood, a majority-black city, votes its first black mayor out of office. Voters acknowledge that color was at the heart of the race.
Despite strides made, race still shapes town's mayoral election
The year America inaugurated its first black president will also be known as the year this small Delta cotton hub voted its first black mayor out of office.
Mayor Sheriel F. Perkins was up for reelection Tuesday, running on a promise to "move Greenwood forward, together." But half a century after the ugliness that reigned here during the civil rights era -- black voter registration efforts met with beatings and police dogs -- this city of 18,000 has settled into a civil but enduring separateness.
The muddy Yazoo River cuts through the heart of town, serving as the unofficial boundary between black and white Greenwood. The black majority is to the south, in middle-class bungalows and decrepit shotguns. The white minority lives mostly in the north in handsome suburban-style homes.
When Perkins, 53, a longtime City Council member, ran against a white incumbent in 2006, only 67 north-side residents voted for her -- out of 3,135 votes cast there.
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Davis officially launches bid for governor.
U.S. Rep. Artur Davis formally kicked off his campaign to become Alabama's first African-American governor in Linn Park here Saturday, with Birmingham's "American Idol" winner Ruben Studdard belting out his signature tune "Flying without Wings," while about 500 supporters cheered.
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The Birmingham Democrat began his candidacy in February with a state tour, but the kickoff event came the first week candidates were able to raise money for the 2010 election.
Unlike Studdard, who had to be coaxed by a friend into auditioning for "American Idol," Davis has been aiming for Alabama's highest office for years. His announcement was no surprise to political observers in the state.
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Insurgent congressional candidate Anthony Woods' life story reads like Aaron Sorkin wrote it—he's a gay, black Iraq veteran with a Harvard degree. He talks to The Daily Beast's Benjamin Sarlin about running on his biography.
In every election cycle, there’s one candidate whose life story stands out among the crowd. In 2004, it was Barack Obama; in 2006, it was Vietnam vet Jim Webb. This year, an underdog candidate for U.S. Congress in California is the clear winner and it's not even close. Anthony Woods' biography—he’s a gay, black Iraq vet with a Harvard degree—reads like a West Wing script Aaron Sorkin threw into the wastebasket for being too over the top.
Woods, 28, is currently running in a crowded Democratic field to replace Rep. Ellen Tauscher in California's 10th district, which includes parts of Sacramento and San Francisco's East Bay area. (Tauscher is leaving Congress to serve in Obama’s State Department; there’s no date yet for the special election.) Though he was briefly an aide to Gov. David Paterson in New York, Woods is the political unknown in the field, which includes California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, State Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, and Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan.
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Visual arts review: Amon Carter exhibit showcases the African-American tapestry.
One of the world's most significant collections of African-American art is owned by Dr. Harmon and Harriet Kelley of San Antonio. They have amassed a truly astonishing trove of more than 300 paintings, sculptures and works on paper in just 20 years.
They began their collecting ways after seeing "Hidden Heritage: Afro-American Art, 1800-1950" at the San Antonio Museum of Art in the mid-1980s and hadn't recognized the names in the exhibition. Harriet Kelley says they were mystified, horrified and surprised and decided to fill the gap in their education immediately.
They began studying, and within six weeks began buying. Speaking by phone from her home in San Antonio, she said she had been advised to contact the Art Dealers of America and find someone who dealt in African-American artists. She was given the names of three dealers. Only one returned her call, Thurlow Tibbs in Washington, D.C., who walked them through their first purchase, a 1910 pastel by Henry Ossawa Tanner.
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The Death of Koko Taylor
When it rains, it pours. If King James just got sent home and St. James Brown is rockin above, now we lost our Queen. Koko Taylor left us, passing in her hometown of Chicago. She had just won her 29th Female Artist of the Year Blues Award, winning more than any other blues player, man or woman. She was known as the ”Queen of the Blues”, in the finest tradition. She ruled mightily, understanding her ancestors Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey. Koko helped you forget your troubles by engaging you in the blues stories she sang, casting a spell.
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JackandJillPolitics.com takes a look at the top 10 political Black Albums, and top 5 political Black artist of all time. Top Artists And Albums For Black Music Month.
Music has played a major role in the struggle for African American dignity, equality and self respect. For Black Music Month it is fitting that we honor the African Americans who have provided the soundtrack to the various struggles African Americans have gone through and continue to go through.
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All-black battalion that landedAll-black battalion that landed in Normandy, France on D-Day to be honored on anniversary of siege.
William Garfield Dabney, a 20-year-old enlistee, landed on the beaches of Normandy 65 years ago Saturday. Tethered to his waist was a bomb-armed helium balloon, meant to bring down a German dive bomber.
George Davidson, then 22, ferried messages between American commanders under the cover of night, dodging enemy fire with nothing but his wits to guide him.
Both men, members of the same all-black unit, survived the bloody D-Day landings that launched the Allied liberation of France. But because they were black, they disappeared into oblivion - a historic wrong that at last is being rectified.
Dabney on Friday will be among 50 U.S. veterans awarded the Legion of Honor, France's highest decoration, in Paris. The vets will return to Normandy (JUNE 6th) for the official D-Day ceremony with President Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
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Journalist Larry Tye details the life and times of negro league pitcher Satchel Paige in the new biography Satchel. 'Satchel': Confronting Racism One Fastball At A Time
Paige was a dazzling pitcher with a scorching fastball. A decade before Jackie Robinson became the first black player in major league baseball, Paige helped integrate the sport by touring the country and playing exhibition games with white players.
He delighted crowds by throwing a fastball repeatedly over a matchbook or a postage stamp set on home page. But despite his talents, Paige was repeatedly passed over because of his race.
In 1971, Paige was inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame, the first player to make the hall based on his career in the Negro Leagues.
Fresh Air guest host Dave Davies conducts this interview.
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The Lost History of Black Jockeys.
While watching the NBA Finals in anticipation of the final leg of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes, it came to mind that horse racing was once as popular as the NBA is now. While you may not have seen black jockeys in the Triple Crown thus far, horse racing was once dominated by African Americans as thoroughly as the NBA is today.
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Caribbean American Culture Is Honored (or another example of dopper0189 being a homer) Celebrating Heritage, History of the Islands
The Kennedy Center's Millennium stage rollicked with the rhythms of the Caribbean last week in a performance that kicked off Caribbean American Heritage Month.
The pulsating sounds of the Positive Vibrations Youth Steel Orchestra -- with its rendition of Alicia Keyes's "No One," arranged by artistic director Malika Coletta -- brought the house down and the audience to their feet. In a one-hour concert, the orchestra played its interpretations of jazz, gospel and calypso to a capacity crowd.
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For stat geeks Black, White, Southern, nonSouthern, Democratic, Republican by plf515
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"Ghetto Loans" and the latest subprime scandal [POLL] by dmitcha
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Was Slavery a Cause of the Revolutionary War? Yes. (Book Review of SLAVE NATION)) by EarthTone