Acting White: The Wrong of Rev. Wright

Rev. Jeremiah Wright has the right to defend his name if he feels he has been unfairly maligned, regardless of how it might help or hurt Barack Obama, but the church should provide no sanctuary for shameless self-promotion. For their part, the Clintons do not care who or what they have to take in or out of context in order to gain the political advantage. Obama has crashed Hillary’s ‘my-turn-to-be-president-party’, so it is scorched earth time. Barack just needs to saddle up his flame-retardant underwear and keep movin’.

I watched Rev. Wright defend himself this past weekend and found myself wishing I could stay ignorant about what he really thinks. Without knowing it, he set black people back fifty years with his ‘different not deficient’ diatribe. I have a child with ADD, and I hear this different thinking/learning crap all the time. But what I know is this bright kid thinks no differently than his white classmates, he is just easily distracted. Thankfully, his medicine controls the distraction problem. End of story.

Black kids are not right brain, to whites kid’s left brain – what hogwash. Did he really say white brains are logical and analytical, and blacks brains are creative? Come on Reverend! All kid’s brains, no matter what race, work exactly the same way, even as some face learning difficulties. The difficulties, like ADD or dyslexia, do not change the workings of the brain, but rather toss in roadblocks that need to be addressed. Black kids as a group suffer from cultural distraction that devalues education and the hard work it requires. This is what is different!!! Please!

People need to see the Clinton political machine for what it is. Rev. Wright is not so much the divisive ex-pastor of Obama, as they have portrayed, but rather an opportunist. In fact, the Clintons invited Wright to the White House for some high-powered prayer support, just after the Lewinsky rough patch. In the end, to say that the brains of whites and blacks work differently, or that the US government created HIV to kill blacks, shows Wright as an ignorant sheep herder, not the thoughtful shepherd.

Lord help us.

James C. Collier

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Acting White: Sean Bell Verdict

When I first heard the police in Bell’s case were pronounced innocent I thought, damn! Another Diallo! A black man in NYC needs to wear one of those bright orange 'don't shoot me' hunting jackets just to go get a cup of freaking coffee! Now I’m no lawyer, but those book types in Boston taught me a thing or two about the law, for all the money they took off me.

I told myself, calm down, and see what the hell happened. Is Sean Bell another Amadou Diallo? Now you probably know the details: one Jamaica Queens bar; three drunk suspects; one patron altercation; three undercover cops; one ‘yo, get my gun’; 50 conflicting witnesses; assorted car crashing; 50 police bullets; no actual suspect gun; one dead groom – and one resulting shit storm.

Two things caught my attention. First, the police defendants chose a judge rather than a jury to decide their fate. Judges, on balance, render more unbiased decisions than do juries, partly because appeals judges are more quick to overturn those same judges, if their administration or read of the law is off-base. So if you are innocent, going for the judge is smart. If you are guilty, better to take your chances with the pliable, but sacrosanct, jury system.

The second thing, all those bullets against unarmed men would seem to point to guilt, but does it really? The decision to shoot the first bullet is what matters, and this seems to have occurred after the intoxicated Mr. Bell used his car in a lethal manner against the unmarked police van. All remaining bullets are just poor marksmanship.

So from where I sit, five thousand miles away, I feel badly for Mr. Bell and his family, but unlike the truly innocent Mr. Diallo, Bell and his cohorts seem to have been the main precipitators of his demise. The prosecutor should appeal these verdicts, to prove them out, and then we should learn what we already know about even the mere talk of getting guns - it leads to people getting shot.

Lastly, the Diallo case was involuntary manslaughter at the least, come on America!

James C. Collier

4/29/2007 P.S. My earlier post failed to present that while incompetence, as demopnstrated by the NYC police, may not rise to the point of being criminal, it is serious nonetheless and rightfully punishable. These officers face federal, civil, and departmental judgement and are not (nor should they be) off the hook for their actions.

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Acting White: "I Did Not Have Sex With That Race Card!"

(on the day of the PA Democratic primary)

Mr. Memoli: “Sir, what did you mean yesterday when you said that the Obama campaign was playing the race card on you?”
Mr. Clinton: “When did I say that, and to whom did I say that?”
Mr. Memoli: “On WHYY radio yesterday.”
Mr. Clinton: “No, no, no. That’s not what I said. You always follow me around and play these little games, and I’m not going to play your games today. This is a day about election day. Go back and see what the question was, and what my answer was. You have mischaracterized it to get another cheap story to divert the American people from the real urgent issues before us, and I choose not to play your game today. Have a nice day.”
Mr. Memoli: “Respectfully sir, though, you did say …”
Mr. Clinton: “Have a nice day. I said what I said, you can go and look at the interview. And if you’ll be real honest, you’ll also report what the question was and what the answer was.”



Ms. Phillips: Do you think that was a mistake and would you do that again?”
Mr. Clinton: “No, I think that they played the race card on me. We now know, from memos from the campaign and everything that they planned to do it along.”

James C. Collier

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Acting White: Rope-A-Dope

I watched the Hillary vs. Barack debate, in Philly, last night and two things came to mind as they squared off. The first was how we voters get sucked into thinking that the goal is to figure out the candidates and what they will likely do in office. WRONG! The second was how the debate reprised the Ali/Foreman ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ prizefight, whereby Hillary, with the help of the moderators, pounded Barack as he leaned back on the ropes. Only the election will tell if Barack’s ‘rope-a-dope’ tactic resulted in Hillary punching herself into submission, or if Barack is now permanently injured and should retire.

Each candidate is constantly tweaking their words to grab a few more share points of whatever voting block their pollsters are lusting for. The trick is to turn the right phrase or word, while avoiding the wrong phrase or word, - bitter is OK but cling is not - and never, ever, say anything where its specific meaning or context is clear. If you are lucky, your opponent will find no serial killers or registered sex offenders amongst your classmates from the first grade, else you be ‘hoisted without hesitation’.

I cannot argue with Barack’s rope-a-dope approach. Any winning swipe he takes at the Dragon Lady is surely going to end up in the headlines as, “Angry Black man slaps the hell out of poor little pugnacious White women – ending his bid for high office”. The best he can hope for is that the audience is so secretly embarrassed by this contrived ‘contest’ that they vow to regain their dignity at any cost. He cannot beat her, he has to let her lose on her own.

And one last parting shot, regardless of whether one wears a 24/7 flag pin or holds hands with the Mrs. in public, it don’t mean a thing. It’s all about what people think you are doing when no one is watching – and 'Billary' knows this like Oscar Mayer knows hotdogs.

James C. Collier

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Chinks? You Gotta be Kidding Philly!

I saw this story in the WaPo today, I followed a link to a young Asian person's telephone inquiry. Judge for yourself.


Chink's Steaks

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I just called Chink's Steaks, in Philadelphia.
Here is the conversation that I had with Cathy,
a Chink's Steaks employee.

me: Hello, I was wondering where your
restaurant got the name Chink's Steaks?
Cathy: The owner had chink eyes.
me: What?!
Cathy: Yeah, I think that's right- he had
slanty eyes.
Cathy (to another employee): Is that right?
Didn't he have slanty Chinese eyes?
me: Is the owner Chinese?
Cathy: No he's Jewish.
me: Are you aware of the connotation of the
word chink?
Cathy: No.
me: Are you aware that chink is the equivalant
to the racial slur nigger?
Cathy: No
me: Do you think the owner is aware?
Cathy: No
me: Is he the owner now?
Cathy: No, he's dead.
me: Who is the owner now?
Cathy: Joe
me: Okay, umm, thanks. Bye.

Chink's Steaks is located on 6030 Torresdale
Avenue in Philadelphia. You can call them at
215-535-9405. I am truly disgusted.

_______________________________________

James C. Collier

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Do blacks and Asians have to behave like white people to succeed?

This was the BBC question of the day, on World Have Your Say, a daily program that invited me, hastily, to toss in my two-cents worth. The show focuses on Africa, but this blog caught their attention so they asked me to kick off the show by defining ‘acting white’.

After getting them going, I could tell that this would be more of an opportunity to learn about Africa then for them to learn anything from me. The nuance of the accusation is much more basic to Africans and resident Asians pertaining to dress, speech, and daily behaviors. I mentioned education, and its association, to practically no reaction from the listening audience.

Upon reflection, the main difference in Africa and the US seems not to be that they can errantly accuse each other of this alleged betrayal, but rather that it does not extend to the realm of the pursuit of education. Education is so difficult to come by in Africa, one might suppose, that it has yet to achieve a status where this manner of rejection could appear thinkable, in any form. It appears to be sacrosanct, and not viewed the same as music, or videos, clothes, or cuisine.

The other thing I learned is that Africans suffer, like Americans, from two levels of ignorance when it comes to racism. The first level is straight-forward common sense and shows in responses like ‘all white people are evil’, or ‘all blacks are inferior’. These views pop-up and easily dismissed. The deeper level is an ignorance of science and pre-colonial human history that is challenged only by higher education, again, something in very short supply.

America’s Blacks, with their access to higher-ed., could be helpful in leading the Africans out of their deficit of understanding, by example. But to lead you must know where you want to go, with a willingness to invest to get there.

James C. Collier

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Acting White: Angry Politician, Side Bar #5

Letter to Andres Martinez's "Stumped" Column in the Washington Post...

"Dear Stumped,

Bill and Hillary seem to think that it is unconscionable not to count the votes in Florida and Michigan, while at the same time advocating the right of pledged delegates to vote for someone other than the candidate they have agreed to support on behalf of the voters. Is there a disconnect in their thinking? If pledged delegates are not going to support the candidate they have pledged to support, then it seems to me that they have disenfranchised the voters they have pledged to represent.

Am I confused here?

TR in Cleveland

Dear TR,

Yes, you are confused. But if it makes you feel better, we all are.

And yes, you have touched upon some deliciously Kafkaesque (or is it Clintonesque?) logic. As you point out, Hillary Clinton is arguing that the pledged delegates chosen in two illegitimate contests be seated at the convention, lest the voters of Michigan and Florida be disenfranchised. Meanwhile, her campaign is suggesting that the pledged delegates chosen in all other 48 states need not stick to the candidate voters assumed they were choosing.

I think we'd all be less confused if Clinton just came out and said it: Pledged delegates are really, really pledged in all states she won (including the illegitimate contests) but delegates from states she lost are free agents. That's essentially the argument."

James C. Collier

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