Marian's Blog

"Why does Barack Obama hate my family?", Counterpunch

"... I'm not claiming to know the story behind the picture of Obama and his father at the airport, but I suspect that joint custody between Hawaii, Indonesia, Massachusetts, Kansas, New York, Illinois and Africa would have been tough. ..." My quote of the week from Kevin Alexander Gray's essay, "Why does Barack Obama hate my family?" And thanks to Counterpunch for publishing it.

McKinney and Clemente Chosen by U.S. Green Party

The Green Party of the United States has voted former Georgia Member of Congress Cynthia McKinney as its 2008 and first woman and woman of colour presidential nominee. McKinney carried her historic political quest to the next level, asking New York City South Bronx native, Nuyorican (self-identified Black Puerto Rican) Rosa Clemente - a sister Afrodescendant of the Americas - to be her vice presidential running mate. More info on these two sites: runcynthiarun.org and gp.org.

Election 2008: the meanings of "history"

Over the past several months I've talked with about sixty journalists about the issues of ethnicity (which is neither colour or "race"), representation and the lack of it, and history - particularly the history of the USA and every other society in the Americas, Europe - including Britain - and Africa, which is a continent, not a country. In talking with journalists, historians and others there are fundamental and serious concerns about this election cycle which, despite the hype and in very basic and uncomfortable ways, is like every previous U.S. presidential election. What I find most astounding is that with so much "free" press running around - domestic and international - almost no one is willing to go on-record to ask, acknowledge or discuss, in clear language whether English, Kreyol, Spanish, Arabic or Choctaw, what it means that in 2008 the U.S. continued its erstwhile tradition of never nominating or electing an American Indian or a Black American - a descendant of those enslaved in the USA. Posed against election hoopla versus an almost overwhelming need for decency and accountability right around the world, what does, or what should, this fact mean?

Black Politics with Chris Owens, Saturdays, 11 a.m. eastern

Be sure to check today's radio show, Black Politics with Chris Owens. Starts 11AM U.S. Eastern time Saturdays. Executive Producers are Logan Nakyanzi Pollard and Stephen Davis. Chris composed the show's music. The show's produced in New York City. Listen at Air America via computer if you can't hear it by radio.

Voters pick Clinton in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island; McCain

Hillary Clinton has won Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island Democratic primaries. And if folks want to talk about total numbers of delegates picked by the voters, why doesn't the will of Democratic voters in Florida and Michigan count? Granted Barack Obama's name wasn't on the ballot in Florida - make that Michigan. Will the Democratic Party let stand the earlier decision to exclude all the delegates Senator Clinton would have won in those two states? What's up with that? Meanwhile John McCain is now officially the GOP's presidential candidate.

Chocolate City, a film on Washington, DC and gentrification

In recognition of our colonised status, people around the world can help by taking a symbolic break from even uttering the words "Washington" and "Washington, DC." Leave our name out of conversation and put a blank space in print. Besides the general public, those encouraged to promote, observe and abide by the boycott should include bloggers, teachers and professors, clergymembers, tourists and tour guides, travel agents, economists, journalists, scientists, activists and politicians. To do so will send a powerful message in contrast to the real lack of power of our city's mostly Black and mostly Black women residents. Washington, the city, always has been about far more than national and international politics and tourism.

(In Washington, an image of DC native son the late Marvin Gaye shows up only in a vodka advert. U.S. Capitol with "don't walk" sign. Photos property Marian's Blog)

In fact, DC's reality remains hidden: a majority-Black American city with a buried yet deeply rooted history (and identity) as the former capital of the U.S. interstate slave trade. People live here, and for many years the majority of Washington's citizens have been Black Americans; or at least we have been the vast majority until the very recent past. Washington as a majority Black city has always been subjugated and segregated. We have been and are under attack. In spite of the presence of international organizations and the embassies of nations around the world, little news of the real DC and our status seems to get out, even and especially among journalists. Along comes a film to break the silence: CHOCOLATE CITY, a documentary by filmmakers Ellie Walton and Sam Wild. Just as they would have bought Black Americans' ancestors as slaves, property developers have bought my town and the local population is being forced out using means that are mostly foul. CC focuses on the displacement and dispersal of the community of 400 families who lived in public housing called Arthur Capper Homes. The film has two de facto "stars", Arthur Capper resident Debra Frazier and Anu Yadav, a performance artist of South Asian origin. The two form unlikely yet complementary poles in the moving narrative. A quickly built official website for Chocolate City is down now seems to be back up after having received so many hits it temporarily exceeded its bandwidth. I'm also pointing readers to Jennifer Tchinnosian's 6 Feb 2008 review in George Washington University's student paper, the Daily Colonial, a name which is wholly a propos.

Election 2008: help a grad student, take a survey

Marian's Blog received a survey request from a PhD student at Stony Brook University in New York State. Chris Weber is conducting a survey on "people's reactions to the presidential candidates in the upcoming election." Logically this would be aimed at U.S. voters. I agreed to pass this along, and completed the survey myself. We won't be taking comments on this post.

"The purpose of this survey is to examine how people think and feel about the political issues, parties, and candidates in the upcoming election. In the survey, you will be asked a series of questions about two political candidates, John McCain and Hillary Clinton. We are very interested in how individuals [who] find information on the web think about politics, and your participation would be greatly appreciated. In total, the survey should take about 15 minutes to complete. The survey is completely anonymous and you can skip any questions you do not wish to answer. Click here to take the survey http://www.ic.sunysb.edu/stu/crweber/TAKESURVEY/election_2008.htm. Contact Chris ( crweber AT notes.cc.sunysb.edu) at Stony Brook University with any questions or concerns. Thanks for your help!"  ***

Republicans' Larry Craig vs. Oliver Thomas, New Orleans' ex-councilman

How many Republicans have heard of the "down-low"? They may be getting an unparallelled lesson from a U.S. senator, another member of the conservative flock. The "down-low" is a Black American cultural reference to the not-so-rare behavior or lifestyle in which a man is intimately involved with men while 'fronting' with women to appear 'macho'. Only hours after finally getting shod of an albatross attorney general, GOPers now are confronted with their old friend, senior U.S. Senator Larry Craig of Idaho. As in "Idaho potatoes". Yet another self-aggrandising poster boy for "family values" that look and feel a lot more like cardboard. Craig was arrested for "disorderly" (or lewd? (no, not lewd - disorderly)) behavior in a men's public restroom and pled guilty. Now he says he shouldn't have pled guilty... This must be rich food for the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists' Association - NLGJA - holding its annual meeting in San Diego (nlgja.org).

Compare Craig's attitude to the down-to-earth, even gracious, public apology earlier this month (also televised) of local Louisiana politico, Oliver Thomas, who is Black. Read his statement below. Larry Craig, on the other hand, defiantly called a press conference and rather than calmly giving his version of what occurred in the airport men's restroom (snicker), Craig arrogantly and repeatedly tells press and public something most of us really did not need or want to know, and about a complete stranger at that. "I am not gay." It's reported that Craig also pulled out a card identifying himself as a member of the U.S. Senate. Was he hoping the officer would simply go away? Not. He was arrested.

So how long will Idahoans, the Republican Party and Craig's colleagues in both houses of Congress put up with this? Days? Weeks? Hours? The remainder of '07 and well into 2008? How long is this going to fester? I'm watching my watch.

Contrast Mr. Craig with Oliver Thomas of New Orleans, La. Mr. Thomas resigned from New Orleans City Council around 13 August "after pleading guilty in federal court to accepting a bribe from a City Hall vendor" (from Times-Picayune blog). Back around 2002, as a city councilmember, Thomas reportedly accepted a piddling $15-thousand dollar bribe over a city parking contract. This wrongdoing is dwarfed, smothered by a unilateral war on Iraq, the Enron scandal and the still-growing list of truly astounding scandal. Yet men like George W. Bush and Larry
Craig could care less about
humbly asking Oliver Thomas for a page from his book. Americans will do well to finally familiarise themselves with Transparency International, a global nonprofit, or "NGO" (nongovernmental organisation) that addresses public corruption.

Here's Oliver Thomas' televised admission of guilt and offer of contrition:

"First, to my family, then to my friends and colleagues and finally to all of my fellow New Orleanians, I stand before you today humbled, disappointed in myself, and seeking your forgiveness for what I'm about to say. ..."

U.S. Midterms: "Appetizer for 2008" - Gergen

What was unimaginable less than 48 hours ago has occurred. Democrats have won both the House and the Senate while Mr. Rumsfeld has been shown the District line. Sayonara, Don. I couldn't have said it better than David Gergen on CNN declaring Tuesday's election results "the appetizer" for Election Day 2008. Gergen also aptly declared what's happening in America as "political high drama". A-men. In today's early hours, Thursday, 9 November, Associated Press has now declared Jim Webb winner while Mr. Webb has publicly thanked the people of Virginia (1607-2007) for electing him that state's new U.S. senator. Unlike perhaps a few folks I don't really intend to brag. At least not much. Globally and inside the U.S. all of us are dealing with many sobering things. Yet now at least there's the opportunity to begin again and to do some things which are both practical and right. Tuesday's really was a seismic vote.

Fishing - Highlight of Bush presidency since 2001

Everybody's blogging this because it's so incredible.

George Bush says his best moment since becoming president of the US was catching a fish. The fishing took place at his private lake in Texas. He told this to Bild am Sonntag - a German paper, adding that his fish was a 7-1/2 lb perch.

What can anyone add to something like that?