On the Clash of Civilizations, Neocons, and the Innocence of Muslims

For his part, Obama, from the very start of his presidency, had set out to douse the fires of the "clash of civilizations", then still raging courtesy of Messrs Bush and Bin Laden, among others. 

An editorial in the New York Times commenting on Obama's famous address to the Muslim world from Cairo University, lauded him for having "steered away from the poisonous post-9/11 clash of civilizations mythology that drove so much of President George W. Bush’s rhetoric and disastrous policy." 

To reignite "the clash" in some form serves to bolster the American Right as a whole, the American Christian Right (which is a mainstay of the Republican Party) in particular, while at the same time undermining Obama, who at best had acted to bring this clash to an end, and at worst is "a bloody Muslim" himself.

I came upon this piece via Balloon Juice and thought I would share it with you all. I have more questions than answers regarding the deadly mayhem that erupted in Libya, Egypt, and elsewhere after the release of a video that was understood by many as disrespectful towards Islam and Muhammad. Hani Shukrallah does some great work here locating the recent violence in the region within a broader framework. The clash of civilizations narrative is deep and old; The Right will use it to undercut Obama; And while little discussed in the American corporate media, Islamicists and Neo-con culture warriors do have no small tendencies of character, ideology, and behavior in common.

I do not believe that any religion is due "respect" a priori: people earn respect by their deeds, faith and religion is a means (ostensibly) to that end and should be judged by that standard. If one wants to suggest that Christianity is due some respect, show me the deeds of Christians so that we can make a judgement. If some want to argue that Islam is worthy of respect, let us evaluate the acts and deeds of those called Muslim. If Judaism should be respected, we must examine the behavior of those called Jews. The calculus is deceptively simple.

Religious mythologies that some people take to be factual descriptions of reality are not granted immediate elevation in a society where church and state are separate, and where faith ought to be a personal and private matter. Moreover, that people of any religion would kill, riot, murder, rampage, and commit acts of wanton violence because their god was "offended"--how does anyone actually know the mind of god?--or a book, a bunch of paper with a binding was "defaced," is outside of my personality type and worldview. I am not religiously minded; I cannot understand such matters. As I often wonder, if your god is so great, and your faith so deep, how can such petty acts even move you?

However, this does not mean that Nations are as free as I am, a private citizen, to ignore how religion and faith are important to certain publics and countries around the world. Here, the violence in the Middle East surrounding this most recent "offense" against Islam is a symptom of other social dysfunctions. 

Professional Black Conservative Race Hustling Group "Project 21" Condemns Chauncey DeVega Again...Sigh

Project 21 member Demetrius Minor rebuts Chauncey and suggests the left clean its own house of hatred, saying:

This is another example of the vile and vicious hate displayed by the left.  Instead of engaging in a dialogue that would help progress racial relations, liberals have decided to ostracize and demonize black conservatives.  We must condemn this despicable rhetoric once and for all.

I would like to thank my friends, god, the academy, Joy Yee's Chinese Restaurant, and Sapporo beer for this award.

More fun from my honest--and apparently quite provocative critique--of the pregnant silence by Black Conservatives regarding their white masters in the Tea Party GOP's plans to prevent African Americans from voting in the upcoming election. The "break in case of emergency professional black conservative best friends and support group" Project 21 is upset at me again. I last earned their attention when I called out Herman Cain's race minstrel routine last year. For a second time--is that a record for pseudonymous members of the online commentariat class?--I am now a proud recipient of their auspicious, wonderful, ire and disdain.

I also learned something new in reading their complaints as shared with the Right-wing organization The National Center for Public Policy Research, I am apparently at the center of a vast Left-wing conspiracy:

Besides the Daily Kos, Chauncey’s rants can still be read on AlterNet as well as Salon and the Washington Post-bankrolled The Root.  So these are not the rantings of a lone individual with a purchased web address — Chauncey is well-regarded and supported in his hate mongering by the leftist establishment.

Once more, where is my check?

Ignoring my suggestion that it is a bad look for black conservatives to channel Brother Douglass given that the former are in bed with white racial reactionaries, and in another life would have printed the postcards announcing their own spectacular lynching, Project 21 member Stacy Swimp offers:

Black conservatives embrace Frederick Douglass because he — perhaps more than anyone else, especially for his time — promoted individual responsibility, a work ethic and limited government as a path toward growth and gain for black Americans.  He felt the best thing government could do for black Americans at the time was to get out of the way of their progress.

Frederick Douglass honored the dignity and resolve of black Americans and sought for them to rise and fall on their own merits.  He knew people contain the ability to succeed on their own.  He felt nothing could be stop success if one applied themselves, and that is why black conservatives embrace and honor him today.

Neither slavery nor racism are solely to blame for the current condition of America’s urban communities.  Moral surrender was our undoing.  It is very interesting for a black leftist to chastise black conservatives for looking to Frederick Douglass for guidance and strength after the left has perverted the message of people such as him as they have tried to systematically sabotage those he fought for.

The left has institutionalized an inferiority complex among too many people.  Black conservatives embrace the Frederick Douglass and his teachings to reverse this terrible condition.

I am curious about one matter. These black conservatives like to complain about Chauncey DeVega but they never reach out for an interview. Why is that? What are they afraid of?

 I would love to debate a representative from Project 21 (or some sad soul they want to offer up as a sacrifice) about the role of black conservatives in the Tea Party GOP.

They can even bring friends along so that it will be a fair fight. It is a small world; perhaps one of the black water carriers for the neo-Confederate Right will step up to the plate and we can put on a show?

Chauncey DeVega is a Bad Boy: Fox News Nation and Newsbusters Are Upset that I Called Out Their Black Conservative Human Props

I love it when a plan comes together...

When you call out black (and brown) conservatives for their race hustle in the service of the Tea Party GOP, and its stated policy of ginning up white racism in order to defeat Barack Obama, their protectors always take the bait.

As I pointed out here in my short piece on how the Republican Party is betraying the legacy of Frederick Douglass, the Tea Party GOP and those shuffling, grinning, buck dancing, black conservatives who support disenfranchising African-American voters, are truly a beast with two backs.

I have pained them: Fox News Nation and Newsbusters are crying foul at this "racist" observation. As they always do regarding these matters of race and politics, the Right and its foot soldiers prove once more that they are addicted to bigotry, prejudice, and a propagandized version of history that is totally and completely disconnected from empirical reality.

In all, the Right and the Tea Party are addicted to political meth; in the Age of Obama they freebase white racial resentment to get their high; Mitt Romney, Fox News, and the Right-wing echo chamber are their pushers.

As I enjoy doing, here are some particularly entertaining and noteworthy comments from the Fox News, Newsbusters peanut gallery.

These are the very same folks who believe that President Obama is not an American citizen, that Dr. King would support the Tea Party GOP, and that white folks are oppressed by lazy, welfare scam artist negroes who are engaging in widespread voter fraud that is aided and abetted by the Black Panther Party and Attorney General Eric Holder. Comedy gold. Priceless.
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luvourmilitary 

The Liberals like Daily Kos ARE the racis!s.
As for voter ID:  They sure have no problem showing their photo ID when cashing their welfare check, or withdraw the money from their welfare "direct deposit". WITHOUT  a PHOTO ID, No dice, NO money.  I heard they even had to show a PHOTO  ID at the Dem convention.  However, when voting they don't have to????  What's the matter the voter FRAUD will be getting to hard to do???

Pete Dosado 

Chauncey DeVega is a prime example of a negro exhibiting the Stockholm Syndrome!  He has empathy for those who have held his own people in chains for so long and continue to manipulate their thinking and actions!  What other conclusion is there that he is against those who break from the past of slavery and segreagation?  Chauncey DeVega wants a return to Jim Crow so that he can rail against it but at the same time supports the Democrats who were responsible for segregation of the races with different schools and separate bathrooms!  No wonder that he gets support from the likes of Rachel Maddow who enjoys using and manipulating characters such as Chauncey DeVega for their twisted political aims!

rodahaco 

SO you kooky kossack Frederick Douglass was a hero for escaping his bondage from a plantation and today the Allen Wests, Mia Love and Herman Cains are not because they didn't buy into the lies of the liberal plantation and wanted no part of it? Yeah DeVega you're a kook...and a racist of the first magnitude.

blankho 

Yes and the Democratic BlacksSuck off theTit of their Master Uncle Sam. He throws them a crumb or too to keep them quiet while his policies keeps them for emancipating themselves with a good education and a real job. But the unions and politicians are sure enjoying their moment as the nanny to this group.

anewrinkle 

So, De Vega is saying that  Black Americans should not be allowed to choose their own political party and are not up to the task of getting voter ID's, like the rest of the American citizens.  What a racist put down! And they accuse others of racism.

nolotrippen 

If I have to show ID at the store to buy broccoli, EVERYONE has to show ID to vote.

  

vegasdomar  

 Most likely has a drivers license with a photo.  It should be taken away.  Anybody this stupid and racist shouldn't be allowed on the road.  Expect road rage after the election.

michaelnoaka  

The chains and bondages of slavery that this divider speaks of were protected by the democrat party, the party of the KKK. It took a Republican president to break the chains but now democrats have them back in entitlement chains where they are manageable. Blacks in America take note: this article author wants you down and to stay there.

Wow, what an a**hole.  In his view, if a black person isn't a lefty democrat then they must be sellouts and 'house boy's.  Amazing.  Never for one second does he think that conservative blacks might've arrived at their position through their own independent thought and views on the issues.  That they're incapable of independent reasoning and honest rational differences of opinion.  Can you imagine the outcry if a black conservative said this about liberal blacks?   

Seriously, though.  What a colossal a**hole this guy is.  And it's conservatives who are racist?

Boyington 

I am so tired of this specious, straw man argument that if you require a photo ID to vote, you are violating someone's civil rights. What CLAPTRAP! Voting in an election in the USA that I grew up in has always been a PRIVILEGE, not a RIGHT, and required that, in order to vote, you prove that you are a CITIZEN, and not just someone who happens to reside here during an election cycle. I have ALWAYS needed a photo ID to drive, to cash checks, to apply for credit, to apply for a job, to visit a doctor, and, more recently, to purchase certain types of cold medicine at my local Wal-mart. And you want to tell me that this same proof of residency, citizenship, and identification is not necessary for something as important as VOTING for someone who can greatly impact our community and way of life? What NONSENSE! I do not care what color your skin happens to be or how rich or poor you are, but I do care that ANYONE who votes does so in a thoughtful, LEGAL manner, and that you care enough about the process to follow the established and time-honored precedents that have made this country unique in history.

luvourmilitary  

The Liberals like Daily Kos ARE the racis!s.
As for voter ID:  They sure have no problem showing their photo ID when cashing their welfare check, or withdraw the money from their welfare "direct deposit". WITHOUT  a PHOTO ID, No dice, NO money.  I heard they even had to show a PHOTO  ID at the Dem convention.  However, when voting they don't have to????  What's the matter the voter FRAUD will be getting to hard to do???

michael 

He is just mad because most are too stupid to get an ID!

gongshow  

Race and gay bashing, etc.,  has never been so prevelent in decades since the left now uses it for political justification.  By doing this the left conducts the most racist activity since the 60s.

shawn.ski 

Conservatives - Everyone has equal opportunity and equal access to methods to achieve success
Liberals - Special groups of people chosen by us based on their race, s ex, sexual orientation, etc, will get special preference to opportunity and addition access to methods to achieve success because they cannot do it on their own and are incapable of achieving success without our assistance

truthwinz  

How in God's name did we get to this place of racism and hatred again?
I do not know one conservative Republican who has a racist bone in them.  I lived thru the 60's.  I was a young working adult when MLK was killed. I worked in the blackest neighborhood of my city. 
The racism is on the left pure and simple.  They see it everywhere, in every post, in every instance, in every gathering.

Until blk Americans realize what the Democrats have foisted on them MLK will be spinning in his holy grave.

Asessina 

Yes, I was young in the 60's and this great divide is due to potus and all on the liberals. I have never had a problems in my mixed life but now it seems to be changing.
Good bye obama I want my country back
Where anyone such as I can say I am Rublican without getting insulted. ITS BEEN A FREE COUNTRY TILL YOU AND YOURS.

clt_ncgirl  

This has got to be one of the most disgusting things I've ever read... I was so disgusted that I didn't even bother to finish the article.  I hope that this "blogger" doesn't actually consider himself in anyway a good person or accepting of others.  This entire campaign season has just left a bad taste in my mouth from the way people have been comporting themselves and this is just some more sprinkles on top of the icing on top of the cake...

Steve Pryor  

 They should be scared.  Imagine a b l a c k conservative surrounded by a progressive socialist mob.  They would love to prove the force of their reasons by tearing him limb from limb, and they would go out afterwards and celebrate with a round of beers.

He Could Apparently See the Future: The Whiteness of Sci-Fi and Robert Heinlein's Libertarian Racism

When I was in the 3rd grade, my class practiced reciting the names of all of the countries in the world. We got to the continent of Africa and I was doing okay. The teacher would point to different students and ask us to read a few names off of the list. As fate would have it, I got to read the "N's."

Nigeria. Okay. Namibia. Okay. Niger? That was a problem. I said "nigger." The teacher, a nice white woman, looked embarrassed. She asked me to repeat it again, and to work harder on sounding out the words. "Nigggerrr" I said...holding the "g" for emphasis. Thankfully, we proceeded onward; my peccadillo ignored by the other students and the (now relieved) teacher. She must have reasoned that the only black kid in the class just said "nigger," and either his peers had the good sense to ignore it, or he was blissfully ignorant of what he just did.

Thank the fates.

That was an epic fail; my using the phrase "grok" and shilling for Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange World a month ago was a similar instance of retroactive face palming. It is good to be embarrassed on occasion--it keeps one humble. Why? Because what you think you know, and in fact do not, is often more dangerous than what you know that you do not know.

A week and a half ago I went to Chicon 7 and had quite a good learning experience. There, I almost attended a meeting of the Heinlein society and other events interfered. After reading more about Robert Heinlein, a foundational figure of golden age science fiction (a genre that solved the race problem by "white washing" the future), I am glad that I did not play myself by attending such a celebratory gathering.

Separating a person from their art is not an easy project. For example, the recently deceased Michael Clarke Duncan starred in Green Mile, one of the most racist movies in recent memory. He was also a brother from Chicago who seemed genuine, and happened to be the lead actor in a movie that carried racial implications which were likely outside of his understanding.

By comparison, Robert Heinlein was a serious thinker who presented himself as such. Consequently, I hold him to a different standard. I give folks their agency. As such, here are some of his thoughts on the race question, and why I may have to jettison him from my personal canon.

From The World SF Blog:

Anyway it wasn’t me:

But I don’t have any prejudice for Negroes, either. I don’t feel any guilt over the fact that slavery existed in this country from 1619 to the Civil War. I didn’t do it. Nor did any of my ancestors to the best of my knowledge (which is pretty complete) own slaves. I had many relatives and one grandfather on the union side during the Civil War, none that I know of on the Southern side other than one cousin we aren’t proud of—Jefferson Davis. But I’m not accepting any guilt on his behalf, either—I didn’t do it. 

But really it was good for them:

Nor do I feel responsible for the generally low state of the Negro—as one Negro friend pointed out to me; the lucky Negroes were the ones who were enslaved. Having traveled quite a bit in Africa, I know what she means. One thing is clear: Whether one speaks of technology or social institutions, “civilization” was invented by us, not by the Negroes. As races, as cultures, we are five thousand years, about, ahead of them. Except for the culture, both institutions and technology, that they got from us, they would still be in the stone age, along with its slavery, cannibalism, tyranny, and utter lack of the concept we call “justice.” 

And are they really equal? 

Buz, one of the sacrosanct assumptions is that the two races, white and black, really are “equal” save for environmental handicaps the Negro has unjustly suffered. Is this true? I don’t know, not enough data observed by me, not enough reliable data observed by others, so far as I know. Obviously the two races are different physically, not only in color but in hair, bony structure, and in many other ways—blood types, for example. Must we nevertheless assume that, despite obvious and gross physical differences, these two varieties are nevertheless essentially identical in their nervous systems? I don’t know but I do know that in any other field of science such an assumption would be regarded as just plain silly even as a working hypothesis, more so as a conclusive presumption not even to be questioned.

It’s a free market innit:

However, this question as to whether the two races are “different” or “equal” or what need never come up if we are concerned only with equality under the law—if each man is free to make of himself whatever he is capable of making of himself. When I hire a mechanical engineer I am not concerned with his skin color but I sure as hell am concerned with his grasp of mathematics, his knowledge of strength of materials, of linkages, of power plants, of instrumentation, etc.—and if he can’t cut the buck, I certainly do not want to be forced to hire him because of his color. Nor does it matter to me (at the time of hiring) that he “never had a chance” to learn these things. 

Goodness. Not to be outdone, the whole letter itself is far more racially noxious and toxic.

Perhaps Heinlein had access to a time machine, as this passage from his letter sounds like something written by the libertarians in the Tea Party GOP:

I had better shut up or I’ll never finish this letter—I started out in this vein just intending to make a passing comment on your article. “Equality before the law”—Is it right to force white children to ride buses halfway across Manhattan in order that a kid in Harlem can sit next to a white child in second grade? I don’t think so; I think the white child is being discriminated against because of his color.

To his credit, Heinlein was a gifted visionary and futurist. Yet, I was not prepared for how Heinlein's letter was so "forward thinking" and "futuristic" in how it anticipated the type of white supremacy that would come to maturity in the post-civil rights era and the Age of Obama.

Teach me something. Am I being too hard on Robert Heinlein? Should I separate his art from his racism? Is there something in his vision that can be salvaged apart from his personal bigotry? 

A "Both Sides Do It" Pedagogical Failure: Romney's Race-Baiting versus Obama's "Beer Politics"

The school year began a few weeks ago. As is my charge, I am teaching several courses on American politics. This is a fun time time to be leading these seminars because the presidential race provides many rich examples of the concepts we are discussing from the literature.

When a head-scratching moment occurs--one of those pedagogical failures we occasionally talk about here on WARN--I like to share it both as 1) therapy and 2) because sometimes you just have to bow to the absurd.

The Right-wing media has created its own reality. This alternate universe is also swallowing up many young people with its comforting suckers and tentacles. The stakes are high here: if you can capture a young person, socialize them into a political worldview, then naturalize it, the chances are pretty good that you can win the generational struggle. Every culture has to reproduce itself or die. The New Right and the Tea Party GOP are no exception.

In one of my classes there is a nice guy; he seems well-intentioned and very sincere. I also do not doubt that he will turn out to be quite bright. However, last week he offered up a comment that shows how even the most well-intentioned people--and in particular, the most naive and trusting--can be sucked into the spin machine that is the Right-wing media echo chamber.

We were talking about Mitt Romney's specious lie that Obama is giving welfare away to lazy black and brown people. I located Romney's ploy in the context of the Southern Strategy, and how Romney and company have all but admitted that their race-baiting antics are a means to an end, where the goal is mobilizing angry, racially resentful white voters against the country's first black President.

Our young student looked curious and confused. He raised his hand and made the point that "both sides do it."

They Claim Frederick Douglass as a Hero But Today's (Black) Republicans Would Keep Him From Voting

The Tea Party GOP is engaged in a concerted effort to keep African Americans from voting. This is not surprising given the Republican Party's animus towards people of color; likewise, Romney and Ryan are bereft of new ideas--save for a retread of the failed supply side, trickle down economics which led to the Great Recession. Voter suppression reflects both these realities.

While their efforts to demobilize voters by robbing them of basic rights through onerous and unnecessary restrictions on access to the franchise is par for the Southern Strategy 2.0, there is a core level of hypocrisy present in the Tea Party GOP's machinations that should be called out for the base ugliness which it embodies.

Republicans are quick to claim the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and Abraham Lincoln. 

 

However, the Republican Party is also the United States' de facto White political party: it lives off of the toxic fumes of "colorblind" racism and white identity politics.

Once more, history (and empirical reality) confounds and exposes the big lie that is the modus operandi of the Right.

The Tea Party GOP's efforts at robbing black folks of their constitutional right to vote is an affront to the legacies of both Martin Luther King Jr. and President Lincoln. The former fought and died in the Black Freedom Struggle; the Voting Rights Act was one of his crowning achievements. Lincoln defeated the Confederacy. This led to Reconstruction, what was one of the most radically democratic experiments in American history where men who were just a few years (or months) ago counted as human property would soon elect their own leaders (and kin) to Congress and the Senate.

King and Lincoln died to expand the franchise to millions of black Americans. The Tea Party GOP is working to steal the right to vote from black Americans so that Romney and Ryan can be elected to the White House. This is an ugly juxaposition: it directly contrasts a struggle for the Common Good with a selfish political exercise to install a plutocrat who will continue to represent the interests of the one percent at the expense of the rest of us. 

There is another American icon that is claimed by the Tea Party GOP, one who has a "special relationship" with black conservatives. Frederick Douglass, radical abolitionist, intellectual, and freedom fighter, is consider a shining star, "one of their own" by black conservatives. In a twist of history, Douglass, this hero to black Republicans, would be disenfranchised by the very anti-voting access policies that the Tea Party GOP is implementing across the United States.

David Blight, one of America's great historians, called attention to this reality in a recent essay in the NY Times. Here, he unleashes rhetorical violence on the Republican Party and the white supremacist roots of their efforts to deny black folks (and others) the right to vote in the upcoming election:

By the mid-1840s, he had emerged as one of the greatest orators and writers in American history. But legally, Douglass began his public life by committing what today we would consider voter fraud, using an assumed name...

In Douglass’s greatest speech, the Fourth of July oration in 1852, he argued that often the only way to describe American hypocrisy about race was with “scorching irony,” “biting ridicule” and “withering sarcasm.” Today’s Republican Party seems deeply concerned with rooting out voter fraud of the kind Douglass practiced. So, with Douglass’s story as background, I have a modest proposal for it. In the 23 states where Republicans have either enacted voter-ID laws or shortened early voting hours in urban districts, and consistent with their current reigning ideology, they should adopt a simpler strategy of voter suppression.  

To those potentially millions of young, elderly, brown and black registered voters who, despite no evidence of voter fraud, they now insist must obtain government ID, why not merely offer money? Pay them not to vote. Give each a check for $711 in honor of Frederick Douglass. Buy their “freedom,” and the election. Call it the “Frederick Douglass Voter Voucher.” 

Give people a choice: take the money and just not vote, or travel miles without easy transportation to obtain a driver’s license they do not need. It’s their “liberty”; let them decide how best to use it. Perhaps they will forget their history as much as the Republican Party seems to wish the nation would.

Black conservatives are one of the rotten legs supporting the racist stool that is the Tea Party GOP. As such, their silence is expected. It is part of a bargain which they have made. For many, it is a lucrative hustle that pays the bills and brings the marginally talented an outsized amount of attention and exposure. 

This makes their choice to stand mute, or in some cases to serve as the human props and political blackface mask in support of efforts to demobilize African American voters, no less contemptible. Black conservatives want to claim Frederick Douglass, but they spit in the face of his legacy. 

Ultimately, such contradictions cause no cognitive dissonance or upset. Black conservatives who stand silent on these matters, or commit the civic sin of supporting the disenfranchisement of black and brown folks (as well as the poor), demonstrate that they too are slaves to the psychic wages of Whiteness--and the material gains that come with the choice to be a political Judas, Kiplingesque middle man, or colonial administrator who can interpret the drums of the natives.

Black conservatives such as these are not the descendants of Frederick Douglass, a great man who beat down an evil white overseer and slave breaker named Covey, escaped to freedom, and became a legend for all time. 

Rather, the black conservatives of the C.L. Bryant stripe, those Clarence Thomases, Herman Cains, Allen Wests, and other related ilk, were more likely to play the role of the mythic Black Confederate, fighting and dying in the service of their white masters to keep other African-Americans in chains and bondage.

In total, black conservatives and the Tea Party GOP need to get Frederick Douglass out of their collective mouth, for they are not heirs, in any way, to his honored legacy. 

More on Sex, Power, and Race: Interracial Cuckolding, Where White Women are "Bred" by Black Men as Their White Husbands Watch

Turning your husband into a cuckold can be one of the most rewarding things you ever do. A successfully cuckolded husband will be completely submissive. He will satisfy all your sexual cravings, manage all the mundane chores of your life, allow you to sleep with whomever you wish, subject himself to any amount of humiliation you desire, and of course, love you unconditionally. 

But be warned, cuckolding can also be one of the most challenging things you ever do. The process is long, complicated, energy consuming, and by no means sure of success. The strain on your marriage will be unbelievable, and it may be weeks or months before you succeed. In the end though, it will be worth it. 

Hopefully this will help educate women on how to begin the wonderful journey of female domination and to hopefully relieve some of the apprehension that might prevent a woman from ever trying. After reading this it will be clearer that cuckolding your husband is not as hard as it seems, and that accomplishing this feat is more possible than you thought.

Something provocative and fun for the weekend.

A few weeks ago we had a great conversation about interracial sex, power dynamics, and race in the BDSM community. In the spirit of broadening the conversations we have here on We Are Respectable Negroes, our foray into "race play" was a nice change of pace. As such, we are most certainly going to have more discussions about how sex and race are preeminent examples of the ways that "the personal is political" in the future.

I periodically share some of the keywords that bring people here to WARN. For example, given Michelle Obama's speech this week there are some real doozies to say the least--let's just say that she has been a object for many moments of onanistic fury and delight.

Surveying the results, I clicked on one of the keywords out of curiosity, a mangled phrase that read as follows: "my wive love negro black cook tune por."

[Apparently this is a cousin of sorts to "all your base are belong to us."]

You learn something new every day. I am familiar with the lifestyle/kink known as "cuckolding" which involves a man letting "his" woman or partner have sex with other men--often in front of him. This act of submission and surrender is an erotic thrill for the "cuckold" as his wife or partner is giving access to her body to another man who is known as the "bull."

I understand the pleasures to be had for some by this arrangement. It plays on issues of power and control, inverts authority and traditional gender relations, and in the best sense involves a high level of sexual autonomy and freedom. Is it for me? No. Does that matter for folks who are interested in cuckolding? No. And it should not be any other way.

In following the above keywords, I also discovered that cuckolding can also have an "interracial" aspect as well. As the old expression goes, the race business has messed all of our heads up in some pretty serious ways. Sex across the color line remains a taboo in our society. Given that our collective id and subconscious are still mired by age old stereotypes about race, sex, and the body, the realm of sexual fantasy is, pardon the pun, pregnant with these themes.

The website "Just-Interracial-Cuckold" is one part guide to the lifestyle, as well as an archive of fan fiction. One of its recurring tropes involves white women being impregnated (or bred) by black men with the consent of their white husbands.

"Just-Interracial-Cuckold" is so dense with the semiotics of race, gender, and sex, that I do not even know where to begin (if someone is thinking of writing a dissertation on literary theory and gender studies you will find a ready made project).

I love learning from all of you. Are there any folks who have been in a cuckold relationship? Have any of you played around with the interracial aspect of such an arrangement? For others, are you repulsed or fascinated by the idea of cuckolding?

For your entertainment (and enrichment), here is one of the stories from the site. Be forewarned, it is not safe for work.

My Breeding (A True Story)

Friday night and most of Saturday went by so slowly. I could do little except to think about what was going to happen Saturday night. The thoughts of my breeding keep me wet and horny most of the day. Several times I thought about masturbating to my thoughts but I decided to wait.

When the time came I drove to his apartment. The walk to his apartment seem like it took forever. I could hear the clicking of my heels echo between the buildings as walked down the sidewalks. Several times I thought about turning around and leaving but the heat and wetness between my legs drove me on.

I came to his door, hesitated again, and then knocked. Seconds later the door open and he stood before me. In his tight black leather pants and white shirt he looked like a God. He invited me in and took me to his living room. As we small talked and I had several glass of wine I could not help to look as his pants and his bulging manhood. My god I just want to scream out “take me”. After about an hour he got up and came over to me, with out a word he offered me his hand. I took it and he lead me to his bedroom.

Breitbart's Newest Black Conservative Human Prop: Kira Davis "Kicked Out" of MSNBC's Pavilion at the DNC for Supporting Mitt Romney

A hearty thanks to Cnu for the heads up on this one.

Old girl is campaigning for a role as Breitbart's new black stunt promo Jackass-inspired human prop. Kira can even play up the intersectionality card: she is a "victim" as a "conservative,"  a woman, and because of her contingent and strategic "blackness."

Kira got a few seconds of shine from a Youtube promo where she went after Toure for his (accurate and appropriate) use of the word "niggerization" while discussing Romney's race-baiting smears against President Obama. There she boohooed about a childhood experience with "racism" as a black Canadian-American conservative. I bit and wrote an open letter of sorts because I thought she was sincere...but just misguided. At present, it is now abundantly clear that Kira Davis is just another bootblack token for the Tea Party GOP. More power to her.

How will Kira Davis follow up her "abuse" and "censorship" by the evil goons at MSNBC and the "Secret Service?"

Some scenarios:

1. More tears, and a "I am a victim twice because I am black and a conservative" video on Youtube. White conservatives and their black supplicants promo the hell out of said video and it goes viral for a day.

2. Kira Davis is trying to be a black conservative version of Sandra Fluke, parlaying her raggedy sign into a round of interviews on Fox News and Right-wing Talk Radio.

3. She will accept a recurring role as a columnist over at Worldnet daily or Townhall where she will be mentored by Thomas Sowell and Larry Elder in the hard times, black conservative victimologist hustle. Tears and hugs follow. Lloyd Marcus pens a song in  honor of Kira's "struggle."

Where do you think Miss Kira Davis goes from here?

Channeling Chauncey DeVega: Rachel Maddow and Company Call Out Mitt Romney's Welfare King Anti-Obama Race-Baiting Using a Familiar Script

Please indulge me for a second.

Hmmmm.....where have we heard these talking points before. We are doing good stuff here on WARN, I smiled when I watched MSNBC today and the esteemed panel of Maddow, Sharpton, Perry, and company directly channeled some of what I have been discussing on We Are Respectable Negroes, Ring of Fire Radio, the Ed Show, Alternet, and elsewhere for months. I make no claims to preternatural genius or insight; but I do acknowledge my (pseudonymous) successes.

Maybe Crom, trickster that he is, will bless me with some honors--after the fact for how we have been so far ahead of the curve here on WARN--but for now I can hope that the email comes or the phone rings in the near future. It is all the more frustrating because I have both direct and indirect access to some of the players involved. Alas, we all make choices and must live with them.

Beyond my self-indulgent credit claiming, there was one moment in this conversation about Romney's naked racism where I did wish that I was present on the panel.

Steve Schmidt, the token Republican representative on Maddow's panel, played the false equivalence game when the infamous Jesse Helms' "Black Hands White Hands" ad from1990 was compared to Romney-Ryan's anti-Obama screeds of 2012. He argued that "both sides do it," i.e. using racism to mobilize voters. Ahistorical. Inaccurate. And a claim that can be empirically demolished with ease.

If I were part of the conversation, I would have channeled Norman Schwarzkopf and his famous "bovine scatology" quip.

Melissa was gonna shut him down, but the other panelists played nice. I would have brought the pain and simply asked how the Democrats can use anti-black racism to mobilize their base, when black and brown folks are integral to said party. Alternatively, I could have simply asked him about birthers, Tea Party bigotry, or who the Republicans want to "take their country back" from?

Hell, what about the fact that the Tea Party GOP admitted that they created the Southern Strategy, and were/are professional race-baiters and political meth addicts who cook up white racial anxiety to win over insecure white voters?

Larry Bartels and the Multicultural Elite Class Must Be Smiling at Bill Clinton's DNC Speech

Bill Clinton and Michelle Obama delivered a devastating set of punches to Mitt Romney at the Democratic National Convention. Both were masterful examples of rhetorical violence. Beautiful. Both made more so by their contrast with the Republicans' failure to tell a compelling story in Tampa--and compounded by Ann and Mitt Romney's epic inability to convince the public that they are "regular folks."

Yes, it is hard to have hundreds of millions of dollars and relate to the little guy and little gal in the time of the Great Recession. Nevertheless, it is not his wealth that is the problem--there have been many old money types in American politics--rather, Romney's failure to sell himself is a function of his naturally cold and sociopathic demeanor. Romney, quite literally, cannot relate to someone not born into his social class.

Two quick thoughts on Bill Clinton's speech.

I always smile when I see empirically grounded, compelling, and rigorous work in political science used to tell a compelling story about real people's lives. Clinton's claims about how Democratic administrations have created more economic growth is straight out of Larry Bartels' book Unequal Democracy. Everyone should read that great text. Bill Clinton certainly did.

Second, racism is a human productivity problem. If you want to understand why American political elites stood up against Jim and Jane Crow during the Cold War, listen to Clinton's speech at the 6 minute or so mark. Historically, the Racial State subsidized white mediocrity by making sure that white men (and women to a lesser degree) had access to jobs that would provide a living wage. This arrangement involved excluding people of color from the same positions as the federal government worked feverishly to create the white middle class.

During the Cold War, American political elites also realized that formal white supremacy was an international embarrassment that gave ammunition, both metaphorical and real, to the Soviets. Jim and Jane Crow had to be jettisoned because it was a dead weight on America's international prestige and influence.

In the present, this dynamic has been somewhat undone and made obsolete by globalization. Old school and aversive racism have also been unsettled by how the elite class came to realize that racial and gender diversity (even if marginal, symbolic, and mostly self-serving) could allow them to leverage more human talent. In essence, reaching across the color line made them more money because they were no longer limited to dredging the bottom ranks of an increasingly shallow bench of white male talent.

The angst of the white "working class" voter is a response to this reality. They are no longer the de facto only choice for all jobs, every opportunity, and guaranteed to win the race by simply showing up. If you have been competing with a ten lap head start, it is quite upsetting to realize that you are not as talented and/or gifted as you were led to believe. For a certain class of obsolete, white semi-skilled labor, their rage at Obama is a direct function of this insecurity.

Clinton's few-second allusion to how the multicultural elite class thinks about human productivity is the equivalent of many volumes of reading and hours of study. It was a wink to those of us in the know. Bill Clinton gave Obama, what in professional wrestling terms, is called "the hot tag." Now, the President has to get the win. Obama could not be in a better position.

A Triumvirate of Political Tokenism: Romney Picks Allen West, Tim Scott, and Jen Carrol to Lead His Black Folks Outreach Efforts

Artur Davis. Allen West. Mia Love. It would appear that a bumper crop of black right-wing coconuts Oreos bootblacks new age double black face race minstrels political tokens are apparently in full bloom.

What a cornucopia of black and brown Tea Party delight! Can we buy them by the bushel?

Mitt Romney's campaign on Wednesday announced its Black Leadership Council, chaired by Reps. Tim Scott and Allen West. The council will "help facilitate dialogue between Mitt Romney and respected leaders who provide unique expertise, experience and knowledge on a range of issues impacting black American communities," according to the campaign.

In all, I guess any black guy would do. Given that Mitt Romney is polling at zero percent among African-Americans, Allen West and company can do no great harm (I still would have preferred Beetlejuice for the position) to his chances with black folks. Given his habit of sending fried chicken to the Congressional Black Caucus, West's position with Romney's campaign may actually increase turnout among Right-leaning, racially resentful white Independents and conservatives. Romney is playing a very deep game after all; never forget that fact.

[Although this does beg a math and polling methodology question, is it possible for a candidate to receive negative support in a survey and thus to measure below zero?]

As we have discussed here on WARN many times, Black conservatives have a lucrative gig--they are the professional "best black friend" that every white conservative needs when they get caught race-baiting, playing in the feces of white racism and throwing such metaphorical scatology about, or saying racist things against people of color.

Being a black (or brown) conservative is also a de facto welfare and subsidy program for a good number of professional right-wing race hustlers. When underemployed, in need of money, or a boost in one's career, a black person of otherwise mediocre/suspect talent can decide to "come out" as a black Republican. The riches and attention soon follow: a good freak show or novelty act can always find work.

In another life, I would decide to switch lanes and join up with the Tea Party GOP. My swerve would involve a public revelation about how Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh spoke truth to power and made me realize that I had been a slave on the evil Democratic Plantation.

Suffering from false consciousness, I at first retreated from the bright sun that loomed outside of the Platonic cave. When my eyes adjusted to the light of Right-wing conservative white populism I realized that the Republicans were my friends.

I then would tattoo Ronald Reagan's kind face on my back, write my own version of Conscience of a Conservative, and start the Black Folks for Barry Goldwater Superpac. I would laugh all of the way to the bank after a lucrative book deal and a series of one hour specials on Fox News.

Apparently, my get rich quick black conservative hustle is not uncommon. Writing for New York Magazine, Ann Friedman is already onto my con and I hate her for it. Damn her prescient insight:

Almost every political writer I know who isn’t a straight white man has made the joke at least once: If I ever need a major operation or find myself in serious debt, I’m selling out and going conservative. There’s a tried-and-true formula for this: Rise to a moderate level of success as a liberal-leaning writer, politician, or commentator. Drop out of the spotlight for a few months or years, then reemerge as a beautiful conservative swan, disavowing everything you said in your liberal ugly duckling days. You were just brainwashed, you’ll say, following the script. Now you know the truth: that everything you have, you have because you worked for it yourself. Sure, straight white politicians cross over, too — but to far less effect. In a party full of Clint Eastwoods, who’s going to sit up and take notice when there’s one more?

As I offered up here in my open letter to a lost soul black conservative who is doing her best to mouth vomit the talking points of Mitt Romney and the neo-John Birchers, Friedman has also identified the psychological needs and moral deficits that often drive a person of color to join a political movement and party that has nothing but utter contempt for non-whites:

I understand why the GOP elevates non-white Republicans so quickly. But what about the candidates themselves? Are there benefits to being a token? The workplace provides a helpful analogy: Think about your experiences with older women in male-dominated professions, women who are used to being the lone female in a pack of bros. They’ve earned their spot in the social order both despite and because of their gender. It’s both a badge of honor and a rarefied role they have to protect — which may be why, in my experience, they can be cold to young female newcomers who stand to threaten their status as an exception.

And I get it. At least, I think I do. Sometimes people (almost always men) will tell me that I’m “not like other women” — meaning I’m aggressive, I make dick jokes, I drink whiskey, stuff like that. I usually roll my eyes and say something like, “Lots of women are witty” (true), or “All of my lady friends drink Jameson” (mostly true). But I confess that, deep down, I get a little thrill to be distinguished from the pack. Based on that, I can imagine how good it feels to be Artur Davis or Mia Love right now. To be the venerated exception that proves all of conservatives’ rules. 

Ann Friedman has outsmarted me. Is it still possible for me to have a lucrative change of heart by joining up with the Republican Fox News Break in Case of Emergency Water Carrier Negro Brigade? Or has that ship sailed? How would you write the script?

Joe Klein was Right: To Beat Romney, Barack Obama and the Democrats Cannot Appear to be "Kissing the Butt" of Negro Equality

A white man who extended a Sunday-school class in to a two-day school for poor children was called on by irate Klan members. He was taken out, blindfolded, and forced to kiss the private parts of several assembled blacks:

Well, they made me kiss the negro man's posterior, and held it open and made me kiss it, and as well as I remember a negro woman's too, and also her private parts, and then told me to have sexual connection with her. I told them they knew, of course, I could not do that. They struck me, and some them begged for me. They asked me how I liked that for nigger equality. I told them it was pretty tough.

According to a white eyewitness, "I think that was the cause, or one cause, of his being whipped. That was what they professed, that he was equalizing himself too much, and that was the reason they made him take that kissing negro equality."

History echoes. This account from the 19th century can just as easily describe the white racial anxieties and resentment that Mitt Romney's campaign is playing to almost a century and a half later, and which Obama and the Democrats must neutralize this week.

Pundits, journalists, academics, and others have spent a good amount of energy dissecting the race-baiting go for broke white right-wing populism of Mitt Romney and the Tea Party GOP. The Republican Convention in Tampa tried to balance the "read meat" for the base with an open-arms appeal for the Independents and undecideds who were watching the event at home--and not checking out the white trash adventures of Honey Boo Boo. 

This week, the Democrats have a similar challenge: they need to mobilize their base; but Obama and company must also convince undecideds that they are in fact better off now than they would be under a continuation of Bush the Younger's failed economic policies under Romney-Ryan, and to tout the successes of President Obama in the face of rabid Tea Party GOP obstructionism.

The Democrats also have a particularly fine line to walk, one that is the converse of the Tea Party GOP's "mobilize the angry white men" strategy.

The novelty of having a black president has worn off. Moreover, how can the Democrats appeal to white Independents who are unhappy about the economy, somewhat "persuadable" by Romney's racial dog whistles, and yet do not feel particularly comfortable with either the latter's personality or the Tea Party GOP's policies?

These right-leaning Independents, undecideds, and low information voters are vulnerable to the white identity politics that are the foundational premise of Mitt Romney's Southern Strategy 2.0. However, with the correct prodding, some of them could perhaps be won over by the Democrats.

Ultimately, the big tent is already present in the convention hall. The practical politics involve figuring out how the Democrats can get the votes of these white fence sitters.

White Space: A Black "Ghetto Nerd" Reflects on His Experience at Chicon 7, the 70th World Science Fiction Convention

Last week, I attended Chicon 7, the 70^th World Science Fiction Convention which was held here in Chicago. I was able to do this because of the monies donated by the readers and friends of We Are Respectable Negroes. I would like to reiterate my thanks for their kindness and generosity.

As a ghetto nerd, I come to conventions with a set of assumptions which are based upon previous experiences. I also try to be open minded as each convention or gathering has its own particular personality and vibe. There are many different subcultures and hobbies among those who are self-described geeks and nerds. Consequently, I try to experience each space on its own merits. 

Our personhood is defined by many things. For example, as a person of color and a member of the working class--one who is also a sci-fi, comic book, space fantasy, pro-wrestling loving, child of the hip hop generation who studies and teaches about race and cultural politics in the United States--my critical gaze is informed by those life experiences, hobbies, habits, and interests.

By extension, I cannot help but view Chicon 7 through that lens.

In all, I was very much impressed by the sense of comradery, friendship, and warmth that the attendees of the conference showed one another. I was also very much impressed by how accessible the writers, guests of honor, and other featured attendees were towards their fans. Chicon 7 had a vibe that was supportive of science fiction as an artistic and intellectual project first, and where ego was secondary to these broader goals. And based upon the quality of the questions asked during the panels I attended, there are some pretty smart folks among sci-fi fandom. For an author to impress such a public, he or she had sure be bringing their best game.

However, all was not perfect (is it ever?). I chatted with some sci-fi writers and attendees at Chicon 7 who shared with me their concerns about the dynamics surrounding race, identity, inclusion, and fandom. I also attended the panels which explicitly dealt with questions of marginalization, inclusion, and diversity in science fiction literature and fan culture.

In the interest of parsimony, and because I cannot resist any reference to Clint Eastwood given his empty chair agitprop stunt at the Tea Party GOP convention last week, let’s work through the good, the bad, and the ugly of Chicon 7 as I experienced it.

So What? Paul Ryan Enjoyed Putting His Penis Inside of a Black Woman While He was in College

While in college, Paul Ryan enjoyed some coffee with his sugar. This fact reveals little about his political values.

White supremacist Thomas Jefferson took his own pleasures with the female slaves that he owned. Strom Thurmond, supporter of Jim and Jane Crow, and Dixiecrat, had a black mistress and "love child." A large percentage of African-Americans, as hinted at by our varying hues, have rapist's blood from white on black violations across the color line flowing in our veins. Interracial sex is part of the cultural and political typography of the United States. Consequently, these are common matters.

The Daily Mail's story about the relationship between Paul Ryan and Deneeta Pope is rich with entertaining details. Ryan was/is a gym rat. Pope was an attractive young scholar and cheerleader while in college, and to my eyes, a woman with many potential suitors. Ultimately, the Daily Mail has provided its readers with a solid human interest story. It tries to locate Paul Ryan's life trajectory relative to a story about interracial relationships, and is grounded in the bigger question of how a white man who is the vice presidential candidate for a racist political party could have been in love with an African-American woman.

The relationship and the negative reaction he said he suffered from his so-called friends were a formative experience in the political evolution of the VP pick who described himself as a 'big, big fan' of Martin Luther King and is a staunch advocate of civil rights. 

But Pope, an I.T. specialist and realtor living in Chicago, denies that they experienced any racism as a couple. Pope also said that while their relationship was not very serious, they have remained friends through the years.

'It tells you the kind of guy Paul is when you learn that he has remained friends with all of his friends that he met in college.' Michael Steel, campaign spokesman for Ryan, confirmed to MailOnline on Thursday that 'Mr Ryan dated Ms Pope in college' in the 1990s.

In a 2005 interview, Mitt Romney’s future running mate said that he had been confronted with racism personally, because he had dated an African-American and also had a brother with a black wife. I have a sister-in-law who’s African American,’ he told Milwaukee Magazine.

‘My college sweetheart was black,' he added.

‘I just experienced some ugly comments, some racist views from people who I thought were friends of mine.'

People are complicated and contradictory in their ways. My answer on these matters is a simple one: a person can enjoy having sex with someone who is a member of a group which they despise, have animus towards, or otherwise look down on. These are not complicated matters.

There is a second problematic here as well: if Paul Ryan is such a principled anti-racist who had his eyes opened to the realities of bigotry and prejudice because of his relationship with a black woman, how can he be a party to Mitt Romney's race-baiting, Southern Strategy 2.0, efforts to use white racial resentment and hostility to defeat the country's first black President? The layers of Ryan's hypocrisy are deep.

The Daily Mail offers some details on a semi-related matter that are for more compelling and important as we assess Ryan's fit for the White House, and if he would be an advocate for the Common Good.

At Which Point I have Hurt the Feelings of a "Conservative White Dude" and Made Him Tired...

I do not make a habit of sharing the emails from angry racists and others that are sent to We Are Respectable Negroes because I do not want to encourage those shenanigans. I almost made an exception a few months ago with a priceless Irish-obsessed Nordic Aryan fetishizer because the exchange was so funny.

I try to be a nice, respectable, calming, soothing colored fellow who goes to great lengths as to not upset the sensibilities of white folks. I am embarrassed, truly so, when I have strayed from this life mantra. In order to make up for my foul ways I would like to share the following email that I received a few days ago.

As a conservative white dude (i.e. a racist in your book) I have really tried all my life to treat everyone I ever met, regardless of race, creed, yada yada yada as my equal, my neighbor, and the way I would want to be treated.  But because of people like you, who cry racism at every turn, who race bait to no end, who do nothing but point fingers of accusation at the slightest mention of race, I am pretty fucking tired man. 

So it will begin.  And people like you are to blame.

 I do not want to be the cause of a race war. I am also ashamed that I was a naysayer during a week when the Tea Party GOP celebrated its commitment to diversity and racial inclusion.

What can I do to make amends? Any thoughts or suggestions?

An (Empty) Chair Shot to the Head? Clint Eastwood, the Republican Convention, Mick Foley, and a Promo That Never Was

I just got back from Chicon 7. Consequently, I missed Mitt Romney's speech--to be honest, I had no interest in watching how he would pile his own lies on top of the stinking fetid burrito of political feces and propaganda that was Ryan's stillborn lie of conservative afterbirth from the day before. I also missed out on the big surprise that the Tea Party GOP had promised its public--like many I was hoping for a holographic zombie Ronald Reagan. Alas, I am disappointed.

Instead, we were treated to one of the great elders of Hollywood, Mr. Clint Eastwood. 

I love Clint Eastwood's movies. I respect him as an actor. I am at a loss, a total loss, to explain his speech to an empty chair before a howling group of neo-John Bircher Secessionists. Yes, Eastwood starred in The Outlaw Josey Wales where he played a "good" Confederate. But, he also starred in Unforgiven with Morgan Freeman, and offered up one of the smartest recent meditations on the complexities of race and the color line in "post racial" America in the criminally underrated film Grand Torino. Play Misty For Me is all sorts of goodness--if I ever have a son I am going to show him that movie after my talk about how he best be weary of women with them "crazy eyes."

I would like to believe that the man with no name knows exactly what he is doing. In keeping with my ghetto nerd proclivities (and themes for the week of my attending Chicon 7), I would hope that Clint is actually doing a great pro-wrestling inspired "work/shoot" at the expense of the Tea Party GOP. Nevertheless, I must also entertain the possibility that he has suffered one too many chair shots to the head, and is lost in a waking dream. 

Maybe Ebert is right, and Clint Eastwood just souled out? But why, and for how much, given that he has more money than god?

Mirroring Mick Foley's classic promo, I do want to believe that Clint Eastwood is not a whore.

As such, I can still dream that in an alternate reality, Clint instead chose to give the Tea Party GOP his own version of Hogan's famous heel turn from Bash at the Beach circa 1996.

What a night that would have made for...

Ghetto Nerds: If Germany had Won World War Two Would Black Americans have Greater or Fewer Civil Rights by Now?

I would like to formally thank all of the kind folks who offered up monies to finance my ghetto nerd sojourn to Chicon 7. I will be on several panels at the conference and am looking forward to doing some networking, as well as attending some of the parties at the event--if folks want to invite a brother over to their room/suite/floor, or to get a drink or three, do shoot me an email so we can build.

I would not be able to attend the conference if you had not extended your kindness and support. I thank you. I mean that sincerely and from my heart. In keeping with our bargain, I will be offering up a lurid story or two next week, and some selections from my zombie opus for your laughs, mocking, and amusement.

I will be sharing posts over the next few days about Chicon 7 as the events merit. I will also be borrowing a friend's camera and taking some pictures that I will offer up as "proof of life" so to speak. In keeping with the science fiction theme of the weekend's events, I would like to share the following essay by the always entertaining and readable Cobb as featured on his eponymous website a few days ago.

A Particularly Low Class of White People: Republicans Throw Nuts at Black Folks; They Heckle the "Foreign" Delegate from Puerto Rico

Their forefathers were John Birchers. Their grand-pappies and grandmas likely spent time at the monthly lynching tree. Some of them were members of White Citizens Councils, the "polite" racists, who stood against civil rights for black folks and upheld Jim and Jane Crow. Earlier this year, the most zealous among them booed gay soldiers, howled in glee at the prospect of a person being executed by the State, and cheered the idea of some sad soul dying because they did not have health insurance.

This is the contemporary face of the Republican Party.

When Republicans heckled Zoraida Fonalledas, the representative from Puerto Rico to their own convention with nativist chants earlier today, they reminded the American people who and what they really are...again.

When a black CNN reporter had nuts thrown at her, and was told "this is how we feed the animals," the Tea Party GOP showed us who they have always been...again.

And do not buy into the excuse-making: Chants of "U.S.A." have nothing to do with an internecine conflict between Ron Paul and establishment conservatives. Rather, this episode has everything to do with white conservative xenophobia and anti-immigrant zeal by a group of mouth-breathing Right-wing troglodytes who believe that Puerto Ricans are dangerous Spanish speaking "foreigners."

In all, the racist and xenophobic ugliness on display during Tuesday's meeting of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida should not be a surprise. The elites and opinion leaders of the Right have created this witches brew; now, they will either be saved by their monster or the beast will consume them.

My mother's people are from North Carolina. My grandmother and other elders would often talk about "good white people." The ability to distinguish between white people who would kill you, discriminate against you at will, or put you out of house and home because they could, was a practical life skill. We may no longer have The Negro Motorist Green Book, but black and brown folks still give their kids "the talk" about how to survive a routine traffic stop by the police. Cultural memory is deep and a gift. I am so very glad (and lucky) they passed on their wisdom and life skills. In turn, if so blessed, I will share that wisdom with my children.

It is true that white supremacy has evolved over time; but the lives of people of color are still expendable, and subject to arbitrary violence in America by White Authority (and those overly identified with it--see George Zimmerman).

For people of color in the United States, skillfully and successfully navigating the color line meant (and means) protecting your own life, as well as that of your children and family. Those of us who are not part of the in-group, or otherwise marginalized by Power, have to learn this skill set if we are to survive and do well in this society. Consequently, black and brown folks have to become expert students on the ways of white people.

I do wonder if Whiteness and White Privilege permits our white brothers and sisters to realize how much people of color know about them and their particular ways.

To point: as my parents and other elders have taught me, the "U.S.A" chanting cowboy hat wearing white populists who heckled Zoraida Fonalledas represent a particularly low class of white people. They may have money, but this group of white people has no decency. The low type of white person exemplified by the neo-John Birch base of the Tea Party GOP are also bigots. All that they have to comfort them is a weak type of nationalism which is emboldened by silly chanting, and the psychic wages of whiteness that happen to come with being arbitrarily categorized as "white" in this society. 

The slogan "free, white, and twenty-one" got this class of white people through many decades of life in America. In an increasingly globalized world, with a black president, and a multicultural leadership class, such a slogan is approaching obsolescence. For many white people this is a terrifying prospect.

By comparison, Senator Priebus and Mitt Romney represent a slightly "better" class of white people. The latter is most certainly a racist. The former is likely one as well given his enabling of his party's Southern Strategy 2.0 and race-baiting against Barack Obama, the country's first black president. Together, both are "polite" racists. They have no love for what was once called "poor white trash." Elite whites such as Romney and Priebus use materially disadvantaged and racially resentful white people as a tool in order to maximize their own wealth and resources. The white reactionary populists who form the base of the Republican Party in the Age of Obama have not yet woken up to this old school con.

This brings us full circle. What of Zoraida Fonalledas? How do make sense of her awkward moment? On one hand, the better and more generous part of my soul has pity for her. It must hurt to realize that you are viewed with contempt by your own political brethren and comrades. As I suggested several here, she, and other conservatives who happen to be black, Latino, Asian, Native American, or Other, are sick with a delusion that they are "special" or "different" in the eyes of the White conservative gaze. Tuesday's happenings could perhaps be her wake up call.

The more cynical and less noble part of my soul smirks and smiles. Zoraida Fonalledas made her bed and now has to lie in it. Yes, the money and gold are substantial. Nevertheless, I struggle to understand how any self-respecting person of color could ally with the Tea Party GOP, the country's de facto White political party, and an organization whose electoral strategy increasingly consists of mining white racism and anxiety towards people of color to secure electoral victory.

I think that I will just smile. Zoraida Fonalledas experienced her own "Lisa broke Ralph's heart moment" on a national stage. The question remains: will Zoraida Fonalledas, and other non-white conservatives like her, keep coming back to the Tea Party GOP for more abuse?

I think we know the answer. They are almost to the one, sad pathetic souls.

Forget Mia Love, in a Perfect World Beetlejuice Would Be A Featured Speaker at the Republican Convention in Tampa

I have been spending so much time trying to figure out the inside game, focus group practiced, (semi) refined race-baiting antics of Mitt Romney's Southern Strategy 2.0 gambit, that I forgot how a simple message, when coupled with passion, can help a candidate connect with the public. This is especially true for low-information voters in general, and conservatives, specifically.

In a perfect world, Beetlejuice would be invited to lead the opening plenary at the Republican Convention in Tampa: his affect, diction, speech, talking points, and rage at Barack Obama are as articulate as anything that one would hear on Fox News or Right-wing talk radio. Alternatively, Beetlejuice could be put in charge of Tea Party GOP's outreach program to African-Americans. Given that Romney is polling at zero percent support among that group, Beetle could do no harm.

Instead of Beetlejuice the public was stuck listening to talking point prop black conservative Mia "not-like those lazy African-Americans" Love. Meh. Alas. We can always dream.