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the First Lady is interviewed by Katie Couric

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And continue to have a peaceful day.

Jeffrey Dahmer: Sociopath. And White.

John Allen Muhammed: Sociopath. And Black.

Richard Ramirez: Sociopath. And Mexican.

Seung-hui Cho: Sociopath. And Korean.

Do we see the commonality here?

Upon first hearing about the tragedy at Fort Hood yesterday, my first thought was that intra-army conflict is terrible for morale in the face of two wars being waged abroad. When members of a volunteer army start shooting bases up, that is not a good. Sporadic reports of the aftermath flowed in until the mother lode came through: the suspected gunman’s name.

Nidal Malik Hasan (which was first reported at Malik Nadal Hasan)

My eyes rolled in such a way that I’m surprised they remained in my head. My only thought: Good grief.

As a person of color/member of a “minority” group, I saw the horrible ways this would be run with without knowing any facts at all. Nadal, some would assume, had lost his mind and gone all Islam on an army base. After learning that he was an American-born Palestinian who had been in the Service since 1995 and was a psychiatrist, the assumption was abridged (assuming, of course, that these elements were brought into consideration at all):

Nadal was a Muslim army psychiatrist who went all Islam on an army base.

My brain hurt just thinking about it. One of those elements is germane, while the other is but window dressing. Unfortunately, more than people like freedom, they like window dressing.

There’s nothing in the Koran that says “You should go ape and kill people if you disagree with the wars your army is fighting.” It doesn’t say that anymore than the Bible says “If you don’t agree with the practices of an abortion doctor, you should totally blow his brains out.”

When people who are not well do heinous, not well things, their frame of mind is infinitely more crucial than their ethnic makeup.

White, Black, Asian, Arab, Polka Dot… crazy is crazy. And in the case of heinous group action, they’re still a collection of troubled individuals who act in accordance with what they think.

But that’s the trouble. We tend to lack specificity in these matters if there’s window dressing we like to be afraid of, window dressing that is, more often than not, incongruous with the dominant culture. Shorter Toussaint: Stuff that’s not White.

Allow me to be specific here. In America, the dominant culture is of
European, namely Anglo-Saxon, bent. While the cultural is becoming more diverse in fits and starts, the rulers of the roost are still European. The cultural cues many of us take, regardless of ethnicity, are determined by this dominant culture.

The determination of dominance and power is filtered many ways, but can be corralled under the umbrella of Otherness; a distinction reserved for those of us who are not straight Christian White men.

In the realm of Otherness–where submission to the dominant culture is the name of the game–individuals become monolithic and general; lacking the ability to be seen as an individual, one’s actions speak for the group, especially those sensational and unattractive actions that seem to confirm intrinsic difference. The thinking, for many, is “Yes; that is tragic…but that’s kind of what Others do.”

A Hasan shot up an army base? Tragic…but come on. He’s a Hasan for crying out loud!

In the case of the sensational and unattractive actions within the dominant
culture, the offending individual is cast out not to the realm of Otherness, but simply, outside that which is considered ‘decent’. Oddly enough, these individuals become more unique, more individual as people try to understand “what went wrong.”*

*A notable exception here is, of course, homosexuals, whose preferences are so anathema to the dominant culture–at least publicly anyway–that they exist in almost an Others Others in which people puzzle over why they do what they do, not unlike space aliens.

Few within the dominant culture have pondered the heinous acts of Jeffrey Dahmer and questioned aloud, “What is this saying about White people?” Sure; many in profiling him and other White serial killers will make mention of his White nice, but the mention is detached, factual. The fact that’s he’s White is seen as little more than a characteristic, a piece of a puzzle.*

*Plenty of people of color have certainly said “Of course Dahmer was White! White folks are serial killers!” This is foolishness that I once took part in until that fateful day my freshman year of college when I found out the DC snipers were Black. I remember sitting on my dorm room couch feeling hurt on two levels: My socialized collective conscience forcing me to feel shame that wasn’t actually mine and the hurt I felt at not being able to say ‘White people are serial killers’ anymore. Alas, this is how we grow.

Before this seems like an attempt to blame the dominant culture for all the ills of the world–though of course it deserves its fair share of humble pie–recall that many Others follow the tone set. It’s a domino effect of sorts in which every group needs, in some way, to be just a bit better than another. Shorter Toussaint: It’s not just White people who are saying wild ish regarding Islam and the Fort Hood shooting.

So where do we go from here?

Let’s fall back from the inarticulate terrorist rhetoric. If this was indeed an act of terrorism–which has not been determined up to this point–let’s stay on topic. Let’s try to recall that terrorists, or freedom fighters, or patriots or people who get it poppin’, are only speaking for themselves and people who agree with them. And the people who agree with them cannot be classified as “Anyone and everyone who looks like they do.” They’re not speaking for everyone who looks like them or has a name like them. And they’re not agents of God either.

A Muslim army officer committed a disgusting act of violence.

Nidal Malik Hasan. Maybe crazy, definitely snapped. And Palestinian.*

*Originally, I had ’sociopath’ as a nice bookend, but as I looked into the definition, I realized such a determination couldn’t be made at this point. Is he a sociopath? That remains to be seen, but chopping down forty-three people who you don’t know like that–and killing thirteen of that number– requires both planning and being on some other ish.

From Organizing for America:

This is it — the House of Representatives will vote on health insurance reform tomorrow. All signs point to it being incredibly close, possibly even coming down to a single vote.

With the clock ticking, insurance company lobbyists are going all out to stop reform. Please call your rep now.

Today, President Obama is visiting the House to call for reform, and I hope you’ll add your voice to his. If you haven’t called before, now is the time. And if you have recently called, thank you — now please ask friends, family members, and co-workers in your district to join you.

http://my.barackobama.com/HouseVote

Everything we’re fighting for comes down to moments like this — and every second counts.

Yes We Can, my people. Holler at your rep, asap. Especially if you live in the South. Peace out.

Remember…Vitter wouldn’t condemn the racist Justice of the Peace that wouldn’t marry the inter-racial couple in Louisiana.

Good Afternoon.

Drop those links. Engage in debate. Give us trivia and gossip too.

And continue to have a peaceful day.

Sarah was a child acting in self-defense to escape a child predator & pimp — what’s so disturbing is how differently her case was treated as opposed to Jaycee Dugard. Sarah, uh, didn’t get no People Magazine cover story yet her troubling story is probably more common and certainly equally as compelling. Rihanna is finally speaking out this week about her relationship with Chris Brown and the violence. I hope it has a positive impact on young women and young men who need to see — violence and rape never equal love.

From MTV:

“You don’t realize how much your decisions affect people you don’t even know, like fans,” she told the magazine. And, if she could send a message to the millions of young women who look up to her, especially ones who might be in similar situations, Rihanna said it would be this: “Domestic violence is a big secret. No kid goes around and lets people know their parents fight. Teenage girls can’t tell their parents that their boyfriend beat them up. You don’t dare let your neighbor know that you fight. It’s one of the things we [women] will hide, because it’s embarrassing. My story was broadcast all over the world for people to see, and they have followed every step of my recovery.”

Domestic violence cuts across ethnic, economic and educational barriers. No one is immune. We’re hit hard in the black community and African-American women in trouble don’t always get the local love in the form of strong law enforcement support we need. We can see that in the Cleveland murders.

My friend Tracy Russo who’s the queen of New Media over at the Eric Holder’s Department of Justice (check out their new website) sent me the news that the DOJ is on it. They just released a report a couple of weeks ago on Female Victims of Violence. Here’s a few angering facts specifically on us:

In 2007 black female victims of intimate partner homicide were twice as likely as white female homicide victims to be killed by a spouse (0.96 and 0.50 per 100,000, respectively).

From 1993 through 2007, the rate of homicide by a spouse declined 58% for black females (from 2.28 homicides per 100,000 black female residents to 0.96 per 100,000). (The rate of homicide for white females killed by a spouse fell 36% (from 0.78 homicides per 100,000 female residents to 0.50 per 100,000).

Black females were four times more likely than white females to be murdered by a boyfriend or girlfriend (1.44 and 0.34 per 100,000, respectively).

The number of black female homicide victims killed by intimate partners fell 39% between 1993 and 2007. The number of white female homicide victims killed by intimate partners fell 21%.

Aretha sang:

A woman’s only human
You should understand
She’s not just a plaything
She’s flesh and blood just like her man
If you want a do-right-all-day woman
You’ve got to be a do-right-all-night man

They say that it’s a man’s world
Well you can improve that by me
And as long as we’re together baby
Show some respect for me

Holler in the comments if you’re feelin’ me…And thanks to Jasiri — a do right man, fo sho.

Rolando Ruiz is the man featured in yet another taser video making the rounds on Youtube. Ruiz was in police custody after being arrested by a Minneapolis police officer for reportedly throwing a brick at an officer’s vehicle.

Ruiz, who is 18-years-old, is seen in the video with his hands on the car before the officer appears to hold the taser to the back of Ruiz’s neck for 15 seconds.

Chief Tim Dolan called the video “very disturbing” and has asked the FBI to review it.

We’re always told tasers are the “safe” alternative to deadly force, and that police officers need to carry electric guns for purposes of self-defense only. This video appears to shatter the self-defense myth as does this recent story about a 51-year-old man, who was shot dead by officers after trying to escape his tasering.

Keep reading and watch the video on the clickthrough. The author is on point as usual.

Now, after that, please head over to http://taserhearings.blogspot.com/

It’s a site and movement started by many Afrospear members. And for those in Fort Worth, TX please check out this rally tomorrow (Saturday Nov 7) http://bit.ly/2JABK4

Posted via web from baratunde’s internet scratch pad

G-T-F-O-H

Good Morning.

TGIF, and spend some it with JJP.

Drop those links. Engage in debate. Give us trivia and gossip too.

And always, have a peaceful day.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Good Evening.

Drop those links. Engage in debate. Give us trivia and gossip too.

And continue to have a peaceful day.

Touching dispatch from a resident on lockdown in her home and separated from her husband. Click through for more citizen reporting

Posted via web from baratunde’s internet scratch pad

TPMDC happened upon a crowd that formed around two police vans as the protesters were prepared for “transporting,” according to one officer there.

Without those official details, protesters in the crowd watching the arrests were furious. They shouted “Let them go!” and one man yelled at the police that “Martin Luther King” was being dishonored and shouted “Letter from Birmingham Jail!”

One woman told officers they were “shameful.”

“This is America, this is not the Soviet Union,” one woman said.

Like a bad game of telephone, the crowd spread rumors without anyone having witnessed exactly what happened.

You really need to read the entire post over at TPM DC. It’s a case study in how misinformation spreads rapidly and horribly false conclusions are drawn by people predisposed to anger and action.

This isn’t unique to the Tea Party movement, and it would be hilarious if it weren’t also so potentially damaging, both physically and to the health of the healthcare debate we really need.

I can already see the headlines based on these unsubstantiated outbursts:

CAPITOL POLICE ARREST PRAYER GROUP

OBAMA THUGS SHRED CONSTITUTION

SOCIALISTS SOCIALIZE SOCIALISM!!

*sigh*

Posted via web from baratunde’s internet scratch pad

Higher Achievement is the proud recipient of the Coming Up Taller Award, the nation’s highest honor for out-of-school time organizations providing humanities and arts programming to children with great potential, but limited outlets for creative expression.
 
First Lady Michelle Obama presented the award to Higher Achievement during a special ceremony at the White House on November 4th. Higher Achievement is one of only 15 award winners, selected from more than 400 nominees from across the nation.

Wow, what happy news. I was in HAP throughout elementary school. It was like school after school in order to push me ahead academically. A few years ago I emceed one of the organization’s fundraisers. It so good to see this group getting the recognition it deserves. It really did change the course of my life for the better. Because of the extra investment of HAP, I was able to apply and gain entry to Sidwell Friends, and today, I spend most of my time on Twitter. Success!! :)

Posted via web from baratunde’s internet scratch pad

The Huffington Post tweeted this Twitter search result which shows tweets coming from the Fort Hood area. It’s an amazing feed actually. I noticed the tweet above in the feed, and had to pause for a second. So amazing and disturbing. So many levels.

Rough translation:
There’s a shooting at Fort Hood, and people are being killed. I’m going to go to Walmart and purchase a firearm in order to protect myself cause I don’t want to die. I’m going right now.

Update:

Upon closer reading it occurs to me that he already owns a firearm and going to make sure he has it with him when he goes to Walmart. Yes, I think that’s right. So, new translation …

There’s a shooting at Fort Hood, and people are being killed. I need to go to Walmart, but first I’m going to get my firearm to protect myself cause I don’t want to die. I’m going right now.

Posted via email from baratunde’s internet scratch pad

Good Afternoon.

Drop those links. Engage in debate. Give us trivia and gossip too.

And always, have a peaceful day.

How does a convicted rapist and registered sex offender who did fifteen years get away with such a thing? In an attempt to combat my knee-jerk “the authorities clearly just don’t give a damn,” I attempted to hand out a bit of fail to all parties involved, namely, the neighbors, the police and the media.

The media angle is explained easily enough. Black women that go missing are not a story. As I sit, I can’t think of one national news story that involved a Black woman who has vanished. Compound that with the likelihood that Sowell’s victims were poor and you have a non-story. Boom, #MediaFail.

The police claim they didn’t have information on the smell coming from the neighborhood. The neighborhood is poor, and it can be reasoned, however unfortunately, that the police presence in it is for specific reasons or not at all. In fact, their eventual discovery of the bodies was due to serving Sowell a search and arrest warrant on another assault charge.

It’s unlikely that no police had been to the neighborhood in the four years since Sowell had been released, but it could be reasonably argued that the stench was one they missed for various reasons. Also, police said they couldn’t find a link between missing Black women in Cleveland–outside of the fact that they’re missing and Black and women which, in and of itself, isn’t a story for the police in much the same way it isn’t for the media. Wack, but plausible. All things considered, they probably could have been  more on top of things. Boom, #MediumCopFail.

The above claim holds decent enough water. The neighbors said they’d smelled a stench that permeated the neighborhood. They assumed it was the stink of meat from Ray’s Sausages Company, a local business. Ray’s cleaned up its act–replacing grease traps and a sewer line–and the smell persisted. According to police, they had no way of knowing about the smell. It could be reasoned that the police could only be made aware of it if a resident informed them of such things. If that didn’t happen, boom, #NeighborFail.

Except that residents of the neighborhood did call about the smell. In 2007. According to city councilman Zach Reed–who is calling for an independent investigation of the matter–someone rang the city council to inform them of the smell. And they were specific

“We received a phone call from a resident that said a foul odor came across the street and it smells like a dead person. Not dead meat, not a dead animal — a dead person,” Reed said…Reed noted the local health department and police received calls regarding the house.

Boom, #ColossalAuthorityFail.

Uh oh, Cleveland. Somebody got caught with their pants down. Now, of course, Reed could be lying, but since the nature of the information incriminates him to some degree, it should not be overlooked.

Before hearing this tidbit, I assumed that perhaps the police and Powers That Be weren’t terribly in the wrong; that maybe some blame should be placed at the feet of residence who said nothing. But, according to Reed, they did say something and they were ignored. Remember: Police discovered these bodies serving another warrant altogether.

Cops said they didn’t know nothin’. Reed says they did. Who’s telling the truth?

Since we’re discussing Cleveland municipal shenanigans, I have a few timeline concerns and questions:

1. Anthony Sowell was in jail on two charges of attempted rape–something he’d worked out in a plea deal–and served fifteen years, from 1990-2005. If you’re doing fifteen years, it can be reasonably assumed that the nature of his crime was of a violent nature. Who’s job was it to keep track of him upon his release?
2. Upon being released in 2005, he was registered as a sex offender and listed the home in which police would eventually find the eleven bodies as his residence of record i.e. He’s been there since getting out.
3. How long was his parole? What were the conditions of his parole? How is it that no one of authority ever stopped by his house in four years? Released in 2005. Call about the smell of a decomposing body in his neighborhood in 2007. My issue is not that they didn’t assume he was the source of the smell; it’s that, apparently, no one of authority had been on the premises of his residence two years after his release, if not earlier. If they had, I imagine they’d have smelled the foulness.
4. Someone calls and says “We smell dead human being,” and nobody does anything? No one could send a squad car to the area and ask a few people if they’ve smelled anything funny? Maybe cross-check the area with any suspicious characters known to reside there? The neighborhood stunk for YEARS and nobody did boo about it. The CPD dragged ELEVEN bodies out of this guys house. How bad does that stink?
5. Again, I’m not saying they should have known it was Anthony Sowell. I am saying, however, that basic “serving and protecting” of a community that had made mention of needing such a thing isn’t extremely difficult police work. This isn’t even Lenny Brisco, hard-boiled detective stuff. This is “what the eff is that smell?”

Is it any wonder why people in marginalized communities don’t speak up more often? In fact, I wonder how often people do try to be good citizens only to be ignored by the people sworn to look out for their communities and interests.

I wanted to be in the middle on this. I wanted to try and see everyone’s side of it, allow for everyone to take a bit of the responsibility, but I can’t. If Zach Reed is telling the truth, then the Cleveland City Council and police department failed tremendously. Had they given even a small effort in 2007, they wouldn’t have had to carry out eleven bodies today.

But they didn’t care. That the victims and the neighbors who attempted to have the matter looked into are Black and poor is hardly a surprise.

Which of these faces looks more Republican to you?

Yes, The Root goes there…or at least asks Black Republicans to get real and get over themselves if they want to be taken seriously by the other 95% of black people in America who aren’t Republican.

BTW, where on earth do they find all these Black republicans to be on TV? I swear, some folks will say anything to get a paycheck! And the GOP managed to round up the other five black people in America who aren’t on TV for their ridiculous new website which also portrays falsely that the Republican party is all multiculti and whatnot. It also tries to bite from MyBarackObama.com unsuccessfully…

One of my best friends tried for awhile, way before it was cool and could instantly get you a regular TV talking head slot, to be a Black Republican because she thought it would open doors, be good for her career, etc. She met a lot of people, but ultimately she couldn’t play pretend anymore nor deal with the condescension. No Black Republican you see on TV or on the ridiculous new GOP.com website is representative of what most African-Americans think and personally, I think their viewpoints are over-represented in the media right now…

David Swerdlick breaks it down. Here’s a slice, but you should read the rest over at TheRoot:

There’s a reason most African Americans don’t take kindly to the GOP agenda. Here’s what black Republicans have to own before they can even think about getting a “fair and balanced” hearing from the black community:

Admit that Republicans say one thing and do another.

Where was the outrage of black Republicans in 2006 when President George W. Bush and a Republican Congress passed an unfunded $1 trillion Medicare prescription drug benefit as naked pander to senior citizens? Back then, there were no calls for restraint.

Now there’s a case to be made against comprehensive health care reform, but when Stanford’s black conservative dean Thomas Sowell calls Obama “charlatan in chief,” that’s not the way to make it. Big words don’t separate that attack from the less erudite, but more honest “You lie!” of Rep. Joe Wilson.

Stop selling what African Americans aren’t buying.

Jingoism is a sure route to permanently driving African Americans away from the GOP. Percentage-wise,black Americans are the only demographic that is overrepresented in the military, yet simultaneously, andoverwhelmingly opposed the Iraq War from the start.

No one did more harm to Republican hopes of attracting African Americans to their party than former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, with her unadulterated championing of Bush’s shoot-first-talk-later foreign policy. Yet black Republicans persist in dismissing Obama’s foreign policy as out-of-hand. Sophiasays there’s no evidence of torture. Her response to Obama’s diplomatic efforts: “Yada, yada, yada.” These are non-starters among African Americans.

Start holding Republicans accountable for their hostility.

I know—there’s no direct evidence that Republicans are, per se, hostile to people of color—but there’s a whole lot of circumstantial evidence that they just can’t account for.

Sophia was one of few Republicans unafraid to criticize fellow Republicans for their disgraceful treatment of Justice Sonia Sotomayor. But she’s in the—ahem—“minority.”

Republicans can’t hide behind ostensibly pro-equality slogans like “Party of Lincoln” anymore. It’ll take more than a new Web site to convince people of color that they are welcome in the GOP. Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele has done more to publicly denigrate African Americans than any of his recent predecessors. He’s so repellent to blacks—trying to draw interest with cheesy hip-hop slang and references to “bling” that fellow black Republicans tried to oust him from his post.