I embrace words that accurately describe me, even if they may not be said in a way that is complimentary. These words include activist, dissenter, feminist and cantankerous. I cannot deny that they are accurate, because I know what words mean.
Am I a socialist? Well, if socialism is passionately supporting public education, social security, affordable health care access for all people, taxing the rich at rates greater than the poor are taxed, public lands (city parks, national parks, national monuments, etc.), and taxes paying for social and public services then, yes, I am part socialist, because there are aspects of socialism I want in the USA. However, I also want people to be free to invest money and make money, to own their own houses and their own property, to become wealthy, to buy luxury items, to buy things they want but may not need - and a socialist, nor a communist, would be down with any of that. Karl Marx said, "The theory of Communism may be summed up in the single sentence: Abolition of private property." And I own a house and I love my house and it's mine, and I love my motorcycle and really don't want anyone else riding it EVER...
But, still, if I'm willing to accept the word socialism as a word that accurately describes of some of my beliefs, no matter how incendiary it is to some people, then why do people who are racists refuse to accept the description that they are racists? Racism is the belief that members of a category of people - a category based on their ancestry, their ethnicity - possess behavioral characteristics and intellectual abilities specific to that category, that race, especially so as to distinguish people of that race as inferior or superior to people of another race or races.
That means that if you think most people who are Latino, because of their biology, have a predisposition to rape and kill greater than people who are of European descent, you are a racist. If you believe that the biology of people from Asia makes them predisposed to be smarter than people who are black from Sub-Sahara Africa, you are a racist. If you think black Americans are predisposed to commit crimes at a much greater rate than whites because of their brain makeup, you are a racist. If you believe culture comes not from external factors and history but, rather, a person's biological makeup, then you are a racist.
By this accurate definition, Donald Trump is a racist, as are his supporters. There's no getting around that. based on his frequently stated beliefs and the crowds that cheer those statements. By calling Trump supporters racists, yes, I am insulting Trump supporters - but I'm also being accurate.
The list of Trump's racist remarks is too long for this blog. But here are just some highlights:
Trump characterizes cities with a large black population as dystopian war zones. In a 2016 debate with Hillary Clinton, Trump said, “Our inner cities, African Americans, Hispanics are living in hell because it’s so dangerous. You walk down the street, you get shot.” Trump also said to black voters: “You’re living in poverty; your schools are no good; you have no jobs.” Trump frequently offers false crime statistics to exaggerate urban crime in cities with large black populations, including about Oakland, Philadelphia and Ferguson, Missouri. This comes from his racist belief that black people are more violent than people of other races.
Trump frequently talks about crimes committed by dark-skinned people, sometimes exaggerating or lying about them (such as a claim about growing crime from “radical Islamic terror” in Britain). Again, this comes from his racist belief that people who are identified as not white are more prone to violence.
Trump is very slow to decry hate crimes committed by whites against dark-skinned people (such as the killing of an Indian man in Kansas last year). Trump called some of those who marched alongside white supremacists in Charlottesville, Va., last August “very fine people.” This comes from his racist belief that white violence against other races is somehow justified, or not as bad as violence by people from other races.
Trump said a federal judge hearing a case about Trump University was biased because of the judge’s Mexican heritage. This illustrates his racist belief that people of Hispanic or Latino descent are inferior in their abilities to white people.
In June 2017, Trump said 15,000 recent immigrants from Haiti “all have AIDS” and that 40,000 Nigerians, once seeing the United States, would never “go back to their huts” in Africa. Do I even have to explain what makes this racist?
At the White House, Trump vulgarly called for less immigration from Haiti and Africa and more from Norway, because he believes people from Scandinavia - white people - are superior to other races because of their biology.
His favorite insult of black Americans seems to be that they have a "low I.Q." or are not "smart": he's used this insult for Don Lemon, LeBron James, Maxine Waters. By contrast, he likes to use sexist remarks to insult white women, and insults about character and appearance for white men.
In the 1990s, Trump took out advertisements alleging that the “Mohawk Indian record of criminal activity is well documented.”
Trump once referred to a Hispanic Miss Universe as “Miss Housekeeping.”
Those are just some of the racist remarks he's made. If words have meaning, then Donald Trump is a racist. Why doesn't he embrace the title? He almost has: he's now admitted to being a nationalist, which is an extremist form of patriotism and is a term beloved among fascists. And fascism is inextricably tied with racism - the two cannot be separated.
Trump's domestic and foreign policies are based on two things: increasing his family's wealth and promoting his racist ideology. So, if you support him, there is only one thing to call you: racist. Why not embrace it? The description CANNOT be wrong unless you also believe your ideology about race is wrong. Period.
There is no denying that the US, like most countries on Earth, was built on racist ideologies. It is my choice every day, not just on election day, to embrace that or to fight against that continuing. Regardless of the election results, I'm going to continue to fight. I won't be "coming together" with racists. I won't be "looking for common ground" with racists. If it makes you uncomfortable when I speak out or walk out - it should, and that's your problem, not mine.
Not ready to make nice, not ready to back down...
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
Tuesday, November 6, 2018
We did this. No matter what happens Nov. 6
When George W. Bush lost the popular vote but still became President, because the US Supreme Court prevented the vote recount in Florida, the outcry was barely a blip on the media radar. Millions were furious, but the press and even Al Gore said we needed to not protest, to, instead, just "come together" accept that a man the majority of voters did not vote for would be the leader of the USA. Anyone who continued to protest how the election was decided was branded a crank or un-American by the press and both parties. When the attacks on September 11, 2001 happened, criticizing the President became almost treasonous. When millions took to the streets to protest the second invasion of Iraq, the media downplayed the numbers and the fury, in order to not upset the President and lose their access. In 2004, when Bush won Ohio and Florida, again under mysterious circumstances and despite exit polls that said otherwise, any voiced opposition was, again, quickly dismissed as sore losers and unPatriotic.
What Republicans and the press didn't realize then is there was a great deal of resentment simmering under the perceived public quiet. We took that simmering resentment to the polls in 2008 in huge numbers and put Barack Obama in the White House for eight years, despite the gerrymandering, despite the voter suppression efforts.
In 2016, when Donald Trump lost the popular vote but still became President, and when a majority of Americans voted for Democrats in Congress but, because of gerrymandering, Republicans took both houses, something very different happened than in 2000: the majority didn't stay silent. Government and the media were taken aback when millions of women protested across the USA on or near January 21, 2017 to protest Donald Trump, the GOP and their attitudes and actions against women - in Portland, Oregon, there was a record-breaking number of people who took to the streets, and in protest-loving Portland, that's saying something. Government and media were shocked again when thousands of people spontaneously descended on airports across the USA to help Muslim visitors and Muslim green card holders who were suddenly in security limbo because of Trump's ban on Muslims.
The GOP and the mainstream media had anticipated and planned a different narrative. That's why NBC gave a morning TV show in 2017 to Fox News personality Megan Kelly, and ABC tried to revive the TV show Roseanne soon after - the media wanted to try to appeal to Trump supporters and expected the opposition to be silent. Networks were surprised when Kelly and Roseanne Barr's racism quickly surfaced, bias neither had ever tried to hide, and that the backlash was so very loud and swift that both shows were canceled.
All of this is a long-winded way of saying: your voice has made a difference. From individuals refusing to be silent at the Thanksgiving table as Uncle Racist spews his hate to attending public meetings with their elected officials in record numbers and being vocal about their demands to emailing and tweeting news outlets when they see attempts to sugar coat fascism to taking to the streets, you have kept the media on their toes and the Democratic Party leadership from compromising.
The resistance is real, it's made a difference, and individuals have fueled it - not George Soros, not the Democratic Party leadership, not official political groups and certainly not the media.
And you are exhausted. I know I am. I've been attending city council meetings and public meetings with state and local legislators, mostly just observing, listening to questions and comments, making sure extreme right-wingers aren't making any in-roads, making sure their rhetoric gets checked, and ready to throw a spotlight on anything that needs to be brought to everyone's attention, via social media - without an active, robust local press, we can't count on media coverage to keep an eye out. I've been registering voters, passing out League of Women Voters Oregon voter guides and trying to educate friends and neighbors about ballot measures. I've been attending debates by candidates for city and county offices. I've been trying to amplify media stories that my friends might have missed on social media. And I am so tired. And the thought of having to continue at this level, at 11, for another two years makes me want to give up.
So take a break on election day. And maybe the day of the election itself. Think about all that has been accomplished by individuals all across the USA who have refused to stay silent, who have protested in ways big and small. The media wouldn't be talking about the President lying if it wasn't for us. Late night talk show hosts wouldn't be talking about it either if it wasn't for us. The Democratic Party and Democrats in the Senate, the House and state legislatures all across the country wouldn't be resisting if it wasn't for us. We did this. Be proud of that, no matter what happens on November 6.
But also remember that this is a marathon, not a sprint. This is going to take more than one election to solve. The first public meeting of the Nazi party was in February 1920, when Adolf Hitler issued a "25 Point Program" outlining the party's political agenda - an agenda that embodied racism. Hitler was appointed German Chancellor in January 1933. It took less than 13 years for Nazism, the most well-known form of fascism, to take over German society completely. The end of the war ended Nazi control of Germany in 1945. That means it took 10 years to defeat Hitler. It took many more years to bring Nazi war criminals to justice. Are you ready for the long haul?
What Republicans and the press didn't realize then is there was a great deal of resentment simmering under the perceived public quiet. We took that simmering resentment to the polls in 2008 in huge numbers and put Barack Obama in the White House for eight years, despite the gerrymandering, despite the voter suppression efforts.
In 2016, when Donald Trump lost the popular vote but still became President, and when a majority of Americans voted for Democrats in Congress but, because of gerrymandering, Republicans took both houses, something very different happened than in 2000: the majority didn't stay silent. Government and the media were taken aback when millions of women protested across the USA on or near January 21, 2017 to protest Donald Trump, the GOP and their attitudes and actions against women - in Portland, Oregon, there was a record-breaking number of people who took to the streets, and in protest-loving Portland, that's saying something. Government and media were shocked again when thousands of people spontaneously descended on airports across the USA to help Muslim visitors and Muslim green card holders who were suddenly in security limbo because of Trump's ban on Muslims.
The GOP and the mainstream media had anticipated and planned a different narrative. That's why NBC gave a morning TV show in 2017 to Fox News personality Megan Kelly, and ABC tried to revive the TV show Roseanne soon after - the media wanted to try to appeal to Trump supporters and expected the opposition to be silent. Networks were surprised when Kelly and Roseanne Barr's racism quickly surfaced, bias neither had ever tried to hide, and that the backlash was so very loud and swift that both shows were canceled.
All of this is a long-winded way of saying: your voice has made a difference. From individuals refusing to be silent at the Thanksgiving table as Uncle Racist spews his hate to attending public meetings with their elected officials in record numbers and being vocal about their demands to emailing and tweeting news outlets when they see attempts to sugar coat fascism to taking to the streets, you have kept the media on their toes and the Democratic Party leadership from compromising.
The resistance is real, it's made a difference, and individuals have fueled it - not George Soros, not the Democratic Party leadership, not official political groups and certainly not the media.
And you are exhausted. I know I am. I've been attending city council meetings and public meetings with state and local legislators, mostly just observing, listening to questions and comments, making sure extreme right-wingers aren't making any in-roads, making sure their rhetoric gets checked, and ready to throw a spotlight on anything that needs to be brought to everyone's attention, via social media - without an active, robust local press, we can't count on media coverage to keep an eye out. I've been registering voters, passing out League of Women Voters Oregon voter guides and trying to educate friends and neighbors about ballot measures. I've been attending debates by candidates for city and county offices. I've been trying to amplify media stories that my friends might have missed on social media. And I am so tired. And the thought of having to continue at this level, at 11, for another two years makes me want to give up.
So take a break on election day. And maybe the day of the election itself. Think about all that has been accomplished by individuals all across the USA who have refused to stay silent, who have protested in ways big and small. The media wouldn't be talking about the President lying if it wasn't for us. Late night talk show hosts wouldn't be talking about it either if it wasn't for us. The Democratic Party and Democrats in the Senate, the House and state legislatures all across the country wouldn't be resisting if it wasn't for us. We did this. Be proud of that, no matter what happens on November 6.
But also remember that this is a marathon, not a sprint. This is going to take more than one election to solve. The first public meeting of the Nazi party was in February 1920, when Adolf Hitler issued a "25 Point Program" outlining the party's political agenda - an agenda that embodied racism. Hitler was appointed German Chancellor in January 1933. It took less than 13 years for Nazism, the most well-known form of fascism, to take over German society completely. The end of the war ended Nazi control of Germany in 1945. That means it took 10 years to defeat Hitler. It took many more years to bring Nazi war criminals to justice. Are you ready for the long haul?
Saturday, November 3, 2018
Let's talk about Burt Reynolds instead of politics
I cried when Burt Reynolds died. I did. Movies and TV shows were my safe place growing up, and watching Reynolds host The Tonight Show was a happy time in my dysfunctional family. Going to the Starlight Drive-in in Henderson, Kentucky to see a Burt Reynolds movie was always a great time. I couldn't say that about Christmas with my family, but I could say that about any time a get together with my family and Burt Reynolds was involved.
Unless you were alive in the 1970s, you have NO IDEA how huge of a star he was in that decade. No idea. There is no celebrity I can compare his popularity to, before or since.
When I saw on Facebook soon after Reynolds died that a movie theater in Portland, Oregon was going to show Smokey and the Bandit, I immediately bought tickets for the showing, more than a month away. When am I ever going to get to see Smokey and the Bandit again on a big screen?! The showing was almost sold out and the audience laughed at all the right moments - except one, the one in which mocks Sheriff Buford T. Justice of Portague County for being a racist. I always appreciate that scene - the movie would have been disingenuous about the South without it. Regardless, I was in heaven watching that movie in a real theater, on the big screen. I could feel tears in my eyes when "Eastbound and Down" played the first time. A friend of mine tweeted after Burt died, "I was eight years old and my bike was, alternately, the Millennium Falcon and the Bandit’s black Trans-Am." And rewatching the movie reminded me of why that was.
Ever since that night in Portland, I've been hungry for more Burt Reynolds movies.
I'm thrilled to learn today that Turner Classic Movies will show six of his movies on December 26, including Smokey and the Bandit and The Longest Yard. But in October, TCM showed White Lightning, and I recorded it to watch when I had time. And I just watched it. Heaven.
White Lightning was a critical bomb, but an audience smash. If you are thinking of watching it, be forewarned: this is not the romantic, genteel South or the fun-loving good ole boy hick flick you may be expecting. This is not Smokey and the Bandit, though car chases abound. There are some beautiful, atmospheric moments and some hilariously-witty one-liners from Burt and, yes, he takes his shirt off a lot - which is FINE - but this a dark, gritty, at times brutal look at the rural South. If you can ignore the painfully stupid instrumental background music at times, and if you experienced any of the South in the 1970s, or if you wanted to, you'll dig this movie. I wore the clothes in this movie, women in my family had the hair of oh-so-many of the women in this movie... I swear, I could smell the grass, the cars, the food, the gasoline, the pigs, the sweat, the water - even the moonshine. I loved how all the women in this movie had normal, real bodies - no boob jobs, no botox, real hips. And when Burt says "The Poe-lease," I melt... that's how we talked growing up. I've been saying "The Poe-lease" frequently these days, much to the confusion of my German husband.
But White Lightning is more than just a movie that looks so nostalgic and atmospheric and has great car chases: I heard so many of the things said by the sheriff and some others in this movie when I was growing up by family members, neighbors, even teachers - about "hippies" and young college students daring to challenge the status quo, asking questions and asking, "Why?" I feel like the movie has a subversive, subtle message: the old ways are going away, and young people everywhere, all over the USA, including the South, are going to demand something much better: racial justice, women's equality, education for all. And you can't just kill them all or dismiss them as communists - they are going to just keep coming, and really, are they any better or worse than anyone else? The scene with Reynolds walking around the students in the diner, listening to them as they talk about justice, him obviously thinking of his brother and his ideals, really got me. I believe there are a lot of people like that in rural America, who may not be eloquent, who may be more focused on having a good time than trying to help the oppressed, but who admire those people we mock now as "social justice warriors."
I do wonder how modern audiences who don't know the VERY restrictive laws regarding alcohol in the USA once upon a time will understand the secondary plot of the movie, centering around the illegal production and transportation of whiskey, the massive amounts of money people made off such and the dogged attempts of the federal government to collect taxes on it.
It's not a movie for everyone. But if you have the right mindset, this is a good, thoughtful flick.
And on a side note, I found this interesting note from another reviewer:
Every character in this film hates the system! Sheriff Connors hates the Commies infiltrating Washington, the moonshiners hate the IRS, and those damn long-haired, pot smoking hippies are always protesting. This is because screenwriter William W. Norton was a rebel in his own right; a card-carrying member of the Communist Party since the paranoid 50’s, Norton’s life is as interesting as the story. After a career in Hollywood, penning THE SCALPHUNTERS, I DISMEMBER MAMA, BIG BAD MAMA, and this film’s sequel GATOR, he moved to Ireland in the 1980’s and became a gunrunner for the INLA (Irish National Liberation Army), until he and his wife Eleanor were busted in France, and sentenced to prison. After doing his time, and learning a warrant was issued in America, he sought asylum in Nicaragua, where he killed a man who broke into his house. Then he moved to Cuba, but found living under a Communist regime was a lot different from just carrying a card, so he fled to Mexico, eventually being smuggled back into the USA by friends, where he lived out his life.
And checking IMDB, I found out Norton's son directed an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, one of my all-time favorite shows, and FreakyLinks, a show created by a friend of mine...
Mind. Blown.
Unless you were alive in the 1970s, you have NO IDEA how huge of a star he was in that decade. No idea. There is no celebrity I can compare his popularity to, before or since.
When I saw on Facebook soon after Reynolds died that a movie theater in Portland, Oregon was going to show Smokey and the Bandit, I immediately bought tickets for the showing, more than a month away. When am I ever going to get to see Smokey and the Bandit again on a big screen?! The showing was almost sold out and the audience laughed at all the right moments - except one, the one in which mocks Sheriff Buford T. Justice of Portague County for being a racist. I always appreciate that scene - the movie would have been disingenuous about the South without it. Regardless, I was in heaven watching that movie in a real theater, on the big screen. I could feel tears in my eyes when "Eastbound and Down" played the first time. A friend of mine tweeted after Burt died, "I was eight years old and my bike was, alternately, the Millennium Falcon and the Bandit’s black Trans-Am." And rewatching the movie reminded me of why that was.
Ever since that night in Portland, I've been hungry for more Burt Reynolds movies.
I'm thrilled to learn today that Turner Classic Movies will show six of his movies on December 26, including Smokey and the Bandit and The Longest Yard. But in October, TCM showed White Lightning, and I recorded it to watch when I had time. And I just watched it. Heaven.
White Lightning was a critical bomb, but an audience smash. If you are thinking of watching it, be forewarned: this is not the romantic, genteel South or the fun-loving good ole boy hick flick you may be expecting. This is not Smokey and the Bandit, though car chases abound. There are some beautiful, atmospheric moments and some hilariously-witty one-liners from Burt and, yes, he takes his shirt off a lot - which is FINE - but this a dark, gritty, at times brutal look at the rural South. If you can ignore the painfully stupid instrumental background music at times, and if you experienced any of the South in the 1970s, or if you wanted to, you'll dig this movie. I wore the clothes in this movie, women in my family had the hair of oh-so-many of the women in this movie... I swear, I could smell the grass, the cars, the food, the gasoline, the pigs, the sweat, the water - even the moonshine. I loved how all the women in this movie had normal, real bodies - no boob jobs, no botox, real hips. And when Burt says "The Poe-lease," I melt... that's how we talked growing up. I've been saying "The Poe-lease" frequently these days, much to the confusion of my German husband.
But White Lightning is more than just a movie that looks so nostalgic and atmospheric and has great car chases: I heard so many of the things said by the sheriff and some others in this movie when I was growing up by family members, neighbors, even teachers - about "hippies" and young college students daring to challenge the status quo, asking questions and asking, "Why?" I feel like the movie has a subversive, subtle message: the old ways are going away, and young people everywhere, all over the USA, including the South, are going to demand something much better: racial justice, women's equality, education for all. And you can't just kill them all or dismiss them as communists - they are going to just keep coming, and really, are they any better or worse than anyone else? The scene with Reynolds walking around the students in the diner, listening to them as they talk about justice, him obviously thinking of his brother and his ideals, really got me. I believe there are a lot of people like that in rural America, who may not be eloquent, who may be more focused on having a good time than trying to help the oppressed, but who admire those people we mock now as "social justice warriors."
I do wonder how modern audiences who don't know the VERY restrictive laws regarding alcohol in the USA once upon a time will understand the secondary plot of the movie, centering around the illegal production and transportation of whiskey, the massive amounts of money people made off such and the dogged attempts of the federal government to collect taxes on it.
It's not a movie for everyone. But if you have the right mindset, this is a good, thoughtful flick.
And on a side note, I found this interesting note from another reviewer:
Every character in this film hates the system! Sheriff Connors hates the Commies infiltrating Washington, the moonshiners hate the IRS, and those damn long-haired, pot smoking hippies are always protesting. This is because screenwriter William W. Norton was a rebel in his own right; a card-carrying member of the Communist Party since the paranoid 50’s, Norton’s life is as interesting as the story. After a career in Hollywood, penning THE SCALPHUNTERS, I DISMEMBER MAMA, BIG BAD MAMA, and this film’s sequel GATOR, he moved to Ireland in the 1980’s and became a gunrunner for the INLA (Irish National Liberation Army), until he and his wife Eleanor were busted in France, and sentenced to prison. After doing his time, and learning a warrant was issued in America, he sought asylum in Nicaragua, where he killed a man who broke into his house. Then he moved to Cuba, but found living under a Communist regime was a lot different from just carrying a card, so he fled to Mexico, eventually being smuggled back into the USA by friends, where he lived out his life.
And checking IMDB, I found out Norton's son directed an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, one of my all-time favorite shows, and FreakyLinks, a show created by a friend of mine...
Mind. Blown.
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