Fannie Lou Hamer

Do you know who Fannie Lou Hamer is? Everyone should...

1138 Reasons Equality Matters

You may wonder what, precisely, is the big deal about gay marriage? Why has marriage become a key civil rights issue within the gay and lesbian community? Why does it matter? Well, when it comes to our civil society, the way rights, privileges and resources are dished out, it matters A LOT. Here are 1138 reasons why full marriage equality matters. This is about CIVIL RIGHTS, plain and simple. As long as society confers all these rights and privileges to married couples, EVERYONE should have access to that institution and those rights and privileges.

Check it out. Spread the word...

Reprise: Got Milk?

UPDATE: The following entry was originally posted on September 7, 2008, but I thought it made sense to repost it now since "Milk" is finally in theaters. Drea and I saw it yesterday and enjoyed it very much. The pacing lags a bit in the second half of the film and a couple of the characters are thinly drawn, but overall we thought it was great and that there were several strong acting performances in it.

_________________

Here is the trailer for Gus VanSant's new film, "Milk," starring Sean Penn. It looks great. Check it out:


Harvey Milk was the first openly gay person to hold a major political office in the United States when he became a City Supervisor for San Francisco in 1976. (TIME Magazine has named him one of the 100 heroes of the 20th century.) Known as "The Mayor of Castro Street," Milk was an advocate for the rights of gays and lesbians, as well as an advocate of civil rights, more broadly. In 1978, Milk and S.F. Mayor Willie Moscone were gunned down at the capitol by a disgruntled former supervisor, Dan White, who then got off with a very light sentence after a controversial "twinkie defense" defense by his lawyers. White later committed suicide in 1985.

On the historic night of his election, Harvey Milk told supporters, "This is not my victory -- it's yours. If a gay man can win, it proves that there is hope for all minorities who are willing to fight." In his famous "Hope speech," Milk said,

"[Y]ou have to give them hope. Hope for a better world, hope for a better tomorrow, hope for a better place to come to if the pressures at home got too great. Hope that all will be all right. Without hope, not only gays, but the blacks, the seniors, the handicapped, the us’es, the us’es will give up….

So if there is a message I have to give, it is that if I’ve found one overriding thing about my personal election, it’s the fact that if a gay person can be elected, it’s a green light. And you and you and you, you have to give people hope."

In an audio note he left, which was to be listened to only upon his assassination, Milk wrote, "If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door." You can listen to the audio tape here:


After the assassinations, Beat poet, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, wrote, "An Elegy To Dispel Gloom":

Let us not sit upon the ground
and tell sad stories
of the death of sanity.
Two humans made of flesh
are meshed in death
and no more need be said.
It is pure vanity
to think that all humanity
be bathed in red
because one young mad man
one so bad man
lost his head.
The force that through the red fuze
drove the bullet
does not drive everyone
through the City of Saint Francis
where there's a breathless hush
in the air today
a hush at City Hall
and a hush at the Hall of Justice
a hush in Saint Francis Wood
where no bird tries to sing
a hush on the Great Highway
and in the great harbor
upon the great ships
and on the Embarcadero
from the Mission Rock
to the Eagle Cafe
a hush on the great red bridge
a hush in the Outer Mission
and at Hunter's Point
a hush at a hot potato stand on Pier 39
and a hush at the People's Temple
where no bird
tries its wings
a hush and a weeping
at the Convent of the Sacred Heart
on Upper Broadway
a hush upon the fleshpots
of Lower Broadway
a pall upon the punk rock
at Mabuhay Gardens
and upon the cafes and bookstores
of old North Beach
a hush upon the landscape
of the still wild West
where two sweet dudes are dead
and no more need be said.
Do not sit upon the ground and speak
of other senseless murderings
or worse disasters waiting
in the wings.
Do not sit upon the ground and talk
of the death of things beyond
these sad sad happenings.
Such men as these do rise above
our worst imaginings.

There is also an excellent 1984 documentary, "The Times of Harvey Milk." If you'd like to watch it via YouTube, click here:

part 1
part 2
part 3
part 4
part 5
part 6
part 7
part 8
part 9
part 10

Here is the review from "Siskel and Ebert"

Here is the original tv news report of Milk and Moscone's murder.

Here is footage of the "white night riot" after Milk's assassination and White's light punishment.

Here is footage of the gay pride parade in San Francisco in 1978.

Say It Loud!

The Anti-Gay Blacklist?

Along with Obama's inspiring, historic victory came some electoral disappointments, too. In Nebraska, voters decided to amend the state constitution to ban state affirmative action programs. And in three states, basic civil rights for gays and lesbians were curtailed. Most notably, California residents overturned a recent court decision which had legalized gay marriage.

Even so, one of the promising developments in the wake of these defeats has been a spate of nation-wide protests in support of full equality for the GLBTQ community. Even here in Omaha, an estimated 250 people came out w/ signs last Saturday and filled the pedestrian bridge that crosses Dodge Street, the main drag in the city. Not bad for Nebraska...

It now appears that a boycott of companies that supported the California ban is gaining some steam. One group - Anti-Gay Blacklist - has generated controversy by listing the names of both companies and individuals who donated $1,000 or more to support Proposition 8. It's the individuals that are controversial. Is it ethical to go after individuals, with the threat that they might lose their jobs, or not get hired, because of their political views? Or, is this a fair use of the right to boycott? Emma Ruby-Sachs doesn't think it is cool to go after individuals...

If individuals perform their jobs well, if they are good students or good human resource managers, then they should be allowed to continue in their positions. Until their actions in the workplace create harm -- dismissals based on political affiliation should not be encouraged.

This movement for equal rights is based on the fundamental belief in the equal protection of the law. That means equal protection for us, but it also means equal protection for the people who hate us. We can create an effective movement for full protection for LGBT people under the Constitution without working to unemploy individuals who, because of faith or bigotry, don't think we deserve to be treated equally. That is a movement of which we can all be proud.

What do you think? Is it cool to target individuals?

Olbermann Special Comment: Gay Marriage

This speaks for itself:

The Most Challenging Question for Palin and Biden

This is an interesting post by William Saletan over at the Slate blog, Human Nature:

Tomorrow night, Joe Biden and Sarah Palin will meet in their only vice-presidential debate. Most of the discussion will be about economics and foreign policy. On the social issues, here are two questions moderator Gwen Ifill should ask.

• Gov. Palin, you were asked this week whether it should be illegal for a girl to get an abortion in the case of rape or incest. Your answer was that the girl herself should not go to jail. What about the doctor? Should the doctor who performs that abortion face criminal penalties?


• Sen. Biden, you said four weeks ago that you believe life begins at conception but that you can't impose your personal beliefs on other people. Yet you also voted for a law against gay marriage called the Defense of Marriage Act, and two years ago, you said this law expresses your view that "marriage is between a man and a woman and states must respect that." Why is it OK to impose your beliefs on gay marriage but not on abortion?


Here's all the background information Ifill will need when the candidates start fudging...

• Palin's interview with Katie Couric, aired yesterday:

Couric: "If a 15-year-old is raped by her father, you believe it should be illegal for her to get an abortion. Why?"

Palin:"I am pro-life. And I'm unapologetic about my position there on pro-life. And I understand good people on both sides of the abortion debate. In fact, good people in my own family have differing views on abortion and when it should be allowed. So ... I respect people's opinion on this. ..."

Couric: "But, ideally, you think it should be illegal for a girl who was raped or the victim of incest to get an abortion? "

Palin: "I'm saying that, personally, I would counsel the person to choose life, despite horrific, horrific circumstances that this person would find themselves in. And, um, if you're asking, though, kind of foundationally here, should anyone end up in jail for having an ... abortion, absolutely not."

• Biden on Meet the Press, Sept. 7, 2008:

Biden: "I'm prepared as a matter of faith to accept that life begins at the moment of conception. But that is my judgment. For me to impose that judgment on everyone else who is equally and maybe even more devout than I am seems to me is inappropriate in a pluralistic society. ..."

Tom Brokaw: "But if you, you believe that life begins at conception, and you've also voted for abortion rights."

Biden: "No, what [I] voted against curtailing the right, criminalizing abortion. I voted against telling everyone else in the country that they have to accept my religiously based view that it's a moment of conception."

• Biden's recorded vote for DOMA, Sept. 10, 1996.

• Biden on Meet the Press, June 4, 2006:

"We already have a law, the Defense of Marriage Act. We've all voted—not, where I've voted, and others have said, look, marriage is between a man and a woman and states must respect that. Nobody's violated that law, there's been no challenge to that law."

• Biden on CNN, June 5, 2006:

"We have already passed a law saying that—and the Defense of Marriage Act, defining marriage between a man and a woman."

• The Biden campaign's evasive response to a same-sex marriage question on the Human Rights Campaign's 2007 survey of presidential candidates:

"Senator Biden supports letting states determine how to recognize civil unions and how to define marriage. He believes that legal recognition should not be denied to same-sex couples."

Bonus peg: Biden will speak at HRC's annual dinner Saturday night.

All yours, Gwen. Go for it.

What do you think? What question would you ask the vice-presidential candidates?

Got Milk?

Here is the trailer for Gus VanSant's new film, "Milk," starring Sean Penn. It looks great. Check it out:


Harvey Milk was the first openly gay person to hold a major political office in the United States when he became a City Supervisor for San Francisco in 1976. (TIME Magazine has named him one of the 100 heroes of the 20th century.) Known as "The Mayor of Castro Street," Milk was an advocate for the rights of gays and lesbians, as well as an advocate of civil rights, more broadly. In 1978, Milk and S.F. Mayor Willie Moscone were gunned down at the capitol by a disgruntled former supervisor, Dan White, who then got off with a very light sentence after a controversial "twinkie defense" defense by his lawyers. White later committed suicide in 1985.

On the historic night of his election, Harvey Milk told supporters, "This is not my victory -- it's yours. If a gay man can win, it proves that there is hope for all minorities who are willing to fight." In his famous "Hope speech," Milk said,

"[Y]ou have to give them hope. Hope for a better world, hope for a better tomorrow, hope for a better place to come to if the pressures at home got too great. Hope that all will be all right. Without hope, not only gays, but the blacks, the seniors, the handicapped, the us’es, the us’es will give up….

So if there is a message I have to give, it is that if I’ve found one overriding thing about my personal election, it’s the fact that if a gay person can be elected, it’s a green light. And you and you and you, you have to give people hope."

In an audio note he left, which was to be listened to only upon his assassination, Milk wrote, "If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door." You can listen to the audio tape here:


After the assassinations, Beat poet, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, wrote, "An Elegy To Dispel Gloom":

Let us not sit upon the ground
and tell sad stories
of the death of sanity.
Two humans made of flesh
are meshed in death
and no more need be said.
It is pure vanity
to think that all humanity
be bathed in red
because one young mad man
one so bad man
lost his head.
The force that through the red fuze
drove the bullet
does not drive everyone
through the City of Saint Francis
where there's a breathless hush
in the air today
a hush at City Hall
and a hush at the Hall of Justice
a hush in Saint Francis Wood
where no bird tries to sing
a hush on the Great Highway
and in the great harbor
upon the great ships
and on the Embarcadero
from the Mission Rock
to the Eagle Cafe
a hush on the great red bridge
a hush in the Outer Mission
and at Hunter's Point
a hush at a hot potato stand on Pier 39
and a hush at the People's Temple
where no bird
tries its wings
a hush and a weeping
at the Convent of the Sacred Heart
on Upper Broadway
a hush upon the fleshpots
of Lower Broadway
a pall upon the punk rock
at Mabuhay Gardens
and upon the cafes and bookstores
of old North Beach
a hush upon the landscape
of the still wild West
where two sweet dudes are dead
and no more need be said.
Do not sit upon the ground and speak
of other senseless murderings
or worse disasters waiting
in the wings.
Do not sit upon the ground and talk
of the death of things beyond
these sad sad happenings.
Such men as these do rise above
our worst imaginings.

There is also an excellent 1984 documentary, "The Times of Harvey Milk." If you'd like to watch it via YouTube, click here:

part 1
part 2
part 3
part 4
part 5
part 6
part 7
part 8
part 9
part 10

Here is the review from "Siskel and Ebert"

Here is the original tv news report of Milk and Moscone's murder.

Here is footage of the "white night riot" after Milk's assassination and White's light punishment.

Here is footage of the gay pride parade in San Francisco in 1978.

Robert Caro: LBJ, Voting Rights and Obama

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, Robert Caro, is one of the foremost scholars on Lyndon Johnson. The day of Barack Obama's historic acceptance speech at Invesco Field in Denver, which was also the 45th anniversary of the March On Washington and Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech, he wrote a fascinating opinion piece - "Johnson's Dream, Obama's Speech" - in the NYTimes on LBJ, voting rights and Obama. In short, Caro argues that Obama's speech might not have been possible if it had not been for another speech, made by Johnson 43 years earlier, a speech that was so powerful it made Martin Luther King, Jr., cry... It is worth a read.

The letters to the editor around the time of Obama's historic acceptance speech were also very interesting and worth checking out.

CIVIL RIGHTS ALERT! CA Supremes Do the Right Thing...

California's Supreme Court struck a blow for civil rights and full equality for all citizens today when it overturned that state's ban on gay marriage, making California the second state where gay and lesbian residents can marry. Kudos to the left coasters for getting with the program. 2 states down, 48 more to go...

Here is the L.A. Times article on the decision.

Here is the NYTimes article on the decision.

Here is the San Francisco Chronicle article on the decision.

James Baldwin Speaks

James Baldwin was one of the great American writers of the 20th century and wisest commentators on race relations. Here he is talking about Malcolm and Martin. Listen up...


Here he is discussing non-violence and urban issues, among other things...

Mrs. Johnnie Carr, Civil Rights Icon, Dies

A few days ago, one of the lesser known heros of the early civil rights era - Mrs Johnnie Carr - died at the age of 97. Mrs. Carr was a childhood friend of Rosa Parks who also played an active role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. She was close with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and took over the reigns of the Montgomery Improvement Association in 1967, a post she held until her death. The MIA was originally formed in 1955 to support the bus boycott. Mrs. Carr was an ardent supporter of civil and human rights for over 50 years.

Here is the Washington Post obituary and here is the NPR story.

Here is a nice video of Mrs. Carr:

"Black Music and Black Possibility"

When I teach about music in my African American Studies classes, I often use a framework articulated to me by one of my friends and mentors at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Craig Werner. It is very useful in helping students, many of whom are not used to listening deeply to music and/or who might not be familiar with African American culture, hear "black music" in new and constructive ways.

Craig's framework starts with an assertion:

“African American music and African American history are deeply rooted in what the great novelist Ralph Ellison called the underlying ‘impulses’ of African American culture: blues, gospel and jazz.”

Here are the three impulses and Craig's descriptions:

The Blues Impulse: “The blues confront the suffering at the center of [African American history] and articulate the isolation an despair, the sense that black people have been cast adrift in a world where the devil has taken control. Rather than giving in to those feelings, blues artists ‘finger the jagged grain’ of the ‘blues experience’ and tell their stories in voices that walk the line between despair and laughter, asserting black humanity in a world predicated, as Martin Luther King, Jr., observed, on the ‘thinginfication’ of human beings.”

The Gospel Impulse: “The gospel impulse bears witness to the burdens of life, often the same experiences that gave rise to the blues. But where the blues celebrate survival, gospel seeks redemption with both individual and communal dimensions. Whatever its specific form – traditional gospel, reggae, soul, the celebratory moments of disco and house music – gospel reconnects individuals with powers larger than themselves: God and a community committed to, as Mahalia Jackson sang, ‘moving on up.’”

The Jazz Impulse: “Where both blues and gospel are grounded in the ways things are, the jazz impulse imagines what might be. Jazz impulse artists, many of whose records will never be filed in the jazz section of the record store, assemble pieces drawn from a limitless range of traditions into models of a new world. New combinations of sounds imply new ways of thinking about self, community, and their role in what Ellison called ‘link[s] in the chain of tradition.”

Now, when you listen, try to seek out these impulses...

Here are a few of Craig's books, if you are interested:
• A Change Is Gonna Come: Music, Race & the Soul of America
• Higher Ground: Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield, and the Rise and Fall of American Soul
• Up around the Bend: The Oral History Of Creedence Clearwater Revival

Headin' to "the Selma of the North"

I'm heading to Milwaukee tomorrow for the 40th anniversary celebration/commemoration of that city's landmark open housing demonstrations. From 1966-1968, housing, along with police brutality, was one of the most important, but contentious, issue in the northern struggle for racial justice. In 1966, thousands of white erupted in violence outside of Chicago when Martin Luther King led a march for fair housing. In Milwaukee, from August 1967 through April 1968, Vel Phillips, Fr. James Groppi, the NAACP Youth Council and Commandos led 200 consecutive nights of marching in order to force passage of a city-wide fair housing ordinance. In response, thousands of hostile local whites attacked peaceful marchers on the white ethnic south side of the 16th street viaduct in scenes eerily similar to the violence at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, in 1965. Yet, local activists and their supporters were not deterred. When Fr. Groppi made an ecumenical call for support, hundreds of people from across the country poured into the city to bear witness and march. With Black Power sweeping the Movement, the Milwaukee open housing campaign was seen by many as a "last stand for an integrated, non-violent, church-based movement." In the wake of King's assassination in early April, 1964, the Milwaukee Common Council finally passed a tough local ordinance barring racial discrimination in the sale or rental of local property. The Milwaukee campaign also contributed to passage of the historic 1968 Fair Housing Act.

One of the interesting dynamics of the Milwaukee civil rights era is the unique leadership of Fr. James Groppi, a white Catholic priest who served as the advisor to the local NAACP Youth Council and Commandos. Groppi grew up on the city's heavily Catholic white ethnic South Side, so was seen as a religious and race traitor by many. The Youth Council constituted the shock troops of the local Movement. The Commandos were a self-defense group formed in 1966 after a Klan bomb blast destroyed the Milwaukee NAACP office and thousands of angry whites threatened violence in suburban Wauwatosa during a peaceful protest outside the home of Judge Robert Cannon. The Commandos practiced what they called "not violence." They walked along the outside of march lines, didn't carry weapons or start any violence, but fought back if provoked or attacked by white onlookers or racist police. In this way, they offered a compelling tactical alternative to pure Kingian non-violence as well as other Black Power groups, like the Black Panthers, who carried weapons, or advocated revolutionary violence as a tool for liberation. Together, Groppi, the Youth Council and Commandos stood at the vanguard of Milwaukee struggle for racial justice from 1965 through 1969.

Oh, there are lots of fascinating dynamics to the Milwaukee Movement story, but you'll have to wait until my book comes out to read all about 'em... (smile)

Free the Jena 6

Support today's national day of protest in support of the Jena 6. Wear black. Talk to your friends and neighbors about this incident. Oppose racism in all forms, in Louisiana and in your own backyard...

A few resources:
"Free the Jena 6" website
Color of Change
Black Commentator article
Alternet article #1
Alternet article #2
Final Call article

Honoring Larry Doby

I grew up in Cleveland and have been a long-suffering Indians fan since I was a kid (and, by the way, aren't Cleveland sports fans the longest and deepest suffering fans of all??!! But I digress, that is a separate post altogether...). The Indians have the honor of being the first American League team to have a black player, Larry Doby. That made Doby the second African American player, overall, in Major League Baseball, eleven weeks behind Jackie Robinson. Unfortunately, Robinson's fame overshadowed Doby's accomplishment. In addition to integrating the AL, Doby was a 7-time All-Star and key piece to Cleveland's last World Series... in 1948... and their record 111 wins in 1954. Despite his achievements, baseball largely forgot Doby until 1997 - the same year MLB retired Jackie Robinson's number throughout the league. That year, as MLB took its traveling lovefest for Robinson across the country, a Sports Illustrated editorial pointed out that Doby had faced the same trials as Robinson, only without the media attention or support.
Finally, in 1998, long overdue, the Veterans Committee of MLB elected Doby to the Hall of Fame. Larry Doby died in 2003.

Tonight, the Indians are playing the Yankees at The Jake along the shores of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland. It's August. Both teams are in the playoff hunt. All of the Indians players are wearing No. 14 to honor the 60th anniversary of Doby's pioneering effort. Very cool.

Here is the story from the Cleveland Plain Dealer:
PD on Doby celebration

Here is an article from MLB.com:
MLB.com on Doby

As a Clevelander, I was particularly happy to read, "They never booed him [in Cleveland]," Larry Doby Jr. said. "He said the people of Cleveland always had his back." Right on, C-town, right on. Here's to you, Larry...

Nancy MacLean on "the scary origins" of the Supreme Court's recent anti-integration decision

Nancy MacLean, a well-known History professor at Northwestern University, has written an excellent article over at History News Network on the ideological origins of Chief Justice John Roberts's recent decision to oppose the use of race in public school integration plans. According to MacLean, "[Roberts's] opinion has its lineage in a well-documented conservative strategy to hijack civil rights rhetoric to roll back advances toward substantive equality." She continues, "[Historically, conservatives have] used their peculiar readings of the Constitution to limit what democratic government could do for its citizens, an approach embraced today by the Federalist Society and the conservative block on the Supreme Court. [Conservatives] fought the quest for social justice at every turn. They urged the defeat of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and every measure to promote true fairness thereafter."

I think MacLean wants us to see the new conservative majority's ideology for what it is. Abstract theoretical arguments between "strict constructionists" and "liberal constructionists" aside, the fact is that conservative jurists have consistently thwarted attempts to create a more just, inclusive and egalitarian society. Their decisions have catered to large wealthy interests over the interests of ordinary Americans, private property over the common good, inequality over democracy. Folks can try to dress that legacy up in whatever rhetorical jujitsu they'd like, but the facts remain.

Take a look at MacLean's full article here...
Nancy MacLean, "The Scary Origins of Chief Justice Roberts's Decision Opposing the Use of Race to Promote Integration"

"Free the Jena Six," pt. III: Hundreds March in Jena

Democracy Now! has the latest on the Jena case, including coverage of the march and demonstration there yesterday:

Democracy Now! story

"Free the Jena 6", pt. 2: NPR report

NPR has a nice story on the Jena, Louisiana, case today:

NPR: Beating Charges Split La. Town Along Racial Lines

For more info, scroll through the archives of this blog (on the left side) and click on my previous post about this disturbing situation.

It's a "White Thing"

One of the most difficult dynamics of race in America is the invisibility of whiteness to most white people. Because whiteness is normative to white people - the water that we swim in as fish in this society - most whites fail to "see" their own racial identity or the ways they gain advantage and privilege from their racial designation. As a result, for most white people, if they think about race at all, they see it as a black thing, or a brown thing, or a yellow thing, or a red thing... but definitely not as a white thing. Race is removed from white people. It is "those people's" problem. Whites are thereby not invested in the problem of race directly and they thus don't often feel compelled to act to rectify this ongoing problem; There is no immediacy to racial issues for most whites because of this disconnect. But, we might remember that Martin Luther King and James Baldwin both eloquently made the point that the problem of race in America is, in fact, not a problem with black people, it is a problem with white people. The problem of race is the problem of white supremacy. Whiteness is at the root of this issue. Always has been. As a result, to overcome this historic tragedy, white people need to wake up to their racial advantage. The first stage in this process is rendering visible that which is too often invisible - at least to whites - in American society.

I'd like to blog more on this issue down the line, but for now I'll leave it at what I've just written. The reason I bring this up now is that the Jena 6 case is deeply rooted in the issue of whiteness and white supremacy. As my mind has been turning on this case, I was reminded of two recent articles on the subject that I think make sense to post near the Jena 6 stuff.

Check out articles here:

"Whites Just Don't Understand the Black Experience," by Margaret Kamara in Diverse: Issues in Higher Education

"The Reality of Race: Is the Problem That White People Don't Know or Don't Care?," by Robert Jensen for www.Alternet.org