A distinguished congresswoman from Georgia recently decided that it was ok to punch a US Capital Policeman who didn’t recognize her as she attempted to walk around a metal detector in the entryway to the US capital building. Evidentially she didn’t have an extra 2.5 minutes to spare to go through the detector like everyone else. So she unsuccessfully usurps the protocol and has now found herself in a huge PR mess.
Her less than intelligent camp has tried to explain the story away using multiple scenerios that seem to only further insult our intelligence. Things like, “She recently changed her hairstyle so the guard didn’t recognize her” or “she left her congressperson ID pin at home” and the Zsa Zsa Gabor defense; ”She only tapped him with the back of her open-hand.” Of Course now, like a moth to a flame, the racial accusations are rippling out around the situation. No matter what her excuse is, she shouldn’t have physically tangled with a gentleman whose sole purpose is to provide security for her and thousands of others in one of the most highly targeted-for-terrorism buildings in the world. I think her kindergardeny homepage and glamour-shots photo gallery speaks volumes about this woman’s couth and rightfully discredits her to a T. Too bad her constituency doesn’t feel that way.
Then there’s the massive political nightmare taking placing in Durham NC, AKA the armpit of North Carolina. A Black stripper (and lets be real here, a prostitute) has claimed she was raped by various members of the Duke lacrosse team during a party she was “hired” to attend. Even though large portions of her story do not jive, the accusations are very serious and are causing lost jobs and a big blemish on the university’s platinum reputation. News reports are showing candlelight vigils at local predominantly black colleges and a lot of racial grandstanding (enter Jesse Jackson) taking place in and around Durham as a result.
Whether the rape took place or not, the fact that she is African American is inconsequential. The facts are: This woman is a hired sex worker. She made a bad career choice and put herself in a compromising situation willingly. Now everyone seems to be to busy defending her race rather than asking the real questions like “why is a single young mother/college student stripping at fraternity parties”? Id like to point out, when the identical scenario took place with Kobe Bryant and that emotionally challenged girl in Colorado, we didn’t see local anglophiles lighting candles and claiming racial motivations.
It angers me to see the “race card” being played so flippantly. Both scenarios involved women who were in fact black, but more importantly women who made a bad choice. This is clearly not a black and white issue, it’s a stupidity issue. Stupidity shouldn’t be defended. If I were African American, I would be angered by the fact that these women are allowing their stupid actions to be racially charged. They are effectively helping neutralize the seriousness of true-to-life racial prejudice in this country, and like the sheep who cried wolf found eventually found out, the party will soon be over.
5 comments:
Very insightful and apropos commentary. Like nothing I have seen in the "Main Stream" press. Incognito not only entertains, he informs. The trait of a gifted blogger and journalist.
Incognito,
I'm not defending McKinney, but members of Congress are not required to go through the metal detector and that is why you get the many excuses why security did not recognize her and allow her this privilege. She also had to back peddal because as you stated because these officers main duty is to protect them and if a member of Congress is dropping racial profiling it will have a chilling effect on the officer from being viglent.
I think you are little harsh with the stripper. I don't know all the facts, but yes the racial card is in excusable. She is a woman that accussed some men of rape and as such the accusation should be taken seriously. The color of her skin does not make a difference. However, the dip shit district attorney has seized it as an election issue so that he will get re-elected. Example, is I've never seen a district attorney be so political (besides Ronnie Earl) when he spoke at the tradionally black college where the alledge victim attends.
The district attorney is suppose to deal with facts and present evidence to the grand jury for indictment. He is not to make be making statements that he believes a crime took place, until that indictment has been handed done. Then as a prosecutor for the state, he becomes and advocate to seek justice. However, Nifong saw this as an opportunity to gain support from the African-American Community. Shame on him, and shame on people that drop the race card where the issue does not exist, especially someone with status like McKinney.
This is clearly not a black and white issue, it�s a stupidity issue. Stupidity shouldn�t be defended.
Hear, hear!
Dude,
You're kinda racist. Not all strippers are prostitutes. Your willingness to use the phrase "race card" speaks volumes about your line of thinking. Like a lot of white gay men, you don't have any idea of what racism is like. Sure you may have suffered some homophobia, but you aren't acquainted with the business end of bigotry it seems. You were raised with the benefit of white privilege and wealth, which emboldens you to look down on others so easily.
How are you not different from the bigots who condem gays? For instance, a lot of people think that a gay man is the equivalent of promiscuous, diseased, sinful pervert. Right? That's a horrible, discriminatory stereotype just as bad as your stripper = prostitued. Would you appreciate people having those thoughts about you? Of course not, you're an upstanding, white professional man who happens to be gay.
You are also sexist. Whether a woman is a school teacher, doctor, or a prostitute, why should she expect to be raped? Rape is rape. How different is your attitude from the macho line of thinking that because a woman wears a short skirt she deserves to be raped? How is your train of thought that different from the sexist Taliban that condemns women for not covering themselves from head to toe?
Or that different from the idiots in Europe who used to burn women for being witches? Not that different.
You're saying that grown men, frat boys, are expected to rape or sexually assault women because they can't help it. Wow, that says a lot about those men: that they are animals and not human beings with any kind of self-control.
As for the Kobe Bryant case, I do recall Kobe being arrested pretty quickly after the accusation. It took weeks for the accused white players to be seriously investigated and then arrested. Of course, the now infamous e-mail wherein a player described how murdering and skinning a woman would make him cum in his Duke issued spandex is no where mentioned on your blog.
Of course, the historic racist sexual brutality visited on women of color in the U.S. has no bearing on how either McKinney or alleged rape victim has been treated right? Gee, your line of thinking proves other wise. Then again, didn't conservative radio host Neal Boortz say that McKinney's hair made her look like a ghetto street whore? Yeah, a black women doesn't wear a typical white hairstyle and that makes her a whore. But given the fact that 30 to 40% of all African American men have a European Y-chromosome is testament to the legacy of rape and abuse black women have historically endured.
Also, most of the initial protests at Duke were done by women's groups on campus. Had you done a modicum of research, you would have learned this pretty quickly.
As for McKinney, what about all of the white males in our society who get away with 10x the same kind of shit. How about James Gannon, everyone's favorite gay prostitute and Whitehouse correspondent. Um, just how did an active prostitute with an active web profile advertisement get credentials to enter the Whitehouse? Hmmm?
What about Patrick Kennedy? The guy ran into a barrier, the police weren't allowed to perform a breathalyzer test on him. What happens? Where was the media outcry? There was none. Pat just admits that he fell off the wagon from his drug abuse and scurries to rehab.
What about Rev. Pat Robertson who calls for the assasination of leaders of state? He's still preaching. Right?
You are a hypocrite.
And another thing, the alleged Duke rape victim has never spoken publicly or mentioned race at all. Therefore, your painting her as a woman who uses the "race card" and tying her Ms. McKinney is truly odious.
Your really should be ashamed of yourself for not thinking before you speak and continuing to push sexist and racist stereotypes.
As for Jesse Jackson, please, why do people bother to toss his name out there as an uber racial villian? Jackson may not be squeaky king but he has done more good than bad. Do a little reading on his history of sticking up for farmers, negotiating the release of American POWs, or sticking up for gay rights.
You're an adult. Use your brain; read a book. You wrote a posting about how machismo colors relationships in Costa Rica. How do you think you would be treated if you wore a T-shirt that said, "Hola, soy homosexual!" How many people would treat you politely or poorly? Would you get your face bashed? That's how people of color live in the U.S.
You assumed the worst about the alleged rape victim because of her race and her profession. In all the time that has passed since the alleged rape occurred, no one has come forward to say the woman was a prostitute. Right?
Argh!! How many weeks ago was it that two gay white men were attacked brutally in St. Maarten? What was the result? Gays went nuts screaming homophobia and boycott St. Maarten.
So, only gay white men are the only ones who can be victimized and can assume that their victimization was based on their "difference"? There has been a trial; so, we don't know if the attackers really assaulted the men because they were gay. Maybe the attackers didn't like Americans? But I don't remember anyone in the press saying that their attack wasn't the result of homophobia.
So, why don't you wear that t-shirt around San Jose or to work. If you move back to the U.S., why not wear an English version "I'm gay!" wherever you go. Do that for a year and then come back talk to us about people playing any kind of card!
Finally, why don't you go over to Wikipedia and look up the "Southern Strategy." You'll find out how the Republicans decided in the late 1960s to use race, anti-black racism, to divide and conquer to win votes. Then think about the Republicans current use of gay marriage, gay rights, and the evil of gays in general to win votes.
Then look in the mirror.
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