The N Word
This post is about the “N word”. We all know what that word is. It has six letters, rhymes with trigger, and makes the brains of some people turn into jello. It is a derogatory phrase for people of African origin. I try to avoid using this term. Here are four reasons.
1- The “N word” hurts people’s feelings. I have known many fine Black people. I do not want to say anything that will hurt these people.
2- Being heard saying the “N word” can cause all sorts of problems. This can include physical retribution, loss of employment, lawsuits, and having to listen to enough loud angry words to make you wish you had never learned how to talk.
3- It is not a fair fight. There is no equivalent phrase for a Black Person to say to a White person. I do not wish to give that power to another group of people … to turn me into a mass of incoherent rage, just for hearing a six letter word. The closest thing is “Cracker”, which I only recently found out was an insult. We once had a minor league baseball team, the Atlanta Crackers.
4- The use of the “N word” demeans the user. When you say an insulting word about another human being, you make yourself look bad. For a Black person, using the “N word” degrades them as the object, as well as the speaker. Why would a person would want to do that to their family and community? This is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
The End Of Racism
One of the touted TED talks in the weekly email is Color blind or color brave? It is by Mellody Hobson, a POC in the investment business. It is the standard call to talk more about race. Talk, talk, talk, and talk some more. The word listen is not used.
At the 3:13 mark, Mrs. Hobson makes a remarkable statement. “Now I know there are people out there who will say that the election of Barack Obama meant that it was the end of racial discrimination for all eternity, right?” It is possible that someone has said that. There are also people who say the earth is flat.
PG asked Mr. Google about this. The top two results are about the TED talk. The third result is an article in Forbes magazine, Racism In America Is Over. It is written by John McWhorter, one of the “black guys at Bloggingheads.tv.” Dr. McWhorter does say racism is over, sort of. The problems that remain are a lot worse. Too much food for thought, for a population with intellectual bulimia.
There is a quote in the Forbes article that is pure gold. “When decrying racism opens no door and teaches no skill, it becomes a schoolroom tattletale affair. It is unworthy of all of us: “He’s just a racist” intoned like “nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah!””
There are a lot more results. PG is getting tired of looking. If you want to see for yourself, google “the election of Barack Obama meant that it was the end of racial discrimination for all eternity.” Except for a rogue title editor at Forbes, almost nobody has said that. This is a repost. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
The Problem Of Anti-Racism
Some people are proud of being anti-racist. This is not always something to be proud about. Often, as in anti communism and homophobia, the struggle against the unseen enemy is worse than the problem you are fighting. When you denounce someone as racist, you might be talking about yourself.
The discussion that follows should not be seen as pro racist. People should treat people with kindness. The word people does not need an adjective. This kindness should be extended to those who do not share your opinions about racism.
Maybe you should lead by example. Instead of worrying about how your neighbor thinks, worry about how you think. If you don’t like the nasty word don’t use it.
To some, racism is the ultimate taboo. It is the worst charge you can make about a person, and the quickest to be made. Once accused, you are guilty until proven innocent. It does not help that the definition of racism is expanding all the time. What one person considers racism is normal thinking to another. It used to be that racism was when you treated someone poorly because of their ethnicity. Now is is a multi faceted boogieman about power and prejudice. Keeping up can be a full time job.
Anti-communism has been compared to anti-racism. To our younger readers, there used to be a system of government called communism. It was alleged to be involved in a cold war with the United States. This cold war was the justification for a bloated military industrial complex. Many crooked politicians were elected on the basis of being anti communist. Often, the fight against communism was worse than the actual system of government.
Anti-racism is the new McCarthyism. Guilt by association is the rule. Difficult to refute charges are made against people. The charge of racism is used as a red herring.
Homophobia is compared to anti-racism. In both cases, the accuser has a set of standards. If the accused does not meet those standards, then the accused is considered fair game for abuse. The accused and the accuser may not agree on these standards. That does not matter. If someone wants to make the accusation, then they will, and will feel righteous about doing so.
It is frequently speculated that the homophobe is secretly gay. The need to be heard badmouthing gays stems from a perceived need to prove heterosexuality. Could this be the case with the anti racist? Maybe the anti-racist is secretly afraid that they might be a racist. The “calling out” of others, for perceived racism, is an effort to overcompensate for their own shortcomings.
Some things need to be said one more time. People should treat people with kindness. The word people does not need an adjective. Shaming and guilt mongering, because someone does not share your attitudes about race, is not appropriate. To use an anti-communist expression, there are better ways to win hearts and minds. This is a repost. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
The Business Of Racism
It is one of those tweets that keeps coming back. @PolliticalCom How bad is racism in America? Take the poll –> PG was through with the yard sales, and looking for entertainment. Being easily amused is a progressive lifestyle choice.
To take this poll, it will be necessary to use internet explorer. Firefox does not do some things well. While at ie, PG checks in at bloggingheads.tv The top show at the moment features Glenn Loury and John McWhorter. The headline reads “Ta-Nehisis Coates is no James Baldwin.”
Racism may, or may not, be a problem in Amerika, but it is one helluva marketing tool. The racism poll we will take in a minute is at a tacky website, Political dot com. You can be assured there is merchandise to sell. There is a header ad, for an “URGENT NATIONAL POLL … Should GOP fight Obama on gun control?” Like the results are going to matter, without a campaign contribution.
The first question is “Does racism affect the political attitudes and overall policies of the United States domestically? The possible answers are Yes, definitely, Yes, slightly, Maybe, No, No, not at all. If the browser is working, you can see some numbers after the answers. It is as if the nation has already made up its mind, and you don’t matter.
Do you believe racism is still alive in the United States? Is the American Dream still alive for low class minorities living below at or below the poverty line? Does racism inhibit our ability to progress as a nation? Which political party do you favor? What is your gender? The last two questions have different answers. It might be fun to offer “No, not at all” as a possible answer to the questions “Which political party do you favor” and “What is your gender.”
The marketing kicks in after the gender question. “If you or a loved one snore, what type of snoring do you suffer from?******Sponsored Poll by Our Snoring Solution******* You will receive a free custom report and a letter from the inventor of the cure on how to cure your specific snoring problem. “
While the mp3 was downloading, PG listened to a few minutes of bhtv. It seems that Ta-Nehisi Coates has been anointed the national scribe when decrying the race issue. When David Brooks dared to question the glory of Ta-Nehisi Coates, he became the national poopyhead of the week. In the bhtv show, Dr. McWhorter suggests that the uncritical praise heaped on Mr. Coates indicates that the race situation is not as bad as Mr. Coates says.
Dr. McWhorter compares anti racism with religion, with Ta-Nehisi Coates as the high priest. PG has made the connection of race to religion before. In both race and religion, there are massive amounts of preaching to the choir. Arguments that you agree with are seen as entertaining, with a satisfying side dish of virtue. The opinions of strangers regarding race, and religion are seen as proper subjects for corrosive critque. Dr. McWhorter notes that race religion has nothing to do with creating change. Indeed, if racism in Amerika were to go away, Ta-Nehisi Coates would be out of a job. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Football season will be here soon.
Murder Statistics
Nate Silver likes to keep busy during a non election year. He issued a report recently, Black Americans Are Killed At 12 Times The Rate Of People In Other Developed Countries. The Silver report was published June 18. The various internet content recyclers only picked up the story a day or two ago.
“If you’re a white person your chance of being murdered every year is 2.5 out of 10,000… If you’re a black person it’s 19.4, so almost eight times higher…. the murder rate for white Americans is similar to the murder rate for people living in Finland, Chile or Israel. The murder rate for black Americans, on the other hand, is similar to the rate found “in developing countries that are war zones even, like Myanmar, or Rwanda, Mexico, Brazil, Nigeria, places that have vast disorder.”
If there is one thing you can find on the internet, it is statistics. Since we are dealing with totals, not averages, the numbers used in this post should be fairly reliable. There might be some under reporting, or questions about how to deal with mixed race people. For the purposes of this post, we are going to take the numbers at face value.
The numbers used today are from 2013. The population of the United States was 316,128,839. Of this total, 77.7% are white, and 13.2% are black. There are 5.88 times as many white people as black people. There were 245,632,107 white people, and 41,729,006 black people. For purposes of this study, these numbers will be rounded off, to 316m total, 246m white, and 42m black.
Expanded Homicide Data Table 6 was produced by the FBI. For white people, there were 3,005 murders in 2013. This is 12 per million. For black people, there were 2491 murders in 2013. This is 59 per million. These numbers are different from those quoted by Nate Silver.
Who is committing these murders? For the white people, 2,509 (83%) were killed by a white person, and 409 (13%) were killed by a black person. (These numbers will not add up to 100%, as there are “other” and unknown killers.) For the black people, 189 (7%) were killed by a white person, and 2,245 (90%) were killed by a black person.
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
James Baldwin And The Six Letter Word
In the spring of 1963, KQED filmed a show, “Take this hammer”, about James Baldwin. The snippet in the video above seems to have been the last three minutes of the show. Here is a transcript. Mr. Baldwin discusses a six letter insult. The n-word is more about the speaker, than the spoken of. A 2010 blogger had this to say.
What resonated with me about this particular video though, is the universal experience we’ve all had being referred to, thought of as, or called something we inherently are not. Not because of something we’ve done, mind you – but because of the way others “interpret” us. Those of us that “transgress” gender norms are often given titles and names that don’t fit who we are – but are more representative of the fears and desires of others. I’ve often felt that people’s projections of me are oftentimes just that – their projections. However, Baldwin’s ending sums up a solution to this perfectly: “But you still think, I gather, that the n****r is necessary. Well he’s unnecessary to me – he must be necessary to you. Well, I’m going to give your problem back to you…you’re the n****r, baby…not me.”
It is now 2015. (All discussions of race must mention the year.) The TV show was fifty two years ago. A few things have changed. To many white people, overt expressions of racism are seen as bad manners. The n-word is taboo in polite company. The overall attitudes may not have changed, but most white people are careful how they say things.
African America is keeping the n-word alive. But it is still about the speaker, not the one spoken of. When people say the nasty word, they are talking about themselves. African Americans are now the people James Baldwin is talking about. This is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. These men are Union soldiers, from the War Between the States.
A few weeks ago, this blog published a feature, James Baldwin And The Six Letter Word. At the center was selection of James Baldwin talking about the n word. There was a transcript available, which makes today’s exercise a lot easier.
Mr. Baldwin was discussing this nasty word, and offered an insight into who the user of this nasty word was really talking about. Now, there is another nasty word being casually tossed about these days. This other nasty word is racist. What would happen if you took Mr. Baldwin’s talk, and substituted racist for nasty? It is an interesting way to look at things. What follows is not a perfect fit, and may be offensive to some. A few times, it is very close to the truth.
Who is the racist? Well i know this…and anybody who has tried to live knows this. What you say about somebody else (you know) anybody else, reveals you. What I think of you as being is dictated by my own necessities, my own psychology, my own uhm fears…and desires. I’m not describing you when I talk about you…I’m describing me.
Now, here in this country we got somebody called a racist. It doesn’t in such terms, I beg you to remark, exist in any other country in the world. We have invented the racist. I didn’t invent him, white people invented him. I’ve always known, I had to know by the time I was seventeen years old, what you were describing was not me and what you were afraid of was not me. It had to be something else. You had invented it so it had to be something you were afraid of and you invested me with it.
Now if that’s so, no matter what you’ve done to me I can say to you this, and I mean it…I know you can’t do any more and I’ve got nothing to lose…and I know and I have always known you know and really always..…I have always known that I am not a racist…but if I am not the racist…and if it is true that your invention reveals you…then who is the racist?
I am not the victim here. I know one thing from another. I know that I was born, am gonna suffer and gonna die. And the only way that you can get through life is to know the worst things about it. I know that a person is more important than anything else. Anything else.
I’ve learned this because I’ve had to learn it. But you still think, I gather, that the racist is necessary. Well he’s not necessary to me, so he must be necessary to you. So I give you your problem back. You’re the racist baby, it isn’t me.
Comedy Sketch
There is a comedy video on MTV now, Was that Racist? An Inside Out Parody | Decoded | MTV News. It was created by Franchesca Ramsey, who is famous for the viral video Shit White Girls Say…to Black Girls. In the credits, it says: “Brought to you with love by: MTV Other.”
A young poc lady goes into a coffee shop. The barista is on the phone, and holds up a finger to indicate that he will wait on her in a minute. The young lady is escorted by her emotions: Shade, Paranoia, Weariness, Fury, and Hope. All except Fury are ladies. Shade, Weariness, and Hope are wearing tacky wigs.
At :57 the young lady asks the barista if they have iced coffee. The barista ignores her. Paranoia asks if this seems a little racist. Hope says he is busy. At 1:01, Fury looks straight into the camera and says the barista is busy organizing a klan rally.
At this point, PG turned the video off. Yes, this is satire. But many people are encouraged to let their emotions out. It is highly believable for someone to say the barista is busy organizing a klan rally.
Lets turn the tables around. Lets say it was a pwoc customer, and the barista was a poc. The customer doesn’t get waited on immediately. The customer says the barista is busy planning a robbery. A lot of people would think that goes too far for a comedy sketch.
A white customer shows up. The poc and pwoc smile at each other, acknowledging the poor customer service. One of the emotions says “he gets it.” Fury says something about showing basic human decency, and should be buy him a cookie. In case you don’t know, when a pwoc points out that they do not engage in “racist” behavior, this is known, with derision, as asking for a cookie.
The barista comes out, and looks in the direction of the pwoc customer when he asks for the order. Fury says “this guy is officially the most racist barista in America … it’s because we’re black.” Flames are coming out of Fury’s head.
The pwoc customer says that the poc was here first. One of the emotions says we are living in a post racial America. At 2:09, the barista hands the poc the coffee. Under the edge of his shirt sleeve is seen a stars and bars tattoo. Fury raises his arm and says “called it.”
This is supposed to be entertainment. Probably some viewers will get a kick out of Fury, and his mouth. There will be some who think this is a bit much. Most will just shrug it off. Many people have encountered others, who do not have the grace to keep their emotions under control, and say foolish things. It is not pretty. PG did not think it was funny
@chamblee54 would a coffee shop allow a barista to have a visible csa tattoo? i doubt it
@chescaleigh @chamblee54 is it possible to suspend your disbelief for a 2 minute comedy sketch?
Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Founding Babydaddies
People often try to justify their opinions by saying that the “founding fathers” agree with them. They often are guilty of selective use of history. A good place to start would be to define what we mean by the phrase founding fathers. This is a repost
The FF word was not used before 1916. A senator from Ohio named Warren Harding used the phrase in the keynote address of the 1916 Republican convention. Mr. Harding was elected President in 1920, and is regarded as perhaps the most corrupt man to ever hold the office.
There are two groups of men who could be considered the founding fathers. (The fathers part is correct. Both groups are 100% white male.) The Continental Congress issued the Declaration of Independence, which cut the ties to England. Eleven years later, the Constitutional Convention wrote the Constitution that governs America today. While the Continental Congress was braver, the Constitution is the document that tells our government how to function. For the purposes of this feature, the men of the Constitutional Convention are the founding fathers.
Before moving on, we should remember eight men who signed the Declaration of Independence, and later attended the Constitutional Convention. Both documents were signed by George Clymer, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, George Read, Roger Sherman, and James Wilson. George Wythe left the Convention without signing the new document. Elbridge Gerry (the namesake of gerrymandering) refused to sign the Constitution because it did not have a Bill of Rights.
The original topic of this discussion was about whether the founding fathers owned slaves. Many people wonder about this. If you go to google, and type in “did the founding fathers”, the first four answers are owned slaves, believed in G-d, have a death wish, and smoke weed.
The answer, to the obvious question, is an obvious answer. Yes, many of the founding fathers owned slaves. A name by name rundown of the 39 signatories of the Constitution was not done for this blogpost. There is this revealing comment at wiki answers about the prevalence of slave ownership. “John Adams, his second cousin Samuel Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Paine were the only men who are traditionally known as founding fathers who did not own slaves.
Benjamin Franklin was indeed a founder of the Abolitionist Society, but he owned two slaves, named King and George. Franklin’s newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette routinely ran ads for sale or purchase of slaves.
Patrick Henry is another founding father who owned slaves, although his speeches would make one think otherwise. Despite his “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech, he had up to 70 slaves at a time. He did apologize from time to time. He knew it was wrong, he was accountable to his God, and bemoaned the “general inconvenience of living without them.”
Patrick Henry was a star of the Revolution, but not present at the Constitutional Convention. The author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, was in Europe during the convention. Mr. Jefferson not only owned slaves, he took one to be his mistress, and kidsmama.
One of the more controversial features of the Constitution is the 3/5 rule. Here are the original words “Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.” In other words, a slave was only considered to be 60% of a person.
This is offensive to people today. It was a compromise. The agricultural southern states did not want to give up their slaves. The northern states did not want to give up Congressional representation. This was the first of many compromises made about slavery, ending with the War between the States. This webpage goes into more detail about the nature of slavery.
The research for this feature turned up a rather cynical document called The myth of the “Founding Fathers” . It is written by Adolph Nixon. He asks : “most rational persons realize that such political mythology is sheer nonsense, but it begs the question, who were the Founding Fathers and what makes them so great that they’re wiser than you are?” (The link for this information keeps changing. Here is the latest source. This is not a totally reliable source.)
Mr. Nixon reviews the 39 white men who signed the Constitution. He does not follow the rule, if you can’t say anything nice about someone, then don’t say anything at all. Of the 39, 12 were specified as slave owners, with many tagged as “slave breeders”.
The Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, have served America well. However it was intended, it was written so that it could be amended, and to grow with the young republic. It has on occasion been ignored (when was the last time Congress declared war?). However fine a document it is, it was created by men. These were men of their time, who could not have foreseen the changes that America has gone through. Those who talk the most about the founding fathers know the least about them.
Racism Education
A link keeps turning up on facebook. It is for an item, 18 Things White People Should Know/Do Before Discussing Racism. It was posted at The Frisky | Celebrity Gossip, Relationship Advice, Beauty and Fashion Tips. The facility has a series of suggested posts at the top of the page. The first one you see is BLOWJOB TECHNIQUES YOU NEED TO TRY.
18 Things is supposed to be educational. PG was encouraged to read the piece two weeks ago, and found it lacking. The link today was from a combination facebook friend/ facebook unfriend. Maybe 18 Things deserves another look.
18 Things is garbage. Take a look at number one. “1. It is uncomfortable to talk about racism. It is more uncomfortable to live it.” You would never know this from the number of people who seem to enjoy talking about racism. The louder you talk, and the more passion you display, the more truth your words have. Maybe what is uncomfortable is to quit talking, and listen.
But then, maybe the idea is for everyone to talk at once. Here is item 16: “16. Silence does nothing. Blank stares and silence do not further this difficult but necessary conversation.” If you are going to listen to someone, it is very helpful to keep your mouth shut.
“2. “Colorblindness” is a cop-out. The statements “but I don’t see color” or “I never care about color” do not help to build a case against systemic racism. Try being the only White person in an environment. You will notice color then.” This is a curious paragraph. Sentence one has little to do with sentences two, three, and four.
Sentences three and four are connected. The author assumes that the PWOC reading this piece has never been the only pale face in an enviornment. Actually, it is probably more common to be the only white person in the room, than to be the only black person in a room full of whites.
“3. Oprah’s success does not mean the end of racism. The singular success of a Black man or woman (i.e. Oprah, or Tiger Woods, or President Obama) is never a valid argument against the existence of racism. By this logic, the success of Frederick Douglass or Amanda America Dickson during the 19th century would be grounds for disproving slavery.”
Has anyone ever said that the success of Oprah Winfrey is the end of racism? Do you have a link for that? Ok, and even if they did say that, it would be wildly untrue. But it gets better. If you agree with this statement that very few people have made, that is like saying that the success of Frederick Douglass disproves slavery. This is ridiculous.
The rest of the piece is not much better. Items 4, 5, 9, 14, and 15, can be summed up with the five words … there is racism in America. You are encouraged to use google to educate yourself. This can go in different directions. Maybe you could google “logical fallacy,” or “critical thinking.”
This feature should not be taken as denying the existence of a race problem in America. (The words racism/racist are problematic.) People should be treated with kindness and respect. Opportunities should be available to all people. The police should not target racially defined populations. Celebrities should not say tacky things.
The question arises, though. What value do articles like 18 Things have? Do they inform people who need to learn? Are they preaching to the choir? (Frisky has a header ad for Red Bull. Do articles like this sell power energy drinks?)
There are other possibilities. Do articles like 18 Things trivialize racial problems? Maybe the constant promotion of nonsense like 18 Things will lead people to believe that there really isn’t a race problem in America. People who uncritically praise articles like this are doing more harm than good. Those who claim to educate should be held to some sort of standard. Posting nonsense on the internet is not the same thing as working for equality and justice.
This is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
How Black Is BHO?
Episode 35741 of bloggingheads.tv is another edition of the two black guys, @JohnHMcWhorter and @GlennLoury. They had plenty to talk about. PG has been burned out on racial discussions, and kept turning it off and on. Finally, at the 43 minute mark, PG realized that it was just fifteen minutes to go. He might as well listen to the rest of the show.
At 46:11, there was something to listen to. Dr. McWhorter had been talking about the eulogy BHO gave at the funeral of Rev. Clementa Pickney. The message was set in the rhythyms of the black church. It was very well received.
BHO was raised by white people. He lived in Hawaii and Indonesia. BHO attended Columbia University and Harvard Law School. When BHO came to Chicago, and began a political career, it was suggested that he find a church. This church affiliation is essential to an identity as a black politician. The act of speaking, in a black church, in the manner of a black minister, is something that BHO learned as an adult.
Rachel Dolezal was discussed on the show. Here is a white woman, who presented herself as black. After a while, she was roundly criticized for doing so. It was said that she has not suffered the hardships, and oppression, that comes with being black. Therefore, this light skinned woman is the object of derision for claiming to be black.
BHO was raised by white people in Hawaii and Indonesia. Arguably, he has suffered little, if any, of the oppression that most black people face. He chose to attend a black church in part because he wanted a political base. And yet, this half white man with dark skin is routinely accepted as a black man. Racial labeling, like beauty, is skin deep.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Paula Deen Two Years Later
Two years ago, the media racism carnival centered around Paula Deen. A disgruntled former employee was shaking down the celebrity. The DFE, who was white, claimed racial discrimination. Many say the DFE was exploiting the oppression of black people for personal gain.
A few things have happened since this story was published. These three links tell part of the story. Race-based claims thrown out in Paula Deen lawsuit, Paula Deen lawsuit appears to be over; settlement a possibility, Paula Deen closes restaurant at center of harassment lawsuit.
This story is a repost. Some of the links in this story no longer work. The link to Deposition of plaintiff Lisa T. Jackson vs. Paula Deen Enterprises, etc. does work. Pages 15 and 153 are interesting. On page 267, Lisa Jackson says that Jim Crow is a singer.
The New York Times did it’s liberal media duty Saturday with a story about Savannah, and the Paula Deen controversy. There were three curious words in paragraph four. “The predicament that Ms. Deen finds herself in began when a former employee — a white woman who is now managing restaurants in Atlanta — filed a discrimination lawsuit in March 2012.”
This thing has seemed, er, fishy from the get go. The restaurant industry is full of disgruntled former employees, few of whom are paragons of virtue. DFE worked in a restaurant partially owned by a famous person. It is uncertain how active the famous person was in the day to day operation of the restaurant. DFE has a lawyer, who gets famous person to say embarrassing things in a deposition. Somehow, this deposition is leaked to National Enquirer. And now we learn that DFE is white.
Confirmation of the ethnicity of DFE is tough to come by. Few pictures are available. You have to ask Mr. Google repeated questions. A law industry blog called Huseby (spell check suggestion:Houseboy) has a good story on the matter, with a couple of links.
The attorney for the plaintiff, Matthew Billips, has a few issues. “The case began with an “inflammatory letter seeking over a million dollars for forgo filing a lawsuit and allow Deen ‘a chance to salvage a brand that can continue to have value,’ ” Withers’ document said. (Tom Withers, attorney for Bubba Hiers, the brother of Paula Deen) In the motion to dismiss Billips, Withers quoted a tweet by Billips in which he said “suing Paula Deen is a hoot.” Withers also referred to a sexually laced tweet Billips directed at Deen “even more concerning.” In it, “Billips promises to symbolically undress and have sex with” Deen, Withers said. “Billips has posted sexually explicit tweets using extremely graphic and profane language and imagery. He has used the “N” word,” Withers’ motion said.”
Huseby links to an article in the ABA Journal that is downright fascinating. This feature confirms that Lisa Jackson, the DFE/plaintiff, is melanin deficient. The Deen-Hiers legal team has filed a motion, that is highly entertaining. Unfortunately, the pdf is not copy friendly, so the ABA summary will have to do. If you have the time to read the legal motion, you will enjoy it.
“The motion by lawyer Tom Withers says the plaintiff pursuing race-based claims has no standing to assert them because she is white, the Savannah Morning News reports. The plaintiff, Lisa Jackson, had claimed she was sexually harassed and worked in a racially hostile environment at a restaurant owned by Deen and her brother. Withers represents Deen’s brother and the restaurant.
According to the motion, Jackson claimed she was offended because her nieces “are bi-racial with an African-American father.” But the motion says there is just one niece, and she is related to Jackson’s partner, who said in a deposition that the niece’s father is Hispanic and she hasn’t seen the girl in years…. “Jackson cannot enforce someone else’s right, and she has no actionable claim for feeling ‘uncomfortable’ around discriminatory conduct directed at others … Jackson must show that any harassment was directed toward her because she was white, but at her deposition she alleged she was treated more favorably than African American employees at the restaurant.” (p.153)
Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
POTUS WTF
There are two words that are considered politically incorrect to use. This is the F-word, and the N-word. According to the NATO Phonetic Alphabet, this is Foxtrot and November.
Marc Maron is a comedian by trade. He is the perp behind the WTF podcast. This is not Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Mr. Maron opens the show by saying welcome whatthefuckers, what the fuckadelics, what the fuqstix, etc, etc. He finagles Foxtrot into the fucking furniture.
Today was episode #613 of WTF. The guest in the garage was @POTUS himself, Barack Obama. In honor of the occasion, Mr. Maron dispensed with the Foxtrot litany. The show began right away, without commercials or monolog.
The guest made up for the absense of Foxtrot. At 46:40, BHO said the N-word. This is what people will be talking about this week. Rachel whatshername can resume her search for a new hairdresser in private. Global warming will not be affected.
@bob_owens The white half of @POTUS is racist for using the “n-word.” @tuxedotomybowti Someone said President Obama is racist for using the n-word. Seriously? We have had presidents own slaves. Wth @MattyIceAZ Fox News cares more about the N-word taken out of context than any scientific expert taken in context.
PG has felt for a long time that America does itself no favor by getting hysterical over November. Yes, it is hurtful to a significant portion of our population. The problem is, when you make a federal case (literally) out of using November in public, you give six letters more power than they deserve.
As BHO noted, racism is more than saying November. Not using the magic word will not make Police kinder and gentler. Dropping those six letters will not create economic opportunity, end the war on drugs, disconnect the school to prison pipeline, or make sperm donors fulfill their duty as fathers. November is a symptom, not the disease. It remains to be seen if the disease is treatable. Euthanasia cannot be ruled out. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Chamblee54 
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