A Form Of Entitlement
@carl_diggler The first female major party nominee. I wept a little thinking about how empowering this is for my son, if he had been born a girl. ~ Will I be charged one of my four free nyt articles this month if I click on that link? If so, is it worth it? ~ does that mean i would only get two free articles a month? ~ Actually, someone did ask Chelsea about her daddy’s affairs. . Chelsea said it was none of their business. This was during the 2008 campaign. It was the correct answer. ~ @deathcab4booty [At a funeral] Me: Hey what’s the wifi password? Widow: Have some respect! Me: All one word? ~ While we are sharting out shame, how about the frathouse bartender who fed the young lady alcohol. Her alcohol level was three times the legal limit. This does not excuse what happened to her. However, you should not get passing out, blackout drunk, and assume that you will get home safely. This is a form of entitlement. It is a mean world out there. ~ She was not a student. This was in her impact statement. ~ You should not assume that you can get blackout drunk, and get home safely. She could have been robbed, or beat up. You need to take responsibility for your safety, which includes not getting blackout drunk. ~ If we are going to teach young men to respect women…as we should … we should teach young women, and men, not to put themselves in dangerous situations. I compare it to a young man going to Blakes, getting bombed, and getting mugged on his way home. I believe there was a gay bashing incident there, where the victim had been thrown out of the bar for intoxication, and was beaten up behind a dumpster. ~ @uppittynegress Post about a female being raped and “but she’s ruining his life/false rape stats/victim accountability” arguments FOR DAYS @chamblee54 Post about getting blackout drunk at frat party and assuming someone would take you home safely @uppittynegress It’s fucked up how the ppl who say drunk means you should assume you’ll be raped, even tho they drive drunk & expect to be safe @chamblee54 that is not what i said…to use the driving comparison, only a fool believes you should get blackout drunk and drive @uppittynegress Didn’t say you did Made an observation about what I have seen. ~ Check the batteries in your BS detector. ~ next on my youtube que: Muhammad Ali – Ken Norton. 1973 09 10 ~ @chamblee54 @LiquidDemonsCC “The biggest douche on YouTube” there is a lot of competition for that title It might make a fun reality show ~ @miragonz i can’t believe in 2016 i still have to leave my bed to vote ~ @rodimusprime Hillary Clinton: Because white women have a Beyoncé too now. ~ @postcrunk i’ll just be over here involuntarily perpetuating the hegemonic power structure we were all born into if you need me ~ @conor64 ~ Had Brock admitted guilt and remorse and offered to settle early on, I would have considered a lighter sentence, respecting his honesty, grateful to be able to move our lives forward. ~ @OwenBenjamin “I was gonna vote one way until I saw your condescending and aggressive tweet telling me not to. Thanks!” – no one in history ~ i’ve been called n—-lover i’ve been called racist same same my attitudes about race are my business ~ There is a third step. You need to earn the trust of the party you are trying to persuade. The Bernie people failed miserably at this step. ~ @chamblee54 If you vote in CA electoral votes are almost certainly going to HRC unless you live in swing state you don’t have a vote @Phil_Johnson_Not my problem. I have to vote my conscience. Pragmatism is a shortcut to ethical turpitude.~ @TheAtheistPig The fact that our two presidential frontrunners snipe at each other on Twitter says everything you need to know about American politics. ~ @chamblee54 @ByYourLogic How can you tell when an op-ed writer is lying? Their fingers are moving. ~ @bitchywaiter They say money doesn’t buy happiness but I’m pretty sure those people don’t know where to shop. ~ @EricKleefeld It was totally unfair of Meg Whitman to compare Trump to Hitler — as a young man Hitler volunteered for the army, was wounded in combat. ~ i guess we are all proven to be horrible to someone @BGDblog blocked me before i even clicked on her ~ Conservatives Have Never Understood What Obama Thinks About Racism ~ Penny Fiction 2016: A Flash Fiction Writing Competition Round Three ~ As a Black Woman, I Think ‘White Male’ Bashing is Dangerous ~ Let’s Not Ignore The Importance Of Brock Turner’s Whiteness ~ arrant pedantry ~ How to Use Quotation Marks ~ plow new ground ~ Source Checking ~ 6 Signs Your Call-Out Isn’t Actually About Accountability ~ lost mines of phandelver ~ Beginner’s Guide to D&D 5th Edition ~ Emily Doe ~ Victim Impact Statement ~ this letter is not under oath or subject to cross examination ~ Republicans Wish Non-Racist Nominee Donald Trump Would Stop Saying Racist Things ~ Brock Turner trial continues in second week of testimony ~ Stanford Daily ~ it should be noted: ~ Trump is a racist he deserves what he gets ~ the word ending in -er ~ Brock Allen Turner: The Sort of Defendant Who Is Spared “Severe Impact” ~ comment Greg Z. 8 June 2016 at 12:30 pm – Why no mention of the Sam Ukwuachu ~ Baylor apparently reaches settlement with victim in former football player Sam Ukwuachu’s sexual assault case ~ Justice for None ~ Which U.S. President Are You? ~ Joe Biden Writes An Open Letter To Stanford Survivor ~ Brock Turner’s Cynical And Effective Legal Strategy, Revealed ~ How Bernie Sanders Exposed the Democrats’ Racial Rift ~ Sister of Brock Turner’s victim wrote searing letter to former Stanford swimmer: ‘The damage you inflicted is irreversible’ ~ Convicted rapist Brock Turner ‘creeped out’ other women at Stanford prior to 2015 sexual assault ~ The Library of Congress.
Midtown
The neighborhood along Peachtree Road has always been a great place to be a freak. For a long time it didn’t have a name. It is north of downtown, between Piedmont Park and Georgia Tech. Sometime in the early eighties, people started to call it Midtown, and the name stuck.
In the time after the War Between the States, this area was a shantytown called “Tight Squeeze”. It evolved into a pleasant middle class area. In the sixties, hippies took over. The area was known as the strip, or tight squeeze. Many stories could be told.
After the flower children moved on, the area went into decline. Gays started to move in, with the battle cry “Give us our rights or we will remodel your house.” Developers, worshiping the triune G-d of location, location, location, began to smell money. The neighborhood became trendy, then expensive, then more expensive. The freaks with money remain. This is a repost. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Implicit Association Test
PG came across a link. The post was: What comes to mind when you see her headscarf? Let’s look at what your mind is seeing. Technically, this is about the hijab, pronounced eeJOB. If you google hijab, you will have the opportunity to buy one.
The article talked about the unspoken assumptions people have about a woman with a hijab. For PG, these are going to be mostly positive. Most of the Muslims PG has known are great people. The turmoil caused by aggressive Jesus worshipers is absent when dealing with Muslims.
Much of the article deals with “unconscious bias.” You are given the chance to take a “test your unconscious bias and find the areas of your perspective that need a little extra TLC.” PG is not sure that he trusts “Psychologists from Harvard, UW, and UVA.” Still, the only cost for taking this test will probably be damage to his mental health.
Before you start, there is a disclaimer. “IP addresses are routinely recorded, but are completely confidential.” There is a difference between confidential and anonymous. Big brother knows about PG anyway, so this test probably won’t make much difference. You are asked to agree to the following statement: “I am aware of the possibility of encountering interpretations of my IAT test performance with which I may not agree. Knowing this, I wish to proceed.” Fasten your digital seat belt.
Next, you choose a test. The first page has 15 options: Sexuality, Native American, Weapons, Arab-Muslim, etc. PG chooses “Weapons (‘Weapons – Harmless Objects’ IAT). This IAT requires the ability to recognize White and Black faces, and images of weapons or harmless objects.)
The first thing to do is answer a questionnaire. You are asked how warm or cold you feel towards white people, and black people. There is a list of statements that you agree or disagree, slightly, moderately, or strongly. Some of these statements are: I think of myself as someone who has an assertive personality, I have considered being an entertainer.
The heart of the test uses photographs. There are pictures of black people, and pictures of white people. There are pictures of weapons, like a bayonet, a historic pistol, a hand grenade, and a battle ax. There are pictures of harmless objects, like a water bottle, tape recorder, camera, and can of Coca Cola. Many of these could be used a weapons; a can of Coca Cola could be thrown at someone. Many Police consider a camera a weapon.
The pictures are flashed on the screen. You hit the e key for the left side, and the i key for the right side. At first the two choices are kept separate, i.e. you choose black or white, weapon or harmless. Then the two groups are combined. The choice is left side black weapons, and right side white harmless. Then they shift sides, to black harmless and white weapons. You are shown a picture, and choose which category to put it in.
The last questionnaire is the demographics. Annual family income is not considered. Ethnicity refers to hispanic/latin, or non hispanic/latin. Religion, age, “political identity,” gender (only male or female,) and education are considered, among other factors.
The result: “Your data suggest a strong association of Black Americans with Weapons compared to White Americans. … The interpretation is described as ‘automatic association between weapons and White Americans’ if you responded faster when weapons and White American images were classified with the same key than when weapons and Black Americans were classified with the same key.”
Whatever. Maybe PG should take another test for comparison. Maybe this time, choose a subject where hateful judgement is not in your face everyday. Since the seminal article is about the hijab, maybe … “You have opted to complete the Arab Muslim – Other People IAT.”
The opening questionnaire is different.”I attempt to appear nonprejudiced toward Arab Muslims in order to avoid disapproval from others, NO spontaneous prejudiced thoughts come into my mind when I encounter an unfamiliar Arab Muslim.”
This test is different from the race test. Instead of photographs, words were used. For the two groups of people, we have names (seemingly all male.) Examples: Arab Muslim – Akbar, Ashraf, Habib – – Other People – Benoit, Philippe, Guillame. The other categories are Good and Bad. Examples: Good – Joy, Love, Peace – – Bad – Agony, Terrible, Horrible.
PG made more mistakes in the fancy part of the Arab test. He took a couple of breaks to take screen shots, one of which is included in this report. At times, he felt himself automatically blaming the Arabs for bad things. This did not happen, consciously, in the race/weapons test.
The result: Your data suggest little to no automatic preference between Other People and Arab Muslims. … This new test was prompted by the events of September 11, 2001. Suicide pilots, identified as Arab Muslims, crashed airplanes into the World Trade Center towers in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. killing about 4,000 people.
While this may have some value to the ivory tower crowd, it does not tell PG much about himself. Arguably, IAT says more about the researchers than it does the respondents. It is doubtful that these tests will “find the areas of your perspective that need a little extra TLC.” This is a repost. Pictures from The Library of Congress. These pictures were not used in the IAT studied today.
Buying Water In Kenya
One part of life taken for granted in America is indoor running water. You turn on a faucet, and get what you need. There are concerns about the future, and fussing about water rights. In Kenya, a person walks to a water vendor to buy a 20 liter supply of water.
Kibera is euphemistically known as an informal settlement. It is located in Nairobi, Kenya. A land mass 75% the size of New York’s Central Park is home to a lot of people. “More accurately, Kibera turned into an unauthorized settlement after Kenya gained independence in 1963 and the new government made illegal certain forms of housing. Nonetheless, landlords rented out cheap properties to impoverished Kenyans who could not afford legal housing, and has since earned the reputation of being one of Africa’s largest urban slums. Importantly, the precise population of Kibera is hotly debated and remains uncertain. Some estimates are as high as one million and others as low as 170,000 (e.g, 2009 Kenya Census). Estimates are difficult because Kibera is made up of residents who are extremely mobile, and often prefer to remain in the shadow of the law.”
Very few of the residents have running water. Every day, people have to carry a 20 liter jerrycan to a water vendor. Often, there are shortages, and the price goes up. The water is often contaminated. There are water mafias, which create artificial shortages to boost the price.
“If the root of water problems in Kibera centered on price and supply it may be more manageable, but issues of water quality substantially complicate clean water delivery systems. Most water pipes in Kibera run above ground and are made of plastic (due to issues with theft of steel pipes), which are highly fragile and easily manipulated. These pipes will often crack or break (either accidentally due to traffic or intentionally by competitors), allowing sewage to seep into drinking water. Indeed, water sources that are generally clean can easily become contaminated without notice. This is reflected in public health data—infant mortality rates and bloody diarrheal infection rates in Kibera are more than three times the average of Nairobi as a whole (UNDP 2006).”
Stanford University is setting up a program to use mobile telephones to help people find water. Evidently, mobile phones are more common is the slums of Kenya than clean water. The program is called M-Maji, which is Swahili for mobile water. A database will have information about who has water for sale, the price, and the quality of the water. This information will be available to water users via mobile phones.
HT to Bloggingheads.tv. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. The spell check suggestion for Kibera is Liberace. This is a repost.
Global Peace Index
The 2016 Global Peace Index has been released by the Institute for Economics and Peace. The multi national think tank ranks 163 countries on 29 factors.
One way to view violence is through economic impact. “The economic impact of violence on the global economy in 2015 was $13.6 trillion in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms. This figure represents 13.3 per cent of the world’s economic activity (gross world product) or $1,876 for every person in the world. “
Number 001, the most peaceful country on earth, is Iceland. 163, the least peaceful, is Syria. Other noteworthy countries: Japan 009, Germany 016, United Kingdom 047, Vietnam 059, United States 103, China 120, Israel 144, Palestine 148, Afghanistan 160, Iraq 161.
There is an interactive map. You click on the factor, and show how the countries score. It is color coded, with red the most violent, going to dark green for most peaceful. One factor where The United States scored red was Incarceration. Several of the other factors, like Military Expenditure, got The United States a green rating.
Pictures from The Library of Congress.
Brock Turner And Becky Doe
By now, most internetters know about the Brock Turner case. The Victim Impact Statement has gone viral. The 7140 words of polemic were probably not written by the accuser, known as Becky Doe. The statement is intended to motivate the court to give the defendant a more severe sentence. It was not intended to tell the truth. Was the statement made under oath? Was it subject to cross examination?
The statement seems to disconnect from the truth. “I called myself “big mama”, because I knew I’d be the oldest one there. I made silly faces, let my guard down, and drank liquor too fast not factoring in that my tolerance had significantly lowered since college.” In contrast, the Stanford Daily reports: “Doe confirmed that she had previously experienced four to five blackouts in college as a result of drinking. Asked by Kianerci if the Jan. 18 blackout was different from prior ones, Doe said, “In previous blackouts I have never been half-naked outside.”
There does seem to be a bit of alcohol privilege here. Miss Doe went to a party, and got blackout drunk. (“Alice King — a supervising criminalist for Santa Clara County — … estimated that the Doe and Turner’s blood alcohol content (BAC) levels at 1 a.m. would have been .242 to .249 and .171, respectively.”) While at the party, Miss Doe was seen dancing with, and kissing, Mr. Turner. She then left the party with Mr. Turner. Becky Doe trusted a drunken stranger to get her home safely.
This is not an excuse for what Mr. Turner did. He should have known that she was not capable of consent. However, for an adult to go to a party, get blackout drunk, and assume that she would be able to get home safely… this is extreme privilege. In the Victim Impact Statement Miss Doe denies any responsibility: “Campus drinking culture. That’s what we’re speaking out against? You think that’s what I’ve spent the past year fighting for? Not awareness about campus sexual assault, or rape, or learning to recognize consent. Campus drinking culture. Down with Jack Daniels. Down with Skyy Vodka. If you want talk to people about drinking go to an AA meeting. You realize, having a drinking problem is different than drinking and then forcefully trying to have sex with someone? Show men how to respect women, not how to drink less.” (Force was apparently not a factor in the January 18, 2015, incident. It is tough to say who started the fooling around.)
The Stanford Daily had another tidbit, that has gotten little publicity. “Lee discovered a mixture of at least two individuals’ DNA on the underwear’s waistband. The DNA present in larger amounts matched with Doe, while the DNA present in smaller amounts did not seem to match with Turner, assuming that it represented the DNA of only one person.”
The assault on Miss Doe was wrong, and should be punished. However, it should be noted: “Turner stated that that he took off the victim’s underwear, fingered her vagina and touched her breasts. He said that he never took his pants off, that his penis was never exposed and that he did not penetrate the alleged victim’s vagina with his penis.” While Becky Doe suffered a devastating attack, she was not at risk of pregnancy, or contracting an STI.
There is a double standard here. Many comments about the attack mention “my daughters.” People seem to be defending the damsel in distress…even when she got to the .249% percent distress on her own. Her Victim Impact Statement goes on, and on, and on about her psychological problems after the incident. If a man was attacked while passed out, and he were to issue a vitime statement about his hurt fee fees, then he would be laughed out of the courtroom.
Men and Women get robbed and beaten, while intoxicated, all the time. It is commonsense that if you go to a alcohol use facility, and get drunk, then you are in danger of being a victim later. This is especially true if someone is driving while drunk. (If a person is in an accident after drinking in a bar, the bar is liable for damages. Maybe a similar law for sexual assault is in order.) If a person goes to a bar, and gets robbed on their way home, they are seen as contributing to their own victimhood. Should sexual assault, where apparently the woman was not taken by force, be different?
Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Maintenance
Remember the men forced into military service against their will. The majority of the American men killed in Vietnam were drafted. ~ There is sooo much food for thought here. I might not be able to take this in. Here are a few thoughts. 1- Two wrongs do not make a right. Sports fan riots do not justify brawling at WalMart. The easiest argument to make about something is to say hypocrite.2- So much of the out of control emotion in the black community comes from the Christian church. ~ A 94 word sentence confuses political rhetoric for “white supremacy.” This is facebook. Plain, and simple minded. ~ When a faithfully married black president who was the son of a single mother ~ I am researching a blog post about that meme. Mr. Google directed me to this post. You are saying many things that I would like to say. I may quote you. ~ Whiskypalians love to adopt the traditions of others. ~ Ask s-cs what state they live in. If it is not a “swing state,” then the electoral votes will go to whomever the party nominates. S-cs, in all likelihood, does not have a vote in a Presidential election. ~ are those cheering people in the picture celebrating someone being blocked? ~ @AnonymousAnon09 Pointing out racial injustice @ Notre Dame. I’m a law student.I live to argue! @realDonaldTrump supporter. ND REPUBLICAN, Lifetime NRA, CCW,SHARPSHOOTER,❤️Glock ~ Help support Little Green Footballs! As a Little Green Footballs reader, we’re sure you agree a Donald Trump presidency would be disastrous for America. That’s why, in this crucial election season, we’re going to be working harder than ever to debunk and push back against the bad craziness of the right wing – but we need your help! Please consider making a donation to the Little Green Footballs fund today. ~ @TheAtheistPig My god. I just turned on #FoxNews for the first time in awhile. Bill O’Reilly’s mortician needs to give him a touch up. ~ fools feedeth on foolishness ~ does anyone else read the numbered boldface list of items in an article, and ignore the rest of the piece? ~ i never made any of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking ~ If Albert Einstein said all those clever things on memes, how did he ever find time to make his discoveries? ~ Do an episode about how the word “racism” means so many different things to different people. Maybe it is time to put that confusing word on the shelf. Maybe, we can call both racists, and people with *prejudice*, what they are…assholes. ~ Derek Schmidt or just explain the basic difference between the more nuanced sociological definition of racism (with included power dynamics) and the common dictionary term. The importance of the former is that includes the reality of systemic racism, while the latter is just what you’re talking about- assholes that are racist in an interpersonal kind of way. Inequality won’t be fixed by just ending interpersonal racism, there needs to be change to the system and to many structures of our culture. We shouldn’t get rid of the word for being complex and nuanced, and we shouldn’t fixate on simplistic interpersonal racism (this person is an asshole, etc), when we need deeper change at a social and political level. ~ This is a semantic quicksand pit. This is not something that will be uncovered in a five minute video, with a talking paper mache reindeer. I agree that “calling out” interpersonal “racism” has very little effect on institutional inequality. Unfortunately, interpersonal mischief is an easy target for five minute videos. Also, this focus is almost always on PWOC shortcomings, and ignores the massive interpersonal prejudice of POC. Until we pay the same attention to “prejudice” that we pay to “racism”, we are going to have problems. ~ @freddiedeboer Words generally don’t keep their meanings for long but “intersectionality” has been completely drained of content at a remarkable pace. ~ Derek Schmidt Complexity isn’t always a semantic quicksand pit (see how I boiled it down to main levels), and just requires work to understand. The last sentence I disagree with, racial prejudice by POC people occurs, is addressed, and called out all the time by other POC people and communities. If you agree that there’s systemic inequality with white people at the top (white supremacy), racism tends to be committed by white people because of the power difference. The semantics have mattered because the end goal is to change the system, not the person. Getting tied up in ‘but but but why can’t POC folks be called racist and we can?!” is imo an example of white fragility and our inability to objectively look at the severe consequences of the system of inequality we benefit from. What does interpersonal racial prejudice compare to systemic oppression (jailing, arrest, discrimination in jobs, housing, unequal sentencing, etc.), and ask yourself why you’d care so much about what you see as the ‘massive interpersonal prejudice of POC?’ ~ Jane you ignorant slut. ~ Your status is based on your device settings and any choices you have made with the Digital Advertising Alliance. ~ @nihilist_arbys Statistically, no one loves you. No one has even ever heard of you. Enjoy Arbys, you completely irrelevant turd ~ @HLMenckenBot Constructive criticism irritates me. I don’t object to being denounced, but I can’t abide being school-mastered by men I regard as imbeciles ~ when you are duped into saying foolish things, you choose the side of the oppressor ~ canvass is dumbass misspelled ~ repubs have been crying wolf about HRC for 24 years few believe them anymore, except those who have a reason to believe ~ One or more phones require Phone Number Verification, please enter the phone number below. ~ D List: 10 things gay guys say vs. what they really mean ~ sunshine daydream ~ saturation ~ White People Have No Place In Black Liberation. ~ When a faithfully married black president who was the son of a single mother ~ This Is Not White Supremacy ~ THIS IS NOT WHITE SUPREMACY ~ Not so plain ~ Why We Need to Talk About Racism as a Mental-Health Trigger ~ Here’s One Brutal Truth Every White Gay Man Needs to Hear ~ The Cult of Happiness ~ 6 Ways to Tell If You Need to Be Called Out ~ Einstein ~ Still Standing: The Untold Story of My Fight Against Gossip, Hate, and Political Attacks ~ The Largest Religious Group in Each County ~ pictures today are from The Library of Congress. ~ selah
The Night Muhammad Ali Fought In Atlanta
Many have noted that Muhammad Ali lit the Olympic torch in 1996. Few seem to remember another Atlanta appearance from the former Cassius Clay. It happened October 26, 1970, at the Municipal Auditorium. To get to this point, lets borrow a few lines from a Courier-Journal Ali Timeline.
1960 – “Clay defeats Zbigniew Pietrzykowski of Poland on Sept. 5 to win the light-heavyweight boxing gold medal at the Olympics in Rome…”
1962 – “Clay hears Elijah Muhammad speak for the first time. He meets another Nation of Islam leader, Malcolm X, who becomes a friend and adviser. – On March 9, the military draft board classifies Clay 1-A, meaning he is fit and available to be called into the Army…”
1964 -” Because of a low score on the Army intelligence test, Clay is reclassified 1-Y, not qualified for military service, in January. “I said I was The Greatest,” he explains. “I never said I was the smartest.” – Clay scores a stunning seventh-round technical knockout over 7-1 favorite Sonny Liston on Feb. 25 at the Miami Convention Center, winning the world heavyweight championship at age 22. – In response to a reporter’s question the day after the fight, Clay confirms he is a member of the Nation of Islam, saying: “I believe in Allah and in peace. … I’m not a Christian anymore. … Followers of Allah are the sweetest people in the world. They don’t tote weapons. They pray five times a day.” – A rift grows between Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X. Ali sides with Elijah, causing grief for Malcolm. – Casting off his “slave name,” Clay adopts the temporary name Cassius X. Later he announces that Elijah has bestowed on him the name Muhammad Ali. The name means “Praiseworthy One.”…”
1965 – “Ali knocks out Liston in the first round of their rematch, before only 4,280 fans in Lewiston, Maine, on May 25. Liston falls under a “phantom” punch that apparently few people see, giving rise to suspicions that he threw the fight. Former champion Joe Louis eventually declares Ali “unfit” to hold the title. – In October, former champion Floyd Patterson says: “Cassius Clay is disgracing himself and the Negro race.” On Nov. 22, Ali delivers a punishing defeat to Patterson, in part, he says, because Patterson refuses to call him Ali….”
1966 – “With the Vietnam War heating up, the Army lowers test-score standards, reclassifying Ali 1-A — fit for service. – “Man, I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong,” he says to reporters who call him at home in Miami. He later explains that “no Viet Cong ever called me nigger.” – Ali asks to be reclassified a conscientious objector to military service. A hearing officer sides with him, but the draft board keeps him 1-A, armed with a U.S. Justice Department opinion that Ali’s objections to military service are political not religious….”
1967 – “On April 28, Ali refuses induction into the Army in Houston.” “It is the light of my consciousness as a Muslim minister and my own personal convictions that I take my stand in rejecting the call to be inducted in the armed services,” Ali stated after refusing induction on April 28, 1967. “I have searched my conscience and I find I cannot be true to my belief in my religion by accepting such a call.” He was convicted of draft evasion on June 20, 1967. Ali was sentenced to five years in prison and fined $10,000, the maximum penalty for the offense. He remained free on a $5,000 bond while he appealed his conviction. Ali was also stripped of the World Heavyweight Championship by the New York State Athletic Commission and the World Boxing Association, systematically denied a boxing license in every state and stripped of his passport. “
For three and a half years, Mr. Ali was unable to fight in the ring. The WBA had a tournament, and installed their own champion. People tried to set up a fight for Mr. Ali, but were blocked by politicians, and state boxing authorities. California Governor Ronald Reagan said “That draft dodger will never fight in my state, period.” Then someone had the idea to have the fight in Atlanta.
Atlanta has never been a boxing town. There was no boxing commission. The Municipal Auditorium, the only venue that could host, was a dump. As Ring magazine tells the story: “So it was the height of irony that it was Atlanta, a city that occupied the heart of the Deep South, that provided the breakthrough. State Senator Leroy Johnson and Governor Lester Maddox helped pave the way for a most improbable return by persuading the City of Atlanta Athletic Commission to grant Ali a boxing license on Aug. 12, 1970. Shortly thereafter, it was announced Ali would fight Jerry Quarry on Oct. 26 at the City Auditorium in Atlanta. The bout was scheduled for 15 rounds, probably in recognition of Ali’s status as lineal heavyweight champion.” (Other sources say that Governor Maddox was opposed to hosting the fight, but was powerless to stop it.)
The opponent was Jerry Quarry, whose white skin was apparent that night. His obituary notes: :His most famous night was in Atlanta, Georgia, in October 1970, when he was the “fall-guy” for Ali’s comeback from his three- year exile. Quarry was stopped because of a badly cut eye in the third round. It brought him his biggest payday, $338,000. … By 1995 he was in the care of his brother James, and was suffering from severe pugilistic dementia.” Jerry Quarry died January 3, 1999.
The fight was not much of a contest. It lasted three rounds, before the referee stopped the match. Mr. Ali fought for ten more years, and regained the Heavyweight Championship twice. “On June 28, 1971, the Supreme Court unanimously overturns Ali’s 4-year-old draft conviction, saying that his claims as a conscientious objector were based on religion and were sincere.”
The fight was the occasion for a display of black pride, and black money. The New Yorker essayist George Plimpton remembered that invasion of the Harlem peacocks in their enormous purple Cadillacs: “I’d never seen crowds as fancy, especially the men – felt hatbands and feathered capes, and the stilted shoes, the heels like polished ebony, and many smoking stuff in odd meerschaum pipes.”
“The times reported that the bout was like “a page out of the roaring twenties. … The ladies had beads down to the hem of their maxi-skirts. One man wore an ankle length mink coat, with a high hat of mink to match. … Diana Ross sat in the forth row, ringside, with a bouffant, Afro-American hair-do that stretched out 10 inches on each side.” Many of those in attendance were invited to a party.
“Engraved invitations to one party in particular had been passed around to the hustlers in New York a week earlier and in Atlanta in the days leading up to the fight. The invitations announced that “Fireball” was throwing a party at 2819 Handy Drive, in Collier Heights.
The Handy Drive house happened to be one of several properties that “Chicken Man” Williams owned. He’d given a friend, an Atlantan-turned-New-Yorker known as “Fireball,” permission to use the house. He’d even helped build a craps table the week before so all the big-time gamblers who were sure to show up could “roll the bones.”
Williams’ girlfriend, Barbara Smith, skipped the fight to help prepare for the party. She and two girlfriends were busy in the kitchen when they heard the front door open. The fight was still going on, so Smith went to the front, expecting to meet an early bird. She was greeted by three men in ski masks standing in the hallway. All were armed; one was pointing a shotgun at her face. …
An estimated 80 to 200 people had arrived at the house expecting to party, only to be fleeced by masked men with shotguns. According to news accounts, the victims were led to the basement, then ordered to strip to their underwear, throw all their valuables in a pile and lay on the floor…
As more victims arrived, floor space in the basement became scarce, so the gunmen ordered the victims to lie on top of each other. Cash and jewelry was swept into pillowcases. That went on for hours as more and more people kept showing up. By 3 a.m., the half-naked victims were stacked like cordwood on top of each other.
Not one shot was fired. But as they left, the gunmen took Smith and one of her friends hostage and told everyone else to stay put. Three hours later, they dropped the women off on the other side of town and gave them $10 each for cab fare. By that time, the investigation was underway.
Creative Loafing has a terrific story about the party at Chicken Man’s house. If you have a few minutes, it is worth your time. Ditto for this newspaper story, in the sucky google books format.
A key person in the story is J.D. Hudson. One of the first eight black Atlanta policemen, Lt. Hudson was Mr. Ali’s bodyguard the night of the fight. Lt. Hudson wound up conducting the investigation of the party at Chicken Man’s house. Lt. Hudson met Gordon “Chicken Man” Williams, under rather unpleasant circumstances, in 1949.
Lt. Hudson never suspected Chicken Man of being part of the robbery. “From the time he took over the case, Hudson says, he knew Williams wasn’t responsible — even though other investigators already had pinned the crime on him. For one thing, Hudson could place Williams at the fight at the time the gunmen were at the house setting up the crime.
For another, Hudson says, “I knew [Williams] wasn’t dumb enough to pull a stunt like that. This was a man who ran [a] million-dollar operation from a pay phone on a street corner. He was smart. He could’ve run IBM or Coke. There’s no way he would’ve risked all that to pay somebody off. This was pulled off by a bunch of young thugs who were trying to knock over a party, and when they got there and saw how big it was, they improvised.”
Chicken Man went to prison in the seventies, and became a minister. He served as the Pastor of the Salem Baptist Church. Gordon Williams died December 6, 2014. J.D.Hudson died June 4, 2009. The men who robbed the party goers were killed a few months after the fight.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
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