Tuesday, October 29, 2013
THE WASHINGTON REDSKINS SAGA: IT STOPS HERE
The Washington Redskins – the venerable NFL franchise is now under attack by a liberal blitzkrieg because of a complaint from Ray Halbritter, a spokesman for the Oneida Indian Nation. The complaint stems from the name of the team’s mascot: The Washington Redskins.
Originally named the Boston Braves in 1932, the team had to change their name since Boston already had the Boston Braves Baseball team, now in Atlanta.
The Oneida tribe is an honorable and historic Indian community from upstate New York. Once part of the five nation Iroquois Confederation, the Oneida people sided with the Patriots in the American Revolutionary War while their compatriots went with the British. Many of the ancient Oneida chiefs formed friendships with General and future U.S. Senator Philip Schuyler of New York, Lieutenant General and future President of the United States George Washington, and the Marquis de La Fayette. These men recognized the Oneida’s contributions during and after the war. In the late 18th century, U.S. Senator Philip Schuyler declared, "sooner should a mother forget her children" than we should forget you. This emotional tribute provides some insight into the special relationship between the Oneida Nation and the United States.
This is why the present predicament is so sad. The once great Oneida Nation has succumbed to the siren call of Indian gambling through a Class III gambling casino in upstate New York. The Turning Stone Resort and Casino of Verona houses 14 bars and restaurants with numerous gaming rooms – the casino only exists because of the special tax free relationship it has with the American People. This makes Mr. Halbritter’s objections to the Redskins mascot hallow and hypocritical. What could be more stereotypical and damaging to Native Americans than an Indian tribe addicted to a casino where many of its most loyal customers act out their addition to gambling. One trip to their website shows a promotion to win a Tundra truck by the Japanese car company Toyota. Of course in the bed of the truck are two lovely cheerleaders with their upper bodies clad in a sports bra revealing nearly two inches of skin below their belly buttons. What would Pocahontas say?
Mr. Halbritter and the Oneida nation should heed the old English idiom: “People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.”
This present matter with the Redskins controversy has gained considerable force in this Age of Obama, an age where it seems everything sacred and venerable is under attack. President Obama wasted no time weighing in to this mess saying he would "think about changing" the name if he owned the team.
Halbritter recently said the name is degrading and has devastating effects, especially on younger Indians. Yet, Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder has said he will never change the team's name and NFL Commissioner Goodell has said that it is ultimately Snyder's call.
So what is it about the Redskins name that’s driving the current media frenzy? The critics of this name claim it is an undeniable racial pejorative. To the Ubur liberals of the left from Bill Maher and George Clooney to the president and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi the name is a clear racial pejorative, an outrage - but what do American Indians think of the name Redskins for a football team’s mascot? Well, in “…a 2002 poll commissioned by Sports Illustrated (they) found that 75% of those American Indians surveyed had no objection to the Redskins name.” Two years later “(i)n a study performed…by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, Native Americans from the 48 continental U.S. states were asked ‘The professional football team in Washington calls itself the Washington Redskins. As a Native American, do you find that name offensive or does it not bother you?’ In response more than ninety percent (90% plus) replied that the name is acceptable…”
“More recent national polls show continued strong support for retaining the name among American Indians although at lower numbers than previous polls.”
It seems reasonable to assume that the rank and file American Indian (1.7% of the U.S. population) does not have a problem with the name the Washington Redskins, rather it appears that only the Native American Civil Rights hierarchy does has a problem.
So to quote William Shakespeare this appears to be “Much Ado About Nothing.” It has become a convenient smoke screen hiding the real problems plaguing the Native American Community in New York State and across the country. Consider some of these issues confronting American Indians today: They have the highest rate of school drop outs (about 54%), along with the highest rate of child mortality, the highest rate of suicide, the highest rate of teenage pregnancy, including the lowest life expectancy (55 years).
Indeed alcoholism remains a staggering problem among the American Indians - in some reservations eight families out of ten have problems with alcoholism. “A survey of death certificates over a four-year period showed that deaths among Indians due to alcohol are about four times as common as in the general US population.” Beals J, Spicer P, Mitchell CM, et al. (October 2003). The poverty rate is 28.4 %, more than 13% higher than the national average.
In addition, Native Americans have had for centuries an issue of cultural vertigo. Consider that American Indians were living in the proverbial Stone Age when Columbus et al arrived in the America’s at the dawn of the 16th century. Armed with ocean going ships, horses, cannons and an educated and sophisticated culture, the indigenous people must have experience a time warp sensation producing cultural g-forces that would have knocked out most tribes. American Indians had no formal educational system at the time, no modern technologies, indeed they were still using the bow and arrow for warfare, a technology in place since 16,000 BC. The Indians of the northeast did not even have the use of the wheel. The cultural shock is still manifest even today after 521 years.
Plenty of colleges and high schools have abandoned Indian names due to a desire to be purged of any guilt, yet this symbolic gesture has done little to truly help the first Americans.
The Irish community in America had a very rough time of it in the mid-nineteenth century regarding social, cultural and religious issues but they did not wallow in their misery. They got to work at becoming Americans and never looked back. The portable jail is still called the Paddy Wagon but it was never a topic of anguish with the Irish, nor do they have a problem with The University of Notre Dame’s motto: “The fighting Irish.” How many of the Boston Irish object to the leprechaun mascot of the Boston Celtics? Today Saint Patrick’s Day is an American holiday, more prominent than in Ireland.
Besides the Irish, the Italians have moved forward to enjoy complete assimilation into the American culture despite the Hollywood stereotype of Italians as ditch-diggers and mobsters. Indeed, the greatest story of assimilation has been the European Jews who escaped persecution in the Old Country only to live in abject poverty in cities like New York and Brooklyn. They did this in order to give their children a better life. And of course the degradation suffered by the Jews of the 20th century during World War II cannot be matched by any racial or ethnic group in American society today. In 2013 Jews enjoy the full embrace of America contributing to the fields of music, medicine, business, and politics. Think about it – can you get any more American than George Gershwin (Rhapsody in Blue, An American in Paris or Irving Berlin (White Christmas, God Bless America, and Blue Skies). Then there’s Oscar Hammerstein II (Oklahoma, The Sound of Music), and Aaron Copland (1942’s Fanfare for the Common Man, an anthem to the strength of the American nation, along with 1944’s Appalachian Spring, a celebration of the beauty of the first Western border of our country.
We must all remember that not all Indians of the past were warm and fuzzy like Tonto. The scalping death of Jane McCrea was memorialized in a portrait by John Venderlyn - this brutality was not an isolated incident. Many white women were scalped or taken by the Indians of New York for carnal purposes and of course historians have documented the Lakota’s treatment of Custer’s men at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Eyes were gouged-out along with the removal of ears, fingers and genitalia by Crazy Horse and his warriors. Our American soldiers were unrecognizable by their fellow troopers. Brutality was a two way street during the mid-nineteenth century.
Let Quarterback Robert Griffin III and the rest of Washington Redskins play football to the delight of their fans including President Obama and let the national conversation center on consequential things like improving the lives of all Americans including the first Americans. (Word Total: 1447)
Geoffrey G. Fisher is a federally designated Highly Qualified state-certified history teacher living in southwest Florida. He holds a BA in History from the University of Connecticut and a MA in Public Policy from Trinity College in Hartford, CT. In addition to teaching he is a former elected official and speechwriter. Mr. Fisher now writes the political blog: THE THINKING CAP at www.theamericanthinkingcap.blogspot.com He is also a weekly columnist for the Political e-Magazine: THE PATRIOTUPDATE.COM
Monday, October 7, 2013
Even Pope Francis is Susceptible to Human Foibles
EVEN POPE FRANCIS IS SUSCEPTIBLE TO HUMAN FOIBLES
GEOFFREY G. FISHER
Pope Francis (Jorge Mario Bergoglio) has caused quite a stir in the Roman Catholic Church since giving a series of interviews two weeks ago. At that time he seemed to be shifting the venerable 2000 year old church into a more modern gear at break neck speed. A closer examination proves otherwise.
The pope said in an interview published in Jesuit Journals that the Catholic Church cannot focus only on abortion, contraception and gay marriage, “We have to find a new balance…Otherwise even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel.”
Either the Holy Father is starting to believe the glowing press reports about his purity of purpose and ability to commune with the common man or he is not as savvy as his predecessors were with the world press. My bet is on the former: Jorge Mario Bergoglio is being successfully wooed by the secular world. NBC’s Brian Williams gushed on air over the new pope like some star-struck middle school girl at a One Direction concert. Francis is heralded for not sleeping in the pope’s official living quarters, for not wearing the pope’s ceremonial robes, and for nor wearing red “Prada” shoes (it turns out that Benedict XVI’s shoes were not Prada after all). CBS News reported at the time: “As pope, his manner is less formal than that of his predecessors: a style that news coverage has referred to as ‘no frills,’ noting that it is ‘his common touch and accessibility that is proving the greatest inspiration.’ ” Hold that thought - remember Jimmy Carter walking down Pennsylvania Avenue on Inauguration Day with Amy in tow and his trademark cardigan sweaters? Carter’s no-frills touch proved disastrous in foreign and domestic affairs.
With all due respect to the Holy Father the warm embrace of your pronouncements by the secular left should make you uneasy – it is a signal that your words are being repackaged to endorse the new social revolution rather than a stylized adjustment to make the Church a more inviting place for lapsed Catholics.
The most glaring example of this phenomenon was President Obama’s reaction to the pope on a CNBC interview with John Harwood from Wednesday. "I have been hugely impressed with the pope's pronouncements," Obama said, describing Francis as "somebody who lives out the teachings of Christ. Incredible humility -- incredible sense of empathy to the least of these, to the poor…He's (Pope Francis) also somebody who is -- I think first and foremost -- thinking about how to embrace people as opposed to push them away; how to find what's good in them as opposed to condemn them…And that spirit, that sense of love and unity, seems to manifest itself in not just what he says, but also what he does. And, you know, for any religious leader, that's something -- that's a quality I admire.”
This syrupy sweet endorsement comes from a man that many Americans see as a Manchurian Candidate, a man of evil intent. Although I do not endorse this portrayal of our president that can be no debate that he has participated in some of the most evil legislation to ever pass a state legislature.
Melissa Ohden, a failed-abortion survivor makes my case: “When he was in the Illinois state Senate, Barack Obama voted to deny basic Constitutional protections for babies born alive from an abortion — not once, but four times. I know it’s by the grace of God that I’m alive today.” – September 2012.
President Obama purposely ignored what the pope truly said because Francis is not advocating changing church doctrine. CBS News reported that (Pope Francis) said that while homosexual acts were sinful, the homosexual orientation was not. He favors a wider active role for women in the Church, but believes the ordination of women into the Catholic priesthood is impossible.” This sounds just like Pope John Paul II, a man of immense intellect and heart.
Basically, the current pope is saying that God is merciful and will forgive those sinners who are truly contrite, like the adulterous woman who was forgiven by Jesus and then told to go and sin no more. How many Gay activists are ready to ask for the forgiveness for the sins of their behavior? Lewis Speaks-Tanner, VP of Dignity USA, a Gay Catholic Organization deliberately ignored the pope’s full message and reacted to the inclusion portion of the pope’s rhetoric – Speaks-Tanner has made no overture that he is ready to confess for the sins of his homosexual behavior. Dignity USA seems to be just another run of the mill Cafeteria Catholic organization after all.
Catholics everywhere should applaud the Pope’s message of forgiveness and mercy but they should also stand firm on church doctrine and the teachings of the Bible. Most of all, Christians should be weary of Obama liberals trying to hijack our faith with their twisted political spin. (WORD TOTAL: 824)
Geoffrey G. Fisher is a federally designated Highly Qualified state-certified history teacher living in southwest Florida. He holds a BA in History from the University of Connecticut and a MA in Public Policy from Trinity College in Hartford, CT. In addition to teaching he is a former elected official and speechwriter. Mr. Fisher now writes the political blog: THE THINKING CAP at www.theamericanthinkingcap.blogspot.com and is a weekly columnist at the Patriotupdate.com magazine.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Invasion of the Mulattos
INVASION OF THE MULATTOS
(Photographs did not transfer to this post)
Race relations in the United States today is difficult to articulate because of many factors, not the least is the inability of Americans to define what it means to be black or African-American. The mulattos have landed and their invasion is complete within black America. Bi-racial Americans used to pass for white, now due to the profit motive the passing is in reverse, bi-racial people are now passing for black. It’s a mixed up world.
Today, in the public sphere the number of mulattos passing for black is breath-taking especially in the fourth estate – the field of journalism. Indeed, a review of the most visible members of the press shows an absolute drought of female blacks with African features. There’s Gwen Ifill of PBS and Deborah Roberts of ABC and that’s it.
GWEN IFILL of PBS DEBORAH ROBERTS of ABC NEWS
Some female journalists have simply chosen to dismiss their Caucasian heritage and are passing as African-Americas to the detriment of the Gwen Ifills of the world. Poster child Melissa Harris-Perry now has a cable news show on MSNBC in which she articulates the black experience. She is of course the product miscegenation: a black father, William M. Harris Sr. and a white mother, Diana Gray. Despite her DNA, Mrs. Harris-Perry states: “I’ve never thought of myself as biracial…I’m black.” Of course no one will challenge her since the topic of being a mulatto is still toxic.
Melissa’s ability to pass as black is financially rewarding for herself and MSNBC since the cable news outlet can claim diversity for its public profile. Biologists would call this a symbiotic relationship since both parties prosper under this tent of make-believe. As her show goes to commercial Melissa dances to a hip-hop beat like any sister from the hood.
Melissa Harris-Perry
Mrs. Harris-Perry is not alone. The old one-drop rule of the Jim Crow south has been dusted off and this time applied by the new left – if you think you have one drop of sub-Saharan African blood then brother, you’re black. How else can you explain this giddy statement from CNN’s Soledad O’Brien?
I'm on the phone with a confused reporter, and I'm confused too. She keeps asking me why I "count myself as black...Is your father annoyed that you deny him?" My dad is white. I interject. "Let's conference him in," I say. "Listen, he married a black woman (actually he didn’t, your mother is mulatto), he has six black children. He'd be the first person to tell you I'm black." No, you’re not black Soledad; you’re actually a Quadroon, just like Sally Hemings who was also ¼ black and ¾ white.
So what would make a Harvard educated woman who is ¾ white, chastise a female reporter for suggesting the obvious – namely, that Soledad is primarily Caucasian. What would make her deny the obvious? Now it appears that Ms. O’Brien is not faking it. Obviously, Time Warner, the current owners of CNN had a similar mindset - they hired Soledad O’Brien to host of all things the CNN series Black in America. Ms. O’Brien’s dismissive posture and righteousness on this topic seems Orwellian. She is blotting out the fact that she is a multi-racial woman or more to the point a quadroon that is passing as black. What we need is for Toto to pull back the curtain and expose the Wizard of Diversity.
(Soledad is shown here with Sofia, 6, Jackson and Charlie, 3, and Cecilia, 5.)
In the field of entertainment the same paradigm is at work. Halle Berry is today one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood. Ms. Berry was raised exclusively by her white mother since her black father walked out on the family more than twenty-five years ago – yet, this mixed race actress was selected by for the BET Award for Best Actress, and was the two time winner of NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture, in addition, “(s)he was awarded the African-American Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress.” A mulatto woman raised by her white mother wins a collection of awards passing as a black woman. Ms. Berry could not contain herself off camera. She pulled out the tissues and commented: "This moment is so much bigger than me. This is for every nameless, faceless woman of (some) color who now has a chance tonight because this door has been opened. This is a take off on the famous philosopher Rene Descartes: “I think, therefore I am (black).” She like Soledad and Melissa has chosen to deny her white heritage and has profited from her charade.
Even though these women are guilty of being ambitious and greedy, the real villains in all of this mess are the corporations who bath themselves in the waters of diversity. Not only are their efforts silly, they’re also wicked. They are participating in the secret cabal of favoring the features of white women without admitting to it. This is called colorism and it’s been practiced for 148 years. This explains why Vanessa Williams was the first woman of any African Descent to win the Miss America award for 1984. She met the threshold for being black.
VANESSA WILLIAMS: 44% European
The NAACP appears to be practicing colorism since Vanessa was the recipient of the NAACP Image Award for Music and Acting in 1989, 1994, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2007, 2008, and 2010. It seems peculiar that a woman of mixed racial heritage with stunning blue eyes would be the choice of the NAACP Image Award winner for nine of the last 22 years. The NAACP is passing Vanessa as black.
“Colorism has been a persistent phenomenon is the black community since partial white heritage gave light-skinned blacks more economic value and caused them to be viewed as smarter and superior to dark-skinned blacks...” (Russell, K., Wilson, M., & Hall, R. (1993) The color complex: The politics of skin color among African Americans. In essence, colorism is being practiced by Hollywood and corporate America today due to the profit motive and the need to prove their progressiveness to the society at large – that is, for the love of money and the need to be loved.
The NAACP, the premier black civil rights organization, is now run by a mulatto, Benjamin Todd Jealous. Mr. Jealous is passing as a professional black. Indeed, the group’s first president was of mixed heritage, W.E.B. DuBois. Dr. DuBois was a brilliant scholar and organizer but he was a first rate classist. Consider a 1939 meeting between Dr. DuBois and black Doctoral candidate John Hope Franklin at a hotel in Raleigh, NC. Franklin approached DuBois and introduced himself as a doctoral student. The John Hope of John Hope Franklin was the name of Dr. DuBois’ best friend at the time. There was a stony silence with no acknowledgement by DuBois that Franklin was even in his presence. DuBois simply continued to read his newspaper. As Franklin started to leave DuBois broke his silence with “How do you do?”
W.E.B. DuBois
JOHN HOPE, “black” activist, friend of DuBois
Even, Frederick Douglass who was 50% white on his father’s side routinely mocked uneducated black slaves and freedmen alike. Douglass had a regal bearing that smacked of elitism.
Douglass during the 1840s, a free man
Although Douglass was able to debunk the notion that blacks could not be educated he also strengthened the idea that his white heritage was responsible for his remarkable oratory skills. This concept was and still is an unintended consequence of colorism.
In the late 19th century the great voice of the newly freed slaves was the son of a white master and black slave: Booker T. Washington. Racists again claimed his brilliance and work ethic was the result of his white father.
>BENJAMIN T. JEALOUS
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON<
De Facto colorism seems to be thriving today with the NAACP and their decision to appoint Ben Jealous as president – light skin blacks still dominate every aspect of the African-American community. A point only reinforced with election of President Barack Obama, son of Stanley Ann Dunham, a white woman.
Is there anything wrong with so many political and cultural leadership roles being controlled by mulattos? No, if the diversity-mongers own up to their profiteering agenda. Sociologists now conclude that as a whole black America is about 30% white. Even Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. of PBS’ African American Lives fame discovered that he is 60% European ancestry, 34% African, 6% Asian and was “descended from the mulatto John Redman.” Unlike many prominent blacks, Gates has embraced his entire heritage including his induction into the Sons of The American Revolution.
The mere fact that mulattos dominate the power structure of black America is not the problem since we are all children of God and as such we are all afforded the right to pursue our happiness. However, when corporations start trafficking in Diversity for profit then the elevation of mulattos over blacks with African features is a big problem for the country as a whole.
The hunger for Americans of mixed racial heritage by the popular culture may be best illustrated with Tia & Tamera Mowry. These beautiful and lovely young ladies took the country by storm in 1994 in the WB sitcom Sister, Sister. Again, BET placed Tia in a starring role in The Game for six years. Had Tia and Tamera’s father been black, the chances of these same girls rising to fame would be doubtful due to colorism. Will BET and the NAACP ever admit to participating in colorism? The answer is no since the admission would be too embarrassing and would expose their hypocrisy.
Tia and Tamera Mowry with their parents in 1978
In the entertainment industry only three black women with African features have a brilliant presence on primetime television: S. Epatha Merkerson from Law and Order, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Without a Trace, and Whoopi Goldberg from The View. That’s it. Colorism does not have the same hold over black males, however.
Race-Passing for profit needs to identified and corralled. BET, the NAACP, and the rest of America needs to get off the diversity band wagon and start to look at the whole person for who they are: E Pluribus Unum – Out of Many, One. Fifty years ago this month a reverend from Georgia said: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” In other words, stop the passing and be yourself. (Words: 1762)
Geoffrey G. Fisher is a federally designated Highly Qualified state-certified history teacher living in southwest Florida. He holds a BA in History from the University of Connecticut and a MA in Public Policy from Trinity College in Hartford, CT. In addition to teaching he is a former elected official and speechwriter. Mr. Fisher now writes the political blog: THE THINKING CAP at
www.theamericanthinkingcap.blogspot.com.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
The Failure of the Black Political Class, Again
The Failure of the Black Political Class, Again
State of Florida
They just can’t help themselves. Upon learning of the Not Guilty verdict for George Zimmerman the Black Political Class started their engines and spewed out the same toxic fumes that makes their rhetoric so egregious. The Hill Magazine on Jesse Jackson: “Rev. Jesse Jackson said Thursday that his Rainbow PUSH Coalition would consider boycotting
Furthermore, Jamelle Bouie writes in the über liberal journal The American Prospect, “It’s absolutely true that ‘NYPD stats show that 96 percent of all shooting victims are black or Hispanic, and 97 percent of all shooters were black or Hispanic,’ but it’s also true that the number of black and Latino offenders is a small fraction of all blacks and Latinos. But stop and frisk turns all blacks and all Latinos into potential offenders—it erases individual consideration and imposes collective suspicion, (blacks deserve (t)he right to walk freely as an individual, and not as the member of a suspect class.” I agree but there is a conundrum to this narrow view.
Kevin Jackson of The Black Sphere highlights that “3% of blacks are committing 50% of the crimes.” This fact causes an innate response by blacks and whites to teenage black males.
Well Reverend Jackson how does your rhetoric today square with your published views from 17 years ago? “There is nothing more painful to me … than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery, then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved.”
To make matters worse, the President of the United States
The facts in the case are as follows:
- The defense team did not invoke the Stand Your Ground law during the trial.
- The evidence showed that Zimmerman was viciously attacked by Trayvon Martin that fateful night. There is unimpeachable photographic evidence.
- The jury believed that Zimmerman was reasonably afraid for his life.
- A struggle over the gun pursued and Zimmerman prevailed.
What we have today is an attempt at Mob Rule – consider the placards saying “No Justice - No Peace.” Really? Indeed, there is a long history of recklessness exhibited by the black political class that is both disturbing and dangerous. Loosely translated this attitude assumes that the actions of the government are ALWAYS racist and consequently blacks can say or do whatever they want – they are entitled to a special class of rhetorical freedom and action. How else can you justify Jackson ’s call for a boycott of Florida
A less flamboyant example of this recklessness was star witness and Martin friend Rachel Jeantel. When Zimmerman defense counsel Don West cross-examined Miss Jeantel he asked her if this case was racial in nature. She said yes. Then West asked why and Jeantel had no answer – finally she said it was racial since her friend had called Zimmerman a Creepy-Ass Cracker. “So, Trayvon made it about race asked West? Jeantel, “No” - she went on to say that Creepy-Ass Cracker was not a racial epithet. Translation, get real mister; blacks cannot be bigots, next question.
It seems clear that Trayvon Martin thought he was being racially profiled and in his mind concluded, “I don’t have to put up with this junk. In his mind Reverends Jackson and Sharpton, and Professors (Law) Obama and Malveaux had given him the green light to teach this cracker a lesson he’ll never forget.” This is why Martin recklessly threw the first sucker-punch and then jumped on Zimmerman – Martin assumed he would have immunity from public criticism. Unfortunately for this teenager, he paid for his recklessness with his life – and now Reverend Jackson is planning civil unrest in the form of a boycott of Florida
As long as the black political class allows Reverends Jackson and Sharpton along with other demagogues to speak for black Americans, the racial acrimony will continue to the detriment of all especially young black males who remain adrift in the sea of fatherless children. (Words: 927)
Geoffrey G. Fisher is a federally designated Highly Qualified state-certified history teacher living in southwest Florida University of Connecticut and a MA in Public Policy from Trinity College in Hartford , CT.
Friday, July 19, 2013
THE VERTIGO OF SOLEDAD O’BRIEN, The New Racism of the Left
THE VERTIGO OF SOLEDAD
The New Racism of the Left
By
GEOFFREY GRISWOLD FISHER
The old one-drop rule of the Jim Crow south has been dusted off and this time applied by the new left – if you think you have one drop of sub-Saharan African blood then brother, you’re black.
How else can you explain this giddy statement from CNN’s Soledad O’Brien?
I'm on the phone with a confused reporter, and I'm confused too. She keeps asking me why I "count myself as black... And why does Barack Obama?" My answer (for President Obama, at least) is "have you seen him?" But she won't let it go. "Is your father annoyed that you deny him?" My dad is white. I interject. "Let's conference him in," I say. "Listen, he married a black woman, he has six black children. He'd be the first person to tell you I'm black."
The questions, to me, reveal more about the asker. This reporter surely doesn't know a lot of black people, or she wouldn't be struggling so hard. She'd know black people come in all hues.
O'Brien's parents married in 1958 in Washington, D.C. Her father Edward, an Australian (from Toowoomba, Queensland) of Irish descent, was a mechanical engineering professor. Her mother, Estella, who is Afro-Cuban, was a French and English teacher. O'Brien is the fifth of six children, who all graduated from Harvard University;
So what would make a Harvard educated woman who is ¼ black or to put it more succinctly, ¾ white, chastise a female reporter for suggesting the obvious – namely, that Soledad Cuba
Now it appears that Ms. O’Brien is not faking it. Obviously, Time Warner, the current owners of CNN have a similar mindset - they hired Soledad O’Brien to host of all things the CNN series Black in America. Ms. O’Brien’s dismissive posture and righteousness on this topic seems Orwellian. Indeed, her full name is María de la Soledad Teresa O'Brien. Soledad and her white husband Brad Raymond have four beautiful children – only a severe case of Hypodescent Fever could lead any mother to decide that they are black – that is, to ignore their full heritage.
Of course due to the pervasiveness of political correctness in the national media, no one at CNN or at the other cable news outlets have called her out on this point or even question the wisdom of having a predominately Caucasian woman hosting Black in America. It is just like having an able body actor playing the role of a wheel-bound character – it only works with the willing suspension of disbelief. And just to complete the vertigo nature of Soledad O’Brien, CNN is touting “Journalist Soledad O’Brien, (as) the host of the two-part CNN documentary “Latino in America,” premiering Oct. 21, (2009.) I do not question the book smarts of either the producers at CNN or Ms. O’Brien herself, but book smarts combined with arrogance and hubris will produce foolish pronoucements.
THE NEW LEFT EMBRACES THE ONE DROP RULE
Soledad O’Brien might as well be the poster girl for the New Racism of the Left – namely, Hypodescent Fever. Even Mr. Orwell would be scratching his head. That doesn’t matter to the new left ravaged by Hypodescent Fever. Non Sequiturs are the norm rather than the exception.
So CNN is practicing a non sequitur when it trying to satisfy a diversity policy vis-à-vis race by hiring a Caucasian with only 25% black heritage to host “Black in America
Hypodescent Fever does allow us, however, greater insight into the history of race relations in this country. Consider the controversy surrounding Sally Hemings vis-à-vis Thomas Jefferson, arguably the greatest founding father after George Washington.
So when we look into the eyes of Soledad O’Brien we’re looking into the eyes of Sally Hemings. Both women in 1790 Virginia Soledad
If Ms. O’Brien acknowledged her full racial heritage as a facet of who she is rather than picking one aspect of her racial background and making it her sole identify she might restore some balance to her life – that is, eliminate her current racial vertigo. Think about it, Soledad and her five siblings ALL were admitted to Harvard University Soledad Soledad
Yet, the one-drop rule was wrong in 1850
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
Delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial
Thanks in large part by the collaborative efforts of academia, Wall Street and Hollywood
Geoffrey G. Fisher is a federally designated Highly Qualified state-certified history teacher living in southwest Florida University of Connecticut and a MA in Public Policy from Trinity College in Hartford , CT.
READY FOR PILLORY – CORKSCREW HILLARY RETURNS
READY FOR PILLORY
CORKSCREW HILLARY RETURNS
Her sycophants are at it again. They have launched a new fundraising website - READY FOR HILLARY. They are ready for her coronation to be the 45th President of the United States
Hillary’s supporters, a combination of third-wave feminists (since 1992), and liberal Democratic activists, are excited and confident that their gal will prevail. After all they point out “40 years” of political experience, including eight years as a U.S. Senator representing New York
After all Hillary Clinton fashions herself as a modern woman breaking all types of barriers. Just listen to part of her June 8, 2008 concession speech after loosing the Democratic nomination to the junior senator from Illinois
"Although we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in it…(a)nd the light is shining through like NEVER before…”
“When I was asked what it means to be a woman running for president, I always gave the same answer: that I was proud to be running as a woman but I was running because I thought I'd be the BEST president.”
Planet earth calling Hillary Rodham Clinton - let’s review the facts. 40 years ago you were a newly minted law school graduate, and the following year you were the proverbial potted plant with aviator glasses at the Watergate Hearings and when you became a partner in the Rose Law Firm your husband was Governor of Arkansas. Admit the obvious, a powerful man provided coattails for you and you had no political experience.
As first lady of the United States your tenure was ruined with the collapse of the 1993 Clinton health care plan - a plan that you were appointed to manage. Senator Kennedy tried to rehabilitate your reputation with passage of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in 1997. Your advocacy was only taken seriously on issues dealing with children because you were married to the president. Indeed, in 1999 you decided to run for the U.S. Senate from New York despite having never lived in New York Clinton
Yet Mrs. Clinton and her gang tout this race as some feminist milestone rather than an extension of the Bill Clinton machine going into overdrive. And of course Mrs. Clinton’s stint as Secretary of State was an appointment by another powerful man this time to mollify Hillary’s disappointed feminist supporters – a move that worked and put Barack Obama in the White House – it’s called quid pro quo and not foreign policy experience.
Mrs. Clinton’s refusal to acknowledge the role of powerful men in her advancement is both dishonest and it makes her look childish – indeed, it makes her a first-rate phony NOT READY for the presidency.
Mrs. Clinton even plugged her years of First Lady the United States Dubuque , Iowa she pounced, arguing she risked her life on White House MISSIONS in the 1990s, including a hair-raising flight into Bosnia
This episode showed Hillary Clinton delivering a whopper of a lie with the finesse of a middle-school girl trying to impress her friends. She then embellished this lie by adding, "I remember landing under sniper fire…(t)here was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but INSTEAD we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base." Mrs. Clinton was so rattled by Mr. Obama’s comment that she took several days to think out this colossal lie – what would she do if presented with a real emergency if elected president. Would she reach for the nuclear football because someone unnerved her?
Alas, a video of the episode was found a few days later that “shows Hillary and her daughter Chelsea CASUALLY strolling off of an airplane, all smiles. Country singer Sheryl Crow and comedian Sinbad, who were on the flight as part of a USO tour to entertain the troops, recall no threat at all. The video clearly confirms this, showing a …lengthy discussion with a LITTLE Bosnian girl, who gave Mrs. Clinton a hug, a kiss and a BOUQUET of FLOWERS.” This is a shameful episode that demonstrates Mrs. Clinton’s pathological need to promote herself as a modern day Joan of Arc. The adulation of her sycophants is so intoxicating it clouds the judgment of this Wellesley
Mrs. Clinton did not think anyone would check on her Wonder Woman moment or she just didn’t care. Corkscrew Hillary lied trying to claim experience for being prepared to be president. This incident alone disqualifies her from being president. She does not have the metal nor the coolness to be chief executive. She also had the gall to say later that she simply misspoke – another lie from Corkscrew Hillary.Now juxtapose Mrs. Clinton’s reckless lying compared to John F. Kennedy who was saddled with being the son of a rich man who was “buying” the presidency. Rather than lie about his privileged upbringing, JFK used humor to acknowledge the obvious and then he diffused the issue. This quote is from a 1960 press briefing: “I just received the following wire from my generous Daddy; Dear Jack, Don't buy a single vote more than is necessary. I'll be damned if I'm going to pay for a landslide.”
Liberal columnist Maureen Dowd of the New York Times summarized the real Mrs. Clinton when she wrote in September of 2007, “Without nepotism, Hillary would be running for the president of Vassar.”
In 1996, New York Times Columnist William Safire penned “Blizzard of Lies” – “Americans of all political persuasions are coming to the sad realization that our First Lady -- a woman of undoubted talents who was a role model for many in her generation -- is a congenital liar.” Yikes – now that’s hitting the nail on the head.
Safire continued: “(Federal) Investigators believe that damning records from the Rose Law Firm, wrongfully kept in Vincent Foster's White House office, were spirited out in the dead of night and hidden from the law for TWO years…The records show Hillary Clinton was lying when she denied actively representing a criminal enterprise known as the Madison S. & L…By concealing the Madison billing records two days beyond the statute of limitations, Hillary evaded a civil suit by bamboozled bank regulators.”
Even Carl Bernstein grappled with the subject of Hillary’s truthfulness in his biography on the former first lady: “Since her
An additional liability for the would-be president is her temperament. In 1992 Mrs. Clinton exposed her feminist venom when she spewed: “I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas…You know, I'm not sitting here like some little woman standing by my man, like Tammy Wynette. This bravado coming from a modern day Victorian wife trying to block out her husband’s infidelities.
In 1993 Hillary was caught in a telling Freudian slip: “I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through OUR papers. WE are the president.”
Hillary’s tendency to be unnerved and rattled was seen in its full force four years ago in the Congo when a student speaking through a translator, innocently asked her what “the president” thought about a Chinese trade deal with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The translator substituted Mr. Clinton for the president. “You want me to tell you what my husband thinks?” (Hillary) replied, clearly irked by the thought of being her husband Bill’s spokeswoman. “My husband is not secretary of state, I am,” she replied. The incident showed how Hillary is easily rattled and as a consequence her behavior only reinforces the stereotype of the emotional woman. The end result is Mrs. Clinton came across as churlish and silly.
Mrs. Clinton is always ready to attack when anyone mentions her hair or her clothes. Yet, Mrs. Clinton is infamous for having 27 different hairstyles. She even hired her own hairstylist, Isabelle Goetz to accompany her on her overseas travels.
“A woman’s haircut does not portend how she’ll run her country. And we need to stop talking about them as if they do” wrote an incensed Amanda Hess of Slate Magazine, THE XX FACTOR. Amanda Hess at 41 is a perfect example of a third-wave feminist eking out a living as a grievance commentator. Well Amanda, don’t put 27 different hairstyles in front of the public and then cry wolf when the public reacts.
It is the lack of graciousness that envelopes Mrs. Clinton Dallas
Left-leaning Democrats and political commentators don’t care about the many faults of Hillary Rodham Clinton. Like Barack Obama she is an empty (pant) suit that fulfills their desire to break social and cultural barriers rather than nominating a qualified candidate to lead our great nation.
Her eventually undoing may be linked to her stint as Secretary of State. With her propensity to lie, there is a reasonable chance that she sullied the truth vis-à-vis Benghazi Clinton
While banging a table or a podium does not necessarily convey perjury, with Bill and Hillary Clinton one has to wonder. And by the way Mrs. Clinton, Charles Woods, the father of Navy SEAL Tyrone Woods, one of those “dead Americans” said, “I would say, what difference does it make? CREDIBILITY, because in a courtroom situation we have a rule that says if a person’s testimony is proven to be false in any part, the rest of their testimony is to be disregarded on that subject.”
To date Mrs. Clinton has not been interviewed by the president’s ARB (Accountability Review Board) on Benghazi Tripoli
Geoffrey G. Fisher is a federally designated Highly Qualified state-certified history teacher living in southwest Florida University of Connecticut and a MA in Public Policy from Trinity College in Hartford , CT.
www.theamericanthinkingcap.blogspot.com
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
A TROJAN HORSE ARRIVES IN ISLAND PARK, SARASOTA
A TROJAN HORSE ARRIVES IN ISLAND PARK , SARASOTA
The national culture wars of the 1990s have finally made their way to the shores of Sarasota , Florida America
Rather than Celebrate Our Differences, a healthier motto is “Celebrate Our Similarities and Respect our Differences.” This latter motto embraces a traditional view of America as the proverbial melting pot – “E Pluribus Unum (Latin for Out of Many, One) has been our national “motto” since 1782 only to be joined in 1956 by “In God We Trust” – another apple-pie motto also under attack by the vanguard of the new left – the ACLU. E Pluribus Unum was settled doctrine until the Multi-culturalists gained momentum with the inauguration of Bill Clinton in 1993.
Locally a Trojan Horse has come to Island Park in the City of Sarasota Sarasota ’s Booker Middle School
It is hard not to be swayed by this articulate middle schooler proclaiming tolerance and love. But we must resist liberalism of this sort even when they use a lovely young voice. The rhetoric of “No one deserves to be limited by another’s perspective.”…is just plain giddy. This young girl’s entire life has been and will be limited and shaped by her teachers and her parents. Her performance on the SATs will determine her future in a big way and this will be done by total strangers working in Princeton , NJ Google George Washington University San Francisco Illinois
GC is a potent example of the true nature of this modern day Trojan horse in downtown Sarasota United States
Recently I had the opportunity to visit this exhibit. The weather and view of Sarasota Bay
I saw no posters on how the break down of the American family was producing students with no impulse control and no respect for themselves or their fellow classmates. 72% of urban babies are now born illegitimately to single mothers. It seems that pandering and indoctrination is overshadowing a liberal arts education and serious academic debate.
Listen to this clip from JFK about the idea behind the motto: “CELBRATE OUR SIMILARITIES, AND RESPECT OUR DIFFERENCES.”
From the commencement address at American University in Washington , D.C. United States United States
Attend the Island Park Exhibition by all means but do so with an open mind and open eyes. Word Total, 936.
Geoffrey G. Fisher is a federally designated Highly Qualified state-certified history teacher working in southwest Florida University of Connecticut and a MA in Public Policy from Trinity College in Hartford , CT.
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