Saturday, July 25, 2009

Answering The Call

President Obama has nothing to apologize for. He said the Cambridge Police Department officers ACTED stupid-LY in arresting Prof. Henry Gates! He didn't call THEM stupid. People need to differentiate between calling a person or persons "stupid" and declaring that they performed a "stupid act" -- that is, unless they are too STUPID to know the difference.
Having said that, Professor Gates' experience probably wasn't "racial profiling", though, and no lawsuit would probably allege that. Still -- as hinted to by Obama -- that a Black man would cry "racism" in this circumstance is understandable given our (and Latinos') experiences with police officers.
Is the fact that the Black cop (Sgt. Leon Lashley) stood up for the White cop (Sgt. James Crowley) in any way determinative? No. That just shows that the true problem is a “blue” one -- not black nor white. Lashley stated to CNN’s Anderson Cooper that Crowley was within his rights to arrest Professor Gates. He added that -- because Gates was loud -- he would have arrested him, also. It didn’t matter to Lashley that Gates was on his porch -- “he was outside”, he said.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Controlling Israel

The recent arrest and detention of former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and 20 others aboard the “Spirit of Humanity” by the Israeli Navy raises serious concerns. It’s easy to dismiss this event as the result of the former lawmaker meddling where she doesn’t belong. And maybe I’m not so dismissive because I have long admired this woman for her championing the causes of the least of these -- something President Obama used to do when he was a community organizer. Of course, that was before his desire to help the least of these was replaced by his desire to just maintain power. But I guess power is intoxicating. Since I’ve never had it, I wouldn’t know.

Two points I would like to make here. The first is that the internment of Palestinians by Israeli terrorists is equally as cruel as the “Black Holocaust” of slavery and colonialization. And to ask these people to “denounce violence” as President Obama suggests is tantamount to asking Nat Turner, et al not to participate in insurrections but to instead wait until Massa’s conscience weighed on him. One should be able to understand the urgency of removing a foot from one’s neck. Breathing is fundamental!