When Referendums become civil rights advocates...shit done hit the fan

"The fact of the matter is, I think people would have been happy to have a referendum on civil rights rather than fighting and dying in the streets in the South." - Gov Chris Christie

Voting rights as a proposition to be granted by the upper echelon when they see fit, rather than an indisputable human right. I'm sure Governor Christie realizes that the progress of civil rights did not happen overnight.  The "fighting" and "dying" mostly belonging to the side that had to cut down brown carcasses from tree slopes they hung from; shoes muddled with water from the firemen that assault them with water canons. All the result of what New Jersey's beloved Governor would like to chalk up to a single oversight: the lack of a referendum to prevent acts of violence that were staggering communities of color. Though we live in a democratic republic, where every vote counts (unless the electoral college has a say about that), what we as human beings cannot leave up to referendums or the "people" is equality for all.

It is by that token that civil rights should not be left up for referendum. Initiative-74 will be in Washington state's ballot, a measure to provide marriage equality for everyone, straight and gay alike.  I will be voting yes.  Governor Christie believes people are "happy" this is finally a referendum, and they are.  But more importantly one should be disgusted and offended that marriage equality is proposed as a referendum in the first place.  Remember how excited everyone was for women's suffrage?  The right for women to own land?  Me neither.  Instead I remember Susan B. Anthony called disgusting names and the tyranny that would befall the nation.  Remember how happy the Emancipation Proclamation made everyone?  Oh yea, that's right, the confederates flipped the bird and conceded from the north.  The lesson the Governor wants to retell is that southerners weren't unhappy because of their capitol loss on totally free labor, it was instead they had no say in a referendum to grant their own capitol loss!  Speaking purely economically, they would've been more than happy to release from the bonds of slavery assets that they saw worth slightly more than mules.  The Confederates were just misunderstood, poor fellas.

Civil rights are not a referendum, Governor Christie. The "fighting and dying" in the streets in the North and the South were all a byproduct of racial inequality, and your comments are a fatal oversight.  "Justice delayed is justice denied", to quote MLK.

I have been a staunch advocate of Chris Christie. It is quite likely he'll run for President come 2016.  The New Jersey Governor has eradicated polarizing barriers that are normally in the way of ultra-conservative, republican party members. His appointing of a gay black mayor to the state Supreme Court, and appointing of a muslim judge last year, Sohail Mohammed, saved face for the republicans and rational alike in the midst of lampooning conservative rhetoric full of anti-homosexual and anti-muslim sentiments.  His policies for social welfare, however, show his privilege and out-of-touch ideas about equal opportunity (he's recently pissed all over the teachers in the public education system of NJ...maybe a post for another time).

Next time some is denied rights entitled to everyone else, let's just remind them that "we can't help you right now, there's no referendum for that..."

Romney tries his hand at "comedy"...

Presidency and birth certificates.  Sound familiar?  I'm not surprised.  Donald Trump popularized the questioning of Obama's legitimacy to presidency as far back as 2008.  Even after producing the long-form birth certificate proving Hawaii as his birth place, Trump declared that this wasn't enough.  Trump, billionaire mogul he is, needs the Presidents birth certificate hand delivered, preferably in a satin envelop lined with silk, to the helipad on top of Trump Towers.  This distraction was one of the many conservatives were introducing after the inauguration of President Obama into office.  It makes one wonder, "really?"  You were warned about the 2nd coming of Hitler.  You were warned about communism and the stockpile of guns and ammunition Obama's gestapo would seize.  You were warned about sharia law and Allah and the borders that would open to terrorist everywhere.  Surprisingly, the cache of stockpiled canned goods, apocalyptic underground shelters and the excess of firearms contained in them are collecting alot of dust. 

An idol of mine once coo'ed, "If at first you don't suceed...dust yourself off and try again."

The Romney campaign has recently come under heavy criticism for what his campaign has described as a harmless joke.  A video went viral earlier this week after Mitt "jested" to a Michigan audience that "no one’s ever asked to see [his] birth certificate", and further that "they know that [Michigan] is the place that [he was] born and raised."  He nearly drops the mic as the punch lines zing in the ears of the many Romney/Ryan enthusiasts, elated to applause and cheer on their republican comedian.

A piece of the joke that remains out of Willard Mitt Romney's reach reveals a plank in thine own eye.  The privilege implied by his own admission.  So salient, so clear.  Romney and his attendees are reveling in the safety net of white privilege and the fact they can so easily delegitimize the President.  What makes this further grating is Romney's own declaration that he believes the President of the United States, Barrack Hussein Obama, was indeed born in the United States.  However, that will never stop the opportunist Romney has revealed himself to be from addressing the concerns that many Americans have: the authenticity of Obama's U.S. birth.  Romney's "joke" effortlessly tips a hat to the many who remain unconvinced that Obama was birthed in America.  Retroactively declaring this gaffe as a joke allows him to distance himself in the public eye while allowing those reeling in birther conspiracies a wink-wink off camera.  Yes, Romney has not forgotten about your support, fellow birther conspirators.  

For those who doubt what is implied in Mitt's joke, it is the equivalent of saying "So, a Kenyan, a muslim, and a President walk into a bar.  They're all Obama!  Get it?  GET IT!?!?!?!"  Yes Romney, some people get the joke.  What others "get" is confirmation that their candidate is as far on the fringe of lunatic conspiracies as they are.

Setting aside political biases for a moment, it is fine to vote republican.  It's your freedom to vote democrat.  But don't polarize politics by othering the President of the United States.  Have a fucking back bone.  How humiliating is it, as President of the United States, to be the first President that is coerced into presenting a birth certificate.  To have the DOH and state Governor both state under oath that the documents are valid. To have this remain a central issue of controversy due to incessant misinformation and lies.  It's truly heart breaking that such "jokes" Romney is privileged to make have such a warm reception by his primarily white crowd of attendees.

In the infamous 47% video, Romney jokes about how running for president would be easier if he were Mexican.  I'm sure that in between being harassed by ICE, border patrol, and police officers, latinos in Arizona are doing nothing but bleeding their heart out in condolensces for Romney's priveleged, wealthy, and white childhood upbringing.

A few poems from Creative Writing class

Mainly to collect them in a place easily accessible...

Pride

This table's getting no lighter.

My back's youth escaping,

strength fleeing with each drop of sweat

from a polished, glistening forehead.

I've finally met my match.

More elusive than the air my lungs reach for.

We have much in common,

this recalcitrant doorknob and I

Both shimmering with each others reflection

Both in need of a hand.

Fire Hazards

Embers burn, crackling and popping

thin air turning chock full with smoke

thickening, until it is deaf to both pulse and heartbeat

The tighter held on to 

the more rapid the suffocation,

rustling leaves and curious eyes of fawn will only watch you engulfed

as love is an ember that burns too brightly to hold so close

Dirty Windows

Grassroots advocates, Girl scout apprentices

Jehova's witnesses, Fedex delivery men

all approaching, tresspassing, soliciting 

peering into smudged, dirty windows

corners being digested by cobwebs 

freckled with dust and neglect

Stained forgotten shutters hang from rusty nails

isolated and embraced by

window cleaners atop scaffolds working tirelessly

to clean windows vacant of concern

protecting me from eyes that look in from the world

through the windows to my soul

By Another Name, It's Still the Same

Lee Atwater during the 1980's, explaining to congressman how to code racial politics into an abstract paragon:

‘You start out in 1954 by saying, ‘Nigger, nigger, nigger.’ By 1968 you can’t say ‘nigger’ — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now [that] you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites.

”And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I’m not saying that. But I’m saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me — because obviously sitting around saying, ‘We want to cut this,’ is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than ‘Nigger, nigger.’

Something to consider when listening to Republicans debate about their policies and "blah" people. I'm looking at YOU, Santorum.

some things speak for themselves...

But when Rick Santorum is delivering the great word to Iowa residents, he decides it's perhaps better if he does the speaking himself.

"I don't want to make black people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money; I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money."
"Right," responded one audience member, as another woman can be
seen nodding.

"And provide for themselves and their families," Santorum added, to applause. "The best way to do that is to get the manufacturing sector of the economy rolling again."

According to CBS News, 84% of the residents in Iowa that are issued food stamps are white while merely 8% are black. But as daunting as most things are for nominees in the presidential race, none are more daunting than irrefutable facts...so Rick Santorum dismisses them for more worthy noble agendas like...misinformation and pandering to latent racism in todays "post-race culture".

Further Huffington Post found this piece of the former Senator:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=as2Z5K-eN4s

Santorum speaks on Obama's support for womens choice on abortion,

"The question is ... is that human life a person under the constitution? And Barack Obama says no. Well if that human life is not a person then ... I find it almost remarkable for a black man to say 'now we are going to decide who are people and who are not people.'"