Politics and Current
NABJ did something white
.
On April 23, 1899, white residents of Georgia gathered in Newnan to take part in one among the best traditions of white America:
They were going to lynch Just the pants.
Hose was a black man who was accused the brutal murder of his employer, the employer’s wife, and the couple’s newborn son. No one cared that Hose had killed his boss by throwing an axe when his employer was about to shoot him for requesting a break day. It didn’t matter that Hose wasn’t tried for the alleged crime. The flash mob didn’t care that the wife and child that Hose was accused of killing were actually alive and unaffected. Back then, black lives didn’t matter. White people didn’t care. To them, lynching black people was normal.
So many lynch mobs flocked to Newnan that the railroad corporations rerouted their trains to accommodate the white flash mob. When they arrived, a whole bunch of normal white adults took turns cutting off pieces of Hose’s limbs, ears, and genitals to maintain as souvenirs, while their normal white children gathered firewood. After a series of routine stabbings, the traditional lynchers doused Hose with regular gasoline, burned him, and sang their normal songs until Hose’s eyes exploded out of his head. Then they went back to their normal homes.
WEB Du Bois was not normal.
He laid the foundations for the study of human behavior that became often called sociology. His brain planted the seeds that might spawn the trendy civil rights movement, African American studies, critical race theory, and even nuclear disarmament. While I personally imagine he’s essentially the most good mind America has ever produced, I have to also admit that my appreciation for his genius pales compared to the most important Du Bois fanboy of all of them:
William Edward Burghardt DuBois.
As one of the eloquent, prolific wordsmiths who ever lived and breathed, Du Bois believed he was uniquely positioned to persuade white people of the error of their ways of lynching them. Since he was in Georgia, teaching at Atlanta University, he placed on his best suit, grabbed his cane, and headed to fulfill with the editor of the Atlanta Constitution. Du Bois was going to defeat the normalized racial violence that infected society. He truly believed that white supremacy was no match for facts, scientific data, logic, and, above all, the unique genius of the neatest man alive.
“I didn’t get there,” Du Bois wrote in Dusk of Dawn: An Autobiography of a Race Concept. “Sam Hose had been lynched, they usually said his knuckles were on display in a food market down Mitchell Street, where I used to be walking. I turned back toward the University. I started to show away from my work. I didn’t meet Joel Chandler Harris or the editor of the Constitution.
“Two things later intruded upon my work and ultimately disrupted it: first, it was impossible to be a calm, cool, and impartial scientist while Negroes were being lynched, murdered, and starved; and second, there was no such apparent demand for scientific work of the kind I was doing.”
If WEB Du Bois were alive, he would probably be in Chicago immediately on the annual convention of the National Association of Black Journalists. Some of essentially the most good reporters, sharpest thinkers, and eloquent writers in America have gathered in the neighborhood on the very hotel from which I write these words. During my time here, I even have not met a single NABJ member who disagreed with the choice to ask Donald Trump.
Sure, there have been just a few who argued that NABJ must have treated Donald Trump as if he were every other presidential candidate. They mistakenly believed that Wednesday’s fiasco might have been avoided with more aggressive questioning, more experienced journalists or a male reporter on stage. Others said NABJ needed a live fact-checker on stage with Trump. Or perhaps it was the sound.
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These persons are flawed.
The only difference between every other Trump interview and the dumpster fire that erupted on the NABJ convention is that black people organized it. Trump did what he at all times does. He attacked women. He spread racism. He lied. He spread chaos and division. We already know that black lives don’t matter to him. Everyone knows he doesn’t care in regards to the truth. Or the law. Or us. He’s a one-man lynch mob. A lover of lies. But greater than anything… Donald Trump is normal.
The most typical grievance from black journalists is how the white media hides behind a false construct of objectivity when covering Trump. Media outlets just like the New York Times usually are not objective; they are only white. All of their reporting normalizes his behavior. When they cover his criminal cases, they don’t cover him as a criminal. They are speculated to be truthful, but they routinely share his words without realizing that they arrive from the mouth of an incorrigible liar. They haven’t any problem calling people names. terrorists, robbers AND cheaters. But they clearly need more evidence before they will call Trump a racist. Yet, selecting to normalize Trump in the identical way NABJ has shown its knuckles.
They could have just said no.
Even if the NABJ invites every presidential candidate to its convention, you don’t need to be the neatest person on the planet to know you can’t treat Donald Trump like several other president. Treating a liar like a liar and a racist like a racist is a no brainer. No editor at a good outlet would ever use an authorized liar as a source. Even if their backs were against the wall, they might fact-check the lies. Most reputable outlets actually wouldn’t ask a racist for an exclusive interview (well, the New York Times would, but… you already know how do they do it.)
The NABJ decision ultimately negated the rationale for NABJ to exist. It ignored black voices and reinforced racism. It treated the arbitrary unwritten rules of white journalism as in the event that they were something black journalists should strive to follow. It was rude to black women. It helped spread racism, disinformation, and hate. It treated the nice and cozy glow of the white gaze as if it were the middle of the universe. It shifted the burden of white supremacy onto the shoulders of black journalists.
Black people usually are not magical.
I even have not seen anyone writing with a wand that would erase all barriers of equality during my time here. Even essentially the most magical of blacks cannot persuade Trump’s Mountain Dew-drinking army that their orange crush shouldn’t be a bigoted, aspiring authoritarian. There is nothing these excellent black journalists (and Harris Faulkner) could expose that the world has not already seen. Why should the mostly anti-MAGA black convention attendees need to walk within the feces that anti-black MAGAmuffins have spewed? Saying “no” can also be an option.
We can’t abracadabra force white America to care about black people, democracy, or justice when white people truly imagine that the systems and culture they’ve built are completely normal. How much work do we’ve to do before we realize that there is no such thing as a amount of logic or reason that may cure white people of the virus they willingly spread. Nor is it our duty to try. Even if I could…
I refuse.
Politics and Current
Jasmine Crockett blasts Republicans for so-called white “oppression” over anti-DEI bill
On Wednesday, during a passionate speech before the committee, Sen. Jasmine Crockett, R-Texas, chided her Republican colleagues for the content of an anti-DEI bill that calls for eliminating all diversity, equity and inclusion programs and offices within the federal government.
Crockett, a 43-year-old congressional student who has change into a star within the Democratic Party because of her quite a few viral committee appearances, condemned the Dismantle DEI Act of 2024. The bill, H.R. 8706 – first introduced by Republican Vice President-elect J.D. Vance – essentially prohibit all DEI-related activities within the federal government, including all related positions, offices, training, and funding. Strikingly, the bill also prohibits federal employees working in DEI positions from transferring to a different federal position.
During a House Oversight Committee hearing wherein she responded to Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., who repeatedly called DEI policies “oppression” — seemingly aimed toward white people, as many Republicans suggested — Crockett used the committee’s speaking time to criticize the suggestion that white individuals are oppressed in consequence of efforts to shut racial disparities in sectors resembling business, education, and health.
“You don’t understand the definition of oppression… I would ask you to just Google it,” said Crockett, who moments later read the dictionary definition of the word, adding: “Oppression is long-term cruel or unfair treatment or control, that’s the definition of oppression.” The congresswoman emphasized: “There was no oppression of the white man in this country.”
Referring to the history of chattel slavery and racial segregation within the US, the Texas lawmaker said: “Tell me which white men were dragged from their homes. Tell me which one was dragged across the ocean and that you will go to work. We will steal your wives. We will rape your wives. It didn’t happen. This is oppression.”
Attempting to further explain the importance of DEI, Crockett noted that she is barely the fifty fifth Black woman elected to Congress in its 235-year history, unlike the 1000’s of white men who’ve served on Capitol Hill.
“So if you want to talk about history and pretend it was that long ago, it wasn’t,” Crockett said, citing data showing that corporations perform higher and are more profitable after they are more diversified.
The anti-DEI movement, championed exclusively by Republicans, has led to several lawsuits invalidating federal programs, including debt forgiveness for Black farmers and business loans to Black and other disadvantaged businesses. Many states led by Republican governors have indicated that DEI – especially teaching about slavery and racism – is harmful to students, namely white students. In response, they banned such topics from public classrooms.
Jamarr Brown, executive director of Color of Change PAC, the political arm of the civil rights organization, said Congresswoman Crockett’s statements on DEI were “poignant and necessary.”
While the Dismantling DEI Act actually won’t be passed while Democrats control the Senate and President Joe Biden stays in office, it signals what may very well be a priority for Republicans next yr, as outlined within the pro-Trump “Project 2025” political manifesto “.
“According to Project 2025, diversity, equity and inclusion is synonymous with ‘White lives don’t matter,’” Brown noted. “Now more than ever, we at Color Of Change PAC, as well as advocates and activists across the country, must work to protect Black people and other people of color from harm resulting from anti-DEI attacks.”
Brown continued, “Civil rights protections have helped reduce mortgage discrimination, increase the number of Black physicians to counter problems such as Black maternal mortality, and provide financing for Black-owned businesses.”
He added: “Our country thrives and everyone benefits when diversity, equality and inclusion are valued rather than stifled.”
Politics and Current
Why is Trump delaying signing the ethics agreement?
The campaign’s legal department reports that President-elect Donald Trump is stalling the presidential transition process by refusing to sign an ethics pledge that is legally required of each sitting president
Under the Presidential Transition Act, Trump and his transition team must sign a document ensuring he avoids any conflicts of interest once he takes office. Only after the document is signed and sent to the General Services Administration (GSA) can the incoming administration gain access to federal agencies.
The transition, which President Joe Biden has promised will likely be “orderly and peaceful,” sets the tone for the Trump-Vance administration’s approach to transparency, accountability and earning the trust of Americans, all of that are seen as essential to making sure the administration fulfills its responsibilities to the U.S. people mean .
The reasons for withholding Trump’s documents are unknown, but some speculate it has to do along with his latest financial disclosure reports and for one reason particularly. Many of his holdings might be considered conflict of interest red flags, equivalent to his latest cryptocurrency business, a majority stake in his social media platform Truth Social, real estate, books and licensing deals.
It’s not only the GSA that the president-elect is avoiding. According to , Trump also refused to make use of the State Department’s secure phone lines and interpreters and kept away from using the FBI’s security clearance system. That’s why House Democrats issued latest laws on November 19 requiring Executive Office employees to have FBI security clearances. If not, Congress will likely be warned.
Democratic lawmakers and powerful Trump opponents like Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) are baffled by his transition team’s refusal to sign an ethics agreement.
“Donald Trump and his transition team are already breaking the law. I would know because I wrote the law myself,” Warren wrote in X on November 11. “Future presidents are obliged to prevent conflicts of interest and sign an ethics agreement. This is what illegal corruption looks like.”
Skepticism towards the bill, presented by Representatives Don Beyer (D-VA) and Ted Lieu (D-CA)persists. The upcoming GOP-controlled Congress is seemingly leaning toward Trump. Once back in office, Trump will give you the chance to issue security clearances to anyone he wants, no matter the FBI’s objections or whether the person faces legal charges. This latest situation involves two of Trump’s Cabinet picks – Matt Gaetz as attorney general and Pete Hegseth as defense secretary, each of whom have faced allegations of sexual misconduct.
Politics and Current
Social media reacts to video of Susan Smith’s tearful plea for parole 30 years after she killed her two sons and blamed their disappearance on a black man
Parole was denied Wednesday for notorious South Carolina mother Susan Smith, who drowned her two young children after initially claiming a black man had kidnapped them.
“I wish I could take it back, I really do,” Smith, now 53, said. “I didn’t lie to get away with it. … I used to be just afraid. I didn’t know the way to tell the individuals who loved them that they might never see them again.
Smith said she found peace because of her Christian faith. God is a vital part of her life testified on Wednesday, “and I know he has forgiven me.”
It was her first appearance before the state parole board, which voted unanimously to keep her in prison for the remaining of her life. After serving 30 years, Smith is eligible for parole every two years.
“I know what I did was terrible,” she said in her testimony given via Zoom. “And I would give anything if I could go back and change it.”
“I love Michael and Alex with all my heart,” she said openly, crying and wiping away tears.
The disappearance of 3-year-old Michael and 14-month-old Alex made national headlines after their mother told the chilling story of how a black man stopped her automotive and took her children. She appeared incessantly on television, playing every bit the role of a distraught mother, and the search for her boys lasted nine grueling days.
Susan Smith, a South Carolina woman who pleaded guilty to killing her 3-year-old and 14-month-old sons in 1994, speaks at her parole hearing.
Smith initially lied to police, saying that a black man had kidnapped her and kidnapped her sons. pic.twitter.com/oppN49EvWj
— ABC News Live (@ABCNewsLive) November 20, 2024
It was then that Susan Smith, questioned by police who began to doubt her story, truthfully confessed what really happened on October 25, 1994.
Smith, then 23, strapped her sons into their automotive seats and drove the automotive into a lake near her home in Union, South Carolina.
Smith’s pleas fell on the ears of not only the parole board but in addition many on social media. As videos of her interrogation began circulating online, a whole bunch of comments condemned the mother for not seeming sufficiently remorseful about her actions.
“☠️MONSTERS should be kept in CAGES☠️”, one person wrote on Xformerly Twitter.
Another added: “I remember it when it happened. She claimed that her children were kidnapped by black people. And people believed her, unfortunately. She should be sentenced to death. He must remain behind bars until the very end.”
“I’m sure her children, strapped in their automotive seats, screamed and cried as they drowned in their own mother’s hands for her lustful pleasures. Shameful,” – wrote one other commentator.
Sixteenth Judicial District Solicitor Kevin Brackett recalled pulling Susan Smith’s automotive out of the water with her children inside. She added that these crimes shocked not only the family but your complete country.
“On behalf of the community I now represent, I do not believe she should ever be released from prison until the last living person who remembers Michael and Alex dies, and that will not happen in her lifetime. She should never have been released,” Brackett said Wednesday.
Defense lawyer Susan Smith argued that she planned to die with her sons, but jumped out of the automotive on the last minute.
Lead prosecutor Tommy Pope noted that Smith was not wet or injured when she ran for help after the automotive disappeared beneath the lake.
“God is an important part of my life and I know he has forgiven me… I just ask that you show the same kind of mercy.”
Killer mother Susan Smith applies for release 30 years after drowning her two young sons at her first parole hearing. The Parole Board unanimously rejected… pic.twitter.com/0jR88Mkuzo
— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 20, 2024
“Susan’s focus was always on Susan,” said Pope, who presented evidence during Smith’s murder trial that she was distraught over her breakup with one other man. Prosecutors say the connection ended because Smith had children.
“Susan made a terrible, terrible decision, choosing a man over her family,” Pope said. “If she could have put David in the car, he would have been there too.”
David Smith, Michael and Alexander’s father, who was captured entering the constructing, told the board that his ex-wife had never shown any remorse for their murder.
David Smith has just arrived at Susan Smith’s parole hearing.
He is her ex-husband and the daddy of the boys she murdered.
He wanted the death penalty, and now 30 years later he must face it again when it asks the South Carolina Parole Board to release her. pic.twitter.com/2WdqXjwQxM— Brian Entin (@BrianEntin) November 20, 2024
“It wasn’t a tragic mistake. (…) She deliberately wanted to end their lives,” he said.
David Smith testified that his grief over the loss of his sons “came close to taking my own life.”
His current wife, Tiffany Smith, says there are still days when her husband cannot get out of bed because of the pain.
“Michael and Alex didn’t get a chance at life,” she said. “They were given the death penalty.”
He said his ex-wife served just 15 years for each child. “It’s just not enough.”
Susan Smith’s attorney, Tommy Thomas, told the parole board his client’s case shows “the dangers of untreated mental health.” He said Susan Smith was not diagnosed with depression after the birth of her second child.
Her stepfather testified that he had sexually abused her for years.
Susan Smith was not a model prisoner. She was convicted multiple times, once for sex with a prison officer and one other time for drug possession. She was also threatened with punishment for providing documents with her ex-husband’s contact details.
Her lawyer said that if she was released on parole, she would live with her brother.
David Smith said if his wife applied for parole again, he could be there for the sake of his sons.
(*30*) he told the board.
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