As many of you know, one of the things that matter to me is transforming the converations of race and racism not only in the US but in the world. This was how I began promoting the practice of AGREE TO BE OFFENDED (and stay in the conversation anyhow), which was a gift from a young Korean woman in a hip-hop class I taught at NYU in 2005. We got that people always take things personally and that the groundrule of agreeing to be offended allowed us to openly say so and stay connected. This allowed the possibility of transforming any barrier between people. I am playing to transform racism.
As a professor of anthropology and as a singer-songwriter, I can make a difference in practicing and sharing a new kind of courage and compassion for anothers' worldview. I can combat ethnocentrism by not being ethnocentric myself and inviting others to call me on my own if it surfaces. Most of us did not LEARN to have a capacity for all of humanity however it shows up, esp. when it does not conform to our worldview. Especially when my worldview, not theirs, leads to fear and hatred. It's my worldview I must be vigilant against not others. I've been noticing how fear impacts me not only around race/racism but in how often I hear the fear around this financial crisis. Even in parts of the world where there is NO money to be found, invested or stretched, humans beings have a remarkable spirit to survive and tolerate difference in times of war and poverty.
FEAR-MONGERING IN THE US ELECTION
ColorofChange.org (Changing the Color of Democracy) has captured evidence of McCain and Palin race-baiting the issue of Obama being a terrorist at rallies and evidence that supporters at these McCain/Palin rallies have yelled "kill him,"1 "terrorist,"2 "traitor!"3 and "off with his head!"4 about Obama. There videos and other references to this evidence are listed below.
What I find most interesting is how the U.S. media is underreporting the actual evidence and only commenting on the possible race-baiting involved. Meanwhile the English version of the Arabic-language news network is breaking the news quite effectively in this video. Al-Jazeera English TV is the only independent Middle Eastern news outlet. featuring great background pieces and global reactions to current news. How ironic. This Islamaphobia that has invaded US whisper campaigns has many non-muslim or non-Arab citizens and immigrants unwilling to investigate the veracity of not only the claims against Obama but to insist our national media outlets and the McCain campaign stop this hate inciting speech among white working class Americans who fear Obama will make America 'black'.
American citizens have never have heard of AlJazeera before it broadcast Osama bin Laden's videos, and guilt by association, is not a democratic value. This video reveals aspects of American culture we rarely see on CBS, NBC, or ABC News soundbytes this election season. Thank godness for the Web 2.0 era where many alternative and even ordinary broadcasters can get the message out.FROM WIKIPEDIA: Al Jazeera (Arabic: الجزيرة, al-jazīrah, IPA: [aldʒaˈziːra], meaning "The Island," referring to their status as the only independent Middle Eastern news station[1], is a television network headquartered in Doha, Qatar. Initially launched as an Arabic news and current affairs satellite TV channel with the same name, Al Jazeera has since expanded into a network with several outlets, including the Internet and specialty TV channels in multiple languages, and in several regions of the world.
The original Al Jazeera channel's willingness to broadcast dissenting views, including on call-in shows, created controversies in Persian Gulf States. The station gained worldwide attention following the September 11, 2001 attacks, when it broadcast video statements by Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders (see Videos of Osama bin Laden).
References
1. "Unleashed, Palin Makes a Pit Bull Look Tame," Washington Post, 10/07/08
http://tinyurl.com/3wmg4c
2. "Obama called a terrorist" (video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
3. "McCain Supporter Yells Out 'Traitor!'" (video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
4. "McCain's 'Fellow Prisoners'," First Read, 10/08/08
http://tinyurl.com/4qc5vn
5. McCain-Obama Presidential Debate Transcript, Commission on Presidential Debates, 10/15/08
http://www.debates.org/pages/
6. "TV Ad: Dangerous", John McCain campaign, 10/06/08
http://tinyurl.com/48j9uj
7. See reference 1.
8. See reference 1.
9. "'Kill Him' Yell At Clearwater Palin Rally Being Probed," Tampa Bay Online, 10/10/08
http://tinyurl.com/442vn5
10. See reference 4.
11. "McCain camp defends the behavior?," First Read, 10/10/08
http://tinyurl.com/4az7uw
12. "John Lewis vs. John McCain," First Read, 10/11/08
http://tinyurl.com/3m6qln
13. "The Sidewalk to Nowhere, McCain Supporters in Bethlehem, PA" (video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
14. "Misconceptions of Obama fuel Republican campaign" (video), Al-Jazeera, 10/13/08
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
15. "Florida Sheriff Intros Palin, Says 'Barack Hussein Obama'," (video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
16. "McCain and Palin in Bethlehem: A live report!" Philly.com, 10/08/08
http://tinyurl.com/3wvq9x
17. "Who is Barack Obama?" Snopes.com, January 2008
http://www.snopes.com/
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8 comments:
O my God!!! Are you kidding me. And now Americans complain when the World calls them racists. Excuse me, but this clip says a lot. Of course not all of America is like that, but some are. The most city people have never been in areas such as this one in Ohio. It seems as if this people lost their common sense, or maybe they have never had it.
One of my dear friends from New Orleans (she’s been in NYC for 4 years) who seems to be an intelligent person recently said that Obama’s previously pastor, Reveron Wright is a Muslim. I was in a shock. How can you can refer to a Christian pastor and Muslim as a same definition or meaning? Later on I found out that that lie came from an Israeli daily magazine. I wonder why?!
I have a friend in Israel, Jerusalem, who I consider to be a very good friend. We talk about everything, but politics. The reason is because he believes (was also raised with that belief) ALL Muslims are bad. It is killing me that he is so intelligent, but when it comes to religion he is such a narrow-minded fool.
I am a Catholic and my country is 92% Catholic, but I was raised to respect everyone’s religion and I was never taught that the other religions are bad or wrong. Maybe that is way I am judge so much people who have strong opinions about religions.
its just crazy to see/hear people talk nonsense. It's things like that that cause things like hate crimes. I dont understand the "christian nation" comment, aren't many races aligned with christianity or a part of it? I believe the problem here is ignorance. Most of those people have no idea what they are talking about because they are close-minded. Their point of view is mostly limited to their own community. which is why a place like NY is a great because the diversity allows us to open our eyes and see many cultures and understand them.
What do you expect?? You grab some old conservative whites from some hick town of like 400 people or something and ask them what they think about a black person running for president. of course they make racist remarks calling him the N-word and a muslim and that he hates white people. You might as well go look for religious tolersance in Texas. Those are the same people you see in the national Inqierer talking about getting sbducted by aliens in cornfileds. These people are socially backwards. The bottom line is that people fear change. Its human nature. We've all experienced it. maybe our first day at a new school where we didn't know anybody and didn't know where are classes were. The difference is having the courage to accept change and recognize when its good and when its bad. Its fine not to support Obama; everyone is entitled to their own opinion. But their reasons for not supporting him are just ignorant.
Rather than merely reacting to this like it's not supposed to be, I invite you all to consider how you can look at this in a way that is more like ethnography. Rather than speaking from some place that smacks of ethnocentrism, consider what it is that makes their worldview work. Where do you think they learn to think like that? What aspects of anthropological thought can be observed and noticed in these people's lives?
I think that the people from the video all came from a predominately white-christian conservative background. This would shape their world views more towards racism since they have rarely been exposed to any types of people outside those they grew up with, those they go to church with and those who live in their neighborhood, who are probably all anglo-saxon christians. They make uneducated assumptions only because they do not know what to expect,except what they have heard and seen based on television and stereotypes. They are mostly close minded because their society allows them to be. When almost everyone around you has the same opinions as yourself after being exposed to the same environment, it makes free-thinking and individual opinions very difficult to come by.
My family originates from a town much like the one show in the video called Murphysborough in southern Illinois. There is a heavy conservative Christian presence in most homes, my aunt for example has passages from the bible on her hand towels and appliances in the kitchen. There is also a lack of ethnic diversity, most people are white. With these two aspects of rural America common place they are typically what is used for the basis for their community’s unity. When you have that combination plus “actual poverty” (lack of running water or contaminated water, fewer resources such as libraries, absence of internet access, low income etc..) hatred for those that are different can arise. Also since there is a lack of interaction with other cultures, they look up to their elderly more than people do in urban settings. The problem with that is that most of their elderly were brought up in a time when it was acceptable to be racist and when laws allowed it to persist. Those elderly held on to those beliefs and were able to pass them one to their children because most of rural USA is similar in many ways today as it was before the civil right movement in terms of the bonds of unity within the community. I don’t really blame the general citizens of rural towns that share these views because the views are social constructs and the people can’t change what they don’t see. I do however blame those citizens of the community and those of the media that know better and still choose to play on those social constructs and fears to get votes for their candidate.
The eastern Ohio community is mostly white middle class working citizens. They don't have much experience with much African Americans, therefore, relying on television and gossip to determine their feelings towards ethnic groups. Since their community is not culturally diffused and they don't have a lot of diversity, their point of views become unified because they are all alike. But when individuals start having different views such as the one in the clip, they start bashing them and criticizing them as traitors. Some of the words coming out of the people's mouths were outrageous and I believe its just plain ignorance. They listen to whatever they hear and have a closed mind when it comes to politics.
“Off with his head” and “kill him” because this is what America stands for? It’s so sad that America is still this ignorant when supposedly America is the country of freedom. I can’t believe that these white people are this racist nor can I understand their shallow arguments. In their defense if they wanted to rally anti-Obama, they should have chosen stronger arguments that had substance and not go for the racist way out.
Something really interesting for me and that I get angry at is that the lady in the video said that Obama called the whites “trash.” Is she forgetting that he is half white? This shows who the real ignorant is and how racism can blind so many people. I think it’s just sad how in this world people judge others based on the color of their skin. Just like this woman felt horrible when white people were supposedly called “trash,” why doesn’t she consider the other side of the coin? That is, African Americans are also hurt when they are deprived and called racist names.
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