Showing posts with label Barack Obama. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barack Obama. Show all posts
Monday, March 2, 2009
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Friday, October 17, 2008
Race-Baiting, Smear Campaigns and Islamaphobia in Current US Election
AGREE TO BE OFFENDED
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'.
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/
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Chap 11 - On Ethnicity vs. Race and Obama's Comments on Being Bitter
Yesterday on one of the lists I participate on, I got the full transcript of Obama's comments about people being bitter on holding on to their guns and religion. On the major news outlets all week all I've heard is that Obama's elitist.
Once I read the transcript below, I realized how race and politics as usual in the form of political soundbytes that distort the truth are at work. See for yourself and let me know what you think of his actual context and conversation.
In Chapter 11, Kottak emphasizes "multiculturalism" as one of the strategies humans have used to combat the assimilationist tendencies of the past where ethnic minorities had to give up their ethnic affiliation to fit into the American melting pot. (I am started to really appreciate the term "ethnic minorities" differently reading this this time around--it means there are ethnic majorities). Here is the synopsis from the chapter followed by Obama's actual words in a larger context. Goes to show CONTEXT IS DECISIVE.
In my opinion, speaking as both citizen and teacher, Obama is expanding multiculturalism to truly include the majority and minority along racial, class, socioeconomic, and gender lines in a platform for America (A More Perfect Union) that whether he wins or loses will alter the landscape of our nation and transform the old adage that W.E.B. Dubois once wrote, “The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line” (1903).
IN HIS OWN WORDS:
Here's a transcript as well as a link to the audio to the APril 6 speech at a fundraiser
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mayhill-fowler/obama-no-surprise-that-ha_b_96188.html
> OBAMA: So, it depends on where you are, but I think it's fair to say
> that the places where we are going to have to do the most work are the
> places where people feel most cynical about government. The people are
> mis-appre...I think they're misunderstanding why the demographics in
> our, in this contest have broken out as they are. Because everybody
> just ascribes it to 'white working-class don't wanna work -- don't
> wanna vote for the black guy.' That's...there were intimations of that
> in an article in the Sunday New York Times today - kind of implies
> that it's sort of a race thing.
>
> Here's how it is: in a lot of these communities in big industrial
> states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, people have been beaten down so
> long, and they feel so betrayed by government, and when they hear a
> pitch that is premised on not being cynical about government, then a
> part of them just doesn't buy it. And when it's delivered by -- it's
> true that when it's delivered by a 46-year-old black man named Barack
> Obama (laughter), then that adds another layer of skepticism (laughter).
>
> But -- so the questions you're most likely to get about me, 'Well,
> what is this guy going to do for me? What's the concrete thing?' What
> they wanna hear is -- so, we'll give you talking points about what
> we're proposing -- close tax loopholes, roll back, you know, the tax
> cuts for the top 1 percent. Obama's gonna give tax breaks to
> middle-class folks and we're gonna provide health care for every
> American. So we'll go down a series of talking points.
>
> But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded
> that we can make progress when there's not evidence of that in their
> daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania,
> and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone
> now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through
> the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each
> successive administration has said that somehow these communities are
> gonna regenerate and they have not. So it's not surprising then that
> they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people
> who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade
> sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.
>
> Um, now these are in some communities, you know. I think what you'll
> find is, is that people of every background -- there are gonna be a
> mix of people, you can go in the toughest neighborhoods, you know
> working-class lunch-pail folks, you'll find Obama enthusiasts. And you
> can go into places where you think I'd be very strong and people will
> just be skeptical. The important thing is that you show up and you're
> doing what you're doing.
Once I read the transcript below, I realized how race and politics as usual in the form of political soundbytes that distort the truth are at work. See for yourself and let me know what you think of his actual context and conversation.
In Chapter 11, Kottak emphasizes "multiculturalism" as one of the strategies humans have used to combat the assimilationist tendencies of the past where ethnic minorities had to give up their ethnic affiliation to fit into the American melting pot. (I am started to really appreciate the term "ethnic minorities" differently reading this this time around--it means there are ethnic majorities). Here is the synopsis from the chapter followed by Obama's actual words in a larger context. Goes to show CONTEXT IS DECISIVE.
In my opinion, speaking as both citizen and teacher, Obama is expanding multiculturalism to truly include the majority and minority along racial, class, socioeconomic, and gender lines in a platform for America (A More Perfect Union) that whether he wins or loses will alter the landscape of our nation and transform the old adage that W.E.B. Dubois once wrote, “The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line” (1903).
Multiculturalism and Ethnic IdentityFROM TOP OF GOOGLE SEARCH: "Obama and bitter"
- Multiculturalism is the view of cultural diversity in a country as something good and desirable.
- This view is opposed to assimilationism, which expects minorities to abandon their cultural traditions and values, replacing them with those of the majority population.
- Basic aspects of multiculturalism at the government level are the official espousal of some degree of cultural relativism along with the promotion of distinct ethnic practices. (be sure to look up this key anthropological term again in Kottak and memorize it!!)
- A number of factors have led the United States to move away from the assimilationist model and toward multiculturalism.
- Large-scale migration—driven by globalization as well as population growth and lack of economic opportunity in "less developed" countries—is introducing unparalleled ethnic variety to host nations, particularly the "developed" countries of North America and Europe.
- Ethnic identities are used increasingly to form self-help organizations focused on enhancing groups' economic and political competitiveness and combating discrimination.
Online Gambling Paper | Clinton Says Obama's bitter remark repeats democratic errors -
Obama: 'Bitter' Comments May Have Been a Mistake - Obama's "Bitter" Comment Halts His Momentum - |
IN HIS OWN WORDS:
Here's a transcript as well as a link to the audio to the APril 6 speech at a fundraiser
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mayhill-fowler/obama-no-surprise-that-ha_b_96188.html
> OBAMA: So, it depends on where you are, but I think it's fair to say
> that the places where we are going to have to do the most work are the
> places where people feel most cynical about government. The people are
> mis-appre...I think they're misunderstanding why the demographics in
> our, in this contest have broken out as they are. Because everybody
> just ascribes it to 'white working-class don't wanna work -- don't
> wanna vote for the black guy.' That's...there were intimations of that
> in an article in the Sunday New York Times today - kind of implies
> that it's sort of a race thing.
>
> Here's how it is: in a lot of these communities in big industrial
> states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, people have been beaten down so
> long, and they feel so betrayed by government, and when they hear a
> pitch that is premised on not being cynical about government, then a
> part of them just doesn't buy it. And when it's delivered by -- it's
> true that when it's delivered by a 46-year-old black man named Barack
> Obama (laughter), then that adds another layer of skepticism (laughter).
>
> But -- so the questions you're most likely to get about me, 'Well,
> what is this guy going to do for me? What's the concrete thing?' What
> they wanna hear is -- so, we'll give you talking points about what
> we're proposing -- close tax loopholes, roll back, you know, the tax
> cuts for the top 1 percent. Obama's gonna give tax breaks to
> middle-class folks and we're gonna provide health care for every
> American. So we'll go down a series of talking points.
>
> But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded
> that we can make progress when there's not evidence of that in their
> daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania,
> and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone
> now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through
> the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each
> successive administration has said that somehow these communities are
> gonna regenerate and they have not. So it's not surprising then that
> they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people
> who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade
> sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.
>
> Um, now these are in some communities, you know. I think what you'll
> find is, is that people of every background -- there are gonna be a
> mix of people, you can go in the toughest neighborhoods, you know
> working-class lunch-pail folks, you'll find Obama enthusiasts. And you
> can go into places where you think I'd be very strong and people will
> just be skeptical. The important thing is that you show up and you're
> doing what you're doing.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Barack Obama: A More Perfect Union
A More Perfect Union
Watch Barack's speech on race in America and building a more perfect union.
3/22: Joel asked for a link to video of the Pastor's comments. It's from the Huffington Post blog. I also wanted to note that this is a non-partisan blog. I am in no way promoting any candidate in our class.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/21/meet-the-white-man-who-_n_92793.html
Watch Barack's speech on race in America and building a more perfect union.
3/22: Joel asked for a link to video of the Pastor's comments. It's from the Huffington Post blog. I also wanted to note that this is a non-partisan blog. I am in no way promoting any candidate in our class.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/21/meet-the-white-man-who-_n_92793.html
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