Hate Where Everyone Can See It

Recently, a billboard in Grand Junction, Colorado, became noticed by a larger audience. The billboard features offensive caricatures of Barack Obama and encourages its viewer to vote “DemocRAT.” David Williams of Real Aspen describes the billboard:

…The billboard depicts “President Barack Obama as a terrorist, a gangster, a Mexican bandit and a gay man. The four ‘Obamas’ [are] sitting around a table with playing cards showing only sixes bunched in groups of three.

“Also on the table is a copy of the Declaration of Independence, a liberty bell, a toy soldier and a statue of Justice holding a balance.

“Beneath the Obama caricatures are numerous rats, some of which are labeled as the IRS, trial lawyers, the EPA and the Fed. Sitting above all that is a line, ‘Vote DemocRAT. Join the game,’ which is positioned between two vultures, one of which is labeled the U.N. and the other with the name Soros, a reference to George Soros, a major national Democratic financial supporter.”

It is clear from the illustrated scene that the billboard is a racist and homophobic commentary on Barack Obama, personally, and his administration’s leadership. While I am not questioning the rights of the artist or the unnamed group that paid him to display these hateful images, but rather the dangerous attitude that allows for this type of representation and bigotry towards many different groups. While criticizing a leader is perfectly acceptable, the criticism should be directed towards things other than the leader’s race, religion, or sexual orientation. Criticism of policies is very different than a racist and hateful caricature and the latter should not be accepted as a legitimate piece of discussion about the first.

911 is a Joke

Lose your arms and legs to them, it's compilation
I can prove it to you, watch the rotation
It all adds up to a funky situation
So get up, get get down
911 is a joke in your town
~"911 is a Joke," Public Enemy, Fear of a Black Planet, 1990

Since Flava Flav of Public Enemy cackled these words over a decade ago, the emergency services in New York City have only proven him correct. During the racial tensions of the 1990s, there were several instances of attacks on black Americans, especially black males. However, while many would hope that the situation has improved since then, today is yet another stunning example of the lack of progress made and the lack of accountability for institutions that perpetuate racism.

Today, Justice Arthur Cooperman delivered the verdict that the three NYPD detectives who shot the unarmed, 23 year old Sean Bell on his wedding day were to be acquitted of all charges. However, instead of murder charges, the most serious charge facing Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper was the manslaughter charge facing Isnora and Oliver.

While some may think that even though it is extremely suspicious for three police officers to shoot a man 50 times and believe that this is an isolated incident, the history of race-related killings by the NYPD proves otherwise, as the Associated Press reports:

In 1999, NYPD officers killed Amadou Diallo, an unarmed West African immigrant who was shot 19 times in the entry to his apartment building.

The four officers in that case were acquitted of criminal charges. In 2003, Ousmane Zongo, 43, a native of the western African country of Burkina Faso, was killed during a police raid on a warehouse where he repaired art and musical instruments. Zongo was shot four times, twice in the back.

If progress really has been made by this country in its race relations, the NYPD should step forward to condemn these detectives and take its role seriously, instead of joking around with the lives of innocent Americans, like Sean Bell.

And so the dialogue begins, right? WRONG!

Well, thank you very much to American media for focusing on the real issues. After Barack Obama's monumental speech on race and how this is the crucial time for a dialogue to begin so that our nation can solve problems that it has ignored, the American news media did us all the favor of playing clips of the speech without having any idea what Obama's message was. It must take a lot of talent to focus on the important issues in a way that completely ignores the important issues.



It's enough to give anyone an aneurysm. So thank you, American news media, for making my head explode.

A More Perfect Union

For anyone undecided about which candidate is best for the United States of America, this speech by Barack Obama ought to make the decision an easy one. This groundbreaking speech is one of the most important in our country's history as it presents the most comprehensive view on race relations in America as well as opens the opportunity for a much-needed dialogue. If there was a single, fundamental reason to support any candidate, it would be to support a candidate who truly understands the United States and is willing to strive to ensure that the nation lives up to the standards it holds for itself, to transcend perceived borders and boundaries between people, in order to make this nation a more perfect union.



For a complete transcript of Barack Obama's speech, click here.