Racism: Morgan Freeman Nails It

Monkey Business

The New York Post gave Al Sharpton a chance to get on his divisive soap box this week when they published this editorial cartoon. Sharpton should stick to being a thoughtful and articulate pundit on TV news and commentary shows if he really wants to foster better race relations. If he wants to perpetuate the racial divide he should get up on that soap box and express outrage whenever President Obama is satirized in a way that could be construed as racially offensive.

In an OpEd piece today praising Sharpton and criticising The Post and other papers that have published cartoons of Obama as a primate, Gannett's Dewayne Wickham said "Labeling blacks as monkeys or baboons is akin to calling them the n-word."

Hogwash.

The Post cartoon is stupid. If there is a connection between a pet chimp in Connecticut ripping someones face off and the economic "stimulus" ripoff, the cartoonist didn't make the connection. If the cartoonist was attempting to make a statement about President Obama, he missed the mark by a long shot. The Post deserves to be criticised for publishing a dumb cartoon. Not for racism.

Presidents are satirized. Our previous president was often satirized as a monkey.


If Sharpton and Wickham really believe The Post was characterising Obama as a monkey, they should be celebrating a breakthrough in equality, not trying to incite racial divisions with their feigned outrage.

Attorney General Eric Holder had a good point when he called the United States a nation of cowards when it comes to race relations. Sharpton and Wickham contribute to racial fears when they equate characterising a president as a monkey with calling him a nigger. Condemnations like this might lead to more politically correct satire, but it won't lead to better race relations. Caucasians will respond by being more careful with their language, but they won't relate better to blacks as a result. On the contrary, they are likely to withdraw further from dealing with blacks rather than risk being labeled a racists if their language is misconstrued.

Racism exists in America. There are white racists and there are black racists. In my experience they are the minority of both races. Holder made the point that as a nation we have made great progress toward integration in the work place, but that America is as segregated as ever on Sunday when we worship.

If Martin Luther King were alive today I imagine he would be celebrating the progress we have made towards his dream, and that he would be passionately and lovingly challenging us that we still have a ways to go. He might challenge us to integrate on Sunday, calling on white churches and black churches to worship together on Sunday, followed by lunch.

Sharpton should get off his soap box and give that a try.

Culture Clash

On the blog Faith Outside the City, co-authored by Jim Purcell and Melissa Gaffney, Purcell has an interesting post, About hospitality...and White and Black America.

While his prose is somewhat confusing, I think Purcell is trying to constructively distinguish differences in the black and white experience.

Purcell said,

"In class, my classmates and Dr. Hendricks were discussing an experience I could not identify with. "If I was down to my last few pieces of food, I had to get used to giving that to someone else if they showed up," one of my classmates said. The experience my black classmates were discussing was dramatically different than my own.

But my experience, one that is not uncommon to the kids I grew up with, is qualitatively different. Whereas the other students in the class (from the black experience) were talking about commonly receiving guests with great warmth, my experience is that in my parent's home, and the homes of my young friends, guests were not welcomed with food, celebration or even much warmth. But, this is not saying that my parents or my friends' parents were bad people. It was more like the custom to not make a big to do out of guests. It is not a matter of better or worse, though, yet this example of difference represents variance. And, where there are divergent experiences, it is hard to form the same basis of thought used for decision-making (as in drawing conclusions)."

While it is not clear to me how Purcell sees his black classmate's transforming from having "to get used to" giving the last of his food to a guest to "receiving guests with great warmth", his story reminded me of an experience I had as a teen aged college student in Washington, DC.

I was a "Big Brother" for a young black male from Northeast Washington, DC who lived in public housing with his mother and sister. Sadly, I can't remember the youth's name, but I have thought of this experience often in the last 30 years. More so since I started my inquiry into race relations this past July.

Every Saturday morning I would drive a University van to Northeast to pick up my "brother" and other participants in the program. We'd spend the day together in Washington, usually on campus, and I would drive them back in the afternoon. I always fed "my brother." He said it was the best food he ate that week and described his sparse diet to me. Several weeks into the program, upon arriving back to the public housing project "my brother's" mother came out to the van and insisted that I came into her home.

She had prepared a hot meal for me, and only for me. Pork chops, corn and potatoes. The table was set for me to eat while "my brother," his sister and mother were to watch me consume this feast. This freaked me out. My insistence on sharing the food, at least with the children was angrily rebuffed by Mom.

I quit the Big Brother program that week, rather than have "my brother's" food stamps go to feed me. I suspect my behavior was offensive on a few levels to "my brother's" mother.

Several years later I had another educational food/culture experience. This time it wasn't a black/white culture clash. Rather it was an Italian/Irish culture clash. I was deliverying a new car to an Italian family in Elizabeth, NJ. I arrived with the car around dinner time on a week night. The whole family was there to see the new car. After we finished the paper work and went over all the equipment on the car, the wife/mother invited me to stay for dinner. I thought I was gracious in my decline, explaining that I still had another customer's car to deliver.

The next day, I called to thank my customer for the business and to make sure she was happy with the car. She loved the car but hated me for not staying for dinner. The anger in her voice sent a chill down my leg. I was besides myself and I haven't turned down food from an Italian since.

A history of the N-word

From The African American Registry.

Caution: The African American Registry uses the actual word. If "N-word" doesn't offend you but the actual word does, you have probably bought into the PC hysteria that keeps separatism alive and might not want to read the linked article.

Confederate flag causes stir in Nutley

Baristanet has the story.

Rev. Dr. James Manning

Jim Purcell is full of shit

If you don't like the beating Jim Purcell has been taking on this blog, I suggest you don't read this post.

Jim Purcell has taken a great deal of heat since he twisted the racial conversation that has been going on here at MoreMonmouthMusings. He made it front page news for three weeks in a row and stopped publishing my column. He tried to smear me as a racist and tried to destroy my political and professional affiliations. He did this for his own political agenda and to sell newspapers. He sold out his papers for a few weeks, but he sold out his own integrity in the process and his struggling bird cage liner is in deep doo doo.

Purcell has asked several people to approach me about backing off or toning it down. In his column in The Courier Caliendo Crier, he either misses the point of why he is getting such heat, or he is trying to believe his own BS. He again says my objective was to make the use of the word nigger acceptable in the main stream lexicon. He knows I never advocated that and that I don't advocate that. He suggests that I have been trying to re-package 400 years of black experience, which is utter nonsense. He points out that the Bayshore is a place where Confederate flags, White Power T-Shirts and apprehension about blacks and Hispanics can be found, yet fails to point out that I have been a critic of these activities, because he is still trying to demonize me for his own political agenda.

Purcell slams Monmouth County as racist because he's gotten heat and I've gotten support. He's disgraceful. He says,

"Someone who is having such a high old time using the n-word very casually and conversationally in the Bayshore might try using that same speech just as casually in other parts of this state where there is great diversity- and see how it goes for them. In fact, the leaders supporting this "racial discussion" vocally or silently might ask themselves if this support is the kind of thing they want on their resumes. Because outside the small sphere of Monmouth, such nonsense would not be tolerated. Homogeneous communities are not going to be more prolific. And, supporting the use of slurs as common speech is betting on the wrong side of history."

Again, Purcell's premise is faulty because no one in this debate, especially me, is advocating the casual use of slurs. But Purcell can't give that up without realizing what a complete jerk he has been in this process.

I wonder if Purcell knows of any diverse communities in New Jersey. Let me suggest the Hidden Lake development in North Brunswick, or East Orange, on the border of Glen Ridge in Essex County, where I used to live. Purcell has no experience in diverse communities and has no commitment to racial harmony. If he did, he wouldn't be writing about me as if I was the problem.

He doesn't give a hoot about racial harmony. His sole purpose in life is to defeat Middletown Republicans because his bosses didn't get their development and because he would rather blame his former friends for the failure of his career than to look in the mirror.

Purcell complains that he is getting pressure to reinstate my column, as if I would actually give it to him again. I was never attached to the column. I wrote it because Jim asked me too. He promised me syndication and income opportunities which I didn't take seriously and were never forthcoming. Several times over the 10 months I wrote columns for his paper, Purcell told me he was getting heat over the column. Gordon Bishop complained that I was stealing his spotlight. Local Democrats were concerned that my criticism of Trenton Democrats would hurt them electorally. Each time I told Purcell I'd stop writing.

While it was fun to write and the feedback from the community was gratifying, it was never a big deal and some weeks it was a burden to write. Purcell still wanted it and still wanted to piggy back on the success of this blog. When I indicated here on the blog, and in conversation with him, that I was going to use the space to counter the paper's editorial policy of defeating Middletown Republicans, Purcell chose to attempt to demonize me. Had he simply told me the truth, "Art, I can't run your column because Big Joe and I are doing everything we can to defeat Peter Carton, Gerry Scharfenberger,Joe Kyrillos and Judith Stanley-Coleman and you're in the way of that" he still would have taken some heat, but nothing like what he has been experiencing and will continue to experience until he takes another job.

Purcell reveals his purpose and his alliances at the end of his column whimper over all the heat he has taken. He thanks the Azzolina and Scaduto families, Victor Scudiery, Lorenzo Dangler, Carolyn Schwebel, Joe Caliendo and Pat Walsh for their support and kind words.

What do all those people have in common? They all want to see Democrats take control of Middletown.

Coming soon in the race conversation

While the conversation we have been having here at MoreMonmouthMusings about race has been educational and enlightening for some, for the most part it has been just a bunch of white folk arguing over the N-word.

I've started a dialog with Reverend Manning and others in the hopes of taking this conversation to the next level and expanding it to the black community. As I said in the very first post about this on July 17, changing vocabularies alone will not foster better relations between the races. Understanding and acceptance will.

I've also posted ads on craigslist looking for talent who will conduct "on the street" type interviews about race relations and the N-word. I have several applicants already and hope to get that project started this weekend. If you know someone who would be good at that, have them send me a photo and resume to artvg@aol.com.

YouTube of my remarks to the Middletown Township Committee

Melissa Gaffney at SableMinded shot a video of my appearance before the Middletown Township Committee.

Sometimes a polemic is just a polemic

Something new learned today.

I always thought a polemic is what you got when Grzegorz hooked up with Colleen.

It seems our little controversy here in NJ is getting international legs.

Blazing Fur Cat has a post entitled Human Rights Jackboots March Into Small Town America....

Five Feet of Fury picked up from Blazing with Jesse Jackson can use the n-word, but you can't

Great post on race relations

Finally.

Middletown Mike has a post that actually illuminates the conversation. I recommend reading it.

I met Mike at the Middletown Township Committee meeting last night. He doesn't seem to be the narrow minded pinhead partisan that his blog often makes him out to be.

Art Gallagher's comments to the Middletown Township Committee, August 4, 2008

Mayor Scharfenberger, members of the Township Committee, ladies and gentlemen of Middletown and guests,

My name is Art Gallagher. I am a former Middletown resident. I am currently a Middletown business owner, as I have been for the last 10 years. I am a Middletown property tax payer and 75% of my employees are Middletown residents. I live in Highlands. For purposes of the record, please use my business address, 571 Route 36, Belford.

As a resident and business owner, I have always endeavored to be a good neighbor. Mostly with success I think. I don’t remember ever turning down a request to contribute to the community which has treated me and my family so well. Be it the senior prom, police or fire departments, or local charities, I have been there when asked, however modestly. I also volunteer my time to local civic organizations whenever possible.

Recently, some have alleged that I am also a Human Rights violator. According to reports published on the Internet, the Middletown Human Rights Commission had a “special meeting” last week about my blog, MoreMonmouthMusings, and a conversation I started about race relations. At that meeting, which I was not invited to nor informed about until after it happened, my writing was condemned, and by inference I was labeled a racist Human Rights violator.

I started the conversation in response to the Reverend Jesse Jackson’s vulgar comments about Barack Obama. I used the same offensive word that Reverend Jackson used, not as a slur towards any one individual or race. Rather, I used it and other offensive words as a linguistic devise, a provocation, to generate attention for this conversation about race relations. It worked.

I come to you tonight, not to defend my 1st Amendment rights, because they have not been violated. I do not come to criticize those who would silence me, because they have the same unalienable right to condemn my speech as I have to utter it.

Nor do I come to apologize. I did what I did intentionally and with a purpose. It worked better than I counted on. I baited my critics to generate attention to the conversation that I believe needs to be had. They reacted predictably. I make no apology for manipulating them, because to do so would dishonor them. I have no delusions about being a puppeteer. Each of us has choices. We are responsible for our own actions and reactions.

Nor do I apologize to my friends and affiliates that my critics have tried to paint as racist by association. Their reactions and responses are an important part of this conversation.

We all need to look in the mirror and into our hearts.

I come to invite you all into the conversation and to take it to the next level.

Contrary to published reports, I did not, and I do not, advocate that the offensive word be reintroduced into the main stream lexicon. I am pleased that one of my critics who in the past has regularly used the word has now publically condemned it. That is one positive result of my provocation, but there is much more work to do.


While addressing the nation about the racial controversy generated by the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Senator Barack Obama said, "…race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we've never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American. "

I am happy that there is something so important that Senator Obama and I agree about.

We haven’t worked through these issues or perfected our union. Many of us, me included, haven’t worked through them individually or perfected our hearts. I’m coming out of the corner and I invite you to also.

I am aware that time is short tonight and I thank the Mayor for indulging me. I want to quickly invoke two more historic figures and then make a request before I conclude my remarks.

As part of my study of race relations I recently read the full text of Martin Luther King, Jr’s I have a dream speech. If you haven’t read it or listened to it recently, I encourage you to do so. There is a link to it on my blog.

As I read the speech Dr. King delivered 45 years ago, I was struck with how much of King’s dream has been fulfilled. Much of what he dreamed of is now the law of our land. However, we still have a long way to go. The rest of his dream can not be legislated because we can not legislate what is in our hearts and minds. In order for the rest of King’s dream to be fulfilled, I think we need to look to the words of another historic figure, whose principles our nation was founded on. He is one historic figure who is revered in both the black and white communities. The quote is brief, but it is reaches into the heart of the matter of how we can perfect ourselves, our union and our planet. Tragically, I can not say his name here in this government building without sparking an even bigger controversy, but you will know who it is when I quote him.

Those powerful words are, “Love one another as I have loved you.”

With those words, Mr. Mayor, I conclude my remarks. I request that this governing body instruct the Middletown Human Rights Commission to have another special meeting and to do so quickly. I request to be invited to or notified about that meeting. And I request that as a result of that meeting, that the Middletown Human Rights Commission either reaffirm or reverse their action concerning me and the work I am doing on my blog.

Thank you.

Blog comments

The comments on this blog haven't been as fun and insightful as they are lately since Courier NAACP DEMOCRAT publisher Jim Purcell challenged William H. Seward to a fight way back in January of 2006.

Jim chickened out back then. As Barry Goldwater points out, he is still a P-Word.

This morning, former congressional candidate James Hogan has a great comment in the How is the race inquiry impacting you? post in response to a snarky anonymous poster.

Here is the very funny, yet thoughtful exchange:

Anonymous said...
Oh yawn, Art, get over yourself. If you can't see what is wrong with using the n-word, try using it to someones face. Thanx for pointing out how great you are, and how wonderfully diverse we are.
\sarcasm off

James Hogan said...
Mrs. Anonymous #2 says... "try using it to someones face"

This is a great example of a racist comment; let us review how and why.

Suppose I call Art a "fatso", ie "Hey Art! You're a fatso!" and Art, having a sense a humor, will go "Hey James! You're ugly!".

We'll both be *VERY* offended over being called these words and go cry in our respective corners and wait until the next round, or we'll make some jokes about the words used, high five each other and go about our day as normal, civilized people. In fact, in some way, we may have helped each other, ie, Art might go on a diet and I might start wearing a mask, ie, we'll stop acting like fat/ugly people.

Now, suppose Art calls the rapper who goes by the name "Ludacris" "the n-word" as you challenge Art to do. Your suspicion, and the reason you challenge Art to say "the n-word" to someone's face is because you believe that all blacks are so uncivilized that Art will be physically assaulted, if not even murdered, over the mere use of the word. There could be almost no other reason you would challenge Art to say "the n-word" to someone's face unless this is the response you expect. (Unless of course you expect Art to engage in a rap battle maybe? Care to give us a sample rap Art? HAH!)

So which is more racist, Art - a relative no-one (no offense Art) - repeating the word in a civil discussion, Jesse Jackson (a well known, prominent global figure) saying the word (about a presidential candidate) in a hateful and derogatory manner, and/or you having the belief that all black people must be so uncivilized and violent that we should expect a black person to commit some felony assault as a result of hearing the word, from Art?

Of course, it is possible that Mr. Jackson was as accurate about Mr. Obama as Art is accurate in his assessment of me being ugly. Just as I take Art's comment about me being ugly to improve my appearance, maybe Mr. Obama needs to take Mr. Jackson's criticism and improve himself as well?

In any case, I'm offended that you imply black people are violent and would harm Art and I expect you to apologize to all black people for being racist.

Reconstruction and Post Cival War Racism

From Digital History A 15 page "Cliff Notes" version

The Significance of Reconstruction (A summary of the "Cliff Notes")

If a mid-19th century Rip Van Winkle had gone to sleep in 1857, the year of the Dred Scott decision, and awoke in 1877, it would probably take him quite a while before he would believe reports of what had happened during the years he was asleep. He would learn about a four year civil war that had freed four million slaves and destroyed half the South's farm implements and livestock; presidential assassination; ratification of constitutional amendments abolishing slavery, guaranteeing equal rights, and extending the vote to African Americans; presidential impeachment; and a disputed presidential election. But when he looked around him, much would appear unchanged. Southern representatives had returned to Congress, and they were similar to those who had served before the war. In each of the southern states, the Democratic Party was securely in control. The overwhelming majority of African Americans would still be living in the South, working as farm laborers on land that they did not own.

Of course, our latter-day Rip Van Winkle would eventually recognize that despite continuities, fundamental changes had taken place. Chattel slavery had been defeated. The gang system of labor, enforced by the whip, was dead. Incredibly, about 20 percent of African Americans in the South managed to acquire land by 1880. And through the 1880s, sizeable numbers of African American men in the South would continue to vote. Real gains had been won, even though full equality remained an unfulfilled promise.

Like an earthquake, Reconstruction shook southern society's foundations then subsided. But it left the national landscape forever changed. Out of Reconstruction came the first statewide public school systems in the South as well as hospitals, penitentiaries, and asylums. The first black institutions of higher learning were founded. Equally important, it was during Reconstruction that the institutional foundations of the modern black community in the South were laid, including independent black churches and a growing number of black landowners, businessmen, clergymen, and teachers. With the passage of the 14th Amendment, mandating equal rights for all citizens, and the 15th Amendment, forbidding states to deny the right to vote because of race, the possibilities for later attacks on discrimination had been established.

Reconstruction's failure also carried long-term negative consequences. Racism became more deeply embedded in American society. The South's economy became almost entirely dependent on a single crop, cotton, and an increasing number of Southerners were reduced to tenant farming. One political party, the Democratic Party, monopolized political power. Violence kept immigrants from migrating to the region. The roots of half a century of southern poverty had been planted.

Southern Discomfort

Newsweek has a compelling story by Charles Dickey, Southern Discomfort. Dickey shares his observations of the underlying racial tension present in the southern United States today.

For as long as I've been alive the old Confederacy has been a land without closure, where history keeps coming at you day after day, year after year, decade after decade, as if the past were the present, too, and the future forever. Cities grew and populations changed in the South, but the Civil War lurked somehow in the shadow of mirror-sided skyscrapers; the holocaust of slavery and the sweet-bitter victories of the civil-rights movement lingered deep in the minds of people on both sides of the color line. Yes there was change, progress, prosperity, and a lot of it. Southerners put their faith in money and jobs and God Almighty to get them to a better place and better times—and for a lot of them, white and black, those times came. The South got to be a more complicated place, where rich and poor—which is pretty much all there was before World War II—gave way to a broad-spectrum bourgeoisie with big-time aspirations. But as air conditioning conquered the lethargy-inducing climate and Northerners by the millions abandoned the rust belt for the sun belt, the past wasn't forgotten or forgiven so much as put aside while people got on with their lives and their business.

Continue reading at Newsweek.com

Thank you to the reader who brought this article to my attention.

How has the race inquiry impacted you?

While it is not pleasant to be declared a human rights violator by people who have never met me, nor read what write, this inquiry that we've been having here has made a positive impact on me.

The knowledge that I've gained has increased my appreciation for how far we have come, as a human race, particularly in this country, and how far we have to go, locally and globally.

I never read the full text of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's I have a dream before starting this inquiry. If you haven't, I encourage you to do so. View the video too. Here they are.

Here's an excerpt:

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."²

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

One phenomena that is particularly gratifying is that people are talking about this, at least in our small corner of the world.

One woman stopped me at the post office the other day and wanted to make sure I saw this story from the NY Daily News. She said the comments are the best part of the story and she is right about that.

A man came into my office to tell me a story. He remembered as a child in Middletown in the 60's how his black neighbors' home was burned down and he never saw them again. He wanted to share with me how far we've come.

Last night as I was volunteering at the Highlands Clam Festival I was struck by how diverse the crowd was. Black, Latin, Asian and White people were all peacefully enjoying the festival. Eating together, playing together, taking the NASA space tour together. Teens, twenty and thirty somethings were particularly diverse in their social interactions. I couldn't miss the 60 or 70 something black woman with her big beautiful white hat and her cane having a lengthy conversation with a 40 something white woman.

Sometime in the last two weeks someone told me a story about how black workers would make sure to pack up and get out of Highlands before sun down many years ago.

I have many more stories to tell about what I've learned, noticed, experienced, and remembered since we got this ball rolling. However, if you would be so generous, I would like to read how this conversation has impacted you, if it has, in the comments.

Mr. Dangler, please clear your calendar...

Your presence is requested at the Middletown Township Committee Meeting, Monday August 4, 2008 at 8PM. One Kings Highway, Middletown, NJ.

All readers, their friends, family and associates are invited too.

Members of the Middletown Human Rights Commission are strongly urged to attend.

I have left messages for Mayor Scharfenberger at home and on his cell voice mail, asking for another special meeting of the Middletown Human Rights Commission. The Mayor has not gotten back to me yet. The Township Committee meeting has already been noticed to the public, so I'll go have my say there during the public portion of the meeting.

I am also inviting the Reverend Doctor James Manning. I hope both Dr. Manning and Mr. Dangler can attend.

I said I wanted to have a conversation. So let's have it.

UPDATE: Mayor Scharfenberger called me back. Contrary to reports in The CourierNAACP DEMOCRAT, Scharfenberger said that he had nothing to do with the Middletown Human Rights Commission special meeting. He heard through the township staff that there was a request for a meeting. He did not know if proper public notice had been given, which he really can't be expected to. I appreciate his call back.

The Reverend Dr. James Manning is working on his schedule. If he is unable to come on Monday, he his interested in engaging in the conversation we have started here at MoreMonmouthMusings at another venue to be determined.

James Hogan weighs in

James Hogan said...
Mr. Seward, like a cartoon, is a perfectly safe character.

For example, it is acceptable for South Park characters to use foul language and toilet humor, as well as depict horrific deaths and other repulsive scenes, because they are just cartoons. Everyone knows that cartoons aren't some artistic display from humans, they are just cartoons..... such a sad state of affairs.

In case you're too busy worrying about this topic, today in the rest of the world... UAE/Abu Dhabi will be spending $500m USD on nuclear power from a US company (more) and aren't we trying to make sure that Iran doesn't make use of that same technology at the same time?

Or maybe Pam Anderson building a hotel in Abu Dhabi catches some interest?
Say... how is funding for that NJ to NYC transit tunnel coming? Funding for those old and failing bridges, roads, sidewalks, non-existent bike paths. How much did your property taxes rise this year? Mine only went up about $200... not bad right... just $700 more than they were 3 years ago...bad right.. good thing I live in a poor Abbott District because other nearby towns saw much higher rate increases.

Anyhow, it's a good thing everyone is so concerned about making sure Art, I mean William, has no right to free speech because clearly there are no larger issues at hand, we're doing so well here in the US.

F-ing Doomed. [/soapbox]

Middletown Human Rights Commission

There are unconfirmed reports that Middletown Mayor Gerald Scharfenberger has called on the Middletown Human Rights Commission to have a special meeting about the controversy this blog has generated by having a conversation about race.

I spoke face to face with Scharfenberger for about 5 minutes last night and he didn't mention it, but that doesn't mean it isn't happening.

I would welcome the opportunity to appear before the Middletown Human Rights Commission about this issue. I hope it will be the best attended meeting of the commission ever and that there are many black, white, hispanic and asian residents present.

UPDATE: CourierNAACP DEMOCRAT writer Melissa Gaffney reports on her blog that the special meeting of the Middletown Human Rights Commission was held last night and that I was not invited. I wonder if there was proper public notice about this meeting.

Gaffney reports that NAACP representatives Lorenzo Dangler, president of the Greater Long Branch chapter; Pastor Henry P. Davis, of the Greater Red Bank chapter; and Lionel Wilson, of the Bayshore chapter, were in attendance. They must have gotten notice.

Funny that none of The Courier NAACP DEMOCRAT blogs reported that this meeting was happening. They publish announcements and previews of public meetings regularly. Yet, they had a reporter there to cover it.

Looks like I was set up.

I call on Mayor Scharfenberger to compel another meeting of the Middletown Human Rights Commission on this issue with proper notice.

I will also be consulting with my attorneys regarding taking action against the Township of Middletown, the NAACP and the owners of The Courier NAACP DEMOCRAT.

Obamanation

Barack Obama's campaign has condemed Ludacris's latest rap lyrics, Politics as Usual. This was to be expected given that Obama is now the presumptive Democratic nominee to be President of the United States.

As MMM reader Rick Ambrosia pointed out, the Obama campaign issued the following statement:

"Obama camp says Ludacris should be 'ashamed'"

(CNN) – Barack Obama's campaign sharply condemned rapper Ludacris Wednesday over his new song celebrating the Illinois senator's presidential bid while referring to Hillary Clinton by an offensive remark.
Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said Ludacris should be "ashamed of these lyrics."

"As Barack Obama has said many, many times in the past, rap lyrics today too often perpetuate misogyny, materialism, and degrading images that he doesn’t want his daughters or any children exposed to," Burton said. "This song is not only outrageously offensive to Senator Clinton, Reverend Jackson, Senator McCain, and President Bush, it is offensive to all of us who are trying to raise our children with the values we hold dear. While Ludacris is a talented individual he should be ashamed of these lyrics."

Why is Barack Obama's campaign doing the condeming. What does the candidate have to say himself.

This is what Obama told Rolling Stone in a interview posted to the magazines website on July 10, 2008, three weeks before Politics as Usual was released:

What do you think of rap? Has it been unfairly attacked for destroying family values?

By definition, rock & roll is rebel music, which means if it's not being criticized, it's probably not doing its job. I am troubled sometimes by the misogyny and materialism of a lot of rap lyrics, but I think the genius of the art form has shifted the culture and helped to desegregate music. Music was very segregated back in the Seventies and Eighties — you'll remember that when MTV first came on, it wasn't until Thriller that they played Michael.

I know Jay-Z. I know Ludacris. I know Russell Simmons. I know a bunch of these guys. They are great talents and great businessmen, which is something that doesn't get emphasized enough. It would be nice if I could have my daughters listen to their music without me worrying that they were getting bad images of themselves.

These are the lyrics to Ludacris's hit Coming 2 America:

The royal penis is clean your highness
Thank you, king shit

Yeah motherfuckers! Welcome to the United States of America.
Time to roll out the red carpet on y'all bitch asses.
Hailin from the filthy, dirty South, where the Kings lay.
Ludacris; Disturbin' Tha Peace family. Recognize royalty
when you hear it. The throne has been taken, so kiss this
nigga's earring. Luda throw some grapes on these bitches!

[Ludacris]
These bitches throwin rose petals at my feet mayn!
They wanna spoil me, treatin me like royalty;
what I'm 'sposed to do? It's such a sweet thang
Work that track, whip 'em like Kunta
That's why they stay down, they loyal citizens of Zamunda
By way of A-T-L; if you disagree
don't even look at me ho don't pass go just go straight to jail
With no probation or bail, but this ain't Monopoly
It's Jolly Green Giants cause we smoke so much broccoli
Uh-oh, Spaghetti-O's! Luda's oodles of noodles
And testin me is like pitbulls put up to poodles
My rap career goes back further than yo' father hairline
It's Ludacris - I pack more nuts than Delta Airlines
I'm fly, even when I get high I work cash
And even got my coats bumped up to first class
I'm boss to all employees - and I'm here to teach the principle
Cause I've been saved by mo' bells than Lark Vorhees

Man fuck that nigga 'Cris man, for real man. I'm tired of
this shit man. Man I try to rap for the nigga, I try to get
a nigga tracks; he ain't hearin my shit. Man for real.
Man my four-year-old son can rap better than that nigga;
man that nigga garbage. Man I got talent too, the nigga ain't
hearin me. Man iii-iiiis this shit on? 'Cris, c'mon 'Cris.
'Cris, f'real man. FUCK YOU NIGGA, MAN FUCK YOU!

[Ludacris]
Fuck you too! What you wanna do, scrawny nigga
But I got a arsenal of automatics down to twenty-twos
Know how to use 'em, fight dirty as SHIT
I throw a grenade and all-in-one bury a CLIQUE
You see y'all got it all wrong like women in tuxedos
And comin up shorter than five Danny DeVitos
I'm on a cool ranch, get laid more than Fritos
With five strippers, four wives and three amigos
I go scuba divin in Bays at Montego
I find gold links and snatch 'em like I'm Deebo
But I'm the light-skinteted version of Mandingo
I've seen more Beatles and Jagged Edges than Ringo
I used to run numbers in line they caled me BINGO
Cause I'm big, you a little star, you just twinkle
Old asses like sharpeis, y'all all wrinkled
And I stay with more BULLETS than yo' Billboard singles

Ho that is just too much! You just gotta give applause
he is definitely all f'real - yasee WHAT I'msayin? Ha ha I be
fuckin with him all the time, yah know what I mean? I'm sayin, I used
to just sell home herb (?) now home come through he want fiftys OF purple,
he want quarters OF purple now. I DONT KNOW HOW to trip with it
man, I just sold him a QP last week of the flava,
yaseewhatI'msayin?

[Ludacris]
Yeah, can I get a little hit of that, little nigga with a bigga sack
See piece of the bigger trap look at that God be rollin on that
Where they kick it at? And a lot of people just don't know
Shady Park you heard just don't go
Quick to flip the bird up po'-po'
Makin the way for that rodeo, that rodeo show!
Gotta hit 'em with a reload, I gotta put 'em with the people
I gotta make a nigga stop, drop, roll - oh no where the beat go?
Bring that, shit back, didn't wanna hear that, clik-clak
Tons of fun with guns
Fuck all the lil' chit-chat get back get that get that
Who knows, who goes there? Motherfuckers it's Poppa Bear
Stop and stare; pourin out a lil' gasoline and then drop a flare
I'm on, FIRE! And you know I can't stop 'til I re-TIRE!
Oh no, we stay swoll, rollin on Vogue TIRES!
Right down the avenue, passin you rapidly stackin
In the back of the Cadillac and packin emergency action
Camera, LIGHT LIGHTS, throwin a punch and then FIGHT FIGHT
Packin a lunch and then BITE BITE, A-T-L stay TIGHT TIGHT

I'm just tryin to save ya shorty. I'ma let you know
it's real down heah. When you ride down that two-eighty-five,
and you go past Kincaid, get ready to go past that Cambleton Road
fo' you get it cut free shorty just shake; cause dat where dem
real niggaz at. I ain't lyin when you in Decatur and you flossin
down Glenwood, Candler Road or Rainbow to shake!
Cause dat where dem real niggaz at. When you're goin down that
ol' Nat Hill and you pass dat second waffle house 'fore you get
to the rich niggaz daaang, cause dat where dem real niggaz at!
Matter of fact, just shake when ya get to Georgia nigga.

I wonder what Martin Luther King, Jr would have to say about this. Somehow I don't think he would be saying what a great talent and businessman the writer is. Somehow I think King would be concerned outraged about these lyrics. Somehow I think King would not appreciate this music himself but forbid his daughters from listening to it.

I wonder what Lorenzo Dangler, Jim Purcell and Joseph Caliendo will have to say about this in The Courier NAACP DEMOCRAT.

Lightshines, are you out there? I need a song. I'm thinking Lorenzo, Joseph and Jim to the tune of Abraham, Martin and John.