I notice that the report says of out of 334 members of the club, not one is black. They tried to hide this fact earlier in the summer saying they did have minority members. Maybe they were counting the landscapers (I’m not stereotyping, when I was there I did see black landscapers).

I have to say it couldn’t happen to nicer folks. I hope their club goes bankrupt and the members have to swim at a public pool.

Related posts:

1. Memo to Valley Swim Club members: racism is seen in action more than words
2. Protesting at the Valley Swim Club
3. Valley Swim club backtracking

“I am not a racist” has become a refrain that is all too familiar in these days of the “post-racial” society. Barrett’s lawyer contends that this was private communication from a private computer, to which I say that once it became public it doesn’t matter; Bartlett is a government employee and once his acts become public, then their review is fair. It’s what you do in private that identifies you as racist or not. Racists generally aren’t running down the streets wearing white robes and masks yelling “Nigger, nigger, nigger.” Racists at least are interested in self-preservation and keep their racist thoughts and speech to the like minded. It’s when this speech is moved public where action is demanded.  His lawyer says that cops that do cocaine get their jobs back and that Barrett doesn’t deserve to be fired. To that I say that drugs are an addiction, and there are many recovered addicts that are benefits to society. Officer Justin Barrett is a racist, and as such can not be recovered to the point to where they can be trusted to protect the public.

There are enough bad cops out there that we’re not sure of. Let’s get rid of the ones we know are bad.

Related posts:

1. The rare beast: the sincere apology (Michael Richards)
2. Memo to Valley Swim Club members: racism is seen in action more than words
3. Sen. Allen uses the “N” word – does it matter?

That said…

Once it was determined that Gates did live there, why didn’t Crowley eat crow, apologize for the mistake and get out? “Loud and tumultuous behavior in a public place” doesn’t seem like something you get arrested for. The arrest was made to make a point; to reinforce who was in charge. You have to wonder why you can’t be “loud and tumultuous” in your own home? Would the white professor have been allowed to be more “loud and tumultuous”?

Based on any account you read, it appears that there were plenty of mistakes on both sides. A fact that should have lead President Obama to steer clear of this controversy instead of picking sides. I appreciate his honesty, but even I waited until I had a little more information.

One more thing – the woman that called the “burglary” in must be feeling horrible. She did the right thing, but she has to wonder if there were two white men, would she have called the police?

Or would she have given them the benefit of the doubt?

BTW – before the police start getting too high and mighty – I’ll point them to the case in Philadelphia getting a lot of press where a police officer harrassed a woman, putting a gun to her neck, after the officer’s son hit the woman’s car in a car accident. The lack of trust on the behalf of the public towards the police is well earned. A history of abusing the considerable power they have over you and I has made it a “them versus us” relationship not withstanding all they do for the public.

Related posts:

1. What have we become?
2. Ordering at Geno’s in spanish
3. Grenades do what?

One thing I’ve come to believe is that words can’t obscure racism. Since the Creative Steps day camp was booted from its agreement with the Valley Club, we’ve heard that the president’s comments about the kids changing the “complexion and atmosphere” of the club were foolish, stupid, or taken out of context. What they weren’t, according to the members,  were racist – the whole event had nothing to do with race and everything to do with space.

To that I say bullshit.

It’s very convenient when you’re caught with your pants down, to try and straighten things out by saying you’re misunderstood. The facts are this – regardless of how many other camps had their contract terminated, the action to cancel the contract took place the very next day after the camp full of blacks and hispanics made the mistake of showing up and expecting to be welcome. The very next day. The booting of the other clubs then appears to be a move to save face. The members who are saying it’s all about space should ask themselves what would have happened if the 65 kids that showed up were white instead of black and hispanic? Would they even have noticed?

The statement that the club released mentioned a diverse membership, but member John Flynn told CNN that they have one black member. Which is it? Or are they counting the grounds keepers as members? Plus isn’t one of the first things someone says when they’ve been caught in a racist moment: “but I have black friends!”?

Let me make this point: you may think you are not racist, but until the moment when that belief is put to the test, you really don’t know. Racism is seen best in what you do. And often, no matter what your words say or what you truly want to believe, your actions tell a different story. So to everyone who has told me that these people weren’t racist – I can’t believe that until I see their actions proving otherwise.

Related posts:

1. Valley Swim club backtracking
2. Protesting at the Valley Swim Club
3. Black kids booted from a swim club in Philadelphia

It all started with a tweet last night. The power of twitter. There were only 4 of us out there this morning, but we were enough to shut down the club. And by the time 5:30 rolled around, there was a renewed protest with many more people and a lot more vigor. I feel like we did something. But we still don’t have an apology – and there needs to be one.

The club changed it’s website tonight – and let it’s members do the talking instead of having an official come out and make a statement. It was an amazing show of poor crisis communication and showed amazing cowardice. And the statement they made doesn’t address the comments of the president. I am tired of apologies that are not apologies. The president made insulting comments and those need to be addressed. You say the reaction had nothing to do with racism – and that there were other camps that were barred – but the comments were made about the minority camp and the barring happened the day after they were at the club.

BTW – Thanks to the Preston and Steve show for talking about this on their morning show on late notice. Their help was surely felt in the later hours as this story built momentum.

Related posts:

1. Black kids booted from a swim club in Philadelphia
2. Steve Martin blows the big one
3. The comic stylings of Pat Robertson

If you don’t believe me, read the following quote:

Then the swim club president  John Duesler issued this statement: “There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion … and the atmosphere of the club.”

I can’t believe, given time to craft a response, that the response they came up with. I do believe in this day and age that we have racist bastards out there.

The story has blown up to a national story on the Huffington Post. If you think racism is dead in this era of a black President, think again.

I’m ready to march on this club. We need to embarrass the members (the ones that can be embarrassed) and out the ones who support this policy.  Who’s available Thursday morning?

Related posts:

1. Why it’s different to be a black American
2. Ferraro on the benefits of being black in America
3. Shooting kids in a barrel

The story that raises my ire today is one that’s gaining momentum (home page of CNN will do that).  It’s about Republican legislative aide Sherri Goforth who sent a racist email out in her capacity as an aide, about President Obama.

Here’s the image (link opens in a new window)

The image is very offensive and maybe that should have been enough to have the woman fired. Actually, initially I was fine with her being rebuked – then I read her explanation.

From Christian Graham of Nashville is Talking:

When I asked her if she understood the controversial nature of the photo, Goforth would only say she felt very bad about accidentally sending it to the wrong list. When I gave her a second chance to address the controversial nature of the email, she again repeated that she only felt bad about sending it to the wrong list of people.

“I went on the wrong email and I inadvertently hit the wrong button,” Goforth told NIT. “I’m very sick about it, and it’s one of those things I can’t change or take back.”

First off – great job by Graham to get her to address the root problem. Given a second chance, Goforth did not. I’d like to know who the right list of people would be? The fact that she didn’t dissociate herself with the statement made by the image says it all. How can any politician even be seen with her?  The fact that she wasn’t fired says that this behavior isn’t toxic enough to affect our image, otherwise she would have been fired just give an appearance of outrage.

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2. Changing email addresses stinks
3. Wasting time at work Itunes Random Ten

My big issue with college sports is that they continue to be run by racist boosters. In 2009 we will have a black President, but a black head coach in Division II football? Well that’s rare. Out of the 119 division II teams there are 7 black head coaches (of which 3 were hired in December). By comparison, the NFL’s 32 teams also have 7 black head coaches. Progress is being made, but after reading that Charlie Strong has been told repeatedly that Strong has been passed over because his wife is white, I realize that the NCAA remains stuck in the 40′s.

The history of major college sports has always been sordid. The treatment of black players in the 50′s through the 70′s was horrible, but they’ve barely gotten much better. They’re willing to use these players as indentured servants, but nothing more. Until that changes, we should all turn our head away.

Related posts:

1. The NBA is a joke
2. Time runs out for Barry B*nds
3. I am not role model – Michael Vick and more

If there is ever any proof that morons are in fact allowed to breed, there can be no more proof than the story of the Campbells from Lehigh Valley, PA.  They’re in a disagreement with ShopRite because the supermarket refused to put their son’s name Adolf Hitler Campbell on a birthday cake.   Yep, that’s right – they named their son after the worst mass murderer of the last century.  Could there be any greater commentary about their hopes and prayers for their children – might as well skip the bottle of milk and start serving them forties of Budweiser instead and teaching him how to make a shiv.  Of course their daughter JoyceLynn Aryan Natian (you can’t make this shit up) will fare no better.  A stripper pole in her bedroom is the training she’ll need for her bright future.

I actually have no problem with this. Other parents out there are probably wishing it was this easy to tell what kids you want you children to avoid.  It’s like putting a bright orange radioactive sticker on your kid’s forehead.

Apparently they’re upset that ShopRite refused their request (as ShopRite had done in years past – one year they requested a swastika on the cake).  Yes you have a right to be a moron – but it goes both ways. ShopRite has every right to say “we don’t want you as a customer”.  I can’t imagine ShopRite asking an employee to even put that on a cake.  I can’t imagine these people even eating that cake.  Anyway, if you’re going to name your child Adolph Hitler, or Attila the Hun, or Idi Amin – you probably should expect some  repercussions. You also should probably expect your kids to be pissed at you.

One thing this story did do for me, is confirm my distaste for Walmart.  I thought I needed no more reason than the fact that their new logo is a sphincter, but they’ve given me more reason. Yes – Walmart agreed to put the name on the Campbell’s birthday cake – which as I said before, is their right.  Just as it’s my right to never shop there ever again.

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I think what’s surprising is the comment about “white AIDS organizations” being concerned that money will be taken from them to combat the issues in the black community.   It seems sad that we need black AIDS organizations and white AIDS organizations.   One wonders if there are Native American and Eskimo AIDS organizations for fear of being left behind.   The problem that these different organizations face is that there needs to more than a “one size fits all” approach to battling the issues that face us as a country.

It is a failure for us as a country that this is an issue and we should be ashamed.   I know I am.

————————

Beyond the Spin: Worth the risk of rankling to say: AIDS is black disease

By George Curry

Inquirer Columnist

Phill Wilson, executive director of the Black AIDS Institute, utters five words that send people into a frenzy: AIDS is a black disease.

“Everytime I say ‘AIDS is a black disease,’ it irks everyone,” he explains. “Whites call me racist, and blacks say, ‘You have stigmatized us. We’re not the only people with AIDS.’ ”

Wilson says critics from both camps miss the larger point. He is trying to rally the black community to confront the raging epidemic, he says.

“What’s more disturbing is there are so many people more concerned about what other people think of us than whether we survive or not,” he says. And because the African American share of AIDS diagnoses has nearly doubled from 25 percent in 1985 to 49 percent in 2006, some white AIDS organizations fear that funding will now shift from them to black groups, Wilson says.

There is no question that African Americans are disproportionately represented among the ranks of those with HIV and AIDS:

Though blacks represent only 13 percent of the population, nearly 50 percent of all people living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, are African Americans.

Although black teens represent only 16 percent of U.S. teenagers, they account for 69 percent of all new AIDS cases among teens.

A recent study in five major cities found that 46 percent of black men having sex with other men were infected with HIV, compared with 21 percent of white men in the same category.

AIDS is the leading cause of death among black women between ages 25 and 34 and the second-leading cause of death in black men between 35 and 44.

To dramatize the depth of the virus on African Americans, the Black AIDS Institute released a study titled “Left Behind,” which paints a portrait of what black America would look like if it were a separate country.

With nearly 39 million people, black America would be the 35th most-populous country in the world. It would have the 28th largest economy in the world.

In life expectancy, black America would rank 105th (73.1 years, 5.2 years less than U.S. whites), lower than in Algeria, Dominican Republic and Sri Lanka. The infant-mortality rate of blacks (13.6 per 100,000 live births) is twice as high as the rate in Cuba and considerably higher than the rates in Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, ranking 88th.

With a poverty rate of 24.3 percent – a rate three times higher than for whites – blacks are substantially more impoverished than any of the 27 countries in the European Union. Black unemployment, at 8.6 percent, is higher than joblessness in Laos, the Philippines and Russia. One-tenth of blacks are incarcerated, with more blacks in prison than in every country but the United States, China and Russia.

A freestanding black America would rank 16th in the world in the number of people living with HIV, exceeding the HIV population of such heavily affected countries as Botswana, Swaziland and Ukraine.

There are more black Americans infected with HIV than the total population in seven of the 15 countries in the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a program that devotes $3 billion a year to the countries hardest hit by HIV.

Some worry that not enough money is being spent at home.

“Over the last five years, the White House and Congress have increased spending on HIV prevention, treatment and support programs for low-income countries dramatically – at the same time that domestic spending has remained all but flat,” according to the Left Behind study.

For example, PEPFAR spending increased 46 percent in 2007 as domestic spending on AIDS increased 2.5 percent. This year, global funding is expected to increase 34 percent, while domestic funding will rise only 1.2 percent.

Any effort to lower the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the United States must take into account the different ways black men and black women get infected. Of black men living with HIV, 49 percent were infected as a result of having sex with other men; 22 percent from women; 22 percent from injection drug use; and 7 percent from a combination of drugs and having sex with other men.

The overwhelming majority of black women – 75 percent – were infected by having sex with men; 23 percent from drug use; and 2 percent from other causes.

Wilson says he will continue calling AIDS a black disease: “I think it’s better if they think ill of us and we’re alive, instead of thinking well of us and we’re dead.”

Related posts:

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2. Why it’s different to be a black American
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