Being the Change I Wish to See

This article is part 9 in a multi-part series about the Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill of 2009, better known as the Ugandan kill-the-gays bill. The first 8 articles can be accessed at the following links:

• Part 1: Born in the USA
• Part 2: Horrific Details
• Part 3: American Silence is Deafening
• Part 4: HIV-AIDS Statistics in Uganda
• Part 5: State Dept Must Make US Policy Clear
• Part 6: Richard Cohen and debunking gay cure
• Part 7: Evangelicals were for it before they were against it
• Part 8: Rick Warren forced to oppose Ugandan bill

In the following video, Senator Russ Feingold demonstrates to those involved with The Family, other right-wing religious organizations, and the “cure the gays” quack industry exactly how one goes about communicating his or her condemnation of the Ugandan kill-the-gays bill (4 min).

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Let’s review:

• Don’t just “hope” something changes, make it change by doing what needs to be done
• Don’t be involved with organizations or people who support such archaic views, or condemn them early and widely when you find you are in an indefensible position because of that association
• Use America’s huge amount of leverage – we provide hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Uganda every year – and raise the issue that the money may stop coming if the Ugandans pass this horrible legislation
• Don’t just tell the American press, Rachel Maddow or American audiences; tell Uganda’s President Museveni that you condemn this pending legislation

President Obama, Senators James Inhofe and John Ensign condemn the pending bill while Senator Sam Brownback won’t comment on the bill specifically or whether he agrees or disagrees with punishing homosexuals generally. Come on Senator Brownback. You can answer a basic question about whether you support or condemn the punishment of people for being gay. (4:29 min)

Uganda was saying they won’t be swayed by international interference about this issue, but it is nearly the end of February and the bill is at least stalled in the Ugandan Parliament. When it comes to millions of dollars in aid from multiple countries, and the condemnation of world leaders a lot more powerful than they are, I believe they changed their position.

Maybe Congressmen and Senators will be more careful in the future with whom they associate themselves. Maybe when they make “humanitarian trips” to third world countries they will convey mainstream American policies, values and ideals. If they don’t, our State Department diplomats must visit whoever they visited right away to make sure foreign leaders understand the people they just met with do not represent U.S. policy positions nor do they speak for America as a whole.

Now that this story has stayed in the news for a couple of months, the American leaders who were meddling in Ugandan affairs are being held accountable by Americans, and Ugandan leaders are being held accountable by America and European countries that provide them aid.

We will have to keep a much closer eye on religious organizations and “experts” with an agenda that go overseas to provide humanitarian aid and “education”.

My first thought is this is why we need good investigative journalists and enough of them to keep us properly informed in this complex world. The State Department must also be aware of the messages delivered by these organizations and make sure foreign countries’ leaders understand they do not necessarily represent American policy, then make clear what our policies are.

Unfortunately, third world countries trust just about anyone who comes to them from America with money and aid claiming to be experts, especially if those people are telling them exactly what they want to hear.

Uganda, like many African countries, is severely homophobic. The “cure-the-gays” industry claims gays can be turned straight. In Ugandan leaders’ minds that means gay people can be cured, therefore anyone who is gay remains so by choice, and therefore any actions against gays, no matter how harsh, are acceptable. This is flawed logic since being gay is not a choice, it is not a disease, and it cannot be cured.

Part 10 is available at this link.

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, Bart Stupak, Chuck Grassley, Human Rights, James Inhofe, Jeff Sharlet, Joe Pitts, John Ensign, John Kerry, kill-the-gays bill, Mike Stark, Museveni, Rachel Maddow, Rick Warren, Russ Feingold, Sam Brownback, Starkreports.com, The Family, Tom Coburn, Uganda

written by joubess \\ tags: Barack Obama, Bart Stupak, Chuck Grassley, Human Rights, James Inhofe, Jeff Sharlet, Joe Pitts, John Ensign, John Kerry, kill-the-gays bill, Mike Stark, Museveni, Rachel Maddow, Rick Warren, Russ Feingold, Sam Brownback, Starkreports.com, The Family, Tom Coburn, Uganda

Pres. Obama speaks at NAACP 100th Anniversary

July 16, 2009 was the 100th anniversary of the founding of the NAACP, the oldest civil rights organization in the U.S. Yet on this day, and during this week, the GOP members of the Senate committee holding Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings were all about race.

Sotomayor’s record, experience and other qualifications seemed to have little bearing on her confirmation. It’s ironic that she is a shoe-in for the appointment given her long record and experience on the Federal bench, and that the Senate has confirmed her twice over the past two decades for Federal judge-ships.

Judge Sotomayor at Senate Confirmation Hearings

I don’t know why I’m shocked, given I live in South Louisiana where racial prejudice is a common occurrence. Nevertheless, I am shocked that in 2009 anyone would go on TV and defend the white race as the race against which discrimination is the problem, and that racial diversity and affirmative action have no place in building our society to be stronger and better than it was in the past.

Pat Buchanan clearly fell down on his debating skills last night on The Rachel Maddow Show. I never agree with him, but Pat is usually great at debate. He usually gets all his facts right and supports his position well. Last night, he didn’t have a defensible argument of any sort, and his examples were essentially fact-free.

Please watch the following video of Mr. Buchanan’s argument:

How Rachel keeps her cool with Pat is beyond me. I would have beat the crap out of him by now. Perhaps it is best that we are made aware that these beliefs and attitudes are still clearly in existence in America today. Maybe it is best that we know we still have a lot of work to do on racism, and by giving Pat a forum, Rachel is making that point crystal clear.

Pat’s arguments are all opinion-based. He believes white people built America and fought in our major wars. Pat said persons of color had nothing to do with any of it. Please watch the following video where Rachel Maddow corrects Pat’s “facts”.

For his argument to be affirmative action is the deliberate discrimination of white males, and that anyone who benefits from affirmative action automatically is not qualified to enter educational institutions such as Princeton or Yale, and is automatically not qualified to serve on the Supreme Court is beyond reason.

Affirmative action is not a gender or racial quota program, nor does it advance unqualified women and minorities over more qualified white males. It’s only function is to assist equally qualified women and minorities to be given a preference in education and jobs. Equally qualified, meaning if a woman or minority candidate is equally or better qualified for a job or admission to a school, the minority candidate should be hired or admitted before the white guy. This is not unreasonable given women and minorities were denied access to jobs and education for centuries because they were women and minorities. Women still earn 78% of what men earn in equal positions with equal experience.

Judge Sotomayor had some affirmative action help getting into Princeton, but once there, her performance was completely up to her, and she performed brilliantly. She was a summa cum laude graduate from Princeton, meaning she graduated in the top 10% of her class. Once you’re in, no affirmative action program helps you get good grades. You’re on your own. I seriously doubt her admission to Yale had anything to do with race or gender since she graduated so highly in her Princeton class. She went on to serve on the Yale Law Review, another position that has nothing to do with affirmative action.

That Pat would presume to lecture Rachel on working class white people being discriminated against is almost laughable if he didn’t believe what he was saying. Given his family and status, I seriously doubt he even knows anyone who is a white working class person. That’s my opinion. Rachel grew up in a middle class family and attended public school, went to Stanford University on scholarships and then received a Rhodes Scholarship and earned her Ph.D.

Rachel spent some years being dirt poor while she finished her Ph.D. She had to work at a plethora of minimum wage and hard labor jobs until she finished her doctoral dissertation. I have known many graduate students, and they are extremely poor, unless their parents are helping them financially.

In the past couple of years has Rachel gotten a break and made her radio show and TV guest appearances into a rock star career with MSNBC. She impressed Keith Olbermann, and he helped her get the exposure and recognition she needed with the top brass. She kept his ratings while he was on vacation when she subbed for him last summer. She had a mentor in her corner, but she had to perform to get where she is.

Pat was far more privileged than most of us, though he doesn’t have his own TV show. His parents afforded his Georgetown University education, from which he did not graduate cum laude, meaning in the top 30% of his class. He wasn’t a Rhodes Scholar. Rachel had to work for everything she has become. She likely didn’t benefit at all from affirmative action. She went to college in 1990 when women entering college was commonplace. She has likely faced discrimination because she is openly gay.

Pat Buchanan is showing his racial fear in his column and in his television appearances this week through open racial hatred focused on Sonia Sotomayor. I hate to tell him that the demographics of the United States have changed significantly since the 1950’s. We are close to the tipping point where whites will no longer be the majority race in America. Racism is a dangerous path for the GOP to take because if they don’t win Latino, Asian and African American voters, they will never rise to power again.

Pat Buchanan and other whites with his opinion had better wake up and smell the coffee because their lily-white America doesn’t exist anymore. It isn’t reality and it isn’t fair. Americans are all supposed to be equal, but in the eyes of Pat Buchanan, some Americans (white men) should still be more equal than others (see Animal Farm by George Orwell).

Photo Credits:
President Obama: Chicago Sun-Times
Judge Sotomayor: Huffington Post.com

Technorati Tags: affirmative action, Barack Obama, NAACP 100th Anniversary, Pat Buchanan, Rachel Maddow, racism, Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court Justice Senate confirmation

written by joubess \\ tags: affirmative action, Barack Obama, NAACP 100th Anniversary, Pat Buchanan, Rachel Maddow, racism, Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court Justice Senate confirmation