“What a terrible question to ask. So are White people. More White people, by the way.”
– President Donald Trump, in response to a question by Catherine Herridge of CBS News of why African-Americans still dying at the hands of law enforcement in the U.S.
Statistics show that while more white Americans are killed by the police overall, people of color are killed at higher rates. A federal study that examined lethal force used by police in 17 states from 2009 to 2012 found that a majority of victims were white, but the victims were disproportionately Black. African-Americans had a fatality rate at the hands of police officers that was 2.8 times as high as that of white people.
“In the midst of a global pandemic, states were forced to play some sort of sick ‘Hunger Games’ game show to save the lives of our people. Let me be clear: This is not a reality TV show. These are real things that are happening in the United States of America in 2020.”
– Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL), condemning how states have been forced to compete for vital resources amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Age has its ramifications. Earlier today, as I left a store and approached my truck, I tripped on a dead cockroach – the summer Texas is merciless on all of God’ creatures – and slammed head-on into the front of my vehicle. It’s a sturdy, high-level 2006 Dodge Ram. So the damn thing hurt!
It’s finally happening! The Washington Redskins national football team has decided to change their name by eliminating the term “redskins”. This is a moment for which the Indigenous American community has been striving for years. It comes at a time of national soul-searching for the United States – a period nearly a quarter of the way into the 21st century where we are at long last coming to terms with a lifetime of racial injustice and inequality.
The alteration didn’t come from a moment of sudden spiritual enlightenment from team owner Dan Snyder who had said many years ago that a name change was out of the question; adding: “NEVER – you can use caps.”
But society is also changing. Despite the old guard claims that it’s “just a game”, American consciousness has seen that proverbial light in the darkness and gone towards it. NASCAR, for example, recently banned Confederate flags from its events; a move that has upset many White southerners. Again, the old guard is losing its grip on cultural relevance.
The word “redskin” is equivalent to slurs like nigger, gook, spic, fag, or politician. It’s seriously debasing and relegates the Western Hemisphere’s native peoples to a skin tone (which many don’t actually have) as well as to a sub-human category. In all fairness, some people of Native American ancestry don’t care either way. They don’t view the term as derogatory or racist. It’s just a word. Of course, it is! So is genocide.
Washington is now at a moniker crossroads. Obviously, they’ll keep the name Washington. But what to add to it? Some have suggested “Warriors” or “Red Tails”; the latter a reference to the legendary Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African-American United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) servicemen during World War II who went disregarded and underappreciated for decades.
I recommend the term “Monuments”. It’s a direct recognition of the Washington Monument, but it’s also a reference to the structure’s form and size. You know – a large, tall, long, hard, phallic-shaped emblem. Since football is such a macho sport, I feel it’s appropriate.
Regardless of whatever name Washington adopts, the time is way past due. And there’s simply no turning back. Time doesn’t stop and it doesn’t retract. It always moves forward. So should we all.
One of Donald Trump’s many replies to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling against him this week.
The Supreme Court sends case back to Lower Court, arguments to continue. This is all a political prosecution. I won the Mueller Witch Hunt, and others, and now I have to keep fighting in a politically corrupt New York. Not fair to this Presidency or Administration!
“Some folks are still trying to pretend that all of this mayhem will stop if we just let the Democrats have the White House. Well, we have the Democrats in power in Atlanta, in Chicago, in New York, in Baltimore and beyond and beyond. What’s happened?
“So, this thinking is foolish and naive. The Democrats have shown they’re utterly unwilling to restrain the hard left from seizing property and committing violence. And as for the culture wars, why would the radicals stop when they think they are winning?
“So, ignore the folks who say that it just gets better when we let the Democrats have more power.
“The only way this situation gets better is for Democrats to lose, and lose so often that they are forced to apologize for their relentless slandering of our nation’s history, and by extension, the majority of our citizens who still unapologetically love this country and still believe that it’s worth celebrating.”
– Laura Ingraham, FOX News commentator, demanding that Democrats apologize for slandering American history.
“We reaffirm that principle today and hold that the president is neither absolutely immune from state criminal subpoenas seeking his private papers nor entitled to a heightened standard of need.”
– John Roberts, Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, ruling against President Donald Trump in his ongoing effort to keep private his pre-presidential financial records.
Chief Justice John Roberts went on to state, “In our system, the public has a right to every man’s evidence,” and “since the founding of the Republic, every man has included the President of the United States.”
The 7-2 ruling is a staunch rebuke of Trump’s pathological arrogance in refusing to release all of his financial data; claiming an audit prevents it. Although it’s not law for presidential candidates to release financial documents, such as tax statements, it has been tradition for decades. Trump was the first presidential candidate in modern memory not only unwilling to release such records, but to flat out refuse to do so.
A close friend of mine came down from Wichita Falls, Texas the other day to spend a few days with me. He brought his new companion: a chocolate brown Chihuahua named Cocoa. Like most small dogs, Cocoa is delectably adorable and innately vicious. Little dogs have always reminded me of little women: small, cute and surprisingly mean. I should know! One of them gave birth to me!
Last night, as Robert and I watched TV, Cocoa curled up in her bed on the floor nearby and – after a while – I could hear her scrounging around. I had noticed she had been chewing on one of her back legs and, concerned for her welfare, peeked over the coffee table – to see her curled up quietly.
I then realized Robert had set down his phone and had his leg hiked up over his head and – and, you know, even as a 50-something-bisexual-recovering alcoholic writer, there are some things I can go my entire life without seeing!
