Tag Archives: bigotry
Blind Man Mutilated By Staff at Hospital
Every time I hear of a hate crime committed in the U.S. I’m as angered as I am frustrated. Even after 2 centuries of civil rights activism and legislation, occasionally an incident occurs that just smacks of blatant racism and disrespect. The Trayvon Martin case in Florida has captured the nation’s attention recently, but not because the alleged perpetrator is a self-proclaimed White supremacist. The lackluster reaction from the local police is what aggravated the victim’s family. But, there are other more glaring cases of racist activity, often at the hands of people we’re supposed to trust. One such recent event comes out of Rapid City, South Dakota.
In August 2011, Vernon Traversie, a 68-year-old member and resident of South Dakota’s Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, suffered a heart attack while at the Heart Doctors office in Rapid City. They immediately sent him a few blocks away to Rapid City Regional Hospital for emergency surgery. Traversie, who is blind, said, “I was supposed to have emergency surgery on my heart, but they (the hospital) had scheduling problems. Every night they would prep me for surgery which went on for four or five days. Every night they would shave my chest and stomach and wouldn’t feed me.”
Traversie said he didn’t even know what was done to him until a RCRH employee came into his room and advised him to have pictures taken of his torso as soon as he got home. He says she told him that she could not testify for him, but that her conscience got the better of her and she didn’t agree with what they did to him.
Last Real Indians, a site dedicated to raising awareness of Native American issues, asked Joyce Anderson, a retired surgical nurse from Baptist Hospital in Little Rock, AR, to view a photograph of Traversie’s injuries. “It appears the area under the incision was done with a scalpel for drainage of the incision,” Anderson says. “The other wounds seem to be necrotic, meaning the tissue is dead. This could indicate the wounds were burned into his skin.”
Traversie has no resources for an attorney but did say council member, Ryman Lebeau, and Tribal Chairman Kevin Keckler are trying to get an attorney for him. “Those Ks are causing me pain still,” he adds, noting that “not all White people are like this.” Still, he emphasizes, “And, I have to live with that on my stomach the rest of my life.”
Here is a video Traversie made detailing his experiences at the hospital.
This Facebook page also has been established to help push for a legal resolution to the matter.
Since this appears to be a hate crime, a federal inquiry may be warranted, which means the U.S. Justice Department and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder could be drawn into the matter – just as with the Trayvon Martin case. Since Traversie also is blind and 68, charges for abuse of a disabled and elderly individual also could apply. All the legislation and affirmative action programs won’t eliminate bigotry and racial prejudice. But, in the current environment, no one has to tolerate it anymore. Native Americans and Hispanics, especially, have been too conciliatory over the years. Whenever incidents like this occur, we can’t just get upset – we need to get mad!
Filed under News
Stupidity in Motion
Conservative commentator and author Michelle Malkin – a darker, shorter, but much more attractive version of Ann Coulter – apparently posted the item above to “Twitchy,” her Twitter-based project with the following caption:
“Recognize these two people? If you don’t we’ll help you out. The man on the left is George Zimmerman, the man accused of murdering the boy on the right, Trayvon Martin. The mainstream media won’t show you these two photos because they convey a message that no one else wants to take into consideration.”
There is one glaring error: the “boy on the right” is not Trayvon Martin. Who he is, I don’t know and I’m not certain if Malkin herself composed the poster. Twitchy has since retracted their “mistake,” an honorable admission in a business that doesn’t like to let truth get in the way of hyperbole. This is not the first time Malkin has made outrageous statements.
Like any good right-wing American, she supported Bill Clinton’s 1998 impeachment trial and thought the U.S. Supreme Court got it right in Bush v. Gore. But, she criticized former Congressman Dennis Kucinich for wanting to impeach Vice-President Dick Cheney in 2007. You know Dick Cheney – the man who used every excuse under the sun to avoid the military draft, then sent thousands of real heroes into a war based on lies. But, like most conservatives, Malkin feels lying about a tryst with a two-bit overweight intern is worst than lying about a war. Not surprisingly, Malkin waded into the Obama “birther” controversy; first advising conspiracy theorists to approach the issue with caution, but then saying they have a legitimate concern.
Malkin has had her moments of clarity. In 2007, she criticized the New York Times for not covering the Medal of Honor ceremony for Lte. Michael P. Murphy, a Long Island native and Navy SEAL who had been killed in Afghanistan two years earlier. Murphy was the first Navy SEAL since the Vietnam War to receive the honor and the first in the current War on Terror. In 2008, she rightfully dubbed the Bush Administration as “illegal alien-enabling” and the banking industry as “crime-enabling.” But then, she threw “ethnic lobbyists” into the same mix. “Ethnic lobbyists?” That could only mean Negroes and Mexicans who’ve historically been the subject of unfair housing and banking practices.
As a first generation Filipino – American, Malkin should know a thing or two about race relations in America. Like Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, Malkin is a rare (token) Asian in the Caucasian-dominated Republican Party. Christianized to look more Americanized and therefore, made more palatable to a base that acts as if bigotry is akin to Black slavery itself – it disappeared decades ago, and any inclination of its presence is just an overreaction from bitter, fragile souls. I don’t know what Malkin’s personal experiences are with racism, but if she’s like many non-White people in this country, she’s either fortunate never to have endured much of it, or floats in some sort of bubble of denial. I’ve met both types.
Regardless, the picture above is another example of the covert racism of the ultra-conservative crowd. It intimates that crime always has a dark complexion. I can’t say if Malkin is directly responsible for its presence on her web site. But, it’s still a site she established, and ultimately, she bears some accountability. I wouldn’t expect her to apologize; extremists – conservative or liberal – rarely admit they’re wrong.
Filed under News
Lawsuit Claims Obama Can’t Be President Because He’s Black
This apparently is for real. An Alaskan man, Gordon Warren Epperly, filed a lawsuit to have President Obama removed this November’s ballot because…he’s biracial, or a mulatto. The suit states, in part:
“Barack Hussein Obama II, a.k.a. Barack Hussein Obama, a.ka. Barack H. Obama has the race status of being a “mulatto.” Barack Obama’s father (Barack Hussein Obama I) was a full blood Negro being born Nyang’oma Kogelo, Nyanza Province, Kenya and raised in the Colony of Kenya. Barack Obama’s mother (Stanley Ann Dunham) was a white Caucasian woman being born in Wichita, Kansas on November 29, 1942 and raised in the state of Washington and in the state of Hawaii.
As stated above, for an Individual to be a candidate for the office of president of the United States, the candidate must meet the qualifications set forth in the United States Constitution and one of those qualifications is that the Candidate shall be a “natural born citizen” of the United States. As Barack Hussein Obama II is of the “mulatto” race, his status of citizenship is founded upon the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Before the [purported] ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, the race of “Negro” or “mulatto” had no standing to be citizens of the United States under the United States Constitution.
As the fourteenth amendment is only a grant of “civil rights” and not a grant of “political rights” Barack Hussein Obama II does not have and “political rights” under any provision of the United States Constitution to hold any Public Office of the United States government.”
In other words, Epperly still believes that the original framers of the U.S. Constitution meant for only full-blooded Caucasian males to serve as elected officials, mainly president. I already knew the “birther” movement was born of racial hatred and intolerance. But, this move is pure bigotry. White people who wish the United States was a White-only society don’t realize they already have one. It’s called Europe. That’s where Epperly and his like-minded ilk need to go. And, take that idiot Sarah Palin with you!
Chief Writing Wolf 
Quote of the Day
“During the conversation, Ms. Brunstetter said her husband was the architect of Amendment 1, and one of the reasons he wrote it was to protect the Caucasian race. She said Caucasians or whites created this country. We wrote the Constitution. This is about protecting the Constitution. There already is a law on the books against same-sex marriage, but this protects the Constitution from activist judges.”
– Chad Nance, a freelance journalist in Winston-Salem, NC, paraphrasing a comment made by Jodi Brunstetter, wife of North Carolina State Sen. Peter Brunstetter, about North Carolina’s “Amendment One,” which would outlaw same-sex marriage in the state.
Jodi Brunstetter conceded using the word “Caucasian,” but now says she was misquoted. Wow – even the spouses of politicians have learned how to play the victim!
Leave a comment
Filed under News
Tagged as Amendment 1, bigotry, Jodi Brunstetter, North Carolina, Peter Brunstetter, same sex marriage, stupid comments