Historian John Hope Franklin On the 1898 Wilmington Riots

Glenn Beck rally at Lincoln Memorial on anniversary of MLK's 'Dream' speech

THIS MAN IS SICK. THIS IS DISGUSTING.

Glenn Beck rally at Lincoln Memorial on anniversary of MLK's 'Dream' speech irks and inspires readers

If had a sailor's vocabulary, I couldn't describe what an egomaniacal, evil bastard he would be to do this. Does Beck want someone to come after him so he can become a martyr in his own twisted mind?

Terminal Island Fishing Village (East San Pedro)

Shinto shrine and Tuna Street shops

Not a trace remains of the village on Terminal Island that was once home to several thousand fisherman and cannery workers and their families. Homes, churches, stores, were all bulldozed away after the community was taken away during WW II.

Shirley Sherrod, American Hero

Vindaloo Against Violence Day

Eat a vindaloo (or whatever your favorite South Asian dish may be) today for a good cause!

Executive Order 9066, Feb. 19, 1942

Manzanar Relocation Camp
Photo by Ansel Adams

Racial Profiling: Which of these people looks like a terrorist?

Who should get profiled? To listen to the jingoism on the news last night: "Muslim," "Muslim," "Muslim" ...yet look at each of these faces and think which of them would be flagged as suspicious.

PCRM should be eating crow

The controversy about the posters in Washington DC's Metro has reverberated from the beltway to Miami and back. Dr. Barnard, speaking on behalf of the group, forgot to somehow mention that healthy school lunches was one ofthe first issues for the Obama administration early in 2009, even before the children were enrolled in school.

The group doesn't mention that the girl in the poster dosn't exactly come from an economically deprived family. Then it occured to me, she is from Miami. Miami taxpayers could be very well be paying invoices for coq au vin, and be serving roadkill from Alligator Alley (I'm not saying they are, but hey, in Miami anything is possible).

And to greenlight this ad would be woefully ignorant of the subtextual inference in the poster as it relates to the history of American media exploitative use of the portrayals of African Americans, as well as the class issues invoked . If Dr. Barnard can't see the inherent racism suggested by the ad, how good of a doctor is he? Or maybe he did...

He sure doesn't sound like a doctor who cares about kids.

The Truth About Rockstar energy drink: it was created in part by racist & homophobic Michael Savage

Rush Limbaugh hopes that the Commander-in-Chief fails ...during a time of war

Good thing for Rush that Gitmo is closing down, eh? Could he working for North Korea?

Executive Order 9066, Feb. 19, 1942

How many times will we say, "never again?"

1619 to 1865 - African slaves brought to North America.

1851 to Present - Native Americans placed on reservations.

1942 to 1945 - Over 120,0000 Japanese-Americans rounded up and placed in camps.

2001 to 2009 - Guantanamo Bay Naval Base opens detention facitility.

What gets me is how easily this happy girl could be in my own family. Or yours. Note that nowhere in the photograph do you see the barbed wire or the guard towers, or the soldiers with guns, ready to shoot on site. Yet they were there; Ansel Adams went to great lengths to let you know all was not as carefree as it appeared.

Photos are from Manzanar, California, by Ansel Adams

In defense of Western Pennsylvania

Greensberg Train Station, Westmoreland County

Although Westmoreland County is 96.2% white according to the last census, whenever we went back there to visit my grandparents, it was the closest that I have ever known to familial roots in this country. The gentle rolling hills, lush and green with forest and fields, a land that is a living Currier and Ives print, have never been anything other than a place that represented peace and serenity and all that is good about America.

I'm that sure my parents and the rest of the family could fill me in on stories of life back in the day, but I do know that when Dad came home for the family reunion, he was treated like a hometown hero (which he is, but that's another story for another time).

There could be plenty of malice hidden out of view, but that's not what I ever remember feeling. It's a little too far to the nearest espresso for me to contemplate living there; San Francisco it ain't, but only San Francisco can be San Francisco. Every visit I've ever made since I was a child has filled me with such a sense of comfort that I could only wish those who have childhood memories of families less embracing and full of love and diversity than mine could experience.

If you want to tear up when you hear the Star Spangled Banner, and have a belief that you belong to this country and know that it is possible to feel good about being American without being embarassed or ashamed for it, pass through here and look for that essence that makes this country and its people all that it is, and all that it could be.

I know that not all of America is there yet, perhaps not even all of the Keystone State; and some parts may never be, but I'll not sit idly by and let all of Western Pennsylvania be impugned with such an ugly taint.

I wouldn't care if Obama was a Muslim --or Jewish. Or Buddhist. Or atheist.

Frankly, after seeing what the last forty-something hetero white men have done, I think it's about time for a gay person of color to be President. We have to clean up the messes they make anyway.

Thank God Obama "Doesn't see America" as Sarah Palin does

This is Democracy

This is Democracy under McCain/Palin

Remember: friends don't let friends fist bump Republicans (unless they switch to Obama in the privacy of the voting booth)

See? We CAN all get along!

Arnold does it again

Amid the flurry of over 300 bills that Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed (faster than I suspect he could even read what they were) was one designating Harvey Milk Day.

Not as dumb or mean-spirited (or just plain stupid) as this mayor in Kansas playing dress up.

Or the guy who wanted to get real close for a photo. Why? Why?

There have been Obama magazine covers, and then there have been Obama magazine covers

It's not that Obama supporters don't have a sense of humor, nor the ability to appreciate satire, but at some point, as good an artist as Barry Brill is, he might want to consider that just maybe he might have missed the mark with his New Yorker cover.

The day my heart doesn't miss a beat when a police car slows down as it approaches me, or I can put the memories of the 60s behind me (not all the them; just the scary ones).

"Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes" --Maggie Kuhn

Since I can't sleep, I'm going to tell you about last Thursday, when we went to the LA Convention Center with Massimo to his naturalization swearing-in ceremony becoming an American citizen. A record 18,000 people were all sworn in on one day --a record!

We laughed, we cried, we laughed
some more....

That's not why I can't get to sleep, though. It's because I can't erase the images from my mind of what could and would happen to people like me if I wasn't an American.

Most of you (not all) who were born here don't get it
quite the same way that those of us who weren't feel how it means to be an American.

I can't ever erase the images of faces like Jesse Helms or the Rev. Fred Phelps, that do their damndest
to make sure that people like me would end up like this.

It isn't enough just to be an American citizen to be safe, either. Even here, it's possible to lay in bed at night unable to sleep, gripped with the knowledge that there are those who are persecuted, intimidated and threatened with the consequenses that even Steven King never writes about. After all, he's a straight white male, born in the United States of America.

No matter how much he might try to imagine it, that isn't the same as knowing that it could happen, that it does happen.

Yet, on Harvey Milk's birthday, of all days, there we were, thousands and thousands of us all deeply wrapped up in the moment, assured that this is the home of the free; our home. Our country.

With the knowledge that we possess the right, the priviledge, the responsibility to ensure that the world is as safe as I can --with everyone else-- make it to be.

Any moment, the first light of day will appear over the Atlantic coast. In Miami, it will already be warm as the sun slices through between the sea and sky, and slowly begins too rise up on its daily trek across the continent.

Right now, in this moment, I can rest assured that I am safe; that others have watched over me as I will in turn do my part to assure the well being of others.

And with that, I can turn off the lamp, and sleep, perchance to dream.



The swearing-in photo is from the Associated Press. The Harvey Milk vigil photo by Daniel Nicoletta. The sunrise is by J. H. Riley.