Crossposted from The People's View
Goldie Taylor makes a strong case at thegrio.com for why The President should not have shown his birth certificate. She has something to say that must be shared and the story is her own to tell.
"Show me your papers!"
Major Blackard, then just 19 years old, dug into his trousers in search of his wallet. He padded his jacket, but could not find his billfold.
"Sir, I done left my wallet..." Blackard said. Before he could finish his sentence, the young man was posted against the brick wall, cuffed and taken to the St. Louis city jail. Unable to prove his identity, he would spend the next 21 days in a cramped, musty cell. That's where his older brother Matt found him, beaten and bloodied. Matt returned with Major's employer later that day, wallet and identification card in hand, to post bond.
The year was 1899. Major Blackard was my great, great grandfather.
Ms. Taylor also appeared in the Rachel Maddow show last night to share what I have been feeling all day long yesterday but she tells it so well, I listened and listened in sadness about my America and only to conclude that we indeed hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are still not created equal.
Transcript...
Goldie-->> the real crime was that major blackard was a man of color living in america in 1899. this morning when i initially got, you notification that the president was having to present his long form birth certificate and passing it out by staffers it recalled a really ugly time in history for me. it recalled a time when men of color, when black men specifically weren't allowed on the street without identification. and here we are with a president of these united states duly elected by the people of this america. he's being asked to produce his papers. and not just his birth certificate. they've gone on to ask for his college transcripts. never in our 235-year history have we ever asked a president to prove that he was born on this american soil.
Goldie-->> in a stunning show of unchecked ego, donald trump quickly hosted a press conference. he took credit for forcing our president to hand over his birth certificate. the sometime real estate developer, socialite, author and television personality went on to caution onlookers to let the experts examine the documents as if the president were perpetrating a fraud. trump didn't even want just the birth certificate. he wanted the president to release his college transcripts. his implication is that barack obama was the beneficiary of affirmative action and that he took the place of a more qualified white student. apparently, graduating magna cum laude from the most prestigious law school and being named editor of the harvard law review, the highest student honor is just not enough for trump. what you see for people like trump, it never is enough.
Trump --->> if he gets on the phone or gets off his basketball court, or whatever he's doing at the time, i mean, he should be focused on opec and getting those prices down.
Goldie-->> as if his place was better on the basketball court. when they tell you that this isn't racial, don't believe them. this controversy was constructed solely as a way to delegitimize the presidency of a black man. those who question the location of barack obama's birth are clearly those who would pack up and move out of a neighborhood if somebody like me moved in next door. they are the same people who would believe african-americans are better suited on the basketball court than in a board room. when they say they want to take their country back, they mean from us.
You see, I will go a little further than what Ms. Taylor had said and nail these bastards for what they are. When they say they want to take their country back, to me, they mean they would rather see me hanged and lynched by a mob of many DONALD TRUMPs. Let me show you the picture of the proud Donald Trumps smiling and posing for the camera for they don't feel no shame.
Three men lynched in Duluth, Minnesota, circa 1920. (photo courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society)
Proud perpetrator posing Photo postcard sent through the mail Mississippi--early 1900s.
Jesse Washington, Spectacle lynching--Burned Alive Waco Texas 1916, Souvenir Postcard sold for ten cents.
The lynching of Henry Smith in Paris, Texas 1893, First modern spectacle lynching influenced by modern American consumerism
Young southern gentlemen pose with their kill.
Yes, it ain't a pretty picture but it is American History some would love to look past while we still have lots of Americans waving their confederate flag and hate filled ideologies living amongst us.
How is it that a fake TV personality is allowed to continue feeding his racist bile day in and day out calling the President of the United States an affirmative action "boy" and consistently trying to de-legitimize his citizenship only because he did not look like his 43 predecessors or question his intellectual gift even after becoming editor of Harvard law review. How racists can one gets and yet gets all the media light. How can we as Americans stand by the side line and watch when people like Trump continue to promote racism and all the -isms and specifically their efforts to de-legitimize and undermine a man who has been elected by the majority of the electorate of the United States? When are we going to say enough is enough?
Is this the America we want to live in? In the pictures above I see many Donald Trumps, Michelle Buchmanns, Rand Pauls, Rush Limbaughs, Pat Puchanans, Sarah Palins and many more who are just itching to go back to the Jim Crow era.
WHA CHA GON DO about it?
WHA CHA GON DO about some even in a progressive community that are enabling and pushing RW talking point like...
Obama the candidate, campaign and administration are one big lie. He totally wasted a mandate and a majority for change, and he doesn't deserve to be re-elected. If only Republicans weren't insane or there was a third party candidate. I think I'm going to split my ticket and vote for a Republican or Green for President, and then vote straight D for House and Senate, federal and state. The best we can hope for is stalemate. No Republican President is going to roll over for a belly rub from Democrats like the Wall Street puppet we currently have in office.
What a strategy? Do people really understand the power of the Presidency that they are willing to hand it to some racist fucks like Trump or Palin or the rest of them idiots.
We have shit load of problems in this country. We have done so much already in the first two years of this Administration. We do indeed have a lot more to do. If our goal is to advance our intersectional core progressive issues and win the future, some of these rhetorics from both the right and the left will only pull us into them ole days exactly the way Republicans wants it.
I have no doubts that the core of a lot of the criticism of the President we have been witnessing, from both the Right and some from the Left is motivated by racism. These are people who simply foam at the mouth saying Obama is the problem because they just can't handle his blackness regardless of what he does or say. They continue to make jokes about the supporters of the President using degrading language to characterize their loyalty as "slavish behavior" or an attachment to his "testicles" but know little about slavery nor the diminishing sexual connotation used to belittle black folks. Hell NO, he is not a "constitutional rapist" nor is he a "piece of shit". He is the President of the United States who deserves the at most respect.
Does this man really deserved the hate we see around us? Has he ever said anything that is remotely offensive to anyone except trying to move the country in the right direction. Who would like to tell me there is no racism in the porterage witnessed in some Progressive blogsphere? I don't think so.
I don't want to broad brush all progressives in any community who are a solid advocate of our President while being still critical of him. I think it is important to be critical of the policies of the President. We all know that he is not perfect and has plenty of room to change course if there is other legitimate policy options that has support in both the House and Senate. But in the end, he is who we elected to make the right decision because we believe in his judgement. If you are not in the Obama is the problem crowd or one who isn't shouting for his impeachment or constantly not bicker with personal invectives and don't make one or two position no matter how important it is as if it is the end of the Democratic Party and et al, I want to make it perfectly clear that your motivation and policy criticism is quite sincere but I ask you to put a stop to the stupidity we witness every so often by a small number of Republican trolls in a number of progressive communities who are pushing RW propaganda. We can't afford to be baited by people who have perfected the divide and concur strategy to take away what is ours. Our collective interest/progressive ideologies are at stakes and we as Democrats must push back and fight for it.
So, my question would be - WHA CHA GON DO about all the crazy racists birthers, the race baiting techniques that are being thrown in our progressive communities and allowed by the corporate MSM and some progressive outlets when you see it?
I want my country back to where...
DO YOU?