Dr. William Edward Burghardt DuBois. The one. The only.
The Real Question- a rant
By Chitown Kev
Take it away, Dr. DuBois:
BETWEEN me and the other world there is ever an unasked question: unasked by some through feelings of delicacy; by others through the difficulty of rightly framing it. All, nevertheless, flutter round it. They approach me in a half-hesitant sort of way, eye me curiously or compassionately, and then, instead of saying directly, How does it feel to be a problem? they say, I know an excellent colored man in my town; or, I fought at Mechanicsville; or, Do not these Southern outrages make your blood boil? At these I smile, or am interested, or reduce the boiling to a simmer, as the occasion may require. To the real question, How does it feel to be a problem? I answer seldom a word.
Whether I am reading the local newspaper or watching the 24-hour cable news/sports channels or scrolling through the Recommended section here at The Great Orange Satan or browsing through various bookshelves at the local library or bookstore (in multiple categories, at that), the “real question” seems to be as much of an undercurrent as it was 111 years when those words were written.
The “real question” seems to be the undercurrent connecting so many threads in so many discussions in these United States of America in the 21st century
You can feel the humidity of the “real question” in the killings of Mike Brown and Eric Garner or the reactions of everyone from outraged “regular Joes and Janes” protesting in the streets the professional sports players as well as the reactions to those reactions.
You can see the mold of the “real question” whether we are talking about the arrival of the Ebola virus on the shores of these United States or (if I may delve into recent history) whether we are talking about the failure of the largest and (perhaps) most liberal state in The Union to reaffirm state law recognizing equal marriage rights for gay, lesbian, and bisexual people in 2008.
And while I will grant that both the policies and even the leadership abilities of the current occupant of the Oval Office are flawed at times, “the real question” permeates the air so much discussion regarding both his policies and his leadership.
(On my part, I'm pretty sure that's it's simply the fact that the 44th President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama, does not advocate for all of the policies that I would like or in the way that I would like…and he’s certainly far from unique in that respect.)
So much so, that some have taken to restricting the right to vote. Make no mistake about it, the undercurrent behind so-called “voter ID laws"and the gerrymandering of electoral districts has a lot to do with the “real question.”
I’ll grant a certain cattle rancher in Clark County, Nevada this: he didn’t “flutter round” the "real question."
But so many do “flutter round” the "real question"…even those of us behind “the Veil.”
Dr. DuBois certainly answered “the real question” in various ways throughout his 95 years on this Earth and his nearly 75 year career as a scholar.
Here’s another answer to the real question, "How does it feel to be a problem?"
Peace.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
News by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Filming is set to begin in July in Chicago for Southside With You, a drama chronicling the summer in 1989 when the future president wooed his future first lady. The Root: Barack and Michelle Obama’s Romance to Hit the Screen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A drama about the summer afternoon in 1989 when Barack Obama and his future first lady, Michelle Robinson, had their first date is scheduled to begin filming this summer in Chicago, the couple’s hometown, Deadline Hollywood reports.
The film, Southside With You, will feature Tika Sumpter (Get On Up) as Michelle Obama, who was born Robinson, while the search continues to cast the young future president, the report says. Filming is to begin in July in Chicago.
Richard Tanne (Worst Friends and The Roman) is heading up the independent feature using his own screenplay, and former Warner Independent executive Tracey Bing and Columbia Pictures alum Stephanie Allain (Hustle & Flow and Beyond the Lights) are producing the film for Allain’s Homegrown Pictures, the entertainment site writes. The project originated with executive producers Tanne and Sumpter, who created the script together.
The courtship is the stuff of legend.
“Obama, then an idealistic first-year Harvard Law student, took a summer job as an associate at Chicago law firm Sidley Austin where he fell for lawyer Michelle Robinson, his younger boss,” Deadline Hollywood writes. “Southside With You spans the day she agreed to go out with him when the two visited the Art Institute, took a long walk, and caught a showing of Spike Lee’s new film Do The Right Thing. They were married in 1992.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This has been an outrageous issue that just doesn't get enough attention. The Grio: 6-year-old boy handcuffed at school.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
one Mountain, GA — A Georgia mother is furious after her 6-year-old special needs son was handcuffed at school for acting “in a disruptive manner.” She said her husband received a call that something was going on with their son Patrick at Pine Ridge Elementary School.
“We go into the school and a gentleman takes us back. I hear my son yelling and screaming,” Lakaisha Reid recalled. She says the handcuffs placed on him by a student resource officer left bruises on the first-graders wrists and that she took photos to prove it.
“He just ran away from school. That doesn’t require handcuffs,” she said in an exclusive interview with WXIA.
LaKaisha Reid and her 6-year-old son Patrick (WXIA)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Attorney General Eric Holder is set to announce new anti-racial profiling regulations today which will expand characteristics that federal law enforcement are barred from profiling to include gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity. Color Lines: Justice Department Updates Racial Profiling Rules—With Big Exceptions.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The guidance applies to federal law enforcement and state and local police engaged in federal law-enforcement duties, but includes broad exceptions. Under the pretext of national security concerns, the Department of Homeland Security, which includes the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), will still be allowed to engage in profiling in the course of airport screening work and while engaged in activities “in the vicinity of the border and ICE enforcement ports of entry,” according to the regulations, CBS reported.
The guidance is an update from the original, released in 2003 under then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, which only prohibited profiling by race and ethnicity. The updated guidance preserves exceptions for the Department of Homeland Security included in the 2003 policy.
Holder heralded the new regulations last week in a speech in Atlanta, saying that they would “help end racial profiling.”
“Profiling by law enforcement is not only wrong, it is profoundly misguided and ineffective, because it wastes precious resources and undermines the public trust,” Holder said ahead of the release of the regulations, MSNBC reported.
“Particularly in light of certain recent incidents we’ve seen at the local level—and the widespread concern about trust in the criminal justice process which so many have raised throughout the nation—it’s imperative that we take every possible action to institute strong and sound policing practices,” Holder said.
Such wide exceptions for the Department of Homeland Security do “little to nothing to protect some minority populations that have to endure unfair targeting by law enforcement every day,” Laura Murphy, legislative office director at ACLU Washington, said in a statement. The ACLU praised the gains but criticized the loopholes, such that altogether, “this Guidance is not an adequate response to the crisis of racial profiling in America.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thousands of anti-government protesters have clashed with police in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince. BBC: Haiti capital hit by anti-government clashes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thousands of anti-government protesters have clashed with police in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince. They burned tyres and threw stones at officers who responded with tear gas.
The protesters want President Michel Martelly and Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe to resign and long-overdue elections to be held.
Some protesters accused the US of supporting Haiti's leadership and called on Russian President Vladimir Putin for help. Hundreds succeeded in reaching the National Palace, an area which has been restricted for several years.
One protester, who gave his name as Reginald, said: "Today is a victory against President Martelly who destroys the country, for two years we (are not allowed) to cross in front of the National Palace."
President Martelly was supposed to call elections in 2011 but they have been postponed in a stalemate between the government and a group of opposition senators over electoral law.
Haiti is also still struggling to recover from a 2010 earthquake.
An image of Haiti's Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe was placed against burning tyres in Port-au-Prince
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lithuanian Olympic champion Ruta Meilutyte was favored to win the Women’s 100m Breaststroke at the FINA World Swimming Championships, but Alia Atkinson of Jamaica pulled a huge upset. Atkinson is the first black woman to win a world title in swimming. The Grio: Alia Atkinson wins gold, becomes first black woman to win world title in swimming.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I realized I was catching up, so I was just trying to get a good finish,” she told the official FINA website. She finished strong and beat Meilutyte by 0.1 seconds, matching the Lithuanian’s world best world.
This is also Jamaica’s first gold medal in a swimming championship. The first black woman to ever hold a world record in swimming was Enith Brigitha of Netherlands, four decades ago. She won two bronze medals in the 1976 Montreal Olympics and four more bronze medals in the 1973 and 1975 world championships.
Alia Atkinson of Jamaica reacts after winning the Women's 100m Breaststroke Final during day four of the 12th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) at the Hamad Aquatic Centre on December 6, 2014, in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Voices and Soul
by Justice Putnam
Black Kos Poetry Editor
When the Roberts Court handed down the decision in the Lilly Ledbetter case, the opinon proffered by Samuel Alito was there was no constitutional issue. Ledbetter was denied her back pay because of statutory limitations on her right to sue; she was deemed to have brought the charges beyond the 180 day limit set by law. Never mind that she didn't know she was being discriminated against; never mind that Goodyear made talk of pay among her and her fellow workers a firing offense. Never mind that Ledbetter followed those provisions as specified in her contract.
When it was discovered that the male managers (and only the male managers, mind you) at her Goodyear plant were privvy to each other's pay, Alito held that Ledbetter must have known as well; that she should have and could have sued for back pay, rather than waiting beyond the 180 limit.
Fortunately, the Obama Administration signed a bill into law that addressed the inequity of the Roberts Court decision. The law didn't recoup Ledbetter's back pay, but it did protect other women from the discrimination that Ledbetter suffered. Though, even that law has been cycled through for the Roberts 5 to demolish.
Therein lies the problem. From inequities in pay and promotions, to the uneven field of sexual politics; women have always been held to...
A Double Standard
Do you blame me that I loved him?
If when standing all alone
I cried for bread a careless world
Pressed to my lips a stone.
Do you blame me that I loved him,
That my heart beat glad and free,
When he told me in the sweetest tones
He loved but only me?
Can you blame me that I did not see
Beneath his burning kiss
The serpent’s wiles, nor even hear
The deadly adder hiss?
Can you blame me that my heart grew cold
That the tempted, tempter turned;
When he was feted and caressed
And I was coldly spurned?
Would you blame him, when you draw from me
Your dainty robes aside,
If he with gilded baits should claim
Your fairest as his bride?
Would you blame the world if it should press
On him a civic crown;
And see me struggling in the depth
Then harshly press me down?
Crime has no sex and yet to-day
I wear the brand of shame;
Whilst he amid the gay and proud
Still bears an honored name.
Can you blame me if I’ve learned to think
Your hate of vice a sham,
When you so coldly crushed me down
And then excused the man?
Would you blame me if to-morrow
The coroner should say,
A wretched girl, outcast, forlorn,
Has thrown her life away?
Yes, blame me for my downward course,
But oh! remember well,
Within your homes you press the hand
That led me down to hell.
I’m glad God’s ways are not our ways,
He does not see as man,
Within His love I know there’s room
For those whom others ban.
I think before His great white throne,
His throne of spotless light,
That whited sepulchres shall wear
The hue of endless night.
That I who fell, and he who sinned,
Shall reap as we have sown;
That each the burden of his loss
Must bear and bear alone.
No golden weights can turn the scale
Of justice in His sight;
And what is wrong in woman’s life
In man’s cannot be right.
-- Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~