Civil Rights

Today the United States marks the 40th anniversary of the assassination of one of it's giants : Martin Luther King, Jr.

The video that I present here is of Robert Kennedy announcing the tragedy to an Indiana crowd that had rallied to support his bid for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.

Full text of the speech :

Not only is it hilarious, but the circumstances under which the video appears are telling of the erosion of our civil rights in the digital world. The clip was altered somewhat and turned into a derivative in order to comply with fair use and escape another gruesome piece of legislations, the DMCA.

Either way, enjoy!

Big Kick Off Fundraiser for Norm Siegel for Public Advocate

Monday, February 25th, 2008, 6pm to 8:30pm

Cafe Deville
103 Third Avenue (at 13th Street)
NYC

My wife and I, along with nationally known verified voting crusader, Marjorie Gersten, already hosted a fundraiser for Norm Siegel...so maybe we can claim the real kick off fundraiser...

Norman Siegel is the ideal candidate for NYC Public Advocate. In essence he has been our public advocate for decades, having been head of the NY Civil Liberties Union, defending the rights of NYC protestors against the 2004 Republican Convention, defending the rights of Critical Mass bicyclists, fighting destruction of Harlem neighborhoods, etc.

You can read more about my impressions of Norman Siegel here.

And you can attend this big, big fundraiser and meet the man himself:

You are cordially invited to join State Senator Eric Adams, Sally Regenhard, Council Member Hiram Monserrate, Carmela Pickney and Ira Glaser in celebration of the 2009 candidacy of Norman Siegel for Public Advocate.

The 2008 Kick Off Fundraiser for Norman will be at Cafe Deville, located 103 Third Avenue (at 13th Street). Tickets range in price: $50 (Suggested Minimum), Advocate $100, Supporters $150, Sponsors $250, Patrons $500, Benefactors $1000, Angels $4950.

The National bureau of NOW has issued a statement of support for Senator Kennedy

Jill over at Feministe and Ann at Feministing have already responded to the ham-handed "Betrayal" memo written and released by the head of NOW in New York State, Marcia Pappas.

Talk a living example of the "unhinged feminist" :

For more information contact: Marcia Pappas, 518-452-3944 - 518-469-2661

Senator Ted Kennedy Betrays Women by Not Standing for Hillary Clinton for President
Ultimate Betrayal Felt by Women Everywhere

ALBANY, NY (01/28/2008; 1101)(readMedia)-- Women have just experienced the ultimate betrayal. Senator Kennedy’s endorsement of Hillary Clinton’s opponent in the Democratic presidential primary campaign has really hit women hard. Women have forgiven Kennedy, stuck up for him, stood by him, hushed the fact that he was late in his support of Title IX, the ERA, the Family Leave and Medical Act to name a few. Women have buried their anger that his support for the compromises in No Child Left Behind and the Medicare bogus drug benefit brought us the passage of these flawed bills. We have thanked him for his ardent support of many civil rights bills, BUT women are always waiting in the wings.

And now the greatest betrayal! We are repaid with his abandonment! He’s picked the new guy over us. He’s joined the list of progressive white men who can’t or won’t handle the prospect of a woman president who is Hillary Clinton (they will of course say they support a woman president, just not “this” one). “They” are Howard Dean and Jim Dean (Yup! That’s Howard’s brother) who run DFA (that’s the group and list from the Dean campaign that we women helped start and grow). They are Alternet, Progressive Democrats of America, democrats.com, Kucinich lovers and all the other groups that take women's money, say they’ll do feminist and women’s rights issues one of these days, and conveniently forget to mention women and children when they talk about poverty or human needs or America’s future or whatever.

This latest move by Kennedy, is so telling about the status of and respect for women’s rights, women’s voices, women’s equality, women’s authority and our ability – indeed, our obligation - to promote and earn and deserve and elect, unabashedly, a President that is the first woman after centuries of men who “know what’s best for us.”

Jill has the total win of a rebuke :

Not only am I not a die-hard Clinton supporter,* but I work for Alternet, which is apparently on the release-writer’s Organizations to Kill list. I suppose I must have been psychologically gang-banged into whoring for the patriarchy — it’s the only possible explanation.

People tend to forget that Hillary and Bill Clinton come from the South. Christopher Hitchens, who has been flogging a book while flogging the Clintons, reminds us not only of that often forgotten fact. He also reminds us that it was Hillary who decided it would beneficial to hire then strategist to Jesse Helms, Dick Morris. Yes, Hillary Clinton hired the morally repellent Dick Morris, the PR & Marketing enabler of segregationist and white supremacist Jesse Helms.

From the vaults! Rich Rich Juzwiak's awesome remixing of MLK's "Let Freedom Ring" speech titled, MLK in the house. Stick around long enough and you'll also find in the playlist MLK's actual speech, courtesy of the MLK Library.

Actually, I have a rule : If you are Jewish, a woman and/or part of the melanin brigade, you cannot justify state rights in any way, shape or form. Sorry. Nope. Can't do.

You might as well go out, buy yourself a box cutter and start slicing yourself before you rationalize state rights. Why? Because they're synonymous to slavery, internment camps and husbandry privilege. Plain and simple.

Paul Krugman wrote today an piece on The New York Times where he says (obliquely, of course) that he agrees with me :

Stonewall Democrats, along with an amazing coalition of gay advocacy organizations and bloggers, are asking people like you and me to support their petition. Their goal was to gather through their No Substitute site 3,000 signatures; and take them to Congress to show the support for an all inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

Well .... they're up to 5100+ signatures.

Oh hell yeah.

SPONSORED POST

Discrimination isn't sweet. Congress has the chance to pass HR 2015, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would protect Americans from workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Now a substitute bill has been introduced as HR 3685, which would not stop discrimination based on gender identity. Removing gender identity from ENDA would leave an artificial aftertaste. Not only would the substitute bill leave some working Americans behind, it would also create divisions among Democrats and fair-minded advocates.

Please go to their website and sign the petition. They have about a week to go before delivering the signatures to Congres. Take a moment and email this post to your friends and ask them to do the same. I'd love to see that number go from 5 to 10k.

The title of this post is a comment I found at MetaFilter. It's so perfect at describing the congressional haggling and backroom political smackdowns I've been privvy to in online and offline discussions about the current congressional session, that I just had to have it.

It was a comment that perfectly described Barney Frank's "thoughtful compromise" on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). That bill would have prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation AND gender identity; making it not only a crime to dismiss a worker for being a lesbian but also for firing a woman for looking like man (or vice versa).

People in the GLBT community are up in arms because, and rightly so, Barney Frank, (the second openly gay congressman to serve in this country) has gone out of his way to say that it is important for this bill to pass without transgender protection. And he has done so with the help of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights organization that had promised to make a better effort at focusing more on the issues affecting the transgender communities they purport to serve.

The unfortunate reality of this trans-exclusionary ENDA legislation is that it will not only deny equal rights to a minority within an already minority community, but it will have a larger and more punitive effect on anybody who does not conform to any definition of "heteronormalcy" their employer may want to impose. Meaning that it may bring a much welcomed loophole for employers dying to get rid of butch looking women or fey looking men in their payrolls.

The refrain from both Barney and the HRC is that leaving the "T" out of GLBT is anyhow for the greater good.

Which brings me to Hillary Clinton and her throwing of documented and legal resident children and pregnant women under the Democrats political bus.

“Yeah, that's it. Just relax.
Have another drink, few more pretzels, little more MSG.
Turn on those Dallas Cowboys on your TV.
Lock your doors. Close your mind.
It's time for the two-minute warning.

Welcome to 1984
Are you ready for the third world war?!?
You too will meet the secret police
They'll draft you and they'll jail your niece”

--Dead Kennedys, "We've Got a Bigger Problem Now”

Have you been PERSONALLY affected by the Bush Administration’s erosion of our Constitutional Rights? Well, now my family is coming face to face with a direct assault on the Bill of Rights, an assault on my wife’s rights. This assault comes directly from Bush with no input from Congress whatsoever.

Homeland Security Presidential Directive Number 12…

This Presidential Directive is all about choice, or so they say. One of those twisted, Orwellian “choices” that isn’t a choice. My wife’s choice is she can either sign over to the Federal Government the right to investigate every aspect of her life (including fingerprinting, credit check, medical records, character references, etc.) or she can “voluntarily” choose to not be allowed entry into the building wherein she works. The choice is hers. The rights that are being lost are those of every single American citizen.

Today I thought of our friend Richie Perez who tragically died three years ago of cancer. He was truly a great spirit. Among many other things, he was a Young Lord, a teacher, an activist, and a visionary. Richie faught against so many things with absolute dedication. He took on issues of police brutality, racism in our educational system, prisoners' rights, and the rights of Puerto Rican people. He became a strong advocate with a powerful voice. Above all, I admired Richie's ability to connect and communicate with young people. He knew how to listen and create meaningful dialogue about critical issues of our time.

Richie was also highly intuitive and I believe that he was able to take the pulse of an entire community and push for progressive political and social reform. He was one of the first male activists I ever met that learned to question gender discrimination and women's rights issues within people of color communities. He knew how to effectively communicate the key issues that intersect race and gender. He was a gifted educator in this way.

Many of Richie's teachings had a strong impact on my beliefs. I believe that his work and philosophy have touched the lives of many people. If you want to learn more about who Richie Perez was, you can go to http://www.cssny.org/pubs/urbanagenda/2004_04_01.html