Nobody cares CD they aren't dogs. Just black folk.

I heard about this only yesterday, on NPR; they did a good job of covering the outrageousness. I was going to post about it this morning...

I accept your juxtaposition of the Vick case and this one, which doeesn't mean that dog fighting is okay, although I personally felt that everyone had been fairly quick to assume that the charges were true.

But that this case hasn't made headlines....

I think I'll go ahead and do a regular post with the link to NPR...I know you might be wary, CD, and Zenophon, but take a listen...the reporter uses a neutral style of reporting, going to both sides, but it's the white folks who bury themselves with what they have to say...and the facts of what happened are devastating...

Here is where it matter whether or not you have a politicized Justice Department

politicization of justice affects us all, as the law is our only remedy, our only protection. black folk haven't ever really had that, but for a while there, things were headed in the right direction.

one thing i greatly hate bush for is making it possible for all the racists to come back out of the closet, and "soft" racism fashionable again. i would like to think that is changing back, but then i follow this story.

glad to hear npr didn't drop the ball for a change.

The lynching, the animal rescue, the fight against torture, even (IMNSHO) ahimsa lest we become what we oppose... It is all the same critique.

This is all wonderful, essential stuff. Thank you.

No time to comment a lot--I hastily erased the comment I was about to write--but Jack and Jill and halfrican are--as I think the argot has it--totally hawt.

I have to say, that as a WASP, and a male, and deeply self-identified in both categories, I tend not to comment on issues or concerns that I regard as being "black." More, I think, out of concern for saying the wrong thing, and certainly because of a lack of expertise. OTOH, maybe the times demand that we all just jump right in, and not worry so much about giving offense according to whichever -ism is wired right to the backbrain and has red lights flashing....

To me, it's all about the exploitation of flesh, human or animal....

No authoritarians were tortured in the writing of this post.

from toosense's place:

Last week I did a post noting that both our elected officials and the mainstream media ignored the NAACP's press release calling for justice for the Jena Six. I assumed that the nation's oldest civil rights organization was still capable of getting clout when it wants to.

I was wrong. The media is entirely selective about what it chooses to cover regarding the NAACP, and one has to wonder if the AP's decision to ignore the NAACP's press release on the Jena Six while focusing on the one insisting on fairness for Michael Vick was done just to make the NAACP look foolish.

ATLANTA - NAACP leaders urged public restraint Monday in judging Michael Vick before he has his day in court.

R.L. White, president of the Atlanta chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the Atlanta Falcons quarterback has been vilified by animal rights groups, talk radio and the news media and prematurely punished by his team and corporate sponsors.

The NAACP's press release on the Jena Six is a week old, and it received no mainstream press coverage. Ignoring the NAACP's efforts on behalf of the Jena Six, while trumpeting its statement on Michael Vick effectively makes the organization look as though it only has interest in high profile cases involving celebrities and copious media coverage. But the opposite is really true. It is the media who has chosen to focus on Vick rather than the young men whose civil rights are being violated in Louisiana. The racial subtext is clear: the media is interested in covering cases where black people are perpetrators, rather than victims.

and further complicating the matter:

Last week, I did a post questioning whether the NAACP was misleading visitors to its website and using the Jena Six incident for fundraising purposes by providing a link on their fact sheet on the Jena Six that led to a general donation page for the NAACP, rather than the Jena Six Defense Fund.

The NAACP has now changed their website, so on the initial splash page, under the "Justice for the Jena Six title," instead of just saying "make a donation", it now reads "make a donation to the NAACP." Which is far less misleading than the previous set up.

In addition, their fact sheet now clearly offers the option to donate either to the NAACP, or to the Jena Six Defense Fund, where previously it only provided the option of donating to the NAACP.

I'm not sure who spoke out besides myself and P6, but I'm sure there were others. And apparently the NAACP was listening. Good job everyone

so what we have here is a subgroup being ignored by a minority group being ignored by a majority group that seemingly cannot be pressured to treat black folk as human beings. my head spins, but still- the jena six vs vick comparison could be a case study in what is wrong with not only our media, but our organizations which are supposed to protect and defend people (NAACP, Justice).

i find this all particularly interesting because of the meta-message these two stories propagate. the jena 6 require 43000 people screaming for some attention and they might see some justice. micheal vick, rich powerful and beautiful, is still just a nigger, when the SCLM and powers that be decide to sacrifice him as a distraction from the constitutional crisis threatening to boil over into the average person's awareness. both narratives reinforce that you have no real rights in this country, and that the face of powerlessness will always be in blackface, so far as our media is concerned.

too bad most white americans fail to realize that they have been wearing the blackface for some time now. but the way in which these stories have been treated, i suspect that's part of the point- to make oppressed white folks feel better about it, knowing that there will always be black folks even more oppressed.

Maybe if masking/masques became a societal norm for walking outside -- perhaps when the heat from global warming becomes too much -- we can not give the lizard backbrain the stimulus it so craves.

Is there racism in Second Life, I wonder? And if so, how does it manifest?

No authoritarians were tortured in the writing of this post.

Scholars and Rogues had a great article on this a few weeks ago. I don't have time to go and search for it, but if you do, it's well worth the read. This is morally outrageous. And appalling. They've turned this back to the 1930-1950's again. This is exactly the reason why we've been screaming on the left about why no one should ever politicize main justice.

Here.

(Parenthetically, I didn't know Doug Marlette had died. Sad.)

No authoritarians were tortured in the writing of this post.

I find this whole jena 6 thing horrible. First off black racists blame the white student who was severely beaten, as if HE were the ones hanging the nooses. Secondly, if 6 white teenagers beat the living hell out of a black student nearly killing him, would the NAACP still appeal for the white students' equal rights because they are minors? Im betting the Naacp would be wanting the DEATH Penalty if this happened in reverse.

This whole fiasco says one thing to people like the Jena 6, if you're black and nearly kill a white student, we will throw money at you. I find it disgusting how many blacks feel white people "owe them something" for slavery. That sort of attitude is what perpetuates this hatred. I wasnt alive during slavery, i myself am a slave to corporate america.

The naacp is no different than the KKK or the Nazis, hate with a different name brand and label. They are a LEGAL racist group, out to many money, they like the Klan and the Nazis, dont give a damn about "their race" or their people, they care about money and power. They use FEAR and RACISM to perpetuate this.

You can say how i don t know what im talking about, but im "white" so to say, i grew up in the ghetto, ive been the victim of anti white racism my whole life. In june 2005 i was beaten badly, nearly to death? WHY? Because im a FUCKING CRACKER MOTHERFUCKER, so to say. I used to be a liberal before that, i even helped groups like the naacp before my eyes were opened quite violently to the fact that it is OK for whites to be beaten. Its ok to say CRACKER, just dont say nigger. My case was filed as "assault" DO i see the NAACP rallying to MY civil rights, NO.

Could you just imagine if i had beaten a black man and called him a nigger while doing so? Yes you guessed it AL Charlatan and his race hustling poverty pimps would be holding a rally in my city.

Two weeks ago my cousin was robbed at gunpoint and pistol whipped by two black assailants, they tried to take his life because he appeared white. His crime? he was merely trying to deliver pizzas, when the criminals who phones in, gave a phony address, and set him up in an ambush. Where is the NAACP to rally for HIS civil rights? Oh thats right they only care about civil rights when it benefits them.

Whats even funnier is even though i appear "white" my ethnicity is Native American. If anyone has the right to whine and cry about how their race was wronged, MY ancestors were forced off onto reservations while our government perpetuated a massive land grab. Many of us didnt survive that "corralling" That many of you now know as "the trail of tears"

By attacking innocent whites, you are forcing them right into the arms of extremists, youre turning liberal allies, into "Nazified" enemies. Whats even worse is the "white people" youre attacking may not be white, but native american, or paler skinned blacks. The revenge you seek is foolish, and counterproductive. The people who enslaved the black race centuries ago are now rotting in the cold earth, isnt that enough for you, or must you spill more blood of the innocent to appease your twisted vision of "civil rights" and "equality"