66 replies to this topic

[tessieca]

I love that you think this, but I'm starting to wonder if it may be overly optimistic.

Someone I know told me that his church promulgates a frequent and strident anti-gay message. This is a church to which a lot of people here in Folsom belong.

Just the other day at the office, an educated person my age tried to berate me into acknowledging that gay sex is disgusting. (That's a paraphrase).

I guess it depends what circles you travel in. Maybe I could borrow some of your friends and get a different perspective.

I agree with Steve on this one. Yes, there are bad apples, and just as every community will have a share of homosexuals, it will also have its share of nasty, anti-gay folks. Steve and I are both involved in our children's lives and schools, and between us can speak to what we perceive to be happening at 4 schools in Folsom. While incidents such as what happened to Swmr are unfortunate and very sad, they appear to be very rare. My kids and their friends still see students as people and either likes or dislikes them because of the people they are and not because of their sexual preferences and tendencies. I think that a majority of Folsom kids are the same way.

About the "disgusting" part, even those of us who couldn't care less whether people are gay and respect their rights to live as gaily as the rest of us human beings may think the act(s) of which you speak are disgusting. Many of swmr's friends may think that heterosexual sex acts are disgusting as well.

[Duke]

I'm not saying that at all. Culture is great. I love going to the Pacific Rim Food Festival, Festival Da La Familia, Italian Festival, etc. I guess it boils down to where you think your identity is. I would never think about going around calling myself a German-American. I'm not German. I'm not German-American. I'm American.

I don't want to wish away the NAACP. I just think they've done more harm than good lately. I would have to look this up, but I believe the standard of living among blacks has gone down over that last 50 years, not up. I would suggest that Blacks shouuld look up to are Barak Obama, Condeliza Rice, and Collen Powell, not Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson.

An interesting article in today's BEE:

Why listen to Al Sharpton?
By Kathryn Jean Lopez -
Friday, June 22, 2007
Story appeared in EDITORIALS SacBee

Al Sharpton is an amazing man. He will never be silent. Whatever the news story, he will find an angle. Wherever the largest contingent of cameras happens to be gathered, he will be there.

There he was running for president; there he was attacking three innocent kids from Duke on erroneous charges of rape; there he was being the moral arbiter of what should be heard on the radio.

How does he do it?

In truth, that's not the most interesting question -- finding where news cameras are is not brain surgery -- trust me, I do it for a living.

The real question is: Why the heck do we care what Sharpton thinks? We keep running to him. We keep listening to him.

Most recently, he commandeered the news cycle of Paris Hilton's jail travails (and even met with Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca). Opinions vary on Paris -- love her, hate her, feel bad for her, be indifferent to her -- but surely, we can all agree that Sharpton has nothing of interest to say about her.

We need to remember that Sharpton is not the civil rights leader he claims to be. He lacks credibility. Serious people shouldn't listen to or court this buffoonish publicity hound.

So here's a refresher course in the History of Sharpton. Recall some proper nouns: Tawana Brawley; Freddy's Fashion Mart. Keep them in your wallet in case you're ever tempted to listen to The Rev. Al.

When most Americans think of someone who represents the opposite of racial harmony, a name like former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke probably comes to mind. But somehow Sharpton gets to be a good guy -- even though he dragged the names of six innocent white men through the mud in the phony rape case of Tawana Brawley back in 1987. Sharpton gained notoriety through the rape charges made by teenager Brawley; it was subsequently discovered through a grand-jury hearing that all of her charges were completely made up -- yet Sharpton has never apologized for his involvement in the horrendous case.

In 1995, a dispute broke out concerning Freddy's Fashion Mart on 125th Street in New York. The white, Jewish owner was accused of driving a black storeowner out of business. Sharpton held protests against him, and announced -- as protesters yelled about "bloodsuckers" -- that "there is a systemic and methodical strategy to eliminate our people from doing business off 125th Street. I want to make it clear ... that we will not stand by and allow them to move this brother so that some white interloper can expand his business."

A Sharpton deputy announced: "We're going to see that this cracker suffers. Rev. Sharpton is on it."

A protester, three months later, would walk in there with a pistol and burn the store down, killing eight. I wouldn't go so far as to blame the deaths directly on Sharpton, but he didn't help matters.

There's more, but this should be enough of a trip down memory lane for any reasonable person to wonder: Why does anyone listen to this man? Why does anyone go to him for guidance or healing or any other nonsense? Why don't Democrats ostracize him?

Paris Hilton seems willing to ask forgiveness, regretting the bad example she's setting for young girls. I'd sooner ask her for advice than Sharpton.

[Steve Heard]

Not sure how that relates to the Gay Pride parade.

[Duke]

Not sure how that relates to the Gay Pride parade.

It was relevant to NSFather's comment.

[Steve Heard]

As I pointed out in response to NSFather, he is mistaken in the assumption that blacks look up to Al Sharpton. I am sure some do, but I am also sure that most do not.

David Duke is probably the white equivalent of Al Sharpton. He's not a nice guy. I don't believe for a second that most whites look up to him.

Need we trot out the history of David Duke?

I am sure there are white folk here who have never heard of him, because the media isn't giving him air time, yet the run to Rev Al at every opportunity, and his is all too willing to share his opinion, at every opportunity.

[Duke]

...
Need we trot out the history of David Duke?
...

Certainly not.

I thought the published article timely, in light of the comments made here.

[mylo]

I am sure there are white folk here who have never heard of him, because the media isn't giving him air time, yet the run to Rev Al at every opportunity, and his is all too willing to share his opinion, at every opportunity.

Sure, I know who he is.. he's the third Duke Brother!