Summa y’all seem to have a hankering for an Open Thread, yes?
You’re welcome.
(h/t pirate dan)
Imani Gandy, aka Angry Black Lady, wrote for Balloon Juice from 2010-2014.
Imani writes Angry Black Lady Chronicles at Rewire.
Twitter: @AngryBlackLady
by Imani Gandy (ABL)| 37 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
by Imani Gandy (ABL)| 61 Comments
This post is in: Crazification Factor, Post-racial America, Assholes, Clown Shoes, General Stupidity, I Read These Morons So You Don't Have To
Leading the charge in the cavalcade of stupidity surrounding Trayvon Martin are the Breitbrats. In this case, Intrepid Blogger Dan Riehl, “found” a Facebook photo of “Trayvon Martin” which is supposed to lend credence to the wingnuts’ desperate efforts to cast Trayvon Martin as a thug.
In the photo, a young black kid is in a room somewhere throwing up middle fingers. This, of course, is damning evidence to the Breitbrats because the kid is black, he looks kind of black, and I’m pretty sure the kid is black. Also, it’s the first time in history that any kid, black or otherwise has ever mugged for a camera, so he must be up to something. He’s probably mugging the cameraman!
Sigh.
#TrayvonMartin: Breitbrat Dan Riehl’s Racism Is Hanging Out All Over the PlacePost + Comments (61)
One look at the photo should have been enough to convince Riehl that it’s not the same kid, but we’re obviously not dealing with the most intelligent of life forms, and besides — all black boys look alike, don’t they? And they’re all in a gang, or are ex-gang members, or are thinking about joining a gang. Right? I mean, just look at this picture!
PROOF!
In Riehl’s oxygen-deprived brain, a young shirtless black kid wearing a knit cap, and saggy red pants is obviously a Crip. Or a Blood. Or whatever it is those niggras do down there in Florida:
I came across this Facebook account in the name of Trayvon Martin. I do not know if it is the same Martin who was recently killed in Florida. [It would be irresponsible not to speculate, Dan. -ed.] The banner photo matches, which proves nothing fwiw.
This is one of the few images still posted at that account.
Update: It doesn’t appear to be the same Trayvon Martin. But I’m still not sure. It’s still linked. h/t a reader. [What reader is that, Dan? Perhaps one of your buddies at Stormfront***? -ed.]
Also, people are whacked. We asked questions all the time when I covered crime out here. People need to get over it. I’ve seen several pics alleged to be Trayvon Martin circulating that didn’t look worth asking about. Community sourcing works. It’s what blogs did well back when they started. If I had something earth shattering, I’d look to publish it via a Breitbart site, if it were solid.
Also (and this is a real knee-slapper), Dan Riehl and the rest of the Breitbrat bozos are convinced that the librul media is perpetrating a hoax on the American public by photoshopping a picture of Trayvon Martin to make him look less guilty:
Among a few interesting items uncovered in trying to examine the facts behind the shooting of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin without drawing any conclusions, was that a widely viewed photograph of Martin appears to have been altered, somewhat.
Here is what appears to be the original via the Miami Herald.
The one below has been observed in the media and at forums such as Democracy Now. Clearly, it has been lightened, or softened, somehow. Along with other possible alterations, he looks far more, perhaps innocent is the right word, in the altered image. For the record, that has nothing to do with the guilt, or innocence, of anyone involved, but more to do with the reporting of the story, which is why I’m bringing it up.
Got it? The librul media lightened the photo of blackity black Trayvon Martin to make him look more “innocent” because the blacker the berry, the more guilty the juice… or something. It’s a reverse OJ! (And of course, Dana Loesch — Breitbrat-in-Charge — was screeching about this on her radio show today. Way to go CNN!)
And now for the schadenfreude portion of the evening — from Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs:
But in fact, this BOMBSHELL is yet another foot shot for the intellectually challenged Dan Riehl, because if you actually follow his own link to the article at the Miami Herald, and read the caption underneath the photo he claims is “the original,” you discover that it’s a photograph of a low resolution copy of the picture on a sign at a protest — not “the original” at all.
So the ‘guilty” Trayvon photo isn’t even the original photo. ::cue derisive laughter::
I’m not sure what this does to Riehl’s theory of melanin-based guilt and innocence; probably nothing since he’s pulling all of these wingnut conspiracy theories directly out of his own racist ass.
Without question, these are some of the most aggressively stupid people on earth.
***Don’t worry, it’s not a link to Stormfront, but rather to a Google search, courtesy of Charles Johnson.
[via Little Green Footballs; Hullabaloo]
[cross-posted at ABLC]by Imani Gandy (ABL)| 79 Comments
This post is in: Kiss My Black Ass, Post-racial America
Apparently, now there’s a new witness who claims that Trayvon attacked Zimmerman:
The witness told FOX 35 in Orlando that he saw evidence of a fight between Martin and Zimmerman, which could lend credence to the gunman’s claim that he was acting in self-defence.
‘The guy on the bottom who had a red sweater on was yelling to me: “Help, help… and I told him to stop and I was calling 911,’ he said.
Zimmerman was wearing a red sweater; Martin was in a grey hoodie.
He added: ‘When I got upstairs and looked down, the guy who was on top beating up the other guy, was the one laying in the grass, and I believe he was dead at that point.’
This account is drastically different from the portrait painted of Martin by his friends and acquaintances.
‘New’ Witness Claims Trayvon Martin Attacked ZimmermanPost + Comments (79)
Even assuming this new witness isn’t full of crap (and that’s a generous assumption), this new revelation changes nothing. Jesse Singal at Washington Monthly breaks it down:
The fact that this anonymous witness thinks Martin was beating up Zimmerman is worthless once you factor in the unreliability of eyewitness testimony, especially in moments of chaos and physiological arousal. The human brain simply isn’t well-built to look out at a scene like the one John witnessed and quickly determine who is beating up who or the nature of the altercation.
So the evidence provided by John points to only one certain fact (and this is buttressed by the cops, who did say that Zimmerman had a broken nose when they got to him): there was a tussle between Zimmerman and Martin. On its own that tells us very little.
The 911 call indicates that Zimmerman decided well before the shooting that he thought Martin was suspicious, and had begun to follow him (against the advice of the 911 dispatcher). So we have a sequence like this:
1) Zimmerman calls 911 to report the “suspicious” Martin.
2) Zimmerman begins to pursue Martin.
3) ???
4) Zimmerman and Martin get in a fight.
5) Zimmerman shoots Martin.Everything is speculation at this point, of course. But given what we know about Zimmerman’s penchant for heightened vigilance (46 emergency calls in the last six years) and the consensus view that Martin was a completely sweet, nonconfrontational kid (yes, he was suspended from school, but for tardiness), I just don’t see how this changes anything. As of now, there’s no reason to think Martin did anything that a reasonable person would consider likely to provoke getting shot.
I agree with Singal’s analysis. I would, however, add a coda to his statement — there’s no reason to think Martin did anything that a reasonable person would consider likely to provoke getting shot… aside from being black.
If Trayvon were a white kid walking around a gated neighborhood in a hoodie, he would be alive. Period.
POSTSCRIPT: Eric Boehlert of Media Matters pointed out that there is no byline for the Daily Mail article. It is written by “Daily Mail Reporter.” Odd, no?
utterly bogus UK Mail story about “new” Trayvon Martin witness was written by “reporter”; no byline; bit.ly/GMFskL #figures
— Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) March 25, 2012
why is @tobyharnden pushing bogus story about “new” Trayvon Martin witness at UK Mail? And why has Mail headline been whitewashed?
— Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) March 25, 2012
hey @tobyharnden: UK Mail’s “new” Trayvon Martin witness gave those quotes to FL media in **Feb.** when will Mail post correction?
— Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) March 25, 2012
[via Washington Monthly]
by Imani Gandy (ABL)| 426 Comments
This post is in: Kiss My Black Ass, Assholes, Fucked-up-edness
Well, this is a new twist on victim blaming. Usually we’re busy telling women not to wear such short skirts, or not to get too drunk lest they get raped. Now, apparently, we’re telling black and Latino youth not to wear hooded sweatshirts because it might-could get you shot in the chest by some lunatic vigilante who has a problem with those “assholes” who “always get away”:
GERALDO RIVERA: Well, I have a different take, Brian, on that. I believe that George Zimmerman, the overzealous neighborhood watch captain should be investigated to the fullest extent of the law and if he is criminally liable, he should be prosecuted. But I am urging the parents of black and Latino youngsters particularly to not let their children go out wearing hoodies. I think the hoodie is as much responsible for Trayvon Martin’s death as George Zimmerman was.
JULIET HUDDY (guest-host): What do you mean?
RIVERA: When you, when you see a kid walking — Juliet — when you see a kid walking down the street, particularly a dark skinned kid like my son Cruz, who I constantly yelled at when he was going out wearing a damn hoodie or those pants around his ankles. Take that hood off, people look at you and they — what do they think? What’s the instant identification, what’s the instant association?
STEVE DOOCY (co-host): Uh-oh.
RIVERA: It’s those crime scene surveillance tapes. Every time you see someone sticking up a 7-11, the kid is wearing a hoodie. Every time you see a mugging on a surveillance camera or they get the old lady in the alcove, it’s a kid wearing a hoodie. You have to recognize that this whole stylizing yourself as a gangsta, you’re gonna be a gangsta wannabe? Well, people are going to perceive you as a menace. That’s what happens. It is an instant reflexive action. Remember Juan Williams, our colleague? Our brilliant colleague? He got in trouble with NPR because he said Muslims in formal garb at the airport conjure a certain reaction in him or response in him? That’s an automatic reflex. Juan wasn’t defending it. He was explaining that that’s what happens when he sees these particular people in that particular place.
When you see a black or Latino youngster, particularly on the street, you walk to the other side of the street. You try to avoid that confrontation. Trayvon Martin’s you know, god bless him, he’s an innocent kid, a wonderful kid, a box of Skittles in his hand. He didn’t deserve to die. But I’ll bet you money, if he didn’t have that hoodie on, that — that nutty neighborhood watch guy wouldn’t have responded in that violent and aggressive way.
DOOCY: What about the fact that — I mean, the people of New York, a couple of nights ago, they had a “Million Hoodie March.” You’re not helping.
RIVERA: You can not rehabilitate the hoodie. You’re not going to — I understand that the reaction might be overzealous or even irrational in some extent, I mean, when you look at the statistics. It may be. But you’re not going to rehabilitate the hoodie. You’re not going to —
DOOCY: Just stop wearing it.
RIVERA: Stop wearing it! Don’t let your kid — you know the old Johnny Cash song, don’t take your gun to town, son. Leave your gun at home. There is some things that are almost inevitable. I’m not suggesting that Trayvon Martin had any kind of weapon or anything, but he wore an outfit that allowed someone to respond in this irrational, overzealous way and if he had been dressed more appropriately, I think unless it’s raining out, or you’re at a track meet, leave the hoodie home. Don’t let your children go out there.
There is so much fail in Rivera’s comments, one hardly knows where to begin.
It doesn’t matter what you are a wearing. You have a right to walk in your own neighborhood wearing whatever the fuck you want without getting shot.
Whether it was raining or not is irrelevant. Whether Trayvon was returning home from a track meet or not is irrelevant. (And really? A track meet?)
Millions of people — black, white, Latino, male, and female — wear hoodies. They’re comfortable. I have a hoodie sweatshirt dress that I practically live in. I’m wearing it right now. And it’s above the knee. ::gasp:: So I guess when I leave the house with my hoodie dress on, I’m just begging to be shot and raped. Is that it?
Mr. Rivera, you are an unconscionable asshole and you should apologize to Trayvon Martin’s parents for your insensitive comments, and you should go ahead an apologize to humanity for existing.
UPDATE: Geraldo couldn’t stop digging:
So now he’s not just blaming Trayvon for wearing a hoodie, he’s tsk-tsking Trayvon’s parents for not understanding the risk of being a kid of color. You see, if only they’d had Geraldo Rivera’s sage words on “the risk that comes with being a kid of color in America” then maybe they would have raised Trayvon differently. It’s just so damn sad that Geraldo has to be the one reminding black parents how to raise their kids, isn’t it?
I swear, this fucking guy…
[via Media Matters]
[cross-posted at ABLC]by Imani Gandy (ABL)| 49 Comments
This post is in: Crock Pot Craziness, Seriously
A&F found itself in a bit of hot water today after The Internet found out that it was selling “nigger brown” pants in the UK. Except they weren’t really, so you can uncream your Twinkie. (I need to point out that A&F still sucks for trying to turn teenage girls into sex objects.)
I actually laughed when I clicked through to the fake Abercrombie website advertising “nigger brown” cargo pants. Maybe I’ve just hit my fuckery limit this week or something. I think I’m in some kind of waking coma.
In any event, turns out that Abercrombie doesn’t have control over the website selling ni-CLANG! brown pants, which is being run by some Chinese cats who really need to update their translator software:
Abercrombie & Fitch and the ‘Ni-CLANG! Brown’ Pants AffairPost + Comments (49)
Apparently some chinese website is knocking off A&F clothes, and because whatever translator program Chinese people uses translates “dark brown” into “ni-CLANG!”, these dark brown cargo pants in English-speaking countries turn into ni-CLANG! brown pants in Chinese countries.
I’m still laughing as I write this. I’ve never wanted a pair of ni-CLANG! pants so badly in my life. Why am I finding this so hysterical?
I think I need a drink or four.
[via Gawker]
[cross-posted at ABLC]by Imani Gandy (ABL)| 100 Comments
This post is in: Contraception Clusterfuck, The War On Women, Vagina Outrage
Oh, fuck this:
This woman is out of her fucking skull. How DARE she? Democrats are scaring women to drum up votes? Is she serious? Let’s take a little walk down GOP Fuckery Lane, shall we?
Cathy McMorris-Rodgers Thinks Democrats Are Scaring WomenPost + Comments (100)
Republicans want us to lie back and take it. They want us to just “close our eyes” while they shame us and guilt us and emotionally traumatize us and out us to the public for making a choice about our bodies that has absolutely fuck-all to do with them. And they’re doing this under the guise of “education” and “life-affirmation”; attaching quaint and pithy names to horrific bills which violate our rights as humans. Names like “Ultrasound Opportunity” or “Right to Know and See.” Don’t worry. It’s all about knowledge.
Knowledge is power, you see, and frankly ladies, you don’t know what the fuck you’re doing. You think you’re incubating baby iguanas in your wombs while storks slingshot babies through open windows in the dead of night. No, no, silly one. This here probe will give you all the knowledge about the birds and the bees that you need, and conveniently, since you’re pregnant in the first place, you’ve already consented to be vaginally probed by our metal knowledge stick. Hooray!
Oh yeah — and let’s not forget that we’re getting fucking FIREBOMBED for daring to believe that a woman’s uterus is hers. Not her husband’s. Not her boyfriend’s. Not her father’s or uncle’s or brother’s. And certainly not some fucking politician who does not now nor has he ever owned a uterus, or the feckless Republican women who fall in line behind these misogynist assholes.
And you can fuck right off with that “oh, the firebomber was just a crazy homeless dude” crap. As Melissa MacEwan at Shakesville so eloquently put it:
Guess who else is “crazy”? Anyone who sees a pattern of anti-progressive violence—and, very specifically, misogynist and/or homophobic and/or racist violence—and has the unmitigated temerity to suggest that, hey, maybe this shit isn’t happening in a void.
All of this is to say the following–
Cathy McMorris-Rodgers? Jump up your own uterus, lady. You don’t speak for me. You don’t speak for thousands of women who don’t have the distinct privilege of standing on the Capitol steps spewing bullshit in order to protect the misogynist necks of the Republican men to whom you’ve sold your soul, your dignity, your humanity, your personal freedom, and, indeed your life; all the while knowing that should you or your daughter Grace require birth control or an abortion or any of the women’s health services that you and your ilk are viciously stripping from us, you will be able to get them. After all, as a member of Congress, you have some of the best health insurance in the country! And we all know that the rules which you seek to apply to millions of women — many of them poor women of color — don’t apply to the daughters of deluded state politicians from the Pacific Northwest. (Dontcha know.)
So, Cathy, you want to give up your reproductive rights? Or the reproductive rights of your daughter? Fine. Go right ahead.
But back the fuck up off of mine.
And the notion that Democrats are scaring women by shining a light on the horrific human rights injustices that you Republicans seek to impose on us is patently absurd. Democrats aren’t scaring women, Cathy. Republicans are scaring women.
Stop it.
*** Rant written from an unabashedly cisgendered perspective. I’m working on figuring out ways not to do that all the time.
[cross-posted at ABLC]by Imani Gandy (ABL)| 86 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads, The War On Women, Vagina Outrage
FORT WORTH — Police are trying to identify the man who entered the West 7th office of State Sen. Wendy Davis Tuesday afternoon and threw two firebombs just outside the door.
Two staffers were in the third floor office when the attack occurred around 4 o’clock. One of them had to leap over the flames to escape, then went to the break room, grabbed an extinguisher and put out the fire.
Investigators said Sen. Davis was not in the office at the time of the incident, but was at her law office closer to downtown Fort Worth.A staffer told News 8 the Democratic lawmaker was alerted about what happened and that security at Davis’ other local office was tightened as a result.
No one was hurt, but the lawmaker’s office was damaged by the fire.
It’s unclear yet whether or not the firebombing of Senator Davis’s office is connected to her advocacy for women’s health and pro-Planned Parenthood stance, but it sure feels that way to me and to the pro-choice women in Texas:
Pro-Planned Parenthood Texas State Senator Wendy Davis’s Office FirebombedPost + Comments (86)
TX state senator @WendyDavisTexas‘ office was FIREBOMBED tonight. She is pro-@PPact. THIS IS NOT A COINCIDENCE. @AngryBlackLady #teamuterati
— scATX (@scATX) March 21, 2012
i just want to scream: WON’T ANYONE HELP US PLEASE? RT: @scATX: WE ARE IN A FUCKING CRISIS IN TEXAS. — meadowgirl (@meadowgirl) March 21, 2012
@scATX i just can’t with all of this stuff. it SCARES me. like, can i be out as pro-choice and stuff & not end up DEAD or on FIRE? — meadowgirl (@meadowgirl) March 21, 2012
Everyone heard about the FIREBOMBING, right? I’m going to keep tweeting it and capitalizing the word every. single. time.
— scATX (@scATX) March 21, 2012
Here is senator Wendy Davis’ front door! lockerz.com/s/194324383
— Monica.Is.Liberal (@monicaisliberal) March 21, 2012
I have no words. It’s scary and I can’t help but feel like the Republican party is stalking me.
[via Keep Your Boehner Out of My Uterus; image via @monicaisliberal]
[cross-posted at ABLC]