The Third Estate Sunday Review focuses on politics and culture. We're an online magazine. We don't play nice and we don't kiss butt. In the words of Tuesday Weld: "I do not ever want to be a huge star. Do you think I want a success? I refused "Bonnie and Clyde" because I was nursing at the time but also because deep down I knew that it was going to be a huge success. The same was true of "Bob and Carol and Fred and Sue" or whatever it was called. It reeked of success."
On a March night in 2020, Manuel Ellis, a 33-year-old black man, was
walking back to his sober living home in Tacoma, Washington when he was
confronted by three police officers. Ellis was carrying a box of
raspberry-filled donuts and a bottle of water. The cops claimed they
stopped him because he was walking “erratically.” When Ellis protested,
he was tased and beaten. While on the ground, Ellis was hogtied and
beaten again. The cops took turns kneeling on his back and sitting on
him. Then they wrapped a nylon bag around his face. Less than an hour
after he was accosted by the police, Ellis was dead, a death the Pierce
County medical examiner ruled a homicide. Now the three officers who
tortured and killed Manuel Ellis, Matthew Collins, Christopher “Shane”
Burbank, and Timothy Rankine are going on trial.
Collins and Burbank for second-degree murder and first-degree
manslaughter and Rankine for first-degree manslaughter. The officers
have all been on paid leave since the killing and have collected more
than a million dollars in salary and more in benefits. In the last 50
years, only 6 law enforcement officers have been charged with unlawful
killings in Washington State, half of them in this case.
Assange’s family and close supporters were no doubt pleased that the
visit occurred. It did have the benefit of again raising Assange’s
plight, which has been subjected to frequent and extended media
blackouts in Australia, Britain and the US itself.
To be
uncritical, though, would be a mistake. The tour by the career
politicians had nothing to do with combining the support for Assange
with developing public opposition to social inequality, war or the
broader assault on democratic rights.
Needless to say, these
representatives of big business did not address meetings of American
workers about the need to defend Assange. They would not have had
anything to say to such an audience, or any basis upon which to make an
appeal.
Instead, the tour was framed in generally right-wing
terms. The importance of the “friendship” between the US and Australia
was repeatedly emphasised. That is a reference to the militarist
alliance between the two countries, which currently centres on advanced
preparations for a catastrophic war against China.
A cafeteria line in Chicago The fat man in front of me Is calling black people trash to his children He's the only trash here I see And I'm thinking this man wears a white hood In the night when his children should sleep But, they slip to their window and they see him And they think that white hood's all they need
It's a hard life It's a hard life It's a very hard life It's a hard life wherever you go If we poison our children with hatred Then, the hard life is all that they'll know And there ain't no place in (Belfast) for These kids to go
-- "It's A Hard Life Wherever You Go," written by Nanci Griffith, first appears on her album STORMS
I.
MAD TV did 'woke' in the 90s! Or KIDS IN THE HALL did woke decades ago! Or . . .
No, it was political correctness. Gloria Steinem called it "plain courtesy" in the 90s -- see her book REVOLUTION FROM WITHIN. More recently, she's rewritten history.
But in the 90s, there was a movement to acknowledge diversity and it was too much for some -- like the hideous Bill Maher who had his own hideous program called POLITICALLY INCORRECT because he was a reactionary even then. Fortunately, he sported his stupidity on camera and the show came to an end after he turned off audiences by hailing people who carried out terrorism as non-cowards. Terrorism is cowardly and any sane person grasps that.
"To
be woke is to be Black," is how Okayplayer Senior News and Culture
Reporter Elijah Watson defined the Black American colloquialism, now
broadly used derisively, when he embarked on a journey in 2017 to plot its origins. Ironically, his research first turned up a 1962 New York Times essay, "If You're Woke You Dig It,"
by the then Harlem-based writer William Melvin Kelley, who was
highlighting the phenomenon of Black American slang being appropriated
by white people who often missed or altogether distorted the words' original meanings, until the idioms were taken over, inevitably
transformed, and ultimately abandoned by their original Black creators.
Kelley
was "prophetic," Watson tells LDF in a recent conversation. We are six
decades and several cultural lifetimes past when Kelley's essay was
published, and as we discuss what’s been done to woke in the 21st
century, it's hard to disagree.
"The
language seems to be modified in two ways," Kelley wrote in the ‘60s. "The first is to give a word, already in use, its opposite meaning. At
one time, the connotations of 'jive' were all good; now they are bad, or
at least questionable."
III.
Our first encounter with the White absorption of woke was during the MAD TV 2016 revival on THE CW
That skit featured Michelle Ortiz, Lyric Lewis, Adam Ray, and Chelsea Davison.
It's mocking the youth and that happens often. THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW, for example, mocked college students in an episode where Mary and Rhoda went to a college party. RHODA mocked young people in an episode where Rhoda was hunting for a new blouse and the young sales person asked her if she needed an outdoor or an indoor shirt. There are numerous other shows and episodes we could cite as an example.
IV.
Which gets to one of the most important points: Youth versus older.
The sixties saw a huge generational gap in the population. There have been others since but the population was never large enough -- among the younger cohort -- for anything seismic.
We now again see a seismic split. In 2019, the percent of US citizens under the age of 40 hit 50.7%. The majority is under forty.
In the sixties, not everyone in the Love Generation (younger generation) was about Peace, Love and Understanding. However, many were. The hippie movement was about fashion, music, student politics and so much more. The older generation, like Lester in Hal Ashby's classic film SHAMPOO, just couldn't relate. He can't understand what's going around him -- his wife is sleeping with her hairdressers, his daughter is sleeping with his wife's hairdresser -- in his personal life or what's happening in the country, "
I just wish I knew what the hell I
was living for. You can lose it all, you know. I mean, you can lose it
no matter who you are. What's the sense of having it all. Market went
down 10 points last week. G** damn, Lyndon Johnson. Well, maybe Nixon
will be better. What's the difference. They're all a bunch of jerks.
"
And that's part of where we're at now. Older people -- and young sticks in the mud -- can't understand that change is a constant and that language and life evolve.
V.
Most people resist change. Change is something different. Most of us like what we're used to. We have to be coaxed to change. Some will never change. They're 70-something-years-old, off in some nursing home and still using the N-word, for example. They're never going to change.
But given time and encouragement, most people can and will change.
As much as change is a part of life so is adaptability.
Look at films. They went from silents to talkies, from black & white to color, from primitive special effects to CGI graphics. Most people aren't lamenting that they don't make films like they did back in 1917.
VI.
Any movement, any growth, has excesses. Excesses can lead to or accelerate a backlash. It's the swing of the pendulum and, as times have worsened with the likes of Moms For Bigotry and Ronald DeSantis, it bears remembering that pendulum swings one way and then the other and one way and then the . . .
This too will pass -- as the old adage notes.
But while castigating the likes of Ronald and Moms For Bigotry, it's worth looking at the excesses for a moment.
VII.
If you have money to spare, now would be a good time to invest in DISNEY. Because Bob Iger's back in control? Because, supposedly, woke is being shelved?
No.
Because DISNEY can't get any worse than it got.
It really can't.
The whiners about ELEMENTAL or whatever movie really missed the point. Children's movies are about the future -- our children. And they are Black and they are White and they are gay and they are straight and they are everything anyone can imagine.
DISNEY being inclusive in recent years is not a bad thing. Nor is it a new thing.
DISNEY has always tried to look at the world and reflect on it.
SONG OF THE SOUTH is a racist film from 1946. We wouldn't recommend it to anyone. But in 1946 -- it was racist then too -- it was an effort to pull African-Americans into the casts -- the stars included James Baskett and Hattie McDaniel, for example (McDaniel was the first African-American to receive an Academy Award for acting and Baskett was the first African-American male to receive an Academy Award for acting -- his was an Honorary Oscar for SONG OF THE SOUTH). James Baskett became part of the DISNEY family in 1941 when he voiced Fats Crow in DUMBO.
Those upset over a Latina starring in a live action SNOW WHITE or an African-American as THE LITTLE MERMAID are getting upset over what DISNEY has always been. It lags behind by many years, but it does try to be diverse. It wants everyone with spending money to visit DISNEY LAND and DISNEY WORLD.
What the hate merchants condemn as "woke" is really just DISNEY's business model that goes all the way to Walt himself.
VIII.
B-b-but you just said DISNEY couldn't get worse. So it was bad, right?
It was bad with MARVEL. Maybe with STAR WARS too -- we don't know on that, we've avoided STAR WARS our whole life and plan to continue to do so.
But MARVEL? MARVEL was the cutting edge comic book. It was the comic book line that mattered. And we respected it. When it finally made it to the big screen, it was via COLUMBIA and Sam Raimi and the first three SPIDER-MAN films were perfection. Then FOX began making MARVEL films. Then DISNEY bought out FOX.
The first X-MEN came out in 2000 and the first SPIDER-MAN came out in 2002. They were solid films. They were also films surrounded by a lot of different films in both years. But those days are long gone.
Since 2017, there has been GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2, SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING, THOR: RAGNAROK, BLACK PANTHER, AVEGNERS: INFINITY WAR, ANT-MAN AND THE WASP, CAPTAIN MARVEL, AVENGERS: ENDGAME, SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME, BLACK WIDOW, SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS, ETERNALS, SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME, DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS, THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER, BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER. ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA and GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 . In that same span of time, DC FILMS has served up WONDER WOMAN, JUSTICE LEAGUE, AQUAMAN, SHAZAM!, JOKER, BIRDS OF PREY, WONDER WOMAN 1984, THE SUICIDE SQUAD, THE BATMAN, BLACK ADAM, SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS, THE FLASH, BLUE BEETLE.
That's 31 big budget films in seven years. And there's more to come before 2023 draws to a close.
That's a lot. It's no longer a special event that a comic book has become a film. The newness has worn off. And the fan base is ticked off -- often for good reason. Henry Cavill finally finds acceptance as Superman and two idiots are put in charge of DC FILMS who axe him quickly. Wonder Woman is a film character and they put her on ice. Supergirl has always been a bit player in DC comic books. You don't have a big film success with her but she's the focus of the two idiots plans. The two idiots attempted to publicly humiliate Dwayne Johnson and that doesn't play well with his fans. BATGIRL is a character for TV and film. In fact, as we know her, she was invented for TV.
1961's Betty Kane was the original Bat-Girl. 1967's Barbara Gordon is the original Batgirl. Bat-Girl's never been in a live action TV show or film and never will be. She was a weak character, not unlike Supergirl. ABC wanted changes to BATMAN following season two and one of those changes ended up being a new character: Batgirl. She was created for TV and she's more visual and textured than a lot of female comic book characters from the same period as a result. Alicia Silverstone played a version of her (badly) in the film BATMAN & ROBIN. A version of Barbara Gordon was in the TV show BIRDS OF PREY. But despite a TV movie being made for HBO and it having Michael Keaton playing Batman, the BATGIRL film was shelved and the two idiots joined DC FILMS after that but the crash and burning of THE FLASH under their watch reminded everyone that while BATGIRL got shelved, THE FLASH starring public relations disaster and possible public menace Ezra Miller made it into theaters when it sure as s**t should have been shelved. The great villain? The Flash . . . from the future. So philosophical and so full of s**t.
IX.
Why do the stand alone BATMAN films work so much better? We were having that conversation with a friend at MARVEL FILMS last week. In the most recent one, Robert Pattison's character was, for example, Batman was up against the Riddler (and Batman was working with Catwoman). In Tim Burton's first two films, it was something similar. BATMAN saw him match wits with the Joker and BATMAN RETURNS saw him scuffle with Catwoman and the Penguin. Burton left the franchise but BATMAN FOREVER found him up against Two Face and the Riddler (and joined by Robin), while BATMAN & ROBIN found him fighting Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy (and joined by Batgirl). When The Dark Knight started the franchise back up, you had Scarecrow as the villain in BATMAN BEGINS, the Joker in THE DARK KNIGHT, and against Bane in THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (and teamed up with Catwoman). Similarly, the Superman franchise got it right when Christopher Reeves played the title character by putting Superman up against villains from the comic books. But DC FILMS started aping MARVEL FILMS and going for these nonsense characters. Are they pieces of rock? What are they? And why should we care? That's true of the bulk of the villians in The Avengers film franchise and it's true of BATMAN V. SUPERMAN and THE JUSTICE LEAGUE.
These type of films really don't encourage fans. They're not interested in lumpy rock formations, they're interested in characters who are out to destroy and kill and who have been featured in comic books for years.
The villains need to be full bodied or you're wasting time that could have gone to something truly exciting. The X-men film franchise has understood that for the most part.
X.
Worse than films and where the 'woke' comes in has been MARVEL's attempts at TV series.
Sure, it started off fine with NETFLIX. JESSICA JONES, DAREDEVIL, LUKE CAGE and THE IRON FIST were strong shows where the heroes fought crime and when they all teamed up for THE DEFENDERS, it had a perfect arc. But then came THE PUNISHER and something was off. (Possibly the fact that he was a vigilante and not an actual hero?)
MARVEL said no more to the NETFLIX deal because DISNEY was developing DISNEY+ -- a new streaming service. And here's where the problems began. WANDAVISION was an overhyped failure that brain-dead Water Cooler critics hailed as visionary -- then they were shocked by Sam Raimi's DR. STRANGE film that took this Wanda to her logical conclusion. They were screaming that this was a sexist portrayal. It probably was but we were screaming it was a sexist portrayal when we reviewed WANDAVISION -- while The Water Cooler set was insisting differently.
Things only got worse from there. Wanda should have been a hero. But the girls at MARVEL -- women and men -- couldn't allow for truly strong women. So we got the disgusting SHE-HULK: ATTORNEY AT LAW.
This set people off and a large number of them thought it was 'woke.' It wasn't 'woke.' It was nonsense. You didn't like She-Hulk lecturing to Hulk? Well, that has nothing to do with 'woke' but it does have everything to do with bad writing. And to take an action hero and put her -- emphasis on her -- in a comedy with love elements and obvious cribs from David E. Kelley's many legal shows was not making a superhero show.
'Woke' was what it got accused of being. But a truly woke MARVEL would never have been stupid enough to make three shows with female leads where none was a strong and functioning woman. Or even a strong and functioning female. MS. MARVEL had many things going for it . . . as a comic book. Big fans, we expected to love it. But they kept giving episode after episode away to a man and, in fact, the final scenes of the first season are all about celebrating a man and reducing Ms. Marvel to a supporting character in the series bearing her name.
DISNEY+ dropped THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER last Friday. Bucky
Barnes, traumatized by the events of AVENGERS: ENDGAME which saw the
deaths of Black Widow and Iron man and, most importantly, Steve Rogers'
decision to abandon Bucky and go back into the past to be with Sharon
Carter, imagines a world where his pain disappears.
The first seven episodes revolve solely around Bucky and
the new partnership he finds with Sam Wilson. As life partners, the two
bond, a bond that is so much more important to Bucky than dating women
-- like the woman he leaves quickly to go check out an older man. In
this world he imagines, he and Sam carry out the relationship he always
wanted with Steve Rogers. They set up house together and while Sam
works on the family boat, Bucky stays home imagining himself as Laura
Petrie, Carol Brady and, after acknowledging the well known theory of
womb envy while giving birth to twins, Florida Evans. But even the twins
and the time they absorb can't distract Bucky from the fact that Sam
lacks Steve's hairy chest -- that light fur covering that Bucky had a
fetish for -- or that Sam also lacks the dank, musky smell that Bucky found
so irresistible in Steve. In episode eight, with reality intruding
into Bucky's new world, he is forced to realize that he's created an
artificial world using his left arm. He knew his artificial limb had an
enhanced reaction time ability, he did not realize that the time
ability action also included the ability to impose an artificial world.
While his life with Sam and their two boys has moments of happiness and
joy, he realizes Sam is not -- and never can be -- Steve. So, with a
heavy heart, he ends his artificial world and, in the ninth and final
episode, he begins using his heart and his abilities to fight evil and
we finally get some action scenes.
Oh.
Wait.
That was WANDAVISION.
What
THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER makes clear is that the deep and
ingrained sexism of MARVEL live action remains and probably will do so
for years to come. It also demonstrates that The Water Cooler is full
of sexism and s**t as they repeatedly praised the sexist treatment of
Scarlet Witch in WANDAVISION. She endured what Charlotte Gilman wrote
about in the 1892 classic short story THE YELLOW WALLPAPER. But Wanda
wasn't made aware of that, nor were the writers of the TV series. This
wasn't a rejection, an indictment. What Charlotte Gilman rightly railed
against in 1892 was embraced as a good story in 2021.
THE
FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER starts by showing Sam in action mode as
Falcon then we get Bucky demonstrating the use of his powers and
abilities.
It's only when it's a woman that MARVEL
ties the character's hands behind her back and forces her into a
submissive role and a submissive life. It's only when it's a woman
being forced into this role that professional critics, paid to do a job,
go ga-ga over that nonsense and talk about it having multi-layers when
it's just the same sexist crap men and women have been forcing off on
female characters for decades.
MS. MARVEL should have been a sure winner. In the comics, Kamala's
the closest to Peter Parker which is why this televised version that
turns her into a female half-wit, their Lenny from OF MINE AND MEN, is
so pathetic but it is so in keeping with DISNEY+.
They want the world to believe that the reason for the poor response to this show is sexism and/or racism.
We were told that we would get that "right away" if we took a look at the show.
What
we got was that Kamala's best friend Bruno (Matt Lintz) was better
suited for being a super hero -- and action scenes -- than Kamala as
played by Iman Vellani is.
Kamala is an airhead, a klutz and a stooge. That's quite a combination. Somehow, we're supposed to find it cute and appealing.
That's how DISNEY+ rolls, you understand.
JESSICA
JONES? That was MARVEL via NETFLIX. You won't find adult women on
MARVEL via DISNEY+ -- you just find irritating and outdated stereotypes.
WANDAVISION
was complete and total sexist garbage. Because a woman fronted it to
the press, and because she lied, the press pretended otherwise. Jac
Schaeffer (a woman) told the press that WANDAVISION was not sexist and
that, "It was extremely important to me that we not do the lazy thing of
having a superpowered lady who can't handle her powers and goes crazy."
And
the dumb idiots believed her. First off, watch the damn show and stop
pretending that the final episode redeems all that came before because
it doesn't. Second, you don't need to go past that quote to grasp that
Jac has internalized sexism. Translation, who the hell says
"superpowered lady"? Third, that isn't the 'lazy thing,' it's the
sexist thing and that she can't call it that goes to how she was able to
put it in the series to begin with.
No feminist talks like that.
And these 'superhero' shows that weren't about
super-heroics? They ticked the audience off more than DISNEY+ will ever
know. They were not -- and are not -- woke shows. For starters, woke
doesn't turn women into jokes -- especially women with super powers.
XIII.
The
transphobes and homophobes among us? No rocker still rocking talks
like transphobe Alice Cooper who, at 75, is not just old but decades
away from his chart success of the 70s. At 75, and still believing he's
a star, Alice Cooper lives a rarefied life and has no idea about
reality. Fortunately, those like him are dying out -- literally. This
group lost the war over the generation gap last time and they'll lose it
this time as well. Time marches on and marches right over their dead
and nearly dead bones.
B-b-b-but people picked on Alice Cooper! Back in the day, he was slammed for how he dressed!
Yes. And remember, the awful experience of the concentration camps did not stop some from mistreating the Palestinians.
XIV.
On Boycotts and belligerence.
Jonathan
Turley snuck over to the right a few years back. He's the mascot for
The Federalist Society. And, instead of covering -- for examples -- the
problems Crooked Clarence Thomas has -- the many ethical problems --
he's called for boycotts. Mr. Free Speech has a funny way of
demonstrating it, doesn't he? But he's just turned into a hack and no
one should be surprised.
He
was trying to lead on the boycott of Bud Light. Then he tried to lead
on others boycotts -- including CMT for not playing Jason Aldean's
racist video -- so racist that Aldean had it secretly edited. You might
think that a supposed legal expert would have better ways to spend his
time but you would be wrong.
However, after Bud Light, the protests against companies for this or that kind of died out in terms of any real impact or scope. Why?
They looked rather hateful and small minded.
Turley tried to get a big protest of Target started but it didn't go that far.
More
recently? People just don't seem to want to be part of the hate
machine. That and Kid Rock -- who was done with Bud Light forever,
remember? -- got caught drinking it. Kind of took the wind out of
everyone's sales.
With Bud
Light, there was also the stock manipulation (which might have been the
whole point to begin with) and there was the fact that they pissed off
everyone -- when they tossed Dylan Mulvaney aside, they pissed off a lot
more people than the ragers who were bothered by a trans woman being
given a can of Bud Light with her name on it.
The
ragers thought they'd control the country but then CMT refused to back
down and Skittles refused to back down -- something Bud Light and Target
should have done to begin with -- and the ragers found that trying the
same tricks over and over (in the fall of 2022, when few were
registering what was taking place) really produced lower and lower
returns.
Before we leave
this topic, those of you surprised by Alice Cooper? He voted for Bully
Boy Bush. In 2004. After the start of the Iraq War. The only thing
trashier than Alice Cooper? Any idiot spending money to see him today.
XV.
The level of hate is shocking. It's resulted in violence. It's resulted in threats. James Factora (THEM) notes three bomb threats over the weekend, "As initially reported by LGBTQ Nation,
the targeted events were set to take place in New York City, New Haven,
and Salt Lake City this past weekend. No bombs were found in any of the
targeted venues, but the threats caused significant disruptions,
including the evacuation of a dialysis clinic located above an LGBTQ+
center in New Haven."
The
hate merchants who egg it on rush to look the other way. But, yes,
they are guilty. How do you deal with them? You shut them down. A
point made in TO WONG FOO, THANKS FOR EVERYTHING! JULIE NEWMAR. As the
sheriff shows up at the end to arrest the drag queens Noxeema, Vida and
Chi-Chi (played by Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze and John Leguizamo),
the towns people refuse to let this happen. One woman after another
steps up stating that they are a drag queen. The shady law enforcement
flees.
It's a message worth remembering all these years later. And you can see the courage echoed in an action last week:
Over a hundred students walked out of class at Great Oak High School in
Temecula on Friday to protest a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ policies implemented
by the local school board, despite warnings they’d be disciplined.
Well over a hundred students ignored the warning and left campus amid defiant chants.
“On
Wednesday, the school sent out an email saying anyone who participated
would be punished,” Moxxie Childs, a student who helped organize the
protest, told KABC 7.
“So I was worried that we wouldn’t have as much of the numbers, but we got a pretty big turnout.”
The Temecula students earned a shout-out from California Lt. Gov. Eleni
Koulanakis, who tweeted, “Proud of these California students who refuse
to standby while their peers are the subjects of hateful attacks. In
California we will always stand for equality and acceptance.”
A people united, cannot be divided.
And groups like Defense of Democracy
are forming to fight back against the hate spewed by Moms For Bigotry.
And Florida Black churches stepped up to the plate when Ronald
DeSantis' campaign of hate targeted history and facts (Ronald would have
your child taught that slavery was just a works program -- like a
technical school -- giving people the skills to fall back on later in
life). He's targeted women studies programs as well. Ronald hates
everyone and if you had that pathetic family, you'd probably hate
everyone as well.
XVI.
July 7, 2023, the US Justice Dept issued a press release:
A Florida man pleaded guilty yesterday to two federal hate crimes for attacking two Black women with a gun.
According to the plea agreement, using force or a threat of force,
Frederick Eugene Pierallini III, 27, willfully intimidated the victims
and interfered with their enjoyment of federally protected activities
because of their race and color. Victim 1 was enjoying her private
employment, and Victim 2 was enjoying a facility provided by the state
of Florida.
Specifically, on Sept. 10, 2022, Pierallini went to Daily’s Place, a
convenience store, located at 620 Chaffee Road South in Jacksonville,
Florida. Victim 1 was working there as a clerk at the register.
Pierallini attempted to buy snacks at the register, but his card was
declined. He then attempted to walk out of the store with unpaid
merchandise. Pierallini ultimately returned, scolding Victim 1 for not
knowing how to do her job and directing racial slurs at her. Pierallini
left the store, retrieved a shotgun from his car, pointed it at Victim 1
and cocked it by pulling the slide back to open the chamber and load a
bullet into it. Victim 1 ran away in fear. Pierallini used racial slurs
throughout the encounter.
Two days later, on Sept. 12, 2022, Pierallini approached Victim 2 as
she was sitting in her walker on the public sidewalk near 1571
University Boulevard West. He directed racial slurs at her and told her
that she could not sit where she was. Pierallini also threatened to kill
Victim 2. He then left, returned with a shotgun and fired a single
shot.
“The defendant is being held accountable for targeting two Black
women with a gun on two separate days because of their race and because
they were engaging in federally protected activities,” said Assistant
Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights
Division. “Racially motivated threats and acts of violence have no
place in our society today. The Justice Department stands ready to
investigate and prosecute individuals who target Black people with
threats and acts of violence.”
“The defendant in this case committed a vile assault on two women
with a dangerous weapon because of their race,” said U.S. Attorney Roger
B. Handberg for the Middle District of Florida. “These actions were
repugnant and endangered the women’s and the public’s safety. We will
continue to work with our law enforcement partners to counter crimes
like these with the full force of the law.”
Is it too 'p.c.' or too 'woke' for people to expect they can live in peace in their own cities, in their own states, in their own country? Every day, Florida becomes a bigger threat to peace and stability.
WASHINGTON
– Today, the NAACP Board of Directors issued a formal travel advisory
for the state of Florida. The travel advisory comes in direct response
to Governor Ron DeSantis' aggressive attempts to erase Black history and
to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Florida
schools.
The formal travel notice states, "Florida is openly
hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+
individuals. Before traveling to Florida, please understand that the
state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the
challenges faced by African Americans and other communities of color."
"Let
me be clear - failing to teach an accurate representation of the
horrors and inequalities that Black Americans have faced and continue to
face is a disservice to students and a dereliction of duty to all," said NAACP President & CEO Derrick Johnson. "Under
the leadership of Governor Desantis, the state of Florida has become
hostile to Black Americans and in direct conflict with the democratic
ideals that our union was founded upon. He should know that democracy
will prevail because its defenders are prepared to stand up and fight.
We're not backing down, and we encourage our allies to join us in the
battle for the soul of our nation."
The travel advisory was
initially proposed to the Board of Directors by NAACP's Florida State
Conference. NAACP's collective consideration of this advisory is a
result from unrelenting attacks on fundamental freedoms from the
Governor and his legislative body.
"Once again, hate-inspired
state leaders have chosen to put politics over people. Governor Ron
DeSantis and the state of Florida have engaged in a blatant war against
principles of diversity and inclusion and rejected our shared identities
to appeal to a dangerous, extremist minority," said Chair of the NAACP Board of Directors, Leon Russell. "We
will not allow our rights and history to be held hostage for political
grandstanding. The NAACP proudly fights against the malicious attacks in
Florida, against Black Americans. I encourage my fellow Floridians to
join in this fight to protect ourselves and our democracy."
Following
Gov. DeSantis' so-called leadership in driving the state to reject
students' access to AP African American studies course in March, the
NAACP distributed 10,000 books to 25 predominantly Black communities
across the state in collaboration with the American Federation of
Teachers's Reading Opens the World program. The majority of the books
donated were titles banned under the state's increasingly restrictive
laws. The NAACP continues to encourage local branches and youth councils
to start community libraries to ensure access to representative
literature.
The NAACP encourages Florida residents to join this
effort to defeat the regressive policies of this Governor and this state
legislature. Interested residents and supporters can visit www.naacp.org for additional information and updates.
###
About NAACP
The
NAACP advocates, agitates, and litigates for the civil rights due to
Black America. Our legacy is built on the foundation of grassroots
activism by the biggest civil rights pioneers of the 20th century and is
sustained by 21st century activists. From classrooms and courtrooms to
city halls and Congress, our network of members across the country works
to secure the social and political power that will end race-based
discrimination. That work is rooted in racial equity, civic engagement,
and supportive policies and institutions for all marginalized people. We
are committed to a world without racism where Black people enjoy
equitable opportunities in thriving communities.
Neo-Nazis have been ecstatic in the wake of their headline-grabbing
action outside Orlando earlier this month. White nationalists with
handles like “Dietrich,” “Red Pill,” and “Scotty Big Balls” greeted each
other with shouts of “Hail victory!” on a Sept. 10 Telegram livestream.
Echoing the sentiments of many participants, “Combat Carl” told
listeners it was “probably the best weekend of my life.”
The march represented a merger of two neo-Nazi hate groups with
different styles — the hard-edged BloodTribe, aka Blutstamm, whose
Maine-based leader Christopher Pohlhaus has a runic face tattoo goes and
goes by the name “Hammer”; and the Goyim Defense League, a meme-savvy
group whose antisemitism is steeped in layers of irony, led by Jon
Minadeo II, who calls himself “Handsome Truth.” This was the largest,
but only the latest, of a series of high-profile neo-Nazi actions in
Florida.
More than 50 members of both groups joined together on Sept. 2 —
wearing red shirts and dark shorts, with most covering their faces with
black masks. Some toted massive swastika flags, and their hate march
culminated with a demonstration on a freeway overpass in Altamonte
Springs, where the neo-Nazis performed stiff-armed Hitler salutes and
shouted antisemitic threats like, “Jews get the rope!”
Many of these haters were not Florida natives. As detailed on the
livestream, they’d traveled from as far Canada and California, spending
thousands of dollars on flights and hotels to participate in this show
of intimidation in the Sunshine State. And this joint mobilization was
augmented, on the same day, by a third neo-Nazi group that rallied just a
few miles away, outside DisneyWorld. Members of the Order of the Black
Sun staked out an entrance to “the most magical place on Earth,” holding
placards reading: “Have you thanked Hitler today?”
Florida has in recent weeks been something of a magnet for hate, amid
burgeoning neo-Nazi activity nationally. The dark rhetoric about hanging
Jews followed just a weekend after the mass killing in Jacksonville,
Florida, where the gunman, who scrawled a swastika on his AR-15 style
rifle, murdered three Black victims at a Dollar General, before killing
himself.
A white man in his early 20s shot and killed three Black people
Saturday at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, with Sheriff T.K.
Waters saying the shooter “hated Black people.”
“This shooting was racially motivated, and he hated Black people. he
wanted to kill n——. That’s the one and only time I’ll use that word,”
Waters said, referencing the racial slur.
The sheriff, at a news conference Saturday, said two males and one
female — all Black — were killed in the shootings, and the shooter
killed himself. He had been armed with an AR-15 style rifle and a
handgun, with the rifle showing several swastikas.
The past two years have seen a significant increase in extremist
related incidents both nationwide and in the state of Florida. These
incidents have been driven, in part, by widespread disinformation and
conspiracy theories which have animated extremists and fueled
antisemitism. The result: unrest and violence, from the January 6
insurrection to white supremacist activity to a spike in hate crimes.
In Florida, new white supremacist groups have formed, including White Lives Matter,
Sunshine State Nationalists, NatSoc Florida and Florida Nationalists,
while existing neo-Nazi and accelerationist groups have broadened their
audience both online and on the ground activities. Other extremist
groups such as Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys have
shifted their strategies to focus on the local level, disrupting school
board meetings and even running for political office.
Top Level Findings: Florida
Florida is home to an extensive, interconnected network of white
supremacists and other far-right extremists. This network, which often
collaborates in planning and executing propaganda distribution
campaigns, banner drops and in-person demonstrations, includes the White Lives Matter (WLM) network, the antisemitic Goyim Defense League (GDL), the New Jersey European Heritage Association (NJEHA), NSDAP (named after the Nazi Party of Germany), the neo-Nazi Sunshine State Nationalists (SSN), NatSoc Florida (NSF) and the National Socialist Movement (NSM).
Many of the individuals in this network, which includes dozens, attend
events organized by multiple groups giving each group an outsized
appearance.
Florida is home to the most people charged in relation to the
January 6 insurrection. Of the 855 individuals charged in connection to
the insurrection, 90 (10.5%) hail from the state of Florida.
Hate crimes continued to rise in the state of Florida over the last several years. According to the FBI’s 2020 Hate Crime Statistics report
(the most recent data available), 56.1% of nationally reported
religion-based hate crimes in 2020 targeted the Jewish community. In
Florida, hate crimes against Jews accounted for 80% of the religiously
motivated incidents in 2020, and antisemitic hate crimes have risen 300%
since 2012.
Florida has seen a dramatic rise in antisemitic incidents, according to ADL’s annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents.
In 2021, the number of reported incidents increased 50% over 2020
numbers, rising from 127 to 190. This included 142 instances of
harassment, 47 instances of vandalism and one antisemitic assault.
In August of 2022, COE found a significant increase in violent
rhetoric in right-wing online spaces following the FBI search of former
President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property. Threats have largely
targeted federal law enforcement and Department of Justice officials,
including specific law enforcement officers who were onsite for the
search and magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, who signed off on the search
warrant.
XX.
How do you shut the hate merchants down? Confront them.
One
woman was on a customer service call when she got abused for sticking
up for pride. Her company’s pride posts on social media were ridiculed
by a screaming woman who labeled her a “Disgusting Human Being” as a
result.
[. . .]
The
caller was hopping mad about all the Pride Month posts from Hannah’s
company, “It’s wrong to glorify this (LGBTQ+) culture,” she shouted
aggressively.
Hannah’s response was as calm as it was devastating! “People have been glorifying straight culture for a long time.”
It really is that simple.
A
book about two penguins in love? It's not sexualizing children. A
teacher with a photo on his/her desk of a same-sex or non-binary
partner? It's not sexualizing children. Acknowledging the world's
truth -- that LGBTQ+ people exist and have existed throughout history
and exist all over the world? It's not sexualizing children.
The
way some hate merchants have grabbed for the vapors at the inclusion of
a gay or trans character is something to see. The term for this
extreme reaction? It used to be "homosexual panic." And we still think
these people are projecting. Bitter maybe because they pushed down
their true selves to fit in and now unwilling to let anyone else have a
chance at happiness or truth.
They're
hateful and small minded people. Confronted, they will most likely
move on. Why? They hate the entire world and they have so many grudges
to f**k. For example, homophobe, transphobe, racist and sexist Charlie
Kirk has so much hate already on his plate, he can always be seen
chasing -- like a dog -- the latest ambulance. Today? It's accused
rapist Russell Brand. Little Charlie -- deep in his closet, we're sure
-- feels so attached to Russell Brand that he's calling for a boycott of Burger King
because, in light of the accusations, BK stopped by advertising time on
Brand on RUMBLE. Charlie wants you to know it's wrong, so wrong, so
wrong. He gets down on his knees, that's how it begins. Isn't that a
song (yes, it is). Reality: An advertiser can -- and should -- drop
support for anyone accused of a violent crime. Stuff like that, in
fact, is generally written into personal contracts. It doesn't matter
-- though Charlie thinks it does -- whether Brand is guilty or not.
Right now, he's accused and Burger King didn't sign up to support
rape.
We're
amazed this is complicated to Charlie. Even as stupid as he is, he
should be able to grasp that Burger King can take their advertising
money where ever they want. Prior to the allegations, they were happy
to sponsor Brand's show. Now? Things have changed.
And things need to change in this country. When women are being targeted, we need to stand up. When people are being targeted for their race, we need to stand up. When people are being targeted for who they are and for who they love, we need to stand up.
The hate merchants worked their test case last fall by picking on a movie and seeing if the left would push back against them. There was very little pushback. As a result, the hate merchants think they can crawl out from under their rocks and be seen as part of polite society, as part of civilization. They're trash. And they're cowards. Confronted, they will back down.
History demonstrates that over and over. It's why progress is referred to as a "struggle." You have to be prepared to fight for freedom and rights. And you have to be woke to overcome a nightmare.
We're giving you the answers so you don't feel the need to click on garbage.
THE
WASHINGTON EXAMINER offers, "Gavin Newsom showed why the Left fears
groups like Moms For Liberty." Don't click, the answer's obvious --
body odor. Those Moms smell like a pack of mules trudging through the
Grand Canyon in August.
AMERICA
INSIDER features: "Can Democrats be Christians? New Poll Might Shock
you" to discover how hateful Republicans truly can be.
THE
HILL serves up: "Sarah Palin says Michelle Obama will be Demo nominee
in 2024." Saving you from clicking, Sarah Palin says it. Sarah Palin.
The woman who couldn't answer what magazines she read, remember?
THE
DAILY CALLER offers: "Vote Out The Senators Who Don't Want Fetterman
Naked On The Senate Floor." The answer may surprise you, it's Lindsey
Graham and Rand Paul. The two suffer from teeny wieners -- micro, in
fact -- and are so worried that the relaxed dress code in the Senate
could lead to their eyes being poked out by John Fetterman.
THE
WALL STREET JOURNAL insists: "GOP Candidates Head to Reagan's Library
as Party Drifts From His Ideas." Drifts from his ideas? Like Reagan
did at the end? So sad, 2024 and the GOP hopefuls all suffer from
advanced Alzheimer's.
And
FOX NEWS pitches: "Sean Hannity: This is my solemn vow to the
audience." Don't click, "It's what you expected, I never wipe after
doing number two."
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) went on a homophobic tirade against General Mark Milley in a screed demanding that the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff be put to death.
Gosar’s Congressional office released a newsletter on Sunday which claimed that the FBI, the DHS, and other federal agencies allowed the U.S. Capitol to be attacked by Donald Trump’s rioting supporters on January 6. From there, the newsletter went into blatantly homophobic terms as it blasted Milley for speaking with Nancy Pelosi after
the riot, agreeing with her that Trump was “crazy,” and assuring the
former House speaker that Trump wouldn’t be able to seize control of
America’s nuclear arsenal during his last days in office.
Here’s what Gosar’s newsletter had to say about the general, including the call for him to be hanged:
After
the riot was in full swing, the Chief’s request for National Guard was
finally approved. But even after approval was given, General Milley, the
homosexual-promoting-BLM-activist Chairman of the military joint
chiefs, delayed. Of course, we now know that the deviant Milley was
coordinating with Nancy Pelosi to hurt President Trump, and treasonously
working behind Trump’s back. In a better society, quislings like the
strange sodomy-promoting General Milley would be hung. He had one boss:
President Trump, and instead he was secretly meeting with Pelosi and
coordinating with her to hurt Trump. That is, when he wasn’t also
secretly coordinating and sharing intelligence with the Chinese
military. How this traitor remains in office is a question we need
answered.
Reality Donald Trump lost. Grow up and
get over it. Many on the left feel that the Supreme Court stole the
election from Al Gore in 2000 by crowning Bully Boy Bush. Unlike the
crazy Trump supporters -- and Trump himself -- we realized that once
Bully Boy Bush was sworn in, it was over. Donald Trump is an idiot who
thought, after Joe was sworn in, something could change things and make
him the president. C.I. repeatedly explained to everyone that it was
over. And long after the inauguration, when Donald would talk about
being 'restored' to the presidency and insisting Joe would be impeached,
C.I. would slowly go over how the Constitution works and how -- even if
Joe and Kamala were both impeached -- Donald would not be president. He
was not in the line of succession.
By
refusing to grasp basic concepts, these nuts have deluded themselves
for years. It is not acceptable for a sitting member of Congress to
call for the general's execution. You live in a world of nutty
conspiracies and you do not belong in Congress. If there was a
functioning House, Gosar would be referred for an ethics review.
Gosar, who reportedly sought a preemptive pardon for
his role in promoting Trump’s election lies in the lead-up to the riot,
has spread numerous deluded—and somewhat contradictory—claims about
Jan. 6 ever since, including blaming the riot on antifa and calling
rioters merely “peaceful patriots.”
Even his own siblings said in a 2021 ad that aired on Fox News, “There is no one member of Congress more responsible for the attack on the Capitol than Congressman Paul Gosar.”
Gosar, who has extensive links to white nationalists and Capitol rioters, has turned his ire on Milley in the past. He promised in
January to launch an investigation into “the effort to attempt a coup
between traitor Gen. Mark Milley and [then-House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi."
He was also the first House member to be censured in a decade in 2021 after he Tweeted an anime clip of himself murdering Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
As
we did in 2021, we're attempting to again increase book coverage in the
community. After a review posts, we try to do a discussion with the
reviewer. This go round, we're talking to Isaiah about his book review "Demetrius Sherman's BLACK COMIC BOOK HISTORY." So, first off, what did you dislike about the book?
Isaiah:
I disliked that it was so brief. It's a very short book. I also would have enjoyed
more illustrations and I hope the print copy had them. I read the digital
version available on AMAZON's KINDLE UNLIMITED.
How are you enjoying KINDLE UNLIMITED?
Isaiah:
It varies. My big beef these days is the search option -- and this is
true of books I can read for free with KINDLE UNLIMITED or buy with
KINDLE. I'm interested in the history of comic books. When I search
that, too often, the results are overflowing with comic books about
history. I've tried changing up the words and more but no real luck.
Got you. What did you like about the book?
Isaiah:
It's interest in the past. It's commitment to documenting
African-American accomplishments. I'd never heard of ALL NEGRO COMICS,
for example, until reading the book. That was a first for me. It was a one issue comic that sold for 15 cents and was issued in June 1947. There is a place for these books that really remind us and share our history. So little of it is known and that's another reason that I strongly recommend this book.
Jim, Dona, Jess, Ty, "Ava" started out this site as five students enrolled in journalism in NY. Now? We're still students. We're in CA. Journalism? The majority scoffs at the notion.
From the start, at the very start, C.I. of The Common Ills has helped with the writing here. C.I.'s part of our core six/gang. (C.I. and Ava write the TV commentaries by themselves.) So that's the six of us. We also credit Dallas as our link locator, soundboard and much more. We try to remember to thank him each week (don't always remember to note it here) but we'll note him in this. So this is a site by the gang/core six: Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I. (of The Common Ills).
