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Damn Right I'm over-sensitive
Author: Raine    Date: 04/08/2010 13:19:25

I just am so very very sick of all of it. I'm sick of racism, the xenophobia, the bigotry, the misogyny. Sick of writing about it, sick of reading about it and sick of it happening. I cannot even begin to tell you how much it hurts my heart and soul. Time and time again I have to return to this subject, because if I don't, then the hate will build up within me that mirrors the hate they sow. I refuse to let that happen to me. I refuse to let hate win. I was personally called overly-sensitive when I objected to someone for calling the President a n*gger. I was told the justification for using that word was because it's the same as calling me white. The anger in my heart started to boil. I can no longer tolerate the hate, and the roots from where it comes. It makes me hurt inside. It makes me sad. It really wounds my soul. So here I am trying to heal it by writing about it again.

Yesterday, After getting some serious pressure to clarify his remarks that slavery wasn't "significant" to Virginians, Governor McDonnell changed his proclamation that April was Confederate history Month to include - slavery. From TPM:
In a statement to the Washington Post today, Johnson -- who co-chaired McDonnell's Inaugural Committee this year -- condemned McDonnell's decision to proclaim April as Confederate History Month, calling it an "insensitive disregard of Virginia's complicated and painful history."

"The complete omission of slavery from an official government document, which purports to be a call for Virginians to 'understand' and 'study' their history, is both academically flawed and personally offensive," she wrote.
People are actually saying this declaration is a good thing, not because of the 'tourism' McDonnell said he thought it would promote, but for political reasons.
"It helps him with his base," said Mark Rozell, a political scientist at George Mason University. "These are people who support state's rights and oppose federal intrusion."

Said Patrick M. McSweeney, a former state GOP chairman: "I applaud McDonnell for doing it. I think it takes a certain amount of courage."
These are the very same issues that begat the first civil war: states' rights and slavery. We all know how that turned out. To be nostalgic over such a painful history - not only for Virginia, but to the entire country - is incredibly disturbing. Yet this is where we are in America today.

Over the past year or so, I have heard statements from politicians and pundits that are akin to the following:

They're lucky we brought them out of Africa.
Why can't the blacks let it go?
It was about state's rights, not slavery.
It doesn't matter anymore because we don't have slaves now.
White men built this country.


I still believe that with every generation, we will see less and less of this behavior and these actions. Until that day comes, the denial of it from those who commit such actions will be even louder and more hate-filled. Like a wounded animal, it is dangerous, but it must not be ignored. In this day and age, we still have people denying that our representatives have been targets of hate and racism. People deny that this exists:



To forget that slavery was a significant part of the Civil War is dangerously ignorant. Revisionist history is never good. We are not post-racial and we won't be for a long time. There is still work to do, as long as there are racial deniers out there. This is part of our history:

 http://publicliterature.org/archive/books/reference/wpcd2007/images/523/52313.jpg


Just as this now is:
http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/1398/slide_1398_20072_large.jpg


and this:
http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/teapartysign1sm.jpg


But hey-- Governor McDonnell is just appealing to his base and tourists, right? We live in a post-racial society where it's finally okay to celebrate the Confederacy in this nation, right? People should just be over it already, right? No-- it's wrong.

Damn straight I am sensitive to this issue. I pray I never get over it, because then - hate wins.

and
Raine

 

33 comments (Latest Comment: 04/09/2010 01:12:12 by TriSec)
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Comment by wickedpam on 04/08/2010 13:15:25
Morning all

Comment by TriSec on 04/08/2010 13:27:35
Morning, folks.



As a defeated enemy of the United States, the Condfederacy and all its symbols should be banned forever, just as Germany bans all Neo-Nazi groups and any visual references to the Swastika.



I will say, however, that as a Northerner, the only times I have *not* been offended by seeing the Confederate flag were at Gettysburg and Fort Sumter; I felt it was actually appropriate to display it at those locations.



Whatever the original reasons for secession, the fact that the symbols of the Confederacy have been taken over by an increasingly vocal and violent minority of seditious hate groups renders what they initially represented moot.



When the world sees a Confederate flag now, they don't think "Hey, I'm glad the south stood up for their individual rights against the Fed".



All I see is a racist hate symbol.





Comment by Raine on 04/08/2010 13:30:20
Mala-- Thank you for providing an opening Stub. I was on a roll, and forgot the time.





Comment by wickedpam on 04/08/2010 13:37:16
Always happy to help out

Comment by Raine on 04/08/2010 13:57:50
Quote by wickedpam:

Always happy to help out




This morning it was a particularly emotional blog for me. too much of this hatred has been bombarding me from too many angles.









Comment by Raine on 04/08/2010 13:58:23
the Vajayjay whisperer!

Comment by Raine on 04/08/2010 14:11:04
Here is something else worth pondering:



"You know when I was a little boy, there was an old negro farmer that lived down the road from us, named Monroe. He was ... (subtle laugh), I guess he was just a little more luckier than my daddy was. He bought himself a mule.



It was a big deal in round that town. Now my daddy hated that mule. Cause, his friends were always kidding him about, "They saw Monroe out plowing with his new mule and Monroe is going to rent another field now he had a mule."



One morning that mule showed up dead. They poisoned the water. After that, there wasn't any mention about that mule around my daddy. It just never came up. One time we were driving down that road and we passed Monroe's place and we saw it was empty. He just packed up and left, I guess, he must of went up north or something.



I looked over at my daddy's face, I knew he done it. He saw that I knew. He was ashamed. I guess he was ashamed. He looked at me and said, "If you ain't better than a nigger son, who are you better than?" -
Agent Anderson, Mississippi Burning





There is a strong resurgence in this attitude today

Comment by wickedpam on 04/08/2010 14:21:57
Quote by Raine:

Quote by wickedpam:

Always happy to help out




This morning it was a particularly emotional blog for me. too much of this hatred has been bombarding me from too many angles.













its very waring on one's whole person - I've lived in the south since about 1983 and I've never seen it like this. Its raw and unmasked, the people who hold these beliefs have become unashamed of it.



I think it just goes along with what I've believed for a while - people have lost the ability to be shamed anymore.

Comment by Raine on 04/08/2010 14:28:52
My sister's closely follow their kids on Facebook. I assist with that task as well. The kids know this as well.

Comment by wickedpam on 04/08/2010 14:34:36
Quote by Raine:

My sister's closely follow their kids on Facebook. I assist with that task as well. The kids know this as well.






My cousin, her husband and I all follow her kids on facebook - gotta keep the wild bunch safe and sound

Comment by Raine on 04/08/2010 14:40:40
Quote by wickedpam:

Quote by Raine:

My sister's closely follow their kids on Facebook. I assist with that task as well. The kids know this as well.






My cousin, her husband and I all follow her kids on facebook - gotta keep the wild bunch safe and sound


It takes a village, after all! :D

Comment by wickedpam on 04/08/2010 14:49:41
Quote by Raine:

Quote by wickedpam:

Quote by Raine:

My sister's closely follow their kids on Facebook. I assist with that task as well. The kids know this as well.






My cousin, her husband and I all follow her kids on facebook - gotta keep the wild bunch safe and sound


It takes a village, after all! :D






esp with that trio

Comment by Raine on 04/08/2010 14:53:36
It's also worth noting that April 17 is the anniversary of Virginia Succeeding from the union.

Comment by Raine on 04/08/2010 15:00:32
Oh look who decided to tweet again:



Thought it might help for those of you out there wanting information about the tragedy to use Twitter.



First thing that comes to mind is the dignity, compassion, understanding, and expressions of the miners’ families.



Second, is the incredible courage effort, tireless work, and professionalism of Massey’s members.



Third, is the amazing effort on MSHA's part to find the right path to rescue/recovery.



Fourth, is the work ethic and genuineness of Joe Manchin.



Fifth, is the huge number of supportive emails that I’ve received to which I could not possibly respond.



Sixth, the indignity of much of the media.



Seventh, the efforts of the rescue teams who are supporting us from throughout the industry.



Eighth, the response of local emergency services and community support groups and churches – positive.



Ninth, the tireless work of members of our spousal group and others to feed and make the families comfortable.



Pray for the families and the rescue workers.




Heartless bastard, Don Blankenship, CEO Massey Energy Who still hasn't paid the fines for safety violations levied against him.





Comment by TriSec on 04/08/2010 15:06:09
Ya know, if Munich declared April "Celebrate Nazi History in Bavaria" month, it wouldn't be received quite as well as Confederate History month.



Hell, maybe this Commonwealth should declare some Native American commemoration in the month of November....





Comment by Scoopster on 04/08/2010 15:09:29
Morning all..



Loving this weather, but I tell ya it's so nice I just wanna go take a nap in the park.

Comment by Will in Chicago on 04/08/2010 15:20:00
Good morning, bloggers! Excellent post, Raine!!



The level of hate reminds me of what I heard about during the 1960s, directed against such people as John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and so many others. The rhetoric is the same, and I fear that we will see an increase in the level of political violence.



In other news, it seems that the Chicago GOP's official website has decided to be what H.L. Mencken might have termed a gathering place for the booboisie.



Chicago Republican Website Features Topless Lady Alongside Rambling Column About John Edwards, Confusing Readers .

Comment by Raine on 04/08/2010 15:25:30
Oh look! Fox sides with Iran now!





Comment by velveeta jones on 04/08/2010 15:25:41
Ah... Virginia!

Frankly, I don't care who runs against this asshat in the next election, I will support him/her.

Comment by livingonli on 04/08/2010 15:34:53
Good morning everyone.



Based on what I remember reading, it seemed like this resurgent support for the Confederacy, sympathy for its cause as well as state's displaying the Confederate flag started when the Civil Rights Movement began which would suggest that this whole movement started as a racist reaction to the Civil Rights movement. Not to mention how many neo-Nazi groups in this country will display the Confederate flag with the flag of Nazi Germany.

Comment by Raine on 04/08/2010 15:52:06
It's just starting to hurt -- ya know? Those that exhibit racist tendencies are always the very last to see it.





Comment by TriSec on 04/08/2010 15:55:47
It's about 40 degrees cooler than yesterday....but I'm headed out for my daily constitutional anyway. I'm a brisk walk from the ocean (Dorchester Bay), so I'm headed that way for some invigorating salt air. (at least until the derricks get built, then it will smell like New Jersey around here.)

Comment by clintster on 04/08/2010 17:25:31
Quote by velveeta jones:

Ah... Virginia!

Frankly, I don't care who runs against this asshat in the next election, I will support him/her.




Actually, if I remember correctly from when I was a VA residente, the governor can't run for re-election, at least consecutively (maybe ever).



That being said, however, I would recommend getting out the vote in '13. Maybe we can even break the "opposite party" Presidency/VA govship deal that Virginia's had since 1977.

Comment by Scoopster on 04/08/2010 17:40:48
Raine & Bobber.... for Virginia!

Comment by Raine on 04/08/2010 17:42:46
Quote by Scoopster:

Raine & Bobber.... for Virginia!


oh dear... that would be a calamity!



We can barely govern 3 cats and a dog!

Comment by Raine on 04/08/2010 17:43:50
Quote by Raine:

Quote by Scoopster:

Raine & Bobber.... for Virginia!


oh dear... that would be a calamity!



We can barely govern 3 cats and a dog!


AND... let me add:



Scoopster for Rhode Island (You First!!)

Comment by Scoopster on 04/08/2010 17:55:03
Comment by Will in Chicago on 04/08/2010 18:52:26
Quote by Scoopster:

Freep this poll!!




It looks like the Freepers have been to this poll a lot.

Comment by TriSec on 04/08/2010 19:06:51
Hey now, I actually ran for office last year, remember?



(and went to the committee meeting last night, but I'm saving that for another blog.)



Speaking of blogs, did you hear about this the other day?



I'm rather fond of this passage:





"...and reportedly features identifying anatomical characteristics like the distinct little horns on the end of its double-barreled male reproductive organs..."





Comment by livingonli on 04/08/2010 20:22:40
I think my housemate's cat is starting to govern me when I am home. She meowed to be fed before I left for work and I complied.

Comment by Will in Chicago on 04/08/2010 20:54:10
Here is an article that I would like to recommend to everyone here that is up at Huffington Post:



Power Struggle: Inside The Battle For The Soul Of The Democratic Party



It details divisions not just in the Democratic Party, but in the Progressive Caucus on how to move forward. I suspect that it may be better to rely on outside, citizen-based groups for support.

Comment by clintster on 04/08/2010 22:43:29
Paging Dr. Squeezy... Dr. Squeezy, report to the OR immediately:



When Sarah Met Shelly





Comment by TriSec on 04/09/2010 01:12:12
Ya know, I was going to blog about the School Committee meeting last night.



But since it went to 11:20 last night, I'm beat.



I'm having my Manhattan and going to bed.