Post from: Maritzia's Thoughts

We the People, Solemnly

A dog-whistle is a way for someone to say something offensive while maintaining deniability of it’s offensiveness. 

•  ”Oh, I didn’t mean it the way you’re taking it.” 
• “Don’t you have a sense of humor?” 
• “I meant xyz. What you’re saying never occurred to me.”

We saw a lot of racist dog-whistles employed in the 2008 Presidential campaign, and I’m sorry to say, we’re still not free of them.  Take, for example, this cartoon in today’s Washington Post (thanks to Feministe for her post on the subject):

The Washington Post will tell you that this was just a cartoon based on the pet chimp shot by police yesterday.  They’ll say it’s a reference to the stimulus bill being written by monkeys.  That’s what they’ll say.  But let’s look at the imagery of this cartoon.

1. Blacks have a long history in the US of being referred to as monkeys, apes, and gorillas.
2. Blacks have a long history in the US of being shot and killed by white police (after all, it’s been less than 2 months since Oscar Grant was shot and killed).
3. The same cartoonist drew a cartoon last month protraying Obama as the author of the stimulus bill.

So while the NY Post may portray this cartoon as an innocent mistake, I think that the cartoonist and the editors new exactly what it was saying and put it out there anyway, no matter how offensive it is to any thinking person.  And just in case I didn’t make it clear, this cartoon is portraying police killing the first black President of the United States and being flippant about it to boot.

This cartoon is a disgrace.  If you feel the same way, please contact the NY Post and demand an apology and a censuring of the cartoonist.  They should not be giving space to something this horrific.

Post from: Maritzia's Thoughts

What is a Dogwhistle

Dear Ms. Obama,

Thank you!

As a woman, I know how much it means to move to the top ranks in a job.  I know how much you are sacrificing for your husband to be able to lead this country.  Professionally, you’ve given up pretty much everything.  I know that the odds of your ever returning to your previous career are almost nil.  Personally you’ve given up your privacy, your right to your own voice, having to sumblimate who you are to the exigencies of campaigning and running a government.  So much of your own identity is sacrificed to that of your husband in a time when women are still striving to be seen as their own person even in marriage.

So, just in case no one else says it, I want to say thank you.  Thank you for the sacrifices you have made so we can have Barack Obama as our President, so we can regain the freedoms we’ve lost, and so the United States of America can prosper through these difficult economic times.

I’ve watched the clips of you and your husband dancing together at various Inaugural Balls, and it brings tears to my eyes to see the love and respect that you two obviously hold for each other, so I know he appreciates the gift that you are.  But I want you to know how much we, the American public, appreciate you as well.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.  May the next 4 years (and hopefully another 4 after that), be as peaceful and easy for you as possible.

Post from: Maritzia's Thoughts

Thank You, Michelle Obama

The Hard Decision

Hard decisions require going against what would be popular, knowing it would hurt you in the long run, but doing it anyway because it was right, regardless of legalities.  The hard decision regarding torture would have been very different from Bush’s decision.  The hard decision would have been to decide against torture, even if it meant possible  harm to citizens in the future, because torture is wrong.  It would have been making that decision against torture knowing that one day he may have to stand before grieving family members and admit that he might have been able to stop the attack, but chose to do what was right.

Bush Didn’t Make the Hard Decision

The decision Former President Bush made on torture was not the hard decision.  It was the expediant decision.  It was the easy way out.  It was a decision he figured he could easily defend before the country, because it was done under the guise of “keeping America safe”. 

And if this was truly a hard decision, he wouldn’t have taken time to get a legal position on his actions.  If it was a hard decision made because he truly thought he was doing the right thing, he’d have gone forward regardless.  Instead he took time to get legal opinions on his actions.  That’s not making a hard decision.  That’s covering your ass.

Thanks to all that is divine that that man is no longer in a position of power in our country.

Post from: Maritzia's Thoughts

“I made the hard decisions.”

May all the Gods and Goddesses bless President Obama and his administration.

I was at work this morning, so I was only able to watch his speech via streaming video. We tried about 5 different websites before we finally found CBS responding. Everyone else was overloaded, so I missed the swearing in.

Every time the camera switched to cover the crowd, new tears came to my eyes. There were so many African-Americans there. I’ve never seen so many people of color at an inaugoration before. Old, young, middle-aged. And I thought about all of the people I grew up with in the Army. About Popsy and Mrs. Harris, who are like second parents to me now that mine are gone. I thought about Little Eddie, who graduated from Virginia Tech last year, the first person in his whole extended family to graduate from college. I thought about Mrs. McPeters, my first grade teacher, who would never have been allowed to teach a little white girl if we weren’t in a military school.

I thought about all the African-Americans I’ve known, worked with, and loved over my 47 years, and I know that what I was feeling was nothing…NOTHING…compared to what they must be feeling today. This was a day I never thought I could possible happen in my lifetime. And yet here it is.

Today we have our first African-American President of the United States. And it fills my heart with pride that my country elected this man by a wide margin, despite ever-present, systemic racism. And I have hope, for the first time in my life since I first understood what racism was, that we may eventually see an America free of racism. Maybe not in my lifetime, maybe, but eventually.

Post from: Maritzia's Thoughts

Bless President O’Bama

No Whining Allowed

Now, I’m not one to put up with whining (unless it’s my own – I love to whine), and definitely I do not put up with people who are professional victims.  I believe that knowledge, and especially self-knowledge, should be used as tools for change, not as excuses for inaction, and I’m likely to call someone out when they do it.

But I can’t call Renee out here, because she is most definitely not a whiner or a victim.  Renee takes her knowledge of the world and racism, and she tells it like it is.  The problem, of course, is that most people don’t want to claim their own privilege. 

While I have my own areas of oppression (I’m a fat, frumpy, middle-aged woman with multiple health problems/physical challenges and a background of abuse), I am also a product of the privilege of my white, mostly middle-class upbringing.

Naming Our Privilege

I was privileged to be raised in a neighborhood with a relatively low crime rate.  Privileged to walk to school every day without fear.  Privileged to attend a school with good teachers and decent libraries.

I was privileged to grow up in a family where everyone worked because work was always available and was privileged to learn how to find a job, budget my time to get ready and commute to work just by watching my parents, because they were privileged to have jobs.

I was privileged to see someone of my race as the hero of every television show, every movie and every book.  I was privileged to see every relationship in public as that of my sexual preference. 

We didn’t have a lot of money, but we were privileged not to ever go to bed hungry (at least not because of lack of food).  I was privileged to always have wholesome food on the table, a place to live, clothes to wear and books to read.  I was privileged to have health insurance and available health care (even if the doctors were arrogant assholes).

I was privileged to see police as someone to help me in times of danger.  I was privileged to never see my father pulled over for no reason, assaulted for no reason, murdered for no reason.  I was privileged to never see my mother abused or raped because of the color of her skin, or feel her helplessness because she had no one to turn to when it happened, because police were something to be feared, not someone to turn to in times of need.

I have the privilege to pretend that none of these things matters in todays world, because I’m privileged to not have it happening to me or mine.  If you seriously think that you don’t benefit from your privilege, regardless of the types of oppression you may also have endured, then you are more privileged than you can even understand.

Own Your Privilege and Work Against It

Wake up, boys and girls, and smell the privilege.  Just because you’re so immersed in it that you can’t see, hear, or feel your privilege, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist.  Stop hating people for pointing out your privilege and understand why they’re pointing it out to start with.  Understand the systemic oppression in our society, and work to end oppression now!

Post from: Maritzia's Thoughts

Claim Your Privelege, People

Post from: Maritzia's Thoughts

Obama’s Weekly Radio Address

Today’s the day.  If you haven’t voted already, get out and do your patriotic duty!

I don’t know what to do with myself today.  I’m excited, nervous, hopeful, scared….

I wish I could afford to take time off my job to work the polls.  I can’t though, so I’ll just keep thinking hopeful thoughts all day.

Remember, if you have any problems at the polls, report it:

NPR Tracking Voting Problems

If you have a cell phone with you, you can call 1-877-US-4-OBAMA to get assistance.  The campaign has people on the ground across the country to help with voting problems.

You can also call 1-866-OUR-VOTE to get help.  This is a non-partison voter assistance program.

If there is a problem with your registration, resist taking a provisional ballot.  Use a provisional ballot as a last resort only.  Your vote is more likely to not make it through if it’s on a provisional ballot.

Good luck today at the polls!

Post from: Maritzia's Thoughts

Today’s the Day!

On the surface, it sounds really nice.  It simplifies the tax code, makes filing really easy, and everyone pays their fair share.  No loop holes to get out of taxes.  Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Well, here’s the reality of that plan.  Let’s look at two families of four.  Family 1makes $30,000 per year, and Family 2 makes $250,000 per year.   Family 1 would pay $3,000 per year in taxes, and Family 2, $25,000 per year.  Does that sound fair?  On the surface it may seem so.

But Family 1 pretty much requires all $30,000 of their money just to put a roof over their head, food on the table, and clothes on their back.  The $25,000 that Family 2 pays pretty much comes from discretionary cash.  It’s money they don’t have to have to survive.

Family 1 is shouldering a disproportionately larger burden because they have to juggle necessities to pay their taxes.  Family 2 has to pay less for their luxury vacation or their expensive car.  The money they are paying in taxes doesn’t come close to the money they need to live.

And, of course, Family 1 also had several thousand dollars of out of pocket medical expenses because they can’t afford to pay for health insurance, so their burden is even more disproportionate than we first saw.

And that, my friends, is the Myth of the Flat Tax.  Of course the rich support it.  The taxes they’ll have to pay will hardly put a dent in their lifestyle while at the same time they can take pride in paying “their fair share”.

Don’t give in to the Myth of the Flat Tax.

Post from: Maritzia's Thoughts

The Flat Tax Myth

If you’re a healing type, join me in sending some healing energy for her over the next couple of days. The word is that she’s deteriorated a great deal and her condition is very serious. It would just be so sad if she didn’t make it to see him win this election.

Post from: Maritzia's Thoughts

Healing for Obama’s Grandmother