Saturday, November 3, 2007

the "mess" in DC's parks



so I just picked up last weeks Washington Post's Sunday Outlook section which serves as an expanded weekend editorial. On the last page is a short editorial, couched by two large pictures, one dipicting "tourists" in Lafayette park in the middle of a bright sunny day, and the other "homeless" in Mcpherson Square on a dark winter night. The author of the editorial argues that DC needs to clean up it's parks. As the writer puts it,
After all, what self-respecting Washingtonians would want to subject themselves to walking through ill-managed, overgrown, dying squats of land sprinkled with a statue or two and a vagabond on every bench? It is a national disgrace taht the parks in Washington are such unbelievable messes.
so according to the author, the homeless are merely a part of an unbelievable mess. Furthermore, according to the author, the solution is a few landscape artists, and some cops to keep the homeless out. He is apparently embarrassed, not by the fact that there are homeless in "the world's most powerful nation." But that those homeless are visible in our parks. He ends the editorial with "Someone should stand up and fix our parks at once."

It is clear that he thinks only one group of people count as Washingtonians, and that everyone else doesn't even count as a human.

Sunday, October 28, 2007









Call the Police


one afternoon while

running

in my blue shorts, orange top and white skin


I heard a man

sitting across the street in is

gray pants, red jacket, and black skin

yell across the street


CALL THE POLICE!

CALL THE POLICE!

ONE OF OURS MIGHT COME AND TRY AND RAPE YOU

CALL THE POLICE!


And i wondered about the nature of pre-emptive fear.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Interview with Amazigh Blogger


I had to share this great interview with a blogger I much admire. It was written for global voices, a great website for keeping up on what is going on in the global blogosphere. Enjoy!

...Blogging was always a dream for me. It is attached to free and independent expression. I come from an area where red lines are still red. Blogging is one of many ways I chose to express myself without having anyone to report to but my conscience and my love for my country and my culture are above everything else. I blog for Tamazight, a culture and an identity that has always been oppressed and misrepresented.... more

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

"Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week" is what?

I don't even know where to start.
If you work on a campus where this is being organized please do something! The following is an article, there is also good analysis at defendcriticalthinking.org.

Are You Ready for ‘Islamo-Fascism Week’?

“Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week” is still three weeks away, but the event and a similar campaign from Young America’s Foundation are already setting off campus controversies and debates about tolerance and free speech.

Organizers — who are planning events at dozens of campuses — say that they are just trying to make students aware of the threats posed by radical Islam to the United States. Speeches are being scheduled on multiple campuses by such luminaries of the right as David Horowitz (chief proponent of the week), Ann Coulter, and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum. more...

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Let America...















Hello All,
So in the midst of my blogger silence, I thought I might put a few other voices out there. In doing research for a racism unit, I came across this piece of writing by Langston Hughes. Enjoy....
Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plain Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed-- Let it be that great strong land of love Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath, But opportunity is real, and life is free, Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me, Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.") here is the rest...