Love you Chips! Thank you for allowing us to gather here. I am at work, yet I am too distracted to focus. I am pretty strong, but this has worn me out today. {{{Hugs}}}
Iâm white, GGail, and this destroys me - so, not in one million years could I even begin to imagine how this makes African Americans feel. I am just so, so, so, so sorry for what people of my color have done to you. That sounds meaningless, I really just donât know what to say. Iâm sorry.
Thank you Chips. I feel the pain radiating from this picture. I am white too, and just do not understand the bias of color in our society — and I never have.
Chips, you are bigger than the whole of the Congress, the Senate, most of the churches, and most presidents in your expression. I understand and respect your sentiment. I would do likewise if tables were turned. It has to start somewhere with brave individuals such as yourself. We are all responsible for peace.
We know that not all whites feel toward us the way that some do. You have both proven you possess the primary quality we need to create a more unified future—-the ability to look past oneâs skin color and see the value of the individual, and for this, I thank you. Chips, you have created a haven on your blog where everyone feels accepted, respected, and comfortable, and J4O, you have done the same with your upbeat, informative posts. Both of you, along with the many other wonderful bloggers at TOD, have been a unifying force in these troubling times, and for that, too, I thank all of you. I know I havenât been around much lately, but itâs because Iâve been remodeling my home and supervising landscape workers to get my yards in order. Iâll be so glad when I finish these projects. At this point, Iâm waiting for my granite counter-tops to be installed while Iâm re-painting my dining room. Thank goodness I decided to wait until I retired to begin this remodeling job.
Chips, your statement is one that should be made publicly by leaders like white members of the Supreme Court or Congress or even Governorâs (I am just so, so, so, so sorry for what people of my color have done to you.) This would be a start in the healing process.
thank you for putting this feeling into words, chips.
thereâs an attitude circulating that infuriates me: ‘hey, that all happened a long time ago, weâre not responsible for what our antecedents didâ etc. but itâs not the antecedents who are keeping the monstrosity of racism alive- it is the current population of america. and just because i donât personally credit it or understand it, i have to accept that itâs people who look like me that make these horrible events happen.
racism is alive, armed, and dangerous. and i am so, so sorry for all the vile acts of people of my color.
Chips, your feelings are not “meaningless.” They are full of empathy and humanity. As far as I am concerned, the cancer in our society, which has been resistant to change for more than four centuries, is not at all about white people. Rather itâs all about the pervasive doctrine/ideology/belief system of “White Supremacy.” Itâs no wonder the SC terrorist murderer valorized the confederate flag, as well as the flags of Apartheid, SA and white supremacist minority government of Rhodesia. Sadly, until the majority of the people in America decide to confront, head-on, the doctrine of “White Supremacy,” heartbreaking tragedies like this one will be repeated over and over again.
I know that the idea of ‘heavenâ doesnât resonate with everyone, but if there is one, I hope that all nine of those who had their lives taken from them yesterday find themselves in a special place, close to the God they were studying and worshiping in church.
Vicki, every one here at TOD knows these two wonderful men are the most dedicated and truest public servants imaginable. They give their all for their country and theyâre rewarded with hatred and contempt. Every day in this country is a lesson in the dimension of hate. I only hope we can one day summon enough love to drive out hate.
It seems Lindsay Graham has decides to help Dylan with his “lone wolf crazy person” defense. How very Presidential of him. Might work if he were running for President of the Confederacy.
Lindsey Graham recalls niece's description of #CharlestonShooting suspect: http://t.co/hafaDXKAaq pic.twitter.com/vWQqu0LB59
Lindsay Graham is no more fit to be president than the local trash collector. He is so filled with biases and hatred that he barely qualifies as a human being.
Hell Iâd vote a collector over that jerk. At the trash collector made an honest living and worked hard the last few years. More than we can say about Lindsay.
LINDSEY GRAHAM LEAVES ME WITH A FEW MENTAL HEALTH QUESTIONS REGARDING HIS OWN LEADERSHIP..LET ALONE SOMEONE ELSEâS CONDITION…GRAHAM IS A VERY STRANGE INDIVIDUAL!
i think you got it right- he is running for president of the confederacy. so are a lot of the rethug candidates. weâve been ignoring the clown-car joke, but thatâs a mistake- these issues are not funny, not a joke, and neither are the candidates. this is the most serious issue we face as a country, and the more we pretend the rethugs are silly idiots, the more space we give them to sow ignorance and racism.
I donât want to keep seeing this evil little manâs face all over the media any more. I want to see only the faces of the people whose lives he stole so that they are seared into the collective memory of our country. No offense to anyone here, least of all you, Dudette. I am more a lurker than a poster but I find looking at this person on too many tweets offensive. Sorry.
No offense taken ag. Iâm with you. We should be lifting up the people he stole from the world and their families. Keep scrolling down. Some lovely stories about the victims are emerging. They deserve our attention.
This is a tragic manifestation of what I have been talking about for a while now. I know I can be blunt and do not prefer to sugar coat the realities as I see them, so my comments concerning the plague of white supremacy in this country may have made some folks uncomfortable, but I welcome reasoned fact based debate (if what I say triggers your defense mechanism, you should ask yourself why). I know I am not alone in “feeling” or “sensing” that the racism against Black people in this country has been on the rise the past several years. PBOâs reelection was confirmation to many of these racists that they had indeed lost “their” America. In came the spread of laws designed to make it harder for Black people to vote. The media became more and more racist, giving Rudy Guilliani and others a platform to preach hate to throngs of pissed off white folks. Then the spike in state sanctioned murder of unarmed AAs by the police, with the media relishing its role as Devilâs advocate (they never met a cop they didnât like and never met a Black victim they wouldnât smear). In the political realm we had/have a large segment of the Democratic establishment lusting after white working class voters who (in a generational sense) abandoned the Dems because LBJ effectively ended de jure apartheid in the United States. They left the party due to itâs failure to adhere sufficiently to the doctrine of white supremacy, and Dem candidates for president want them back. Let that sink in. It is clear that the Dems will not challenge their racism, since racism is over in America, so says Bernie Sanders. So what actions will they take to go after the racist vote? Will it be Bernie Sanders blatant disrespect of African-Americans? Will Hillary revert to her 2008 version when times get tough (or maybe she can pick up trick from Elizabeth and call all Black folks “sexists” for not supporting her candidacy). I struggle for solutions, but the first step is to acknowledge the reality of the situation. White racism against Black people is not a problem Black folks can solve (at least not peacefully). All we can do is point it out to those who are not forced to personally endure its (negative) manifestations in everyday life in America (and hope they “believe” us. Hope they will one day SEE us).
Well said, EricFive. Racism is part of the founding of this country. Between the attempted extermination of Native Americans to the enslavement and segregation of Black Americans to the xenophobia facing Latinos and the Islamophobia facing Muslims, this country must face its racist past and present. If not, our descendants will be enduring the racism that we face today long into the future. Something has got to change.
“White racism against Black people is not a problem Black folks can solve (at least not peacefully).
All we can do is point it out to those who are not forced to personally endure its (negative) manifestations in everyday life in America (and hope they âbelieveâ us. Hope they will one day SEE us).”
I 1000 percent agree with you, Eric. Change has to start with children who need to be taught to love each other and revel in their differences. We need to check ourselves every day and never, never, ever let a racist or dismissive comment pass, not matter what the social situation.
Any time someone spouts the bs that ‘race relations have suffered under President Obamaâ, they need to be bluntly reminded that itâs not anyoneâs responsibility to make racists NOT hate them.
Race relations are worse because racists have been driven crazy by having a successful black President in the White House, and theyâre taking it out on the black people they CAN get to.
Iâve tweeted a bit, and in Spandanâs absence Iâm maintaining the Peopleâs View, so I put up a Charleston open thread. But mostly Iâve been diving into house projects to avoid the pain.
As I tweeted, how many more times does America have to “lose its innocence” before it confronts its sins?
The President arrives in Los Angeles, California.
Click here âş âş http://ktla.com/2015/06/18/president-obama-begins-2-day-visit-to-l-a-on-thursday-prompting-rush-hour-road-closures/
I do not believe that Dylann acted alone. “lone crazy guy” theory is the preferred narrative of stone-cold racists.
A vigorous deep investigation may make Dylannâs entire network own this horrifying act.
Who was he on his way to see in North Carolina?
yes, like the boston bomberâs friend. but really, everyone who heard him make racist jokes, wear racist symbols, and especially put a gun in his hand are accessories. also a culture that allows the confederate flag to fly over a state building. not to dilute the shooterâs culpability at all. but he wasnât born a racist.
And she almost didnât follow through, but instead of going on to work, she turned around and continued to follow him till she saw the police cars approach. We thank God for good people like her and her boss. She called her boss, who kept her on the phone and on another phone called the Sheriff.
Pinckney was a revered leader in his community, and was considered a rising star in the South Carolina Democratic Party. But as this 2013 speech shows, he was also a thoughtful and moving advocate for the universal values of freedom and justice, someone who could articulate not only the benefits of liberty and equality, but also the price that was worth paying to achieve them.
Jim Crow laws still on the books in S.C., still flying the Confederate flag but the governor doesnât know where the violence came from. Unfortunately, Iâm not very calm at the moment.
“Take Down the Confederate FlagâNow
The flag that Dylann Roof embraced, which many South Carolinians embrace, endorses the violence he committed.”
Ta-Nehisi Coates
“Visitors to Charleston have long been treated to South Carolinaâs attempt to clean its history and depict its secession as something other than a war to guarantee the enslavement of the majority of its residents. This notion is belied by any serious interrogation of the Civil War and the primary documents of its instigators. Yet the Confederate battle flagâthe flag of Dylann Roofâstill flies on the Capitol grounds in Columbia.”
Donna, your tweet is absolutely spot-on. From Jan 20, 2009, the right wing media, but especially right wing talk radio, have relentlessly preached the false message that President Obama, aided and abetted by his non-white supporters, is on a mission to destroy the United States. We forget that even
The President has been mad about guns since Sandy Hook, if he listened. However, nothing was done, and after another one, nothing was done, and another one, and nothing was done…..this has just built up, and we all reach a tipping point. Did Eric notice the President also mentioned the “culture of this town” with regard to guns. I think he is thoroughly disgusted. Our country looks totally uncivilized with these mass shootings. I donât tweet, but someone needs to tweet Eric with the reality about the President.
Wow! You read that way different from me. I donât think he was blaming POTUS. I think he was explaining POTUSâ frustration. He knows well that itâs the crappy do-nothing Congress who refuse to act. You point about Congress is well-placed though.
yep. thatâs the way I read it to. Eric was saying to the media and other racists “how stupid r you if you get donât why PBO might be frustrated or angry.
Stupid tweet that has no basis in reality! Did this idiot listen to President after Sandy Hook? Is he not aware of the comprehensive gun reforms he urged Congress to enact?
Interesting how the Media has not been interested in this Terroristâs family History?
Hmm?
Who raised him? What are their background, ideologically?
Who did he hang out with?
My first thought when I woke to the news of his arrest. Not a mark on his body - He walked to the car/plane - he wasnât dragged, he wasnât beaten, he wasnât pinned down with a knee in his back.
The House just voted to repeal the Obamacare tax on medical devices, the funding that generates billions of dollars for the law.
The final vote was 280-140, with 46 Democrats voting in favor. They are predicting it will also pass the Senate. This opens the door to degrading ACA even further.
I got an email from the DSCC today. I had thought that I had already unsubscribed from their email list, but apparently, I had only unsubscribed from a particular campaign.
At any rate, when I selected unsubscribed, I got a screen that asked that I continue to help the DSCC “support President Obamaâs agenda.” The AUDACITY!!!
In my comments on why I unsubscribed, I told them about their hypocrisy in that I had not seen their support of President Obamaâs agenda in the 6-1/2 years heâs been in office, and if anything, they distanced themselves from his agenda. I also noted their passiveness, as well as their silence when the President was under attack.
Its a small action step but when there is a comment opportunity I let them know simply that I support the Presidentâs efforts. Every group that sends me something related to thwarting the President will be unsubscribed.
Yes, Bobfr, thatâs true. Iâm just out of my mind about what the Dems are doing to this President and to all of us. All in the name of powerful lobbyists. Itâs disgusting.
part of their mission to defund obamacare…they will never stop…just as they continue to fight against SS and Medicare/Medicaid…food stamps….UI…Minimum Wage…etc…..this is who they are …
Yes and they have been failing at all that until the Democrats decided to give them an assist. Itâs infuriating and insulting to anyone who has donated or worked for this party.
Instead of going after The Confederacy, the Dems will target Obamacare. I guess they think they can win without sane white people.
Not to mention Latinos and African-Americans.
Instead of the boilerplate “thoughts and prayers” from our politicians, Iâd like to hear a pledge for action to stem the racism and dog whistles.
Every candidate who wants to be President should be forced to come up with a plan to reverse the ugly tide.
Dems who are veering towards the Southern Strategy, dog whistling to the white working class, should be dismissed out of hand. We canât afford another day going where we are going.
Liberal social views such as womens right to choose and marriage equality cannot be a sufficient reason to vote for any dem.
Show me How you will work to tear apart the last vestiges of The Confederacy and then ask me for your vote.
“We suck less than the GOP” did not work in 2010 or 2014 and it will not even come close to winning in 2016.
Rant over.
Politicians? Get off your overpaid asses, do your actual JOBS for the people who voted you in, and pass legislation toward preventing these mass murders.
totally with you on this vicki. itâs not enough to avoid dog whistles, either. this nation, at this point in time, requires that white candidates for public office take a stand against the proliferation and cosseting of racism.
this nyt oped from a few days ago underlines the true nature of the terrorist threat to this country, and itâs right -wing whites.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/16/opinion/the-other-terror-threat.html
You are so right, susanne. Too bad nobody wanted to hear this truth when it was presented to us, more than once.
Didnât fit the corporate media narrative.
The day after 21-year-old Dylann Roof allegedly shot and killed nine members of the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC, Fox & Friends claimed congregants could have defended themselves if someone had a gun.
But a timely study from the Violence Policy Center (VPC) concluded that guns are rarely used for defensive purposes. According to the most recent data thatâs available, there were 8,342 criminal firearm homicides by private citizens (non-law enforcement members) in 2012 â as opposed to 259 justifiable homicides. In other words, there were 32 criminal homicides for every killing of a felon who was in the process of committing a crime. And 13 states reported zero justifiable homicides that year.
As noted by VPC, the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) observed a similar trend in previous years. Between 2007 and 2011, 29,618,300 people experienced a violent crime, but only 235,700 â 0.8 percent â of victims used or threatened to use a gun in self-defense. Findings from both the VPC and NCVS supplement studies verifying that more guns lead to more crimes.
People watch too many movies. The average Joe is not Dirty Harry. They canât even keep from shooting themselves in the arm or the ass when the gun is in their purse or their pocket.
But if only everyone is armed, itâd be a Hollywood-style shootout with precision hits?
Bullshit. They wonât even let the gun nuts walk around armed at GUN SHOWS.
You have to have seriously fast reflexes to react, take a gun off safety (unless you walk around locked and loaded), and fire. Iâve fired a couple of guns.
And in a situation where youâre at ease or otherwise off-guard and the intruder announces theyâre there to kill? The shock factor takes away any reaction time. Unless youâre walking around with gun in hand like youâre in a police shooting gallery, youâre not going to know what hit you in a real-world situation.
Tywanza Sandersâ last Facebook post before he was killed was a quote from Jackie Robinson: “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/shooting-victims-included-librarian-recent-college-grad-31873933
Remembering the Charleston church shooting victims
A gunman opened fire and killed nine people during a prayer service on Wednesday at a historic African American church in downtown Charleston. Their stories are below. Read our coverage of the shooting.
An officer from a large metropolitan area said that âmilitias, neo-Nazis and sovereign citizensâ are the biggest threat we face in regard to extremism. One officer explained that he ranked the right-wing threat higher because âit is an emerging threat that we donât have as good of a grip on, even with our intelligence unit, as we do with the Al Shabab/Al Qaeda issue, which we have been dealing with for some time.â An officer on the West Coast explained that the âsovereign citizenâ anti-government threat has âreally taken off,â whereas terrorism by American Muslim is something âwe just havenât experienced yet.â
i also just linked to that nyt article, in a reply above (sorry-hadnât read down this far yet). itâs an important anchor for the conversation we need to be having in america right now. because weâre not dealing with passive racism, which is bad enough- these are armed, organized, and focused racists. and theyâre not just in the south.
Vice President Joe Biden will decide on White House run by August
Vice President Biden may still run for President in 2016 and will announce his plans by August, according to a report.
Two sources close to the Biden family told U.S. News that Biden may throw his hat into the race.
Biden intends to decide definitively in July, according to Dick Harpootlian, former chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party. The two last spoke 10 days before Beau Bidenâs death in late May.
âI think he was seriously considering it, but he was seriously distracted by Beau being in Walter Reed (National Military Medical Center),â Harpootlian told the site. âI havenât heard anything to convince me to say that it wasnât still something he was thinking about.”
Vice President Biden spoke to reporters April 13 about a possible presidential bid.
âI havenât made up my mind on that. I have plenty of time to do that in my view,â he said. âIf I am wrong, Iâm dead wrong, but thereâs a lot the President and I care about that has to get done in the next two, three months and when you run for President youâve got to run for President, and Iâm not ready to do that, if I am ever going to be ready to do that.â
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>> House GOP's Latest Plan To Stop Obama's Iran Deal: Sue Him! @TPM http://t.co/eLr4cIqO6Jâ Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) September 10, 2025 C [?]">Open thread - Done and dusted Liberal Librarian
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Too much
Love ya {{GGail}}
Love you Chips! Thank you for allowing us to gather here. I am at work, yet I am too distracted to focus. I am pretty strong, but this has worn me out today. {{{Hugs}}}
Iâm white, GGail, and this destroys me - so, not in one million years could I even begin to imagine how this makes African Americans feel. I am just so, so, so, so sorry for what people of my color have done to you. That sounds meaningless, I really just donât know what to say. Iâm sorry.
Thank you Chips. I feel the pain radiating from this picture. I am white too, and just do not understand the bias of color in our society — and I never have.
Chips, you know you can always find a way to make me smile. In my heart and in my mind, Chips, you are more black than Rachel Dolzal could ever be. <3
Chips, you are bigger than the whole of the Congress, the Senate, most of the churches, and most presidents in your expression. I understand and respect your sentiment. I would do likewise if tables were turned. It has to start somewhere with brave individuals such as yourself. We are all responsible for peace.
We know that not all whites feel toward us the way that some do. You have both proven you possess the primary quality we need to create a more unified future—-the ability to look past oneâs skin color and see the value of the individual, and for this, I thank you. Chips, you have created a haven on your blog where everyone feels accepted, respected, and comfortable, and J4O, you have done the same with your upbeat, informative posts. Both of you, along with the many other wonderful bloggers at TOD, have been a unifying force in these troubling times, and for that, too, I thank all of you. I know I havenât been around much lately, but itâs because Iâve been remodeling my home and supervising landscape workers to get my yards in order. Iâll be so glad when I finish these projects. At this point, Iâm waiting for my granite counter-tops to be installed while Iâm re-painting my dining room. Thank goodness I decided to wait until I retired to begin this remodeling job.
Chips, your statement is one that should be made publicly by leaders like white members of the Supreme Court or Congress or even Governorâs (I am just so, so, so, so sorry for what people of my color have done to you.) This would be a start in the healing process.
Instead, we hear excuses.
Love you Chips! Really. Seriously.
thank you for putting this feeling into words, chips.
thereâs an attitude circulating that infuriates me: ‘hey, that all happened a long time ago, weâre not responsible for what our antecedents didâ etc. but itâs not the antecedents who are keeping the monstrosity of racism alive- it is the current population of america. and just because i donât personally credit it or understand it, i have to accept that itâs people who look like me that make these horrible events happen.
racism is alive, armed, and dangerous. and i am so, so sorry for all the vile acts of people of my color.
Chips, your feelings are not “meaningless.” They are full of empathy and humanity. As far as I am concerned, the cancer in our society, which has been resistant to change for more than four centuries, is not at all about white people. Rather itâs all about the pervasive doctrine/ideology/belief system of “White Supremacy.” Itâs no wonder the SC terrorist murderer valorized the confederate flag, as well as the flags of Apartheid, SA and white supremacist minority government of Rhodesia. Sadly, until the majority of the people in America decide to confront, head-on, the doctrine of “White Supremacy,” heartbreaking tragedies like this one will be repeated over and over again.
I am white too, and heartsick as well. There are no wordsđĽđĽđĽ
Hugs, GGail! Will be attending a vigil/ecumenical service at the Portland Bethel AME Church soon in hopes that love will eventually conquer hate.
I know that the idea of ‘heavenâ doesnât resonate with everyone, but if there is one, I hope that all nine of those who had their lives taken from them yesterday find themselves in a special place, close to the God they were studying and worshiping in church.
Amen JG, amen!
Twenty one years young with a heart so black filled with cancer , unbelievable
This photo of PBO and VPBiden is too much for me. Iâm sobbing.
Vicki, every one here at TOD knows these two wonderful men are the most dedicated and truest public servants imaginable. They give their all for their country and theyâre rewarded with hatred and contempt. Every day in this country is a lesson in the dimension of hate. I only hope we can one day summon enough love to drive out hate.
THIS PHOTO….SAYS IT ALL………………………………
So much for any one person to bear
It seems Lindsay Graham has decides to help Dylan with his “lone wolf crazy person” defense. How very Presidential of him. Might work if he were running for President of the Confederacy.
that guy looks completely evil.
Because he is.
Lindsay Graham is no more fit to be president than the local trash collector. He is so filled with biases and hatred that he barely qualifies as a human being.
Hell Iâd vote a collector over that jerk. At the trash collector made an honest living and worked hard the last few years. More than we can say about Lindsay.
LINDSEY GRAHAM LEAVES ME WITH A FEW MENTAL HEALTH QUESTIONS REGARDING HIS OWN LEADERSHIP..LET ALONE SOMEONE ELSEâS CONDITION…GRAHAM IS A VERY STRANGE INDIVIDUAL!
i think you got it right- he is running for president of the confederacy. so are a lot of the rethug candidates. weâve been ignoring the clown-car joke, but thatâs a mistake- these issues are not funny, not a joke, and neither are the candidates. this is the most serious issue we face as a country, and the more we pretend the rethugs are silly idiots, the more space we give them to sow ignorance and racism.
I donât want to keep seeing this evil little manâs face all over the media any more. I want to see only the faces of the people whose lives he stole so that they are seared into the collective memory of our country. No offense to anyone here, least of all you, Dudette. I am more a lurker than a poster but I find looking at this person on too many tweets offensive. Sorry.
No offense taken ag. Iâm with you. We should be lifting up the people he stole from the world and their families. Keep scrolling down. Some lovely stories about the victims are emerging. They deserve our attention.
This is a tragic manifestation of what I have been talking about for a while now. I know I can be blunt and do not prefer to sugar coat the realities as I see them, so my comments concerning the plague of white supremacy in this country may have made some folks uncomfortable, but I welcome reasoned fact based debate (if what I say triggers your defense mechanism, you should ask yourself why). I know I am not alone in “feeling” or “sensing” that the racism against Black people in this country has been on the rise the past several years. PBOâs reelection was confirmation to many of these racists that they had indeed lost “their” America. In came the spread of laws designed to make it harder for Black people to vote. The media became more and more racist, giving Rudy Guilliani and others a platform to preach hate to throngs of pissed off white folks. Then the spike in state sanctioned murder of unarmed AAs by the police, with the media relishing its role as Devilâs advocate (they never met a cop they didnât like and never met a Black victim they wouldnât smear). In the political realm we had/have a large segment of the Democratic establishment lusting after white working class voters who (in a generational sense) abandoned the Dems because LBJ effectively ended de jure apartheid in the United States. They left the party due to itâs failure to adhere sufficiently to the doctrine of white supremacy, and Dem candidates for president want them back. Let that sink in. It is clear that the Dems will not challenge their racism, since racism is over in America, so says Bernie Sanders. So what actions will they take to go after the racist vote? Will it be Bernie Sanders blatant disrespect of African-Americans? Will Hillary revert to her 2008 version when times get tough (or maybe she can pick up trick from Elizabeth and call all Black folks “sexists” for not supporting her candidacy). I struggle for solutions, but the first step is to acknowledge the reality of the situation. White racism against Black people is not a problem Black folks can solve (at least not peacefully). All we can do is point it out to those who are not forced to personally endure its (negative) manifestations in everyday life in America (and hope they “believe” us. Hope they will one day SEE us).
Well said, EricFive. Racism is part of the founding of this country. Between the attempted extermination of Native Americans to the enslavement and segregation of Black Americans to the xenophobia facing Latinos and the Islamophobia facing Muslims, this country must face its racist past and present. If not, our descendants will be enduring the racism that we face today long into the future. Something has got to change.
Thank you Eric…
“White racism against Black people is not a problem Black folks can solve (at least not peacefully).
All we can do is point it out to those who are not forced to personally endure its (negative) manifestations in everyday life in America (and hope they âbelieveâ us. Hope they will one day SEE us).”
<3
I 1000 percent agree with you, Eric. Change has to start with children who need to be taught to love each other and revel in their differences. We need to check ourselves every day and never, never, ever let a racist or dismissive comment pass, not matter what the social situation.
Any time someone spouts the bs that ‘race relations have suffered under President Obamaâ, they need to be bluntly reminded that itâs not anyoneâs responsibility to make racists NOT hate them.
Race relations are worse because racists have been driven crazy by having a successful black President in the White House, and theyâre taking it out on the black people they CAN get to.
Well said, EricFive!
Is it true that the Confederate flag is not flying at half-staff?
South Carolina still flies the confederate flag and the state really wonders why crimes like this shooting spree happen? Just wow!
So much pain on their faces. Time and time again they have to do this and shoulder this herculean task.
I am thankful we have them at the helm and I send comfort their way.
More great work, NW!
Great, great, tweets, Nerdy Wonka! You are an incredibly amazing person.
Good afternoon / evening, friends.
Iâve tweeted a bit, and in Spandanâs absence Iâm maintaining the Peopleâs View, so I put up a Charleston open thread. But mostly Iâve been diving into house projects to avoid the pain.
As I tweeted, how many more times does America have to “lose its innocence” before it confronts its sins?
The President arrives in Los Angeles, California.
Click here âş âş http://ktla.com/2015/06/18/president-obama-begins-2-day-visit-to-l-a-on-thursday-prompting-rush-hour-road-closures/
Thanks JER.
I canât even muster up any excitement today for my Presidentâs arrival.
Iâm going to get me a corned beef sandwich on my way home for dinner. I need comfort food tonight.
Yes, GGail it is truly a sad day.
{{{{JER}}}}
And of course, now I come to find out that one of the dead was a librarian. Someone who devoted her life to her community.
Theyâre going to name a branch after her LL.
Such a tragic loss, not just for their families, friends and fellow church members, but the whole community.
I saw that earlier, and thought of you, LL. Library manager, I believe.
Absolutely horrendous to lose nine innocent and precious people; both young and old.
I do not believe that Dylann acted alone. “lone crazy guy” theory is the preferred narrative of stone-cold racists.
A vigorous deep investigation may make Dylannâs entire network own this horrifying act.
Who was he on his way to see in North Carolina?
Dylann Storm Roof. Doesnât “Storm” have a white supremacy association of some kind? If this is nuts, please ignore me.
I googled it.
Storm Front is a white supremacy organization.
Know them… Say their names
Glad I refreshed because I was getting ready to sharethat story. No words. Heartbreaking and senseless.
:-)
I asked same question.
One might say that makes the roommate an accessory.
THIS!
yes, like the boston bomberâs friend. but really, everyone who heard him make racist jokes, wear racist symbols, and especially put a gun in his hand are accessories. also a culture that allows the confederate flag to fly over a state building. not to dilute the shooterâs culpability at all. but he wasnât born a racist.
Amen
Truth.
that is what I am saying
Indeed!
Thank you Ms Dill for saying something
There ya go: If you see something, say something!
Imagine the horror and guilt for her, if she hadnât done so and he hurt or killed others!
And she almost didnât follow through, but instead of going on to work, she turned around and continued to follow him till she saw the police cars approach. We thank God for good people like her and her boss. She called her boss, who kept her on the phone and on another phone called the Sheriff.
I went back to the previous Post because I wanted to hear this and I think we all should listen to this. It is Rev/Senator Pickney
http://www.vox.com/2015/6/18/8803849/charleston-shooting-clementa-pinckney-speech
Pinckney was a revered leader in his community, and was considered a rising star in the South Carolina Democratic Party. But as this 2013 speech shows, he was also a thoughtful and moving advocate for the universal values of freedom and justice, someone who could articulate not only the benefits of liberty and equality, but also the price that was worth paying to achieve them.
Jim Crow laws still on the books in S.C., still flying the Confederate flag but the governor doesnât know where the violence came from. Unfortunately, Iâm not very calm at the moment.
We are here for each other
{{{ dakota }}}
Thank you sweet lady.
“Take Down the Confederate FlagâNow
The flag that Dylann Roof embraced, which many South Carolinians embrace, endorses the violence he committed.”
Ta-Nehisi Coates
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/06/take-down-the-confederate-flag-now/396290/
“Visitors to Charleston have long been treated to South Carolinaâs attempt to clean its history and depict its secession as something other than a war to guarantee the enslavement of the majority of its residents. This notion is belied by any serious interrogation of the Civil War and the primary documents of its instigators. Yet the Confederate battle flagâthe flag of Dylann Roofâstill flies on the Capitol grounds in Columbia.”
I just read that itâs against the law to take down the confederate flag in SC. How can that even be true?
Dear Meta - if true, they surely have some racist hateful laws in SC
Yes, Donna.
The idea is to distract people from their true enemies—the rich and greedy who are bleeding the rest of us dry.
Donna, your tweet is absolutely spot-on. From Jan 20, 2009, the right wing media, but especially right wing talk radio, have relentlessly preached the false message that President Obama, aided and abetted by his non-white supporters, is on a mission to destroy the United States. We forget that even
And now in a prison stripes with orange shoes and being flown back to SC from Shelby, NC Municipal Airport.
The President has been mad about guns since Sandy Hook, if he listened. However, nothing was done, and after another one, nothing was done, and another one, and nothing was done…..this has just built up, and we all reach a tipping point. Did Eric notice the President also mentioned the “culture of this town” with regard to guns. I think he is thoroughly disgusted. Our country looks totally uncivilized with these mass shootings. I donât tweet, but someone needs to tweet Eric with the reality about the President.
He know, carolyn. I believe the “question” in his tweet was a rhetorical device. [Eric writes for Media Matters]
knows. (Sorry)
Wow! You read that way different from me. I donât think he was blaming POTUS. I think he was explaining POTUSâ frustration. He knows well that itâs the crappy do-nothing Congress who refuse to act. You point about Congress is well-placed though.
yep. thatâs the way I read it to. Eric was saying to the media and other racists “how stupid r you if you get donât why PBO might be frustrated or angry.
Then he should have said that….
Stupid tweet that has no basis in reality! Did this idiot listen to President after Sandy Hook? Is he not aware of the comprehensive gun reforms he urged Congress to enact?
Interesting how the Media has not been interested in this Terroristâs family History?
Hmm?
Who raised him? What are their background, ideologically?
Who did he hang out with?
They named him Storm.
this.
My first thought when I woke to the news of his arrest. Not a mark on his body - He walked to the car/plane - he wasnât dragged, he wasnât beaten, he wasnât pinned down with a knee in his back.
The House just voted to repeal the Obamacare tax on medical devices, the funding that generates billions of dollars for the law.
The final vote was 280-140, with 46 Democrats voting in favor. They are predicting it will also pass the Senate. This opens the door to degrading ACA even further.
WHAT THE HELL???
I am sick to my stomach.
I am beyond frustrated with the Democrats in Congress. If it werenât for PBO… ugh ugh :mad:
I got an email from the DSCC today. I had thought that I had already unsubscribed from their email list, but apparently, I had only unsubscribed from a particular campaign.
At any rate, when I selected unsubscribed, I got a screen that asked that I continue to help the DSCC “support President Obamaâs agenda.” The AUDACITY!!!
In my comments on why I unsubscribed, I told them about their hypocrisy in that I had not seen their support of President Obamaâs agenda in the 6-1/2 years heâs been in office, and if anything, they distanced themselves from his agenda. I also noted their passiveness, as well as their silence when the President was under attack.
I am with you, Donna! Iâve unsubscribed from all the e-mails from the promoters of Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Hillary Clinton.
Its a small action step but when there is a comment opportunity I let them know simply that I support the Presidentâs efforts. Every group that sends me something related to thwarting the President will be unsubscribed.
Fortunately, meta, not enough votes to override what will certainly be a veto.
Yes, Bobfr, thatâs true. Iâm just out of my mind about what the Dems are doing to this President and to all of us. All in the name of powerful lobbyists. Itâs disgusting.
Iâm sorry, itâs not my day.
PLUS, HRC just gave an interview in Nevada and said if she were in the Senate, sheâd vote against the TPA.
Too much in one day!
{{{{{meta}}}}}
totally agree with you and this is indeed a wretched day …….
Thank to you and all here for the understanding. There are some days when nothing makes any sense.
Thatâs $25 BILLION cut out of ACA funding and they DID NOT vote for any replacement funding. This is INSANE.
part of their mission to defund obamacare…they will never stop…just as they continue to fight against SS and Medicare/Medicaid…food stamps….UI…Minimum Wage…etc…..this is who they are …
and as we know..there are DEmS that follow suit….
Yes and they have been failing at all that until the Democrats decided to give them an assist. Itâs infuriating and insulting to anyone who has donated or worked for this party.
Instead of going after The Confederacy, the Dems will target Obamacare. I guess they think they can win without sane white people.
Not to mention Latinos and African-Americans.
Oh well, let the gutting of the ACA begin.
The President will never sign that, if it gets to his desk.
No, he wonât.
They must be getting something out of opposing him so maliciously.
Chips / Nerdy, I think Iâve got a start for your next post. We should honor the victims by telling their stories. Details in this article.
Instead of the boilerplate “thoughts and prayers” from our politicians, Iâd like to hear a pledge for action to stem the racism and dog whistles.
Every candidate who wants to be President should be forced to come up with a plan to reverse the ugly tide.
Dems who are veering towards the Southern Strategy, dog whistling to the white working class, should be dismissed out of hand. We canât afford another day going where we are going.
Liberal social views such as womens right to choose and marriage equality cannot be a sufficient reason to vote for any dem.
Show me How you will work to tear apart the last vestiges of The Confederacy and then ask me for your vote.
“We suck less than the GOP” did not work in 2010 or 2014 and it will not even come close to winning in 2016.
Rant over.
Thus!
And This! :-)
Yes, so sick of seeing politicians “pray”.
The community? Yes.
Politicians? Get off your overpaid asses, do your actual JOBS for the people who voted you in, and pass legislation toward preventing these mass murders.
THIS!
totally with you on this vicki. itâs not enough to avoid dog whistles, either. this nation, at this point in time, requires that white candidates for public office take a stand against the proliferation and cosseting of racism.
this nyt oped from a few days ago underlines the true nature of the terrorist threat to this country, and itâs right -wing whites.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/16/opinion/the-other-terror-threat.html
You are so right, susanne. Too bad nobody wanted to hear this truth when it was presented to us, more than once.
Didnât fit the corporate media narrative.
Exactly, Vicki!
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2015/06/18/3671392/study-people-use-guns-self-defense/
The day after 21-year-old Dylann Roof allegedly shot and killed nine members of the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC, Fox & Friends claimed congregants could have defended themselves if someone had a gun.
But a timely study from the Violence Policy Center (VPC) concluded that guns are rarely used for defensive purposes. According to the most recent data thatâs available, there were 8,342 criminal firearm homicides by private citizens (non-law enforcement members) in 2012 â as opposed to 259 justifiable homicides. In other words, there were 32 criminal homicides for every killing of a felon who was in the process of committing a crime. And 13 states reported zero justifiable homicides that year.
As noted by VPC, the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) observed a similar trend in previous years. Between 2007 and 2011, 29,618,300 people experienced a violent crime, but only 235,700 â 0.8 percent â of victims used or threatened to use a gun in self-defense. Findings from both the VPC and NCVS supplement studies verifying that more guns lead to more crimes.
Always with that idiotic defense.
People watch too many movies. The average Joe is not Dirty Harry. They canât even keep from shooting themselves in the arm or the ass when the gun is in their purse or their pocket.
But if only everyone is armed, itâd be a Hollywood-style shootout with precision hits?
Bullshit. They wonât even let the gun nuts walk around armed at GUN SHOWS.
You have to have seriously fast reflexes to react, take a gun off safety (unless you walk around locked and loaded), and fire. Iâve fired a couple of guns.
And in a situation where youâre at ease or otherwise off-guard and the intruder announces theyâre there to kill? The shock factor takes away any reaction time. Unless youâre walking around with gun in hand like youâre in a police shooting gallery, youâre not going to know what hit you in a real-world situation.
Tywanza Sandersâ last Facebook post before he was killed was a quote from Jackie Robinson: “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/shooting-victims-included-librarian-recent-college-grad-31873933
We always say that some folks donât see Black folks as human. We got an example of that last night. It wasnât just that he murdered him.
HE SAT IN BIBLE STUDY WITH THEM FOR OVER AN HOUR.
What kind of evil sits with the victims for an hour?
I honestly canât get past that.
I just canât.
For me, itâs the most unreal part of all of this.
Indeed. I can think of a word that describes it better than “evil”.
Canât think (sorry)
dd4O - that is AG Holderâs first ever tweet!!!
Amazing!!!
Hope everyone follows him.
What an entrance!
In_deed, Dudette!!!
Iâll say!
Remembering the Charleston church shooting victims
A gunman opened fire and killed nine people during a prayer service on Wednesday at a historic African American church in downtown Charleston. Their stories are below. Read our coverage of the shooting.
By The Washington Post
June 18, 2025
http://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/charleston-church-shooting-victims/
Where is The Donald?
amen Meta
Remember when they laughed at Janet Napolitano?
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/16/opinion/the-other-terror-threat.html?smid=tw-nytopinio&_r=0
An officer from a large metropolitan area said that âmilitias, neo-Nazis and sovereign citizensâ are the biggest threat we face in regard to extremism. One officer explained that he ranked the right-wing threat higher because âit is an emerging threat that we donât have as good of a grip on, even with our intelligence unit, as we do with the Al Shabab/Al Qaeda issue, which we have been dealing with for some time.â An officer on the West Coast explained that the âsovereign citizenâ anti-government threat has âreally taken off,â whereas terrorism by American Muslim is something âwe just havenât experienced yet.â
Will never forget, df. And, will never forget the way #NEWSTAINERS (aka White Supremacist media whores) castigated her.
Absolutely. I actually had family members that laughed right along with those newstainers….and chastised me for agreeing with her.
Hope enough blood has been spilled to halt their laughter, df.
We donât talk about it anymore…I canât forget about it though. He surprised me and saddened me when he did that.
{{{{df}}}}
i also just linked to that nyt article, in a reply above (sorry-hadnât read down this far yet). itâs an important anchor for the conversation we need to be having in america right now. because weâre not dealing with passive racism, which is bad enough- these are armed, organized, and focused racists. and theyâre not just in the south.
More on the confederate flag…
New post
http://theobamadiary.com/2015/06/18/this-is-what-happens-when-white-supremacy-goes-unchecked/
A RAY OF LIGHT.
Vice President Joe Biden will decide on White House run by August
Vice President Biden may still run for President in 2016 and will announce his plans by August, according to a report.
Two sources close to the Biden family told U.S. News that Biden may throw his hat into the race.
Biden intends to decide definitively in July, according to Dick Harpootlian, former chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party. The two last spoke 10 days before Beau Bidenâs death in late May.
âI think he was seriously considering it, but he was seriously distracted by Beau being in Walter Reed (National Military Medical Center),â Harpootlian told the site. âI havenât heard anything to convince me to say that it wasnât still something he was thinking about.”
Vice President Biden spoke to reporters April 13 about a possible presidential bid.
âI havenât made up my mind on that. I have plenty of time to do that in my view,â he said. âIf I am wrong, Iâm dead wrong, but thereâs a lot the President and I care about that has to get done in the next two, three months and when you run for President youâve got to run for President, and Iâm not ready to do that, if I am ever going to be ready to do that.â
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/biden-decide-white-house-run-august-article-1.2262465
###
HOPE
omg Joe. Do it.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!
_/I\_