No Place in the Race

Last month, South Africa’s Caster Semenya, who won the World Championship in Berlin, became the center of controversy when her gender came into question. The IAAF required her to undergo gender testing, after winning the race by a huge margin. I’m sure her deep voice and strong features didn’t help either. When I heard about the controversy I was very taken aback, because i never knew that athletic organizations did gender testing. How embarrassing. A number of specialists were called in and following testing, she returned to her native South Africa where she was well received as “our girl”.

Today reports show that Semenya is biologically a hermaphrodite. She has no womb or ovaries and has internal testes. So now the question becomes, does her win still stand? The IAAF is forwarding the results to experts for further testing, but I wonder if that is even necessary. Being a hermaphrodite is a medical condition that automatically sets you apart from the rest of society and I’m sure it comes with loads of psychological and emotional baggage and a lifelong feeling to fit in. When you find something you enjoy, such as track and field and you excel at that, who are we, as a society and the IAAF as an organization to take away from her happiness? She should be considered what she identifies as. If she does not identify as a man, surely you cannot expect her to run against men, and to disqualify her because of a medical condition that she cannot change seems illogical. So in a world that caters to a sort of normalcy, where does Ms. Semenya fit in?

Check this link for the full article. http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/sep/10/caster-semenya-hermaphrodite-iaaf-test

“B****”

Well that’s what Hillary Clinton would’ve said if she could’ve. During a recent press conference in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mrs. Clinton got a little upset when a Congolese student in the crowd asked for her husband’s opinion. It was later found out the the translator mixed things up and they actually wanted to know Obama’s thoughts. Hillary’s camp blamed her attitude on jet lag, riiiiiggghhttt.

Random Question of the Day

When will the world’s obsession with Obama end? I’m getting a bit tired of seeing his face one the cover of all the magazines on the stand. Its almost May people!!!

Wall Street vs. Detroit

With the recent government ousting of General Motors CEO, Rick Wagner, I can’t help, but ask, why is the government being so hard on the car industry and letting the greedy bastards on Wall Street off scott free? Without hesitation, the former administration, yes that includes Bush and Congress, gave the banks a $700 billion injection, with no questions ask. Then in comes Obama and the new Democrat majority Congress and what do they do, they give the banks another couple hundred billion dollars. Now I don’t claim to be an economist but it is estimated that the banks lost over $3 trillion dollars, between bad mortgages and bad investments and Congress blindly gives them upwards of a trillion dollars without asking a single question as to how they are going to spend the money.

Now enter the executives from the auto industry. Congress gets caught up in the fact that they flew private jets to D.C., when coming to BEG for money, and Congress is not hearing it. They put them through the ringer. Do they think that the CEOs of the banks don’t have private jets? While all this nonsense was going on, I think Jon Stewart said it best on “The Daily Show”, to sum it up, he pointed out that at least they have a product. You can see what they are giving to society. The banks have no product and based on the current state of our financial institutions, they would be the last people that I would be giving money to.

The greed of the banks got us into this mess so what the hell would possess anyone to give them more money. Clearly the monkeys on Wall Street have a gambling problem and they are not winning. Millions upon millions of people will be affected by the collapse of the auto industry, everyday people, whose livelihoods and retirements are dependent solely on the Big 3. Between travels, I stay in Detroit and the effects of the decline of the auto industry have been evident for the last five years. Michigan was in a single state recession, prior to the rest of the country catching up. Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the country. Michigan is one of three states to have a negative population growth in 2008. This is affecting everyday Americans. These are the people that need the money and the jobs, and the only way that they will get help is if the auto companies get government funds. They do not need nearly as much as Wall Street has already received so, what is the hold up?

Nuclear Bullies

If we can have nuclear weapons, why can’t other countries have them? Why should we be able to wreak havoc on countries who cannot defend themselves against such forces? While I can understand that when launching a nuclear attack, we do not want them to be able to retaliate, why should we want to launch such an attack? What happen to common human decency?

Pope Benedict and the Spread of AIDS

During this week, Pope Benedict XVI will be doing a seven day pilgrimage in a couple of African countries. The primary purpose of his trip is to address the AIDS epidemic in Africa. This is his first papal trip to the continent, and I’m sure it has something to do with the fact the Africa is the fastest growing region for the Roman Catholic Church. Aboard the papal plane, headed for Cameroon, the Pope is quoted as saying, “You can’t resolve it with the distribution of condoms,” with regard to stopping the spread of AIDS.

This is one issue that I have always had with the Catholic Church. As a child of Ugandan immigrants, and a mother who is deeply Catholic, I was able to see so many contradictions and limitations with the Catholic presence in Africa. The fact of the matter is that I believe that the Catholic church should accept some of the responsibility for the spread of AIDS. The Catholic Church preaches that its members should not use contraceptives, limiting the access of condoms in countries that are highly religious. While I was in undergrad, I did a condom drive on various college campuses across the country in order to take them to Uganda. I was forbidden from conducting the drive on my own college campus because it was a Catholic university. When I transported the condoms to Uganda, I was told to be very careful and hide it within the confines of my luggage.

I think where the Catholic Church goes wrong is that it doesn’t acknowledge the fact that we are all humans, and all is inclusive of the members of the Catholic Church. By suggesting that condoms won’t help to reduce the spread of AIDS is suggesting that people do not sleep around out of wedlock, and we all know that this could not be further from the truth. So I say to Pope Benedict XVI and the rest of the Roman Catholic Church, please step into the 21st century and use your influence to help reduce the spread of AIDS.

Obama, I can’t hear you!

Below is the link to a video in which two officers in Seattle are seen beating down a 15 year old African-American female. The video has no audio but it shows that the attack was possibly a result of the young lady kicking her shoe at one of the officers. The video is hard to watch but it is something that we all need to see and be aware of.

This is just another entry in the book of the inJustice system. It seems that at least every month we are presented with a case in which white cops are beating down or killing a black victim. Even if the victims have committed a crime, there is no reason for the cops to physically harm them. Quite frankly I’m sick of it. I’m sick of it happening, I’m sick of cops being acquitted, I’m sick of truly influential people ignoring it or not doing everything in their power to expose it and change it. It is time for President Obama to take time out to address the racial injustices with regard to the justice system. Yes, I know that the economy is in the toilet and that needs to be his main focus, but damn it, everyone in his cabinet isn’t working on the economy and should we all just sit back and wait while the police continue to murder and beat down members of our community? I won’t take away anything that Obama did while he was in Chicago and in the Illinois State Senate, but while he was on the campaign trail and during the first six weeks of his presidency I have not heard so much as a peep from him on the matter. Please send me an audio clip if I’m wrong. So my question is, Mr. President, when will it be a good time to ask you about the racism in the justice system?

Etta James is Wildin’ Out

How funny is this? Etta James, legendary jazz singer, 71,  said “that woman…gonna get her a** whipped” in reference to Beyonce singing her song on inauguration day. Hilarious.

Affirmative Action 2009

Here we are, two days after President Barack Hussein Obama has been sworn in. the United States has officially elected and installed its first African American President and now the debate is, what does this mean for race relations in America. Too many people are under the impression that Obama’s presence in the white house will change the nature of individual citizens. Let’s all remember that Obama only received 52% of the vote. Over 59 million people voted for John McCain. I am not suggesting that all of those that voted for McCain are racist but I am saying that the election of Barack Obama does not mean as much for race relations as everyone wants to think that it does.

A friend recently shared with me an NPR: National Public Radio broadcast on which they discussed Affirmative Action. The conversation was actually had on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. How fitting. The two major contributors to the discussion are Shanta Driver, chairperson and national spokesperson of By Any Means Necessary, who advocates for affirmative action and John McWhorter, an author and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, who is against affirmative action.

McWhorter brings up a valid point of affirmative action needing to be based more on class as opposed to race which I can agree with. I have been saying for years now that the challenges being faced in America are the disparities between the working class and the upper middle class and upper class as opposed to race wars. McWhorter loses me when he states that “there is no documented benefits to diversity.” After he said that, I assumed he was an idiot, or some delusional white washed black man. After some googling, I think I’m correct. No benefit to diversity? Do we really need statistics and official legislation to tell us that diversity is good? The benefit of diversity is tolerance. Imagine if every American had five Muslim friends. Haha. If this was reality, then Americans would be more tolerant of Muslims and would not allow the media to sensationalize them as terrorists.

McWhorter also argued that a minority not being allowed to attend an Ivy League university is not the end of the world. He claims that his or her quality of life will not be diminished. He uses the example of a minority getting a degree from UC San Diego as opposed to UC Berkley. This coming from a man who attended NYU and Stanford for his post-graduate studies. If it is good enough for him, why is it not good enough for the masses?

This post was not supposed to be all about John McWhorter but after listening to the show, I just got caught up in his ridiculousness. I suppose the question that I pose to readers is, is affirmative action still necessary, and who is it necessary for?

Please take the time to listen to the broadcast. It is about 30 minutes long.

NPR: What is the Future of Affirmative Action?

Big Brother and the Bully

I will never attempt to present myself as an expert on politics, world news, international relations, or anything of the sort. I can merely present my ideas and encourage you to think about things that don’t necessarily involve or affect you, but things that are affecting someone else in the world and if nothing else, you can try to empathize.

When I first drafted this post, missiles were still flying in the middle eastern skies, over Israel and Gaza. As of now, a cease fire has been declared. A good friend of mine who works in the development arena predicted that the cease fire would be declared right before Obama’s inauguration in order to maintain the new relationship. He was right.

I have always been confused as to why no one has ever questioned the US’s unwavering support of Israel. Israel’s name is in every politicians mouth. Even on the campaign trail, many people were afraid that Obama’s election would equal “the death of Israel”. I would go into my conspiracies about the governments sympathy and protection of Israel (cough: Jew’s control most of the assets in the US), but most people would dismiss my thoughts as mere conspiracy.

Up until this war in the middle east started, my annoyance with the protection of Israel was only in passing, but now that they have launched an all out war on their tiny enemy, my annoyance has been brought to the forefront. On the few CNN clips that I have been able to see, the unwavering support of government officials almost made me puke. Some people were quoted as saying that “Israel had to defend itself”, etc, etc. I’m not saying that Hamas is totally innocent but just to be fare, Gaza Strip is a tiny strip of land about 25 miles long and 7.5 miles wide at its widest point for a grand total of 139 square miles, whereas Israel is an incomparable 8,522 square miles. And while size doesn’t matter, one can safely assume that Israel has an excessive amount of military power compared to that of Hamas. As a result I am totally against Israel launching a full out attack on a tiny strip of land where one must have known that most of the fatalities would be that of civilians. After seeing pictures of dead babies and children from the conflict, I threw my hands up and begged the universe to save the innocent people caught in the middle of this political conflict of ideologies.

According to an article on CNN, dated January 14th (http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/14/israel.gaza/index.html), the death toll in Gaza has reached 1,010 with another 4,700 have been wounded. On the other hand only thirteen Israelis, including 10 soldiers, have died in the operation in Gaza and from rocket strikes on southern Israel, according to the Israeli military. More than 100 soldiers have been wounded, most of them not seriously. These numbers show the uneven war that has been waged. A war that would be equivalent to the US launching an attack on Cuba or more precisely, South Africa declaring war on Swaziland.

I hope that if nothing else, Obama is able to help to ease some of the international conflicts, while it won’t be that easy, I’m definitely crossing my fingers and toes.

I included the image below because this solidified the nonsensical nature of it all for me. Sorry about the graphic nature of the photo.