The Harm That One Negro Can Do: Journalistic Malpractice. The Washington Post Runs a Story About Black People Who Love the Confederate Flag

 

I offer a question for a Tuesday night.

Today, The Washington Post ran a story on black Americans who defend the Confederate flag. The Treason Flag and American Swastika are symbols of white supremacy and anti-black violence. Yet, it has confused and wayward and bigoted defenders--apparently on both sides of the colorline if The Washington Post's story "Why this black defender of the Confederate flag says slavery was ‘a choice’" is to be believed.

Black folks who defend the Confederate flag belong in a human zoo; nevertheless they still have the ability to shape public perception and opinion.

Yes, and granting that it does feature racist writers such as Richard Cohen, The Washington Post is supposed to be a "journal of record". And yes, we do live in a twisted moment that is the bastard child of postmodernity where delusions and unfounded opinions are elevated to the same standing as established facts.

With those observations having been noted, would The Washington Post feature a story about Jewish people who are Holocaust deniers?

Shameless Self-Promotion: Chauncey DeVega on the RT Network and Ring of Fire Discussing the Charleston Massacre; The Podcast is Up and Running Again

As is my habit, just sharing some interviews about the Charleston Massacre from last week.

I did two interviews on the TV and Internet machine last week where I tried to broaden the conversation about the Charleston Massacre.

My first spot was with the good folks on Ring of Fire TV and Radio. I dropped a bionic elbow on the narrow discourse around The Charleston Massacre and tried to focus on guns, Right-wing domestic terrorism, and toxic white masculinity.

My promo was a solid one. Thus, I was invited back for round two on Friday as Mike Papantonio was sitting in for Thom Hartmann on the RT network's show "The Big Picture" during prime time. Mike was very generous as we put the pedal to the metal and talked about the deeper game where the Republican Party is willing to sacrifice the Confederate Flag and American Swastika in order to prevent any meaningful gun control public health legislation.

I was on point during that conversation--talking slowly, being pithy with my witty, and having fun with difficult topics in order to leave a memorable impression with the viewer (chess analogies are great; Michael Jackson allusions may be lost on some viewers). Of course, there was a "Dusty finish" (got to keep honoring the late great American Dream) as some damn interference popped up during the feed. Gremlins are mocking ol' Chauncey DeVega it would seem.

As always, please share any thoughts, criticism, or other insights.

The podcast known as The Chauncey DeVega Show is back up and running. The host's servers were down for 4 days. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. I am especially apologetic to the great guests Author Jonathan Lethem and Dr. David Reiss who should not have had their awesome sharing derailed by computer troubles.

To prevent this in the future, I am migrating the show over to Libsyn later this week--once that is done I will post the next episode early next week after the July 4th holiday. I appreciate your patience.

[I will post the new url and RSS feed info so that folks can resubscribe from Itunes, and other sources to the show.]

We have been doing too much great work on the podcast to have it derailed by technical problems. If you did not get a chance to listen to that last episode of the podcast please do so--between the great guests and the in the moment coverage of The Charleston Massacre--it is one of the best so far, and I suggest would hold up quite well against anything that you would find elsewhere.

I will be offering a proper thanks on the next episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show, and also on site next week, but I want to give some preliminary love to the kind folks who donated to the June fundraising drive that helps to support the site and my other online work. I am so appreciative and moved by the kind donations and act of sending me positive energy. Thank you, so very, very much.

The Whiteness of Science Fiction: From the Hugo Awards' 'Sad Puppies' to Dylann Roof and Harold Covington

I have shared my experiences with the Whiteness of science fiction on several occasions here on WARN and also on the podcast. I have also confessed to my embarrassment regarding my summer of "grokking", shame at discovering that Robert Heinlein was a white supremacist, and subsequently throwing his writing into the veritable dustbin of work to not be read for purposes other than strict critical inquiry, as opposed to pleasure or joy.

There is an alternative reality knowledge propaganda producing machine that sustains the White Right and the broader Right-wing Republican establishment in the United States and the West. I knew that white supremacist mass murderer Dylann Roof was radicalized by cyber racism. 

But, I was surprised to learn that there may be some "science fiction" elements to Dylann Roof's sitting under the white supremacist hateful murderer learning tree.

The Guardian and Raw Story are reporting that Dylann Roof was (in part) radicalized by "science fiction" "author" Harold Covington.

From Raw Story:

How Does a Former Military Intelligence Analyst Make Sense of Dylann Roof, the White Right, and Domestic Terrorism?

We have a very smart and eclectic readership here at ChaunceyDevega.com and WARN.

One of those essential voices and frequent commenters is James Scaminaci III.

I always feel smarter after reading his comments and observations about national security issues and military affairs. Why? Because he is a very well-trained social scientist who also has experience as a working, in the field, military intelligence analyst. 

In the aftermath of the Charleston Massacre, and the commercial news media's many deficiencies in their coverage of the complexities regarding that horrible event, I reached out to James and asked if he would be so kind as to offer up a guest post.

He kindly complied. There is some excellent and smart work in James's essay. I do hope that folks take his insights to heart as they work to protect the Common Good and keep America safe from white supremacist terrorist thugs like Dylann Roof.

**** 

I am a former civilian senior military intelligence analyst that worked for the Department of the Army at the U.S. Department of Defense’s European Command (EUCOM).  During part of my tenure I was a member of Joint Task Force Provide Promise that was tasked with providing humanitarian aid to the Bosniak (Muslim) victims of Bosnian Serb genocide.  I also served four years inside Bosnia & Herzegovina (B-H) as a senior intelligence analyst attached to the Stabilization Force (SFOR) tasked with identifying the networks of political-criminal power structures thwarting implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement.  Fundamental to that analytical task is understanding how words (policy and rhetoric) are translated into action, and, how words are used to frame and encompass a movement.

It is established fact that the genocide in B-H began with the Serbian Academy of Science’s false assertions that Croats and Muslims planned a genocide against all Serbs living outside of Serbia.  They were joined in this propaganda war by the Orthodox Church, which gave it a religious endorsement.  Promoting both of these efforts were state-controlled television, radio, and print media.  Of course, this propaganda barrage of Serbs facing an existential threat was the pretext justifying Milosevic’s attempted territorial conquests against Croatia and B-H, and, the genocide of the Bosniaks.

What has this to do today with the right-wing in America?  Everything.

A Conversation With Author Jonathan Lethem About 'the Culture of Disreputability'

Jonathan Lethem is the featured guest on this week's installment of the podcast known as The Chauncey DeVega Show.

He is the author of many award winning books including Dissident Gardens, The Fortress of Solitude, and Motherless Brooklyn.

Jonathan conducted a master class and did some wonderful sharing about the culture of disreputability, the movie They Live, race and class, generational politics, and shared some stories about growing up in a pre-Disneyfied New York City.

This episode also features a conversation with psychologist Dr. David Reiss about the loss of the great and amazing professional wrestler known as "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, and why his death has hit fans of the sport so hard, and the reasons that so many people felt a personal connection to him.

In addition, portions of this episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show were recorded in the very moments when The Charleston Massacre was a "breaking news event" on the cable news networks.

Instead of editing out those segments, they have remained in the show as a type of archive and online testimony to the power of that moment. At the end of this episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show, Chauncey reflects on the week's happenings since The Charleston Massacre, the news cycle, the Right-wing hate media, and the GOP's efforts to derail any conversation about white domestic terrorism, guns, and toxic white masculinity.

This great conversation with Jonathan Lethem is the third podcast for the June fundraiser at ChaunceyDeVega.com and WARN.

June features special content and guests as a way of saying "thank you" to the friends and fans of the podcast, and also as a way of demonstrating to the listeners and fans of the show the type of quality content and value that we strive to offer every week.

I would like to thank all of the good folks who have donated during the fundraising drive, and who chip in on a monthly basis, to support ChaunceyDeVega.com and my various other online projects.

Your support for The Chauncey DeVega Show and its related projects is essential. If you can, and are able, please do throw some change into the collective begging bowl that can be found on the right-hand side of the screen under the Paypal link.

This episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show with Jonathan Lethem and Dr. David Reiss can be listened to below or "watched" on the official Youtube channel for ChaunceyDevega.com

The Chauncey DeVega Show can also be followed on Itunes and listened to via Stitcher on your smart phone or like device.

The Corporate News Media's Coverage of Dylann Roof and the Charleston Massacre is a Car Wreck

T

When I was in elementary school, the father of one of my classmates was a senior executive for one of the area's largest sporting venues. This was a wonderful arrangement because he would give the school extra tickets so that we, the students and staff, could go to the circus, hockey games, dirt bike racing, The Magical World of Ice, demolition derbies, and monster truck shows for free.

Because I was an 8-year-old boy, I was particularly fond of the monster truck and demolition rally shows. I loved all of the noise and excitement. I also didn't realize that all of the carbon monoxide filled fumes that were emitted by the trucks and cars in an enclosed space were giving me a headache and destroying my brain cells.

The mainstream corporate news media's coverage--with several exceptions see: Chris Hayes and Lawrence O'Donnell--of the Dylann Roof Charleston Massacre is a car wreck of unimaginable proportions. It is a mashup of the comedy UHF and Cronenberg's essential Videodrome.

Dylann Roof, a white racial terrorist who left a manifesto, photos of himself in white supremacist regalia and holding the Confederate flag, before killing 9 black people in a church in a state where said flag is still flown, is a lesson in the semi-permanence of white racism in the Age of Obama.

Dylann Roof is so perfect in his throwback racist Right-wing, white supremacist evil that he is a system shock. Intentionally or not, Roof further exposed the moral rot of today's Republican Party as they ran away from how he is their monster, and his rampage was racist and not "anti-Christian" as the GOP's propagandists originally suggested. Roof's murder spree has also, and again, demonstrated how the commercial mainstream corporate news media is incapable of having an adult, mature, and intelligent conversation about white supremacy and domestic terrorism.

In this spectacle and theater, loud, signifying nothing, and accomplishing very little, we have seen things I would not have imagined a week ago.

White Economic Banditry Against Black America and Dylann Roof's White Racial Terrorism

I would like to continue with giving thanks to all of the kind folks who donated to our June fundraising drive. I have 8 or so "thank you" notes remaining to be sent off. Again, your kindness and generosity mean a great deal to me. If you can, are able, have the resources, and value my online work here and elsewhere, please do throw some change into the online donation pile and begging bowl if so moved.

Shameless self-promotion. I will be on Ring of Fire TV this evening. I did my best to drop a bionic elbow on the corporate news media's dishonesty and intellectually flaccid thinking about the Charleston Massacre. We cannot talk about the white domestic terrorist murder Dylann Roof without talking about the relationship between racism, the Right-wing media, the GOP, guns, toxic and aggrieved white masculinity, and Right-wing domestic terrorism. We tried to do that on Ring of Fire TV. The interview went about 15 minutes, so it may be edited down for broadcast (the full interview should be available online).

In these times of trouble and tumult, it is important to practice mental self-care, disconnect from the Internet, and do the things that make you happy. The ultimate goal of elites in this era of Austerity, Cruelty, Neoliberalism, Surveillance, and Necropolitics along both sides of the colorline is to exhaust, mentally and physically, their victims. The herd is more easy to manage when you alternate punishment and pleasure while playing them to exhaustion and extinction.

A trip to the local used bookstore is one of my small pleasures. There, I made some great finds. I picked up The Blitzkrieg Myth, a much discussed and controversial book on World War 2 military strategy (the first chapter has got me raising my eyebrow in some consternation....and I am just a hobbyist grognard), a neat gem called Boilerplate: History's Mechanical Man, Roger Ebert's autobiography (I will cry while reading it), and Gunning for the Red Baron, which is a gift for a friend.

I love the treasure hunt and surprises to be had in used bookstores. Online sellers like Amazon can never create the experience of discovery in the same way. Books have personalities and lives all their own. As I was picking up Roger Ebert's book, a felt an urge to look over my shoulder. Looking at me was a book called A Hammer in Their Hands.

Like the Republican Party, White Supremacist Terrorist Dylann Roof Also has a 'Best Black Friend'...Who Says He Isn't Racist

In the post civil rights era, it is obligatory that every white racist has a "best black friend".

The Republican Party keeps a database of such "trot out in case of emergency negroes" who are human chaff for their white supremacist, anti-black, anti-brown, anti-poor, policies. Clarence Thomas fulfills this role on an elite and institutional level.

Many individual white folks, on both sides of the political divide, in a society that is highly segregated along racial lines (75 percent of white Americans do not have one non-white friend) somehow manage to have a "best black friend" as well. This phantom black friend is not present in their day-to-day lives; he or she is just summoned when self-serving questions about racism or racial propriety are introduced.

White supremacist mass murderer and terrorist Dylann Roof also has a best black friend. His name is Christon Scriven.

He recently spoke to the BBC where he made the following assertion about Dylann Roof:

"Everybody's making him out to be racist but here I am in front of you today as a Black man and telling you that I look at him no different today than what I looked him last week because he never said anything racist to me..."

We discussed this in an earlier post. Human beings of all colors have the capacity to deny the facts--especially when it involves someone dear and close to them having been arrested for a heinous crime.

But, given Dylann Roof's white supremacist manifesto, penchant for wearing the flags of Rhodesia and Apartheid era South Africa, telling racists jokes, and posing with Confederate flags, it is hard to believe that he was not also emitting such noxious signals of white supremacy while in the company of his "best black friend" Christon Scriven

And perhaps just as disturbing, Dylann Roof told Christon Scriven about his plans to commit mass murder at a local college. Guess what? Criston did not tell the police.

The Culture of Cruelty has warped the ethics, morality, and values of young people on both sides of the colorline. The neoliberal nightmare and the Culture of Disposability is their world: they have never known any other one.

Shaping the Post-Charleston Narrative: 'Meet the Press' Channels Its Inner Dylann Roof by Showing Only Black Criminals in a Segment on Gun Control Laws

Last week, white supremacist Dylann Roof massacred 9 black Americans in a Charleston church. One of his motivations was a belief that black people are parasites, subhuman, and that "black crime" has overrun the nation.

The obsession with "black crime" and "black criminality" is not that of the White Right exclusively. It is a common belief that that transcends the political divide, has existed since the founding of the nation, and is repeatedly circulated and reinforced by the mass media, as well as other agents of mass political socialization and control in the United States.

Experts on the topic have repeatedly demonstrated that the American news media lies about race and crime. For example, black men are over-represented as criminals relative to actual crime statistics; white criminals are shown on the evening news at rates far lower than the actual data would suggest is accurate; white people are much more likely to be shown as victims of crime while people of color are far less likely to be depicted as such. The Americans news media also humanizes white criminals (showing them in business suits, talking about their families and mental health) and dehumanizes black people (showing black suspects doing the "perp walk" or in handcuffs of shackles).

[The "Missing white women" news meme is a great example of the above.]

News coverage is not natural, it is shaped by the decisions made by producers and reporters. Thus, a racist society will likely produce racist news coverage because the individuals involved in shaping that final product--and thus public opinion--have internalized said society's values.

The corporate news media reflects the values and priorities of the elite. The news media also help to set the political agenda--and to persuade the mass public into following it. This is the propaganda function of the news. 

In the aftermath of the Charleston massacre, the public discourse is being shifted away from talking about white supremacy, anti-black violence, white masculinity, terrorism, and guns towards an exclusive focus on gun control laws in a vacuum that does not deal with the other issues.

[Being sufficiently vague, I was a personal witness to that shifting of the public discourse away from race and towards a race neutral discussion of gun laws last week. The narrative can be changed in 5 minutes folks.]

This morning Meet the Press offered up a master class in shifting the narrative about the Charleston Massacre by defaulting back to the same white supremacist stereotypes about black men and crime that Dylann Roof used to rationalize his cowardly deeds. Thus, a crime of anti-black racial terrorism is transformed by the "liberal media" into a story about guns and gun crime as committed by black people. 

Meet the Press was playing some 3D chess with a meta-racism opening. We whose eyes are open can see what is actually happening, what of those who are still asleep?

As goes the saying, if you do not understand white supremacy you cannot understand American life and politics. "Until you understand racism nothing else makes sense." 

He is Not a Twenty-First Century White Supremacy 'Mindweapon': The 'Last Rhodesian' Dylann Roof's 'Manifesto' is Tedious, Boilerplate, White Supremacist Claptrap

Dylann Roof's "manifesto" has been found online. It is not a particularly interesting or compelling. It is a boilerplate white supremacist talking-point distortions of empirical reality. Dylann Roof took Mein Kampf, itself a horrible and poorly written fictional work, mixed it with materials he accessed online in an exercise in cyber racist self-programming, processed it through a mind and intellect that can only be produced by a subpar and broken school system, and synthesized it all into the mental willpower necessary to commit mass murder against defenseless black people in a Charleston church.

Dylann Roof is not a  21st century "mindweapon" white supremacist Terminator. No, he is just an old landmine or grenade found in a footlocker at an overcrowded Army Navy supply store.

Dylann Roof's manifesto reminds me of the movie Se7en.

Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt are detectives who are investigating a series of unbelievably vicious and heinous crimes. Is the killer some great mastermind or the banality of evil? Will the protagonists (and the audience) be disappointed with the great reveal of who the serial killer is, or will they marvel at him or her as a type of anti-hero and compelling personality?

Dylann Roof is not Kevin Spacey in Se7en. Roof is tedious. Tedium combined with white supremacy are still very lethal.

A few questions.

1. What do you think of the ethics involved in sharing Dylann Roof's "manifesto?" Roof craved attention, are those media outlets, websites, and other forums that are circulating his work actually fulfilling his end goal?

2. Dylann Roof had a roommate with whom he shared white supremacist beliefs and plans for violence. Why did said person not call the police? What is going on with America where there is no sense of personal responsibility or shared humanity among large segments of the public? Collective sociopathy?

3. Dylann Roof supposedly had "black" Facebook "friends". Roof also has at least one black neighbor who he told about his plan to attack a local college.

Assuming this true, and that he shared his white supremacist beliefs both online and in person, what does this reveal about the lack of training, preparation, and healthy racial I.Q. that is (apparently not) being imparted to "post-racial", post civil rights era, black and brown youth?

4. Piggybacking with the above question. I have encountered black students that have expounded white supremacist beliefs which are none too different from that of Dylann Roof. When I confronted them about this mess, they said that they "wanted to hear the other side of the story" and that maybe white supremacists "had a point" on some things. What would you tell a non-white student who parroted white supremacist beliefs? Are they salvageable?

Goebbels Would be Impressed: Republican Madness. Black Folks Were Massacred by a White Supremacist in Charleston Not Because of Race But Because of Their Religion

Some editorial matters. I am public enemy number one for the Right-wing hate media machine because of my basic truth-telling about white privilege, white supremacy, the media, and the Charleston Massacre. It is very entertaining. The Right-wing hate media machine and its supplicants are rolling around in a filthy unclean trough urinal and are desperate for me (and other truth-tellers and people of conscience) to get inside it with them. Yeah right. I just close the door, turn off the lights, throw some bleach and urinal cakes into their filthy public discourse piss bowl, and proceed to lock the door. 

[Other point that folks have asked about, yes, I did in fact postpone the podcast from Thursday because of the horrible situation in Charleston. The show will run next week.]

I was also reminded, moments ago, of how politics in the United States is more akin to professional wrestling than anything else.

As the public discourse around the Charleston massacre continues to evolve you will see a shift from any type of analysis that highlights white supremacy and anti-black violence to one that is more "neutral" and "reasonable" where gun laws become the focus of the debate. White supremacy, aggrieved white masculinity, conservatism, and the United States' gun fetish cannot be discussed as separate phenomena. The corporate news media fails the American people when it fails to present a systems-level analysis of the relationship between white supremacy, white privilege, masculinity, race, guns, and violence.

In this time of tumult and trouble, where black and brown lives are vulnerable, under assault, not valued, and unprotected, individuals are placed in a crucible of truth, one that reveals their personal values, ethics, and morality. Times of trouble are more revealing of one's nature than are times of peace, prosperity, and ease of life. 

In the aftermath of the white supremacist mass murder in Charleston, South Carolina, Republicans and the White Right are showing us who they are...again.

The Fox News Right-wing hate machine has offered up a bizarre and delusional narrative where the mass murder of black people by a white supremacist named Dylann Roof, as the latter shouted that black people are taking away the white man's country and raping his women, is somehow really an attack on Christians. White victimology and the white racial frame are able to transform what is an obvious attack based on race to one that is really an attack on aggrieved and suffering white Christians. White victimology is political and cognitive crack mixed with meth. 

One can go mad trying to unpack the insanity. 

(Why didn't Dylann Roof attack any of the white churches that were nearby and far closer to where he lived? the KKK was/is a Christian identity organization that killed black people, the vast majority of whom were Christians, white slavers raped, abused, murdered, tortured, and held as human property black people who were "Christians" too? Are these barbarisms now anti-Christian violence more so than white supremacist evil?)

Black Americans who are victims of murderous violence by the police, the State, and White Americans, are usually blamed for somehow causing their own deaths. This is the essence of white racial paranoiac thinking. 

To point. Charles Cotton, a National Rifle Association's ammosexual gun fetishist, is now blaming the pastor of Emanuel AME Church for enabling the murder of his congregation:

For Charles Cotton, white people's guns trump black and brown people's right to life.

And of course, the leading Republican candidates for president in 2016 will not speak plainly and directly about the connection between white supremacy and the white supremacist mass murder rampage in Charleston. How could they? White supremacy and conservatism are the beast with two backs, publicly mating in the middle of the street for the entertainment of the Republican base, the whole lot of them on the verge of a healing paroxysm and a priapism of hate.

From where you sit, what have you surveyed about Charleston and the insanity of movement conservatism, the Republican Party, and the White Right in general?

'White Right-Wing Domestic Terrorist': Words That You Likely Will Not Hear About the Charleston Church Massacre

The historic African-American AME Emanuel Church was assaulted by at least one white gunman on Wednesday evening in Charleston, South Carolina.

At least nine people have been confirmed dead.

The story is still developing. At present, Charleston authorities are reporting that this mass shooting event and likely Right-wing domestic terrorist assault is a hate crime committed by white supremacists.

While this horrific event is one more murderous and racist blow to the African-American community in Charleston--the killing of Walter Scott by a white thug cop being the most high-profile and recent offense--the reporting on the mass shooting at Emanuel Baptist is an additional affront via the White Racial Frame as practiced by the corporate news media.

As shown on MSNBC Wednesday night, a local reporter asked a group of African-American activists, community leaders, and others, if the "violent" black community could have in fact prevented the mass shooting at Emanuel Baptist. This bizarre moment continued with the reporter seemingly rejecting the obvious--that racism is an obvious element in the white on black murders committed at Emanuel Baptist--and doubling down by suggesting that the black community gives comfort to "snitches", thus wondering if black folks will in fact turn in a white domestic terrorist who had killed at least 9 people.

[The headline on the breaking news report about the Charleston shooting was an additional example of how the White Racial Frame dominates news coverage. In plain terms, MSNBC's headline on the bottom of the screen read something akin to "male 21-year-old suspect wanted in shootings". He was not described as "white": the American news media is much more likely to racially mark black and brown suspects in crimes, and to include their racial description (or religious/ethnic as in the ubiquitous "Arab" or "Muslim" "terrorist").] 

To watch such a series of questions being asked to a community that only several hours ago suffered a viciously violent terrorist attack is wholly unbelievable; Yet somehow black Americans are so disrespected, derided, and associated with criminality that they are responsible for their own murders by a white domestic terrorist.

A counterfactual: if such questions were ever asked to white folks whose church or synagogue was attacked by a person of color or a "Muslim", said reporter's career would be over, terminated, and they would likely never find employment in the news industry ever again.

White Right-wing domestic terrorism is one of the greatest threats to public safety and security in post 9/11 United States of America. As I have discussed on Ring of Fire TV and Radio, the RT, and elsewhere, such a plain spoken fact is verboten in mainstream American public discourse.

As such, there are several phrases and words that are likely to not be used by the corporate news media in their discussions of the Charleston mass shooting murders at the AME Emanuel Baptist Church.

They include:

1. What is radicalizing white men to commit such acts of domestic terrorism and mass shootings? Are Fox News and the Right-wing media encouraging violence?
2. Is something wrong with the white family? Why are their sons and men so violent?
3. What should law enforcement and white politicians do about white crime?
4. Is the Charleston mass shooting just one more sign that America needs sensible and reasonable gun control policies?
5. Where are the white fathers in the white home?
6. When will white leadership step up and stop white Right-wing domestic terrorism?
7. Is White American culture pathological? Why is White America so violent?
8. Are there appropriate role models for white men and boys? Could better role models and mentoring help to prevent white men and boys from committing mass shootings and being seduced by Right-wing domestic terrorism?

Once and again, white privilege is the power to be the ultimate individual where one's actions and behavior rarely if ever reflects on the collective character of white people en masse. By comparison, Black and brown Americans, Muslims, Arabs, and the Other more generally are routinely subjected to group punishment and demonization.

White Americans will not have to look in the mirror and ask, "what does it feel like to be a problem". In the aftermath of recurring mass shooting events, and Right-wing domestic terrorism, it is imminently important that they start to practice such acts of introspection in the interest of the Common Good.

Rachel Dolezal, Alice Jones' Nipples, the Rhinelander Fortune, and Racist White Fire Fighters Who Tried to Pass for 'Black'

We are in week 3 of the annual June fundraiser for ChaunceyDeVega.com and WARN.

I want to extend a sincere thanks to all of the kind folks who donated so far. I have about 10 more "thank you" emails to go. I am very close to the goal for the fundraiser. We have stalled today and hopefully if a few folks thrown in some supportive monies, I can pull in the begging bowl for another six months.

Again, if you value the work that I share here and elsewhere (most of which I am not compensated for), have the resources, and are willing, please do throw some paper, silver, gold, or copper into the online donation bucket at the Paypal link on the right side of the screen.

As we speak, I am putting the finishing touches on this week's podcast which features a conversation with author Jonathan Lethem as well as a special opening segment where I chat with psychologist, "smart mark", professional wrestling insider, and counselor Dr. David Reiss about the passing of the late great "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes.

And I have also been finishing up an essay on the peculiar case of Rachel Dolezal.

I am not very kind to Rachel Dolezal. I chose to speak the truth about her racial con game and made my best effort to provide some context for her most offensive act of racial tourism.

Race may be a "social construct". But the colorline--and who is considered "white" and those considered "non-white" in the United States has a deep, long, and ugly history. Those boundaries have been policed by the law, enforced by violence, and as Ian Haney Lopez notes in the brilliant book White by Law (another complement read is Cheryl Harris's widely cited 2001 Harvard Law Review article Whiteness as Property) white racial group membership is a type of property with economic value that has been widely litigated in America's courtrooms.

While too much energy has already been spent on the Rachel Dolezal racial tragicomedy, one of the most important aspects of "passing" and its many variants (white to black; black to white; brown to black; black to brown; white to something else; Martian to human)--the relationship between race and the law--has been little commented upon by the mainstream pundit classes.

Legal scholar Randall Kennedy's 2001 Ohio Law Review article "Racial Passing" is an essential and highly informative survey of the law and racial passing in the United States.

It is wonderful writing that contains moments of great wit and storytelling.

Here is a great gem (of despicable behavior) about a scandalous case among turn of the 20th century New York City high society types in which the black body, intimate knowledge, and the color of a woman's nipples, were introduced as a type of evidence "proving" racial group membership:

Killing and Hurting the Black Body From Carnivals to Video Games: Where Black Men are Target Practice

We are in week 3 of the annual June fundraiser for ChaunceyDeVega.com and WARN. I want to extend a sincere thanks to all of the kind folks who donated so far. I have done about half of my "thank you" emails. The other half are forthcoming today and tomorrow. We are so close to reaching the goal for the fundraiser. If we have a few good days, I can pull in the begging bowl for another six months. Again, if you value the work that I share here and elsewhere (most of which I am not compensated for), have the resources, and are willing, please do throw some paper, silver, gold, or copper into the online donation bucket at the Paypal link on the right side of the screen.

****

In this age of police thuggery, it seems that almost every few days brings another video recorded incident of white-on-black police violence and excessive force. Recently, a white police officer in Mckinney, Texas was recorded pulling out his gun and threatening a group of black teenagers at a pool party before throwing a young girl onto the cement as she cried for help. The officer has since resigned.

From the American founding to the South’s slave patrols and now in the age of Obama, there is a seemingly endless pile of black and brown bodies, the poor, disabled and mentally ill, who have been subjected to unjust legal violence by the State, as well as those it has gifted with the power of life and death (like George Zimmerman, empowered by “stand your ground” laws”).

Violence by the State, and those who are designated as having the power to dispense it, reveals a great deal about the nature of power in America. If the ability of the government to use violence against its citizens is a type of social control, then a society structured around maintaining white privilege and white supremacy — as well as class inequality — will use violence in an unequal way along the colorline (as well as against the poor and working classes en masse).

Stuart Hall observed that “race is how class” is lived in Europe and the United States. There is a corollary to his brilliant observation: the experiences racially marginalized groups such as blacks, First Nations, Hispanics and Latinos have as victims of legal violence by police, prisons, schools, and other social institutions, also reflects how race is lived in the United States.

Here, some people are deemed as valuable and others disposable. Some groups of people are protected and others made vulnerable. There appears to be a simple and basic calculation that applies even in a society such as the United States with its rhetoric of “equality of opportunity” and American Exceptionalism: the human worth of some individuals and groups is deemed to be greater than that of the Other.

This ugly fact is revealed in many ways: there’s the grotesque photograph of Chicago police officers posing with an innocent black man they costumed as a dead animal, with deer antlers. There’s the fact that North Miami Beach’s Police department used the photographs of black men for target practice.

Dusty Rhodes, Black America, and Me

We are in week 3 of the annual June fundraiser for ChaunceyDeVega.com and WARN. I want to extend a sincere thanks to all of the kind folks who donated so far. I have done about half of my "thank you" emails. The other half are forthcoming today and tomorrow. We are so close to reaching the goal for the fundraiser. If we have a few good days, I can pull in the begging bowl for another six months. Again, if you value the work that I share here and elsewhere (most of which I am not compensated for), have the resources, and are willing, please do throw some paper, silver, gold, or copper into the online donation bucket at the Paypal link on the right side of the screen.

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Christopher Lee, Ornette Coleman, and Dusty Rhodes passed away on the same day last week, June 11, 2015.

Christopher Lee is one of film’s greatest actors. He will be honored around the world for his contribution to cinema. Ornette Coleman is one of jazz’s greatest musicians. He will be written about extensively and his legacy preserved. Jazz, as a community of musicians, scholars, and fans, is resolute in policing its borders and history. Dusty Rhodes is one of professional wrestling’s greatest performers. Both inside the ring, and on the microphone, he was a virtuoso. Fans of professional wrestling will sing the praises of Dusty Rhodes and deeply mourn his passing. However, while Lee and Coleman will be universally treated with seriousness and respect, Rhodes will likely be looked at as a curious sideshow by those who are not initiates into the world of professional wrestling, and therefore know little about his life.

This is unfortunate.

A Confederacy of...? The National Review Online, Paul Ryan, Patrick Moynihan, and Chauncey DeVega

We are in week 3 of the annual June fundraiser for ChaunceyDeVega.com and WARN. I want to extend a sincere thanks to all of the kind folks who donated so far. I have done about half of my "thank you" emails. The other half are forthcoming today and tomorrow. We are so close to reaching the goal for the fundraiser. If we have a few good days, I can pull in the begging bowl for another six months. Again, if you value the work that I share here and elsewhere (most of which I am not compensated for), have the resources, and are willing, please do throw some paper, silver, gold, or copper into the online donation bucket at the Paypal link on the right side of the screen.

I am always surprised by how our virtual salon and the work that I try to share here often gets attention from surprising places. It would seem that eyes are indeed on the truth-telling that we offer here.

To wit.

Writing at The National Review Online (NRO), John Fund has a new piece about how "liberals" and "the Left" do not understand that Daniel Patrick Moynihan famous report on poverty and the black family was in fact "right".

Fund's essay features an obligatory picture of scary rampaging feral black people that are coming to destroy white American in what the NRO predicts will be a summer of savage "riots".

The National Review Online also cites a piece that I wrote on Paul Ryan and the Republican Party's misuse and abuse of Moynihan's work.

[In the NRO story, I am just a "blogger". At some point, I would like a promotion to the title of "interesting person", "occasionally insightful member of the public", "witty black guy", or "the man who wears interesting and ill-fitting pants". A man is allowed to dream, is he not?]

The Republican Party's gross misuse of Moynihan's work suggests that they never actually read the report or any other of his writings on race, poverty, class, and civil rights. On issues of poverty and race, the Republican Party is the equivalent of a doctor who is killing the patient with poison and then complaining that the latter is still sick.

The NRO's "Most America's Expect a Long, Hot Summer of Racial Unrest" is laughable, under-theorized, and intellectually dishonest. I suggest you read it because such thinking about Black America, class, and poverty are standard assumptions for the politics of evisceration, misery, and racism that organize the fantastical and myth-filled world that constitutes both "popular" and "elite" discourse on the White Right and the Republican Party.

What Does it Mean to be 'Black' in America? From Pudd'nhead Wilson, to the 'White Negro', Zelig, and Now Rachel Dolezal

I hope that all of you are doing well. Again, I want to thank all of the kind friends and supporters of Chauncey DeVega.com, the podcast known as The Chauncey DeVega Show, and the various other types of public pedagogy I am engaged in who donated to our June fundraising drive.

I am still sending off "thank you" notes. I got a bit behind given the series of longer pieces I have written that were featured at Alternet and Salon. Pardon the pun, but the essay on racial battle fatigue, took a bit out of me. Personal truth-telling that is from the heart and deals with painful issues can be tiring. I was also distracted with writing a personal essay about race and the passing of the great professional wrestler known as the one and only Dusty Rhodes.

We are now very close to meeting the goal of the June fundraiser. I want to reiterate my thanks to those of you who subscribe to the site (and who also donated during the fundraiser! wow!), new folks who have signed up to give monthly donations, and those who threw some copper, gold, or silver into the collection bucket--a few very generous friends of WARN and ChaunceyDeVega.com actually donated twice. So moved.

If you can, are able, have the means to do--and find what I am trying to do here and elsewhere of value--please throw some change into the begging bowl that can be found via the Paypal link on the right side of the screen. I can then turn off my NPR-like fundraising voice and we can proceed as normal once the fundraiser is complete.

We have one more entry into the theater of the racially absurd in the Age of Obama. Her name is Rachel Dolezal. She is a white woman who is living her life as a "black" woman. Dolezal is also the leader of the Spokane, Washington chapter of the NAACP.

Mark Twain wrote the under-appreciated gem of racial satire called The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson. If the great one was alive today, he could have created no better a character and tale than Rachel Dolezal.

Reverse passing is not new. Being black in America has historically possessed many more liabilities than it does credits or assets.

As Rachel Dolezal has shown by her skillful navigation of America's racial bureaucracy, there are many hustles in these streets. One can be "white" and from South Africa or Egypt and apply for "minority" scholarships as an "African-American" and be awarded them because a given university or college does not want to risk getting sued and thus setting a dangerous precedent.

[Yes, I have personally witnessed said hustle in another life. I ended it.] 

There have also been white people who chose the legal designation of being "black" in America, perhaps the ultimate example where the personal is political, and a potent transgressive act against a white supremacist society.

For example, white women who married black men in colonial era Virginia, could face exile, fines, imprisonment, or other punishments.

A Conversation With Human Rights Activist Ali Abunimah About Palestine and the Global Color-Line

Ali Abunimah is the guest on this week's edition of the podcast known as The Chauncey DeVega Show.

He is an internationally known human rights activist and author whose work focuses on the struggle for the Palestinian peoples' full rights and freedom. Ali Abunimah is also the co-founder of the essential website Electronic Intifada.

In this great conversation, Ali and Chauncey talk about many issues. They include the global colorline and human rights, the United States' militarized police, the relationship between Israel and America's police and military, the Israel lobby and American politics, the limited space in the corporate media for truth-telling, and how to maintain hope and positivity while doing social change work.

Chauncey also talks about his recent essay on racial battle fatigue, colorblind white liberal racism, and McKinney, Texas's police thuggery against young black and brown children at a local pool.

This great conversation with Ali Abunimah is the second podcast for the June fundraiser at ChaunceyDeVega.com and WARN.

June features special content and guests as a way of saying "thank you" to the friends and fans of the podcast, and also as a way of demonstrating to the listeners and fans of the show the type of quality content and value that we strive to offer every week.

I would like to thank all of the good folks who have donated during the fundraising drive, and who chip in on a monthly basis, to support ChaunceyDeVega.com and my various other online projects.

Your support for The Chauncey DeVega Show and its related projects is essential. If you can, and are able, please do throw some change into the collective begging bowl that can be found on the right-hand side of the screen under the Paypal link.

This episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show with Ali Abunimah can be listened to below or "watched" on the official Youtube channel for ChaunceyDevega.com

The Chauncey DeVega Show can also be followed on Itunes and listened to via Stitcher on your smart phone or like device.

America's Police Are Trained to Dominate the Public: What do You Make of McKinney, Texas Thug Cop Eric Casebolt's Supposed Training and Resume?

I would like to thank the kind friends of my work here and elsewhere who donated to our ongoing fundraiser. Your support of my work here and elsewhere is very appreciated. We are very close to the goal I have set for the June fundraising drive.

As longtime readers know, I do not run advertising or paid for content here on ChaunceyDeVega.com and WARN. I want to be free to write about, share, and truth-tell without fear or obligation to outsider elements. Together, we have created a nice online salon and virtual bar. Your help has been integral to making that happen. If you can, are able, and have the means to do so, please throw some change into the Paypal link on the right hand sidebar during our June fundraising drive.

I am in the process of editing tomorrow's installment of The Chauncey DeVega Show which features guest Ali Abunimah. He is a founding member of The Electronic Intifada, a human rights activist, author, and expert on issues related to Gaza and Palestine. He is a great conversation partner and one of the special guests for this, our fundraising month here at ChaunceyDevega.com and WARN.

In recent months, we have spent a good amount of time discussing police thuggery and abuse in the United States. Ali reminds us that the global colorline is real, and the times of trouble and tumult along the colorline (and against the poor and marginalized) here in the United States are part of a wider phenomenon.

America's police are highly (and increasingly) militarized. As I discussed with journalist Nick Chiles, another great guest on the podcast, the training and recruitment of America's police is directly related to their thuggish and violent behavior towards black and brown people.

Contemporary police training is certainly part of a broader problem where they see innocent people as enemies to be subjugated:

From Ferguson to McKinney, Racial Battle Fatigue is Killing Black America

I would like to thank all of the kind and generous folks who donated to the fundraising drive. 

Yes, I am still sending out my "thank you" notes.

We are in the second week of the annual fundraiser and we are creeping towards our goal. In my best NPR-like fundraising voice, if you can, are able, and would like to support the range of work I do here at ChaunceyDeVega.com and elsewhere, please throw some copper, gold, or silver in the donation pile that can be accessed via the Paypal link on the right sidebar would be much appreciated. The energy and material support keeps me moving forward and together are an invaluable gesture.

I have a new essay on racial battle fatigue that was/is featured by Salon.com. 

[It is also shared below.]

In this new essay, I tried to talk in a direct, deliberate, and honest way about a topic that too few among the black commentariat are willing to public engage: racism does both physical and emotional harm to those who suffer under it. Black Americans have a long and negative history with sharing our private pain in public. Black Americans, like other groups that have suffered under power, also have a deep and well-deserved suspicion of medical racism and how questions of "mental health" have been used to marginalize, criminalize, and punish people of color.

I tried to do some truth-telling in "Black America is so Very Tired of Explaining and Debating", while also being attentive to those dynamics. 

Long essays such as that one take a good amount of time to write. I am also not compensated for such work. As such, the relatively infrequent fundraising drives which I do here on WARN and ChaunceyDeVega.com are very important.
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Black America is tired. The liminal existence of Ellison’s invisible man; Cornel West’s brilliant meditation on “niggerization” as a state of existential fear, where black and brown people are unwanted, unprotected, and unsafe in America; and the genius insights of Richard Wright’s Native Son, speak to a stalwart resilience in the face of the racial absurdity that is white supremacy and the colorline in America (and the world).

Black Americans are the moral conscience of the United States. In her book by the same title, political theorist and legal scholar Lani Guinier described black folks as a type of “miner’s canary” for a democracy that is still very much a work in progress: a country whose origins are in the twin crimes against humanity that were the genocide of First Nations people and the murder and enslavement of millions of blacks held as human chattel, and one that still struggles to perfect a “more perfect union” in the face of a resurgent White Right, a plundering plutocrat class, and the terror of neoliberalism and the politics of human disposability.

Black America is strong. But “Black America” is more of a symbol and an idea than it is a place or a fact. Black Americans are not a monolith, the Borg, or a hive mind. They are individuals who have a shared experience of racialization in a society structured around both maintaining and protecting white privilege and white supremacy.

Individuals have a full range of emotions and life experiences.

Know Your History: A White Cop Threatening Lethal Force Against Black Kids at a Swimming Pool in McKinney, Texas is Nothing New

I would like to thank the kind folks who donated during the first week of the annual fundraiser here on ChaunceyDeVega.com and WARN. I am still sending out "thank you" notes. I greatly appreciate your kindness and generosity. We are about 40 percent away from the goal for this month. Hopefully, we will reach it next week and my NPR-like fundraising voice can be silenced until the end of the year. 

[And if you want a good laugh, apparently the racists at the Right-wing public sewer and trough urinal called The Free Republic are upset at my post on the grumpy angry white people who hate Bill de Blasio. 

Who knows, maybe they are in fact more upset because their godhead Bill O'Reilly's crap "literature" was spoken unkindly of?

It would be great fun and sport if folks would throw some money into the donation pile for WARN and then report at The Free Republic that they are, or already have, supported our work here.] 

I am not a fan of "racism chasing". It is tedious and uninteresting. What I try to do here on WARN and in my other work is to "connect the dots" between issues by providing historical, social, and political context. Too often folks focus on the minutia of an event of public concern without asking, "what is this an example of?" 

In this short essay, I try to provide an example of that critical approach in practice.

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A white police officer in McKinney, Texas arrested, abused, and pulled out his gun on a group of black and brown children who were playing in a pool that is in a "white neighborhood".

Who knows, maybe said thug cop was confused and was reading from Jim Crow era regulations that forbade blacks and other non-whites from being in the white man's swimming pools?

History echoes.

Swimming pools have long been a site of white on black racial violence in both the South and the North.

The Chicago "race riot" was caused when black kids swam on the "white" side of Lake Michigan. They were stoned to death by whites for that breach of racial etiquette.

In New York, public pools in black, brown, and poor neighborhoods were poorly maintained, not cleaned, and the water kept at uncomfortable temperatures as compared to those in white, middle and upper class communities.

In the Jim Crow South, there were laws against blacks swimming in "white" pools. This was considered too much and too close of an interracial intimacy. Many white communities closed down their pools once desegregation was the law of the land.

Never forget: as folks are somehow surprised by (more) police thuggery against black and brown people, remember that James Brock, a white hotel owner threw acid at civil rights freedom fighters who dared to swim in "his" pool.

Swimming pools are sites of public struggle, contestation, and power. Leisure and recreation are sites for politics even as they superficially appear to be from from it.

Whitewashing 'The Greatest Generation': Never Forget the African-American Veterans of D-Day

Again, I would like to thank the folks who have thrown some money into the online donation bucket during our annual fundraiser. It is very much appreciated, welcome, and will be put to good use. We are 50 percent to our goal after the first week of the fundraising drive. Fingers crossed, the remaining gap can be quickly closed, and I can then turn off my NPR fundraising voice in the upcoming week. 

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Today is the 71st anniversary of the Allies' assault, and successful landing, known as the "D-Day" invasion of Fortress Europe during World War 2. 

I was going to offer up a quick weekend post on the African-American veterans of the D-Day landing--men who have been thrown down the memory hole by White America's mythmaking machine. 

Today is also the day when I "celebrate", i.e. commemorate my father's passing to the great beyond. 

I sat down to do some sharing, then I remembered that I had already written a similar piece in the year before. Writing online is a type of exercise in curating and journaling. 

There is several years of content here on WARN and Chaunceydevega.com 

One of my ongoing tasks is converting some of that material for a book project. 

[I have had several inquiries. None have been a good fit. One inquiry was with a major commercial publisher and our visions were not aligned. Who knows, maybe that request will go out through these Internets and an agent or editor from a press will email back with an inquiry and thoughts on the matter.]

It has been quite a journey--one that continues to this day.

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My father died 11 years ago today. I used to remember his passing with the reminder that he passed away on the Sunday before Father's Day during the Sopranos while Tony ran away from the feds as his boss was arrested. His passing was expected; it freed him.

When we are going through stressful moments other more obvious coincidences can be forgotten or misplaced in our memories.

At the time of his death, I did not realize--and for several years afterwards--that my father's mortal departure also coincided with the (then) 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

He was a World War 2 combat veteran who "passed" in order to be in a unit with "friends" from his neighborhood. I think it makes for a better story to remind myself that he had to pay the boatman a bribe to cross the River Styx for the journey to the afterlife on the anniversary of D-Day--as opposed to the sort of liminal, wishy washy observation that he died the week before Father's Day.

Where 'Crime' is Code for 'Black People': How Would You Caption This Photo from The Wall Street Journal's Story on White New Yorkers Who Hate Mayor de Blasio

I would like to thank the kind people who donated on day five of the fundraising drive on ChaunceyDeVega.com and WARN. Your generosity is extremely appreciated. We are now 50 percent to the goal for our twice-a-year fundraiser. Again, if you, are able, and find value in the space that I have tried to curate here for reasonable and intelligent dialogue at our virtual salon, please throw some change into the donation bucket via the Paypal link on the right hand sidebar of the site.

The questionable intelligence and overpowering rage of a mind ruined by Fox News and the Right-wing noise machine are highlighted by how a person would allow the world to know that they read Bill O'Reilly's trash...and allow said book to be on their coffee table for a photo featured in The Wall Street Journal.

The Wall Street Journal has a short piece that explores the anger felt by white New Yorkers towards Mayor Bill de Blasio. The high levels of white racial resentment expressed by the mostly Reagan Democrat types who are interviewed by The Wall Street Journal is not a surprise.

The mayor is married to a black woman. He is the father of a black son. The symbolism of his family is a primer for White rage.

The angry white voters who hate de Blasio are supposedly upset about "crime". In American political discourse such concerns are usually a way of speaking in code for "the blacks". The Republican Party and its "law and order" "Southern Strategy" was (and in many ways remains) very effective because it can mine white racial animus and resentment towards black Americans by using the supposedly race neutral language of "reasonable" concerns about "safety" and "crime".

In all, it does not take advanced training in semiotics or media studies to read the not so hidden subtext of the profile in white rage offered up by The Wall Street Journal: white New Yorkers are upset that the cops can't go around killing black and brown people without consequence. The white racial animus fueled by a belief that de Blasio is "hard" or "unfair" to the thug cops of New York is bizarre precisely because said cops do in fact have a license to violate the civil liberties of, choke, beat, tase, club, and otherwise abuse black and brown New Yorkers almost at will?

Eric Garner?

As I have said on Ring of Fire TV and Radio, here on WARN, and elsewhere, America's police will not stop killing unarmed black and brown people because a large segment of White America is deeply invested--personally, psychologically, and financially--in such social evil.

It has been some time since we had fun with captioning a photo here on WARN.

What caption or description would you offer up for Rochelle Weinberg? Besides that damnable O'Reilly book, what other interesting tells of Right-wing madness do you see in the photo of her home?

To my eyes, she looks like a Right-wing human version of the Grumpy Cat celebrity.

40 Percent to the Goal: An Obligatory End of the First Week of Fundraising Update

I would like to thank all of the kind folks who have donated to the annual June fundraiser here on WARN and ChaunceyDeVega.com. I would also like to thank the kind subscribers and others who routinely throw some monies into the collection pile that keeps this site ad free, thus freeing me/us to do the type of truth-telling that is so damn needed in this time of tumult and trouble.

Your kindness means a great deal to me.

I am still sending out the "thank you" notes. If you have not received one it is imminent.

We are about 40 percent to the goal for this season's fundraiser. In my best NPR voice, if you can, are able to, find what I am trying to do here of value and use--and have taken care of your own personal responsibilities and those of both human and animal family members--please put some change in the donation pile that can found on the right-hand sidebar at the Paypal link.

Once we reach that goal, the fundraiser will cease.

In addition, to the great conversation I offered up with the indispensable Henry Giroux on this week's edition of The Chauncey DeVega Show, I have other guests such as next week's Ali Abunimah from Electronic Intifada, scheduled for this fundraising month. Since our last fundraiser, I have continued to grow the site, with your encouragement done more TV appearances, and have some other projects in process. The energy of the friends of WARN makes that happen: the kind donations and other material support are helpful aids to said goals.

I also have two forthcoming essays that I believe will contribute an important perspective on justice and the colorline. The first explores the connection between recreation and killing the black body in America. The second is a meditative and more personal essay on the concept known as "racial battle fatigue".

We are doing some good things here on WARN and ChaunceyDeVega.com.

I am not part of a great liberal conspiracy. I am rarely compensated for my online work. The twice a year fundraisers are the only material remuneration that I receive for the (at least) thousand or so annual hours I put into WARN and ChaunceyDeVega.com.

Again, thanks to those who have already thrown some paper, copper, gold, or silver in the donation begging bowl. Hopefully, other folks among the none too few who frequent this site on a daily basis can also put some change into the pile as well.

Stay strong, be well, and as always, thank you for your support.

A Conversation With Dr. Henry Giroux About Neoliberalism, Race, Justice, and the Culture of Cruelty

Dr. Henry Giroux is the guest on this week's edition of the podcast known as The Chauncey DeVega Show.

He is the author of numerous books such as the recent The Culture of Organized Forgetting.

He is also an essential voice in this time of trouble, neoliberalism, austerity, and cruelty.

Dr. Giroux has been a great guide for my work here on WARN and ChaunceyDeVega.com.

I am Padawan. He is Master Yoda. Our conversation is instructive, open, and honest because of that fact.

In this episode, I also share my thoughts on religious fundamentalism, Christian fundies, sexual guilt, and the Duggar molestation scandal.

Do I hold back? Never. No mercy. They do not deserve it.

We are now in the fourth day of our twice a year fundraiser. Brother Henry is the opening salvo in a great series of guests for the podcast.

The kind folks who support WARN have gotten us to 20 percent or so of our fundraising goal. Once that destination is reached, I will pull the begging bowl back in, returning to business as usual.

Your kind donations are essential, needed, and necessary. As you will hear in my great conversation with Henry Giroux, we go where we may, and do lots of truth-telling. I do not advertise here on ChaunceyDeVega.com for a reason--I want to be free to tell the truth. Period. He and I do that here for 60 plus minutes.

In this episode of the podcast known as The Chauncey DeVega Show, Henry and I discuss neoliberalism, race, justice, capitalism, police thuggery, and the culture of disposability and cruelty.

Dr. Giroux and I also vibe around public pedagogy, teaching, life, and share some war stories about the political space that is the classroom.

I would like to thank all of the good folks who have donated during the fundraising drive, and who chip in on a monthly basis, to support ChaunceyDeVega.com and my various other online projects.

Your support means a great deal to me. If you can, and are able, please do throw some change into the collective begging bowl that can be found on the right-hand side of the screen under the Paypal link.

This episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show with Henry Giroux can be listened to below or "watched" on the official Youtube channel for chaunceydevega.com

The Chauncey DeVega Show can also be followed on Itunes and listened to via Stitcher on your smart phone or like device.