Fifteen women now claim to have been drugged and raped by Bill Cosby. Asked to respond to these allegations on NPR, Cosby maintained an indignant silence.
The kind of white liberals who love NPR (I am one of these) love Bill Cosby. That is likely why most readers who cared enough to respond sharply criticized Scott Simon for asking a question that was irrelevant to the interview.
Since it is unlikely that Bill Cosby would give an interview specifically related to his alleged sexual violence, it is hard to imagine how Cosby could ever be forced to answer his accusers.
White liberals love Bill Cosby because he represents a racially reconciled America where African Americans, thank God Almighty, finally have their piece of the pie. The Cosby Show portrayed a hyper-functional Black family that listened to Ray Charles and reminisced about the march on Washington, while maintaining a egalitarian marriage, exercising strict family disciple and getting along swimmingly with white people.
As a young adult, I loved the Cosby Show. As a child, I laughed myself silly over Cosby’s stand-up routines: “Noah: How long can you tread water?” Cosby’s blackness was central to my pleasure. Here was a black man who transcended racist stereotype. Cosby was a role model, a walking embodiment of our best values. And he was really, really funny.
That’s why I was so disappointed to hear the sainted comedian unleash a campaign against low-income black people, the folks at the opposite end of the social spectrum from Cliff and Claire Huxtable who failed where Cliff and Claire had succeeded so brilliantly. Cosby’s contempt for black people who neglected their kids, didn’t get an education, who lacked a work ethic, and blamed others for their own failings knew no bounds. (more…)
The Mississippi Supreme Court just decided, after a 5-4 vote, that Curtis Flowers does not deserve a new trial due to racial bias in the jury selection process. I wasn’t surprised. After a black juror was accused of perjury and obstruction of justice at the end of the fifth murder trial Curtis has endured, black members of the venire were understandably eager to avoid jury duty. White jurors, by contrast, were eager to serve.
The only surprise was that four justices appear to understand that this case has horribly irregular from the beginning. Since the sixth trial, for instance, one of the state’s star witnesses has been convicted of massive income tax fraud while another has committed a triple murder (with a fourth victim confined to a wheel chair).
The Mississippi Supreme Court once functioned as a check on prosecutor Doug Evans and Judge Joey Loper. That is no longer the case. To find out why, read on. AGB 11-5-17
At the risk of offending people of good will everywhere, I will ask the appropriate question in the appropriate manner: “Is it a crime to kill a nigger in Mississippi?”
If the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the 2010 conviction of Curtis Flowers is any indication, the answer to this distressing question is still “no”.
Bill Waller as Mississippi Governor
My offensive framing of the question hails back to the 1964 trial of Myron De La Beckwith, the man accused of killing civil rights leader, Medgar Evers. Prosecutor Bill Waller had the thankless task of prosecuting a man who was being hailed as a hero in his home town of Greenwood, Mississippi. To have any chance of attaining a conviction, Waller had to signal to the courtroom that he shared their disapproval of Medgar Evers and the movement he symbolized. But he also had to find twelve men (women didn’t serve on Mississippi juries in 1964) who believed it was a crime for a white man to kill a black man. So every prospective juror was asked the same question. Here’s how it went the first time round.
“Do you think it’s a crime to kill a nigger in Mississippi?” Waller asked one potential juror.
After a long silence, the judge demanded an answer.
More silence.
“He’s thinking it over,” Mr. Waller said.
The African Americans in the gallery gasped and moaned in dismay every time the hated word was uttered, but Waller got the jury he was looking for.
Why were Democrats so thoroughly humiliated in the 2014 election? Analysts have been warning for months that this would be a tough year for the Blue team, but few expected the carnage to be this bad (or good, depending on your perspective).
The question is particularly pressing in Texas where Wendy Davis, the Democratic candidate for governor, lost by twenty points despite prodigious fund-raising success and massive GOTV support from groups like Battleground Texas.
Few expected Davis to win; but twenty points?
By the numbers, Davis lost because more 80% of key demographic groups voted for Republican Greg Abbott: white males, white evangelical Christians, voters who believe government is too big and that abortion should be illegal.
But Davis also lost because voters who normally help Democrats stayed home.
Davis didn’t do well with younger voters and did really badly with older voters. Only 6% of the electorate was between 18 and 24 and Greg Abbott received 59% of the votes of Texans between 25-29, 45% in the 30-39 category, 57% in the 40-49 group, and close to 70% support from voters 50 and older.
Only 61% of Latino woman supported Davis while Latino men actually favored Abbot, albeit by a single percentage point. Over all, Davis got only 25% of the white vote, 92% of the black vote and 55% of the Latino vote.
Latino support for Leticia Van de Putte, candidate for Lieutenant Governor, was also embarrassingly weak. While Latino women favored Leticia 58%-40%, Latino men backed Dan Patrick, an outspoken opponent of immigration reform, 53% to 46%. These results are particularly mystifying when you realize that Van de Putte is a Latina who switches effortlessly between English and Spanish.
If Democrats were shredded from sea to shining sea, the results in Texas were particularly depressing for a party boasting its intention to “turn Texas blue.”
So, why did it happen.
The big story is that only 28.5% of eligible Texas voters showed up at the polls. Texas has always been a low-voting state, but 28.5% suggests an alarming level of disengagement. White evangelicals showed up in droves, comprising 30% of the Texas electorate (according to exit polls), and 84% of them voted for the Republican.
Even if every single evangelical voter had stayed home, Davis would have eked out a narrow victory.
When you can’t win 30% of the white vote, it doesn’t matter how well you do with young people and Latinos.
Election results make it clear that Latinos who care about immigration and young people generally stayed home.
It is tempting for Democrats to castigate their supporters for sitting this one out, but that’s precisely the wrong approach. What did Democrats do, in Texas or nationwide, to give young people and non-white voters a reason to vote?
As things presently stand, the Democrats are a party without a message, And no, “the Tea Party is crazy and we’re not” doesn’t count.
When Obamacare survived a horrendous roll-out and registered a series of smashing successes, Republicans doubled down on their criticism. When Democrats failed to defend their leader’s signature policy success, the only story in town came from Republican politicians and pundits: “Obamacare is horribly, shockingly, disgustingly awful!!!!”
Democrats begged Obama to avoid action on immigration until after the election. The result: low turnout from frustrated Latino electorate and the loss of a hot campaign issue. Sure, immigration is controversial, but the majority of American support both the Affordable Care Act and immigration reform.
A party without a message can’t compete with a party sporting simple talking points and a high degree of message discipline. It doesn’t matter if most Republican positions are demonstrably wrong–if no one beats the drum for the alternative, Democrats will stay home and Republicans will score lopsided wins.
Texas Democrats won’t win 40% of the white evangelical vote in the foreseeable future, but if they can’t do better than 16%, the Republican hegemony could extend into the second half of the twentieth century.
White evangelicals see Democrats as the party of secularism, and if we restrict our attention to white Democrats a case can be made for this proposition. But the anti-God label is hilariously off-target if Latino and African American voters are taken into account.
Show up at a Black or Latino church and you will realize that Republicans have no corner on spirituality; but too many white Democrats, in my experience, have come to see religion as the enemy. That needs to change.
Wendy Davis was doomed form the outset because abortion rights, in Texas, is a political loser. Greg Abbott’s position on abortion is surprisingly moderate, but the “abortion Barbie” label killed Davis in the heartland.
Unfortunately, much of the political money that flooded Texas came from people determined to make the abortion issue front and center. The only way to protect women’s access to health care, long term, is to vote moderate candidates into positions of power. In the end, Davis was forced to run away from abortion rights, gun control, immigration reform and virtually every other progressive issue. She was a candidate without a message and her plight presented an egregious example of what ails Democrats across the nation.
Here’s the bottom line: democrats will become competitive in Texas the minute they give young people and Latinos a reason to vote. That didn’t happen in 2014 and it won’t happen in 2016 unless we see dramatic change.
Meet four-year-old Keyonta Wyatt. On September 2, by the time first responders arrived at mother’s Mansfield, Louisiana home, it was fully engulfed in flames. At first it was believed that all four residents had made it outside, but then the family noticed that little Keyonta was not there. Someone said he had gone back inside to get his toys. People said it was too late to go in after him, but Keyonta’s uncle Michael Anthony Brown could not accept that. He ran into the flaming house and emerged injured, but with his little nephew alive.
Airlifted to a Shreveport hospital and initially listed in critical condition, the boy survived with only superficial burns to his face and arms. Brown was hailed as a hero in Mansfield, and was presented with a rare Outstanding Citizenship Award by the mayor and police chief.This year Brown saved his little nephew. Last year he saved himself.
Breaking the Silence is a six-week study designed for existing Sunday school classes and study groups. The core conviction is simple: what was good news for Jesus should be good news for the church. Although Breaking the Silence can be taught in any Christian setting, … Continue reading Breaking the Silence: Introducing the kingdom Jesus had in mind
Fifteen women now claim to have been drugged and raped by Bill Cosby. Asked to respond to these allegations on NPR, Cosby maintained an indignant silence.
Friends of Justice 