Hi Everyone, if you missed my interview with Bill Friday…check out our podcast. Host, yours truly, talks about our Expats Media project and has a conversation with Bill regarding blogging, writing, poetry, and his son. In spite of the fact that I had a sore thoart, we had a sucessful first show. Check it out at the link below. Thanks!
Filed under Interviews and News Articles
I have to admit, I’ve been putting off publishing this article for a while. Last weekend, I was invited to participate in a live debate on BlogTalkRadio. The topic of debate, “White Guilt”. On the twenty year anniversary of the Rodney King riots, I was asked to express my opinions on a host of questions relating to racial discrimination, affirmative action, hate crimes, and racism.
I’m not an expert on racism, however I have written about the subject, quoting people that are experts on the topic. After reading a brief article posted at Expats Post and watching the short film, hosted by Mr. Midnight Movie and the Jewish Producer (JP), I decided to post a comment on the article disputing the whole notion of “White Guilt”.
As a result of my comment, I was invited to come on the No White Guilt show with Mr. Midnight Movie to further debate the related issues. Jewish Producer was kind enough to send me some of the questions up for debate in advance. Once the show got rolling, I was a little surprised the questions didn’t follow the order provided, but I just went with the flow. However, I was a little disappointed the very first question sent to me, which was suppose to be the main subject of debate, was never covered in the radio program.
During the show, I promised I would post my notes up on my website to quote and support the facts and statistics I was using for the show. I’ve procrastinated following through on that promise in part because I have been ill and in part because the collective notes is far too much information for a standard article. I have therefore cut some of the questions that were either not asked or we found ourselves in agreement. I also consolidated two questions because of the overlapping material. Even with all the cutting of information, this article runs long so I apologize for that. However, I decided to participate in the debate because I believe the subject is important and not something you would find on the mainstream media.
JP: What is YOUR definition of ‘White guilt’?
DW: I don’t have a definitions of ‘White guilt” The whole notion of ‘White guilt’ was fabricated by conservative ideologues in order to discredit liberal motives for policies that racially level the playing field in America ‘White guilt’ is a conservative fantasy used to perversely stereotype White liberals. It is believed the definition of ‘White guilt’ was developed by conservative columnist George Will, who stated, “White guilt is a form of self-congratulation, where Whites initiate “compassionate policies” toward people of color, to showcase their innocence to racism”.
In 2006, Conservative social commentator Shelby Steele literally wrote the book on the theory of White Guilt. Dr. Gregory Jay, of the University of Wisconsin, an expert on the subject of racism and “Whiteness” provides one of the most concise descriptions of Steele theory on the subject, “His book on the subject, White Guilt: How Blacks and Whites together Destroy the Promise of the Civil Rights Era, argues that “White Guilt is quite literally the same thing as black power,” the reduction of moral authority to a zero-sum game between Blacks and Whites wherein what was once the stigma of race becomes the neo-stigma of racism. The more guilty Whites feel about race/racism, the more empowered blacks are to use accusations of racism (and invocations of America’s racist history) as a disciplining rod. Steele cautions against the lure of White Guilt; for blacks, as a form of political capital; for whites, as a performance of social penance.”
Right-wing columnists, TV personalities, and radio hosts are constantly trying to distort to their audiences what liberals believe and what our underlying motives are. Instead of actually asking liberals why they support such and such a policy, most conservatives actively work to conceive nefarious or preposterous theories, mainly design to discredit liberals.
Jay further states, “But I’m not sure that “white guilt” is as big a problem as these cultural critics make it out to be. Moreover, the election of President Obama might be ushering in an era of “White rage” that is more than giving “White guilt” a run for its money”.
In a separate piece, Jay goes on to explain, “Antiracism is not about guilt or blame. You don’t have to be guilty or blameful to receive privileged treatment at the bank, at the store, in the courts, in legislative policy, etc. just because you are “White.””
In a lecture at Sonoma State University, noted author and expert on the subject of racism and White privilege, Tim Wise stated linguistically and philosophically, “There is a profound difference between guilt and responsibility…Guilt is something you feel because of something you’ve done. Responsibility is an action you take because of the person you are.” Wise goes on to point out that White’s have not supported affirmative action or other similar laws out of a sense of personal guilt. Rather, We do not choose the world we are born into. However, we can choose to take personal responsibility for helping make the world a more just and equal place.
One study that tested the theory of ‘White guilt’ was conducted by Dr. Patrick Ryan Granzka, who actually wrote his dissertation paper on the subject. What he found was that the conservative’s notion of ‘White guilt’ as expressed in Shelby Steele’s book, were widely considered by scholars to be “almost completely reductive, essentialist, and regressive.” However, Granzka does go on to say Steele’s work is “reflective of broader discourse about White guilt”. A discourse, I might add, that has been wholly created by conservative writers.
JP: What’s your view on Affirmative Action? What are your views on Public education’s role in white guilt?
DW: Affirmative Action has been effective in righting some of the wrongs resulting in a deeply rooted history of racism and discrimination in America. While it is not perfect (what government program is?), affirmative action programs have helped level the playing field, by a small degree.
During our live radio debate, Mr. Midnight Movie made the case that essentially the usefulness of affirmative action in American is over and the role of leveling the playing field has been achieved. Mr. Midnight Movie goes on to suggest that now affirmative action is simply used to lower the bar for a whole group of people that don’t “measure up” in his opinion. He argues that “you can’t lower standards so underrepresented students to come in”. He calls affirmative action policies a ‘free pass” which he believes “undermines our pursuit of excellence.”
That position would be fine if we lived in a country that had actually eliminated or even come close to eliminating institutionalized, systematic discrimination in our country. Here is what the U.N. says about the use of affirmative action programs:
“The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination stipulates (in Article 2.2) that affirmative action programs may be required of countries that ratified the convention, in order to rectify systematic discrimination. It states, however, that such programs “shall in no case entail as a consequence the maintenance of unequal or separate rights for different racial groups after the objectives for which they were taken have been achieved.”
I don’t believe the objectives set by affirmative action programs in the U.S. have been achieved. Here are some of the reasons why I have taken this position.
According to Tim Wise, Black folks with college degrees are twice as likely to be unemployed. MIT and University of Chicago Economics departments, in 2004 study reported, job applicants with White names are 50% more likely to be called back for an interview than applicants with Black or ethnic names. 85% of all jobs are created by networking. Whites have built on generations of racial advantage and when they hire, they look to people they know and live near.
Homestead Act of 1862 gave over 240 million acres of land to White folks. No less than 20 million White Americans are the living benefactor of the Homestead Act. In addition, the FHA and VA loans during the 30’s and into the mid-60’s gave 120 billion dollars of housing underwriting loans to almost entirely White folks. In fact, 98% of all the FHA and VA loans given during this period were given to White families. Blacks were denied the same loans; simply by allowing banks to redline Black communities. This helped create the White middle class, which has received systemic preferential treatment in the form of multi-government handouts going back prior to the birth of this nation.
Even in the last decade, Blacks with the same credit scores as Whites, were 2 to 3 times more likely to be targeted for predatory, subprime housing loans. A loan officer from Wells Fargo, even admitted publicly the bank’s policies were to steer Black’s into these high risk loans. Aside from the institutionalized discrimination of Black in home loans, on average, 2 to 3 million cases of housing discrimination are filed each year in the U.S.
Thus, as a result of Whites historically receiving massive government handouts, to the exclusion of people of color, White’s today still hold 90% of America’s GDP.
However, the institutionalized discrimination can also be found in the criminal justice system. Again, according to Tim Wise, the Justice Department’s own studies in 2009 determined Blacks and Latino males were 2 to 3 times more likely to have their cars stopped and searched, in spite of the fact that White males were 4 times more likely to have drugs on them. More on this topic in the following question.
JP: Black on White crime statistics why are they not discussed publically and in the main stream media?
DW: Well, I just did a little Google search and was able to find Fox News, CNN, and NPR discussing the issue. I’m sure other mainstream media outlets have also covered it. However, the issue of hate crimes and racism, in general, is often overlooked in the national news. I guess the crime statistics and racism is not really a sexy story. Mark Potok, from the Southern Poverty Law Center gives the best interview on the subject I was able to find in the mainstream media. Most of the segments I saw focused in particular on the FBI reports. NPR asks Potok about the FBI statistics:
“NPR: The FBI reports that about 20 percent of hate crimes are committed by African-Americans. And does that mean anything, or does that information have some bearing on this in some way?”
“MARK POTOK: Well, the FBI statistics are notoriously shaky, through no fault of their own. It’s a voluntary reporting system. The numbers are known to be extremely weak. That said, I think they are indicative of something. What the numbers show is, as you suggested, is almost 21 percent of hate crimes, according to FBI numbers, are committed by Black Americans, who comprise about 13 percent of the population. About 58 percent are committed by whites, who make up about 80 percent of the population. So the FBI statistics do suggest that Blacks commit hate crimes at a somewhat higher level than Whites. And that is very possibly true. We really can’t know that because the FBI stats are so incomplete.”
Potok goes on to say, that sometimes certain narratives are played out in the media, including the focusing of White on Black hate crimes and the downplaying the Black on White hate crimes. Nonetheless, Potok highlights the fact that the FBI reports are “notoriously shaky” due to the “voluntary reporting system”. Potok concludes that while it is possible Black on White hate crimes are “somewhat higher” we “really can’t know.”
However what we do know, in drug crimes, Blacks are eight times more likely to be sentenced to jail for the same crimes as Whites. The Sentencing Project looked at 40 recent studies on the conviction and sentencing rates in America. The organization presented a shocking overview of level of racism found in the criminal justice system nationwide. Here is excerpt from one of the criminology studies quoted by The Sentencing Project:
“The Pennsylvania study found that, controlling for other factors, including severity of the
offense and prior criminal history, white men aged 18-29 were 38 percent less likely to be
sentenced to prison than black men of the same age group. In addition, white men of this
age group were sentenced to an average prison term that was almost three months
shorter than that given to black men of this age group. Furthermore, black men aged 18-
29 were more than four times as likely to be sentenced to prison as white men over the
age of fifty.
The key findings from The Sentencing Project study showed “evidence of direct racial discrimination”. So there you have another piece of the puzzle. First, we know from Potok the FBI numbers are shaky due to voluntary reporting. Second, we also know the FBI statistics only reflect only those convicted of a crime. Add in the fact that if you’re Black, you’re more likely to be convicted and sentences severely than if you’re White, and you can see why the FBI’s reports only tell part of the picture.
There are plenty of other studies we can look at to support the fact that White on Black instatutional racism is still pervasive in the United States. The fact is, if you are Black, you are more likely to be pulled over by the cops, more likely to be searched, more likely to be arrested, more likely to be convicted, and more likely to receive the harshest sentences, including the death penalty. The FBI’s statistics do not take any of these facts into account.
JP: Selective outrage?
DW: I think Potok makes a good point when he explains the narrative told on the mainstream media can be fickle. Potok points out that millions of people on the right expressed outrage over the Black on White assaults (some of which amounted to hate crimes, some did not). All the while, once there is a White on Black crime, many on the left express their outrage and complain the mainstream media is not covering them. It’s like the two sides are talking right past each other. I once heard a scientist on the radio say that, “race is a political issue, not a biological issue”. How one views the mainstream media and what is being selected for public consumption is mostly dependant on your own political point of view. One thing is for certain, according to a recent Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting study, the mainstream media’s Sunday morning news programs are still overwhelmingly White (92%), male (84%), and Republican (70%). So guess who’s narrative’s are mostly being heard on these shows?
In conclusion, I would like to thank Mr. Midnight Movie and Jewish Producer for having me on their show. I think the topic is important and I appreciate having the opportunity to express an alternative perspective on this subject.
Filed under Interviews and News Articles
For the last 66 years, as the apple trees bloom, my little town of Sebastopol, California hosts a ruckus festival and parade downtown and at Ives Park. Until recently, people were allowed to walk around with open containers of alcohol. While that is no longer permitted, heavy partying in the bars and at the park continues throughout the weekend. Sebastopol is a quarkly town that likes to do things their own way. Much of the proceeds to this annual event goes to our local schools. The Press Democrat photo above is from yesterday’s parade. Below is a poem I updated for the occasion.
The Apple Blossom Parade
In 1914,
The First Methodist Church,
with its bold wooden steeple,
was burnt to the ground,
for preaching prohibition.
The good folks,
of Sebastopol,
weren’t buying the sermons.
Today,
the Apple Blossom Parade,
marches past the rebuilt church,
past the Masonic Temple,
past Martha’s ol’ Mexico,
selling soup bowl Margaritas,
past the Old Main Street Saloon,
overflowing with bikers,
past Jasper O’ Farrell’s,
The Hopmonk Tavern,
The Greenhouse, and G.T.O’s,
with their bottomless Bloody Marys.
Yes, as the apple trees bloom,
once again the entire town,
including marching bands,
and dachshunds in costumes,
spill past the restaurants and bars,
into Ives Park,
for a two day party,
featuring Wonder Bread 5,
and six dollar beers.
All to support,
Analy Union High School.
No wonder,
Luther Burbank and Charles Schulz,
called Sebastopol their home.
And The First,
Methodist Church,
now made of stone,
is the only quiet place in town.
Filed under Poems
The pipe burst, showering
the bathroom with scalding water.
Forcing me to flee naked into the cold.
I quickly grabbed a bathrobe,
and an old dim flashlight,
to scurry under the house,
and turn off the main valve.
Covered in mud in the dark,
I found myself looking at stars,
the blueness of the sky,
and the violet hue of sunrise,
silhouetting the mountain range.
The smell of coffee wafted outside,
as a pan faced barn owl swept by.
Filed under Poems, Uncategorized
(This article is a work in progress. Over the next couple days I will add to this posting.)
A poem by Adrienne Rich, from her collection “The School Among the Ruins”.
To Have Written the Truth
To have spent hours stalking the whine of an insect
have smashed its body in blood on a door
then lain sleepless with rage
To have played in the ship’s orchestra crossing
the triangle route
dissonant arpeggios under cocktail clatter
to have written the truth in a lightning flash
then crushed those words in your hand
balled-up and smoking
with self-absolution
easygoing pal of youth
leans in the doorframe
Kid, you always
took yourself so hard!
2003
by Adrienne Rich
Adrienne Rich often wrote about death and the human condition. Shortly after her divorce, her husband committed suicide. During this time in her life, Rich became an outspoken feminist and anti-war activist. Yet, when I read her poems, I also feel like Rich is in someway acting like a psychologist trying to work out human pathologies.
In 2005 I was among one hundred fans crammed into a tiny bookstore in Marin, California, to listen to the 76-year-old poet rail against the “War on Terrorism” and the U.S. Government in general. In between her sharp criticism, she would read a poem or two, and then go back into her outrage with U.S. policies, covering a wide rage of issues. Yet, throughout the lecture and reading, Rich maintained a stillness and confidence which made her passionate performance not one of anger, but one of a combination of stirring intellect, honestly, and raw emotion. It was amazing how a 76-year-old woman can awaken an audience of all ages, simply with her words.
According to Poets.com:
“In 1997, she refused the National Medal of Arts, stating that “I could not accept such an award from President Clinton or this White House because the very meaning of art, as I understand it, is incompatible with the cynical politics of this administration.” She went on to say: “[Art] means nothing if it simply decorates the dinner table of the power which holds it hostage.”"
Adrienne was the best example of a poet that lived her life believing, and proving, she could say and do anything and no one was going to hold her back. Rich was an activist, poet, and inspiration to many. RIP, Master Poet Adrienne Rich.
Filed under Poems, Uncategorized
LifeLock, the online identity theft protection outfit, is once again in trouble. That shouldn’t surprise anyone that’s followed the company. After all, the business seems to be based on a string of lies fabricated by Robert J. Maynor Jr., a man legally barred from working in the credit repair industry, due to his history of false advertising and deceptive business practices in the past. If you haven’t been following the company, you might still remember the kooky, but effective, ads CEO Todd Davis made where he plastered his Social Security Number on billboards and across our TV screens. Only later did the company admit Davis, as a result of the ad campaign, had his identity stolen 13 times over the course of the two-years.
A couple of years ago, LifeLock found itself in trouble once again for, you guessed it, false advertisement. Exactly two-years ago today, March 6, 2010, the Federal Trade Commission ordered LifeLock to pay 13 million dollar fine for their deceptive claims. In addition, in 2008, the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs filed a complaint against LifeLock for, yes, deceptive claims.
In spite of LifeLock’s established history of false advertising and deceptive practices, for some crazy reason hundreds of thousands of gullible people still shell out $10 to $15 a month for a service they can easily do themselves for free in just a few minutes.
However, LifeLock is not in trouble this time with the government. Rather, what has put LifeLock under the microscope this time is the fact company has refused to halt its advertising on Rush Limbaugh’s show, after Limbaugh called a third year Georgetown Law student a “slut” and a “prostitute” and demanded he watch the videos of her having sex. (All normal red meat stuff for so-called “family values” conservatives).
Under pressure from women and their supporters, no less than nine major advertisers have pulled their support on Limbaugh’s show. But not LifeLock. In an email sent to the Huffington Post, ”We do not agree with Rush Limbaugh’s recent comments but we acknowledge his apology,” LifeLock Chief Marketing Office Marvin Davis wrote in a statement emailed to The Huffington Post. “At this time, we are not making any changes to our advertising program.”
Limbaugh’s statements have caused a national outrage. Yet LifeLock continues to blindly support Limbaugh. The wrath of women may turn out to be LifeLock’s greatest run-in with trouble thus far. One need only go to LifeLock’s Facebook page to see hundreds of angry wall postings from customers and potential others expressing their disgust in LifeLock’s choice to stand with Limbaugh.
There are even some claiming that LifeLock’s phone personal are telling their customers if they close their accounts workers at LifeLock will find themselves out of a job. For example, Cathy Scianini posted on LifeLock’s Facebook page: “I just called and cancelled my renewal with Lifelock. Boy are they trying hard to keep customers. Even saying I could be causing people to lose their jobs with LIfelock. I told them up front it’s because of Limbaugh. . . . . do the same folks.”
Again, for those that have researched or followed LifeLock, it should come as no surprise that their staff is trying to use scare tactics to keep their customers from closing their accounts. After all, they built their entire business in scaring customers into believe they should pay $10 a month for something anyone can do for free within minutes.
(Originally published at Expats Post .)
Filed under Interviews and News Articles
Maysoon Zayid on Current TV
Every single year I go to Palestine for Christmas. Every time, I go to Bethlehem. And every single year my best friend Tina says, “Who the hell goes to Palestine for Christmas?” And I say …”Mary and Joseph went.” – Maysoon Zayid
When I first started researching this article I considered writing a tale of two comedians. It all started when I watched former Saturday Night Live comedian Victoria Jackson make some outrageous anti-Islamic comments on her cable program Politichicks. In the segment, Jackson states, “the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated our highest positions in government…Islam is our enemy.” Jackson goes on to rattle off why she believes Sharia law is being enforced in America. Of course, this is complete hogwash. There is nowhere in the United States where Sharia Law being imposed on Americans. Nor, is there any evidence that Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama are operating under the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood, as Jackson claims. However, that doesn’t stop bigoted Tea Party members, like Victoria Jackson, from spreading their destructive, hate filled lies. Jackson’s goals, and folks of the same ilk, are clearly aimed at creating fear of Obama by demonizing a group of people she obviously knows nothing about.
One of the most effective ways to counter bigotry, be it racial, gender oriented, or religious, is to simply get to know those that are different from us. I have to admit; I was born in New Jersey and grew up in a small town in the northwest corner of the state. There were very few Black people in my town and I knew of no Muslims. In my last year of High School, my parents moved down to Georgia and I eventually took a job at New Leaf, a book distributing company near Atlanta. One of my bosses was a super kind, motherly like, Black Muslim woman named Felicia. Often we worked in the same small room and I remember I always enjoyed our time together. Twenty years later, I wrote to New Leaf inquiring about the company and Felicia responded to my email. She had remembered me and together we took a nice little trip down memory lane.
I have found, once you get to know people that are different than you, you find they’re not all that different after all. Racial, gender oriented, and religious bigotry is a product of profound ignorance. And of course, the best way to counter ignorance is through education. This is what drew me to the comedian Maysoon Zayid. In many ways, Zayid is the perfect counter-balance to Jackson’s hateful and profoundly ignorant beliefs.
On stage and in interviews, Zayid has describes herself as “a Palestinian Muslim virgin with cerebral palsy, from New Jersey”. (Well, she is married now). Yet, Zayid is far more than a Palestinian, Muslim, comedian or actress, from New Jersey. Zayid has become a powerful educator and activist working on behalf of children with disabilities and against Islamophobia.
Zayid was born in New Jersey and attended Arizona State University (Go Sun Devils!). Zayid graduated with a BFA and went on to appear on the TV soap opera As the World Turns, bit roles on Law and Order, and other TV programs. In spite of Zayid’s early acting success, she often found her disability and ethnicity was hindering her acting career.
That is when she turned to standup comedy. In 2003 Zayid co-founded, with Dean Obeidallah, the now highly acclaimed New York Arab-American Comedy Festival. Remarkably, Zayid is said to be the first American Muslim woman comedian. Zayid is also reportedly the first person to ever perform standup comedy in Jordan and Palestine. I first discovered her comedy early two years ago.
Zayid currently co-hosts a radio program and is a frequent contributor to Keith Olbermann’s new show on Current TV. Click on the Olbermann link to watch Zayid comment on Lewes home supply store pulling their advertisement on The Learning Channel’s new program All American Muslim.
After this latest interview, Zayid was viciously attacked by right-wing extremists. The following is just one example she posted on her Facebook page, “This biatch is shaking in her taqiyya boots and she’s all drugged up too. She’s slurring her lies.” This crap reminds me of the time Rush Limbaugh mocked Michael J. Fox or when Ohio Tea Party members mocked a man with Parkinson’s disease because he supported the Affordable Health Care Act (Obamacare).
While Zayid’s success in acting, stand-up comedy and even as a commentator are all commendable actions, it is her work with children is what is most commendable. You see, three months of each year, Zayid works with program for disabled and orphaned children living in Palestinian refugee camps. Zayid uses art to help children cope with trauma and disabilities. Eighty percent is funded by her comedy.
Recently, I asked Maysoon Zayid to comment on her work with disabled (or as she says “differently-abled”) children and Islamophobic bigotry, serious stuff for a comedian. Nonetheless, Zayid graciously responded to my request. As you will see, Zayid uses her intelligence, wit, and humor to address many of the profound challenges confronting the Palestinians, Muslims, women, and people with different abilities:
DW: Recently, I read Alice Walker’s book “Overcoming Speechlessness”. As you may know, Walker devotes more than a third of the book to her experience in Palestine. In one section of the book she writes about women wearing a headscarf. In our phone conversation, you mentioned that you choose to not wear a headscarf. I’ve also heard you joke about how you planned on putting your bridesmaids in burkas. Still to this day, some people take real issue with the headscarf. Can you please share your thoughts on headscarves, your faith, and why you choose not to wear one?
MZ: I choose not to wear a headscarf because frankly nowhere in the Qaran does it say it’s required. Yes. It’s true. There’s nothing about a woman having to cover her hair. What it says and I’m not quoting, but the jist of it is, “cover”. I take a more Adam and Eve approach than scary ninja. I have met many women who choose to wear the hijab in all different ways. They are not forced, it’s a choice, and I respect that. Who knows, someday I may wear hijab, but I promise you I will never see me in a Burkini. There are also women who are forced to wear it, (yeah, I’m looking at you Saudi) that is sacrilege. In the end Islam has no hierarchy – what you believe is between you and God. Not covering my hair doesn’t make me any less Muslim and I doubt it will send me to hell in a hand-basket. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, I am good with God even if my hair is flappin’ in the wind. As for the burka joke, the reason I do that joke is to show that forcing a 37 year-old spinster to wear a sea-foam green ballgown is just as absurd as forcing a woman to wear a burka because that means “cover” to some man. Also, honestly, I was just trying to pick something (that) looks good on all different body types.
DW: I’m very much interested in your work with The Friends School of Ramallah and El-Bireh. Can you share with us a little bit about The Friends School, how you got involved, and what have been their challenges and accomplishments since you started volunteering at the school?
MZ: We don’t give people money, we’re very much hands on to “teach a refugee to fish.” Due to the political climate, I am not allowed to travel to Gaza, but we work everywhere else in (Palestine). Past projects include art and wellness programs, summer camp lunches, eye exams and glasses, Mommy classes, physical therapy equipment for rehab centers, tutoring seniors preparing for college, and providing shoes, clothing, and milk locally made for orphans.
In June of 2011 we were proud to have our first Maysoon’s Kids university scholarship recipient graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work from Bethlehem University. Currently we are partnered with three organizations. Our first partnership is with the Friends Quaker School in Ramallah. Friends is currently the only school in Palestine that mainstreams differently-abled children, otherwise they are left to glorified babysitting U.N. facilities where they learn nothing. It is our goal to provide scholarships that cover the entire K-12 education of a differently-abled student with no other financial means to attend. Our dream is that schools all over Palestine will mainstream, but for now we just want to get as many kids into Friends as possible. Our second partnership is with Playgrounds for Palestine, who we partnered with to build a locally-made accessable playground for the Silwad Disabled Center. We are planning to partner on a second playground. Finally, we are working with the Bethlehem Orphanage to facilitate the adoption of special needs orphans in search of a family. For more information please visit www.maysoon.com\charity.htm.
DW: When I look at biographies written about you online we often see claims about you being the “first stand-up comedian in Palestine and Jordan”. I know you have cast some doubts about this claim. Nonetheless, can you share with us a little about your experiences doing comedy in Palestine, Jordan, and Egypt? How free are you to joke about the governments, culture, gender, and other “hot button” issues?
MZ: The reason I never like to say I’m first is because what if there is someone who came before me? How disrespectful would that be? I did stand-up comedy in Jordan and Palestine not knowing it was groundbreaking. I was a comic in America, and my friends and family wanted to see me perform. So why not do a show? The first show was in Amman Jordan, followed by Bethlehem about two months later in 2002. I will never get to do another Amman show like that, because at the time I was completely under the radar and unaware of the country-to-country censorship in the Middle East. Luckily, Palestine has remained censorship free. Believe me, I challenge it every time I’m on stage there, just to make sure. You can’t really compare Egypt to Palestine. Contrary to popular belief, the Middle East is not one amalgams Arab blob. I was totally culture-shocked when I went to Egypt in 2009 even though I grew up spending summers in the Middle East. I had my ass grabbed more than a Kardashian. This would never happen in Ramallah, because if you do that to a Palestinian chick she’ll break your arm. I also got that really famous Pharaoh’s food poisoning the second I got to Cairo. Dean Obedallah was looking for me between shows for the curtain call and couldn’t find me because I was on the floor of the dirtiest bathroom in Cairo throwing up my shoes. Like a trooper, I got on stage for the second show. Unbeknownst to me Fayza the Minister of Tourism was perched front-row. I knew Egypt had strict censorship laws. I couldn’t make fun of Mubarak, Islam or talk about sex, but nobody said anything about Egypt Air. I did a joke about how I was happy for the first time ever that I have Cerebral Palsy because if I wasn’t flapping my arms the plane would have crashed. I then mentioned in passing that the plane was so filthy my lice had gotten fleas. Fayza didn’t find this funny and she charged up on stage screaming, “You’re not funny!” in English. She then attempted to slap me on my head. She was restrained by two Egyptian comics who had they known who she was would have let her beat me to death. After the revolution I was excited to finally be able to go back but unbelievably the maniac Fayza despite the revolution is still in power and is responsible for jailing a bunch of American NGOs. So I guess I’ll stick to Palestine where no one would dare try to censor or slap a disabled Palestinian J-Lo.
DW: Recently, presidential candidate Newt Gingrich called Palestinians an “invented people.” All the while, Pamela Geller has said “there is no such thing as Palestine”. Can you comment on these statements?
MZ: First of all, let’s be very clear, there is no such thing as a Pam Geller. Moving on to Newt Gingrich, this doughy man is a self-proclaimed historian, yet he seems to have missed the part in the Balfour Declaration which was the basis of the creation of the state of Israel where it states, “It being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.” That was 1917, yet Newt claims we were invented in 1970, so my question for Newt is this, “Who were these non-Jewish communities Balfour was yakkin’ about?” I am fully aware that Newt was paid twenty million dollars to help with his confusion, but let me be clear, I can trace my own family back no less than six generations and that is way before 1970. Palestinians are not invented, we exist and he’d have better luck proving Romney was invented which I believe is an actual scientific fact.
DW: Speaking about Pamela Geller, Ms. Geller states on her website, Atlas Shrugs, “(Maysoon Zayid is) an open supporter of the genocidal Hamas and Hezb’allah but she finds me “really terrifying”. Can you please address Geller’s accusations?
MZ: I try to make it a policy to never directly address someone with clearly untreated mental illness. But I would start with this; does Pam Geller walk into a room and say, “bye” instead of “hi” because she can’t resist the urge to lie? A simple Google search will show you that I have the words “I hate Hamas” basically tattooed on my forehead and Hezb’allah has about as much to do with me as fly fishing. Note to reader: I have Cerebral Palsy and if I ever attempted fly fishing I would most certainly yank out my eye. But even knowing almost nothing about them, like fly fishing, I despise Hezb’alla because I am 100% against any religious involvement in government. Hamas and Hezb’allah are both religious groups and I am secular, something Pam Geller would know if she ever bothered to read anything but her own drivel. Other than that, I feel like she should consider joining me for a duet. She can accuse, I can answer, it can go viral and probably save the world. But until that juncture I’m going to go back to pretending she doesn’t exist.
DW: As you may know, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, anti-Islamic hate groups are on the rise. Why do you think that is so and how might we reverse this trend?
MZ: Southern Poverty Law Center would be less impoverished if they, too, became an anti-Islamic hate group because there is big money in Muslim malevolence. Over $42.6 million was spent by seven charities, not to provide tolerance, but to actually promote hate in America. How’s that for charity? Obviously this is one of the main reasons hate is on the rise. I think the other major factor is that post-9/11 vilifying Muslims became part of campaign strategy the same way LGBT rights and abortion have been in the past, and continue to be. These are issues used to distract and terrify folks and sadly, they are very effective. While Robert Spencer and Victoria Jackson are given platforms left and right to spew hate, rarely are Muslims given a platform to dismiss this vile bigotry. As far as reversing this trend, the onus lies with the media and parents.
(Originally published at Expats Post).
Filed under Interviews and News Articles
abandoned house by arphot.diviantart.com
Letter to Ex
There are no more walls in my house.
I hang my pictures on the air.
My carpet is made of grass and moss.
My bed is the corn husks of your heart.
Your mind is the fire for my stove.
I cook my soup with your words.
I have no need for plates or bowls,
As I dine on the wisdom of your soul.
I have no need for tinted windows,
Nor drawn curtains and closed shutters.
I have no roof, no floor, no doors.
And thanks to you, no secrets any more.
I have nothing left in life to hide.
Now that you have robbed me blind.
(originally published at www.ExpatsPoetry.com)
Filed under Poems
Over the last few days, the saga a 15 year old girl, Jakadrien Turner, made national headlines. At 14, Jakadrien ran away from home after her parents split up and her grandfather passed away. Apparently, the stress of the two events was too much for this young girl to handle and she ran away from her home in Dallas and found herself in Houston.
The details of what happened next are still fuzzy; however, many in the blogosphere have already made up their minds as to what happened and who’s at fault. And predictably, the nation is split between those that are compassionate, understanding, and outraged at U.S. law enforcement, and those that want to paint the girl as a free-loading drug addict, welfare queen, from yet another broken Black family.
According to one CNN article, after Jakadrien went missing, Facebook postings indicated the girl started working at a DJ club under an assumed name. Clearly, the girl wanted to get away from her home and start making a life for herself as an adult. This story should sounds familiar to millions of American families.
The National Runaway Switchboard reports, “Between 1.6 and 2.8 million youth run away in a year. Youth aged 12-17 are at higher risk from homelessness than adults. 47% of runaway/homeless youth indicated that conflict between them and their parent or guardian was a major problem. Over 50% of the youth in shelters and on the streets reported that their parents either told them to leave or knew they were leaving but did not care. 80% of runaway and homeless girls reported having ever been sexually or physically abused,”
We don’t know if Jakadrien was ever subjected to any physical or sexual abuse at home, nor should we jump to that conclusion. I do know that since her disappearance her parents and grandparents desperately worked endlessly with the police to help find their child. We also know Jakadrien worked equally hard to hide from her folks, including changing her name in order to present herself as a 22 year old woman.
Even at age 45, I can remember back to when I was 14 years old and running away from home. I spent one night sleeping in the balcony of a local church. While there was some physical abuse in my family (in the name of “tough love”), it was never bad enough for me to want to completely run away at 14. However, by the time I was 18, I walked away from home and never looked back.
Believe it or not, there is a big difference between the brains of a 14 year old, a 18 year old, and a 21 year old. Recent studies on adolescent show teen brains are going through some of the greatest changes in their lives during this period. The following two paragraphs are from a report jointly conducted by Cornel University and ACT for Youth Upstate Center for Excellence:
“Until recently most scientists believed that the major “wiring” of the brain was completed by as early as three years of age and that the brain was fully mature by the age of 10 or 12. New findings show that the greatest changes to the parts of the brain that are responsible for functions such as self-control, judgment, emotions, and organization occur between puberty and adulthood. This may help to explain certain teenage behavior that adults can find mystifying, such as poor decision-making, recklessness, and emotional outbursts.
… In a study conducted at Boston’s McLean Hospital, psychologist Deborah Yurgelun-Todd and colleagues showed pictures of people wearing fearful expressions to teenagers between the ages of 11 and 17 while the teens had their brains scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). She found that compared to adults the teens’ frontal lobes (the seat of goal-oriented rational thinking) are less active and their amygdala (a structure in the temporal lobe that is involved in discriminating fear and other emotions) is more active. The teens often misread facial expressions, with those under the age of 14 more often seeing sadness or anger or confusion instead of fear.”
From a growing mountain of studies on teens, and troubled teens in particular, we know that 14 year olds are not capable of making the same rational decisions as adults. That is why teenagers can’t be held legally responsible for contracts and why we have developed an entirely separate legal system for juveniles.
As stated earlier, what happened next in Jakadrien’s case is still a mystery. However, we do know that she was picked up for shoplifting and provided police with her false identity. Unfortunately, and unbeknownst to Jakadrien, that name belonged to a 22 year old illegal immigrant from Colombia, who just so happened to have warrants out for her arrest.
Houston police then handed Jakadrien over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) who fingerprinted Jakadrien but didn’t get a match. Nonetheless, Jakadrien, was then moved in mass with other ICE detainees through the system, and before she could bat her eyes found herself in Colombia.
Political Science professor at Northwestern University, Jacqueline Stevens explains how quickly this can happen:
“Often in these situations they have these group hearings where they tell everybody you’re going to be deported… Everything is really quick, even if you understand English you wouldn’t understand what is going on. If she were in that situation as a 14-year-old she would be herded through like cattle and not have a chance to talk to the judge about her situation.”
Soon after Jakadrien found herself deported to Colombia, a country in which she didn’t speak the language and knew nothing of the culture. However, this creative young kid in no time founds herself working in a Bogotá call center and partying with the locals. Next we know, Houston police finds her posting on Facebook, where she admits to smoking marijuana and being pregnant, just Jakadrien turned 15 years old.
Now that Jakadrien has returned to the U.S, the blame game is on. In reviewing this article, I looked at the comment threads of both right-wing and left-wing leaning websites. The line between who is at fault by the two political sides are fairly distinctive. For the most part, the left-wing is blaming ICE and other law enforcement agencies for not doing their job. Essentially arguing that once ICE discovered the fingerprints didn’t match the 22 year old Colombian woman, they needed to follow up. Had they, they would have discovered the girl didn’t speak Spanish and was completely ignorant of the history and culture of Colombia.
On the other hand, the right-wing blames the child and her family. Researching this article, I’ve read dozens of comments which have called Jakadrien everything from a drug addict, thief and a whore, (Remember we are talking about a 14 year old girl) to those that claim her whole story was set up by her “lazy” “welfare” reliant grandmother (who just so happens to have a full time job). According to some right-wing theories, the family sent Jakadrien into the ICE system just to see if she would be deported, in order to then sue the U.S. government and sell books. The whole conspiracy theory can be found on dozens of sites, including some of the so called “liberal” news sites like MSNBC. Just check the comment thread on this link. You will have to open the hidden comments to find this conspiracy theory, along with other racist accusations and remarks.
Professor Jacqueline Stevens has actually studied the problem of the illegal detention and deportation of U.S. citizens and says in recent years the problem has increased. The following is an excerpt from an interview Stevens gave with Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez of DemocracyNow! Stevens provides us with the statistical data to better understand what happened to Jakadrien:
“I did research in the southern Arizona area to look at the rate at which people who had been detained in that area were found—had their deportation orders terminated by an immigration judge because they were determined to be U.S. citizens. And I found that between 2006 and 2008, 82 out of the over 8,000—the 8,007, I think—files that I considered showed these cases that were terminated because the people were found to be U.S. citizens. That area has 10 percent of the nation’s detainees. And so, I think it’s, you know, reasonable on the basis of that research and additional research, including interviews with immigration judges, ICE agents and people who have actually been deported, to extrapolate that figure. There was also a study that was done by the New York City Bar Association in 2009, and they found that 8 percent of the people that they interviewed in the Varick detention center appeared to be U.S. citizens. So, I think there’s a systemic problem in this country of ICE detaining and, in addition, deporting U.S. citizens”.
There are those that are quick to blame Jakadrien, her parents, and grandparents for this unfortunate ordeal. They seem to show no understanding of what it is like to raise a teenager. They are quick to attack her and her family, labeling them a bunch of lazy losers, who have fantastically designed this elaborate plan to deport their 14 year old daughter in order to push a book deal and sue the government. There is absolutely no basis for such angry race laden claims. However, that is how some will justify the governments failings in the case of Jakadrien Turner.
They will blame the parents because the kid ran away, even through millions of kids from all sorts of families (good or bad) run away. Even worse, they will blame the kid, whose brain is not even fully formed and may very well be running away from a bad family. They will blame her for shoplifting and lying about her name and age. And in doing so, they will be ignoring the facts that children actually lack “self-control, judgment and emotions” which explains “certain teenage behavior that adults can find mystifying, such as poor decision-making, recklessness, and emotional outbursts.”
In addition, those that wish to blame the kid will ignore that fact that, according to Professor Stevens, 10% of the nation’s immigration detainees are actually U.S. citizens, that can sometime languish in U.S. immigration prisons for months and in some cases years, we can see a “systemic problem in this country,”
Who is to blame? Unlike some, I will not put too much blame on a troubled 14 year old girl. Yes she ran away from home. At the time, her family was going through a divorce and death. In Jakadrien’s case, we have no evidence of the sexual or physical abuse in the family which is common in most runaways. We do know the family worked tirelessly to find their lost daughter. We also, in spite of the false and ugly accusations about the parents and grandparents, the family is not a lazy family that relies on welfare. To me, those accusations seem completely unfounded and appear to be racially motivated.
On the other hand, we also do not know why ICE did not follow-up and do a further background check on Jakadrien, after the prints didn’t match. It might be argued that this was just an isolated incident where one poor girl simply slipped through the cracks. However, considering Stevens’ evidence, deporting American citizens has become a systemic problem. Perhaps the one good thing to come out of Jakadrien’s story, other than she being returned to the U.S. is the fact that her story is highlighting ICE’s egregious deportion of American citizens.
Filed under Interviews and News Articles
She rummages through dumpsters,
procuring old picture frames,
earthenware, and nearly new clothes.
Scavaging back alleyways,
scouring through life’s thrown away.
Discovering emeralds,
coffee tables, and golden cows.
She knows exactly where to look.
By day’s end she fills the truck.
Stacked dresser drawers full,
of books, pearls, and girly gifts,
things he will never understand.
Yet, he receives each found treasure,
with the openness of being in love.
Filed under Poems
