Showing posts with label south africa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label south africa. Show all posts

Monday, June 22, 2015

Pressure Builds for South Carolina to Take Down the Confederate Flag ~ Update: Nikki Haley Presser

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Previous Related Post:
The Charleston AME Church Massacre
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In the sad wake of the Charleston deaths at the hand of racist Dylann Roof, Twitter exploded over the weekend with calls for Governor Nikki Haley and the South Carolina House of Representatives to move quickly and take down the emblem of hate, the Confederate Flag, standing just outside the State House in Columbia.

From CNN
. . . while U.S. flags have been lowered, the Confederate battle flag remains high -- even padlocked into place.
Why?
It is a matter of state law.
Back in 2000, civil rights activists successfully lobbied to have a much larger Confederate flag removed from the Capitol dome. But there was a compromise. The South Carolina Heritage Act decreed that just about all other tributes to Confederate history would be virtually untouchable. The only way to change anything of that nature -- including the smaller flag that was erected on the State House lawn -- would be to gain the endorsement of two-thirds of lawmakers.



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Update: Monday, June 22, 2015

Word is spreading that Governor Nikki Haley will announce at 4 p.m. that the flag will come down.

UPDATE: Nikki Haley announced that there would be a push for the South Carolina House and Senate to take down the flag this summer:


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The Charleston AME Church Massacre

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Last Wednesday evening a white man named Dylann Roof walked into a Bible Study at Emmanuel AME Church in historic Charleston. He sat quietly for some time, appearing to listen to the religious message, before standing up and shooting nine innocent people while terrorizing the survivors with racist statements.

Later it was discovered that Dylann Roof had been planning some kind of attack for months, and had told his drinking buddies that whites needed to kill the blacks and bring back segregation. He later said he almost didn't shoot anyone at the church because they were so nice to him, but his evil purpose overcame any conscience he had (if any). But we don't have to guess at his reasons because Roof wrote an online manifesto stating his plan and why he chose that church:













A week later the sorrow still simmers across the nation, as families plan funerals and calls rise up from all sides to take down the festering symbol of racism that is the Confederate Battle Flag. But I deal with the flag controversy in a separate post. The rest of this post is about the victims and their families.






























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Monday, December 23, 2013

Justine Sacco Tweet Heard Round the World

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The hashtag #HasJustineLandedYet took over Twitter this weekend as people followed the flight pattern of Justine Sacco to Africa after she posted a tasteless - and racist - tweet about AIDS.

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From the LA Times
Justine Sacco, a director of communications at Diller's IAC, whose holdings include television production company Electus, dating sites Match.com and OKCupid as well as the video site Vimeo, tweeted “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!”

Then she boarded a flight from London to Africa and all heck broke loose on Twitter as her tweet circulated way beyond the few hundred followers she had and became news. IAC issued a statement condemning Sacco's tweet, calling it an "outrageous, offensive comment that does not reflect the views and values of IAC." She has subsequently been relieved of her duties.

. . . She became a trending topic on Twitter and a hashtag #HasJustineLandedYet spread like wildfire, with people berating her insensitivity and anticipating what life would be like for her after the plane landed.
This isn't the first time Sacco tweeted something that is inappropriate and questionable for someone working in such a high-profile position. Last year she tweeted about having a dream involving sex with someone with autism. Her account has now been shut down.



Response from IAC via ValleyWag:
"The offensive comment does not reflect the views and values of IAC. We take this issue very seriously, and we have parted ways with the employee in question.
There is no excuse for the hateful statements that have been made and we condemn them unequivocally. We hope, however, that time and action, and the forgiving human spirit, will not result in the wholesale condemnation of an individual who we have otherwise known to be a decent person at core."

Statement from Sacco after landing in Africa via ABC News
Words cannot express how sorry I am, and how necessary it is for me to apologize to the people of South Africa, who I have offended due to a needless and careless tweet," Sacco said. "There is an AIDS crisis taking place in this country, that we read about in America, but do not live with or face on a continuous basis. Unfortunately, it is terribly easy to be cavalier about an epidemic that one has never witnessed firsthand.
"For being insensitive to this crisis -- which does not discriminate by race, gender or sexual orientation, but which terrifies us all uniformly -- and to the millions of people living with the virus, I am ashamed.
"This is my father's country, and I was born here. I cherish my ties to South Africa and my frequent visits, but I am in anguish knowing that my remarks have caused pain to so many people here; my family, friends and fellow South Africans. I am very sorry for the pain I caused."

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Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Tea Party Tantrum as Obama Shakes Hands with Cuba's Castro

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Yes, it's true. Our President, like most Presidents, sometimes shakes hands with dictators or despots, and at Mandela's funeral he shook the hand of Raul Castro of Cuba, brother to Communist dictator Fidel Castro. Immediately Republicans began to howl - here was Obama acting all Communisty and "Palling around with Terroristy." Apparently the GOP Tea Party thinks the President should throw down the gauntlet (like Rand Paul) or pitch a tantrum in public or something. But Obama was at a state funeral it's called "diplomacy" people! It's called being a gentleman! It's called being a President. You have to act like a grown-up when dealing with other world leaders!

So shame on John McCain, of all people. I'd love to have a list of people he's shaken hands with over the years. Having Sarah Palin on his ticket is bad enough!

From Huffington Post:
As he rose to the podium to deliver his speech at the funeral of South African leader Nelson Mandela, President Barack Obama took about 20 seconds to shake hands and greet his Cuban colleague (Raoul Castro). The fleeting contact of the leaders’ skin prompted wild speculation about what it all might mean. Does this image of the two leaders symbolize the beginning of a new era?
Given the course of U.S.-Cuba relations over the last five decades, it's safe to say the Obama-Castro handshake probably doesn’t mean a whole lot.

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If the president was going to shake his hand, he should have asked him about those basic freedoms Mandela was associated with that are denied in Cuba.
~ Senator Marco Rubio, R-Florida, via The Hill

Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas) walked out of the memorial service for Nelson Mandela when Cuban “president” Raúl Castro began speaking.
“Senator Cruz very much hopes that Castro learns the lessons of Nelson Mandela,” said Sean Rushton, Cruz’s communications director. “For decades, Castro has wrongly imprisoned and tortured countless innocents. Just as Mandela was released after 27 years in prison, Castro should finally release his political prisoners; he should hold free elections, and once and for all set the Cuban people free.”
~ National Review

It gives Raul some propaganda to continue to prop up dictatorial, brutal regime, that’s all it is to prop up his dictatorial voodoo regime. Why should you shake hands with somebody who’s keeping Americans in prison? I mean, what’s the point? Neville Chamberlain shook hands with Hitler.
~ Senator John McCain via FreakoutNation

Ladies and gentlemen, today is about honoring Nelson Mandela. The president was at an international funeral with leaders from all over the world. He didn't choose who's there. They're there to honor Mandela.
~ Secretary of State John Kerry defending the President

Sometimes a handshake is just a handshake, but when the leader of the free world shakes the bloody hand of a ruthless dictator like Raul Castro, it becomes a propaganda coup for the tyrant.
(Showing Kerry photos of the handshake.)
Raul Castro uses that hand to sign the orders to repress and jail democracy advocates. (Activists) will feel disheartened when they see these photos.
~ Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen R-Florida in confrontation with John Kerry




























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