An excerpt from Rolling Stone - (bold is mine)
Muhammad Ali Was a Hero, But His Enemies Have a Legacy Too
Pentagon learned from the epic mistake of making a martyr of the world's most gifted and famous athlete
By Matt Taibbi
Ali was famously a person who could make a stage out of anything. Even his weigh-ins turned into acts worthy of Carnegie Hall. But on April 28, 1967, the U.S. government handed him the biggest stage of his life.
At an armed forces examining station in Houston, he refused to step forward to a white line when his name was called. That one step would have signified his willingness to be drafted.
The awesome drama of that moment made Ali hated at the time, but also turned him into a martyr to history. The symbolism of a man who made his living fighting refusing to fight was extraordinarily powerful.
Ali furthermore brilliantly used the moment to link America's bloody quagmire overseas to the domestic warfare that had broken out in places like Watts, Rochester, Newark, Cleveland, Detroit, and Division Street, Chicago.
"My conscience won't let me shoot my brother or some darker people," Ali said. "And shoot them for what? They never called me nigger."
Asking Ali to step forward that day in Houston was an epic strategic blunder. The last thing Lyndon Johnson or his successor Richard Nixon needed was to have Americans of any age, but particularly young people, making a connection between racism at home and wars of colonial domination abroad.
But by demanding that a man as prideful and magnetic as Ali submit to becoming a cheerleader for the bloodshed in Vietnam, that's exactly what they did.
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/muhammad-ali-was-a-hero-but-his-enemies-have-a-legacy-too-20160605#ixzz4AunxnDuH
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook
Tuesday, June 7, 2016
Deltas(?) in Dubai
From Essence Magazine -
Monday, June 6, 2016
I Wonder . . .
If this guy was black, would the results be the same?
An excerpt from The Root -
#WhitePrivilegeMuch: College Rapist Gets Light Sentence Because Prison Would Be Bad for Him
The judge’s lenient sentence is just the latest example of white privilege run amok.
There is nothing scarier than a white man losing his power. Good thing Brock Turner won’t have to face the full weight of what that really means. If you haven’t already heard, Turner is the young, white ex-Stanford University swimmer whose dreams are more precious than the woman he raped.
On Jan. 17, 2015, Turner sexually assaulted a 23-year-old unconscious woman behind a dumpster after they both left a campus party. Turner stopped assaulting the woman only after he was spotted by two students, who chased him off of the victim and held him until the cops came. Turner cried only after learning that the cops had been called. Maybe then he realized what his actions meant to his dreams.
During his trial, it was revealed what a toll the rape had taken on Turner. He doesn’t have the appetite he once had for rib-eye steaks. His dream of swimming in the Olympics had been dashed. He used to have a welcoming smile, and now, that has faded. All of which his father made sure to point out in his letter asking for clemency for his son.
Poor Turner.
That’s what Turner’s father said in his statement, comparing what his son lost for “20 minutes of pleasure.”
Poor white man.
That’s what the judge said when he decided that, even after a jury found Turner guilty of rape and he faced a maximum sentence of 14 years, he would only serve six months in a county jail. He wouldn’t even be sentenced to prison because the judge said he felt it would have “a severe impact on him.” A columnist for the San Jose Mercury News wrote that Turner’s sentencing was correct.
http://www.theroot.com/articles/uncategorized/2016/06/whiteprivilegemuch-college-rapist-gets-light-sentence-because-prison-would-be-bad-for-him/?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content%26
An excerpt from The Root -
#WhitePrivilegeMuch: College Rapist Gets Light Sentence Because Prison Would Be Bad for Him
The judge’s lenient sentence is just the latest example of white privilege run amok.
There is nothing scarier than a white man losing his power. Good thing Brock Turner won’t have to face the full weight of what that really means. If you haven’t already heard, Turner is the young, white ex-Stanford University swimmer whose dreams are more precious than the woman he raped.
On Jan. 17, 2015, Turner sexually assaulted a 23-year-old unconscious woman behind a dumpster after they both left a campus party. Turner stopped assaulting the woman only after he was spotted by two students, who chased him off of the victim and held him until the cops came. Turner cried only after learning that the cops had been called. Maybe then he realized what his actions meant to his dreams.
During his trial, it was revealed what a toll the rape had taken on Turner. He doesn’t have the appetite he once had for rib-eye steaks. His dream of swimming in the Olympics had been dashed. He used to have a welcoming smile, and now, that has faded. All of which his father made sure to point out in his letter asking for clemency for his son.
Poor Turner.
That’s what Turner’s father said in his statement, comparing what his son lost for “20 minutes of pleasure.”
Poor white man.
That’s what the judge said when he decided that, even after a jury found Turner guilty of rape and he faced a maximum sentence of 14 years, he would only serve six months in a county jail. He wouldn’t even be sentenced to prison because the judge said he felt it would have “a severe impact on him.” A columnist for the San Jose Mercury News wrote that Turner’s sentencing was correct.
http://www.theroot.com/articles/uncategorized/2016/06/whiteprivilegemuch-college-rapist-gets-light-sentence-because-prison-would-be-bad-for-him/?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content%26
The More Things Change . . .
Living in a poor neighborhood changes everything about your life
by Alvin Chang
In 1940, a white developer wanted to build a neighborhood in Detroit.
So he asked the US Federal Housing Administration to back a loan. The FHA, which was created just six years earlier to help middle-class families buy homes, said no because the development was too close to an "inharmonious" racial group.
Meaning black people.
It wasn't surprising. The housing administration refused to back loans to black people — and even people who lived around black people. FHA said it was too risky.
So the next year, this white developer had an idea: What if he built a 6-foot-tall, half-mile-long wall between the black neighborhood and his planned neighborhood? Is that enough separation to mitigate risk and get his loan?
http://www.vox.com/2016/6/6/11852640/cartoon-poor-neighborhoods
by Alvin Chang
In 1940, a white developer wanted to build a neighborhood in Detroit.
So he asked the US Federal Housing Administration to back a loan. The FHA, which was created just six years earlier to help middle-class families buy homes, said no because the development was too close to an "inharmonious" racial group.
Meaning black people.
It wasn't surprising. The housing administration refused to back loans to black people — and even people who lived around black people. FHA said it was too risky.
So the next year, this white developer had an idea: What if he built a 6-foot-tall, half-mile-long wall between the black neighborhood and his planned neighborhood? Is that enough separation to mitigate risk and get his loan?
http://www.vox.com/2016/6/6/11852640/cartoon-poor-neighborhoods
Defiance At It's Best
An excerpt from the AP -
Ali's confidence, cockiness made him symbol of black pride
By JESSE J. HOLLAND
For Muhammad Ali, the idea of being a humble athlete — someone pre-packaged and palatable for white America — was never an option.
Instead, he demanded respect not only as a boxer but as a brash, unbought and unbossed black man and endeared himself to African-Americans as a symbol of black pride. He radiated courage and confidence, skill and showmanship.
"He became the incarnation of black defiance, black protest and black excellence at the same time," said Rev. Al Sharpton, a longtime friend of Ali's.
http://bigstory.ap.org/df5dc823ab17402b8f7b2f46ca48fffa
Ali's confidence, cockiness made him symbol of black pride
By JESSE J. HOLLAND
Instead, he demanded respect not only as a boxer but as a brash, unbought and unbossed black man and endeared himself to African-Americans as a symbol of black pride. He radiated courage and confidence, skill and showmanship.
"He became the incarnation of black defiance, black protest and black excellence at the same time," said Rev. Al Sharpton, a longtime friend of Ali's.
http://bigstory.ap.org/df5dc823ab17402b8f7b2f46ca48fffa
Serious About Solar Energy
http://www.upworthy.com/theres-a-solar-farm-in-morocco-thats-so-big-you-can-see-it-from-space?c=upw1
Sunday, June 5, 2016
His Life in Pictures
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/the-life-of-the-greatest-muhammad-ali/2016/06/04/7d8594aa-290c-11e6-ae4a-3cdd5fe74204_gallery.html?hpid=hp_no-name_photo-story-a%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
Saturday, June 4, 2016
Beer in the Pipeline
From The AP -
BRUGES, Belgium (AP) — The idea may have seemed mad, but after all, the beer is called the Madman of Bruges — or Brugse Zot in Dutch.
With the help of crowdfunding efforts among some 400 Madman fans, the dream of building a beer pipeline through the Belgian city of Bruges is becoming real.
"You have to be a bit crazy — like the beer — to do such a project. I just had the money for that, and I liked it. So I went crazy and gave the money to the brewery," said restaurant owner Philippe Le Loup, who poured $11,000 into the pipeline.
Brewer Xavier Vanneste got the idea four years ago to pump beer from his Bruges brewery to a bottling plant outside of town in a pipeline instead of having hundreds of trucks blighting the cobblestoned streets of the UNESCO-protected medieval city.
What at first seemed like an outrageous dream, began to seem possible when Vanneste started talking to local beer enthusiasts.
Jokes were coming in fast, with people saying "we are willing to invest as long as we can have a tapping point on the pipeline," Vanneste said. "That gave us the idea to crowdfund the project."
http://bigstory.ap.org/81c3442817fc41cd99c16ab14adf089f
BRUGES, Belgium (AP) — The idea may have seemed mad, but after all, the beer is called the Madman of Bruges — or Brugse Zot in Dutch.
With the help of crowdfunding efforts among some 400 Madman fans, the dream of building a beer pipeline through the Belgian city of Bruges is becoming real.
"You have to be a bit crazy — like the beer — to do such a project. I just had the money for that, and I liked it. So I went crazy and gave the money to the brewery," said restaurant owner Philippe Le Loup, who poured $11,000 into the pipeline.
Brewer Xavier Vanneste got the idea four years ago to pump beer from his Bruges brewery to a bottling plant outside of town in a pipeline instead of having hundreds of trucks blighting the cobblestoned streets of the UNESCO-protected medieval city.
What at first seemed like an outrageous dream, began to seem possible when Vanneste started talking to local beer enthusiasts.
Jokes were coming in fast, with people saying "we are willing to invest as long as we can have a tapping point on the pipeline," Vanneste said. "That gave us the idea to crowdfund the project."
http://bigstory.ap.org/81c3442817fc41cd99c16ab14adf089f
"A Butterfly in the Land of Caterpillars"
From Slate - (Bold is mine)
The Eccentric Genius of Muhammad Ali’s Boxing Style
He was the greatest, hands down.
By Eric Raskin
Muhammad Ali was so much more than just a boxer. “I came to love Ali,” two-time foe Floyd Patterson told David Remnick for his book King of the World. “I came to see that I was a fighter and he was history.” Ali was a political, social, and religious activist, as divisive a figure as any celebrity during the turbulent 1960s. He was the godfather of trash talk. He was a master media manipulator. He was, simply, the most famous man on the planet. Then he became the public face of Parkinson’s and perhaps the most convincing argument for future generations of kids not to pursue boxing. He was, until the end on Friday night, as widely beloved a human as the world knew.
~~~~~~~~~~
At heavyweight, he was a self-styled butterfly in a land of caterpillars.
http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2016/06/the_eccentric_genius_of_muhammad_ali_s_boxing_style.html
The Eccentric Genius of Muhammad Ali’s Boxing Style
He was the greatest, hands down.
By Eric Raskin
Muhammad Ali was so much more than just a boxer. “I came to love Ali,” two-time foe Floyd Patterson told David Remnick for his book King of the World. “I came to see that I was a fighter and he was history.” Ali was a political, social, and religious activist, as divisive a figure as any celebrity during the turbulent 1960s. He was the godfather of trash talk. He was a master media manipulator. He was, simply, the most famous man on the planet. Then he became the public face of Parkinson’s and perhaps the most convincing argument for future generations of kids not to pursue boxing. He was, until the end on Friday night, as widely beloved a human as the world knew.
~~~~~~~~~~
At heavyweight, he was a self-styled butterfly in a land of caterpillars.
http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2016/06/the_eccentric_genius_of_muhammad_ali_s_boxing_style.html
Ali the Poet
From CNN -
The Greatest, The Poet: A look at Muhammad Ali's verse
"You think the world was shocked when Nixon resigned?
Wait 'til I whup George Foreman's behind.
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
His hand can't hit what his eyes can't see.
Now you see me, now you don't.
George thinks he will, but I know he won't.
I done wrassled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale.
Only last week I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick.
I'm so mean, I make medicine sick."
— Before regaining the title by upsetting George Foreman Oct. 30, 1974.
http://bigstory.ap.org/e6045bb6ea59497c89bed87679675722
The Greatest, The Poet: A look at Muhammad Ali's verse
"You think the world was shocked when Nixon resigned?
Wait 'til I whup George Foreman's behind.
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
His hand can't hit what his eyes can't see.
Now you see me, now you don't.
George thinks he will, but I know he won't.
I done wrassled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale.
Only last week I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick.
I'm so mean, I make medicine sick."
— Before regaining the title by upsetting George Foreman Oct. 30, 1974.
http://bigstory.ap.org/e6045bb6ea59497c89bed87679675722
His Silence Made Him Safe
From The Root -
A Silenced Ali Was a Likeable Ali for White People
White America only embraced the most loquacious black man in sports after he couldn’t speak anymore.
By Lawrence Ross
“I am the greatest.”
There will be thousands of well-deserved tributes to Muhammad Ali, and all will talk about his transformation from heavyweight boxing champion to international humanitarian. And that is important to note. But the thing most will miss is how Ali’s voice, a bold black and Muslim voice that spoke eloquently for the aspirations of oppressed peoples in America and throughout the world, was reviled by most of white America at its height, and rendered nearly mute as Parkinson’s disease overtook his neurological functions. As his physical voice disappeared, Ali gradually moved from being a complex human being to a safe idea, a living icon defined by an America that loves to believe that in its essence, it is as great as the black man who boldly stated that he was the greatest of all time.
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2016/06/a-silenced-ali-was-a-likeable-ali-for-white-people/?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content%26
A Silenced Ali Was a Likeable Ali for White People
White America only embraced the most loquacious black man in sports after he couldn’t speak anymore.
By Lawrence Ross
“I am the greatest.”
There will be thousands of well-deserved tributes to Muhammad Ali, and all will talk about his transformation from heavyweight boxing champion to international humanitarian. And that is important to note. But the thing most will miss is how Ali’s voice, a bold black and Muslim voice that spoke eloquently for the aspirations of oppressed peoples in America and throughout the world, was reviled by most of white America at its height, and rendered nearly mute as Parkinson’s disease overtook his neurological functions. As his physical voice disappeared, Ali gradually moved from being a complex human being to a safe idea, a living icon defined by an America that loves to believe that in its essence, it is as great as the black man who boldly stated that he was the greatest of all time.
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2016/06/a-silenced-ali-was-a-likeable-ali-for-white-people/?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content%26
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