Race Matters, by Michael Davis – Straight No Chaser #317 – @MDWorld
June 28, 2013 Michael Davis 19 Comments
Since I’m never going to run for office and I’m pretty much invincible in the entertainment industry because I’m prepared to walk away from anything that brings bullshit, I say whatever I feel.
Now, I’m NOT stupid. I don’t talk shit out of school just to talk shit. I’ve had plenty of deals go south because of some asshole or bullshit, but that, as they say, is just the way the game is played.
Those of you who have been reading my rants for a while know it takes more than a bad day for me to go off.
That said, I call it like I see it. Yes, I’ve been wrong about some things. REALLY, really wrong on some subjects over the years, but when I am, I say so and apologize just as loud as I ranted in the first place.
But I tell the truth — although my truth may seem silly, ugly, ridiculous, or downright stupid, it is the truth. At least it is to me.
So, preamble aside, here’s today’s rant and truth.
In 2013 in the United States Of America, race still matters. If for some reason you think we as a country are over all that racial shit because we have a Black First Family, you are a fucking moron.
Racial hate groups have exploded since Obama was elected. But FUCK all that. Let’s get really, REALLY real.
I know for every statistic or example I give, someone will counter with some bullshit that makes the point that race is not a factor.
OK, Mr. Conservative Negro — get a bunch of your black friends (if you have any), and go to a bar in Howard Beach, Queens if race doesn’t matter. Or go to ANY country western bar ANY-FUCKING-WHERE.
Ok, Mr. Liberal white boy — get a bunch of your white friends and go to a bar in Compton Los Angeles. Or go to ANY black nightclub ANY-FUCKING-WHERE.
If race doesn’t matter, Negro, try picking up a Korean girl at a Korean hangout. If race doesn’t matter, white boy, try picking up a Latino girl at a Latino spot.
Race matters in the real world, period.
I, and I believe most of my friends, are colorblind. That’s colorblind, not blind.
I don’t see color until I have to, and that is only when I’m treated in such a manner that I have to acknowledge it. I don’t have white friends; I don’t have black, Latino, Asian or Jewish friends.
I just have friends.
I have a driver’s license, I have a passport, I have all sorts of ways to prove who the fuck I am. But still, every so often, like a few weeks ago at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas, my identification is questioned.
I checked in using a Platinum American Express card. The man at the desk asked me for ID, I gave him my drivers license. He asked for another form of ID, and I told him to call American Express if he had a fucking issue with a Nigger having a Platinum American Express card.
YEAH — I went RIGHT THERE, because I could. I went right there because he asked NO ONE before me for ANY ID. I went there because the drivers license I gave him had my photo and name CLEAR AS FUCKING DAY, just as my NAME and PHOTO on my Amex card was CLEAR AS FUCKING DAY.
What the fuck did he think I did? FIND an AMEX card and drivers license that just so happened to have my name and photo on it?
OR…
Did I just ROB someone who looked just like me and happened to share my name?
Like I said, RACE MATTERS. Yes — I went LOUD on that motherfucker, and he’s lucky I didn’t get louder.
Why?
Because I could.
He doubted me for no other reason than I was black. Period, end of fucking story.
The Supreme Court, led by that house nigger Clarence Thomas, put a dagger in the heart of the Voting Rights Act earlier this week. Hours later, HOURS — not days, not weeks, not months, HOURS — later a slew of southern states moved to enact ID laws that will make it extremely hard for poor people of color to vote.
Do NOT give me any bullshit about voter fraud. There IS no fucking voter fraud. These laws are being set up to keep poor black and brown people from voting.
PERIOD.
I love my country.
No joke coming, I love my country.
Ever since the Supreme Court handed down that decision, I’ve been physically ill thinking about the thousands of people both black and white who fought, and even died, for “one man, one vote.”
I love my country, but it’s times like this that make me sick.
Howard Cruse
June 28, 2013 - 11:04 am
A highly justified rant, I’d say.
Vinnie Bartilucci
June 28, 2013 - 1:11 pm
The obvious question is, did he call? Either Amex, or his Manager?
Mike Gold
June 28, 2013 - 3:44 pm
Can’t get an American Express Black Card, huh?
MOTU
June 28, 2013 - 6:51 pm
Vinnie,
He WAS the manager and no he did not call. GOD- I wish he would have as 1 of my 3 password answers is ‘Yes, it’s his damn card, no he’s not a rapper’ -no joke.
MOTU
June 28, 2013 - 6:51 pm
Mike,
ALL my cards are Black cards.
George Haberberger
June 29, 2013 - 3:10 pm
“Did I just ROB someone who looked just like me and happened to share my name?
Uhhh… if this person you ostensibly robbed looked just like you, it still would not be a justifiable reason to ask for extra identification. His reason for asking remains the same.
“There IS no fucking voter fraud.”
You may claim that there is no significant voter fraud, but to say it doesn’t exist is simply wrong.
http://educationviews.org/vote-early-and-often/
Melowese Richardson was convicted of just such a thing, voting twice in her name, (once absentee and once at the poll where she worked and also voting for relatives one of whom has been in a coma since 2003. Additionally two other people, one a nun and the other a 76-year-old man, who both voted in the name of people who had died.
You may claim that these people were caught and that the votes they cast illegally are not of significant numbers to matter. But not everyone is caught and small numbers add up.
There are jokes about graveyards being a great place to sign up voters and “Vote Early, Vote Often” would not have entered the country’s lexicon if there was no reason for it.
“,,, I’ve been physically ill thinking about the thousands of people both black and white who fought, and even died, for ‘one man, one vote.’ ”
Unfortunately, Melowese Richardson doesn’t feel that way.
Neil C.
June 29, 2013 - 6:50 pm
Which is not even close to the amount of voter supression that goes on. But that’s not important. And, MOTU, when it comes to racism still existing, I bow to your personal knowledge about the subject, you know far better than I. Just as asking a woman whether she believes there’s still sexism is a more valid opinion than mine.
MOTU
June 30, 2013 - 3:36 am
George,
Between 2000 and 2010, there were 649 million votes cast in general elections, and only 13 credible cases of voter fraud.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/voter-id-laws-charts-maps
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/15128-time-to-end-the-gops-voter-fraud-lie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgC6tfIzDWk
George Haberberger
June 30, 2013 - 5:45 am
So,,,, 13 credible cases. I take it then you agree that “You may claim that there is no significant voter fraud, but to say it doesn’t exist is simply wrong.”
And “Vote Early, Vote Often, has become a meme because the a percentage of .000000020030817%.
Neil C.
June 30, 2013 - 6:52 am
I can cut and paste, too! http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-05/why-voter-suppression-is-mostly-a-republican-tactic.html
MOTU
June 30, 2013 - 8:05 am
George,
13 cases out of over 6 hundred million? Voter fraud does not exist in any REAL way and that was my point.
13 out of over 600 million? If it was 1000, 2000, 50,000 that still would be a drop in the bucket but I’d have to admit that’s a lot of voter fraud-NOT a lot out of 600 million but those numbers at LEAST sound like there’s a real, small, but real problem.
BUT 13 out of 600 million??
That sounds and IS bullshit.
Doug Abramson
June 30, 2013 - 11:02 am
MOTU,
Your voter fraud numbers, and your drop in the bucket line, have finally shown me why the GOP is obsessed with the issue. They’re trying to sneak “one drop” laws back into place. That way, they can expand the number of people they can openly work against without losing their ready for the rubber room, hard core money people…On second thought, never mind. That plan would take a lot more brain power than the current leadership could ever hope to generate.
George Haberberger
June 30, 2013 - 3:29 pm
Doug,
I suspect that your post was intended for me even though it was addressed to MOTU.
Regardless, I admit the number of credible voter fraud cases is low, as evidenced my posting of the what the actual percentage works out to.
My point is that “Vote Early Vote Often” and the meme about registering voters from names on gravestones, have become a kind of “Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. Say no more” quip that is part of the American lexicon. This is something that would not have happened with a percentage of .000000020030817 occurrence.
Voter fraud is never discovered if no one is looking for it. Melowese Richardson was a poll worker. Someone like that is unlikely to report voter discrepancies if those discrepancies favor her political view. Google her name. Videos of her interviews reveal someone who is incredulous that she is accused of doing anything wrong.
I originally posted because of MOTU’s tendency to write in absolutes. He said, “There IS no fucking voter fraud.” Yeah, I know he meant to imply it isn’t significant. But that’s not what he said. In fact, it’s what I said. And I believe it is not significant because no one wants to look for it. Democrats don’t want to look for it because is benefits them and Republicans don’t want to look for it because they will be called racists. I am neither, so I can say what I think.
Doug Abramson
June 30, 2013 - 6:11 pm
George,
It wasn’t meant to be a response to you. The numbers that you provided to illustrate that voter fraud does happen are used by unscrupulous people to “prove” that “massive voter fraud” is an ongoing “problem”. When in reality, its just an intellectually dishonest way to get people to send them money. Many of the people who fall for this, also tend to be the people who miss Jim Crow. While he was using absolute statements, it seemed to me that was what MOTU was reacting to. The numbers you provided were literally a drop in the bucket, or about how much African blood a person had to possess to be legally discriminated against. A situation that many of the anti-voter fraud brigade would call “the good old days”. While I frequently disagree with you, you have never given me a reason to equate you with those people.
MOTU
July 1, 2013 - 12:51 am
I like you George, I really do. If we were in Congress, you on the Right and I on the Left things would get done.
I’m truly sorry we are not.
George Haberberger
July 1, 2013 - 7:13 am
MOTU,
We could never be elected to Congress because of the things we’ve written on these websites… and because of voter fraud. : )
Mike Gold
July 1, 2013 - 12:21 pm
Hate to disagree with you, George, but I think the only chance you and MOTU have of getting elected to Congress would be because of voter fraud!
George Haberberger
July 1, 2013 - 1:51 pm
Well, when you’re right, you;re right.
Keener
July 8, 2013 - 9:26 am
This really bothers me, because I am never asked for ID, even if the card I’m using clearly does not belong to me. I walk around with both my own cards and my wife’s cards (and as she did not take my last name when we got hitched, that should be a red flag to cashiers in any business, anywhere). How do they know I didn’t steal some stranger’s purse (or worse)?
Answer: they assume because I’m a generally pleasant white guy, everything’s alright.
Out of curiosity, what possible second ID could you have had that would have been more convincing than an obviously state-issued, security-processed driver’s license? Old birth certificates are probably much easier to forge than modern day driver’s licenses, and social security cards have no photo on them.
Of course, “I need a second form of ID” is, to that guy, probably just a more pleasant way of saying “we don’t much like your kind ’round here,” so it wouldn’t have mattered anyway.