Jumping in between sneezes and wheezes…
A certain Kusala sent this article to a bitch regarding Rep. McKinney’s run in with a police officer while trying to enter a federal building. The article deals with the issue of why the Representative was stopped, which resulted in the whole incident, and the fact that Rep. McKinney may not have been recognized because of her new hair style. It then expands to address some ignorant assed shit some asshole said about Rep. McKinney. It was a pretty good read.
This reminded a bitch that my ass hasn’t addressed the Rep. McKinney incident.
To be honest, a bitch thinks that others have deconstructed the incident to the bone and rather well. However, it did call to mind the broader issue of uppity behavior.
Uppity is one of my favorite words and this bitch uses it in many ways. Uppity can be used jokingly…for example; C-Money can be a wee bit uppity when it comes to which hotel she will book. Or to condemn…that’s what so and so gets for being an uppity asshole. And it can also be used fondly…Lawd, a bitch just loves that uppity motherfucker!
And there are other uses too. How about…that uppity negro needs to remember his place or look at that uppity black girl acting so high and mighty. Uppity, in those instances, refers to class and privilege…to a black person’s place…to a black woman knowing and embracing her station in life, which is assumed to be lower on the class scale.
Words like girl, boy and even kid are still used to establish dominance, class and those all so desperate and sad 'places'. This revolves around power and the absence of power.
It is that shit that a bitch sees swirling around more and more with uppity as the diagnosis and conformity is the cure.
A bitch sees some of this in the coverage of Barry Bonds and his alleged use of steroids. Now, a bitch is a St. Louis native and has no love for Mr. Bonds…but it is that loyalty to the Cardinals that has this bitch pondering why Barry Bonds is under the media gun while Mark McGuire has a freeway named after him. Granted, McGuire didn’t lie in his testimony before Congress…but, in not lying, he basically admitted that he shot up while playing baseball. So what gives?
A bitch thinks the answer is within the uppity factor. Barry Bonds is unrepentant and has denied using steroids. Mark McGuire was solemn and skirted the issue. Bonds is seen as arrogant…McGuire is seen as a victim of a sport caught up
in the allure of performance enhancing drugs. The uppity indictment greets Barry Bonds at every press conference, while silence has been married to Mark McGuire’s legacy.This bitch thinks the whole scandal stinks to high heaven and baseball has some explaining to do.
Back to Rep. McKinney, who fiercely defended herself against the accusation of assaulting a police officer and was systematically shredded in the press as much for the arrogance of her defense as for the incident. A bitch thinks this has something to do with race and gender. The press likes women in public office to be soft…less declarative…less uppity.
And so we hear the undertone of that uppity black woman should have dropped her gaze and begged for forgiveness in their coverage.
Everyone seems to be asking who the hell does she think she is?
The answer is clear...your equal.
How uppity!
23 comments:
Reminds me of the time a TSA officer had the nerve to ask me what I had on underneath my sweats before boarding an aircraft. That WHITE MALE would have gotten whackad with more than a cell phone had he put his hands on this Jewish GHETTO BITCH.
you did know that ghetto was a yiddish word did you not? (wink wink)
Concerning the Mr Bonds vs Mr Mcguire comparison, I think the reason that Mr Bonds is receiving so much flak while Mr McGuire has receeded to the margins is Mr Bonds is still an active professional baseball player while Mr McGuire is retired. Mr Bonds holds the record for single season home runs and is chasing down the record for career home runs. Mr Bonds, the multi-millionaire, has allegedly evaded his taxes. Mr Bonds is under investigation for purjuring himself to the US Congress. Mr McGuire has faded into the background becuase he is retired...uppity or no.
As for Ms. McKinney, I cannot speak to her political record as I'm not familiar with it but her actions the other day are undefendable. The individual that tried to stop her was performing his duties. He may or may not have been persuaded to do such by her hair style, but for a US Representative to fly off the handle like that is inconcievable. Also, a story from my days at Corry Station, FL was that the Commanding Officer of the Base's wife tried to drive on to base without stopping at the gate to get permission and the Marine at the gate shot out her back window. She is white as fresh glue and needless to say she wasn't sporting an afro.
I also like to see women in office and even more so black women, it's a sign that our country is moving in the right direction but her violent response to a potentially innocent request was extremely unfortunate and not the least bit progressive.
AOB, the TSA is one of my favorite offenders to git uppity with! The more you protest their tactics, the more they put their boot on your neck. I've been felt up more in public by TSA employees with an attitude and no knowledge of an underwire bra than non-TSA folk on the make. I've found you can get pretty darn uppity without getting arrested, changing your flight to schmooze a client will cost you in titty feels, but if you don't want to spend the energy on the TSA, remove your bra and run it through the x-ray. They still might feel you up, but the look on their faces as they deal with the reality of UNDERWEAR is ... priceless.
Sorry to get off topic, ABB, but the TSA! Ha! They HATE uppity more than the capitol police.
C-Money
Love your blog but have to disagree re the Senator. She was not wearing ID and the guard in question was doing what he gets paid to do (go figure). I think her apology was in order. We all make mistakes. Hope the matter is put to rest.
Ah yes. If only more women took off their bras at airport security the airport would be a much creepier place.
Seriously, though, I hate the security at the airport as much as the next guy, but for the most part they're just trying to make an honest living in a paranoid world. It's not their fault they were poorly trained. We have a whole beaurocracy to blame for these individuals' incompetence.
And I must admit that I'm dismayed. I disagree with you, ABB, about McKinney. I'm sure there's much more to the story than I know, but being asked to show ID isn't putting anyone in their place. It's something we all have to do at some time or another.
For instance, today I woke up with a mucousy noggin and had to hit the pharmacy for some sudafed (I hate sudafed, but I hate a mucousy noggin even more). I had to show my ID. The pharmacist and I agreed that it was a stupid law, but he was doing what he was required to do as part of his job. And I complied and did what I was required to do to [strike]start my meth lab[/strike]* enjoy spring again.
*I recognize that's not correct html, but blogger won't let me make the joke how I wanted to... you get the drift.
Love your blog, and read it every day, but I must say I disagree with your thoughts on Rep. McKinnely. Rep. McKinney's behavior has unacceptable for any person. Man, woman, black, white, anything in between. She was not wearing her pin. She was told to stop. She chose to strike out. We can play with the facts and infer whatever we want (and we may very well even be right), but those are still the facts.
c-money, you got the right idea. TSA has all but had a baby with me. next time, I'm pulling the damn bra out my sleevehole (haven't done THAT in public since college, don't ask) and laying it on the damn x-ray conveyor.
My dear ABB,
I've been here before but kept forgetting my blogger password,so everytime I wanted to tell a bitch that I liked her house, I haven't been able to do so. Phew, finally.
I love what you are doing with the place.
Patti LuPone, Broadway Diva, was totally harrassed and felt up by a TSA person, in Florida. I suspect the TSA dude thought she was a "pushy" Northerner. "Pushy" is of course code for Jewish, and while she's actually Italian, I suspect she ran into a small-minded, petty functionary more intent on bolstering up his own teeny-tiny ego and wee-wee than on doing his job well and correctly. And, you know, they do this bolstering and inflating at other people's expense, and by golly if they don't do it more at the expense of women, and people of color. Sure, some of it is about poor training and incompetence, but anyone who's had a petty authoritarian with an iota of power abusing it on you--knows the difference.
We're not kidding around about this sexist and racist shit, y'all upthread who believe Representative McKinney was treated the way any old white man would have been treated. You might consider you don't get treated that way oh because you're not a woman, or you're not black. I doubt that capital cop thinks "Who does he think he is?"ever, while I think "Who does she think she is?" is exactly what he was thinking.
Anyway, sending the light to you, ABB.
I am, yr very own, dharmadyke
It took you long enough to comment on this. I'm 62, and for all my Black Female life, I've had to get extreme whenever I felt strongly that I needed to be heard. I am sick and damned tired of it.
Denial is a river in Egypt, so far as I'm concerned. Ingrained racism means that they aren't in touch with our reality.
Finally an ABB…..
I don’t know exactly what Congresswoman McKinney did nor the manor in which she did it. I was not there at the time. However I am rather pissed at CNN’s Bitch O’Brien for staging and performing what amounted to a public castigation of Congresswoman McKinney.
Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is a 6 term legislator that won her last election with 64% of the vote. Bitch O’Brien may have indeed wanted to ask her questions but I think a little RESPECT was in order. Politeness alone does not count.
Now…just where was that officer she supposedly “hurt” with a cell phone? He’s a public servant as well, so why the hell wasn’t he on TV getting the third degree from Bitch O’Brien also?
Well, the Congresswoman apologized, but it isn’t over yet! They are still going after her from what I gather. Tens of thousands of We the People elected Cynthia McKinney, not officer snatch’n grab! But officer snatch’n grab did NOT have to publicly apologize! Why not?! Instead, we let the press hold a kangaroo court against an elected Congresswoman!
For me, it’s the same old story. The cops grabbed her a little to rough! She defended herself by hitting the officer, with a cell phone, in the chest. My my….what a terrible attack. I wonder just how many days of sick leave the officer had to take. Poor baby.
Then we hear from this officer’s boss Stating: “NOBODY has a right to hit an officer!” Well, please point out to me in the Constitution of these United States WHERE in the hell it says officers can GRAB cute little women Congressmen, but they cannot defend themselves against an Officer that GRABS! IT DON’T!
I’m sorry ABB…..but until more facts are known to this great admirer of Black women, I believe there has been an injustice and I want answers.
Special Anon
Until there is innoculation for the virulent virus of racism (sexism, homophobia, theocratic intolerance ... and other forms of bigotry), I regret to say that so many (okay most, not all, just a whole damned LOTS) of my brother & sister white folks continue to have few insights into the irrational, emotional, hate-filled, punitive, over-the-top reactions and the 'law & order must be maintained at all costs...(except when we're the perpetrators)" rationalizations which erupted over Rep. McKinney's not-exactly-brilliant, unfortunate actions -- gee though in the context of what elected officials have been doing forever -- forget the recent lawbreaking of the mega-million-bucks Abramoff - Delay - Cheney/Halliburton/botched Iraq kind...
Focusing on Rep. McKinney (much to the glee of the repugs) sure offered a convenient distraction from far more consequential misbehaviors among the electorati and power holders (remember Enron, Kenny "pro-Bush" Lay, Tom 'bug-killer' DeLay, Scooter 'just-following-orders' Libby, Leaker in Chief 'just following Cheney's orders' Bush-boy ? ... the list goes on and on and on ...)
So talk about a failure to put things in context or the proverbial 'mountain out of a molehill' emotional outbursts... I believe it tells us much more about the state of (whites created it, we should own it) racism in our less than ideal republic.
Sigh...I believe the expression is: Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. I don't know of any community that doesn't have work to do on their 'issues' -- but what's that other saying: with great power comes great responsibility -- and who has the most power in our society/nation/predominant culture?
I say, "more power to the people" and the sooner the better while we're at it. And since my responsibility to social/political/economic etc justice necessarily involves dealing with the challenge of challenging my own community first and foremost (never-ending work, I might add)....
I remain yours in (a weary and 'still I rise' determined) solidarity,
Buzzzed
I imagine that Rep McKinney was angry, angry, angry about the way that she was treated. Having grown up in a seriously white area (mid Michigan) I have no idea what it's like to be the descendent of folks who've been systematically discriminated against for a century and a half. Or to have been systematically discriminated against myself. I have no way of knowing. I do know, however, when I get good and angry, throwing my cell phone is the very least of the reactions that one can expect from me.
I'm going to disagree with the esteemed ABB as well. I have no doubt that a lot of what you're saying is true, but I don't think her "arrogant" defense has much to do with her being black or her being a woman.
When someone in a position of power does something wrong, the public wants him or her to throw themselves on our mercy, no matter what the offense. So Eddie Murphy sleeps with a hooker, denies it, and we all make fun of him for it to this day. Hugh Grant sleeps with a hooker, goes on TV and apologizes for it, and everyone loves him again.
That's a glib example, I know, but I still think the response to the security guard thing would have been the same to any Congressperson who pulled such a stunt.
Cynthia McKinney is my hero! I have watched her grill Rumsfeld on CSPAN and have found her to be capable, confident and very smart. Very smart people don't assualt other people without reason. Mass media continually manipulates facts to manipulate the public. In this case we don't even have all the facts. All we know is that a woman was inappropriately touched and she hauled off and clocked the person who touched her. The fact that he was an officer is off little consequence to me. Law enforcement officials are not above reproach. If she was clearly breaking the law and ignoring an order to stop, they should have shot her ass and if she really did assault the officer as they say, why wasn't a bitch arrested on the spot? There is something rotten in the cotton and it will come out if this makes it to trial. I think it will. Washington wants anything that will take the focus off the Bush Administration.
Uppity or Bougie? :)
I have to respond to Rodney here:
All we know is that a woman was inappropriately touched and she hauled off and clocked the person who touched her.
Actually, we also know, and by her own admission btw, that she didn't have her super-secret-sneaky congressional pin and was asked to show ID, which she ignored or refused to do.
... If she was clearly breaking the law and ignoring an order to stop, they should have shot her ass...
I hope you're being hyperbolic here. Shooting someone is supposed to be a last, not first, resort. Using the least force necessary is not only law, but common sense. Do you really think ignoring a security guard is grounds for being shot immediately, or wouldn't it be more prudent to work one's way up to shooting? Say: 1) say "stop", 2) grab the person (preferably by the shoulder or arm, trying to avoid the naughty bits), 3) taser, stun gun, or nightstick them, 4) threaten with a gun, and finally 5) sho[o]t the bitch?
... and if she really did assault the officer as they say, why wasn't a bitch arrested on the spot?
You got me there. I, as a white man but not a congressman, would've spent some time in the slammer had I punched an officer of the law (or thrown a cell phone, or whatever). Perhaps once it was clear who she was, the situation dictated that she was somewhat above the law. I guess membership does have its privileges.
Shoot, one more thing. I absolutely agree that what she did (while wrong) is by far eclipsed by the Bushies and their corruption, lies, corporate wars, etc. And anyone who puts Rummy's feet to the flames is alright by me. But no human is perfect, and I think her apology was appropriate. Now let's put this all behind us and go back to deconstructing the real assholes of this country, shall we?
This is a bad month for me. I have lost faith in America, there is no hope we will ever be a united country. Cynthia McKinney and the Duke rape case prove to me that racism in America is intractable and incurable.
Cynthia McKinney apologized the first day. Because the Bushies wanted an issue to mask their very bad week they had the Capitol Police ( an arm of the administration at this point: See Cindy Sheehan's illegal arrest, see the poison gas released on the war protesters, etc.) make a mountain out of this molehill.
Like in Roots they wanted Uppity McKinney to realize that they had changed her name to Toby (from Kunta Kinte) and she would always bhe their nigger no matter what status she attained.
He promised "The firs next time" and it can't come soon enough.
ABB,
I have been to Congress. The whiteness in that room made me wear my shades. I am certain no ole whaite guy Congresspeople would have been stopped. If an ole white guy had done this he's be congratulated and the guard would have been fired. Thank you for the post.
May I ABB?
My answer for Air Farce 1's comment. You are a pansey IMO. Wife beating is a well know problem amongst your type. No doubt you support the ROUGH handling of women Congressmen. Please crash and save our country from destruction.
-
To all the SOB's that don't like Cynthia McKinney.... Go to hell. Those racist bastards don't like a black woman that will speak her mind. Cynthia doesn't bow-down to them and they hate her for it. Keep on speaking your mind Cynthia. You're my hero.
How's that primary workin' out for her? What? Huh?
"Welcome to the International House of Pancakes... would you like smoking or non?"
This is what I love about America... it's the land of equal opportunity where any imbecile can ruin their career through arrogance and hubris. Maybe Patches Kennedy can run for her seat...
Anonymous...and posting comments that way is beyond brave of you by the way...
Thanks for the details regarding the punishment for uppity behavior!
A bitch couldn't have made my point better than that, if I may say so myself.
So, thanks a bunch son...really...thanks.
But 42 minutes to read 3 posts?
You need to work on that speed thang, son...
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