Are You Kidding Me?

hat tip Oliver Willis

The Washington Times INTENTIONALLY uses a photo of the Obama daughters to illustrate a story about children murdered in Chicago. The Obama children are not part of the story, not alluded to in the story, the story has nothing to do with them.

I hope they had the good sense to backtrack very fast and make a call to the Whitehouse and apologize for this mess. Were I the President, there would be repercussions of some sort for this bozo move. I suspect this will put them permanently on mama Obama's list.

A&E Network: Here's How To Become a Racist Brand

Day of Blogging for Respect In Media

The "Dog the Bounty Hunter" tv show is making a return to the A&E network this summer. As you may remember, Dog was outed as a bit of a racist pig when his son and his girlfriend made public a recording of Dog's racist tirade caught on tape.

In response to viewer demand and clamor for the show, A&E has decided to return the program to the airwaves. Clearly, the price for being a racist, for offending African American viewers and consumers in the TV audience, is simply not high enough. A&E clearly hoped that with the passage of time, outrage would fade, the healing would begin and they and Dog could get back to making money. We should ensure that those hopes are dashed completely.

Here's the thing. If you listen to his recorded rant, Dog was quite the self-aware racist. He was crystal clear about the fact that his little tv career would be finished if word got out that he and his bounty hunter squad spent their time routinely calling black people niggers. He understood quite plainly that his career in tv would be finished. I think we ought to insure that his expectations are met.

Its simply not acceptable that media companies and the advertisers who support their programming have no sense of proportion or respect for the sensibilities of African American viewers. If we are to have respect in the media, it is abundantly clear that we must build and maintain the capability to inflict severe and lasting damage to the brand of any corporation or advertiser which supports media programming that intentionally and knowingly insults African Americans. If we are to enforce even a modicum of respect, this must become so.

In pursuit of that goal, in collaboration with other bloggers, the BrightLine wiki was formed. The BrightLine wiki was created to empower the African American community to enforce media respect. It is an archive that records clear and blatant racial offenses in the media and documents the program and advertisers associated with it. This information will be collected and disseminated to the African American community via blogs, black newspapers, black radio and person to person, so that the brands that support programs which disrespect African Americans can be exposed and held accountable. By establishing clear and well recognized bright lines for media companies and their advertisers which cannot be crossed without risk of serious and sustained damage to their brands, we hope to bring about a sustained improvement in the level of respect demonstrated towards African Americans by television, cable, radio and internet broadcast networks.

Also in furtherance of respect in media, the Afrosphere Action Coalition in conjunction with ConsciousInk has sent a letter to A&E as well as many of its former advertisers of the show to express our disappointment with A&E’s and it’s advertisers decision to financially support the return of ‘Dog the Bounty Hunter’ to the airwaves after the public revelation of Chapman’s disdain for people of color. We are urging them and their advertisers not to reward racism with their financial support. Hopefully they will see the error of doing so.

Now they need to hear from all of you

Tell the programming executive’s at A&E and the companies that advertise with them that their support of someone with such demeaning views is unacceptable. Tell them that linking their brands to racism and disrespect of African Americans is a mistake that can only result in negative consequences for their brand and their bottomline.

A&E VPs of Programing
nancy.dubuc@aetn.com, rob.sharenow@aetn.com,

Travelocity Public Relations:
Vollmer Public Relations
Amanda Borichevsky
E-mail: amanda@vollmerpr.com
svc.travelocity.com/custsvc/0,,TRAVELOCITY,00.html

Tylenol- Online contact form
www.tylenol.com/vcrc/email/tyemailform.jhtml?id=email
1-877-TYLENOL

At&T- Online contact form for customers
localization.att.com/loc/controller?cdvn=landinglocalization&pid=1080&cookieResetted=true&ltype=contactus

Red Bull Energy Drinks- Online contact info
redbullusa.com/?gclid=CLnl1oXc-JMCFQOuFQod5FvoVg#page=CompanyPage.Contact
+1 (310) 393-4647

Yellowpages.com- Online contact form
www.yellowpages.com/contact_us/comments
(877) 647-6278

All State Insurance-Online contact form

www.allstate.com/about/corporate-email.aspx
866.908.2500

LG HD T.V’s- Online contact form

www.lgservice.com/gcsc/b2c/hpi/main
(800) 243-0000

Dell Computers- Online contact form
support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/email_customer_care/emailcustomercare?c=us&l=en&s=gen
1-800-915-3355

Nintendo- Online contact form

www.nintendo.com/consumer/webform.jsp
425.882.2040

Subway
www.subway.com/Applications/CustService/frmCustomerService.aspx

Let Us Draw A Line In The Sand Now

This is a deliberate, intentional show of contempt and disrespect. This demeaning slur of Michelle Obama was developed, approved and put on the air by the staff of Fox News. No one questioned it, no one said this is not appropriate, no one said "we should not do this".

Its a demonstration that Fox News and its advertisers hold African Americans in contempt. That Fox News and its advertisers consider us unworthy of respect. Michelle Obama is an Ivy League graduate, a mother and wife and an accomplished professional woman in her own right. To use the pejorative and demeaning "baby mama" label to describe her is an obvious racist slur and Fox News knows it.

A vigorous campaign of financial protest against Fox News and the brands of the advertisers who support it is clearly warranted and required. It is now amply and abundantly clear that if we do not begin taking concerted, sustained action to make clear that this kind of blatant racial insult cannot be delivered with impunity, we will be subjected to this over and over again.

If this is how some of the the best and the brightest among us will be casually demeaned, what can we, the average African American expect?

What About Our Daughters, Black Women Vote and Electronic Village among others have successfully led accountability campaigns. Jack & Jill paved the way for the necessary tactics with the Clinton Attacks Obama Wiki. I believe a similar archive that records the offense, the program and the advertisers associated with it is needed. We need to connect that archive to a mechanism for coordinated dissemination to the black community via the black blogging community, the black newspaper community and black radio of information about the brands that supported the offensive material so that our community can express its opinion to those brands, those brands can be exposed to the majority community and those brands can be held accountable.

If we are to have respect in the media, it is abundantly clear that we must build and maintain the capability to inflict severe and lasting damage to the brand of any corporation or advertiser which knowingly supports media programming that intentionally and knowingly insults African Americans. We have practiced this type of accountability already. We have the tools. We have the technology.

Let us draw the line in the sand now. Because this shit has got to be stopped.

ConVick? The NAACP and too many others have no perspective

Michael Vick in a locker room interview on
 September 3, 2009. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

RICHMOND, Virginia (CNN) -- Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick arrived Monday at the U.S. District Court in Richmond where he was expected to plead to charges related to dogfighting.

art.vick.pool.jpg

Michael Vick arrives Monday at court where he is expected to plead guilty to charges related to dogfighting.

Vick was met by cheering supporters as his attorneys and federal marshals escorted him into the building. A group of protesters also was on hand.

In legal papers filed last week, Vick admitted financing a dogfighting operation and participating in the killing of dogs that did not fight well.

The Michael Vick story has been dominating media for several days now. In addition to the coverage, we have now been treated to the silly spectacle of the local NAACP in Atlanta and the national spokesperson making excuses for Michael Vick. For an organization with such a storied civil rights history, it truly nauseates me to see them interjecting themselves into a non strategic, non important sensationalist mess.

First off, lets get it on the table. I don't feel sorry for Vick. I don't think he has been treated unfairly. If his career ends up being over because of this foolishness, tough. Why so cold you say? Because Vick got paid a $27 million signing bonus and he was pulling down a multi million dollar annual salary. So if he didn't understand that he had left the ghetto behind, thats just too bad. I'm a working brother, father of three and a husband. In the natural, I don't see $27 million coming my way anytime soon. I don't have any sympathy at all for this young, single brother on top of the world who thought it was a good idea to fight dogs with his boys from the hood. I just can't dredge up any sympathy at all for him. Could it be because....there is no reason to be sympathetic? He didn't have enough common sense to think about how his behavior might be a problem for him, for his team, for his contract, for his career? Not even with $27 million reasons?

Now, in defending himself, he's got resources. He is not getting railroaded in the legal system. He's got the best defense money can buy. So he needs no help on that score. So why is the NAACP feeling it necessary to come to his defense? Why do they tarnish their reputation and brand by sparing one moment to defend this BS? This at the same time they are totally SILENT about the heinous crime committed against the gang rape victim in Dunbar Village or the way that case has been handled in Florida? No perspective. None at all. They have nothing to say about the Dunbar Village victim or the Lavena Johnson case, but for dog killer ConVick, they have much love. That kind of stupidity is why the younger generation is paying little attention and the NAACP's relevance will continue to dwindle.