Profiteering and Union-Busting Repackaged as School Reform

This is one of those stories that shows how far some people will go in America to make a buck—even if it means profiting at the expense of children, or exploiting the legacy of the civil rights movement.

Stand for Children is an unassuming name for an organization.  Just taken at face value, one would conclude that the Portland, Oregon-based nonprofit aspires to accomplish what the title suggests.  Their website says SFC is “an innovative, grassroots child advocacy organization.  Our mission is to use the power of grassroots action to help all children get the excellent public education and strong support they need to thrive.  Our members believe we need to stand up for our children now - particularly for their education from pre-school through high school - to create a better future for America.”

Now, that all sounds good, until you dig deeper.  The cofounder and CEO of SFC, Jonah Edelman, is the son of Marian Wright Edelman, the well-respected civil rights activist and head of the Children’s Defense Fund.  Critics charge that Stand for Children started out on the right side of the issues, devoting itself to progressive issues such as class sizes, affordable children’s healthcare and adequate funding for schools.  But then, things changed when they started taking the money, and lots of it— from wealthy interests who arguably care nothing about poor children of color in the inner cities, and care a great deal about a vision of privatization that extracts profit from the public schools. 

In an infamous YouTube video that went viral, Edelman discussed his strategy in Illinois at a July 10 Aspen Institute event.  That strategy was essentially to mislead the teachers unions, do a number on them, and pay off the state legislators to pass SB7, an extensive school reform bill.  The original bill would have stripped teachers of their right to strike, eliminated seniority as a factor in layoffs, and denied teachers their due process rights that come with tenure.  What this has to do with the interests of children is anybody’s guess.  A weaker version of the bill that passed still undermined labor rights by restricting seniority and the right to strike. 

Typically, when Edelman goes into a state, he sets up a PAC, raises a ton of money and hires the best lobbyists money can buy.  He benefits from his mother’s rolodex and the cache her name and reputation bring to the table.  SFC spreads money around in the community, in an attempt to soften up the black clergy and community leaders and get them on board as partners.  And they bribe public officials to pass union-busting legislation.

In Illinois, SFC raised $3 million late last year and hired 11 lobbyists.  They approached Illinois Speaker Michael Madigan—who failed to garner union support that year for passing pension reform— and donated $610,000 to nine state campaigns in both major parties. 

And Edelman attended a community meeting of black Chicago clergy with what observers have called a “slick dog and pony show.”  But the pastors didn’t take the bait.  According to Rev. Robin Hood, executive director of Clergy Committed to Community, SFC wasn’t the least bit interested in the concerns of the black community.

“One of the schools I’m working in has serious problems.  Their organizer wasn’t concerned about that, they were interested in getting people to see [the film] Waiting for Superman,” Rev. Hood said of SFC.  “Waiting for Superman did not fly here in Chicago.  It wasn’t a hit like they thought it was going to be.  It was about taking away the rights of unions to organize.  In the communities we live in we need living wage jobs,” he said.  “Most of these parents have been arguing about how we don’t have books in school.  Those are not the things Stand for Children were talking about.  They were talking about taking power from teachers,” Hood added.

From the start, Rev. Hood found Edelman and his group disrespectful and arrogant, with dollar signs and union-bashing on their mind. “I found they were anti-union when we met with Stand for Children.  It was all about money, it was nothing about children.  That’s why they had to build a grassroots component.  They did a switch up while they were working here,” he said. 

Although SFC spread around a lot of money in Chicago communities, Rev. Hood emphasized that not one of the pastors in his group would take any of it.  “How much money do you people have?” he asked rhetorically of Edelman.  “First they said they are doing political advocacy, and using community organizations as their base.  Six months later they said ‘we got our own base now.’  Then they gave $3 million to state legislators,” he noted.

“Instead of advocating they became lobbyists,” Rev. Hood concluded. 

Rev. Hood also shared his thoughts on the recent fallout from Edelman’s comments at Aspen.  “As much money as they put out, I didn’t think they would self-destruct,” Hood said.  “On a personal level, it was interesting to see him self-destruct, and I knew they weren’t focused on changing things for the children.  They were union busting and making money off the backs of our kids.”  Moreover, Rev. Hood believed Edelman’s public disclosure of his machinations with Speaker Madigan was particularly damaging.  “Speaker Mike Madigan is the most powerful man in the state.  The Governor doesn’t have that power.  To say what he [Edelman] did to him [Madigan] is what the Japanese call hari-kari.”

To put Jonah Edelman and his operations in perspective, just follow the money.  Susan Barrett quit her volunteer leadership position at SFC in Portland because wealthy investors are now driving the organization.  “I want to make sure that people pay close attention to who is on the SFC board, where their money is coming from, and think critically about whether or not the agendas they are promoting will bring the results parents and community members hope for in public education,” Barrett recently wrote.

SFC’s Illinois PAC amassed the state’s largest war chest, just days before new caps on state campaign contributions went into effect.  Those new restrictions limit individual contributions to $10,000, with $20,000 from corporations.  All of the contributions to SFC were five- and six-figure amounts, including $250,000 from the billionaire Pritzker family, and $500,000 from Ken Griffin, CEO of the Citadel Group and bankroller of GOP state candidates.  Sam Zell, owner of Tribune Co., contributed $100,000.  Meanwhile, of the $610,000 that Edelman gave to legislative candidates, his PAC handed over $175,000—a record for Illinois— to Republican state House candidate Ryan Higgins, who lost his contest.

Stand for Children’s donor list is quite impressive, and equally revealing.  For example, last year SFC received a $3.5 million grant from the Gates Foundation, its largest donor.  The Walton Family Foundation—of Walmart anti-union fame—chipped in $1.4 million.  And New Profit Inc., with ties to a firm running Muammar Gaddafi’s PR campaign, has donated nearly $1.5 million in recent years.       

Meanwhile, the SFC board of directors consists of venture philanthropists and private equity investors, including the extremely wealthy and powerful.  One would think that a “grassroots child advocacy organization” would have at least a token of community representation on its board, including educators and child advocates of color.  Laurene Powell Jobs, wife of Apple CEO Steve Jobs, is a board member, as is Emma Bloomberg, daughter of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Mayor Bloomberg, who is pro-charter school and seems to claim personal ownership of New York’s public schools, has a history of placing ill-prepared corporate types in charge of the nation’s largest—and mostly black and brown— school system.  Bloomberg’s most immediate past schools chancellor, a magazine executive named Cathleen Black, had no experience in education whatsoever.  During her brief and painful stint as chancellor, Black offended many with her jaw-dropping remarks, which included addressing shortages in classroom space by asking “Could we just have some birth control for a while?  It could really help us all out a lot.” 

Black’s predecessor, Joel Klein, now Rupert Murdoch’s deputy at News Corp., is overseeing an investigation into the company’s infamous phone hacking scandal.  Klein is the head of Murdoch’s new education technology business, which Murdoch plans to spend $1 billion to build.      

But the larger picture here is that corporate education reform is big business.  And the rightwing, plutocratic agenda— of school privatization, government austerity measures and deunionization— clashes with the needs of poor, working class, and disproportionately black and brown public school students.  

“What I can say personally is their true colors came out.  He won’t get a base in my community.”  Rev. Hood said defiantly of Edelman.  “We need to educate our kids, not get rich folks richer.  These are the same people that don’t want you to have a living wage and adequate housing.”    

Meanwhile, the education reformers, armed with a pocketful of billionaire money, rip off communities of color.  And as they buy off legislatures, they come off looking like the saviors of the black and brown children they just pimped.     

“I wish I could be wrong, but I think they’ll be back for vouchers,” Rev. Hood offered on a cautionary note.  “They’ll be back with a sad sack of legislators to write a bill for vouchers.” 

Murdoch's Unraveling Empire and the Need for Civic Engagement

The only thing more remarkable than the news of the Rupert Murdoch hacking-bribery scandal itself is the rate of its unraveling—and Murdoch’s unraveling.  For this international kingmaker and media mogul— who built an empire on yellow journalism and destroying the lives of others— it seems rather fitting that his fall from grace would take place under such sensationalism and salaciousness.

Allegations that the now-defunct News of the World, Murdoch’s largest tabloid, maintained a massive phone hacking operation targeting 4,000 people—including politicians, celebrities and murder victims—has led to 10 arrests in the UK.  One of those arrested was Rebekah Brooks, Murdoch’s deputy at News International until she recently resigned.  And the top two officials at Scotland Yard quit their posts amid allegations that the corporation bribed the police.

And now Rupert, his son James and the ousted Brooks come before the British Parliament, humbled and hat in hand, to apologize and express their shock that this sort of wrongdoing even took place.

U.S. lawmakers have hinted that the phone hacking scandal is about to spill over into the States, as the FBI announced an investigation into alleged hacking of 9-11 victims and their families.  Meanwhile, Murdoch’s News Corp. has lost billions in just days, and rightly so, as he was forced to drop his bid to buy British company BSkyB.  The deal would have garnered him 40 percent of the UK broadcasting market.  And oddly, in a case of peculiar timing, the whistleblower, a News of the World reporter, mysteriously died.  And certainly there’s more to come.  After all, it is already known that Murdoch has paid about $655 million to erase charges of corporate espionage in the U.S.

Given the questionable ways in which the billionaire has conducted business over the years, the revelations should not come as a complete surprise.  As he destroyed unions, competitors and political enemies, Rupert Murdoch was allowed to make his own set of the shady rules while everyone watched.  And some were paid to look the other way.  When one person is allowed to amass such power and influence, graft and corruption are often a part of the process.  In Britain, the Murdoch family purportedly used criminals to do dirty jobs.  And like any proper organized crime boss, he owned politicians, carrying them in his pocket “like so many nickels and dimes.”

In America, Murdoch’s New York Post and Fox News, masquerading as champions of working-class populism, offend our sensibilities as they endorse the most regressive rightwing policies.  The Post’s cartoon depiction of President Obama as an ape shot to death by two white police officers reflects a long history of racially offensive images and words promulgated by that newspaper.  Moreover, Murdoch’s “fair and balanced” Fox News Channel has operated as a media arm of the Republican Party, and an official network of the Tea Party movement.  Fox News has carved out its niche by offering race-baiting as standard fare, and offering a soapbox to personalities with ties to hate groups, including Glenn Beck.  Despite this, lawmakers have willingly appeared on the network.  And one must wonder if Murdoch bought his U.S. citizenship, which he needed as a prerequisite for owning American television stations.

With the mogul’s downfall and removal from the company he built now a plausible scenario, Rupert Murdoch provides a cautionary tale.  Journalism at its best acts as a disinfectant.  But through the use of race baiting and outright lying in the reporting of the so-called “news,” Murdoch has polluted the public discourse and has helped to defile and degrade our politics.  And while journalists at their best are supposed to act as a check on official power, News Corp. has reveled in its ability to accumulate power by any means and serve the interests of the greedy, a media version of the Koch brothers.  No scruples, no code of ethics, no social responsibility, just cozying up to the powerful and providing them cover.  Last year, News Corp. contributed $1 million each to the Republican Governors Association and the Chamber of Commerce on the grounds that it was “in the interest of the country and of all the shareholders ... that there be a fair amount of change in Washington.”

The Murdochs still control a great deal of U.S. media real estate, most of which includes TV and movie studios, and they will undoubtedly scramble to protect it.  But things now must change.  For all of the harm News Corp. has caused, something good must come out of it.  For one, society must prevent the circumstances that allow a future News Corp. to weld such power, unregulated and unaccountable, and unduly influence the affairs of government.

Democracy is stifled when a single player controls too much of the airwaves for its own good, and dresses up partisan hackery, unsubstantiated opinions and outright fabrications as the truth.  However, a disinterested, uninformed public—disengaged from public life, perhaps due to the bad economy and daily stressors and hardships, among other reasons—facilitates democratic rot as well.

The American Psychological Association defines civic engagement as “Individual and collective actions designed to identify and address issues of public concern.”  The New York Times defines civic engagement as “working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference. It means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes.”

Morally and civically responsible people see themselves as part of a larger social fabric.  They take ownership of society’s problems, and may even take action when necessary.  One organization that hopes to foster civic engagement and leadership in local communities is the Philadelphia-based Media Mobilizing Project.  In partnership with several other community organizations— Philadelphia Student Union, SEIU Healthcare PA, Casa Monarca, Unified Taxi Workers Alliance, and Logan CDC— MMP just opened five Public Computer Centers throughout the city to train people in computer skills and community journalism.  The centers were made possible with $18.2 million in federal stimulus funds.

MMP is a member of the Freedom Rings Partnership, which is led by the City of Philadelphia Division of Technology and the Urban Affairs Coalition, and is designed to provide computers, computer training and internet access to low-income communities.  A total of 77 centers in community centers and social service organizations throughout the city will train 15,000 people in digital literacy.  “MMP and the groups we are partnering with have led the way in improving education, working conditions, healthcare and quality of life for Philadelphians,” said Desi Burnette, Strategic Coordinator with Media Mobilizing Project. “This program will strengthen our ability to build community-driven solutions to the current economic crisis.”  And as Bryan Mercer, MMP Program Organizer noted, they will use twenty-first century technology to bring low-income communities together to solve their problems.  “In a time of budget cuts and unemployment, these Public Computer Centers offer a way to connect people – not just to the Internet, but to each other,” he said.

So, at a time when the policies of large corporations, disconnected from the community, are tearing the fabric of those very communities, it is good to see efforts to build them up.  And when media empires crumble, we must prepare others to fill the void.

Fox News Must Fire Glenn Beck for Mocking a Holocaust Survivor

This time, Glenn Beck has managed to outdo even himself. Finally, can we say enough is enough?

Recently, the Fox News host made some unacceptable comments about George Soros, the Hungarian-American philanthropist and Holocaust survivor. On his radio show, Beck claimed that Soros -- who as a 13-year-old boy was separated from his parents in Nazi-occupied Hungary -- "used to go around with this anti-Semite and deliver papers to the Jews and confiscate their property and then ship them off. ... It was frightening. Here's a Jewish boy helping send the Jews to the death camps."

In order to escape the Nazi death camps, Soros posed as a Christian, and was taken in by the Baumbachs, a righteous Gentile family. His adopted father was ordered to take the inventory of Mor Kornfeld, a wealthy Jewish aristocrat who had since left for Lisbon with his family. Rather than leave the boy behind in Budapest for three days, Baumbach took Soros with him to the Kornfeld estate.

Those who monitor Beck on a regular basis know that his rants are consistently offensive and over the top. He crafts conspiracy theories involving left-leaning figures such as Soros, whom Beck has dubbed the "progressive puppet master." He vilifies people such as Nancy Pelosi and Van Jones, and progressive groups such as the Tides Foundation and ACLU. Beck has compared people such as Simon Greer, executive director of Jewish Funds For Justice, to the Nazis. Beck equates social justice with communism and, no surprise, Nazism. And apparently Beck's rhetoric has inspired some of his viewers, perhaps even more unstable and unhinged than he, to threaten public officials and conspire to commit acts of violence against Beck's targets, even murder.

Without question, Beck has a Nazi fetish. As Dana Milbank of the Washington Post noted, from the time of Obama's inauguration through June of this year, Beck mentioned Nazi or Nazism 202 times, fascism or fascist 193 times, Hitler 147 times, and Joseph Goebbels 24 times. Not unlike the virulently homophobic politician or pastor who is caught with a male escort, perhaps Beck's obsession with Nazis reflects a hypocritical admiration for them. After all, he has hosted white supremacists, secessionists and defenders of slavery on his program. On his Twitter page, he listed a white supremacist website as among his favorites.

Beck's latest hit job on George Soros is classic anti-Semitism, and is disturbing for a number of reasons. For one, he chose the 72nd anniversary of Kristallnacht -- the infamous pogrom against Jews throughout Nazi Germany -- to make his comments. During Kristallnacht, which means "Night of Broken Glass," mobs of storm trooper thugs destroyed 7,000 Jewish businesses, burned over 900 synagogues to the ground, and murdered 91 Jews. 30,000 Jewish men were shipped to concentration camps. Announced by Nazi Propaganda Minister Goebbels, this pogrom laid the groundwork for Germany's decision to remove Jews from public life.

Further, Beck's depiction of Soros as an enabler of Nazi murder represents a classic example of anti-Semitism and Holocaust revisionism. And the "puppet master" analogy is a variation on the "Jewish conspiracy" theme, the Jew as usurer and villain. In Beck's twisted mind, Soros is Shylock the ruthless moneylender in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, or Fagin the Jew in Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, a man who deals in stolen goods and leads a gang of pickpocketing young boys.

Elan Steinberg, vice president of the The American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants, said that Beck's charges are "monstrous," and "go to the heart of the instrumentalization and trivialization of the Holocaust." Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said that Beck's statement was "completely inappropriate and offensive," adding that "For a political commentator or entertainer to have the audacity to say, there's a Jewish boy sending Jews to death camps, that's horrific. It's totally off limits and over the top."

But just weeks earlier on October 22, Foxman had written a letter to Beck, calling him a "friend of Israel," and apologizing for an ADL mailer that "inadvertently misidentified you on a list of celebrities who made anti-Semitic statements over the past year." And on October 13, the ADL presented an award to Rupert Murdoch, Beck's boss, "for his stalwart support of Israel and his commitment to promoting respect and speaking out against anti-Semitism." In his acceptance speech, Murdoch announced that the most virulent forms of anti-Semitism come from the left, often dressed up as legitimate criticism of Israel. That day, the ADL released its blacklist of the so-called top 10 anti-Israel groups in America, all of whom are leftwing civil rights and human rights groups critical of the occupation of the Palestinians. On the list is Jewish Voice For Peace -- a progressive Jewish group whose advisors include respected rabbis in the American Jewish community, and prominent Jewish Americans such as actor Ed Asner and journalist Naomi Klein.

Old-guard Jewish organizations such as the ADL and AIPAC have entered into a marriage of convenience with the American conservative movement, thereby enabling anti-Semites like Glenn Beck. That marriage has turned into a Faustian bargain. The ADL and others court the Christian Right for their so-called "pro-Israel" stand, although evangelical support for Israel is based on the belief that all Jews will die when Jesus Christ returns. Critics of Israel's hard-right, ultra-Orthodox coalition government -- including anti-occupation and pro-Palestinian rights groups -- are branded as "anti-Semites." Progressive pro-Israel, pro-peace Jewish groups such as J Street are branded as self-haters. Shutting down debate stalls the peace process and undermines everyone, including American Jews, the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Meanwhile, Fox News holds onto Beck as its useful idiot, albeit a dangerous one. Fox is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Republican Party, or vice versa. It is no secret that Murdoch has given truckloads of money to the GOP, and that Fox is the official Tea Party network. And it is no secret that as Beck pimped the legacy of Martin Luther King, he also partnered with the Tea Party corporate front group FreedomWorks to elect extremist-right candidates.

All of us should be concerned about Glenn Beck's verbal assault on George Soros and his mocking of the Holocaust. Yet, this is more than a Jewish issue. We live in a time of scapegoats, the "other," including Muslims, Arabs, Latino immigrants, and the LGBT community. Hard economic times do that to "civilized" societies. People need someone -- anyone -- to blame for their misfortunes. And they delude themselves into believing that once the "other" is eliminated, their problems will disappear.

Kristallnacht was the culmination of a campaign of racist rhetoric against a group of people. This led to full-scale violence against that group, and laws designed to bring about their civil and physical death. The Glenn Becks in a given society are the propagandists that get the process going. They soften up the public through media manipulation, and make their audience receptive to the persecution of others.

So, how long will Glenn Beck last? Certainly, he is important to Fox News as their money-maker, their rising star. But one should remember that when stars turn into black holes, they can destroy everything in their path, even light. With a successful boycott effort causing Beck's sponsors to drop like flies, we must ask if this latest chapter will prove to be his undoing.

Why Would the ADL Honor Rupert Murdoch?

It is a valid question that demands answers. Why would a prominent civil rights organization -- one which is supposedly dedicated to fighting bigotry and discrimination -- present an award to a man whose cable network profits from race-baiting and hatred?

On October 13, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the nation's foremost Jewish civil rights organization, presented an award to media magnate Rupert Murdoch "for his stalwart support of Israel and his commitment to promoting respect and speaking out against anti-Semitism," according to a press release on the organization's website.

In his acceptance speech, Murdoch -- who of course is the CEO of News Corp, parent of Fox News -- spoke of the "soft war" against Israel, and the "ongoing war against the Jews." Perhaps the most eye-opening part of Rupert Murdoch's speech was his assertion about the source of most of today's worst anti-Semitism: the Left.

Tonight I'd like to speak about two things that worry me most.

First is the disturbing new home that anti-Semitism has found in polite society -- especially in Europe.

Second is how violence and extremism are encouraged when the world sees Israel's greatest ally distancing herself from the Jewish state.

Now, when Americans think of anti-Semitism, we tend to think of the vulgar caricatures and attacks of the first part of the 20th century.

Now it seems that the most virulent strains come from the left. Often this new anti-Semitism dresses itself up as legitimate disagreement with Israel.

The same day, the ADL released its own blacklist of sorts, what it calls the "Top 10 Anti-Israel Groups In America." These are generally progressive peace activist groups, and civil rights and human rights organizations that are critical of Israeli government policy, and advocate for Palestinian self-determination. They include groups such as US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and Council on American-Islamic Relations. Also on the list is Jewish Voice For Peace, which is "the only national Jewish organization that provides a voice for Jews and allies who believe that peace in the Middle East will be achieved through justice and full equality for both Palestinians and Israelis."

Now, no part of the political spectrum has a monopoly on bigotry and intolerance. And as the Southern Poverty Law Center notes, there is some anti-Semitism on the far-left, and some critics of Israel cross the line into anti-Semitism. However, criticism of Israel does not typically equal anti-Semitism, and many critics of Israel are unfairly labeled as bigots. It seems that Mr. Murdoch is painting in rather broad brushstrokes in his condemnation of the left. And he is a hypocrite as well, given the virulent anti-Semitism that viewers will find on Fox News.

As Media Matters recently reported, Fox News has an anti-Semitism problem. Fox host Glenn Beck promoted the racist book The Red Network by Elizabeth Dilling, a Nazi sympathizer who praised Hitler, called "Colored people" savages, and blamed Germany's anti-Semitism on "revolutionary Russian Jews." According to Media Matters, Beck also cited an anti-Semitic smear of George Soros, and promoted Secrets of the Federal Reserve, a book by the anti-Semitic and white supremacist conspiracy theorist Eustace Mullins.

In addition, Beck has hosted and associated with other controversial leaders on the right, including Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America, Roy Beck of NumbersUSA, and Michael Hill of the League of the South. Even the ADL has said that David Barton, a so-called historian promoted by Beck, has spoken to groups affiliated with the racist and anti-Semitic Christian Identity movement.

Moreover, Beck recently defended Ohio congressional candidate Rich Iott's right to wear a Nazi uniform, comparing it to "good cop bad cop" or "cowboys and Indians."

So, what's really going on here?

First, the ADL apparently has decided to eschew its glorious past and become a rigid single-issue organization. It has cast its lot with the neocon crowd in America who want to characterize all legitimate critics of Israel -- including progressive Jews who also believe in Palestinian rights -- as anti-Semites. The goal is to shut off all debate on the Mideast crisis. And he ADL puts itself in lockstep with a hard-right government in Israel that would erode the rights of Jew and Arab alike -- with efforts by the ultra-orthodox to define who is or is not a Jew; enforced gender segregation on public streets, a law requiring Arab and other non-Jewish Israelis to pledge loyalty to a "Jewish and democratic" state, and legislation that would criminalize minority political opposition and human rights organizations who assist refugees.

Second, Rupert Murdoch has deep pockets, and I suppose the ADL will benefit from that reality. But they must hold their nose and look the other way as Murdoch's Fox News serves as the official network of the Tea Party, which the ADL itself says is a recruiting ground for white supremacists. And Murdoch has given $1 million apiece to the Republican Governors' Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, doing his part to further the corporate purchase of American politics and foreign influence over elections, not to mention the outsourcing of U.S. jobs.

Only two months ago, the ADL was embroiled in controversy when it spoke out against the construction of an Islamic center near Ground Zero in Manhattan. That move did much to damage its reputation and integrity as an advocate for civil rights and religious freedoms. And now, it seems the ADL has learned very little from that episode, as it just honored Rupert Murdoch of all people. The organization founded nearly a century ago following the lynching of Leo Frank has come a long way, but not in a good way.

Two questions remain: Will the ADL demand that Murdoch return his award? And will Murdoch repudiate the anti-Semitism of Glenn Beck and his own Fox News network?

Limbaugh and Robertson use Haitian earthquake to spread racism

From theGrio:

It is hard to believe that anyone would use the tragic earthquake in Haiti as an opportunity to spew racist hate speech. In light of the devastation in that island nation, who would exploit the victims' suffering for political points, make fun of them, and blame them for their plight? Certainly, if anyone is capable of such behavior, it would be Rush Limbaugh and Pat Robertson.

Following the 7.0 earthquake that leveled Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and claimed countless lives, perhaps thousands, radio host Rush Limbaugh said the following: "This will play right into Obama's hands. Humanitarian, compassionate. They'll use this to, to burnish their, shall we say, credibility with the black community, the both light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in, in this country. It's made-to-order for him. That's why he couldn't wait to get out there, could not wait to get out there."

Meanwhile, Christian televangelist Pat Robertson reacted to the disaster by asserting that Haiti has been "cursed by one thing after another" since they "swore a pact to the devil." "Something happened a long time ago in Haiti and people might not want to talk about," Robertson said. He added: "They were under the heel of the French, you know Napoleon the third and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said 'We will serve you if you will get us free from the prince.' True story. And so the devil said, 'Ok it's a deal.' And they kicked the French out. The Haitians revolted and got something themselves free. But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after another."

Unfortunately, racial hatred, disrespect and disregard for Haiti is not a new phenomenon. The poorest nation in the Western hemisphere, Haiti was also the world's first postcolonial black nation. And it was the only country to gain independence through a slave rebellion. Although Haiti became independent in 1804, the United States did not recognize the nation until 1862, after the Southern states seceded from the Union.

The Dominican Republic, controlled for a time by Haiti in the 1800s, has harbored racial animosity towards its neighbor for years--even though both populations are predominantly of African descent. Although the Dominican Republic was the first nation to provide aid to Haiti, relations have been marred by DR immigration policies and the mass deportation of Haitians, the exploitation of Haitian labor in the DR, and a history of persecuting and executing Haitians living in the DR.

America has a long history of exploiting Haiti-- occupying the country, propping up ruthless puppet dictators and supporting its death squads. France and the U.S. meddled in the Caribbean nation's affairs, and allegedly forced out President Jean-Bertrand Aristide during a coup in 2004. And the U.S. has maintained racist deportation policies which allow fleeing Cubans to seek asylum in America, but require the interdiction of Haitian refugees that make it to the Florida coast.

The recent remarks made by Limbaugh and Robertson reflect the racist attitudes harbored by many Americans towards Haiti--as a poor, black voodoo nation. And the hateful comments made by these two men, however offensive and cruel, are no surprise. Rather, they are part of a pattern of hateful speech.

Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Pat Robertson agreed with Jerry Falwell that God allowed the attacks to occur because of America's moral decay. After Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans in 2005, he suggested God was angry over abortion. That year, he also called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. In 2006 Robertson claimed that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had a stroke because he tried to make peace with the Palestinians. And Robertson once said that gay marriage would lead to child molestation.

Moreover, Rush Limbaugh has made numerous racist comments over the years. Once he told a black caller on his radio show to "Take that bone out of your nose and call me back." On another occasion he asked his audience: "Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?" Of civil rights groups, he said that "The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies." Limbaugh-- who was dropped from a group bidding for the St. Louis Rams football franchise-- referred to the NFL as "a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons." He also called basketball "the favorite sport of gangs." And in recent years, he has enjoyed playing the song "Barack the Magic Negro" on the air.

Freedom of speech is a wonderful thing, but people must act responsibly. One cannot yell fire in a crowded theater. Limbaugh and Robertson are fanning the flames of racial hatred. The public must hold them accountable for the damage they have caused, as they mock the damage created by that deadly earthquake.

Don't blame Eric Holder. He has truth as his defense.

By David A. Love, Progressive Media Project

Don’t blame Eric Holder. The first African American to hold the position of U.S. Attorney General, Holder created controversy when he called the United States a “nation of cowards” for not candidly addressing racial issues.

He has truth as his defense.

A racist cartoon published that same day in the New York Post helped to substantiate it.

"Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards,” Holder said on Feb. 18, at a black history month celebration at the Justice Department. “Though race-related issues continue to occupy a significant portion of our political discussion, and though there remain many unresolved racial issues in this nation, we, average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race.”

Holder also lamented that although the nation has done a reasonably good job of bringing diversity to the workplace, and people socialize fairly well regardless of race, the U.S. remains a segregated nation on Saturday and Sunday. "One cannot truly understand America without understanding the historical experience of black people in this nation,” he said.

The infamous New York Post cartoon played off that experience in the ugliest way. The cartoon depicted a white police officer shooting of a chimpanzee. As two white police officers, one with a smoking gun, observed the ape's bloody and bullet-ridden corpse, one of the officers said, "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill."

The cartoon, ostensibly a spoof on the recent shooting of a chimpanzee, is no laughing matter. Many people concluded that the chimp was supposed to be President Obama. A photo of the president signing the stimulus bill was on the preceding page.

For black Americans, the symbolism was unmistakable. After all, throughout our history, black people have been depicted in cartoons as monkeys, gorillas and chimpanzees. In a nation with a sordid history of lynching and police brutality, and the assassination of presidents and black leaders, the cartoon seemed to incite violence.

Now the owner of the New York Post, Rupert Murdoch, has finally apologized, sort of, for running the cartoon.

“Last week, we made a mistake,” he said. “We ran a cartoon that offended many people. Today I want to personally apologize to any reader who felt offended, and even insulted.”

But Murdoch said that the racism was in the eye of the beholder, not the cartoonist. “I can assure you — without a doubt — that the only intent of that cartoon was to mock a badly written piece of legislation,” he said. “It was not meant to be racist, but unfortunately, it was interpreted by many as such.”

No, the unfortunate thing was not the interpretation but the cartoon itself.

That the cartoonist, and now Murdoch himself, can plead ignorant of its racist connotations shows that Attorney General Holder knew what he was talking about.

How refreshing it is now to have a leader in the Justice Department who understands this country's troubling legacy, and is not afraid to bluntly make us face it.

Although America now has its first black president, we cannot wave a magic wand and pretend that all of the social inequities have disappeared.

Holder was brave enough to call us out, collectively as a nation, on our silence about race. Hopefully the rest of us will muster the courage to take his lead and speak out, with honesty, whenever we can.