Left Out of the Digital Switchover

February 17, 2009. That's really not that far off when you stop and think about it.

That's the date of the nation's impending digital switchover from the analog television broadcast signal. Put simply, if you don't have a digital-ready television, or cable box capable of receiving the digital signal, by next February 17th, you will no longer have access to television broadcasts. Period.

Because the activities of the FCC are often layered in term-laden, technical complexity, many people don't realize that the 700MHz frequency spectrum on which television signals have been broadcast for years, was auctioned off by the government for $19.6 billion earlier this year; a consortium of large carriers and hi-tech companies bought it. It will be used in part to handle the massive increase in mobile bandwidth needs.

I blogged about the digital switch here on culturegeist back on July 10th.

I certainly see numerous television commercials and informational Websites sponsored by the cable companies to advertise government-backed coupons that offset consumer's purchases of the now-necessary digital converter boxes. The animated figure (pictured above) is part of the United Kingdom's ad campaign for their switchover.

What I don't see is a whole lot of mainstream media examination of this fractionally small, but none the less important omission from the digital switchover. It's not going to come as a shocker but the numbers of people who will be without television access are poor and I'd guess slanted towards the more rural areas of the country. They'll come from all races and nationalities.

For me the potential cultural concern is that Hispanics and African-Americans will be left out of the television equation in disproportionate numbers.

What's that going to mean to people? Can sociologists gauge the impact of people in the US with little or no access to TV?

Some might argue they'll be better off but Sesame Street, The Electric Company, Mr. Rodgers Neighborhood - these public television programs were very important to me as a Gen X kid raised in the burbs in the 70's and 80's. Should you have to pay each month to see TV?

Our desire and need to consume larger amounts of data and media content how, when and where we want and over multiple devices is one of the major drivers of the digital switchover.

But for all the 'enlightened' ways in which we consume media, don't we collectively have some degree of moral obligation to ensure that the information and educational gaps that underline the wealth disparities in the US not divide free access to local news and entertainment along the lines of the ability to purchase new technology and pay high monthly cable fees?

Don't the people of all races and backgrounds living on the fringes of the US economic spectrum deserve to plug in their old rabbit ear black and white and be able to watch something?

After February 17, 2009 not so much.

Tamron Hall's Distortion of Obama's Patriotism: Live on MSNBC!

Is it me, or does it seem as if prominent African-Americans are just all over Obama's case this week? Or is the media just making it seem that way?

Weeks after the incident occurred the Reverend Al Sharpton boldly steps forth and rises to the defense of Jesse Jackson after the latter's vulgar off-air remarks about Obama - in some kind of strange effort to make them both seem more relevant to the current political dialog than they actually are.

Unfortunately both bizarre media missteps only had the effect of making them both seem slightly less relevant and much more desperate.

MSNBC Anchor Tamron Hall (pictured above) is catching heat for a glaring journalistic blunder according to an article posted on the Media Matters for America Website on Monday, July 28th.

MediaMatters.org reports that during a Monday July 28, 2008 broadcast MSNBC Live anchor used a story about a John McCain political sound bite to distort the fact that Barack Obama had visited wounded troops while in Iraq. She repeats the false accusation from the McCain camp without any reference to the actual facts of the case.

The number of her specific commentary points totally conflicting with established facts are so numerous you really have to read the Media Matters piece (click the link above) yourself to appreciate one example of the evaporation of the most basic journalistic principles.

She and MSNBC 's crack research team were apparently totally unaware that Obama HAD in fact visited wounded US troops in the Green Zone along with other Congressional representatives during his trip to Iraq, has visited wounded troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington on multiple occasions and also made personal phone calls to wounded soldiers at the huge US military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany where most seriously wounded soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan are flown.

Rumors abound that McCain quietly used Pentagon connections to prevent the Obama camp from flying to Landstuhl - a trip that had been planned for weeks.

Hall actually contradicts a statement MSNBC's OWN chief foreign correspondent Andrea Mitchell made on July 25th that Obama DID visit troops in Iraq!

Check out this video of Hall answering questions at length from Hardball's Chris Matthews, she manages to simultaneously earnestly cement her authority on the story by recounting her experience as a member of the same Chicago Church Obama attended, headed of course by Reverend Wright - and also slam Obama on the Reverend Wright issue.

After a rather long-winded answer the camera pulls back and Andrea Mitchell is one of the Hardball panelists; the video is worth the look on Andrea's face.

I certainly am not suggesting that Hall or any other African-American for that matter doesn't have every right to express their opinion of Obama; but not at the expense of the truth. I mean come on, that doesn't even qualify as analysis.

Call me crazy but he's proved himself a capable and worthy political opponent and a savvy politician; he's kept it above the belt, if you're going to criticize the man at least get your facts straight.

"Crabs in a bucket." My Grandmom might've said. "Crabs in a bucket."

Italian Vogue's 1st All Black Issue Defies Mainstream Fashion Media Assumptions

My last blog about the fashion industry and race here on culturegeist was on June 24, 2008 after the media was swirling with reports about Naomi Campbell's latest meltdown in Heathrow Airport over her baggage not being put aboard her flight. I wondered how such behavior impacts other younger black models in the industry.

I HAD to comment on reports about Italian Vogue's recent all black issue, that's right! You heard it correctly! Oh, in case you're wondering that's 17 year-old British modeling sensation Jourdan Dunn, pictured left, gracing THE cover of the moment.

It was photographer Annie Leibovitz's April, 2008 Vogue cover that prompted me to start blogging about fashion and race in the first place - her cover photo of Cleveland Cavaliers guard Lebron James dribbling a basketball and cradling model Giselle Bundchen was so flagrantly filled with negative racial overtones I began to seriously wonder about little Annie's childhood.

A MAINSTREAM FASHION magazine filled with with nothing but black models? But how can that be? Fashionistas and media pundits have been mumbling on about how fashion magazines with black models on the cover "just don't sell" for years.

As a writer my career interests have expanded beyond just the publishing industry but I still read my trusty Ed2010 - that's where I saw the citation of Mediabistro's Vogue mention earlier at work, I was too busy to fire off a blog.

The coolest part is that it reportedly sold out on the news stands everywhere; you can't get your hands on a copy. In this era of flat print magazine ad sales, Vogue had to do a reprint!

Of the possible backlash, Italian Vogue editrix Franca Sozzani said:

"Maybe in our country it's not the best idea, but I don't care. I think if they don't like it it's not my problem it's their problem." You go Franca!

Perhaps the editors at Italian Vogue decided to show that Annie Leibovitz's cover doesn't accurately define the totality of Vogue's editorial and ad content. Perhaps there are those who dislike the assumptions about black models perpetuated by the fashion industry and their advertisers.

Maybe it's like a football game where a ref doesn't catch someone holding you on one play, but he gives you a make up for it later in the game without saying anything.

Well partial make up anyway, none of the ads in the issue featured models of color - but I guess it's a start. And that can be a very important step.

Oy Vey! Facebook's Targeted Ads Missing the Mark

I enjoy reading David Berkowitz's blog, he posted a pretty insightful and funny observation about Facebook serving him up contextual ads based on his ethnicity even though he doesn't say he's Jewish on his Facebook page.

Check out the picture of the ad, with the not so subtle "Hew Jew" greeting across the top, they sent to his Facebook page - it was posted Wednesday July 16, 2008 on his blog: InsideTheMarketers Studio

He also blogged about it on the Online Spin site the next day - the Online Spin blog might have a contact-info wall before you can read it but - you can get the gist on his blog and I think it's funnier. His observation about Facebook having some kind of secret Jewdar was hysterical.

What is Jewdar? More to the purposes of this article check out Heeb Magazine's more media-centric use of the term for yourself - see what Jewdar is all about. Both the site and the term are getting more and more media mention, potential permanent part of our sub-culture?

Could be, it's pretty sharp. I occasionally check out the dialog that goes down on sites like TheYeshivaWorld.com and Jewdar has a much more interesting contemporary Jewish perspective.

It goes without saying that advertisers and marketers struggle with executing ideas that connect with and engage specific audiences. Behavioral online advertising will inevitably stumble on the same cracks.

During the week of July 7th Berkowitz also blogged about how female Facebook users are being annoyed by targeted ads making assumptions about their weight, relationship status and their product marketing choices. Funny when they THINK they know you.

It's like a technological version of the same process people use to peg total strangers and tuck them into the little drawers divided on lines of culture, sex, race or religion.

New Yorker Magazine Cover Panders to Racist Media Portrayal of Senator Obama

I was pretty shocked when I logged on to the MediaTakout.com Website this morning and glimpsed the July 21, 2008 cover of The New Yorker Magazine featuring Senator Barack Obama and his wife depicted respectively as a Muslim cleric in Islamic-scholar dress and an AK-47-wielding terrorist-radical with an Angela Davis Afro.

Oh and there's a burning flag and a picture of Osama Bin Laden in the background too in artist Barry Blitt's appropriately titled, "The Politics of Fear."

Haven't seen it? Click the link above. Of course I immediately sent off an e-mail letter to the editor to the New Yorker to which I received this somewhat generic automatic reply:

"About this week’s issue: Our cover, “The Politics of Fear,” combines a number of fantastical images about the Obamas and shows them for the obvious distortions they are. The burning flag, the nationalist-radical and Islamic outfits, the fist-bump, the portrait on the wall— all of them echo one attack or another. Satire is part of what we do, and it is meant to bring things out into the open, to hold up a mirror to prejudice, the hateful, and the absurd. And that's the spirit of this cover. In this same issue you will also see that there are two very serious articles on Barack Obama inside—Hendrik Hertzberg's Comment, (http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2008/07/21/080721taco_talk_hertzberg) and Ryan Lizza's 15,000-word reporting piece on the candidate's political education and rise in Chicago (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/07/21/080721fa_fact_lizza)."

Well if satire is what they do, then it was certainly executed with poor editorial judgment, lack of cultural sensitivity and from my take; really bad taste.

Even if their intent WAS to lampoon the distorted right-wing depictions of Senator Obama and his wife, was that cover the only artistic interpretation they could come up with? An image that essentially reinforces all of these media mischaracterizations; many of which are generated by Fox News and the GOP's "Karl Rove school of political slander."

This mind-blowing editorial blunder is already generating waves of controversy in print, across the Web and on both television and radio. Sadly, their journalistic intent (and the hard work of writers Hendrick Hertzberg and Ryan Lizza is almost completely overshadowed by the cover of the magazine.

As a media professional who works with companies who publish magazines, I can only say this mess reflects that unfortunate fact that there is an appalling lack of diversity within the US magazine publishing industry, on the junior staff levels, in mid-management and most importantly on the mastheads.

Complex magazine editor Rich Antonoiello's video interview from the Folio: Website on diversity within the magazine industry is timely; just click the link on the upper right hand page to view it.

Don't get mad, get productive and stay positive! E-mail the New Yorker with your comments at:
themail@newyorker.com

Analog Television Demise Signals No Reception for Millions of Poor Consumers

Both cable and network television have their hands full trying to remain on the radar of the millions of consumers who now gravitate to the Web for news, communication, information, shopping, travel-planning, entertainment and increasingly content that was once the exclusive domain of television.

On February 17, 2009 the entire television broadcast industry is going fully digital. It's hard to miss the commercials warning of the impending switch. Cable companies around the country have committed $1 billion to educating consumers about the switch, and offering information about how to apply for government subsidized coupons from the Department of Commerce (wouldn't want anyone missing all that commercial advertising...) to offset the purchase price of a new digital converter.

But what exactly does this "switch" mean?

For one it means the tried and true analog signal that broadcasts over the 700 megahertz band, the same one that's brought us countless hours of television programming for decades, will simply no longer work; if you don't have cable that is.

The Digital Television Transition and Public Safety Act of 2005 makes it law with the stamp of the United States Congress. In a page ripped right out of the "Large Cable Company Wish List", Congress has made the purchase of new digital televisions and digital cable boxes mandatory if you want to watch TV.

In a secret bidding process that most Americans don't even really know about, the FCC auctioned off the 700 megahertz band for an eye-opening $19.6 billion in early 2008.

700 MHz penetrates walls and large telecommunications companies like AT&T and Verizon will now use a portion of it to handle the massive bandwidth needs of consumers using mobile phones, PDA's, Blackberry's, iPhones and laptop computers to download and share content over the Internet. The government will also turn some space over to emergency channels for firemen and police.

One thing that concerns me is that there are millions of low-income people in America who currently still use the old "rabbit-ears" or rooftop TV receptors to watch television. A disproportionate number of those people are Hispanic and African-Americans. Some can't afford a new digital-ready television, some just can't afford the high monthly fees to get cable.
Some just have no desire to get cable. Regardless, by February 10, 2008 they won't be able to watch TV.

There's something inherently unfair about that to me and it comes with a lot of ethical questions; and some environmental ones too. Senior editor Kenneth Hein explored some of these questions in the June 30, 2008 issue of Brandweek.

The digital transition has an array of permutations, more content, more bandwidth, more devices interconnected to the Internet - but it also means millions of Americans living on the fringes of the economy being totally cut off from television broadcast content, including news and public television, because they simply cannot afford the connection.

That's a lot of people left out of the digital equation.

Jesse Helms Dead at 86 - Business as Usual for the GOP

As Americans celebrate their independence a variety of mainstream media sources are marking the passing of former Republican Senator Jesse Helms (pictured at left) after the conservative North Carolina politician passed away in the early hours in a rest home in Raleigh.

Many Americans also mark the close of a direct political link to segregation, institutionalized racism and the marginalization of people based on skin color, religion and sexual preference.

The mainstream media went pretty easy on him. For my weekend television news fix I watch Lester Holt on NBC News. Since Bernard Shaw retired from CNN, Lester's become the most preiminent African-American anchor on network television. Lester noted Helm's conservative record, but out of respect shied away from excessive editorial comment.

But some media sources that lean more left gave Helms' passing scant notice given his right-wing politics and stances against art, communists, Martin Luther King, Jr. and homosexuals - the Mother Jones Website, for instance didn't seem to pay his death much mind; they didn't make a fuss but they didn't celebrate or anything.

Anyway, Helms was raised in the segregated South and his views were molded in a way of life that was built around an archaic antebellum perspective of the United States in which blacks and whites did not associate, work or attend church or school together.

Sure he had blacks on his staff, where he found people of color to work for him is beyond me, but make no mistake, Helms opposed segregation at every turn. He was a staunch conservative who believed in an American landscape divided along racial lines

Sadly this element is NOT gone from the GOP, in fact the Southern Poverty Law Center Website reports that Alabama State Senator Charles Bishop, a conservative Republican representative from Jasper, AL was the keynote at the 2008 Council of Conservative Citizen's conference.

The CCC is a racist, pro-segregationist organization born of the notorious White Citizen's Councils that sprang up around the South in response to the expansion of civil rights efforts across the South in the 1940's, 50's and 60's.

No one can argue that Jesse Helms didn't have a major impact on the modern conservative movement, but the sad truth is that his legacy of racism still exists today both within the Republican Party and across the Southern United States.

Jesse was like the uncle no one likes to talk about and our collective culturegeist will be the better without the presence of this advocate of hate and extremism. Men like Jesse Helms are remnants of a dark past that cannot be a part of an evolving America that seeks to take it's place amongst diverse, prosperous nations that support freedom and merge with the larger global community.

Beating of Black Teen in Marshfield, Mass. Belies Boston's Dark Side

Boston, one of the nation's oldest cities, has always been such a weird place to me. It's the place where Crispus Attucks, an African-American, became the first American to be killed by English troops of the Twenty-Ninth Regiment during the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770.

But it's also a city that was a major center of the US slave trade and home to a large Irish-American population; many, not all, of whom haven't exactly been welcome to the idea of coexisting with black people in the highly segregated neighborhoods that surround Boston, like the infamous Irish Catholic South Boston neighborhood commonly known as "Southie"

I had a paraplegic classmate from Southie while I was in college at Penn State. She told me it was an extremely dangerous place for any African-American and she didn't know any black Boston residents who would even think about being in the neighborhood at night; she was Irish Catholic.

The photo shown above frightened me when I first saw it years ago as a child, and it still gives me chills today as an adult. In it, a white Southie resident uses a flag pole with an American flag attached to it to stab an African-American man while his hands are held behind his back during a 1970's eruption of violence by Southie residents opposed to school integration and forced busing.

As an African-American intellectual who tries to understand, through objective analysis, some of the complex mitigating factors that make some geographical areas more prone to racism than others. Boston just confuses me. Well parts of Boston anyway.

On June 17th the Boston Globe's John Ellement wrote about 7 people charged in Marshfield, MA with the vicious beating of 17 year-old Tizaya Robinson, a black teenager brutally beaten even after he was unconscious by a group of up to 12 men and women while they yelled racial slurs at him. He was also stabbed repeatedly with 3-inch thick, 18-inch long wooden stick; which was covered in blood and found at the scene.

Just reading about it horrifies and sickens me. What's terrifying is the blind hate that festers in the hearts of people motivated to brutally attack a teenager they don't even know because his skin color is different than their own. Incidents like this are not an indicator of a great nation; but a symptom of a nation eating itself from within. A nation being ravaged by the cultural cancer known as racism.

We're fighting a war in Iraq and in the mountains of Afghanistan? The greater enemy is right here at home, hiding inside the hearts and minds of people blinded by their own hate.

The Fox Smear Campaign Against Sen. Barack Obama

It's pretty interesting how little attention the mainstream media seems to pay to the ongoing smear campaign the Fox News Channel is conducting against Democratic Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama.

On June 18th the Media Matters Website reported that Fox anchor Brit Hume distorted a transcript of an Israeli Army Radio interview with Obama's half-brother Malik Obama; Hume incorrectly quoted Malik Obama as saying Barack Obama was a Muslim. Obama is NOT a Muslim, has stated so on multiple occasions and yet Fox continues to assert that he is in an obvious effort to discredit the Democratic candidate and recklessly pander to the cultural fears and prejudices of white conservatives.

Fox has practically made a sport out of slandering Obama's wife Michelle. In a recent report they called her "Obama's Baby Mama", a derogatory slang term for the unwed mother of a man's child. It's particularly disturbing given the fact that the mother of two is a Harvard Law graduate and a distinguished attorney in her own right - and I don't think anyone thinks Fox would call a married white woman with two children anyone's "baby mama, it's racist and everyone knows it. There's hardly a television news story about Michelle Obama that doesn't refer to, or indirectly bring up her quote about being proud to be an American for the first time.

But fortunately Fox doesn't hold a monopoly on media access. The FoxAttacks.com website posted unmistakable evidence that Fox edited out a portion of an recent Sean Hannity interview with John McCain in which the Republican front-runner says he "Didn't always love America". That's right. Virtually the same thing Michelle Obama said, but you won't hear anything about THAT on Fox. In fact, use the FoxAttacks link about to see the video evidence for yourself.

Fox edited out that portion of the original interview then re-cut it entirely. They also EDITED THE ACTUAL TRANSCRIPT. Only after the video was posted online and became hit #1 on Digg did Fox quietly re-add the footage with the quote and fix the content of the transcript. Will they hold McCain accountable for HIS statement that he "didn't always love America"?

Don't hold your breath, Fox's notorious double-standard policy will not apply any criticism of John McCain; they tried to conceal that he said it - but fortunately, responsible citizens and organizations like FoxAttacks monitor this sad excuse for television journalism 24 hours a day.

People have the power to confront the lies that Fox spews out 24 hours a day. Fortunately this is the age of information and there is a growing movement of bloggers, citizen journalists and Websites who recognize that Fox is nothing more than a PR firm for the Republican Party.

More than 100,000 people have signed a MoveOn.org petition demanding that Fox stop using racism, lies and fear to smear Barack Obama - use this link to sign it and tell Fox to stop trying to use racist fear-mongering and lies to discredit a political candidate because he is black.

It's unacceptable.

Oh So Glamorous!

I was kind of musing about fashion and race over the weekend. They kind of collided together in mainstream media both in print, online and on television.

First, Naomi Campbell's mug was plastered all over cheeky television clips as well as Websites & blogs after the 38-year old anger-management dropout appeared in court at Uxbridge magistrate's court in West London, UK following her latest emotional meltdown.

Check out the facts as reported by CNN ....if you really need to that is.

After hurling cell phones at her former assistant's head for not locating a pair of jeans, her most recent hissy-fit over one of her bags not being put aboard her British Airways flight is simply business as usual for the self-described "Supermodel".

Sure she was found guilty of kicking and spitting at two policemen, you think Naomi can't do better than that? DO YOU? HUH?!?

British Airways has apparently banned Naomi for life. Ouch! I'm sure it'll be such a struggle for her publicist to rustle up a private jet for the oft-deranged diva but God help her/him if they don't...no, seriously God, please protect them.....

The woman is exceptionally beautiful and successful in the business world but clearly has some complex issues (like not hitting people...?) and likely needs some professional help to deal with her explosive temper. I wonder how Naomi's bizarre escapades impact other black fashion models struggling to make it in the industry.

Like it's not hard enough for models of color in the culturally narrow and too often superficial confines of the fashion world as it is?

Cathy Horyn wrote a really a nice piece in New York Times last Thursday that painted a somewhat bleak and puzzling picture of the way the fashion industry treats female models with darker skin and African features. A world that quietly fears that darker skin won't sell as well in front of white magazine readers.

I read a cool piece on Essence Magazine fashion market editor Zoe Washington, an African-American professional who made it in the fashion industry by following her passion and working hard. Interesting that she and many other young women of color identify CNN's Elsa Clinch as one of their inspirations.

Years ago I heard a 2nd-hand story about dear old Elsa flipping a gasket right before shooting one of her little fashion pieces because the agency had sent a black female model to the set. Elsa allegedly insisted on having a white model and the black model apparently left the set devastated.

But that's just a story I heard from someone I know with friends who work in the New York fashion scene; gossip sure, but in the fashion world gossip is an art form and it's usually based in part on truth.

I'd love to hear the real gossip on what all those "fashionistas" think about black models. From the number of photo spreads and ads in the major fashion titles, I'd say not a whole lot.

A Question of Character?

Without question race is playing a major factor in the 2008 presidential elections and the man who's elected will impact the cultural fabric of this nation in a variety of significant ways.

John McCain (pictured with second wife Cindy McCain) tends to talk in lofty non-specifics that make it very difficult to gauge where he'll stand on issues that directly impact race. But he does talk about character quite a bit.

Sharon Churcher wrote an interesting piece on the London Daily Mail Website on John McCain's first wife Carol that offers insight a real look into his character and what kind of person he really is.

She must've been in a rush to get the article finished, as most of it seems to be plagiarized from an extensive article about McCain's life on Wikipedia.org.

The mainstream media has until this point avoided any mention of McCain's first wife, whom he divorced after he returned home to the US from Vietnam to find her disfigured from a Christmas eve car accident. He met his 2nd wife, a former swimsuit model and the daughter of a politically-connected Arizona multi-millionaire who would help engineer his move into the political arena.

No wonder Cindy stays out of the media spotlight silently with that grin on her face.

I don't know Cindy McCain personally but at this point Michelle Obama comes off as more intelligent, well spoken, well educated, confident and strikes me as more in the mold of what a real First Lady is and should be.

With her secretive nature and reluctance to release her tax records for public scrutiny Cindy McCain often comes off as something of a trophy-wife living a privileged insulated life off of daddy's money.

But the facts say otherwise. She's played an active role running her father's business, a beer distributorship. She actively serves on charities that focus on clearing mines around the world and helping poor children with severe oral surgery needs; in fact she adopted a girl from Bangladesh with a severe cleft palette at the behest of Mother Teresa.

I must confess there's much more to Cindy than I thought there was and I wonder why the media seems not to report any of the positive sorts of things she's done. Or the negative for that matter.

Snopes.com reports that she became addicted to Vicodin and Percocet after two back surgeries and a DEA investigation found she used a medical charity she founded to illegally obtain large amounts under false names - she ducked prosecution by striking a deal with the Justice Department. No doubt, Senator McCain's character aided in that episode, one you probably won't hear on Fox News anytime soon.

Meanwhile Fox News trumpets the results of a recent Rasmussen Report that shows 1,000 people polled viewed Michelle Obama more unfavorably than Cindy McCain - a poll which also showed the approval rates for both women were nearly even at 49% and 48%.

Memorial Day Ku Klux Klan Defacement Condemmed by Community

Many Americans celebrate Memorial Day as an uplifting break from the routine of work that both honors those who have given their lives in service to this nation and also heralds the arrival of summer.

In one of the latest examples of a sharp rise in hate-crime activity across the nation, Medford, Oregon residents Gary David Ross, 37 and Devan Grant Klauseggar, 28 decided to express their patriotic fervor by using some kind of propellant to burn the shape of a cross on the lawn of Sol and Jonathan Whyte's home, they also took the time to spell out the words "KKK" on the lawn and ignite it as well before fleeing the scene around 11pm with a third suspect. The Ku Klux Klan is a long way from the their nightmarish hey-day in the 1920's (Klan members pictured above in the infamous KKK march on Washington in 1926) when over 4 million members were registered in the United States and brutal lynchings of African-Americans were at their peak.

These ignorant fireworks enthusiasts selected the Whyte's because they are a mixed-race couple with two young children who are multi-racial as well.

Kudos to the South Oregon Mail Tribune's Anita Burke for reporting this story; Most of the mainstream network news broadcasts were typified by familiar images of picnics, scenes from the beach and picturesque small-town parades.

Both suspects were arrested and are being charged with a variety of offenses, but to me the most important part of this story is the overwhelming response of support by neighbors.

Strangers left flowers, gifts, and notes of support. Local high school students brought letters and gifts from the student body; a landscaper stopped by and offered to repair the lawn.

The Medford City Council voted to unanimously condemn the act in a resolution.

"By making members of specific groups fearful, angry and suspicious, hate crimes polarize communities and damage the very fabric of our society," the resolution said.

That's the real America, strangers and neighbors, politicians and police all coming together to douse the flames of ignorance and bigotry. That's the fabric of the culturegeist, love will always conquer fear and ignorance no matter what some may say or write.

In the community of Medford, Oregon we've seen a true celebration of Memorial Day; one that truly honors the spirit of what thousands of veterans died fighting for.

Clint Slaps Down Spike - Courtney Hazlett Channels Her Inner Bigot

The Blogosphere is rife with commentary on the ongoing media tiff between actor/director Clint Eastwood and director Spike Lee.

Lee has made headlines before for his outspoken and at times left-field criticism of various entertainment figures on issues related to his perception of African-Americans in film and television and Hollywood's treatment of blacks in the industry.

Spike is promoting his new film about a WWII African-American Army unit in Italy, during the interview at the Cannes film festival he openly criticized Clint for not casting any black actors in either of his twin WWII films saga, 'Flags of Our Fathers' and 'Letters From Iwo Jima'.

Despite the fact the both films deal with very specific stories during WWII involving episodes that historically did not involve African-American soldiers, Spike suggested that the media had somehow ignored supposedly racist casting decisions by Clint.

In response to Spike's comments Clint suggested Spike should "shut his face" in an interview with The Guardian's Jeff Dawson.

In response to THAT, MSNBC talking head Courtney Hazlett demonstrated monumental ignorance and insensitivity by suggesting that Lee had been "uppity" in his comments to Eastwood.

How this lightweight pseudo-journalist could not be aware of the racial context of the term uppity (once frequently used by southerners to describe and denigrate African-Americans they felt were acting beyond their station) is mind boggling. As was the MSNBC producer who showed a clip of Clint from one his movies menacing an African-American character with a shotgun as Courtney unloaded here ditzy 2nd rate analysis.

She ignited a media firestorm and quickly issued an apology in an effort to cover her stupidity.

In ABCNews.com interview Spike fired back at Clint "First of all, the man is not my father and we're not on a plantation either," That's vintage Spike; use outspoken, vague and baseless accusations based on his own perceptions to simultaneously bring issues or race and film into the mainstream media discussion and promote his film.

I admire Spike as a director and filmmaker and he's altered the landscape of contemporary cinema, but it's totally inappropriate for him to make accusations about Clint being biased in his casting decisions. Clint's films have featured a range of intelligently portrayed characters of various races including African-Americans over the years - Clint was the filmmaker who made and directed 'Bird' a 1988 film about the life of black jazz legend Charlie Parker.

Just keep it in context and remember Spike has some odd ways of promoting himself and his films - this is the guy who called Eddie Murphy and Bill Cosby "Sellouts".

Frankly Spike had some balls calling out Eddie, (the highest grossing film star in history his movies have grossed over $3.4 billion...) for not giving more opportunities for actors of color despite the fact that Murphy gave roles to a number of up and coming black performers in his movies -Halle Berry in 'Boomerang'; Damon Wayans in 'Beverly Hills Cop'; Martin Lawrence in 'Boomerang'; Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Samuel Jackson in 'Coming to America' as well Chris Rock in 'Beverly Hills Cop II'

So Spike often talks with flare and good intent, but much less actual fact. I wrote a letter to Clint to show my support for him and his record as a filmmaker and to assure him that Spike's left-field accusations are just that, accusations.

A Candidate for All Americans

One of the topics for this morning’s Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC deals with how African-Americans are viewing the nomination of Barack Obama as the Democratic presidential candidate and how it’s going to impact the nation and people of color.

Of course a couple callers were already concerned that he hasn’t been on the soapbox being the champion of African-American causes. I tend to agree that in the strategic sense, Obama needs to run as the President of the United States, he’s not just a leader of the black community but of all American communities.

For the first time we have a candidate who appeals across the fabric of the mainstream and connects with a wide range of voters because of his vision and the positions that he advocates; particularly his opposition to the war in Iraq and the need for a shift in the way we perceive ourselves as a nation.

I agree with a caller of West-Indian descent from New York who felt strongly that just because Obama is running for president does not mean that he has to bear the burden of every single issue and problem faced by every single African-Americans. We should assume he is going to govern on behalf of all people and that he can do so in a way that does not make him automatically beholden to any demographic.

Interestingly, a caller from Amsterdam said that when he walks into shops he is asked who he is supporting for president. He reported that there seems to be a real sense of excitement amongst people in the Netherlands about Obama winning the Democratic primary. In fact Obama’s picture is on the front page of most newspapers on newsstands in Amsterdam.

Something is happening in this country and I think the culturegeist of our nation is going to be the better for it.

Obama Wins, Harriet Christian Rants

Senator Barack Obama has made history by securing the Democratic presidential nomination. But he's going to have to work quickly to heal some of the divisions within the Democratic party.

I'm listening to the 11pm WCBS New York news and reporter Lou Young, reporting from outside an Obama fund raiser on Manhattan's Upper East Side, suggested that Hillary Clinton is going to have to find a way to reunite the party.

Frankly she had her chance at the nomination and she lost it fair and square. Obama is the party's nominee and the responsibility to bring it into line is his.

By now thousands have seen the video clip of Clinton supporter Harriet Christian ranting like an insane lunatic in front of a phalanx of cameras. Sporting sunglasses and sounding like she's on medication, Christian calls Obama an "inadequate black male" before stalking off babbling about how she and her "group" would be voting for John McCain - out of spite it seems rather than based on any kind of political logic or loyalty to the Democratic party.

Bitter is an understatement.

Political consultant Dan Gerstein suggested one of the reasons George W. Bush won and was re-elected was because of the support he received from white women. I've got confidence that there are millions of registered white female voters who do and will support Barack Obama versus McCain based on his character and policy stances - Morons like Harriet Christian are just disenfranchised ignorant and symbolic of why this nation needs change.

I

Skinheads Placing Posters in the City of Brotherly Love

The recent shooting of a white Philadelphia Police Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski in Port Richmond while in pursuit of African-American suspects in a bank robbery has received a lot of national media attention in print and online.

The loss of an officer's life in the line of duty is a tragic incident and while the shooting of Sgt. Liczbinski has brought increased attention to the violent crime rate in Philadelphia, it has also spurred action by local hate groups.

According to a May 22nd article in the Philadelphia Inquirer a racist group originally founded in Harrisburg, PA made up of a loose alliance of skinhead groups from Pennsylvania that calls itself the Keystone State Skinheads (pictured above left) claimed responsibility for putting up posters in the Port Richmond and North Philadelphia area.

The posters depict pictures of four Philadelphia Police Officers and pictures of the three black suspects and the words: "Guns don't kill police officers. Dangerous minorities do. How much longer can you ignore this?" View a PDF of the poster here.

This isn't the first time members of the Keystone State Skinheads have been involved in distributing racist literature, committing extremely violent acts of hate and violating the law. Take KSP member and repeated violent law-breaker Keith Carney; he was arrested in December, 2001 for defacing Philadelphia's Vietnam War memorial with racist literature. Click here and scroll down a couple frames to see a photo of Carney at a Mumia Abu-Jamal rally.

Other KSP members have been found guilty for a variety of violent offenses, from enticing and then beating black bar patrons and mixed race couples in Lancaster to brutal murders: Kenneth Hoover and Charles Marovskis were arrested in January, 2007 for the 1998 murder of two homeless black men in Florida - one 62 year-old victim had been severely beaten and stabbed in the eye with a tire iron before being dumped under an overpass - the other killed with an axe and dumped in the woods.

Sadly just one more example of the sharp rise of hate crime activity in the United States, until the mainstream media recognizes the danger posed by these groups mainstream America will remain unaware, or simply ignore them.

Swastikas on the Wall: This is Your Town

I read a report recently that most mainstream media stories come from AP or the other larger news organizations. Well here's a story directly impacting the culturegiest of our nation that you're not going to see on mainstream media sources.

The Beth Israel synagogue on 1406 Mound street in Madison, Wisconsin boasts a membership of approximately 300 families and was founded in 1949. The Wisconsin State Journal reports that an unknown group or individual has targeted their place of worship twice since April with anti-Semitic graffiti.

On Monday morning May 5th a member of the synagogue found a swastika and the words "Die Jew" were written on a wall in black magic marker. Back on April 25th two large swastikas were found on the front door of Beth Israel. Even though the doors have since been cleaned and repainted, it doesn't cover up the pain and outrage of seeing the place of worship defaced with such offensive symbols and words.

Madison Police have assigned a hate crimes detective to the case. In the picture above, Beth Israel Rabbi Katz shows the Torah to a group of visiting elementary school students.

Anti-Semitic acts like this are on the rise across the United States: Why don't we see these stories on mainstream network television broadcasts and Websites?

Fox News 'Rachel Ray Scarf-Gate': Arab-Bashing?

Is TV host and cook Rachel Ray in cahoots with a donut maker to inflame Islamic extremists?

Michelle Malkin and Fox News think so!

This morning AdAge.com reported that flavored-coffee and pastry behemoth Dunkin' Donuts removed an online ad (pictured above) featuring spokeswoman Rachel Ray, in response to claims generated by conservative bloggers and Fox News commentators that the scarf she is wearing in the photo looked like a kefiyeh.

Fox News commentator and frequently-creepy syndicated conservative news columnist Michelle Malkin brazenly suggested in her blog that the grayish-colored scarf was anti -American and could send a potentially dangerous message to Islamic extremists.

The kefiyeh, or keffiyeh is a Arab headdress for men comprised of a diagonally folded cloth secured to the head by an agal band.

It is worn in a variety of styles for, among other reasons, keeping the desert heat off the head and keeping sand away from the eyes and mouth.

Regardless of the fact that the scarf Ms. Ray was wearing was a paisley pattern and in fact, not a kefiyeh, nor was the scarf even made of the same material as a kefiyeh or even being worn in the style of the kefiyeh (or that it is Arab MEN who wear it) Fox News commentator Michelle Malkin suggested that the grayish-colored scarf was anti -American and could send a potentially dangerous message to Islamic extremists.

In response to Ms. Malkin's bizarre right-wing, Neo Con hysteria Dunkin' Donuts pulled the ad rather than face a firestorm of irrational backlash from outraged, misinformed Fox News watchers and conservative paranoid conspiracy theorists terrified at the thought of someone having the nerve to wear a scarf that reminded them of a kefiyeh in a coffee ad.

I read the reader comments to the Ad Age article and blogged a response.

The Boston Globe and LA Times picked up the story too. I steeled myself and read a sampling of the reader comments on Malkin's blog and many of them went easy on her, as it seems quite a few watch or have watched Rachel Ray and seemed rather puzzled at Malkin's out of left field observation.

Frankly, Malkin has been on a tirade about Dunkin' Donuts violating her views on immigration so the scarf thing seems much less about ideology or fact, than Malkin's own need to self-righteously pander to conservatives.

Oil is moving past $130 a barrel, there are food shortages around the world and President Bush and his inner circle are being confronted with former press secretary Scott McClellan's revelations that they lied to the American people about the Iraqi invasion - all Malkin can come up with is an Arab-Bashing link to a scarf?

She's Fox material all right, through and through.

Liz Trotta's Obama Gaff on Fox News Spark Debate

As if the mainstream media being all over Hillary Clinton for shooting herself in the foot yet again after invoking Senator Robert Kennedy's June 1968 assassination before the Democratic primary as justification for her continuing to stay in the race wasn't low enough, she takes the bizarre step of blaming the Obama campaign for fanning the flames in reaction to her own comments.

If THAT wasn't enough Hillary is probably relieved that the media focus on her controversial assassination comment was (temporarily at least) turned onto former Washington Times New York bureau chief Liz Trotta (pictured at left).

Trotta smugly jokes about Obama being assassinated. Look at the tape yourself, it's all over youtube.

Commenting on the implications of Hillary's Kennedy comment, she begins a somewhat typically pontificating inside-media-pundit answer, then clearly says, "...what we have here are people suggesting she wants to knock off Osama, (she recognizes she mistakingly said "Osama" instead of "Obama") then shakes her head and corrects herself, joking, "...uh, Obama, or both if we could." She laughs and the Fox commentator eggs her on suggesting: "Tell us what you really think!"

Typical fare for Fox News.

I'm not really familiar with anything Trotta has written, but you can get a glimpse of her sometimes right-wing leaning ideology from this Webpage from the Media Matters site.

Not surprising that she snidely let her take on Obama slip out on Fox, if the Media Matters page is any indication, she's just another entrenched Bill O'Reilly-like blowhard conservative spouting off and offering up muddled opinion with real facts.

Different Strokes for Different Folks?

When I was growing up there were a couple of popular mainstream half-hour television comedies that centered on cute black boys living with adopted white families.

There was Webster, starring Emanuelle Lewis but the most popular of the two by far was NBC's "Different Strokes" which aired from 1978 to 1985 and starred Gary Coleman as Arnold; he and his older brother Willis (played by Todd Bridges) were adopted by the wealthy Manhattan resident Mr. Drummond played by Conrad Bain. It was a funny show produced by Norman Lear that dealt with a range of complex racial themes and topics.

Recently there has been some media attention on transracial adoptions. The 1994 Multi-Ethnic Placement Act reflects an attempt by our government to lay out Federal standards and guidelines for the adoption of children from the foster care system.

On Tuesday the CNN.com Website reported that a group of leading adoption agency advocate groups urged changes in the Federal guidelines that specifically govern transracial adoptions in this country. The changes stem from a report released by the Evan B. Donaldson adoption institute, a group that lobbies to improve adoption laws and practices.

These groups are concerned that there hasn't been sufficient enforcement of amendments that strongly suggest proactive recruiting efforts to encourage "same race" parents to adopt African-American kids in order to more positively impact their cultural identity.

On average, black kids represent a higher percentage than white kids and also stay in the foster care system longer than their white counterparts - so I am led to wonder; what's more important?

A foster child having a parent, or a foster child having a parent of the same race and ethnicity? Should love be "color blind"?

Kudos to CNN for taking the lead in fostering dialogs about issues related to race and ethnicity in America.