Women’s History Month 2013: Melissa Harris-Perry

Today we honor and celebrate another wonderful voice for equality. Many thanks to my friend and regular TSM commenter Christine for recommending Melissa Harris-Perry. Melissa is multi-racial, having  a black father and white mother.  She is originally from here in the Northwest, Seattle. The family moved to Virgina when she was young, with both parents involved in education.

Harris-Perry is an author, scholar, and professor as well as host of a successful, thought-provoking program on MSNBC. She received her B.A. in English from Wake Forest University and her PhD in political science from Duke. Due to her interest in the influence of the black church on political movements, she also received an honoris causa doctorate from Meadville Lombard Theological School and was a Master of Divinity student at Union Theological Seminary.

While at Wake Forest, she encountered her mentor, the wonderful Maya Angelou.

As her student I watched as she influenced public discourse, taught students, and shared ideas in a way that seemed to truly matter for people’s lives.

Harris-Perry taught political science at the University of Chicago, then moved to Princeton where she was an associate professor of politics and African-American studies. She is currently a professor of political science at Tulane, where she is founding director of the Anna Julia Cooper Project on Gender, Race, and Politics in the South.

She is the author of Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought on the methods African Americans use to develop political ideas through ordinary conversations in places like barbershops, churches, and popular culture–sounds like good social work to me. Her book won the 2005 W.E.B. DuBois Book Award from the National Conference of Black Political Scientists and the 2005 Best Book Award from the Race and Ethnic Politics Section of the American Political Science Association.

After years as serving as a commentator, she was offered her own MSNBC weekend show a year ago. She looks at the program as a way to expand her education career, focusing on issues of politics and equality.

All I’ve ever wanted to be is a teacher. Phil Griffin and MSNBC are giving me the chance to have a much bigger classroom.

She is also an outspoken advocate for gay rights and marriage equality. Her work in this area won her an Ally for Equality award from the Human Rights campaign last month.

As a biracial woman with a passion for education and a fascination with religion, Harris-Perry has a firm understanding of the intersections of oppression. She has made it her mission to share that understanding with others with a firm commitment to social justice. Thank you Melissa Harris-Perry for being such a strong advocate and ally!

Bigot of the Week Award: March 22, CNN and Poppy Harlow

Bigot of the Week

Thank you to my friend Jennifer Carey for inspiring me to write this week’s Bigot story.  What a sad tale to tell — how tragic that we see patriarchy put above all else, as Poppy (a woman) bemoans the verdict of the rapists in Steubenville, OH and gives no mention of the rape victim and how the rest of her life has been impacted.

Yes, I have some empathy for the two men who raped the young girl, but I was mortified to see CNN and Poppy Harlow talking ad nauseam about “these poor young men,” and how impressive they were.  She goes on to sing their praises because they offered an apology.  Is it just me, or is this whole thing totally screwed up?  Sadly, I found CNN and Poppy to be quite loathsome.  What about the young woman who was raped? What about her life? Let us not forget that these young men — whom you fawn over — drugged the young woman, repeatedly raped her, and then dumped her body in a yard where they then proceeded to urinate on her. How dare you sing the praises of these two rapists while not giving any acknowledgement of the physical and mental anguish the victim will suffer for the rest of her life. Have you no shame?

Just like Penn State, we see hints of authority figures complicit in a cover-up to protect athletic programs while ignoring the victims. Just like too many examples, we see members of the community heaping scorn on the victim for coming forward. Is it any wonder that so many rapes and sexual assaults go unreported?

If you can stomach it, here is the video of Poppy Harlow on CNN. How sad that we see women in our culture so quick to care take of the male rapists while ignoring the victim — we are truly in the world of Todd Akin.

Women’s History Month 2013: Rachel Maddow

Today we honor and celebrate Dr. Rachel Maddow, a woman who is trying to bring real discussion back into television journalism. Maddow was born in California in 1973. While a freshman at Stanford University, she was outed in a campus paper interview before she was able to tell her parents. I always love papers that out people just for the sake of outing them–my what code of ethics does that follow?  Fortunately, they were supportive, and she has been out and proud ever since. After receiving her degree in public policy from Stanford, she was awarded a Rhodes scholarship, becoming the first openly LGBT Rhodes scholar. She received her Doctor of Philosophy from Oxford University with her thesis entitled HIV/AIDS and Health Care Reform in British and American Prisons.

These early events clearly hinted at her outspoken nature and her dedication to open discourse. She won a contest to become a radio announcer shortly after returning to the U.S., launching her broadcast career. She worked in radio for local Massachusetts stations and then joined Air America. Unabashedly liberal, she has observed the rightward drift of this country’s politics with the quip

I’m undoubtedly a liberal, which means that I’m in almost total agreement with the Eisenhower-era Republican party platform.

While still on Air America, she began regular guest spots on MSNBC’s nightly programs. Soon she was offered her own show, a TV version of her radio program, The Rachel Maddow Show. This made her the first openly LGBT host of a major prime-time news show in the U.S. She also routinely has her network’s most highly rated show–in what still remains a “white hetero male dominated” industry.

Her program is a wonderful mixture of straight news, opinion, and interviews–all offered through a social justice lens. In fact, I’m not sure there are other national programs that stand in such solidarity with those that are marginalized and oppressed by those in power and charged with the task of representing all Americans.  I love that Maddow holds these hypocrites’ feet to the fire. She has no tolerance for liars or people who put talking points above reality. Her no-holds-barred approach to discussing critical events is very refreshing. The media need more people who stand up and say “that’s not right!” Hooray for Rachel Maddow for showing that caring about the truth can still matter to the viewing public.

Women’s History Month 2013: Soledad O’Brien

Today we honor and celebrate a woman whose recent push to restore journalistic integrity to cable news may have cost her her job. María de la Soledad Teresa O’Brien was born on Long Island in 1966. Her parents — an Afro-Cuban mother and Australian father — met in the Washington, DC area a decade earlier. They lived in Maryland, which did not allow mixed-race marriages, so they wed in DC and soon moved to New York. Soledad is one of six children (all of whom received degrees from Harvard).

She began her television career as an associate producer and news writer in Boston. She joined NBC in 1991 and worked a variety of on-camera and production jobs over the next decade. She settled into regular roles on MSNBC and as co-host of Weekend Today. She contributed reports to NBC Nightly News, honing her desire to move away from soft news.

Soledad joined CNN in 2003 as co-anchor of their morning news program. Smart, likeable, and possessing good journalistic instincts, she helped that show rise above standard morning fare, even as the rest of CNN began to devolve into FOX-light in a desperate ratings grab. Confused network executives moved her out of the morning show in 2007 and she spent the next few years contributing reports to other CNN programs and doing In America documentaries. When CNN scrambled to re-re-redesign their morning show in 2012, they brought Soledad back to host the two-hour news program Starting Point.

A stark contrast to most CNN programming and other morning “news” offerings, the show featured engaging conversations and showed her strengths as a real journalist. Numerous guests complained about their treatment (including the odious John Sununu), a sign that she was actually doing her job rather than letting them spew talking points. Sadly, that success — even combined with good ratings — seems to have been too much for CNN to take–JEERS to CNN. Ms. O’Brien was the only reason I watched CNN. The new network President, Jeff Zucker (who spent the previous decade destroying NBC) wants his soft news, so Soledad is out.

Her new documentary, Latino In America, will be out soon. After that, Soledad O’Brien will find her next role in broadcast journalism — not, as she put it, “cooking salmon and doing fashion shows.” Wherever she lands, her colleagues will be lucky to have her talent and mature confidence in doing journalism right.  I hope NPR is able to secure her journalistic prowess.

Hero of the Week Award: November 30, Thomas Ricks

Hero of the Week

It is a real pleasure to celebrate a journalist who stands up for truth and integrity in the media. Thomas Ricks is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and expert on defense issues. He has written a number of books on military history and strategy; as he tours with his most recent book, many news programs have asked him on to comment about the attack on the Benghazi consulate.

Earlier this week he appeared on FAUX news and was asked about the attacks on U.N. ambassador Susan Rice for her comments about Benghazi right after it happened. He replied, “I think that Benghazi generally was hyped by this network especially.” The stunned anchor asked him how he could consider four deaths hype, and got a strong reply.

How many security contractors died in Iraq, do you know? … No, nobody does, because nobody cared. We know that several hundred died, but there was never an official count done, of security contractors dead in Iraq. So when I see this focus on what was essentially a small fire fight, I think number one, I’ve covered a lot of fire fights, it’s impossible to figure out what happens in them sometimes. And second, I think that the emphasis on Benghazi has been extremely political partly because Fox was operating as a wing of the Republican party.

With that last line, the anchor suddenly thanked and dismissed Ricks, less than halfway into the interview’s allotted time. Poor old sad old Fox doesn’t like to hear the truth. What’s more, their VP in charge of news, Michael Clemente, immediately told the Hollywood Reporter that Ricks apologized for his comments. Not so fast! says Ricks.

Clemente is making it up, and it is sloppy of Hollywood Reporter to not ask him for specifics (what exactly am I alleged to have said?) and also to seek a response from me. Why is Fox doing this? Because their MO is that when the facts aren’t on their side, they attack the person.

Nothing could be more true. Thanks for standing up for truth and calling out media bias, Mr. Ricks.

Honorable mention goes to progressive talk radio host Stephanie Miller for admitting and correcting her own error. Wanting to raise money for the needy over the holidays, Miller partnered with an organization for her listeners to donate to. Sadly, she didn’t do her research and chose the homophobic horrors at the Salvation Army. When her listeners called her on the mistake, she quickly fixed it. She devoted a segment of her show to describe the SA’s bigotry, cancelled the partnership, and set up a more progressive donation site for the rest of the season. More than that, she matched the $1500 already given with a donation to the Trevor Project out of her own pocket. Nicely done!

Nepotist Newscaster Needlessly Nasty to Nancy

The face of experience and the face of, well, Luke Russert

Demonstrating unmitigated gall, NBC reporter Luke Russert managed to be both insulting and condescending at Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) press conference yesterday. After Pelosi indicated her intention to run for another two years as the House Minority Leader in the new Congress, Russert asked

Colleagues privately say that your decision to stay on prohibits the party from having a younger leadership and hurts the party in the long term. What’s your response?

Simultaneously hiding behind anonymous “colleagues” and displaying shocking ageism, Russert prompted a quick reply from the insightful former Speaker.

You’ve always asked that question, but not to Mitch McConnell.

It’s a fair point. The Senate minority leader is 70, barely two years younger than Pelosi. Harry Reid is 72; John Boehner is hardly a spring chicken at 62. Pelosi is not only the first woman to serve as U.S. House Speaker — one of the most important and powerful positions in the Federal government — she is routinely considered by scholars as one of the finest Speakers in history. If house Democrats need to groom new leaders, giving up that experience and authority in a still acrimoniously divided chamber hardly seems sensible. Perhaps her #2, Steny Hoyer should consider stepping aside; his Blue Dog leanings are hardly appropriate for an increasingly diverse and progressive caucus. (He’s also one year Pelosi’s senior, but Russert doesn’t seem to care about that…)

Unlike all those men in positions of power, Nancy Pelosi actually took the time to consider her options and discuss them with the press. That shows real class — and leadership. Those are qualities we really need. Perhaps the reporter who got a big break right out of college because of who his father was should consider his words more carefully.

Romney, Man of Mittstery!

Presto! Changeo! Pay no attention to the candidate in front of the curtain…

With less than a week to go before Election Day, you would think that the challenger would be doing everything he could to clarify and push his positions. Not the mysterious Mr. Romney! In the past month he has given precisely one interview (a five-minute puff piece with Newsmax); he has answered exactly ZERO questions from the press pool that travels with him. All his statements are carefully prepared and scripted. The situation became so absurd during this week’s FEMA questions that a frustrated reporter exclaimed:

Governor, you’ve been asked 14 times, why are you refusing to answer the question?

Of course, in that case silence probably made more sense than admitting that he would gut the Agency that was actually helping millions of people…

Another reasonable explanation is that he simply isn’t able to remember what he’s supposed to say anymore without a script. Romney (destroyer of civil rights and social justice) has changed his positions on so many things so many times during his campaign that keeping track of what he’s pandering this week must be a real struggle. And imagine if he told folks in Ohio the lies he was saving for Florida. How embarrassing would that be? Bless his little heart.

Romney’s reticence coupled with his debate duplicity has journalists (finally) calling him out on a regular basis. His lies about Chrysler’s plans to offshore Jeep production brought howls of derision from reporters and flat, substantiated denials from the company. Even on script he’s still getting into trouble.

Sadly, even his spokespeople can’t be counted on. When former Sen. Norm Coleman (R – MN) stumped for Romney at the Republican Jewish Coalition, he tried to reassure them that a Romney administration wouldn’t be ruled by GOP right-wing fundamentalists. His example? Romney’s stand on abortion, you know, the one that he only expresses when another Republican says something insane about rape. Poor ol’ Norm, however, got caught in the standard speaking for Romney trap and had to walk back his vague comments, reminding reporters that he was “speaking for Norm Coleman” while he campaigned…(wait for it)…for Mitt Romney.

The only way we will ever know what a President Romney would actually do is if by some misfortune we get stuck with one. I think I can live with the mystery.

Hero of the Week Award: August 31, Chris Matthews

Hero of the Week

What a pleasant surprise to have another mainstream journalist receive this week’s HWA. Regular TSM readers know that I have little patience for the pablum and apologetics that most networks peddle as news, straining so hard to be “fair” that they invite lunatics and hatemongers to “balance” facts. Lately, however, the media seem to have realized their jobs again, from the many news outlets actually calling out Ryan and Romney for their outright falsehoods to Soledad O’Brien‘s recent refusals to let her interviewees get away with bending the truth.

This week it was MSNBC’s Chris Matthews who stood up to the Republican deception and obfuscation engine. In an on-air conversation with Prince of Darkness, oops! RNC Chair Reince Priebus, Matthews interrupted him to call out his party’s race baiting. Referring to Mitt Romney’s wink-and-nod birtherism during a speech in Michigan, Matthews said,

That cheap shot about “I don’t have a problem with my birth certificate” was awful. You are playing that little ethnic card there. You can play your games and giggle about it, but the fact is your side is playing that card.

Priebus quickly became defensive and tried to move on. When he accused the President of “European” policies — a standard GOP talking point to make Obama seem foreign — Matthews stopped him cold.

You mean the fact that every president we’ve had has tried to offset the economic cycle with stimulus going the other direction is somehow European? [...] What does that have to do with Europe and this foreignization of the government? You’re doing it now. Saying that he’s influenced by foreign influences.

After a heated exchange, the interview ended. Priebus later accused Matthews of being an Obama mouthpiece and — ironically — of being “the biggest jerk in the room.” He’s tried hard to paint Matthews as a fool and a bully, not realizing that his rubber and glue game isn’t working. Matthews, in turn, stands by his words.

There come times when the passion should be reflective in the tone. There are a couple issues like peace and war, and race relations — this is, deeply, not something we should be revisiting in the 21st century. It isn’t even covert any more, its overt. Race is the San Andreas Fault in this country, and this is dividing this country along racial lines.

So true, Mr. Matthews. So sadly true. Thank you for calling it out and for refusing to apologize for simply doing your job.

Hero of the Week Award: August 17, Soledad O’Brien

Hero of the Week

I must confess that I have never been a fan of CNN.  I  have always found the network to be biased to the right and in the past six years it has in many ways mimicked Fox (Faux) News.  What a wonderful surprise and delight to see Soledad O’Brien engaged in real journalism and completely prepared with FACTS as she counters the LIES regurgitated by the exceedingly charm free John Sununu.

Sununu predictably offered the Republican talking points about the Ryan budget plan’s impact on Medicare.  The only thing that made his blatant lies bearable was O’Brien quoting directly from Romney.  I’m consistently amazed at how many in the Republican party try to deflect from the truth with the , “look over there, something shiny,” as their voices grower louder in an attempt to bully and intimidate. Sununu is clearly the school yard bully; kudos to O’Brien for standing up to him and holding her ground as a journalist — something exceedingly rare to witness today.

Click here to watch the video of our hero Soledad O’Brien.  Warning: Brace your self while watching the Petulant, Pugnacious Pig, Sununu.

I will conclude with an address to Mr. Sununu: Dear Mr. Sununu, I’m sorry, but there is just no way you can make Romney and Ryan look like anything other than the bigoted, homophobic, misogynist, rich white boys that they are.  You see, most Americans can read and hear and we can read and hear the words coming from Romney’s mouth, even after he tries to take them back — time after time after time after time…

Hero of the Week Award: June 22, Naka Nathaniel (and friends)

Hero of the Week

The Boy Scouts of America got a bit of attention at their annual meeting last month, leading to more bad press for their ridiculous anti-gay policies. This week, journalist Naka Nathaniel, an Eagle Scout, renounced his rank and repudiated the Scouts in an interview with MSNBC. His powerful words say it all.

When I earned my Eagle Scout rank 20 years ago, I was proud of my accomplishment. When my little brother earned his Eagle 13 years later, I traveled halfway round the world to attend his court of honor. I was proud of him and my family. My parents had raised two Eagle Scouts. Today, I’m ashamed to be an Eagle Scout.

I don’t want my son to participate in Scouting…The antigay policies of the Boy Scouts of America have forced me to turn my back on an organization that, along with my parents, I credit for helping me be a good son, a good husband, a good employee, and a good citizen.

Well put! For those who missed it, the wonderful Zach Wahls, an Eagle Scout with two lesbian mothers, delivered over 275,000 signatures demanding a change in policy to the Scouts’ annual meeting. Another former scout, actor and activist George Takei, is hosting Jennifer Tyrrell, the Ohio lesbian who was banned from her son’s scout troop, at NYC Pride. Let’s hope more scouts will follow the charge for bravery in Scout Law and take action to pressure this organization to live up to some of its other standards, like kindness, courtesy, and helpfulness.

Honorable mention this week goes to General Mills. The Minneapolis-based food giant has “joined the culture war” and made a strong stand for equality. Earlier this month, a General Mills executive testified before Congress about the need for inclusive non-discrimination legislation. This week they company issued a strong statement opposing the Minnesota ballot initiative that would ban same-sex marriages. Hooray — now eating Cheerios and Häagen-Dazs is a stand for civil rights!