(NAME-MCE) Pennies of Hate (Blumenfeld, Warren

Mon Sep 28 13:25:28 CDT 2009

What those neanderthals did (throwing pennies at you) was reprehensible.
(I've cleaned up my language after my first draft of a response). It galls
me that those punks felt they could do that and were not afraid of any
repercussions. What kind of society do we have when people still act this
way? And I know this is not relegated to just Iowa. Maybe fewer crosses are
being burned but the subtle and not so subtle aspects of racism still live
on. I hate the hypocrisy of institutions that flaunt their "diversity"
initiatives while still maintaining their old ways. Who do they think they
are kidding?

We have much to do yet.

On Mon, Sep 28, 2009 at 1:00 PM, <name-mce-request at nameorg.org> wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
>
>   1.  Minorities Constitute Nearly Half FY2008 Discharges under
>      ?Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell? (Anselmo Villanueva)
>   2.  Pennies of Hate (Blumenfeld, Warren [C I])
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 27 Sep 2009 18:45:38 -0700
> From: Anselmo Villanueva <anselmo.villanueva at gmail.com>
> Subject: (NAME-MCE) Minorities Constitute Nearly Half FY2008
>        Discharges under ?Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell?
> To: name-mce at nameorg.org
> Message-ID:
>        <88024d6b0909271845i2d173d3dx5ef67a85f2ed35ad at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252
>
>  *Minorities Constitute Nearly Half FY2008 Discharges under ?Don?t Ask,
> Don?t Tell?*
>
> *New Data Contradict Claims that Policy is ?Working?*
>
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
> 9/10/2009
>
> Contact:
> Alex Nicholson, Servicemembers United
> (202) 349-1126  |  anicholson at servicemembersunited.org
> Steve Vossler, Servicemembers United
> (202) 349-1125  |  svossler at servicemembersunited.org
>
> WASHINGTON, DC ? Servicemembers United, the nation?s largest organization
> of
> gay and lesbian troops and veterans and their straight allies, today
> released new data showing that racial and ethnic minorities constituted an
> unusually large percentage of discharges under the ?Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell?
> (DADT) law in Fiscal Year (FY) 2008. These new data were obtained by
> Servicemembers United directly from the Department of Defense (DOD) through
> a Freedom of Information Act request.
>
> The DOD discharge data ? which included the Army, Air Force, Marine Corps,
> and Navy ? revealed that out of 619 total DADT discharges in FY08 from
> these
> services, 279 (or just over 45%) were non-white. The Defense Equal
> Opportunity Management Institute, however, reported at the beginning of
> FY08
> that 71% of the active duty force was white. The Coast Guard, which did not
> provide a breakdown of its data, reported discharging another 21
> servicemembers under DADT in FY08, bringing the overall number of DADT
> discharges for all services in FY08 to 640.
>
> ?We have always known that the ?Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell? law has a
> disproportionate impact on women and minorities in the military,? said
> Alexander Nicholson, a former U.S. Army interrogator and the executive
> director of Servicemembers United. ?These new numbers, however, show that
> the problem is getting worse and that this policy has ultimately failed.
> Lawmakers have a responsibility to address this problem immediately, and
> the
> President should hasten the appointment of a new Undersecretary of Defense
> for Personnel and Readiness who is qualified and willing to deal with this
> issue.?
>
> Women in the military were also hit especially hard by the ?Don?t Ask,
> Don?t
> Tell? law again in FY08. While women comprise approximately 15% of the
> armed
> forces, they made up more than a third (34%) of DOD discharges under ?Don?t
> Ask, Don?t Tell? in FY08.
>
> Although a much larger and more wide-ranging collection of data related to
> prior ?Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell? discharges was requested and is known to be
> available and unclassified, the Department of Defense?s Freedom of
> Information Office has so far refused to release more than a small fraction
> of the requested information.
>
> For more on ?Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell? discharge data and statistics for FY08,
> visit www.servicemembersunited.org.
>
> ###
>
> *Servicemembers United, a non-profit and non-partisan organization, is the
> nation?s largest organization of gay and lesbian troops and veterans and
> their straight allies. Based in Washington, DC, Servicemembers United
> actively engages in education, advocacy, and lobbying on issues affecting
> the gay military, veteran, and defense community.*
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Sat, 26 Sep 2009 10:33:50 -0500
> From: "Blumenfeld, Warren [C I]" <wblumen at iastate.edu>
> Subject: (NAME-MCE) Pennies of Hate
> To: <name-mce at nameorg.org>
> Message-ID:
>        <DE1896F17579C0428957BBD81ED5830670BE6D at exchs015.ats.iastate.edu>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Pennies of Hate
>
> By Warren J. Blumenfeld
>
>
>
>            The history and symbolism of the little copper penny transcends
> its face value. Musicians write songs about "Pennies from Heaven." Shinny
> new pennies are beautiful things to behold. Rare old collectable pennies
> bring high prices and pride for their owners. The symbolic history of the
> penny also possesses a down side.
>
>            On the evening of Thursday, September 24, I was walking home
> after enjoying a wonderful meal on Main Street in Ames with my out-of-town
> friend who was passing through on his way back to New York State. As we
> walked west down Lincoln Way directly in front of the Iowa Department of
> Transportation building, a passing automobile slowed by our side and flung
> small objects at us hitting our right sides. Stunned, we looked on the
> ground and found pennies, as the cars rolled by us.
>
>            I do not believe that what occurred on Thursday evening was a
> random act, but rather, was a cowardly act of blatant anti-Semitism, for it
> is generally known on our campus and throughout the community that I am both
> Jewish and gay. As the passers by pelted pennies at us, I was transported
> back in time to my middle school years when students tossed pennies at me
> while yelling: "Go ahead Jew, pick them up, you cheap Jew." From these
> stereotypes also come the expression, "Don't Jew me down," which I often
> hear from others to this very day.
>
> A hate crime is one in which a person or group of people target others
> primarily based on their social identities - race, ethnicity, nationality,
> religion, gender, gender identity, sexual identity, socioeconomic class,
> disability, linguistic background, age, and others - for the purpose of
> bullying, harassing, humiliating, intimidating, or physically injuring.
> These are referred to as "hate" or "bias-related" crimes since they stem
> from perpetrators' prejudice toward an entire group of people, and they
> target individuals who they perceive as representing that group. By
> targeting one, they in fact target a group, and add to the collective
> consciousness of a people.
>
>            If any person has concerns with my ideas and perspectives, I am
> willing to discuss these with anyone, any time and any place. If, however,
> anyone hates me because of my social identities, then I challenge you to do
> your homework, to do your personal work in overcoming your prejudices. For
> in the final analysis, your biased conditioning compromises your integrity
> and your basic humanity, and this hurts you more than it does me.
>
> In addition, whenever anyone of us is demeaned, we are all diminished.
> Therefore, we all have a responsibility, indeed, an opportunity to eradicate
> hate crimes in all of its forms, to speak up and end the silence against the
> hate. For there is no such thing here as an "innocent bystander."
>
>
> Dr. Warren J. Blumenfeld
> Department of Curriculum & Instruction
> Iowa State University
> Ames, IA 50011-3192
> Office Phone: (515) 294-5931
> Office Fax:     (515) 294-6206
> Home Phone: (515) 232-8230
>
>
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