This is not the post I was planning to make. Well, okay, it isn't any of several posts I was planning to make- my anxieties about Guy Gavriel Kay's forthcoming novel (see the entry dated July 27th) are more than a little nebulous, not to mention hard to articulate about a man whose works I adore and respect, and that body image post I've yet to make? So much more emotionally-loaded than I expected it to be. I don't have the reserves (of energy, of strength, of words) to deal yet, so I'll say the following instead.

Note: This post is not meant to be directed at anyone in particular; it is the result of the massive buttload of tired I'm feeling right now. Just to put the "fine print" in boldface, right up front.

Lots of my fellow chromatic folks have already brought up this point- multiple times, even!- but it bears repeating: All this talk about race and racism? It's draining for POCs. I say this with a lot of love for the white allies who are speaking up, but please, please, keep it in mind.

- If I walk away from a discussion, it is not necessarily a marker that I have nothing constructive/of value/of validity/of relevance/at all to say. It may well be, and this depends of course on the discussion at hand, a sign that I have nothing left to say to you.

- If I do not comment on a discussion, it is not an automatic sign of agreement or approval.

- If I do not comment on a discussion, it does not necessarily mean that I have not read it. Do not assume that I don't know about it because I haven't said anything- or, if I have said something, because I haven't cited it.

-- I was going to continue, but like I said, I am tired, and I think these three points cover a decent amount of territory.

Sometimes we speak. Sometimes our silences speak for us. I wish more people would pay attention to what we are and aren't saying. I wish more people would consider our reasons for both.

--

Previously, on IBARW:
- people living in glass houses shouldn't throw stones (Beijing Olympics commentary)
- petition against Lou Dobbs

I had other plans for today's post, but considering the contents of my inbox this afternoon, I figure that forwarding this petition is as good a plan as any.

From ColorOfChange.org:

CNN's Lou Dobbs has been using his show to give life to conspiracy theories claiming President Obama wasn't born in the U.S. The question was put to rest long ago, but Dobbs is pretending that this extremist nonsense is a legitimate national conversation.

Dobbs, intentionally or not, is stoking the fires of racial fear and paranoia in the same way that the McCain/Palin campaign did when they cast Obama as "not one of us." Even after being called on it, he refuses to stop.

[...]

For more than a year, folks on the far right have been claiming that Obama is not a U.S. citizen, that he was born in Kenya, and that as a result he can't be president. The theory has been repeatedly debunked. Not only has the state of Hawaii produced a birth certificate several times, there were also birth announcements in two separate Hawaii papers when Obama was born, placing his birth in Hawaii--for most reasonable people, that would remove any doubt.

Members of Dobbs' own staff have said they're uncomfortable with his insistence on pursuing this story, but Dobbs insists on claiming there must be something to it because "Obama refuses to produce the long-form of his birth certificate." Other news outlets have refused to give the idea any credence. The head of MSNBC, Phil Griffin, had this to say about the claim: "It's racist. It's racist. Just call it for what it is."

Lou Dobbs has a history of attacking immigrants by spouting hateful rhetoric and lies. He once claimed that "the invasion of illegal aliens is threatening the health of many Americans" through "deadly imports" of diseases like leprosy and malaria. This kind of rhetoric feeds anti-immigrant hate, which has led to horrors like the beating death of Luis Ramirez in Pennsylvania and the shooting death of 9-year old Brisenia Flores in Arizona earlier this year. Dobb's role in creating this environment has led organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) to call on CNN to reign in Dobbs in the past.

Now Dobbs is going after Obama by giving voice to the same kind of xenophobic rhetoric, stoking the deep-seated fears of angry right-wing extremists who, as CNN analyst Roland Martin has said, can't accept the fact that their president is Black.

Dobbs may not like Obama. But it's a real problem for him to use his powerful position as a moderator of discussion about the news to validate a dangerous falsehood that's rooted in racism.

Several watchdog groups have demanded action on the part of CNN. The head of the Southern Poverty Law Center wrote CNN last week asking that they fire Dobbs based on his recent actions9. Media Matters and others have launched efforts to hold CNN accountable as well.

( Further information: )

If you want to join in the efforts to take Lou Dobbs off the air, please add your name to this petition!

--

Previously, on IBARW: people living in glass houses shouldn't throw stones (Beijing Olympics commentary).

It's International Blog Against Racism Week, which I forgot to mention yesterday! *facepalm*

The sad thing for me about IBARW is that, rather than feeling that I have nothing to talk about, I have entirely too many relevant things to say. Avatar: The Last Airbender; Lori Phanachone; Texas Representative Betty Brown (Republican); Justice (it is Justice now, isn't it?) Sonia Sotomayor; Professor Henry Louis Gates; the whitewashed cover of Justine Larbalestier's Liar- all of these topics spring to mind so that I sit here choking on all the words that clamor to be spoken. And then, of course, there are the things I have already said, so that I wonder if I should make the effort to write a whole new post instead of simply linking to older ones. Given my lack of energy, I might even have stayed silent today, if I hadn't had some of the following already written.

Back in April, for Asian American Awareness Month, I had a post planned out about body image and the toll that multiple standards and conflicting expectations exact from Asian-American women. Today is still not the day for me to go into that discussion in detail, but a lot of it relates to ( the rant I've been (mostly) suppressing about the western media slant on the Beijing Olympics. )