Prop 8: Apportioning Blame & Fighting Back

Are you getting sick of hearing that African-American and Latino voters in California are responsible for the horrid result in Californian bigots’ successful bid to take rights away from citizens?

http://www.laprogressive.com/2008/11/09/prop-8-apportioning-blame-fighting-back/

this been done intentionally???

But as much as I hate fighting, it bothers me even more that 70% of African-Americans voted yes on Prop 8. I am black. I have not asked my family members how they voted because I don't want to hear their answers. They belong to the ranks of the "low information" voters - easily swayed by inaccurate sound bites because they'r not informed enough about the issues to be able to discern truth from fiction. It just makes me ill.

... in 1998.

Even tho it passed.. it does NOT excuse the 25% OF THEIR STUPID VOTE!

and to 'tire so quickly' of calling Stupid Stupid.... is sad.

The exit polls clearly showed that African-Americans and Latinos consider Barack Obama to be a great political leader, hopefully he will start a national dialogue on this subject, that will lead them away from the narrow-minded religious dictates that have formed the thought patterns of many who voted for this abomination.

it started when the first african fought a slave catcher. when those 1st africans jumped ship rather than be a slave. the 1st slave uprising ala nat turner. the 1st slave that took arms during the civil war. the 1st slave freed by folks like harriet tubman and those that helped her all along the underground railroad. legislation may have changed law but it didn't change the situation. blacks as well as others helped get us to where we are today. we are not done and still have a long way to go. all along the way we built coalitions, utilized legal remedies. this has been an over 200 year struggle of blood, sweat, tears and death . if we allowed every set back to break us down, we wouldn't have gotten this far.
if your rights are worth it then you will fight-you will march, you will build coalitions instead of demonizing an entire people. you will find out why your message isn't resonating with black people-through surveys and polling and change your message. if your rights are worth having then you will fight if it takes 200 years and never give up. you will continue the struggle instead of pointing fingers-you will change tactics, regroup and hit this from another angle. nothing should stand between you and your rights.
we aren't going to be your n words and you will lose your lgbt minorities in this. how dare you racists think anyone should stand beside you. when the second things don't go your way you wanna holler the n word. i am a black christian and i didn't vote against your prop-everyone isn't against you. but, i know how you really feel about me.
the battle isn't always on the field, sometimes it is for the hearts and minds.

It's about holding our heads up together and not letting the haters get us down.

They want the same thing from whoever their target is: our dignity. One thing I learned a long time ago: nobody can take your dignity from you. They can goad you or attempt to shame you or anger you into throwing it away. But it isn't theirs until you let go of it.

Now, they've goaded us all again. I'll be damned if I'm going to give up my friendships over to suspicion or to point fingers at people who have time and time over offered their friendship and support. There are some mighty ignorant people out there and ignorance doesn't come in any particular shape or color. In my 51 years, I haven't seen any particular group to come home with the grand prize for it yet.

We Progressives just have to face the fact that even though we've come a long way, there's a long, long, long way yet to go. I want my equal rights as badly as the next one, but I'd rather do it by finding my allies and encouraging them rather than spending my time and energy bitching and assessing blame. There are SO many people on DU, from Skinner down who have offered hugs and encouragement to keep fighting.

So like psychmommy said, let's keep fighting. The instant we stop to bitch or even rest, they'll keep moving and taking our ground.

:grouphug:

orientation a matter of federal policy. I read some of the comments on the NYT site that were critical of Obama for not pushing harder on Prop. 8, but this sounds a lot like bashing in hindsight. The result in November was uncertain, and the real villains here-- the Republicans who love to divide and, frankly, the Mormon Church, which was at the forefront supporting Prop. 8-- would have vilified Obama had he been too vocal.

What matters now is that Obama is in power, and he's using that power to guarantee the spread of civil rights as he's always believed-- including for gays and transsexuals. As the NYT editorial itself said, these changes don't happen overnight. But Obama is already moving on it.