How to Have a "Successful" Evening

THE RIGHT ANGLE: How to have a "successful" evening - Opinions

Last Tuesday, President Bush delivered his sixth State of the Union Address to the entire nation, during which he addressed many pertinent issues facing America over the next year or so. It's one of the few speeches the President gives that won't put you to sleep in less than five minutes, mostly thanks to the fact that the networks like to show the reactions of the audience members during the address. I swear I saw Ted Kennedy trying to hide his flask as the cameras panned around.

The State of the Union Address is not typically a feel-good bi-partisan love fest. The division between liberals and conservatives in the government was made quite visible every time President Bush paused for a breath (or dramatic effect) and the Republicans leapt to their feet with applause. At this time, the camera would usually pan to well-known Senator Hillary Clinton who, regardless of her recent self-claimed conversion to "Moderate-ism", seemed to have a constant sneer on her face throughout the entire hour. It seems my mother was right; your face really CAN freeze like that.

After the Address, the Democratic Party sent out Virginia Governor Tim Kaine to respond to the President's speech. Those Democrats never cease to amaze me. Time and time again, they continue to find and endorse those few politicians that make George W. Bush look good. Al Gore, Howard Dean, John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, and now Tim Kaine? Somehow, I don't think the Republican Party has a lot to worry about in 2008. Maybe it was that "The Rock" eyebrow thing, but I honestly thought I was watching a Saturday Night Live skit throughout Kaine's entire response.

Meanwhile, around the nation, thousands of protestors were banging drums, tambourines, and various kitchen utensils in an effort to "drown out Bush's lies." The infamous anti-Bush group "World Can't Wait" (tagline: Drive Out the Bush Regime) staged several marches and demonstrations all around the country during the State of the Union Address. Greensboro was lucky enough to have one of these marches in our very own downtown area. The group, about 300 strong (mostly teenyboppers who were VERY angry that American Idol wasn't going to be on) caused what the News and Record referred to as a "deafening sound." While I do hope they were being a bit hyperbolic about the noise level, if anyone really did lose their hearing as a result of this march, please let me know. I want a piece of that lawsuit.

What was supposed to be a peaceful protest ended up resulting in the arrests of at least seven local young adults. The problem? Apparently, a plainclothes officer was taking pictures of the license plates of protestors. Several of the protestors demanded to know what the man was doing, and whether or not he was a cop. Of course, it escalated from there, with a debate still raging over who hit whom first. The police officer was assaulted, kids were maced, and everyone is pointing fingers. The fact that interested me the most was that at least two of the suspects were found to be carrying concealed weapons. Concealed weapons at a peaceful protest? What's the reasoning there? And aren't these supposed to be the people who are against violence?

I have so much fun scanning blogs in the days after events like this occur. You can find accounts from protest attendees talking about how "those pigs broke up our peaceful protest!" Nevermind that the police officer was the one who was assaulted, and that the police had actually been very reasonable about the whole event. Interestingly enough, when the protestors began their march down Elm Street, they were already in violation of state law, which requires a parade permit for such events. Rather than try to stop the march, police blocked and redirected traffic for them. If the police had wanted to simply end the march, they could have; they wouldn't have needed to start a fistfight, as the protestors are claiming.

The WCW website claims, "The evening concluded by 11:00 pm, and was hugely successful and peaceful as well as noisy. We succeeded in drowning out Bush's lies." I would think that in order for any event to be considered "successful", some good would have had to come from it. Did the WCW march succeed in making Bush resign? Not that I'm aware of. As far as I can tell, 300 people wasted their Tuesday night banging on their pots and pans. Could they really find nothing functional to do, or have the standards of "successful" just changed that drastically?

Refuting Accusations of Racism

THE RIGHT ANGLE: Refuting accusations of racism - Opinions

I have come to realize that my last column has generated a great deal of controversy, and I would like to take this time, if I may, to explain myself in greater detail.

I have been approached by several students in the last week saying that they found the views expressed in my previous column to be racist. I would like to apologize to anyone who took them in that way. My column was not intended to be racist, and had I known it would be taken that way, I would not have written it. My overall objective was to express my disapproval with Angela Davis as the school's choice for a MLK Day speaker. It was my opinion that a more fitting speaker could have been chosen, and I stand by that opinion.

I have received a lot of emails asking me what I meant specifically when I used the word "sheep" in my last column. A lot of students took that to mean that I was referring to the entire audience, which was predominantly African-American. I was actually referring to the many people who seemed to be deeply engrossed in the socialist propaganda that had been handed out at the entrance to the event. I apologize profusely to anyone who thought I was making a racist comment with that statement. I tend to use the word "sheep" to represent anyone who adheres to the socialist ideals, whether they be white, black, or purple with yellow polka dots, and I saw audience members of ALL backgrounds reading the newsletter.

Some people have also accused me of saying that racism is not a problem in America today. On the contrary, I realize that racism IS a problem in America, but I feel that Angela Davis used that racism to promote socialism. The race issue is a touchy one, and I don't know for sure if it will ever be solved, but I do not think that socialism would eradicate racism, as I think Davis tried to imply.

The reason I felt the need to write out this apology is because I know I would not want to feel that my race or gender had been targeted by a student columnist. As a woman, I myself am from a historically disadvantaged group, and if a male columnist had made statements that I found to be sexist, I'm sure I would be angry as well as hurt. I never wanted to put anyone through that, and I'm very sorry if I did.

An Evening With Angela Davis

THE RIGHT ANGLE: An evening with Angela Davis - Opinions

In last week's column, I suggested that Angela Davis might not be the best choice for a Martin Luther King Day speaker. While many people agreed with me, there were also those who tried to tell me that a person did not have to necessarily emulate Dr. King in order to speak in honor of him. I decided to give them all the benefit of the doubt and attended the event.

I arrived at Aycock Auditorium early Tuesday evening with about eight friends of mine. We were greeted at the door not by ushers, but by socialists handing out anti-Bush fliers, signaling what kind of event this would prove to be. Although we thought we were early, the auditorium was already packed, and we were forced to find seating in the balcony. As we settled into a row that could accommodate all of us, I looked around to get a glimpse of my fellow audience members. I found myself completely surrounded by hundreds of people who seemed to be deeply engrossed in reading the socialists' "Impeach Bush" flier. That's about the time I realized I would be spending the next two hours with a couple thousand sheep.

Angela Davis opened her speech with some thoughts on Dr. King: some background on his work, the hardships he faced in his career, some of his beliefs, and so on. I was shocked, yet relieved, to hear her actually speak on what she was supposed to be speaking on. Of course, it didn't last. Within a matter of minutes, Davis had not-so-subtly changed the entire mood of her speech from "Let's Honor Dr. King" to "Let's Impeach Bush NOW."

For the remainder of her time on stage, Angela Davis preached a message of hate to her audience. She spent a good deal of time making jokes about famous black conservatives such as Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, and Clarence Thomas. Apparently, according to her logic (and judging by the supportive applause from a good majority of the audience), African-Americans who become successful are no longer considered to be "really" black. Or maybe that only applies to conservative African-Americans. Davis never really specified, nor gave any reason for the apparent race change that occurs somewhere along the way.

And then of course there was the obligatory blaming of George W. Bush for Hurricane Katrina. Davis' conclusion on the issue? Kanye was right: George Bush does indeed hate poor black people. In fact, he spends so much time hating them, that I can't believe he has time for anything else. The way Davis painted President Bush, he apparently spends his every waking moment playing golf and dreaming up new ways to get rid of all black Americans.

Around this time in her rant, several audience members left the auditorium, including three of the people I was sitting with (who later told me they had better things to do with their time). Among the students leaving in disgust was a fellow College Republican who had actually been looking forward to hearing Davis speak. This student's uncle was one of the twelve miners that recently died in the Sago mine disaster only a few weeks ago, and she understandably had a serious issue with Davis blaming the Katrina debacle on racism. As she stood up to leave, she whispered to me, "Those people were left in that mine for hours while everyone just sat around wondering what to do. People called them rednecks and 'backwoods faggots,' but [Davis] doesn't want to mention that."

And she made a good point. Angela Davis seemed to be pushing the message that racism is the root of all evil in this country, but at least her tunnel vision was apparent to a few of us. If you're going to point to the African-Americans who have been hurt by an inefficient system, why not at least mention the whites who have suffered as well? Maybe racism isn't the problem in the Katrina disaster - maybe the problem is that humans make mistakes, and people suffer as a result, regardless of ethnic background.

Angela Davis ended her speech, not with some deep thoughts on how to bring about change in racist America, but by screaming, "Let's impeach Bush now!" After the cheering died down, Davis took questions from the audience. The very first came from a student who expressed disappointment over the fact that Davis had spent two hours telling us all what to be angry about, but not what to do about it. He asked her, "What can I do?" Davis' cowardly reply was that it was not her place to tell him what to do. Rather, she told the student, "You should be telling me what I can do."

This cop out of an answer shows the real problem in America. Everywhere, people are willing and ready to complain about the state of things, but no one is really interested in doing anything to bring about change. People like Angela Davis spend their lives telling people about how wrong and evil everything is, and yet they expect someone else to fix it for them. Davis needs to realize that nothing will ever get accomplished if everyone stands around blaming everyone else for their problems - just like I was forced to realize that I'll never get those wasted two hours of my life back.