Caption Me

 

Did someone say something about mermaids of color? 

I've long been a fan.

J.J. Wolf Denies ‘White Power’ Signal. (Great.) So What Was He Doing?

Well this sure is unsettling. Cincinnati native and KIT212 favorite J.J. Wolf -- who should be high on life having reached the third round of his first Grand Slam event -- has found himself in hot water after the club where he trains posted a photo of the 21-year-old giving what some perceived to be a "white power" signal following his first match at the U.S. Open. (Kass Tennis Academy has since deleted the post.) Before I was able to figure out what exactly transpired, I had read various accounts -- including that Wolf had spelled out with his hands the Cincy 513 area code while celebrating a victory -- and my first thought (hope?) was that people had gotten it wrong. 

But then I saw the photo. That's a very specific way to pose, one that has gained currency during this administration. For people who think liberals are "going out of their way" to see something that isn't there, my only response is why would I possibly want to come down on an American player I have been cheering on for the past year who was having a good run at the U.S. Open? (There is no reason.) 

From HERE.

From HERE.

People can try to explain the hand signal away all they want ("it started as a hoax"), but as Vanessa Swales reported in The New York Times, the bottom line is this: Neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klansmen and other white nationalists are now using it in public to signal their presence and to spot potential sympathizers and recruits. A number of high-profile figures on the far right have helped spread the gesture’s racist connotation by flashing it conspicuously in public, including Milo Yiannopolous, an outspoken former Breitbart editor, and Richard B. Spencer, one of the promoters of the white power rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017 that resulted in the death of a 32-year-old woman. And the gesture has also become an extremist meme, according to the Anti-Defamation League. 

On Instagram, Wolf addressed the issue head-on, but his denial only left me with more questions.

I learned that I was accused of making a racial hand gesture after winning my first grand slam match ever at thee US Open. I have never made a racial hand gesture in my life and I never will. I don't hve a racist bone in my body. I am not sure why someone accused me of this, but I would like to get back to focusing on my next match at the US Open tomorrow. #blm

Let's take him at his word. Great, I'm glad he says he didn't make the white power sign. And the nod to Black Lives Matter was a nice touch. (The shirt looks great!) I did a little digging around and it's sweet to see that his club did a BLM post before this happened, and that several players at KT are pictured wearing BLM shirts.

But it's what he's not addressing that's the issue: If he's not making a white power symbol, WHAT is he doing? Just give us an innocent explanation and I will update or delete this post. Instead it feels like he's gaslighting us by not even acknowledging why people might be concerned to begin with, like when certain types do the Nazi salute and then act surprised when people call them out on it. If I'm reading his post correctly, what J.J. is saying is we're all just crazy and we didn't see his fingers in that odd position. But that's not what happened -- if it wasn't objectionable, why was it deleted? -- which until he offers a clearer explanation leaves us guessing. 

One possibility is that he didn't fully understand what the signal meant. If this is the case, he should just say that -- acknowledge that it has come to his attention now and that he wants nothing to do with that ideology. But if he -- as I suspect -- started doing the hand signal to fit in with his conservative friends who want to "own the libs," might I suggest that helping white nationalists and the people who emulate them in their efforts to "distract and infuriate" people who are against racism is a really bad idea, even as a frat house joke.

Swales writes: That the gesture has migrated beyond ironic trolling culture to become a “sincere expression of white supremacy,” according to the Anti-Defamation League, could be seen in March 2019 when Brenton Tarrant, the white supremacist accused of killing 50 people in back-to-back mass shootings at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, smiled and flashed the sign to reporters at a court hearing on his case.

I've reached out to J.J. for comment and will update if I hear back. If nothing else his Instagram post indicates he's been scared straight. Ideally, though, he will have learned an actual lesson about how actions have meanings and consequences -- and that like it or not, when you're in the public eye, you will be held accountable for them.

Footnote: In December, The New York Times reported that officials at West Point and Annapolis -- our top military academies -- were reduced to investigating whether cadets and midshipmen who made the sign with their hands during television coverage of the Army-Navy football game were doing so to express racist sentiments. After a brief investigation, officials determined that the cadets were playing "the circle game," which Dictionary.com describes as "an activity where one person makes a 'circle' with their fingers and holds it below their waist, convincing a second person to look at it. If the second person looks, they receive a punch to the shoulder."

I'm anything but a conspiracy theorist. But you'll have to forgive me if I am more than a bit skeptical of the investigators' findings. One thing is for sure, however: You can't play the circle game by yourself.

UPDATE: It's been three days since I posted this and neither J.J. nor anyone from his camp has contacted me to offer an explanation. (As I said before, I will gladly delete the post if they can.) 

Instead, I was pointed to yet another photo from his Instagram account that appears to show him and a friend doing the 23 hand sign, which according to the Anti-Defamation League is "a numeric symbol for W ('White'). This itself is often shorthand for the numeric symbol 23/16, which stands for 'White Power.'"

Again, what is he saying here? It's time all straight white male tennis players -- not just Reilly Opelka and Tommy Paul -- let it be known where they stand on these issues. 

UPDATE 2: 

On Sept. 29, we had another American player flash a similar hand signal and it didn't go unnoticed, creating a big distraction from a what should have been a celebratory moment at a Grand Slam tournament. I was again unsure what to make of it, so I reached out. 

Player 2 replied: 

I just saw your message on Twitter and would like to apologize for what I did. I had no idea what that symbol represents. I really hope this is not taken the wrong way at all. Im really really sorry. It’s been a game with the coach to try and get one another to look at the hand. Whoever looks at the hand loses. It’s an inside joke. Once again I’m not at all a Alt right supporter. Im a big support of BLM. Please I really hope that it is not taken the wrong way. There was zero intention of anything Malice.

Fearing I was being gaslighted, I pushed back, asking him if he'd really not seen J.J.'s apology. 

Player 2 replied: 

I’m sorry but I really didn’t see the post. If I did and saw the hand gesture he made I would never do such a thing. The last thing I ever intended was to make any sort of racial gesture. The systemic issues going on in the states with inequality, the divide and the police corruption going on makes me sick to my stomach. The George Floyd killing, Breonna Taylor and the countless others are horrible and there needs to be a change. This was a learning moment and the last thing I ever wanted to do was the offend anyone. Once again I’m sorry for what I did.

Unlike J.J., this young man seems to acknowledge that at the very least it was tone deaf to celebrate in such a fashion given what he (now) knows. I still don't really buy that grown men are playing the "circle game" on court after an exhausting tennis match, but I'm willing to take him at his word until I have reason not to. 

Here's hoping we won't be seeing any additional players making gestures that can be construed as white power symbols. The USTA still really needs to clean house -- starting with a racial sensitivity class for all players.

Mug Shot Monday

Does anyone but a racist drive an El Camino anymore?

Living in the U.S.A.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Because you never know when Subway isn't going to have the toppings you demand.

"Did you say ham and cheese or BMT?"

Public Service Announcement

DON'T watch the daily briefings.

DO vote in November.

Now we know how he got the job. Read HERE.

Remains of the Day (10/10)

Bammer: Gay life in 1950s New York City

Sarah Jones: Nobody should be friends with George W. Bush

Useful Dynamics: Blond with hairy chest, longer hair

Curbed: Stately, 179-year-old Chelsea townhouse with "Seinfeld" ties wants $8.65 million

Socialite Life: "Flip or Flop" stars Christina Anstead and Tarek El Moussa’s real-estate seminars shut down by FTC

Instagram: Your afternoon workout with sexpot Chris Clark

MetroSource: Are you ready to be rolling on the river with the Tina Turner musical?

PinkNews: Brexit Party founder complains that it isn’t right-wing enough because of gay and trans candidates

The Film Experience: See a movie in a Broadway house!

Intelligencer: Trump and Erdogan are boosting the odds of an ISIS comeback

Baseline: Rudderless Steve Johnson reunites with USC coach Peter Smith

Greg in Hollywood: Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey sure fills out a dress shirt!

Towleroad: Do your gay friends greet you like this?

BosGuy: Fur your eyes only

WSJ Magazine: The world according to David Hockney

The Randy Report: Out swimmer removed from training group admits to drinking/breaking honor code

HuffPost: Singer Tom Goss sheds light on domestic violence among LGBTQ couples in new video

Washington Post: Clinton-email critics pull a role reversal as Trump administration draws fire for private phone use

Hot Cat of the Day: I'm a total sucker for an inter-species friendship!

Mug Shot Monday

As I said when Amber Guyger was convicted of murdering her black neighbor: If she'd been a man, she'd HAVE WALKED.

Comedian Shane Gillis Fired From 'Saturday Night Live' Over Past Racist Remarks

I'm guess I'm fine with "Saturday Night Live" axing Shane Gillis before he even started over past racist remarks that cropped up after the show announced it was hiring him. But it's probably worth noting that many other comedians would probably also not be "not ready for prime time," including Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Kevin Hart, Tracy Morgan, Ricky Gervais, Joan Rivers, Chelsea Handler, Michael Richards, Norm MacDonald, Trevor Noah, Sandra Bernhard, Amy Schumer, Lisa Lampanelli, David Cross, Bill Maher and so on.

"After talking with Shane Gillis, we have decided that he will not be joining SNL," a spokesperson on behalf of SNL creator Lorne Michaels said. "We want SNL to have a variety of voices and points of view within the show, and we hired Shane on the strength of his talent as a comedian and his impressive audition for SNL." The spokesperson added, "We were not aware of his prior remarks that have surfaced over the past few days. The language he used is offensive, hurtful and unacceptable. We are sorry that we did not see these clips earlier, and that our vetting process was not up to our standard."

The Wall Street Journal reports that Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang joined the online discussion about the “SNL”'s new hire with an offer to discuss it in person with Gillis. “I prefer comedy that makes people think and doesn’t take cheap shots. But I’m happy to sit down and talk with you if you’d like," Yang wrote on Twitter, adding that he did not think Gillis should be fired from “SNL.”

Thoughts?

Mug Shot Monday

Awfully cute, if you can get past their racist crimes.

I thought "these people" were going to die out and usher in a more egalitarian society.

And get this: It happened in New York state! 

White With Rage

Gee. I wonder why the editor in chief of Esquire has been having to defend this since it came out!

Who Needs to Think When Your Feet Just Go?

Virginia's Attorney General admits to wearing blackface in college, dressing up like rapper Kurtis Blow

I work with a bunch of incredibly smart and kind people, but right now I'm scratching my head in utter disbelief. One of our senior editors said she is "shocked" by this latest revelation out of Virginia -- that No. 3 in line to the governor's mansion now admits that he dressed as Kurtis Blow for a party in 1980.

Shocked????

I can see disgusted, angered, disappointed. But shocked?

I would say, "Have you ever been to the South?" But what I'm really thinking is, "Have you ever been outside your apartment?" And she's not even young.

I don't exactly know what I'm getting at here. But are we sure we as good liberals aren't doing ourselves a major disservice by (in my opinion) pretending that you think this stuff didn't -- and doesn't continue to -- go on?

I'm the one who's shocked ... by this almost "woke naivety" that strikes me as very insincere.

Here's a thought: Let's just admit a lot of people did it down South and elsewhere, draw lessons, and move forward -- ideally with policies that redress the wrong.

What Would Kirsten Gillibrand Do?

So how do we handle discovering that Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's 1984 medical school yearbook contains a racist picture of him? (He's apologized, of course.) It should be noted that if a Republican had done this 35 years ago they would brush it off as nothing. But since Northam is a Democrat who supports legislation that would ease restrictions on late-term abortions in his state, they're pretending to be upset about the photo -- which Dems actually are but for the right reasons.

Resigning is the obvious thing to do. But I can see an argument for either side. If he resigns, it is poetic that the lieutenant governor is an African-American man, who would succeed him.

As far as staying goes, I guess the only thing I would say is shouldn't the point of evolving or atoning for your past sins be some form of forgiveness? Should we still hate Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton for being homophobic because they didn't initially support marriage equality? Or should we be supportive of them for evolving? Michael Ertel, Florida's secretary of state, did recently resign when it was revealed he dressed as a "Katrina Victim" for Halloween 2005 -- immediately after the catastrophe that claimed more than 1,200 lives. 

But the most notable difference between the two incidents is that Ertel continues to operate in a way consistent with his past transgression, having been appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, about whom his recent gubernatorial opponent said: "The racists believe he's a racist."  Northam is a reliable Democrat who has worked to fight the GOP war on women, backed marriage equality in 2015 and has a decent record on a host of other issues. Should a lifetime of good work be erased by a horrific but non-violent act in your 20s? One other thing I should say is I don’t know a lot about the Southern experience. But the one thing I do know — and is the reason I want little to with “the South” — is that white men from there invariably have disturbing relationships when it comes to guns, Confederate memorabilia and race overall. All you have to do is look at polling data from the 2016 election -- everything is spelled out for you district by district. (Hence why New York state, for example, is blue, but if you go to certain upstate districts you see we have our own racists.) I’d love to hear that this is changing. Perhaps this can be the learning lesson we’ve been waiting for, but somehow I doubt it.

UPDATE:

Knock me over with a feather!

UPDATE 2:

It’s all a moot point now — time to resign. He now pulls a Shaggy while also admitting to usyblack shoe polish on his skin for a Michael Jackson dance contest — and Jackson isn’t even black.

More Remains of the Day (02/01)

Gr8er Days: Never-seen footage of Sal Mineo and Don Johnson onstage 50 years ago in "Fortune and Men's Eyes"

USA Today: In an about face, Elizabeth Warren apologies to Cherokee Nation 

Axios: Treasury will again borrow $1 trillion to pay for GOP tax cuts, spending

The New York Times: Once again Donald Trump shows the world he doesn't know what "fake news" means

NBC News: Fire at "pizzagate" shop reignites conspiracy theorists who find a home on Facebook

Daily Kos: No speedy trial for Roger Stone likely means no speedy end to Mueller probe

Blind Resistance?

As the furor over #Smirkgate shows no sign of letting up, thought this fantastical quote might be helpful in allowing people to ask themselves how much of what they're feeling is based on the fact that a pretty good country -- built on the backs of slaves on land stolen from Indians -- is being destroyed by a neofascist with dementia, and how much is based on what actually transpired near the Lincoln Memorial? 

Food for thought ...

If only people had been this outraged on Nov. 6, 2016, but I guess we were too busy arguing about Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

From The Washington Post. Yikes.

From someone I really respect ... I plan to take his advice moving forward.

Birthergate 2: Electric Boogaloo

Gee. What were the odds that *this* crap would start again with another black candidate? It truly will never end. (Read all about this scumbag, who also tried to smear Robert Mueller, HERE.) #MakeRacismWrongAgain

Are Some Disappointed the MAGA Boys Weren't as Bad as We Initially Thought?

I had hoped people would've stopped talking about that viral video shot near the Lincoln Memorial by now, but I guess faux outrage has a very long shelf life. I still hear people insisting things that didn't happen did. For the record, I don't "support" anyone wearing a MAGA hat -- I just don’t buy into the narrative that the kids were mocking Native American Nathan Phillips. (And even if they were, the entire thing is blown completely out of proportion when you put it into context.) By his own admission, Phillips says he assumed the MAGA boys were starting trouble with the African-American protesters -- who wouldn’t? -- and marched into the middle of their group to "diffuse" the situation where one of his associates opened by saying to them: "Why don't you go back to Europe?" (Great way to diffuse things.) Reminder: It was the Black Hebrew Israelites who were earlier calling the Native Americans "savages" (“Before you became an idol worshipper, you worshiped the true God. And that is why you had your land taken from you because you worship everything except the most high.”) when not belittling women ("Where's your husband?") and calling gay men "faggots." When Phillips never said a word to them and inexplicably started to pound a drum -- and bizarrely singled out that one kid -- the boys did what most people would do, stomp along to the beat. It was odd and extremely uncomfortable -- at one point one of the boys is heard saying "What's going on here?" -- but there’s no there there. It was a misunderstanding that no one should even know about. (Remember when social media was for catching up with old friends, not becoming enraged about things that don't affect you in the slightest?) 

That so many people I respect are hanging their hats on this as symbolic of everything wrong in America today has me terrified we are going to let the White House slip away again in 2020. Can't we just write this off as a sociological Yanni vs Laurel situation and move on, or must some of us keep patting ourselves on the backs for seeing something others do not? I suppose that would be a greater comfort when we have no rights left.



UPDATE: No shortage of pushback from my friends. Thought this exchange might be a good way to summarize/end this on a quasi positive note.

Again, I did not see it that way and already allowed for people (rightfully) attacking them for wearing the hats and noted that Phillips is the one who singled out the kid. As for the (irrelevant but since you brought it up) reason they were in Washington, I think reproductive rights are of the utmost importance. But I also understand that the First Amendment allows for others to feel differently and peacefully protest about it, however wrong I think their lobbying efforts are. Why do I feel like if someone were blasting Muslims for coming to D.C. to attend a rally on the Mall you would be the first defend their rights, even though Islam is aggressively hostile toward women, gays and others in many parts of the world? (Are you familiar with a virginity test or female circumcision?) There's no intellectual consistency there --at least I hate all religions equally!

I don't know what a Tomahawk Chant is -- I've heard something about a chop -- but if this is the smoking gun, it's a big stretch in a city that still has the Washington Redskins(!) as its NFL team with the logo emblazoned all over everything. (When people rapidly pat their hand over their mouth and say "ah, ah, ah, ah" is what I know to be racist, and I didn't see anything like that.)

As I've already said, it's time to move on. I respect that you feel the way you do and don't expect to change your mind. But none of us would even know about this if an out-of-context clip that looked really bad hadn't been widely circulated. Find it odd that now that we understand things weren't quite how they seemed, people seem disappointed that they kids weren't as bad as we thought.

To the contrary, maybe there's some hope for when they're adults soon. (See below.) And we should probably address that it's not in their control that they were born in Kentucky or that they were put in a parochial school that would want to attend such a rally. Attached are two items that give me a twinge of optimism that they can do better as adults. Take care.

From HERE.

Since When Do Liberals Embrace Truthiness?

Trust me, after “dishing it out” on a blog with an open comments section for over a decade I am more than capable of “taking it.” And I’ll be absentee-voting a straight Democratic ticket from the grave. (Finally some voter fraud from Dems the right has been fantasizing about!) But I have to say the feedback I’ve received from peers (and seen directed at others) to a number of viral news stories in recent years where I haven’t stuck to the party’s talking points does shed a fluorescent light on how the dreaded “both sides” and independent voter is born. I’m smart enough to know that unless you’re registered as an independent (for your rebel-at-heart ego) but still vote 100% Democratic, it is a too-clever-by-half recipe for 2016 happening all over again. But kindly keep it in mind that not everybody knows that -- and we need all the help we can get.

Nice to see I'm not the only one who reacted the way I did to the weekend's feeding frenzy, where I had people snap at me that it didn't matter whether the kids did in fact chant "Build the wall" (there are hours of footage including every epithet hurled by the so-called Black Hebrew Israelites yet nowhere do we hear that); who approached whom; or that they actually hadn't "crashed" a Native American rally (as widely reported). The only thing that mattered was "the vibe" they perceived (right or wrong) emanating from one boy's face. (Read Julie Irwin Zimmerman's motherly take HERE.)

To a friend who told me she hadn't even watched the video who said this:

No matter what other storyline emerges, it doesn't change the fact that the teenager is wearing a MAGA hat in support of the worst president our democracy has ever seen, while attending a march in support of forced pregnancy and the diminished status of women's rights.

I reluctantly but felt necessarily replied this:

You’re so right. But as much as I hate going there, we do have to acknowledge that they can’t help being born in Kentucky, with families that put them in a parochial school that took them to that disgusting march. (For all we know the school provided the hats.) We’re all disgusted by MAGA and what it stands for, but many of us do not think their actual behavior warrants this reaction.

I must say I sure wish my fellow liberal voters had gotten half as worked up on Nov. 8, 2016, as they pretend to be about this.