Then later on in class we watched a video called "American Blackout." It basically talked about the 2000 and 2004 elections. Like how Bush cheated and how a Georgia congress woman by the name of Cynthia McKinney tried to tell America the truth. Then she talked about how Bush knew about the 9/11 attacks before they even happen. The media started changing her words and made it seem like she was a bad and that she didn't know what she was talking about. Shortly after when it was time for her to run for office again the republican party planted an African-American woman to run against her so they could get all the African-Americans to vote for them. She lost that election because she was manipulated and also the voters were too manipulated.
The video is so surprising and interesting I recommend that you watch it.
-Tiffany Carter
P.S. I did try to upload a picture of todays speaker but it did not work.
1 comment:
Tiffany,
I’m going to try to remain mellow for this set of comments—we’ll see how it works. I’m sure that I will write some comments that, because they conflict with what was being taught in class, will be considered seditious. They’re no meant to be. I will repeat here what I’ve been saying for years that students need to examine what they’re being taught—especially in a class like this one—so they might learn about alternative viewpoints.
The race riots of the mid 60’s were the result of a lot of different factors and to suggest that Stokely Carmichael was the root cause of them would be wrong. Where a lot of people might think he had something to do with the problems at the time were the three words that he was most famous for: “Burn, baby, burn!”. Certainly coining the phrase “Black Power” scared the bejeesus out of a lot of White’s in the US. And when he told interviewer Gordon Parks that Blacks could not live with Whites, it helped inflame relations. Stokely Carmichael was highly controversial at the time and just his appearance on the nightly TV news shows inflamed people. Such were the times.
Cynthia McKinney had a lot of other problems that helped lose her her Congressional seat (twice). Of course she was targeted for defeat by the Republicans but so were most Democrats during that period. The first time, the Republicans used the system to have her defeated by having Republicans vote for her Democratic opponent in the primary election.
Some of her public statements and then when she assaulted a Capitol police officer created a public persona for her that was not what you would expect an elected official to be like and helped cost her a subsequent re-election bid. She also had trouble with her comments and votes against Israel and Jews—both subjects that can inflame some sectors of the voting public. Even her appearance, for a while, worked against her. A strikingly attractive woman, she had changed her hair style and came across in a negative light when on TV.
She is a smart woman and represented most of her constituents but she fell out of favor even within her own party.
Post a Comment