Valentine Bonnaire

That article on “Astroturfing” (part two) is coming right up but in the meantime you might want to read the most poignant thing you’ve read yet on the Civil Rights era.  Lin Farley from SavagePolitics.com weighs in with a piece that is the counterpoint to Alice Walker.

It’s called “Typical White People” 

Here is a tiny excerpt from this exceptional piece of writing:

“I ordered my “typical white person” t-shirt today. Something I never saw myself doing when I first set out on that road I walked for decades in behalf of civil rights. And my Dad, if he were still living, would find it ironic. The hours I spent confronting him over his use of the ‘n’ word made for some lively discussions around our kitchen table. This Formica oblong on chrome legs sat in a street-facing window in our apartment on Norton Avenue in Lynwood, California, the White person’s Compton. It was there I learned that Vincent Lawrence, an Irish river rat on Manhattan’s lower east side, had been taught to say ‘nigger’ along with his oatmeal. But the truly amazing thing about my Dad’s use of this word, was the way he unlearned it the day the hearse carrying the body of John F. Kennedy rolled across the nation’s TV screens. Not long after this my father stood up for civil rights at great personal sacrifice. And although I had already left home, my Dad became my personal hero…”

On the flip side, the equally poignant,  Alice Walker piece is here. 

The thing I like best about Al Gore and Hillary?  It’s a proven combo.  Add in John Edwards?

You’re not going to be astroturfed.