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LONG BEACH (gorewon2000.net) -- WebMistress of The BUSH BROTHERS BANANA REPUBLIC formally switched race yesterday, receives official welcome into America's black community today.
Subj: Re: [BBBR] Sunday's Column
Dear Miss Diva -
I am extending an Official Welcome to you on behalf of the black race!
For many African Americans true blackness lies in what resides within your heart and not necessarily upon what covers your bones.
So that you will worry less about the "passing" thing I would be happy to tell anyone who asks that you are from the side of my family that has blonde hair and blue eyes. There isn't a black person in America who doesn't have such relatives or know someone who does.
My life partner was officially welcomed several years ago and on her behalf I am forwarding a letter that she wrote to the local birdcage liner in Northern California.
Your celebratory dinner will consist of black-eyed peas and Veuve Clicquot. Bring your own spoon and (Down with) Dixie cup.
-Lynne D. Reynolds, "Genius"
PS: By the way Mom says there's a flu going around so get plenty of rest and drink lots of fluids.
RENEE'S LETTER TO THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE (letters@sfchronicle.com)
Your December 16 front page article appearing under the headline "Black Leaders Demand Answers to Florida Vote Questions" raises two important issues that I'm writing to address. First, it is not just Blacks who demand answers to Florida "vote questions." Second, it is possible that African American organizations are going to be stuck with the financial and political burden of pursuing the truth about what happened in Florida, and, by extension, the nation, during Election 2000. The Chronicle, other large city newspapers, and the national press must widen coverage of the political unrest following this year's unprecedented election or they will be complicit in attempts to obscure what increasingly looks like Republican criminality. They will also be parties to the de facto abandonment of Black organizations.
The Republicans want us to believe that, now, we Americans want and need nothing more than "healing," that, more than anything else, repairing the rift caused by this protracted, bitter election is in the nation's best interests. (It seems they've already cowed the Democrats into believing they have to join in all the healing games.) For the record, I disagree--because I don't think that accepting voter fraud and political corruption is in our nation's best interests. On the contrary, I think that exposing the fraud and corruption that made George W. "president-elect" is far more important than creating the illusion of legitimacy and stability. I am not Black. Call me crazy.
I am not trying to diminish or in any way compromise the more-than-justified outrage of Blacks in Florida (or of African Americans across the country). I want their cases covered; I want them to win their cases. However, I do want to remind The Chronicle that, despite the stern chorus of "Hush," you must also cover the fact that many other Americans demand the truth of the election for one simple but profound reason: it is the legitimacy of our democracy that is at stake.
Unless it provides full coverage of the demands for answers, the media will have to accept partial accountability for heaping onto Blacks all of the responsibility for the dissent and outrage the election fueled. Why should African American organizations alone bear that burden, which will be not just financial but intensely political, too? I can already hear the taunts of "victim!" coming from the Republican administration, rounded out with the voices of those poster-child Republicans Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, who prove, the Republicans will claim, that any cry of foul play from African Americans is an unwarranted whine.
On the chance that our nation's Black organizations rise up as the only ones with courage and conviction enough to fund law suits and pursue investigations in Florida (and Texas), I'm joining the NAACP and the Rainbow Coalition and giving these organizations as much money as I can. I urge anyone who cares about truth and democracy to do the same. Without a doubt, the large number and diverse nature of the "irregularities" in this election indicate that special investigations are warranted for all Americans, whether of African descent or not. For the same reason, I urge the Chronicle to boldly, and fairly, cover the stories of all of us for whom this election is decidedly not "over." -- Renee Deljon
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