Citi Bike Dispute - Racist or Not?

While none of us have to look very far to find racism, we also have to be careful not to call every dispute between a white person and a black person racist. The latest headlines are about a white female who argued with a black male over a Citi Bike. 

He said he paid for it; she said she paid for it. 

They both argued, they both held onto the bike and refused to let go. She was 6 months pregnant, she yelled for help, she began to cry, then she let go of the bike and purchased another one. 

Now she's being called a racist Karen. What? Why? Because she's white and he's black? Now she's being threatened and placed on leave from her job. The media is knocking at her door, people are making threats, the media is interviewing her neighbors, etc, etc.

Turns out, her lawyer says she has the receipt for the bike. She says she did indeed pay for it. She also has the receipt for the 2nd bike she rented, because she couldn't use the 1st one. 

Not every disagreement in society is racist or hateful or devious or misogynist. It is simply a disagreement, a misunderstanding, a mistake.

Would this story be in the news if the teen was white? 

Probably not. 

Donna Summer

Donna Summer 1977, Source:Wikimedia Commons

 I watched a movie yesterday that had a Donna Summer song in it. It reminded me of how much I loved her when I was growing up in the 70s and 80s. 

I loved the "Queen of Disco" because she grew up in the Mission Hill section of Boston - about 20 minutes from me. She was from a working class family like mine. It made me feel like I knew her and I always thought I might run into her walking down the street. (I never did). 

She was cool and confident and beautiful. My favorite songs were Last Dance, Hot Stuff, and Bad Girls. Love to Love You Baby was cool and sexy - maybe too sexy for me at the time. 

One song that played on MTV all the time was called She Works Hard for the Money. It was about a real working woman Donna Summer met in the bathroom at a Grammy Awards party in Hollywood. Only rich, famous people attended the party and when Summer went into the bathroom, she saw a woman who was working as a washroom attendant sitting in the corner, sleeping. The woman said she was exhausted from working long hours, trying to make a living. And Summer thought this woman sure works hard for the money. She wrote that line down and made it into a song. The woman's name was Onetta Johnson and there is a line in the song attributed to her that goes "Onetta there in the corner stand, wondering where she is, and it's strange to her, some people seem to have everything." 

Donna Summer even had Onetta pose with her for a picture for the back of the album cover. If you pull up the album, "She Works Hard for the Money" you'll see a picture of Onetta Johnson and Donna Summer dressed as waitresses and smiling. 

The video on MTV for She Works Hard for the Money told the story of a single mother of two kids who scrubbed floors, waited tables, and worked in a factory to make ends meet. She'd walk home at the end of the day carrying her groceries, then she'd cook supper for her kids and go bed - dreaming about a better life, but never figuring out how to escape the rat race. 

It was a poignant video that told the story of the plight of working class people who can never get ahead.  And it was thanks to Onetta that the song even existed. That video still rings true today for the struggling working class. Sad and true. 

She died May 17, 2012 from lung cancer. She was only 63. 

She really was something. 

Donna Summer 1980, Source: Wikimedia Commons

His Name was Jordan Neely

Jordan Neely was only 30 years old. He was homeless, black, suffered from mental illness. And he was hungry. We know he was hungry because he told us he was. 

I can't believe no one on that subway had a piece of candy, a granola bar, a banana, or even a roll of Lifesavers to offer Jordan. He was hungry. Did anyone offer him food?

What they did offer was their muscle. Three men. Two white and one black. One of the men put him in a chokehold while the other two men held him down and kept him in that chokehold. They did this until he stopped moving and stopped living.

Now the media is describing Jordan as "disturbed", "homeless", "erratic", saying he "yelled" and "threw garbage at commuters".  And while I understand commuters were probably frightened by his behavior, all these descriptions point to a man who needed help. 

A civilized society would have done something - despite being afraid of Jordan's behavior - to help him.

Jordan Neely did not deserve to die such an untimely and undignified death. 

He just needed some help.  

Source:  aol news story

Another Mystery Balloon Sighting

Since last week, another mysterious balloon has been floating over the U.S. and nobody knows where it came from or what it wants. 

The U.S Military, the National Security Council, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Pacific Air Forces, the Pentagon, and three F22 fighter planes are watching it and tracking it and watching it some more. 

Reports say nothing "sensitive" is at risk and it seems to be slowly moving toward Mexico. 

I think it's either aliens from another planet or a balloon full of clickers from The Last of Us. 

I think I'd rather fight clickers than aliens. 

  Source:  NBC news