Thoughts, musings, and observations about race in America, particularly the mixing of race--in all the ways you can imagine: people of various races interacting, people of various races not wanting to mix, issues of purity, hybridity, multiplicity, heterogeneity, and any other way you can describe the blending, melding, melting, tossing, turning, churning of race relations in the United States.
So there are two things that I want to promote today because I'm a fan of both for different reasons. The first: Moth podcasts. If you don't know what they are (if you aren't a regular This American Life listerner) let me explain. There is a venue in NYC called "The Moth" where average folks (and some not-so-average-more-well-known-celebrity-type people) get up on stage and tell unscripted stories about their lives--little life vignettes if you will.
I started to subscribe to The Moth podcast about a month ago--and my most recent download featured another promotion I want to make: Dan Choi.
If the name rings a bell, it may because you remember seeing a former post here and here. To recap, Dan Choi, a former lieutenant in the Army, a West Point Grad, and a gay man, has been dishonorably discharged for being in violation of "Don't ask, don't tell" (he's proud and out) and has been fighting this policy and fighting to be reinstated in the military. He helped to found an organization called Knights Out, which is an organization of West Point alumni, faculty, and staff who support the queer military community.
And as I mentioned above, he was featured on The Moth talking about his experiences being in Iraq, serving, in the military, and falling in love for the first time with someone he tells his colleagues is named "Martha" but whose real name is "Matthew."
Two great things that go great together: The Moth and Dan Choi. If you've got 15 minutes, head over to The Moth website (it's also on the Knights Out website) and take a listen for yourself.
A Letter from Dan Choi distributed by The Courage Campaign, sent to my email inbox two days ago:
Dear Jennifer,
In March, I went on Rachel Maddow's show and spoke three truthful words: "I am gay."
As an infantry officer, an Iraq combat veteran and a West Point graduate with a degree in Arabic, I refuse to lie to my commanders. I refuse to lie to my peers. I refuse to lie to my subordinates.
As a result, the Army sent a letter discharging me on April 23. The letter is a slap in the face. It is a slap in the face to me and it is a slap in the face to the soldiers who I have commanded and served with over the last decade.
I have served for a decade under "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" -- an immoral policy that forces American soldiers to lie about their sexual orientation. Worse, it forces others to tolerate deception. As I learned at West Point, deception and lies poison a unit and cripple a fighting force.
That's why the Courage Campaign and CREDO Mobile are getting behind me today. And I'm getting behind them along with Knights Out -- an organization I founded to bring attention to the ways "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" undermines our national security.
I need your support. Please ask President Obama not to fire me. Click here to watch my recent interview on Rachel Maddow's show and sign the Courage Campaign's petition asking the President to end the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy:
In the ten years since I first raised my right hand at the United States Military Academy at West Point and committed to fighting for my country, I have learned many lessons. Courage, integrity, honesty and selfless service are some of the most important.
That's why my discharge from the Army is so painful. I am not accustomed to begging, but I am begging President Obama today: Do not fire me.
My subordinates know I'm gay. They don't care. They are professionals. My soldiers are more than a unit or a fighting force -- we are a family and we support each other.
Will you support me as well? Please ask President Obama to keep his promise and tell Congress to repeal the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law and support equality in the military. Click here to watch the Rachel Maddow interview and sign this petition to the President ASAP:
Hello! Welcome to "Mixed Race America." A few rules now that this blog is once again "public" (meaning, you no longer need to sign-in to read this blog):
1) Please leave a comment! I really am interested in hearing what others have to say. You cannot leave anonymous comments (which means you do have to have a gmail account), and you must comply with rule #2, but aside from these things, I really want to hear from YOU.
2) Please be respectful in your comments. I reserve the right to moderate all comments, which means deleting comments I believe are disrespectful, rude, or which generally devolve into ad-hominem attacks. I don't mean that people should not engage with what I'm writing (or others have written) and I'm not looking to "preach to the choir." But I also believe that the best way to be heard is through respectful discourse--at best, we can just agree to disagree.
3) Please feel free to share this blog link with others, but please do not reprint sections of this blog or its comments without explicit permission of the author of this blog. If you would like permission to print segments of this blog into your own blog or another media outlet, you will need to write to me to gain permission to do so.
A 40-something professor of contemporary American literature and Asian American literature interested in issues of social justice and specifically how to create spaces to talk comfortably (and sometimes uncomfortably) about race.
