Anderson@Large

DIY Voter Protection 2.0

Election Day is seven days away, but the specter of another “Florida” looms. There are unreliable voting machines, inaccurate voter databases, rejected military ballots, confusing ballot design and unlawful voter purges.

Florida is in the running to be the next “Florida,” along with Georgia, Indiana, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

And Ohio. President Bush has asked the Department of Justice to investigate the status of 200,000 newly registered voters whose names were flagged as mismatches in a state database. If challenged at the polls, they will be given a provisional ballot.

In the 2006 election, as many as 20 percent of provisional ballots were not counted in some states.

Americans should be outraged that $3 billion later, states still are not ready. The 2002 Help America Vote Act was intended to help voters and restore confidence in the electoral process. Instead, vendors have helped themselves to taxpayers’ money.

Clearly, electoral reform must be on the policy agenda for the new Congress. But first we have to get through next Tuesday.

Already, the phones are ringing off the hook at the voter assistance hotlines. As reports of voting irregularities continue to come in, folks are getting jittery.

But some are twittering to protect the vote.

Beka Economopoulos, one of the organizers of the Twitter Voter Report, wrote:

Volunteers across the country are moving quickly to build a decentralized election monitoring system that will allow voters to use text messages to report incidents of voter suppression, long lines, broken machines, and other disruptions on Election Day. The Twitter Vote Report site will aggregate the reporting data, represent it in real-time on a dynamic web map, and notify voters, election monitoring groups, and the media, facilitating rapid response by poll workers and activists.

I asked Volunteer Coordinator Matt Cooperrider how folks can get involved:

If they just come to the page, they can help. There are lots of aspects. So no matter their experience, they can get involved. No technical knowledge is required.

For more info, go here.

Imus Is Back At It

What's that about old dogs and new tricks? Don Imus invoked a hoary proxy for race to stereotype a black athlete, Dallas Cowboys cornerback Adam Jones (h/t Dr. Boyce Watkins).

Here’s the transcript of the exchange between Imus and Warner Wolf (h/t AOL Sports)

Wolf: "Defensive back Adam 'Pacman' Jones, recently signed by the Cowboys. Here's a guy suspended all of 2007 following a shooting in a Vegas night club."

Imus: "Well, stuff happens. You're in a night club, for God's sake. What do you think's gonna happen in a night club? People are drinking and doing drugs, there are women there, and people have guns. So, there, go ahead."

Wolf: "He's also been arrested six times since being drafted by Tennessee in 2005."

Imus: "What color is he?"

Wolf: "He's African-American."

Imus: "Well, there you go. Now we know."

Imus says his racially charged words were misunderstood. Sure they were.

Meanwhile, Jones says he "will pray for him."

Clinton's Wright Stuff

It's impolitic to talk about religion at the water cooler. But that was before the Rev. Jeremiah Wright appeared in an endless loop on Americans’ TV screens and computer monitors.

After sidestepping questions about the Wright controversy, Hillary Clinton waded into the racial water during a meeting with the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review:

He would not have been my pastor. You don't choose your family, but you choose what church you want to attend.

Clinton noted her denunciation of Don Imus’ racially offensive comments about the Rutgers women’s basketball team:

You know, I spoke out against Don Imus, saying that hate speech was unacceptable in any setting, and I believe that. I just think you have to speak out against that. You certainly have to do that, if not explicitly, then implicitly by getting up and moving.

The Obama camp fired back. In a statement, campaign spokesman Bill Burton said:

After originally refusing to play politics with this issue, it’s disappointing to see Hillary Clinton’s campaign sink to this low in a transparent effort to distract attention away from the story she made up about dodging sniper fire in Bosnia. The truth is, Barack Obama has already spoken out against his pastor’s offensive comments and addressed the issue of race in America with a deeply personal and uncommonly honest speech. The American people deserve better than tired political games that do nothing to solve the larger challenges facing this country.

Yes, Barack Obama's “uncommonly honest speech” was largely well-received. But that’s not the end of the story. Some think he didn’t go far enough. As former New York City mayor Ed Koch writes:

What is it that I and others expected Obama to do? A great leader with conscience and courage would have stood up and faced down anyone who engages in such conduct. I expect a President of the United States to have the strength of character to denounce and disown enemies of America - foreign and domestic -- and yes, even his friends and confidants when they get seriously out of line.

What if a minister in a church attended primarily by white congregants or a rabbi in a synagogue attended primarily by Jews made comparable statements that were hostile to African-Americans? I have no doubt that the congregants would have immediately stood up and openly denounced the offending cleric. Others would have criticized that cleric in private. Some would surely have ended their relationships with their congregation. Obama didn't do any of these things. His recent condemnations of Wright's hate-filled speech are, in my opinion, a case of too little, too late.

Like it or not, Wright will remain a drag on Obama’s candidacy.

Imus Can't Help It

More than 50 years ago, Little Richard had a hit with "The Girl Can’t Help It." Don Imus’ sexism and racism are likewise straight out of the 1950s. But unlike the girl "who was born to please," Imus seemingly was born to pis diss women and blacks.

Fortunately, Media Matters monitors "Imus in the Morning." So, I don’t have to start my day with morning sickness. On a recent show Imus sank to a new low:

On the February 13 edition of Imus in the Morning, during a segment referred to as the second episode of "Imus in the Morning Radio Theater on the Air," regular guest, comedian, and impersonator Rob Bartlett played the character of "former president Billy Clayton" and left a message for "Kelsey Clayton," his daughter. During the message, Billy Clayton referred to "this pineapple-eatin' [Borat] Ohana" and asked Kelsey Clayton to "campaign for" her mother -- Hailey Clayton, a "New York Senator" and "onetime front-runner for the Democratic nomination" -- and "have sex with" delegates.

In character as "Billy Clayton," Bartlett said:

Hello, Puddin' Pop? It's Daddy. Listen, Love Bug, Mommy and me need you to do us a favor. If she's ever gonna beat this pineapple-eatin' Ohana, we need you to campaign for her, help her get some delegates. Now, I want you to understand that we don't want to exploit you. We don't want you buying them drinks or taking them to dinner or getting them gifts. We just want you to have sex with them.

When Imus returned to the air, he promised "no one else will say anything on my program to make anyone think I didn't deserve a second chance."

You can't teach an old dog new tricks so I had my doubts that Imus would seize the "opportunity to have a better program." He hasn’t.

Imus also promised to:

Never say anything in my lifetime that will make the young women at Rutgers regret that they accepted my apology or forgave me.

The Scarlet Knights must be red face that another accomplished young woman, Chelsea Clinton, is the target of Imus’ demeaning sexist "comedy."

Imus Watch

Normally, I look forward to the start of a new week. But I have the unenviable task of listening to Don Imus’ debut show. My assignment: take note of Imus’ guests, sponsors and lessons learned.

T-Bone Walker could have had Imus in mind when he wrote “Call It Stormy Monday.” With Imus back on the air, it’s a stormy Monday and Tuesday will be just as bad. Wednesday will be worse and Thursday oh so sad.

While the eagle flies on Friday, Imus' guests and advertisers won’t fly with women concerned about the coarsening of the public’s airwaves. His guests this morning include Senators John McCain and Chris Dodd, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, and James Carville and Mary Matalin (two faces made for radio).

Carol Jenkins, president of the Women’s Media Center, recently wrote:

During his absence, the radio industry has done nothing to cure one of the ailing roots of its Imus problem: the severe imbalance of women and men who work in radio. In 2007 it is still, shockingly, a man’s medium: at least 85 percent of radio managers and programmers are white men, as are the voices we hear over our publicly owned airwaves. Women and minorities own somewhere in the 3% range of radio stations. In a medium that seems to care little about its women listeners, it is no wonder that hosts find themselves crossing the line into sexism, or, in the Imus case, sexism and racism.

The Women’s Coalition for Dignity and Diversity in Media cares (disclosure: I’m a member). And we’re watching. We will blow the whistle on anyone who, in the name of "redemption" or “second chance,” shows up.

Say No to Imus in the Morning

Just when you thought it was safe to turn on the radio, Don Imus reportedly is poised to return to the airwaves.

Imus' presumed future boss, Citadel Broadcasting Chief Executive Farid Suleman, told the New York Times:

He did something wrong. He didn't break the law. He's more than paid the price for what he did. I think he should be evaluated by what he does going forward.

While Suleman may think Imus has been punished enough, the National Association of Black Journalists, which spearheaded the effort to pull the plug on Imus, is not ready to forgive and forget.

NABJ President Barbara Ciara said in a statement:

NABJ remains outraged after the racially inflammatory insults made by Don Imus last spring. He used his free speech to broadcast hate speech. To put him back on the air now makes light of his serious and offensive racial remarks that are still ringing in the ears of people all over this country.

It is our hope that Citadel Broadcasting will put decency and good broadcast practices ahead of a dysfunctional alliance.

As they say in Philadelphia, it's time to "form up."

From 'Foxy Brown' to Foxy Brown

A generation ago, black folks cheered Pam Grier, who as "Foxy Brown," used her sexuality to rid the community of pimps, drug pushers and other unsavory characters.

Today, rapper Foxy Brown is keeping it real in jail. Black women's sexuality has been reduced to a body part, a shaking booty, in the service of pimps and thugs.

Misogyny and racial stereotypes are the price we pay for  freedom of expression, according to Universal Music Group President and CEO Doug Morris.

In his testimony before the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection hearing, "From Imus to Industry: The Business of Stereotypes and Degrading Images," Morris said:

We pay a price for the First Amendment. The price includes allowing highly charged words and images in our music even if they sometimes offend and cause pain. But consider the alternative. We pay a price but it’s insignificant compared to the ability to speak our minds.

While the price of racial stereotypes may be "insignificant" to Morris, it's too high for black women – and black men. Indeed, if Sam & Dave were making records today, they would likely say when something is wrong with black women, something is wrong with black men, black children -- the black community.

Bill O'Reilly's racially insensitive comments show the impact of the corporate construct of black culture. Why would O’Reilly expect to find "craziness" at world renowned Sylvia's? Two words: gangsta rap.

University of Illinois-Chicago Prof. Andrew Rojecki is co-author of "The Black Male in the White Mind: Media and Race in America." In his appearance before the subcommittee, Dr. Rojecki testified:

In our own research on the black image in the white mind, whites we interviewed spontaneously referred to media images of sexuality and violence that supported their negative views. These images substituted for the absence of sustained contact between whites and blacks, inevitable in a society that remains segregated by race.

To view the archived webcast of the hearing or read the witnesses’ prepared testimony, click here.