Uncivil disobedience
Not every protest is a noble one
Uncivil disobedience
It was to be expected that, given a second opportunity to give a speech on inauguration day, this president would go big. This is especially so since that second opportunity happened to fall on the day that we celebrated the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., another man of epochal significance.
Not content to spout platitudes of future unity which are long on eloquence and short on substance (or probability, given this Congress,) Barack Obama decided to reach back into the past and heap praise upon historical figures who, in his opinion, were agents for justice.
This is part of what he had to say:
We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall.
Now, I’m as much a sucker for the grand and poetic gesture as anyone, being both Italian and Irish. I think that it is important to be reminded of the struggle of our ancestors and hold them up as shining examples of all that we once were and could yet again become.
I nodded my head in agreement as I thought about the women of Seneca Falls, who raised their voices in a plea for equality and the single most important element of that condition: the right to vote.
I said a quiet prayer as I remembered those who were bloodied and battered on the road to Selma, and included a quick message for my own father who spent a summer in the hell of Mississippi registering blacks for the vote.
But I had to stop at Stonewall and say, ‘what?’
I recognize that the struggle for LGBT rights has been hard-fought, even though I disagree with some of its aims including so-called marriage equality. What struck me as discordant was the fact that while the women of Seneca Falls were peaceful and the protestors in Selma were viciously attacked by white bigots, the real victims of Stonewall were not the angry patrons of a gay bar but, rather, police officers who were attacked by broken bottles, fists and whatever else the mobs could lay their hands on.
It’s all well and good to talk about human struggle and the fact that people have been discriminated against since time immemorial. There’s definitely a place for that in an inauguration speech that takes place on Martin Luther King Day. But there’s something distasteful in placing a mob uprising at a gay bar on the same level as Seneca and Selma.
Maybe so, but only a die-hard President Obama and his policies dissident would say so. Typical of excess conservatism to ignore all the positive and point out one negative word. Why not mention all the right-wing, conservative, ethnic-hating mobs who over the years attacked and killed innocent people.— lport- Ms. Flowers, ever the ignorant bigot on all matters of the gay community, should go read the history of Stonewall, and why it ended up a violent uprising. Had she done that before posting this today, she'd have saved herself some rather bone headed embarrassment. Stonewall deserved its inclusion, along with those other civil rights struggles. It's called progress, Ms. Flowers, a concept you seem to repel at nearly every turn. Stick with sports, and you won't exhibit your ignorance so easily.— ChrisElliottWasRight
- Very predictable. Gay stuff still gives her the "ickies". Flowers, you're a dinosaur. Your views on this matter have a median age of 78. It is literally a dying demographic.— B Beal 19146
- LOL! — Lombard Street
- You show your ignorance and stupidity. Go back to Catholic school and shine your patten leather shoes.— phillytransplant
- I did some reading about those riots. Many in the LGBT community were embarassed by the intensity of the violence. This was in sharp contrast to the more peaceful civil rights marches of other groups.
Obviously, the president was making a plea for sympathy for the gay community. The Stonewall riot was not their proudest moment.
Times have indeed changed.— Gendres - While not necessarily a proud moment, it did mark the beginning of the gay rights movement as we know it. That, I believe is the significance of what the president was getting at. And yes, Flowers, your views on the matter are out dated. With respect to marriage, the floodgates have opened and there won't be any going back, so you should probably get used to it. I look forward to your post tomorrow as we commemorate the 40th anniversary of the greatest supreme court decision of our time.— scoobysnacks
- Gendres, how nice that you “read” about the Stonewall riots. But perhaps you’d do yourself better to talk to actual gay people to find out how they feel about that. I have talked to my brother, my in-laws and friends who are gay, many times about their perspectives on that (especially since the PBS American Experience documentary aired a while ago). While I think they would describe their feeling towards the violence as “regrettable”, it has turned out to be a proud moment in the birth of their long fight to have their equal rights recognized. If you understand the relentless attacks on the community leading up to the Stonewall uprising, you wouldn’t deny that it should share the same level of recognition as any other prominent civil rights events. Unless, of course, you harbor misplaced bigotry.— Independence
- The violence and blood shed in our Revolution against England also was regrettable but it resulted in our freedom and democracy. England probably would view our Revolution the way you, Chris, view Stonewall. And Gendres, would you also say our Revolution was not our proudest moment.— lport
- The police had been for no real reason habitually harassing peaceful people who suddenly stopped being peaceful. I expect they had just finally had enough so they reacted. Good for them. Sometime you have to fight back against injustice.
Yes, iport, good point.Remember the vandals and thieves who threw people's private property into Boston Harbor merely because they didn't want to pay their taxes? How was that any more justified than what happened at Stonewall?
This is nothing more than one of Ms. Flowers' typical "I don't like gays" columns.— carl and sons - carl - let's not forget that the police were enforcing what was at that time a "morals" code. We can judge anything in hindsight of course. But the police were doing their job of checking identification when the rioting started and they were subjected to extreme and violent resistance. It is not as if they were spraying pepper spray into people's eyes.
I also understand that this event was a watershed moment in the gay rights struggle. It is just that to use the term "regrettable" hardly covers the mayhem that took place.
I also see this blog as a defense of law enforcement officers rather than an anti-anything piece.— Gendres - @Iport "And Gendres, would you also say our Revolution was not our proudest moment."
Really, there is no comparison. Remember that the British soldiers in Boston met snowballs with musket balls.
Once blood was shed, all bets were off.— Gendres - Clueless, as always. Sister Christine, you really do need to get a clue.— Bartleby
- Gendres, the police were very selectively enforcing a morals code and only with establishments where gays gathered. On top of it, they forced everyone who was in those establishments to properly identify themselves, resulting in a forced "outing", and very often in being fired from their job, losing their housing, family relationships, etc. Those nightly raids also included beatings by the police for no reason at all. Please stop excusing away the cluelessness that you and the author seem to delight in wallowing in. Oh yeah, once the blood of the gays was shed, you can be sure that all bets were off. Also, groups like ACTUP were at the forefront of the 2nd wave of the battle that gays faced when the AIDS epidemic was inappropriately pinned on their community. You seem to go out of your way to defend the indefensible nonsense that Flowers posts. It really doesn't make you anything more than a Pavlovian lapdog, at this point.— Independence
- This is a very revealing quote: “But I had to stop at Stonewall and say, ‘what?’” Your ignorance and fear (the components of bigotry) have conditioned you to react hat way. It is offensive, and in this day and age, highly inappropriate. To admit it, in words that will live on forever in cyberspace, reflects your severe inability to find it in yourself to learn and comprehend the issues that have and do affect the gay community. You also have repeatedly demonstrated a bizarre lack of compassion and empathy on these matters. That makes you a failed Christian, and a lesser person.— Chalfont 18914
Email Christine M. at cflowers1961@yahoo.com Reach Christine M. at cflowers1961@yahoo.com.
