Well, you’re right–you certantly can’t blame someone for what they don’t know. I wonder, though: How likely is it that people really are clueless? I can’t help but think that, a lot of the time, people *do * know what’s going on, especially WRT racism in America. They might rationalize it away, or they might simply find it easier to live in denial. But they *do * know.
And at any rate, I’d think that, if something like this were to become a serious undertaking, you wouldn’t be able to keep it quiet for long. And, really, why would you (the boycotters, that is) want to? How else to achieve your aims (or try to) other than publicizing them?
Funny - you seem to be saying that women past childbearing age shouldn’t have much of an opinion on the matter. I dare say that would disqualify many of the members of NOW, if appearances are anything to go by.
And I don’t know that she wants to deny others that right - only that she regards that choice as a poor one. Perhaps she’s in a position to judge that.
Maybe you ought to critique her views rather than the process by which she arrived at them.
IOW, I don’t thik that a critical mass of people participated (actually, I’d bet dollars to doughnuts that this is the case), which is usually the case with these kinds of things.
I don’t think it is fair or right to out blacks any more than it is right to out homosexuals or cross-dressers or Scientologists or anyone else. If a person wants to remain anonymous and not publicly commit to being black, I think we should leave them alone and not make their situation public.
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I once attended an abortion debate in college, wherein the Pro-Life proponent onstage was a woman (not Dr. King, or any other King, though) who’d had FOUR abortions (all presumably with her consent). Yikes.
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You folks are missing the importance of this quote. She is directly advocating a boycott of abortion doctors. The key words are, “paying abortionists to kill our children”. What she is implying is to not go to white abortionists and only support black ones!
I agree that the treatment of the kids was out of line and excessive and that the whole situation should have been handled better from the beginning. But the celebrity status being given to them is also excessive. We’re not talking about unblemished, perfect kids with flawless records. Mychal Bell had 4 previous convictions including one for assault. I remember hearing (sorry can’t find the cite yet) that one of the other kids had a prior record.
Now, does their previous behavior minimize the miscarriage of justice here? Hell no. Should they be celebrities? Hell no. Should the citizens and business owners of Jena be penalized for the excessive zeal of a racist prosecutor? Hell no. Should the prosecutor be given the boot? Hell yes.
