2 • The Rainbow Times • TheRainbowTimesMass.com
February 6, 2020 - March 4, 2020
Buttigieg: The not-so-diverse candidate in 2020 and his inherent privilege By: Nicole Lashomb* The Rainbow Times’ Editor
“I’m not asking for your vote,” is a phrase and video (https://youtu.be/0VIGB7Zzf-4) that I cannot get out of my mind as presidential hopeful Mayor Pete Buttigieg emphatically said to a crowd of Black Lives Matter folks. They were gathered together in South Bend, Indiana, regarding a series of racial injustices that occurred in the police department, of which he was mayor. Burned into my mind is an arrogant, privileged and laissez-faire attitude regarding the legitimate concerns of the group gathered that day. When I think of the President of the United States, I don’t think of Trump, certainly, but rather President Obama and others before him that have held themselves to a higher level of integrity. When I hear another white cisgender man captured on video unconcerned about getting the black vote, as he said that day, it alarms me on more front than one. Any presidential candidate that blatantly doesn’t care about the concerns of racial and ethnic oppressed groups will not get my vote either, even if he is a member of the LGBTQ+ community. I can’t. I won’t support a candidacy that is riddled in privilege—for someone who shows no regard for other marginalized groups, groups that exist in his own LGBTQ+ community too. But, it goes deeper than that. “In January 2012, Pete Buttigieg stepped into the South Bend, Ind., mayor’s office after winning the city’s first open mayoral
“TO BE BLACK IS TO BE INVISIBLE.” WHAT MAYOR PETE EXHIBITED THAT DAY WAS BLATANT. election in 24 years,” The Root reported. “South Bend had three African Americans in visible high level and public leadership positions: Mayor’s Assistant Lynn Coleman; Fire Chief Howard Buchanon and Police Chief Darryl Boykins.” Three months later, they were gone. Buttigieg stripped them of their positions and whitewashed his administration. In the U.S., there are many forms of racism—overt, covert and the kind that runs like a silent current drifting under a frozen winter river. What Mayor Pete exhibited that day was blatant. According to an editorial published by The Root (https://bit.ly/370N4QQ), author Michael Harriot wrote, “In America, racism doesn’t always present itself in the bold attire of venomous hate. Most often, white supremacy is cloaked in a suit and
tie. It rarely looks you directly in the eye or stares with disdain. It is so vast and wide that it often overlooks your comparatively microscopically small existence. It reduces your desperately loud pleas for acknowledgment to a faint whisper. It makes you feel unseen and unheard.” According to EdBuild.com, a non-profit dedicated to “bring common sense and fairness to the way states fund public schools,” white school districts receive $23 billion more in funding than non-white districts. “Courts sentence black men to prison terms that are 20 percent longer than those of white men who commit the same crime because the criminal justice system overlooks inherent bias,” Harriot said. “This is why it is easy to believe the judges, school boards and employers who contend that they ‘don’t see race.’ To be black is to be invisible.” And, that must change. Currently, every marginalized group in this country is unheard. We were warned about Trump and now we’ve seen evidence of Buttigieg engaging in similar pompous behavior toward the black community. Don’t take my word for it, “Google it.” I want a candidate that understands the complexities of racial, ethnic, gender, and sexual inequities in this country, who understands that not everyone gets a fair shake in life. Although, white folks have difficulties too, the color of their skin is not what brings on those difficulties. That is the definition of privilege that I use here. White privilege doesn’t mean you don’t
Queers have something to teach about spirituality SUPREME HOLINESS A CAN’T BE GIVEN A GEN-
By: Paul P. Jesep* TRT Columnist
FAITH, GOD & FAMILY
lmost 6% of sexual minorities identify as queer, according to a new study from the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law (https://bit.ly/395xaq3). This selfdesignation is no doubt an openness to a broader consciousness and self-awareness. According to a press release issued by the Institute, quoting Ilan H. Meyer, one of the study’s authors, “The term ‘queer’ has a long history with different connotations for sexual minorities.” She added, “Some older people learned it as a derogatory term, but later it was claimed by academics as a critical term and field of study, and some young people may perceive it as an identity that is more fluid than ‘lesbian’ and ‘gay.’ Queer identity seems to represent greater openness to partners of all gender identities.” Those who live their truth as queer give me another valued and valuable perspective. It invites me to explore the limitations I put on others and myself. The perspective challenges me as to why I see the world in a certain way and whether I’ve limited my understanding of it. Hence,
DER OR PERSONALITY BECAUSE SUPREME
GOODNESS IS A DIVINE UNKNOWN. have I limited my ability to spiritually grow? We may have a self-defeating attitude about doing or becoming something due to the limitations we set for ourselves or by letting others do it. Part of it may stem from insecurity about that which is different or unfamiliar. It also could be intellectual laziness and forgetting that learning must never stop. Perhaps, it’s part of a larger issue science has yet to unlock about the brain. The brain is an extraordinary organ. Unfortunately, we will never tap into most of its abilities during our lifetime. It may explain why each of us tends to label and
limit things. We can’t comprehend the enormity, infiniteness, or complexity of the cosmos. If, however, we are mindful of our limitations and the thought that even several lifetimes wouldn’t reveal all the universe’s mysteries, we may become more open to different people, cultures, and experiences. There always must be a hunger to learn and experience things that are personally new to us. Too often we impose limits on God (defined gender-neutral). It’s also done toward faith, religion, or spirituality in general. There isn’t a Jewish, Muslim, or Christian God, according to Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu (https://bit.ly/2vL5M27) of South Africa. What did a Christian leader mean by saying there is no Christian God? The Giver of Life is a mystery. Supreme Holiness can’t be given a gender or personality because Supreme Goodness is a Divine Unknown. Eternal Flame is gay, lesbian, male, female, trans, queer, Christian, Jew, Muslim, and more. Infinite Beauty can manifest in many ways. No matter how many names we to use to quantify, understand, or experience Holy Truth, in the end, it’s still a limitation because we’re human. It doesn’t matter how the Governor of the Universe manifests or becomes incarnate. Read the rest of this story at TheRainbowTimesMass.com
have problems, it means your race is not a cause of those problems. As the primary season carries on, I urge all of those that can to participate in democracy, learn about the candidates, their background, and their honesty. Diversity does not mean that just because you are a member of a marginalized group like Buttigieg is, that you understand the struggles of others. This is why I’ve personally never been behind Buttigieg, and then some. As a member of a marginalized group himself, he should know better but his lengthy track record proves that he does not represent the intersectionalities of our collective existence. In fact, he has stepped all over it. We don’t need more racists in office. *Nicole Lashomb is Editor-in-Chief of The Rainbow Times. She holds a BM from the esteemed Crane School of Music/SUNY Potsdam & an MBA from Marylhurst University. She can be reached at editor@therainbowtimesmass.com.
Multiple Award Winning
The Rainbow Times The Largest LGBTQ Newspaper in New England—Boston Based TheRainbowTimesMass.com editor@therainbowtimesmass.com sales@therainbowtimesmass.com Phone: 617.444.9618 Fax: 928.437.9618 Publisher Graysen M. Ocasio Editor-In-Chief Nicole Lashomb Assistant Editor Mike Givens National/Local Sales Rivendell Media Liz Johnson Lead Photographers Steve Jewett Christine M. Hurley Photographer Jenna Joyce
Reporters Mike Givens Chris Gilmore Audrey Cole Ad & Layout Design Prizm PR Webmaster Jarred Johnson Columnists/Guest Lorelei Erisis Deja N. Greenlaw Paul P. Jesep Mike Givens Keegan O’Brien* Affiliations QSyndicate *Guest Columnist
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