Africa. An ocean away. A continent afar. And that’s when the trouble began. At first, when contemplating my headline, which I often enjoy writing more than the actual column, I thought of triffids. Not to be confused with trivets. Oh let me explain. Triffids were invasive species from outer space, using the politically correct, can’t lead a horticulture, phraseology. Ahem.
An example: The day of the Triffids was both an English sci-fi novel of a most excellent sort and a movie. A cult classic movie no less. The plot from the wiki; A spectacular meteorite shower unexpectedly renders most of humanity blind, leading to the breakdown of society literally overnight. Bill Masen (John Duttine), who by chance has retained his sight by virtue of being in hospital with his eyes bandaged, joins a small band of similarly lucky survivors. As British societal norms collapse and the human race turns against itself, the survivors must fend off attacks from roving bands of the blind, and a sinister military force.
Gotta love the wiki. The thing is, I had already decided that the headline was going to be The Trouble With Africa, and clearly the Day of the Triffids wasn’t the movie I thought it was. There was a movie about The Trouble With Harry, but there were no creatures in that, just a dead guy so that wasn’t the cultural reference I was looking for. Trivets, on the other hand were not the case either, But for point of clarity. A trivet is also known as a ‘hot plate,’ is an object placed between a serving dish or bowl, and a dining table, usually to protect the table from heat damage.
Now, that alarming cooking utensil was not quite the direction I was going for either. But All those “T” words were confusing, and I clearly remember some sort of trouble involving something that began with the letter T, and thus was rewarded a short google trip later, with The Trouble With Tribbles. Egads, Tribbles and tribulations, I got it. And now to be entirely photo inclusive.
The plot of this Captain Kirk featured Star Trek episode was simple: A cuddly pet turns into a menace when it rapidly reproduces out of control. Which is exactly what happens when the media and Africa get mentioned by a political flunkie. First up, Republican VP nominee, Sarah Palin. On the subject of Africa, Palin is reported to have not known that Africa was a continent. On Fox News, no less:
Heh. Oh the pile on that ensued. The Huffingtonpost. Wonkette. Think Progress. Amusing, eh? Well Palin came back and said something along the lines of confusing South Africa or southern Africa or something. Well, South Africa is an interesting country, known for Apartheid, the Boer War amongst other things. White people, that is those that arrived about the 1400’s and colonized the land, represent about 10% of the population. North Africa, is home to such countries as Morrocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt Sudan, Eritrea, and Ethiopia. Look lets look at a map.
Which brings us to last night’s Common Council meeting and the point at which Council member Amanda Brown raised the issue of language being used in the Affirmative Action plan for the City of Norwalk. She asked if instead of using the world black, to identify a protected class defined in the plan, that the, in her words, more politically correct version, of African descent be used.
The trouble with Africa is that it is a continent, which is home to several countries that have decidedly non-back populations that would end up being covered under the whole, of African descent, label. This guy is, of African descent.
.
So is this guy.
So is this guy.
.
I think you get the point.
Africa is a continent. An ocean away. No tribbles, triffids or trivets were harmed in the writing of this column.
{ 11 comments }
Holy batshit turfgrrl!!! Well, it was fun to read anyway.
Is this the same A. Brown who abstained on the BOE issue last night? Does she even have half a f–king clue? How in the hell was she elected? Does she realize that American isn’t hyphenated? Can she be gone fast enough?
Can’t wait to see next years candidates! Wonder who each party will put up this time.
I can see Africa from my front yard. I’ll be tan, rested and ready for 2012.
All of humanity is descended from the earliest humans represented by Lucy the skeleton found in the Rift Valley of Ethiopia. Every human in the world has DNA tracers linking them to Ethiopia.
We are all of African descent.
Amanda flubbed, but she meant no harm.
And thanks for the trifle truffle above.
Now pardon me while I go trickle.
Isn’t it a little inappropriate to implement an affirmative action plan since we just elected a minority as the leader of the free world.
Amanda Brown Norwalk Public Schools Graduate. Abstains on contract for administrators. Thinks Africa is exclusively black.
Amanda Brown ain’t too smart. Come to think of it she is kind of stupid.
Very difficult to fix a problem when the fixers suffer from it as well.
Life-long education appears needed in Norwalk and professional development for some BOE members.
I am sure we are learning more these days about the needs of minorities; or at least I hope so.
Did the US Supreme Court side against affirmative action in Michigan in 2003?
Let’s not give students an excuse for not achieving. I have heard more – I cudda, wudda, shudda if I had the chance. And given a clear field, nothin’.
Don’t describe what you would have done, tell me when you’ve achieved it.
She didn’t mean any HARM? MOST of us don’t mean any harm. We expect a little more from the people we vote for. She’s DUMB.
I don’t think Amanda is dumb, nor do I think she is stupid, just sadly misinformed. I think she needs to start looking at information before she starts talking. She is so bent on being heard and making her place so she can go onto bigger and better things that she doesn’t take the time to gather information. However, I would imagine that most people know that Afica is a continent and the white population is alive and well. Therefore African Americans come in many colors. If you look back at many family histories you will find that many include ancestors from South Africa, Egypt etc. I would imagine that Ms Brown actually knows this but in her quest to make her point she decidedly left out those facts. This comes down to people looking up the facts before they try to make a point. Unfortunately we see all too often that people make decisions based upon popular concensus and not on their own understanding of a situation. I would suggest Ms. Brown do a bit of history searching 0prior to her grandstanding on the council floor.. To call her stupid or dumb is just condescending and should not be part of this conversation.
Comments on this entry are closed.