Charged language Norm..

Just one question:

When did anyone on here ever call the decision of the City Council racist?

Concretely show me..

Thanks..

During the public comment period, many comments and actions were taken demonstrating ignorance and intolerance in our own community.

 

I believe both posts you linked to carried the above sentiment and not that the city council member are racists.

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“Tell me, what is it you plan on doing with your one wild and precious life?” ~ Mary Oliver

I think the decision to deny Rafah official sister city status with Olympia was discriminatory. And it was also quite possibly racist. I haven't processed enough to come to that conclusion yet.

But I find myself asking whether such a vocal opposition would have come forth had such a relationship been proposed with an Israeli city/town/village. And if there were those who opposed such a relationship, and called it "political" and "divisive," would the council have decided against it also?

The point is that the Palestinians are being treated as inferiors. Palestinians are suffering under the oppression of the Israeli state. Sure, there are terrorists in Palestine. Just as the Israeli military machine surely terrorizes Palestinians. It goes both ways.

Is that a good enough reason to pass judgment and decline a sister-city relationship? I don't think so. I don't think that the sister-city proposal in any way said that terrorism is acceptable behavior. The object of the proposal was to benefit, mutually, the people of Rafah and the people of Olympia, through increased communication and trade.

The people who made it divisive brought race into the issue. They said that Palestinians are terrorists. Well, if they want to look at it from that POV - Israelis are terrorists too.

One person's terrorist is another person's freedom fighter.  Carrilles Posada walks free today despite his likely involvement in blowing up airplanes.  Mumia Abu-Jamal is on death row and can't get a fair trial or a retrial for decades.  Convicted felons John Poindexter and Elliot Abrams are called back to serve in the Bush administration. It's all about politics.

The Oly City Council's decision lacked courage, it ignored the legitimate efforts and intentions of a large number of South Sound residents who desire the official city status and whose work should have been recognized and accommodated.  Normalizing relations, establishing connections between palestinian and american communities is an important element of a potentially more peaceful future.  I think the Council's decision was largely about politics, not race.  I have always been pretty race-blind, and as an apparently white christian male in the US, I have not generally felt the oppression of racism, patriarchy etc. which has enabled me to be less aware of these forces as they work in others and in our communities than I might otherwise be. 

I get some sense of the seething racism that lives in the hearts of some americans when I hear potshots at Sharpton or Jesse Jackson or when I review the FBI tracking of MLK Jr. or when I hear Imus talk about nappy-headed hos.  From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.  Read that somewhere.  I think the Council's decision was primarily political and expedient.  A chance for community leadership in the world was tossed away because several Council persons were political and weak.  I don't know what part race plays in all this.  Race is fungible.  It is a social construct, it is not a biological reality even though it is clearly a sociological reality.  I think the council's decision was primarily about politics and weakness, not race.  I could be wrong, but that's how it looks to me.

This thread needed to include some context.  Without reading the comments, I would have no idea this was about the City Council and the Sister City thing.  I assume it was a continuation of an existing discussion elsewhere.  So, just a suggestion/request for a little context please?

To a butter knife fight..

Bad etiquette..

I think there is some of this unfortunate linguistic dynamic working with the racism issue with the Council. 

Couldn't any issue be accused of divisiveness? What will the council decide if a group of citizen's comes forth to oppose a sister-city relationship with a city in China (based on China's dismal human rights record)?

I really have a problem with the term "racism" used lightly. I really shouldn't have even started this thread and should have known that someone would end up ticking me off. Although I don't take "pokes" at Al Sharpton, I do get very tired of him, as Mike mentioned. I'll leave it at that.