Pajiba

I often make fun of the South and I'm often criticized for it by people claiming I'm just perpetuating out dated stereotypes. The South isn't really backward or racist anymore they say.

Thank you Arkansas for proving me right! In Arkansas you cant just let a black girl be valedictorian! What will people think?!

That Arkansas is still backward and racist.

So if racism doesn't exist anymore, as many conservative people would like to tell us, why would there be any worry about a black valedictorian? The opinion validation is sadly not worth the shame.

Oh I am SO torn. The preview for this before Captain America (yes, my husband dragged me to it) last night looked like a clever movie but I am not a fan of violent scary movies AT ALL. But then this. Torn is what I am.

Every time I hear bad things about Arkansas, I invoke my mantra: Arkansas gave us Johnny Cash, it can't be all bad.

What I don't get from the story however is how the news report can claim the school is predominantly Caucasian when 46% of the school is Black. That means that even if there are no Hispanics at all, there are 54% White students and that's hardly predominance. It's a bad enough story that speaks for itself without some journalist trying to jazz it up.

"Take, for example, this story of a black high schooler from Arkansas who was made to share her Valedictorian honors with a white student with a lower GPA in order to avoid ‘awkwardness.’ " And WHAT the EFF is this b.s.? That makes me wonder what decade we're living in as well. So many things wrong with this I think my brain just short circuited. GRRR! Racism is alive and well, apparently!

Kala:

I completely agree. Those pants certainly could have been lower. In fact that clip, while good, would have been so much better if he had continued with the disrobing instead of stopping at the pants. Nonetheless, this movie had my $12 at
"well, maybe not the omelette".

I read about the Arkansas valedictorian yesterday and just thought I'd throw this in here: she's a teenaged mother. (Which in no way detracts from her accomplishments; in fact, it makes her academic achievements more impressive, if possible.)

But it's clearly a double whammy: not only do "they" (school administrators, town, whatever) not like that she's black, they don't like that she's a teen mother. Bible-thumping fuckheads. (Sorry, had to throw it in there. And by Bible-thumping, I mean people who use the Bible as a cudgel, not all people who read the Bible.)

I know racism is everywhere. I live in Michigan and I've seen plenty of it here. Were just more subtle. I had an old boss who didn't interview a qualified candidate because the name on the resume "sounded like a brother".

But for in-your-face-racism you cant beat the South for my money!

:)

Is that what you kids call it these days?

If you count the 5 VMA nominations for Madonna's "Express Yourself" in 1989, Gaga comes out ahead.

Sort of.

Maybe not...

I grew up not too far from Pine Bluff (McGeHee, is actually where this took place). I'm not racist. I have a few friends who are (gasp!) and I think racism here is just more out in the open than other places. Many people just don't feel any shame for it. I've been fighting a pointless battle to get my friend to stop saying n*gger*. I have heard, "Sorry, I know you don't like that word, but that's just the way I was raised" way too many times recently. I just wanna shit my pants on her couch and say, "Sorry, I know you don't like that, but I've been shitting my pants since before I can remember. I'm not gonna change now."

* - I'd type that out all the way, but I think the filter would block me.

Donut:

I'd tell you, but I cannot breach the sacred code of the original Pajiba settlers. B'Slim and I go back to the famed Sandy Vagina/Insult a Smith alum days together. We've earned our battle scars and inflicted many of them on each other. We're sort of like old generals who reminisce about the time we almost killed each other. The occasional smile breaks through the bloodshed occasionally.

With a little Googling, it looks like both the principal and the supernintendo are also African American. Perhaps the decision was made so that it did not look like the administration was playing favorites. It certainly doesn't make it any less wrong, it just changes the situation somewhat.

Sigh.

Q - If you call a dog's tail a leg, how many legs does it have?
A - Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it so.

Anyone who thinks you can declare an extra "valedictorian" awarded for something other than academic work won't ever be one. What were they thinking? (Oh, right. Rural, public school administration. What was I thinking?)

And I hope the girl who actually earned her way to valedictorian goes on to be successful as fuck, proving all those assholes wrong.

This school's policies (linked to in the ABL comment section) say the student with the highest cumulative GPA in the graduating class is valedictorian. There are no other factors. Someone decided that the black girl could not be valedictorian by herself and named a white child with lesser grades as her co-valedictorian. Could it be a coincidence that the co-valedictorian is white? Perhaps. But it doesn't excuse not letting this girl, regardless of race, have her moment to shine for five years (they go back to 8th grade for this honor) of academic excellence by herself.

The creepiest thing about Lady Gaga is her fans.

Keep in mind, I count myself amongst her fans.

Also? Her last great video was "Bad Romance." She really didn't deserve to be nominated for a pile of VMAs this year.