From The Denver Post: “Boulder students want to rename school for Obama”

Joellen Raderstorf says that the idea her son has come up with – renaming Boulder High School to “Barack Obama High School” – may have surprised a few people.
[...]
“We think the election of Barack Obama is one of the most significant events in our country and shows the progress we’ve made in this country,” Ben [Raderstorf] said today in-between classes. “We think he is deserving of recognition like this.”

The Boulder High School junior is deeply involved in politics. In the future he would like to major in international relations and economics.
[...]
Ben Raderstorf became president of a Boulder High School group called “Student Worker,” an organization of approximately a dozen kids that is advocating the name change.
[...]
“We initiated this campaign in order to honor the momentous achievement of this African-American, inspire the community with his ideals of unity and hope, and reflect the progressive spirit that is shared by both Barack Obama and our school environment,” he said.

I rarely get very personal on this blog, but this was something I just had to write about because of the overwhelming rage I felt upon reading this story.

Let me state that I definitely think Barack Obama deserves to be recognized and to have all sorts of things named after him. His election was indeed significant and inspiring and he may prove to be one of the best presidents in this country’s history.

My issue with this has little to do with Obama and more to do with the blatant hypocrisy exhibited by naming a school where racism, discrimination, and segregation are not only allowed, but enforced by the staff and administration.

To understand why I am so upset about this, you need to know my back story. As a bi-racial student at BHS from 1999-2002, I have first-hand experience with some of Boulder’s infamous hypocritical behavior.

I can’t even keep track of how many times I was told by my peers that I must listen to hip-hop, or be really good at basketball, or get into a lot of fights, or only be interested in dating black guys or that I probably know how to shake it like the girls in the Jay-Z video.

Boulder is a place that likes to congratulate itself for being progressive and open-minded. Residents often go so far to establish that they aren’t racist that they fail to recognize the racism they exhibit in their attempts to be accepting and tolerant.

Every February was like torture as my teachers asked me to lead discussions about Black History Month or the significance of Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. I was used as an example in classes about segregation as my fellow students illustrated their points with, “It’s like if we didn’t let Alexis use the same drinking fountain as us.” In middle school at BaseLine I was even told that I should go as Rosa Parks for our History Day event and voted “Most Unique Hair” because I had braids.

While this might not be as outwardly wrong as being called a racial slur–which also happened to me a few times–it is hurtful in that it singles out the few minority students in a school and puts them on display like a Coney Island freak show. “Step right up! Witness the rare biracial teenager with her hair in braids!”

My time at Boulder High School only exacerbated things for me as I found that most of my so-called liberal peers were no better than the self-professed “red necks” I knew. Richard Pryor once joked that, every time a black person and a white person got into an argument, the white person always had the ammunition of calling the black person a slur. This certainly seemed to be true in my experience in Boulder and at Boulder High School.

It’s sad to think that a school that called itself “a place for everyone” engaged in such racist behavior as segregating Latino students by assigning them lockers on the third floor. It’s even worse to think that, when one of the speakers at the 2002 graduation ceremony acknowledged this, she was booed by parents and fellow students.

It’s even disheartening to see that Ben Raderstorf and others are flatly labeling Obama an African-American when he is actually biracial. It’s like a throw back to the “One-Drop” rule that developed in the early history of the United States.

The election was important. It was historical. But we shouldn’t describe it that way based only on the race of the candidate. Instead, we should see the significance of the election in terms of the hope Obama inspired or the positive change he might bring to our nation.

This post will surely spawn a lot of response from the faux-liberal flock in Boulder, but I was just so saddened and upset by the story that I couldn’t avoid responding. I can only hope that Boulder doesn’t sully the good name of Barack Obama by renaming Hypocrisy High in his honor.

I could not be more thrilled!

Obama will be president!

Enough said.

Trashwire friend and YourHub main man Eric Lubbers has some pretty rad pics and video of the Denver Obama rally on his blog at brofax.com. You should totally check them out!

Check out Eric’s cool super slow mo video here:

Slo Mo Obama from Eric J. Lubbers on Vimeo.

The other day, I wrote this article for Trashwire:

Let me begin this post by loudly proclaiming my total admiration for Tina Fey. Simply put, she is my heroine-and by that I mean lady hero, not that I want to inject her and listen to jazz. (Watch the “Rosemary’s Baby” episode of 30 Rock if you didn’t catch that reference.)

All spotlights seem to be focused squarely on Fey every weekend as America fervently tunes in to see her portray Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. But is this good for the Obama/Biden campaign, or simply adding more fuel to the Palin mania sweeping the nation?

Read the rest on Trashwire.com

Now it seems that SNL has completely sold its soul and given up all integrity to have that horrible woman on the show.

Why do they feel the need to suck GOP dick in a time like this? With less than a month til the election, I am completely horrified and shocked that they would stoop to this low and just let her take over an otherwise funny show.

I guess it proves that people will do anything for ratings, even give unwarranted air time to a psycho right wing moron who deserves to be president about as much as a convicted pedophile deserves it. 

At least Tina Fey didn’t outwardly participate in this pandering. In fact, she didn’t speak a single word to Palin during the intro.

Still, it’s disgusting, disgraceful, and just not funny!

I turned off the show at Palin’s second appearance during Weekend Update because I just couldn’t take anymore. I was so disgusted when she was bobbing her head to the little rap because it seemed like such a clear ploy to try to get black votes–and all this coming from a woman who has been part of one of the most racist campaigns since the 1800s!

I loved Amy Poehler’s pregnant western bar sketch (and who didn’t like the MacGruber sketches?!) but I literally felt like I was going to throw up when I heard Poehler doing the rap. I just felt bad for her, like she had been forced into making light of the situation and paling around with someone whose Vice Presidency (and, god forbid, Presidency) could be a direct cause for the end of the world.

They should all be ashamed of themselves! I honestly don’t know if I will every be able to watch SNL again, regardless of appearances from Tina Fey. I’m taking the season pass off my Tivo and I’m breaking up with SNL. 

And because everyone in the world is talking about these sketches (and because of my complete and total admiration of Tina Fey) here’s Tina Fey as Sarah Palin from last week’s SNL:

In this episode, Tina was back and so was Chris Parnell. Is this proof that the old cast was better than the current one? When Amy leaves, Wiig and Sudeikis will be the only really rad peeps on the show (besides Samberg, or course, though he’s mostly just in shorts and not in very many sketches these days) and Seth Meyers will have to hold down Weekend Update all by his lonesome.