Rep. Lynn Jenkins is a freshman white congresswoman from Kansas. Did I say she is white? She is. And, apparently, very proud of it.

At a recent political event in Hiawatha, Kansas, Rep. Jenkins let her hair down a little - about race and about the future of the Republican National Committee, which incidentally is currently headed up by a black Republican man, Michael Steele.

Perhaps Rep. Jenkins is unhappy about the color of Michael Steele's skin. Maybe, she doesn't like Barack Obama's complexion. At any rate, at that event in small-town-Kansas, away from the ears of people of color, Rep. Jenkins confided in the group and shared what she believed to be the Republican party's mission. She said,

"Republicans are struggling right now to find the great white hope. I suggest to any of you who are concerned about that, who are Republican, there are some great young Republican minds in Washington."

When Rep. Jenkins used the term "great white hope" - make no mistake - there's no double meaning. It means exactly what it sounds like it means. The term "great white hope" comes directly from the 1960s, from boxing, from civil rights and - the struggle between white and black people.

I wrote a couple of days ago to give everybody a heads up about the Blogging While Brown conference in Chi-Town this weekend. Since I didn't get to go (dang it), I've been eagerly awaiting the post-conference roundups from these illustrious attendees of color. It does seem though that the re-energized brown bloggers had so much fun in Chicago that only a few of them have had time to blog their weekend for us! We eagerly await! Still, I did find these early shining pearls...

One of my newest friends on Facebook (thank you Hannah!) has reminded me today that this is the last day to register for Blogging While Brown. The first conference was held in Atlanta, GA in July 2008. The second conference is being held in Chicago, IL on June 19-20, 2009. You don't have to be African American or Hispanic or tanned to attend! If you are interested in going to this conference this weekend in Chicago, you must register today! Right now!

The conference organizers say that Blogging While Brown presents a rare opportunity for organizations looking for exposure to those responsible for creating dynamic and engaging new media. Attendees can network with and learn from each other, most of whom are innovators and early adopters of media technology. Blogging While Brown was created in response to widespread dissatisfaction with the amount of diversity in some of the largest blogging conferences.

I have been thinking this week about how we, as people who love justice and love peace, respond to injustice, violence, and tragedy. On Monday, I walked to the clinic where I volunteer, carrying a thank you gift to the people who work there, and I pictured the faces of those I see weekly, with whom I laugh and gossip, and I thought: violence could strike anyone of them. For the first time since I heard of Dr. Tiller’s murder, my anger turned to fear, and I began to cry as I walked...

As we approach the 41st anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, on April 4th, it's time again to reflect on our shared history. Robert Kennedy, who also fought for peace and justice, was assassinated later that same year. On that dreadful day that the great Dr. King was murdered, Bobby Kennedy appealed to all citizens to come together, "We have to make an effort to understand, to get beyond these rather difficult times... What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black... The vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings that abide in our land... Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world."

Amen. We need to have not just enough compassion to feel one another's pain, we need to have enough compassion to stop our selfishness and greed from ruling our communities and relationships. We need the will the take the actions necessary to stop the suffering in our society. We are truly in this together. All of this. I'll be thinking of both Martin and Bobby this week with gratitude. Not because they were martyred. I am grateful for what they both tried to teach all of us.

This transfer of wealth from the working class began with what Reagan termed "trickle down" economics and has now come to its tragic conclusion with Wall Street's rape and mutilation of our futures.

George W. Bush's hand-delivered multi-billion dollar no bid defense contracts (over the last 8 years) to Halliburton, Bechtel and the others seemed to me to be a deliberate emptying out of the national treasury (our surplus) in the last ditch effort to bankrupt the government and transfer wealth from the working class to the super rich (and newly rich). Insomuch that the treasury is empty and income disparity has widened, his plan surely worked.

The super rich and super powerful capitalists in America knew that their "free ride" had to eventually come to an end. They've known it ever since their recklessly selfish joy ride began in the 1980s, as they took over American politics with Reaganomics and the ill named Moral Majority. As politics turned against the working class and played favorites for the ruling corporate elite, they had to lay claim to as many chips and chits as they could before the bell rang, signaling the end of their selfish game. For almost three decades, my whole lifetime, the smallest handful of wealthy Americans steadily and swiftly stole power and wealth in a "no holes barred" grab-and-run. By design, they knew it couldn't last forever. So, with myopic single-mindedness, they played for broke as fast as they possibly could.

"No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President..."

What now? Supreme Court Justice (and right wing zealot) Clarence Thomas just can't keep his hands off of our elections. This from Afro-American:

In a highly unusual move, U.S. Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has asked his colleagues on the court to consider the request of an East Brunswick, N.J. attorney who has filed a lawsuit challenging President-elect Barack Obama’s status as a United States citizen.

I hope ya'll will forgive us. We don't have anything smart to say. We just want ya'll to know that we're happy. Is it Christmas? Our birthdays? What day is this? We're laughing. We're crying. My boys and I are jumping all around our living room dancing and singing "Oh Happy Day!" We're crazy. We couldn't be any crazier.

That's all. I love ya'll. Our hearts are full.

Reports are coming in from voters at a largely African American polling location in Kansas City, who are being warned of a 6-8 hour wait to vote (despite the line being short) and forced to put their names on a list while in line to vote. A list of names? Does that sound like privacy protection? Does it sound like intimidation? Can working people afford to be at the polls for six to eight hours?

Kansas City Poll workers told 600 people waiting in line that if they had a number, they could come back any time before 8pm to deliver their absentee ballot in person. This of course would mean that they are delivering their ballot after the polls are closed which means that automatically their votes would not be counted.

Appearing on “Larry King Live” in 1995, Jesse Helms, then the senior senator from North Carolina, fielded a call from an unusual admirer. Helms deserved the Nobel Peace Prize, the caller gushed, “for everything you’ve done to help keep down the niggers.” Given the rank ugliness of the sentiment — the guest host, Robert Novak, called it, with considerable understatement, “politically incorrect” — Helms could only pause before responding. But the hesitation couldn’t suppress his gut instincts. “Whoops, well, thank you, I think,” [Helms] said. With prodding from Novak, he added that he’d been spanked as a child for using the N-word and noted (with a delicious hint of uncertainty), “I don’t think I’ve used it since.” As for the caller’s main point — the virtue of keeping down blacks — it passed without comment. (New York Times)

Helms passed away on July 4 at age 86. Was he a righteous warrior or a malignant wizard?

A giant among statesmen, or the last great unabashedly white racist politician? Who was Jesse Helms, anyway?