WHAT ARE YOU THANKFUL FOR ON THIS THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY?

"We can renew our nation the same way that we have in the many years since Lincoln's first Thanksgiving: by coming together to overcome adversity."
-- President Barack Obama
"After Obama gives his turkey pardon on Wednesday, the pardoned bird (rumored to actually be two birds) will fly first class to California to head up the Disney Thanksgiving Day Parade. They will then live at Big Thunder Ranch in Frontierland at Disneyland in Anaheim, California."
--HULIQ.com

Listen up. Today, the Daddy is feeling the Progressive Report and its list of things to be which to be thankful. So the Daddy is posting this list as a starter to get you thinking, to get you to answer this one question: "What are you thankful for on this Thanksgiving weekend?"

THANKSGIVING

27 Reasons To Give Thanks

We're thankful President Obama is thinking long and hard about committing more troops and money to Afghanistan.

We're thankful President Bush feels liberated now.

We're (not) thankful Dick Cheney has elected to move from his undisclosed location to the media spotlight.

We're thankful Al Franken has gone from playing self-help guru Stuart Smalley on Saturday Night Live to helping rape victims receive justice from their employers.

We're thankful for the healing power of beer.

We're thankful there are some on the right who think Glenn Beck is "incoherent," "mindless," "erratic," "bizarre," and "harmful to the conservative movement."

We're thankful for long hikes on the Appalachian Trail.

We're thankful Michael Steele understands that he can't "do policy" and that no one has any reason to trust his "words or actions."

We're (not) thankful for "birthers," "deathers," "tenthers," or "tea baggers."

We're (not) thankful conservatives believe they love America so much that they can root for our President to fail and for our nation to lose out on hosting the Olympics.

We're thankful NFL players refused to "bend over and grab the ankles" for Rush Limbaugh.

We're thankful six companies have resigned from the Chamber of Commerce due to its denial of climate change science.

We're thankful Falcon "Balloon boy" Heene wasn't actually in the balloon.

We're thankful Lt. Dan Choi and Lt. Col Victor Fehrenbach bravely spoke out against Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

We're thankful Shep Smith doesn't always drink the Fox News kool-aid.

We're thankful more than 80 companies refused to lend their sponsorship to Glenn Beck's hateful rants.

We're thankful there are progressive organizations in D.C. lobbying for a two-state solution in the Middle East.

We're (not) thankful for the filibuster.

We're thankful that more than 20,000 of you stood up to Bill O'Reilly's harassment machine and called for impeachment hearings against torture advocate Jay Bybee.

We're thankful that Iran's authoritarian rulers live in fear of their own population.

We're thankful we'll no longer have to listen to nativist rhetoric on CNN and global warming skepticism on ABC News.

We're (not) thankful for bailed out CEOs who think they're doing "God's work" by doling out billions in bonuses.

We're thankful for the legacy of the Liberal Lion.

We're thankful Bill O'Reilly won't be following us home for Thanksgiving.

We're thankful a "wise Latina" sits on the Supreme Court.

We're thankful our boss helped rescue imprisoned American journalists in North Korea.

We're thankful for our readers and the support you give us.

So what are you thankful for on this Thanksgiving?

HOW MUCH LONGER WILL WE TOLERATE SAVAGE HOMOPHOBIA IN OUR COMMUNITY?

Listen up. Today, The Daddy is feeling a post he saw at The Intersection of Madness and Reality, run by Rippa, one of the best bloggers out there. It's about the fact that many of us turn a blind eye to the discrimination and actual assaults on gay people. The article isn't asking that we embrace homosexuality, join hands, and go singing in the rain with gay people. It simply asks that we recognize that we should treat them with civility and respect like everyone else. Check it out.

* Note the photo of a make-shift memorial for Lawrence King, a gay 15 year old teenager who was murdered at E.O. Green School in Oxnard, California. King was killed in class by a fellow student on February 12, 2009.

How Much Longer Will We Tolerate
Savage Homophobia in Our Community?
By Seattle Slim

Look, let me premise this by saying that I don't agree with homosexuality. Yes, I said it. And I don't care if anyone agrees with me or not on that. It is just a sexual preference, and I think people, straight and gay, put way too much stock into who people ultimately choose to screw.

Because of that, I am patently against homophobia and the attack on this poor child, 9th grader Jayron Martin, is nothing short of savage. He was threatened with an ass kicking by some bully punks for being gay. He went to his school leadership for help and they turned their backs on him (Click here for more info).

While I may not agree with homosexuality, they are fellow human beings. I'm a Christian and I know full and damned well that we are supposed to treat others the way we want to be treated. I also know that the Bible clearly states that God loves us all, even the people we as humans don't believe are worthy of His love. Thank God it's not up to us, and it's up to Him.

I sure as hell wouldn't want to be beaten for being straight, or being in an interracial relationship with a white guy. Even though I don't agree, I don't think, nay, I know it's wrong as hell to attack people for their sexual preferences, specifically for being homosexual. That's not alright.

Just this April, Carl Joseph Walker committed suicide because kids taunted him by calling him gay. No one even knows if he was gay or not, he was just different, and that was enough to start the gay taunts. Sadly, he was not the first suicide, nor the last, due to sickening homophobia.

Young black boys have this screwed up idea of masculinity because the fathers aren't in the home, or the fathers don't give a shit. That's bad in and of itself, and harmful to them, but if you add homophobia, you've got a toxic cocktail of disdain and hatred.

We need to stop turning blind eyes to this form of sexual harassment; this homophobia. Had the Horace Mann Leadership Charter School not turned a blind eye to homophobic taunting and teasing, Carl Joseph Walker might still be alive today. Jayron could've been killed, but of course, he's gay so his life must be expendable, right?

Most authority figures in schools could give a damn less about young black boys and girls, but they apparently throw "different" kids to the wolves without batting an eye. And don't think these beast won't come after you or your kids if you so much as get on their reactionary radar. These same beasts are from the same animal species that killed Derrion Albert, taunted Carl Joseph Walker and attacked a Haitian woman and her son in the Dunbar Village rape back in 2007.

If we don't stand up for youths and adults like Jayron, whether or not we agree with their lifestyle or sexual preference, not a soul will stand up for us when these feral ass kids turn on us.

Jayron should've been protected. He should've never been attacked. His story is a litmus test for all of us and we should be paying attention. How many more black boys and girls will have to be chased, beaten or driven to suicide before we do something?

The daddy's first year of blogging: "Celebration time. Come on!"

Listen up. The daddy is
celebrating his first year of
blogging. He began posting on
April 26, 2008. Since then, he's penned over 320 posts in 356 days. Like Holifield fighting for a meal, Malcolm making it plain, Aretha, the true Diva (sorry Beyonce), soaring into the stratosphere with nothin' but God's pipes and soul for fuel, the daddy, from day one, sought to lay it down in the field then string up a flag pole to show the real deal: to kick it from the bottom, to run it ghetto/project/taco barrio/trailer park style--to give you straight talk from a straight-up and most times fed up, crazy-ass black man! And tell the daddy true, would you really want anything less?

Evidently not. Because, from day one, you've been coming to daddyBstrong to read and comment and conversate with the daddy about all kinds of issues, expressing what's on your mind; and he wants to thank you. Check it:

1. From the moment you somehow found daddyBstrong, you saw it was no raw deal: no ideology-conscious blog with jive talking points, spin or ready cliches' to rationalize foolish behavior (black or any other color), outdated ideology (liberal, conservative or sorry right-wing), to curry favor with people in power or influence. You saw the daddy kick it from a black perspective but, nonetheless, stand with working people and folks trying to live some semblance of the American dream in this hell-hole we like to think as the greatest country in the world; and the daddy wants to thank you.

2. Though some of his homies at the coffee shop said you wouldn't listen to "all that serious mess," you got it. You knew you wanted to hear a brotha from another mother hit it like Sweet Sweetback about the things that most affect your lives. In less than a year's time, the daddy's got almost 50,000 hits. That's a lot of you coming to daddyBstrong in a year. And you keep coming.

3. Though the brothas at the coffee shop said you weren't interested in poetry, though a few said even reading is "just not manly," the daddy posted a series on poetry called "Poets You Should Know." These were great African American poets who deserve more attention for their work not only as great poets but committed social activists as well. You kept coming.

4. Though all the brothas believed that you hate talking about economics "cause they don't know nothin' about it anyways," the daddy wrote a series of posts on the economy. You kept coming.

5. Though most of his friends don't practice Kwanzaa as a holiday or live its principles throughout the year, the daddy wrote a series on it from December 26 to January 1, 2008. You kept coming.

6. Though most of his homies aren't interested in history, though they can't see its relevance to their lives today and didn't think you would either, the daddy did an entire series on history during Black History Month with the expressed purpose of showing that what happened yesterday still affects us today. In fact, the daddy penned stories about sheroes and heroes of the civil rights and black power movement; and he suggested that, if they hadn't consciously acted to make history, many African Americans, including the daddy, may not be here today. You still kept coming.

So, for finding the daddy, sticking with him, believing in him, and for showing that you believe in yourselves by making comments of your own on daddyBstrong, a brotha wants to thank you.

In the future, the daddy will continue to write posts. However, he will also offer several books that he has written. One book will include posts from the daddyBstrong blog. Another will be a book of poetry about heroes and sheroes like Rosa Parks, Fannie Lou Hamer, Bayard Rustin and Dr. Martin Luther King and Angela Davis. Another will be on black men and what it will take for them to heal.

The daddy will be putting these books on his sidebar to be purchased for two reasons: First, many of you email the daddy asking him to re-post articles, especially about music and history. By putting the best of his posts into book form, you will have them at your finger tips to read at your leisure. And, if you missed a post or two, you'll get to read them as well. Second, and the most important, the daddy has friends (teachers and former teachers) who believe that many of these posts can be used as supplementary sources in public or private schools. So, in a few months, you, teachers and book buyers for schools and community agencies and others will be able to look on daddyBstrong's sidebar and see several books available for less than $10.00 each.

But tonight, the daddy's gonna make his wine glass rise like the Phoenix in honor of his first year of blogging, say "Thank you, Lawd," then ask you to sing along with him, "Celebration time/come on!..."

Another child commits suicide after gay bullying

Listen up. This morning, the daddy is feeling the loss of Jaheem Herrera, a beautiful, smart, 11-year old kid who came home from school and hanged himself. He had been constantly bullied, constantly called "gay" and a "snitch." You know: it seems that American youth of color are dying either from being tasered by police or from suicide as a result of the constant and, seemingly, unending stress of being bullied. Jaheem is only the most recent.

The daddy will be posting about America as a homophobic nation, a nation that villfies gay people then labels people, gay or not, as gay, causing them to be attacked, to be killed. And sometimes, like Jaheem, they are driven to kill themselves. But right now, the daddy is just thinking of Jaheem: of his stepfather, Norman Keene, 35, sitting and embracing his daughter Ny'itsa Keene, 5, while discussing Jaheem's death at the family's apartment-- thinking what a smart, beautiful kid Jaheem was; thinking of him being bullied time and time again; thinking of him telling school officials about it; thinking of Jaheem getting little help from school officials but getting labeled by his bullying peers as "gay" and a "snitch" for his efforts; thinking what bright lights, what bright promise, the Jaheems of this world represent to their families and this nation; and what a great loss once those bright lights are turned off.

Here is the story.

Family says bullying led boy, 11, to hang himself

By CHRISTIAN BOONE

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

The free spirit of Jaheem Herrera is evident in the family portraits in his DeKalb County apartment.

The 11-year-old enjoyed dancing and drawing, and the easy smile he flashed for the photographers was genuine, his stepfather said Monday night.

A photograph of Jaheem Herrera, 11, hangs above a poster on the front door of the family’s Dekalb apartment, all part of a makeshift shrine to the dead boy.

On Thursday afternoon, after returning home from Dunaire Elementary School, Jaheem quietly went into his room and hanged himself. His 10-year-old sister, Yerralis, also a fifth-grader, discovered Jaheem’s dead body.

“His sister was screaming, ‘Get him down, get him down,’” said Norman Keene, who helped raise Jaheem since the boy was two years old.

When Keene got to the room, he saw Yerralis holding her brother, trying to remove the pressure of the noose her brother had fashioned with a fabric belt.

Jaheem was bullied relentlessly, his family said. Keene said the family knew the boy was a target, but until his death they didn’t understand the scope.

“We’d ask him, ‘Jaheem, what’s wrong with you?’” Keene recalled. “He’d never tell us.”

He didn’t want his sister to tell, either. She witnessed much of the bullying, and many times rose to her brother’s defense, Keene said.

“They called him gay and a snitch,” his stepfather said. “All the time they’d call him this.”

In an interview with WSB-TV, the boy’s mother, Masika Bermudez, also said her son was being bullied at school. She said she had complained to the school.

She said she asked him about the bullying Thursday when he came home from school and he denied it. She sent him to his room to calm down. It was the last time she would see him alive.

Bermudez told WSB she talked to Jaheem’s best friend about the situation last week.

“He said, ‘Yes ma’am. He told me that he’s tired of everybody always messing with him in school. He is tired of telling the teachers and the staff, and they never do anything about the problems. So, the only way out is by killing himself,’” Bermudez told WSB.

Earlier this month the suicide of a Massachusetts boy, Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover — who suffered taunts that he was gay — attracted national attention.

He was also 11. His mother found him hanging from an extension cord in the family’s home.

Jaheem was excelling academically, Keene said, adapting quickly to his new home. The family moved to the Avondale Estates area less than a year ago from St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Last winter, his grandmother died from cancer. She was living with the family at the time.

His grandfather returned to St. Croix after his wife’s passing. He’s taking Jaheem’s death especially hard.

“He says he has nothing to live for now,” Keene said. The family had planned a trip home in June. They’ll be returning next Monday instead to bury their 11-year-old son.