“We Are Not Animals in the Hood”

Lisa Gray-Garcia has written a superb article for Poor People Magazine about a new phenomena of “Gang Tours” in LA, where tourists can pay to see REAL! graffiti, the Skid Row, “all-black” public housing, and even The World’s Largest Jail! Now white people too can enjoy Compton and South Central Los Angeles, after purchasing the $65 ticket and then riding in air-conditioned (bullet-proof?) buses on this “customized high-end specialty tour”.

LA Gang Tours is a non-profit run by LA activists, which says the profits will be funneled back into the community.

Lisa Gray-Garcia says the tours “zoo-ify” poor people and people of color, who will clearly not be paying $65 to drive around looking at projects, tags and bullet holes.

Some evidence makes the zoo-ification more than speculative:

From the LA Times:

But one backer said he also hopes to stage dance-offs between locals; tourists would pick a winner and fork over a cash prize. It wasn’t long ago that organizers decided against a plan to have kids shoot tourists with water pistols, followed by the sale of T-shirts that read: “I Got Shot in South-Central.”

Come see how they live! In their natural environment! We’ll even make the natives dance!

Commenter ipastor01 at the Huffington Post wrote:

OJ’s house, Brentwood

Manson Moorders, Beverly Hills

Neverland Ranch, Santa Barbara

Polanski case, Hollywood Hills

Do come down to my neighborhood to get away form those crime ridden cities running wild with thugs.

Take it away Lisa:

One of the many oxymoronic aspects of this concept is the notion… that our neighborhoods, our communities, our corners, our schools, and our homes, are crazy, dirty, sick, disgusting and must be cleaned up, cleaned out and eradicated, hygienic metaphors about humans scattered about with impunity. And the complete and utter disregard for the fact that in everyone of these so-called, blighted neighborhoods, filthy apartment buildings and poor people schools, homes and communities, there are families and elders and children of color who are living, thriving, learning, and resisting. There are heroes, and leaders, and lecturers and healers, and dreamers and teachers, and poets and artists, revolutionaries and scholars…

I started this piece by saying I had terror in my heart about the gang tours, but be clear its not terror for the poor, unsuspecting tourist, default colonizers and 21st century missionaries, stumbling and trampling over our communities and cultures as the well-meaning gang tours commence, rather, its terror for the residents of the proposed tour sites, and so I caution all of the community members, families and young people to hold on carefully to their purses, wallets, belongings, poetry, art and scholarship, cause, well, you know how dangerous those tourists can be.

Please read her whole article at Poor Magazine.

US Condemns Human Rights Council’s Findings

The United Nations Human Rights Council sent respected human rights experts to investigate the state of human rights vis-a-vis the Gaza conflict.

Surprise! They discovered Israeli war crimes and human rights abuses:

The Goldstone mission report — totaling 575 pages — contains detailed accounts of deadly Israeli attacks against schools, mosques, private homes, and businesses nowhere near legitimate military targets, which they accurately described as “a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish humiliate and terrorize a civilian population.”

This scary, scary statement of facts by a commission of respected officials Will. Not. Stand. in the United States, where our patriotism is predicated on the believe our ally Israel is incapable of making any false step. Outrage at a report, based on research (the nerve!), burned so hot in the hearts of the United States House of Representatives that they were compelled, nay, mandated by love of god and country, to “overwhelmingly approve” a resolution condemning it.

The resolution resolves that the report is “irredeemably biased” against Israel, an ironic charge given that Justice Goldstone, the report’s principal author and defender, is Jewish, a longtime supporter of Israel, chair of Friends of Hebrew University, president emeritus of the World ORT Jewish school system, and the father of an Israeli citizen.

The resolution also expresses outrage that the “culpability” of Iran and Syria weren’t condemned in this report on Gaza and Israel. Because, you know, Syria and Iran support Palestine, which is run by terrorists, thereby making them State Sponsors of Terrorism upon Israel. Personal vendetta anyone?

Because this resolution was “overwhelmingly” approved in a House that is dominated by Democrats, we are once again reminded to ask ourselves the question: “Exactly how different are Democrats and Republicans?”

Having 80% of the U.S. House of Representatives go on record attacking the integrity of one of the world’s most respected and principled defenders of human rights is indicative of just how far to the right the U.S. Congress has now become, even under Democratic leadership.

Sigh. Read the whole bullshit enchilada here.