Insights and Outbursts – Volume 1

These are short clips of longer speeches, focused on a particular narrow theme. Literally, sound bytes or a little more…Descriptions below the audio player.

1. A snippet of my 2005 speech at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, discussing the ways in which privilege and the obliviousness that comes with it can leave people dangerously unsafe, whether nationally (as in the case of our reaction to 9/11) or locally (as with the reaction to the shootings at Columbine High School and others).

2. A brief snippet from my 2005 speech at Immanuel Presbyterian Church in L.A. In this clip, I’m discussing the way in which white liberal and left activists sometimes minimize the issue of race and racism within social justice efforts (around the environment, health care and militarism), and the way in which that fractures potential social justice coalitions.

3. A very brief snip from my January, 1997 MLK presentation at Central Michigan University, in which I briefly note the importance of radical activists in the struggle for social justice.

4. A very brief snip from my January, 1997 MLK presentation at Central Michigan University, in which I am contrasting our national reactions to personal evil and violence committed by individuals with our lack of reaction to institutional evil and violence perpetrated by policymakers. One thing that is immediately noticeable about my speaking in those days is that I spoke waaay faster back then: partly nerves I am guessing, and also partly the inexperience that causes one not to value the power of a pause…

5. A snip from a 2001 speech at Ohio State University as part of a conference on “Organizing for Social Change.” Here I am discussing how the criminal justice system and especially the prosecution of the war on drugs has served as a mechanism of social control in the post-Jim Crow era. Even the definitions of crime and our understandings of danger and deviance serve to privilege some and disadvantage others.

6. Just a short bit about a right-wing spokesperson for the American Family Association, who I had seen downplaying (one might say justifying) anti-gay bullying while wearing an American flag shirt. Thought it was worth noting how apparently wearing the flag on your sweaty-ass body is not desecration but letting it touch the ground or burning it or just failing to salute it is seen as disrespectful by these jackasses…