Thursday, May 2, 2013
Friday, April 26, 2013
D&C Says: No Diversity Allowed!
A few months ago, to my surprise, I received an email from Jane Sutter, Editor of Community Partnerships & Niche Content at the Democrat and Chronicle. She invited me to join a forum to discuss their coming “Unite Rochester” initiative, ostensibly intended to serve as a catalyst to bring this community together on the topic of race. I was more than happy to offer my opinion as someone who is married to a Thai immigrant, expectant father (at the time) of a multi-racial child and one who is passionate about our community. (My daughter was born on Thursday April 5th. Mom and baby are doing great)
At the time I offered to bring my wife, as I believe her opinion and thoughts would be valuable to the conversation. To my surprise, the forum I had been invited to was to consist of whites only. They had been breaking out small groups of blacks, latinos, asians, and whites to get their thoughts on how to best approach this initiative. My wife and I had a good laugh at the thought of me going to a “whites only” breakfast. At that first meeting I offered the idea of not focusing on race but rather topics of interest to the community which would provide an avenue of people from various backgrounds, races, religions, etc to come together and “unite”. That idea was quickly shot down.
I was asked to return to another breakfast a few weeks ago that consisted of the various groups from before, where the D&C could bring us all up to speed on what was going on with “Unite Rochester”. Among many items brought up that day was the paper's disappointment that more people were not engaging on the topic, especially whites from the suburbs. I again offered my thoughts of focusing on topics of interest and allow for diversity and uniting to happen organically. Many participants, of all colors, in the room agreed but not Karen Magnuson, the paper's Editor, Jim Lawrence, its editorial page Editor, or publisher Michael Kane.
After the meeting I reached out to Jane Sutter to offer my willingness to be a blogger once again for the D&C, this time for “Unite Rochester”. At first, they seemed to be interested. I was the person they wanted to be involved, right? A white guy originally from the suburbs, although now a city resident. Plus, in a multi-racial/multi-cultural marriage and father to a multi-racial/multi-cultural child. Jackpot!, you'd think. But apparently not to the D&C.
I received a call from Jane, essentially saying that they were concerned about what I would choose to write about. She also referred to a "personality conflict" between Jim Lawrence and me. I replied, “When Jim starts accusing you of being a liar and actually takes the time to call you on the phone to complain when you publicly disagree with him, you too would have a personality conflict.” (See my previous posts for examples)
Here was the offer from Jane, on behalf of the D&C: I could try writing a few blogs and she would review them. I guess if she approved I could then post them. After a good laugh, I pointed out that I can comment on any post, as long as I abide by the D&C terms and conditions, and don’t need her permission to participate in the dialogue.
I find it humorous, disappointing, and totally unsurprising that this is how “Unite Rochester” is going. The D&C isn’t at all concerned about uniting anyone or anything. They are rebranding the same ideology that they have been pushing for the last few decades. They are looking for blacks and latinos to author blogs that softly point the finger at whites in the suburbs for causing the issues that exist in the city and for guilty whites to author blogs that agree with those viewpoints. They are not interested in diversity, but rather in their own rigid orthodoxy.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Race Has Entered the Mayoral Campaign Already
The Lovely Warren campaign has unfortunately decided to throw race into the dialogue in her attempt to become Rochesters next Mayor.
What I find most unfortunate about this is that she was in full support of Tom Richards less than two years ago when he first ran. And for those of you who have forgotten, he had a black challenger at that time as well in Bill Johnson. It leaves me wondering if she is unwilling or unable to base the dialogue on topics of importance to city residents. Maybe she feels that it will be easier bringing the conversation down to being about black and white? Our community would be better served having Mayoral candidates discussing the actual issues of this city and not focusing on physical appearances of one another.
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Boy, When Things Go Wrong ...
A bad week for the Left/mainstream Media.
First, months of propagandizing for a "gun control" law couldn't get it through even the Democratic-controlled Senate. Especially painful because the gun measure amounted to a back-door means of national gun registration, the prerequisite to the cherished leftist goal of national gun confiscation.
Then, while some left-wing crackpots in the media fervently hoped the Boston Marathon bombers would turn out to be a "white Americans", others just told us outright that the bombers were "right-wing extremists," "white supremacists" (whatever that means) or crazed evangelicals. All were crestfallen when the bombers turned out to be not only foreign immigrants, but adherents of the Religion of Peace who demonstrated radical jihadist sentiments.
Doesn't the media know that if you want to find a white American terrorist killer, like Bill Ayers or Bernadine Dohrn, or Kathy Boudin, you have to look in faculty rooms of prestigious colleges?
Hats off to the Boston Police and associated law enforcement members who tracked down the surviving bomber last night. Now on to the next step ...
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Take It from the Indigent Burial Fund
Governor Cuomo has told County Clerk Cheryl DiNolfo that the cost of complying with his new gun law is the counties' problem, not his. "The burden is on local governments to find a way to address the issue."
Monday, April 1, 2013
Legal Experts: Suit Against Cuomo Gun Law "Significant"
“This is a very significant case,” said James B. Jacobs, a constitutional law professor and director of the Center for Research in Crime and Justice at the New York University School of Law. “It may go all the way to the Supreme Court.”So this is not just a frivolous lawsuit by sore losers, but raises genuinely significant issues. The full story is worth reading. You won't find it in the Rochester D&C, of course, but in The Buffalo News, where the important stuff gets printed. (The pattern becomes clearer and clearer).
Sunday, March 31, 2013
You've Got to Be Kidding
I usually try to be pretty terse with my comments on Democrat and Chronicle editorials, but this morning's silliness demands some more.
First, if you don’t graduate from high school, don’t have command of the English language, dress like you are in a gang (or are in a gang), or don’t go out actively pursuing employment, chances are you aren’t going to be hired. This same concept can also be applied to the D&C's “Making justice more just” editorializing, where it complained about lack of diversity in the Monroe County Court/Law Enforcement system. If you are not prepared for the job, you will not get it.
To suggest without any proof or example that the reason there is higher unemployment amongst minorities is because of racism on the part of employers is ridiculous. If you have no proof or example, use some journalistic integrity and ethics and leave it out of the story.
It would do the editorialists some good to watch their newspaper's own video of the young man who tells us he is working to achieve things in life for himself. I didn’t hear anything from him suggesting that business owners are leaving him behind. He also acknowledges that there are many people in the city who are not willing or interested in finding better for themselves. My guess is that many of those add into the high unemployment rate.
Lastly, my last name is Tyson. Tyson sounds plenty "afrocentric" to many people. Believe me, I have surprised many people over the years when they finally meet me and say, “Oh, you’re white”. I have been interviewed for many jobs over the years and worked for many people that were black, latino, and white. As the Editorial Board doesn't consist of business owners, its members most likely won't get this, but business owners are looking for good people. They care less about the name at the top of the resume ("afrocentric," "eurocentric" or otherwise) and more about the experience and ability of the person behind the name.
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Thursday, March 28, 2013
New York the Least Free State
Driving to western Massachusetts today revealed the rapacious Vampire State in all its glory. It's the end of the month, so state cops are staked out in their hiding spots everywhere along the Thruway, desperately trying to hit their ticket quota for the month, extracting cash to feed the monster.
So today's news seemed especially appropriate: New York ranks as the least free state in the country.
George Mason University's Mercatus Center spells out the reasons in its study. Oppressive taxes and regulation, of course, but also much more, including the most regulated and monitored motorists. Worth reading, even if it tells us what we already know.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Family Feud
After a truce of sorts, the gloves are off between Assemblymen David Gantt and Joe Morelle.
Still smarting from Morelle's elevation to Assembly Majority Leader, Gantt wasted no time in whacking Morelle for supporting Rochester Mayor Tom Richards for re-election. Gantt proxy Lovely Warren just announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination for Mayor last week.
The Mayor, says Gantt, "was only supposed to fill in" for a few years as Mayor, and Warren would have the nomination this year. That was the word on the street at the time.
Morelle countered quickly with a carefully-worded statement that translates in plain English as: "Gantt's lying, as usual."
There's a wholly different dynamic on each side of this fight. Mayor Richards is his own man who, wisely and expectedly for a Democratic mayor in a Democratic constituency, maintains good relations with his party chair, Joe Morelle. Warren is a wholly-owned subsidiary of David Gannt, dependent on Gantt for her livelihood with her day job as Gantt's Chief of Staff.
So grab your popcorn and a cool drink, sit back and enjoy the show between now and the September primary.
The Monroe County Democratic Committee is concerned about the looming fight. Its house newsletter this morning deployed a bit of diversionary persiflage, with an editorial demanding that the County Republican Committee must "change its policies."
But the real show is the clash betwen Gantt and Morelle, who have been going at it in Albany since Morelle's elevation in January to Shelly Silver's official Number One Sidekick.
Anyone who wants to share information on the shaping mayoral contest is invited to do so, to our e-mail eaddress at the bottom of this page.
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