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 Barbwire Archives |
I was a teenage racist
Expanded from the 1-12-1990 and 1-15-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune
The above column also appeared in the 1-19-1990 Comstock Chronicle
Hereinbelow appear updated and modified versions from the Fresno Bee and Reno Gazette-Journal
To get the full picture, I suggest reading all of them, as each contains new and different information.
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Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed.
Everybody knows the war is over.
Everybody knows the good guys lost.
Everybody knows the fight was fixed.
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich.
That's how it goes. Everybody knows.
[NOTE TO READERS: The following appeared in the Fresno Bee of 14 Jan. 2012.]
HAT TRICK: Barbwire wins 3rd straight Nevada Press Association First-Place Award
Barbwire.TV
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SUING FOR SCHOOLS
Updated 8-30-2011
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go to the BCTV link.If Reform Fails: Health Care, Jobs and Unions — new power to the people on the public airwaves
The program premiers were available to every television set in the region because of a high-mileage media hybrid.
The shows appeared on both commercial and community stations. The non-corporate entity produced the events, commercial TV greatly expanded distribution.
Thus began an ongoing series of sane public interest programs which generate both entertaining heat and more than a little light.
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You are present at the creation of what I hope can become a new media model where the programming accurately reflects what's happening on the ground and the media impact is powerful enough to forcefully pass the message upward.
Thanks.
Be well. Raise hell.
Andrew
Click here for selected on-demand re-runs from the 2009, 2010 and 2011 Barbwire.TV archivesBarbwire.TV:
15-year overnight success
Daily Sparks Tribune 2-10-2008The Barbwire's Greatest Hits
Highlights from radio days
mp3 file
HAT TRICK: Barbwire wins 3rd straight Nevada Press Association First-Place Award
Memories of Fresno long ago
I grew up racist and was too dumb to know it.
Didn't I go to school with "Negro" kids? Sell the Fresno Bee with Mexican and Portagee buddies?
You're not born that way, you've got to be carefully taught. It's done by building on the basics. You know your skin is lighter than some and none of "them" are on TV. You often hear ancient Italian ladies make jokes about "moulangianis" (translation: "eggplants"). Subtle, huh?
Growing up on Fresno's west side in the 1950's, our favorite hangouts were the black-owned Pat's Record Shop and a hobby store run by Japanese Americans. Not even watching hateful World War II propaganda movies could make us kids dislike the Maruko family.
You may share household visits with the "other" kids but your families are never close.
Just after I turned 13, I was sent to an almost-white Catholic high school across town where I soon saw my first copy of The Jews News, published by some of my classmates. Haw haw. Weren't those Jew jokes funny.
I thought so. I had grown up in a world of racial slurs.
At my parents' B-Street diner, the Regal Cafe, we served the most diverse imaginable clientele, but it didn't make me wise. Paul Sauceda and Jack Kelley did.After playing a religious procession one hot Sunday afternoon, VFW Post 8900 band director Sauceda and I sat in his 1954 Oldsmobile in front of St. Alphonsus School and talked about Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Blacks don't want racial equality, they want superiority," the teenaged me recited, quoting some of my elders. As evidence, I offered what I saw as the racial puffery of the Jet and Ebony magazines I had read.
Paul looked at me with understanding eyes.
"Andy, growing up around here, I wish I could have had a Willie Mays or Willie McCovey to look up to. When I got to Reedley High, other kids would tell me 'why do you want to go to high school? The only thing you can ever be is a farm worker.' I would have given anything for magazines with somebody I could point to as a success. I had no answer for them."
Decades later, I heard that a young César Chávez was likewise stigmatized when a teacher hung him with a sign reading "I am a clown. I speak Spanish."
That brought back Paul's words from long ago and I told his tale many times afterward.You remember your great teachers, like Fresno police detective Jack Kelley who torpedoed my conspiracy theory, planted by a relative, that the real goal of the civil rights movement was total racial intermarriage.
"I don't know that I'd want my daughter to marry a white man," Jack stated in an offhand manner between bites of his sandwich at our lunch counter.
I was shocked. Why wouldn't a black woman want to move up in class?
Was Jack reacting like an over-protective father but playing it cool? Or did he really mean it?Maybe a little of both.
Either way, he had cleverly gotten me looking through the other end of the telescope, viewing the world without white blinders on.
We too often tend to rewrite history to conform to our own prejudices.Dr. King's new statue in Washington, DC, is very big and very white, an imposing teutonic depiction of a black hero who died fighting for the rights of striking union garbage workers and was vilified for opposing the Vietnam War.
"The Jews News" came up between me and a classmate named Joe.
"Andy, our speech club lost a major donation because of anti-Semitism at our school."
I was speechless. Anti-Semitism? The stupido Jews News?
"Yeah...I guess...you're right."
I was shedding the white-robe mindset I had been carefully taught.
Jack Kelley, Paul Sauceda and Dr. Joe left me a coat of many colors that I will proudly wear always.
____
Fresno native Andrew Barbano is first vice-president of the Reno-Sparks NAACP and chair of the Nevada César Chávez Committee. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us.
[NOTE TO READERS: The following appeared in the Reno Gazette-Journal of 15 Jan. 2012.]
I was a teenage racist until two men wised me upI grew up racist and was too dumb to know it.
You're not born that way, you've got to be carefully taught. You may share household visits with the "other" kids but your families are never close.
At my parents' west Fresno diner, we served the most diverse imaginable clientele, but it didn't wise me up. Paul Sauceda and Jack Kelley did.
Kelley is well-known to University of Nevada oldtimers. His Fresno State team beat NFL Hall-of-Famer Marion Motley's 1942 Wolf Pack 33-0. Both schools would face their greatest test in 1946 when they played against racism in the Jim Crow south. Nevada won.
Fresno was coached by legendary Nevada running back James "Rabbit" Bradshaw, who had become its first All-American in 1921. The Bulldogs faced powerful Oklahoma City University. The Wolf Pack from the fabled Mississippi West scheduled Mississippi State.
Despite street protests by thousands, Fresno played at OCU but benched African-Americans Millard Mitchell and their star running back, Kelley, who went on to compete for the forerunner of the New York Giants.
When Jack died last year, Keith Kelley, a Fresno businessman and Mitchell's godson, told the Fresno Bee that his father was never the same afterward.
"I think it took a little bit out of dad," Keith Kelley said. "This was a long time before Martin Luther King."
Fresno lost badly. Nevada canceled against Mississippi State rather than cave to thinly-veiled threats. All this happened six months before Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier.
Detective Kelley was a regular at the Barbano cafe. We often talked and argued. He calmly debunked the conspiracy theory, planted in my teenaged head by racist relatives, that the hidden goal of the civil rights movement was total racial intermarriage.
VFW Band Director Paul Sauceda continued my education.
One day after a long, hot parade, we debated about Dr. King.
"Blacks don't want racial equality, they want superiority," I recited as taught by my elders. For evidence, I offered what I saw as racial puffery in Jet and Ebony magazines.
Paul looked at me with understanding eyes.
"Andy, growing up around here, I wish I could have had a Willie Mays or Willie McCovey to look up to. When I got to Reedley High, other kids would tell me 'why do you want to go to high school? The only thing you can ever be is a farm worker.' I would have given anything for magazines like those, with a Willie Mays or a Jackie Robinson, somebody I could point to as a success. I had no answer for them."
Like Paul Sauceda, I came from a family of farm workers but nobody ever trashed me like that. He became a union musician and noted accountant.
I began shedding the white-robe mindset I had been carefully taught.
My teachers are now gone but they left me a coat of many colors that I will proudly wear always.
____
Andrew Barbano serves as first vice-president of the Reno-Sparks NAACP and produces the annual Nevada César Chávez Day celebration. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us.
The last brother
Fidel Sauceda, 1938-2015
Andrew Barbano: I was a teenage racist until two men wised me up
Reno Gazette-Journal / 1-15-2012Memories of Fresno long ago
Barbano / Fresno Bee / 1-14-2012Jack Kelley —
Heroes are made, not born
Barbwire / 11-6-2011The need for a César Chávez Day
Barbwire / 3-21-2009
From the Barbwire Tribune edition of 1-15-2012
NOTE: Fidel Sauceda, Paul's brother, is a longtime Sparks resident.
MLK WEEKEND. Reno-Sparks NAACP President Lonnie Feemster will deliver the annual Martin Luther King keynote address at Reno's Second Baptist Church, 1265 Montello, 3:00 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 15. The annual MLK Highway Caravan departs from the church Monday at 10:30 a.m.
OUR SPIES REPORT. Reno's Atlantis Hotel will break ground on a parking garage and high rise later this year...About 500 attended Friday's memorial service for Washoe Dist. Judge Bob Perry. Several of his former colleagues will retire early.From the Barbwire Tribune edition of 1-8-2012
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Help give the gift of non-corporate TV to your community. We are making progress. Your support is both needed and appreciated.
Be well. Raise hell.
______
Andrew Barbano is a 43-year Nevadan, chair of the Nevada César Chávez Committee, producer of Nevada's annual César Chávez Day celebration, first vice-president and political action chair of the Reno-Sparks NAACP, labor/consumer/civil rights advocate, member of Communications Workers of America Local 9413/AFL-CIO and editor of NevadaLabor.com and JoeNeal.org. As always, his opinions are strictly his own. Check local listings for other Nevada cable systems. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Daily Sparks Tribune since 1988.
Smoking Guns...
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Elliott Parker Guest Editorial / Las Vegas Sun / 11-27-2011POWERFUL PUNDITORY PANJANDRUMS: Compelling guest commentary
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Expanded from the 2-21-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune
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Expanded from the 1-10-2010 Daily Sparks TribuneThe wrath of self-righteous racism
Expanded from the 11-8-2009 Daily Sparks Tribune
And they wonder why the newspaper business is dying?
The Dean's List
The Dean of Reno Bloggers could very well be Andrew Barbano, self-described "fighter of public demons," who started putting his "Barbwire" columns online in 1996 and now runs 10 sites.
RENO NEWS & REVIEW, 11-9-2006
The 2009 first-place Nevada Press Association award winners
Tony the Tiger & the flaky NFL
Barbwire / 11-30-2008
Deregulation is never having to say you're sorry
Barbwire / 8-3-2008
Nevada: A good place to visit, but do you want to live here?
Barbwire / 6-15-2008
The price of a piece / 6-17-2007
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10-28-2007
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The great recession made bashing public workers a national sport
Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review / 11-23-2011Bury the Bad News with Rose-colored Reporting
How urgent can economic troubles be if leaders say things are getting better?
Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review / 11-23-2011Fact-free nation: Inside the lie machine
Mother Jones Magazine May-June 2011 / Cover story and in-depth analysis
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Money fights hard and it fights dirty
Speech delivered at Boston University on 29 Oct. 2010
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Cabellyup.com
TOLJASO LONG TIME AGO
BP/ARCO: The greasy root of our evils
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Using war to market cigarettes
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Barbwire 8-14-2005Donate to the cable ratepayer legal defense fund at our PayPal-enabled ReSurge.TV Consumer War Room
Phillips, Kevin; Numbers Racket: Why the economy is worse than we know
Harper's Magazine; May 2008; page 43
Phillips has authored numerous books on history and politics over the past 40 years. His most recent, Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism, was published by Viking on April 15, 2008.NAOMI WOLF: Fascist America in 10 Easy Steps
There are some things common to every state that's made the transition to fascism. Author Naomi Wolf argues that all of them are present in America today.
Alternet 5-20-2007Johnson, Chalmers; REPUBLIC OR EMPIRE? A National Intelligence Estimate on the United States; Harper's magazine; January, 2007. I love it when heavy hitters validate what I've been saying for years in the tiny Sparks Tribune.
Barlett, Donald L. and Steele, James B.; America: What Went Wrong? (1992); America: Who Really Pays the Taxes? (1994); America: Who Stole the Dream? (1996) ; Andrews & McMeel/Universal Press Syndicate.
Review of Alex Carey's Taking the Risk Out of Democracy:
Propaganda in the US and AustraliaThe Orwell Diversion by Alex Carey
Excerpted from the book available below
ORDER Taking the Risk Out of Democracy
Corporate Propaganda versus Freedom and Liberty
By Alex Carey
Edited by Andrew Lohrey
Foreword by Noam Chomsky
University of Illinois Press
SEE ALSO: Lapham, Lewis H.; Tentacles of Rage: The Republican Propaganda Mill, A Brief History; Harper's Magazine cover article; September, 2004, page 32.
By one conservative estimate, the corporate right has spent about $3 billion over the past three decades manufacturing public opinion to suit big business goals. Lapham's number covered the early 1970's to the present day. Alex Carey noted that by 1948, anti- New Deal corporate propaganda expenditures had already reached $100 million per year, not adjusted for inflation, for advertising alone. (Carey, ibid; page 79)
Adjusted for inflation, that 1948 $100 million becomes $801,659,751.04 in 2005 dollars.
Conservatives Help Wal-Mart, and Vice Versa
As Wal-Mart struggles to rebut growing criticism, it has discovered a reliable ally: conservative research groups.
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Barbwire 9-10-2006
Rinfret, Pierre A.; Peace is Bullish; Look magazine, 5-31-1966
Copyright © 1982-2012
Andrew Barbano
Andrew Barbano is a 43-year Nevadan, editor of NevadaLabor.com and JoeNeal.org; and former chair of the City of Reno's Citizens Cable Compliance Committee, He is producer of Nevada's annual César Chávez Day celebration and serves as first vice-president, political action chair and webmaster of the Reno-Sparks NAACP. As always, his opinions are strictly his own. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us.
Barbwire by Barbano premiered in the Daily Sparks (Nev.) Tribune on Aug. 12, 1988, and has originated in those parts ever since. Tempus fugit.
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