BARBWIRE by ANDREW BARBANO

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White is the absence of color. Black is the presence of all colors.

That's one of the few things I remember from high school science.

Alas and alack, America has perverted this wonderful metaphor for human unity.

The killing of Trayvon Martin brought the country's residual ugliness into focus.

One freedom-loving racist who's been sending me stuff for years forwarded a photo purported to be the "real" Trayvon Martin — a hairy, burly, muscular tattooed dude scowling at the camera.

I did a quick web search and sent my redneck reader a diplomatic question: Do you ever verify stuff you get before you send it back out?

That photo has sometimes been accompanied by text accusing the dead 17 year-old of being somewhere between Al Capone and Charles Manson.

Actually, the guy in the shot is a 32 year-old rapper named The Game.

For the first time ever, my benighted correspondent apologized, but the vaccination didn't take.

He began sending out the same picture with new vitriol a few days ago.

Addiction is an ugly thing to behold.

Several others ranted that all the attention to the Trayvon case violates the rights of other victims, namely white and Latino kids who have been murdered but lack the same media favor.

They unknowingly parallel the rationale for equal protection under the law, something that minorities enjoy diminishing chances of achieving.

These good people apparently don't realize that media parity is not a solution.

In all the billions of words written and spoken on the Trayvon tragedy/travesty, the bottom line has apparently been overlooked: Guns just make it too damned easy to kill somebody.

There are a lot of people that should never have one, but that's bad for sales.

Universal background checks would just provide another Band-Aid on a gushing gunshot wound
.
The solution is simple, macro not micro.

End the lost war on drugs and stop having government act as a price support system for the abuse business. Invest in treatment to reduce the customer base.

Cut the War Department budget and plow the money into education.

Expanded economic opportunity represents the closest thing to a cure-all for the ills of society.

But such enlightenment would involve dismantling the military- and prison-industrial complexes.

We've got so much money invested in the various profit centers of our increasingly efficient killing machines that the republic itself stands endangered.

If there's more money in treating disease than curing it, there will never be a cure.

Our perverted priorities have resulted in governments at all levels becoming increasingly impotent to provide for their constituents.

Great Depression Part Deux has been narrowly avoided because of government deficit spending.

The patient still lies in ICU.

If GD2 finally happens, we may all need guns.

Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno.

WEB EXTRAS...

HONOR YOUR DON. Keep sending comments supporting legendary Nevada photographer Don Dondero (1920-2003) for the Nevada Press Association Hall of Fame.

His life's work appeared worldwide, including this newspaper.

Enlist in the campaign to install Big Don.

Please send me your memories and endorsements via e-mail or to P.O. Box 10034, Reno NV 89510.

The Barbwire got the late Reno Gazette-Journal columnist Guy Richardson elected last year.

Let's go for a repeat.

BARBWIRE.TV. Support the return of community TV to these parts.

If last year's elections didn't convince you of the need, the 2013 legislature certainly should have.

Join up. You may donate at ReSurge.TV or contact me.

This is important.

Thank you.

Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)

____________

Andrew Barbano is a 44-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... More than 105 brave 105-degree heat at July 20 Trayvon rally in downtown Reno Bagging black bucks in the Gunshine State Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 7-18-2013 Sparks Tribune A Stand Your Ground bill passed in Nevada's 2011 legislative session Justice for Trayvon rallies scheduled for July 20 in Reno, Las Vegas and nationwide A Most American Way to Die If you're an unarmed black teen in Florida, someone can gun you down – and they might get away with it Paul Solotaroff / Rolling Stone / 4-25-2013 Death panels hard at work right here in River City Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 7-4-2013 Sparks Tribune Clarence Thomas, Little Anthony & the Imperials Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 6-27-2013 Sparks Tribune Rosy the poll dancer's destructive seduction Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 6-20-2013 Sparks Tribune ...and more ammo... We Don't Need No Education The continuing Barbwire series The Post-Dated Recession: Pay me now or pay me later Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 9-6-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune The Post-dated Recession By Joshua H. Silavent / Daily Sparks Tribune / 5-3-2011 Union decline and rising inequality in two charts by Colin Gordon Economic Policy Institute / 6-5-2012 Used in journalist Mark Robison's extensive Hard Labor: Nevada unions tout role in helping workers, firms, economy (Sunday 2 Sept. 2012 Reno Gazette-Journal, page one, Reno Rebirth section of the print edition). Union men Jim Burrell, Paul McKenzie and Guy Louis Rocha did the movement proud. Not included in the RGJ online edition. WOMEN AND UNIONS — ORPHAN MAJORITIES The Barbwire Labor Day column Reno Gazette-Journal / 9-3-2012 Nevada Press Assn. Better Newspaper Contest HAT TRICK: Barbwire takes first place three years in a row. The winning entries Suing for Schools: The 20-year shuck Expanded from the 2-21-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune Click here to view the show on your desktop RED flags flying low over Sparks Expanded from the 1-10-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune The wrath of self-righteous racism Expanded from the 11-8-2009 Daily Sparks Tribune Government contacts Nev. congressional delegation Nevada Legislature State of Nevada Secretary of State Carson City Clark County City of Las Vegas Douglas County Reno City Council Sparks City Council Washoe County Commission Washoe Registrar of Voters The campaign against forcibly-paid newspaper obituaries 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 2008 first-place Nevada Press Association award winners The price of a piece / 6-17-2007 Boxing Pandora /9-23-2007 The Lady in the Red Dress 10-28-2007 1997 Pulitzer Prize entries ...and more ammo yet The life and times of Travus T. Hipp The best who ever was

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Copyright © 1982-2013 Andrew Barbano

Andrew Barbano is a 44-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 moved to Nevada's Daily Sparks Tribune on Aug. 12, 1988, and has originated in them parts ever since.
Whom to blame: How a hall-of-famer's hunch birthed the Barbwire in August of 1987
Tempus fugit.

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