Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
I was really touched by what Barack Obama said in a speech to the President at the NAACP Conference at Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia last month. This long excerpt is worth a read:
What the marchers on Washington knew, what the marchers in Selma knew, what folks like Julian Bond knew, what the marchers in this room still know, is that justice is not only the absence of oppression, it is the presence of opportunity. Justice is giving every child a shot at a great education no matter what zip code they’re born into. Justice is giving everyone willing to work hard the chance at a good job with good wages, no matter what their name is, what their skin color is, where they live. Justice is living up to the common creed that says, I am my brother’s keeper and my sister’s keeper. Justice is making sure every young person knows they are special and they are important and that their lives matter — not because they heard it in a hashtag, but because of the love they feel every single day not just love from their parents, not just love from their neighborhood, but love from police, love from politicians. Love from somebody who lives on the other side of the country, but says, that young person is still important to me. That’s what justice is.
The Julian Bond that President Obama mentioned here came to speak to a history class that Howard Zinn taught me and about 200 of my Boston University classmates back in 1986. Bond spoke of his work as the first president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, and as an activist who was the first African American to be nominated as a major-party candidate for Vice President of the United States (which he declined, being merely 28 years old in 1968). Bond inspired me and many others that day, and with his work later in life as President of the NAACP. Jesse Jackson once said that when Bond was sworn into the Georgia legislature, despite his opposition to the war in Vietnam, “He became our version of (Nelson) Mandela.” He passed away Saturday at the age of 75 after a lifetime of struggle for justice.
I wrote in a previous pub quiz newsletter about the logic and yet the ongoing tension inherent in linking the LGBT rights movement to the civil rights movement. Many of us who were too young to march for civil rights in the 1960s haven’t been too young or too old to march for gay rights in the 2010s, and before. Offering context for these struggles, I’ve heard pundits on political talk shows and students in UC Davis classrooms point out that in the 1960s Americans practiced a sort of casual racism that manifested itself in racist jokes, incidental discrimination, and police harassment. We might point out that although this sort of racism is still widespread today, most of us would be brave enough to confront it forcefully should we be given a chance.
But what about homophobia and transphobia? (I should stop to point out that although we all know what transphobia is, and that it can be found in Oxford dictionaries, Microsoft Word still tells me that the word doesn’t exist, that I need to add it to my dictionary. Done.) Would we all be as comfortable confronting the buffoon telling a homophobic joke or transphobic joke as we would the buffoon telling a racist joke?
With these questions in mind, last night Kate and I had an opportunity to act on our principles. As two members of my family suffer from asthma, with my daughter actually wheezing yesterday, we found ourselves driving east to escape the Davis air and heat, and found ourselves at Lake Tahoe. As Harvey’s Lake Tahoe Casino was only about three blocks from our hotel, Kate and I strolled over last night to catch the comedy show. Following two hilarious comedians who made all sorts of outrageous and edgy jokes, including good-naturedly insulting people in the audience (but not us, regrettably), the third “headliner” comedian stumbled over his opening, and then told a number of jokes that surprised us with the ferocity of his homophobia and transphobia.
Caitlin Jenner jokes are commonplace in some circles, I suppose, but this comedian used the occasion to present an extended argument that transgender people are not entitled to their feelings, to self-identification, and, by extension, to a community of supporters. He went so far as to suggest that transgender people in effect do not exist. As Kate and I sat in the middle of the front row, we searched this performer’s routine for relevance, for humanity, or for comedy. Having found none of these three, we walked out.
Since then the comedian in question has responded to my statement on Twitter that “transphobia is not funny,” saying, “The crowd couldn’t wait for you leave! We had GREAT TIME:) Please walk out of all my shows!:).”
Some might say that Kate and I were merely being multi-culturally over-sensitive, that we were trying to impose some sort of Davis political correctness upon comedians whose job it is to provoke and to offend. Jerry Seinfeld has recently expressed concern that “political correctness will destroy comedy.” And director Lars Van Trier has said that, “Political correctness kills discussion.” As someone whose life as a poet, professor, and broadcaster benefits daily from the First Amendment to the Constitution, I wonder if our own political concerns and sensitivities function to limit the absolutely free expression of the full spectrum of ideas, including those that challenge our primary values of inclusivity and compassion.
Nevertheless, I’m glad we walked out. One of the best ways to confront hatred and intolerance is to remove the audience of those who present such feelings as normal or funny. In Davis we pride ourselves on being ahead of the times when it comes to confronting institutionalized racism (in our response to Apartheid South Africa), and, in other arenas, to widespread sexism, homophobia, and transphobia. I look forward to the rest of the country catching up with us!
Tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature questions about cameras, explosions, indigenous peoples, El Dorado County, WJLA interviews, famous pictures, Jarzabkowski, nautical characters, strips, countries in Europe, Irish shades, bow ties, warcraft, paid digital downloads, strategies for avoiding biting insects, The Fantasticks, rendering, The Ugly Duckling by A. A. Milne, harmony, comedic spinoffs, an endless journey, tattoos, cities with more than 100,000 people in them, Muhammad Ali, Virginia heroes, real estate, Irish culture, and Shakespeare.
I hope to see you this evening, no matter the temperature nor the air quality. Let’s pack the house!
Your Quizmaster
https://www.yourquizmaster.com
http://www.twitter.com/yourquizmaster
http://www.facebook.com/yourquizmaster
Here are five questions from last week’s quiz:
- Languages of the World. There is one province in Italy, 31 communes in Poland, nine municipalities in Brazil and two villages in Slovakia where WHAT European language is a co-official or auxiliary language?
- Dogs. According to the American Kennel Club, the world’s leading police, guard and military dog is also the most loyal. Name the breed.
- Science. According to a Popular Science article from 2005, Americans eat more BLANKS than any other kind of fresh fruit, averaging about 26.2 pounds per person. Name the fruit.
- Books and Authors. The maiden name of Michelle Obama is the same as a famous baseball player and that of the most notable science fiction author in Davis, winner of the Hugo and Nebula awards, and author of the new book Aurora. What last name do these people share?
- Current Events – Names in the News. Many pundits say that Marco Rubio won Thursday night’s Republican debate. Rubio represents what state in the U.S. Senate?