Im guessing what youre referring to as my original comment was probably my 5th or 6th comment about that particular issue. I didnt inject race, i spoke about race, sexism and homophobia linking all three together to make the point about how minorities are looked upon and defined in this country.

As for your second non point i already made clear that the reason for honoring Manning is the same reason a group would honor a gay scientists, entertainer, athlete etc ecen though whatthe do has nothingto do with being gay.

I didn’t realize i charged you with or implied that you were anything.

Nobody wanted to make it all about Manning thats a strawman (those are going around a lot in this thread.)

I assumed your deductive reasoning skills would be sharp enough to deduce my answer to your question by the fact that i referred to Jefferson as a racist and a rapist. Infact you agreed with me that Jefferson’s race had an extraordinarily influence on his life. The point of all of that was that history doesn’t primarily define Jefferson by his race. Black folk dont get that privilege.

And yet “white, racist, rapist” would undoubtedly not be the first thing most think of when they think of Jefferson… at least not most folks who arent of color. Its white privilege to be able to not be defined by your color. Us Black folk dont have that option.

I coulda sworn honoring a hero like Manning was oart of the diversity you speak of.

By your logic gay athletes shouldnt be celebrated because PRIDE isnt about sports.

Scientists who happen to be gay shouldn’t be celebrated because PRIDE isnt about science.

No actors, entertainers, politicians either etc etc

If ya ask me its a pretty bad way to celebrate diversity.

Please reread my post, and then read the post that i was replying to. You might find your answer somwhere inbetween those steps.

Isnt that the point? Folks overwhelmingly desire to honor a gay hero (yes we know you dont agree) service member and to bring attention to his plight and heroism? The former Marshals that actually voted to honor Manning thought so.

If that’s the case Thomas Jefferson was defined by his color, i mean he couldn’t have been what he was if he wasnt white. Funny, “White guy” is typically not the first thing people (white people) think of when describing Jefferson.

When did i say i didnt see race? I think i made it pretty obvious how, in my view, the racist, sexist, and homophobic history of this country still permeates the way we view folks. Bill Clinton being a “white” man in th US had just as much bearing on his development as a person as Jesse Jackson being a “black” man did. Yet only Jackson is defined by his race. We minorities are always defined by our otherness

Pointing that out doesn’t make me holier tha thou. I see race all too well.

I actually try not to do that. I recognize that people are much more than my initial thoughts, which is why i try to delve deeper when possible.

No disrespect but how someone writes a bio summary of a prominent person tends to reflect the longstanding historical racial, ethnic, gender, and sexual dynamics in this country that we view from our own preconceived lens. The fact that for minorities our “otherness” is the first thing someone who is not in our “other” cohort sees is always telling. The fact that no white person refers to gw bush or any other president sans obama as a “white man” in a summary bio is telling. We tend to be viewed by our differences not similarities.

What about the folks who weren’t paying attention?

Funny, but when i think of Harvey Milk the first thing that comes to my mind is dynamic leader who fought for equality. I dont compartmentalize people into different specific boxes like that. Him being gay was definitely a big part of the story and who he was. But there is a level of humanitarian transcends.

I am somewhat puzzled as to why Bradley Manning was selected as Grand Marshal, being that “LGBT” isnt the first thing that comes to mind when i think of Bradley Manning.

Whats the point exactly?

Gay isnt the first thing i think of when it comes to Harvey Milk. Woman isn’t the first thing i think of with Rosa Parks. Black isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when Medgar Evers is mentioned.

Manning gave the cables to wikileaks, he didnt stand on top a building tossing down documents saying “here you go world!!!”. He tried to go to the Times and he tried to go to the Post. in the end he went to wikileaks who ironically went to the Times to source what they had. He did exactly what Ellsberg did, he went to the media.

Im sorry, i seem to have misplaced my “rules for blogs” handbook so i pretty much try to stick to the guidelines of each individual site i visit. I wasn’t aware that this place had a “no disagreement with the blogger” policy.

We were too busy worring about all those theoretical people that manning got killed.

Well as long as drones are another issue…. cant apply the same outrage to actual dead people as to, in mannings case, suspected dead people cause ya know “its another issue”.