by Corinne Murdock | Sep 24, 2021 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
During Tuesday’s city council meeting, the town of Gilbert declared that racism, homophobia, transphobia, ageism, and discrimination perpetuate domestic violence. The proclamation came from Mayor Brigette Peterson while establishing this October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
The entirety of the proclamation is reproduced below:
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH[:] WHEREAS, domestic violence is a serious crime affecting over 4 million Americans each year of all races, ages, gender, and income levels; and WHEREAS, racism, homophobia, transphobia, ageism and discrimination based on physical ability, nationality or other factors help to perpetuate domestic violence and make finding safety even more difficult for some victims; WHEREAS, in just one day, across the U.S. and its territories, nearly 75,000 victims of domestic violence sought services from domestic violence programs and shelters. That same day, more than 9,000 requests for services, including emergency shelter, housing, transportation, childcare and legal representation, could not be provided because programs lacked the resources to meet victims’ needs; and WHEREAS, domestic violence impacts millions of people each year, but it can be prevented. Preventing domestic violence requires the collective voice and power of individuals, families, institutions, and systems; and WHEREAS, Gilbert has dedicated Family Violence officers, Police Counselors and Victim Advocates saving lives every day; and WHEREAS, Gilbert joins with others across Arizona and the nation in supporting victims of domestic violence, as well as local programs, state coalitions, national organizations, and other agencies nationwide who are committed to increasing public awareness of domestic violence and sending a clear message to abusers that domestic violence is not tolerated in Gilbert; NOW THEREFORE, I, Brigette Peterson, Mayor of the Town of Gilbert, do hereby proclaim the month of October 2021 as: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH in Gilbert, Arizona and urge our citizens to work together to eliminate domestic violence from our community. In witness thereof, I hereby set my hand and affix the Official Seal of the Office of the Mayor, Town of Gilbert, Arizona, and this 21st day of September, 2021. (emphasis added)
It is unclear how racism, homophobia, transphobia, ageism, and discrimination perpetuate domestic violence. AZ Free News requested Peterson to clarify why these four were linked to domestic violence. The mayor didn’t respond by press time.
Local and state governments have designated October as domestic violence awareness month since the 1980s.
The town of Gilbert has issued official statements condemning racism and generally notes its opposition to discrimination in any forms. It hasn’t issued any statements condemning transphobia, homophobia, or ageism.
The mayor’s stance against discrimination in any form apparently doesn’t align with her personal conduct. Last month, reports revealed that Peterson is facing a discrimination complaint from current employee. The employee, Derek Konofalski, claimed the mayor was exercising a personal vendetta against him because of her dislike for the town logo and him being part of the digital government team. The complaint tied in with other complaints against the mayor concerning ethics and conduct.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Dr. Thomas Patterson | Jun 22, 2021 | Education, Opinion
By Dr. Tom Patterson |
Yale, which protects its fragile students from dead white authors and offensive Halloween costumes, nevertheless featured a psychiatrist lecturing at Grand Rounds of her fantasies “unloading a revolver into the head of any white person that got in my way, wiping my bloody hands, like I did the world a f___ing big favor.”
Grand Rounds is an educational presentation by which teaching hospitals augment routine clinical training with presentations of unusual cases or medical advances. It’s not a political forum nor a venue to permit social causes.
Yet Dr. Aruna Khilanani, a New York psychiatrist, gave a widely-advertised speech on “The Psychopathic Problem of the White Mind.“ “There are no good apples out there. White people make my blood boil“ she informed the assembled doctors-in-training.
She backed up her opinions by “taking some actions. I systematically white-ghosted most of my white friends “including some “white BIPOCs.” Talking to white people is a “waste of time. We are asking a demented, violent predator who thinks they are saints or superheroes to accept responsibility. It ain’t going to happen. They have five holes in their brain.”
We’re well aware that there are bigots with pathological tendencies from both political extremes out there. Until now they haven’t been featured in legitimate academic settings. Not only that, her lecture was well received in some quarters.
A Yale psychologist pronounced her talk “absolutely brilliant”. A woman thanked the doctor for “giving voice to us as people of color.”
Dr. Khilanani was given space in the Washington Post to explain that any negative reactions were mistaken. She simply was concerned about “minority mental health“. She hoped to stimulate “more serious conversations about race,“ rather remarkable considering she had just claimed reasoning with whites was impossible due to their inherent evil.
After some faculty members expressed concern, the medical school leadership allowed that “the tone and continent were antithetical to the values of the school.” Their response was to limit access to the lecture video to members of the Yale community.
But their concerns were primarily with the vulgarity and lack of respect in the speech. They never apologized for or condemned the speech, instead stating that the School of Medicine doesn’t condone violence or racism. Which is nice.
To Dr. Khilanani “this was “suppression of my talk on race.” But she made an obvious point. Yale should not claim surprise because “they knew the topic, they knew the title, they knew the speaker,” Exactly. They bought it, they own it.
The doctor is hardly a lone wolf. A paper accepted by the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association instructed that “whiteness is a malignant, parasitic-like condition that renders its hosts’ appetite voracious, insatiable and perverse” and to which white people have a particular susceptibility.
Corporations spend millions demanding their employees accept that they’re secret, unacknowledged bigots. School children are called-out and demeaned simply for belonging to the wrong race.
Yet in spite of all the provocation to hate raining down from the cultural heights, America is not a racist nation. Look around you. Of course there’s racism (see above). But normal Americans today bear no ill will personally to people of other races and accept them implicitly. Racism doesn’t drive policymaking. Judging people on the basis of their skin color is considered unacceptable by most of us.
Even though America is the least racist nation on the planet, it’s still a work in progress. But among the woke population, emerging voices are urging an ethos of resegregation. The renowned “anti-racist“ Ibram X. Kendi openly teaches that “the only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination.”
Free Americans have traditionally favored the opposite, liberal mindset of Frederick Douglass, Lincoln and MLK , urging true equality and comity among the races. Chief Justice John Roberts expressed this ethos in his opinion that “the way to stop racial discrimination is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.”
It’s time for choosing. Roberts and Kendi can’t both be right. Hopefully Americans will decide to work together for a future of yet greater equality and opportunity.
We can’t afford to lose the progress we have made. Bigotry is not OK, no matter what.
Dr. Thomas Patterson, former Chairman of the Goldwater Institute, is a retired emergency physician. He served as an Arizona State senator for 10 years in the 1990s, and as Majority Leader from 93-96. He is the author of Arizona’s original charter schools bill.
