I went to hear Danny Glover, the actor and activist, give a talk that was being promoted as “The Patriot Act and Patriotism.” He didn’t really talk about the Patriot Act. For instance, when asked about September 11th, he talked about how important it was to carefully look at the language we were using after the event, to not single out any groups. But he didn’t really address civil liberties.
The talk itself wasn’t very interesting, and he was not the most eloquent or organized speaker, but I found his response to a two-part question about the California recall and Prop. 54 (the Ward Connolly proposal to stop tracking racial data in California). After stating his belief that the recall was wrong because it set a bad precedent, he asserted that the state is having fiscal difficulties because of Prop. 13. Then, he went on a pro-property tax tangent, and went through the whole spiel of how California schools and public services began their steep decline with Prop. 13. Even though he’s campaigning against Prop. 54, he never brought it up.
As a side note, his interviewer, Professor Ogletree, alluded to Michael Jordan, a celebrity who does not take political positions. In his anecdote, he reported that in the 90s, Jordan declined supporting an African American Democrat who was running against Jesse Helms. When asked for an endorsement, Jordan replied, “No, because Republicans buy sneakers too.”
Oh, and the audio of Glover’s interview (though it’s kinda boring) is available here.
[…] The Knicks’ Stephon Marbury may be doing something more subversive than the folks at Adbusters, with their $95/pair “anti-consumerist” Unswoosher. He’s hawking a $15/pair athletic shoe under his own nickname, Starbury. The groundbreaking thing is that he actually plans to wear the Starbury on the basketball court. Too bad it’s an ugly shoe, because, as I have previously blogged, Michael Jordan is so committed to maintaining Brand Jordan, that he won’t take any stand that will hurt his shoe sales. […]