I am disgusted by all of the media attention that Reverend Fells is receiving. I lived in Digby for over 20 years and grew up there with the Fells family. The Fells are the most racist people I know. They think that every white person is out to get them and claim that every inconvenience or negative action against them is based on their skin colour. This is not the first time that the Fells have come to Halifax to stage a protest. At the high school in Digby one of the Fells children was going to be suspended from school and the Fells staged a protest in Halifax claiming the suspension was based on race – even though the Principal of the high school is also African Canadian and the suspension was legitimate. The Fells children have been raised to think that they can do no evil, or that if they do something wrong, they can just cry “racism” and everything will be better. They are over-privileged brats and their father is a hate monger.
This article appears in Jul 31 – Aug 6, 2008.
d’oh… sorry, i should’ve ‘refreshed’ the page before posting, then i would’ve seen that we pretty much had the same thing to say, hedgy
No worries techcafe ;)and tim…if this is a legitimate complaint, bravo for them for standing up and doing something about it! I dont’; think anyone here (other than the op) is saying it’s not.The problem is the idea that perhaps it is. and if THAT’S true, then they are doing more damage than good with this. The very fact that someone COULD say they are playing the race card without justification is telling, and is horrible in and of itself.
WAYYYYYYYYYY too much of this in the maritimes.A prime example of this is the dome and the palace are chided so bad by the brothas because many cant get in, but if they stopped to look at the posted dress code, they would see that it isnt race that is getting them denied, its they dont comply with code, that applies to all races.hedgy doesnt like me cause im black.
True. I was denied access to Cheers because I was wearing a hoody. So you think I’m going to cause trouble at Cheers on a Wednesday?That being said, the dress code is targeting a certain culture. By which I mean an Urban culture. So I would way it’s culturist. They don’t have a tight pants and leather biker vest restriction.
They dont have that because for the most part, bikers arent going to go in there.Try dressing like a total goth, you will get turned away. its called ROAR…. right of admission reserved. These places are private property. Regarding the OP, i understand what the guys went through. It has happened to me in some of these hick towns. However, the way they are going about complaining, is no better than that idiot Al Sharpton did with the Rutgers mess. He callled for Imus to be fired. That is embarrassing on our race. In today’s age, the best thing to do is educate the man. THat is what the women of the Rutgers team did. They listened, accepted an apology and moved on.
I don’t not like you because you’re black (you’re black?), I find you annoying because you’re annoying.I guess I’m annoying-ist. damn.but you may be right- maybe the theatrically planned way they’re handling this is what is leading to the nay-sayers. they don’t come across as innocent victims fighting for their rights; maybe that’s perception, but regardless, it is changing how the incidident, which may very well have been a real case of racism and need to be dealt with appropriately, is viewed.
This reminds me of the “I need a straight parade” thread.
Good point Homie. I have been a victim of this (aside from the hoodie incident). I was denied access from the Dome for being “too drunk”. Either way racism has been part of the world’s society’s forever. The form of racism we face today may be eliminated, but we’ll probablly hate on someone else then. Until we’re all a light shade of brown from breeding with each other anyways. That’s why I try to sleep with ALL the races, racial harmony!
well once we run through racism, there’s always hatred of smokers…then fat people……..then who knows? the bigotted world is really our oyster here people!
the straight thread was HORRIBLE. TIm, I still was hoping to hear from you on our previous convo, it was interesting to see where you are coming from.and yes i am black hedge, and i do not care if you are annoyed by me. its sad that an acutal incident like this will not be a focal point for change because of shit like this Fells guy is doing.
THe best way to get rid of racism is tolerance and education, not whining and complaining. Crying this shit over and over is going to annoy people rather than educate them
Agreed. However, some education will not change some people. I love hip hop, but I know a lot of people who base their stereotypes off of that. Its a hard thing to do.
Now Hedgy, I like your thinking. We haven’t had a good fat rant for a while.But fat people can choose to be unfat, as difficult as it may be, and they should because obesity is truly bad for them and for society at large. I don’t think “fat bigotry” is really a valid idea and can’t be compared to racial discrimination.
I don’t know if I can say people “choose” to be fat. I have tried to lose weight all of my life and just recently got the “boost” to go all the way.It is a hard thing to do that requires a lot of change. A lot of people could do it if they put their mind to it. But its not always possible.
I don’t think anyone chooses it either. Don’t get me wrong. I just think once it is allowed to happen it doesn’t have to stay that way.Anyway, didn’t mean to fatjack the thread…
While this is a pretty important topic (racism) there is a lot to blame for people being overweight. If our options were changed, food made healthier, and perhaps the government provided a fitness subsidy to offset the cost of a gym membership; it would make it easier to make the right choices.If you drive by a Macdonalds everyday to work. Chances are you will stop in more
I’m still trying to understand what the outrage is about. If, indeed, a van load of cops just out of the blue stopped, yelled racial epithets at them, then jumped out and took swings at them, isn’t that something to complain about? I know I would. But I guess they’re being uppity or something, eh?The only change on any of these fronts– sexism, anti-gay attitudes, racism, whatever, is because women, gays and minorities have called the larger culture on their bullshit. And at each turn, those who call the larger culture on their bullshit are branded as uppity, up to no good, overly sensitive alarmists, blowing things out of proportion, etc.
its that the off duty cops were the instigators in a situation where the on duty cops should have acted against thier own. The fact that racial shit was being said is actually irrelevant in this case if you ask me. Its that the on duty cops stuck up for cops that were clearly provoking a situation that wasnt. The fact that race was being played here is why the Fells guy is making an issue. That isnt right.
Stopping at MacDonald’s is still a choice, but your point that there are myriad influences on our food and exercise choices is well taken. Doesn’t eliminate personal responsibility though.There actually is a tax credit for physical activity. It’s nor much but it’s a small step. http://www.gov.ns.ca/hpp/HealthyLivingIncentive.htmlIt is currently listed as being for children but I understand it will be expanded to adults:http://www.gov.ns.ca/finance/site-finance/media/finance/bulletin_taxrelief.pdf
Yeah I understood that it was pretty clear that the off-duty cops started it by saying something, probably racial. And then the on-duty cops broke things up but blasted the victims instead of the initial aggressors.To be fair, the on-duty cops would not have known what started the fight, and might have assumed that the presumably younger guys were the agressors, assuming that off-duty cps would behave better than that.But after the alleged truth was revealed, the RCMP should have revisited its stance on the incident.
Cops automatically side with the white dudes over the black dudes. The white dudes turn out to be cops in another place, where they carry around guns and tasers in black neighbourhoods.Yep, no need to worry our pretty heads about race. No siree.
apparently it was obvious that the agressors were the cops. At that point it isnt for the cops to decide who started it it, just squish the situation.
Homie, not sure why you feel the need to say to Hedgy “you don’t like me cause I’m black”, and then later say “Yes, I’m black”. Am I COMPLETELY naive here? It seems to me that none of you (posters) are ANY colour- we’re all just posting our point of view from somewhere in cyberspace.My point is, I don’t see what your race has to do with it…you have your POV, and she has her’s (how do you know that she isn’t black btw? I’m absolutely certain that she didn’t say “Well, I’m white, and here’s what I think…”) She obviously didn’t even know (or care) what race you are, let alone use it as leverage in the argument or as an excuse not to like you. If she can’t see you, how can you accuse her of stereo-typing you for something that is only apparent by meeting someone face to face?Also, I take issue with your phrase “our race”. If I were a white person, and said that something was embarrassing to “our race”, wouldn’t you think that I was being racist? I think that phrases like that are a cop-out….it deliberately dilutes a perfectly valid debate by throwing a contentious accusation into the mix. Argue your point LOGICALLY, fer christ’s sake, because that’s the ONLY way to do it on a bitch board.That off my chest, I think that racial profiling is rampant in the RCMP, and that many members of the force are completely disengaged with the black population here. The racism that I have been witness to in NS is appalling…worse than in AB (where I have lived, and where cross-burnings still take place). The issue is so entrenched that when cases of blatant racism do arise, the actual facts get lost in the endless hamster wheel of white vs.black.
Tim – did you choose to jump into this thread because you know something we don’t?I read the OP to say the Fells were asses (regardless of colour) and now thanks to a history of ass-ery, are hard to believe and/or not the best choice to lead a situation like this. We’ve all know asses in our lives who have some sort of difference (be it colour, sexuality, ability) who never shut the f*ck up about how the world hates them. At somepoint you tune them out, even if one day they do have a valid point.
I think Homie’s “Hedgy doesn’t like me because I’m black” was intended to be satirical. If you read his other comments on his thread, he is clearly saying he is not on board with playing the race card and thinks it is often a red herring. So he said this about Hedgy to illustrate that it is sometimes a ludicrous accusation.Naturally, people aren’t good at recognizing satire, so his remark has been taken seriously by some posters. I suppose I shouldn’t bother to spell this out as it is not my problem, but I thought it might help some people get his point.And then I may have totally misunderstood his point myself. That happens a lot on here.
As soon as Pride week ends, it never fails, goons come out of the beaver panel woodwork with their bullshit. I just watched this Bitch tie a cherry stem in a knot with its tongue, that’s how deliberately provocative it is.
i do no know them personally, and although i must say, what i know of the assault case, looks like they are not in the wrong. but they certainly seem to be well organized, and know the right buttons to push. i am not confirming what FUWTF says, but its not the first time i see such allegations against them in comments (on different media sites i might add).
when all else fails… play the race card
yeah, I’ve heard their name too….not to say it’s not legitimate this time, but it does make you wonder in a boy-who-cried-wolf way when they pop up repeatedly with the same complaints. either digby is a horrible pit of hatred, or….worst part of this is if they ARE just reverse-racists using the race card to stir things up or shift blame for things of themselves as the OP says, it makes it harder to believe and get justice for peopel who actually deserve it.
admittedly, i don’t know lick about the Fells or their grievances… BUT, it does seem to me that the race card gets played more often than it should, AND in doing so, the importance of actual/serious race/discrimination issues becomes diminished & trivialized.in other words, racial minorities that cry wolf too many times (when there isn’t one)… eventually people will stop listening, and their grievances, legitimate or not, will fall on deaf ears.
How dare they object! Uppity, I tell ya, uppity!
i am stunned that anyone could come to the conclusion that my comment was serious.all other comments about race in this thread say the complete opposite to the JOKE about being disliked cause of color. It is incredible that one could write that big of a post about that one comment, without reading the rest of the shit i wrote in this thread.
it seems the off-duty cops incited/provoked the two black guys with racial slurs. at least, that’s what i heard, so it’s only heresay, i don’t actually know for sure. however, IF it turns out to be true, those cops should be summarily fired, without pay, no exceptions. the police *must* to be held to a higher standard, and we definitely don’t need/want racist cops provoking the public into fights. after all, their job is to ‘serve & protect’, NOT to incite confrontation & violence.if these cops are guilty of racism, FIRE their fucking asses, and be done with it.
Until we can all see the video for ourselves, it is difficult to know beyond speculation just how the events of that night transpired. That said, my understanding of the situation is in line with Tim’s concise summation.What has caused me to post, however, is the misuse of the term racist as it is being applied to the Black community. Racism is based on power – having power because of the colour of your skin to deny something (Charter rights, service, the ability to see yourself or people of your race represented in a positive light in society) to people who are a visible minority. Even those of us who are not racist enjoy, in North America, white privilege*. We know that we can reasonably go to a restaurant, a store, a car lot, and not have assumptions made about us based on the colour of our skin alone. We know that we can turn on mainstream TV, open magazines, or look at educational materials and see our race represented in a positive light. Not so if you are Black in North America.Maybe the Reverend is a pot-stirrer or maybe he just gets tired of seeing and experiencing racism day after day, year after year, and has committed himself to pointing it out every time it occurs; even to the detriment of his own credibility because white people think he’s “playing the race card”. Does this mean that no Black person ever plays the “race card” in an unwarranted situation? No. But I will not make generalizations about an entire community of people based on a few, isolated incidents. Our Black and Mi’kmaq communities largely suffer in silence. It is death by 1000 stings and not one crushing blow, typically, that leads to hurt, isolation, and the awareness that everyday is a challenge because of judgements made and passed based on the colour of your skin alone and not your character.* White privilege article: http://seamonkey.ed.asu.edu/~mcisaac/emc598ge/Unpacking.html** My apologies for the long-winded post.
“Playing the race card” totally invalidates any claim of racism by trying to strip people who’ve been victims of racism of their credibility. It’s a classic abuse pattern – “there was no racism, you’re just saying that because you’re black”. No quicker way to shut someone up about their abuse than telling them not to be victims, saying they’re always complaining about being victimized, and telling them the abuse isn’t really happening.
why in the fuck should we need to see a video.there hasnt been one peice of denial about the racism. It isnt like there has been an outcry by those cops that the story isnt true. The only thing that is being questioned here is the actions of the on-duty cops. Now this is the irratating shit that white people do in situations like this. They attempt to steer the atttention to cast doubt on the racist part. That was NEVER at all questioned by the media or the family. So fuck you and your tape…… pay attention to the actual story.
They actually did release a surveillance video when this incident first happened last month. I saw it on the news and to me it clearly looked like the off duty officers were the instigators.
Apologies Homie. Obviously, I did miss the attempt at humour. And no, I didn’t read your other points. In my defense, you made the comment (that I took issue with) in your first post, and it got my dander up. So I do apologize…I will reiterate that I think the racism issue is huge here, and has been quite shocking to me as a newer resident to NS. I’ll relate one of my camping stories: a group of young guys (in the site next to us) were kicked out of a camping park in Cape Breton in the middle of the day. They were drinking and partying- but that’s not why they were kicked out. While some chugged beer, others were chanting “ONE, kill a n****r, TWO, kill a n****r…..” as loud as they could. It’s so totally offensive as to be incredible.So I think that while some experiences of racism are very blatant, crying wolf doesn’t help the situation either.
Although I shouldn’t apologize, since your comment was posted at 1:03pm!!! But when I’m wrong, I’m wrong.
Homie, I know where you’re going with this, but you just illustrated what I think is the real problem here- the generalizations.you just threw out ‘this is th eirritating shit white people do’. Well ok. But if a white persons aid that about a black person, wouldn’t everyone cry racist? That’s ther problem. not only do some people generalize about an entire race or segment of the population based on race, but then you can generalize about racism as well- that the only ones who can feel it are, say, black people (never white people because yes, in this country it’s the dominent culture, but I’ve noticed this trend that when confronted with racism, a lot of people will throw it right back, making generalizationsa bout another group of people to defend themselves. we saw it already in the post about the lesbian slur where she characterized everyone involved as red necks. this might not be so, but she made it easier for people to disregard her very legitimate complaint because hey, she was just as belligerent back).what I’mg etting at here is that we shoudl be looking at this as an issue OUTSIDE of race. If thsoe cops had picked a fight with a white person, shouldn’t we be just as outraged at their abuse of posittion and power? why are we MORE upset when it’s a black person involved? it adds another dimension, sure, but the root of this was someone abusing their position and power, and possibly going to get away with a crime because of their position. That’s the issue. Whether the guy was white or black or purple is a red herring that I think in the end will distract most people fromt he actual problem at hand- the abuse by those officers.what will they do next? maybe next time they’ll have a tazer. or maybe next time they’ll pick on someone else who won’t be able to get this much media nad political pressure focused on the issue because of the race element to it. Does that make the crime any less heinous? these cops should be punsihed, but not merely because they were racist. they should be punished for abusing the public trust.
it was posted at 103 am… it is just a glitch in the sites time stamping.now you hedgy are taking things out of context. This is one of the biggest pet peeves of mine. OF COURSE i dont mean all white people. What the fuck? aside from being white and having blood and similar body parts, there isnt any one thing that can be attributed to ALL members of the white race. SO for you to waste that post as you are taking the comment personally, is a waste of time.The comment is geared to the WHITE people that are quick to act as though this couldnt possibly be the case are just as bad as the BLACK people that cry its racial every single time.
yourmom, i recall the video too. My point wasnt more of “lets see the video”, its that many are quick to take an incident that isnt so much about race as it is the actions of the cops. In all truthfullness, this incident isnt really about race. That is why seeing the video is 100% irrelevant in terms of the race factor here. This is about cops siding with cops. The race of the people involved is actually moot.
homie, please, before you get all defensive and assume I’m attacking you, read my post. you pretty much made my point again in your next post….the issue here isn’t race. and it shouldn’t be. that’s a compnoent to the crime, an important one and shouldn’t be trivalized, but it shouldn’t be the focus. it’s a red herring. the bigger issue is a systematic abuse of power by the police. I wonder- people don’t usually just dive in doing something awful. have these cops committed similar offenses, with other people? because the fells are black they are able to garner a certain amount of media and political pressure- people are rightly angered by the implication of racism. that’s a good thing. but I’m wondering if, because of race, they are able to mobilize public opinoion and change more effectively then someone else who can’t, beucase they aren’t in a minority, but may have been abused in a similar siutation.waht I’m getting at here is simple: those cops should be punished for the larger abuse of their power. people should take a good long look at the system and change it where it needs it. they should be punished, not just for the racism, but as I said before, the greater issure of their abuse of the public trust.as long as we’re focused solely on the race issue and not looking at the bigger offense as it applies to everyone, regardless of colour, we’ll never move past rasism.
hedgy, i knew that we were agreeing about the incident as a whole… i was more making the comment to you about your response to my comment about “white people” this, that or the other. I understand that we agree.
they do know the ethic..never let a money (or ego) making opportunity pass by…they seem to be able to organize a ralley..instantly…what is the employment rate in Digby?there is more to this than the press is reporting but really, its not a social issue, its one of assault by armed, riding the taxpayers provided HRM police vehicle, alcohol consuming assholes.the oh woe, he done me wrong crowd belong at the universities and the local legion.
I’m darn-tootin sick of these minorities and their minority pride parades. Where’s my white pride parade??? It just ain’t fittin’. Dey took our jobs!!!
Friggin’ goobacks!
Funny, I did see a fair bit of good on a fair number of backs at that last parade.Buh dump bump.
Ah, hahaha… what you saw was no parade, my friend. That was a daisy chain. And if you saw a lot of backs, that must mean… you were behind it.And if you’re behind goobacks… that must mean yer tryin’ ta take mah job!
LOL just pickin’ up the fruit they missed…Um, wait, that came out wrong.
Fruit coming out wrong makes me think of this porn actress who gave herself fruit enemas and expelled smoothies.
Wow, it seems we have returned to the Vagina Dentata! It’s bee a few days since that one was around…P.S. Name? Film titles? Hmmm?
She has one name, a little dark-blonde woman (to narrow it down in adult film… hmm). She was actually quite sweet and playful about it, not raunchy, but she of course did regular porn as well, so that kind of detracts from any sort of performance art value it might have for most people. She also did watercolours by giving herself paint enemas, I swear to McGyver. You don’t forget a thing like that but – Chloe? I don’t remember but I’ll try to find out.