Ivan Fernando, Diversity Chronicle, March 13, 2014
No one could have possibly predicted that an event organized with the noble intention of trying to bring people of all races, genders, sexual orientations and religions together could tragically explode in violent infighting. Unfortunately, that is just what happened to the Diversity Conference last weekend. The conference, which was originally planned for four days, was forced to conclude early on its first night as police were called in by outside observers to end the fighting that tragically erupted. The episode was sadly symptomatic of a larger problem within the American progressive community: the failure to adopt a truly egalitarian worldview that really celebrates and respects all kinds of diversity, recognizing all forms of diversity, racial, sexual and religious as inherently equal in every way!
Held near Nashville, Tennessee, shortly before the intolerant and racist American Renaissance conference, the Diversity Conference included progressives, anti-racists, feminists, LGBT rights activists, civil rights activists and members of religious minority groups from the Black and Salafi Muslims to Reformed and Humanistic Jews. The purpose of the conference was to prove the American Renaissance racists wrong and to highlight the many benefits of living in a diverse and multi-cultural society. The goal was to show the world that peaceful co-existence and tolerance are possible and will lead to a better, safer and more enlightened world for everyone.
It is difficult to pinpoint how the fighting started but it seems to have originated in an unanticipated conflict between lesbian feminists and male Muslim activists. It is both tragic and remarkable how easy it is for some people to forget that we are all the same inside. We must never forget that, and we must never forget that we are all fighting for the same principles and against the very same enemies. It is very important that we work together and present a united front against hate.
A new and creative workshop offered free “privileged white” tattoos, done on the foreheads of privileged whites who have taken their first steps into a larger world by recognizing and condemning their own white privilege in a public and permanent way. The forehead tattoos will serve as a daily reminder of the ugly persistence of white privilege and racism even in 2014 and under the presidency of Barack Obama, our first African-American president. It is a tragic fact that white racism has only grown over time in America since the days of slavery and Jim Crow.
Another popular, groundbreaking, and especially meaningful workshop at the Diversity Conference gave white attendees small whips and encouraged them to scourge and flagellate their white skin in solidarity with the oppression, beatings, whippings and torture of African-American slaves by whites. Several attendees praised the flogging workshop as a transformative and empowering experience for them. Unique and interesting BDSM toys and paraphernalia were also offered for sale to raise money for next year’s conference.
Later that evening, keynote speaker Adriana Loeb-Horowitz began her talk, she noted that as long as men have existed they have oppressed women. Offering her own solution to the problem, she suggested “the abolition of the male gender through compulsory castration and the imprisonment of most men, so as to smash the growing rape culture forever. If the human species was entirely female, and reproduced through some kind of new cloning or artificial insemination technology that negated men, the world would be an infinitely more peaceful place. Surely, whatever methods are necessary, no matter how seemingly brutal, would be justified by the overriding necessity of the project.”
Some in the audience actually booed Loeb-Horowitz’s speech out loud and shockingly called her “insane.” Others disgustingly referred to her as a “dumb woman.” These remarks were not limited to a few isolated individuals, but expressed the views of many Black and Salafi Muslims, Gay men and Hispanics in attendance. Sadly the war on women is very far from over as the above remarks prove. All too often, even in progressive circles women and their ideas are ridiculed and singled out for attack by male bullies. The behaviour of many men in the audience made me ashamed to be male.
Imam Muhammed Bukhari of the Egyptian Salafi Federation condemned Loeb-Horowitz’s speech before she was able to finish speaking. Interrupting the speech, the Imam announced that as soon as his return flight to Egypt would land, he planned on issuing a fatwa calling for her death. “This kind of poisonous anti-male hatred stems from a sick form of Judeo-Masonic-Atheism, the ugly black venom of which runs through every strata of Kafir American dog society. This hideous creature has chosen to become a lesbian out of her sheer hatred of men. She now desires to end the male gender in some kind of deviant implausible fantasy. If you can’t stone her, please shoot her or cut her head off, brave soldiers of Allah do not suffer this lesbian witch to live! Take up glorious Jihad, fight for your religion!” The Imam went on to cite several verses apparently from the Qur’an, Hadith and even the Bible, attempting to distort scripture and Islam, the religion of peace, to justify his apparent call for murder and intolerance.
Loeb-Horowitz responded to Imam Bukhari by stating “This is exactly the kind of violence that is an inseparable part of the male gender and always will be! I was being too gracious, we really need to exterminate the entire male gender! We need someone like a female Stalin to rise up and solve the male problem once and for all!” Upon hearing this several gay men in attendance openly stood up in defiance and walked out of the conference, some announcing that they were protesting what they called a “blatantly offensive sexist” speaker. A contingent of Black Muslims also objected profusely, their spokesperson Amalek Abdullah noted that “We never would have attended this conference had we realized it was full of sexually immoral individuals, male hatred, hedonistic drug addicted hippy rejects and assorted freaks of all kinds. This isn’t a diversity conference, it is some kind of sick and abhorrent freak show!”
Surprisingly, the Black Muslims and Egyptian Salafis also began to fight. The Egyptians apparently began referring to the Blacks as “abeeds” (slaves in Arabic) and stated that their form of Islam was inauthentic and false. The Egyptian clerics threatened the Black Muslims with eternal hell, as the Black Muslims responded threatening the Salafi Egyptians with hell and condemning them as racists and white supremacists, ignorant of true Islam. The question of whether or not the great Prophet Muhammed (Peace and blessings be upon him) was black or Arab was hotly contested by both sides.
About the only speech the conference attendees could support without any dissension was by Prof. Noel Ignatiev. The professor’s talk entitled “Treason To Whiteness Is Loyalty To Humanity, Betray Your Race Today” received vociferous applause from almost all in attendance. In his talk the brave professor excoriated the hypocrisy of many privileged white liberals, who profess to love African Americans and diversity yet who choose to live in largely segregated white communities. Ignatiev rightly urged progressives to move to black ghettos and to the inner cities, if for no other reason than to ensure that one’s children are exposed to the benefits of diversity and to ensure that they do not grow up to embrace racist views. Surely, no reasonable white person who really lived among Blacks, Hispanics or Gays or Lesbians would fail to see their innate virtues as well as the incalculable benefits of diversity.
While acknowledging that inner city schools often fall short of academic standards elsewhere in the nation, Professor Ignatiev rightly blamed white people for their lagging scholastic performance.
Unfortunately, during the question and answer session after his speech, the Salafi Muslims became very hostile and denounced Professor Ignatiev once he admitted he was in fact an atheist. “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammed is His Prophet. Kneel before Allah or perish in the eternal hell fire! You are an anti-Zionist, so you say, but what good are you? You deny God the most holy! You are lower than a pig!” Imam Bukhari stated angrily as he spat in Ignatiev’s direction.
A couple of Jews in attendance with ties to the Jewish Defence League stated that they would refuse to talk with any Muslims or Arabs present or listen to their speeches, as long as they denied the right of the state of Israel to exist, and for it to exist as an exclusively Jewish state forever. Harsh words were exchanged between JDL sympathizers and Muslims, after which a fist fight broke out between the rival groups. A group of transgendered men with tie-dyed shirts on, wearing large peace sign necklaces tried to position themselves between the rival groups urging peace, love and tolerance, until assailants on both sides began pelting them with rocks, incapacitating and in some cases seriously injuring them. In a very sad and almost pitiful display, fanatical Jews and Muslims shared a mutual transphobic hate-crime, appearing to have only a shared bigotry in common.
As if there wasn’t enough conflict already for one day, several black attendees walked out, and still others become violent, during the speech by Martin Hernandez representing the Aztlan Freedom Front. A Chicano Nationalist group dedicated to reclaiming the so-called “American” southwest for Aztlan. Hernandez called for more immigration from Mexico and stated that no one works as hard as Mexican day labourers. Several black nationalists in attendance objected and booed. Some shouted that Mexicans steal jobs from blacks and should go back to Mexico. To this accusation Hernanedez shouted, “Go back to Africa, this is our land! This is a bronze continent and Aztlan is a Mestizo nation. You can leave, it belongs to us! Get out!” Prompting screams and curses from blacks in attendance. Some were even seen hurling rocks and broken beer bottles at Hernandez.
What was to be a four day celebration of diversity of sex, sexual orientation, race, and religion degenerated into a violent orgy of fighting, intolerance, judgement, and even shockingly overt racism! We must strive ever harder to overcome racism, sexism, homophobia, Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. We must recognize that these evils persist even among those of us who are the most progressive. If even progressives can be this racist, sexist and homophobic, imagine how truly sick our enemies are? Their evil and hateful nature must be beyond description, it is too frightening to contemplate.
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