Meet Harriet Christian the Consummate NEW YORKER!

[thx1138]

Clinton Supporter (Harriet Christian) Thrown Out of Rules Committee Meeting

VIDEO: http://youtube.com/watch?v=KACQuZVAE3s

It's Will Bower's fault that Harriet didn't leave the room sooner. HAHA

SEE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/will-b..._b_104594.html

THE HUFFINGTON POST


MY EVENING WITH HARRIET CHRISTIAN

JUNE 2, 2008

By Will Bower
It was when the DNC's Rules & Bylaws Committee made its ruling on Michigan that Harriet Christian came into my life.


From a few rows behind me, her piercing, wizened, New York voice rang out through the awkward silences in the auditorium of the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel.


I wish now I could remember each and everything she said.
All I remember is that I was glad she was saying it.

The DNC had just committed a crime, and I was happy that there was someone unashamed to reveal her fury to all those present.

As we all exited the ballroom -- many of us in disgust -- I saw the cameras swarm in on our Harriet.
I decided to stay and watch her in her glory.


In fact, I have a confession to make.
It was I who encouraged Harriet to stay and to face the cameras.
Each time she wanted to storm from the lobby in a fiery exeunt, it was I who stopped her, consoled her, turned her around, and told her "Your anger needs to be heard, friend. Don't stop."


Did I think that she could have been more coherent at first? Yes, I did.
Did I feel that she was flirting with the edge of reason? Yes, I did.
Would I have had her change a thing? No, I wouldn't.


I would like to add that I don't condone any correlation between the words "black" and "inadequate." It is my belief that she was not *equating* "black" with "inadequate."

I believe she was saying that *Obama* is inadequate, and that he is where he is because of affirmative action tactics -- much as Geraldine Ferraro has said, and not unlike Joe Biden's misspeak last year.

Again, though, not words I personally would have ever chosen.
Many have criticized Harriet for what is being categorized as her "circus antics." What they call "antics," I call the red blood of Democracy.
She was angry.
She was angry as I was angry.
We were angry as thousands of people were angry.

That anger needed a voice that wasn't couched behind cold, intellectually dishonest reason.

The DNC had committed an act of war, and Harriet was firing back with bullets of passion.

Was she the best marksman? Perhaps not.
But did she reveal to America the depth of frustration that many, many people are feeling right now?

That she did.

We all know that -- had she been as calm and collected as so many of you feel she should have been -- she wouldn't have the nearly 800,000 YouTube hits she now does.

Her voice has been heard.

Is that to say that I believe that Harriet was seeking attention? Not at all.
As I've said, it was I who kept the fires of encouragement lit beneath her.

She has since confessed to me many a time how she now fears that her emotions might be used to hurt Hillary Clinton's campaign.
That is the last thing she wants.

She simply wanted to cry out against injustice... as so many of us often want to do, but so few of us actually do.

And, for the record: No, she hadn't been drinking.

I had the fortune of talking with Harriet well into the night that night.
(It was 2am when we finally said "Good night" to one another).

While I was knocking back my white Russians and my margaritas, she touched nothing but her Diet Coke. She hasn't touched alcohol since 1985.

The only thing she was drunk on that afternoon was indignation.

I hope you will all take the time to get to know Harriet as I have.
Harriet is salty.
Harriet is a firecracker.
Harriet is many things.
But Harriet is not a lunatic.

She is a life long New Yorker who has worked for civil rights for over forty years. She's a woman full of life and passion.
She's a woman who gave her emotions free reign for a few well-televised minutes.

Let those of you who have not exploded in anger cast the first stone...
whether or not you were on TV when you did so.

[BrendaQG]

What can I say.

Ever since the New York Sun nicknamed us "the Windy City" back in 1893 Chicago and NYC have been rivals. We have managed to eat their prestigious lunch on many occasions. (i.e. Two worlds fairs, taller better looking sky scrappers, better food, probably the Olympics). They in turn have managed to get over on us (i.e. more people crammed onto a few isles than live in all of the city of Chicago proper.)

The Obama thing is just another chapter in this rivalry. I remember when all the NY dems here were for Hillary. I know that in the hearts of a great many New Yorkers they feel that this little refueling stop on the way to L.A. should not have such ability to show them up.

This woman is just such an example. Just to keep out black man from Chicago she will vote for a republican! I'll bet she's never done that for president before.

[hippifried]

Isn't Hillary originally from Czechago, or somewhere in Ill-noise?

[BrendaQG]

Yeah she is. That traitor decided that she'd rather be NYC's senator instead of waiting to run for the very seat that Barrack Obama now occupies. Had that carpetbagger not decided to go to NY Obama would just be an obscure state senator from Illinois. She left us so we disown her. Only the most deep southern counties in downstate Illinois went for Clinton.

[hippifried]

So Brenda,
Uh... Since LA is actually the second largest city in the US, when are y'all gonna relinquish the nic "second city"? How about a rename to third & falling?

You know there's a reason people getthehelloutathere. There's no "lake effect" in Phoenix. But take heart. The Phoenix Czech transplants are mostly republicans.

[Cuchulain]

CHICAGO

Hog Butcher for the World,
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders:

They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I
have seen your painted women under the gas lamps
luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it
is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to
kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the
faces of women and children I have seen the marks
of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who
sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer
and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing
so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on
job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the
little soft cities;

Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning
as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
Bareheaded,
Shoveling,
Wrecking,
Planning,
Building, breaking, rebuilding,
Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with
white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young
man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has
never lost a battle,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse.
and under his ribs the heart of the people,
Laughing!
Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of
Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog
Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with
Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.

Carl Sandburg

[BrendaQG]

What is this guy talking about Czech's for? Chicago's Polish population is second only to that of Warsaw Poland though. I guess all Slav's look the same to him?

As for Chicago's population. When discussing NYC and LA they count NYC and all five of it's boroughs which make up the "City of Greater New York", In the case of LA they count LA county and the county of Orange each of which are the size of many eastern states. However when most non Chicagoans talk about Chicago they quote the figure for the city of Chicago proper and none of it's suburbs.

I hate to burst your NYC'ers bubbles but.....

[url=http://www.census.gov/popest/counties/CO-EST2006-07.html]According to the US Census Bureau's list of the most populous counties in the USA...[url/] COOK COUNTY ILLINOIS IS THE SECOND MOST POPULOUS COUNTY BEHIND LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

Rank Geographic Area Population Estimates
07/01/06 07/01/05
1 Los Angeles County, CA 9948081 9941197
2 Cook County, IL 5288655 5303943
3 Harris County, TX 3886207 3762844
4 Maricopa County, AZ 3768123 3638481
5 Orange County, CA 3002048 2992642
6 San Diego County, CA 2941454 2936609
7 Kings County, NY 2508820 2511408
8 Miami-Dade County, FL 2402208 2377725
9 Dallas County, TX 2345815 2308527
10 Queens County, NY 2255175 2256576

FURTHERMORE!

When you Compare "Metropolitan Area's"

5602 1 New York--Northern New Jersey--Long Island, NY--NJ--CT--PA CMSA 21,199,865
4472 2 Los Angeles--Riverside--Orange County, CA CMSA 16,373,645
1602 3 Chicago--Gary--Kenosha, IL--IN--WI CMSA 9,157,540

Notice how they count. In the case of NY they seem to count the whole damm state, half of another state and long Island. ( Some of my collegues work at BNL on long island they never get into NYC at all they talk about how boring it is and such.)

But in Chicago's case they basically and sensibly count the County of Cook and the counties that are adjacent to it. Apparently not even including that part of Indiana that's by fiat in the central Time Zone precisely due to the fact that so many people their have strong ties to Chicagoland.

Facts are fun!

[hippifried]

In Abbie Hoffman's "Revolution for the Hell of It", he spelled it "Czechago". I read the book in '72, & have been spelling it that way ever since. I just do it to get a rise out of you Czechs. :P Besides, what do you care? Wasn't the river named by Indians who didn't even have an alphabet? But yeah, I can't tell one Slav from another.

I'm from Phoenix. Notice Maricopa County's #4 on the list? Over half of them are escapees from the Chicago or New York urban agglomarations. (that's the proper term instead of "metropolitan area" by the way) I don't know exactly how all that's figured these days, but New Yorks a bit different than most places. I think the population of the actual city is under 10 million, but there's probably at least 15 million or more there on any given weekday afternoon. I'll bet Phoenix proper takes up as many sq miles as either of those agglomerations nowadays.

Anyway: I was just givin' y'all a ration of shit because you got all "us vs them" uppity about the Yawkers.

So what's this thread about again?

[BrendaQG]

Yeah so much for the myth that NYC is the biggest. Only as long as we do fuzzy math.

[thx1138]

What Chicago has we New Yorkers need: Jerry Springer, Oprah Winfrey, Larry and Balki.