Minority Rape.

Do you remember how you learned what the meaning of the word “minority” was?  I remember hearing it a good deal on the nightly news… those last few years of Huntley Brinkley and Walter Cronkite.   Minority meant something coming up on the news feed about injustice in the south, or maybe some young Nazi emulator desecrating a synagogue in IL.  It most often would refer to a specific geographical territory within a large metropolis or on the very fringes along urban sprawl toward the suburbs.  More than a few times, news on minorities focused on how their customs or traditions were standing in the way of progress and how they needed to be ‘educated’ to what was best ‘for the country’.  Yeah, keep as cool as you can, man.   Minorities were a watch word for who mom would call the “less fortunate”, folks we needed to help out … you know?  Get yo’ ass to Junior League or give two years to the Peace Corps kind of work, in ‘my neighborhood’.    For my own part, I was always drawn to any of the “minorities” … their lives were rich in the unknown; cultural traditions that I was thirsty to understand.  It has, in fact, become my life path, the very foundation of my personal and business life.  Thank you Professor Campbell.   
So when I begin to remember something about how I learned about “minorities”… it kind of freaks me just a little that now it’s my turn… I’m a “growing” minority.  I’m and Irish / German white bread woman whose racial numbers are dwindling in America the Beautiful … and the white men who cling to a vulgar brand of leadership they anchored in my country are very well aware of it. 

{Navy SEALs confirmed the death of bin Laden in Pakistan with the now-iconic transmission: "Geronimo EKIA," or "Geronimo, Enemy Killed in Action." But as the Washington Post is reporting, the use of "Geronimo" -- also the name of a legendary 19th century Apache chief -- in connection with the Al Qaeda leader's death has offended Native Americans, who call the decision both painful and insulting.

“I was celebrating that we had gotten this guy and feeling so much a part of America,” Tom Holm, a former Marine, a member of the Creek/Cherokee Nations and a retired professor of American Indian studies at the University of Arizona, said. “And then this ‘Geronimo EKIA’ thing comes up. I just said, ‘Why pick on us?’ Robert E. Lee killed more Americans than Geronimo ever did, and Hitler would seem to be evil personified, but the code name for bin Laden is Geronimo?”

As NPR is reporting, some uncertainty about whether Geronimo was being used as a code name for the mission or for bin Laden himself remains. But many say they are offended by the overall context. "Embedded within it is a message that an Indian warrior, a symbol of Native American survival in the face of racial annihilation, is associated with modern terrorism and the attacks on 9/11," writes Lise Balk King at Indian Country Today. "It equates being Native American with being hated, an enemy to the world, and someone to be hunted down and killed, and re-casts one of their heroes into a villainous role."
Adds Jefferson Keel, president of the National Congress of American Indians, in a statement: "To associate a Native warrior with bin Laden is not an accurate reflection of history and it undermines the military service of Native people. It’s critical that military leaders and operational standards honor the service of those who protect our freedom.” Meanwhile, the leader of the Fort Sill Apache Tribe has gone an additional step by asking for a formal apology from President Barack Obama, according to the Associated Press.} read HuffPo
… it kind of freaks me just a little that now it’s my turn… I’m a “growing” minority.  I’m an Irish / German white bread woman whose racial numbers are dwindling in America the Beautiful … and the white men who cling to a vulgar brand of leadership they anchored in my country are very well aware of it.  

What made the President allow such a 'code' to used?  Insensitive doesn't seem to cover it.
Like Republicans redefining 'rape'... how are they thinking?  Over 250 Congress-persons voted today to REDEFINE THE MEANING OF RAPE.  This time the govt doesn't pick on the minority, women are the majority.  Read this:

In a 251 to 175 vote this evening, 16 anti-choice Democrats joined every House Republican present in passing H.R. 3, the No Taxpayer Funding For Abortion Act. A chief weapon in the House GOP’s “comprehensive assault” on women this bill proposes some of the most radical and draconian restrictions on women’s rights. They include:

– Redefinition Of Rape: The bill sponsor Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) faced serious backlash after he tried to narrow the definition rape to “forcible rape.” By narrowing the rape and incest exception in the Hyde Amendment, Smith sought to prevent the following situations from consideration: Women who say no but do not physically fight off the perpetrator, women who are drugged or verbally threatened and raped, and minors impregnated by adults.
Smith promised to remove the language and while it is not technically in the bill, Mother Jones reports that House Republicans used “a sly legislative maneuver” to insert a “backdoor reintroduction” of redefinition language. Essentially, if the bill is challenged in court, judges will look at the congressional committee report to determine intent. The committee report for H.R. 3 says the bill will “not allow the Federal Government to subsidize abortions in cases of statutory rape” — thus excluding statutory rape-related abortions from Medicaid coverage.
– Tax Increase On Women And Small Businesses: H.R. 3 prevents women from using “itemized medical deductions, certain tax-advantaged health care accounts or tax credits included in last year’s health care law to pay for abortions or for health insurance plans that cover abortion.” In doing so, the bill forces women and small businesses that provide health insurance that covers abortion to pay more in taxes than they would otherwise. Both economic conservative Grover Norquist and the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce noted that the bill is basically a tax increase.

– Rape Audits: Because H.R. 3 bans using tax credits or deductions to pay for abortions or insurance, a woman who used such a benefit would have to prove, if audited, that her abortion “fell under the rape/incest/life-of-the-mother exception, or that the health insurance she had purchased did not cover abortions.” Essentially, the bill turns Internal Revenue Service agents into “abortion cops” who would force women to give “contemporaneous written documentation” that it was “incest, or rape, or [her] life was in danger” that compelled an abortion.
– Bans D.C.-Funded Abortions: The most recent spending resolution contained a ban on abortions in the District of Columbia by redefining the D.C. local government as the federal government. Thus, health clinics in D.C. are banned from using public funds from D.C. taxpayers to provide abortion services. H.R. 3 “would enshrine the District ban into federal law.” According to the Office of Management and Budget office, such a restriction violates “home rule.”  Read at Think Progress

Please email, call or FB your Congressional leader.   Women can not allow this kind of repression to take hold again.   
Call the White House, (202) 456-1414, let them know you don't understand how President Barack Obama could allow the designation of any thing / project / action to be disrespectful to any MINORITY or Peoples. 
Now he ventures into a new league;  ASSHOLE. 

Related articles

• Pass notes No 2,970: Geronimo (guardian.co.uk)
• 'Geronimo' offends native Americans (hindu.com)
• Senate official: Wrong to link bin Laden, Geronimo (khamerlogue.wordpress.com)
• APNewsBreak: Tribe seeks apology for code name (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Apache tribe wants apology for calling bin Laden 'Geronimo' - Chicago Sun-Times (news.google.com)