Boycott the movie *Legally Blonde*--Protest Author's Racist Past
Susan Barthes-Alston
Boycott the movie *Legally Blonde*--Protest Author's Racist Past
We all have to pay our debts. And it's pay day for Brigid Kerrigan Thomas.
Please boycott the movie Legally Blonde, based on a novel Brigid co-wrote
(according to the July/August issue of *Harvard Magazine*--but for some
reason, only her friend, Amanda Brown, is credited). Brigid Kerrigan
(Thomas) is an unrepentant racist and Southern apologist. As a Harvard
student, in the early 1990s, she deliberately and publicly committed a
racist act designed to offend millions of Americans. She hung a Confederate
flag outside her dorm room window, and flatly refused to remove it, even
after people explained to her how they felt about it. To African Americans,
the Dixie flag is a symbol of 400+ years of oppression--as painful to blacks
as the Nazi flag is to Jews. But still Brigid left it flying. She indicated
that the flag represented the glory of the Old South to her, and that she
didn't really intend to offend anyone. And, or course, she invoked her 1st
Amendment rights.
Perhaps this incident wouldn't have been a big deal if Brigid's gesture was
really about the First Amendment, and she hadn't actually meant to offend
millions of Americans. But that's not the case. Visit this Web site
(http://www.templeofdemocracy.com/HARVARD.htm) to view an article that
recalls some of her more less savory comments. Look it over, and, if you
have the time, you can do research of your own, and check out the archives
of the Harvard Crimson and National Public Radio. And if that's not proof
enough, keep in mind that Brigid was one of the charter members of Harvard's
ultra-right wing, racist newspaper, the Peninsula. So even though the
national press might have bought her bogus free speech argument, her fellow
students always knew better.
If such behavior offends you, please do not to pay good money to see Legally
Blonde when it comes out later this July. If you must see the movie, please
wait until it comes out on TV.
This request isn't about revenge or punishment. It's about refusing to
support the career of and give your hard-earned money to an unrepentant
racist. Give Hollywood a strong message that you won't attend movies
associated with people who show such contempt for other human beings.
Boycott this movie not to protest against the 1st Amendment, but rather, to
exercise your rights under it. Tell Ms. Kerrigan (and Hollywood) that you
intend to put your money where your mouth is, and say "no" to her insidious
brand of racism.
Peace.
S. Thomas
Harvard Class of '91
Susan Barthes-Alston
discussed on Internet message boards - is not written in stone, but the
folks at Harvard and other schools seem pretty mad. Does anyone know more
about this stuff? I haven't read the Harvard Magazine article or the other
stuff, but I'm getting a little sick of hearing about it, even if it may be
true....
Susan Barthes-Alston wrote in message
<9kqdc0$60jm6$1...@ID-30346.news.dfncis.de>...
james Thomas
This is a smear campaign of the first order. If you go to the web page you'll
find no "racist" comments at all from Bridget Kerrigan Thomas. In fact, I've
listed the quotes attributed to her below. As to the flag, what blacks have to
realize is that Southern whites like everybody else want to feel proud of their
ancestors. What's so hard to grasp about this? Indeed, here's what the woman had
to say about what the Confederate Flag means to her:
"I see the Confederate Flag as a regional symbol of optimism and rebuilding... a
link to the past and the future of the South ... all that
is noble and young and rebellious and brave. Tenacity in the darkest hour.
Respect for truth, integrity, character and duty. That is the
flag for the War for Southern Independence."
Where's the racism there? Of course, the real issue here is the author of this
post trying to stuff his/her political agenda down everybody's throats and not
being above smear tactics to do it. Childish immaturity. "Don't fly the flag
because to me it's a symbol of racism to me." Well, that's just too bad, pal.
If you're that stupid anything can be a symbol of racism to your feeble brain.
Most southerners have long thought the flag a symbol for the things Kerrigan
mentions above. And it's unfortunate that skin heads and their ilk came along
and adopted the flag but it's downright ignorant, immature, and dishonest to
call all white southerners skin heads because of this. Grow up and learn to
respect others. Clearly, the symbol means one thing to blacks and another thing
to whites-- not the same thing to both.
BARD
SOUTHERN PARTISAN: What was the rationale for linking the Confederate flag to
the Swastika?
KERRIGAN: None was really given but it gave me an opportunity to point out that
Memorial Church in Harvard Yard has a memorial
plaque with the names of all Harvard men who died in wars - including those
German students who died fighting for Central Powers
in World War One and the Axis powers in World War Two. ... So Harvard not only
dishonors Confederate Veterans, it - not I - honors
the Nazi dead. As for anti-Semitism, I also pointed out that the man for whom
"Lowell House" (one of the campus residence halls is
named - A. Lawrence Lowell - was a fanatical anti-Semite who considered it a
major goal of his administration as President of
Harvard to bar the admission of as many Jews as possible. If Harvard was really
as sensitive to racism as it claims to be, they would
dismantle Lowell house brick by brick
Susan Barthes-Alston
caught up in a much larger issue. You seem to be defending a person, when it
is an *issue* at stake. I enjoyed the film, and it has zero to do with the
Confederate flag. There is no "smear campaign."
james Thomas wrote in message <3B70C144...@hotmail.com>...
Byker
news:3B70C144...@hotmail.com...
>
> "I see the Confederate Flag as a regional symbol of optimism and
rebuilding... a
> link to the past and the future of the South ... all that
> is noble and young and rebellious and brave. Tenacity in the darkest hour.
> Respect for truth, integrity, character and duty. That is the
> flag for the War for Southern Independence."
AMEN: www.sunherald.com/region/art/flag062200.jpg
Michael Jones
Susan Barthes-Alston wrote:
> This isn't a smear campaign. I don't doubt that she means well and has been
> caught up in a much larger issue. You seem to be defending a person, when it
> is an *issue* at stake. I enjoyed the film, and it has zero to do with the
> Confederate flag. There is no "smear campaign."
A "smear campaign" is precisely what it is. You call the woman "racist," talk
about her "racist past," urge everyone to boycott her movie, do, in fact,
everything in your power to drag the woman's name through the mud all because
she doesn't kiss your ass over this flag business. In other words, you deal in
all the low tactics of the demagogue including the most spineless of them --
denying your own words. But the members of this group aren't quite as stupid as
you seem to think. They know when someone's pissing down their back and calling
it rain.
BARD
Lux10ebrae
I will make a point of going to see it. Why? Because I'm tired of the PC
agenda that states that anyone who dares have a non-PC opinion is a racist who
should be shunned and boycotted. Keep on playing the race card, if it makes
you feel happy; in the long run, it's only creating more resentment and racism.
Susan Barthes-Alston
Michael Jones wrote in message <3B717884...@iusb.edu>...
>
>
>Susan Barthes-Alston wrote:
>
>> This isn't a smear campaign. I don't doubt that she means well and has
been
>> caught up in a much larger issue. You seem to be defending a person, when
it
>> is an *issue* at stake. I enjoyed the film, and it has zero to do with
the
>> Confederate flag. There is no "smear campaign."
>
>A "smear campaign" is precisely what it is. You call the woman "racist,"
talk
>about her "racist past," urge everyone to boycott her movie, do, in fact,
>everything in your power to drag the woman's name through the mud all
because
>she doesn't kiss your ass over this flag business. In other words, you deal
in
>all the low tactics of the demagogue including the most spineless of
them --
>denying your own words. But the members of this group aren't quite as
stupid as
>you seem to think. They know when someone's pissing down their back and
calling
>it rain.
How absurd, I was posting a widely disseminated call for a boycott (that's
what a boycott is) on elite university email servers, and you accuse me of
accusing her of being a racist. I have done no such thing. Look at my first
post - the call for a boycott was taken from an email server, it isn't *my*
call for a boycott, nor do I think she is a racist. I do think the flag
issue is an important one, and apparently you couldn't care less one way or
the other. As it is, the 'boycott' doesn't seem to have had any effect
whatsoever on the success of the film.
Lux10ebrae
what a boycott is) on elite university email servers, and you accuse me of
accusing her of being a racist. I have done no such thing. Look at my first
post - the call for a boycott was taken from an email server, it isn't *my*
call for a boycott, nor do I think she is a racist. I do think the flag
issue is an important one, and apparently you couldn't care less one way or >>
The thing you posted refers to her as an "unrepentant racist", and you are
sending the thing around, so in effect you are going around calling her a
racist.
perineph...@gmail.com
AMY ELIZABETH EDGERTON