RENWL

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JULY 16, 2010

RENWL.ORG PETITIONS COURAGE CAMPAIGN TO CONDEMN AMERICABLOG RACIAL ATTACKS

(LOS ANGELES, CA) -  Renwl.org, an LGBT/African American news Website, is calling on Courage Campaign to publicly condemn Americablog.com, for its racial attacks targeting President Barack Obama and African Americans.

In a petition posted on Change.org yesterday,Renwl.org expresses outrage at the July 12, Americablog post by John Aravosis titled “Does the White House not understand that a black president cannot institute a policy of segregation? Apparently they don’t.”

In the post Americablog’s John Aravosis asserted that the White House and the Pentagon are currently examining “segregation options” for gays in the military in addressing the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. The claim itself is an out and out lie. It was immediately refuted and dismantled that same day by Chris Geidner of Washington DCs Metro Weekly in his post, “Absolutely” No Segregation Being Considered, Pentagon Spokesman Says.

This is not the first time Mr. Aravosis has purposely lied on the White House and President Obama to create race based animosity towards the Obama Administration among his primarily white gay male based readership. There are countless examples where Mr. Aravosis has lied, manipulated the facts, and highlighted the president’s racial background as basis for his attacks.

Renwl.org is appalled not only at Aravosis’s race-centered attacks on Barack Obama but his insistence at pitting blacks against gays when he engages in attacking the President. National and state LGBT organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign, Equality California and The National Task Force, all very aware of Americablog’s race baited rants, have said absolutely nothing in objection to Americablog’s offenses against the President and the African American community.

In Americablog’s latest post Renwl.org is stunned at blogger John Aravosis and his disrespectful use of images showcasing black humiliation in the South prior to the Black Civil Rights Movement to make mockery of the African American experience as an oppressed people in the United States.

Progressive politics organization Courage Campaign, knowing that John Aravosis has repeatedly lied and attacked Barack Obama in a racial fashion, has and continues to form partnership with John Aravosis and his blog despite pleas from LGBT individuals of color asking Courage Campaign to publicly denounce Americablog and its racist publishings and practices.

Renwl.org’s petition to Rick Jacob, CEO and founder of Courage Campaign, calls on Jacobs to do two things:

• Unequivocally publicly condemn the bigotry and hate demonstrated by Americablog and make clear that those who embrace it have no place in your partnership relationships in promoting equality for LGBTs in the US.
• Make clear that Courage Campaign will cease partnership relationship with Americablog.immediately.

The petition in its entirety is here

Restore Equality Now~West Adams/LA South (Renwl.org) is a South Los Angeles-based online news portal that covers and reports on Equality/Civil Rights, Social Causes And Community Development-related Issues, Information And Resources Pertaining To LGBT African Americans And All Residents Of South Los Angeles Neighborhoods

Contact: Derrick Mathis, Renwl.org Founder/Editor, renwl@renwl.org, 323-362-8572

You may also join us on Facebook: Demand Courage Campaign Denounce Americablog

*Courage Campaign’s most recent collaboration with Americablog (they’ve partnered on several projects since 2008:Letter To DNC

Links to previous RENWL posts on Americablog and John Aravosis:

• Rick Jacobs, Americablog And How White Liberals Reinvented The Pitbull

• Anatomy Of A Smear Campaign: Obama And The Lying Skanky Teabaggetry Of Gay Bloggers

• Gay White Pot Calls Kettle The New Black On Immigrant Intolerance Pt 2

• Everyone Calm Down On Obama DOJ’s DOMA Brief!