Posted on 10/23/2005 4:42:59 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Keenya Hofmaier and Rosetta Riley - a couple of high-achieving Riverside University High School students - went to the Millions More Movement in Washington, D.C., last week hoping to learn something.
And, boy, did they get an education.
Before it was all over, the pair endured nearly 40 hours on a crowded bus with little food, missed most of the D.C. event, were subjected to hours of what they said were racist videos and, to top it all off, were accused of being lesbians by an alderman.
So much for what was supposed to be an inspirational and historic excursion led by Ald. Michael McGee.
"They were exhausted, pale and upset - their spirit was just gone," Keenya's mother, Pamela Allen-Newton, said of the two 17-year-olds when they returned to Milwaukee on Sunday afternoon. "I'm asking for a public and written apology to my daughter and Rosetta."
This month, the two girls were asked by a teacher to write essays on unity in the hope that they would win free rides on the bus trip. Both have grade point averages of at least 3.5 and participate in a number of outside activities, so they jumped at the chance to spend a day in D.C. for a rally led by prominent black leaders, including Louis Farrakhan.
"We were told we're part of making history," Hofmaier said.
The bus ride was trouble from the beginning, leaving a good two hours late.
OK, that's no big deal, considering how seldom trips involving scores of young people start on time.
But it didn't take long before Keenya and Rosetta realized they were in for a long haul. The bus took 18 hours to make the journey, and the group didn't arrive at the National Mall until 2 p.m. Saturday - two hours before the event was to end.
"We practically missed the march," Hofmaier recalled during an interview last week at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where the girls take classes.
Hofmaier and Riley - who describe themselves as a political liberal and a moderate, respectively - were not all that impressed with what they heard at the rally. Neither, for instance, bought into the conspiracy theories that the Bush administration's slow response to Hurricane Katrina was intentional and the result of a racist government. Both said they thought class issues were bigger factors in the snail-like response.
But the speeches were nothing compared to the derogatory accusations tossed at them by McGee afterward.
Before returning to Milwaukee, the alderman confronted the two with his concerns about their behavior.
Specifically, here's what Hofmaier and Riley said happened next:
"You guys have been acting funny," Hofmaier said McGee remarked. "People have been questioning you."
Riley recalled he said, "You've been acting uptight this whole trip."
Asked where he was going with those comments, McGee told them: "Read between the lines - you've been awfully touchy-feely."
The girls demanded to know whether McGee, never a friend to the gay community - they said he repeatedly used the slur "faggots" on the ride - was labeling them lesbians. He didn't respond.
"I said that was an inappropriate comment," Riley recalled telling him.
McGee, they said, then walked away.
"To question our sexual orientation - it's none of his business," Riley said, explaining that both girls are straight. "And even if we were (gay), what would it matter?"
McGee did not return calls or e-mails about the girls' account of the trip. But Paul Moga, a Riverside teacher and a McGee ally, sent a letter last week to the two girls apologizing - sort of - for all the mishaps, including McGee's remarks.
"While I do feel the alleged comment was clumsy, inappropriate, and ill conceived, I do not believe it was intended to be accusatory or insulting," Moga wrote. "My personal belief is that it was meant more in the vein of 'you ladies are remaining isolated from the group and people are wondering why,' rather than the blatant indictment of your sexual preferences."
The ride home was no better.
Neither girl received her promised $20 stipend, and food was scarce. For breakfast, they said, they were offered some Cheetos at 5 a.m. Sunday. The driver also got lost on the way and accidentally left behind one of the students during a stop, forcing the bus to double-back.
The return trip took 18 hours.
For entertainment, McGee showed videos that the girls described as racist propaganda, including a film saying most biblical figures were black and a four-hour flick on the Black Panthers. Most on the bus cheered the films, but the girls said they felt out of place particularly because they each have one white parent.
The highlight was a video recap of McGee's confrontation with state Sen. Tim Carpenter at City Hall. In February, Carpenter, who is gay, interrupted a McGee news conference to demand that the alderman apologize for saying "faggot" when describing off-duty cops charged with beating up Frank Jude Jr. at a south side party.
Not only did McGee never apologize to Carpenter, he riled up his supporters on the bus by offering incendiary commentary about the episode.
"Man, I should have kicked his ass," Hofmaier said he roared to the crowd.
"I could have punched him, I could have punched him," Riley said he added.
And here these girls thought they were going to learn about getting along.
Can't...can't we all just ...get along?
They did. That's how liberals 'get along' with those they disagree with.
What are two 17 year old girls doing traveling alone?
This is what they should have expected when hanging out with Lois Farrakham's radical moonbats.
Any word if the tax payers paid the bill for the trip?
ask Natalie Holloway.
Two more soon-to-be black Republicans fed up with the race baiters and the poverty hustlers.
"Two more soon-to-be black Republicans fed up with the race baiters and the poverty hustlers."
That's my sincerest wish for these two girls, too.
"Two more soon-to-be black Republican fed up with the race baiters and the poverty hustlers."
At least something positive will come out of that experience.
The article says that there were "scores" of young people, and that these two won the trip through their high school.
Even younger students go on long "field trips".
What's interesting - and encouraging - to me is that they didn't just soak up all they were told. They know better. I don't know who educated them that well, but let's clone it.
And the idiot media worries about "Prussian Blue"{two 13 yr old nationalists Nazi singers, which nobody ever heard of} and ignores the lunatic Fharakhan, and his hate march.
And the idiot media worries about "Prussian Blue"{two 13 yr old nationalists Nazi singers, which nobody ever heard of} and ignores the lunatic Fharakhan, and his hate march.
They should view this as a great educational opportunity. They could have been suckered into wasting their lives with Africana studies and other nonsense.
I think they learned a lot for their two days investment. "millions more" never learn this lesson.
I don't know, but when they turn 18 I'll volunteer to convert them both.
learn.
Two 17 year old girls alone on an "Aruba" buss, not a smart thing for the liberal parents to do.
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