Steven Mikulan
A battle royale has broken out between two columnists on the pages of the Los Angeles Sentinel. The debate is over AIDS and the African Americans community, and pits lesbian journalist Jasmyne A. Cannick against L.A.-based author Dr. Firpo W. Carr. Photos of the two writers are juxtaposed in the paper's online version
in a way that suggests they might be warring upstairs-downstairs neighbors.
Cannick, whose column originated on her own blog, is a vocal critic of voter passage of California's anti-gay marriage Proposition 8. Carr tends to take a Biblical approach (and an Old Testament one at that) to issues such as AIDS and homosexuality. “Why Blacks Get AIDS,” his column that so incensed Cannick, laid out what he felt were the origins of AIDS contracted by African Americans. Carr's subject headings revealed his beliefs: Sexual Immorality, Illicit Drug Use, Blood Transfusion, Poverty, Racism and Prisons.
His discussion of each heading was followed by Biblical references.
“Blood Transfusion,” for example, is summarized: “In three different
Biblical time periods or dispensations God forbade taking blood into
the body . . . (Genesis 9, Leviticus 14 . . .”) etc.
Cannick's
response was titled “Intellectually Challenged Black Bible Thumping
Homophobes” and its opening immediately revealed her opinion of Dr.
Carr:
“You know that feeling you get in the bottom of stomach
when you're watching the news and there's a particularly horrible story
about some gruesome crime and all you can think is, “I hope they aren't
Black?” Just then a photo of a Black person is flashed across the
screen as the prime suspect and your worst fears are confirmed. Yeah
that feeling. Well, that's the feeling I've felt for the past few weeks
reading Dr. Firpo Carr's asinine columns regarding gays.”
For the full smackdown, see this Sentinel column link.
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