Chronicles of the Crazy Time (14)

Today in crazy, we pass along these stories:

 Ford employees ask the company to stop making police cars

Employees inside Ford have asked the company’s leadership to stop making and selling police vehicles, according to Jalopnik. . . Ford is far and away the leading automaker in the US when it comes to making and selling specially-designed vehicles for law enforcement, making up some two-thirds of the market. . .

Black workers who are part of Ford’s African Ancestry Network (FAAN) employee resource group — have circulated a letter asking the company to “cease development, production, and sale of all custom police vehicles and products. . . We cannot claim to support the fight against systemic racism while supplying and supporting the very systems that perpetrate violence against Black Americans,” the group wrote. . .

“Throughout our history, the vehicles that Ford employees design and build have been used as accessories to police brutality and oppression. We know that while many join, support, or supply law enforcement with good intentions, these racist policing practices that plague our society are historic and systemic — a history and system perpetuated by Ford for over 70 years — ever since Ford introduced the first-ever police package in 1950. As an undeniable part of that history and system, we are long overdue to “think and act differently” on our role in racism.”

Wait till they hear about Henry Ford and his views about Jews.

Not to worry: I’m sure there’s a German car company that can supply police vehicles.

Meanwhile, I think Hollywood should do yet another remake of Robocop, but this time with a super-woke robot social worker who conquers crime through postmodernism. Maybe it could go something like this (12 seconds):

Oh no! Not yoga too! And Kindness Yoga no less.

Kindness Yoga called out: Weakened by coronavirus, 9 studios close after Instagram campaign exposes rift over race

Harrington, a straight, white guy who expanded Kindness to nine studios and 160 employees across metro Denver, announced last week that he was closing them all after a handful of yoga teachers, including a Black woman and a transgender man, called out Kindness on social media for “performative activism” and “tokenization of Black and brown bodies.” The teachers’ public comments, following a Black Lives Matter post on Kindness’ Instagram page that they termed too little, too late, evoked a backlash that was fierce and immediate.

Within 48 hours, as the nightly protests over police violence unfolded around the Capitol in Denver, just three blocks from Kindness’ Capitol Hill studio, the yoga company received nearly 400 emails from students who were upset, including many wanting to cancel their memberships. A week later, the emails had reached 800 and counting.

More absurd humor at the link.

Next on the renaming list: “The Masters” golf tournament:

The name “The Masters” must go. The heralded golf tournament, one of the four majors, needs to go back to its original name — the Augusta National Invitational. It became the Masters in 1939.

Tiger Woods, other big-time golfers and corporate sponsorships should demand it. In the current climate, with all the sweeping changes, it’s only right and just. Best of all, in this case, it’s a simple and smooth fix. The Masters never felt good or even sounded good when you said it. . .

Augusta National was built on grounds that were once a slave plantation and was the property of a slave owner. And according to a 2019 New Yorker piece about the course, it’s believed that enslaved Blacks were housed on the property.

And be honest. When you hear anyone say the Masters, you think of slave masters in the South. There’s nothing else, nothing special. You don’t think of someone mastering the game of golf. When has anyone mastered golf?

Well, one thing is certain: the author of this article has mastered tendentious idiocy. Or maybe this is satire and I missed it? It is hard to tell right now.

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