Dear Community, Dear Friends,  

As a parent of a child with a cognitive disability as well as a relative to another, I consider the word "retard" very offensive. As a child, my mother was quick to educate us on how offensive this is to our family and others.  

Today it is a word that is tossed around thoughtlessly, few people even understanding the true meaning of the word.  It is through education that we can stop this from happening.    

I'm forwarding information to you for you to share with everyone you know regarding a new movie called "Tropic Thunder" that belittles people with cognitive disabilities.   Please do your part to help put a stop to discrimination and abuse of people with disabilities. Boycotting this movie offers a great opportunity to share information about individuals that have developmental abilities and to put a stop to the "R" word

Christine Garton

FSN of the Sandhills

Program Coordinator

Mother of a child with a disability

910-246-8059 ext.25  

 --- On Thu, 8/14/08, Irene Zipper wrote:

From: Irene Zipper
Subject: Re: [fsn_programs] FW: The Arc of the United States calls for national boycott of film Tropic Thunder
To: "FSN Affiliated Programs Mailing List"
Date: Thursday, August 14, 2008, 8:49 AM

 

Parent to Parent USA is among the many groups that has been involved in discussions with Dreamworks, and FSN of NC staff have reviewed a draft of a letter that is to be published in the New York Times.  One major concern is that this film not only makes use of an offensive term, but denies the valuable contributions that individuals with disabilities make to our society.  One of the discussions has been about whether letters should be coming from advocacy organizations or from individuals with disabilities themselves.  I think they should come from both, and it is important to emphasize the valuable contributions that all individuals are able to make to the society.   This movie seems to undermine that message, unfortunately  

Irene Nathan Zipper, MSW, PhD
Director
Family Support Network of North Carolina
University of North Carolina
CB #7340
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7340
(919) 966-6395
http://www.fsnnc.org/

    -----Original Message-----
From: Sue Price [mailto:SuePrice@vnet.net]

Subject: The Arc of the United States calls for national boycott of film Tropic Thunder

Dear Friends,  

I am writing this in response to several phone calls and emails we received about the movie Tropic Thunder, which hits the theaters today. Here is some information we received from The Arc of the United States which describes the movie and it's impact on individuals with intellectual disabilities.

Background: Tropic Thunder is an action/adventure/comedy scheduled for nationwide release on August 13 and promises to be one of the blockbusters of the summer. DreamWorks is the film's producer and Paramount is its distributor. 

The film features popular actors Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black as self-absorbed actors filming a big-budget war movie on location. Through a series of freak occurrences, they are forced to become the soldiers they are portraying.

Stiller plays Tugg Speedman, a fading action star who earlier failed in his bid for an Oscar as "Simple Jack," a man with an intellectual disability. "Simple Jack" is featured as a film-within-a-film, with Stiller sporting a classic institutional bowl haircut and bad teeth. The film within-a-film's slogan is "What he doesn't have in his head, he makes up for in his heart." A satirical plot synopsis quotes a critic as saying that Speedman's Jack was "one of the most retarded performances in cinema history."

Status: A small number of disability advocates was able to screen the film on Friday, August 8.  Their assessment of the film was that it was far worse than anything they could have anticipated.  According to David Tolleson, the Executive Director of the National Down Syndrome Congress who attended the screening, "it provides real ammunition for cruelty" especially for the film's target audience of adolescent males.  "Not only is the Simple Jack character highly central to the film's plot, it is portrayed in the most demeaning way," according to Tolleson.  In perhaps the single most offensive scene in the film, Matthew McConaughey, who plays a Hollywood agent, speaks to the film's main character who wants to adopt a child.  "Well, at least you still have a choice.  I'm stuck with mine," states McConaughey while pointing to a photograph of his teenage son who appears to have an intellectual disability. There has been mounting outrage from the disability community as the film's content is gradually becoming known.  For excellent coverage of the issue, see http://capwiz.com/thearc/utr/1/LLMRJBOBNK/JPDRJBQIYG/2272335441 and related posts. Hundreds of comments have been posted on the blog expressing outrage about the movie.

Representatives of a number of national disability organizations, including The Arc's Executive Director Peter V. Berns attended a screening of the movie and state that it is even worse than they imagined. As a result, Arcs across the country, in collaboration with other disability groups, are calling for a national boycott of the file.

What can you do? Join us in boycotting this offensive film. Forward this email to your colleagues, friends and family asking for their support. All of us have friends and relatives spread out across this country. Our voice will be more powerful if we join together. Consider sending a letter to Dream Works expressing your outrage at the hurtful language used in the movie. (I have attached a sample letter to use if you wish)  Please consider that this is also a great opportunity for us to educate our community about People First Language! As educators, families and professional in the field, we all how damaging and hurtful this derogatory language is. Now is our chance to speak about this important issues to our children, friends and neighbors. We have an opportunity to make a real difference here, and I hope we can count on you to do whatever you can to help. Thanks so much.  

Sue Price
Executive Director
The Arc of Cabarrus County, Inc.
P. O. Box 1367
Concord, NC 28026-1367
704-788-1616  

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." -Margaret Mead, Cultural Anthropologist and Author

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As a Realtor in the area, I routinely show properties to families. They always want to know about our schools, and I always say we have great ones.

Recently, however, a family came in that had done some research online. Using http://www.schooldigger.com/, they found our schools to be in line or just behind several schools in Cumberland County. I was not impressed with SchoolDigger, but I wasn't able to give any other recommendations either. In particular, Southern Middle School did not look very good, compared to other schools.

My girls attend Sandhills Classical Christian School, so I don't really have a way to evaluate the area schools personally. That's where you come in. I need your help.

It would be very helpful to me, and perhaps many others, if you would respond to this blog with your comments on our area schools. If you have a negative comment, please try not to grind the axe to hard. :)

 When Dan isn't drinking coffee at Panera, he sells real estate with Fore Properties.

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I read an article that was quite useful about teaching kids how to wisely spend money.  It talked about them having lemonade stands, etc.  My kids and neighbor kids setup a lemonade stand about a month ago and it was the cutest thing.  They actually sold all their stock and they split up the money evenly between 7 of them at the end of the afternoon.  Here is a link to the article that I read - it's a slideshow and I thought interesting, although a lot of it common sense.

Inc.com 

 

This is my second installment about "People to Meet in Moore County." If you know somebody that the rest of us need to meet, let me know. I'd be glad to interview them.

Felton Capel

This morning, I had the privilege to introduce Felton Capel to a class of 8th graders at Southern Middle School that I have been teaching through Junior Achievement. For the past eight weeks, I have asked the students what they wanted to do when they grew up, and then I followed up with a more difficult question: "What are you going to do this week to achieve that goal?" Most of the students have dreams, but they really don't understand how to turn them into reality. They also allow small barriers to get in their way. That's where Felton comes in.

Felton Capel is a black man in his 60's. We can say that race doesn't matter, but for people of Felton's generation it did. After leaving the US Army as a Master Sergeant during World War II, Felton came back to the States to try to get an education and get ahead. His choices were limited to black colleges, but he did receive a degree in Chemistry from Hampton University. When he came back home, the best job he could get was as a waiter for the Pinehurst Hotel. Felton Capel is a black man.

One day in 1968, after a family funeral, a friend approached Felton about the possibility of selling cookware with a company out of Los Angeles. Reluctantly, he agreed to try it out, and within six months, he was in the top 5 in the nation in sales. To this point, nobody in the company leadership had met Felton and didn't realize he was black, or the opportunity to sell the cookware wouldn't have been there to begin with. Within two years, he was the top selling distributor in the world, and the company wanted to throw him a victory banquet. Felton had a challenge. Felton is black. Hotels don't serve blacks. All that changed for one hotel in Winston-Salem, when Felton told them he wanted to book rooms for 700-900 people and host a dinner. He went on to by the cookware company and sit on many corporate and community service organization boards. Felton Capel is a black man, but he doesn't seem to notice.

Not satisfied with success in the business world alone, Felton ran for and won a seat on the Southern Pines Town Council. Due in large part to his efforts, Moore County integrated without all the ugliness that other areas endured. Felton Capel is a black man, but we don't care.

Perhaps you can understand why I invited Felton to speak to these 8th graders. Their excuses pale in comparison to the real barriers Felton Capel, and many others like him, faced on a daily basis. He is famous for saying, "Your attitude, more than your aptitude, determines your altitude." Everytime I think about quitting, or turning away from a challenge, or making excuses for my own laziness, I think about Felton Capel. Felton Capel is a great man.

When Dan isn't sitting at the feet of great men like Mr. Capel, he sells real estate with Fore Properties. You can reach Dan at 910-528-7003 or by email at Dan@DanAskins.com.

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The Sandhills Rotary Club has teamed up with the Town of Southern Pines to Stop Hunger Now. On Saturday, March 8, at the Douglass Community Center, we plan to package over 20,000 meals for hungry people all over the world.

The Town of Southern Pines is a co-sponsor and will be promoting the event in their literature. For details, please contact Dan Askins.

910-528-7003

Dan@DanAskins.com

 When Dan Askins is not out saving the world, he is a Realtor with Fore Properties.