Hour Three, from Reg to the end of the National Anthem (not counting Robert Caro)

(18, 19) 17 speakers in round three. 11 boys (11, 13), 6 girls (7, 6).
Of these, only 2 were seemingly white (14, 15), 12 seemingly black (1, 4), 0 seemingly hispanic (1, 0), and 1 seemingly asian (1, 0). No one signifying homosexuality or disability, BUT 2 Indians [0] (0, 0).

Was this bit intended as a ghetto? Cuz it sorta works like one.

STATES REPRESENTED (night one in brackets, each person counted only once)
UNKNOWN BY GREG [15] (1, 3) 5
CALIFORNIA [11] (2, 0) 1
MASSACHUSSETTS [2] (4, 1) 3
NEW YORK [3] (1, 0) 1
MICHIGAN [1] (0, 0) 2
PENNSYLVANIA [1] (2, 0) 1
TEXAS [3] (0, 0) 1
ARIZONA [0] (0, 0) 2
MISSISSIPPI [0] (0, 0) 1

no other states or territories

SUMMARY
-- Reg Weaver (black gentleman from somewhere) speaks well on education. He dogs Ted Kennedy’s “No Child Left Behind” law (voted for by Carrie Edwards), and NOT just because of underfunding.
-- John Dingle (white gentleman from Michigan)
-- Kwame Kilpatrick (black gentleman from Michigan). I’ve seen him speak before and he’s pretty impressive. Keep your eye on this dood (young, good looking, smart, black, progressive, etc).
-- Warning regarding how to exit the building, should such an unlikely thing be called for. For example, if Peter, Paul, and Mary sing again.
-- Recess for them. I should have hung on before posting that last one, I guess.
-- Steven of Penn (white gentleman) and Kirstin of Mass (black? lady), teen essay winners
-- Nubia Smith Whittaker of Mass (black lady) speaking on behalf of “Kids for Kerry”. I’m pretty high on the active kids, by the way. I should have been like them when I was a kid. Were I not so happy with being a curmudgeon, I’d want to be like them now.
-- Benjamin McKenzie from “the hit TV show the O.C.” and Texas (white gentleman)
-- “The City Youth Dance Ensemble”, black ladies and gentlemen from Mass, counted as one each. After they finished . . .
-- and we got tonight’s first JOHNNY B. GOODE (twice last night, if you’re keeping score).
-- Ossie Davis is back, and I had NO IDEA that he was married to Ruby Dee. Cool. I won’t count him again, but I will count her.
-- Ossie and Ruby are there to start a tribute to Fannie Lou Hamer. I think it is great that Mrs Hamer is getting her due, but wonder about the strategy. I would not be at all surprised to see Repugnicans make hay of how it came to be that Mrs Hamer gained national fame.
-- Bennie Thompson (black gentleman of Mississippi), to introduce . . .
-- Maya Angelou (black ladie from somewhere). I can’t get the image of David Alan Grier doing an impersonation of her reciting poetry in a Butterfinger ad out of my head. My concerns about what the Tucker Carlson set may do are, I hope, misplaced. The tribute was strong. Glad for it.
-- “This Lil Light O’ Mine” sung by a black gospel quartet. Two gentlemen and two ladies. I’ll count each of them if they do the verse “won’t let Satan pfthppttt it out, I’m gonna let it shine”. They don’t, so they get the P.P. and M. treatment. One lady, one gentleman.
-- Mike Honda (Asian American from Cali). We’re goin’ back to Cali! And the Democratic Party’s mea culpa tour continues, as Mr Honda calls attention to the internment camps for Japanese Americans. Again, good that it is done, but I fear for how the Repugs will use this. Mr Honda also blindsides us with lots of SPANISH! No Japanese, though.
-- James Forbes (black gentleman of NY). I’ll just say that, as far as preachers go, he’s not bad. In fact, he’s on the right side of most issues. There’s a big thing he believes that keeps me from totally digging him. Care to guess?
-- A few seconds of dead air rolls into “Shout” by Otis Day and the Nights (not). I do indeed want to shout.
-- I didn’t mention last night that they’re running clever little “switch” ads showing people who voted for Bush (or identify as Repugs) who claim they’ll go Carrie Edwards this time. Unfortunately I couldn’t read them (too far). They seem to serve two purposes (equally laudable): 1) get people feeling groovy 2) fill dead air. I can’t speak to 1, as I’m not there, but 2 needs serious help. Why didn’t they hire some Hollywood type to produce this thing?
-- And by the way, that was an unannounced break (so all my ragging was silly).
-- Michael Ennis and Alicia Chiles, Indians from Arizona, sang the national anthem in their language. Pretty cool, and the first appearance of Indians at the convention (and they came via satellite).

I’m stopping here to post. I may miss some speakers.

Actually, this is the big name types coming up, so I may not even chronicle them in detail.