kates.jpgA Brooklyn-based friend of mine recently sent me an email I begged her to let me publish. My friend will remain anonymous out of fear that Charlotte Kates will bring her friends over and throw rocks at at the author’s apartment. But here is a brief history of the origins of radical leftista Charlotte Kates!

in other news..I checked out jewlicious and noticed this post:

Hizballah Rally invades Hipster Haven

This went right by my apartment! I remember hearing all this yelling and I was like, “oh it’s gotta be some angry black brothas..” I looked outside and low ‘n behold iz Palestinian supporters (mostly who are white kids). In fact, it reminded me that I went to college w/a girl named Charlotte Kates, an absolute genius ( perfect scores on her SATs and LSATS). We were on student government together at Douglass. Like many middle/upper white class white kids with no culture or tradition, she picked a new identity every year out of guilt of being a part of the majority. In ’97 she was scientologist, in ’99 she was gay, in ’00 she was Latina w/an accent, golden hoop earrings and a curious spray on tan, and in ’01, before I left for Australia, when zionism = racism on our college campus, my last words to Charlotte were, “Charlotte, it’s okay to hate politics, and criticize politicians..but don’t hate this country and don’t hate this country’s people. Go visit, go see how amazing it is. ” She never wrote another email to me again and last I heard she went to law school..lo and behold, the maniacal voice behind the microphone is none other than pasty white nutball herself…. video footage (c/o LGF).

From believing that “billions of years ago, in a past life, an evil space-based government had forced her to “zap” her mother with a ray gun” to “Palestinian resistance in all its forms has been a very powerful tool of justice.” Ahh, the wacky world of extremists without native culture.

About the author

Laya Millman

32 Comments

  • I don’t know why you people are so upset. After hearing that Charlotte Kates speech, the first thing that came to my mind was that Israel couldn’t even pay for better publicity. You would think that these people in the Palestinian solidarity would want to reach out to mainstream America. Having a public rally and basically having the message that we support “out troops”, which in their case, is the people that America’s sons and daughters are fighting against is absolutely brilliant.

  • middle – I was kidding. Is he extreme? No. Irritating? Yes. As Nakia said, he’s just a flirter. Bad humor. “Dershowitz” just rolls off the tongue (in-cheek).

    Barri – no apologies necessary. And I can see your point about the ISM.

  • I could see Dershowitz as extreme- I live near Cambridge, and I’ve seen him and heard him. He does tend to flirt with the deep end. He does not, however, often dive in and start playing Marco Polo- that proclivity belongs to the Charlottes on both sides.

  • Oh, no, I realized that the main source here is the footage and ancedotal experience–just noted the referenced link about her. And noted that, in general, it never hurts to remind people to check their sources–I know I don’t as often as I should. (BTW, I, personally, think the ISM makes a farce of genuine criticism and concern for Israeli action and Palestinian suffering, and leftists/radicals to boot, to the detriment of all involved.)

    Also, apologies if this doubleposts.

  • Barri – the only source here is Kates, the video and what she stands for. It’s dangerous to use one extreme (i.e. Limbaugh, Horowitz, Dershowitz or whoever) to argue against the other extreme.

  • FYI, there’s little information on the StoptheISM.com site on _who_ exactly they are. My cursory Google search only comes up with mentions of FrontPageMag.com, David Horowitz’s neo-con rag, and Lee Kaplan, one of its writers.

    In my experience, FrontPageMag.com has nasty, almost-laughable (albeit scary), somewhat-extreme positions on par with some of the ISM activists. (Fun fact: A quick perusal on the main page of the site lists “Restoration Weekend” with feature speakers such as Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter.) One of Horowitz’s most interesting rants has culminated in a book, a list of the 100 most dangerous professors in America. Two of those professors were MY professors and advisors, Gordie Fellman and Dessima Williams. Other articles of his attack the Peace and Conflict Studies Department, a department Gordie chairs and I graduated from, and ARC (Activist Resource Center), a campus organization I was involved in numerous forms. And while I obviously have a bias (politically and personally), Horowitz is so completely off-base it horrifies me. (His rhetoric is so unbelievable that, with every article published, everyone read his commentaries with a grain of salt, took them as a badge of honor and continued on our with our merry leftist-pinko-commie-antichrist activities.)

    Basically, this is a friendly reminder to always investigate and judge all of your sources. 🙂

  • Finally go the sound working. middle, I’m trying to see it, Ms. lawyer/finger, but it’s just not working for me. ck – hearing that woman’s angst was the only emotional aspect to the video. All the speakers sounded like robots. Sure ain’t like the old days.

  • They call Charlotte Kates “Little Red Kaffiyah Hood” As a result of this post, I’ve trawled through numerous activista Web sites, seen videos of rallies, read 1st person accounts etc., and I’ve learned one important thing.

    If tomorrow it will be the general consensus that Jelly doughnuts are the evilest thing in the world, Palestinian activists likle Charlotte Kates will be on the street chanting “ISRAEL IS JELLY DOUGHNUTS! ISRAEL IS JELLY DOUGHNUTS!! FREE FREE PALESTINE! DOWN DOWN JELLY DOUGHNUTS!”

  • middle – that dude is more george michael than hizbollah… Nakia, good point, except they’re not better looking. It’s just being in NYC they have better thrift stores. Culture shopping is a normal byproduct of university life. Most grow out of it. Charlotte Kates didn’t.

  • Good grief. They are as bad as the Christian right-wing Zionists, only better looking. With friends like these, Palestinians don’t need enemies.
    And as someone who’s gone “culture shopping”, a word to those who are: you’ve got a culture, and most likely a pretty good one. Go find it, and you won’t need to fake an accent, find costumes to fit, and you won’t worry about forgetting your “lines”. Be yourself- it’s way easier, albeit a mite less amusing to watch.

  • He was on the stage talking about armed struggle and how they are all Hizbullah.

    Oh wait, you’re right, those guys just send other people including children to do the “armed struggle” thing on their behalf.

  • Ok middle, I can see how she can be a fun cuppa joe… but I’m guessing she’s already hooked up with the blond Corey Haim-looking geek in the leather vest. But hey, there’s always Charlotte. Or the gal in that amazing leopard skin cowboy hat.

  • What’s wrong with you boys, she’s spunky, clever, bright, educated, intuitive, manipulative, loyal to her cause, mischievous, unafraid to speak her mind and possessed of both a nice smile AND an upstanding (and outstanding) finger.

    Just the kinda girl you wanna bring home to mommy.

  • Thanks ck – that El Marco/flicker foto explains perfectly. As for lawyer girl, I know much hotter women lawyers – most of them in NYC. Maybe I’m old fashioned but I just don’t find her hot. I like the finger, but no one looks hot with their head stuck up their ass.

  • An older woman passed by the rally and got upset at what they were saying. It made her cry. The woman in the Israel track jacket (looks like American Apparel Unisex California Fleece
    Track Jacket
    !) was just comforting her. The organizers were expecting loads more people. Chck out our original post “Hizballah Rally invades Hipster Haven” which links to pics of people carrying several flags and placcards – bc there weren’t enough people there. As for finger grrrl, she says she’s a lawyer… no comment.

  • There were more people at my block party last week than at this “rally”. For some reason I can’t get sound – which gives sort of exposes the lack of energy. Notice the dude in the bad leather vest thinking he’s like some Weather Underground security guy (check out Emil D’Antonio’s “Underground” and you’ll get what I mean.)

    Can someone tell me what was going on at the end with the lady in the Israel running jacket?

  • I’ll bet Middle has to deal with plenty of pissy people. On this site, for example.

  • You must be hard up for p*ssy to find that ho hot

    1. There’s nothing about this that suggests she’s a ho, although I suppose one can always hope.

    2. Plenty of people who have sex regularly can and do find other individuals attractive, even when others don’t. I suggest you take another look at her finger.

  • Middle, i too thought she was hot, but hot in that crazy Palestinian yearning for my homeland kinda way. Her finger was kinda skinny though and a lil crooked.

  • Two noteworthy things were said here. First, the “lawyer” who gives the finger was able to get the cops to do her bidding by threatening a “riot” if the cameraman remains nearby. By the way, she’s a babe and has a very attractive finger.

    Second, the guy who stands at the podium ranting about the “right” to violence who says “We are all Hizbullah.”

    Overall, however, this was a tiny demonstration and didn’t seem to be too effective other than perhaps to serve as good fodder for youtube.

  • The term is Western Useful Idiot. My best friend is married to a nice girl who used to room with one of the founders of the ISM in college. Her story is almost exactly the same.

  • Scientology aside, you’ve basically described 9 out of 10 of the ISMers I come across in a year. There are so many Charlottes out there…

    On the bright side, one such lost sheep did assure me that Israel/Palestine was the current “Cause Celeb”- so in a few years time, they’ll have moved their uninformed herds onto something else equally “worthy”. We can hope.

  • I knew that face was familiar. Charlotte is really a completely un-noteworthy activista, except for the fact that while her associates know enough to speak in code, Charlotte calls it like it is, often times to the chagrin of her fellow ISM and PSM activists.

    Charlotte believes that supporters of Israel are racists who deserve to be harassed in the name of justice. Kates has also stated that Israel is a racist sstate and has no right to exist. Charlotte has also stated that Israeli CHILDREN are “legitimate” targets for Palestinian suicide bombers.

    So like I said, nothing special about Charlotte except that she has a big friggin mouth. And maybe she’s a little crazy – as a one time adherent to Scientology, she stated she was reincarnated from a past life where she once killed her mother with a ray-gun. She later turned on the Scientology Movement because she felt it was controlling her mind.

    Shoulda worn the tin foil hat Charlotte. Thanks for the laugh laya. I won’t mention her last name, but you can read all about her here.