The New York City Board of Elections admitted after a lawsuit that it broke the law by purging thousands of people from voter rolls before the 2016 New York presidential primary. State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman says the board violated “the law and New Yorkers’ trust in the institutions meant to protect their rights”
By Michael Sainato –
On October 24, the New York City Board of Elections finally admitted it broke the law by purging 117,000 voters off voter rolls in Brooklyn shortly before the 2016 Presidential Primary. The admittance came one year after a lawsuit was filed against the board for violating national and state election laws. As part of the settlement, the purged voters are to be restored to voter rolls, the board has 90 days to come up with a plan to prevent future purges and be subjected to regular audits and reports.
“The right to vote is sacred to our democracy. Yet the NYC Board of Elections illegally purged over 200,000 New Yorkers from the rolls, violating the law and New Yorkers’ trust in the institutions meant to protect their rights,” New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement. “This proposed settlement would overhaul NYCBOE’s practices for maintaining voter rolls, ensuring that the issues that led to the purges are addressed, and establishing frequent monitoring and oversight. My office will continue to protect all voters’ access to the polls and continue to fight to expand voting rights.”
In December 2016, Schneiderman proposed a series of election reforms in response to his office’s investigation of complaints from the 2016 New York Primary. “The voting issues we uncovered during the April primary were widespread, systemic and unacceptable,” he said in the press release. “The right to vote is the right that protects all other rights. New York must become a national leader by protecting and expanding voting rights throughout the state.” Those reforms proposed by Schneiderman and pushed for by several progressive organizations have been widely ignored by Democrats in New York.
Despite New York serving as a Democratic Party stronghold, the state’s primary elections are one of the most undemocratic in the country and 2016 served as a prime example of why. The New York Democratic primary had the second lowest voter turnout (19.7 percent) of all Democratic primaries, behind Louisiana. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign helped bring thousands of Independent voters into the Democratic Party, but New York holds closed primaries, and the New York Attorney General’s office noted that many voters were unable to vote in the primaries because their registrations were not properly processed in time for the deadline. In New York, voters are required to register as Democrats six months before a primary to be eligible to vote in it, one of the longest time constraints on voter registration in the United States. Hillary Clinton defeated Sanders in the New York Democratic Primary, 57.9 percent to 42.1 percent, a victory that halted Sanders’ surge after he had won the last 7 of 8 primary contests.
Schneiderman proposed automatic voter registration, offering same-day registration for voters, online voter registration, restore voting rights to parolees, and develop a system of early voting. The low voter turnout in the New York Democratic Primary was a symptom of an election system in New York designed to deter democracy through voter suppression. In New York City, voters were provided only one day to vote during the week, in the most populated city in the United States. New York should serve as an example to the rest of the country in how elections should be held to expand and promote democracy rather than constrict it.
Keith Ristau, President of Far West Fibers, pulls a disposable coffee cup out of a pile of curbside recycling.
Amanda Troxler/OPB
Recyclers are worried they could soon have no place to send your discarded paper and plastics. That’s because China has decided the U.S. is letting food and garbage contaminate too much of its unwanted milk jugs and other recyclables.China is the biggest buyer of recyclable plastic, paper and metal from the U.S. Starting next year, China will no longer take our recyclables. They say those materials are coming over with food scraps or types of plastic that can’t be recycled.
No more unclean chili cans. No more of the wrong types of plastic. No more things that just get tossed in recycling containers: junk like garden hoses or grocery store plastic bags.
By the end of the year, China will only accept products that have a 0.3 percent contamination rate, something industry groups said is “virtually unattainable.”
That’s left Northwest recyclers in a lurch. Oregon has been asked to allow recyclers to ship customers’ paper, plastic and metal materials to landfills.
“The problem is it has nowhere to go,” said Julie Miller of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, in an earlier interview with EarthFix. “Recycling centers are filling up with material.”
In Washington, recycling is most often handled at the city and county levels. That means it’s difficult to tell how each municipality is handling the upcoming changes.
Brad Lovaas is with the Washington Refuse and Recycling Association. He said Friday that could mean more of the state’s recycling could be headed for the trash heap.
“If it comes to it, and they hold to this ban, if they hold to the contamination levels, there will be no market for many of the things that we collect in our curbside and commercial recycling programs right now,” Lovaas said. “There’s just no way to replicate what China consumes right now anywhere.”
Lovaas said recyclers are going to have to slow down the processing and sorting of products to meet the new standards.
That could mean, in the near term, many recyclables will be headed to the landfill — it’s not safe or healthy to just store them somewhere until further notice.
Washington’s recycling rate is around 50 percent, Lovaas said, which is above the national average, as are Oregon and California’s recycling rates. That’s one reason the West Coast is feeling the pinch of losing its biggest recyclable buyer.
“We still are questioning whether we can attain the levels that — at least right now — (China) is dictating,” Lovaas said.
Right now, Lovaas said consumers should still continue to recycle. Just check with local programs to make sure you know the rules — and throw things away if you aren’t sure if they can be recycled.
More American states are legalizing medicinal marijuana, and more pet owners are now treating their pets with cannabis-based medicines as a source of relief from symptoms.
Medical marijuana is legal in 28 states, though still illegal under United States federal law. As more humans turn to marijuana based treatments for their own conditions, some are finding that their pets are also experiencing relief when treated as well. Pet owners are using cannabis-based extracts, ointments and treats for issues that range from anxiety and arthritis to cancer.
Because it the use of cannabis based products is illegal under federal law, there has been little research done with regard to its potential for help in humans or animals. Because of this veterinarians say there isn’t enough science to prove that cannabis is safe, or even effective in the treatment of animals, and they cannot recommend, nor prescribe it as a treatment.
Ken Pawlowski is the president of the California Veterinary Medical Association and says that vets hands are tied when it comes to the questions and requests they get from clients asking about it for their pets. They just don’t have the answers for them. Even veterinarians in California, like Dr. Karl Jandrey, who also teaches at the University of California, says that he advises clients who insist on using cannabis-treatments to do so knowing there is risk and possible expense involved. Though marijuana is legal for both medical and recreational use in California, veterinarians are legally restricted from prescribing or even recommending cannabis, and could lose their licenses if they did.
Yet, even with little science backing the efficacy of cannabis treatments in pets, many owners are still using them on their own, and thankful for the options. Most of the products they use, though not regulated, have cannabidiol, or CBD, which is found in cannabis but doesn’t get pets or humans ‘high.’ Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the compound in cannabis that is known for its psychoactive effects, and there is little to none in these products.
There’s been such ‘success’ among pet owners in the usage that now companies are producing and marketing cannabis products specifically for pets, even though the actual legality of the products is questionable. One such company is TreatWell Health, which is based out of San Francisco. TreatWell sells cannabis tinctures that can be added to a pet’s food or put directly in his mouth. Alison Ettel is the co-founder of TreatWell and she says that a lot of clients are coming to her when there are no other options, particularly when prescribed medications simply don’t work.
Ettel says that TreatWell tinctures can help treat things like anxiety, pain, seizures, kidney and liver problems and even cancer and glaucoma. They are also part of end-of-life care routines to make the pets comfortable.
What clients say is that the treatments bring their pet’s back to their old selves. TreatWell client Barbara Stein said that when no traditional medicines worked for her aging cats, the cannabis did.
Dwight Clark speaks in front of a mural dedicated to the 49ers on April 23, 2017, in San Francisco.
For most of the past four decades, it seemed that Dwight Clark had been sprinkled with lucky dust. That he had a golden horseshoe stuck somewhere on his body. Over the years, Clark would agreeably acknowledge that life had, indeed, been pretty good to the handsome kid out of Kinston, N.C.
But life has abruptly reversed course.
Clark, who will be honored on Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, is suffering one of the cruelest fates of the human condition. He revealed last spring that he had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis — Lou Gehrig’s disease.
His condition is deteriorating. The man who became famous for touching the sky as he leaped to catch a touchdown pass is confined to a wheelchair.
It is heartbreaking. A reminder that no one is immune from the ravages of disease and physical disability.
There is precious little magic around the 49ers these days. Sunday, when the 49ers take on the Cowboys — a matchup forever changed by Clark’s catch — there will be reflections on that most idyllic, Camelot-like, of times for the team.
Thirty-eight members of San Francisco’s 1981 championship team will be on hand, along with 20 other former 49ers players. Various proceeds will go to the “Golden Heart Fund,” which supports 49ers alumni in need of assistance.
Also expected at the ceremony: Eddie DeBartolo Jr., Carmen Policy, several former employees, and Everson Walls, the Cowboy who will forever be frozen in time below Clark, hand outstretched to try to stop history.
Joe Montana will speak at halftime, to pay tribute to Clark.
“About his personality, the joy he brought to the whole Bay Area,” Montana recently said on a podcast with NBC Sports. “His personality lends itself to a light atmosphere all the time. No matter how down somebody was, he could get you to smile and laugh.”
Clark was drafted in the 10th round of the 1979 draft, back when there were 10 rounds. Bill Walsh had traveled to Clemson to work out quarterback Steve Fuller. Clark was at the workout to catch Fuller’s passes. Walsh liked what he saw in the 6-foot-4 receiver.
Walsh was one of the few who saw Clark’s potential. The only other teams to work him out were the Steelers and the Chiefs. The Cowboys had labeled Clark “undraftable.”
He came into camp with a skinny guy named Montana who — according to a hilarious recounting by the parties involved — Clark originally mistook for the kicker. The quarterback and receiver quickly bonded. They roomed together, pulled pranks on teammates, and tried to hide from the coaches, always afraid they were about to be cut from the team at any moment.
They weren’t. Though there were other key figures, most notably Walsh, who were responsible for the 49ers’ rise, Montana and Clark became the image of the team. The dashing duo: Montana, the cool gunslinger, and Clark, the affable country boy with the movie star looks.
Montana recounted that the late Freddie Solomon had nicknamed Clark “Hercules.” In Roman mythology, Hercules was known for his strength and his many adventures. That was how Clark’s teammates viewed him.
Last spring, at a touching ceremony at City Hall to announce the naming of streets in the Candlestick Point housing development, Clark was suffering but still got up to speak. He spoke about “The Catch,” and described what a perfect, right-on-the-money pass it was from Montana, just high enough where only Clark could get it.
Clark said that Montana suggested — given how the receiver felt about the perfection of the pass — the play should probably be remembered as “The Throw.”
“Give me my one play!” Clark joked.
There was more than the one play. For nine years, wearing No. 87, Clark caught passes — 506 of them, resulting in 48 touchdowns.
But that one play would come to define him, would change his life forever. Never the fastest or most talented athlete, Clark made the right play at the right moment to become an instant legend. To become a beloved part of history.
Walsh had called “sprint right option.” Solomon was the primary receiver, but he slipped coming off the line, so the timing of the play was screwed up. But Walsh had his offense practice the play since training camp and Montana knew that Clark should be getting open.
Montana let go of the ball and was pushed to the ground by Larry Bethea. He didn’t know what happened until he came off the field and equipment manager Chico Norton ran up to him.
“Boy, your buddy saved your ass,” Norton said to Montana. “He jumped out of the stadium.”
It was as though Clark had sprouted wings. A moment of pure magic.
The former coach and star tight end of the Chicago Bears appeared on Jim Gray’s national radio show ahead of Monday Night Football, Oct. 9 to talk football, protests, and apparently his rudimentary knowledge of American history. Gray even tried to help Ditka out of the hole he dug for himself, citing the social activism of athletes like Muhammed Ali and Jesse Owens. Instead, Ditka doubled down (emphasis added):
“I don’t know what social injustices [there] have been. Muhammad Ali rose to the top. Jesse Owens is one of the classiest individuals that ever lived. I mean, you can say, ‘Are you (saying) everything is based on color?’ I don’t see it that way. I think that you have to be color blind in this country. You’ve got to look at a person for what he is and what he stands for and how he produces, not by the color of his skin. That has never had anything to do with anything.”
The color of someone’s skin has never had anything to do with anything.Let me put that in bold so you can really see the foolishness of this take: The color of someone’s skin has never had anything to do with anything.
Share
Mike Ditka testifying during a congressional hearing on NFL compensation. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images.
Well, Mike Ditka, I’ve got some news for you. There has, in fact, been oppression against people of color in the last 100 years.
Lynchings, Jim Crow laws, the war on drugs, mass incarceration, the 1994 crime bill, gentrification, gerrymandering, ICE raids, police shootings, and more. But hey. I get it. How could we expect someone like Mike Ditka to recall a century’s worth of discrimination, hatred, and bigotry, what with all those concussions he (probably) incurred, coupled with the insular world wealthy white men of advanced age tend to create for themselves.
Ditka and his ilk may feign ignorance about the history of this country, but their willful ignorance doesn’t erase the systemic oppression happening right this second.
Share
Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images.
So if 100 years is too much to consider, here are nine examples of oppression against people of color from the last 100 days.
And, frankly, most of these are from the past month. Just because it’s not happening to you, doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Take a seat, Ditka. I’m about to drop some knowledge.
1. The public skewering of Jemele Hill
ESPN journalist Jemele Hill was suspended from the network over tweets calling out Jerry Jones for threatening to fire any players who kneel during the national anthem. She’s been publicly attacked by the president, who she called a white supremacist. Meanwhile, Hank Williams Jr. was recently invited back to ESPN after seemingly likening President Obama to Hitler and outright calling him “the enemy.”
3. Destruction is met with heartlessness in Puerto Rico
Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico. Most people on the island are still without water or electricity. The president criticized the mayor of San Juan for her “poor leadership,” then he took his time getting supplies and resources to residents and threw paper towels into the crowd. His administration also briefly hid data about the recovery effort.
Share
Residents wait in the rain to register with FEMA in Jayuya, Puerto Rico. Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images.
4. The relentless stream of anti-Muslim rhetoric and vandalism
5. The co-opting of the NFL protest against inequality
Kneeling during the national anthem began as a silent way to protest police violence and inequality against against black and brown people. Athletes and fans choosing to kneel have been met with racial slurs, death threats, and threats to their employment. A black fan seated during the anthem at a pre-season Lakers game was reportedly attacked by two white women. At the same time, Terrelle Pryor, a black NFL player, says he was called the n-word so much during a game, he had to have an NFL employee step in to assist. (In case you’re curious, he didn’t kneel during the anthem, but maybe he should have).
Share
Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images.
6. Dove’s careless advertisement that centered white beauty ahead of everything else
This ad from Dove, which appeared on Instagram, shows a black woman removing her shirt and skin to reveal a white woman underneath. Think of all the people who had to OK this before it got to Instagram. Now ask yourself why so many people thought it was OK to dismiss black women in that way, to ignore how the ad could be seen as portraying black women as dirty, unworthy, or not beautiful?
7. America’s dangerous obsession with memorializing the Confederacy
New monuments to the Confederacy have been planned and built, even in Union states. This is not a celebration of history. It’s intimidation and propaganda. Or to put it another way: oppression.
Share
Hundreds of protesters demonstrate against a Confederate monument in Fort Sanders. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images.
In 2011, St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley shot Anthony Lamar Smith five times. While in pursuit of Smith’s vehicle, Stockley said, “we’re killing this motherfucker, don’t you know.” Stockley didn’t apply wound-care even though another officer on the scene testified that Smith appeared alive. Stockley may have planted a gun in Smith’s car. What does this have to do with the last 100 days? Well, Stockley was found not guilty of murder on Sept. 15, 2017. For weeks, people have taken to the streets of St. Louis to protest the verdict and demand justice for Smith.
Share
Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images.
OK, Ditka, step aside for a second. Time to talk to the people ready to do something about willfully ignorant people like you.
Just like oppression itself, willfully ignorant people are common and dangerous. They don’t understand that “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” is not a solution. It’s a myth. This is especially true if you don’t have boots (figurative or literal) to start with.
“I mean, I don’t see all this, the social injustice that some of these people see. I don’t. I know my dad worked in a steel mill and he brought home a paycheck and we ate dinner every night together. We didn’t have anything, but we didn’t need anything because we had a family. That was a good time in America. I would like to see us get back to that.”
Ditka was 10 years old in 1949. WWII had just ended four years earlier and Brown v. Board of Education wouldn’t rule to integrate schools for another five years. So it’s safe to say that wasn’t a great time for everyone in America — just people who looked a lot like Ditka.
That’s why people like him are so dangerous. They simply don’t see the hatred, bigotry, and systemic oppression that our country was built on. And if they can’t see it, they will do absolutely nothing to stop it, and they could use their privilege and power to make matters worse.
Share
Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images.
What can you do about it? Speak up.
We all know a Ditka: Someone who just doesn’t get it and just doesn’t want to. Don’t let them off the hook. Don’t stay silent. Have those tough conversations. Call them out on their BS. Hit them with facts, figures, and the truth. Speak out against acts of oppression, and support candidates and companies that do the same.
Because whether it comes from a windbag of a football coach (sorry, Bears fans) or your dear old aunt, willful ignorance is willful ignorance. And if we want to dismantle systemic oppression, dropping knowledge is a damn good place to start.
George Clooney, a charming Kentuckian liquor salesman who is also one of the world’s biggest movies stars, let loose on President Donald Trump (also a liquor salesman), in a pointed interview with the Daily Beast recently, one in which he used a palette of colorful language perhaps appropriate to the subject matter at hand.
While promoting his new film “Suburbicon,” the actor, director and Nespresso pitchman spoke to writer Marlow Stern about the ongoing skirmishes between Trump, his red-state, red-meat base and the so-called “coastal elites,” a clique of which Clooney would seem to be a member. The actor wasn’t having it:
Here’s the thing: I grew up in Kentucky. I sold insurance door-to-door. I sold ladies’ shoes. I worked at an all-night liquor store. I would buy suits that were too big and too long and cut the bottom of the pants off to make ties so I’d have a tie to go on job interviews. I grew up understanding what it was like to not have health insurance for eight years. So this idea that I’m somehow the “Hollywood elite” and this guy who takes a shit in a gold toilet is somehow the man of the people is laughable.
Fair. He continued about the notion of Hollywood elitism and exceptionalism saying, “People in Hollywood, for the most part, are people from the Midwest who moved to Hollywood to have a career. So this idea of ‘coastal elites’ living in a bubble is ridiculous.”
This, in turn, curved back to statements about our highly branded commander in chief, of course. “Who lives in a bigger bubble?” he said. “[Trump] lives in a gold tower and has twelve people in his company.” Of course, the president would argue that he employs tens of thousands, but the Oscar-winner wasn’t taking that particular bait.
“He doesn’t run a corporation of hundreds of thousands of people he employs and takes care of,” the actor said. “He ran a company of twelve people!” He then compared Trump’s past business ventures with his own work as a director. “When you direct a film you have seven different unions all wanting different things, you have to find consensus with all of them, and you have to get them moving in the same direction. He’s never had to do any of that kind of stuff.”
Clooney wrapped it all up with an F-bomb. “I just look at it and I laugh when I see him say ‘Hollywood elite,'” he said. “Hollywood elite? I don’t have a star on Hollywood Boulevard, Donald Trump has a star on Hollywood Boulevard! Fuck you!”
You know, it takes quite a lot to make a millionaire Academy Award-winning star who once lived in a 19th-Century villa on the shore of Lake Como look like a man of the people — but that is our gold-plated, gold-haired president, ladies and gentleman.
When a judge sends a defendant to the ‘Chicken Farm,’ it’s considered worse than jail by some.
There are a lot of reasons to steer clear of industrially-farmed meat. From the filthy, cramped conditions in which animals are kept to the rampant disease and excessive antibiotics used to promote artificial growth, the whole industry raises serious ethical and environmental questions.
But now there’s yet another reason to question the origins of industrial meat. A recent investigation by Reveal News for the Center for Investigative Reporting has found that some chicken processing plants in the Midwest are, essentially, slave camps where men and women are sentenced to work hard for free in horrific conditions, all under the guise of rehab.
There are contradictory opinions as to the true purpose of the work camps. The main processing plant featured in the report, Christian Alcoholics & Addicts in Recovery (CAAIR), owned by Simmons Foods, Inc. and located in rural Oklahoma, promotes itself as a treatment center; however, “the program mainly relies on faith and work to treat addiction”; is unregulated by the state; and has only one licensed counsellor (out of three in the entire 280-person facility).
Meanwhile, a court administrator named Vicki Cox told reporters that participants are not sent to CAAIR for drug or alcohol treatment. “The referral is to assist the participants in developing good job skills, life skills, work ethics and personal care skills.”
Despite this, reporters found that “drug court staff repeatedly described CAAIR as treatment in court records,” which Cox dismissed as a record-keeping error.
So, which is it, and what is really going on?
The workers themselves have a different take on things. They describe a hellish work environment, standing in front of speeding conveyor belts in a frigid poultry plant, “pulling guts and stray feathers from slaughtered chickens destined for major fast food restaurants and grocery stores.”
To make matters worse, injuries are not properly treated and are often viewed by bosses as a way to get out of work. Brad McGahey, whose hand was mangled in a machine, recalls being told by CAAIR administrators, “You can either work or you can go to prison. It’s up to you.” At that point McGahey chose prison, because “anywhere is better than here.”
“The program mainly relies on faith and work to treat addiction.”
There is a serious conflict of interest, with the processing plants making enormous profits off the free labor. In the seven years since its founding, CAAIR has brought in more than $11 million in revenue. The workers also fill a labor void, resolving an issue faced by many of these processing plants prior to the creation of programs like CAAIR and without which they’d likely be forced to shut down.
Is this even legal?
“Legal experts said forcing defendants to work for free might violate their constitutional rights. The 13th Amendment bans slavery and involuntary servitude in the United States, except as punishment for convicts. That’s why prison labor programs are legal. But many defendants sent to programs such as CAAIR have not yet been convicted of crimes, and some later have their cases dismissed.”
The entire report adds a horrifying human dimension to the world of industrial meat production, extending the question of welfare from animals to the humans who process their carcasses. It’s certainly enough to put one off KFC and Popeye’s chicken forever, as CAAIR is a supplier.
It will be interesting to see what results from this investigation. It has certainly shocked many people, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma, which is now considering legal action in response. And yet, as the report concludes, CAAIR continues to expand with plans for yet another dormitory to house more laborers. Sadly, as long as demand for industrially-produced meat remains high, without the ethics of production being questioned, these injustices are likely to persist.
I’m reposting this article in light of today’s “celebration” of Columbus Day. Instead of relitigating the past and letting history divide us, how about we go on a real discovery together and start a much needed adult conversation on race. Read the article below with an open heart and mind and then use this write up as a starting point to have a real dialogue instead of yelling past each other. Share this article on social media and start the conversation using #InclusiveJustice
I will admit, I was a part of the same crowd I’m now picking up a pen to speak against. I too once went around foolishly talking about “white privilege” this or “white people are evil” that. This was not too long ago; a time when I used to see justice through colored binoculars. I was part and parcel of the very divisive culture I thought I was speaking against. It took two years of hardship for me to finally shed my blinders and see injustice as it is without putting an adjective in front of it.
This is the wisdom I earned through hardship. Using rhetoric like “white supremacy” and “white privilege” is a way of stereotyping the whole of “white” people and lumping everyone into one group. This is the surest way to turn potential allies in the struggle for justice into adversaries; by doing so we end up perpetuating the very divides that the “system” depends on to split people apart. Moreover, it is a blatant lie that being “white” automatically confers some type of privilege. Just because some or even most might have it easier being a certain complexion does not mean all enjoy that privilege. True enough we have it hard being “black” and institutional racism is no joke; but there are tens of millions of “white” people who suffer generational poverty in the Appalachians and beyond that matches the poverty faced by “African-Americans” and “minorities” in the inner cities. Do we have to negate the suffering of others in order to show that we suffer?
I used ascribe to the narrow-minded rhetoric of statements like “white privilege” and “white supremacy” until I had a dance with misfortune and resided among the broken and impoverished for more than two years. What I witnessed were “white folks” along with everyone else who were so stuck in poverty that struggle became their normal. Can you imagine if I told some guy who did not have a high school diploma and was a vagabond begging for change on street corners that he had “white privilege”. Anyone who says people who are poor on this level is out of choice is just as myopic as the worst bigot who says “black people” are lazy. Poverty is not a choice, in most cases it is a sentence—a life sentence that “white people” serve along with the rest.
I only woke up to the ways the elites deceives us to fight one another when I got mugged by reality. What I have witnessed from South Carolina to Colorado and countless regions in between—as I sojourned from state to state and mission to mission—is this. Poverty comes for all and it does not discriminate based on the preposterous labels we accept from oppressors. The overwhelming majority of humanity is being ground into dust as the uber wealthy are literally kneecapping the masses into indigence and hopelessness in order to nourish their opulence. “White” people are victims of this global system of oppression too; we are better off uniting to defend our common interests than we are using myopic rhetoric and turning co-victims into enemies (read One Nemesis, 50 Different Grievances).
Want to know why Trump was elected? A large factor can be traced to “white people” who wanted to have their grievances aired. They ended up turning to Trump’s “us versus them” campaign because they got tired of being blamed and never being heard. We rightly get upset when bigots use rhetoric like “black people are lazy” or “black people aren’t driven”. Don’t you think “white people” get upset too when rhetoric like “white privilege” and “white people are evil” ascribes guilt to all and condemns more than 60% of this nation as wicked and concurrently diminishes the struggles they go through? True enough there was a segment of voters who turned to Trump out of bigotry and hatred, but others voted for him because he spoke their resentment. To cast all Trump voters as racist is to feed into the division and to cast all “white people” in a certain light is to further injustice.
I was at Colorado State University not too long ago and attended a meeting of young “black” college students. In the crowd was a young “white” girl who was in attendance because she wanted to fight for justice. One person after another stood up and blasted “white” people for being either entitled or privileged. Each time I looked in her direction, I winced. Is it fair for her to be judged by association? What if this young lady, who wanted to stand for equality and fairness, eventually has enough and decides to be the next Donald Trump or David Duke? Why not lead with an open hand of friendship instead of pointing fingers and making enemies?
Notice by the way that I keep using quote marks on the labels “white” and “black”. That is because I realize just how injurious these labels are. These names we call ourselves and the designations of white and black are insidious, but hot damn if they have not worked perfectly as intended. The words “black” and “white”—within the context of race—were constructs meant to ghettoize people behind the walls of contempt and “just us” in order to fracture humanity. There is not one person in this world who is black nor is anyone white; these words were imposed upon us by monstrous men who had everything to gain by dividing us. We defeat ourselves when we use these words that never came from us to begin with.
Over generations, we have accepted these hateful labels and made them a source of pride. Why do I say the labels are hateful? Go ahead and look up the definition of the word “black” on Webster’s Dictionary. You will discover nothing but one slander after another; black is used to describe things which are worthless and insignificant. At the top of the definition, you will see that vile label black followed by words like dark, evil, and wicked. Most perniciously, black is defined as those things which don’t have light. People have no idea, black is not an identity, it is a social position.
The word black is used to dehumanize us and to imply that we don’t have God’s light in us. Now go ahead and and look up the word white in the same dictionary. You will see white described in the most glowing ways. White is defined as the full presence of light and it has also been affixed to people who come from Europe. White is defined as pure, clean, of good character and free from blemish. As we are dehumanized, other groups are elevated and in the process the world is shattered into a battle between “black” and “white”. This is how the 1% are able to conquer and subjugate the 99%. Watch the YouTube video at the bottom of this article for an in-depth breakdown of social constructs which were invented out of thin cloth to segregate society based on artificial labels.
Don’t you see what these depraved oppressors were up to in the past when they came up with the constructs of “black” and “white”. They were reducing our worth while concurrently elevating themselves to the status of heirlooms. Now I know some people will try to say “they don’t get to define what we are, we do”. This is absurdity of the highest magnitude, the word black was given to us by “them”. Trust me when I tell you this, our ancestors in the continent we now imprudently call Africa were not calling themselves “black” before foreigners invaded and colonized the continent of Ethiopia and shipped off her children to live a life of chattel in chains. Google “Scipio Africanus” and you will be shocked to find out that we are calling ourselves after a man who was more heinous than Hitler who killed millions of our ancestor. Let that sink in for a minute. By accepting the word “black”, we accept inferiority. But too many people overlook this fact and instead choose to lash out and bang on “white privilege”. But calling people “white” is the privilege itself! No one is white, the minute you say someone is white you might as well get on your knees and say “master”; that is the implication of the labels black and white. Black mires us in third class citizen status and white confers upon people from European descendants the prominence of the preferred tribe. Do you know what the word “negro” means? It’s black by another dialect; is a word less insulting when it’s spoken in English than when it is uttered in another language? if I called you an idiot in French, does an insult become endearing?
The source of our enslavement is within, this is why Bob Marley sang that song “free yourselves from mental slavery”. Accepting our identity through the identification others gave us is nothing more than enslavement. Words are super powerful; nothing in this world matches the potency of the tongue and the words that flow from it. By saying we are black, we speak inferiority into existence and calling others white confers superiority unto those who call us black. Sadly, the loudest idiots get the microphones; thus we are led by a herd of unoriginal thinkers and supposed intellectuals who convince us to get on bent knees and beg for acceptance instead of lifting ourselves up. There is money to be made in race hustling and peddling grievances; actually teaching people to feed themselves and to know their worth takes away future customers.
These things have real life consequences, we spend all our time protesting outward while turning to rhetoric of hatefulness instead of mending from within. Like I said, I’ve done this too—I’m not speaking out of piety. We’ve been following the same playbook for generations; banging our heads into walls will not knock the walls down, it just leads to migraines and welts. Being given pains does not give us the right to pass on pains to others. Blaming the masses of our less melanined brethren and sisters for the sins of a few is no different than when a “white” person says all black people are thugs. Bigotry is bigotry—we don’t get a pass just because we’ve felt a bigger injustice.
If you want to fight injustice, great! But for God’s sake stop putting adjectives in front of injustice. Don’t fight for black justice or brown justice—fight for justice on its own. Doing anything less makes you part of the very injustice you fight against. This system of oppression that is robbing hope from the masses and bleeding people the world over thrives through division. Its weakness is unity. So when people take to the podium to speak of “white privilege”, “Muslim terrorism” or “Mexican illegals”, they are feeding into the divisiveness which is fueling the fire of global oppression. In what world is it right to blame the whole of one group for the excesses committed by a fraction from that group? If it is wrong when we are all lumped together and characterized based on our traits instead of our character, it’s equally wrong when we do that to others. You can’t get mad when bigotry reduces you only for you to reduce others and justify hatred and bigotry when you do it to someone else.
If you insist on saying “white privilege”, take a drive down to the Appalachians or failing that go down to your local homeless shelter. There you will find teeming masses of so-called “white” people who are mired in perpetual hopelessness and indigence that will shock your conscience. Would you go up to a “white” homeless person and tell him he has “white privilege”? Think on these things for a second, would you tell a “white” child living in a trailer park who goes to sleep hungry at night that she has “white privilege”? The same root of injustice that robs the inner cities of Chicago of hope and hobbles “black” folk into cyclical poverty is what cripples “white” folks into dependency and privation in states like Idaho, Alabama, and Texas.
Does it hurt us if we said others suffer too? Do we have to monopolize injustice in order to make our pains have meaning? In truth, our pains gain more meaning and purpose when we join hands with others who hurt too. Instead of feeding into the system of divide and conquer, we have the ability to lead a new conversation and heal historical wounds if we choose (read Have this Conversation). You know that saying “to those much given, much is expected”. I know a lot of people assume it’s talking about rich people and their responsibility to give back. I see it differently, to those whom much injustice has been given, there is much expected for they have much potential to change the world. The best healers have always been the ones who have been hurt the most. If we are able to lead with love and forgiveness, we can shift paradigms and defeat the few who oppress billions. That is our power that the elites have always feared. A real revolutionary is not the one who leads with anger and violence; a true revolutionary is one who leads with love and changes heart.The way to find the liberation that has been eluding us for centuries is not by walking down the path of antipathy and resentment. Perhaps we have been going down the wrong path all along and being misled by charlatans working for the system. Malcolm X was beloved by the elites as long as he was preaching the divisive language of “white devils” and “white privilege”. Once Malcolm traveled to Mecca and saw a sea of humanity praying together and realized that the quest to end iniquity is through inclusive justice, he stopped speaking of “white devils” and embraced oneness. That is when the powerful eliminated Malcolm (read Confluence of Malcolm and Martin). The only way to heal the wounds of generational injustice is to find love within. You can thus discount every “black” leader and author as well as every “white” firebrand who preaches from the pulpit of “us versus them” as frauds and see them as for the demagogues that they are. They are working and getting paid by the same system they speaking against.
I mentioned Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. for a reason; both of them realized—before they were executed by the wielders of oppression—that universal justice was the only way to overcome the iniquities of those who repress the masses through coercion and manipulation. There is only one way to get to redemption and that is by being inclusive of all those who suffer under the boot of tyranny and economic injustice—this includes “white” people too. We need a big tent that does not exclude people based on race or belief. If we do anything less, if we turn towards antipathy and vengeance, we become the very things we stand against. Our strength is our numbers, if we are not united as one, we will suffer and struggle apart.
You should always be leery when the elites and the establishment glom on to “social movements” and start to push a message. 99.9999% of the time, this is an indication to walk the hell away. Thus, when Hillary Clinton and the ivory tower “liberals” start pushing “white privilege”, take it as a sure sign the movement is a distraction. This is why I want nothing to do with the Black Lives Matter movement, not because I don’t stand in solidarity with my brothers and sisters who demand justice, but because I know the nefarious reasons why billionaires funded the movement (read Rethinking Black Lives Matter). Once again, the establishment is using our pains to advance their political interests. The only reason the Corporate State Media and two faced politicians and pundits are pushing this narrative of “white privilege” is because they want us to be angered by the symptom of institutional racism instead of identifying the source.
Let me wrap it up with some “real talk”. Enough of the nonsense, stop acting the victim and complaining about what the “white man” did to you and realize that they suffer too. I know some will cite examples and say “white people” stuck in poverty don’t have it as bad as “black folk” stuck in indigence—this is such folly. Poverty is poverty and those who are stuck in it have minimal chances to escape the clutches of destitution. Once someone is mired in homelessness and gets sentenced to a life of concrete mattresses and newspaper blankets, they have little hope to go from that level of despair to finding renewal. Instead of judging who has it worse and turning the suffering of people into abstract philosophical debating points, how about we stop seeing through color and just help people who suffer as we are best able?
But first, heal thyself. You can’t help others before you mend within. Stop tearing others down from without, let’s take a pause and find a way to fill our hearts with love rather than letting anger be our guiding flame. Loosen from our souls and our language hateful words and pejoratives like “black”, “nigger” and “habehsa” given to our ancestors to dehumanize them and make them the lesser. Lastly, if you really do care about ending injustice and want to fight for equality, here is a radical proposal. How about we see both humanity and injustice without appending an adjective of identity or ideology in front of it. Be about universal justice or else count yourself a pawn of injustice. #InclusiveJustice
“If you have no confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life.” ~ Marcus Garvey
If you appreciated this write up and agree that we should not put an adjective in front of injustice and instead fight for universal justice without respect to the endless ways the powerful divide us, share this article on social media using #InclusiveJustice
Speaking of Marcus Garvey and the notion of self-confidence, I challenge EVERYONE to watch this video, it is a bit long but within the first five minutes you will see how we have been manipulated all along to accept hatred as self-love.
If you want to know how we can overcome injustice and defeat tyranny, check this Ghion Cast out below where I discuss historical events where people did just that from Adwa to America and beyond.
For God’s sake, stop seeing injustice through color, you would not say hateful things to children, so why say it to each other? Peace on earth will only arrive when we accept each other as one big family instead of abstract enemies to conquer.
Teodrose Fikre is a published author and a prolific writer whose speech idea was incorporated into Barack Obama’s south Carolina victory speech in 2008. Once thoroughly entangled in politics and a partisan loyalist, a mugging by way of reality shed political blinders from Teodore’s eyes and led him on a journey to fight for universal justice.
Teodrose was born in Ethiopia the same year Emperor Haile Selassie was deposed by the communist Derg junta. The great grandson five generations removed of Atse (emperor) Tewodros Kassa II, the greatest king of Ethiopia, Teodrose is clearly influenced by the history and his connection to Ethiopia. Through his experiences growing up as first generation refugee in America, Teodrose writes poignantly about the universal experiences of joys, pains and a hope for a better tomorrow that binds all of humanity.
Teodrose has written extensively about the intersection of politics, economic policies, identity, and history. He is the author of “Serendipity’s Trace” and newly released “Soul to Soil”, two works that inspect the ways we are dissected as a people and shows how we can overcome injustice through the inclusive vision of togetherness.
Landing of Columbus, painting by John Vanderlyn. (Photo: John Vanderlyn/WikiMedia)
Growing up, we all likely encountered a very rosy description of Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, how he sailed the ocean blue, discovered America, had three ships, blah, blah, blah. In reality, Columbus was something of a giant horror show in terms of his deadly impact on indigenous peoples, thirst for wealth and relative indifference to the plight of others. Oh — and he likely introduced syphilis to Europe.
Is this really the kind of person who deserves a federal holiday?
For many, that answer is a resounding no. As more of Columbus’s transgressions become known, there’s increasing pressure to remove his name from anything to do with the second Monday in October and instead honor those who settled the “New World” thousands of years earlier. Earlier this year, a bill was introduced in Nebraska to replace Columbus Day with “Standing Bear and Indigenous Leaders’ Day.” A compromise was reached in March to call it Columbus, Standing Bear and Indigenous Leaders’ Day.
In 2014, Alaska renamed it “Indigenous People’s Day.” And in 2014, both Seattle and Minneapolis voted to stop recognizing Columbus Day in favor of “Indigenous People’s Day.” According to the Associate Press, the new holiday “celebrates the contributions and culture of Native Americans and the indigenous community.”
Other area, including Los Angeles County and Portland, Maine, have recently taken measures to remove Columbus Day as a recognized holiday in their respective jurisdictions, and instead recognize Indigenous People’s Day. A petition to do likewise in Atlanta has been garnering some attention.
Inspired by this movement, the University of Alaska Southeast, Oklahoma University and even Fargo, North Dakota voted to also embrace Indigenous People’s Day. In announcing the change, Oklahoma University president David Boren said, in 2015, that the new holiday will feature a daylong celebration of Native culture on campus — including food, dance, the arts and special lectures.
“We must never forget the many injustices in our history in the treatment of Native people and never stop admiring the strength of Native people who have preserved their values and whose cultures and governments continue in the face of terrible adversities and injustices,” he wrote in a statement.
Federal-level changes
Currently, 28 states recognize Columbus Day as a true holiday. Efforts to officially change its federal designation on social media and through the White House’s We the People petition site had some support during Barack Obama’s tenure, but those efforts fell short of the 100,000 signatures needed for a response from the Obama administration. However, during then-President Obama’s annual declaration of the holiday, there appeared to be a growing acknowledgement of the day to be not just about Columbus, but those who were also here long before.
“As we recognize the influence of Christopher Columbus, we also pay tribute to the legacy of Native Americans and our Government’s commitment to strengthening their tribal sovereignty,” Obama wrote in 2014. “We celebrate the long history of the American continents and the contributions of a diverse people, including those who have always called this land their home and those who crossed an ocean and risked their lives to do so. With the same sense of exploration, we boldly pursue new frontiers of space, medicine, and technology and dare to change our world once more.”
In this animated TED-Ed video, Columbus takes he stand in History vs. Christopher Columbus:
Editor’s note: This story has been updated since it was originally published in October 2015.
Editors note: I personally own guns, and am afraid that if we don’t come up with something reasonable, and damn soon, the pendulum is going to swing WAY to the left and something like this could happen. Lets work together. Do we really need silencers and 17 round clips in the ‘burbs? – Stephen Ulrich
Australia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop has a message to America in the wake of the mass shooting in Las Vegas: We can help.
Julie Bishop Photo by Putu Sayoga/Getty Images.
A gunman reportedly opened fired from his Las Vegas hotel room window on Sunday night, killing at least 58 people and injuring hundreds more. It’s the type of inexplicable violence many Australians can recall from decades past.
“What Australia can do is share our experience after the mass killing in Port Arthur back in the late 1990s, when 35 people were killed by a lone gunman,” Bishop said, according to The Washington Post. “We have had this experience. We acted with a legislative response.”
Should Americans take her up on her offer? What’s happened in Australia since 1996 certainly suggests we should.
Less than two weeks after that horrific shooting in Port Arthur stunned the world, the Australian government leapt into action. New gun laws were rolled out under the National Firearms Agreement (NFA), banning private gun sales and establishing a national firearms registry. Australians were also expected to present a “genuine reason” for the need to purchase a gun; self-defense simply did not suffice.
Share
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull commemorated the 20th anniversary of the Port Arthur massacre on April 28, 2016. Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images.
A major component of Australia’s gun reform legislation was a bold buyback program. After certain guns were banned outright — such as semi-automatic rifles — the government bought back hundreds of thousands of those weapons from gun owners. It also allowed for illegal guns to be surrendered to officials without fear of penalty.
Two months after the Port Arthur massacre, then-Prime Minister John Howard, a conservative, addressed a crowd in Victoria — a crowdof Australian gun owners.
In his speech — in which he stressed law-abiding gun owners “were not criminals” — the prime minister candidly noted that, yes, the new polices might be an inconvenience to many people sitting in the crowd.
But, he argued, saving Australian lives was worth it.
“Now I don’t pretend for a moment, ladies and gentlemen, that the decision that we have taken is going to guarantee that in the future there won’t be other mass murders; I don’t pretend that for a moment,” Howard said. “What I do argue to you, my friends, is that it will significantly reduce the likelihood of those occurring in the future.”
In the two decades since that speech, he’s been proven largely right. Australia hasn’t had a mass shooting.
Implementing gun reform laws worked very, very well. Homicides involving guns dropped nearly 60% throughout the following decade. Death by suicide using a firearm plummeted 65%.
While gun proponents have pushed back on the new laws’ successes in Australia, they’ve been fighting an uphill battle. Most of the evidence they tend to point to is cherry-picked and irrelevant in the big picture. A 2006 study they’ve touted, suggesting the drop in Australia’s gun violence had to do with broader trends (not gun control laws), has been discredited; unsurprisingly, it was funded by pro-gun groups.
Will we ever see similar success on gun control in the U.S.?
We have reason to hope, but it won’t be easy.
Gun rights activist rally in Virgina in July 2017. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images.
While Australia’s 1996 mandates were bold, they were also extremely popular: 9 out of 10 Australians approved of the provisions at the time. Basic gun control measures share similarly overwhelming approval in the U.S. too — yet America has failed to pass meaningful gun reform legislation. The jaw-dropping power of the gun lobby may have something to do with that.
But as Bishop noted after offering her country’s expertise in the wake of the shooting in Vegas, where there’s a will, there’s a way: “It’ll be up to U.S. lawmakers and legislators to deal with this issue,” she said.
She’s right. And it’s on us to force them to deal with it.
Hold on for some four-letter action
My Black Lab 