Category Archives: Race

Bundy, Sterling and the Supreme Court

Affirmative Action Okay, here we go again. Right on the heels of the Supreme Court’s deplorable affirmative action decision we have more comments from old white men who apparently have a very low opinion or downright hatred of black people. Are we surprised?

The Roberts Court essentially ruled that racism no longer exists, then here comes Cliven Bundy and Donald Sterling. I continue to ask the question, if people could choose to be black in the United States of America, would they do so? Until the answer to this question becomes, “it doesn’t matter what your color…”, then affirmative action will be needed. Affirmative action does not only address inequities of the racist past, it addresses ongoing race inequities and perpetuated race hatred.

The recent shootings of Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis substantiate the risk of being black in America. Then there is Renisha McBride shot by a homeowner who thought her to be an intruder. Her car broke down at 2:30 a.m. in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, and because her cell phone was dead she knocked on a nearby door and was shot in the head and killed. Her family claims she was racially profiled. How about two black men in their sixties shot and killed in West Virginia while inspecting a newly purchased property. The shooter, Rodney Black, shot them at 2:30 p.m. because he thought they were breaking into a shed on a property that his family had previously owned. How about Roy Middleton, a 60 year-old black man shot by Florida police 15 times in his own driveway (13 bullets missed). He was mistaken for a car thief at the age of 60 ? He survived, but his leg was shattered. Kenneth Chamberlain, Sr., a 68 year-old, Marine veteran was killed by White Plains, New York police. He had a chronic heart condition, and the police were called by LifeAid, a medical alert service, to the public housing development where Chamberlain lived alone. He was shot with a stun gun and a bean bag gun and later died as a result. Police are recorded calling Chamberlain a “nigger” on a LifeAid tape. One of the worst incidents is the eight year old boy shot by a Dallas man, Brian Cloniger, simply because “he wanted to”. The child was playing tag outside a Dallas apartment complex and was shot by Cloniger who was arrested and held on $2.2M bond for the shooting, but he has admitted shooting the child. The child has undergone multiple surgeries and suffers from nightmares as a result of this hate crime.

How much evidence does the John Roberts led Supreme Court need to conclude that race hatred in America is still alive. The real-life stories are some of the more overt and blatant examples of this hatred, but every day there are incidents and examples in corporate America, in sports and in society. Cliven Bundy is just an old, ignorant racist who was given a platform to spew his ignorance on FOX news. Sterling was simply caught on tape, but there was plenty of prior evidence to back up his ugly comments about black people. Many have disavowed Sterling for his comments and several sponsors have dropped their relationship with the Los Angeles Clippers. Bundy has had his 15 minutes of shame, so we’ll leave it at that.

The Boston Globe termed the recent Supreme Court 6-2 vote to uphold Michigan’s 2006 ban on affirmative action in higher education admissions as upholding the tyranny of the majority. Justice Sonya Sotomayor’s 58 page dissent (pp. 51-108) has been, of course, attacked and maligned by conservatives on the right. Sotomayor detailed the long history of racial discrimination in the United States by documenting the many ways that southern states, primarily, manipulated laws to ensure that black people were disenfranchised from the vote or remained separate and unequal. Justice Kennedy indicated that he could find “no infliction of specific injury” to restrict Michigan voters from banning affirmative action. In 2006, a majority of white Michigan voters voted in favor of the ban on affirmative action while the majority of blacks in the state voted to uphold affirmative action. Michigan is 80% white. The tyranny of the majority has indeed been upheld.

L. Jackson/04.28.2014

We Are Marching!

John Lewis MOW2013Today in Washington, DC we commemorated, celebrated and marched on the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington. The report is that tens of thousands of people were in attendance .  NAACP, Labor, Gay, Straight, Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, young and old alike were in attendance and marching to say, “we shall not be moved”. This is what the right-wing racist is terrified about. This is why they obstruct President Obama and subvert the federal government.  But I say, where there is unity, there is power, and the people are uniting to march and stand against injustice — racial profiling, stand your ground, stop and risk, income inequality and the list goes on. This is why we must march on, organize and fight the injustice of racism, classism and any other “ism” that seeks to divide and conquer Americans.

I was pleased to see so many different ethnic groups and cultures coming together to embrace the ideals of the Civil Rights Movement and the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King. Just like Barack Obama, the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King has galvanized all kinds of people from many walks of life. Many speakers brought words of exhortation and challenge today. I encourage each of you to find your passion and put your heart and soul into it. I am increasingly burdened by the vicious attacks on voting rights in America as well as the injustice system that continues to incarcerate so many African-Americans. We are 13% of the population yet 44% of the prison population. I will be using this space to focus on those two key issues.

It is utterly appalling and disingenuous to speak of liberty and freedom yet work to subvert and undermine Democracy when the outcome of an election is not to one’s liking. This is essentially what the Republican Party is doing.  Because the Republican Party is pissed that a black man is President of the United States, they seek to delegitimize him. This modern Republican Party is nothing more than former Dixiecrats who were, in recent history, blatant white supremacist bigots who sought to stop black people from voting and receiving basic civil and even human rights.

Well, the Supreme Court under the corrupt leadership of John Roberts, has found a way to undermine the Voting Rights Act (VRA) by striking down Section 4.  I refuse to salute JR as a Justice. He is a racist and works to revive, establish and underpin Jim Crow law. Since the attack on the VRA by the Supreme Court, several southern states, with great haste, are pushing legislation to make it harder for people to vote and aiming these obstacles squarely at black and brown, young and old specifically. All that they do to hinder will backfire because the people are not deceived by these malicious GOP tactics. We will do what we must to register to vote and to acquire official government identification. All that they are doing will simply piss us off so that we will turn out to vote in not only the general, Presidential elections, but in mid-term elections and in primaries. Declare your Party, register to vote, acquire your government sanctioned ID. Help someone to do the same or help pay for them to get their identification. The haters will not win.

L. Jackson/08.24.2013

Good Riddance, Paula Deen!

No Racism

Let me say that I am personally glad that The Food Network terminated Paula Deen. There is even rumor that QVC may also be dropping the food maven. It is high time that there were real consequences for business people who choose to demean and discriminate against African-Americans. Black people have endured the humiliation and degradation of racism long enough in these United States. Now, if only it were that easy to get rid of these nasty, bigoted Republicans. Without a doubt, this incident with Deen is another example of the racism that is still alive in this country. It has raised its ugly head in the attack on the Voting Rights Act and is manifesting itself in the debate about Immigration Reform. What’s interesting is Bill Maher’s defense of Deen on his show this week. While we may have the freedom of speech in America, we are not free from the consequences of that speech.

Cultural Healing-Part 1 Resilience

BONDFIRES

The Transatlantic slave trade is often referred to as the “Black Holocaust” or Maafa, a Swahili word meaning “great tragedy” but,  it is hard to fully grasp the magnitude of this tragedy with  words or to truly  understand the impact of trauma suffered by African-American people as a result of slavery in  America. While there are no hard numbers to account for slaves that didn’t survive the harsh conditions (of being, chained, packed and transported like cargo to American shores)  conservative estimates suggest more than 2 million African slaves died in transportation through the Middle Passage.  Another common belief is that more slaves died upon arrival to their new settlement in America.  The real death-toll  has been lost forever  for African-American people and…the world.

For 400 years, African people who managed to survive the Middle Passage, fell victim to chattel slavery, a form of slavery that gives ownership of…

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Science Terrorist? Not!

http://www.inquisitr.com/674970/criminal-charges-against-honor-student-dropped-off-to-space-camp/

As of last week, all charges against Kiera Wilmot were dropped, and rightly so. In fact, she and her sister are going to Space Camp this summer. Cheers for Kiera! A good ending, indeed.

05/25/2013

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/2013/05/01/kiera-wilmot-arrested-science-experiment_n_3194768.html

The state of Florida is at it again. This poor child was expelled for conducting a science experiment? Or, is it that she’s a black female in a southern state conducting a science experiment. Chalk this up to young and dumb, but don’t equate this to a Columbine or Sandy Hook. FBI, go after the real criminals, Congress. Sign perition at Change.org to drop charges against Kiera Wilmot.

Trayvon Martin: One Year Later

Trayvon Fear Poster

Sadly, today is the anniversary of the death of Trayvon Martin, and the parents of Trayvon Martin will hold a hoodie vigil to commemorate the tragic anniversary of their son’s death. One year later, the Stand Your Ground law remains in Florida, and it will likely be in force for the foreseeable future. The Zimmerman trial is set for June, 2013. Oddly enough, the Zimmerman legal defense is no longer using the Stand Your Ground law in his defense. Zimmerman’s lawyers know that they cannot defend their client under that law.

The Trayvon Martin murder is just another sad reminder that black life in America is not valued. Yes, I think he was racially profiled by George Zimmerman and murdered. I am convinced, as well, that if Trayvon Martin were a white male killed under similar circumstances, the Sanford, Florida Police Department would have handled the murder suspect very differently. The Zimmerman case is riddled with the racial dysfunction that plagues this country.

What also must be addressed as part of this country’s racial dysfunction is black on black murder. Everyday, murders occur in the Hood. No, the media does not cover it because it is not considered newsworthy. After all, it’s just black people killing each other, right? All these murders, whether mass or one-on-one are all the more reason for gun control.

Stand Your Ground is law in Florida thanks to the scurrilous influence of the gun lobby and other wealthy advocates. This law only promotes vigilantism which puts all Floridians at a greater risk of gun violence. Those most threatened by this kind of law are black men, and black people in general. After all, the Second Amendment was written in part to appease southern militia whose sole purpose was to control the black slaves.

Rest in peace, Trayvon Martin and condolences to the family once again.

The New Republic: Original Sin

Failed GOP

Sam Tanenhaus writes a compelling article in The New Republic about the inevitable decline of the GOP if it remains the party of just white people, which is its current trend. The GOP not only needs to change its messengers, it needs to change its message. The Republican Party of the present day is certainly not the party of Lincoln, but, more apparently, the party of John C. Calhoun. Conservatism has become the code word for bigotry with many Republicans channeling Jim Crow Dixiecrats. I’m happy to say that the Southern Strategy is exposed and failing.

…the GOP is in jeopardy, the gravest since 1964, of ceasing to be a national party.

The article offers a great history lesson of conservatism and the GOP in America. During the 20th century, liberalism is equated to communism. Sound familiar?  But Tanenhaus details that John C. Calhoun, pro-slavery politician and author of “nullification” (also known as state’s rights) influenced countless conservatives for more than a century, including William F. Buckley, Jim Crow proponent and the founder of National Review magazine, Barry Goldwater and the GOP icon, Ronald Reagan.

The politics of “nullification” is nothing new yet it is veiled in the rhetoric and claims of “big government”. It is simply the desire of some conservatives, to no longer be a part of our democratic collective. Tax avoidance is the ploy used to “starve the beast” or make sure that certain groups or factions that are deemed undesirable by the extreme right-wing do not benefit from taxpayer dollars.

We hear the echoes of nullification in the venting of anti-government passions and also in campaigns to “starve government,” curtail voter registration, repeal legislation, delegitimize presidents. There is a strong sectionalist bias in these efforts.

As Tanenhaus asserts, the GOP strategy is a losing strategy stuck in a bygone era of white supremacy. The country has changed both philosophically and demographically, but I surmise the GOP will be the last to acknowledge that fact.

Will the Supreme Court Dismantle the Voting Rights Act?

LBJ_VRA

The Fifteenth Amendment assigns Congress — not the Supreme Court — the responsibility of ensuring that no citizens are denied their right to vote. Section 5 has faced at least two constitutional challenges in the past, and survived both of them.

Read the full article by Raul A. Reyes, Attorney; USA Today Columnist at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/raul-a-reyes/voting-rights-act_b_2194360.html

The Voting Rights Act of 1965: http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot/intro/intro_b.php

The Emancipation Proclamation, 150 Years Later: Hear the Many Voices That Cried Freedom

EP2On the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, Time Magazine examines this historic abolitionist document.

“This is truly a democratic literature. It begins in the late 1600s as far as the records show, mostly with religious writings. What’s in here are writings of every genre: there are sermons and religious tracts; there are novels and poems and plays and short stories and magazine articles; there are even children’s books and alphabet books with little rhymes that areabolitionist. Everything you could imagine in terms of human utterance and the scope of human imagination.”

Read the full article at http://nation.time.com/2013/01/01/the-emancipation-proclamation-150-years-later-hear-the-many-voices-that-cried-freedom/

By Jan. 01, 2013