Amos's River of Justice

Tag: Black Lives Matter

  • Finding Joy in the Darkness

    Please see the update at the end of the article

    Considering the pressures that weigh down the inhabitants of Planet Earth this Christmas season, I think it is important to state the good news first rather than at the end of the article.  (My recommendations for a Russian movie, Stalker, and the Grace Cathedral version of Handel’s Messiah can be found at the end of this article.) The following may not be the good news you were hoping for, but it bodes well for the future: It has recently become apparent that our conversation is developing a recognizable character, substance and direction.  In these times when foundations seems to be crumbling, a new foundation has been forming itself right under our feet.

    I came to this realization after a disturbing conversation with a member of my local Democratic Party in which I discovered that she was completely unaware of the term ‘option for the poor’.  Participants in our conversation will have learned this term from Pope Francis–it is a term used in Catholic social teaching, and it means that “God invites us to care in a special way for those who need the most help.”

    As followers of Christ, we are challenged to make a preferential option for the poor, namely, to create conditions for marginalized voices to be heard, to defend the defenseless, and to assess lifestyles, policies and social institutions in terms of their impact on the poor.  The option for the poor does not mean pitting one group against another, but rather, it calls us to strengthen the whole community by assisting those who are most vulnerable.

    Her obliviousness to this key concept of the conversation was doubly disturbing considering that President-elect Joe Biden, a member of her own party, has been using this term in his speeches.  (Biden would have learned this term directly from Catholic social teaching.)

    In addition to his mention of a preferential option for the poor, President-elect Biden has appointed cabinet members that we can at least hope will be willing and able to manage our land and resources for the support of every American.

    For example, he has appointed Xavier Becerra as Secretary of Health and Human Services; Congresswoman Marcia Fudge as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; Deb Haaland as Interior Secretary; and Michael Regan as EPA Administrator.  Biden has also created a new cabinet role of Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Change, appointing John Kerry to this role.  We can discuss these nominees later, as well as others that are not as much to our liking, but in this season we can choose to focus on good news and that is what I want to do.

    Biden’s pick for Chair of Council of Economic Advisers, Cecilia Rouse, spoke in the language of the conversation when she said, “We need to be positioned for the economy of the future so that everyone is able to partake in the growth we hope to have.”  Biden’s pick for US Trade Representative, Katherine Tai, also spoke in the language of the conversation when she said, “[Trade] is a means to create more hope and opportunity for people…And it only succeeds when the humanity and dignity of every American–and of all people–lie at the heart of our approach.”

    In addition to the influence of Catholic social teaching, other crucial influences round out the conversation and give it life.  We have welcomed the wisdom of indigenous people in the fight to protect our resources.  Biden’s nomination of Deb Haaland as Interior Secretary is a clear nod to the importance of the Native American contribution to this effort.

    The conversation has also welcomed the influence of socialists and Marxists in our midst (although with some trepidation on my part, mostly due to the fear that it invites extremism in American politics.)   The socialists have patiently explained the necessity of economic theory going forward as well as the importance of the creation of wealth if we’re going to care for everyone in times of crisis.  For my part, I recognize the need for these knowledgable people who can think outside of the economic box.

    We are also grateful for the voices and activism of Black Lives Matter, and the attention that protesters around the world have brought to the problem of racism and police brutality.

    Of course, Bernie Sanders has been a huge influence in the conversation.  Although Sanders was considered a left-leaning candidate for the presidency this is only true by American standards.  All of his policy proposals have a solid place in American politics.

    We are also aware in this conversation of the importance of agricultural policy and the way it affects food and water security.  This has been a concern of Marcia Fudge, who lobbied for the position of Secretary of Agriculture.  She would have shifted the agency’s focus from farming toward hunger.  Agricultural policy is central to climate policy and job security as well as food security, so it is sure to be of interest to progressives in the years to come.

    For me, the realization of the centrality of agricultural policy in global conflicts was the most exhilarating realization of this conversation.  It is so important that it should have at least been acknowledged by the Democratic establishment in the 2016 election, but Biden may be making up for that omission.  It should motivate an immediate change, not only in domestic policy but in foreign policy as well.  It makes the Empire’s foreign adventures seem futile and ridiculous, and for that reason it inspires the imagination and the confidence to envision a new world.

    But this good news is only a beginning.  Americans who face hunger and eviction continue to suffer this Christmas season, so we ask the incoming Biden administration to make them a priority.

    I’ll finish by sharing a movie and Christmas music that I think you will enjoy.  Speaking of our strange times, there is a 1979 movie called Stalker.  Admittedly, you have to pay $3.99 to rent it and also have an Amazon Prime account.  (It may also be on Netflix, but I don’t have a Netflix account so I can’t say for sure.)  The movie is based on a novel by the Strugatsky brothers, Roadside Picnic, and directed by Andrei Tarkovsy.   According to Adam Curtis it was inspired by a sense of unreality in Soviet Russia.

    Those who are not interested in the movie might like this performance of Handel’s Messiah in Grace Cathedral.

    Or, the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah.

    Merry Christmas everyone.

    Update December 25: I believe that the following articles and videos have some bearing on the movie, Stalker, that I recommended at the end of this article, or some bearing on my article in general.

    The Infirmity of Jesus is a Teaching of Christmas

    The Light of Hope Shines Brightest in Darkness

    Twenty-five of the best films on Amazon Prime

    Reading the Hindu and Christian Classics: Why and How Deep Learning Still Matters

    Aruna Chetana

     

     

  • Bernie Sanders: a Future to Believe In

    Sorry Hillary Clinton, but the real artful smear in this presidential campaign had nothing to do with your paid speeches. The real artful smear was your establishment’s racist innuendos about Bernie Sanders’ whiteness.

    Blaming an entire race of people for a nation’s problems has always been politically useful. In this campaign it started as a tool for reining in Bernie Sanders’ candidacy. I remember how sick I felt when I first heard the corporate media inform the public that Bernie Sanders is a white man from a white state. They argued that for the sole reason of his whiteness, black people weren’t going to vote for him. In retrospect I think this was the beginning of the campaign-conversation’s downhill slide.

    From there it progressed to the [intlink id=”2148″ type=”post”]Black Lives Matter[/intlink] episodes at Sanders’ rallies. Unfortunately this movement’s scorn for the idea that all lives matter may have invited the answering snarl we’ve been hearing from white supremacists—a snarl that is now being skillfully marshaled by Donald Trump.

    Do I need to point out that Donald Trump has been a perfect foil to Bernie Sanders from the day he announced his candidacy? Although there is no resemblance between Sanders and Trump, the corporate media continues to insist they’re the same. Donald is Bernie, they say, only Republican. Of course this leaves Cruz and Rubio as the only bonafide Republicans in the race and frankly I think their youthful cluelessness is rather touching compared to the cleverness of Trump and Clinton. The Republicans think they’re in the game when they don’t even know what the game is.

    For me, Sanders’ candidacy has always been about what we are leaving to our [intlink id=”2062″ type=”post”]children and grandchildren[/intlink]. If you look at the future realistically it’s clear that these dishonest political games are a luxury we can’t afford. Ideally, the presidency of the United States is not a feather in someone’s cap. The person who fills this office must be able to lead us into a future that no one has ever seen before.  In spite of this fact the establishment of both parties clings to economic, social, and foreign policies that are inadequate to deal with it.

    We really only have two choices: we can continue in our self-centered, short-sighted, and greedy path, which will condemn most of the world’s population to a slow death by disease and starvation; or we can make a common-sense plan for world-wide peace and prosperity. If we go with the first choice, we’ll survive at the expense of our humanity, if we survive at all. If we go with the second choice I won’t deny that we’ll have to innovate to assure the survival of the planet, but what a challenge that will be. And what an adventure!

    So I say let’s not be the kind of people who throw the weak and the vulnerable under the bus. Instead, let’s to do our best to assure a humane future for all of the world’s people.

    This is the conversation. If we want it to continue we need Sanders in the White House.

  • The ACLU and Corporate America

    I’m afraid I’m still focused on the presidential campaign.  I didn’t intend to spend so much time on this subject, but it seems the activities of Black Lives Matter and the support they have received from the ‘liberal’ media need some kind of explanation.  The media pretends it’s a question of whether BLM members have a right to be angry about structural racism.  They do, but that’s not the point.  The point is whether it makes sense for progressives to shut down Bernie Sanders.  What can explain this mystery?  A word of warning: we can’t blame all Black Lives Matter activists for this. Apparently some Seattle members of Black Lives Matter were shocked when they learned that Bernie’s speech had been shut down.

    Strangely, the ACLU seems as untroubled by this spectacle as the media.  This organization has been sending emails asking for signatures and donations to fight government surveillance of Black Lives Matter.  They seem unaware that many of us don’t agree with what they are doing.  It turns out that the ACLU does not necessarily represent progressives.  In fact, since the 1970s the ACLU has been a leading advocate for the expansion of constitutional rights for corporations.  Its advocacy of corporate rights has actually served to diminish its human rights gains.((Nace, Ted, Gangs of America: The Rise of Corporate Power and the Disabling of Democracy.  Berret-Koehler Publishers Inc. San Francisco. 2003.))

    But the ACLU is an advocate for minorities, right?  Not necessarily.  Here is an example of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois response to a problem that Chicago’s black youth was trying to address:  The ACLU bypassed black activists and made a back-room deal with  Mayor Rahm Emanuel that has the potential to shut down dialogue on the issue of stop and frisk.  The ACLU was negotiating their own deal secretly while claiming to support the STOP Act that the activists were trying to pass.  The ACLU’s deal will not require the police department to release information about stops, as the STOP Act would have done.  In other words, the ACLU’s deal won’t solve the problem, it will only make things easier for the city.  ((Hayes, Kelly, ACLU of Illinois Sells Out Chicago’s Black Youth. Truthout, 14 Aug. 2015. Available: http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/32361-aclu-of-illinois-sells-out-chicago-s-black-youth))

    The influence of the ACLU might also explain the curious fact that Black Lives Matter hasn’t shut down any of Hillary Clinton’s speeches.  Maya L. Harris, one of three senior policy advisers to lead the development of an agenda for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, was formerly a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress.  From 2008 until she took her current position, she was Vice President for Democracy Rights and Justice at the Ford Foundation.  Prior to joining the ford Foundation, she served as the Executive Director of the ACLU of Northern California.  ((Wikipedia: Maya Harris. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Harris))

  • Do Black Activists Have a Beef With Bernie Sanders?

    It looks like Bernie Sanders’ campaign has already moved on in responding to Black Lives Matter.  I probably should make it clear that the following is just my opinion.

    On Saturday a group of people belonging to an organization called Black Lives Matter stormed into a Netroots Nation town meeting with the apparent aim of giving Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley heck.  Then on Sunday and Monday, there were ‘thoughtful’ articles asking whether Bernie Sanders can win over the black vote.  Black lives do matter, but in my opinion this story doesn’t add up.  Why the hostility?

    There were black people at the rally.  They weren’t storming around.  They were listening, like everyone else.  On the way out I asked a young black woman what she thought of the rally.  She said she liked his ideas.  She had thought she might vote for Hilary but she was reconsidering.

    When Senator Sanders appeared on stage on Saturday night he was obviously amazed at the size of the crowd.

    “Somebody told me Arizona is a conservative state. Somebody told me the people here have given up on the political process. That’s not what I see here tonight. There’s nothing we can’t accomplish in transforming America!”

    The thing is, the people who told him that Arizona is a conservative state were right.  In certain circles Arizona is conservative.  However, the conservatives were not there on Saturday night. Either that or they couldn’t make themselves heard over the cheering, because more than eleven thousand people liked what they heard.  Here’s the rally from my point of view.

    The Bernie Sanders rally from my point of view
    The rally from my point of view

     

     

     

     

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    After the rally
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