By Denise Oliver Velez / Daily Kos
There are voices we all need to hear. At a time when the United States is once again faced with our chilling legacy of racism and other ills including sexism, homophobia, and economic inequality, one of the most powerful voices from our recent past is speaking out again through the medium of documentary film.
It is the voice of James Baldwin. The film, I Am Not Your Negro, will be opening in movie theaters on Feb. 3. [Read more…]
In 1913, thousands of women took to the streets of Washington DC on the day before Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration calling for a constitutional amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. More than twenty parade floats, nine bands, and four mounted brigades followed activist Inez Milholland riding on a white horse marching from the U.S. Capitol toward the Treasury Building.
Despite physical attacks by angry spectators hospitalizing more than 100 women, the parade, organized by Alice Paul and the National American Woman Suffrage Association, finished the route. [Read more…]
By Herman Baca / President of the Committee on Chicano Rights (CCR)
With Mexicans, Trump declared open war & tagged Chicanos/Latinos/Mexicanos as the U.S.’s, public enemy number one. Using Mexicans as his political piñata, Trump scapegoated & demonized our people to white Americans as criminal “rapists, murderers, and drug dealers.” Repeatedly he called for construction of a wall along the southern border (but not the Canadian northern border) that Mexico supposedly will pay for, and the deportation of 11-12 million mainly Mexicans (8 million) so-called “illegal aliens,” from their ancestral lands. On CBS’s 60 Minutes he bragged he would immediately deport three million “criminal immigrants.” [Read more…]
The Women’s March on Washington is a women-led movement bringing together people of all genders, ages, races, cultures, political affiliations and backgrounds in our nation’s capital on January 21, 2017, to affirm our shared humanity and pronounce our bold message of resistance and self-determination.
Recognizing that women have intersecting identities and are therefore impacted by a multitude of social justice and human rights issues, we have outlined a representative vision for a government that is based on the principles of liberty and justice for all. As Dr. King said, “We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.”
Our liberation is bound in each other’s. The Women’s March on Washington includes leaders of organizations and communities that have been building the foundation for social progress for generations. We welcome vibrant collaboration and honor the legacy of the movements before us – the suffragists and abolitionists, the Civil Rights Movement, the feminist movement, the American Indian Movement, Occupy Wall Street, Marriage Equality, Black Lives Matter, and more – by employing a decentralized, leader-full structure and focusing on an ambitious, fundamental and comprehensive agenda. [Read more…]
On Saturday, supporters of immigrant rights at rallies around the U.S. denounced President-elect Donald Trump for his anti-immigrant rhetoric along with his pledge to build a border wall and discriminate against Muslims entering the country.
On Sunday, Supporters of the Affordable Care Act gathered to protest the health care law’s repeal in rallies across the country.
And throughout the holiday commemorating the late Dr. Martin Luther King rallies and marches from coast-to-coast called out the implicit and explicit racism of the incoming administration. [Read more…]
Trump’s day of triumph is rapidly approaching, and it has become clear his administration’s policies will amount to open season on the assets of the United States.
Congressman Duncan Hunter couldn’t wait for the inauguration and lifted a painting that displeased him from a Congressional art exhibit. Also, House members quietly changed a rule last week allowing them to hide records from future ethics probes. (More on these later in the story)
Not all assets are measured by monetary value, and this is today’s big story. In a hearing room originally used for inquiries into the sinking of the Titanic and the Teapot Dome Scandal, Senate Republicans are lobbing softballs at Attorney General nominee Sen. Jeff Sessions in the hope they can kick-start the erosion of civil and human rights in this country. [Read more…]
The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) and the heroic struggle against it have ignited a big battle inside of American labor. Earlier this fall an excellent article in Common Dreams outlined the split over DAPL at the national level with key trades unions and AFL-CIO leader Richard Trumka backing the pipeline and criticizing the protests while other large national unions were issuing statements supporting the Standing Rock resistance.
Here in California and elsewhere, Trumka’s letter in support of the pipeline received strong condemnation. For instance, a response to it that I penned as chair of the California Federation of Teachers Climate Justice Task Force challenges the AFL-CIO leader in the strongest possible terms: “In sum, your statement is factually inaccurate, morally suspect, politically inept, and does not stand for the values that should guide a progressive union movement worth being a part of in an era of stark threats to the future of our children.” I have yet to receive a response. [Read more…]
By Martha Sullivan, of Women Occupy San Diego
The afternoon before Thanksgiving, the San Diego Mayor’s Office released a long-awaited report on racial bias in traffic stops by the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) prepared by San Diego State University (SDSU) under contract to the Mayor’s Office.
There has been much news about the delay by the Mayor’s Office in releasing this study, as well as that office’s use of the well-worn tactic to release bad news on the eve of a major holiday.
As San Diego Councilmember Todd Gloria pointed out in the Council’s Public Safety & Livable Neighborhood Committee’s hearing on this report last week, the Mayor’s handling of this study on racial bias in San Diego policing has only deepened the mistrust of the Mayor and his Administration among community members who have experienced such racial bias throughout their lives, but whose experiences have not been validated by the Mayor or his management team.
There has also been much news in the past two weeks about the findings of this report, which are elegantly summarized in its Executive Summary: [Read more…]
President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration may be six weeks away. Elected officials in Sacramento and San Diego are already taking actions aimed at shielding those who may be victimized by the new administration.
Newly sworn in lawmakers at the State capitol proposed legislation providing attorneys to immigrants in the country illegally, refusing to aid any proposed registry of Muslim immigrants and requiring voter approval for any wall built along the Mexican border.
This evening San Diego Unified School Board will likely approve a resolution to protect all of its 130,000 students and staff in the district. [Read more…]
The federal government on Sunday denied the easement needed to complete the Dakota Access pipeline’s route under the Missouri River.
The announcement by the Army Corps of Engineers came as veterans streamed into the camps over the weekend in cars and buses to offer their support to the tribe in its months-long battle. The veterans event had raised more than $1 million dollars in response to violent assaults on the demonstrators by law enforcement. The veterans said they would shield the demonstrators. [Read more…]
Two reports from the Southern Poverty Law Center released this week confirmed anecdotal reports of a spike in incidents involving harassment and intimidation in the days following the general election.
One report culled media reports and direct submissions to a #ReportHate page on the SPLC website. Online harassment and incidents determined to be hoaxes by authorities were not included. According to the group, “the incidents documented here almost certainly represent a small fraction of the actual number of election-related hate incidents that have occurred since November 8. The Bureau of Justice Statistics estimates that two-thirds of hate crimes go unreported to the police.”
Of the 867 occurrences cataloged by the group over ten days, 99 were reported from California. Schools were the most common locations, followed by public spaces and workplace/retail environments. The leading reported motivation for these incidents was anti-immigrant sentiments, with anti-Black, anti-Semitic, anti-LGBTQ, and anti-Muslim episodes also being significant factors. [Read more…]
By Deirdre Fulton / Common Dreams
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Friday informed Indigenous water protectors and their allies that they have nine days to vacate the main Dakota Access Pipeline protest camp—or else face arrest.
“This decision is necessary to protect the general public from the violent confrontation between protestors and law enforcement officials that have occurred in this area, and to prevent death, illness, or serious injury to inhabitants of encampments due to the harsh North Dakota winter conditions,” Col. John Henderson of the Corps said in a letter to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe chairman Dave Archambault II.
The Oceti Sakowin camp, on the banks of the Cannonball River, will be closed Monday, December 5, the letter warned. Any individuals found on Army land north of the river after that date would be considered trespassing and could be prosecuted. [Read more…]
