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The Sociological Imagination, Racism, and Trump

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It’s important to use appropriate and accurate language to describe Donald Trump’s supporters and the political cult leader himself.

By Chauncy DeVega / Daily Kos

The sociological imagination is the connection between personal experience and the broader social and political world. This concept is one of the most powerful frameworks for understanding the human experience and how we locate it within a given society and/or cultural milieu.

As such, the sociological imagination has been invaluable in my efforts to make sense of politics in the Age of Obama, the rise of “Trumpmania,” and the radical rightward move of the Republican Party and movement conservatism. Because such interactions are both disturbing and fascinating, I routinely take “human safaris” to overt white supremacist websites and the comment sections of Fox News and similar right-wing entertainment disinformation media. I also respond to conservatives via social media who are made enraged, hurt, and angry by the topics and themes explored by my essays and other work.

While the right-wing media exists in a state of epistemic closure—where the logic, reasoning, and rationales of the troglodytes stuck within are bizarre and exist outside of empirical reality—it remains essential that we pull back the veil and look inside: The machinations that are produced therein are a threat to the Common Good.   [Read more…]

When Students Stand Against Border Patrol Presence at Career Fairs, Administrators Should Take Their Direction

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By Pedro Rios

In late April at San Diego City College over two-dozen students quickly mobilized after learning that Border Patrol agents would have a booth at the career fair. The students solicited support from their professors, who also reached out to community organizations, and planned a public demonstration at the Quad where the career fair would be held. On the morning of the career fair, several students reported seeing Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials setting up a booth at the Quad – (CBP is the Border Patrol’s parent agency). By midday, however, Macy’s store representatives occupied the booth originally assigned to the CBP officials. Border Patrol and Customs recruitment agents were nowhere to be seen.   [Read more…]

Much Ado About Raised Fists

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By Denise Oliver Velez / Daily Kos

Black women have a long and often unrecognized history of serving in our military. But this tempest in a tea party pot is really not about the military, except for the fact that the armed forces are symbolic of our nation’s strength and have traditionally been a male domain and preserve. The criticism is simply part of a historical continuum that attempts to repress any and all expressions of black pride, and our solidarity and success against the odds.   [Read more…]

An Old Scumbag’s Take on Bernie and Hillary Unifying Their Party

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For not supporting Hillary Clinton, people like me, including millions of young people, millenials, our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, have been described as naive-unrealistic-shallow-thinking-delusional-idiotic-scumbags – and we’ve been compared to followers of Trump.

I didn’t see it coming, at all, as the insults have come from the kinds of people with whom I’ve been associated politically my entire voting life: 57 years.

I’m talking people who supported JFK, as did I. We waited patiently as he hemmed and hawed and finally got around, before his life was taken, to jotting down a few ideas that gave rise to the Civil Rights Act.

And then we joyously backed LBJ who got the act passed and then down the line we supported politicos who seemed most likely, at the time, to have our backs: Hubert Humphrey; George McGovern; Jimmy Carter; Walter Mondale; Michael Dukakis…   [Read more…]

Now They’re Coming After the Librarians

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By looty / Daily Kos

The British burned down the first Library of Congress in 1814. Two hundred years later and some Republicans seem to want to do it again.

Rep. Diane Black (R-TN) is, as I suspect most people know, a Teahadist moron. But it takes a special kind of moron to piss off librarians. That’s exactly what she did this morning, with the announcement that she would introduce a bill in Congress, mandating that,

“The Librarian of Congress shall continue to use the terms ‘Alien’ and ‘Illegal aliens’ in the Library of Congress Subject Headings in the same manner as they were in effect during 2015.”

  [Read more…]

Treasury Will Put a Woman On the $20, But the New Bill Won’t Appear Until 2030 … Or Later

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By Meteor Blades / Daily Kos

An unnamed senior federal official told CNN Saturday that Treasury Secretary Jack Lew will announce this week sometime that Alexander Hamilton will remain on a newly designed $10 bill but a woman will replace Andrew Jackson on the $20. Just don’t expect to see bills with whomever that replacement is pouring out of the nation’s ATMs anytime soon.

Newly designed $5 and $10 bills will show up first. Because of the lengthy design and anti-counterfeiting measures, if Hillary Clinton becomes president and serves two terms, she’ll be long out of office by the time a woman appears on the $20—in 2030 at the earliest, according to Treasury officials …   [Read more…]

Remembering the Racism of Pot Prohibition, Celebrating 420 Day

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So, today is national stoner day. You know, 4/20, dude. Californians will likely be voting to Legalize It in November, though it’s not certain at this point what language will be approved.

Legalizing pot won’t free it from its long history of association with racism, and we need to talk about it. And I’ll share some of the fun 420 coverage from around the state.

Harry Anslinger, made commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics after alcohol prohibition failed, was one of the driving forces behind pot prohibition. He pushed it for explicitly racist reasons, saying, “Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men,” and complaining about “its effect on the degenerate races.”   [Read more…]

Progressive Politics Don’t Feel So Inclusive When You’re Latino

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Failing to understand the interests of 55 million Latinos has been one of the greatest political failures of our time. Latinos want to be heard on more than just immigration issues.

By Roberto Lovato / YES! Magazine

Locals say angels quietly protect the dead buried beneath the live oak trees of Sacred Heart Burial Park in Falfurrias, Texas. Since the oil bust decimated the fracking economy in recent years, Falfurrias and other towns dotting the coastal plains of southeast Texas have taken on a ghostly quiet, a quiet so encompassing you can hear at a distance the hissing and flapping of big white owls.

Juan Manuel Villarreal, a 66-year-old groundskeeper, tends the oaks and other flora in the cemetery. And he sometimes also tends to the dead.

“Look,” he says in Spanish, pointing to a gravesite. “Those are truck tire marks. Someone just drove over these graves.” The graves are one of Sacred Heart’s many unmarked mass graves dug over the course of more than a decade. In addition to the families buried here since the founding of Falfurrias in the early 20th century, Sacred Heart also has corners and holes reserved for its newest group: immigrants found dead on the giant ranches farther south.   [Read more…]

Primary Update: The GOP’s Hate Campaign Heads to California

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California Republicans announced yesterday that Presidential candidate Donald Trump will be the keynote speaker at the state party’s spring convention, joining Ted Cruz and John Kasich at the Bay Area gathering later this month.

The Donald will address a lunch banquet on the opening day of the GOP gathering in Burlingame, on April 29. Kasich will speak that evening, followed by Cruz the next day. Needless to say, Trump slot is the most high profile.

The June 7th California primary will likely play a decisive role in the Republican nominating contest, with voters determining whether Trump can amass the 1,237 delegates necessary to secure the nomination.

Only 13 of the state’s bloc of 172 GOP convention delegates go to the candidate who collects the most votes statewide.   [Read more…]

New Veteran-Led Campaign Challenges Islamophobia

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By Brian Trautman

Violence against American Muslims is growing faster than at any time since 9/11, with assaults on Muslim individuals and their places of worship having tripled since the Paris and San Bernardino terror attacks. A NY Times article published last December cites several examples, which include shootings and vandalism.

According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), last year set a record for the highest number of incidents targeting U.S. Mosques. As a result of this violence, Muslims across the country, including women and children, have conveyed to the public that they genuinely fear for their safety and security.   [Read more…]

To Be Arab and American

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By Denise Oliver Velez / Daily Kos

After writing Black History and Women’s History Month articles recently, I thought I would not be covering heritage months for a while. Out of idle curiosity I decided to check the month of April and discovered that much to my surprise, it’s Arab American Heritage Month.

I admit I knew nothing about it and asked myself, “Why didn’t I?” That made me determined to investigate and share what I discovered with readers. I figured it would be fairly simple, given the ubiquitous Wikipedia and the use of several internet search engines (no luck, except for events happening in Maryland and Michigan). As of March 28, when I started writing, there was nothing posted at White House.gov, nor could I find a listing under presidential proclamations.

On a U.S. government website I found it listed with the slogan, “Proud of Our Heritage and Proud to Be American,” and found more detail at the Center for Arab American Philanthropy (CAAP) website   [Read more…]

International Women’s Day Celebration in Pictures

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Los Angeles site of March 5 rally and march

By Bree Davis

International Women’s Day is a global celebration to recognize the women of the world. Af3irm, a leading political feminist organization that has many chapters throughout of California, is the organization that put the march together in downtown Los Angeles this year. The focus of the March 5 celebration was different issues among transnational women of color.

The rally started out strategically in front of the Downtown L.A. Police Department with speakers and musicians. Supporters of the #blacklivesmatter movement were there and even went as far as to call out the LAPD and their racist police officers and how racial profiling needs to end. Other people came to talk and support the trans+ community, Muslim community, Asian community, and reproductive justice, along with other issues that face women of color.   [Read more…]

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