White Supremacy, Racial Profiling & the Trayvon Martin Act

by David Samuels

This column appears in the August 31 –  September 7 edition of the Hartford News.

 

Community Party Radio on So-Metro Radio

 

Commentary on urban issues from a grassroots perspective. First, third and fifth Tuesday of each month. 8:00 PM Eastern Time 7:00 PM Central 5:00 PM Pacific. Tune in! http://www.sometroradio.com/   Next show: September 5. Check out our No Sellout blog for info on the rest of our Community Party Media lineup, including False Choice: the Bipartisan Attack on the Working Class, the Poor and Communities of Color. https://hendu39.wordpress.com/2015/12/20/community-party-media-3/

 

Community Party Radio Podcast

Visit No Sellout to listen to podcasts of past shows.

Podcasts – Community Party Radio on So-Metro Radio

 

Hurricane Harvey

 

Policy Watch

Guest Commentary

One of the most significant comments Donald Trump made last week during his Mirror, Mirror on the Wall campaign event in Phoenix, was that he was going to pardon former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was convicted on racial profiling charges.  Trump issued the pardon last Friday. Trump’s pardon of Arpaio sends a clear message to police nationwide: if they engage in racial profiling, Trump will protect them. Four East Haven police officers were convicted in 2013 of federal charges, related to racially profiling Latinx motorists. Since this national scandal, Gov. Dan Malloy and the Democratic Party controlled Connecticut General Assembly have killed grassroots police accountability legislation, including the Community Party’s racial profiling bills. There is no state level firewall against the Trump presidency.

 

This week we’ll share an essay by CT activist Kathleen Morosky, on CP’s Trayvon Martin Act traffic stop receipt amendment to the Alvin W. Penn Act state racial profiling law.

Community Party Trayvon Martin Act Bill Language

After the awful violence of Charlottesville I’ve been served logic from my white counterparts that, “If you have a problem with the system you should work to change the laws.”
There is an ‘other side’ to that thought. Let’s examine one aspect.
Maybe it hasn’t concerned you or you’ve never really experienced it, but racial profiling is a real issue for people of color.
CT had enacted an anti-profiling act back in 1999, The Alvin W. Penn Act. which prohibits any law enforcement agency from stopping, detaining, or searching any motorist when the stop is motivated solely by considerations of the race, color, ethnicity, age, gender or sexual orientation (Connecticut General Statutes Sections 54-1l and 54-1m)
In an attempt to give this law some ‘teeth’ an amendment was proposed where a written account for any stop would be issued. A carbon non-ticket with officer completed information on it would be issued to the person who was pulled over and a record would be kept for review by a non-police entity. The implementation of this would, over time, provide a lot of information regarding racial profiling. This amendment passed by the General Assembly in 2012, and was scheduled to go into effect July 1, 2013. But because of political pressure by the police, the receipt law was repealed in 2013 before going into effect. Every year since similar legislation has been introduced and defeated. The original attempt at creating a law to track possible racial profiling has since been downgraded to simply handing a card to motorists with information on how to file a racial profiling complaint. Additionally there has been widespread complaints from motorists who police haven’t given cards to.
How does this fulfill the notion of ‘if you don’t like the system, work to change it?” You can’t change it if the system itself won’t let you; that is the reality and one reason there is a lot of anxiety from people of color and those who see the distinct unfairness of it.
If you’ve ever been pulled over for no apparent reason you might better understand what people of color experience, somewhat. For many being pulled over for no reason and then allowed to ‘leave’ happens quite often.
Now you can imagine how that might feel. You’ve done nothing wrong, your vehicle is in good working order and yet you get stopped…again, and again, and again. The total unnecessary inconvenience of it all is relatable, the unspoken threat is what people of color feel as this becomes a repeated ordeal.
I for one as a white woman who has spent years driving on CT roads have never been pulled over for no good reason. I have had a few motor vehicle tickets, but never has there been an occasion that an officer of the law has stopped me ‘just because’. How about you? How many times in your life, in a year, in a month? Ask a person of color how many times it has happened to them. Then put yourself in their shoes and perhaps you will see one reason things need to change and more of us need to speak up to change things for all our fellow citizens. Now is the time for us to stand up and speak out. I hope this is a start.

 

Political Roundup

Liberal Hypocrisy & Undoing Racism

” (Malcolm X’s) ruthless criticism of the racist white liberals who tried to manipulate the civil rights movement into falling into line behind the Democratic Party inspired young militants to establish radical organizations such as the Black Panthers….
‘They front-paged what I felt about Northern white and Black Freedom Riders going South to ‘demonstrate.’ I called it ridiculous. Their own Northern ghettos, right at home, had enough rats and roaches to kill to keep all of the Freedom Riders busy. The Northern Freedom Riders could light some fires under Northern city halls, unions and major industries to give more jobs to Negroes… Yes, I will pull off that liberal’s halo that he spends such efforts cultivating. The North’s liberals have been for so long pointing accusing fingers at the South and getting away with it that they have fits when they are exposed as the world’s worst hypocrites.’ ” source: socialistworker.org

“Almost the entirety of the U.S. ruling class is eager to treat the racist statues battle as a question of national unity — although they will draw the line, as has Trump, at George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and other Great White Men that did not wear the Confederate States uniform. It is, of course, vital, in mass political education terms, to point out the monstrous social crimes and contradictions embodied in the monuments. It is also important to win victories that people can see with their own eyes, as the statues tumble or disappear in the night. But, if the historical crime is not linked to demands for the righting of present-day wrongs, there will be no lasting benefit to the people’s struggle. Rather, the movement will have removed a blemish from the face that the U.S. presents to the world, WITHOUT EFFECTIVELY CHALLENGING CURRENT STRUCTURES OF OPPRESSION. That’s a win-win for the bipartisan War Party, the Democrats and international capital, and is the perfect kind of symbolic victory treasured by the Black political class, but will produce meager and diminishing returns for Black empowerment.” ~ Black Agenda Report commentator Glen Ford

White liberal: Hey, David! Do you want to come help our group, The White Halos, take down a Confederate statue? You can give a speech afterwards!

Me: No, thanks. I’m on my way to the State Capitol to take down the other monuments to slavery, such as racial wage and wealth disparity, police repression of communities of color, and Black mass incarceration. Would you like to come with me instead?

White liberal: Uh, um… OW! BACK SPASMS! FRONT SPASMS! OH, THE PAIN! Sorry David, maybe you can get some of your Black friends to help you with that…

I have had good conversations with white people about the direct connection between white privilege and the layered forms of white supremacy, and why whites can’t otherize white supremacists. Predictably, some whites did not have the guts to have this conversation, including acknowledging and discussing systemic racism in the Democratic Party. This issue isn’t going away.

Yeah, Donald Trump is a mentally unstable fascist. Barack Obama was a cerebral, charming fascist. George W. Bush was a fascist who used poor grammar. Bill Clinton was a fascist who liked Big Macs. My idea of #resistance isn’t a return to Democratic Party fascism in 2020. I want no fascism.

The Democrats and Republicans are upset with the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis, because they’re blowing up the spot. Republicans like to keep their racism abstract and coded. Democrats like to keep their racism subtle by acting like they’re a friend of Black people, while they team up with the GOP to deprive communities of color of jobs and resources, support police repression, and maintain Black mass incarceration.

Charlottesville is just another talking point for the Democrats and their liberal supporters. The Dems have been obliterated on the state level: 33 governors are Republicans. 32 legislatures are controlled by the GOP. Police repression of communities of color is a form of white supremacy. Gov. Dan Malloy and the Democratic controlled General Assembly have killed grassroots police accountability legislation for years.
After 15-year-old Jayson Negron was fatally shot by Bridgeport police officer James Boulay, the Dems hastily called a press conference to promote a toothless bill by Rep. Robyn Porter, that they had not talked about during the whole legislative session. Nobody is buying what the Dems are selling. 46 million people did not vote last November, because they rightfully saw no difference between the Dems and the Republicans.

 

Dan Malloy, Poll Expert

Gov. Dan Malloy doesn’t think approval ratings matter, unless they apply to Donald Trump.  The New Haven Register recently asked Malloy about what he thinks the key factors will be in the 2018 Connecticut gubernatorial race. Malloy, who has announced that he will not seek reelection, pointed to Trump’s low approval ratings in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, as proof that CT Republican candidates have a “Trump problem” that will hurt their chances. This hypocrite, who currently has a 29% approval rating as Governor, has routinely dismissed the importance of his own abysmal approval ratings.

 

The Trump War Budget

While the Democrats and their white liberal supporters hyperventilate about Russia, they’re not saying anything about the catastrophic impact that President Donald Trump’s proposed war budget would have on communities of color.
Last week I listened to the NPR 1A program. The topic was Ben Carson’s tenure running the Department of Housing and Urban Development. A HUD official talked about how the current agency model is “unsustainable”, and that HUD needs to “stretch dollars” and “streamline services”.
A housing advocate made the point that Trump’s proposed funding cuts to HUD and other human services aren’t about saving money, they’re about funneling cash to pay for Trump’s historic proposed $54 billion increase to the military budget, which is already 54% of the federal budget.

 

Colin Kaepernick

Colin Kaepernick just donated another $100,000 to grassroots racial justice organizations, bringing the total to $800,000 towards his Million Dollar Pledge.   Kaepernick remains unsigned, as the National Football League regular season is scheduled to begin September 7.  Philadelphia Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins and DE Chris Long, San Francisco 49ers safety Eric Reid, Seattle Seahawks DE Michael Bennett and center Justin Britt, Oakland Raiders RB Marshawn Lynch, and 12 members of the Cleveland Browns, including Connecticut native Seth DeValve, have all carried on Kaepernick’s action in some form during the NFL preseason. So what has the NFL accomplished by blackballing Kaepernick? NOTHING.  Call your cable company or satellite provider today, and cancel NFL Sunday Ticket.  https://standingforkaepernick.org/

 

Follow CP on Twitter for state, national and world news headlines. https://twitter.com/CommunityParty1 Check out my Facebook page for daily news commentary. https://www.facebook.com/david.samuels.948 Listen to So-Metro Radio the first, third and fifth Tuesday of each month at 8:00 PM for commentary on urban issues http://www.sometroradio.com/ ;;; Check out our No Sellout blog (https://hendu39.wordpress.com/). Contact us at samuelssloflo@aol.com.

Community Party Radio on So-Metro Radio August 29

Community Party Radio on So-Metro Radio returns Tuesday, August 29. Commentary on urban issues from a grassroots perspective. Guest contributor John Hollis, a retired State of Connecticut employee and former union steward, will provide analysis on how the concessions deal between Gov. Dan Malloy and state employee unions places these workers’ collective bargaining rights in jeopardy. We will present our Policy Watch Special Report: White Privilege + Systemic Racism = White Supremacy. We’ll also provide an update on Hurricane Harvey, and Colin Kaepernick. 8:00 PM Eastern Time 7:00 PM Central 5:00 PM Pacific.  http://sometroradio.com/

 

Resources

Hurricane Harvey disaster relief

 

Hurricane Harvey: Zip Code & Race Determine Who Will Bear Burden Of Climate Change

https://www.democracynow.org/2017/8/29/hurricane_harvey_zip_code_race_determine

 

Hurricane Harvey –  KHOU TV Houston live stream:

http://www.khou.com/news/live_stream/khou-live-video/94483732

 

The Democrats’ Attack on Unions:

The Democrats’ Attack on Unions

 

Standing for Kaepernick website:

https://standingforkaepernick.org/

 

Malcolm X on White Liberals:

 

White Privilege + Systemic Racism = White Supremacy

by David Samuels

This column appears in the August 24 – 31 edition of the Hartford News.

 

Community Party Radio on So-Metro Radio

Commentary on urban issues from a grassroots perspective. First, third and fifth Tuesday of each month. 8:00 PM Eastern Time 7:00 PM Central 5:00 PM Pacific. Tune in! http://www.sometroradio.com/   Next show: August 29. Check out our No Sellout blog for info on the rest of our Community Party Media lineup, including False Choice: the Bipartisan Attack on the Working Class, the Poor and Communities of Color. https://hendu39.wordpress.com/2015/12/20/community-party-media-3/
Community Party Radio Podcasts

Visit No Sellout to listen to podcasts of past shows.

Podcasts – Community Party Radio on So-Metro Radio

 

PROGRAM ALERT

Podcast of August 15 Community Party Radio show. Includes commentary on Charlottesville, an interview with Connecticut gubernatorial candidate Dan Drew, and an update on Colin Kaepernick.

 

Community Update

ATTENTION CT STATE EMPLOYEES: Collective Bargaining in Jeopardy

The public sector is the largest employer of Black people and women (I’m a state worker). It’s disturbing to me to watch SEIU 1199 Communications Director Jennifer Schneider acting as a de facto spokesperson for the Democratic Party on the WTNH Capitol Report program, while the Democrats continue to talk out of both sides of their mouths regarding collective bargaining. House Majority Leader Matt Ritter proclaimed that Connecticut isn’t Wisconsin, during the House debate over the concessions deal between Gov. Dan Malloy and state employee unions.  Last week retired state worker and former union steward John Hollis alerted me to a post on the Administrative and Residual Employees website, detailing the demands of the three conservative Democrats in the Senate:  Joan Hartley, Paul Doyle and Gayle Slossberg –      who voted for the deal. Stay tuned for updates.  http://andr.ct.aft.org/

12 Point Plan for Systemic Change

The SEBAC agreement and the Union contracts barely passed the Senate (19-18 vote) and narrowly passed the House (78-72).  There were 3 Senators (Hartley, Doyle, Slossberg) who voted in favor of the agreements but under the condition that their 12 Point Plan for Systemic Change be addressed during the budget negotiations.  Several of the 12 points limit collective bargaining for State Employees.  Their 12 Point Plan runs as follows:
Define in statute the definition of ”Impairment of Contract.”
Define in statute the state’s “ability to pay”
After expiration of SEBAC in 2027, no COLAs for pensions negotiated in SEBAC but set by statute
After expiration of SEBAC in 2027, overtime shall not be included in pension calculations except for mandatory overtime required for public health or safety purposes.
After the expiration of SEBAC in 2027, no future SEBAC Agreements shall be longer than four years.
Create a mechanism for review and certification of 2017 SEBAC savings
Vote on all state union contracts
Create a Teachers Retirement System Viability Commission to ensure the sustainability of the TRB
Create a Pension Legacy Debt Commission to develop a liability asset management plan.
Establish a cap on State of Connecticut bonding
Create a Volatility Cap for Capital Gains income tax receipts
Create an Expenditure Cap based upon Consensus Revenue
Targeting state employees has become a political sport for many legislators.  Our livelihoods have become their political fodder.  Many have vowed to continue their attacks.  During this budget cycle, we need to show solidarity.  With a show of strength, we can thwart the plans of those individuals and those policies that continue to seek diminishment of employee rights and shaming employees who do the work of the State.  This was not always the way our legislators operated.  Unfortunately, this is the disgraceful path that many are taking.  Our work is honorable.  We are “a Union of Professionals”, providing valuable services to the citizens of Connecticut.   It takes a talented, educated, trained workforce to provide such services.  We need to promote our professionalism and hold our heads high.  We need to stand up for ourselves and make it tougher for those in the legislature who want to demonize us.

 

Policy Watch

White Supremacy Comes in Many Forms

“White supremacy blankets every person in this country, especially whites. IT’S NOT ENOUGH FOR WHITE PEOPLE TO SAY, ‘THAT’S NOT ME.’ ” Alicia Garza, Black Lives Matter

“Some people just don’t get it! It’s like when the power goes out and you realize how much, that you have taken electricity for granted. You find yourself turning on the light switch and there is no power. I believe electricity can be used as a metaphor for white privilege. Some will only understand if they lose it.” ~ Community Party member Zaida Berrios, on the connection between white privilege and white supremacy

“The thing about us fascists is, it’s not that we don’t believe in freedom of speech. You can say whatever you want. We’ll just throw you in an oven.” ~ neo-Nazi Peter Tefft

 

This is basically like having that ex who drunk dials you at 2:30 in the morning as President…

After Donald Trump was elected President last November, I saw progressives in my Facebook network posting commentary about how not all Trump voters were racist, but supported Trump because of their disenchantment with the Democrats. No, anyone who voted for Trump didn’t see his white nationalist platform as a deal breaker. Let me be clear. If you voted for Trump, you voted for the terrorism in Charlottesville. There was a progressive candidate named Jill Stein who was clearly superior to Hillary Clinton. There was a candidate named Gary Johnson who was an option for those who leaned towards the right. A vote for Hillary or Trump was the true wasted vote.

If it ain’t white, it ain’t right: Fox News defended Trump, while bashing anti-fascism protesters and “the left”. There was no mention of Republican lawmakers urging Trump to specifically condemn domestic terrorism by white supremacists. The network trotted out the Aunt Jemima duo Diamond & Silk aka Step & Fetch, who took a break from making pancakes to defend Trump, while denouncing anti-fascism protesters and Black Lives Matter.  I watched Michael Eric Dyson debate Brunell Donald-Kyei, one of Trump’s Black hood ornaments, on CNN. I’ll never understand the amount of self-hate a Black person must have, to sit on national TV and talk like that.  Trump & right-wing bs: The KKK and neo-Nazis have a “right to protest”,  Colin Kaepernick does not.

This has been building for a long time. British lawmaker Jo Cox was assassinated by a far-right extremist, because of her support of Syrian refugees. A mass shooting at a Muslim mosque in Quebec, by a Canadian Trump supporter. A spike in hate crimes against Muslims since Trump launched his campaign for the presidency. A mosque was fired upon here in Connecticut.  There were terror attacks in Portland and Minnesota. Charlottesville is not the climax. It’s just the latest chapter…

A viral video was posted of white supremacists physically resisting the police, and the cops doing nothing. If I did that, I would be shot.  https://twitter.com/yourrightscamp/status/896844061327237120/video/1

Liberal, progressive, leftist white people, stop telling Black people how to deal with racism. We’re impacted by it. You just talk about it in your economy, environmentally friendly car, while the cops dip around you and pull me over. This is the time for you to shut up, and listen. R.I.P. Heather Heyer. She walked the walk….
Conservative white people, it’s hilarious to hear you whine about the reaction to “Many Sides” Trump. Within hours after the Barcelona terror attack, Trump was immediately  on his Twitter, your Twitter, and your momma’s Twitter, screaming for blood.

“White liberals thinking they are different from white supremacists lol liberal white cis hetero supremacy is still white cis hetero supremacy.” ~ Facebook post by activist Harold Von Norman

There’s some food for thought…  Martin Luther King and Malcolm X both said that the greatest enemy of racial justice is the moderate white liberal, not the KKK or neo-Nazis. Dr. King said that when he shifted the focus of his work from civil rights to economic justice, many of his white liberal allies “walked off with the aggressors.”
White supremacy comes in many forms other than white hoods and swastikas. U.S. militarism. Neoliberal policies by Democrats and Republicans, that deprive communities of color of jobs and resources. Racial wage and wealth disparity. Job discrimination. Connecticut Valley Hospital, my employer, fires Blacks at a rate of 71% compared to 22% for whites. Blacks are suspended 10% more than all other workers combined. Only 3% of the CVH employees making $120,000 or more per year are Black.
Police repression, Black mass incarceration, mandatory minimums, the death penalty, the bipartisan, neoliberal attack on the public sector (largest employer of Blacks and women), school privatization, the marginalization of and violence against LGBTQ people of color… This is all white supremacy. I see Connecticut liberals / progressives rail on Facebook against Trump, while they say nothing about Gov. Dan Malloy and the Democratic controlled General Assembly passing budgets that are as racist as a burning cross, or Mayor Luke Bronin ramping up for the racist bankruptcy attack that is focused on predominantly Black cities, including Detroit. What’s up with that?

Blacks shouldn’t be surprised that the ACLU is defending white terrorists, who are manipulating the free speech amendment. The ACLU undermined a police accountability ordinance drafted by grassroots Black activists in Chicago, so they could get their own weaker ordinance implemented by the city.  ACLU-CT did the same thing to the Community Party, publicly opposing our racial profiling legislation so they could get their toothless bill passed. The ACLU is an organization by white elitists, for white elitists.

Liberal, progressive, leftist whites, don’t yap about Trump, the KKK and neo-Nazis, if you aren’t willing to acknowledge racism on the white left. I look at the Facebook group photos for the Connecticut Green Party and white leftist groups, and I’m blinded by the white. At least Trump and these terrorists are honest about their racism….

White supremacy isn’t a Republican / Democrat issue; BOTH PARTIES are structurally racist. Being a white liberal or progressive Democrat doesn’t get you off the hook, regarding white supremacy.  Stop using Charlottesville and Heather Heyer as a political football.

I’m going to set the bar low. REALLY low. I’m going to ask white people who read this to be better than Trump today. Trump will never discuss the connection between white privilege and white supremacy because, well you know, he’s a bigot.
You could discuss it with your white friend who annoys you, because they always want to talk to you about white privilege (“Damn that Sally. Why is she always talking about white privilege? I’m just trying to be white over here!”).
Do me that favor. Have this conversation today. Then you can say you’re better than Trump. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Former neo-Nazi Christian Picciolini talked to Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman last week, and confirmed the obvious. “The FBI published a report recently that showed that there is a massive amount of (neo-Nazi) recruiting happening within the military and within LAW ENFORCEMENT. And, in fact, it was a concerted strategy of ours 30 years ago, when I was involved in the movement, when we recognized that the shaved heads and the swastika flags and the Klan hoods were turning away the average American white racist that we could recruit, but they were too afraid to join because, you know, of how edgy we were. So we decided at that point, 30 years ago, that we were not going to shave our heads. We were going to trade in our boots for suits. We were going to go enroll in college and recruit on campuses. WE WOULD GET JOBS IN LAW ENFORCEMENT, go into the military to get training and to be able to recruit there, and then even run for office.”

This is reality. This is white supremacy.

 

Resources

The FBI Has Quietly Investigated White Supremacist Infiltration of Law Enforcement

The FBI Has Quietly Investigated White Supremacist Infiltration of Law Enforcement

 

Follow CP on Twitter for state, national and world news headlines. https://twitter.com/CommunityParty1 Check out my Facebook page for daily news commentary. https://www.facebook.com/david.samuels.948 Listen to So-Metro Radio the first, third and fifth Tuesday of each month at 8:00 PM for commentary on urban issues http://www.sometroradio.com/ ;; Check out our No Sellout blog (https://hendu39.wordpress.com/). Contact us at samuelssloflo@aol.com.

 

 

 

Charlottesville: Trump’s Chickens Come Home to Roost

by David Samuels

This column appears in the August 17 – 24 edition of the Hartford News.

Community Party Radio on So-Metro Radio

Commentary on urban issues from a grassroots perspective. First, third and fifth Tuesday of each month. 8:00 PM Eastern Time 7:00 PM Central 5:00 PM Pacific. Tune in! http://www.sometroradio.com/   Next show: August 29. Check out our No Sellout blog for info on the rest of our Community Party Media lineup, including False Choice: the Bipartisan Attack on the Working Class, the Poor and Communities of Color. https://hendu39.wordpress.com/2015/12/20/community-party-media-3/
Community Party Radio Podcasts

Visit No Sellout to listen to podcasts of past shows.

Podcasts – Community Party Radio on So-Metro Radio

 

Community Update

Last month the Community Party contacted the Office of Legislative Research regarding corporate welfare in Connecticut.
We requested data on how many jobs were created by each CT corporation that has received tax subsidies from the state.
A report by CT Voices for Children found that corporate welfare is basically unregulated, while the full cost is unknown. I received this response from OLR last week. Stay tuned for updates.
http://www.ctvoices.org/TaxBreaks

Hello David,

Our email program misdirected your July 29 email to our spam folder – apologies for the delayed response.
The Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development has the most information on this topic – in particular, see its annual reports and the databases listed under the “CT Open for Biz” section on this page of DECD’s website: http://www.ct.gov/ecd/cwp/view.asp?a=1105&q=251248
(Unfortunately it appears DECD’s Tax Credit Portfolio database is not working. You may want to contact DECD directly to request this data.)
If you need additional research assistance, the Connecticut State Library’s Government Information desk can also help – they can be reached at 860-757-6570.

Christine McCluskey

 

Policy Watch 

The Trump Presidency

 

President Donald Trump’s statement on the events in Charlottesville being caused by “hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides”, and conservatives’ denial of the connection between Trump’s white nationalist platform and white supremacists like David Duke, who invoked Trump’s name at the Charlottesville white nationalist rally, is a prime example of the southern strategy described by Republican strategist Lee Atwater in 1991. https://hendu39.wordpress.com/2017/08/10/southern-strategy/

 

Trump  claimed that the anti-fascists who clashed with white supremacists in Charlottesville engage in the same “hatred, bigotry and violence” as these terrorists. Activist Heather Heyer was killed, and 19 people were injured by James Fields’ car attack. Trump, who’s quick to label car attacks by ISIS sympathizers as terrorism, walked a political tightrope, saying something about the domestic terrorism in Charlottesville while being careful not to offend his base. Republican lawmakers urged Trump to specifically acknowledge the Charlottesville attack as terrorism by white supremacists.  The neo-Nazi Daily Stormer website used Trump’s Charlottesville statement to duck responsibility for their terrorism.  https://twitter.com/soledadobrien/status/896492127911149568

Trump, reading from a teleprompter, finally called out the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis by name Monday, then went back to blaming antifa Tuesday.

 

 

Minnesota Mosque Bombing Largely Ignored by the Press

A Minneapolis-Area Mosque Was Bombed but Received Scant Media Attention

The Real News Network  http://therealnews.com/t2/

JAISAL NOOR: An early-morning bombing of a Minneapolis mosque has been called “an act of terrorism” by Minnesota governor Mark Dayton. The FBI took over the investigation Saturday of the bombing that caused no injuries.

OFFICER JEFF POTTS: The first responders, when they arrived, observed some smoke and some damage to a limited portion of the community center. Good thing in this event here, there were no injuries. We’ve been able to confirm throughout the day that no one was sent to the hospital and that there are no injuries. As soon as we determined that the scene was safe, we began working with our law enforcement partners and anytime there’s a fire or an explosion in a place of worship, that by itself will get a response from the ATF and the FBI.

J. NOOR: Anti-Muslim incidents have risen sharply in the United States over the past year, according to a review by The Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, which offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the Minneapolis area bomber.

FBI AGENT RICK THORNTON: It was an improvised explosive device that was set off early this morning. Moving ahead, our investigation will continue all the things that you would expect. It’s ongoing, interviewing witnesses, sending items to our various labs for further analysis, looking at videos, cell phone data, all the potential areas that we can go.

J. NOOR: Police in Bloomington, Minnesota, were called at 5:05 a.m. about an explosion at the Dar Al-Farooq Mosque after a bomb was thrown through the window of the imam’s office while worshipers were gathered for morning prayers. Again, there were no injuries.

HAMDY EL-SAWAF: We assure those who do not have the consciousness of who we are, we will never come to our knees in front of them. We will keep resisting ’til we’re assured that the value of this country are in the highest level ever. It cannot be perpetrated by one individual or a group of people or a group of terrorists. We’re here, all together, in order to defend the values of our country, the values of our faith, the values of our people.

J. NOOR: According to CAIR, the number of biased incidents in 2017 has increased by 24% compared to the first half of 2016, from 986 incidents to 1,302.

FATHER DENNIS ERIN: We are always gonna stand together with people of good will to promote peace and to denounce any forms of senseless violence. We pledge to you our prayers and our solidarity as we go forth from here.

ASAD ZAMAN: Hate is not okay. We need a better America. We need an America where people are safe with their neighbors. Targeting people because of their race, their ethnicity, or their religion is absolutely un-American.

J. NOOR: Experts link spikes in hate crimes against Muslims not only with Donald Trump’s rhetoric but also US foreign policy. We’re bringing you a portion of a previous interview with author Arun Kundnani.

DONALD TRUMP: Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.

ARUN KUNDNANI: The rhetoric of Trump, it corresponds to many policies that have already been in place for some time after 9/11. We already rounded up thousands of Muslims within the United States and deported them simply because they are Muslim. We already have put every mosque in New York City under surveillance by the New York Police Department simply because they are mosques. You already had politicians across the board asking that no Syrian should be able to come as a refugee just because they were from Syria. We already had 1.2 million people on the terrorism watch list. I think for the mainstream political culture, denouncing Trump as somehow saying stuff that is beyond the pale for the mainstream isn’t quite right. He’s not an outlier. What he’s doing is, as I said, just making explicit what has already been implicit in our mainstream political culture. He is a symptom of a widespread problem of Islamophobia.

We have been sold a story by so-called experts now for 20 years, which is that there is some kind of inherent connection between Islam and terrorism. That argument is made in many different ways. But essentially it boils down to that claim and the claim is obviously false. We have created a new kind of racism in the United States directed at Muslims. It comes out of, obviously, a much longer history of racism in the United States.

From the Washington Post…  ” ‘We are wondering why President Trump has not tweeted about this,’ Asad Zaman, director of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, told BuzzFeed News. ‘He seems to want to tweet about security and terror issues.’
‘Silence on the part of public officials at the national level only serves to empower Islamophobes,’ Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in a statement calling for Trump to condemn the attack, according to the Los Angeles Times.”

I don’t care about Trump’s tweets or his approval rating.
I’m concerned about Democratic and Republican presidents going back decades who support fascism, endless wars, for-profit health care that is the leading cause of bankruptcy in the United States, and the corporate, surveillance, police and prison states. I’m concerned about poverty. I’m concerned about liberals whose idea of #resistance is a preference for Democratic Party fascism, over Republican fascism.
I’m concerned about the bipartisan attack on the public sector, the largest employer of Black people and women, and the indifference of both corporate controlled parties to workers rights. I’m concerned about the political duopoly, and the American Legislative Exchange Council spearheading the concentration of corporate power in government. These problems were here way before Trump, and will be here long after he’s gone.

The U.S. conducted military maneuvers with stealth bombers (undetectable by radar, capable of carrying nuclear weapons) in Korea during Barack Obama’s presidency, provoking North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un. Hillary Clinton wanted to establish a no-fly zone in Syria. Pentagon leaders who testified in front of Congress last year said a no-fly zone would trigger a war with Russia, a nuclear armed power. Trump is threatening North Korea, another nuclear armed power, with “fire and fury”. Jill Stein’s Peace Offensive was a central piece of her presidential campaign platform. No, I don’t regret voting for her.  Read Dr. Stein’s Peace and Human Rights platform here. http://www.jill2016.com/platform

Colin Kaepernick Update

Fox Sports 1 Undisputed co-host Skip Bayless reported last week that John Wooten, a former NFL player and executive who founded an advocacy group to promote the hiring of people of color for NFL coaching, scouting and front office positions, attempted to set up a summit for Kaepernick, modeled after the 1967 summit in support of Muhammad Ali that included Jim Brown, Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Bayless said that the Kaepernick summit would have included Brown and retired Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis.
Bayless said that Wooten, who has a strong reputation as an activist, was unable to reach Kaepernick to confirm his participation, and that Wooten then backed out after Kaepernick’s girlfriend posted a Twitter photo dissing Lewis, who has been critical of Kaepernick’s protest.
Co-host Shannon Sharpe said he spoke with Kaepernick, who said he didn’t know Wooten’s history, and that he also had reservations about doing the summit with Lewis and Brown, who he pointed out were both used as props by President Donald Trump. Brown and Lewis met with Trump in highly publicized visits to Trump Tower, after Trump was elected. Sharpe said he thinks Kaepernick will do research on Wooten and that a summit may still happen.
In my opinion, Kaepernick did absolutely the right thing. Brown lost credibility after allowing himself to be used by Trump, and Lewis, who snitched on his friends to get out of a 2000 double murder in Atlanta, has no credibility, period. Kaepernick said he wants people who have been riding with him, and that definitely isn’t Lewis.

Philadelphia Eagles safety Malcolm Jenkins, Oakland Raiders RB Marshawn Lynch and Seattle Seahawks DE Michael Bennett protested tCharlottesvillehe anthem prior to preseason games last week.  ESPN football analyst Louis Riddick was blunt about Baltimore Ravens backup QB Ryan Mallett’s poor performance last week against Washington. Riddick said, “You can’t win with him… Mallett should be out of the picture.” Riddick added that the Ravens need to stop hemming and hawing regarding whether or not they’re going to sign Kaepernick, who Riddick said is clearly better than Mallett.  Ravens starting QB Joe Flacco is out with a back injury.  There is no definitive timetable for his return. Flacco has been out about three weeks; estimates on his recovery time have ranged between one week and six weeks.

Visit the #StandingforKaepernick website for info on how you can get involved.

https://standingforkaepernick.org/

Follow CP on Twitter for state, national and world news headlines. https://twitter.com/CommunityParty1 Check out my Facebook page for daily news commentary. https://www.facebook.com/david.samuels.948 Listen to So-Metro Radio the first, third and fifth Tuesday of each month at 8:00 PM for commentary on urban issues http://www.sometroradio.com/ ; Check out our No Sellout blog (https://hendu39.wordpress.com/). Contact us at samuelssloflo@aol.com.

 

 

Community Party Radio on So-Metro Radio August 15

Community Party Radio on So-Metro Radio returns Tuesday, August 15. Commentary on urban issues from a grassroots perspective. We’ll air our interview with Middletown Mayor and Connecticut gubernatorial candidate Dan Drew. Topics include police accountability, the state budget crisis, single payer health care, workplace bullying and urban policy issues that are ignored by the corporate media.

 

Other show topics include President Donald Trump’s response to the events in Charlottesville, Virginia, which included a domestic terror attack on anti-fascism protesters  that killed activist Heather Heyer and injured 19, and an update on Colin Kaepernick. 8:00 PM Eastern Time 7:00 PM Central 5:00 PM Pacific.  http://sometroradio.com/

Resources

Interview with Dan Drew on single payer health care.

 

 

Southern Strategy

Southern Strategy

 

#StandingforKaepernick

https://standingforkaepernick.org/

 

 

 

 

Southern Strategy

by David Samuels

This column appears in the August 10 -17 edition of the Hartford News.

Community Party Radio on So-Metro Radio

Commentary on urban issues from a grassroots perspective. First, third and fifth Tuesday of each month. 8:00 PM Eastern Time 7:00 PM Central 5:00 PM Pacific. Tune in! http://www.sometroradio.com/  Next show: August 15. Check out our No Sellout blog for info on the rest of our Community Party Media lineup, including False Choice: the Bipartisan Attack on the Working Class, the Poor and Communities of Color. https://hendu39.wordpress.com/2015/12/20/community-party-media-3/

 

Community Party Radio Podcasts

Visit No Sellout to listen to podcasts of past shows.

Podcasts – Community Party Radio on So-Metro Radio

 

PROGRAM ALERT

The Community Party Radio on So-Metro Radio interview with Middletown Mayor and Connecticut gubernatorial candidate Dan Drew will air Tuesday, August 15 at 8:00 PM Eastern Time, 7:00 PM Central 5:00 PM Pacific. Topics include police accountability, the state budget crisis, single payer health care, workplace bullying and urban policy issues that are ignored by the corporate media.

http://sometroradio.com/

The podcast of the August 1 edition of Community Radio is available in the Resources section, at the end of this column. Topics include the concessions deal between Gov. Dan Malloy and state employee unions, and an exclusive interview with a Black state employee who is a survivor of workplace bullying. The employee, who we are calling Joanne to protect her identity, was sexually harassed by a white boss. We also provide an update on Colin Kaepernick.

 

Community Update 

 

Concessions Deal

Community resident Joan O’Brien succinctly summed up the concessions deal between Gov. Dan Malloy and state employee unions, that was approved by the Connecticut General Assembly last week. Joan posted her analysis on Facebook in response to the Community Party Radio on So-Metro Radio segment on the deal  with guest contributor John Hollis, a retired state employee and former union steward.

“Good to hear some truth about the extorted so-called ‘concessions’ agreement which is wealth extraction from the middle and working class unionized state employees for the benefit of the wealthy and powerful. One pernicious provision is the degradation of current elderly retirees health care by involuntarily transferring them from government Medicare with wraparound supplement onto ‘Medicare Advantage’ administered by UnitedHealthcare. The retirees were not allowed to vote on this change. Despite the many stories about UnitedHealthcare’s aggressive and apparently legally and ethically improper practices, approximately 49,000 elderly state of Connecticut retirees are being transferred onto UnitedHealthcare ‘Medicare Advantage’, putting the health and financial security of vulnerable retirees in the hands of what appears to be a criminogenic private insurer. They then misrepresent that the increased enrollment in their plans shows that their plans are popular. The State is claiming that ‘Medicare Advantage’ is ‘more cost effective’ which is the opposite of the truth. This not only degrades retiree health care benefits, it makes the state government an accomplice in the destruction of the Medicare Trust Fund and the fraudulent bilking of Medicare through ‘upcoding.’ It appears that ‘Medicare Advantage’ denies expensive but needed care to the oldest and sickest which is why people tend to leave ‘Medicare Advantage’ when they get sick. ‘Medicare Advantage’ is a Trojan horse to privatize Medicare and should be eliminated and the billions of taxpayer money wasted on private profit should be used to improve Medicare. Let’s stop the ‘Medicare Advantage’ scam and put our health care dollars into health care for all.”

State employees have agreed to concessions three times since 2009, while Malloy and the Democratic Party controlled legislature continue to dish out unregulated corporate welfare, and refuse to implement a progressive tax system.

 

Corporate Welfare

The Community Party has contacted the Office of Legislative Research, for data on how many jobs were created by each Connecticut company that receives corporate tax subsidies. A report by CT Voices for Children found that corporate welfare in this state is basically unregulated, while the full cost is unknown.

Connecticut Budget Crisis: State Employees Get Blamed, Corporations Get Paid

 

Policy Watch

Racists?  We’re Not Racists! 

“You start out in 1954 by saying, ‘Nigger, nigger, nigger’. By 1968 you can’t say ‘nigger’—that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now [that] you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I’m not saying that. But I’m saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me—because obviously sitting around saying, ‘We want to cut this’, is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than ‘Nigger, nigger’. ” ~ Republican strategist Lee Atwater

I make it a point to share this quote periodically, because it’s a confession from a top political operative who helped Republicans win elections, including President George H.W. Bush. Atwater died in 1991. This is how structural racism works. I thought about Atwater’s words a lot last Wednesday; first in the morning as I watched the latest news on Colin Kaepernick, and again in the afternoon as I watched two Connecticut Valley Hospital managers become unhinged, as I confronted them about CVH’s systematic protection of white employees who engage in misconduct. Black employees are fired at a rate of 71%, compared to just 22% for whites.

@CommunityParty1 It looks like CVH punishes Black employees more than other group WHY? http://t.co/dFD9F2ilrc—
CT Lottery Watchdog (@CTLotteryWatch) December 15, 2013

Finally in the evening, I could hear Atwater’s southern twang as I watched CNN’s Jim Acosta call out White House senior adviser Stephen Miller on President Donald Trump’s racist immigration policy.

 

 

The RAISE Act mirrors lobbying by anti-immigrant groups including FAIR and NumbersUSA.

telesur  http://www.telesurtv.net/english/index.html

U.S. President Donald Trump has announced a huge shake-up of immigration laws that would halve legal immigration by 50 percent over 10 years by slashing family reunification visas, prioritizing English-speakers and cutting the number of refugees allowed into the country.
Promoted by the White House senior adviser Stephen Miller as a so-called “pro-American immigration reform,” the new bill – known as the RAISE Act – would prioritize high-skilled immigrants by setting up a merits-based system similar to those used by Canada and Australia while also doing away with green card preferences to the adult children or extended family of immigrants who already reside legally in the U.S.

The bill was developed by Republican senators David Perdue of Georgia and Tom Cotton of Arkansas, and resembles the demands pushed for years by the so-called “nativist” anti-immigration lobby in the United States, such as the English language proficiency requirement and putting an end to the Diversity Visa Program.
The bill would also stop immigrants from joining family members already living in the U.S. – which nativists refer to as “chain migration.”
“Once you get here, you have a green card and you can open up immigration not just to your immediate family, but your extended family, your village, your clan, your tribe,” Cotton has said about the reunification process.
Refugee organizations said permanently limiting the number of refugees allowed in the country goes against the U.S. value of offering safe haven to people fleeing violence and oppression.

“The RAISE Act represents a stealth attack on our immigration system that would begin to unravel the reforms of 52 years ago, when Congress discarded a racist quota system that discriminated against people who weren’t white and northern European,” the Southern Poverty Law Center said in a statement. “Its provisions reflect the shameful agenda of nativists and white nationalists who fear the growing diversity of our country.”

Both (FAIR and NumbersUSA) were founded either directly or indirectly by John Tanton, a white nationalist who has ties to neo-Nazi organizations. In 1993, the eugenics proponent argued that a “European-American majority” was needed “for European-American society and culture to persist.”

 

Last week Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti solicited public prayer, along with conducting a poll of fans and sponsors, regarding whether or not the team should sign Colin Kaepernick. Bisciotti also asked retired Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis to weigh in. The Ravens have had players on their roster who were accused of murder (Lewis), and convicted of domestic violence and other crimes. The Ravens never took these steps before.

 

The Ravens feel the need to pray because they’re afraid of ticking off racist whites. Football is the true religion of White America, and Kaepernick is the heretic. These whites are fine with Negroes as long as they’re catching touchdowns, making 90 yard TD runs, sacking the quarterback, running back a Pick Six and dancing in the end zone, but an uppity Black man like Kaepernick must hang from the tallest tree.

 

White bigots definitely aren’t alone in terms of stupidity, when it comes to  Kaepernick. Last week on Facebook I read a post by someone who said some Black people think Kaepernick’s national anthem protest was a ‘publicity stunt because he wasn’t playing well.’ If you’re Black and believe this, you need a checkup from the neck up.
Kaepernick has donated $1 million dollars of his own money to grassroots social justice organizations, in addition to starting his own (Know Your Rights Camp where he’s actively involved) . http://kaepernick7.com/ The publicity stunt accusation is nonsense.

 

Athletes do publicity stunts to build their brand and get commercial endorsements. Kaepernick is radioactive: corporate America won’t touch him. Kaepernick is currently being blackballed by the NFL; his career may be over, but you don’t see him doing an I’m Sorry media tour, begging for a ‘second chance’. Kaepernick is clearly prepared to move on. Any Black person who’s bashing Kaepernick is just trying to rationalize their support of a racist football league. Stop being stupid.

 

Fox Sports 1 Undisputed host Shannon Sharpe used facts to counter the explanations being used to justify the Miami Dolphins signing Jay Cutler over Colin Kaepernick.
Sports commentators talked about Cutler having his best season in 2015 with the Chicago Bears, where Dolphins coach Adam Gase was an offensive coordinator. Sharpe pointed out that while Cutler’s personal statistics were indeed improved,  in 2015 the Bears ranked #23 out of 32 teams in both scoring and passing. Chicago finished the season with 6 wins and 10 losses.

 

It’s highly unlikely that the Dolphins would have signed Kaepernick if Cutler, who reportedly refused the Dolphins’ initial job offer, wasn’t available. Kaepernick drew a lot of heat last year for wearing a t-shirt with the photo of Malcolm X and Fidel Castro. Miami has a huge population of Cuban anti-Castro exiles. That issue rightfully would have required a resolution. The Dolphins got lucky, because they can justify signing Cutler as a football decision. Change.org has launched a petition calling for a boycott of the NFL,  including folks canceling TV packages such as NFL Sunday Sports Ticket,  if Kaepernick isn’t signed by a team this season.  Support Kaepernick by saying NO to the NFL!

https://www.change.org/p/roger-goodell-nokaepernicknonfl-boycott-nfl-games-if-colin-kaepernick-doesn-t-play-this-season

The August 15 Community Party Radio interview with Middletown Mayor and Connecticut gubernatorial candidate Dan Drew includes a discussion about structural racism at Connecticut Valley Hospital. CVH is located in Middletown. I have filed another Freedom of Information Act request for internal CVH emails. Stay tuned.  You can get information on how to file an FOI request here. http://www.ct.gov/foi/site/default.asp

 

Resources

Community Party Radio on So-Metro Radio August 1 podcast.

 

Follow CP on Twitter for state, national and world news headlines. https://twitter.com/CommunityParty1 Check out my Facebook page for daily news commentary. https://www.facebook.com/david.samuels.948 Listen to So-Metro Radio the first, third and fifth Tuesday of each month at 8:00 PM for commentary on urban issues http://www.sometroradio.com/  Check out our No Sellout blog (https://hendu39.wordpress.com/). Contact us at samuelssloflo@aol.com.