“Go Buy Some Earplugs”: Thug Intertown Employee Underscores Need for Tenant Rights Legislation

Last week I talked to House Majority Leader Matt Ritter, about the urgent need in 2021 for us to resurrect our tenant rights legislation that was derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tenant Rights Victory in New York: New Laws Are A Model for Connecticut

Tenant Rights Victory in New York: New Laws Are A Model for Connecticut

Raised H.B. No. 5126
Session Year 2020

 

AN ACT CONCERNING INSPECTIONS OF RENTAL PROPERTY PRIOR TO OCCUPANCY OR TERMINATION, LATE RENTAL PAYMENTS AND DESIGNATION OF A RENTAL HOUSING OMBUDSMAN.

https://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/cgabillstatus/cgabillstatus.asp?selBillType=Bill&which_year=2020&bill_num=5126&fbclid=IwAR2I75pAvGVaiJ5s2uj0Bhm_qbLarR3r56G6uL72SYWoaeOXQeqDPrhoiE0

 

 

The ombudsman would use court dockets to actively target persistent offender retaliatory landlords. I informed Rep. Ritter about a dispute I’m having with Intertown Realty. For the past two weeks, the fire alarm system located directly on the back wall of my apartment has been going off, emitting high pitched beeps. What I thought was just the system accidently tripping now appears to be something else. Last week an Intertown maintenance worker who supposedly came to fix the system berated me, telling me that if I don’t like it I should buy earplugs. I helped to organize an Intertown tenants union in 2004. We won a $200,000 judgement in 2005 against Intertown for what Attorney General Richard Blumenthal found was an illegal “heating surcharge”. I asked for the alarm system to be moved and got no response. I did talk to Intertown about moving to another apartment, but I realized that would not be a wise move financially given my lack of leverage. So now it appears I’m in a situation where I’m being forced out of my apartment. I get repeated assurances that the problem is fixed and it re-occurs.

 

The thug employee will certainly want to give a rebuttal with photos of my less than tidy apartment. What he won’t do is show photos of roach and rat infested apartments Intertown owns in low-income communities of color: I lived in one of those apartments on Evergreen Avenue in 1998. Roaches filled the kitchen cabinets. I had to keep bread and other items wrapped in plastic bags. When I complained to Intertown they would do a perfunctory spray and keep it moving. Ceilings, such as the bathroom ceiling in my apartment, leaked. Neighbors complained to me about rude responses to maintenance requests and outrageous charges. I’m a slob but I don’t rob. I’d like to know if the thug white employee is upset about the conditions he sees in Intertown apartments occupied by poor Black and Brown people, or just mine. Current/former Intertown tenants have posted pics of apartment conditions in Yelp, along with scathing reviews.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/intertown-realty-company-hartford

 

I’ve been open about my struggle with depression and anxiety. This employee has attempted to bully me while I struggled in a depressive state.

Something is happening. The attitude of the thug worker was a dead giveaway, a guy who I didn’t even know saying I should go buy earplugs. Even if he thinks I’m a slob tenant living in a “shithole” apartment, he shouldn’t think that I’m unreasonable for wanting this problem fixed. No one with Intertown, from owner Jeffrey Reiner to this thug, would accept living with that level of noise. I thought about Intertown’s reaction. Intertown said he didn’t speak for them but they didn’t say “and we disciplined him”. Intertown said all of the right things but it didn’t ring true. Really the alarm system should be moved from my wall. That’s the problem, it’s as if the system is sitting in the middle of my apartment. When I sent that email last week I got no response.

Tenants need legislation that empowers them. H.B. 5126 is a strong first step.

Clarification

The two previous pieces are my opinions. The property manager for Intertown was cooperative. The second post should have included the incident with the worker I described in the first. The employee criticized my upkeep of my apartment. I was not trying to be a nuisance. I was simply trying to find out why the alarm problem persisted. The worker was hostile and threatening toward me. The alarm problem was serious and I could not think or sleep when it went off. I simply wanted it to stop. I do not think I was wrong for that.

Retaliatory Intertown Employee Underscores Need for Tenant Rights Legislation

This column appears in the May 28 – June 3 edition of the Hartford News.

 

An Intertown Realty employee threatened a noisy environment: “Buy your earplugs.” While the property manager Steve Guinan was cooperative, the employee behaved like a thug. I talked to House Majority Leader Matt Ritter, about the urgent need in 2021 for us to resurrect our tenant rights legislation that was derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

For the past week, the fire alarm system located directly on the back wall of my apartment has been going off, emitting high pitched beeps that are pumped directly into my apartment. What I thought was just the system accidently tripping now appears to be something else. Yesterday an Intertown Realty maintenance worker who supposedly came to fix the system berated me, telling me that if I don’t like it I should buy earplugs. I organized a tenants union in the past. I asked for the system to be moved and got no response. I did talk to them about moving to another apartment, but I realized that would not be a wise move financially given my lack of leverage. So now it appears I’m in a situation where I’m being forced out of my apartment. I get repeated assurances that the problem is fixed and it re-occurs.

 

 

 

Tenant rights activists in New York attained a historic victory last June, with the passage of the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 and Statewide Housing Security Protection Act of 2019.  This sweeping legislation is the template for reform in Connecticut and nationwide.

 

The New York State Senate website provided a summary of the new laws.

Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019

Information Provided by Legal Services of the Hudson Valley

 

New Rights for Tenants

– Landlords cannot reject tenants because they had been in a court case with a prior landlord. The courts cannot sell eviction court data. Records of evictions that were the result of a foreclosure are sealed.
– Landlords must give tenants the opportunity for a walk-through before they move in and before they move out, and return the security deposit within fourteen days with an itemized list of any deductions.
– Landlords cannot evict or otherwise penalize tenants who complain about conditions.
– Landlords must give receipts (on request for personal checks) within specific time frames and notice by certified mail when rent is not received.
– Landlords cannot charge late fees until rent is five days late and the late fee cannot be more than $50 or 5% of the monthly rent, whichever is less.
– A landlord must make reasonable efforts to re-rent an apartment before they can charge a former tenant who left before the end of the lease for the rent for the rest of the lease.
– Starting in October 2019, landlords must give 30, 60, or 90 days’ notice of lease termination or a rent increase of 5% or more, depending on how long the tenant has lived there.
– “Self-help” eviction is a crime.
– – – – –

 

New Rights in Eviction Court

–

Rent demands must be in writing and served fourteen days before the landlord can start a court case for non-payment.
– Court papers have to be served at least 10 days before the court date.
– The landlord cannot get any non-rent charges in a non-payment proceeding.
– A non-payment proceeding stops if a tenant pays all the rent before the first court date.
– Tenants who raise defenses have a right to a fourteen-day adjournment before trial.
– A warrant of eviction must be served at least fourteen days before the tenant can be evicted.
– A tenant in a non-payment proceeding can pay all the rent due before the eviction and end the proceeding.
– If a court finds that a tenant breached their lease, the court must give the tenant thirty days to correct the problem.
– Under certain circumstances, the court can give a tenant up to a year to relocate as long as the tenant stays up to date with rent.

 

34% of Hartford area residents are renters. Sweeping changes are needed to protect tenants such as the Barbour Gardens residents in the North End, who courageously spoke up about their living conditions in 2019. The current laws allow landlords to bully tenants with impunity. This is a race and class issue, as wealthy, predominantly white landlords enjoy a lopsided power dynamic against poor and working class renters, who are mostly people of color. The seismic policy shift that occurred in New York should be replicated in Hartford, New Haven, Bridgeport and the rest of the state.

 

 

Raised H.B. No. 5126
Session Year 2020

AN ACT CONCERNING INSPECTIONS OF RENTAL PROPERTY PRIOR TO OCCUPANCY OR TERMINATION, LATE RENTAL PAYMENTS AND DESIGNATION OF A RENTAL HOUSING OMBUDSMAN.

https://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/cgabillstatus/cgabillstatus.asp?selBillType=Bill&which_year=2020&bill_num=5126&fbclid=IwAR2I75pAvGVaiJ5s2uj0Bhm_qbLarR3r56G6uL72SYWoaeOXQeqDPrhoiE0

 

Tenants need legislation that empowers them.  H.B. 5126 is a strong first step.

 

COVID-19: AFSCME Action Alert / Howie Hawkins Relief Plan

by David Samuels

This column appears in the April 30 – May 6 edition of the Hartford News.
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Community Party Media

Check out our No Sellout blog for info on our Community Party Media lineup, including False Choice: the Bipartisan Attack on the Working Class, the Poor and Communities of Color.

Community Party Media

Community Party Media Podcasts

Visit No Sellout to listen to podcasts of past shows.

https://hendu39.wordpress.com/2016/04/08/podcast-community-party-radio-on-so-metro-ra

 

 

There are people with mental health issues such as health care workers, who still have to report to work. They’re caring for COVID-19 patients while not being provided with the proper protective gear. Some people don’t believe that mental illness is as real as physical illness. Oh well. I’m speaking to those who understand the seriousness of mental health issues like depression, anxiety and bi-polar disorder. Call or text if you feel overwhelmed.  24/7/365. Call 1-800-985-5990 or text TalkWithUs to 66746 to be connected to a trained, caring counselor.

 

AFSCME ACTION ALERT 

Courageous essential workers are serving their communities and keeping our state running during this public health emergency, often without adequate protective equipment and jeopardizing their own health in the process. With hundreds of corrections officers, doctors, nurses, police, fire fighters, grocery store workers, public transit workers, and other essential workers already having been exposed and potentially infected with the novel coronavirus, Gov. Lamont must order a workers’ compensation presumption so these critical workers can receive important healthcare and wage replacement benefits through the workers’ compensation system.
By issuing an executive order, Governor Lamont could create an irrebuttable presumption that the worker contracted the illness on the job. This would allow workers’ compensation claims to be processed in a timely manner and prevent these essential employees from having to go through a protracted appeals process with employers and/or insurance companies who will undoubtedly challenge their claims.
Since Gov. Lamont’s “Stay Home, Stay Safe” executive order (7H) and adherence to social distancing, these essential workers have no other exposure to COVID-19 except on the job. Creating a presumption will streamline their access to vital benefits.

Use the link to write to Governor Lamont and urge him to establish a Workers’ Compensation Presumption and streamline essential workers’ access to vital benefits. https://actionnetwork.org/groups/connecticut-afl-cio

 

 

Tell Congress: Fund the Front Lines NOW

Right now, front-line public service workers – health care workers, corrections officers, custodians and other public service workers – are putting their lives at risk to fight this pandemic. But if Congress doesn’t pass state and local aid, these public service workers could be thanked with a pink slip.
Tell Congress to do its part to fund the front lines and pass state and local aid for public services. Front-line public service workers are critical to fighting this pandemic and re-opening our economy. America can do neither if we lay them off.
Send a letter to your representatives and senators to demand that they fund the front lines so that we can fight the pandemic and re-open our economy. Public service workers are doing their part. Members of Congress need to do theirs.

 

Click here for the petition:

https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-congress-fund-the-front-lines-now

 

Green Party presidential candidate Howie Hawkins has released his COVID-19 response plan.

 

 

 

The coronavirus depression is fast becoming as deep as the Great Depression. The federal government’s response has been too little, too late.
We need:
– Universal Testing and Treatment paid for by Medicare
– $2000/month for every adult, $500 for every child through the end of the crisis
– Moratorium on Evictions, Foreclosures, and Utility Shutoffs
– Cancel Rent, Mortgage, and Utility Payments
– Business loans forgiven for those businesses that maintain payroll.
– Suspend Student Loan Payments
– Federal Universal Rent Control
– Aid to state and local governments
– Universal Mail-in Ballots for the 2020 General Election
The wotking-class needs a real corona virus bailout!

More info: https://howiehawkins.us/the-5th-coronavirus-relief-package…/

Covid-19 Mental Health Resources/Howie Hawkins Responds to the Pandemic

This column appears in the April 16 – 22 edition of the Hartford News.
‘

 

Community Party Media

Check out our No Sellout blog for info on our Community Party Media lineup, including False Choice: the Bipartisan Attack on the Working Class, the Poor and Communities of Color.

Community Party Media

 

Community Party Media Podcasts

Visit No Sellout to listen to podcasts of past shows.

https://hendu39.wordpress.com/2016/04/08/podcast-community-party-radio-on-so-metro-ra

 

Folks have been hitting me up in Facebook Messenger because I stopped posting on FB, and have not written a Hartford News column recently.  Just to update you I have been talking with my psychologist Dr. Mark Lucyk, primary care physician Kofi Atta-Mensah and the Disaster Distress Helpline for the past few weeks. If you’re an individual who feels emotionally overwhelmed by the Covid-19 pandemic, you can contact Dr. Lucyk at 860-561-2400 cell: 860-841-7646. Dr. Atta Mensah provides excellent care to the underserved Black community. His number is 860-714-2992.

 

The helpline counselor provided me with a list of coping skills, which includes disconnecting from social media if I feel overwhelmed (I did) and suspending involvement in activities, which of course for me is activism.

 

I’m still on paid leave from Connecticut Valley Hospital because of the Covid-19 outbreak there in March (10 patients, 2 employees). I didn’t have to self-isolate. I’m currently sheltering in place at home. I’m sorry for dropping out abruptly but I was in crisis mode, due to my underlying mental health issues (depression/anxiety). I had to be selfish and take care of me.

 

I’m not out of the woods yet. Living day to day. Fortunately I have a good support structure. Stay safe.  I’m glad to see that Democratic sheepdog Bernie Sanders is history, and Sanders supporters are joining Green Party presidential candidate Howie Hawkins’ campaign.   Howie’s critique of the Trump administration’s inept response to Covid-19, and presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s corporatist health care policies is insightful.  Neither Trump nor Biden support Medicare for All. Howie supports a National Health Service, which would take single-payer even further. Learn more about Howie’s campaign at https://howiehawkins.us/

 

 

WDIV channel 4 in Detroit reported on the Disaster Distress Helpline.

Disaster Distress Helpline provides immediate crisis counseling to people impacted by coronavirus pandemic

Helpline staff provides free and confidential counseling

DETROIT – The coronavirus outbreak can be overwhelming and impact emotional health.

Those in need of help can contact the Disaster Distress Helpline for immediate counseling to cope with the mental or emotional impact caused by the pandemic.
The Helpline is available 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week and free. It was created to help people who need crisis counseling and support in dealing with the traumatic effects of a natural or human-caused disaster.
Disaster Distress Helpline provides immediate crisis counseling to people impacted by coronavirus pandemic

Helpline staff provides free and confidential counseling

Call the Disaster Distress Helpline at 1-800-985-5990.

 

The Helpline is sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Helpline specialists are trained to assist callers who have a range of symptoms.

 

The Helpline immediately connects callers to trained and caring professionals from the closest crisis counseling centers in the nationwide network of centers.
“People who have been through a traumatic event can experience anxiety, worry or insomnia,” said Dr. Elinore F. McCance-Katz, MD, PhD, who is the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use and who is the head of SAMHSA.
HOW TO ACCESS THE HOTLINE:

You can access the hotline by calling 800-985-5990 or texting TalkWithUs to 66746. The Helpline staff will provide confidential counseling, referrals and other needed support services.

More on the Helpline is at http://disasterdistress.samhsa.gov/.

 

Howie Hawkins COVID-19 Plan/Cuban Viral Drug Being Used in China

by David Samuels

 

This column appears in the March 19 – 25 edition of the Hartford News.
‘

Community Party Media

Check out our No Sellout blog for info on our Community Party Media lineup, including False Choice: the Bipartisan Attack on the Working Class, the Poor and Communities of Color.

Community Party Media

Community Party Media Podcasts

Visit No Sellout to listen to podcasts of past shows.

https://hendu39.wordpress.com/2016/04/08/podcast-community-party-radio-on-so-metro-ra

 

 

Justice for AJ: A Community Conversation on Black Community Control of the Police

Coming March 26: A Community Party Radio on So-Metro Radio special. Justice for AJ: A Conversation on Black Community Control of the Police. Guest contributor Kimberly Phillips will join us as we commemorate the birthday of her son AJ, who was murdered by San Jose police officers in 2015. Green Party presidential candidate Howie Hawkins will talk about his policy paper on Black community control of the police. 8:00 pm Eastern Time 7:00 pm Central 5:00 pm Pacific. http://sometroradio.com/

 

Green Party presidential candidate Howie Hawkins recently released a statement on COVID 19, that includes a policy plan.

 

A Crash Program to Fight the Coronavirus

One of the keys to stopping an epidemic is early detection. The US does not have nearly enough test kits. They must be imported, with South Korea now being the largest producer. The US must invest in getting tests to doctors so the coronavirus can be identified and tracked and effective public health and preventive measures taken.
Even if the tests were available, the cost to patients is a huge barrier. The barriers to healthcare created by for-profit, insurance-based health in the US means that many people will not go to a doctor when they have symptoms that could be the coronavirus or could be some other illness. It costs people with decent insurance often $1,000 for the test. Cost barriers include deductibles, which could be as high as $5,000 for low-cost insurance and are typically $4,000 for Affordable Care Act insurance. This kind of under-insurance affects 41 million adults. Another 28 million have no health insurance. These 70 million uninsured and under-insured people account for over a third of the adult population of the US.

 

Within our current for-profit health system, the federal government needs to take immediate action, including a crash program to provide healthcare providers and the public with protective gear, respirators, and other equipment and care that facilities need. States and federal community health centers should be funded so that people with symptoms of the virus or who have been exposed to the virus can be tested without charge. It is an emergency; people need to have immediate access to healthcare without any financial barriers.

 

Paid Sick Leave for Those Infected with the Coronavirus

Another area of failed policy on display by this coming epidemic is sick leave for workers. To stop the spread of the virus, people who have symptoms need to stay home from work so they do not infect their coworkers or people they come in contact with at work or while they commute to work.

 

Right now, the federal government needs to create an emergency fund for paid sick time. This will allow people exposed to the virus to stay home from work and not make others ill. It will also allow people who are ill with the coronavirus to stay home to recover.
I support paid sick leave for workers consistent with standards of other industrialized countries. Employment policies that provide for sick leave would make a tremendous difference in stopping the spread of the virus. The Center for Economic and Policy Research studied 22 developed countries. All countries offer at least nine sick days with full pay except the US, which does not require any paid sick time for workers. Research shows that flu rates fell by about 40 percent in US cities that mandated sick pay.

Read Howie’s full statement and policy plan here.

Coronavirus Crisis Demands Immediate Crash Program and Long-Term Structural Reform of US Healthcare System

 

How Cuba’s antiviral medicine is helping China

By a guest author posted on March 4, 2020

By Rosa Miriam Elizalde

Reprinted from La Jornada, translation by Resumen Latinoamericano, North America bureau.

Cuba’s antiviral Recombinant Interferon Alpha 2B (IFNrec) is among the medicines chosen by China to treat the coronavirus, the disease that has already caused at least 1,800 deaths in that country. To date, there is still no specific vaccine.
Interestingly, Interferon has been in Cuba for 39 years; the country began the development of this protein with antiviral properties at the same time that the biotechnology industry was being invented in 1981.

Read the full article on the Worker’s World website.

How Cuba’s antiviral medicine is helping China

Flashback: Rep. Bruce Morris Urges Police to Support Community Party Racial Profiling Bill

by David Samuels

No Community Party Hartford News column this week, due to the St. Patrick’s Day Parade edition of the newspaper. This week we’ll share the Connecticut Network video of the March 20, 2015 Connecticut General Assembly Judiciary Committee public hearing. The Community Party’s amendment, which calls for patrol officers to give out a traffic stop receipt to motorists, regardless of whether or not they write a ticket, was one of the bills that was debated during the hearing. The receipt was passed by the legislature in 2012 but was repealed in 2013 before going into effect, due to political pressure by the police. Committee member Rep. Bruce Morris revealed that he had recently been racially profiled. Morris urged the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association, who opposed our amendment, to support the bill. This resulted in an at times heated exchange between urban lawmakers, and the police. Morris makes his comments at about the 4 hour, 30 minute mark of the video. Mary Sanders, who drafted CP’s Trayvon Martin Act bill language, which includes the receipt provision, testifies at approximately 8 hours, 24 minutes. The CT Democrats have blocked the bill.

http://www.ctn.state.ct.us/ctnplayer.asp?odID=11330

 

 

Resources

 

Justice for Chulo: CT Democrats & The Illusion of Change

Justice for Chulo: CT Democrats & The Illusion of Change

 

Community Party Police Reform & Economic Justice Plan (includes Trayvon Martin Act bill language)

 

Community Party Police Reform & Economic Justice Plan

Justice For Ben Rosado: CVH Whiting Racists Must Be Held Accountable

by David Samuels
‘

 

Community Party Media

Check out our No Sellout blog for info on our Community Party Media lineup, including False Choice: the Bipartisan Attack on the Working Class, the Poor and Communities of Color.

Community Party Media

Community Party Radio Podcasts

Visit No Sellout to listen to podcasts of past shows.

https://hendu39.wordpress.com/2016/04/08/podcast-community-party-radio-on-so-metro-ra

 

 

The Whiting Forensic Connecticut Valley Hospital task force has received numerous reports of racism and workplace bullying from CVH Whiting employees. I reported a racially motivated bullying incident. Task force co-chair Mike Lawlor recently refused whistleblower Caroline Howard’s request to speak in front of the task force; I informed Sen. Heather Somers about this.

 

Independent oversight of CVH Whiting in the form of an Office of Inspector General is essential. The task force scheduled a public hearing for 2020. We requested that employees be allowed to testify anonymously. A source told me that the hearing will take place at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford sometime after the 2020 legislative session ends May 6th. Sen. Somers asks CVH Whiting employees who have complaints about workplace bullying to email her at heatherssomers@gmail.com. Your identity will be protected.

 

We have a window of opportunity to change things because Whiting whistleblower Ben Rosado had the courage to speak up. CVH Whiting killed him for it. Management, racist employees and all workplace bullies on the CVH Whiting campus have Rosado’s blood on their hands. The best way to honor Rosado’s memory is to fight for radical policy changes at CVH Whiting.

 

 

 

 

My barber recently told me about his experience growing up in the Jim Crow south. One of his family members was lynched. He told me that white racists would have come to lynch me first, because I speak out about racism. It wasn’t a put-down. This was the grim reality that he faced, every day. They would have had to come for me, because I refuse to be a bootlicker like some of my Black CVH co-workers. Cowardice won’t make me cozy up to white bigots that I work with.

 

 

A house negro at my job recently tried to bully me but this same person was texting me a few months ago, because she was so terrified of being alone with one of the bigots. She’s now performing like a trained seal for her oppressors, acting like she’s best friends with the same racist who had her cowering in fear. This bootlicker has beef with me because I told her to grow a spine, and go on the record with her complaints. Crying to me every day wasn’t going to change anything.

 

 

February 29th I sent an email to my supervisor at CVH. I documented what I believe is a structured effort by employees to manufacture an incident in an attempt to discredit me, due to my grassroots political organizing against racism and workplace bullying at CVH Whiting. I explained my refusal to socialize with white co-workers who undermined my Black supervisor, who left CVH after just seven months in 2019. I forwarded my email to Sen. Somers and the task force.

 

 

I don’t think that Black people have any obligation to make racists feel comfortable. I watched these clerks run off the best supervisor that we ever had, because she is Black. Management helped them to do this. These clerks were rewarded for their racist behavior. That’s wrong. You reap what you sow. The ringleader of the white clerks, who openly defied and insulted our Black supervisor, is huffing and puffing because I won’t play nice and socialize with people who have engaged in unrepentant racist, bullying behavior for ten years. Sorry, I won’t run into your arms now that you’re pretending to modify your behavior, coincidentally as the task force is meeting every month and will make policy recommendations to legislators at the end of 2020. Myself and other Blacks who are speaking out won’t conform so you all can return to racism as usual.

Bernie Sanders is a Democratic Sheepdog

by David Samuels

This column appears in the February 27 — March 4 edition of the Hartford News.

 

 

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Community Party Media

Check out our No Sellout blog for info on our Community Party Media lineup, including False Choice: the Bipartisan Attack on the Working Class, the Poor and Communities of Color.

Community Party Media

 

 

 

Community Party Radio Podcasts

Visit No Sellout to listen to podcasts of past shows.

https://hendu39.wordpress.com/2016/04/08/podcast-community-party-radio-on-so-metro-ra

 

 

 

 

It’s disappointing but not surprising to see ‘woke’ tokens of color campaigning for #BernieSanders2020. They use radical sounding language to stir up our people, but then redirect that energy back into the two-party imperialist machine. Don’t be fooled by these charlatans.” – Tweet by ANTICONQUISTA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bernie Sanders and the other Democratic presidential candidates spent the entire February 19 Nevada primary debate calling Mike Bloomberg a stopping and frisking, racist, sexist, corrupt, billionaire scumbag. They will fully support Bloomberg if he wins the nomination.

 

Every candidate on that debate stage props up the police state. Stop and frisk is a political football that they’re tossing around.  Bloomberg is not alone. Joe Biden wrote Bill Clinton’s racist 1994 crime bill. None of the candidates, including Saint Bernie, have done anything on a policy level to address police repression of Black people. Green Party presidential candidate Howie Hawkins is the only candidate who supports Black community control of the police.

 

Tune in March 26 to our Community Party Radio on So-Metro Radio Justice for AJ podcast. Guest contributor Kimberly Phillips’ son AJ was murdered by San Jose police officers in 2015. March 26 is his birthday. Howie will discuss his 8,000 word policy paper on Black community control of the police. 8:00 pm Eastern Time 7:00 pm Central 5:00 pm Pacific on http://sometroradio.com/

 

 

How fitting that after the Democrats spent four years screaming about getting rid of Trump, the party’s 2020 nominee may be Bloomberg, a racist, misogynist, corrupt New York billionaire. Sanders did nothing after Hillary Clinton stole the 2016 primary from him. In fact, he endorsed this racist, neoliberal warmonger. Sanders has promised to support the 2020 Democratic nominee, despite the fact that the corporate wing of the party is again doing everything they can to sabotage his candidacy.

 

 

Hillary has been smearing Sanders for weeks. She attacked Sanders’ tenure as a senator, saying, “nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him, he got nothing done.” She then said that Sanders did nothing to unite the Democrats after he lost the 2016 primary. Barack Obama is reportedly ready to denounce Sanders, if he appears to have the nomination sewn up.

 

 

Hood Communist blogger Ready for a Revolution dismantled the mythology around Sanders. “Similar to what occurred with FDR and the New Deal coalition during the 1930s, the likes of Bernie Sanders, Ilhan Omar, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are attempting to inaugurate a renewed movement of ‘progressive’ Democrats. While this is championed by many as something worthy of celebration—as ‘progress,’ what we are seeing in real-time is the liberalization and hollowing out of terms like ‘abolition,’ ‘resistance,’ and ‘revolution,’ amongst others. What this amounts to is a deliberate means of (mis)appropriating and ultimately watering down radical language and movements. Sanders et al, have mastered this sleight of hand in a way not seen in decades. Lamentably, this has successfully fooled many Americans into thinking he, and others, are in fact, radicals and/or socialists.

 

 

“‘Progressive’ politicians wield words, slogans, and even ideologies, widely associated with the radical tradition—especially the Black radical tradition, when in actuality all they want is what has already been achieved by most wealthy ‘developed’ countries; a gentleman’s reformation of the inherently oppressive institutions that they claim to be against. Given that, exactly how radical can what they are proposing be? Even the new wing of Democratic Party progressives’ advocation of the Green New Deal legislation that aims to ‘address climate change’ was stolen from the Green Party and stripped of its anti-imperialist and anti-militarization elements.”  Read the full column here.

The Miseducation of the US Left: Bernie Sanders, Social Democracy, and Left Chauvinism

 

Howie is the only presidential candidate who has a campaign platform based on race-conscious policies. Visit his website. https://howiehawkins.us/

 

 

Justice for AJ: A Conversation on Black Community Control of The Police

Coming March 26: A Community Party Radio on So-Metro Radio special. Justice for AJ: A Conversation on Black Community Control of The Police. Guest contributor Kimberly Phillips will join us as we commemorate the birthday of her son AJ, who was murdered by San Jose police officers in 2015. Green Party presidential candidate Howie Hawkins will talk about his policy paper on Black community control of the police. 8:00 pm Eastern Time 7:00 pm Central 5:00 pm Pacific.    http://sometroradio.com/

 

 

Resources

 

Community Control of the Police: An Idea Whose Time Came and Never Left

Community Control of the Police: An Idea Whose Time Came and Never Left

 

 

RACE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE: AN URBAN POLICY DISCUSSION WITH HOWIE HAWKINS

Podcast: Race for the White House: An Urban Policy Discussion with Howie Hawkins

 

 

A POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY DISCUSSION WITH HOWIE HAWKINS

11/6/19: A Police Accountability Discussion with Howie Hawkins

 

 

A National Movement For Black Community Control of The Police

https://blackagendareport.com/national-movement-community-control-police