Black Businesses Matter

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I pride myself on being fairly well informed.  I feel good that I can intelligently discuss current events, and often fantasize about having tête-à-têtes with the likes of Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow, or Ron Wyden.  Thus, I was taken aback when I received an email message from a reader, identifying themselves only as "Virgy."  The reader wanted to know why I hadn’t done more to shine a light on the plight of black-owned businesses during the era of the pandemic. 

|Subject: Oakland business destroyed during George Floyd riots |
| Date: 05/29/2020 | Photographer: Daniel Arauz |
| This image is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 |

Being a middle-aged suburban white man, I'd assumed Covid-19 had brought disaster to small businesses across the board.  However, I wasn't taking a few factors into account. 

Descended from slaves unpaid for their work, black families haven't been able to inherit wealth and property from generation to generation, creating an income disparity between white & black households. From 1992 to 2006 the income disparity between white & black households grew from $100,000 to $154,000.  On average, this statistic leaves black owners of small businesses less of a post pandemic safety net.

Of course, the pandemic didn't happen inside of a vacuum.  2020 saw multiple Black Lives Matter protests erupt into destructive riots, many of which occurred in justifiably enraged black neighborhoods.  Said uprisings resulted in heavily damaging, if not outright destroying, multiple already struggling black-owned businesses.

Covid-19 and the riots have hurt most of us to one degree or another.  Thus, it's easy for some of us to forget that some people have been hit worse than we were.  If you're like me, you can only donate to so many good causes and still buy groceries.   Fortunately, Virgy sent me a link to a blog entry with links to 181 Black-Owned Businesses.  Rather than donating to charity, utilizing some of these businesses may allow you to make a difference by spending money you were going to spend anyway. 

Good Cop Bad Cop

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• On May 25, 2020, Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis police officer, knelt on George Floyd's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds; 2 minutes and 53 seconds of which occurred after Floyd became unresponsive with no pulse.
• On June 12, 2020, Rayshard Brooks was fatally shot by police after stealing a taser from an officer while resisting arrest.
• Last August, Elijah McClain was fatally shot by police on his way home from a convenience store while wearing a ski mask. 

| Subject - "Thin blue line," pro-police flag representing the police standing between order & chaos |

These, and other avoidably tragic events lead to a series of protests calling for the police to be "defunded," as if such a thing could be accomplished with the stroke of a pen, without compromising public safety.  That was eight weeks ago.  Portlanders are still protesting. 

In response to these extended protests, President Trump has mobilized a federal paramilitary task force to subdue protesters.  Utilizing tear gas, pepper spray, abduction, and other Gestapo-esc tactics the agents have only succeeded in increasing the level of violence during the protests. 

Uuugh..., where do I begin? 

OK, first of all, POLICE ARE NOT THE BAD GUYS!  Yes, the actions of, apparently, racist officers have resulted in the wrongful deaths of American citizens.  Yet, defunding law enforcement, reducing their ability to respond to legitimate emergencies, will do nothing to discourage the presence of racism within law enforcement.  Sadly, there will always be racist law enforcement officers just a there will always be racist soldiers, lawyers, grocers, doctors, fire fighters, etc...

Racism isn't a law enforcement problem, it's a societal problem.  I believe a minority of Americans are racists, but said minority permeates all walks of life. 

At this point I must confess to a bit of bias on my part.  During the late 90s and early 2000s I did volunteer work for the Sheriff's Department of Washington County in Oregon.  I was, admittedly pro-police when I started, and my time only made me more pro-police. 

Every officer I got to know struck me as someone who wanted to help people and make their community a better place.  

Are there outliers who want to wear a badge so they can bash ni##&%$?  Of course there are.  And when these idiots let their machismo call the shots, and they hurt, or worse yet kill, a citizen of color, are their crimes too often swept under the rug?  No question. 

Yet, the answer isn't to vilify the police as a whole.  The answer lies in giving personality tests to cadets to weed out possible racists before they're given a badge.  It also makes sense to create an independent civilian agency which  can investigate crimes committed by police and hold bad actors accountable. 

As for the Portland protests themselves, at this point they have nothing to do with George Floyd.  Protesters are determined not to back down from federal soldiers, and the paramilitary agents aren't going to capitulate to ultra liberal trouble makers.  The situation has devolved into a game of, "Who's Man Part Is Bigger."

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I was in the middle of writing this piece when Oregon's Governor, Kate Brown, negotiated a withdrawal of Federal troops from Portland in exchange for a promise to deploy state police to protect the Mark Hatfield Federal Courthouse. 

On a personal level, I was a tiny bit annoyed by the news of the agreed upon withdrawal since it meant I had to rewrite the end of this blog.  My blogging schedule aside though, the agreement may be a sign that tensions are on the verge of easing. 

I have no idea if the agreement will be honored, or for how long the protests will last.  If the protesters are waiting for police to be defunded before calling an end to their activities, I fear the protests will drag on for a while. 

America Is On Fire

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On May 25, 2020, Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis police officer, knelt on George Floyd's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds; 2 minutes and 53 seconds of which occurred after Floyd became unresponsive with no pulse.  As seen on videos, taken from multiple angles,  Floyd was handcuffed and lying face down on the road, while Chauvin had his knee on his neck. The three other arresting officers have been identified as Thomas K. Lane, Tou Thao, and J. Alexander Kueng.  Officer Kueng held Floyd’s back while Lane held his legs, and Thao stood nearby and looked on.  The four officers were fired the next day, but charges were only brought against Chauvin on the 29th.

 

| A man stands on a burned out car on Thursday morning as fires burn behind him
in the Lake St area of Minneapolis, Minnesota. | Date: 05/28/2020 | Photographer: Lori Shaull
| This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. |

When charges weren't immediately brought against the officers, a series of protests morphed into a series of fiery riots.  I kind of vagueness understood when rioters burned the 3rd police precinct, in Minneapolis, as a symbol of police brutality.  I didn't like it, but I got it. 

The destruction didn't stop there though. The past few nights have seen property burned, looted, and destroyed in multiple cities across the United States of America.

It's been horrific.  Small businesses, already struggling because of the Corona crisis, have been mercilessly obliterated.  Millions of people have been subjected to curfews and martial law.  Countless lives have been thrown into chaos.  And lets not forget, people aren't staying six feet apart with masks on during these demonstrations. 

It's the year 2020, and African Americans are still being killed by law enforcement personnel whom aren't being held accountable for the murderers they've committed. Eric Garner, Terry Price, and Tyree Crawford are among the multitude of unarmed African Americans who've been slain by law enforcement since 2015.

It's hard to condemn people for fighting back against a system which has failed them so completely.  Yet, they're not attacking "the system," as much as they're destroying their own communities.  Burning cars and businesses does nothing but create unwarranted hardship for people who depend upon those cars and businesses for their livelihood.  

Before you say, "They're sticking it to the fat cats."  The "fat cats" who own the Target store are going to be able to absorb the loss a hell of a lot easier than the employees of the Target store who depend on those jobs to feed their families.

Do you want to know the real bitch of it?  Do you want to know the part that makes this story so monumentally stupid?  This farce ends shortly after the other three officers are brought up on, appropriate, charges.  The Minneapolis prosecutor says he needs more evidence to indict.  Yet, he has the murder on video from multiple angles.  African American singer Archie Williams spent 36 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit based on less evidence. 

This debacle isn't about evidence, it's about skin color. 

These are three organizations supporting meaningful change:

Black Lives Matter

American Civil Liberties Union

Campaign Zero

It Was A Time When Strangers Were Welcome Here

I wasn't going to write a blog today.  In fact, I was preparing to kick back and catch up on the adventurers of Ray Donovan, when I heard a song on the radio.  I’ve never heard it before, but I found myself shouting, “Yes, yes, yes!”  It’s what I’ve been trying to say since Trump started to close the borders.

Rather than droning on about it, I thought I'd simply post the lyrics, play the song, and let y'all soak it in for yourselves.  Keep in mind, this song, "The Immigrant," was sung by Neil Sedaka in 1974, decades before Donald Trump took office.  It just happens to be remarkably applicable now.
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The Immigrant sung by Neil Sedaka
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Harbors open their doors to the young searching foreigner
Come to live in the light of the big L of liberty
Plains and open skies, bill boards would advertise
Was it anything like that when you arrived?
Dream boats carried the future to the heart of America
People were waiting in line for a place by the river

It was a time when strangers were welcome here
Music would play
They tell me the days were sweet and clear
It was a sweeter tune, and there was so much room
That people could come from everywhere

Now he arrives with hopes, and his heart set on miracles
Come to marry his fortune with a hand full of promises
To find they've closed the door, they don't want him anymore
There isn't any more to go around
Turning away, he remembers he once heard a legend
That spoke of a mystical, magical land called America

It was a time when strangers were welcome here
Music would play
They tell me the days were sweet and clear
It was a sweeter tune, and there was so much room
That people could come from everywhere

It was a time when strangers were welcome here
Music would play
They tell me the days were sweet and clear
It was a sweeter tune, and there was so much room
That people could come from everywhere
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Source: LyricFind, Songwriters: Neil Sedaka / Phil Cody
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Trump's immigration policies center around five major areas:

*Completion of the border wall with Mexico.
*Deport immigrants who arrived in the United States as children. They are currently protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
*Restrict travel and work visas from eight countries.
*Increase screening of refugees while cutting the staff needed to do so.
*Curb legal immigration, but only from "shit hole" (dark skin commonplace) countries.

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Think about it.
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A Stain on America's Soul

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This entry will appear on my political and Christian blogs.

Publicly Traded MEME

Pundits are trying to hang America’s penchant for hate and killing on one political party or the other. Granted, having our fearless leader joke about shooting Mexicans in the panhandle in front of an eager crowd doesn't set an example of patriotic unity. Nor, does it help to have the same leader stand silent for 13 seconds as hundreds of his supporters chant, “send her back,” as if Minneapolis Representative Ilhan Omar isn’t an American citizen.

Surely, President Trump has contributed to racial tensions across the country. Many progressive thinkers have cited this fact to lay the rash of recent mass shootings at his feet.

Others blame Mitch McConnell and the NRA for preventing the passage of gun regulations.  While universal background checks would probably prevent a few people from buying guns, there's no evidence to suggest that such legislation wouldn't prevented any of the recent massacres.

By my way of thinking, the problem lies with us.  Say what you will about the powers that be, they're only personifications of an America which doesn't value life.  Yes, the president created the zero tolerance policy for our southern border, but it was ICE officers who detained am American teenager for three weeks for the color of his skin.  Trump may have been at the podium, but it was hundreds of “normal citizens” who were chanting for a member of congress to be deported for the color of her skin.

At this point, I know what you’re thinking.  What does the behavior of ICE agents have to do with racism at political rallies and gunmen shooting innocent people at garlic festivals and entertainment districts.  They're all symptoms of the same stain on America's soul.

Put simply, we’ve become a country of people who can view certain portions of society as beings less than human.  Think about it.  People who value people don’t shout, “send her back,” simply because her skin has more pigment than theirs.  People who value people don’t separate families, trying to escape oppression, and confine them to standing-room-only pens of squalor.  People who value people don’t kill random innocents in order to relieve stress or make a point.

People who value people embrace people and accept, even celebrate, their differences.  People who value people welcome asylum seekers with food and blankets instead of guns and handcuffs.  People who value people find a mugging victim along the side the road and pay the innkeeper to see to his/her needs.

The Christchurch Question - How Culpable Is Our President?

According to MSNBC, the man who allegedly killed 50 people last week at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, described President Donald Trump as, "a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose."

Subject: President Trump at White House garden podium | Photographer: White House Photographic Office |As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.

Liberal pundits have been quick to point to this quote to lay partial blame for the tragedy at Trump’s feet. As much as I dislike Trump, I wrestled with this idea for a few days.

On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan and three others were shot and wounded by John Hinckley Jr. Hinckley had shot the president in order to impress actress Jodie Foster. My initial reaction was that it’s as unfair to blame the president for the Christchurch massacre as it would be to blame Jodie Foster for Hinckley’s actions.

Yet, upon reflection, I realized there was a flaw to my comparison. Jodie Foster made no statement, gave no indication, and wrote no essay stating she would be impressed by the assassination of President Ronald Reagan. On the other hand, President Donald Trump has made several statements condoning racist attitudes and behavior toward Muslims.

*March 9, 2016: On CNN, Trump said: “I think Islam hates us. There’s something there that — there’s a tremendous hatred there. There’s a tremendous hatred. We have to get to the bottom of it. There’s an unbelievable hatred of us.”

*Aug. 18, 2016: During a rally in North Carolina, Trump said that “all applicants for immigration will be vetted for ties to radical ideology, and we will screen out anyone who doesn't share our values and love our people.”

*Sept. 19, 2016: At a rally in Florida, Trump reacted to explosions over the weekend in New York and New Jersey and said: “There have been Islamic terrorist attacks in Minnesota and New York City and in New Jersey. These attacks and many others were made possible because of our extremely open immigration system, which fails to properly vet and screen the individuals and families coming into our country. Got to be careful.”

*Jan. 27, 2017: Within a week of becoming president, Trump signed an executive order blocking Syrian refugees and banning citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States for 90 days. This order went into effect immediately, prompting mass chaos at airports, protests and legal challenges.

There are numerous other examples of President Donald Trump making racist anti-Muslim statements (click the footnote below for a more comprehensive list). Did President Trump tell Brenton Tarrant to kill 50 Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand and film himself doing it? No, of course not.

Yet, like it or lump it, Donald Trump is a world leader. His words and deeds set a tone for people to follow. That’s what it means to be “a leader.” Yes, in the end Mr. Tarrant was 100% responsible for his actions; we all are. But, we’ll never know to what degree Trump's words may have set the stage for the brutal act.

*The Washington Post - May 06, 2017

My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys

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According to The Los Angeles Times, John Wayne said, "I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility," in 1971.  As a result, people want Orange County's John Wayne Airport to be renamed.

Photo Courtesy of Amazon's Affiliate Program.

Don't get me wrong, racism is down right ugly.  For thousands of years it has been used as an excuse for one group to oppress another group.  That being said, I'm not sure that racism is at the heart of this issue.

We all have heroes, people who are larger than life, who we look up to.  These people have done something which has inspired others on some level.  In September of 2014, I wrote a blog about meeting one of my childhood heroes, Dirk Benedict.

Mr. Benedict, played the part of two action heroes on television when I was growing up.  I was excited to meet him.  When I did meet him he turned out to be a right wing nut job.  I felt betrayed until I realized he didn't owe me anything.  He played a role on TV and made a little boy happy, and that's all he was suppose to do.

We idealize our heroes.  We assume that because they inspire us that they have no flaws.  One could argue that FDR, JFK, and Bill Clinton were three of the best presidents of the twentieth century.   Yet all three men cheated on their wives while in office.  Does this flaw mean that they should not be honored for their contributions?  Should we take their names off grade schools?

Heros are people and people have flaws.  Yes, John Wayne made a stupid racist comment.  I, for one, am glad he never ran for public office.  However, his job was not to make laws or serve as a moral compass.  His job was to make movies, and he did that.  His body of work has entertained and inspired generations of Americans.  The airport is named after the inspirational figure not the flawed man.

If we insist our heros be perfect before we honor them, we won't have any heros to look up to.

America Is Open For Business - For Now

On Friday morning, January 25th, President Trump announced that a deal had been reached to open the government until February 15th.   The deal does not include a $5.7 billion down payment on a border wall, making it the same deal the president rejected back on December 19th.

Subject: President Trump at White House garden podium | Photographer: White House Photographic Office |As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.

Whether we wanted to, or not, we have all just watched the world's longest poker hand. Nancy Pelosi held four aces, while Trump kept betting with a busted flush. Eventually he had to fold.  The question is ,why did he fold, seemingly out of the blue, when he did?

It could have something to do with the fact that  LaGuardia Airport, where Trump keeps his private jet, was mere hours away from chaos. Unpaid air traffic controllers had called in "sick" for the upcoming shift and flights were being cancelled as a result.

It is also possible that Trump was trying to take control of the news cycle. That morning the FBI raided the home of Roger Stone. Stone had been a close friend and advisor to Donald Trump for decades. The arrest may bring Mueller's investigation that much closer to Trump's doorstep. He may have been trying to distract America by announcing the end of the shutdown.

Whatever the reason one thing is clear, after 35 days of chaos Trump got nothing accomplished. He needs to give up on the idea of a wall or we will have another shut down in three weeks.

Of course, in two years whoever runs against Trump will be able to point to the 35 day debacle as proof that Donald Trump is willing to hurt Americans to further his own racist agenda. If nothing else, he has ensured that a democrat will win the White House in 2020.

Fed Officials Need To Do Their Job, So Fed Employees Can Do Theirs

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"All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills." ~ Article I: Section 7 of the U.S. Constitution.  The rest of the section spells out how a bill can be passed into law (think Schoolhouse Rock) and the recourse the legislative branch has when faced with a presidential veto.

Subject: White House (altered by James Kiester) | Date: 02/29/2008 | Photographer: Okatah |This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

We are, officially, in the middle of the longest federal shutdown in American history.  According to
MSNBC's Ali Velshi, "if the federal shutdown continues, it will likely cost more than the $5.7 billion President Trump wants for his border wall ."

Velshi has a point.  Keep in mind, it's not only 800,000 workers who are losing out right now.  When those workers would go to lunch during their work day, they were buying that lunch from a business.  That business has not been selling those lunches for four weeks now.  When the 800,000 were working they were spending money in their communities.  Now that they're having to cut back, all those businesses in that community suffer.

The ripple effect is absolutely incalculable. It won't be long before corporate America starts to feel the effects on their bottom line. When that happens, stocks are going to take a dive.  Having this many people taken out of the workforce for this long is a sure way to take a wrecking ball to our economy.

I would argue that the cost is in more than just dollars.  The American people are losing faith in their country.  When our leaders cannot work together long enough to keep the proverbial doors open it makes our country look inept around the world.

On Saturday, at 4:07pm EST, President Trump read his newest proposal to end the shutdown.  He offered a three year extension on DACA in exchange for $5.7 billion for the down payment on his border wall.  He wasn't off the air for one hot minute before Nancy Pelosi was on air rejecting the offer.

Trump made an offer that he knew Pelosi would not accept.  Pelosi did not even pretend to think it over before she said no.  Both sides are so intent on winning that there's no room for give and take.  Without a willingness to negotiate our government cannot function.

As I see it, there's only one semi-realistic way out of this mess.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell needs to allow the Senate to vote on the bills which have gone through the House.  Once the president vetoes the bill, Congress needs to override the veto and get America back to work.  However, in order for this to happen, the Republican controlled Senate needs to start acting like part of the legislative branch of government, rather than an office of the White House.  

King Trump and His Pawns

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Well, it's official.  We are in the midst of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.  It's not a record which anyone, well almost anyone, wanted to break, but here we are.  800,000 federal went without their first paycheck last Friday, even though 420,000 of those employees are still being required to report for work.

King Trump| Publicly traded MEME|

Keep in mind, this government shutdown is the result of people arguing over a proposed border wall.  The 800,000 employees who are going without pay are being used as pons in Trump's game of chess.  The wall has nothing to do with them, they are merely being held hostage until Trump gets what he wants.

Last week I floated the idea that democrats should give in to Trump's demands in order to get people back to work.

• I was concerned about federal employees not being able to buy groceries for their families.
• I was appalled at the idea families are having to return their Christmas gifts in order to pay rent.
• I was disgusted by the fact that hard working public servants are having to choose between buying food or buying medications.

Even more appalling was Trump's statement that workers would have to, "adjust their spending."  He obviously does not understand, or care about, the kind of hardships he's causing.

Taking the number of people suffering into account, I suggested that congress may as well give in.  I reasoned that even he if he got the money tomorrow, private landowners would keep the project tied up in court battles for twenty years.  However, I was corrected on my flawed logic.  Multiple readers contacted me via Facebook and politely pointed out that, if congress gives in now, President Trump will be able to hold workers hostage everytime he wants something.  Our country would become a functional dictatorship.

As badly as I feel for those who are caught in the middle, through no fault of their own, we can't give into Trump's demands for the same reason that law enforcement can not negotiate with kidnappers.  Congress must draw a line in the sand and hold firm.

I don't know how this will all end.  I hope that Senate Majority Leader McConnell will allow a bipartisan bill to be voted on by the senate.  Once both houses pass a bill I believe they can override a veto.  Short of such an override, I don't see a way out for our country.  

Don't Put A Wall In My Backyard

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In 1994 sections of fence were built along 580 miles of the 1,989 mile border separating the United States from Mexico.  During the 2016 Presidential Election, Donald Trump fired up his base of supporters by promising to build one continuous wall along the border at an estimated cost of $8 billion to $12 billion.   Yet, critics claim that the price tag is more likely to range from $15 billion to $25 billion.

Let's put the multi-billion dollar price tag aside.  I'd rather focus on what such a wall would make us look like to the rest of the world.  It would literally put us in the same category as East Germany.

For those of you who were born after the early nineties, after World War II Germany was divided into the East and West.  East Germany was part of the Communist Block and West Germany, eventually, became a member of NATO.  Because Berlin was the capital of Germany, the city was divided right down the middle.  In order to keep their own people in, and everybody else out, in 1961 East Germany built a wall, complete with armed guards.

Subject: Ronald Reagan speaking in front of the Brandenburg Gate and the Berlin Wall on June 12, 1987 | Photographer: White House Photographic Office |As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.

The wall became synonymous with oppression around the world.  On June 12, 1987, Republican president Ronald Reagan famously railed, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"  The very concept of the wall was seen as a representation of everything America was against.   On November 9th, 1989,we celebrated as a country when the wall came down.

Fast forward to 2018, and Donald Trump is threatening a government shutdown if congress won't approve the wall on the Mexican/American border.  He wants to spend billions of dollars to recreate what was once a symbol of communism.

Keep in mind, he doesn't want to embrace the good parts of communism such as, universal health care and free access to higher education.  He rejects those parts, but he glorifies dictators; such as Vladimir Putin and Muhammad bin Salman; he's parked thousands of military troops along our southern borders, and he wants to build a wall.

Of course, he's not entirely to blame.  When he ran for office he told voters he wanted to build a wall and it wasn't a deal breaker.  Think about that for a minute.   People voted for him knowing he wanted to build this thing.  He knew enough people were scared of immigrants that he would be able to play on those people's fear to get elected.  He's still doing it!

For the last month the president has been pointing to a caravan of asylum seekers to justify his plan for a wall.  He's equated desperate people fleeing from violence and oppression with an invasion force.  Trump claims the caravan is filled with members of Al Qaeda trying to invade the United States Of America.  People from South America have nothing to do with Al Qaeda.  Yet, he can get a way with such an equation, because he knows there are enough white Americans, who put lump all brown skin people in one category, to fall for it.  He knows how to use fear to manipulate the masses.

If we want a country fueled by ethics, rather than fear, its up to us to say, "ENOUGH!"  Mr. Trump forgo this wall!

Do You Hear The People Sing?

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Do you hear the people sing?
Singing the songs of angry men?
It is the music of the people
Who will not be slaves again!
~
Do you hear the people sing?" - Les Misérables

Subject: Stop Separating Immigrant Families Press Conference and Rally Chicago Illinois on June 5, 2018. | Date: 06/05/2018 | Photographer: Charles Edward Miller |This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

I know I've written about this topic a lot lately, but it's one I can't get past. The idea that we are taking children away from families who are looking for a better life appalls me. The patriot in me has wanted to curl up into the fetal position and die. I have been ashamed to be an American.

As I grew up, I was taught that Americans were the good guys. I was proud to wear the red, white, and blue. Our country was a shining beacon of hope to the world. Hell, we have the largest lawn ornament in the world outside our country's front door welcoming immigrants looking for a better life.

Over the last few months, we've slammed the door on immigrants, illegal and legal alike. That's right boys and girls, not only have we ripped away children from illegal immigrants, we've taken them from asylum seekers as well.

A federal judge ordered the government to reunite all the children under five years old with their families by July 10th. Two days before the due date, the government was forced to admit they've lost, or destroyed, the records. Officials don't know which child goes to which family or where they are. The government has suggested that giving the children to foster homes is the same as unifying them with their actual families.

These policies are just evil. No, I'm not exaggerating! When you take children away with no clear procedure to reunite them, you've made it clear you don't care about people. Not caring about people is the foundation of evil. That's what evil is. I've been hanging my head for weeks, embarrassed to be an American.

I forgot one fundamental truth. America is not the government. America is not the White House. America is not Capitol Hill. America is WE THE PEOPLE! We are America.

As I was hanging my head, Americans of good conscious were busy finding ways to combat these atrocities. On the 28th of last month, six hundred Americans allowed themselves to be arrested in Washington D.C. for protesting the actions of ICE. Here in Portland, good Americans occupied ICE headquarters effectively closing the office for over a week. In fact, tens of millions of Americans, in all fifty states, have protested the horrors taking place on our southern border.

There are even Americans of noble intent taking matters into their own hands.  Some people are coming forward to pay the bond for as many immigrants as possible. Others are organizing nine car relays to get mothers from Texas to New York to claim children who have been located.

As Patricia Okoumou climbed the Statue of Liberty in protest of government sanctioned child abuse, I was reminded of a scene from Les Misérables. "Do you hear the people sing? Singing the songs of angry men? It is the music of the people Who will not be slaves again!" These lyrics roared from the throats of the young Frenchmen as they marched through town waving flags in defiance of a corrupt regime.

Over the last few weeks, this scene has been mimicked over and over again. Good-hearted Americans are rising up against tyranny.

Nobody knows how the future will unfold. In twenty years we don't know how this moment will be remembered. Will we be known for making our voices heard loud enough that policies were changed to reflect the values of; compassion, tolerance, and justice; or will our actions be recorded as a passing fad that was abandoned when the next shiny thing came along? It's up to us.

The Paragon Of Animals?

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"What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason!
how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how
express and admirable! in action how like an angel!
in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the
world! the paragon of animals!" - Hamlet: Act 2, Scene 2

Hamlet uttered these words with contempt in his voice, meaning the opposite of what he was saying.  Yet, for most of my life I've embraced these words at face value, believing humanity is a fundamentally noble lot.  Such a viewpoint is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain these days.

Video captured by Canita Adams shows the Saraland Police Department officers arresting Chikesia Clemons at a Waffle House at 2 am on Sunday, April 22, 2018. During the arrest, Ms. Clemons top slides down exposing her breasts.

Chikesia Clemons was tackled by police at a Waffle House at 2:00 AM late last month. What was her crime? She was arrested for asking for a fork for her waffles. No kidding, that's what set events into motion.

When she asked for a fork for her waffles, she was told it would cost a $0.50 utensil fee. She asked for an address to write a letter to complain about the charge, at which point the manager called the police. The police found it necessary to wrestle Chikesia to the ground, exposing her breasts in the process. All because she wanted a fork for her waffles.

In a similar vein, Donte Robinson and Rashon Nelson are the two African-American men who were recently arrested in a Philadelphia Starbucks for just being there. They were sitting quietly waiting for their friend to come before they ordered. The manager of the Starbucks thought they were there too long and called the police, who arrested the two men for loitering.

Hell I've done that. I spent the better part of the 1990's hanging out in coffee shops. If that's a crime I should have a record a mile long. The difference is I am white.

We watch movies such as "In the Heat of the Night," "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," and "Selma" and we pat ourselves on our collective backs for having come such a long way. We tell ourselves we no longer lynch African Americans, we no longer use "the N word, " and African Americans are allowed drink from the same water fountain as the rest of us.

How far have we actually come though? Just last year the Supreme Court undid key components of the Voting Rights Act of 1966, making it harder for African Americans to vote. We have the two cases I talked about above. Can we all agree that these people were not arrested because they wanted utensils or they wanted to hang out at Starbucks?  Can we admit these people were arrested for being African-American?

We are still a nation of racists. We might not all be goose-stepping, swastika wearing, cross burning fanatics demanding that  African Americans obey us white folks, but a lot of us look away when it happens. We tell ourselves we've evolved beyond racism, then we turn our backs and eat our waffles.

Ignoring racism is as bad as actively committing racist acts. If we really want to feel good about ourselves we need to make it known that such acts are 100% unacceptable. I still believe most people are basically good but the good people among us need to take an active role in shaping the laws and attitudes of our society.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -Edmund Burke

Progress?

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For somebody, like me, who can't get to the theater every time a good movie comes out, Netflix is a wonderful thing. Last weekend I finally treated myself to Selma. The movie tells the story of Martin Luther King Jr.'s struggle to convince President Johnson to support the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Photo courtesy of Amazon's Affiliate Program.

As the closing credits rolled, I said to myself, "White officials were brutal 50 years ago.  Golly gee whiz, we've come a long way."  It's the reaction the film is designed to elicit.  Yet, the more I thought about it, the more I doubted the accuracy of my reaction.

Well, today African Americans are free to vote in the south.
Yeah, except for the fact that in 2013 the Supreme Court effectively struck down the heart of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by a 5-to-4 vote, freeing nine states, mostly in the South, to change their election laws without advance federal approval.  Not long after the ruling was handed down, Texas reenacted their Jim Crow era voter I.D. law.  Other states quickly followed suit by passing restrictive voting laws of their own.

OK, but white police are no longer brutalizing African American citizens.
Uh......,

• Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager, was fatally shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. 
• Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African American resident of Baltimore, Maryland, sustained fatal injuries from being shot multiple times by police officers.  
• In McKinney, Texas, a police officer pulled his gun on several unarmed African American teens and wrestled a bikini-clad girl to the ground.

As much as I'd like to believe society has learned from our past mistakes, I'm not sure it's true.

The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral,
begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy.
Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.
Through violence you may murder the liar,
but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth.
Through violence you may murder the hater,
but you do not murder hate.
In fact, violence merely increases hate.
So it goes.
Returning violence for violence multiplies violence,
adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness:
only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

~Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
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How PC Is Too PC?

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For a long time I’ve wrestled with the question of political correctness vs. tradition. My liberal default position says we should be willing to axe offensive and oppressive traditions from our society in order to promote justice and equality for all. Yet, a wise man once said, "Traditions, traditions. Without our traditions, our lives would be as shaky as... as... as a fiddler on the roof!" So, where do we draw the line?

Lately, in reaction to a hate motivated church shooting, an issue has arisen which has brought the question to the forefront of Americans’ minds. Certainly, traditions such a slavery and whites only lunch counters were exercises in cruelty which had to be abolished. Yet, I’m not sure it’s justifiable, or even healthy, to ban symbols of such eras.

Subject: The Second Confederate Navy Jack | This work is in the public domain in the United States, and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years or less.

Of course, the Confederate Flag doesn’t belong on government land. Racist symbol, or not, the Confederacy lost the war, and losers of wars don’t get to fly their flag over the victor’s capitol and/or official properties. That what, “losing the war,” means.

That being said, here in Oregon, legal action is being taken to ban the symbol from, privately owned, Jefferson Davis Memorial Park. I’m not comfortable banning ANY symbol from private use.

Some debate the idea that the flag is a symbol of racism, claiming it symbolizes freedom from Federal control of local issues. The distinction is meaningless to the question of private usage though. Accepting, for the sake of argument, that the flag IS an offensive symbol of oppression, freedom of expression can’t only apply to non-offensive speech.

I’m offended by gay bashers who flaunt Christian symbols and claim to be acting in Christ’s name. I’m offended by people who claim the way to be happy is to lose 50 pounds and cut this or that from our diet. I’m offended by people who want student loans to be magically forgiven, after I spent twenty years paying mine off. You know what though? As offensive as I find their ideas, they get to speak.

The desire to ban the offensive was taken to the absurd extreme in 2012 when a Portland principle tried to ban peanut butter & jelly sandwiches from elementary school lunches, for being a racist sandwich. No, that’s not a typo. Her “reasoning” was that Mexican & Middle Eastern students are unfamiliar with white bread, peanut butter, and jelly, thus the sandwich symbolizes Caucasian oppression.

If someone wants to put a Confederate Flag on their bumper, hand out swastika arm bands in Pioneer Square, or write a book recommending we eat like cave men to lose weight they get to do that. We have the right to look down on them as idiots for doing so, but we have to let them speak.

Equality doesn’t mean we all need to eat, say, and think the same things. If we want to live in a society which respects diversity, we actually have to RESPECT DIVERSITY! It’s the only way a free society can work.
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A Trend Of Violence

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Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old African American high school student, was fatally shot by George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch coordinator for the gated community where Martin was temporarily living.  Zimmerman was found not guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter.

Eric Garner died in Staten Island, New York City, after a police officer put him in a chokehold for 15 seconds.  A grand jury decided not to indict the officers involved.

Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager, was fatally shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson.  The Justice Department formally closed its investigation of Ferguson Police officer Darren Wilson, declining to bring criminal charges for the killing.

Most recently, Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African American man who was a resident of Baltimore, Maryland, sustained fatal injuries from being shot multiple times by police officers. 

OK, Zimmerman was a civilian law enforcement wannabe, rather than an actual police officer.  However, it was his lapse in judgment, and subsequent acquittal, which, seemingly inspired, this decade’s sickest new trend, officer perpetrated crime against the public.  Granted, such abuse of power isn’t a new phenomenon.  1992 will forever be remembered as the year L.A. was torn apart following the acquittal of the officers who savagely beat, taxi driver, Rodney King.

Nevertheless, there’s no denying we’re hearing about officer on civilian violence much more often than we used to.  The question is, is it happening more often, or are we simply more aware of such events?

The tech side of me suspects that the existence of camera phones and social media has given a voice to a traditionally mute portion of the populace, making it harder for officials to sweep incidents under the proverbial rug.  Thus, it’s only our awareness of such incidents which has increased.  Of course, this explanation carries with it the unsettling implication that we’ve been blissfully unaware of the degree of oppression we’ve been living under.

Another explanation would be that the police are made up of a generation which grew up on Dirty Harry, and are more gun happy as a result.  This theory strikes me as being simple minded.  Surely, adults can differentiate between fiction and reality.

Personally, I think the explanation can be found within the realm of mathematics.  In 1974 the world’s population was 4 billion people, by 2011 that number had risen to 7 billion people.  Perhaps I’m a naive suburbanite, but I believe 99.999% of police personnel are honest hard working men & women who put their lives on the line to protect the public.  I’d argue that the percentage of officers prone to making unfortunate choices may still be minute, but because the gross number of people occupying the Earth has increased, the same minute percentage of officers prone to making unfortunate choices represents a higher number.

While math can explain the higher number of negative incidents, it doesn’t address the lack of indictments and guilty verdicts resulting from those incident.  It’s true that most of us (the public at large) don’t watch every minute of such court proceedings. Thus, there may be evidentiary factors we’re not aware of.  However, when an officer puts twelve rounds into an unarmed African-American teenager, Michael Brown, and no charges are filed, the evidentiary explanation becomes suspect.

Police, necessarily, adopt a policy of mutual support.  When they enter a potentially dangerous situation, they HAVE TO KNOW that fellow officers have their back.  Such faith becomes so ingrained in them that it becomes instinctive.  While this attitude is necessary for daily survival, it can be seen as a liability when it leads to covering for one another.  Although I have no proof such an attitude has squelched the prosecution of any of these cases, I strongly suspect this mindset to be the culprit.

The recent Baltimore riots, while destructive, have motivated officials to charge the 6 police officers, involved in Freddie Gray’s death, with crimes ranging from second-degree depraved heart murder* to voluntary manslaughter.  Millions of people will be watching to see what happens next.  Good money says, if the 6 officers are found not guilty, the public’s response will make the recent riots look like a church social.

*=(second-degree depraved heart murder holds that the suspect held a reckless disregard for another person’s life.)
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The Presidential Muslim Conspiracy Theory - Really?

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 I should begin by admitting that I'm a fan of our liberal president, Barack Obama.  I support gay rights, I think giving people access to medical care is a good thing, and I'm happy to have an occupant of the Oval Office who protects programs for the poor.

That being said, I acknowledge that many people don't like the president.  That's totally fine, this is the United States of America.  If someone thinks President Obama compromises too often, or he coddles the poor at the expense of business, or he's soft on family values, they're 100% free to not like him.  Heck, if someone doesn't like a president who reads Marvel comic books, they're free to not like the president.

What makes me crazy is the statement, "Obama should be booted from office, because he's a Muslim, so he supports ISIS."  This idea is bass ackwards on so many levels it's hard to know where to begin.

Subject: President Barack Obama presents the Medal of Honor to U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta during a presentation ceremony in the East Room of the White House. | Date: 11/16/2010 | Photographer: Leroy Council |This image is a work of a U.S. Army soldier or employee, taken or made as part of that person's official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.

Believers in the presidential Muslim conspiracy theory point to pictures of President Obama publicly appearing in front of a "Muslim prayer curtain," in the East Room of the White House.  Unfortunately for such conspiracy theorists, there's no such thing as a "Muslim prayer curtain."

The draperies in question are gold silk lampas curtains featuring decorative, non-religious, patterns.  The drapes were ordered by Jackie Kennedy, and have adorned a wall in the East Room of the White House since Lady Bird Johnson ordered them to be hung in 1965.

Even if the curtain theory wasn't a complete joke, the idea that Obama is a Muslim is absurd for other reasons.  Muslims must routinely follow the Five Pillars of Islam, in order to live good lives and prove their devotion to their religion. The Five Pillars are:

1. Shahadah (the sincere declaration of Muslim faith), 
2. Salah (praying properly five times a day), 
3. Zakat (making donations to help those in need), 
4. Hajj (going on a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once),
5. Sawm (fasting during the holy month of Ramadan). 

I have no way of knowing what the president has sincerely declared in his own heart.  However, while he DOES give to the poor, and he HAS been to the Middle East, he's never been known to excuse himself from meetings to say daily prayers, nor has he been known to fast during the holy month of Ramadan.  In fact, during last year's holy month of Ramadan (06/28/14 - 07/28/14), the president hosted an Independence Day BBQ, where he consumed; pork ribs, hot dogs, and beer; none of which are allowed by Hajal (Muslim dietary law) during any time of year, let alone during the holy month of Ramadan.

If President Obama is a Muslim, he's extremely bad at it.

Although all objective evidence points to Barack Obama not being a Muslim, I find it sad that it needs to be proven at all.  The Islamic religion is a perfectly valid religion, rooted in much of the same history as Christianity and Judaism.

The fact that I have to make this point 14 years after the attack on New York is nothing short of tragic; Muslims are not the enemies of the United States of America.  Being a member of the Islamic faith does not equate to membership in a terrorist and/or criminal organization.  Keep in mind, ISIS and Al-Qaeda are to the Islamic faith what the KKK and Nazis are to Christianity.  Saying all Muslims are terrorists is the same as saying all Christians are homophobic Aryan bigots.

As I said, not liking the president is fine.  However, if someone is going to dislike President Obama, or anyone for that matter, they should make sure their reasons for not liking him are grounded in reality.
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2014 And 2015

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Last year, at this time, I made a series of New Year’s Resolutions.

1. Keep up my personal log/diary as well as writing my blogs - I had ignored my personal log/diary since 06/25/11|
2. Be less anal to the extent I can wear sweats in public, store DVDs out of chronological order, etc…|
3. Call friends more|
4. Treat people better|

The first one is a habit I’ve been pretty diligent about.  I sometimes amuse myself by picturing people pouring over my journal, after my death, and thinking, “That’s what he thought?  Man…”

Number two is one I apparently nailed better than I’d thought I had.  While I’m still particular about the filing system for my movie collection, I’ve become known for appearing publicly in sweat pants, something which was UNTHINKABLE pre-2014.  I can be certain of my success in this endeavor since more than one person felt I needed new sweat pants for Christmas.

The third & forth goals are ones I still have to work on.  I have the bad habit of focusing on projects and forgetting about the outside world.  Thus, I’ve lost track of a number of people I shouldn’t have.

2014, like most years, has been a mixed bag of ups & downs. 

Best Part of 2014:

Even with the myriad of publicized glitches, “Obama Care” has helped 10,000,000 people get access to health care.  I personally know one lady who’s finally receiving help for her chronic back pain, after years of suffering with no way to get relief.  If only 10% of the newly insured have similar stories, that’s 1,000,000 people who are suffering less, today, than they were suffering one year ago.

Worst Part of 2014:

Thanks to a few careless officers, and some even more careless rulings, many hard core liberals have vilified the police.  This, to me, is sickening.  99.99% of police are men & women who put themselves out there in order to help others and do the right thing.  Yet, many of us have allowed a few bad apples to spoil the reputation of the collective whole.

2015:

Taking both the good and the bad into consideration, I have high hopes for 2015.  At our best, our society, or the majority of it, has made helping the medically needy a priority.  At our worst, even though we’ve demonized a few too many public servants, it’s, at least, been made clear that citizens can’t be victimized, by abusers of authority, without the public taking notice.

Next year, our society has some work to do.  Not only do we need to protect the progress we’ve made in assisting the neediest among us, but we need to learn how to curb our reaction to travesties by making sure we only blame those who are directly responsible for such crimes.  Of course, once such offenders are identified, we need a system which will hold them accountable.

On a personal note, I have my work cut out for me too.  Like last year, I resolve to keep in better touch with people and to treat people better.  Additionally, I need to research the possibility of self-publishing my novel, write SOMETHING everyday, and find a way to cope better with my physical pain.

No one knows exactly what 2015 will bring.  However, with a bit of concentration, hard work, and luck, there’s every reason to believe it will be a good year.
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