Vlog Brother John talks about Racism in the United States: By the Numbers.
Peace On Earth
Rory Fanning, a former U.S. Army Ranger and author of the new book Worth Fighting For: An Army Ranger’s Journey Out of the Military and Across America, tells the remarkable story of hope amid the horror of the First World War: the Christmas Truce of 1914.
Read it here: When soldiers declared peace on earth | SocialistWorker.org.
We Tortured People
Today the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released the Forward, Findings and Conclusions, and Executive Summary of their study on the Central Intelligence Agency’s “enhanced interrogation” program. Prior to its release, it has been a source of contention within the ruling class. The CIA actually was caught spying on the Senate Committee during the process of the investigation.
Here’s a link to the report.
Study of the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program
For those who would like a three sentence summary, here it is.
We tortured people.
We lied about it.
The torture yielded no useful information.
The Assassination of Fred Hampton
Today marks the 45th anniversary of the assassination of Fred Hampton by the Chicago Police. Five years ago, on the fortieth anniversary, Democracy Now aired a retrospective.
On December 4th, 1969, Chicago police raided Fred Hampton’s apartment, shot and killed him in his bed. He was just twenty-one years old. Black Panther leader Mark Clark was also killed in the raid.
While authorities claimed the Panthers had opened fire on the police who were there to serve a search warrant for weapons, evidence later emerged that told a very different story: that the FBI, the Cook County state’s attorney’s office and the Chicago police conspired to assassinate Fred Hampton. Noam Chomsky has called Hampton’s killing “the gravest domestic crime of the Nixon administration.”
See the full report: “The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther” | Democracy Now!.
Order Versus Justice
The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote these words from a jail cell.
I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.”
Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.
Understanding Ferguson
Here are some more links of interest concerning Ferguson.
- Marcia Chalelain presents a crowdsourced syllabus about race, African American history, civil rights, and policing. How to Teach Kids About What’s Happening in Ferguson – The Atlantic.
- “This is only the beginning, we’ll be back tomorrow.” Juan Thompson reports on what happened Monday night. “Burn This Shit Down”: Mayhem and Protests Engulf Ferguson – The Intercept.
- Two experienced attorneys explain what, in their view, are serious flaws with the grand jury process in the Darren Wilson case. Legal Experts Explain Why The Ferguson Grand Jury Was Set Up For Failure | ThinkProgress.
- From Socialist Worker: The president who has ordered bombs dropped on seven countries and whose administration has directly assisted in the militarization of police departments like Ferguson’s across the country says there is never an excuse for violence. The American way of violence and injustice | SocialistWorker.org.
- From WSWS: The entire process through which the grand jury arrived at its decision is a legal fraud. The outcome is not the result of fair judicial proceedings, but political calculations. No indictment for Ferguson cop who killed Michael Brown – World Socialist Web Site.
- My friend Rob Usdin writes on the psychology of riots and those of us who look on. Blue Jersey:: Ferguson – The Psychology of Riots and Poverty.
- The Morning News presents links to a bunch of Ferguson-centric articles.
- One of my favorite Christian writers, Ben Irwin, says he’s done praying for peace in Ferguson, so long as “peace,” on the lips of those of us still clinging to our unearned privilege, means peace for us and our kind.
The Language of the Unheard
Here’s a quote, apropos of the day.
It is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard.
The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Articles That Caught My Eye Today
“DOWN OUTRIGHT MURDER”: A COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE SHOOTING OF MICHAEL BROWN BY DARREN WILSON | Ryan Devereaux, The Intercept
A State-by-State Look at TANF | The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities
A generation jeopardized by obsession with testing | Wendy Lecker, The Stamford Advocate
WALL STREET IS TAKING OVER AMERICA’S PENSION PLANS | Murtaza Hussain, The Intercept
The war on giving | Jessica Hansen-Weaver, Socialist Worker
How Police Use Military Tactics to Quash Dissent | Aaron Cantú, Alternet
Wal-Mart’s Bottomless Greed: Dodging Billions in Taxes, Scheming to Avoid Billions More | Steven Rosenfeld, Alyssa Figueroa, Alternet
1% Rake In More Than Cost of All U.S. Social Programs
According to a report highlighted on Alternet, each year since the recession, America’s richest 1% have made more than the cost of all U.S. social programs.
The numbers are nearly unfathomable. Depending on the estimate, the 1% took in anywhere from $2.3 trillion to $5.7 trillion per year.
Even the smaller estimate is more than the combined total budgets for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the entire safety net for SNAP, WIC, Child Nutrition, Earned Income Tax Credit, Supplemental Security Income, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and Housing.
Read more: 5 Facts About How America Is Rigged for a Massive Wealth Transfer to the Rich | Alternet.
Jeffco Rises Up
David Long reports on the eruption of protest in Jefferson County, Colo., in response to a conservative school board’s attempt to censor the U.S. history curriculum.
Read the report: The Jeffco rebels | SocialistWorker.org.