fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
The Cowardice of Compliance
By: Ron Collins
Tags: Cowardice, Civil Rights, Income Tax

What if I were to describe to you a faraway land where its citizens are prohibited from doing business or looking after their everyday affairs, unless they register themselves with its regime by a number, which is thereupon attached to every transaction they ever pursue?

Where they are compelled, under continual threat of prosecution and incarceration, to submit information about the intimate details of their lives and livelihoods to a bureaucratic apparatus so that it may maintain dossiers on every citizen, of information about themselves which may be used against them by the regime at any time it chooses?

Where their honest earnings are pilfered at will by the regime, and with the full participation of every employer, before they may ever even receive the compensation for their work they had earned?

Where every individual realizes with every breath that if they were to stand up and call such a regime to account for such continual intrusions and extortions, they would soon thereafter be investigated aggressively by that regime until it could fabricate whatever charge of criminal activity it chose to deploy against them, one of its preferred tactics being to descend to the grotesque and puerile level of having its operatives plant ‘child porn’ in their homes and then accuse them of possessing it?

Where everything a person had ever earned with their own efforts could be seized and made public property absent anything resembling due process of law, for failing to ‘comply’ with any of these demands?

Where every judge, public prosecutor, law enforcement official and state functionary, even each of those ‘elected’ by the people to ‘represent’ them, knows full well that they will be the regime’s next target if they do not participate aggressively in such outrages against the citizenry?

Would you wonder, how can anyone live that way?

Would you look down with a mix of pity and revulsion at such a people, for not standing up and demanding their birthright liberties, at whatever cost it took to secure them?

I know for myself, that my answer to both those last two questions has been an enthusiastic ‘yes’, throughout an entire lifetime lived within such a self-defeated country and its unconscionably pathetic state of affairs, amid such a populace of subdued cowards, as the regime continues unchecked and irrespective of ideology in expanding its invasive powers ever more deeply into their daily lives.

It is not fiction, and the country is the United States of America, and all the above conditions, of coercive self-interrogation, regime extortion, and domestic espionage, have been in place here since long before I was born.

When will my people find their courage, and claim their freedom?
You seem to be getting it. You started off saying
By: Caleb Mars
Tags: Affirmative Action, Civil Rights, Asian American

You seem to be getting it. You started off saying

it is illegal to consider race, sex, national origin, age, disability, parental status or Veteran status when making these decisions.

Now you understand that, under Affirmative Action programs, race may be and has been considered.

I think that basically negates the point you were trying to make in your original essay.

In your original discussion and subsequent reply, you seemed at pains to deny, for example, that an Asian American with 1500 SATs is being denied admission to Harvard, while a Black American with 1200 SATs is getting acceptance letters and scholarship offers. Somehow this is negated by your observation that a White applicant got a job a half century ago from having what you assert was functionally equivalent to Affirmative Action without the fancy wrapper.

There may be good reasons for Affirmative Action today and you may want to bring them up in subsequent essays. But your argument drifts away from reality when you start arguing disparate treatment is not occurring or that it is illegal despite the Bakke or Harvard case rulings which say it is legal to consider race as long as you don’t have actual quotas.

In any event, you now seem to understand your original statements about Affirmative Action were way overstated: race is considered and it’s not true to say it isn’t.
It’s Time To Really Give Black Americans Equal Rights
By: Fred Ermlich
Tags: Black America, Equal Rights, Habeas Corpus, Never Fear, Civil Rights

I’ll say up front that I’m no lawyer and don’t have the right words for what I’m demanding. I’m saying that, specifically for Black people, more specifically for Black men, it’s time to go to extraordinary lengths to redress the injuries done over the past few CENTURIES to Black slaves and their descendants.

I can’t think of any other demographic group that has suffered like the Black Americans or Native Americans. I’ve been paying attention for more than 30 years, waiting for, well, today actually. With all the disruption of this presidential changeover, we may as well get these new, improved civil rights built into the system that Biden and Harris are building right now. Even if they notice, they should be supportive of equal rights, right? I’m sure they will notice and be supportive, but they are also buried in work. We’ll be needing help. Universities and law schools come to mind.

I wish I knew more about what I’m asking for. But it’s a complicated mess. The marginalization of Black men specifically has put them in a position of being near non-citizens. Criminal histories, disrupted social lives, for now I don’t see who could help sort it except for other Black citizens. Which is what a jury of your peers is meant to be!

Habeas corpus is important too. Not my strongest point, but it means that a jury of your peers may want to “take custody” of you, rather than leave you in a cold, distant prison or jail. If you’re imprisoned for a violent crime, then you’ll just be trading cells. At least until your peers decide what should be done. It’s complicated and it isn’t. It should work fine once it’s up and running. The big difference: not being forced in front of an all-white jury. Whew.

This complexity is why I’m advocating the changes, but cannot be precise about how it’s to be done. It’s just that as the U.S. rebuilds, this can be built in. It’s not a competition, it’s more an incorporation. I’ve been waiting for this moment for decades.
How does Protest Works?
By: Marc Lenz
Tags: Vote, Protest, Authority, Civil Rights, Economy

Along the years, the concept of protest always slipped my mind, how does it work or if it will ever work. It also seems a bit funny that when faced with atrocities, the best that we can do is to go to the street, stand or sit, raising signs and chanting, and risk getting sprayed, choked, assaulted or arrested. Entirely at the mercy of our authorities to take their desired action and make changes.

Are we threating that we will not vote for them?

Are we displaying our huge discontentment out in the wild?

Are we alerting and nudging our fellows to tell them this is bad and we must stay united?

Are we reminding them of the social contract?

Are we reminding them that we are not docile and will suck up anything they shit on us?

Are we demonstrating civil disobediences to show our power?

Are we pressuring them to act, by making them looks bad?

Are we damaging the economy to tell them that if they want to profit off from our hard works and this country, they must first allow us to live a tolerable life?

It seems that there are no clear answers to this.
The Hidden History of the Ocoee Election Day Massacre
By: Jolie A. Doggett
Tags: Politics, Race, Equality, Voting, Civil Rights

The Hidden History of the Ocoee Election Day Massacre

Black Americans, led by Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., line up in front of the Dallas County Courthouse in Selma, Alabama, to register to vote in 1965. Photo: Bettmann/Getty Images

100 years ago on November 2, 1920, countless Black Americans were terrorized and murdered simply for trying to exercise their right to vote.

Mose Norman and Julius “July” Perry were two prosperous Black landowners in Ocoee, Florida, a rural city located in Orange County. They led local voter registration efforts in the weeks leading up to the election. However, when Norman turned up to the polls to cast his ballot, he was repeatedly forced away by a violent white mob.

The mob, accompanied by the Ku Klux Klan, White WWI veterans, and reinforcements from the county, then invaded July Perry’s home where Norman was thought to be hiding, murdered Perry, and hung his body near the highway. Norman was never found.

Countless others were killed that day and in days following the election as the homes and business of Black people were burned to the ground, and their owners and residents were driven out of the city. The Black Ocoee residents lost not only lives, but homeownership, businesses, and land they would’ve inherited or passed down to future generations. They lost memories. The entire history of African Americans in Ocoee was forgotten.

The massacre has been called the single bloodiest day in American political history. Today, Ocoee residents and organizers are hoping for government acknowledgment of the massacre and reparations to the descendants of those killed.

“This is something you need to know so you know how to move forward and not step back again,” Dorcas Dillard, an Ocoee resident and youth director, said in a documentary about the massacre. “We’ve been trying to fight to say the same thing a mullion times. It’s time for the people that were the oppressors to make a stand and say this is going to stop.”

100 years after the massacre, racial tensions are still high throughout the country and intimidation and voter suppression tactics are still being used to keep Black people from casting their votes. Now more than ever, it’s so important that we exercise the right that so many Black Americans died for. To honor their memory and their sacrifice to make sure our voices are heard when theirs have been silenced. This Election Day, remember the people murdered in Ocoee and throughout this nation for simply trying to participate in democracy. Vote because you can when they couldn’t. Make sure their deaths were not in vain.

Watch a documentary about the Ocoee Massacre produced by Orlando’s WFTV9 below:
One Argument Martin Luther King Jr. had with my Dad, Hosea Williams
By: Zeta Phi Beta Sorority
Tags: BlackLivesMatter, Politics, Women, Voting, Civil Rights

Authored by Elisabeth Omilami | Humanitarian

I’ve heard that Martin Luther King Jr. did not want my dad, Hosea Williams, to march this time. Hosea had led many marches across the southeast by then; he was hired by Martin King because of his success in organizing and leading working people to march. Hosea was sent to this small Southern town to manage the movement there until Dr. King could get there. They had a phone call about the rising sentiment of the people there, especially about the murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson and the decision was that it was too dangerous to lead the people. But, the decision had already been made by the people for the people, exacerbated by the death of Jimmie Lee Jackson and a march was going to take place, with or without leadership from SCLC. The people were hurt, angry and they were ready to march, and they were going forward. Rev. Williams had no choice really.

Who knew that the decision of Rev. Williams to lead that march that day would lead to a Voting Rights Law that would change the face of politics in this country for years to come? “Bloody Sunday” created the road to our right to vote. Even if you feel “nobody cares about your vote” and “voting doesn’t matter,” please vote, because blood calls out to you to vote.

Vote because the ancestors who were stopped from registering by being asked “how many bubbles are in a bar of soap?” or “how many jellybeans are in this jar?”, pressed on past the surreal ridiculousness of those moments and registered, deserve it. Vote, because if you care about Social Security, Food Stamps, Section 8 Housing, school lunches or a livable wage for Americans, all those things and more lie on the ballot this year. Vote, because Hosea Williams led them through the blood on “Bloody Sunday,” through the horses and batons on the head, and through the storm of racism and hate. Vote, because some people don’t believe we should vote, because they think we don’t matter.

There is a rising sentiment among working Americans that their vote doesn’t matter. When you can’t feed your family, provide decent housing for them, earn a livable wage and make it past the ceiling of poverty and lack, it’s hard to imagine that a trip on a certain day to a poll matters; but, it does. Especially, when that vote is followed-up by a consistent and thorough monitoring of the actions of those you put in office.

Wash away the blood with your ballot on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, 2020. As Frederick Douglas said, “If nothing is expected of a people, that people will find it difficult to contradict that expectation. The end of slavery lies with the ballot.”

Thank you and thank you for reading this one.

Elisabeth Omilami, Hosea Feed the Hungry Executive Director | Actress | Humanitarian and Honorary Member, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated

For more information about Hosea Helps, visit 4hosea.org
Why Progressives Have to Pick Social Justice Issues to Make Progress
By: Allison Gaines
Tags: BlackLivesMatter, Cultured, Justice, Equality, Civil Rights

Why Progressives Have to Pick Social Justice Issues to Make Progress

Welcome to our Cultured Newsletter,

Our writers are social justice advocates, and if you consider yourself to be one, you are more than welcome to join us. We can make progress on the issues we feel passionate about by working together. When progressives put the new Biden & Harris administration in the White House, we did so because we knew the value of having a seat at the table. However, we never believed that the ticket was perfect for those who want to see a significant structural change. Now is the time to organize and fight relentlessly for a more equitable future.

Today, I am announcing our first writer’s prompt, and we welcome all writers to participate. In many instances, people think about Civil Rights as something acquired through previous generations. However, we know that the fight must go on until marginalized groups receive respect and equal rights under the law. The change will not happen overnight but the beauty of progressivism is finding joy in the changes we can make. So, we would love for you to share what your favorite social issue is.

Please tell us the connection between the social issue you selected and historical advocacy within your article. Drawing a line between the hard work of those who came before us ensures we never get lost along the way.

Ida B. Wells often described liberty as something we have to keep fighting to maintain. Freedom is not a self-sustainable phenomenon. We should continue to fight for what we believe in and get into some good trouble. The world community will remember the year 2020 for the Coronavirus but also this new wave of Civil Rights Advocacy. We should challenge ourselves to articulate a path forward. I hope each writer uses their voice to make the progress we all want to see.

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, and it does seem to me that notwithstanding all these social agencies and activities there is not that vigilance which should be exercised in the preservation of our rights ― Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells (Constitution Foundation, 2018).

Thanks so much for reading and carrying the torch into the future. Your voice is important and necessary during these tumultuous times. Let’s continue to shine a light on these injustices.

Did you read our first newsletter? Check it out here.

Would you like to become a writer with Cultured? Great, apply right here.
The Echoes of November 22, 1963, Continue to Inform My Worldview
By: Jim Moore
Tags: Religion, Civil Rights, Boomers, November 22 1963, Jfk Assassination

The disruptions, fears, and uncertainties of today’s politics are rooted in the nation’s past behaviors — those which were hateful, those which were helpful

Morning along the levee South of Baton Rouge (photo by Jim Moore)

Religion, action, and reaction

On this day in 1963 I was a 14-year-old high school freshman attending Jesuit High School, in Shreveport, Louisiana. The news of John Kennedy’s assassination hit me in three ways:

The Jesuits reached for faith

First, the Catholic leadership of the school were devastated and their sadness swept through the halls and into the classrooms like a flash flood of sorrow, fear, shock, prayers, and disbelief. The usually rock-steady voice of the school’s president wavered and broke as he announced the news. I cried not just because I was sad, but because so many adults were sad. I was not a Catholic (the school was just the best choice for a good education), but the waves of Our Fathers and Hail Marys that lifted out of every room in the school did carry me along with their impassioned pleas.

The military stood up

Second, since I was a military kid living on Barksdale Air Force Base just outside town, I knew the tempo of the base would change immediately, and that some, if not all, of the B-52 crews were going to be leaving the alert facility and heading for their planes. A base bus came within 30-minutes to pick up the few students who were Air Force kids, and I remember the gates of the base closing behind the bus as we passed the main gate entrance.

The haters celebrated

And third (but not last), before the bus arrived to take us back to the base, I heard some of my classmates cheering Kennedy’s death, calling him the N-loving president and expressing what was essentially the bigoted parental hatred they had learned at home. Their excitement horrified me, but, later that evening, recalling daily evidence of their small-mindedness, I was not surprised.

Is a change gonna come?

I was all-too-aware of the problem. Just a month earlier, soul singer Sam Cooke and his wife, brother, and manager had been turned away from a Shreveport Holiday Inn because they were Black. It may have been a Catholic school, but it was located in a deeply Southern town, with enough lingering Jim Crow emotion spread around to marinate young minds for years to come. (Sam Cooke wrote, “A Change is Gonna Come,” in the wake of the hotel incident: https://710keel.com/the-history-of-shreveport-sam-cookes.../).

An example for a career in journalism

During the week following the assassination, we were glued to the television, devouring every bulletin, looking for national-level reassurance, fearing local violence, wondering what more might be behind the shooting. Without a doubt, the national news anchors — Walter Cronkite in particular — provided the steadying voices we needed. I don’t doubt that some of their professionalism and insistence on “getting it right” at a time of high-strung tension and rumor mongering influenced my decision to become a journalist.
Loyal Opposition
By: Samantha Lazar
Tags: BlackLivesMatter, Poetry, Politics, Resistance, Civil Rights

Loyal Opposition

Photo by Fabian Fauth on Unsplash

resist.

get up, you supine

the change is still

about

you and I, we love

our country.

recognize.

your advantage, your

head start is still

millennia, but we can,

we must

turn around.

reject.

move away from home

write new metaphors

to inscribe on tombs,

your children’s

future deeds.

reeducate.

look to the oppressed

fulfill the duty

of this day

complacency,

is not a choice.

realize.

if you do nothing,

you are complicit

to the lies.

we are not there yet

we are not there yet
The Social Army
By: Aigner Loren Wilson
Tags: Protest, Poetry, Poems On Medium, Community, Civil Rights

The Social Army

Photo by Pawel Janiak on Unsplash

I’ve come to a place

where to look at the stars

means to turn on the TV.

We’ve forgotten how to fight

like guerrillas

and know only how to cackle

at the spectacle

they call politics.

Revolutionaries call for jail,

not change.

They knit sweaters for lamp posts

and call it a bomb.

What is this place

of placemat people?

Lying down to be trampled on

by some oversized entity

that calls itself

ruler and executioner.

There once was bloodshed,

lives being given

and taken for just causes.

In the wake of planes

and under the shadow of towers,

we have forgotten

that sometimes terrorists and traitors

are what is needed for a true amend.

At night,

I hear gunshots and think

Yes,

now strike.

Show them what has been harbouring

in minimum wage,

tucked beneath medical bills,

drowning in gasoline.

Bring the regime to its knees

until it is begging

for a reprieve.
Fighting For America
By: Christina Meier Ph.D
Tags: Blm, America, Poem, Democracy, Civil Rights

A poem

Photo by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash

Fighting For America

There has been blood in the streets

civil war in the suburbs

execution of our black friends

so we are fighting for America

There have been lies after lies, heresy

outside church, upside down Bible

deceit follows deceit, truth is lost

so we are fighting for America

The National Guard was called to war on citizens

guns ruled the streets, stand by

Proud Boys, a militia for POTUS

so we are fighting for America

Four years too much, no more, no more

lies, deceit, ego, suppression of truth

blaming others, no leadership,

so we are fighting for America

No lives matter until black lives matter

democracy dies with each bullet shot

four centuries must end now

so we are fighting for America
The Montgomery Bus Boycott
By: Danielle Gibson
Tags: History, BlackLivesMatter, Racism, Poetry, Civil Rights

The Montgomery Bus Boycott

Rosa Parks being fingerprinted on February 22, 1956, by Lieutenant D.H. Lackey as one of the people indicted as a leader of the Montgomery bus boycott. —Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

On December Fifth, Nineteen Fifty-Five,

A large scale bus boycott demonstration

Commenced after a terrible bus drive,

The goal was to end race segregation.

The Montgomery Bus Boycott started

After Rosa Parks refused to back down.

Her action was not for the fainthearted,

A decision that altered the whole town.

After over a year of boycotting,

Montgomery had to desegregate.

After some thorough planning and plotting,

The racist system was forced to update.

The boycott was the first in the nation,

Of large scale, to oppose segregation.

Note:

The first large scale demonstration opposing segregation was the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The boycott began on December 5, 1955, and lasted until December 20, 1956. During this civil rights protest, African Americans in Montgomery, Alabama, refused to use the city bus system. While the black community had been fed up with the discriminatory busing system for years, the straw that broke the camels back came on December 1, 1955.

After a long day’s work, the 42-year-old Rosa Parks climbed onto the Cleveland Avenue bus in downtown Montgomery. She sat near the middle of the bus, behind the ten seats reserved for white passengers. As the bus traveled along its route, the white-only seats began to fill up quickly. The driver of the bus, James F. Blake, went to the middle of the bus and moved the “colored” sign further back to allow more white passengers a place to sit. Blake told Parks and three other black individuals to get up, so the white passengers could sit. Parks refused to give in to his demand, an action that would leave a permanent mark on history and the civil rights movement.

After Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, she was arrested. Parks was charged with a violation of Chapter 6, Section 11 segregation law of Montgomery City code. After her arrest and booking, Clifford Durr and Edgar Nixon, the president of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP, bailed Parks out of jail. Four days later, members of the Women’s Political Council (WPC) came together to begin the Montgomery bus boycott. After a year-long struggle, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Browder v. Gayle that the city of Montgomery had to desegregate public transportation.
USA Sandbox…
By: Patrice M Simon
Tags: Politics And Protest, American Politics, Global, Freedom Of Speech, Civil Rights

USA Sandbox…

It’s appalling. The USA resembles a children’s sandbox. Our nation is at war with its inhabitants-both politicians and civilians behaving like brats.

How pathetic we look in the eyes of other nations. Not wanting to take “it personally”-the embarrassing actions of our nation’s people cannot go unnoticed.

I love our country-but for the first time in my life, what is happening here in this beautiful nation has saddened my soul. The games being played in Washington, DC and individual states are reducing the character, backbone and integrity of this nation and the Constitution.
The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement
By: Danielle Gibson
Tags: History, BlackLivesMatter, Poetry, Civil Rights, American History

The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement

A photo of Ella Baker. — Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement,

Was a woman they called Ella Baker.

She sought justice and strove for improvement,

Never afraid to be a rule breaker.

Ella fought tirelessly during the time.

Obtaining equality was her goal.

She wanted to see change in her lifetime

And was willing to give her heart and soul.

Baker wanted equality for all,

People of color, women, and the poor.

Seeking equal rights was her fighting call.

A woman not afraid to fight for more.

The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement,

Ella Baker fought hard for improvement.
Badges
By: Brianna R Duffin
Tags: Protest, Poetry, Blm, Literary, Civil Rights

Here is a poem I wrote in response to re-reading The Hate U Give after the murders of George Flloyd and Breonna Taylor sparked national protests. Before I wrote it, I reflected on how the BLM movement has evolved greatly and spread to include a much broader base and combine social media activisim with real life work in the past few years (since Angie Thomas published the book) but the situation has not changed very much at all. I then included historical references in my poem such as the 3/5ths Compromise and the 13th Amendment (side note: if you haven’t watched the documentary “13”, I really recommend it). The poem reflects anger and frustration, but not hope, so I wanted to preface it by reminding people that things will get better if we continue to fight for the change that we need and want to see in the world.

On a quiet street on a dark night

A sixteen-year-old warrior in the making

Knew the identity of her best friend’s

Murderer because she had the presence of mind

To have his badge number memorized.

On that quiet street on that dark night

The safe one laid still while Danger strode away

And the story was subverted until it became

A question of mercy for possible drug dealers

Instead of one demanding why we need

The phrase “Qualified Immunity” at all

When we already had “licence to kill”

In our arsenal ready to go. It doesn’t matter-

A dirty cop with a shiny badge is still a killer

But in America there are two kinds of killers,

The ones who matter and the ones who don’t.

Photo by Casey Robertson on Unsplash

We all watched Khalil Harris go from a boy

To a trend, we gave George Flloyd

A hashtag as his personhood was stolen

Just like Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland,

And a few infinities more that we’ve forgotten.

Just how and why did we convince ourselves

Reblogging Emmet Till’s remains was enough?

This war we wage will never be enough.

How long will it take for us to awaken

And realize “Protect and Serve” has nothing,

Nothing at all to do with our sorry selves?

The sacred shield has never been on our side-

We are the hoodlums, ruffians, gangsters,

Nothing more than cottonpickers, fieldhands

Who’ve forgotten their place thanks to lucky number 13.

We are rioters who weaponize what we’ve been thrown,

Troublemakers who literally throw gas in your face.
Fact versus Fear. Science versus Folklore.
By: Brooke Sinclair
Tags: Mythology, Facts, Science, Civil Rights

Facts are principles and values which are known or can be proven. Fears have no basis in facts. Scientists gather facts. Space travel is now a fact, but what if everything you’ve ever known about yourself was not based on facts? If you learned that your legacy, your ancestry, and your very existence was all based on myth. A myth is a widely held but FALSE idea or belief. Would you rather hold onto the lie you have been taught?

The systemic racism we find in America’s education and housing did not happen by coincidence or accident. However, for a large number of the white majority, this was the first time they had seen the death of a Black man in a way that shook them to the core. 2020 has been the first year where white Americans faced the facts of their ancestral inheritance and the myths of racism.

The perfect American dream of raising 2.5 children and living in a just and civil society is a myth. The myth first came into question when the viral video of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery’s murder was released to the public on May 5th. Ahmaud was shot and killed on Feb. 23, but because one of Ahmaud’s assailants, Gregory McMichael, was a retired police officer he and his son Travis were not charged with a crime until the video was released. Recorded for their enjoyment, the McMichael’s and friend, William “Roddie” Bryan, told police they suspected Arbery had committed a series of break-ins. Although rumor has it, the video was already in police possession before being posted to social media. Fact: The rights and privileges of police brutality extend to retired, plain clothes, and off-duty police officers.
Thom Hartmann — All Life Is Organized Around Democracy
Tags: Bioneers 2020 Conference, Justice, Civil Society, Civil Rights, Bioneers2020

Have you ever watched a flock of birds fly overhead and wondered how they all know when to turn and where to go? Or a school of fish, or a swarm of gnats? It turns out that with each wingbeat, each swimming motion, each movement, they’re all voting, and the majority decides. Thom Hartmann, the nation’s leading progressive radio talk show host, bestselling author and among our most penetrating socio-political thinkers, shares his passionate conviction that democracy is the organizing principle of all life, as most Indigenous cultures have been trying to tell us for millennia. He explains how understanding the essence of democracy can give us insight into how we to reinvent our society, from the local to the national level, in ways that uphold the values of life and sustainability, and that can lead to a brighter, profoundly more meaningful future.

Thom Hartmann delivered this talk at the 2020 Bioneers Conference, introduced by Kenny Ausubel.

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LEARN MORE

Thom Hartmann, the top progressive talk show host in America for over a decade and a four-time Project Censored Award-winning journalist, is the author of some 30 books, including the international bestseller, The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight (about the end of the age of oil), used as a textbook in many schools and colleges. Thom, a former psychotherapist and entrepreneur, has also co-written and been featured in 6 documentaries with Leonardo DiCaprio.

To learn more about Thom Hartmann, visit his website.

In this upcoming book, Thom Hartmann traces the history of the struggle between oligarchy and democracy, from America’s founding revolt against British aristocracy to the United States’ war with the feudal Confederacy to President Franklin Roosevelt’s struggle against “economic royalists,” who wanted to block the New Deal. In each of those cases the oligarchs lost the battle. But with increasing right-wing control of the media, unlimited campaign contributions, and a conservative takeover of the judicial system, we’re at a crisis point as real and critical as those we hit in 1776, 1861, and 1932. Thankfully, Hartmann lays out practical measures we can take to break up media monopolies, limit the influence of money in politics, and return control of America to We the People.

Airing live nationwide daily (M-F) from 12–3pm ET for over 15 years, Thom’s program explores a diverse variety of topics from a progressive perspective.
The Best Of Enemies
By: Voicing Freedom
Tags: The Best Of Enemies, True Story, Truth, Civil Rights, Profound

The Best of Enemies is a true story that recounts the summer of 1971 involving activist Ann Atwater, who was a very outspoken activist that forged a friendship of sorts with C.P. Ellis, a KKK leader, in order to co-chair a summit on the desegregation of the schools in Durham, NC. Albeit the debate and rivalry lead to revelations that consequently changed their lives forever. Admittedly I have not seen it yet but had knowledge of the story. A very profound story and I’ve no doubt film.
Hi Dennis, Thank you for taking your time to write these comments to me about my article.
By: Jay Krasnow
Tags: Change, BlackLivesMatter, Racism, Culture, Civil Rights

Hi Dennis, Thank you for taking your time to write these comments to me about my article. I agree that George Floyd’s status had nothing to do with his murder. His murder was horrible, no matter what his background.

I should mention that my ex-girlfriend had many differences in values, and that is why we are no longer together.

I look forward to hearing from you again, in response to my articles.
“You Hate Us So Deeply “
By: Voicing Freedom
Tags: Human Rights, BlackLivesMatter, Truth, Facts, Civil Rights

“You hate us so deeply BUT yet you’re still so impressed. Why can’t you see there is history in our skin? You built this country on our backs. I’m him, he’s me. She, us, we are all blood.”

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CHf2lyxglCE/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHgneJEnsc7/

“You love my culture but do you love me?”

This is entirely fogo of truth! I say this all the time and as a marginalized person of color including mixed with Black this really hit what I feel and express all the time. It put it in a powerful way that I am very thankful to view. I’ve observed or experienced the worst to oppress us are oddly the worst to hijack our culture in some fashion as if they could be a person of color better than we can just as some of the worst examples of people of color and foul actions towards other people of color seem to blow the loudest bullhorn of self based nonsense that I can’t help but ponder “WHO listens to or believes any of this garbage?!” I’ve said this before but to me they are the same, those who oppress who are NOT of color and those who prey on and still oppress those who are merely skin wise of color but not mentally. They have more in common with white privileged oppressors than people of color thus not someone I consider a person of color. That is why I find it so important that our own protect and stand up for our own as people because as we’ve seen no one else is... including the hangers on that these movements of Black and Brown Lives Mattering is a trendy thing to do to conceal their true selves in. As they do nothing but spit on people of color especially successful ones constantly or use us as some trophy. I’ve said this to Karens or those who may as well be before that do so that obviously dual hate us via their actions, attitudes, disrespects, and behaviors, “You may hijack our lingos, our cultures, Movements for our fair treatment, at best you tokenize us to pat yourselves on the back but the truth is you wouldn’t spit on us if we were on fire. You are the problem, the cancer of bigotry in our country and world. YOU. And the pathetic thing is you’re too privileged minded and smug to even recognize it.”

AND THAT is the worst form of racism, intolerance, and bigotry there is.
Ruby has been my inspiration and role model for dealing with hate ever since I heard her story.
By: Courtney Allen-Gentry Rn Msn Phn Ahn-Bc Hwnc-Bc
Tags: BlackLivesMatter, Blm, Life Lessons, Black Women, Civil Rights

Ruby has been my inspiration and role model for dealing with hate ever since I heard her story. She told the first white reporter to interview her that when she experienced all the grown white folk spitting with rage and saying awful things to her she said she just prayed for them. She demonstrated how powerful a weapon compassion really can be. From that moment forward I knew if this little girl could have compassion for angry white Souls spitting hate at her then I certainly can. For this former Soldier, and expert Markswoman, Ruby taught me how to be a true Spiritual Warrior. I look forward to reading her new book. She is a true American hero.
“When Did You Decide To Fight?”
By: Voicing Freedom
Tags: Sayhisname, BlackLivesMatter, Sayhername, Brownlivesmatter, Civil Rights

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CHY531mp0uF/?igshid=zuw9a2swmj55

This!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CHcPwTIj0kF/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Compelling entirely! For all of those of color and or disenfranchised who have been victimized without any justice. As someone who falls into the category of minorities and marginalization who has of yet not received any justice and been victimized many times over as a minority Woman due to a faulty justice system denying civil and human rights to me at that say our names! There can be no peace without justice, indeed no justice no peace. There is a point too much is more than enough and not just at all. When it goes over into denying or infringing on civil rights, economical right, opportunities, human rights, and human dignity particularly if towards any individual stems from minority peoples it becomes an entirely crucial matter that is utterly unacceptable.
The Desegregation of American Schools
By: Danielle Gibson
Tags: History, Racism, Poetry, Civil Rights, American History

Note:

The first step in the process of school desegregation in the United States came in May 1954 with the landmark decision in the Supreme Court Case, Brown v. Board of Education. In 1951, Oliver Brown, a black pastor from Topeka, Kansas, filed a class-action lawsuit against the Board of Education of Topeka. Brown filed the suit after his daughter had been denied entrance into one of Topeka’s all-white elementary schools. The case was sent to the U.S. District Court in Kansas before being sent to the Supreme Court.

Oliver Brown’s case, along with four other cases related to school segregation, reached the Supreme Court in 1952. The four other cases were Belton(Bulah) v. Gebhart out of Delaware, Bolling v. Sharpe out of the District of Columbia, Briggs v. Elliot out of South Carolina, and Davis v. County School Board out of Virginia. The Supreme Court combined these five cases, simply referring to them collectively as Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. After being divided on how to rule on school segregation cases for over two years, a final decision was issued by the Court on May 17, 1954.

In this Brown v. Board of Education case, the Court ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public school systems were unconstitutional. This decision overruled the “separate but equal” principles established in the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson. The Supreme Court had previously ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that all public facilities could be racially segregated, so long as these separate facilities for blacks and whites were deemed equal in quality. However, over half a century later, the Court determined that “separate but equal” had no place in public education as it was “inherently unequal.”

While Brown v. Board of Education was a monumental moment in the nation’s history, it was certainly not a quick fix. Racial tensions and discrimination still prevailed for decades after the Court’s ruling. Achieving integration in public schools has been a lengthy process. Sadly, the process is still ongoing in different parts of the United States. In 2017, school districts in Mississippi were finally forced to desegregate over 60 years after the Brown v. Board of Education ruling. The town of Cleveland, Mississippi, with a population of 12,000, made headlines in 2016 when a federal judge ordered the town to merge its two racially segregated high schools of Cleveland High and East Side. At the time of this ruling, Cleveland High was around 45 percent white student population, while East Side consisted of a 100 percent black student population. In the 2017–18 school year, the two schools were finally merged and became Cleveland Central High School. While progress has undoubtedly been made, the fight against institutional forms of racism throughout the United States is still an ongoing battle.
The United States is NOT “a center-right country”
By: Joseph Robertson
Tags: Politics, Democracy, Civil Rights, Election 2020

Photo shows view of the huge crowd from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument, during the March on Washington. Original black and white negative by Warren K. Leffler. Taken August 28th, 1963, Washington D.C, United States (@libraryofcongress). Colorized by Jordan J. Lloyd. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA https://www.loc.gov/resource/ds.04417/

There are many reasons political pundits say the United States is a center-right country. None of them hold up to scrutiny. First, let’s start from the origin of the Left-Right construct:

“The Left” refers to the left side of the French Revolutionary Assembly — who favored a democratic republic.

“The Right” refers to their opponents — who favored a return to absolute monarchy.

Just starting there, even the most conservative Americans are much further left than we generally acknowledge.

Libertarianism cannot fit into “The Right”;

small-town local government as the leading lever of national decision-making cannot fit into “The Right”;

pro-business conservatism cannot fit into “The Right”;

the right of the people to compel government to tax the people less would have no place under the autocracy of the original “Right”;

religious liberty has no place in the absolutist mindset of “The Right”, where the monarch claims to be a political agent of God’s will.

In its original sense, “The Right” is antithetical to American democracy. Shocking as it may seem, in the true sense of the Left-Right construct, Americans who favor climate action, or the principle that Black Lives Matter, or who want tax fairness, or who defend the 2nd Amendment, are all more “Left” than “Right”, because they believe people’s aspirations, priorities, and justice, should govern, not the whims of autocrats.
Love, Struggle and Resilience
By: Janet Autherine
Tags: Feminism, Poetry, Inspiration, Black Women, Civil Rights

Photo by Jazmin Quaynor on Unsplash

Lest you get weary

Lest you lose faith and forget your magnificence

when faced with that other ism that resides

at the intersection of race and gender

Rest your soul on the shoulders of your band of sisters

Black woman — feminist — womanist — fighter

Holding up two heavy banners for freedom and

passing them from generation to generation

because there is no cure for racism and sexism

Write the name of each soldier in the journal

of every black girl who needs to go into the world

armed with the fighting spirit of our heroes

Shirley Chisholm

Dorothy Height

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

Ida B. Wells

Angela Davis

Audre Lorde

Pauli Murray

Mary Church Terrell

Sojourner Truth

…and the many other brave women who

gave meaning to the words — PROUD and BLACK

and WOMAN

From the poetry book, the Heart and Soul of Black Women by Janet Autherine
The Civil Rights Industrial Complex
By: Emir Dini
Tags: History, Government, Industrial Complex, Civil Rights, Systemic Racism

Sébastien Thibault

In the late 1990’s, a new term began to enter the academic lexicon — “The Prison Industrial Complex”. The term sought to capture the dynamic relationship between government policy, private prisons and mass incarceration. At the heart of this trifecta was an ulterior motive to turn the criminal justice system into an institutional weapon aimed squarely at minority communities. Black and brown bodies were arrested, confined, labeled and summarily excluded from civic life at an industrial scale. Stereotypes of the “single black mother” and the “fatherless black child” are living cultural artifacts of this era and testimony to the reach and breadth of a historical phenomenon that reshaped the social fabric in ways that were often limited to acts of war.

Yet, the prison industrial complex could not have existed without the complicity of its twin — “The Civil Rights Industrial Complex”.

For there to be criminals, one needs more than a proclivity towards moral turpitude. Criminality is a term subject to societal interpretation. What may be deemed an act of criminality today, may be celebrated tomorrow. Regardless of how society defines criminality, what is clear is that society plays a a significant role in creating its criminals. Deprive a contingent of a society of lawful means towards employment, underground methods are found. Segregate that same contingent of society into desolate landscapes, empty of civic and cultural institutions, ignorance will rein supreme. Subject them to police surveillance and violence, justified resentment and anti-social sentiments become the norm. In the end, this social apparatus molds and shapes, otherwise normal people, into criminals.

Sara Ariel Wong

The contours of this ‘molding’ process, at every corner, is aided by the systemic denial of basic human and civil rights. Denial at opportunities for gainful employment. Denial at opportunities to access adequate housing. Denials to attend publicly well-funded schools. Denial to nutritional security. Denial of bodily integrity.

Denial and denials and denials…

Civil rights agencies, the administrative forums in which these denials are challenged, are designed to funnel these claims through a labyrinth of processes, which almost always results in the rejection of asserted claims for equality. The United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the nation’s largest civil rights agency, rejects 97% of the claims it receives. Nearly all state civil rights commissions closely mirror EEOC numbers, despite enforcing a mosaic of civil rights laws. Typically, institutions whose mission is part of a collective effort to ameliorate the human condition, strive for maximizing their capacity and impact in doing the most good.
“History is being made here today” We have elected our First African American…..Woman Vice President Mrs. Kamala Harris 🙏 President Joe Bidan and his Beautiful wife, Jill Bidan 🙏 Another Photo of…
By: Ladonna Crawford
Tags: History, Unity, Democracy, Civil Rights, American History

“Congraulations, America has elected a New President”

“History is being made here today” We have elected our First African American…..Woman Vice President

Mrs. Kamala Harris 🙏

President Joe Bidan and his Beautiful wife, Jill Bidan 🙏

Another Photo of the President, and The First Lady.

Kamala Harris and Family

Kamala Harris and Husband

Kamala Harris and Husband

I want to say that, I’m Proud to be an “American” where there’s “True Democracy” May God Bless America Also, I’d like to say that No matter who’s Our President, They’re deserving of Our “Respect” 🙏

“Thank You for your time” 🙏