Fight for Your Right to Vote!

Civics, General, Social Justice,

Maryland’s House of Delegates passed the Student & Military Voter Empowerment Act the 3rd week of February 2021; I signed the petition to urge the Maryland Senate to pass it.

If passed, the bill will ensure that institutions of higher education*:

• Have a student voter coordinator, who will take point on forming a plan to support student voter registration and ensure students have the information they need to register to vote and turn out.

• Post the link to the online voter registration form on the website students use to register for classes to keep it visible.

• Provide input to local boards of election as they select polling locations for our elections.

And the bill will ensure military members can easily to register to vote online.

According to Common Cause Maryland, over 72% of people between the ages of 18-24 did not vote in the 2018 election. Historically Black colleges and universities report declines in overall participation, largely due to lack of access to information on how to register and vote, and thus, leading to young people voting less frequently than the rest of the population. But this legislation would help to reduce the barrier faced by young people who want to participate in our elections.

Attending college and university is often the first time many young people are on their own for the first time – a time to grow and learn. It was for me. I remember I looked forward to voting, to finally participating in society!

It seems to me that colleges and universities are well-positioned to inform students about voter participation; after all, what college or university doesn’t have a student government? If colleges and universities encourage students to vote for their fellow students, why can’t these institutions of higher education make it easy and accessible for them to vote in the outside world?

Voter registration, accessing voter information, and the act of voting made simple and accessible to ALL eligible voters – including students – this is a no brainer, right?

Young people, after all, are our future!

Empower them to vote! Some of them may be governing how we live someday, when we’re old and gray.

I’d rather vote for an informed candidate who (hopefully) respects the value of every eligible voter participating than a candidate who only thinks certain people ought to vote and harbors some perceived paranoia over voter fraud despite FACTS to the contrary.

As the most recent US Presidential Election 2020 laid bare.

Yes, even after the Director of United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency – the agency handling election security, declared the 2020 presidential election was was the country’s most secure ever, repeatedly debunked the claims of massive fraud and election interference by the former president (and his cronies) to Congress and the media, a certain segment of society continues to believe the 2020 election was a fraud. A steal.

Even after the former president’s powerful lackey in the form of his US Attorney General said the US Justice Department found no evidence fraud to make a difference in the outcome of the election, that wasn’t enough to convince the president’s followers that the election was valid. The former president and many of his followers could not accept that the majority of the people spoke: they wanted a different president.

But what punishment did America get from those who could not accept reality?

No. 1: the January 6th, 2021 insurrection upon the nation’s capital to “Stop the Steal”.

And insidiously, as of February 27th, 2021, at least 253 voter suppression bills have now been introduced across the country in 43 states – just in 2021 alone. You read that right: 2021…THIS year!

Laws in direct contradiction to Maryland’s Student & Military Voter Empowerment Act.

Mother Jones journalist Ari Berman reported earlier this month on the GOP’s ongoing nationwide push to make voting more difficult, particularly for communities of color and other Democratic-leaning constituencies – and in some cases to empower state legislatures to overturn election results.

According to the Brennan Center for Justice’s report,

These proposals primarily seek to: (1) limit mail voting access; (2) impose stricter voter ID requirements; (3) limit successful pro-voter registration policies; and (4) enable more aggressive voter roll purges.

Here’s a very condensed sampling of proposed nightmarish laws to come:

Georgia

• Eliminating no-excuse absentee voting, which was passed on a bipartisan basis in 2014, and limiting absentee voting to only a few categories of voters who fit into narrow, predetermined exceptions.

• Restricting county election officials’ ability to utilize mobile precincts to serve rural and other hard-to-reach voters.

• Removing restrictions on poll watchers that keep election officials safe without facilitating additional transparency for voters.

• Eliminating automatic voter registration, making it harder for Georgians to register to vote and less efficient for Georgia election officials to update and maintain accurate voter rolls.

In most cases, according to various sources, these state lawmakers argue that these restrictive measures are necessary because, “the public has lost confidence in our election system,” but they refuse to acknowledge the reason some voters believe elections are unfair: because those same legislators spent months spreading disinformation about the integrity of the 2020 election.

Arizona

• Require voters to obtain a notary stamp on all absentee ballots, a not only burdensome but costly requirement.

• Prohibit voters from mailing their absentee ballots to election officials, instead requiring them to return them in-person.

• Require voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship in order to register to vote—a likely violation of federal law. 

• Purge eligible voters from the rolls if they change their address—even if that address is still in Arizona—another likely violation of federal law.

FYI: Arizona has had a robust mail voting system for decades with no widespread fraud or administrative issues, and Arizona voters across the political spectrum have been voting by mail since long before the COVID-19 pandemic—78% of Arizona voters voted by mail in 2018, according to Campaign Legal Center.

Pennsylvania

• Eliminate the permanent early voter list, requiring voters to submit a separate application for each election, rather than submitting one application for the entire election cycle.

• Prohibit the use of ballot drop boxes, eliminating a safe and secure option for voters to ensure that their mail ballots are returned directly to election officials on time.

• Increase poll watcher access to absentee ballot processing and canvassing activities (which are already publicly observable), allowing poll watchers to more easily harass election officials and volunteers and reducing limitations that keep our election officials safe while maintaining transparency.

• Prohibit counties from notifying voters about issues with absentee or mail ballots and providing voters an opportunity to fix those issues. Current Pennsylvania law allows, but does not require, counties to contact voters and give them a chance to fix issues with their ballots.

Campaign Legal Center writes that one legislator who sponsored an anti-voter bill said that his goal was “not to fix what happened but to restore integrity and trust” back into the voting process. That’s because these new voting restrictions wouldn’t “fix” anything—they only make voting harder for Pennsylvanians.

Geez, these anti-voter measures are created by legislators have a serious mean streak running through them, you think?!

To my mind, conservative lawmakers don’t have any ideas that can benefit ALL citizens. I mean, why the insane focus on restrictive voting measures – especially when these lawmakers lose the White House and collectively lose their seats in Congress and throughout state legislatures?

You must have a pretty sorry platform, if you have one at all, to be so paranoid as to make it hard for people to vote – people who you think will likely not vote for you! People who include minorities, women, students, those low on the socio-economic ladder who may not vote for you due to your record of misogynistic laws against women’s health care, tax cuts for the uber-wealthy, cutting of social programs that address mental health, health care access, education, job training, and yes, restrictive voter suppression laws.

I find voter suppression laws disgusting. The very thought of them makes my blood boil. Voter suppression laws demonstrate a cynical and contemptuous regard for people.

Hey, anti-voter legislators and supporters:

You don’t like democracy?

You dig authoritarianism? There’s plenty of authoritarian regimes around the globe you can try! Why not try Russia? China? Brazil? Iran? Saudi Arabia? I’d venture to say there’s plenty of people in those countries who would LOVE to swap places with you! If you don’t like democracy here, then get the fuck out of here.

Take your authoritarian tendencies to the lands of Vladimir Putin, Xi Xinping, or any of the other countries led by dictators drunk on power – those who want to rule til their last breath. Go find out how beautiful life in an authoritarian country really is! You respect strongmen, don’t you? There’s plenty of strongmen to spare around the globe who cannot handle the slightest bit of criticism, and who cannot handle the idea of everyone having a voice. Go live with them! But do not shove authoritarianism down America’s throat – not least of all by severely restricting Americans’ vote.

You’re such sore losers! You lose an election, then you immediately scream FRAUD!

Why don’t you come up with ideas to empower every American to thrive instead of resorting to restricting voter participation?

If you really “love” America and want to “fix” voting problems (and they do exist), why not urge Congress to pass the For The People Act, H.R.1/S.1 and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, H.R. 4?

The For The People Act sets national minimum standards for our elections based on bipartisan best practices, ensuring that Americans’ ability to access the ballot isn’t dependent on which state they live in, and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act would revitalize the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to defend against racial discrimination in our elections.

Instead of trying to spread disinformation and making American lives harder through stupid voter suppression laws that threaten our democracy, support the Congressional acts listed above…dig yourself out of a dark, insidious, anti-voter hole!

Just sayin’.

* note: according to a campaign email.

Sources

Common Cause Maryland
Alternet.org
Campaign Legal Center
Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law
Salon
ABC News
CBS News – 60 Minutes
LA Times
PBS News Hour
Fox13 News
Mother Jones
CNN
Salon
Campaign Legal Center
Congress.gov
Campaign Legal Center – The Bipartisan Origins &Impact of the For the People Act (H.R. 1/S. 1)
Human Rights Campaign
Wikipedia

Hello, Media? Asian. American. Lives. Matter. Wake UP!

General, Media, Social Justice, ,

On the same day that I signed a petition created by Asian American Collective that asks mainstream media to get up and cover the issues of the Asian American community, mainstream and cable media (except Fox News) finally brought to America’s attention the recent spate of murder and multiple assualts against Asian Americans.

Hey! Public pressure can work!

Early last week, I signed this petition:

Get Mainstream News Coverage Of National Elderly Asian American Assaults

It reads in part:

Over the course of the past year, the unfortunate inflation of racist rhetoric associated with the origin and spread of the Coronavirus has resulted in an uptick of deadly hate crimes against Asian Americans.

In the past week we’ve seen murders and hateful assaults skyrocket across America but have noticeably felt ZERO pressure to cover from America’s mainstream news sources. Why is it that in the eyes of American media, Asian lives do not matter?

President Biden very recently signed an Executive Order to help combat hate crimes toward the Asian American community. He even outlined his agenda on the campaign trail for the AAPI Community.

Because Asian Americans still have not been given a voice in mainstream America and it’s time they covered OUR struggles, fights and needs. We are Americans and deserve to live without constant fear, or the fear of our elders being senselessly murdered. 

Why does it take public pressure to compel the media to inform Americans about their fellow human beings becoming targets of racial hostility? And in particular, elderly Asian Americans?

Is it just convenient to pretend we’re invisible? Especially elderly people?

Asian Americans have been in the Americas for a long time. According to Wikpedia’s page on Asian immigration:

the first Asian-origin people known to arrive in North America after the beginning of the European colonization were a group of Filipinos known as “Luzonians” or Luzon Indians. These Luzonians were part of the crew and landing party of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Buena Esperanza.

The ship set sail from Manila and landed in Morro Bay in what is now the California Coast on October 17, 1587 as part of the Galleon Trade between the Spanish East Indies (the colonial name for what would become the Philippines) and New Spain (Spain’s colonies in North America).

And according to a historical pamphlet, Timeline: 400 Years of Chinese in The Americas produced by The Museum of Chinese in the Americas (MoCA) in New York City, the Spanish documented Chinese settlements in Acapulco “as early as 1600s and later in Mexico City by 1635”.

Filipino sailors were the first to settle in the U.S. around 1750 in what would later be Louisiana.

And the arrival of three Chinese seamen in Baltimore in 1785 marks the first record of Chinese in the United States.

We’ve been here a while, people!

After all these centuries, are Asian Americans still reduced to only cultural things from which non-Asians enjoy and benefit?

Things like martial arts: kung-fu, karate, and jujitsu? Foods, including sushi, No. 1 Chinese take-out that, in my opinion, no-self-respecting Chinese person would consume, and bobo drinks? Movies that portray women as either submissive and docile or conniving “dragon” women – and men often portrayed as emasculated nerd scientists or good guy-bad guy martial artists? Or somewhere in between but invisible – an extra in a movie – an office worker or random person walking in the street but silent or having a bit speaking part of no signficance?

Asian Americans have built America’s railroads, have turned California’s swamplands into farmlands to feed America, have fought patriotically in its wars (like my father and uncles), have taken care of our fellow citizens when they become ill via countless medical personnel, fought for rights and better living conditions in Congress, have worked tirelessly as scientists among their colleagues to find cures for diseases, and so much more.

And what thanks have we gotten? I’ll give you a sampling:

• The Nazi-like 1882 Chinese Exlusion Act – renewed repeatedly until the 1940s;

• Lynchings, physical violence, pillaging, and other untold crimes during the 19th century;

• Chinese detained at Angel Island (the Ellis Island of the West) to answer asinine questions from authorities to determine the authenticity of their identities;

• Japanese internment camps across the country during WWII;

• Racial hostility that continues to this day – magnified in the past year thanks to our now-former U.S. president who cruelly referred to COVID-19 as the “China virus” and “kung flu” and who inspired some of his most rabid followers to spew the same racist rhetoric to complete strangers of Asian heritage – sometimes accompanied by spitting or violent physical assault.

• Invisibility from the media, unless it suits them somehow.

I guess a spate of assaults against elderly Asian Americans isn’t sexy, titillating news.

Allow me to indulge you with naming some of the people who were attacked.

Vicha Ratanapakdee, 84 – knocked to the ground while on his morning walk January 28, 2021, by a teenager. Mr. Ratanapakdee’s fall resulted in his head hitting the pavement and him sliding into a garage door. Ratanapakdee died two days later as a result of his injuries after being taken to a hospital. He was originally from Thailand. (Bay Area, CA)

Yik Oi Huang, 88 – beaten by a teenager with her own cane before stealing her keys and leaving her to die in the sandbox of a playground across from her home on Jan. 9, 2019. Huang suffered a skull fracture, brain bleeding, numerous facial fractures, and injury to her spine, hands and ribs,. She was bleeding heavily from her head, face and nose. She died January 3, 2020, nearly a year after her injuries. (Bay Area CA)

Noel Quintana, 61 – was on his way to work on the L subway train when he got into a dispute with another man and was slashed across the face on Wednesday morning, February 5, 2021. Mr. Quintana claimed the man was kicking his backpack during the commute, according to ABC7. When Quintana asked him to stop, the suspect slashed the 61 year-old man on the right cheek with a box cutter causing physical injuries and ran away when the train made another stop. Mr. Quintana told ABC News he feared for his life since nobody was helping him. He was taken to a local hospital for treatment. (New York City, NY)

Mauricio Gesmundo, Sr., 83 – was getting ready for dinner when he heard loud sounds from inside his house on December 31, 2020 (New Year’s Eve). His son recalled, “All he remembers is whoever it was covered his face and then beat him.” His family found him bound and duct-taped. He died from his injuries on January 18, 2021.(Philadelphia, PA)

There are so many more Asian Americans who’ve been attacked as well. A New York NBC station reports that while the pandemic’s long-lasting impact has affected public health and the economy, the Asian-American community has also experienced the fallout of COVID-19 – being unfairly blamed for the pandemic and becoming the target of discrimination and violence.

According to the Asian American Bar Association of New York (AABANY) report “A Rising Tide of Hate and Violence against Asian Americans in New York During COVID-19: Impact, Causes, Solutions,” they found:

Anti-Asian hate incidents increased dramatically in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and then surged after the election of Donald J. Trump. South Asian, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu and Middle Eastern communities all faced recurring cycles of harassment and violence. Since the onset of the pandemic, however, anti-Asian hate incidents now primarily directed at East Asians have skyrocketed according to both official and unofficial reports.

Across the country, there were more than 2,500 reports of anti-Asian hate incidents related to COVID-19 between March and September 2020. And this number understates the actual number of anti-Asian hate incidents because most incidents are not reported.

The report goes on to say that, as of Dec. 31, 2020,

there were 259 anti-Asian incidents in New York reported to “Stop AAPI Hate,” a report center sponsored by the Asian Pacific Policy & Planning Council, Chinese for Affirmative Action, and San Francisco State University’s Asian-American Studies Department. Although the majority of the incidents reported involve verbal harassment, shunning, physical assault, as well as being coughed and spat on are being reported at an alarming rate, according to the published study.

I’m not going to insult the people I mentioned who were attacked by discussing their attackers. They don’t deserve my time and space. Last I checked, two perpetrators have been arrested and at least two are still on the loose.

Mr. Ratanapakdee, Ms. Huang, Mr. Quintana, and Mr. Gesmundo. These individuals all had families. They were someone’s father, great-grandmother, mother, grandfather, auntie, and uncle.

Many of us have grandparents, parents, aunties, uncles we love – or loved and remembered, if they no longer are with us. The individuals I mentioned could have been one of our own parents, grandparents, relatives, or loved ones. The violence of their attacks numbs my mind and turns my stomach, and I can’t fathom the searing pain their families have endured. What a horrible way to have left this world.

With thousands of anti-Asian hate incidents related to the COVID-19 reported – and likely many unreported according to multiple news sources, why is America seemingly unaware of this? One night of mention on the news will not make an impression in our attention-deficit world. I thought multiple attacks against vulnerable people would garner worthy news attention.

But maybe not if they’re Asian American and apparently deemed invisible by mainstsream and cable news? Is omission of Asian American elder attacks what corporate media desires – to convey to the American public that we really don’t matter?

If so, that’s pretty downright sick.

Asian Americans…they exist?

Damn right we exist!

I’m grateful for activist organizations like Asian American Collective to bring to my attention the injustice of the violent attacks against elderly Asians and to bring national attention to the plight of our fellow human beings.

So hello, American media – yes, that includes you, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, WaPo, LA Times, NY Times, and even those who mentioned the rise in Asian American hate crimes:

ASIAN. AMERICAN. LIVES. MATTER.

We exist. A one-time mention isn’t sufficient.

With more than a couple thousand recorded complaints of anti-Asian hate crimes and counting, throughout the pandemic, you’ve no excuse not to follow-up on this. Tell us about those who’ve been attacked, about their lives, who they are or who they were, how their families are coping, how their respective communities have responded.

Wake UP!

Your silence is deafening. If you proclaim to provide “fair and balanced” news that has an impact on American lives, then treat ALL Americans with respect and tell them when their fellow citizens are being harmed repeatedly. Name names!

Don’t dehumanize and reduce us as just a group.

SAY their names: Vicha Ratanapakdee. Yik Oi Huang. Noel Quintana. Mauricio Gesmundo.

They’re just the tip of the iceberg.

Peace.

Sources

Change.org – petition
Change.org – petition update
SF Examiner
Next Shark
CBS Philly
Newsbreak
SF Examiner
ABC7 News
AsAmNews
Next Shark
ABC7 News
The Hill
NBC4 New York
Wikipedia
Asian-Nation
Archives.gov
Times of Israel
Wikipedia
Britannica
History.com
NBC – Asian America
American History USA
Teaching for Change
Asian American Bar Association of New York

No Badge Needed

General, Media, Women,

Last Monday, February 1st, 2021, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Congresswoman from New York, shared on Instagram her harrowing experience on living through the January 6th, 2021, insurrection on the Capitol. In part, she said:

These folks who tell us to move on, that it’s not a big deal, that we should forget what’s happened, or even telling us to apologize. These are the same tactics of abusers. And I’m a survivor of sexual assault.
~Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), 2/1/21

Take in that last line: And I’m a survivor of sexual assault.

A number of people have taken offense to that, saying that she, as a politician, was using her experience as a sexual assault survivor as a tool to manipulate the public in some way or to make herself the center of attention.

The Spectator writer Amber Athey wrote:

This is gross manipulation, and AOC should be ashamed. Not for sharing that she was sexually assaulted — I have no way of knowing whether or not her story is true and, ultimately, it’s irrelevant to the issue of the storming of the Capitol.

The real story here is that AOC used her alleged trauma as a cudgel against her political opponents. She has weaponized her alleged experience to silence anyone who criticizes her and even went so far as to compare them to the person or people who abused her. This type of behavior cheapens sexual assault.

To which conservative media personality Rush Limbaugh added during his February 2nd radio show:

And to show you how it’s working, I have a friendly supporter who calls and says, “You better be real careful what you’re saying here. It’s obvious you’ve never been abused.” How is it obvious? Maybe I should be proud that I don’t wear that around. That’s also something generational. You just didn’t talk about things. You just lived your life. You dealt with it as it happened.

Now, you wear the badge. Generational changes, generational shifts. But Amber Athey believes that AOC “weaponized her alleged experience to silence anyone who criticizes her.” I know the left does that. They have become champions at that, in fact.

Badge?

There’s no fucking badge. Except in your head.

Generational changes, yes, Mr. Limbaugh. Generational shifts. You said it. Many people change their thinking on different matters over time, like sexual assault and rape. Thanks largely to social movements like #MeToo, survivors of sexual assault can feel safe that they are not alone – that they have the option to reveal they’ve experienced horrific violation, either publicly or privately – rather than burying their emotions.

In more survivors coming forward, they build solidarity in numbers and in shared experiences, so that society, rather than constantly blaming and dismissing them, begins to respect and believe them. And importantly, survivors expose and hold to account their perpetrators.

And maybe you are actually fine with that, I don’t know. But I’m gonna pick on you because you have a record of debasing women to your audience over many years. Notably, women who speak up for themselves: women who might talk about an intimately painful experience in their past, women with whom you disagree politically, or women whom you perceive to be an obstacle to the advancement of your favored person’s position (like a judge or a president). Does the name Sandra Fluke ring a bell? Dr. Christine Blasey Ford?

And now you cast aspersions on Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

You started your broadcast on February 2nd introducing her Instagram video with “Have you seen this video, folks …If you haven’t, it’s amazing acting.”

ACTING?!

So most people besides Amber Athey aren’t gonna have the guts to properly characterize this. But you ought to see this video if you haven’t. I mean, it’s filled with acting and gyrations of the body in order to transmit the nature of the assault she feared was happening all over again. And it was a sexual assault that she was being reconnected to.

So you have no right to be critical, because this is a traumatic event, and so forth and so on.

But when did you ever hear Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez say that you can NOT criticize her for revealing she is a sexual assault survivor?

Those are YOUR words, dude.

YOUR WORDS.

Later in your broadcast, a caller implied AOC and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford were pretending (acting?) when they revealed their traumatic experiences:

CALLER: Right. So when you have Christine Blasey Ford and AOC as someone, you know, pretending — and what they did to Justice Kavanaugh — what it does to people who really lived through it.

RUSH: Oh, yeah.

CALLER: — is it minimizes or diminishes —

RUSH: What a great example.

CALLER: — those of us who go through it.

RUSH: What a greatly [sic] example. Christine Blasey Ford and all these people piling on Kavanaugh.

So you agree with the caller that Dr. Ford and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were just pretending about their sexual assaults? Do you think they were making stuff up to grab attention and/or elicit sympathy?

If that’s not making light of one’s experience, I don’t know what is.

Or maybe or a more accurate term for casting aspersions on them is cynical.

Cynical, according to Merriam-Webster, means:

Having or showing the attitude or temper of a cynic: such as
a) contemptuously distrustful of human nature and motives
b) based on or reflecting a belief that human conduct is motivated primarily by self-interest

You apologized for a misunderstanding at first. Namely, that you thought Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez said she was sexually assaulted during the January 6th insurrection. Later, you said your primary point was not disputing that she has been abused and you weren’t making light of it or laughing about it, yet you continued to minimize her experiences she had both during the insurrection and her mention of being sexually assaulted (along with some of your callers).

You know, the question that got all of this started about her divulging that she had been sexually abused — the question that got it all started — was, “Why don’t you guys just move on? The January 6 thing was January 6th. The siege of the Capitol is in the rearview mirror. It happened. Why don’t you just move on?”

That’s what triggered her to talk about her alleged sexual abuse, and that’s when she said (summarized), “Look, these instances of abuse don’t ever go away. They compound on one another,” meaning the impact is added to each new instance of abuse and what she went through during the siege on January 6 was abuse on top of — which she then shared — was her sexual abuse and so forth.

So put another way. She was asked why she can’t move on from January 6, and she said because of her alleged sexual abuse. She politicized it, not me. She did.

“…and she said because of her alleged sexual abuse.” Not.

You conveniently glossed over horrific insurrection by dismissing Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez’ revealation as a sexual assault survivor as she spoke about the fears she experienced that day, comparing the tactics of her some of her naysayers as similar to abusers. And you said she politicized her trauma.

How cynical of you.

According to trauma experts interviewed by USA Today, Ocasio-Cortez’s reaction is normal and expected, and her account aligns with what science shows happens to a mind and body under extreme forms of stress. It’s likely, experts said, that Ocasio-Cortez’s experience with sexual assault intensified what she endured at the Capitol. Clinical psychologist Seth Gillihan told USA Today:

Trauma isn’t processing ‘sexual assault’ or ‘Capitol assault.’ What it’s processing is an overwhelming sense of danger, of feeling powerless, feeling my life is out of my hands. From an outsider’s perspective the sources look different, but inside our bodies and minds … it’s exactly the same message.

People died because of the assault on the Capitol! It was a potentially life-threatening attack on members of Congress, and for Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, it was a trauma compounded by her experience with sexual assault made all the more terrifying by the death threats she has received since she was elected to Congress.

It’s not triggering trauma, it’s trauma overlaid on trauma, Gillihan said.

Experts also said that Ocasio-Cortez’s gender is likely influencing reaction to her emotional disclosures. It’s much easier to suggest Ocasio-Cortez is fragile, oversensitive or even politically motivated than it is to accept the horror of what happened to her. They agreed with AOC and said denial and victim-blaming are common tactics abusers use.

One of the experts, Jennifer Gómez, a psychology professor at Wayne State University stated:

Abusers demand silence. The trouble is such a silence mandate is crazy-making for people who experience the violence and who see the world for what it is: a place that includes such violence just as much as it includes joy.

Screw silence on demand.

I believe as some observers have noted, that Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez spoke in such personal terms in order to reject calls to move on from the events of January 6th. “We cannot move on without accountability,” she insisted. “We cannot heal without accountability.”

Accountability, indeed.

So go take your cynicism to the nearest toxic waste dump where it belongs, Mr. Limbaugh. And throw your imagined badges in there while you’re at it, please.

Y’all stop invalidating @AOC’s experiences because you aren’t hearing about the experiences of other members. Everyone deals with trauma differently, her stories are validating for so many of us with similar experiences and she is showing people that vulnerability is strength.
~ Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Congresswoman, 2/1/21

Sources

Nation
Washington Post
New York Times
Merriam-Webster
Newsmax
The Rush Limbaugh Show
The Spectator
Alternet.org
MSN
USA Today
NY Post
Wikipedia
CBS News
Wikipedia
New York Times
Real Clear Politics
Media Matters

A Young Poet Leads the Way

General, Women

It is young people like poet Amanda Gorman, who recited her poem, “The Hill We Climb”, at the presidential inauguration on January 20th, who give me hope for the future. She wrote it right after the riot at the Capitol on January 6th, and I am awestruck by her words.

To my mind, her words flow freely every time I read her poem. I like it more with each re-reading!

She is our future, and I am glad of it; she’s a young person gifted with words – among countless other young persons you and I are likely unaware of, who sprinkles words of inspiration and fiery determination into our consciences.

Enjoy!

[from Democracy Now!’s broadcast; text of poem and transcript of show included.]

“The Hill We Climb”: Watch Breathtaking Poem by Amanda Gorman, Youngest Inaugural Poet in U.S. History

Idol Worship

General

For me, it’s hard not to observe the most die-hard followers of our now former president and not think about their devotion to him – to the point that if anyone expresses a critical view of the former president or his policies, the devotee may become vehemently defensive.

Defensive the way a teenager might become when their beloved pop idol is criticized by a friend or loved one.

Yes, that is a grand simplification, of course, There’s many complex factors involved, like economics and political ideology and I don’t pretend to understand and delve into their frustrations.

But just on the surface, it is astonishing to me how intense the reactions are of the former president’s most fervent followers to any words that don’t praise and glorify him.

When I was in junior high school during the ‘70s, I had a huuuuuuuge crush on a pop star and was teased mercilessly by my friends. My family allowed me my obsessive infatuation though their indifference was palpable, the way one might feel if she’d announced what she thought was a great idea to friends and acquaintances – only to be met with obligatory, patronizing half-nods and thin, toothless smiles.

I’m guessing my family was likely concerned I was idolizing him to a ridiculous, time-consuming level…instead of focusing on more important things like doing my homework.

But hey, I was a young teenager! And what teen isn’t tormented from riding on a daily emotional rollercoaster, whether at home or at school, or both? My tender feelings felt like they’d been harshly and unjustly attacked when I was criticized in the slightest for fawning over my beloved pop star.

As in: how dare you attack me for liking what I like! Don’t I have the right to enjoy music I like, just like you do? Humpf!

I joined a fan club for this pop star, bought a goldtone necklace of his image (that might now resemble an icon on a road sign if it were massively enlarged), and I also had a t-shirt of him smiling, to let the whole world I was in love with him… to tell the whole world he was the best singer in the world!

I got a couple of his records for Christmas and listened to his songs a million times til I could memorize all the lyrics, and I tried to catch him on tv holiday specials through the years.

So yeah, I had a pretty strong girl crush on him. Any criticism of him – or by extension, me (to my mind), was intolerable. An unwarranted, malicious attack. He’s my man, dammit! You leave him alone.

I was head over heels “in love” with him. And often when one is in love – and I imagine, particularly when it is only one-sided, reason goes out the window. Fiery emotions rule the day!

My beloved pop star and our now former president are apples and oranges, but when I look at the unhappy, most die-hard followers of the latter, it seems they are like I was as an obsessed, young teen when presented with opposing viewpoints: unable to handle even the slightest criticism (or perceived criticism) of their dear pop star – quick to go on the defense.

Vehemently so. Enamored of his words. Wanting to listen to him a million times.

Can never get enough of him. He’s an addiction.

Like my family and friends who didn’t understand my great obsession with my pop star, perhaps those who didn’t vote for the Dear Leader are similarly concerned for their friends and loved ones who are obsessed with him, maybe thinking to themselves:

he’s not God, for crying out loud!

If the former president’s most die-hard fans are worked up about any particular criticism of him, they might go on the offensive, saying something negative about “the other side”, usually in an accusatory tone: Why don’t they investigate the VP’s son or They’ve been mean to him [Dear Leader] from the start!

Oh, that elusive they! WHO are they, I ask you?

It’s hard to be clear and reasonable when you’re as hoppin’ mad as Yosemite Sam.

Hard, when you’re a tormented teen, with raging hormones and trying to find your way in the world amid parental and familial “control” over your life, coping in the presence of your fellow tormented teens, and feeling that you must fiercely defend all you hold dear to your heart – including your beloved popstar, from the slightest prick of criticism.

But what’s with the grown-ups who can’t even handle mere words expressing opposing views of their demigod without going nearly ballistic, as if their guy can do no wrong and is above the law?

Will these fervent followers of the former president ever outgrow their obession of him?

I still enjoy “my” popstar’s music, for sure! Am certainly not in love with him. He’s married for one thing. And to another man. More power to him!

There was a time, about 34 years ago when my pop star was scheduled to come to the city I was working in, to a bookstore near my workplace, to sign autographs of his newly released autobiography. I planned to go after work.

But then there was a bomb threat at the store; I don’t remember if it was because of him or not. There were literally hundreds of women openly weeping because his visit was announced by store management that it would be cancelled for safety concerns.

And then suddenly, I saw the local news cameras! Cameras focusing on the screaming, weeping women.

Oh dear, I thought! I’ve got relatives in the area…I don’t want the cameras to catch me! I couldn’t bear the thought of being caught on camera like a person sneaking away for a secret rendezvous and risk the possibility of my relatives calling my mom to tell her they saw me on the evening news among hundreds of women crying because they couldn’t see “our” pop star! No way.

Nevertheless, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t hoping for a just a tiny, fleeting moment of star-gazing at one of my favorite popstars. I was only half-hearted about the prospect of buying his book and standing in line for god knows how long just so he could autograph it! I’d already had a looong day at work and was very tired. But the novelty of seeing a celebrity I liked was kind of a fun idea…until I saw the tear-soaked women. More so than seeing the local news crews.

I was not weeping, just feeling disappointed…and maybe a bit startled when I saw the huge and nearly hysterical crowd. Their reaction to the news that he wouldn’t be there embarrassed me a bit; it looked to me that they had invested so much of their individual identities in the popstar. I certainly did not want to go there!

That vivid scene permanently cured me of any vestige of idol worship of him, though that incident occurred a good decade after my teen obession by that point.

Now that the Dear Leader is not in office anymore, I wonder if his most fervent followers’ obsession with him will fade with time, as mine did with my pop star? That maybe at best, they’ll still like him and admire his words, but won’t be the least bit offended at the slightest criticism of him. That they would be sorely embarrassed and startled by his die-hard fans’ worshipful behavior towards him. And that they can wholeheartedly divorce their individual identities from him.

I hope so.

They might discover there are many interesting people and things outside their attachment to him.

If our sense of self, our values and our ideals, do not originate from within – but are instead largely influenced, shaped or fashioned by celebrated characters – we fall under the spells of idol worship without realizing we have ‘souled out’.
~ T.F. Hodge

A Ray of Sunshine

Civics, General, Media, Women, , ,

Do you know who Maria Ressa is?

I only vaguely knew of this renowned journalist who was accused of cyber libel in June 2020, and then the other night, PBS’ Frontline show had a great documentary on the threatened status of press freedom in the Philippines, focusing on Maria Ressa. She is a dynamo! Intensity and reslience packed into a small stature. Check out this documentary:

A Thousand Cuts

With press freedom under threat in the Philippines, A Thousand Cuts goes inside the escalating war between the government and the press. The documentary follows Maria Ressa, a renowned journalist who has become a top target of President Rodrigo Duterte’s crackdown on the news media. …

Her resoluteness, her confidence, and her forthrightness shine bright – so much so that she has remained ingrained in my mind for days. And I’ll venture to say, for years to come.

Ressa is a top target of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, having been an outspoken critic of his policies for many years – in particular, the extrajudicial killings, human rights violations, and fast-rising death toll from Duterte’s brutal war on drugs as well as the alleged pro-Duterte online “troll army” who were pushing out fake news stories and manipulating the narrative around his presidency. She has posted bail 9 times and has endured relentless political harrassment by the Duterte government and its supporters. Yet it doesn’t deter her from battling disinformation.

Bullies like Duterte don’t seem to faze Maria Ressa. (Would you expect less from someone who spent many years investigating terrorist networks in Southeast Asia?)

And she says she will not let herself be intimidated.

I love that about her!

For me, Maria Ressa is a ray of sunshine in these dark days of the pandemic. She is an inspiration for those who are deeply disgusted by the US wanna-be dictator who has repeatedly called the press the enemy of the people and has denounced any journalist who has committed the “crime” of criticizing him. She may be in the Philippines – she is by the way also a US citizen, but she nevertheless is an inspiration to many around the world who value and respect a free and open democracy.

Amendment I of the US Constitution clearly states:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Similarly, Section 4 of the Bill of Rights in the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines clearly states:

No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.

Nice to know the US Constitution has inspired others around the globe to enshrine similar rights into their own countries’ constitutions!

But not-so-nice to know that the most powerful man on earth has been inspired by the dictators of the world with regard to how to treat members of the press, as per his own acknowledgment.

Neither the leader of the Philippines nor the soon-to-be former leader of the United States like the press, let alone respect it. Well, arguably, no political “leader” does; however, but when you, Presidents Duterte and Trump, publicly single out journalists by belittling them in front of their peers at a press conference or at a mass rally of your followers because they wrote something you didn’t like, arrest them on allegedly politically motivated charges, insinuate that a certain journalist “could be a target for assassination”, laugh when your dictator buddy calls the press corps “spies”, announce in a jesting tone that you think it’d be a good idea to arrest and maybe “get rid of” journalists who criticize and contradict your mistatements with facts just like another dictator buddy, and worst of all, say that the press is the enemy of the people, then I’d say that you, Dear Leaders – and there’s more than two of you on this planet, have an unimaginable contempt for your fellow citizens. For those who elected you as well as those who did not.

Journalists are here to hold our elected leaders accountable! Every last one of them, from the local level all the way to the president.

It disturbed me recently that CBS News had recently put out a promotional ad about themselves stating the obvious: without a free press, we don’t have a free society. Probably not the exact words – I can’t think of them at this moment…but you get the idea.

I thought to myself: What?! This is what our president inspired – that a national media company felt compelled to remind the public of this?

Fortunately, we have courageous journalists like Maria Ressa here in the US, too. Like Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, who is one of my favorite investigative reporters and no stranger to having put her life on the line as has Maria, to report the news.

To Maria and Amy and all the intrepid journalists like yourselves out there in the world: you are essential to our freedom to live and breathe safely by keeping check on those in power, informing the public when you expose abuse, corruption, and goodness knows what else has occurred. You shine a spotlight into the dark nooks and crannies of our world for the public good. America needs you now more than ever. The world needs you.

I need you!

We can’t fight monsters by becoming monsters. ~ Maria Ressa

Sources

PBS Frontline
Rappler
Elle
Wikipedia
NPR
The Guardian
U.S. Constitution
constituteproject.org
Vox
Washington Post
National Review
Global News
The Guardian

Aspiring to Wokeness

General, Social Justice

Update: 1/4/21
I just now learned that there was a lack of consultation with Indigenous nations about the one-word change to Australia’s national anthem — with the exception, apparently, of Indigenous members of Parliament, before the public announcement.

Disappointing revelation, to be sure. The anthem change seems to have brought about a mixed bag reaction from the nation’s Indigenous population. Frustration at being left out (again) and cautious optimism for addressing the issues of the First Nations of Australia beyond small, symbolic gestures in the future.

I hope for the best outcomes for Australia. And I apologize for any glaring errors expressed in my post.

Here’s some refreshing news to kick off 2021 (and to finish off 2020):

Australia Tweaks Anthem to Recognize Indigenous History

The lyrics of Australia’s national anthem have been altered by one word to recognize the country’s Indigenous history, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced Thursday.

Until Friday [January 1, 2021], the song began: “Australians all let us rejoice, for we are young and free.” But as the country celebrated the beginning of the new year, the “young” was dropped. The anthem now describes the country as “one and free.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said:

In the spirit of unity, it is only right that we also now acknowledge this and ensure our national anthem reflects this truth and shared appreciation. … Changing ‘young and free’ to ‘one and free’ takes nothing away, but I believe it adds much.”

The New York Times and other news media reported that the move was supported across the political spectrum.

Isn’t that awesome?!

It’s only symbolic, yes, but nevertheless, a tiny step forwards in finally – and officially, acknowledging their nation’s indigenous history. Whose native people have been residents for upwards of 60,000 years, according to current research.

Heck, Australia also tweaked the first line of its national anthem to make it more inclusive of women when “Australia’s sons” became “Australians all.”

And this was after they ditched their first anthem, “God Save the Queen” in 1984, a vestige of British colonialism.

You go, Aussies!

I hardly know a thing about Australia and its history, save for its location on a world map, but I’ll venture to say that Australia’s indigenous population has likely suffered centuries-long indignities and injustices imposed upon them with impunity by colonizers, corporations, and their present-day fellow citizens.

Just like in the United States of America and every land where indigenous populations reside.

The first thing that came to mind when I saw the headline about this was: Aussies are woke!

Yes, I’m quite sure a good lot of them already are – I have worked with and befriended several over the years; however, it is rather nice when one’s government makes an official, symbolic gesture of recognition of their long-oppressed Indigenous population through a slight change in their national anthem – in the spirit of unity, after an excruciatingly painful year for everyone. Don’t you think so?

WOKE.

What a hot-button word that’s become.

Wikipedia says woke:

is a political term which originated in the United States and it refers to a perceived awareness of issues which concern social justice and racial justice. It derives from the African-American Vernacular English expression “stay woke“, whose grammatical aspect refers to a continuing awareness of these issues.

This term, according to Wikipedia, has roots in political culture and political ads during the 1860 presidential election in support of Abraham Lincoln, when the Republican Party cultivated the movement to primarily oppose the spread of slavery as described in the Wide Awakes movement.

Usage of woke dates to the 1960s; some sources say the early 70s. Others mention 2008.

Opponents and critics of wokeness describe it as something pretentious, elitist, self-righteous, authoritarian, and other unflattering adjectives. It’s been called a PC litmus test and a boundary line separating people. And detractors call woke people “hypersensitive”. Sometimes critics attack “woke culture” as a way of claiming victim status for yourself rather than acknowledging that more deserving others hold that status.

Even former U.S. President Barack Obama expressed comments in October 2019 that critiqued woke culture, stating: “This idea of purity and you’re never compromised and you’re politically woke, and all that stuff – you should get over that quickly. The world is messy. There are ambiguities. People who do really good stuff have flaws.”

Well, I don’t know about the purity part, Mr. President…I haven’t heard or read about that. Yet. Granted, there are people who may not be effective at communicating their message of raising awareness about injustices past and present toward marginalized people and who may be completely unwilling to listen to opposing viewpoints.

But what I want to know is: why are some people so deeply hostile to learning about historical and present day injustices toward others that it practically elicits a strong, viseral feeling of disgust that is palpable to those listening?

I’ve heard the exasperated comments from loved ones, coworkers, acquaintances, and strangers in public: Why is XYZ bringing this slave stuff up again? or Why are we talking about stuff that happened hundreds of years ago? I didn’t do that shit! or Am I supposed to feel guilty again?! or All lives matter!

Oh, don’t get me started on “all lives matter”! That’s such a cheap shot. A below-the-belt insult and denialism of others’ lived experiences. Of course, all lives matter. But in America and everywhere else, some people’s lives are valued more than others. Anyone with a shred of respect for history and who is aware of how our legal justice system operates in reality can see that.

This feeling guilty business? That came from people I know and like. No one is trying to make you feel guilty! Where does this insecurity come from? Are you even listening to what’s being said? Why in the world do you think receiving information about injustices against others different from you is supposed to make you feel guilt-ridden?

Of course you aren’t personally responsible for horrific acts done against others hundreds of years ago. This isn’t about you.

However, if you will claim to be someone who values freedom for all, then why do you have so much trouble, so much hostility, toward others who have fought and continue to fight for their freedom? Freedom from not being killed for being who they are? Freedom from discriminatory laws and practices directed at them?

I feel I have a bit of a clue about injustices and indiginities suffered by others; I am someone who’s still fair game to the willfully ignorant out in the world through being a target of racial hostility and harrassment from random strangers, and from having had my life threatened because of who I am. Thankfully, these incidents have been few and far between (excepting the last four years) and only a drop in the bucket compared to what my parents, relatives, and previous generations before me endured. So yeah, to all you critics and detractors out there, I think I earned my hypersensitivity!

Hopefully, all those unhappy incidents and the knowledge of my family’s discriminatory experiences have made me more considerate and sensitive toward others’ pain.

I want to always be aware of what is going on in the world.

To be woke. To the best of my ability.

It’s a lifelong endeavor of learning. Of being willing to accept some measure of discomfort.

I’d much rather be acutely aware than be in hostile denial or be in willful ignorance of wrongs done to others. To be otherwise would be disrespecting myself. A slap in the face to my family, friends, and every person who believes in justice and accountability. That’s how I feel to the marrow of my osteoporotic spine.

By the way, I’m not into being elitist, pretentious, authoritarian, or self-righteous. I don’t think those behaviors necessarily go hand-in-hand with being sensitized to others who’ve experienced indignities.

Sources

Wikipedia
New York Times
The Guardian
AIATSIS
Slangit
Merriam-Webster
The American Conservative
SONGLYRICS
National Herald India
Otago Daily Times
The Guardian

In Praise of Ms. Jones

Civics, General, Media, Women, , ,

On the morning of December 7th, 2020, former Florida COVID-19 data scientist Rebekah Jones had her home raided by state police. They aimed their guns at her and her family, as seen on video. They seized her phone, computer and several hard drives, preventing her from continuing to publish data on COVID-19 outbreaks.

Jones wrote on social media after the raid:

“They pointed a gun in my face. They pointed guns at my kids… This was DeSantis. He sent the gestapo [sic].”

She built the much-praised COVID-19 dashboard before being fired over what she said was refusing to “manipulate data”, according to USA TODAY. She was fired from her job as Geographic Information Systems manager for the department on May 5th, 2020. 

The World Socialist Web Site reports that the specific allegation made against Jones that led to the police raid was:

that she was responsible for an email being sent to Florida’s Department of Health employees imploring them to “speak up before another 17,000 people are dead,” which Jones denies having sent. She asserts that, in part, officials seized her devices to determine what contacts she has within the Department of Health, who will in turn likely be victimized in the near future.

Rebekah Jones has since launched her own COVID-19 dashboard after being removed from the state’s project. You can find it here. And explained in some detail, here.

She has also just filed a suit against the Florida Department of Law Enforcement over the raid at her home.

Why am I writing about this?

Because when I think about what happened to her, this is what is going through my mind: This is where hard-earned taxpayer monies go – to use armed state police to harass an unarmed scientist and her family in their home due to an unsubstantiated suspicion? Is this perhaps a retaliation against Ms. Jones from certain leaders in power who didn’t like that she refused to fudge the COVID-19 numbers to make their government look better?!

I personally have never had any really negative encounter with local or state police in my lifetime. Not even from two encounters with state police who issued me the traffic tickets I’ve gotten in the past. (getting the tickets was more painful!) I don’t have any personal grudge against police.

However, I do take great issue with law enforcement officers who abuse the public trust when they engage in corruption, sexism, racism, or employ excessive force against peaceful, UNARMED, law-abiding citizens, be it a scientist or peaceful protesters. Particularly against people of color.

I had a close, late friend who relayed his tale of walking home from work one night when he was suddenly bodyslammed to the ground because…why? He apparently resembled a suspect accused of some offense. It was a case of mistaken identity and he was released. But I don’t know if the officers apologized to him. My friend was a big man, originally from India. And no security officer ever came to his rescue when rocks were thrown at him and his friends by a crowd who supposedly “didn’t want his kind” at a country music concert somewhere in a southern state. My friend loved American country music. I thought part of security personnel’s jobs was to prevent and stop harm to others.

And I think it is deeply dangerous to idolize police, as if they are all angels who can do no wrong. They are human beings, for crying out loud!

To put them all on some fantastical, god-like pedestal and make excuses for those who perpetrate heinous crimes against their fellow citizens is irresponsible and a betrayal of public trust. It’s a willful denial of the lived experiences of those who have been the target of police brutality, especially in the face of overwhelming evidence. Call a spade a spade and quit giving a free pass to law enforcement officers who do wrong to others, instead of trying to immediately shift blame on the injured (or dead) party by casting aspersions on their character or actions. Like, if only he wasn’t swaggering around the way he did, or he should have answered/obeyed the officer immediately (like a dog?), or why was she out at night and dressed like that, or why did she have to be so loud and sassy? That’s bullshit.

Disgusting.

I do not condone crimes; I want public accountability of those who have been entrusted with power – who abuse it and harm others.

What’s so hard about not using excessive force on peaceful, unarmed people? Particularly in the privacy of their own home?

The important point, to my mind, is that Ms. Jones kept her fellow Floridians and researchers around the country informed with facts about the spread of COVID-19. Determined to do so even after she and her spouse were violently harassed by state police, and her young children terrified by them.

(remember, violence is not always physical; it can be verbal, too)

She has stood up for science. For public health. For FACTS. And has not been afraid to tell the truth about what has happened to her — she has refused to bow down to bullies. I respect all of that. Immensely.

If anything, this pandemic has helped me to appreciate and respect science that much more. I’ve always liked science…I just didn’t apply myself very well on science exams during my school years, from elementary school through college. And I felt guilty when I didn’t do so well because I knew instinctively that science was important.

So huge kudos to you, Rebekah Jones, for your work in helping to inform others. For standing up for yourself, for standing up for Floridians’ health, and not letting anyone bully you! I hope you will keep doing your work for many, many years to come. Florida is lucky to have you.

Sources

USA Today
Florida COVID Action
NPR
World Socialist Web Site
CNN
Tampa Bay Times

Petition to President-elect Biden: Free Palestine—and the Sahrawi people too!

Civics, General, Social Justice, ,

I signed this petition from CODEPINK today:

Free Palestine—and the Sahrawi people, too!

[edited from  my codepink email]

Trump is obsessed with arming the Middle East. Last week, Morocco became the fourth Arab nation to establish diplomatic relations with Israel in yet another fake “peace deal” via Donald Trump. In a quid pro quo, in exchange for normalizing Israeli apartheid, the U.S. is recognizing Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara — an area, and native people, illegally occupied, just like the Israeli occupation of Palestine. To no one’s surprise, the Trump administration has also just reached a deal to sell Morocco $1 billion in weapons — drones and munitions made by General Atomics, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Boeing. 

After more than 200 years of occupation, Spain withdrew from the region in 1975 and split control of the land between Morocco and Mauritania — despite demands for independence from the Sahrawis. By 1979, Mauritania had relinquished power over the area, but Morocco maintained its iron grip through decades of brutal war. In 45 years of Moroccan rule, the Sahrawi people have endured endless oppression, including violent military occupation and the persecution of peaceful activists. Thousands have been forced to flee their homes and live their entire lives in refugee camps. 

Last month, on November 13, the Moroccan army invaded the Al Guerguerat village in Western Sahara where around 60 peaceful Sahrawi protestors had set up an encampment. After the military “successfully” dismantled the camp, Moroccan police launched a crackdown on the Sahrawi activists, including home raids, surveillance, and arrests. On November 30, just days before the Israel-Morocco normalization deal, Amnesty International called for a thorough investigation into human rights abuses in the region. 

No country other than the U.S. has recognized Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. Western Sahara belongs to Morocco as much as Palestinian territory belongs to Israel — IT DOESN’T! Just as we support indigenous rights in the U.S. and in Palestine, we must speak up for the freedom and dignity of the Sahrawi, people. We — including President-elect Biden — must join in solidarity with their struggle for freedom and do everything we can to block the recent sale of $1 billion in weapons to Morocco to fund their oppression.

It is unacceptable for the United States to perpetuate the oppression of the Sahrawi people, just as it is wrong for the U.S. to arm Israel in its war on Palestinian rights.

Ask Joe Biden to support Sahrawi freedom by signing our petition to undo Trump’s recognition of Western Sahara as Moroccan territory. Sign our petition asking him to reverse Trump’s declaration that Western Sahara belongs to Morocco.

 

You may also be interested to learn more about Western Sahara in this documentary from Democracy Now!, by one of my favorite investigative journalists, Amy Goodman, who’s no stranger to putting her life on the line. I didn’t know a thing about Western Sahara until this news from Democracy Now!  Transcript of documentary provided in link.

Four Days in Occupied Western Sahara —  A Rare Look Inside Africa’s Last Colony as Ceasefire Ends

[November 27, 2020]

Bullies Everywhere

Civics, General, ,

What the devil is wrong with a certain set of spineless politicians who will do most anything to overturn a national election because they can’t handle a loss?

Whose party leader inspires his followers to threaten and bully even their own party politicians who decide they have their own brains to follow the law?

Who are, in essence, behaving like schoolyard bullies, expecting everyone to kowtow to their wishes.

Sore losers!

I despise bullying.

I’m no psychologist, but I feel there has to be something sorely lacking in these people’s lives that they would willingly subvert the will of their fellow citizens who voted for another candidate.

Don’t we have enough sickness with the pandemic going on, with thousands dying daily, and new cases of people getting infected daily?

Yes, sickness.

I think you have to be sick both head and heart to want to waste people’s time (and money) trying to overturn an election that has repeatedly been shown to have no evidence of fraud. Repeatedly.

Denied by the judges! Lack of solid evidence.

Even more deeply sickening is that these “leaders” rarely condemn the violence perpetrated against others, be it politicians, poll workers, or peaceful protestors. And violence includes threatening phone calls to secretaries of state and encircling their homes in person, carrying guns.

WTF?!

I’d venture to say there’s probably a bully in every school and workplace.

But not everyone who’s experienced abuse, neglect, grief, or any kind of hardship resorts to bullying others – using someone else as a convenient punching bag to cope with their inadequacies.

Who hasn’t had at least one bully encounter in their lives? It’s painful, to say the least. It’s mean and it’s cruel.

 

To bullies, I want to say:

You like threatening to harm others because it’s soothing to your fragile ego? You can’t stand it if you don’t feel you have power over others?

What ails you?!

There’s a fucking pandemic going on, for goodness sakes! Our country can do without more meanness and cruelty from you.

Go take a walk in the park or the woods and contemplate the beauty of nature…absorb some positivity instead of infecting others with your toxic negativity!

“I would rather be a little nobody, then [sic] to be a [sic] evil somebody.” ― attributed to Abraham Lincoln