Mayday March in Minneapolis

Typical Iranian Living Room

Found via Reddit. Don't know how to give credit to the artist.

Articles by David Roediger

Roediger will be in town this weekend. These are just place holders for articles he's written that I want to check out.

The Retreat from Race and Class in Monthly Review July-August 2006

Interview on Stuff White People Do

An Interview with David Roediger Working Toward Whiteness

Gook: the short history of an Americanism

What Effect Would Obama's Election Have on Race Relations?

Race Will Survive the Obama Phenomenon

Understanding Racism Today: an Interview with David Roediger

Great Book, Great Author Visit

Here's my flyer for David Roediger's visit to Mayday Books:

About those '70s feminists

An article on Alternet by Heidi Schnakenberg got a whole lot of comments. 268 of them when last I checked. Schnakenberg followed up with three more comments at her own blog before taking a break from blogging.

I happened upon the story by reading WOC PhD post entitled I care about WOC, I really do... that kind of blew me away as I said in the comments.

Other interesting responses to the issue:

Dear Feminisphere, PUT ON SOME DAMN PANTS

My anger is valid, your running away isn't

An imported rant: My sexuality, gender identity and ethnicity are NOT accessories that come with the Ami doll! >:|

Intersectionality, racism, and divisiveness in feminism

Yeah No by BlackAmazon

What I would like to do, when I get some time, is come up with an argument that cuts through the assumptions that white people make when we ask other people to concentrate on only one aspect of themselves: the fact they are female, and to put aside other aspects of themselves: all the other characteristics that differentiate ourselves from those in power.

But before I get to that, I want to tell Ms. Schnakenberg a little something about movement building. I'm a long time activist. I've seen a lot of political issues that have started out as one or two voices speaking out. Over time, with effort, those political ideas have grown and spread and sparked real change in the world. One way that is happened is by asking each other to unify around a single issue.

And I have never seen unification come about when my starting point has been to tell everyone else how they are doing it wrong. It's not a very effective way of working with other people.

And you know, Heidi does not seem to be a complete idiot. I find it really hard to believe that she doesn't understand that basic point.

Presenting activist Isabel Garcia



It's amazing how someone can spend years being an on-the-ground activist, making a real difference in the lives of real human beings and go unnoticed and unappreciated. Before yesterday, I had never heard of Isabel Garcia. She is a lawyer who works in the public defenders' office and an activist working with a coalition to defend the rights of immirants in Tuscon, Arizona.



In 2006, she was recognized by the Mexican government with the 2006 Premio Nacional de Derechos Humanos for promoting human rights, the first time a US citizen has received the award.

However, Isabel has pissed some people off and they will stop at nothing to try to discredit her.

I'm not gonna give any air time here to the sexist and racist crap that is being directed at Garcia. I'll post links below for you to acquaint yourself with the situation. Instead, I'd encourage you to go to the website of The Coalition de Derechos Humanos and support their work. There are sample letters you can send to support Garcia personally and there is a Donate! section on the left hand side that allows you to contribute to the cause.

I plunked $25 in the bucket. I challenge my readers to do the same!

And now for a round up of what some humorless right wing twits are in a snit about.

A good start is at Latino Politico.
The Unapologetic Mexican
American Humanity
The Sanctuary
Citizen Orange
Zuky
WOC PhD
Vivir Latino
The Mahatma X FIles
Galling Galla
La Chola
Off Our Pedestals
Questioning Transphobia
The Strangest Alchemy
Para Justicia y Libertad
Rum, Romanism and Rebellion
Chicks Dig Me
Problemchylde
Mexico Trucker Online

See Feathered Bastard from the Phoenix New Times for coverage.

edited to add

This quote from American Humanity has really stuck with me. Today I followed the links and got a really good breakdown on this kind of propaganda. Awesome writing!

When it comes to Latino activism many whites have made up their mind that these repressed and marginalized people are somehow advocating for a take over. This propaganda is simply meant to tear apart the idea of community and create an “us against them” mentality that helps those in power stay in power. Imagine if all of us worked together to make this country better from the ground up. That is a powerful thought. Sadly though, there is such misdirected anger from “true Americans” and “patriots” that it will take a lot of work to get there.

So how's your Lakota?

I finally got to use that line this week when a co-worker was blithering on about how people should assimilate. It worked like a charm. He actually got it. Amazing.

Thoughts about being an ally

This is my contribution to The Carnival of Alllies challenge by Angry Black Woman.

Let's face the facts. The odds are that at some point in each white person's life, we are going to say or do something racist.

The system has been deliberately skewed in that direction. If we realize this and understand the way the system is set up, then we should be pretty damn amazed that we aren't all racist asshats engaging in despicable behavior every single day. Everything in our system has been set up for hundreds of years to get us to believe those lies.

Sure, we've had a couple of decades in which anti-racist ideas have gained popularity. We had the benefit of our parents and grandparents taking to the streets to change the world and suggest a new way is possible. But how can that compare to 500 years of violence against Native Americans and 400 years of slavery for blacks and Asians?

This is something a lot of us white people do not truly understand. We've only come baby steps in the process of creating a world where all races are acknowledged and respected. It's feels like a huge step for us because we've had to give up a bit of privilege to get this far. But it's not enough. Our training in racism and in discounting people of color is that good, that ingrained, that "normal.'

One document that made this training crystal clear to me is Joan Olsson's Detour-Spotting for White Anti-Racists (PDF link). Olsson did us a huge favor by pointing out the behaviors we white people have been taught to use when we talk about race. She says:

Our generous child wisdom told us racism was wrong, but there was no escaping the daily racist
catechism. We resisted the lies, the deceit and the injustice of racism, but we did not have the skills to
counter the poisonous messages.

We've been filled with poison and we need to take steps to root it out. Olsson describes 18 behaviors that are typical responses from white people when they encounter accusations of racism. That was in 1997 and it is a wonderful list. But I think we've grown beyond that list a bit and we've learned new ways to detour the discussions we need to have in order to make this world a less racist place. I'm suggesting additions to Olsson's list based on recent events in the blogosphere.

Detour 19: Pay attention only to the most outrageous complaint and pretend it represents the entire argument..

Let's say I talk about the mortgage crisis and I post a cartoon showing an evil banker. He's wearing a yarmulke and has a long, hooked nose and his name is Cohen. I start getting comments about it:

Comment A: "I'm not sure you are aware of this, but images of predatory bankers with long, hooked noses is a common stereotype against the Jewish people."

Comment B: "Yeah, that image is disturbing. Could you replace it with something less racially charged?"

Now here's where the detour comes in. I say nothing to these comments. I sit back and wait. And then finally, my patience is rewarded: Comment P: "You are a fucking Nazi!" Now comes my chance to step in, and I post: "I've been accused of being a Nazi. Until that accusation is removed, there is nothing more to be discuss."

This is the tactic Amanda Marcotte chose in recent discussions of appropriation. She claims someone accused her of plagiarism and that's all she wanted to discuss. If it's true that one person accused her of plagiarism, then why didn't she take it up with that one person? Why did she not link to that person's blog post and demand a response from that person? Instead, she and her backers pretended that the accusation of plagiarism was the one vital issue and that nothing else mattered. They claimed that every other complaint was based on the one, easily dismissable accusation, and therefore should not be allowed into evidence, as they seem to say every 25 minutes into the show "Law and Order".

It's a detour and it was effective for many of Amanda's supporters. It was also dishonest and allowed her to pretend to address the subject while ignoring the argument altogether.

Detour 20: "I'm too powerless to be a racist."

Let's say I write a post about the bookstore where I volunteer and I claim that we don't carry books by Arab feminists because they are all silenced by Muslim fundamentalists. I start getting responses: Comment A: "Nawal al-Sadawi's novels are easily available from most major distributors." Comment B: "I found Etel Adnan's novels at my local Barnes & Noble."

My response: "Hey, I'm not Wal-mart. Quit picking on me. I work 20 hours a day in an industry I love and I'm doing the best I can. Go after the big box booksellers if you want to complain."

This was the choice that Seal Press made when they interrupted a discussion on Black Amazon's blog. But it's also a comment I see on a lot of radical feminist sites. A group of radical feminists decide to gang up on someone who doesn't meet their standards of feminism and when people complain about their behavior they say, "Hey, I'm powerless. I can't make you do anything at all. The patriarchy has all the power."

In both cases, the behavior is wrong and continues the dominant paradigm, but we white people who aren't rich and male think we should be excused for these behaviors because we don't have the power to enforce our demands.

Detour 21: "I can't be racist because I have saved the lives of 753 women of color personally." This is pretty self-explanatory. I post something racist on my blog and when called on it I claim that I have personally engaged in some enormous number of anti-racist behaviors. For anyone who took elementary logic, this falls apart completely when examined. Doing a bunch of good things does not make it impossible for me to engage in one bad thing.

This point is very important. It is what makes racism so powerful. I can decide not to use it for several years, but it's always there just in case I decide one day to take it back up again and use it to my benefit. I know that. People of color know that.

Detour 22: "Let me interrupt this discussion by objecting to your anger at all white people."

I may need help in better describing this remark. It is prompted by a post by a white female blogger to a woman of color who said "When it comes down to it, you white chicks, ya’ll really aren’t to be trusted."

I believe Tobes is in error for highlighting that particular logic at this particular time. It would be like attending the funeral of a woman who died of lung cancer after smoking for 20 years and saying, "Smoking is bad! Don't you get it? You smoke, you die!"

Yes, of course, smoking is bad, but is this the appropriate time and place to bring this up? By concentrating on the "smoking is bad" argument, you are side-tracking the fact that a valued an important friend has died a miserable death.

Yes, judging a person entirely by her race is not particularly logical or fair. But if women of color are constantly assaulted by racist behavior on the part of white feminists, then they have the right and the duty to point it out, especially to each other.

----

In closing, I want to point out that Ilyka Damen said many of the same things in a different format at her blog, Off Our Pedestals, whose hiatus, I hope, will be momentary rather than permanent.

Marching in St. Paul for immigrant rights

We attended a wonderful march today in St. Paul to demand immigrants rights. The weather was warm, the skies were grey, and the people were pumped up. I used my clicker to count 620 people on the march, and more met us when we arrived at the capitol. We spent part of the march hanging in a group of young anarchists who had a number of great chants:

"E! Anti! Anti-Capitalismo!"

"No Raids! No Borders! Smash Social Orders!"



Three Images from the StarTribune by Elizabeth Flores





From Minnesota Public Radio

Hundreds rally for immigration rights

by Jessica Mador, Minnesota Public Radio

May 1, 2008

St. Paul, Minn. — Hundreds of immigrant rights supporters held a rally and march at the Capitol today in honor of International Workers' Day.

The marchers are calling on Gov. Pawlenty to stop the deportation of immigrant workers, regardless of their citizenship status.

They also demand immediate federal action on a comprehensive immigration reform bill.

Erika Zurawski is a spokeswoman for the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Coalition.

"We planned the march in the middle of the day, knowing there are a lot of working people out there that are taking a very big risk to come to the march. But we wanted to celebrate international workers day the right way," said Zurawski.

Pawlenty issued a statement today criticizing the DFL-controlled Legislature for failing to enact his immigration proposals.

In January, Pawlenty announced executive actions requiring state employees, contractors doing business with the state and recipients of state grants to electronically verify employment eligibility.

The governor also proposed a measure that would allow police to inquire about immigration status, and enhanced penalties for employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants.

Getting ready for the carnival

Alice Walker reading "Ain't I A Woman"?

I like this

A couple of years ago, the Minneapolis City Council tried to insist on licenses for panhandlers. A long-time activist fighting homelessness in the Cities, asked, "How much are we gonna charge Carl Pohlad (owner of the Minnesota Twins) or Target (large hometown retail corporation)?" Both are getting huge tax breaks. That sorta put things in perspective for me. And so does this video. Watch and enjoy "The Job" from www.screamingfrog.com:

Shirley Chisholm presente!



Sylvia has an awesome post about Shirley Chisholm. Go. Read. Enjoy!

Look who's blogging

When I was in high school, I got a job at my city's newspaper covering high school sports. I had it in mind to be the first female sportswriter for "Sports Illustrated". I never made that goal, but I still remember my heroes from back then. One of them, Kareem Abdul-Jabar is writing a blog for the Los Angeles Times. He's got some great, short posts to African Americans who made a difference, including Charlotte E. Ray, the first African-American attorney, and Bessie Coleman, the first African-American airline pilot while noting the problems these women faced are still with us.

It's nice to know one of my childhood heroes continues to be an awesome human being.

Waiting 'Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America

I caught part of a talk on C-SPAN Book TV by Peniel Johnson, who has a book out about the Black Power Movement. It was pretty awesome. Turns out I can watch the whole thing on the web here.

Here's the blurb from C-SPAN's website:

Waiting 'Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America

About the Program
Peniel Joseph chronicles the history of the black power movement in America. Mr. Joseph follows a group of activists that built their movement upon the work of Malcolm X. The author relays the rise of the Black Panthers and profiles leaders of the black power movement such as Huey P. Newton, Stokely Carmichael and Angela Davis. Peniel Joseph discusses his book at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts.

About the Author
Peniel Joseph is the editor of "The Black Power Movement: Rethinking the Civil Rights - Black Power Era." He currently teaches in the Africana Studies department at Brandeis University.

And here Joseph’s website about the book.

I'm gonna have to order me a copy of this book!

More videos

Did you notice how I just figured out how to imbed videos? Here's another one I like. Mad TV's take on all those horrible white savior teacher movies:

Don't miss it!

This awesome video is from the fabulous Sudy! Enjoy!

Carnival of Radical Action

Elle, Ph.D. and Vox ex Machina are hosting the next edition of the Carnival of Radical Action.

Here's the premise for #6:

Please get in your submissions for the Carnival of Radical Action.


...for the sixth edition of the Carnival of Radical Action, Vox and I want you to explore making radical history. How do we create and participate in radical history? And how do we chronicle it?

Some food for thought:
• How do radical activists incorporate history into their activism?
• What are the processes involved in forming radical, history-shaping movements in our day and age (i.e. how do we initiate, shape, translate into action our responses to injustice and violence against and within our communities)?
• How do we learn from the past and incorporate radical themes in our work?
Deadline for submissions is Thursday, November 29.

Opposing the War in Chicago





Last Friday, after work, Ravenhub, myself and a good friend hopped in a rental car and drove east. We were headed for Chicago for the United for Peace and Justice antiwar march and rally in Chicago.

We drove across Wisconsin in the rain. It has been my experience that one must always drive in the rain when crossing through Wisconsin. It’s like that Pigpen character in Peanuts that always has a cloud over his head. Wisconsin also has a cloud that spews rain whenever I decide to drive across it.

Once we got a ways south, the weather turned clear and we got to see the beautiful fall colors again. We are well past peak color at our latitude, but they still have color further south. Very pretty!

Ravenhub is a train nut, so our intricate plans required making our way toward the windy city in a way that would require us to make use of as many trains as possible.

Our plan on the first day was to get to Waukegan so that we could ride the Metra into the city for the rally. We arrived around 2:30 a.m. and found out that Waukegan is a very small town without much in the way of hotels. The Ramada Inn was full, so we chose one of those crappy budget hotels. This one was apparently balanced on the 7th ring of Hell. I cannot explain how completely unpleasant this place was. But all we needed was a few hours of sleep and the price was very cheap. The bathroom was, ahem, filthy and the sink had this big blob of something hideous stuck to its side. Looked like something a horse might cough up. At around 7 a.m., work crews began slamming things around outside our window. We look out and see them tossing every thing, including the bathroom sink from the room next door out the window and into a metal (clang!) dumpster. Oy vey!

So we pack up our meager belongings and head downtown looking for a place to eat breakfast. However, Waukegan’s downtown does not open on Saturday morning. In fact, I believe they roll up the sidewalks overnight. We finally talked to a woman in the car next to us, and she directed us out towards the interstate.

We found a delightful little diner called "The Dog House" and ate a delicious breakfast while watching four of the hardest working people I have ever seen. There was barely enough space behind the counter to move around, and yet these four people managed to feed and wait on 30 or so people at a time. Just amazing. The food was delicious.

We get down to the train station, which is right along Lake Michigan. The train arrives and we get seats in the upper deck. A 30 minute ride through the northern, and ritzy, suburbs of Chicago was thoroughly enjoyable. Halfway there, a bunch of teenagers hope on. They are carrying antiwar signs and are all excited about the trip. They are also constantly changing seats and sharing iPods and cell phones. It was fascinating and a bit frightening. But they were supporting a good cause!

We land in downtown Chicago and wander around hopelessly looking for the el train. We didn’t really have a map that was worthwhile and wandered off in the wrong direction a few times. Fortunately, a Postal worker asked us if we were lost and pointed us in the right direction. Very nice man. We find the el and stop at a Starbucks directly underneath for some caffeinated fortification. Hop on the el and head down to Union Park for the opening rally.

At the park, we are immediately accosted by group after group from the political fringe. Being fairly fringe-y myself, this is heaven. We picked up copies of all the latest left wing press, including the groups that spend all their time attacking each other. There were a ton of campaign workers trying to get their candidates onto the Illinois ballot. After a while, whenever we were approached, we just said, "Not an Illinois voter!" and the zombie-like creatures moved on to the next person.

I ran into this couple from the "Billionaires for Bush" group. They were spot on with their condescension. Made me laugh!



At rallies, I always take the opportunity to pet as many dogs as possible and this was no exception. There were quite a few pit bulls, some goldens and a bunch of tiny little "kick-me" dogs of unknown origin.

Several groups had made signs and we’re asking for donations from people who wanted to carry them. That’s a new way to drum up money, but what the heck. It does take effort to put them together, so more power to them.

I ran into a couple of long-time Chicago friends and even four or five Twin Cities activists who had made the trip down there. I was talking to my friend, J, a local union activist when someone from the Bill Richardson campaign came by. We neglected to tell him that we were among the people who had run Richardson out of town several years ago when he tried he was a UN representative defending U.S. foreign policy. It seemed the polite thing to do!

The march began, and we placed ourselves in a group of people who liked to chant. We managed to insert our political line of thought (heh!), into a group that started chanting, "What do we want? Peace! When do we want it? Now!" by changing the call to "What do we want? Troops out! When do we want it? Now!" I mean, seriously, peace the U.S. government way would mean total occupation of Iraq. Not the sort of thing I’m in favor of.

There was a fun guy with a megaphone who started a chant like this:

"When I say Bush, you say, ‘Liar!’ Bush!"

The crowd yells, "Liar!"

Him: "Bush"

Crowd: "Liar"

"When I say Cheney, you say ‘Duck!" Cheney!"

The crowd yells, "Duck!" and everybody ducks down.

Him" "Cheney"

Crowd: "Duck" as we all crouch down.

This chant pleased the cops no end.

Speaking of cops, the presence was intense. Along the march there were at least 3 or 4 Chicago police on each side of every single block. They were friendly enough, dressed in regular gear and standing at ease. When we got downtown and passed the Illinois state building, the state patrol was lined up in their brown shirts (seriously!) with their riot helmets and their clubs held across their bodies in both hands. Sheesh what a waste!

When we walked across the Chicago River, we encountered a group passing out fliers for the local Chicago antiwar coalition. I looked down at the flyer and saw the graphic I made of the odometer showing Iraq, with the q rolling off to be replaced by the n from Iran.



I asked the guy, "Hey, where did you get this graphic?"

"Stole it off the web!" was the reply.

"I made that graphic!" I told him.

"You did? That’s great!"

I love it when I see my art being used on other people’s fliers!

Right after crossing the Chicago River, we passed a wedding party and their photographer. They decided they needed wedding pictures with the antiwar march in the background. As soon as we saw this, we started chanting "Make love, not war!" The wedding party smiled and waved in response. Cute!

Downtown at the federal building we saw more Illinois cops in riot gear, plus the Chicago mounted police lined up side by side. Lots of overtime got paid that day.

The rally was at the federal building. It was pretty hard to hear. I managed to snag the edge of a cement flower pot, so I got off my feet for a while. There was a great speaker from Iraq who explained how Sunni and Shi’ia Arabs had intermingled for hundreds of years and how the news was wrong in characterizing them as completely separate communities. He said, "I don’t need anyone travelling 10,000 miles to help me talk to my cousin."

We stayed through most of the speeches and then headed back to the train station. Got lost again trying to find the damn thing and once again a friendly stranger sent us in the right direction. We made the train in time, but it was delayed for 45 minutes due to the derailment of an earlier train.

Our ride back was like being in a David Lynch film. The train passes by the Great Lakes Naval Base, so there were a lot of sailors in uniform heading back for the night. They were so damned young and acted like frat boys, throwing stuff back and forth at each other and giggling. A few stops into the trip and a group of teenage girls got on the train. They were prepping for a Halloween party so they spent the trip putting on make up and screaming at each other. Between the hyped up sailors and the screaming teenager girls it was surreal.

Waukegan, once again dead as a doornail, was soon to be placed in our rear view mirror. We headed north. Our plan had been to drive all the way home Saturday night. But I convinced Ravenhub that it was just too much for us oldsters and that we needed to get a good night’s rest after the fiasco of the night before.

So we got a room in a Hampton Inn on the west side of Milwaukee. Ah, paradise! Lovely room, lovely amenities. There was a business center with free computer and internet access so we got caught up on our e-mail. Breakfast was free and healthy. We grabbed some coffee from a local Starbucks and drove for the next 6 hours. We made it home around 2:30 p.m.

At 4 p.m. I decided to take a nap, but never really got up again until 6 a.m. this morning!

Meanwhile, in Minneapolis, the local demonstration turned out almost 500 people and was reported to be a lot of fun and widely supported by the people driving by.

Pictures will be added later.

Please come, don't come, no please come!



I haven't had time to blog about this until now. Recently, Rev. Dennis Dease, president of a local Catholic university, St. Thomas in St. Paul, decided to disinvite Desmond Tutu from speaking at an event on campus because he was accused of being an anti-Semite. The accusation was a result of this speech Tutu gave in Boston on April 13, 2002.

An article about this trend of disinviting speakers is here. Here's a quote:

The escalating controversy reflects a tension at colleges nationwide, one pitting free speech and academic freedom against views some find objectionable.

Last month, Columbia University's decision to allow Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak drew protesters. Speakers with strong political opinions regularly draw ire on campuses. Many religious-affiliated universities have taken heat for speakers who hold positions that, some say, go against particular doctrines.

What has changed of late has been the reaction of some colleges and universities. There is a growing trend, according to the American Association of University Professors, of schools inviting speakers and then un-inviting them after opposition groups turn up the heat.

The local activist community responded quickly and decisively, sending thousands of faxes and sparking news stories from around the world.

Yesterday, Dease reversed his decision. Way to go activists!

Ireland & Palestine

"In Ireland, a government was elected that was the political equivalent of a coalition between the Likud and Hamas."

Tonight I went to a speech by Ali Abunimah, co-founder of the Electronic Intifada, and author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse.

Abunimah has been studying both South Africa and Ireland to learn what he can about how seemingly intractable enemies can find a way to work together and attempt to make a better world.

I took notes and I hope to have time to transcribe them here. Simply put, it was fascinating and positive and, surprise or surprises, hopeful.

This is good.