Monthly Archives: September 2020

With the November election just around the corner, its only to be expected that President Trump would seek to rally conservative voters and drive his supporters to the polls. So, when his administration, on September 4, instructed the federal government to eliminate all training in Critical Race Theory, some thought it was just a red-meat stunt to excite the Republican base. Others saw it as an act of right-wing censorship and an obstruction of racial progress.

In truth, theres much more to this development than mere politicization and censorship.

Heres a breakdown of what the administration is doing and why its a welcome move.

It has come to the President's attention that Executive Branch agencies have spent millions of taxpayer dollars to date training government workers to believe divisive, anti-American propaganda, Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought wrote in the executive memorandum.

Employees across the Executive Branch have been required to attend trainings where they are told that virtually all White people contribute to racism or where they are required to say that they benefit from racism, Vought explained. According to press reports, in some cases these training [sic] have further claimed that there is racism embedded in the belief that America is the land of opportunity or the belief that the most qualified person should receive a job.

The order instructed federal agencies to identify and eliminate any contracts or spending that train employees in critical race theory, white privilege, or any other training or propaganda effort that teaches or suggests either that the United States is an inherently racist or evil country or that any race or ethnicity is inherently racist or evil.

How did it "come to the President's attention," and what press reports is Vought referring to?

Well, President Trump is known to watch Tucker Carlson's show on Fox News. And days before the memo was issued, Carlson had on journalist Christopher Rufo to discuss his multiple reports uncovering the extent to which Critical Race Theory (CRT) was being used in federal training programs.

"For example, Rufo claimed, the Treasury Department recently hired a diversity trainer who said the U.S. was a fundamentally White supremacist country," wrote Sam Dorman for the Fox News web site, "and that White people upheld the system of racism in the nation. In another case, which Rufo discussed with Carlson last month, Sandia National Laboratories, which designs nuclear weapons, sent its white male executives to a mandatory training in which they, according to Rufo, wrote letters apologizing to women and people of color."

Rufo challenged President Trump to use his executive authority to extirpate CRT from the federal government.

CNN's Brian Stelter (as well as Rufo himself) traced Trump's decision directly to the independent investigative journalist's self-proclaimed "one-man war" on CRT, of which the recent Carlson appearance was only the latest salvo.

Selter characterized Trump's move as a reactionary attack on the current national "reckoning" on race. He cited the Washington Post's claim that, "racial and diversity awareness trainings are essential steps in helping rectify the pervasive racial inequities in American society, including those perpetuated by the federal government."

So which is it? Is CRT "divisive" and "toxic" or is it "rectifying" and "anti-racist"?

To answer that, it would help to trace CRT to its roots. Critical Race Theory is a branch of Critical Theory, which began as an academic movement in the 1930s. Critical Theory emphasizes the "critique of society and culture in order to reveal and challenge power structures," as Wikipedia states. Critical Race Theory does the same, with a focus on racial power structures, especially white supremacy and the oppression of people of color.

The "power structure" prism stems largely from Critical Theory's own roots in MarxismCritical Theory was developed by members of the Marxist "Frankfurt School." Traditional Marxism emphasized economic power structures, especially the supremacy of capital over labor under capitalism. Marxism interpreted most of human history as a zero-sum class war for economic power.

According to the Marxian view," wrote the economist Ludwig von Mises, "human society is organized into classes whose interests stand in irreconcilable opposition.

Mises called this view a "conflict doctrine," which opposed the "harmony doctrine" of classical liberalism. According to the classical liberals, in a free market economy, capitalists and workers were natural allies, not enemies. Indeed, in a free society all rights-respecting individuals were natural allies.

Critical Race Theory arose as a distinct movement in law schools in the late 1980s. CRT inherited many of its premises and perspectives from its Marxist ancestry.

The pre-CRT Civil Rights Movement had emphasized equal rights and treating people as individuals, as opposed to as members of a racial collective. I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character, Martin Luther King famously said.

In contrast, CRT dwells on inequalities of outcome, which it generally attributes to racial power structures. And, as weve seen from the government training curricula, modern CRT forthrightly judges white people by the color of their skin, prejudging them as racist by virtue of their race. This race-based pre-trial guilty verdict of racism is itself, by definition, racist.

The classical liberal "harmony doctrine" was deeply influential in the movements to abolish all forms of inequality under the law: from feudal serfdom, to race-based slavery, to Jim Crow.

But, with the rise of Critical Race Theory, the cause of racial justice became more influenced by the fixations on conflict, discord, and domination that CRT inherited from Marxism.

Social life was predominantly cast as a zero-sum struggle between collectives: capital vs. labor for Marxism, whites vs. people of color for CRT.

A huge portion of societys ills were attributed to one particular collectives diabolical domination: capitalist hegemony for Marxism, white supremacy for CRT.

Just as Marxism demonized capitalists, CRT vilifies white people. Both try to foment resentment, envy, and a victimhood complex among the oppressed class it claims to champion.

Traditional Marxists claimed that all capitalists benefit from the zero-sum exploitation of workers. Similarly, CRT "diversity trainers" require white trainees to admit that they "benefit from racism."

Traditional Marxists insisted that bourgeois thoughts were inescapably conditioned by "class interest." In the same way, CRT trainers push the notion that virtually all White people contribute to racism as a result of their whiteness.

Given the above, it should be no wonder that CRT has been criticized as racist and divisive.

Supporters of CRT cast it as a force for good in todays rectifying reckoning over race.

But CRTs neo-Marxist orientation only damages race relations and harms the interests of those it claims to serve.

In practice, the class war rhetoric of Marxism was divisive and toxic for economic relations. And, far from advancing the interests of the working classes, it led to mass poverty and devastating famines, not to mention staggering inequality between the elites and the masses.

Today, the CRT-informed philosophy, rhetoric, and strategy of the Black Lives Matter organization (whose leadership professed to be trained Marxists) is leading to mass riots, looting, vandalism, and assault. The divisive violence has arrested progress for the cause of police reform, destroyed countless black-owned small businesses, and economically devastated many black communities.

Those who truly wish to see racial harmony should dump the neo-Marxists and learn more about classical liberalism. FEE.org is the perfect place to start.

So much for CRT being a force for good. Of course, even horrible ideas are protected by the First Amendment. The government should never use force to suppress people from expressing ideas, speech, or theories it dislikes.

Critics insist that President Trump is engaged in this kind of censorship by targeting CRT.

Not so.

No one is banning White Fragility, the blockbuster CRT manifesto. No one is locking up those who preach CRT or ordering mentions of it stripped from the internet.

The memo simply says that taxpayer dollars will no longer be spent promulgating this theory to federal government employees. As heads of the executive branch, presidents have wide latitude to make the rules for federal agencies under their control. Deciding how money is spent certainly falls under their proper discretionand it is always done with political preferences in mind, one way or the other.

It is not censorship for Trump to eliminate funding for CRT, anymore than it was censorship for the Obama administration to choose to tie federal contracts to a businesss embrace of LGBT rights.

Elections have consequences, one of the most obvious being that the president gets to run the executive branch. If we dont want the president's political preferences to be so significant in training programs, then we should simply reduce the size of government and the number of bureaucrats.

In the meantime, stripping the federal government of the divisive, toxic, and neo-Marxist ideology of Critical Race Theory is a positive development for the sake of racial justice and harmony.

See original here:

What is 'Critical Race Theory'? The Controversy, Explained | Dan Sanchez, Tyler Brandt, Brad Polumbo - Foundation for Economic Education

Through a Native Lens is a new column from film critic and citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma Shea Vassar, who will dive into the nuance of Hollywoods best and worst cases of Indigenous representation. This entry looks at the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Two-Spirit, and Trans relatives that inspired the 2017 film Wind River.

I guard every memory of you. And when I find myself frozen in the mud of the real far from your loving eyes, I will return to this place, close mine, and take solace in the simple perfection of knowing you.

Taylor Sheridans Wind River opens with a bright full moon that overlooks an open snow-covered field. Frantically, a young girl runs across the cold white blanket. She stumbles around, becoming unable to make it much further. A few days later, US Fish and Wildlife tracker Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner) finds her body. He identifies her as Natalie, a young Native woman who is just eighteen years old. Sheridans attempt to talk about continued colonial violence is a well-intentioned gesture. However, the truth that inspired the film is an everyday reality for Native women, and in order to understand Wind River, the history and understanding of the modern threat to Native women must be understood.

Colonial violence has been an issue since the beginning of exploration. Christopher Columbus own writing states that he and his men would enslave women and children for labor and sexual acts. The story of Matoaka, known to most as Pocahontas, includes her being kidnapped and raped before being taken away from her homelands. Countless unnamed women and femme-presenting individuals have experienced horrible attacks since European contact and historical oppression. This violence continues in many forms to this day, in many places, including reservations like Wind River.

Originally, no one was recording the Missing and Murdered crisis. Indigenous organizations have assembled teams and released reports and other tools to help document the violence. For example, the Sovereign Bodies Institute created a database that holds the testimonies regarding any Indigenous woman, girl, or two-spirit community member who has experienced domestic violence, sexual assault, police brutality, gender violence, or another form of attack. This is a necessary step in getting the people in power to care about this violence as well as finding ways to be preventative.

There are some details of Wind River that are extremely accurate. One in three Native American women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime, and murder is the third leading cause of death among American Indian/Alaska Native women. Natalie is attacked, brutalized, and sexually assaulted by other men who live in the man camp while visiting her boyfriend Matt, who works as security on an oil rig.

Man camp is another term for the temporary housing for the workers and is a big threat in areas where big oil and pipeline construction are evident. The overwhelmingly male labor forces that are brought in to work at these sites are a complete menace to reservations and other tribal communities. The toxic masculinity that comes with these makeshift living situations puts locals at risk, especially Native women and femme-presenting individuals from Indigenous communities.

According to the National Institute of Justice, a majority of the perpetrators against Native citizens are non-Native. The current battles led by community matriarchs in Minnesota and surrounding areas against Line 3, Wetsuweten territory against the Coastal GasLink pipeline, and in unceded Secwepemc Territory with the Tiny House Warriors against the Trans Mountain pipeline are evidence of these threats. The quest for oil not only is a non-consensual violation of the Earth but also of Indigenous bodies.

As in Wind River, usually, the more serious crimes like murder, fall under federal jurisdiction. This is why FBI Agent Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen) receives Natalies case. Her lack of preparation is obvious from the moment she steps out of her vehicle in a thin jacket instead of full winter gear. She is like a good amount of North America: unaware of the systematic powers at work which led to the untimely death of a young Native woman.

Though statutes have tried to empower tribal communities and current bills are stuck in Congress, the reasoning for this goes back to when the United States was first established. The federal government held the power over tribal affairs under the Articles of Confederation. When the Constitution was being written in order to replace the Articles of Confederation and limit federal power, the throwing in of and with the Indian tribes at the end of Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 created the federal basis for all tribal law. Obviously, the United States was much smaller and did not involve all 576 federally recognized tribes that are victims of colonial violence today.

The biggest flaw in Wind River is that Natalie is not the main character in the story about Native death. The discovery of her body is the impetus for the film, the reason why Cory and Jane are searching for answers. The film renders her a prop, a vessel for the emotion of the white male protagonist found in Cory and his white female sidekick, Agent Banner.

While the entirety of the film is heavy, a bleakness is shadowing over the main character, Cory. This is because of another Native girls death: Corys daughter and Natalies best friend, Emily. We tried to be very careful with Emily, Cory states when telling Jane about her death. Tried to plan for everything. She was such a good girl. But we let our guard down. This main characters guilt as well as the identity of her killer oversees every moment in Wind River, tainting the story by putting a white male gaze on an all too true experience.

Like the unknown situations that led to Emilys death, most Native families do not get answers about their loved ones who go missing or are murdered. There are still too many names of relatives from all different communities that have yet to find a sliver of justice and agood amount of the current solutions presented to Native communities are like putting a bandaid on a gunshot.

Legislation can only help so much since the federal government doesnt have the best record with tribes. In order to completely destroy this treacherous force that is attempting to eliminate Indigenous people, we must be proactive. This means standing in solidarity with those who are on the frontlines, protesting pipeline construction. We must advocate for the inclusion of Native histories and current events in educational curriculums. Ultimately, we must continue fighting against stereotypical Native imagery that serves as mascots and underdeveloped plotlines in the media.

Follow this link:

The Harsh Reality Behind Wind River - Film School Rejects

Graphic courtesy of Eva Knaggs 22

I would hope, at this point in the COVID-19 pandemic and after almost four years of a fascist president, that I do not need to tell you how much our lives depend on systemic social, economic and political change. Because complacency is harder to maintain when the truth is on display, I will list a few reasons anyway: the prison-industrial complex brutalizes Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) as a result of bipartisan support for these institutions. Millions of Americans have lost their health insurance with their jobs when they need it the most because neither the Democratic nor Republican parties care about the American people. Thousands of manufacturing plants were granted permission at the end of March to bypass environmental laws meant to reduce pollution of land, air and water during the rapid spread of a respiratory illness. As of Sept. 12, according to The New York Times, over 192,855 Americans have died from COVID-19, due to our governments ineptitude to adequately respond to this public health crisis.

The American people are in the midst of a catastrophe that will not end whether Donald Trump or Joe Biden secure the presidency come November. Deep systemic change that targets the root causes of these problems not establishment policies of moderation, or as I like to call it, complacency is the only way out of this emergency.

In response to these deep wounds inflicted by the U.S. government, both major political parties refuse to back any of the genuine solutions to these issues currently on the table, such as Medicare for All, the Green New Deal or legislation towards defunding the prison-industrial complex. Instead, the Democratic Party champions the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris presidential ticket. They promote these decidedly non-revolutionary candidates on the grounds that they will battle for the soul of the nation, unite for a better future and build back better than ever, according to the campaigns official website. In contrast to the fascist Trump administration, these promises could be a sigh of relief, a glimmer of hope that the nation can go back to normal come Jan. 20 of next year.

But whose normal are we talking about? For the wealthy, white, college-educated person with a love is love or Black Lives Matter sign in their front yard (on stolen land, paid for with generational wealth), sure, a Biden presidency represents normalcy, or the privilege to pay no mind to politics. For the communities of color disproportionately subjected to policing, however, a presidency by the author of the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act with the former attorney general of California as vice president is still normalcy, but normalcy marked by suffering and an existential fear.

This normalcy espoused by establishment Democrats, therefore, is not-so aligned with social justice and equality, but is rather geared toward preserving painful inequalities based on class and race. America is not only in shambles because of the Republican Partys blatant disregard for the working class, BIPOC or gender and sexual minorities: the empty reforms upheld by Democrats continue to exacerbate the very inequalities they scorn Republicans for creating.

Graphic courtesy of Eva Knaggs 22

Im looking at you, Joe Biden, for your criminal justice plan. According to his campaigns website, his policy includes an additional $300 million toward community policing, which strengthens oppressive police institutions under the guise of reform. Stripped to its core, the establishment agenda pushed by Democrats is, as Biden reassured rich donors in 2019, an agenda promising that nothing will fundamentally change.

Speaking in a language the Democratic National Committee (DNC) can understand, a candidate running on a platform of stagnation cannot get votes from those who need the most assistance from policies at the presidents fingertips. Before liberals and progressives jump to shame those who are not enthusiastic about voting for Biden, we need to get at the root causes of why people are not excited to vote. If some believe that their lives will not improve whether Trump or Biden resides in the Oval Office, maybe it makes sense that politics has turned into this disgusting beast many avoid interacting with. Politics is about compromise, sure, but compromise on things like school and infrastructure budgets, not on whether BIPOC deserve the ability to live their lives in peace or whether healthcare is a human right. Establishment Democrats and Republicans are two sides of the same coin, only differing in how overt politicians and constituents are in their support of systems that perpetuate systemic inequalities.

We, the American people, deserve something better. We deserve empathy and kindness, expressed through policies that uplift everyone to be creative and to live our lives in peace. We deserve politicians who run on a platform of change because a return to normalcy is unbearable for too many Americans.

Graphic courtesy of Eva Knaggs 22

Trumps fascism is driving my very reluctant vote for Biden in November, but lets stop pretending that a vote for the cop-loving Biden-Harris ticket will create direly-needed change, and lets stop accepting a politics of stagnation. Our potential for radical empathy is an untapped force that can truly transform politics. Next time the DNC serves the interests of moderates those who find it acceptable to push policies that perpetuate oppression, but wrapped in a pride flag, a Black Lives Matter yard sign and a My dogs a Democrat bumper sticker on a silver platter, we progressives will not be so accepting of a Biden 2.0.

Read more from the original source:

The establishment will not save us - The Wellesley News

TORONTO, Sept. 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- This morning, as the federal Liberal cabinet meets to set their priorities for the Throne Speech, over 280 organizations that include 8 million people are calling for a fair society with equal rights for migrants. Faith, labour, climate and Indigenous leaders are sending a letter to Prime Minister Trudeau stating, We call for a single-tier immigration system, where everyone in the country has the same rights. All migrants, refugees and undocumented people in the country must be regularized and given full immigration status now without exception. All migrants arriving in the future must do so with full and permanent immigration status. The full letter and list of signatories will be released during the press conference.

The full statement and signatories is at http://www.StatusforAll.ca (www.StatutpourTous.ca for French).

Migrants in Canada are hit hard by the COVID-19, with many dying and thousands unable to access the emergency care and support that others in Canada have relied on. At least 1,300 farm workers have contracted COVID-19 just in Ontario. The pandemic has revealed the extent to which Canada relies on migrants to grow our food, care for our families, deliver our packages, and support our schools. And yet, while migrants form the backbone of this country, they are relegated to an underclass with substandard rights and precarious status, compounding their hardship. Trudeau has promised to build back better. This must include equal rights and full immigration status for migrants.

For far too long, migrant workers have been denied equal rights in Canada. They have been subjected to recruiter corruption, employer exploitation, poverty wages, treacherous work, harassment, intimidation, discrimination, and threats of deportation. Today, the Labour movement, not only here in Ontario, but across the country, reaffirms this call for full and permanent immigration status for all, said Patty Coates, President of the Ontario Federation of Labour. The OFL is Canadas largest provincial labour federation, representing over one million Ontario workers belonging to 54 affiliated unions. Provincial labour federations representing unions in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Northern Territories, Nova Scotia, PEI, Saskatchewan, and Yukon are also signatories to the statement.

The letter initiated by Migrant Rights Network - Canadas only national migrant-led coalition - highlights how, Migrants, refugees, and undocumented people want to take care of their families and be active members of their communities. But federal immigration rules tip the scales against them.

Canada is the 10th largest contributor to global climate change, which is forcing millions of people from their communities as they flee environmental destruction, conflict driven by increasing resource scarcity, and massive land grabs that give way to huge development projects - including Canadian-owned mining and extractive activities. Migrants who make their way to Canada deserve to live with dignity, respect, and status. The Canadian government can and must make choices now to allow the care and solidarity that are shaping our experience of the present to transform our future," says Catherine Abreu, Executive Director, Climate Action Network, Canadas largest climate coalition representing over 100 organizations.

Major environmental organizations including 350.org, The Leap, Council of Canadians, Environmental Defence Canada, Blue Green Canada and Wilderness Committee have also added their voice to the open letter that reads, Full immigration status for all is an essential step towards eliminating inequalities in the workplace and necessary for a transition to a just and sustainable economy of care.

Extraordinary times call for bold action. In taking this step, Canada will not only sustain our population and expand our economy, we will strengthen families, honour essential workers and build cohesive community with our neighbours. Status for all is racial, labour, and social justicewrapped into one. It just makes good sense, added Jennifer Henry, Executive Director of KAIROS: Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives. KAIROS is Canadas faith based coalition of 10 churches and religious organizations. The United Church of Canada, Islamic Social Services Association, Loretto Sisters Canada and Office of the National Indigenous Anglican Archbishop are also signatories to the letter.

Over the last 6 months, Migrant Rights Network members have organized over 30 protests for full and permanent immigration status for all. Todays open letter, signed by organizations representing all sectors of society from across the country, shows that migrants are not alone.

The letter outlines how, COVID-19 has exposed deep inequalities in our society. The fault lines are gendered and racialized: the worst impacts are being felt by women and in Indigenous, Black and Brown communities.

Lindsey Bacigal, Director of Communications for Indigenous Climate Action, a national Indigenous led climate organization, agrees and added, Migrants and Indigenous Peoples share similar experiences of injustice in so-called Canada. Full and permanent status for all is an important step in rectifying this, while also working towards creating a just and equitable future where our communities can do more than just survive, but we can thrive. Anything less allows for systems of oppression - and those that uphold them - to continue to benefit from the injustices our communities face.

Mark Hancock, National President, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) added, Thousands of migrant workers and undocumented people, mainly racialized workers, are doing essential work that supports us all. Theyre being exploited because of their immigration status, and that has to stop. CUPE stands with migrant workers in their fight against discrimination, low wages, and dangerous conditions, and calls on the Canadian government to end this unfair and unequal treatment, and ensure all migrants, refugees and undocumented people have the right to live and work in Canada. CUPE is Canadas largest union and is a signatory to the letter, along with Unifor, Canadas largest private sector union. United Steelworkers, National Union of Public and General Employees and SEIU Local 2 are among many national and provincial labour signatories.

Other signatories of note include Oxfam, Canadian Civil Liberties Association, ACORN, Leadnow, Canadian Federation of Students, SumofUs and the federal body of immigration and settlement agencies, Canadian Immigrant Settlement Sector Alliance.

http://www.MigrantRights.ca

Syed Hussan, 416-453-3632, hussan@migrantworkersalliance.org

Here is the original post:

Hundreds of groups with over 8 million members call for equal rights and permanent immigration status for migrants amidst COVID-19 recovery -...