May 2010
28 posts
“But, as I said, I also blame Aiyana’s death on the media complex…the perpetuating of the meme that black people are always and inherently entertaining to watch, especially if there’s an element of criminality and punishment to it and it’s getting “handled”; of the physical erasure of women and girls as watchable; the deaths of women of color, cis and trans, as not worthy of discussion–let alone activism–outside of PoC communities…Or, perhaps, it would be more correct to say that Aiyana’s death is really our collective fault, if we continue to accept these conditions as part of our pop-culture consumption. If we do, we do not bury her with whatever deities she and her family believe in. We sacrifice her, again and again and again…With that said, what I want to do is simply cry for her…”
—Andrea Plaid, “The Lady is a Tramp: Aiyana Stanley-Jones at the Altar of the Media”
“Ironically, the best thing that Elena Kagan ever wrote was her senior thesis at Princeton University, To the Final Conflict: Socialism in New York City, 1900-1933. Everything went downhill after that apparently…This 134 page work is not only written from a leftist perspective, it also is extremely well-researched and well-written. I actually find it rather disconcerting to think that such a promising mind has been wasted at the altar of careerism.”
—Louis Proyect, “Elena Kagan’s Senior Thesis on the Socialist Party”
Play
HUD privatizing and mortgaging public housing →
commondreams.org
It’s doubtful that Reagan or either Bush administration could have gotten away with doing to public housing what Clinton and HOPE VI did, so on some level this makes perfect sense coming from the Obama. The idea that this is simply a “conservative dream” seems to ignore the work liberals /neoliberals have been doing on urban policy since the end of the New Deal.
“Are “immigrants” the appropriate designation for the indigenous peoples of North America? No. Are “immigrants” the appropriate designation for enslaved Africans? No. Are “immigrants” the appropriate designation for the original European settlers? No. Are “immigrants” the appropriate designation for Mexicans who migrate for work to the United States? No. They are migrant workers crossing a border created by US military force…So, let’s stop saying “this is a nation of immigrants.”
—
Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz, “Stop Saying This is a Nation of Immigrants,” Monthly Review 5/06
(thanks for the link Erin)
“Nationally, young whites are abandoning suburbia to live in quality center cities. The ‘burbs are getting older and poorer. Metro Phoenix stands out in both categories. Its share of the over-65 white population is 85 percent; the same measure for the under-18 population is 44 percent, the largest discrepancy in the nation for a major metro and no doubt a major driver of political reaction. The report also shows that while the metro area added 354,000 whites from 2000 to 2008, more than 492,000 Hispanics (officially) arrived. From 1990 to 2008, 1.3 million Hispanics came (officially) to what was once a heavily Anglo city. The real numbers are no doubt higher. But this tectonic shift, too, is behind the attraction of white-right fear tactics. The child, youth and poor populations are heavily minority. Even with the affluent suburbs, metro Phoenix ranked 93 out of the 100 largest metros in growth of college graduates, a mere 1.4 percent. As the media engage in silliness about “putting a different spin on Arizona’s image” to counter the “bad publicity” over the quite substantial Jim Crow anti-immigration law, so few serious conversations are taking place, especially outside the few activists and outspoken citizens I will call the Resistance. Everybody seems so shellshocked, they don’t even know what questions to ask. One might be, “what is growth?” Or what good is it as Arizona measures it? It is the god that failed.”
—Rogue Columnist (via azspot)
“I’m…not shocked to see the supposed resurgence of racism in America…Many people of color my age, who grew up constantly aware that they were in real danger, every single day of their lives, are difficult to shock. We’ve lived through so many varieties of racism that we’re slightly amused anyone really fell for that “post-racial” America stuff…[W]e never truly came to grips with racism in America. I have no answers. I only know that even after all these years…I am still very aware of the danger that lurks. Of the menacing glance that may mean, “RUN.” Of the disdainful glance that just means, “STRUT. And teach ‘em somethin’”.”
—
Cynthia Dagnal-Myron “Why I’m Not Surprised by Arizona’s Racism,” Salon
“After 40 years, the United States’ war on drugs has cost $1 trillion and hundreds of thousands of lives, and for what? Drug use is rampant and violence even more brutal and widespread…This week President Obama promised to “reduce drug use and the great damage it causes” with a new national policy that he said treats drug use more as a public health issue and focuses on prevention and treatment. Nevertheless, his administration has increased spending on interdiction and law enforcement to record levels both in dollars and in percentage terms; this year, they account for $10 billion of his $15.5 billion drug-control budget…Harvard University economist Jeffrey Miron says the only sure thing taxpayers get for more spending on police and soldiers is more homicides.”
—“US Drug War Has Met None of its Goals,” Martha Mendoza, Associated Press
Philadelphia Inquirer: MOVE 25 Years Later →
philly.com
The four films are kind of a mixed bag, but worth watching.
“The Agriculture Department said 39.68 million people, or 1 in 8 Americans, were enrolled for food stamps during February, an increase of 260,000 from January.”
—Food-stamp tally nears 40 million, sets record - Yahoo! News (via quotingthecrisis)
“Samuel Huntington: “The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion (to which few members of other civilizations were converted) but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact, non-Westerners never do.”
—High on Progress | Derrick Jensen | Orion Magazine (via guerrillamamamedicine) (via resmc)
“The assault on ACORN…is symbolic of a larger social problem, namely the effort by conservatives and “free marketers” to blame the housing collapse and economic crisis on progressive community activists and “big government.”
—Anthony DiMaggio, “The Trashing of ACORN,” CounterPunch
Harvey: Are we seeing the end of capitalism? →
news.bbc.co.uk
Sarah Montague: “What is that, a call to arms? A call for a revolution?
David Harvey: “Yes, of course.”
