monkinetic the blog

Posts tagged with 'racism' (22 posts)

Newbern, Alabama: No Elections for 60 years

I recently learned about a small town in Alabama that has not held a public election for more than sixty years. The town is Newbern, Alabama. While nearly eighty-five percent of the town residents are Black, before 2020 the town never had a Black mayor.

An unbelievable and yet completely believable story of voter suppression in the deep south

Guy Nave, Jr gives a well-written and succint history of voting rights for former enslaved Black people in the south, then tells the story describing the incredible “hand-me-down” white mayorship in the majority-Black town.

“We’ve never had an election out here. We don’t have ballots and machines to do it.” Stokes became mayor in 2008, when he inherited the position from Haywood Stokes Jr. Their ancestor, Peter P. Stokes, served in the Confederate Army and “owned” enslaved Black people when Newbern was a cotton plantation town.

#voter-suppression #racism #voting-rights

Steve Ivy

From Mastodon:

…one of the best things I ever did (about 6-7 years ago now) was look for POC voices on Twitter to follow. I did the same here. But it was intentional because I was learning how small my bubble was, and it has made a huge difference in how I understand the world.

#intentionality #empathy #racism #whitesupremacy

~ # 13:00 ~

Steve Ivy

“I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group.”

https://nationalseedproject.org/Key-SEED-Texts/white-privilege-unpacking-the-invisible-knapsack #bookmark #racism

~ # 21:53 ~

Vacation in the Time of COVID

Soon we are headed out to California for 5 days just to get out of Arizona for a bit. But this is not “vacation”, this is “move the quarantine temporarily to another state”. We realized this morning that planning family #travel is more complicated now, with way less mental energy available to plan.

What used to be pretty standard “get us out of the house for 5 days” activities now feel like huge tasks which we have to accomplish with our brains 94% occupied by #covid19, #blacklivesmatter, #racism, and other current events. Just the idea of cleaning house (for the pet-sitter) feels insurmountable.

#travel #covid19 #blacklivesmatter #racism

What I can do: Give

To my shame, it took until the events surrounding George Floyd’s murder for me to really begin attempting to educate myself on “the rest of the story” of America’s history of institutionalized racism and violence. I’m trying to focus on 3 things:

  • LEARN the facts, outside of what was in my history education (“we win war for independence, we win ww2, happily ever after” - at least that’s what I generally walked away with)
  • LISTEN to black writers and voices about their American experience
  • Focus my own small voice on speaking to my fellow white Americans on our complicity in these atrocities and the system they’ve perpetuated.

I have SOOOO far to go. In the meantime, talking to my wife we decided that something we could do was to donate to support these organizations fighting for racial justice:

  • Black Lives Matter Global Network
  • National Bail Out
  • Know Your Rights Camp
  • Black Voters Matter Fund
  • NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
  • The National Police Accountability Project

If you feel like I do, please consider donating - it’s the easiest way to get started - but it’s not enough. We’re going to have to start acting too.

#blacklivesmatter #racism #policing

Steve Ivy

The “American Police” podcast on Throughline was eye-opening #racism #whiteness #policing

~ # 22:45 ~

Mo Martin: On Jews, Looting, and Whiteness

Mordecai Martin, a thinker and writer who I follow on Play Vicious, posted this powerful piece on the Jewish response to racial protests and - yes looting - during the 60s and now with the George Floyd protests.

I’m not sure that – being neither Jewish nor black – I have a platform for comment, but Mo’s writing speaks to his own Jewish people with real power and love.

As Artist Marcia X on Play Vicious responded:

imagine being this tender and powerful at the same time???

#whiteness #racism #protest

Steve Ivy

“Phoenix has it’s own “I can’t breathe” case. The outcome was exactly the same” – no it wasn’t #racism #policing

http://monkinetic.blog/2020/06/05/phoenix-i-cant-breathe

~ # 22:55 ~

Phoenix has it's own "I can't Breathe" case. The outcome was exactly the same

AZCentral: Phoenix has its own ‘I can’t breathe’ case. The outcome was far different

“Three years ago, Phoenix had its own “I can’t breathe” case. But its outcome has so far been very different than that of George Floyd’s.”

Let’s see, black man doing basically nothing at the time:

“In 2017, Muhammad Abdul Muhaymin Jr. tried to take his dog with him to the bathroom at a city community center in west Phoenix. The police were called, discovered he had a warrant for his arrest, and decided to detain him.”

Sounds the same to me. Maybe the police response was entirely different?

At least four officers got on top of him and held him down. Some put their knees on his neck and head.

Exactly like George Floyd. Perhaps Muyaymin was released without harm?

“I can’t breathe,” Muhaymin is heard saying several times in police body camera footage. When officers eventually got off him, Muhaymin had no pulse, according to comments from officers in the video, and lay in a pool of his own vomit.

With the same unnecessarily violent, incomprehensibly callous response from law enforcement, same tragic outcome for a non-violent black man.

The outcome was exactly the same. The “outcome” that matters is the life or death of this black man. The rest is just wrap up.

Once the headline had to say Phoenix had it’s own ‘I can’t breathe’ case, it was too late. I want to see the headlines saying “Our community has not had a case of police brutality in 5 years”, “…10 years”, “… 50 years”.

#georgefloyd #racism #death #mentalhealth

Steve Ivy

I knew the term “grandfathered in” had to do something with #voting and #racism but this story really explains the #history https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/10/21/239081586/the-racial-history-of-the-grandfather-clause thanks @lmorchard

~ # 18:34 ~

Steve Ivy

Not All Americans

It’s time. I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans, and this is so important to me. Trump’s election victory speech

When I hear Trump speak about “all Americans” - I cannot in looking at his actions believe that he means African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Latinx Americans, or any other minority, disadvantaged population here.

Armed white protesters are “very fine people”, black and brown protesters are “THUGS”.

Trump says that he defends the rights of “citizens”; but citizen is a legal/political construct that can be redefined and narrowed to exclude those without power or privilege.

Consider the new (Feb 2020) Denaturalization Section of the Justice Department:

The Denaturalization Section “underscores the department’s commitment to bring justice to terrorists, war criminals, sex offenders and other fraudsters who illegally obtained naturalization,” Joseph H. Hunt, the head of the Justice Department’s civil division, said in a statement.

No one wants “terrorists, war criminals, sex offenders” in the country, but –

“The Denaturalization Section will further the department’s efforts to pursue those who unlawfully obtained citizenship status and ensure that they are held accountable for their fraudulent conduct,” Mr. Hunt said.

Trump’s Justice Department considers entering the country illegally to be a crime (of the worst sort, considering the resources they have put behind CBP and ICE). There’s the real goal: the power to strip the rights and liberties from any immigrant who has been here as a productive member of society long enough (7 years?) to become naturalized.

The Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution, established after the civil war to establish and protect the citizenship of former slaves, says in part:

“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

The Denaturalization Section is in practicality an end-run around the Citizenship Clause of the Constitution. And to drag out a long post longer…

This clause reversed a portion of the Dred Scott v. Sandford decision, which had declared that African Americans were not and could not become citizens of the United States or enjoy any of the privileges and immunities of citizenship. Citizenship Clause (Wikipedia)

The goals of denaturalization laws now are the same racist goals as the Dred Scott laws of the post-US Civil War era.

#racism #dredscott #uspol

Who is My Neighbor? 2020

From Sojourners in 2018, When White Nationalist Christians Redefined Their Neighbors :

Ludwig Müller, who became the Nazi-sanctioned Reich Bishop, went so far as to “Germanize” Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. In his 1936 translation, Jesus says: “Happy are those who are at peace with their fellow Germans [Volksgenosse];”

In doing this, he captures how German Christian nationalists had already redefined who counted as their neighbor. If neighbors can be defined primarily as the “non-foreign” members of one’s nation first, then one can morally justify all sorts of actions against people who are categorized as outsiders.

I want to focus on my own white Christian community here. We are seeing this redefinition in action right now in our nation. Americans who consider themselves Christians are reading Facebook, watching FOX News, and watching Trump’s speeches and going “you know we definitely do not want thugs or illegals in our streets! LAW & ORDER!”

But the “thugs and illegals” are whoever Trump considers them to be today. That photo op at St. John’s Episcopal in DC? Among the “violent protesters” that were dispersed with tear gas and flash grenades was a priest from the church Trump wanted to visit.

We must take stock and recognize how much even our faith has been shaped by the systematic recism of our nation, and re-evaluate our worldview in the light of the scripture we claim we follow:

Who Is My Neighbor?

Luke 10:29-37:

29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” …

This is what Müller’s false interpretation was targeting, for the same reason the questioner in Luke did: to narrow the definition of who he was expected to . But Jesus insists on the wider interpretation - even to the those whom the Jews considered heretics to be treated as dogs:

33 “But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out [his own money] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’”

36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

(Emphasis mine) While our cities burn and police departments are instigating riots… on whom will we have mercy?

If we are not heartbroken and angered at the every day treatment of black and brown people in our communities, cities, and nation, if we will not speak up for them, if we will not spend our resources to give them reprieve, then we no longer consider them our neighbors.

#racism #uspol #whiteness #nazis

Steve Ivy

The white girl in the first car waves and smiles - the two black people in the car following are accosted, their vehicle disabled and broken into, and they’re dragged into the street - by police. https://twitter.com/elonjames/status/1267462019227279360?s=20

http://monkinetic.blog/uploads/police-attack-black-drivers.png

~ # 17:33 ~

Jane Elliot: Please Stand

Our nation is deeply, systematically racist, and no amount of “I’m not like that” changes that. Anti-racism activist Jane Elliott says it perfectly:

“If you, as a white person, would be happy to recieve the same treatment that our black citizens do in this society, please stand.”

“Nobody’s standing here. That says very plainly that you know what’s happening, you know you don’t want it for you, I want to know why you’re so willing to accept it or allow it to happen to others.”

http://monkinetic.blog/uploads/jane-elliot-please-stand.png

I’m not standing either, and that makes me deeply ashamed.

#racism #uspol #whiteness

Tech was supposed to fix...

Article: “Tech was supposed to fix X”

Narrator: “Tech made X far far worse”

“Tech” practices problem-space-reduction to reach MVP, reducing messy, complex, human situations to linear engineering problems, optimized for what “works in most cases” where “most cases” is bounded by systemic and institutional bias (including systemic racism).

Systemic bias is an inseparable part of organizational culture, the common pattern of thinking that goes with it, and the premises by which all human systems function. Therefore each of us has a systemic bias. However, we may be unaware of its unstated assumptions. compression institute, 2011

Hence, “Tech” makes many things far, far worse.

#tech #bias #racism

Steve Ivy
Steve Ivy
Steve Ivy

So I don’t forget: Unacceptable by Helene Schouten https://medium.com/@scaryh/unacceptable-4cdca86ba0db #bookmark #racism #economics #america

~ # 16:09 ~

Steve Ivy

I can’t repent for being white, but I can repent for being white #race #racism

~ # 18:08 ~

Unacceptable

http://monkinetic.blog/uploads/Screen Shot 2020-02-10 at 10.38.34 PM.png

Unacceptable. Americans, please give this a read, Helen is speaking truth about us.

Ro had this article sitting in his “saved” list, and I’ve been reading it all afternoon on and off. It’s by Helene Schouten, and was written in October 2015, and it’s a real eye-opener. I won’t quote it yet, because that would mean reducing it to “important” or “notable” parts and I haven’t spent nearly enough time with it to tell which parts to safely extract without breaking it.

#uspol #america #exceptionalism #racism #whiteness