No, I didn't know that the FBI had a file on Eleanor Roosevelt. But
when I read your note, I was not surprised in the least. The FBI
spent tons of taxpayers dollars during the 40's and 50's, spying on
suspicious citizens, like my dad. Dad was pretty certain that our
telephone was tapped, and my sisters and I had certainly met the two
agents who made a big show of coming to the door when Dad was still at
work. We also saw them cruise slowly up and down the street from time
to time. And of course there were those phone calls to family
members, mostly mother's parents and siblings, and the one to Dad's
boss. After Dad's boss told the "informant" that he was not going to
fire Dad, the calls quit. But we were careful regarding what we said
on the telephone for at least another year. So many little people's
lives were ruined by similar action. The one that stands out in my
mind was the folks good friends, he was fire chief at the Queen Anne
Fire Station. Less than a year from retirement, Elmer Strom was fired
by the Seattle Fire Department because he took the Fifth Amendment
when asked if he "was now or have you ever been a member of the
Communist Party?" Like my folks, the Sroms had been active during the
Great Depression. But being a "card carrying member" was not illegal
until later in Truman's administration. By the end of WW II, I don't
think any of the people the FBI was harassing were members. But the
question was phrased in order to make it sound as if they were. So
many agents doing so much to keep America safe from Communism. Gee,
where are those agents when we need them to protect us from Raging
Corporate Capitalism? But who was at fault? The FBI agents who had
been given a decent paying job, and convinced that they were serving
their government by spying on people like Dad? These men were no
different than today's cops. Men and women who believe that they are
protecting their fellow Americans from Evil, by arresting Ghetto
Children for possession of Drugs. To one extent or another most of us
have been used from time to time by the Ruling Class.
Carl Jarvis
On 10/3/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
The horror of the complete indifference of the world to what was happening
to the Jews becomes more evident as I read more of this book. FDR truly
couldn't care less. New opportunities to help people kept arising and each
time, he turned his back. The Jews fighting for their lives in the Warsaw
Ghetto, begging the world for help, sending messages saying, "We're dying",
all of those concentration camps that everyone knew about, and FDR agreeing
that there had to be a plan to prevent Jews from having as many professional
positions in any new country where they settled as they'd had in Germany
because in Germany a preponderance of doctors, lawyers, and professors were
Jewish. In the end, he was just typical of everyone else in his class. It's
ironic that his rivals accused him of being Jewish. It also explains the
extremes that politicians go to now to appease the Israel lobby. Yes,
there's money involved, but there's also this payback for what was
consciously done. Did you know that the FBI had a file on Eleanor? They were
constantly investigating her for Communist associations.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2017 5:04 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: America
It took me a long, painfully long time to get past my hero worship of
Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In my youth he was right there alonside
Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln. I would have included Franklin if he'd
been president. But those were my "big four" All American Heroes.
Lucky for me that I went beyond 12th grade, and liked the smell of public
library reading rooms.
The amazing thing is not that FDR tossed some pretty big bones to the
working men...and women, thinking of Rosie the Riveter, but that Eleanor
Roosevelt had the highly developed sense of understanding, since she had
been raised up in the same circles as was FDR.
I remember sitting with a bunch of buddies in the Hub, the Student Union
Building at the University of Washington, watching a news program. All of a
sudden they switched to part of a speech delivered before the United
Nations, by Eleanor Roosevelt. I loved her sound.
A warmth came out, even through the old black and white TV. As she spoke,
one of the fellows said, "Now there's a face that even a mother couldn't
love". And several snickers floated across the room. I was shocked! I
loved that crinkly, wrinkly, smiling face. I said, "I think she has a warm
face, like she loves life". My buddy said, "Hey, I got a big sister looking
for a guy like you". I knew his big flat faced sister, and there was no
comparison. In an unkind moment I shot back, "Your sister looks just like
you, and ther's no way I'd ever kiss you'. We might have gone at it, except
someone switched the channel to a Seattle U. basketball game, and Elgin
Baylor was slamming home the points.
Carl Jarvis
On 10/2/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
And my insight today from the book about Eleanor Roosevelt, or rather
the most distressing insight is that FDR, after the US was involved in
WW2, began planning for American empire. He said things about what the
US would do in Africa, for example, as if we had a perfect right to
just take over and do whatever seemed to be in our best interests. He
shocked a number of people when he talked about this in relation to
various parts of the world.
From what I'm reading in this book, he was a cold, calculating person
when it came to his political intersts and geopolitics. He did some
pretty awful things. Maybe Obama was more like FDR than people
realize, except that FDR did do more for poor and working people when
he first came into office. But then he had Eleanor constantly pushing
him. Eventually however, when it came to Jewish refugees, to the
Republic of Spain, to de Gaulle, whom he hated, she had no influence
at all. He used her for public relations for his administration, but he
stopped listening to her.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Monday, October 02, 2017 4:28 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: America
Little boxes with little labels on them. Stereotyping is an effective
method of putting one more barrier between us and them.
When I worked at the Department of Services for the Blind, directing
the Orientation and Training Center, I adopted a policy of not looking
at the file on a prospective student until I had first met them and
had a long discussion with them. Seeing a new student in person and
then reading the stuff put in their file by the various counselors, made a
great difference.
It gave me a clean slate on which to paint my impressions. Then I
looked at the file and saw the client through the eyes of others,
rather than having their views become my first impression. It is easy
to become impressed by the observations of others.
Carl Jarvis
On 10/1/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
After a week of mostly listening to podcasts, I'm back to Eleanor
Roosevelt.
We're at the end of 1940, and the beginning of 1941. This country has
certainly been consistent in its resistance to helping refugees from
war torn countries and its suspicion of all immigrants. Not only
didn't our government care about the working people who were in
danger of Nazi cruelty, it didn't care about notable, well known,
talented people with special connections. I want to point out to our
two Muslim list members who are so angry at Israel and who, like so
many other people, confuse Jewish individuals with the State of
Israel, that the US government did to Jews who wished to immigrate
here during the Nazi era, precisely what it is doing to would-be
Muslim immigrants today. I just read last night about a Palestinian
who wanted to visit, just to compete in the Chicago Marathon, and was
refused admittance to the US.
Our citizenry and our media are so ignorant of American history and
culture, that they think that the White Nationalism which Mr. Trump
has allowed to express itself openly, is something unusual, something
at the edges of our society. But it's been part and parcel of our
country's laws and immigration policy from its inception.
I'm reading a novel called, "Behold The Dreamers", which someone on
the DB Review list recommended. It's a heartbreaking story about a
couple, African immigrants in New York City in 2007 to 2009. If you
want to get a real understanding of why people risk everything to
come to this country and to try to live here without legal status, if
you want to know what it really feels like for people who are poor
and not white, who believe in the American Dream that is peddled all
over the world, and if you're willing to experience vicariously, what
they need to go through in their efforts to make a better life for
their children, read this book. The author is fantastic. There are no
stereotypes in this book. All the characters a real, flaws human
beings. I only wish that people who have distorted ideas about
immigration, would be open to reading it and to understanding what it
is trying to tell them.
Miriam
