Eleanor Roosevelt was the wife of a sitting President and she was outspokenly
anti-Communisst which does make her situation somewhat different from your
Dad's and that of others who actually were involved with the CP. That is what
is so amazing to me. She supported, for a time, the American Youth Council,
which did include some Communists in its membership. But the FBI thought that
her asssociations with all progressive causes made her suspect.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2017 10:25 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: America
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
