It would be, and that is precisely the reason that Sanders chose the
Democratic primary campaign as a vehicle for attempting to get people's
attention rather than a party that the media would ignore. The Green Party
is getting more money and members as a result of his campaign. I'll bet the
SWP also got some new members as a result.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Roger Loran
Bailey (Redacted sender "rogerbailey81" for DMARC)
Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2016 9:36 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Black Cleveland Residents Tell Tale of Two
Cities in the Shadow of Republican Convention
Something occurs to me. Every two years the Socialist Workers Party holds a
convention and in alternate years holds an active workers conference in
Oberlin, Ohio. That is so close to Cleveland that you might walk from one
city to the other without noticing that you moved to a different city. The
last gathering was held just last month. Now, wouldn't it be nice if that
gathering got even a tenth of the attention as this Republican gathering is
getting.
On 7/21/2016 4:31 PM, Carl Jarvis wrote:
my memory tells me that Cleveland has shrunk in population fromstreets.
somewhere close to a million, to around 390,000 folks.
If this is even close to being factual, then those left behind are
most probably the ones who can not afford to move, and those who live
in the gated communities.
Carl Jarvis
On 7/21/16, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Speri writes: "A day after Republican National Convention speakers
discussed how to 'make America safe again,' a group of young
Clevelanders held their own 'make America safe again' event at a
downtown park."
Police line outside Republican National Convention. (photo: Alex
Brandon/AP)
Black Cleveland Residents Tell Tale of Two Cities in the Shadow of
Republican Convention By Alice Speri, The Intercept
21 July 16
A day after Republican National Convention speakers discussed how to
"make America safe again," a group of young Clevelanders held their
own "make America safe again" event at a downtown park.
As police officers on horseback and bikes fended off a small rally
down the block and helicopters buzzed overhead, the group of mostly
of black and Latino college students huddled around a picnic table
Tuesday and talked about how irrelevant and offensive the Republican
event is to many residents of its host city.
"America has never been safe for some people," said Alice Ragland as
she flipped through handwritten slides on the history of American
oppression, from the genocide of Native Americans to the lynching of
blacks. "For some of us, it has not been a great place to live."
The students, who branded themselves on social media #CLEoverRNC,
riffing off the ubiquitous #RNCinCLE hashtag, hoped to reclaim space
in a city that this week has largely excluded Cleveland residents -
particularly those of color and little means in what remains one of
America's poorest and most segregated cities.
"I was pissed off when I first found out that the convention was
going to happen here, because the reason why Cleveland is in such
condition is because of the conservative politics that they're going
to be talking about here," said Ragland.
"In a city where we have a huge problem with police violence, racial
discrimination, economic oppression, where a 12-year-old was killed
for having a fake gun, knowing they're going to be in that same city
talking about all those racist policies, and devaluing black lives .
for me it's kind of a slap in the face. It's insulting."
As the massive protests many had predicted ahead of the convention
failed to materialize in the streets of Cleveland, the groups that
did show up were notably light on black and brown Cleveland locals.
"Having this big ceremony here, where you're going to hear people say
things that are anti-black and anti-minority and anti-women, it's
just another reason for people not to care, clock out, stay to the
far east or far west and far away from all this," said Dwight
Vincent, a student at the gathering. "And that just makes it easier
for them to be forgotten and ignored."
Protest was the furthest thing from many Clevelanders' minds right
now, added Tatyana Atkinson, pointing out that already inefficient
public transportation into the city was largely disrupted because of
the convention
- and that many with hourly, low-wage jobs found themselves out of
work for the week. "How do you expect residents whom this is
affecting every day to be here and protest if they can't even get here?"
She also took issue with the $50 million in federal funding the city
of Cleveland received to secure the convention - echoing what several
people referred to as a "tale of two cities."
"[They're] putting $50 million into the city but not putting $50
million into the city," she said. "They got all this money for this
fun military-grade weapons for a city that already has use-of-force
issues, and they just get to keep these weapons to use them against
us every day. So the Republicans came, they kept them safe, and now
they hurt us every single day afterwards," she said. "Yay."
With most protests limited to a few hundred peaceful participants,
much of the equipment the city acquired ahead of the convention
remained out of sight, though the event zone surrounding the
convention was barricaded in a labyrinthine system of gated-off
streets, and the police presence, if largely cordial, was ubiquitous.
Uniformed law enforcement visibly outnumbered the people taking to the
however.Officers from a dozen law enforcement agencies as far away as
California and Florida patrolled downtown Cleveland mostly on foot
and on bikes, greeting people and maintaining a laid-back attitude.
But as soon as rallies grew larger or more raucous, officers on
horseback showed up to disperse them, and the squads of cops on bikes
were reinforced with squads of cops riding bikes while also wearing
riot gear.
As of Wednesday, the largest shows of police force were in response
to a Tuesday rally against police violence organized by mostly
out-of-town members of the leftist Revolution Books group and a group
attempting to burn a U.S. flag on Wednesday afternoon. At the first
rally, protesters held signs carrying the names of black victims of
police brutality in Cleveland and elsewhere, chanting "indict,
convict, send these killer cops to jail"
and other slogans that have become the trademark of the movement that
started in Ferguson, Missouri. But the Cleveland protest was much
smaller than similar ones taking place even in recent weeks in cities
across the country, and it was quickly dispersed with no incidents.
Civil rights advocates warned against considering that a success,
office.They noted that police didn't need to turn to more suppressive crowd
dispersal tactics largely because they had already intimidated most
people out of attending in the first place.
"There are police everywhere, they have massive weapons, and this
creates a chilling effect on people's willingness to come downtown
and engage in their free speech rights and right of assembly,"
Jacqueline Greene, a coordinator with the Ohio chapter of the
National Lawyers Guild told The Intercept as a line of officers on
horseback blocked off a road by Cleveland's Public Square, the heart
of most rallies. "We're at a breaking point in terms of racial
justice issues, and it's critical that those conversations happen,
but the appropriate response is not militarized police, and it is not
the chilling of expression of First Amendment rights."
Julia Shearson, the executive director of Ohio's chapter of the
Council on American-Islamic Relations, told The Intercept that some
4,000 members of the National Guard were stationed down the road from her
problem.""What's happened is that we have incredible suppression of public
participation in the protest movement, so many people stayed away,
even regular people who would maybe just want to come down and see
what's going on, because this has been turned into an armed camp,"
she said. "That's not how the political process should be. If the
politicians are so afraid of the people, I think they need to
question what kinds of policies they're making vis-a-vis the people."
Shearson was speaking from a small Tuesday morning rally against
police violence, as Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio was escorted into the
convention center followed by dozens of journalists and a couple of
boos and shouts of "shame on you."
The rhetoric and hatefulness from speakers on the convention's first
night were also a deterrent to many locals, Shearson said. She
singled out former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani for calling the Black
Lives Matter movement "racist."
"You cannot get more tone-deaf to the suffering of the
African-American community," she said. "It doesn't help law
enforcement to have this vehement, bigoted response to what are
legitimate grievances. . People are so dejected and so apathetic and
have so little hope in the American political system to solve the
streets.Speaking at the same Tuesday morning rally, professor and civil
rights activist Cornel West told reporters that because the political
class failed, someone had to keep pushing for justice and an end to
racism.
"Some of us have to stand up for justice, love, sensitivity," he
said. "If the party wants to live in a bubble, if they want to live
in denial, then they're going to reap what they sow. But I'm not here
to convince the Republicans."
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink reference
not valid.
Police line outside Republican National Convention. (photo: Alex
Brandon/AP)
https://theintercept.com/2016/07/20/black-cleveland-residents-tell-ta
le-of-t
wo-cities-in-the-shadow-of-republican-convention/https://theintercept
.com/20
16/07/20/black-cleveland-residents-tell-tale-of-two-cities-in-the-sha
dow-of-
republican-convention/
Black Cleveland Residents Tell Tale of Two Cities in the Shadow of
Republican Convention By Alice Speri, The Intercept
21 July 16
day after Republican National Convention speakers discussed how to
"make America safe again," a group of young Clevelanders held their
own "make America safe again" event at a downtown park.
As police officers on horseback and bikes fended off a small rally
down the block and helicopters buzzed overhead, the group of mostly
of black and Latino college students huddled around a picnic table
Tuesday and talked about how irrelevant and offensive the Republican
event is to many residents of its host city.
"America has never been safe for some people," said Alice Ragland as
she flipped through handwritten slides on the history of American
oppression, from the genocide of Native Americans to the lynching of
blacks. "For some of us, it has not been a great place to live."
The students, who branded themselves on social media #CLEoverRNC,
riffing off the ubiquitous #RNCinCLE hashtag, hoped to reclaim space
in a city that this week has largely excluded Cleveland residents -
particularly those of color and little means in what remains one of
America's poorest and most segregated cities.
"I was pissed off when I first found out that the convention was
going to happen here, because the reason why Cleveland is in such
condition is because of the conservative politics that they're going
to be talking about here," said Ragland.
"In a city where we have a huge problem with police violence, racial
discrimination, economic oppression, where a 12-year-old was killed
for having a fake gun, knowing they're going to be in that same city
talking about all those racist policies, and devaluing black lives .
for me it's kind of a slap in the face. It's insulting."
As the massive protests many had predicted ahead of the convention
failed to materialize in the streets of Cleveland, the groups that
did show up were notably light on black and brown Cleveland locals.
"Having this big ceremony here, where you're going to hear people say
things that are anti-black and anti-minority and anti-women, it's
just another reason for people not to care, clock out, stay to the
far east or far west and far away from all this," said Dwight
Vincent, a student at the gathering. "And that just makes it easier
for them to be forgotten and ignored."
Protest was the furthest thing from many Clevelanders' minds right
now, added Tatyana Atkinson, pointing out that already inefficient
public transportation into the city was largely disrupted because of
the convention
- and that many with hourly, low-wage jobs found themselves out of
work for the week. "How do you expect residents whom this is
affecting every day to be here and protest if they can't even get here?"
She also took issue with the $50 million in federal funding the city
of Cleveland received to secure the convention - echoing what several
people referred to as a "tale of two cities."
"[They're] putting $50 million into the city but not putting $50
million into the city," she said. "They got all this money for this
fun military-grade weapons for a city that already has use-of-force
issues, and they just get to keep these weapons to use them against
us every day. So the Republicans came, they kept them safe, and now
they hurt us every single day afterwards," she said. "Yay."
With most protests limited to a few hundred peaceful participants,
much of the equipment the city acquired ahead of the convention
remained out of sight, though the event zone surrounding the
convention was barricaded in a labyrinthine system of gated-off
streets, and the police presence, if largely cordial, was ubiquitous.
Uniformed law enforcement visibly outnumbered the people taking to the
however.Officers from a dozen law enforcement agencies as far away as
California and Florida patrolled downtown Cleveland mostly on foot
and on bikes, greeting people and maintaining a laid-back attitude.
But as soon as rallies grew larger or more raucous, officers on
horseback showed up to disperse them, and the squads of cops on bikes
were reinforced with squads of cops riding bikes while also wearing
riot gear.
As of Wednesday, the largest shows of police force were in response
to a Tuesday rally against police violence organized by mostly
out-of-town members of the leftist Revolution Books group and a group
attempting to burn a U.S. flag on Wednesday afternoon. At the first
rally, protesters held signs carrying the names of black victims of
police brutality in Cleveland and elsewhere, chanting "indict,
convict, send these killer cops to jail"
and other slogans that have become the trademark of the movement that
started in Ferguson, Missouri. But the Cleveland protest was much
smaller than similar ones taking place even in recent weeks in cities
across the country, and it was quickly dispersed with no incidents.
Civil rights advocates warned against considering that a success,
office.They noted that police didn't need to turn to more suppressive crowd
dispersal tactics largely because they had already intimidated most
people out of attending in the first place.
"There are police everywhere, they have massive weapons, and this
creates a chilling effect on people's willingness to come downtown
and engage in their free speech rights and right of assembly,"
Jacqueline Greene, a coordinator with the Ohio chapter of the
National Lawyers Guild told The Intercept as a line of officers on
horseback blocked off a road by Cleveland's Public Square, the heart
of most rallies. "We're at a breaking point in terms of racial
justice issues, and it's critical that those conversations happen,
but the appropriate response is not militarized police, and it is not
the chilling of expression of First Amendment rights."
Julia Shearson, the executive director of Ohio's chapter of the
Council on American-Islamic Relations, told The Intercept that some
4,000 members of the National Guard were stationed down the road from her
problem.""What's happened is that we have incredible suppression of public
participation in the protest movement, so many people stayed away,
even regular people who would maybe just want to come down and see
what's going on, because this has been turned into an armed camp,"
she said. "That's not how the political process should be. If the
politicians are so afraid of the people, I think they need to
question what kinds of policies they're making vis-a-vis the people."
Shearson was speaking from a small Tuesday morning rally against
police violence, as Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio was escorted into the
convention center followed by dozens of journalists and a couple of
boos and shouts of "shame on you."
The rhetoric and hatefulness from speakers on the convention's first
night were also a deterrent to many locals, Shearson said. She
singled out former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani for calling the Black
Lives Matter movement "racist."
"You cannot get more tone-deaf to the suffering of the
African-American community," she said. "It doesn't help law
enforcement to have this vehement, bigoted response to what are
legitimate grievances. . People are so dejected and so apathetic and
have so little hope in the American political system to solve the
Speaking at the same Tuesday morning rally, professor and civil
rights activist Cornel West told reporters that because the political
class failed, someone had to keep pushing for justice and an end to
racism.
"Some of us have to stand up for justice, love, sensitivity," he
said. "If the party wants to live in a bubble, if they want to live
in denial, then they're going to reap what they sow. But I'm not here
to convince the Republicans."
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
