One problem is that the Disabled have no power. Certainly, if they remain
fragmented, working within discrete groups like the blind, the deaf, the
mobility impaired, etc. they have less because their numbers are small. If they
could learn from other groups about what people call, "intersectionality", they
could focus on issues that impact all of them and, perhaps, make some progress.
And I would add the aging population into the mix. If you consider the kinds of
care and consideration that a majority of the elderly receive as their physical
and mental capacities diminish, they also need representation.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Friday, August 21, 2020 2:14 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: If Joe Biden Rejects His Progressive Base, Trump
Will Win
We used to speak about a glass ceiling holding women back. We seldom hear of
the Invisible Curtain that surrounds the disabled population.
For years blind people have labored to bring attention to the needs of blind
and low vision Americans. But our political leaders continue to prefer to keep
the blind out of sight. Here on the Olympic Peninsula, for the past 25 years,
Cathy and I have connected with nearly every social services organization,
spoken on every local radio station, submitted articles and gave interviews to
the newspapers, organized support groups, participated in Health Fairs, and did
the heavy lifting in keeping the Jefferson County Council of the Blind alive
and active. And yet, do any of our Progressive state and federal
representatives speak to our unmet needs? I certainly have only one answer,
Keep On Keeping On! There are too few of us to afford the luxury of "sitting
this one out". We need more exposure, more voices, more workers laboring in
the field.
Carl Jarvis
On 8/20/20, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Do you know what minority group is never mentioned? The disabled.
Miriam
Published on
Thursday, August 20, 2020
byCommon Dreams
If Joe Biden Rejects His Progressive Base, Trump Will Win He could
pave the way for another Donald Trump victory in the “the most crucial
election in human history.”
byAmy Goodman, Denis Moynihan
"If Joe Biden ignores, demoralizes or actively alienates his
progressive base, he could pave the way for another Donald Trump
victory," writes the authors. (Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images) "If
Joe Biden ignores, demoralizes or actively alienates his progressive
base, he could pave the way for another Donald Trump victory," writes
the authors. (Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images)
During the official roll call at the virtual Democratic National
Convention on Tuesday, representatives from 57 states and territories
declared their delegate totals for Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden, each
from an iconic setting highlighting their region. Native American
delegates from the Dakotas and New Mexico greeted viewers in their indigenous
languages.
African American delegates spoke from Black Lives Matter Plaza in
Washington, DC and the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama.
The sweeping celebration of the Democratic Party’s diversity, however,
also highlighted the party’s fracture between its centrist
establishment and its emerging progressive wings. Yes, all the
delegations enthusiastically declared Joe Biden “the next president of
the United States.” But, Bernie Sanders’ delegate total of 1,151,
compared to Biden’s 3,558, indicates the persistence of a significant
ideological divide.
Two voices from the progressive wing were granted several minutes of
airtime in Tuesday night’s program: Congressmember Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortéz and Medicare-for-All activist Ady Barkan.
Ocasio-Cortéz, widely known as AOC, transformed Democratic Party
politics with her 2018 primary upset over ten-term incumbent Joe
Crowley, demonstrating the power of grassroots organizing coupled with
progressive policy positions to energize a young, diverse electorate.
“Good evening, bienvenidos and thank you to everyone here today
endeavoring towards a better, more just future for our country and our
world,” AOC said, opening her pre-recorded, speaking slot for which
she was allotted 60 seconds (she used 95 seconds). She continued,
thanking the “mass people’s movement working to establish 21st century
social, economic and human rights, including guaranteed healthcare,
higher education, living wages and labor rights for all people in the
United States…striving to recognize and repair the wounds of racial
injustice, colonization, misogyny and homophobia and to propose and
build reimagined systems of immigration and foreign policy that turn
away from the violence and xenophobia of our past; a movement that
realizes the unsustainable brutality of an economy that rewards
explosive inequalities of wealth for the few at the expense of
long-term stability for the many, and who organized a historic
grassroots campaign to reclaim our democracy, in a time when millions
of people in the United States are looking for deep, systemic
solutions to our crises of mass evictions, unemployment, and lack of
healthcare.”
Ady Barkan’s statement was also pre-recorded, for another reason: he
is dying from ALS, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. A Yale-trained
Israeli-American lawyer and activist, Barkan was diagnosed in 2016 at
the age of 32, suffering increasing nerve degeneration, muscle
atrophy, and paralysis. He can no longer speak, so composes his
speeches in advance, using a synthetic, computer voice.
“In the midst of a pandemic, nearly 100 million Americans do not have
sufficient health insurance. And even good insurance does not cover
essential needs like long-term care,” Barkan said. “Our loved ones are
dying in unsafe nursing homes, our nurses are overwhelmed and
unprotected, and our essential workers are treated as dispensable. In
the richest country in history…we do not guarantee this most basic
human right. Everyone living in America should get the healthcare they
need, regardless of employment status or ability to pay.”
Ady Barkan advocated for Medicare-for-All without naming it, though he
usually does, perhaps since Joe Biden has vowed to veto any
Medicare-for-All bill that reaches his desk if he becomes president.
Shortly after Barkan’s address aired, he tweeted, “We need to elect
Joe Biden to take the next step towards Medicare For All. After
November 4th? We’re going to put a bill on his desk.”
Will the Democratic Party spurn the demands of its younger and
increasingly diverse progressive wing? They will try to.
This week, the Democratic National Committee quietly dropped its
pledge to eliminate subsidies and tax breaks for the fossil fuel
industry, saying it appeared in this year’s draft platform “in
error”–despite appearing in the
2016 platform and being supported by both Biden and his running mate,
Vice Presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Then, the Biden campaign denounced respected Palestinian-American
Muslim organizer Linda Sarsour, after she appeared on a livestream of
a Muslim Delegates and Allies Assembly side-event to the DNC. Sarsour
has publicly fought against racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, and
antisemitism. She also supports the Boycott-Divestment-Sanctions movement for
Palestinian rights.
A
Biden spokesperson said Biden “obviously condemns her views and
opposes BDS.”
Ady Barkan fired back on Twitter in solidarity: “I say this as a Jew
and an Israeli citizen…the Biden campaign issued a vile and dishonest
statement against my beloved sister Linda Sarsour, a fierce advocate
for justice and freedom, and a leading antiracist and organizer
against antisemitism. The Biden campaign must retract and apologize.”
If Joe Biden ignores, demoralizes or actively alienates his
progressive base, he could pave the way for another Donald Trump
victory, in what public intellectual Noam Chomsky has called “the most
crucial election in human history.”
Amy Goodman
Amy Goodman is the host of "Democracy Now!," a daily international
TV/radio news hour airing on 1,100 stations in North America. She was
awarded the
2008 Right Livelihood Award, dubbed the
