Yes, I agree. I keep clinging to the hope that the current mood of
resistance will lessen the blows of Trumpism, but if the Dems get back in
does that mean more of what we got under Clinton and Obama? IF so, thats
not good enough.
Bob
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Miriam Vieni
Sent: Saturday, March 11, 2017 9:50 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: The Trumpist Attitude Toward
African-Americans
Yes, and your esteemed senator, the liberal icon, Elizabeth Warren, voted
for him. So while I applaud her efforts at financial reform, that vote,
plus her refusal to re-think her support of Israel is an example of why the
Democratic party is hopeless. Theyre the lesser of two evils, but just
barely, and theyre still evil.
Miriam
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Bob Hachey
Sent: Saturday, March 11, 2017 3:01 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] The Trumpist Attitude Toward African-Americans
Rewriting the history of slavery Renée Graham Renée Graham . By Renée Graham
. Ludicrous statements recently made by Ben Carson and Betsy DeVos, both
members of President Trump's Cabinet, are nothing less than a flagrant
attempt by this administration to recast this nation's shameful history of
slavery, bigotry, and oppression. In his first staff address as Housing and
Urban Development secretary, Carson should have stopped talking after
calling America "a land of dreams and opportunity. Nevertheless, he
persisted. "There were other immigrants who came here in the bottom of slave
ships, worked even longer, even harder for less," Carson said. "But they too
had a dream that one day their sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters,
great-grandsons, great-granddaughters, might pursue prosperity and happiness
in this land. You'll need an earthmover to unpack everything offensive about
Carson's comment. Those forced into slavery were not immigrants. Africans
arrived shackled together in the dank bellies of teeming ships, not in
search of better lives. During their transatlantic nightmare, countless
people died from disease, starvation, and murder. Those who survived found
ceaseless brutality, worked under constant threat of an overseer's lash or
worse, and were paid nothing. If they could still dream at all, it was for
the opportunity to kill their oppressors, flee the plantations, and reunite
their families. There was no prosperity or happiness - only crushing misery
they would never want inflicted on loved ones. Carson presented a rosy
interpretation of a vile institution whose stench still chokes us. If the
former neurosurgeon can't find a reliable history book, perhaps he can get
his skilled hands on a dictionary to look up the vastly different
definitions for "slave" and "immigrant. This comes less than a week after
Education Secretary DeVos claimed Historically Black Colleges and
Universities (HBCUs) are "pioneers" of school choice. "They are living proof
that when more options are provided to students, they are afforded greater
access and greater quality," she said in a statement. DeVos, who eventually
backtracked, overlooks the fact that HBCUs are "living proof" of the Jim
Crow era, and the only choice black people had was to create their own
places of higher learning, since they were barred from segregated colleges
and universities. These aren't misstatements but part of a sinister pattern.
In an administration at war with facts, these historical rewrites seek to
minimize the pain and suffering of African-Americans. It is literally a page
from Texas textbooks that, in 2015, referred to slaves only as "millions of
workers from Africa [brought] to the southern United States to work on
agricultural plantations. We've seen this before. In January, a White House
statement commemorating International Holocaust Remembrance Day made no
mention of Jewish victims, opting for what was called a more "inclusive"
tone - a move praised on a neo-Nazi website. As inept as the Trump
administration is, never underestimate its desire to craft a frightening new
world order that will amend the past to cement its archaic vision of the
future. Hardships like slavery and segregation are repackaged as cheery
bootstrap parables. A Holocaust remembrance must now take "into account all
of those who suffered," as White House spokeswoman Hope Hicks said. Senator
Tim Kaine of Virginia compared it to something else: Holocaust denial.
Martin Luther King Jr. said, "We are not makers of history. We are made by
history. So what becomes of us when our history is systematically unmade?
The first step in erasing history is to slowly erode our understanding of
it. This isn't just carelessness; it's an act of contempt. That's why
pushback to correct this revisionism must be as vigilant as efforts to
thwart ongoing assaults on civil rights by this caustic presidency.
Otherwise we may soon hear another member of this administration
rhapsodizing about that wonderful era when African and African-American
workers enjoyed nearly 250 years of prosperity and happiness, complete with
free housing and zero unemployment. Renée Graham can be reached at
renee.graham@xxxxxxxxx. Follow her on Twitter @reneeygraham
