Carl,
Yes, there are beautiful flowers among the weeds, sometimes. But think about
how political organizing is done. Think about Bernie's campaign, for
example. When he talks to people, he is talking about how they are being
screwed by a broken system. And good old fashioned community organizing
involves getting people to define what their needs are and then finding ways
to use the system, or change the system, to get their needs filled. That's
also what social work casework is about. "Start where the client is and then
help him/her define goals and move toward them. Roger says, "Why would you
vote for your enemy"? Self interest is always the key.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Friday, August 14, 2015 11:23 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: WATCH: British Reporter in Ferguson Finds
Whites Openly Carrying Rifles and Peaceful Blacks Being Arrested
Miriam,
America is like a big garden gone wild. Scattered among the many weeds are
beautiful, productive plants. To my way of thinking I can get lost among
the weeds, or I can put my effort to finding and encouraging the productive
plants.
Often times people say what is on their mind, even though they stop and
think and realize it was a knee jerk reaction to what is going on in their
lives at the time. When we sit back and let folks talk it out, very often
they come to a different conclusion than the one they set out toward. I
think most of us begin at the end of our own noses.
But what begins as self serving can be expanded as we think and are
encouraged to think about broader implications. Much of the gibberish
people dish up in opposition to what we know would be real beneficial for
them is just regurgitation of the crap dished out over and over through the
mass media. So many of our clients sit in front of their TV's with FOX News
running constantly. I jokingly tell them that TV rots the brain. But it is
amazing to me that many of them choose FOX over Talking Books. It's easier
to push a button and tune on the babble, than to insert a cartridge in a
Player. But we push forward as if listening to Talking Books is the best
thing since chocolate chip cookies. While we are cautioned to not talk
about the big three, sex, religion and politics, we manage to get into all
of the above when we are invited. And once in a blue moon, we get someone
hooked on listening to something like, Howard Zinn. But it can be
discouraging when confronted day after day by people who have been so
brainwashed that they would drink the Cool-Aid just because Jim Jones said
it was the thing to do.
It's one reason I love the articles you and others post here. I need to
immerse myself in order to withstand the daily onslaught.
We are well along in our 21st year working with older blind and low vision
folks. We quit counting when we passed 2,500 clients.
So this old Agnostic goes forth, sowing the seed and hoping it takes root in
fertile soil. Someone else will probably have to report on whether any of
it grew.
Carl Jarvis
On 8/13/15, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I see another possible explanation for your client's response. Peopleprotection.
tend to be self centered as well as altruistic. They measure what
others have in terms of what they have. People on the left tend to
have a rather optimistic view of where people stand politically and of
what motivates them. They think that people would think and feel
differently if only the system were different. I keep reading in
articles about how a majority of people want single payer health care.
I surely don't know who is being polled to get these results. I was
trying to explain the other day to someone how freeing it would be to
be able to get whatever medical treatment one needed without worrying
about paying insurance premiums and copays and about how government
run systems actually have better results for people. Her response was,
"Well, I've heard that you have to wait for surgery in those
countries. I wan to be able to get the surgery I want whenever I want
it. And, she asked, canyou choose whatever doctor you want in those
countries. Of course, she's in a HIP plan so she can't choose any
doctor she wants. But her husband's union benefits pay for the extra
cost of going out of network. So why would she consider rocking the
boat? And then there was the person who said spontaneously to me, "I'm
opposed to people getting $15 an hour minimum pay.
They have no education. I"m a lawyer and my law firm is underpaying me".
It's a non sequitor, but both are examples of people who think about
their own personal situations as being most important and, therefore,
can't consider what is happening to other people as being important. I
strongly suspect that there are selfish and self serving people in
communes, as well as socialist countries.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2015 12:33 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: WATCH: British Reporter in Ferguson
Finds Whites Openly Carrying Rifles and Peaceful Blacks Being Arrested
A good article to file away for use when people tell us that there is
no prejudice any longer, and that it' Black People who are simply touchy.
That's what one of our clients said. "They're just too touchy,
thinking everything is related to the color of their skin."
She went on to tell us that many of "Those" people are doing a heck of
a lot better than she.
We blind folk might do well to think about how the prevailing
attitudes of the sighted mainstream controls us. The general public
becomes annoyed with us if we constantly point out how their attitudes
and actions limit our activities. We are told that we seem to use our
blindness as an excuse.
When we complain that we felt we were passed over for a job because of
our vision, we are told that this is not possible under today's ADA
The similarities are many, and just like other minorities, we are
viewed as whiny complainers.
It's too bad that our educational system can't spend some time
teaching us to see past our differences and look at our similarities.
But we're busy preparing our children to be little worker bees, A
good education is that which prepares you to be capable of
contributing to the wealth of the Ruling Class, and to worm your way
up the "ladder of success".
Back when I went to school, they didn't even teach such basic stuff as
budget management, or family relationships. We just winged it and
learned by trial and error...like our own parents did.
Carl Jarvis
On 8/12/15, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Alternetincluding the police."
Published on Alternet(http://www.alternet.org)
Home> WATCH: British Reporter in Ferguson Finds Whites Openly
Home> Carrying
Rifles and Peaceful Blacks Being Arrested
---------------------------------------------------------------------
-
------
----
WATCH: British Reporter in Ferguson Finds Whites Openly Carrying
Rifles and Peaceful Blacks Being Arrested
ByDavid Edwards[1]/ Raw Story[2]
August 12, 2015
Kylie Morris of Channel 4 in Britain visited Ferguson on Tuesday and
tried to explain to the British people why white "Oath Keepers" were
allowed to openly carry firearms on the street while peaceful black
protesters were arrested.
"The men, calling themselves Oath Keepers, only added to the already
simmering tensions," a Channel 4 anchor noted before tossing to
Morris for a live report from Ferguson.
Morris told her British audience that the commemoration of the one
year anniversary of Michael Brown's death had been interrupted by
armed Oath Keepers, who claimed that they were there to protect
businesses and conservative journalists.
"But certainly their presence, their state of wearing uniforms,
military-type uniforms - some of them are ex-military, some of them
are even serving police, we're told," she reported. "They were, you
know, carrying weapons."
Morris noted that black protesters faced pepper spray, arrests and
other actions by riot police.
The Oath Keepers, however, "openly carry sidearms and semi-automatic
weapons as is their right," she said.
"You and people who look like you, white males, have the sovereignty
to walk around with assault rifles," one black protesters told a
white Oath Keeper, "But we [black protesters] can't even like stand
out here and assemble peacefully and exercise our constitutional
right to do so without being gassed, maced and arrested."
"I don't have a perspective," the Oath Keeper replied flatly.
Morris said that she had a hard time understanding why police would
arrest otherwise peaceful protesters.
"It's hard to know how this keeps the peace, putting civil rights
leaders in handcuffs, including the prominent philosopher Cornel West
and Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson during a peaceful
sit-in outside the federal court," she remarked.
During an interview with Mckesson, she asked if the police appeared
to be taking retribution on the protesters for all of the negative
attention the Black Lives Matter movement had brought to the area.
"There is a long history of law enforcement targeting people who are
fighting for their rights," Mckesson told Morris. "The reality is
that the status quo didn't just happen overnight, the status quo
[developed] over many years and people work hard to reinforce it,
day."
Morris noted that there was a "right-wing push back" against the
Black Live Matter movement, which she said "feels more and more
vociferous every
including the police."
"There are people whose bread and butter is sustaining racist
oppressive systems like for-profit prisons," Mckesson said. "The
right's response to us is a sign the movement is working."
As for the Oathkeepers, Mckesson said that they were a reminder that
law enforcement in Ferguson "police based on race."
"If black people had come out with rifles like that, it would have
been sheer pandemonium outside," he added. "But white people, there
was no response by the police. They left, they didn't return."
"And that's real. Policing is racially coded in places like Missouri
and places all over the country."
Watch the video below from Channel 4, broadcast Aug. 11, 2015.
.
Share on FacebookShare
Share on TwitterTweet
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'.[3]
[4]
.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
-
------
----
Source
URL:http://www.alternet.org/watch-british-reporter-ferguson-finds-whi
t es-ope nly-carrying-rifles-and-peaceful-blacks-being
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/david-edwards
[2] http://rawstory.com/
[3] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on WATCH: British
Reporter in Ferguson Finds Whites Openly Carrying Rifles and Peaceful
Blacks Being Arrested [4] http://www.alternet.org/ [5]
http://wwwAlternet
Published on Alternet(http://www.alternet.org)
Home> WATCH: British Reporter in Ferguson Finds Whites Openly
Home> Carrying
Rifles and Peaceful Blacks Being Arrested
---------------------------------------------------------------------
-
------
----
WATCH: British Reporter in Ferguson Finds Whites Openly Carrying
Rifles and Peaceful Blacks Being Arrested
ByDavid Edwards[1]/ Raw Story[2]
August 12, 2015
Kylie Morris of Channel 4 in Britain visited Ferguson on Tuesday and
tried to explain to the British people why white "Oath Keepers" were
allowed to openly carry firearms on the street while peaceful black
protesters were arrested.
"The men, calling themselves Oath Keepers, only added to the already
simmering tensions," a Channel 4 anchor noted before tossing to
Morris for a live report from Ferguson.
Morris told her British audience that the commemoration of the one
year anniversary of Michael Brown's death had been interrupted by
armed Oath Keepers, who claimed that they were there to protect
businesses and conservative journalists.
"But certainly their presence, their state of wearing uniforms,
military-type uniforms - some of them are ex-military, some of them
are even serving police, we're told," she reported. "They were, you
know, carrying weapons."
Morris noted that black protesters faced pepper spray, arrests and
other actions by riot police.
The Oath Keepers, however, "openly carry sidearms and semi-automatic
weapons as is their right," she said.
"You and people who look like you, white males, have the sovereignty
to walk around with assault rifles," one black protesters told a
white Oath Keeper, "But we [black protesters] can't even like stand
out here and assemble peacefully and exercise our constitutional
right to do so without being gassed, maced and arrested."
"I don't have a perspective," the Oath Keeper replied flatly.
Morris said that she had a hard time understanding why police would
arrest otherwise peaceful protesters.
"It's hard to know how this keeps the peace, putting civil rights
leaders in handcuffs, including the prominent philosopher Cornel West
and Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson during a peaceful
sit-in outside the federal court," she remarked.
During an interview with Mckesson, she asked if the police appeared
to be taking retribution on the protesters for all of the negative
attention the Black Lives Matter movement had brought to the area.
"There is a long history of law enforcement targeting people who are
fighting for their rights," Mckesson told Morris. "The reality is
that the status quo didn't just happen overnight, the status quo
[developed] over many years and people work hard to reinforce it,
day."
Morris noted that there was a "right-wing push back" against the
Black Live Matter movement, which she said "feels more and more
vociferous every
"There are people whose bread and butter is sustaining racist
oppressive systems like for-profit prisons," Mckesson said. "The
right's response to us is a sign the movement is working."
As for the Oathkeepers, Mckesson said that they were a reminder that
law enforcement in Ferguson "police based on race."
"If black people had come out with rifles like that, it would have
been sheer pandemonium outside," he added. "But white people, there
was no response by the police. They left, they didn't return."
"And that's real. Policing is racially coded in places like Missouri
and places all over the country."
Watch the video below from Channel 4, broadcast Aug. 11, 2015.
.
Share on FacebookShare
Share on TwitterTweet
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'.[3]
[4]
.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
-
------
----
Source
URL:http://www.alternet.org/watch-british-reporter-ferguson-finds-whi
t es-ope nly-carrying-rifles-and-peaceful-blacks-being arrested.
