Yesterday, I mentioned the book I'm reading, The End of The Myth. It's all
about how our country's leaders have used the idea of the frontier to support
our racism and our exploitation of workers and, of course, the expansion of
empire. When you read quotations from our various political leaders throughout
the many years that Europeans have been on this continent, it makes you cringe
and it is a reminder that the things that Donald Trump says, harken back to our
infamous past. When he says, "Make America great again", he just wants to
dismantle what we have always thought of as progress, in order to return to
what the original concept of this country was. I suspect that all of the stuff
about this being a land where people could come in order to make a better life,
was just propaganda in order to lure a low wage work force here from the parts
of Europe that weren't Anglo Saxon. I've been reading a lot about people of
Saxon ancestry in this book. They are the people who are the real Americans,
people like you and Roger, but of course, they are also supposed to be
Christian and men of property.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Sunday, June 7, 2020 11:26 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: While the world condemns China for its response
to the Hong Kong protests, the numbers and the images make clear that the US
has responded to its popular uprising with more force and less tolerance than
Beijing
Miriam,
Denial is the greatest defense of all. As long as we refuse to accept that
this nation is anything other than perfect, our Great Experiment in Democracy
will wind up on the same scrap pile as have all other Empires.
Denial enables us to smash our Freedom Fighters, as Terrorists. But in fact,
the real threat to our democracy are the 200% folks chanting, "I'd rather be
dead than Red".
Oh well, the rains are supposed to continue for the entire week. And our two
Great nieces and one great nephew are arriving this evening, in the belief that
they can be outside instead of having to stay cooped up in Merced. Boy, are
they in for a surprise.
Carl Jarvis
On 6/6/20, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Because the present is so difficult to deal with, I've started reading
more and what I'm reading right now is The End of the Myth by Greg
Grandon. The more history I read, the more apparent it becomes, that
everything that is happening now is the outcome of how this country
grew and developed. All of the attitudes on display now, have always
been part of the tapestry of our culture. There was a quote from
Benjamin Franklin, something about how people like to stay together
with others of their same kind and how the original settlers came from
England and were white. He went on to say that people from many other
european countries were swarthy in appearance and only one or two
countries had people who were white like the English, and that it was
natural to want the white people to be in the majority here and to
rule. I've read all sorts of things about Benjamin Franklin in the
past, but never about his racism. I'm sure that many members of the SS were
good family men who were kind to their neighbors and loved their children.
That's
probably true of many of our ICE agents. The person who drove me around to
do errands and whom I paid to do many other things for me for more
than twenty five years, who was kind and thoughtful was married to a
NYC police officer and her son joined the force when he grew up. They
were kind people, but they were absolutely loyal to the New York City
police and believed that everything that was done by any police officer, was
justified.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Saturday, June 6, 2020 12:20 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: While the world condemns China for its
response to the Hong Kong protests, the numbers and the images make
clear that the US has responded to its popular uprising with more
force and less tolerance than Beijing
There's so much violence and murder around the entire planet, that it
is hard to say who is worse. But the one thing we can be certain of,
despite our different colors, and religions and nationalities, and all
the rest, we are all human. And as Humans, we are all have pretty
much the same sorts of emotions.
I remember nearly 60 years ago, standing in a group of Seattle
Policemen during the "Long Hot Summer of Discontent", and listening to
the casual racist remarks being tossed around. I knew some of these
men for years, went to church with them, attended school parent
teacher meetings with them, led their children in the Boy Scouts,
sought their votes when I ran for precinct committeeman. They were
all family men, decent fathers and husbands, upholders of Law and
Order. And all the while they were in denial of their racist
feelings. And they passed them on, unthinkingly, to their children.
Deep seated prejudices. And it's their children and grand children
who "protect the public" today.
Until we decide, at the top government levels, that we truly must
solve the Race Problem in this country, we will continue to see
violence between the people and those charged with defending them.
Carl Jarvis
On 6/5/20, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
While the world condemns China for its response to the Hong Kong
protests, the numbers and the images make clear that the US has
responded to its popular uprising with more force and less tolerance
than Beijing
by Alan Macleod
June 05th, 2020
By Alan Macleod
After just over a week of demonstrations, the number of Americans
arrested in the George Floyd protests far exceeds that of over a
year's worth of protests in Hong Kong. A survey of just 30 police
departments conducted on Tuesday found that they had collectively
detained over 11,000 individuals, meaning the actual number detained
across the entire country is certain to be higher. That compares to
around
9,000 for Hong Kong.
Chinese authorities have been roundly condemned by Western
governments and by human rights organizations for their excessive use
of force, using tear gas and rubber bullets that have harmed protestors.
However, in more than a year of near-constant conflict, authorities
have not killed anyone. In contrast, at least 17 people have been
killed protesting in the U.S. The National Guard was almost
immediately activated and deployed to 24 states, with the president
encouraging authorities to shoot anyone deemed to be "thugs" or
"looters." "When the looting starts, the shooting starts," Trump
tweeted. Police seem to have taken that message to heart, shooting
and killing Sean Monterrosa, an unarmed 22-year-old in Vallejo,
California, while he was kneeling and had his hands up. Meanwhile, on
Wednesday LAPD shot a homeless, wheelchair bound man in the face.
George Floyd Protests: Police Escalating Violence Across America
Violence over George Floyd protests is being deliberately instigated
by an out of control police force that appears to have gone berserk.
MintPress News | Alan Macleod | Jun 1 In both the United States and
Hong Kong, authorities have pointed to outside agitators to explain
the violence. St. Paul mayor Melvin Carter claimed last week that
every protester arrested was from out of state, implying there was a
grand conspiracy to commit violence. He later retracted his statement
after it was proven that the vast majority were, in fact, locals.
Susan Rice, former American Ambassador to the United Nations and
National Security Advisor to President Obama, believed she saw a
Russian hand in the chaos.
"I
would bet, based on my experience. this is right out of the Russian
playbook," she told CNN's Wolf Blitzer, adding, "I would not be
surprised to learn that they have fomented some of these extremists
on both sides using social media, I would not be surprised to learn
that they have been funding it in some way, shape or form." Trump's
National Security Advisor blamed China and Iran. Meanwhile, Florida
Senator Rick Scott claimed that the protests were being organized by
Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela. None of them could point to anything
more substantive than a few tweets.
George Floyd Protests
Police arrest protesters en masse during a protest against police
brutality in Philadelphia, June 1, 2020. Matt Rourke | AP
On the other hand, some of the Hong Kong protesters are being openly
trained, funded, and supported by Washington. Since 2014 - the year
of the Umbrella Protests in Hong Kong - the White House's regime
change organization the NED has (officially) poured over $29 million
into China and Hong Kong to "identify new avenues for democracy and
political reform." But before the Hong Kong protests erupted, NED
President Gershman called China a "resurgent despotic regime
tightening repression internally and expanding its power globally,"
claiming that "democracy is under threat" and we must "come to its
defense," thereby confirming that anything "pro-democracy" in China
is, by definition, anti-government. Since the protests began,
Washington has led the world in trying to pressurize and isolate
China over the issue, and protest leaders like Joshua Wong travel
back and forth to the U.S. to meet top American officials. Meanwhile,
American diplomat Julie Eadeh was photographed in a meeting with
other protest leaders.
American Gov't, NGOs Fuel and Fund Hong Kong Anti-Extradition
Protests It is inconceivable that the organizers of the protests are
unaware of the NED ties to some of its members.
MintPress News | Alexander Rubinstein | Jun 20, 2019 The U.S.
conflict erupted after videos surfaced of Minneapolis police officer
Derek Chauvin choking unarmed, handcuffed black man George Floyd to death.
In Hong Kong, anger arose in response to a proposed extradition
treaty with China that many islanders felt would greatly undermine
the special civil liberties they hold. Both protests enjoy a good
amount of public support; polls show that between 50 and 60 percent
of Hong Kong natives generally support the protests, while 54 percent
of the U.S. back the George Floyd demonstrations. But despite similar
levels of approval, their bases of support contrast greatly. While
the George Floyd protests have seen the burning of the American flag
and are categorically opposed to Donald Trump's racist intervention,
Hong Kongers fly the U.S. flag high and appeal to him directly to
intervene: "President Trump: Please liberate Hong Kong" is one
particularly prevalent slogan seen on banners. Elsewhere, Hong
Kongers sang "God Save the Queen" and hung the flag of the United
Kingdom in the city's legislative building. The British ruled the
territory as a colony until 1997, and the gesture was interpreted by
Western media as a "plea"
for
the U.K. to intervene.
Ian Goodrum
@isgoodrum
Don't let anyone tell you BLM and Hong Kong stand for the same thing.
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While the world condemned China for its response to the protests, the
numbers and the images make clear that the U.S. has responded to its
popular uprising with more force and less tolerance than Beijing. If
China is an authoritarian police state, does that mean the U.S. also
qualifies for the same title?
