On February 28th Tarajee Ali spoke to us about how a new collaboration between blacks and whites could help our nation form “A More Perfect Union.” She has provided the text of her talk to us, and given her permission for us to post it on our website. We hope that our readers will find her talk eye opening, and worth further consideration and dialog. Please feel free to post your comments as you are so inclined. So here’s her talk to us…
I first want to thank the Ethical Society for giving me the opportunity to speak with you today. As an African American woman, I feel as though establishing a conversation between the African-American community and the Humanist Society is essential.
Our country is becoming more and more divided, because no one is bothering to engage over the very issues that divide us. But, an even bigger issue is being on the same page with people who are supposed to be your allies. So today, I hope we can begin an honest conversation about race, and what we can do about it.
Let me begin by asking you, as a Humanist.. Do you believe the Ethical Society in general, and you in particular, are doing enough to help the African-American community? Or do you feel like, as long as you don’t add to racism, as long as you behave ethically in your own life, that you’ve done your part?
Because, I think we all want to do our part. But, it’s how we define our part is where we differ. Is it an active part, or simply a “quote-unquote” Hippocratic oath, to do no harm? This is a very important distinction, because to combat racism we have to engage. It is not enough to not be racist, because racism has already taken it’s toll on the African-American community.
So let’s look at it..
Throughout human history, man has always found a way to create “Us versus Them”. Racism is just the latest version of this need to identify by contrast. I emphasize identify by contrast, because in many ways, identity is based on contrast. Distinction begets division, and hence, racism. But, before I get too far ahead of myself, I want to touch on what gave racism its modern day expression.
Capitalism.
Now don’t get me wrong, I understand and appreciate the power of a dollar. So, I’m no card-carrying Communist or even a Democratic Socialist. No.
But capitalism has a dark side.
And, ironically it is rooted in the abolition of another type of slavery, serfdom. Please don’t quote me on the timeline, Kwame is a better historian than me, but don’t tell him I said that. But, around the 15th century, landlords facing a labor shortage that found its roots in the bubonic plague, began to dissolve the bonds of serfdom, feudal dues, land tenures and village commons, replacing them more or less with free market.
In essence, they turned the necessities of life into commodities and put a price on everything, literally. Now think about that for a second..
When you put a price on something, in many ways you devalue it in the eyes of the people. Because it’s price becomes it’s worth.
Its worth, is no longer inherent, it is relative indeed in the eye of the beholder.
I am reminded of a story, about the first pilgrims.
When they got to the shores of America and saw those sprawling meadows, rolling hills and majestic trees. The first thing they did was to assess the value in cutting down the trees to manufacture goods.
I’m not making a moral judgment, but when you teach people to see in dollar signs, you truly lose sight of the forest for the trees.
But, back to the 15th century, serfs are becoming merchants and merchants are becoming capitalist, investing their profits in mining, textiles, overseas trade and overseas colonization. So now, this local phenomenon is about to go global. Colonies become all the rage.
The invisible hand of the market is beginning to dictate the rhythm of society. The key to remember here is, there is a price on everything.
So why not people?
Now, of course, slavery wasn’t invented by the capitalistic era, but never before was the worth of humanity so devalued. Would African slavery have reached the epic proportions it did without capitalism?
Absolutely not.
The driving factor behind the enslavement of millions of my people was capitalisms drive for dominance. Which leads to the conclusion that racism didn’t create slavery, slavery created racism.
This is an important distinction, because if racism created slavery it would be justifiable from a purely theoretical point of view. Remember, racism is only the moderate expression of our human need to create ‘us versus them’. This trait is just as much a part of us, as Fight or Flight, because survival in many ways is us versus them. So when I say justifiable, I am in no way justifying slavery. I am merely saying that had racism been the foundation of slavery, the fact is defensible in the name of quote unquote “us survival”.
I hope I have made that clear.
But, because slavery begot racism, then in many ways capitalism begot slavery. Then the basis of the problem is economics. Period.
This may be obvious to some, but many still see the face of slavery as the sadistic leer of plantation overseers instead of the accounting ledgers of major corporation, many located in the north and not the south. Slavery is always depicted as horrendous by is dictators and a “happy southern existence” by the twisted minds of its supporters.
But both miss the mark. It should be depicted as it was, a cold-blooded business transaction. Which to me, makes it even more horrendous. I would rather someone hate, degrade or even seek to destroy my humanity, than to totally disregard it as irrelevant.
Slavery, not as evil, slavery as banality.
We’ve gotten rid of the evils of slavery but not the banality. Case in point, the 13th amendment, which reads: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” This clearly states, slavery still exists as punishment for crimes committed, but incarceration and enslavement are two entirely different things. Ask yourself.. Are you OK with conflating the two?
Think about people who go to jail, for failure to pay court cost. This is a crime for which they can be made a slave. The 13th amendment makes no distinction between felony and misdemeanor. So technically a person could be enslaved for shoplifting a pack of gum in the District of Columbia! I specifically use The District of Columbia, because the 13th amendment is a part of the federal constitution, where as the North Carolina Constitution section 17 Reads: “slavery is forever prohibited. Involuntary servitude except as a punishment for crime where of the parties have been adjudged guilty, is forever prohibited”. So North Carolina dealt the fatal blow in the first sentence – slavery is forever prohibited. This is significant in its wording, because it also makes a distinction between slavery and involuntary servitude that the United States Constitution doesn’t.
Now we all know it takes 2/3rds of Congress and 2/3rds of the state to get a Constitutional amendment, so actually changing their words is next to impossible, but I ask you in your own heart, do you see and understand how the banality of slavery permeates life in America? It is simple but profound, that the man who was suppose to have abolished slavery actually insured it’s continuance!
Except as a crime, this simple clause, made sure slavery would be a part of the American justice system which is evident to this day.
Now, I want to ask each of you a personal question..
Were you aware that slavery is still a part of the American justice system? If you say, yes, are you OK with that?
Should slavery be punishment for a crime? And if you didn’t know, maybe you can now better grasp why I say slavery as banality permeates our society in subtle ways.
There may not be much we can do about the 13th amendment besides bringing awareness to the issue, but we can definitely do something about the G.I. Bill.
The GI Bill was enacted into law in 1944, as it was for returning serviceman after WW2 to help them with education, housing and jobs. A commendable piece of legislation, except for one thing: it discriminated against black GIs. Now, the significance of the G.I. Bill cannot be overstated because it was instrumental in creating the middle class in this country. As I’m sure you know, America was instrumental in rebuilding Europe and Japan after the war, which created millions of jobs for Americans. The economy bloomed and GIs were able to participate largely because the G.I. Bill, which also makes the inverse true. Black GIs weren’t able to participate.
As we all know, home ownership is one of the key wealth builders and over the years, has acted like a multiplier for the white middle-class. How many CEOs, entrepreneurs, even presidents can trace their advantages back to a family that benefit from the G.I. Bill? On the flip-side, how many black CEOs, entrepreneurs and even presidents would there have been if given the same opportunity? Now of course, they have been many laws passed, state and federal, that have had an adverse effect on black people. But the G.I. Bill is unique in the role it played in the emergence of this country’s middle class.
Are the descendants of these serviceman entitled to anything? Even if they aren’t given anything but a free college education or the chance to buy a home. With correcting the wrongs of the G.I. Bill in mind, it would be a start and that would speak volumes about the ability of this country to make amends? Again, I want to emphasize, we aren’t dealing with the economic consequences of racism. We are dealing with the racist consequences of capitalism. To many, this may seem like a distinction without a difference, but if you look closely, I think you’ll understand my point.
Racism doesn’t have an agenda, it is a cancer. It eats away at the racist as well as it’s victim. But there are many negatives to capitalism, racism being only one. Remember, when you put a price everything, you can devalue it just as long as you can establish its worth.
When capitalism led man to price his brother, dehumanizations became inevitable. There is a straight shot from slavery to the GI Bill.
The next step is remedying the situation. I am only proposing this one remedy. There are many others, but I propose this one because I believe it will have far reaching ramifications, a lasting impact and immediate results. The solution I speak of is, universal childcare.
What I propose is single mothers of all races be given one 8 hour shift, where the federal government will provide childcare for their children, including enrichment programs that she could not otherwise afford due to low wage paying jobs. This will give women a chance to go to school, start a business or find a job. And, finally, single parents need a mental recharge for mental health balance. This will also allow children to be in a safe, creative space, that keeps children engaged in their community as opposed to running the streets due to a lack of support or resources. This solution will create new jobs, and will be ran by the residents of that community.
This may seem minor, but the majority of low income families are headed by a single female, myself included. Many people believe falsely that women would rather be on government assistance instead of finding work.
No! Emphatically No!
While there is an exception to every rule, the rule is, most women want to work. But not having adequate childcare prohibits them. Like me, my family lives in the south I live in NY. I don’t have a support system, so many opportunities to start businesses have passed me by. Now, I am running a modest business, but I have to pass up opportunities if childcare can’t be covered. If universal childcare was available, you would provide jobs and uplift the black community within one generation! One!
How would we pay for this? Reparations.
I intentionally didn’t want to use the word reparations because, when people hear that word they think we are still talking about 40 acres and a mule or monetary compensation to every black person in America.
Not to say those kinds of reparations aren’t warranted. Because, it’s not as if we didn’t attempt to build our community after slavery, but our efforts were consistently met with opposition or deadly force. In such cases as the fires of Rosewood, January 1923, Tulsa Oklahoma aka Black Wall St. June 1921, and Wilmington NC 1898. These are just prime examples of rights, resources and land being stolen from the innocent. In these cases, we went from Hope to hopelessness overnight. My people were always starting over from the devastation of fires, being forced out, the traumatic effects of losing family members due to violence, hate and racism. Today, the psychological toll of trauma and fear has induced a state of paralysis and stagnation amongst my people. We no longer have a self-sustaining economic system or infrastructure within the Black community.
The psychological pain that has been endured for so many years has left us very broken. Which is why we must now work to rebuild our self esteem and a sense of worthiness.
This is also why, I believe as a society, monetary reparations are no longer feasible.
Today, reparations isn’t about revenge or retribution, it’s about healing a Nation still reeling from a virus we’ve suffered since the Birth of this Nation. We can’t ignore it, nor can we change it. White guilt is useless in the face of white complacency. It’s not about whose to blame, but are we big enough to take responsibility. Not for the problem, but the solution. Lincoln may have freed the slaves, but he didn’t free a nation of slavery. It’s baked into the quintessential American pie.
So if we’re going to address systematic racism, we got to confront how deeply it goes.
Reparations isn’t about blame, it isn’t about retribution. It’s about restitution. It’s about acknowledging the historical imbalance and doing something about it. Delaware’s governor,Jack Markell, just recently apologized for slavery. The Japanese government just repaid the Korean women that were used as sex slaves during WW2. Is America any less than Japan or a state governor? If you want blacks to stop playing victim, put an end to institutional victimization.
At some point, slavery must cease to be a current affair issue. And if you agree with that then you must agree, reparations is the only thing that can heal our Nation. Otherwise, you are saying.. it happened, get over it, you get nothing! And that black people will continue to be wards of this country!
Thank you.
Gordon Strauss says
ADDENDUM to prior post – appear the hyperlinks did not convey –
Here is a chronological list of items with linked references (in color and underlined) that provide some history of the sequence of changes and events which are likely components in the story of the conversion to the rule of money, and the resulting disappearance of democracy in America and other countries in its grasp.
This list is drawn from sources such as published books, public law, Supreme Court decisions, executive orders, and documented events.
Source Links:
US Public Law – List of United States federal legislation
US Executive Orders – Presidential Executive Orders
National Archives – National Archives and Records Administration
US Supreme Court Cases – List of United States Supreme Court cases – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1947, June 23: The Labor–Management Relations Act (Pub.L. 80-101, 61 Stat. 136, enacted June 23, 1947, informally the Taft–Hartley Act) is a United States federal law that monitors the activities and power of labor unions. The act, still effective, was sponsored by Senator Robert Taft and Representative Fred A. Hartley, Jr. and became law by overriding U.S. President Harry S. Truman’s veto on June 23, 1947; labor leaders called it the “slave-labor bill”[1] while President Truman argued that it was a “dangerous intrusion on free speech,”[2] and that it would “conflict with important principles of our democratic society,”[3]
1976, January 30: Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976)
This was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States upheld a federal law which set limits on campaign contributions, but ruled that spending money to influence elections is a form of constitutionally protected free speech, and struck down portions of the law. The court also ruled candidates can give unlimited amounts of money to their own campaigns. In a lengthy per curiam decision issued on January 30, 1976, the Court sustained the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971’s limits on individual contributions, as well as the disclosure and reporting provisions and the public financing scheme. However, the limitations on campaign expenditures, on independent expenditures by individuals and groups, and on expenditures by a candidate from personal funds were struck down.
1979, April 1: “Executive Order 12127–Federal Emergency Management Agency”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security, initially created by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1978 and implemented by two Executive Orders on 1 April 1979. [1] [4] The primary purpose of FEMA is to coordinate the response to a disaster that has occurred in the United States and that overwhelms the resources of local and state authorities.
Link: Executive Orders | The FEMA List of Presidential Executive Orders
Video: FEMA – Suspension of the U.S. Constitution – YouTube
1988, November 18: Executive Order 12656, “Assignment of Emergency Preparedness Responsibilities”
This order appointed the National Security Council as the principle body that should consider emergency powers. Without Congressional approval, the President now has the power to transfer whole populations to any part of the country, the power to suspend the Press and to force a national registration of all persons. The President, in essence, has dictatorial powers never provided to him under the Constitution. The President has the power to suspend the Constitution and the Bill of Rights in a real or perceived emergency. In September 2010, President Barack Obama informed Congress that the State of Emergency in effect since September 14, 2001, will be extended another year.[9][10] The National Emergencies Act grants various powers to the president during times of emergency,[11] and was intended to prevent a president from declaring a state of emergency of indefinite duration.[12]
Link: Continuity of Operations Plan
Video: some history of Continuity Of Government (COG)
9/11 and Continuity of Government – YouTube
1996, February 8: Telecommunications Act of 1996, Pub.L. 104-104, 110 Stat. 56 (including the Communications Decency Act)
The Act was claimed to foster competition. Instead, it continued the historic industry consolidation reducing the number of major media companies from around 50 in 1983 to 10 in 1996[25] and 6 in 2005.[26] An FCC study found that the Act had led to a drastic decline in the number of radio station owners, even as the actual number of commercial stations in the United States had increased.[27] Consumer activist Ralph Nader argued the act was an example of corporate welfare spawned by political corruption, because it gave away to incumbent broadcasters valuable licenses for broadcasting digital signals on the public airwaves.[28][29] There was a requirement in the act that the FCC not auction off the public spectrum which the FCC itself valued at $11–$70 billion. The legislation was signed into law by Clinton.
1999, November 12: Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act, Pub.L. 106-102, 113 Stat. 1338
It repealed part of the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933, removing barriers in the market among banking companies, securities companies and insurance companies that prohibited any one institution from acting as any combination of an investment bank, a commercial bank, and an insurance company. With the passage of the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act, commercial banks, investment banks, securities firms, and insurance companies were allowed to consolidate. The law also repealed Glass–Steagall’s conflict of interest prohibitions “against simultaneous service by any officer, director, or employee of a securities firm as an officer, director, or employee of any member bank.” The legislation was signed into law by President Bill Clinton.
2000, December 12: Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000)
This is the landmark United States Supreme Court decision on December 12, 2000, that effectively resolved the 2000 presidential election in favor of George W. Bush. Only eight days earlier, the United States Supreme Court had unanimously decided the closely related case of Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board, 531 U.S. 70 (2000), and only three days earlier, had preliminarily halted the recount that was occurring in Florida.
2000, December 21: Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, Pub.L. 106-554, 114 Stat. 2763A (as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2001)
That effectively removed all oversight and outside control over the speculation in commodities, one of the major reasons food prices have soared. In 2008 and again in 2010 prices for crops such as rice, wheat and corn doubled and even tripled, making life precarious for hundreds of millions of people. Signed into law by Clinton.
2001, September 11: Round up the usual suspects – a rogues gallery of 103 of them
Who Did It? – Conspirators
2001, October 26: Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (“USA PATRIOT”) Act, Pub.L. 107-56, 115 Stat. 272
The Patriot Act has been criticized for rewriting the book on civil liberties. For example, under the act the government can monitor an individual’s Web surfing records. It can use roving wiretaps to monitor phone calls made by individuals “proximate” to the primary person being tapped. It can access Internet service provider records. And it can even monitor the private records of people involved in legitimate protests. Signed into law by G.W. Bush.
In June 2005, the United States House of Representatives voted to repeal the Patriot Act provision that allows federal agents to examine people’s book-reading habits at public libraries and bookstores as part of terrorism investigations. [2]
2007, August 5: Protect America Act of 2007 (PAA), (Pub.L. 110-55, 121 Stat. 552, enacted by S. 1927)
This is a controversial amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that was signed into law on August 5, 2007. It removed the warrant requirement for government surveillance of foreign intelligence targets “reasonably believed” to be outside of the United States.[1] The FISA Amendments Act of 2008 repealed the Protect America Act, but replaced it with similar provisions in Title VII of FISA.[2]
2009, May 26: President Barack Obama merged the White House staff supporting the Homeland Security Council (HSC) and the National Security Council into one National Security Staff (NSS). The HSC and NSC each continue to exist by statute as bodies supporting the president.[2]
The decision process inside the structure has become less and less formal, but influence of the Council has become stronger and stronger.
2010, January 21: Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 08-205 (2010)
On January 27, 2010, Obama further condemned the decision during the 2010 State of the Union Address, stating that, “Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law[44] to open the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections. Well I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities.”
2010, March 23: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Pub.L. 111-148
2010, March 30: Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, including the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, Pub.L. 111-152
Though in 2008 then-Senators Barack Obama and Joseph Biden campaigned against requiring adults to buy insurance;[153] in 2009 President Obama reportedly “changed his mind” and agreed with insurance industry and Democratic Congressional proposals to include an individual mandate.[154][155] Public opinion of the legislation turned negative when the individual mandate proposal was announced, and remains opposed by a margin of 10 percentage points.[156][157][158] Specific ideas that showed majority support, such as purchasing drugs from Canada, limiting malpractice awards, and reducing the age to qualify for Medicare, were not enacted.[159]
2010, July 21: Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Pub.L. 111-203
Some experts have argued that the Dodd–Frank Act isn’t strong enough, arguing that it fails to protect consumers adequately, and, more importantly, does not end too big to fail.[227] The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) — the “top Wall Street lobby” — has expressed support for the law, and has urged Congress not to change or repeal it in order to prevent a stronger law from passing.[228] Law professor and bankruptcy expert David Skeel concluded that the law has two major themes which are “government partnership with the largest Wall Street banks and financial institutions” and “a system of ad hoc interventions by regulators that are divorced from basic rule-of-law constraints”. While he states that “the overall pattern of the legislation is disturbing”, he also concludes that some are clearly helpful, such as the derivatives exchanges and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.[229]
2010, December 17: The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 (Pub.L. 111-312, 124 Stat. 3296, H.R. 4853)
The Act centers on a two-year extension of the provisions of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA) and the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 (JGTRRA), together known as the “Bush tax cuts.” Income taxes would have returned to Clinton administration-era rates in 2011 had Congress not passed this law. The overall monetary impact of the measure has been placed at $858 billion.[3]
2011, January 7: The Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 (H.R. 6523, Pub.L. 111-383)
On Jan 7, 2011, President Obama signed the 2011 Defense Authorization Bill which contains provisions preventing the transfer of Guantanamo prisoners to the mainland or to other foreign countries, and thus effectively stops the closure of the detention facility. After the United Nations called unsuccessfully for the Guantanamo Bay detention camp to be closed, one judge observed ‘America’s idea of what is torture … does not appear to coincide with that of most civilised nations’.[18]
2011, December 31:The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2012[1] was signed into United States law on December 31, 2011 by President Barack Obama.
The detention provisions of the Act have received critical attention by, among others, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and some media sources which are concerned about the scope of the President’s authority, including contentions that those whom they claim may be held indefinitely could include U.S. citizens arrested on American soil, including arrests by members of the Armed Forces.
Gordon Strauss says
On February 28, 2016 Tarajee Ali spoke to us via Skype on the topic of A MORE PERFECT UNION. She brought a hearty helping of objectivity to analysis of the seemingly endless quagmire that we like to refer to as racism in America. Remove the disinfectant spray, replace the racism cliche and label it more clearly as the condition of the majority of African Americans today and for as long as we can remember. As the decisive element in the solution-seeking equation, she points to economics, namely capitalism as the basis for race-economic inequality and therefore poverty and class based racism.
Another component that receives little illumination is the question, does poverty breed violence. Also did I miss seeing or misunderstand her perception of the vehicle for present day slavery as being incarceration as a function of the evil weed by way of the lumpy square wheels of the war on drugs that still prosecutes it as a heroin-level schedule one drug, while five states have legalized it?
Another view can be seen in this video, MoveOn.org | Facebook – As you can see, Heather C. McGhee, president of DEMOS, believes the route to fixing economic inequality is by attacking racism. Does a focus on race issues at the expense of economic inequality issues serve anyone? Is there a trickle-down effect following the dream of defeat of racism? The more likely solution to racism that will raise all boats is the more visible and measurable reversal of inequality by way of a return to democracy. Since the civil war, racism has not evaporated, possibly not mitigated; it has become less visible thru economic class distinction concealment, while economic inequality has demonstrably, dramatically worsened. The pushers of capitalism on the political Right with policies responsible for the inequality and poverty expansion have a dog in the fight to hide their dirty work by way of class distinction concealment, or creating a cultural fabric that diminishes any appearance of class distinction. Reducing the awareness of an economic class structure sanitizes the underlying reality revealed by the Occupy Movement’s 99% metaphor.
We tried attacking racism in the 60s with an attempt to legislate morality. Before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 the south was essentially democrat. By 1971 Nixon carried 49 states. The south has remained Republican since and given us after Nixon, Reagan, and the Bushes. Progress on racism has been only slightly visible and has come thru the time stretch of a few 30 year generations.
Capitalism is the vehicle thru which poverty, especially along racial lines is delivered institutionally, structurally, systemically by means including the intentional blurring of us and them class perceptions, and the evolutionary eradication of democracy. Turning America into a democracy requires admission of the wishes of the citizens, and the termination of the corruption of a bought and paid for governing body that includes executive, legislative, and judicial. It is the age-old problem of erosion of democracy for the sake of tighter control by wealthy, high-testosterone, bigoted authoritarians.
Here is a list of items needed to effectuate the conversion to democracy:
#1 remap income tax rates from regressive to progressive with a return to 1963 rates.
#2 cut military spending by 60% including off-budget items.
The above two items would most likely fund these 3 things:
• universal 8 hr. per weekday child care for working & back-to-school mothers
• universal health care as in most first-world countries except USA (see the movie SICKO)
• free public education thru grade 16 as in Finland, Austria, Norway, Germany, and Sweden
#3 eliminate undemocratic political tools such as electoral college, gerrymandering, unpledged superdelegates at Democratic National Conventions (15% of total), and block voting (winner-take-all) at Republican National Conventions (Florida and Ohio) – employ the principles of Proportional Representation where possible to replace the Majority and Plurality methods currently in place
#4 outlaw super PACs, install term limits, observe past legacy and question the wisdom of positioning wealthy old white men in these positions: judgeships, boards of education, and political appointments
#5 reverse these Bill Clinton atrocities: NAFTA (death sentence to Indian communities all over Mexico), Telecommunications Act of 1996 (media consolidation), elimination of Glass-Steagal Act which paved the way for the 2008 financial catastrophe
#6 cast out unclassified (visible) and classified (hidden from public view) executive orders that violate constitutionally mandated civil liberties and create police-state infrastructure at the federal, state, county and local levels across the country that mandate a legal basis to brand political dissenters as terrorists. If dissent can be oppressed, contained, the will of the masses doesn’t convey, doesn’t yield consequence.
#7 provide tax incentives that favor cooperatives, employee-owned businesses and non-profits over for-profit, privately owned businesses that require consumers to swallow the profit slice of the pie (Apple, Intel, Cisco, et al. each gets 25% profit margin)
#8 end privatization of entities currently in the public domain or commonwealth such as University of North Carolina and all public schools. Home schooling and for-profit charter schools can provide de facto segregation and the means to preach as much creationism as you want.
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HERE IS A SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT DEMOCRACY-CHOKING CHANGES PUT IN PLACE SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE REAGAN ADMINISTRATION:
Money in Politics
Courts gutted campaign finance rules, giving big money more influence in government.
Taxes & Budget
Politicians shifted taxes off the top 1% and corporations, and onto working people. They then cut public services while amassing unprecedented spending to build a global empire of military bases that now in 2016 totals around 750.
Deregulation
Politicians let big corporations and banks write their own rules, socializing risk and privatizing reward.
Wage Suppression
Legislators did not raise the minimum wage to keep up with inflation, and employers cut wages to boost profits.
Unions
Legislators change laws to help big business bust up unions.
Trade
NAFTA-like trade deals encouraged corporations to export jobs and weaken standards.
War Machine
Conscription (the draft) ended in December 1972 in order to quiet opposition to multiple, often unilateral military adventures made under the guise of protecting democracy around the world. This resulted in the prosecution of unjustifiable wars by the poorest and often least employable, pride and respect-hungry contingent of America’s young men.
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Will the need to perpetuate capital-deity status quo, and our apparent hunger for click-bait media sensationalism command our attention sufficient to distract, sidetrack and ultimately subvert any internal fire necessary to broach, strategize and implement solutions to our racial-economic-governing mess?
Tosin says
Very interesting speech and I appreciate the creative approach towards addressing the question of reparations. Reparations for descendants of formerly enslaved Africans in the USA is quite often a touchy subject that intellectuals are afraid of broaching. The idea of Universal Health Care is a fresh idea that not only begins the necessary healing of reparations, but also offers a practical remedy to a current problem for a number mothers and fathers in this country. It can never be understated the ways that that American Capitalism have negatively impacted people of African descent here in the USA. Ms. Ali’s idea of looking at the economic realities of racial politics in America helps clear some of the smoke and mirrors that this society has propped up to misdirect the focus of many movements that are attempting to confront the problems African Americans face in the USA. Thus far in America capitalism has been a tool of those in power utilized to oppress and subjugate the less powerful and disorganized masses of this country. Ms. Ali’s focus on economics begins the process of shedding light on the reality that slavery and its vestiges are a means of control, power, and economic dominance that have never truly be abolished. While slavery has been seemingly axed in America, mass incarceration and militaristic policing have ostensibly become its new formulation. Slavery never truly ended for African people in the United States, but rather took a new more acceptable forms. The idea of Universal Child Care (UCC) is a fresh idea. While UCC may not end the economic hardships it does address a key issue that will help lead to the economic liberation of African people in America.
Sherese Bullock says
I truly enjoyed your speech. It was thought provoking and expounded on some great points. Thank You for being the voice for so many of our Ancestors, as well as our present time generation. Salute Sis!!
Andre Manifold says
I enjoyed your speech and the positions you’ve stated. My only issue is the reparations. I do not have a issue with the type of reparations you expressed. However the only way I feel the solution would be effective; The programs, funding, curriculum, manpower & uplift mentorship would come from our people & our people only! There are more than enough teachers, psychologists, counselors, clergyman, etc; to organize a system To begin the process of healing. Although there have been some Europeans who have acknowledged the elephant in the room! Their spiritual detachment, ignorance & neglect of the of our conditions has provided them with an economic & social privilege which I believe many of them will not simply just give away. Until Europeans take the time to acknowledge the atrocities of their ancestors. Just as we need time as well to heal ourselves. It is impossible for them to provide us with any feasible solutions or assistance that would help us to grow, evolve, & restore us to the greatness from which we come from.
Liz Rhone says
Well written. You definitely touch on a lot of valid points.
Lisel Burns, Leader Emerita Brooklyn Ethical Society says
Super analysis and persuasive argument. IFully support Ethical Culture Society members joining reparations movement and bringing this argument to it!