Category: Trump effect

April 5, 2018

 

   Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.   There were sober reflections, book-length re-appraisals, op-eds in the “paper of record,” and appropriate commemorations.  The assessment of both the magnitude of Dr. King’s achievements and of how relentlessly those achievements have been attacked from the moment of his death is necessary, but not sufficient.

    It is insufficient because no mere recitation of facts and figures showing how little progress we have made towards Dr. King’s anodyne dream that Black people be judged by “the content of their character,” let alone his more radical call that we confront militarism and capitalism, along with racism, gets to the root of our persistent problem.  We know that the laws mandating desegregation and equal opportunity were met with instantaneous and steadfast opposition. We know that as a result, schools are more segregated now than they were prior to Brown v. Board of Education (S.Ct. 1954).  We know that employment discrimination is stubbornly persistent, despite the passage of Title VII and that the wealth gap between white and black Americans has exploded.  What we don’t spend enough time confronting is why? Continue reading “What we fear most”

April 3, 2018

The stench of corruption coming from this administration rivals a garbage barge on the Hudson.  It is worse than the smell of a broken, urine-soaked project elevator.  The profligacy and venality of these people knows no bounds.  In the past several days, we have learned that EPA Secretary Scott Pruitt approved the pipeline expansion request of Enbridge, a Canadian energy company, while simultaneously enjoying a sweetheart deal provided by Enbridge’s lobbying firm, Williams & Jensen.  While this decision was under review, Pruitt  was renting a room in the condo owned by the wife of Williams & Jensen’s chief at the absurdly below market rate of $50 per night  (Source: “A Lobbyist, A Condo Deal, A Green Light,” by Eric Lipton, The New York Times, 4/3/18).  This goes beyond the appearance of impropriety into an evident quid pro quo. Continue reading “The stench of corruption”

April 1, 2018

Resurrection Sunday is a celebration of renewal, a holiday that rewards faith and hope with a victory over suffering and death. One lesson from Jesus’ life, that we seem compelled to learn again and again, is that messengers of love who seek to uplift the least among us, will be demonized and murdered by corrupt and greedy regimes. Those in power are continually threatened by the message that it is “easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God,” (Matthew 19:23). Given the doctrinal roots of Christianity, consider how much the message of Jesus has been perverted by those who preach these-called Prosperity Gospel and distorted to the point that 81% of Evangelical Christians voted for Trump and still offer him unwavering support (Source: “The Last Temptation,” by Michael Gerson, TheAtlantic.com, April 2018). To whom are these purported Christians actually demonstrating allegiance? Continue reading “Easter Sermon”

March 29, 2018

Tuesday we were assaulted with the completely unsurprising news that the Attorney General  of Louisiana had decided not to indict the two Baton Rouge police officers responsible for the murder of Alton Sterling.  By now, we are accustomed to the pattern.  A black person suspected of a petty crime or a minor traffic violation is killed by an officer of the state.  There is an anguished outcry from the black community and a litany of excuses from many in the white community.  The officers responsible are never charged, or if charged, not convicted.  The murdered person’s name becomes a hashtag and is added to the long roster of names of black people whose lives were snatched prematurely and are fated never to receive justice. Rinse and repeat.  When asked whether Trump had a role to play in interrupting the pattern of deadly police violence against black Americans, White House spokesperson, Sarah Huckabee Sanders said it was a “local matter.” Continue reading “Freedom isn’t free”

March 27, 2018

Consider the paradox of Black women.  At once hyper-visible and invisible, we labor under the burden of toxic stereotypes.  On an individual level, we are ubiquitous avatars of beauty and culture, like Beyonce and Rihanna, but as a group, we are alternatively derided or ignored; our political clout and contributions minimized.  Society views far too many of us through a distorted lense that is literally killing us (Source:  “Nothing Protects Black Women From Dying in Pregnancy and Childbirth.  Not Education.  Not Income. Not even being an expert on racial disparities in healthcare,” by Nina Martin and Renee Montagne, Propublica.org., 12/7/17).   Continue reading “Share the stage”

March 24, 2018

Today, in Washington, D.C. and 800 cities around the globe, teenagers will spearhead the March for Our Lives, demanding a radical course correction in our American culture of death. The 16 and 17 year old leaders from Parkland, Florida have been inspirational in every way. They have turned their pain into power, consistently calling out the nihilism of the NRA and the craven opportunism of those who take their money. The Parkland kids use their privilege to highlight the young Black activists that the media ignores who have been protesting gun violence for years. Continue reading “March for our lives”

March 20 2018

While we watch Trump lash out, flailing and descending further into chaos as Mueller seemingly closes in, we experience a weariness borne of familiarity. The playbook is the same —baseless attacks, boneheaded policy moves likely to tank our economy (Chinese tariffs anyone?), the addition of TV pundits/conspiracy theorists to the White House staff, and most consistently, a default to vindictive cruelty. In a speech in New Hampshire on Monday, Trump suggested that a solution to the opioid crisis was to execute drug dealers! He has justified the proposal to scrap Obama era rules designed to lessen the racial disparity in School discipline with the claim that it would prevent school shootings, despite the fact that the majority of mass shooters are white men. Trump’s solution for every problem plaguing this country is to punish as many people of color as possible. Continue reading ““Beloved community?””

March 17, 2018

Last night, retired four star General, Barry McCaffrey tweeted, “Reluctantly I have concluded that President Trump is a serious threat to U.S. national security. He is refusing to protect vital U.S. interests from active Russian attacks. It is apparent that he is for some unknown reason under the sway of Mr. Putin.” (@mccaffrey3, Twitter.com, 3/16/18). Continue reading “Clear and present danger, Part 2”

March 14, 2018

We woke up this morning to the news that Democrat, Conor Lamb, squeaked past Rick Saccone by the thinnest of margins to win a victory in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District.  Although the margin was less than 600 votes, it is an incredible feat in a district that Trump carried by 20 points merely sixteen months ago.  Lamb was powered to victory by a combination of grassroots activists and organized labor.  He ran a campaign that focused on issues that mattered to the voters in the district, such as protecting Social Security, saving the Affordable Care Act and fully funding miners’ pensions.  Lamb’s campaign offers a blueprint for how to re-take Congress in November  –  take positions that are important to voters in the district and harness the energy of grassroots activists and labor unions to get out the vote.  We should note that the $10 million dollars that Republican outside groups poured into the race was not enough to beat Lamb, who raised $3.7 million dollars without accepting money from PACs and with minimal help from the DCCC. Continue reading “The fate of the world”

March 10, 2018

The thud you hear is the collective sound of thousands of heads hitting their desks as we try to process the increasingly tawdry and bizarre news coming out of this administration. This week we had to endure the news of Stormy Daniels’ lawsuit against Trump asserting that the NDA she received $130000 for signing was null and void because Trump had failed to sign it.

The Daniels’ litigation seems to be nothing more than fodder for late night comedians; an opportunity for schadenfreude as we watched the blisteringly stupid Michael Cohen be outmaneuvered by the lawyer for a porn star. In reality though, it is forcing disclosure of evidence that the payment was in violation of campaign finance law, (Source: “Stormy Daniels Lawsuit Opens Door to Further Trouble for Trump,” by Jim Rutenberg and Mike McIntire, The New York Times, 3/8/18). The entire episode would have been unthinkable with any other President in the last 100 years, yet we look on wearily, knowing that Trump is unlikely to face any civil or criminal penalties for this flagrant disregard of the law. Continue reading “Ready on Day One”