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December 14, 2014
from truthdig:
Ferguson Is Baghdad Is New York Is Kabul
Posted on Dec 11, 2014
By Sonali Kolhatkar
There is a pattern emerging in my Facebook feed this week. One group of friends has been posting stories of police brutality and protests accompanied by personal statements of outrage. Another group has been remarking on the disgusting revelations from the Senate Intelligence Committee’s CIA torture report and the need for accountability. There is little overlap between the two groups, and yet the common threads between the U.S.’ foreign and domestic policies are disturbingly uncanny.
Whether on the streets of Baghdad or Ferguson, soldiers and militarized police forces have historically enforced control, not law. Behind the prison walls of Guantanamo and Texas, some authorities have tortured and brutalized rather than interrogated. They have not protected nor served; they have attacked and killed. They have not gathered intelligence; they have violated people’s humanity.
I am an immigrant to the United States. The names of those killed and tortured in Iraq and Afghanistan invoke in my imagination people who look like me, people I could have known, who could be my family. In the faces of those killed and tortured in Ferguson and Los Angeles, I see my neighbors and friends, people I know and love and think of as family. These are not separate and distinct. The pain I feel while reading the CIA report is as strong as the grief that comes from perusing the images of unarmed people of color who have been killed by U.S. police. The U.S. tortures and imprisons people of color both at home and abroad.
Mass incarceration disproportionately impacts people of color, in particular black men in the U.S., while detainees from the “war on terror” in Guantanamo, Bagram, Abu Ghraib and elsewhere, have been almost entirely brown, Muslim men. Just as people of color, in particular black men, are disproportionately more likely to be killed domestically by police officers, U.S. soldiers have been deployed in poor countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan, where the nonwhite populations of Muslim men, women and children are victimized through shootings and raids. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/ferguson_is_baghdad_is_new_york_is_kabul_20141211
Ferguson Is Baghdad Is New York Is Kabul
from truthdig:
Ferguson Is Baghdad Is New York Is Kabul
Posted on Dec 11, 2014
By Sonali Kolhatkar
There is a pattern emerging in my Facebook feed this week. One group of friends has been posting stories of police brutality and protests accompanied by personal statements of outrage. Another group has been remarking on the disgusting revelations from the Senate Intelligence Committee’s CIA torture report and the need for accountability. There is little overlap between the two groups, and yet the common threads between the U.S.’ foreign and domestic policies are disturbingly uncanny.
Whether on the streets of Baghdad or Ferguson, soldiers and militarized police forces have historically enforced control, not law. Behind the prison walls of Guantanamo and Texas, some authorities have tortured and brutalized rather than interrogated. They have not protected nor served; they have attacked and killed. They have not gathered intelligence; they have violated people’s humanity.
I am an immigrant to the United States. The names of those killed and tortured in Iraq and Afghanistan invoke in my imagination people who look like me, people I could have known, who could be my family. In the faces of those killed and tortured in Ferguson and Los Angeles, I see my neighbors and friends, people I know and love and think of as family. These are not separate and distinct. The pain I feel while reading the CIA report is as strong as the grief that comes from perusing the images of unarmed people of color who have been killed by U.S. police. The U.S. tortures and imprisons people of color both at home and abroad.
Mass incarceration disproportionately impacts people of color, in particular black men in the U.S., while detainees from the “war on terror” in Guantanamo, Bagram, Abu Ghraib and elsewhere, have been almost entirely brown, Muslim men. Just as people of color, in particular black men, are disproportionately more likely to be killed domestically by police officers, U.S. soldiers have been deployed in poor countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan, where the nonwhite populations of Muslim men, women and children are victimized through shootings and raids. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/ferguson_is_baghdad_is_new_york_is_kabul_20141211
December 13, 2014
from In These Times:
Charter Schools May Be Re-Segregating America’s Education System
Charters’ defenders like to position themselves as 21st century civil rights activists. But a Delaware lawsuit alleges that charters are actually worsening racial inequality in the state.
BY DAVID SIROTA
Charter schools are often promoted as a tool to address educational inequities, but a potential precedent-setting legal case launched earlier this month says the opposite. In filings with the U.S. Department of Education, two Delaware nonprofit groups allege that some of the state's publicly funded, privately managed schools are actively resegregating the education system—and in a way that violates federal civil rights law.
The complaint, by the Delaware branch of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Community Legal Aid Society, cites data showing that more than three-quarters of Delaware's charter schools are “racially identifiable”—a term that describes schools whose demographics are substantially different from the surrounding community.
According to the complaint, “High-performing charter schools are almost entirely racially identifiable as white” while “low-income students and students with disabilities are disproportionately relegated to failing charter schools and charter schools that are racially identifiable as African-American or Hispanic.”
The groups are asking the Obama administration to take specific steps, including prohibiting subjective admissions policies for charter schools and barring extra fees for attending charter schools—factors they say discriminate against low-income, disabled and minority students.
Because the case is being filed with the federal government, these actions could have implications for school districts everywhere—and there is already plenty of data tying charter schools to segregation. ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://inthesetimes.com/article/17441/charter_schools_may_actually_be_re_segregating_americas_school_system
David Sirota: Charter Schools May Be Re-Segregating America’s Education System
from In These Times:
Charter Schools May Be Re-Segregating America’s Education System
Charters’ defenders like to position themselves as 21st century civil rights activists. But a Delaware lawsuit alleges that charters are actually worsening racial inequality in the state.
BY DAVID SIROTA
Charter schools are often promoted as a tool to address educational inequities, but a potential precedent-setting legal case launched earlier this month says the opposite. In filings with the U.S. Department of Education, two Delaware nonprofit groups allege that some of the state's publicly funded, privately managed schools are actively resegregating the education system—and in a way that violates federal civil rights law.
The complaint, by the Delaware branch of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Community Legal Aid Society, cites data showing that more than three-quarters of Delaware's charter schools are “racially identifiable”—a term that describes schools whose demographics are substantially different from the surrounding community.
According to the complaint, “High-performing charter schools are almost entirely racially identifiable as white” while “low-income students and students with disabilities are disproportionately relegated to failing charter schools and charter schools that are racially identifiable as African-American or Hispanic.”
The groups are asking the Obama administration to take specific steps, including prohibiting subjective admissions policies for charter schools and barring extra fees for attending charter schools—factors they say discriminate against low-income, disabled and minority students.
Because the case is being filed with the federal government, these actions could have implications for school districts everywhere—and there is already plenty of data tying charter schools to segregation. ..................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://inthesetimes.com/article/17441/charter_schools_may_actually_be_re_segregating_americas_school_system
December 13, 2014
Can a New "Progressive ALEC" Advance Effective Police Reform Through Municipal Governments?
Friday, 12 December 2014 10:52
By Candice Bernd, Truthout | Report
As the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) begins its expansion into local municipalities and counties with its new arm, the American City County Exchange (ACCE), another group is working to provide the progressive counter to ACCE - and one of its main policy goals for cities and counties across the United States is police reform.
Local Progress, a network of hundreds of local elected officials from around the nation, held a competing convention in New York City, hosted by Mayor Bill de Blasio only a day after ACCE's own winter conference. Local leaders shared ideas and experiences about progressive policies being advanced in municipalities around the country to promote sustainability, economic justice, strong public education, immigrant rights and affordable housing, among others.
Local Progress is led by a board of elected officials from cities including Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, San Diego and San Francisco, among others, and by the staffs of SEIU International, the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) and the Public Leadership Institute.
Robin Kniech, a Local Progress board member and Denver City Council member, told Truthout the network is helpful because local elected officials don't have the same kinds of caucus opportunities that state and nationally elected officials have, but she cautioned the network isn't only for elected leaders. .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/news/item/27964-can-a-new-progressive-alec-advance-effective-police-reform-through-municipal-governments
Can a New "Progressive ALEC" Advance Effective Police Reform Through Municipal Governments?
Can a New "Progressive ALEC" Advance Effective Police Reform Through Municipal Governments?
Friday, 12 December 2014 10:52
By Candice Bernd, Truthout | Report
As the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) begins its expansion into local municipalities and counties with its new arm, the American City County Exchange (ACCE), another group is working to provide the progressive counter to ACCE - and one of its main policy goals for cities and counties across the United States is police reform.
Local Progress, a network of hundreds of local elected officials from around the nation, held a competing convention in New York City, hosted by Mayor Bill de Blasio only a day after ACCE's own winter conference. Local leaders shared ideas and experiences about progressive policies being advanced in municipalities around the country to promote sustainability, economic justice, strong public education, immigrant rights and affordable housing, among others.
Local Progress is led by a board of elected officials from cities including Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, San Diego and San Francisco, among others, and by the staffs of SEIU International, the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) and the Public Leadership Institute.
Robin Kniech, a Local Progress board member and Denver City Council member, told Truthout the network is helpful because local elected officials don't have the same kinds of caucus opportunities that state and nationally elected officials have, but she cautioned the network isn't only for elected leaders. .................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/news/item/27964-can-a-new-progressive-alec-advance-effective-police-reform-through-municipal-governments
December 13, 2014
(Truthout) As reports escalate of police assaults and murder of unarmed black men for "suspected" crimes, a jury trial certainly sounds like welcome justice.
Not so for many in Michigan, where a 66-year-old black activist, Rev. Edward Pinkney, convicted of felony election fraud by an all-white jury, faces a life sentence, amid accusations of trumped-up charges and no direct evidence of wrongdoing.
When an all-white jury is chosen to try a prominent black community leader of an embattled, impoverished city with a 90 percent black population, when the powers that be have numerous reasons to want him discredited, and when the evidence is entirely lacking and the punishment is draconian, there is ample cause to suspect another egregious breach of justice, as blatant as refusing to indict the police who killed an unarmed teenager in Ferguson, and choked a father of six to death in Staten Island.
To be clear, there is nothing illegal about trying a black man with an all-white jury in the United States. In the 1986 Supreme Court ruling, Batson v. Kentucky, the court held that a defendant is not entitled to a jury containing or lacking members of any particular race. But in this case of activist, Reverend Edward Pinkney, his supporters believe it is equivalent to a white mob lynching an "upstart negro." .............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/27974-all-white-jury-convicts-black-community-leader-with-no-evidence-reverend-edward-pinkney-faces-life-in-prison
Convicted With No Evidence by an All-White Jury, Black Community Leader Faces Life in Prison
(Truthout) As reports escalate of police assaults and murder of unarmed black men for "suspected" crimes, a jury trial certainly sounds like welcome justice.
Not so for many in Michigan, where a 66-year-old black activist, Rev. Edward Pinkney, convicted of felony election fraud by an all-white jury, faces a life sentence, amid accusations of trumped-up charges and no direct evidence of wrongdoing.
When an all-white jury is chosen to try a prominent black community leader of an embattled, impoverished city with a 90 percent black population, when the powers that be have numerous reasons to want him discredited, and when the evidence is entirely lacking and the punishment is draconian, there is ample cause to suspect another egregious breach of justice, as blatant as refusing to indict the police who killed an unarmed teenager in Ferguson, and choked a father of six to death in Staten Island.
To be clear, there is nothing illegal about trying a black man with an all-white jury in the United States. In the 1986 Supreme Court ruling, Batson v. Kentucky, the court held that a defendant is not entitled to a jury containing or lacking members of any particular race. But in this case of activist, Reverend Edward Pinkney, his supporters believe it is equivalent to a white mob lynching an "upstart negro." .............(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/27974-all-white-jury-convicts-black-community-leader-with-no-evidence-reverend-edward-pinkney-faces-life-in-prison
December 13, 2014
(Truthdig) Thoreau once advised: “Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.”
In our first installment of 2014’s top picks, we asked Truthdig staff and reviewers to select the best, hoping that you will have the chance to read them.
Whether on climate change, soaring wealth inequality, or the surveillance state, this has been a year of calls to action—and above all, it’s been a great year for digging for the truth. You can find all of our favorites here.
1. “Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights” by Katha Pollitt
Katha Pollitt’s powerfully argued “Pro” brings our attention to life before the watershed Roe v. Wade decision and critically examines the ensuing abortion wars of the last decades.
“Pollitt is an equal opportunity critic,” writes reviewer Ruth Rosen. “Part of her book is a brilliant attack against the ‘pro-life’ movement and the strategic war it has waged against women and abortion. At the same time, she offers a frank and critical appraisal of the abortion rights movement and what it might have done differently…. Aside from women’s sexuality, Pollitt brilliantly demonstrates how opponents’ views are linked to ‘anti-feminism, the shaming of sexually active girls and single women, fears of white demographic decline, and conservative views of marriage and sexuality or outright misogyny.’ ”
........(snip)........
2. “The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan” by Jenny Nordberg
New York Times reporter Jenny Nordberg’s fascinating account of survival in a deeply segregated context does as much to challenge conventional stereotypes as it does to shed light upon an extraordinary Afghan subculture. In an almost entirely male-dominated context, where the birth of a girl is more often than not a cause for mourning, the book examines the bacha posh—girls temporarily raised as boys and presented to the outside world as such.
........(snip)........
4. “The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap” by Matt Taibbi
Rolling Stone regular Matt Taibbi’s gonzo, take-no-prisoners approach has provided for scathing, often hilarious and always well-deserved takedowns of some of the worst culprits of the financial crisis. In a survey of the country’s “grifter class,” his 2010 book, “Griftopia,” characteristically depicted Goldman Sachs as the “vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity.” ..........(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/truthdigs_books_of_the_year_part_one_20141212
Truthdig’s Books of the Year: Part One
(Truthdig) Thoreau once advised: “Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.”
In our first installment of 2014’s top picks, we asked Truthdig staff and reviewers to select the best, hoping that you will have the chance to read them.
Whether on climate change, soaring wealth inequality, or the surveillance state, this has been a year of calls to action—and above all, it’s been a great year for digging for the truth. You can find all of our favorites here.
1. “Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights” by Katha Pollitt
Katha Pollitt’s powerfully argued “Pro” brings our attention to life before the watershed Roe v. Wade decision and critically examines the ensuing abortion wars of the last decades.
“Pollitt is an equal opportunity critic,” writes reviewer Ruth Rosen. “Part of her book is a brilliant attack against the ‘pro-life’ movement and the strategic war it has waged against women and abortion. At the same time, she offers a frank and critical appraisal of the abortion rights movement and what it might have done differently…. Aside from women’s sexuality, Pollitt brilliantly demonstrates how opponents’ views are linked to ‘anti-feminism, the shaming of sexually active girls and single women, fears of white demographic decline, and conservative views of marriage and sexuality or outright misogyny.’ ”
........(snip)........
2. “The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan” by Jenny Nordberg
New York Times reporter Jenny Nordberg’s fascinating account of survival in a deeply segregated context does as much to challenge conventional stereotypes as it does to shed light upon an extraordinary Afghan subculture. In an almost entirely male-dominated context, where the birth of a girl is more often than not a cause for mourning, the book examines the bacha posh—girls temporarily raised as boys and presented to the outside world as such.
........(snip)........
4. “The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap” by Matt Taibbi
Rolling Stone regular Matt Taibbi’s gonzo, take-no-prisoners approach has provided for scathing, often hilarious and always well-deserved takedowns of some of the worst culprits of the financial crisis. In a survey of the country’s “grifter class,” his 2010 book, “Griftopia,” characteristically depicted Goldman Sachs as the “vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity.” ..........(more)
The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/truthdigs_books_of_the_year_part_one_20141212
December 13, 2014
Noam Chomsky: The U.S. Declares Itself to Be the World’s Leading Terror State and Is Proud of It
December 11, 2014
The Long History of Presumed White Innocence and Black Guilt
Wednesday, 10 December 2014 12:46
By Claudia Garcia-Rojas, Bitch Media | Op-Ed
One hundred and twenty-two years ago, Ida B. Wells, an African American journalist who reported on the horrors carried out by white lynch mobs against Southern blacks, penned a oft-pronounced slogan that still rings true today: "This is a white man's country and the white man must rule."
This year, the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner further cement these words. In the past three weeks, grand juries decided not to indict the police officers who caused the deaths—Darren Wilson and Daniel Pantaleo—for any crime.
Following the announcement of Wilson's non-indictment, the grand jury released his sworn statement. His words reveal a narrative so grossly entrenched in our American culture that it goes uncontested to this day: this is the narrative of white innocence.
"White innocence is the insistence on the innocence or absence of responsibility of the contemporary white person," argues Thomas Ross, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh Law School. What this means is that white people will not be considered guilty of a crime simply because on the color of their skin. This is due to the fact that white innocence is historically predicated on the criminalization and violation of (primarily) black bodies. The framing of whites throughout United States as inherently innocent and blacks as guilty not only encourages the continued perpetuation of white violence against black people, such as physical police violence, the discriminatory enforcement of laws, and mass incarceration, but also makes it a necessary condition of the state, as the state maintains its power and dominance through the criminalization of (mainly) black people. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/27930-the-long-history-of-presumed-white-innocence-and-black-guilt
The Long History of Presumed White Innocence and Black Guilt
The Long History of Presumed White Innocence and Black Guilt
Wednesday, 10 December 2014 12:46
By Claudia Garcia-Rojas, Bitch Media | Op-Ed
One hundred and twenty-two years ago, Ida B. Wells, an African American journalist who reported on the horrors carried out by white lynch mobs against Southern blacks, penned a oft-pronounced slogan that still rings true today: "This is a white man's country and the white man must rule."
This year, the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner further cement these words. In the past three weeks, grand juries decided not to indict the police officers who caused the deaths—Darren Wilson and Daniel Pantaleo—for any crime.
Following the announcement of Wilson's non-indictment, the grand jury released his sworn statement. His words reveal a narrative so grossly entrenched in our American culture that it goes uncontested to this day: this is the narrative of white innocence.
"White innocence is the insistence on the innocence or absence of responsibility of the contemporary white person," argues Thomas Ross, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh Law School. What this means is that white people will not be considered guilty of a crime simply because on the color of their skin. This is due to the fact that white innocence is historically predicated on the criminalization and violation of (primarily) black bodies. The framing of whites throughout United States as inherently innocent and blacks as guilty not only encourages the continued perpetuation of white violence against black people, such as physical police violence, the discriminatory enforcement of laws, and mass incarceration, but also makes it a necessary condition of the state, as the state maintains its power and dominance through the criminalization of (mainly) black people. ................(more)
The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/27930-the-long-history-of-presumed-white-innocence-and-black-guilt
December 11, 2014
via truthdig:
Despite the fact that officials all over the U.S. feel the need to regulate abortion as though it were a pernicious procedure, a study by UC San Francisco researchers shows that complications rarely occur after an abortion.
And yet, if lawmakers continue attempting to restrict women from access to reproductive health care, the real danger could lie in unsafe abortion practices rather than the tried and true medical methods that have been scientifically proven to be safe.
Comprehensive Study Shows Abortions Are ‘Very Safe’ and Far Less Risky Than Giving Birth
http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/comprehensive_study_abortions_very_safe_far_less_risky_give_birth_20141210via truthdig:
Despite the fact that officials all over the U.S. feel the need to regulate abortion as though it were a pernicious procedure, a study by UC San Francisco researchers shows that complications rarely occur after an abortion.
And yet, if lawmakers continue attempting to restrict women from access to reproductive health care, the real danger could lie in unsafe abortion practices rather than the tried and true medical methods that have been scientifically proven to be safe.
ThinkProgress:
After analyzing data from nearly 55,000 women who received abortion care under California’s Medicaid program, researchers at UC San Francisco concluded that hardly any of them had serious complications within six weeks of their procedure. Just 126 cases necessitated follow-up care for surgery, a blood transfusion, or other conditions that require hospital admission.
Other studies, including data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have also confirmed abortion’s safety. We already had some evidence, for instance, that giving birth is about 14 times riskier than having an abortion. But the new UCSF study goes a bit further than previous research by tracking the complete data on all of the health care used by women who have received abortions. Since many women have to travel long distances to end a pregnancy, the UCSF researchers also examined women’s follow-up care at facilities closer to where they live…
“Abortion is very safe as currently performed, which calls into question the need for additional regulations that purportedly aim to improve safety,” said Ushma Upadhyay, an assistant professor at Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH), a leading research program based at UCSF.
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