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Ron DeSantis Denying Truth Of African American History: A Whitewash Of The American Past!

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It is absolutely infuriating beyond belief that Florida under Ron DeSantis is denying the truth of African American history, and American history at large, in setting a new curriculum that whitewashes the truth of slavery, Jim Crow segregation, lynchings, and horrendous race riots in that state and elsewhere, causing mass destruction and death over the centuries.

To tell students that slavery “benefited” slaves by teaching them “job skills”, and that race riots saw African Americans both being victimized but also being perpetrators of the riots, is a bald faced lie, making Florida look worse than 1960s Alabama and Mississippi!

In the past, the Confederate myth perpetuated lies and racism, and finally in the 1960s and moving forward, the truth was being taught.

As a professor who has taught for a half century, I refuse to teach lies and mistruths, but imagine those who teach at all levels who are in danger of losing their jobs and professions over political interference by a governor, who seems as if he is George Wallace on steroids!

And Florida is setting the stage for other “Red” states to impose the same censorship and manipulation of the truth on students, which will undermine the future of a multiracial society, as nothing can be done to overcome the reality that in 2045, the white population of America will be less than half the nation, and already, non white groups are a majority of young people in many parts of the nation.

This does not bode well for the future of interracial cooperation, and Ron DeSantis must be opposed legally in court to work against this poison he is promoting!

What does this say about the truth of the treatment of Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, and native Americans, which also must be taught, and known by future generations!

The old saying is: “The Truth Shall Set You Free”!, and that must be the motto of all educators, and most specifically, American historians and journalists in this struggle against reality!

Republican Party Openly Promoting Misogyny, Racism, Nativism, Anti Semitism, Without Shame!

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It is clear that the Republican Party is openly promoting misogyny, racism, nativism, and Anti Semitism, without shame or apology.

Republicans are demonstrating they do not care about women’s right to control their own bodies, and many of those seeking office wish to put women back in the bedroom and the kitchen, rather than being independent and pursuing careers.

Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama openly promotes racism against African Americans in particular, as he did at a campaign rally in Arizona for Donald Trump!

The attack on immigration continues in the Republican Party, making it a major issue promoted by the likes of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, and Arizona Governor Doug Ducey!

And Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano is openly anti semitic, including attacking his Jewish opponent, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Josh Shapiro!

And these examples are just the tip of the iceberg, as the Republican Party has become the party of Fascism, and right wing extremism, and out to destroy all of the good done by the Democratic Party since the time of Franklin D. Roosevelt through Lyndon B. Johnson, Barack Obama, and now Joe Biden!

Long Overdue: The Emmett Till Anti Lynching Act, Making Such Action A Federal Crime!

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Emmett Till was a 14 year old African American boy from Chicago visiting Mississippi in 1955, when a white woman claimed he whistled at her and tried to grab her.

Her husband and his half brother arranged for this young boy to be kidnapped, tortured, and murdered, with his face and body left in horrific condition, which was revealed in an open casket at the funeral. Sadly, the two men were found not guilty by an all white jury, although years later, they admitted to the killing, and the woman admitted she had lied about Till making a pass at her.

Lynchings had gone on in the South since after the Civil War, and legislation had been introduced regularly since 1900, and finally, the act of lynching was made a federal crime, punishable by 30 years in prison, and signed into law by President Joe Biden.

Lynching was used as a tactic even in states outside the South, and while African American males were the major victims, there were also Jews, Italians, Latino Americans, Asian Americans, and Native Americans who were subjected to such heinous crimes, most often without accountability. And there have been recent examples in the past thirty years of gay Americans being victimized.

This legislation gained all but three votes in the House of Representatives, and a unanimous vote in the US Senate, and marks the end of a long fought battle to deal with lychings in more than 4000 cases from 1877 to 1950.

The killing of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia in 2020 was a recent example of what is perceived as a lynching, but done by firearms rather than hanging or beating. But the men involved were convicted and sentenced to life in prison, thankfully.

Racial hatred remains a disease in America, but now, at least justice is served with federal legislation.

The Republican-Right Wing Attempt To Distort Historical Truth And Facts

Ronald 3 Comments

For anyone who teaches American history in the public schools and in colleges and universities, the warning is out, that Republican and Right Wing propagandists are working to prevent the teaching of historical truth and facts.

In Texas, and developing in other Republican controlled states, teachers are being informed that they may NOT teach the reality of American history, which has been covered up for too long, but in recent years, has been dredged out of secrecy or lack of research.

One can love America, and yet admit that there has been a lack of historical reality of the mistreatment of native Americans, African Americans, Latino Americans, Asian Americans, immigrants, Jews, and women as part of the discussion of our past.

Students need to learn and know the entire truth, in order for the nation to move ahead and overcome the racism, nativism, misogyny, antisemitism that were and are, sadly, part of the history of America.

How can we overcome the widespread prejudices, biases, and narrow mindedness still present in America, if we continue to promote a distorted view of reality?

The historical profession needs to engage in lobbying and other activities to insure that we do not have propaganda and lies being perpetuated in the future, as ignorance and naivete about our past can only undermine progress and change in the future!

Tonight’s First Presidential Debate: The Middle Class Guy Vs The Phony Billionaire And Bully

Ronald 14 Comments

Former Vice President Joe Biden enters tonight’s first Presidential debate in Cleveland against President Donald Trump in a position of strength. He is far ahead in most state polls, including in the Midwest where Hillary Clinton lost the election in 2016.

Biden is the middle class guy who has had struggles and tragedies in his life, much like the vast majority of Americans. He possesses naturally great compassion, empathy, decency, and tons of government experience as US Senator for 36 years and as one of the two best Vice Presidents in American history, alongside Walter Mondale.

Biden comes in with public opinion polls showing great strength for him among college educated voters of both genders; suburban women; African Americans; Latinos except for Cubans; Asian Americans; Jews; Social Justice Catholics; mainline Protestants; moderates; Independents; young voters; and a small sliver of Trump voters in 2016 who realize Donald Trump is a phony billionaire and bully!

Putting Biden in the Oval Office will give us a President with more background knowledge and expertise than any President when he entered the Presidency—more than Lyndon B. Johnson or George H. W. Bush.

Biden knows world leaders and can restore US foreign policy so that foreign allies can against trust our government.

Biden can restore much of the damage done to our domestic infrastructure and our government agencies that are so necessary to continue the advancements of the New Deal, Great Society, and the later accomplishments of Presidents of both parties from Richard Nixon to Barack Obama!

We will have a President who does not lie 20,000 times in three and a half years;

who will not ignore medicine and science;

who will pay his fair share of taxes;

who will not cheat on his wife with other women;

who will pick judges who understand that originalism is the wrong approach to law;

who will work to cross the aisle when possible, instead of constant insults and bullying of opponents and critics;

who will have a Vice President, Kamala Harris, who gives us confidence should there ever be an emergency;

who will restore faith in our basic values of democracy and freedom;

who will bring back honor and decency to the Oval Office;

and who will support total exposure of all crimes committed by the present incumbent of the White House!

Alternate Reality, Improper Use Of Government Sites, And Violation Of Hatch Act: Highlights Of Second Night Of Republican National Convention

Ronald 7 Comments

The second night of the Republican National Convention was a time of alternate reality;

acting as if the CoronaVirus Pandemic is over when it is not (as expressed by Larry Kudlow);

having First Lady Melania Trump condemn hate and division on social media, while her husband has done so non stop on Twitter for his entire Presidency;

having Pam Bondi, former Florida Attorney General, use the Ukraine scandal that led to the impeachment of Donald Trump as a gimmick to attack Joe Biden and his family with conspiracy theories about Hunter Biden, when the Trump children have been involved in corrupt activities all along;

and libertarian Rand Paul forgetting his condemnation of Donald Trump in 2016, and suddenly seeing Trump as someone to admire in 2020.

We also saw Donald Trump holding a citizenship ceremony for five immigrants at the White House, an improper use of a government building to try to convince Americans that he is open minded on immigration, while his record is the most horrific in American history, bar none!

He is trying to make the nation forget his separation of children from their parents at the border, and putting them in cages, which will harm them psychologically for the rest of their lives, and with some never reunited with their parents!

We also saw Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Jerusalem giving a speech to attract evangelical Christians and Jews, violating the Hatch Act, which bans government officials from making political speeches in foreign nations for purposes of political manipulation.

There is no such thing as a utterance or action of Donald Trump and his minions that will not lower the standard of decency, that will not undermine respect for the Constitution and the rule of law!

It is all designed just to win enough support to have a second term, where the President will be unleashed to wreak yet further havoc on America. The thought that it might occur is enough to cause one to wonder how the nation will ever revive from the establishment of a Fascist authoritarian government!

Donald Trump is a threat to American values and history, and we have to hope that the American people will repudiate this threat, as otherwise, the destruction of the America that has survived 231 years under the Constitution, and 244 years since the Declaration of Independence, is in dire peril!

A Sense Of Excitement And Expectation About The Biden-Harris Ticket!

Ronald 29 Comments

It has been a wonderful 24 hours since Joe Biden announced he was selecting Senator Kamala Harris of California as his Vice Presidential running mate.

We will have a Vice President who is a female, of immigrant parents from India (her mother) and Jamaica (her father), and is married to a Jewish lawyer, Douglas Emhoff, who would be the first Jewish “Second Gentleman” and, of course, the first spouse of either the President or Vice President who would be male.

Also, Emhoff is exactly one week older than Harris, both born in October 1964, and Emhoff has two adult children, one son and one daughter, who are very close to their “second mother”, and with good relations between Emhoff and his former wife, and also between the former wife and Harris.

Harris has had 17 years in public office in California, seven as District Attorney of San Francisco; six years as California Attorney General (representing one out of every eight Americans, a greater jurisdiction than any other state attorney general, and with only the appointed Attorney General of the United States having impact over more people); and four years now as US Senator.

Harris is also only the second black woman elected to the US Senate, after Illinois Senator Carol Moseley Braun in the 1990s.

The likelihood is that Kamala Harris will eventually be President, either possibly by succession (as is the possibility of every Vice President), or by election following Joe Biden’s time in office.

Harris is a woman of great empathy and compassion, and in that regard, is the same as Joe Biden, and it is a blessing to have such traits in what will, hopefully be the next President and Vice President of the United States.

They are a great team, and give America hope in a time of unparalleled challenges with the CoronaVirus Pandemic, the Second Great Depression, and racial turmoil.

Trump Now Losing Portions Of His Base, And Not Appealing To Groups He Lost In 2016: A Losing Strategy!

Ronald 38 Comments

Donald Trump is on the way to an historic repudiation, possibly one of the worst for any President running for reelection.

He did not have the majority or even plurality vote for him in 2016, and now he is losing portions of his base, including senior citizens, evangelical Christians, and non college educated white men and women.

Just losing a small amount of these groups is enough to doom him, as he has made clear that he is not trying to add to his base, and never has done so in the past three and a half years.

With African Americans, Latino Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Jews, Social Justice Catholics, mainline Protestants, college educated white men and women, suburbanites, conservative intellectuals, and moderate Republicans all strongly against everything Donald Trump has wrought, his prospects are going down the drain.

He will not be able to stop mail voting, but Republican state officials will continue to try to prevent the right to vote, and it is also clear that foreign influences will interfere, and are ready to foist this criminal President on the nation together.

So the urgency of Americans to vote, even if not thrilled by Joe Biden, as this is not a question of ideals, but rather of survival of our Constitution and American democracy!

Momentous Anniversaries: Holocaust Remembrance Day And Earth Day!

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Yesterday, April 21, was the 71st anniversary of Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah), first declared in 1949, but a commemoration of the massive loss of Jewish life in the Nazi Holocaust before and during World War II.

And today, April 22, is the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, first declared by Wisconsin Democratic Senator Gaylord Nelson, but affirmed by President Richard Nixon in 1970.

Both commemorations are crucial, to prevent future horrific events as the former, and come to grips with the reality of climate change and global warming as the latter, particularly now with the record that we have had the hottest months in recorded time of the entire planet in the last decade.

Many think the CoronaVirus Pandemic is a warning sign of the future, and of the need for radical action, which has been prevented by the Republican Party, Donald Trump, and climate change deniers, the same people who do not accept the Darwin evolution doctrine.

Ironically, there is the Darwin award, which is daily being demonstrated, regarding the cluelessness and stupidity of some Americans, many of whom doubt that the Holocaust occurred, as with the doubt that the planet is in a danger zone from use of oil and coal as major energy sources.

White Supremacists Emboldened By Trump Attacks On African American And Jewish Chairs Of House Committees Investigating Trump’s Abuse Of Power

Ronald 1 Comment

In the midst of recent white supremacist massacres in El Paso and Dayton, there should be growing concern about the House Committee chairs who are African American and Jewish becoming potential targets of hate mongers.

Elijah Cummings of the House Oversight and Reform Committee and Maxine Waters of the House Financial Services Committee are African Americans, and Jerry Nadler of the House Judiciary Committee and Adam Schiff of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence are Jewish, and all four are particularly in the center of controversy, and therefore, targets for hate, with a lot of verbal attacks by Donald Trump against them.

The investigation of the abuse of power of Donald Trump must go on, but extra security for these Chairs is essential!