Systematic Racism

21 States Are Mounting Efforts Restricting Education On Racism, Bias, Contributions Of Specific Racial Or Ethnic Groups!

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It is extremely alarming that at least 21 states, and counting, are mounting efforts to restrict education on Racism, Bias, and Contributions of specific racial or ethnic groups in the teaching of American history (Social Studies) in public schools at all levels. This is occurring in Republican governed states.

This includes the Southern and Border States of Arkansas, Florida Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Kentucky, and Oklahoma.

It also includes the Midwestern states of Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Michigan, Ohio, and South Dakota.

It also includes the Western states of Arizona, Idaho, Montana and Utah, and the New England states of New Hampshire and Rhode Island.

At the same time, at least 9 states are working to expand education on Racism, Bias, and Contributions of specific racial and ethnic groups, including the Northeastern states of Connecticut, Delaware, and New Jersey; the Midwestern states of Illinois and Minnesota; and the Western states of Colorado, Washington, Wyoming, and California.

To forbid truthful discussion of Slavery; Jim Crow Segregation Laws; Racial Violence Against African Americans; Mass Murder of Native Americans; Anti Hispanic and Anti Asian discrimination; and Discrimination Against Women is promoting a Big Lie, that none of this happened, and continues to be a reality!

Truth and Facts matter, and to promote Right Wing propaganda is outrageous, and makes the job of teachers of History and Social Studies an impossible position!

Social Justice 53 Years After Martin Luther King Jr’s Assassination

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On this 53rd anniversary of the Martin Luther King Jr. Assassination in Memphis, Tennessee, it is sad that we see systemic racism still alive and popular among too many Americans.

The George Floyd murder trial; the Georgia legislation that puts voting rights under attack; the anti Asian attacks that have become so prevalent in the past year; the increased threat of domestic terrorism; and the continued attack on immigrants of all backgrounds are signs of the failure of social justice to make progress after King gave up his life in the quest for equity and fairness in society.

The Presidency of Donald Trump allowed people who promote racism, nativism, white supremacy, misogyny, antisemitism, Islamophobia to flourish, as Trump was George Wallace on steroids.

When Wallace ran for President in 1968 and won five states, 46 electoral votes, and 13 percent of the popular vote, it was shocking, but at least there was no way that Wallace could win the Presidency.

But a half century later, Donald Trump was able to gather the forces of hatred and win the Presidency, despite losing the popular vote by 2.85 million votes, and would go on to marshal his forces to promote undermining of American democracy, and continues to do so by promoting the lie that he won the Presidential Election of 2020, and inciting the US Capitol Insurrection of January 6, 2021!

So the commitment of Martin Luther King Jr. to human rights and social justice must continue with a new generation of committed leaders!

The Senate Filibuster Designed For Obstruction, And Historic Denial Of Basic Civil Rights

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The US Senate is the greatest deliberative legislative body in the world, but also condemned in history for promoting denial of civil rights for people of color, particularly, but not only for African Americans.

The filibuster was used to prevent federal anti lynching laws in the years after Reconstruction and through to the 1950s by Southern Democrats, and then it was used to prevent basic civil rights laws, until Lyndon B. Johnson showed great courage, and used various tactics to overcome the denial of civil rights, and accomplish the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Now, the Republicans have used it in the past decade to stop progress under President Barack Obama, and now are threatening the same under Joe Biden, and specifically in areas including voting rights, and inhumane treatment of various minorities, including people of color, women, gays and lesbians, disabled people, and immigrants from Latin America, Asia and Africa.

They claim the mantle of “minority rights”, but only for their narrowminded effort to promote white supremacy, and refuse to accept the reality of a multi ethnic and multi racial and diverse future America in the next 25 years.

The Senate has been an obstructionist legislative body, where Senators who represent far less than a majority of the population are able to prevent what a clear majority of the population wishes to see in the promotion of human rights and work against racism, nativism, misogyny, homophobia, antisemitism, and Islamophobia!

So a change, requiring a “spoken” filibuster, which used to be the norm, needs to be revived, and that will bring about the ability to overcome the filibuster in a short period, and allow for progress on so many important issues the Senate needs to address to advance American democracy!

Joe Biden Starts Off Aggressively, With 30 Executive Orders In Three Days

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President Biden is starting off his administration with a series of quick actions through 30 executive orders in three days in office, and more to come!

These include:

14 on the Corona Virus

4 on the Economy

2 on the Environment

5 on Immigration

2 on Equity

1 on Ethics

1 on Regulation

1 on the Census Bureau

These include in detail:

Reinstating ties with the World Health Organization; Enforcing a mask mandate on federal properties and public transportation; Coordinating the national response to the COVID 19 Pandemic.

Halting construction of the Mexico Border Wall; Ending the Muslim Ban; Including non citizens in the Census Count; Protecting DACA immigrants from deportation; Stopping aggressive actions to find and deport undocumented immigrants.

Re-entering the Paris Climate Accords; Revoking the permit for the Keystone XL Pipeline; Revoking rollbacks to Vehicle Emission Standards; Undoing decisions to slash the size of several National Monuments; Enforcing a moratorium on oil and natural gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; Reestablishing a working group on the social costs of greenhouse gases.

Ending the 1776 Commission which distorted the role of slavery in American history; Rooting out systematic racism, and working to prevent discrimination based upon gender, sexual orientation or gender identity and promote equity and diversity in all government programs and agencies.

Extend a federal moratorium on evictions, and foreclosures on mortgages; A pause on federal student loan interest and principal payments.