The evil militarization of American society is a common occurrence today. Recently, there has been a deployment of Blackhawk helicopters in Chicago. These forms of urban warfare training exercises have become a familiar feature of American life. This exercise was unannounced. A civilian population has been startled by it. It happens all of the time. This secretive action have been cosigned by the local police agencies and elected officials (among both major parties). One of the many reasons why this action has transpired is because these exercises are to give U.S. troops in what the Pentagon doctrine refers to the "Military Operations on Urban Terrain." The U.S. military loves these operations. In the past 10 years, the military has stepped up its house to house fighting in urban centers. They have used invasion and occupation in weaker nations militarily like Afghanistan and Iraq (in allow them and puppet regimes to subjugate the resisting populations). The Army runs a 1,000 acre Urban Training Center in south-central Indiana that boasts over 1,500 "training structures" designed to simulate houses, schools, hospitals, and factories. The center's web site states that, “can be tailored to replicate both foreign and domestic scenarios.” These training exercises include flying Blackhawks low over Chicago apartment buildings or rolling armored military convoys. Similar actions have been shown through the streets of St. Louis. In 2012 alone, there has been at least 7 such exercises being utilized in Los Angeles, again inChicago, Miami, Tampa, St. Louis, Minneapolis, and Creeds, Virginia. So, these exercises allow troops to get used to U.S. cities while desensitizing the American people to the domestic deployment of U.S. military might. Some deployments are more advanced. The elite use the justification of prosecuting the global war on terror as a means to pass repressive legislation. They have created a new bureaucracy of state control under the Department of Homeland Security. Even in the current administration, the White House has claimed the power to throw enemies of the state into indefinite military detention or even assassinate them on U.S. soil via drone strikes. This transpires while we have a huge expansion of electronic spying on the American population. There has been a growing influence of the U.S. military in domestic affairs. Back in 2002, there was the creation of the U.S. Northern Command for the first time dedicated a military command to operations within the U.S. itself. In May of 2012, the Pentagon admitted that they want to have new rules of engagement for U.S. military forces operating on American soil to provide support to civilian law enforcement authorities including responses to civil disturbances. The document declares sweeping and unprecedented military powers under a section entitled “Emergency Authority.” It asserts the authority of a “federal military commander” in “extraordinary emergency circumstances where prior authorization by the president is impossible and duly constituted local authorities are unable to control the situation, to engage temporarily in activities that are necessary to quell large-scale, unexpected civil disturbances.” In other words, the Pentagon brass claims the unilateral authority to impose martial law. In a recent article, a senior instructor at the Fort Leavenworth Command and General Staff College and former director of the Army’s School of Advanced Military Studies laid out a telling scenario for a situation in which the military could intervene. “The Great Recession of the early twenty-first century lasts far longer than anyone anticipated. After a change in control of the White House and Congress in 2012, the governing party cuts off all funding that had been dedicated to boosting the economy or toward relief. The United States economy has flat lined much like Japan’s in the 1990s, for the better part of a decade. By 2016, the economy shows signs of reawakening, but the middle and lower-middle classes have yet to experience much in the way of job growth or pay raises. Unemployment continues to hover perilously close to double digits …” The Pentagon describes possible futures indeed. Now, we know that the civilian police force has been heavily militarized for decades. SWAT has been a common happening in the streets of America. DHS funds SWAT units all of the time. SWAT like units were utilized in the streets of Boston and other locations in the aftermath of the Boston bombing months ago. This occurred in April. The militarization of society leads into distrust, further widening economic inequality (between the billionaires including the multi-millionaires and the working class). It harms civil liberties and human rights. It also leads into militarism in terms of domestic lands and foreign lands as well. Even the Pentagon admits to this by their documents. We have the right to disagree with militarization and use action.
We know that there are legitimate criticisms about the White House. Now, the following information is not about that. This is a about the illogical, bigoted folks in the GOP that hate President Barack Obama personally in an evil way. Many reactionary Republicans in Congress want to even cripple the U.S. government if the first African American President Barack Obama doesn't submit to their demands. Now, this doesn't represent all Republicans. Some Republicans want to do the right thing, but this just describes the extremists. Some Republicans want to use gerrymandering for the purpose of trying to continue to have a majority in the House. They want to filibuster if necessary. There are many possible fiscal crises in the fall. Some Republicans have threatened to shut down the federal government or even default in the national debt. The GOP has been responsible with sugarcoating the health reform law. Some of them want to devastate funding for food stamps, environmental advancements, transportation, education assistance, and other domestic programs. “These are tough bills,” Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Kentucky, who heads the House Appropriations Committee, told the New York Times. “His priorities are going nowhere.” Many reactionaries believe that minorities, women, immigrants, etc. are undeserving of certain rights or services. Many of them gloat over the verdict of the George Zimmerman trial (where he murdered an unarmed black teenager named Trayvon Martin). Some FOX News pundits even mocked the outrage of the verdict from the African American community and Obama's personal expression of sympathy. This is not a post racial America. This time is a signal that we should refute the views of the reactionaries. We must defeat the goals of the reactionaries completely. They want to take back America to a regressive time. The reality is that the modern Republican Party has been mostly white and the nation's minorities have turned more and more to the Democratic Party outlines a dilemma for the GOP (in shattering their image of racial tolerance). This new crypto-fascism by the reactionaries is nothing new. The Republicans who are extreme do not want compromise or execute revolutionary changes. They want to sink the world's economy via an U.S. debt default if they do not get their way. Either we have will white supremacy as a system in the world or we will defeat it. The size-of-government narrative is just a euphemistic way of avoiding the underlying issue of race, a dodge that is as old as the Republic. We know that Thomas Jefferson was a great hypocrite who was a front man for the then South's chief industry of human slavery. Though he had famously declared, as “self-evident” truth, that “all men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” he also was one of Virginia’s major slaveholders. And he engaged in the pseudo-science of racial supremacy, measuring the skulls of his African-American slaves to try to “prove” their inferiority, which he did not do I might add. He, Patrick Henry, and George Mason wanted a strong state controlled militia in Virginia as a means to prevent slave revolts. The Southern plantation structure funded his political campaigns. Jefferson took a teenage girl named Sally Hemmings around his travels including in France. He exploited a vulnerable girl, which is one of the worst crimes that a man can do. The Federalists believed in a strong federal government while Jefferson was an anti-Federalist. The Federalists also were the ones, particularly Hamilton and Adams, who demonstrated sympathy and support for Haiti’s black freedom-fighters, while Jefferson did all he could to undermine their success. Thomas Jefferson (when he agreed with the French Revolution) was not opened minded to support black men, black women, and black children who were successful in defeating the evil French Empire in Haiti at all. Jefferson sympathized with the Alien and Sedition Acts, which violated free speech and free press. Thomas Jefferson claimed to be for limited government, but he agreed with the imperialist Louisiana Territories acquisition. Many reactionary Southerners back then followed states' rights ideal to the extreme. As University of Virginia historian Brian Balogh noted in his book, A Government Out of Sight, Southerners asserted an extreme version of states’ rights in the period from 1840 to 1860 that included preventing aid to disaster victims. Balogh wrote that the South feared that “extending federal power” – even to help fellow Americans in desperate need – “might establish a precedent for national intervention in the slavery question,” as Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne noted in a May 22 column. There were some gains as a product of the Second Reconstruction (of the golden age of the 20th century civil rights movement from the 1950's to the early 1970's). The white reactionary backlash came in the late 1970's to the next level with Republican Ronald Reagan and others talking about small government and states' rights. The Reagan era reversed many strides made after WWII to open mainstream society to black citizens. There was hostility to even legitimate refutations. Today, reactionaries want to make the current Presidency fail not as for a just reason. They want it to fail as a means to cause states' rights to dominate human rights, to allow imperialism to be more ballistic, and to love laissez faire capitalism without real justice for the poor and suffering in the world. So, we are fighting the system of white supremacy. The enemy hates a multicultural America and they hate the movements for Black Unity also. We have every right to advance progressive economic justice and progressive social justice in the world for all of humanity.
The juror B29 made interesting revelations about the trial recently. The Juror B29 (who calls herself Maddy) said that he felt pressured to find Zimmerman not guilty. She is a Puerto Rican woman or a woman of color. “I was the juror that was going to give them a hung jury,” she said. “I fought to the end. “I felt like I let a lot of people down, and I’m thinking to myself, `Did I go the right way? Did I go the wrong way?’” she said. “As much as we were trying to find this man guilty … They give you a booklet that basically tells you the truth, and the truth is that there was nothing that we could do about it.”Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin (or Trayvon Martin's parents) felt devastated about the revelations from juror B29. Sybrina Fulton said that the juror's comments confirm their thinking about the case. She issued the following statement about juror B29: "...It is devastating for my family to hear the comments from juror B29, comments which we already knew in our hearts to be true. That George Zimmerman literally got away with murder. This new information challenges our nation once again to do everything we can to make sure that this never happens to another child. That’s why Tracy and I have launched The Trayvon Martin Foundation to try and take something very painful and negative and turn it into something positive as a legacy to our son..." Maddy continued to feel guilty about the verdict. Maddy or Juror B29 believes that George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin, but there was not enough evidence to convict him on various charges. The juror B29 told everyone about this issue and she feels guilty and uncomfortable with her decision. If she would have felt that Zimmerman was guilty of murdering of Trayvon Martin, she should have kept voting her conscience (and that would result in a hung jury and a new trial). She wants to apologize to the family of Trayvon Martin about the whole ordeal. She obviously has a lot of guilt complex by speaking out in public. The other juror who spoke out in hiding feels no shame about her decision, while B29 feels some sense of remorse about the case. It is obvious that B29 was intimidated by the other jurors to make an uniform decision in favor of Zimmerman. Every way that you look at it, it is a tragedy. She was still part of the clique that allowed an unrepentant murderer to be let free. So, that reality should resonate among us. Zimmerman is a murderer and Trayvon Martin was an unarmed victim. Zimmerman weighed more than 50 years than Trayvon Martin. Also, George Zimmerman was trained in MMA fighting. Also, if Zimmerman was knocked nearly unconscious, how did George Zimmerman knew almost everything Trayvon said to him as Trayvon was allegedly beating him up? Trayvon Martin's body was found 40ft. from where the murderer claimed Trayvon first sucker punched him and knocked him to the ground. We know that Zimmerman have contradictory statements about the whole incident. The reactionaries for a long time have always tried to justify killing unarmed black Americans. The SYG is one law out of many laws (from the past and present) that deals with that perverted, evil tradition. The struggle is not over. It is not over since we have right to fight. We have the right to speak out and unify in our community as a means to prevent these actions (even if we see a stalker harassing an unarmed, innocent black child in our face, then we have the God given right to do something about it). We have to be strategic also. We must fight for voting rights as well. We know full well that the Voting ID laws are bigger than what its proponents talk about. These repressive laws deal with reducing the days that human beings can vote. It deals with certain requirements that studies prove will negatively affect the voting turnout of minorities, the elderly, the youth, and the poor. Some in North Carolina has proposed a very restrictive anti-voting law that will restrict voter registration drives, eliminate same day voter registration, and other regressive actions. Also, many folks have sued these states with voting ID laws all of the time. Also, many voters have been restricted to vote as well recently. Before these laws, voting has been readily available for citizens. Reactionaries pass such laws as a means to gerrymander districts and advance anti-minority, xenophobic, and other pro-bigotry policies. The ACLU and other groups have documented the weaknesses of these extreme voting ID laws. This policy of federal intervention by Holder against Texas is necessary. It is a part of this continued struggle for voting rights and human rights. The VRA is never an outdated law period. It is a law that was made by the blood, sweat, and tears of real activists who fought for human freedom and rightful dignity. The Voting Rights Act is a law that supposed to represent real ideals and real humanity for American citizens. We have every right to defend voting rights as a means to prevent efforts from reactionaries who want to harm the legitimate aspirations of black human beings all day every day. This is a new generation. We are fighting for our liberties. The war is still going on and we won some battles. Yet, we will win the war in the end. Good will always triumph against evil.
One of the most racist comments about immigration this year comes from Rep. Steve King (R-IA). Even John Boehner has rejected King's comments. Rep. Steve King said that undocumented youths are drug mules with cantaloupe sized calves. He defended his comments in many places and on Laura Ingraham show. Steve King said that he will not apologize for the statement at all. Many folks from across the political spectrum have criticized Steve King on this issue. He claimed that his comments are based on his personal experience of dealing with human beings crossing the Mexican-American border. Notably, he said that for every so-called DREAMer who is a valedictorian, there are “one hundred drug mules” and “you can tell by their physical characteristics what they’ve been doing for months.” So, these words are very wrong. The reason is that undocumented immigrants are trying to have a better life. They are not collectively drug dealers at all. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) is right to call King's remarks as hateful language. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) “strongly disagreed” with King’s comments “inexcusable.” Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) also criticized King on Wednesday morning on MSNBC saying,”...that’s not a path that we should be going down.” Steve King last year compared immigrants to dogs. Last month, Steve King called a peaceful DREAMer sit-in demonstration at his District of Columbia office an "invasion." He also suggested the U.S. to electrify its border fence because “we do that with livestock all the time.” And in recent memory, King drafted and helped to pass an amendment that would end the deportation ban on DREAMers. He defended racial profiling with Arizona's anti-immigration SB 1070 law. Regardless of Steve King's reactionary views, the vast majority of Americans want comprehensive immigration reform. Most Americans even want a pathway for undocumented immigrants. More so, House Republicans Eric Cantor and Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) are pushing the Kids Act, which is similar to the DREAM Act in that they both provide a pathway to citizenship. The House Republican leadership sees the Kids Act as the path of least resistance, but the approach would leave out at least nine million undocumented immigrants who wouldn’t qualify. King wants to have more corporate financial support. Some of the reactionaries worship states' rights when many states historically have maintained segregation, Jim Crow, lynching, and other injustices decades ago under the guise of states' rights. Sometimes, the federal government (including activists among the human race) was necessary to end Jim Crow segregation. My anti-tyrannical words detail my view of the federal government to not be involved in imperialism, illegal spying, Wall Street Bailouts, militarization of domestic locations, or endorsing regressive laws like the voter ID laws or the Patriot Act. I do agree with the federal government legitimately providing the general welfare of society above and beyond state supremacy. That is the reality that some reactionaries ignore. In other words, the federal government should not harm human rights, but it can serve the people via advancing the general welfare of society. Also, we have Federal Bill of Rights. We have the Federal Constitution, so the Federal Bill of Rights is superior to states' rights. Unjust state power is not God, so unjust state power ought to be opposed succinctly by any freedom fighter
SNCC had a great role in the Civil Rights Movement. SNCC stands for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. It was created in April of 1960. SNCC was the younger, new wave of civil rights activists in that time period. Folks were tired of Southern discrimination and Jim Crow. The Supreme Court ruled that Jim Crow segregation was unconstitutional in law. Yet, it was a reality in many locations of America during the 1960's. This caused direct action protests, civil disobedience, voter registration drives, and other activism by SNCC including other human beings. SNCC was created after February 1, 1960. That was the day when 4 students at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro decided to sit in a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter and demand service. This caused a change in history. 6 years before that time, the Supreme Court ruled segregation unconstitutional in the landmark Brown V. Board Education case. Apartheid style Jim Crow law imposed segregation in every aspect of public life in the South (that included movie theaters, swimming pools, parks, restaurants, buses, schools, government services, and everything else). The Brown ruling established the idea that segregated facilities couldn't be equal. So, segregation was unconstitutional. This decision had to be accompanied with massive desegregation. In 1957, African American students tried to attend Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas in 1957. They faced so much violent opposition that Republican Eisenhower had to send in soldiers from the Army's 101st Airborne Division to protect the students. New black Southerners came on the scene by 1960 since little desegregation was occurring. Weeks after the February North Carolina sit-in, thousands of students have similar sit-ins across the South. By April, student activists from many cities wanted to come together to discuss the new movement and how it could be broadened. Ella Baker (or the executive director in Dr. Martin Luther King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference or the SCLC) facilitated the founding meeting of SNCC. Ella Baker was one of the greatest civil rights leaders in history. Baker was an advisor to SNCC. She wanted SNCC to make its own decision and not subordinate itself to SCLC or other established groups. SNCC worked in the Freedom Rides (or when Black and white activists would sit together in segregated interstate buses as they traveled from city to city in the South as a means to protest segregation in the South). The first Freedom Ride was from Washington, D.C. to New Orleans. This comes after the 1960 Supreme Court ruling in Boynton v. Virginia that legally desegregated interstate transit. CORE launched the Freedom Rides (CORE stand for Congress on Racial Equality. It was based in the North). The CORE activists were so much beaten that the original Freedom Riders stop their trip in Birmingham, Alabama. SNCC leaders took over the Freedom Riders crusade. Diane Nash was a SNCC leader in Nashville. She argued that the movement would be set back if the racists were able to stop the Freedom Riders. She organized a contingent of students to go to Birmingham to resume the journey. Many students were arrested by Bull Connor when they came into Birmingham. They sang songs in jail. The Freedom Riders were attacked again by racists including reporters. This caused an international spotlight on Jim Crow. Many SNCC chapters grew all over the South. They were involved in registering black Americans in Mississippi to vote. SNCC ultimately spearheaded what the organization named Mississippi Freedom Summer, a campaign in 1964 to register Blacks to vote and mobilize a challenge to the racist Mississippi Democratic Party. Students from the North were recruited to work with local activists on voter registration. The Freedom Summer volunteers endured deadly violence. Vanderbilt University expelled James Lawson since he led civil disobedience workshops attended by young activists. Then President John Kennedy and his brother attorney General Robert Kennedy wanted SNCC to be more moderate in their action, but SNCC legitimately refused to do so. Their efforts were one contributing factor in the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act to be passed in America. SNCC influenced the Black Power movement with its members like Kwame Ture and H. Rap Brown. SNCC later on refused to advanced concessions and bourgeois politics. They wanted revolutionary changes in society. That is why many of them allied with Malcolm X. The capitalist Republican and Democratic parties (a Dixiecrat is a Dixiecrat you know. Many of those Democrats including those from the GOP love imperialism today) are entities that in many cases stifle revolutionary actions. So, even now, we should fight bad conditions in the ghettoes, the mass unemployment, the mass incarceration of our people, and the police brutality that harm the lives of black Americans (of all socioeconomic levels, especially the poor) every day. The struggle continues.
By Timothy
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