They only suspended the Muslim surveillance program after it
fulfilled its purpose. There was huge pressure from legitimate activists who
disagreed profoundly with the unwarranted monitoring of a vast spectrum of
Muslim American citizens (not just those suspected of terrorism). The actions
of the NYPD (involved in this program) have not caused massive arrests of
“terrorists” at all too. It is immoral to treat innocent people as criminals.
Islamophobia is a serious issue in this country. Too many people falsely view
any Muslim as a terrorist and we have to fight back against that perverted,
lying stereotype. That program is very similar to the COINTELPRO program from
the FBI where the FBI illegally monitored even peaceful, law abiding activists
fighting for legitimate social change in the world. Obviously, the NYPD think
that they are slick by this measure. I have no issue with the elimination of
this surveillance program, but they have other similar programs in existence.
Numerous NYPD members have done overt police brutality and there should be a
federal investigation in their activities involving this issue too. Regardless
of how many evil tactics that bigots throw at us, we will survive and overcome
them. We overcame the Maafa, slavery, Jim Crow, and other injustices. Many of
our greatest warriors (both Brothers and Sisters) existed in the midst of
oppression. Therefore, we should all dream big, keep on fighting, and never
lose hope. Once you have hope and do real action, then solutions can come.
Economic inequality has been related to the drive of war. Last week, Equilar,
the executive compensation research firm, reported that the 100 top-earning
corporate CEOs in the US saw their median pay increase by 9 percent in 2013, to
$13.9 million. We see that the U.S. media and political establishment have
shown a new torrent of war propaganda against Russia. They did with conflicts
involving Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria. The media is showing
lies about the crisis in Ukraine. The United States is the most unequal of the
major industrialized power. In this economic slump, the majority of the population
has seen a retrogression in their conditions of life. The rich and the super-rich
have accumulated ever greater wealth. The increase in CEO pay revealed in the
Equilar report is an expression of this process. Larry Ellison, the CEO of
software giant Oracle and the fifth-richest man in the world, once again topped
the list, taking home $78.4 million in salary and bonuses in 2013. Ellison’s
accumulated wealth stands at an estimated $48.8 billion, more than the gross
domestic product of 100 separate countries. In 2012, Ellison bought 98 percent
of the land on the Hawaiian Island of Lanai, to add to his hundreds of millions
of dollars in real estate holdings. Figures published by professors Emmanuel
Saez and Gabriel Zucman this month show that the share of wealth of every part
of the population has declined significantly since the 1980s with the exception
of the top 1 percent of income earners, whose wealth has grown dramatically.
This concentration of wealth has caused many young people to experience poverty
and joblessness. Almost 16 percent of young people aged 25 to 34 have incomes
below the federal poverty rate. By way of comparison, 10 percent of people in
the same age group were in poverty in 2000. The median income of young
households is $8,000 less than it was in 2000, in real terms. We saw a recent reactionary coup in Ukraine, spearheaded by fascists. They have been organized
in Ukraine and they are utilized to militarize the entire region and threaten
war with Russia (a nuclear armed power). We see our democratic rights being
violated and the buildup of the police powers of the state. We are struggling
against war.
The whole of society must be
changed, bad institutions must be abolished, and real solutions ought to be
instituted. Why should I as a black person stop blaming police brutality for
many issues in my community when that is real? Innocent Brothers and Sisters
have been killed as a result of police brutality. Their lives mean something
and their lives ought to be respected. Their deaths have nothing to do with
personal responsibility, but with the vile actions of perverted criminals. Many
of the same ones lecturing black people on personal responsibility refuse to
tell crooked police officers, corporate polluters, imperialists, and other
elitists criminals to have personal responsibility for their own actions. Folks
should have jobs, but many folks struggle to get jobs because of economic
problems not because of inherit laziness. There must be more progressive
policies to engineer more job growth. No, I will not stop criticizing police
brutality, racism, discrimination, bad parents, and any evil person in the
world. See, the denial of the total truth is not the total truth at all. Many
innocent people are caught up in the War on Drugs as documented by the
literature from the Sister Michelle Alexander. Folks are demanding change. Real
Folks are not making excuses for errors. I have not made a single excuse. I
have blamed a diverse array of factors for the complications in the black
community though. Manning up is about condemning racism. Manning up is about
standing up for justice. Manning up is about not being ashamed of your heritage
and never backing down from reactionary propaganda that seeks to minimize
oppression instead of confronting oppression. That is the point that some
people have to realize. There is nothing wrong with self-determination. There
should be both legitimate individual action and collective action executed by
black people. Black people for long decades from Malcolm X to Dr. King have
always exposed social ills in the black community. I have done so too in my
condemnation of degrading lyrics to my condemnation of bad parents. Before many of these haters were born, black people have always taken responsibility for their own actions.
I will never back down from GOP extremists, reactionaries like Limbaugh, and
anybody that seeks to harm the black community at all. So, we should both improve
our morality (including standing up for ethics in our community) and confront
oppression.
Social justice encompasses the ideal that
the 1 percent does not receive unfair, record tax breaks and record bailouts. It means
that equality is meant for all people. Also, yes it does entail a
redistribution of economic and political power. For example, the serfs
experienced a redistribution of power and wealth during the 19th century in
Russia (in response to the abuses made by the czars against them) was not
immoral. Newly freed black slaves (who were stripped of their human rights and
treated in a barbaric fashion by evil people) experienced a redistribution of
power during Reconstruction and that was not immoral. Even new nations
developing after colonialism ended in many Third World nations experienced a
redistribution of power and wealth. Their wealth was stolen by European imperialism. That was not evil
either, so a redistribution of power can be used for legitimate purposes.
Injustice must be solved by the use of Power to benefit the people not
oppressive systems. Now, I don’t subscribe to hating those that disagree with me, but disagreeing
profoundly certain ideologies cogently is honorable. True rule of law has nothing to do with
massive austerity, base stereotypes, or denial of basic human services to
suffering human beings. We are our Brothers and our Sisters’ keepers. Many
public schools have been harmed by rich foundations, bad policies, lax
infrastructure, poverty, and privatized interests. Public schools in Finland
are doing great since they have a universal, progressive system. All forms of
legitimate education should be improved upon not totally abolished. I agree
with progressive policies to create jobs as this has worked from 1945 to 1975
(which included increased taxes and investments in our infrastructure. In that
time period with those policies, we saw poverty cut in half, the growth of
educational opportunities, the increase of GDP, and the growth of manufacturing
jobs). The government funded GI Bill contributed to the economic growth in that
time period too. The Great Recession was influenced by bad trade deals, Wall
Street corruption including speculation, the subprime mortgage bubble, and many
other reasons. The free market is not God and even American society then and
now is based on mixed economic principles. It is hypocritical for some to want humans to have morality, but they want the
market to have lax moral boundaries. We live in a mixed economy not a totally
free market system at all. Also, even the market has regulations. Not to
mention that many progressives believe in the free market. I will never tone
down my criticism about racism, discrimination, etc. I will both promote
personal responsibility and oppose injustice (also folks should be active to
create solutions too).
The civil rights leaders back in the day
used protests, civil disobedience, and other calls for changes. They were not
crying. They were demanding solutions. Black people have every right to demand social
change that is legitimate. See, when black people demand real solutions, they
are exercising their free speech rights point blank period exclamation point.
Tons of black people are interested in upstanding character. There are many
organizations dedicated to morality in the black people. So, the skeptics are in error again. Some ignorant people want to embrace false stereotypes. Many have omitted
that many black people don’t have a job since they can’t find a job. I have a
job, but others don’t because of a multiplicity of reasons. Also, most black
people are not on government welfare, etc. Some omit that corporate welfare are things that most
white Americans experience, some have omitted about record profits of Wall Street, and
the record income equality that threatens our economy. This issue of moral
corruption in some in the black community has been talked about by black people
before you were born, so these reactionaries are saying words that are not unique. Therefore,
morality must be improved in the black community and we have to address the
social conditions as a means to witness solutions working in the black
community. You have to do both regardless of who likes it or not. The War on
Drugs can be dealt with by changing laws, creating treatment programs, changing
harsh minimum sentence laws, and other approaches. Individuals
should stay off dangerous drugs, but we have to do more than advocating that. The
reason is because some people have addictions. Human beings should
be encouraged to not use drugs in an inappropriate fashion. I believe we have
to deal with addition also as a means to address this issue too. Some folks can stay
out of drugs by their volition and that is honorable. Others need more
assistance. These addictions can be handled with treatment including other methods.
The War on Drugs has affected innocent people too. So, that refutes the argument among some that if you are following the law, then you have nothing to worry
about. Bad institutions that should be abolished include terrorist
organizations, groups that are proven to be involved in racism, etc. Police
brutality should be called out and it should not be minimized by any
reactionary. Innocent black people being killed by the police should not be
omitted. Most black people are not murderers and the crime rate in the black
community has declined since the 1970’s. Only about 1 percent of African
Americans — and no more than 2 percent of black males — will commit a violent
crime in a given year. So, no one can blame black people collectively at all.
Only individual blacks who commit crime and murder should be held accountable
for their own actions. Most enemies of black society are not black people, but
a system oppressing blacks. Black people never invented the ghetto or the
modern system of white supremacy at all. People with great qualities still have
trouble getting a job, because of poverty, and other factors. Some ignore that.
I will never write that people should give you a job without effort. I did write that job creation should be sent
to people who deserve it. Also, we have to address income inequality. Many people have high
qualities and still are not given jobs. There are college graduates who can
only find temp jobs, because of the reality of our economy today. Some ignore
the complexities on why folks have lax job opportunities.
Michelle Alexander is an expert on racism.
The Sister is a strong person. She is a liberal, but she is not a socialist.
Just because someone is a liberal, doesn't mean that someone is a socialist.
Efforts to discredit her or her views have failed. She is a Sister that works in real
life to assist the poor and black people of America. Her fundamental arguments
are accurate. I don't agree with Soros on every issue, but her arguments on the
prison industrial complex, civil rights, & the War on Drugs ring true.
She has always written why people are in prison. Some folks in prison are
guilty and as she has written, others are innocent in prison. The prison
industrial complex has grown, because of poverty and bad policies sent to
communities like the War on Drugs, denial of basic rights for those who paid
their debt to society, etc. Her literature is fully documented and others can’t
offer a refutation of her arguments comprehensively at all. Also, the Koch
Brothers promote reactionary propaganda all of the time. It is a known fact
that racial, discriminatory policies exist in the criminal justice system. That
is even admitted by Rand Paul. She doesn’t ignore how voting rights are denied
to criminals who paid their debt to society. She doesn’t ignore how racial
profiling has violated human dignity. The abuses found in the prison industrial
complex ought to be condemned. She has not ignored about how the Southern
Strategy invoked race baiting rhetoric as a means for the GOP to bring out the
worse in some GOP agents. Non-violent drug offenders have been given more time
in prison than some rapists and murders, so that is problem that must be
addressed. We are certainly clear on manning up. Manning up is about never
blaming yourself for the actions of others too. You have to remember that not
all humans go through the same experiences; therefore there must be flexibility
in learning about the diverse actions of people. I will not blame myself for
the actions of corporate raiders, racists, polluters, imperialists, and other
criminals too. These extremists are not made up of the GOP totally, but the GOP
establishment typically has not criticized them to the maximum degree. That is
the point. Rush Limbaugh, Nugent, etc. are in the GOP establishment in my view.
I am a political independent, so that Democratic card doesn’t work on me. Back
then, the Democrats were more reactionary (so they agreed with the Fugitive
Slave Act, etc.). Today, it is the opposite, so the Republicans are more
reactionary. Folks know this. So, I condemn any evil by any party.
By Timothy
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