I took my time to think about this issue and these awards. First, music is diverse. Music should not be limited based on upon nationality or background. The contributions of black people involving music have been invaluable. Many people recognize our contributions and other ignorant folks don’t. The American Music awards represents the interests and taste of mainstream America. So, it is not surprising to witness certain artists winning the awards. Others have shown excellent information on how many white artists have stolen the compositions of black music. Obviously, many underground artists or other artists have not received true recognition for their talent today, because of the corporate domination of the mainstream music industry. A Brother named Solomon Comissiong has written great articles on the music industry including other political matters. Now, Justin Timberlake mimics Michael Jackson. Many artists may mimic our culture, but they can never duplicate our culture or our being as black people. That is the point of the matter. The hologram performance of Michael Jackson is the sign of the times. They did the same with the late Tupac Shakur. The hologram of the late Michael Jackson showed a great deal of image clarity. The performance was odd since Michael Jackson (who had incredible talent and singing ability) has deceased. For the past two decades, we have seen an increase of zero tolerance policies in schools. These policies have ruined the lives of children from every grade level. Also, many of the youth are held accountable for their actions. I am not saying that students who do assault, disrespect, or perform any serious violation should not be held accountable. I am saying that many students with minor infractions suffer excessive consequences on a myriad of occasions. This young female did not threaten anyone, did not fight anyone, and did try to create violence in the classroom at all. The prison industrial complex is also filled with innocent people including nonviolent drug offenders who were sentenced excessively because of mandatory minimum sentences. The problems in our community are complex not simplistic.
A lot of thoughts come to my mind on this issue. Racial apartheid was condemned in the Brown decision. Racial apartheid is forever immoral. Just laws ought to be respected. Law alone can’t solve the problem of a reality where unfairness exists in public schools including all other schools nationwide. Many teachers (who abhor the status quo) have advocated a back to basics approach, which I agree with. Too many subsidized testing based on random memorization is not going to cut it. Students need to learn basic skills and problem solving as a means to allow them to develop their learning. Also, the parents must be encouraged to be involved in the lives of their children. I am not talking about dedicated, great parents. It is not about all parents, but certain parents neglecting their responsibility in helping their children achieve their paramount goals. These actions are legitimate, but they are not enough. Many parents in poor communities are doing an excellent job in educating their children, but numerous poorer schools have lax resources and other problems that prevent students from reaching their true potential. You can't solve this problem unless income inequality is addressed. Kids in suffering communities have to be encouraged. They have to be told that they are somebody. They have to be told their value and their worth (we have to show that we care about them for real). So, we need both family development strategies in our communities and economic justice too. There must be radical socio-economic changes in this country. The government can’t fix everything, but the government can fix some things (as the government ought to be made up by and for the people. See, the oligarchy have a great responsibility in harming our educational system via their Foundations & austerity agenda. Scapegoating the poor solves nothing. Having true economic investment, accountability, and revolutionary solutions will cut it). Many people are poor by no fault of their own, so the poor need resources not blaming totally for this situation. It will take public resources (not just private effort) to get qualified teachers, newer textbooks, and a stronger infrastructure that are desperately needed in suffering schools too. It will take a comprehensive effort (among all levels of government, teachers, students, parents, individuals, etc.) not a limited effort. Finland and Massachusetts have shown us great ways in creating solutions involving this issue. We are a community. I am not surprised at this action of some House Republicans supporting cutting aid to urban areas, but maintaining aid to rural areas in a bill. Many Republicans have shown their disdain for urban and poor human beings via this action. It is a shame that many people vote against their economic interests by voting for reactionary Republicans too. Assisting the poor and feeding the hungry are legitimate avenues to perform. The recent tragic mining disasters in West Virginia document again that Republican policies don't work comprehensively to improve the environment or to help urban communities either (or even rural communities for that matter. Urban communities deserve empathy and compassion not neglect or disrespect). Urban and rural communities should be treated with equal respect and dignity. So, this abhorrent, retrograde action made by many House Republicans is part of their overall agenda. We have the right to oppose that agenda with vigor and zeal.
There has been a huge controversy with the Zuckerberg money sent to Newark. Zuckerberg, Gates, and other advance the controversial privatization of education/charter schools agenda. They want to use corporate money and corporate influence to dominate more of the educational functions of society. The new mayor Ras Baraka recently defeated a Cory Booker like acolyte for mayor. We know that massive privatization can and has harmed the infrastructure of mainstream society. School privatization has led to schools closing down and teachers lacking job security. Zuckerberg back in 2010 announced that he was contributing 100 million dollars to the Newark, New Jersey public school system. Such large private donations to public schools have been taboo before. Many schools have been funded with government money and were made accountable only to the people for their actions. Today, we see rich people and corporations. Charter schools have not caused massive improvements in education. They have caused mixed results, the firings of thousands of qualified, black teachers, schools closed, and stolen resources from public education while profits are made for hedge fund leaders. Republicans and Democrats alike have been supportive of this agenda. No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top are programs with the same bad end results. The people of Newark decided to reject the money from Zuckerberg. That is their right. Booker supported the school voucher movement when he was mayor. He was economically backed by the Bradley Foundation and Walmart’s Walton family. Even Shavar Jeffries was a founder of a charter school and was funded by Wall Street’s interests. Charter schools have always been coded for privatization, corporate backing, and the splitting up of public education. As we have seen, the neoliberal policies have been a huge detriment to society in general. Neoliberalism has harmed the environment, harmed health care rights, and ruined the social safety net for humanity. We have to be careful in Nigeria. We should condemn the kidnapping of the girls, but never use the unjustified kidnapping as an excuse to advocate Western imperialist blunder of the resources found in Nigeria at all. We should never endorse U.S. militarization and neocolonialism in Africa at all. So, while Boko Haram’s actions ought to be condemned. Western imperialism and any form of imperialism in Africa have to be gone from the Motherland of Africa completely. AFRICOM has no business in Africa at all. Real, progressive leaders in Africa ought to exist in replacement of bourgeoisie leaders. Independent, intentional collaboration is necessary to find the missing girls and return them home.
Both parties are responsible for the damage done to the economy. Both parties in their leadership follow orders from the one percent. Bill Clinton was a centrist and he used triangulation. A centrist is a person who have done both legitimate things politically and made errors including compromises as well. That sums up the Clinton legacy. He ended welfare as we know it. He allowed policies to grow the prison industrial complex (with his love of the War on Drugs and strict three strike laws. He believed in the death penalty) and he eliminated Glass Steagall. So, he was not a radical progressive as some reactionaries have called him. He agreed with not only NAFTA, but the WTO, and GATT too, which contributed to the loss of millions of American jobs. Bad trade deals should be replaced with fair trade. Even with the tax increases in Clinton’s 1993 budget plan (which I have no issue with at all), the wealthy pay a substantially lower percentage of their income in taxes during his Presidency than they did in 1977. The economy boomed in the late nineties, with unemployment reaching historic lows. Wages, after years of lagging behind economic growth, finally began to rise. However, a majority of the twenty-two million jobs created during the Clinton years paid less than $7 an hour. The reality was that Clinton played his role in helping to create a low-wage, low-benefit economy. The number of working poor increased under his watch. According to a 1999 report compiled in part by the National League of Cities and the National School Boards Association, “The number of children in working poor families leaped by one-third from 1989 to 1997, despite a booming economy and a twenty-five-year low in the nation’s unemployment rate.” Clinton had a reactionary foreign policy too. So, people know the truth. Clinton, the one-time anti—Vietnam War so-called "protester", continued Bush’s 1992 invasion of Somalia, invaded Haiti in 1994, bombed Serbia in 1995 and 1999, Sudan and Afghanistan in 1997, and Iraq almost continuously throughout his administration. To force North Korea into negotiations, Clinton threatened in 1994 a war that could have provoked a nuclear conflict. He enforced the murderous sanctions of Iraq that killed over one million Iraqi civilians. Bill Clinton's Presidency was better than other Presidencies like Harding, Coolidge, Andrew Johnson, and Reagan, but he followed Republican-lite policies as a means to preserve his political power.
By Timothy
No comments:
Post a Comment