One crucial part of creating solutions deals with social activism. Social activism throughout the ages has promoted workers' rights, caused the Voting Rights Act to be created, and caused more of an awareness on issues of criminal justice including police brutality. Today, we witness the man-made disaster in Flint, Michigan. This disaster is a product of austerity, deregulation, and the corrupt capitalist exploitation found in society. Children will be harmed for life for the actions of some people, so accountability must be made. It can cost over 1 billion dollars to replace and pipes and rebuild the plumbing system in Flint too. Flint Michigan has been a victim of deindustralization for decades and now its citizens have been poisoned of their water supply. Not only is Rick Snyder responsible for this situation (and he must resign. People must be prosecuted for this tragedy) as he is the Governor of the state. People from both major parties and multiple levels of government are responsible for the water switch, the cover up, and the other egregious measures that harmed the people of Flint too. For example, none other than Democratic Michigan Treasurer Andy Dillon gave the official go ahead to the switch. The series of emergency managers that presided over the city during the crisis were all Democrats, as were the mayor and members of the Flint City Council. So, we know that the GOP is filled with sexists, xenophobes, racists, Islamphobes, and people with low character. I will never be a Republican. Yet, some Wall Street noeliberal Democrats also have done dirt too. The free event, which has been supported by the Blackout for Human Rights movement, is inspiring. I have great love for Janelle Monae and I have great admiration for Sister Ava Duvernay. Sister Ava inspired me to research the events of Selma in a higher level. I respect the courageous Brothers and Sisters who are helping the people of Flint too. The privatized, corporate entities promoting austerity in the region are wrong. The emergency manager system (which is blatantly anti-democratic) must end in Michigan. Folks involved in the poisoning of the water and the cover up must be prosecuted as tons of people have been sick including children. We are black people and we want justice. Therefore, I greatly appreciate those involved in this important event (I have great respect for Blackout for Human Rights), so human beings in Flint can be helped.
#Justice for Flint
It is right to say that no means no. The lie spewed by sexists today is that a woman with less revealing clothing or a woman with no clothing ought to be disrespected, called out of her name, and be maligned of her character. The truth is that whether a black woman (or any woman in general) wears clothing in a conservative fashion or wears clothing in a less revealing fashion, her dignity must be respected. There are plenty of black women wearing less than revealing clothing who want to celebrate their lives. That doesn't mean that they are sexually promiscuous or they lack personal integrity. A woman's humanity is always valuable and respecting women is about respecting her own choices not dictating to her how she should act in violation of her own human autonomy. We desire freedom not an authoritarian society where people violate women's personal spaces because of her clothing attire. I don't agree with Amber Rose on every issue, but she is 100 percent right in saying that No mean No period. She is right in telling both men in the video that a woman has the right to change her mind and not have sex if she doesn't want to engage in sexual intercourse. It is very important to respect each other as human beings. Relationships grow by being honest and confronting injustices wherever they exist.
First, the cops, who are using boycotts against Beyonce, are acting silly. The Flint water poisoning in Michigan, the health care system, and other issues are more important than Beyonce's performance. These same cops are more concerned with promoting their Blue Shield than respecting blackness. There is a serious problem where structural racism, police terrorism, the War on Drugs, and poverty have harmed the lives of many black people. Readily, numerous cops have killed black people with impunity. They have also killed Fred Hampton and Mark Clark in cold blood in 1969. Anyone can witness that Beyonce's performance is not even anti-all police. Louis Farrakhan is experiencing irony. On a previous occasion, he has criticized both Jay Z and Beyonce on the issue of clothing attire. Now, he has praised Beyonce because of her video. I don't know if Beyonce would accept the Fruit of Islam (who know martial arts and other self defense training). We shall see. Regardless, I won't support the far right crowd's slander of Beyonce. At the end of the day, our enemy ultimately is the system of racism/white supremacy. I believe in condemning white racism, I reject respectability politics, and I furthermore endorse an end to police terror in our communities. The lie shown by many conservatives and others is that black people don't condemn intrarracial violence (or what the far right crowd calls "black on black crime"). The truth is that black people for years and decades have used programs, protests, vigils, interventions, and other actions in fighting gun violence and intrarracial violence in the black community. Anybody who denies the efforts of many black people fighting intraracial violence in the black community is a liar. The Black Panthers used free breakfast programs, ambulance services, and other community programs. They opposed the evil Vietnam War and help so many of our people.
It is the lie that many whites (and some black people even) promote that no black person is standing up against intraracial violence. Black people for years and decades have opposed intraracial violence. It is very important to defend black human lives and to end violence in our communities and end police terrorism too. It is revolting for many people to exploit the deaths of black people as an excuse for them to promote the lie that black people aren't protesting against intraracial violence. For years and decades, black people have used protests, vigils, mentorships, and other programs to fight violence in our communities. Many of the same ones who promote this lie (of black people not being active in combating black on black crime) are active misogynists, make stereotypes about black women, and could care less about black people. They care about promoting a reactionary ideology that advances theocracy, patriarchy, and misogynoir instead of black liberation. So, we congratulate these courageous Brothers and Sisters in Compton, CA in standing up for what is right. We want safe communities, so our families and our black people in general can prosper.
RIP Sister Autumn Johnson
By Timothy
No comments:
Post a Comment