We Persist, We Dissent, and We Resist

Jeff Sessions has been sworn in recently as the new Attorney General of the USA. This is a disgraceful action as Sessions is a promiunent reactionary whose views are antithetical to social justice. The Senate confirmed Sessions on Wednesday in a 52-47 vote. Everyone one of those Senators who voted for Sessions should be known. Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia voted with the Republicans to make sure that Sessions was nominated. Manchin should be ashamed of himself. Sessions had said that he wants to deal with immigration in reactionary terms. He wants to deal with terrorism and he believes in the myth that America is experiencing a massive increase in overall crime when total crime in America has gone down since the 1980’s. Data documents how violent crime is at its lowest level in decades. Sessions is using coded language to increase U.S. police powers to target the poor and working class people.  Immediately after Sessions’ swearing-in ceremony, Trump signed three more executive orders directed at further increasing the role of police in US society. The first, Trump said, will “break the back of the criminal cartels that have spread across our nation.” The second creates a task force on violent crime in America. The third calls for the creation of “a plan to stop…violence against police.” It is clear that the Trump regime is hostile to active activists who oppose police terrorism as crooked cops are total terrorists. The Attorney General heads the Department of Justice too. The Attorney General is the leading U.S. law enforcement officer and brings the primary legal counsel to the U.S Government. Trump is unconditionally pro-police when the police has killed 1,000 people per year at least. Many of these people are unarmed and innocent of any crime. One of Sessions’ first tasks will be to defend Trump’s ban on immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries ravaged by US imperialism, including Iraq and Syria.

Trump last week fired acting attorney general Sally Yates for refusing to defend the travel ban, which breaks up families and blocks students from attending college and workers from taking jobs. As head of the Department of Justice, the US attorney general oversees a number of what are, in effect, national police agencies, among them the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the United States Marshalls Service; the Federal Bureau of Prisons; and the Drug Enforcement Administration. These agencies account for about 90,000 of the roughly 113,000 DOJ employees, and consume the lion’s share of its $27 billion budget. Sessions is an extremist who believes in states’ right. Historically, many southern state governments have used “states’ rights” as a way to oppress black people and other minorities including the poor. Historically, the Justice Department used federal power to protect the rights of citizens. The Justice Department protected the right of black people, the poor, women, and other human beings. As Alabama Attorney General (1994-1996) and then US senator (1996-2017) he established a reputation that has consistently placed him on the right of the Republican Party (Sessions has shown policies that go against the democratic rights against others, especially immigrants). Sessions voted against the Hate Crime Prevention Act, voted against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, and he called the Voting Rights Act, "a piece of intrusive legislation." Anyone that disparages the Voting Rights Act is a person that I don't support. From George W. Bush’s advocacy of reactionary policies on detainees, President Barack Obama’s lack of prosecution federally of crooked cops, and to Trump’s promotion of an extreme travel ban, we see that the struggle continues. We witness the era of whistleblowers and journalists being targets, protesters and antiwar activists targeted in the midst of antiterror laws, folks asserting unlimited executive power, deportation of immigrants en masse, the expansion of domestic spying, lax wages, etc. We have to fight for our rights.

One judge in NYC ordered the NYPD to Release Records of Undercover Surveillance of #BlackLivesMatter. This is a victory for human civil liberties. The war isn't over, but this is welcomed news nevertheless. Undercover surveillance has been done by the police and intelligence agencies for years. The FBI did the illegal COINTELPRO program (which had the support of the hypocrite, liar, and evil coward Hoover). The CIA did Operation Chaos in America. BOSSI monitored the activities of the OAAU. Today, police agencies and intelligence groups have surveilled the BLM in undercover work for years. There is another point to be made as well. We also need to be cognizant of the positive news too. There are many black people who are involved in engineering. Many people are involved in saving lives via medicine and education. There are many black activists who are involved in environmental justice matters and are fighting for social justice. We know about the purpose of hope and love. In other words, we should always a positive outlook in life and fight for the glorious change that we all desire. We reject the terrorism done by many in the West and we fully believe in total liberation for our people.
Black Lives Matter.

It is obvious what I'm going to type. This is a new day. Tons of black people aren't tolerating the disrespect of our people. That is why many people are in his IG account to criticize him or George Lopez and let him know that they will never go to his shows or spend money to witness him perform. A woman showing a middle finger never merits that women to be called out of her name in such a vulgar way. Comedians are heckled a lot of worse and Lopez doesn't say a thing about that. Yet, he wants to malign the humanity of a woman and it backfired since many people are standing up against sexism and racism strongly. Sheryl Underwood and DL Hughley (who once disrespected the Rutgers' team) defending Lopez is not surprising since they have made offensive remarks about black people (Underwood disrespected a black person's hair and soon apologized for it) for years. Hughley says that people who weren't at the show need to shut up. The truth is that we're grown black people and we a'int shutting up for no one. Hughley can never make us shut up. Just because we weren't in the stage doesn't mean that we can't speak our minds. We will speak our minds. Many comedians yell about free speech (there are limits to free speech which many supporters of Lopez omit), but we are expressing our free speech to disagree with a racist, sexist comic. That's part of our free speech rights too. Some black people love to disrespect other black people (some black people even support racists), which is sick and totally disgusting. In the final analysis, there are black people who defend any action done by a racist and other black people who take a stand to stand up for justice and oppose racism concretely. We are in the side of racial and social justice.

The trailer of the 2nd season of Underground is very emotional and powerful. It certainly gives many audiences a glimpse of the profound history of the antebellum period of America. That period changed not only America, but the world. During that era, heroes opposed the unjust Fugitive Slave Act, saved lives, and rescued many victims of slavery. Black men, black women, and black children back then experienced bondage and tyranny at the hands of evil, ruthless criminals. Yet, our ancestors used determination and strength to fight back against evil. It is false to say that our ancestors didn't have hands. Nat Turner had hands. Harriet Tubman had hands. Frederick Douglas had hands too. All of these human beings opposed the unspeakable abuse of black human beings. The cast in this season has shown grit, power, and great seriousness in conducting their acting. The courage and the solidarity of black people are in full display. The gorgeous Sister Aisha Hinds playing Harriet Tubman is great news. She is a magnificent actress. This series also gives people more of an opportunity to research the history of that time from abolitionists, black freedom fighters, and black people who escaped slavery to go into Oberlin College (and other former black slaves who enacted great institutions in a firm fashion). So, the series Underground outlines the power of Blackness and the necessity of action. We believe in action and that show truly has very powerful, inspirational qualities. Like always, our goal is freedom and justice. Our cause is right and just.


By Timothy