Late September Friday Updates.

  

The problem with why progressive legislation is not being passed is not just as a product of far right Republicans. It is also the fault of moderate/conservative Democrats who follow Wall Street, Big Pharma, and Big Oil special interest groups. There is no other way to put it. These moderates are holding legislation hostage. Krysten Sinema (who is a moderate) has received over $750,000 from Big Pharma. Her office is led by a former lobbyist whose firm worked on behalf of pharmaceutical companies. Also, Manchin has been overt in his refusal to promote bold voting rights legislation, a real infrastructure bill, and other policies that make a living wage a reality. Manchin refuses to advocate ending the filibuster completely. The filibuster is nothing more than a racist throwback that has been used to target civil rights and voting rights legislation decades ago. It's ironic that only a handful of corporate Democrats can oppose legislation supported by the majority of Americans. Joe Manchin asks "what's the urgency?" He is wrong. We have unemployment benefits expiring, millions facing evictions, the pandemic still spreading, wildfires in the West Coast, and climate change. This guy still asks what's the urgency. That is why I would never be a moderate. As Dr. King has said, the moderate is too concerned with the status quo than freedom and justice.

 

The deportations of Haitian refugees must end. It is a disgrace where grown adults on horseback oppressing black Haitian refugees in a brutal fashion. This policy against the Haitian people is not only xenophobic and represents a double standard. It is completely racist. The DHS didn't do a single thing until pressure came upon them. Border agents on horseback charging and whipping defenseless black human beings is totally revolting. That act is similar to the Klan whipping black people. Right now, thousands of refugees are at river cross in Del Rio, Texas. They are under a bridge in heat. Many of them were just carrying food and water. Haiti has suffered multiple earthquakes and the pandemic. People using horses to trample under the human rights of people in unacceptable. The Biden should not only change course on this issue, but they should apologize to black people, all Americans, and the world. There is no illegality in the right of asylum. A federal judge in America said that the U.S. government can't use the Title 42 provision as an excuse to deport Haitian people. Yet, the Biden administration has appealed that decision. A lot of people don't know that Haiti was a victim of a 20 year U.S. occupation starting in 1915. The Duvaliers were backed by the U.S. The Tontons Macoute secret police harmed Haitian people. So, we are clear that these Haitian human beings deserve asylum, justice, and equality.

 

This year is the 80th year anniversary of the evil Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. The Soviet prisoners of war were heavily brutalized by the Nazis. At least 27 million Soviet human beings lost their lives during WWII. It may be as high as 37 million people. 2.6 million of the 6 million Jewish people who died in the Holocaust came from the Soviet Union. The Nazi SS and the Nazi Wehrmacht participated in mass executions including other crimes against humanity. Many Red Army prisoners were shot en masse, staved to death, and allowed to die via epidemics. We know of international law via the Geneva Convention of 1929 that says that prisoners of war must be humanely treated. They must be given food and medical care. Nazi leaders were anti-Semitic, hated black people, hated people of Slavic descent, and desired their reactionary empire. Yet, the Allied Powers defeated the Nazis by 1945. After the war, the crimes of Stalinism persisted too. Stalin, who wasn't a real socialist, used his agents to murder Trotsky. Also, Stalin was an anti-Semite and murdered opposition leaders who desired a more democratic society.

 

The breaking news is that the January 6 committee has subpoenaed Trump associates. Their names are Mark Meadows (there is an allegation that Meadows had contact with people involved in the 1/6 insurrection), former Pentagon Official Kash Patel, Steve Bannon, and Trump social media chief Dan Scavino This comes after the committee wants to investigate how Trump responded to the insurrection and communication between Trump and his supporters. The Georgia Secretary of State still defends the voter suppression law in Georgia. Not only does the law restricts when and how you can vote. It also strips power away from people who once monitor elections and makes democracy weakened in government. This voter suppression laws are found nationwide. Our time is now for Congress to pass progressive, federal voting rights legislation. We have agents from the U.S. clearing the Texas camp after 2,000 Haitian people are deported to Haiti. 

 

Some breaking, sad news is that actor and director Melvin Van Peebles passed away at 89 years old days ago. He was a filmmaker, a  novelist, and a composer. Chicago was the city of his birth. His career was being involved in acting and making groundbreaking films. He  was in the film Panther too. The documentary of Censored X was an unapologetic look about how Hollywood promoted racist stereotypes against black people that caused negative psychological harm in the minds of many human beings. He was in the generation of Ossie Davis, Gordon Parks, and other legends who changed photography, acting, and culture forever. He loved his artwork, and his son Mario Van Peebles is a great actor in his own right. One of Melvin's greatest roles was in the film Gang in Blue. Mario Van Peebles gave a real, eloquent tribute to his father by saying that black films matter. They do matter as our voices have every right to be heard without filter and without denial. I saw that movie of Gang in Blue as a younger person, and it exposed police brutality. Melvin Van Peebles was a man who didn't want to be bounded under social conventions. He was an iconic person of world culture.

Rest in Power Brother Melvin Van Peebles.