https://blackagendareport.com/bar-book-forum-adam-elliott-coopers-black-resistance-british-policing
Wednesday, July 14, 2021
Defending Our Voting Rights and Other News in July 2021.
President Joe Biden gave a recent speech at Philadelphia (which was the place where the Constitution was officially signed over 200 years ago) to make his case for voting rights in America. He is right to mention that this is the biggest democratic crisis currently in America since the American Civil War. GOP extremists, in many cases, still believe in the big lie, when the 2020 election is the most scrutinized and protected American election in the history of the United States of America. There was no massive voting fraud during the 2020 election. The recent voter suppression laws and bills in many states of America (not just in the South, but everywhere in America) are not only anti-democratic and evil. The legislation is immoral. Many of these laws restrict when people can vote, restrict who can monitor elections, and even heavily restrict mail in voting locations. The American people should hear from the President on this important issue of voting rights.
The For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act should be passed. The filibuster, being a throwback from slavery, must be gone. The moderate Democrats (i.e. Sinema and Manchin) must wake up and oppose the filibuster, because very little legislation will be passed (especially in dealing with voting rights) if the filibuster remains. Fascists and terrorists nearly destroyed America in the 1/6 insurrection months ago. So, this is personal for all of us to fight for our democracy in July of 2021. Republicans have no mercy in their extremism, so we should be compassionate and determined to maintain progressive values in our generation. Not to mention that we ought to never compromise with fascists and racists in the Republican Party. Finally, Black Americans brought him into the White House, and our interests (as black people) must be respected.
The assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise changed Haiti forever. Now, we know that one of the accused assassins was a DEA informant and might have links to the FBI. This is strange. It has been reported that a rival (named Christian Samon) may have been involved in the assassination in using Colombian nationals including 2 Haitian American people in the plot. We do know that Colombia is an ally of America, and many police/paramilitary forces have killed peaceful protesters in Colombia recently. Moise stayed in office past his term. It seemed that Moise was murdered by mercenaries with shady links. Two of the accused assassins have ties to oligarchs. According to The Washington Post, Solages’ Facebook profile, which has since been removed, listed him as the chief commander of bodyguards for the Canadian Embassy in Haiti. The Canadian Embassy confirmed that Solages previously worked as a security guard. We must allow the Haitian people decide their leaders. It must not be the United Nations or anyone else. The West's disrespect of Haiti is not new. After Haitian independence, Jefferson opposed Haiti's freedom in 1804. France forced Haiti to pay it reparations when it should have been the other way around. America brutally occupied Haiti during the 20th century. In 1994, Biden made the evil, offensive remark that if Haiti sunk into the Caribbean or rose up 300 feet, it wouldn't matter in our interest. You can't believe in democracy and truth and promote neo-colonialism. Solidarity among workers worldwide and the oppressed is our precept. A capitalist-imperialist system has ruined many lives over the centuries.
There is a crisis in Cuba. There are those far right forces who are exploiting the crisis as an excuse for them to make Cuba a puppet state. Many people don't know that before Castro, Batista ran Cuba. Batista was not only a U.S.-funded dictator. He was allied with exploitative corporations, he aided the Mafia in their casinos, and many poor Cubans were oppressed heavily. The problems now in Cuba (with food shortages, spread of the pandemic, etc.) is caused by both restrictive economic embargoes and anti-democratic policies done by the Stalinist Cuban government. Many of the restrictive embargoes have harmed the Cuban energy sector. Then, food, medicines, and supplies are in short supply in Cuba. Some forget that the U.S. occupied Cuba in 1902 and imposed a brutal regime. Likewise, the Cuban government is wrong to use brutal force against peaceful Cuban protesters and restrict Internet access in Cuba. Two wrong don't make a right. The Cuban people deserve democratic rights and freedom. That is true. The Cuban government should do a lot more in promoting real freedom in their nation. I don't agree with Cuba arresting over 100 protesters, activists, and journalists. You have to promote real liberty in any nation in the Universe. Yet, the Cuban people don't deserve to become some puppet Western regime either.
The Texas Democrats have spoken in D.C. to advocate for voting rights legislation. Vice President Kamala Harris meet with these Texas Democrats too. Governor Abbott have threatened the Texas Democrats with arrest when they return to Texas. People desire a plan involving courts, eliminating the filibuster, and other things that we wanted in order to advance justice. Today, we witness the fight for our democracy. Many state Texas Congress people left Texas to try to stop the vote of the bad voter suppression bill in Texas. The Texas GOP wants these voting laws to exist. This is a national problem too. Nationwide, tons of legislation have been proposed and passed to limit voting days, to restrict which types of IDs can be used for voting, to restrict in mail voting, and to shift power into other hands on how to hand voting policies. Biden gave his speech on Tuesday to address federal voting legislation. Voting rights is one of the most important issues in the world. Voting determines how revenues are sent, which types of people are in the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of government, and voting directly will determinate which Supreme Court Justices will be on the Court. GOP leaders and Trump still promote the lie that the 2020 election was stolen. Democracy must be protected.
By Timothy
Tuesday, July 13, 2021
Monday, July 12, 2021
Histories.
The outstanding singer and civil rights activist Abbey Lincoln was born in Chicago. She was born on August 6, 1930. Her original name is Anna Marie Wooldridge. She was raised in Calvin Center, Cass County, Michigan. So, she was born and raised in the great Midwestern region of the United States of America. As a young child, Lincoln went into a one room school to develop her education. Abbey Lincoln was raised with 11 siblings. She even taught herself on how to play the piano. Constantly, Lincoln would invent songs. Lincoln performed at the church choir and at amateur contests. Lincoln sang from Hawaii to Havana early on. As early as 1951, she performed in numerous nightclubs. She lived in Honolulu, Hawaii as a resident singer in a club. She came back to California in 1954. Like many singers of her time, Abbey Lincoln was inspired by Billie Holiday. As many know, Bille Holiday was one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time. Lincoln readily visited the Blue Note jazz club in New York City. Her debut album (in 1955) was "Abbey Lincoln's Affair: A Story of a Girl in Love." She made other albums for Riverside Records too. In 1956, Abbey Lincoln was in the movie of The Girl Can't Help It, for which she wore a dress that had been worn by Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), and interpreted the theme song, working with Benny Carter. By 1957, she moved into New York City, and she worked at the Village Vanguard, which is a jazz club in Greenwich Village. She had many friends and artists who was all about promoting civil rights and advancing the great genre of jazz music. In 1957, she released the album of That's Him!, and in 1958, she released the album It's Magic. Abbey is Blue came out in 1959.
By 1960, she sang on Max Roach's landmark civil rights themed recording of We Insist! Lincoln's lyrics were often linked to the civil rights movement in America. With Ivan Dixon, she co-starred in Nothing But a Man (1964), an independent film written and directed by Michael Roemer. Nothing But a Man was a honest film that exposes the evil injustices of Jim Crow apartheid in America. Abbey Lincoln married Max Roach in 1962. All over the 1960's, Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach participated in civil rights activism via their performances at benefits and fundraisers for the NAACP and CORE (the Congress of Racial Equality). "It always did the actresses in, because I was the one who was supposed to have this reputation as a freedom fighter ... and I got two movies," Lincoln told NPR's Roy Hurst in a 2003 interview.
In 1968 she co-starred with Sidney Poitier and Beau Bridges in For Love of Ivy and received a 1969 Golden Globe nomination for her appearance in the film. For The Love of Ivy is an underrated film in music film history. It is about a black woman, who is a maid to a wealthy family, but she has an independent mind of her own. Her character was strong, intelligent, and with a determination to get what she wants in a positive way. Sidney Poitier and Abbey Lincoln in the film fall in love in many levels and steps. It's a realistic romance based on mutual respect for 2 black human beings in love.
Television appearances, made by Abbey Lincoln, began in 1968 with The Name of the Game. In March 1969, she had a role for WGBH-TV Boston. The role was in one of a 10-episode series of individual dramas written, produced and performed by black people called, "On Being Black." It was her work in Alice Childress's Wine in the Wilderness. She appeared in Mission: Impossible (1971), the television movie Short Walk to Daylight (1972), Marcus Welby, M.D. (1974), and All in the Family (1978). Lincoln was married from 1962 to 1970 to drummer Max Roach, whose daughter from a previous marriage, Maxine, appeared on several of Lincoln's albums. During the 1970's, she helped her mother in Los Angeles, and Abbey Lincoln began to write literature. In 1973, Abbey Lincoln released the album of People in Me. Her first lead album in 12 years after Straight ahead.
After a tour of Africa in the mid 1970's, she adopted the named of Aminata Moseka. By the 1980's, Lincoln's creative output was smaller and she released only a few albums. In 1984, she released her album of Talking to the Sun under Enja Records. Her song "For All We Know" is featured in the 1989 film Drugstore Cowboy. In 1987, she released the albums of Abbey Sings Bille, Vol. 1 and Abbey Sings Billie Vol. 1 as a tribute to Billie Holiday with Enja Records. In the 1990 Spike Lee movie Mo' Better Blues, Abbey Lincoln played the young Bleek's mother, Lillian. In 1990, she also released the album of The World is Falling Down. During the 1990's and until her death, however, she fulfilled a 10-album contract with Verve Records. These albums are highly regarded and represent a crowning achievement in Lincoln's career. In 1991, You Gotta Pay the Band was released by Abbey Lincoln too. Devil's Got Your Tongue (1992) featured Rodney Kendrick, Grady Tate, Yoron Israel, J. J. Johnson, Stanley Turrentine, Babatunde Olatunji and The Staple Singers, among others.
Lincoln worked with Maggie Brown on Brown's album of Wholly Earth in 1999. Lincoln wanted Brown to just make music and don't get bogged down in agents or money. Brown is a fan of Lincoln which is why she did a tribute to Lincoln called Maggie Sings Abbey. Maggie Brown was a fan of her since she was a child. In 2003, Lincoln received a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Award. Her music dealt with lyrics that dealt with the ideals of the civil rights movement and helped inspired future generations' passion for the cause in the minds of her listeners. She always loved acting too. Abbey Lincoln loved to explore more philosophical themes in the later years of her songwriting career. She remained professionally active in her work until well into her seventies. Her last album before her passing was "Abbey Sings Abbey" in 2007.
Lincoln died on August 14, 2010, in Manhattan, eight days after her 80th birthday. Her death was announced by her brother, David Wooldridge, who told The New York Times that she had died in a Manhattan nursing home after suffering deteriorating health ever since undergoing open-heart surgery in 2007. No cause of death was officially given. She was cremated and her ashes were scattered.
Before her passing, Lincoln asked her friend Dee Dee Bridgewater to help keep the songbook alive of her music. On May 2011, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., something happened. Dee Dee Bridgewater, Dianne Reeves, and Cassandra Wilson played Abbey Lincoln's music. Bridgewater fulfilled Lincoln's promise. Terri Lyne Carrington was the musical director on the drums. It was their jazz tribute to Abbey Lincoln.
9/11 existed because of many complex reasons. A conspiracy is an event organized by more than one person with a plan, and people carrying it out. By that definition alone, 9/11 was a product of a conspiracy as Osama bin Laden and other people planned it out and executed terrorism against America. The Western establishment exploited the 9/11 attacks as an excuse for some to try to reshape the Middle East and Central Asia (in growing markets, competing against Russia plus China, and gain more oil, gas, mineral resources). President George W. Bush already long before 9/11 wanted to go after Saddam Hussein in part to finish what his father started. There was the 1993 attempt to assassinate his father too. Iraqi oil reserves were huge, so private contractors worked heavily in Iraq for the purpose of gaining profit. George W. Bush's Treasury secretary Paul O'Neill in his 2004 book of The Price of Loyalty mentioned a January 30, 2001 meeting. This meeting, he claimed had Bush, National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice, CIA Director George Tenet), Donald Rumsfeld, and others to prepare for a possibly invasion of Iraq. Bush disputes the claim from O'Neill. Yet, we know of a memo dated January 23, 2001 outlining the "Origins of the Iraq Regime Change Policy." This was requested by Vice President-elect Dick Cheney before taking office, presumably as a way to justify policy formation around aggressive US efforts for "regime change" in Iraq. Bush calling Iraq, Iran, and Syria an Axis of Evil is pretty much saying that he wanted those nations to be pro-American puppets of the West via war if necessary. Domestically, the corporate police state system that we see now was built greater since 9/11. NSA programs like PRISM, Boundless Informant, and Stellar Wind grew.
20 years after 9/11, we still have massive political polarization. Nothing would be the same again after 20 years. You have some people who believe in truth and justice by defending voting rights, promoting living wages, and believing in environmental justice. Then, you have other people who believe in the lie that the 2020 election was stolen, who believe in sugarcoating real American history (under the guise of disagreeing with critical race theory. Critical race theory is not offensive. It is about exposing systematic racism in the legal system and desiring racial justice to exist. Not to mention that CRT is not taught officially in public schools), and promote their attacks on democracy with puppets like the bigot plus far right extremist Tucker Carlson. So, we are in an ideological crisis point in American history. Donald Trump is no longer President, but the Republican Party is headed by him. We already know that Trump is a sexist, a racist, a xenophobe, and a habitual liar. The most important thing to do is to do the right thing. Doing the right thing means to build in our communities, promoting our rights, working with organizations dedicated to results, and advancing real progressive values that our ancestors fought and died for. Many of my ancestors and late relatives fought in the Civil War and in World War II. The Republican Party now is so extreme that Lincoln, Eisenhower, and other Republicans back then would be considered Marxists by the far right. It's that serious. Now, people are discussing about the 2022 elections. People want to see what the future composition of Congress will be by 2022 (and after the 2020 Census has been fully completed). People want the social safety net protected and strengthened not weakened as many GOP extremists desire. Human beings want real change in our world.
In conclusion, 9/11 was plotted an executed by Osama bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda network. The attacks were evil, unjust, and wicked. The murderers, who murdered almost 3,000 people in America, followed a reactionary, ultranationalist ideology. Also, it is important to note that Western imperialism have blood on its hands for decades. For example, the CIA and the MI6 worked together (via Operation Ajax) to overthrow the democratically elected President or Iran Mohammed Mossadegh. Done strikes, imperialist wars, and other bombings by the West have occurred in Lebanon, Libya, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, etc. Once upon a time, America wanted fundamentalist extremists to defeat Soviet forces in Afghanistan. America was once an ally of the Taliban because of its anti-Communist views during the 1980's. That changed years later. The war on terror existed after the attack. There were many Saudi and Pakistani elites that worked with Western elites for many reasons (as Iran and Syria are heavily Shia states). The CIA promoted the Iraq War and advanced many actions of secret prison camps that included waterboarding. The desire of the neo-cons and their supporters was to restructure the Middle East. Also, the Bush administration used the lie of Iraq having massive quantities of weapons of mass destruction as an excuse for them to invade Iraq, to gain resources in Iraq, etc. The attacks in America on September 11th, 2001 represented the start in essence of the 21st century.
By Timothy
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)