|
Life-Net Raw
November 27, 2002 |
THANKSGIVING: A NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING FOR INDIANS
By Wamsutta Frank James, United American Indians of New England
Part One (of Two)(11/27/2002)--In 1970, United American Indians of New England declared US Thanksgiving Day a National Day of Mourning. This came about as a result of the suppression of the truth. Wamsutta, an Aquinnah Wampanoag man, had been asked to speak at a fancy Commonwealth of Massachusetts banquet celebrating the 350th anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims. He agreed. The organizers of the dinner, using as a pretext the need to prepare a press release, asked for a copy of the speech he planned to deliver. He agreed. Within days Wamsutta was told by a representative of the Department of Commerce and Development that he would not be allowed to give the speech. The reason given was due to the fact that, "...the theme of the anniversary celebration is brotherhood and anything inflammatory would have been out of place." What they were really saying was that in this society, the truth is out of place.
What was it about the speech that got those officials so upset? Wamsutta used as a basis for his remarks one of their own history books - a Pilgrim's account of their first year on Indian land. The book tells of the opening of my ancestor's graves, taking our wheat and bean supplies, and of the selling of my ancestors as slaves for 220 shillings each. Wamsutta was going to tell the truth, but the truth was out of place.
Here is the truth: The reason they talk about the pilgrims and not an earlier English-speaking colony, Jamestown, is that in Jamestown the circumstances were way too ugly to hold up as an effective national myth. For example, the white settlers in Jamestown turned to cannibalism to survive. Not a very nice story to tell the kids in school. The pilgrims did not find an empty land any more than Columbus "discovered" anything. Every inch of this land is Indian land. The pilgrims (who did not even call themselves pilgrims) did not come here seeking religious freedom; they already had that in Holland. They came here as part of a commercial venture. They introduced sexism, racism, anti-lesbian and gay bigotry, jails, and the class system to these shores. One of the very first things they did when they arrived on Cape Cod -- before they even made it to Plymouth -- was to rob Wampanoag graves at Corn Hill and steal as much of the Indians' winter provisions as they were able to carry. They were no better than any other group of Europeans when it came to their treatment of the Indigenous peoples here. And no, they did not even land at that sacred shrine down the hill called Plymouth Rock, a monument to racism and oppression which we are proud to say we buried in 1995.
The first official "Day of Thanksgiving" was proclaimed in 1637 by Governor Winthrop. He did so to celebrate the safe return of men from Massachusetts who had gone to Mystic, Connecticut to participate in the massacre of over 700 Pequot women, children, and men.
About the only true thing in the whole mythology is that these pitiful European strangers would not have survived their first several years in "New England" were it not for the aid of Wampanoag people. What Native people got in return for this help was genocide, theft of our lands, and never-ending repression.
But back in 1970, the organizers of the fancy state dinner told Wamsutta he could not speak that truth. They would let him speak only if he agreed to deliver a speech that they would provide. Wamsutta refused to have words put into his mouth. Instead of speaking at the dinner, he and many hundreds of other Native people and our supporters from throughout the Americas gathered in Plymouth and observed the first National Day of Mourning. United American Indians of New England have returned to Plymouth every year since to demonstrate against the Pilgrim mythology.
On that first Day of Mourning back in 1970, Plymouth Rock was buried not once, but twice. The Mayflower was boarded and the Union Jack was torn from the mast and replaced with the flag that had flown over liberated Alcatraz Island. The roots of National Day of Mourning have always been firmly embedded in the soil of militant protest.
The original article with related links and photos can be seen at United American Indians of New England. You can call or fax UAINE at 781-331-3690. And you can e-mail UAINE.
CONGRESS FAILS TO REACH DEAL FOR EXTENDING JOBLESS AID
By Julie Hirschfeld Davis, Baltimore Sun national staff
800,000 could face cutoff 3 days after ChristmasWASHINGTON (11/21/2002)--More than 800,000 jobless Americans - about 7,900 of them in Maryland - stand to lose their unemployment benefits three days after Christmas because of a dispute that scuttled efforts yesterday to extend the aid before Congress adjourned for the year.
As the Senate completed its work, prospects all but vanished for an agreement that could have saved the unemployment benefits from expiring. In addition to those whose benefits will run out Dec. 28, about 95,000 more jobless people are projected to lose their eligibility for aid each subsequent week.
Both the House and Senate acted last week to extend unemployment benefits beyond 39 weeks - the usual 26 weeks and an additional 13 weeks that Congress approved in March. But they differed on how long to extend them.
As a result, the benefits will lapse unless House leaders agree by week's end to the three-month extension the Senate passed. The less generous five-week extension passed by the House died yesterday when the Senate adjourned without acting on it.
"It's a story right out of Charles Dickens," Sen. Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, said on his last day as majority leader. "Ebenezer Scrooge had a last-minute conversion. I would hope that our Republican colleagues in the House would do so."
House GOP leaders have argued that the Senate's longer-term extension is too costly and have insisted that any action on unemployment aid be coupled with a Medicare provision opposed in the Senate. They signaled that they had no intention of changing their minds.
"You're talking about a gap in policy that just can't be bridged," said Greg Crist, a spokesman for House Majority Leader Dick Armey, a Texas Republican who is retiring. "It's not going to happen."
The economy is showing signs of a slow recovery from a prolonged downturn. Growth in productivity and consumer spending and a decline in jobless claims have lifted hopes. But many analysts caution that businesses will be slow to hire in light of the still-fragile economy, the threat of terrorism and the possibility of a war with Iraq.
Senate leaders worked feverishly yesterday in a last-ditch effort to cut a deal with House Republican leaders on the aid.
The five-week extension approved by the House carries an estimated cost of $900 million. The 13-week extension backed by the Senate has a projected cost of $4.9 billion. Both measures included extensions to keep welfare benefits - set to expire at the end of the year - flowing in the first three months of 2003.
But there was another sticking point between the two bills. At the behest of Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas of California, the House bill barred the Department of Health and Human Services from cutting Medicare reimbursement payments to physicians. Those reductions are to take effect Feb. 1.
Senators in both parties objected to that section, which Daschle called a "special-interest" provision. Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, has argued that that provision is a costly gimmick that omits other groups that also face cuts in Medicare payments: rural health providers, hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies, beneficiaries, managed care plans and states.
Over the past 10 days, senators launched a bipartisan effort to persuade the House to drop the physician provision and accept a longer-term extension of unemployment benefits. Several Democrats, including Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes of Maryland, wrote to President Bush, asking him to endorse the Senate bill.
"What are these people to do who have lost their jobs?" Sarbanes said on the Senate floor last week. "The premise of the system is you get some short-term support, the labor market picks up and you can go back and find a job. They cannot find these jobs. ... These people need help."
Daschle and Senate Minority Whip Don Nickles of Oklahoma offered to scale back the extension to five weeks, leaving out the disputed Medicare provision. But House leaders refused to yield, aides said.
"This is not the end of the world," said Christin Tinsworth, a spokeswoman for Thomas. She noted that if Congress extends the benefits when it reconvenes in January, unemployed workers would suffer at most a "hiccup" of two to three days when the aid would lapse.
Because those who stand to lose benefits in late December have in many cases been collecting jobless aid for most of the year, "this is extra, this is kind of gravy," Tinsworth said.
Proponents noted that Bush's father extended unemployment benefits three times when he was in office during the recession of the early 1990s.
Daschle called on the president to prevail on House Republican leaders to extend the aid. But the White House stayed mostly on the sidelines, preferring to highlight Bush's pledge to present a "jobs creation" package next year.
Some economists argued that Congress' failure to extend the benefits would hurt not only affected workers but also the broader economy. They argued that dispensing aid to the jobless, who are more likely to spend money than save it, could provide a boost to the economy at a critical time.
"We're looking for vehicles to stimulate the economy," said Jeffrey Wenger of the Economic Policy Institute. "And here we have a very good fiscal tool for creating that stimulating effect, and we're not using it."
See also the original article with a related story link at Sunspot.
THANKSGIVING FOR IMMIGRANTS
By Marvin Olasky, WORLD Magazine editor(11/19/2002)--On Thanksgiving next week, many of us will remember how God blessed, and some Indians helped, Pilgrim immigrants to America. Next month comes Christmas, when many of us celebrate the most sensational immigration of all time, the birth of Jesus.
Those events are worth considering as we examine the arguments about immigration today. Is it possible to take wise precautions against both terrorism and future disunity while honoring the pro-immigration flavor of American and biblical history? Let's look at the four major types of anti-immigration arguments.
Type one criticizes not the immigrants themselves but a culture no longer committed to helping them assimilate. Some schools do a poor job of teaching immigrant children English, and thus limit their social and economic mobility. Some schools emphasize America's faults, instead of teaching that this country has accorded immigrants liberty and opportunity unprecedented in world history. Concerns about what we teach immigrants are valid if America is to become not a divided nation, but one still living out the phrase e pluribus unum.
Type two arguments emphasize homeland security. These also are generally valid. Given the backgrounds of the Sept. 11 perpetrators, extra caution is in order when reviewing visa applications from countries that grow terrorists and do not crack down on them. The federal government must make our borders more than paper lines if it is to fulfill its constitutional function of providing for the common defense.
Type three arguments that favor restricting immigration to limit population growth are not as strong. Sure, we are to be stewards of God's creation and not overcrowd it, but this country still has a wealth of abundantly wide-open spaces. Urban areas are congested, but many small towns and rural areas are facing depopulation. Ironically, the doors for immigration and abortion opened in the 1960s at around the same time, and in some ways the number of immigrants has merely replaced many of the babies who were killed before birth.
Type four anti-immigration arguments are really anti-immigrant arguments. We don't want those people, some conservatives say or suggest: They're not our kind. Among the murmurs: They're not used to democratic government, so they'll be easy prey for potential dictators. They're used to big government, so they'll vote for Democrats. They'll undermine America's Christian traditions.
This argument goes against American historical experience, which shows that those who have been denied liberties usually appreciate them the most. Sure, Democrats have gained most of the Hispanic vote in elections past, but Republicans should realize that they have also asked for those votes far more fervently. A survey by Latino Opinions shows two-thirds of Hispanics identifying themselves as pro-life. Now that George W. Bush is making Hispanic outreach a prime GOP task, voting patterns are beginning to reflect Latino values.
Conservatives should pay more attention to surveys showing that three-fourths of Latinos, compared to 60 percent of Americans overall, say that religion (almost always Christianity) provides considerable guidance in their lives. Korean-Americans are 10 times more likely to be Christian than Buddhist, and other immigrants from Asia also often have Christian backgrounds.
Native-born Christians worried about Christianity losing support in the United States should look in the mirror. Two Zen Buddhist centers I visited recently were run by white Anglo-Saxon former Protestants. The Catholic priests involved in sex scandals uncovered last year and this rarely have Hispanic names. Liberal denominations that are losing members -- Episcopalians, United Methodists and others -- have been rocked by dissension over ordaining gays, not accepting immigrants.
Some Americans have other anti-immigration arguments: High-tech jobs taken by H-IB visa holders when citizens are unemployed. Acceptance of illegal immigrants undercutting the rule of law. These questions need serious examination, but with an eye to remaining hospitable. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free," this country said a century ago, at a time when America was a poorer country than it is now. Today, we can still stand for hope, as we teach immigrants English but not the nuances of the welfare system. We can show the world how to take precautions against terrorism without walling ourselves in.
Marvin Olasky is Editor of WORLD magazine, a TownHall.com member group.
See also the original article at Town Hall.
REFLECTIONS ON A POLITICAL RACE IN THE 180TH LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT
By Ernst Ford, former Pennsylvania assembly candidate, Green Party
Part 2 (of 2)PHILADELPHIA (11/13/2002)--A system that allows 1% of its population to control the majority of its wealth while a good portion of the people are unemployed, freezing to death on the streets, going to prison for committing crime of survival, gunned down by the police to keep them in line is far worst than the communist system.
The system doesn’t have jobs for young Blacks out here but it exploits their services behind prison walls in the interests of wealthy corporations.
The wealthy control politicians through their investments in political campaigns.
It’s difficult to find politicians who would work on auto insurance reforms because they receive campaign contributions from them.
It’s difficult to find media outlets that would expose the record of politicians prior to election time because they are too dependent on political advertising.
It is difficult to get the clergy to stand with the people for social change and against oppression because they’re too busy trying to get kick-backs and jobs in city government.
The Thomas Jones’ saga would’ve been different if pimps passing for clergy, opportunists passing for politicians, and stooges passing for the Black media weren’t siding with our oppressors.
Through the carjacking program known as "Live Stop" the city has seized and sold at auctions thousands of cars belonging to the poor.
When a person’s car is confiscated; if they use the car to get to work that person can lose not only the car, they can also lose their job and eventually their home.
The city is in the business of making people poorer than they were before and since the electoral process is corrupt, it’s impossible to get rid of the parasites that are sucking our tax dollars and make our lives miserable.
A conspiracy involving wealthy corporations, the clergy, the news media, ward leaders, committee-people, and poll workers keep crooked politicians in office until they retire or die. When a crooked politician retires or dies, another crooked one is called in to replace him or her. This system will not make the mistake of allowing someone who will challenge it to do right to get in office.
When a person tries to go on the air to voice concerns over political neglect, and political wickedness, gatekeepers posing as talk show hosts always come up with lame excuses to keep callers from voicing their opinions on the conditions of their community. One of the lines that the Black talk stations used during my political campaign was an equal time policy that only applies to candidates who come to their studios. They wouldn’t give me the time of day to talk about the city’s carjacking program because one of their advertisers on Morning with Mammy is an insurance broker.
In a conversation with one of the station managers a couple months ago, he told me that the station is in the business of making money. Arbitron ratings is the only thing he’s concerned with. In other words, listeners are used to boost their ratings. That’s why they would rather talk trash than talk about real issues that affect the Black community.
In addition, newspapers are not in the business of educating, informing and empowering readers; they’re in business to sell ads and entertain readers. Like parrots, the Black media repeat what the lying mainstream media say.
The clergy in this town is also a factor in our oppression. If they were about the liberation of our people, Mumia Abu Jamal would have been released by now. They don’t care about God or the people who follow them blindly. They’re great entertainers who only care about their pockets.
I caught one of those pimps at a press conference held by the "Queen of capital punishmen" a.k.a Ms. Hitler. When I aimed my camera to take his picture, he was virtually trying to become one with the bench he was sitting on. At that same press conference, I heard the mayor of this town say he would do for Ms. Hitler what was done with the Florida votes. Do you remember what happened to the Florida votes in the 2000 election? Now, can you see how elections are won in Philadelphia? Some police officers didn’t want me to go into the above mentioned press conference even though I had an updated press card. They didn’t want me to see and hear the filth that goes on behind closed doors.
The Clergy is so useless in the community that it’s the number one cause of our misery. They will betray the community for a bowl of rice and beans.
The big joke known as the Committee of 70 is supposedly a watchdog group that monitors the electoral process. It was nowhere to be found on election-day. Their members are politically- connected attorneys who work for prestigious law firms.
Running for office in a mostly Latino district was like trying to climb Mount Everest without food or water. A neighbor who lives two doors down from me stopped talking to me when I decided to run for office. As block captain, they don’t mind me organize anti dope rallies, clean the filthy streets and keeping the block safe. Running for office helped me see the real nature of some human beings.
Politicians win elections by kicking candidates off ballots, by excluding them from debates and by purchasing elections with street money. They love to run uncontested. Most of them stay in office until they retire or die.
State Representative Angel Cruz, a man who was indicted on voter fraud for paying voters to vote for him and to hold their vote from his opponent, told me that he would win because he’s a Latino. My interpretation of his remarks is that though he’s a crook, the Latino community had no choice but to re-elect him. He literally was running against himself. If the write in candidate went to vote for him, I’m sure he wouldn’t have had a problem.
Angel was outside a polling place passing out envelopes of $100.00 bills to poll workers on the street. Perhaps, that’s his interpretation of street money. Street money buys the most vulnerable in this society, the poor and desperate. I bet some of them can’t wait until next year to work the polls again and make some more money. The poor is so brainwashed that they always work against their own interests.
Our job as activists is to educate the masses of oppressed people with the hope that someday they will come to their senses and free themselves from the brainwashing job the system had performed on them.
Improving the electoral process to give the poor a voice would mean the end of repression, oppression and poverty. The wealthy would rather destroy this entire continent than to let that happen.
The Honorable El- Hajj Malik- El Shabazz was right when he said: "The political philosophy of black nationalism means that the black man should control the politics and the politicians in his own community". It is sad to say that we don’t control anything that’s why we have somebody white running the 1st Congressional District.
The honorable Shabazz also said: "Speaking like this doesn’t mean that we’re anti-white, but it does mean we’re anti- exploitation, we’re anti-degradation, we’re anti-oppression."
As long as poor people remain brainwashed and disorganized, the political establishment will continue to treat us like suckers. The late Steve Biko once advised: "The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed."
If the electoral process were fair, there wouldn’t be a need to convince people to vote. No one in their right mind ever reject good things.
The 180th Legislative district is one of the most impoverished districts in the city and it will stay that way until the wealthy decides to let the poor have their say in the electoral process. That’s something that may not happen in my lifetime and I’m only 42.
I may run for election commissioner next year, if all goes well.
Ernst Ford was not only an assembly candidate, he is still a Haitian-American activist and a Life-Net Radio regular. You can get acquainted by visiting the Web site of Ernst Ford.
A THANKSGIVING MEDITATION
By Harris Sussman(11/18/2001)--We are having a Ramadan Thanksgiving this year.
Ramadan does not overlap with Thanksgiving very often, and this year the combination sticks in our throats. Fasting and feasting. The secular American holiday, the holy Islamic holiday. Turkey dinners for American families, packets of rations and relief supplies for families in Afghanistan. War and peace. Life and death. This is not melodrama or exaggeration. It's the news of the day.
The gap between the haves and the have-nots feels greater than usual. Distances between cultures have grown wider. All of a sudden, places on the planet seem farther apart. Afghanistan doesn't have many telephones or televisions or Internet connections.
Some people want a rest from the world that Sept. 11 brought to our attention, relief from having our lifestyle disturbed. Our national nervous system is so unaccustomed to such distractions that these past 9 weeks of stress is too much to endure. I heard that there is general mental instability in the U.S. as a result of Sept. 11, a rise in anxiety disorders, an increase in domestic violence and child abuse.
There will probably be people who say that if we don't celebrate Thanksgiving with gusto, even with red-white-and-blue trimmings, the terrorists will have won. As if we could eat our way into patriotism.
Maybe this year we should do it differently. We need a Thanksgiving that looks beyond the usual national self-congratulations, beyond the United States, and certainly beyond Americans who will be eating well. The CDC reported in JAMA in September that 56.4% of Americans are overweight, 19.8% are clinically obese. Only one state, Colorado, has an obesity rate under 15%.
We could reflect on this.
Many people are affected by the assaults of September 11, 2001. About 4000 people from 86 countries died, over 6000 were treated in hospitals, over 35,000 people had to physically run from direct death and injury that morning. In October, 79,000 people in New York City reported losing their jobs (NYT, Nov. 16). These people have family and friends, social and business connections, adding up to maybe 50 million people. Many more are affected by various ripple effects.
Many people are in shock and in grief. In many cultures a mourning period is one, two, three years. Modern societies have shortened traditional mourning periods. They say people need to get back to work, back to normal. But their psyches don't always get the memo.
As a society and a country we are at war with terror, terrorism, terrorists. Terrorism is a deliberate calculated effort to terrify/terrorize other people. It is not a fair fight. It is the willful intent to destabilize other people's lives, to unnerve them. It is a form of violence akin to torture. It is terrible.
Americans are using their flag as a tourniquet around their broken hearts, as a string around their fingers to remind them that the U.S. was attacked, as a banner rooting for the battle against terrorists in Afghanistan.
I keep hearing that Phase One is ending. As part of our effort to eradicate Al Qaeda in more than 60 countries we have attacked the Taliban group for sheltering and hosting Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. We are also trying to close the financial channels used by Al Qaeda. We are told this war--like the wars on poverty and cancer--could go on for many years.
Most Americans have been insulated from war, poverty, and hunger and know them only from movies and books. We need to talk about such things. More than 95% of the world are not Americans. We need to ponder that fact.
I attended a series of three weekly community conversations about Sept. 11.
"Everyone is going to be pressured to act from their worst self," one woman said. "The challenge is to act from our best self, or we'll drag each other down."
Another woman said, "Life goes on." She means life moves beyond trouble, gets back on track. But, I thought, life is not separate from grief, trouble, fear, trauma. Life includes it all.
"Love the next person," someone said.
Someone said, "If you fear, you can't think clearly."
"We need heartwork to help us make choices," said a woman.
Thanksgiving can be a time for heartwork. Let us speak from the heart before we eat, after we eat. When we go back to work let us work from the heart. Let us be a country that acts from our heart, lives from our heart year-round. Then maybe more people outside America can give thanks for us.
See also the original article at Harris Sussman On The Internet. You can also e-mail Harris Sussman.
SUPPORT OUR SOURCES!
Life-Net Raw material is used without permission. Please show your appreciation for their services to us by paying some of them a visit or sending them a responsive e-mail.