The last two weeks a radical right wing Supreme Court radically transformed American life in all the wrong ways across a broad array of issues: women's rights, environmental regulations, gun safety, immigrant rights, indigenous rights, housing, public health, and protecting people from police violence. The conservative majority made decisions to take away fundamental rights and in other cases the Court stripped away legislation and regulation that the overwhelming majority of Americans desire and demand. The Supreme Court fed every right wing ideological bent undermining their own legitimacy and with it, the foundations of our democratic republic. Our democracy does not consistently represent the will of the people in any branch of government creating a crisis of legitimacy in the eyes of its citizens.
The ongoing January 6 hearings remind of us how razor thin close we were to a dictatorship. This reality is sadly reinforced by a Republican Party within which support for the outcome of dictatorship far outweighs the voices of reason fair and free elections. We are living in times when it is courageous and notable for Republicans to simply voice support for the basic tenets of democracy and the longstanding norms and functions of the Constitution.
The moribund state of American political parties are not just an issue for one side. We should be rightfully concerned about the fecklessness of the Democratic Party establishment that finds great difficulty in prosecuting traitors who led an insurrection and refuses robustly and politically to ostracize enablers and supporters of would be autocrats. The Democrats seem to look the gift horse of hold majoritarian positions on most issues in the mouth, failing time and again to advocate forcefully and to implement the will of the people.
The challenges of our day require more than the political wrangling of normal politics, of the promise of winning the next election. The current situation requires a fundamental rethinking Quite simply: a republic that consistently can not deliver what the majority of its citizens want must certainly be doomed. Fundamental change is required. We must change the Constitution.
Organizing for Constitutional change will not be easy, but doing so will have much bigger, long-term payoffs. As future ancestors, we owe our children and their children to look beyond the politics of today to fix what is fundamentally broken in our democracy. Each successive generation of Americans have expanded the meaning of democracy and human rights in the foundational document of our government. It is now our turn.
How do we make Constitutional change?
Article V of the Constitution provides two ways to propose amendments to the document. Amendments may be proposed either by the Congress, through a joint resolution passed by a two-thirds vote, or by a convention called by Congress in response to applications from two-thirds of the state legislatures. Then 3/4 of the convention or 3/4 of the states must ratify an Amendment. The barriers to Constitutional changes are high, but the pressing needs for this government to evolve are that much higher.
I would argue that we need to combine multiple amendments focused on restoring and building a functioning democracy and extending the original Bill of Rights, equal protections, and other rights amendments to a more robust, modern view of human rights. Passing amendments is a laborious process, so let's have the states look at ten together in a new Constitutional Convention or series of votes in state legislatures to apply and then vote on the amendments.
Here is a rough sketch of what the ten Democracy and Human Rights Amendments might entail.
An Amendment That Already Passed (Amendment XXVIII) - Equal Rights Amendment (Join Our Organizing Group)
ERA has already been passed by the requisite number of states and needs Congress to pass an act that eliminates the original deadline which ended in 1982. The amendment read as follows:
Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.
New Amendment 1 (Amendment XXIX) - Abolish Electoral College; Elect President and Vice-President by Popular Vote (Join Inaugural Organizing Group)
This amendment would abolish the electoral college and make the election of President and Vice-President solely based on the popular vote. Every state and every citizen would be equally important in electing the leader of the country. Five of the Supreme Court justices were nominated by a President who did not win the majority of votes so of course the Court will not represent the will and interests of the majority of Americans.
New Amendment 2 (Amendment XXX) - Washington DC Statehood Amendment (Join Inaugural Organizing Group)
Washington DC will receive statehood for representation purposes, including voting members of both chambers of Congress based on apportionment laid out in the Constitution. Washington DC has a higher population than Vermont and Wyoming and is in the same range of states like Alaska and the Dakotas. We have a lot of Americans that are simply not represented in the political system.
New Amendment 3 (Amendment XXXI) - Term limits for the elected representatives, judges and officers of the United States Amendment (Join Inaugural Organizing Group)
Term limits are controversial, but the nation finds itself in a current state where the older generation holds much of the power and is making decisions that adversely affect the succeeding generations. To engender a more active citizenry we need some churn in positions of power and authority. An initial take on term limits follows:
- House of Representatives - 12 years (6 total terms)
- Senate - 18 years (3 total terms), no more than 20 years for those who took office mid-term.
- Federal judges including Justices of the Supreme Court - 20 years in any one position.
These term limits allow qualified and responsive leaders to make their way through successive degrees of responsibility while not becoming entrenched in any one power center. In the legislative bodies, it allows leadership positions to be better tied to merit as opposed to seniority.
New Amendment 4 (Amendment XXXII) - Majority Vote Amendment and Rules for the appointment and confirmation of federal judges and justices of the Supreme Court (Join Inaugural Organizing Group)
In short, we have to make the Senate rules fair and representative of the majority of citizens. This amendment addresses the major deficiencies of Senate rules and norms, many of which have already been undermined by the current generation of Senators. Given the break of protocol and tradition that Sen. Mitch McConnell displayed with Supreme Court justices in not giving Merrick Garland a hearing in early 2016 and promptly reversing course with Amy Coney Barrett much later in the election year of 2020 and given some of the holding up of judicial appointments, the Constitution needs to spell out clearly the process and require that the Senate hold up and down votes on Presidential appointees to the bench within a certain specified period of time, perhaps a period of 3-4 months. If that time overlaps with the next administration, the appointments should not be made or voted upon. Senate rules have already changed those votes to majority votes and its time to enshrine majority rule in the Senate and end the filibuster for all voting. Super-majority voting means almost nothing gets done: good, bad, or otherwise. Returning majority rule to the "world's greatest deliberative body" would make the Senate a better legislative body.
New Amendment 5 (Amendment XXXIII) - Congressional Apportionment Amendment (Join Inaugural Organizing Group)
It is time to more evenly base the Senate on population On Senate apportionment, the issue is that we have a small number of citizens in the smallest states with much more power than citizens from larger states. One way we might apportion Senators is that the smallest 10-15 states receive one Senator, that the bulk of states still receive 2 Senators and that the 10-15 largest states receive 3-5 Senators based on population. We can maintain the ethos of federalism and the relative size of the Senate while being more representative of the people.
This amendment would also outlaw gerrymandering that both parties have used and codify nonpartisan processes for states to establish Congressional districts.
New Amendment 6 (Amendment XXXIV) - Limit Money in Politics Amendment (Join Inaugural Organizing Group)
The Citizens United decision needs to be overturned through an amendment. The unlimited money in politics means wealthy voices and the voices of corporations hold much greater sway in our politics than they should. Politicians spend much of their time fundraising and being responsive to these monied interests. The Constitution should give Congress and the states full power to prescribe contribution limits and should take away corporate personhood for the purposes of campaign contributions.
New Amendment 7 (Amendment XXXV) - Voting Rights Amendment (Join Inaugural Organizing Group)
No Congressional act or state may pass laws that obstruct citizens from voting, including those who have been previously found guilty of a crime. This amendment should also make Election Day a national holiday and should instruct Congress and the states to make laws to make it easy as possible to vote.
New Amendment 8 (Amendment XXXVI) - Bodily Autonomy Amendment (Abortion Rights) (Join Inaugural Organizing Group)
With the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, we need to enshrine abortion rights into the Constitution so that the can be no legislation or judicial edicts that take away decisions that must be made by women and in cases of issues of health, with the health care provider.
New Amendment 9 (Amendment XXXVII) - Health Care Rights Amendment (Join Inaugural Organizing Group)
The expansion of human rights must include the right to health care, not just emergency ambulatory care. "Promoting the general welfare" in the preamble to the Constitution and the principle of "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness" enshrined on the Declaration as natural rights that must be guaranteed starts with health and access to health care. This amendment would give Congress and the states just the authority, but the responsibility to ensure that every American has adequate access to health care.
New Amendment 10 (Amendment XXXVIII) - Life Amendment (Gun and Armaments Regulation) (Join Inaugural Organizing Group)
This amendment would clarify the well-regulated militia clause of the second amendment would state clearly that the Congress and the states do in fact have the power to regulate firearms and other weapons, that weapons of war should not be available for individual or local police use, and that the right to bear arms is not absolute.
These Democracy and Human Rights Amendments taken individually and collectively could transform our country to be the kind of nation that most of us want it to be, where the Democratic norms of majority rules and fair representation are further enshrined in the Constitution and that we commit the government of the people to the people's 21st century collective understanding of human rights. Passing these amendments would better position the country to be the kind of place that we want our children and grandchildren to grow up in. Let's get to work in organizing for this desperately needed change.
From here on, this website, We The People, is dedicated to building a movement to passing these and other democracy and human rights amendments to the Constitution that emerge from the movement. If any of these amendments speak to you, join those individual groups. If you have ideas about what should be included in those amendments, or want to suggest others, please do so. If you would like to work to organize states to have conventions and to put pressure on Congress, please join the overall Organizing Group for the Democracy and Human Rights Amendments
#wethepeople #constitution #democracyandhumanrightsamendments #dhra #democracy #humanriights #abolishelectoralcollege #dcstatehood #votingrights
The violence in the city of Philadelphia has been off the charts since the beginning of the pandemic. We have to use every tool at our disposal to Stop the Carnage.
I received the news that Dr. James Turner, my professor at Cornell University, passed away. An activist and academic, his teaching, guidance, and wisdom shaped generations of students. Reading the social media posts of friends and the University, memories came to me initially in a trickle and then a downpour. Revisiting the various touch points he had on my intellectual and moral development, I gained even deeper clarity on the how much he influenced who I am today and the commitments that I have made to myself and my community about the how to live my life.
In my first semester on campus, I ran for the student council and surprisingly won, setting me on a path of student politics that consumed much of my undergrad experience and leading me to be in consistent contact with Dr. Turner. More important to my development in the fall of 1995, I stood on the outskirts of a rally with great trepidation, close enough to hear and observe, bur far enough away so that no one would confuse me as a committed participant. The topic of the rally was program houses, in particular the three residential halls themed around racial and ethnic culture that were under near constant attack from all corners: the administration, alumni, and the national press. Student speakers expressed their fears and deep frustrations in such profound ways that they moved me to the cause. If the student speeches would not have landed, Dr. Turner would have taken care of doing so. Even before speaking he was the subject of my attention. His dignified presence and serene gaze over any convening instilled a cool confidence in what he was about to say. He was usually one of the last speakers, appropriately because he could bring it home like no one else I have seen before or since. His public speaking generated an electric energy with an academic capacity to break down an opposing argument leaving it in absolute tatters. He also had a purposeful sense of humor that would lighten the indignity being perpetrated against BIPOC students and faculty, by making those in power look small, both intellectually and morally.
My views on racial justice and confronting racism were still developing. Growing up in white suburbia, I had not considered what it must have been like to be black or brown in mostly white spaces. I was a political progressive for sure drawing on my mother's civil rights and diversity commitments, but I also had the shame that much of my family was overtly racist. Being drawn to the struggle and Dr. Turner in particular, I became that white kid who took classes at Africana, who showed up regularly to Unity hour at Ujamaa Residential College, and eventually a full participant at protests concerning racial justice. If I was Dr. Turner, I would have been annoyed by this well-meaning suburban white kid, having dealt with "well-meaning" folk way too much in my life. If he was annoyed or off-put by me, he never showed it. While I was not the target of his primary commitments, he allowed appropriate space for me to learn and grow.
Indeed, the academic rigor of his classes were nothing to mess with. He could smell out which students were not prepared. Proper preparation for each class meant reading a couple hundred pages of dense philosophy, history, and cultural studies material and being able to synthesize, compare and contrast, for each class. If there was an important concept he thought you should have, he tested on it, even if it was only mentioned once on page 158 of 7th book you read that semester. I am still feeling some type of way about a couple of those tests as they were some of the most difficult in my life, but it worked. Before Dr. Turner, "David Walker's Appeal" was a gap in what I thought was my fairly solid grasp of American history. Nat Turner's revolt was a one-off incident as opposed to one of a succession of slave revolts and other resistance of Africans to the utter evils of chattel slavery. Before Dr. Turner, I had never heard of Marcus Garvey and his grand designs of the United Negro Improvement Association. I could not compare his philosophy with that of Booker T. Washington or W.E.B Dubois. Before Dr. Turner, history was written by white historians not Vincent Harding's history that could track the river of African resistance and history in North America over the ages. Before Dr. Turner philosophers and historical figures like a Frantz Fannon, a Mary Church Terrell, a Mary McLeod Bethune, an Ida B. Wells or a James Baldwin likely would not have come into my field of awareness.
I will never forget a moment of tenderness at a critical point in my development. I went to Dr. Turner's office hours after a class that covered various resistance strategies ranging from the independent power building of a Malcom X to integrationists like MLK to amalgamationists who believed that America's original sin would be absolved through intermarriage. Dr. Turner was clearly one who advocated building independent power bases and I could see myself somewhere in between that position and integration. I was concerned though about whether my dating an Afro-Caribbean would run contrary to political philosophy. We had also gotten our share of negative feedback and my girlfriend in particular had to deal with the mistrust of being in a relationship with me. He listened to me in his office providing me his full attention with a number of his characteristic "mmmhmmm"'s. After I shared my concerns, he kindly and with great empathy assured me that the realm of love is what it is. You love whom you love. What was important was how you chose to live you life, your commitment to racial and social justice, and your choices about living into those commitments. Love would take care of itself and not to be too concerned with what others had to say. His reassurance at the moment meant an incredible amount and allowed me to continue my commitment building and development unencumbered by such concerns.
I leaned on Dr. Turner for strategy and guidance on how best to use my privilege and position to be an effective change agent, advice which he may have provided with a proper amount of doubt about the degree I could be trusted to do the right thing as an ambitious young person in such close proximity to the power centers of the University. As President of the Student Assembly and Student Trustee, I had consistent access to decision makers like President Rawlings, Vice President Susan Murphy (who deserved a lot more credit that she receives for bearing the brunt of criticism on all sides and creatively resolving issues and advocating the student's position) and other members of the administration and governance. In one of my first one on one with President Rawlings, we went back and forth for 45 minutes on the issues around program housing. I noted that to truly meet the university goals of racial and ethnic diversity, we needed much greater recruitment of BIPOC students and faculty. I noted what I had heard in that first rally of students coming from urban environments into this rural, largely white environment, needing the support of a community to develop and perform well. I noted that Ujamaa, the Latino Living Center, and Akwe:kon were open for anyone to live and events were open to the public. Perhaps the problem was that not enough white students and faculty were availing themselves of those opportunities. I also noted that given the numbers, putting one African American and one Latino on every floor of a residence hall was a hollow and fallacious understanding of how to value diversity and create an environment that fosters conversation and learning across differences. I could not have been a willing and effective advocate with the President and others in power without the grounding I received from Dr. Turner and student leaders of color.
In the fall of 1997, President Rawlings met with various constituencies to share his decision. Out student meeting followed the faculty meeting with President. As the faculty meeting transitioned, Dr. Turner, Dr. Harris, and others calmly exited without too much of an indication as we entered the President's office. We could tell it was not bad news and maybe it was even good news. In the end, President Rawlings made what some called a Solomon-like compromise with a way to meet some of his interests by creating a freshman campus while maintaining program houses. Had he not made the right call, we would have been ready both on the activism and student government side. Dr. Turner later expressed satisfaction that the battle had been won, but noted how far away this debate was from the actual racial justice issues that needed to be addressed. Activism had stopped a step backwards, but we still needed to go forward. Nonetheless. there is no doubt in my mind that the student and faculty activism on the issue led to much different and better outcome than there would have been otherwise. It was the first example that I personally observed and experienced where people power could in fact shape policy and decision making of those in power.
Dr. Turner knew that the struggle would continue. During the second half of my college experience, the locus of activism centered around a proactive push by the Latinx students for more resources in the Latino Studies Program and a reactive response to yet another administration initiative that lacked any sensitivity to issues of racial justice and equity. The Dean of the Arts School commissioned a report on the Humanities that suggested the Africana Studies and Research Center be brought under American Studies. To this day, the origin of such thought leaves one with questions, in particular because there was no accountability taken for mistakes in process and content. In the most forgiving view, the report was written by faculty members who were clearly ignorant of the Africana enterprise. The more astute observers detected more nefarious motives with the report serving as an attempt to assert greater control both politically and perhaps intellectually over the Center. I will never forget Dr. Turner speaking at a faculty forum on the report. The early speakers covered other parts of the report and saved the addressing of Africana to an African American woman professor who had served on the committee. It was clear what the organizers were trying to do, a tried and true tactic out of an old playbook: create a scenario where you could justify the moves by framing the issues as disagreements from within the African American community. Dr. Turner arose and the room was on pins and needles. The sharpest of minds had seen it all before as he yet again intellectually dismantled the arguments in the report. How could Africana fit under American studies when Africana was not just an ethnic study? Was the study of the continent of Africa as an area study being subsumed under the United States? Would we also be.doing the same to European studies such as French and German studies? He did not take the bait addressing the other professor only in passing with an invitation to her and any of the other faculty to spend some time at Africana to understand the enterprise.
An old photo of mine of Dr. Turner tearing the Report on the Humanities to shreds at a faculty meeting.
As the weeks wore on after the forum, I was shocked that the Arts School Deans were continuing the charade. Dr. Turner and others had completely rendered the report as illegitimate. We had protested and the clock was running out on the end of the semester. At the end of one such protest, I made an individual decision that in retrospect was a mistake and should have been a community decision. I decided to sit-in in front of the Dean's office until they said they would no longer consider the report's recommendation as it relates to Africana. As a student trustee, I was hoping to provide another pressure point, but it was an independent decision and I was worried what Dr. Turner and other students would think. A number of friends and activist students came to Goldwin-Smith as word went out that a sit-in had started. As the relatively sleepless days wore on, morale dropped. At just the right point, Dr. Turner made the effort to come by and let us know he appreciated our efforts. His affirmation meant the world. The Latinx students held their final protest of the year with us that next day. And after a week, Associate Dean Biddie Martin made the announcement that the administration would not consider the report for any policies as it relates to Africana. I tell this story not to claim any victory for myself or the students who sat in, as pressure was coming from all corners. I share the story to demonstrate how much Dr. Turner did for me: a white suburban kid who would not allow himself to protest first semester, ended up starting a sit-in as senior. It was the steel of his intellectual and moral arguments and exposing me to a rich tradition of resistance to injustice that gave me the resolve to commit to anti-racism not in a one off way, but as the way to live my life.
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Dr. Turner's impact extended beyond student development and campus activism to helping frame the emerging cross-discipline, cross-region field of study that termed Africana. Many of the black intellectual giants came through Africana at some point in their careers, influenced by Dr. Turner and the constructs established within Africana. Africana shifted the frame for which we might view the African and diasporic experience of Africans. The cultural, historical, and philosophical connections from the diaspora and Africa were now addressed with much greater clarity. The political boundaries within Africa and in the Americas were largely European creations in which African culture and thought were not beholden and indeed transcendent. Africana grew out of a long tradition of Africans in the Americas yearning for those connections that had been denied through slavery, segregation, and conscious attempts to separate Africans from their history and culture. It was W.E.B Dubois in 1909 who used the term Africana to describe a Pan African encyclopedia that he wished to develop. Notably it was Africana faculty alum, Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., who ninety years later published the Africana Encyclopedia. In 1965, activists from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) were invited by the President of a newly independent Guinea Conarky to make the connections to African people and self governance real. The SNCC delegation, financed by Harry Belafonte, included activist legends such as John Lewis, Fannie Lou Hamer, Kwame Toure (Stokely Carmichael) and others who had been in the trenches of the Civil Rights struggle. They spent time with Malcolm X who was there on his own journey through Africa and the Middle East. These Pan-African frames in which Africana was established were grounded in a deep history of yearning for those connections revealing itself anew amongst the contemporary generation of African American leaders.
The establishment of the Africana Center came at the request of student activists following the Willard Straight Hall takeover in 1969, arguably the most pivotal moment in 20th Century Cornell history. This is a vital distinction for Dr. Turner himself. He was not asked by the faculty, but by the students to establish the Center. The takeover and what followed paralleled the evolution of civil rights movements into racial justice, feminist, and social justice movements in which the limited gains made were challenged and often stalled by the reactionary politics. Cornell continues to deal with fundamental questions as to what degree it will embrace in deeds racial equity in the contest of building a diverse campus community not only. This fundamental question extends through time from the mid-1960s to today. Black students represent just over 5% of Cornell students today, a number relatively unchanged in the over two decades since my time on the East Hill. For much of its existence, Africana has been under-resourced and under appreciated to the point of fairly consistent attacks on its existence, the Dean's report on the Humanities being just one example of many. Hopefully with the investments in Africana over the last twenty years, that narrative is changing. Dr. Turner and the existence of Africana frequently held the mirror to Cornell and its commitments on diversity and racial equity. Given the often lackluster performance and falling short on commitments, one understands why the person and institution was targeted over the years.
To be clear, Dr. Turner was panned as a radical by many of his contemporaries. In many conversations I had with even the most liberal of administrators and members of governance, there was always a sense that Dr. Turner went too far and that he was sewing division on campus, but underneath I often felt a fear of the unknown because so few would put themselves into Afro-centric learning and discussion environments. The truth was however, that more often not that the fight was brought to him and I'm guessing like all of us he would have preferred to invest his time in his job teaching students, writing and researching and following his interests like his love of what he called "African classical music commonly referred to as jazz." More often than not, he and other activists were defending very limited gains, rather than pursuing radical change on the campus.
And it turns out that perhaps Dr. Turner wasn't so radical after all. While Dr.King offered the hopeful statement that the arc of the moral universe bends towards justice, Dr.Turner taught us to maintain a healthy skepticism of such hopeful sentiments. Our collective history, indeed our most recent history of Katrina, Ferguson, Charlottesville, and on and on demonstrates that this is not a maxim that ensures all will eventually be right. In the last decade, we have seen Black Lives Matter forming in the wake of the police killing of Michael Brown. A few years later, we saw a national uprising for racial justice and equity after the police murder of George Floyd. Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, Breonna Taylor, Antwon Rose, Stephon Clark, Eric Garner, Erica Garner, Philando Castile, and on and on we say their names. For brief moments, the nation and institutions like Cornell said it has to be different this time. We can not keep turning away. The devaluing of black lives must stop. And in these moments over the last decade, I have thought to myself. "Jesus, how right was Dr. Turner? Radical? How about truth teller?" Time and again in these moments I will harken back to his class or a speech at a rally, grateful that he prepared us to step into the fray armed with history, culture, and courage of ancestors who fought and often gave everything in the struggle for freedom. He taught us that the arc of the moral universe doesn't bend unless we pull it, individually and collectively, towards justice.
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The last time I saw Dr. Turner, it was at Professor Don Barr's funeral. Dr. Turner's words lifted our spirits again through humor and tender remembrance. You know Don would have felt his remembrance incomplete without words from his friend and partner on so many issues. From the anti-apartheid movement to co-teaching a class on racism for many years, their's was a partnership to be admired and from which we still can learn. Indeed, for many of us who experienced Don and Dr. Turner's racism class, they will forever be linked. Don showed the white kids what true allyship looks like, how leadership should be balanced with followership, especially on issues in which your privilege means you are not the one most directly impacted. I believe Don Barr had a retirement party of sorts at which I spoke. I remember spending plenty of time sharing my deep love and admiration for Don and not being fully able to separate my experience of Don with Dr. Turner. I shared a number of points of deep appreciation for Dr. Turner and the partnership of which so many students and the university benefited. I know Dr. Turner knew how much he meant to all of us.
Like so many of my peers who experienced his tutelage and guidance, he created the fertile intellectual and developmental ground for which to shape a life's mission and to build and maintain the moral courage to stand by truth and justice, even as so many countervailing enticements attempt to pull one off course. I remember him lamenting at a Unity Hour that in the earlier days of Africana many students went into teaching and social work but that more recent waves students were now looking to go to Wall Street instead. I am hopeful that such a tide has shifted back because he wanted us back in communities taking what we learned to make the world a more just place. While I feel that I am never doing enough, I am hopeful that Dr. Turner is satisfied with the impact he had on me and so many others, and hopeful that we all make him proud as we continue in this life. Indeed, after the initial shock of a legend passing on to join the ancestors, you soon realize that those who have stood on the side of truth and justice live on in deeply profound and meaningful ways. He lives on in all of us, not as a trite expression, but in reality, in the work that each of us does with our lives.
Malcolm X left a hope that applies so aptly to our saying goodbye for now Dr. Turner: "One day, may we all meet together in the light of understanding." Until then, Rest in Power dear teacher, activist, and sage of Africana.
This group is to support organizing for state conventions and to put pressure on Congress to address the full slate of Democracy and Human Rights Amendments.
A group to support organizing for the Life Amendment (Gun and Armaments Regulation) of the Democracy and Human Rights Amendments.
This amendment would clarify the well-regulated militia clause of the second amendment would state clearly that the Congress and the states do in fact have the power to regulate firearms and other weapons, that weapons of war should not be available for individual or local police use, and that the right to bear arms is not absolute.
A group to support organizing for the Health Care Rights Amendment of the Democracy and Human Rights Amendments.
The expansion of human rights must include the right to health care, not just emergency ambulatory care. "Promoting the general welfare" in the preamble to the Constitution and the principle of "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness" enshrined on the Declaration as natural rights that must be guaranteed starts with health and access to health care. This amendment would give Congress and the states just the authority, but the responsibility to ensure that every American has adequate access to health care.
A group to support organizing for the Bodily Autonomy Amendment (Abortion Rights) of the Democracy and Human Rights Amendments.
With the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, we need to enshrine abortion rights into the Constitution so that the can be no legislation or judicial edicts that take away decisions that must be made by women and in cases of issues of health, with the health care provider.
A group to support organizing for the Voting Rights Amendment of the Democracy and Human Rights Amendments
No Congressional act or state may pass laws that obstruct citizens from voting, including those who have been previously found guilty of a crime. This amendment should also make Election Day a national holiday and should instruct Congress and the states to make laws to make it easy as possible to vote.
A group to support organizing for the Limit Money in Politics Amendment of the Democracy and Human Right Amendments.
The Citizens United decision needs to be overturned through an amendment. The unlimited money in politics means wealthy voices and the voices of corporations hold much greater sway in our politics than they should. Politicians spend much of their time fundraising and being responsive to these monied interests. The Constitution should give Congress and the states full power to prescribe contribution limits and should take away corporate personhood for the purposes of campaign contributions.
A group to support organizing for the Congressional Apportionment Amendment of the Democracy and Human Rights Amendments.
It is time to more evenly base the Senate on population On Senate apportionment, the issue is that we have a small number of citizens in the smallest states with much more power than citizens from larger states. One way we might apportion Senators is that the smallest 10-15 states receive one Senator, that the bulk of states still receive 2 Senators and that the 10-15 largest states receive 3-5 Senators based on population. We can maintain the ethos of federalism and the relative size of the Senate while being more representative of the people.
This amendment would also outlaw gerrymandering that both parties have used and codify nonpartisan processes for states to establish Congressional districts.
A group to support organizing for the Majority Vote Amendment and Rules for the appointment and confirmation of federal judges and justices of the Supreme Court of the Democracy and Human Rights Amendments.
In short, we have to make the Senate rules fair and representative of the majority of citizens. This amendment addresses the major deficiencies of Senate rules and norms, many of which have already been undermined by the current generation of Senators. Given the break of protocol and tradition that Sen. Mitch McConnell displayed with Supreme Court justices in not giving Merrick Garland a hearing in early 2016 and promptly reversing course with Amy Coney Barrett much later in the election year of 2020 and given some of the holding up of judicial appointments, the Constitution needs to spell out clearly the process and require that the Senate hold up and down votes on Presidential appointees to the bench within a certain specified period of time, perhaps a period of 3-4 months. If that time overlaps with the next administration, the appointments should not be made or voted upon. Senate rules have already changed those votes to majority votes and its time to enshrine majority rule in the Senate and end the filibuster for all voting. Super-majority voting means almost nothing gets done: good, bad, or otherwise. Returning majority rule to the "world's greatest deliberative body" would make the Senate a better legislative body.
A group to support organizing for Term limits for the elected representatives, judges and officers of the United States Amendment of the Democracy and Human Right Amendments.
Term limits are controversial, but the nation finds itself in a current state where the older generation holds much of the power and is making decisions that adversely affect the succeeding generations. To engender a more active citizenry we need some churn in positions of power and authority. An initial take on term limits follows:
- House of Representatives - 12 years (6 total terms)
- Senate - 18 years (3 total terms), no more than 20 years for those who took office mid-term.
- Federal judges including Justices of the Supreme Court - 20 years in any one position.
These term limits allow qualified and responsive leaders to make their way through successive degrees of responsibility while not becoming entrenched in any one power center. In the legislative bodies, it allows leadership positions to be better tied to merit as opposed to seniority.
A group to support organizing for the Washington DC Statehood Amendment, part of the Democracy and Human Rights Amendments.
Washington DC will receive statehood for representation purposes, including voting members of both chambers of Congress based on apportionment laid out in the Constitution. Washington DC has a higher population than Vermont and Wyoming and is in the same range of states like Alaska and the Dakotas. We have a lot of Americans that are simply not represented in the political system.
A group to support organizing for the Abolish Electoral College; Elect President and Vice-President by Popular Vote Amendment of the Democracy and Human Right Amendments.
This amendment would abolish the electoral college and make the election of President and Vice-President solely based on the popular vote. Every state and every citizen would be equally important in electing the leader of the country. Five of the Supreme Court justices were nominated by a President who did not win the majority of votes so of course the Court will not represent the will and interests of the majority of Americans.
Poor People's Campaign Moral March on Washington - June 18, 2022.
#poorpeoplescampaign #economicjustice #racialjustice #revdrwilliambarber #jessejackson #poverty #poor
A group to support organizing for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) of the Democracy and Human Right Amendments.
The ERA has already been passed by the requisite number of states and needs Congress to pass an act that eliminates the original deadline which ended in 1982. The amendment read as follows:
Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.
Originally Posted on January 30, 2019. All photographs provided by: The Larson Lens, LLC
Prelude:
For much of December and January, Huntington Woods Library's "Drag Queen Storytime" was under attack by forces of bigotry within, and without, the local community. It began with City Commissioner Allison Iversen, whose emails about the event included the following "I have been trying to get this stopped since it started. Please do get more people involved. I am one voice and we need many people to call this out for what it is." That leak prompted a City Commission meeting where residents of Huntington Woods showed overwhelming support for the program.
"The results that have been achieved by Drag QUEEN Storytime is statistical truth to the desire of Huntington Woods and surrounding cities, which was echoed by community member after community member, at last month's City Commission meeting. There is a waiting list for the event, and ONE letter of opposition that was the only letter sent to the Mayor's office. The community has spoken, HATE chooses NOT to hear them,” stated Jey'nce Poindexter, Founder of Trans Sistas of Color Project - Detroit and Board Member of Women's March, MI, who was in attendance at the meeting. Allison Iversen would resign early on December 18th, with her bid to end Storytime failing.
The results have been readily apparent. Joyce Krom, the librarian organizing Storytime, has been assembling wildly successful events, with 100 attendees at her first event and a perpetual waiting list since. "We strive to support all children in our community, one of our top priorities is to be welcoming and inclusive, and always work toward creating a more equitable society," Krom told MDPAN, when describing the purpose behind Drag Queen Storytime. Miss Raven Divine Cassadine, a regular host of Storytime, was leading the reading on January 26th. "I think that it’s very important that we teach the importance of reading to the children and acceptance for everyone regardless of race, sex or gender," expounded Miss Raven, on why she stays involved.
You said it, doc.
Despite all these triumphs, Poindexter was astute to point out that hate wasn't listening. In her emails, Iversen put out a call for greater involvement in shutting down the event. Tennessee-based hate group Warriors for Christ answered that call. Their founder, Rich Penkoski, placed his ignorance on public display when describing his reasons for protesting the event "Parents that bring their kids to this, you can say what you want, but a transgender 4-year-old is like a vegan cat. We know who's making the lifestyle choices for that cat and that child. Children should be left alone." This group has attempted frivolous lawsuits in Louisiana, where they booked space in the library, then proceeded to intimidate participants (some as young as 3) and filmed the Story Hour without permission. Upon encountering consequences for this behavior, they filed suit claiming their First Amendment rights were infringed upon.
MDPAN was one of the organizations asked to come out and support the event, and proceeded to call the banners of the Motor City Sisters, GNA, TSOCP, TGDetroit, Planned Parenthood, American Atheists, and Ferndale Pride. With local organizing provided by Sara Smith, the inaugural Queensguard was formed. It's mission: protect children, their families and the Queens from hate speech and other attacks, allowing Drag Queen Storytime to continue unhindered.
Queensguard logo created by MDPAN Art Director Kelly Clawson.
January 26th, 1:30 PM, pre-event defense.
The forces of hate had an early start to the day. A group of 8 well-dressed bourgeoisie formed the "Michigan Mass Resistance", an anti-LGBTQIA group who also threatened to protest the event. They stood near the entrance, inviting passersby to pray the rosary for an imagined corruption of children. They were being interviewed by the Church Militant, a Ferndale-based group that abandoned all the class consciousness of the Game of Thrones group they copied, but kept the bigotry. South of them, along the sidewalk, were a pack of six men in hoodies, several of which read "Proud Boys" along the chest, and another in a red "Make America Great Again" sweatshirt. Warriors for Christ, numbering 6, were the last to arrive, but were very proud of their custom jumpsuits.
Somebody paid money for those
On the other side of the wall, Queensguard had amassed over 100 supporters with almost an hour left until the 3 PM event start time. An experienced and capable bunch, they immediately took the front line, bedecked and bedazzled in rainbows, facepaint, and a gigantic array of custom signs, plus a bunch more donated by Planned Parenthood and American Atheists. The lime-capped bigot opened proceedings declaring shame and eternal hellfire on the supporters for helping corrupt the minds of children. Queensguard responded to that verbal assault with a thundering chorus of "Love Not Hate" and "Hate Go Home".
As more supporters rolled in between 2 and 3 PM, eventually exceeding 200, Warriors for Christ decided to target specific marginalized groups during their raving. "Everyone wants to be gay, but nobody wants the AIDs," was one such example, noted by a local member of the gay community. Others reported Islamaphobic comments, and a bizarre obsession with adult diapers. As volunteers with ample cellphone batteries teamed with supporters carrying a portable speaker, the screech of bigotry was deadened by the speaker and the crowd erupting into Barney's "I Love You".
At the very least, there's love on the left. Rich Penkoski will be furthest right.
2:45 PM - Showtime
Parents and their kids arrived for Storytime. One participant in the Queensguard had a basket full of flowers with ribbon and a positive, affirming message attached for each child attending. MDPAN's Lead Marshall, wearing a rainbow cape, topped with a pink wig, brought popular children's books to pass out to each young person who could make it for Storytime. When it came time to enter the library, all 200+ of the Queensguard did their best Red Sea impression, parting to provide safe passage and booming cheers for standing up to hate.
One parent would later remark "Uh oh, I hope my kid's not expecting a present and cheering every time we go to one of these."
The Proud Boys made a considerable effort to distance themselves from Warriors for Christ, milling around on the sidewalk South of the parking lot. Unfortunately, the majority of the parents were entering from that direction. Red Orchestra (RO) provided volunteers for the demonstration to ward off attacks, verbal or otherwise, from the hate groups present. It should be noted the Proud Boys were briefly added to the FBI's terror watchlist, and have strong ties to the recently arrested Roger Stone. RO took the point on the South end of the parking lot to ensure no parents would be accosted, with significant success.
Meanwhile, at the wall, the Southernmost member of the Queensguard embarked on a special mission. Matthew Kinne is an attorney that's traveled nationwide trying to stop WfC's campaign of hate against any number of genders greater than two. He brought a large thermos full of hot water, and an entire case of hot chocolate powder with balloons tied to it. Kinne attempted to have a frank, calm dialogue and perhaps a declaration of piece. Instead, the Warriors for Christ speaker rejected the gift, and proceeded to point at trans members of Queensguard and deliberately misgender them, including comments like "God will make a man out of you!" (EDIT: 2/21/19) Kinne's mission was successful, with the Southern Poverty Law Center granting the "anti-LGBT hate group" designation to Warriors for Christ. Following the news, WfC Patriarch Rich Penkoski posted a video saltier than Lot's wife on their decision to abandon their base in West Virginia.
What heathen would turn down hot cocoa on a day like this?
While everyone was dressed in their Pride parade best, it was the Motor City Sisters taking everyone's breath away. With Warriors for Christ targeting individuals among the Queensguard with hate speech, Sister Misty Meanor sprung into action. Clothed as the Virgin Mary, or at least the second part, she bravely strode to the front of the line, directly in front of the bigots. From there, she turned her back to hate and let her habit fly, supported by a pair of nearby Queensguard. Golden and blue light from the fabric completely covered the megaphone operator in Warriors for Christ from view, muffling his speech in the process.
Not pictured: A very frustrated bigot.
Despite WfC's leader, Rich Penkoski, saying children should be left alone in his attacks on Drag Queen Storytime, the families participating were the next major targets of the group. A barrage of vitriol eschewed from their megaphone, attempting to tell children as young as 3 that their parents were going to make them go to hell.
Fortunately, the Queensguard was more than prepared to counter. A few clicks and swipes on a cell phone had "Baby Shark" blaring through a portable speaker, with other activists holding the mic from their megaphones up to the speaker, creating a surround sound effect focused directly on the religious zealot screaming at 4-year-olds. Swaying like the waves of the ocean, all 200+ of the Queensguard lifted their voices to the heavens, belting out every "doo doo dodo do do" along the way. Paralyzed with involuntary laughter, WfC's mouthpiece did the one thing no one expected: he stopped talking.
At this time, the Proud Boys skulked off, and members of RO took point at the neighborhood intersections to ensure their preferred tactic of jumping lone activists post-event would fail.
Unrelated to the previous paragraphs, but these are some excellent signs
3:30 PM - Exit, stage left.
RO provided escort detail for families or members of Queensguard walking to their cars alone or in a small group. Thanks to the (baby) shark attack, the primary threat of WfC was effectively diminished. All families were able to return to their cars safely.
It was at this point it became apparent how overwhelming the support for Drag Queen Storytime was in the Huntington Woods community. Mayor Paul stood in the supporters camp, joined by recently elected City Commissioner Michelle Elder, who replaced Allison Iversen. The literature didn't stop with just the kids, either, as many of the organizations present educational pamphlets to distribute. Joyce Krom joined the exit procession for a bit, making sure to meet one of the illustrious Motor City Sisters:
After an impromptu dance party to finish the successful defense, the principal organizers started returning to their vehicles. However, there was a bit of a standoff as everyone departed. "We stayed with the last protester on site because they were parked in front of the WfC people and didn't want to be seen getting in their car by them," reports Gloom, a member of RO and JBGC. Both sides stared each other down for a few minutes, then back-up arrived from other organizers who just finished packing up. The WfC pick-up sped off at the sight of greater numbers and all returned safely.
MDPAN is please to report zero arrest and zero instances of violence, and would like to thank Red Orchestra and all experienced protesters who helped keep it that way.
More information about the Proud Boys can be found here.
#LGBTQIAIssues #queensguard #MDPAN #motorcitysister #LGBTQIA #dragqueen #literacy #library #ferndale #pride #PlannedParenthood #proudboys #warriorsforchrist
CW: Literal Nazis and what comes with it.
Originally Posted on June 10, 2019
Update 6/12/19: Features account and video footage of an NSM member assaulting a woman in front of multiple DPD officers.
An oral history of Antifascist action in Detroit, collected and synthesized from accounts with on-site participants.
Preparations, Confrontations, and Mutual Aid
On April 16th Burt Colucci, alleged "Commander" of the National Socialist Movement [NSM], levied a threat against Motor City Pride, stating they would be holding an armed demonstration to intimidate and harm Detroit’s LGBTQIA community. Word of the threat spread among leftist circles, and LGBTQIA rights organizers were rapidly alerted. When Motor City Pride was informed, they asked concerned residents to leave it to the Detroit Police Department.
The initial threat, from his Facebook profile.
Food Not Class (FNC), which routinely serves a free buffet and clothing/toiletries share for vulnerable community members twice a week, called in as many volunteers as they could for a special serving on the first day of Motor City Pride. They set up along an apropos wall of stone on Jefferson and Bates, having just produced a “History of Pride” zine, celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Stonewall. Their spread was complete with 11 cases of bottled water, lasagna, vegan chili, stuffed peppers, pizza and a veritable mountain of cornbread, delighting the houseless community and passersby alike, wetting whistles and sating appetites. Mitten Medics were on hand to make sure anyone who got hurt could get patched up, and keep folks hydrated on an 80 degree day.
Red Orchestra (RO) and the youth cadre of Communist Workers League (CWL) of Detroit provided the direct action and community defense portions of the proceedings, with Antifascists garbed in tie-dye and rainbow bandanas, alternately dubbed the “Rainbow Warriors” or “Rainbow Bloc” by onlookers and social media accounts.
The FNC serve, and they still fed State Fair the same day.
While Burt Colucci’s threat was copied onto Stormfront and NSM’s homepage, they were no-shows for the proposed 1 PM start time for their acts of hatred, effectively removing the most common defense of fascism: getting the trains to run on time.
Instead of the literal Nazis, 1 PM’s entertainment came in the form of a Christian bigot trundling down Jefferson, condemning LGBTQIA individuals to hell through his microphone at each step. Once he arrived within earshot of the FNC table, Antifascists sprang into action, forcing him away from MC Pride with an ersatz blockade on the sidewalk, while others harangued him through megaphones along the stone wall. His cries of homosexuality being a mortal sin were drowned out by commands to take his bigotry elsewhere, and multiple suggestions for therapy interspersed with everyone's favorite expletives.
Like many bigoted Christians, this one was also not blessed with reading comprehension.
Finding himself in front of the Renaissance Center, the hateful zealot attempted to give antifascists the slip, heading back down the sidewalk and got as far as the parking garage elevator before running into another ersatz blockade. This time, his choices were a packed sidewalk and the oncoming traffic of Jefferson, he chose the latter and rabbited to the median where Woodward and Jefferson intersect. From there, his declaration that transgender people were a crime against god was met with protesters blasting Pride anthems, such as "Born this Way" by Lady Gaga and "I'm Coming Out" by Diana Ross, through a portable speaker. He found himself at a loss for words as the protesters started grinding and twerking in front of him. Emboldened future MC Pride attendees took care of the rest, verbally dissolving his life's philosophy on their way to the entrance line, and he sheepishly skittered away.
Meanwhile, Food Not Class' serving was going so well, they were in danger of running out of everything but cornbread by 3 PM. Two houseless folks who enjoyed the spread elected to stick around and serenade foot traffic with punk rock and classic pop standards on their ukelele, while hanging out with FNC volunteers. Thanks to the generosity of those who enjoyed the serving earlier, they had enough for seven large pizzas and six cases of water.
Not ten minutes after the pizza order was placed, a Swastika flag was spotted in front of Cobo Hall, headed directly for Hart Plaza.
The Smallest Blitzkrieg
Walking on the North side of Jefferson, in front of the Scientology building, a lone antifascist tried to halt their march. She was shoved down by an NSM shield in full view of DPD, who neither arrested, nor charged the Nazi with assault. (video)
Photo source: Herman Davis
A second antifascist later bolted to the scene once they crossed the street, heading towards the end of the Pride entry line. They ran into a wall of no less than thirty DPD officers, some in riot gear, acting as a phalanx for ten members of NSM. The Nazis were sporting the clearance aisle of their local Army-Navy surplus, only one had a replica SS uniform. Amid the black tacticool, one woman with a Macklemore haircut stuck out in a Mormonesque khakis and white polo ensemble. The antifascist attempted to darted around and tail the group before it could reach the entry line. DPD made grabs for the protester, amid the Nazis shouting "White Power" and "Fuck You F******" to the Metro-Detroit LGBTQIA community. The police were unsuccessful, as the first Rainbow Warrior darted across the street, flipping the guardians of National Socialism the bird.
Reinforcements arrived as the Rainbow Warriors confronted the NSM and DPD head-on (video). They rallied some of the entry line of Motor City Pride in a chant of "Nazis Fuck Off" to counter the hate speech, and were aided by three members of the houseless community, who joined the front line in trying to stop the march. It was to no avail, shoved aside by DPD riot shields, the bloc took to tailing the demonstration and were joined by a furious crowd confronting a symbol of their genocide.
Aren't you a little short to be a stormtrooper?
A crowd growing behind them, the Nazis quickened their pace as they crossed in front of Hart Plaza, a raucous uproar of "No Nazis, No KKK, No Fascist USA" behind them, and Pride attendees banging on the fences. Near the MC Pride Bicycle Valet, an Arab Rainbow Warrior was called "Sand N*****" and told "go back to your country" by a white officer. A couple brave and agile antifascists were able to briefly slip by the police bubble to get clear photos. NSM was losing ground on the Jefferson sidewalk as it crossed Bates.
DPD elected to close down Eastbound Jefferson and escort Nazis to the median and up Randolph St. The sidewalk was taken up by a fuming unified bloc of Antifascists and Pride goers shouting "Class traitor!" and a thunderous chorus of "Who do you serve, who do you protect?"
Nice pins.
The antifascist who was assaulted at the beginning of the march was accosted by DPD. The officer grabbed her hard enough to leave bruises, and attempted to detain her because she was carrying two water bottles. The officer was quickly surrounded by protesters and let her go.
The Rainbow Bloc grew in number and overwhelmed the Southeast corner of Jefferson and Randolph and began shouting "Queer Power!" in response to NSM taunting with "White Power!" while scurrying away under heavy police guard. Then "Trans Power!" was added, later "Black Power!" and "People Power!" echoed off the walls of the Millinder Center as the Nazis retreated to Larned and Randolph.
There they lingered as the chants died. A small detachment of the bloc circled around to Woodward and Larned, rallying Pride goers at street crossings along the way to confront them from the West. Marching in, the bloc used a megaphone to undress the NSM from their odious viewpoints, to the likely origins of their lack of self-esteem. DPD reinforced the Nazis by pushing the Antifascists back and drawing a crowd of onlookers from a nearby parking garage.
New ReichGuard Extreme, by Just For Manchildren.
At one point, possibly Bert Colucci, it was difficult to tell the men apart with twelve inches of hair between them, tore up and peed on an Israeli flag. Perhaps he was mock peeing, but no arrest attempt was made. The bloc laughed, responding "We're leftists, we don't like Israel 'cause they act like you!"
Each attempt for the National Socialist Mormon to speak through her megaphone was shouted down, sometimes with clever jabs, a Queer Power reprisal or simply "Shut up, just shut the fuck up". Eventually, this drew more attention from Pride goers and Detroit visitors alike, and the "Nazis Are Scared" chant caught on. Curiously, they stopped attempting to spew hate at Randolph and Larned, and walked West. Masked members of the bloc eschewed them out with a spirited but off key "Na Na Hey Hey" by Steam and Ray Charles' "Hit the Road, Jack". Sadly, a voluminous DPD presence allowed "White Power" to echo through the Millinder Center tunnel as they skulked away.
The Rainbow Warriors regrouped and cut around to Larned and Beaubien via Jefferson, and were greeted with cheers from early bar goers, chasing the NSM into a parking lot on Larned and St. Antoine. Another section of the bloc marched up to the other entrance of the parking lot and was halted by a suffocating array of DPD officers and cruisers. The Warriors remained undaunted, bringing a reprise of "Nazis Are Scared" as the police escorted the National Socialist Movement away in a rented catering van.
From the start of the MC Pride line to the parking lot retreat, the National Socialist Movement only managed to disrupt Pride proper for 10 minutes and Detroit proper for 20, 5 spent cowering in a van.
Meanwhile, the Mitten Medics held it down at the Food Not Class table, but their consumable supplies dwindled to cornbread and coffee. Fortunately, they had plenty of literature from FNC and Communist Workers League, plus radical stickers.
Post-Action Mutual Aid
After taking a half hour to regroup, FNC realized they completely forgot about the pizza. The resupply run lasted 45 minutes and everyone had to make due apologizing for only having coffee, clothes, cornbread and literature. Once the 8 large pizzas arrived, it was passed out to hungry Pride attendees in roughly 5 minutes. Many people lingered, dancing to 105.9 on the portable speaker, and/or talking radical theory.
The Mitten Medics patched up a young Pride-goer who suffered a leg injury, keeping her comfortable and well hydrated with bandage wraps and assistance on an impromptu medical evacuation. Red Orchestra and Communist Workers League squads walked the streets around Pride, checking to ensure no white supremacists lingered. Along the way, they encountered a man catcalling women waiting in line from his car. Blocking his view, he stopped yelling and got out of his car, frustrated. Unpleasant words were exchanged at low volume, but it was made clear his behavior was out of line and it was also the least logical place to try anyway. He stormed off, but bothered Pride no further.
FNC was confronted by an undercover officer, upset about the organization's rule of refusing service to law enforcement and fascists. He took a piece of anti-police literature and interrogated the organization over its permit status for the stone wall on Jefferson and Bates. Eventually, he left, thoroughly unsatisfied with his lack of service.
The sun went down, and Pride came to a close Nazi-free. All in a day's work for Antifa.
#LGBTQIAIssues #motorcitypride #communistworkersleague #foodnotclass #mittenmedics #Detroit #nazi #antifa #mutualaid #communitydefense #directaction
Rep. Tlaib speaks our mind on #whitesupremacy after we have seen more #racistviolence and #police making #excuses for #white #murderers in ways that they would never talk about #blackandbrown suspects. Indeed, they would not likely be taken #alive.
#fuckwhitesupremacy #racialjustice #rashidatlaib #racism
Deb Haaland of the Laguna Pueblo was confirmed as the firstr #nativeamerican #cabinet #secretary as Secretary of the Interior.
The rise of hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders is appalling and we all must be in action whether through #bystanderintervention, #reporting, and/or #advocating for civil protections.
#racialjustice #asianamerican #stophate #stopracism #stopaapihate #stopasianhate
Let the Biden administration know that they have to keep fighting for $15 Minimum Wage Increase.
"The drums of Africa still beat in my heart. They will not let me rest while there is a single Negro boy or girl without a chance to prove his worth."
#racialjustice #feminism #genderequality #civilrights #knowyourhistory #blackhistory #blackhistorymonth