Popular Posts RSSSun, 21 Mar 2021 00:35:19 GMTRep. 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

]]>Sun, 21 Mar 2021 00:35:19 GMTCW: Literal Nazis and what comes with it.Originally Posted on June 10, 2019Update 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 AidOn 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. Whil... Read more

]]>Sat, 05 Jun 2021 13:19:46 GMTOriginally Posted on January 30, 2019.  All photographs provided by: The Larson Lens, LLCPrelude: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 regardl... Read more

]]>Sat, 05 Jun 2021 13:29:39 GMTThe 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 fu... Read more

]]>Mon, 04 Jul 2022 16:04:47 GMTI 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... Read more

]]>Wed, 17 Aug 2022 11:42:22 GMTThe 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

]]>Sun, 07 Mar 2021 16:26:17 GMT"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."#marymcleodbethune#racialjustice #feminism #genderequality #civilrights #knowyourhistory #blackhistory #blackhistorymonth

]]>Thu, 18 Feb 2021 03:12:05 GMTDeb Haaland of the Laguna Pueblo was confirmed as the firstr #nativeamerican #cabinet #secretary as Secretary of the Interior.

]]>Wed, 17 Mar 2021 13:21:39 GMTLet the Biden administration know that they have to keep fighting for $15 Minimum Wage Increase.#fightfor15 #economicjustice #fairwages #inequality #biden

]]>Mon, 01 Mar 2021 12:56:32 GMTEverywhere I turn, a new movement is underfoot.  Having declared victory over the evils of discrimination and hatred, institutions around the country are moving on from their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs, known more commonly as the apparently pejorative term of “DEI.”  For some reason, I had not realized that are long national nightmare of systemic oppression and derisively othering various groups had come to an end. But I sure am glad to learn the news!We did it! Right?!  After four centuries of chattel slavery, Jim Crow, and de facto wide-spread discrimination, America’s “Negro Problem” is finally solved.   We accommodate our disabled friends fully in all aspects of our common life. Antisemitism, Islamophobia and other forms of religious discrimination have been transformed as we are now the religiously pluralistic society envisioned in the first Amendment.  We have realized the great melting pot and are now a nation that welcomes immigrants, no matter their origin. Women have realized equal pay for equal work, their bodily sovereignty is protected, and they no longer face the incredible risk of sexual violence that they used to.  Trans folks are fully accepted without fear for their lives and our gay friends feel welcome no matter where they go. Poverty?  Economic class is a thing of the past and no kid goes hungry at night. Police violence targeting minorities?  No longer.Congrats America!  We did it!  I mean it must be true. If happy, diversity commercials-laden Target is out on DEI, then we definitely solved it. Universities deeply committed to DEI work have brought their programs to an end, so we must have reached equitable outcomes in education.  Medical schools find themselves dropping DEI, so health care equity must be the case as well. So proud of us for having finally conquered the multitude of issues that DEI covers.  And to think, we did all of this less than 5 years after the mur... Read more

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