Showing posts with label economic injustice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label economic injustice. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Good-bye, BlackRock! So Long, Petrodollar! Hello, Peace!

China must be stopped before it imposes totalitarian diplomacy on Ukraine and authoritarian peace in the middle east. --Caitlin Johnstone

 

Good-bye, BlackRock! 

So Long, Petrodollar! 

Hello, Peace!

by C. A. Matthews

 

I took only one economics course in college, but even I can understand enough about our screwed up capitalist economic system to see where we’ve gone wrong. We’ve placed greed before compassion and war before peace because of their profit-making abilities. Look where it’s gotten us—the US stands on the precipice of total disaster.

And that’s a good thing.

Can the destruction of our corporate-controlled government’s way of manipulating and exploiting other governments be a positive development in the quest for world peace? I think we’re witnessing the end of an era. Soon the United States will have to stop forcing “freedom and democracy” upon other countries via sanctions and bombings. 

This “War on Terrorism” era that turned the US into the world’s biggest economic terrorist is, at last, drawing to a close. China is taking the world stage as peacemaker, acting as a go-between to feuding neighbors Iran and Saudi Arabia. Other countries are being helped by China’s New Silk Road (officially, the Belt and Road Initiative) with its low interest loans that will help them build necessary infrastructure projects.

I can see that quizzical look on some of my readers' faces now. China? What do you mean it’s not forcing itself on others with economic sanctions and threats of “military interventions” the way the US does? It actually wants countries to get along so everyone can safely do business with each other and live in peace?

What a dangerous concept according to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Blinken actually claimed that brokering peace deals between countries wasn’t a good thing after China said it was willing to sit down with Russia and Ukraine and help them put an end to their disagreements and save lives.

The US refuses to accept these potential peace negotiations (even though we’re supposedly not even at war with Russia) because it’s not in our best interests according to Blinken. The US government’s stance is that it prefers the fighting continue—or is it our true masters, the military industrial complex, who prefer this proxy war go on forever? Endless warfare means they can sell an infinite amount of armaments to a steadily growing number of combatants. At least that’s the theory if the countries involved don’t run out of soldiers. I guess there’s always those nifty A.I. “robodogs” with machine guns for faces to take up the slack, right?

MIC capitalists can’t have peace and cooperation breaking out across the planet like crocuses breaking through the frozen soil in the spring. No, never! What would happen to their profits if people simply lived in harmony with each other? Oh, the horror!

Those Americans who continue listening to mainstream media propagandists (who actually work for the military industrial complex) will continue believing that “War is Peace.” Orwellian doublespeak makes them see the world through the eyes of capitalist warmongers and profiteers. They irrationally hate China and its diplomatic ways. They’ll continue screaming for billions of dollars more to be sent to Ukraine in order to prolong that conflict, in spite of the fact there are fewer and fewer Ukrainians left to do the fighting. They’ll insist on the US starting a war to nuke China over Taiwan, a break away province that hasn’t been sanctioned or bombed by its parent country. For capitalists, it’s America’s way or the highway, even if the highway is strewn with millions of dead bodies from conflicts that could have easily been avoided.

Fortunately, the vast majority of sane individuals on this planet aren’t falling for the capitalists’ lies about the necessity for resource grabs any longer. They don’t agree with the US policy of economic sanctions that cause hunger and chaos in their wake. African leaders told a visiting V.P. Kamala Harris that they’re not going to be bullied into using the American petrodollar to do business internationally anymore. India and Pakistan have purchased and sold oil recently from Russia using their currency and not the petrodollar. Many countries are applying to join BRICS, an association of nations willing do business with each other in their own currencies and not the “standard reserve currency” of the US petrodollar.

Upon hearing about the growth of BRICS and the use of other currencies, Senator Marco Rubio let slip in a news interview: “They're creating a secondary economy in the world totally independent of the United States. We won't have to talk about sanctions in five years, because there'll be so many countries transacting in currencies other than the dollar that we won't have the ability to sanction them." 

Oops!

That’s great news for heavily sanctioned countries like Cuba. Cuba, a country that came up with its own COVID-19 vaccine that it freely shares with others as well as a lung cancer vaccine than can cure millions. Cuba would prosper and be able to share even more of its people’s expertise freely without the economic roadblock of the US petrodollar. But Big Pharmaceutical corporations don’t want the “competition” that free vaccines and cures for cancer can give, so the US economic sanctions most likely will continue for the foreseeable future.

It’s nothing to be proud of. US economic sanctions and military interventions have maimed, starved, injured and killed more human beings in the last seventy years that in all the wars that have taken placed before that time. Most of the dead are children. 

Why, oh why? Don’t you capitalists have enough profits? Your CEOs are multi-billionaires already—do they have to become trillionaires at the cost of so much human suffering?

I've had enough of them. I say, “So long, petrodollar! Hello, world peace!” What about this“Good-bye, BlackRock” then?

French protesters—remember them from last week’s blog?—entered the Paris headquarters of BlackRock. BlackRock is an international corporation with assets worth somewhere in the vicinity of $10 trillion dollars. (Yes, that’s trillion with a “tr” and not a “b”.) If you are one of the millions of Americans who lost their home in the 2008 mortgage crisis, the bank or mortgage company that repossessed your home is probably controlled by BlackStone, which is owned by BlackRock. They hold a major share in thousands of corporations worldwide. Some of these corporations are major players in the US military industrial complex.

BlackRock has a lot of its investments in pension plans, perhaps even your own 401K, and it owns a lot of the French pension system as well. The French workers have told President Macron that they’re tired of the wealthy not paying their fair share of taxes and his unilateral raising of their retirement age. They are burning bank buildings because they realize their true enemies are not their fellow workers, or even people around the world who don’t look like them, but the capitalists who own and operate such obscenities as BlackRock. 

The French are also marching in the streets shouting at Macron to stop spending their taxes to fund a proxy war to control natural gas sales in Europe. They are anti-NATO, because everyone in France openly acknowledges that the Ukraine conflict was provoked by Western economies to break the Russian and its friends' economies. French workers want peace and justice for ordinary people, not only the multi-billionaires. 
 
Now you can see why Secretary Blinken doesn’t want China to broker a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia. There’s money to be made in conflict for his bosses in the military industrial complex, and peace would cause their profits to plummet. The petrodollar is on the wane, and he knows it. US economic sanctions won’t work much longer if there are other currencies being used to do business internationally between nations. The whole “terrorist threat” of US economic sanctions and endless warfare/coups d'état might be coming to an end much sooner than predicted.

It’s about time.

Let’s give peace a chance, America. Everyone will benefit. Even the goddamn profit-loving capitalists.

 

Related Links:

Geopolitical game changer: China's Iran-Saudi peace deal is big blow to petrodollar and US economic hegemony https://geopoliticaleconomy.substack.com/p/china-iran-saudi-peace-petrodollar 
 
Countries Worldwide Are Dropping the US Dollar
https://popularresistance.org/countries-worldwide-are-dropping-the-us-dollar/

The Tragedy of US Diplomacy Pushing for War But Never Peace
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/the-tragedy-of-us-diplomacy-pushing-for-war-but-never-peace
 
Human Destiny In Ukraine
https://scheerpost.com/2023/04/09/human-destiny-in-ukraine/

On Biden Turning Down China's Push for a Peace Deal in Ukraine
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/china-peace-deal-for-ukraine
 
How the Global South Has Risen in the Face of US Sabotage
https://www.mintpressnews.com/how-the-global-south-has-risen-in-the-face-of-us-sabotage/284247/

French Pension Protesters Occupy BlackRock, Torch Restaurant https://popularresistance.org/french-pension-protesters-occupy-blackrock-torch-restaurant/  
 
UN Human Rights Council Condemns Impact Of Unilateral Sanctions  https://popularresistance.org/un-human-rights-council-condemns-impact-of-unilateral-sanctions/ 
 
While Everyone's Distracted, The Dollar Is Dying
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/while-everyones-distracted-dollar-dying

More and More Countries Are Ditching the US Dollar, Here's Why (video)  https://youtu.be/UcIPLGvwGF0

Question marks emerge over dollar supremacy
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/04/06/tokb-a06.html

Russia Writes Off 20 Billion In Debt To African Countries
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Russia-Writes-Off-20-Billion-In-Debt-To-African-Countries-20230320-0015.html

15 Million in the US to be Kicked Off of Public Health Benefits
https://scheerpost.com/2023/04/07/15-million-in-the-us-to-be-kicked-off-of-public-health-benefits/

UN Human Rights Council Condemns Impact of Unilateral Sanctions https://scheerpost.com/2023/04/06/un-human-rights-council-condemns-impact-of-unilateral-sanctions/

Africa ‘All Out,’ 54-0, Against Joining Biden’s Proxy War on Russia
https://scheerpost.com/2023/04/07/africa-all-out-54-0-against-joining-bidens-proxy-war-on-russia/

The West Has Been Planning to Crush China For a Very Long Time
https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/the-west-has-been-planning-to-crush

Why China's Winning & The US Is Panicking (w/ Josef Gregory Mahoney) (video) https://www.youtube.com/live/MMkqeaTlVTA

Chinese Currency Displaces Euro In Brazil’s Foreign Reserves
https://popularresistance.org/chinese-currency-displaces-euro-in-brazils-foreign-reserves/

China’s Historical Destiny Is to Stand With the Third World
https://scheerpost.com/2023/04/02/chinas-historical-destiny-is-to-stand-with-the-third-world/
 
Marco Rubio Accidentally Makes a Great Argument Against US Dollar Hegemony https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/marco-rubio-accidentally-makes-a 
 
Protesters Storm BlackRock (video) https://rumble.com/v2he81o-protesters-storm-blackrocks-offices-bidens-oil-drilling-orgy.html

Macron Fails to Persuade, So Opts for Coercion https://scheerpost.com/2023/04/08/macron-fails-to-persuade-so-opts-for-coercion/

French Protesters Storm BlackRock's Paris HQ (video) https://youtu.be/xqki_HI1ZRY

US Media Cheer as France Forces Old People to Work https://scheerpost.com/2023/04/08/us-media-cheer-as-france-forces-old-people-to-work/

Biden Knocking 15 Million Off Healthcare (video) https://rumble.com/v2h0lzq-trumps-plane-gets-more-media-than-biden-knocking-15-million-off-healthcare.html 

US Bank Bailout Benefited Billionaires, Exposing Corruption: ‘I Understand Why Americans Are Angry’ https://scheerpost.com/2023/04/10/us-bank-bailout-benefitted-billionaires-exposing-corruption-i-understand-why-americans-are-angry/ 

Seymour Hersh: The Nord Stream Ghost Ship
https://scheerpost.com/2023/04/05/seymour-hersh-the-nord-stream-ghost-ship/

For The Record, NPR Absolutely Is US State Propaganda
https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/for-the-record-npr-absolutely-is

French Revolution 2.0/American Revolution Nil https://continuousrev.blogspot.com/2023/04/french-revolution-20american-revolution.html


Seen on Twitter:

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Tuesday, August 31, 2021

The Economy Demands Sacrifice!


The Economy Demands Sacrifice!

by Coast Watcher

COVID-19 is not going away. Waving a hand and saying it is does not make it so. The increasing spread of the Delta variant shows that the vaccination program must be stepped up and a new lockdown put in place to contain the disease. Yet in the middle of all this, schools are opening across America. Why? Because the Establishment has decreed, The economy demands sacrifice!

Big Business has jerked hard on the strings of their political puppets to ensure no more lockdowns will take place. The last efforts to contain the disease really hurt the multi-billionaires in their pocket books. That’s why schools are reopening. Who else will look after the future workers—sorry, children? These relatively cheap childcare institutions called schools are so necessary if workers are to go back to work and earn more money for the mega-rich.

The deliberate prevention of counter-measures in some states—I’m looking at you, Governors Abbott of Texas and DeSantis of Florida—is causing endless grief for families affected by the disease. The public is being told to suck it up in order to save the economy. 

DeSantis in particular stated that if schools attempt to institute mask-wearing mandates they’ll "find me standing in their way." Thankfully schools have worked around the governor’s attitude in open defiance in a laudable effort to give kids as little exposure to COVID as possible. A similar edict by Abbott of Texas resulted in schools requiring masks as part of school uniforms.

Why DeSantis and Abbott are throwing up roadblocks to safe, hygienic practices in their schools is a matter for speculation. They both need to sit down and work out exactly which lifestyle choices led them into becoming sociopathic monsters.


Deliberate vaccine misinformation is also answerable for the rising numbers of COVID victims. The fact that intensive care units are seeking to transfer patients thousands of miles across country to places which still have beds available is shocking. And little is being done to curb this misinformation. The Deep South is particularly suffering because of lies and untruths at the start of the traditional school year because children and young people are being hit with the Delta variant far harder than adults.

I have every hope that the upcoming General Strike scheduled for October 15 will hit the multi-billionaires hard. Rather than picket lines outside businesses I’d prefer for workers to put down their tools and stay home, or engage in a "soft" self-imposed quarantine lockdown. The government won’t stand up to Big Business, so we'll have to stand up for ourselves—and the children. 
 
BIO: Coast Watcher is tired of the  anti-vax/anti-mask bullsh*t being dumped on the most vulnerable of society--the sick, the elderly, the poor, and the children.  He's tired of the billionaires telling us that our lives have to be risked in order for them to grow richer. It's time for all workers to stand up and strike against the sociopathic puppets in power. It's time we stand up to protect our neighbors. The economy doesn't demand sacrifice--but We the People should of those who'd persecute us with their sick capitalist mentality!		 







Related articles:

https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/71238-a-teacher-took-off-her-mask-to-read-aloud-within-days-half-her-class-was-positive-for-delta 

https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/71227-why-is-it-taking-so-long-to-get-a-covid-vaccine-for-kids 

https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/71226-singapore-vaccinates-80-percent-of-population-against-covid-19 

https://truthout.org/articles/us-leads-the-world-in-7-day-average-of-new-daily-covid-cases-death-count/

https://truthout.org/articles/u-s-covid-hospitalization-rate-tops-100000-highest-since-winters-peaks/

Seen on Twitter:



***

CWA
FIGHTING FOR ECONOMIC JUSTICE & DEMOCRACY

RSVP to our Sept 2 Phone Bank


This Labor Day, let's celebrate workers by telling the Senate to pass the PRO Act. Every single worker should be paid fairly, have safe working conditions and time off to spend with their family. They shouldn’t be punished for organizing to join a union and speaking up for their rights.

The PRO Act is historic legislation that makes it easier for workers to join unions and imposes real financial penalties on corporations and CEOs who violate workers’ rights.*

You’ve already taken action to support the PRO Act so we know we can count on you to keep ramping up the pressure to get this bill passed. Can you join us for a virtual phone bank with CWA members and allies on Sept 2 at 6pm ET/5pm CT/4pm MT/ 3pm PT? Click here to RSVP.

You’ll need a phone and a computer to take part. No experience with phone banking? No problem. We provide training and support during the event.

We’ll also be holding an event on Tuesday, September 7 to tell Rep. Tim Ryan thank you for supporting the PRO Act! Join us if you can! Click here for details and to RSVP.

The PRO Act has already passed with bipartisan support in the House of Representatives, but is stalled in the Senate. That’s why we need your help to get more people to contact the Senators who are critical to making sure the PRO Act becomes law.

I hope you’ll join us!

In unity,
Dan Mauer
CWA Director of Government Affairs

*Get all the details about the PRO Act here: CWA.org/PROAct

***

From Rainforest Action Network:

More than 700 arrests and counting… rubber bullets, tear gas, and police violence against peaceful Indigenous leaders and Water Protectors on their own treaty land. Water Protectors are putting everything on the line to prevent the construction of the Line 3 pipeline, just as Enbridge races to complete the construction and speed up the climate crisis for profit.

As we speak, Water Protectors and frontline communities are at the Minnesota capitol holding space for as long as it takes for MN Governor Waltz and President Biden to get the message: Stop Line 3, stop violating treaties, and stop destroying the climate we need to live. Will you take action to support them and a livable climate?

This is a critical turning point: Only President Biden has the power to STOP this climate-destroying pipeline from being completed.

Scientists have already warned us that we’re on the verge of a tipping point in the climate crisis, and the only way to avoid it is to end ALL fossil fuel production NOW. It’s “Code Red for humanity.” That’s why it’s so critical that President Biden prevents this life-threatening pipeline from being completed.

We’re running out of time.

Help us let Biden know that climate talk means nothing without putting a stop to Line 3.

Photo by Alec Olson

We’ve said it before and we won’t stop until we live in a pipeline-free world: ​​The ONLY decision consistent with acting on climate and respecting Tribal Nation’s treaty rights is to STOP Line 3.

There’s still hope, but it’s going to take all of us to speak up and demand that Biden back Water Protectors and put an end to this deadly pipeline. It’s long past time for Biden to intervene. With fires, floods and droughts impacting lives across the country and around the world, stopping Line 3 is the only choice for a livable world. If he doesn’t, he’ll be known as the president who failed a nation on the brink of climate catastrophe.

A fossil-free future is possible, but we need everyone in this fight to make it happen.

In solidarity,

Ruth Breech
Senior Campaigner
Climate and Energy
Rainforest Action Network

***


A petition to President Joe Biden was read aloud in English and Japanese at the White House and at the Embassy of Japan in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, August 21, 2021, by David Swanson and Hideko Otake.

The petition and videos from Washington are here.


 Sign the Petition.

The text of the petition is as follows:

To: U.S. President Joe Biden

We, the undersigned, wish to convey our strong support for the Governor of Okinawa, Denny Tamaki, and the indigenous people of Okinawa, and their request for the cessation of the building of a U.S. military airbase in Henoko.

On January 13th 2021, Governor Tamaki sent a letter to President Biden (enclosed) outlining the many reasons the airbase construction project at Henoko should be dismantled, including:

Overwhelming opposition by the Indigenous Okinawan people. In a prefectural referendum, 71.7% voted against the project. There have been continuous protests and even hunger strikes by the public.

Engineering unfeasibility. The construction plan requires large-scale land reclamation work, but the seabed that will be reclaimed is as soft as mayonnaise and poses massive engineering problems which has caused the completion date pushed from 2014 to 2030 and the cost from $3.3 billion to $8.7 billion. Some engineers do not believe that it is even possible to build. Even Mark Cancian of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has concluded in a fact-driven report that it is unlikely that the project will ever be completed.[1] Moreover, the site is vulnerable to earthquakes. There is an active fault under the site.[2]

Irreparable environmental damage. The ocean area that is being reclaimed is unique in its biodiversity and is the home of endangered marine mammals such as dugongs.

The United States maintains 119 military facilities in Japan. Okinawa, which makes up only 0.6% of the entire land area of Japan holds 70% of these facilities, which cover 20% of this small island. For decades, the people of Okinawa have suffered at the hands of occupying forces. The U.S. military has already caused grievous harm by aircraft accidents, crimes by U.S. service members and major environmental pollution by toxic substances such as PFAS. The very least the U.S. could do is to stop building yet another base on this besieged island.

Sign the Petition.

Endorsed by Peace for Okinawa Coalition, New Japan Women’s Association Kasugai Branch, Henoko New Base Construction Opposition Concerts in Nagoya, Aichi Solidarity Union, Aichi Sight and Hearing Disability Council, Article 9 Society Nagoya, Society for Solidarity with the People of Okinawa and Korea through the Movement against U.S. Military Bases, Nara Okinawa Solidarity Committee, Green Action Saitama, Mizuho Article 9 Society, 1040 for Peace, Alaska Peace Center, Americans Who Tell the Truth, Antiwar Advocates of Minnesota CD2, Australian Anti-Bases Campaign, California for a World BEYOND War, Campaign for International Cooperation and Disarmament (CICD), Campaign for Peace Disarmament and Common Security, Caribbean Labour Solidarity, Christian Peacemaker Teams, CODEPINK, CODEPINK Golden Gate, Communist Party Australia Melbourne, Community Empowerment for Progress Organization-CEPO, Coop Anti-War Cafe Berlin, Environmentalists Against War, Florida Peace & Justice Alliance, FMKK The Swedish anti-nuclear movement, Gerrarik Ez √âibar, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, Global Peace Alliance BC Society, Granny Peace Brigade NYC, Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, Hawai‚Äôi Peace and Justice, Human Rights Coalition of the Central Valley, Independent and Peaceful Australia Network, International Human Rights Commission, International Institute on Peace Education, Just Peace Queensland Inc, Kelowna Peace Group, Kulu Wai, Ligh Path Resources, Manhattan Local of the Green Party, Marrickville Peace Group, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, Military Poisons, Monterey Peace and Justice Center, National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, Niagara Movement for Justice in Palestine-Israel (NMJPI), Office of Peace Justice and Ecological Integrity Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, Okinawa Environmental Justice Project, Pax Christi Baltimore, Pax Christi Hilton Head, Pax Christi Seed Planters/IL/USA, Pax Christi Western NY, Peace Action Maine, Peace Action Network of Lancaster, Peace Action of Staten Island, Peace Coalition of Southern Illinois, Peaceful Skies Coalition, Pivot to Peace, Prince George's County (MD) Peace & Justice Coalition, Rethinking Foreign Policy, RJ Cooper & Associates Inc., Rohi Foundation, RootsAction, Sanctuary of Mana Ke`a Gardens, Sisters of Charity Federation, Sisters of Charity of Nazareth Congregational Leadership, Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy, Slintak Aviation, Southern Anti-Racism Network, St. Pete for Peace, Sustainable Development Association / Indigene Community, Swedish Peace Council, Takagi School, The Free Minds, The Resistance Center for Peace and Justice, Topanga Peace Alliance, Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, Uniting for Peace, Veterans For Peace, Veterans for Peace - Santa Fe Chapter, Veterans For Peace 115, Veterans For Peace Baltimore MD Phil Berrigan Chapter #105, Veterans For Peace Chapter 14 Gainesville Fl, Veterans For Peace Linus Pauling Chapter 132, Veterans For Peace Spokane Chapter #35, War Resisters International (Australia), WILPFstlouis, Win Without War, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom Canada, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom Corvallis OR U.S., World BEYOND War, Youth Hands for Development Organization, and YOU?

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Tuesday, June 22, 2021

A "Nothing Will Fundamentally Change" Federal Holiday

A "Nothing Will Fundamentally Change" 

Federal Holiday

by C. A. Matthews 

The white man will try to satisfy us with symbolic victories rather than economic equity and real justice. -- Malcolm X  

I was not particularly excited to hear that Biden had signed a proclamation making Juneteenth into a federal holiday recently. I read somewhere that Juneteenth is already a holiday in 47 states, so it comes across as too little, too late in regards to turning it into a federal holiday. But Biden's timing on making it a holiday really begs the question, "Why now?"

If you get your news headlines from independent news sources, the answer to that question is fairly obvious. Not everyone is so enlightened, so here is a short explanation to make things clear:

Black Lives Matter protesters in Minneapolis, who are trying to maintain the memorials erected to George Floyd, are being pepper-sprayed, tear-gassed, and shot at by police with rubber bullets. Cops across the country are still getting away with the murders of and assaults upon people of color. Violence against non-white Americans hasn't gone away just because Trump isn't in the White House.

Upwards of 11 million Americans--many of them people of color--face homelessness when the moratorium on evictions ends on June 30th. Twenty-six states are kicking 3.6 million people off the dole during a pandemic, ending the $300 extra weekly unemployment benefits. The pandemic has ended many jobs in the service sector once and for all, which affects many black and brown workers. And we're still without Medicare For All, a universal health care plan that would cover Americans no matter their work or health status.

Of course, racism is still rampant in the US, reparations for slavery have never been made, restitution for the burning down and massacre of black residents of the Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma (among others), has never been made, and the differential in wealth between white and black families has never been higher. The average net wealth gap between white and black households is $800,000 according to a survey taken in 2016. According to the Brookings Institute, if black households held a share of the national wealth in proportion to their share of the total US population, it would amount to $12.68 trillion in household wealth, rather than the actual sum of $2.54 trillion.

The actual racial wealth gap in the US is $10.14 trillion. That's a lot of reparations to be made, isn't it?

Can you imagine the billionaire capitalists--who have made the majority of their  wealth from the poorly-paid labor of people of color--paying their fair share of taxes and returning that stolen wealth to African American communities? Our tax code is not blind, and people of color find themselves being penalized more often than upper-class whites.

So, why now? Why make Juneteenth a federal holiday in 2021? Because politicians will do anything to distract the public from considering how little they actually care about what is happening--or what will happen--to any of us.

To quote Emma Goldman: "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal."  Some politicians might want to make voting more difficult for people of color, but it's not illegal yet. That's only because it does serve a purpose--it distracts many into thinking that the current governmental system actually works in their favor as they're forced to vote for the "lesser of two evils."

So, pardon me if I label June 19th as a "Nothing Will Fundamentally Change" federal holiday because nothing has been set in motion by the federal government to demonstrate that things will change for the better for African Americans and for other non-white Americans. I'd love to be proven wrong, but I have the sad feeling I won't be.

We should keep celebrating and remembering what Juneteenth signifies, but we shouldn't forget that there's still much to be done to make things right for every American. Celebrate but don't forget. It's what they want us to do, so let's not give them the confidence that they've thrown the wool over our eyes by creating another bank holiday that most poor people of color will be forced to work. Let's keep fighting for justice. Let's keep fighting for fundamental change.


https://youtu.be/LR1WejBI87U and this companion video on so-called "Race Riots" (which are massacres by any other name): https://youtu.be/U-U4HLR5HZ0

Related Articles:

 https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/69992-focus-juneteenth-is-about-freedom

https://truthout.org/articles/on-juneteenth-lets-celebrate-momentum-of-a-growing-racial-justice-movement/

https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/69981-few-cops-we-found-using-force-on-george-floyd-protesters-have-faced-discipline

 https://truthout.org/articles/black-womanist-theology-offers-hope-in-the-face-of-white-supremacy/

https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/70010-focus-to-james-baldwin-the-struggle-for-black-liberation-was-a-struggle-for-democracy

 ***

From Public Citizen: 

 

Some quick history:

  • Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862.
  • It said that all enslaved people in Confederate states were to be freed as of January 1, 1863.
  • But it was not until over two years later that Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered on April 9, 1865.
  • And it was another two months before Union troops informed the last remaining slaves (in Texas) that they were free — on June 19, 1865.

Since then, Juneteenth (that’s June plus nineteenth) has been a day to reflect on not just the history of slavery but also its ongoing effects and the work we still have to do together to bring about racial justice.

Yesterday — with legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden just last week — the United States officially observed Juneteenth as a federal holiday for the first time.

The historic legislation making Juneteenth a federal holiday was introduced by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas.

Tell Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee:

Thank you for leading the way to make Juneteenth a federal holiday!

Add your name.

Thanks for taking action.

For progress,

- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen

***

National Domestic Workers Alliance (Logo)

Today is Juneteenth, the anniversary of the day the last American slaves learned they were free. As we celebrate it is important to remember that the abuse, dehumanization, and invisibility that characterized domestic work during the time of slavery persists today. In fact, Black domestic workers are some of the most invisible, essential, and unprotected workers in our country.

For these reasons and many more, we believe that our organizing must be led by and center the lives of Black women. Through our We Dream in Black (WeDiB) program and its Unbossed Agenda, we are committed to shaping the future in a way that lifts up the Black domestic workforce and brings value and respect to our labor and history of our struggle.

LEARN ABOUT WEDiB →

Black domestic workers are essential — to our economy, democracy, and society. They care for our children, our homes, our elderly family members, and our loved ones with disabilities.

Yet, for centuries, the systems that built and fueled America and its wealth thrived on a disregard for, and subjugation of Black women — and domestic workers are inseparable from this history.

It’s why racist leaders excluded Black domestic workers from many of the basic labor protections afforded other workers.

It’s why, before the coronavirus pandemic, Black families were one emergency away from a crisis, having been carved out of a social safety net generations ago.

And it’s why, when the COVID-19 virus hit, domestic workers were the first to lose income and the last to receive support, if at all.

And it’s also why every industry, including the care industry, must stand up and confront the reality that today — more than 150 years after the last of the enslaved Americans learned they had been emancipated — Black people in this country are still not truly free.

We have a vision for a better future — one where everyone is able to live and work safely and with dignity. And that vision pulls on the strength and power of Black domestic workers, past and present.

From enslaved women’s daily forms of resistance to the coordinated strikes of washer women in the late 19th-century to organizing initiatives pioneered by 20th-century domestic workers, there is a long and powerful tradition of Black domestic workers organizing to secure justice and dignity – in the workplace and in the broader society.

We honor these legacies by centering the voices and leadership of Black women...because Black women are who the domestic care industry was built to exploit. The Unbossed Agenda is WeDiB’s organizing directive to give power back to the visions of Black domestic workers and to root out the legacy of slavery from the domestic work industry, improving the lives of millions of domestic workers across the nation.

Because, If we can solve for Black domestic workers, we can create an economy and society that works for everyone.

A better future is possible, one in which Black people experience abundant joy, safety, and well-being. And we all have a role to play in building the future everyone deserves. Get started by learning more about our Unbossed Agenda and by investing in Black domestic workers.

UNBOSSSED AGENDA →

Thanks for all that you do,

Allison Julien
New York Chapter We Dream in Black Co-Director, National Domestic Workers Alliance

***


Juneteenth became an official national holiday, and it’s a time for gratitude. It’s also a moment to recognize we still have a long way to go. As you are well aware, the scars left on this nation by America’s original sins — the enslavement of Black People and the genocide of Indigenous Peoples — aren’t going away anytime soon. We must keep working to combat the institutionalized legacy of political, legal, and economic oppression in this country. A national holiday commemorating the freedom of this nation’s last slaves (two years after slavery was legally abolished) is a great step, and it also isn’t enough.

Racism is alive and well in the USA. Right now, in fact, rightwing lawmakers are having a field day attacking educators who want to teach the real history of this country. I encourage you to read my blog post about the necessity of teaching Critical Race Theory in our schools. From there, please sign our petition to lawmakers asking them to support the teaching of America’s true past to our children.

Lakota Law

I also encourage you to watch yesterday’s episode of my vlog, “Cut to the Chase.” I was fortunate to have an incredible conversation with Kimberly Jones, the African American author and activist who went viral last year with her powerful video decrying the violence inflicted upon America’s Black people — historically and today — by institutions set up to protect white supremacy.

As Kimberly points out, the propagation of repressive voter suppression laws is meant to keep voices of color out of the national conversation and out of the ballot box. More than a year after George Floyd’s murder — and 156 years after the Thirteenth Amendment — we must continue to have the hard conversations about what brought us here, and we should keep taking aggressive action to make good on America’s promise of justice.

I know that’s a lot of heavy stuff! But it’s part of our growth together, our journey toward true allyship and equity. We must stand beside one another, understand the anger and the pain, and help however we can. Only by actively teaching and learning about our past can we create the future we want for our next seven generations.

Wopila tanka — my hearty thanks for your passionate allyship with all oppressed peoples.


Chase Iron Eyes
Co-Director & Lead Counsel
The Lakota People’s Law Project






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