Why Do We Love Billionaires So Much?

Why Do We Love Billionaires So Much?

 By C.A. Matthews

 

It confounds me. We're angry when we aren't paid what we should be, tired of how some capitalists blatantly steal from the public purse and don't pay their fare share, and yet we act mesmerized whenever the ultra-rich pull a flashy stunt to generate more publicity for their money-making machines.

You know what I'm talking about--the heavy mainstream media coverage of both Richard Branson's and Jeff Bezos' recent "joy rides" into the upper atmosphere. You'd think their private lives would be of zero interest to everyday folks slaving away in dead-end jobs in these billionaires' concerns, but the mainstream media seems to think their activities are more important than climate catastrophes happening around the globe this week. In fact, the big news outlets spent almost the same amount of air time covering Bezos' pretend space race adventure than they did on stories dealing with the multitude of deadly floods, droughts, forest fires and other climate emergencies that occurred on the same day.

Obviously, what rich people do with their billions for fun is infinitely more important than our children's safety or futures.

Or could it be…the mainstream media just wants us to think we love billionaires and find their antics lovable? Could it be we don't really love the hoarding toadies at all, but the powers-that-be want us to be tolerant of them and their destructive ways? Tolerant enough that we don't all grab our pitchforks and build guillotines before our homes burn down in a drought-driven forest fire?

"Just a little off the top," one can imagine Jeff Bezos muttering as thousands of his ill-treated warehouse workers lead him up the scaffolding to meet the blade.

It's time to be honest with ourselves. We--and by this I mean you, me, our children and loved ones--are the 99%. We can't afford to put up with these "lovable antics" by the überwealthy any longer. The 1% have by far the largest carbon footprint. Scientists tell us that the 1% and their conspicuous consumption is the leading cause of climate change. The 1% are the spoilers of this planet and human life in general.

It's time we stopped admiring them. It's time we stop kidding ourselves that we'll ever become one of them. You know deep down the odds that you will ever become a billionaire are a billion to one. So, if we're never going to become a member of the billionaire club what can we do to give our lives meaning? 

First off, we can stop the idol worshiping right now. There's no such thing as a "good billionaire" as I heard someone say. It's an oxymoron like "military intelligence." The two words don't belong in the same sentence. Billionaires aren't God. They're not "good" because they own just about everything and everyone on the planet and keep it to themselves. End the adoration of their senseless buffoonery in fast planes and dildo-shaped rockets.

Second thing, stop making excuses for these clowns in designer clothing. They are not better than the rest of us. They're not even smarter than the rest of us. Didn't Trump's nonsensical tweets make that fact more than obvious? Billionaires were simply born into wealth and have used that wealth to take things away from those less fortunate--such as our land, natural resources, our labor, our clean air, drinking water, and now even outer space. They live to make a profit off of everything and everyone.

(And you do qualify as one of the "less fortunate" if you actually pay your taxes. Most billionaires don't pay any.) 

Last, but not least, call out the mainstream media and others who attempt to glorify the billionaires and their activities. No more spreading their propaganda. Tell it like it is--they're greedy bastards who don't share their wealth, treat their workers like slaves, and get away without even paying their fair share of taxes. They're not to be emulated, idolized, admired, or tolerated. Shut down their PR spokespeople. 

Think of billionaires as your ex. You walked away from that dysfunctional relationship, didn't you? You know you are strong enough to walk away from the likes of Branson, Bezos, Musk, Gates, Buffet, the Walton family, etc. You don't need them to distract you from what really matters in life--taking care of yourself, your loved ones, and your neighbors. 

Let the billionaires go--and be sure to let the door hit them hard on the backside as they exit!

 

Fifty years ago, poet Gil Scott-Heron expressed a similar attitude on this very subject.

https://youtu.be/goh2x_G0ct4

Billionaire Dreams are our Nightmares: https://youtu.be/-mKAI34chNo

Poverty Wages and Tax Dodging Funded Bezos' Ridiculous Space Trip https://truthout.org/articles/poverty-wages-and-tax-dodging-funded-bezoss-ridiculous-space-trip/

Learn more about the billionaires' "space race" in Coast Watcher's recent article, Billionaires in Spaaace! https://continuousrev.blogspot.com/2021/06/billionaires-in-spaaaace.html

And be sure to check out the best place on the web for independent journalism: https://radindiemedia.com/

What if UFOs are just billionaires from other planets?

— 𝙏𝙤𝙢 𝙃𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙨 (@tlhicks713) July 24, 2021

 

If you're arguing the success of capitalism based on this psychopath having spent 10 minutes in space while millions are deprived of medical care and/or bankrupted by medical bills, you're as twisted as he is. Just dumber. pic.twitter.com/JMm4nHSb7U

— ✊🏻 Stained Class (@DEMS_R_GOP) July 21, 2021

 

Hahaha why no I cannot pay you a fair wage you lowly Amazon worker, I need that money for a five billion-dollar carnival ride

— Caitlin Johnstone ⏳ (@caitoz) July 20, 2021

***

As Seattle was breaking records with triple-digit temperatures, Amazon warehouse managers called for a "power hour." They were pushing workers to run fast and pack faster despite having no indoor air conditioning in the warehouse.¹

Amazon puts productivity over the safety of their workers. They use high-tech algorithms to enforce it, surveilling workers and punishing them if they can’t meet the algorithm’s goals, even in the heat. This kind of workplace surveillance shouldn’t be legal, that’s why Congress needs to act now.

Sign the petition: Tell Congress to protect Amazon workers from dangerous workplace surveillance!

ADD YOUR NAME

Even before the "heat dome" Amazon warehouses were already dangerous places to work. Amazon uses high-tech algorithms like Rate and Time off Task to push workers to the physical limit and then punish them for taking bathroom breaks.² It’s so bad OSHA once called Amazon warehouses one of the most dangerous jobs in America.³

Workplace surveillance and productivity algorithms shouldn’t be legal in the first place. But our legal system lags behind the pace of technology. Unless Congress closes the gap, Amazon will continue to use its high-tech grip to squeeze the life out of its warehouse workers. Like, increasing productivity rates, during a historic heatwave, in a warehouse without air conditioning.

Join thousands of activists already calling on Congress to fix this and protect Amazon workers.

Sign the petition: Tell Congress to protect Amazon workers from dangerous workplace surveillance!

Thank you for speaking out,

Tihi and the team at Watchdog -- a project of Demand Progress

DONATE

Sources:
1. Daily Dot, "Amazon warehouse runs productivity contest at warehouse despite record-breaking heatwave," June 28, 2021.
2. The Verge, "How Amazon automatically tracks and fires warehouse workers for 'productivity'" April 25, 2019.
3. Futurism, "After Deaths, Amazon Lands on List of Most Dangerous Employers," October 18, 2019.

 ***

It’s a big week for the resistance. As the Line 3 protest camps continue to meet the unprecedented advancement of Enbridge’s dangerous pipeline — arrests are happening nearly every day as this Indigenous-led movement attempts to stop a host of river crossings — my colleague, Chase Iron Eyes, and our full media team are heading out to the frontlines right now.

This trip, and our staff’s ongoing dedication to media creation, outreach, and logistical support, is a huge investment — and it’s one we hope you’ll help us make. We’re going all in on providing the camps with needed equipment and capability to amplify this struggle now, while we still have a chance to protect Anishinaabe homelands. Will you give generously in this moment to protect our relatives and our world?

Water protectors at a Line 3 front in June. Photo by Christopher Francisco.

Our presence — and that of any allies who can also make the trip — is badly needed. In 2016 and 2017, the movement against the Dakota Access pipeline at Standing Rock attracted tens of thousands. In Minnesota, we are far fewer, and we’re spread thin across several camps. Those already on the frontlines are struggling logistically to stop Enbridge’s rapid build across many bodies of water. As you can see below, the police presence is mighty. We must do all we can.

Police ready to enforce Line 3’s incursions in June. Photo by Christopher Francisco.

Fortunately, we’re joining a coalition led by knowledgeable Indigenous leaders like Winona LaDuke of Honor the Earth, who was arrested this week, and Tara Houska of Giniw collective (pictured below). Our first jobs are to get there, set up, listen to the needs, and begin amplifying the voices of those on the ground.

Giniw Collective’s Tara Houska provides leadership against Line 3. Photo by Christopher Francisco.

The time is now. This week, another mistake in construction spewed noxious fluids into another sacred river. As they always do, this pipeline is already despoiling pristine waters. How much worse will it be when the tar sands oil — some of the world’s dirtiest — is spilled in these same water systems? We must not let that happen. We’re preparing to hold our ground for as long as it takes, and we thank you from our hearts for your generous support of this mission.

Wopila tanka — thank you for supporting our direct action against this toxic pipeline!
Madonna Thunder Hawk
Cheyenne River Organizer
The Lakota People’s Law Project

 

Cuba Libre

 

It's amazing how certain words can become hot buttons for certain Americans. "Socialism" is one of them. "Cuba" is another. With both of these terms back in the propagandists' mill this week, we invited our resident historian to give us his take on all things Cuban and socialistic.

Cuba Libre

By Coast Watcher

I sit on a man’s back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means—except by getting off his back. ~ Leo Tolstoy.

President Joe Biden recently called Cuba’s government a "failed state." His statement is patently false. How can any state said to be failing for sixty years? The truth of the matter is, the Cuban communist government is under severe pressure due to the United States general vindictiveness toward a country that has refused to kowtow to the might of capitalism. The current straits endured by the Cuban people are entirely due to the embargo imposed upon their nation by the United States, an embargo it is forcing the rest of the world to take part in.

The United Nations recently attempted to lift the embargo. All but two nations voted to do so. The exceptions were the United States and Israel. (Funny that. We seem to be on the Israelis' side whenever they do something wildly unpopular like bombing civilians and vice versa. --Editor) The US used its veto power, so the proposal failed. The embargo stays.

The shortage of syringes with which to vaccinate people seems to be the cause of the current protests. So why not allow Cuba to import syringes to fight Covid in the same way Cuban medical professionals have traveled to other countries to help combat the pandemic? Because medical paraphernalia is one of the items banned under the embargo. (Of course they are!) 

It’s no secret that most of the impetus behind the US policy toward Cuba comes from self-styled Cuban Exiles, people who benefited hugely from the fascistic Batista regime that ruled the island from 1952 until 1959. It’s no secret that Big Business is salivating at the prospect of once again getting a chance to plunder Cuban resources, probably to the point where it becomes yet another Haiti or Puerto Rico. Biden’s White House, like all others before since 1959, is going along with the capitalists' plan.

After the long series of ignominious pratfalls the CIA has endured since 1959, it looks suspiciously like the CIA is once again involved in trying to overthrow the Cuban government. (Exploding cigars are probably out this time.) Mainstream media is playing up the seriousness of the suspiciously well-equipped protests currently underway in Cuba, and not mentioning anything about the huge counter-protests supporting the communist government.  

Some have even called for airstrikes against Cuba, which is really upping the ante. But then, the US is never above preemptive strikes against anyone who annoys the capitalists in charge—and Biden has never met a war he didn’t like.

Would the US dare to deploy its massive navy in an actual blockade to prevent the rest of the world from trading with Cuba? Would Biden dare to risk huge disapprobation on the world stage for showing his country to be the bully really it is? Frankly, it’s high time the rest of the world called the US bluff, and tell it exactly what it can do with its embargo. (The UN should tell us to stick it where the sun don't shine--straight into the heart of our vampire politicians. -- Editor)

BIO: Coast Watcher sees through the haze created by the mainstream media propaganda machine regarding Cuba and calls them on their bullshit. It's time for Americans to wake up and smell the shit that has been dumped unceremoniously on the Cuban people for decades and help our neighbors to the south shovel themselves out of it. They may even thank us by sending over some of their world-renown Henry Reeve Brigade medics to help out Americans without access to adequate health care during a pandemic in return. Think about it.

“If President Joe Biden really had humanitarian concerns for the Cuban people he would eliminate the 243 measures applied by President Donald Trump, including 50 imposed cruelly during the pandemic,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel wrote on his Twitter account.

Related Articles:

If Biden Wants to Stand with the Cuban People He Can Ease the Cruel Blockade https://truthout.org/articles/if-biden-wants-to-stand-with-the-cuban-people-he-can-ease-the-cruel-blockade/

What Biden Could Really Do to Help Central America https://scheerpost.com/2021/07/19/what-biden-could-really-do-to-help-central-america/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fidel-Castro

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Reeve_Brigade

 Journalist Max Blumenthal of The Grayzone shines more light into the dark corners of this story. https://youtu.be/djj84ooaJCs

What’s behind the Cuba protests? The cruel Trump sanctions & U.S. blockade! Tell President Biden to lift them now! ACT NOW!

From sanctions against Iran and Venezuela to the blockades of Gaza and Yemen, we know well how devastating economic warfare can be. This is why we care about what’s happening in Cuba where, thanks to a 60+ year-long U.S. embargo, economic conditions are dire. There are rising food prices, rolling blackouts, and medicine shortages. 

Last Sunday the U.S.-caused crisis resulted in anti-government protests on Cuba’s streets and now far-right regime-change proponents are clamoring to make things even worse. Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is suggesting airstrikes. Republican Congressman Anthony Sabatini says the Cuban government should be overthrown and its leaders executed. Senator Rick Scott wants even more sanctions on the Cuban people! Those calling for war or sanctions claim that they want to help the Cuban people, but we know that the best way to help the Cuban people is to lift the embargo now.

Tell President Biden to lift the embargo on Cuba!

The embargo, put in place over 60 years ago, was specifically designed to bring about hunger, desperation, and “overthrow” of the Cuban government. President Trump made the embargo even worse by hitting Cuba’s energy, tourism and banking sectors, among others, as part of his “maximum pressure campaign” against the Cuban government. He even limited the amount of remittances U.S. citizens can send to Cuba, as well as limiting travel to the island. Trump then imposed even more sanctions during the pandemic! The combination of the embargo, the Trump sanctions, and the pandemic make life incredibly difficult for ordinary Cubans.

Biden made a campaign promise to reverse the Trump sanctions. Unfortunately, his lack of leadership has opened the door for right-wingers to use the protests to take control of the narrative. Just yesterday he broke his pledge and said the limits on remittances would remain. It’s crucial that we provide a strong counterweight by calling for an end to the Cuban embargo! 

The good news is that we’re not alone in this. Some politicians are pushing back — Senator Bernie Sanders is calling for an end to the embargo and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Greg Meeks, among others, is asking the Biden administration to lift the Trump sanctions!

Join the movement calling on President Biden to lift the Trump sanctions, end the embargo, and enter into full diplomatic relations with Cuba!

The embargo is cruel and illegal, and it affects every single person in Cuba. The best way to help Cubans is to lift it now. To learn more, read this article Leonardo and I wrote about the protests and the embargo. Also, make sure to watch this TikTok by Emily, where she questions why a few days of protests in Cuba of thousands drew more media attention than years of protests by hundreds of thousands of Haitians. 

In radical solidarity,
Medea, Leonardo, Michelle, Teri, Carley, Ariel, Ally, Alida, Ann, Ciara, Cody, Danaka, Emily, Farida, Jodie, Kelly, Leila, Madison, Mary, Marcy, Moses, Nancy, Paki, RJ and Sana

***

Right now, Lakota Law is doing all we can to help build the movement to stop the Line 3 pipeline. As you may recall, I made my first visit to the protest camps last month, and we have since sent two more delegations — including a media team who produced this video from the frontlines. We are far from done. At month’s end, we’ll send a more permanent presence to assist our Anishnaabe relatives in their fight to protect sacred lands and rivers. 

Watch: Line 3 camp leaders spoke to us about the need for participation, prayer, and action to stop this dangerous pipeline.

Our world continues to move toward the brink of climate catastrophe. If we don’t fight new, poisonous pipelines, we risk the death of Unci Maka — our Grandmother Earth — and all our relatives: the waters, the animals, and the people. That’s why I hope you’ll continue to empower this movement. We must show up and give of ourselves so the next seven generations can live and flourish.

To protect the homelands of the Anishinaabe People, Native water protectors and allies have been standing against this toxic pipeline for years now. At the Line 3 frontlines, I met with many relatives called to defend the sacred. They’re sacrificing every day and doing amazing work, but they also need our help. For this movement to succeed, more people, more resistance, more media coverage, and more action from our elected leaders must happen — and soon.

We’re creating a support plan inclusive of you, my relatives, because it is going to take all of us to stop this. There are many ways to help. The resistance highway has several lanes, and they’re all valid — whether you are chained to a bulldozer, or making art, or signing petitions. 

This fight has multiple frontlines, not just one. And camps are spread hours apart, separated by distance and complicated by the lack of cell service. Our media team felt the drills boring into the ground and under the Mississippi while they slept. Even as the pipeline experienced a “frac-out,” or release of drilling fluids into the river, the camps — including Red Lake Treaty Camp, Manoomin Camp, Shell River Camp, Welcome Water Protector Center, and Camp Migizi — are all urgently in need of people.

If you can show up in person as a water protector, you will be in good company — and we will happily provide resources for you to participate in a good way. Regardless, please do what you can to stand with the Anishnaabe by amplifying this struggle.

Wopila tanka — thank you for your dedication to safeguarding sacred land and water.
Madonna Thunder Hawk,
Cheyenne River Organizer
The Lakota People’s Law Project

***

When it comes to getting ‘forever chemicals’ out of our drinking water, your hard work and amazing advocacy have paid off! This week, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on creating a national standard that finally sets strict limits on PFAS chemicals in our water! This is a huge step forward in protecting families, since PFAS have been linked to cancer, birth defects, and other serious health problems. PFAS are called ‘forever chemicals’ because they don’t easily break down in the environment — 97% of Americans have measurable levels of these chemicals in their blood. But getting this critical bill through Congress is going to be an uphill battle. Giant chemical companies and manufacturers oppose PFAS limits, which is why it’s so important everyone speaks out now before the vote. Will you send a quick email message to your Representative to vote YES on the PFAS Action Act? It will make a huge difference in making our drinking water safer. Send a Message Consumer Reports’ members across the country helped us test tap water, and nearly every sample we examined had measurable levels of PFAS. In response to that disturbing report, 60,000 of you signed our petition earlier this year to the Administration and EPA to set an enforceable limit on these contaminants. That testing and advocacy made a real difference. The PFAS Action Act not only would create a drinking water standard, it would designate these chemicals as hazardous substances, limit industrial discharge, and provide funding for water treatment. Most of our local and city water systems don’t monitor PFAS, and until we have a federal standard, we can’t protect our families from these chemicals. C.A., will you send a message to your Representative showing your support for the PFAS Action Act? The vote could happen this week! Send a Message We’re thankful for all of the work you have done to fight for a federal standard for PFAS in drinking water — your advocacy makes all our families safer and healthier. Can you do one more thing after you act, and share this email with friends and family? Spreading the word this week is critical to getting this bill passed. Meg Bohne Consumer Reports

The Ocean is Boiling (and We Don't Care)

 

 The Ocean is Boiling (and We Don't Care)

by C. A. Matthews

The ocean is boiling billions of marine lifeforms off the coast of British Columbia. It literally steamed the clams right inside their shells. The ocean also burned like something out of an apocalyptic horror movie this past week in the Gulf of Mexico due to a burst pipeline. Hundreds have died of heat-related illnesses in the Pacific Northwest. Forest fires are burning in the West of the US in record numbers while hurricanes have caused massive flooding in the East.

Yet most Americans will continue to go about their business, as usual, without a thought as to how any of these disturbing occurrences matter. Heck, they'll be lucky if they even catch more than a ten second blurb about any of these stories on a mainstream media news outlet.

"Wet bulb" conditions can kill human beings in temperatures of 95+ degrees Fahrenheit with high humidity because our bodies simply can't sweat and cool ourselves down in those conditions.  The way our planet is rapidly warming because of fossil fuel burning these wet bulb conditions might soon become all-too-common in parts of the US not generally thought to be at risk. "The Rational National" explains this horrifying weather phenomenon in his short video below.

 

https://youtu.be/WsH4lcaypxs

Surprise! The whole world is boiling. Do we care?

The term "global warming" has long gone out of fashion, but perhaps it's more accurate than ever. "Climate change" is less offensive to some, but "climate crisis" or "climate  emergency" or even "climate catastrophe" seems more appropriate to me. Boiling oceans and human beings dying by the thousands in extreme heat waves are catastrophic emergencies and not simple changes to the climate. Those that argue that rising temperatures are a part of a "natural cycle" aren't facing facts.

The mean temps have been going up steadily since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. That means humans have played a large hand in this current climate catastrophe. We can't put all the blame on the occasional volcanic eruption.

Hmm… Wonder what we've been burning and dumping into the atmosphere since the start of the Industrial Revolution? Could it be fossil fuels?

Solar-powered bullet trains and wind-powered electric cars--why do we shy away from these greener options when our planet and our very lives are at stake? The fear of the unknown is one answer, but humanity's seemingly inherent suicidal tendencies (a.k.a. "capitalistic greed") are another. We shouldn't believe everything Big Oil shoves down our throats as their micro-plastics fill our water supplies and Big Coal's heavy particulates from coal-powered heavy industry fill our lungs. Our survival instincts alone should motivate us to take decisive action.

But they don't.

If marine life boiling alive in their shells doesn't motivate us to take decisive actions to negate the effects of climate change, what will it take? Notice I didn't mention the health and well-being of our fellow humans. There's ample evidence that indicates many people don't give a sh*t about what happens to their neighbors. 

Looking at my Twitter feed… I can tell we're fine if others don't have access to health care, experience homelessness, or go to bed hungry. Really, why would the possibility of our neighbors roasting alive in a severe heat wave or a few millions of acres of forest fires be of any concern to those who can afford air conditioning or an Alpine home atop of a very tall mountain, well above the tree line?

With so many signs demonstrating how we're destroying the planet through our fossil fuel abuse, we can't simply keep pleading ignorance. Even those in deep climate change denial know we're to blame. Whales and dolphins don't build leaky underwater pipelines and exploding oil rigs in the Gulf, do they? Squirrels don't play with matches and burn down their forest homes, darkening the skies with smoke and particulates.  Cows and pigs don't twist the animal feedlot (CAFO) owners' arms and force them to dump millions of tons of animal wastes into our rivers and lakes, creating toxic blue-green algae blooms.

It's time to stop the lie that humanity isn't the culprit behind this climate catastrophe. It's time for each of us to stop and do something--anything--to help our Earth heal. We need to care--a lot--about our neighbors and what happens to them in the coming days.

The ocean may continue to boil in the weeks, months, and years ahead, but at least we should care that it is--and vow to keep working hard until it doesn't.

Related Articles and Videos:

The Ocean is on Fire from Gas Leak from Underwater Pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico

https://www.cnet.com/news/the-ocean-is-on-fire-gas-leak-from-underwater-pipeline-sees-flames-erupt-in-gulf-of-mexico/

The East Floods While the West Burns https://youtu.be/_5ojO_HF8Io

Amazon Workers Fainting, Carted Off on Stretchers Amid Sweltering Warehouse Heat https://youtu.be/PfIOV7WMv60 

Heat Dome Probably Killed 1 Billion Marine Animals on Canada Coast https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/70335-heat-dome-probably-killed-1-billion-marine-animals-on-canada-coast-experts-say

The Company Behind the Keystone XL Pipeline Would Like $15 Billion of Your Money Please
https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/70301-the-company-behind-the-keystone-xl-pipeline-would-like-15-billion-of-your-money-please

Corporate Counterinsurgency Indigenous Water Protectors Face Off with an Oil Company and Police Over a Minnesota Pipeline
https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/70302-corporate-counterinsurgency-indigenous-water-protectors-face-off-with-an-oil-company-and-police-over-a-minnesota-pipeline

Forests of the Living Dead--How California's Canals and Dams Threaten the State's Woodlands
https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/70309-forests-of-the-living-dead-how-californias-canals-and-dams-threaten-the-states-woodlands

Fracking Dumps Millions of Gallons of Toxic Chemicals into the Gulf of Mexico
https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/70338-fracking-dumps-millions-of-gallons-of-toxic-chemicals-into-gulf-of-mexico

To Protect Themselves From Heat Waves the Working Class Needs to Get Organized
https://truthout.org/articles/to-protect-themselves-from-heat-waves-the-working-class-needs-to-get-organized/

***

As you’re likely aware, our democratic institutions are in peril. New Jim Crow-style state laws combined with other insidious voter suppression tactics systematically disenfranchise BIPOC (Black/Indigenous/People of Color). That’s why the Lakota People’s Law Project has taken legal action against the State of South Dakota. We have now officially joined the Oglala and Rosebud Nations, Standing Rock Sioux tribal member Hoksila White Mountain, and others as plaintiffs in a lawsuit alleging that South Dakota has repeatedly failed to register Native voters, in violation of the National Voter Registration Act.

Our partners at the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) and Demos submitted the filing to the U.S. District Court today, updating a lawsuit initiated in 2020 to include Hoksila and Lakota Law as plaintiffs. As you may remember, in 2018 and 2020, we worked hard with the Standing Rock Nation to ensure that Native voices were heard at the ballot throughout the country. Unfortunately, in far too many cases, systemic discrimination still prevented BIPOC from casting ballots.

The National Voter Registration Act — sometimes called Motor-Voter — is a federal law requiring that states help their citizens register to vote through the Department of Motor Vehicles and other state-run public assistance agencies. Time after time, South Dakota has failed to live up to its responsibility to assist Native People with voting.

The examples are legion, but here’s one. Before a recent election, Native voter Tyler Eagle Bull walked 30 miles in 12-degree weather to submit a change of address request for his Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. He wasn’t initially offered a voter registration application, and a Department of Social Services staff person then threw his completed voter registration form in the trash. 

South Dakota, of course, has long been known for discriminatory practices. For some historical perspective: the state prevented Native people from voting until the 1940s — a violation of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 — and Todd, Shannon, and Washabaugh counties refused to follow laws that protected the rights of Native Americans to vote until 1974. And in 1984, the county auditor in Fall River, which includes part of the Pine Ridge Reservation, refused to accept voter registrations from Native American citizens. 

We know this is all part of a larger pattern of nationwide disenfranchisement. As of May, the Brennan Center for Justice had tracked the enactment of at least 22 bills with restrictive provisions in 14 states, a dramatic increase from prior years. These brazen attacks on our democracy are a big reason why it’s so critical that we continue to support one another. As our ally, you’re fighting for — and winning — a better future for the next generations.

Wopila tanka — thank you for helping to protect our democracy!
Chase Iron Eyes
Co-Director & Lead Counsel
The Lakota People’s Law Project
 

 ***

BREAKING: Whistleblowers just filed a formal complaint revealing appalling conditions in a detention camp called Fort Bliss, where hundreds of children are currently being held.

It was extremely hard to read -- children not having access to clean clothing, regular showers, and being supervised by people with zero experience in child welfare. There are widespread reports of depression, anxiety, and stress.

 I wish this were a one-off, but it’s the latest in a growing scandal of shocking treatment of children at the warehouse-like detention facilities that have become the backbone of the current immigration system.

This is completely unacceptable. This is not who we can or should be as a country, and it’s urgent that these facilities are shut down and replaced with a compassionate solution that welcomes children with dignity.

Add your name to join our call demanding HHS Secretary Becerra get children out of detention and into the arms of loved ones as fast as possible.

ADD YOUR NAME →

Children should NOT be in detention PERIOD. Health professionals are clear that any length of detention is damaging, and what makes it all the more heartbreaking is that there are clear alternatives to locking up children in facilities.

A case-management approach could quickly process children while keeping them together with trusted caregivers and bringing community-based organizations into the reunification process would dramatically speed things up.

The stories and reports coming out of these facilities are crystal clear evidence that the inhumanity the Trump administration pushed into every corner of our immigration system is far from gone. Every day children are detained, this suffering continues, and we have to act.

Add your name to join our call demanding HHS Secretary Becerra get children out of detention and into the arms of loved ones as fast as possible.

Detention has a storied and sad history in the U.S. It’s been systematically used to incarcerate Black, Indigenous and other people of color since the forced removal of Indigenous people from their lands all the way through the WWII internment of Japanese Americans and beyond.

It is time that we condemn this inhumane practice to the history books and meet children with the love, compassion, and dignity we’d want any child in our life to receive.

Thanks for all you do,

Paola Luisi, Director
Families Belong Together