#Federal Government

[xtruss]

What Happened When a Fearless Group of Mississippi Sharecroppers Founded Their Own City

Strike City was born after one small community left the plantation to live on their own terms

— September 11, 2023 | NOVA—BPS

A tin sign demarcated the boundary of Strike City just outside Leland, Mississippi. Photo by Charlie Steiner

In 1965 in the Mississippi Delta, things were not all that different than they had been 100 years earlier. Cotton was still King—and somebody needed to pick it. After the abolition of slavery, much of the labor for the region’s cotton economy was provided by Black sharecroppers, who were not technically enslaved, but operated in much the same way: working the fields of white plantation owners for essentially no profit. To make matters worse, by 1965, mechanized agriculture began to push sharecroppers out of what little employment they had. Many in the Delta had reached their breaking point.

In April of that year, following months of organizing, 45 local farm workers founded the Mississippi Freedom Labor Union. The MFLU’s platform included demands for a minimum wage, eight-hour workdays, medical coverage and an end to plantation work for children under the age of 16, whose educations were severely compromised by the sharecropping system. Within weeks of its founding, strikes under the MFLU banner began to spread across the Delta.

Five miles outside the small town of Leland, Mississippi, a group of Black Tenant Farmers led by John Henry Sylvester voted to go on strike. Sylvester, a tractor driver and mechanic at the A.L. Andrews Plantation, wanted fair treatment and prospects for a better future for his family. “I don’t want my children to grow up dumb like I did,” he told a reporter, with characteristic humility. In fact it was Sylvester’s organizational prowess and vision that gave the strikers direction and resolve. They would need both. The Andrews workers were immediately evicted from their homes. Undeterred, they moved their families to a local building owned by a Baptist Educational Association, but were eventually evicted there as well.

After two months of striking, and now facing homelessness for a second time, the strikers made a bold move. With just 13 donated tents, the strikers bought five acres of land from a local Black Farmer and decided that they would remain there, on strike, for as long as it took. Strike City was born. Frank Smith was a Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee worker when he went to live with the strikers just outside Leland. “They wanted to stay within eyesight of the plantation,” said Smith, now Executive Director of the African American Civil War Memorial and Museum in Washington, D.C. “They were not scared.”

Life in Strike City was difficult. Not only did the strikers have to deal with one of Missississippi’s coldest winters in history, they also had to endure the periodic gunshots fired by white agitators over their tents at night. Yet the strikers were determined. “We ain’t going out of the state of Mississippi. We gonna stay right here, fighting for what is ours,” one of them told a documentary film team, who captured the strikers’ daily experience in a short film called “Strike City.” “We decided we wouldn’t run,” another assented. “If we run now, we always will be running.”

But the strikers knew that if their city was going to survive, they would need more resources. In an effort to secure federal grants from the federal government’s Office of Economic Opportunity, the strikers, led by Sylvester and Smith, journeyed all the way to Washington D.C. “We’re here because Washington seems to run on a different schedule,” Smith told congressmen, stressing the urgency of the situation and the group’s needs for funds. “We have to get started right away. When you live in a tent and people shoot at you at night and your kids can’t take a bath and your wife has no privacy, a month can be a long time, even a day…Kids can’t grow up in Strike City and have any kind of a chance.” In a symbolic demonstration of their plight, the strikers set up a row of tents across the street from the White House.

John Henry Sylvester, left, stands outside one of the tents strikers erected in Washington, D.C. in April 1966. Photo by Rowland Sherman

“It was a good, dramatic, in-your-face presentation,” Smith told American Experience, nearly 60 years after the strikers camped out. “It didn’t do much to shake anything out of the Congress of the United States or the President and his Cabinet. But it gave us a feeling that we’d done something to help ourselves.” The protestors returned home empty-handed. Nevertheless, the residents of Strike City had secured enough funds from a Chicago-based organization to begin the construction of permanent brick homes; and to provide local Black children with a literacy program, which was held in a wood-and-cinder-block community center they erected.

The long-term sustainability of Strike City, however, depended on the creation of a self-sufficient economy. Early on, Strike City residents had earned money by handcrafting nativity scenes, but this proved inadequate. Soon, Strike City residents were planning on constructing a brick factory that would provide employment and building material for the settlement’s expansion. But the $25,000 price tag of the project proved to be too much, and with no employment, many strikers began to drift away. Strike City never recovered.

Still, its direct impact was apparent when, in 1965, Mississippi schools reluctantly complied with the 1964 Civil Rights Act by offering a freedom-of-choice period in which children were purportedly allowed to register at any school of their choice. In reality, however, most Black parents were too afraid to send their children to all-white schools—except for the parents living at Strike City who had already radically declared their independence . Once Leland’s public schools were legally open to them, Strike City kids were the first ones to register. Their parents’ determination to give them a better life had already begun to pay dividends.

Smith recalled driving Strike City’s children to their first day of school in the fall of 1970. “I remember when I dropped them off, they jumped out and ran in, and I said, ‘They don't have a clue what they were getting themselves into.’ But you know kids are innocent and they’re always braver than we think they are. And they went in there like it was their schoolhouse. Like they belonged there like everybody else.”

[republicansaredomesticterrorists]

“Their intentions aren’t exactly a secret. Government programs that attempt to redress decades of racist policies would be eliminated should Trump be elected to a second term. “As President Trump has said, all staff, offices, and initiatives connected to Biden’s un-American policy will be immediately terminated,” Trump’s campaign spokesperson, Steven Cheung, told the news outlet.

A top Biden campaign official said Black voters needed to pay close attention to Trump’s plans.

Trump is “making it clear that if he wins in November, he’ll turn his racist record into official government policy, gutting programs that give communities of color economic opportunities and making the lives of Black and brown folks harder,” said former Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), one of the co-chairs of the Biden campaign. “It’s up to us to stop him.”

The warning comes as polling shows Biden’s level of support from Black voters has slipped. Democratic strategists have some fear about GOP plans to target Black men in the coming election. And they have major fears Black voters could stay home or vote for third-party candidates. Highlighting Trump and Miller’s plans could raise the stakes of the election for Black voters.

Miller, who pushed white nationalism and xenophobia in leaked emails, is at the heart of the effort. America First Legal, the right-wing nonprofit group Miller founded, has filed over a hundred lawsuits against “woke” corporations — like Disney, Mattel and Nike — that it alleges discriminate against white men. These complaints — many of which cite the 1964 Civil Rights Act — are laying the legal framework for Trump’s Justice Department to eliminate programs designed to counter racism, Axios notes.

Jasmine Harris, director of Black media for the Biden-Harris campaign, said the report should worry Black Americans.

“This report, in addition to all of the recent examples of shameless racism by Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans, serves as a warning to Black America: Donald Trump is a selfish and vindictive man who doesn’t give a damn about Black people,” Harris told HuffPost. “He will make our lives worse by using the very laws that the pioneers of the Civil Rights Movement fought for, against us.”

Miller’s group is not alone in the effort to roll back DEI initiatives.

The right-wing think tank Heritage Foundation crafted Project 2025, a sweeping playbook that lists policies and initiatives for the next conservative administration. The initiative is open about its goal to reshape the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. One of the mandates within the playbook is to “reorganize and refocus the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division to serve as the vanguard for this return to lawfulness.”

Trump has affirmed to supporters that he aims make good on his promise to eliminate DEI. “We will terminate every diversity, equity and inclusion program across the entire federal government,” he told a crowd in Rochester, New Hampshire, in January.”

[batboyblog]

The Biden-⁠Harris Administration Advances Equity and Opportunity for Black Americans

Growing Economic Opportunity for Black Families and Communities Through the President’s legislative victories, including the American Rescue Plan (ARP), the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA)—as well as the President’s historic executive orders on racial equity—the Biden-Harris Administration is ensuring that federal investments through the President’s landmark Investing in America agenda are equitably flowing to communities to address longstanding economic inequities that impact people’s economic security, health, and safety. And this vision is already delivering results. The Biden-Harris Administration has:

Powered a historic economic recovery that created 2.6 million jobs for Black workers—and achieved both the lowest Black unemployment rate on record and the lowest gap between Black and White unemployment on record.

Helped Black working families build wealth. Black wealth is up by 60% relative to pre-pandemic—the largest increase on record.

Cut in half the number of Black children living in poverty in 2021 through ARP’s Child Tax Credit expansion. This expansion provided breathing room to the families of over 9 million Black children.

Began reversing decades of infrastructure disinvestment, including with $4 billion to reconnect communities that were previously cut off from economic opportunities by building needed transportation infrastructure in underserved communities, including Black communities.

Connected an estimated 5.5 million Black households to affordable high-speed internet through the Affordable Connectivity Program, closing the digital divide for millions of Black families.

Helping Black-Owned Businesses Grow and Thrive Since the President entered office, a record 16 million new business applications have been filed, and the share of Black households owning a business has more than doubled. Building on this momentum, the Biden-Harris Administration has:

Achieved the fastest creation rate of Black-owned businesses in more than 30 years—and more than doubled the share of Black business owners from 2019 to 2022.

Improved the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) flagship loan guarantee programs to expand the availability of capital to underserved communities. Since 2020, the number and dollar value of SBA-backed loans to Black-owned businesses have more than doubled.

Launched a whole-of-government effort to expand access to federal contracts for small businesses, awarding a record $69.9 billion to small disadvantaged businesses in 2022.

Through Treasury’s State Small Business Credit Initiative, invested $10 billion to expand access to capital and invest in early-stage businesses in all 50 states—including $2.5 billion in funding and incentive allocations dedicated to support the provision of capital to underserved businesses with $1 billion of these funds to be awarded to the jurisdictions that are most successful in reaching underserved businesses.

Helped more than 37,000 farmers and ranchers who were in financial distress, including Black farmers and ranchers, stay on their farms and keep farming, thanks to resources provided through IRA. The IRA allocated $3.1 billion for the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide relief for distressed borrowers with at-risk agricultural operations with outstanding direct or guaranteed Farm Service Agency loans. USDA has provided over $2 billion and counting in timely assistance.

Supported small and disadvantaged businesses through CHIPS Act funding by requiring funding applicants to develop a workforce plan to create equitable pathways for economically disadvantaged individuals in their region, as well as a plan to support procurement from small, minority-owned, veteran-owned, and women-owned businesses.

Created the $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund that will invest in clean energy projects in low-income and disadvantaged communities.

Increasing Access to Housing and Rooting Out Discrimination in the Housing Market for Black Communities To increase access to housing and root out discrimination in the housing market, including for Black families and communities, the Biden-Harris Administration has:

Set up the first-ever national infrastructure to stop evictions, scaling up the ARP-funded Emergency Rental Assistance program in over 400 communities across the country, helping 8 million renters and their families stay in their homes. Over 40% of all renters helped are Black—and this support prevented millions of evictions, with the largest effects seen in majority-Black neighborhoods.

Published a proposed “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” rule through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which will help overcome patterns of segregation and hold states, localities, and public housing agencies that receive federal funds accountable for ensuring that underserved communities have equitable access to affordable housing opportunities.

Created the Interagency Task Force on Property Appraisal and Valuation Equity, or PAVE, a first-of-its-kind interagency effort to root out bias in the home appraisal process, which is taking sweeping action to advance equity and remove racial and ethnic bias in home valuations, including cracking down on algorithmic bias and empowering consumers to take action against misvaluation.

Taken additional steps through HUD to support wealth-generation activities for prospective and current homeowners by expanding access to credit by incorporating a borrower’s positive rental payment history into the mortgage underwriting process. HUD estimates this policy change will enable an additional 5,000 borrowers per year to qualify for an FHA-insured loan.

Ensuring Equitable Educational Opportunity for Black Students To expand educational opportunity for the Black community in early childhood and beyond, the Biden-Harris Administration has:

Approved more than $136 billion in student loan debt cancellation for 3.7 million Americans through various actions and launched a new student loan repayment plan—the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan—to help many students and families cut in half their total lifetime payments per dollar borrowed.

Championed the largest increase to Pell Grants in the last decade—a combined increase of $900 to the maximum award over the past two years, affecting the over 60% of Black undergraduates who rely on Pell grants.

Fixed the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, so all qualified borrowers get the debt relief to which they are entitled. More than 790,000 public servants have received more than $56 billion in loan forgiveness since October 2021. Prior to these fixes, only 7,000 people had ever received forgiveness through PSLF.

Delivered a historic investment of over $7 billion to support HBCUs.

Reestablished the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Black Americans.

Through ARP, secured $130 billion—the largest investment in public education in history—to help students get back to school, recover academically in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and address student mental health.

Secured a 30% increase in child care assistance funding last year. Black families comprise 38% of families benefiting from federal child care assistance. Additionally, the President secured an additional $1 billion for Head Start, a program where more than 28% of children and pregnant women who benefit identify as Black.

Improving Health Outcomes for Black Families and Communities To improve health outcomes for the Black community, the Biden-Harris Administration has:

Increased Black enrollment in health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act by 49%—or by around 400,000—from 2020 to 2022, helping more Black families gain health insurance than ever before.

Through IRA, locked in lower monthly premiums for health insurance, capped the cost of insulin at $35 per covered insulin product for Medicare beneficiaries, and helped further close the gap in access to medication by improving prescription drug coverage and lowering drug costs in Medicare. 

Through ARP, expanded postpartum coverage from 60 days to 12 months in 43 states and Washington, D.C., covering 700,000 more women in the year after childbirth. Medicaid covers approximately 65% of births for Black mothers, and this investment is a critical step to address maternal health disparities.

Financed projects that will replace hundreds of thousands of lead pipes, helping protect against lead poisoning that disproportionately affects Black communities.

Provided 264 grants with $1 billion in Bipartisan Safer Communities Act funds to more than 40 states to increase the supply of school-based mental health professionals in communities with high rates of poverty.

Launched An Unprecedented Whole-Of-Government Equity Agenda to Ensure the Promise of America for All Communities, including Black Communities President Biden believes that advancing equity, civil rights, racial justice, and equal opportunity is the responsibility of the whole of our government, which will require sustained leadership and partnership with all communities. To make the promise of America real for every American, including for the Black Community, the President has:

Signed two Executive Orders directing the Federal Government to advance an ambitious whole-of-government equity agenda that matches the scale of the challenges we face as a country and the opportunities we have to build a more perfect union.

Nominated the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court and more Black women to federal circuit courts than every President combined.

Countered hateful attempts to rewrite history including: the signing of the Emmett Till Antilynching Act; establishing Juneteenth as a national holiday; and designating the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument in Mississippi and Illinois. The Department of the Interior has invested more than $295 million in infrastructure funding and historic preservation grants to protect and restore places significant to Black history.

Created the Justice40 Initiative, which is delivering 40% of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments in clean energy, affordable and sustainable housing, clean water, and other programs to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution as part of the most ambitious climate, conservation, and environmental justice agenda in history.

Protecting the Sacred Right to Vote for Black Families and Communities Since their first days in office, President Biden and Vice President Harris have prioritized strengthening our democracy and protecting the sacred right to vote in free, fair, and secure elections. To do so, the President has:

Signed an Executive Order to leverage the resources of the Federal Government to provide nonpartisan information about the election process and increase access to voter registration. Agencies across the Federal Government are taking action to respond to the President’s call for an all-of-government effort to enhance the ability of all eligible Americans to participate in our democracy.

Repeatedly and forcefully called on Congress to pass essential legislation, including the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act, including calling for an exception to the filibuster to pass voting rights legislation.

Increased funding for the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, which has more than doubled the number of voting rights enforcement attorneys. The Justice Department also created the Election Threats Task Force to assess allegations and reports of threats against election workers, and investigate and prosecute these matters where appropriate.

Signed into law the bipartisan Electoral Reform Count Act, which establishes clear guidelines for our system of certifying and counting electoral votes for President and Vice President, to preserve the will of the people and to protect against the type of attempts to overturn our elections that led to the January 6 insurrection.

Addressing the Crisis of Gun Violence in Black Communities Gun violence has become the leading cause of death for all youth and Black men in America, as well as the second leading cause of death for Black women. To address this national crisis, the President has:

Launched the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, and taken more executive action on gun violence than any President in history, including investments in violence reduction strategies that address the root causes of gun violence and address emerging threats like ghost guns. In 2022, the Administration’s investments in evidence-based, lifesaving programs combined with aggressive action to stop the flow of illegal guns and hold shooters accountable yielded a 12.4% reduction in homicides across the United States.

Signed into the law the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most significant gun violence reduction legislation enacted in nearly 30 years, including investments in violence reduction strategies and historic policy changes to enhance background checks for individuals under age 21, narrow the dating partner loophole in the gun background check system, and provide law enforcement with tools to crack down on gun trafficking.

Secured the first-ever dedicated federal funding stream for community violence intervention programs, which have been shown to reduce violence by as much as 60%. These programs are effective because they leverage trusted messengers who work directly with individuals most likely to commit gun violence, intervene in conflicts, and connect people to social, health and wellness, and economic services to reduce the likelihood of violence as an answer to conflict.

Enhancing Public Trust and Strengthening Public Safety for Black Communities Our criminal justice system must protect the public and ensure fair and impartial justice for all. These are mutually reinforcing goals. To enhance equal justice and public safety for all communities, including the Black community, the President has:

Signed a historic Executive Order to put federal policing on the path to becoming the gold standard of effectiveness and accountability by requiring federal law enforcement agencies to ban chokeholds; restrict no-knock warrants; mandate the use of body-worn cameras; implement stronger use-of-force policies; provide de-escalation training; submit use-of-force data; submit officer misconduct records into a new national accountability database; and restrict the sale or transfer of military equipment to local law enforcement agencies, among other things. 

Taken steps to right the wrongs stemming from our Nation’s failed approach to marijuana by directing the Departments of Health and Human Services and Justice to expeditiously review how marijuana is scheduled under federal law and in October 2022 issued categorical pardons of prior federal and D.C. offenses of simple possession of marijuana and in December 2023 pardoned additional offenses of simple possession and use of marijuana under federal and D.C. law. While white, Black, and brown people use marijuana at similar rates, Black and brown people have been arrested, prosecuted, and convicted at disproportionately higher rates.

Announced over 100 concrete policy actions as part of a White House evidence-informed, multi-year Alternatives, Rehabilitation, and Reentry Strategic Plan to safely reduce unnecessary criminal justice system interactions so police officers can focus on fighting crime; supporting rehabilitation during incarceration; and facilitating successful reentry.

FACT SHEET

[mariacallous]

If Donald Trump returns to the White House, close allies want to dramatically change the government's interpretation of Civil Rights-era laws to focus on "anti-white racism" rather than discrimination against people of color.

Why it matters: Trump's Justice Department would push to eliminate or upend programs in government and corporate America that are designed to counter racism that has favored whites.

Targets would range from decades-old policies aimed at giving minorities economic opportunities, to more recent programs that began in response to the pandemic and the killing of George Floyd.

Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung told Axios: "As President Trump has said, all staff, offices, and initiatives connected to Biden's un-American policy will be immediately terminated."

Driving the news: Longtime aides and allies preparing for a potential second Trump administration have been laying legal groundwork with a flurry of lawsuits and legal complaints — some of which have been successful.

A central vehicle for the effort has been America First Legal, founded by former Trump aide Stephen Miller, who has called the group conservatives' "long-awaited answer to the ACLU."

America First cited the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in February in a lawsuit against CBS and Paramount Global for what the group argued was discrimination against a white, straight man who was a writer for the show "Seal Team" in 2017.

In February, the group filed a civil rights complaint against the NFL over its "Rooney Rule."

The rule — named for Dan Rooney, late owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers — was instituted in 2003 and expanded in 2022. It requires NFL teams to interview at least two minority candidates for vacant general manager, head coach and coordinator positions.

American First argued that "given the limited time frame to hire executives and coaches after the season, this results in fewer opportunities for similarly situated, well-qualified candidates who are not minorities."

In 2021, Miller's group successfully sued to block the implementation of a $29 billion pandemic-era program for women- and minority-owned restaurants, saying it discriminated against white-owned businesses.

"This ruling is the first, but crucial, step towards ending government-sponsored racial discrimination," Miller said then.

Zoom in: Other Trump-aligned groups are preparing for a future Trump Justice Department to implement — or challenge — policies on a broader scale.

The Heritage Foundation's well-funded "Project 2025" envisions a second Trump administration ending what it calls "affirmative discrimination."

Part of the plan, written by former Trump Justice Department official Gene Hamilton, argues that "advancing the interests of certain segments of American society ... comes at the expense of other Americans — and in nearly all cases violates longstanding federal law."

Hamilton is America First Legal's general counsel.

Such groups have gained momentum with the Supreme Court's turn to the right — most notably its recent rejection of affirmative action in college admissions. The court ruled that programs designed to benefit people of color and address past injustices discriminate against white and Asian Americans.

In 2021, a federal judge blocked a $4 billion program to help Black farmers.

Earlier this month, another federal judge ruled that the Commerce Department's Minority Business Development Agency was discriminating against white people and that the program had to be open to everyone.

What they're saying: The Trump campaign directed Axios to the candidate's already stated positions bashing Biden's policies promoting equity.

"Every institution in America is under attack from this Marxist concept of 'equity,' " Trump said in 2023. "I will get this extremism out of the White House, out of the military, out of the Justice Department, and out of our government."

The Trump campaign's Steven Cheung added: "President Trump is committed to weeding out discriminatory programs and racist ideology across the federal government."

The NFL and Miller declined to comment. CBS didn't respond to a request for comment.

Between the lines: A CBS poll last November found that 58% of Trump voters believe that people of color were advantaged over white people — just 9% of Biden voters said the same.

Polls also show, however, that Trump is gaining support among Black and Latino voters.

Zoom out: Trump has portrayed himself as the victim of racism amid his legal troubles.

He repeatedly has said Black women prosecutors in Georgia and New York are "racist."

His political career really began in 2011 as the chief Birther-agitator, questioning Barack Obama's eligibility to be president.

When Trump jumped into the presidential race in 2015, he accused Mexico of dumping criminals and rapists into the U.S.

[olowan-waphiya]

Fake Indian art still a major problem despite federal responsibilities

Criminal pleas surface amid vague ‘Indigenous’ claims Tuesday, March 14, 2023 By Acee Agoyo, Indianz.Com

Efforts to strengthen the Indian Arts and Crafts Act are gaining new steam as government authorities try to enforce a law aimed at addressing fraud and exploitation of Native cultures and ways of life. On Monday, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs unveiled a discussion draft bill called the Amendments to Respect Traditional Indigenous Skill and Talent Act of 2023. Also known as the ARTIST Act [PDF], the proposed legislation seeks to protect the arts, crafts, goods and other creative works that American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian people have produced since time immemorial.

“The ARTIST Act would update the Indian Arts and Crafts Act to support creative economies and strengthen enforcement of current law and protections against counterfeit competition for Native artists and their works,” the committee said in a news release on behalf of Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), the chair of the legislative panel. “This discussion draft reflects direct stakeholder input as well as years of committee oversight and broad commitment to the protection of Native cultural patrimony and revitalization of Indigenous languages,” the release continued.

As enacted in 1990, the Indian Arts and Crafts Act makes it a crime to market, sell or promote an item as “Indian” unless it was created by a citizen of a state or federally recognized tribe or by an artisan certified by a tribe. The law was written to prevent the historical and ongoing misrepresentation of Native arts by non-Native entities. Yet Native artists and their advocates have long complained about the lack of enforcement as fakes and frauds have continued to flood the market and undermine an important source of income in Native communities across the United States.

It’s an issue that Secretary Deb Haaland, who is the first Native person to lead the Department of the Interior, has recognized as a major problem. “Native art is a critical part in telling the story of this country and can only be told by Native artists,” Haaland said in a video message after making history as the first Native person in a presidential cabinet. “Buying authentic pottery, jewelry, mixed-media creations, paintings and other art from Native American artists helps support tribal economies.” “Unfortunately forgery and copies hinder the positive economic opportunities available to Native artists and their families,” said Haaland, who is a citizen of the Pueblo of Laguna.

The law was updated in 2000 and in 2010 to strengthen enforcement. But as fraudulent works continue to be sold in some of the largest art markets in the U.S., the ARTIST Act builds on prior efforts by broadly expanding the ways in which federal officers can investigate suspected violations. Federal officers, for instance, would be authorized to make arrests, engage in searches and even conduct seizures for suspected violations of the Indian Arts and Crafts Act.

They would also be able to inspect shipments coming into the U.S. to ensure compliance with the law, according to provisions of the draft. And for the first time, Native Hawaiians would gain protections for their creative works. The ARTIST Act modifies existing definitions in federal law to ensure that the original inhabitants of Hawaii aren’t left out of enforcement efforts that are available to American Indian and Alaska Native artisans.

To help pay for these enforcement measures, the ARTIST Act authorizes ways in which people suspected of violating the law can have their property forfeited and be required to shoulder the costs of investigations through fines and penalties. A new Indian Arts and Crafts Forfeiture Fund would be established to assist the work of the Department of the Interior.

The draft discussion bill also requires visible and permanent labeling of items that come into the U.S. from Canada or Mexico. Anything that could “possibly be mistaken for, arts and crafts made by Native Americans” must be “indelibly marked with the country of origin,” according to provisions of the the ARTIST Act.

Finally, the ARTIST Act would require trainings of federal law enforcement officers, not only on the Indian Arts and Crafts Act but on the recently-enacted Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony Act, also known as the STOP Act. The latter law makes it a crime to export tribal cultural property, another issue that has threatened Native cultures and ways of life. “For too long, the export and sale of sacred and culturally significant items from Native peoples in Hawaiʻi, Alaska, and across Indian Country has deprived these communities of their own history and heritage,” Schatz said after the measure was passed and signed into law during the prior session of Congress. “Our bill will help stop the black market trafficking of these items and bring them home.”

Just this month alone, federal authorities announced the resolution of three cases in which the Indian Arts and Crafts Act was violated. In all three instances, non-Natives created and sold fraudulent art by misrepresenting, falsifying and lying about their non-existent tribal backgrounds. In Washington, 52-year-old Lewis Anthony Rath and 67-year-old Jerry Chris Van Dyke, also known as Jerry Witten, pleaded guilty on March 1 to breaking the law.

Both men admitted that they sold fake “Indian” goods in the historic Pike Place Market in Seattle, one of the most heavily trafficked tourist areas in the city. “When non-Native artists falsely claim Indian heritage, they can take sales away from true Indian artists working to support themselves with skills and techniques handed down for generations,” Nick Brown, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, said in a news release. “Stores and galleries need to partner with artists to ensure those artisans and craftsmen advertised as Indian Artists truly have tribal status,” Brown added, offering advice to businesses to ensure they comply with the law.

Rath falsely claimed to belong to the San Carlos Apache Tribe — while producing items that mimicked the Pacific Northwest tribal cultures that are hundreds of miles from his supposed Native homeland in Arizona. According to federal authorities, the goods were sold at the Raven’s Nest Treasure and the Ye Olde Curiosity Shop, both of which represented to customers that Rath was Native. And when agents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is part of the Department of the Interior, searched Rath’s home and studio, they found feathers from protected birds — including ones from golden eagles. He pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of these items in addition to violating the Indian Arts and Crafts Act.

Meanwhile, Van Dyke falsely claimed to be from the Nez Perce Tribe and was selling goods that he claimed were of Alaska Native origin — again far away from his supposed tribal background in Idaho. According to federal authorities, he produced the items using materials that were supplied to him by the non-Native owner of a gallery in Pike Place.

“Van Dyke had worked with the gallery for more than ten years, with the gallery owner providing him with woolly mammoth ivory, antlers, animal bones and fossilized walrus ivory to make the pendants that it sold,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington said in the March 1 news release. A day later in Texas, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District announced the sentencing of Kevin Charles Kowalis, 60, for violating the law. According to federal authorities, he falsely marketed and sold jewelry online that he claimed were of “Zuni” and “Navajo” origin even though he does not belong to either tribal nation.

“Fraud can come in many forms but always carries the intent to deceive a victim,” U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza of the Western District of Texas said in a news release. “Offenders like this defendant victimize both our cherished Native American community and consumers who believe they’re collecting authentic pieces of Native American culture. We will not stand idle while someone takes advantage of our citizens and our federal resources.” Kowalis will serve five years probation for his crime and was ordered to forfeit his inventory, pay a special assessment and pay restitution to a victimized artist from the Pueblo of Zuni.

The total amount appears to be relatively low — less than $1,500, according to court records. No fines were ordered due to his “inability to pay,” the criminal judgment reads. “This sentencing is important in the fight to end this type of fraud,” said Assistant Director Edward J. Grace of the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement. “Our dedicated team of special agents works on behalf of the Department of the Interior and the Indian Arts and Crafts Board to protect American Indian and Alaska Native artists and the consumers who purchase authentic Native American art and craftwork.”

Over in Washington, Rath and Van Dyke are due to be sentenced on May 17. As part of a plea agreement, federal prosecutors said they won’t seek prison time for Van Dyke. Rath did not obtain any promises regarding sentencing in his plea agreement. A federal judge, though, will make the final determination on punishments for both individuals.

“The Indian Arts and Crafts Board (IACB) is very pleased that Jerry Chris Van Dyke and Anthony Rath have been brought to justice for their roles in selling fake Indian artwork in violation of the Indian Arts and Crafts Act,” said Director Meridith Stanton, the leader of the IACB, which is part of the Department of the Interior. “Cases like these are critical to preserving the integrity and viability of authentic Native American art and craftwork in general, as well as preserving the rich cultural heritage of the Nez Perce Tribe and the San Carlos Apache Tribe and the economic livelihoods of their artists and craftspeople,” said Stanton.

The IACB helps look into potential violations of the Indian Arts and Crafts Act, offering examples of possible wrongdoing. But the board’s website notes that items that are marketed or portrayed as “Native American style” or “Native American inspired” can be sold without violating the law — so long as there is “qualified labeling” available to the consumer.

The draft discussion of the ARTIST Act maintains the legality of these categories of “Native American-style jewelry” and “Native American-style arts and crafts” but requires that such items be “indelibly marked” or labeled in a “permanent” fashion, to ensure the consumer is aware that they are not produced by an American Indian, Alaska Native or Native Hawaiian artist.

And while the title of the ARTIST Act contains the word “Indigenous,” the proposed bill does not contain any definitions of a term that has become increasingly used by people who are creating, marketing and selling art that they claim is Native in origin.

An example just emerged in New York, where a self-described activist opened an exhibit in February that appropriates numerous elements of Native culture even after admitting to Indianz.Com that they do not belong to any tribal community. The exhibition, located at a small gallery in the Upper East Side of New York City, notably incorporates the red imagery that Native women developed and brought to prominence to raise awareness to their missing and murdered sisters and relatives. It also includes a visual representation of a Native quilted blanket — albeit with the word “PRETENDIAN” stitched into it.

The Soul of Nations Foundation has prominently marketed the installation as “Indigenous” in origin, a designation that has prompted some Native people to consider reporting it to the Indian Arts and Crafts Board for possible violations of the Indian Artist and Crafts Act. In fact, the non-profit’s executive director and founding member, Ernest Hill, contacted Indianz.Com numerous times in advance of the opening on February 24, soliciting news coverage for an individual who removed all references to their supposed tribal affiliation over a year ago.

Yet Hill, whose parents served as religious missionaries to the Navajo Nation and to other reservations, has since refused to answer questions about the exhibition — including inquiries about the artist’s supposed tribal background.

Materials that Soul of Nations produced for the installation claim it is directed to “Indian Country” but the organization has repeatedly refused to respond to inquiries about the use of the designation in connection with someone who admitted they lack ties to any tribal community. Hill and Soul of Nations also have refused to clarify the source of funding for the project.

In press materials, they proudly assert that the installation has received “support” from the Department of State. On social media, Hill and Soul of Nations gave a different story. In response to a prominent Native environmental leader who has repeatedly attempted to hold the self-described activist accountable for the false claims of tribal belonging, they claimed that “no outside funding was provided for this exhibition.”

When asked to explain the discrepancy between the press materials and the social media post regarding their claim of receiving federal support, Hill and the Soul of Nations refused to respond. The organization started blocking Native users on social media and began restricting interactions on one of its accounts after questions were raised about the installation. The Soul of Nations website, incidentally, includes a prominent reference to the “Senate Committee on Indian Affairs” on a page that has been used to solicit monetary donations. The Department of State is also listed in the same section of the site.

Since the opening of the installation last month, the self-described “Indigenous” individual has posted on social media about being on “Day 371” of a “cancel” and a ‘call out” that has purportedly kept them “jobless.” The number of days is counted from the February 25, 2022, story on Indianz.Com that reported on their their non-existent tribal affiliations. The next post on the private account was about the installation, which opened to the public a year following publication of the story. The user has since deleted hundreds of posts about their supposed tribal background from the account, whose name is a variation of an anti-LGBTQ slur.

The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs is accepting comments about the Amendments to Respect Traditional Indigenous Skill and Talent (ARTIST) Act of 2023 until April 14. Comments can be sent to Artist@indian.senate.gov.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

[BANKSY]

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

October 27, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

OCT 28, 2023

An article this morning jumped out at me. Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post noted that the U.S. economy “looks remarkably good.” A recent stunning jobs report, showing that the economy continues to add jobs at record rates—more than 13.9 million since President Joe Biden took office—along with yesterday’s stunning report that U.S. economic growth grew at an annual pace of 4.9% in the third quarter of this year, puts the U.S. economy at the forefront of most of the world. And inflation is back in the range that the Federal Reserve prefers—it’s at 2.4%, close to the Fed’s target of 2%.

The U.S. is outperforming forecasts made even before the pandemic began for where the economy would be now, even as other countries are worse off. 

And yet, Rampell notes, Americans are about as negative about the economy today as they were during the Great Recession after 2008, when mortgage foreclosures were forcing people out of their homes and unemployment rested at about 9%, more than twice what it is today. In contrast, consumers give high marks to the Trump years, when average growth before the pandemic was 2.5% and the U.S. added only about 6.4 million jobs.

There is a crucial divorce here between image and reality. Americans think our economy, currently the strongest in the world, is in poor shape. They mistakenly believe it was better under Trump.

That profound and measurable disjunction ought to make us sit up and take notice, especially as the Biden administration continues to try to make the economy responsive to ordinary Americans and the country continues to pay little attention. Today, for example, the White House announced an effort to turn the dual problems of empty office buildings and a shortage of affordable housing into a win-win. It announced a series of actions to convert vacant commercial properties to residential buildings. Their efforts are designed to create affordable, energy-efficient housing near public transportation and jobs.  

The importance of identifying the contrast between image and reality in today’s politics showed recently as the meticulous work of Nashville investigative reporter Phil Williams of Tennessee’s NewsChannel 5 appears to have had an important effect on the mayoral election in Franklin, Tennessee. 

While far-right Christian nationalist mayoral candidate Alderman Gabrielle Hanson promised she was “committed to restoring and upholding the wholesome values that have long been the foundation of our city’s identity,” Williams exposed to voters Hanson’s shady history. He showed that Hanson had lied about having multiracial supporters and her ties to white supremacists, highlighted her bizarre behavior, and noted her embrace of Christian nationalism. 

On Tuesday, voters overwhelmingly rejected Hanson and other far-right candidates. Hanson won just 20.6% of the vote to 79.4% for the incumbent mayor. Then, after losing, Hanson apparently had her husband drop off her computer and ID badge at City Hall, abandoning her term as alderman before its November 14th end. 

Such deep investigation stands out in an increasingly turbulent sea of disinformation. Shayan Sardarizadeh of the BBC explained to Hanaa’ Tameez of Neiman Journalism Lab that social media posters on platforms like TikTok, YouTube, or Twitter can make significant sums of money from “engagement farming.” Posting outrageous material that engages viewers pumps up a user’s brand, making them able to command high prices from marketers.  

Sardarizadeh notes that the Israel-Hamas war is a particularly attractive situation for engagement farmers, and rumors and fake videos are flying. 

But there are plenty of opportunities for disinformation at home, too, for political purposes. In Ohio, the Republican-controlled Ohio Senate is using its official government website to push what Associate Press legal and medical experts say is “false or misleading” information against the proposed constitutional amendment the state’s voters will consider in the November 7 election. Their inflammatory language warns, for example, that the measure will “legalize abortion on demand at any stage of pregnancy” and permit “the dismemberment of fully conscious children,” the rhetoric of anti-abortion activists.

Julie Carr Smyth and Christine Fernando of the Associated Press report that Republicans began their “On the Record” blog on the state Senate website after Ohio voters rejected their attempts to make it much harder to pass constitutional amendments. The Republicans bill the blog as an “online newsroom” where voters can find “the views the news excludes.” Republican Senate president Matt Huffman denied that the blog was a news service, but it sits under the “News” tab on the Senate’s website. 

“My [Republican] colleagues say that this is done because the mainstream media won’t print their stuff,” Democratic state senator Bill DeMora told the reporters. “But of course, the mainstream media won’t pick this up because it’s factually incorrect and basically lies.” 

But because the blog appears on an official government website, internet searches turn it up as a reliable source. Laura Manley, executive director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, told Smyth and Fernando: “It’s a really strategic way to make something appear to be neutral information and fact when that’s not the reality…. I’ve never seen anything like that.”

Finally, after a two-day manhunt, law enforcement officers found Maine mass murder suspect Robert Card dead tonight from a self-inflicted gunshot. Reports suggest that Card had at least a recent history of mental illness and note that his social media accounts show a history of engagement with right-wing and Republican political content.

—

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[fatehbaz]

In 2023, "the world's largest mining convention" took great interest in Latin America. With the active help of the Canadian federal government, Canadian mining companies are moving to expand their power in Peru and Ecuador.

---

On January 18, 2023, as thousands of Peruvians were taking to the streets in Lima to denounce the spiralling political crisis in the country, Canadian Ambassador Louis Marcotte was meeting with the Peruvian Minister of Energy and Mines. [...]. Demonstrators have been met with widespread arrests and brutal violence. [...] [S]ince [protests began] [...] the Canadian mission has met with numerous top-level Peruvian officials in unprecedented fashion. [...] Ambassador Marcotte tweeted several photos from the meeting, using the occasion to promote mining as a benefit for communities and to express Canadian support for the upcoming Peruvian delegation who will attend the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada’s (PDAC) annual conference in Toronto from March 5 to 8 [2023]. Each year, the world’s largest mining convention draws tens of thousands of [...] company officials, and government representatives to [...] promote an expansion of mining -- with little concern for the consent of those most affected, including in Peru. [...] For years, MiningWatch Canada and the Justice and Corporate Accountability Project (JCAP), alongside organizations including Red Muqui, Cooperacción, Derechos Humanos Sin Fronteras-Cusco and Derechos Humanos y Medio Ambiente DHUMA, have documented the many harms caused by industrial large-scale Canadian mining to rural communities [...]. Ambassador Marcotte chose to promote more Canadian mining investment in the country and plug PDAC 2023 -- where a session dubbed “Peru Day” promises to discuss “opportunities [...].” Canada’s priorities in Peru could not be more clear. [...]

Text by: Kirsten Francescone. “State-sanctioned violence in Peru and the role of Canadian mining.” Canadian Dimension. 6 March 2023. [Bold emphasis added by me.]

---

Canadian companies invested over $8 billion in 10 projects [in Peru in 2021] [...]. Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals operates the Constancia mine; Vancouver’s Pan American Silver operates the Shahuindo and La Arena mines; and Teck Resources’, also headquartered in Vancouver, operates the Antamina mine, with a 22.5 percent ownership stake in the project. Antamina is Peru’s largest mine, ranking among the top 10 producing mines in the world in terms of volume, and is the single most important producer of copper, silver, and zinc in the country. In 2021, the mine generated over $6 billion in revenue and nearly $3.7 billion in gross profits. [...] Companies can sign service contracts directly with the National Peruvian Police, and off-duty police officers are permitted to work for private security companies while using state property, such as weapons, uniforms and ammunition. [...] These harms are not minimal: contamination of agricultural lands and waterways around Pan American Silver’s Quiruvilca mine and the criminalization of community leaders and land dispossession due to environmental contamination at Shahuindo; violation of Indigenous self-determination and the right to a clean environment around Plateau Energy’s proposed lithium and uranium mine, sitting atop the region’s most important tropical glacier; undercutting of economic benefits for communities most affected by mining operations, and more.

Text by: Kirsten Francescone. “State-sanctioned violence in Peru and the role of Canadian mining.” Canadian Dimension. 6 March 2023. [Bold emphasis added by me.]

---

Two Canadian mining companies are drawing the ire of activists and Indigenous groups in Ecuador, where the government [...] is using Toronto-based Adventus Mining’s Curipamba copper-gold project in Las Naves and Vancouver-headquartered Atico Mining’s La Plata project in Sigchos as test sites to impose a new and controversial process for environmental consultation under Decree 754 -- an executive edict issued on May 31 [2023] that has been roundly denounced as unconstitutional and illegal. Decree 754 [...] affords communities no rights to veto development projects on their lands. [...] The pro-mining [...] government, which swept to power in 2021, passed the decree a few weeks after dissolving the elected national assembly and proceeding to govern by executive fiat. National protests subsequently erupted [...]. [P]residential elections [are] scheduled for August 20 [2023]. [...] Residents of Las Naves and Sigchos have faced heavily armed military and police forces, which have come in to break up protests [...]. Stephen Potter, Canada’s ambassador to Ecuador, who was in Las Naves to visit Adventus’s Curipamba project at the beginning of June [2023], said in an interview that the mine is a “responsible investment that has the support of the community.” [...] There has also been ongoing conflict and opposition tied to other Canadian mining projects, including in the Ecuadorian Amazon where the Shuar Arutam people have denounced the militarization of their territory to advance Vancouver-based Solaris Resources’ Warintza copper project. [...]

Text by: Viviana Herrera and Ivonne Ramos. "Violence surrounds Canadian mining projects in Ecuador." Canadian Dimension. 4 August 2023. [Bold emphasis added by me.]

---

[T]he [...] government is on the cusp of signing a free trade agreement with Canada and becoming the “next destination for mining.” Only two mines are currently in operation in Ecuador [...]. In September 2022, [...] Ecuador’s Minister of Mines and Energy [...] announced six new ‘strategic’ mining projects. Five of these will be led by Canadian firms [...]. According to the minister, these projects may [against existing laws] obtain an environmental license without the requirement for prior consultation [with local communities,]. This announcement happened after one of the largest national strikes in the country called by CONAIE, demanding the [...] government issue a moratorium on mining and nullify another decree -- Executive Decree 151 -- that would allow for mining in the Amazon [...]. Earlier this year, [the Minister of Mines and Energy] spoke in Toronto at the annual conference of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC), the world’s largest mining convention, about Ecuador’s plans to become Latin America’s next premier mining destination by speeding up project approvals and signing a new trade pact with Ottawa. “A free trade agreement with Canada would make Ecuador the best mining destination,” he reassured investors. [...] With $3.7 billion invested, Canada is the leading foreign investor in Ecuador, and the majority is already invested in the country’s mining sector. [...]

Text by: Viviana Herrera and Ivonne Ramos. "Violence surrounds Canadian mining projects in Ecuador." Canadian Dimension. 4 August 2023. [Bold emphasis added by me.]

[locustheologicus]

This Election is too important to vote based on ignorance.

Project 2025 lays out the Conservatives plan to restructure U.S. government and replace it with Trump’s vision | PBS NewsHour

Know what Candidate Trump is planning with Project 2025.

Please read the article above and the video below to know exactly what Candidate Trump is planning for his second presidency. The top article describes some of the changes to the political system that would usher in a more authoritarian regime. The new administration would be able to fire many governmental staff and gut important regulatory departments. This would be an undemocratic power grab including...

A “top to bottom overhaul” of the Department of Justice, particularly curbing its independence and ending FBI efforts to combat the spread of misinformation. There are proposals to have the Pentagon “abolish” its recent diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

Project 2025 was put together by a consortium of conservative think tanks. Their focus has been to promote the corporate agenda by eroding the power of the government, undermining our political system, and supporting massive deregulation. Now they see a new opportunity with candidate Trump.

The bottom video describes the economic plan under Project 2025.

Three economic policies to know:

Taxes would be raised on middle and low-class Americans while cutting taxes for the rich by implementing a two-tiered tax system

Workplace Protections would be stripped away including child labor laws

Eliminate any student debt relief including the public service loan forgiveness program.

Please study this plan and be aware of what we are voting for in November. Republicans were once known for being fiscally responsible, we can no longer assume that. This plan would only serve those who are "as rich as hell." The rest of us will suffer greatly from this economic catastrophe.

Finally, in the Brian Lehrer show, Brian has Scott Waldman, a White House reporter, discuss his article about Project 2025 where he says that the policy on environmental regulations is a plan based on "reversed and scrubbed, reversed and scrubbed." Briam asks him what these words refer to? To which Scott tells him:

Well, they're talking about climate science where they want to basically just root it out from every part of the government and the way it's used.

They would replace the Presidential Climate Advisor with something called environment and energy coordinator. 

They can also hear from the concerns of the industry and what it needs to expand and make more money and react to that and use the levers of the federal government to benefit private industry in these large mega multi-billion dollar corporations like Exxon.

Of course, this is consistent, but it should be very alarming, at least for those of us who recognize the ecological challenge we face and the need to regulate corporations and have the wealthy pay their fair share.

[todaysdocument]

The 4 major patterns of discrimination identified in "Civil Rights of Puerto Ricans in the United States", 6/10/1947: 

Housing discrimination, discrimination by police and teachers, and military segregation.

File Unit: "Puerto Ricans in the United States, Civil Rights of"-Memo to the Pres. Comm on Civil Rights Prep. by M.D. Stewart and Herbert Kaufman, 1946 - 1947

Series: Staff Memoranda, Witnesses Statements to the Committee and Other Committee Documents Files, 1946 - 1947

Record Group 220: Records of Temporary Committees, Commissions, and Boards, 1893 - 2008

Transcription:

[partial round stamp] RECORDS SERVICE / U.S. GOVERNMENT [end stamp]

June 10, 1947

MEMORANDUM

TO: Members of the President's Committee on Civil Rights

FROM: Robert K. Carr, Executive Secretary

SUBJECT: "Civil Rights of Puerto Ricans in the United States" prepared by Milton D. Stewart and Herbert Kaufman

[round stamp] HARRY S. TRUMAN LIBRARY / NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS SERVICE / U.S. GOVERNMENT [end stamp]

PUERTO RICANS IN THE UNITED STATES

I

Patterns of prejudice and discrimination against Puerto Ricans in the United States have not yet crystallized. Nevertheless, there are clear indications of trouble to come. Current trends are menacing in terms of our past experience. For this reason, any action taken with respect to civil rights will be of special significance for the Puerto Ricans because it may have important preventative as well as curative effects.

The United States acquired Puerto Rico in 1898. By 1940, approximately 150,000 Puerto Ricans had immigrated to this country. Since the outbreak of World War II and the increase in economic opportunity, the rate of immigration has increased tremendously. Some sources contend that the number is still below 200,000, but social and welfare workers have advanced estimates as high as 350,000. Exact data are lacking because the Puerto Ricans were granted United States citizenship under the Organic Act of 1917; since they have free access to and from all parts of the country, and since they do not fall within the jurisdiction of any single Federal agency, no official tabulations have been made. However, the Puerto Rican Office of Information estimates that the net influx is about 2,500 a month, with 6,500 returning to the island for every 9,000 who arrive.

At present, they come to the United States primarily for economic reasons. Puerto Rico is overcrowded and not well enough developed industrially to support its population. At the same time, continental United States is in a period of prosperity. Transportation, both by air and by ship, is relatively inexpensive. Under these conditions, it is not surprising that Puerto Ricans are making their way to the mainland in ever-increasing numbers.

They settle almost exclusively in New York City; large colonies have appeared in East Harlem, the lower Bronx and near the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The people in these communities retain the Puerto Rican culture pattern to a large extent, especially in language, recreation, diet and social organization.

Most of the Puerto Ricans come here voluntarily and independently. A very small number came in under contract for domestic service.

[page 2]

[round stamp] HARRY S TRUMAN LIBRARY / NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS SERVICE / U.S. GOVERNMENT [end stamp]

-2-

Charges of "slave labor" have been made, but they were discredited after an insular official investigated the situation and concluded that no civil rights were being violated by the contracts. However, the United States Department of Labor, which must approve all such contracts, is not enthusiastically supporting the contract device, so it is doubtful that it will become a major vehicle for the importation of labor.

II

The economic status of the Puerto Rican in the United States is affected by three major factors:

First, the overtaxed school system of Puerto Rico has been unable to supply many of them with even a rudimentary education. Today, with the highest school registration in history, it is estimated that only 53% of the children of school age actually attend.

Second, English is the official language of the schools, although most of the children speak only Spanish. This, some authorities maintain, operates to make people "illiterate in two languages". Few of those who come to the United States can get along in English.

[round stamp] HARRY S TRUMAN LIBRARY / NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS SERVICE / U.S. GOVERNMENT [end stamp]

Third, since Puerto Rico is under-industrialized, the people have no opportunity to develop the skills required by industry here.

For these reasons, Puerto Ricans have been employed mainly in unskilled jobs. They work in restaurants as waiters, busboys, and dishwashers. They supply most of the manual labor in laundries. They clean the ships that stop in the Port. They serve as domestics.

There is no evidence of any deliberate discrimination to restrict Puerto Rican to this kind of work, nor of wages having been scaled against them. No complaints have been lodged by Puerto Ricans with the State Commission Against Discrimination. There is no civil rights problem in employment now.

But stereotypes regarding the capacities of Puerto Ricans are developing. They are associated with manual labor. They come from an area which has a lower standard of living. Should an economic crisis develop, competition for unskilled labor jobs may increase. The Puerto Ricans may be induced to work for lower wages than native workers in the struggle to hold the only type of job for which they have qualified heretofore. In such a situation, not only with the rights of the Puerto Rican be endangered but an environment will have been fostered in which group tensions will reach a perilous stage. No need for special action to protect civil rights of Puerto Ricans is indicated, but any general recommendations designed to protect all minority groups will do a good deal to prevent a potential sore spot from festering.

III

There are four areas in which a familiar discriminatory pattern has already made itself evident.

[page 3]

-3-

In housing, the Puerto Rican has been confronted by the same barriers that obstruct the Negro. When he looks for an apartment, the doors in white neighborhoods are often closed to him or the rents are raised. This factor, in conjunction with the low economic status of the Puerto Rican and the natural desire of recent immigrants to stay together, accounts for the substandard conditions which prevail in these communities. Ancient buildings, overcrowding, poor ventilation and inadequate sanitary facilities are common. Disease rates and crime are consequently high.

There are some indications, not very easily substantiated, of discriminatory police administration in Puerto Rican districts. Complaints of arbitrary arrest have been reported to the Office of Puerto Rican Information. Many of these apparently arise from the inability of the people to make themselves understood in English. However, a good part of this problem is rooted in the failure of New York police to understand Latin American culture, and many ordinary meetings and discussions seem to be regarded as near-riots by officers who are unfamiliar with the group. A startling example of this misapprehension followed the Scottoriggio murder, when all social gatherings of the Puerto Ricans in East Harlem, a common type of recreation in Puerto Rico and virtually the only kind the Puerto Rican in New York can afford, were forbidden by the Police Department and a number of them actually raided. Here, misunderstanding produced a violation of civil rights; the implications for the future are threatening.

In education, the Spanish-speaking Puerto Rican children have posed a serious problem for the authorities. Generally speaking, the children have been treated with courtesy and sympathy and have received special assistance in overcoming their language handicap. However, some teachers have privately manifested hostility toward their Puerto Rican pupils and have even referred to them in derogatory or abusive terms. It is difficult to see how they can keep from reflecting their attitudes in the classroom.

Finally, the armed forces, in applying their policy of segregation on the basis of color, imposed on the Puerto Ricans a pattern foreign to them. Reports from one source illustrate vividly the nature of this type of discrimination. During the war, in Puerto Rico, newly inducted recruits were lined up. An officer then walked along the ranks and, on  the basis of a cursory personal inspection, arbitrarily assigned some men to white units, others to segregated Negro units.

In all four areas, the indicators have swung over to the danger zone. The issues are not peculiar to the Puerto Ricans, however, and can be handled by action directed at protecting all minority groups. Such action would prevent the Puerto Rican situation from growing more troublesome.

[round stamp] HARRY S TRUMAN LIBRARY / NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS SERVICE / U.S. GOVERNMENT [end stamp]

IV

Socially and politically, the Puerto Ricans in the United States have not met with any widespread violations of their civil rights. They

[page 4]

-4-

are admitted to places of public accommodation and recreation, they vote when they qualify on the same basis as other citizens, their civil and legal rights have not yet been widely violated. But unhealthy signs are developing in employment, in housing, in police administration, in education, and in the armed forces. The influx which gave rise to the symptoms is likely to continue, for the insular administration is anxious to relieve the critical economic conditions on the island by moving as many people as possible to continental United States. Furthermore, it is hoped that the Puerto Ricans will seek employment opportunities outside of the crowded New York slums; the problems may well become rational. The need for action is clear, though there is no special area in which the Puerto Ricans are distinct from any other minority group. If civil rights in general are maintained, social conflicts which are now only in the making may be resolved.

[round stamp] HARRY S TRUMAN LIBRARY / NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS SERVICE / U.S. GOVERNMENT [end stamp]

SOURCES

Interview with Mr. Leonard Sussman, Puerto Rican Office of Information, New York City

Interview with Mr. Donald J. O'Connor, Office of Puerto Rico, Washington, D.C.

McWilliams, Carey, Brothers Under the Skin, 1943, pp. 204-17.

Chenault, Lawrence R., The Puerto Rican Migrant in New York City, 1938.

[zwischenstadt]

Reagan’s position on voluntarism was willfully equivocal, variously seeking to exploit and disable the energies of a nonprofit sector that had first become a target of government funding under the Great Society Agenda.  Even while he endlessly exhorted nonprofits to pick up the slack from failing public services then, Reagan did everything in his power to undercut the nonprofit infrastructure that had grown out of, and beyond, the Great Society community action programs.  With their proximity to civil rights movement and the New Left, these evidently were not the kinds of voluntary initiative that Reagan wished to foster.  Reflecting on the legacy of Reagan’s first few years in government, Lester Salamon calculates that Reagan ended up cutting ‘the equivalent of $115 billion in real terms’ to the nonprofit sector between 1982 and 1985.  The Omnibus Budget and Reconciliation Act of 1981 led to huge cuts for grant-in-aid programs to state and local government, the first such cuts in almost a quarter of a century, and transformed a wide variety of categorical grants (that is, grants with budgets allocated to fixed programs) into block grants that gave states less money but more discretion in how to spend it.  These reforms eviscerated the smaller, more militant, nonprofits that had benefitted from Great Society funding largesse and had a particularly devastating effect on healthcare services for the poor.  During Reagan’s first term, it is estimated that cuts to healthcare block grants averaged from 20 to 35 percent nationwide; grants-in-aid to state and local governments for preventative health programs declined by 22 percent; for health resources by 42 percent; for health services by 22 percent; for alcohol, drug abuse, and mental health by 34 percent; and for Medicaid by 7 percent.

At stake here was something more than a deference to limited government: Reagan was profligate in other areas of federal spending and indifferent to the soaring budget deficit, squandering billions on the military and tax concessions, much to the dismay of some of his closest advisors.  More than a testament to fiscal conservatism, Reagan’s cuts to the nonprofit sector were motivated, foremost, by a political animus against the legacy of Great Society welfare programs.  Upon entering office, Reagan quickly moved to shut down the Community Service Administration (which had begun life as the Great Society’s Office of Economic Opportunity, the body responsible for funding Community Action Programs) and replaced it with a new voluntary sector agency named ACTION.  He then appointed a ‘particularly ardent conservative’ as head of the agency, who made a special effort to stop funds going to left-leaning activist organizations.  According to new rules issues by ACTION, organizations could not use federal funds to engage in the ill-defined activity of ‘political advocacy’ and would have to isolate funds that they used toward that purpose if they received as little as 5 percent of their operating budget from the government.  This stipulation was evidently aimed at the kind of public interest litigation that had grown out of and alongside the radical welfare activism of the 1960s and ‘70s – in particular, the various Supreme Court challenges that had undermined the power of state welfare agencies to police morality.  It was designed to stifle precisely the kinds of public policy activism that AIDS service organizations would engage in, despite all the odds, throughout he 1980s.

Melinda Cooper, Family Values: Between Neoliberalism and the New Social Conservatism

[mr-camhed]

Talon Corporation Maritime Fleet Cruiser Pride of Aurelia (TCMFC Pride of Aurelia),Formerly known as Brabazonian Federal Navy Cruiser Fort Costa Blanca (BFFC Fort Costa Blanca), is a nuclear powered guided missile cruiser. The ship started its life during the late stages of the Second Atlantide war as the sister ship of Brabazonian Federal Navy's Cruiser Pelico Bay as a conventionally powered heavy cruiser tasked with patrolling the sealine of the Brabazon Federation, intercepting Atlantides' landing and transportation forces.

Unfortunately, before the yet unnamed warship's hull was even finished, the Second Atlantide war was ended unexpectedly during the defense of Fort Costa Blanca, in which the 1000mm caliber main defense gun of the fort sunk the floating city of Atlantide in a lucky shot. And with the war over, the purpose for the ship was also subsequently made obsolete, and the almost finished hull was left mothballed in the dry dock, awaiting to be dismantled or resume construction.

Three decades after the conclusion of the Second Atlantide War, the relationship between Brabazon and Atlantide remnants was once again strained by the Black Tide Crisis, which the Military Industrial Complex of Brabazon Federation was heavily betting on the chance of another war breaking out and is preparing to profiteer from it. And among the many exotic projects flooding the military facilities all over the federation was the second chancefor the ship. Instead of the regular tower shaped superstructure, naval gun turrets and internal combustion engine, the ship was armed with at the time state of the art guided missile systems, a unique box shaped bridge and nuclear power. The newly refurbished and finished warship was Christened Fort Costa Blanca after the site that witnessed the end of the Second Atlantide War, though the purpose of the warship is still the same: intercept and destroy potential threat in the ocean. Unfortunately for the Warship, many other military projects and the profit margin of the Military Industrial Complex, the Black Tide Crisis was ended in peaceful means instead of igniting a new war, and with the ship obsolete again even after being commissioned, it had lost any and all chance of seeing combat, and became nothing but a token that endlessly paraded the ocean just for show for the nine years to come.

After The Catastrophe which caused the destruction of the Brabazon Federation's capital city and the subsequent social and economical unrest which means that the nation, now divided into confederates of city states, are now no longer capable of maintaining a massive active or reserve navy, and the ship was among many that were about to be decomissioned and scrapped to recoup for losses. However, fortunately for them, Colonel Rand Toro, a senior officer of the Brabazonian military, who had seen an opportunity from their recent contact of a formerly unknown land, proposed "Project Talon", which will see them profiteering from the new land natives' schism by exporting war and unrest, shattering their uneasy peace and facade of prosperity. The project was immediately greenlit by the high level personnel in the military, the government, and the Military Industrial Complex, and the Talon Corporation, a Paraterrorist Military Organization under the disguise of a PMC was born, and was made with the purpose to export weaponry and unrest for the purpose of warmongering, while importing plundered resources, enslaved labours and potential stolen technology that they can reap from the war they had mongered. And with the plan in effect, they took the husk of another already decommissioned cruiser, turned it into a replica of the Fort Costa Blanca, before scrapping the shell vessel in a publicity stunt to drum up popular dissatisfaction against the pacifists. While the fake ship was being turned into a pile of scrap to the Brabazonian folks' protest, the real Fort Costa Blanca was rechristened as the Pride of Aurelia after a nonexistent place or people, and the older parts of the ship such as radar systems, anti air guns and what not were changed out with advanced integrated combat system, and the rest of the ship's system were also refitted and upgraded. The newly refurbished Pride of Aurelia became the flagship of Talon Corporation's maritime fleet, and also served as one of the overseas mobile headquarters during the earlier days of Project Talon, while after the Talon Corporation's overseas headquarters finished construction, the Pride of Aurelia would spend most of its time cruising in the artificial layer of cloud and fog surrounding it, hunting and destroying any vessels and aircraft that had got into the premise with its advanced combat system to keep the secret of the HQ, Though it also would go out to do mission elsewhere sometimes.

[ID: USS Long Beach (CGN-9), Which TCMFC Pride of Aurelia/BFFC Fort Costa Blanca was based on, cruising off Oahu, 9 May 1973. End ID.]

[ausetkmt]

As the state of Tennessee uses eminent domain to take over land to connect a new multi-billon dollar Ford plant to the interstate, Black farmers say the government is offering them a fraction of what their land is worth.

A year ago, Ford Motor Company broke ground on a $5.6 billion electric truck plant in a rural region of Tennessee full of African American farmers, according to Tennessee Lookout. While the investment has brought economic prosperity to the area, Tennessee government officials have moved to threaten Black towns and financially bulldoze over land that has been in Black families for generations.

Now, the Tennessee Department of Transportation is attempting to use eminent domain to take over Black farmers’ land while offering them a fraction of what their land is worth.

“It’s not the first time we’ve had to fight,” Marvin Sanderlin, a longtime farmer in Haywood County with 400 acres of land told Tennessee Lookout.

The recent developments come a year after a Tennessee Comptroller told Black residents of Mason to remove their Black elected officials from office. It also comes during the fallout over Tennessee House Republicans expelling two members of the Tennessee Three after the lawmakers protested for gun safety legislation on the House floor.

Black farmers fight for fair deal in state land grab

Marvin Sanderlin is no stranger to fighting against the state to maintain ownership of his land. Local accounts highlight how his great-great grandmother, an enslaved woman, successfully sued to ensure her children inherited a portion of land from their slave-owning father.

The state has taken Sanderlin to court for 10 acres of his property as it lies in the path of the planned roadway that would connect the Ford plant to the interstate.

Sanderlin says the state is offering him only $3,750 per acre.

“That’s unheard of,” Sanderlin said. “You can’t buy no land here for $3,500 an acre. You can’t buy a swamp here for $3,500” Sanderlin said. “I told them this is the biggest ripoff there is. They want your land, but they don’t want you to participate in the wealth.”

The proposed construction would run through Black-owned land in Tipton, Haywood and Fayette Counties.

Some Black farmers and land owners have joined together and, along with the NAACP, plan to fight back.

The fight comes as Black farmers around the nation continue to criticize the Biden Administration for its failure to secure targeted investment for them in the federal farm bill, despite Black farmers suffering long-time discrimination in federal funding.

Investment on the backs of Black farmers?

The Ford plant is expected to add 6,000 direct jobs and nearly 25,000 indirect jobs to the region.

“With the single largest investment in state history, this historic project brings thousands of jobs and new opportunities for Tennessee families to thrive,” Gov. Bill Lee said last month.

Yet Black farmers who own land along the proposed roadway’s path say the economic prosperity arriving in the region shouldn’t come at the cost of their land.

Ray Jones is a retired school teacher who runs the Boys and Girls Club of Brownsville. The state is offering him just over $8,000 for an acre of his land.

Jones said he supports the Ford investment, but he blames TDOT for their attempt to hustle him off his land.

“All the people are benefiting from BlueOval and that’s good. We are 100% in support of BlueOval. Make sure you quote me on that. But then you want to take my spring and give me pennies on it? It’s an unreasonable situation,” Jones said.

Rosa Whitmore, 82, owns a home that was built on land where her grandparents picked cotton. She says the state didn’t inform her of their interest in her land until late last month. They’re also offering her just $8,000 per acre.

“I worked with my own two hands up at 6 a.m. going to work in the field under the hot sun. That’s what we had to do to own this land,” Whitmore said.

[mariacallous]

Donald Trump appears to dream of being an American authoritarian should he return to office. The former US president, who on Tuesday secured enough delegates to win the 2024 Republican nomination, plans to deport millions of undocumented immigrants and house scores of them in large camps. He wants to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy the military in cities across the nation to quell civil unrest. He wants to prosecute his political opponents. There’s an organized and well-funded effort to replace career civil servants in the federal government with Trump loyalists who will do his bidding and help him consolidate power.

What’s also concerning to legal experts, though, are the special powers that would be available to him that have been available to all recent presidents but have not typically been used. Should Trump decide to go full authoritarian, he could utilize what are called “emergency powers” to shut down the internet in certain areas, censor the internet, freeze people’s bank accounts, restrict transportation, and more.

Utilizing laws like the National Emergencies Act, the Communications Act of 1934, and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), he would be able to wield power in ways this country has never seen. Furthermore, America’s vast surveillance state, which has regularly been abused, could theoretically be abused even further to surveil his perceived political enemies.

“There really aren’t emergency powers relating to surveillance, and that’s because the non-emergency powers are so powerful and give such broad authority to the executive branch. They just don’t need emergency powers for that purpose,” says Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty & National Security Program at the New York University School of Law.

Goitein says she worries most about what a president could do with the emergency powers available to them, though, when she considers whether a president might decide to behave like an authoritarian. She says the laws surrounding these powers offer few opportunities for another branch of government to stop a president from doing as they please.

“Emergency powers are meant to give presidents extraordinary authorities for use in extraordinary circumstances. Because they provide these very potent authorities, it is critical that they have checks and balances built into them and safeguards against abuse,” Goitein says. “The problem with our current emergency powers system—and that system comprises a lot of different laws—is that it really lacks those checks and balances.”

Under the National Emergencies Act, for example, the president simply has to declare a national emergency of some kind to activate powers that are contained in more than 130 different provisions of law. What constitutes an actual emergency is not defined by these laws, so Trump could come up with any number of reasons for declaring one, and he couldn’t easily be stopped from abusing this power.

“There's a provision of the Communications Act of 1934 that allows the president to shut down or take over communications facilities in a national emergency. There is a provision that allows the president to exert pretty much unspecified controls over domestic transportation, which could be read extremely broadly,” Goitein says. “There’s IEEPA, which allows the president to freeze the assets of and block financial transactions with anyone, including an American, if the president finds it necessary to address an unusual or extraordinary threat that is emanating at least partly from overseas.”

Goitein says that if someone is targeted using IEEPA, they wouldn’t be allowed to even rent an apartment, buy groceries, or have a job in the US. She says Congress needs to reform these laws before a president decides to abuse them.

You can imagine Trump deciding he wants to shut down the internet, use the military as a police force, and utilize the government’s surveillance powers if a large anti-Trump protest were to occur in one or more cities around the country. This would resemble the tactics authoritarians have used to quash popular resistance in less democratic countries around the globe.

Though the Insurrection Act is not technically an emergency power, because no emergency has to be declared for it to be used, Goitein says she’s deeply concerned about how that law could be utilized.

“It clearly falls into the category of extraordinary powers that are meant for extraordinary circumstances,” Goitein says. “The Insurrection Act gives the president incredibly broad discretion to use federal armed forces as a domestic police force.”

Chris Edelson, an assistant professor of government at the American University, tells WIRED that he worries what Trump might do regardless of what is lawfully allowed.

“I think he will do what he can get away with, and he will make use of whatever tools are available, which could include statutory provisions like the National Emergencies Act, or it could just include acting by fiat. He could just say, ‘I’ll order the government to do whatever I want,’” Edelson says.

If the US Supreme Court were to rule that Trump has overstepped what he’s allowed to do, Edelson says he’s not confident Trump would obey such a decision. This harkens back to something that happened in 1832 when President Andrew Jackson said of the Supreme Court decision in Worcester v. Georgia, “[Chief Justice] John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.” The Supreme Court can put out a decision, but it’s not guaranteed that a president will listen. The executive branch has been operating under norms, and Trump likes to break norms.

“Trump is a bully at heart. He might try to ignore a court ruling,” Edelson says. “He’ll do whatever he thinks he can get away with, including ignoring a judicial decision.”

Regardless of who’s president, Goitein and Delson both say that Congress needs to reform the laws that allow presidents to wield such great power. If they’re not abused by Trump, they could be abused by another president in the future. It’s best not to leave a powerful weapon available to someone who may one day be tempted to use it, and Trump has historically tested what a president can get away with.

[ahb-writes]

Book Review: ‘The Saga of Tanya the Evil’ #10

The Saga of Tanya the Evil, Vol. 10: Viribus Unitis by Carlo Zen My rating: 5 of 5 stars Pursuing victory without ever exerting the most casual glance toward the consequences of one's efforts invariably blinds the nation-state to the political, economic, and cultural deficiencies and failures sure to creep into the shadow of one's willful ignorance. THE SAGA OF TANYA THE EVIL v10 unites the prophesiers of the Empire's impending demise around the one or two flickering candles of hope. And so, knowing the tiniest gasp or the sharpest exhale may snuff out these last lingering insights, Tanya takes a deep breath and pushes ahead. The previous volume of this novel series was the author's most prudent intellectualization of the war, and yet, somehow, the current volume goes one step further. THE SAGA OF TANYA THE EVIL v10 yields to the intellectual superstructure of the previous volume and focuses almost entirely on witnessing the emotional and physical consequences of adhering to the wayward truths that infrequently muscle their way through the din of bureaucracy the and fog of military conflict. For her part, Lieutenant Colonel Tanya von Degurechaff contemplates the efficacy of desertion, worries over the narrow viability of the General Staff's tentative false-flag operation, and feverishly ridicules her colleagues for their shortsightedness and inability to properly contextualize war as an extension of politics ("In the absence of problems that require heroic intervention, there simply is no need for a hero," page 003). The Empire is no longer losing the war; the Empire has lost. The only pragmatic observation available to the war's contributors concerns how quickly or how slowly the country will succumb to its varied wounds. The multifront conflict is bleeding the nation dry. Will the Empire simply wither until it runs out of human and technological resources? The diplomats at the Foreign Office have been sitting on their hands for years. Will the bureaucrats pull through and negotiate an armistice of some kind? Victory is no longer probable, and the military and the Foreign Office's prerogative has become to convince the greater government that a negotiated resolution is the Empire's only option for continued survival. Tanya spies these intertwining challenges not unlike negotiating with a three-headed chimera (i.e., the army, the government, the people). But a nation drunk on the presumption of total victory as a natural extension of total war won't sober up anytime soon. Solutions exist. Shocks to the system are possible. But it appears the Empire's communications codes have been decrypted, and it appears the eastern front is set to crumble (again), and it appears nobody truly knows what's going to happen next because nobody's been in this (losing) position before. "Even the mere idea of retreating provoked reactions of contempt… Whether or not there was precedence for retreating, from a military standpoint, the masses had no appreciation for that kind of logical thinking." (page 044) THE SAGA OF TANYA THE EVIL v10 is a compelling book because Tanya fights to validate the war's most dismal truths just as she pushes back against its many, conniving, socio-political constraints. For example, Tanya and the 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion are assigned to the western front, under Lieutenant General Romel. But first, a pitstop, as Tanya must deliver a message from Lieutenant General von Rudersdorf to the newly promoted General von Zettour on the frontlines. Tanya-as-courier is a funny, squirrely shift in plans, as Zettour conspires to execute a magnificent tactical shift that could revitalize the eastern front for the Empire. But there are consequences. If Zettour's Operation Mini-Revolving Door fails, then the Federation will have the opportunity to bludgeon its way deep into Empire-held territories, and the Empire's soldiers will have lost their mettle. If the operation succeeds, with no small help from Tanya and her trusty adjutant, Serebryakov, then Zettour will have extended the Empire's lifeline on the eastern front for several tenuous months. The operation's failure and success both reek of desperation, and anyone with a brain can see Zettour has put his neck on the line to sustain a war effort that is slowly crumbling before his eyes. This volume doesn't disappoint when it comes to articulating Tanya in the field of battle. The first of the book's two battles, which occurs in the east, is a marvelous reminder of the dangers of maneuver warfare. This novel series is strong when it comes to field strategy, and war games more broadly, but on the tactical level, Zettour's brilliance is a highlight of the novel's first half. Zettour is an animal and a schemer. Everyone knows this. And yet, nobody can stop him. "It was at the same moment when the con artist across the table, who they expected to show his hand at any moment, kicked the entire table out from in front of them." (page 098) Another highlight? Tanya's face-to-face encounter with Commonwealth Lieutenant Colonel Drake, second-in-command of the multinational mage unit. Drake is an entertaining character because of his grudging compliance. However, THE SAGA OF TANYA THE EVIL v10 spares the man no peace, as Drake almost gets his arm sliced off and is nearly blown to smithereens during Tanya's recon-in-force feint. On the plus side, for readers, Tanya hilariously outsmarts First Lieutenant Mary Sue into blind fratricide. But the twisting and turning violence and deception of the eastern front soon gives way to the frail insecurities of the west. The gears of war grind on, but the oil and grease that keep the machine running are continuously diluted. Back at the capitol, Colonel Lergen meets with an official of the Empire's Foreign Office (the notably snooty Counselor Conrad), and together they plot to convince the hydra to end the war through bloody-nose posturing. That is to say, to strike at the enemy's doorstep and surreptitiously convince foreign citizenry of the threat the Empire poses, and thus spark sincere negotiations at the highest level. The western front is the focus of this effort, and Operation Doorknocker is quickly, hurriedly underway. The events on the western front are similar to the eastern front, but bloodier and less fortuitous. Tanya's 203rd Aerial Mage Battalion is up against a whole brigade of the Commonwealth's marine mages. THE SAGA OF TANYA THE EVIL v10 queries readers as to how invincible the 203rd really is, particularly when the political deliberations forcing the battalion's movements are weak, inexperienced, and absent conviction. How does one fight a war when the bureaucrats are too stupid to follow suit? How does one fight a war when one's communications have been compromised? How does one fight a war when an unspoken "Plan B" keeps resurfacing when one least expects it? Tanya emerges from Operation Doorknocker in one piece, but ultimately a failure; the Empire's hydra is increasingly to blame for getting in its own way. THE SAGA OF TANYA THE EVIL v10 frames the Empire's imminent decline around Lieutenant General von Rudersdorf's dangerously practical view of power politics. In the previous volume, he floated the idea of a false-flag operation; he postulated that staging an attack in Berun, the capitol, would spur negotiations for peace. Rudersdorf knows that the integrity of a bureaucrat at war is not equivalent to the integrity of a soldier at war. But Rudersdorf's "Plan B" is increasingly problematic. For one, soldiers who acquiesce to hasten the demise of the Empire risk becoming traitors, if on the ironic pretense of overvaluing their patriotism. Lieutenant General Romel, for example, playacts the reckless leader, but his legitimate shrewdness could easily be misperceived as a stress-test gone too far. Second, the issue of hastening the Empire's demise is itself a query prone to bifurcation. Rudersdorf plies Colonel Lergen for reliability, successfully arguing that a false-flag operation grows more feasible as the war itself grows less winnable. Readers would be apt to explore this foreshadowing. If "Plan B" were to go into effect, where would Rudersdorf find such a group of willing soldiers? Obviously, he'd use the 203rd. Further, what would be the legal ramifications of doing so? Tanya's fate would be sealed. And what, then, of the political consequences? Rudersdorf ponders what would happen if he slayed the hydra himself, creating a Supreme Army Command that superseded (if not eliminated) the other heads of government. "I can't let my imagination get too out of hand." (page 276) When Rudersdorf not-so-jokingly asks Lergen to oversee the contingency plan, which he calls the Counter-Insurrection Plan, Lergen balks, but with only the smallest granule of confidence. Third, calling the false-flag operation a "contingency plan" means it's a viable and actionable plan should certain conditions be met. At present, nobody really knows what those conditions are or how much time is left until the trigger is pulled. Well, almost nobody. In the novel's closing pages, Lergen makes a startling discovery that recontextualizes the final months of the war and his role in it. THE SAGA OF TANYA THE EVIL v10 exposes the myriad ironies embedded in war's purposeful violence. Tanya lives up to her reputation as a ghost or a devil set to drive others to their fiery graves, but she's not without a conscience on the matter ("I know I'm fighting for the losing side," p. 219). Zettour calmly marks up his topographical map of the eastern front, lamenting how his skill compels extending a losing affair ("This wickedness of his was a sort of emergency measure, but he had to accept that it was becoming the norm for him," p. 284). Rudersdorf aims to redefine the boundaries of the war machine's obligations. And Lergen, angry with the Empire's "superfluous bureaucracy," becomes a political animal, though he loathes the necessity. "War was just an extension of politics, after all. Though it was conducted through force of arms and open warfare, the fact that it was humans who were doing the fighting meant that politics would always be a part of the fundamental equation." (page 296)

Light-Novel Reviews || ahb writes on Good Reads

[galleryyuhself]

                   G    A    L    L    E     R    Y    Y     U    H     S    E    L    F

Charles Petioni was a co-founder of the Trinidad Co-operative Bank, popularly known as the Penny Bank.In 1914, Petioni and friends raised the capital to finance the establishment of the bank which allowed deposits as small as a penny. He served as its secretary-treasurer.The move was in response to the policy at the British Colonial Bank (BCB), then the only commercial financial institution in Trinidad, which made the opening minimum deposit unaffordable by low-income people.

The BCB, by its policy, catered to upper-class merchants, plantation operators, and government officials.Petioni, however, was not able to see the Penny Bank overcome the resistance it faced from elements in colonial Trinidad that did not want a black-owned bank to succeed. His social activism against colonialism forced him to go into exile in the United States within four years.Petrioni had been a journalist and subeditor with local newspapers from 1908 to 1918.His anti-colonial newspaper articles got him in such trouble that he was fired.

It is reported that “the colonial government sent word to him that his outspoken views about local political and economic conditions had permanently future career opportunities for himself and his family”.When Petioni moved to Harlem, New York, in 1918, he had “never lifted anything heavier than a pen”, and had to take work as a stockman in the shipyards, then as an elevator operator, and later as an elevator operator. Eventually, he attended pre-med night classes at City College of New York until he was able to enroll at Howard University College of Medicine.After graduation in 1925, Petioni became one of Harlem’s first black physicians. He opened a practice at his home where he attended to low-income patients, joining a complex struggle for better conditions for blacks in Harlem.

Petioni devoted much of his later life to African American and West Indian social, political, and economic, and medical organisations. He became president of the West Indies National Council, and joined the United Negro Improvement Association.In time, he became a founding director of the Carver Federal Savings and Loan Association which, much like the Penny Bank he had founded in his native Trinidad, helped poor people be able to save money, obtain mortgages, and purchase their own homes.Born in August 27, 1885, Dr. Charles Augustin Petioni died in New York on October 15, 1951.

His daughter, Dr. Muriel Petioni, born in Trinidad in 1914, followed in her father's footsteps, set up a private practice in the same office he had used for his practice, and worked diligently help underserved communities receive proper medical attention and equitable access to health care.More: 1. Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience2. https://www.marxists.org/.../works/1939/10/negro3.htm...

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Floridope :: [The Daily Don]

* * * * * LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

May 18, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

MAY 18, 2023

Citing “changing business conditions,” Disney leadership today canceled plans to build an office complex near Orlando, Florida. The construction was estimated to cost about $1 billion, and the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity projected it would bring to Florida more than 2,000 jobs with an average salary of $120,000. In his email to employees, Disney’s theme park and consumer products chair Josh D’Amaro made it clear that even more was on the line. He noted that Disney has planned more than $17 billion of construction in Florida, bringing about 13,000 jobs, over the next ten years but suggested that, too, was being reexamined. “I hope we’re able to,” he said. Disney is locked in a battle with Florida governor Ron DeSantis that began when, under pressure from employees, then–Disney chief executive officer Bob Chapek spoke out against Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act. This law, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law because its vague language prohibiting instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation seems designed to silence any acknowledgement of LGBTQ Americans in grades K–3, was DeSantis’s pet project. In retaliation, DeSantis led Florida Republicans to strip Disney of its ability to govern itself as if it were a county—as it has done since its inception in 1967—putting the board that controlled Disney under the control of a team hand-picked by DeSantis. But before the new board took over, the old board quietly and legally handed control of the parks over to Disney. Apparently furious, DeSantis suggested he would build a competing state park or a prison next to Disney’s Florida theme park. In April, the new board set out to claw power from Disney, while the company announced it will hold its first gay-themed pride event in California and that it will build an affordable housing development in its Florida district, a move that Floridians will like. Meanwhile, with DeSantis’s blessing, the Florida state board of education approved expanding the ban on classroom mention of LGBTQ people to include grades 4–12. On April 26, Disney sued the governor and those of his top advisors behind the attacks on Disney. The lawsuit noted that for more than 50 years, Disney “has made an immeasurable impact on Florida and its economy, establishing Central Florida as a top global tourist destination and attracting tens of millions of visitors to the State each year.” But, it said, “[a] targeted campaign of government retaliation—orchestrated at every step by Governor DeSantis as punishment for Disney’s protected speech— now threatens Disney’s business operations, jeopardizes its economic future in the region, and violates its constitutional rights.” The lawsuit called out DeSantis’s actions as “patently retaliatory, patently anti-business, and patently unconstitutional. But,” it said, “the Governor and his allies have made it clear they do not care and will not stop.” The company said it felt forced to sue for protection “from a relentless campaign to weaponize government power against Disney in retaliation for expressing a political viewpoint unpopular with certain State officials.” The fight between DeSantis and Disney illustrates the dramatic ideological change in the Republican Party in the last two years. No longer committed to keeping the government weak to stay out of the way of business development, the party is now committed to creating a strong government that enforces Christian nationalism. This is a major and crucially important political shift. From the earliest days of the Reagan Revolution, those leaders who wanted to slash the federal government to end business regulation and cut the social safety net recognized that they did not have the votes to put their program in place. To find those votes, they courted racists and traditionalists who hated the federal government’s protection of civil rights. Over time, that base became more and more powerful until Trump openly embraced it in August 2017, when he said there were “very fine people on both sides.” As he moved toward the techniques of authoritarians, his followers began to champion the system that Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán called “illiberal democracy” or “Christian democracy” in his own country. Orbán argued that the principle of equality in liberal democracy undermines countries by attacking the national culture. Instead, he called for an end to multiculturalism—including immigration—and any lifestyle that is not based on the “Christian family model.” He seized control of universities to make them preach his values. Today’s Republican leaders openly admire Orbán and appear to see themselves as the vanguard of a “post-liberal order.” They believe that the central tenets of democracy—free speech, religious liberty, academic freedom, equality before the law, and the ability of corporations to make decisions based on markets rather than religious values—have destroyed national virtue. Such a loss must be combated by a strong government that enforces religious values. Right-wing thinkers have observed with approval that DeSantis’s Florida is “our American Hungary.” Indeed, DeSantis’s “Don’t Say Gay” law appears to have been modeled on Orbán’s attacks on LGBTQ rights, which he has called a danger to “Western civilization.” DeSantis’s attack on the New College of Florida, turning a bastion of liberal thought into a right-wing beachhead, imitated Orbán’s attack on Hungary’s universities; on Monday, DeSantis signed three more bills that undermine the academic freedom of all the state universities in Florida by restricting what subjects can be taught and by weakening faculty rights. DeSantis’s attack on Disney is yet another attack on the tenets of liberal democracy. He is challenging the idea that Disney leaders can base business decisions on markets rather than religion and exercise free speech. There is another aspect of the Republicans’ turn against democracy in the news today. If democracy is a threat to their version of the nation, it follows that any institution that supports democracy should be destroyed. Today, the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, led by Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH), continued its attack on the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Ranking member Representative Stacey Plaskett (D-VI) pointed out that Jordan was violating committee rules by refusing to let Democrats on the committee see the transcripts he claims to have from a whistleblower. Other committee members noted that two of the witnesses have been paid by Trump loyalist Kash Patel. Plaskett warned: “The rules don’t apply when it comes to the Republicans.... It’s all part and parcel of the Republicans’ attempt to make Americans distrust our rule of law so that when 2024 comes around and should their candidate not win, more and more people will not believe the truth. The truth matters.” And so does power. Although House Republicans are trying to protect Representative George Santos (R-NY), who was just indicted on 13 counts, by sending his case to the Republican-dominated Ethics Committee rather than allowing a vote on whether to expel him, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) introduced articles of impeachment against President Biden. Also today, the far-right House Freedom Caucus has called for an end to any discussions of raising the debt ceiling until the Senate passes its bill calling for extreme budget cuts. Forcing the nation into default will cause a global economic panic and, asked if they should compromise with the White House, Representative Bob Good (R-VA) said: “Why would we? We have a winning hand.”

—

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON