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State Assemblymember Todd Gloria and San Diego City Councilmember Barbara Bry would likely take the city in different directions on issues like affordable housing, transportation and climate action.

Aired: October 5, 2020 | Transcript

The San Diego mayor's race is among the most consequential on the local ballot this election season, with big implications on city finances, housing and homelessness, transportation and climate action. And for the first time in recent history, both candidates in the runoff are Democrats.

Assemblymember Todd Gloria is generally considered the frontrunner against City Councilmember Barbara Bry. Gloria came in first in the primary, winning 41.5% of the vote compared to Bry's 22.9%. Gloria has also secured more high-profile endorsements from the San Diego County Democratic Party, business groups, labor unions and elected officials.

But the race appears to have tightened since the primary Bry and Gloria were virtually neck-and-neck in an opinion poll commissioned by the San Diego Union-Tribune and 10News. The poll was criticized as overrepresenting Republicans and underrepresenting independents, though pollster SurveyUSA stood by its methodology.

Fundraising reports have also suggested a more competitive race than what was apparent after the primary. Bry significantly outraised Gloria from mid-February through the end of June. Gloria then outraised Bry from July to mid-September and ended the reporting period with more than three times as much money in the bank.

Gloria also has a lopsided advantage when it comes to independent expenditures, which are made by political action committees, known as PACs. Those committees, which candidates are forbidden from controlling, take money from individuals, corporations and unions and can often tip the scales in close elections with targeted mail campaigns. Bry has sought to turn Gloria's advantage with independent expenditures against him, casting him as beholden to special interests.

Who are the candidates?

In 2016, Barbara Bry was elected to represent City Council District 1, which covers the neighborhoods of La Jolla, University City and Carmel Valley. Prior to entering politics, the 71-year-old Bry had a successful business career, co-founding an e-commerce company and incubating other tech startups.

Her platform includes banning dockless scooter sharing companies and short-term home rentals. Among her proudest accomplishments are helping defeat the 2018 "Soccer City" ballot measure, demanding an independent audit of the city's overbilling of water customers and asking tough questions about the city's bad record on real estate deals.

Bry said she was motivated to run for mayor after she got to City Hall and noticed a culture of secrecy, where big decisions were made behind closed doors. If elected, Bry would be San Diegos first female mayor since 2000, when Republican Susan Golding left office.

"I'm running for mayor first of all to bring accountability and transparency to City Hall (and) to lead an inclusive economic recovery as we come out of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has exemplified our existing inequities," Bry said. "And it's why I believe my private sector experience is so important in creating jobs, in terms of how we're going to have an economy that's going to get everyone back to work."

Gloria, 42, was elected to the state Assembly in 2016 after serving on the City Council for eight years, including six months as interim mayor. He would be San Diego's first elected mayor who is openly gay and the first with Latino, Filipino or Native American heritage.

Gloria said he was proud of starting work on the city's Climate Action Plan, passing an increase to the city's minimum wage and navigating the budget crisis during the last recession. He said that experience prepared him to tackle the current budget deficit related to the pandemic.

"I served as the city's budget chair for six of the eight years that I was at City Hall, was able to take the city from massive budget deficits as a result of the Great Recession (and) turn them into surpluses and reserves that thankfully will help mitigate some of the cuts that will be necessary going forward," he said.

Housing and homelessness

Voters frequently cite homelessness and housing affordability as among their top concerns. And those problems could get even worse as the economic fallout from COVID-19 puts thousands of low-income households at risk of eviction.

Both candidates say they support building more housing near public transit to relieve San Diego's housing shortage, which has led to low vacancy rates and higher housing costs. But they differ on a critical issue related to subsidized affordable housing: Measure A.

Measure A would authorize the city of San Diego to issue up to $900 million in bonds to fund affordable housing. The money could be used for new construction, preserving rents on existing low-income housing or buying up market rate housing and making it affordable.

Bry said she has not yet made up her mind about Measure A because it would increase property taxes, a cost she said would be passed on to renters at a time when the pandemic is already making it difficult for many households to make ends meet.

"We still have many San Diegans out of work," she said. This ... could be a very challenging time to raise taxes."

Gloria supports Measure A, which needs a two-thirds majority to pass, saying that too often when San Diego is tasked with solving big problems, "later" becomes "never."

"Even in this pandemic, even in this recession, even with people marching in the streets, the most common thing that is shared with me as a concern by San Diegans is homelessness," he said. "They see thousands of our neighbors sleeping outdoors, unsheltered, and they want something done about. And this is a way we can do something about it."

Bry has attacked Gloria for supporting SB 1120, a statewide housing bill. The bill, which passed the legislature but died because it missed the deadline for a final vote in the Senate, would have allowed property owners to build duplexes on lots otherwise zoned for single-family homes. Bry has characterized the bill as Sacramento overreach, while Gloria has said it's a simple way to create more housing for the middle class.

Transportation and climate action

San Diego's next mayor will have a big say over the future of transportation in the county and its efforts to meet state and local climate targets. The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) is preparing a 30-year regional transportation plan with big investments in public transit, including new rail lines and rapid bus services.

A notable exception in SANDAGs new vision from previous plans is that it will not include any freeway widenings. It does, however, envision new toll and carpool lanes to be built within the existing freeway network. State law requires the next plan to result in significant cuts to greenhouse gas emissions and car travel.

The San Diego mayor has a powerful vote on the SANDAG board of directors, and opposition from the next mayor could sink the transportation plan entirely.

Gloria supports the vision, though he said much of the details need to be worked out.

"We actually get the active transportation, the mass transit network, the highway network that actually gives consumers choices," Gloria said. "This is ... what we need to do under our obligations in our Climate Action Plan, it is necessary for our continued economic growth in San Diego and it's necessary to protect our quality of life."

Bry opposes SANDAG's current vision for the transportation plan, saying future technologies such as autonomous vehicles paired with existing transit would be more effective and that San Diego's topography makes the pursuit of new underground rail lines not worth it.

"I think the plan to drill under our neighborhoods to build all of this fixed transit is ridiculous," Bry said.

The two candidates vying to be San Diegos next mayor would each likely take the city in different directions on issues like affordable housing, transportation and climate action. Also, deadly wildfires in California have burned more than 4 million acres (6,250 square miles) this year more than double the previous record.. Most of that acreage has been in Californias ... Read more

Aired: October 5, 2020 | Transcript

Andrew Bowen Metro Reporter

I cover local government a broad beat that includes housing, homelessness and infrastructure. I'm especially interested in the intersections of land use, transportation and climate change.

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Mayoral Candidates Bry and Gloria Are Two Democrats With Differing Views On City's Top Issues - KPBS

One of several signs which hang in Elizabeth Hall, each a response to the white nationalist flyers recently posted and then removed. (Joshua Wineholt / The Signpost) Photo credit: Signpost Archives

The 22nd Annual WSU Diversity Conference was held virtually Oct. 1 and 2. The theme focused on connections and disconnections in society with oppressed populations.

There was an opening keynote presentation by Pepper Glass, an associate sociology professor at WSU, who has published research on many topics such as racial inequality and social movements.

There were several sessions and presentations given by WSU faculty and people who work around Ogden. The closing keynote presentation was from Tim Wise, a public speaker who goes around high school and college campuses to talk about systemic racism and how to dismantle it.

According to the diversity programs website, the events were chosen with intent to explore ways and opportunities where we can align what we say with what we do, and look for the connections or disconnects that allow things to happen.

One of the discussion events, Being a Person of Color in 2020, was presented by JuanCarlos Santisteban and Greg Noel, who are both counselors at the WSU Counseling & Psychological Services Center.

Noel says the focus of the panel discussion was on the social climate of 2020, and then looking at that climate from the lens of Black, Indigenous and people of color.

Participants were encouraged to share their experiences about everything that has happened so far in 2020.

Greg and I both believe that conversing about these things is how we start our healing, and having conversations about this is what helps create understanding, clarity and eventually unity because it brings us all together, Santisteban said.

Participants shared their experiences and then gave advice to one another throughout the discussion.

Other topics in the discussion were engaging with one another, showing up with one another in spaces, discrimination, being your authentic self, being an ally, empathy and learning and growing.

The more we create these spaces where we can have these conversations, thats where were going to gain understanding and were going to start to see each other and see each others hearts, Santisteban said. At the end of the day our hearts all pump the same way.

At the end of the discussion, Santisteban encouraged participants to continue tapping into their courage to continue having these conversations.

This is how were going to heal, understand and create unity by continuing to have these conversations, Santisteban said.

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Starting conversations at the 2020 Diversity Conference - The Signpost

My Prior Experience With Ethnic Studies in CA

Four years ago, I was still a budding student at Cleveland Charter High School in Los Angeles, California. As a graduate of the distinguished CORE magnet program in humanities, I was a proud student of interdisciplinary courses, ranging from ethnic studies, gender and sexuality studies, philosophy, sociology, and more. My high school education was certainly unique for its time, which Im both grateful for and concerned by. If I knew then what I know now, I would have been steadfast to reform my ethnic studies curriculum to be more inclusive of my Jewish identity. In fact, many more minority students may have difficulty reforming theirs, if they arent equipped to shape state proposals for CA Ethnic Studies curriculum as it is being standardized right now.

Not only did my high school education significantly shape my views about the world, but they also informed my relationship with myself, my people, and my culture. As an Israeli-American Jew and Zionist, learning about terms and methods of social justice in academia forced me to dive into the complex history of various minorities in America. Furthermore, with my many identities, it forced me to look inward and question my place within the fabric of America and the world at large. Lets explore some of the controversial experiences I faced that could have been prevented had my education been more transparent and inclusive.

Imposing Whiteness and Downplaying Antisemitism, Past & Present

Hefty readings, lectures, and conversations on the systematic oppression of Black Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, Latino Americans, and South Asian/Middle Eastern/Arab/North African (SAMEAN) Americans dominated discourse particularly in my junior years race unit. I cherished learning about it. Curriculum on the gradual integration of Irish, German, Italian, and other Euro-Americans into white society also was part of the program, but this is where my identity was often left between.

Jewish representation was frequently discussed under the lens held to Euro-American integration into the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant majority. It was confined to an Ashkenormative approach, where the diasporic European Jewish (Ashkenazi) history of my dads family was told yet reduced to a story of gradual assimilation and a success of almost no hurdles. The Sephardi Moroccan-Israeli story of my mothers family was simply not discussed, nor was that of any other Jew of color. This was a convenient structure which was encouraged and exacerbated by a retired faculty member who returned to volunteer teaching periodically, declaring that antisemitism is no longer an issue, decades after the Holocaust. If I knew then, what I know now, I would have been able to respond to this teacher with confidence.

Contrary to her bias, we know today in 2020 that nearly 60 percent of Californian students my age and younger have no knowledge that 6,000,000 Jews were murdered at the hands of Nazi Germany (nonetheless, for not being white natives of Europe) directly contributing to the preservation of antisemitic tropes and notions that Jews comprise the peak of the privileged. Im sure that these students were just as ignorant on the diversity of the Jewish people and the genealogical and cultural Levantine ties we share with each other. As ignorance about Jewish people prevails and white supremacists continue to terrorize our Jewish communities at synagogues, rallies, cultural centers, universities, and so forth, our story of continued struggle for acceptance must also be included in ethnic studies and taught to future generations of Americans.

In the same breath, while discounting the lasting role of violent antisemitism, disproportionate antisemitic hate crimes, and institutionalized Jew-hatred via biased education, this faculty member would also vent about Jewish financial success amid the generational trauma and systemic racism against other marginalized minorities. It instinctively felt like a reductionist dichotomy of oppressor and oppressed imposing both whiteness where it was conditionally granted to us and revoked at seconds-notice. This was clearly antisemitism to me, amid due representation for others, but because of that phenomenon of emphasizing justice (without Jews) the very idea of accountability was squarely ignored by this teacher and her colleagues in the classroom.

Erasing the Ethnic Dimension of Jewish Identity

In another significant instance, I can vividly recall one of my ninth grade teachers proclaiming during a sudden discussion of antisemitism that Honey, Jews are not a race. She proceeded, Jews are a religion. I have Jewish friends. At the time, I knew deep inside that were not a separate race, but looking around the room at other speechless Jewish peers, I had a hard time mustering up the courage to explain that we are an ethnic and religious people, similar to Armenian and Hindu Americans. She may have had good intentions, but like a colorblind optimist, this instructor stifled conversation surrounding how to combat the way Jews are treated, and even how we manifest our peoplehood.

While this error was later acknowledged by another teacher in class two years later, one can imagine how stumped Jews like myself felt seeking solidarity, as peers racialized us and simultaneously stripped us of any claim to ethnicity. If you cant name it, you cant shame it and if I had known then what I know now, I could have empowered Jews of my generation to speak for ourselves before an authority figure could distort the narrative.

Overlooking the Antisemitism of Anti-Racist Authors & Speakers

Getting into the particular content of my ethnic studies curriculum, it was not even an afterthought that various authors of assigned readings and book titles had an avid track-record of antisemitism, including anti-Israel expression. So often, we just had no idea until we read the content ourselves. Sparsely was it acknowledged by my teachers that Karl Marx, St. Augustine of Hippo, and F. Scott Fitzgerald authors of Western ideological canons or modern literature expressed antisemitism in their writings.

However, never was it spoken that Alice Walker, African American acclaimed author of our assigned book, The Color Purple, had endorsed antisemitic conspiracy theorists and even propelled her own anti-Jewish poetry. The contribution of this distinguished author to our understanding of the African American experience, including the bitter legacy of slavery is critical. However, Walkers antisemitic conspiracy theories must also be addressed. Her narrow-minded bashing of Israels existence and stripping of Palestinian agency (amid intransigence and bigoted incitement of Palestinian leaders to anti-Jewish violence), affirmed the moral failure of my school programs unquestioning endorsement.

Nor was it shared in classroom activities that some of the civil rights leaders we were taught to glorify and follow had conflated the Jewish people with their deepest enemies. It took some news headlines, years after graduation, for me to understand how these figures felt about people like me. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, one of the most prolific anti-apartheid activists who I campaigned for in a class South African mock election, had uttered support for terrorist organization Hamas to the detriment of Jewish (and Arab) civilian life.

Not a single word of comfort or nuance was provided by my teachers when Tim Wise, author of White Like Me and anti-racist speaker entrepreneur, spoke to my entire program class (an annual program expense) ultimately to invoke his paternal Jewish ancestry, tokenize himself, and virtue-signal about how Israel is (unilaterally) oppressing the Palestinians. Wises support for the B-D-S movement also proved concerning much later than I would realize. BDS is a hate campaign that has established itself globally for the past two decades in tandem with organizations responsible for international Jewish civilian murder, like Hamas and the PFLP, under the false brand of non-violence and social justice.

Likewise, it was completely out of hand for my 12th grade teacher in digital humanities to randomly assert before my class that the worlds only Jewish state composed a lingering form of colonialism and apartheid, during a lecture on Algerian literary reflections of French colonialism and existentialism all while staring me (a proud Israeli-American) dead in the eye and silencing any response. Amid clear historical distinctions between Israeli democracy and South African apartheid, this inappropriate and slanderous comment created a moment of discriminatory intimidation I will never forget.

The connection between my curriculum and the air of anti-Jewish hostility produced on campus was remarkable. Microagressions cut deep over time, undetected or even peddled by non-Jewish peers. However, the antisemitic dogwhistles and even overt antisemitism patched together throughout our studies as an example of what American society has historically been, was often there to see for all. Jewish students shrugged and became desensitized. Our non-Jewish friends took note at our complacency, and likewise, just moved on.

Abusing Intersectionality to Homogenize Diverse Experiences & Alienate

The deliberate and irredeemable criminalization of Israel in each of the aforementioned settings of authoritative education was no less than the criminalization of my identity etched in stone and the minds of my peers. This is just my impressionable high school experience not my college experience at UCLA, where in a friends ethnic studies lecture, the Jewish community was conflated with our white supremacist killers for our majority support of Jewish self-determination. We were lucky to have acted then, urging our Jewish peers to snap out of complacency, organizing more effectively to make a broad-reaching difference with a series of demands to our administration and Title VI cases, of which I have been a proud part of.

Across the board, many instructors in my home state have taken the legal philosophy of intersectionality originally intended to address the nexus of bigotry that people with multiple oppressed identities face and abused the concept to create a politicized discourse of uniformity among different struggles that oppressed communities face. They have homogenized diverse experiences ranging from Native American genocide, to Japanese internment, and the making of Palestinian refugees as a pretense for selectively alienating or excluding entire communities of color that do not fit their paradigm including Mizrahi Jewish refugees and their descendants (like myself). This disparity has been noted by scores of coalitions for comprehensive ethnic studies curriculum, namely JIMENA, the AJC, Amcha Initiative, JCRC, Alliance for Constructive Ethnic Studies, and many more organizations.

This gap includes a lack of education as well on other indigenous MENA minorities, such as Kurds, Copts, Assyrians, Armenians, Imazighen, and more, who, in their homelands, embody oppressed minorities under a non-white (and non-Western), Arab regional hegemony. These facts transcend simplistic formulas of power propelled by an inequitable ethnic studies curriculum, which omits the experiences of minorities in other parts of the world (and in diaspora in CA) for which representation and nuance is so crucial for sustainability.

Taking Action Today For A Better Tomorrow

My experience with California ethnic studies prior to its current mandate (AB-1460) is just a drop in the ocean of what institutional marginalization Jewish minority students have encountered on campuses nationally in the past several years. Its not about what I knew then anymore, its about now.As the California Department of Education (CDE) finalizes its official required ethnic studies curriculum with skewed and problematic sources, modeled for dozens of states to come, its no longer an option to grieve over the past we have to mobilize our community and demand that our voices, histories, contributions, and representation be included for our future.

Sign the petition now to ensure that the Jewish and Israeli-American voice is heard and that no bias or discrimination against our community is included by the CDE.Share the voices of Jewish students with Include Our Voices on Instagram to spread the conversation. Email the CA Dept. of Education to secure our future inclusion in the fabric of America and build relationships with your local school board members. Leave a thank-you messageto the office of CA Governor Newsom for withholding his signature from AB-331s hasty and biased ethnic studies proposal and for ensuring more time and inclusivity.Lastly, share this article to keep this momentum going and educate others to positively shape years to come.

Disclaimer: the views expressed in this blog are the authors own and do not reflect that of his employer, the IAC.

Originally posted here:
If I Knew Then What I Know Now: A Demand for Ethnic Studies Representation - The Times of Israel

Black Power is a bi-weekly editorial column that explores how the Black community can use their collective power to design a new America.

In America, when kids enter elementary school, one patriotic ritual is required. Students are expected to stand tall, place a right hand over their heart, face the flag, and then proudly recite the pledge of allegiance.

While gazing innocently at the stars and stripes that signify our national banner, kids of every color proceed to utter the words of a tagline deeply woven into the fabric of this country: One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Yet, the irony of such a command is that while it is mandatory for each student to make this declaration, it is not mandatory for the nation to honor this promise in return. Or, to quote the brilliant Black intellectual James Baldwin, It comes as a great shock...to discover that the flag to which you have pledged allegiance...has not pledged allegiance to you.

While the fight for a reformed legal system dates back several decades, the notion of justice lost nearly every ounce of credibility amongst Black Americans within the past three years. Since the tragic shooting death of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old unarmed Black boy senselessly killed while walking through a suburban Florida neighborhood, a haunting nostalgia of racism and systematic injustice forcefully positioned itself at the forefront of peoples minds.

His image was made strikingly clear: Trayvon was as a Black teen of semi-athletic stature, wearing a dark hoodie, carrying a pack of skittles. Yet, if you take a second glance over that depiction, you quickly realize the description, which spread virally and stirred endless debate, was not very clear at all. Especially because his appearance was presented by both police and the public as criteria used to classify Trayvon as a threat to George Zimmerman, the shooter, who claimed to kill Martin in self-defense after feeling endangered by the suspicious looking teenager.

As the long-awaited verdict inched closer, hopes were high for the Martin family and their supporters, though the results remained uncertain. The evidence appeared unconvincing. The applied motive appeared desperate. The action showed signs of a cowardly defense to an untreated ignorance.

Despite the perceivable optics following a formal trial, intense protests, nationwide marches, televised rallies and federal petitions to convict Zimmerman of murder Martins killer was ultimately acquitted of all charges. Thus, adding fuel to an ever-burning fire that continues engulfing the belief in a fractured justice system.

Following the fatal shooting of Mike Brown, the city of Ferguson became a treacherous battleground for militarized police waging war against passionate protesters standing in defense of a declared injustice.

For months, tear gas and bullets flew, businesses were destroyed, and emotional screams flooded smoke-filled skies. Headlines recounted the arrests of everyone from scholars and journalists to kids and demonstrators. Some spent hours in jail, while others spent several weeks.

As tensions grew, the Missouri city issued a No-Fly Zone for the media to limit coverage of the happenings, likely resulting from real-time accounts of officers forcefully occupying and evacuating areas where hundreds relentlessly rallied for one arrest to be made.

Unsettling footage quickly surfaced of the deceased teenager lying in the street, face down, entrenched in his own blood with multiple gunshot wounds. His body became a public display for members of the community to witness another promising kid gone too soon.

Since the video went viral, a series of debates immediately ensued. On one side, there were questions as to the motive behind shooting Brown why he was shot instead of apprehended, and analyzing the protocol of a trained officer in such a situation. On the other side, there were questions surrounding the personal character of Brown if he was indeed a thief, marijuana abuser and troubled student.

Police accounts of the scuffle between Brown and Darren Wilson positioned the unarmed teen as the aggressor, attacking Wilson in his cruiser, giving the officer no option but to discharge his weapon in self-defense. While more statements were released and speculation persisted, the most important conversation remained locked in a vault protected by the principles of privilege and history. There was an evident, although unspoken, reason Brown was instantly labeled a threat, which is the same reason Wilson was not, and was ultimately acquitted for the killing.

For many, white privilege is merely a myth. Hearing it discussed amongst distinguished intellectuals and scholars is often interpreted as reactive speech to somewhat prehistoric realities of racism. Instead of enhancing the universal perspective of injustice and inequality, the attempts to elevate awareness land as misinformed lectures void of applicable lessons. Consequently, a substantial percentage of the population classifies dialogue about white privilege as imaginary and irrelevant, finding no merit in addressing an ideology that seemingly has no tangible traits.

Instead, we revel in the countless advancements in technology that seamlessly connect cultures and cause racial lines to appear less visible. Emerging generations are praised for identifying with shared interests and values instead of skin color. The appointment of Barack Obama perceivably showed that achievement is not an impossible aspiration for anyone, regardless of race. The global dominance of hip hop culture has led to people from all walks of life uttering the realities of Black America while mirroring the lifestyle, speaking the language and embodying the aspirational spirit.

The growing list of Black moguls paints a picture of wealth and access that young Black men and women feel is possible to acquire in their lifetime. All things considered, tremendous strides have been made. Yet, when examining the critical categories that still dictate the value of a Black life in this country, very few things have changed. For context, lets examine two notable examples of exercised politics and privilege that produced similar outcomes.

The Bloods and Crips, referred to as two of todays most notorious gangs, are largely credited for the demise of Americas inner cities. Theyve been commonly pinned as criminalized cliques that rob, steal and murder senselessly. However, while exiled as dangerous and misguided kids from abandoned communities, these once powerful alliances were initially birthed out of the need to protect and preserve the human rights of Black Americans.

In a time when predominantly Black neighborhoods were subject to frequent ambushing from ill-intended whites, gangs formed as proactive solutions to defend against unlawful attacks because the police refused to patrol their blocks. It wasnt until countless factories closed down and drugs took centerstage in conjunction with the White Flight Movement, referring to the mass relocation of whites from inner cities to suburban areas, that the perception and function of street gangs shifted.

The same state government that honored these groups for their service to the community suddenly stripped their distinction. There was no longer a direct adversary to fight. Rather, in the face of rapid unemployment and socioeconomic disparity, Black people began seeing each other as the enemy. Lacking resources and access to equal opportunity, poverty prevailed. As a result, the privileged escaped the grasp of turmoil while further avoiding accountability for their part in causing a socioeconomic plague.

In the prime of the 1960s, during an era of heightened solidarity amongst civil rights groups such as The Black Panther Party, issues of inequality surrounding education, employment, and the judicial treatment of Black Americans were approached with diligent action. These organizations developed independent programs for kids to receive proper schooling, healthcare, food, shelter and other essentials inaccessible to underprivileged Blacks. Exercising their constitutional rights, they spoke out against evident injustice, while rightfully bearing arms.

Yet, instead of state officials working in unison to develop necessary reform or negotiate proposed plans to provide equal rights, these groups were declared domestic terrorists. The active police chief of the Los Angeles Police Department enforced an official mandate to arrest, imprison and subsequently inflict violent force to exterminate all incompliant Black Americans who refused to follow the principles of privilege.

More notably, the standing police chief intentionally recruited members of the Ku Klux Klan from southern states, along with active military serviceman and trained veterans. Their armor and weapons were upgraded with military tactics implemented to govern designated cities.

Though decades ago, the same framework exists today in a climate that has seen a multitude of innocent Black people killed.

Since the Civil Rights Movement, it has indeed been a long walk to freedom. For African Americans, achieving justice is a gruelingly tiresome and treacherous uphill conquest that continues testing the seemingly unbreakable endurance of a people frequently denied equal rights at the expense of further suffering from the residual effects of a hate-driven history.

As more races and cultures blend, the perception of privilege gets lost in translation, becoming associated strictly with wealth and opportunity, steering away from its role in perpetuating racism. As rap reaches even greater heights, its images of inner city struggle, crime and violence serve as just reasoning for racial profiling and the disparities in mass incarceration.

Justice blesses the rich, honors the privileged, and unflinchingly punishes the poor. Its built on age-old principles that stem from slavery, very slightly deviating from such separatist ideals. Weve watched as George Floyd, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Mike Brown, Jordan Davis, Breonna Taylor, and many other innocent victims lose their lives at the hands of inexcusable negligence and violent force. Once again families torn, races divided and our nations justice system fails to uphold its pledge of allegiance.

As a result, despair and disappointment have plagued the Black community so much that Black pain has become commonplace in the press. Seeing endless tears fall from the face of a terrified mother now stands as a signature shot circulating on daily news headlines.

Lets check the track record. When turmoil strikes subjugated communities in traditionally segregated cities across America, we point to disparities in access and resources. When young Black people find their identity in a lifestyle of criminal activity out of the inherent desire to feed their family, we point to messages in music and the outcomes of gang life. But, we classify this as a fault of misguidance and stupidity, not privilege. Or, when unarmed Black people are killed by trained police officers, we point to prejudices of threat and Black rage. But, we consider this the fault of Black America, not the mechanics of racism in America. Yet, what the vast majority fails or refuses to realize is that privilege is not a physical battle of Black against white, its a socioeconomic and ideological war of politics and power.

What the deaths of Mike Brown and Trayvon Martin taught America about justice is that it doesnt exist. Not for all. Not the justice that rightfully protects Black people who were killed by law enforcement on video. Not the justice that acknowledges the atrocities that accompanies a police officer killing an unarmed 12-year-old boy. Not the justice that takes into account the influence of classism and privilege, as it relates to prejudice and discrimination.

As a people, we have to define what justice is for ourselves and stand firmly on that understanding. We must keep working to establish a system that takes into account moral principles, not conservative religious principles. We must activate our power and influence to put people in political positions that can reshape the current infrastructure with a vision for evolving America into a country where every perspective counts. We must humbly invest in educating people about the multifaceted Black experience, staying authentic and showing the progressive images that are often intentionally overlooked.

Until we refresh our outlook, the illusion of justice will continue casting a looming dark cloud over the promise and potential of Black America.

As long as the scales of justice are imbalanced, the next Mike Brown or Trayvon Martin can make millions in the NBA or start a billion-dollar tech company, but can just as easily end up dead or in jail, while the next Darren Wilson will be empowered to determine the ending to his story more importantly being alive to tell it.

See more here:
What the killings of Mike Brown and Trayvon Martin taught America about the fight for justice - REVOLT TV

Sybrina Fulton, political activist and mother of the late Trayvon Martin, will speak to University of Miami students at 6 p.m. on Oct. 8. in the virtual fifth installment of What Matters to U, a discussion series hosted by UMs Student Government.

We wanted to bring someone that would really highlight whats been happening in the world, someone who would be able to adequately address those social issues, said Spencer Schwartz, the chair for The What Matters to U Agency, formerly known as the Student Engagement Programming Agency.

Past speakers have included former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, two-time world cup champion and co-captain of the U.S. Womens National Soccer Team Megan Rapinoe, actor and comedian Ken Jeong and television personality and scientist Bill Nye.

Schwartz says that UMs Student Government made a concerted effort to address issues such as the Black Lives Matter movement and other platforms for social change.

I was floored when I heard, said Student Government president Abigail Adeleke. This is the exact speaker we need at this time, especially with so many things happening and the third rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. I am just so excited.

Fulton has spent the years since her sons death campaigning for political reform and against gun violence.

Most recently, Fulton lost a bid to be elected Miami-Dade commissioner to Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert. He won the the Aug. 18. election by less than one percent with 331 votes.

Fulton, who was endorsed by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Cory Booker, has been a social activist since her son Trayvon Martin, who was born in Miami, was killed by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman in February, 2012. Zimmerman was later acquitted as the jury ruled the killing an act of self defense. At the time, the event sparked national protests, discussions about race and was one of the earliest deaths that have become driving forces of the Black Lives Matter movement.

One of the things that started and invigorated the Black Lives Matter movement was the death of Trayvon Martin, Adeleke said. She was almost the mother of the movement.

A month after her sons death, Fulton started The Trayvon Martin Foundation, an organization that seeks to provide emotional and financial support to families who have lost a child to gun violence, according to the Foundations website.

The What Matters to U agency faced criticism last year when they brought in Republican governor and 2016 presidential candidate John Kasich, however, Schwartz says that starting conversation and debate is part of the organizations goal.

I know that the John Kasich event and this event may seem, politically, to be on opposite ends of the spectrum, Schwartz said. From our perspective, theyre actually quite similar in that they are people that have a mission, that have a vision for the country, and we are solely just the avenue they are using to spread that.

Adeleke says political optics never entered into the decision.

This is so important right now, its not a left or a right issue. Its a human rights issue, she said. It was a no brainer because we knew this was the right thing.

Although Fulton will not be speaking to a packed auditorium like past speakers because of COVID restrictions, Adeleke emphasizes the presentation will not be presented as a typical online talk.

Were doing something very different from your traditional Zoom webinar, she said. Although Adeleke is not able to reveal the details of the plan yet, she says that it will be a unique experience. It will be something we have never seen before.

Featured image provided by What Matters To U.

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Sybrina Fulton announced as What Matters to U speaker - The Miami Hurricane