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In 2019, Rutland High School faced quite a bit of scrutiny for flying a Black Lives Matter flag. The Black Lives Matter movement and flag flying were started as a sign of solidarity for those who suffer racial injustices. Many schools in Vermont had raised the flag, the first being Montpelier, in 2018. When Rutland High School wanted to show its support, leaders were met with a lot of backlash.

Facebook was flooded with posts regarding the situation with some calling the people behind the flag snowflakes, other people were questioning when the school is going to fly an all lives matter or white lives matter flag, calling Rutland a terrible place to live.

The comments did not stop there.

In a mandatory three-day diversity training for staff members at city schools planned by the Peace and Justice Center, a handful of staff members wore MAGA hats in protest and made derogatory remarks to two black Peace and Justice staff members, an article in VTDigger reported.

At a training to learn to not be racist.

But before the issue of the Black Lives Matter flag, there was Adam Taylor.

Taylor was a newly hired superintendent at the city schools when he made controversial remarks at a Castleton University event that offered an open dialogue about race in our community.

Taylor offered an Oakland analogy, by comparing a pimp and a young lady to a student and teachers relationship.

The backlash he received was widespread, with the Rutland community immediately calling for his resignation.

But when Michael Blow, a member of the School Board, said the n-word at a School Board meeting, nobody said a peep.

It wasnt until Tabitha Moore, president of the Rutland chapter of the NAACP, took initiative and finally called him out.

Taylor is black. Blow is white.

Most recently, students of color at Rutland Middle School complained about a history lesson in the classroom.

In a buy-and-trade simulation to help students understand the mercantile system during the American Revolution, a slip of paper that represented slaves had the word negroes.

The teachers defended themselves saying they had been teaching this lesson for years. Moore says they werent as sensitive as they needed to be.

Living in Vermont, with its mostly white population, and going to school in Vermont, with its mostly white population, its hard for people to diversify themselves and learn about issues people of color face when they have no first-hand understanding themselves.

But still, this is three instances of racism in our city schools way more than there should be. And quite frankly, its embarrassing.

How is the ever-growing population of people of color supposed to feel comfortable in their own schools when their peers and their teachers refuse to allow themselves to listen to what the students are trying to say, and their implicit bias continues to show.

The question is what are the schools going to do about it?

When the NAACP filed an official complaint to the middle school, Moore offered the idea of an implicit bias training which has yet to happen.

At the School Board meeting that addressed the history lesson, it was suggested that perhaps a diversity council should be created which has yet to happen.

And since the current pandemic caused students and faculty to be out of school, is this another issue that is going to be swept under the rug until the next one?

Things wont change unless the schools make it change and hiring white native Vermonters to be administrators in the schools, despite the request for more diverse representation, is not going to help.

Students have spent far too long feeling uncomfortable in their own schools. We have reached a point in our society where now, finally, its not going to be tolerated.

Aris Sherwood is a journalism student at Castleton University. She grew up in Rutland.

See the rest here:
Sherwood: Racism is alive and well | Perspective - Rutland Herald

In the mid-1960s, California occupied a singular place in the American popular consciousness as a perpetually sun-drenched, wave-lashed paradise populated by tanned white people. TV shows such as 77 Sunset Strip competed with teen movies such as Beach Party and Bikini Beach to buoy up the myth, while a succession of classic Beach Boys hits hymned Californias endless summer.

This airbrushed image helped distract from the reality of an openly racist society. Glendale, for instance, was, as Mike Davis and Jon Wiener put it: Los Angeles Countys most notorious sundown town: no blacks were allowed to live there, apart from a few servants, and any person of colour on the streets after 7pm was automatically arrested. Across the state, black people dared not set foot on all but a few beaches for fear of arrest or violence from white gangs. At the time, Californias non-white population was more than a million people; they were all, as Davis and Wiener put it, edited out of utopia.

The image of a California dreamscape, nevertheless, survived intact until August 1965, when the so-called Watts riots left whole blocks burning across the black ghetto of the same name, before spreading through black communities from Venice Beach to San Diego. The violence left 34 people dead, many of them innocent bystanders shot by police, and more than 1,000 injured. On one night alone, as Davis and Wiener attest, 10 unarmed black civilians were shot dead, including one man who, sheltering inside his house, had been hit by 11 shotgun blasts by 15 cops.

Watts was a rebellion rather than a race riot, with police brutality, endemic racism and urban poverty as its main causes. The social conditions that prevailed in black areas of California were all but overlooked in the mainstream media, though, with the Los Angeles Times describing it in distinctly colonial terms as a guerrilla war and comparing it to the Mau Mau eruption in British East Africa. For all that, as the authors point out, the burning and looting that left Watts in ruins was seen as a victory of sorts by many black people in the neighbourhood and beyond. It precipitated a street-level cultural renaissance there with the formation of community arts projects including the Watts Writers Workshop and the Underground Musicians Association, which was led by the visionary free jazz pianist Horace Tapscott.

This complex dynamic political and cultural activism emerging as a direct response to racist politics and brutally oppressive policing is a recurring trope in the often tumultuous events recounted in Set the Night on Fire. It is a book that at times makes Los Angeles seem like an outpost of Americas deep south. Though race is inevitably the faultline on which most of that tumult erupts, it is the chasm between the citys carefully cultivated image and its dark, violent heart that is most striking throughout.

Anyone familiar with Mike Daviss magisterial social history of Los Angeles, City of Quartz, will know what to expect in terms of the epic sweep and questioning tone of Set the Night on Fire. This time, the focus is firmly on race and rebellion, but he and Wiener also map out the myriad protest movements, countercultural voices and campaigns that made 1960s Los Angeles an altogether more edgy and volatile city than the states hippy capital, San Francisco.

There are several chapters devoted to the various strands of black nationalist politics that sprang up post-Watts

Beginning with the formation of the LA branch of the Congress of Racial Equality in 1961, the authors take us on a turbulent journey that ranges from the Ban the Bomb marches of early in the decade to the late-60s Stop the War protests against the conflict in Vietnam. Along the way, they trace the gestation of the womens movement and gay rights in the city, as well as exploring the importance of alternative media such as the Los Angeles Free Press, an underground newspaper that reached a quarter of a million readers in the late 1960s, providing a counterpoint to the conservatism of the citys mainstream newspapers.

There are several chapters devoted to the various, often competing, strands of black nationalist politics that sprang up post-Watts, producing a new breed of young radicals such as Stokely Carmichael and Eldridge Cleaver of the Black Panthers. Less well known, but no less fascinating, are the chapters on Mexican-American protests, including the Chicano Blowouts (1966-68), a mass walkout by pupils in protest at segregation in California schools. There is a fascinating account of the reign of terror conducted by the Gusanos, an anti-Castro Cuban terrorist group that declared war on anyone and anything in Los Angeles that they deemed friendly to Havana. Begun in 1968, their three-year bombing campaign remains the longest wave of terrorism in the citys history.

Around the same time, white middle-class teenagers were finding themselves for the first time on the receiving end of police violence as they congregated in their hundreds along Sunset Strip. Their presence signalled the coming of the Summer of Love in 1967, mobilising the LAPD, a force seemingly primed to respond with violence to the slightest manifestation of nonconformity. This characteristic reaction inflamed, rather than cowed, the teenagers, whom Davis and Wiener describe as a cross section of white teenage southern California. A subsequent protest march drew several thousand kids to the Strip, many of whom defied a police curfew that banned juveniles from the streets after 10pm. Many carried placards that read Stop Blue Fascism, prefiguring the Dead Kennedys gleefully provocative punk song California ber Alles by a decade.

Reading this book, the message on those placards does not seem like an overstatement. The kind of police violence, often contested, but seldom punished, that is catalogued in these pages echoes across the years, most loudly in the acquittal of four police officers captured on video brutally beating a young black man, Rodney King, in 1992. It echoes, too, in the riven political landscape of Trumps America, where a nationwide protest movement insists, in the face of repeated incidents of lethal police violence, that Black Lives Matter. Los Angeless recent past, as it is recounted in Set the Night on Fire, makes Americas present seem somehow less surprising, but no less depressing.

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Set the Night on Fire by Mike Davis and Jon Wiener review - The Guardian

Photo: Jason Redmond (Getty Images)Give me liberty or give me death A slaveowner

What is America?

Is it a plot of dirt littered with the discarded bones of those who stood in the way of white manifest destiny or is it a Constitution? Is it an assemblage of huddled masses yearning to breathe free or is it simply a series of borders on a map? Is the idea of liberty and justice even a real thing or is it an apparition that only white people can see?

If you are black, these are not rhetorical questions. In the real America, rhetoric, liberty and justice are concepts afforded to the people whose birthright and skin color give them the freedom to contemplate theoretical abstractions. The rest of us are simply speed bumps and potholes along the path of white privilege treasure hunters. We are bodies meant for sacrifice...

And they are liars.

Somehow, their idea of liberty and justice for all excludes mass incarceration or the war on drugs black people. When small-government conservatives advocate for states rights, they are not talking about the black and brown people who live in Republican-controlled Southern states. The evangelical Christian, pro-life propaganda does not include the people awaiting execution on death row who are 55 percent black. When they insist that All Lives Matter, they are not even referring to us.

Life is for white people.

They hold one truth to be self-evident: That all men are not created equal. That only they are endowed with the inalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Thats why a legion of entitled, right-wing sycophants are now demanding that their governors open up the country.

But their America isnt real.

It is a beautiful but self-serving fantasy they made up. It is not that they dont know about inequality and the murderous history of whiteness in America. It is not even that they dont care. They truly believe in a white-centric nation that values their bodies above all elseblack lives be damned.

And so whiteness damns us...

Again.

As the number of confirmed U.S. COVID-19 cases approaches 800,000 and the national death toll has eclipsed 42,000, an overwhelmingly white protest movement is taking to the coronavirus-infected streets demanding that governors and state health authorities go against the advice of doctors, scientists and that lady whose scarf game is unmatched and rescind the only effective method of fighting the spread of this global pandemic. Undeterred by widespread death and disease, protesters in Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Michigan, Minnesota, Maryland, New Hampshire, Idaho, Texas and California are pressuring states to remove stay-at-home restrictions because theyd rather see people die than watch their 401Ks decrease in value. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump tweeted his support for the civil rights protesters:

The president and his MAGA lynch mobs argue that America is on the cusp of a crippling recession and widespread unemployment and, according to their calculations, there is only one way to prevent this impending economic crisis:

Kill more black people.

Lets be clear: every bit of available data shows that black and brown people are the ones who are suffering the most from COVID-19. And its not just in urban areas like New York and Chicago. Its doing the same thing in rural black communities like Allendale, S.C., St. John the Baptist Parish, La. and Albany, Ga. Black residents outnumber whites in eight of the 10 cities with the highest coronavirus death rates per capita. Only one, Greensburg, Ind. is majority white. Even in Vermont, the whitest state in the union, the percentage of black people infected with COVID-19 is 10 times the black population percentage.

The suffering is not restricted to those infected. According to CBS News, black workers are less likely to be able to work from home and The Guardian reports that black employees are more likely to be employed as essential workers. As the unemployment rate skyrockets, the percentage of black people losing jobs nearly doubles the white unemployment rate. There is no doubt that black people are bearing the brunt of this pathogens deadly attack.

Lest one think this is a rudderless, organic movement of misguided privileged citizens, think again. The rallies were organized and funded by wealthy, right-wing political groups like the Tea Party Patriots, the Devos-backed Michigan Freedom Fund and the Virginia Citizens Defense League, a GOP-supporting, gun-rights organization. Wisconsins much-publicized protest didnt take place in Milwaukee, where the black population has been ravaged by COVID-19. Instead, it took place in nearby Waukesha County, which is 89.5 percent white and only 1.4 percent black.

There is one other interesting fact about the Waukesha County, home to the downtrodden, huddled masses who are desperate to open up their decimated local economy:

Waukesha County is the wealthiest county in Wisconsin.

No, its not that Trump, his conservative acolytes and the Republican Party value money over lives. Knowing the facts, anyone pushing the open the economy narrative is sending a clear signal. This particular decision is not a choice between the lesser of two evils. Instead, they are openly stating their willingness to sacrifice black lives for white prosperity. In their desperate search for a political and economic get-out-of-pandemic-free card, the president and his minions are staring black and brown people in the face while channeling the words of Marie Antionette:

Let them eat death.

They want us to die.

America is blood.

It was, it is and it always will be.

This recent example isnt particularly different from All Lives Matter advocates refusal to acknowledge the racial data behind police killings or the value of black lives. Its no different than Alabamas pro-life Gov. Kay Ivey signing a bill to ban abortions while assassinating Nathan Woods for not killing someone. Its Americas story of slaughter and slavery and genocide and Jim Crow and Japanese-American internment camps and Charlottesville, Va., and child detention centers and Tuskegee and Tulsa and Bombingham and Both Sides and Trayvon and Trump

And us.

Its always us.

We believe our lives matter and they just say they do. They are chomping at the bits to sacrifice our lives and open up their country because their statement and actions clearly show that, for them, our bodies hold no value. Whiteness is their most precious commodity.

...And blood.

But only our blood.

Whatever this thing called America may be, they have made it abundantly clear that they do not believe in it. They wave the flags and pretend that they love America, but if the bloody fingerprints embedded in this nations neverending pain have taught us anything, it is this:

They are liars.

They wont even try to wash their hands.

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'Open the Economy' Protesters Only Care About White Lives - The Root

SundayApr26,2020at3:01AM

Monday, April 27 at 7 p.m.

"Journey of Words," hosted by author and poet Catherine Reed: Catherine interviews poet Irma Frey Stevens.

Tuesday, April 28 at 8 a.m.

"Democracy Now!," hosted by Amy Goodman: An independent news program featuring international journalists and grassroots leaders affected by world events.

Wednesday, April 29 at 7 p.m.

"What It's Worth," hosted by Tom Colletta: Tom welcomes Kim Kerrigan, author of "Making Civility Great Again."

Thursday, April 30 at 8 p.m.

"Hidden Treasures," hosted by Bill Safer: Bill and his guest, auctioneer Wayne Tuiskula, talk about the world of auctions.

Friday, May 1 at 9:30 p.m.

"League of Women Voters Presentation": Stephanie Shonekan, co-author of "Black Lives Matter & Music," discusses the intersection where identity, history, culture and music meet.

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WCCA TV picks of the week, Sunday, April 26 - Worcester Telegram

The claim that COVID-19 and its associated medical and social responses do not discriminate belies the history of how pandemics work and who is most impacted by them. States of emergency show that citizenship privileges some, is partial for others and disappears others.

In our early analysis of national media coverage, those experts sharing the grim statistics of infections and deaths, those front-line workers seen as risking their lives and those who have lost loved ones are predominantly white. Black, Indigenous and racialized people, and many whose lives have been further imperilled by this pandemic, remain virtually disappeared from the Canadian landscape.

That makes collective care for members across our communities untenable. We take pause and reflect on how this will impact Black people across economy, health and policing, to name three areas of concern.

Black people tend to be employed in low-paying and highly feminized jobs: these include clerical jobs, janitorial staff, orderlies and nursing assistants who are now determined as essential services. Black people are also more likely to work in the grey and underground economy, which are forms of labour that might involve payments outside the regular labour force and taxation system, and not counted in GDP.

Effectively, anti-Black racism has already ensured that Black people and undocumented residents are less than citizens in late modern capitalist Canada. Yet, the people who are likely most at risk are the ones who are being asked to sacrifice their lives. Collectively, Black people in Canada find themselves among the most disadvantaged in all indicators of what is considered a good life.

The attempt to interrupt the spread of the virus has brought together policing and public health. Since at least the post-emancipation period in the Americas and this period includes Canada public health and policing have been launched against Black communities. Both public health and policing depend on assessing Black people as wayward.

In the post-emancipation Americas, early public health campaigns sought to train Black women on child rearing, cleanliness of homes and food preparation. Indeed, as late as the 1960s, one of the justifications for the destruction of Africville, N.S., was the public health claim that the community was at a health risk as there was no sewage system. Instead of providing necessary services, the community was forcibly removed.

Public health has historically been an extension of policing for Black people that has positioned us as suspicious and nefarious in our actions and movements. In our current state of emergency, this union of policing and public health has led to more Black people being arrested, detained and physically restrained in the name of public health protection.

The current rules around movement put Black people at risk, more vulnerable to intensified policing (including carding and street checks) when in public and potentially exposed to the virus at work.

On CBC radios The Current, Simon Fraser University marketing professor June Francis recapped a conversation she had with a senior federal official in which she raised concerns regarding Black peoples health. Instead of acknowledging this need for data, Francis said the senior federal official told her: Canada is a colour-blind society and [she] shouldnt expect that race-based data is necessary.

On April 9, during a public conversation with the Preston Community COVID-19 Response team and African Nova Scotian communities, Nova Scotias Chief Medical Officer, Robert Strang, said now was not the time to focus on how the social determinants of health and longstanding issues are impacting Black communities during this pandemic. He said: We can focus on these issues later.

On April 10, Ontarios Chief Medical Health officer, David Williams, said as the province fights to contain the coronavirus, disaggregated race-based data is not necessary.

We know differently. The HIV and AIDS responses in Canada show that public health and policing result in criminalization and incarceration for Black people. To ask us to suspend our understanding of these intimate links is to ask us to contend with the possibility of our own demise.

Claims of colour-blind health care and approaches to the COVID-19 pandemic are concerning. The data from elsewhere, including the United States and the United Kingdom, sounds an alarm for Canada.

Emerging American data reveal that Black people are contracting the virus at higher rates and also are dying in higher numbers.

Dr. Chaand Nagpaul, head of the British Medical Association, called on the U.K. government to urgently investigate why Black, Asian and minority ethnic people are more vulnerable to COVID-19.

While some provincial public health officers in Canada claim to be concerned about all citizens and committed to everyones health, they simultaneously declare that now is not the time to address the social determinants of health nor to begin the collection of disaggregated race-based data. In other words, they refuse to address how racial discrimination negatively impacts the health of Black people.

The absence of such plans, however, are indeed evidence of Black peoples partial citizenship and not-yet-quite citizenship.

In fact, our health officials must meet these demands for data. Accounting for how the virus impacts Black communities differently would actually demonstrate care.

Since the pandemic, we have heard of many Black women and their families in Toronto being evicted and made homeless. We have come to know that many are dealing with increased violence in the narrowly confined spaces they now live in, and are unable to access income support. Despite successful efforts to open health care to all, regardless of immigration status, the Toronto Star reported that some people in Toronto seeking emergency treatment had to pay $500 or risk not being treated.

Racism, poverty, incarceration, limited literacy, over-crowded living conditions, lack of social supports and limited access to health services are chronic conditions that must be considered during this pandemic.

Black lives are further in peril in a time of COVID-19. Subject to death on both the public health and policing fronts, we will not be silent. Even as state public officials choose to ignore our lives and livability by insisting that race and class do not matter, the historical and contemporary evidence in this country demonstrates more than otherwise.

Read more:
Coronavirus discriminates against Black lives through surveillance, policing and the absence of health data - The Conversation CA