Tag: Racism

Lies On Steroids

Our collective history is filled with violence. When white settlers arrived on these shores they carried with them vestiges of what had been done to them. They brought persecution, conquering, and a kind of capitalism that requires a lower rung. Class struggle, theft of land, and when all else failed, the ultimate silencing of people who deemed to be different, or were different by design. The attempted cover-ups and twisting of history are not new. They’re simply now on steroids.

We refuse to believe what we know to be true: that we live on stolen land, that enslaved and impoverished people built this country and that the cowardice displayed from Congress to ICE is nothing more than a last-ditch effort to keep the LIE afloat.

When I drive through rural towns and see confederate flags, I want to yell, “Wisconsin was a Union state”. But I’m really thinking: “Your ignorance is showing”. And ignorance is more than not knowing history. The kind of ignorance we deal with today is deeper. We’ve lost a sense of self. We’ve lost human dignity. And unless and until we rediscover it within ourselves, we’ll never see it in the “other”. 

We’ve lost our sense of belonging to something greater. In doing so we cling to whatever flag suites us, whatever belief empowers us, or so we think. External power is an empty game, when you are hollow inside. That’s why it never works. People will be martyred and treated inhumanely, but power must succumb to benevolence, if only when we take our last breath. Recognizing our mutual humanity, acknowledging our history and refusing to carry it on are the solutions available to us.

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Listen to my conversation with Fatemeh Jamalpour on her new book For the Sun After Long Nights. For The Sun After Long Nights by two acclaimed Iranian female journalists, depicts the oppression of ethnic minorities and particularly of women since the 2022 Women, Life, Freedom Movement. It was an honor to be given a glimpse into the courage and deep love of their homeland and their sisterhood. Co-authored by Nilo Tabrizy. It will also air on WDRT, Wednesday, Sept 10 at 5 pm CST.

And if you are in the area: On Sunday, Sept 21 from noon to 5pm we will host Reclaiming Peace: A Community Celebration at Echo Valley Farm

Tenacity

It is thought that ancient Greek and Chinese philosophers agreed on this saying; “The wheels of justice turn slowly, but grind exceedingly fine”.

And it is always hopeful to see the wheels turn…

After one hundred years, the last two known survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 may live to see justice. A few months ago, the Oklahoma Supreme Court dismissed the lawsuit brought by Viola Fletcher, 110, and Lessie Benningfield Randle, 109 as they sought justice in the brutal massacre they observed as children. But tenacity and justice work hand in hand and the US Department of Justice has launched a review of the two-day white supremacist massacre. 

Reports in 1921 estimated thirty-six deaths, but time has a way of counting what racist cover-ups won’t allow.  It’s now estimated the Black Wall Street Massacre took the lives of over 300 people and injured more than 800. Following the rampage, 35 city blocks of the Greenwood District – a thriving Black community – smoldered in flames and wiped out 1200 homes, businesses, schools and churches. The white mob who wreaked terror on the community included authorized deputies. Turpentine bombs were dropped from planes, the white mob looted the stores, and hospitals turned away the injured.

We now know that thousands of Greenwood residents were then forced into internment camps as the National Guard watched over them and as their families members were buried in mass graves. No one was arrested or convicted of the crimes. No insurance was given.

Viola and Leslie are the last known survivors of this insidious violence – one of the worst against Black people in our history.  Making this grind of justice even better; it was John Lewis who ushered in the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act of 2007, allowing cold cases of violent crimes against Black people, before 1970, to be reopened.

Thank you to the love, tenacity and humanity that ensures the wheels of justice grind on.

May we all overcome the ignorance of hate. 

And while we are thinking about injustice and violence – #FreePalestine