APRIL IN AMERICA

By Ruth A. Sheets

In recent years, when I have been in a group of colleagues and one or more is a Black man, the topic of The Police inevitably comes up; something always seems to slide us into that discussion.  They almost casually mention that they actually feel fear when they see flashing blue lights behind them.  My former boss told me that even though he was not a very regular churchgoer, he would pray first, that they were not planning to stop him and second that if they did stop him, he would come out of the encounter alive.  I think my first thought would be, “what did we do? Or What do they think we did, not, will I come out alive.  I have read police officer comments as to why they shot a Black person at a traffic stop and the defense I have noted most often, “he was reaching for his gun” or “I was afraid for my life.    

It seems many White men, and some white women in America are scared, scared all the time and in some way perhaps, are angry that Black people have caused their fear.  Those particular white folks may just be afraid that if more people of color and women enter their space, they might not have the privilege they won't even admit they have.  They are afraid everyone will know what everyone already knows, they are no smarter, wiser, more worthy than people of other "racial" groups.  That is a hard pill to swallow.  For some, such “equality” might seem inferiority. 

Throughout history, at least since the 15th century, we have as a society let white men believe in their own supremacy and have reinforced their beliefs.  We women have been right there supporting them, sometimes to get along, sometimes to survive, sometimes to get a taste of the power the men have by virtue of their being white men.  

During the “Age of Discovery,” white men went to places they had never been and encountered people who looked different from themselves, not as civilized, you know.  To many of those white “explorers,” the people they met were ripe for exploitation in their quest for “god, gold, and glory.”  They hardly hesitated at all to enslave as many of the people as they could.  When those they found first didn’t function well in slavery, they looked elsewhere for people they could make do the heavy lifting while the white guys got rich and so did their kings.  Slavery was not new to landed white men.  It was practiced all over Europe.  The enslaved persons were called serfs, peasants, and other terms, and those rich landed white men knew just how to work them.   

When money is pouring in, few in authority will question the practices that bring in the bucks.  Sound familiar?  All sorts of cruelties were perpetrated on the enslaved persons who could do little if anything to stop it because they were enslaved for life unless freed or escaped.  The law sustained the enslavers, not the enslaved.  That continued long after the end of slavery in this country. 

When Black persons were declared full citizens through our Constitution, by 1870, white men continued their cruelties and were rarely, OK, almost never held accountable. Our troops didn't intervene when the government of Wilmington, NC was forced out by white men because it was mixed racially. No one was held accountable for the thousands of lynchings "at the hands of persons unknown," even when the persons were known, often the legal authorities themselves.  The massacres in Tulsa, East St. Louis, Rosewood, and other communities were dismissed as “there was violence on both sides.”  Sound familiar?  

No one at this late date is going to prosecute the white descendants of the murderers of Black Americans from the past, so how is it the white fear is still so intense, even greater than decades ago?  Many have speculated that electing a Black President, Barack Obama, could have launched us into a post-racial America, but in fact, reignited the fear and a bunch of white supremacists stoked the flames.  One of the most prominent “stokers” was Donald Trump.  Trump portrayed himself as a super-rich white guy, man of the people, neither of which was true.  His public persona attracted a lot of interest from other rich scared white  men who knew just how to use him to get power, ultimately they got the White House, Supreme Court, and Congress, and a whole lot of money changed hands, and a whole lot of damage was done to our rights.  Those rich white mostly men knew Black people and other people of color really scared conservative, evangelical “Christians” and used their fear to build a movement with a crude, ignorant, lying, cheating old man at the center. 

A lot of the Trump supporters grew up during the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s and witnessed daily, the myriad of incivilities perpetrated against Black Americans and actively participated.  Their families made it clear they didn’t want to live near Black people, worship with them, work beside them, swim in the same pools, go to the same schools, and the rest.  The relatives of the current white supremacists carefully nurtured their fear and hatred as their parents before them had done far into the past, blaming Black Americans, Jews, and other people of color for any obstacles they faced in procuring “the American Dream.”  The fear and hatred of the others became habit and it will require serious thought and positive action to change such habits, if white men even want to change.   

Today, people of color including Black men are finding positions of significance in our society, and that terrifies some white men, making them angry and scared, resentful that someone they don't like and feel is inferior to them has something they don't have.  Those scared white men and a few women attacked our Capitol on January 6, 2021 and have participated in mass shootings as the gun wielders.  Some have been held accountable, but for far shorter sentences than what I suspect men of color would have been given.

The rogue Supreme Court has even further weaponized white folks by gutting the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and overturning Roe v. Wade so those white men in red state legislatures could wreak havoc on the Black community, particularly women.  The Court also told states they can't control gun possession and whether a man can carry a gun in public (only white men, of course).  Police all over the country have been given free rein to do harm to Black people through qualified immunity.   

Every night on the local news, the first 10 minutes or so is about the latest shootings in the city and surrounding area.  It seems to be set up to look like what Republicans are claiming, that Black crime is up in cities, implying that white fear is reasonable.  Alas, scared white people, crime rates in red states and communities are higher in general than in blue areas.  I suspect they have an explanation for that too.  There has to be an explanation because the truth does not fit with the scared white male world view.  And, that warped world view is carefully shaped by the Republican lying machine which is pumped up to keep white people on edge and to influence the Trump-hypnotized to talk, plan, and do violence to others, especially if they can do it with no accountability or can just blame Democrats. 

One of the figures who has been an important source of the generated white fear, Tucker Carlson, was fired from Fox (Not Nearly News) on April 24th.  It was not because he regularly lied to his viewers, spewed racism and misogyny,  or because he spread conspiracy theories, rumors, and “encouraged” violence, not on your life!  It was because he had become a liability.  It came out that he didn’t believe most of what he was saying on air and people found out.  Then, there were the sexual harassment reports which could lead to more suits.  Yep, it was the threat of losing money that Rupert Murdoch, Carlson’s boss couldn’t stomach.  I am sure someone else will be coming to replace Tucker who will be just as disgusting and fearmongering, maybe he’ll believe the lies he is telling.  The viewers certainly will.

It is time We the People start to ween white men off the milk of superiority.  They need to stand on their own two feet without people they see as inferior constantly being forced to tell them how wonderful they are when all they are is white.  Those scared white men can learn from the many many secure white men who don’t get their value from keeping others down.   They don’t need others’ suffering to ease the fear that has been manufactured for them by other white men who only want to use the energy fear, hatred, and anger produce.  We the People need to begin this process because the scared white men are even more dangerous now as they try to turn our country into a dictatorship run by rich scared white men with everyone else as inferiors to be used and abused at their whim.  We had better immediately be about the work of curbing the tendencies of scared white men if we would save our society and our planet in time.

DEFAULT SETTINGS

by Ruth A. Sheets

My computer and I are at a near constant tug of war to see who or what will become master.  Sometimes I win and can get my computer to cooperate to do the many tasks I need it to do.  I use a screen reader which adds an additional layer to the challenges and the sense of victory I feel when I complete an article, a lesson plan, or an activity for use with my students.

Sometimes the computer “wins.”  Its little victories come daily when my screen reader just stops talking to me, requiring some extra keystrokes to get things going again.  The big victory happened last November when my hard drive crashed.  I was truly lucky because I had backed up most of the material and the folks at Geek Squad were able to retrieve the rest after about 10 days of computer vacation. 

When I got my computer back home, I discovered it had been returned to its default settings. These settings reflect the actions the manufacturer assumes most users would want as automatic.  I had changed most of the problem actions on my pre-crash computer, but now had very annoying settings adding to the usual challenges.  I had forgotten that numbering can be automatic even if I don’t want it.  Autocorrect has its own time-consuming moments.  I had to relearn the arrangement of the toolbars and still can’t find some of the things I need. 

I suppose default settings are necessary for computers, but I am noticing that there are default settings in other places in our lives. These settings generally aren’t noticed until they affect us in some way or are brought to our attention. 

Lately, I have been thinking about the kinds of questions reporters and pollsters ask interviewees.  “How does it feel to be an immigrant in America?  What kinds of challenges have you encountered as a woman in engineering (or physics, or aeronautics)?”  There are numerous books and articles about what it’s like to be Black or Hispanic, or Asian in America.  

We have been exposed to these perspectives for so long that we rarely, if ever, hear anyone asking “What is it like to be male or White or rich in America or in any specific type of business."  If we stop to consider why this is, it becomes clear that the default setting for America is White in general and male in particular and their goal is to be rich. 

It is possible to change the computer default settings if you know the menus that cover each one, but changing the American default setting will be much more difficult.

On the computer it is assumed that people might not like or be able to use the factory settings, so changing them is not too hard.  In America, many forces are in play to make sure that the default remains as it is.  Efforts to limit everyone else’s power and influence work behind the scenes all day and pop into the spotlight often enough to be sure we all know How things are supposed to be. 

Our various government entities have worked hard over time to ensure that African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans have few opportunities to succeed and are regularly blamed for the high levels of poverty they face. Educational opportunities for them in no way come close to matching what white males receive.  Women are regularly undermined and victimized, the result being low self-worth and frequent denigration of women by other women as well as by men.    

Immigrants are maligned as criminals, rapists, invaders even though fewer are coming here than in the past and have a much lower crime rate than non-immigrants.  They contribute extensively to our society as well.

It is hard to change this default setting when an entire political party, Republicans, depends on it for their existence.  Republicans point out the token women and people of color they include, but revel in their whiteness and maleness.  Their leaders find often ingenious ways of blaming our nation’s problems on “the other.”  They state directly that when racists go for a “reset” to default, and people protest, there are “fine people on both sides.”  Those White men who are afraid people will move from “factory settings” to something else will do whatever they can to keep that from happening.  Fear is one of their most effective weapons and they have had generations to learn just how to wield it with the greatest impact. And, there is a lot of money and power spreading fear far and wide. 
We don’t need to breathe in the fear.  We can become more vigilant and pay more attention to how we are being treated, what we are being called.  Who is speaking?  Who is listening?  Who is taking us seriously?  

So, perhaps just as I had to change settings to make my computer usable, we who believe in diversity and the value of immigration must enter the settings of inclusion we want for our nation.  It will be hard.  We may face a crash of our hard drive (our democracy) and experience new efforts to reinstall White male settings (white supremacy, repression of women,  etc.).  We will have to work together to find the right “menus” that  help us get to equality and appreciation of all persons.  We must  make our society work for all, not just the default.  

MA and PA Senate Races

by muon

Time to talk about some of this year's Senatorial races.

Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts, during his debate with challenger Elizabeth Warren, decided to introduce race as an issue in his campaign, He complained that Ms. Warren claimed to be a Native American. He hinted that she only used her claims of race to advance her career. He said he could tell whether she was Native American simply by looking at her, and to quote him, "Clearly, she is not." (I suppose, in Brown's limited experience, he believes Native Americans need to look as if they've ridden out of a Roy Rogers movie, complete with feathers and war paint.)  In a pathetic echo of the Obama birther movement, he challenged her to "release her records."  If you want to watch this part of the debate, click here.  

 Last Saturday, some of Brown's staffers tried to disrupt a Warren rally by doing tomahawk chops and war whoops. (Watch the clip here.)  Seriously, fellas? It never occurred to you that those actions might be considered racially offensive? Especially since anyone watching sports in the last decade has heard of Native American tribes repeatedly asking the Atlanta Braves to discourage their fans (the vast majority of whom are white, surprise, surprise) from doing the exact same offensive behavior.

The staffer in the tan cap leading the chops and whoops is Brad Garrett, Brown's state GOP operative. The guy in the blue cap and camo shirt is Jack Richard, Constituent Services Counsel for Brown. Mr. Richard is on the federal payroll to the tune of 60,000 taxpayer bucks annually. Yes, while spreading racial devisiveness, Jack Richard's pocketing our tax money.

Scott Brown, though he said he regretted the actions of his staffers, launched a new website this week, where he calls Elizabeth Warren a "Fake Indian." Last night, Cherokee Chief Bill John Baker released this statement:"We need individuals in the United States Senate who respect Native Americans and have an understanding of tribal issues. For that reason, I call upon Sen. Brown to apologize for the offensive actions of his staff and their uneducated, unenlightened and racist portrayal of native peoples."

I'd go further than that. As a taxpayer, I demand that all staffers on the federal payroll who participated in the event be fired.  If Brown wants to keep them on and pay them out of his own pocket, fine. But I don't want them on my dime.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tom Smith                            Bob Casey

Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, senate challenger Tom Smith is running ads claiming incumbent Bob Casey "hasn't passed a bill in 6 years." This is quite true. Senators cannot single-handedly pass bills. However, Mr. Casey did vote support the following bills: Middle Class Tax Relief, Veterans Jobs, FDA Food Safety, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Children's Health Insurance and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, to name a few. If bills didn't pass, it was because of GOP filibusters.

In August, Smith stated that he opposes abortion in all circumstances, even in cases of rape and incest, and he equated the trauma of pregnancy by rape to that of having a baby out of wedlock.

Smith claims to have been a successful job creator, owning a coal company that employed over 100 people. If you look up Thomas J. Smith, Inc., records state that the firm employs 25 people, yet had gross annual sales of $5,075,000 in 2011. Which explains how Smith has the moolah to primarily self-fund his campaign and flood the airwaves with lies.  Smith claims he retired in 2010, yet the site above still lists him as the owner. If he ever did employ 100 people, he shrunk his workforce by 75%.  Good work, Job Creator.

At-Risk Youth

Today's blog is an amazing essay written by a 13 year-old.  Because she's a minor, we've left off her last name and location. 

AT-RISK YOUTH

Last year, I was asked to go to a meeting for “At-Risk Youth.”  They invited us because we were youth council members and they wanted our input on how to help the kids who were acting up, failing and about to drop out of school. During the meeting everyone talked about the “At-Risk” youth and ways to help them do better.  But nobody ever really said what an “At-Risk” youth was.  I think they invited us to the meeting because they thought that we were not “At-Risk” since we were not failing or acting out in school.  I decided to write about at-risk youth.

After doing some research I found that there are a number of things that make a young person “At-Risk”.  One study showed that kids who come from poor communities, underperforming schools and broken homes are more “At-Risk” than others.  It also showed that Black and Hispanic kids are more “At-Risk” then White and Asian kids, males were more “At-Risk” then females and poor kids are more “At-Risk” than rich kids.  So, I guess being an “At-Risk” youth means that if you live in bad family and community conditions there’s a greater chance that you will participate in negativebehaviors.

While thinking about that definition, I realized that I too am an “At-Risk” youth. Even though I come from a two parent home, with two incomes, have two sisters, a nice little house pet, and enjoy learning, because of the school that I go to, my race, and the zip code where my parents happened to buy our home, I’m classified as “At-Risk”.

However, I  personally think that all youth are “At-Risk”,  in one way or another. Whether by poverty,  race, community, school, an unstable home, violence, drugs, bullying, or anything else. A reason why I think that all youth are at risk is because youth are so dependent on everyone else. They are dependent on their parents to provide a stable, loving home for them. They are dependent on the community to provide a safe environment and they are dependent on the schools to educate them so that they can succeed.   

As a young person, I know that kids can sometimes do bad stuff, but if you ask me, the reason we have so many “At-Risk” youth is not only because of the kids but because of the conditions that have been created for them to live in. 

Submitted by Shanae, age 13