Dr. Stella Immanuel has stirred up controversy this week with a Facebook video making unscientific claims about covid-19, the corona virus causing the pandemic which has been wreaking havoc on the world since late 2019, and which has to date caused at least 4 million cases of the illness in the United States. The video, shared by the Clown Prince of Darkness and his autonymic son, was pulled by Facebook (after being shared millions of times, not a good look for them) and caused Junior to get a 12-hour account suspension on Twitter. In it, she claimed that hydroxychloroquine, the malaria drug which has proved both ineffective and dangerous as a treatment for the virus, was actually a cure and that Dr. Anthony Fauci, US lead infectious disease doctor, and the entire Senate were taking the drug and that masks were unnecessary, although she is requiring their use for people wishing to visit her clinic.
Monthly Archives: July 2020
The 1619 Project and the Importance of Understanding the Relevance of Chattel Slavery to American History and Current Conditions
Yes, I realize that title is ridiculously long. It is crucial we—the collective cultural “we”—understand the relevance of chattel slavery to where we find ourselves now in America in a cultural sense, because all that we have is built on all that has been, and many Americans from every part of the country, every economic class, and every color have not been taught relevant facts about our history (alternate link).
Our history curricula have neglected and whitewashed critical elements of the context in which events happened, people became notorious or famous, and legislation and court decisions have shaped what was allowed by whom and against whom. This project, by The New York Times Magazine in collaboration with the Smithsonian—the lead essay of which, by project director Nikole Hannah-Jones, won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary—aims to help correct that by filling in gaps in knowledge and understanding of adults and providing new free curriculum for students at all levels, co-developed with the Pulitzer Center, which hosts it.
In response to criticism from historians, The Times updated a sentence in Hannah-Jones’ essay to clarify that, while fear that England was headed toward outlawing slavery was a primary factor driving support for the American Revolution among some colonists, it was not for all colonists. In fact, throughout American history there has been conflict between those Whites who supported slavery, racialized castes, and White supremacy and those who have ardently resisted them.
If you’re a subscriber to the Times, you can read the essays in the 1619 Project and explore its interactive elements here. If not, you can download a PDF file of the full issue of The New York Times Magazine issue containing all the essays from the Pulitzer Center.
Portland, Oregon Protesters, Thank You
Not only have the protesters for Black lives in Portland been consistent in showing up, but they are demonstrating effective ways for people to come together and resist authoritarian clampdowns on free speech as well as how White people can be good allies, showing up and using White privilege to protect protesters of color and center their voices. They’re not the first, of course, and many of the strategies they’ve been using—including using leaf blowers to return tear gas to the senders—have come from Hong Kong, in particular, where pro-democracy protesters have been demonstrating in recent years against the might of China.
Continue reading Portland, Oregon Protesters, Thank YouRename the Edmund Pettus Bridge
Surely any visitor here is familiar with the infamous Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, where state troopers notoriously beat Civil Rights protesters on Bloody Sunday, March 7th, 1965, including the recently deceased John Lewis, conscience of Congress for the 17 terms he served, representing us Georgians in the House. Lewis was the first to be beaten on Bloody Sunday, suffering a fractured skull,
Now there is a movement to rename the bridge in Lewis’ honor, amidst a larger movement to rethink and rename public honors, such as statues, streets, schools, and mascots. There are two petitions in support of this movement.
Call to action: I ask that you sign both petitions to rename the bridge. The first is at https://johnlewisbridge.com/, which also provides information on the current namesake, Edmund Pettus, a hateful racist, avid defender of slavery, opponent of Reconstruction, and KKK “Grand Wizard”, as well as history of the bridge itself.
The second is at Change.org, a site where anyone can create petitions for their cause: https://www.change.org/p/governor-of-alabama-rename-the-edmund-pettus-bridge-after-rep-john-lewis.
On Capitalizing Color When Talking About Race
I have, for some time, mostly consistently used a capital B to begin ‘black’ when it refers to a racialized and demographic grouping. I have done this for a few reasons: to show respect, confer social power, and reduce or eliminate ambiguity. I have not been capitalizing ‘white’ for two reasons: because I associate that usage style with White supremacists and White nationalists, and because White people as a group don’t need any more empowerment. I have not capitalized ‘brown’ because I have not seen that usage style used more than a handful of times, and those only in academic contexts. Today, my mind has been changed, and I will be changing the style guide (such as it is) for Damnwalr.us going forward to capitalize all racialized groupings.
Continue reading On Capitalizing Color When Talking About RaceVoting Rights, and How Racists Limit Access
When the American Civil War ended, states which had joined the Confederacy were required to accept conditions in order to remove the Union. Included in these conditions were ratification of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the US Constitution, which ended legal slavery except as punishment for a crime; ensured that anyone born within the United States or its territories was a citizen of both the country and the state where they resided; required due process in order to deprive any citizen of life, liberty, or property; required states to allow all citizen men age 21 and up to vote unless convicted of a crime, on penalty of losing representation in Congress; dealt with various matters regarding insurrection (the Confederacy); and prohibited limiting or denying the right to vote on the basis of race, color, “or previous condition of servitude” (enslavement). As you might suspect, states leapt upon those loopholes with enthusiasm.
Continue reading Voting Rights, and How Racists Limit AccessWhite Cultural Default in US
American conservatives this week are up in arms about a graphic shared by the National Museum of African American History and Culture which addresses some of the ways in which white culture is dominant and has become the default cultural setting in the US. They made such an uproar about it that the museum removed the graphic, rather than engaging in conversation about it and perhaps learning something. White culture is so much the American default that we often don’t see it, just as fish don’t see water until they’re taken from it.
Continue reading White Cultural Default in USRIP John Lewis
Today we are grieving the loss of longtime member of Congress and personal hero Representative John Lewis of Georgia, as well as celebrating his life and tremendous contributions to American civil rights. I’m sure most of you are well aware of his work both in the Civil Rights Movement and in Congress, where he served as a conscience for the body, speaking to colleagues about the effects legislation and policy could and did have on Americans, especially his constituents in Atlanta. Continue reading RIP John Lewis