Justice

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King’s Dream at 50: A Report Card

 

Police Brutality: F

 

In 2012 police officers, security guards and  vigilantes killed at least 136 unarmed black people – unarmed! Trayvon Martin is just what made the news. The police still get away with murder. The civil rights reforms of the 1950s and 1960s left the police and the courts pretty much untouched. It is next to impossible to prove in court that a police officer or judge acted out of racism.

 

Community Village‘s insight:

The rampant police brutality of African-Americans and Latinos came to light for me when I ran across a Scoop.it page that was run by @usaslumdog

 

He doesn’t run the Scoop.it page anymore but he does continue to tweet about African-American rights, similar to @normbond @ColorLines and @TimWise

 

I recently learned that in Germany the death penalty is illegal. Can you imagine if it was found that Germany was putting Jews to death, or that they were disproportionately putting Jews to death today?

 

That’s exactly what is happening to African-Americans in the U.S. today. After being oppressed through slavery and Jim Crow – they continue to be oppressed by a racist U.S. culture of violence and oppression.

 

In 2013 U.S. culture still targets Black and Brown communities via

 

  • The prison industrial complex
  • Stop-n-Frisk
  • War on drugs
  • Systemic Racism
  • Housing and school segregation

 

See on abagond.wordpress.com

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Migrant Workers Memorialized 65 Years after crash

Twenty-eight Mexican victims of a plane crash in 1948 were memorialized in Fresno, Calif., with a new gravestone that lists their names.

 

Community Village‘s insight:

This quote:

“Some were in the United States legally as part of the federal Braceros guest–worker program”

Emphasis is mine.

 

A rights activists said “When we have a guest at our house we don’t ask them to wash the dishes.”

In other words, the whole idea of guest-worker is dehumanizing.

The idea of guest-worker conveys that the guest is good enough to harvest the crops that feed, nourish and grow our nation – but the guest is not good enough to stay in the community and become a citizen.

See on www.nytimes.com

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Before He Was Assassinated, MLK Had A Radical Idea

Just months before he was assassinated, Martin Luther King Jr. was organizing support for the “Poor People’s Campaign,” aimed at supplementing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with a full measure of economic and human rights for America’s poor.

 

Watch MLK unfurl some important history at 1:22 and take a minute to sit back and wonder what might have happened if he’d been successful.

 

Community Village‘s insight:

The U.S. government not only gave extra benefits to European-Americans, but continues to give extra benefits to corporations, while U.S. parents and U.S. schools struggle to provide a competitive education to our children.

See on www.upworthy.com

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Think Mexican • Remembering the Chicano Moratorium

Brown berets

Brown Berets

On August 29, 1970, a “Chicano Moratorium” against the war in Vietnam was held in East L.A.

Loyola-Marymount film student Tom Myrdahl shot this documentary, capturing the events that unfolded as law enforcement and protesters clashed in and around Laguna Park. This film has not been seen in nearly 40 years.


Tom, who is still a working cameraman in Los Angeles, is putting this historic film on the web as a tribute to the brave citizens of East L.A. who came together 40 years ago to voice their dissent against the Vietnam War.

 

Community Village‘s insight:

 

In the video:

  • “Bronze people with a Bronze culture”
  • “We’re not against the black people or the white people. We’re against oppression.”

Note: The Beret has been used as a symbol of fighting oppression going back to

The black beret as a revolutionary symbol

See on thinkmexican.tumblr.com

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Family In Protest

Explore Think Mexican’s photos on Flickr. Think Mexican has uploaded 49 photos to Flickr.

 

Community Village‘s insight:

Does it make a difference in the immigration debate if we view those of Mexican heritage as Native American?

See on www.flickr.com

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Tavis Smiley on the 50th anniversary celebration of the March on Washington: “It was a great day… but…”

On the heels of Wednesday’s celebration of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, “Piers Morgan Live” invited Tavis Smiley to offer his perspective on today’s ceremony as well as Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous “I have a dream” speech.

 

Community Village‘s insight:

I agree with Mr. Smiley. One of my pet peeves is hearing politicians talk about helping the middle class, while as the same time, not mentioning the poor and working class – as if they don’t matter or don’t exist.

See on piersmorgan.blogs.cnn.com