Black Agenda Radio, Week of May 15, 2019
Black Agenda Radio, Week of May 15, 2019
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In Baltimore, Police Officers Are the Bad Guys With Guns
https://blackagendareport.com/
Plainclothes police officers are waging war on residents.
“They often planted guns and resold narcotics.”
There have been 11 homicides in Baltimore since the start of May, pushing the number of homicides in 2019 past 100.
The hardscrabble, postindustrial city of 611,000 people reached this grim milestone at almost the same time as New York City, which is home to more than eight million people.
Baltimore has been mired in a murder crisis since 2015. But several brazen shootings this spring have heightened the sense of urgency and outrage. At the end of April, seemingly indiscriminate fire interrupted a Sunday afternoon cookout, killing one person and wounding eight others. In early May, two toddlers were shot.
Michael Harrison, the city’s new police commissioner, assured that he had strategically deployed his officers to stop the violence. Officers were in the “right places,” he told a reporter, and were being “extremely aggressive” while looking for shooters and anyone else illegally in possession of a gun.
Mr. Harrison has adopted the same violence-reduction strategy as his predecessors — there have been five police commissioners since 2015: post police in the same neighborhoods that have been segregated and gutted by a century of racist redlining to target “bad guys with guns.”
This seems like a more reasonable solution to crime than the lock-up-any-black-person strategy that characterized the drug war. Mayor Martin O’Malley’s zero-tolerance policies from 1999 to 2006 were among the most audacious experiments in mass incarceration in American history, leading to more than 100,000 arrests in a single year. Now, many of the same people are waging a more targeted war on guns….
In Baltimore, Police Officers Are the Bad Guys With Guns
US Raid on Venezuela Embassy ‘A Brutal Act Against Int’l Law’: President Maduro
He urged the U.S. to respect the human rights of the activists inside the diplomatic headquarters for 36 days by the authority of Venezuelan officials.
The President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro rejected and repudiated the storming of its embassy by United States police officers Thursday.
“The U.S. has raided the premises of the Venezuelan embassy in Washington … a brutal act against international law and lack of respect for embassies in the world,” said the president.
The Venezuelan head of state says he gave instructions to take its complaint of the event to the highest authorities and is expecting U.N. member states to make declarations against this violation.
“I have told our Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza, that we should take the complaint to the highest levels and that the U.N. system should rule sooner rather than later on this serious violation of the Venezuelan Embassy in the U.S.,” he said.
On another note, he urged the U.S. government to respect the human rights of the activists who were inside the diplomatic headquarters for 36 days by the authority of Venezuelan officials.
Activists had been defending the embassy building since the two governments broke diplomatic relations. However, U.S. authorities and the Venezuelan opposition sought to cut off electricity and water services to the building, as well as prevent food from entering by keeping a siege on the premises daily.
Demonstrators occupying the Venezuelan embassy in Washington D.C. on behalf of Venezuelan authorties were removed after the U.S. invaded it. | Photo: EFE
Madison, May 23, 2019: Madison Rally to Stop Abortion Bans!
Madison Rally to Stop Abortion Bans!
It feels like every day there’s a new state proposing further restrictions and near total bans on abortion care. We’re saying ENOUGH. Abortion is healthcare. Abortion is live saving and life affirming. Abortion is a human right. We’re planning a die-in and rally in solidarity with Alabama, Georgia, Missouri, Ohio, and all states fighting back against cruel abortion bans. See you on the Capitol steps.
More details to come.
Partners:
Madison Abortion Defense
National Organization for Women (NOW), Madison Chapter
If your organization is interested in sponsoring or partnering with us on this action – email madtownnow@gmail.com.
Cubans visit Detroit to share information on the African presence; Cubans visit Detroit to share information on the African presence
By Abayomi Azikiwe
Detroit has been a center of interest and support of the Cuban Revolution for many decades where the majority-African-American population has engaged in various projects to enhance interactions between both geopolitical regions.
A four-day visit by Gisela Arandia Covarrubias and Tomas Fernandez Robaina represented a continuation of a process of cultural exchange. Both individuals are writers and publishers committed to the exposure of the African historical and contemporary presence in Cuba.
Arandia is a researcher associated with the Cuban Union of Artists and Writers. She has traveled extensively in Africa to participate in conferences in Mali and the Republic of South Africa.
Her work has resulted in an appointment as the leader of the Ejecutivo, ARAC (Articulación Regional Afrodescendiente de América Latina y el Caribe, Capítulo Cubano), known as a civil rights organization inside the socialist country. She was instrumental in the organizing of the Cuba y los pueblos afrodescendientes en América, a significant conference held in 2011.
Visiting the city as well was Fernandez Robaina, who has worked since the early 1960s at la Biblioteca Nacional (Cuban National Library) in Havana. He also teaches courses at the University of Havana. Fernandez has published widely on issues involving people of African descent since 1968.
In 1994, Fernandez published “The Blacks in Cuba, 1902-1958: Notes on the History of the Struggle against Racial Discrimination.” The author has traveled many times to the United States and Africa gathering information on the similarities between African people in various parts of the globe.
Both Arandia and Fernandez participated in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Legacy Conference held during early April in Chicago. SNCC, a pioneering and vanguard organization in the Civil Rights and Black Power movements of the 1960s, had emphasized the interconnectedness of liberation efforts in the U.S. and Cuba.
During the late 1960s, SNCC leaders such as Stokely Carmichael (later known as Kwame Ture) and Gwen Patton, traveled to Cuba bringing messages of solidarity seeking support for the African-American political movement, which had become internationalized by 1967. Veteran SNCC organizers have continued this legacy through annual conferences and other work aimed at achieving total freedom….
Honored guests Tomas Fernandez Robaina and Gisela Arandia Covarrubias stand with attendees of a discussion on the African presence in Cuba, held on April 13. | Photo: Abayomi Azikiwe
Help Stop the Threat of U.S. War on Iran! Stand For Peace Milwaukee May 25, 2019
Please join the End the Wars Coalition for these urgent actions to stop the threat of US war on Iran:
1. “NO WAR ON IRAN!” emergency protest on Saturday, May 25, 2019 at 12 NOON, at Layfayette and Lincoln Memorial Drive (by Collectivo).
2. We are asking people to attend Rep. Gwen Moore’s Congressional Café listening session this Saturday, May 18, 2019 to ask her to make a clear public statement opposing any military attack on Iran. May 18th, 10:30 am to 12:00 pm at the Kelly Senior Center, 6100 S. Lake Drive, Cudahy, WI.
• We will ask Rep. Moore to make a strong public statement opposing any military attack on Iran.
• Ask Rep. Moore to support Rep. Barbara Lee’s bill to revoke the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). This could be voted on next week.
• Ask Rep. Moore to support H.R.2354 the Prevention of Unconstitutional War with Iran Act. Introduced by Rep. Anna Eshoo.
If you can’t be there, please call her office with the same requests. 414-297-1140 or D.C. 202-225-4572
Post by: Milwaukee Anti-war Committee
Detroit protest
Tell Taylor University: Cancel Racist War Criminal Mike Pence’s Graduation Speech
Faculty and students at Taylor University, an evangelical Christian college in Indiana, are rebelling against Vice President Mike Pence as this year’s commencement speaker.
Taylor’s faculty voted to oppose the invitation, and thousands of students have signed a petition rejecting the “Trump-Pence Administration’s policies” as “not consistent with the Christian ethic of love.”
These brave students are now under fire from the religious right for standing up to Pence and Trump. Franklin Graham has even attacked them on Facebook, writing, “What are these people smoking? Who has bewitched you?”
With the story making national headlines, we need to show that Christians across the nation are standing with these courageous students and faculty as they protest the distortion of our shared faith.
PETITION: Mike Pence’s political career is a study in discrimination, not an example of loving as Christ loved. These are not the values that Christians schools like Taylor University should instill in students. Listen to your faculty and to the students you have hurt with your decision, and find a new commencement speaker. SIGN HERE: https://bit.ly/2WbXNXg
Support Strike at Wisconsin Paint and Powder Coat in Hortonville, WI
Thee Fond du Lac Underclass
As some of you in the community may already know, the majority of the employees at Wisconsin Paint and Powder Coat in Hortonville, WI are on strike. We began our strike on May 9th, and will continue until we see a change.
The conditions at WIPPC are unacceptable and have been for years, verified by previous supervisors and employees. A lot of people ask, “Why don’t you just get another job? Everywhere is hiring.” We LOVE what we do.
The amount of support that we’ve gotten from members of the community and surrounding communities has been unbelievable. People are bringing us water, sunscreen, and stopping to chat. There’s so many smiles, waves, and honking cars.
If anyone feels unsafe in their work environment or is afraid of retaliation, please reach out to me and I can give you some great resources. Working is something we will all have to do at some point in our lives, we shouldn’t have to be treated poorly or risk our health to provide for our families.
Please, like and share this post! Or come out and show some support. We can do this!
Thee Fond du Lac Underclass
May 17-19, 2019: Wisconsin State Republican Convention, Funded By the Right Wing Bradley Foundation & other Wall Street Vultures – A Nest of Anti-Worker Racists
May 17-19, 2019 Schedule: https://bit.ly/2JPWDdo
Best Western Premier Waterfront Hotel & Convention Center, 1 North Main Street, Oshkosh, WI 54901
Milwaukee, June 1, 2019: Tony Lied Demonstration
The Democratic Party of Wisconsin is having their convention in Milwaukee on June 1st and 2nd at Potawatomi Hotel and Casino. We will be there to remind them of Governor Evers campaign promise to CLOSE msdf and decarcerate Wisconsin.
Governor Evers will be delivering a keynote speech at 6:40 PM Saturday. We will be outside, demonstrating and demanding Evers realign his policies with his campaign promises.
The full (tentative) schedule is online here, check for updates: https://www.wisdems.org/events/2019-wisdems-state-convention/convention-agenda-tentative
Our plan is to remain outside, on public property, but more details for the meet up spot will be posted here before the event.
Tony did a 180 turn on MSDF and other prison issues after winning the election.
– His proposed budget includes an $8.1 million investment over four years in the facility he said should close “as soon as possible”.
– His budget also expands funding, beds, and staff for the Department of Corrections, which he said he would shrink.
– He failed to even propose the $15 million expansion of treatment alternatives and diversions he told us he supported. This money would drastically reduce incarceration, leading to a large net cost-savings.
Tony’s “people’s budget” leaves many people out, and that’s unacceptable.
We must hold politicians accountable to the promises they make on the campaign trail, and right now, that means standing up to Tony Evers and the Wisconsin Democrats. No longer will we let them take the votes of black and brown community, of reformers in the religious community, or of advocates for incarcerated people for granted. We demand results.
Governor Evers can CLOSEmsdf!
Tony lied to us!
