Wednesday, September 19, 2007

THIS JUST IN! JESSE JACKSON IS WRONG!

 
ALL OF THE BELTWAY IS IN A TIZZY OVER A CRITIQUE FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, COMMUNITY LEADER AND CIVIL RIGHTS VETERAN JESSE JACKSON OFFERED OF NEWBIE SENATOR AND WAR HAWK BARACK OBAMA.
 
YESTERDAY, WHILE ENCOURAGING DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES FOR THEIR PARTY'S PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION TO START SHOWING SOME BRAVERY, JESS JACKSON DECLARED THAT OBAMA WAS "ACTING LIKE HE'S WHITE".
 
THIS TYPE OF CRITICISM HAS REPEATEDLY DOGGED OBAMA THROUGH OUT HIS NOT-SO-SPARKLING RUN FOR PRESIDENT.
 
 
THOUGH JESSE JACKSON HAS CREATED A VERY STRONG LEGACY, WHEN HE'S WRONG, HE IS WRONG. 
 
BARACK OBAMA IS NOT ACTING WHITE.  BARACK OBAMA IS WHITE.  AND HE IS AFRICAN-AMERICAN.  HE IS BI-RACIAL.
 
THOUGH THE PRESS CONTINUES TO PIMP HIM AS THE "BLACK CANDIDATE," BARAK OBAMA IS NOT BLACK. 
 
AT THE TURN OF THIS CENTURY, MANY OUTLETS SUCH AS THE NEW YORK TIMES AND HOPRAH WERE ATTEMPTING TO EDUCATE AMERICA ON THE REALITIES OF BI-RACIAL AND MULTI-RACIAL CITING FAMOUS EXAMPLES SUCH AS DEREK JETER AND MARIAH CAREY. 
 
YET SUDDENLY, IN ORDER TO PROP UP A LITTLE NOTHING CANDIDATE, THE PRESS CONTINUES TO INSIST THAT BARACK OBAMA -- WHOSE MOTHER WAS WHITE AND FATHER WAS BLACK -- IS BLACK.
 
OFFERING HER DEEP WISDOMS FROM THE SOUTH, SOCIAL CRITIC BETTY EXPLAINED IT BACK IN FEBRUARY:
 
And since he's biracial, let's be clear that if he ever becomes President, he won't be the first Black, he may be the first biracial, he may be the first part-Black, but he is not Black. The insistence that the White press has upon portraying him as Black honestly reminds me of the same racism that existed in this country where they divided up Black into octoroon and other categories. He is biracial, he is not Black. That may be how the White press likes "Blacks," not really Black, but quit insulting my race by telling me the ideal is to be at least half-White. My children don't need to hear that message, they are Black. He is bi-racial and there's nothing wrong with that but don't present him as "Black" because he's not. The fact that a Joe Biden approves of him over a Chisholm or Moseley Braun, or Jackson or Dick Gregory or Al Sharpton goes to the fact that he's biracial and not Black and the failure of the White press to take seriously the offensive remarks goes to the fact that they are in agreement with Biden, Obama is "their kind of people" too.
 
 
 
 
 
Starting with war resistance, today on KPFK's Morning Review with Gabriel Gutierrez, Gutierrez spoke with two members of Iraq Veterans Against the War, war resister Agustin Aguayo and Maricela Guzman (also with the Service Women Action Network) about their experiences speaking with students about the Iraq War. 
 
Maricela Guzman: For me, when I go to schools, I definitely talk about my perspective in the service. I think it's really important to go to that route. And I do tell them about my experience specifically as a woman veteran.  I do tell them that I was assaulted in the service, sexually assaulted when I was in boot camp. And I think it's really important for them to know this and it's been very difficult for me to tell my story over and over but it's really important for them to know this because I want them to understand that there are risks when you join such an organization like this.  So it's very critical.  And for me, what I've found, I've gotten really good feedback from the kids and I've had, you know I've talked about suicide, my suicide attempt. And I've had kids -- I've talked about seeing a psychologist and it's a big taboo when you go to these communities and this is something we don't talk about -- I'm Chicana and it's something definitely my family would never talk about. For me, talking to these kids afterwards, them coming up and telling me, "This is what happened to me.  I was assaulted" or "I've tried suicide." I think, for me, that's very critical.  And we're including these organic  conversations when we're going to these schools -- even besides military. 
 
Gutierrez asked Aguayo what helped him "make the determination" not to return to Iraq?
 
Agustin Aguayo: To me, honestly, it wasn't a hard decision once I decided that I could never go back.  Basically because I experienced a moral awakening and I was forced to realize who I was.  And I had to accept that I could deny myself and cause all this violence against myself or I could stand up and say, "No, I believe this is wrong and I'm willing to accept any consequences."  And in the end I think it gave me a . . . feeling of great freedom.  So that is . . . a personal moral determination to do what I felt was right is what helped me the most.
 
Gabriel Gutierrez: And your wife Helga and your two daughters have been involved in the campaign to bring awareness to your case but also in its aftermath once you've now returned.  What type of work has that led to with regard to awareness and with regard to work with young people specifically?
 
Agustin Aguayo: Yes, I've had the privilege of speaking supporting groups that have helped other war resisters, the growing number of them.  And now I'm in the position to share with them what I've been through and they, of course, these resisters that are in this path, this crossroads: "What am I going to do?" I've had the privilege of sharing my experience with them and inspiring them.  And one of the happiest things I'm pleased with is the Arlington West Film and speakers program and I think in the peace work nothing is really more important than educating our young because our future really depends on how we take care of our young today and educating them.  So going into inner city schools is just so important.  And veterans sometimes, we're hesitant.  And sometimes we really want to forget everything we've been through, everything we've experienced, our military experience, but I think we owe it to our young people.   They need to know what's going on, what we experienced.
 
Gutierrez asked what the reaction was from students, teachers and recruiters when they speak in schools?
 
 
Maricela Guzman: Well for me, it's definitely been very difficult.  I know I've been on panels -- it was this year sometime, we went to Fairfax -- and Agustin was in jail at that time and we had a panel, we had recruiters veterans that were for the war and we had Helga and we really got a good reception.  It was very interesting because we weren't sure what was going to happen.  And really what it came down to was that it was the kids who were asking the hard questions.  So it was empowering these kids to ask the questions that needed to be asked.  And the most important thing was that they heard from family members.  You know, we have a lot of family members . . . who talk to these kids.  We don't tell them don't be against the war.  We talk about our experiences.  We're storytellers we tell them of what we've gone through and I think that's why it's been such a successful program.  We've become a family, we've definitely become a family, the people that do this work, the Aguayos are a family to me.
 
Agustin Aguayo: I think the community, administrators, are very receptive because of our tact and like Maricela said the way we share our stories  Basically that's what we do.  And I think our stories are so powerful in themselves even people that are for the war  which I mean at this point, even people who don't want us to go out they really can't say much because all we are doing is sharing stories and nothing is more powerful than the truth.
 
As pointed out Arlington West Film is "doing the work that the mainstream media is not doing".  Friday, September 28th, there will be a benefit performance of the musical Hair at 8:00 pm at the MET Theater, 1089 No. Oxford Avenue, Hollywood, CA 90029 with Aguayo and Cindy Sheehan among the speakers.
 
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Derek Hess, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Zamesha Dominique, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko,Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, forty-one US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.

Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters.
 
In other peace news, United for Peace & Justice states they are using the Just Foreign Policy count for Iraqis who have died in the illegal war. The report on the state of Iraq has been updated to note the Iraqi dead during the illegal war is over a million.   United for Peace & Justice (along with others) will begin Iraq Moratorium on September 21st and follow it every third Friday of the month as people across the country are encouraged to wear and distribute black ribbons and armbands, purchase no gas on those Fridays, conduct vigils, pickets, teach-ins and rallies, etc.  That's this Friday.  On Sunday,  Christine Anne Piesyk (Tennessee's Clarksville Online) provided a list of some actions that will take place:.
 
Each of these individuals and groups -- a list too long to print here -- have something in common: each have signed up to support the Iraq Moratorium, which will make its debut as a national movement on Friday, September 21. 
Wear and distribute black ribbons and armbands 
Buy no gas on moratorium days 
Pressure politicians and media  
Hold vigils, pickets, rallies and teach-ins  
Hold special religious services  
Coordinate events in art, music and culture 
Host film screenings, talks and educational events 
Organize student actions: teach-ins, school closings  
Iraq Moratorium is designed to take the issue to the people, and no event or action is to small to be of merit in opposing the Iraq war.  
 
Turning to the topic of Blackwater USA, the mercenaries that got into Iraq due to crony connections and whom Paul Bremer made above the law during his reign of King of Iraq before fleeing the country.  Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) notes today, "The private military contractor Blackwater is now believed to have killed twenty Iraqi civilians in a mass-shooting Sunday in Baghdad. The Iraqi government revoked Blackwater's license amidst reports nine civilians were killed when Blackwater guards opened fire. Blackwater says it responded after coming under attack from a roadside bomb. But in its initial report on the shooting, Iraq's Interior Ministry says the guards shot at a small vehicle that failed to make way for Blackwater's convoy to pass. An Iraqi couple and their infant were killed in the attack. The New York Times reports video footage of the shooting shows the child burned to the mother's body after their car caught fire. Blackwater guards and helicopters are then believed to have fired indiscriminately."  In the New York Times, Sabrina Tavernise and James Glanz reported this morning that the Ministry of Interior's preliminary report on the incidnet found "that Blackwater security guards were not ambushed, as the company reported, but instead fired at a car when it did not heed a policeman's call to stop, killing a couple and their infant."  Joshua Partlow (Washington Post) addresses the issue of stopping and the police officer via . . . interviews (take note NYT): "Traffic police officer Sarhan Dhia, 34, said he was standing under the Iraqi flags next to his white guard shack along the traffic circle when he saw the convoy of at least four armored vehicles approch, traveling against the flow of traffic.  He said he jumped out into an intersecting street to prevent cars from entering the circle while the convoy passed.  The next thing he knew, he said, gunfire erupted." Sarhan Dhia says there was no bombing.  Blackwater originally claimed that their mercenaries were 'returning fire' after they had been shot at.  They then declared that their indiscriminate spraying of a civilian area with bullets was their way of responding to car bombing.  Their stories -- like the civilian area they shot up -- is riddled with holes.  Leila Fadel and Laith Hammoudi (McClatchy Newspapers) also operate under the belief that reporting requires speaking to eye witnesses and they speak with Hassan Jaber Salma and Sami Hawas Karim (an attorney and a taxi driver respectively) who both -- as does every other eye witnesses quoted in press accounts -- maintain that Blackwater "opened fire without provocation" and the reporters note the ever changing story by Blackwater.  Interior Ministry spokesperson Ali al Dabbagh tells McClatchy Newspapers that, "No country in the world would allow the way they [Blackwater] are operating in Iraq."  Multiple outlets (including McClatchy and the New York Times) report that Blackwater helicopters also fired on civilians in the Sunday slaughter.  CBS and AP cite eye witness Suhad Mizra who stepped outside of her hair salon ("about 250 meters" from the incident) and remebers, "The sounds attracted my attention so I went outside the shop to see a convoy of SUVs with security guards shooting randomly at the people at low level.  We were surprised by this and we rushed inside our shops to avoid random bullets.  Apparently, the guards wanted to make their way through the traffic jam made by Iraqi army checkpoint.  There was no provocation and the guards were using their ammunition to move quicker in the street.  Minutes later, the ambulances arrived to up the wounded and dead."  Reality is that this has long been the procedure: to ram through Iraq so that the "high levels" didn't have to wait.  An important question the press should be asking is: Who was Blackwater transporting?  Among the many times this has happened before, Anne Garrels (All Things Considered, NPR) reports on one: "NPR witnessed a similar scenario two years ago. A State Department convoy, protected by Blackwater, raced out of a compound. Guards immediately shot at the car killing an old man, his son and his daughter-in-law. Blackwater said the car was driving erratically. A U.S. military investigation concluded Blackwater had used excessive force. No one was prosecuted.
 
 

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