Latinos

Ron DeSantis Denying Truth Of African American History: A Whitewash Of The American Past!

It is absolutely infuriating beyond belief that Florida under Ron DeSantis is denying the truth of African American history, and American history at large, in setting a new curriculum that whitewashes the truth of slavery, Jim Crow segregation, lynchings, and horrendous race riots in that state and elsewhere, causing mass destruction and death over the centuries.

To tell students that slavery “benefited” slaves by teaching them “job skills”, and that race riots saw African Americans both being victimized but also being perpetrators of the riots, is a bald faced lie, making Florida look worse than 1960s Alabama and Mississippi!

In the past, the Confederate myth perpetuated lies and racism, and finally in the 1960s and moving forward, the truth was being taught.

As a professor who has taught for a half century, I refuse to teach lies and mistruths, but imagine those who teach at all levels who are in danger of losing their jobs and professions over political interference by a governor, who seems as if he is George Wallace on steroids!

And Florida is setting the stage for other “Red” states to impose the same censorship and manipulation of the truth on students, which will undermine the future of a multiracial society, as nothing can be done to overcome the reality that in 2045, the white population of America will be less than half the nation, and already, non white groups are a majority of young people in many parts of the nation.

This does not bode well for the future of interracial cooperation, and Ron DeSantis must be opposed legally in court to work against this poison he is promoting!

What does this say about the truth of the treatment of Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, and native Americans, which also must be taught, and known by future generations!

The old saying is: “The Truth Shall Set You Free”!, and that must be the motto of all educators, and most specifically, American historians and journalists in this struggle against reality!

Long Overdue: The Emmett Till Anti Lynching Act, Making Such Action A Federal Crime!

Emmett Till was a 14 year old African American boy from Chicago visiting Mississippi in 1955, when a white woman claimed he whistled at her and tried to grab her.

Her husband and his half brother arranged for this young boy to be kidnapped, tortured, and murdered, with his face and body left in horrific condition, which was revealed in an open casket at the funeral. Sadly, the two men were found not guilty by an all white jury, although years later, they admitted to the killing, and the woman admitted she had lied about Till making a pass at her.

Lynchings had gone on in the South since after the Civil War, and legislation had been introduced regularly since 1900, and finally, the act of lynching was made a federal crime, punishable by 30 years in prison, and signed into law by President Joe Biden.

Lynching was used as a tactic even in states outside the South, and while African American males were the major victims, there were also Jews, Italians, Latino Americans, Asian Americans, and Native Americans who were subjected to such heinous crimes, most often without accountability. And there have been recent examples in the past thirty years of gay Americans being victimized.

This legislation gained all but three votes in the House of Representatives, and a unanimous vote in the US Senate, and marks the end of a long fought battle to deal with lychings in more than 4000 cases from 1877 to 1950.

The killing of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia in 2020 was a recent example of what is perceived as a lynching, but done by firearms rather than hanging or beating. But the men involved were convicted and sentenced to life in prison, thankfully.

Racial hatred remains a disease in America, but now, at least justice is served with federal legislation.

Voting Rights Act 1965, And Now The Same Battle Again, This Time Caused By Republicans, NOT Southern Democrats!

On this day, 56 years ago, President Lyndon B. Johnson spoke before Congress, and called for a Voting Rights Act to insure all Americans could vote.

This marked the South leaving the Democratic Party, and becoming Republicans, and now Republicans are working to deny African Americans and Latinos the right to vote all over again.

This is because the Supreme Court in 2013 allowed much of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to be repealed by the conservative Court, in Shelby County V. Holder, and opened up massive efforts to limit voting.

The new bills HR 1 and HR 4, now introduced in Congress, are trying to prevent state legislatures from bringing back the old days of voter suppression.

The Republican Party, rather than broaden their base, are trying to insure that only white voters, the Trump voters, will be able to control government, but it is a losing strategy long run, as nothing will prevent the white majority from declining to less than 50 percent of all Americans in the next quarter century.

So the Republican Party is in its death knell, unless and until they realize the future, and adapt to it soon!

Texas Is Crazy To Drop COVID 19 Restrictions: Will Likely Lead To New Surge Of Cases And Deaths!

Texas is the second largest state in population and in land area, but Texas government under Republican dominance in the past four decades has been a total disaster!

It continues to discriminate against its African American and Latino population, making it more difficult for them to vote!

Its electric grid system led to disaster and loss of property and life last week, and no apologies from Texas Republicans!

And now, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has announced that COVID 10 Pandemic restrictions are ending in the next week!

This is a total disgrace, and undermines the fight against the pandemic, as Texas with more than 30 million people, and with so much commerce and travel in a state as large as Texas, is a prime area of the infection, and undermines what President Joe Biden, scientists, and medical personnel say needs to be done to overcome the pandemic, which has cost more than half a million lives in one year!

This is states rights gone mad, and already, Mississippi, the poorest state in America, is also abandoning the restrictions on the pandemic, and do not be surprised that Florida, with its moronic governor Ron DeSantis, will be next!

So the battle to overcome COVID 19 is being sabotaged, and will make the recovery be more extended, at much greater loss of life!

The Joe Biden “Cabinet” Is Well Balanced, Diverse, And Talented!

Joe Biden promised diversity in his “cabinet”, both the official Cabinet members, but also others, and he has shown he means business!

At this point, still incomplete, Biden has appointed a group of talented people that includes:

45 percent whites
27.5 percent black
12.5 percent Asian
10 percent Latino
5 percent Native American
50 percent men
50 percent women
5 percent gay

Only three House of Representatives members are in this group, and no US Senators as of yet, and only one rival of Joe Biden during the Presidential campaign, former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

Hopefully, the positions left open at this point, including Attorney General, Secretary of Commerce, Secretary of Labor, and Secretary of Education will be filled soon, with lots of speculation about who might be under consideration!

Tonight’s First Presidential Debate: The Middle Class Guy Vs The Phony Billionaire And Bully

Former Vice President Joe Biden enters tonight’s first Presidential debate in Cleveland against President Donald Trump in a position of strength. He is far ahead in most state polls, including in the Midwest where Hillary Clinton lost the election in 2016.

Biden is the middle class guy who has had struggles and tragedies in his life, much like the vast majority of Americans. He possesses naturally great compassion, empathy, decency, and tons of government experience as US Senator for 36 years and as one of the two best Vice Presidents in American history, alongside Walter Mondale.

Biden comes in with public opinion polls showing great strength for him among college educated voters of both genders; suburban women; African Americans; Latinos except for Cubans; Asian Americans; Jews; Social Justice Catholics; mainline Protestants; moderates; Independents; young voters; and a small sliver of Trump voters in 2016 who realize Donald Trump is a phony billionaire and bully!

Putting Biden in the Oval Office will give us a President with more background knowledge and expertise than any President when he entered the Presidency—more than Lyndon B. Johnson or George H. W. Bush.

Biden knows world leaders and can restore US foreign policy so that foreign allies can against trust our government.

Biden can restore much of the damage done to our domestic infrastructure and our government agencies that are so necessary to continue the advancements of the New Deal, Great Society, and the later accomplishments of Presidents of both parties from Richard Nixon to Barack Obama!

We will have a President who does not lie 20,000 times in three and a half years;

who will not ignore medicine and science;

who will pay his fair share of taxes;

who will not cheat on his wife with other women;

who will pick judges who understand that originalism is the wrong approach to law;

who will work to cross the aisle when possible, instead of constant insults and bullying of opponents and critics;

who will have a Vice President, Kamala Harris, who gives us confidence should there ever be an emergency;

who will restore faith in our basic values of democracy and freedom;

who will bring back honor and decency to the Oval Office;

and who will support total exposure of all crimes committed by the present incumbent of the White House!

100,000 Dead And Total Lack Of What That Means To Clueless And Selfish People Who Only Think Of Their Own Desires!

It is shocking and disgusting how after 100,000 dead from the CoronaVirus Pandemic in just about three months, it clearly means little to about 30-40 percent of the nation who are clueless and selfish, and only think of their own desires!

They do not care about the loss of health care workers, senior citizens, African Americans, Latinos, meat processing workers, prisoners, and others who are bearing the burden of death in outrageous numbers!

These are people who will not allow their temperature to be taken; who will not wear face masks to show their concern about other people’s health; insist on having “fun” in the midst of a great national tragedy; and clearly demonstrate how they do not have any concerns about loss of human life unless it affects them directly.

This pandemic is a great national tragedy, but too many people just go about their merry way, and have no thoughts of the great human tragedy.
This is a sign of the collapse of the American nation, and it is connected to the cancer we call Donald Trump and his supporters, who are the most despicable possible excuses for human beings!

Latinos Future Democratic Base In Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas

Donald Trump’s “war” on people of Hispanic ancestry is guaranteeing that the vast majority of Latinos in the future will be supporters of the Democratic Party long term, as they are in California.

When California Governor Pete Wilson promoted Proposition 187 to deny undocumented immigrants basic public services in the state, it backfired on him and the Republican Party, which had been dominant in the state for a few decades, including Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan as Californians who became President.

Proposition 187 was overturned in the courts, but it made the Republican Party the loser, as they rapidly lost any influence over the state, and the number of California Republicans in Congress dwindled down to seven in 2018, after years of great decline.

The same is about to happen in other states with large Latino population, including Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, and ultimately, Texas.

And as this begins to happen, some of it in 2020, and more by 2024 and after, it will insure Democratic Congresses in the future, as congressional seats in those states start to fall into the hands of the Democrats.

And the Electoral College will bring a bright future as these four states turn blue, and particularly when Texas does so in the next decade.

So the day of GOP dominance with gerrymandering and voter suppression will come to an end, but the Democrats will have a massive job undoing the damage left by Donald Trump and his party.

The Obscenity Of Donald Trump And Melania Trump Multiplies!

We are suffering as a nation in 2019 with the most disgraceful President and First Lady in American history.

The office of the Presidency and the image of the First Lady have been irreparably damaged by Donald and Melania Trump, who have no common decency, ethics, morals, compassion or empathy.

For our President to promote the breaking up of children from their families, both in cages organized by ICE and the Border Patrol, and have the First Lady wear a jacket that indicates she has no concern about that, while on a tour of the border, is obscene.

For the President to authorize an ICE raid that leaves children coming home from school with no adult supervision, as their hard working parents, already exploited by local businesses with low wages and horrible working conditions, are taken away, just days after the El Paso Massacre, that was provoked by the Latino hatred of the President, is a crime against humanity. It left children in tears, begging that their parents be allowed to come home. Any human being who was not touched by this inhumanity and prejudice is a very sick, warped person, who has the same mental illness and evil nature of our President.

And then, finally, for the President and First Lady to visit the El Paso hospital and the two of them posing with big smiles with the orphaned two month old baby whose parents were killed by the hatred of a young man inspired by Trump’s Latino hatred, is enough to condemn them both forever in history, as a stain on our history that will never go away.

And all that Trump cared about was being seen as a “rock star”, rather than about the suffering and loss of life perpetrated by his sick mind, and his porn star wife not stopping him, and joining in the big smiles and sick behavior of her husband.

Other First Ladies helped to humanize their husbands, but not this piece of trash, who herself and her parents came illegally, through her “talents” to pose nude with other women, and has shown that after all the years she has lived here, she cannot speak decent English, while racists and bigots complain about Latinos who cannot speak perfect English!

It is beyond the pale what is going on, and one just waits for karma to visit, as what goes around comes around, as the saying goes, and one should have no pity on either Donald or Melania Trump!

Latinos, The Largest Minority In America, Face Threats Reminiscent Of Jews In Europe In The 1930s And 1940s—Total Fear And Danger From Government Inspired Hatred!

In the wake of the El Paso Massacre on August 3, America faces the stark reality, that its largest minority group in America, people of Latino heritage, from anywhere in Latin America, face threats reminiscent of Jews in Europe in the 1930s and 1940s.

Total fear and danger from government inspired hatred reminds us too much of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, and it is not too much hyperbole to state that Donald Trump has weaponized racists, misogynists, white supremacists, and white nationalists, who used to be in the shadows, to come out and promote and commit violence and bloodshed against people based on their ethnicity.

For Trump and his followers in the Republican Party to argue that there is an “invasion”, a “caravan”, when no such situation exists, is inspiring unstable people to cheer at Trump rallies when someone suggests “shoot them”, and Trump laughs and encourages such action in response.

These Latinos that are threatened include people of brown skin who are here legally, and were born in America, but feel that the nation they have grown up in is a threat to their lives, making victims of the El Paso Massacre afraid to go to the hospital to ask for medical aid.

The oppressive Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the Border Patrol, have been given unconstitutional and illegal authority to deport undocumented immigrants without a court hearing and attorney representation by White House authorization, and they are acting much like the Nazi Gestapo.

Many are abusing children and women, the vast majority of the undocumented immigrants, who are escaping oppression, violence, and bloodshed in their homelands in Central America, in deteriorating situations encouraged by aggressive foreign policy of Ronald Reagan and other Republican Presidents since the 1980s, all in the name of backing right wing oppressive governments in the area.

Donald Trump has no intention of changing policy, and Latinos now face direct threats of violence and bloodshed and death, inspired by white supremacist websites, and young hoodlums who have mental illness and hate, and blame Latinos for their own insecurities and shortcomings, such as the disgusting photos of young white males holding a likeness of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, that they are strangling. These young men should be exposed for who they are, and be condemned by name by all decent people, and it is clear that their parents did a poor job of child rearing, a sign that this anti Latino hatred is a danger to a community that is 18 percent of the nation,at 58 million Americans, and continuing to grow, even without undocumented immigrants being counted in the population.

The American Civil Liberties Union, the Anti Defamation League, People For The American Way, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and innumerable other organizations are engaged in an intense struggle to protect Latinos, and their basic health and safety, and all decent Americans must assist in protecting the rights of Latinos, as much as the basic rights of African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Jews, women, gays and lesbians, and disabled people.