Category Archives: Uncategorized

Equal Rights Amendment Passed by Nevada

Politics, Uncategorized, , , ,

Today I found out that the ERA was ratified by Nevada last week, even though it’s after the deadline. It’s the first ratification to pass since the 35th ratification in Indiana in 1977.

The history of the ERA’s passage is one which is extremely complicated and is a zeitgeist of the latter 20th century’s constitutional amendments and our reticence to pass new amendments. With Nevada’s latter-day passage, the “three-state strategy” of NOW becomes a “two-state strategy”.

I’m assuming that Illinois, with a Democratic majority in both houses (but also a Republican governor​), may be the next state to experience a full fight for the ERA. But even Illinois’ Democratic Party has been tough to budge in favor of the ERA.

But after Illinois, which state? The fight for the ERA may likely stall against GOP majorities in both houses of state legislatures in most of these states. They’re all in the South.

 

I love when African Americans tell ourselves that this is our land or birthright and that no one will run us from it.

That birthright was gained through pointless, thoughtless murder and theft of both Native American bodies as well as our own. This land, this birthright, is stolen, ruined goods.

The Native Americans have aboriginal moral title over this entire continent. The descendants of African slaves are just unwilling, alienated guests.

And we will never be secure in peace.

Compare and contrast between the SBC and the largest mainline denominations:

  • SBC – 16 million US members, six seminaries, 44 Unis and colleges – highly conservative on sexuality and socio-economic justice
  • United Methodist – 7 million US members, 13 seminaries, 100 Unis and colleges – moderate on sexuality, liberal on socio-economic justice
  • Evangelical Lutheran Church in America – 3.6 million US members – 10 seminaries, 27 colleges and universities – liberal on sexuality and socio-economic justice

Mainline Protestants constitute some 16% of the US population. SBC members are 5% of the US population, and constitute just under half of the Baptist population in the US.

How “Southern Baptist” Pastors Created the Modern Republican Party

Politics, Uncategorized, ,

Just read an article about how the Southern Baptist Convention is part-and-parcel of the #SouthernStrategy, as well as the SBC’s aid in the rise of Trumpism.

After reading this, I wonder how the SBC is able to retain so much political power that even the Roman Catholic Church, the only Christian organization with a larger parishioner size in the U.S. than the SBC, can find themselves at odds with them on several economic and immigration-related issues.

  • There are 33 million Baptists in the U.S., 16 million of whom are members of SBC-affiliated congregations throughout the U.S. (as of 2013) but the highest rates of which are concentrated in Texas, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Tennessee.
  • The SBC provides funding to six seminaries, and the SBC’s state convention affiliates provide funding to nearly 50 universities and colleges in 19 states.
  • At the same time that the South was going through the end of Jim Crow and its immediate aftermath, the SBC was in the throes of its Fundamentalist Takeover.

All of this is crucial in understanding where the SBC is right now.

Cheri Honkala Should Win PA’s HD197

Politics, Uncategorized, , ,

Democrats deserve to lose #HD197 to Green write-in #CheriHonkala, due to repeat Dem corruption. #MyUnpopularOpinion #papol #p2

I’m serious. The one who comes out smelling like roses in the HD197 race is Honkala.

Campaigners for the Democrat who sought to be named on the ballot but ended up a write-in, Emilio Vasquez, are already being accused of abetting voter intimidation. The two predecessors in office, both Democrats, resigned from office due to corruption charges. The GOP candidate who was the sole candidate on the ballot, Lucinda Little, left the Dems because of their corruption.

Now we know that the GOP lost this race, but Friday 3/31 will reveal which write-in won. I hope the Dems lose this seat to the Green write-in. The Dems deserve to lose this race. Honkala should be the first Green member of the PA General Assembly. #papol

Robert Bentley to Resign

Politics, Uncategorized,

What took his corrupt ass

The lawmaker who initiated the move to impeach Robert Bentley said he believes Alabama’s governor will soon step down.

In an interview with WTVY, Rep. Ed Henry, R-Hartselle, said if the House moves on Articles of Impeachment, Bentley would be suspended pending the outcome of a Senate trial. To avoid impeachment, Henry added, Bentley would likely resign no later than next month.

“From what I’m hearing I would expect by mid-April that the governor either will have resigned or the impeachment committee will be moving at a very rapid pace,” Henry said.

via Alabama representative says Gov. Robert Bentley will resign mid-April | AL.com

The Fusion Party in North Carolina

Politics, Uncategorized, , ,

I’m reading on how the Fusion Party in North Carolina brought together liberal Black Republicans and progressive, pro-labor White Populists against the planter elite-dominated Democrats for a short, amazing period before Democrats used “white supremacy” and violence to split the working class vote.

I think that this coalition approach might work in this era: progressive Berniecrats and liberal Democrats who respect each other’s autonomy without taking over each other.

The Democrats won’t fit all progressives, and many progressives who are focused on class issues will see the Democrats as a constraint. Both should be respected as separate parties, and we should negotiate a coalition between the two on good faith.

But this can’t be negotiated under the Democratic tent. The Democrats will have to come to the table, and not assume that they are the only legitimate party in this country.

Maybe we need the Fusion Party to come back to the South, and be the bridge to unite these groups in ways that the Dems in the South will be prevented from doing for the next several decades.

 

Segregation in the South – The Atlantic

Politics, Uncategorized,

This is sad reading, especially about third party politics in the South.

This is, unfortunately, not a surprising account of North Carolina, or of the South more generally. The South of the 1950s was the land of fire hoses aimed at black people who dared protest Jim Crow laws. Today, schools in the South are almost as segregated as they were when Sevone Rhymes was a child. Southern cities including Charlotte are facing racial tensions over the shootings of black men by white policemen, which, in Charlotte’s case, led to massive protests and riots.

But what few people know is that the South wasn’t always so segregated. During a brief window of time between the end of the Civil War and the turn of the 20th century, black and white people lived next to each other in Southern cities, creating what the historian Tom Hanchett describes as a “salt-and-pepper” pattern. They were not integrated in a meaningful sense: Divisions existed, but “in a lot of Southern cities, segregation hadn’t been fully imposed—there were neighborhoods where blacks and whites were living nearby,” said Eric Foner, a Columbia historian and expert on Reconstruction. Walk around in the Atlanta or the Charlotte of the late 1800s, and you might see black people in restaurants, hotels, the theater, Foner said. Two decades later, such things were not allowed.

via Segregation in the South – The Atlantic

Penal Slave Labor Exceptions Abound in State Constitutions

Uncategorized

If we’re going to talk about how to end mass incarceration and remove the legal basis for penal labor, as Ava DuVernay’s Academy Award-nominated documentary 13th has done, we have to broaden our scope beyond the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The movement in Colorado to repeal their state constitution’s exception for penal slavery is a good start (although it fell short by a hair due to the terrible legalese of the 2016 ballot question), but here are several other states which need to make similar changes:

States

  1. Alabama Article I, Section 32: That no form of slavery shall exist in this state; and there shall not be any involuntary servitude, otherwise than for the punishment of crime, of which the party shall have been duly convicted.
  2. Arkansas’ 1874 Constitution Article 2, Section 27: There shall be no slavery in this State, nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime. No standing army shall be kept in time of peace; the military shall, at all times, be in strict subordination to the civil power; and no soldier shall be quartered in any house, or on any premises, without the consent of the owner, in time of peace; nor in time of war, except in a manner prescribed by law.
  3. California’s 1879 Constitution Article I, Section 6: Slavery is prohibited. Involuntary servitude is prohibited except to punish crime.
  4. Colorado’s 1876 Constitution, Article II, Section 26: There shall never be in this state either slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.
  5. Georgia’s 1983 Constitution, Article I, Paragraph XXII: There shall be no involuntary servitude within the State of Georgia except as a punishment for crime after legal conviction thereof or for contempt of court.
  6. Indiana 1851 Constitution Article I, Section 37: There shall be neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude, within the State, otherwise than for the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.
  7. Iowa Article I, Section 23: There shall be no slavery in this state; nor shall there be involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crime.
  8. Kansas 1859 Constitution, Bill of Rights, Section 6: There shall be no slavery in this state; and no involuntary servitude, except for the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.
  9. Kentucky’s 1891 Constitution, Section 25: Slavery and involuntary servitude in this State are forbidden, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.
  10. Louisiana 1974 Article I, Section 3: No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws. No law shall discriminate against a person because of race or religious ideas, beliefs, or affiliations. No law shall arbitrarily, capriciously, or unreasonably discriminate against a person because of birth, age, sex, culture, physical condition, or political ideas or affiliations. Slavery and involuntary servitude are prohibited, except in the latter case as punishment for crime.
  11. Michigan Article 1, Section 9: Neither slavery, nor involuntary servitudeunless for the punishment of crime, shall ever be tolerated in this state.
  12. Minnesota Article I, Section 2: No member of this state shall be disfranchised or deprived of any of the rights or privileges secured to any citizen thereof, unless by the law of the land or the judgment of his peers. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the state otherwise than as punishment for a crime of which the party has been convicted.
  13. Mississippi 1890 Article 3, Section 15: There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this state, otherwise than in the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.
  14. Nebraska 1875 Article I, Section 2: There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this state, otherwise than for punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.
  15. Nevada’s 1864 Constitution, Article I, Section 17: Neither Slavery nor involuntary servitude unless for the punishment of crimes shall ever be tolerated in this State.
  16. North Carolina’s 1971 Constitution Article I Section 17: Slavery is forever prohibited. Involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the parties have been adjudged guilty, is forever prohibited.
  17. North Dakota Article I Section 6: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crime, shall ever be tolerated in this state.
  18. Ohio’s 1912 Constitution Article I, Section 6: There shall be no slavery in this State; nor involuntary servitude, unless for the punishment of crime.
  19. Oregon’s 1859 Constitution Article I, Section 34: There shall be neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude in the State, otherwise than as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.— [Added to Bill of Rights as unnumbered section by vote of the people at time of adoption of the Oregon Constitution in accordance with section 4 of Article XVIII thereof]
  20. Tennessee Constitution Article I, Section 33: That slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, are forever prohibited in this state.
  21. Utah Article I, Section 21: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within this State.
  22. Vermont’s 1777 Article I: That all persons are born equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent, and unalienable rights, amongst which are the enjoying and defending life and liberty, acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety; therefore no person born in this country, or brought from over sea, ought to be holden by law, to serve any person as a servant, slave or apprentice, after arriving to the age of twenty-one years, unless bound by the person’s own consent, after arriving to such age, or bound by law for the payment of debts, damages, fines, costs, or the like.
  23. Wisconsin Article I, Section 2: There shall be neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude in this state, otherwise than for the punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.

U.S. insular areas

  • American Samoa Article I, Section 10: Slavery prohibited. Neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist in American Samoa.
  • Puerto Rico Article I, Section 33: Slavery not exist, nor any form of involuntary servitude except which may be imposed for a crime, after conviction. Not impose cruel and unusual punishment. Suspension of civil rights including the right to vote shall cease upon the imprisonment imposed.

Others

The state constitutions of Alaska, Florida, Massachusetts, Hawaii, Texas, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Connecticut, Washington, Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Maryland, New Jersey, South Dakota, New Mexico, Montana, Idaho, Arizona, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Delaware, Maine and New Hampshire do not mention slavery at all.

Notably, Rhode Island’s 1845 state constitution does not have a penal exception clause, saying specifically in Article I, Section 4: “Slavery shall not be permitted in this state.”

If only more of our country’s state constitutions were like Rhode Island’s, in which they could all simply say “Neither slavery nor indentured servitude shall be permitted in this state.” Period.