African-Americans

maybe a bit neglected, but tag being used, and issues eg PIC
bad code 4 22pattern of sellouts: cf also hispanic CoC
new tag AfrAm 3/17see renta-tom

related: GOP trying to shake off image as racist, so will recruit and retain tokens, and will create frontshtml enrichmentcapt 817 419
  =trump campaign targeted 3.5 million Black voters for suppression: reportWhite HouseDavid Badash and The New Civil Rights Movement September 28, 2020The Trump campaign focused its digital efforts on 3.5 million Black American voters in 2016, targeting them in an effort to deter them from voting.A new report from the UK's Channel 4, which also helped expose how Cambridge Analytica precisely targeted voters for the Trump campaign during the 2016 election, makes the stunning revelation.Pointing to "a vast cache of data used by Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign on almost 200 million American voters," Channel 4 reports it has obtained the data, which "reveals that 3.5 million Black Americans were categorized by Donald Trump's campaign as 'Deterrence' – voters they wanted to stay home on election day.""In 16 key battleground states, millions of Americans were separated by an algorithm into one of eight categories, also described as 'audiences', so they could then be targeted with tailored ads on Facebook and other platforms," Channel 4 reports.One of the categories was named 'Deterrence', which was later described publicly by Trump's chief data scientist as containing people that the campaign "hope don't show up to vote".Analysis by Channel 4 News shows Black Americans – historically a community targeted with voter suppression tactics – were disproportionately marked 'Deterrence' by the 2016 campaign.Here's a promotional video from Channel 4, tweeted by the UK investigative journalist who exposed the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal.Here's video showing Channel 4 actually visiting voters in Wisconsin, and showing them what information the Trump campaign had on them.The Trump campaign had data on voters' home address, date of birth, jobs, income, and housing status, and matched that to individual people to target them, Channel 4 revealed.The plan worked."Overall turnout" in one Milwaukie, Wisconsin precinct, "fell from 75% in 2012, to just 56% in 2016."In another, turnout fell from 81% to 55%.Trump won the 2016 Electoral College by just 77,000 votes across three states. no lnx twt vid<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/trump-campaign-targeted-3-5-million-black-voters-for-suppression-report/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/trump-campaign-targeted-3-5-million-black-voters-for-suppression-report/</a><div>=</div><div>===an 422Extremist groups and lawmakers are engaged in an "insidious and coordinated” plot to undermine American democracy. That's according to a newly issued <a href="https://78ab0743.flowpaper.com/NULSOBA2022ExecSummaryweb/#page=14

;from the nonpartisan civil rights organization ">National Urban League (NUL).</a>The report, titled "Under Siege: The Plot to Destroy Democracy," documents the “conspiracy and the urgent case for a national mobilization to protect and defend our most sacred constitutional right”. NUL specifically notes four key tactics in the effort: gerrymandering, voter suppression, misinformation and intimidation.In 2021 alone, 20 states have leveraged census data to redraw congressional maps, it noted. It labeled the new maps proposed by Republican state lawmakers “no more than modern-day gerrymandering that strips voting power away from communities with Black and brown voters."By NUL's count, 34 laws were passed in 19 states between January 1 and December 7 2021 that make it more difficult for people to vote.In addition to shortening the window to apply and deliver mail ballots, it says, those laws limit absentee voting lists, restrict assistance in returning a voter’s mail ballot, reduce the availability of mail ballot drop boxes, and increase barriers for voters with disabilities, among other restrictions."The burden of these laws – strict photo ID requirements, the elimination or restriction of Sunday voting, voting by mail and early voting, and the closing of polling locations – overwhelmingly falls on Black voters,” Marc Morial, president and CEO of NUL, <a href="https://nul.org/news/2022-state-black-america-outlines-coordinated-campaign-dismantle-voting-rights" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">said</a> in the report.“Since the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965, the United States has seen a steady rise in disenfranchisement practices giving one party an edge over the other. But never before has the nation seen such an insidious and coordinated campaign to obliterate the very principle of ‘one person, one vote’ from the political process.”<div>=</div></div><div>=</div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/twitter-shuts-down-fake-african-american-accounts-designed-to-hurt-democrats/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/08/twitter-shuts-down-fake-african-american-accounts-designed-to-hurt-democrats/</a></div><div>
</div><div>The far right is well aware of the fact that if African-Americans vote in big numbers in the 2020 presidential election, it could be very helpful to Democratic nominee Joe Biden. As a result, troll accounts on social media will try every dirty trick imaginable to discourage African-Americans from voting. And Twitter, according to NBC News, is taking action against some <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/viral-pro-trump-tweets-came-fake-african-american-spam-accounts-n1238553...NBC News’ Ben Collins reports that Twitter “has taken action to stop a spam operation that pushed messages from fake accounts about black people abandoning the Democratic Party.” Twitter, according to a spokesperson, has terminated two fake accounts as well as the account of a San Diego man who spammed its platform." /><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/viral-pro-trump-tweets-came-fake-african-american-spam-accounts-n1238553...NBC News’ Ben Collins reports that Twitter “has taken action to stop a spam operation that pushed messages from fake accounts about black people abandoning the Democratic Party.” Twitter, according to a spokesperson, has terminated two fake accounts as well as the account of a San Diego man who spammed its platform.">“The fake accounts were purported to be run by black people whose viral tweets received tens of thousands of shares in the past month,” Collins reports. “One of the accounts, @WentDemToRep, logged over 11,000 retweets on a single tweet that claimed that the user was a lifelong Democrat who was pushed to vote Republican by the Black Lives Matter movement. The tweet was posted shortly after the account was created Tuesday.”</a><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/viral-pro-trump-tweets-came-fake-african-american-spam-accounts-n1238553...NBC News’ Ben Collins reports that Twitter “has taken action to stop a spam operation that pushed messages from fake accounts about black people abandoning the Democratic Party.” Twitter, according to a spokesperson, has terminated two fake accounts as well as the account of a San Diego man who spammed its platform.">According to Collins, “The WentDemToRep account quickly tagged two other accounts in a reply, @PeterGammo and @KRon619, which were suspended at the same time Tuesday. The Twitter spokesperson said all three accounts were suspended for spam and ‘specifically, artificially manipulative behavior.’"</a><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/viral-pro-trump-tweets-came-fake-african-american-spam-accounts-n1238553...NBC News’ Ben Collins reports that Twitter “has taken action to stop a spam operation that pushed messages from fake accounts about black people abandoning the Democratic Party.” Twitter, according to a spokesperson, has terminated two fake accounts as well as the account of a San Diego man who spammed its platform.">but the fact that the troll posts were deceptive and misleading doesn’t mean that they didn’t go viral. Collins notes that the fake accounts “had five separate posts with at least 10,000 retweets.”</a></div><div><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/viral-pro-trump-tweets-came-fake-african-american-spam-accounts-n1238553...NBC News’ Ben Collins reports that Twitter “has taken action to stop a spam operation that pushed messages from fake accounts about black people abandoning the Democratic Party.” Twitter, according to a spokesperson, has terminated two fake accounts as well as the account of a San Diego man who spammed its platform."></a></div><div><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/viral-pro-trump-tweets-came-fake-african-american-spam-accounts-n1238553...NBC News’ Ben Collins reports that Twitter “has taken action to stop a spam operation that pushed messages from fake accounts about black people abandoning the Democratic Party.” Twitter, according to a spokesperson, has terminated two fake accounts as well as the account of a San Diego man who spammed its platform.">
</a></div><div><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/viral-pro-trump-tweets-came-fake-african-american-spam-accounts-n1238553...NBC News’ Ben Collins reports that Twitter “has taken action to stop a spam operation that pushed messages from fake accounts about black people abandoning the Democratic Party.” Twitter, according to a spokesperson, has terminated two fake accounts as well as the account of a San Diego man who spammed its platform.">BILL MOYERS: –said the Council for National Policy's executive committee president, Bill Walton. Ralph Reed, chairman of the nonprofit, Faith and Freedom Coalition told the CNP audience that conservatives are going to be harvesting ballots in churches. “We're going to be specifically going in, not only to white evangelical churches, but into Hispanic and Asian churches and collecting those ballots.'" And then, here's the one that really stands out. At that meeting, J. Christian Adams, a former Justice Department official and the president of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, a charity, described mail-in voting as the number one left-wing agenda. He urged the activists not to worry about the criticism that might come their way. Quote, “Be not afraid of the accusations that you're a voter suppressor." Any of that surprise you?</a><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/viral-pro-trump-tweets-came-fake-african-american-spam-accounts-n1238553...NBC News’ Ben Collins reports that Twitter “has taken action to stop a spam operation that pushed messages from fake accounts about black people abandoning the Democratic Party.” Twitter, according to a spokesperson, has terminated two fake accounts as well as the account of a San Diego man who spammed its platform.">ANNE NELSON: Not in the least. On the contrary, you'll find the footprints of those statements in my book. One of the techniques that this movement has used is using data profiles and directing information to voters to either get them to vote for Republicans or to suppress the vote if they're not likely to. The Koch brothers brought state-of-the-art political data operations to the table with an organization called i360. And that was harnessed to organizations that were run by CNP members. </a><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/viral-pro-trump-tweets-came-fake-african-american-spam-accounts-n1238553...NBC News’ Ben Collins reports that Twitter “has taken action to stop a spam operation that pushed messages from fake accounts about black people abandoning the Democratic Party.” Twitter, according to a spokesperson, has terminated two fake accounts as well as the account of a San Diego man who spammed its platform.">So, for example, one of them was the Susan B. Anthony List, which is anti-abortion. One of them was the NRA. They also combined data from churches and from political data and consumer data. So that allowed canvassers for these organizations to do their door-to-door canvassing having a huge amount of information about each individual voter, and a tailored individual script for them. So, for example, if you are canvassing in Springfield, Missouri, and you're working for the Susan B. Anthony List, you know that at such-and-such an address, there's a Catholic housewife with six kids there who watched an anti-abortion film on Netflix and ordered LIVES OF THE SAINTS from Amazon. You have all of that in your cell phone, and you also have a script that's been prepared and tailored for that voter, right? But you're going to have a totally different script based on the data for the next-door neighbor who's a gun owner who's all about the second amendment. </a><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/viral-pro-trump-tweets-came-fake-african-american-spam-accounts-n1238553...NBC News’ Ben Collins reports that Twitter “has taken action to stop a spam operation that pushed messages from fake accounts about black people abandoning the Democratic Party.” Twitter, according to a spokesperson, has terminated two fake accounts as well as the account of a San Diego man who spammed its platform.">And the Democrats have lagged behind, not in terms of the data they have, but the way they've networked data across state lines and to organizations that are doing their political groundwork. So that's been a factor. The use of data has been very important in the last few campaigns, and not always well-understood. But there's also a really important matter of how data is used to suppress votes. And that's where </a><a href="https://www.channel4.com/news/revealed-trump-campaign-strategy-to-deter-millions-of-black-americans-from-voting-in-2016" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">I would direct people to a news story</a> done by Channel Four in Britain. The Council for National Policy partners and the Koch brothers' data platform i360 used data from Cambridge Analytica with several hundred million voters, with some2,000 data points for every voter. So that includes you and me, Bill, okay? They know a lot about us, and so what they did in this story documenting what happened with African Americans in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was find that if voters were not likely to vote for Republicans. If they leaned Democratic, they would target them with misinformation that would disincline them to vote at all. And in other cases, such as what's been documented in Michigan, some 90,000 African American voters were persuaded not to vote for the top of the ticket for Hillary Clinton by these methods. So, in these states, they always go by very, very narrow margins. So, I would argue that a lot of these data operations, some of them of questionable legality, have actually changed the course of electoral history.BILL MOYERS: What do you think they're doing for this election in two weeks?ANNE NELSON: Well, we know that the Trump 2020 app has highly questionable practices, in terms of its privacy and the way it accesses people's cell phone directories, all of their contacts, friends and family, and then sends messages out to them, often without the user knowing that they're doing it. They also combine that with consumer data. So, for example, if you downloaded their app on one phone that was a different account, they could trace your credit card records back to your own account. They also use geolocation, so once you download the app, they figure out where you are and what kind of messaging would appeal to you and leverage you to attract other voters. And they use this through beacons that are placed around areas like political rallies and churches, right, to locate the people with the apps and then engage them for political purpose. It has been recently revealed that these beacons had even been implanted in Trump yard signs. So, they're really, I would say, on the cutting edge of political technology. And it's in this very murky area of law where there are abusive practices involving privacy, but there's no clear legal framework to govern it.BILL MOYERS: And what stuns me is their ability to connect this very sophisticated information gained by very up-to-date, modern technology to a lot of poor pastors in East Texas and Southern Alabama who are concerned about the state of the world. And here, they've been led into, one of the most sophisticated political campaigns that really has not their interest at heart. And they become soldiers in the crusade–</div><div>=</div><div>aha recall that someone desmog? said plastic is the next big revenue stream for frack/fossil fuels, so must be defended and blk ppl get cancer collateral damage?</div><div>
</div><div><div>=</div><div><a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/06/25/environmental-activists-charged-terrorizing-louisiana-formosa/">https://theintercept.com/2020/06/25/environmental-activists-charged-terrorizing-louisiana-formosa/</a></div><div>
</div><div>TWO LEADERS OF the long-running fight for environmental justice in Louisiana turned themselves in to police in Baton Rouge Thursday morning. The activists, who work in a part of the state known as “Cancer Alley,” faced charges of “terrorizing” related to a nonviolent protest action. Civil liberties attorneys are calling the charges a dramatic escalation of a yearslong effort by the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries to <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/09/27/pipeline-safety-legislation/" style="letter-spacing: 0.01em; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">criminalize efforts</a> to halt the expansion of polluting facilities in the state — part of a nationwide trend of <a href="https://theintercept.com/2020/06/07/pipeline-petrochemical-lobbying-group-anti-protest-law...

The accusations against the activists, Anne Rolfes and Kate McIntosh, stem from a seemingly innocuous activist stunt carried out in December, the day after a festival designed to draw attention to the environmental misdeeds of Formosa Plastics. The Taiwanese petrochemical company plans to build a massive plastics manufacturing complex in a largely Black Louisiana community that has already suffered health problems linked to local industry. In October, Formosa agreed to a $50 million settlement for dumping pollutants, including the small pellets that form the building blocks for plastic products known as nurdles, into Texas’s Lavaca Bay — the " /><a href="https://coast.noaa.gov/states/stories/historic-pollution-settlement-to-nurdle-patrol.html#:_{:text=Formosa%20Plastics%20Corporation%20USA%20has,the%20federal%20Clean%20Water%20Act.}" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">largest</a> settlement of a Clean Water Act lawsuit filed by private citizens.with a key environmental permit still pending for Formosa in Louisiana, the action — dubbed “Nurdlefest” — was meant to pressure the state’s Department of Environmental Quality to scrutinize the company’s record. Boxes of the plastic pellets, used as evidence in the Texas case, were carted to the front of the agency, where around 75 people gathered in the rain.

...What apparently terrorized community members, however, was a container of the pellets that appeared on the porch of an oil and gas lobbyist, with a detailed note attached, explaining what they were and their Texas origin. “We have delivered this package of nurdles as a reminder – Louisiana does not need anymore pollution, plastics or otherwise,” the letter said. “We demand that LDEQ DENY Formosa’s air emissions permit application.”</div><a class="DocumentPreview" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6956444-Letter-Included-in-Nurdles-Package-Sent.html

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The letter was signed by Concerned Citizens of Louisiana and included the phone number of Bill Quigley, the activists’ pro bono attorney." /><a class="DocumentPreview" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6956444-Letter-Included-in-Nurdles-Package-Sent.html

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The letter was signed by Concerned Citizens of Louisiana and included the phone number of Bill Quigley, the activists’ pro bono attorney.">The Baton Rouge Police Department apparently agreed that the plastic particles were threatening. “A note was observed on the top of the package indicating not to open the container as the contents could be hazardous. Police requested Hazmat to be contacted,” spokesperson Don Coppola told The Intercept. Although the note discouraged against removing the nurdles or leaving them around children or pets, it did not describe them as “hazardous.” It included a Formosa phone number for safely recycling the material.</a><a class="DocumentPreview" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6956444-Letter-Included-in-Nurdles-Package-Sent.html

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The letter was signed by Concerned Citizens of Louisiana and included the phone number of Bill Quigley, the activists’ pro bono attorney.">Rolfes and McIntosh, who are respectively the director of and a program assistant at the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, which provides support to groups of community members living near polluting facilities, face a maximum of 15 years in prison and $15,000 in fines for so-called terrorizing — defined as “the intentional communication of information that the commission of a crime of violence is imminent or in progress or that a circumstance dangerous to human life exists or is about to exist” — with the intention of causing members of the public to fear for their safety.</a></div><div data-reactid="281" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a class="DocumentPreview" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6956444-Letter-Included-in-Nurdles-Package-Sent.html

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The letter was signed by Concerned Citizens of Louisiana and included the phone number of Bill Quigley, the activists’ pro bono attorney.">“This is an unwarranted escalation because they are using the term ‘terrorizing,’” said Pam Spees, senior attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, who is representing McIntosh and Rolfes. “It is imposing unfairly and inappropriately a label on people that have been peacefully working for years to raise awareness of the impact of industry on frontline communities. To use that word in a context like this is potentially damaging and chilling to others.”</a><a class="DocumentPreview" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6956444-Letter-Included-in-Nurdles-Package-Sent.html

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The letter was signed by Concerned Citizens of Louisiana and included the phone number of Bill Quigley, the activists’ pro bono attorney.">THE CHARGES AGAINST Rolfes and McIntosh come on the heels of a series of incidents where environmental activists have been dealt hefty charges for actions challenging the petrochemical, oil, and gas industries in Louisiana.</a><a class="DocumentPreview" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6956444-Letter-Included-in-Nurdles-Package-Sent.html

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The letter was signed by Concerned Citizens of Louisiana and included the phone number of Bill Quigley, the activists’ pro bono attorney.">In August 2018, Louisiana legislators passed a law </a><a href="https://theintercept.com/2018/08/22/recent-arrests-under-new-anti-protest-law-spotlight-risks-that-off-duty-cops-pose-to-pipeline-opponents/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">establishing a new felony charge</a> for anyone who trespasses on critical infrastructure facilities, including chemical manufacturing facilities and oil and gas pipeline construction sites. Over the following couple months, police used the new law to charge 14 people protesting the oil company Energy Transfer’s Bayou Bridge pipeline, as well as a journalist. Local prosecutors have not yet acted on the charges.</div><div class="img-wrap align-center width-fixed" data-reactid="282" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2em 0px 2.25em; line-height: 1; max-width: none; width: 1024px;"><div data-reactid="283" style="box-sizing: border-box;">[pix Taiwanese petrochemical company Formosa agreed to a $50 million settlement for dumping small pellets that make up the building blocks for plastic products, known as “nurdles,” into Texas’s Lavaca Bay.

Photo: Courtesy of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade</div></div><div data-reactid="284" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Last October, police charged Gregory Manning, the legally blind pastor of Broadmoor Community Church and a member of the Coalition Against Death Alley, with a felony for allegedly inciting a riot. Authorities said Manning failed to immediately leave a hallway outside the office of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry during a protest against the association’s influence over state politics. A prosecutor later <a href="https://www.nola.com/news/courts/article_e12df864-00b6-11ea-ae2d-1b817afd4a1e.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">dropped</a> all charges.This spring, legislators passed an enhanced version of the critical infrastructure law, which would have ramped up charges for trespass during a state of emergency. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/12062020/louisiana-governor-veto-protest-activism-pipeline-infrastructure" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">vetoed</a> the bill.To Rolfes and McIntosh’s attorneys, the timing of the latest charges is particularly suspect. At 9:30 a.m. on Juneteenth, the June 19 holiday celebrating the emancipation of slaves in the U.S., Quigley — Rolfes and McIntosh’s pro bono lawyer, who is also a professor at Loyola University New Orleans — received a phone call from a Baton Rouge Police Department detective, notifying him that a warrant was out for the pair’s arrest. (Formosa and the Baton Rouge Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.)</div><blockquote class="Pullquote Pullquote--right" data-reactid="285" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold; margin: 2em -170px 2em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 2em; box-shadow: none; line-height: 1.125; float: right; max-width: 75%;"><span class="Pullquote-line" data-reactid="286" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: block; position: relative; bottom: -4px; width: 2em; height: 0.7em; margin-right: 0.3em; float: left; background-color: rgb(17, 17, 17);"><div data-reactid="287" style="box-sizing: border-box;">“It seems more than a little suspicious that this long dormant warrant was activated 12 hours after Formosa lost in court. It seems like it’s clearly retaliation.”</div></blockquote><div data-reactid="288" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Both the activists were en route to a ceremony at a burial site for enslaved people, located in a field <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/12/18/formosa-plastics-louisiana-slave-burial-ground/" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; text-decoration-line: none;">where Formosa plans to build one of its facilities</a>. The right to carry out the ceremony had been hard-won: Formosa had fought in court for the past week to prevent community members from holding the gathering. A judge denied the company’s final appeal only the night before.The detective told Quigley that the charges had been filed in April, but they’d held off on issuing the warrant because of risks associated with the coronavirus pandemic. “It seems more than a little suspicious that this long dormant warrant was activated 12 hours after Formosa lost in court,” said Quigley. “It seems like it’s clearly retaliation.”Spees, the Center for Constitutional Rights attorney, said, “If there’s such a danger, why wait seven months and pick the day of a community celebration of its liberation from slavery to send that message?”In response to the latest charges, local organizers are launching the Alliance to Defend Democracy to push back on the increasing criminalization.“Five years ago — maybe three years ago — this kind of charge against an activist would have had an isolating effect. The movements are stronger now,” said Spees. “It’s an overreach, and it’s going to backfire.”</div><div>=</div><div>=</div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/no-the-coronavirus-is-not-an-equalizer-black-people-are-being-infected-and-dying-at-higher-rates/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/no-the-coronavirus-is-not-an-equalizer-black-people-are-being-infected-and-dying-at-higher-rates/</a></div><div>
</div><div></div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/something-really-rotten-heres-the-evidence-of-extensive-voter-suppression-in-georgias-notorious-2018-election/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/something-really-rotten-heres-the-evidence-of-extensive-voter-suppression-in-georgias-notorious-2018-election/</a><div>=</div><div><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-27/inside-the-trump-bunker-with-12-days-to-go">https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-27/inside-the-trump-bunker-with-12-days-to-go</a></div><div>
</div><div>...Several things jump out. Despite Trump’s claim that he doesn’t believe the polls, his San Antonio research team spends <span class="" data-value="100000" data-original="$100,000" data-symbol="$" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">$100,000 a week on surveys (apart from polls commissioned out of Trump Tower) and has sophisticated models that run daily simulations of the election. The results mirror those of the more reliable public forecasters—in other words, Trump’s staff knows he’s losing. Badly. “Nate Silver’s results have been similar to ours,” says Parscale, referring to the polling analyst and his predictions at FiveThirtyEight, “except they lag by a week or two because he’s relying on public polls.” The campaign knows who it must reach and is still executing its strategy despite the public turmoil: It’s identified 13.5 million voters in 16 battleground states whom it considers persuadable, although the number of voters shrinks daily as they make up their minds.</div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Trump’s team also knows where its fate will be decided. It’s built a model, the “Battleground Optimizer Path to Victory,” to weight and rank the states that the data team believes are most critical to amassing the 270 electoral votes Trump needs to win the White House. On Oct. 18 they rank as follows: Florida (“If we don’t win, we’re cooked,” says an official), Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia.<p style="margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Trump believes he possesses hidden strength that may only materialize at the ballot box. At rallies, he’s begun speculating that the election will be like “Brexit times five,” implying that he’ll upend expectations much as the Brexit vote shocked experts who didn’t believe a majority of Britons would vote to leave the European Union. Trump’s data scientists, including some from the London firm Cambridge Analytica who worked on the “Leave” side of the Brexit initiative, think they’ve identified a small, fluctuating group of people who are reluctant to admit their support for Trump and may be throwing off public polls.<p style="margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Still, Trump’s reality is plain: He needs a miracle. Back in May, newly anointed, he told Bloomberg Businessweek he would harness “the movement” to challenge Clinton in states Republicans haven’t carried in years: New York, New Jersey, Oregon, Connecticut, California. “I’m going to do phenomenally,” he predicted. Yet neither Trump’s campaign nor the RNC has prioritized registering and mobilizing the 47 million eligible white voters without college degrees who are Trump’s most obvious source of new votes, as FiveThirtyEight analyst David Wasserman noted.To compensate for this, Trump’s campaign has devised another strategy, which, not surprisingly, is negative. Instead of expanding the electorate, Bannon and his team are trying to shrink it. “We have three major voter suppression operations under way,” says a senior official. They’re aimed at three groups Clinton needs to win overwhelmingly: idealistic white liberals, young women, and African Americans. Trump’s invocation at the debate of Clinton’s WikiLeaks e-mails and support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership was designed to turn off Sanders supporters. The parade of women who say they were sexually assaulted by Bill Clinton and harassed or threatened by Hillary is meant to undermine her appeal to young women. And her 1996 suggestion that some African American males are “super predators” is the basis of a below-the-radar effort to discourage infrequent black voters from showing up at the polls—particularly in Florida.On Oct. 24, Trump’s team began placing spots on select African American radio stations. In San Antonio, a young staffer showed off a South Park-style animation he’d created of Clinton delivering the “super predator” line (using audio from her original 1996 sound bite), as cartoon text popped up around her: “Hillary Thinks African Americans are Super Predators.” The animation will be delivered to certain African American voters through Facebook “dark posts”—nonpublic posts whose viewership the campaign controls so that, as Parscale puts it, “only the people we want to see it, see it.” The aim is to depress Clinton’s vote total. “We know because we’ve modeled this,” says the official. “It will dramatically affect her ability to turn these people out.”The Trump team’s effort to discourage young women by rolling out Clinton accusers and drive down black turnout in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood with targeted messages about the Clinton Foundation’s controversial operations in Haiti is an odd gambit. Campaigns spend millions on data science to understand their own potential supporters—to whom they’re likely already credible messengers—but here Trump is speaking to his opponent’s. Furthermore, there’s no scientific basis for thinking this ploy will convince these voters to stay home. It could just as easily end up motivating them.<p style="margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Regardless of whether this works or backfires, setting back GOP efforts to attract women and minorities even further, Trump won’t come away from the presidential election empty-handed. Although his operation lags previous campaigns in many areas (its ground game, television ad buys, money raised from large donors), it’s excelled at one thing: building an audience. Powered by Project Alamo and data supplied by the RNC and Cambridge Analytica, his team is spending <span class="" data-value="70" data-original="$70" data-symbol="$" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">$70 million a month, much of it to cultivate a universe of millions of fervent Trump supporters, many of them reached through Facebook. By Election Day, the campaign expects to have captured 12 million to 14 million e-mail addresses and contact information (including credit card numbers) for 2.5 million small-dollar donors, who together will have ponied up almost <span class="" data-value="275" data-original="$275" data-symbol="$" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">$275 million. “I wouldn’t have come aboard, even for Trump, if I hadn’t known they were building this massive Facebook and data engine,” says Bannon. “Facebook is what propelled Breitbart to a massive audience. We know its power.”<p style="margin: 30px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Since Trump paid to build this audience with his own campaign funds, he alone will own it after Nov. 8 and can deploy it to whatever purpose he chooses. He can sell access to other campaigns or use it as the basis for a 2020 presidential run. It could become the audience for a Trump TV network. As Bannon puts it: “Trump is an entrepreneur.”Whatever Trump decides, this group will influence Republican politics going forward. These voters, whom Cambridge Analytica has categorized as “disenfranchised new Republicans,” are younger, more populist and rural—and also angry, active, and fiercely loyal to Trump. Capturing their loyalty was the campaign’s goal all along. It’s why, even if Trump loses, his team thinks it’s smarter than political professionals. “We knew how valuable this would be from the outset,” says Parscale. “We own the future of the Republican Party.”...<div></div>camb anal also tried ti suppress AA in UScorruption it's also a devil term; djt needed to defend from it, so he i'm not a puppet 'd joe hunter biden --> ukraine (also bizarro mirror on server)“Do So. Don't vote. Don't be involved in politics. It's like a sign of resistance against – not government, against politics. And voting. And very soon they're making their own YouTube videos. This is the prime minister’s house that's being graffitied! … It was carnage.“And the reason why this was such a good strategy is because we knew, and we really really knew, that when it came to voting, all the Afro-Caribbean kids wouldn't vote, because they ‘Do So’. But all the Indian kids would do what their parents told them to do, which is go out and vote. And so all the Indians went out and voted, and the difference on the 18-35-year-old turnout is like 40%, and that swung the election by about 6% – which is all we needed!”Again, Nix was selling his company’s expertise in promoting cynicism and apathy to suppress turnout among the opposition. But this campaign was even more manipulative: enlisting young Afro-Caribbeans in what pretended to be an authentic youth movement, secretly designed to manipulate them into surrendering their votes. This is what ‘compliance’ means in psychological warfare: achieving the desired behavioural effect from a ‘hostile audience’.Asked for comment on the Do-So campaign, Nix responded in an email earlier today, writing, “The objective of this campaign was to highlight and protest against political corruption. There is nothing unlawful or illegal about assisting with this activity. SCL / CA has never undertaken voter suppression and there is no evidence to the contrary.”Nix’s closing comments in his summer 2016 pitch were tantalising: “We’ve got an in-house intelligence team, so we can do full intelligence protection… Opposition don’t hack your emails and everything else. And we're pretty good at getting intelligence too… You know what? We do a lot of counter operations. You can spend $10 million on an election. Or we can send one of our guys in to go offer the leader of the opposition a bribe, you know, three weeks before polling. It's a very good way to win an election.”Beneath the veneer, this seems to have been some of the work Alexander Nix was most proud of. This is how he pitched his company around the world, just as he was finally starting to work for Trump. This is the man who the Mercers and Steve Bannon enlisted to help them reshape the American political mind.T<a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://go.propublica.org/e/125411/l-utm-campaign-dailynewsletter/6vjfd7/399957788?h=84IZV3RwKJC3li-sM6MzEbyQEQ-y5vhlGxZuSAqvEGg" style="font-family: " tiempos="Tiempos" text="Text" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" em="em" color="color" rgb="rgb" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none">heir Family Bought Land One Generation After Slavery. The Reels Brothers Spent Eight Years in Jail for Refusing to Leave It.</a><p style="line-height: 1.375;" tiempos="Tiempos" text="Text" helvetica="Helvetica" arial="Arial" verdana="Verdana" sans-serif="sans-serif" margin-bottom="margin-bottom" px="px" margin-top="margin-top" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Why are so many black families losing their land?<div class="yiv8753889115byline" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0.25em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 0.25em 0em;">by Lizzie Presser</div><div class="yiv8753889115button-holder" style="" tiempos="Tiempos" text="Text" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><a rel="nofollow" class="yiv8753889115button" target="blank" href="https://go.propublica.org/e/125411/l-utm-campaign-dailynewsletter/6vjfd7/399957788?h=84IZV3RwKJC3li-sM6MzEbyQEQ-y5vhlGxZuSAqvEGg" style="text-decoration-line: none; display: inline-block; border: 1px solid rgb(33, 124, 227); font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 40px; padding: 10px 20px; margin-top: 15px; border-radius: 3px;">View Story</a></div><div class="yiv8753889115button-holder" style="" tiempos="Tiempos" text="Text" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">pro pub</div><a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?458861-1/land-fee" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.c-span.org/video/?458861-1/land-fee</a>
quite good<span class="time" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: uppercase; display: block; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;"><time style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">MARCH 18, 2019</time><h1 class="video-page-title" itemprop="name" style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Land of the Fee</h1><div class="initial" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.3; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.c-span.org/person/?devinfergus" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; transition: color 0.35s ease 0s;">Devin Fergus </a>talked about his book, Land of the Fee: Hidden Costs and the Decline of the American Middle Class, on the hidden transaction fees that Americans regularly pay and the impact these costs have on the middle class.</div><div>===</div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/04/how-artificial-intelligence-systems-could-threaten-democracy/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/04/how-artificial-intelligence-systems-could-threaten-democracy/</a></div><div>
</div>U.S. technology giant <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/9378e7ee-5ae6-11e9-9dde-7aedca0a081a">Microsoft has teamed up with a Chinese military university</a> to develop <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/microsoft-worked-with-chinese-military-university-on-ai-1.3855553">artificial intelligence systems</a> that could potentially enhance government surveillance and censorship capabilities. Two <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/5f5916fc-5be3-11e9-939a-341f5ada9d40">U.S. senators publicly condemned</a> the partnership, but what the <a href="https://www.nudt.edu.cn/index_eng.htm">National Defense Technology University of China</a> wants from Microsoft isn’t the only concern.

As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=OgVZmm4AAAAJ&hl=en">my research shows</a>, the advent of digital repression is profoundly affecting <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/jod.2019.0003">the relationship between citizen and state</a>.

New technologies are arming governments with unprecedented capabilities

to monitor, track and surveil individual people. Even governments in

democracies with strong traditions of <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-trumps-definition-of-the-rule-of-law-the-same-as-the-us-constitutions-77598">rule of law</a> find themselves tempted to abuse <a href="https://qz.com/813672/half-of-the-united-states-is-registered-in-police-facial-recognition-databases-and-its-completely-unregulated/">these new abilities</a>.<div class="alt_ad_block story-page-in-content-graph-2">

</div>

In states with <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/world/2018-07-10/how-artificial-intelligence-will-reshape-global-order">unaccountable institutions and frequent human rights abuses</a>,

AI systems will most likely cause greater damage. China is a prominent

example. Its leadership has enthusiastically embraced AI technologies,

and has set up the world’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/04/world/asia/xinjiang-china-surveillance-prison.html">most sophisticated</a> <a href="https://www.engadget.com/2018/02/22/china-xinjiang-surveillance-tech-spread/">surveillance state</a> in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/18/chinese-surveillance-company-tracking-25m-xinjiang-residents">Xinjiang province</a>, tracking citizens’ daily movements and smartphone use.

Its exploitation of these technologies <a href="https://www.georgesoros.com/2019/01/24/remarks-delivered-at-the-world-economic-forum-2/">presents a chilling model</a>

for fellow autocrats and poses a direct threat to open democratic

societies. Although there’s no evidence that other governments have

replicated this level of AI surveillance, Chinese companies are actively

exporting the same underlying technologies across the world.

Increasing reliance on AI tools in the US

<a href="https://ai.stanford.edu/%7Enilsson/QAI/qai.pdf">Artificial intelligence systems</a>

are everywhere in the modern world, helping run smartphones, internet

search engines, digital voice assistants and Netflix movie queues. <a href="https://governanceai.github.io/US-Public-Opinion-Report-Jan-2019/">Many people fail to realize</a>

how quickly AI is expanding, thanks to ever-increasing amounts of data

to be analyzed, improving algorithms and advanced computer chips.<div class="alt_ad_block story-page-in-content-graph-5">

</div>

Any time more information becomes available and analysis gets easier,

governments are interested – and not just authoritarian ones. In the

U.S., for instance, the 1970s saw revelations that government agencies –

such as the FBI, CIA and NSA – had set up <a href="https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/94755_II.pdf">expansive domestic surveillance networks</a>

to monitor and harass civil rights protesters, political activists and

Native American groups. These issues haven’t gone away: Digital

technology today has deepened the ability of even more agencies to

conduct even more intrusive surveillance.

For example, U.S. police have eagerly embraced AI technologies. They have begun using software that is <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-big-data-analysis-of-police-activity-is-inherently-biased-72640">meant to predict where crimes will happen</a> to decide where to send officers on patrol. They’re also using <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/facial-recognition-gives-police-powerful-new-tracking-tool-it-s-n894936">facial recognition</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/crime-law/2018/12/13/fbi-plans-rapid-dna-network-quick-database-checks-arrestees/">DNA analysis</a> in criminal investigations. But analyses of these systems show the <a href="https://theconversation.com/congress-takes-first-steps-toward-regulating-artificial-intelligence-104373">data on which those systems are trained</a> are often biased, leading to <a href="https://theconversation.com/did-artificial-intelligence-deny-you-credit-73259">unfair outcomes</a>, such as <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/machine-bias-risk-assessments-in-criminal-sentencing">falsely determining that African Americans are more likely to commit crimes</a> than other groups.

AI surveillance around the world...

new cointelpro blk extremists<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/04/the-fbi-appears-to-be-engaged-in-a-modern-day-version-of-cointelpro-aclu-racial-justice-program-deputy-director/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/04/the-fbi-appears-to-be-engaged-in-a-modern-day-version-of-cointelpro-aclu-racial-justice-program-deputy-director/</a><div>=</div><div>AN 419</div><div>
</div><div>When Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont conceded the 2016 Democratic presidential primary to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and encouraged his supporters to vote for her in the general election, many of them agreed that Clinton—shortcomings and all—would be much better for his liberal/progressive movement than GOP nominee Donald J. Trump. Sanders aggressively voiced his support for the centrist Clinton during his speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, stressing that a Trump presidency would be terrible for the United States (an assertion that proved to be frighteningly accurate). The “Bernie or Bust” crowd, however, adamantly maintained its opposition to Clinton: some voted for Green Party nominee Jill Stein or Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson (a former Republican governor of New Mexico), some didn’t vote at all, some even voted for Trump. And the Washington Post, in an article published on Friday, is reporting that some of Sanders’ more anti-Clinton supporters may have been <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-the-russian-effort-to-target-sanders-supporters--and-help-elect-trump/2019/04/11/741d7308-5576-11e9-8ef3-fbd41a2ce4d5_story.html?utm_term=.049b848c2962" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">manipulated by the Kremlin</a> three years ago.<div class="p1_9" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Russian interference in the 2016 election and President Vladimir Putin’s preference for Trump over Clinton was probed extensively by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, whose Russia investigation concluded in March. But one thing that hasn’t been reported nearly as much is efforts by the Kremlin to manipulate and deceive Sanders’ supporters. And in the Washington Post, Michael Kranish reports that three years ago, there was a concerted effort by Russians to convince Sanders supporters that they would be better off under Trump.[wacko at mta MOVIE]<div class="p2_9" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="alt_ad_block" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="teadsNative" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Kranish reports that in 2016, a Twitter account called Red Louisiana News told Sanders supporters, “Conscious Bernie Sanders supporters already moving towards the best candidate Trump! #Feel the Bern #Vote Trump 2016.” And analysis by Clemson University, according to Kranish, found that Red Louisiana News was among thousands of pro-Trump online accounts that were actually based in Russia—not the United States—and stressed to Sanders supporters that they had more in common with Trump than with Clinton. Kranish also reports that Mueller, during his Russia investigation, alleged that a St. Petersburg, Russia-based group called the Internet Research Agency instructed its employees to write social media posts that were anti-Clinton but favorable to Sanders and Trump.<div class="p3_9" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">In a 2018 interview, Kranish notes, Sanders told Vermont Public Radio that in 2016, one of his campaign workers suspected that Russians <a href="https://www.vpr.org/post/sen-bernie-sanders-russia-we-knew-what-we-knew-when-we-knew-it#stream/0" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">were behind those posts</a> and warned the Clinton campaign, “I think these guys are Russians.” Kranish adds, however, that the campaign worker didn’t share those concerns with Sanders himself.<div class="p4_9" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Sanders also told Vermont Public Radio that in 2016, Russian government operatives “were playing a really disgusting role” in the election and set out to “sow division in this country.” The senator commented, “What they were saying is—in so many words—is Bernie Sanders is not going to win. So if you are a Bernie Sanders supporter, let me tell you: Hillary Clinton is a criminal, a murderer, a terrible person…. crazy, all of these disgusting things.”<div class="p5_9" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Clemson University’s research, Kranish adds, found that “some 9000” tweets coming from Russia used the name “Bernie” and were retweeted 61,804 times and “liked” 59,281 times.<div class="p6_9" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="alt_ad_block" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">One of the Russian social media accounts mentioned in Kranish’s article called itself #BlackMenForBernie, had 72,121 followers and tried to convince African-American Sanders supporters that they shouldn’t support Clinton. One of its tweets read, “#BlackMenForBernie Leader Switches to Trump! I will Never Vote for Hillary, Welcome aboard the Trump Train.”<div class="p7_9" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Kranish concludes his report by quoting Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill, who warns that if people in the Russia government were able to manipulate the 2016 presidential election, they inevitably “will strike again.” And therefore, Merrill asserts, “Democratic candidates” must “work together and support each other to defend against these threats.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ref no lnx</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Inside the Russian effort to target Sanders supporters — and help elect Trump</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spar in February 2016 during a Democratic presidential primary debate hosted by MSNBC at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, N.H. (David Goldman/AP)</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">By Michael Kranish April 12 at 6:00 AM</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> After Bernie Sanders lost his primary campaign for president against Hillary Clinton in 2016, a Twitter account called Red Louisiana News reached out to his supporters to help sway the general election. “Conscious Bernie Sanders supporters already moving towards the best candidate Trump! #Feel the Bern #Vote Trump 2016,” the account tweeted.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The tweet was not actually from Louisiana, according to an analysis by Clemson University researchers. Instead, it was one of thousands of accounts identified as based in Russia, part of a cloaked effort to persuade supporters of the Vermont senator to elect Trump. “Bernie Sanders says his message resonates with Republicans,” said another Russian tweet. </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">While much attention has focused on the question of whether the Trump campaign encouraged or conspired with Russia, the effort to target Sanders supporters has been a lesser-noted part of the story. Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, in a case filed last year against 13 Russians accused of interfering in the U.S. presidential campaign, said workers at a St. Petersburg facility called the Internet Research Agency were instructed to write social media posts in opposition to Clinton but “to support Bernie Sanders and then-candidate Donald Trump.” </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">That strategy could receive new attention with the release of Mueller’s report, expected within days.  </div><div>
</div><div>Sanders told Vermont Public Radio last year that one of his campaign workers figured out what was going on, alerted the Clinton campaign and told them, “I think these guys are Russians.” But Sanders said he never knew, and he later backed off his suggestion that his staff did. A spokesman referred questions to 2016 campaign manager Jeff Weaver, who said in an interview that Sanders “misspoke a little bit and conflated a few of the facts. .?.?. He did not know, I did not know, none of us knew” that Russia was behind the efforts. </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div>Only recently, with the latest analysis of Twitter data, has the extent of the Russian disinformation campaign been documented on that social media platform. </div><div>
</div><div>A pair of Clemson University researchers, at the request of The Washington Post, examined English-language tweets identified as coming from Russia, many of which were designed to influence the election. It is impossible to say how many were targeted at Sanders supporters because many don’t include his name. Some 9,000 of the Russian tweets used the word “Bernie,” which were “liked” 59,281 times and retweeted 61,804 times. </div><div>
</div><div>But that was only one element of the Russian effort to target Sanders supporters, the researchers said. Many thousands of other tweets, with no direct reference to Sanders, were also designed to appeal to his backers, urging them to do anything but vote for Clinton in the general election. </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“I think there is no question that Sanders was central to their strategy. He was clearly used as a mechanism to decrease voter turnout for Hillary Clinton,” said one of the Clemson researchers, Darren Linvill, associate professor of communications. The tweets examined in the new analysis “give us a much clearer understanding of the tactics they were using. It was certainly a higher volume than people thought.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">[Trump disavows past enthusiasm for WikiLeaks after Assange’s arrest]</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div>The Russian social-media strategy underscores a challenge that Sanders faces as he once again seeks the Democratic presidential nomination, this time in a crowded field. Many Sanders supporters believe he was treated unfairly by the Democratic Party and Clinton, a point the Russians sought to capitalize on as they worked to undermine Clinton in the November election. </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Although Sanders later denounced the Kremlin’s efforts and campaigned for Clinton, some Democrats believe he could have done more to smooth over tensions and encourage his supporters to support his onetime opponent. A former senior Clinton campaign official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to avoid publicly criticizing Sanders ahead of the 2020 primaries, said that there remains bitterness over the way Sanders repeatedly said the system was tilted against him.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Sanders said in May 2016 that party rules enabling Clinton to collect “superdelegates” did not meet the definition of “rigged,” but he called it a “dumb process which certainly has disadvantaged our campaign.” </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The effort to promote Sanders as a way to influence the U.S. election began shortly after he declared his candidacy in spring 2015, according to Mueller’s indictment of the Russians. Russia’s aim was to defeat or weaken Clinton, who had angered Russian President Vladimir Putin when she had been secretary of state. </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div>One reason that Sanders was on Russia’s radar has been little noted: he, like Trump, opposed trade deals such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Russian President Vladimir Putin had been critical of the TPP, saying it was secretive and “hardly facilitates sustainable development of Asia Pacific.”</div><div>
</div><div>During the primaries, Sanders gave at least three interviews to a Russia-controlled television network, RT, in which his trade stance was highlighted. The network in February 2016 criticized MSNBC for breaking away from Sanders after he said he was “helping to lead the opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership.” The network posted a story headlined, “Bernie Sanders 'censored' by MSNBC while criticizing trade deal.” </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div>Around the same time that Sanders was featured on RT, Russian employees at the Internet Research Agency were given a document explaining how to influence the U.S. election. The workers were told to “use any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest (except Sanders and Trump — we support them),” according to Mueller’s indictment of the Russians. </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Twitter database shows the impact. The tweets sent from Russia, cloaked to look as though they came from Americans, included: “Bernie Sanders looks to black voters to boost his underdog campaign”; “Hillary Clinton’s summer of drama creates openings for Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden”; and “I’m for Bernie all the way!” </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div>Then, in July 2016, WikiLeaks released emails from the Democratic National Committee that suggested the party machinery was tilted against Sanders. The DNC computers were later revealed to have been hacked by Russia. The hack prompted Trump to stoke the divide among Democrats. “Leaked e-mails of DNC show plans to destroy Bernie Sanders,” Trump tweeted July 23, 2016. “.?.?. On-line from Wikileakes [sic], really vicious. RIGGED!” </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div>Russian trolls significantly increased their effort to persuade Sanders supporters to oppose Clinton in the general election. One of their methods was to try to convince African Americans that they couldn’t trust her. </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“#BlackMenForBernie Leader Switches to Trump! I will Never Vote for Hillary,Welcome aboard the Trump Train,” said a tweet from an account that was said to come from Texas and was identified as “Southern. Conservative Pro God. Anti Racism.” The account, actually operated by a Russian, had 72,121 followers. The message was liked 260 times and retweeted 295 times, according to the Clemson database.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Linvill, the Clemson researcher, said Sanders was seen as “just a tool” to the Russians. “He is a wedge to drive into the Democratic Party,” resulting in lower turnout for Clinton, he said. The tweets suggested either voting for Trump or a third-party candidate such as Green Party nominee Jill Stein, or writing in Sanders’s name. </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div>While it is impossible to show a direct correlation between a Russian-based tweet and someone’s vote in the United States, a post-election survey conducted for Ohio State University documented how false stories spread on social media may have caused a decline in turnout for Clinton. Only 77 percent of those surveyed who had voted for Barack Obama in 2012 supported Clinton in 2016; 10 percent backed Trump, 4 percent voted for third-party candidates, and 8 percent did not vote, according to the YouGov survey. </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">[Bernie Sanders unveils new Medicare-for-all legislation]</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div>In an effort to demonstrate how inaccurate information makes its way into the mainstream, the survey asked respondents about three demonstrably false articles that had been widely distributed. A quarter of respondents believed the false story that Clinton was in “very poor health,” 10 percent believed that Trump had been endorsed by the Pope, and 35 percent (including 20 percent of Obama supporters) believed that Clinton had approved weapons sales to “Islamic jihadists, including ISIS.” </div><div>
</div><div>The Ohio State team concluded in a soon-to-be published final version of its report that “belief in these fake news stories is very strongly linked to defection from the Democratic ticket by 2012 Obama voters.” Obama voters who recognized all three stories as false voted for Clinton at a rate of 89 percent, while 61 percent who believed one of the stories was false voted for her, and 17 percent of those who believed two of the false stories supported Clinton. </div><div>
</div><div>Yoel Roth, Twitter’s head of site integrity, said Twitter had studied what happened during the presidential election and will apply those lessons as the 2020 campaign unfolds. </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div> “Protecting the integrity of public conversation around elections is core to Twitter's mission,” Roth said in a statement to The Post. “Since 2016, we've launched new policies, significantly scaled our enforcement against malicious automation, built strong partnerships within the industry and with government entities, and opened the largest public archive of potential information operations online, including thousands of Russian-linked accounts we have removed.”  </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Sanders told Vermont Public Radio last year that the Russians “were playing a really disgusting role because they don’t believe in anything. And all they want to do is sow division in this country, bring people against each other. So what they were saying is — in so many words — is Bernie Sanders is not going to win, so if you are a Bernie Sanders supporter, let me tell you, Hillary Clinton is a criminal, a murderer, a terrible person .?.?. crazy, all of these disgusting things.” </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill said “the Russians will strike again.” As a result, he said, it is imperative for “everyone else, especially Democratic candidates, to work together and support each other to defend against these threats.”  </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Craig Timberg contributed to this report.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-the-russian-effort-to-target-sanders-supporters--and-help-elect-trump/2019/04">https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-the-russian-effort-to-target-sanders-supporters--and-help-elect-trump/2019/04</a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">...url?</div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>=black turnout key in 2016 and 2018? bl woman key?  So voter suppression key, limit eary voting, blk sn citizens told to get off the bus; stacey abrams gov almost won, as did gillum in fla;<div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">sum IRA:</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Finally, here’s an official report that says there were dirty tricks in the 2016 elections, just as we’re hearing about more localized dirty tricks in the elections in November.The report by cybersecurity experts hired by the Senate Intelligence Committee released on Monday says without hesitation that it was the Russians who used a wide variety of social media outlets to spread disinformation aimed at suppressing the black vote in America and to move conservatives toward candidate Donald Trump.  It wasn’t a 400-pound guy on a couch in New Jersey, no matter what Trump says.“The report adds new details to the portrait that has emerged over the last two years of the energy and imagination of the Russian effort to sway American opinion and divide the country, which the authors said continues to this day,” concluded The New York Times.Of course, dirty tricks have been part of American elections since there was an American election. Just ask Richard Nixon. Or maybe John Adams.<interaction data-token="5b96855f8198b4e625350260" data-context="true" data-tags="" data-fallback="true" />But suppressing the black vote?  That, as any number of critics would note, has been an American tradition all of its own. Just this last cycle, we saw Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp win his election over Democrat Stacy Adams, who is black, simply by a series of actions aimed at disenfranchising black voters all around the state. There’s a congressional race still being contested in North Carolina with dirty tricks so bad for the Republican candidate that the GOP is thinking of disowning the candidate.The remarkable thing here is the breadth of effort that the Russians undertook to target African-Americans, to try to suppress turnout among Democratic voters and to promote the Trump campaign.There was no attempt to explain exactly why – other than the obvious – that Russians were targeting African-American voters.On MSNBC yesterday, pundits were talking about the suppression allegations while simultaneously showing televised clips of candidate Donald Trump repeating much of the same messages as in the Russian voter campaigns. But, there is nothing here in writing to suggest that there was more than a topical link, or “collusion.”Indeed, “Active and ongoing interference operations remain on several platforms,” says the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://int.nyt.com/data/documenthelper/533-read-report-internet-research-agency/7871ea6d5b7bedafbf19/optimized/full.pdf%23page%3D1&source=gmail&ust=1545303717160000&usg=AFQjCNHQ1GFEr7pbCltVChRX7h5szq58ng" href="https://int.nyt.com/data/documenthelper/533-read-report-internet-research-agency/7871ea6d5b7bedafbf19/optimized/full.pdf#page=1" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">report by New Knowledge</a>, a cybersecurity company based in Austin, Tex. One continuing Russian campaign, for instance, seeks to influence opinion on Syria by promoting Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president and a Russian ally in the brutal conflict there. A <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/12/16/new-report-russian-disinformation-prepared-senate-shows-operations-scale-sweep/?noredirect%3Don%26utm_term%3D.741a3ededbf2&source=gmail&ust=1545303717160000&usg=AFQjCNFI56NmuUhGkZe5E_rkahu3R_FSPA" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/12/16/new-report-russian-disinformation-prepared-senate-shows-operations-scale-sweep/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.741a3ededbf2" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">second report</a> was written by the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://comprop.oii.ox.ac.uk/&source=gmail&ust=1545303717160000&usg=AFQjCNEwEnGQyMVA-FazsSi_V0hHgeiuxQ" href="https://comprop.oii.ox.ac.uk/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Computational Propaganda Project</a> at Oxford University along with <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.graphika.com/&source=gmail&ust=1545303717160000&usg=AFQjCNGElFfNmfIqwOVgEflcr8o8oOr2gw" href="https://www.graphika.com/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Graphika</a>, a company that specializes in analyzing social media.The Russian influence campaign in 2016 was run by a St. Petersburg company called the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/magazine/the-agency.html?module%3Dinline&source=gmail&ust=1545303717160000&usg=AFQjCNEKs-vnA-KSezQgu6WKjL19B_2hQg" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/07/magazine/the-agency.html?module=inline" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Internet Research Agency, </a>owned by a businessman, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/world/europe/prigozhin-russia-indictment-mueller.html?module%3Dinline&source=gmail&ust=1545303717160000&usg=AFQjCNGIfr0eKxWE9oacuUr_Adoq0Dwu5Q" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/world/europe/prigozhin-russia-indictment-mueller.html?module=inline" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Yevgeny V. Prigozhin</a>, who is a close ally of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Prigozhin and a dozen of the company’s employees were indicted last February as part of the investigation of Russian interference by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel. Both reports stress that the Internet Research Agency created social media accounts under fake names on virtually every available platform. A major goal was to support Donald Trump, first against his Republican rivals in the presidential race, then in the general election, and as president since his inauguration.The Russian campaign was the subject of Senate hearings last year and has been widely scrutinized by academic experts. The new reports largely confirm earlier findings: that the campaign was designed to attack Hillary Clinton, boost Trump and deepen divisions in American society.The Washington Post reported last night that the Senate report also detailed efforts by Russia’s disinformation teams <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/russian-disinformation-teams-targeted-robert-s-mueller-iii-says-report-prepared-for-senate/2018/12/17/0e0047f6-0230-11e9-8186-4ec26a485713_story.html?utm_term%3D.69274ddc98b5&source=gmail&ust=1545303717160000&usg=AFQjCNEYnynAQCU9bzVdyh2bfbBLFNXiAQ" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/russian-disinformation-teams-targeted-robert-s-mueller-iii-says-report-prepared-for-senate/2018/12/17/0e0047f6-0230-11e9-8186-4ec26a485713_story.html?utm_term=.69274ddc98b5" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">to target Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III</a> as a threat to Trump, falsely claiming that the former FBI director was corrupt and that the allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election were crackpot conspiracies.New Knowledge gave particular attention to the Russians’ focus on African-Americans, which is evident to anyone who examines <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://medium.com/@ushadrons&source=gmail&ust=1545303717160000&usg=AFQjCNHNM9RhMdFK5dwCbqZvOhF6gsBB7g" href="https://medium.com/@ushadrons" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">collections of their memes and messages</a>.The Internet Research Agency also created a dozen websites disguised as African-American in origin, with names like <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=//blackmattersus.com&source=gmail&ust=1545303717160000&usg=AFQjCNExCn2xpCCZYXt0VeKgKaTm1gMrFA" href="https://blackmattersus.com/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">blackmattersus.com</a>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=//blacktivist.info&source=gmail&ust=1545303717160000&usg=AFQjCNFzPlVtHDvBs_xfm2pQMAsI3uqkqw" href="https://blacktivist.info/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">blacktivist.info</a>, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=//blacktolive.org&source=gmail&ust=1545303717160000&usg=AFQjCNHz57U9Q58OVxWqMCaXWD7sXyAZ3Q" href="https://blacktolive.org/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">blacktolive.org  </a>and <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=//blacksoul.us&source=gmail&ust=1545303717160000&usg=AFQjCNFcPxr6SbUEabhq-R2vyFDA8bQqkw" href="https://blacksoul.us/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">blacksoul.us</a>. On YouTube, the largest share of Russian material covered the Black Lives Matter movement and police brutality, with channels called “Don’t Shoot” and “BlackToLive.”The report does not seek to explain the heavy focus on African Americans. But the Internet Research Agency’s tactics echo Soviet propaganda efforts from decades ago that often highlighted racism and racial conflict in the United States, as well as recent Russian influence operations in other countries that sought to stir ethnic strife.Funny how our longtime embrace of dirty tricks actually comes full circle to show us that they were exploiting our most divisive American politics.Maybe that’s the worst of it. Russians do American dirty tricks better than we do ourselves.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/why-are-poor-whites-more-depressed-and-pessimistic-poor-african-americans" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/why-are-poor-whites-more-depressed-and-pessimistic-poor-african-americans</a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">AN alex anderson</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Carol Graham appeared on Charles Ellison’s “Reality Check” program on WURD AM/FM (a liberal/progressive African-American talk radio station in Philadelphia) and discussed the emotional differences between poor blacks and poor whites. It was a fascinating conservation: according to Graham’s research, poor African-Americans in the United States are, on the whole, <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/why-are-black-poor-americans-more-optimistic-than-white-ones/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">more optimistic</a> than poor whites—who Graham described to Ellison as being much more likely to fall into despair. As worried as the African-American community is by the Trump Administration and its horrible policies, Graham finds poor whites to be in a much worse state emotionally and are decidedly more pessimistic.WURD callers, mostly African-Americans living in Philadelphia, offered different views on Graham’s findings. Some asserted that formerly middle-class whites who fell into poverty during the Great Recession were ill-equipped, emotionally, to handle the types of economic struggles African-Americans have been facing all these years. But another explanation for Graham’s findings is that poor whites—whether they became the neo-poor during the Great Recession or were poor long before that—are much more likely to have been thoroughly indoctrinated into right-wing Republican ideology, especially in Republican-dominated areas of the U.S. And as a result, they feel a certain self-hatred and blame themselves for their economic misfortunes in a way that poor African-Americans don’t. Poor whites (especially the ones based in rural areas or small towns) and poor African-Americans often live in very different worlds—and everything from the media outlets they embrace to the churches they attend to the music they listen to is likely to affect whether they view the poor as morally deficient or as people who have been seriously screwed over.As much as right-wingers like to whine about the mainstream media having a liberal bias—which, for the most part, it doesn’t—the fact is that right-wing media is vast, from Fox News to white AM talk radio to Breitbart, Townhall, the Weekly Standard and countless other high-traffic wingnut websites. And the right-wing media has invested considerable time and energy in teaching that the poor are useless freeloaders living off the sweat, hard work and innovation of the rich (who Rush Limbaugh calls “the achievers”). Rural whites who have been bombarded with <a href="https://www.salon.com/2015/09/08/how_welfare_restrictions_demonize_the_poor_partner/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">decades of poor-bashing</a> from Fox News and white talk radio are bound to take that message to heart and view themselves as moral failures if they are not doing well financially.  The overall message at an African-American talk radio station like WURD is totally different from what one hears on Limbaugh’s show. From the local programming that dominates the station to the Rev. Al Sharpton’s syndicated program, “Keeping It Real,” Donald Trump’s presidency and the Republican Party are painted in a consistently negative light on WURD—and the poor are not painted as parasites or leeches by any means, but as people who have been screwed over by crony capitalism and a rigged game. While WURD callers often sound angry and frustrated over the political climate in the Trump era, the anger doesn’t sound like self-hatred or self-blame. Sharpton and Ellison will encourage education, self-improvement and job training, but in a way that uplifts rather demonizes or belittles the poor.Christianity comes in wildly different forms in the U.S., where white fundamentalist megachurches often have a very different view of economics than African Methodist Episcopal (AME) denominations. The Christian Right, white megachurches and fundamentalist Pentecostals typically embrace the so-called “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/07/15/how-the-prosperity-gospel-explains-donald-trumps-popularity-with-christian-voters/?utm_term=.f9ef4d932e98" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none;">prosperity gospel,</a>” which teaches that the rich are blessed with affluence because of their moral superiority and that the poor are poor because of their immoral, sinful ways. But in black AME churches, one often hears that it is a Christian’s duty to feed the poor and help the homeless—and one is more likely to hear Jesus Christ quoted as saying, “It is easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.”In AME churches, the burden of proof is usually on the rich rather than the poor. So, if an African-American in an AME congregation graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s medical school or law school and has a six-figure income, that’s all well and good—but they’re still encouraged to roll up their sleeves and do some volunteer work in a homeless shelter because that’s their duty as a Christian. The prosperity gospel is viewed as wrong-headed and unchristian in many black AME congregations.Liberal AME pastors view Jesus Christ as an advocate for the poor and the downtrodden. To right-wing white megachurches, Jesus hates the poor and spits in their faces.Music is another way in which poor whites and poor blacks can receive radically different messages. The fact that Kanye West said some <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/25/politics/kanye-west-donald-trump-twitter/index.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">favorable things about President Trump</a> earlier this year was controversial in the hip-hop community, where Immortal Technique, Public Enemy, Ice-T, KRS-1, Paris, N.W.A, Ice Cube and countless other rappers have been known for their left-of-center views. But modern country-rock is full of right-wing activists who think former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin represents “the real America.” The Dixie Chicks became <a href="https://theboot.com/natalie-maines-dixie-chicks-controversy/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">pariahs in the country music community</a> after Natalie Maines criticized President George W. Bush and the Iraq War in 2003; Maines found out the hard way that being openly liberal can seriously damage one’s career in country music.The message poor blacks are receiving is that poverty is the result of injustice and the failures of crony capitalism. The message many poor whites are receiving is that if you’re poor, you’re a loser and a parasite.  Of course, Jay-Z, Chance the Rapper and other hip-hop stars attract racially diverse audiences and have plenty of white fans. And as many liberals and progressives as there have been in hip-hop, conservative rappers are not nonexistent. But on the whole, the poor receive a lot more emotional support in hip-hop than they do in modern country music. And even though hip-hop has plenty of imagery of bling and Benzes while modern country music likes to portray itself as music of the common man, hip-hop—at the end of the day—tends to view the poor in a much more compassionate and favorable light.With so many poor whites being demonized whether they’re turning on Fox News, going to a megachurch or hearing their favorite country-rock stars urging them to vote Republican and support President Trump’s agenda, it’s no wonder that so many of them have fallen into despair, hopelessness and self-hatred.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div><div></div><div>"owned" doc levittown,. redlining</div><div>african socialist blacklist suburb tract  los angeles modern ames architect owen documentary levittown</div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://kpfa.org/episode/upfront-june-13-2018/">https://kpfa.org/episode/upfront-june-13-2018/</a></div><div>
</div><div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/racist-origin-second-amendment-and-rise-black-gun-ownership" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/racist-origin-second-amendment-and-rise-black-gun-ownership</a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">...</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Total gun deaths in the United States average around 37,000 a year, she writes, “with two-thirds of those deaths being suicide, leaving 12,000 homicides, a thousand of those at the hands of police.” Mass shootings, although horrible enough, account for only 2 percent of gun killings annually.In an interview, Dunbar-Ortiz explained that the right to have a gun comes from the Bill of Rights. “And the Bill of Rights is about individual rights,” which at the time it was written meant the rights of White men who needed guns to dominate slaves and Native Americans.There’s a misconception that the Second Amendment is about state’s rights and arming a military. It’s not, she says. The establishment of a standing army is in the Constitution. The establishment of formal militias, which became the modern-day National Guard, is in the body of the Constitution—it’s constitutional law, she adds. Collective rights are already in the Constitution.“So the Bill of Rights is the right for each individual to practice whatever religion they want, freedom of speech, and so forth. And to arm themselves.” There was a period in time, she said, when it was against the law for the new settlers not to carry a weapon.“But it doesn’t work for freedom movements,” said Dunbar-Ortiz. “It was created for domination of people of color—for slave patrols, and militias to kill Indians. So, it still has that element”: Now it is used to criminalize people of color, she said.Throughout history, gun control laws have been used against people of color as a tool to invite brutal state responses. Consider the Black Panthers who armed themselves, the Native Americans who fought in the Battle of Wounded Knee, Black Lives Matter protesters, the Standing Rock uprising.We’ve witnessed it more recently for individuals like <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/peace-justice/white-people-the-philando-castile-acquittal-should-make-you-mad-as-hell-20170619" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Philando Castile</a>, who was killed by a fearful police officer in 2016 for legally having a firearm during a traffic stop. In 2012, a Black Florida woman, <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/woman-who-lost-stand-your-ground-case-wants-law-strengthened-n737191" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Marissa Alexander</a>, was sentenced to 20 years for firing a gun at her estranged husband who she said was attacking her. She had a permit for the gun. Since her release last year after serving five years, she has sided with Florida Republicans and become an advocate for gun ownership and stand-your-ground defenses.In fact, many Black people are against tighter gun laws because those laws, even more so than drug laws, continue to be used disproportionately to put them into the criminal system.According to the 2009 report <a href="https://www.nccdglobal.org/sites/default/files/publication_pdf/created-equal.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the US Criminal Justice System</a>, Black people are arrested for weapons crimes at a rate 4.4 times higher than White people. <a href="https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2016/crime-in-the-u.s.-2016/topic-pages/tables/table-21" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">FBI data for 2016</a> shows weapons violations at the city, state, and federal level were used to arrest Black people 42 percent of the time, and White people 56 percent. Black people make up <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045216" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">13 percent of the population</a>.Chanel Tillman of the Black Gun Owners Association in Jacksonville, Florida, said she could only imagine the horrors for people of color if gun laws were reformed.“If they can remove firearms like that from the masses, that basically…takes them away from us,” Tillman said. “And honestly, I think that’s the biggest part of it [for us]. You can guarantee that there will be some kind of loophole that will affect Black and Brown people more than anybody else.”Our motto is “Stay armed. Live free.” If you take our guns from us, she said, we are no longer free. “Then they are free to do whatever they want to us, and we have no way to protect ourselves.”Tillman co-founded the Jacksonville chapter last September, and it now has 32 members.She said she’s aware the origin of the Second Amendment was to arm White people against people of color and also understands Dunbar-Ortiz’s position that we’re not really “free” if we have to carry guns to protect us.But, she said, “why worry, if you know you have the ability to protect yourself? You don’t have to worry about it. You just have to be proactive and ready when the time comes.”And this is the message the national Black Gun Owners Association shares with its membership of 10,000 legal gun owners. Its one-year anniversary is in April.“Safety and protection of family, that’s the biggest thing. And making sure we’re aware of our rights.” Firearm safety and tactical training are part of what members receive, too, she said, and someone to look out for them.The association is not a political organization, she said, but exists for their community "to get an understanding of firearm safety and obtain proper training with people who look like them and share the same concerns as them for our people.”Gun ownership among Black people is about the same things as for White people, she says. “Protection of self, family and property. Gun ownership has always been taught as a pseudoscience for Blacks because of slavery and Jim Crow. We aren't here to hurt anyone, but protecting our own will come first.”“We just want people like us to know there are gun advocate groups that are here for them,” she said. “The NRA comes out when things happen to White people, but when things happen to Black people you don’t hear from the NRA,” she said. “So, we’re hoping to bridge that gap. Somebody to stand for us when there’s a gun crime against one of us.”Meanwhile, Detroit attorney Desiree Ferguson, who is advising on the appeal for Siwatu-Salama Ra’s Second Amendment defense, expects an uphill battle.Appeals take a long time, and there’s a good probability that Ra could have served the two years by the time there’s a resolution. The hope, Ferguson said, lies with the governor’s office and a possible pardon or commutation. She is also hoping to get Ra released on bond pending the appeal “so that she can be with her family when she gives birth. And not have to be immediately severed from her newborn baby.”What is certain is that gun control and Second Amendment debates do not clearly line up as left-right issues, and many people of color are faced with uneasy support for a civil right that began as a way to oppress them. 

Author Dunbar-Ortiz says, if more people on the left understood the history of the Second Amendment and how it’s been used against people of color, she doubts they would support it.“They don’t need the Second Amendment to justify self-defense. That’s an international human right. That’s a basic human right.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div></div><div><a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2018/3/9/how_an_alabama_town_is_fighting_against">https://www.democracynow.org/2018/3/9/how_an_alabama_town_is_fighting_against</a></div><div>
</div><div>Uniontown, Alabama, have lived with the Arrowhead landfill, which is twice the size of New York’s Central Park, have protested shipments of toxic coal ash—the residual byproduct of burning coal—from a massive spill in Kingston, Tennessee, believed to be the largest coal ash disaster in U.S. history. For two years, nearly 4 million tons of coal ash was also shipped by rail from a mostly white Tennessee county to Uniontown. Coal ash contains toxins, including arsenic, mercury and boron, that can affect the nervous and reproductive systems and cause other health problems. According to the <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">EPA, people living within a mile of unlined coal ash storage ponds have a one-in-50 risk of developing cancer. In 2013, some Uniontown residents filed a complaint under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. This week, the <span class="caps" style="box-sizing: border-box;" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">EPA dismissed the claim, saying there was “insufficient evidence.” We speak with Ben Eaton, vice president of Black Belt Citizens Fighting for Health and Justice and a resident of Uniontown, Alabama; and with Mustafa Santiago Ali, former head of the EPA’s environmental justice program.</div><div>
</div><div></div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/election-03918/florida-felon-voting-rights-restoration-campaign-threshold-getting-november-2018">https://www.alternet.org/election-03918/florida-felon-voting-rights-restoration-campaign-threshold-getting-november-2018</a>A grassroots campaign to amend Florida’s constitution to restore the voting rights of upwards of 1.5 million Floridians who have been convicted of non-violent felonies and completed their sentences is poised to qualify for the November 2018 ballot.By Wednesday, the Florida Department of State has certified more than <a href="https://dos.elections.myflorida.com/initiatives/initdetail.asp?account=64388&seqnum=1" style="text-decoration-line: none;">745,000 petition signatures</a> of the 766,000 needed to get on the ballot. The proposed <a href="https://floridarrc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/3ecbf8_3ba4d6758f154f839954e38eb612b87a.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none;">constitutional amendment</a> also has to meet signature thresholds in 14 legislative districts and has done so in 12 of them, campaign organizers said.“In total, we submitted well over 1.1 million petitions to the supervisors of elections offices all across the state, from Pensacola to Key West,” campaign manager Jackie Lee said on a conference call Tuesday. “And all the petitions, we think, where we needed to verify, were also all in by December 29th, to ensure that we could make the ballot. We all know they needed to be verified by February first. So because of all of your hard work, we had them in on time. We’re... actually even excited to submit a couple right after that date because they kept on coming in from all around the state.”The felon rights restoration effort is one of America’s most important electoral initiatives in 2018. More than 10 percent of Florida’s voting-age population, 1.7 million residents, have lost their voting rights under the nation’s <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/publication/florida-outlier-denying-voting-rights" style="text-decoration-line: none;">most punitive felon disenfranchisement</a> law—a statute that has <a href="https://www.alternet.org/activism/epic-fight-over-floridas-political-future-looms-constitutional-amendment-restore-felon" style="text-decoration-line: none;">its roots</a> in the Old South’s racist Jim Crow culture.“This amendment restores the voting rights of Floridians with felony convictions after they complete all terms of their sentence including parole or probation,” the <a href="https://floridarrc.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/3ecbf8_3ba4d6758f154f839954e38eb612b87a.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none;">legal petition states</a>. “The amendment would not apply to those convicted of murder or sexual offenses, who would continue to be permanently barred from voting unless the governor and cabinet vote to restore their voting rights on a case-by-case basis.”Florida is the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S.states_and_territories_by_population" style="text-decoration-line: none;">third most populous state</a>, with slightly more than 20 million people. In 2016, Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/florida" style="text-decoration-line: none;">1.2 percent, which was slightly less than 113,000 votes</a>, to win its 29 Electoral College votes. Should 60 percent of Floridians—the threshold for passage—who vote next fall approve the constitutional amendment, it could deeply alter the state’s politics as well as its criminal justice system.The campaign’s organizers, led by <a href="https://lawstreetmedia.com/news/felon-lawyer-inspiring-story-desmond-meade/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Desmond Meade</a>, a former felon who became a lawyer, are casting their effort as a redemption-steeped crusade to give a second chance to all of those who have done their time for non-violent crimes. In a teleconference organized by <a href="https://www.floridiansforafairdemocracy.com/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Floridians for a Fair Democracy</a> Tuesday, he repeatedly emphasized this was a moral crusade and avoided any discussion of the political consequences.“I want to make sure we are oriented right back where we started from,” Meade told the 150 activists, including clergy, on the call. “When each and every one of you made a decision to be involved in this campaign, it was based around people. It was based around the personal stories of your family members and your friends who were looking for second chances in Florida. And I think it is this orientation that has not only gotten us this far, but will take [us] across this finish line. It’s not about anything else. It’s not about politics. At the core of this, it’s about everyday all-American citizens, who just want a second chance.”Meade’s framing, which reflects his <a href="https://lawstreetmedia.com/news/felon-lawyer-inspiring-story-desmond-meade/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">life story</a>, has resounded because Florida has so many ex-felons who cut across society. Only 30 percent are black, campaign organizers said, and a great many were victims of overzealous drug war prosecutions. Evidence of that deep resonance can be found in the fact that nearly a quarter-million of the petition signatures gathered were collected from volunteers, not paid circulators.“We are very confident with moving forward with the campaign,” said Lee. “As of right now before the call, we are at <a href="https://dos.elections.myflorida.com/initiatives/initdetail.asp?account=64388&seqnum=1" style="text-decoration-line: none;">745,000 verified</a> of the 766,200 that we need. So we are approaching that overall number and we are also verified in 12 of the 14 [legislative] districts that we need. So we are marching forward.”Emphasizing Redemption, Not Political Power...aha: interesting // katrina and flint, disaster capitalism? perfect stormRepresenting billionaire Eli Broad, Bruce Reed celebrated the paralysis in local governance in post-Katrina New Orleans as key to pulling off the rapid expansion of charter schools, exploiting disaster without oversight by any “central office”:<blockquote style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“New Orleans is an amazing story — when you make it possible to get political dysfunction and sick a bunch of talent on the problem — it’s the one place where grand bargain of charters has been kept the best.”</blockquote>New Orleans' "amazing" story resulted in the firing of 7,500 mostly black school employees, wiping out a substantial part of the city’s black middle class. Meanwhile, the “miracle” claims of boosters like Reed have fallen apart. <a href="https://www.theneworleanstribune.com/main/faking-the-grade/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">A recent editorial</a> in New Orleans’ African American newspaper called out the false promises and lack of results from the charter experiment.black churches: souls to the polls, EJ
moral mondays NC EJ<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/06/29/woe-unto-those-who-legislate-evil-rev-william-barber-builds-a-moral-movement/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/06/29/woe-unto-those-who-legislate-evil-rev-william-barber-builds-a-moral-movement/</a>related:
<a href="https://www.systemchangenotclimatechange.org/article/diary-peoples-climate-train-day-one-seven" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.systemchangenotclimatechange.org/article/diary-peoples-climate-train-day-one-seven</a>
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;"><a href="http://grist.org/author/brentin-mock/" title="Posts by Brentin Mock" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;">Brentin Mock</a>, “Black church leaders rev up for climate justice” 16 Sep 2014, <a href="http://grist.org/climate-energy/black-church-leaders-rev-it-up-for-climate-justice/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;">http://grist.org/climate-energy/black-church-leaders-rev-it-up-for-clima...</a><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">It’s a common misconception that churches haven’t been doing their part in the green fight — and black churches in particular. Your John Birch and Alan Keyes Christians notwithstanding, that’s not entirely true.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Katharine Hayhoe, <a href="http://grist.org/climate-energy/science-alone-cant-save-us-says-famous-climate-scientist-gulp/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;">a leading climate scientist</a>, <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/climate_desk/2014/05/conservative_christians_and_climate_change_five_arguments_for_why_one_should.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;">works with evangelical Christians</a> on the issue. Rev. William Barber’s <a href="http://grist.org/politics/rally-in-raleigh-thousands-march-in-n-c-for-social-and-environmental-justice/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;">Moral Movement</a> counts promoting environmental justice among its 14-point agenda. Ditto for the <a href="http://www.weact.org/Coalitions/FaithLeadersforEnvironmentalJustice/tabid/360/Default.aspx" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;">Faith Leaders for Environmental Justice</a> in New York, who’ve been working on food, energy, and climate issues for years now. In fact, the <a href="http://grist.org/climate-energy/black-church-leaders-rev-it-up-for-climate-justice/grist.org/cities/20-its-a-blessing-celebrating-two-decades-of-environmental-justice/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;">environmental justice</a> movement was initiated by a <a href="http://www.ucc.org/environmental-ministries/environment/toxic-waste-20.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;">1987 report</a> commissioned by the United Church of Christ religious denomination.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The tradition continues. In D.C., Rev. Lennox Yearwood has been leading flocks to the climate change struggle through his work not only as a minister, but also as president of the <a href="http://www.hiphopcaucus.org/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;">Hip Hop Caucus</a>, which uses the culture to spur youth into  political activism. Rolling Stone called him one of the “New Green Heroes” last year. He co-authored a Huffington Post op-ed last with Climate Crisis Solutions President Tom Weis last week calling for a “<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-weis/a-zero-emissions-manifest_b_5762566.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;">Zero Emissions Manifesto for the Climate Justice Movement</a>,” challenging world leaders to commit to complete carbon neutrality at the upcoming UN Climate Summit.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Out of Chicago, where city leaders are trying to shake the “<a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/04/22/how-chicago-became-chiraq.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;">Chi-raq</a>” label bestowed upon their city because of all the <a href="http://grist.org/list/hot-summers-make-for-a-bloody-chicago/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;">gun violence</a>, there’s Rev. Otis Moss III, a newcomer to the climate struggles, but fully committed. He heads Trinity United Church of Christ, one of Chicago’s largest churches (and President Obama’s <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obamas-ties-to-church-examined/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;">former faith home</a>), which hails from the aforementioned United Church of Christ denomination that helped birth the EJ movement. Over the weekend, Rev. Moss assembled his congregation for the <a href="http://www.faithinplace.org/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;">Faith in Place</a> to educate members of the community on local climate change impacts and to whip up support for the EPA’s <a href="http://grist.org/climate-energy/what-do-the-new-climate-rules-have-to-do-with-my-kids-asthma/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;">Clean Power Plan</a>.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Rev. Yearwood on climate justice and racial equality:<p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“Once you get how serious [climate justice] is, you know it’s not just about equality but about existence. There are other issues to deal with concerning equality, like how you are treated by the police, racial profiling, and that’s all important, but the deal with climate change is whether we exist or not. This is why the <a href="http://grist.org/climate-energy/why-were-getting-ready-to-march-for-climate-change/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;">People’s Climate March</a> will be a game changer for the climate movement. It will change how we talk about the issue.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“Like with you, I would read your blogs and think, ‘You know what, the climate movement is not as diverse as we’d like.’ But at the same time, why are we waiting for anybody to invite us to the table? This is our planet, our water, our air, why are we waiting for anybody to say we that we can be a part of this?”<p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Rev. Yearwood on the upcoming People’s Climate March and whether marches matter:<p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“Marches definitely matter. They’re critical for us to come together for organizing and networking, but the more important part is when people stay in touch after the march. It gets people to continue to push things forward, either through direct action or creating new public policy. They also help people to connect the dots between various issues. We have to use this march strategically, and we’re doing that by shining a spotlight on the UN Climate Summit, to bring awareness to the world about this problem, and I believe that will help the long-term goals. I hope this march will spawn other marches.”<p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Rev. Moss on the role of black churches in the climate fight:<p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“We believe that this is part and parcel with our relationship and our commitment to Jesus Christ. Our ‘creation care’ ministry says that God has deemed us stewards of the earth — not to have dominion over the earth, but to be stewards. We are leasing space on earth, and God has entrusted us to care for his creation. Issues of climate change and environmental justice directly impact the African-American community. We are adversely affected, with higher rates of asthma, and the dumping of chemical waste in our communities, so developing sustainable communities with low carbon impacts is important to us.”<div class="yiv9019667333item-hed" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478279287562_3223" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-weight: bold; font-family: " helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" line-height="line-height" margin-top="margin-top" margin-bottom="margin-bottom"><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://go.propublica.org/e/125411/l-utm-campaign-dailynewsletter/38xv6h/71031358" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478279287562_3222" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; outline: none;">Lawmakers to Facebook: Don’t Let Advertisers Exclude by Race</a></div><div class="yiv9019667333byline" id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1478279287562_3116" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-top: 0px; line-height: 1.1;">by Eric Umansky</div><table class="yiv9019667333item-tools" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-break: break-word;" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" segoe="Segoe" ui="UI" arial="Arial" lucida="Lucida" grande="Grande" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" width="349" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; width: 349px;" /></table>Four members of the Congressional Black Caucus wrote Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg telling him that the company should stop allowing advertisers to exclude people by race.=Hustle's most revelatory chapter focuses on black churches.

And it's illuminating precisely for how Spence connects the content of

"prosperity gospel," a variant of evangelical Christianity, to the

political imaginations of churchgoers. Rarely do academics—or

journalists for that matter—look at what is presented in churches as

political content, outside of how churchgoers impact elections. (For

example, the emergence of the Christian right as a voting block in the

1970s.) Spence argues that what is said in church from the pulpit

represents a neoliberalization of the black church.

The chapter opens with a brief discussion of two New York Times

articles from the Detroit area following the 2008 economic crash that

hit the automotive industry and the region hard. One, "Detroit Churches

Pray for 'God's Bailout,'" was a report from the Greater Grace Temple,

one of Detroit's many churches that, at the time, held special services

to help its congregations through a difficult time. Spence notes that in

the photo that ran with the article, three white luxury SUVs shared the

stage with the church's leader, Bishop Charles H. Ellis III. The

article reported that the vehicles were on loan from local dealerships

and that Bishop Ellis, "urged worshipers to combat the region's woes by

mixing hope with faith in God." Spence sees the vehicles as having two

symbolic values. For those who worked in the automotive industry, it was

a symbol of what they depended on to survive. For those who didn't work

making automobiles, the SUVs were status symbols, reminders of what

they could have if they would only hustle harder.

The following year, another Times reporter visited Pontiac,

about 30 miles outside Detroit, to write about the automotive industry's

role in creating a black middle class in that area, and how the

industry's collapse was decimating those families. Titled "GM, Detroit,

and the Fall of the Black Middle Class," the article told its story

through a profile of Marvin Powell, a longtime autoworker, one of the

600 who still worked making trucks at General Motors' Pontiac Assembly

Center. Powell worked the only shift the plant maintained after getting

rid of nearly two-thirds of its workforce through buyouts, early

retirement, and layoffs.

Prosperity gospel frames the problem of poor people as a problem of

those who do not improve their human capital, not as something wrong

with the system in which they must live.

</div>

During the reporting of the story, Powell learned that GM was

planning on shutting down all of its factories for 10 weeks, which would

leave him without his $900-per-week paycheck for that period. Powell

said he might use the freed-up time to try and become a chef and start a

catering company, adding that he had never intended to be a "GM lifer."

He attributed his positive outlook in trying circumstances to being a

Greater Grace congregant, where he led a Sunday school class and was

one of the church's armor bearers, an honorary position. His leadership

role in Greater Grace had made him an esteemed figure at the auto plant,

and his co-workers had encouraged him to run for a union leadership

role. He demurred from that, but they sought him out for advice,

nevertheless. What was he going to do when the plant closed? Powell told

them that he couldn't control the plant's closing, so he didn't worry

about it. He also said, "I tell them that God provides for his own, and I

am one of his own."

That leapt out at Spence. Born and raised in Detroit as the son of a

Ford autoworker, he was struck by Powell's resilience in the face of so

much economic upheaval. But he was also taken aback by the way Powell

conceptualized the situation. The autoworker didn't consider a union

leadership position as providing him with an opportunity to fight for

his and his co-workers' jobs. Instead, as Spence writes, "in Powell's

opinion those who choose God will be saved from the worst of the

economic crisis while those who don't, won't." Spence

identifies this idea as part of the message spread by prosperity gospel,

a doctrine that started in white churches in the 1950s and sprang to

national attention through 1980s televangelism. It has taken strong root

in black megachurches over the past two decades. Spence visited a black

church in Baltimore County led by a charismatic prosperity gospel

preacher who argued that everything associated with the economic

crisis—debt, poverty, unemployment—was caused by a "poverty mindset."

The minister reasoned that this mindset causes people to spend their

money instead of saving it, causes "them to lay around when they should

be hustling." And this mindset was the direct result of somebody having a

bad relationship with God.

Spence writes: "Note the logic here. People are materially poor

because they don't think right. Their inability to think right makes it

impossible to receive God's blessings"—which can come in the form of

spiritual or material reward. And the only way to right that bad

personal relationship with God is for a person to change how he or she

thinks—to improve their human capital through spiritual pursuits. These

spiritual pursuits, it should be noted, often take the form of sermons

and books that congregants can buy and workshops they can pay to attend,

in addition to supporting the church by tithing.

For Spence, prosperity gospel, through prolific and celebrated

pastors such as Creflo Dollar, founder of the mammoth World Changers

Church International in Georgia, transforms "the Christian Bible into an

economic self-help guide people can use to develop their human

capital." It's a way to make questions about who lives comfortably and

who lives in poverty a matter of which one spiritually deserves to do

so. This notion, Spence writes, represents a neoliberalization of the

black church—not only because the prosperity gospel frames the problem

of poor people as a problem of those who do not improve their human

capital (not as something wrong with the system in which they must

live), but also in how the increasingly multi-millionaire leaders of

black megachurches compete for their congregants' tithes and spiritual

consumerism. Such a practice not only creates vast economic disparities

between ministers and congregants—Spence notes an AtlantaBlackstar.com

news website article that named eight black preachers who make more than

200 times what their churchgoers do—but it shapes parishioners'

political imagination.

Fighting poverty, debt, and whatever economic adversity a congregant

faces thus becomes only a spiritual matter for the individual, not the

collective concern of a political organization. And getting people to

see the political content in a church service is something Spence hopes

readers will take away from the book. "What I want is for people to read

it and see their world through new eyes," he says, adding that he hopes

that by pointing out how prosperity gospel reproduces neoliberalism's

disparities, readers might begin to seek other solutions to dealing with

it.CPP AAsee also big data flint
<a href="http://grist.org/grist-50/profile/jalonne-l-white-newsome/">http://grist.org/grist-50/profile/jalonne-l-white-newsome/</a>

==
AN 1/1

<div class="coverage_header_bar coverage_header_bar_news-politics" style="text-transform: uppercase; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 32px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;">NEWS & POLITICS</div><div class="region region-content" style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 32px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px;"><div id="block-system-main" class="block block-system first last odd count-1" style="position: relative;"><div class="content"><div id="node-1048172" class="node node-story view-mode-full clearfix" style="position: relative;"><div class="headline"><h1 class="node-title" style="line-height: 52px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 0px 10px; clear: both;">5 of the Most Cynical Libertarian Stealth Campaigns of 2015</h1></div><div class="teaser" style="display: block; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 15px;"><div class="field field-name-field-teaser field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Read the fine print and there's someone trying to make a buck.
...
<p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">Using Black Lives Matter to push Uber in New York City<p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">Back in July, the head of the <a href="http://www.newrepublic.com/article/117837/airbnb-uber-wage-war-regulators-army-customers" style="text-decoration: none;">decidedly libertarian</a> Silicon Valley goliath Uber, <a href="http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2015/07/8572061/shifting-tactics-uber-hits-city-race-issues" style="text-decoration: none;">trotted out several members of New York’s black clergy class</a>,

including a member of Reverend Al Sharpton’s National Action Network,

to sell the anti-regulation car service as good for black communities.

The effort, headed up by Uber PR frontman and former Obama speechwriter

David Plouffe was a fairly crass exercise in libertarian piggybacking

off Black Lives Matter:<blockquote style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 25px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">There’s

a lot of discussion in this city by some leaders about progressive

politics, economic equality and economic opportunity,” David Plouffe,

Uber’s chief adviser, said. “What they’re doing is killing over 10,000

jobs.”The

press conference, which included one member of the Rev. Al Sharpton’s

National Action Network, came one day after Plouffe met with Sharpton,

reportedly to enlist Sharpton to oppose the growth cap. Sharpton, a

friend and occasional political ally of Mayor Bill de Blasio, "has

questions" about the bill’s impact on the city’s minorities, Crain’s

reports.</blockquote><p dir="ltr" style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">Things

took a turn for the worse when Brooklyn-based bishop Gerald Seabrooks,

presumably reading off of Uber’s PR script, made the rather vulgar claim

that police killings of black men were somehow a result of “lack of

jobs”, jobs that Uber could in theory provide.  “If [Eric] Garner had a job, today he would be alive,” Seabrooks said. “We’re talking economics here. We’re talking jobs.”<p style="margin: 0px 0px 22px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 32px !important;">The

article reads like a perfect parody of what happens when

#BlackLivesMatter becomes #BlackLivesMatter™. The amount of cynicism it

takes to parlay Eric Garner’s death into a commercial for a car service

with a <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-18/uber-increases-fundraising-to-1-billion-amid-investor-appetite" style="text-decoration: none;">$50 billion</a> market

cap is truly a masterclass in marketing pap. The reality is, job status

had nothing to do with Garner or any other African-Americans death at

the hands of cops.
</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>=<a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2015/11/10/poll-shows-african-americans-support-clean-power-plan-and-climate-action-except-exxon-funded-national-black-chamber">http://www.desmogblog.com/2015/11/10/poll-shows-african-americans-support-clean-power-plan-and-climate-action-except-exxon-funded-national-black-chamber</a>One tactic of the fossil fuel industry’s attack on the proposed <a href="http://www2.epa.gov/cleanpowerplan/clean-power-plan-existing-power-plants" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Clean Power Plan</a> is to say it unfairly <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/23/deneen-borelli-black-lives-matter-and-obama-climat/?page=all" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">targets minority communities</a> when in fact the opposite is true. Industry-funded groups like the <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/national-black-chamber-commerce" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">National Black Chamber of Commerce</a> are among the groups making these claims.In the past National Black Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) president Harry Alford dismissed climate change by quoting Stevie Wonder, saying, “When you believe in things you don't understand; you suffer. Superstition ain't the way.”And while Alford may equate science to superstition, there is no doubt that he understands one thing very well – collecting oil industry money. The NBCC has <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/12082015/minorities-targeted-misinformation-obama-carbon-clean-power-plan-national-black-chamber-commerce" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">received over $1 million</a> from ExxonMobil alone.A new poll released by the <a href="http://www.nrdc.org/media/2015/151104a.asp" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Natural Resources Defense Council </a>reports the reality that 83% of African Americans support the Clean Power Plan. And 67% of African Americans say that action should be taken to reduce the threat of global warming.Which shouldn’t be that surprising as African Americans are more likely to feel the impacts of environmental pollution and risk than other communities in America.The 2012 report “<a href="http://www.naacp.org/pages/coal-blooded1" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Coal Blooded: </a><a href="http://www.naacp.org/pages/coal-blooded1" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Putting Profits Before People</a>” revealed that of the 6 million people living in proximity to coal-fired power plants, 39% were people of color and that seventy-eight percent of African Americans live within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant.And research shows African Americans are nearly <a href="http://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/browse.aspx?lvl=4&lvlid=15" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">three times as likely</a> as whites to be hospitalized or killed by asthma.In addition to the findings of the new NRDC poll, leaders of major black churches recently presented over <a href="http://spokesman-recorder.com/2015/11/03/black-churches-show-support-obamas-clean-power-plan/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">10,000 pastors’ signatures </a>to Congressional Black Caucus members in support of President Obama’s Clean Power Plan.As reported by the <a href="http://spokesman-recorder.com/2015/11/03/black-churches-show-support-obamas-clean-power-plan/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder</a>, Rev. Jesse Bottoms, vice president of the National Baptist Convention, explained what was driving this effort.“Environmental concerns are not abstractions for African Americans,” Bottoms said. “They are real, and they affect us in very real ways, particularly our children and seniors.”However, despite the polling and the efforts of the black church leadership, one critical group is not leading on the issue — the politicians representing many of these communities.In September, as reported by <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-me-pol-minority-legislators-20150908-story.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">the Los Angeles Times</a>, an ad appeared in a Spanish-language newspaper targeting five Latino and African American lawmakers posing the question, “Would these politicians be willing to confront the petroleum industry and fight for Latino families?”Of course, the reality is that the five politicians who were targeted have received at least $260,000 combined from oil companies. That might explain statements like the one from <a href="http://asmdc.org/members/a09/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">Assemblyman Jim Cooper </a>saying that solar panels and electric vehicles “are great, but they don't come to our neighborhoods.”As far as the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), they do not even list climate change as an issue on <a href="https://cbc-butterfield.house.gov/issues" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">their Issues page</a>. TheCBC is notorious for its <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/us/politics/14cbc.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">ability to raise funds</a> from corporations, including polluters in the fossil fuel industry.A 2010 article in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/us/politics/14cbc.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">the New York Times </a>about the CBC noted that “lobbyists and executives from coal, nuclear and power giants like Peabody Energy and Entergy helped draft a report in the caucus’s name” and that a “policy document issued by the Black Caucus Institute last year asserted that the financial impact of climate change legislation should be weighed before it is passed, a major industry stand.”A 2014 article in Grist ran with the headline, <a href="http://grist.org/climate-energy/this-ambassador-for-black-politicians-argues-that-solar-drags-down-african-americans/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">“</a><a href="http://grist.org/climate-energy/this-ambassador-for-black-politicians-argues-that-solar-drags-down-african-americans/" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">This ambassador for black politicians argues that solar drags down African Americans.”</a> This is another favored industry talking point that claims that rooftop solar will result in higher electricity costs for low-income communities and unfairly target African Americans. Mark Davis, <a href="http://www.greenforall.org/first_african_american_owned_solar_manufacturer_creates_local_jobs_in_anacostia" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">CEO of minority-owned WDC Solar</a>, was part of the group discussing the new NRDC poll results and has a very different view on the opportunity solar represents for low-income communities.“I am a Green For All Climate Champion, and renewable energy and energy efficiency are two pillars of our plan for low-income communities to lower the cost of energy, create green jobs for low-income residents, and improve the environment,” Davis said. “The Clean Power Plan can accelerate an increase we’ve already seen in African American participation in clean energy and can enhance economic empowerment in low-income communities.”The new NRDC poll reports that <a href="http://www.nrdc.org/media/2015/151104a.asp" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none;">87% of African Americans support</a> using more solar over coal or nuclear power.So while it is clear that African Americans support the Clean Power Plan, solar power, and acting on climate change, it remains to be seen if the politicians representing those communities will do their jobs and go with the will of the people over the will of polluters.=<a href="http://www.alternet.org/environment/dirty-air-silent-killer-black-communities">http://www.alternet.org/environment/dirty-air-silent-killer-black-communities</a>Dirty Air: The Silent Killer in Black CommunitiesThe system of discrimination that supports racist policing is the same system that supports environmental racism.By Jalonne White-Newsome / We Act for Environmental Justice November 12, 2015
Black people are dying at the hands of police officers far too often. The world is glued to the news or their timelines consumed with outrage and sometimes an overwhelming sense of hopelessness. And the list of names of gets longer and longer. Rekia Boyd, Mike Brown, Freddie Gray: The focus on racism and what is going on in our communities is occurring at a level that hasn't happen since the civil rights movement.
But where there's smoke, there's fire. While many of us are hyper-focused, and rightfully so, on the unjustified murders of too many unarmed members of our communities, we are either unaware or unfortunately overlooking a threat that all of us are in jeopardy of perishing from. As the bullets fly we are all silently being smothered by incredibly dirty air and decades of environmental policies that unfairly overburden our communities.
We of course should be concerned about the safety of our children being the unfortunate target of gun violence. But police violence isn’t the only danger we face. If we are to truly defend black lives, we must put the environment at the top of our agenda. Yes, since the death of Michael Brown, over 1,000 people have been killed at the hands of police officers. This is unjustifiable. But according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in the United States in 2014, over 3,600 people have died from asthma, with 990 of those representing Black Lives. If we were asked to say their names we would be here for days and in that time more would have succumbed to the same ailments.
The system of racism and discrimination that has festered for decades, creating a police force that seems to view black and brown people as lesser, is the same system that wraps the hands of injustice around our necks and suffocates us with air that doesn't exist in white communities or the suburbs. Dirty air matters because it impacts how we breathe, and it can exacerbate the existence of chronic diseases like asthma and other respiratory concerns.
In 2013, according to the CDC, 14.6 percent of the 40.8 million African Americans in the United States were in poor health; with the three leading causes of death being heart disease, cancer and stroke. The ailments don’t stop there. In a recent groundbreaking report by the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health (CCEH), researchers discovered that “children born to mothers experiencing economic hardships, and were exposed to high levels of PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) — dangerous chemicals formed from burning fuels — scored significantly lower on IQ tests compared with children born to mothers with greater economic security and less exposure to the pollutants."
So how do we save Black Lives? By putting out the sources of the fire that continue to contaminate our communities. While there has been some progress through progressive initiatives and environmentally focused regulations to protect our air through the Clean Air Act, we still have a way to go. That is why it is essential that our leaders at the federal and state level hear our Black Voices loud and clear.
Here is an opportunities for you to help save Black Lives and clean our air:
In August, the Environmental Protection Agency released the final Clean Power Plan, which is a major step to reduce carbon pollution and get cleaner sources of energy in the communities that deserve it the most. Public hearings are being planned across the country, so anyone who cares about clean air and clean energy can have a say in how this plan is implemented in their state…so make your voice heard. Check the EPA website and the list of people to contact to find out when a public hearing is happening near you in your state, then use the Environmental Justice Leadership Forum on Climate Change tool kit to learn about the Clean Power Plan and how it can affect you...

<a href="http://www.globalpossibilities.org/one-of-the-first-free-towns-founded-by-former-slaves-is-being-taken-over-by-big-oil/" class="external text" title="http://www.globalpossibilities.org/one-of-the-first-free-towns-founded-by-former-slaves-is-being-taken-over-by-big-oil/" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; line-height: 16.704px; background: url(" http="http" www.ic.ucsc.edu="www.ic.ucsc.edu" college8core="college8core" c8wiki="c8wiki" skins="skins" monobook="monobook" external.png="external.png" no-repeat="no-repeat" rgb="rgb">ONE OF THE FIRST FREE TOWNS FOUNDED BY FORMER SLAVES IS BEING TAKEN OVER BY BIG OIL</a> see also<a href="https://theintercept.com/2015/11/04/erasing-mossville-how-pollution-killed-a-louisiana-town/" class="external text" title="https://theintercept.com/2015/11/04/erasing-mossville-how-pollution-killed-a-louisiana-town/" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; text-decoration: none; padding-right: 16px; line-height: 16.704px; background: url(" http="http" www.ic.ucsc.edu="www.ic.ucsc.edu" college8core="college8core" c8wiki="c8wiki" skins="skins" monobook="monobook" lock_icon.gif="lock_icon.gif" no-repeat="no-repeat" rgb="rgb">here</a>. 10/15.cf alford:
NBCC is not the only black organization that opposes adoption of a clean energy bill. Another opponent is the Congress of Racial Equality, which not coincidentally has also received funding from Exxon Mobil, some $275,000 since 1998. CORE's chairman, Roy Innis, stated last year that global warming proposals "threaten to roll back much of the civil rights progress for which civil rights revolutionaries and Dr. King struggled and died." Innis made that speech in that epicenter of civil rights clashes, Salt Lake City, where he encouraged Utah residents to join him "in challenging these energy killers, these modern-day Bull Connors and George Wallaces, who are standing in the door, trying to prevent poor Americans from achieving Martin Luther King's dream of equal opportunity and true environmental justice."However, black organizations don't fit neatly into categories of Exxon Mobil-funded climate change deniers and those who aren't. Exxon Mobil was a sponsor of last week's NAACP's 100th anniversary national convention. While every member of the Congressional Black Caucus except Artur Davis (D-Ala.) and Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) voted for the American Clean Energy and Securities Act [Wax-M] when it passed the House in June (Davis voted against it, and Hastings abstained), Exxon Mobil gave the CBC Foundation Inc. $20,000 for its annual legislative dinner and an additional $25,000 for "event support." The CBC doesn't speak for black America, but it does vote for most of it, so it's encouraging that Exxon Mobil's financial influence hasn't been felt in the same way as it has for CORE and NBCC. Still, it is a fair question for African Americans to ask who exactly is attempting to speak for them on Capitol Hill, and also who is funding those speakers.<a href="http://www.alternet.org/labor/facebook-only-hired-7-black-people-latest-diversity-count">http://www.alternet.org/labor/facebook-only-hired-7-black-people-latest-diversity-count</a>...While writing that series, I found other examples of how the ALEC/Edison anti-net metering resolution is being used in political channels, particularly among those that purport to represent black people’s best interests. The National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL), for instance, also <a href="http://nbcsl.org/public-policy/resolutions/item/1051-energy-transportation-and-environment-resolution-ete-14-32.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; background: transparent;">passed a similar resolution</a> during its latest annual legislative conference. The resolution carries some of the same basic language as the ALEC version (ALEC, which is short for American Legislative Exchange Council, focuses on state legislators).The chair of NBCSL’s Transportation and Environment committee, Florida State Rep. Joseph Gibbons, wrote an op-ed recently <a href="http://thelegislator.org/index.php/archive/spring-2014/item/5-refocusing-america-s-energy-discussion.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; background: transparent;">making the same claim</a> that homes that generate electricity from their own solar energy equipment will mean financial burdens passed on to non-solar, African-American households. His argument was <a href="http://milwaukeecourieronline.com/index.php/2014/10/04/resolving-the-debate-over-solar-power-in-favor-of-fairness/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; background: transparent;">imported to Wisconsin</a>, where another African-American state legislator, Sen. Lena C. Taylor, published it as a criticism of policies passed by Milwaukee’s city council to help expand solar net metering.And it’s not just African-American politicians who are tripping over this. Monica Martinez, a former Michigan Public Service Commissioner, also wrote an <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2014/06/13/the-poor-shouldnt-have-to-bear-the-cost-of-solar-power/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; background: transparent;">op-ed that’s been circulating</a> with the same ideas about raising energy rates, except for Latino households. (It was submitted to Grist to print. We turned it down.)So what’s up with this? What is it about making it easier for Americans to transition to cleaner energy that some black and Latino politicians are just not getting?There’s a few things to remember here when considering those questions:One, there’s nothing unique about black and Latino policymakers that makes them allergic to clean energy policies. There are plenty of white policymakers who do the same, and they’re financially and politically backed by the same entities: utility companies, the fossil fuel industry, ALEC and similar cohorts.Of the electric utility lobby’s <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/recips.php?cycle=2014&ind=E08" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; background: transparent;">top twenty donor recipients</a> in Congress in 2014, only two are people of color, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), according to the Center for Responsive Politics. In <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/recips.php?ind=E08&cycle=2012&recipdetail=A&mem=Y&sortorder=U" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; background: transparent;">2012</a>, it was just Clyburn and Obama; in <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/recips.php?ind=E08&cycle=2010&recipdetail=A&mem=Y&sortorder=U" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; background: transparent;">2010</a>, it was Clyburn alone. Of Edison Electric’s <a href="http://influenceexplorer.com/organization/edison-electric-institute/53e67592dfe64ee48bb4150545ab4a5f" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; background: transparent;">top 10 donor recipients</a> in Congress, again, it’s just Clyburn. You might be thinking, “Somebody needs to holla at Clyburn.” That’s fine. Just so long as somebody also hollas at all the other non-Clyburn, non-black Congress members getting Edison and utility money as well.The second thing to remember is that not all black lawmakers oppose net metering. Plenty of black organizations, including the NAACP, know better, as do<a href="http://ecoamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/eA_American_Climate_Values_2014_Insights_by_Racial_Ethnic_Groups.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; background: transparent;">most black Americans</a>. And there are many black lawmakers also committed to expanding clean energy. I covered the Congressional Black Caucus’s legislative conference last year and saw the bulk of them rise to applause when EPA Chief Gina McCarthy <a href="http://grist.org/climate-energy/message-from-the-epa-its-about-protecting-people-not-polar-bears/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; background: transparent;">made a surprise visit</a> to announce her clean energy plans. At this year’s conference, Congressman Keith Ellison accepted a challenge from the Hip Hop Caucus to work to stop Congressional Black Caucus members from <a href="http://hiphopcaucus.tumblr.com/post/98473857856/hip-hop-caucus-calls-for-action-on-climate-during-44th" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; background: transparent;">accepting fossil fuel money</a>.That being said, there seems to be another reason why black lawmakers are taking their cues from the fossil fuel industry on energy: Green groups and clean energy companies don’t appear to be reaching out to black politicians as aggressively as their fossil-fuel counterparts.When you look at the advisory boards and funders of those associations that represent black public officials, you see a whole bunch of corporations of every stripe, including a whole bunch of polluters:<ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px 20px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; list-style-position: inside;"><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s <a href="http://www.cbcfinc.org/who-we-are/advisorycouncil.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; background: transparent;">corporate advisory board</a> has Duke Energy, which is <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000000477" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; background: transparent;">fighting solar</a> in North Carolina, and Exelon, a nuclear energy giant that solar advocates at DC Solar United Neighborhoods <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-dc-should-oppose-the-exelon-pepco-merger/2014/08/01/ee7cc1e0-1727-11e4-9e3b-7f2f110c6265_story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; background: transparent;">are fighting over the company’s proposed merger</a> with DC utility PEPCO.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The CBC Foundation’s <a href="http://www.cbcfinc.org/images/annualreports/CBCFAnnualReport_12.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; background: transparent;">2012 Annual report</a> lists among its top donors Exxon Mobil, Walmart, McDonald’s, American Petroleum Institute, BP, Chevron, Duke Energy and General Electric.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The list of <a href="http://nbcsl.org/round-tables/corporate-round-table/member-corporations.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; background: transparent;">member corporations</a> for the National Black Caucus of State Legislators includes a whole slew of fossil fuel utility and energy companies, including Edison Electric.</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The National Organization of Black County Elected Officials held its annual conference in April, with <a href="http://www.nobcoinc.org/NOBCO%202014%20Program%20-%2032%20Pages%20Final%203.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; background: transparent;">top sponsorship</a> from Edison and the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.</li></ul>But who is at these tables to counter these fossil fuel companies? You’d be hard-pressed to find the names of any clean energy companies, major green NGOs, or environmental foundations on any of those lists above.All of those groups also get funding and have board representation from foundations that deal with fighting poverty and poor health. But they are far outnumbered by the representation of fossil fuel companies, which seem to only bring up black health and poverty at their own convenience. When it comes to solar energy, they too often are bringing them up with misleading information.It would be great if environmental justice organizations were at these tables, but they are already overwhelmed with their work in grassroots communities. Lobbying “grasstops” organizations like National Policy Alliance is mostly outside their bailiwicks, but they don’t have the funding to take it on even if they wanted to. The major green NGOs and foundations should be at these tables, but to do that, the green NGOs need the kinds of staffs that have people who can be most effective in these policy talks.This is why diversity matters. The question for major environmental groups is whether they know the issues of African-American communities well enough to even approach tables like the National Policy Alliance. Are the green groups participating in the conferences and confabs where African-American political issues are being discussed and prioritized?According to the <a href="http://grist.org/climate-energy/new-report-expounds-on-old-problem-lack-of-diversity-in-green-groups/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; background: transparent;">Green 2.0 report</a>, a comprehensive study on diversity among environmentalists released over the summer, this is one of the green organizations’ biggest weaknesses. The report found that “few of the organizations studied collaborate with ethnic minority or low-income institutions or groups,” and that they “are less likely to collaborate with low-income organizations than with ethnic minority organizations.” And yet the fossil fuel industry seems to have no problems making inroads with organizations that represent both low-income households and communities of color.The green NGOs will often say they are not funded to do that kind of outreach. If that’s the case, then I see what environmental justice guru Robert Bullard meant when he recently made the case for <a href="http://drrobertbullard.com/2014/09/15/after-peoples-climate-march-good-time-to-diversify-funding-of-climate-justice/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; background: transparent;">diversifying funding</a> for green causes. Wrote Bullard, shortly after the People’s Climate March:<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0.5625rem 1.25rem 0px 1.1875rem; border-left: 1px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); line-height: 1.6; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">This “call for funding diversity” must not be limited solely to grassroots community groups and environmental and climate justice leaders. Clearly, we need our mainstream environmental organization friends and allies in the philanthropic community who supported the People’s Climate March to join us in supporting the recommendations for diversifying funding and building an infrastructure of “grassroots” efforts, ethnic-based networks, and regional environmental and climate initiatives—better known as the Climate Justice Movement.</blockquote>Without diverse funding and diverse staffing, the green movement will continue to find it difficult to get through to black lawmakers, whom the fossil fuel companies have no qualms about engaging. The Green 2.0 report offers recommendations for resolving these diversity problems, and Green 2.0’s <a href="http://philanthropy.com/article/GuideStar-Unveils-Online-Tool/149413/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; background: transparent;">partnership last week with Guidestar</a>, the organization that collects information on other nonprofits nationally, should go a long way in helping track progress there. But until more is done here, I expect more resolutions like the one on net metering to continue finding easy passageways to the domains of black elected officials.Want more on net metering? Read this next: <a href="http://grist.org/climate-energy/black-lawmakers-can-push-back-against-coal-utilities/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; background: transparent;">Black lawmakers push back against coal utilities’ new trick.</a>4/15<div>
</div><div>A reverend quietly walked on stage at the <a href="http://www.brookhavencollege.edu/Pages/default.aspx" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">Brookhaven College</a> Sustainability Summit early April. <a href="http://ecowatch.com/author/rev-lennox-yearwood-jr/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">Reverend Lennox Yearwood, Jr.</a> wore the obligatory black suit with the bright white clerical collar, but his converse sneakers and flat-billed baseball cap sparked the interest of the crowd. His Keynote Address started off calm, cool and soft spoken. He hit his stride a few minutes in, and the crowd responded to his rhythmic spoken words with clapping and cheers of “Yes!” throughout his hour-long speech.<figure id="attachment_360907" aria-labelledby="figcaption_attachment_360907" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 3px; line-height: 25.2px; max-width: 660px; background-color: rgb(238, 238, 238);"><a href="http://ecowatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/yearwood650.jpg" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">
</a><figcaption id="figcaption_attachment_360907" class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0.1875rem 0.4375rem; line-height: 18.2px;">Reverend Yearwood and I after his Keynote Speech at Brookhaven College’s Sustainability Summit.</figcaption></figure>Reverend Yearwood is the president and CEO of the <a href="http://www.hiphopcaucus.org/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">Hip Hop Caucus</a>, a civil and human rights organization based out of Washington, DC that works with musicians to engage people and influence people to use their political and social voice. Reverend Yearwood’s phone rang in the media room, pumping out the Pharell song “Happy” as his ringtone, emphasizing his roots in hip hop. Utilizing hip hop allows <a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">climate change</a> to be discussed in a different way, gets to the heart of the matter and uses art and culture to reach people.“When the movement is strong, the music is strong” says Reverend Yearwood. And it showed in late 2014 when the likes of Common, Ne-Yo and Kanye West’s producer Malik Yusef put together the album “Home” in response to the <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/09/21/peoples-climate-march-climate-change-action/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">People’s Climate March</a> in New York City that drew more than 400,000 people. Proceeds from “Home,” which stands for Heal Our Mother Earth, go to organizing communities impacted by climate change.At first glance, Reverend Yearwood isn’t the stereotypical hippie we normally think of leading the green movement. That is exactly the point. His speech emphasized the need of all people to get involved in reducing climate change because it’s a human issue, not just one particular group’s problem. He saw the need to diversify the movement and stepped up.“The kind of people (community) that I want to be a part of is a people that loves to create change, that love this country, and loves to come together, doesn’t care about republican or democrat, if you’re rich or poor, if you’re black or white, that we come together to figure out and listen to hey we have a problem here in regards to climate change” Reverend Yearwood said.Reverend Yearwood warned of playing the middle of the road through examples of our past in slavery, asbestos and cigarette smoking. At some point our culture accepted these issues and it took a long time to take a hard stand against them. Reverend Yearwood urged us that this is our time, now is not the time to play middle of the road on this issue, if we fail, we have no second chances.It was inspiring and refreshing to watch someone deliver the climate change message in a non-traditional way. Whether you like hip hop music or not, there was a message for you in his speech. A lot of students who attend Dallas County Community Colleges are preparing for a future nursing career and Reverend Yearwood did his homework reaching out to those students. He emphasized the role nurses play on the front lines of climate change witnessing pollution induced diseases on a daily basis. He encouraged students not to sit back and watch more people get sick without getting to one of the roots of the problem.Reverend Yearwood’s powerful words mixed with his infectious giggle led the audience through an encouraging way to tackle climate change. His cap read, “<a href="http://ecowatch.com/?s=divest" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">DIVEST</a>” meaning to divest from the fossil fuel industry. He strongly stated, “It is morally wrong to continue to pollute and corrupt our planet. It is wrong for us to continue on this path of not moving from fossil fuels to<a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear; background: transparent;">clean energy</a> and we must stop the madness now.” Urge policy makers, school and company boards, and community leaders to stand strong and make changes away from fossil fuels.The crowd erupted the loudest after Reverend Yearwood led us in his vision of a fossil free future. “What I now say, 50 years later, with our work together that one day … they will rejoice in what you have done and they will say that we are fossil free at least, fossil free at last, thank God oh mighty we are fossil free at last!” The strength and volume of his “fossil free at last” energized the crowd and left us all with a hope and inspiration that together, we can make it happen.Being a lover of hip hop, I was surprised I had not heard of the album “Home.” I immediately downloaded it from iTunes and started listening as I left the summit. The remake of  the song “A Big Yellow Taxi” really hits home for all of us here in Dallas. The famous line is, “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.”</div><div>=</div>2014 post mortem alternetIn ways that might be unexpected, voter suppression, too, has become a climate issue.Al Jazeera <a href="http://america.aljazeera.com/blogs/scrutineer/2014/11/2/nonwhite-climatevoters.html" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">reported</a> [19] earlier this week that climate is a high-priority issue for voters of color, in no small part because communities of color have been some of the hardest hit by the impacts of climate change and extraction. Harry Enten at FiveThirtyEight.com found that non-white voters were almost <a href="http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/the-racial-gap-on-global-warming/" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">twice as likely</a> [20] to see climate change as a “top priority,” skewing traditional perceptions of climate as a white issue. Unfortunately, voters of color, who tend to vote for Democrats, are also those most likely to face challenges getting to the polls. The <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/25/voting-rights-act-supreme-court_n_3429810.html" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Supreme Court’s repeal</a> [21] of Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 last summer opened the floodgates for even more brash gerrymandering and <a href="http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120132/midterm-voter-suppression-election-protection-hotline-swamped" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">voter suppression</a> [22] by conservatives <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2014/11/4/new_voter_suppression_laws_could_decide" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">this election cycle.</a> [23]==

<ul class="list-unstyled" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 0px; list-style: none; line-height: 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="http://assets.motherjones.com/interactives/projects/features/koch-network/shell19/index.html?initialWidth=960&childId=graphic#" class="show-entity" data-name="United Negro College Fund" data-entity-index="10" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background: 0px 0px;">United Negro College Fund: $25,000,000</a><div class="entity-details" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><section style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0.5em; margin: 0.5em 0em 0.5em 1em; border: 1px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; background-color: rgb(238, 238, 238);">This gift to UNCF supports historically black colleges and provides scholarships. The fund's decision to accept the donation led the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees to end a joint scholarship program with UNCF. In a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lee-a-saunders/a-principle-is-a-terrible-thing-to-waste_b_5571970.html" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background: 0px 0px;">letter</a> to fund president Michael Lomax, AFSCME head Lee Saunders wrote that he was "truly stunned to learn that less than two weeks [after accepting the donation], you attended and spoke at the Koch brothers summit in California…The Koch brothers and the organizations they fund…support voter identification laws. They seek to restrict early voting and voter registration. They funded organizations that advocated for the Supreme Court's rolling back of the Voting Rights Act. The Koch brothers are the single most prominent funders of efforts to prevent African Americans from voting."<ul class="list-unstyled" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; list-style: none;">Received money from:<li style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="http://assets.motherjones.com/interactives/projects/features/koch-network/shell19/index.html?initialWidth=960&childId=graphic#" data-target="Charles Koch Foundation and Koch Industries" class="donor-link" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background: 0px 0px;">Charles Koch Foundation and Koch Industries</a> $25,000,000</li></ul></section></div></li></ul>===

Edison Electric Institute has some history with the Congressional Black Caucus and other groups representing black public officials, as Grist reporter Brentin Mock has<a href="http://grist.org/climate-energy/this-ambassador-for-black-politicians-argues-that-solar-drags-down-african-americans/" target="hplink" sl-processed="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">covered extensively</a>. The National Policy Alliance, which brings together federal, state and local African-American elected officials, <a href="http://grist.org/climate-energy/heres-how-dirty-energy-is-co-opting-black-lawmakers/" target="hplink" sl-processed="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">recently approved a resolution</a> opposing net metering that Edison had submitted to the group. Mock <a href="http://grist.org/climate-energy/heres-how-dirty-energy-is-co-opting-black-lawmakers/" target="_hplink" sl-processed="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">first reported</a> last week that the CBC briefing with Edison was taking place.

The NAACP <a href="http://naacp.3cdn.net/8654c676dbfc968f8f_dk7m6j5v0.pdf" target="_hplink" sl-processed="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">issued a report in December</a> endorsing net metering policies as well as renewable portfolio standards and energy efficiency measures, finding that "these policies will help to prevent climate change, as well as protect the well-being of communities."

There is unlikely to be a federal net metering policy up for debate in Congress anytime soon. The source who attended the meeting said it appeared the briefing was designed to make caucus members "hate solar." He said the questions attendees asked of the speakers were "challenging," however....

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/24/solar-energy-black-caucus_n_6039290.html?ir=Green

===

berman accuse of hypoc?

Congressional Black Caucus Foundation

"Our mission is to advance the global black community by developing leaders, informing policy and educating the public." <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Congressional_Black_Caucus_Foundation#cite_note-1" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[1]</a>

<h2 style="font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border: none; display: inline; background: none;">Contents</h2>

[<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Congressional_Black_Caucus_Foundation#" class="internal" id="togglelink" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">hide</a>] </div>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Congressional_Black_Caucus_Foundation#Directors" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1 Directors</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Congressional_Black_Caucus_Foundation#Contact" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">2 Contact</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Congressional_Black_Caucus_Foundation#Resources_and_articles" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">3 Resources and articles</a>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Congressional_Black_Caucus_Foundation#Related_Sourcewatch_articles" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">3.1 Related Sourcewatch articles</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Congressional_Black_Caucus_Foundation#References" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">3.2 References</a></li>

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</ul>

</div>

<h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.2px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Directors</h2>

<p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.2px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Accessed August 2008: <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Congressional_Black_Caucus_Foundation#cite_note-2" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[2]</a>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Chairperson - The Honorable <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Kendrick_B._Meek" title="Kendrick B. Meek" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Kendrick B. Meek</a>, Member of Congress</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">President - <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Elsie_L._Scott&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Elsie L. Scott (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Elsie L. Scott</a>, Ph.D., Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc.</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Vice Chairperson - <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Kimberly_Williams" title="Kimberly Williams" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Kimberly Williams</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/GlaxoSmithKline" title="GlaxoSmithKline" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">GlaxoSmithKline</a></li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Secretary - <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Virgil_Griffin&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Virgil Griffin (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Virgil Griffin</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Freddie_Mac" title="Freddie Mac" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Freddie Mac</a></li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Treasurer - <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Elliott_Hall&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Elliott Hall (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Elliott Hall</a>, Dykema Gossett, PLLC</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Clayton_Adams&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Clayton Adams (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Clayton Adams</a> - State Farm Insurance Companies</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Donna_Brazile" title="Donna Brazile" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Donna Brazile</a> - Brazile and Associates</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Kevin_M._Brown&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Kevin M. Brown (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Kevin M. Brown</a> - Dell, Inc.</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Chaka_T._Burgess&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Chaka T. Burgess (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Chaka T. Burgess</a> - Amgen, Inc.</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The Honorable <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/G.K._Butterfield" title="G.K. Butterfield" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">G.K. Butterfield</a> - Member of Congress</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The Honorable <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Donna_M._Christensen" title="Donna M. Christensen" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Donna M. Christensen</a> - Member of Congress</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The Honorable <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Danny_K._Davis" title="Danny K. Davis" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Danny K. Davis</a> - Member of Congress</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Michael_Draine&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Michael Draine (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Michael Draine</a> - AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LLP</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Roderick_D._Gillum" title="Roderick D. Gillum" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Roderick D. Gillum</a> - General Motors Corporation</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Darryl_Hazel" title="Darryl Hazel" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Darryl Hazel</a> - Ford Motor Company</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Fred_Humphries,_Jr.&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Fred Humphries, Jr. (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Fred Humphries, Jr.</a> - Microsoft Corporation</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Guillermo_Hysaw&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Guillermo Hysaw (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Guillermo Hysaw</a> - Garrison Walker Financial Group, Inc.</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ingrid_Saunders_Jones&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Ingrid Saunders Jones (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Ingrid Saunders Jones</a> - The Coca-Cola Company</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The Honorable <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Stephanie_Tubbs_Jones" title="Stephanie Tubbs Jones" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Stephanie Tubbs Jones</a> - Member of Congress</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The Honorable <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Barbara_Lee" title="Barbara Lee" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Barbara Lee</a> - Member of Congress</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The Honorable <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Sheila_Jackson_Lee" title="Sheila Jackson Lee" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Sheila Jackson Lee</a> - Member of Congress</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The Honorable <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/John_Lewis" title="John Lewis" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">John Lewis</a> - Member of Congress</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Robert_McGlotten&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Robert McGlotten (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Robert McGlotten</a> - McGlotten & Jarvis</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Lewis_L._McKinney&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Lewis L. McKinney (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Lewis L. McKinney</a> - Anheuser-Busch Companies</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The Honorable <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Gregory_W._Meeks" title="Gregory W. Meeks" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Gregory W. Meeks</a> - Member of Congress</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Kim_Nelson&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Kim Nelson (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Kim Nelson</a> - General Mills</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The Honorable <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Donald_M._Payne" title="Donald M. Payne" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Donald M. Payne</a> - Member of Congress</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=T._Daniel_Tearno&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="T. Daniel Tearno (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">T. Daniel Tearno</a> - Heineken USA</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Yelberton_Watkins&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Yelberton Watkins (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Yelberton Watkins</a> - Office of the House Majority Whip</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The Honorable <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Melvin_Watt" title="Melvin Watt" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Melvin Watt</a> - Member of Congress</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Kimberly_Woodard&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Kimberly Woodard (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Kimberly Woodard</a> - Wal-Mart Stores Inc.</li>

</ul>

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Simone-Marie_Meeks&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Simone-Marie Meeks (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Simone-Marie Meeks</a> - CBC Spouses Chairperson</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The Honorable <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Carolyn_Cheeks_Kilpatrick" title="Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick</a> - CBC Chairperson</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ernest_McFadden&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Ernest McFadden (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Ernest McFadden</a> - PepsiCo, CAC Chairperson</li>

</ul>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The Honorable <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Cardiss_Collins&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Cardiss Collins (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Cardiss Collins</a> - Retired Member of Congress</li>

</ul>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Amy_Robertson_Goldson&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Amy Robertson Goldson (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Amy Robertson Goldson</a></li>

</ul>

<h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.2px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Contact</h2>

<dd style=" line-height: 1.5em; margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;">Web: <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.cbcfinc.org/" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">http://www.cbcfinc.org</a></dd>

</dl>

<h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 0.6em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.2px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Resources and articles</h2>

<h3 style="font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.2px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Related Sourcewatch articles</h3>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Eli_Lilly%27s_Grants_and_Contributions_(US)/Organizations_Names_Beginning_With_A-K" title="Eli Lilly's Grants and Contributions (US)/Organizations Names Beginning With A-K" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Eli Lilly's Grants and Contributions (US)/Organizations Names Beginning With A-K</a></li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Congressional_Black_Caucus" title="Congressional Black Caucus" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Congressional Black Caucus</a></li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Ramona_H._Edelin" title="Ramona H. Edelin" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Ramona H. Edelin</a> - Former Executive Director</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Frank_Morris" title="Frank Morris" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Frank Morris</a> - Former Executive Director</li>

</ul>

<h3 style="font-weight: bold; margin: 0px 0px 0.3em; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.17em; border-bottom-style: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 19.2px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">References</h3>

<li id="cite_note-1" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Congressional_Black_Caucus_Foundation#cite_ref-1" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style=" top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.cbcfinc.org/About/mission.html" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Mission</a>, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, accessed August 20, 2008.</li>

<li id="cite_note-2" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Congressional_Black_Caucus_Foundation#cite_ref-2" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style=" top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important;">Jump up↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.cbcfinc.org/About/board.html" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" xmlns:data="data">Directors</a>, Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, accessed August 20, 2008.</li>

</ol>

===

koch 2914: <span style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; display: inline !important;">Also on Sunday, conservative columnist <b style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">Amity Shlaes was interviewed about her recent biography of Calvin Coolidge. Charles Murray, the libertarian political scientist and author of the controversial book The Bell Curve, <span style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; display: inline !important;">gave dinner remarks. Other highlights included<b style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"> “Collectivism: Exploring Its Nature and Consequences” and “The Foundation for Progress,” which was broken down into several sessions, including “Part One: Drive the National Conversation,” “Part Two: Leverage Science and the Universities,” “Part Three: Advance in the States,”<span style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; display: inline !important;"> concluding with the aforementioned McConnell talk. Part One featured <span style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Michael Lomax, the president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund, which recently received a $25 million donation from the Kochs to create a special “Koch Scholars” program emphasizing entrepreneurialism and free markets. Lomax has faced a storm of criticism for taking the money, given the history of attacks [8] by Koch-funded organizations on voting rights,<span style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; display: inline !important;"> which do the most harm to underprivileged minorities who typically vote Democratic.

the nation

===

2012

his month the United States celebrates the Selma-to-Montgomery marches of 1965 to commemorate our shared history of the civil rights movement and our nation’s continued progress towards racial equality. Yet decades later a broken criminal-justice system has proven that we still have a long way to go in achieving racial equality.

Today people of color continue to be disproportionately incarcerated, policed, and sentenced to death at significantly higher rates than their white counterparts. Further, racial disparities in the criminal-justice system threaten communities of color—disenfranchising thousands by limiting voting rights and denying equal access to employment, housing, public benefits, and education to millions more. In light of these disparities, it is imperative that criminal-justice reform evolves as the civil rights issue of the 21st century.

Below we outline the top 10 facts pertaining to the criminal-justice system’s impact on communities of color.

1. While people of color make up about <a href="http://www.theroot.com/views/portrait-black-america-eve-2010-census" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">30 percent</a> of the United States’ population, they account for <a href="http://www.sentencingproject.org/template/page.cfm?id=122" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">60 percent</a> of those imprisoned. The prison population grew by 700 percent from 1970 to 2005, a rate that is outpacing crime and population rates. The incarceration rates <a href="http://www.aclu.org/combating-mass-incarceration-facts-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">disproportionately impact men of color</a>: 1 in every 15 African American men and 1 in every 36 Hispanic men are incarcerated in comparison to 1 in every 106 white men.

2. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, <a href="http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.1525/sp.2011.58.2.257?uid=3739584&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=47698736411807" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">one in three black men</a> can expect to go to prison in their lifetime. Individuals of color have a disproportionate number of encounters with law enforcement, indicating that racial profiling continues to be a problem. A report by the Department of Justice found that blacks and Hispanics were approximately <a href="http://www.reformer.com/reformereditorials/ci_19992621?source=rss" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">three times more likely to be searched</a> during a traffic stop than white motorists. African Americans were twice as likely to be arrested and almost <a href="http://www.aclu.org/racial-justice/department-justice-statistics-show-clear-pattern-racial-profiling" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">four times as likely</a> to experience the use of force during encounters with the police.

3. Students of color face harsher punishments in school than their white peers, leading to a higher number of youth of color incarcerated. Black and Hispanic students represent more than <a href="http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2012/03/07/23data_ep.h31.html?tkn=RNRFpTpIviHSEInUrVg%2BbNsoHrUv6d7QWbPa&cmp=clp-edweek&utm_source=fb&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mrss" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">70 percent</a> of those involved in school-related arrests or referrals to law enforcement. Currently, African Americans make up <a href="http://www.aecf.org/_{/media/Pubs/Topics/Juvenile%20Justice/Detention%20Reform/NoPlaceForKids/JJ_NoPlaceForKids_Full.pdf}" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">two-fifths</a> and Hispanics <a href="http://www.aecf.org/_{/media/Pubs/Topics/Juvenile%20Justice/Detention%20Reform/NoPlaceForKids/JJ_NoPlaceForKids_Full.pdf}" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">one-fifth</a> of confined youth today.

4. According to recent data by the Department of Education, African American students are arrested far more often than their white classmates. The data showed that <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/federal-data-show-racial-gaps-in-school-arrests/2012/03/01/gIQApbjvtR_story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">96,000</a> students were arrested and 242,000 referred to law enforcement by schools during the 2009-10 school year. Of those students, black and Hispanic students made up more than <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/06/education/black-students-face-more-harsh-discipline-data-shows.html?_r=1&ref=education" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">70 percent</a> of arrested or referred students. Harsh school punishments, from suspensions to arrests, have led to high numbers of youth of color coming into contact with the juvenile-justice system and at an earlier age.

5. African American youth have higher rates of juvenile incarceration and are more likely to be sentenced to adult prison. According to the <a href="http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/cjprimer2009.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">Sentencing Project</a>, even though African American juvenile youth are about 16 percent of the youth population, 37 percent of their cases are moved to criminal court and 58 percent of African American youth are sent to adult prisons.

6. As the number of women incarcerated has increased by <a href="http://www.wpaonline.org/pdf/Quick%20Facts%20Women%20and%20CJ%202009.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">800 percent</a> over the last three decades, <a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/news/2012/03/07/11219/the-top-5-facts-about-women-in-our-criminal-justice-system/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">women of color have been disproportionately represented</a>. While the number of women incarcerated is relatively low, the racial and ethnic disparities are startling. African American women are <a href="http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/womenincj_total.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">three times more likely</a> than white women to be incarcerated, while Hispanic women are 69 percent more likely than white women to be incarcerated.

7. The war on drugs has been waged primarily in communities of color where people of color are more likely to receive higher offenses. According to the <a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2009/03/02/us-drug-arrests-skewed-race" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">Human Rights Watch</a>, people of color are no more likely to use or sell illegal drugs than whites, but they have higher rate of arrests. African Americans comprise <a href="http://www.drugpolicy.org/issues/race-and-drug-war" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">14 percent</a> of regular drug users but are 37 percent of those arrested for drug offenses. From 1980 to 2007 about <a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2009/03/02/us-drug-arrests-skewed-race" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">one in three</a> of the 25.4 million adults arrested for drugs was African American.

8. Once convicted, black offenders receive longer sentences compared to white offenders. The U.S. Sentencing Commission stated that in the federal system black offenders <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-quigley/fourteen-examples-of-raci_b_658947.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">receive sentences that are 10 percent</a> longer than white offenders for the same crimes. <a href="http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/dp_crack_testimony.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">The Sentencing Project</a> reports that African Americans are 21 percent more likely to receive mandatory-minimum sentences than white defendants and are 20 percent more like to be sentenced to prison.

9. Voter laws that prohibit people with felony convictions to vote disproportionately impact men of color. An estimated 5.3 million Americans are denied the right to vote based on a past felony conviction. Felony disenfranchisement is exaggerated by racial disparities in the criminal-justice system, ultimately denying <a href="http://www.sentencingproject.org/template/page.cfm?id=133" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">13 percent</a> of African American men the right to vote. Felony-disenfranchisement policies have led to 11 states denying the right to vote to more than <a href="http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/cjprimer2009.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">10 percent</a> of their African American population.

10. Studies have shown that people of color face <a href="http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.1525/sp.2011.58.2.257?uid=3739584&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=47698736411807" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">disparities in wage trajectory</a>following release from prison. Evidence shows that spending time in prison affects wage trajectories with a disproportionate impact on black men and women. The results show no evidence of racial divergence in wages prior to incarceration; however, following release from prison, wages grow at a <a href="http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.1525/sp.2011.58.2.257?uid=3739584&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=47698736411807" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">21 percent slower rate</a> for black former inmates compared to white ex-convicts. A number of states have bans on people with certain convictions working in domestic health-service industries such as nursing, child care, and home health care—areas in which many poor women and <a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/news/2012/03/07/11219/the-top-5-facts-about-women-in-our-criminal-justice-system/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">women of color</a> are disproportionately concentrated.

Theses racial disparities have deprived people of color of their most basic civil rights, making criminal-justice reform the civil rights issue of our time. Through mass imprisonment and the overrepresentation of individuals of color within the criminal justice and prison system, people of color have experienced an adverse impact on themselves and on their communities from barriers to reintegrating into society to engaging in the democratic process. Eliminating the racial disparities inherent to our nation’s criminal-justice policies and practices must be at the heart of a renewed, refocused, and reenergized movement for racial justice in America.

There have been a number of initiatives on the state and federal level to address the racial disparities in youth incarceration. Last summer Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced the <a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education/news/2011/08/15/10146/closing-the-school-to-prison-pipeline/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">Schools Discipline Initiative</a> to bring increased awareness of effective policies and practices to ultimately dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline. States like California and Massachusetts are considering <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/maryland-moves-to-limit-school-suspensions/2012/02/27/gIQA6xCAhR_story_1.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">legislation</a> to address the disproportionate suspensions among students of color. And in Clayton County, Georgia, <a href="http://www.aecf.org/MajorInitiatives/JuvenileDetentionAlternativesInitiative/Resources/May10newsletter/FeatureStory.aspx" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">collaborative local reforms</a> have resulted in a<a href="http://www.advancementproject.org/sites/default/files/publications/rev_fin.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">47 percent reduction</a> in juvenile-court referrals and a <a href="http://www.aecf.org/MajorInitiatives/JuvenileDetentionAlternativesInitiative/Resources/May10newsletter/FeatureStory.aspx" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none;">51 percent</a> decrease in juvenile felony rates. These initiatives could serve as models of success for lessening the disparities in incarceration rates.

Sophia Kerby is the Special Assistant for Progress 2050 at American Progress.

===

2006

According to the most recent statistics, the nationwide college graduation rate for black students stands at an appallingly low rate of 42 percent. This figure is 20 percentage points below the 62 percent rate for white students. Here, the only positive news we have to report is that over the past two years the black student graduation rate has improved by three percentage points.

---

wiki

In 1999, the median income of African-American families was $33,255 compared to $53,356 of European Americans. In times of economic hardship for the nation, African Americans suffer disproportionately from job loss and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underemployment" title="Underemployment" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">underemployment</a>, with the black underclass being hardest hit. The phrase "last hired and first fired" is reflected in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureau_of_Labor_Statistics" title="Bureau of Labor Statistics" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Bureau of Labor Statistics</a> unemployment figures. Nationwide, the October 2008 unemployment rate for African Americans was 11.1%,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American#cite_note-74" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[74]</a> while the nationwide rate was 6.5%.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American#cite_note-75" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[75]</a>

The income gap between black and white families is also significant. In 2005, employed blacks earned 65% of the wages of whites, down from 82% in 1975.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American#cite_note-DeNavas-Walt-56" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[56]</a> The New York Times reported in 2006 that in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queens" title="Queens" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Queens</a>, New York, the median income among African-American families exceeded that of white families, which the newspaper attributed to the growth in the number of two-parent black families. It noted that Queens was the only county with more than 65,000 residents where that was true.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American#cite_note-Queens-43" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[43]</a>

In 2011, it was reported that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_family_structure" title="African-American family structure" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">72% of black babies were born to unwed mothers</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American#cite_note-Washington-76" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[76]</a> The poverty rate among single-parent black families was 39.5% in 2005, according to Williams, while it was 9.9% among married-couple black families. Among white families, the respective rates were 26.4% and 6% in poverty.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American#cite_note-77" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[77]</a>

===

http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/08/22/kings-dream-remains-an-elusive-goal-many-americans-see-racial-disparities/

...

Finances. Between 1967 and 2011 the median income of a black household of three rose from about $24,000 to nearly $40,000.1 Expressed as a share of white income, black households earn about 59% of what white households earn, a small increase from 55% in 1967. But when expressed as dollars, the black-white income gap widened, from about $19,000 in the late 1960s to roughly $27,000 today. The race gap on household wealth has increased from $75,224 in 1984 to $84,960 in 2011.

Other indicators of financial well-being have changed little in recent decades, including homeownership rates and the share of each race that live above the poverty line. The black unemployment rate also has consistently been about double that of whites since the 1950s.

Education. High school completion rates have converged since the 1960s, and now about nine-in-ten blacks and whites have a high school diploma. The trend in college completion rates tell a more nuanced story. Today, white adults 25 and older are significantly more likely than blacks to have completed at least a bachelor’s degree (34% vs. 21%, a 13 percentage point difference). Fifty years ago, the completion gap between whites and blacks was about 6 percentage points (10% vs. 4%). But expressed a different way, the black completion rate as a percentage of the white rate has improved from 42% then to 62% now.

Incarceration. Black men were more than six times as likely as white men in 2010 to be incarcerated in federal and state prisons, and local jails, the last year complete data are available. That is an increase from 1960, when black men were five times as likely as whites to be incarcerated.

Voter turnout. Participation rates for blacks in presidential elections has lagged behind those of whites for most of the past half century but has been rising since 1996. Buoyed by the historic candidacies of Barack Obama, blacks nearly caught up with whites in 2008 and surpassed them in 2012, when 67% of eligible blacks cast ballots, compared with 64% of eligible whites.

Life Expectancy. The gap in life expectancy rates among blacks and whites has narrowed in the past five decades from about seven years to four.

===

<a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175731/tomgram%3A_laura_gottesdiener%2C_the_backyard_shock_doctrine/"> http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175731/tomgram%3A_laura_gottesdiener%2C_the_backyard_shock_doctrine/  </a>foreclosure 10 mil ppl DN

http://www.democracynow.org/2013/8/6/a_dream_foreclosed_as_obama_touts

http://www.democracynow.org/2013/8/6/california_city_threatens_to_use_eminent

===

Amy Ridenour is also runs or is associated with the: <a href="http://www.nationalcenter.org/Staffbios.html" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.nationalcenter.org/Staffbios.html" rel="nofollow">[9]</a>

<ul>

<li>Board of Directors of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Black_America%27s_PAC" title="Black America's PAC">Black America's PAC</a>, a political action committee that works to help elect more African-Americans to Congress and other elected offices.</li>

</ul>

===

wreck crew; cmmi JA played colonialism card (or racism) went after black caucus as cover

norquist:   <a href="/org/453/000055288/">African American Republican Leadership Council</a>

ca prop 23

===

The 244-Year Holocaust

Of course, human rights abuses are not just an overseas phenomenon.

Slavery lasted from 1621 to 1865 in the United States, and when it

was over African-Americans were left with no personal, family, or institutional

assets with which to build new lives. On January 16, 1865,

General William Tecumsah Sherman issued Special Field Order No. 15,

granting land south of Charleston for settlement by freed slaves, who

were to receive forty acres and a mule. In March of the same year, ConFIGHTING

BACK 243

gress passed a law allowing “every male citizen, refugee or freedman …

not more than forty acres of land.” But by April, 1965, with Lincoln

dead, President Andrew Johnson vetoed the “forty acres” bill. But the

promise was not forgotten.

Tired of waiting for the day when Congress might pass some sort

of legislation providing reparations, one activist turned to corporate

America. On March 26, 2002, New York researcher Deadria Farmer-

Paellmann filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of herself and other descendents

of slaves against corporations that had built their assets by

means of slave labor. Farmer-Paellman was inspired by the success of

similar suits against Volkswagen, Siemens, Deutsche Bank, and DaimlerChrysler

for Nazi-era slave labor. Those cases had compensated victims

directly, but in the case of the Farmer-Paellmann lawsuit, any

settlement would be directed into a humanitarian trust fund.

Initially, Farmer-Paellmann’s suit cited FleetBoston Financial Corporation

(from financing slaving ships), Aetna Inc. (from insuring

slaves), and CSX (from using slave labor to build railroads). Later,

Farmer-Paellmann added additional companies as further documentation

of slavery-related activities emerged, including J.P Morgan Chase,

Lehman Brothers Holdings, Brown Brothers Harriman, American International

Group, Lloyd’s of London, Loews Corporation, Union Pacific,

Norfolk Southern, WestPoint Stevens, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings,

Brown and Williamson Tobacco, and Liggett Group.

Aetna Corporation offered an apology. “We express our deep regret

over any participation at all in this deplorable practice,” spokesman

Fred Laberge told Reuters, adding, “We are actively engaged in determining

what actions might be taken.”

Later, the company issued a brief statement: “We have concluded

that, beyond our apology, no further actions are required.”

Farmer-Paellmann responded, “The profits Aetna gained from the

crime against humanity that was chattel slavery helped it to become a

multibillion-dollar corporation today. That’s unjust enrichment.”

gangs of am