The Charleston Massacre:

We Must Respond to the Right-wing Attempt to Reframe the Charleston Massacre

By Bill Fletcher, Jr.

June 18, 2015
BillFletcherJr.com [10]

I never cease to be amazed by the speed and the ability of the political Right to distort the truth.

The attempt by the political Right to reconstruct the Charleston massacre as an attack on Christianity defies belief.  Yet it is something that we cannot simply sit back and allow to play out.  This is a moment when we must connect the Charleston massacre with the lynchings that are regularly taking place against people of color generally and African Americans in particular.  The Charleston massacre, allegedly carried out by someone comfortable wearing the flags of apartheid South Africa and white supremacist Rhodesia, is a continuation in the line of assaults on Black America.

The fact of the matter is that there is no basis to believe that this white man walking into a Black church and murdering Black people had anything to do with any antipathy to Christianity,  It has to do with an antipathy to Black people.  It also has the markings of someone who probably wished to ignite a race war.

The political Right will do whatever it can to move the eyes of reasonable people away from analyzing race.   When African Americans, Native Americans or Latinos are attacked by the police, the Right-wing moves quickly to question the motives, not of the police but of the victims.  When acts of violence after acts of violence against African Americans are held up for the entire world to see, the political Right does its best to question each incident and try to demonstrate how any ambiguity in one case should somehow compromise the integrity of any suggestion of a demonstrable pattern.

The fact that the Charleston massacre took place in a church should, however, demonstrate one fact about religion.  White supremacists are not restrained or constrained by the fact that the targets of their hatred may be people of faith.  As far as the white supremacists are concerned, those murdered in Charleston are not worshiping the same Creator of All Things as are the white supremacists.

One thing that can be done immediately is to contact right-wing media outlets and politicians and convey, in no uncertain terms, that we do not appreciate their commentary on the Charleston massacre.   The `analyses' offered by these right-wing pundits remind me of something that my father used to say:  "It is better to keep one's mouth quiet and to be thought of as a fool than to open one's mouth and prove it."  Oh, how I wish that Fox News would appreciate that point.

[Bill Fletcher Jr has been an activist since his teen years. Upon graduating from college he went to work as a welder in a shipyard, thereby entering the labor movement. Over the years he has been active in workplace and community struggles as well as electoral campaigns. He has worked for several labor unions in addition to serving as a senior staffperson in the national AFL-CIO.

Fletcher is the former president of TransAfrica Forum; a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies; an editorial board member of BlackCommentator.com [11]; and in the leadership of several other projects. Fletcher is the co-author (with Peter Agard) of "The Indispensable Ally: Black Workers and the Formation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, 1934-1941"; the co-author (with Dr. Fernando Gapasin) of "Solidarity Divided: The crisis in organized labor and a new path toward social justice"; and the author of "`They're Bankrupting Us' - And Twenty other myths about unions." Fletcher is a syndicated columnist and a regular media commentator on television, radio and the Web.]

Confederate Flag Raises Renewed Ire Following Charleston Church Killings

Protesters call for symbol of racial division to be removed from the grounds of the South Carolina state building in Columbia

Reposted from Portside. 

- See more at: http://portside.org/print/2015-06-19/charleston-massacre-hate-crime#sthash.ptAkXUz0.dpuf

Archbishop Oscar Romero, a True Salvadoran Patriot

by Jimmy Franco, Sr. 

Posted on May 27, 2015 by Jimmy Franco Sr.

A ceremony attended by 300,000 people was held on May 23, in the city of San Salvador to honor and celebrate the beatification of El Salvador’s deceased Archbishop Oscar Romero. Supportive commemorations were also held in Los Angeles and other cities. Pope Francis made the decision to beatify Romero which is a step before sainthood after designating him as a martyr who gave his life in 1980 for the cause of social justice. Prior to his death, the

300,000 people gather as Archbishop Oscar Romero is honored and
beatified.

Archbishop had assisted poor communities in El Salvador in order to improve their lives and had been a public and outspoken critic of the brutal Salvadoran military. He had demanded that the army halt the widespread violence and killings being committed against innocent people who were merely attempting to exercise their basic rights. Monsignor Romero wrote a personal letter to President Jimmy Carter in early 1980 pleading with him to end US financial and military support of the Salvadoran armed forces due to its violence and human rights violations being inflicted upon civilians who merely wanted democracy. Carter never directly answered the Archbishop’s letter and Romero was murdered shortly after by a member of a right-wing death squad who shot him through the heart as he gave mass in a cathedral. Days after at Romero’s funeral service, Salvadoran soldiers opened deadly fire on the huge crowd that came to pay their respects to the martyred Archbishop. The murders by the government of many other Catholic church members were to follow as their peaceful activities to help the poor and pronouncements for an end to the violence had them branded as enemies by the military and their US trainers. These anti-democratic actions by the Salvadoran military and their allied death squads would lead to a violent and deadly 12-year long civil war which tore apart the country’s social fabric. Presidents Carter and particularly Reagan openly supported, financed, armed and trained El Salvador’s military and its death squads throughout the long war.

The background of the brutal 1980’s Salvadoran civil war
The civil war in El Salvador was caused by the repressive Salvadoran government that used violence to block fair elections and the democratic participation of the Salvadoran People and their chosen political parties. Peaceful gatherings were regularly attacked with deadly force as a brutal message was being conveyed by the military government to the civilian population that they should accept injustice and stay in their place. The majority of the people as well as many representatives of the church refused to 

The murder of Romero by a US-supported death squad turned people against the govt.

do so as peaceful protests and public outcries continued to demand that the government respect human rights and cease their attacks upon civilians. These democratic aspirations were met by more violence and deaths on the part of the military. Leaving no other available option, the opposition groups coalesced into the FMLN (Frente Farabundo Marti de Liberacion Nacional) to oppose the US supported military government and civil war broke out.

Republicans Block Immigration of Millions- Again !




  by Michael D. Shear. New York Times. May 28, 2015

Administration officials had hoped to begin inviting millions of immigrants to sign up for the president’s new immigration program as early as this month

The State of Texas, led by Republicans,  last year filed a lawsuit against the president, accusing him of exceeding his authority and failing to follow the proper procedures for establishing new immigration rules. Twenty-five other states joined the lawsuit.

Immigration  efforts have  been shelved since February, when a Texas judge ordered a halt, calling it an executive overreach and agreeing that officials had violated administrative procedures.

On Tuesday, the appeals court refused to overturn that order, saying that it believed Mr. Obama’s lawyers would ultimately lose in their efforts to defend the president’s actions.

Rather than continue to fight the judge’s initial order, administration officials said Wednesday that government lawyers would wait and make what they believe will be a stronger legal argument on the merits of the president’s immigration program.

Stop Pesticides Near Schools

Speak up starting today on pesticides use near CA schools 

Thanks for speaking up for California children!

Last year, the Department of Public Health (DPH) published a report on the use of health-harming pesticides near California schools. Their findings? California’s current pesticide rules don’t protect schoolchildren from health-harming pesticides. These toxic chemicals are sprayed within a ¼ mile of hundreds of schools where more than 500,000 schoolchildren spend their days. The report documented 144 different highly hazardous pesticides being used near schools — many of these chemicals can cause cancer and derail the development of a child’s brain and nervous system.

This week, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) will host the first of five  hearings across the state to gather input. It will consider creating no-spray zones around schools, increasing public notification and limiting aerial spraying. Changes like this could protect schoolchildren from exposure to hazardous pesticides. 

Click here to e-mail Brian Leahy, the Director of the Department of Pesticide Regulation and tell him we expect to see real change. Our kids deserve better. Ask DPR to designate school safe zones and put incentives in place for farmers to shift away from outdated use of hazardous pesticides.  

http://action.ufw.org/schools

After you take action, please ask your friends and family to take action too. You can send them an e-mail, post this campaign on your Facebook and/or Twitter page by clicking here.

If you are interested in attending, click here for hearing information Thurs., May 28: Sacramento — 5:30pm, Cal EPA, 1001 I Street, Sacramento CA Tues., June 2: Salinas — 5:30pm, Cesar Chavez Library, 615 Williams Road, Salinas CA 93905 Wed., June 3: Oxnard —7pm, Rio Mesa High School (Library), 545 Central Ave, Oxnard. CA 93036 Thurs., June 4: Lamont — 5:30pm, Kern County Library, 8304 Segrue Rd., Lamont CA 93241 Tues., June 9: Coachella — 5:30pm, City of Coachella Corporate Yard, 53-462 Enterprise Way, Coachella, CA 92236

Students want an education

 Children and young adults need to see themselves in the curriculum.  Students, particularly students of color, have low levels of attachment to our communities, to  California and U.S.  civics messages in significant part because the government institution they encounter the most- the schools- ignore the students own history, cultures and experiences. This is not an accident- it was a choice.

The 1987 California History Social Science  Framework still in use today to guide the selection of  California textbooks   expanded African American, Native American, and women’s history coverage but remains totally inadequate in the coverage of Latinos and Asians. The only significant change between the 1985 and the 2005 adopted Framework was the addition of a new cover, a cover letter, and a photo of Cesar Chavez.

You can help us change this situation.  See here

http://antiracismdsa.blogspot.com/2015/05/steps-toward-inclusive-history-of.html

What are they missing? The history of the Chicano movement.

For example:

The Chicano Movement began in 1965 in Delano, California when Dolores Huerta and Cesar E. Chávez, founders of the National Farm Workers Association (later it became the United Farm Workers union), led a national boycott against table grape growers in the region because they failed to recognize their collective bargaining rights. Chávez, the president of the farm workers union, and the farm worker struggle, became the face of Chicano protest and struggles. While the United Farm Workers union brought national and even international recognition to the plight of Chicanos for labor rights, it had overarching consequences. Many young Chicanas and Chicanos felt connected to the farm worker struggle even though the majority resided in urban areas and had never themselves worked in the California agricultural industry.

Farmworkers at Gerawan deserve a union

Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Walters has a piece on Tues, May 19,  about the struggle of farmworkers at  Gerawan   to gain union recognition and a contract.  The parts of the story  used in Walters’ piece were highly selective. The piece was from the point of view of the corporate grower.   Here is a more complete side of the story by David Bacon,   http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/1/16/grapes-of-wrath-cafarmworkersfighttounionize.html

 When Jose Dolores began picking grapes at Gerawan Farming in California’s San Joaquin Valley in 1990, the company was paying a little over the state minimum wage of $4.25 an hour. “We just weren’t making enough, and everything cost a lot. That’s why people wanted the union,” he recalls.

African American vet dies in police custody

Bernie Sanders: "Call Me A Democratic Socialist"!

Baja berry strike apparently settled

By  Richard Marosi.

Baja California farmworker leaders and the Mexican government reached a tentative agreement Thursday that would boost wages and guarantee government-required benefits to thousands of laborers, in an apparent breakthrough aimed at ending the nearly two-month-long labor dispute.

In an unprecedented move, Mexico's federal government agreed to pay part of the workers' wages in order to meet their demands for a minimum daily wage of 200 pesos, or about $13.

Product of Mexico

"This is an agreement that will help us construct an orderly, peaceful, respectful and responsible way to provide a better quality of life for those workers who live in the valley of San Quintin," Baja California Gov. Francisco Vega de Lamadrid said after 18 hours of tense negotiations in Ensenada.

The deal won't be formalized until a signing ceremony June 4 and some key negotiations remain, mainly to determine the industry and government's share of the wage increase. Some observers remained skeptical, noting that the language of the agreement didn't guarantee that the workers' wage demands would be met.

Even so, farmworker leaders struck a positive note as they were greeted by thousands of cheering laborers upon their return from Ensenada to San Quintin on Thursday morning.

The announcement came after weeks of stalled talks and increasingly violent clashes between protesters and police.

In a key concession, the government agreed to ensure that every laborer in the region 200 miles south of San Diego would have access to social security benefits, which provide pensions and healthcare. Some of the region's largest agribusinesses for years have been denying the benefits, which are required by law.

A summary of the 13-point agreement distributed by the Baja California governor's office says that government and industry representatives will try to reach consensus on a minimum daily wage that comes "as close as possible" to workers' demands.

Negotiations between the government and industry representatives were continuing Thursday. "To our knowledge, all parties involved have not come to a mutual resolution," said Alfredo Arvizu, a spokesman for BerryMex, a major grower for Driscoll's, the world's largest berry distributor.

Erik Nicholson, national vice president of the United Farm Workers, which has sent representatives to Mexico to monitor the discussions, said he is unaware of the Mexican government ever agreeing to subsidize farmworker wages. "They have not achieved the 200-peso goal yet," Nicholson said.

The labor standoff, which began in mid-March with laborers blocking the region's main highway to export markets, had been growing increasingly tense in recent weeks. Dozens of protesters were injured Saturday by police firing rubber bullets in clashes that were broadcast across the country.

Richard Marosi. LA Times.

http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-baja-farmworkers-20150515-story.html

Cornel West in Baltimore

Start at 16 minutes.

Someone took down the prior post of Michelle Obama.  I do not know who. 

Socialism and Sanders - As American as Apple Pie

Socialism :Long deployed by the right as an epithet, this form of left-wing populism is as American as apple pie.

Peter DreierN

Now that Bernie Sanders has entered the contest for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, Americans are going to hear a lot about socialism, because the 73-year-old U.S. senator from Vermont describes himself as a “democratic socialist.”

“Ever since I was a kid I never liked to see people without money or connections get put down or pushed around,” Sanders explained in making his announcement. “When I came to Congress I tried to be a voice for people who did not have a voice—the elderly, the children, the sick, and the poor. And that is what I will be doing as a candidate for president.”

We can expect the right-wing echo chamber—including Fox News hosts, Tea Party politicians, and Rush Limbaugh—to attack Sanders for espousing an ideology that they’ll likely describe as foreign, European, and un-American.

But Sanders’s views are in sync with a longstanding American socialist tradition. Throughout our history, some of the nation’s most influential activists and thinkers, such as Jane Addams, John Dewey, Helen Keller, W.E.B. DuBois, Albert Einstein, Walter Reuther, Martin Luther King, and Gloria Steinem, embraced socialism.   

Of course, America’s right-wingers say there’s already a socialist in the White House.

Release Melida and Estrella from ICE detention

We support the release of Melida and her 4-year-old daughter, Estrella, from family detention in Karnes City, TX. Melida has a 10-year-old U.S. citizen daughter, a sister with a green card, and other U.S. citizen family and friends all waiting for her in New York and willing to care for her while her case proceeds. She has already endured more than eight months of detention, suffering constantly while her daughter has been chronically ill and required hospitalization. She's terrified of returning to Guatemala, where the family of the gang member who was convicted of murdering her sister-in-law wants retribution. ICE has the authority to release her but, so far, has denied every request. If prosecutorial discretion means anything, it means that Melida and Estrella should be released.

Melida and her daughter Estrella—who celebrated her 4th birthday in detention—are asylum seekers from Guatemala who have now been incarcerated for more than eight months.

They are being held at the family detention facility in Karnes City, TX, where 78 mothers recently initiated a hunger strike to protest prolonged detention and deplorable conditions.¹

Melida's sister-in-law was murdered by a gang member in 2012, and her family testified against the murderer. He was convicted, and his family seeks revenge. 

Steps toward an inclusive history of California

The Chicano/Mexican American Digital History project has completed stage one of the effort to amend the History/Social Science Framework for California Public Schools  with the submission of over 35 letters from academics and community activists demanding that Mexican Americans be included in the history courses.

Mexican American/ Chicano history is substantially absent from public school textbooks and curriculum in California- and it has been since  1986.  Latino student political non participation  and disconnectedness is significantly caused by Latino absence from the K-12 textbooks and curriculum.  http://antiracismdsa.blogspot.com/2015/03/write-chicano-history-into-california.html

We thank all of those who have participated in this effort.  On May 8, 2015, the  Instructional Quality Commission (formerly the Curriculum Commission) will meet in Sacramento to adopt a change in their schedule.

The proposed new schedule would be:

California Children in Poverty

Choosing Democracy: California Children in Poverty

Why Baltimore Burned

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/04/baltimore-freddie-gray-unrest-protests/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/dandiamond/2015/04/28/why-baltimore-burned/

Letters needed on Chicano/Mexican American History

Mañana is now !

We need your letters insisting on the expansion of Mexican American history.  The closing date is May 1, 2015.  Mañana is now.

We have a unique opportunity to change the history books in California  K-12 to include Chicano/Mexican American history- but we must act now. This is the time to get that letter written and e mailed  asking that Mexican American history be included in the re write of the History/Social Science Framework for California Schools.

Mexican American/ Chicano history is currently substantially absent from public school textbooks and curriculum in California- and it has been since 1986.  See the prior post below.  A guide to writing such a letter is here. https://sites.google.com/site/democracyandeducationorg/Home/latino-students-and-civic-engagement/project-plan---mexican-american-history.

The following letter from historian Dr. Lorena Marquez details some of the important Chicano history that is not covered in the framework and not covered in California history textbooks.

To the History/Social Science Framework Committee

Dear History Social Science Framework Committee,

I strongly urge you to revise the current draft of the History/Social Science Framework to include a more adequate recording of the history of California and the nation by including the significant contributions of ethnic Mexicans. Exclusion and omission of this history is a great disservice to the generations of Chicanas/os who have worked tirelessly to build this country. Latinos comprise nearly 39% of the state population and now constitute over 52% of the students in our schools. By hearing their histories in the larger rubric of United States history, they will feel validated, but most importantly, they will be empowered to make positive change in their communities.

 I recommend extension of the description of the Chicano movement to more adequately address this issue.  Recommended additions: Line 1959.  Page 348.

Working together to change the history books

Scholars, teachers, activists, join in our campaign to include Chicano history !

 Scholars, teachers, allies, activists have joined  in our campaign to improve the history textbooks in California by including the histories of  Mexican American/ Chicano people.  More than 52% of California students are descendants of Latino and Mexican people. Why can't they be found in the textbooks.
You are invited to participate. We need each of  you and your friends to write a letter.  Here is a guide. Here is how to write a letter and to send it. https://sites.google.com/site/democracyandeducationorg/Home/latino-students-and-civic-engagement/project-plan---mexican-american-history

This Spring we have a unique opportunity to change the history books in California  K-12 to include Chicano/Mexican American history- but we must act before May 1. This is the time to get that letter written and e mailed  asking that Mexican American history be included in the re write of the History/Social Science Framework for California Schools.

Mexican American/ Chicano history is currently substantially absent from public school textbooks and curriculum in California- and it has been since 1986.  Latino student political non participation and alienation from school is significantly caused by Latino absence from the K-12 textbooks and curriculum.

Now is a good time to get this done (a guide to writing such a letter is here )

 https://sites.google.com/site/democracyandeducationorg/Home/latino-students-and-civic-engagement/project-plan---mexican-american-history.

This effort  is not the same as the AB 101 campaign for Ethnic Studies where many have signed an on line petition.

Our  project  to change the  History Framework is described here. 

http://choosingdemocracy.blogspot.com/2015/04/teachers-we-need-your-letters-on.html

Tell the committee;  I strongly urge you to revise the current draft of the History Framework to include a more adequate recording of the history of California and the nation by including the significant contributions of Mexicans and Mexican Americans to this history.  You really  don’t have an accurate history without extending more information on this topic.  Latinos comprise nearly 39% of the state population, and descendants of Mexican Americans and Latinos now constitute over 52% of the students in the k-12 schools.

I have read the draft framework  and I propose the following additions:

On  page 351, Line 2014, amend this to include additional material on the 1960’s,

such as,

Sample letters are below.

Forum : Working Class Under Siege

Working Class Under Siege:

Organized labor and students fight for a brighter future.

Forum:  April 16, 2015.   3 PM.

Speakers, video, dialogue.  Join us.

Fabrizio Sasso; Executive Director of Sacramento Central Labor Council.

Kevin Wehr, President, California Faculty Association. ( Mass incarceration )Paul Burke, Sociology DSA, Ian Lee DSA, the Fight for $15, Citizens to Trade Campaign TPP,  Zobeida Menez, Victoria Ordorica Yanez, SQE, Andee Suderland. DSA Student Debt Campaign

Leisa Falkner DSA- exploitation of adjunct faculty.

 3 PM. Hinde Auditorium, CSU –Sacramento

Chicago's Chuy Garcia Lost an Election, but Won a Movement video by Jose...

American Exceptionalism v Teaching History of Minorities

Ed. Below, the writer makes a good argument about history.  This is the background from which readers should insist that California revise its history texts to include Mexican American history.  See the prior post on how to support this effort. http://antiracismdsa.blogspot.com/2015/03/scholars-teachers-activists-join-in-our.html

by Jimmy Franco

American Exceptionalism Versus a True History of Minorities

Posted on April 4, 2015 by Jimmy Franco Sr.

The 2016 presidential election is now approaching and many candidates on the political right which include most Republicans are increasingly being asked a key question by nationalistic supporters that supposedly determines whether they are true Americans and patriots. That question is whether they believe in the doctrine of “American exceptionalism” and if they answer in the affirmative, which most do, then they have passed the test that allows them to enter the make-believe world of US historical romanticism and amnesia. The promoters of this metaphysical doctrine of American exceptionalism tend to be ultra-nationalists amd neoconservatives. They are adherents of a narrow method of

Manifest Destiny and empire building were supposedly guided by divine providence.

historical selectivity and strongly believe that the US has a very special and superior place in world history when compared to the supposed lesser achievements of other countries and peoples. To add weight to this ideological position god is often injected as an ally into this mystical American doctrine and exceptional force. An example of this national chauvinist belief is the opening paragraph of the 2012 Republican platform which described the US as having “a unique place and role in human history”. This could be dismissed as simply being a harmless and romanticized perception of the world, yet, this type of narrow ideological thinking is being disseminated within our society and when carried out in practice it negatively affects the way people think and behave. Such an ideological view and practice is often used in many of our current political discussions that pertain to racial, educational and economic inequality in addition to the US role of being the world’s policeman. Also, this subjective and mythical viewpoint promotes the undemocratic concept of a superior American People and distorts US History and our country’s past by either sugar-coating or denying certain aspects of it. Many negative historical events have left a deep historical imprint upon out present society and cannot be conveniently ignored nor covered over. This one-sided and nationalistic view of US History and our present society can be characterized by an old proverb which states that to make reality fit their narrow beliefs some people will ” cut the foot to fit the shoe”. 

Oppose Repression in Mexico

Sacramento Candidate Eric Guerra - Worked His Way Up !

Endorsed by Progressive Alliance, Calif. Nurses, Los Rios Federation of Teachers. 

Election.  April 7, 2015. 

Marcos Breton. Sacramento Bee

Sitting in a Sacramento diner on Friday morning while preparing to go door to door in his campaign to win a City Council seat, Eric Guerra shook his head while considering his life of achievement over poverty.

“Sometimes even I can’t believe that I am here,” said Guerra, 36, a policy analyst at the state Capitol who is running to fill the Tahoe Park/Elmhurst/College Greens council seat recently vacated by Kevin McCarty. Absentee ballots go out March 9, and election day is April 7.

One of the most interesting candidates to seek political office in the state capital in some time, Guerra has gone from farmworker kid, to college student living out of his car, to student body president at Sacramento State, to an advanced degree, a sought-after job, a home, family and a community where he is a budding leader.

“From where I was to middle class in less than a generation, “ Guerra said. “Where else can you do that?”

Guerra could become the first Latino elected to the Sacramento City Council in nearly 20 years, but that designation sells him short.

Failed Drug War in Mexico and the U.S.

Can You Say "Blowback" in Spanish? 

http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/175971/

Portside Date: 

March 30, 2015

Author: 

Rebecca Gordon

 Sunday, 

They behead people by the hundreds. They heap headless, handless bodies along roadsides as warnings to those who would resist their power. They have penetrated the local, state, and national governments and control entire sections of the country. They provide employment and services to an impoverished public, which distrusts their actual government with its bitter record of corruption, repression, and torture. They seduce young people from several countries, including the United States, into their murderous activities.
Is this a description of the heinous practices of the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria? It could be, but as a matter of fact it’s not. These particular thugs exist a lot closer to home. They are part of the multi-billion-dollar industry known as the drug cartels of Mexico. Like the Islamic State, the cartels' power has increased as the result of disastrous policies born in the U.S.A.
There are other parallels between IS and groups like Mexico's Zetas and its Sinaloa cartel. Just as the U.S. wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya fertilized the field for IS, another U.S. war, the so-called War on Drugs, opened new horizons for the drug cartels. Just as Washington has worked hand-in-hand with and also behind the backs of corrupt rulers in Central Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa, so it has done with the Mexican government. Both kinds of war have resulted in blowback -- violent consequences felt in our own cities, whether at the finish line of the Boston Marathon or in communities of color across the country.
In Mexico, the U.S. military is directly involved in the War on Drugs. In this country, that "war" has provided the pretext for the militarization of local police forces and increased routine surveillance of ordinary people going about their ordinary lives.
And just as both the national security state and the right wing have used the specter of IS to create an atmosphere of panic and hysteria in this country, so both have used the drug cartels' grotesque theater of violence to justify their demonization of immigrants from Latin America and the massive militarization of America’s borderlands.
The War in Mexico
If there was an official beginning to Mexico's war on drugs, it would have to be considered the election of Felipe Calderón as the country’s president in 2006. The candidate of the right-wing Partido Acción Nacional, the National Action Party (PAN), Calderón was only the second Mexican president in 70 years who did not come from the Partido Revolucionario Institucional, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). His predecessor, Vicente Fox, had been the first.

Vote Eric Guerra on April 7

Eric has the endorsement of Los Rios College Federation of Teachers, the California Nurses Association, the Sacramento Progressive Alliance, and more. 

One of My Priorities for District 6 -- Safe Streets, Safe Neighborhoods

Fight to ensure all District 6 neighborhoods receive their fair share of public safety funding.

Ensure that Measure U funds are spent wisely to increase and strengthen our police force and fire department.

Reinstate community policing like the POPS Program.

Work with neighborhood associations to strengthen and grow community visibility and our neighborhood watch programs.

‪#‎VoteEricGuerra‬ ‪#‎VoteApril7‬ ‪#‎District6‬

For those who live in City Council District 6.
On this Cesar Chavez Day I would like to thank the Sacramento State College Assistance Migrant Program that helped me transition from farmworker to the middle class. 
From the Sacramento Bee editorial supporting Guerra:

Guerra, 36, has an impressive résumé, too. He has served as a California State University trustee, and on the Sacramento County Planning Commission for five years, the last two as chairman. He was a fellow in the office of then-state Sen. Gil Cedillo of Los Angeles, and is a policy analyst for Assemblyman David Chiu of San Francisco, a part-time job that Guerra says gives him the flexibility to be a councilman.

Why Mexican Farmworkers Are On Strike

Sonali Kolhatkar

March 26, 2015    Truthdig

As many as 50,000 mostly indigenous workers have stopped harvesting produce for more than a week in protest of labor law violations. What they want is for their basic needs to be met, such as obtaining health care, getting overtime pay and vacation days, and being paid wages higher than the dismal $8 a day that most of them earn.



A farmworker holds his knife before beginning work near Holtville, Calif., earlier this year. The Mexican strike is big news among farmworker communities in the U.S. with ties to Mexico., AP / Gregory Bull,

The green Driscoll’s label on the organic berries that I buy each week are a comforting symbol of a family-owned company that got its start in California. Sometimes the berries are marked “Product of USA,” but more often than not, they are labeled as originating in Mexico. That is because Reiter Affiliated Cos., which sells berries through its affiliate BerryMex under the Driscoll’s label, grows much of its produce in Mexico. On its website Reiter claims to be “the largest fresh, multi-berry producer in the world and the leading supplier of fresh strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries in all of North America.” Now, the farmworkers picking many of those berries are on strike, demanding a change to the brutally impoverished conditions under which they live.