Hazy Days Are Here Again

Hazy Days Are Here Again

by C.A. Matthews

Hazy days are here again—

Smoky skies and tears to lend

The environment is screwed my friend!

Hazy days are here again!

(*Sung to the tune of Happy Days Are Here Again)

 

If you don’t think it's possible to write an article incorporating a climate catastrophe story along with the opening bell of an alternative party presidential run story, then you have another thing coming to you! It’s also includes poorly written filks of old tunes as segues. (Sorry about that, but they just seem to fit.) 

In the news climate-wise, people in New York City were forced to give up breathing this past week due to particulate pollution caused by Canadian wildfires. The Air Quality Index (AQI) in parts of Brooklyn reached 484 — nearly double San Francisco’s highest hourly reading during California’s 2020 fire season. And it wasn’t just New Yorkers who were gasping for air. The smoky haze and micro-particulate clouds covered skies from Illinois to Ohio to Pennsylvania to South Carolina to New York State to Maine… In fact, just about everybody east of the Mississippi experienced horrible air quality indices this week.

Who cares though, right? Breathing is for sissies! We're told that unhealthy AQIs can cause serious health issues for vulnerable populations such as asthmatics and those with COPD as well as children and the elderly. But what’s more important—keeping poor working class people alive or growing sociopathic billionaires’ bank accounts? You know which group is more important to please for those idiots in Washington DC and in your own statehouse, don’t you? For your sake, I hope you do.

 

The fossil fuel industry takes no responsibility for causing a build up of carbon monoxide in the atmosphere due to the polluting by-products which come from combustion engines and coal-fueled power plants. It’s not like carbon monoxide and other gases have caused the so-called “greenhouse effect” that bring on heatwaves and dry up the forests of North America. No, not at all. It’s just coincidence that record breaking spring temperatures this year occurred. In no way could they have helped to spontaneously ignite tender-dry forests that have continued to burn unabated for weeks now. Pure coincidence.

It’s also pure coincidence that my garden in Northwest Ohio hasn’t seen a speck of rain in over 21 days—setting a dry spell record that is unheard of in the Midwest since the “Dust Bowl” era of the 1930s. The brown, hazy skies and dry winds that smell like a permanent bonfire have only caused me to reach for my emergency inhaler a dozen times this week. 

Well, who doesn’t need to quit breathing from time to time? The tears streaming down my face from my smoke-irritated eyes can go a long ways in filling our bone-dry rain barrels, too.

If you’re thinking I’m being facetious, think again. Between the millions who are still suffering from the lasting effects of COVID-19 and this recent air quality disaster, who knows just how many Americans have or will suffer a debilitating illness that could disable them for life? The time to take action to eliminate the use of fossil fuels and other polluting methods to generate power isn’t today—it was yesterday. In fact:

A new study by 50 leading scientists conducted to supplement the “information gap” between Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports said global greenhouse gas emissions have soared to a record high and are threatening to push our planet into “unprecedented” global heating.

Which leads me to the next story…

Oh, hazy day! Oh, hazy day!

When Cornel West… came to show us the way!

(*Sung to the tune of Oh, Happy Day)

Cornel West at BGSU in 2017

This next story is one that has captured the focus of many a leftist thinker. Dr. Cornel West, academic, philosopher, and former Bernie Sanders delegate to the DNC, has announced that he is running for the presidency in 2024. The biggest controversy at the start of his candidacy is that Dr. West has stated he is running as a People’s Party (MPP) candidate. He’s not running as a Green Party candidate or as an independent but as a candidate for an alternative party that barely exists.

To say this has caused an explosion of conversation and cursing in online forums where Lefties hang out is an understatement. Dr. West’s decision to go with the MPP is being questioned on several levels. Does he realize that the MPP doesn’t have ballot access (or even statewide organizations) in more than a handful of states? Would he be open to becoming a “fusion candidate” that several left-leaning alternative parties such as the Green Party US would be glad to nominate, thus giving him broader ballot access and more experienced organizers? Chris Hedges has said he’d speak to his good friend about switching to the Green Party. Could we see a West/Hedges 2024 ticket? We’ll see.

UPDATE: Chris Hedges did talk to Dr. West and he has decided to run as a Green after all! The West campaign website doesn't reflect this recent change in Dr. West's plans yet, so please be patient.

It’s early days so Dr. West has time to change his mind about running, or he could simply switch his choice in a party and run in one with less controversy attached to it. The MPP has fallen apart (in spite of its auspicious start with West, Nina Turner, Paula Jean Swearingen and other big names supporting it) because of sexual harassment and financial misuse charges brought against its current chair and founder Nick Brana. One would hope Dr. West would address the harassment mess and that Brana would step down so West could run without being associated with any nasty business.

Dr. West is a decent and compassionate human being. He might actually believe the voting public will look past the inadequacies of the People’s Party and concentrate on his message. One would hope that proves true, but for now… The discussions and debates continue online. (UPDATE: Even with Chris Hedges talking Cornel West into running as a Green, things are still relatively up in the air and the discussions are ongoing. You're not going to please everyone, in other words!)

West posing with friends in 2017 (photo by author)

 

To draw these seemingly radically different stories together—hazy, polluted skies and Cornel West running for office—I’d like to posit that only a presidential candidate of Dr. West’s moral caliber would do anything worthwhile to end the reign of the fossil fuels oligarchs and help put our ailing planet back on a path toward wholeness.

My reasoning? The duopolists take millions of dollars yearly from capitalists who don’t care about the health of the people or our Earth. (I suppose these rich types expect a ticket on Musk’s or Bezos’ rocket to their “Elysium” in space once they’ve destroyed our world.) Leftists candidates like Dr. West would more than likely put the fates of the poor and working classes before the billionaires’ bank accounts.  

During a Cornel West administration, we’d probably see action taken to convert our energy grid from dirty to clean energy sources, along with punitive measures taken against capitalists who don’t cooperate in these lifesaving measures. That’s why it’s imperative those who care about their lungs, their family members’ lungs, and the health of the entire planet leave the duopolists’ ranks and join with independent thinkers to destroy the corrupt, planet-killing system currently in power. 

With cleaner skies, the end of wars for oil, health care for all guaranteed, civil rights assured for the people, we’ll be singing:

Roll out those non-hazy, crazy, lazy days of summer!

(*And you thought I was done with the filks? That’s what a lack of clean air gets you. Bwahaha!)

 

Related Articles and Links of Interest:

Our first meeting in person with Cornel West was back in 2017 at a lecture he gave at Bowling Green State University: https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2017/01/justice-is-what-love-looks-like-in.html

Cornel West Discusses His Presidential Campaign https://www.blackagendareport.com/cornel-west-discusses-his-presidential-campaign

Cornel West 2024 website: https://www.cornelwest24.com/

Sabby Sabs: Cornel West Joins... (video) https://www.youtube.com/live/xH434-Ze5Jk

As Canada Burns, Docs Reveal Oil Giant Weighed In on Government Carbon  https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/11/as-canada-burns-docs-reveal-oil-giant-weighed-in-on-government-carbon-plan/

NYC Officials Knew Wildfire Smoke Was Coming But Did Little to Protect Residents  https://truthout.org/articles/nyc-officials-knew-wildfire-smoke-was-coming-but-did-little-to-protect-residents/

New York City Skyrockets To World’s Most Polluted City
https://popularresistance.org/new-york-city-skyrockets-to-worlds-most-polluted-city/

Deadly wildfire smoke spreads across much of northeast US
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/06/09/imyu-j09.htm

New York Reports Worst Air Quality in the World as Smoke Creeps Along the Coast https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/08/new-york-reports-worst-air-quality-in-the-world-as-smoke-creeps-along-the-coast/

As New York Skies Darken, Delivery Workers Help Each Other
https://popularresistance.org/as-new-york-skies-darken-delivery-workers-help-each-other/

Over 115 million across US and Canada choked by smoke as massive wildfires burn out of control https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/06/08/misv-j08.html

Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reach Record High https://popularresistance.org/global-greenhouse-gas-emissions-reach-record-high/ 

Canada’s wildfire season off to record start, with fires burning in the East, West and Far North  https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/06/06/zrbv-j06.html

Requiem for Our Species https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/requiem-for-our-species

Norfolk Southern seeks to have lawsuits dismissed over derailment, toxic chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/06/07/epal-j07.html

Julian Assange Dangerously Close to Extradition Following High Court Rejection of Appeal https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/08/uk-julian-assange-dangerously-close-to-extradition-following-high-court-rejection-of-appeal/

Cornel West: Running for President, Ending Ukraine War & Taking on “Corporate Duopoly” of Dems & GOP (video)
https://youtu.be/wW2iPjaJ-Js 

Hurting the Democratic Party is essential for revolutionaries, & voting Cornel West is our best way to do this
https://rainershea.substack.com/p/hurting-the-democratic-party-is-essential

Dr. Cornel West Announces He is Running for President https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/dr-cornel-west-announces-he-is-running

BRICS New Development Bank de-dollarizing, adding Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe as members https://geopoliticaleconomy.substack.com/p/brics-new-development-bank-dollar-expansion

The war in Ukraine and the fight over raw materials
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/06/10/53c5-j10.html

Patrick Lawrence: First There Were Neo-Nazis, Then There Were No Nazis, Then There Were https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/06/patrick-lawrence-first-there-were-neo-nazis-then-there-were-no-nazis-then-there-were/

FBI helps Ukraine censor Twitter users and obtain their info, including journalists https://thegrayzone.com/2023/06/07/fbi-ukraine-twitter-users-including-journalists/

Durham ignores Clinton role, and new holes, in Russian hacking allegation https://mate.substack.com/p/john-durham-ignores-clinton-role

Journalism at War https://www.scottritterextra.com/p/journalism-at-war

High Court Denies Assange Right To Appeal
https://popularresistance.org/high-court-denies-assange-right-to-appeal/

Twitter Files Extra: How the World’s ‘No-Kidding Decision Makers’ Got Organized https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/07/twitter-files-extra-how-the-worlds-no-kidding-decision-makers-got-organized/

Senate Bill Calls for Investigation Into Indian Boarding Schools
https://truthout.org/articles/senate-bill-calls-for-investigation-into-indian-boarding-schools/

New Anti-transgender Laws Will Hurt Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Religious Expression https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/07/new-anti-transgender-laws-will-hurt-indigenous-peoples-rights-and-religious-expression/

Coming soon, the first book from The Revolution Continues blog:  The Little Red Book of Revolution

How can you get your e-copy? The easiest way is to subscribe to The Revolution Continues on Substack as a paying subscriber. Choose what level you'd like to subscribe at via the buttons on any post online at https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com

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More details to come. Power to the people!

Canceling Free Speech

 

Is this the end of protests?

If western governments need to keep ramping up censorship, propaganda and the persecution of journalists in order to defend western freedom and democracy, is it really freedom and democracy? And, is it worth defending? —Caitlin Johnstone

 

Canceling Free Speech

by C.A. Matthews

 

The best thing about being American, in my opinion, is The Bill of Rights. The best amendment in particular is the First Amendment and the part where it says that We the People have the right to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. But Americans can’t even depend on that bit anymore, and it sucks.

Thanks a lot, fascists!

If you don’t equate free speech with our right to assemble and protest, then perhaps this recent incident involving arresting the bail fundraisers for the Cop City (Weelaunee Forest) protesters  in Atlanta won’t upset you like it does me:

https://communitymovementbuilders.org/stop-cop-city/

Rights advocates warned Wednesday that the arrests of three board members of an Atlanta-based bail fund could mark the beginning of a new era in the United States’ treatment of peaceful protesters—one in which both demonstrators and those who support them are targeted by law enforcement.

...The Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Atlanta Police Department carried out the arrests of Marlon Scott Kautz, Savannah Patterson, and Adele Maclean of the Atlanta Solidarity Fund (ASF).

The group offers financial support to people who have been arrested for protesting, including the dozens of people who have been detained for resisting the development of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, also known by critics as Cop City—a $90 million police training facility that would take up 85 acres of publicly-owned forest. From ‘Behavior of a Fascist Police State’: Legal Aid Organizers Arrested After Backing Cop City

Atlantans can’t exercise their right of free speech to protest the building of a “Murder Academy” on the one remaining piece of virgin forest in their region. They’ll risk arrest if they do, and then their compatriots will be arrested when they raise funds to bail the original protesters out of jail. Our government says murder by cops is okay, but the bailing out of peaceful protesters isn’t to be allowed and those who do bail them out risk being locked up as well.

So much for the First Amendment!

The fact of the matter is that free speech has been weaponized. (Read Weaponizing Free Speech for a sample or two of what I mean.) Anyone expressing an opinion that isn’t sanctioned by the status quo can expect to be censored, arrested, charged and/or thrown into jail without even the possibility of being bailed out.

To this black mark on the First Amendment and The Bill of Rights I say: God bless America! Let “freedom” ring! (Yeah, right. *cough, cough*)

We’re living in an era of “Cancel Culture.” Free speech isn’t seen so much as a right as a suggestion. If what you say doesn’t upset the powers-that-be and their sycophants and paid trolls, you’re okay, but don’t you dare express an opinion they don’t like. Oh no. They can't have critical thinkers who can read between the lines, can they?

This fascistic outlawing of protesters is not just happening in the US—it’s a worldwide phenomenon. A recent video from The Juice Media out of Australia demonstrates just how inventive a “Five-Eyes democracy” can be when it comes to squashing voices of dissent.

 

youtu.be/kecnSHmznic  

This short video says it well. You don’t like something your government is doing (or allowing a big corporation to do) and you and your friends get out in the streets to protest it—you’ll wind up in jail and totally bankrupt. “Cool and normal” as the Aussies say. That phrase translates to roughly, “Bend over and take it,” in American English. 

Freedom of speech and freedom of assembly have been effectively canceled. God bless… the fascists, or so it seems.

Persons of conscience are being forced into making one of two difficult choices: Go along with whatever those in charge of our “democracy” tell you is “correct thinking” nowadays and shut up, or if you can’t “love it” you're told to “leave it.”

But where can we go? More importantly, why should we be forced from our homes because fascists desire endless wars for oil and want us to cooperate with the immoral death machine, a.k.a. the Military-Industrial Complex? Don’t we lovers of peace and harmony deserve to live here as much as the warmongers? 

God bless... those who don't believe the lies.  

The West sure loves to brag about its love of “freedom and democracy” and its “free press,” but it sure doesn’t act like it gives a flying Flag Day about them. Without independent journalists and media outlets, we wouldn’t have known about the jailing of the Atlanta protesters and their bail bond funders. Without the indies' reportage, we wouldn’t know about the US national security apparatus funding and endorsing coups d’etat around the globe, would we?

Journalists of integrity are fast becoming a rare and endangered species. They find themselves harassed and threatened with prison. Journalist Matt Taibbi did after his Congressional committee testimony concerning the Twitter Files. (Read Digital McCarthyism about how Taibbi was called a “so-called journalist” by members of Congress.) Reporters Veronica Coit and Matilda Bliss in North Carolina were actually arrested and charged with trespassing while covering the eviction of homeless people in Asheville’s Aston Park. During their trial, Judge James Calvin Hill refused to acknowledge their press status or that this was a First Amendment case. He found the duo guilty. In his decision, Judge Hill stated, “They may be journalists, but there was no evidence provided to the court that they are journalists.”

American reporter Gonzalo Lira is now sitting in a Ukrainian jail because of his in-depth coverage of the war in Ukraine. When asked if the US government would help free Lira, a government spokesperson wouldn’t say if US officials would even consider asking their Ukrainian counterparts for his release. Our so-called “representatives” are okay with letting a journalist rot in jail. 

No precedence there, is there? 

Meanwhile in the UK, journalists can find themselves treated like terrorists, grilled for hours, and their computer devices taken. This is what happened to The Grayzone’s Kit Klarenburg.

As soon as journalist Kit Klarenberg landed in his home country of Britain on May 17, 2023, six anonymous plainclothes counter-terror officers detained him. They quickly escorted him to a back room, where they grilled him for over five hours about his reporting for this outlet. They also inquired about his personal opinion on everything from the current British political leadership to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. From British police detain journalist Kit Klarenberg, interrogate him about The Grayzone

Aw...the smell of “freedom and democracy” wafting in on the early summer’s air! It covers over the stench of those pesky truth-telling reporters like Kit, Gonzalo, Veronica, Matilda, and Matt. Kit might even find himself locked up at Belmarsh Prison with fellow truth-seeker Julian Assange if a judge decides he's “not a journalist.” I sincerely hope not.

God bless... independent voices who keep reporting what's really happening in the world in spite of threats from the fascist state.

This summer isn’t particularly a good time of the year for me. It’s not that I don’t enjoy sunshine and picnics, because I do. It’s just that I’m not that into American “patriotic holidays” like Memorial Day, Flag Day, or the Fourth of July. There’s not much to celebrate when your mind connects these holidays with endless wars for American hegemony, senseless killing for profits, and locking up persons who protest violence and report on war. Others simply associate these holidays with hot dog eating contests, fireworks, parades, and apple pie, but I just can't anymore. 

There’s little joy to be found in any patriotic holiday pretending to be supportive of our First Amendment rights like free speech and freedom of assembly while our so-called “elected representatives" are ripping those very rights out of the people's hands. The fascists in power have ruined things for me. I honestly can’t see myself wearing red, white, and blue and waving a little flag while watching an Independence Day parade ever again.  

I just can’t, knowing what I know. I can’t approve of the evil status quo hiding behind those once sacred symbols of the flag and The Bill of Rights. I’ll have to find myself another holiday to celebrate this time of year.

I know… Happy Bastille Day!

Related Articles and Other Insightful Links:

Honest Government Ad | Anti Protest Laws (SA) https://youtu.be/kecnSHmznic

The Crushing of Free Press Continues https://www.youtube.com/live/ggZHodvFu50

The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker https://pressfreedomtracker.us/

If the Police Can Decide Who Qualifies as a Journalist, There Is No Free Press  https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/02/if-the-police-can-decide-who-qualifies-as-a-journalist-there-is-no-free-press/

British police detain journalist Kit Klarenberg, interrogate him about The Grayzone https://thegrayzone.com/2023/05/30/journalist-kit-klarenberg-british-police-interrogated-grayzone/

State Department Won’t Say If It’s Working to Free US Citizen Detained in Ukraine  https://scheerpost.com/2023/05/29/state-department-wont-say-if-its-working-to-free-us-citizen-detained-in-ukraine/

15 Reasons Why Mass Media Employees Act Like Propagandists https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/15-reasons-why-mass-media-employees

Authoritarianism Keeps Surging In Western "Free Democracies"
https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/authoritarianism-keeps-surging-in/comments

‘Behavior of a Fascist Police State’: Legal Aid Organizers Arrested After Backing Cop City https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/01/behavior-of-a-fascist-police-state-legal-aid-organizers-arrested-after-backing-cop-city-protesters/

Arrest Of Bail Fund Organizers In Atlanta Sets A Dangerous Precedent https://popularresistance.org/arrest-of-bail-fund-organizers-in-atlanta-sets-a-dangerous-precedent/

The Empire! "We're Coming For All Of You!" https://indienewsnetwork.substack.com/p/the-empire-were-coming-for-all-of/comments

Supremes Declare War on Wetlands https://scheerpost.com/2023/05/31/supremes-declare-war-on-wetlands/

Lee Camp: The Threat Of Dangerous Ideas And Why We Need Them (podcast) https://popularresistance.org/lee-camp-on-the-threat-of-dangerous-ideas-and-why-we-need-them/

Dozens of GoFundMe Users Seek Funds to Flee States Passing Transphobic Laws  https://scheerpost.com/2023/05/31/dozens-of-gofundme-users-seek-funds-to-flee-states-passing-transphobic-laws/

Nearly Half Of Earth’s Animal Species Are In Decline
https://popularresistance.org/study-nearly-half-of-earths-animal-species-are-in-decline/

Police Use Water Cannons, Mass Arrest At Extinction Rebellion Protest https://popularresistance.org/police-use-water-cannons-mass-arrest-at-extinction-rebellion-protest/

The War We’re Finally Allowed to See https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/01/patrick-lawrence-the-war-were-finally-allowed-to-see/

G7 Versus Diplomacy for Ukraine https://consortiumnews.com/2023/05/31/g7-versus-diplomacy-for-ukraine/

Drone attack on Moscow aims to escalate US-NATO war with Russia https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/05/31/furs-m31.html

China builds global alternative as US-led financial order decays
https://geopoliticaleconomy.substack.com/p/china-alternative-us-led-financial-order

FBI Reopens Assange Investigation https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/01/report-fbi-reopens-assange-investigation/

The Slow Ethnic Cleansing of Ein Samiya’s Bedouin Community
https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/01/the-slow-ethnic-cleansing-of-ein-samiyas-bedouin-community/ 

Weaponizing Free Speech https://continuousrev.blogspot.com/2023/04/weaponizing-free-speech.html

Digital McCarthyism https://continuousrev.blogspot.com/2023/03/digital-mccarthyism.html

Breaking News: Dr. Cornel West Announces He is Running for President https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/dr-cornel-west-announces-he-is-running

 

Coming soon, the first book from The Revolution Continues blog:  The Little Red Book of Revolution

How can you get your e-copy? The easiest way is to subscribe to The Revolution Continues on Substack as a paying subscriber. Choose what level you'd like to subscribe at via the buttons on any post online at https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com

More details to come. Power to the people!

The Unwelcoming Society

The Unwelcoming Society

by C. A. Matthews

When my mother first got off the ship in the United States of America, I wonder… Did she feel welcomed?

It was right before the start of the second World War. Mom had lived in Brazil all of her young life. Now, her parents thrust her into a strange, new world full of different people, weather, flora and fauna. Being scolded by her mother to “speak only English,” she soon lost the ability to converse in Portuguese, remembering only snatches of songs and nursery rhymes in later years. Mom learned that she had to speak English only because now she was American, for better or worse.

Nowadays, it almost always seems to be “for the worse” whenever an immigrant attempts to enter the US. They may be desperate to escape persecution and violence in their home country, but once they arrive in the US or at its border, their fears not only aren’t relieved—they’re often magnified.

I wrote about the end of the infamous Title 42 program and the new Biden Asylum-Transit ban a couple of months ago in The New Title 42. The mainstream media’s continual emphasis on the urban myth of the US southern border becoming inundated with immigrant hordes after the pandemic ban was lifted has not happened. However, the re-traumatization of asylum-seekers seeking safety has just begun.

How welcoming is that?

From the terrorists masquerading as Customs Border Patrol agents at our borders, to the outright Jim Crow decrees from our state legislatures, it can’t get much more unwelcoming in the United States of America in the year 2023 CE. If you think I’m kidding, get a load of this:

A group of Chinese citizens who live, work, study, and raise families in Florida, as well as a real estate brokerage firm in Florida that primarily serves clients of Chinese descent, are filing a lawsuit to combat Florida’s discriminatory property law, SB 264. Signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, the legislation unfairly restricts most Chinese citizens — and most citizens of Cuba, Venezuela, Syria, Iran, Russia, and North Korea — from purchasing homes in the state. Unless the courts act, the law will take effect on July 1, 2023…

Today’s lawsuit argues that SB 264 will codify and expand housing discrimination against people of Asian descent in violation of the Constitution and the Fair Housing Act. It will also cast an undue burden of suspicion on anyone seeking to buy property whose name sounds remotely Asian, Russian, Iranian, Cuban, Venezuelan, or Syrian. 

Gov. DeSantis has argued that this law is necessary to protect Florida from the Chinese Communist Party and its activities. But this misguided rationale unfairly equates Chinese people with the actions of their government, and there is no evidence of national security harm resulting from real estate ownership by Chinese people in Florida. From Chinese Immigrants Sue Florida Over Unconstitutional, Discriminatory Law

This horrible law brings to mind the first immigration law passed in the United States, The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882:

From 1882 until 1943, most Chinese immigrants were barred from entering the United States. The Chinese Exclusion Act was the nation's first law to ban immigration by race or nationality. All Chinese people--except travelers, merchants, teachers, students, and those born in the United States--were barred from entering the country. Federal law prohibited Chinese residents, no matter how long they had legally worked in the United States, from becoming naturalized citizens… The Geary Act, passed in 1892, required Chinese aliens to carry a residence certificate with them at all times upon penalty of deportation. Immigration officials and police officers conducted spot checks in canneries, mines, and lodging houses and demanded that every Chinese person show these residence certificates. --From Digital History

We’re really come a long, long way in the good ol’ US of A, haven’t we?

Working in immigration advocacy, I am always shocked at how woefully ignorant most Americans are of how poorly we treat and have treated immigrants. Consider this sobering fact: It wasn’t until the middle of America’s involvement in World War II (1943) that Chinese-American persons—people of Chinese ancestry, born and raised in families that had lived for several generations in the US—were allowed to become naturalized citizens.

Just because your last name was Li or Chin, and it wasn’t Smith or Schmidt, you couldn’t vote even though you were born in the US, went to school all your life in the US, and raised your own family in the US. You and your children weren’t entitled to any benefits of citizenship simply because your ancestors were born far, far away, across a big, wide ocean. Funny how those “Smiths” and “Schmidts” whose ancestors also came across an ocean were able to claim US citizenship and vote without any problems, though.

Wonder what the big difference is between these two groups, persons of European ancestry and those of Asian ancestry? Hmm... Do you think it has anything to do with their skin color perhaps?

And you think the Chinese had (and still have) it bad? When did American Indians become US citizens? Their ancestors have dwelt on the North American continent for tens of thousands of years, but most who live within the boundaries of the USA were not able to call themselves American citizens until… No, not 1776 or 1865, but 1924. It actually took until the second decade of the twentieth century for Native Americans to be considered “American.” 

Now, convince me just how “welcoming” American society is if it can't even acknowledge the original inhabitants of this continent or keep any of the treaties it made with their leaders. I'll wait.

The US is so “welcoming” that we don't even believe that having enough food to eat is a human right. Imagine that! We voted against that proposal in the United Nations, of all places. That attitude certainly goes a long way in explaining our homeless and hunger problems, doesn't it? It's not that Americans can't feed and house our own people, it's that we don't want to.

But it isn’t always about race and ethnicity in the US when it comes to being unwelcoming. Senator Rick Scott (another Floridian) this past week has decided that those who are professed “socialists” aren’t welcome in his state. This announcement has really put a crimp in my vacation plans. I wanted to go south and visit my aunt, uncle and cousins in Florida, along with my sister and brother-in-law who recently retired there. Senator Scott says he doesn’t want any of my no-good socialist money in his state. It’s not good enough for the likes of Florida, like Chinese people’s money isn't, or Cubans’, or Venezuelans’, Syrians’, Iranians’, Russians’, and North Koreans’ money.

If you are trans or non-binary, you’re not wanted in the Sunshine State, either. It’s almost as if your gender identification is seen as a contagious disease. Give Florida its due—they’re racist, fascistic, and terrified of people who don’t meet their expectations of what a boy or a girl is supposed to be like. You could call it “Equal Opportunity Bigotry.”

I know it’s not only the state of Florida that has passed these prejudiced decrees recently, but it is the perfect example of evil in action. Florida is full of hateful opportunists who are riding a wave of terror of “otherness” and hoping to make a profit while doing so. Look at what color Florida is on this map and what it stands for:

It's nothing to be proud of, in my opinion. I wouldn't be planning a vacation to Disney World or Universal Studios, in other words, unless you're a raving homophobic/transphobic, anti-Asian, anti-socialist. Then, by all means, go right ahead! (Just don't bother to return home. We can isolate all you bigots in Florida with a simple “border wall” at the top of the peninsula. We don't want your kind of “immigrant” in our states.)

A year ago, it was all “Hate the Russians! Love Zelensky! Who needs to spend billions on universal health care when America can spend it on the military-industrial complex and make our Congress members with insider stock trading deals richer!” And soon it will be, “Stop eating Chinese food and hate the Chinese! We’re at war with China over… over...”  

Gee, I forget! Why is the US mad at China? Is it because the have decent reserves of lithium? Silicon chip manufacturing? Or because they’ve been trying to bring about a diplomatic end to the conflict in Ukraine, saving lives and ending the madness in the process?  

It doesn’t take much to start a hate campaign against another country or ethnic or racial or political or gender group in the US. I sure wish our so-called “leaders” could do something to stop all this hate-mongering and sit down like rational adults and work out their differences with others in the best interest of every living thing on the planet before a nuclear war breaks out. (And no, corporations aren’t people, so they don’t count as “living things.”)

You could say that I’m just more than a little tired of the United States leading the way in all this worldwide nastiness; aren’t you?

The initials “US” are very appropriate. The initials “US” can also stand for the “Unwelcoming Society.” It's what we've become—or perhaps we've always been this way? It's time we stopped and took steps to reverse this horrid trend, don't you think?

 

Related Articles and Articles of Interest

Digital History: The Chinese Exclusion Act https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3291

Chinese Immigrants Sue Florida Over Unconstitutional, Discriminatory Law https://popularresistance.org/chinese-immigrants-sue-florida-over-unconstitutional-and-discriminatory-law/

ICE, Homeland Security Accused Of Targeting Outspoken Migrant Worker For Deportation https://scheerpost.com/2023/05/27/ice-homeland-security-accused-of-targeting-outspoken-migrant-worker-for-deportation/

Afghan families traverse most of Latin America to seek asylum at the US border https://theworld.org/stories/2023-05-17/afghan-families-traverse-most-latin-america-seek-asylum-us-border

Why are these Afghan refugees still stuck in limbo? https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2023/05/24/two-years-after-us-withdrawal-afghan-refugees-still-stuck-in-limbo/ 

Dozens of GoFundMe Users Seek Funds to Flee States Passing Transphobic Laws  https://scheerpost.com/2023/05/31/dozens-of-gofundme-users-seek-funds-to-flee-states-passing-transphobic-laws/ 

Target Accused of “Selling Out the LGBTQ+ Community to Extremists”  https://scheerpost.com/2023/05/27/target-accused-of-selling-out-the-lgbtq-community-to-extremists-after-pulling-pride-merchandise/

 

Many transgender health bills came from a handful of far-right interest groups https://apnews.com/article/transgender-health-model-legislation-5cc4a7cb4ab69150f670d06fd0f361ab

About Quislings
https://popularresistance.org/about-quislings/

East Palestine, 100 Days Later
https://scheerpost.com/2023/05/25/east-palestine-100-days-later/

US Troops To Train Peruvian Armed Forces, Proves US Behind Coup  https://popularresistance.org/us-troops-to-train-peruvian-armed-forces-proves-us-behind-coup/

$1.1 Trillion Was Spent On Militarism And War Last Year
https://popularresistance.org/new-report-1-1-trillion-or-62-of-the-federal-discretionary-budget-was-spent-on-militarism-and-war-last-year/

 

Washington-Insider Jeffrey Sachs on US Provoking Ukraine War | SYSTEM UPDATE https://youtu.be/kU7UzrJeX6E

Ukraine: Why Negotiations Are the Only Rational Option in the Face of Climate https://scheerpost.com/2023/05/25/ukraine-why-negotiations-are-the-only-rational-option-in-the-face-of-climate-chaos-and-nuclear-dangers/

 

Yes, Those Bioweapons Labs in Ukraine are a Real Thing

https://joebrunoli.substack.com/p/yes-those-bioweapons-labs-in-ukraine-are-a-real-thing-fad3785f3818

Media's Complete U-Turn After Russia Wins Bakhmut
https://youtu.be/O3kr4ZZl5FA

Fossil Fuel Companies Owe $5.4 Trillion In Reparations, Study Says
https://popularresistance.org/fossil-fuel-companies-owe-5-4-trillion-in-reparations-study-says/

10 Years After Snowden: Some Things Are Better, Some We’re Still Fighting For https://scheerpost.com/2023/05/23/10-years-after-snowden-some-things-are-better-some-were-still-fighting-for/

The Democratic Party’s Crucifixion of Matt Taibbi https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-democratic-partys-crucifixion

Manufactured crisis over US debt ceiling sets stage for bipartisan assault on Social Security and Medicare https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/05/25/pers-m25.html 

Kissinger vs. ‘The Most Dangerous Man in America’ https://scheerpost.com/2023/05/28/kissinger-vs-the-most-dangerous-man-in-america/

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