OpEd

Will Republicans Hear Protests for Equal Voting Rights from Madison and Brown?

A quiet revolution in the Nation’s Capital has gained national attention as protestors are risking their lives to ensure voting rights. It’s a movement that calls for Congress to pass and President Biden to sign the Freedom to Vote Act or the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.

National radio talk show host and human rights activist Joe Madison announced on November 8 that he would launch a hunger strike and “abstain from eating any solid food” on November 22 to press for passage of the bill that would restore parts of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, including protections minority voters.

Voting rights advocates want to see rulings made by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013 and last July reversed. They want states and other jurisdictions to obtain preclearance before changes to voting practices can take effect and they are calling for the removal of limits on minority participation in the voting process.

The bill passed the House of Representatives in July but it was stalled in the Senate in November by Republicans who blocked it from proceeding to debate. Only one Republican, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, reportedly voted in favor of allowing the bill to proceed to debate.

“Hunger strikes have been used as a means of political protest as long as there have been politics and resistance,” Madison, 72, announced on his Sirius XM broadcast. “It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, with my background in human and civil rights, that I have chosen this form of dissent for what I believe should be a redress for what is just plain politically and morally wrong,”

U.S. Senator Michael D. Brown this week launched a hunger strike of his own to support Madison but to also bring attention to D.C. statehood. “As the ground swell for national voting rights expands, I want to make sure that D.C. statehood is not lost in the push for voter rights protection,” Brown said. He is asking supporters to join him for a one-day a week fast for freedom. He said he plans to fast on Mondays.

The irony of the moment is how strongly a few feel and are willing to go for the rights of others – in this case, voting rights. Neither Madison nor Brown, 68, can afford a hunger strike due to the stress it will place on their bodies. While neither of them are new to protests, their decision to refrain from eating life sustaining food should embolden others to join the fight using any means necessary in order to get Congress to hear how important voters feel about protecting the right to vote.

We can’t say whether this cause is worth dying for to those willing to take the risk but we can tell legislators that the lives of these and other passionate warriors rest in their hands. They have committed not to eat until legislators do the right thing for voting rights and D.C. statehood.

WI

Pearl Harbor, 80 Years Later, Still a Haunting Memory and Reason to Honor Veterans

While most of us only remember Dec. 7, 1941 from our history lessons, there remain a small cadre of men and women who actually recall that horrific day and what followed. They were on the frontline.

But to put it into perspective, for those who were alive 80 years ago, whether they were members of the military or civilians, the shocking news of an attack on U.S. soil by a foreign power stunned Americans as much as the 9/11 attacks did to U.S. citizens in more recent history.

After Japan launched a surprise attack on a U.S. naval base in Hawaii, America was forced to retaliate by entering World War II. As he issued a nationwide call to arms, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed the event and day as a “date that will live in infamy.”

Eighty years later, Americans held special ceremonies in Hawaii, in Washington, D.C. and in cities big and small on Tuesday, Dec. 7 to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the attack.

In just a matter of hours, the death toll would escalate in breathtaking proportion, climbing to a total of 2,335 killed including 2,008 navy personnel, 109 marines, 218 army soldiers and 68 civilians, making the total count of fatalities 2,403 people.

I can’t say that I am too concerned about the Omicron variant but I wonder when all this madness will end. I genuinely think we, as a global society, took things like public health and safety for granted before COVID-19 and I truly hope we’ve learned our lesson as this disease continues to cause so many deaths.

Resilane Tarper Washington, DC

TO THE EDITOR

I thoroughly enjoyed Kemet’s Space Activity Sheet. I learned a good bit of information and it was a nice break from the norm. I can’t wait to do the next one with my grandson. I believe it’s something he will not only benefit from but have fun with.

Charlene Reid Washington, DC

Like the 9/11 attacks, America had falsely believed prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, that we were somehow protected from the kind of battles that raged in countries like Europe. But we were wrong.

There’s nothing pretty about war even with the pomp and circumstance, the parades and the decorative uniforms worn by those who serve. Just ask the few remaining veterans, now mostly in their 90s, who survived Pearl Harbor and World War II.

For some, they will never be able to erase the images of devastation and death which engulfed them and cost many of their colleagues their lives. For others, the scars they carry serve as a constant reminder of the horrors of war, of that day in Dec. 1941 and the days, months and years which followed until the war’s end.

We owe the veterans of Pearl Harbor and World War II our gratitude. Without their service and sacrifice, America would be a very different country. In fact, we should be grateful to all of the men and women who have served or currently serve in the armed forces because of their willingness to pay the ultimate to protect our nation and to guarantee our freedom.

We salute you all!

WI

Guest Columnist

Julianne Malveaux

Consumerism is the Foundation of Predatory Capitalism

Our nation's gross domestic product (GDP) is a function of consumer spending. We are prodded, cajoled, enticed and engaged in the spending exercise, and all that happens because money makes the world go round. Between 65% and 75% of our GDP is based on consumer spending, which explains why in the wake of the economic meltdown of 2001 (post-9/11), then-President George W. Bush encouraged us to spend to spark an economic recovery.

Some of us spend, though, to our detriment. We spend because we want to keep up with the Jones family. We spend because we have been told that "everybody" has … a little black dress, a leather tote bag, the right cosmetic or perfume, and because that message is tossed at us relentlessly. We get email messages, Instagram messages, telephone reminders that the sale is going, going, gone. Don't worry. If you ignore the notes, they will come back tomorrow or the next day. Early Black Friday, delayed Black Friday, then Cyber Monday, and more.

Here's the bottom line: Capitalists want you to spend your money, and they want to capture your surplus value.

When a $100 sweater is marked down by 50%, understand that you aren't getting a deal. Retailers aren't giving stuff away. They aren't going to lose money; they'll lose profit. So if you get the $100 sweater for $50, believe me, that they've still captured the $30 they paid. So don't believe the hype, and don't go running for a "discount," which is more a hook to get you to spend money.

I'm the wrong one to write about this. I'm a consumer, just like you. I want to shower my friends and family with goodies. These days, I'd rather shower them with experiences and, if I must shop, I am shopping with Black-owned businesses. So check out #BuildBlack, #BuyBlack, #BankBlack, #BlackXmas. Grateful to LA Black Lives Matter co-founder Dr. Melina Abdullah for putting this out there. Our dollars can be a form of our resistance. We can't talk about the many ways we resist oppression while simultaneously supporting it with our spending. We can't go running after corporate dollars to support our events while giving them a pass on the ways they support structural racism. We absolutely must use this holiday as a way to withdraw from our cooperation with predatory capitalism.

What would happen if we withdrew our spending from this consumerism that masquerades as a holiday? While our economy would not crash and burn, retailers would undoubtedly feel it. What would happen if we shifted our spending to Black-owned businesses? We'd increase capacity in our communities. What would happen if, as BLM LA has suggested, we withdraw our spending from non-Black companies for the entire month of December? Or are we so addicted to consumerism — and especially majority consumerism — that we can't stop?

Our nation's economic viability

Guest Columnist

A. Peter Bailey

Black History Gifts Are Very Important for Black Children

During this gift-giving season, it's very important that serious Black parents provide their children with at least one gift that either introduces them to or broadens their knowledge of Black history. There is a reason why white supremacists in this country voraciously opposed the teaching of our history in schools. They are well aware that a people with a deep knowledge of their history are much more difficult to intimidate and control.

I was a young adult sophomore at Howard University before being introduced to Black history. The introducer was Dr. Harold Lewis, a brilliant professor who gave me one of the greatest gifts of my life by making me ready to later meet and learn from Black historians such as Dr. John Henrik Clarke, Harold Cruz and especially Brother Malcolm X.

Two of my favorite historical warriors are Martin Delany and John Mitchell Jr. I had never heard of them before Dr. Lewis' class. Brother Martin was what we call today a Pan-Africanist about whom Frederick Douglass is quoted as saying, "I thank God I was born a man; Martin thanks God he was born a Black man." He traveled to Africa where he spent most of his time there in what is now Nigeria and later recruited enslaved Africans to join the Union Army. Those Black warriors played a major role in the defeat of the confederate enslavers.

Brother John in the late 1800s was the founder and editor of a newspaper based in Richmond, Virginia. This paper, the Richmond Planet, was a strong opponent of the lynching of Black men by white males. At a time when lynching was almost a sport for white supremacists and racists, Brother John wrote that the best remedy for lynching "is a 16-shot Winchester rifle in the hands of a dead shot Negro who has nerve enough to pull the trigger."

These are just two Black historical warriors that our children need to study, learn from and act on since

Guest Columnist

Marc H. Morial

The Montgomery Bus Boycott Roused People to Demand Equal Rights

"There comes a time when people get tired of being trampled over by the iron feet of oppression. There comes a time, my friends, when people get tired of being plunged across the abyss of humiliation, where they experience the bleakness of nagging despair. There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the glittering sunlight of life's July and left standing amid the piercing chill of an alpine November. There comes a time." — Martin Luther King Jr., Dec. 5 1955, Address to the first Montgomery Improvement Association Mass Meeting

This week marks the anniversary of the first of the Mass Meetings that drove the strategy and spirit of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a foundational event in the civil rights movement.

My parents were active in the civil rights movement in Louisiana at the time, and their experiences illustrate how the Montgomery protests reverberated throughout the South, and also how New Orleans' distinctive history shaped racial issues there.

Even during slavery, New Orleans was home to a large community of free people of color, the gens de colour libre — many of whom had never been enslaved. Many were refugees from SaintDomingue — now Haiti — who fled the revolution.

As Jim Crow took over the south, many formerly enslaved people also flocked to Louisiana.

It was this class of free people of color who became the early civil rights activists, including Homer Plessy, whose parents were among those refugees from Haiti.

To quote my mother, Sybil Haydel Morial, in her memoir, "Witness to Change": "In many instances, including the landmark Plessy v. Ferguson case, Louisiana initiated important changes in civil rights thinking and activism. The significance of these events was often obscured because of the unusual, often subtle, way in which they developed."

Many Louisianans, both white and Black, were accustomed to accommodation in a way that was not yet acceptable in other parts of the South.

This is not to say Louisiana did not have its share of racial violence. In the 1960s, Bogalusa, Louisiana, was

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some of their positions are just as relevant today as they were in the mid to late 1800s. Other numerous warriors they need to be aware of include Mary McLeod Bethune, Nannie Helen Burroughs, Henry McNeal Turner, Paul Robeson and Fannie Lou Hamer whose contributions are included in books available in Black-owned institutions such as Sankofa in Washington, D.C. These are the kinds of gifts that will provide everlasting knowledge for our children.

WI

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This Chanukah, many in our communities are celebrating the Jewish festival of lights through happy gatherings and the warm glow of the menorah. While we revel in the joy of the holiday, we also remember that just a few years ago, attendees at a Prince George's County budget hearing were handed a flier with shockingly grotesque, vulgar, racist and antisemitic language. Then, just a couple of years later, residents in the nearby city of Laurel woke up to fliers on their lawns full of hate-filled messages about Jews.

When these incidents were reported, our hearts broke. How could it be that our beautiful, inclusive community could be home to such disgusting acts of hate?

Sadly, the answer comes as easily as the question. Antisemitism is the hatred of Jews, Judaism, and the Jewish state, and it has existed in various forms for thousands of years. As those incidents in our county prove — alongside shocking violence like the Pittsburgh synagogue murders and the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville — we are still living with antisemitism today, and it's actually been on the rise. In 2020, according to the FBI, 55% of all religiously motivated hate crimes were against Jews, who make up just 2% of the U.S. population. And the American Jewish Committee report, "The State of Antisemitism in America 2021," released in October, found one in every four American Jews surveyed had been targeted by antisemitism over the past year, and nearly four in 10 report changing their behavior for fear of being identified as Jewish, or for their safety or comfort as Jews.

As Pittsburgh and Charlottesville showed, antisemitism still exists as dangerous, violent acts — but also as fliers quietly left on lawns, and in "polite" conversation woven throughout our culture. What we must confront is not only the old-school antisemitism of the past; modern-day antisemitism shows up as anonymous hate speech on social media; or as blaming Jews for moments of societal instability; and, increasingly, as a denial of the right of Israel to exist or blaming Jews everywhere for the actions of the Israeli government.

Now it is up to us to come together and do something about it. Antisemitism isn't just a Jewish problem — it typically tracks with broader patterns of discrimination, progressions of violence and the fraying of democracy — a terrifying risk to us all. You may be wondering "what can I do?" — and the answer is there is plenty. Shine a Light, a national initiative to spotlight antisemitism, empowers people like you to open your eyes and speak up online, in your workplace, or in your

Guest Columnists

Del. Jazz Lewis and Alan Ronkin

Shining a Light on Antisemitism in Prince George's County

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Guest Columnist

Ben Jealous

Right-Wing Judges Put Millions' Rights and Access to Health Care at Risk

The political and legal movement to criminalize abortion in the U.S. is on the brink of its biggest victory in 50 years. Most at risk are those who are already among the most vulnerable in our country: Black and brown women and LGBTQ people who will be denied access to potentially lifesaving health care.

On Dec. 1, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of a Mississippi abortion ban. That law was written by a right-wing legal group. It was part of a long-term strategy to get the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that recognized that pregnant people have a constitutional right to make decisions about whether or not to terminate a pregnancy.

Groups that want to eliminate access to abortion like to describe themselves with terms like "pro-life" and "pro-family," but those are deceptive. If we eliminate access to family planning and abortion services, the health of millions will be compromised. Some will die needlessly. Their families and communities will suffer. The same groups call themselves "pro-freedom," but they are aggressively trying to restrict people's freedom to make decisions about their own health and families.

If you want a sense of how much parents' and children's health and well-being mean to backers of the abortion ban, take a look at Mississippi. When the state's previous governor signed the ban, he declared that he wanted to make Mississippi "the safest place in America for an unborn child." The current governor has used similar language, saying he made a commitment to God and to voters that he would do everything in his power to make Mississippi the safest place for an unborn child.

But what kind of commitments have these politicians made to children and their parents? When the Mississippi law was signed, the state ranked 50th in the health of women, 50th in the health of children, and 50th in the health of infants. It was the worst state for infant mortality. Things haven't changed much since then. Mississippi is also the state where Black people make up the biggest percentage of the population. During oral arguments at the Supreme Court, the attorney for the health clinic that challenged the law talked about a deadly reality: she noted that "it's 75 times more dangerous to give birth in Mississippi than it is to have a pre-viability abortion. And those risks are disproportionately threatening the lives of women of color." This is about political power and the corruption of our courts.

When Donald Trump ran for pres-

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Askia-At-Large

Askia Muhammad GOP 'Base' Really Wants Armageddon, Chaos

By every possible, by every imaginable, by every conceivable metric possible — digital, analog; stereo, mono; in living color, black and white; sweet, tart, savory; historic, astrological, meteorological — by every objective standard there is, it's evident for all to see, that this white, tribal enclave called USA, which imposed itself in the Western Hemisphere 500 years ago, is doomed. Doomed! Doomed! At the abyss! Headed for an imminent tragic demise.

What's more, it's the ultra-conservative, ultra-white nationalist, ultra-right-wing tribes (QAnon, Proud Boys, 3 Percenters, a hand full of folks called "patriots" and many more) who are hastening the destruction, because some of them think that the Armageddon they seek is a good thing. I think the better question is: "Which one will SURVIVE the War of Armageddon?" not who will WIN such a terrible conflict. It certainly won't be wicked, white America.

These cow-dung-crazy, white fanatics are on the march to first purify the Repugnikkkan Party of all free-thinking slackers like those who did not sign on to stealing the 2020 election with them, after their twice-impeached, one-term nominee got whipped at the polls. He got 7 million fewer votes and faced an Electoral College landslide against him, yet they tried to steal the election. And, they are still arguing a year later that their standard-bearer, a grifter with multiple bankruptcies and two dozen credible charges of sexual misconduct, and every other foul and disgusting conduct against him, should be President! With such a trampy and foul-smelling role model, it cheapens the office, making it almost worthless, except for celebrity-worshippers.

The GOP and its fanatical components are arranged with their love of guns, into a circular firing squad, yet despite their divisions they are odds-on favorites to whip their feckless opponents in the 2022 elections to control the House and the Senate, and in the 2024 presidential election. The poor, helpless Democrats have this special "baggage" they're carrying which is disadvantageous to their ability to rule in the U.S. That baggage is the aspirations of Black people and the world's dispossessed, and a commitment to the concept that all are truly created equal.

The Repugnikkkans have already won the majority of the White voters in the 2016 and 2020 elections. And

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