As Pentagon Papers whistle-blower Daniel Ellsberg says in our new video, “It was always a bad year to get out of Vietnam.” We need to make sure the same doesn’t happen with Afghanistan.
If we can raise $10,000.00 by Wednesday, Rethink Afghanistan and our partners at TrueMajority.org will buy a full-page in Politico telling Congress and the President that we want our combat troops out of Afghanistan by December 2011.
Tell your Senators to support struggling families.
The last time we checked, our economy hasn’t fully rebounded, state budgets are still in dire straits, too many families are living from paycheck to paycheck ― if they are lucky enough to have a paycheck at all ― and the health of too many families is at risk.
So we must ensure that our Senators support legislation that extends a lifeline to struggling families. We need legislation that allows jobless workers to continue their health insurance coverage through COBRA, supports funding for states to prevent families from losing Medicaid, and extends vital unemployment insurance benefits and cash assistance to low-income families through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.
RADICAL RIGHT — ARTISTS ASKED TO LIGHTEN SKIN COLOR ON ARIZONA MURAL AFTER COUNCILMAN STOKES RACIAL FEARS: “Nearly 500 people turned out Saturday to protest” changes to the skin color of a mural at an elementary school in Prescott, AZ. School officials recently asked the artists to “lighten the faces of the mural’s main subject,” a Hispanic boy. The school’s principal denied that his request has anything to do with race, saying he just wanted the artists to make the students “look happier and more excited,” and to “remove some shadowing that made the faces darker than they are.” But the mural, which depicts students using various forms of energy efficient transportation, attracted heated, racially based opposition early on in the mostly white town. R.E. Wall, the artist who heads the group that created the mural, told the Prescott Daily Courier that passersby regularly shouted racial slurs at his group as they worked, such as, “Get the ni—– off the wall,” “Get the sp– off the wall,” and, “You’re desecrating our school.” An article on the Courier’s website about the unveiling of the mural in late May attracted dozens of comments with racial undertones. Wall “attributes the start of the racial controversy to recent comments that Prescott City Councilman Steve Blair made” on his radio show. “I am not a racist,” Blair said last month in one of many segments on the mural, “but I will tell you depicting a black guy in the middle of that mural, based upon who’s President of the United States today and based upon the history of this community, when I grew up we had four black families. … I would have to ask the question, ‘Why?'” A school official said the “black guy” in the mural is actually a Hispanic student. Blair was fired last week from his radio show over the comments but he said he has no immediate plans to resign from the city council. Arizona recently passed a harsh new immigration law, which many believe will lead to racial profiling.
In Seattle, Wash., a white male teacher had an 8-year-old /Biracial American girl removed from the classroom. In most cases, children are removed for behavioral and disciplinary issues, which is clearly understandable and acceptable; however, this wasn’t the case here.
The teacher removed the girl, claiming her Afro was making him sick. Naturally, the father of the child, Charles Mudede, was extremely concerned after the incident, and, as a result, the girl, who was the only black child in the advanced-placement class, has missed two weeks of school.
The incident, which occurred at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School, was featured on KIRO-TV. The segment showed the hair product the girl used, Organic Root Stimulator’s Olive Oil Moisturizing Hair Lotion, as well as interviews with her mother and lawyer.
While the girl was eventually relocated to another class down the hall, the fact remains that such a decision could be made by a teacher alone, without the school contacting the parents directly — especially given the implications on the surface of a white teacher picking on a single black child as being the origin of his allergy. The NAACP stated that it will file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education.
The fact that a teacher would engage in such behavior is troublesome — especially in front of other students. If America is in a post racial period, it appears that “post” and “pre” may be synonymous. Teresa Wippel, school district representative, said, “We’re certainly concerned about the incident and are looking into it. … Our goal is to make sure the student returns to school. The parents have, so far, not wanted to put her back in school. They want to be sure everything is resolved to their satisfaction.”
We, as a people, have endured many centuries of being degraded just for our physical features. I understand the strength and pride that Charles Mudede is displaying with respect to this situation. I, too, am a parent, and teach my children that the way they speak and look and act makes me proud, and that they should maintain such fortitude when others cannot acknowledge what they see in themselves. –torrance stephens, ph.d.
For more with Dr. Stephens, visit twitter.com/rawdawgbuffalo and rawdagb.blogspot.com.
The Senate Convenes: 2pmET June 7, 2010 The Senate be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.
At 4:30pm, the Senate will proceed to Executive Session to consider the following nominations:
– #730, Audrey Fleissing, of Missouri, to be US District Judge for the Eastern District of MO
– #731, Lucy Koh, of California, to be US District Judge for the Northern District of CA
– #759, Jane Magnus-Stinson, of Indiana, to be US District Judge for the Southern District of IN
At 5:30pm, the Senate will proceed to vote on confirmation of the nominations in the order listed. After the first vote, the succeeding votes will be limited to 10 minutes each.
Votes:
5:30pm votes:
Votes: 177: Confirmation of Audrey Fleissing, of Missouri, to be US District Judge for the Eastern District of MO;
Confirmed: 90-0
178: Confirmation of Lucy Koh, of California, to be US District Judge for the Northern District of CA;
Confirmed: 90-0
Jane Magnus-Stinson, of Indiana, to be US District Judge for the Southern District of IN;
Confirmed by voice vote
Unanimous Consent:
Adopted S.Res.512, a resolution designating June 2010 as “National Aphasia Month” and supporting the efforts to increase awareness of aphasia
The next meeting in the House is June 8, 2010 2pmET
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