Third party blues

Confession time. I am a Libertarian. Yes, it's true...my party has absolutely NO chance of winning the 2008 Presidential election. Sigh. But I won't grouse. If you want to know what Libertarians stand for (besides legalizing marijuana, sheesh), check out the party site: http://www.lp.org/

Third parties get a raw deal in this country. Myself, I think we need a strong third party to challenge the sick bird that controls politics (one wing red, one wing blue, sharing a diseased, misguided body).

But that's grousing. Ahem. I hope you will join me in watching the first Democratic Presidential candidate debate tonight on MSNBC - 6 - 7:30 pm central time. My dad (a STAUNCH conservative Republican die-hard) thinks the only idea that will come of this debate is "it's all George Bush's fault."

Not sure how sound or logical that is, but we shall see. For all the pomp and circumstance of the Dems taking over both Houses of Congress, they really haven't done much - they are treading the political lake, hoping not to screw up so they can increase their chances for electability in '08. Think about it. If they were to take a strong stand on ANYTHING, the Republicans and right-leaning media would tear them apart. And in this age of "one wrong move and you're toast" a la the Howard Dean scream, no politician (no matter HOW good their ideas) is going to want to stick his or her head on the chopping block.

Power begets more power begets more power. And on, and on, and on.

Meanwhile, we the people are waving our arms desperately from shore, hoping anyone will give a shit enough to send over the life raft. Better wages, better health insurance access, more affordable everything, more say in what our elected leaders do. Alas. This government has become a bloated, inefficient, cold, calculating robot (think Terminator) with one goal in mind - become more bloated.

Barack Obama impresses me immensely, but is he for real? And more importantly, if he is really a good man with useful ideas and a plan of action, can he withstand the bloated political machine that spits out good people into the garbage heap of history? We shall see.

If you are brave enough to suffer through the canned sound bite responses, the meaningless promises, the endless "hopeful" but toothless rhetoric, the plying of warm fuzzies to gain your emotional support, I hope you consider watching these debates.

And then join a third party. Encourage your friends to do so too. Think about it. The only way we the people can regain control over the government is to FORCE change. In our current system, our options are a) take over by violence or b) take over by voting...and we don't really win with a blue or red candidate because they're all in cahoots. (Yes, I said cahoots. With a straight face.) Nominating a strong, sensible third party candidate has forced the two big parties to re-evaluate themselves in the past...it can happen again.

I dream of the day...

Time for a conversation about class

Of all the issues raised by the Virginia Tech massacre, there is one underlying issue that everyone seems to be ignoring. Class. The gunman's video, rambling and sometimes incoherent though it is, focuses on class - class differences, class expectations, class conflict.

Why is nobody talking about this? America's dirty little secret, eh? We have class tension in this country...and we are collectively in denial.

This tragedy is unforgivable and there is plenty of blame to go around - the gunman himself (of course), the university administration for their inaction, the girls who were stalked by this creep and then didn't press charges, the judge who declared Cho a danger to himself. But underlying all of this is class.

It is time we Americans started talking about class in a meaningful way. The rich very often do treat people differently if those people are not of the same socio-economic status. Why do we continually deny this? Every group or clique has its problems, but this really does seem to primarily be a trickle-down effect - and the wealthy are at the top causing the avalanche.

Of course there are generous-hearted philanthropists...but I'm talking about on high school and college campuses...the division, the pain, the detrimental isolation caused by rich kids who refuse to treat "lesser" people with basic consideration and humanity.

On top of everything else, our collective denial of class conflict among young people in this country is yet another tragic aspect of this event. But will anyone step to the plate and acknowledge it?

One solution to avert potential future problems of this magnitude might be kindness. Instead of being exclusive, try being inclusive. Talk to that kid who keeps to himself. Ask that quiet girl to go shopping or to lunch. Make an effort. I'm not suggesting this is the ONLY solution...but good Lord, it is a start.

21st century consequences: Part 1

As an opening salvo to this blog, I intend to share some of my recent research on the state of African Americans and Native Americans in 21st century America. I have just begun to research this issue and am planning to attempt academic publication, but I also feel the need to share my findings with normal, everyday people on the off chance that it might inspire others to take even a small beneficial action. Hence, my plan is to incorporate ideas for action and potential solutions into future posts and I hope to inspire others to consider entering the conversation, suggesting solutions, and perhaps acting on them. One of the elements lacking in contemporary American society is action. We all like to talk a good game...but how often does that translate to tangible positive action with workable solutions? Not often enough.

This first entry introduces the Black Power Movement, the Black Panther Party, and the American Indian Movement from the perspective of the women who were involved in these movements. If you learn something new, I encourage you to investigate the history of these groups, learn more, and share that knowledge with others. (A small list of suggested reading can be found at the end of this post.) One of the sad results of my current research is the realization that too many people don't know about these groups - not as they really are. Rather, we are fed lies, such as "Members of the Black Panther Party were terrorists." I heard this - or something to this effect - recently on Fox News. Couldn't be farther from the truth. But too often, the truth is lost among fallacies and detrimental, fear-based rhetoric. Trust no one - least of all television and cable news channels. Don't even trust what I'm writing...always investigate and research for yourself.

Here we go - I hope you enjoy, learn something new, and please feel free to respond with your own ideas, comments, and knowledge! And thank you for visiting!

- Amanda

A View From Inside

Typically, when the Black Power Movement (BPM) and the American Indian Movement (AIM) are the subject of discourse, one reads about men, the male perspective, the male opinion. However, the women in these movements were powerful, opinionated, and strong. Consequently, their voices contribute acute observations from inside that allows for a broader perspective when considering the movements’ long-term ramifications. Mary Crow Dog, author of Lakota Woman and former AIM member, cites an “old Cheyenne saying: ‘A nation is not dead until the hearts of its women are on the ground.’”[i] Indeed, women are the heart of these two movements because they are the oppressed within an oppressed group. To be American Indian or African American and female in America in the late 1960s and early 1970s was to be in the ultimate position of struggle. To survive this position, or even thrive, succeed and inspire others, these women possessed strong hearts, great dignity, and wise words. According to Black Panther member Connie Matthews in a speech delivered at a Vietnam Moratorium demonstration in October 1969, “We have to understand that the struggle at this moment is a world struggle [. . .] the oppressed versus the oppressor.”[ii] These words find an echo in Huey Newton’s writings, Malcolm X’s speeches, and Amiri Baraka’s rhetoric. Lorelei DeCora Means writes about the secondary nature of womanhood to the main struggle in “Women of All Red Nations” in 1974: “Native women took on both traditional and activist roles: some cooked, some took care of children, and others marched, petitioned, occupied, and fought alongside their brothers to force the U.S. government to acknowledge its treaty obligations […] to open a new era of tribal self-determination and native rights.”[iii] Because of this gender equality of labor and purpose within AIM and the BPM, one could argue that women had just as much, if not more, at stake in this battle. Means continues,

We are American Indian women, in that order. We are oppressed, first and foremost, as American Indians, as peoples colonized by the United States of America, not as women. [. . .] Decolonization is the agenda, the whole agenda, and until it is accomplished it is the only agenda that counts for American Indians.[iv]

More than anyone else, women had the most to gain and to lose in this national and global struggle for economic, political, and cultural parity. Means’s words make a clear distinction between her fight and the larger women’s liberation movement. Unlike participants in the second wave feminist movement in the dominant American culture, Indian and black women’s homes, economic and political futures, and families were at stake.

In Joan Bird’s case, she joined the New York Black Panthers in 1968 after receiving a nursing degree and wanting more. She writes, “I needed and wanted to be fully aware of myself, the changing world, my people’s true identity and their roles in society and the need for us to unite if we are ever going to achieve any sort of power.”[v] The desire to learn about herself, the black community, and to assist in the fight for power drove Bird to embrace the Black Panther Party’s Ten-Point Program and become an active volunteer. Likewise, Afeni Shakur, a Black Panther Party member, epitomizes the resolve and passion required by women of color to thrive under multiple layers of oppression. In her letter from the New York Women’s House of Detention, Shakur writes,

We know that we are a colony, living under community imperialism. The U.S. that we see is not one of freedom, beauty, and wisdom, but of fear, terror, and hate. This is a nation of your laws, run by your police, and based on protecting your economic strength. The poor are politically, economically, and legally non-existent.[vi]

This colonization, imperialism, and division Shakur refers to finds echoes in Lorelei Means’s and Mary Crow Dog’s words, and can doubly apply to the underlying themes of the American Indian Movement.

Far from the grit of New York, on the other side of the country at the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota in 1971, Mary Crow Dog first encountered AIM at a powwow after the Sun Dance. She writes in retrospect, “I recognize now that movements get used up and the leaders get burned out quickly,” but at that time, as a “wild rebellious teenager,” Crow Dog was enthralled with the visual and verbal messages of AIM’s leaders.[vii] She recalls one Chippewa man who “spoke about genocide and sovereignty, about tribal leaders selling out and kissing ass—white man’s ass. […] He had himself wrapped up in an upside-down American flag, telling us that every star in this flag represented a state stolen from Indians.”[viii] One young man told Crow Dog, “‘We are AIM…American Indian Movement. We’re going to change things’.”[ix] Change was heralded by the vibrations of these puzzle pieces moving into place, with women staunchly supporting the fight for jobs, better health care, and decent housing for their families and communities. Crow Dog also acknowledges AIM’s explicit connection to the Black Power Movement: “We took some of our rhetoric from the blacks, who had started their movements before we did. Like them we were minorities, poor and discriminated against, but there were differences.”[x] Some of these differences are revealed when comparing the two groups’ written platforms. Despite some programmatic variations in themes, goals and actions, many aspects of the Black Power Movement and AIM were frighteningly similar, such as the effect each movement had on their own communities and the dominant white society. Crow Dog writes succinctly: “Some people loved AIM, some hated it, but nobody ignored it.”[xi] Indeed, the same can be said about the Black Power Movement and the Black Panther Party. Ultimately, without the support of each community’s women, these movements likely would not have lasted as long as they did or had the resulting impact on the shifting American landscape.

---

[i] Lakota Woman, p. 80

[ii] Black Panthers Speak, p. 154

[iii] Alvin M. Josephy Jr., Joane Nagel, & Troy Johnson eds. Red Power: The American Indians’ Fight for Freedom, University of Nebraska Press, 2nd edition 1999, p. 51

[iv] Red Power, p. 52

[v] Black Panthers Speak, p. 160

[vi] Black Panthers Speak, p. 162

[vii] Lakota Woman, p. 74

[viii] ibid, p. 75

[ix] ibid p. 75

[x] Lakota Woman, p. 77

[xi] ibid, p. 74

Suggested Reading:

Alvin M. Josephy Jr., Joane Nagel, & Troy Johnson eds. Red Power: The American Indians’ Fight for
Freedom, University of Nebraska Press, 2nd edition 1999.

Baraka, Amiri. “Tokenism.” LeRoi Jones, HOME social essays. New York: William Morrow, 1966.

Crow Dog, Mary. Lakota Woman. New York: HarperPerennial, 1991.

Foner, Philip ed. The Black Panthers Speak. Orig. New York: HarperCollins,1970. Cambridge, MA: Da
Capo Press 2^nd ed, 2002

(More suggestions will be made with each post)
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