human rights – RI Future

December 5, 2014December 6, 2014

Labor needs to align with human rights everywhere

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I have devoted much of my life to the labor movement, I believe that poor and working people have all the capacity and intelligence to run their own lives. I also believe that democracy needs everybody and should extend into economic life. I believe that anti-racism, anti-sexism, anti-gender bias, are core values of labor.

I believe that without these values, there is no value to the movement. I believe that all poor and working people are members of the labor movement, that the labor movement is more than the book in your wallet. I am as hurt by the silence of labor’s leaders as I am heartened by scope of the protest.

History does not look kindly on the silent or the safe. I look at the kids organizing this national protest against police violence as well as the folks organizing the fast food workers, and I see clearly that this is where our leadership will come from. Laying down themselves on our streets and highways to say with such determination and courage STOP.

The xenophobia against the undocumented and animus directed against their children, the cruelty of punishment meted out to black preschoolers, the prisons full of people of color, the austerity directed at mothers and the aged. These are labor’s people, labor needs to speak out, loudly and without compromise that this is our fight, together. My disappointment is deep. I know we can do better. I will commit as a labor leader.

I am committed to anti-racism.
I believe medical care is a civil right.
I believe work should be available for everyone who desires it.
I am committed to anti sexism.
I am committed to prison abolition.
I am committed to full gender inclusion.
I am against austerity.
I will work understanding that the aims of working people and the aims of wealthy people are not the same.
I am committed to housing justice.
I am committed to working for a fully de-militarized police.
I am committed to fully de-militarized schools.
I will never be silent.
I am committed to winning for working people comfort, culture, safety, and community.
I will not compromise these core beliefs.
I am inviting all other members of traditional labor to sharing this commitment.

December 2, 2014December 2, 2014

One week later, Ferguson protesters still marching in PVD streets

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Yesterday’s “March Against Police Violence in Solidarity with Ferguson and Mexico” was altogether different from last Tuesday’s Ferguson protest in Providence.

The organizers, the response of the police, the extent of the press coverage and the racial makeup of the attendees was not the same as last week. Even some of the subtleties concerning the goals of the protest were different, though to be clear, the main goal was to challenge racism, racial profiling, militarized policing and police murder of people of color.

The crowd started to build around 7pm at Burnside Park, with marchers working on their signs in the park with the materials provided by the organizers. There were less marchers this time and the crowd tended to be whiter, though there was substantial representation of people of color.

There was more of a police presence this time around. The police were never far away, and though they never interfered with the protesters, they made sure to let their presence be known.

Organizer Rebecca Nieves McGoldrick addressed the crowd in Burnside Park and said that given the events of last week, tonight was going to be a “pretty calm and peaceful protest,” by which I took her to mean that there were not going to be any arrests or provocative actions like flag burning or highway blocking. She was true to her word.

The plan was to rally at Burnside Park, march past the Providence Place Mall and to the steps of the State House, where there would be a four minute moment of silence for Mike Brown (one minute for every hour his body laid in the street) and then a “speak out” in which anyone could step forward and let loose whatever was on their mind.

The march through downtown and to the state house was guided by the police, whose red and blue lights provided an almost stereoscopic illumination. There were chants of “Hands up, don’t shoot” and “This is what democracy looks like” among others. There were many signs of support from passing motorists and mall patrons, but also one or two negative reactions.

Upon approaching the mall, I was amused to note that the police were blocking the highway on ramp, which I assume was meant to prevent protesters from storming up the ramp and blocking the highway a second time.

The big surprise of the evening was finding, upon our arrival at the State House, a phalanx of police officers standing at the top of the state house steps, protecting the building. It was an intimidating reminder of police power to have between 15 and 20 armed officers silently observe the protest from on high.

There was a solemn and somber four minutes of silence, interrupted only by the occasional chime of an unmuted cellphone, then the speak out began. I’ll have a rundown of what the speakers spoke about in a later post, after I’ve sorted out all the video, but for now let me present some highlights.

This march was organized to draw parallels and solidarity between what’s happening in the United States, where abuses of police power against black and brown people is a growing problem, and the terrible situation in Mexico, where the militarized drug war and an a destabilized government is resulting in the murder and disappearance of young protesters. Police forces in Iguala, Guerrero, Mexico murdered six people and “disappeared” 43 students from the Raúl Isidro Burgos Rural Teachers’ College of Ayotzinapa.

The growing militarization of police forces and the crackdown on human rights is world wide, from Hong Kong to Mexico to Ferguson.

The organizers of this protest put it succinctly:

“We are calling for the demilitarization of police. We are calling for police and government transparency and accountability. We are calling for an end to the drug war. We are calling for an end to neo-liberal policies that increase economic inequality and disenfranchise indigenous people and people of color. We are calling for an end to systems of institutionalized racial oppression. We are calling for justice.”

As the night wore on, and a light drizzle of rain and dropping temperatures thinned the crowd of protesters, over twenty people participated in the speak out. For the most part the listeners were polite and patient, and everyone who wanted to speak had their chance.

The last 20 or 30 protesters then turned to the silent police officers and handful of reporters who toughed it out to the end and waved farewell.

Like last week’s protest, this was a positive, cathartic experience, continuing the conversation around race and police violence. Legislators and elected officials take notice: things are changing.

Support Steve Ahlquist!

October 27, 2014October 28, 2014

Tobin, Stenhouse backpeddle on ‘thorny cultural issues’

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Is Bishop Tobin now doing the same thing he accused Gina Raimondo of?

Bishop Tobin, despite a lengthy career of advocating against abortion and marriage equality, has said that in the event of a constitutional convention being held in Rhode Island, he didn’t “think it would or should deal with cultural/moral/religious issues. These particular, discrete issues are better dealt with in the normal legislative process.”

The Bishop’s statement stands in stark contrast to his earlier statements regarding marriage equality, which he said should be placed on the ballot for a popular vote, “We will continue to oppose efforts to redefine the institution of marriage in Rhode Island… The citizens of Rhode Island have a right to vote on this crucial issue.’’

One wonders if Bishop Tobin’s backing off on the issue of abortion, as pertains to a ConCon, represents “an inexcusable lack of moral courage” and an abandonment of “teaching of the Church on the dignity of human life for the sake of self-serving political gain” as he recently said of Gina Raimondo when she announced her position on abortion.

Why would Tobin, so dedicated to changing the laws regarding abortion (and marriage equality) give up a potentially powerful tool that might help him accomplish his task? Does Tobin intend to go so far as to oppose any potential resolutions passed by a ConCon that sought to deal with “cultural/moral/religious” issues in a way the church favors? Can you imagine the Bishop taking a stand against an amendment limiting reproductive of LGBTQ rights if one were to make it through the ConCon?

I can’t.

Meanwhile, Mike Stenhouse, of the Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity, a group devoted to crank economics, has pledged to not “support any amendment in a convention that would infringe on individual rights,” despite a line in the Center’s own report that said a ConCon could, “Resolve some thorny cultural issues – one way or another – through the mechanism that most clearly represents the will of the people.” (page six)

Stenhouse’s attack on Jim Vincent of the NAACP and Steve Brown of the ACLU for pointing out the actual words found in the Center’s report rings false. Stenhouse maintains that, “Any honest reading of this section clearly shows that the Center was not taking a position on those topics. Nor is the Center aware that any pro convention organization has publicly suggested that social or cultural issues should be a convention topic.”

So what does “resolve thorny cultural issues” mean to Stenhouse? It’s hard to know, but Stenhouse defender Justin Katz, in a piece entitled, If not on the Ballot, Where? attacks Vincent and defends the Center’s statement by saying, “Look, cultural issues have to be resolved.” In other words, thorny cultural issues are up for discussion in a ConCon, no matter what Stenhouse says.

Maybe the Center should get its messaging straight.

Whereas Tobin serves the Catholic God, Stenhouse serves the God of the Free Market, whose invisible hand makes the rich richer by picking the pockets of the poor. Stenhouse pledges not to support any amendments that might infringe on individual rights, but the term “individual rights” does not equate to civil rights or human rights. The term “individual rights” is much narrower than that.

Individual rights are not group rights. Individual rights are not environmental rights. Under this narrow conception of rights, corporations are individuals, unions are not. The concept of individual rights is often advanced as a way of avoiding the obligations our rights impose on us. Under this view, everybody is responsible for their own rights, not the rights of others.

Human rights, on the other hand, are understood to be “interrelated, interdependent and indivisible” and to apply to “individuals or groups.” Stenhouse and the center are cautious to avoid terms like human rights and civil rights because these terms carry a moral, ethical and historical weight that is bigger and more expansive than the narrow limits the narcissistic, Objectivist term “individual rights” allow for.

Human rights are both rights and obligations. When we talk in terms of human rights, we call on the power of states to enforce and enhance those rights. Stenhouse and the Center prefer a world of limited government that is unconcerned with human rights and is concerned only with the narrow limits of individual rights. Civil rights legislation that forces bigoted shopkeepers to serve hated minorities are not allowed under this formulation.

Finally, it’s easy for Bishop Tobin, Mike Stenhouse and the members of Renew RI to pinky swear that they will not go after what they call “thorny cultural issues” because they don’t control all the forces in and out of Rhode Island that may involve themselves in the process. Further, their promise to not involve themselves in such issues are limited and conditional.

So it all comes down to this: Do you trust them?

July 17, 2014

Omar Bah: Rhode Island is heaven

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I wandered tonight by accident into a lecture at the Rochambeau Library in Providence that offered a unique vision on life here in Rhode Island. While a poll conducted in April indicated that Rhode Islanders are the “least proud” of their state and pundits have written endlessly about why that should be the case, highlighting all the things that make Rhode Island a supposedly terrible place, Gambian journalist Omar Bah has a different view.

Rhode Island, says Bah, is heaven.

“Life in Gambia was hell,” said Bah to the too few people who came out to his lecture, where he was talking about his book, Africa’s Hell on Earth, “I lived in a country where people were treated as second class. No rights, no freedom of expression, for the first twenty-six years of my life.”

Bah’s book is his message. It is also a celebration of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, rights denied him in his home country of Gambia. Bah started as a young journalist, writing about the corruption and brutality of the regime of Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, a totalitarian despot who once said that he had allowed “too much expression” in the country.

While people starve, Gambia’s president drives in a fleet of cars valued at $300,000, according to Bah. There is one television station allowed in the entire country, a propaganda arm of the government. At a student led protest rally, 14 students were shot dead by the military. Bah once saw a pregnant woman in need of medical attention taken to the hospital by donkey cart, where she and her baby died screaming in the waiting room.

“If you are hungry, you die hungry,” says Bah. “If you are sick, you die sick. If you are hopeless, you die without hope.”

Growing up, Bah saw education as his best chance at a good life, but also realized that when you don’t live in a just society, you have to take action, however you can. Bah chose to write about what he saw, becoming a journalist. Reporting on the evils of a despotic dictatorship is dangerous. Bah was arrested several times, and even tortured while imprisoned. Eventually events reached the point where Bah had no choice but to flee the country.

Stopped on a bus at the border of Senegal, Bah was identified by a soldier and had a gun pointed directly at him. His life was effectively over, his future one of prison, torture and probable death, but the soldier was a classmate of Bah’s from over a decade previous. On that bus, soldier and journalist recognized each other and the soldier, in a dangerous breach of orders, let Bah cross the border to freedom. Bah began his new life as a refugee even as his wife, Teddi Jallow, was threatened and harassed by the dictator’s police back home.

Granted refugee status by the United States government, Bah came to Rhode Island. “I came from the smallest country in Africa to the smallest state in America,” said Bah, “I am living the American dream because of the opportunities I have here.”

Today, seven years after arriving in Rhode Island, Omar Bah lives with his wife and his mother, who have also been granted refugee status and has two sons, both born in this country. He still agitates for human rights in Gambia and the rest of the world. He does so even though it puts his extended family at some risk. When the president of Gambia came to New York for a visit to the United Nations, Bah lead a protest outside the dictator’s hotel. Bah’s family was threatened for his actions.

Bah will not be silenced by threats. “Educating one person is enough. Any act of revolution starts with one person.”

March 8, 2012March 8, 2012

Rep Medina Says He Was Profiled by Police

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At a hearing on a bill that would protect people from being profiled by police based on their race, Rep. Leo Medina, D- Providence, no stranger to law enforcement, told the story of the time he was pulled over late at night and essentially harassed by an East Providence police officer.

Then Chairman of the Rhode Island Human Rights Commission Michael Evora testified about why some of law enforcement’s objections to the bill contradict best practices used by police in Rhode Island. “I respectfully submit,” he said, “that in some instances the term officer safety is used as a subterfuge.”