The Pope, Reform, and Revolution

The Pope, Reform, and Revolution

On September 26, 2015 there was a forum in Worcester regarding reforms of society similar to that spoken about by the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. The reforms included Basic Income, Education, and Discrimination Law. There was also a discussion of whether these reforms could be achieved without fundamental changes in the economic and political systems.

Ruth Rodriguez, an Administrator for Opt-Out National, told the audience of about twenty people that the public education systems in the United States has been hijacked by large corporations such as the Bill Gates Foundation and Walmart. These wealthy entities have passed legislation through a lobbying group called ALEC that have harmed the education of children in public schools. She pointed out that the standardized testing industry has not helped children to learn, but has harmed children by creating conditions that cause the children to fail; these conditions being especially harmful to low income children and children of color.  She also said that the money needed for public schools was being drained away by charter schools. “Charter schools did not have a better record of teaching children than public schools”, Ms. Rodriguez asserted. She called for fully funded public schools and an end to the present policy of standardized testing.

Dr. Jason Burke Murphy, a college professor, described the program called “Basic Income”. The concept is every person would receive an amount of money that would be above the poverty level unconditionally. He said this would be an effective way of reducing poverty and actually saving government money. By “unconditional” Dr. Murphy explained that there would be no income qualifications (nor income qualification bureaucracy), no length of time worked qualifications (such as with Social Security) and no income tax qualifications (such with earned income credits).

There was a good back and forth on the proposal of Basic Income. Several people wanted to know where the money would come from. Dr. Murphy explained that the money was not dependent on the profits of corporations as corporations pay little or no taxes. The money would come from the savings in the reduction of bureaucracy and the reduction of redundant military hardware.

Gwen Davis, a member of the Progressive Labor Party which co hosted the forum with the Massachusetts Human Rights Committee, spoke on BlackLives Matter and the need to fight racism and sexism. She stated that modern day racism has its origins in capitalism and there was a need to abolish the profit systems and establish an egalitarian communist world where wage slavery is abolished.  Ms. Davis also talked about fighting racism in Worcester and indicated that the policy of arresting children by the police while at school has been found to be harmful to the children. She asserted that the practice was a part of the racist “school- to- prison- pipeline”. Ms. Davis said she was disappointed that Pope Francis did not address the issue of racism directly.

A member of Massachusetts Human Rights Committee told the audience that it was working to change the policy of the City of Worcester so that no child should be placed in handcuffs or arrested while at school unless there was clear and immediate danger of harm. The school administrators know where each child lives and her parents; if there is a need for intervention by the criminal justice system, the intervention should take place outside of school. The parents and child could then be summoned to court. The Mass. Human Rights Committee asked people to sign the petition to the Worcester City Council and the Worcester School Committee generally disallowing the arrest of children at school.

I am happy Pope Francis is speaking out on many issues, including his criticism of the misery caused by capitalism.  He has certainly upset the right wing in the United States and elsewhere.  Pope Francis has not spoken about the details of how to end the misery of capitalism and other forms of oppression. I hope it is more than just talk-talk.  I suppose we have to depend on Dr. Murphy, Ms. Rodriguez, and Ms. Davis do more than talk for us in Worcester.

Arresting Kids at School Is Harmful Bad Policy

Arresting Kids at School Is Bad Pedagogy

In September 2015 there were reports of two fights between kids at North High School. The details of the fights are sketchy, but it appears that the first fight was between two female students. That fight was broken up and the students taken to the office where while still upset they refused to comply with instructions given to them. Instead of being sent home and having them return with their parents, the two girls were arrested. Something similar happened with two male students.

When I went to high school I got into fights, but the police were never called and the disputes were handled administratively.

In both cases at North High School  there were charges that nine staffers were assaulted, but not injured or harmed when they tried to break up the respective fights. How the staffers were assaulted was no described in the news story. An assault is defined as a threat or an attempt to injury without actually injury. Battery is the charge for injury or harm intentionally inflicted.

It might have been better for all concerned for the students not to have bee arrested at school. Arresting kids in the heat of the moment when there is no immediate clear and present danger will, more likely than not, lead to bad decisions by the staff and the police, as well as be harmful to the kids. The schools know who the kids are and where they live; there is no chance that they will flee the state. There is no need for arrests.

Should there be a need for legal actions then this should be decided after the emotions of the event have passed. The child and parent could be summoned to court. The whole concept of putting children in handcuffs and having them booked  at the police is not good pedagogy. This policy has led to the false and sometimes racist image of the kids being "bad". This false perception has prejudiced our thinking even for some grammar school children.

On September 19, 2015 a new group called Men of Color Think Tank organized what it called “Real Race Dialogues”. The Men of Color Think Tank seems to be an outgrowth of the BlackLives Matter new civil rights movement.  Its membership is multi racial, but some people are called “white allies” instead of members.

Michael Jerry one of the organizers of the event and apparent spokes person for Men of Color Think Tank gave an inspirational introduction to the Real Race Dialogues. Although enthusiastic, many of the things he spoke about have a history in Worcester. For example Mr. Jerry thought the best way to get a person of color elected was to have a slate of candidates. It is generally accepted that bullet voting is the better way to get a candidate elected.  It is bullet voting that is thought to allow the top vote getters to get the most votes. Mr. Jerry enthusiasm and seeming ability to look at new ideas will go a long way to help the organization and its goals. He and other members of Men of Color Think Tank participate in a radio show "Voice of the Voiceless".

At the so called real race dialogues there was a table at which the participants discussed education. My impression is that there was honest and creative talk about racial issues in Worcester. Our table included parents, teachers, students, and other people sincere in their desire to end racial disparities in schools.  

Several issues came to be discussed: the development of a school to job pipeline, the coordinating of organizations working with children to ensure that each child at risk has a mentor, alternative curriculum and after school programs, and the ways of reversing the false perception of North High Schools as “bad” kids.

The issue of North High School took up most of the discussion time and some concrete plans were made including changing school policies such that no kids are arrested at school. Although this no arresting kids at school policy makes good pedagogy and common sense,  expelling the  criminal justice system out of the  schools will be a difficult task as many people still fear Black and Latino and poor kids . These misguided people, some of whom are racists, want to use the power of the state to “control” the dark skin people they fear.

BLackLives Matter And Elections

Black Lives Matter and Elections

The elections in Worcester and nationally have been affected by the new civil rights movement BlackLives Matter. The effects are not as obviously dramatic as incumbent Councillors not making the cut off of twelfth place on the Worcester ballot, but in ways in which racism has played a direct role.  To a large extent the entire election season has been framed by racial issues.

The presidential candidates have been forced to change their rhetoric. Trump, Sanders, Clinton, and Stein had to address race issues. Unlike previous elections the Black community can no longer be taken for granted. Sanders and Stein will likely be able to take advantage of the BlackLives Matter movement left leaning agenda. Clinton seemed to have swung and missed and Trump has been identified as a racist.

The race issue has been brought to the front by BlackLives Matter. There has been a wall of color blindness in past Worcester elections and in other issues. For example many people said that the killing of Cristino Hernandez was not a racial issue; other people turned a color blind eye to the issues of disparate unemployment among dark skin people (people of color). Today the City of Worcester is working hard to pretend its policies of police accountability, jobs, and educations are not racially disparate.  Just look at the fact that the City has dissolved the Affirmative Action Committee and replaced it with a Diversity Committee which has nebulous responsibilities.

BlackLives Matter has changed most of this color blindness pretext for racially disparate policies.  When Councillors Gaffney and Rosen get up and say that they want an audit of Mosaic and that it is not an issue of racist retaliation, everyone in the City knows something different. These racists are some of the people whom Councillor Lukes calls the “Trumps Effect” on which she is counting on to send her back to City Council.  It has been made clearer to many in the Black and Latino communities who is pretending to be against racism and who is using racism among Whites to get elected.

BlackLives Matter has changed temporarily the way the police respond to complaints from the public. The police are more courteous and transparent for now. The charges against the protesters show that the powers-that-be are afraid of mass demonstrations and disruptions. These disturbances of the peace will likely happen again in the near future as the police are likely to return to their old racist ways. The chant of BlackLives Matter and others of “No Justice, No Peace” has taken on new and significant meaning.

BlackLives Matter exposed Manager Augustus for the pretender that he is. He could have negotiated with the protesters about real change in the City’s policies, instead he retaliated against them on the most frivolous and weak evidence. The Manager then came out with a twenty-eight point plan that is just a shell game shifting responsibilities from one department to another. Worse still the Manager initiated a laughing stock known as the Department of Justice Hearings.

Regarding the elections some people stepped forward to replace the old backward thinking incumbents. BlackLives Matter created the environment for eleven people from the Black, Latino, and Asian communities to feel they have a chance of effectuating change through City Council service. Unfortunately many candidates did not make the required twelfth place preliminary for the at-large election or the second place finish for the district elections.

A takeaway from preliminary election in Worcester is that people of color will unlikely win elections in districts in which White people are a majority. There have some exceptions, all women candidates. To my knowledge there are only two districts where there are large enough so called minority voters to affect an election. The first is Sarai Rivera’s council district where she defeated Barbara Haller some years ago. The second district is Mary Keefe’s representative district.

The effect of Black Lives Matter on society is not over and has not been fully felt. Besides the issue of the killing unarmed young black men, other issues such as mass incarceration and education will have to be addressed.

Although elections are a tool in the new civil rights movement, it has been the actions on the street that has driven the positive changes.

All Protests are Disturbances of the Peace

All Protests Are Disturbances Of The Peace

At the Worcester Courthouse today 50 or so people gathered to show support for the Worcester 4 Black Lives Matter protesters who were charged with participating in the Kelly Square Demonstration.  The supporters gathered in front of the Court house with signs saying “Racism means fight back. Dismiss the Charges.” and “No Racist Prosecutions”.  The supporters agreed to wear white shirts into the court room.  It was noticeable when seventy five percent of the court room got up and left when the hearing for the Worcester 4 was over.

The four Black Lives Matter protesters went to court for a defense hearing on the respective motions to dismiss the charges. The trial judge indicated that he would review the motions as well as the video, and make rulings on the respective motions to dismiss before October 2015. Should the motions be denied then the trial will begin on November 9, 2015. Since neither party objected to the judge’s reviewing the video, both sides have de facto stipulated the video’s authenticity.

The motions to dismiss were based previous cases in which traffic was blocked and that court ruled that no one disturbed the peace, except those protesters who wanted to be arrested and refused a lawful police order to move. There were no police at Kelly Square protest.  The defense also raised the issue of malicious prosecution in an indirect manner by pointing out the driver of the 18 wheeler truck, Bruce Davis, threatened to run down the protesters and sounding his horn in an unnecessarily loud manner, yet he was not charged with threatening or disturbing the peace.

At the hearing today the judge, in response to the assistant DA’s assertion that the Kelly Square protest was disturbing the peace, asked a possibly revealing question, “Aren’t all protests a disturbance of the peace?”.  The implication of the question is that because all protests are by their very nature a disturbance of the peace in the sense “at least one person is annoyed” then some other element is needed in order for a protest to be unlawful.  In essence the City of Worcester brought the wrong charges against the protesters.   

Once again the City of Worcester charges against the Black Lives Matter protesters have been exposed as malicious prosecution. The City Manager and Police Chief’s should at this point withdraw all charges and stop their racist harassment of what are essentially civil rights advocates.  These two City officials have also embarrassed themselves with the joke of Department of Justice Hearings on race, the dissolution of the Affirmatives Action Committee, and the complete lack of transparency in the SWAT raid terrorizing an innocent Hispanic family. 

Marine Major In High School Should Resign

Major Godin Should Retire

In May of 2015 Major Godin the Marine commander of JROTC in the Worcester schools was approached by a senior cadet who was collecting donations to help the family of her former comrade who was shot and killed. The Major in what must have been a scene right out of  “ A Few Good Men” began to lecture the cadet about her former comrade. He said that the deceased cadet was a gangster and a punk; it was for those reasons he was dead. He refused to donate money to the family and he upset the cadet.

I have heard some people defend the Major by saying he was entitled to his opinion. Of course he is entitled to his opinion, but to express that opinion to a subordinate cadet and a minor was inappropriate. The cadet had good intentions and showed what in the military is called unit loyalty. The Major actions essentially scolded the cadet, belittled her good intentions, and showed contempt for a deceased member of his unit.

His refusal to donate to the family of the deceased cadet was wrong on the human level of respect for a family in mourning and charity for those in need. What does it mean when his hatred of a former cadet in his unit extends to the cadet’s family?

By his own admission there was a “heated discussion” with the senior staff at the high school. After that meeting the Major was suspended. The question arises as to what was said by the Major in this heated discussion that precipitated his suspension.

Now the Major said that he is being bullied by the City. Somehow I just do not believe a Major in the Marine Corp. and man who refused to pay his union dues can be bullied by any one. I find it especially laughable that he said that a female threaded to “mess him up”.

The Major has a military pension and eighteen year pension with the City. He can and should retire at this point with his reputation mostly undamaged. I am sure whatever issue that turned the Major into person who does not understand appropriateness has been present with him for some time. It is likely more issues will be discovered.

The Major has gone to the press and stated that he and his wife have faced emotional and financial distress. These are legal terms and it indicates that the Major is likely to begin a suit against the City.

In the 1990s the proponents of JROTC said that the program was needed as a means of helping kids at risk. There was never any evidence of this assertion. Now with the Major’s seeming hatred of a kid at risk and other kids and their families, the evaluation of JROTC should be reviewed in terms of its effectiveness in achieving it goals, especially the assertion that it helps kids at risk.

In the 1990s the budget for JROTC was over $500,000. I am sure it is much higher today as it now in all of the Worcester High Schools. The budget for JROTC is impossible to ferret out of the Worcester School budget as it is not a line item, but spread out in several places in the budget.

The Major should apologize to the family of the deceased cadet. He should then retire and fade away quietly before he causes more harm. The JROTC program should be reevaluated.