CA: On Open Letter to Greens about the Gates controversy from Alex Walker

Dear Green Friends,

I have not written about the Gates "controversy" on my blog because, frankly, compared to the total breakdown of democratic governance here in California, compared to the story of millions of African-Americans whose lives have been ruined by the "drug war," or even compared to what happened to our own Diane White in Pennsylvania, this incident with Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates is, frankly, trivial.

I do not think it is a "teaching moment" because it has already degenerated into the predictable soap opera of most mainstream media "conversations" about race. First, "liberals" cry racism. Then, "conservatives" praise the cops. Eventually Somebody is trotted out like poor Rodney King in L.A. to say: "Can't we all get along?" and "conservative" intellectuals get another opportunity to preach about the alleged "pathology" and "paranoia" of "Those People."

Moreover, it grieves me to say this is another example of the intellectual confusion within what's supposed to be "The Left" in the United States. For over a year, "The Left" has complained that Barack Obama has not spoken out about "race" issues. Now "The Left" not only complains that Mr. Obama has spoken out about his friend Skip Gates, we've taken his speaking out as an opportunity to trash Gates and Obama as "house slaves" who think they're better than "real Blacks."

Stanley Fish, brought Prof. Gates to Duke University.20Fish writes a nice little op-ed piece relating a story about what happened when Gates bought a big house in North Carolina: "The message was unmistakable: What was a black man doing living in a place like this?"

Alas, this innocuous statement is parsed for "political correctness" and declared an offensive to Black Women. For Stanley Fish the lesson of this "teaching moment" will be: next time shut up, turn your head, and pretend you don't see like all the other "White folks."

Having said all that, I say that if we deal with this incident at all we should use to strengthen the case for Blacks in the Green Party.

(1) Remind everyone that Cambridge, Massachusetts is a supposedly "ultra-liberal" One-Party Democratic town, as is the entire Boston area. This Officer Crowley evidently went through all the liberal "sensitivity" training and still behaved inappropriately. If Democratic Party "sensitivity" liberalism doesn't work in Cambridge, Massachusetts then it can't work anywhere. This is not surprising to anyone familiar with police-community relations in the Berkeley - Oakland area of California or even in that portion of Mr. Obama's Southside neighborhood around the University of Chicago.

(2) Remind everyone about the case of Boston Green Party City Councilor Chuck Turner, who was entrapped in a petty "sting" operation by the F.B.I. last year. Mr. Turner has been hassled in Cambridge for his o utspoken advocacy of Harvard divestment from companies in Israel. And don't forget that Cynthia McKinney, herself, had a run-in with the Capitol Police while serving as an elected member of Congress. Cops have a problem with all Blacks, but It seems they have a special problem with those expressing "disorderly" political views. I am pleased to note that even some Republican-leaning libertarians have said that if a man can't say "Is this how you treat a Black man in America?" in his own home, then what good is "free speech" in America?

(3) Reach out to Gates? Here is a simple test: submit a no-holds-bared partisan commentary praising Cynthia McKinney, Rosa Clemente, Chuck Turner, Malik Rahim, Cliff Thorton, Asa Gordon, Diane White, and the Green Party to "The Root" and see what happens.

If Gates refuses to publish a no-holds-bared partisan Green commentary (and I suspect he will), then we can say he's just another "liberal" hack. I browsed "The Root" just now and there's nothing up there but the usual tired clichés. If this is going to be a "teaching moment" it should be a moment to teach how our 10 Key Values are superior to tired 40-year-old "liberal" clichés.


Alex Walker
Los Angeles Greens

We need your help TODAY and THIS WEEKEND and through next week, people. And thanks to every one of you in advance!

Among three candidates - a Green, a Republican, and a Democratic incumbent indicted on multiple corruption charges - Louisiana Green Party candidate MALIK RAHIM is the only one who truly looked after the people of New Orleans, the people of the Ninth Ward, etc., after the scandal of the levees that were allowed to break after Hurricane Katrina.

In the days following Hurricane Katrina, it was Malik Rahim who helped to found the grassroots assistance organisation called the COMMON GROUND COLLECTIVE.

Today and all through next week YOUR HELP is needed to make phone calls to New Orleans voters -- from now up to Election Day -- as well as to potential donors/supporters outside New Orleans.

If you know anyone who can GO to New Orleans to help, please do try to recruit them, too.

We also need your help to raise as many little contributions of CASH as we can, and especially NOW and over THIS WEEKEND, BEFORE MONDAY. After Monday we still need donations but we need as many funds as possible to already be donated to the campaign THIS WEEKEND in order for the campaign to be able to USE THEM as soon as possible to be effective.

$5.00, $10.00, $20.00, etc., please contribute online through PAYPAL

www.votemalik.com/contribute -- or call the campaign and donate

over the phone. See www.votemalik.com, or email info@votemalik.com for methods of donating besides Paypal online.

Please forward this message and ask your peeps, your organizations, to help also! Thanks!!

Phone banking only requires a computer with Internet connection, plus your phone to make long-distance calls (for all of us calling from outside New Orleans).

Phone bank info and SIGN UP are here:
http://www.tinyurl.com/5686o2

As Bruce Dixon writes in his extremely telling article, below:

"In a low turnout environment like this a few votes, a modest contribution of money or time can make a big difference. "

He adds, "If you want a change, be that change."

Peace,
Marian Douglas-Ungaro
Washington, DC

Contribute to Malik Rahim for Congress Today!

Malik Rahim for Congress

Contribute Online using Paypal

Send your donation today. Individuals may contribute up to $2300. To contribute by mail print the donor form or you may donate online here...

Three years since Katrina and the government continues to fail us. Malik Rahim has spoken out with courage, asked the difficult questions, and built viable community alternatives. He is a strong organizer that acted while the politicians waited. Now he wants to take his courage to Congress. Malik is on the ballot for US Congress in Louisiana's 2nd District.

The Louisiana Secretary of State changed the elections calendar after Hurricane Gustav, so the general election where you can vote for Malik is on December 6, not November 4.

Malik's Platform

• Hurricane Recovery & Flood Protection:

• Rebuild a Sustainable Economy:

• Quality Public Education:

• Healthcare for All:

• Comprehensive and Sustainable Energy Policy:

• Reform of the Criminal Justice System:
  
  
• Alternative sentencing for non-violent offenders.
  
  
• Troops out of Iraq:
  
  
• Affordable Housing
  
  
• Call for a full investigation now on the awarding of contracts for the demolition of public housing developments in New Orleans and their reconstruction

Website:	http://www.votemalik.com
Office:	Committee to Elect Malik Rahim
Location:	331 Atlantic Avenue

The 36th Annual Thomas Merton Award will honor Malik Rahim!

The 2008 award dinner will be on Wednesday, November 12th!
6pm Social Hour
7:20pm Dinner
Circuit Center and Ballroom

The Circuit Center and Ballroom is located at 5 Hot Metal Street, in the IBEW Hall, right on the corner of Hot Metal and Carson Streets. There will be free parking, easy bus access, and a vegetarian (including vegan) dinner catered by the locally renowned Fluted Mushroom.

Reservations: $45 ($26 for students/low-income)
Have a group? We can accommodate tables of 10 people at a time. The cost for a table will be $400. Please RSVP by October 31!

Reserve your space by:
Check (made payable to "Thomas Merton Center" with "TMC Dinner" in the memo line)
Cash (stop into the TMC during regular business hours - Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm)
Credit Card (either mail us your information or click here.)

To mail in payment: Thomas Merton Center, 5125 Penn Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15224

Ways to help:
If you can't attend, make a donation! Or buy and sell lots of raffle tickets…someone has to win the prizes: a trip to New York (all expenses paid), a custom-built bike from Free Ride!, and a whole slew of gift certificates & tickets – sports and cultural – for Pittsburgh attractions! Would you like to purchase an ad in our dinner program book? If you have a business, big or small, or just want to honor the Center, buy an ad in the program. Rates are as low as $50 and as high as $500 to become an underwriter. People read those ads and support those who share their beliefs in justice. And you can always offer to help with the dinner. There is enough work for all of us involved in this major event.

Questions? Call 412-361-3022 or e-mail Melissa.

This November 12, the Merton Center will be honoring activist Malik Rahim at the annual Thomas Merton Award ceremony. Malik is a former Black Panther, convicted felon, and a long-time housing and prison activist in the U.S. state of Louisiana. He gained publicity as a community organizer in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

During Hurricane Katrina, Malik stayed to assist the community and has been speaking out about racism and the failures of government exposed by the Katrina disaster. To counter the powerful corporate forces trying to control the rebuilding, Malik has founded Rebuild Green to work with community-based organizations' efforts to advance social justice and environmental sustainability. Malik states that "By focusing on green building technology, renewable energy, mass transit systems, and green community development that empowers local people to take control of their local resources, the rebuilding of New Orleans can take our city from being a symbol of disaster to being a prototype sustainable city of the future."

In July of 2008, Malik filed to run for Louisiana's second congressional district seat of the U.S. House of Representatives as a Green Party candidate.

Malik Rahim - Green Party congressional candidate Louisiana