antiracismdsa: Immigrants and Allies Fight Back

antiracismdsa: Immigrants and Allies Fight Back: During his first weeks as President, Donald Trump has enacted some alarming and draconian executive orders. The most alarming has been h...

Myths About Immigration

MYTH: "Immigrants take our jobs"

The largest wave of immigration to the U.S. since the early 1900s coincided with our lowest national unemployment rate and fastest economic growth. Immigrants create new jobs by forming new businesses, buying homes, spending their incomes on American goods and services, paying taxes and raising the productivity of U.S. businesses.¹ In fact, between 1990 and 2004, roughly 9 out of 10 native-born workers with at least a high school diploma experienced wage gains because of increased immigration.

A legal flow of immigrants based on workforce demand strengthens the U.S. economy by keeping productivity high and countering negative impacts as the U.S. aging population swells. Of the twenty occupations that will see the largest growth in the next seven years, twelve of them only require on-the-job-training--including jobs in SEIU's core industries like home care, cleaning/janitorial services, child care, and hospitality services.³ But as native-born workers seek higher education and move up the occupational ladder, the number of native-born workers seeking employment in these industries has shrunk.

The problem with today's economy is not immigrants; the problem is our broken immigration laws that allow big business to exploit workers who lack legal status, driving down wages for all workers. If every immigrant were required to get into the system, pay their dues, and become U.S. citizens, we could block big business' upper hand, eliminate the two-tiered workforce, and build a united labor movement that raises wages and living standards for all workers.

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has created some information cards concerning some of the most popular myths about immigration.  For example, the myth that Immigrants take our jobs.

The cards and information are here. http://www.seiu.org/cards/the-8-worst-myths-about-immigration

‘Bad Dude’? No, but Deported Anyway - The New York Times

‘Bad Dude’? No, but Deported Anyway - The New York Times

Why Teaching Civics Must Be a Priority in the Era of Trump

Kristina Riga

When I was about 10, a classmate in my small-town school in Latvia liked to tell me in between classes that he hated Jews. I was the only Jewish kid in school, and one day as I walked home I heard steps behind me. My eyes caught his, and we stood there for a moment. I still remember his face—hazel eyes, closely cropped blond hair—and his navy uniform jacket over a white shirt. Suddenly, I heard a crunch as his fist landed on my left cheekbone, and I fell backward on a sidewalk damp with melting snow. I still remember the hollow ringing in my left ear. I looked around to scream for help, but the streets were empty. I've never felt more terrified and alone.

"There is nothing we can do to change him," my father said in our garage the next day. He wore a large black boxing glove on his left hand that he made me practice hitting late into the night. "You have to throw the punch from your shoulder, and pack the weight of your entire body into it," he said. "As soon as you show any fear, you've already lost."

My mother and I eventually left Latvia, and bullying was a big reason for me. It's been 22 years since I've thought about this particular incident—but the recent surge of media reports about xenophobic language and harassment across the United States brings those old fears roaring back. And now that we have an administration that has welcomed into the White House advisers with a long history of promoting Islamophobia and boosting white nationalists, I find myself wondering what that means for today's bullies and their victims.

In a 2015 survey, 1 in 5 Muslim students in California said they experienced discrimination by a school staff member.

Extreme views can be socially contagious, especially among young people, who are more susceptible than adults to being influenced by their peers. As a journalist, I report on schools, and teachers have been telling me that violent rhetoric is more common, and that they're struggling to find the right approaches to root it out. But some educators are also part of the problem. In a 2015 survey, 1 in 5 Muslim students in California said they experienced discrimination by a school staff member. According to a complaint filed by the American Civil Liberties Union last year, when a Muslim sixth-grader from Somalia raised his hand to answer a question, a teacher at a school in Phoenix snapped, "I can't wait until Trump is elected. He's going to deport all you Muslims…You're going to be the next terrorist, I bet." (The school denies these allegations.)

Corretta Scott King on Jeff Sessions

The Honorable Strom Thurmond, Chairman
Committee on the Judiciary
Re: Nomination of Jefferson B. Sessions
U.S. Judge, southern/District of Alabama

Hearing, March 13, 1986

Dear Senator Thurmond:

I write to express my sincere opposition to the confirmation of Jefferson B. Sessions as a federal district court judge for the Southern District of Alabama. My professional and personal roots in Alabama are deep and lasting. Anyone who has used the power of his office as United States Attorney to intimidate and chill the free exercise of the ballot by citizens should not be elevated to our courts.

Mr. Sessions has used the awesome powers of his office in a shabby attempt to intimidate and frighten elderly black voters. For this reprehensible conduct, he should not be rewarded with a federal judgeship.

I regret that a long-standing commitment prevents me from appearing in person to testify against this nominee. However, I have attached a copy of my statement opposing Mr. Sessions' confirmation and I request that my statement as well as this letter be made a part of the hearing record.

I do sincerely urge you to oppose the confirmation of Mr. Sessions.

Sincerely,

Coretta Scott King

Statement of Coretta Scott King on the Nomination of Jefferson Beauregard Sessions for the United States District Court Southern District of Alabama senate Judiciary Committee
Thursday, March 13, 1986

This is the letter Senator Elizabeth Warren tried to read into the record in the U.S. Senate and then she was silenced.  Several other Democratic Senators followed by reading the letter into the record. 

DeVos Confirmed Despite Protests

Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch

The confirmation of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education is an outrageous insult to the millions of people who send their children to public schools, to the millions of students who attend public schools, to the millions of educators who work in public schools, and to the millions of people–like me–who graduated from public school.

As expected, the vote was 50-50, and Vice President Pence was called in to cast the tie-breaking vote.

She was never a student, a parent, an educator or school board member of public schools. It is her life’s work to tear down public education. She does not respect the line of separation between church and state. She supports for-profit charter schools.

She is ignorant of federal law, federal programs, and federal policy. When asked at her Senate hearing about the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act, she did not know it was a federal law. She had given no thought to lessening the burden of debt that college students bear, which now exceeds $1 trillion. At a time when the federal role in aiding students with the high cost of college needs to be redesigned, she knows nothing about it.

As the ethics counselors for Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama pointed out, DeVos has financial conflicts of interest which she refuses to divest. She told the Senate committee that she had no role in her mother’s foundation, which has funneled millions of dollars to anti-LGBT organizations, but her name appears on 17 years of the foundation’s audited tax returns. She told the committee that online charter corporations produce stellar results, but researchers demonstrated with facts that she was wrong.

Choice policies in Michigan have caused the test scores in that state to decline. Detroit, overrun with charters and choice, is a chaotic mess.

It is a sad day for American public education when a person who has repeatedly expressed contempt for public schools is confirmed as Secretary of Education.

De Vos Confirmed

Never has there been such a fight.  This shows how teachers, unions, and parents can work together.
De Vos is a serious problem.  See all the prior posts.

The Senate just voted to confirm billionaire Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary. The vote came down to a 50-50 tie. In order to get DeVos confirmed, Vice President Mike Pence had to cast the deciding vote -- the first time a VP has broken a tie on a Cabinet nominee in our nation’s history. Betsy DeVos now joins a Trump Administration that’s truly ripe for corruption. Sherrod will have to work even harder to stop DeVos from taking funding away from public schools in Ohio and around the country. This confirmation was a blow -- but we can’t waste any time moving forward. Betsy DeVos was confirmed. Let’s remind her, Donald Trump, and the entire administration that they work for the American people. Not corporations. Not private educational institutions.

Elizabeth Warren Destroys Betsy DeVos At Confirmation Hearing

Vote Today. 

How Betsy DeVos Ignored and Targeted Michigan Republicans to Advance Her Hardline Education Ideology – Capital & Main

How Betsy DeVos Ignored and Targeted Michigan Republicans to Advance Her Hardline Education Ideology – Capital & Main

complete 84 Lumber Super Bowl Commercial The Entire Journey Border wall

Here is the complete commercial  that Fox News banned.

Here's How Much Betsy DeVos And Her Family Paid To Back GOP Senators Who Will Support Her | The Huffington Post

Here's How Much Betsy DeVos And Her Family Paid To Back GOP Senators Who Will Support Her | The Huffington Post

Defeat DeVos- Call Your Senator Now

The Senate education committee just voted to advance Betsy DeVos’ nomination for secretary of education. Next she’ll face the real test: a vote of the entire senate. It's taken almost a month for her nomination to get this far, and the fight isn’t nearly over yet. You've sent more than 1 million emails, and called senators more than 50,000 times, and believe me - they are taking notice. In explaining why she'll vote no, Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) said that 95 percent of the people that contacted her office opposed DeVos. Ninety-five percent! At the vote this morning, Senator Murkowski (R-AK) said she is still undecided, and that she is listening to the serious concerns of the thousands of her constituents who have called. And they're not the only ones. We've heard from senate staff that they're getting more emails and calls from our members and allies about stopping DeVos than they've ever had about a nominee.  Trust me - you are making a difference. We have to keep the pressure on. Keep calling. Keep emailing. Keep telling your senators that Betsy DeVos cannot be put in charge of our nation’s schools.  Call 1-855-882-6229 to speak to your senators. Click here to email them. Our senators need to know that we will never back down when our students and public education are on the line. Let’s keep up the fight.  - Lily Lily Eskelsen García President National Education Association

School Privatizer to Head US Department of Education

School Privatizer to Head US Department of Education

Trump's Muslim Ban is a Disgrace

BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD Sacramento Bee

If any American value was served by President Donald Trump’s inhumane treatment of hundreds of ordinary people from Muslim-majority nations this weekend, we would like to know what it is.

How sickening it was to watch Trump’s draconian executive order on refugees play out, indefinitely banning entry to Syrian refugees and suspending U.S. travel for visa and, for a time, even green card holders from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

The estimated 375 travelers detained or prevented from boarding flights into the U.S. on Saturday were not terrorist threats. They were scientists, medical students, engineers, interpreters who had risked their lives to help the U.S. government.

A Sudanese graduate student at Stanford University was handcuffed and detained at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Two Iranian-born Chicago suburbanites with green cards were held at O’Hare International Airport with their 18-month-old baby. A 70-year-old father joining his son was put on a plane back to Iran at Los Angeles International Airport.

NATIONAL VIGILANCE IS UNDENIABLY IMPORTANT, BUT TRUMP’S ORDER WAS WRONG ON ALMOST EVERY LEVEL, TO THE POINT OF INCOMPETENCE.

Trump Signs Executive Orders Calling For Deportations and Exclusions of Refugees

“

First they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

”

Rev. Martin Niemoller, after surviving a Nazi concentration camp.

California vs Trump- Border Wall

antiracismdsa: California vs Trump- Border Wall: Great interview.  Becerra will stand up to Trump http://www.msnbc.com/mtp-daily/watch/ag-becerra-i-will-find-ways-to-stop-trump-s-wall-86...

Betsy DeVos and Blackwater

 By Marc Norton

Blackwater founder Erik Prince, who has been called “America’s most notorious mercenary” by author and journalist Jeremy Scahill, has emerged as an influential advisor to the incoming Donald Trump regime.

Prince is also the brother of Betsy DeVos, who is in the process of being confirmed as secretary of education — and an advocate for the privatization of public schools.

The connection between these two reactionary political players is no secret, but is one of those barely-known facts that has remained mostly hidden in plain sight.  Despite significant press around the confirmation hearings for DeVos, the corporate media has not called the public’s attention to her relationship to Prince.  Plaudits go to the The Intercept for publishing an article on January 17 by Scahill about Prince's connection to Trump, and highlighting his connection to DeVos.

Prince’s biggest claim to infamy is as the founder of Blackwater, a private security firm that hired mercenaries to augment US military forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, among many other places.  Blackwater, now transformed into a company called Academi, had an intimate relationship with the CIA, and was regarded by many as one of the CIA’s go to organizations when it wanted to contract out its dirty work.  Blackwater got into hot water more than once, particularly in 2007 when some of its mercenaries gunned down 17 Iraqi civilians, including a 9-year old boy, in Baghdad.

Scahill reports that trusted sources tell him Prince has been giving Trump advice on his staff picks for the Defense Department and the State Department.  Nothing like having friends in high places if you want work.

Prince is close to another Trump advisor, the racist Steve Bannon.  Prince has often appeared on Bannon’s Breitbart Radio.  Last July, Prince told Bannon that a Trump administration could and should create a new version of the Phoenix Program, the CIA assassination program during the Vietnam War that “neutralized” tens of thousands of alleged Viet Cong leaders.  The new assassination program would presumably target “radical Islamic extremists,” and who knows who else.

DeVos, while not a public advocate of murder like her brother, has worked for decades in an effort to undermine and assassinate public education.  A billionaire heir to the Amway fortune, she is a prominent Republican donor and fund-raiser.  Her political efforts have centered around campaigns to give parents taxpayer-funded “vouchers” so they can pull their children out of the public education system and send them to private schools, including religious schools.  She has also campaigned to expand charter schools, which are publicly funded but run by private companies.

She isn’t responsible for her brother, of course, but the two are closely linked politically, as described in a 2014 Mother Jones article — and there’s no sign anywhere that she has said she doesn’t approve of his actions.

DeVos hails from Michigan, where she is a political force to be reckoned with.  She has been credited with creating a network of charter schools in Michigan that are virtually unregulated, despite the abysmal test scores of their students.  Dick DeVos, Betsy’s husband, led and funded the successful campaign in 2012 that turned Michigan into a so-called “right to work” state, effectively outlawing the union shop.  That includes, of course, public schools.

DeVos was called the “the most ideological, anti-public education nominee” for the office of Secretary of Education ever by Randi Weingarten, the President of the American Federation of Teachers. (See below)

Trump's Attack on Immigrants

Yesterday, as Trump signed two executive orders meant to jumpstart construction of a U.S.-Mexico border wall and strip federal funding from sanctuary cities, California Democrats committed to fighting back.

Here's what leaders in California had to say:

"These executive orders will harm public safety, tear families apart, and jeopardize national security ... I'd urge my colleagues in Congress to uphold America's tradition of standing up to protect these communities." - U.S. Senator Kamala Harris

"It's sad Donald Trump thinks these executive orders make America safer, and it's sad he thinks they make America better ... These orders are exactly why the Legislature is taking steps to help immigrants with access to legal counsel to ensure due process." - Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon

"The California DOJ will protect the rights of all of its people from unwarranted intrusion from any source, including the federal government." - Attorney General Xavier Becerra

"It's not the job of our local and county and state law enforcement to turn the cogs of President Trump's deportation machine. He cannot force us and we will not hesitate to fight him in Congress and settle the matter in court." - Senate Leader Kevin de León

Trump Begins Border Wall

antiracismdsa: Trump Begins Border Wall: Will hire 5,000 additional border patrol. Will end catch and release policy. Says he will crack down on sanctuary cities.  WASHINGTO...

The Identity Politics Red Herring @alternet

The Identity Politics Red Herring @alternet: It is about civil rights and social justice.

Bill Fletcher