Results reflect intentions. Think about that. Results reflect intentions. Nowhere is this clearer than in the school to prison pipeline. If you haven’t done so, please watch 13th tonight. The  prison industrial complex which uses legal slave labor and as an extra benefit keeps Black and Latino families  divided, literally, by prison walls. The United States has the highest number of incarcerated persons than any country in the world. This slavery is thoroughly legal, explicitly sanctioned by the 13th Ameendment: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall […]

As I lit up a joint and opened a beer this afternoon, I got an insight into why alcoholism and other addictions are so popular: it gets so we can’t really tolerate living unless were high on something. This is no accident. The triangular trade, dating from 1560, defined as follows, was the foundational transaction for capitalism in the Americas: New Englanders manufactured and shipped rum to the west coast of Africa in exchange for slaves. The slaves were taken on the ‘Middle Passage’ to the West Indies where they were sold for molasses/sugar and money. The molasses would be […]

If I were Trump, in my first 100 days, I would tell Jeff Sessions to go after the Sanctuary Cities, those 39 communities that have banned city employees and agencies from inquiring about people’s immigration status. And I would start with the larger cities with large Black populations: Chicago, Los Angeles, Baltimore, Newark, Oakland. I would freeze funding for the programs that disproportionately affect Black people: Food stamps, Section 8 housing, welfare, child care. What a terrific way to divide the urban liberal coalitions! IMHO, the only way to fight this is by organizing and educating all groups on precisely […]

The men and women in prison are the strongest people in the country. Guilty or innocent, think of what they have to endure. It’s not stylish, as “Orange is the New Black” seems to imply. It’s brutal. Dehumanizing beyond belief. Those of us who haven’t been there have no clue. It is quite literally, slavery. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. So reads the Thirteenth Amendment that “abolished” slavery, except… On September 9, 2016, […]

I’m coming out of retirement to resume leadership of Oakland Parents Together (OPT) mostly because it needs my time and resource for a while longer, but also because we have a new political reality which gives organizing Black and Latino parents a new urgency. It is likely, that the right-wing hegemony of the Federal government will move fast. They have two years to implement their privatization agenda. We can expect the privatization of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Affordable Care Act, food stamps, and welfare in the first year. A return to stop and search and plant-evidence policing with no accountabiliby. […]

It seems like the whole pre- and post- election discussion have been about personalities. We should be talking about the system. The name of the system is Capitalism, and virtually no one is challenging it – except Black Lives Matter and allied groups. Bernie did not oppose it nor did he challenge its most egregious aspect, imperialism. The problem is that Capitalism is collapsing. It has reached the zenith of its centuries of growth, but it has now penetrated the farthest reaches of the globe. Capitalism can only survive by continually expanding, and it’s reached its limit. As the system […]

Trying to decide which of the late Leonard Cohen song titles I should use to title this week’s blog. I used “Democracy is Coming the USA” when Bernie was surging, and it wouldn’t be accurate now, except maybe long term. “You Want it Darker” would certainly apply. I’ll go with “Everybody Knows.” Everybody knows that the dice are loaded Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed Everybody knows the war is over Everybody knows the good guys lost Everybody knows the fight was fixed The poor stay poor, the rich get rich That’s how it goes Everybody knows Even though we […]

Last week I slogged into the fray to argue with Bernie or Bust/Jill Stein folks about why they should vote the Democratic ticket. I’m not going to reiterate the argument. Not surprisingly, I took a lot of shit from the ex-Bernie new-Greens. It didn’t bother me, I was ready for it. Probably lost about 30 of my 5000 friends. Boo-hoo. This week I want to talk about how we rebuild the unity we’re going to need going forward, no matter what happens.  We need to unite around a series of demands no matter who is elected. Here would be my […]

I am currently in Mexico, where I now live about a third of the time. It is Day of the Dead weekend, and I will be dressing up as Catrina, the well-dressed skeleton, a tradition that dates back to a revolutionary cartoonist, Jose Guadalupe Posada. His depictions were largely satirical of the bourgeoisie, dressed in finery but dead inside. People gather at the cemeteries on the actual Day of the Dead, which is November 1. In the town where I live, San Miguel de Allende, the main cemetery is divided into a Mexican section and an American section – the […]

  It can’t be that hard to have the world the way 99% of the people want it, peaceful, healthy, and fair. Maybe we’re overthinking this. Maybe we’re trying too hard using all these convoluted obsolete structures to make change. Sometimes you just got to throw sh*t against the wall and see what sticks. So here’s this weeks: A petition. Simple enough: Capital is global. Capitalism is global. It’s time for the people, the 99.9% to unite and go global. We the people of the world make the following demands to the rulers of all countries and corporations in the […]