With so much terrible news happening in the Black community & against Muslims you almost wish the real news was Hillary Clinton & those stupid emails.

If the US government doesn’t give a rat’s ass about possible national security breaches, why the hell should we? Our demand should be open the books on all the dirty deals made against the interests of other peoples with our tax money & in our name.

Rallys in St. Paul to protest murder of Philando Castile

Rally at school of Philando Castile

The St. Paul school system is paying tribute to Philando Castile who graduated from high school there & worked in the cafeteria system for ten years. They say he was highly respected & liked by coworkers & loved by the kids.

This teen is attending a rally at the school where Philando worked. His simple tribute says everything we need to know about what kind of person we have lost in such a gruesome way.

We add our voices to those in St. Paul demanding justice for the execution of our brother.

(Photo is from Fox 9 news)

For many white people the violence against the Black community is more than an issue of solidarity against outrageous injustice. Because of desegregation, even with its limits, especially working class Blacks & whites come into constant social contact with each other–in fewer instances as neighbors but most often as school & work mates. Romance & love come from all that. And friendships. And children.

In my very large family, I have several Black nieces & nephews & more Black cousins than I can count–most, not all of them living in the Minneapolis-St Paul area, most of them quite young, & all of them very beloved. So it is deeply troubling to me personally to read about the execution of Philando Castile in an area where my family members live & who now must feel like they’re under siege & in danger.

That’s true for many that Blacks are not an alien hostile species as portrayed by media but they are our babies, spouses, cousins, nieces, nephews, uncles, aunties, grandparents. We live with them, we fight with them, we love them.

One of my St. Paul cousins whose husband is Black posted this statement on her FB wall: “Told my husband that our son & himself need to blowup their license & registration cards & stick them to the dashboards of the vehicles so no need to make a move that might kill them!!!!!!! I’m serious, which is unfortunate.”

What the hell kind of world are we tolerating!?

In the past few days I’m being unfriended right & left on Facebook. I never know which issue offends. Could be any number of them. People are heartfelt about their politics. So am I, with the additional weight of age when you don’t care if others agree with you or not. That’s life. I haven’t stayed in politics so long because differences with others devastated me.

And for the record, it isn’t me who unfriends over differences, even sharp ones. If I block it’s for ugly language & attitude problems.

The war on the Black community

The fatal police shootings of 37-year-old Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge (on Tuesday) & of 32-year-old Philando Castile in a Minneapolis-St. Paul suburb (on Wednesday) were both captured on video in all their gruesome detail. There is no question about the excessive use of police force.

When I first began writing about violence against Black youth & martial law in the Black community in the early 1990s, I was mocked as a fool. The violence was justified by the government as a war on drugs under the guise of fighting “narco-terrorists” & most white people bought it, including liberals. Many police departments around the US resisted it at the time, saying there was no evidence of gang activity in their area.

Today, there isn’t even a pretense of fighting drug gangs but only a blatant, ruthless disregard for the lives of Blacks–& not just youth.
I am reposting my original article from 1992 which appeared in a Harvard student publication & in 2007 in the Minneapolis Black newspaper to provide background to the war against the Black community:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/mary-scully/the-war-on-black-youth/267267043287137

The differences around the Brexit vote are sharp & understandably the temperature of discussions gets hot. But how in the hell has the EU become associated with internationalism when its economic & political policies stink of racism–from its monstrous treatment of refugees to the forced removal of Roma in several countries to make way for EU infrastructure projects?

The differences in reaction to massacres depending on what color & religion you are

Bangladesh vigil

The differences in reaction to massacres in the US & most of Europe to those in Turkey, Bangladesh, Iraq, & Saudi Arabia are so egregious & speak so stridently to the racism & Islamophobia involved that the NY Times felt compelled to write an article about it titled “After Attacks on Muslims, Many Ask: Where Is the Outpouring?”

Where are the displays of grief & solidarity, the vigils & rallies, the social media profile photos & landmarks lit up with flags, the photo montages of victims?

The NYT article is not a masterpiece of dissemblance. It’s a pathetic hack job that offers provincialism as an excuse & doesn’t address racism or Islamophobic war-mongering which create not just indifference but hostility to the lives of Muslims, Arabs, & others. Most malignantly, the article manages to turn it back on Muslims for religious sectarianism & for allegedly producing ISIS.

It does this hack analysis under the guise of ecumenism, of pretending it gives a rat’s ass about the indifference of mostly white people to the massacres of brown & black people.

The article explains nothing, especially why Muslims would blow up other Muslims during Ramadan. What it does do is show how pernicious & sly racism & war-mongering can be.

Photo is Bangladeshi vigil on Sunday to honor the victims killed in the attack at the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka.

(Photo from AP)

How Eid is celebrated in Kashmir under occupation

Kashmiri protesters after Eid prayers (AFP) July 7 2016

Eid is a holy, festive Muslim holiday of thanksgiving to celebrate the end of the month of Ramadan. Kashmiri Muslims celebrated it yesterday on the same day as Pakistan & many Arab countries. Over 100,000 people attended prayer services in three different venues in Srinagar.

You can see in this photo how the Indian occupying army respects the religious traditions & political freedom of Kashmiris. According to witnesses, they used tear gas & flashbangs (sound bombs) against protesters chanting freedom slogans after Eid prayers. As Kashmiri activists have pointed out: this is how Eid is celebrated under occupation.

Many of the protesters waved Pakistani flags either in political support or as a symbol of dissent against the occupation. It’s their country. They can wave any damn flag they like.

End the Indian occupation of Kashmir. Self-determination for Kashmir. Long live Kashmiri Intifada.
(Photo from AFP)