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Tag Archives: Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

Inauguration/Coronation of Donald Trump as 45th President of the United States of America

20 Fri Jan 2017

Posted by ztnh in Anti-Fascism, Anti-Imperialism, Anti-Totalitarianism, Anti-War, Civic Engagement (Activism)

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Allan Nairn (b. 1956), Amy Goodman, Amy Goodman (b. 1957), Democracy Now!, Dr. Angela Davis (b. 1944), Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Dr. Ralph Nader (b. 1934), KPFA, Michael Moore (b. 1954), Naomi Klein (b. 1970), neoliberalism, Nermeen Shaikh, Pacifica Radio Network, transcript, Women's March on Washington

640px-donald_trump_swearing_in_ceremonyLUMPENPROLETARIAT   WTF?

We seriously need to have an adult conversation as Americans.  That means progressives must talk to conservatives, and liberals to radicals, and so on, and so forth.  We are all stuck in our respective ideological silos and, consequently, learn nothing from one another.  We have allowed capitalist interests to capture virtually all of broadcast media, as they set their sights on net neutrality.  We benefit nothing from our vast American diversity when we are alienated from one another.  At the very least, my friends, we must understand one another.  Then, we can agree to disagree on the differences and take our respective stands as determined by our respective consciences.  Presently, however, the working classes are divided and pitted against one another along ethnic/’racial’ and sundry identity politics lines.  Meanwhile, the real meat and potatoes of the matter, or guns and butter as it were, the political economy of the matter, the ability of the working classes to provide lives of dignity for their families is taken away by the ruling classes, by the Republican and Democratic regimes, who work for the 1%, the ruling classes, not the American people.

Every presidential election cycle, the political centre is pushed rightward, either, by a Republican, which is more extremely regressive, antidemocratic, and anti-working class than the last one, or a Democratic president, such as Obama, Clinton, et al., who is acquiescent or accommodating to the Republican capitalist agenda of widening inequality.  President Bill Clinton deregulated Wall Street and set the stage for the Global Financial Crisis of 2007/2008, in which millions of people lost their homes and life savings.  Then, among other crimes against humanity, Obama made sure that none of those white collar criminals went to jail.  That left them all off the hook, encouraging them to do it again.  That paved the way for even deeper capitalist capture of government in 2016.  A recent example of our perpetual rightward shift is ostensible ‘rising star’ Democrat Cory Booker, who recently betrayed the working classes, not to mention his constituency, by joining Senate Republicans to kill a measure, which would allow the importation of lower price medicines from Canada.  We’ve seen the Democrats ‘cross the aisle’, betray their own political party, to support the Republicans in Congress whenever the Republicans are short of votes to pass some regressive legislation or another.  Of course, the Republicans will never ‘cross the aisle’ to support progressive or pro-working class policies and legislation.  Yet, somehow or other, the working class gets fooled every time.  Working class Trump supporters thought Trump might buck the system.  But they will only find that Trump will screw the working class over.  Working class Obama supporters thought Obama would bring hope and change.  Instead, he brought drone strikes and Get-Out-of-Jail-Free cards for corporate criminals, war profiteers, and banksters.  Obama deported more people than any president before him.  And Obama continued shredding the Constitution, with the NDAA legislation, indefinite detention, extraordinary rendition, domestic surveillance, and so on, and so forth, which took off like wildfire in the wake of 9/11.  This two-party dictatorship must be exposed for what it is—antidemocratic and anti-working class—and rejected wholesale by the working classes of America.

Donald Trump, a racist, sexist, homophobic, bigoted, ruling class capitalist with no experience in public office, will be sworn in today as President of the United States.  He received some three million less votes than his Democratic Party opponent, who, herself, cheated her fellow Democratic Party opponent Bernie Sanders during the Democratic Primary.  Bernie Sanders acquiesced to the corruption of the Democratic Party and walked in line, betraying millions of his ‘Bernie or Bust’ supporters.  Hillary Clinton and all those behind her, or to the left of her, assumed she would defeat Trump in the popular vote.  She did, apenas.  But the ruling class controls the Electoral College, an antiquated and antidemocratic body, which is designed as a safeguard against any attempts by the people, by the working class, to translate their political will into political reality.  So, we get Trump and his cabinet full of corporatist/capitalist thieves.

Messina

***

[Working draft transcript of actual radio broadcast by Messina for Lumpenproletariat and Pacifica Radio]

inauguration-fri_7-12-800x500-kpfaDEMOCRACY NOW!—[20 JAN 2017, 05:00 PST] [1] [dead air]  (c. 0:27) 

[music break, whilst technical difficulties are sorted out] (c. 1:26)

AMY GOODMAN:  “[From Howard University in Washington, D.C., this is a Democracy Now! Inauguration Day special.]

Donald Trump:  ‘And we are going to make America great again, greater than ever before.  Thank you very much everybody.’

AMY GOODMAN:  “[It is Inauguration Day in Washington, D.C., as Donald Trump prepares to be sworn in as the nation’s 45th president.  Protests have already begun here in Washington and around the country.  Up to 25,000 rallied in New York last night outside Trump International Hotel and Tower.  We’ll hear what Michael Moore told the crowd.]”

Michael Moore:  ‘As bad as we think it’s going to be, it’s going to be worse.  That’s the truth, my friends.  I’m sorry to have to begin on such a depressing note.  But here is the good news:  The good news is there’s more of us than there are of them!’  [audience cheers]

AMY GOODMAN:  “[We’ll also speak] with Naomi Klein, author of This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate.”

Naomi Klein:  ‘Let us be clear.  What will happen tomorrow in this city is not a peaceful transition of power.  It is a corporate coup d’état.”  [audience cheers]‘

AMY GOODMAN:  “All that and more, coming up.  (c. 1:49)

“Welcome to Democracy Now!; DemocracyNow.org; War, Peace, and the Presidency.  I’m Amy Goodman.  We’re broadcasting live from Howard University in Washington, D.C. on this Inauguration Day of Donald Trump as 45th President of the United States.

“Hundreds of thousands of people have descended on Washington, D.C., either to support or to protest Donald Trump’s inauguration.  Late Thursday night, police deployed pepper spray against activists protesting outside a pro-Trump ball called the ‘DeploraBall’ at the National Press Club.  Protesters held signs reading ‘No Alt Reich’ and ‘No Nazi USA.’  At least one person was arrested.  Pro-Trump demonstrators have also arrived in Washington, including members of multiple biker gangs, including the group Bikers for Trump, whose members have vowed to serve as a ‘wall of meat’ between protesters and Trump during the inauguration events.  Up to 25,000 people also rallied against Donald Trump in New York City Thursday at a massive protest in front of Trump International Hotel and Tower, where filmmaker Michael Moore, actors Mark Ruffalo, Robert De Niro and Alec Baldwin all called for people to kick off ‘100 Days of Resistance.’  New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also spoke.  This is protester Faiza Ali.”

Faiza Ali:  ‘We have to be ready to fight.  We have to stand united.  We must refuse to normalize bigotry and hate, which has been the incoming administration’s hallmark and rise to power.  We must be ready to reject Trump’s fascist agenda and resist every appointment, every policy, every single proposal that institutionalizes Islamophobia or is a threat to our values.’

“We’ll hear more voices from the New York City rally, including Michael Moore, after headlines.  In California’s Bay Area, students and teachers participated in coordinated protests against Trump Thursday.  Many more nationwide are preparing for protests today and tomorrow.  In breaking news, people are currently locking down right now at a Black Lives Matter protest this morning here in Washington.  Thousands are expected to participate in feminist, pro-black, pro-queer, pro-labor and anti-capitalist actions throughout the day.  On Saturday, as many as 200,000 people are expected to participate in the Women’s March on Washington.  This is Andrea Pritchett [of CopWatch] leading a Know Your Rights training in Berkeley, California, ahead of today’s protests.”

Andrea Pritchett (CopWatch):  ‘There’s a lot of stuff going on this weekend in San Francisco and Oakland.  We want people to be prepared.  You know, I’ve been doing Know Your Rights trainings for 27 years, and I’ve never seen a climate so hostile to our basic rights as described in the Bill of Rights.  So, it’s even more important now that we not only assert our rights, but remember what they are, remember what they’re supposed to be, you know, and not let them get whittled down and whittled away.’

[snip]

[News Headlines, including Andrea Pritchett (CopWatch); another assassination in Honduras; Wayne Barrett dies of interstitial lung disease/cancer.  See a transcript of the headlines here.]

[(c. 23:00)  Carla Wills(sp?): update from Black Lives Matter civil disobedience actions, shutting down of police checkpoint by activists at 300 Indiana Avenue protesting Trump]

[(c. 25:45)  Back to Amy Goodman broadcasting from Howard University]

[(c. 26:00)  music break]

[(c. 27:30)  Nermeen Shaikh recaps events thus far, including clips of Alec Baldwin mocking Trump; (c. 28:50)  Michael Moore speaking at anti-Trump rally, cites Robert Deniro]

Michael Moore Speaking Before 25,000 NYC Protestors On the Eve of the Inauguration/Coronation of President Donald Trump, 2017 ψ

[snip]

[(c. 40:35)  Back to Amy Goodman…some 25,000 people gathered to protest Trump…]

[(c 41:05)  music break:  “Respect” by Aretha Franklin]

[(c. 43:00)  Naomi Klein]

[additional notes pending]

[snip]  (c. 59:59)

Learn more at DEMOCRACY NOW!.

[This transcript will be expanded as time constraints, and/or demand or resources, allow.  Also see Democracy Now!’s working draft transcript at DemocracyNow.org.]

***

DEMOCRACY NOW!—[20 JAN 2017, 06:00 PST]  [Hour two of continuing live coverage of Trump’s presidential inauguration]

[Amy Goodman and Nermeen Shaikh continue with their panel of commentators]

[Naomi Klein is brought back into the discussion, including the topics of neoliberalism and privatisation of public resources and institutions (c. 6:00)]

[(c. 8:25)  Carla Wills provides an update from the streets, where a Black Lives Matter action is underway, as the police move in on the protestors engaged in civil disobedience]

[(c. 12:25)  Back to the round table discussion with Amy Goodman’s longtime journalism collaborator Allan Nairn, Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, and Naomi Klein.]

[(c. 20:00)  Amy Goodman, the consummate Democratic Party apologist asks about ‘rising star’ Cory Booker and his public condemnation of Trump, as if to present some admirable Democrat to force Dr. Taylor into a Democrat apologist position or make herself unpopular by opposing a Democrat ‘golden boy’.  Dr. Taylor points out the paltriness of Cory Booker’s stand in going after ‘low-hanging fruit’ in his public condemnations of Trump.  (Meanwhile, The Intercept and others have reported that Democrat Cory Booker has betrayed the working classes, not to mention his constituents, by joining Senate Republicans to kill a measure, which would allow the importation of lower price medicines from Canada.  See “Cory Booker Joins Senate Republicans to Kill Measure to Import Cheaper Medicine From Canada” by Zaid Jilani and David Dayen, The Intercept, 12 JAN 2017)]

[(c. 24:50)  Amy Goodman’s ideological ally, another Democrat apologist, joins in to oppose Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor’s opposition to the two-party dictatorship.]

[(c. 29:00)  Allan Nairn makes some interesting points about the political climate during and after the presidential primaries.  But he misses the big picture, which Dr. Taylor has been articulating so well lately.  The big point people miss, including Allan Nairn, when they discuss Trump’s rise to power is that he lost the presidential election, but the electoral college awarded him the presidency anyway.  The bigger picture being missed by Democrat loyalists, such as Amy Goodman and Allan Nairn, is that the Democratic Party is antidemocratic in its collusion with the Republican Party to block alternative political parties from meaningfully participating in the democratic process, particularly the presidential debates and ballot access for alternative political parties during midterm elections, which are increasingly subject to Top-Two Primary laws.  The electoral college must be abolished.  The debates must be opened up.  Ranked choice voting must be implemented.  And the antidemocratic two-party dictatorship must be toppled.  But Democrat Party apologists, such as Amy Goodman and Allan Nairn, will continually steer their audiences toward uncritical support of the Democratic Party because the only political analysis they will engage in is one which exaggerates the evils of the Republicans and downplays or obfuscates the evils of the Democratic Party.  It’s very revealing to pay close attention to the editorial slant of Democracy Now! pundits.  They are good at generally conveying a progressive perspective, except when the topic around questions regarding the validity of progressives continuing to support the Demcratic Party as a viable strategy for socioeconomic justice, rather than supporting political diversity and alternative political parties, or fighting for true democracy.]

[(c. 39:40)  Without being called on to speak by Amy Goodman and company, who seemed to be sidelining Dr. Taylor, she took it upon herself to jump into the discussion.  Amy Goodman was giving greater airtime to her ideological ally, Allan Nairn.  And, when Dr. Taylor made valid points critical of the Democratic Party, Amy Goodman never engaged her points meaningfully.  Amy Goodman would simply change the subject, or remain silent.  Only when the topic was bashing Republicans, “low-hanging fruit”, as Dr. Taylor correctly described it, do we see progressive darling Amy Goodman light up and engage in critical thinking.]

[(c. 41:44)  Allan Nairn can only be described as a Democrat Party apologist when he argues that the Democratic Party is ‘ripe for hijacking by its “base”.  Amy Goodman asks him to identify the Democratic Party’s “base”.  Nairn replies that it’s the American working class, then sets out to defend his reform-the-Democratic-Party-from-within ideology by holding up congress member Keith Ellison as a charismatic Democrat, which progressives are expected to put their faith in to transform the corporate Democrat Party into a sincere people’s party.]

[Nermeen Shaikh cuts to an update from Carla Wills, who is reporting on the Black Lives Matter actions of civil disobedience, where the ‘police are moving in against the protestors’.  (c. 47:45)  Right-wing radio host Alex Jones, who was on the scene, says Carla Wills, “took his hate home” after spreading rumours that ‘a white woman had been assaulted’, presumably by blacks.  Apparently, Jones was trying to foment race-baiting rumours in order to undermine the Black Lives Matter actions and the movement, generally.]

[(c. 48:50)  Back to Amy Goodman’s live broadcasting.  Then, an apparently pre-recorded clip is played of a brief interview with Alicia Garza, Black Lives Matter co-founder, speaking against president-electored Trump.]

[(c. 54:30)  Back to Amy Goodman’s narration of the physical whereabouts and ceremonial proceedings of Donald Trump, as makes his way through the inaugural ceremonies, as well as Barack Obama and other inaugural participants.]

[Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is briefly allowed to speak again during the broadcast.]

[Break, end of an hour-long time-block and the beginning of the next.]

[(c. 1:00:00)  Amy Goodman airs a clip from Angela Davis’ speech the night before at the Peace Ball.  Then, Goodman notes that Solange headlined the Peace Ball.]

[(c. 1:03:45)  Apparently to reinforce the Democratic Party apologist line, Amy Goodman gives Allan Nairn another opportunity to reiterate his apologist punditry.]

[(c. 1:12:00)  At last, Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor challenged the Democratic Party apologism being presented by Democracy Now!’s editorial slant.  Dr. Taylor challenged Allan Nairn’s notions of the Democratic Party being ‘captured by its working class base’, despite, of course, the deep corporate pockets running the Democratic Party.]

[(c. 1:15:00)  Given an opportunity to speak again, Naomi Klein agrees with Dr. Taylor’s condemnation of the Democratic Party’s neoliberalism and antidemocratic, anti-working class, politics.  Instead of engaging this line of critique, Amy Goodman simply changes the subject.]

[(c. 1:19:00)  Amy Goodman airs a clip of actor, director, and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Robert De Niro speaking at the Trump protest rally.  Then Democrat Bill de Blasio speaks in vague generalities about opposing injustices without upsetting the Democratic Party’s status quo political order.]

[(c. 1:29:40)  Amy Goodman turns to the topic of the recent death of investigative journalist Wayne Barrett, who has researched Donald Trump’s background for decades.  A clip of an interview Goodman conducted with Democracy Now! colleague Juan González at Barret’s home.]

[(c. 1:43:00)  Dr. Ralph Nader is allowed to speak again.]

[Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is allowed to speak again.]

[snip]  (c. 1:59:59)

Learn more at DEMOCRACY NOW!.

***

inauguration-800x498-dn-20-jan-2017-1000-pstDEMOCRACY NOW!—[20 JAN 2017, 08:00 PST]

[Amy Goodman and Nermeen Shaikh begin hour four of extended live broadcast coverage of Donald Trump’s inauguration.]

[Carla Wills gives another update at a police checkpoint at Indiana Avenue, which protestors have been organising to shut down through non-violent civil disobedience, including chaining themselves to form a human barricade to obstruct business as usual.]

[(c. 6:50)  Back to Amy Goodman, who reports that, in San Francisco, protestors have descended upon Uber, a sponsor of Trump’s inauguration events; at Indiana University in Bloomington, student walkouts have taken place; also civil disobedience actions have taken place in Baltimore as well in protest against Trump’s election to the White House by the Electoral College.]

[Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is allowed to speak again.]

[Allan Nairn reiterates his Democratic Party apologism and unrealistic expectations of reforming the corporate Democratic Party.  Then, Nairn works to sell an illusory notion that progressives should devote their time, energy, and resources to supporting Democrat Keith Ellison because Sanders ‘failed to beat Hillary during the presidential primaries’.  Amy Goodman insidiously interjects, “But [Sanders] didn’t win.”  Of course, Goodman and Nairn both refuse to recall the fact that Sanders was cheated by Hillary Clinton’s camp, which was colluding with the Democratic Party leadership to undermine Bernie Sanders’ efforts.]

[(c. 11:00)  Allan Nairn cited Egypt and the ‘colour revolutions’, but without mentioning the ongoing research (e.g., Dr. William F. Engdahl, Douglas Valentine, et al.), which is increasingly indicating that those ostensibly spontaneous uprisings were CIA operations intended to bolster the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood, alleged CIA assets.  Indeed, the Egyptian uprising led to conditions favorable to the USA.  See “U.S.-Financed Groups Had Supporting Role in Arab Uprisings” by Ron Nixon, The New York Times, 14 APR 2011.]

[(c. 15:20)  Amy Goodman volunteers political analysis and critique, but only of ‘low-hanging fruit’, only of Trump and the Republican Party, never critique of the Democrats or the two-party dictatorship.]

[(c. 17:20)  Allan Nairn talks about funding public spending for job creation through low interest loans, but overlooks heterodox economics and modern money theory (MMT), which shows us how we can use modern money for public purpose, including a job guarantee programme.]

[(c. 19:50)  Deena Guzder speaks with sports pundit Dave Zirin.]

[(c. 25:00)  Back to Amy Goodman, then more Trump pomp and circumstance.]

[(c. 41:43)  music break]

AMY GOODMAN:  “President Donald J. Trump’s inaugural address, after being sworn in as the 45th president of the United States, sworn in by Chief Justice Roberts; before him, Vice President Mike Pence sworn in by Justice Clarence Thomas.

“While Donald Trump was being sworn in, thousands of protesters gathered in the streets of Washington.  Hundreds of thousands are planning to take part in Saturday’s massive Women’s March on Washington.  Protests against Donald Trump are taking place worldwide today.  In Mexico, activists burned effigies of Trump during a march and protest at the Zócalo in Mexico City.  Demonstrators are gathering in Berlin, Germany, holding signs reading ‘Mr. President, Walls Divide. Build Bridges.’  Hundreds more gathered early Friday in Tokyo, Japan, and outside the U.S. Embassy in the Philippine capital of Manila.  Telesur reports more protests are planned today in Paris, Madrid, Brussels, Prague and Buenos Aires.

“This is Democracy Now!’s live coverage of the inauguration and its aftermath.  There were about 40,000 people who packed the area around the Capitol for the inauguration.  That was, well, about 10 percent of who packed it years ago.  And when it came to the number of people who came out for this inauguration, Donald Trump had said his would be the largest.  When President Obama was inaugurated in 2009, there were 1.8 million people, nearly 2 million people.  Today, about half of the area was full.

“We’re joined, now, by three guests, as we continue our coverage.  I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.  We will be with you until 3:00 eastern standard time.  Naomi Klein is back with us, the author of This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate.  Princeton Professor Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, author of From BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation, and four-time presidential candidate Ralph Nader is with us.  Twice he ran on the Green Party ticket, twice he ran as an independent, well known as a consumer activist in this country.

“Ralph Nader, if you can talk about your thoughts, listening to this address, just around, well, under 18 minutes, around 15 minutes, Donald Trump’s first address, as he talked about issuing a decree, a new vision that is going across the land?  From this time on, he said, it’s going to be America first.”

DR. RALPH NADER:  “Well, we’ve heard it all before.  The rhetoric is completely, now, contradicted by his nominations of billionaires, corporatists, racists, militarists to run his Cabinet and other agencies.  So, how long he can continue this fantasy between what he says verbally and what he’s doing in the government remains to be seen.

“But he signaled two weaknesses of the Democratic Party.  One is on trade.  The Democratic Party bought into this economics 101 free trade [i.e., neoliberalism], allowed whole industries and jobs to be exported to communist and fascist regimes, hollowing out communities, and he took full advantage of that. Had they not done that, he would have had a very hard time finding traction in the Midwest of the United States, where a lot of the factories are empty. And the second thing that he took advantage of was a sense of subordinating our own missions to foreign expenditures and foreign involvements, although he is going to be a heralder of the empire with his nominees, for sure. But when he talks about spending trillions abroad while our public works decay and our jobs are not built here, that’s another huge gap by the Democratic Party. They should not have allowed those kinds of vacuums to occur.

The last thing that he signaled—and this is going to be troubling for everybody—is that he’s going to do a lot of things at once in the first hundred days, unlike Barack Obama, who figured that he could only handle the Democratic Congress with healthcare. He’s going to try to go on all fronts. And that’s perilous for him, obviously, but it’s also very perilous for the Democratic Party, which now is a minority in the Congress. That means he’s going to get the nominee to the Supreme Court up fast. He’s going to start changing the tax system up fast. He’s going to start rolling back health and safety and other regulations fast by all kinds of executive action and in Congress.

And so, what we’re going to see here is a challenge to the stamina of the citizenry, especially the majority of the people who voted against him, and whether they organize in every congressional district or they just engage in important but short-lived resistance is a real question now. We have to build sustained power in every congressional district to use that huge leverage over Congress—535 people whose names we know—as an opposition to what the Trump administration plans to do.

He is now way in over his neck. He doesn’t know how to run the government. He doesn’t like to work hard. He doesn’t like details. He doesn’t like to read briefing memos. He doesn’t like to be briefed. So we’re going to see a huge delegation of authority to his nominees, to his Cabinet secretaries, etc. And we will see a new media emerge, which is his tweeting media and which is basically his public relations arm to 20, 30 million people that tap into that account.

Finally, I think what we—we’re going to have to do something to get over the yuck factor. The liberals have to get over the yuck factor. They disagree with conservatives back home on certain issues, as we know—reproductive rights, etc., gun control. But there’s a huge left-right worker alliance that can be dealt here, because, as he alluded to, they all bleed the same way, and, as I would expand, they all get ripped off the same way by the healthcare industry, by the utilities, by the employers, by the low wages. That’s the alliance for the future against Donald Trump and his billionaires.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: You mentioned, Ralph, that Trump, of course, he’s become famous for this now, or infamous, using Twitter to convey his policies and proposed policies and all forms of communication. I mean, one of the things that was striking about the speech is that, in a way, it read or sounded much like his Twitter messages, like a series of declarative statements, that—you know, one not necessarily following from the other. Keeanga, your response? What did—what struck you particularly about what he said?

KEEANGA–YAMAHTTA TAYLOR: I think that there are a couple of things. One is the kind of bellicose, bullyish nature of it. Not only did he declare a new decree of America first, but in the first couple of sentences, you know, he talked about how this election, his ascendance to the presidency, would not only chart a new course for America, but would chart a new course for the world. And I think, you know, that is consistent with a kind of thuggish, bullying posture that Trump and his supporters have taken since the campaign, and certainly since the election. And so, I think that that is worrying, and it’s concerning.

I think also the sort of—the language about America first and hiring Americans first and—what kind of threat that that poses in combination with the continued discussion about the wall and attacks on immigrants, and what that will mean, and also his strange call for unity through the kind of disappearance of important differences that exist. And so, this whole discussion that we all bleed the same is a way of really avoiding the issues of race and ethnicity in the United States in dangerous ways, I think, in ways that really ignore the extent to which this country has been embroiled in racial strife and discord over the last several years, evidenced by the struggles around immigration, struggles around the DAPL pipeline struggle or the DAPL pipeline protests, and, probably most well known, struggles around Black Lives Matter and the movement against police abuse and violence.

And so, I think that in ways that those of us who have been critical have talked about, that the breadth of the Trump attack was put on full display. And so, if there was any surprise, it was the way that there was no attempt to temper that message, which is also consistent with the Cabinet appointees, that—as Naomi said earlier, that there is no pretense that this is anything but what it actually is, which is a power grab by the rich and influential, a smash-and-grab operation to get away with as much as they possibly can to—as they have said, to reset government. And so, I think that the parameters of what the resistance has to do, and what it will look like, have been set forth clearly. And it really is time to move from the despair and anger—not necessarily anger, but despair and disbelief—into defiance and anger and organizing against this.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: Well, let’s go back to part of President Trump’s speech.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We assembled here today are issuing a new decree to be heard in every city, in every foreign capital and in every hall of power. From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this day forward, it’s going to be only America first. America first.

NERMEEN SHAIKH: That’s President Donald Trump speaking at his inauguration speech just a few moments ago. So, Naomi Klein, could you comment on this, his emphasis on America first? And another thing that he lamented in his speech was the fact that the U.S. has so subsidized other countries that its own military has been depleted, which, of course, he naturally categorized as very sad, of course, not mentioning at all that the U.S. spends more on its military than all the other countries of the world combined. So, give us your reflections on his speech.

NAOMI KLEIN: Well, and, of course, one of the remarkable things about his appointments is the number of not so recently retired generals, all of whom have ties to military contractors who are going to benefit directly from this arms race that he’s been tweeting about, including a nuclear arms race, right? “Bring it on!” But, you know, I have to say, listening to this America—this defiant America firstism, and, you know, picking up on what Ralph said about how this is tapping into the failures and the weaknesses of the Democratic Party, you know, he’s speaking directly to people’s feeling of being disappeared and neglected and so on. And I think until there is a very clear alternative, that will continue to resonate, despite all of the obvious hypocrisies that we’ve been delineating all day.

It does make me think about something else, though. You know, I’ve been involved in the free trade battles for a couple of decades now, you know, taking on—going back to the original free trade agreement with Canada and the NAFTA and the creation of the WTO and all of that. But I was never comfortable with the way in which particularly the U.S. labor movement used America firstism—right?—and did not use enough the language of internationalism—right?—and including employing easy, xenophobic language about the Chinese and opposing these deals on the basis of this easy nationalism. And unfortunately, that, I think, moral failure, that moral failure to stand up for principles of international workers’ rights, interventional environmental standards, instead of just this easy hypernationalism, is now something that Trump can and is picking up. We’re seeing it right now. Some of these messages aren’t that different than the message we heard from unions. I know I’m not going to make some people happy saying that, but it’s too familiar. And we can’t move forward making those same mistakes. It’s wonderful to see the internationalism in the response to Trump, and we’re going to need to be an international movement, because this is not just something that’s happening in the United States, right? This is happening in the midst of austerity programs around the world. It’s—

AMY GOODMAN: And Donald Trump—

NAOMI KLEIN: Yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: —acknowledged that he was speaking to the world, not just the United States.

KEEANGA–YAMAHTTA TAYLOR: Right.

NAOMI KLEIN: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, one thing I did like in his speech was the “Now arrives the hour of action.” And seeing as he’s appropriated a lot of, you know, pseudo-populist slogans, I say we take that one and apply it to our movements.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to go back to Donald J. Trump, now President Trump, his first inaugural address.

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones and unite the civilized world against radical Islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the Earth.

AMY GOODMAN: So, there you have—there you have President Trump talking about eradicating radical Islamic terrorism, something he hit President Obama hard on, saying he refused to use those words. He also, for years, led the birther movement, which said very clearly that President Obama was an illegitimate president because he was not born in the United States, was a secret Kenyan. He would say he has investigators on it, he’s got the documents to prove it. But let’s start with you, Naomi, on that issue.

NAOMI KLEIN: I mean, I think a lot of what he’s signaling here is—you know, and this is—I think we have to recognize people in this country and around the world are very frightened right now, are frightened about being rounded up in this country, because he’s absolutely signaling that it’s immigrants, and particularly Muslims, who are going to be targeted first. I think that’s very clear in this rhetoric. There’s this sort of pseudo, weird embrace of people in inner cities, but this is—this is what he’s signaling. He’s signaling who’s first in line as the enemies. And I think if we are to have any hope in this moment, there has to be an absolute clear resolve to have each other’s backs. This has to be a unified movement. As Ralph said, they are going to be doing it all at once, right? They’re going to be—they’re going to be trying to do everything at once. And our only hope is that not putting us into that state of shock and scrambling in all directions, but really building a unified movement that gets out of our silos, that doesn’t just sort of say, “Well, OK, well, we’re safe because he’s going after Muslims, and we’ll just keep our heads down—right?—and hope he doesn’t come after us.” I think that was basically what was tried during the Bush years, and there has to be a lot more courage than that.

AMY GOODMAN: Ralph Nader?

RALPH NADER: You notice he never used the word “peace.” He doesn’t know how to wage peace. And if he’s just going to pursue more and more military action overseas, he’s just going to spread the opposition, just the way Bush and Obama did—started out with a gang in Northeast Afghanistan and 9/11, and it metastasized into 20, 30 countries, and will always be there as long as the argument of the fighters against us over there is “get rid of the invader.” As long as we’re there, as long as it’s imperialism and colonialism and militarism and big oil, etc., they will have the argument that will enlist a lot of people on their side in all these countries. So, he just gave us a prescription for more war, more boomerang, more reach into this country. And, of course, he can turn into a monster if that happens. If we have another major attack in this country, or two, he’d turn into a complete monster in civil liberties and priorities and lashing back overseas, massive destruction. And we end up with a militarized society and a police state. We are very, very vulnerable to that. Our defenses as a democratic society were shown to be very weak after 9/11. And he has got that kind of demagogic capability to exacerbate that kind of a rush to a fury that he can feed, and he can do it directly with his Twitter masses, as well as with the mass media. So, that’s a very frightening thing.

You always ask in an inaugural address, “What words are never used?” And, for example, Reagan almost never used the word “justice.” He always used the word “freedom” and “liberty.” Well, there’s no freedom or liberty without justice. And he doesn’t use the word “peace.” And he’s got all these Cabinet secretaries and generals basically aching for a fight, except with Russia. That’s the one bright light, whether it’s due to his economic entanglements with the Putin regime. Hillary Clinton was waiting to pick a fight with Putin, and that has enormous ramifications. So, we’ll see what he does. But, you know, the idea of blaming China and Mexico—it was U.S. multinationals that emptied out these factories and unemployed these workers, often with tax advantages by Washington, D.C., to go to China and to Mexico. So, he’s—I think the best word to describe Trump is the “twistifier-in-chief.”

KEEANGA–YAMAHTTA TAYLOR: Let me—can I just say that I do—I think that there are a couple of things. One is that with Trump, you can see the move from the kind of dog whistle to the foghorn around racism, but I think that he’s also trying to do something interesting, which is to try to include African Americans into this “America first” by talking about how, you know, we’ve got the crime-infested inner cities, but we’re going to save them, and they’re Americans like the rest of them, and we need to include them in our efforts to put down radical Islamic terrorists, in our efforts to build the wall and to keep the Mexicans out. And I think that there is a basic incoherence at the heart of that, which is that the policies that Trump is pursuing domestically will have a disproportionate impact in their harm on African Americans. So, for people who are in disproportionate need of state protections, of a public sector, that the efforts to subvert that, to get rid of those types of regulatory protections, but also those types of social welfare programs, will have a devastating impact on black people in particular. And so, the effort to sort of unite people around this false idea of America first by attacking immigrants, by attacking Muslims, is built on—is built on sand, in some ways, and it’s built on incoherence, when you actually begin to unpack that.

AMY GOODMAN: As you tell this story, and just before, Naomi, you weigh in, the Obamas’ helicopter has just arrived. Donald Trump and Melania Trump are bidding farewell to Michelle Obama and Barack Obama. Donald Trump just kissed Michelle Obama on both cheeks.

KEEANGA–YAMAHTTA TAYLOR: Where’s his hand?

NAOMI KLEIN: “Where’s his hand?”

AMY GOODMAN: And one of the things that was caught on microphone when Donald Trump and Barack Obama were walking in the Capitol—the camera catches a snippet of the conversation. Obama is heard to say to Trump, “Well, as I said, we’ll be right around the corner.” President Obama is now waving to people who see him and Michelle getting into the plane. They will now head off to Palm Springs, California, where they will take a brief respite and then return to Washington, D.C., where their youngest daughter will finish high school. Right now, Donald Trump, hand in hand with his wife, Melania Trump, are leaving the helicopter. There will be a congressional lunch, and then there will be the inaugural parade. And as you pointed out earlier, Keeanga, the attempts by Donald Trump to have more military presence at the inaugural parade, to actually have tanks rolling down the streets, apparently was vetoed by the military, shot down by the military. They didn’t want these extremely heavy tanks wrecking the streets of Washington, D.C. Right now, Mr. and Mrs. Trump, Mr. and Mrs. Pence are waving goodbye to the Obamas. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, “War, Peace and the Presidency,” as we broadcast from Washington, D.C., from the PBS studios of WHUT at the Mecca, at Howard University, here in Washington, D.C. Naomi Klein?

NAOMI KLEIN: Well, just picking up on what Keeanga was saying earlier about this sort of—building this kind of false racial unity united against Muslims, it’s interesting that his chosen model for this was the military, right? I mean, we all—I think he said, you know—

KEEANGA–YAMAHTTA TAYLOR: Yes.

NAOMI KLEIN: —”As the soldiers know, we all bleed the same.” Right? And so, that’s what he’s holding up—right?—as the model of going to war, and, you know, overwhelmingly against Muslim countries, and this sort of heavily armed, united America against all enemies. And I think that that’s the plan. That’s the game plan. And it’s certainly worrying.

RALPH NADER: I think—I think Jim Hightower once said, “It’s not left-right, it’s top-down.” And I think there’s a real argument to be made. If you really want to unify the American people against the Trump billionaires and plutocracy that have just acquired the U.S. government—they’re no longer buying and renting politicians; they have literally acquired the U.S. government with this minority vote that he got, and then won by the Electoral College, which I hope is on the way out. You know, there’s an interstate compact with many states now pledging—California, Illinois, New York—to throw the electoral vote to whoever wins the national popular vote. The website is NationalPopularVote.com. So, he comes in. He’s really not a majority president by any means. He’s low in the polls, and so he’s looking to make some really daring, spectacular moves.

AMY GOODMAN: I mean, that’s very important, 32 to 34 percent in the polls—

RALPH NADER: Yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: —compared to when Barack Obama first came in. He was at what? Fifty percent higher, at like 84 percent. In fact, that popularity rating of 32, 33 percent is 10 points lower than Obamacare—

RALPH NADER: Yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: —than health insurance, which is at around 44 percent right now. And it looks like people, like we’ve never seen before, are flocking to get this insurance that the Republicans are pledging to repeal.

RALPH NADER: Yeah, I think we should have a betrayal index, because he’s going to start betraying people from day one. I mean, imagine the expectation levels he’s done in this little speech. “As of now, you know, street crime and bad schools stop. You know, gangs stop. And everything is going to start as of now.” So he’s holding himself up.

NAOMI KLEIN: But the tricky thing—

RALPH NADER: So he’s holding himself up, too.

NAOMI KLEIN: He is. He is. But, you know, we talked about Twitter, but it’s not just about Twitter, right? I mean, there’s a whole news infrastructure that is going to be amplifying his message. You can call it fake news or whatever. But I don’t think we should underestimate Trump’s brilliance as a marketer. Right? So he is going to be marketing, constantly, everything that he’s doing.

KEEANGA–YAMAHTTA TAYLOR: And—

NAOMI KLEIN: Yeah.

KEEANGA–YAMAHTTA TAYLOR: I also think the problem that folks were talking about earlier is that when he inevitably fails with the content of the programs—

RALPH NADER: Yeah.

KEEANGA–YAMAHTTA TAYLOR: —bringing jobs back, refurbishing the cities, transforming America—when that inevitably fails, he and his administration will double down on racism. They will double down on the wall. They will double down on radical Islamic terrorists in our midst. And they will double down on racism in the blacks in the inner city. That is the political formula. It’s been a bipartisan formula. And we’re about to see that formula amplified in ways that we probably haven’t seen in more than a generation.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, we’re seeing some new things on websites right now—what just went up on the WhiteHouse.gov website.

KEEANGA–YAMAHTTA TAYLOR: Executive orders?

AMY GOODMAN: It is a plan to get rid of the Climate Action Plan. You know, for months now, climate scientists have been trying to copy the documents and the science on government websites around climate change, making backup, as you coming from Canada—

NAOMI KLEIN: Yeah, in Canada.

AMY GOODMAN: —data in Canada, you know, a kind of data refuge project. So, what this plan now says—it is called the—let’s see, “An America First Energy Plan.” It says, on the WhiteHouse.gov website, “For too long, we’ve been held back by burdensome regulations on our energy industry. President Trump is committed to eliminating harmful and unnecessary policies such as the Climate Action Plan and the Waters of the U.S. rule.” What does that say to you, Ralph Nader?

RALPH NADER: Well, he means what he says. And, you know, he’s like a bull in a china shop. And he’s—they’re coming into Washington, the billionaires and the militarists and the corporatists, drunk with their own power, and they’re going to—they’re going to fall into a lot of traps. First of all, they’re disregarding the ability of the civil service to resist. There are a lot of law-abiding civil servants who don’t cater to having their lawful missions unlawfully disregarded. And there are going to be a lot of whistleblowers, and he’s going to get in trouble. The press is—the mass media is turning against him, because he turned against the mass media, which created him in the Republican primary. So, I think we’re underestimating the trouble he’s getting into.

I mean, there’s a certain level where the passivity of the American people and notorious apathy of the citizenry reaches its limit. As Tony Mazzocchi, a labor leader, once said, you can push around the American workers, and push them and push them and push them. Once you go past a certain point, watch out. And the rhetoric cannot mask the low-wage economy that he’s going to try to preserve. It cannot mask the rampant corporate crime waves against consumers, tenants, homeowners, debtors, students that he’s going to preserve. So, I don’t think he’s going to be able to paper this over. And we have to assume the Democrats are going to start getting a little smarter and showing how many Achilles’ heels he has, starting with his own personality and his easily bruisable ego, which makes him also a very risky politician from his own standards.

AMY GOODMAN: We want to go to the whole issue of the border wall and of cracking down on immigration. The WhiteHouse.gov website also says, in the section “Standing Up for Our Law Enforcement Community,” “Our country needs more law enforcement, more community engagement, and more effective policing. … President Trump is committed to building a border wall to stop illegal immigration, to stop the gangs and the violence, and to stop the drugs from pouring into our communities. He is dedicated to enforcing our border laws, ending sanctuary cities, and stemming the tide of lawlessness associated with illegal immigration.” It also reads—and I’m reading from the WhiteHouse.gov website that went up minutes ago—

KEEANGA–YAMAHTTA TAYLOR: His contract, yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: “The dangerous anti-police atmosphere in America is wrong. The Trump Administration will end it.” At the Republican National Convention, one of the speakers immediately said that the first movement that they would go after, criminalize, investigate, was the Black Lives Matter movement. Keeanga, you have written a book about the Black Lives Matter movement. What about this? Where will these movements stand, or is this now being taken to a whole new level?

KEEANGA–YAMAHTTA TAYLOR: Well, I think that Trump said on the campaign trail that Black Lives Matter was a terrorist movement and that organizations connected to the movement were terrorists, as well. And so, I think that the movement against police violence and abuse has been in the crosshairs of not just Trump, but of the Republican Party, since its inception. And so, this presents a significant challenge to the Black Lives Matter movement that I think should not be underestimated. I think that that’s very important. But I think also—what we have said earlier today is that the issues of solidarity and the ability to connect with other social movements organizing is critical right now. And so—and I write about this in my book, the need for the movement against police abuse and violence to ally and connect itself with all of the groups of people who are threatened by this—and that, most pronouncedly right now, concerns the immigrant community, it concerns Arabs and Muslims in this country—and that we really have to actively develop those links.

AMY GOODMAN: Which brings us to Ai-jen Poo. Last night at the Peace Ball at the African American museum of the Smithsonian, the brand-new museum, Ai-jen Poo, the director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, spoke, and I had a chance to speak with her just before she addressed the thousands of people who came out for that ball.

AI-JEN POO: My name is Ai-jen Poo, and I’m the director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. And we work with nannies, house cleaners and caregivers around the country, many of whom are immigrant women, undocumented, and women of color, who will be on the front lines of some of the attacks of this administration. And I’ll say that I have in my mind one of our members, Ana, who was on our tele-town hall the day after the elections. And she said to me, she said, “Ai-jen, I risked my life crossing the border through the desert to give my children a better life here in this country, and I want to fight. I want to fight for them. I want to fight for this country. And I’m ready.” And so, I have her very much in my heart as we enter this next period in American political life. We’re all marching on Saturday as part of the Women’s March on Washington. We’re extremely excited about it. We’re expecting a million people to come to D.C., and there are 600 marches around the country. And it’s just a small indication of how much energy there is to take action, to stand up and to build the most powerful opposition movement the world’s ever seen.

AMY GOODMAN: One of the news reports around Wilbur Ross, who would be perhaps the wealthiest Cabinet member, if in fact he is confirmed, was that he employed an undocumented immigrant in his home for years. So, he assured people he fired her. Your thoughts?

AI-JEN POO: It’s just a clear indication of the hypocrisy of this administration and of this notion that we could somehow uproot and just dispose of immigrants. Immigrants are already so deeply embedded in our homes, in our communities, in the fabric of this country. And people who are taking the stance of that we can somehow dispose of and deport immigrants in this country are just—it’s the most un-American kind of attitude and action that he took that I can imagine. It’s completely hypocritical.

AMY GOODMAN: How will you be organizing from here on in? And the people that you work with, what else are they telling you right now? Are people afraid?

AI-JEN POO: People—it’s interesting. Like the member that I described earlier, Ana, who is without a doubt going to be on the top of the list when the immigration raids start happening—she has multiple family members who have deportation orders—she’s incredibly courageous. She is ready to fight and to organize. And she’s part of building community defense committees around the country. We are preparing to defend communities, but also to fight for what we deserve. We believe that the best defense is offensive and that we should not—we should not give up the space around the solutions that we need and deserve in this country. And we should continue building movement and building the power to win them.

AMY GOODMAN: That’s Ai-jen Poo, director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, who will be out in force with domestic workers tomorrow at the Women’s March on D.C. Democracy Now! will be covering that march from 10:00 Eastern Standard Time in the morning to 3:00 in the afternoon. Check out democracynow.org. Naomi Klein, you also addressed the Peace Ball. And the issues you want to raise now in these first minutes of a Donald J. Trump administration?

NAOMI KLEIN: Look, I think it’s tremendously inspiring and a real source of hope that there are a lot of these intersectional spaces that are emerging, and movements coming together, recognizing that the only way you can confront an onslaught like this is with unity—but not by collapsing everything into itself, right? I mean, not pretending that everything is the same, but by developing—first of all, identifying how all of these issues are interconnected. And certainly, they’re connected within the Trump administration. The same people who are denying climate change are some of the most openly racist of his appointees. So, and the solutions must be connected, too, right? What worries me is this idea that because there are so many obvious contradictions, we can kind of wait for it to collapse. I think that would be disastrous. It can’t just be a resistance strategy. It has to be resisting, on the one hand, and proposing, on the other, because people do feel so neglected, that if there is not a real alternative that speaks to—

AMY GOODMAN: Five seconds.

NAOMI KLEIN: —that feeling of neglect, I think that this strategy can be successful.

AMY GOODMAN:  “I want to thank Ralph Nader for joining us—four-time presidential candidate, well-known, world-renowned consumer activist.  Naomi Klein, you are listening to, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate.  And Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, author of From BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation.  We’re continuing our discussion for several hours today, in these first minutes of the new administration of Donald J. Trump.  I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.  Stay with us.”

[End of hour five of the Democracy Now! Special Inauguration Day extended broadcast]  (c. 1:59:59)

Learn more at DEMOCRACY NOW!.

***

angela-2-dn-20-jan-2017-1000pstDEMOCRACY NOW!—[20 JAN 2017, 10:00 PST]

[notes pending]

[snip]  (c. 1:59:59)

Learn more at DEMOCRACY NOW!.

***

[1]  Terrestrial radio transmission, 94.1 FM (KPFA, Berkeley, CA) with online simulcast and digital archiving:  Democracy Now!, this one-hour broadcast (part one of an extended five-hour broadcast) co-hosted by Amy Goodman and Nermeen Shaikh, Friday, 20 JAN 2017, 05:00 PST.

Also see the archives of all five hours of this special Democracy Now! Inauguration Day extended broadcast, including their versions of working drafts of transcripts, at DemocracyNow.org.

***

[Image of Swearing In of Trump by White House photographer – Official White House Facebook page, (public domain)]

[22 JAN 2017]

[Last modified at 12:58 PST on 24 JAN 2017]

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Free Speech Radio Presents Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor at Impact Hub (Oakland), On Two-Party Dictatorship, Socialism, & True Democracy

12 Mon Dec 2016

Posted by ztnh in Anti-Capitalism, Anti-Fascism, Anti-Imperialism, Anti-Totalitarianism, Civic Engagement (Activism), Democracy Deferred, Free Speech, Philosophy, Political Science, Presidential Election 2016, Racism (phenotype), Sociology

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Anita Johnson, Anthony Kapel "Van" Jones (b. 1968), Barry Morris Goldwater (1909–1998), Bernie Sanders, Davey D, Donald John Trump (b. 1946), Dr. Barbara Ransby, Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Dr. Michelle Alexander (b. 1967), Fight for $15, Hard Knock Radio, KPFA, neoliberalism, Norman Solomon, Obama administration, Occupy Wall Street, Pacifica Radio Network, Stephen Kevin "Steve" Bannon (b. 1953), transcript, Two-Party Dictatorship, urban economics, Women's Magazine

LUMPENPROLETARIAT—At a recent presentation in support of Dr. Bill Ayers‘ new book, Demand the Impossible, Dr. Bernardine Dohrn encouraged everyone to attend an upcoming SF Bay Area presentation by radical scholar Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, an associate professor at Princeton University and the author of a new book entitled From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation (2016), “an examination of the history and politics of Black America and the development of the social movement Black Lives Matter in response to police violence in the United States.  [Dr.] Taylor has received the Lannan Foundation’s Cultural Freedom Award for an Especially Notable Book.”  Dr. Cornel West has described her as “the most sophisticated and courageous radical intellectual of her generation.”

For those, who were unable to attend, free speech radio’s Women’s Magazine as well as Davey D, co-host of Hard Knock Radio, broadcast excerpts of the presentation, which was delivered before at Impact Hub in Oakland, California on December 5, 2016 by Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor.  This KPFA benefit was hosted by Hard Knock Radio co-host Anita Johnson. [1]  (Working draft transcripts below.)  Listen (and/or download) here [2]; and here [3]; and here [4].

Messina

***

KPFA BENEFIT—[5 DEC 2016]

Monday, December 5, 2016 – 7:30 pm
Impact Hub Oakland, 2323 Broadway (near Grand), Oakland
Advance tickets: $12 : brownpapertickets.com :: T: 800-838- 3006
or Books Inc (Berkeley), Marcus Books, Pegasus (3 sites), Moe’s, Walden Pond Bookstore,Diesel a Bookstore, Mrs. Dalloway’s
$15 door

Winner of the 2016 Lannan Cultural Freedom Award for an Especially Notable Book

The eruption of mass protests in the wake of the police murders of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and Eric Garner in New York City have challenged the impunity with which officers of the law carry out violence against Black people and punctured the illusion of a postracial America. The Black Lives Matter movement has awakened a new generation of activists. In this stirring and insightful analysis, activist and scholar Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor surveys the historical and contemporary ravages of racism and persistence of structural inequality such as mass incarceration and Black unemployment. In this context, she argues that this new struggle against police violence holds the potential to reignite a broader push for Black liberation.

“Ultimately, From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation is an essential read for anyone following the movement for Black Lives. The text chronicles a portion of history we rarely ever see, while also bringing together data and deep primary source research in a way that lucidly explains the origins of the current moment.”  —Los Angeles Review of Books

“This brilliant book is the best analysis we have of the #BlackLivesMatter moment of the long struggle for freedom in America. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor has emerged as the most sophisticated and courageous radical intellectual of her generation.”  —Dr. Cornel West

“Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor’s searching examination of the social, political and economic dimensions of the prevailing racial order offers important context for understanding the necessity of the emerging movement for black liberation.”  —Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor’s writings on Black politics, social movements, and racial inequality in the United States have been published in Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture and Society, Jacobin, New Politics, the Guardian, In These Times, Black Agenda Report, Ms., International Socialist Review, Al Jazeera America, and other publications.  She is assistant professor in the department of African American Studies at Princeton University.

Anita Johnson began her journalistic career at Youth Radio in 1994.  She was the senior producer for YR’s weekly talk show on WILD 94.9, and served as senior producer for 106.1 KMEL’s Street Knowledge, hosted by Davey D.  By 1997, she was submitting national segments to Marketplace and NPR’s Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition.  In 2000, Anita co-founded KPFA’s Hard Knock Radio, a public affairs program covering news, views and Hip-Hop.  In 2009, with the assistance of The Association of Independents in Radio, she founded Beyond The Odds, a multimedia arts project created to illuminate the impact of HIV and AIDS on low-income and minority young adults (under 25), through the use of the Web.  In 2010, she co-produced the documentary film CoInTelPro 101.  A well-respected Hip Hop artist as well, she has performed with singer/guitarist Carlos Santana.

KPFA benefit

Learn more at KPFA.

***

WOMEN’S MAGAZINE—[12 DEC 2016]  (synopsis)

““Deeply rooted in Black radical, feminist and socialist traditions, Taylor’s book is an outstanding example of the type of analysis that is needed to build movements for freedom and self-determination in a far more complicated terrain than that confronted by the activists of the 20th century.”  —Michael C. Dawson, author of Blacks In and Out of the Left

Keeanga-Yamahtta is assistant professor in the department of African American Studies at Princeton University.  Her book, From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation, won the 2016 Lannan Cultural Freedom Award for an Especially Notable Book.

Taylor spoke on Monday, December 5, at Impact Hub in Oakland. She addressed the current crisis as well as the historical entwining of race and class in American politics, and possible ways forward for a multiracial working class-oriented social justice movement.”

[Women’s Magazine intro audio collage]

KATE RAPHAEL:  “Good afternoon.  Welcome to Women’s Magazine.  I’m Kate Raphael.  Even before the catastrophe of the elections, I was feeling pretty demoralised about the state of politics on the left in this country.  And I felt like I needed to understand more about Black Lives Matter and the movement building around that, and how it relates to movements, that have been bubbling up, like the Fight for $15 and climate justice.

“And one of the books, I picked up to help me understand those movements and the context in which they’re operating, was called From Black Lives Matter to Black Liberation” by Keeanga Yamahtta-Taylor.  I found it to be one of the most nuanced and thoughtful accounts and analyses of the moment we’re in, that I’ve read in a very long time.

“So, I was super excited when I saw that Keeanga Yamahtta-Taylor was gonna be speaking in Oakland last week.  And I was even more excited to realise that this was a KPFA-sponsored event.  And, so, I would be able to bring you her talk as well as offer the chance to get her book or a copy of her talk as a thank-you gift for your pledge to KPFA this holiday season.

“Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is associate professor of African-American Studies at Princeton University.  She received the Lannan Foundation‘s Cultural Freedom Award for an Especially Notable Book for her book From Black Lives Matter to Black Liberation.

“Feminist historian Barbara Ransby calls the book “a must-read for everyone who’s serious about the ongoing praxis of freedom.

“We are going to listen to a good bit of Taylor’s talk on Monday night, which focuses a lot on the election and its aftermath, but also touches on the themes, she explores much more deeply in her book.  Before we get to that, I just want to let you know that you can get a copy of her complete talk on CD for a pledge of $75 dollars to KPFA.  You can get the book, itself, for $80 dollars.  Or you can get, both, the book and the CD for just $130 dollars, which is only about 35 cents a day.  And I really can’t recommend it highly enough.

“I know a lot of people are having potlucks and listening groups, meetings to talk about what’s going on.  This CD would make a great conversation-starter for one of those discussions.  Your book group would definitely love to read this book and discuss it.  You don’t need to wait until the end of the show to call and pledge your support for this radio station and this programme.  Help keep us on the air.  The numbers to call:  510.848-5372 or 1.800.439-5732, 1.800.HEY-KPFA.  Or you can pledge securely online at kpfa.org.  We deeply appreciate whatever support you could give us.

“Here is Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor speaking at Impact Hub in Oakland last Monday night [December 5th] at an event hosted by Hard Knock Radio‘s Anita Johnson.”  (c. 4:33)

DR. KEEANGA-YAMAHTTA TAYLOR:  “I’m gonna talk about some of the themes in my book.  But I’m gonna try to do so within the context, um, of the catastrophe—the election of Donald Trump.  [snip (Women’s Magazine edited the following bit out of this broadcast.)  So, um, so, I’m gonna try to combine both of these things.  And we can talk more specifically about the book in the discussion.  But I feel like, you know, given the issues, that I’ve written about, that actually this—the whole Trump thing, really, is something, that we have to try to engage with and understand.  So, that’s some of the context behind the talk.  Uh, okay.  [Audience Member:  “Yes!”]  Okay. [chuckles] 

“Um,] it’s difficult to comprehend how eight years ago, after the election of Barack Obama, the national conversation was whether or not the U.S. was going to become a post-racial society.  Forbes magazine ran an editorial with the headline, Racism In America Is Over.  Eight years later, any fantasy about the United States being a post-racial society has gone up in flames with the ascendance of Donald Trump to the highest office in the country.

[snip: see Hard Knock Radio transcript below for the full text of this speech excerpt]

“In other words, the lesser evil always cuts the path for the greater evil.  Where Obama used the machinery and logic of deportations to banish 2.5 million people from the United States, it has set the stage for Trump to do this in an even larger way.  Where the Obama administration embraced the values of so-called choice and privatisation and gutting public education, Trump will do it in an even more fantastical way, that finishes the job of attempting to kill public education in this country.  Obama’s failure to deliver any significant reforms for working class and poor people made a mockery of his attempts to tell people to vote for him in order to secure his legacy. (c. 16:40)

“And the insistence of liberals to defend this agenda, the thin gruel of the Obama agenda, with only the most scant whiff of criticism leads to their own paralysis when the right does the same thing, but just on a larger scale.”

KATE RAPHAEL:  “You’re listening to Women’s Magazine here on KPFA, 94.1 FM and online at kpfa.org.  I’m Kate Raphael.

“We’re listening to talk by Keeanga Yamahtta-Taylor, that was at the Impact Hub in Oakland.  Taylor is the author of a wonderful book called From #Black Lives Matter to Black Liberation.  And we’re offering this book to you along with her talk as a thank-you gift for your pledge to KPFA of just $130 dollars, which is just about 35 cents a day. (c. 18:44)  [snip]  ”  (c. 23:34)

DR. KEEANGA-YAMAHTTA TAYLOR:  “But there are other ways to measure discontent beyond polls and election results.  We saw the first wave of discontent with Obama’s role with the emergence of Occupy Movement in 2011, and, then, the eruption of Black Lives Matter in the summer of 2014.  Both were products of the widening gap of inequality in the United States.  That inequality was at the heart of the Occupy Movement and its popularisation of class inequality in the U.S. though the slogan of the 99% versus the 1%.  (c. 22:54)

“But this inequality was also important in how we understand the emergence of Black Lives Matter.  Black Americans, of course, took the brunt of the economic crisis in 2008.  It was, in part, how we understand the deep wells of support, that existed for Obama and his campaign’s ability to tap into the anger with the federal government’s abject disregard for what was happening in black communities.

“We cannot understand, for example, the social catastrophe happening across black Chicago, where it was just announced last week that there will be 700 homicides in that city, the vast majority of which affect young black people.  You cannot understand that social catastrophe in Chicago without understanding the persisting effects of the economic crisis, that never really ended in many black communities.  (c. 23:53)

“Chicago has the third-highest black unemployment rate of any major city in this country.  It has the third-highest poverty rate of a large city in the United States.  Its black middle class is being gutted because of municipal, state, federal budget cuts, that have wiped out public sector jobs in postal work, teaching, and other positions, that have historically been the bedrock of black economic stability.  The breakdown of this civic infrastructure, in combination with the existing crisis of mass incarceration and what Michelle Alexander has called The New Jim Crow, the persistence of unemployment and underemployment and of under-resourced public services and institutions has created the pretext for deepening police presence in black communities and, as a result, is exacerbating all of the conditions, that justify the presence of the police in the first place.  (c. 24:53)

“As living conditions in black communities have become harder, the police have been given license to respond with arrests and brutality.  And, while the emergence of Black Lives Matter has exposed the extent to which violent policing is institutionalised in this country, it nevertheless continues.  The police are on pace to kill 1,200 people this year, more than last year, when newspapers first began to count, and, substantively more than the 928 a year, the FBI had been suggesting as an average two years earlier.

“If you want to understand why the black vote was depressed compared to 2008 and 2012, it can be found in the inability of the American government to aggressively intervene and prevent the murder of black citizens by the state, whether it’s with the policing of black communities or the water crisis in Flint, the expectation that black Americans would be a firewall for Clinton was as offensive, as it was reflective of a kind of liberal contempt for the daily struggles of working class and poor people. (c. 26:09)

“There is just the expectation that, no matter what is happening in your life and how terrible things might be, and no matter how unresponsive the Democratic Party may be, you still have to vote for them.

“And, then, the bitterness directed at people when they don’t respond in such a way is even more contemptuous.  This is true when liberals blame depressed black voter turnout for the election results.  But it is also the case when they blame working class whites for, quote, ‘voting against their interests’, as if, somehow, voting for the neoliberal, yet civil, politics of the Democratic Party are in the interest of the working class.  And, as an aside—[audience finally starts to respond with faint applause; it seems the audience consists of mostly nonplussed registered Democrats.] [5]

“Working class interests are never on the ballot in bourgeois elections. [scant applause and at least one cheer; the biggest audience reaction thus far] 

“But, when it comes to the fate of ordinary white people, who, despite the media and academic fascination with it for the moment, these are people, who are also regularly ignored.  We have heard all sorts of dime-store psychology about the so-called white working class, most of it thinly-veiled elitism.  White workers feel entitled.  They’re only interested in themselves.  They are privileged.  They are racist scum.  They are just bad.  (c. 27:30)

“In total, it reflects the political establishment’s contempt for the struggles of regular people.  If you only read these reports or assessments, you would think there was no inequality experienced by white working class people, or that ordinary white people were just living the high life.

“But, when we consider the experiences of white working class people within the context of the attacks on working class standards, in general, we get a different picture.  And what would happen, if we told the story of black Chicago and other black communities across this country?  It’s part of the same story of what’s happening to ordinary white people.

“For example, there is the continuing crisis of opioid, or narcotic, addiction in this country.  While people are quick to point out how differently it is received compared to the War On Drugs directed at black communities in the 1980s and ’90s, which is undoubtedly true, what does this crisis at this particular moment tell us about the conditions of working class life and working class people?

“There are two million people, addicted to opioids in the U.S.  Half of those people are addicted to heroin.  From 2009 to 2014, almost half a million people have died from opioid overdoses, a fourfold increase from 1999.  Earlier this year, it was reported that their had been a decline in the life expectancy for white women and a plateauing of life expectancy for white men.  In fact, it is unprecedented for life expectancy to reverse in a so-called first world country. (c. 29:20)

“In the United States peer countries, life expectancy is growing.  Why is life expectancy for white women in decline in this country?  Drug overdose, suicide, and alcohol abuse.

On transcending race (phenotype), or identity politics, and confronting class struggle

“So, if we told the stories of the destruction of working class black life alongside the stories of the destruction of working class white life, it could allow us to see that the anxieties, stresses, confusions, and frustrations about life in the world today are not owned by one group, but are shared by many.  It would not tell us that everyone suffers the same oppression or exploitation.  But it would allow us to see that, even if we don’t experience a particular kind of oppression, every working person in this country is going through something.  Everyone is trying to figure out how to survive.  And many are failing.  (c. 30:23)

“If we put these stories together, we would gain more insight into how the white working class and poor have as much stake in the fight for a different kind of society as anyone else.  We wouldn’t so casually dismiss their suffering as privileged because they do not suffer as much as black and brown people in this country.

“The privileges of white skin run very thin in a country where 19 million white people languish in poverty.  Apparently, the wages of whiteness are not so great to stop millions of ordinary white people from, literally, drinking and drugging themselves to death to escape the despair of living in this so-called greatest country on Earth.

“If we put these separate stories together into a single story, we could make better sense of why socialism is rising in popularity.  White people have taken to the streets over the last five years to protest the growing racial and economic inequality in this country.  13 million people voted for an open socialist.  And many believe that if Sanders ran against Trump, he very well could have beaten him.  51% of 18- to 29-year olds say they are against capitalism.  Even if they are not fully convinced of what should replace it, 48% of millennials support health insurance as a, quote, ‘right for all people’.  And 47% agree that basic necessities, such as food and shelter are, quote, ‘a right, that the government should provide to those unable to afford them’. (c. 32:10)

“In the 1970s, 61% of Americans fell into that vague, but stable, category of the middle class.  Today, that number has fallen to 50%.  It is driven by the growing wealth inequality, that exists here.  In the last year alone, the 1% saw their income rise by 7%.  The 0.1% saw their income rise by 9%.  In general, the richest 20% of households in the U.S. owned 84% of the wealth in this country, while the bottom 40% owned less than 1%.  In other words, there are 400 billionaires in this country.  They are the reason why there are 47 million poor people in this country.  You cannot have untold obscene wealth, unless you have untold obscene poverty.  That is the law of the market. (c. 33:06)

“And how does such a tiny percent of the population unjustly hold on to their wealth, even when millions agree that it should be redistributed?  Racism, immigrant-bashing, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, nationalism.  They get us to fight each other, while they horde their wealth.

“Our stories are not all the same.  We do not have the same experiences.  But our hardships often emanate from the same source—a market-based economy, that privileges the wealthy over the welfare and lives of the people who create that wealth.  And they keep our stories separate from each other, so that we never understand the entire story, only our particular part of it.

“But, even with great effort to keep our side divided and confused, millions of people are coming to grips with the harsh reality of an economic system, that guarantees them nothing but a future of hardship and an inability to ever get ahead.  But the knowledge, alone, of the existence of racism, inequality, poverty, and injustice does not necessarily equip our side with the political tools needed to fight the battles of today or to fight for a socialist future. (c. 34:32)

“We need struggle.  We also need politics because we must contend with the political establishment, that wants to lower our expectations to believe that the existing society is the best that we can expect from humanity, that we dare not think beyond the existing parameters of electing a Democrat or Republican to change the world we live in.

“Clinton lost, in part, ‘cos she ran a campaign of low expectations, a campaign cynically pivoted around the notion that ordinary people shouldn’t ask for too much, and that we must be realistic about the possibilities.  Donald Trump promised to change the world.  And Hillary Clinton promised to make the trains run on time.  Bernie Sanders, for all of the excitement, that his campaign generated for rightly demanding more, his commitment to remaining in the Democratic Party has effectively neutered his political revolution.  Expecting the Democratic Party to fight for the democratic redistribution of wealth and resources in this country is like expecting to squeeze orange juice out of an apple.” (c. 35:50)

[host cuts into the playback of the audio recording to appeal for listener sponsorship of free speech radio KPFA]

KATE RAPHAEL:  ” [snip]”  (c. 41:31)

[host returns to the playback of the audio recording of the speech, but fast-forwarding to the Q&A portion of the presentation with Anita Johnson]

ANITA JOHNSON:  “My first question is this.  This past October marked the 50th Anniversary of the Black Panther Party.  And the former chairperson of the Black Panther Party, Elaine Brown had an interesting, interesting perspective about Black Lives Matter in contrast, or in comparison, to the Black Panther Party.  To quote her directly, it says:

I don’t know what Black Lives Matter does, so, I can’t tell you how it compares to what the Black Panther Party was.  I know that the Black Panther Party was.  I know that lives were lost, the struggle we put into place, the efforts we made, the assaults on us by the police and government.  I know all that.  I don’t know what Black Lives matter does.  So, if you can tell me, I can give you my thoughts. 

“End quote.  Um, how would you articulate what Black Lives Matter does and, then, how does it also fit into the history of Black Resistance?” (c. 42:25)

DR. KEEANGA-YAMAHTTA TAYLOR:  “Well, I mean [transcription pending]

[snip]

[PLEASE CHECK BACK LATER.  THIS TRANSCRIPT IS CURRENTLY UNDER CONSTRUCTION.]

[snip] (c. 59:59)

Learn more at WOMEN’S MAGAZINE.

[This transcript will be expanded as time constraints, and/or demand or resources, allow.  Email us, if you would like to volunteer any transcription labour to the common stock of knowledge for the betterment of society.]

***

[Working draft transcript of actual radio broadcast by Messina for Lumpenproletariat and Hard Knock Radio.]

HARD KNOCK RADIO—[12 DEC 2016]  (synopsis)  “Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1 @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson.”

[Erica Bridgeman(sp?):  “—and 89.3 KPFB in Berkeley; 88.1 KFCF in Fresno; 97.5 K2ABR in Santa Cruz; and online at kpfa.org.  The time is 4pm.  Up next, Hard Knock Radio.”]

[Hard Knock Radio introduction audio collage]

DAVEY D:  “Wutup, everybody?  Welcome to another edition of Hard Knock Radio.  Davey D, hangin’ out with you this afternoon.  On today’s show, we’re gonna hear activist and scholar Keeanga-Yamahtta talking about the police murders, the Donald Trump election, and the challenges, that wait before us.  All that and more, coming up after the afternoon [news] headlines.”

[KPFA News Headlines (read by Max Pringle) omitted by scribe]

DAVEY D:  “Wussup, everybody?  Davey D, hangin’ out wit’ you this afternoon.  You know?  Being in the [SF] Bay Area, we are very fortunate because we have—we’re, we’re a hub.  A lot of people from all walks of life, um, especially of the progressive persuasion, make it a point to roll through here and share their wisdom and insights, as to the happenings of the day.

“And, um, you know, a few days ago, we were blessed to have, um, activist, scholar, assistant professor of African American Studies over at Princeton University, Keeanga-Yamahtta.  (c. 7:39)

“She came through and talked about the new book, From #Black Lives Matter to Black Liberation—a political analysis of the #BlackLivesMatter movement, the history of policing and race in the United States—and, during the conversation, got into Donald Trump and the collapse of the Democratic Party—that’s right, the collapse of the Democratic Party—and, even more insightful, the failings of the Obama administration.  A lot was covered in this incredible conversation, took place last week at the Impact Hub, here, in Oakland. (c. 8:21)

“I wanted to share that with you this afternoon, as we continue on in Week Two of our [free speech radio KPFA] Holiday Fund Drive.  I want you all to pull up a seat.  I want you all to open up your ears and your hearts and your minds and take in some of this information and, really, as you do that, appreciate the fact that in many places we don’t have the opportunity to accommodate the array of voices, that exist out in our community.  You know; if we were on one of the corporate entities, it would be, like: Well, I’ve never heard of this person. But, if it’s Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton, then we can hear that.  And that can be good and bad, depending on where you sit.

“But there are so many young, brilliant, minds, that are out there, that are on the rise, that are making moves, um, and have shrewd political analyses of the situations at hand.  And we need to make space for them.  And these airwaves have been able to do just that.  (c. 9:23)

“And, so, without further ado, let’s check out Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta speaking about black liberation, Black Lives Matter, the rise of Donald Trump, the failings of Obama, and the collapse of the Democratic Party, right here, KPFA, Hard Knock Radio, KPFA.  Here we go.”  (c. 9:43)

[Broadcast cut to audio from presentation by Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor at a KPFA benefit at Impact Hub in Oakland, CA, on 5 DEC 2016.]

DR. KEEANGA-YAMAHTTA TAYLOR:  “I’m gonna talk about some of the themes in my book.  But I’m gonna try to do so within the context, um, of the catastrophe—the election of Donald Trump.  So, um, so, I’m gonna try to combine both of these things.  And we can talk more specifically about the book in the discussion.  But I feel like, you know, given the issues, that I’ve written about, that actually this—the whole Trump thing, really, is something, that we have to try to engage with and understand.  So, that’s some of the context behind the talk.  Uh, okay.  [Audience Member:  “Yes!”]  Okay. [chuckles]  (c. 10:36)

“Um, it’s difficult to comprehend how eight years ago, after the election of Barack Obama, the national conversation was whether or not the U.S. was going to become a post-racial society.  Forbes magazine ran an editorial with the headline, ‘Racism In America Is Over’.  Eight years later, any fantasy about the United States being a post-racial society has gone up in flames with the ascendance of Donald Trump to the highest office in the country.  (c. 11:09)

“Trump ran his campaign on a vile mix of fake economic populism with the worst and most naked race-baiting and demonisation of oppressed people seen in a presidential election, probably, since Goldwater—Barry Goldwater—in 1964.  He referred to Mexican immigrants as rapists, drug dealers, and criminals.  He seamlessly conflated Islam with terrorism, at one point, favourably retelling a false story about an American general dipping bullets in pig’s blood before murdering Muslim soldiers, as a worthy strategy in the ongoing and misnamed War On Terror.  He has defended the use of racial profiling and advocated it as a national policing strategy.

371px-steve_bannon_2010-wiki

Steve Bannon, alt-right (i.e., white supremacist) ideologue

“When you take these statements and include, at least some of the people he is nominating to be included in his cabinet, then what we are talking about is a dramatic shift from the optics of the nation’s first black president and a black family living in the White House to an administration, that will be openly hostile to the most basic aspirations of black people.  Trump’s first act, as president-elect, for example, was to hire Steve Bannon, who has bragged about his associations with the so-called alt-right, or as we used to say, white supremacists, as his chief strategist.

“So, we are about as far from post-racial, as you can possibly be in this country.  And it is reasonable to expect that, if, and when, Trump cannot deliver on his promises to bring jobs back to the United States, or when massive tax breaks to the rich don’t equate into a higher standard of living for ordinary people, that he and his cabal of racist rogues and reactionaries will double down on racism as an explanation. (c. 13:07)

It’s not only the alt-right, or white supremacists, but liberals, too

vanjonesberkeley050312-kpfa“And, so, how did this happen, that we have gone from the nation’s first black president to an openly racist billionaire, who is surrounded by bigots?  Many people have described it in a way, that I would describe as simplistic.  The best example of this, I think, is Van Jones, who has described Trump’s victory as a, quote, ‘whitelash against black voters’, almost characterising Trump’s victory as revenge for the election of Obama in 2008. (c. 13:38)

“A related version of this assessment is expressed when people, as an article in Huffington Post did last week, compare the rise of Trump to the end of Reconstruction, the reemergence of Republicans, as a period of redemption, when white supremacy became the actual law of the land and Jim Crow was imposed.  There is a lot of history to unpack there.  But it really is a simple rendering of a more recent history, that conveniently leaves the Democratic Party unscathed, while dramatically overstating the depths of conservatism, racism, and reaction in the country.

“The first problem with this narrative is that it promotes a mistaken story that African-Americans, somehow, have benefited from the presence of Barack Obama in the White House and those benefits have come at the expense of ordinary white people.  (c. 14:34)

“This is a story, that has no basis in reality.  African-Americans continue to experience unemployment at twice the rate of whites.  38% of black children continue to live in poverty.  And a shocking 55% of black workers, mostly black women, make under $15 dollars an hour.

“It was precisely the inability of the Obama administration to improve the conditions of ordinary black people, that gave rise to the Black Lives Matter movement.  This is the thin gruel, working class and poor black Americans have received from two terms of Obama. (c. 15:18)

“The second problem with the whitelash story is that it overstates the depths of white racism and conservatism, while simultaneously underestimating the white opposition to the Trump agenda.  We certainly don’t want to downplay the extent to which racism played a critical role in Trump’s success.  We have seen how Trump’s rise has unleashed violent white supremacists and given them the confidence to organise out in the open.  There have been well over a thousand cases of hate crimes reported since the election, a number higher than even in the aftermath of 9/11.  So, it cannot be underestimated.  But it should not also be overstated.  (c. 16:01)

“For example, there are numbers, that disrupt the narrative of a generalised right-wing sweep across the United States with white people universally lining up behind Trump waiting to receive their marching orders. [audience silence]

“58% of Americans, all Americans, think Obamacare should be replaced with federally-funded health care for all.  Most Americans support raising the minimum wage.  61% support, at least, a $10 dollar minimum wage.  59% support a $12 dollar minimum wage.  And 48% support a $15 dollar minimum wage, which has been demonised by Democrats and Republicans, alike. [audience silence]

“61% of Americans say the rich pay too little in taxes.  This is an increase from 52%, who said that a year ago.  69% of Americans believe that providing affordable housing is important.  63% of Americans say money and wealth distribution is unfair.  53% of white people think the country still has work to do for, quote, ‘blacks to achieve equal rights with whites.’  50% of whites say, quote, ‘blacks are treated less fairly by the police than whites’.  64% of white Democrats support Black Lives Matter; and 29% of them, say they, quote, ‘strongly support the Black Lives Matter movement’.

“Even 20% of Republicans think that the movement, the Black Lives Matter movement, will help achieve racial equality in the United States.  So, how do we square this with the election, itself?

“We must begin with the fact that tens of millions of Americans didn’t vote at all.  There are 238 million eligible voters in the United States.  And, of that number, only 60 million voted for Trump.  Now, on its own, yes, that is 60 million people, who voted for a vile, racist, and sexual predator.  And, even within that number, five percent of people, who voted for Trump—something like 12 million people—said he was unfit to be president.  [faint audience reaction]

“But, in the larger scope of things, it means that only one in four eligible voters chose Trump.  This is hardly representative of what, quote, white people think.  And it’s hardly representative of a right-wing sweep across the country.

On the two-party dictatorship of Democrats and Republicans

“But when your political choices are constrained within the parameters of the existing two-party system, voter discontent can go in one of three places:  your party, the other party, or no party.  American politics is always a dance between the three.

“In this case, the line of reasoning, that blames the loss of the Democratic Party solely on Fox News, FBI letters, race-baiting, bad messaging, um, or the, the evil Russians, means that there is no accounting or reckoning with the political shortcomings of the party.  None of those explanations actually address how the party failed to connect with the basic ideas of fairness and justice, that are at the core of those statistics, that I read off.

“Instead, the Democrats ran on the idea that Trump was just too negative; he wouldn’t be a good role model, when in fact, according to Hillary Clinton, America is already great.  It was a message, that was, and remains, completely out of touch with the reality experienced by millions of Americans. (c. 19:50)

“But when it’s the Democrats, who have been in power for eight years, overseeing the numbing inequity and injustice of the status quo, it made it difficult for them to argue for a radically different political agenda.  Clinton promised to be the third term of Obama, failing to realise that, for millions of voters, two terms was enough.

“Eight years ago, Obama ran on the promise of hope and change.  But, from the beginning, he seemed to be more interested in cultivating an image of bipartisan agreement with, uh, the Republicans.  Instead of using his mandate to push an agenda based around the demands and needs of black and Latino working class voters, all who were responsible for putting him into office.

“For his first full year in office, Obama had a supermajority in Congress and squandered it.  That’s exactly the reason why Democrats lost control of Congress in the first place.  (c. 20:50)

“So, with big expectations and big hope come even bigger disappointment when you fail to deliver.  Embedded inside of every right-wing backlash is the failure of the liberal establishment to deliver an alternative or a better way.  You cannot understand the emergence of Richard Nixon without understanding the failures of the Johnson administration.  From the incompleteness and inadequacy of the War On Poverty and the Great Society to the debacle of the Vietnam War, you cannot understand the rise of Ronald Reagan without understanding the failure of the Carter administration to address rising inflation, cripplingly high interest rates, and the erosion of working class living standards in general. (c. 21:40)

“In other words, the lesser evil always cuts the path for the greater evil.  Where Obama used the machinery and logic of deportations to banish 2.5 million people from the United States, it has set the stage for Trump to do this in an even larger way.  Where the Obama administration embraced the values of so-called choice and privatisation and gutting public education, Trump will do it in an even more fantastical way, that finishes the job of attempting to kill public education in this country.  Obama’s failure to deliver any significant reforms for working class and poor people made a mockery of his attempts to tell people to vote for him in order to secure his legacy.  (c. 22:31)  [Note: The Women’s Magazine broadcast (see above) featured an edit, which cuts to a different part of the speech:  “And the insistence of liberals to defend this agenda, the thin gruel of the Obama agenda, with only the most scant whiff of criticism, leads to their own paralysis when the right does the same thing, just on a larger scale.”]

“But there are other ways to measure discontent beyond polls and election results.  We saw the first wave of discontent with Obama’s role with the emergence of Occupy Movement in 2011, and, then, the eruption of Black Lives Matter in the summer of 2014.  Both were products of the widening gap of inequality in the United States.  That inequality was at the heart of the Occupy Movement and its popularisation of class inequality in the U.S. through the slogan of the 99% versus the 1%.

“But this inequality was also important in how we understand the emergence of Black Lives Matter.  Black Americans, of course, took the brunt of the economic crisis in 2007 and 2008.  It was, in part, how we understand the deep wells of support, that existed for Obama and his campaign’s ability to tap into the anger with the federal government’s abject disregard for what was happening in black communities. [6]

“We cannot understand, for example, the social catastrophe happening across black Chicago, where it was just announced last week that there will be 700 homicides in that city, the vast majority of which affect young black people.  You cannot understand that social catastrophe in Chicago without understanding the persisting effects of the economic crisis, that never really ended in many black communities. (c. 24:03)

“Chicago has the third-highest black unemployment rate of any major city in this country.  It has the third-highest poverty rate of a large city in the United States.  Its black middle class is being gutted because of municipal, state, federal budget cuts, that have wiped out public sector jobs in postal work, teaching, and other positions, that have historically been the bedrock of black economic stability.  The breakdown of this civic infrastructure, in combination with the existing crisis of mass incarceration and what Michelle Alexander has called The New Jim Crow, the persistence of unemployment and underemployment and of under-resourced public services and institutions has created the pretext for deepening police presence in black communities and, as a result, is exacerbating all the conditions, that justify the presence of the police in the first place. (c. 25:02)

“As living conditions in black communities have become harder, the police have been given license to respond with arrests and brutality.  And, while the emergence of Black Lives Matter has exposed the extent to which violent policing is institutionalised in this country, it nevertheless continues.  The police are on pace to kill 1,200 people this year, more than last year, when newspapers first began to count, and, substantively more than the 928 a year, the FBI had been suggesting as an average two years earlier.

“If you want to understand why the black vote was depressed compared to 2008 and 2012, it can be found in the inability of the American government to aggressively intervene and prevent the murder of black citizens by the state, whether it’s with the policing of black communities or the water crisis in Flint, the expectation that black Americans would be a firewall for Clinton was as offensive, as it was reflective of a kind of liberal contempt for the daily struggles of working class and poor people. [Davey D cut into the speech to appeal for listener sponsorship of free speech radio; the Women’s Magazine broadcast an extended portion of this particular speech excerpt.  (See above.)]” (c. 26:15)

DAVEY D:  “Wow.  Wow!  And bravo!  Bravo!  Bravo!  Bravo!  That is the voice of Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta, assistant professor of African American Studies at Princeton Univeristy, speaking at the Impact Hub last week, talking about her new book, From Black Lives Matter to Black Liberation and addressing the election of Donald Trump and his rise, the collapse of the Democratic Party, and the failings of the Obama administration.

“I have said similar things over and over again.  It’s hard for people to wrap their heads around it.  But, so help me gawd, the folks from Ferguson were just in town last week.  They were in town last week.  And they had long said, they had long said, there was deep, deep dissatisfaction with what was going on in the White House.  And they were saying this back before Mike Brown.  And, when you went to those places, when you went to the Midwest and you went down south, you heard it over and over again.  But it was something, that many people said:  What choice do they have?  Who else they gonna go for?  It can’t be true.  It’s an exaggeration.  Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

“Now, the facts are comin’ out.  The numbers are being shown.  The analysis is being put forth.  And those voices, that have often been suppressed, usually, by corporate media, who had a punditry and consultant class, speaking on behalf of people, whose real thoughts and real sentiments were never being reflected.  How could it, when you’re making a hundred thousand dollars a year sitting on MSNBC speaking to folks?  You’re not really in the cuts with people day in and day out to really pick up where they’re comin’ from.  (c. 28:23)

“But anybody who’s listening right now, who’s livin’ paycheck to paycheck, anybody out here, who is living on the margins, understands pretty clearly that it wasn’t all joy in Mudville.  And I’m glad Dr. Yamahtta is really breaking this down. (c. 28:43)

[Davey D continues with his remarks, focusing on appeals for listener sponsorship of free speech radio KPFA, the world’s original listener-sponsored free speech radio station, which PBS and NPR later copied, but in a non-free speech manner with corporate underwriting.]  (c. 29:21)

“We also have Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor’s entire speech, included in a robust package, KPFA Prayer and Protest Pack, which includes Ralph Nader, Chris Hedges, Bill Ayers, Eve Ensler, Ayesha Curry—that’s right, the wife of, uh, Steph Curry—and the sister, who you’re hearin’ now, Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor.  We’re asking for a $180 pledge for that.  All this you can break up into easy installment monthly payments.  Let me give out the phone number, folks.  1.800.439-5732.  1.800.439-5732.  1.800.HEY-KPFA.  Or donate online at kpfa.org.  Again, 1.800.439-5732.  1.800.HEY-KPFA.  Or donate online at kpfa.org. (c. 30:35)

“And, before we go right back into the, um, another excerpt from this incredible speech, I wanna give a shout out to William in Fresno, who put up $600 dollars and said if we can get people to pledge and it comes up to a total of $600 dollars, collectively speaking, we get to keep his money from Fresno.  And we wanna do that.  In other words, we can double our efforts.  1.800.439-5732.  1.800.HEY-KPFA.  Or pledge online at kpfa.org.  A $75 dollar pledge gets you the [complete] speech, that you are listening to [excerpts of] right now.  You can get this speech in a package, which includes Ralph Nader, Chris Hedges, Bill Ayers, Eve Ensler, Ayesha Curry, and many others for a $180 pledge.

[snip]  (c. 31:39)

“Let’s go back and listen to another excerpt from Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, speaking at the Impact Hub about Black Lives Matter, black liberation, the rise of Trump, the collapse of the Democratic Party and the failures of Barack Hussein Obama.  We’ll be right back.”  (c. 32:00)

DR. KEEANGA YAMAHTTA-TAYLOR:  “There is just the expectation that, no matter what is happening in your life and how terrible things might be, and no matter how unresponsive the Democratic Party may be, you still have to vote for them.

“And, then, the bitterness directed at people when they don’t respond in such a way is even more contemptuous.  This is true when liberals blame depressed black voter turnout for the election results.  But it is also the case when they blame working class whites for, quote, ‘voting against their interests’, as if, somehow, voting for the neoliberal, yet civil, politics of the Democratic Party are in the interest of the working class.  And, as an aside—[audience finally starts to respond with faint applause; it seems the audience is mostly nonplussed registered Democrats.] [4]

“Working class interests are never on the ballot in bourgeois elections. [scant applause and at least one cheer; the biggest audience reaction thus far] 

“But, when it comes to the fate of ordinary white people, who, despite the media and academic fascination with them for the moment, these are people, who are also regularly ignored.  We have heard all sorts of dime-store psychology about the so-called white working class, most of it thinly-veiled elitism.  White workers feel entitled.  They’re only interested in themselves.  They are privileged.  They are racist scum.  They are just bad. (c. 33:26)

“In total, it reflects the political establishment’s contempt for the struggles of regular people.  If you only read these reports or assessments, you would think there was no inequality experienced by white working class people, or that ordinary white people were just living the high life.

“But, when we consider the experiences of white working class people within the context of the attacks on working class standards, in general, we get a different picture.  And what would happen, if we told the story of black Chicago and other black communities across this country?  It’s part of the same story of what is happening to ordinary white people.

“For example, there is the continuing crisis of opioid, or narcotic, addiction in this country.  While people are quick to point out how differently it is received compared to the War On Drugs directed at black communities in the 1980s and ’90s, which is undoubtedly true, what does this crisis at this particular moment tell us about the conditions of working class life and working class people? (c. 34:37)

“There are two million people, addicted to opioids in the U.S.  Half of those people are addicted to heroin.  From 2009 to 2014, almost half a million people have died from opioid overdoses, a fourfold increase since 1999.  Earlier this year, it was reported that their had been a decline in the life expectancy for white women and a plateauing of life expectancy for white men.  In fact, it is unprecedented for life expectancy to reverse in a so-called first world country.

“In the United States peer countries, life expectancy is growing.  Why is life expectancy for white women in decline in this country?  Drug overdose, suicide, and alcohol abuse.

On transcending race (phenotype), or identity politics, and confronting class struggle

“So, if we told the stories of the destruction of working class black life alongside the stories of the destruction of working class white life, it could allow us to see that the anxieties, stresses, confusions, and frustrations about life in the world today are not owned by one group, but are shared by many.  It would not tell us that everyone suffers the same oppression or exploitation.  But it would allow us to see that, even if we don’t experience a particular kind of oppression, every working person in this country is going through something.  Everyone is trying to figure out how to survive.  And many are failing. (c. 36:18)

“If we put these stories together, we would gain more insight into how the white working class and poor have as much stake in the fight for a different kind of society as anyone else.  We wouldn’t so casually dismiss their suffering as privileged because they do not suffer as much as black and brown people in this country.

“The privileges of white skin run very thin in a country where 19 million white people languish in poverty.  Apparently, the wages of whiteness are not so great to stop millions of ordinary white people from, literally, drinking and drugging themselves to death to escape the despair of living in this so-called greatest country on Earth.

“If we put these separate stories together into a single story, we could make better sense of why socialism is rising in popularity.  White people have taken to the streets over the last five years to protest the growing racial and economic inequality in this country.  13 million people voted for an open socialist.  And many believe that if Sanders ran against Trump, he very well could have beaten him.  51% of 18- to 29-year olds say they are against capitalism, even if they are not fully convinced of what should replace it, 48% of millennials support health insurance as a, quote, ‘right for all people’.  And 47% agree that basic necessities, such as food and shelter are, quote, ‘a right, that the government should provide to those unable to afford them’. (c. 38:03)

“In the 1970s, 61% of Americans fell into that vague, but stable, category of middle class.  Today, that number has fallen to 50%.  It is driven by the growing wealth inequality, that exists here.  In the last year alone, the 1% saw their income rise by 7%.  The 0.1% saw their income rise by 9%.  In general, the richest 20% of households in the U.S. own 84% of the wealth in this country, while the bottom 40% own less than 1%.  In other words, there are 400 billionaires in this country.  They are the reason why there are 47 million poor people.  You cannot have untold obscene wealth, unless you have untold obscene poverty.  That is the law of the market. (c. 39:01)

“And how does such a tiny percent of the population unjustly hold on to their wealth[, even when millions agree that it should be redistributed]?  Racism, immigrant-bashing, homophobia, transphobia, sexism, nationalism.  They get us to fight each other, while they horde their wealth.” (c. 39:21)

DAVEY D:  “Phew!  I just want those words to simmer with folks for a minute.  It’s 94.1 KPFA, Hard Knock Radio.  That’s some raw truth this afternoon.  Dr. Keeanga Yamahtta-Taylor bringing heat, sobering heat, reflecting an anger, that so many people have right now, speaking and giving voice to folks, who have seen their voices, uh, ridiculed, marginalised, and not allowed to see the light of day because of a punditry class; there’s a consultancy class.  There are stormtroopers for a 1%, that have blocked any sort of dissent from seeing the light of day.

“And I’m glad that she was able to come to the City of Oakland, to speak at the Impact Hub to a packed house and speak this truth.  And we have these [free speech radio] airwaves to put it out there so folks can understand that they’re not alone in what they were feeling.  (c. 40:35)

“A lot of people were made to feel bad, as they said:  You know, I’m not really feelin’ what’s goin’ on with the choices.  And how many of you all were browbeaten to death?  Oh, what are you gon’ do?  You have no choice.  You’re an idiot.  How many people heard that?  Raise your hand, if people said that to you and looked down their nose and made you feel like was a piece of crap ‘cos you had a political analysis, that didn’t see the light of day, but, nevertheless, was something, that was true.  And it was true for millions of people out there.  The key to it: many people just stayed the hell on home.  (c. 41:13)

“And it’s important that we understand that truth.  It’s important that we start to listen to some of those voices and make the change, make the necessary adjustments.

“We’re just gettin’ started with the speech, folks.  You ain’t heard nothin’ yet.  It goes better.  It gets deeper.  It gets heated—it gets hotter.  We have it for you.  (c. 41:39)

[Davey D continued with his remarks, focusing on appeals for listener sponsorship of free speech radio KPFA, the world’s original listener-sponsored free speech radio station, which PBS and NPR later copied, but in a non-free speech manner with corporate underwriting.]  (c. 41:50)

“Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, assistant professor over at Princeton University, putting out a new book called Black Lives Matter to Black Liberation.  The key to her speech, here, this afternoon is talking about the rise of the Occupy Movement, the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement were reflections of people not having their interests addressed and this widening gap of inequality.  (c. 42:20)

“No, it wasn’t just a bunch of hippies wanting to, uh, pitch tents in the middle of your city.  That wouldn’t have been allowed because in many of those places you had a homeless population and a marginalised population, that would have ran them out, if that was the case, if it wasn’t really resonating with the folks, that were in existence there.

“What you think Occupy Oakland was able to have a foothold in downtown Oakland, which is crime-ridden, had it not been for the population there?  That was:  Man, I feel what you sayin’.  But that was something that we were gonna ignore—that mass inequality.  (c. 43:03)

“And I’m glad this sister’s connecting the dots.  I saw this when I was in the midwest.  Folks are living in poverty. [7]  We saw that in the crack era.  People, that really studied the crack era, knew that there was a whole lotta folks across the board, that was addicted to crack.  But they painted it as a black thing only and ignored that there was a lot of places, like in Cheyenne, Wyoming and, uh—what is that city up there in Idaho? I’m gonna remember the city, that’s right there, um—Boise, Idaho.  It’s a lot of folks smokin’ that dope there.

“20 years later, you have people hooked up on heroin and opiates and all that.  She’s breakin’ it down this afternoon.  I want us to sit with that raw truth.  And we have the opportunity to present it to you on these airwaves. (c. 43:53)

[Davey D continued with his remarks, focusing on appeals for listener sponsorship of free speech radio KPFA, the world’s original listener-sponsored free speech radio station, which PBS and NPR later copied, but in a non-free speech manner with corporate underwriting.]  (c. 45:27)

“We’re gonna have to do that.  We’re at this crossroads now.  We can’t go down this same path anymore.  There’s a lot of people, that want us to stay exactly where we’re at.  I think the time has changed.  The time has come for this change [of progressives and others finally rejecting the anti-working class Democratic Party and the two-party dictatorship].

“And, so, one of the things, that we’re committed to doing here is providing those critical voices, providing that space for these conversations, making sure that these issues see the light of day.  So, 1.800.439-5732.  1.800.HEY-KPFA.  Or donate online at kpfa.org, as we—this is holiday season.  All this is tax-deductible.  You want your money going into the coffers of the military-industrial complex?  Or maybe into an entity, that will speak out against it?  I would encourage you to follow the latter.  (c. 46:22)

“Let’s listen to a little bit more from Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor.  And I’ll come back and talk to you some more.”  (c. 46:29)

DR. KEEANGA-YAMAHTTA TAYLOR:  “[Our stories are not all the same.  We do not have the same experiences.  But our hardships often emanate from the same source—a market-based economy, that privileges the wealthy over the welfare and lives of the people who create that wealth.  And they keep our stories separate from each other, so that we never understand the entire story, only our particular part of it.]

“But, even with great effort to keep our side divided and confused, millions of people are coming to grips with the harsh reality of an economic system, that guarantees them nothing but a future of hardship and an inability to ever get ahead.  But the knowledge, alone, of the existence of racism, inequality, poverty, and injustice does not necessarily equip our side with the political tools needed to fight the battles of today or to fight for a socialist future.

“We need struggle.  We also need politics because we must contend with the political establishment, that wants to lower our expectations to believe that the existing society is the best that we can expect from humanity, that we dare not think beyond the existing parameters of electing a Democrat or Republican to change the world we live in. (c. 47:29)

“Clinton lost, in part because she ran a campaign of low expectations, a campaign cynically pivoted around the notion that ordinary people shouldn’t ask for too much, and that we must be realistic about the possibilities.  Donald Trump promised to change the world.  And Hillary Clinton promised to make the trains run on time.  Bernie Sanders, for all of the excitement, that his campaign generated for rightly demanding more, his commitment to remaining in the Democratic Party has effectively neutered his political revolution.  Expecting the Democratic Party to fight for the democratic redistribution of wealth and resources in this country is like expecting to squeeze orange juice out of an apple.  (c. 48:23)

“No, we must build independent organisations and political parties, that are not connected to the Democratic Party, that don’t rise and fall with the electoral cycle.  We have to build organisations, that are democratic, multiracial, and militant with a foundation in solidarity—solidarity, meaning that, even if you don’t experience a particular oppression, it doesn’t matter because you understand that, as ordinary people, our fates are connected and that one group’s liberation is dependent on the liberation of all of the oppressed and exploited.

“And there are so many good examples of this happening now.  And that’s important because an emboldened right, when we look at the intense political polarisation, that exists, we can see what an emboldened right can do.  It becomes a source of attraction for people, who are frustrated about the conditions, that they face and the uncertainty, that exists in the world.  But it also produces a certain response from the left.  It is not an overstatement to say that in the last month tens of thousands of ordinary people took to the streets—black people, Muslims, Latinos, Arabs, Asians, Native people, and white people—to reject the [2016 presidential] election, to reject Trump, and to reject racism. (c. 49:45)

“At high schools and college campuses across the country, students walked out of classes and began to organise to declare their campuses sanctuaries for undocumented students and others, that Trump has threatened to use the power of the state to abuse.”  (c. 50:04)

DAVEY D:  “She’s still just getting started.  Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, speaking at the Impact Hub.  We have less than ten minutes in this show.

[Davey D continued with his remarks, focusing on appeals for listener sponsorship of free speech radio KPFA, the world’s original listener-sponsored free speech radio station, which PBS and NPR later copied, but in a non-free speech manner with corporate underwriting.]  (c. 51:02)

“It is so important that we have these types of conversations ‘cos it is what this show is about.  It is what this station is about, ultimately and ideally—to give voice to the voiceless [i.e., the silenced and the censored].  To allow this space and allow these words to resonate with so many folks, that are listening.  And some of these people, that are calling right now—thank you.  (c. 51:30)

[Davey D continued with his remarks, focusing on appeals for listener sponsorship of free speech radio KPFA]  (c. 51:50)

“We have to talk about the collapse and the failures of those we entrusted to do our bidding, who didn’t do our bidding, but used us and, then, pivoted, and then danced with the devil, literally, danced with Wall Street, danced with developers, danced with big pharma, danced with big agribusiness, danced with everybody but us.  Now, culturally, they can communicate to us.  I like that Obama, for example, might have rappers in the White House.  That’s a cool thing.  But it ain’t cool, if the policies, that the communities, which those rappers come from aren’t really being reflected in what gets pushed out.  And you can’t give the excuse that he was being blocked by Congress ‘cos he didn’t do it when he had a supermajority the first two years.  He didn’t do it.  Remember, police brutality was on the docket then.  Have we forgotten Oscar Grant was shot [by police] before [Obama] even got into office?  And there was a robust movement.  And that Andreas Grimes [sic] was shot in, in New Orleans?  And there was a movement down there.  And Robert Taylor, um—I’m gonna forget his name, Taylor—Tolan, Robbie Tolan was shot in Houston in front of his mom when the police thought that Robbie’s car was stolen.  All those movements were kinda squelched down, in terms of how the pundits talk about what we know in those communities.  They were out there.  And people were demanding redress.  This is when there was a [Democratic] supermajority in Congress and the Senate.

“Did we see any movement on that?  No, we did not.  (c. 53:30)

“And this is what the sister is talking about.  This was simmering for a lot of people.  But people went along, tried to figure it out.  They even bought into the argument that chess, not checkers, was being played.  And here we are.  It looks like the chess game wasn’t in our favour, huh?  (c. 53:48)

[Davey D continued with his remarks, focusing on appeals for listener sponsorship of free speech radio KPFA]  (c. 54:00)

“We have to have these conversations.  We should arm ourselves with the information, that will spark this.  Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is giving us the language, is giving us a framework in which we can broach these conversations.  It’s so important.  (c. 54:17)

[Davey D continued with his remarks, focusing on appeals for listener sponsorship of free speech radio KPFA]  (c. 55:01)

“[Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor’s] book is the winner of the 2016 Lannan Cultural Freedom Award.  Her book is praised by everybody, from Cornel West on down.  Michelle Alexander sees it as, like, this is what we need.  In fact, I would say it’s like a continuation of where Michelle jumps off, in terms of just giving us framework.

“But we have to invest.  So, it’s not just pledging to the station, but making an investment, so we can have these airwaves.  In the upcoming months, it’s gonna be important for all of us.  It’s going to be important for all of us to have access to some sort of media apparatus where we can speak truth to power.

“Do you know Donald Trump has talked about putting two new people in the FCC?  And he wants to overturn net nuetrality protections, meaning that when we go online we’re not gonna have a free and clear internet.  The thing, that people, that we were fighting against for five years is gonna be gone.  These airwaves is going to be real important.  The voices of folks, who have these political analyses—and more importantly, as in the case with Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor.  She’s giving you solutions.  She’s talking about:  Look, you gots to look at the poor folks, that live in Appalachia. You got to look at those poor folks, that live in the Pinoles, in the Sacramentos, rider’s[sp?] side, around that area. You gotta look at the folks in those poor, rural communities. And you have to marry the stories of inequality, that exists in the inner cities. Then, find out that you have the same string, or purse-holder, making life miserable for everybody.

“You can call them 1%.  You can call them oligarchs.  You can call them tyrants.  But we’re gonna have to deal with that.  There’s no getting around that. (c. 57:00)

“So, 1.800.439-5732.  1.800.HEY-KPFA.  Thank you, Lily from Pittsburg.  Thank you, Ellen from Alameda.  Thank you, Margaret out of Bolinas.  Thank you Judas from Lambertville, New Jersey.  A lot of people are calling in.  There’s too many names to read off.  (c. 57:20)

[Davey D continued with his remarks, focusing on appeals for listener sponsorship of free speech radio KPFA]  (c. 58:59)

“And I want to thank everybody from the bottom of my heart for calling this afternoon.  You understand the importance of having the voiceless be given voice.  These airwaves will do that.  And we promise to do that forever and ever and ever and ever, to quote Outkast.  Mike [Biggs], Big Mike is smiling.

“1.800.439-5732.  1.800.HEY-KPFA.  Pledge online at kpfa.org.  I’ll say the words one last time.  1.800.439-5732.  1.800.HEY-KPFA.  Pledge online at kpfa.org.  I wanna thank everybody calling in.  Thank you, Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor for your speech.  Thank you, Impact Hub.  Thank you for everybody listening.  Flashpoints, you take it away.”  (c. 59:48)

Learn more at HARD KNOCK RADIO.

***

[1]  Impact Hub, 2323 Broadway (near Grand), Oakland, California.

[2]  Terrestrial radio transmission, 94.1 FM (KPFA, Berkeley, CA) with online simulcast and digital archiving:  Women’s Magazine, this one-hour broadcast hosted by co-host Kate Raphael, Monday, 12 DEC 2016, 13:00 PST.

[3]  Terrestrial radio transmission, 94.1 FM (KPFA, Berkeley, CA) with online simulcast and digital archiving:  Hard Knock Radio, this one-hour broadcast hosted by co-host Davey D, Monday, 12 DEC 2016, 16:00 PST.  [N.B.:  For some unfortunate reason, Hard Knock Radio usually removes their audio archives from public access two weeks after the initial broadcast date.]

[4]  Terrestrial radio transmission, 94.1 FM (KPFA, Berkeley, CA) with online simulcast and digital archiving:  Special Programming,  this one-hour broadcast hosted by co-host Kate Raphael, Wednesday, 14 DEC 2016, 15:00 PST.  [From listening to bits of the live broadcast, (c. 37:00) this sounded identical to the Women’s Magazine broadcast from 12 DEC 2016.]

[5]   This is a KPFA benefit, which was likely attended by the usual aging Berkeley Baby Boomer demographic of gentle silver-haired souls, who lived through the 1960s and remain true to the spirit of social justice.  But, being KPFA listeners, most accept the status quo two-party system.  This particular audience demographic is typically much more enthusiastic when the speakers are far less (or non-) critical of their Democratic Party apologism.

Since at least 1999, the KPFA News Department has been dominated by a faction, which is aligned with the Wellstone Democratic Renewal Club.  So, their reform-the-Democratic-Party-from-within ideology has resulted in KPFA and Pacifica’s News Departments filtering the news through a Democratic Party apologist lens, discouraging many free speech radio listeners from thinking of alternatives to the two-party dictatorship or the unresponsive Democratic Party.

Political commentators have correctly observed that Trump, actually, succeeded in usurping the language of working class populism, which Bernie Sanders had championed during the 2016 presidential primary elections.  Obviously, it’s incorrect to say this is why Hillary Clinton lost the election, as she did receive millions more votes from American voters than Trump.  Clinton lost the election because of the electoral college system, which can reject the national will of the American people, or rather they redefine the will of the people through the antidemocratic scheme of the electoral college.

But, certainly, Clinton’s failure to even pay lip service to working class populism further narrowed the already narrow two-party presidential contest, such that Trump was able to win the electoral college election, despite losing the popular vote (i.e., the real vote).

And, of course, Obama talked a good game during the 2008 election cycle.  But, as many of us anticipated, he immediately turned his back on his constituency.  Once in office, the Obama administration turned his energetic movement for hope and change into a private political action committee (PAC) with an email list, which never met again.  Many liberals and Democratic Party apologists, such as Norman Solomon and Robert Reich, argued that the movement slacked off, that the people no longer pushed Obama in the right direction once he was in office.  But that argument falls apart when we recall that by 2011, there was mass discontent with the status quo, even under the ostensibly progressive Obama administration, which coordinated a brutal nationwide crackdown against the Occupy Movement, which by late 2011 was going global.  When Obama came into office in 2009, he did everything he could to cover for Wall Street.  Not one white collar criminal went to prison, unlike during the 1980s with the Savings & Loan crisis under Reagan.  But the Occupy Movement was never able to pierce the veil of the two-party dictatorship.  They struggled with defining any political objectives and shunned the notion of allowing any spokespersons to emerge with a focused agenda.  They were attacked, beaten, and their encampments obliterated by the Obama administration.  Then, some weeks later, most of those same people, either, acquiesced in (or voted for) another four years of Obama and his antidemocratic, anti-working class Democratic Party.  They were unable to imagine alternatives, or to call for opening up the presidential debates, or for ranked-choice voting, or proportional representation in Congress.  In short, the Occupy Movement squandered its political power.  It was important for many reasons.  But this was an object lesson, which few activists or scholars (outside of the Green Party and other alternative political parties, such as the Peace and Freedom Party) have pointed out publicly until now by Dr. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor.

[6]  Indeed, as a student of heterodox economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, I lived on the Troost line, Waldo Heights Apartments nearby the Presidential Gardens housing complex.  And the poverty along Troost Avenue and to the east of the Troost line, the historically-dividing line of racial residential segregation was extreme.  Many homes to the east of Troost were boarded up and abandoned.  And many families living in the impoverished apartment buildings, multiple generations with their parents and grandparents all mired in intergenerational poverty and with the younger generations being given much opportunity to break out.

My spouse is an educator; and she worked in the Kansas City schools for a period of time, which showed her the most stressed classrooms with strained teachers barely able to contain the neediest children, even in early childhood education with extreme behavioural problems and needs.  She doubted that, if she continued to work in that environment, she would be able to avoid changing and becoming as callous toward the kids as the overextended teachers with whom she was working had become.  I don’t think all the teachers were like that.  I also saw some of the warmest and loving teachers at my son’s elementary school, which was just west of the Troost line.  But, as Davey D points out, there is extreme poverty in the midwest, which we too often ignore.  The Democratic Party does not care about this poverty.  Democrat politicians never even use the word poverty or poor in their speeches.  Instead, they make vague references to the middle class.

***

[Steve Bannon image by Don Irvine, used via fair use and creative commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).]

[13 DEC 2016]

[Last modified at 12:18 PST on 22 DEC 2016]

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