Shades of Ethnicity

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday June 22, 2025 · 4:41 PM PDT

2025/06/22 · 16:41

When it comes to Black America, there’s a whole lot under the surface that most people, even Black folks do not think about. The simple explanation for this is that regardless of our differences, we are all treated the same by the rest of society. So the single fact of our melanin is what links us together. But, we are not all the same.

There are for example two definitions of Black Americans if not three. You have Black Americans descendants of enslaved Black Americans who have been on this soil since as long as the first white immigrants. You have the Black Americans who were born in the US, but are not descendants of enslaved Black Americans, they can be however descendants of enslaved Blacks from the surrounding regions, or from Black immigrants and you have newly Black Americans who are naturalized immigrants.

So, you have a whole diversity of cultures and ethnicities within Black America, the Nigerians, the Haitians, the Jamaicans, the Congolese, etc… and you have the Black Americans with their own culture. Unless one comes directly from an African country, any Black culture from a nation that has been through colonization and slavery is a hodgepodge of different African Culture often mixed in with the ethnicity of the indigenous people of that land.

It is important that we note these distinctions because our histories while having similarities, are not the same, thus our cultures are not the same. It is important to respect these differences as it is to embrace our similarities. And that brings us to Juneteenth, which is a celebration of the liberation of Black Americans of US descent and only of US descent. It is their day of liberation, for example Haiti has its own day of independence, as do Cuba and others. While other Black ethnic heritage can celebrate with them, it is not their day. It’s like trying to celebrate someone’s grandfather’s birthday in your family, it makes no sense.

Why am I bringing this up? You know me, I read things and I see discussions and I comment on them. And I saw a few discussions about who should be celebrated on Juneteenth… so my answer is Black Americans of US ancestry. It’s in my view pretty simple.

Fun fact, this puts me personally in a bizarre position as I have both Black American and Black Haitian ancestry, though I have more Haitian ancestry than American, so I tend to in those occasions where ancestry matters, stick to my Haitian heritage and keep to my lane.

#TheAmericanHaitianPoet #Woke #SocialPoetry
Paypal.me/murielvieux (to help Haitian families in crisis)
Muriel Vieux – June 22^nd, 2025 – ©All rights reserved

The 1960s Revolution: The Black Freedom Movement

KirkLC

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday June 22, 2025 · 9:37 AM PDT

2025/06/22 · 09:37

The 1960s were the most intense period of cultural, political, and social upheaval in the United States since the Civil War. This era functioned as a kind of Second Reconstruction, confronting the unresolved contradictions at the heart of American democracy, capitalism, and culture. It was, in many ways, a reaction to the 1950s—the so-called “Golden Age” that Donald Trump now seeks to resurrect in his second term. Yet, in doing so, he is also provoking a powerful backlash, potentially setting the stage for a new wave of resistance and reform.

The activism of the 1960s was diverse and transformative. It was carried forward by Black Americans, women, Native Americans, Chicanos, gay rights activists, antiwar protesters, people with disabilities, and members of the counterculture. Their demands for justice and a more equitable society were often met not with reform but with state surveillance by police and the FBI, repression, and violence.

The modern Black Freedom Movement, which would combine civil rights and economic justice, ignited in full on February 1, 1960, when four Black college freshmen—the Greensboro Four—staged a nonviolent sit-in at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. Refusing to leave after being denied service, they returned the next day with more students. Their bold action sparked a wave of sit-ins across the South, eventually involving more than 70,000 students in over 100 cities.

The momentum grew in 1961 with the Freedom Rides, in which interracial groups of activists challenged the continued segregation of interstate bus travel across the Jim Crow South. Over 400 Freedom Riders faced beatings, bombings, and arrests. Their persistence forced the federal government to enforce desegregation in interstate travel.

In April 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama, after leading a protest without a permit. His “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” became a moral blueprint for the civil rights movement. That August, the March on Washington brought over 250,000 people to the National Mall, where King delivered his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech.

One month later, tragedy struck. The 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham was bombed by white supremacists, killing four young Black girls. The church’s pastor was Rev. Alfred Daniel King, Dr. King’s younger brother. Though the FBI knew who was responsible, arrests and convictions were delayed for decades.

The struggle intensified in 1964’s Freedom Summer, where activists traveled to Mississippi to register Black voters. They faced lethal violence—three civil rights workers were murdered, dozens of Black churches were burned or bombed, hundreds were beaten, and there were over 1,000 arrests.

In February 1965, Malcolm X—a powerful voice for Black self-determination and justice—was assassinated. The following month, a peaceful march from Selma to Montgomery was attacked by police on “Bloody Sunday” on the Edmund Pettis Bridge. In total, three people died in connection with the Selma protests.

While the Civil Rights Act (1964) and Voting Rights Act (1965) were landmark achievements, they did not dismantle systemic racism. Local officials across the South continued to suppress the Black vote through intimidation, gerrymandering, and administrative obstacles. In 1965, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that the poverty rate for whites was approximately 11%, while for Blacks, it stood at 41%—a stark indicator of enduring economic injustice.

The illusion of progress was further shattered by the Watts Rebellion in August 1965, a six-day uprising in Los Angeles sparked by a traffic stop and fueled by years of frustration. Thirty-four people were killed, nearly 4,000 arrested, and damage topped $40 million. King responded by emphasizing that while the South fought for civil rights, the North was plagued by poverty, joblessness, and housing discrimination, issues of economic justice.

In response, King expanded his focus to economic justice, launching the Chicago Open Housing Movement in 1966 to expose segregation and inequality in northern cities. That same year, in October 1966, the Black Panther Party was founded in Oakland by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale to combat police brutality, provide community services, and push for Black self-reliance. The Panthers were targeted by the FBI’s Counter Intelligence Program, which infiltrated, disrupted, and dismantled the group through propaganda, informants, and raids—including the 1969 assassination of Fred Hampton in Chicago. The FBI under J. Edgar Hoover declared the Panthers “the greatest threat to the internal security of the United States.”

Another major uprising erupted in Detroit in July 1967 after police raided an after-hours bar. The Detroit Rebellion lasted five days, resulting in 43 deaths, over 1,000 injuries, more than 7,000 people arrested, and over 2,500 businesses looted or burned. Property damage exceeded $40 million. As in Watts, the National Guard was deployed.

President Johnson established the Kerner Commission on July 28, 1967, in response to the Detroit Rebellion. It investigated over 150 major incidents of civil disorder. The commission examined the immediate triggers, underlying causes (racism, poverty, segregation, unemployment), scale and intensity of the violence, the response of local and federal governments, and the media’s role in shaping public perception.

In the final phase of his life, King launched the Poor People’s Campaign to unite Americans across racial lines in a push for jobs, housing, and an Economic Bill of Rights. (Source: https://www.crmvet.org/docs/68ebr.htm).

The Kerner Commission released its report in March 1968. It concluded, “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one Black, one white—separate and unequal,” due to racism by whites, segregation, police brutality, unemployment, poverty, and the lack of investment in Black communities. King applauded it, saying, “This report reveals the sickness of our society... the roots are in white racism.” Unfortunately, there was no constructive response by Congress or President Johnson, nor by any other later administration.

On April 4, 1968, King, who had also become critical of the Vietnam War, was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He had been there to support a strike by Black sanitation workers, who were demanding fair wages and better working conditions. His assassination triggered riots and uprisings in over 100 U.S. cities.

In May 1968, the Poor People’s Campaign launched Resurrection City, a tent encampment of poor Americans of all races on the National Mall, which continued for six weeks. Then, on June 19, 1968, the People’s Campaign gathered 50,000 people to march in Washington, D.C.

In the 1960s, hypernormalization functioned as a powerful illusion surrounding Black life in America. Even as civil rights legislation like the Civil Rights Act (1964) and Voting Rights Act (1965) passed, a dominant national narrative emerged claiming that racism had been solved and that Black Americans were now full participants in democracy. This illusion masked the deeper structural realities of police brutality, economic exclusion, segregated housing and schools, and ongoing voter suppression. America projected an image of racial progress and equal opportunity while continuing to enforce racial order through FBI surveillance, violence, and bureaucratic resistance. In this way, Black suffering and rebellion were often framed as irrational or extremist rather than responses to entrenched injustice. The promise of equality was held up as fulfilled—even as the lived experience of millions of Black Americans remained defined by inequality, poverty, and state repression. Their struggle sought to reshape the nation, but the forces of backlash prevented meaningful change. Understanding this legacy is essential to confronting the illusions of progress that define America.

Day 154: days left to January 20, 2029: 1,308 days

Sunday 6/22 special edition of Democrats speaking up about the attack on Sen. Padilla & in MN

Janesaunt

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday June 22, 2025 · 9:31 AM PDT

2025/06/22 · 09:31

I’m mixing things up a bit for today’s diary. I’m still feeling upset about the attack on my senator, Alex Padilla. There’s so much happening that it’s easy to move on, so I want to take a few minutes and remind us what has happened in the past 10 days or so.

I’m a first generation Mexican American and seeing Sen. Padilla taken to the ground still leaves me shaken. He’s my Primo! Not in the literal sense but in the cultural sense. I don’t look like him because my Mother was not Mexican; and my last name isn’t “Mexican” because I changed it when I married. But my actual Primas look like him. Some of my brothers look like him and they, too, have “Mexican” last names.

Then there’s the whole threat to democracy portion of this, which cannot be forgotten or ignored. Democratic senators spoke up in the immediate aftermath of the attack and called out the grave risk to our democracy.

With that as my inspiration, I want to highlight several speeches that I think did an excellent job of capturing the seriousness of that attack, and the outrage of Democratic members of Congress.

I’m going to start with the powerful speech by Senator Padilla, himself. At about the 10’ 15” mark his voice breaks as he says, “What will my wife think? What will our boys think?” He’s trying hard to hold it together but it’s difficult when it becomes personal.

He’s one man, and I know that he recognizes that everyone who is being cuffed by ICE thinks the same thing.

x

x
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Sen. Angela Alsobrooks was on fire, and rightly so. She caught my attention as soon as I heard her speaking. “We have now crossed the line. This is a dangerous day for America.”

x

x
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Next up is Sen. Patty Murray, who was close to tears as she spoke. She’s stronger than me — I cried a lot that day. She spoke about how the attack on Sen. Padilla was an attack on democracy.

x

x
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Senator Booker speaks mostly extemporaneously and brings in history lessons along with his righteous rage.

x

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I hadn’t planned on sharing this one but I finally watched it and it’s definitely worth the 3.5 minutes of your time.

“This is the stuff of dictators!”

x

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As a child of the 1960s I’m also still very disturbed about the assassination and assassination attempt in Minnesota. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith gave us all some insight to the impact of, and therefore, the loss of Melissa Hortman. Rep. Hortman sounds like someone that would have been a terrific US House or US Senate member. An incredible loss to her community, her state and her party. More importantly a horrific loss to her family and friends.

As Sen. Smith says about her, “Millions and millions of Minnesotans are better off because of the work she did. Her record of accomplishment is so extensive that it’s hard to capture it all in just a few short minutes and so it’s so bitter to realize she was only fifty-five.”

YouTube Video

I’m not including all the categories that I usually do because of the focus on Sen. Padilla and the assassination in Minnesota.

Democratic victories

Today’s decision out of Rhode Island isn’t getting a lot of attention, but it’s very important. Trump tried to withhold fed’l funds from states that won’t help with his immigration policy & mass deportations. A Judge just told him he can’t do that. open.substack.com/pub/joycevan...
— Joyce White Vance (@joycewhitevance.bsky.social) 2025-06-20T04:41:39.939Z

Some good news. DOGE tried to shut down the water quality office in Norcross. @ossoff.senate.gov and I successfully stopped them.
— Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (@warnock.senate.gov) 2025-06-17T20:06:30.558Z

The Blueprint & Democratic Daily Download

YouTube Video

Trump’s Big, Ugly Bill will force hundreds of rural hospitals to close. On today’s Democratic Daily Download, @adams.house.gov breaks down this dangerous bill and how Democrats are fighting to stop it.
— House Democrats (@housedemocrats.bsky.social) 2025-06-20T18:08:38.818Z

On today’s Democratic Daily Download, @algreen.house.gov pays tribute to the great American holiday of Juneteenth.
— House Democrats (@housedemocrats.bsky.social) 2025-06-19T16:03:10.691Z

Chair Ken Martin

Last night’s vigil was another reminder of just how many Minnesotans’ lives were touched by Melissa and Mark Hortman. Our DFL family is deeply lucky to have known them.
— Ken Martin (@kenmartin.bsky.social) 2025-06-19T18:14:04.816Z

I’m traveling out of the country tomorrow and so there won’t be a Tuesday 6/24 diary. I expect to have a Thursday 6/26 diary, though.

Caribbean Matters: Racist ICE raids target Dominicans in Puerto Rico

Denise Oliver Velez

Community

Saturday June 21, 2025 · 6:06 AM PDT

2025/06/21 · 06:06

Caribbean Matters is a weekly series from Daily Kos. Hope you’ll join us here every Saturday. If you are unfamiliar with the region, check out Caribbean Matters: Getting to know the countries of the Caribbean.

Many people who are not Puerto Rican or not familiar with the island’s demographics may not be aware that the largest foreign born, or ancestored group on the island, are Dominicans. Minority Rights Group has an excellent overview of their history and current status, including key factors that come into play in the recent upswing of targeting Dominicans on the island for deportation:

Approximately 100,000 Dominicans now live in Puerto Rico, of whom about 30,000 are thought to be undocumented illegal immigrants. Some Dominicans are en route to the USA, using Puerto Rico as a take off point, but most remain, forming a distinct enclave minority on the island.

No other sector of Puerto Rico’s population has grown as quickly over the last four decades. Dominicans have displaced Cubans as the leading foreign-born population group, and are now the largest and most visible ethnic minority on the Island. 75 per cent of the migrants live in San Juan where a bustling Dominican community has emerged. San Juan now has the second largest number of migrant Dominicans after New York City.

[...]

However as the number of Dominicans in Puerto Rico has grown, they have increasingly become the victims of racism and xenophobia. Numerous studies have documented the increasing hostility towards Dominican immigrants on the Island and its effect on their public image. Like other disadvantaged minorities, Dominicans in Puerto Rico are the main targets of a range of ethnic jokes, racial slurs, quips and anecdotes.

At the root is what some regional sociologists have described as the ‘white bias’. [...]

Puerto Ricans tend to typecast Dominicans as being darker-skinned than themselves and emphasize their African influenced facial features and hair texture. Hence Dominicans in Puerto Rico like the darker skinned Haitians in their own country end up experiencing the intense stigmatization, stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination, low social ranking and exclusion to which people of African origin have long been subjected to in that country and elsewhere.

Given the current upswing of Trump-backed ICE deportations on the mainland which violate due process and the protests against them, lesser known are the administration’s moves in Puerto Rico, which are beginning to get mainstream media coverage.

The New York Times published this story from Patricia Mazzei, their Miami bureau chief, who covers both Florida and Puerto Rico, earlier this month, on why the Puerto Rico raids hit differently:

Immigration raids have been so rare in Puerto Rico that its only detention facility, in an office building next to a mall, can hold only about 20 detainees. Yet federal authorities in the U.S. territory have detained more than 500 people since President Trump took office in January. [...]

Nearly three-quarters of the detainees have hailed from one country, the Dominican Republic, which lies 80 miles west of Puerto Rico by boat. Many Dominicans share the same ethnic background, language and culture as Puerto Ricans, and the detentions of Dominicans have felt to many Puerto Ricans like an affront.

“It’s a historical aberration,” said Néstor Duprey, an associate professor of social sciences at the Inter American University of Puerto Rico.

Generations of Dominicans, as well as some Haitians, have migrated to the Puerto Rico archipelago on rickety boats from Hispaniola island, starting families and filling critical jobs in housekeeping, home health care and construction. Other than interdictions at sea and occasional raids in the capital, San Juan, federal authorities largely avoided mass immigration enforcement on the island before now.

The Times interviewed Rebecca González-Ramos, the special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in San Juan, who was quick to deny that racial markers play a role in who to nab:

Federal authorities have faced criticism in Puerto Rico since the recent round of raids began on Jan. 26. A 52-year-old Dominican construction worker died at a job site in March after he fell from a roof where he had been hiding from immigration agents. He fell after the agents left, following the detentions of 13 other workers at the site; Ms. González-Ramos’s office said it did not learn of his death until May.

Some detainees and their families worry that they have been targeted for having darker skin than most Puerto Ricans, under the assumption that Dominicans are more likely than Puerto Ricans to be Black. Ms. González-Ramos denied that federal agents consider skin color or accent in deciding whom to detain.

There are folks on the island disputing her denial, calling the ICE arrests racial profiling, Caribbean Television Network reports:

Dolores Espiritusanto, a Dominican-born naturalized American citizen, lives in Barrio Obrero, one of the neighborhoods most densely populated by immigrants.

Outside her home, she admits to living in constant fear of arbitrary checks: “You think there are just a few of them? There are many,” she says, referring to ICE agents. She explains that despite her years in Puerto Rico, her accent still reveals her origins. “When I speak, people know I’m not Puerto Rican,” she says with a laugh, but the concern is real, NPR reported. [...]

For José Rodriguez, president of the Dominican Human Rights Committee, there’s no doubt about it: “80% of Dominicans are Black. That’s why they’re victims of racial profiling. Because they’re Black.” He closely monitors ICE operations and reports numerous cases of individuals with legal status being arrested simply because they weren’t carrying their resident cards. Some were only released after verification. […]

Pastor Nilka Marrero, who leads a church in the Dominican neighborhood, shares her perspective. As a light-skinned Puerto Rican with blue eyes and blonde hair, she notes, “I walk through the barrio, I’ve never been stopped. Nobody even looks at me.” For her, the reality is stark: “If you’re Black, if you walk like a Dominican or look Dominican, they’ll pick you up.”

This reality forces her to have difficult conversations with her congregation. “I tell them to try to mask their origin, to speak Puerto Rican Spanish, not Dominican Spanish, to blend in a little so they won’t be noticed.” She reluctantly acknowledges the necessity of such advice. “Do you really need to style your hair that way? When you go to the grocery store, do you have to wear that headscarf?” She concludes resignedly: “I hate telling them to hide who they are, but I don’t want them to get arrested.”

NPR correspondent Adrian Florido, who covers race and identity in America, pressed González-Ramos on the issue, which she continued to deny:

NPR: I've been speaking with people in the Dominican community who say they feel they're being targeted because they're Black and because they have Dominican accents.

González-Ramos: I don't agree with that at all. That would be very irresponsible of us to intervene with individuals just because they have a Dominican accent. I want to say maybe 80 percent of the agents that I have are from Puerto Rico. So they know that a large number of our Dominican population are U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents. The majority are not here without status. There's been people detained from all sorts of countries. It's not just Dominicans. Most of them have been Dominicans because they are the highest population here from a foreign country (About 60 percent of Puerto Rico's foreign-born population is Dominican).

NPR: Are your agents as likely to question on the street a white person with a Puerto Rican accent?

González-Ramos: If we are looking for an individual with a final order of deportation in a group of four, all four are going to be asked the questions. It doesn't matter if you have blue eyes and blonde hair, or if you have a Puerto Rican accent. Here in Puerto Rico, we're of all colors. Moving on accents and moving on people's color, first of all, it's illegal. And second of all, it's not the way HSI does business. We work based on intelligence and executing either arrest warrants or final orders of deportation. And everybody in that group is going to be asked, no matter how they look or how they sound.

A Puerto Rican woman in Florida, who goes by the handle Divadee25, had some thoughts about González-Ramos and a recent raid on a construction site:

YouTube Video

I discussed how this racial profiling not only affects Dominicans, but also Afro-Puerto Ricans in an earlier post in this series. The Minority Rights Group notes that there are still many issues around racism for Afro-Puerto Ricans:

Persistent inequalities reinforce the low social status of Afro-Puerto Ricans. Sociological studies from the 1950s onwards have suggested that Afro-Puerto Ricans are disproportionately present in deprived urban neighbourhoods, low-paid informal-sector employment and youth detention centres.

They are also affected by enduring anti-black racist attitudes deeply embedded within Puerto Rican society which although never acknowledged are nevertheless routinely practised. In Puerto Rico as in other parts of Latin America it is still common for people to be referred to by their colour hence the prevalence of terms like Negro (a) or Negrito (a) although some argue that these are really terms of endearment devoid of animosity or conscious malicious intent.

However racial profiling and stereotyping identifies Dominicans as being overwhelmingly black and ‘mulatto’ illegal foreigners, and therefore a threat, consequently the Puerto Rican authorities often arrest Afro-Puerto Ricans who have no identification, assuming them to be illegal Dominican migrants.

Coverage of the current situation in Puerto Rico from reporter Paola Nagovitch at El País in English didn’t mince words:

What for years had been the beating heart of the Dominican community in Puerto Rico is now a city under siege. At ten in the morning on a hot, idyllic May day, the streets of Barrio Obrero — located in San Juan, the capital of the U.S. territory — are nearly empty. “Before, by this time you could already hear the velloneras,” laments Pastor Nilka Marrero, who has spent over a decade serving the area’s immigrants. She’s referring to the record-playing machines in the businesses surrounding the neighborhood’s main square, once a lively gathering spot that today stands deserted. “They used to play salsa: ‘Del Barrio Obrero a la 15, un paso es…’” she sings, quoting Puerto Rican salsa artist Willie Rosario, as she taps out her own rhythm on the table. But not anymore. Months of immigration raids ordered by the Trump administration have silenced this neighborhood, where the fear of being detained or deported is overwhelming.

“This is a city under siege — you never know when they’re going to come and arrest you, sometimes without a warrant or any explanation. It’s terrifying,” adds the reverend of the San Pablo Methodist Church, located on the corner of the Antonio Barceló Plaza in Barrio Obrero. On Wednesday morning, she is coordinating a team of volunteers gathered in the congregation’s dining hall to bag food — canned vegetables, beans, various types of cookies, juices. In the afternoon, they’ll distribute the bags throughout the neighborhood, going directly to the homes of immigrants who, out of fear of being detained, have given up even going to the supermarket. Some of the volunteers say that the community is so terrified that sometimes people don’t even want to open the door of their homes to receive the food.

Volunteers pack bags of food for needy families...who are afraid to go to the supermarket "out of fear of being detained"

[image or embed]
— Denise Oliver-Velez (@deniseoliver-velez.bsky.social) June 16, 2025 at 3:14 PM

El Pais’ report also addressed the local government response:

The local government has done little to challenge Trump’s immigration measures. On the contrary, the ACLU asserts that there is “an intentional effort to facilitate the implementation of those policies.”

The governor, Jenniffer González, a Republican who supports Trump, initially assured that the president’s immigration policies would not affect the immigrant community in Puerto Rico. Since then, however, she has said that the island “cannot afford” to ignore the administration’s guidelines on immigrant detentions because Puerto Rico would risk losing federal funding. Federal funds that Trump already withheld from the island during his first term, and which the local government is accused of mismanaging. EL PAÍS received no response when contacting the governor’s office for this report.

Join me in the comments section below for more, and the weekly Caribbean news roundup.

Campaign Action

CHC Roundup: Rep. Nanette Barragán (CA-44) - Straight Outta San Pedro

bilboteach

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday June 21, 2025 · 5:06 AM PDT

2025/06/21 · 05:06

Rep. Nanette Barragán has been one of the most persistent in sounding the alarm about the National Guard being deployed in Los Angeles.

Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.) said Sunday that the deployment of the National Guard to the Los Angeles area is “going to escalate the situation.”

“It’s a concern,” Barragán told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.” “I mean, it’s going to escalate the situation. People are going to protest because they’re angry about the situation, and we have to just reiterate to people to do it peacefully.”

President Trump deployed 2,000 National Guard members to the Los Angeles area on Saturday amid protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said previously the action was due to “violent mobs” recently attacking “Federal Law Enforcement Agents carrying out basic deportation operations.”

Another issue where she is not giving in to the Trump regime is multilingual disaster alerts. She recently blasted the regime for delaying the implementation of these vital alerts.

California Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán (D) on Monday blasted the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over a delay in multilingual disaster alerts.

At the beginning of the year, the FCC pledged to implement an order requiring wireless providers to distribute emergency alters in the 13 most commonly spoken languages in the U.S. in addition to English and American Sign Language.

However, four months later, citizens are still not receiving translations for critical alerts highlighting natural disasters.

“This delay is not only indefensible but dangerous,” Barragán, former chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, co-wrote in a letter to FCC Chair Brendan Carr alongside Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-N.M.), according to the LA Times.

“It directly jeopardizes the ability of our communities to receive life-saving emergency information in the language they understand best,” the duo added.

Other than these two issues, what else is Rep. Nanette Barragán prioritizing? What is she like in Congress? What is her voting record like? All of these questions and more will be answered below the fold.

Poll

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Which one of these legislators should be featured next?

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Which one of these legislators should be featured next?

Congressman Robert Garcia

3 votes

Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernandez

2 votes

Congressman Chuy Garcia

2 votes

Congressman Raul Ruiz

2 votes

Congresswoman Emily Randall

1 vote

Black Kos Friday "We Need No Approval For Joy"

Black Kos

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday June 20, 2025 · 2:00 PM PDT

2025/06/20 · 14:00

Voices & Soul

by Justice Putnam, Black Kos Editor

Since I was a child, I have been both enamored and appalled at the increasing militancy of our nation. We glory the Soldier as a Hero, one whose pedestal is not to be sullied. Songs are sung and films are broadcast about yellow ribbons and Gold Stars, about red sky at morning and Johnny come marching home, tears are shed at Arlington on Memorial and Veteran's Day with 20 gun salutes and full metal jackets shredding jungles and deserts, seas and air, and the intersection of Liberty Avenue at Main Street.

Everywhere I look, supplicants genuflect and tithe at the Altar of the Military. Politicians and preachers sky pilot high school football homecoming prom dances, while daddy works in a coal mine going down down down burning fossil microbes to steam a turbine, while economies and marriages suffer from codified martial strategies of weapons procurement and international arms sales.

Barney Fife seems to have fragged the Mayberry Sheriff and outfitted the newly deputized insurrectionists with the best paramilitary gear the School of the Americas could buy for neo Nazi dictatorships, here and abroad.

Ojibwa

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday June 19, 2025 · 7:27 AM PDT

2025/06/19 · 07:27

The Spanish Mission Era in California begins in 1769 and lasted until 1834. During this time the Franciscan missionaries founded 21 missions in California, or, more precisely, Alta California. These missions sought to capture souls for Christ by converting the Indians to Catholicism and to solidify Spain’s imperial control over the region. The missionary efforts, aided by Spanish soldiers, centered around bringing the Indians into a segregated community centered around a church. Here they would be forcibly converted while they worked as unpaid laborers for the Mission. The Franciscan missions were basically slave plantations, requiring the Indian people to work for the Spanish under cruel conditions.

lpeacock

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday June 19, 2025 · 6:01 AM PDT

2025/06/19 · 06:01

Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke was elected to Congress from New Yok's 11th Congressional District in 2006, representing that district until 2013, until redistricting. Since 2013, Congresswoman Clarke has represented New York's 9th Congressional District (part of which is the district represented by Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm). She is one of 5 Black Members of Congress representing New York (and of 15 ever) and is the current Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. The child of Jamaican immigrants, Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, is a strong advocate for the Caribbean Community, co-Chairing the Congressional Caribbean Caucus.

During her tenure in Congress, Rep. Clarke has been the primary sponsor of 5 bills enacted into law, and the primary sponsor of 2 bills, so far, in the 119th Congress. Congresswoman Yvette Clarke serves on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, as Ranking Member of the Oversight and Investigations, and member of the Commerce, Manufacturing, ad Trade and Communications and Technology subcommittees of that committee.

Congresswoman Clarke was brilliant and forceful in her remarks in the Tri-Caucus Leaders’ (Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus) press conference held on June 10th, criticizing the mfg’s deployment of troops amid anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles.

YouTube Video

Congresswoman Yvette Clarke makes regular appearance on both local and national TV.

Here are a couple of interviews from June 9th.

On local CBS news:

YouTube Video

On CNN:

YouTube Video

True to her Caribbean roots, here’s Congresswoman Clarke honoring Caribbean Heritage Month on June 10th.

YouTube Video

Finally, here’s an episode of Congressman Troy A. Carter, Sr’s podcast, “What Makes America Tick?”, from May 30th, featuring Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke. (The quote in this story’s title is from this interview).

YouTube Video

Toro Blanco

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday June 18, 2025 · 6:27 AM PDT

2025/06/18 · 06:27

Welcome to Whiteness Wednesdays.

I’ve been dealing with some pretty nasty illness for the last couple weeks. I’m finally feeling better, but this destroyed my ability to get any writing or research done.

In lieu of that, our guest lecture will be John Oliver, giving a very enlightening piece on the juvenile criminal justice system.

Take notes: the school to prison pipeline and the law of unintended consequences both make appearances here, though John doesn’t point either out explicitly. The below segment is an excellent introduction to the problem with criminalizing children (particularly children of color).

Hopefully, I’ll stay feeling healthy and can be back to our regular lectures next week:

YouTube Video

Black Kos: Remembering Medgar Evers

Black Kos

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday June 17, 2025 · 2:00 PM PDT

2025/06/17 · 14:00

We cannot allow the erasure of Medgar Evers.

Commentary by Black Kos Editor Denise Oliver-Velez

This is an appeal to those of us who are old enough to remember Civil Rights leader Medgar Evers, and his assassination. I realize that “history” I take for granted at age 77, because I lived through it, doesn’t exist for far too many of our younger folks.

Given that the current racist, fascist administration and its MAGA Republican minions in the states are doing everything they possibly can to erase what our young people learn in school these days, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the mention of his name to many young folks, and the names of other activists from his time often draws a blank.

Yes, many young folks know who the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was (though it tends to be a kind of generalized cookie cutter knowledge) but when it comes to knowledge about the role and contributions other activist Civil Rights heroes and sheroes we get blank looks.

Those of us who know better gotta step up. Do some home and community schooling. Utilize the tools that are readily available online to ensure that the current state of affairs is reversed.

His family is fighting back against his erasure. Support their efforts:

‘What does that accomplish for you?:’ Family fights to keep Medgar Evers’ name on U.S. naval ship

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - It was more than a decade ago when a United States naval ship was named after civil rights leader Medgar Wiley Evers.

However, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is now considering removing Evers’ name from the ship.

“Four-letter word called race,” said Hinds County Supervisor Wanda Evers, the niece of Medgar Evers. “My uncle died for us to be where we are today, and for them to just take his name, they already took it out of Washington, now you want to take it off a boat.”

This naval ship was named after Evers back in 2011.

[...]

Evers, who also fought in World War II, spent his life fighting for civil, equal, and voting rights.

It ultimately cost him his life.

Despite his courageous efforts, Hegseth expressed he wants to remove Evers’ name from the ship because he deems it “wokeness from the military.”

It’s a decision that doesn’t sit well with Evers’ niece.

“What does that accomplish for you?” Supervisor Evers asked. “How can you sleep at night? This man saved a lot of their people, also, I’m just saying. It wasn’t just about blacks, it was about blacks, whites, and everybody.”

Evers’ family members believe this is just the latest attempt to erase history and discredit his accomplishments.

Some social media posts you can share:

Medgar W. Evers (1925-1963), was a civil rights activist and a United States Army veteran who served in World War II on the beaches of Normandy.
His family fights efforts by Trump to strip his name from a Navy vessel in an attempt to erase his legacy as well as our history.

[image or embed]
— Liz (or Lizzie) Kim 김혜성 💫 (@zen4ever2us.bsky.social) June 13, 2025 at 4:08 PM

Medgar Evers’ family fights efforts to strip his name from Navy vessel
www.rawstory.com/medgar-evers...

[image or embed]
— Cricket48750 (@cricket48750.bsky.social) June 11, 2025 at 10:11 PM

Shameful.

[image or embed]
— The Tennessee Holler (@thetnholler.bsky.social) June 13, 2025 at 11:46 PM

On June 12th, 1963, one of our country’s greatest Civil Rights leaders, Medgar Evers, was assassinated in Jackson, Mississippi. Medgar was the NAACP’s first Field Secretary for Mississippi and was a tireless worker and promoter of voting rights.
— Congresswoman Maxine Waters (@repmaxinewaters.bsky.social) June 12, 2025 at 7:02 PM

Slain senator’s daughter will join Medgar Evers’ centennial event
Kerry Kennedy will join Ambassador Attallah Shabazz, Bettie Dahmer and Reena Evers-Everette in a"Daddy's Daughters" panel.

[image or embed]
— Mississippi Today (@mississippitoday.org) June 16, 2025 at 9:30 AM

About Medgar Evers house, and Evers:

YouTube Video

FYI — here’s a cartoon video for younger people on the assassination:

YouTube Video

I don’t usually post music in my commentaries here — I’ll make an exception today, since there are quite a few epic songs re Medgar Evers that you should play and share. I realize that we no longer live in a folk music generation, however we need to revisit what was sung/performed in the past.

YouTube Video

Lyrics.

The Freedom Singers - They Laid Medgar Evers In His Grave

YouTube Video

Lyrics

Ballad Of Medgar Evers

YouTube Video

Lyrics

YouTube Video

Lyrics

Judy Collins: MEDGAR EVERS LULLABY

YouTube Video

Lyrics

I’ll close with Nina Simone’s “Mississippi Goddam” which she wrote in response to the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, and the assassination of Evers:

YouTube Video

Lyrics

Let me know where you learned about Medgar Evers.

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News round up by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor

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What ICE is doing to migrants isn’t just an immigration issue. It’s white supremacist violence at its core. It’s separating families. It’s state violence. News One: Dear Black Folks: The Protests Against ICE Are Absolutely Our Fight Too
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As Donald Trump sparks chaos by illegally deploying troops to Los Angeles, as immigration raids intensify, and as protesters are flooding the streets to demand dignity for migrants, far too many Black folks are sitting back on social media platforms singing a tired, familiar song. It’s being sung off-key with a false sense of safety and a dangerous misunderstanding of how white supremacist violence works. The chorus of retreat sounds something like this:

“Black folks need to stay home.”

“Let them handle it. This is their fight.”

“Most Latinos voted for this mess.”

“ICE don’t target us. We’ve got citizenship.”

“I ain’t marching for nobody who won’t march for me.”

“Latinos don’t like us anyway.”

But what’s really being said underneath all that deflection is this: “If they come for Latinos, I’ll be quiet, as long as they leave me and mine alone.” But if you study history, I mean really study history, then you should already know that they never leave us alone. Not for long.

I get it. Black folks are tired. We’ve carried the weight of every major freedom movement in this country. We’ve bled. We’ve died. And we’ve been betrayed. We’ve shown up, over and over, only to be met with anti-blackness in return. But this ain’t about who likes us. It’s about who’s next!

What ICE is doing to migrants isn’t just an immigration issue. It’s white supremacist violence at its core. It’s separating families. It’s state violence. It’s stalking and snatching people from homes and workplaces and making them disappear. It’s caging children. And for Black folks in America, this should all feel deeply familiar. The white supremacist machine of state violence doesn’t make distinctions based on citizenship status.

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A criminal case handled so badly it united strange bedfellow Slate: A Criminal Law Case So Messed Up It Brought Clarence Thomas and KBJ on the Same Side
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In this country, law does not always extinguish a claim with force. Sometimes it does so with paperwork.

Last week, the Supreme Court delivered a quiet but extraordinary decision in Parrish v. United States, saving a prisoner’s right to appeal from the jaws of bureaucratic ritual. The case turned not on guilt or innocence, nor on liberty or confinement, but on a piece of paper the court already had. A form. Filed once but not again.

Donte Parrish had spent nearly two years in solitary confinement for a prison killing he was ultimately cleared of. He sued for the damage done. But when the district court dismissed his case, the ruling took three months to reach him. It was delayed in the chaos of a prison transfer and the purgatory of overlapping state and federal custody. Once he received the decision, he acted quickly. He filed his notice of appeal and explained the delay, and a court agreed to reopen his window to appeal.

But he didn’t file again. He didn’t know he had to. The court already had his notice. The government agreed. The record was clear.

Still, the 4^th Circuit threw the case out. It was too late for the first filing, too early for the second, and apparently fatal that the same notice had not been filed twice. Parrish had crossed every substantive threshold: jurisdictional, equitable, factual. But he stumbled over form.

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The New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is one of the largest repositories of Black history in the U.S. The Grio: The home of one of the largest catalogs of Black history turns 100 in New York
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It’s one of the largest repositories of Black history in the country — and its most devoted supporters say not enough people know about it. The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture hopes to change that Saturday, as it celebrates its centennial with a festival combining two of its marquee annual events.

The Black Comic Book Festival and the Schomburg Literary Festival will run across a full day and will feature readings, panel discussions, workshops, children’s story times, and cosplay, as well as a vendor marketplace. Saturday’s celebration takes over 135th Street in Manhattan between Malcom X and Adam Clayton Powell boulevards.

Founded in New York City during the height of the Harlem Renaissance, the Schomburg Center will spend the next year exhibiting signature objects curated from its massive catalog of Black literature, art, recordings and films.

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Commemorating the end of slavery in the U.S., Juneteenth is now a federal holiday marked by reflection, education, and vibrant celebrations across the country. The GRIO: A guide to what the Juneteenth holiday is and how to celebrate it
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It was 160 years ago that enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, learned they had been freed — after the Civil War’s end and two years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.

The resulting Juneteenth holiday — it’s name combining “June” and “nineteenth” — has only grown in one-and-a-half centuries. In 2021, President Joe Biden designated it a federal holiday — expanding its recognition beyond Black America.

This year will be the first Juneteenth under President Donald Trump’s second administration, which has banned diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, or DEI, in the federal government. This has included removing Black American history content from federal websites. Trump officials have also discouraged some federal agencies from recognizing other racial heritage celebrations.

Still, many people anticipate getting Juneteenth off work. There are a plethora of street festivals, fairs, concerts and other events planned throughout the week leading into the holiday. But with the current political climate, some may wonder if their company will honor it.

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The myth of africa as the “dark continent” has never fully died BBC: An ancient writing system confounding myths about Africa
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A wooden hunter’s toolbox inscribed with an ancient writing system from Zambia has been making waves on social media.

"We've grown up being told that Africans didn't know how to read and write," says Samba Yonga, one of the founders of the virtual Women's History Museum of Zambia.

"But we had our own way of writing and transmitting knowledge that has been completely side-lined and overlooked," she tells the BBC.

It was one of the artefacts that launched an online campaign to highlight women's roles in pre-colonial communities - and revive cultural heritages almost erased by colonialism.

Another intriguing object is an intricately decorated leather cloak not seen in Zambia for more than 100 years.

"The artefacts signify a history that matters - and a history that is largely unknown," says Yonga. "Our relationship with our cultural heritage has been disrupted and obscured by the colonial experience.

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Voices & Soul

Vintage Books — “… Evil repeats with the same metronome actors looped in a Bavarian clock above the town square. Evil is a Georgian Mansion museum with panoramas of happy slaves having a peach of a time through Time. Evil is a Kristalnacht pogrom every night at the postcard hanging Elm. Evil is a lunch counter beating at breakfast, noon and dinner with a side of biscuits and gravy. Evil is a driveway assassination, over and over and over… “ — Justice Putnam

by Black Kos Editor Justice Putnam

In the more sympathetic biographies of Jefferson Davis, he is depicted as a benevolent, garrulous and kind task master, devoted to his chattel as much as to his family. But history shows Davis was not only a virulent slavery apologist, owning over 100 slaves on his cotton plantation in Mississippi, he was also petty, vindictive and unforgiving. Bell Irvin Wiley, in his 1967 study, "Jefferson Davis: an appraisal," describes an ineffective leader, plantation owner and businessman that is eerily similar to a current successful failure who is now sitting on a throne of his own imagination...

"... (h)is preoccupation with detail, reluctance to delegate responsibility, lack of popular appeal, feuds with powerful state governors and generals, favoritism toward old friends, inability to get along with people who disagreed with him, neglect of civil matters in favor of military ones, and resistance to public opinion all worked against him... "

Devotion to family and those in his charge is also suspect. Mention of his adopted son, Jim Limber, in the tens of thousands of pages of correspondence in the last two decades of his life is scant, to non-existent. We can only guess why, but we wouldn’t have to guess too hard.

It is said that history may not repeat, but it resonates. History echoes the pain of those suffering and it reflects the joyful shouts of the victorious along hard canyons of pressed sediment telling a story of layered complexity a fossil truth.

It is also surmised that Evil may not resonate, but it repeats. Evil repeats with the same metronome actors looped in a Bavarian clock above the town square. Evil is a Georgian Mansion museum with panoramas of happy slaves having a peach of a time through Time. Evil is a Kristalnacht pogrom every night at the postcard hanging Elm. Evil is a lunch counter beating at breakfast, noon and dinner with a side of biscuits and gravy. Evil is a driveway assassination, over and over and over. Evil is a drill team of jackboot stormtroopers marching to a different Wagnerian dummer and dancing a rebel dance with a fiddle, a fife and the still-beating hearts of the newly lynched.

They put me in a dead boy’s clothes dead Joseph

Except he wasn’t dead at first they put

Me in his clothes dead Joseph’s after Joseph

Died and I used to call him Joe they put

Me in Joe’s clothes at first before he died

Joe wasn’t five yet when I met him I

Was seven I was seven when he died

Still but a whole year bigger then but I

Wore his clothes still and the whole year I lived with

Momma Varina and with daddy Jeff

I never lived so good as when I lived with

Them and especially it was daddy Jeff

Who kept me fed and wearing those nice clothes

Until they fit as tight as bandages

- Shane McCrae
"Jim Limber the Adopted Mulatto Son of Jefferson Davis Was Another Child First"

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WELCOME TO THE TUESDAY PORCH

IF YOU ARE NEW TO THE BLACK KOS COMMUNITY, GRAB A SEAT, SOME CYBER EATS, RELAX, AND INTRODUCE YOURSELF.

White women consistently voted for Trump, including my sister. FAFO for them.

Cmae

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday June 17, 2025 · 12:45 PM PDT

2025/06/17 · 12:45

Gorgeous head shot of pants. — My beautiful cat, now passed away, just because.

White women voted for Trump again. They consistently vote for white supremacy to continue in this country. No matter what.

A coup attempt was not enough.

Roe v Wade was not enough.

Fascism was not enough.

Climate change was not enough.

Covid deaths were not enough.

Death around the world, because of this President's gleeful sadism, was not enough.

Children and families separated and kept in cages, was not enough.

And on and on and on.

White women chose to knowingly overlook all of these things to vote for a fascist, racist, rapist, a "dictator on day one" a convicted felon, misogynist, bigot, sadist, pathological liar, climate change denier, transphobe, and on and on and on. There is no bottom to his cruelty and depravity.

My sister voted for him too. I found out a few days after Jan. 6. She was one hundred percent behind this white supremacist. This was out of the blue. She was a Democrat, as was my mom and dad and me, of course. She is also a lesbian. Yeah, it was quite a horrifying shock. I found out she is a Q supporter, hated "brown people" and had purchased a gun to "protect" herself. So I told her I couldn't have her in my life anymore, and I hung up the phone. I have not had contact with her since. I don't want to, I CAN'T, this is my personal FAFO, for a white woman who voted for Trump.

I think it is long past time for white women who chose to vote for trump and other fascist Republicans, to have FAFO for their support of white supremacy. White women have supported racism and bigotry and the dehumanization of everyone who is not deemed "white" in this country, since they were able to vote. (And before that, as well) Somehow, these women who always vote against other women, other children, their own daughters, sisters, mothers, grandmothers, wives, friends, and strangers, get overlooked in the conversation about people who voted for Trump. Voting for death and obliteration of other people and their culture, to remain on top of the pile, is sick, sadistic, and extremely abusive. What these women fail to see, is that their actions are now causing the destruction of "white" people they think they are keeping in power and protecting. It is all fake, a glass house of cruelty, inhumanity and abuse, a vicious cycle of self-hatred that is now taking out everyone.

These women are not misled, or "confused" they have knowingly voted against their best interests and the interests of other women and girls, they chose hatred of other people, and white supremacy above all. It is more important than the lives of people they know and the lives of complete strangers. They are not kind, they are not good people. I firmly believe that the knowledge that "white" people will not make up the largest percentage of the population soon, has helped to cause this massive freak-out we are living through. The election of President Obama was also a huge catalyst, we can't have any progress that benefits people they despise. The abomination of made - up "whiteness" out of thin air that these women are voting to keep in place is something I think about a lot. The lie about "white" that they are helping to perpetuate is so heinous, so damaging, it is destroying America. Abuse on this scale doesn't discriminate, when a lie is this pervasive, when a disgusting "secret" is held in for hundreds of years, this is the result, an outpouring of death, bile, vitriol, self-delusion, self-hatred and destruction on a massive scale. These women make me sick to the very core of my being. They have sold themselves out as well as every other female, for their twisted insistence on their own "superiority," no matter what havoc is caused because of it. The Barbie dream house is more important to them, than anything.

I needed to vent about these assholes, I have been thinking about this for a very long time.

We Don’t Deserve the Flag We Wrap Ourselves In

memanuel31

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday June 16, 2025 · 10:22 AM PDT

2025/06/16 · 10:22

You cannot possibly think this is OK.

For nearly 20 years, a kind man and his wife, originally from Mexico, have cared for our pool here in Los Angeles. I won’t name them, for their protection. But they’re more than service providers, they’ve become part of our lives. They play with our dogs. We talk about our families. They show up every Wednesday like clockwork, reliable, humble, warm.

I’m well aware how fortunate I am to even have a pool. I’m not tone-deaf to my own privilege. And I don’t say this to separate myself, I say it because it matters. It matters who gets to live in fear in this country and who doesn’t. It matters who gets to be seen as a person, and who gets reduced to a status.

Last week, I asked them, “Are you doing OK?”
They smiled and said yes.
But I asked again. “Really, are you OK with everything ICE is doing to your community?”
And for the first time in almost 20 years, they opened up.

They are both documented. They pay taxes. They work hard. They play by the rules. And still, they are terrified.

They only leave home for work. They shop at night. Their teenage daughter is afraid to go to school because even U.S. citizens are being detained, questioned, taken. ICE is not protecting us, it’s terrorizing families like theirs.

As her husband spoke, his wife began to cry.

She told me something I’ll never forget:

“I was so proud to be an American. But for the first time, I’m ashamed of what that means.”

That shame does not belong to her. It belongs to all of us who claim to care, but stay silent. It belongs to a system that turns dreamers into targets. It belongs to an America that has forgotten its own story.

I am the grandson of an immigrant. Second generation. My grandfather came here with nothing, well $30 and a suitcase to be fair. My father did better than his father. And through their hard work, through the doors they forced open, I’ve been able to do better still. My children, the young men that my wife and I raised will go even further.

That’s the American dream.
That’s the promise of this country.
That’s what makes us great.

And unless you’re a Native American, it all starts with immigrants...that’s the origin story of us all!

So how dare we slam the door shut behind us?

The people being indiscriminately hunted down by ICE are by and large not criminals. They are caretakers, field hands, restaurant staff, delivery drivers, housekeepers. They do the jobs most Americans won’t. They work quietly, tirelessly. They pay into a system that sees them only when it wants to remove them. I drive past farmland in Ventura County that’s sitting empty—crops rotting, because the hands that once picked them are either gone or in hiding.

What’s happening now isn’t enforcement. It’s state-sponsored cruelty brought to us by an inhuman felon in chief.

If you still believe this is about border security or violent offenders, you are lying to yourself. This is about fear. This is about power. This is about dehumanization.

And we know where that road leads.

We need immigration reform. We need justice. But what we are witnessing, no-knock raids, indiscriminate detentions, families torn apart and ‘disappeared” into the dead of night is not justice. It’s vengeance. It’s cowardice. And it’s not who we’re supposed to be.

There has to be a line in the sand. This is mine. I won’t rely on my privilege, I will not look away, I won’t shut up and I won’t submit.

When a woman who still believes in this country cries in your backyard and says, “I’m ashamed to be an American,” something is deeply, irreparably broken. That pain is real. That shame is earned by us.

So speak. Even if it’s uncomfortable...especially if it’s uncomfortable.

Call your representatives today. Show up. Stop pretending this isn’t happening. Because if we normalize this violence against people who believe in our promise, who still believe even as they hide from their own government, then we don’t deserve the flag we wrap ourselves in.

The America I was raised to believe in doesn’t do this. If it does now, then we owe it to the people who still believe, to rebuild something better. Something worthy of them and of us.

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Black Kos: Remembering Medgar Evers

White women consistently voted for Trump, including my sister. FAFO for them.

We Don’t Deserve the Flag We Wrap Ourselves In