A Message to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney From a Dying Veteran
To: George W. Bush and Dick Cheney
From: Tomas YoungI write this letter on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War on behalf of my fellow Iraq War veterans. I write this letter on behalf of the 4,488 soldiers and Marines who died in Iraq. I write this letter on behalf of the hundreds of thousands of veterans who have been wounded and on behalf of those whose wounds, physical and psychological, have destroyed their lives. I am one of those gravely wounded. I was paralyzed in an insurgent ambush in 2004 in Sadr City. My life is coming to an end. I am living under hospice care.
I write this letter on behalf of husbands and wives who have lost spouses, on behalf of children who have lost a parent, on behalf of the fathers and mothers who have lost sons and daughters and on behalf of those who care for the many thousands of my fellow veterans who have brain injuries. I write this letter on behalf of those veterans whose trauma and self-revulsion for what they have witnessed, endured and done in Iraq have led to suicide and on behalf of the active-duty soldiers and Marines who commit, on average, a suicide a day. I write this letter on behalf of the some 1 million Iraqi dead and on behalf of the countless Iraqi wounded. I write this letter on behalf of us all—the human detritus your war has left behind, those who will spend their lives in unending pain and grief.
I write this letter, my last letter, to you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney. I write not because I think you grasp the terrible human and moral consequences of your lies, manipulation and thirst for wealth and power. I write this letter because, before my own death, I want to make it clear that I, and hundreds of thousands of my fellow veterans, along with millions of my fellow citizens, along with hundreds of millions more in Iraq and the Middle East, know fully who you are and what you have done. You may evade justice but in our eyes you are each guilty of egregious war crimes, of plunder and, finally, of murder, including the murder of thousands of young Americans—my fellow veterans—whose future you stole.
Your positions of authority, your millions of dollars of personal wealth, your public relations consultants, your privilege and your power cannot mask the hollowness of your character. You sent us to fight and die in Iraq after you, Mr. Cheney, dodged the draft in Vietnam, and you, Mr. Bush, went AWOL from your National Guard unit. Your cowardice and selfishness were established decades ago. You were not willing to risk yourselves for our nation but you sent hundreds of thousands of young men and women to be sacrificed in a senseless war with no more thought than it takes to put out the garbage.
I joined the Army two days after the 9/11 attacks. I joined the Army because our country had been attacked. I wanted to strike back at those who had killed some 3,000 of my fellow citizens. I did not join the Army to go to Iraq, a country that had no part in the September 2001 attacks and did not pose a threat to its neighbors, much less to the United States. I did not join the Army to “liberate” Iraqis or to shut down mythical weapons-of-mass-destruction facilities or to implant what you cynically called “democracy” in Baghdad and the Middle East. I did not join the Army to rebuild Iraq, which at the time you told us could be paid for by Iraq’s oil revenues. Instead, this war has cost the United States over $3 trillion. I especially did not join the Army to carry out pre-emptive war. Pre-emptive war is illegal under international law. And as a soldier in Iraq I was, I now know, abetting your idiocy and your crimes. The Iraq War is the largest strategic blunder in U.S. history. It obliterated the balance of power in the Middle East. It installed a corrupt and brutal pro-Iranian government in Baghdad, one cemented in power through the use of torture, death squads and terror. And it has left Iran as the dominant force in the region. On every level—moral, strategic, military and economic—Iraq was a failure. And it was you, Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney, who started this war. It is you who should pay the consequences.
I would not be writing this letter if I had been wounded fighting in Afghanistan against those forces that carried out the attacks of 9/11. Had I been wounded there I would still be miserable because of my physical deterioration and imminent death, but I would at least have the comfort of knowing that my injuries were a consequence of my own decision to defend the country I love. I would not have to lie in my bed, my body filled with painkillers, my life ebbing away, and deal with the fact that hundreds of thousands of human beings, including children, including myself, were sacrificed by you for little more than the greed of oil companies, for your alliance with the oil sheiks in Saudi Arabia, and your insane visions of empire.
I have, like many other disabled veterans, suffered from the inadequate and often inept care provided by the Veterans Administration. I have, like many other disabled veterans, come to realize that our mental and physical wounds are of no interest to you, perhaps of no interest to any politician. We were used. We were betrayed. And we have been abandoned. You, Mr. Bush, make much pretense of being a Christian. But isn’t lying a sin? Isn’t murder a sin? Aren’t theft and selfish ambition sins? I am not a Christian. But I believe in the Christian ideal. I believe that what you do to the least of your brothers you finally do to yourself, to your own soul.
My day of reckoning is upon me. Yours will come. I hope you will be put on trial. But mostly I hope, for your sakes, that you find the moral courage to face what you have done to me and to many, many others who deserved to live. I hope that before your time on earth ends, as mine is now ending, you will find the strength of character to stand before the American public and the world, and in particular the Iraqi people, and beg for forgiveness.
Family is forever.
Black Students Demand Institutional Changes
The Associated Students of UC Santa Barbara Student Advocate General and the UCSB Black Student Union strongly put forth the following grievances to UC Santa Barbara Chancellor Henry T. Yang.
Given the hostile racial climate throughout the UC system and a multitude of issues adversely affecting Black students here at UCSB, we as concerned leaders of the campus community have created this list of demands out of true concern for health of current and future Black students here at UCSB. It is our belief that Chancellor Henry T. Yang must be called to action and held accountable in addressing the structural deficiencies and lack of institutional support for Black students on this campus.
The structural changes we want to be addressed are as follows:
1. We demand that the “Enhanced African American Recruitment Strategies” Plan drafted by admissions be implemented in its entirety with full funding from the Chancellor’s office. We maintain that none of the funding that is necessary to address our demands comes from the Student Affairs Division and that Student Affairs rightly manage the issues with new funding from the Chancellor’s office. The priority shift we are demanding must be on the institutional and structural level. There is no will power and concerted effort being put forth to recruit and retain Black students by the University. We are cognizant of the University’s strong efforts to reach a system wide goal of 10% for out-of-state students and particularly international students, and 25% for Chican@/Latin@ students. While we applaud the University for striving to reach these goals, we see no such effort and energy being put forth to recruit and retain Black students on this campus.
2. We demand an aggressive recruitment of Black faculty in disciplines and programs outside of the Black Studies Department as well as within the Black Studies Department. Hold the deans in each college accountable for the recruitment of Black faculty but also provide incentives for activities that promote retention of Black faculty as well as their recruitment. There is an inadequate number of Black staff and faculty on campus. This is particularly relevant in the retention of Black students because the overall campus climate is racially hostile to Black students, and the presence of the current Black staff and faculty has been imperative in the retention of those of us who are still here.
3. We demand the hiring of two full-time Black psychologists at UCSB. We maintain that the funding for this (which includes recruitment expenses) not come from Student Affairs Division for the reasons stated above. Currently, there is a critical need as we only have one Black Psychologist on campus. We as Black students need psychologists who share similar experiences in terms of racial discrimination and in dealing with the racially hostile campus climate at this University.
4. We demand North Hall be re-named Malcolm X Hall in honor and respect for the Black students and countless student and staff allies who occupied North Hall and symbolically renamed it Malcolm X Hall in 1968. Because of this student activism, the Black Studies Department and the Center for Black Studies Research was created at UCSB. We believe renaming North Hall will memorialize the history and contributions of Black students on this campus.
5. We demand a permanent, student activism-centered display inside of North Hall memorializing the history of the 1968 student takeover of North Hall. Currently a plaque has been placed outside of the inner side of the building, with the drawback that the history of UCSB, its students and its Black Students current and past is not properly memorialized. A student simply can enter and leave the hall without knowing the legacy of the building and its role in changing the curriculum and climate of UCSB. Inclusion of the memorial helps to highlight the role that Black, Chican@, and White students played in making the University’s boastful legacy of diversity a partial reality.
6. We demand access to the contact information (such as email addresses) of all self-identified Black incoming first year and transfer students to be available through student affairs mediums such as EOP or OSL so that we can conduct our own familial and individual-centered models of outreach. We are aware that retention of Black students is done in large part by current student leaders and their organized efforts. That being said, we need to be able to extend resources to our community more systematically and rigorously to increase the Black student presence and well being on this campus.
7. We demand access to Black Alumni through the implementation of a program that allows Black alumni to give directly to retention and scholarship efforts of Black students through both monetary and social networks. We want to ensure these additions are localized in the Black community so as to maintain and sustain our community.
8. We demand that all of these be implemented within the next 3-6 months.
BSU is sending out this press release, because we want to inform the UCSB student body of the steps we are taking to address issues of marginalization and systemic discrimination that we as Black students face at the university. We want the entire student body to know what we are doing to promote a more inclusive and better - resourced campus for the underserved Black students, staff and faculty. Moreover, we believe that increasing the presence and well-being of Black students on this campus will aid the entire student body as knowledge of diverse, and especially Black, peoples is critical to the education of all 21st century UCSB students.
Ours is a call for support from the rest of the University to assist us with this project. As a follow-up to this press release, we invite all supportive members of the UCSB community to join us in a follow-up meeting to these demands with the Black Student Union on Tuesday April 2nd at 5pm in the UCEN Flying A room. You can also support us by signing our online petition on this link. http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/black- students-demand-institutional-changes/
Black Student Union Mission Statement:
The Black Student Union of University of California, Santa Barbara exists to create a safe, supportive and inclusive Black student community. By providing opportunities for all students to increase awareness of Black culture with an emphasis on Black social, political, and intellectual traditions. The philosophy of THE BLACKSTUDENT UNION
is to serve and unify the students of the African diaspora at the University of California, Santa Barbara, by addressing their needs. It seeks to identify relevant issues and initiate appropriate action in order to reduce or eliminate any impediments believed to be adverse to students and their continued wellbeing and matriculation. This shall be accomplished by providing educational, cultural, and social programs and activities that relate to the past, present, and future goals and aspirations of Black people. Furthermore, it seeks to provide enriching experiences and assuring continuing development of a progressive environment that is conductive to Black students in their quest to obtain a quality and meaningful education. The Black Student Union shall operate as an umbrella organization to other Black Interest groups on campus. The Black Student Union seeks to challenge its membership to actively address political, social and cultural injustices while at the same time celebrating and acknowledging the advancement of People of Color at University of California, Santa Barbara and beyond.
Office of the Student Advocate Mission Statement:
It is the mission and charge of the Office of the Student Advocate to facilitate open and honest communication between students and the University by providing free and confidential peer support, advice, and assistance to any student, student organization, or student group involved in a dispute with the University or any other entity within the University community. All staff members of the OSAshall be empowered to advocate for any student requesting the services of the OSA. It is the responsibility of the OSA to give students the tools and information necessary to empower them to either address their situation individually, or be assisted by an OSAstaff member. In addition, the Office of the Student Advocate shall be empowered to promote students’ rights, as well as be empowered to challenge policies of the University on behalf of the students of UCSB.
Uprooting Racism in the Food System: African Americans Organize
A shovel overturned can flip so much more than soil, worms, and weeds. Structural racism - the ways in which social systems and institutions promote and perpetuate the oppression of people of color – manifests at all points in the food system. It emerges as barriers to land ownership and credit access for farmers of color, as wage discrimination and poor working conditions for food and farm-workers of color, and as lack of healthy food in neighborhoods of color. It shows up as discrimination in housing, employment, redlining, and other elements which impact food access and food justice.
Many people involved in creating food - from Haitian tomato pickers organizing in Florida, to Native Americans saving seeds in Arizona, to Black Detroit residents growing gardens in fractured neighborhoods – are simultaneously chipping away at structural racism. In the Harvesting Justice series we touch on many of these issues, starting with a look at African-American farmers and what they doing to win justice in the food system.
In 1920, one in every seven farmers in the U.S. was African-American. Together, they owned nearly 15 million acres. Racism, violence, and massive migration from the rural South to the industrialized North have caused a steady decline in the number of Black farmers. So, too, has, institutional racism in the agricultural policies of the USDA. By 2007, African-American farmers numbered about one in 70, together owning only 4.2 million acres.
Over the years, studies by the U.S. Civil Rights Commission (CRC), as well as by the USDA itself, have shown that the USDA actively discriminated against Black farmers, earning it the nickname ‘the last plantation.’ A 1964 CRC study showed that the agency unjustly denied African-American farmers loans, disaster aid, and representation on agricultural committees. But organizations like the National Black Farmers Association, the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association, the Land Loss Prevention Project, and the Federation of Southern Cooperatives have been challenging racism in agricultural policy through legal action. In 1997-98, African-American farmers filed class-action lawsuits against the USDA for unjustly denying them loans. The lawsuits were consolidated into one case, Pigford v. Glickman, which was settled in 1999. But due to delays in filing claims, nearly 60,000 farmers and their heirs were left out of this settlement. In November 2010, the U.S. Congress passed the Claims Settlement Act (known as Pigford II) to compensate Black farmers who were left out of the first settlement. President Obama signed the bill a month later, making $1.25 billion available for claimants in the form of cash payments and loan forgiveness, though the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association has filed an appeal because Pigford II provides smaller payments and places limits on claimants’ future legal options.
bell hooks wrote, “Collective black self-recovery takes place when we begin to renew our relationship to the earth, when we remember the way of our ancestors… Living in modern society, without a sense of history, it has been easy for folks to forget that black people were first and foremost a people of the land, farmers.”
Some who are still farmers are carrying on the fight for economic and civil rights for land-based African-American people, a fight which dates back to the days of slavery. Probably the most impressive contemporary example of such organizing has been the Federation of Southern Cooperatives. An outgrowth of the civil rights movement, it formed in 1967 when 22 cooperatives met at Atlanta University. The federation has used collective action ever since to support Black and other small farmers and rural communities. Today, their members include over 100 coops in 16 states across the South.
A fast-growing movement is African-Americans reclaiming their connection to their urban land and their food, as part of food justice and food sovereignty movements. People’s Grocery and Mo’ Better Food in Oakland, Growing Power, Rooted in Community, Detroit Black community Food Security Network, and many others are organizing with farmers and connecting African-American growers and consumers. Many of these, such as the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, are working forcommunities of color to have democratic control over their own food systems. Their work includes youth programs and urban gardening in areas where access to healthy, affordable food is limited, as is the case in many low-income and people of color neighborhoods.
These groups are also raising awareness of the ways that African-American communities, and communities of color in general, have been sidelined within the food movement itself. Inclusion and participation of people of color has come slowly and late. Often, African-American neighborhoods are targeted as ‘intervention’ areas by outside organizations that - though well-meaning - are neither led by nor accountable to the community and its most urgent needs and goals. The prevailing white culture of the food movement as a whole creates barriers: the typical image of farmers presented often reflects a white archetype and the types of food solutions presented are not always culturally relevant or practical.
A critical element of many African-American groups’ work thus involves nation-wide education and organizing on structural racism as it impacts health, farming, food, and land. Among other elements, these organizations are committed to knocking down barriers to food production and food access. Some have joined the world-wide movement for food sovereignty, in their own communities and through the U.S. Food Sovereignty Alliance, so that citizen control over food and agriculture can exist across global economic systems.
Ultimately, we all eat, and we are all implicated. Achieving racial justice in the food system is not the sole burden of African-Americans organizing but will take multiracial alliances of people raising awareness of systemic disparities, and working together to end them.
We are not your fashion accessories.: haiweewicci: reclaimingthenativetag: Would people care to send me...
Would people care to send me their opinions on the Disney movie Pocahontas? The opinions vary from liking it despite historical inaccuracy to downright hatred. I’m quite interested in hearing what you think.
Russell Means once said it was the best…
Interview with Shin Dong Hyuk, who was born and raised inside of a North Korean concentration camp
A recent Gallup poll showed 81% of Americans have an unfavorable view of Pakistan.
When you hear Pakistan you might think of drone attacks, or Malala being shot, or acid attacks, or Osama hiding out, or minorities being massacred on a daily basis.
All that is true, and believe me it hurts. But you know what? Pakistan is more than that. It’s the truck art that greets you each time you walk the streets. It’s the mango lassi on a hot day, and the Kashmiri pink chai at weddings. It’s our shalwar kameez fashion, our Sufi poetry, and our music, from Ghazal, to Qawwali, to Bhangra.
It’s 175 million people waking up everyday to live their lives, not to be labelled as terrorists, or as victims.
Intersectionality described in 4 minutes.
Beautiful. I am literally in tears. Please watch this.
(Source: queertoddler)
(via progressivefriends)
