"if in fact the issue is safety, then how does violating both the human and civil rights of especially African American and Latino men and boys make the aforementioned males safer? I mean, are they deserving of such social comfort from the abuse of police/other citizens?"
Dear friends,
One of the biggest problems in the structure of any society lies with the fact that: in order to operate in a cohesive manner the various cultural institutions such as the government and its instruments of threat capacity through the courts, police, and military, along with slightly less coercive institutions like schools, churches, media, and many others, seem to necessarily embrace a “collective conscience”.
Yet, what room does that leave for each of the individual members of any particular society to really think as a person who has a “sense of self”? That is, although we are social beings, each of us, even babies, exists as an individual. Likewise, police officers are each responsible for maintaining his or her own well-being.
Moreover, with both state authorization and a pistol, unfortunately, it is not difficult for one of these folks to take improper stock of himself or herself. In a society that is based upon White Supremacy (i.e., “white” rules); this leaves tens of millions of people who are not considered “white” to being possibly victimized, at any time, by state sanction. Did someone say Trayvon Martin?
Hence, the ongoing controversy regarding the Stop-and-Frisk policies of urban police departments in the United States is not about public safety. Rather, those humiliating measures are about control.
After all, if in fact the issue is safety, then how does violating both the human and civil rights of especially African American and Latino men and boys make the aforementioned males safer? I mean, are they deserving of such social comfort from the abuse of police/other citizens? And why should such a large body of citizens have a vested interest in the proliferation of our society, when their dignity is violated solely for the purpose of affording the opportunity to certain police officers to inflate their shallow egos?
Finally, if a collective conscience is deliberately directed towards benefiting only specific groups here, then why all of the pretense of “freedom and democracy”? I mean, for the big corporations that control our society, how important is it to them to have police and military forces make sure that any collective conscience is profitable to the former, with no one stepping out of line.
Liberation!
G. Djata Bumpus
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Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Drones, Wars, and Money
"I guess having a personal God allows people to disregard their personal Good."
Dear friends, Just a few days ago, Pres. Obama ordered his umpteenth drone strike and murdered a bunch of people, many of them children, because the corporations who put him in office need to keep this country at constant war...even worse, many citizens - politicians and every day people alike, thinking of no one but themselves, go along with this carnage as long as they are able to keep their “jobs”. I guess having a personal God allows people to disregard their personal Good.
On the link below, is a 28 minutes long video about the history / evolution of the drone program.
G. Djata Bumpus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpxT481YzHs Read full post
Dear friends, Just a few days ago, Pres. Obama ordered his umpteenth drone strike and murdered a bunch of people, many of them children, because the corporations who put him in office need to keep this country at constant war...even worse, many citizens - politicians and every day people alike, thinking of no one but themselves, go along with this carnage as long as they are able to keep their “jobs”. I guess having a personal God allows people to disregard their personal Good.
On the link below, is a 28 minutes long video about the history / evolution of the drone program.
G. Djata Bumpus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpxT481YzHs Read full post
Philadelphia School Lay-offs Uncalled For!
In the midst of thousands of school lay-offs, and now threats of schools in Philly not even opening in September, why won;'t the media conglomerate that owns the two major newspapers print this letter below?
***********************
Dear Editor:
Regarding the article called, “More than 3,700 school employees are being laid off” by Martha Woodall, posted 6/8/13, I feel that these type of "fiscal" matters are the result of the manner in which educational institutions are not only structured in relation to the communities that they serve, but, also, the structure of the employment and how it is regulated, much less why, what for, and how the children learn.
This is horrendous!
Why was the information in this article put out in such an abstract manner? I mean, one would think that the writer would talk about the entire budget of the city and where cuts are going. Apparently, something is happening to the economy of both the city and state, and is being reflected in the services to people.
I remember my now deceased, dear friend Michael Todd Pearlman, a computer science teacher at the Masterman School, fighting vigorously, throughout the Nineties, while, simultaneously, fighting against bone marrow cancer - and still teaching. As well, Mike was actively involved in the PFT, trying to get smaller class sizes, in the already over-crowded Philly schoolrooms, as part of the PFT’s main focus. Unfortunately, he passed in late-2001.
Yet, had the class size move been successful, the notion of “attendance” stats being an excuse to close schools and lay-off workers would be a moot point. Moreover, to SRC, I must ask: Why are we even going on a year-to-year basis with the economics of schooling? Let’s face it. If the city's children are important to us, then why are they not enough of a priority that there is, at least, a 5- years plan in place, with money protected in a way that is commensurate with the importance of children and their education?
I guess that this is part of the Some Children Left Behind Act. Eh?
G. Djata Bumpus
http://articles.philly.com/2013-06-09/news/39836011_1_teacher-layoffs-city-schools-jerry-jordan Read full post
***********************
Dear Editor:
Regarding the article called, “More than 3,700 school employees are being laid off” by Martha Woodall, posted 6/8/13, I feel that these type of "fiscal" matters are the result of the manner in which educational institutions are not only structured in relation to the communities that they serve, but, also, the structure of the employment and how it is regulated, much less why, what for, and how the children learn.
This is horrendous!
Why was the information in this article put out in such an abstract manner? I mean, one would think that the writer would talk about the entire budget of the city and where cuts are going. Apparently, something is happening to the economy of both the city and state, and is being reflected in the services to people.
I remember my now deceased, dear friend Michael Todd Pearlman, a computer science teacher at the Masterman School, fighting vigorously, throughout the Nineties, while, simultaneously, fighting against bone marrow cancer - and still teaching. As well, Mike was actively involved in the PFT, trying to get smaller class sizes, in the already over-crowded Philly schoolrooms, as part of the PFT’s main focus. Unfortunately, he passed in late-2001.
Yet, had the class size move been successful, the notion of “attendance” stats being an excuse to close schools and lay-off workers would be a moot point. Moreover, to SRC, I must ask: Why are we even going on a year-to-year basis with the economics of schooling? Let’s face it. If the city's children are important to us, then why are they not enough of a priority that there is, at least, a 5- years plan in place, with money protected in a way that is commensurate with the importance of children and their education?
I guess that this is part of the Some Children Left Behind Act. Eh?
G. Djata Bumpus
http://articles.philly.com/2013-06-09/news/39836011_1_teacher-layoffs-city-schools-jerry-jordan Read full post
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