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June 30, 2005
Racism at Cape Cod
What if black folks at Cape Cod are making use of "black usage" in order to raise issues that run much deeper than "white usage" allows? In that case, we would encourage columnist Gonsalves to not lead the retreat into "white usage." Rather we would encourage attention to the cover story at Black Commentator this week and, "Reject the Language of White Supremacy."
But the problem of succumbing to "white usage" is that it demands nothing more from white America than that they merrily pursue their beloved laws of "supply and demand." And what that comes down to may be best remembered by all Americans as we review what Frederick Douglass said when he was asked to give his thoughts on the Fourth of July.
Racism at Cape Cod Texas Civil Rights Review
Posted by gregmoses at 09:25 AM | Comments (1235)
June 29, 2005
Gold Standard for Education: Review of Portales & Portales
It is not too late for stakeholders in the debate over public schools to state clearly how their various strategies for school budgets express coherent philosophies of education. And with that challenge in mind, it is not too late for all discussants to respect the considered opinions of two experienced Texas educators and scholars who argue that in the archaeology of education, we need to organize our policy around the single most important idea: that education finds its proper foundation in the transaction, the relationship, the encounter between students and teachers in the classroom. The cost of NOT recovering this idea is quite high.
"Since many young people are not being taught how to use the energies of their minds to solve problems, many learn to face life indifferently, or, worse, some even develop a desire to destroy what is around them," write Portales and Portales. "Often they turn to living by seeing what they can get away with instead of learning from their errors, improving both themselves and society by employing their energies for the public good."
In passages such as these, Portales and Portales remind us that when we organize our ideas for public education we in fact lay the framework for the social health of the people. The Portales gold standard -- by emphasizing the nourishment of one crucial human relationship -- begins to suggest how an exhausted political economy of human relationships can be refreshed. Is it idealistic to speak this way? If we think first about the kinds of relationships we want to see between students and teachers, why would we not want a robust idealism to flourish?
A Gold Standard for Texas Education: Portales on Education Texas Civil Rights Review
Posted by gregmoses at 10:26 AM | Comments (874)
June 21, 2005
Room Left for Conscience?
Durbin's remarks suggest that the best defense of human rights for American soldiers and citizens begins with the examples that Americans set. When it comes to respect for international conventions that uphold human rights, the American flag should stand on the side of these rights, not against them.
If we want a world where our rights are respected then we have to lead by example. What better message to send on Flag Day? Yet right-wing commentators who have little time to think for themselves piled onto Sen. Durbin's comments with a recklessness that will only further endanger the general level of human rights for soldiers and civilians throughout the world.
The 'Looney Left' and the Human Rights of Soldiers Peacefile
Posted by gregmoses at 05:25 PM | Comments (1217)
Dove Springs Speaks Out on Youth Killing
Speaking for the first time directly to the mother of 18-year-old Daniel Rocha at the beginning of a five-hour community forum Thursday night, Austin police officials said that her son was shot in the back and killed because an officer feared that a taser missing from her vest might be used by the victim to injure another police officer.
"Are you saying that a taser is a lethal weapon?" asked Daniel's friend Rafael as some of the 300 people in attendance jeered in anger and disbelief. "You have billy clubs, pepper spray, and mace? Why a gun? Why a gun!"
As it turned out, Rocha was not armed, say officials. And when the missing taser was located, it was in pieces.
Dove Springs Speaks about Rocha: Who Will Listen? Texas Civil Rights Review
Posted by gregmoses at 05:21 PM | Comments (1378)
June 16, 2005
Helpful Logic at Work in Supreme Court Intervention in Texas Death Row
In the recent dispute between Supreme Court justices over the question of race discrimination in jury selection, we find two warring camps of legal theory. By issuing its order to give one death row prisoner a new trial in Texas, the court majority seems to be forging a legal theory that can advance the long, good fight for racial justice. On the other side are some truly dangerous leanings.
While it is instructive to follow this pioneering skirmish in the logic of death row justice let's not forget that in 21st Century USA, the construction and maintenance of death row facilities is a barbaric foundation for the construction of anything that resembles truth or justice.
"Again We Reverse": US Supremes Find Race Discrimination Texas Civil Rights Review
Posted by gregmoses at 12:02 PM | Comments (844)
Jackson Jury Disappoints American Mobocracy
So for me Flag Day this year was all about the Michael Jackson jury. As one headline mentioned some official apology that was to come from DC regarding our bloodthirsty heritage of lyncherdom, I found in the Michael Jackson jury the profound sanity of the anti-mob.
Flag Day and the Michael Jackson Verdict Texas Civil Rights Review
Posted by gregmoses at 11:59 AM | Comments (260)
June 07, 2005
Another Kind of D-Day in the Making?
"Pushing back the violence" is a phrase that Stoltzfus has adopted over the past few years to describe peacemaking. The phrase comes from his gut, he explains. Pushing back the violence creates a new space or "sacred space" where transformation can occur. He envisions a day when a Peace Army will be trained and ready to go into high violence areas to stand up for peace" around the world.
Pushing Back the Violence: Peacemaker Teams Get in the Way Peacefile
Posted by gregmoses at 09:52 AM | Comments (829)
June 05, 2005
A Shudder of Memory
"Rather than change the fact basis that was used by Judge Dietz to declare the school funding situation unconstitutional, the legislature has now frozen the evidence in place. None of the yellow ribbons around the crime scene have been broken.
"In strategic terms, the care taken to preserve the evidence may result from simple egomania, or it may reveal a motive. Maybe the top three honchos of Texas politics (the gov, the speaker, and the comptroller) have reason to anticipate an ingenious new model of judicial logic?
"Texas legal theory is getting quite a reputation these days thanks to Prez Bush, his shotgun counsel Alberto Gonzales, and his prized nominee to the federal bench, Priscilla Owen. It is torturous theory (pardon the pun). And we have the right to worry that it will define the legal history of our time—the kind of history that will be taught inadequately, inefficiently, and remorselessly in Texas schools.
"As I wait for the Texas Supreme Court to hand me down ""the kind of justice Texans demand" pardon me while I shudder."
The Gov's Promise: 'the kind of justice that Texans demand' Texas Civil Rights Review
Posted by gregmoses at 03:12 PM | Comments (928)
June 03, 2005
Dissing the AG
"Now that Republicans are spanking small time voters, clamping down on access, keeping vote-vendors protected, and refusing to provide verifiable ballots, we think the trend line is pretty clear in Texas. Soon they will add a scrubbed up voter list to the tool kit of voter management.
"If you want a transparent, accessible, and accountable voting system probably you're not going to get it out of the Attorney General's office. On the other hand, if you want to fight school reform and spank on small time voters, he's your man."
Voter Fraud: They Found Some? Texas Civil Rights Review
Posted by gregmoses at 09:21 PM | Comments (1124)
Editorial: Racism is Not a Two-Way Street
"At this time (because who knows what we will learn tomorrow?) the Texas Civil Rights Review asserts that when all interesting examples have been fruitfully explored for their nuance and contradiction, one problem will remain at the end of the day. We will return to a world of white power or white supremacy. This is the usual meaning of racism here."
Measuring Racism, Texas Civil Rights Review
Posted by gregmoses at 09:14 PM | Comments (1730)
A Place for Abstracts
At this website, I'll try to keep up with abstracts for articles written at Peacefile and Texas Civil Rights Review. This will be the place where readers can comment frankly and anonymously as they please.
Posted by gregmoses at 09:10 PM | Comments (932)