PLANT BASED FOODS

I bought a chicken at the market recently that was labeled "vegetarian fed." I also bought eggs labeled the same. 

I guess this means chicken is a plant based food, right? 

And btw, chickens are not vegetarians, which is one reason I buy pasturd raised chickens and eggs from the same.

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REFLECTIONS ON JUNETEENTH

Like many, if not most Americans, especially white people, I had heard the name "Juneteenth" but never really knew anything about it. Well, 2020 is the year that everyone with half a brain, and a willingness to use it, knows that Juneteenth is a celebration of the emancipation of slaves in the United States. There is a huge rush to memorialize this holiday celebrated by African Americans because of the historic moment we are in, what some call the American Spring. A single spark can light a prairie fire (I think Mao Zedong is credited with  that saying), and so the public execution of George Floyd by a police officer has ignited a growing movement in the USA and abroad for justice and freedom, at long last.

Juneteenth is a celebration based on a General Order (Number 3) issued by Major-General Granger of the Union Army in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865. The General Order is short and simple:

The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, "all slaves are free." This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.

 

The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes, and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts, and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.

Slaves in America were actually freed by the Emancipation Proclamation in January, 1863; however, the Texans ignored it. In fact, many Southern slave owners moved their slaves to Texas because it was the state farthest away from the Union and unlikely to follow the proclamation unless forced to do so. The Civil War ended in April, 1865, and General Granger, with about 2,000 soldiers, arrived in Texas to enforce the Union victory.

Freed slaves in Texas established June nineteenth, Juneteenth, as a day to commemorate and celebrate. Over time, the day has been taken up by other Americans as the final day of emancipation, two years after the Proclamation. This is truly a significant day, and it's significance and importance deserve to be understood and celebrated. 

An example of institutionalized racism in America is the simple fact that few people in this country knew anything about emancipation, and certainly nothing about June 19, 1865. This was not taught in American schools. What we all learned was that Lincoln freed the slaves, the North fought the South in a Civil War, the North won, and the slaves were free. Simple. Grossly oversimplified! 

Juneteenth, 2020 has motivated me to study the emancipation and the time afterward in more detail; this I will be doing over time. (For anyone who has not read "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander, it is a good starting point.) General Order No. 3 raises more questions for me than it answers. The subtext, in my opinion, has many facets:

• what "personal rights" did the freedmen gain?
• what "rights of property" did people gain who owned no property?
• did "hired labor'" basically mean the freedmen became wage slaves or indentured servants under the terms of being a sharecropper?
• was the payment of wages enforced?
• what was the reality of "they will not be supported in idleness?" Did freed slaves receive any money or other assistance from the U.S. government? 

One basic question underlying all of the above is: did anyone enforce this General Order? Certainly the white former slave owners had no interest in doing any of this, other than finding some way to use the labor of the freed slaves to continue their cotton or other agricultural endeavors.  Certainly the legal and legislative system of Texas had not much interest in enforcing the Order. So what happened? What did people do who were suddenly, in a moment of spoken proclamation, free people? I already have a basic set of answers to these questions; however, by looking into the details, by finding and reading stories of real people from that time, I will certainly expand my mind and my understanding. 

The failures of Reconstruction, and the establishment of Jim Crow laws were how Southern whites tried, and were mostly successful, to return African Americans to a status in which they were not truly "free." The present movement and awakening in America, emerged from police killings of black citizens, brings a stark reality into sharp focus: slavery in it's many forms and mutations did not disappear from America, it was institutionalized into the very fabric of our society. 

Please don't get the wrong idea from this post, dear reader; Juneteenth is a day to be celebrated by every American to acknowledge the historic official end to slavery, and also to show support of our black sisters and brothers and fight with them, shoulder-to-shoulder, for true equality, justice and freedom for all. It is also important for every American to learn more about slavery, emancipation, and the course of history since that time.

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STEADFAST: THE END OF RACISM

I was scrolling through digital photos today, and found a few from a kayaking day on the Columbia River. Part of Government Island has been used to place sand dredged out of the navigation channel, and the photo below is a pile of dredge sand weathered by water and wind. This photo reminded me of another set of images, so I searched my thousands of photos and found them.  

IS IT OK TO FIND HUMOR IN A SERIOUS SITUATION?

If you know me, you know my humor, and you know that I find it everywhere. I published a book of cartoons, trumpery: some clowns just aren't funny, in which I make fun of the President of the United States and his family and his Republican supporters. Some, if not all the targets of the cartoons are serious matters, and yet I found humor in them. 

I firmly believe that laughter is good, it is a release, it helps us deal with the serious and tragic moments. Certainly, there are times when a joke is not appropriate, and a humorist is usually aware of these. There are, and have been, comics who purposefully tell jokes deemed inappropriate by large numbers of people; however, this is their point. 

And so today I offer another cartoon in my trumpery series. There was a moment of monumental humor in the midst of a horrible scene a few days ago. Donald Trump, the butt of my jokes, was advised that he should make an appearance outside his bunkered White House to demonstrate to his people that he, well, this is where the humor kicks in; nobody can figure out the purpose of his stunt. The Trump people ordered the police to clear protestors out of Lafayette Park so the POTUS and his entourage of butt kissers could walk from the White House to St. John's Church. The police brutally attacked the peaceful protestors and cleared them from the park. Then Trump and his group walked across to the church where the POTUS posed awkwardly in front of the church and held up a bible (some say it was upside down) for a photo op. And then they went back to the White House. So what was the message? "Hi there, dear supporters. I am your President, and I am holding up a bible in front of a church. Love me." 

A reporter asked Trump if it was his bible. He looked at the book, looked at her, seemingly puzzled by the question, and mumbled: "It's a bible." 

And here is my cartoon:

We are in a time of national crises; a pandemic, cops murdering Black people, many tens of thousands of people in the streets of dozens of American cities protesting these brutal murders and the racism of America. And there was the Clown in Chief, beating up peaceful protestors so he could try some ill-conceived PR stunt that made no sense to anyone. I still find humor when I'm not raging against the machine.

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AMERICAN EXCEPTIONAL-RACISM

I've often taken exception to the term "American exceptionalism" because I've not been certain what it means. Being the cynic I tend to be, I often look at the dark side of our exceptionalism. This week is one of those times when I'm not only looking at the dark side, but being swallowed by it. The exceptional form of American racism is a relentless beast that consumes everything. It subjugates entire demographics of Americans in a multi-chambered trap from which escape is impossible. It chews them up, it spits out the bones. One such victim is the Black American male, and, therefore, we are all victims of the beast.

I make a distinction between bigotry and racism, something I've written about previously on this blog. The cop who killed George Floyd in Minneapolis is a bigot; the system that employed him is racist. This is the plight of Black Americans and other Americans of color, their country was founded on white supremacy and continues as such, often in disguise. But today, in the year 2020, with Donald Trump as president and the Republican Party in control, the disguises are gone, and the racism beast is strutting about, feasting freely. 

Black Americans learn the lessons of racism all their lives; not in school, but by living in it. Every aspect of American society is infused with the beast racism; education, health care, employment, transportation, real estate, access to capital, law enforcement, environment...the list is long. Black folks know this; many white folks are just now learning it, if they are open to this particular form of knowledge. 

The murder of George Floyd, a Black American, who died face down on a street with his hands bound behind his back and with a cop's knee on his neck and two more cops holding him down, has ignited protests and demonstrations and riots in dozens of American cities and others around the world. The bystander cell phone videos of this murder are chilling and horrific. The cop seems nonchalant, his hands in his pockets, a smirk on his face when he turns towards the camera as he chokes the life out of another human being. The three other cops seem to just be hanging out, helping hold down their victim (2 of them) or being the "lookout." It is the stuff of nightmares. 

This happens too often - actually, the expression "too often" is in itself telling - this should never happen, ever. But this murder, this public execution, or symbolic lynching, of a Black man has rightfully unleashed a torrent of righteous rage throughout American society; rage within the Black community, certainly, but also in every other American demographic. This murder, and that of Ahmaud Arbery a few weeks ago, were both captured on video, and both became public on social media. Only the most callous bigots can hide their heads in the sand now. This is real. These were public executions of men who committed no crime other than the "crime" of being Black in America. This is a beast, this is a shame from which we cannot continue to hide. This is America, and the disguise of democracy has been pulled away to reveal the beast within.

So much needs to be accomplished in America to kill the racism beast, and with it the individual bigotries of Americans. Certainly, and foremost at this time, the justice system absolutely has to be reformed from top to bottom. Police departments need to be cleansed of "bad" cops, fraternal culture, unions that protect every cop, militarization, out-dated use of force rules, training that stresses use of force first. Police officers are sworn to serve and protect the community in which they work; they are not sworn to harass and murder people of color. Unfortunately, history shows us that the latter is true more often than we think. 

Attorneys General and District Attorney offices, courts, jails, parole services, rehab services and on and on - all need to be reformed so that they serve people justly, regardless of skin color or class or any other metric. This can be accomplished; however, the people who make policy and who work in these systems have to be invested in making these reforms. 

It is heartening to see so many people in so many places standing up, marching, demonstrating, protesting, and speaking out against racism. It is important that we all focus on the message, not the news flash of the moment about vandals or small groups battling the police, or some idiot standing in front of a church holding a bible upside down. It is incumbent upon everyone, including elected politicians, community leaders, chiefs and officers in police departments, employers, business owners, people in communities to listen to the messages coming out of these mass demonstrations. Listen, discuss, then act. 

I often hear the term "allies" in relation to how white people like me can be part of the solution. To be truthful, I don't like the term; I prefer to use the words "brothers" and "sisters." If I'm an ally I might make political decisions about the actions I take. If you are my brothers and sisters, I will always have your back because I protect my family. To me, this is at the heart of the issue of how to end racism and bigotry; we start with love for all our brothers and sisters. 

I certainly have a lot to learn, and this is certainly a teaching moment for all who are paying attention. I have so many thoughts, so many questions. I would be at the demonstrations if we weren't in a pandemic, and so I am frustrated by being home-bound. This is a strange time in so many ways, and yet this is a critical time for revolution, meaning great change. We can do this. We must do this. Together. 

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