Tidbits - Jan. 14, 2021 - Reader Comments: One Week - Coup Attempt and Resistance; America Through Nazi Eyes; Impeachment; Holding Trump, His Enablers and Cohorts Responsible; Israeli Apartheid; Tech and Retail Workers; Resources; Announcements; and more.
Re: America Through Nazi Eyes (Joe Grogan; Carl Braden Memorial Center; David Wilson)
Re: US Capitol Protesters, Egged on by Trump, Are Part of a Long History of White Supremacists Hearing Politicians’ Words as Encouragement (Kevin McDougall; Eleanor Roosevelt)
Re: Congress Expelled 14 Members in 1861 for Supporting the Confederacy (George Lessard)
Trump Lit the Fuse -- cartoon by Kevin Siers
Re: House Democrats to Introduce Article of Impeachment vs Trump (Michael Gorton; Jim Coughlin; Daniel A Rubenstein; Priscilla Willame; Sandra Smith)
Re: Impeach Trump Again (John Woodford; Richard Chauvin; Lizzi Azalia Swane; Enrico Campomizzi; Jean Cushman; Cliff Gulliver; Roger Person)
Trumps Caesar Complex -- cartoon by David Horsey
Re: Accountability for Trump’s Corporate Enablers (Ken Kadlec)
Re: Trump Incited Violence. Democrats Want Him Out Of Office. Now. (Jim Stone)
We Can Do It! -- cartoon by Clay Bennett
Re: The Insurrection is Happening at State Capitols; Pennsylvania GOP Prevents Seating of Elected Democrat (Daniel Millstone; Tim Sheard; Bureco Anidem; Jake Clinton)
Re: The Confederacy Finally Stormed the Capitol (Laurel MacDowell; Joe Maizlish; Robert Supansic)
Re: Labor Denounces Coup Attempt (Chelsea Connor - RWDSU-UFCW)
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO (APALA) Denounces Trump Cabinet Member Elaine Chao
Re: Far-Right Activists Telegraphed Violence Weeks in Advance (Eleanor Roosevelt; Bill Vrabel; L Ann Keel)
Statement on the events of January 6th (Poor People's Campaign)
Re: Israel is a Non-Democratic Apartheid Regime, Says Rights Group (US Progressive Activists' Update)
Re: There Is Something Missing From Tech Worker Organizing (Celeste Suliin Burris)
Re: The Customer Is Not Always Right (Camille Tischler; Kurt Stand)
Resources:
Free Ebook: The Us Antifascism Reader (Verso Books)
Teaching After Georgia Victory and Attempted Coup (Zinn Education Project)
Shirley Chisholm Saw It Coming — Poster of the Week (Center for the Study of Political Graphics)
Announcements:
Black Lives Matter in Cuba Exhibit Opens at the CCS Art Space and on Line (Center for Cuban Studies / Cuban Art Space)
Black Folks in Oral Health and Research - January 30 (Young Health Professionals)
In view of recent events in Washington, I would urge you to read this article. It will help us to understand some of the roots of systemic racism here, elsewhere and as well, in the United States. With this knowledge, I hope that we will be able to successfully fight systemic racism's terrible threat to all of humanity.
Joe Grogan/Bolton, Ontario
Retired OPSEU member-Region 5
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The most radical Nazis were the most aggressive champions of U.S. law. Where they found the U.S. example lacking, it was because they thought it was too harsh.
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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The Dissent article "America Through Nazi Eyes" provides fascinating information about the US influence on Nazi immigration policies, but it also contains two errors in its discussion of the US policies.
1. The Naturalization Act of 1790 didn't limit immigration to "free white person[s]"; it denied immigrants of color the ability to become citizens through naturalization, as its title indicates. In other words, immigrants of color could immigrate here, have their labor exploited here, and pay taxes here, but they couldn't become citizens.
2. Chinese people weren't all "excluded from citizenship in the late 1800s." Most were excluded from citizenship, and almost all were barred from immigrating here, but in fact there were Chinese-American citizens.
People of Chinese origin automatically became citizens if they were born here, based on the 14th Amendment (as upheld by the Supreme Court in Wong Kim Ark, 1898). But Chinese immigrants couldn't become citizens through naturalization; the Naturalization Act of 1870 extended the ability to naturalize to "aliens of African nativity and to persons of African descent," but not to other immigrants of color. And the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 completely barred Chinese laborers from entering the country, although some more privileged Chinese still could come here.
These may not seem like major distinctions, but it's important to understand that while the US originally had racist limitations on naturalization, it didn't limit immigration itself until later. The first federal laws limiting immigration appeared in the late 19th century with the anti-Chinese legislation.
David Wilson
Woodrow Wilson's praising of the KKK-friendly "Birth of a Nation" comes to mind.
Kevin McDougall
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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Look up the "Christian Front" movement of the late thirties, and its infiltration of the New York National Guard.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: Congress Expelled 14 Members in 1861 for Supporting the Confederacy
Congress expelled 14 members for supporting sedition and insurrection previously who supported the Confederacy against the union in 1861. Today we also have seditious members of Congress who supported the coup attempt to overthrow the election of the president.
George Lessard
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Trump Lit the Fuse -- cartoon by Kevin Siers
Kevin Siers
January 7, 2021
The Charlotte Observer
Re: House Democrats to Introduce Article of Impeachment vs Trump
Do it in a heartbeat before Republicans think people have already forgotten.
Michael Gorton
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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A waste of time! Senate Republicans will never vote to impeach. Focus on the January 20inauguration and the security of Biden and Harris. The military and all levels of law enforcement have [been] infiltrated by Trump supporters and white nationalists. Local police have proven that they cannot be trusted and the Pentagon aided the anarchists. A coup attempt remains a threat. Many of those responsible for the mob action remain at large and will be joined by heavily armed militia members.
The potential for violence on January 20 needs to be addressed. The mob action that occurred was aided by corrupt administrators within law .enforcement and the Pentagon. Hawley and Cruz are fully committed to a coup. The safety and security of Biden and Harris is of great concern to me.
Jim Coughlin
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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While you're right, this is not a waste of time, and folks can walk and chew gum at the same time.
Daniel A Rubenstein
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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The impeachment can continue even after 1/20. It’s important because it insures that he can’t run again in 2024, that any pardons he may bestow on those that committed crimes during the siege will not be honored, and that all of the perks of being a former President that our tax dollars pay for go away. Most of all it’s important because the Capitol Police officer killed in the line of duty will get justice.
Priscilla Willame
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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Very necessary! There needs to be every consequence possible for Trump's actions! This must never happen again!
Sandra Smith
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
As the late John Lewis noted, some trouble is good trouble.
John Woodford
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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No will just cause more strife just ride out the last 12 days of this nightmare
Richard Chauvin
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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No because then he gets retirement pay
Lizzi Azalia Swane
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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I think the trouble is just beginning
Enrico Campomizzi
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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He could start a war or do another coup attempt. Anything!
Jean Cushman
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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Then LOCK HIM UP!
Cliff Gulliver
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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Agree . If trump isn't in prison he will feed misinformation and discord . Do not be surprised to see growing right wing terrorist activity . Those that oppose trump will be subject to terror tactics
Roger Person
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Trumps Caesar Complex -- cartoon by David Horsey
David Horsey
October 2, 2020
The Seattle Times
Re: Accountability for Trump’s Corporate Enablers
Ken Kadlec
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: Trump Incited Violence. Democrats Want Him Out Of Office. Now.
"Impeachment could be divisive "
When we hear this cowardly rationalization, we must loudly remind others that Republicans, and more recently Trump, have overtly acted to create division.
Holding miscreants, especially a sociopathic, disloyal President of the United States of America, to account will strengthen that side of the division that has integrity and upholds their oaths to the Constitution.
Jim Stone
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
We Can Do It! -- cartoon by Clay Bennett
Clay Bennett
January 4, 2021
Chattanooga Times Free Press
The assault by Trump fascists has not been limited to the US Capitol. Here, Portside https://portside.org/2021-01-07/insurrection-happening-state-capitols-p… collects reports from all over. This is not going away.
Daniel Millstone
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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thank you for posting the article on fascists occupying state capitols, shared it on FB.
Tim Sheard
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The US "Justice" system must prove itself to the PEOPLE! If Ruddy and Donald are not found guilty of inciting violence, promoting riots and coup, We the PEOPLE will lose any remaining faith in that system!
TREASON!!! SEDITION AND INTENT TO OVERTHROW THE USA GOVERMENT!!! PEOPLE SPEND 30 YEARS IN JAIL FOR THOSE OFFENSES!!!
MOBSTERS - Mediocre Obnoxious Bullshiters Scammers Tricksters Embezzlers Repugnant Sociopaths
Bureco Anidem
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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I listen to CBSN on line in the back ground...and I am tired of the dumb questions they repeat so here in reply to
"Why remove him now, he is going to be gone in a matter of days?"
1. He has nuclear codes and may be able to give a "lawful" order that starts a war.
2. His able to pardon people without any guard rails and that needs to be stopped!
3. Impeachment because he does not deserve $200,000 a year and a million dollar travel and office expense for the rest of his life...who gets a retirement package for 'NOT DOING YOUR JOB' properly.
4. He still has military people that will follow his orders...Black Life Matters in Washington has shown us there are traitors within the chain of command
5. The issue has Nothing, let me repeat...NOTHING to do with Biden/Harris and the incoming administration...it is the duty of all loyal elected members of Congress as the first of the three branches of government to honor their sworn duty to defend the US Constitution from ..."All enemies, foreign and domestic..."
That is my take on why action needs to be taken NOW!
Jake Clinton
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: The Confederacy Finally Stormed the Capitol
I doubt if there is time to impeach Trump before there is a new president. But he could be arrested and jailed. The VP would do his job the last few days. Why not? Trump is a terrible person and he has shown his true colors. He is also dangerous and maybe a little mad.
Laurel MacDowell
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Mystal quoted Biden's remark that I call a pledge of allegiance to denial: "This is not a reflection of the true America."
It is a reflection of the true America, though not a reflection of the whole of America.
The culture and many of its members are so plagued by a fragility in sense of self-worth and need for something powerful and pure to lose themselves in that any self-examination but the superficial must be avoided, and the sufferings of many over the centuries are passed over quickly if treated at all.
I was as or more upset about that denial than about the invasion of the Capital, though they cannot be separated.
Here's one attempt to release some steam:
Ask the indigenous
If this is really us.
And the descendant of the slave
If there's democracy to save.
Joe Maizlish,
Los Angeles
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The bungled insurrection in Washington had many fathers. We should not forget the role of the late Justice Antonin Scalia. In the “District of Columbia v. Heller” Mr. Scalia discovered an interpretation of the Second Amendment which had eluded legal scholars for 200 years. By “militias,” he said, the Constitution actually meant “all the people.” In other words, the right to bear arms was an individual right. This opened the door to absolutist interpretations of the Second Amendment since that right could not be “infringed.” Now Rambo wannabes claim they have a right to own personal nuclear weapons, if and when they become available.
Everyone agrees the Second Amendment was intended to support the existence of “well-regulated militias.” But Mr. Scalia’s so-called “originalism” obliterated the word “well-regulated.” Militias have plotted the kidnapping and murder of the Governor of Michigan. And they have now stormed the Capitol to prevent the confirmation of Mr. Biden’s election. Well regulated indeed.
Robert Supansic
Re: Labor Denounces Coup Attempt
(posting on Portside Labor)
I think our statement was missed in your round up this evening, just wanted to make sure you saw it: https://www.rwdsu.info/statement_from_rwdsu_president_stuart_appelbaum_…
Chelsea Connor
Director of Communications
RWDSU-UFCW
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO (APALA) Denounces Trump Cabinet Member Elaine Chao
The Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO denounces Elaine Chao, Secretary of Transportation and long-time supporter and defender of President Donald Trump. Chao, the highest ranking Asian American within the Trump administration, resigned cowardly from the U.S. Cabinet instead of upholding her responsibility to call for the removal of President Trump under the 25th amendment. The U.S. Cabinet has the authority to remove President Trump, and Elaine Chao and her fellow cabinet members have failed to do so.
President Trump incited and encouraged his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to block the democratic election of President-elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Five people died during the assault, including a U.S. Capitol police officer.
Elaine Chao and her husband, Senator Mitch McConnell, have been leaders in promoting anti-worker, anti-women, and white supremacist policies long before the Trump administration. As the Labor Secretary under George Bush, Chao stripped protections from workers and made worksites less safe. Chao and McConnell found their true calling in the last four years as they have worked hand-in-hand with President Trump to undermine democracy, to spread lies about the U.S. election, and to support Trump’s attacks on workers, immigrants, women, and communities of color. Elaine Chao served in President Trump’s cabinet when he issued racist statements calling the COVID-19 virus “kung-flu” and the “China virus.”
Elaine Chao does not represent the Asian American community, women, or communities of color. She represents and defends the forces of racism, sexism and white supremacy. We hope this ends her career in national politics, and that her role as a co-conspirator within the Trump administration will prevent her from doing further damage to the people of this country.
[Founded in 1992, the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA), AFL-CIO, is the first and only national organization of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) workers, most of whom are union members and our allies, building power for AAPI workers and communities.]
Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance
815 16th St. NW, 2nd Floor
Washington, DC 20006
202-800-5811 | apala@apalanet.org
Re: Far-Right Activists Telegraphed Violence Weeks in Advance
Anyone who was shocked in any way by this is wilfully ignorant. Fascists have *always* laid out exactly what they plan to do and how they plan to do it well in advance of doing it. They don't play 4-D chess, they play elementary tic-tac-toe.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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It gave the Capitol Police plenty of time to plan for the chance to totally roll over and capitulate while looking like they were resisting.
Bill Vrabel
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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Because, at least up until now, there was no danger of being arrested, held responsible for their actions.
What a blow the investigations, arrests of fellow perpetrators must be.
Wondering how many active participants in Wed's invasion of the Capitol are now living in fear of that knock at their door, being called into their boss's office for the notification their services are no longer needed, experiencing acquaintance's, friend's cold shoulders.
L Ann Keel
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Statement on the events of January 6th
The Poor People’s Campaign witnessed with heavy hearts the events of January 6th, when a mob emboldened by hate, lies, and racism laid siege to the US Capitol and other state capitols across the country in an attempt to subvert our democracy. This attack was carried out at the behest of a narcissistic President and his enablers, who have followed a divisive political strategy that is as old as the deconstructionists of the 1870s and the Southern strategy of the 1960s. We know that the only antidote to this poison in our body politic is a moral fusion coalition committed to reconstructing democracy.
Our intersectional movement has been met with arrest while engaged in non-violent protest — praying, singing and peacefully marching. The people who stormed the Capitol on January 6th were not protesting but attempting to overthrow democratic government by mob rule. The fact that these violent rioters were able to break into the Capitol should alarm us all and cause us to question the deference they were given by law enforcement and security forces. This is eerily reminiscent of how law enforcement has often been used to protect violent and racist actors defending the status quo while suppressing non-violent social justice movements.
As a state-based national movement that has nonviolently protested at state capitols and the US Capitol, calling out policy violence and pushing for a just moral agenda for and with poor and low-income people, moral leaders, activists and organizers across race, geography, issue area and other lines of division, we must point out that:
- This did not just happen. For years extremist politicians who call themselves Republicans have sown the winds of division and lies; now the country is reaping the whirlwind of chaos. We call on our lawmakers and justice system to hold President Trump, senators, Congress persons, and all elected and appointed officials who had a role in these heinous attacks accountable for their actions, swiftly and to the full extent of the law.
Read full statement here
Forward together, not one step back!
Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II
President, Repairers of the Breach
Co-Chair, Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis
Director, Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice
Co-Chair, Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
Re: Israel is a Non-Democratic Apartheid Regime, Says Rights Group
“One organising principle lies at the base of a wide array of Israeli policies: advancing and perpetuating the supremacy of one group – Jews – over another – Palestinians,” said B’Tselem, an organisation that documents human rights violations”.
US Progressive Activists' Update
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: There Is Something Missing From Tech Worker Organizing
(posting on Portside Labor)
I was the chair of a local at municipal IT. I can firmly say it’s like herding cats.
Celeste Suliin Burris
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: The Customer Is Not Always Right
(posting on Portside Culture)
While the author of this article is undoubtedly right about the behavior of people at restaurants I was appalled that there's no information in this article about the management of restaurants. I have a relative who's been a waitress for years. The owner of her restaurant takes their tips and pays their $2.75 wage out of their tips. there's no recourse because if you call the department of labor the restaurant gets closed and then you're out of a job.
The federal government recently has issued rules that makes it even easier for restaurant managers to exploit their workers. It is absolutely necessary that tipping be taken out of the equation and restaurant workers paid a decent wage. Because of the crookedness of restaurant management and the history of tipping in this country it is also true that restaurant employees are often untrained and don't know how to do their jobs.
In Europe one has to have an apprenticeship in order to become a waiter or waitress. There's no training program of any substance in this country and often customers have to deal with waiters who are if not indifferent also rude and unskilled. Lack of training is not the responsibility of the staff so I am in no way blaming them for this situation. It's management's responsibility and it's also the culture of the restaurant industry. One might also mention the effects on staff when they bring a request to the chef or cook or the manager and they get berated instead of helped. I expect that even if they're doing their best this irritation in the back of the house also gets communicated to their customer.
Staff are repeatedly pressured by management to cut corners. In this country the overall culture of the restaurant industry is that food isn't very important and it can be overcooked and tasteless and that's okay. As with all of our industries now profit is the most important thing. So if you're going to write an article about how rude the customers are please at least present an overall picture of the industry.
Camille Tischler
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Excellent article -- Most customers, as I have observed, are nice and are not abusive, but as the article indicates; far too many are. I will add that the problem restaurant and other hospitality workers face is compounded by something old: tipping, and something new: the tyranny of Yelp. What that means in practice is that any customer feels themselves to be a boss in relationship to any worker. A bad Yelp review is like a write-up by management, and workers definitely here back when one i posted.
The answer in part lies with all tipped workers receiving a living wage; the answer also lies in developing a different form or method of restaurant/ retail store evaluation -- a more complicated question but absolutely needed. And, of course, industry-wide unionization, city by city or county by county, is the best guarantee that "the customer is always right" isn't translated into meaning "the worker" is always wrong.
Kurt Stand
Free Ebook: The Us Antifascism Reader (Verso Books)
We have made The US Antifascism Reader available to download, for free, here.
The police and the courts will not legislate away fascism.
It is up to us to stop racist terror.
Our anti-fascism reading list >
Books that deal with the rise of fascism around the world, and how to defend ourselves against it.
USA
Verso Books
20 Jay Street, Suite 1010
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Tel + 1 (718) 246 8160
Fax + 1 (718) 246 8165
verso@versobooks.com
UK
Verso Books
6 Meard Street
London
W1F 0EG
Tel + 44 (0) 20 7437 3546
Fax + 44 (0) 20 7734 0059
enquiries@verso.co.uk
Teaching After Georgia Victory and Attempted Coup (Zinn Education Project)
Credit: Senator-Elect Rev. Raphael Warnock Campaign (left) and Tyler Merbler via Flickr (right)
Zinn Education Project
Being a teacher wasn’t easy last week. As the terrifying attempted coup took place on Wednesday, educators struggled to show up for students, to hit the right tone in class on Thursday and Friday.
They neither ignored the headlines nor rushed to “teach” events that were still unfolding, but provided students space and support for questions, discussion, and sharing.
We salute you.
In the coming days, educators will take time to reflect on how to provide students a fuller, more robust context for what happened and for the years ahead. Trump may be leaving, but the deep roots of Trumpism — white supremacy, nationalism, nativism — will continue to demand our activism and attention.
Below are some suggestions for framing this current moment.
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Political Violence to Undermine Democracy in the United States Is Not New: #TeachReconstruction
This week we heard from a teacher whose students, in the midst of a unit on Reconstruction, connected the victory in Georgia and the white supremacists at the Capitol seeking to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s election.
Indeed, January 6th was a snapshot of a larger pattern in U.S. history. Again and again, advancements in the freedom of Black people are met with white violence and an upsurge in white supremacist organizing. Reconstruction is a critical example.
Teach students about Reconstruction as a period of multiracial, democratic possibility undone — though not completely — by white supremacist terror.
Where Do We Go from Here?
The House of Representatives may impeach President Trump for his role in inciting last week’s Capitol insurrection. A few Republican officials have joined Democrats in decrying the president’s conduct, although many politicians call for “reunifying” the country.
After the Civil War, elites devoted themselves to bringing traitorous Confederates back into the fold rather than delivering reparations for African Americans who had suffered 250 years of unspeakable abuse — and theft.
Teach students about the long movement for reparations, in the United States and elsewhere, to help them reflect on what a path toward justice might look like today.
These are just a few of the issues surfaced by the events of last week. Check out additional lessons at the Zinn Education Project website on white supremacy, terrorism, the media, voting rights, and more.
Zinn Education Project - Teaching for Change
PO Box 73038
Washington, DC 20056
Shirley Chisholm Saw It Coming — Poster of the Week (Center for the Study of Political Graphics)
Unless We Start to Fight
Galia Goodman
Digital print of 1990 offset
Durham, North Carolina
27754
Poster text:
“Unless we start to fight and defeat the enemies in our own country, poverty and racism, and make our talk of equality and opportunity ring true, we are exposed in the eyes of the world as hypocrites when we talk about making people free.”
Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005) was an African American politician, educator, and author. In 1968 she became the first black woman elected to Congress, and represented New York’s 12th Congressional District for seven terms from 1969 to 1983. On January 25, 1972 she became the first major-party black candidate for President of the United States and the first woman to run for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Center for the Study of Political Graphics
3916 Sepulveda Blvd, Suite 103
Culver City, CA 90230
The exhibit on line is a work in progress so you may want to check it out again in a week or two.
OUR BEAUTIFUL NEW EXHIBIT DEDICATED TO BLM IN CUBA IS UP ON OUR WEBSITE NOW!
(Please try to view on your computer or the exhibit will not look good.)
CALL ME IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT A PARTICULAR PHOTOGRAPH, POSTER OR OTHER ART WORK OR WANT TO RESERVE FOR PURCHASE.
917-224-0578
Please leave a message so I can return your call if you don’t get me!
FEEL FREE TO SHARE WITH YOUR FRIENDS & FAMILY. We all need to look at something besides the horrors unleashed by the current president.
Sandra Levinson
Executive Director
Center for Cuban Studies / Cuban Art Space
20 Jay Street, Suite 301
Brooklyn NY 11201
212.242.0559
Black Folks in Oral Health and Research - January 30 (Young Health Professionals)
The Young Health Professionals - for the emerging health professionals of the world.