Op-Ed
Muslim Lives Matter, Too
By Bill Fletcher, Jr.
NNPA Columnist
Within days of the murders of three Muslims in Chapel Hill, N.C., a crazed gunman shot several people in Copenhagen, allegedly targeting an illustrator who caricaturized the Prophet Muhammad. One could not have contrasted the media’s response more starkly.
In the case of the Chapel Hill killings, it took a near Twitter uprising to gain the attention of the mainstream media to the tragedy. In the case of Copenhagen, the mainstream media responded near instantaneously.
In the aftermath of the Chapel Hill executions the question of #MuslimLivesMatter has emerged. Actually, it is important to widen the scope. Muslims and non-Muslim Arabs are in the crosshairs of racist, right-wingers in the U.S. Yet, it is not only the targeting of Muslims and non-Muslim Arabs. It is also the targeting of history.
In this regard the right-wing response to President Obama’s Prayer Breakfast remarks about the manner in which religion can be used to justify heinous crimes is relevant.
Those who attacked Obama for suggesting that horrors have been committed in the name of Christianity, along with other religions, have decided that it is appropriate to defy historical facts.
One example, which President Obama did not mention, was the Holocaust carried out against the Jews by the Nazis. The Nazis saw themselves as being good Protestants. They even expressed contempt for Catholics! This is a documented fact. This is not about interpretation and it is not about rhetoric.
Those who ignored the Chapel Hill murders, and/or those who seek to deny that it is a clear example of a hate crime, are those who wish to ignore history and the historical context of these killings.
Muslims and non-Muslim Arabs have been the subject of long-running attacks, caricaturizations, racist insults, and, yes, lynchings, since well prior to the 11 September 2001 terrorist assaults. Though “children of the Book,” Muslims in the U.S. have never been accepted within the Judeo-Christian binary but have been treated as “other.” They have been a source of mystery in the mainstream, a group to be tolerated during the best of times and demonized during the worst.
Arabs have had a very contradictory relationship to U.S. history, in part depending on whether they are Muslim, Jewish or Christian, and also depending on what period in history they arrived in the country. Many Arabs assumed a “White” identity for as long as they could, resulting in complicated and often tense relations with other communities of color. After 11 September 2001, all Arabs found themselves in the category of notorious people of color. There will be no exit in the near future.
The Chapel Hill killings and the initial anemic media response was quite similar to the response to the lynchings of other peoples of color, whether African American, Latino, Asian or Native American. These are killings to be excused away, to be blamed on an individual, at best, or, under certain circumstances, to be blamed on the victim.
This is what is at stake when we hear that the killings may have been about a parking space. Instead of taking seriously the fears and concerns that the victims had prior to their deaths, many mainstream commentators have ignored this altogether, not to mention ignored the larger social/political climate that describes any violent act by a Muslim or Arab as an act of terrorism, and any act against a Muslim or Arab as potentially justified, irrespective of how horrendous.
Did someone say that this was a post-racial society?
Bill Fletcher, Jr. is the host of The Global African. He is a racial justice, labor and global justice activist and writer. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and at www.billfletcherjr.com.
###
Activism
Oakland Post Endorses Barbara Lee
Barbara Lee will be able to unify the city around Oakland’s critical budget and financial issues, since she will walk into the mayor’s office with the support of a super majority of seven city council members — enabling her to achieve much-needed consensus on moving Oakland into a successful future.
As we end the celebration of Women’s History Month in Oakland, we endorse Barbara Lee, a woman of demonstrated historical significance. In our opinion, she has the best chance of uniting the city and achieving our needs for affordable housing, public safety, and fiscal accountability.
As a former small business owner, Barbara Lee understands how to apply tools needed to revitalize Oakland’s downtown, uptown, and neighborhood businesses.
Barbara Lee will be able to unify the city around Oakland’s critical budget and financial issues, since she will walk into the mayor’s office with the support of a super majority of seven city council members — enabling her to achieve much-needed consensus on moving Oakland into a successful future.
It is notable that many of those who fought politically on both sides of the recent recall election battles have now laid down their weapons and become brothers and sisters in support of Barbara Lee. The Oakland Post is pleased to join them.
Activism
Actor, Philanthropist Blair Underwood Visits Bay Area, Kicks Off Literacy Program in ‘New Oakland’ Initiative
These community activations were coordinated with the San Francisco-based non-profit program “Room to Read.” Ray said he is also donating his time to read and take pictures with students to encourage their engagement and to inspire them to read more. The inspirational book “Clifford Ray Saves the Day” highlights Clifford Ray’s true story of saving a dolphin.
By Paul Cobb
New Oakland Series
Opinion Part 3
The Post mentioned three weeks ago that a number of our local luminaries were coming together to support the “New Oakland” movement. As this current national administration continues to eliminate our “legacy” institutional policies and programs left and right, most communities find themselves beyond “frozen” in fear.
Well, esteemed actor, long-time Bay Area supporter, and philanthropist Blair Underwood returned to Oakland this week to speak with city leaders, community trust agents, students, the Oakland Post, and local celebrities alike to continue his “New Oakland” initiative.
This week, he kicked off his “Guess Who’s Coming to Read” literacy program in some of Oakland’s middle schools. Clifford Ray, who played the center position of the 1975 World Champion Golden State Warriors, donated close to 1,000 books. Ray’s fellow teammate Charles “The Hopper” Dudley also gave Converse sneakers to students.
These community activations were coordinated with the San Francisco-based non-profit program “Room to Read.” Ray said he is also donating his time to read and take pictures with students to encourage their engagement and to inspire them to read more. The inspirational book “Clifford Ray Saves the Day” highlights Clifford Ray’s true story of saving a dolphin.
Underwood also spent quality time with the Oakland Ballers ownership group and visited the amazing Raimondi Park West Oakland community revitalization site. In the 1996 TV film Soul of the Game, Underwood played the role of the legendary first Black Major League Baseball player Jackie Robinson and commended the Ballers owners.
“This group of sports enthusiasts/ philanthropists needs to be applauded for their human capital investment and their financial capital investment,” Underwood said. “Truly putting their money and passion to work,” Underwood said.
Underwood was also inspired by mayoral candidate Barbara Lee’s open-minded invitation to bring public-private partnership opportunities to Oakland.
Underwood said he wants to “reinforce the importance of ‘collaborative activism’ among those most marginalized by non-empathic leadership. We must ‘act out’ our discomfort with passionate intentions to create healthy change.”
Activism
Councilmembers Ramachandran, Kaplan, Unger Identify Funds to Save Oakland Fire Stations
Our budget crisis – one of the worst in Oakland’s history – is compounded by the fact that people do not feel safe coming to Oakland due to our public safety crisis. By investing in our fundamental public safety resources today, we can send a signal to the world that Oakland is open for business. We have such a rich and vibrant culture, arts, and food scene that is worth celebrating – but we can only showcase this if we are able to keep our neighborhoods safe. Having fully functioning fire stations are absolutely essential to these efforts.
By Janani Ramachandran
There is no greater concern to the people of Oakland today than public safety. Fire stations are the bread and butter of essential city services – and every day that we have stations shuttered, we imperil the lives of our community members. In response to widespread outcry over the current and planned closure of stations, myself, along with Councilmembers Kaplan and Unger, have painstakingly worked to identify millions of dollars of new funding to save our stations. The legislation we introduced on Thursday, February 13th, will amend our budget to prevent the closure of four fire stations that are currently on the chopping block due to our budget crisis and will re-open two closed stations that have already been closed – Station 25 and 28 – in the near future. The resolution that will provide the funding to keep our stations open will go before the full City Council for a vote at our meeting on Tuesday, March 4th at 3:30 PM – and we invite you to join us at City Hall to share your perspective on the topic.
Our budget crisis – one of the worst in Oakland’s history – is compounded by the fact that people do not feel safe coming to Oakland due to our public safety crisis. By investing in our fundamental public safety resources today, we can send a signal to the world that Oakland is open for business. We have such a rich and vibrant culture, arts, and food scene that is worth celebrating – but we can only showcase this if we are able to keep our neighborhoods safe. Having fully functioning fire stations are absolutely essential to these efforts.
With the devastating Los Angeles fire at the top of people’s minds, terrible memories of Oakland’s own wildfires are re-surfacing from the 1991 Oakland Hills Firestorm to the Keller fire just a few months ago – and how essential fire stations are to mitigating these catastrophes. But in Oakland, our fire stations don’t just fight wildfires – they also provide emergency medical services to our most vulnerable constituents, put out structural fires and encampment fires, and much more.
We recognize that there are a number of competing interests and important initiatives fighting for sparse City resources. But from my perspective, core safety services are the most pivotal functions that a City must spend its resources on – especially given the outcry we have heard around fire stations.
The fight to save our stations is not over. The resolution we introduced is a critical first step, and there are hurdles to overcome. If you support keeping our fire stations open, we invite you to be a part of the solution by making your voice heard at the March 4th City Council meeting at 3:30 pm.
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Op-Ed
Muslim Lives Matter, Too
By Bill Fletcher, Jr.
NNPA Columnist
Within days of the murders of three Muslims in Chapel Hill, N.C., a crazed gunman shot several people in Copenhagen, allegedly targeting an illustrator who caricaturized the Prophet Muhammad. One could not have contrasted the media’s response more starkly.
In the case of the Chapel Hill killings, it took a near Twitter uprising to gain the attention of the mainstream media to the tragedy. In the case of Copenhagen, the mainstream media responded near instantaneously.
In the aftermath of the Chapel Hill executions the question of #MuslimLivesMatter has emerged. Actually, it is important to widen the scope. Muslims and non-Muslim Arabs are in the crosshairs of racist, right-wingers in the U.S. Yet, it is not only the targeting of Muslims and non-Muslim Arabs. It is also the targeting of history.
In this regard the right-wing response to President Obama’s Prayer Breakfast remarks about the manner in which religion can be used to justify heinous crimes is relevant.
Those who attacked Obama for suggesting that horrors have been committed in the name of Christianity, along with other religions, have decided that it is appropriate to defy historical facts.
One example, which President Obama did not mention, was the Holocaust carried out against the Jews by the Nazis. The Nazis saw themselves as being good Protestants. They even expressed contempt for Catholics! This is a documented fact. This is not about interpretation and it is not about rhetoric.
Those who ignored the Chapel Hill murders, and/or those who seek to deny that it is a clear example of a hate crime, are those who wish to ignore history and the historical context of these killings.
Muslims and non-Muslim Arabs have been the subject of long-running attacks, caricaturizations, racist insults, and, yes, lynchings, since well prior to the 11 September 2001 terrorist assaults. Though “children of the Book,” Muslims in the U.S. have never been accepted within the Judeo-Christian binary but have been treated as “other.” They have been a source of mystery in the mainstream, a group to be tolerated during the best of times and demonized during the worst.
Arabs have had a very contradictory relationship to U.S. history, in part depending on whether they are Muslim, Jewish or Christian, and also depending on what period in history they arrived in the country. Many Arabs assumed a “White” identity for as long as they could, resulting in complicated and often tense relations with other communities of color. After 11 September 2001, all Arabs found themselves in the category of notorious people of color. There will be no exit in the near future.
The Chapel Hill killings and the initial anemic media response was quite similar to the response to the lynchings of other peoples of color, whether African American, Latino, Asian or Native American. These are killings to be excused away, to be blamed on an individual, at best, or, under certain circumstances, to be blamed on the victim.
This is what is at stake when we hear that the killings may have been about a parking space. Instead of taking seriously the fears and concerns that the victims had prior to their deaths, many mainstream commentators have ignored this altogether, not to mention ignored the larger social/political climate that describes any violent act by a Muslim or Arab as an act of terrorism, and any act against a Muslim or Arab as potentially justified, irrespective of how horrendous.
Did someone say that this was a post-racial society?
Bill Fletcher, Jr. is the host of The Global African. He is a racial justice, labor and global justice activist and writer. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and at www.billfletcherjr.com.
###
Activism
Oakland Post Endorses Barbara Lee
Barbara Lee will be able to unify the city around Oakland’s critical budget and financial issues, since she will walk into the mayor’s office with the support of a super majority of seven city council members — enabling her to achieve much-needed consensus on moving Oakland into a successful future.
As we end the celebration of Women’s History Month in Oakland, we endorse Barbara Lee, a woman of demonstrated historical significance. In our opinion, she has the best chance of uniting the city and achieving our needs for affordable housing, public safety, and fiscal accountability.
As a former small business owner, Barbara Lee understands how to apply tools needed to revitalize Oakland’s downtown, uptown, and neighborhood businesses.
Barbara Lee will be able to unify the city around Oakland’s critical budget and financial issues, since she will walk into the mayor’s office with the support of a super majority of seven city council members — enabling her to achieve much-needed consensus on moving Oakland into a successful future.
It is notable that many of those who fought politically on both sides of the recent recall election battles have now laid down their weapons and become brothers and sisters in support of Barbara Lee. The Oakland Post is pleased to join them.
Activism
Actor, Philanthropist Blair Underwood Visits Bay Area, Kicks Off Literacy Program in ‘New Oakland’ Initiative
These community activations were coordinated with the San Francisco-based non-profit program “Room to Read.” Ray said he is also donating his time to read and take pictures with students to encourage their engagement and to inspire them to read more. The inspirational book “Clifford Ray Saves the Day” highlights Clifford Ray’s true story of saving a dolphin.
By Paul Cobb
New Oakland Series
Opinion Part 3
The Post mentioned three weeks ago that a number of our local luminaries were coming together to support the “New Oakland” movement. As this current national administration continues to eliminate our “legacy” institutional policies and programs left and right, most communities find themselves beyond “frozen” in fear.
Well, esteemed actor, long-time Bay Area supporter, and philanthropist Blair Underwood returned to Oakland this week to speak with city leaders, community trust agents, students, the Oakland Post, and local celebrities alike to continue his “New Oakland” initiative.
This week, he kicked off his “Guess Who’s Coming to Read” literacy program in some of Oakland’s middle schools. Clifford Ray, who played the center position of the 1975 World Champion Golden State Warriors, donated close to 1,000 books. Ray’s fellow teammate Charles “The Hopper” Dudley also gave Converse sneakers to students.
These community activations were coordinated with the San Francisco-based non-profit program “Room to Read.” Ray said he is also donating his time to read and take pictures with students to encourage their engagement and to inspire them to read more. The inspirational book “Clifford Ray Saves the Day” highlights Clifford Ray’s true story of saving a dolphin.
Underwood also spent quality time with the Oakland Ballers ownership group and visited the amazing Raimondi Park West Oakland community revitalization site. In the 1996 TV film Soul of the Game, Underwood played the role of the legendary first Black Major League Baseball player Jackie Robinson and commended the Ballers owners.
“This group of sports enthusiasts/ philanthropists needs to be applauded for their human capital investment and their financial capital investment,” Underwood said. “Truly putting their money and passion to work,” Underwood said.
Underwood was also inspired by mayoral candidate Barbara Lee’s open-minded invitation to bring public-private partnership opportunities to Oakland.
Underwood said he wants to “reinforce the importance of ‘collaborative activism’ among those most marginalized by non-empathic leadership. We must ‘act out’ our discomfort with passionate intentions to create healthy change.”
Activism
Councilmembers Ramachandran, Kaplan, Unger Identify Funds to Save Oakland Fire Stations
Our budget crisis – one of the worst in Oakland’s history – is compounded by the fact that people do not feel safe coming to Oakland due to our public safety crisis. By investing in our fundamental public safety resources today, we can send a signal to the world that Oakland is open for business. We have such a rich and vibrant culture, arts, and food scene that is worth celebrating – but we can only showcase this if we are able to keep our neighborhoods safe. Having fully functioning fire stations are absolutely essential to these efforts.
By Janani Ramachandran
There is no greater concern to the people of Oakland today than public safety. Fire stations are the bread and butter of essential city services – and every day that we have stations shuttered, we imperil the lives of our community members. In response to widespread outcry over the current and planned closure of stations, myself, along with Councilmembers Kaplan and Unger, have painstakingly worked to identify millions of dollars of new funding to save our stations. The legislation we introduced on Thursday, February 13th, will amend our budget to prevent the closure of four fire stations that are currently on the chopping block due to our budget crisis and will re-open two closed stations that have already been closed – Station 25 and 28 – in the near future. The resolution that will provide the funding to keep our stations open will go before the full City Council for a vote at our meeting on Tuesday, March 4th at 3:30 PM – and we invite you to join us at City Hall to share your perspective on the topic.
Our budget crisis – one of the worst in Oakland’s history – is compounded by the fact that people do not feel safe coming to Oakland due to our public safety crisis. By investing in our fundamental public safety resources today, we can send a signal to the world that Oakland is open for business. We have such a rich and vibrant culture, arts, and food scene that is worth celebrating – but we can only showcase this if we are able to keep our neighborhoods safe. Having fully functioning fire stations are absolutely essential to these efforts.
With the devastating Los Angeles fire at the top of people’s minds, terrible memories of Oakland’s own wildfires are re-surfacing from the 1991 Oakland Hills Firestorm to the Keller fire just a few months ago – and how essential fire stations are to mitigating these catastrophes. But in Oakland, our fire stations don’t just fight wildfires – they also provide emergency medical services to our most vulnerable constituents, put out structural fires and encampment fires, and much more.
We recognize that there are a number of competing interests and important initiatives fighting for sparse City resources. But from my perspective, core safety services are the most pivotal functions that a City must spend its resources on – especially given the outcry we have heard around fire stations.
The fight to save our stations is not over. The resolution we introduced is a critical first step, and there are hurdles to overcome. If you support keeping our fire stations open, we invite you to be a part of the solution by making your voice heard at the March 4th City Council meeting at 3:30 pm.
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Activism4 weeks ago
We Fought on Opposite Sides of the Sheng Thao Recall. Here’s Why We’re Uniting Behind Barbara Lee for Oakland Mayor
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Oakland Post Endorses Barbara Lee
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