us politics 
Primer on the Anti-Immigrant Forces Determined to Hijack American Politics
From Know-Nothings[1] to KKK to Tanton to Trump By Rick Swartz and Jocelyn McCalla[2] October 15, 2015 [NOTE: CLICK on Primer on Anti-Immigrant Movement to download the document and Associated materials] Anti-immigrant extremists are again pushing the GOP — and the country — towards zero-immigration policies. Their current standard-bearer, GOP presidential primary candidate Donald Trump, has… Read More ›
Will Internationalism be the new US Mantra?
The United States will no longer shun the United Nations Human Rights Council. The Obama Administration announced today that it will seek a seat on the Council. More importantly, according to the Washington Post, New Zealand has offered to step aside in order to ensure that should the US bid for a seat on the… Read More ›
Will Obama grant TPS to Haitian Immigrants?
The word on the street is that President Barack Obama is seriously weighing whether or not to reverse the Bush Administration’s decision to not grant Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Haitian immigrants living semi-openly in the US. Patrick Gaspard, the White House Director for Political Affairs, recently made a quick trip to Miami to confer with advocates for the Haitians and communicate the Administration’s concerns. How did we get there and will Obama do right by the Haitians?
Harry Belafonte, Most Charming Revolutionary
Over the last twenty years, I occasionally shared the limelight with Harry Belafonte, in the early 1990s in particular, as the campaigns on behalf of Haitian refugees denied asylum in the United States and democracy in Haiti joined to tilt the Clinton Administration’s hand towards democracy and human rights in Haiti. Belafonte spoke with the wisdom of a man who had seen his share of injustice and faced them with the conviction that comes from a place deep within.
Ella Baker: A Political Organizer’s Organizer
Baker, born on December 13, 1903 died in New York City on December 13, 1986. During the Great Depression, she became involved with the Young Negroes Cooperative League. Afterwards, she joined the NAACP, but jumped at the chance of working with the SCLC at its inception. Baker was instrumental at helping to establish the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) — from which Congressman John Lewis emerged to become a leader –, and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.
What was her philosophy and from which principles did she draw strength from?
What Haitian Leaders Should Take Away from Obama’s Inaugural Speech
In his inaugural speech on January 20, Barack Obama addressed mainly the expectations of the American people, but he had a few choice words for allies and foes abroad. What should Haitian leaders take away from his words? Two things: a warning and a promise.
Obama: We Will Meet the Challenges that Face Us
America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.
From Protest to Politics: the Future of the Civil Rights Movement
Bayard Rustin is most closely identified as the master strategist behind the successful 1963 March on Washington. A consummate behind-the-scenes civil and human rights campaigner, Mr. Rustin labored in the trenches, took part in marches, sit-ins and demonstrations and initially guided Rev. Martin Luther King’s first steps as the civil rights and political leader that he was to become.
VISA says: Alleluia, Amen, Black is Beautiful. Yikes!
Just as the United States was readying itself to celebrate the Rev. Martin Luther King’s birthday and Barack Hussein Obama’s ascendance to the Presidency, VISA, the credit card company jumped on the bandwagon without missing a beat. With a full-page ad in Sunday’s NY Times Magazine, it introduced the “exclusive VISA Black Card.”
Martin Luther King: First Among Equals
Since that faithful day in 1955 when he stepped forward to speak on behalf of the clergy and lead the bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, Martin Luther King never ceased to inspire the struggle for civil and human rights in the United States and the rest of the world. He made many speeches in the 13 years that followed his arrival on the political scene, the most famous and remembered being “I have a dream,” the speech he made in August 1963 in Washington before what was then the largest crowd that had assembled to advocate for civil rights and equality for all
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