21 November 19
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21 November 19
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, The Hollywood Reporter
Abdul-Jabbar writes: "In the past seven years, seven high-profile movies about slavery have been released, the most recent being Harriet, chronicling the extraordinary life of slave liberator Harriet Tubman."
I also worry that so many movies about slavery risk defining African Americans’ participation in American history primarily as victims rather than as victors in a continuous battle for economic and social freedom. The thousands of black soldiers who died fighting on behalf of the country, the martyred civil rights leaders, even our many scientific innovations and inventions that transformed American society — from refrigeration to blood banks — get dismissed, diminished or ignored because all that some white Americans remember are angry black faces crying “Unfair!” This puts a heavy burden on blacks to continually prove how vigorously they support the country that once enslaved them. They are expected to ignore the current inequities and just be grateful the country unlocked the chains. We stopped beating, branding, raping and lynching you — isn’t that enough?
No, it isn’t, which is why these films are so important. After all, despite dozens of movies and TV shows about the Holocaust (including the recent brilliant film Jojo Rabbit), anti-Semitism is on the rise in Europe and the U.S., with younger Americans less likely than older ones to believe the Holocaust actually happened. People are eager to forget that average people just like them are capable of supporting a government that incinerates Jews, enslaves blacks and cages immigrant children. The more horrible the deed, the more eager we are to forget.
The first step to forgetting is muddling history. A 2018 report showed that 58 percent of teachers were dissatisfied with what their textbooks offered on slavery, while 40 percent said their state offered little or no support for teaching about slavery. In 2015, a Texas textbook taught that blacks were “immigrants” and “workers” rather than enslaved people. (The book also referred to Moses as a Founding Father, misled about scientific consensus on climate change, included racist cartoons and minimized the principle of separation of church and state.) It was changed, but only after a black student sent his mother an image of a textbook page and she posted it on Facebook. The effect on our children of this deliberate blurring of history is measurable ignorance: Only 8 percent of high school seniors knew slavery was the primary cause of the Civil War, according to a 2018 report from the Southern Poverty Law Center. Adults nationwide do better, but not good enough: A Washington Post-SSRS poll in August asked random Americans about American slavery. On average, respondents were able to correctly answer only two of five questions. Only 52 percent knew slavery was the main cause of the Civil War.
Fiona Hill, the National Security Council's former senior director for Europe and Russia, arrives to testify in the impeachment inquiry on Thursday in Washington. (photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty)
Elliot Hannon, Slate
Hannon writes: "The White House's former top Russia expert, Fiona Hill, takes the stage in the impeachment hearings Thursday morning."
Though Hill left her post in July, days before the infamous July 25 phone call with the Ukrainian president, she is a key witness in that she was present for a number of early meetings and discussions about the Ukraine quid pro quo, which she described in closed-door testimony as “pretty blatant.” In her post as senior director for Europe and Russia on the National Security Council, Hill supervised Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman and can speak to his testimony and job performance. Vindman’s work has been called into question by Hill’s successor in the post, Tim Morrison, as part of the Republican pushback to Vindman’s damning testimony. Hill also directly reported to former national security adviser John Bolton and is seen as a window into Bolton’s thinking and potential testimony.
In Hill’s opening statement, she took a direct shot at the Republicans on the committee—and one big orange one in the White House—that have mounted a muddling justification for Trump’s actions based on the false narrative around Ukraine’s made up role in the 2016 election. It’s a play taken directly from the Kremlin’s propaganda playbook and Hill explicitly says so.
Based on questions and statements I have heard, some of you on this committee appear to believe that Russia and its security services did not conduct a campaign against our country—and that perhaps, somehow, for some reason, Ukraine did. This is a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services themselves.
“The unfortunate truth is that Russia was the foreign power that systematically attacked our democratic institutions in 2016. This is the public conclusion of our intelligence agencies, confirmed in bipartisan Congressional reports. It is beyond dispute, even if some of the underlying details must remain classified,” Hill said in her opening statement. “As Republicans and Democrats have agreed for decades, Ukraine is a valued partner of the United States, and it plays an important role in our national security. And as I told this Committee last month, I refuse to be part of an effort to legitimize an alternate narrative that the Ukrainian government is a U.S. adversary, and that Ukraine—not Russia—attacked us in 2016.”
Facebook remains a home for a number of white nationalist groups despite promising a ban in March. (photo: Megan Jelinger/Getty)
Julia Carrie Wong, Guardian UK
Wong writes: "On 7 November, Lana Lokteff, an American white nationalist, introduced a 'thought criminal and political prisoner and friend' as a featured guest on her internet talk show, Red Ice TV."
Critics of Breitbart News object to its inclusion in what Zuckerberg has described as a “trusted source” of information on two fronts: its repeated publication of partisan misinformation and conspiracy theories – and its promotion of extreme right-wing views.
A growing body of evidence shows the influence of white nationalism on Breitbart’s politics. Breitbart’s former executive chairman Steve Bannon called the site “the platform for the alt-right” in 2016. In 2017, BuzzFeed News reported on emails and documents showing how a former Breitbart editor had worked directly with a white nationalist and a neo-Nazi to write and edit an article about the “alt-right” movement.
This month, the SPLC and numerous news organizations have reported on a cache of emails between the senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller and the former Breitbart writer Katie McHugh showing how Miller pushed for coverage and inclusion of white nationalist ideas in the publication. The emails show Miller directing McHugh to read links from VDare and another white nationalist publication, American Renaissance, among other sources. In one case, reported by NBC News, Breitbart ran an anti-immigration op-ed submitted by Miller under the byline “Breitbart News”.
Breitbart spokeswoman Elizabeth Moore said that the outlet “is not now nor has it ever been a platform for the alt-right”. Moore also said McHugh was “a troubled individual” who had been fired for a number of reasons “including lying”.
“Breitbart is the funnel through which VDare’s ideas get out to the public,” said Beirich. “It’s basically a conduit of conspiracy theory and racism into the conservative movement ... We don’t list them as a hate group, but to consider them a trusted news source is pandering at best.”
Facebook said that more than 160 pages and groups identified as hate groups by SPLC did not violate its community standards. Those groups included:
- American Renaissance, a white supremacist website and magazine;
- The Council of Conservative Citizens, a white nationalist organization referenced in the manifesto written by Dylann Roof before he murdered nine people in a black church;
- The Occidental Observer, an online publication described by the Anti-Defamation League as the “primary voice for antisemitism from far-right intellectuals”;
- the Traditionalist Worker party, a neo-Nazi group that had already been involved in multiple violent incidents; and
- Counter-Currents, the white nationalist publishing imprint run by the white nationalist Greg Johnson, the recent guest on Red Ice TV.
Three weeks later, following the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Facebook announced a crackdown on violent threats and removed pages associated with the the Traditionalist Worker party, Counter-Currents, and the neo-Nazi organization Gallows Tree Wotansvolk. Many of the rest remained.
“We have consulted with Facebook many, many times,” Beirich added. “We have sent them our list of hate groups. It’s not like they’re not aware, and I always get the sense that there is good faith desire [to take action], and yet over and over again [hate groups] keep popping up. It’s just not possible for civil rights groups like SPLC to play the role of flagging this stuff for Facebook. It’s a company that makes $42bn a year and I have a staff of 45.”
Supporters of the Violence Against Women Act. (photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty)
Jordain Carney, The Hill
Carney writes: "Tensions over a long-stalled Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) reauthorization spilled into public view on the Senate floor on Wednesday."
EXCERPT:
But Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who is introducing her own VAWA reauthorization, objected to setting up the vote on the bill, arguing that the House legislation could not pass the GOP-controlled Senate.
"Why on earth would we introduce a piece of legislation that will not make it through this body? Shouldn't we be working together to find a path forward? We should continue to work on that, and I sincerely hope that by the of this year, we can come together," she added.
Democrats were quick to note that, under Feinstein's amendment, Republicans could have offered Ernst's version of the VAWA reauthorization as a substitute amendment — meaning that, if successful, it would become the bill that got a final vote in the Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. (photo: Matt McClain/Getty)
Congress Keeps Procrastinating on Funding the Government - Because of Trump's Border Wall
Li Zhou and Ella Nilsen, Vox
Excerpt: "Congress is once again facing an imminent deadline when it comes to approving funding to keep the government open. And the hang-up (once again) is President Donald Trump's desire for a border wall."
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Bodies of a family killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. (photo: Khalil Hamra/AP)
Li Zhou and Ella Nilsen, Vox
Excerpt: "Congress is once again facing an imminent deadline when it comes to approving funding to keep the government open. And the hang-up (once again) is President Donald Trump's desire for a border wall."
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Bodies of a family killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. (photo: Khalil Hamra/AP)
Israel Killed the Family Next Door. I Don't Know How to Tell My Kids They'll Never Be Safe
Mohammed Azaiza, Haaretz
Azaiza writes: "At 5:45 A.M. last Tuesday the phone rang; it was the man who drives my children to school. Good morning, he said. Today there is no school."
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Mohammed Azaiza, Haaretz
Azaiza writes: "At 5:45 A.M. last Tuesday the phone rang; it was the man who drives my children to school. Good morning, he said. Today there is no school."
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Nick Haddad heads to a swamp in search of the rare St. Francis' satyr butterfly, at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. (photo: Robert F. Bukaty/AP)
Butterfly on a Bomb Range: Endangered Species Act at Work
Seth Borenstein, Associated Press
Borenstein writes: "In the unlikely setting of the world's most populated military installation, amid all the regimented chaos, you'll find the Endangered Species Act at work."
Seth Borenstein, Associated Press
Borenstein writes: "In the unlikely setting of the world's most populated military installation, amid all the regimented chaos, you'll find the Endangered Species Act at work."
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