Roy Wilkins 
(August 30, 1901 – September 8, 1981)

Executive Director, (click here) National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

A prominent civil rights activist (click here) in the United States from the 1930s to the 1970s. Wilkins was active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and between 1931 and 1934 was assistant NAACP secretary under Walter Francis White. When W. E. B. Du Bois left the organization in 1934, Wilkins replaced him as editor of Crisis, the official magazine of the NAACP....

Bayard Rustin
March 17, 1912 to August 24, 1987

In front of 170 W 130 St., March on Washington, Bayard Rustin, Deputy Director, and Cleveland Robinson, Chairman of Administrative Committee (left to right).

...There was no lonelier man in Washington, D.C., (click here) at 5:30 a.m. August 28, 1963, than Rustin. He had predicted a crowd of 100,000 marchers, and with only four and a half hours to go before the meet-up, he had his doubts. Would everything he had been working toward pan out? Would the coalition hang together? Would the march remain peaceful, thus defying the 4,000 troops President John F. Kennedy had ready in the suburbs, as Taylor Branch reminds us in Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63?

Twenty-two years earlier, A. Phillip Randolph and Rustin had come very close to delivering on their plans for a first march as a way to pressure President Franklin Roosevelt into opening defense-industry hiring to blacks. Roosevelt was so alarmed by the specter of violence and the negative publicity during the “war against fascism” that a deal was reached before the march could even begin. Now, with the 1963 march about to begin, Rustin was forced to wonder, could they really pull this off? And would its impact help to achieve the goals of the movement? In a matter of hours, he would have his answers....      

A labor organizer as well.

Asa Philip Randolph
(April 15, 1889 – May 16, 1979) 

A. Philip Randolph (click here) (seated, center) and other leaders of the 1963 March on Washington. (U.S. National Archives)  

A. Philip Randolph, whom Martin Luther King, Jr., called “truly the Dean of Negro leaders,” played a crucial role in gaining recognition of African Americans in labor organizations (Papers 4:527). A socialist and a pacifist, Randolph founded the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first successful black trade union, and the Negro American Labor Council (NALC).

The youngest son of a poor preacher deeply committed to racial politics, Randolph was born in Crescent City, Florida, on 15 April 1889. He graduated from Jacksonville’s Cookman Institute in 1911, relocating to New York City soon afterward. In 1917 Randolph and Chandler Owen founded the Messenger, an African American socialist journal critical of American involvement in World War I.

After the 1925 founding of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, Randolph succeeded in gaining recognition of the union from the Pullman Palace Car Company in 1937. When the union signed its first contract with the company, membership rose to nearly 15,000. In 1941 Randolph threatened a march on Washington, D.C., if the federal government did not address racial discrimination in the defense industry. In response, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, which banned discrimination in the defense industry and established the Fair Employment Practices Commission. Randolph also helped to form the League for Non-Violent Civil Disobedience against Military Segregation, which influenced President Harry S. Truman’s decision to desegregate the armed services in 1948....

The Late John Lewis was a leader, a friend and an icon of strength. He was loved.

Rep. John Lewis and Tybre Faw in Selma, Alabama, in March 2018.

...We sent him (click here) the original story from March 2018, which showed Tybre not only meeting Lewis, but marching with him across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma and even going to Washington at Lewis' invitation to spend time on the floor of House of Representatives, where Tybre decided he too wants to be a congressman one day...

     

Every one of these men were men of peace and non-violence. All of them. Dr. King was the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
(1929–1968)

Martin Luther King, Jr., (click here) (January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968) was born Michael Luther King, Jr., but later had his name changed to Martin. His grandfather began the family’s long tenure as pastors of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, serving from 1914 to 1931; his father has served from then until the present, and from 1960 until his death Martin Luther acted as co-pastor. Martin Luther attended segregated public schools in Georgia, graduating from high school at the age of fifteen; he received the B. A. degree in 1948 from Morehouse College, a distinguished Negro institution of Atlanta from which both his father and grandfather had graduated. After three years of theological study at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania where he was elected president of a predominantly white senior class, he was awarded the B.D. in 1951. With a fellowship won at Crozer, he enrolled in graduate studies at Boston University, completing his residence for the doctorate in 1953 and receiving the degree in 1955. In Boston he met and married Coretta Scott, a young woman of uncommon intellectual and artistic attainments. Two sons and two daughters were born into the family....

James Leonard Farmer Jr. was a native Texan and one of the organizers of the "Freedom Ride" (click here).

(January 12, 1920 – July 9, 1999)

An American civil rights activist and leader in the Civil Rights Movement "who pushed for nonviolent protest to dismantle segregation, and served alongside Martin Luther King Jr."

Founded: Congress of Racial Equality (click here)

Works written: Lay Bare the Heart  (click here)

It's Sunday Night

"Do not get lost in a sea of despair....

"Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble." – A tweet from (Congressman John Lewis) June 2018

 

John Lewis and Non-Violent Action

(Click here for lyrics and video website - thank you)

Strange fruit hanging from trees in the night,
Swaying in the wind, symbols the ending of life.
Picture your mother dead just for trying to vote.
Inside, you're done; you feel yourself slowly dying of hope.
They saw us being killed; they tightened the rope. 
The more and more we spoke out, the higher we'd go.  
We say this world is better; things happen to bring back time.
They tried to knock us down and thought that we would go run and hide.
Actions are made in life, results: a crying me.
Let me tell you about someone who was willing to die for me. 
Someone who fought for rights to get equality and peace.
They said to preach the word, man, I'mma speak on reality: 
John Lewis, a real figure in this movement.
Black lives matter; to this day, we still use it.
Born in Alabama, 1940, into segregation.
He worked the fields, something we don't know about in this generation.
To make a living in this country, all the problems facing. 
He was a black man who beat the odds with an education.
Such a reason we as blacks can go enjoy vacations. 
To tell a story from his face, his life you start to trace it.
They tried to wipe us out, and that fact, we'll never lose it.
He protests for our rights to eat together as one unit.
He wanted us to be one whole. I see a black and white diverse class
In front of my eyes, so yeah, we've reached that goal.
In that time, blacks and whites, we couldn't ride together.
Lewis decided that that wasn't gonna be life forever.
John Lewis was of the famous 13 
Who rode a bus of black and whites 'cause Dr. King had a dream.
A Freedom Rider, a leader with respect, 
Arrested over 20 times — equity at its best? Equity at its best?
Crazy how our activists get thrown in jail
For some nonviolent acts, we got to hold a cell.
But they can beat us down and shoot us 16 times in the back, 
Go to court, and people barely want to acknowledge that.
I understand people see it from a certain view.
Put you in my shoes — what happens when it's down to you?

We still got to ride for freedom. Let us ride.
John Lewis taught us to fight for our rights.

1965 — Lewis marched for the right to vote.
He led 600 people, an event that makes one clear their throat. 
State troopers just wouldn't let them pass.
On his knees he prayed with others, need y'all to listen, class.
Told them to disperse so when they didn't they put on their masks.
Started attacking protesters with everything they had.
Lewis ran, police caught him, and they beat him down.
Fractured his skull 'cause his skin was brown — Bloody Sunday.
A couple of months later, August 6,
Voting Rights became an act, and I just can't resist 
Thanking John Lewis himself for paying on that day. 
No longer to this system anymore we'll be its slaves.
Because of him, African Americans have more in life. 
He gave a chance to go and score in life.
And I say thanks, thank you for fighting for the future and the lives today.
A man of pride, hero who paved the way: John Lewis.

We still got to ride for freedom. Let us ride.
John Lewis taught us to fight for our rights.

He was against masks until he was for them.

Trump is attempting to seed tension that turns into violence. He is getting more and more detailed about school openings as cities and towns are making plans to cope with SARS-CoV-2. The statement that is NOW Trump's new stance-of-hatred; is that schools holding classes out of doors will get no federal money. Anyone really care about the money? I don't.

Trump is adjusting his message to SQUEEZE the understanding that children/students must be in their CLASSROOMS. He has no power. He is attempting to raise the issue of schools to a political level.

This is a national health emergency. The cities and towns can conduct their efforts to educate students as best they can due to the national emergency. There is no real reason to send students into a classroom and compromise their health with HOPES they will survive the virus.

I haven't seen the funeral plans for the Late Congressman John Lewis. That is why I opened my online connection to begin with, unfortunately, the press is indulging Trump's fantasies. I am assuming he will lay "In-State." Perhaps, Speaker Pelosi will have a schedule for his vigilance soon.

Case in point:

Texas is saturated with SARS-CoV-2. Infants, children and young people are NOT IMMUNE to the virus. The outcomes of these infants are unknown as to the effect of the virus in their future.

Hence,...

July 18, 2020

Corpus Christi - Eighty-five children who are under the age of 1 (click here) have tested positive for COVID-19 in one Texas county, according to a local health official.

"I've been reviewing our statistics, and we currently have 85 babies under the age of one year in Nueces County that have all tested positive for COVID-19," Annette Rodriguez, director of public health for Corpus Christi Nueces County, said during the region's daily COVID-19 update Friday.

"These babies have not even had their first birthday yet," she continued. "Please help us stop the spread of this disease."...

Texas has failed these infants and their families.

It is amazing that the federal government under Trump can harass protesters, but, completely fail in enforcing mask-wearing to save lives such as these innocent babies.

Lomborg is a politician. Not a scientist. Other than reading a thermostat, he knows nothing about the climate crisis.

He has no credentials that prove he understands what Earth is doing right now. He has skills as a politician and he is trying to apply them to the climate crisis for some unknow reason.

Lomborg should be very happy that Dr. Christopher Field and the IPCC do know what they are talking about. 

July 16, 2020
By Joseph E. Stiglitz

...As with others in Lomborg’s camp, (click here) there’s the pretense in this book of balance and reference to careful studies. Yes, climate change is real. Yes, we should do something about it. But, goes his message, let’s be real, there are other problems, too. Resources are scarce. The more money we spend on climate change, the less we have to grow the economy; and as we all know (or do we?) everybody benefits from growth, especially the poor. And besides, there’s not much we can do about climate change....

This is the CLASSIC denial of a deadly virus by Republicans.

Forbes wants to give people financial relief by sending them back to work. Reducing payroll taxes came right out of the Obama 2009 economic recovery.

There is no funding in this conversation for people in states and communities mired in SARS-CoV-2. Amazing. Wall Street doesn't even recognize the virus. Damned the danger Wall Street wants to roll in money. Forbes was never elected to any office, either.

This conversation is moronic in the face of the danger to Americans.

NATIONWIDE GENERAL STRIKE FOR SIXTEEN DAYS TO REDUCE THE CASES TO ZERO.

Robert Washington did all the hard stuff, like sheltering at home for weeks. Then comes an opening of the state and death came to visit.

June 18, 2020

As Arizona (click here) contends with a record spike in coronavirus cases amid the state’s move to reopen, one grief-stricken daughter is pleading for the public and government leaders to take safety more seriously.

Lina Washington’s father, Robert Washington, died of COVID-19 a week ago, and barely a month after returning to his job as a security guard at the Gila River Hotels & Casinos – Lone Butte in Chandler, Arizona. “My dad called me on May 16 fearing for his safety,” she tweeted on Sunday. “He said no one was social distancing and few wore masks.”...

Governance was never about efficiency. It is about EFFECTIVENESS.

COVID parties are reckless endangerment and a public menace.

It is no different than drunkenness when a host allows too much alcohol consumption.

Any freedom is not absolute.

Allowing illness, maiming or death to benefit the economy is illegal, immoral and unethical.

It occurred to me in this politically charged environment that the meaning of negligence of governance was an empty phrase. When stating a governor, president or administrator is negligent or grossly negligent of taking care of citizens there is a definition behind it. 

A governor cannot pick and choose how many people succumb to the virus and how many cannot. There are proven methods of bringing the virus under control. When a first wave of virus hits a country of people allowing the virus to flourish is not an option. Until a virus is known in its capacity to make ill, maim or kill human beings the best way to avoid all those problems is to shelter at home and maintain that for the timeline that makes the virus unable to be viable. There is no other way to “flatten the curve”

Once the curve of infections are reduced and hospitals are able to handle the number off new cases, the stay at home requirement is no longer necessary. But, the next strategy is to protect the people from contracting the virus and eliminating it with face masks, hand washing and social distancing. Ultimately no risky behaviors and with that the curve takes a sharp decline into single digit numbers or less.

There is no vacation time at this point. People should still be minimizing the time spent with others. 

In the case of Florida, Texas and Arizona the number of cases sky-rocketed. That doesn’t mean a governor or president or mayor does nothing and thinks, “Gee, that’s too bad.” People have to return to stay at home status until the curve flattens again. There are no options here. Maintaining danger of spread is gross negligence in governance.

Allowing the continued spread is a false option. There is no option to allow the spread of the virus unabated. That flippant idea is gross negligence. Gross negligence is not legal, moral or ethical. There is no choice in believing the economy supersedes human life. When any authority states the virus is under control when it is not that is a human rights abuse and gross negligence. The choice that states being exposed to the virus is okay and having high hospital census is the new normal that is, in my opinion, negligent homicide.

There is no allowing illness, there is only containment. The methods used to contain it are sheltering at home or the hand washing, face mask and social distancing regime. The sheltering at home option is applied whenever and for as many times necessary that hospitals are unable to care for the ill. There is no third option. There is no option that allows illness, maiming or death to benefit an economy. That is a false choice.

July 17, 2020

The Flint Development Center is located at 4121 Martin Luther King Avenue and feature Mackenzie Patrice Croom Community Lab (click here) for water testing.

Flint - The McKenzie Patrice Croom Flint Community Water Lab, (click here) the first of its kind in the world, provides a trusted laboratory for Flint, Michigan residents for water testing of lead and other pollutants.

The Flint Water Lab has recently been recognized with the 2020 US Water Prize for Outstanding Cross-Sector Partnership.

The project’s focus is providing residents with knowledge about the safety of their water, and resources to help people trust that their water is safe, as thousands of pipes have been replaced in the City of Flint and the system continues to improve. The lab will provide free water testing and resources in Flint to help residents navigate the myriad of information they see and hear about water quality, to ensure their families’ health.

Freshwater Future and the Flint Development Center are currently in the final phases of configuration for The Flint Community Lab with a scheduled opening date of summer to early Fall 2020 (tentative opening based on current COVID-19 restrictions).

The coordinated vision for this community lab provides Flint residents a long-term trusted source for water tests, a place where residents can go to have their water tested for lead and other heavy metals at no cost....

Cessation of movement is a public health priority.

When contact tracing fails because of the sheer volume of the people testing positive and are falling ill, that is when the movement of people needs to stop. The virus is probably everywhere and driving the infection rate. It is time to shut it down.

The information of a person testing positive can be published. Not the name of the person, but, the location of where the person was in the past day or so. People do read these announcements made in public media, but, when the numbers are too great and frequently becomes a map full of contact points, then the virus is out of control. Whenever the virus is out of control, the movement of people needs to stop. The cessation of movement is the only way the virus stops infecting others. 

These parameters are allowing too much movement with the area saturated with the virus. A large number of positive tests mean the cessation of movement has to be instituted immediately to begin to end the infection rate. This is a no brainer. If there is not a call for the cessation of movement with large positive numbers that is gross malpractice of governance.

Who is writing the script? Seriously. Who is writing the script?

This is abduction. An arrest is carried out by stating why a person is being arrested. This is abduction for the purpose of instilling fear and no other reason.

July 17, 2020
By Craig Silverman

Protesters in Portland, Oregon, (click here) say federal officers deployed by President Donald Trump are increasing tensions and violating civil rights by roaming the streets in unmarked vans and detaining people without probable cause.

Videos and witness accounts detail how armed officers outfitted in camouflage and lacking identifying information on their uniforms are snatching people off the street. One viral video shared on July 15 shows two men in fatigues exiting an unmarked van, grabbing a person by their arms, and escorting them to a vehicle. The officers remained silent as bystanders asked who they were and what they were doing....

Just sayin'.

July 14, 2020
By Peter White

Survivor (click here) will no longer be part of CBS’ fall schedule (click here) as a result of the COVID-19 production shutdown as S.W.A.T moves up from midseason as part of the network’s rejig.

Producers had hoped to get Survivor up and running to hit the fall deadline, but will not make it in time. The network said that producers are continuing to work with officials in Fiji on the “appropriate time” to start production with health and safety matters its top priority.

The show, which is exec produced by Jeff Probst, Mark Burnett and Matt VanWagenen, was set to air in a 8pm slot on Wednesday. Instead, the upcoming season of The Amazing Race will move from 9pm to 8pm....

15 July 2020
By Hallie Golden

Seattle Police tackle a demonstrator who was blocking the intersection of East Pine Street and 11th Avenue on 1 July.

Seattle - Twelve protesters or their families (click here) have filed financial claims against Seattle, King county or Washington state following injuries and a death during recent anti-racist protests that they allege were caused by excessive force by police or due to law enforcement failing to protect them.

“You go to protest, you go for a cause, you go because you’re moved to make society better, you’re moved really in a selfless act, for most of these people who have just a passion and belief that something needs to change, something is not good here and it needs to change,” said Karen Koehler, whose firm represents most of the claimants.

“And you’re met with riot police.”

Malichi Howel, 17, was protesting in the early evening on 30 May when police started firing teargas at the crowd, according to the claim. Howel tried to run, but was hit by an exploding flash-bang grenade or teargas canister that partially amputated their thumb....

Many types of cancer will result in a very treatable metastatic liver disease. I am sure Justice Ginsberg is fine. 

COVID-19 is NOT THE NEW NORMAL.

If Ducey reflects the basic effort by the Republicans, they need to be removed from the office. "Living with COVID-19" is a false option. Basically, what the Republicans are saying is that their "stock holdings" are more important than American lives. The Governor of Georgia Kemp is stating the mayor of Atlanta is "harming jobs and a growing economy." End of discussion, two Republicans are placing profits before American lives. It is more than "politics over people" for the Republicans, it is about profits to cronies and padding their own stock portfolios.

A nationwide general strike is not about protesting. It is about Americans literally shutting down the country by walking away from their routines, including work. If there are few to no Americans willing to work through this health crisis the companies will shut down and wait for healthier workers to return. The idea behind a nationwide general strike is to carry out the policy that leadership in the White House never committed to in the beginning. Instead of shutting down the entire country for 16 days, the White House continually stated there was no such danger because a jet from China was contained. It was a "smoke and mirrors" trick on the American people. There has been confusion and false dedication to political movements since those deceptive statements were made.

A nationwide general strike whereby people "GO HOME" for 16 days is the only real way forward if classrooms are ever to be open anytime in the future. The vaccines may or may not be in their final stages of testing, but, computer hacking by Russia and China places a huge question on the efficacy of the research.

In the good days, all research was written in laboratory record books. I doubt seriously anyone is keeping a written record in laboratory books. Most everything in a lab is now computerized. So, until there are fresh trials proving to provide immunity, Americans need to take the matter into their own hands. There is no leadership to end the spread of SARS-CoV-2, hence the deadly disease COVID-19. Americans need to take their well being seriously and in their own hands. 

NATIONWIDE GENERAL STRIKE IS NEEDED TO END THE DEATHS AND HARDSHIP.

Understand the mixed messages from Republicans, Ducey will extend eviction prohibitions, BUT, it is the new normal for workers. There is no plan within those mixed messages.

July 16, 2020

By Maria Polletta and Catherine Reagor

Gov. Doug Ducey (click here) will extend eviction protections for tenants affected by COVID-19 through Oct. 31, the Republican leader announced Thursday.

The delay isn't as generous as the one sought by housing advocates, who wanted protections for renters through the end of the year. Beginning Aug. 21, tenants also will need to show proof they've applied for rental assistance.

But the extension will give tenants who've lost jobs or become ill an additional three months to catch up on payments and seek community assistance — something Ducey called "the right thing to do for public health and our economy."

The announcement comes as the state continues to grapple with one of the worst COVID-19 spikes in the country, which has infected more than 134,000 Arizonans and killed at least 2,492....