Change has come to (am)Erica

Change isn't just a campaign slogan or a political phenomenon - its a powerful process that we can each undergo to do our small part individually to change the world at large and the tiny one that we inhabit every day.

I'm working for health care reform - shouldn't I strive to be healthier?

I'm working for education funding and transformation - shouldn't I commit to learning more each day?

I'm working for clean energy and to stop climate change - shouldn't I resolve to add more to my environment that I take from it?

I'm fighting for more jobs in our communities - shouldn't I be pushing and stretching myself professionally?
The list goes on.

Ultimately, our nation will only be as good - as healthy, prosperous, innovative, and kind - as its people. Politics has its limits and as much as I believe in the power of good policy to change lives, I've seen the power of individual transformation do more to lift people out of mental poverty and desperation than any law and any election. I thought about all of the change paraphernalia that I've accumulated over the past year - health care reform posters, campaign buttons, youth vote key chains and the like - and realized that the universe is trying to send me a not-so-subtle message: CHANGE. So maybe I should....

What about you?

Speaker Pelosi, young people (and me) make special announcement about health care reform

Tuesday, the Y.I. Want Change coalition for health care reform, participated in a press conference on Capitol Hill with Speaker Pelosi and Representatives Van Hollen and Dahlkemper, during which they announced a major policy victory for young people that will be included in the final House health care reform bill: a provision allowing young Americans to stay on their parents’ insurance through the age of 26.

The press conference also marked the official unveiling of the Y.I. Want Change coalition’s health care policy priorities for young people. Prior to the press conference, young people from 30 states met with their Senators to share these priorities, assuring them that young people are engaged in the health care debate, and that we are passionate about ensuring quality, affordable coverage for all.

A Fall Reminder

The changing of the seasons from summer to fall, from warm to cool (and, for some odd reason this week, cold and rainy) always make me a bit sad. I can't help but think about all of the homeless people that I walk by on a daily basis. As I run with water splashing my boots, afraid to get my hair wet, wishing I had worn a thicker scarf, I think about the guy who sits outside the McDonalds, or the woman who wanders the Metro station, or the couple that sits in the bushes outside of the Safeway - they didn't get to run home to pick up their jacket, get an umbrella, and switch to a long sleeved shirt. The colors on the leaves don't make them eager for for pumpkin pie and apple cider. And they don't get to enjoy a chilly rainy Saturday like me -in the comfort of their warm apartment, curled up with a cup of hot cocoa and a newspaper.

Its strange but for some reason, out of all of the statistics that I hear on a daily basis, the anti-poverty organizations that I work with, and the rallies that I shout in, nothing reminds me of how much America must do better, quite like the changing of the seasons.

Blog Wars: My Challenge to a Young, Black Conservative

This is a repsonse to The Hip-Hop Republican, Lenny McAllister's blog:
GG's Lenny McAllister Tells Us Why?

Why can’t you defend your party? Rattling on and on about values and Lincoln and diversity of ideas is intellectually dishonest and doesn’t do the job. I truly respect your right not just as a black person but as an American to be a Republican. You owe me no explanation. But if you’re going to build a defense, your case needs work.

Ideology is made up of values. And legacy is made up of history. A party, however, is made up of people and policies. And you have registered with a party. You vote for elected officials within that party and support the policies of that party. So your defense of the party should begin there.

Talking about values is irrelevant. Many of them are universal and have far more to do with humanity than a particular political ideology. On a side note, I don’t think that Faith and Family registered in the past several elections so I don’t understand know how you conservatives repeatedly claim them as your own. Nevertheless if you want to list those and other values to define social and fiscal conservatism, fine. That is not the same as being a Republican.

As far as history goes, I don’t give a rat’s behind that Lincoln was a Republican. He also suffered from clinical depression, wore a really tall hat, and had a pet turkey. So what? Legacy and tradition are never good stand-alone reasons to make decisions and they certainly don’t recruit. On the contrary, remembering that Lincoln was a Republican should challenge current Republicans to act more like Lincoln, not current Independents and Democrats to respect a party that behaves in a manner completely antithetical to said icon.

Last but not least, please stop telling me “Black people shouldn’t all belong to just one party”. That still doesn’t make your party right. Choosing to be a Republican for the sake of variety within the black body politic is an insult to our ancestors that fought and died for you to exercise your vote. They did so with the intent of advancing justice and equality – not just some theoretical ideal of political diversity.

I am tired of you telling me to ignore the sick, dangerous people and policies of your party and to instead just look at…well…you. “Hey,” you say, “I know that I support harsh immigration policies, block large investments in health care reform and education, don’t believe that women have the right to choose what happens to their bodies, and so on. And I know that many of the leaders that I support and vote into office are racist, sexist homophobes and use religion to spread intolerance and fear. But I’m cool.” Apples and oranges. In fact, it just makes me all the more confused as to why someone so “cool”, who professes to care about the needs of the poor and believes in choice and freedom and values diversity, would choose to be a Republican.

So stop trying to sell me and my fellow black people a fake bag of goods. On balance, I support Democratic policies and while I have issues with almost all politicians, I can at least say that I am not regularly embarrassed or appalled by the words and actions of the people that I vote for. If you can’t say the same (which it seems to me, you’re having a difficult time doing right about now…), stop defending the indefensible and just fix it.

The Civil Rights Act in a Post-Obama World

originally posted on July 1, 2009: On the 45th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, where we stand and where we must go in continuing the struggle for civil rights in America.

As we commemorate the 45th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 today, I am struck not only by how far America has come in her journey towards equality for all, but even more so by the unique challenge that we face to continue that journey in a social, cultural, and legal climate that prizes post-racialism over anti-discrimination and favors color-blindness and gender-blindness over equal opportunity.

Women leaders in fields where they are grossly underrepresented are discouraged from joining gender-exclusive professional groups. Equal opportunity programs are being challenged in ballot initiatives in a growing number of states. As we see in this week’s Supreme Court ruling in Ricci v. DeStefano, employers are still required to avoid policies that are discriminatory in practice but are given little guidance or legal coverage in making those determinations. And all the while the achievement and access gaps for communities of color, and in some fields, women, is widening.

Many progressives predicted that society would suffer from many unintentionally un-progressive consequences in a post-Hilary, post-Obama world. The diminishing value being placed on pro-active, preemptive anti-discrimination policies and their original intent are a prime example.

It is for this very reason that we can no longer solely rely on traditional “civil rights” law (although there is still a dire need for such policies to be protected, strengthened, and aggressively enforced). As Congress currently debates landmark legislation in the areas of health care, higher education, and energy, it is vital that discussions of disparities, disproportionate impact, access, and bias be seriously taken into account and yield tangible provisions woven into the fabric of these and any other legislation that has implications for fields and opportunities where equality has not yet been achieved.

For those of us not satisfied living in a society where diversity efforts are blasé, acknowledgement of race is passé, conversations about gender are cliché, and civil rights laws are perverted with the support of our nation’s highest court, time is of the essence. We must fight to ensure that the current rapidly advancing progressive policies in education, healthcare and energy maintain the same explicit spirit of justice and equality that the Civil Rights Act was designed to impart.

Revolution

originally posted on June 18, 2009.

The news of Iranian university student protesters being attacked in a dorm by riot police and militia cut me to my very core. Up to 150 students were arrested, according to witnesses, and at least one was killed. Students were beaten and shot, and one of the buildings caught fire. I just can’t stop watching this raw demonstration of oppression, anger and power unfolding before our very eyes. It’s so far away, yet feels so close when so many of the protestors are my age or younger. As I watch them take to the streets, using their voices and bodies to fight the regime, I am broken out of my dramatic thoughts and prayers by a jarring pop culture reminder: Twitter is a part of the movement.

On the surface, Twitter just doesn’t seem to fit with my mental images of protest and upheaval. But everywhere I turn I am reminded that many of the stories that I hear and news that I read is coming not from traditional news sources. The Iranian government has blocked journalists that work for international news organizations and the Iranian media is telling an incomplete, at times outright inaccurate story (like saying that the University students are taking finals when the campus has actually been shut down for days). No, the stories of the beatings, attacks, and killings are coming from young Iranians cracking the codes of internet barriers put up by their government, and tweeting the truth in defiance.

Twitter and I have a love hate relationship. I find it slightly burdensome and self-important to tweet my thoughts every minute and like skateboarding and MySpace, it got old to me once everyone else – especially celebrities - hopped on. But it is unquestionably useful for news - especially in an environment of suppression. Iran has made me again proud of my generation owning technological innovation and using it for more than games and gossip. We can use and are using it to change the world.

As the days go by and Western media learns more about the protests, we find that even though Twitter has been a vital tool, it has been used to supplement traditional word of mouth, peer to peer organizing and SMS, which is also being used in even larger quantities. The organizers are using every tool at their disposal – old school and new - to rebel.

And if what we are seeing through Twitter is only a glimpse of the real turmoil, when will we hear the rest? The stories from outside of Tehran and the University, from people without internet and no way to break the censorship codes, and no voice other than the one they use to shout? I can only imagine…

These stories, told and untold, are quenching the thirst of my political soul. They remind us all that you can’t block a movement. It warns those that doubt the ability of our generation to incorporate technology into new models of social change and action, that times they are a’changin.

Living in the sanitized world of watered down, pragmatic U.S. politics, a good, take to the streets protest is just what I need to believe that regardless of whether the revolution is televised, facebooked, tweeted, or simply shouted from the rooftops, when people are oppressed and suppressed long enough, humanity will find innovative ways to fight the powers that be and inevitably, whether fast or slow, revolution always happens.

Hey Conservatives - Where is the Love?

originally posted on Thursday, June 11, 2009.

Yesterday, shots rang out just blocks from my office and reminded me that hate is alive and well. At the National Holocaust Museum, a shrine meant to commemorate lives lost to senseless violence and hate, a life was taken by senseless hate and violence. Security officer Stephen T. Johns was shot and killed by a white supremacist. This comes only weeks after the murder of Dr. George Tiller in the doorway of his church by an anti-abortion “activist”.

So what is the connection between these two tragedies and my assessment of the conservative movement? Ever heard the phrase “the freaks come out at night?” Well night has fallen on the Republican party and the freaks – racist, sexist, homophobic, intolerant right-wing loonies - are coming out all around us.

Back in April, the Department of Homeland Security issued a report drawing attention to right-wing extremism and warned that "White supremacist lone wolves pose the most significant domestic terrorist threat…"

Call me paranoid, but as I look today for ways to channel my heartbreak over Stephen T. Johns death into action (I’m looking here and here), allow me to state the obvious: in a time when conservatives are feeling particularly cornered – outnumbered by progressives that have the will of the people on their side – the right wing extremists are losing their minds and have gone hate-mongering crazy – sometimes with a talk show. Other times with guns.

It is often said that violent acts such as these go beyond politics. Tragedy and the loss of human life is something that all people with dignity – on both sides of the aisle – can condemn. But does that mean there shouldn’t be any exploration into the cause or at least the context for such acts? Absolutely not.

This is more than a random occurrence that would allow us to shake our heads, shed a tear, and go back to business as usual. Its time for conservatives to look within their political leadership, examine their rhetoric and recognize their own role, be it intentional or accidental, in advancing hate and intolerance.

If human identity is part nature and part nurture, let’s take a critical look at the entities and social systems that nurtured these natural-born nutjobs and made them feel welcome. Many of the people that commit these politically motivated crimes of intolerance identify with a set of principles and sentiments (anti-immigrant, anti-affirmative action, anti-choice, anti-gay, etc.) that are shared by the Republican party. Support for intolerant policies + leaders like Rush Limbaugh and Bobby Jindal making racist, divisive comments every chance they get, add water and voila! A recipe for marginalized, isolated, and already deranged people to feel justified.

The racist language espoused by conservative leadership and media about Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, the sickening message sent by a press conference being held today that said that Dr. Tiller’s death will “help the anti-choice movement” makes the connection clear. Change has not yet come to the Republican party….and neither has the love.