Of the many people who did not or could not evacuate New Orleans in the face of Hurricane Katrina, prisoners were especially helpless. Seven thousand prisoners, including 100 juveniles, were in New Orleans Prison when Katrina hit landfall. Prisoners were generally not evacuated and the flood waters created the conditions for a hideous human rights tragedy. Drawing on a report from the ACLU, political scientist Caroline Heldman writes:
Many reported being left in their cells while the water rose above their heads; being beaten and sprayed with mace once evacuated (to state maximum security prisons); and left on Interstate-10 in the hot sun for days without food or water. An entire building with about 600 prisoners was left behind in the evacuation process and weren’t rescued for days (Quigley, 2006). Most of the 7,000 prisoners had been charged with misdemeanor offenses and would have been released within a few weeks, even if convicted. But Governor Blanco effectively suspended habeas corpus (due process; right to a speedy trial) for six months, so some were incarcerated for over a year – doing “Katrina time” (Flaherty, 2006). “The court system shut its doors, the police department fell into disarray, few prosecutors remained, and a handful of public defenders could not meet with, much less represent, the thousands detained” (Garrett & Tetlow, 2006).
Sometimes, I know I like something, but I don’t know why. I could be enjoying a cabernet sauvignon, for example, and then someone with a better palate than mine says, “This is so deep and rich. So many tannins. Do you taste the chocolate?” And bingo! It all becomes clear. And so it is with [...]
It is really discouraging to do feminist work sometimes. It seems like there are a thousand people working against equality for every person working towards it. When I talk to my peers, it becomes obvious that a lot of people have accepted sexism as a fact of life. But looking back on important milestones in feminist history helps. It helps to know that despite the fact that a lot of bigoted policies are still out there, the feminist movement has made huge advances in the last 100 years. A woman nearly won the democratic nomination for president, we now head two-thirds of American families, and we have a female Speaker of the House.
Speaking of which, Nancy Pelosi wrote an article today celebrating this anniversary while urging women to vote. I did a lot of voter registration work this summer and I can attest that not nearly enough women (particularly young women) vote in off-year elections. So celebrate this anniversary by voting and reading the below Susan B. Anthony quotes which I included out of hero worship.
"It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union."
"The fact is, women are in chains, and their servitude is all the more debasing because they do not realize it."
"[T]here never will be complete equality until women themselves help to make laws and elect lawmakers."
"I can't say that the college-bred woman is the most contented woman. The broader her mind the more she understands the unequal conditions between men and women, the more she shafes under a government that tolerates it."
Reshma Saujani is a 34-year-old attorney running against Carolyn Maloney in New York’s 14th Congressional district. She’s a new-comer to politics; she’s Indian-American; she’s socially liberal but pro-Wall Street; and she’s running against a faithful liberal feminist. If elected, Saujani would be the youngest woman in Congress. No one really expects Saujani to win, but it’s still an interesting race.
The narrative surrounding her election, though, has been less about policy and more about a Bright Young Thing vs. The Woman Who Paid Her Dues. The Times coverage this week has been particularly bad. A reporter was apparently assigned to cover the Saujani campaign, and instead of writing about anything substantive, she wrote about Saujani’s shoes.
Reshma Saujani has a lot to say about her bid to challenge Representative Carolyn B. Maloney in the Sept. 14 Democratic primary, and I listened carefully as I accompanied her while she canvassed in Astoria, Queens, on Saturday afternoon.
But as Ms. Saujani, a 34-year-old lawyer, described some of her passions — a public-private partnership to finance start-up costs for worthy entrepreneurs, the passage of the Dream Act for talented illegal immigrants aspiring to college — I found myself increasingly, and in spite of myself, wondering about her shoes.
It’s just downhill from there. The shoes, for the curious, are Kate Spade wedges — wedges typically being more comfortable than heels when you’re walking around all day canvassing, and trying to show a New York Times reporter what it is that you’re doing to get elected.
The reporter does point out that focusing on what a woman wears is sexist; no one ever asks Chuck Schumer about his footwear choices. And women are criticized no matter what they wear — they’re “mannish” if they wear drab suits like their male counterparts, or unfashionable if they wear brighter suits, or elitist and not serious if they’re fashionable (see: Nancy Pelosi, Michelle Obama). Saujani, the reporter points out, risks losing credibility because of her footwear:
Ms. Maloney, who declined to name her footwear of choice, has tried to draw a contrast between her own track record in Congress and Ms. Saujani’s lack of experience in an elected position. Those hip heels run the risk of undercutting Ms. Saujani’s credibility with the people she needs to convince of her gravitas (a wedge issue, even?). It is a concern no man has to consider when choosing loafers or lace-ups.
No, it’s not. And male politicians also don’t typically worry that a Times reporter is going to write about their wardrobe instead of their positions.
A few years ago, one of my favorite British ’80s bands, The Men They Couldn’t Hang, released a comeback album. The killer single was called “I Loved the Summer of Hate”, and it was as exuberant and singable a bit of pop punk as you ever did hear. I listen to it quite often on my iPod.
But I can’t say I share the sentiments of the song title. Though my family and I have had a wonderful summer (working on a book, trips to France and Israel, seeing friends and family), I’ve been increasingly worried and depressed by the tone of American political discourse. In the arguments over the health care plan, gay marriage, “birthright citizenship”, and above all, the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque”, the rancor has hit a level of ugliness I haven’t seen in my life. My political memory goes back about thirty years or so, and I’m enough of an historian not to substitute my recollections for the entire American experience, but still — I’ve never seen anything like this. I’ve deleted Facebook friends whose anti-Obama, anti-Islam rants became too incendiary to bear; I’ve had more political arguments since Memorial Day than I had in the previous three or four years. It has felt to me very much like a “summer of hate”, and I’ve found it all deeply disheartening. (more…)
Plans to build an Islamic community center near the site of Ground Zero, the site of the destroyed World Trade Center towers in Manhattan, have stirred up the political right who have dubbed it the Ground Zero Mosque. The proposed site (A) is about two blocks from where the twin towers once stood (B):
Objection to the project is based on a false conflation of the attacks with Islam. Bin Laden drew on Islam to mobilize support for the attack, but this in no way makes the attacks Islamic. Many Muslims died in the attacks and Muslims around the world condemn them. When Scott Roeder murdered George Tiller for performing abortions, we didn’t call that a Christian attack. It is prejudicial to paint entire groups based on the actions of a few.
Notice, however, how this ad opposing the community center identifies all Muslims (“they”) as America’s enemy (found here). The ad’s narrator explains, “They declared war against us” and “to celebrate that murder of 3,000 Americans, they want to build a monstrous, 13-story mosque at Ground Zero…” Trigger warning for those sensitive to images of the 911 attacks:
The campaign against the community center, then, is a good example of our refusal to notice that many Americans are Muslims and that not all Muslims are America’s enemy.
It also misunderstands life in that region of the city. The ad names says that the site of the World Trade Center is “sacred” and Sarah Palin says that it is “hallowed ground.” To that, Daryl Lang took it upon himself to photograph some of the Manhattan corners and storefronts that were the same distance from Ground Zero as the proposed center. “Look at the photos,” he writes, “This neighborhood is not hallowed… The blocks around Ground Zero are like every other hard-working neighborhood in New York, where Muslims are just another thread of the city fabric.”
Thanks to Dmitriy T.M. for sending the link to Daryl Lang’s photos!
“As a general rule, when people feel they’ve been humiliated, when people feel they’ve been frustrated, when people feel they’ve been ignored, when people feel that justice is not meted, then they feel the need to conflagrate.”
This is Feisal Abdul Rauf, the imam of the future Cordoba House mosque, explaining away terrorism as simply a reaction, a last resort of desperate people. This is the “moderate” Imam, whom we all must accept or be branded anti-Muslim.
In the years since 9/11, though, it is increasingly Americans who have been humiliated, frustrated, ignored, and certainly made to feel that justice has not been meted. We have been made to feel stupid for living in a free country, for allowing our enemies to use our freedom against us. They used our planes to hit our dazzling buildings, full of people living productive, free lives who didn’t know they were at war. And yet, no real conflagration from Americans toward Muslims in America followed. The feared backlash against Muslims after 9/11 never came. The middle name Hussein did not stop Barack Obama from becoming president. As a country we accepted that Islam is not our enemy, despite the will of the terrorists to force an us vs. them war.
The mosque, though, so close in proximity to a place where so many people were killed in Islam’s name, has seemed to many as the last straw.
And mine:
Alvy Singer was probably right when he said that the rest of the country looks at New York like we’re left-wing, communist, Jewish, homosexual pornographers – that’s why a lot of us transplants moved here in the first place. But Republicans have made it clear that they don’t find that characterization nearly as charming as many of us do. When election time rolls around, New York is the GOP’s favorite punching bag: We’re not “real America;” we’re elitists; we’re latte-drinking arugula-eaters. For 364 days a year, Republicans are happy to characterize us as Sodom to San Francisco’s Gomorrah.
And then there’s September 11th. Any mention of that day and all of a sudden we’re a city so important, and of such hallowed ground, that local zoning laws and the decisions of our community boards should be issues of national debate.
The so-called “Ground Zero Mosque,” which is neither at Ground Zero nor a mosque, was catapulted into the national spotlight by anti-Muslim blogger Pamela Geller as evidence of the supposed “Islamicization” of America. President Obama responded to the media frenzy by benignly declaring that “Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country” — a comment met with frothing hostility from the right.
The opponents of Cordoba House (that they ignoranty refer to as "Ground Zero Mosque") have realized that their protests against its construction go against the constitution of this country. Unable to defend their opposition to the mosque on constitutional grounds, they have found another way to justify their bigotry. Now they refer to the decision to build a mosque two blocks away from Ground
Only 34 percent of Americans were able to correctly identify him as a Christian. Predictably, Republicans are far more likely to believe the president is a Muslim than Democrats are — nearly a third of Republicans think Obama is Muslim. But most surprising is the fact that the number of people who believe Obama is a Muslim has actually increased in the past year. Of course, Obama does do all kinds of Muslim-y things, so maybe it’s not really anyone’s fault that he’s perceived as a Muslim. I mean, when you see a guy drinking beer and palling around with Santa Claus, what other conclusion are you supposed to draw?
Dave Weigel’s take on this is particularly interesting. He notes that a right-wing blogger attributes the “Obama is Muslim” thing to Obama’s exoticism: “Obama has defined himself as literally exotic,” writes John Hinderaker at Powerline. “Small wonder that some Americans attribute exotic qualities to him. We’re not sure who he is, exactly, but he certainly isn’t one of us.”
And so we think he’s Muslim. Because Muslims aren’t like “us,” either.
As Weigel points out, the view here is, basically, Muslims are un-American. Muslims are not really part of “our” collective culture, or “our” America.
But that “Ground Zero mosque,” naw, that’s not about bigotry toward Muslims or anything. That’s just about respect.
As I wrote previously, I created a petition to urge Arizona school superintendent candidates to make a pledge to reinstitute ethnic studies in public schools if elected. Interestingly, both Democratic candidates in this race responded back to me on the topic of ethnic studies.
Jason Williams
Jason Williams
Jason Williams is the former Executive Director for Teach for America in Phoenix, who ran for School Superintendent in 2006. His Director of Research and Policy, Kelly McManus, wrote this email to me on the subject of the ethnic studies ban:
Jenn,
Thank you for your message! Jason firmly believes instead of censoring content, we should celebrate diversity, recognize the contributions of all groups, and encourage different points of view. We live in a pluralistic society. A robust discussion of ideas is a cornerstone of what it means to be American. Teaching our students to critically think and allowing them to utilize those skills to come to their own conclusions makes a great educational experience. He believes in local control, as long as schools are improving student outcomes. When he is Superintendent of Public Instruction, he will support innovative programs that demonstrate quite clearly higher rates of academic achievement and work with the legislature to stop this trend of censorship.
Please let me know if you have any additional questions!
My best,
Kelly
Okay, so when I received this email from Kelly, I had to scratch my head. Does Williams support ethnic studies? Does he support diversifying our existing school curricula? It was a little tough to deduce from the email message, which spent more of its time celebrating diversity than discussing ethnic studies.
Then, I stumbled upon this video clip on YouTube, of four of the candidates discussing their positions on ethnic studies. And Jason Williams’ response — he is last on the video, starting around 5:00 — is positively electrifying.
Wow. Jason Williams’ position on the ethnic studies ban in Arizona is so cogent, so spot-on, and so well-reasoned, that I’m actually finding myself taking a second look at his candidacy in general. His answer is so far removed from the rather obfuscating answer given by his Director of Research and Policy that it’s almost like they came from different campaigns.
Note also that Penny Kotterman, who starts the video off, is the other Democratic candidate in the race, and she also appears to oppose the ethnic studies ban. However, her answer was a little tough to understand — I had to listen to it twice before I figured out that she is also opposed to the ethnic studies ban.
Sadly, I also received an email response from Penny Kotterman in the wake of the petition, but my overly-aggressive spam filter deleted it sometime last week. In any event, I gather it was very similar to what she says in the video clip above.
Act Now! The primary is next week, August 24th. On the topic of the ethnic studies ban in public education, the Democratic candidates couldn’t be further from the Republican candidates. If you are a Democrat who votes in Arizona, please go to the polls next week and choose between our two Democratic candidates for Arizona School Superintendent. With Arizona’s abysmal standing when it comes to public education, this race in November couldn’t be more important in dictating the future of our state.
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