#all power to the people: black panthers at 50

[liquidorcard]

Okay, part two. Let's go girls, gays and theys, Papa Polarity ain't saved yet.

[Part 1] [Part3]

Lily Commits Elder Gay Mutant Abuse, feat. "Eldritch Lily" (Part 2)

Everything gets worse . . .

4:13: Lily mischaracterizes Charles Xavier, throws up a Martin Luthor King quote she either doesn't understand or didn't read carefully enough, going full whyte. (Never go full whyte.)

How much do I need to dignify this by explaining why this is fucking asinine? Charles is a pacifist for the most part. A recognized and respected form of activism and protest. Like, the least charitable interpretation of what Lily's trying to say here is that figures like Gahndi, Abbie Hoffman, and dear old MLK himself are posers complicit in the oppression two of them lost their fucking life to.

That quote is referring to white people passively complicit in racism that just want black people to shut the fuck up Lily-- not passive forms of activism.

You know, it's one thing to be profoundly fucking wrong about cartoons, it's an entirely different beast when you're profoundly wrong about shit like this. Absolutely fucking ghoulish.

It feels weird pivoting back to the costumed vigilantes with funky genes, but we gotta keep going. Ironically for how much Lily is focusing on the movies here-- one of my issues with the way Charles is portrayed is he keeps casually threatening people/doing shady shit and getting away with it. Makes you question why it's framed as okay when he does it and not when it's Erik. Charles isn't a saint, he shouldn't be portrayed as one, and there's a lot of thematic dissonance when the films feel the need to lampshade the shit he gets up to less he lose the moral high ground.

4:50: OH HERE WE GO.

5:00: Lily goes on a long rant about the "activists who GO TOO FAR" trope in media.

I technically agree with her, but I can tell by the examples she's giving that she's parroting things Hbomberguy said in his RWBY video, just in a less charitable tone. So, really I agree with Hbomberguy.

She's not wrong that the BoM and Magneto sometimes wanders into this territory (I mean, they were originally 'The Brotherhood of Evil Mutant' and all that) unfortunately, but she hasn't supported that position at all. I have to assume she's heard this brought up somewhere else, this isn't exactly a unique take by any means. I doubt she's actually familiar enough with the content to create an original cohesive argument.

Lily doesn't like moral ambiguity in her media. That would be fine if she wasn't this butthurt that other people feel very differently.

6:05: "And yes, you knew we were getting to it! [ . . .] Almost all of Legend of Korras main villians start at a good through line. But then some twist comes up that makes everything they said before completely pointless."

THESE TWO, "START AT A GOOD THROUGH LINE!?"

LILLLLLLLLYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

6:15: "Season one's Amon is a socialist activist who cares about the oppression of non-benders by benders-- until it turns out that he doesn't."

I know this is a popular interpretation of the equalitists, especially given that their name is 'the equalists,' but actually the show never gives us enough information about the sociopolitical dynamics of benders and non-benders to say for sure. I'm not going to get into it here, if you want my full breakdown and analysis on the social politics of Avatar, let me know. In summary, it's tempting to assume benders would be the dominant class as they have literal powers, but that's not really how systemic power works. There's conflicting inference on what the dynamics are, and it may be different depending on the nation. The equalists are schrodinger's activists. They could be the Black Panthers, they could be the Proud Boys. That is not me making a false equivalency between those two groups, it's just never established if their perceived systemic persecution is real or imagined.

This isn't really a criticism of Lily. That it is so ambiguous is a flaw in the show. The interpretation Amon is supposed to be a socialist is as valid as any. Well. . . It's an extremely reductive interpretation of a socialist, and I know Lily doesn't know what a socialist actually is, but I'm trying to be charitable when possible here.

I do LIKE Korra myself, to be clear. But, yeah. There's problems.

6:31: "Season four's Kuvira wants to stitch the Earth Kingdom back together but doesn't want to restore an oppressive monarchy like everyone else does. And then declares that she is the dictator of the Earth Kingdom."

Yeah, that is just a thing that has happened in history, Lily. When there's a power vacuum left by a sudden or violent upheaval of a tyrant, unfortunately often another tyrant at least attempts to take their place. This is one of the reasons why former colonies struggle to cultivate stability-- societies and communities can get fucked in the ass by this kind of shit. This isn't a pro-monarchy message Lily-- consider maybe trying to learn things now and again.

This is why people call you a fake leftist Lily. Doing (relatively) minor gestures of good will like handing out food for a short period then pulling the rug out from under the people once they're complicit is right out of the facist playbook. You are virtually doing the exact thing you accused Rebecca Sugar of, but for real.

You're being outfoxed by a kid's show again.

6:44: "Season two's Unalaq [you get the idea.]"

Lily is pro gentrification until you involve demon kites I guess. I'm confused why she thinks he ever had any good intentions, it's telegraphed immediately he's a bad dude. He's also by far the worst villain-- as in, the worst written.

7:10: "All of them go 'the status quo is bad therefore commence genocide' like they got their political theory from fucking Vaush."

By your line of thinking so did Firelord Sozin:

"I had my own vision for a brighter future . . ."

I don't like Vaush either, but-- this isn't even the pot calling the kettle black. This is the blackened grime on the pot calling the kettle black.

GOD THIS VIDEO IS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT MAGNETO. WE'VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT KORRA FOR ALMOST THIS WHOLE POST.

7:19: "The entire show you're watching Korra become a stooge for the status quo every single time. 'The problem isn't that the system is bad, it's that the wrong people are in charge.' And then they inevitably change the status like bringing democracy to the Earth Kingdom and you're left wondering-- wait, why wasn't the other person doing this!?"

I did not edit those two statements together. That is, in fact, Lily pointing out why her own arguments are stupid in the very next breath. Thanks for saving me the effort, I guess.

7:45: "Why weren't the characters you set up to do these things . . . Doing the things?!"

Because they weren't set up to do these things Lily. They're the antagonists. They ideologically were designed to be foils for Korra to overcome.

Korra's political messages aren't even that deep, and yet you're this incapable from telling even obvious totalitarian right-wing ideology and mild liberalism apart.

8:10: "It's so nakedly obvious how protective of the status quo these stories are."

This is, in a very abstract way, a valid criticism of Korra. This is a common problem in a lot of media, and Korra is far from the worst offender. I think it does breach past this to some extent, just not as much as I would have personally liked with all its seasons.

But make no mistake this is Lily again, taking something Lily has seen someone else say and putting that opinion through a blender.

Let's not beat around the bush here, Lily just wanted to bitch about Korra again. It's almost like she thinks if she repeats her idiotic media analysis enough, maybe THIS time people will realize how brilliant she is.

8:27: "A victim of abuse, torture or r@pe trying to kill her [only 'her,' huh?] abuser in vengeance is right to do so."

Okay, that's enough of this for now. Part 3 coming soon.

[eptodaytommorowforever]

Events In The History And Of The Life Of Elvis Presley Today On The 31st Of July In 1969.

Elvis Presley International Hotel, Las Vegas July 31st, In 1969.

Known for a powerful stage presence in total command of every room he has ever worked. But backstage at the International Hotel on July 31, 1969, Elvis Presley was packing back and forth like a panther. In a few minutes, he would march out into what was then the largest showroom in Las Vegas, holding 2.000 people.

Elvis Presley In Concert July 31st, 1969. Las Vegas, NV.

Dressed in a chic black tunic and bell bottoms that matched his long but neatly combed black-tinted hair. Elvis Presley stepped onstage last week at the International Hotel in Las Vegas and launched into the driving beat of 'Blue Suede Shoes'. The audience of 2,000, most of them over 30, roared and squealed in nostalgic appreciation. In spite of his updated look, ElvisPresley hadn't changed at all in the nearly nine years since his last personal appearance. Shaking, gyrating and quivering, he again proved himself worthy of his nickname, The Pelvis. Which he himself found it to be very childish coming from an adult Through nervousness caused him to sing 'Love my, me tender' for 'Love Me Tender', the pasty-faced enchanter quickly settled down to work his oleaginous charms, backed by a 30-piece orchestra, a five-man combo and a chorus of seven. Oozing the sullen sexuality that threw the America into a state of shock in the 50's, he groaned and swiveled through a medley of 'Jailhouse Rock', 'Don't Be Cruel', 'Heartbreak Hotel', 'All Shook Up' and 'Hound Dog'. It was hard to believe he was 34 and no longer 19 years old.

In fact, there are several unbelievable things about Elvis Presley but the most incredible is his staying power in a world where meteoric careers fade like shooting stars, Elvis Presley shot to the top in 1956 with 'Heartbreak Hotel' and has stayed in the uppermost tax bracket ever since.

Forty-seven of his singles have sold more than a million copies. He has made 32 movies, currently turning them out at a rate of four year and raking in a cool million plus half the profits for each. Presley's income is estimated at $5 million a year and he spends it freely. Among his purchases are an antebellum mansion called Graceland near Memphis (the house is painted luminous blue and gold and glows in the dark), and a succession of cars including a gold Cadillac. No ones knows how much the boy from Memphis is being paid for his four week Las Vegas stand but, according to Presley associate, 'Coming in on the heels of Barbra Streisand, you know that it's over a million'.

Brief Review By Terry O'niell

Rare Color and B/W Candids Taken Here By Elvis Presley Fan And Journalist Reporter Terry O'niell Who Was There By Elvis Presley's Invitation Covered Elvis Presley's Opening Night For The British People And Elvis Presley Fans The London Evening Standard Newspaper On The 31st July in Vegas NV In 1969.

[bellamer]

Did people know that they could just… keep T’Challa alive in fanfic ? Like all Black Panther fanfics I was reading just stopped updating with notes saying how they couldn’t keep updating because it was disrespectful to Chadwick and like rest in power to Chadwick but… he didn’t own the character. He played the character really well to the point it was his but ever since he died people, including the MCU have just buried T’Challa’s character to the point that he’s being forgotten and I hate it and it’s partially what killed my interests in the MCU too because the first black superhero with his own successful movie since Blade and because the actor died, he’s being forgotten and left out even though he’s still alive in the comics and fanfic writers could just take their inspo from that.

I don’t know. Put me in an ice coma and wake me up in 50 Years when people start actually using T’Challa again. Maybe I’m one of the few who thought that maybe if the studio knew about Chadwick’s condition (because I doubt he kept it a complete secret from the people he was working with) that they could work with him to find a suitable replacement to continue T’Challa’s role and people would be more okay with it because it would be Chadwick’s choice in successor but whatevs. I stopped watching MCU movies so it has nothing to do with me.

[mugiwara-lucy]

Listen, it’s not about letting Trump win, it’s about letting the Democratic Party know that they still have to earn your vote in order to affect their policy and their current stance on Palestine. Once they’re elected you can’t make them earn your vote anymore, so it’s important to hold that over their head before the elections.

Also, Kamala Harris is NOT “pro-Palestine” as long as she keeps repeating the “Israel has a right to defend itself” truism, and as along as she continues to talk of a ceasefire without doing anything to enforce it. This is not simply a matter of opinion or stance in the matter, the current United States government is a perpetrator of the violence and they need to be addressed as such.

Part of the reason why drawing a line on the sand with this issue is so important is that American liberalism has a history of elevating their own rights as worthy of pursuit while disregarding the way they themselves are complicit in the erosion of those said rights abroad. Leaders of the Civil Rights movement and the Black Panthers back in the sixties and seventies understood, for example, openly challenged and fought the Democrat Vietnam policy because they understood the hypocrisy of letting their rights come at the expense of people dying elsewhere.

“Vote blue no matter who” mentality creates complacency in officials seeking to be elected, it tells them they do not have to earn your vote. Living in a democracy is about making your voice heard and organizing accordingly, so please stop disparaging any efforts made to effectively challenge current policy and use that democratic power for an actual change.

First of all, I'd like to say thank you for being more respectful to me that some of these other Anons.

I will admit I lost my patience on them but when you've been getting harassed for months, it gets to you.

Now look, if we lived in a parallel universe where Project 2025 wasn't a thing and the person running against Kamala was an idiot like RFK Jr who doesn't seem to want to be a dictator, I'd probably agree more with the Non-Voting stance you all want to take although I'd never do it since I want to exercise my right to vote whenever I can but the reality is we don't. We have an unapologetic, lying, hateful evil RAPIST running for president. And I'm not sure if you're American or not but there's some people who downplay just how HORRIFIC his term was and the lasting ramifications of it. Here's the main consequences of him being in office:

Roe v Wade, Affirmative Action and the Chevron was overturned (stuff which was 50 years old that got lost after EIGHT YEARS).

I'm sorry but i am NOT INTERESTED in seeing what's next to go because of a Supreme Court Justice that he appointed. Especially since there'll be vacancies in the next couple of years and if he appoints MORE YOUNGER MAGA TYPE justices, the Supreme Court will be locked hard right for AT LEAST THIRTY YEARS.

Do you KNOW what will happen to this country at that point??

Now Trump has said when he gets back into office he wants to "restrict" the First Amendment:

And one of his Supreme Court dickriders Clarence Thomas was talking about getting rid of Loving V Virginia (the law that made Interracial dating LEGAL):

So that's why I'm putting as MUCH of my effort into making sure Trump does NOT get back into office as much as I can. It's not that I don't care about Palestine (quite the contrary actually) but if we DON'T HAVE OUR RIGHTS HOW CAN WE HELP ANYONE ELSE?? I ask this and get crickets in response.

And Kamala IS Pro-Palestine. Don't forget this:

And having her in office is WAY BETTER for Palestine that this clown that NOT ONLY SAID THIS:

And LITERALLY TRIED to SABOTAGE Kamala's chances at winning the election by conspiring with Natanyahu to HAVE NO ceasefires made:

Which I'd like to point out is in violation of the LOGAN ACT since normal people can NOT interfere in domestic affairs in other countries.

To say they're the similar is uninformed ignorance at best or just willful lying at worse.

They're NOWHERE in the SAME BALLPARK.

It's not disparaging your efforts as it is just saying if we don't get Kamala, we get the rapist back in office who has talked NUMEROUS TIMES about a third term so I wouldn't be surprised if the ONLY way he leaves is in a bodybag.

(ASSUMING THE MILITARY STEPS IN AND DEALS WITH THEM AS THEY HAVE A MANDATE).

[antoine-roquentin]

This series is shaping up to be about covert attempts by institutional power structures to undermine the health and safety of the international working class. The previous part, Part 4, is here. You can find a cool easter egg by seeing who the magazine in the bottom right image was delivered to.

The above is a dossier compiled by a right wing business intelligence group and purchased by the CIA not long after the events I’m about to share occurred. It is hosted on the CIA’s website for declassified files, the Reading Room. It was prepared by Fulton Lewis III, an outspoken supporter of the Rhodesian government and the son of a Hearst-sponsored anti-communist radio broadcaster, sort of the Tucker Carlson of the 40s and 50s. We don’t have the CIA’s own assessments because those are still classified.

When we last left the crew of the spaceship Ramparts, they were dealing with infiltration, incompetence, hedonism, an inability to secure funding, and the heady addiction of fame. Things were about to get worse as their own interpersonal disputes had come to the fore. Keating had seen his power at the magazine get whittled away as incentives in the form of shares for other backers became necessary. At the time, Hinckle counted among his friends Howard Gossage, an advertising whiz kid who helped popularize Marshall McLuhan and did the Sierra Club's first campaign. He frequently went to Gossage for advice. The two came up with a plan to push Keating into the 1966 Democratic primaries for the 11th district of California (later held by Leo Ryan, a CIA critic killed at Jonestown, and now held by Nancy Pelosi) as a way of reducing his influence on the day to day operations of Ramparts. In the midst of a meeting, they had two staff members slip away and come back with signs that said "Keating for Congress" and "Keating the people's choice".

By the start of 1966, however, the election bug had spread through the offices, both because it allowed Ramparts to make the news it reported on as salacious as possible, and because the Democratic Party had largely denied ballot access to anybody who was anti-Vietnam War. Bob Scheer, the foreign editor, ran in Oakland, and Stanley Sheinbaum, the Michigan State University professor who'd exposed the CIA's role on campus, ran in Santa Barbara. All gained 40-45% of the vote, mainly by cohering those opposed to the war. One thing in particular all three did was bring together the black vote (for instance, Julian Bond, mentioned previously in the series, campaigned for Scheer). Their campaigns were run by a coterie of Ramparts staffers, namely CPUSA member Carl Bloice as well as Berekeley lecturer Peter Collier, and were endorsed by a combination of black and Hollywood luminaries, for instance Dick Gregory, the civil rights activist and stand-up comedian, and Robert Vaughan, Napoleon Solo on the Man from Uncle and both a murderer and a victim on Columbo (see him argue about Vietnam on Firing Line with William Buckley here). Some of the opposition research on the three came directly from CIA files and was given to the establishment candidates by LBJ's press secretary Bill Moyers.

With the elections lost, Ramparts needed a new spin on things to bring back all the anti-electoral politics radicals. Fortunately, in nearby Oakland, a new group had just been founded called the Black Panther Party. Huey Newton and Bobby Seale like to portray their group as their own innovation, two upwardly mobile college kids shooting the shit late at night. The group they'd been part of prior to the BPP, the Maoist Revolutionary Action Movement, described them as "adventurists" for their desire to put theory to practice and finally organize in the community instead of just talking about it. Whatever the case, Newton learned from Robert Williams' Negroes with Guns that California law, influenced by white supremacist vigilanteism, allowed anyone to openly carry a weapon even in the presence of police. He went to Chinatown, bought copies of Mao's Little Red Book for cents, and sold them for dollars in Oakland as part of a course in organized self-defence, then used the money to buy shotguns and M-16s for use by graduates of the course. By February 1967, Ramparts staff writer Eldridge Cleaver had made contact at a speaking event for Malcolm X's widow Betty Shabazz, where the Black Panther Party founders and their cohort were the only ones armed. Cleaver invited them to the Ramparts offices for a sit down.

Remember the bit from the last part about Shabazz' bodyguards? That was Seale, Newton, and Co. Their arrival caused  Hinckle's police buddies to get worried, and they put out an APB and surrounded the building, much to Newton's consternation. Hinckle suggested they go out for a drink, but nobody was buying it. Newton stared down a cop, who undid his holster. Seale put his hand on Newton, who told him off. "Don't hold my hand, brother." Seale released it, because that was his shooting hand. Newton taunted the officer. "You got an itchy trigger finger?... OK, you big, fat, racist pig, draw your gun!" All the Ramparts' staffers who'd come to watch as well as the officers' backup got the hell out of Dodge. Eventually, even the officer backed down. It was the first time the BPP had ever gotten the police to back down. It brought admiration from the entire Ramparts staff, who soon made the magazine the semi-official outlet of the BPP. And it brought Cleaver into their fold. They appointed him spokesman/Minister of Information within weeks. The following is the only news footage from that day shot after the incident, the rest having been lost, with Scheer in the background at one point:

And that wasn't even the most shocking thing going on at Ramparts. This series has previously mentioned the National Student Association as a bunch of debate nerds who essentially trained to have public speaking and organizing on their resume for future employers. The thing about the NSA was, it was a CIA front, and generally suspected as such. In 1947, there was an implosion of student politics' international facing groups. Those who had seen the Soviets fight in the Second World War generally accepted their claims to want world peace on their face, while the groups aligned with the Catholic Church teamed up with disparate right wing WASPs and Jews to fight back. The CIA had taken these students (to note, these were largely men in their late 20s or early 30s, grad rather than undergrad) under their wing and organized them into a front group that could report back on invitational events held in Eastern Europe. In turn, the top echelons of the NSA had to be sworn into legal secrecy as a prerequisite of participation, with the reward being entry into the old boys network of politicians and bureaucrats which virtually guaranteed a job.  

The CIA fucked up. In 1965, the elected president of the NSA was Philip Sherburne. He was sworn into secrecy on the source of funding for their new HQ and general operations, as was normal for the group. But he disliked that they had only one source of funding, and he wanted the NSA to be independent. At the time, the grassroots in the organization who followed international politics and hewed to the left had managed to get some of their membership into power, but they had felt straitjacketed by the CIA's complete control of NSA finances. Many wanted to join in on the anti-war marches. Sherburne and others, spurred on by abrogation of Juan Bosch's regime in the Dominican Republic and the electoral fraud that brought the American-backed opposition to power, worked to find alternative sources of funding. They sent one an NSA man as part of the operation, but he got cold feet and worked with Sherburne to expose it. In response, the CIA had a number of top NSA men declared eligible for the draft in Vietnam. Bureaucratic fights ensued, involving the lives of students in America, Spain, Vietnam, and elsewhere. Finally, Sherburne went above the CIA's head to vice president Hubert Humprhey. In response, the CIA went and cut all of Sherburne's independent lines of funding. Unbenkownst to them, Sherburne had made a relatively radical student named Michael Wood his outside line to donors. He'd told Wood not to approach certain groups because they were backed by "certain government agencies". Wood had surmised that this meant the CIA and gone and picked up the only book out on the Agency: The Invisible Government, by David Wise and Thomas Ross. When he saw that the NSA's funding for 1966 had the same donor groups backed by the CIA, he realized Sherburne had lost and stole the files.

Twice the New York Times had published articles critical of the CIA in some form. In 1965, Texas congressman Wright Patman, initially elected on his support of the Bonus Army and ever a thorn in the establishment's side, had investigated 8 charitable foundations and found them to be CIA cutouts. The NYT had written an article on this as well as replies from the funded orgs (Encounter Magazine and the Congress for Cultural Freedom). In 1966, spurred by Ramparts' articles on MSU, NYT reporter Tom Wicker wrote of the allegations and added details of other botched operations around the world he'd heard from sources over the years. This brought the ire of the agency. In 1961, in response to details of the Bay of Pigs invasion being published in The Nation before it occurred, President Kennedy told his aides to bother him when details showed up in the New York Times because it otherwise did not matter. The CIA had actually worked hard to kill the very same story before the NYT could publish it so by the time the invasion failed, Kennedy apparently exclaimed that he wished more details had been published in the NYT so that the invasion would have been stopped. CIA agent Cord Meyer made the postscript of Part 3 of this series as the handler of much of the CIA's work through cutouts and allied groups like AFL-CIO, especially in in regards to  the effort to influence the media known as Operation Mockingbird. Meyer and his wife, Mary Pinchot, were next door neighbours to the Kennedy's before JFK became president. Pinchot divorced Meyer after their child was killed in a car accident in 1957. She moved in with her brother-in-law, Ben Bradlee, later of Pentagon Papers and Watergate fame and played by Tom Hanks in the Steven Spielberg film The Post. In 1961, James Jesus Angleton, head of counterintelligence at the CIA, tapped her phone and discovered she was in a sexual relationship with JFK, including visits at the White House. When Pinchot was murdered in October 1964 in what was termed a robbery (a black man was arrested but acquitted), a friend of the family heard (he said) about the murder on the radio and phoned Bradlee first and Meyer second. Bradlee went to go find her diary and found Angleton sitting in her house (his garage) reading it. They later destroyed it. After that, Meyer became an alcoholic and compiled an enemies list of the CIA that included the Vice President. He was already fearful of a leak and told his subordinates to go after NSA staff but did not determine who Sherburne had told until his wiretaps of Ramparts phone lines informed him.

Ramparts, of course, knew that they had been tapped and kept phone calls brief. Scheer phoned Judith Coburn of the Village Voice and asked for her discretion. Wanting to break into a field dominated by men, Coburn felt like she was being called by a rock star, but nonetheless found it absurd that Scheer believed his calls to be tapped. She knew the CIA to be involved in assassinations like Lumumba's and thought their dealings with a minor org like the NSA were absurd. Ultimately, she helped by confronting a number of figures on their work. Eventually, a young WASP Harvard undergraduate who was on retainer from Ramparts named Michael Ansara got the call. His blog about it is excellent reading, located here. I quote:

One evening in the cold months of early 1967, my phone rang. A strange voice, obviously from New York asked, “Is this Michael Ansara?”

“Yes.”

“This is Sol Stern from Ramparts. Bob Scheer says you are our man in Boston.”

“Well . . . OK.”

“Listen I need you to do some work for us right away. I cannot tell you what it is about. I am calling you from a phone booth. Will you do it?”

“Well, what kind of work and are you willing to pay me for it?”

“It is research into two Boston based foundations. We will pay you $500.” 500 dollars was a lot of money. I had no idea how to research foundations, but I thought, what the hell. I could really use the money.

“Sure. What exactly do you want me to do?”

“I can’t tell you anything more than to find everything you can on the Sidney & Esther Rabb Foundation and Independence Foundation. They are based in Boston. I will call you in several days. You cannot call me. You cannot tell anyone what you are doing. You cannot mention the name Ramparts. Can I count on you?”

“I guess so. Sure. Yes.”

Ansara knew a much older man, an economist and lawyer who had sway in the Democratic Party named George Sommaripa. Sommaripa suggested Ansara go to a guy he knew at the IRS. Ansara did, and was told that under no circumstances could he have access to the files on two CIA cutout foundations. Chastened, Ansara complained to Sommaripa, who'd gotten the IRS clerk his job. A few days later, Ansara went back. The IRS clerk told him he could have any box he wanted, provided he did not go past the 990 form on the cover. He went past for the first two foundations and found that money came from an anonymous donor and in equal amounts went right out to the NSA. Ultimately, he pulled the files for 110 foundations, every single known group that the CIA used. He would look at the incorporation files for the foundations, see a lawyers' name, and look him up. Every time, the lawyer was an OSS operative during WW2, the predecessor org of the CIA. One of the lawyers had founded a firm with Sommaripa, a man named David Bird. Ansara confronted Bird, and Bird did not even stop to hang up on Ansara before phoning a contact at the CIA.

Left to right: Hinckle, Stern, Scheer.

A major corroboration of the story came from three students in New York who were disgusted by American foreign policy in Latin America. One in particular, Fred Goff, had been sent to the Dominican Republic with Allard Lowenstein (part 3) to observe the election of the pro-American candidate over the anti-American one. Goff had discovered that a man that Lowenstein had said he trusted on the country was actually a CIA agent, Sacha Volman. Another, Michael Locker, had done a paper about the CIA based on the NYT articles. Together, they walked in the doors of the AFL-CIO's American Institute for Free Labor Development and asked directly about the CIA, prompting a crashing sound and the institute's director, Thomas Kahn, planner of the 1963 March on Washington and the long-term romantic partner of Bayard Rustin, to scream at them.

The problem was when it came time to do the story. Sometimes, the researchers were paid by Ramparts. Other times, they received cheques from the Interchurch Center, a strange agency that serves as a front for charitable giving from the Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Reformed, Methodist, and United Churches in America. James Forman, mentioned in previous parts, once led a picket in favour of reparations from them. Ramparts staff demanded they talk to them by picking up pay phones that would ring at designated times, a dismal failure. Other times, Hinckle, Scheer, and Sol Stern would fly in, book rooms at the Algonquin, and order massive amounts of takeout and booze. 15 to 20 people would be in a hotel room trying to negotiate who would be writing the story by continent, or by year, or by foundation. At one point, Coburn broke into the NSA HQ and unwittingly stole the original deed to their land, where it remained undiscovered in Ramparts' files till the 2010s.

On New Year's Eve, 1966, Lowenstein was hanging out with the new members of the NSA leadership when he informed them that Ramparts was writing about their relationship with the CIA. "The usual sloppy Ramparts piece, lots of flash, little substance," he said. The CIA had known since at least Thanksgiving. A lower level NSA official who'd just been sworn in went to meet with Hinckle and Scheer. The duo, while nonchalantly throwing darts, offered the Ramparts donor list as an incentive to tell all, but he refused. Sherburne attempted to find counsel in a lawyer who'd once opposed the CIA's new Langley HQ on NIMBY grounds. Meyer had threatened the lawyer's brother, working in Bogota with USAID, but the lawyer persisted. Undaunted, Meyer got word to Douglass Cater, the first president of the NSA and now an advisor to LBJ. LBJ bumped it to Lowenstein and the CIA to develop a response, which was to hold a press conference with an article in Henry Luce's (the man, not the monkey) Time Magazine that this was all well known since the 1965 congressional hearings, that the money was not that impressive, that the Soviets had done much more, etc.

This could have killed Ramparts. The IRS was already looking for any sign of foreign influence as an excuse to shut down the magazine. It needed some sort of relationship with the establishment press in a way that would let it gain influence without keeping it from the areas it wanted to report on. At the very same time, both Time and the NYT were reporting on the survival of Ramparts: Keating had attempted a coup and lost a board vote 13-1, with Mitford and other backers providing anonymous quotes that while they disliked the "Animal Farm-ish" nature of the issue, they needed Ramparts to stave off a fascist dictatorship in America. Hinckle followed by setting up an astounding agreement with the New York Times and Washington Post: they would get full access to Ramparts' files on the CIA right now, before the White House could set up a press conference, in exchange for letting them run full page ads for days for their next issue.

The day the Times went to press, February 13, 1963, was termed by former CIA director Richard Helms in his memoirs as "one of my darkest days". The press pushed, smelling blood. President Johnson ordered a suspension and review of CIA funding for outside orgs. The CIA initially tried to find a way to blame a dead president, Truman, but realized that its own documentation on the program, written by Cord Meyer, claimed that then-director Allen Dulles did not have any responsibility to inform the president of what he had ordered. Switching tactics, they turned on their press weapon, known as the Mighty Wurlitzer, and claimed that the CIA would have been remiss to not conduct these operations. "I'm glad the CIA is immoral" was the headline of an article by Meyer's boss, Thomas Braden. He described $250 million a year the CIA believed to be spent by the Soviet Union on cultural subversion, to which a mere handful of dollars from the CIA could not compare. No evidence for the accusations was provided, of course. Finally, Helms pulled in a favour from Robert Kennedy and had him testify to the press that his brother had authorized the funding, carried over from the days of Eisenhower. 12 former NSA presidents (including Lowenstein) came out and said the relationship was above board. All had worked for the CIA at least once after they'd left the NSA, but that was not revealed in their letter.

The strategy was a half-success. All the foundations funded by the CIA fell apart and students around the world became suspicious of CIA infiltration. Much of what Ramparts found was investigated by Congress repeatedly over the next decade, culminating in the reforms that came out of the Church Committee, which Helms claimed in his memoirs was sparked by Ramparts and Watergate. Certainly press readership was high, and many stories were published in the NYT and WaPo confirming and furthering the work done. At the same time, the CIA escaped with only a few new rules on its behaviour. President Johnson was a paranoic and was more concerned about using the CIA as a tool against his domestic enemies. He authorized a much larger role for MHCHAOS in punishing his enemies (remember the cryptonyms? MH was the most illegal, as it meant the USA). Many of those fingered were considered liberals in good standing and were part of the labour movement, particularly AFL-CIO higher-ups. They fell in line with the rhetoric about communist subversion because they knew they'd be the ones punished if things went further.

Interestingly, a few months later, the NSA held a vote on integrating an anti-Vietnam War and anti-draft stance into its platform. Traditionally, the CIA had worked from the shadows to suppress these votes. This time, Allard Lowenstein whipped in favour of the anti- stance and it won. Lowenstein soon became a fixture in the anti-LBJ movement, leading the call to bring Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy into the Democratic presidential primaries. To a large extent, the organizations that were closed to the CIA had been products of decades-old relationships and worked in ways that nobody had bothered to improve. Within the CIA, a tension had always existed between bureaucrats with their own fiefdoms and up and comers with new ways of doing things. To a large extent, this scandal simply pushed the former out and made room for the latter, who would not do things like create financial records with the exact same dollar amounts going in and out, or act so bluntly when it came to manipulating staff. While the CIA may have suffered a little in the short term, it was an act of "creative destruction" that improved how the CIA did business. For Ramparts, on the other hand, things were going to get much worse now that they had drawn the ire of the intelligence community. While the magazine reached its peak distribution of 250,000 copies a month, it still did not bring in enough money to cover its expenses, and it was about to be faced with a much larger funding crisis: the Six Day War.

AFTER ALLEN DULLES RETIRED, the director bragged about the NSA operation. “We got everything we wanted. I think what we did was worth every penny. If we turned back the communists and made them milder and easier to live with, it was because we stopped them in certain areas, and the student area was one of them.”... Edward Garvey, who also worked at CIA headquarters, puts it more dramatically: “My God, did we finger people for the Shah?”... Stephen Robbins, despite his limited CIA involvement during his year as president, echoes Garvey’s concern: “It’s South Africa that keeps me up at night.”

[u-mspcoll]

New Observations: Bringing Art and Activism to Challenging Times

Join us next week for this panel event with Mia Feroleto, Jalil Muntaqim, and Chief Henry Red Cloud!

"New Observations: Bringing Art and Activism to Challenging Times"

Wednesday 1 November 6-8p in the Pendleton Room, Michigan Union or online

https://myumi.ch/4rMN3

Mia Feroleto, publisher of New Observations — an independent, non-profit contemporary arts and culture journal — shares information about its founding in 1985 by artist Lucio Pozzi, and the way she has used her own activism to shape the trajectory of the magazine.

Jalil Muntaqim, who joined the Black Panther Party at the age of 18, discusses his almost 50 years of incarceration as well as his activism both inside and outside of prison walls. As a co-founder of the Jericho Movement and founder of the Spirit of Mandela, Jalil works for freedom and equality, and seeks to influence people of all races around the world.

Chief Henry Red Cloud gives an overview of life on the Pine Ridge Reservation and the challenges Lakota and other Indigenous Peoples face today. He also discusses his extraordinary work bringing solar power and sustainable housing to the reservation.

[dizzymoods]

T1J made a follow up video to his Why No Black Socialists video where he responds to hasan the hun's reaction to it. Hasan says "Dems pandering is cringe/idpol is bad" bah blah blah

But T1J made the fatal mistake of saying bc of that pandering we get stuff like the slate of Civil Rights protections of the 50s & 60s.

In Fire Next Time James Baldwin writes:

White Americans congratulate themselves on the 1954 Supreme Court decision outlawing segregation in the schools; they suppose, in spite of the mountain of evidence that has since accumulated to the contrary, that this was proof of a change of heart — or, as they like to say, progress. Perhaps. It all depends on how one reads the word “progress.” Most of the negroes I know do not believe that this immense concession would never have been made if it had not been for the competition of the Cold War, and the fact that Africa was clearly liberating herself and therefore had, for political reasons, to be wooed by the descendants of her former masters. Had it been a matter of love or justice, the 1954 decision would surely have occurred sooner; were it not for the realities of power in this difficult era, it might very well not have occurred yet.

Malcolm talks similarly in his post-Hajj speeches. The Black Panthers formed just 20 days before the 1966 election, the first election protected by the voting right act. Black socialists were skeptical of these so called rights. Especially since we went through the same thing with the 15th Amendment and Jim Crow.

We knew this was pandering. A temporary capitulation to the times. and when the pendulum eventually swings back, it'll be hard and fast. After it's passage it was enough to mediate voting rights with incarceration, gerrymandering, electoral college, etc. But in 2008 the unthinkable happens. We voted in a black guy and since then white supremacists have made great headway in rolling back those inalienable rights. The pressure from socialist African countries isn't there bc of neo-colonialism. There isn't an existential threat to the US bc the Soviet Union collapsed. So in this context, how has pandering been a gain for black people?

[crazy-pages]

Okay, so I know this isn't the take anybody wants, but there actually is a difference between political violence and institutional violence. The violence of government commits or permits to occur on its own citizens, or inflicts on others is institutional violence. Violence for the purpose of ensuring someone takes or cannot take political power is political violence.

Obviously there is often overlap here, historically institutional violence and political violence against black people to prevent them from voting in the United States has gone pretty hand in hand. But there is a meaningful difference between the institutional violence the United States commits on poor people and the political violence of assassination and let's talk about that.

The thing about institutional violence is that it can sometimes be resolved by non-violent methods or through deescalatory threats of violence. The March on Washington and the Black Panthers shadowing cops both good examples of deescalatory threats of violence. Meanwhile the Black Panthers' school breakfast programs we're in excellent non-violent way of defraying the institutional violence of poverty by replacing it with institutional support.

Political violence however, is corrosive in a way which always leads to one of three ends: failure, an authoritarian state which commits large amounts of political violence, or catastrophic amounts of political violence to re-establish nonviolent political processes. And there's a very simple reason for that.

Killing one person doesn't matter. Yeah there's a lot of historical cases where killing one person change the course of history, but never in predictable ways. Sometimes killing the Tsar just makes his son more reactionary. Sometimes killing person just makes them a martyr. Sometimes it takes the steam out of a movement. It's basically impossible to tell beforehand, but it typically doesn't help. Because the institutional apparatus which allows that one person to do institutional harm typically still exists.

And with Trump, you better believe it exists with or without him. He's fully willing to enact Project 2025, but the man is barely literate. He didn't write any of it, and all the people who did would still be alive if you killed him. And any possible Republican candidate who could replace him would gleefully enacted in his place.

Well okay, what about wider scale political violence I hear you say? In a purely hypothetical scenario, couldn't you just kill enough of the fascists before they take power? And the answer is, not without government support. It's just not possible to kill the sheer scale of people required to destabilize an institution without the tacit permission or direct assistance of the government. Typically when revolutionary organizations opposing the government commit systemic assassination campaigns they are either lashing out in a way which doesn't accomplish much, or they are deliberately trying to provoke a backlash which will drive people into their arms to escape government violence. It's just not really feasible to commit violence on that scale without the support of the state.

Which brings us to the core problem. States which commit wide scale political violence in the pursuit of a particular party keeping power go bad real quick! The whole reason democracies are better than autocracies, even anemic mostly oligarchic democracies like it what the US currently has, is because you need the support of a lot of people to hold power. And there's limits on how bad a government can make things for how many people before losing that support, even if the minimum threshold of support can be very unenthusiastic or come from less than the 50% of the population you would hope for in a true democracy. This is known as the winning coalition, the key players you have to have on your side to hold power.

But authoritarian regimes only need the support of a few hundred or a few thousand key players. The right generals, the right tax people, the right police chiefs, the right governors, etc. Which means those people and their bottom lines become more important than anything else. Even a benevolent dictator has limits on how benevolent they can be, simply because if they're not funneling enough resources into those people, those people are going to pick a different authoritarian dictator.

And the thing is, once a government is enacting enough political violence to fully destroy an opposing political party, the individuals involved in the perpetration of that political violence become that small winning coalition. Political leaders have to satisfy them, the specific individuals who organize the violence, carry it out, handle logistics of it, handle the public relations of it, etc, before everyone else. Because if they don't, they can kill them!

So committing enough political violence to actually affect democratic processes is corrosive to the very concept of democracy. Even if the people it's being committed against are fascists who have every intent to destroy democracy themselves, the result of successful implementation of that political violence becomes an authoritarian state.

(Note: This isn't to say that counter protest violence against fascist organizing attempts doesn't work, just that it's a different beast than assassinations.)

The only way for successful political violence to end in a non authoritarian system is for the enactors of political violence to fail to achieve a monopoly on political violence and to continue escalating political violence against one another to such a degree and for so long that everybody becomes sick of it and sits down at the negotiating table. More often than not, this looks like a civil war and a lot of people die. And there has never been a guarantee that the results of that negotiation are going to be good. Sometimes they are, but typically not.

Sad fact: The people who are good at wielding political violence to get what they want, and the people who make good arbiters of government organizing principles rarely overlap.

And here's the thing. The politicians who keep on saying political violence has no place in our democracy know enough civics to understand this. Or they are being fed lines by people who do. Or, probably in quite a few cases, they simply know there is a history of this being the proper response because other people who know their civics have said this before, and their parroting that "proper response".

Using political violence to control the political process is a dead end for nation states. If it succeeds, it either degrades the state into an authoritarian one, or it escalates to the point where the state functionally collapses and is recreated. (And that is always characterized by oceans of blood.) It is escalatory in a way institutional violence is not necessarily. It is the end of democracy.

I think US politicians are very often hypocrites of the highest order in how willing they are to erode other states with political violence, versus how scared they are other than the United States. And I think there's a deep unfairness to a politician recognizing the genuine badness of political violence when they refuse to recognize or care about how bad the institutional violence of their own state is.

But they are not wrong about how corrosive political violence is.

Sure, one attempted assassination on Donald Trump isn't going to end democracy in the United States, this is not the first time somebody's tried to assassinate a US president or presidential candidate. But assassinations often spawn copycats, and if that starts snowballing and you actually get enough political violence to control the outcome of democratic processes, it really is the end of democracy. There is a good reason politicians from all sides of the political spectrum are clamping down on this so hard, even as infuriatingly hypocritical about it so many of them are.

This is simply not a road which leads anywhere good.

I think it's stupid when people say political violence has no place in this country when our government uses violence against poor people every day. Why does a person sleep outside in the cold when the car dealership is heated all night? Why do people go hungry when grocery stores pack dumpsters with perfectly edible food? Because of the threat of violence. Because someone with a gun will show up if you even try it.

[urbnvision]

Raising Sickle Cell Awareness in Memory of Israel Adeoye.

So my nephew (by way of marriage), Israel Oluwamide Adeoye, passed away 3 weeks ago from Sickle Cell Disease at the age of 27. 

After his death, I discovered his TikTok page and proceeded to listen to all of his videos and learned more about his experiences with the disease and specifically with the medical establishment. 

Y’all! I was appalled. And slightly embarrassed for not having known more while this was happening. I’ve known sickle cell exists and could have rambled off a brief definition of what it was in terms of its etiology. What I did NOT know was the ravaging way in which it affects people’s actual daily lives and an inside look at what the day-to-day looks like for those going through it. Listening to his stories deeply humbled me.

When I met my husband, it was on our second date that he asked me about my status and if I was a carrier for sickle cell trait (AS). I did not know. Still don’t know actually. But because he knew he was AA (a non-carrier), I guess it didn’t matter for us so much in terms of carrying on dating. But I understand now why we had that conversation so early on.

I also learned from one of Israel’s TikToks that Sickle Cell Awareness Day is the same day as Juneteenth. He was disheartened that the Juneteenth holiday overshadowed Sickle Cell Awareness Day and wanted more people to know about the disease. He often ended his videos detailing his medical abuse with a charge for us to help and “do something about it.” I kinda took that charge to heart. 

In honor of Israel, and all Sickle Cell Warriors, I wanted to take up his cause and do my small part to help with raising awareness. We are all we got y’all! Back in the 70’s the Black Panther Party saw this need and they were fighting for this awareness too. One of the main initiatives for the Party setting up the free health clinics was to get people screened for sickle cell disease and trait. It is 2024, some 50 years later, and still, this isn’t being talked about nearly enough. I know they are beginning to make some strides with gene therapy it seems…but a cure that is readily available and affordable for all is probably still some ways away.

So what is sickle cell disease? According to the NIH, “Sickle cell disease is a group of inherited red blood cell disorders that affect hemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen through the body. Normally, red blood cells are disc-shaped and flexible enough to move easily through the blood vessels. In sickle cell disease, red blood cells become crescent- or “sickle”-shaped due to a genetic mutation. These sickled red blood cells do not bend or move easily and can block blood flow to the rest of the body.

The blocked blood flow through the body can lead to serious problems, including stroke, eye problems, infections, and episodes of pain called pain crises.”

The condition affects more than 100,000 people in the United States and 20 million people worldwide. According to the CDC, “more than 90% are non-Hispanic Black or African American, and an estimated 3%–9% are Hispanic or Latino.” Pause and let that sink in for a moment. More than 90% of us! 

“About 1 in 13 Black or African American babies are born with sickle cell trait.

About 1 in every 365 Black or African American babies are born with sickle cell disease.

The estimated life expectancy of those with SCD in the United States is more than 20 years shorter than the average expected.”

Those are pretty chilling statistics to me. Like any disease, there is a spectrum of how well one can do while having it, but no one is exempt from the pain.

So with all that being said… The purpose of this post. I don’t know what to do to “fix it” as he asked. And I am sure I don’t have the power to do much, though I will continue to research and figure out a more satisfying answer to that question for myself. But for now… 

I am doing a bake sale for Juneteenth in honor of Israel and for World Sickle Cell Day. The proceeds from the bake sale will be donated to Health Equity Matters Foundation in his name, as was requested by the family at his funeral. 

I would be honored if you all would support this initiative by buying cupcakes or just making a donation if you don’t want the actual cupcakes.

Better yet, if you want to take it a step further, I charge everyone to go get tested to see if they are sickle cell carriers and know their status. Make sure your children know theirs also.

If you are able to, donate blood!

I don’t want to say that he lost his fight to sickle cell. He fought well and was awarded the rest he so desperately needed. But his fight is over. However I am personally making sure that his charge to “do something” did not fall on deaf ears. This is my little version of “something.”  And if nothing else, every Juneteenth y’all will hear from me a post about Sickle Cell Awareness Day, even if that’s all I can do. Posting additional links in the comments for those who want to know more. 

Rest well Israel.

#sicklecell #sicklecellanemia #sicklecellwarrior #sicklecellawareness #sicklecellmatters #healthequity #juneteenth #worldsicklecellday #donateblood #israeladeoye 

[asianamericanmovement1960s1970s]

Introduction

The Asian American Movement was a post-World War II sociopolitical movement that gained momentum in the 1960s to mid-1970s as a direct result of the Civil Rights and Black Power Movement.

For background context, immigrants who had come to the United States late 1800s and early 1900s prior to this movement and were from China, Japan, Korea, India, and the Philippines did not refer to themselves collectively as “Asian Americans”. Arriving in the United States in waves with the hopes and promise of achieving socioeconomic success, these ethnic groups of immigrants quickly realized that the American Dream was far from reality. Asian immigrant communities did not willingly and freely ally themselves with each other, nor did they perceive themselves to be in the same racial category as other Asian ethnic groups. They laid low and stayed within their own isolated ethnic communities, each with their own separate social and economic systems, relying solely on themselves, and willfully differentiating themselves from other ethnic groups and communities. 

Previously referred to as “orientals”, a highly negative and derogatory term, there was no true solidarity between these Asian ethnic groups. After World War II, major shifts in paradigm issues began to unravel in the United States. These shifts included:

The United States repealed its ban on Chinese immigrants (Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882) as a symbol of solidarity with  China as an Allied power.

The United States officially recognized the Republic of Philippines as an independent sovereign and state, after 50 years of occupation

Feelings of resentment and frustrations of Japanese Americans post-World War II as a result of the forced displacement with Japanese Internment Camps (Executive Order 9066)

Oppositions to the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War

The re-evaluation of the United States’ concept of democracy with the Civil Rights Movement (1954-1968) & Black Panther Movement (1966-1982)

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Determined that the segregation of public schools was unconstitutional 1964 Civil Rights Act & 1965 Voting Rights Act

Prohibited discrimination in voting, education, employment, and public facilities

1968 Civil Rights Act

Barred racial discrimination in the sale or rental of housing

Immigration Act of 1965

Abolished the quota based on national-origins and allowed for more opportunities for immigration

With the participation of Asian ethnic-groups rallying in the struggle for social justice out of moral outrage for African Americans in the Civil Rights Movement, many had come to realized that they too experienced similar forms of racial and institutional discrimination, and that this was an issue not only for African Americans, but rather for people of color (Wei, 2010). Having been victims of prejudice and discrimination, Asian ethnic-groups empathized with the efforts of the Civil Rights Movement and soon after,  Asian American political activism spontaneously developed all over the country, primarily in the East (New York) and West (San Francisco, Los Angeles) coast, fighting for increasing political, economic, and social equality through the learning of their own history, focused on making education be rooted rooted in their lived and shared experiences, and the empower individuals and organizations with the knowledge and tools to strive for change.

[theconstitutionisgayculture]

If you think this can never happen again you're an idiot. If you think this has only ever happened to left wing groups you're an even bigger idiot. This happened to left wing groups because, in the 50s and 60s, they were the biggest threat to the people in power. Think about the current political landscape. Think about the current groups who challenge that landscape. It's not the Black Panthers, or the Communist Party, or feminists, or left wing radical groups. Those all support the government positions on almost everything. They've been tamed and leashed and they're now nothing more than eager pawns for what used to be called The Man. The true threat to those in power is MAGA. It's Trump. It's the Proud Boys. It's undercover journalists like James O'Keefe. It's gun rights groups and right wing activists. It's people like RFK Jr who break with the established power dynamics. Look at how the media and the government treat those groups and people. The only reason COINTELPRO and similar operations were ever exposed is because the journalists who were handed the information decided to publish the story. When the owner of a computer repair shop did the same thing with Hunter Biden's laptop, the media did everything in their power to coordinate with the government to cover up his crimes. When a presidential candidate was being spied on by the outgoing presidential administration the same media that hasn't shut up about Watergate for the past 50 years did everything in its power to cover for that president (Obama) and destroy the man who had just won the election (Trump).

If you think there aren't things like this happening now just because CNN hasn't reported on it, you're the biggest idiot of them all.

They’ve Always Been Watching Us: From COINTELPRO and Martin Luther King, Jr to the NSA’s surveillance program, the US Government has been keeping a close watch on the American Left for a long time.

by Andy Warner and Jess Parker

(Continue Reading)

[yasbxxgie]

Sadie Barnette Reclaims Her Father’s Black Panther FBI File As Art

Artist Sadie Barnette’s family tree includes a 500-page FBI file. In 1968, the United States government placed her father, Rodney Barnette, under surveillance. For decades, his every daily detail was logged and noted. Family members, employers, even his former high school teachers were interrogated. The reason for the target on his back: Rodney was a founding member of the Compton, California chapter of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense.

In an era where J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI sought to actively, though covertly, criminalize and destroy the Panthers—and arguably any prominent or rising Black political leader—the elder Barnette was of hundreds of activists subject to state-sanctioned harassment and intimidation, their organizations infiltrated and discredited. Other revolutionaries were incarcerated; some were assassinated.

Growing up, Sadie Barnette’s father’s history was never a secret. It seems almost inevitable that the young artist whose work is dedicated to excavating the constructs of identity would turn her gaze to his FBI file, newly available through a Freedom of Information Act request. For Do Not Destroy, her first solo exhibition in New York City, Barnette reframes the pages of the dossier as a father-daughter conversation. With the intervention of her own visual presence—through unapologetically girly embellishments and abstractions—she subverts the government’s narrative with her own. The spurts of hot pink spray paint on black-and-white pages restore a sense of sinew and blood, returning a dignity of wholeness to the life described therein. And so, it is from an inheritance of being targeted and surveilled, that Barnette has grown a garden of reclamation.

Mass Appeal sat down with the Oakland-born artist to learn more.

Mass Appeal: Your family knows what it is like to be targeted, to be painted as a “terrorist.” What are some of your thoughts on the current administration’s rhetoric and actions in dehumanizing and criminalizing believers of Islam, refugees and the undocumented?

Sadie Barnette: One of the things that was really striking about my dad’s file was that my dad was fired from his job at the Post Office because of his involvement with the Panthers. But, the law used to get him fired was something that President Truman had put on the books. It was an Executive Order that talked about behavior unbecoming to a government employee. That’s what they used to get my dad fired because he was cohabitating with a woman who he wasn’t married to… That was behavior that was unbecoming of a government employee. But, the reason that law was put on the books was to get gay people out of government jobs. So it’s another one of those examples where people think “Oh, this law doesn’t affect me. I’m not Muslim. I’m not an immigrant. I’m not trans. This has nothing to do with me.” But a similar law or laws can be used to target whoever the government is considering inconvenient at the time or whoever is questioning things or fighting for their rights. That’s definitely something that we have to keep in mind today.

Was activism and an awareness beyond self-interest part of your birthright or did you come into your own political awakening?

It was always something I held in my heart… I looked at situations with systemic analysis. If the police beat someone up or say if somebody in the family didn’t have access to something that they needed, I would always see it through a lens of systemic problems in our country. When I was in high school, I was very aware that students were being criminalized and were being shuttled along this school-to-prison pipeline. So those things were always on my mind. And growing up in the Bay area, there is a lot of activism and systemic analysis.

How did that activism and analysis start to factor in or feed your artistic growth?

I think they definitely go hand-in-hand. All art is political even when it’s not. Because it’s still a political choice if you are choosing to ignore politics. Often times, just the act of making art or changing the way people think even if its meant as an act of poetry is inherently political. People need escape and fantasy and fiction and need to feel beautiful and seen and heard. So for me even in my work that isn’t directly talking about the FBI file, it is still a commitment to… The act of making art is still a commitment to humanity.

What prompted your dad to want to look at your father’s file, and then what prompted you to want to work with the material?

My dad always wondered what experiences were tied to his FBI surveillance, harassment and intimidation. He wanted the file and so filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get it. It took about four years to get the file. I’m not sure what at that exact moment made him want to really face what a lot of people don’t want to look at. It can be too painful. But, he knows that it is bigger than himself. He also was very lucky that he wasn’t assassinated at the time or thrown in jail. He really is a strong person that survived a lot and still is able to see the value in sharing his experiences. I’ve always been interested in telling the story of my parents and also the activism and the cultural outpourings of that time period. This just seemed like the perfect way to do that—using this file for good and reclaiming it.

Did you wrestle with how much of the file you should work with or alter or how much you should let it speak for itself?

I definitely had to wrestle with it. The fact that the project’s first debut was at the Oakland Museum for the Black Panther exhibit, All Power to the People: Black Panthers at 50 really helped give me confidence that this could be framed and contextualized properly because the show is really dedicated to talking about the full complexities of the Black Panthers, not just like the cool image or that kind of thing. So being included in the Oakland Museum exhibition was what really made me excited about making the final decisions as to how to use this material.

I think it will be the type of project that’ll be ongoing. I’m not the kind of artist that thinks this is the like the ultimate or some kind of end. It’s no [laughs] magnum opus—it’s ongoing. One of the things I value about being an artist is that you can be unsure. You can question and try things. I’m sure I will work in many ways with this file. At some point, I’d like to make a book project with it. My intention often when I’m making art is not about making things; it’s about seeing things. So, the re-framing, the juxtaposing of these files and just a few gesture on my part was really what I wanted to do to allow the pages to speak for themselves and then for the viewer to bring something new to it.

The work also calls into the conversation the political activists that were murdered. Others were arrested and some still incarcerated to this day. Is it imperative to you as we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Panthers?

Absolutely. It is hugely important. And I think it is something that we still don’t know enough about. There are a ton of names of people in my dad’s file who he knew, who were his mentors who were killed. John Huggins. Bunchy Carter. They were murdered at UCLA. It is a double tragedy if their lives were not only stolen and taken away from their families but that they are also not remembered in the historical consciousness.

Have you become a student of the era as a result?

Definitely. I’ve been reading several books. One is called The Burglary by Betty Medsger. She basically was one of the reporters to receive the first batch of stolen FBI files around 1972 from this small FBI office in Pittsburgh. These anti-war activists realized that the movement was being surveilled so heavily that the only way to expose what the FBI was actually doing was to break into this office. I’ve been learning a ton about J. Edgar Hoover. It’s amazing to think that these activists were just regular, hard-working people. They weren’t criminals, they were actually repelled by [the thought of] breaking into this office, but they knew it would be worse to let Hoover run the FBI unchecked and run democracy into the ground. The other book is Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of The Black Panther Party by Joshua Bloom and Waldo E. Martin, Jr.

What did working with this file teach or surprise you about your dad or by extension about yourself?

Well, it’s hard to say. I’m pretty close to my dad so most of the things I knew already. I definitely learned more about our government than I did about my family. Questioning the government, dissent, is legal. It is written into the Constitution. If the government isn’t working properly, then the people are to change it. But people who are in power want to protect their power. As a descendent of slaves and Native Americans in this country, I have never felt like we are included when they say “We the People.” I’ve never felt like this country was mine. My ancestors built this country, but it was never for them either. I’ve always felt that if this country was actually going to be for everyone, then we would have to first really face some things that people don’t want to talk about.

Do Not Destroy is on view through Saturday, February 18, 2017 at Baxter St at Camera Club of New York (126 Baxter St, NY).

[froggynelson]

THE FOGGY APPEARANCES MASTERPOST

So I decided, after literal years of relying on places like the marvel wiki and comicvine to look for and double check Foggy Nelson's appearances throughout the marvel universe, to go and make a comprehensive list of his appearances outside of the main Daredevil title, counting Daredevil limited series and one off stories, along with cameos and alternate universes. The intention was to streamline the process for myself so i dont have to scour through pages and pages every time I wanna remember which comic that one thing happened, but hey, why not make the process of finding comics easier for people who aren't as deranged as I am? So here I made this post, from a real Fog-head to other Fog-heads out there, listing every issue outside of the Daredevil title (as it is more straightforward to find him, and extremely long to type on this list) he appears in, from barely there cameos to central roles, sorted by whether they are set in Earth 616 or not, and in no particular order. This is simply a list to serve as a guide to find him, it is not a curated list so the quality varies wildly, but I hope you're all as curious as I was to find all the most obscure and niche Foggies out there. Enjoy :)

EDIT 1: The original post had been published without one of my alterations to the draft saving, so if you reblogged it without this edit, the list was missing 14 titles.

616:

Daredevil (1964) Annuals: #1, #2, #3, #4, #8, #9

Daredevil (1998) Annuals: #1

Daredevil: Yellow: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6

Daredevil: Redemption: #1, #6

Marvel Graphic Novel: #24 (Daredevil: Love and war)

Daredevil: Cage Match: #1

Daredevil: Man Without Fear (2019): #1, #2, #5

Daredevil: Dark Nights: #3

Shadowland: #5

Shadowland: After the Fall: #1

Black Panther: Man Without Fear: #513, #521, #522

Daredevil vs Punisher: #2

Daredevil/Spider-Man: #2, #3, #4

Punisher Kill Krew: #2, #3, #4, #5

Daredevil: Battlin' Jack Murdock: #2

Daredevil: Blood of the Tarantula: #1

Daredevil: Reborn: #3, #4

Daredevil: Father: #1, #2, #5, #6

Daredevil/Deadpool: Annual '97

Devil's Reign: #3, #4

Devil's Reign Omega: #1

Elektra Lives Again: #1

Dark Reign: Elektra: #2

Uncanny Origins: #13

Power Man and Iron Fist (1978): #77

The Amazing Spider-Man (1963): #16, #42, #43, #65, #218, #429, #438

Spectacular Spider-Man (1978): #240, #242, #250

Spider-Man (1990): #75

Spider-Man Unlimited (1993): #13

Spider-Man/Kingpin: To the Death: #1

Untold Tales of Spider-Man: Annual '97

Uncanny X-Men (1963): #46

The New Warriors: #21, #23, #24, #25

Marvels: #2

Captain Universe: Daredevil

White Tiger: #1

Marvel Fanfare (1982): #1, #27

Marvel Team-up (1972): #25, #107, #141

Marvel Team-up (2004): #9

Marvel Two in one (1974): #37, #38, #78

Marvel Age: Annual #1

Avengers (1998): #26

New Avengers (2005): #1, #2, #3

Iron Man (1968): #35, #327, #328

Iron Man (1998): #1

Captain America (1968): #234

The Incredible Hulk (1968): #153

Superior Iron Man: #3

Ka-Zar (1997): #15, #17

Over the Edge: #6, #10

Silver Sable and the Wild Pack: #23, #28

Cosmic Ghost Rider Destroys Marvel History: #6

Onslaught: Marvel Universe: #1

X-Man: #21

Fantastic Four (1961): Annual #3

Fantastic Four (1998): #35, #47, #48

Fantastic Four: The Wedding Special 2006: #1

Thunderstrike (1993): #16

Spider-Man/Black Cat: #4

The Marvel Saga: #1, #13

The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Daredevil 2004: #1

Marvel Encyclopedia: #5

The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Update '89: #5

Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z: #8

OTHER UNIVERSES:

Daredevil Noir: #1, #3, #4

Daredevil: End of days: #1, #5, #8

Daredevil: Man Without Fear (1992): #2, #3, #4, #5

Daredevil: Season One (2012): #1

Spider Gwen (2015, vol. 1): #1

Spider Gwen (2015, vol 2): #9, #20, #21, #22, #24, #27, #33

Powerless: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5

Ultimate Daredevil and Elektra: #1, #2, #3, #4

Ultimate Elektra: #1, #2

Ultimate Spider-Man (2000): #109, Annual #2

Survive!: #1

The Ultimates 2: #3

Spidey Super Stories: #43, #50

Marvel Adventures Super Heroes: #9

Marvel Age Spider-Man: #15

Not Brand Echh (1967): #2, #4, #9

What the--?!: #3, #11

Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham: #7

Marvel Hostess ads vol.1 #7

Secret Wars, too: #1

Secret Wars: Secret love: #1

Dark Ages: #2

Marvel Knights: 20th: #1

Marvel Nemesis: The Imperfects: #2

Avengers Halloween Special: #1

Contest of Champions (2015): #4

1602: #1

1872: #2

Paradise X: #10

Marvels X: #2

What if? Daredevil: #1

What if? Daredevil vs Elektra: #1

What if Karen Page had lived?: #1

What if? (1977): #8, #35, #38

What if...? (1989): #26, #73, #89, #102, #105

Spider Girl: #0, #17, #63, #74, #82, #85

Spider-Man: Chapter One: #9

Mutant X: Annual #3

Daredevil/Batman: #1

Daredevil/Shi: #1

Daredevil: The Movie Adaptation: #1

Sins of Sinister: #1

[laninasinamor]

If Shuri & Namor were to have children. Do you think they’d inherit their father’s mutant gene?

thank you for the very interesting question!

we’ll have to keep some things in mind so bare with me (im also basing most of my knowledge off the mcu bc idk the comics like that and the lore is extensive!)

disclaimer: i am not a scientist or genealogist and i dont know science like that so dont treat this answer with huge significance

this is for fun so let’s begin!

1. mcu namor was born from human parents. however his mother, Fen, ingested a vibranium plant infused concoction while pregnant which forever altered his dna, in turn making him a mutant. it changed his physiology (drawing oxygen thru his skin and the air) and anatomy (winged ankles, pointed ears etc.)

(An example, even though it’s a very negative example 🥲 would be babies exposed to alcohol while in the womb. “Alcohol passes easily from a mother's bloodstream into her developing baby's blood. Alcohol present in a developing baby's bloodstream can interfere with the development of the brain and other critical organs, structures, and physiological systems.”

so the drink entered Fen’s bloodstream directly presenting in namor’s blood, enhancing his development and led to changes in physiology.

~ for my brain’s sake, i’d consider mcu namor a full on mutant.

…

2. mcu shuri’s black panther genes are a bit more complicated. within the mcu we know that only the person ingesting the heart shaped herb will gain the strength of the black panther. and it was never mentioned that it could be passed thru offspring (given king t’chaka had shuri & t’challa while he was the black panther but they turned out normal.)

not to mention that shuri’s heart shaped herb is synthetic and made from the same plant Fen, namor’s mother, ingested. and king t’chaka procreated with a normal human as well so we dont know the consequences of procreating with a mutant whilst being black panther. 🤷‍♀️

~ even though shuri gained the superhuman strength and abilities of the black panther. i believe genetically and anatomically she still most resembles a human.

…

according to the marvel fandom database, “breeding between homo superior[mutants] and humans can result in both mutant and "flat-scans" children” and “as mutants and humans aren't really separate species or race, but are only humans possessing or not the X-Gene.”

if in fact namor is regarded as a mutant and shuri is a human who gained superhuman abilities, their children would have a 50/50 chance of being born mutant or plainly human.

in addition mutant children born to a mutant parent will not necessarily have the same power(s) as their parent; however, examples of children with the same power(s) as their parents are not uncommon.

so who knows, maybe namor and shuri’s babies will gain new abilities and features!

hope i answered ur question as best i could 😊

love this new ship and all the people within its new community 💚💙💜💛

[ricegirls-world]

The Democratic Party have a problem telling the truth..!!

It was Obama who used His Vice President in order for Both Obama to serve a 3rd term. While he protects Biden and his family. Allowing him to be the President in name only. To snub Trump while going after him for telling the truth about his family.

And giving those in the Socialist one world Government more money through inside trading and unlimited spying on their Political counter-parts to frame them through intimidation. And power and Control of those who are citizens..

Also allowing those sexual deviants to have their way with children and through Homosexuals. While punishing those who are Christians.

Because Obama being a lier and once said he was a Christian to get elected. But then said he was a Muslim and he supports the Muslim Brotherhood. Interesting facts; he was a Black Panther just 10 years before becoming the President of the U.S.A . And his grand parents work in the CIA under Bush Senior. That is why all of them where so buddy buddy when Bush senior died and the Bushes. Who were so called Republicans , was behind going to war with Sadam in order to Not only make huge amounts of money. And kill someone who threaten his dad’s life. But needed the pretext to have unlimited means to spy on their rivals. While gaining the upper hand on round the clock surveillance on everyday Americans. And to usher in No Bid Contracts for Cheney ‘s businesses…

It was a win win for everyone afterwards. The Pretext was to lie about weapons of mass destruction while other people families went to war and died…

That was the first time they realized that Donald Trump may be a liability to them… Because he opposed the war on un reliable information. And also called out Obama as being a non citizen…!!

18 years later he was proven right. Obama’s Birth Certificate was indeed a fake made bye the CIA. And the New Your Sheriffs Department that was all made up of Democrats at that time ordered to investigate it. And also was delayed for 8 years getting stonewalled bye the very people they were asked to do the investigation on his Birth Certificate in the first place. ( Democratic Party)

They determined that the Birth Certificate was indeed 100% faked. And proved that the CIA was behind it. After the investigation was completed the New York Sheriffs Department turn over all the results over to the (Democratic Congress Nancy Pelosi) who made the evidence Top Secret until the year 2066 ( 50 years) An other Cover up of Treason; And letting a known Muslim enemy of the state Become our President of the United States Of America.

As well as committing Treason from all known Parties..

Yes they all should be afraid of being caught..

The first to come to the table with solid evidence is the ones who get to live and walk among free people..

Because they succeeded in pulling that off. They decided that they could do it once again after Trumps successful Presidency that he had to fix once Obama left office and said our jobs were never coming back. And how Obama dismantled our military with the help of the Bushes and Chaney.

But trump surprised and angered them to the point it was all hands on deck. And they needed the help from world leaders and the Chinese and the world heath org.

As well as all those current law enforcement and former intel agencies loyal the Bushes and Chaney..

Biden was the perfect fall guy. And he could keep doing everything he did before. But they were going bigger this time.

Remember Trump was delayed 6 month into his Presidency before those two party elites would approve his administration..

They placed their loyal spies all around him so he could start to govern the nation.. even with his hands tied behind his back. He was still the Best President this Nation has ever seen..

Those who were involved in this actual Coup and acts of Treason did not look up to see Jesus Christ and the relationship Donald Trump has with him.

Thats Because the Lord already seen all these events 2000 years before. And he already chose him ( Trump) to be the leader of this Nation that holds the Cornerstone in Position. Before the lord removes his church. And leave all these despicable liars to their own fate..

[richincolor]

A Look Back at 2021 Nonfiction

2021 was such a great year for nonfiction for teens and young readers! In case these aren't on your TBR pile already, here are three nonfiction books from 2021 that you definitely should be checking out:

Art of Protest: Creating, Discovering, and Activating Art for Your Revolution by De Nichols, Diana Dagadita (illustrator), Olivia Twist (illustrator), Molly Mendoza (Illustrator), Diana Ejaita (illustrator)

From Keith Haring to Extinction Rebellion, the civil rights movement to Black Lives Matter, what does a revolution look like? Discover the power of words and images in this thought-provoking look at protest art by highly acclaimed artivist De Nichols. From the psychedelic typography used in "Make Love Not War" posters of the '60s to the solitary raised fist, some of the most memorable and striking protest artwork from across the world and throughout history deserves a long, hard look. Readers can explore each piece of art to understand how color, symbolism, technique, and typography play an important role in communication. Guided by activist, lecturer, and speaker De Nichols's powerful narrative and stunningly illustrated by a collaboration of young artists, this volume also has plenty of tips and ideas for creating your own revolutionary designs. This is a fully comprehensive look at the art of protest.

Notable Native People: 50 Indigenous Leaders, Dreamers, and Changemakers from Past and Present by Adrienne Keene, Ciara Sana (Illustrator)

An accessible and educational illustrated book profiling 50 notable American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian people, from NBA star Kyrie Irving of the Standing Rock Lakota to Wilma Mankiller, the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation. Celebrate the lives, stories, and contributions of Indigenous artists, activists, scientists, athletes, and other changemakers in this beautifully illustrated collection. From luminaries of the past, like nineteenth-century sculptor Edmonia Lewis--the first Black and Native American female artist to achieve international fame--to contemporary figures like linguist jessie little doe baird, who revived the Wampanoag language, Notable Native People highlights the vital impact Indigenous dreamers and leaders have made on the world. This informative and inspiring collection also offers accessible primers on important Indigenous issues, from the legacy of colonialism and cultural appropriation to food sovereignty, land and water rights, and more. Notable Native People is an indispensable read for people of all backgrounds seeking to learn about Native American heritages, histories, and cultures, and will educate and inspire readers of all ages.

Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party's Promise to the People by Kekla Magoon

With passion and precision, Kekla Magoon relays an essential account of the Black Panthers—as militant revolutionaries and as human rights advocates working to defend and protect their community. In this comprehensive, inspiring, and all-too-relevant history of the Black Panther Party, Kekla Magoon introduces readers to the Panthers’ community activism, grounded in the concept of self-defense, which taught Black Americans how to protect and support themselves in a country that treated them like second-class citizens. For too long the Panthers’ story has been a footnote to the civil rights movement rather than what it was: a revolutionary socialist movement that drew thousands of members—mostly women—and became the target of one of the most sustained repression efforts ever made by the U.S. government against its own citizens. Revolution in Our Time puts the Panthers in the proper context of Black American history, from the first arrival of enslaved people to the Black Lives Matter movement of today. Kekla Magoon’s eye-opening work invites a new generation of readers grappling with injustices in the United States to learn from the Panthers’ history and courage, inspiring them to take their own place in the ongoing fight for justice.