Race – Page 14 – Glen's Parallax Perspectives

To Achieve Social Justice, We Must De-Polarize Our Society

October 7, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Oppressors like to use a “divide-and-conquer” strategy in order to keep the oppressed people from joining together to empower themselves to nonviolently fight against the oppressors. We need to recognize that tactic and refuse to let oppressors polarize us by race or religion or sexual orientation or any other factor. I wrote this article in 2018 and encourage people to read it and use its insights to de-polarize our society so we can join together to work for social justice: De-Polarize

“Let’s Understand the Islamic Faith”

October 1, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

The October 2018 episode of “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” TV series helps us understand the Islamic faith. Islam is the world’s second most popular religion, but most Americans who are not Muslim do not understand it. Many of the things Americans think they know about Islam are not actually true. I invite you to watch this TV interview with three knowledgeable, articulate Muslims so you will gain a clear and accurate understanding. See the link below to watch the program — and the link below that to read a thorough summary of what we said and a list of sources for […]

Larry Mosqueda’s insightful article explains the immigration crisis

July 27, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

On July 27, 2018, Larry Mosqueda published at CounterPunch his new article about the current immigration “crisis.” His article corrects the misunderstandings that are widespread throughout the U.S. government, mainstream media, and the general public. He invites us to share it with other people, so I’m sharing it with you through my blog, www.parallaxperspectives.org. You will be able to read it in the August 2018 issue of Works in Progress, Olympia’s progressive monthly newspaper. See a paper copy or www.olywip.org Here is the link to read it at CounterPunch: https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/07/27/on-the-origins-of-the-current-immigration-crisis-at-the-border/

Voters do want prosecutors to be PROGRESSIVE, not “tough-on-crime.”

July 27, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

In almost every state, the voters elect their local prosecuting attorneys. For many years prosecutors were elected and re-elected by being “tough-on-crime,” and public opinion seemed to support “lock-em-up-and-throw-away-the-key” policies. Mainstream media kept reinforcing that stereotype, and both of the big political parties bought into it. We were very stuck. But finally people are paying attention to the RESEARCH that PROVES those “tough-on-crime” laws and policies DO NOT WORK. Also, voters want to replace those with fair and just reforms. Besides being seriously biased by race and economic class, they are grossly unjust and they waste taxpayers’ money. Now the […]

URGENT!!! Info AND ACTION ALERT: Protect the 2020 Census from Trump’s abuse!!!

July 17, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

The U.S. Constitution ABSOLUTELY REQUIRES a census that will count EVERY person in the U.S. Presumably, it must be HONEST. But Trump is planning to distort the 2020 census for blatantly racist and highly partisan purposes. Trump is planning to add a question about citizenship in order to intimidate and undercount America’s immigrants. Read this information. Then keep going down the page and SEND ALL FIVE E-MAIL MESSAGES. Thank you! Trump’s scheme would likely cause millions of persons to be uncounted. The census is used for figuring out how to draw lines for state legislative districts and federal congressional districts. […]

Smart insights to distinguish “conflict” from “abuse.”

July 17, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Someone sent me an e-mail expressing support for “Conflict is Not Abuse” from Sarah Schulman. I searched for information about the book and found this very insightful article. It offers smart, practical and compassionate ways out of the traps that many people — especially progressives — get into regarding how we deal with social justice issues at an interpersonal level. Rather than try to summarize her helpful insights here, I encourage you to read this information about her book: https://www.thestranger.com/books/2017/01/10/24792575/sarah-schulmans-conflict-is-not-abuse-is-a-guide-to-keeping-the-peace

Obama ALSO broke up immigrant families and deported many. Democrats failed to object.

July 17, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Nowadays Democrats and decent people strongly object to Trump’s cruelty in breaking up immigrant families and deporting many family members. Actually, Obama did that too — in record numbers much higher than George W. Bush had done — but Democrats did not object when a Democratic president did. People nowadays are right to criticize the Trump regime for its extreme cruelty. In order to be credible, we must also criticize Obama and the Democrats for their cruelty too. Let’s stand firm on the principles of human rights, and let the partisan chips fall where they may. Pages 48-49 of the […]

U.S. needs immigrant workers because we disable our troops and underfund education

July 17, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Savvy people have been recognizing that the U.S. economy really needs immigrant workers. We do not have enough native-born workers for many jobs. And I don’t mean only working on farms and in restaurants. The U.S. imports a great many skilled workers: nurses, doctors, computer programmers, and so forth. For many decades the U.S. has been sending our troops to fight totally unnecessary wars in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. Only recently has the government been admitting that many troops become disabled through PTSD and other physical and mental disabilities. Actually, the numbers are much, much higher than the government […]

To protect immigrants, let’s de-polarize the U.S.’s political culture.

June 30, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Many problems that are plaguing the U.S. are rooted in various kinds of polarizations. Oppressors use a “divide-and-conquer” strategy to disempower ordinary people so the oppressors can grab more power and enrich themselves financially. They polarize us by pitting race against race, religion against religion, straight people against LGBTQ people, and native-born people against immigrants. They also polarize us by emphasizing nationalism, so they pit nation against nation. They promote wars and nuclear weapons. All of these polarizations draw from the same roots. In order to protect immigrant rights — and all people’s rights — and in order to prevent […]

Abolishing nuclear weapons would help immigrants’ rights.

June 28, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

To protect immigrants, STOP POLARIZING PEOPLE IN ANY WAY: Stop dividing people by nationality, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, economic class, etc. The problems we face are huge, deeply rooted and interconnected. Because these problems are linked, we can make progress toward solving any of the divisive problems by starting with any one of these problems and showing how it connects with the other problems. The problems already existed before Trump made them worse. Nationalism and racism polarize “us vs. them.” For more than 70 years nuclear weapons have expressed the nationalism that is one root of anti-immigrant feelings. […]

To Achieve Social Justice, We Must De-Polarize Our Society

June 17, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Oppressors often use a “divide-and-conquer” strategy to keep populations divided so the oppressors can dominate them. This has been happening in the U.S., as it has in other countries. The remedy is for people to recognize and expose the oppressors’ scheme — and to bring all demographic groups together to de-polarize our society. Unfortunately, some people who are oppressed buy into the polarization and get angry and vengeful against other demographic groups that have been set up by the oppressors as polar opposites. These people unwittingly serve the oppressors’ interests in keeping the population divided. The real remedy is to […]

Several ways to vigorously reform our criminal justice system

June 3, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

The U.S.’s criminal justice system — like so many other aspects of American society — is profoundly dysfunctional, cruel, and wasteful. Thoughtful people have been urging humane reforms for many years. More and more people are advocating positive changes. Here are some reforms we really need now. Grassroots organizing can help to accomplish them. In order to change the system, we need to change how we talk about it. Some commonly used words and expressions keep us trapped in the unjust status quo. Here are five ways to improve our effectiveness when we talk about criminal punishment and mass […]

9 Ways Authoritarianism Is Taking Hold Under Trump

May 31, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

As you know, I read a huge amount of information. Thom Hartmann’s article at the link below consolidates much solid information into CRUCIALLY IMPORTANT information that the American people need to understand. Trump and Trumpism are imposing horrible authoritarianism upon the U.S. This is an extremely serious — actually existential — danger to American freedom and constitutional democracy. Trump’s authoritarianism abuses many aspects of American society. The article below connects many of the issues we care about, including peace, social justice, environment/climate, economics, and so forth. The article ends with a call for nonviolent organizing to rise up against Trump’s […]

The Death Penalty Makes Other Problems Worse

May 27, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

See the easy-to-read 1-page flyer at this link: The Death Penalty Makes Other Problems Worse

An 11-point Agenda for America’s Economic Future

May 23, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Progressives spend much time protesting what we oppose. We should spend much more time organizing to accomplish what we want instead. Here is a good example for progressive economic and social justice: See the 11-point Agenda for America’s Economic Future at this link: http://campaignforamericasfuture.org/?link_id=4&can_id=1d662460c0abb8939c5044c82927552b&source=email-pledge-news-hightower-lowdown-pledge-issue&email_referrer=email_358386&email_subject=pledge-news-hightower-lowdown-pledge-issue Read Jim Hightower’s supportive article about the Agenda for America’s Economic Future at this link: https://hightowerlowdown.org/article/economic-agenda/?link_id=0&can_id=1d662460c0abb8939c5044c82927552b&source=email-pledge-news-hightower-lowdown-pledge-issue&email_referrer=email_358386&email_subject=pledge-news-hightower-lowdown-pledge-issue