As the Capitalist Robber Barons Steal from the 99% — Only the 1% Voted For Austerity — The 99% Should Decide On Austerity — Not Just The 1% Who Profit From Austerity!
The development of law enforcement in colonial America was similar to that of England during the same time period. Law enforcement in colonial America was considered a local responsibility. As in England, the colonies established a system of night watch to guard cities against fire, crime, and disorder. In addition to night watch systems, there were sheriffs appointed by the governor and constables elected by the people. These individuals were responsible for maintaining order and providing other services. Nalla and Newman have described the following as problems plaguing colonial cities that were considered the responsibility of police: controlling slaves and Indians; maintaining order; regulating specialized functions such as selling in the market and delivering goods; maintaining health and sanitation; managing pests and other animals; ensuring the orderly use of streets by vehicles; controlling liquor, gambling, vice, and weapons; and keeping watch for fires.
While night watch groups were established in the northern colonies, groups of white men organized into slave patrols in the southern colonies. These slave patrols were responsible for controlling, returning, and punishing runaway slaves. The slave patrols helped to maintain the economic order in the southern colonies. These slave patrols are generally considered to be the first “modern” police organizations in this country. In 1837, Charleston, South Carolina, had a slave patrol with over one hundred officers, which was far larger than any northern city police force at that time (Walker, 1999). . . .
The Police Originated from the first slave patrols in 1704, which first got established in the South and lasted until 1861. Their original role was to catch run away slaves. An important part of Black history is the destruction of Reconstruction, which lasted for a decade after the Civil War, and the establishment of Jim Crow in the South and racial segregation in the North. Reconstruction officially ended with the “Compromise of 1876.”
Reconstruction was lead by the Radical Republicans who had a majority in Congress. They were advocates and fighters for racial equality. Their position was that the former slaves, or freedmen, who were homeless, landless and not educated, had to be rewarded for their loyalty to the union and needed to be made whole to have equality. The Radical Republicans tried to enforce the Confiscation Act of July 1862. This act included giving land to the former slaves – 40 acres and a mule. They also set up the Freedmen’s Bureau, designed to provide education, health and welfare for Black people in the transition from slavery to freedom.
President Andrew Johnson, who came into office after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, defended the former Southern slavocracy and violated the law of the land as passed over Johnson’s veto by the Radical Republicans in Congress. Johnson’s argument was that Congress was illegal, for it did not include the former Confederate states, who committed treason by forming the Confederacy.
In response to Johnson’s refusal to enforce the law of the land, the Radical Republicans tried unsuccessfully to impeach him. They lost by one vote. If Johnson had been impeached, Benjamin Wade, who was an advocate for 40 acres and a mule, Black and women’s suffrage and radical reconstruction, would have become president.
These codes said that unemployed Blacks were vagrants, who could be arrested and hired out to the highest bidder and forced to work for that person for a prescribed time. Employers were also given the right to physically punish these workers. These codes also made it illegal for Blacks to bear arms.
It was illegal force and violence, or terrorism, by the police and Ku Klux Klan along with the restoration of former slave owners’ property rights by the Democratic Party and non-radical Republicans that laid the basis for the overthrow of Black Reconstruction after the Civil War and the institutionalization of legal segregation, Jim Crow. Blacks were and are indiscriminately lynched and framed up to enforce this segregation.
The major historical role of the police
Image no longer on the internet, originally found at: http://www.muhammadspeaks.com/Police&KKK.gif
From that time to the present, the Black community has been a virtual police state. Police violence has been and is a necessary institution of the ruling class of the United States to enforce the ongoing resegregation and gentrification of society and to intimidate the Black minority and other oppressed and exploited minorities in this country from revolting against the racist polices of the government.
I am deeply convinced that a nuclear weapon-free world is not a utopia, but an imperative necessity. We need to constantly remind world leaders of this goal and of their commitment. As long as nuclear weapons exist, there is a danger that someday they will be used: as a result either of accident or technical failure, or of evil intent of man — an insane person or terrorist. We must therefore reaffirm the goal of prohibiting and eliminating nuclear weapons. Politicians who think that problems or disputes can be resolved through the use of military force (even as a ‘last resort’) must be rejected by society; they must leave the stage. — VFP Golden Rule Project | Gorbachev Calls for Nuclear Weapons-free World
Still on the Same Path to Armageddon? Scientists tell us that the dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago when a comet or asteroid struck that so geologically rocked the planet that earthquakes, volcanoes, fires and subsequent climate change destroyed the ecological basis for much of life on earth. The concept of “nuclear winter” derives from what must have been an enormous blanket of ash and dust that enveloped the atmosphere, cut off solar radiation, and dropped temperatures extremely. Yet the dinosaurs did not create the conditions for their own extinction. That was as the saying goes “an act of God.” Because it is so terrifying no one likes to imagine that nuclear war is possible. We humans think of ourselves as the only intelligent species on earth so how could we be so stupid as to snuff ourselves? Yet, despite the forewarning of Hiroshima and Nagasaki we continue on the path to self-extermination. The very existence of nuclear weapons is like leaving a loaded gun in a day care center. Sooner or later…..by Paul Atwood
Environment:
Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:
‘Biggest Oil Find’ of 2016 Puts Crown Jewel Texas Oasis in Crosshairs for Fracking By Sharon KellyBlack Liberation/ Civil Rights:#ProgressiveHypocrite of the Month for February 2017: Former Clinton-era Secretary of State Madeleine Albright Former Clinton UN Ambassador & Secretary of State and current global corporate consigliere Madeleine Albright championed the 1990s US blockade of Iraq which killed half a million Iraqi children. Now she says the Statue of Liberty has tears in its eyes, and vows to “register as a Muslim” to protest the evil policies of Donald Trump. Albright should register as an Iraqi toddler in 1995. She’s our #ProgressiveHypocrite of the month for Feburary 2017. A Black Agenda Radio commentary by BAR managing editor Bruce A. DixonDemocrats, Including Bernie Sanders, Won’t Fight for Medicare for All If there is one political project that commands overwhelming support among Democrats — plus large minorities of Republicans – it is Medicare for All. But Democratic leaders insist that all their energies should be directed at salvaging bits and pieces of Obamacare. The truth is, the party bosses oppose single payer health care — which is why they have backed fraudulent, bait-and-switch schemes based on private insurers. A Black Agenda Radio commentary A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen FordFreedom Rider: Trump is the Less Effective Evil Donald Trump’s predecessors, Bush and Obama, paved the way for President Chito’s persecution of people from Syria, Libya, Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Iran, and Iraq, all of which “have been attacked with military action, proxy wars and sanctions.” Trump simply continues a U.S. policy that “makes countries unlivable and then tells fleeing victims that the door is shut.” Anti-Trumpism is grossly inadequate. The whole system is evil — Democrats included. by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret KimberleyWhy White Folks Love Hidden FiguresHidden Figures is based on a vintage Hollywood formula of uncomplaining black victims and white saviors. “The idea of glamorizing the fact that these women didn’t complain plays into the narrative that ‘free will’ was involved in their decision,” when, in fact, raw white state power dictated the terms of racial interaction. “What is missing is the power of the resistance movement in the 1960’s, the invisible hand moving behind the benevolence.” by BAR editor and columnist Dr. Marsha AdebayoInauguration Amnesia: The Context of Obama’s Failure to Pardon US Political Prisoners Barack Obama commuted the sentences of a few political prisoners, but pardoned none, leaving countless activists behind bars on trump up federal charges. The very existence of political prisoners is not only a crime, but also a product the “rise of the mass incarceration state and the non-profit industrial complex, permanent austerity and joblessness, the growth of a new class of Black misleaders to soil the political waters,” and endless war. by Danny HaiphongDemocrats Manipulate the Movement that Should Leave Them BehindMuch of what passes for the Left in the U.S. is either an extension of the Democratic Party or a project of non-profit organizations funded by the One Percent. As BAR’s Bruce Dixon told author Ann Garrison, the genuine left needs “to create a movement that will not be hijacked by Democrats and will not just be warming up the crowds for Cory Booker or whoever the Democratic sheepdog and corporate candidate is in 2020.” by Ann GarrisonThe State of Revolutionary Movements and Marxism in South Africa In South Africa, even the neoliberal Black ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), speaks the rhetorical language of Marxism. The ANC is challenged by NUMSA, the continent’s biggest union, which vows to launch a United Front for genuine socialism, while the Economic Freedom Fighters party has made steady electoral gains. However, South Africa’s “far left has failed to attract working-class membership, much less leadership.” by Patrick BondA Lesson on Peace in our Troubled Trump Times from W.E.B. DuBois In the last chapter of his brilliant life, W.E.B. DuBois was a leading anti-war activist. At the height of McCarthyism, DuBois and his comrades in the Peace Information Center were denounced as “traitors” and “anti-American” for declaring that first-use of nuclear weapons is a crime against humanity. by Werner LangeAn Afar Wedding in Eritrea Eritrea, a small African nation on the Red Sea, is surrounded by sectarian religious strife, yet maintains a remarkable amity and unity among its various peoples. Roughly half Christian and half Muslim, Eritrea shuns military alliances and economic dependency on the West. To keep the peace, the government makes sure that “no Da’esh or Pat Robertson ‘born again’ foreign funded religious centers are allowed.” by Thomas C. Mountain Labor:
China: working conditions continue to deteriorate, but working class beginning to stir The crisis of capitalism in the West has taken centre stage, with the spectacle of Donald Trump’s election, and Brexit. China has dropped out of the limelight, for the time being retaining a degree of stability. This at least is the message the party leadership would like to present. Economy:
Boycotting Mnuchin for Treasury: Democrats Had Strong Grounds The U.S. Treasury Secretary is one of the four most powerful posts in the U.S. government, overseeing a sprawling network of functions that impact the average American every single day. Putting a man or woman in that post who has exhibited impeccable integrity throughout their career should be the sworn duty of every member of the U.S. Senate, which oversees the confirmation hearing process By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
World:
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:
How Scientists Can Protect Their Data From The Trump AdministrationAmerican scientists are under siege in the Trump administration because their work threatens to undermine Trump’s anti-science policies. As a result, some scientists have already begun trying to preserve government data they worry will be deleted, altered or removed, and many are preparing to march on Washington to protest Trump’s dangerous science denialism. By Micah Lee
President Johnson ended the Freedmen’s Bureau and opposed all actions to give freed male slaves the right to vote. He refused to enforce the law when former slaves were prevented from exercising their rights by the violent Southern police forces and the Ku Klux Klan, which was formed in 1865. He also supported the Black Codes passed by several Southern states.
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