truthout--2020-08-20--Remembering Charlotta Bass, the First Black Woman to Run for VP in 1952

Senator Kamala Harris is the first Indian American and first Black woman to be nominated for vice president on a major party ticket , but , as many historians have noted , Harris is not the first Black woman to run for vice president .
That distinction belongs to the journalist and political activist Charlotta Bass , who was the editor of The California Eagle for nearly 30 years , one of the country ’ s oldest Black newspapers , which covered women ’ s suffrage , police brutality , the Ku Klux Klan , and discriminatory hiring and housing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ticket in 1952 on an anti-racist platform that called for fair housing and equal access to healthcare .
Bass ’ s exclusion from the public narrative signals a tendency to “ sideline Black radical politics , ” says author and historian Keisha Blain .
This is a rush transcript .
Copy may not be in its final form .
AMY GOODMAN : This is Democracy Now !
, breaking with convention .
I ’ m Amy Goodman , with Nermeen Shaikh .
Tonight , Joe Biden will accept the Democratic Party ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ became the first Indian American and first Black woman to be nominated for vice president on a major party ticket .
In her historic address , Harris paid homage to the women who came before her .
AMY GOODMAN : As many historians have noted , Senator Kamala Harris is not the first Black woman to run for vice president .
That distinction belongs to the journalist and political activist Charlotta Bass , who was the editor of The California Eagle for nearly 30 years , one of the country ’ s oldest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s suffrage , police brutality , the Klu Klux Klan , and discriminatory hiring and housing practices .
More than a decade before the Voting Rights Act was signed into law , Charlotta Bass joined the Progressive Party ticket in 1952 on an antiracist platform that called for fair housing and equal access to healthcare .
Bass ran alongside presidential candidate Vincent Hallinan in a long-shot bid , and they lost to Dwight Eisenhower .
But she campaigned with the slogan , “ Win or lose , we win by raising the issues.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Black women who cleared a path for Harris to be VP pick , as Harris pointed out , we ’ re joined by Keisha Blain , associate professor of history at University of Pittsburgh and author of Set the World on Fire : Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom , also president of the African American Intellectual History Society .
Professor Blain joined a panel Wednesday at the DNC on “ Progress and the Path Forward ” that looked at the unsung heroes of suffrage and Black women ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Until I Am Free : Fannie Lou Hamer ’ s Vision of America .
Welcome to Democracy Now !
, Professor .
It ’ s great to have you with us .
Can you talk about the significance of Kamala Harris being nominated and accepting the nomination for vice president of the Democratic Party , and the people on whose shoulders she stands ?
KEISHA BLAIN : Well , first , thank you so much for having me .
I think it ’ s important to emphasize the fact that Kamala Harris @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all the women she mentioned last night , but also standing on the shoulders of Charlotta Bass , as you pointed out .
And it ’ s somewhat unfortunate that she didn ’ t mention Bass , because , as you pointed out , Bass was in fact the first Black woman to run for vice president .
And this took place in 1952 in the state of California on the Progressive Party ticket .
In so many ways , her exclusion last night from Harris ’ s speech , I think , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Black radical politics , and really , just to echo something that Derecka mentioned earlier , how leftists in the movement tend to be sidelined .
And I ’ m not suggesting that the exclusion of Bass was intentional , but I do think it is unfortunate , and would love to hear more people acknowledging the history and the fundamental work that Bass did long before Kamala Harris .
AMY GOODMAN : Why don ’ t you tell us that history ?
KEISHA BLAIN : Well , one of the things that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she truly engaged in what can best be described as pragmatic activism .
And I say that because this is someone who shifted , who moved between organizations .
This is someone who was literally — at the same time that she was a leader in the NAACP , she was a leader in the Universal Negro Improvement Association .
Anyone who studies history understands just the complexity of being able to function in two organizations that were radically different , even as they were equally committed to Black progress .
And then @ @ @ @ @ @ @ moved from — supported the Republican Party , then supporting the Democratic Party , and then abandoning both of them when she came to the conclusion that they were simply not doing enough — not doing enough for Black people , not doing enough for women , not doing enough for marginalized groups .
And she put up her hands , and she tried a new party , the Progressive Party .
And I think just really thinking about the ways that Charlotta Bass moved in between organizations , shifted parties throughout her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to advancing Black politics .
She never allowed herself to be tied in to one particular group or even one particular perspective .
She truly engaged in pragmatic activism , believing that she would do anything , anything possible , to improve the conditions of Black people .
NERMEEN SHAIKH : Professor Keisha Blain , could you also explain some of the issues with which she was most preoccupied , from police brutality to media stereotyping of African Americans ?
KEISHA BLAIN : Absolutely .
She was deeply — excuse me — deeply @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , as you mentioned , even the media .
One of the things that she did in 1915 , so this is very early in her career in California , was to speak out against the film Birth of a Nation .
And she tried to get people — well , certainly she tried to pull the film from being shown publicly .
She was not successful in doing that .
But what she did do was point out the problems with the film .
She was able to rally the community .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ I think her efforts really captured the way that she was concerned with not only , you know , certainly , various aspects of Black politics , but she was concerned with how Black people were being represented on screen .
And as a journalist , she understood the power of words , she understood the power of imagery .
And I think that ’ s just one example of how she was truly , I think , a fierce advocate for Black people .
And she was really bold .
She confronted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and brutality .
And her boldness got her in trouble .
And it ’ s not surprising that she was surveilled by the FBI , because she was someone who simply did not sit on the sidelines .
She confronted every challenge that she saw , and she tried to come up with solutions to fix the problems .
NERMEEN SHAIKH : And , Professor Blain , why was she branded a communist ?
KEISHA BLAIN : Well , she was branded a communist for the same reason that people like W. E. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and even Marcus Garvey , earlier , had been branded as a problem for the United States .
She is someone who certainly embraced leftist politics and ideas , and ultimately she posed a challenge .
The truth of the matter is , she didn ’ t even need to embrace any kind of radical platform to be branded a communist at the time , because , in the end , to use the term “ communist ” within that context was simply to try to smear someone , to be able to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is not American.
” And what we know from history is that the people who were branded communists , whether they embraced communist views or not , were ultimately individuals who stood up , who stood up in the face of injustice , who confronted racism and discrimination .
And every time they were vocal , every time they decided they were simply not going to accept Black people being mistreated in this country , all of a sudden they were , quote-unquote , a “ communist.
” AMY GOODMAN : In these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ your next book is on Fannie Lou Hamer .
Can you talk about her level of activism , and the struggle you see now in the Democratic Party of the progressives and the establishment , even as history is being made with Kamala Harris being the first woman of color to be nominated as a vice-presidential candidate ?
KEISHA BLAIN : Yeah , it was truly wonderful to hear Harris evoke Fannie Lou Hamer .
I ’ ve been deeply invested , certainly , in Hamer ’ s ideas , and finishing a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the things that I think is important to emphasize is that Hamer ran for office .
She ran for office three times .
I think that ’ s important , because we don ’ t talk about it .
Generally , we don ’ t talk about it .
And the reason we don ’ t talk about it is because she was unsuccessful .
But I ’ m of the mindset that even those stories we have to know .
And those stories are powerful , because Fannie Lou Hamer was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but it doesn ’ t mean that their stories don ’ t matter .
And it certainly doesn ’ t mean that we can ’ t talk about their efforts , because what is key here , it ’ s not really about winning or losing .
KEISHA BLAIN : It ’ s about how these women ultimately rose to the occasion .
AMY GOODMAN : Professor Keisha Blain , we thank you so much for joining us .
I ’ m Amy Goodman , with Nermeen Shaikh .
Stay safe .

Image Credit: Southern California Library
Senator Kamala Harris is the first Indian American and first Black woman to be nominated for vice president on a major party ticket, but, as many historians have noted, Harris is not the first Black woman to run for vice president. That distinction belongs to the journalist and political activist Charlotta Bass, who was the editor of The California Eagle for nearly 30 years, one of the country’s oldest Black newspapers, which covered women’s suffrage, police brutality, the Ku Klux Klan, and discriminatory hiring and housing practices. Bass joined the Progressive Party ticket in 1952 on an anti-racist platform that called for fair housing and equal access to healthcare. Bass’s exclusion from the public narrative signals a tendency to “sideline Black radical politics,” says author and historian Keisha Blain.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, breaking with convention. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh.
Tonight, Joe Biden will accept the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, after Kamala Harris became the first Indian American and first Black woman to be nominated for vice president on a major party ticket. In her historic address, Harris paid homage to the women who came before her.
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS: These women inspired us to pick up the torch and fight on — women like Mary Church Terrell, Mary McLeod Bethune, Fannie Lou Hamer and Diane Nash, Constance Baker Motley and the great Shirley Chisholm. We’re not often taught their stories, but, as Americans, we all stand on their shoulders. Related Story Op-Ed | Racial Justice “Kinship” Isn’t Enough — Harris Must Be Accountable to Black People Kamala Harris's relationship to Black communities, writ large, has taken on the character of "fictive kinship." Truthout
AMY GOODMAN: As many historians have noted, Senator Kamala Harris is not the first Black woman to run for vice president. That distinction belongs to the journalist and political activist Charlotta Bass, who was the editor of The California Eagle for nearly 30 years, one of the country’s oldest Black newspapers, which covered women’s suffrage, police brutality, the Klu Klux Klan, and discriminatory hiring and housing practices.
More than a decade before the Voting Rights Act was signed into law, Charlotta Bass joined the Progressive Party ticket in 1952 on an antiracist platform that called for fair housing and equal access to healthcare. Bass ran alongside presidential candidate Vincent Hallinan in a long-shot bid, and they lost to Dwight Eisenhower. But she campaigned with the slogan, “Win or lose, we win by raising the issues.”
For more on Charlotta Bass and the Black women who cleared a path for Harris to be VP pick, as Harris pointed out, we’re joined by Keisha Blain, associate professor of history at University of Pittsburgh and author of Set the World on Fire: Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom, also president of the African American Intellectual History Society. Professor Blain joined a panel Wednesday at the DNC on “Progress and the Path Forward” that looked at the unsung heroes of suffrage and Black women’s political power. Her forthcoming book, Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer’s Vision of America.
Welcome to Democracy Now!, Professor. It’s great to have you with us. Can you talk about the significance of Kamala Harris being nominated and accepting the nomination for vice president of the Democratic Party, and the people on whose shoulders she stands?
KEISHA BLAIN: Well, first, thank you so much for having me.
I think it’s important to emphasize the fact that Kamala Harris is certainly standing on the shoulders of all the women she mentioned last night, but also standing on the shoulders of Charlotta Bass, as you pointed out. And it’s somewhat unfortunate that she didn’t mention Bass, because, as you pointed out, Bass was in fact the first Black woman to run for vice president. And this took place in 1952 in the state of California on the Progressive Party ticket.
In so many ways, her exclusion last night from Harris’s speech, I think, signals the way we often do sideline Black radical politics, and really, just to echo something that Derecka mentioned earlier, how leftists in the movement tend to be sidelined. And I’m not suggesting that the exclusion of Bass was intentional, but I do think it is unfortunate, and would love to hear more people acknowledging the history and the fundamental work that Bass did long before Kamala Harris.
AMY GOODMAN: Why don’t you tell us that history?
KEISHA BLAIN: Well, one of the things that we know about Charlotta Bass is that she truly engaged in what can best be described as pragmatic activism. And I say that because this is someone who shifted, who moved between organizations. This is someone who was literally — at the same time that she was a leader in the NAACP, she was a leader in the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Anyone who studies history understands just the complexity of being able to function in two organizations that were radically different, even as they were equally committed to Black progress.
And then, on top of that, Bass moved from — supported the Republican Party, then supporting the Democratic Party, and then abandoning both of them when she came to the conclusion that they were simply not doing enough — not doing enough for Black people, not doing enough for women, not doing enough for marginalized groups. And she put up her hands, and she tried a new party, the Progressive Party.
And I think just really thinking about the ways that Charlotta Bass moved in between organizations, shifted parties throughout her lifetime, speaks to her unwavering commitment to advancing Black politics. She never allowed herself to be tied in to one particular group or even one particular perspective. She truly engaged in pragmatic activism, believing that she would do anything, anything possible, to improve the conditions of Black people.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Professor Keisha Blain, could you also explain some of the issues with which she was most preoccupied, from police brutality to media stereotyping of African Americans?
KEISHA BLAIN: Absolutely. She was deeply — excuse me — deeply committed to challenging racism and discrimination and, as you mentioned, even the media. One of the things that she did in 1915, so this is very early in her career in California, was to speak out against the film Birth of a Nation. And she tried to get people — well, certainly she tried to pull the film from being shown publicly. She was not successful in doing that. But what she did do was point out the problems with the film. She was able to rally the community. She openly denounced the film.
And I think her efforts really captured the way that she was concerned with not only, you know, certainly, various aspects of Black politics, but she was concerned with how Black people were being represented on screen. And as a journalist, she understood the power of words, she understood the power of imagery. And I think that’s just one example of how she was truly, I think, a fierce advocate for Black people.
And she was really bold. She confronted the KKK. She addressed police violence and brutality. And her boldness got her in trouble. And it’s not surprising that she was surveilled by the FBI, because she was someone who simply did not sit on the sidelines. She confronted every challenge that she saw, and she tried to come up with solutions to fix the problems.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Professor Blain, why was she branded a communist?
KEISHA BLAIN: Well, she was branded a communist for the same reason that people like W. E. B. Du Bois, Paul Robeson and even Marcus Garvey, earlier, had been branded as a problem for the United States. She is someone who certainly embraced leftist politics and ideas, and ultimately she posed a challenge.
The truth of the matter is, she didn’t even need to embrace any kind of radical platform to be branded a communist at the time, because, in the end, to use the term “communist” within that context was simply to try to smear someone, to be able to say, “Listen, this person is not American.” And what we know from history is that the people who were branded communists, whether they embraced communist views or not, were ultimately individuals who stood up, who stood up in the face of injustice, who confronted racism and discrimination. And every time they were vocal, every time they decided they were simply not going to accept Black people being mistreated in this country, all of a sudden they were, quote-unquote, a “communist.”
AMY GOODMAN: In these last few seconds that we have, your next book is on Fannie Lou Hamer. Can you talk about her level of activism, and the struggle you see now in the Democratic Party of the progressives and the establishment, even as history is being made with Kamala Harris being the first woman of color to be nominated as a vice-presidential candidate?
KEISHA BLAIN: Yeah, it was truly wonderful to hear Harris evoke Fannie Lou Hamer. I’ve been deeply invested, certainly, in Hamer’s ideas, and finishing a book on this topic.
And one of the things that I think is important to emphasize is that Hamer ran for office. She ran for office three times. I think that’s important, because we don’t talk about it. Generally, we don’t talk about it. And the reason we don’t talk about it is because she was unsuccessful. But I’m of the mindset that even those stories we have to know. And those stories are powerful, because Fannie Lou Hamer was unsuccessful, Charlotta Bass was unsuccessful, but it doesn’t mean that their stories don’t matter. And it certainly doesn’t mean that we can’t talk about their efforts, because what is key here, it’s not really about winning or losing.
AMY GOODMAN: Three seconds.
KEISHA BLAIN: It’s about how these women ultimately rose to the occasion.
AMY GOODMAN: Professor Keisha Blain, we thank you so much for joining us. I’m Amy Goodman, with Nermeen Shaikh. Stay safe.
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truthout--2020-08-20--Crowded Reopenings Are Endangering Students and Setting Up Schools to Fail

Seventeen years ago , against the advice of my parents , I decided to become a public school teacher .
Once I did , both my mother and father , educators themselves , warned me that choosing to teach was to invite attacks from those who viewed the profession with derision and contempt .
They advised me to stay strong and push through when budgets were cut , my intellect questioned , or my dedication to my students exploited .
Nobody , however , warned me that someday I might have to defend myself against those who asked me to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ my own life , the lives of my students and their families , of my friends , my husband , and my child in the middle of a global pandemic .
And nobody told me that I ’ d be worrying about whether or not our nation ’ s public schools , already under siege , would survive the chaos of Covid-19 .
Pushing students back into school buildings right now simply telegraphs an even larger desire in this society to return to business as usual .
We want our schools to open @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a time of the deepest uncertainty .
We want to pretend that schools ( like bars ) will deliver us from the stresses created by a massive public health crisis .
We want to believe that if we simply put our children back in their classrooms , the economy will recover and life as we used to know it will resume .
In reality , the coronavirus is — or at least should be — teaching us that there can be no going back to that past .
As the first students @ @ @ @ @ @ @ buildings , images of crowded hallways , unmasked kids , and reports of school-induced Covid-19 outbreaks have already revealed the depths to which we seem willing to plunge when it comes to the safety and well-being of our children .
So let ’ s just call the situation what it is : a misguided attempt to prop up an economy failing at near Great Depression levels because federal , state , and local governments have been remarkably unwilling to make public policy grounded in evidence-based science .
In other words , we ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ come to terms with the deadly repercussions of a social safety net gutted even before the virus reached our shores and decisions guided by the most self-interested kind of politics rather than the public good .
For teachers like me , with the privilege of not having to work a second or third job , summer can be a time to reflect on the previous school year and prepare for the next .
I take classes , read , develop new curriculum , and spend time with family and friends .
Summer has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all the pieces of my life I ’ ve neglected during the school year and recharge my physical and emotional batteries .
Like many other public school teachers I know , I step away in order to step back in .
Not this summer , though .
In these months , there ’ s been no reprieve .
In Portland , Oregon , where I live , the confluence of the historic Black Lives Matter uprising , a subsequent invasion by the president ’ s federal agents , the hovering menace and tragic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rates of homelessness and joblessness have contributed to a seismic disruption of the routines and structures of our community .
A feeling of uncertainty and anxiety now permeates every facet of daily life .
Like so many , I ’ ve been parenting full time without relief since March , acutely aware of the absence of the usual indispensable web of teachers , caregivers , coaches , camp counselors , family , and friends who have helped me raise my child so that I can help raise the children of others .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ caused by the breakdown of normal social ties , as well as my daughter ’ s and my lack of access to school , has had a profound effect on our lives .
And yet , knowing all that , feeling it all so deeply , I would still never advocate sending our children back to school in person as Covid-19 still rages out of control .
Without a concerted effort to stop the spread of the virus — as cases in this country soar past five million and deaths top 170,000 — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ effective contact tracing , enough funding to change the physical layout of classrooms and school buildings , a radical reduction in class sizes , and proper personal protective equipment for all school employees , returning to school becomes folly on a grand scale .
Of course , an effort like that would require a kind of social cohesion , innovation , and focused allocation of resources that , by definition , is nonexistent in the age of Trump .
In late July , when it was announced that school districts across the state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this fall , I felt two things : enormous relief and profound grief .
The experience of virtual schooling in the spring had resulted in many families suffering due to a lack of access to the social , emotional , and educational resources of school .
No one understands that reality better than the teachers who have dedicated our waking hours to supporting those students and the parents who have watched them suffer .
As refreshing as it should be to hear politicians across the political spectrum communicating their worries about a widening @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the most vulnerable American children will fall behind if they don ’ t experience in-person schooling , their concerns ring hollow .
Our most vulnerable children are historically the least served by our schools and the most likely to get sick if they go back .
Having never prioritized the needs of those very students , their families , and the communities they live in , those politicians have the audacity to demand that schools open now .
Truly caring for the health and well-being of such students during the pandemic would mean @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and enacting universal health care .
The answer is hardly sending vulnerable kids into a building where they could possibly become infected and carry the virus back to communities that have already been disproportionately affected by Covid-19 .
Take the example of my school , which has an air ventilation system that ’ s been on the fritz for more than a decade , insufficient soap or even places to wash your hands , and windows that don ’ t open .
In other words , perfect conditions for spreading a virus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ face shield and ample hand sanitizer , I ’ d still be stuck in classrooms with far too many students and inadequate air flow .
And those are just the physical concerns .
What very few people seem to be considering , no less discussing , is the long-term psychological trauma associated with the spread of the virus .
What if I unknowingly infected my students or their family members ?
What if I brought the virus home to my family and friends ?
What if I contracted the virus from a student @ @ @ @ @ @ @ believes that online teaching will better serve our students , but stepping back into in-person learning while the virus is still out of control in America will clearly only contribute to its further spread .
Schools are unable to shoulder the burden of this crisis .
Politicizing the return to school and pitting parents against teachers — as if many teachers weren ’ t themselves parents — is a devious way of once again scapegoating those very schools for perennial failures of funding , leadership , and policy .
Forty years of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public schools by both Democratic and Republican administrations have ensured that , unlike in many of the wealthiest nations on this planet , public schools in the U.S. don ’ t have the necessary institutional support , infrastructure , or resources to envision and carry out a safe and effective return to school .
To put all this in perspective , in its budget proposal for 2021 , the Trump administration requested $ 66.6 billion for the Department of Education , $ 6.1 billion less than in 2020 .
In contrast , Congress @ @ @ @ @ @ @ authorizing $ 740 billion in spending for the Defense Department .
Even with the proposed allocation of an additional $ 70 billion for schools in the Republican-backed HEALS Act , the now-stalled second attempt to respond to the spreading pandemic , two-thirds of those funds would only be available to school districts that hold in-person classes .
And because a majority of school funding is tied to local and state tax revenues , badly hit by an economy hobbled by the virus , schools will actually be operating on even smaller budgets this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they want us to fail .
Perhaps the most powerful foe of public education in the Trump administration , Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos , even threatened to withhold federal funding if local school districts decided to resume school totally online this fall .
After she was reminded that she didn ’ t have the authority to do so , she pivoted instead to asking parents to consider other options for their children .
That request amounted to encouraging them to pull their children from public schools ( depriving them of essential funding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ private or charter schools .
DeVos didn ’ t just stop there .
In an attempt to redirect funds allocated to low-income students by the CARES Act , Congress ’ s initial response to the pandemic , she ruled that school districts deciding to use that money for programs that might benefit all students ( instead of just low-income students ) must also pay for “ equitable services ” for all private schools in the district .
This would potentially siphon up to $ 1.5 billion of CARES Act money from public to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ benefited from Paycheck Protection Program loans that were distributed as part of the CARES Act .
I ’ m sure you won ’ t be surprised to know that they stand to receive yet more money if anything like the present version of the Senate ’ s HEALS Act ever passes .
It ’ s easy to see who wins and who loses in such an equation .
The fear and anxiety prompted by uncertainty about how public schools will function in the chaos of this moment is giving way to grassroots decision-making @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the foreseeable future and may even contribute to even more segregated schools .
People like me — white , highly educated , and accustomed to having options — are scrambling to figure out individual solutions to problems that would best be solved by community organizing .
Some families are indeed choosing to pull their children out of public schools , enrolling them in online academies , private schools , or simply homeschooling their kids .
Others are forming small instructional pods , or micro schools , and hiring private teachers or tutors @ @ @ @ @ @ @ irony of these developments is that many white people who support the Black Lives Matter movement are making decisions for their own children that will adversely affect Black students for years to come .
Declining enrollment and white divestment in public schools will bring about funding shortages and educational disparities sure to undermine whatever gains those protests achieve .
The inevitable result will be more segregated schools , while the gap between the haves and the have-nots only widens .
Ultimately , privatization on the smallest scale plays into the desire of those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , in the end , even potentially dismantle public education in favor of private schools and charter schools , which , unsurprisingly enough , were first formed to perpetuate school segregation .
Public schools are deeply imperfect institutions .
Historically , they ’ ve perpetuated racial inequities and solidified economic and social disparities .
In many ways , they ’ ve failed all our children on almost every conceivable level .
Their funding models are little short of criminal and the lack of resources across the system should have been ( but generally @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before the coronavirus struck .
Yet institutions are made up of people and , many of them , myself included , believe that a free public education accessible to all is a foundation for hope in the future .
In the end , schools may still prove to be our last best chance for salvaging what ’ s left of our fractured nation and the promise of democracy .
Abandon them now , when they ’ re under threat at the federal , state , and grassroots level , and you imperil the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are creative solutions that put the focus on the most vulnerable of our children .
Perhaps enlisting our nation ’ s retirees , many of whom are currently isolated at home , to help small groups of students , or launching a civilian corps of the currently unemployed , paid to step in to rebuild critical public school infrastructure or provide supplementary support and tutoring for kids who might otherwise be left behind , would help .
I know there are creative solutions out there that don ’ t just benefit the most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in fact , focus on the most marginalized students .
Now is the time to be creative , not to withdraw from the system .
Now is the time to pool resources , while amplifying the voices of students , parents , and families historically not invited into such conversations .
Long-term divestment in public education has brought America ’ s schools to a dangerous crossroads , where mistrust of science and expert advice is threatening the very fabric of this nation .
The only way out of this mess is to reverse @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be governed by fear and self-imposed scarcity ?
Do we really want the gears of institutional racism to grind on , whether virtually or in person ?
It ’ s time to act more collectively , to truly put the “ public ” back in public schools .
It ’ s time to set partisanship aside to protect all our children as we navigate the unknown and unknowable .
As I prepare for an academic year unlike any other , I expect to watch with terror as many of our nation ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the midst of a pandemic .
Exhausted and heartbroken , I will worry nonstop about the students and teachers walking through those doors .

Seventeen years ago, against the advice of my parents, I decided to become a public school teacher. Once I did, both my mother and father, educators themselves, warned me that choosing to teach was to invite attacks from those who viewed the profession with derision and contempt. They advised me to stay strong and push through when budgets were cut, my intellect questioned, or my dedication to my students exploited. Nobody, however, warned me that someday I might have to defend myself against those who asked me to step back into my classroom and risk my own life, the lives of my students and their families, of my friends, my husband, and my child in the middle of a global pandemic. And nobody told me that I’d be worrying about whether or not our nation’s public schools, already under siege, would survive the chaos of Covid-19.
Pushing students back into school buildings right now simply telegraphs an even larger desire in this society to return to business as usual. We want our schools to open because we want a sense of normalcy in a time of the deepest uncertainty. We want to pretend that schools (like bars) will deliver us from the stresses created by a massive public health crisis. We want to believe that if we simply put our children back in their classrooms, the economy will recover and life as we used to know it will resume.
In reality, the coronavirus is — or at least should be — teaching us that there can be no going back to that past. As the first students and teachers start to return to school buildings, images of crowded hallways, unmasked kids, and reports of school-induced Covid-19 outbreaks have already revealed the depths to which we seem willing to plunge when it comes to the safety and well-being of our children.
So let’s just call the situation what it is: a misguided attempt to prop up an economy failing at near Great Depression levels because federal, state, and local governments have been remarkably unwilling to make public policy grounded in evidence-based science. In other words, we’re living in a nation struggling to come to terms with the deadly repercussions of a social safety net gutted even before the virus reached our shores and decisions guided by the most self-interested kind of politics rather than the public good.
A Return to School?
For teachers like me, with the privilege of not having to work a second or third job, summer can be a time to reflect on the previous school year and prepare for the next. I take classes, read, develop new curriculum, and spend time with family and friends. Summer has been a time to catch up with all the pieces of my life I’ve neglected during the school year and recharge my physical and emotional batteries. Like many other public school teachers I know, I step away in order to step back in.
Not this summer, though. In these months, there’s been no reprieve. In Portland, Oregon, where I live, the confluence of the historic Black Lives Matter uprising, a subsequent invasion by the president’s federal agents, the hovering menace and tragic devastation of the coronavirus, and rising rates of homelessness and joblessness have contributed to a seismic disruption of the routines and structures of our community. A feeling of uncertainty and anxiety now permeates every facet of daily life. Like so many, I’ve been parenting full time without relief since March, acutely aware of the absence of the usual indispensable web of teachers, caregivers, coaches, camp counselors, family, and friends who have helped me raise my child so that I can help raise the children of others.
The dislocation from my community and the isolation caused by the breakdown of normal social ties, as well as my daughter’s and my lack of access to school, has had a profound effect on our lives. And yet, knowing all that, feeling it all so deeply, I would still never advocate sending our children back to school in person as Covid-19 still rages out of control.
Without a concerted effort to stop the spread of the virus — as cases in this country soar past five million and deaths top 170,000 — including masking mandates, widespread testing, effective contact tracing, enough funding to change the physical layout of classrooms and school buildings, a radical reduction in class sizes, and proper personal protective equipment for all school employees, returning to school becomes folly on a grand scale. Of course, an effort like that would require a kind of social cohesion, innovation, and focused allocation of resources that, by definition, is nonexistent in the age of Trump.
Sacrificing the Vulnerable
In late July, when it was announced that school districts across the state of Oregon would open fully online again this fall, I felt two things: enormous relief and profound grief. The experience of virtual schooling in the spring had resulted in many families suffering due to a lack of access to the social, emotional, and educational resources of school. No one understands that reality better than the teachers who have dedicated our waking hours to supporting those students and the parents who have watched them suffer.
As refreshing as it should be to hear politicians across the political spectrum communicating their worries about a widening achievement gap and the ways in which the most vulnerable American children will fall behind if they don’t experience in-person schooling, their concerns ring hollow. Our most vulnerable children are historically the least served by our schools and the most likely to get sick if they go back. Having never prioritized the needs of those very students, their families, and the communities they live in, those politicians have the audacity to demand that schools open now.
Truly caring for the health and well-being of such students during the pandemic would mean extending unemployment benefits, providing rental assistance, and enacting universal health care. The answer is hardly sending vulnerable kids into a building where they could possibly become infected and carry the virus back to communities that have already been disproportionately affected by Covid-19.
Take the example of my school, which has an air ventilation system that’s been on the fritz for more than a decade, insufficient soap or even places to wash your hands, and windows that don’t open. In other words, perfect conditions for spreading a virus. Even if I were given a face shield and ample hand sanitizer, I’d still be stuck in classrooms with far too many students and inadequate air flow. And those are just the physical concerns.
What very few people seem to be considering, no less discussing, is the long-term psychological trauma associated with the spread of the virus. What if I unknowingly infected my students or their family members? What if I brought the virus home to my family and friends? What if I contracted the virus from a student and died? No educator I know believes that online teaching will better serve our students, but stepping back into in-person learning while the virus is still out of control in America will clearly only contribute to its further spread.
Schools are unable to shoulder the burden of this crisis. Politicizing the return to school and pitting parents against teachers — as if many teachers weren’t themselves parents — is a devious way of once again scapegoating those very schools for perennial failures of funding, leadership, and policy. Forty years of the neoliberal version of austerity and divestment from public schools by both Democratic and Republican administrations have ensured that, unlike in many of the wealthiest nations on this planet, public schools in the U.S. don’t have the necessary institutional support, infrastructure, or resources to envision and carry out a safe and effective return to school.
To put all this in perspective, in its budget proposal for 2021, the Trump administration requested $66.6 billion for the Department of Education, $6.1 billion less than in 2020. In contrast, Congress just passed the National Defense Authorization Act authorizing $740 billion in spending for the Defense Department. Even with the proposed allocation of an additional $70 billion for schools in the Republican-backed HEALS Act, the now-stalled second attempt to respond to the spreading pandemic, two-thirds of those funds would only be available to school districts that hold in-person classes. And because a majority of school funding is tied to local and state tax revenues, badly hit by an economy hobbled by the virus, schools will actually be operating on even smaller budgets this year.
Grassroots Privatization
It’s as if they want us to fail. Perhaps the most powerful foe of public education in the Trump administration, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, even threatened to withhold federal funding if local school districts decided to resume school totally online this fall. After she was reminded that she didn’t have the authority to do so, she pivoted instead to asking parents to consider other options for their children. That request amounted to encouraging them to pull their children from public schools (depriving them of essential funding) and instead seek out vouchers for private or charter schools.
DeVos didn’t just stop there. In an attempt to redirect funds allocated to low-income students by the CARES Act, Congress’s initial response to the pandemic, she ruled that school districts deciding to use that money for programs that might benefit all students (instead of just low-income students) must also pay for “equitable services” for all private schools in the district. This would potentially siphon up to $1.5 billion of CARES Act money from public to private schools. Such schools have already benefited from Paycheck Protection Program loans that were distributed as part of the CARES Act. I’m sure you won’t be surprised to know that they stand to receive yet more money if anything like the present version of the Senate’s HEALS Act ever passes. It’s easy to see who wins and who loses in such an equation.
The fear and anxiety prompted by uncertainty about how public schools will function in the chaos of this moment is giving way to grassroots decision-making that will adversely affect such basic institutions for the foreseeable future and may even contribute to even more segregated schools. People like me — white, highly educated, and accustomed to having options — are scrambling to figure out individual solutions to problems that would best be solved by community organizing.
Some families are indeed choosing to pull their children out of public schools, enrolling them in online academies, private schools, or simply homeschooling their kids. Others are forming small instructional pods, or micro schools, and hiring private teachers or tutors to educate their kids.
The twisted irony of these developments is that many white people who support the Black Lives Matter movement are making decisions for their own children that will adversely affect Black students for years to come. Declining enrollment and white divestment in public schools will bring about funding shortages and educational disparities sure to undermine whatever gains those protests achieve.
The inevitable result will be more segregated schools, while the gap between the haves and the have-nots only widens. Ultimately, privatization on the smallest scale plays into the desire of those like DeVos who seek to undermine and, in the end, even potentially dismantle public education in favor of private schools and charter schools, which, unsurprisingly enough, were first formed to perpetuate school segregation.
The Survival of Public Schools
Public schools are deeply imperfect institutions. Historically, they’ve perpetuated racial inequities and solidified economic and social disparities. In many ways, they’ve failed all our children on almost every conceivable level. Their funding models are little short of criminal and the lack of resources across the system should have been (but generally wasn’t) considered unconscionable long before the coronavirus struck.
Yet institutions are made up of people and, many of them, myself included, believe that a free public education accessible to all is a foundation for hope in the future. In the end, schools may still prove to be our last best chance for salvaging what’s left of our fractured nation and the promise of democracy. Abandon them now, when they’re under threat at the federal, state, and grassroots level, and you imperil the fate of the nation.
Needed today are creative solutions that put the focus on the most vulnerable of our children. Perhaps enlisting our nation’s retirees, many of whom are currently isolated at home, to help small groups of students, or launching a civilian corps of the currently unemployed, paid to step in to rebuild critical public school infrastructure or provide supplementary support and tutoring for kids who might otherwise be left behind, would help. I know there are creative solutions out there that don’t just benefit the most privileged among us, that could, in fact, focus on the most marginalized students. Now is the time to be creative, not to withdraw from the system. Now is the time to pool resources, while amplifying the voices of students, parents, and families historically not invited into such conversations.
Long-term divestment in public education has brought America’s schools to a dangerous crossroads, where mistrust of science and expert advice is threatening the very fabric of this nation. The only way out of this mess is to reverse the tide. Do we really want to be governed by fear and self-imposed scarcity? Do we really want the gears of institutional racism to grind on, whether virtually or in person? It’s time to act more collectively, to truly put the “public” back in public schools. It’s time to set partisanship aside to protect all our children as we navigate the unknown and unknowable.
As I prepare for an academic year unlike any other, I expect to watch with terror as many of our nation’s schools, woefully unprepared, open in the midst of a pandemic. Exhausted and heartbroken, I will worry nonstop about the students and teachers walking through those doors.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
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truthout--2020-08-20--Trump Embraces Support From Far Right Conspiracy Group QAnon

President Trump crossed a new line Wednesday — one that until recently no one knew existed — when he offered praise from the White House briefing room for the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory , which the FBI has labeled a potential domestic terrorism threat .
QAnon followers “ like me very much ” and “ love America , ” the president told reporters , before affirming the group ’ s core belief that he is in fact “ saving the world ” from the “ radical left.
” NBC News correspondent Shannon Pettypiece kicked off the discussion , asking , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ think about [ QAnon ] and what you have to say to people who are following this movement right now ?
” “ I don ’ t know much about the movement , other than I understand they like me very much .
Which I appreciate .
But I don ’ t know much about the movement , ” Trump said .
He then connected the values of the group to one of his own campaign themes — law and order .
“ I have heard that it is gaining in popularity , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are people that don ’ t like seeing what ’ s going on in places like Portland , and places like Chicago and New York and other cities and states , ” the president said .
“ I ’ ve heard these are people that love our country and they just don ’ t like seeing it , ” he added .
“ So I don ’ t know really anything about it other than they do supposedly like me .
And they also would like to see problems in these areas , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re talking about , go away.
” Trump then vowed he would send in “ troops or law enforcement or whatever they would like ” to cities to help “ straighten out their problems.
” Pettypiece followed up , pointing out that the QAnon universe — an outgrowth of the 2016 “ pizzagate ” conspiracy theory — hangs on a core belief that the world ’ s levers of power are wielded by prominent liberals and celebrities who are literally pedophiles and cannibals and who kill and eat children , and that Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will render justice and liberate the innocent .
“ This belief that you ’ re supposedly saving the world from this satanic cult of pedophiles and cannibals , ” Pettypiece asked , “ does that sound like something you are behind ?
” “ Well , I haven ’ t heard that , but is that supposed to be a bad thing or a good thing ?
” Trump said , drawing laughs from the briefing room .
“ I mean , you know .
If I can help save the world from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it .
I ’ m willing to put myself out there , ” he said .
“ And we are , actually !
” the president continued .
“ We are saving the world from a radical left philosophy that will destroy this country , and when this country is gone the rest of the world would follow .
The rest of the world would follow .
That ’ s the importance of this country.
” Although this is the first time Trump has voiced direct praise for the QAnon “ movement , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been nodding and winking at Q believers for more than a year , despite a May 2019 FBI intelligence bulletin warning that conspiracy theories like QAnon were likely to “ motivate some domestic extremists , wholly or in part , to commit criminal and sometimes violent activity.
” QAnon believers have been prominently featured at the president ’ s rallies as far back as July 2019 , when Trump praised a baby wearing a QAnon onesie during a speech in North Carolina , and a speaker recited a QAnon slogan at a Cincinnati @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stage .
A 2019 Trump campaign video showed a woman holding a “ Women for Trump ” sign in which the “ O ” s were replaced with “ Q ” s .
Another supporter could be seen holding a “ Keep America Great ” sign with a large “ Q ” taped to the top-left corner .
Trump has also amplified QAnon supporters on Twitter numerous times over the past year or more , retweeting 14 QAnon accounts on the Fourth of July alone .
That was the same day that Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Flynn , who figures prominently in the movement ’ s conspiracy lore , pledged allegiance to Q in a video posted to social media .
This year QAnon officially seeped into national electoral politics , with multiple Q-supporting Republican Party candidates winning primaries — and endorsements from the president .
Last week Trump tweeted that Georgia congressional candidate and QAnon adherent Marjorie Taylor Greene , whose rhetoric has been denounced by GOP leaders as “ appalling ” and “ disgusting , ” was a “ future Republican star.
” Democratic nominee Joe Biden @ @ @ @ @ @ @ soon after his White House remarks Wednesday , connecting the moment to Trump ’ s infamous “ both sides ” comments in the wake of the 2017 neo-Nazi terrorist attack in Charlottesville , Virginia .
“ Not only is our president refusing to take responsibility for his failed leadership that has cost over 170,000 American lives and tens of millions of jobs , he is again giving voice to violence , ” said Biden campaign spokesperson Andrew Bates .
“ After calling neo-Nazis and white supremacists in Charlottesville ‘ fine people ’ and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of George Floyd , Donald Trump just sought to legitimize a conspiracy theory that the FBI has identified as a domestic terrorism threat.
” When wrapping up his thoughts on the subject during the White House briefing , Trump tried once more to link QAnon to his slightly more pedestrian campaign themes , including urban crime and his as-yet-nonexistent wall along the Mexican border .
“ Mexico , as you know , has a very high rate of infection , ” the president said , referring to the coronavirus .
“ The wall @ @ @ @ @ @ @ week , about 300 miles long .
Our numbers are extraordinary on the border .
And this is through luck , perhaps more than talent.
” “ You don ’ t hear talk about the wall anymore , ” Trump concluded .
“ We need strength in our country , not weakness .
Too much weakness.
” Veteran GOP strategist Karl Rove , who has reportedly been advising Trump in recent months , told a Fox News panel immediately after the president ’ s remarks , “ This is a group of nuts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them.
” “ They may like him , but they like him because they think he is fighting an incredible war against forces of ‘ pedographic ’ evil and it ’ s just ridiculous .
Disavow them , get done with it , ” Rove said .

President Trump crossed a new line Wednesday — one that until recently no one knew existed — when he offered praise from the White House briefing room for the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory, which the FBI has labeled a potential domestic terrorism threat. QAnon followers “like me very much” and “love America,” the president told reporters, before affirming the group’s core belief that he is in fact “saving the world” from the “radical left.”
NBC News correspondent Shannon Pettypiece kicked off the discussion, asking, “Can you talk about what you think about [QAnon] and what you have to say to people who are following this movement right now?”
“I don’t know much about the movement, other than I understand they like me very much. Which I appreciate. But I don’t know much about the movement,” Trump said. He then connected the values of the group to one of his own campaign themes — law and order.
“I have heard that it is gaining in popularity, and from what I hear … these are people that don’t like seeing what’s going on in places like Portland, and places like Chicago and New York and other cities and states,” the president said.
“I’ve heard these are people that love our country and they just don’t like seeing it,” he added. “So I don’t know really anything about it other than they do supposedly like me. And they also would like to see problems in these areas, like especially the areas that we’re talking about, go away.”
Trump then vowed he would send in “troops or law enforcement or whatever they would like” to cities to help “straighten out their problems.”
Pettypiece followed up, pointing out that the QAnon universe — an outgrowth of the 2016 “pizzagate” conspiracy theory — hangs on a core belief that the world’s levers of power are wielded by prominent liberals and celebrities who are literally pedophiles and cannibals and who kill and eat children, and that Trump has been anointed as a savior who will render justice and liberate the innocent.
“This belief that you’re supposedly saving the world from this satanic cult of pedophiles and cannibals,” Pettypiece asked, “does that sound like something you are behind?”
“Well, I haven’t heard that, but is that supposed to be a bad thing or a good thing?” Trump said, drawing laughs from the briefing room.
“I mean, you know. If I can help save the world from problems I’m willing to do it. I’m willing to put myself out there,” he said.
“And we are, actually!” the president continued. “We are saving the world from a radical left philosophy that will destroy this country, and when this country is gone the rest of the world would follow. The rest of the world would follow. That’s the importance of this country.”
Although this is the first time Trump has voiced direct praise for the QAnon “movement,” the president and his campaign have been nodding and winking at Q believers for more than a year, despite a May 2019 FBI intelligence bulletin warning that conspiracy theories like QAnon were likely to “motivate some domestic extremists, wholly or in part, to commit criminal and sometimes violent activity.”
QAnon believers have been prominently featured at the president’s rallies as far back as July 2019, when Trump praised a baby wearing a QAnon onesie during a speech in North Carolina, and a speaker recited a QAnon slogan at a Cincinnati rally minutes before the president took the stage.
A 2019 Trump campaign video showed a woman holding a “Women for Trump” sign in which the “O”s were replaced with “Q”s. Another supporter could be seen holding a “Keep America Great” sign with a large “Q” taped to the top-left corner.
Trump has also amplified QAnon supporters on Twitter numerous times over the past year or more, retweeting 14 QAnon accounts on the Fourth of July alone. That was the same day that Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who figures prominently in the movement’s conspiracy lore, pledged allegiance to Q in a video posted to social media.
This year QAnon officially seeped into national electoral politics, with multiple Q-supporting Republican Party candidates winning primaries — and endorsements from the president. Last week Trump tweeted that Georgia congressional candidate and QAnon adherent Marjorie Taylor Greene, whose rhetoric has been denounced by GOP leaders as “appalling” and “disgusting,” was a “future Republican star.”
Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s campaign laid into the president soon after his White House remarks Wednesday, connecting the moment to Trump’s infamous “both sides” comments in the wake of the 2017 neo-Nazi terrorist attack in Charlottesville, Virginia.
“Not only is our president refusing to take responsibility for his failed leadership that has cost over 170,000 American lives and tens of millions of jobs, he is again giving voice to violence,” said Biden campaign spokesperson Andrew Bates. “After calling neo-Nazis and white supremacists in Charlottesville ‘fine people’ and tear gassing peaceful protesters following the murder of George Floyd, Donald Trump just sought to legitimize a conspiracy theory that the FBI has identified as a domestic terrorism threat.”
When wrapping up his thoughts on the subject during the White House briefing, Trump tried once more to link QAnon to his slightly more pedestrian campaign themes, including urban crime and his as-yet-nonexistent wall along the Mexican border.
“Mexico, as you know, has a very high rate of infection,” the president said, referring to the coronavirus. “The wall is now going to be, next week, about 300 miles long. Our numbers are extraordinary on the border. And this is through luck, perhaps more than talent.”
“You don’t hear talk about the wall anymore,” Trump concluded. “We need strength in our country, not weakness. Too much weakness.”
Veteran GOP strategist Karl Rove, who has reportedly been advising Trump in recent months, told a Fox News panel immediately after the president’s remarks, “This is a group of nuts and kooks and he ought to disavow them.”
“They may like him, but they like him because they think he is fighting an incredible war against forces of ‘pedographic’ evil and it’s just ridiculous. Disavow them, get done with it,” Rove said.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.


truthout--2020-08-20--USPS Sorting Machines Are Still Being Dismantled Despite DeJoy’s Promise to Stop

In spite of promises from Postmaster General Louis DeJoy earlier this week to suspend radical changes to United States Postal Service ( USPS ) facilities that resulted in slower mail delivery , some post offices in Michigan appear to be continuing to dismantle their mail sorting machines .
DeJoy had wanted to decommission more than 600 machines across the U.S. used to help workers more efficiently sort mail , but after reports that machines were being removed — and a potential lawsuit from 20 states ’ attorneys general against him — the postmaster general announced on Tuesday that he would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ improve the USPS .
“ I believe significant reforms are essential … and work toward those reforms will commence after the election , ” DeJoy said .
Many critics noted that removing sorting machines , as well as changes to employees ’ working hours at post offices across the country , would make it more difficult for voters to participate in mail-in voting during this year ’ s presidential election .
Those worries were heightened when President Trump suggested earlier this month that he was refusing to agree to additional funding for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with an influx of mailed-in ballots .
“ They don ’ t have the money to do the universal mail-in voting .
So therefore , they can ’ t do it , ” Trump said last week .
“ How are they going to do it if they don ’ t have the money to do it ?
” In spite of assurances from DeJoy that he would suspend his sudden changes to the USPS , reports out of Michigan after his announcement was made seem to suggest mail sorting machines continue to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Walker , a reporter with Grand Rapids , Michigan , television station WOOD-TV , tweeted a video on Wednesday noting that machine parts still appear to be leaving the local post office facility .
According to Walker , an employee also said a dumpster in the lot had “ been filled three times since last week with parts and pieces of what we ’ re being told are the mail-sorting machines.
” Gov .
Gretchen Whitmer ( D-Michigan ) was asked by MSNBC host Joy Reid whether she believed DeJoy ’ s promises @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
She added that the governor ’ s office was receiving reports that machines were still being removed from Michigan post office facilities .
“ We ’ re getting reports from across the state , despite what the Trump administration said yesterday that they weren ’ t pursuing this , that this is , in fact , happening , ” Whitmer said , stating that a facility in Pontiac , Michigan , also had reported discarding machines — “ opposite sides of the state , ” Whitmer added .
The Michigan governor requested @ @ @ @ @ @ @ office of their state attorney general if they are aware of more machines being dismantled .
“ We have to fight back to protect the U.S. postal system , ” Whitmer said .
“ This is about our election at the end of the day , and we ’ ve got to ensure that every vote gets counted.
” In a statement Wednesday , House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke out against DeJoy ’ s assurances , pointing out that his promise to suspend his so-called reforms did not reverse the harmful changes that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Postmaster General ’ s alleged pause is wholly insufficient and does not reverse damage already wreaked , ” Pelosi said , adding that the changes DeJoy has already implemented , whether paused or not , “ directly jeopardize the election and disproportionately threaten to disenfranchise voters in communities of color .
”

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she was aware of at least two facilities in her state seeing machines being removed.
In spite of promises from Postmaster General Louis DeJoy earlier this week to suspend radical changes to United States Postal Service (USPS) facilities that resulted in slower mail delivery, some post offices in Michigan appear to be continuing to dismantle their mail sorting machines.
DeJoy had wanted to decommission more than 600 machines across the U.S. used to help workers more efficiently sort mail, but after reports that machines were being removed — and a potential lawsuit from 20 states’ attorneys general against him — the postmaster general announced on Tuesday that he would suspend what he claimed were efforts to improve the USPS.
“I believe significant reforms are essential … and work toward those reforms will commence after the election,” DeJoy said.
Many critics noted that removing sorting machines, as well as changes to employees’ working hours at post offices across the country, would make it more difficult for voters to participate in mail-in voting during this year’s presidential election.
Those worries were heightened when President Trump suggested earlier this month that he was refusing to agree to additional funding for the USPS that would help the agency deal with an influx of mailed-in ballots.
“They don’t have the money to do the universal mail-in voting. So therefore, they can’t do it,” Trump said last week. “How are they going to do it if they don’t have the money to do it?”
In spite of assurances from DeJoy that he would suspend his sudden changes to the USPS, reports out of Michigan after his announcement was made seem to suggest mail sorting machines continue to be decommissioned and tossed out. Heather Walker, a reporter with Grand Rapids, Michigan, television station WOOD-TV, tweeted a video on Wednesday noting that machine parts still appear to be leaving the local post office facility.
.@USPS GR Patterson location has pieces of the mail sorting machines out in the parking lot. @WOODTV pic.twitter.com/OuugjhTbfE — Heather Walker (@_HeatherWalker) August 19, 2020
According to Walker, an employee also said a dumpster in the lot had “been filled three times since last week with parts and pieces of what we’re being told are the mail-sorting machines.”
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-Michigan) was asked by MSNBC host Joy Reid whether she believed DeJoy’s promises in light of Walker’s report.
“I believe my eyes,” Whitmer responded.
She added that the governor’s office was receiving reports that machines were still being removed from Michigan post office facilities.
“We’re getting reports from across the state, despite what the Trump administration said yesterday that they weren’t pursuing this, that this is, in fact, happening,” Whitmer said, stating that a facility in Pontiac, Michigan, also had reported discarding machines — “opposite sides of the state,” Whitmer added.
The Michigan governor requested that people across the U.S. contact the office of their state attorney general if they are aware of more machines being dismantled.
“We have to fight back to protect the U.S. postal system,” Whitmer said. “This is about our election at the end of the day, and we’ve got to ensure that every vote gets counted.”
In a statement Wednesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke out against DeJoy’s assurances, pointing out that his promise to suspend his so-called reforms did not reverse the harmful changes that had already been made.
“The Postmaster General’s alleged pause is wholly insufficient and does not reverse damage already wreaked,” Pelosi said, adding that the changes DeJoy has already implemented, whether paused or not, “directly jeopardize the election and disproportionately threaten to disenfranchise voters in communities of color.”
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.


truthout--2020-08-20--Warren Uses DNC to Demand Child Care as “Basic Infrastructure of This Nation”

Speaking on the third night of the Democratic National Convention from a Massachusetts kindergarten facility that ’ s been shuttered for months due to the Covid-19 pandemic , Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday lamented the failure of the wealthiest country on the planet to provide crucial services to families with children and demanded that child care be treated as “ part of the basic infrastructure of this nation.
” “ Our economic system has been rigged to give bailouts to billionaires and kick dirt in the face of everyone else .
But we can build a thriving economy by investing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ broken , ” said Warren , whose remarks preceded those of former President Barack Obama and Sen. Kamala Harris ( D-Calif. ) , who formally accepted the Democratic Party ’ s vice presidential nomination .
Warren recounted that America ’ s woefully inadequate child care infrastructure “ almost sank ” her as she attempted to juggle parenting and her first full-time teaching job at the University of Houston .
“ One night my Aunt Bee called to check in .
I thought I was fine , but then I just broke down and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ holding it all together , but without reliable child care , working was nearly impossible .
And when I told Aunt Bee I was going to quit my job , I thought my heart would break , ” Warren said .
“ Then she said the words that changed my life : ‘ I can ’ t get there tomorrow , but I ’ ll come on Thursday.
’ She arrived with seven suitcases and a Pekingese named Buddy and stayed for 16 years .
I get to be here tonight because of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a fundamental truth : nobody makes it on their own , ” the Massachusetts senator continued .
“ And yet , two generations of working parents later , if you have a baby and don ’ t have an Aunt Bee , you ’ re on your own .
And here ’ s why that ’ s wrong : We build infrastructure like roads , bridges and communications systems so that people can work .
That infrastructure helps us all because it keeps our economy going .
It ’ s time to recognize @ @ @ @ @ @ @ basic infrastructure of this nation — it ’ s infrastructure for families.
” Warren voiced confidence that , if elected president , Joe Biden will “ make high-quality child care affordable for every family , make preschool universal , and raise the wages for every child care worker.
” Last month , as Common Dreams reported , Biden unveiled a sweeping proposal to invest $ 775 billion over the next decade in caregiving for children , the elderly , and people with disabilities .
The plan would make preschool free for all three- @ @ @ @ @ @ @ proposal that child care advocates applauded as a significant step toward creating “ a universal system of early care and education in this country.
” “ That ’ s just one plan , ” Warren said Thursday night , “ but it gives you an idea of how we get this country working for everyone.
” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ( D-N.Y. ) , who addressed the convention Tuesday night , praised Warren ’ s emphasis on the “ crucial role of child care in economic life and the interwoven threads of our economy.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ pillory President Donald Trump for his deadly failure to confront the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting economic crisis , which has left tens of millions people in the U.S. jobless , hungry , and at risk of eviction .
“ Donald Trump ’ s ignorance and incompetence have always been a danger to our country .
Covid-19 was Trump ’ s biggest test .
He failed miserably , ” said Warren .
“ Today , America has the most Covid deaths in the world and an economic collapse — and both crises are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” “ Millions out of work .
Millions more trapped in cycles of poverty .
Millions on the brink of losing their homes .
Millions of restaurants and stores hanging by a thread , ” Warren continued .
“ This crisis is bad — and didn ’ t have to be this way .
This crisis is on Donald Trump and the Republicans who enable him .
On November 3 , we hold them all accountable .
”

Speaking on the third night of the Democratic National Convention from a Massachusetts kindergarten facility that’s been shuttered for months due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday lamented the failure of the wealthiest country on the planet to provide crucial services to families with children and demanded that child care be treated as “part of the basic infrastructure of this nation.”
“Our economic system has been rigged to give bailouts to billionaires and kick dirt in the face of everyone else. But we can build a thriving economy by investing in families and fixing what’s broken,” said Warren, whose remarks preceded those of former President Barack Obama and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who formally accepted the Democratic Party’s vice presidential nomination.
Warren recounted that America’s woefully inadequate child care infrastructure “almost sank” her as she attempted to juggle parenting and her first full-time teaching job at the University of Houston.
“One night my Aunt Bee called to check in. I thought I was fine, but then I just broke down and started to cry. I had tried holding it all together, but without reliable child care, working was nearly impossible. And when I told Aunt Bee I was going to quit my job, I thought my heart would break,” Warren said. “Then she said the words that changed my life: ‘I can’t get there tomorrow, but I’ll come on Thursday.’ She arrived with seven suitcases and a Pekingese named Buddy and stayed for 16 years. I get to be here tonight because of my Aunt Bee.”
“I learned a fundamental truth: nobody makes it on their own,” the Massachusetts senator continued. “And yet, two generations of working parents later, if you have a baby and don’t have an Aunt Bee, you’re on your own. And here’s why that’s wrong: We build infrastructure like roads, bridges and communications systems so that people can work. That infrastructure helps us all because it keeps our economy going. It’s time to recognize that child care is part of the basic infrastructure of this nation — it’s infrastructure for families.”
Warren voiced confidence that, if elected president, Joe Biden will “make high-quality child care affordable for every family, make preschool universal, and raise the wages for every child care worker.”
Last month, as Common Dreams reported, Biden unveiled a sweeping proposal to invest $775 billion over the next decade in caregiving for children, the elderly, and people with disabilities. The plan would make preschool free for all three- and four-year-olds in the U.S., a proposal that child care advocates applauded as a significant step toward creating “a universal system of early care and education in this country.”
“That’s just one plan,” Warren said Thursday night, “but it gives you an idea of how we get this country working for everyone.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who addressed the convention Tuesday night, praised Warren’s emphasis on the “crucial role of child care in economic life and the interwoven threads of our economy.”
Love it. And love her remarks on the crucial role of childcare in economic life and the interwoven threads of our economy. Thank you, @ewarren! https://t.co/HsusqCBnaz — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 20, 2020
The Massachusetts senator went on to pillory President Donald Trump for his deadly failure to confront the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting economic crisis, which has left tens of millions people in the U.S. jobless, hungry, and at risk of eviction.
“Donald Trump’s ignorance and incompetence have always been a danger to our country. Covid-19 was Trump’s biggest test. He failed miserably,” said Warren. “Today, America has the most Covid deaths in the world and an economic collapse — and both crises are falling hardest on Black and Brown families.”
“Millions out of work. Millions more trapped in cycles of poverty. Millions on the brink of losing their homes. Millions of restaurants and stores hanging by a thread,” Warren continued. “This crisis is bad — and didn’t have to be this way. This crisis is on Donald Trump and the Republicans who enable him. On November 3, we hold them all accountable.”
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.


truthout--2020-08-20--GOP Is Waging a War on Voting. Here Are 8 Ways You Can Protect Election 2020.

The 2020 presidential election will not be decided by the popularity of candidates or their ideas .
It will not be decided by how many people intend to vote for each candidate .
The usual dramas of polls , debates and running mates are irrelevant .
The election will be decided by how many people try to vote and how many votes get counted and reported correctly in a handful of battleground states .
Donald Trump is not trying to appeal to more voters with popular ideas .
He is appealing to those who already support him and aiming to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ election is about whether the vote suppressors will get away with it sufficiently to steal the election .
Here are the main avenues of vote suppression that the president is pursuing .
Purge voter rolls .
In many states , the GOP has undertaken an aggressive voter purge .
The Brennan Center for Justice says 17 million voters were purged between 2016 and 2018 .
In 2017 , a mass purge of more than half a million voters in Georgia conducted by Secretary of State Brian Kemp led to the governor ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams never conceded . )
Attack the U.S .
Postal Service ( USPS ) .
Because of the pandemic , voting in person is riskier than usual .
As the pandemic affects low-income communities and Black people disproportionately , it will also tend to reduce voter turnout in those communities .
Early , absentee , and all forms of vote-by-mail ( including hand delivering a ballot that was received by mail ) are the safe alternatives .
True to form , Trump regularly disparages vote-by-mail .
Even more dangerously , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are refusing to fund the USPS , and the new postmaster has declared new rules to slow the delivery of U.S. mail .
The libertarian billionaire campaign against the USPS has been brewing for years and is now boiling , just when the post office is most needed for safe and fair elections .
Trump admitted on August 13 that he ’ s undermining the post office to make voting harder .
Candidates and voters are suing to prevent the post office being sabotaged , and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has indicated some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after the election .
Still , the brazen attack on a popular institution just when it is needed most is alarming in the extreme .
Eliminate polling places .
Most poll workers are seniors , and because of the pandemic , many probably will choose not to work on Election Day .
That in turn will likely lead to the closing of many polling places and longer lines at the few that open .
For the April 10 Wisconsin primary , there were only five polling places open in Milwaukee instead of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in general elections , that could mean there isn ’ t enough time for everyone to vote on Election Day .
Undercount votes .
Since the 2000 election was decided in Florida , many people are aware that counting and recounting votes is not a simple matter .
Mailed-in ballots are undercounted by as much as 20 percent in many places , and the reasons for discounting a ballot are as varied as the patchwork of state and county laws that govern voting .
Intimidate voters .
Trump sent federal troops some from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ insignia , to break up racial justice demonstrations in Portland , Oregon .
That was just a rehearsal ; he has vowed to expand the occupation of U.S. cities run by Democratic mayors .
Not coincidentally , the turnout in cities like Detroit , Milwaukee and Philadelphia , with large numbers of Black voters in purple states , may determine the winner in the Electoral College .
The toppling of a statue by protesters or provocateurs could be the pretext for violent occupation of the cities that could determine the election .
A @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Continue to Serve ” initiative , whereby retired police and military personnel would serve as poll watchers , aggressively challenging voters , creating a hostile presence and fueling anxieties among voters who are already suspicious of the authorities .
Republicans announced their plan last spring to recruit 50,000 poll watchers and spend $ 20 million in 15 key states “ to shape who gets to vote in November — and whose ballots are counted , ” according to The New York Times .
Allow foreign interference .
Earlier this week , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of its bipartisan report detailing evidence that Russians were communicating with the Trump campaign in 2016 and influenced the presidential election that year .
It has been established that Russia is already interfering in the 2020 election , but the president remains unconcerned .
Perhaps that ’ s because the interference is on his behalf .
What Can We Do ?
Here ’ s what you can do to restore a bit of integrity to U.S. elections .
Make sure you are registered to vote .
If you are planning to vote , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you to have been unregistered , double check that you are registered by going to Vote.org .
And if you ’ re not registered , you can re-register !
Then request a mail-in ballot from your county election board or commission .
For detailed how-to information , see Vote.org and New American Voters 2020 .
Vote early .
Do you want to vote by mail ?
Or do you want to find your voting place by zip code and your street address ?
Vote.org can answer all these questions and more , including @ @ @ @ @ @ @ To derail any funny business , know your rights as a voter .
Here ’ s a state-by-state list of how to vote by mail .
And here ’ s a separate place to double-check all the vote-related dates and deadlines in your state .
Election Day is going to be chaotic .
Get your ballot into the election board or commission well ahead of time to take the pressure off and allow more people to vote in-person under safer conditions .
If you request a mail-in ballot , return it promptly .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ people with low risk of harm from the coronavirus to become poll workers .
It ’ s an important job , and it ’ s paid .
( In most places you must be a registered voter in the precinct or at least the state where you want to serve as a poll worker .
PollHero.org can help you learn your local regulations . )
Become a poll monitor .
Lawyers can be especially helpful , but non-lawyers can train as well .
You can be stationed at a polling place in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ such as intimidation , long lines , unsafe conditions or people being turned away .
In some states , those complaints can be taken to an election judge for immediate mitigation .
Become an election scrutineer .
Join the Scrutineers Community to learn how to scrutinize elections and keep them fair , county by county , state by state .
Scrutineers will train you on how to approach local election officials and various ways you can monitor elections locally .
Join the Grassroots Emergency Election Protection Coalition .
This network brings together experts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weekly Zoom calls and provides opportunity for deeper engagement and connections to other networks in specific states .
Engage with your Board of Elections .
Procedurally , the vote on November 3 is not a national election ; it is a collection of 3,141 separate county elections .
County election boards ( also known as election commissions ) have a huge influence on voting rules and how they are implemented .
You can help make sure the election is administered fairly , especially in the few battleground states that will determine who wins @ @ @ @ @ @ @ start by contacting your local election officials and asking how to get involved .
Depending on the county , citizens can sometimes gain access to the ballot-counting process and keep an eye on official vote counters .
You can request , through the Freedom of Information Act , information on what voting machines they use , how they keep records of the ballots , and how the votes will be counted and recounted .
Just calling or visiting your Board of Elections will put them on notice that the public is paying attention @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Progressive organizations , whether 501 ( c ) 3 or 501 ( c ) 4 , can maintain their normal missions while prioritizing election protection .
Staff , volunteers and members can be deployed by the hundreds and thousands .
Every group ’ s mission — whether to expand clean energy or modify taxes or reform the criminal legal system — will be much , much harder to achieve without fair elections .
All groups and citizens dedicated to progressive causes can fulfill their mission by prioritizing election protection for the next @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says , “ If you ever wondered what you ’ d do if fascism came to America , you ’ re doing it.
” Fighting for free and fair elections is our duty .

The GOP has a plan to recruit 50,000 poll watchers and spend $20 million in 15 key states to influence who gets to vote.
Part of the Series Voting Wrongs
The 2020 presidential election will not be decided by the popularity of candidates or their ideas. It will not be decided by how many people intend to vote for each candidate. The usual dramas of polls, debates and running mates are irrelevant.
The election will be decided by how many people try to vote and how many votes get counted and reported correctly in a handful of battleground states. Donald Trump is not trying to appeal to more voters with popular ideas. He is appealing to those who already support him and aiming to suppress the votes of others. This election is about whether the vote suppressors will get away with it sufficiently to steal the election.
Here are the main avenues of vote suppression that the president is pursuing.
Purge voter rolls. In many states, the GOP has undertaken an aggressive voter purge. The Brennan Center for Justice says 17 million voters were purged between 2016 and 2018. In 2017, a mass purge of more than half a million voters in Georgia conducted by Secretary of State Brian Kemp led to the governor’s election going to… Brian Kemp. (Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams never conceded.)
Attack the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). Because of the pandemic, voting in person is riskier than usual. As the pandemic affects low-income communities and Black people disproportionately, it will also tend to reduce voter turnout in those communities. Early, absentee, and all forms of vote-by-mail (including hand delivering a ballot that was received by mail) are the safe alternatives.
True to form, Trump regularly disparages vote-by-mail. Even more dangerously, he and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are refusing to fund the USPS, and the new postmaster has declared new rules to slow the delivery of U.S. mail. The libertarian billionaire campaign against the USPS has been brewing for years and is now boiling, just when the post office is most needed for safe and fair elections. Trump admitted on August 13 that he’s undermining the post office to make voting harder. Candidates and voters are suing to prevent the post office being sabotaged, and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has indicated some of the changes will be delayed until after the election. Still, the brazen attack on a popular institution just when it is needed most is alarming in the extreme.
Eliminate polling places. Most poll workers are seniors, and because of the pandemic, many probably will choose not to work on Election Day. That in turn will likely lead to the closing of many polling places and longer lines at the few that open. For the April 10 Wisconsin primary, there were only five polling places open in Milwaukee instead of the usual 180. With the higher turnout in general elections, that could mean there isn’t enough time for everyone to vote on Election Day.
Mailed-in ballots are undercounted by as much as 20 percent in many places
Undercount votes. Since the 2000 election was decided in Florida, many people are aware that counting and recounting votes is not a simple matter. Mailed-in ballots are undercounted by as much as 20 percent in many places, and the reasons for discounting a ballot are as varied as the patchwork of state and county laws that govern voting.
Intimidate voters. Trump sent federal troops , some from Customs and Border Protection, some without insignia, to break up racial justice demonstrations in Portland, Oregon. That was just a rehearsal; he has vowed to expand the occupation of U.S. cities run by Democratic mayors. Not coincidentally, the turnout in cities like Detroit, Milwaukee and Philadelphia, with large numbers of Black voters in purple states, may determine the winner in the Electoral College. The toppling of a statue by protesters or provocateurs could be the pretext for violent occupation of the cities that could determine the election.
A second form of voter intimidation is the “Continue to Serve” initiative, whereby retired police and military personnel would serve as poll watchers, aggressively challenging voters, creating a hostile presence and fueling anxieties among voters who are already suspicious of the authorities. Republicans announced their plan last spring to recruit 50,000 poll watchers and spend $20 million in 15 key states “to shape who gets to vote in November — and whose ballots are counted,” according to The New York Times.
Allow foreign interference. Earlier this week, the Senate Intelligence Committee issued the final volume of its bipartisan report detailing evidence that Russians were communicating with the Trump campaign in 2016 and influenced the presidential election that year.
It has been established that Russia is already interfering in the 2020 election, but the president remains unconcerned. Perhaps that’s because the interference is on his behalf.
What Can We Do?
Here’s what you can do to restore a bit of integrity to U.S. elections.
Make sure you are registered to vote. If you are planning to vote, even if there is no reason for you to have been unregistered, double check that you are registered by going to Vote.org. And if you’re not registered, you can re-register! Then request a mail-in ballot from your county election board or commission. For detailed how-to information, see Vote.org and New American Voters 2020.
Vote early. Do you want to vote by mail? Or do you want to find your voting place by zip code and your street address? Vote.org can answer all these questions and more, including election dates, deadlines and rules. To derail any funny business, know your rights as a voter. Here’s a state-by-state list of how to vote by mail. And here’s a separate place to double-check all the vote-related dates and deadlines in your state.
Election Day is going to be chaotic. Get your ballot into the election board or commission well ahead of time to take the pressure off and allow more people to vote in-person under safer conditions. If you request a mail-in ballot, return it promptly.
Become a poll worker. We need people with low risk of harm from the coronavirus to become poll workers. It’s an important job, and it’s paid. (In most places you must be a registered voter in the precinct or at least the state where you want to serve as a poll worker. PollHero.org can help you learn your local regulations.)
Become a poll monitor. Lawyers can be especially helpful, but non-lawyers can train as well. You can be stationed at a polling place in a swing state, prepared to report irregularities such as intimidation, long lines, unsafe conditions or people being turned away. In some states, those complaints can be taken to an election judge for immediate mitigation.
Become an election scrutineer. Join the Scrutineers Community to learn how to scrutinize elections and keep them fair, county by county, state by state. Scrutineers will train you on how to approach local election officials and various ways you can monitor elections locally.
Join the Grassroots Emergency Election Protection Coalition. This network brings together experts in all fields of election protection for weekly Zoom calls and provides opportunity for deeper engagement and connections to other networks in specific states.
Engage with your Board of Elections. Procedurally, the vote on November 3 is not a national election; it is a collection of 3,141 separate county elections. County election boards (also known as election commissions) have a huge influence on voting rules and how they are implemented. You can help make sure the election is administered fairly, especially in the few battleground states that will determine who wins in the Electoral College. You can start by contacting your local election officials and asking how to get involved. Depending on the county, citizens can sometimes gain access to the ballot-counting process and keep an eye on official vote counters. You can request, through the Freedom of Information Act, information on what voting machines they use, how they keep records of the ballots, and how the votes will be counted and recounted. Just calling or visiting your Board of Elections will put them on notice that the public is paying attention.
Deploy your organization’s resources. Progressive organizations, whether 501(c)3 or 501(c)4, can maintain their normal missions while prioritizing election protection. Staff, volunteers and members can be deployed by the hundreds and thousands. Every group’s mission — whether to expand clean energy or modify taxes or reform the criminal legal system — will be much, much harder to achieve without fair elections. All groups and citizens dedicated to progressive causes can fulfill their mission by prioritizing election protection for the next 75 days.
As one Portland activist says, “If you ever wondered what you’d do if fascism came to America, you’re doing it.” Fighting for free and fair elections is our duty.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.