thenation--2020-05-04--‘Tin Soldiers and Nixon’s Coming’

‘Tin Soldiers and Nixon’s Coming’

Hard as it may be to believe , there was a time when American politics was as polarized as it is now and dominated by a president as dishonest as Trump .
President Richard Nixon may have lied less frequently than Trump , but the lies of “ Tricky Dick ” were arguably more deadly .
Among the biggest and most blatant of those lies came into public view on April 30 , 1970 , when Nixon , who only two years earlier ascended to the presidency claiming to have a secret plan to end the Vietnam War , announced @ @ @ @ @ @ @ US invasion of Cambodia ( after having secretly bombed Cambodia ) .
The announcement sparked outrage among the young , student strikes at 60 colleges and universities , and demonstrations , some violent , on dozens of campuses .
Nixon further inflamed the political atmosphere by denouncing the protesters as “ bums blowing up the campuses , ” and local Nixonian politicos , most notably Ohio Governor James Rhodes , echoed such demagoguery , likening the anti-war student activists to Nazi “ Brown Shirts.
” Rhodes followed through on his angry rhetoric by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ State University , with tragic consequences .
On May 4 , 1970 , the Guard fired without warning on a crowd of unarmed anti-war protesters at Kent State University , in a 13-second barrage of 67 shots that killed four students and wounded nine .
The killings sparked the most widespread student protests in American history , with demonstrations involving more than 4 million students , over 350 student strikes , the shutting down of some 500 colleges and universities , and 73 violent protests , resulting in some 1,800 arrests .
Soon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kent State , his national security adviser , Henry Kissinger , told the president , “ They ’ ll blame it on us.
” Nixon agreed and quickly adopted a bunker mentality that shaped much of his approach to the backlash over the invasion of Cambodia .
Nixon ’ s private response to the Kent State tragedy , recorded in the diary of his top aide H.R .
Haldeman , was chilling .
Not a word of sympathy for those killed or wounded—or for their families .
Instead , his focus was on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the goal of the Left is to panic us , so we must not fall into that trap ” ( May 6 ) .
Even Haldeman could not help noting in his diary that Nixon was “ pretty cold-blooded ” in planning to fire Interior Secretary Walter Hickel for expressing sympathy with the student protesters ( May 7 ) .
Not justice but tribalism drove Nixon ’ s views on the investigation of the shooting : “ Very concerned about press report that FBI said [ National ] Guard was at fault at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ] J. Edgar [ Hoover ] … .
P [ resident ] told Hoover to knock it down.… Really afraid we ’ ll end up putting the Administration on the side of the students and really doesn ’ t want that ” ( July 24 ) .
The political firestorm over the Kent tragedy forced Nixon to appoint a Commission on Campus Unrest .
But rather than looking to the commission for lessons about how to avoid future campus bloodshed , Nixon sought to use it cynically to promote public backlash against student @ @ @ @ @ @ @ go ahead with open hearings because it keeps the student unrest issue alive through the summer and works to our advantage .
Wants to be sure to get some really horrible types to testify .
Then need to get our right-wing types to blast the whole thing .
Gets a little involved but should work ” ( July 17 ) .
Though Nixon tried to act as if the protests against the Cambodia invasion and Kent State shootings had not gotten to him , Haldeman knew better , noting that the president “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , his ‘ bums ’ remark very harmful ” ( May 6 ) , and that the protests had yielded “ the weirdest day so far ” ( May 9 ) , as a sleepless Nixon went to the Lincoln memorial with a few White House aides and Secret Service agents just before 5 am , in a final , belated , and bizarre attempt to reach out to student anti-war activists .
Nixon talked to some protesters , awkwardly discussing college football and the importance of international travel .
The president later @ @ @ @ @ @ @ him , “ We ’ re not interested in what Prague looks like .
We ’ re interested in what kind of a life we build in the United States.
” As the crowd began to grow , Nixon ’ s aides convinced him to leave .
Before Nixon departed , he spoke to Bob Moustakas , a long-haired , bearded college student from Detroit .
The two took a photograph together , as Nixon recounted that the student had “ the broadest smile I ’ d ever seen.
” Moustakas later compared @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re in early high school and you ’ re having a party in somebody ’ s basement…the parents come down and talk to you…make sure the lights are on.
” He concluded that there was a “ conversation , but not much communication.
” While Nixon described the surreal Lincoln Memorial visit in positive terms , he continued his war on the anti-war movement , paying special attention not only to students but also to university administrators .
Much like 21st century conservatives , Nixon believed liberal administrators were his true enemies , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The elite class in this country lacks character , ” said Nixon , in one of his many tirades against university presidents who opposed his Vietnam policies and tolerated anti-war dissent .
Calling them “ flabby soft bastards , ” Nixon argued that “ limousine libs are really a danger ” to the country ; he covertly sought retribution , attempting to end federal funding to such universities as MIT that he felt were anti-war , longing to redistribute federal aid to campuses he viewed as hawkish and pro-Nixon .
Nixon ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ natural extension of his private rants .
Both Nixon and his bellicose vice president , Spiro Agnew , had been doing all they could to arouse antipathy between their conservative supporters , whom they valorized as America ’ s law-abiding “ silent majority , ” and anti-war protesters , whom they demonized as lawless countercultural subversives .
The impact of this politics of resentment could be seen in the Ohio grand jury proceedings that in the name of “ law and order ” sided with the National Guard , including the killers among @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and one faculty member .
Dean Kahler , a Kent student paralyzed by a guardsman ’ s bullet , experienced this resentment in its ugliest form .
While recovering from his wound , the first card Kahler opened was inscribed , “ Dear Communist Hippie Radical , I hope by the time you get this you are dead .
We don ’ t need people like you.
” Sentiments such as these led Rick Perlstein to conclude , in his magisterial work Nixonland : “ Do Americans not hate each other enough to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ blood over political and cultural disagreements ?
It would be hard to argue they do not .
How did Nixonland end ?
It has not ended yet.
” But this may give Nixon too much of the blame for igniting America ’ s hatred-fueled politics , because when one factors in race , that hatred took root long before Nixon ’ s presidency .
It is not the murder of white students at Kent but the Jackson State massacre , 11 days later ( May 15 , 1970 ) —in which two African @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by the Mississippi State Patrol , who , over the course of 28 seconds , riddled their dormitory with bullets as if it were a military target—that speaks to this older , deeper pattern of hatred , and its legacy of racist violence .
Nixon ’ s cynical comments on Kent in the Haldeman diaries were loathsome , but so was the president ’ s silence on the Jackson State killings .
The black lives lost on that historically black college meant nothing to Nixon either politically or personally .
The massacre elicited @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from black campuses ) and media coverage than Kent State .
Historians , too , have been slow to study the Jackson State shooting , and even slower to probe the Orangeburg massacre of 1968 , sometimes mistakenly called “ the black Kent State before Kent State ” ( it was a racially motivated massacre more similar to the Jackson than to the Kent State shootings ) in which the South Carolina State Patrol killed three African American students and wounded 28 .
Nor have narratives of the student movement of the Long @ @ @ @ @ @ @ violent campus upheavals began and ended with racist assaults : First came the segregationist riots at the University of Alabama ( 1956 ) , the University of Georgia , ( 1961 ) , and the University of Mississippi ( 1962 ) , later the more bloody Orangeburg and Jackson State shootings .
To commemorate the Kent and Jackson State tragedies on their 50th anniversary , we offer accounts of Kent by historian Thomas Grace , author of Kent State : Death and Dissent in the Long 60s ( 2016 ) , who was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , 1970 , and of Jackson by Nancy K. Bristow , author of Steeped in the Blood of Racism : black Power , Law and Order and the 1970 Shootings at Jackson State College ( 2020 ) , the first book by a professional historian on the Jackson State shootings since that tragedy occurred .

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Hard as it may be to believe, there was a time when American politics was as polarized as it is now and dominated by a president as dishonest as Trump. President Richard Nixon may have lied less frequently than Trump, but the lies of “Tricky Dick” were arguably more deadly. Among the biggest and most blatant of those lies came into public view on April 30, 1970, when Nixon, who only two years earlier ascended to the presidency claiming to have a secret plan to end the Vietnam War, announced the expansion of that war: the US invasion of Cambodia (after having secretly bombed Cambodia). The announcement sparked outrage among the young, student strikes at 60 colleges and universities, and demonstrations, some violent, on dozens of campuses. Nixon further inflamed the political atmosphere by denouncing the protesters as “bums blowing up the campuses,” and local Nixonian politicos, most notably Ohio Governor James Rhodes, echoed such demagoguery, likening the anti-war student activists to Nazi “Brown Shirts.” Rhodes followed through on his angry rhetoric by calling in the National Guard to Kent State University, with tragic consequences.
On May 4, 1970, the Guard fired without warning on a crowd of unarmed anti-war protesters at Kent State University, in a 13-second barrage of 67 shots that killed four students and wounded nine. The killings sparked the most widespread student protests in American history, with demonstrations involving more than 4 million students, over 350 student strikes, the shutting down of some 500 colleges and universities, and 73 violent protests, resulting in some 1,800 arrests. Soon after Nixon learned about the shootings at Kent State, his national security adviser, Henry Kissinger, told the president, “They’ll blame it on us.” Nixon agreed and quickly adopted a bunker mentality that shaped much of his approach to the backlash over the invasion of Cambodia.
Nixon’s private response to the Kent State tragedy, recorded in the diary of his top aide H.R. Haldeman, was chilling. Not a word of sympathy for those killed or wounded—or for their families. Instead, his focus was on political strategy: “Very aware that the goal of the Left is to panic us, so we must not fall into that trap” (May 6). Even Haldeman could not help noting in his diary that Nixon was “pretty cold-blooded” in planning to fire Interior Secretary Walter Hickel for expressing sympathy with the student protesters (May 7). Not justice but tribalism drove Nixon’s views on the investigation of the shooting: “Very concerned about press report that FBI said [National] Guard was at fault at Kent State. Called [FBI Director] J. Edgar [Hoover]…. P[resident] told Hoover to knock it down.… Really afraid we’ll end up putting the Administration on the side of the students and really doesn’t want that” (July 24). The political firestorm over the Kent tragedy forced Nixon to appoint a Commission on Campus Unrest. But rather than looking to the commission for lessons about how to avoid future campus bloodshed, Nixon sought to use it cynically to promote public backlash against student protesters: “wants Scranton commission to go ahead with open hearings because it keeps the student unrest issue alive through the summer and works to our advantage. Wants to be sure to get some really horrible types to testify. Then need to get our right-wing types to blast the whole thing. Gets a little involved but should work” (July 17).
Though Nixon tried to act as if the protests against the Cambodia invasion and Kent State shootings had not gotten to him, Haldeman knew better, noting that the president “obviously realizes but won’t admit, his ‘bums’ remark very harmful” (May 6), and that the protests had yielded “the weirdest day so far” (May 9), as a sleepless Nixon went to the Lincoln memorial with a few White House aides and Secret Service agents just before 5 am, in a final, belated, and bizarre attempt to reach out to student anti-war activists. Nixon talked to some protesters, awkwardly discussing college football and the importance of international travel. The president later recounted that one of the students told him, “We’re not interested in what Prague looks like. We’re interested in what kind of a life we build in the United States.” As the crowd began to grow, Nixon’s aides convinced him to leave. Before Nixon departed, he spoke to Bob Moustakas, a long-haired, bearded college student from Detroit. The two took a photograph together, as Nixon recounted that the student had “the broadest smile I’d ever seen.” Moustakas later compared the encounter to “when you’re in early high school and you’re having a party in somebody’s basement…the parents come down and talk to you…make sure the lights are on.” He concluded that there was a “conversation, but not much communication.” Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Remembering Kent State Kent State: 50 Years After the Shootings Thomas M. Grace
While Nixon described the surreal Lincoln Memorial visit in positive terms, he continued his war on the anti-war movement, paying special attention not only to students but also to university administrators. Much like 21st century conservatives, Nixon believed liberal administrators were his true enemies, guilty of coddling young radicals. “The elite class in this country lacks character,” said Nixon, in one of his many tirades against university presidents who opposed his Vietnam policies and tolerated anti-war dissent. Calling them “flabby soft bastards,” Nixon argued that “limousine libs are really a danger” to the country; he covertly sought retribution, attempting to end federal funding to such universities as MIT that he felt were anti-war, longing to redistribute federal aid to campuses he viewed as hawkish and pro-Nixon.
Nixon’s public actions during that spring were a natural extension of his private rants. Current Issue View our current issue
Both Nixon and his bellicose vice president, Spiro Agnew, had been doing all they could to arouse antipathy between their conservative supporters, whom they valorized as America’s law-abiding “silent majority,” and anti-war protesters, whom they demonized as lawless countercultural subversives. The impact of this politics of resentment could be seen in the Ohio grand jury proceedings that in the name of “law and order” sided with the National Guard, including the killers among them, while indicting 24 Kent students and one faculty member.
Dean Kahler, a Kent student paralyzed by a guardsman’s bullet, experienced this resentment in its ugliest form. While recovering from his wound, the first card Kahler opened was inscribed, “Dear Communist Hippie Radical, I hope by the time you get this you are dead. We don’t need people like you.” Sentiments such as these led Rick Perlstein to conclude, in his magisterial work Nixonland: “Do Americans not hate each other enough to fantasize about killing one another in cold blood over political and cultural disagreements? It would be hard to argue they do not. How did Nixonland end? It has not ended yet.” Remembering Jackson State Remembering the Jackson State Tragedy Nancy K. Bristow
But this may give Nixon too much of the blame for igniting America’s hatred-fueled politics, because when one factors in race, that hatred took root long before Nixon’s presidency. It is not the murder of white students at Kent but the Jackson State massacre, 11 days later (May 15, 1970)—in which two African American students were killed and 12 wounded by the Mississippi State Patrol, who, over the course of 28 seconds, riddled their dormitory with bullets as if it were a military target—that speaks to this older, deeper pattern of hatred, and its legacy of racist violence. Nixon’s cynical comments on Kent in the Haldeman diaries were loathsome, but so was the president’s silence on the Jackson State killings. The black lives lost on that historically black college meant nothing to Nixon either politically or personally. The massacre elicited much less protest (which came primarily from black campuses) and media coverage than Kent State.
Historians, too, have been slow to study the Jackson State shooting, and even slower to probe the Orangeburg massacre of 1968, sometimes mistakenly called “the black Kent State before Kent State” (it was a racially motivated massacre more similar to the Jackson than to the Kent State shootings) in which the South Carolina State Patrol killed three African American students and wounded 28. Nor have narratives of the student movement of the Long 1960s noted that this era’s violent campus upheavals began and ended with racist assaults: First came the segregationist riots at the University of Alabama (1956), the University of Georgia, (1961), and the University of Mississippi (1962), later the more bloody Orangeburg and Jackson State shootings.
To commemorate the Kent and Jackson State tragedies on their 50th anniversary, we offer accounts of Kent by historian Thomas Grace, author of Kent State: Death and Dissent in the Long 60s (2016), who was himself among the wounded at Kent State, 1970, and of Jackson by Nancy K. Bristow, author of Steeped in the Blood of Racism: black Power, Law and Order and the 1970 Shootings at Jackson State College (2020), the first book by a professional historian on the Jackson State shootings since that tragedy occurred.


thenation--2020-05-04--Kent State: 50 Years After the Shootings

Fifty years after a crisis provoked by the invasion of Cambodia , a new public health crisis prevented thousands from gathering at Kent State on May 4 , 2020 , to honor the dead and those killed under similar , yet different , circumstances at Jackson State on May 15 , 1970 .
But the killings by the National Guard will not be forgotten .
Kent State University , better than any institution confronted by 1960s ferment , came to terms with its anti-war past .
Beginning in 1990 , working with and sometimes challenged by students and alumni , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , created the May 4 Visitor Center—the only national site that interprets the anti-war movement of the Long Sixties—supported the successful designation by the Department of the Interior of 17 acres of campus as a National Historic Landmark , and , once conditions allow , will install markers where the students fell .
And when Ohio Governor Mike DeWine activated the state ’ s National Guard in response to the coronavirus , he felt the need to offer the reassurance , “ Sometimes people think of calling out the National Guard means they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the way the National Guard is used in the state of Ohio…is to help us , to assist us.
” In the half century since students were murdered at Kent State , the events have been chronicled in books and photographs , including John Filo ’ s Pulitzer Prize–winning image , and have also inspired songs , films , and plays .
The documentary record represents the rifts that bitterly divided American society in May 1970 .
Much of journalistic and legal evidence generated as a result of the National Guard salvo—which claimed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ including this writer—is familiar to the historically literate .
Yet , for all the notice the shootings have garnered , the backstory , and what most think they know of the deadly clash , is still unclear .
Much remains clouded in the barrage of smoke unleashed by the guardsmen ’ s weaponry , 61–67 rounds fired into the ranks of protesters and bystanders .
Last October , hundreds at Kent State watched May 4th Voices , an affecting play that uses oral-history accounts by eyewitnesses to the shootings .
During the subsequent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ struck she was by the youthfulness of protesters and guardsmen alike .
Her ignorance of the guardsmen is , rather than the exception , generally the rule .
Within days of the shootings , Vice President Spiro Agnew went on television to discuss the killings .
Agnew maintained that the guardsmen ’ s youth , “ 18- , 19- , 20-year olds , ” helped to explain their actions .
Years later , former Joint Chief of Staff chairman Thomas Moorer made them younger still .
“ And here you had 17-year-old boys @ @ @ @ @ @ @ National Guard , ” he assured his interviewer .
In his telling , the guardsmen , a bunch of inexperienced teenagers , were frightened , too .
In reality , the guardsmen whose actions triggered the killings , and launched unintentionally the largest student strike in American history , were not adolescents .
No state mobilized its guard units during the 1960s as often as Ohio .
A half dozen of the part-time guardsmen involved in the shootings were employed in the law enforcement field .
Two of the eight guardsmen indicted by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police or deputy sheriffs .
The guard captain who testified falsely of finding a gun on the body of slain student Jeff Miller worked as a police detective .
Enlisted men were in their mid-20s , officers a decade older .
The sergeant who many believe prompted the shootings , was 39 , the same age as the lieutenant colonel .
Their general , whose poor decisions contributed to the day ’ s fatal outcome , was 55 .
If an order to fire was given to the troops , as the latest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ giving the command was 43 .
What of the protesters ?
The growth of the university following World War II attracted working-class enrollees from the industrial cities that bordered small-town Kent .
Many had grown up in labor families with parents loyal to the New Deal .
College-bound students were part of the demographic cohort that comprised the majority of US forces in Vietnam .
When the guardsmen shot into the students , dozens of veterans came under fire .
Kent State was the culmination of a dialectic of radicalization and repression preceded @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the campus , where a sometimes biracial movement had been gaining momentum throughout the 1960s .
Protests at the decade ’ s outset focused on supporting Southern civil rights sit-ins , integrating public accommodations and eliminating racial segregation in off-campus student housing .
A few Kent State students went south .
One joined the Freedom Riders in 1961 ; another registered voters during Mississippi ’ s Freedom Summer ; a third marched in Selma .
The struggle to form a chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality became the subject of bitter campus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ first protests against the Vietnam War .
Alongside anti-war activity , biracial activism moved to the forefront in 1968 .
In solidarity with Oakland ’ s Black Panthers , members of Kent ’ s Students for Democratic Society chapter , along with Black United Students , impeded Oakland Police representatives from recruiting on the campus .
If the accrual of activism at Kent State has been overlooked , most authors have argued that the killings did what they were intended to do : silence dissent .
In making such a dubious claim , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ newspapers that establish the persistence of activism until the Vietnam War ended .
The radical notion that repression breeds resistance was borne out at Kent State in the years after the killings , a time when Vietnam veterans were entering student ranks in greater numbers .
Some hardened activists nourished dreams of revenge .
Yet revenge came not from retribution but in continuing to oppose the war and against the indictments issued to participants in the May 1970 protests .
And , in 1977 , when the university sought to literally bury the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , thousands there chanted , “ Long live the spirit of Kent and Jackson State !
”

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Fifty years after a crisis provoked by the invasion of Cambodia, a new public health crisis prevented thousands from gathering at Kent State on May 4, 2020, to honor the dead and those killed under similar, yet different, circumstances at Jackson State on May 15, 1970. But the killings by the National Guard will not be forgotten. Kent State University, better than any institution confronted by 1960s ferment, came to terms with its anti-war past. Beginning in 1990, working with and sometimes challenged by students and alumni, the university erected memorials and historic signage, created the May 4 Visitor Center—the only national site that interprets the anti-war movement of the Long ’60s—supported the successful designation by the Department of the Interior of 17 acres of campus as a National Historic Landmark, and, once conditions allow, will install markers where the students fell.
And when Ohio Governor Mike DeWine activated the state’s National Guard in response to the coronavirus, he felt the need to offer the reassurance, “Sometimes people think of calling out the National Guard means they’re going to have guns…. the way the National Guard is used in the state of Ohio…is to help us, to assist us.”
In the half century since students were murdered at Kent State, the events have been chronicled in books and photographs, including John Filo’s Pulitzer Prize–winning image, and have also inspired songs, films, and plays. The documentary record represents the rifts that bitterly divided American society in May 1970. Much of journalistic and legal evidence generated as a result of the National Guard salvo—which claimed four lives and wounded nine others, including this writer—is familiar to the historically literate.
Yet, for all the notice the shootings have garnered, the backstory, and what most think they know of the deadly clash, is still unclear. Much remains clouded in the barrage of smoke unleashed by the guardsmen’s weaponry, 61–67 rounds fired into the ranks of protesters and bystanders. 50 Years Later ‘Tin Soldiers and Nixon’s Coming’ Robert Cohen and Michael Koncewicz
Last October, hundreds at Kent State watched May 4th Voices, an affecting play that uses oral-history accounts by eyewitnesses to the shootings. During the subsequent discussion, a young actor remarked how struck she was by the youthfulness of protesters and guardsmen alike. Her ignorance of the guardsmen is, rather than the exception, generally the rule.
Within days of the shootings, Vice President Spiro Agnew went on television to discuss the killings. Agnew maintained that the guardsmen’s youth, “18-, 19-, 20-year olds,” helped to explain their actions. Years later, former Joint Chief of Staff chairman Thomas Moorer made them younger still. “And here you had 17-year-old boys at school and 17-year-old boys in the National Guard,” he assured his interviewer. In his telling, the guardsmen, a bunch of inexperienced teenagers, were frightened, too. Current Issue View our current issue
In reality, the guardsmen whose actions triggered the killings, and launched unintentionally the largest student strike in American history, were not adolescents. No state mobilized its guard units during the 1960s as often as Ohio. A half dozen of the part-time guardsmen involved in the shootings were employed in the law enforcement field. Two of the eight guardsmen indicted by the US Justice Department in 1973 were police or deputy sheriffs. The guard captain who testified falsely of finding a gun on the body of slain student Jeff Miller worked as a police detective. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann
Enlisted men were in their mid-20s, officers a decade older. The sergeant who many believe prompted the shootings, was 39, the same age as the lieutenant colonel. Their general, whose poor decisions contributed to the day’s fatal outcome, was 55. If an order to fire was given to the troops, as the latest evidence shows, the officer most likely giving the command was 43.
What of the protesters? The growth of the university following World War II attracted working-class enrollees from the industrial cities that bordered small-town Kent. Many had grown up in labor families with parents loyal to the New Deal. College-bound students were part of the demographic cohort that comprised the majority of US forces in Vietnam. When the guardsmen shot into the students, dozens of veterans came under fire. Remembering Jackson State Remembering the Jackson State Tragedy Nancy K. Bristow
Kent State was the culmination of a dialectic of radicalization and repression preceded by a longer arc of activism on the campus, where a sometimes biracial movement had been gaining momentum throughout the 1960s. Protests at the decade’s outset focused on supporting Southern civil rights sit-ins, integrating public accommodations and eliminating racial segregation in off-campus student housing. A few Kent State students went south. One joined the Freedom Riders in 1961; another registered voters during Mississippi’s Freedom Summer; a third marched in Selma. The struggle to form a chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality became the subject of bitter campus debate in 1964, as did the first protests against the Vietnam War. Alongside anti-war activity, biracial activism moved to the forefront in 1968. In solidarity with Oakland’s Black Panthers, members of Kent’s Students for Democratic Society chapter, along with Black United Students, impeded Oakland Police representatives from recruiting on the campus.
If the accrual of activism at Kent State has been overlooked, most authors have argued that the killings did what they were intended to do: silence dissent. In making such a dubious claim, writers ignored evidence easily located in area newspapers that establish the persistence of activism until the Vietnam War ended.
The radical notion that repression breeds resistance was borne out at Kent State in the years after the killings, a time when Vietnam veterans were entering student ranks in greater numbers. Some hardened activists nourished dreams of revenge. Yet revenge came not from retribution but in continuing to oppose the war and against the indictments issued to participants in the May 1970 protests. And, in 1977, when the university sought to literally bury the memory of the killings under a gymnasium, thousands there chanted, “Long live the spirit of Kent and Jackson State!”


thenation--2020-05-04--Remembering the Jackson State Tragedy

Remembering the Jackson State Tragedy

If the shootings at Kent State University have been misrepresented and misremembered , the targets of the deadly assault by law enforcement at Jackson State College have been twice victimized , their story erased from the nation ’ s public narrative , their trauma largely forgotten .
Shortly after midnight on May 15 , 1970 , officers from the all-white Mississippi Highway and Safety Patrol ( MHSP ) and the largely white Jackson police force opened fire on students in front of a women ’ s dormitory at Jackson State College , a historically black school located in the African @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Many commentators immediately saw in the violence parallels to the recent shootings at Kent State University .
On May 18 , 1970 , an editorial in the Indiana Daily Student headlined the news about the shootings by crossing out the words “ Kent State ” and simply replacing them with “ Jackson.
” A week later , Time offered a similar view , referring to the violence at Jackson State as “ Kent State II.
” But what had happened at Jackson State was not another Kent State .
The violence was not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ War but was instead another chapter in the long history of state violence against African Americans , a story inseparable from the victims ’ identities as young black people attending college in America ’ s most racially repressive state .
Many on the Jackson State campus believed it had been a planned assault , and it is not hard to imagine that the state troopers , well known for their bigotry and violent repression of African Americans , headed to the dorm with the intention of opening fire .
But even if this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the criminal behavior of law enforcement only by degree .
Maj. Gen. Walter Johnson of the Mississippi National Guard , waiting on the edge of campus to relieve law enforcement , was stunned when the shooting broke out .
“ Oh my God , ” he exclaimed as he looked toward Alexander Hall , “ they ’ ve done it all wrong.
” If the shootings were not planned , they were nevertheless a terrible atrocity , rooted in the racism of both the state troopers and the local police .
Law enforcement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with assumptions about their inherent criminality , overreacting from the beginning to the disturbance on campus .
Though someone had set a dump truck on fire in the street running through campus , in the context of May 1970 , this hardly constituted what the police maintained was a “ riot.
” With an exaggerated sense of the danger the students posed , the officers armed themselves with weapons better suited to a military assault than crowd control .
The highway patrolmen carried state-issued shotguns and double-aught buckshot , personal weapons , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Jackson police brought the infamous Thompson Tank .
Hurrying to campus in a panic , the two forces acted without adequate preparation or a clear understanding of their mission , demonstrating their disregard for the well-being of the students .
After firefighters doused the dump truck , law enforcement did the inexplicable , turning not to leave the campus but to march provocatively to its center , halting in front of the Alexander Hall dormitory , where they turned to face students gathered outside the dorm ’ s west wing .
Students @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trouble at the dorm , where the students were “ just chilling out ” —and then angered .
A few yelled at the officers .
And then a bottle hit the pavement and the police opened fire .
Twenty-eight seconds later , James Earl Green , a high school senior who lived nearby , and Phillip Gibbs , a junior at Jackson State College , lay dead , and 12 other young people bled from their wounds .
The racism of the officers numbed them to the horror they had unleashed .
When @ @ @ @ @ @ @ quickly to offer aid to the stricken .
Neither Jackson policemen nor Mississippi highway patrolmen assisted them , instead turning to pick up their spent shells .
Inspector Lloyd “ Goon ” Jones , onsite commander for the MHSP , ordered some of the young people , at gunpoint and using derogatory language , to check on those that appeared mortally wounded .
Contacting headquarters he reported “ several injured , ” and when asked for details , noted simply , “ They ’ re nigger students , ” before turning to counting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and “ nigger males ” who had been wounded .
Dismissing the seriousness of what had happened , he explained further , “ They ain ’ t hurt all that bad.
” The conversation turned only briefly to the “ two fatal ” before moving on to a concocted story about a sniper and the need for coffee and cigarettes .
In the aftermath , the Jackson State students understood exactly what had happened to them .
As Eddie Jean Carr remembered years later , “ They were over there , they killed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bunch of niggers .
It did not matter.
” Both the local black community and African Americans across the country shared in their anger and their anguish , denouncing the shootings as “ murder—pure and simple ” and charging responsibility to the “ Mississippi styled racism ” and the “ color crazy racist police.
” The resonance with earlier violence against African Americans was obvious , and some pointed to the “ white plantation mentality ” or saw in the shootings a “ mass lynching.
” Many linked the violence at Jackson State @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Brown near the Jackson State campus in 1967 , the State Patrol ’ s murder of three black students and wounding of 28 others at South Carolina State College at Orangeburg in 1968 , the assassination of Black Panthers Fred Hampton and Mark Clark in 1969 , and the police ’ s fatal shooting of six young black men—all shot in the back—during a moment of civil unrest in Augusta , Ga. , just a few days earlier .
Most in the white community , though , refused to acknowledge that these shootings @ @ @ @ @ @ @ White conservatives laid blame for the shootings on the students , telling a false story that framed them as dangerously criminal and in need of control by the forces of law and order , an account that made easy the conflation with the violence at Kent State .
Describing “ anarchy and insurrection , ” and a threat to the “ rights , lives , and property of others , ” white conservatives applauded the police and their actions .
When the federal grand jury convened to investigate the violence , Judge William @ @ @ @ @ @ @ African Americans “ niggers ” and “ chimpanzees ” from the bench , presided .
No indictments resulted .
Things went little better with the Hinds County Grand Jury .
But this was not the only misleading story line .
The notion that what had happened at Jackson State could be understood as another Kent State held broad appeal in the white liberal media , and among white young people as well .
Identifying with the students at Jackson State , many held memorial services , signed resolutions , lowered their flags , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more as part of the nationwide student strike , but often without acknowledging the essential role of race in the Jackson State violence .
Over the decades , the violence at Jackson State has faded from the national narrative .
As the shootings at Kent State became the iconic representation of the depth of generational division and the height of governmental suppression in the era , the victims at Jackson State were soon pushed to the side , first as a sidebar to the better-known Kent State shootings , and then erased altogether @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the last time white Americans have neglected the memory of state violence against people of color , unwilling , it seems , to reckon with the devastating realities of white supremacy in our past or to contend with their ongoing meaning in our present .
Such determined forgetting has only facilitated the continuing crisis of state violence against people of color .
It is time we begin to remember .
The memory of James Earl Green and Phillip Gibbs demands it .

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If the shootings at Kent State University have been misrepresented and misremembered, the targets of the deadly assault by law enforcement at Jackson State College have been twice victimized, their story erased from the nation’s public narrative, their trauma largely forgotten.
Shortly after midnight on May 15, 1970, officers from the all-white Mississippi Highway and Safety Patrol (MHSP) and the largely white Jackson police force opened fire on students in front of a women’s dormitory at Jackson State College, a historically black school located in the African American community west of downtown Jackson. Many commentators immediately saw in the violence parallels to the recent shootings at Kent State University. On May 18, 1970, an editorial in the Indiana Daily Student headlined the news about the shootings by crossing out the words “Kent State” and simply replacing them with “Jackson.” A week later, Time offered a similar view, referring to the violence at Jackson State as “Kent State II.” But what had happened at Jackson State was not another Kent State. The violence was not caused by student protest against the Vietnam War but was instead another chapter in the long history of state violence against African Americans, a story inseparable from the victims’ identities as young black people attending college in America’s most racially repressive state.
Many on the Jackson State campus believed it had been a planned assault, and it is not hard to imagine that the state troopers, well known for their bigotry and violent repression of African Americans, headed to the dorm with the intention of opening fire. But even if this was not the case, it changes the criminal behavior of law enforcement only by degree. Maj. Gen. Walter Johnson of the Mississippi National Guard, waiting on the edge of campus to relieve law enforcement, was stunned when the shooting broke out. “Oh my God,” he exclaimed as he looked toward Alexander Hall, “they’ve done it all wrong.” If the shootings were not planned, they were nevertheless a terrible atrocity, rooted in the racism of both the state troopers and the local police.
Law enforcement approached the African American students that night with assumptions about their inherent criminality, overreacting from the beginning to the disturbance on campus. Though someone had set a dump truck on fire in the street running through campus, in the context of May 1970, this hardly constituted what the police maintained was a “riot.” With an exaggerated sense of the danger the students posed, the officers armed themselves with weapons better suited to a military assault than crowd control. The highway patrolmen carried state-issued shotguns and double-aught buckshot, personal weapons, and even “two 9mm submachine guns.” The Jackson police brought the infamous Thompson Tank. Hurrying to campus in a panic, the two forces acted without adequate preparation or a clear understanding of their mission, demonstrating their disregard for the well-being of the students. After firefighters doused the dump truck, law enforcement did the inexplicable, turning not to leave the campus but to march provocatively to its center, halting in front of the Alexander Hall dormitory, where they turned to face students gathered outside the dorm’s west wing. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann 50 Years Later ‘Tin Soldiers and Nixon’s Coming’ Robert Cohen and Michael Koncewicz
Students there were first confused—there had been no trouble at the dorm, where the students were “just chilling out”—and then angered. A few yelled at the officers. And then a bottle hit the pavement and the police opened fire. Twenty-eight seconds later, James Earl Green, a high school senior who lived nearby, and Phillip Gibbs, a junior at Jackson State College, lay dead, and 12 other young people bled from their wounds.
The racism of the officers numbed them to the horror they had unleashed. When the shooting finally stopped, students moved quickly to offer aid to the stricken. Neither Jackson policemen nor Mississippi highway patrolmen assisted them, instead turning to pick up their spent shells. Inspector Lloyd “Goon” Jones, onsite commander for the MHSP, ordered some of the young people, at gunpoint and using derogatory language, to check on those that appeared mortally wounded. Contacting headquarters he reported “several injured,” and when asked for details, noted simply, “They’re nigger students,” before turning to counting the number of “nigger gals” and “nigger males” who had been wounded. Dismissing the seriousness of what had happened, he explained further, “They ain’t hurt all that bad.” The conversation turned only briefly to the “two fatal” before moving on to a concocted story about a sniper and the need for coffee and cigarettes. Current Issue View our current issue
In the aftermath, the Jackson State students understood exactly what had happened to them. As Eddie Jean Carr remembered years later, “They were over there, they killed a bunch of black kids, a bunch of niggers. It did not matter.” Both the local black community and African Americans across the country shared in their anger and their anguish, denouncing the shootings as “murder—pure and simple” and charging responsibility to the “Mississippi styled racism” and the “color crazy racist police.” The resonance with earlier violence against African Americans was obvious, and some pointed to the “white plantation mentality” or saw in the shootings a “mass lynching.” Many linked the violence at Jackson State to the earlier racist slaying of Ben Brown near the Jackson State campus in 1967, the State Patrol’s murder of three black students and wounding of 28 others at South Carolina State College at Orangeburg in 1968, the assassination of Black Panthers Fred Hampton and Mark Clark in 1969, and the police’s fatal shooting of six young black men—all shot in the back—during a moment of civil unrest in Augusta, Ga., just a few days earlier.
Most in the white community, though, refused to acknowledge that these shootings had been caused by white supremacy. White conservatives laid blame for the shootings on the students, telling a false story that framed them as dangerously criminal and in need of control by the forces of law and order, an account that made easy the conflation with the violence at Kent State. Describing “anarchy and insurrection,” and a threat to the “rights, lives, and property of others,” white conservatives applauded the police and their actions. When the federal grand jury convened to investigate the violence, Judge William Harold Cox, who had previously called African Americans “niggers” and “chimpanzees” from the bench, presided. No indictments resulted. Things went little better with the Hinds County Grand Jury. Remembering Kent State Kent State: 50 Years After the Shootings Thomas M. Grace
But this was not the only misleading story line. The notion that what had happened at Jackson State could be understood as another Kent State held broad appeal in the white liberal media, and among white young people as well. Identifying with the students at Jackson State, many held memorial services, signed resolutions, lowered their flags, or boycotted classes for a day or more as part of the nationwide student strike, but often without acknowledging the essential role of race in the Jackson State violence.
Over the decades, the violence at Jackson State has faded from the national narrative. As the shootings at Kent State became the iconic representation of the depth of generational division and the height of governmental suppression in the era, the victims at Jackson State were soon pushed to the side, first as a sidebar to the better-known Kent State shootings, and then erased altogether.
This was neither the first nor the last time white Americans have neglected the memory of state violence against people of color, unwilling, it seems, to reckon with the devastating realities of white supremacy in our past or to contend with their ongoing meaning in our present. Such determined forgetting has only facilitated the continuing crisis of state violence against people of color. It is time we begin to remember. The memory of James Earl Green and Phillip Gibbs demands it.


thenation--2020-05-04--What Should Socialists Do in November?

What Should Socialists Do in November?

Peter Dreier ’ s polemic in The Nation last week , “ WTF Is Jacobin ’ s Editor Thinking in Voting Green ?
, ” uses 2,000 words to respond to a 280-character tweet .
Had he asked me about the comment , I would have gladly elaborated on why I plan to vote for Howie Hawkins in my home state of New York .
But from Dreier ’ s article it ’ s clear he already had his own answer and was simply waiting to unleash his prefabricated critique of Jacobin ’ s supposedly “ more-radical-than-thou tendencies that reflect @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ideas.
” Having joined the Democratic Socialists of America ( DSA ) in 2007 , I ’ m not a new recruit to left-wing ideas , and I certainly wish I was less jaded and more prone to idealism .
I do , however , appreciate the opportunity to explain my thoughts on socialist electoral strategy .
Dreier ’ s case is a simple one : The Green Party is unviable as an electoral alternative , and it has the potential to play spoiler and hand the election to Donald Trump .
While @ @ @ @ @ @ @ socialist , ” Dreier suggests that he can be pressured from the left , whereas Trump ’ s victory would mean another four years of rearguard action to preserve our meager social safety net and fragile democracy .
I don ’ t share Dreier ’ s optimism about a Biden presidency—Biden ’ s entire presidential campaign has been based on two promises : first , that he can beat Trump , and second , that when he does , “ nothing will fundamentally change.
” As a purely electoral calculation , this may @ @ @ @ @ @ @ win in November .
But with a campaign built around winning over moderate suburbanites , and a party leadership far more interested in courting the center-right than bargaining with the left , it won ’ t make for a Biden administration particularly open to a reform agenda .
Of course , I ’ d rather see a Democrat in the White House than a Republican .
Biden is part of a centrist party that has within it not just the oligarchs he favors but a progressive , labor-oriented wing , as well .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ is the leader of a right-wing party filled with reactionaries .
It ’ s obvious that socialists would rather be the political opposition to a government composed of centrists than one of the radical right .
As far as the Green Party goes , Dreier quotes my 2019 book , The Socialist Manifesto , which argues that socialists need “ an electoral strategy that can represent the distinct interests of working people , but without demanding that voters start immediately supporting unviable third-party candidacies.
” It ’ s good advice , and Dreier @ @ @ @ @ @ @ characters , I say that I ’ m going to vote for Howie Hawkins , but I don ’ t believe in building the Green Party as an institution .
Like millions of voters , I am frustrated with what feels like a “ shoot me or stab me ” choice between two corporate puppets .
And as a supporter of the Bernie Sanders campaign , I tried hard to ensure that a more viable Democratic candidate was the nominee .
We failed—and Biden and his campaign have done little to court the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , I am casting a vote for Howie Hawkins in my deep-blue state .
But I have no illusions that my vote is part of some grand gambit .
In fact , I argue that our strategy should be based on campaigning for demands like Medicare for All , building the institutions of the left and labor organizations , and backing down-ballot candidates that support the Sanders agenda .
What I left unsaid is what kind of organization could spearhead this strategy—a “ party-surrogate.
” This would be an organization that , as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jacobin , “ would be internally democratic , financed by dues , focused on member mobilization , and organized around a workers ’ agenda.
” Such a vehicle could contest elections on the Democratic Party ballot line—not ordinary Democrats , but candidates bound together by a simple , common program , who eschew corporate funding and are propelled to power by a broad membership base .
In a limited sense , the DSA is already serving some of this function .
But we need an even larger and more ecumenical umbrella organization , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , to capture the spirit that attracted millions to Bernie Sanders .
Dreier , on the other hand , is not proposing any strategy that ’ s distinct from the mainline Democratic Party .
All he ’ s saying is that Republicans are bad ( true ) , Democrats are better ( okay , fine ) , and that Howie Hawkins won ’ t be elected president ( sadly true ) .
Dreier just took the same article that ’ s been written every four years for decades and slapped “ WTF ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” on it to make it fit the times .
Based on his description of today ’ s reality ( not uncommon to this genre of writing ) , there ’ s a great struggle against fascism already underway and forces of progress ready to push wayward leaders like Joe Biden to the left .
I wish it were true—but we ’ re not living in the 1930s , and socialist intellectuals can ’ t summon a new Popular Front through force of will alone .
My electoral ideas , in contrast , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ left is still building a mass base .
Sanders was our only popular national figure in decades—he won support through his outsider status and a no-bullshit economic agenda .
Democratic socialists have piggy-backed on that success , but we can ’ t confuse the might of his campaigns with our own strength .
The way forward , then , isn ’ t through big presidential directives , but the steady work of institution building , running down-ballot candidates , and advocating Medicare for All , a jobs guarantee , and the Green New @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in other words , for social democracy in the United States , not pretending that one already exists within the mainstream Democratic Party .
This , after all , is precisely what dozens of domesticated progressive groups have been telling themselves for over 40 years—while Democrats stood by and watched unions disintegrate , inequality skyrocket , and millions of Americans go without health care , decent jobs , and affordable housing .
The strategy I suggest does not help Trump .
If successful , it ’ ll both bolster turnout for down-ballot races @ @ @ @ @ @ @ while crucially maintaining our independent profile .
But there is a fair objection that Dreier could raise : If we can all agree that Trump is worse than Biden , why not advocate a vote for Biden ?
Simply , millions of people are rightly alienated and angry at the Democratic Party .
Joe Biden , owing to both his long history of right-wing policy positions and the credible accusations of sexual assault that have been directed at him , is an especially unpopular figure .
A new Emerson poll found that 51 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ consider backing an independent or third-party candidate .
Perhaps many of them are in swing states—but it ’ s up to Biden to win them back over .
As for socialists , we already have a formidable list of tasks before us .
Is this mass anger at the Democratic leadership a problem for the left , or an opportunity ?
That ’ s what this debate is about—not whether one should vote for Howie Hawkins as a moral gesture .
Dreier would have a young democratic socialist movement use its finite resources @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and whip votes for Joe Biden .
How is this a better choice for socialists than pursuing their own agenda , which envisions transformation rather than accommodation with the status quo , and which does not benefit Trump in any way ?
It requires no sage wisdom to point out that the United States has an electoral system built to prevent the emergence of third parties .
Our challenge is to start having serious discussions about how to build independent , working-class politics within these constraints .
Peter Dreier ’ s path presents @ @ @ @ @ @ @ possible , ” but it really amounts to an empty call that conflates the most passive form of political engagement—voting every four years for a Democrat—with a hard-nosed strategy for power .
Dreier calls on socialists to “ do the right and honorable thing ” even though socialist votes—especially those concentrated in safe blue states—would have almost no effect on the election .
It ’ s not the handful of DSAers who may spoil the campaign for Biden but the millions of voters—mostly poor and working class—who will choose to stay home .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ that can actually propel working-class politics and organizations in our time .
We need to engage ordinary people with a compelling program and credible candidates so that presidential politics are not exclusively the province of professional-class liberals and country club Republicans .
I don ’ t have all ( or many ) of the answers , but that ’ s what I ’ m thinking .

Peter Dreier’s polemic in The Nation last week, “WTF Is Jacobin’s Editor Thinking in Voting Green?,” uses 2,000 words to respond to a 280-character tweet.
I’m going to vote for @HowieHawkins But I’m not a believer in building the Green Party. No matter what your individual choice is in November, the political act is to organize on issues like Medicare for All, build orgs, and back downballot candidates supporting the Bernie agenda —Bhaskar Sunkara (@sunraysunray) April 22, 2020
Had he asked me about the comment, I would have gladly elaborated on why I plan to vote for Howie Hawkins in my home state of New York. But from Dreier’s article it’s clear he already had his own answer and was simply waiting to unleash his prefabricated critique of Jacobin’s supposedly “more-radical-than-thou tendencies that reflect the idealism of recent recruits to left-wing ideas.” Related Article WTF Is Jacobin’s Editor Thinking in Voting Green? Peter Dreier
Having joined the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in 2007, I’m not a new recruit to left-wing ideas, and I certainly wish I was less jaded and more prone to idealism. I do, however, appreciate the opportunity to explain my thoughts on socialist electoral strategy.
Dreier’s case is a simple one: The Green Party is unviable as an electoral alternative, and it has the potential to play spoiler and hand the election to Donald Trump. While conceding that “Biden is certainly no socialist,” Dreier suggests that he can be pressured from the left, whereas Trump’s victory would mean another four years of rearguard action to preserve our meager social safety net and fragile democracy.
I don’t share Dreier’s optimism about a Biden presidency—Biden’s entire presidential campaign has been based on two promises: first, that he can beat Trump, and second, that when he does, “nothing will fundamentally change.” As a purely electoral calculation, this may be enough to unite anti-Trump sentiment and win in November. But with a campaign built around winning over moderate suburbanites, and a party leadership far more interested in courting the center-right than bargaining with the left, it won’t make for a Biden administration particularly open to a reform agenda. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann
Of course, I’d rather see a Democrat in the White House than a Republican. Biden is part of a centrist party that has within it not just the oligarchs he favors but a progressive, labor-oriented wing, as well. Trump, on the other hand, is the leader of a right-wing party filled with reactionaries. It’s obvious that socialists would rather be the political opposition to a government composed of centrists than one of the radical right.
As far as the Green Party goes, Dreier quotes my 2019 book, The Socialist Manifesto, which argues that socialists need “an electoral strategy that can represent the distinct interests of working people, but without demanding that voters start immediately supporting unviable third-party candidacies.”
It’s good advice, and Dreier should heed it. In my 280 characters, I say that I’m going to vote for Howie Hawkins, but I don’t believe in building the Green Party as an institution. Like millions of voters, I am frustrated with what feels like a “shoot me or stab me” choice between two corporate puppets. And as a supporter of the Bernie Sanders campaign, I tried hard to ensure that a more viable Democratic candidate was the nominee. We failed—and Biden and his campaign have done little to court the voters we organized.
So, sure, I am casting a vote for Howie Hawkins in my deep-blue state. But I have no illusions that my vote is part of some grand gambit. In fact, I argue that our strategy should be based on campaigning for demands like Medicare for All, building the institutions of the left and labor organizations, and backing down-ballot candidates that support the Sanders agenda.
What I left unsaid is what kind of organization could spearhead this strategy—a “party-surrogate.” This would be an organization that, as Jared Abbot and Dustin Guastella argue in Jacobin, “would be internally democratic, financed by dues, focused on member mobilization, and organized around a workers’ agenda.” Such a vehicle could contest elections on the Democratic Party ballot line—not ordinary Democrats, but candidates bound together by a simple, common program, who eschew corporate funding and are propelled to power by a broad membership base.
In a limited sense, the DSA is already serving some of this function. But we need an even larger and more ecumenical umbrella organization, more deeply embedded in the working class, to capture the spirit that attracted millions to Bernie Sanders.
Dreier, on the other hand, is not proposing any strategy that’s distinct from the mainline Democratic Party. All he’s saying is that Republicans are bad (true), Democrats are better (okay, fine), and that Howie Hawkins won’t be elected president (sadly true). Dreier just took the same article that’s been written every four years for decades and slapped “WTF” and some buzzwords like “virtue signaling” on it to make it fit the times.
Based on his description of today’s reality (not uncommon to this genre of writing), there’s a great struggle against fascism already underway and forces of progress ready to push wayward leaders like Joe Biden to the left. I wish it were true—but we’re not living in the 1930s, and socialist intellectuals can’t summon a new Popular Front through force of will alone.
My electoral ideas, in contrast, are based on the acknowledgment that the left is still building a mass base. Sanders was our only popular national figure in decades—he won support through his outsider status and a no-bullshit economic agenda. Democratic socialists have piggy-backed on that success, but we can’t confuse the might of his campaigns with our own strength. The way forward, then, isn’t through big presidential directives, but the steady work of institution building, running down-ballot candidates, and advocating Medicare for All, a jobs guarantee, and the Green New Deal.
Building a real coalition, in other words, for social democracy in the United States, not pretending that one already exists within the mainstream Democratic Party. This, after all, is precisely what dozens of domesticated progressive groups have been telling themselves for over 40 years—while Democrats stood by and watched unions disintegrate, inequality skyrocket, and millions of Americans go without health care, decent jobs, and affordable housing.
The strategy I suggest does not help Trump. If successful, it’ll both bolster turnout for down-ballot races and help popularize left-wing political demands, while crucially maintaining our independent profile.
But there is a fair objection that Dreier could raise: If we can all agree that Trump is worse than Biden, why not advocate a vote for Biden?
Simply, millions of people are rightly alienated and angry at the Democratic Party. Joe Biden, owing to both his long history of right-wing policy positions and the credible accusations of sexual assault that have been directed at him, is an especially unpopular figure. A new Emerson poll found that 51 percent of Sanders supporters are likely to consider backing an independent or third-party candidate. Perhaps many of them are in swing states—but it’s up to Biden to win them back over. As for socialists, we already have a formidable list of tasks before us.
Is this mass anger at the Democratic leadership a problem for the left, or an opportunity? That’s what this debate is about—not whether one should vote for Howie Hawkins as a moral gesture. Dreier would have a young democratic socialist movement use its finite resources to defuse frustration with corporate party leaders and whip votes for Joe Biden. How is this a better choice for socialists than pursuing their own agenda, which envisions transformation rather than accommodation with the status quo, and which does not benefit Trump in any way?
It requires no sage wisdom to point out that the United States has an electoral system built to prevent the emergence of third parties. Our challenge is to start having serious discussions about how to build independent, working-class politics within these constraints.
Peter Dreier’s path presents itself as the “left-wing of the possible,” but it really amounts to an empty call that conflates the most passive form of political engagement—voting every four years for a Democrat—with a hard-nosed strategy for power. Dreier calls on socialists to “do the right and honorable thing” even though socialist votes—especially those concentrated in safe blue states—would have almost no effect on the election. It’s not the handful of DSAers who may spoil the campaign for Biden but the millions of voters—mostly poor and working class—who will choose to stay home.
What we need is a long-term strategy that can actually propel working-class politics and organizations in our time. We need to engage ordinary people with a compelling program and credible candidates so that presidential politics are not exclusively the province of professional-class liberals and country club Republicans.
I don’t have all (or many) of the answers, but that’s what I’m thinking.


thenation--2020-05-04--Trump’s Covid-19 Reckoning Is Only the Beginning

Donald Trump has always been a fibber with numbers .
Exaggerating his successes and minimizing his failures is second nature to him .
Part of the grim spectacle of the Covid-19 pandemic is that we can see him fiddling the figures in real time as his attempted sales pitch gets overwhelmed by events .
On February 26 , Trump said the total number of Covid-19 cases was 15 and notoriously predicted that “ within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.
” On April 20 , he offered a low-ball estimate of the potential @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re going toward 50 , I ’ m hearing , or 60,000 people , ” he said .
“ One is too many .
I always say it : One is too many .
But we ’ re going toward 50- or 60,000 people.
” Even when he said those words , Trump was clearly offering false hopes , since the numbers were already approaching 50,000 dead—not counting the many thousands more who likely died of the disease but were never tested for it .
On Sunday , in an interview with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ numbers were also too low .
Trump said , “ That ’ s one of the reasons we ’ re successful—if you call losing 80 or 90,000 people successful.
” He added , “ I used to say 65,000 , and now I ’ m saying 80 or 90 , and it goes up , and it goes up rapidly.
” As with his earlier upward revisions , Trump ’ s latest will almost certainly be swept aside by events .
By some estimates , the United States is already on track for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has been hammering at the simple point that Trump bears an enormous personal responsibility for this .
“ The hard truth is that it didn ’ t have to be this bad , ” Biden tweeted .
“ The lack of preparation , the slow response on testing , the failure to administer the relief in the CARES Act appropriately—all of it stems from Donald Trump ’ s failures as president.
” The Pandemic in Our Minds Meatpacking Plants Are a Front in the Covid-19 Class War Biden is fully justified in going @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump ’ s presidency has been marked by scandal and corruption , everything to date pales in significance to the Covid-19 crisis .
Trump ’ s handling of the pandemic will almost certainly be the major issue of the election , the decisive question in determining whether Trump will be a one-term president .
The pandemic provides more than enough evidence to render a judgment on Trump as one of the worst presidents in American history .
On Saturday , The Washington Post published a deeply researched report arguing that “ the span @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when Trump agreed to extend strict social-distancing guidelines , and this past week , when he celebrated the reopening of some states as a harbinger of economic revival , tells a story of desperation and dysfunction.
” Among the failures of the period were Trump ’ s reliance on ridiculously optimistic models about low casualties , notably one offered by Kevin Hasset , described by the newspaper as “ a former chairman of Trump ’ s Council of Economic Advisers with no background in infectious diseases.
” Economists like Hasset repeatedly clashed with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who offered competing models projecting a far more dire scenario if there was no mitigation of the pandemic .
As one Trump adviser complained about this group , “ They ’ re all about science , science , science , which is good , but sometimes there ’ s a little bit less of a consideration of politics when maybe there should be.
” Another failure was relying on information from Fox News hosts to elevate an unproven medicine , hydroxychloroquine , as a promising wonder drug .
Finally , the relationship between @ @ @ @ @ @ @ now in tatters .
As The Washington Post reports , “ Trump ’ s interactions with the states during the time were jarringly inconsistent .
One day , he called himself a wartime president with total authority ; the next day , he said he was merely President Backup , there to help states as he deems necessary.
” Former Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius told the newspaper , “ The administration seems to have washed their hands of it and said [ to governors ] , we ’ re out of it .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Figure it out.
” Trump deserves to be condemned for his botched response to Covid-19 , and if there is justice , he ’ ll be thrown out of office in November .
Yet , as incompetent as Trump is , a disaster of this magnitude can never be the fault of just one man .
There ’ s the guilt of the Republican Party , which made Trump its standard-bearer and stuck with him despite manifold evidence of his unfitness for office .
The GOP also deserves the blame for the ideological @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the crisis .
Trump ’ s initial reluctance to support a lockdown and his over-eagerness in reopening the economy are byproducts of the Republican Party ’ s fealty to big business .
But beyond partisan recrimination , there ’ s much in the Covid-19 crisis that implicates the entire political class , including Democrats .
Oxford University sociologist Gina Neff notes that the three major sites of Covid-19 clusters are “ prisons , meat packing plants and nursing homes.
” These are institutions that were hazardous long before the virus hit , thanks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the crisis led to any awakening of conscience .
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo , lionized by many Democrats , has been slow to release prisoners .
Any account of how meatpacking in America got to be such a dangerous industry will have to discuss Bill Clinton ’ s long-standing relationship with Tyson Foods .
As The Wall Street Journal reported in 1994 , “ Few corporations in America have stronger personal ties to Bill Clinton than Arkansas-based Tyson Foods Inc. , and few have fared better in their dealings with his Agriculture @ @ @ @ @ @ @ observe , “ Over the past year , an Agriculture Department blitz against unsanitary slaughterhouse practices has bypassed chicken processors , and thus Tyson ’ s 66 plants , altogether .
This has meatpackers and others complaining about selective enforcement.
” The pandemic is sometimes compared to the 9/11 attack .
But it ’ s a 9/11 where hundreds die every day .
Nor is there any end in sight .
The fall presidential election is crucial for getting rid of the failed leadership of Donald Trump that made this crisis much worse @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there is plenty of blame to go around .
There was never a real reckoning with the policy failures that led to 9/11 .
A major task for progressives in the coming years will be to make sure that mistake isn ’ t repeated with the pandemic .

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Donald Trump has always been a fibber with numbers. Exaggerating his successes and minimizing his failures is second nature to him. Part of the grim spectacle of the Covid-19 pandemic is that we can see him fiddling the figures in real time as his attempted sales pitch gets overwhelmed by events.
On February 26, Trump said the total number of Covid-19 cases was 15 and notoriously predicted that “within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.” On April 20, he offered a low-ball estimate of the potential death count. “Now, we’re going toward 50, I’m hearing, or 60,000 people,” he said. “One is too many. I always say it: One is too many. But we’re going toward 50- or 60,000 people.” Even when he said those words, Trump was clearly offering false hopes, since the numbers were already approaching 50,000 dead—not counting the many thousands more who likely died of the disease but were never tested for it.
On Sunday, in an interview with Fox News, Trump conceded that these numbers were also too low. Trump said, “That’s one of the reasons we’re successful—if you call losing 80 or 90,000 people successful.” He added, “I used to say 65,000, and now I’m saying 80 or 90, and it goes up, and it goes up rapidly.” As with his earlier upward revisions, Trump’s latest will almost certainly be swept aside by events. By some estimates, the United States is already on track for 175,000 deaths by August.
Joe Biden has been hammering at the simple point that Trump bears an enormous personal responsibility for this. “The hard truth is that it didn’t have to be this bad,” Biden tweeted. “The lack of preparation, the slow response on testing, the failure to administer the relief in the CARES Act appropriately—all of it stems from Donald Trump’s failures as president.” More From Jeet Heer The Indigenous Roots of Robbie Robertson’s Rock and Roll Revolution August 14, 2023 Why Does This Racist Keep Getting Silicon Valley Money? August 11, 2023 When Phallocrats Go Limp August 4, 2023
Biden is fully justified in going after Trump in this way. While Trump’s presidency has been marked by scandal and corruption, everything to date pales in significance to the Covid-19 crisis. Trump’s handling of the pandemic will almost certainly be the major issue of the election, the decisive question in determining whether Trump will be a one-term president. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection How the “Brooks Brothers Riot” Set the Stage for Insurrection Chris Lehmann
The pandemic provides more than enough evidence to render a judgment on Trump as one of the worst presidents in American history. On Saturday, The Washington Post published a deeply researched report arguing that “the span of 34 days between March 29, when Trump agreed to extend strict social-distancing guidelines, and this past week, when he celebrated the reopening of some states as a harbinger of economic revival, tells a story of desperation and dysfunction.”
Among the failures of the period were Trump’s reliance on ridiculously optimistic models about low casualties, notably one offered by Kevin Hasset, described by the newspaper as “a former chairman of Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers with no background in infectious diseases.” Economists like Hasset repeatedly clashed with scientific advisers like Dr. Anthony Fauci, who offered competing models projecting a far more dire scenario if there was no mitigation of the pandemic. As one Trump adviser complained about this group, “They’re all about science, science, science, which is good, but sometimes there’s a little bit less of a consideration of politics when maybe there should be.” Current Issue View our current issue
Another failure was relying on information from Fox News hosts to elevate an unproven medicine, hydroxychloroquine, as a promising wonder drug.
Finally, the relationship between the federal government and the states is now in tatters. As The Washington Post reports, “Trump’s interactions with the states during the time were jarringly inconsistent. One day, he called himself a wartime president with total authority; the next day, he said he was merely President Backup, there to help states as he deems necessary.” Former Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius told the newspaper, “The administration seems to have washed their hands of it and said [to governors], we’re out of it. You’re on your own. Figure it out.”
Trump deserves to be condemned for his botched response to Covid-19, and if there is justice, he’ll be thrown out of office in November. Yet, as incompetent as Trump is, a disaster of this magnitude can never be the fault of just one man. There’s the guilt of the Republican Party, which made Trump its standard-bearer and stuck with him despite manifold evidence of his unfitness for office. The GOP also deserves the blame for the ideological straitjacket that prevented a robust response to the crisis. Trump’s initial reluctance to support a lockdown and his over-eagerness in reopening the economy are byproducts of the Republican Party’s fealty to big business.
But beyond partisan recrimination, there’s much in the Covid-19 crisis that implicates the entire political class, including Democrats. Oxford University sociologist Gina Neff notes that the three major sites of Covid-19 clusters are “prisons, meat packing plants and nursing homes.” These are institutions that were hazardous long before the virus hit, thanks to deregulation and austerity. Nor has the crisis led to any awakening of conscience. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, lionized by many Democrats, has been slow to release prisoners.
Any account of how meatpacking in America got to be such a dangerous industry will have to discuss Bill Clinton’s long-standing relationship with Tyson Foods. As The Wall Street Journal reported in 1994, “Few corporations in America have stronger personal ties to Bill Clinton than Arkansas-based Tyson Foods Inc., and few have fared better in their dealings with his Agriculture Department.” The report went on to observe, “Over the past year, an Agriculture Department blitz against unsanitary slaughterhouse practices has bypassed chicken processors, and thus Tyson’s 66 plants, altogether. This has meatpackers and others complaining about selective enforcement.”
The pandemic is sometimes compared to the 9/11 attack. But it’s a 9/11 where hundreds die every day. Nor is there any end in sight. The fall presidential election is crucial for getting rid of the failed leadership of Donald Trump that made this crisis much worse than it had to be.
But there is plenty of blame to go around. There was never a real reckoning with the policy failures that led to 9/11. A major task for progressives in the coming years will be to make sure that mistake isn’t repeated with the pandemic.


thenation--2020-05-05--Who Counts? Who Doesn’t?

Who Counts? Who Doesn’t?

The Trump administration ’ s stumbling response to this crisis .

Who Counts? Who Doesn’t?
Who Counts? Who Doesn’t?
The Trump administration’s stumbling response to this crisis.