Training a Dog

Mountain View , California—It turned out to be an Arkansas-sized dog in a California-sized apartment , so I asked my landlord to pull up the remains of last season ’ s tomato bushes to ease the recreations of the foster hound .
I didn ’ t plant the tomatoes .
The patio ’ s concrete had stopped at a freshly tilled plot , but they grew—volunteers—from generations of fertile farmland .
“ Distraction , ” says the dog trainer , who is standing six feet away from me , the scent of Purell bathing her fingers .
“ Distraction .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to training a dog.
” I understand distraction .
It ’ s California ’ s biggest product , along with food .
Social media has perfected distraction .
TikTok , Instagram , Facebook , even the news , pinged directly to your phone , snapping your focus away from what ’ s in front of you .
I live in Santa Clara County , the first US epicenter for Covid-19 , and have a job in Silicon Valley .
Until the crisis , with my three meals usually served at work , I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ work-to-home routine .
Then suddenly the place felt as if everyone and the redwood trees were holding their breath .
BARK !
The dog at the end of the leash has seen the only other dog and is entranced with a desire to say hello .
“ No pulling , ” the trainer commands .
The dog had gone too far .
“ Distance , ” the second rule to training a dog .
More in this series Distraction helps curb bad behavior in a dog .
Say it sees a squirrel ; @ @ @ @ @ @ @ therefore it can not concentrate on your request .
Because we want to control the dog , for its safety and our peace of mind , we lure its attention away with a high-value treat , cheese or sausage , something special .
We make sure a dog understands distance because the dog knows when you can ’ t see it , and if not properly trained , when your back is turned it might become unreliable .
An affluent county , we listened to the experts , the scientists , and prepared @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
At first , sheltering in place felt like a cozy day inside .
Almost like one of those looping low-fi music videos , mellow beats with an illustrated fox in a sweater doing homework filling the screen , anxiety curated away .
Until , RING !
My parents call .
The virus hit Arkansas .
There is no shelter in place .
The curve goes up .
Doordash doesn ’ t deliver out there , not where they live .
Wholefoods , nope ; it doesn ’ t either .
Who in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ risk going into town ?
RING !
My sister in Toronto , asks the same question .
What can I do ?
A simple video call , a simulation .
The leash , when tugged , is tight and choking .
The dog returns , no longer chasing the scent of the other dog , or the smell of the soil between the cracks of the concrete .
“ Duration , ” the trainer says , is the foundation of training : start small and add time .
I ’ ve been here @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , with predictably pleasant weather , not like Little Rock , where the humidity hangs like a comforter , both oppressive and consoling .
When you live in a place designed to make the world seem closer , the city itself starts to lose its sense of regionality .
Now regionality starts to matter .
A sense of place , a culture made by the habits of people , gathering , cooking , watching , and holding each other , together .
The feeling of being home , of knowing a spot no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Here , at this moment , a city full of people from all over the world , who connect the world , but whom I have rarely ever seen , can feel sterile .
The dog learned to sit nearly in an instant .
But she won ’ t hold it .
Not for long .
This is because I wasn ’ t paying attention to when I would give her praise .
Timing matters .
Training is really the study of behavior .
Something this town knows well .
At some point @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when we have waited for the appropriate time , I hope we will give chase , slip the leash , and jump up into each other ’ s arms—without a word of reprimand .
We will remember what it felt like to be in our first bar , to see a film with others , to eat in a small diner , or hear live music , we will remember to wander off the leash and find new smells , celebrating the places and people that allow us to gather .
Or , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are , well trained , our behavior acceptable , content with distraction , able to be left alone .
Something Is Happening Here is a collaboration between The Nation and Kopkind , offering scenes from a pandemic—a series of dispatches from Kopkind ’ s far-flung network of participants , advisers , guests , and friends .
Edited by Nation contributor and Kopkind program director JoAnn Wypijewski , it will appear weekly on thenation.com and kopkind.org .

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Nation believes that helping readers stay informed about the impact of the coronavirus crisis is a form of public service. For that reason, this article, and all of our coronavirus coverage, is now free. Please subscribe to support our writers and staff, and stay healthy.
M ountain V iew, C alif.—It turned out to be an Arkansas-sized dog in a California-sized apartment, so I asked my landlord to pull up the remains of last season’s tomato bushes to ease the recreations of the foster hound. I didn’t plant the tomatoes. The patio’s concrete had stopped at a freshly tilled plot, but they grew—volunteers—from generations of fertile farmland.
“Distraction,” says the dog trainer, who is standing six feet away from me, the scent of Purell bathing her fingers. “Distraction. It is one of three key elements to training a dog.”
I understand distraction. It’s California’s biggest product, along with food. Social media has perfected distraction. TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, even the news, pinged directly to your phone, snapping your focus away from what’s in front of you. I live in Santa Clara County, the first US epicenter for Covid-19, and have a job in Silicon Valley. Until the crisis, with my three meals usually served at work, I didn’t venture much outside the work-to-home routine. Then suddenly the place felt as if everyone and the redwood trees were holding their breath. BARK! The dog at the end of the leash has seen the only other dog and is entranced with a desire to say hello.
“No pulling,” the trainer commands. The dog had gone too far. “Distance,” the second rule to training a dog. Scenes From a Pandemic Untethered, or The Year of Living Virtually Patricia J. Williams The Art of the Meal Mary Lewis Maybe We Shouldn’t Go Back to Normal Bri M.
Distraction helps curb bad behavior in a dog. Say it sees a squirrel; it becomes excited, even anxious, therefore it cannot concentrate on your request. Because we want to control the dog, for its safety and our peace of mind, we lure its attention away with a high-value treat, cheese or sausage, something special. We make sure a dog understands distance because the dog knows when you can’t see it, and if not properly trained, when your back is turned it might become unreliable.
An affluent county, we listened to the experts, the scientists, and prepared for the curve even before state mandates. At first, sheltering in place felt like a cozy day inside. Almost like one of those looping low-fi music videos, mellow beats with an illustrated fox in a sweater doing homework filling the screen, anxiety curated away. Until, RING! My parents call. The virus hit Arkansas. There is no shelter in place. The curve goes up. Doordash doesn’t deliver out there, not where they live. Wholefoods, nope; it doesn’t either. Who in the family is the healthiest and can risk going into town? RING! My sister in Toronto, asks the same question. What can I do? A simple video call, a simulation. Current Issue View our current issue
The leash, when tugged, is tight and choking. The dog returns, no longer chasing the scent of the other dog, or the smell of the soil between the cracks of the concrete. “Duration,” the trainer says, is the foundation of training: start small and add time.
I’ve been here over three years, in Mountain View, with predictably pleasant weather, not like Little Rock, where the humidity hangs like a comforter, both oppressive and consoling. When you live in a place designed to make the world seem closer, the city itself starts to lose its sense of regionality. Now regionality starts to matter. A sense of place, a culture made by the habits of people, gathering, cooking, watching, and holding each other, together. The feeling of being home, of knowing a spot no one else knows, knowing someone. Here, at this moment, a city full of people from all over the world, who connect the world, but whom I have rarely ever seen, can feel sterile.
The dog learned to sit nearly in an instant. But she won’t hold it. Not for long. This is because I wasn’t paying attention to when I would give her praise. Timing matters.
Training is really the study of behavior. Something this town knows well. At some point, when no one is looking, when we have waited for the appropriate time, I hope we will give chase, slip the leash, and jump up into each other’s arms—without a word of reprimand. We will remember what it felt like to be in our first bar, to see a film with others, to eat in a small diner, or hear live music, we will remember to wander off the leash and find new smells, celebrating the places and people that allow us to gather. Or, perhaps, we will remain where we are, well trained, our behavior acceptable, content with distraction, able to be left alone.
Something Is Happening Here is a collaboration between The Nation and Kopkind, offering scenes from a pandemic—a series of dispatches from Kopkind’s far-flung network of participants, advisers, guests, and friends. Edited by Nation contributor and Kopkind program director JoAnn Wypijewski, it will appear weekly on thenation.com and kopkind.org.


thenation--2020-06-10--Georgia Shows How Serious the Threat of Voter Suppression Will Be This November

Georgia is now ground zero for voter suppression .
The state ’ s largest newspaper summed up the crisis on the morning after Tuesday ’ s primary election in the state descended into chaos : “ ‘ Complete Meltdown.
’ ” Kristen Clarke , the president and executive director of the Lawyers ’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law , ticked off the evidence of “ a system that is failing ” voters : “ malfunctioning machines , long lines , polling sites that opened late and insufficient numbers of back up paper ballots in Georgia.
” LaTosha Brown , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Matter , tweeted early Wednesday morning : “ Georgia ’ s Elections were a HOT MESS !
Last voter walked out at 12:37am in Union City.
” Brown and her group provided support for voters who waited five or more hours to cast ballots in predominantly African American precincts , while noting that in suburban precincts there were fewer lines .
Referring to the stark disparity , she said , “ I come over to this [ suburban polling place ] , and white folks are strolling in .
On my side of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ LeBron James went to the heart of the matter , observing amid Tuesday ’ s troubles , “ Everyone talking about ‘ How do we fix this ?
’ They say , ‘ Go out and vote ’ ?
What about asking if how we vote is also structurally racist ?
” The Georgia primary was such a fiasco , such an overwhelming affront to the basic premises of American democracy , that it cries out for a response .
But that response can not begin or end in one state .
If @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voters who did not receive absentee ballots were forced to wait in line for hours during a peak period of the pandemic to cast in-person ballots—was an early wake-up call for November , then Georgia ’ s chaotic June 9 elections two months later must be understood as an urgent demand to “ get up and get going !
” Jamaal Bowman Wants to Spend Less on the Pentagon and More on the Bronx Shouldn ’ t Congressional Approval Be Required to Deploy Troops at Home Too ?
Democratic Candidates Should Be Campaigning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crisis in the state manifested itself as the polls opened and extended throughout a day that would eventually lead former Missouri senator Claire McCaskill to ask , “ What the hell is going on in Georgia today ?
Four hours to vote ?
In a primary ?
Machines down , people being turned away , some locations with no machines ?
This is a three alarm fire for democracy .
Someone should be held accountable.
” Accountability is vital .
Months into the coronavirus pandemic , and after two delays in Georgia ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ should have been prepared to manage a spike in absentee voting and assure safe in-person voting .
Yet in the midst of Tuesday ’ s voting , the chairman of the Fulton County Commission ( which represents Atlanta and surrounding communities ) , Robb Pitts , explained , “ Everything that could happen or go wrong has gone wrong so far.
” When Republicans tried to shift blame away from GOP Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and onto county election officials , Stacey Abrams called BS .
Abrams , who narrowly lost a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Georgia election , said , “ It is not sufficient to say that the county you live in determines the quality of your democracy .
That ’ s why we have the secretary of the entire state—not just the counties that do it right , not just the counties that have the resources , not just the counties that he likes.
” The former Georgia legislative leader , who had to wait in a long line to vote in person Tuesday because the absentee ballot she requested did not arrive in time , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can think about are the people who did not receive their ballot , who were forced instead into hours-long lines , and not because they failed to do their part but because the Secretary of State ’ s office failed to manage this election.
” But this is not just a Georgia crisis .
It is certainly true that Georgia Republicans have an all-too-well documented history of managing elections in ways that benefit their candidacies while diminishing opportunities for African-American voters to cast ballots that are unlikely to be marked for the GOP @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one piece of a national crisis .
The fundamental reality is this : Federal officials have failed to take the steps that are necessary to establish baseline standards for how states can get Americans registered to vote , get those votes cast , and get them counted .
And it has not provided the funding that is necessary to meet these standards .
“ The systemic under-resourcing of polling locations in predominantly Black communities like Atlanta is an intentional method of voter suppression from a Republican-led state legislature that works to further disenfranchise @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the president of Color Of Change , explained Tuesday night as observers surveyed the wreckage of an electoral meltdown .
“ Systematically underfunding elections while spending billions on ineffective , violent policing and mass incarceration further underscores why people are in the streets demanding that leaders defund police and invest in critical community needs like safe elections.
” Robinson argued that there are legislative actions Congress can take : “ This is why it ’ s so urgent that the Senate act immediately to fully fund safe elections in the HEROES Act , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ addressing and preventing problems like the ones Georgia primary voters experienced today.
” Unfortunately , the time to respond is so short , and the resistance so great , that we can not be sure that America will get things right in time for a November election that today seems far more uncertain , and imperiled .
The US House has backed the HEROES Act , a package of legislation broadly related to the coronavirus pandemic and mass unemployment that includes $ 3.6 billion in needed funding to update election systems across the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to cast mail-in and absentee ballots , vote early , and safely cast in-person ballots on Election Day .
The Democratic-controlled chamber has also endorsed increased funding for the cash-strapped US Postal Service , which is essential to ensuring that voting-by-mail initiatives can succeed .
But President Trump has been actively attacking voting by mail and the post office , and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and his Republican colleagues have shown no sense of urgency with regard to these measures .
Yet urgency is precisely what ’ s required if we ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from looking like yesterday ’ s mess in Georgia .
It is good that people are fired up about the meltdown in their state and demanding accountability for what went wrong .
But there could be dozens of Georgias , and Wisconsins , in November .
And all the evidence we have tells us that inaction will lead to more suppression .
This is a critical moment for ramping up demands for action at the federal , state , and local levels .
The public must increase pressure not just on the Senate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ governments to prepare .
Myrna Pérez , the director of the Brennan Center ’ s Voting Rights and Elections Program , sums it up : “ Election officials must start working now to reduce voter wait times and ensure resources are distributed fairly this general election .
Without planning now , voters of color may again experience election day challenges that can lead to disenfranchisement this November.
” Wisconsin ’ s Pandemic Election Is a Red Alert for Democracy in America

Subscribe to The Nation Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month!
Get The Nation’s Weekly Newsletter Fridays. The best of the week. Email By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Fridays. The best of the week.
Thank you for signing up for The Nation’s weekly newsletter.
Repro Nation A monthly newsletter on the global fight for reproductive freedom. Email By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here.
Thank you for signing up. For more from The Nation, check out our latest issue
Subscribe to The Nation Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month!
Support Progressive Journalism The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter. The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter.
Sign up for our Wine Club today. Did you know you can support The Nation by drinking wine?
Georgia is now ground zero for voter suppression. The state’s largest newspaper summed up the crisis on the morning after Tuesday’s primary election in the state descended into chaos: “‘Complete Meltdown.’” Kristen Clarke, the president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, ticked off the evidence of “a system that is failing” voters: “malfunctioning machines, long lines, polling sites that opened late and insufficient numbers of back up paper ballots in Georgia.”
LaTosha Brown, the cofounder of the group Black Voters Matter, tweeted early Wednesday morning: “Georgia’s Elections were a HOT MESS! Last voter walked out at 12:37am in Union City.” Brown and her group provided support for voters who waited five or more hours to cast ballots in predominantly African American precincts, while noting that in suburban precincts there were fewer lines. Referring to the stark disparity, she said, “I come over to this [suburban polling place], and white folks are strolling in. On my side of town, we brought stadium chairs.”
LeBron James went to the heart of the matter, observing amid Tuesday’s troubles, “Everyone talking about ‘How do we fix this?’ They say, ‘Go out and vote’? What about asking if how we vote is also structurally racist?”
The Georgia primary was such a fiasco, such an overwhelming affront to the basic premises of American democracy, that it cries out for a response. But that response cannot begin or end in one state. If Wisconsin’s chaotic April 7 election—when voters who did not receive absentee ballots were forced to wait in line for hours during a peak period of the pandemic to cast in-person ballots—was an early wake-up call for November, then Georgia’s chaotic June 9 elections two months later must be understood as an urgent demand to “get up and get going!” More From John Nichols A GOP Debate Without Trump Is the Definition of Pointlessness August 11, 2023 A Win for Abortion Rights, a Win for Democracy: Ohio Voters Reject Issue 1 August 9, 2023 The Biggest Threat to Donald Trump Could Be the Constitution Itself August 4, 2023
Tuesday’s crisis in the state manifested itself as the polls opened and extended throughout a day that would eventually lead former Missouri senator Claire McCaskill to ask, “What the hell is going on in Georgia today? Four hours to vote? In a primary? Machines down, people being turned away, some locations with no machines? This is a three alarm fire for democracy. Someone should be held accountable.”
Accountability is vital. Months into the coronavirus pandemic, and after two delays in Georgia’s primary election date, Georgia officials should have been prepared to manage a spike in absentee voting and assure safe in-person voting. Yet in the midst of Tuesday’s voting, the chairman of the Fulton County Commission (which represents Atlanta and surrounding communities), Robb Pitts, explained, “Everything that could happen or go wrong has gone wrong so far.” 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 A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life 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 A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann
When Republicans tried to shift blame away from GOP Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and onto county election officials, Stacey Abrams called BS. Abrams, who narrowly lost a 2018 Democratic gubernatorial bid in another mangled Georgia election, said, “It is not sufficient to say that the county you live in determines the quality of your democracy. That’s why we have the secretary of the entire state—not just the counties that do it right, not just the counties that have the resources, not just the counties that he likes.” Current Issue View our current issue
The former Georgia legislative leader, who had to wait in a long line to vote in person Tuesday because the absentee ballot she requested did not arrive in time, told the Journal-Constitution, “All I can think about are the people who did not receive their ballot, who were forced instead into hours-long lines, and not because they failed to do their part but because the Secretary of State’s office failed to manage this election.”
But this is not just a Georgia crisis. It is certainly true that Georgia Republicans have an all-too-well documented history of managing elections in ways that benefit their candidacies while diminishing opportunities for African-American voters to cast ballots that are unlikely to be marked for the GOP. Ultimately, however, this is one piece of a national crisis. The fundamental reality is this: Federal officials have failed to take the steps that are necessary to establish baseline standards for how states can get Americans registered to vote, get those votes cast, and get them counted. And it has not provided the funding that is necessary to meet these standards.
“The systemic under-resourcing of polling locations in predominantly Black communities like Atlanta is an intentional method of voter suppression from a Republican-led state legislature that works to further disenfranchise our communities,” Rashad Robinson, the president of Color Of Change, explained Tuesday night as observers surveyed the wreckage of an electoral meltdown. “Systematically underfunding elections while spending billions on ineffective, violent policing and mass incarceration further underscores why people are in the streets demanding that leaders defund police and invest in critical community needs like safe elections.”
Robinson argued that there are legislative actions Congress can take: “This is why it’s so urgent that the Senate act immediately to fully fund safe elections in the HEROES Act, and mandate that states spend that money addressing and preventing problems like the ones Georgia primary voters experienced today.”
Unfortunately, the time to respond is so short, and the resistance so great, that we cannot be sure that America will get things right in time for a November election that today seems far more uncertain, and imperiled. Pandemic Voting Wisconsin’s In-Person Voting Threatens Health and Democracy John Nichols
The US House has backed the HEROES Act, a package of legislation broadly related to the coronavirus pandemic and mass unemployment that includes $3.6 billion in needed funding to update election systems across the country in order to make it easier to cast mail-in and absentee ballots, vote early, and safely cast in-person ballots on Election Day. The Democratic-controlled chamber has also endorsed increased funding for the cash-strapped US Postal Service, which is essential to ensuring that voting-by-mail initiatives can succeed. But President Trump has been actively attacking voting by mail and the post office, and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and his Republican colleagues have shown no sense of urgency with regard to these measures.
Yet urgency is precisely what’s required if we’re to keep November’s elections from looking like yesterday’s mess in Georgia. It is good that people are fired up about the meltdown in their state and demanding accountability for what went wrong. But there could be dozens of Georgias, and Wisconsins, in November. And all the evidence we have tells us that inaction will lead to more suppression.


thenation--2020-06-10--In Defense of Destroying Property

In Defense of Destroying Property

The nationwide uprising against racist policing in the wake of George Floyd ’ s murder is stunning , not least for the amount of property destruction it has entailed .
Responses to the vandalism and theft have varied , ranging from condemnations of violence amid peaceful protests , warnings of anarchist agitators , and an emphasis on criminal opportunism amid the chaos .
But the mainstream media reaction has been surprisingly tempered in comparison to coverage of the 2014 Ferguson uprising .
A story in USA Today suggested that while “ people need not condone the riots…they ought to understand @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nor The Washington Post has used the word “ riot ” in a headline .
The Bravery of Marching for Black Lives in the Middle of a Pandemic While editorials call for peace , love , and the maintenance of order , there has , thus far , been minimal liberal pearl-clutching .
There seems to be an understanding that too many lines have been crossed , too many innocent people murdered , too many communities over-policed and otherwise neglected to expect anyone to react “ reasonably.
” It is a testament to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the media establishment has felt compelled to cover illegal , expensive , and destructive protests with such care .
But what if property destruction is more than an understandable lapse of judgment and loss of control ?
What if it is not a frustrated , emotional reaction but a reasonable and articulate expression in itself ?
The destruction is too widespread to attribute it to a few bad actors , and in some cases—such as the attacks on the CNN headquarter and the widespread vandalism of Confederate monuments—too precise and symbolically potent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ criminal ” element .
The fantasy of outside agitators—a perennial feature of politicians ’ responses to radical political action—is a means of presenting the real threat posed by mass actions as something foreign to the action itself .
There are a number of reasons the destruction of property should be taken seriously rather than treated as an unfortunate externality or the expression of regrettably unchecked passions .
To begin with , pathologizing the act is tantamount to pathologizing the actor : Given the racial dimension of these protests , even apparently sympathetic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ implying that people of color are reacting from feelings rather than carrying out reasoned , calculated acts with their own perfectly legitimate political logics .
Attacking police stations , for example , makes rational sense .
It is not the sudden , spontaneous expression of a disordered and irrational mob but the clear enactment of a political position , the fulfillment in some small but concrete way of the central demand being made by protesters across the country : Police need to be defunded , and some police stations need to disappear .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ define violence and nonviolence for itself—to decide what nonviolence means in the face of overwhelming state brutality and structural economic and racial injustice .
Failure to do so results in a confusion of terms that has serious ethical and political consequences : Property destruction is not synonymous with the violence that is being protested .
The notion that protesters are mistakenly employing violence and thus counterproductively adding to some imagined social sum total of violence is flawed .
There is no such thing as undifferentiated net violence whose curve must be flattened .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Couch People are not objects ; broken windows and burnt cars are simply not commensurate with the violence of state-sanctioned murder or the structural violence of poverty that has placed people of color at a disproportionate risk of dying of Covid-19 .
Plateglass windows don ’ t bleed .
They don ’ t die and leave loved ones grieving .
They don ’ t contribute to the collective trauma and terror experienced by their communities .
They just break , and then , at some point , they are replaced by identical sheets @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suggested that looting , rather than being an opportunistic means of acquisition , demonstrated a keen understanding of a political economy organized around repression , exploitation , and disenfranchisement : “ Often the Negro does not even want what he takes ; he wants the experience of taking.… Alienated from society and knowing that this society cherishes property above people , he is shocking it by abusing property rights.
” Or the looter might want something .
Nothing symbolizes the exclusion , deprivation , and gross class inequality that characterizes our current economic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ looted in New York City ’ s SoHo district before the imposition of the curfew .
Given that capitalism largely restricts pleasure to the consumption of goods , we should be able to entertain the idea that this taking of unnecessary things—while not a recognizably political act—is understandable or even a justifiable .
What is incredible—and incredibly revealing—about a wave of protests marked by widespread property destruction is the total impossibility of making capitalism sympathetic .
Verizon , Apple , Nike , Macy ’ s , and the like can not be reasonably @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people may have implicitly understood this before these storefronts were smashed up and emptied .
But now it is explicit : As corporate behemoths have attempted to assume the role of the victim , a broader segment of the political spectrum than one might have thought possible has had to confront the fact that they don ’ t really care what happens to a chain store .
Small-business owners are a different and more complicated matter .
The image of the “ mom and pop ” shop conflates property and people—effectively presenting the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on an individual .
Certainly there is a meaningful difference between a neighborhood grocer and a Whole Foods , but the figure of the small business is also one means by which a capitalist ruling class launders itself .
This is not to say that small-business owners are not sympathetic and worthy of protection , only that we should be wary of how they are instrumentalized in the service of protecting a wealthy minority .
The capitalist system as it now operates in the United States favors the very giants that it must @ @ @ @ @ @ @ upheaval .
Small businesses were not given the support they needed by Congress when the economy shut down .
People of color have always faced much higher barriers when opening small businesses due to discriminatory lending policies and they will certainly suffer more than white-owned businesses because loans to repair damage and reopen will be harder to come by and carry higher interest rates .
Trotting them out as an excuse for repression is cynical at best .
Many small-business owners have refused to be used as a pretext for maligning protesters .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ of an East Village karaoke bar , says that the damage to her establishment “ sucks ” but it is only “ only broken glass and stolen booze , ” which is “ an easy fix compared to what people of color are dealing with in this country.
” Another café owner whose storefront had been smashed simply replied , “ If this is the price we have to pay for human rights , so be it.
” Salih Mothana , a Yemeni immigrant whose store , Express Food Market in the South @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protests , responded , “ I understand why it happened , and it ’ s OK… .
It ’ s not like I have to blame someone for this .
I understand why this happened .
If it sends out the message , it doesn ’ t matter to us.
” Zahalea Anderson , the owner of the Urban League of Self-Defense , thinks that property destruction was politically necessary and continues to support the protests in spite of her personal losses .
“ I think we ’ ve tried a lot of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said .
“ People riot because they can ’ t speak it no more .
They just have to show you.
” Other small-business owners see the destruction as yet another burden placed on the African American community .
Alisha Henderson , the owner of an art store in Long Beach , worries that destruction undermines the movement ’ s ultimate goals , stating that “ it takes a community that values each other to survive.
” The notion that nonviolence is tactically more effective—that it elicits sympathy , whereas property destruction leads @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only been proven wrong over the past week by sheer numbers ; it can not be historically supported .
For the police and overtly racist portions of the US population , the difference between nonviolent and ( ostensibly ) violent protest is of no consequence .
Either form of expression by people of color is subject to harassment , legal consequences , bodily harm , and death .
None of the people murdered by cops and vigilantes have been engaged in violent acts .
No amount of caution and effort to demonstrate nonviolence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of racialized power that punishes people of color .
According to a recent New York Times editorial , a man in South Carolina was arrested after he dropped to one knee in front of a police officer and declared , “ All of you are my family.
” Offensive as it is to liberal sensibilities , property destruction may be integral to the success of the current uprising .
At the very least , it is what marks it as different from the many other waves of protests against police brutality that have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ because property destruction has any moral or political value in itself , but because it is coercive .
It is an actual threat to order and a very real threat to capital .
In other words , the ability to cause actual damage is a source of power .
And in the context of a mass movement with stated demands , what might otherwise be considered mere vandalism is given an intellectual and political coherence that renders it utterly terrifying .
Disavowing property destruction and even theft because of a spurious attachment to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mistake .
It is a disavowal of power .
It leaves police and politicians in charge of an important aspect of the narrative .
And it empties the popular chant “ no justice , no peace ” of any meaningful content .
Peaceful protests are important , but so is exercising a form of power that constitutes an actual , material incursion into the capitalist sanctum .
Instead of thinking about peaceful protest and property destruction as two opposing poles of the movement , we need to acknowledge that they support one another @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of protest conventionally described as nonviolent—groups gathering in the street and chanting their demands—betrays an outsize faith in a form of democracy that simply doesn ’ t exist .
It implies that if enough people lodge a complaint , politicians will do something because they listen to people and make decisions based on some simple calculus of citizen desire .
This is a naive fantasy that has been reinforced by misleading historical narratives about the success of the disciplined nonviolent protests of civil rights activists .
The civil rights movement was not nonviolent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the violent/nonviolent dichotomy .
Even the disciplined nonviolence encouraged by some civil rights leaders was actually an invitation to violence , a way of demonstrating the violence of racism to a newspaper-reading public .
But not all civil rights activists consistently practiced disciplined nonviolence .
By the time President Kennedy announced the drafting of a Civil Rights Bill in 1963 , protesters in Birmingham , Ala. , had started fighting back .
As Charles Cobb Jr. has shown in This Non-Violent Stuff ’ ll Get You Killed , a strategy of nonviolence was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ States , and “ willingness to engage in armed self-defense played an important role in the Southern Freedom Movement , for without it , terrorists would have killed far more people.
” The narrative in which the civil rights movement triumphed because it was nonviolent elides large and significant portions of its actual history .
It also obfuscates the utility of a certain form of nonviolence in the maintenance of a racially segregated , capitalist state .
By the end of the 1960s , members of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ revolutionary violence and calling for expropriation and class revolution .
The growing appeal within the United States of largely communist anti-colonial and distinctly not nonviolent liberation struggles abroad made “ peace research ” and the study and promotion of nonviolent resistance into a well-funded area of interest for both the Department of Defense and the CIA .
The Border Patrol Praises Stonewall While Deploying Officers to Suppress Protests Property is itself a violent thing .
It is created through a combination of state-sponsored expropriation and exploitation and it is defended by various forms @ @ @ @ @ @ @ object of these protests is the defunding of racist , murderous police departments , we need to remember that large portions of our national wealth was created through the violent expropriation of land from Native Americans that was subsequently made productive and profitable through the forced labor of stolen Africans .
Acts classed as “ criminal ” have historically provided marginalized people with economic and political power .
This is , in part , why they were criminalized to begin with .
Income inequality in the United States is the highest it ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tracking it 50 years ago .
In light of the economic deprivation experienced by large portions of the population , the vandalizing of property and the theft of goods could just as easily be framed as the enforcement of a moral economy—the rightful reappropriation of stolen wealth .
The historian E.P .
Thompson has argued that the periodic bread riots that punctuated a nascent industrial society in Britain were not spontaneous outbursts , but rather a way for people to intervene in and regulate unjust distribution .
Theft and vandalism are not revolutionary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they have the potential to become powerful forms of political expression in the context of an organized mass movement .
Refusing to incorporate acts of destruction into the political imaginary of protest deprives these acts of their political power .
It deprives the movement of a source of material strength .
And , perhaps most importantly , it ignores what many protesters are saying with both bricks and words : that the wealth contained in these looted stores is “ slavery money… .
So when we take it back or we burn it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ getting back what ’ s ours .
”

Subscribe to The Nation Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month!
Get The Nation’s Weekly Newsletter Fridays. The best of the week. Email By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Fridays. The best of the week.
Thank you for signing up for The Nation’s weekly newsletter.
Repro Nation A monthly newsletter on the global fight for reproductive freedom. Email By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here.
Thank you for signing up. For more from The Nation, check out our latest issue
Subscribe to The Nation Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month!
Support Progressive Journalism The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter. The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter.
Sign up for our Wine Club today. Did you know you can support The Nation by drinking wine?
The nationwide uprising against racist policing in the wake of George Floyd’s murder is stunning, not least for the amount of property destruction it has entailed. Responses to the vandalism and theft have varied, ranging from condemnations of violence amid peaceful protests, warnings of anarchist agitators, and an emphasis on criminal opportunism amid the chaos. But the mainstream media reaction has been surprisingly tempered in comparison to coverage of the 2014 Ferguson uprising. A story in USA Today suggested that while “people need not condone the riots…they ought to understand them.” Neither The New York Times nor The Washington Post has used the word “riot” in a headline. Related Article The Bravery of Marching for Black Lives in the Middle of a Pandemic Elie Mystal
While editorials call for peace, love, and the maintenance of order, there has, thus far, been minimal liberal pearl-clutching. There seems to be an understanding that too many lines have been crossed, too many innocent people murdered, too many communities over-policed and otherwise neglected to expect anyone to react “reasonably.” It is a testament to the real power of actual mass movements that the media establishment has felt compelled to cover illegal, expensive, and destructive protests with such care.
But what if property destruction is more than an understandable lapse of judgment and loss of control? What if it is not a frustrated, emotional reaction but a reasonable and articulate expression in itself? The destruction is too widespread to attribute it to a few bad actors, and in some cases—such as the attacks on the CNN headquarter and the widespread vandalism of Confederate monuments—too precise and symbolically potent to be attributed solely to an opportunistic “criminal” element. The fantasy of outside agitators—a perennial feature of politicians’ responses to radical political action—is a means of presenting the real threat posed by mass actions as something foreign to the action itself.
There are a number of reasons the destruction of property should be taken seriously rather than treated as an unfortunate externality or the expression of regrettably unchecked passions. To begin with, pathologizing the act is tantamount to pathologizing the actor: Given the racial dimension of these protests, even apparently sympathetic explanations of theft and destruction risk of implying that people of color are reacting from feelings rather than carrying out reasoned, calculated acts with their own perfectly legitimate political logics. Attacking police stations, for example, makes rational sense. It is not the sudden, spontaneous expression of a disordered and irrational mob but the clear enactment of a political position, the fulfillment in some small but concrete way of the central demand being made by protesters across the country: Police need to be defunded, and some police stations need to disappear.
This moment calls for the left to define violence and nonviolence for itself—to decide what nonviolence means in the face of overwhelming state brutality and structural economic and racial injustice. Failure to do so results in a confusion of terms that has serious ethical and political consequences: Property destruction is not synonymous with the violence that is being protested. The notion that protesters are mistakenly employing violence and thus counterproductively adding to some imagined social sum total of violence is flawed. There is no such thing as undifferentiated net violence whose curve must be flattened. 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 A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life 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 A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann Related Article How to Be an Antifascist From Your Couch Talia Lavin
People are not objects; broken windows and burnt cars are simply not commensurate with the violence of state-sanctioned murder or the structural violence of poverty that has placed people of color at a disproportionate risk of dying of Covid-19. Plateglass windows don’t bleed. They don’t die and leave loved ones grieving. They don’t contribute to the collective trauma and terror experienced by their communities. They just break, and then, at some point, they are replaced by identical sheets of glass.
Martin Luther King Jr. suggested that looting, rather than being an opportunistic means of acquisition, demonstrated a keen understanding of a political economy organized around repression, exploitation, and disenfranchisement: “Often the Negro does not even want what he takes; he wants the experience of taking.… Alienated from society and knowing that this society cherishes property above people, he is shocking it by abusing property rights.” Current Issue View our current issue
Or the looter might want something. Nothing symbolizes the exclusion, deprivation, and gross class inequality that characterizes our current economic system more perfectly than the luxury stores looted in New York City’s SoHo district before the imposition of the curfew. Given that capitalism largely restricts pleasure to the consumption of goods, we should be able to entertain the idea that this taking of unnecessary things—while not a recognizably political act—is understandable or even a justifiable.
What is incredible—and incredibly revealing—about a wave of protests marked by widespread property destruction is the total impossibility of making capitalism sympathetic. Verizon, Apple, Nike, Macy’s, and the like cannot be reasonably presented as a social good. Many people may have implicitly understood this before these storefronts were smashed up and emptied. But now it is explicit: As corporate behemoths have attempted to assume the role of the victim, a broader segment of the political spectrum than one might have thought possible has had to confront the fact that they don’t really care what happens to a chain store.
Small-business owners are a different and more complicated matter. The image of the “mom and pop” shop conflates property and people—effectively presenting the destruction of property as a direct attack on an individual. Certainly there is a meaningful difference between a neighborhood grocer and a Whole Foods, but the figure of the small business is also one means by which a capitalist ruling class launders itself. This is not to say that small-business owners are not sympathetic and worthy of protection, only that we should be wary of how they are instrumentalized in the service of protecting a wealthy minority.
The capitalist system as it now operates in the United States favors the very giants that it must affect to disavow during times of social upheaval. Small businesses were not given the support they needed by Congress when the economy shut down. People of color have always faced much higher barriers when opening small businesses due to discriminatory lending policies and they will certainly suffer more than white-owned businesses because loans to repair damage and reopen will be harder to come by and carry higher interest rates. Trotting them out as an excuse for repression is cynical at best.
Many small-business owners have refused to be used as a pretext for maligning protesters. Missy O’Reilly, the owner of an East Village karaoke bar, says that the damage to her establishment “sucks” but it is only “only broken glass and stolen booze,” which is “an easy fix compared to what people of color are dealing with in this country.” Another café owner whose storefront had been smashed simply replied, “If this is the price we have to pay for human rights, so be it.” Salih Mothana, a Yemeni immigrant whose store, Express Food Market in the South Side of Chicago, was destroyed amid protests, responded, “I understand why it happened, and it’s OK…. It’s not like I have to blame someone for this. I understand why this happened. If it sends out the message, it doesn’t matter to us.” Zahalea Anderson, the owner of the Urban League of Self-Defense, thinks that property destruction was politically necessary and continues to support the protests in spite of her personal losses. “I think we’ve tried a lot of ways to be heard,” she said. “People riot because they can’t speak it no more. They just have to show you.”
Other small-business owners see the destruction as yet another burden placed on the African American community. Alisha Henderson, the owner of an art store in Long Beach, worries that destruction undermines the movement’s ultimate goals, stating that “it takes a community that values each other to survive.”
The notion that nonviolence is tactically more effective—that it elicits sympathy, whereas property destruction leads to acrimony and waning popular support—has not only been proven wrong over the past week by sheer numbers; it cannot be historically supported. For the police and overtly racist portions of the US population, the difference between nonviolent and (ostensibly) violent protest is of no consequence. Either form of expression by people of color is subject to harassment, legal consequences, bodily harm, and death. None of the people murdered by cops and vigilantes have been engaged in violent acts. No amount of caution and effort to demonstrate nonviolence will ever effectively undermine the deep structure of racialized power that punishes people of color. According to a recent New York Times editorial, a man in South Carolina was arrested after he dropped to one knee in front of a police officer and declared, “All of you are my family.”
Offensive as it is to liberal sensibilities, property destruction may be integral to the success of the current uprising. At the very least, it is what marks it as different from the many other waves of protests against police brutality that have occurred over the past decade. Not because property destruction has any moral or political value in itself, but because it is coercive. It is an actual threat to order and a very real threat to capital. In other words, the ability to cause actual damage is a source of power. And in the context of a mass movement with stated demands, what might otherwise be considered mere vandalism is given an intellectual and political coherence that renders it utterly terrifying. Disavowing property destruction and even theft because of a spurious attachment to a reified notion of nonviolence is a mistake. It is a disavowal of power. It leaves police and politicians in charge of an important aspect of the narrative. And it empties the popular chant “no justice, no peace” of any meaningful content. Related Article Stop Blaming ‘Outside Agitators’ for America’s Problems Jeet Heer
Peaceful protests are important, but so is exercising a form of power that constitutes an actual, material incursion into the capitalist sanctum. Instead of thinking about peaceful protest and property destruction as two opposing poles of the movement, we need to acknowledge that they support one another. An inflexible attachment to the type of protest conventionally described as nonviolent—groups gathering in the street and chanting their demands—betrays an outsize faith in a form of democracy that simply doesn’t exist. It implies that if enough people lodge a complaint, politicians will do something because they listen to people and make decisions based on some simple calculus of citizen desire. This is a naive fantasy that has been reinforced by misleading historical narratives about the success of the disciplined nonviolent protests of civil rights activists.
The civil rights movement was not nonviolent, and in fact gives lie to the violent/nonviolent dichotomy. Even the disciplined nonviolence encouraged by some civil rights leaders was actually an invitation to violence, a way of demonstrating the violence of racism to a newspaper-reading public. But not all civil rights activists consistently practiced disciplined nonviolence. By the time President Kennedy announced the drafting of a Civil Rights Bill in 1963, protesters in Birmingham, Ala., had started fighting back. As Charles Cobb Jr. has shown in This Non-Violent Stuff’ll Get You Killed, a strategy of nonviolence was a tough sell in the Southern United States, and “willingness to engage in armed self-defense played an important role in the Southern Freedom Movement, for without it, terrorists would have killed far more people.”
The narrative in which the civil rights movement triumphed because it was nonviolent elides large and significant portions of its actual history. It also obfuscates the utility of a certain form of nonviolence in the maintenance of a racially segregated, capitalist state. By the end of the 1960s, members of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense were reading Frantz Fanon’s theories of revolutionary violence and calling for expropriation and class revolution. The growing appeal within the United States of largely communist anti-colonial and distinctly not nonviolent liberation struggles abroad made “peace research” and the study and promotion of nonviolent resistance into a well-funded area of interest for both the Department of Defense and the CIA. Related Article The Border Patrol Praises Stonewall While Deploying Officers to Suppress Protests Ken Klippenstein
Property is itself a violent thing. It is created through a combination of state-sponsored expropriation and exploitation and it is defended by various forms of state-sanctioned violence. Given that the object of these protests is the defunding of racist, murderous police departments, we need to remember that large portions of our national wealth was created through the violent expropriation of land from Native Americans that was subsequently made productive and profitable through the forced labor of stolen Africans.
Acts classed as “criminal” have historically provided marginalized people with economic and political power. This is, in part, why they were criminalized to begin with. Income inequality in the United States is the highest it’s been since the Census Bureau began tracking it 50 years ago. In light of the economic deprivation experienced by large portions of the population, the vandalizing of property and the theft of goods could just as easily be framed as the enforcement of a moral economy—the rightful reappropriation of stolen wealth. The historian E.P. Thompson has argued that the periodic bread riots that punctuated a nascent industrial society in Britain were not spontaneous outbursts, but rather a way for people to intervene in and regulate unjust distribution.
Theft and vandalism are not revolutionary acts in and of themselves, but they have the potential to become powerful forms of political expression in the context of an organized mass movement. Refusing to incorporate acts of destruction into the political imaginary of protest deprives these acts of their political power. It deprives the movement of a source of material strength. And, perhaps most importantly, it ignores what many protesters are saying with both bricks and words: that the wealth contained in these looted stores is “slavery money…. So when we take it back or we burn it down, yeah. We’re getting back what’s ours.”


thenation--2020-06-10--Protests Force the US Military to Face Its Own Racism

Like every major institution in American society , the US military has been profoundly shaken by the outpouring of grief and anger precipitated by the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers .
In fact , the military has experienced greater disarray than most , given its uncomfortable entanglement in President Donald Trump ’ s imperious efforts to crush public protests through sheer force .
The sight of uniformed military officials accompanying Trump on his now-infamous walk across Lafayette Park for a photo op in front of Saint John ’ s Church on June 1—preceded by a police and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ generals and admirals who insist on preserving the armed services ’ apolitical , nonpartisan status .
But the institutional crisis provoked by Floyd ’ s death reaches much deeper than issues of propriety ; it extends to racial divisions within the military itself and the Pentagon ’ s now endangered efforts to rally Western nations against the supposedly more autocratic regimes in China and Russia .
It did not take long for the internal distress over the military ’ s involvement in Trump ’ s authoritarian behavior to make itself heard .
On @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Pentagon and among the ranks of retired senior officers chastised Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley for joining the president on that much-maligned walk across Lafayette Park .
By their mere presence alongside Trump , it was claimed , Esper and Milley appeared to endorse the brutal use of force against nonviolent protesters as well as his call for the use of active-duty troops to quell urban demonstrations .
As top commanders grappled with the this tumult over the military ’ s role @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , more fundamental discussion erupted over issues of race and racism within the armed services .
Sparking this extraordinary development was an emotional statement posted on Facebook by CMSgt .
Kaleth Wright , the highest-ranking noncommissioned officer in the US Air Force and an African American man .
“ I am George Floyd , ” he wrote on June 1 .
“ I am Michael Brown , I am Alton Sterling , I am Tamir Rice .
Just like most of the Black Airmen and so many others in our ranks…I am outraged @ @ @ @ @ @ @ television before our very eyes.
” After expressing his own fears of being slain by white police officers , Wright turned to the heart of his plea : the persistence of racism within the Air Force .
“ I believe that we have not made much progress in this area of racial injustice and diversity among our ranks , ” he claimed .
In particular , we must contend “ with the Air Force ’ s own demons , ” especially “ the racial disparities in military justice and discipline among our youngest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of diversity in our senior officer ranks.
” Wright ’ s statement , coming at a time of a heated national conversation over race and the military ’ s internal ferment over the possible deployment of active-duty troops in American cities , sent a shock wave through the senior leadership .
More than 40 percent of the military ’ s active-duty and Reserve personnel are people of color , with that percentage noticeably higher in lower ranks and declining as one moves up to senior officer positions .
This poses quandaries for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ranks , causes resentment over the preponderance of white people at senior levels , and increases the likelihood that any black soldiers ( and their comrades ) sent to subdue riots in black majority cities may feel greater sympathy for the protesters than the police and government officials they ’ ve been sent to assist .
Scarcely had Wright posted his indictment when his ultimate superior , Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein , issued a statement of his own , acknowledging the need to combat racism both in society at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Sometimes it ’ s explicit , sometimes it ’ s subtle , but we are not immune to the spectrum of racial prejudice , systemic discrimination , and unconscious bias , ” he declared on June 2 .
In a virtual town hall convened with Wright the next day , Goldfein pledged to address these challenges , focusing in particular on a promotion system that systematically and unfairly denied people of color access to higher ranks .
Prompted by Goldfein ’ s initiatives , all the other service chiefs and many of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , promising action to ensure greater equity .
“ Over the past week , the country has suffered an explosion of frustration over the racial divisions that still plague us as Americans , ” the Army ’ s top brass declared on June 3 .
“ And because your Army is a reflection of American society , those divisions live in the Army as well ” —as revealing a statement one is likely to find about the military ’ s long-term dilemma .
The other service chiefs made similar comments , and all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ institutionalized racism within their organizations .
On Monday , Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said he was “ open ” to renaming key Army bases now honoring Confederate generals , including such major installations at Fort Bragg , N.C. , Fort Benning , Ga. , and Fort Hood , Texas .
Just how far these initiatives will lead is anyone ’ s guess .
If the outrage over George Floyd ’ s slaying continues to roil civil society , it will probably have a significant impact within the armed forces as well .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ noted , has other reasons for continuing to address issues of racism and civil rights : As Washington steps up its efforts to isolate China and Russia in what ’ s being dubbed a new Cold War , Pentagon officials are speaking ever more forcefully of what they describe as a vast ideological divide between those two countries on one side and the United States and its allies on the other .
At the Munich Security Conference in Germany this past February , for example , Secretary Esper sought to make a sharp @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s Communist Party and the liberal values of Western democracies .
Speaking of the former , he noted , “ History has proven…that authoritarianism breeds corruption , promotes conformity , smothers free thinking , and suppresses freedom.
” In contrast , he blithely asserted , “ are our values , sense of fairness , and culture of opportunity , which encourage disruption and unleash the very best of human intellect , spirit , and innovation.
” Variations of this claim figure in virtually every statement issued by the Department of the Defense @ @ @ @ @ @ @ China and Russia .
But how do you convince potential allies of the legitimacy of this cause when people around the world can watch the police in this country attacking American citizens who have been denied exactly those rights ?
This is the strategic dilemma posed by the current upheaval in the United States .
Until the protesters ’ demands are somehow met and US officials can truly claim that this country is committed to the preservation of liberal values , it could prove very difficult to persuade other nations to embrace an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Indeed , this is the unspoken concern in many of the statements issued by senior military officials in recent days .
“ Only as a unified force , free from discrimination , racial inequality , and prejudice can we fully demonstrate our values , ” said Gen. David H. Berger , commandant of the Marine Corps , on June 3 .
Just as the whole of America now faces months and years of reckoning with the consequences of Floyd ’ s murder in Minneapolis and the passions it released in American society , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ military be forced to confront similar issues .
Whether this will result in sweeping institutional reform within the armed forces remains to be seen , but it will surely complicate US efforts to rally a new ideological crusade against Beijing and Moscow .

Subscribe to The Nation Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month!
Get The Nation’s Weekly Newsletter Fridays. The best of the week. Email By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Fridays. The best of the week.
Thank you for signing up for The Nation’s weekly newsletter.
Repro Nation A monthly newsletter on the global fight for reproductive freedom. Email By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here.
Thank you for signing up. For more from The Nation, check out our latest issue
Subscribe to The Nation Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month!
Support Progressive Journalism The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter. The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter.
Sign up for our Wine Club today. Did you know you can support The Nation by drinking wine?
Like every major institution in American society, the US military has been profoundly shaken by the outpouring of grief and anger precipitated by the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers. In fact, the military has experienced greater disarray than most, given its uncomfortable entanglement in President Donald Trump’s imperious efforts to crush public protests through sheer force. The sight of uniformed military officials accompanying Trump on his now-infamous walk across Lafayette Park for a photo op in front of Saint John’s Church on June 1—preceded by a police and National Guard attack on nonviolent protesters—outraged former generals and admirals who insist on preserving the armed services’ apolitical, nonpartisan status. But the institutional crisis provoked by Floyd’s death reaches much deeper than issues of propriety; it extends to racial divisions within the military itself and the Pentagon’s now endangered efforts to rally Western nations against the supposedly more autocratic regimes in China and Russia.
It did not take long for the internal distress over the military’s involvement in Trump’s authoritarian behavior to make itself heard. On June 2, prominent voices within the Pentagon and among the ranks of retired senior officers chastised Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley for joining the president on that much-maligned walk across Lafayette Park. By their mere presence alongside Trump, it was claimed, Esper and Milley appeared to endorse the brutal use of force against nonviolent protesters as well as his call for the use of active-duty troops to quell urban demonstrations.
As top commanders grappled with the this tumult over the military’s role in curbing domestic disturbances, a second, more fundamental discussion erupted over issues of race and racism within the armed services. Sparking this extraordinary development was an emotional statement posted on Facebook by CMSgt. Kaleth Wright, the highest-ranking noncommissioned officer in the US Air Force and an African American man.
“I am George Floyd,” he wrote on June 1. “I am Michael Brown, I am Alton Sterling, I am Tamir Rice. Just like most of the Black Airmen and so many others in our ranks…I am outraged at watching another Black man die on television before our very eyes.” After expressing his own fears of being slain by white police officers, Wright turned to the heart of his plea: the persistence of racism within the Air Force. “I believe that we have not made much progress in this area of racial injustice and diversity among our ranks,” he claimed. In particular, we must contend “with the Air Force’s own demons,” especially “the racial disparities in military justice and discipline among our youngest Black male Airmen and the clear lack of diversity in our senior officer ranks.”
Wright’s statement, coming at a time of a heated national conversation over race and the military’s internal ferment over the possible deployment of active-duty troops in American cities, sent a shock wave through the senior leadership. More than 40 percent of the military’s active-duty and Reserve personnel are people of color, with that percentage noticeably higher in lower ranks and declining as one moves up to senior officer positions. This poses quandaries for the leadership, raises racial tensions within the ranks, causes resentment over the preponderance of white people at senior levels, and increases the likelihood that any black soldiers (and their comrades) sent to subdue riots in black majority cities may feel greater sympathy for the protesters than the police and government officials they’ve been sent to assist. 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 A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life 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 A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann Related Article Covid-19’s Third Shock Wave: The Global Food Crisis Michael T. Klare
Scarcely had Wright posted his indictment when his ultimate superior, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein, issued a statement of his own, acknowledging the need to combat racism both in society at large and within the military itself. “Sometimes it’s explicit, sometimes it’s subtle, but we are not immune to the spectrum of racial prejudice, systemic discrimination, and unconscious bias,” he declared on June 2. In a virtual town hall convened with Wright the next day, Goldfein pledged to address these challenges, focusing in particular on a promotion system that systematically and unfairly denied people of color access to higher ranks.
Prompted by Goldfein’s initiatives, all the other service chiefs and many of their highest-ranking enlisted officers issued similar statements, promising action to ensure greater equity. “Over the past week, the country has suffered an explosion of frustration over the racial divisions that still plague us as Americans,” the Army’s top brass declared on June 3. “And because your Army is a reflection of American society, those divisions live in the Army as well”—as revealing a statement one is likely to find about the military’s long-term dilemma. The other service chiefs made similar comments, and all, like Goldfein, promised to address institutionalized racism within their organizations. On Monday, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said he was “open” to renaming key Army bases now honoring Confederate generals, including such major installations at Fort Bragg, N.C., Fort Benning, Ga., and Fort Hood, Texas. Current Issue View our current issue
Just how far these initiatives will lead is anyone’s guess. If the outrage over George Floyd’s slaying continues to roil civil society, it will probably have a significant impact within the armed forces as well. But the US military, it should be noted, has other reasons for continuing to address issues of racism and civil rights: As Washington steps up its efforts to isolate China and Russia in what’s being dubbed a new Cold War, Pentagon officials are speaking ever more forcefully of what they describe as a vast ideological divide between those two countries on one side and the United States and its allies on the other.
At the Munich Security Conference in Germany this past February, for example, Secretary Esper sought to make a sharp distinction between the authoritarian impulses of China’s Communist Party and the liberal values of Western democracies. Speaking of the former, he noted, “History has proven…that authoritarianism breeds corruption, promotes conformity, smothers free thinking, and suppresses freedom.” In contrast, he blithely asserted, “are our values, sense of fairness, and culture of opportunity, which encourage disruption and unleash the very best of human intellect, spirit, and innovation.”
Variations of this claim figure in virtually every statement issued by the Department of the Defense regarding America’s military competition with China and Russia. But how do you convince potential allies of the legitimacy of this cause when people around the world can watch the police in this country attacking American citizens who have been denied exactly those rights?
This is the strategic dilemma posed by the current upheaval in the United States. Until the protesters’ demands are somehow met and US officials can truly claim that this country is committed to the preservation of liberal values, it could prove very difficult to persuade other nations to embrace an American-led drive to contain authoritarian regimes. Indeed, this is the unspoken concern in many of the statements issued by senior military officials in recent days. “Only as a unified force, free from discrimination, racial inequality, and prejudice can we fully demonstrate our values,” said Gen. David H. Berger, commandant of the Marine Corps, on June 3.
Just as the whole of America now faces months and years of reckoning with the consequences of Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis and the passions it released in American society, so, too, will the US military be forced to confront similar issues. Whether this will result in sweeping institutional reform within the armed forces remains to be seen, but it will surely complicate US efforts to rally a new ideological crusade against Beijing and Moscow.


thenation--2020-06-10--If Black Lives Matter, the ‘Welfare Queen’ Myth Must Go

Breonna Taylor and Atatiana Jefferson were both killed by the police while inside their homes for the crime of being a black woman in America .
Police officers in Oakland , Calif. chose to storm into a home with riot gear and guns drawn where unhoused black mothers from Moms4Housing were providing shelter for their children in the cold winter months .
While there is less national attention paid to black women , police brutality and state-sponsored violence against black women is long-standing and pervasive .
Why do government decision-makers and police officers respond to black women with violence and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ myth has taught us to devalue the lives and humanity of black women , making them expendable and not fully human .
The term , introduced in the 1970s by Ronald Reagan , refers to women who allegedly misuse or collect excessive welfare payments .
Thanks to decades of dog-whistle politics , the term has become synonymous with being black and female in America .
That is the uncomfortable truth we have to grapple with .
Along with fueling ever growing inequality on racial and gender lines , the welfare queen myth is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of our nation ’ s government .
Not since the work of the National Welfare Rights Organization—a movement of thousands of poor women of color that demanded a basic income floor and justice for their families—have we seen a large-scale effort to intentionally shift the narrative around black women .
But now it ’ s time .
Way past time , actually .
We see the harrowing statistics—median wealth for single black women is $ 200 ; about 60 percent of families that are unhoused are single-mother households—half being black single mothers ; @ @ @ @ @ @ @ likely to die in childbirth than any other race—and shrug our shoulders because , in the back of our minds , we see black women and automatically think , “ Welfare Queen—she deserves what she gets because of the poor decisions she ’ s made.
” The welfare queen has permanently altered our perception of black women , dehumanizing them to the point where their lives don ’ t matter .
The welfare queen has deep historical roots and is one of the most enduring , racist , and sexist stereotypes that has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ truth within the American consciousness .
It says that black women are cheats , lazy , promiscuous , inept , and need to be tamed in order to get work out of them , and therefore don ’ t deserve help or concern .
At its core , the welfare queen myth shapes who we believe is deserving and fully human , and who is not .
It reinforces toxic ideology that places the onus of poverty solely on an individual , rather than examining and acknowledging the societal and political decisions that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ first place .
It gives us permission to continue to blame black women for their circumstances , pushing the belief that they must be controlled and taught how to act right .
It absolves our collective guilt and responsibility to implement changes to systems and policies .
The myth has shifted over time to meet specific political uses but has two interrelated threads .
On one hand , there is a long-standing belief that black women are solely workers , and nothing else .
Ironically , we push black women into low-wage work @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our policy-makers continue to enact policies that divorce black women from being mothers and caretakers—tearing away their full humanity .
Protests Force the US Military to Face Its Own Racism The Bravery of Marching for Black Lives in the Middle of a Pandemic More in this series On the other hand , the welfare queen myth denounces poor black mothers as irresponsible and dysfunctional parents , which puts them at risk of becoming entangled in the criminal legal system—a system that treats black women as disposable .
Research shows that policing of black @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of black mothers as negligent parents .
This thinking has been used strategically by politicians on the left and right to stoke white resentment and cut and demonize public assistance programs—despite the fact that white Americans are , and always have been , the biggest beneficiaries of welfare programs .
Such stereotypes also play a role in the increase in the rate of incarceration for black millennial women .
Now , in the throes of a global health crisis when a thriving public assistance system is needed most , we are left with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ safety net .
Meanwhile , our politicians in Washington are unable to pass any meaningful Covid-19 relief policy that reaches our most marginalized .
We don ’ t have to look much further than the welfare queen myth to understand why .
We ’ ve permanently cemented shame into the idea of needing help—particularly when it ’ s about needing help from the government—because we ’ ve made the face of poverty the welfare queen .
We choose to amplify and buy into this narrative because , quite frankly , it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Black women never recovered from the Great Recession , and if we don ’ t change course and embark on a campaign to eradicate this narrative , the aftermath of the pandemic will be far worse .
If we truly want to build an economic and political system in which black life is valued , we must finally delete the welfare queen out of existence .

Jhumpa Bhattacharya, Aisha Nyandoro, Anne Price

Subscribe to The Nation Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month!
Get The Nation’s Weekly Newsletter Fridays. The best of the week. Email By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Fridays. The best of the week.
Thank you for signing up for The Nation’s weekly newsletter.
Repro Nation A monthly newsletter on the global fight for reproductive freedom. Email By signing up, you confirm that you are over the age of 16 and agree to receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here.
Thank you for signing up. For more from The Nation, check out our latest issue
Subscribe to The Nation Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month! Subscribe now for as little as $2 a month!
Support Progressive Journalism The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter. The Nation is reader supported: Chip in $10 or more to help us continue to write about the issues that matter.
Sign up for our Wine Club today. Did you know you can support The Nation by drinking wine?
Breonna Taylor and Atatiana Jefferson were both killed by the police while inside their homes for the crime of being a black woman in America. Police officers in Oakland, Calif. chose to storm into a home with riot gear and guns drawn where unhoused black mothers from Moms4Housing were providing shelter for their children in the cold winter months.
While there is less national attention paid to black women, police brutality and state-sponsored violence against black women is long-standing and pervasive.
Why do government decision-makers and police officers respond to black women with violence and indifference? Because the ever-pervasive welfare queen myth has taught us to devalue the lives and humanity of black women, making them expendable and not fully human. The term, introduced in the 1970s by Ronald Reagan, refers to women who allegedly misuse or collect excessive welfare payments. Thanks to decades of dog-whistle politics, the term has become synonymous with being black and female in America. That is the uncomfortable truth we have to grapple with.
Along with fueling ever growing inequality on racial and gender lines, the welfare queen myth is literally killing black women at the hands of our nation’s government.
Not since the work of the National Welfare Rights Organization—a movement of thousands of poor women of color that demanded a basic income floor and justice for their families—have we seen a large-scale effort to intentionally shift the narrative around black women.
But now it’s time. Way past time, actually.
We see the harrowing statistics—median wealth for single black women is $200; about 60 percent of families that are unhoused are single-mother households—half being black single mothers; black women are more than twice as likely to die in childbirth than any other race—and shrug our shoulders because, in the back of our minds, we see black women and automatically think, “Welfare Queen—she deserves what she gets because of the poor decisions she’s made.” The welfare queen has permanently altered our perception of black women, dehumanizing them to the point where their lives don’t matter. Current Issue View our current issue
The welfare queen has deep historical roots and is one of the most enduring, racist, and sexist stereotypes that has slithered its way to permanency and perceived truth within the American consciousness. It says that black women are cheats, lazy, promiscuous, inept, and need to be tamed in order to get work out of them, and therefore don’t deserve help or concern. 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 A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life 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 A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann
At its core, the welfare queen myth shapes who we believe is deserving and fully human, and who is not. It reinforces toxic ideology that places the onus of poverty solely on an individual, rather than examining and acknowledging the societal and political decisions that force a person into poverty in the first place. It gives us permission to continue to blame black women for their circumstances, pushing the belief that they must be controlled and taught how to act right. It absolves our collective guilt and responsibility to implement changes to systems and policies.
The myth has shifted over time to meet specific political uses but has two interrelated threads. On one hand, there is a long-standing belief that black women are solely workers, and nothing else. Ironically, we push black women into low-wage work like service and care work, but our policy-makers continue to enact policies that divorce black women from being mothers and caretakers—tearing away their full humanity. George Floyd Protests The Federal Government Is “Affirming Everything That Black People Have Been Saying” Ibrahim Hirsi You Cannot Stop Us From Proclaiming “I, Too, Am America” Maya Wiley In Minneapolis, the Cycle of Police Violence Continues Alyssa Oursler and Anna DalCortivo
On the other hand, the welfare queen myth denounces poor black mothers as irresponsible and dysfunctional parents, which puts them at risk of becoming entangled in the criminal legal system—a system that treats black women as disposable. Research shows that policing of black women is largely predicated on a stereotype of black mothers as negligent parents. This thinking has been used strategically by politicians on the left and right to stoke white resentment and cut and demonize public assistance programs—despite the fact that white Americans are, and always have been, the biggest beneficiaries of welfare programs. Such stereotypes also play a role in the increase in the rate of incarceration for black millennial women.
Now, in the throes of a global health crisis when a thriving public assistance system is needed most, we are left with a crumbling, shame-inducing, paternalistic social safety net. Meanwhile, our politicians in Washington are unable to pass any meaningful Covid-19 relief policy that reaches our most marginalized. We don’t have to look much further than the welfare queen myth to understand why.
We’ve permanently cemented shame into the idea of needing help—particularly when it’s about needing help from the government—because we’ve made the face of poverty the welfare queen. We choose to amplify and buy into this narrative because, quite frankly, it’s convenient and maintains the status quo.
Black women never recovered from the Great Recession, and if we don’t change course and embark on a campaign to eradicate this narrative, the aftermath of the pandemic will be far worse. If we truly want to build an economic and political system in which black life is valued, we must finally delete the welfare queen out of existence.