"The rich must, in their own interest, either control the government directly or control the laws by which government operates.

Beard studied the economic backgrounds and political ideas of the fifty-five men who gathered in Philadelphia in 1787 to draw up the Constitution. He found that a majority of them were lawyers by profession, that most of them were men of wealth, in land, slaves, manufacturing, or shipping, that half of the had money loaned out at interest, and that forty of the fifty-five held government bonds, according to the records of the Treasury Department.

Thus, Beard found that most of the makers of the Constitution had some direct economic interest in establishing a strong federal government: the manufacturers needed protective tariffs; the moneylenders wanted to stop the use of paper money to pay off debts; the land speculators wanted protection as they invaded Indian lands; slaveowners needed federal security against slave revolts and runaways; bondholders wanted a government able to raise money by nationwide taxation, to pay off those bonds.

Four groups, Beard noted, were not represented in the Constitutional Convention: slaves, indentured servants, women, men without property. And so the Constitution did not reflect the interests of those groups."

-A People's History, Howard Zinn

War benefits the rich, not poor

"Revolutionary America may have been a middle-class society, happier and more prosperous than any other in its time, but it contained a large and growing number of fairly poor people, and many of them did much of the actual fighting and suffering between 1775 and 1783: A very old story.

The Military conflict itself diminished other issues, made people choose sides in the one contest that was publicly important, forced people onto the side of the Revolution whose interest in Independence was not at all obvious. Ruling elites seem to have learned through the generations - consciously or not - that war makes them more secure against internal trouble.

 The force of military preparation had a way of pushing neutral people into line. In Connecticut, a law was passed requiring military service of all males between sixteen and sixty, omitting certain government officials, ministers, Yale students and faculty, Negroes, Indians, and mulattos. Someone called to duty could provide a substitue or get out of it by paying 5 pounds."

-A People's History, Howard Zinn

"In 1700s, someone wrote to the New York Gazette, 'Is it equitable that 99 should suffer for the extravagance or grandeur of one, especially when it is considered that men frequently owe their wealth to the impoverishment of their neighbors?'"

-A People's History, Howard Zinn

1% vs 99% in 1700s

"The colonies grew fast in the 700s. Through all that growth, the upper class was getting most of the benefits and monopolized political power. The top 1% of the population consisted of 50 rich individuals who had 25% of the wealth. By 1770, the top 1% of property owners owned 44% of the wealth.

In the middle 1700s, colonial New England found that vagabonds and paupers kept increasing. There was a concentration of wealth,  widening of the gap between rich and poor. The colonies, it seems, were societies of contending classes.

The country therefore was not "born free" but born slave and free, servant and master, tenant and landlord, poor and rich."

-A People's History, Howard Zinn

"Was all this bloodshed and deceit- from Columbus to Cortes, Pizarro, the Puritans - a necessity for the human race to progress from savagery to civilization? Was Morison right in burying the story of genocide inside a more important story of human progress? Perhaps a persuasive argument can be made - as it was made by Stalin when he killed peasants for industrial progress in the Soviet Union, as it was made by Churchill explaining the bombings of Dresden and Hamburg, and Truman explaining Hiroshima. But how can the judgment be made if the benefits and losses cannot be balanced because the losses are either unmentioned or mentioned quickly?

The quick disposal might be acceptable ("Unfortunate, yes, but it had to be done.") to the middle and upper class of the conquering and "advanced" countries. But is it acceptable to the poor of Asia, Africa, Latin America, or to the prisoners in Soviet labor camps, or the blacks in urban ghettos, or the Indians on reservations - to the victims of that progress which benefits a privileged minority in the world?

If there are necessary sacrifices to be made for human progress, is it not essential to hold to the principle that those to be sacrificed must make the decision themselves? We can all decide to give up something of ours, but do we have the right to throw into the pire the children of others, or even our own children, for a progress which is not nearly as clear or present as sickness or health, life or death?"

-A People's History, Howard Zinn

An Important Message for Us to Ruminate

"Greetings everyone,

We all got caught up with Duggard infestation and got it cleaned up. The blogging, vlogging, Tweeting, Facebooking, and word of hand spreading around became viral. The action we partook in was not based on a localized community front, but rather a strong national front consisting of deaf people from all across the U.S, which for me is very rare.

To be a Social Justice Activist, we must be continuously aware of our privileges. ALWAYS. For instance, I am a Deaf, Blind, and Queer Woman of Color, yet I still have many privileges that other people do not have within our community. I ask you activist to please be mindful when you ask us, especially culturally conscious Deaf people of color (DPOC), to participate in Deaf causes. People often make the fatal mistake of associating culturally conscious DPOC with other DPOC who only want to only associate themselves with being just Deaf. No one within the Deaf community would like it if d/Deaf people, who do not believe in language rights, to collaborate with hearing people by telling them that we, Deaf people, are making to big of a deal about language oppression. We would be infuriated if people within our community would try to unhinge hundreds of years of constant work for the sake of ASL rights.

The most deliberative, harmful and destructive mistake that you could make is to ask us:

“As a Deaf person of color, this is why you should fight with us because it impacts you in many ways that you could never imagine.”

You just reconfirmed and signed a proclamation that you are way more privileged than we will ever be by saying that.

• Where were you when Deaf children of color, undocumented immigrant children, adopted children (internationally) and Deaf children of refugees were not getting language rights? Where were you when they were being bullied because they lacked ASL competency? When Special Ed specialists assigned ASL tutoring for EVERY inner city (black and latin@) Deaf children?

• Where were you when Deaf Queer youth and adults were constantly bullied and taunted in the Deaf community? We wrote them off as pranks. It is not those whom are LGBTQQI activist job to fight- it is yours as well, if you claim to be a social justice activist.

• Why are we not fighting for the Deaf Blind communities? We only joined when a Deaf Blind leader shakes up something.

• Why we are not holding our rapists and abusers accountable? Complicity equates violations; you knew about it and say it’s not your business as she/he continues to abuse this person or people. You make excuses for those rapist and abusers by saying that they could not have done so: because they are well known, and highly respected Deaf leaders. Having rapist, who hold highly respected positions within our community is indeed, terrifying.

• Why do we allow Rape Culture to be a part of the “Deaf /ASL experience”? Why do we make a mockery of survivors by making rape jokes, gestures in ASL? That should never be allowed- but we do not fight against them. It is not just the Deaf Domestic Violence Agencies’ job but yours too, if you claim to be a social justice activist.

• Where were you when the Deaf community practiced “colorblindness”? The concept of “We all are the same” is what is breaking up the communities within the Deaf community because privileged people continue to say “we are all the same” and not acknowledge DPOC’s injustice which in the same breath marginalizes and minimizes the oppression we face.

• Where were you when Deaf Leaders and Deaf elitists continued to minimize Deaf marginalized people? Something is wrong with this equation:

A= Deaf Person of Color B= Privileged White, Deaf person

a. I don’t mind fighting with you to protest against AGB. Will you fight with me to stop racism in Deaf schools?

b. “Racism in Deaf schools, never heard!” But audism is very big- sure I’ll fight with you!

a. Im not talking about audism. Im talking about racism, oppression based on the color of my skin.

b. We, Deaf people don’t do that, we all are the same- D E A F ! I think you need to reevaluate the issues. I don’t think its racism, but more so the establishment of cliques.

As a Social Justice Activist, I know my job. I know what is required of me, and being non-judgmental is one of them. To watch and listen fervently, to validate, to not minimize other people’s experiences are also very key components that I take responsibility in. Most importantly, I do it for ALL without questioning your cultural identity, language identity, and community identity. The only people/groups I will READILY challenge is the white, body abled, heterosexual man/men (both hearing and Deaf) and white people who claim to be Social Justice activist and ask me to stand with them because they need a person of color (tokenism).

I close in hopes that we have all learned something from the Duggard storm and that we really need to take the time to revisit what it means to be a “Social Justice Activist”. We should be having communities within the community dialogues- redevelop our approach; actively listening and participating.

Actively yours,

Stephanie D. Johnson"

"Paw-Paw,

Thank you for sharing your viewpoint on the U.S. history and the current reality of black people and other cultural minorities. I wholeheartedly disagree with you on most parts, but I respect your right to your own beliefs. I hope you acknowledge that neither of us should occupy a position of subjugation in our dialogue. I recognize that conflicting worldviews and actions exist in a world and a period of life that belongs to both of us equally. However, please do not carry an inherent assumption that only your views are right, and that at the end of the day, I'm going to see it your way.

I am well educated on the history of Civil War, and I am aware of what went on in the North and South in terms of economy and politics. I have read the Emancipation Proclamation myself. I have read stories written by slaves and slave owners. Obviously, I see the history through completely different lens from yours. I am not interested in what the oppressors have to say, or what their reasons for oppressing marginalized groups were. I’m interested in learning from the oppressed groups, and how resilience had helped them survive through those times.

As a white person, I often am blinded by my unearned privileges, just like how right-handed people are often unaware of how school desks are set up for right-handed people, baseball mitts are designed for right-handed people, guns are designed for right-handers to shoot, and appliances open to the right, making it easy for right-handers to open, while left-handed people have a harder time with those things. This is a small example of how we all have different forms of privileges that we often overlook. Those privileges may unintentionally or intentionally make our lives a bit easier.

Because of this, I often make a point to check in with the minority group, be it Black, Latino, Women, Deaf, Homosexual, Blind, or Left-handed people when talking about their history and current issues. When I want to know what misogyny is, I don’t ask a man. When I want to know what racism is, I don’t ask a white person. When I want to know what homophobia is, I don’t ask a heterosexual person. The definitions of oppression are best articulated by the oppressed.

I know I have benefits of being a white person in this society. I’m a racist. Being a racist doesn’t means I hate black people. Racism is not simply a series of random, isolated, overt acts by individuals. It is an institutionalized system of reality that infects every action and thought and requires conscious action to combat and reject. Like most right-handed people, I recognize that I am unaware of AND benefit from my privileges as a right-handed person. Like most white people, I am unable to see things from the oppressed's perspective whilst black people live it, breath it, and see it every day. Most people think being called a "racist" is a personal attack, and some people use this term to attack others. I can understand why white people like myself can get defensive when this happens and say, "No! I'm not a racist! I just don't see it the way you do!" BUT the reason why we don't see it the way people of color do is because we are ALSO victims of the racist system. We DO say, think, and do racist things without realizing it. So when someone points this out to us, I do hope that we, white people, are able to examine our position of power and privilege. I always believe and support the oppressed group, even if I can't see "it".

Here is a checklist of white privilege: https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsap.mit.edu%2Fcontent%2Fpdf%2Fwhite_privilege_checklist.pdf

I know you don’t hate people of color, but you do have a patronizing perception of them. “I have black friends, I grew up around black people, my ancestors treated black slaves well” do not, and should not mean anything. You have white friends, you grew up around white people, your ancestors treated white people well too. Why should black people be any different? You did the right thing by treating everyone with equal respect and dignity.

The difference is that the majority of black people continue to experience discrimination, not by you perhaps, but by many other white people who perceive them as dangerous, uneducated, and inferior. I even had this perception myself while growing up due to the media’s negative portrayal of black people, due to many black people living in the poor areas, and due to the amount of black people in jail. Now, I realize that the reason why they are poor is because the system (set up by white people) does not work in their favor, just like the reason why many Deaf people are uneducated, because the system (set up by hearing people) had failed to provide the education that we needed.

Here is a concrete example of how people of color are being discriminated against in our country. In 2009, NYPD stopped 575,000 New Yorkers. Of those stopped, around 490,000 were black or latino. Even though nine times as many people of color were stopped, the NYPD found that of all people stopped, white people were most likely to be carrying illegal drugs and illegal weapons. Black people receive 60% longer sentences for same crimes as white people.

This is just one example among many I’ve been reading from the people of color community. We cannot deny that injustice exists in our country. I’m trying to be more aware and educated on this topic so I will not contribute to the problem by being colorblind and ignorant of what most marginalized groups experience in U.S.

I know some successful black people too, but it does not invalidate that there is a functional racism in the country on a larger scale (this form of discrimination also exists for women, Gay people, Deaf people, and other marginalized groups)

I do not expect you to agree with me, and that is completely okay. However, I do hope you understand the lens I see the world with.

I know your viewpoint, and now you know mine. I know the kind of person you are, and now you know who I am. I am not interested in continuing this dialogue any further if the goal is to change one or the other’s mind. But if the goal is to get us to know each other better, then I’m comfortable with this.

Cheers,

Leala"