EQUALITY

EQUALITY

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Donald Trump’s Greatest Allies Are the Liberal Elites (from @Truthdig)

Photo by Mr. Fish / Truthdig

Donald Trump’s Greatest Allies Are the Liberal Elites (from @Truthdig): The moral bankruptcy of the liberal class, which despite the staggering election defeat is unable or unwilling to engage in genuine self-reflection, ensures the steady march toward an American fascism. - 2017/03/05

This article by Chris Hedges is a clarion call to all interested in democracy, equality, and humanity.  "These are the times that try men's souls," quoted Thomas Paine. Although Thomas Paine was speaking of another era and crisis, the events of today are as troubling.  No doubt the country was in crisis then, and we the people then fought against tyranny as we must do today. Cruel, unreasonable, or arbitrary use of power or control is not a democracy, nor is it what we as a country and people can and will tolerate!

By James H. Williams

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Op-Ed Trump's cruel, illegal refugee executive order


Protesters demonstrate against the Trump administration's refugee and immigration orders at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Jan. 28 in New York City. (Stephanie Keith / Getty Images)
Erwin Chemerinsky
The new refugee policy announced by President Trump on Friday is unconstitutional and inhumane. It is also completely unnecessary.
Trump’s executive order suspends the entry of refugees into the United States for 120 days. The order also indefinitely stops the admission of Syrian refugees and for 90 days bars individuals from seven predominantly Muslim countries:  Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. Possibly due to poor drafting, the Department of Homeland Security said the order applies to green card holders reentering the United States. It has already resulted in chaos as travelers have been kept off flights to the United States or stranded at airports.

On Saturday night, a federal judge in New York issued a temporary stay, allowing green card or visa holders detained at airports to enter the country. The judge declared that the challengers have a “strong likelihood” of prevailing in showing that Trump’s order violates due process and equal protection.
To start, it’s illegal to bar individuals from entering the country based on nationality. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 explicitly says that no person can be “discriminated against in the issuance of an immigrant visa because of the person’s race, sex, nationality, place of birth or place of residence.” This act was adopted to eliminate the prior practice of immigration quotas from specific countries. Indeed, in signing the legislation, President Lyndon Johnson said that “the harsh injustice” of the national-origins quota system had been “abolished.”

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

"Some books leave us free and some books make us free." By Ralph Waldo Emerson


What book(s) you have read or would suggest reading, that has proven invaluable in aiding you in general or in your discovery, growth, vision, family, creativity, or enhancing wisdom?

 President Barack Obama, an avid reader as well as a gifted writer, has a summer reading list published every year. The list sometimes highlights new authors, but more importantly profound thoughts about issues and circumstances both in novel and nonfiction genres. Moreover, many world leaders today and throughout history in business, politics, academia and the sciences are and were inspired by books. A well-known fact, reading is an endeavor that offers many benefits for the health of mind and body.

By James Williams

Image Google books

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

"When will justice run down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream?"




"I sit on a man's back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means - except by getting off his back."

By Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy wrote these words over 130 years ago in one of his seminal books, "What is to Be Done?" and yet man and woman are still burdened by the weight of hypocrisy. The thirst for freedom, peace, equality, and harmony for all Humanity continues to go unfulfilled. How long will injustices that are in our grasp too correct go unchallenged? How long will black, brown, and other minorities have to languish in a subordinate status? When will I ask, "Justice run down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream?" Paraphrasing Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in his sermon, "I've Been to the Mountaintop," quoting Amos.


The technology we have at our availability allows us to connect and correct the ills of this society if we have the will. In a matter of seconds, we can connect with another human across the globe unburden by race, color, creed, or language. The dialogue needed to address many of our issues, in a forum of inclusiveness, is set on the world stage via our advancement in technology. Let the people speak as a representative for themselves, not at the United Nations, but the Peoples Nations for Humanity of the World. Therefore, "We The People" will resonate with all Humanity as the building block for freedom and justice for all.

The United States of America is the origin of my birth, residence, and citizenship; however, I also hold citizenship as a citizen of Humanity. At times, our citizenship of Humanity challenged, we must join in our Humanity to solve the issue through collective dialogue. To attack, kill, maim, destroy, rape, and enslave another is a fundamental wrong that attacks the core of our Humanity. Let the conversation be your first, second, and only weapon of choice. Albeit, some in our community are not likely to understand this rational concept, and we must be on guard. Our global police force is already in place to strike when force is necessary, but first and foremost, we must have a dialogue—an open and honest conversation seeking the truth, not power. We currently have the United States, China, Russia, Europe, and the other G20 Nations armed and ready to fight for its strategic interest. However, this interest must coincide with the overall cost and benefit to Humanity. One death by violence of any kind is one end too many because the suffering continues for the family as long as they live!

The violence we see ravishing our communities must give way to a conversation to those on the warpath. Black on black crime is a sickness that has destroyed black communities but has had a profound effect on others as well. The honor killings in India, the bombing of schools in war zones, the raping of girls and women, the Jihad called against the innocent; the list is too long to capture. To understand this illness like all sickness, we must determine the root-cause and proliferation and find the appropriate solutions to heal and change the course of direction. Perhaps a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) similar to South Africa could begin the building blocks for the healing and change needed.

Leo Tolstoy, in his writings, had a profound impact on such infamous and pivotal people like Mohandas Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and James Bevel. All who fought and spoke truth to power, and equality of Humanity at their peril. We must pick up the baton in our continued fight for justice. In unity, we have power, and we have strength. Let us all join freeing the world of its fear, prejudices, misogyny, and anger for healthier world citizenship: Equality of life for all is the proper goal!



By James H. Williams

Photo: Tolstoy in May, 1908, four months before his 80th birthday (photographed at Yasnaya Polyana by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky; the first colour photograph taken in Russia)