Social Justice

Civil Rights, Death Penalty, Green Party, New York, Race, Social Justice November 7, 2017

3 years at Rikers Island pushed his brother to suicide. Now he’s running for mayor to shut it down.

circa By Reed Dunlea November 7, 2017 On June 16, 2015, Akeem Browder lost his younger brother. Kalief Browder was arrested in the Bronx in 2010, when he was 16 years old. He was accused of stealing a backpack that contained cash, a credit card, a camera and an iPod. For the next three years, Kalief was locked up at Rikers Island, a 400-acre jail complex in the East River between Queens and the Bronx. Approximately 10,000 inmates sit on Rikers every day; most have not been convicted of a crime, but are awaiting trial. Kalief was routinely beaten by…

Black Lives Matter, campaign reform, Democracy, Green Party, Kshama Sawant, Social Justice, Socialism November 3, 2017

Will Black Become the New Green?

Counterpunch By Don Fitz November 3, 2017 On November 7, 2017, Elston McCowan could well become the first Green Party candidate to defeat a Democrat in Missouri. If he wins the Ward 2 race in St. Louis City he will also become the first Green Party candidate to beat a Democrat in an overwhelmingly black district. And it might not be crazy to think that McCowan can actually win. In 2015, he received 37% of the vote as the Green Party candidate against an incumbent. That incumbent left her position to work in the government of the new mayor, infamous…

Climate Change, Environment, International, Social Justice October 12, 2017

on Puerto Rico

Statement of the of the Puerto Rican Diaspora Solidarity Coordinating Committee on the Destruction Brought by Hurricane Maria to Puerto Rico Our people are experiencing one of the worst and bitter moments of our history since the armed invasion of our homeland by the United States and the destruction caused by hurricane San Felipe during the decade of the 20s of the last century that caused over 300 deaths and more than 50 million dollars in damages. During that time Puerto Ricans responded to those tragedies with dignity and human solidarity. Our nation was able to recuperate and overcome these…

Civil Rights, Green Party, Health Care Reform, Racial Equality, Single Payer, Social Justice, State Politics October 11, 2017

Notes on a Green Gubernatorial Campaign

Grounded in a ‘Last Are First’ Worldview By Seth Kaper-Dale (adapted from an article appearing in the Summer/Fall 2017 issue of Green Horizon Magazine) I’m running for Governor of New Jersey on the Green Party ticket and I’m running to win. Here’s my story. My wife and I have been co-pastors of a church in Highland Park, NJ since 2001. When we arrived, our church had 35 members. Today it has grown to approximately 500 congregants. We have also gone from being a primarily white congregation to being a congregation that has over 50 nationalities represented through first generation immigrants…

Civil Rights, Green Party, Race, Social Justice October 5, 2017

Any White Cop Can Kill a Black Man at Any Time

by Don Fitz And the cop will not go to jail. This is what has sparked protests by thousands in St. Louis from September 15 through today (September 21). In 2011, St. Louis cop Jason Stockley fired 5-7 shots at Anthony Lamar Smith, killing him. Stockley claimed that Smith was selling drugs and chased him at high speed and shot him to defend himself. The story was briefly reported as another drug deal gone bad, and it was just incidental that the cop was white and the victim was black. But the case turned out to be a lot more…