Outpouring Of Grief And Rage Across A Nation Caging Children #LightsForLiberty

Waterville, Maine  July 12, 2019

My husband and I attended two events yesterday in Maine protesting the child concentration camps and family separations employed by the federal government to terrorize asylum seekers and other immigrants.

Waterville, Maine July 12, 2019

50 people turned out in Skowhegan to stand for two hours on the bridge, ending with a candlelight vigil.

Skowhegan, Maine  July 12, 2019

It was part of the nationwide Lights for Liberty campaign to bring the demand to the streets and, where possible, to the concentration camps themselves.

50 is a lot of people at a protest in central Maine, but there was no press at the well-publicized event.

Many of my own children's retired teachers were there, as well as current teachers and several children. Organizer and educator Aliza Jones was there with her daughter who was eating ice cream -- what children should be doing on a summer night, rather than crying for their parents while laying on concrete in a cage near the border.

Skowhegan, Maine July 12, 2019

Lots of signs called on the federal government to do better. Some expressed a belief that the USA is better than this.

Waterville, Maine  July 12, 2019

I wish I could agree that our country is better than this. Built on the genocide of Native people and the labor of slaves, we do not have an admirable history. My white people always seem to be forgetting that many of us could be holding Bobby Hayes' sign above: Grandchild of Immigrants. 

But many people do not know the true history of this nation: the U.S. government turned away boatloads of Jewish refugees who died in concentration camps, knew about the Holocaust but allowed it to proceed anyway, and, after tardily "liberating" the camps, ran show trials at Nuremberg while quietly bringing Nazi rocket scientists to the USA.

Skowhegan, Maine   July 12, 2019

But we, the people of the U.S., can do MUCH better than caging toddlers and torturing them by withholding food, showers, and hugs.

Bourassa family together in Skowhegan  July 12, 2019

As the Japanese-Americans interned during WWII hysteria have said, At least we were with our parents. 

Even for adults, even if they are alleged to have broken a law (note that seeking asylum is not a crime), indefinite detention goes against the rule of law the U.S. claims to have been founded on.

It could be you or a toddler you love next.

Skowhegan, Maine  July 12, 2019

Get busy now demanding that your elected officials shut down the camps and reunite the families: 202-225-3121.

Court Today For Activist Whose Dramatic Protests Bring Attention To Caged Kids #AbolishICE

Patricia Okoumou is a woman of conscience who could not stand by and watch children being separated from their parents and caged at the U.S.-Mexico border.

First on July 4 she climbed the Statue of Liberty with her banner and was arrested. I wrote about that at the time, and you can read that here.

In an interview with Democracy Now! this month she explained that the slogans on her attire are a response to the current First Lady who wore a jacket that said: I REALLY DON'T CARE DO U. Also Okoumou said she was inspired by our former First Lady, Michelle Obama, who was often targeted by ugly racists and who responded, "When they go low, we go high." 

Okoumou commented, "I went as high as I could."


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12UC55fSREA

Subsequently Okoumou, an immigrant herself from the Republic of Congo, targeted Juan Sanchez, a billionaire who profits from child detention in Texas. On Valentine's Day she joined a group shouting out love to the children kept inside, and calling for their release. Then she climbed Southwest Key, a building owned and operated by Sanchez. 

When Okoumou was interviewed by Paper magazine, reporter Michael Love Michael wrote that she said:

...the way conservative politicians talk about the family separation crisis is steeped in misleading and xenophobic rhetoric designed to keep people distracted. "You can't call human beings illegal; you can't call human beings aliens because our children are listening," she said. "Aliens come from outer space, and by calling our children that who want better lives, we are a detriment to them."

Most recently news that child separations and detentions were kept secret, that they generate profit for corporations like Northrup Gruman and Amazon, and that even infants have been separated from nursing mothers makes Okoumou's cause even more pressing for those who care what their government does in their name. 

Today activists will pack the courtroom in NYC for Okoumou's bail hearing. A bad judge sentenced her to house arrest claiming that she engages in activism because it is the only way she has to make a living. Shame on him. 

Those of us who can't be in court with Okoumou today can help by contributing to her defense fund and other expenses here:  https://www.gofundme.com/PatriciaOkoumou.

Photo of an intact family protesting at City Hall in Los Angeles (source: Reuters)

Patricia Okoumou hears the children crying for their parents. Do you? (Trigger warning: this recording of their voices could make you cry, too).

Racism Is What Makes U.S. Wars, Pollution Invisible To Those Who Fund Them

Houdieda, Yemen September 9, 2016. © Abduljabbar Zeyad / Reuters

Racism is what makes U.S. wars around the planet largely invisible to those who fund them. We've payed to starve and bomb the people of Yemen for years now courtesy of U.S. good buddy Saudi Arabia, but who among us could find Yemen on a map?

Racism is what makes many in the U.S. label anyone with the hint of Middle Eastern origin or culture a "terrorist" when it's obvious that our government and its military (and militarized police) are the worst terrorists ever.

It's what covers for NATO when it upsets regimes that are providing for people in ways that a few years later sound like the best of times: clean water, no power outages, and health care systems intact (think Iraq here).

A scene from Gaza last week shows how Israel uses U.S. taxpayer support in the form of millions annually in military aid.

Racism is what makes most U.S. taxpayers turn a blind eye to Israel's genocidal policies in Gaza and the West Bank. Last week Israel passed an apartheid law establishing itself as a Jewish state with its capital in Jerusalem, and it issues maps wiping Palestine off the Earth -- but most here in the U.S. side with white Zionists over Arab Muslim or even Christian Palestinians.

Racism is also what makes the most dire effects of pollution and climate change invisible to those who cause them. 

Malecon, Cuba beach cleanup

The people who live in the Dominican Republic and Bua are brown and black and speak Spanish, so who cares if "their" ocean is covered with trash, right? I would say put the indigenous grandmothers back in charge but sadly Taino/Arawak people were wiped out by genocide after Columbus landed here first.

Will racism lead most polluters to continue ignoring this problem because (for now) it presents in places where the population is mostly not white?

Map from Parley for the Oceans

Most people in the U.S. cannot see racism because they are white, and they don't believe they suffer from it.



Liberals will react with horror when the annual Unite the Right rally occurs next month in Washington DC, the very heart of white supremacist government. Last year's rally in Charlottesville, Virginia (which is nearby) resulted in violence against people of color and a white counter demonstrator being killed when a white nationalist drove his car into the crowd. Afterwards, the demagogue with bad hair said from the White House that there were some "fine people" in Unite the Right.

Racism is what keeps most white people silent, and allows a vocal minority to claim their hate speech represents majority opinion.


Sadly, that's not far from true. Brown, black and Native children have been torn from their families for years, and they have inter-generational trauma to show for it. Brown, black and indigenous families continue to suffer under the militarized terror regimes our taxes support.




A lot of jokes have been made about the so-called Second Civil War coming. This video of police officers brutalizing brown children in El Paso, Texas brought that phrase to mind for me. 

I think this is what the Second Civil War will look like: heavily armed state agents battling young people who scare them by not acting scared enough.


Unfortunately, most people in the U.S. will side with the highly militarized police when the time comes. So did the Germans. And look where that got them.

U.S. Military Empire Declines As Bellicose Rhetoric Escalates

A very interesting war memorial in Brisbane, Australia combines the names and dates of wars with words expressing a range of responses. This pairing resonated with me 16 years into the NATO war in Afghanistan.

It's been strange to be abroad this summer as the reputation of my home country is tanking around the globe. The jailing of children as young as infants for the crime of seeking asylum seems to be about as low as we can go -- until we begin detaining them on military bases in Texas, a sadistic plan that appears to be in the works. 

Australians already had a pretty low opinion of us when I visited family there two years ago, but it has grown dramatically worse. I was told -- politely -- of their refusal to travel to a nation they consider a violent police state. "Your activism, are you getting anywhere with that?" I was sincerely asked. Good question.

Back stateside I find my dearest friends agonizing over the child detentions with the same intensity that I have agonized over the bombing of children terrorized day and night by weaponized drones far from the eyes and ears of most in the USA.

Absolute scenes in Parliament Sq right now #Trumpbaby pic.twitter.com/bSikV46FFQ

— Elliot Wagland (@elliotwagland) July 13, 2018

Add to this the bloviating demands and veiled threats of the demagogue with bad hair, now on a tour of Europe, represented by a baby blimp. NATO nations are told via twitter that "we" have been paying for "their" "defense" (or "defence" if you prefer) long enough, and they had better pony up 2% of the GDP or else. This to nations infested with U.S. military bases that, in many cases, pay no rent.

This from a nation wasting its treasure on Pentagon contracts as fast as it can borrow to do so.

If two-thirds of the pie doesn't seem like enough, consider that VA benefits and the nuclear weapons development budget hidden -- without a trace of irony -- under Energy & Environment line would bring the military's share to something approaching three-quarters. Also, debt service isn't included in this pie chart of discretionary spending.

How anyone could believe that such insanity is sustainable is anybody's guess.

Of course NATO is just one part of the U.S. military addiction. In Argentina, 60+ groups have come together to resist the building of a "humanitarian base" so named to avoid the need for approval by their legislature. As reported by TeleSUR:

The base, under the name “Emergency Operating Committee” was announced by government officials as a new office for “Civil Defense.” Construction is financed by the U.S. Southern Command and it will function near the city, “next to all the oil resources,” councilman Francisco Baggio said.  

The U.S. Southern Command of course refers to the arm of the Pentagon tasked with managing U.S. military presence in Latin America. And, as always, there is a bigger -- and more sinister -- picture.



 (U.S. Army is Back in South America video available here if it does not load for you.)

Incidentally, this video from YouTube is the first that I have seen with a helpful annotation from Wikipedia added to help you sort out fake news from real information:

If this is the caliber of the promised annotations ("Latin government" means what exactly?) I'm guessing they will not be terribly effective. Except probably with their target audience of the woefully ignorant.

Escalating threats coupled with declining influence reveals a militarized state of mind where being feared is preferable to being admired. This is not likely to end well. Globally, climate change gallops along, with hot fog in Palm Springs and unseasonable rains in tropical Queensland's dry season, an existential problem in large part caused by militarization.

My fondest hope at this point in history is that a general women's strike will develop from the packing of the U.S. Supreme Court with anti-abortion sentiment. The military-industrial (-education-media) complex could not function for a single day without the labor of women. 

Most women in the U.S. don't know or care about the brown and black victims of NATO aggression, but they will turn out in the millions if their access to safe abortion or contraception is threatened.

Hey, sometimes all it takes is a spark to bring down an empire.  The Sepoy rebellion against British colonial rule in India was touched off because of alleged beef fat on rifle cartridges intended to touch the mouths of imperial soldiers who were observant of Hindu dietary taboos.

Let's get this show on the road.

Ripping Children From Their Parents Is, Unfortunately, Nothing New #DawnlandMovie

Jessica Stewart was handcuffed at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office in South Portland, Maine where she was non-violently protesting separation of children from their families seeking asylum at the U.S. border with Mexico.

People are aghast and distraught at reports and photos flowing out of the thousands of detentions of children trying to cross into freedom.

Thousands across the U.S. staged a National Day of Action to protest caging children after ripping them from their parents, sometimes literally from their mother's breast.

Not surprisingly, we find that wealthy corporations like General Dynamics are profiting from the warehousing of human children. My sister supplied contact info to let them know how you feel about their cost of doing business:

Twitter: @GDMS
General Dynamics “Ethics helpline”: 800-433-8442

This is the current events context for my viewing the just released documentary Dawnland in Bangor, Maine on June 14. It demonstrated that while I was living a comfortable existence as a college student in Maine during the 1970's, Native children were being torn from their families by the state. Many were placed in abusive foster homes. All were denied access to their culture, their language and in most cases, their grandparents.

The Maine-Wabanaki Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission spent two years collecting the horror stories of victims of a practice they decided was accurately described as cultural genocide.

Many interviews had to be suspended because the victims were crying too hard to speak as they revisited traumatic events that had occurred decades ago. (The same is said of women being interviewed after having their children taken from them at the border.)

Denise Altvater's on-camera interview was halted when she was overcome by emotions as she described life with her siblings in foster care. "I never cried. I never cried. We spent four years there and every day was torture."

Georgianna, a Passamoquoddy elder, testified: "I can't get over the nightmares. You can't heal someone who's gone through hell."

Two of the commissioners and several of the Maine-Wabanaki TRC conveners were present for discussion following the Dawnland screening. One viewer asked, We see the truth, but where is the reconciliation?

Commissioner Sandy White Hawk, who is Sicangu Lakota by adoption, was not in Bangor but is seen on camera noting that the healing process might be underway because, "You told your story among your relatives and they heard you." A poem she wrote says, "Once you were children. Then you were victims. Then you were survivors. Now you are warriors."

Commissioner gskisedtanmoogk (key-said-TAH-NAH-mook) is Wampanoag from the community of Mashpee located on Cape Cod, and a family member of Nkeketonseonqikom, the Longhouse of the Otter. 

gskisedtanmoogk said of reconciliation, "That's the long road."

Photo: Gregory Rec, Portland Press Herald

May I live to see the 1,900+ children ripped from their families at the southern border put a foot on that road. A lot of decolonization work will have to happen before that becomes possible. Let's get busy.

Under Regimes Of White Supremacy And Kleptocracy, Suicide Rates Are Skyrocketing -- Even Among Elites

Lorie Meacham

Follow · June 6 · 

I don't care how you try to spin it. Children are not criminals. They don't belong in cages. Period.

When Europeans landed in North America with their heads full of white supremacy and colonialism, it was the beginning of a long demise. For them and for everyone unfortunate enough to be in their path to conquest.

NEW- CLARIFICATION OF WHAT TRUMP WANTS INSURANCE COMPANIES TO BE ABLE TO DENY OR UP-CHARGE FOR:

-Asthma inhaler
-Mild anxiety
-Alcoholism
-Toe fungus
-Being 50
-High blood pressure
-Birth control

Individual coverage for cancer, diabetes, a transplant, epilepsy wouldn’t exist https://t.co/CRFEYwEP45

— Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) June 8, 2018

The places where white supremacy and unregulated capitalism have brought us are dismal. 

Dismal for everyone. This is the part elites don't get: a society ruled by racist kleptocrats is not worth living in. The suicide rate in the U.S. has risen dramatically in the last two decades, and elites are far from immune from this particular disease of despair.

From the Center for Disease Control:

If you need help for yourself or someone else, please contact the

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

Talk: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)

Chat: www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org

Emulating my shero Cecile Pineda, here's a rose among thorns from Maureen Ostensen of Maine's Smilin' Trees Disarmament Farm. May it give you hope for the future!

Frances [high school daughter] participated in a forum for Democratic candidates for governor.  Each student wrote questions for one candidate, and Frances wrote the questions for Mark Dion.  She asked him how he voted on the tax break for BIW and why.  He responded that he is one of five Democrats who voted against the tax break calling it corporate ransom.  He said there is no need to take money from the tax payers in Maine to give a tax break to a corporation whose CEO earned in excess of (I think he said $20 million).

With this statement he received almost a standing ovation from a large crowd of pretty affluent Democrats. 

I wanted to share this with you, as I was impressed at how well the crowd understood the issue.  I do not think there would have been that kind of recognition had you [Bruce Gagnon] not made such a valiant effort to publicize the issue.

I have to believe there are pockets of support for a more human approach to weapons and war out there who are beginning to make connections to BIW.

My note: BIW refers to Bath Iron Works which is a subsidiary of super wealthy weapons manufacturer General Dynamics.