Juneteenth and The Road to Freedom

 I have resisted responding to posts on my wall lately about Juneteenth because I am tired of trying to explain things I know to an audience that either does not even read or pay attention or that comes off with a knee jerk response attacking me about my ego. Before I begin I need to give my credentials. I am not a celebrity, I am not black (although I have an African American ancestor who was a freed slave), I am not a politician with all the answers, nor am I a recognized graduate of any Ivy League School. I am simply a retired teacher of  American history and English. 

The media, general public and government officials have criticized American history teachers and the system of teaching itself demanding reform.  This is well deserved and reform is needed. I spent the first six years of my teaching career teaching white man's political history until I lived and taught in Albuquerque, NM and had the good fortune to work with a public school system that supported the need for change. Perhaps it is because New Mexico has the most diverse population of any state and in addition, Anglos (non Hispanic or Latino) are not appreciated because of the take over of the land from Mexico during the Mexican-American War. 

When the administration came to the 8th grade teachers of English and American history at John Adams Middle School and suggested the teachers of these subjects create a new program and new way of teaching American history, I jumped on with enthusiasm. Unlike a lot of my colleagues who were elementary certified, I had duel certification in those subjects. In addition, I already had a great deal of knowledge of African-American history and welcomed the expansion of my knowledge. Because of this, I was put in charge of developing the curriculum. I was already teaching the integration of cultural history and the English and social studies content in my classes. I also had been exploring Indigenous history because of my ancestry  that included an Indigenous great great grandmother of the Saponi Indians of the Southeast. I welcomed all the training and was the leader in creating teaching based on projects, cross cultural teaching and integration of content. One of the more important units I taught had to do with the Civil War and debunking all of the myths of that complex war and its effect on our country that still exists today. One of the biggest myths is that Abraham Lincoln was the Great Emancipator. This myth has been perpetuated by partisans from both the Democratic and Republican parties and has even found its way into stories that are now being told about Juneteenth that are not true. 

I have a great deal of respect for this celebration and even taught about it when I was still teaching. When I moved to Louisville, Kentucky I took the story of Juneteenth to the librarian at the Portland Library and the presentation I gave there became so popular that I was invited to do the presentation at major branches of the library from 2015 until I moved in 2018. I understand the importance of Juneteenth and in 2019 when I made a statement to challenge something being said on face book, I was immediately attacked by those people who perpetuate these myths without the actual facts and I believe that is damaging. In response to those attacks I wrote a blog on my blog page at  https://atimeforpeaceblogspotcom.blogspot.com entitled Why Juneteenth is a Big Deal. I have even written a short story set in the neighborhood of Portland in Louisville, Kentucky entitled Juneteenth to emphasize the importance of the celebration of this day to the people who are descendants of slaves and explain the traditions around its celebration.  I am concerned about the claims made about Juneteenth and its importance that are a far cry from why this day is important. Therefore, I think I need to give some history surrounding the writing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Because I will be describing the events that led to the issue of this Executive Order and referring to what it actually said I am posting a link to the document so you can read for yourself.  https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=34&page=transcript

It is September, 1862 and the Union as well as the Confederacy has just fought the bloodiest battle of the Civil War at Antietam Creek with losses of over 10,000 soldiers of either side. Sentiment in support of the War in the North (especially among those young Irishmen dying for something they didn't really believe in) is decreasing. The most critical product needed in the North is men. The Irish of the Northeast are bearing the most loss from this war and have labeled it a "rich man's war, but a poor man's fight." The men are also growing upset that the runaway slaves are filling contraband camps and taking the jobs available because the Irishmen are at war. The sentiment in the South is still a willingness to never surrender and to continue to fight despite great hardship. Lincoln is faced with one decision, he is going to have to institute the draft. This is not something he wants to do because he knows of the wrath that already exists. Lincoln also needs a quick end to the war so he can focus his energy in the territories west of the Mississippi to take over those lands from the Indigenous people living there that are resisting. Plans are already in effect to institute a draft beginning in March of 1863. Lincoln knows there will be trouble when this happens and indeed there was.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_draft_riots Something had to be done to get the South to give up. The document chosen to convince the South to give up was the Emancipation Proclamation - a bribe to the South. It was never intended to abolish slavery, in fact, if the South had continued fighting, Juneteenth would never have happened. 

I have listed a link to the text above, but I will paraphrase here. Lincoln told the Confederacy if you keep fighting beyond January of 1863, your slaves will be free.. When Union soldiers marched into Texas on June 19, 1865 the slaves were freed - why - because the South continued to fight and lost. The information being posted about this date gives false representation about the emancipation of the slaves. I heard a speaker talk about this day as the 4th of July for African Americans in addition to the continued myth about Lincoln being the Great Emancipator. In fact, Lincoln made many statements regarding slavery and if one looks at those statements and those actions, slavery was unimportant to Lincoln. He wanted to preserve the Union and keep the South so that he could turn his attention to the territories and fulfill America's Manifest Destiny. When did the slaves actually become free then? The road to freedom was difficult and hard. That is why it has taken 150 years or more since the Civil War to bring freedom to African Americans as well as all the marginalized people (including women) who have never been fully free and why we remain a divided nation. 

The first step toward freeing the slaves took place on April 16, 1862. https://emancipation.dc.gov/page/history-emancipation-day This is the day slavery was actually abolished in The District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.) At the end of the Civil War those slaves living in what was the Confederate States of America were set free - Juneteenth. There were, however, five border states that were slave states that did not secede from the Union and where slavery still existed. These states were: Maryland. Delaware, W. Virginia (the area of Virginia that refused to secede), Missouri, and Kentucky (my home state). Thaddeus Stevens, an abolitionist in Congress) began to work with Abraham Lincoln on an Amendment to the Constitution that would once, and for all, abolish slavery in the United States. Getting the Amendment passed in Congress was a long and tedious battle, even though the South was still not fully represented in Congress. There is a movie entitled Lincoln that gives a fairly accurate portrayal of this story. In fact, I think it won some Academy Awards. A lot of those awards are based on things other than a recognition of the quality of the work as opposed to the popularity, but this movie was popular and is worth seeing. 

The 13th Amendment, its text and ratification says something about the general attitude toward slaves and African Americans in general that existed not only in the South but also the country in general in 1865. This is not to defend the South for its abhorrent treatment of Black people, especially during the days of Jim Crow, but to underscore a general attitude of systemic racism that has existed throughout the country both North and South since the founding of this country and is why we are still dealing with the abhorrent treatment of people of color in this country. https://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/13th-amendment 

The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery but there is a little known part of the Amendment that has to do with keeping slavery operational in the prison system in this country. Slavery was abolished except for those who are in prisons. That has given the government permission to take men and women  in prison to work on chain gangs instead of do what the system is supposed to do - rehabilitate. In addition, people of color make up the largest percentage of the prison population, this clause allows the government to keep them in involuntary servitude instead of addressing the things needed to keep them out of the "revolving door" that is their path. 

The ratification of the Amendment is also important to consider. In December of 1865, the Amendment was ratified when 27 of the then 36 states ratified the Amendment. By this time the 11 states of the Confederacy had been readmitted to the Union. One of the requirements for admission was ratification of the 13th Amendment. Again, it was the South that made the difference. If they had not ratified the Amendment it would not have passed. Contrary to teachings, there was no widespread support for abolishing slavery. The majority of the interest in the freed slaves came from the Radical Republicans in Congress who pushed through legislation intended to help the freed slaves but most of which ended up in the hands of corrupt administrators and scalawags. My home state of Kentucky did not even ratify the 13th Amendment until 2005 when the country's awareness of Juneteenth and other aspects of the Civil Rights Movement were coming to light. 

The road to freedom for African Americans in this country has been one that has benefited all the groups left out of participation in the freedoms set up in the Declaration of Independence. It saddens me to see these groups splinter and divide their resources when if they came together they would be much more powerful. 

For all the reasons listed above, despite the 13th Amendment people of color remained in slavery under a system known as the Jim Crow Laws https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/jim-crow-laws and the control of the Ku Klux Klan until Black Americans organized under the leadership of Martin Luther King, Jr. and others to raise awareness and people of conscious joined with them to break the system. The passage of the Civil Rights Law of 1964  https://www.dol.gov/agencies/oasam/civil-rights-center/statutes/civil-rights-act-of-1964 was a landmark in our history not only for African Americans but also all the marginalized groups (including women) that have suffered from not only racism but discrimination because they don't fit with "American" values. Movements that sprang from the Civil Rights Movement are bringing awareness to the systemic racism that still exists and holds people of color, Asians, Indigenous people, women and even those who practice a religion such as Judaism or Islam in chains. The road to freedom for African Americans in this country has been one that has awakened our conscious but now is the time for groups such as Black Lives Matter realize the importance of unity so that their power will move beyond the level of partisan politics or become targets to be used by people such as Donald Trump and what he supports. As Americans begin to free themselves from myths and half truths about democracy and our Founding Fathers, we will begin to come together in a force so strong that we will finally have not only a government "by the people and for the people" we will live on a planet that can continue to support us in living sustainable lives of joy and peace.   

My Old Kentucky Home - An Abolitionist Song

 I was born and raised in Kentucky and have always loved our state song - My Old Kentucky Home. Like most Kentuckians I was taught the myth of the writing of the story, that the song glorified the life of the ante bellum South and that Stephen Foster, a cousin of the Rowan family, wrote the song after a visit to what was called Federal Hill. Federal Hill was a brick mansion built by a federal judge name Judge Rowan. He owned slaves and used his slaves in the building trades because Federal Hill was not a plantation, When he died his finances were a mess and his son, John Rowan, had to sell slaves to pay off debts. Susannah fame. She is the one who visited and likely told these stories to her brother, Stephen in Pennsylvania. Stephen Foster was an abolitionist and read Uncle Tom's Cabin. The motivation behind the writing of the song was to tell the story of slavery in Kentucky, a border state, with few actual plantations. Federal Hill was not a plantation. Therefore, Foster wrote My Old Kentucky Home as a mournful tune to bring to light the way slaves were treated and sold with little regard for family and roots. The following passage in the Forward to my short story "Juneteenth" which is in a collection of short stories called "Finding New Pangaea" available on amazon.com. In a country where history has been so skewed even if it is taught, marginalized people can be swept up in movements to get rid of "racist" writings and documents and there is a move to do this to My Old Kentucky Home. Instead of getting rid of the song, teach its meaning and what it was all about in regard to slavery in Kentucky. It deserves to stay the state song and not only be played but have the lyrics with it, especially at the Kentucky Derby.  

Juneteeth

Foreword

 

There was a time in our history when people dehumanized others in return for profit. These immoral acts were shrouded in secrecy and rationalized to maintain a status quo that allowed many to be more equal than others. In the 1850’s United States’ poets, philosophers, writers and composers began to use their freedom of expression to attack the most hideous travesty of all - the institution of slavery. One such composer was a young man named Stephen Foster who died penniless and alone in 1864 at the age of 38. Perhaps his early death contributed to the legend surrounding one of his minstrel songs written in 1851– “My Old Kentucky Home.”  

The legend of “My Old Kentucky Home” grew from stories told by Madge Rowan Frost, the granddaughter of Judge Stephen Rowan who built Federal Hill in 1793. Madge considered herself a southern belle and fostered the story that her cousin Stephen Foster wrote “My Old Kentucky Home” after a visit to Federal Hill in the 1850’s. Using this legend helped her sell the property she had inherited to the state of Kentucky in 1926. The Rowan version of the story is the one told every year in the outdoor drama “The Stephen Foster Story” performed in the amphitheater on the grounds of the state park. According to stephen-foster-songs.com, however, “there is actually a lot to be said that Foster never stayed in Bardstown. It is even very probable that the novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” provided reasons for the song.” 

When one hears all three verses of “My Old Kentucky Home” it becomes apparent that this song is more than a lyrical comment of the hoop-skirted life style surrounding a mansion in the antebellum South. Rather, the song is a lament for a young, black man who is being sold “down the river,” torn from his family still living in the Old Kentucky Home. In fact, research into Foster’s minstrel tunes from the antebellum South indicates that Foster was trying to humanize the dark skinned people in captivity and mourned the fact they were bred like horses to be beasts of burden and bought and sold like chattel.

Stephen Foster’s inspiration for “My Old Kentucky Home” was more likely an attempt to describe the sadness and grief felt by slaves who helped build the home, started families and then were forced from it. The slaves who actually lived in Federal Hill were the house servants who most likely lived in the attic or basement of the home. But whether living in a cabin, basement or attic, Rowan’s slaves worked side by side with Judge Rowan in building Federal Hill and this is where they and their children lived.

 Like any human beings, the slaves longed to live surrounded by their loved ones in homes that they not only built but maintained daily. It is probable that the subject of “My Old Kentucky Home” is a slave who has been “sold down the river” who is voicing his sorrow over his separation from his home and family. “My Old Kentucky Home” has a mournful tone that echoes what any human being taken from home and family would feel. Tom’s feeling of pain and despair is no different than what his white masters would feel in similar circumstances. The blacks felt great joy and celebrated when they were freed. Foster didn’t live to see this but I’m sure he would have felt great joy for them as well.

 

"She knows everything about history but nothing about her own."

 I happened to see an episode of In the Heat of the Night today. I am sure that this episode was run to coincide with Black History Month. The story was about honoring a Black woman in Sparta, Mississippi (a woman named Odessa) who was the first African-American who had tried to register to vote there in 1964. The plot is not so important as the message intended - story of a person who was a leader in the movement for voting rights for African Americans in Mississippi in 1964. The older civil rights leader (a Rosa Parks type) had a granddaughter who was in high school. The city official (a Black woman) who was to give the award was talking to Odessa's daughter and granddaughter about the importance of the ceremony. The young girl dismissed it and left the room. When she left her mother said, "she knows everything about history but nothing about her own." That statement reminded me of myself. 

I grew up in a family where communication with my grandparents was limited at best and secrets were well kept. All of my grandparents (except my mother's step mother who raised her) were dead by the time I was eleven and most of them were dead by the time I was born. There was never an opportunity to question and talk to any adult about behaviors that were "none of my business." Any effort to get answers was dismissed and I was told to stop being so nosey about adult matters. In my effort to learn about my past, I became a student of  history. I won awards in history in high school and graduated from college cum laude with honors in history. I spent my professional career as a high school history, government and English teacher. I also won awards for my work in the classroom. I knew everything there was to know about the his story of this country that I taught - Anglo-Saxon, male history, but knew almost nothing about my own unless it connected to the Anglo-Saxon male. While teaching American history in Albuquerque, New Mexico in the 80's and 90's, I started learning a much different version of history. This was the time after Alex Haley's book "Roots" captured America's attention and the story of the African American and slavery started to reach national attention. I started changing the way I was teaching history at this time. As the African American movement grew, other ethnicities also benefited and in the 70's the largest minority group of all (females) started realizing how invisible they had been in American history and government. In 1991 I approached my principal about a new idea I had about teaching American history based on what I was already doing in the classroom for which I was earning awards. 

My idea was based on a class I had in college titled Interrelationship of the Disciplines. I went to a college operated by the Southern Baptist Association in Louisville, Kentucky. The college did not require students to take courses in the Baptist doctrine nor even attend chapel (which was voluntary). What they required was this class that was a study of the disciplines (art, literature, philosophy, government, religion and science) of the major civilizations in recorded history - both eastern and western). Students learned about the history of the times through the study of the art, literature, philosophy, music, science, religion and government of each period. My proposal was on a smaller scale. I proposed that the administration create a class called humanities taught in a two hour block period of time to eighth grade language arts and American history students. American history and English would be taught through exploring the humanities as they developed in our history. The curriculum was approved and all eighth grade students were assigned to a humanities class. I was the lead teacher and worked with science and math teachers as well as special education teachers in developing a relevant, cross cultural curriculum that would serve students as they matured.

The course took on a life of its own as other teachers became part of the team. I included the bilingual department that focused on Spanish history, language and culture, special education teachers, a Navajo teacher to bring in Indigenous education and even taught one year with a special education teacher and the students from her resource room into the classroom. There were lots of research projects in which teachers as well as students researched the history and literature of all the cultures that have made the United States their home. As I taught this class some insights into my own history and how I fit into America's story began to take shape. During this time I began to realize how ignorant I was about my history. The thought occurred to me that with all my training and education if I had not learned these things, what about the majority of people in this country whose education about the myths of "white man's burden," manifest destiny and the building of a country based on freedom for all but in practice only a few had been imbued into the consciousness of Americans for centuries. It seemed time to tell everyone's story and not just the his story I had learned for most of my life. During these years the seeds of an idea for a book came to me. 

As I taught I began to learn. I started opening doors to my past that had been so well guarded for years and began to find out how my ancestors (especially female) fit into the scheme of America's story. When I retired in 2003 I began work on a book - a generational saga that was intended to tell America's history as it was lived by all citizens of this country since 1720. Some of the characters are loosely based on characters from my own ancestry. Others are archetypes from the groups that make up a "melting pot" of citizens in this country. The name of the book is The Peacemaker - http://kentuckywoman.net. Since 2009, I have continued research into my  own history and am finding a peace of my own about who I am as a tri-racial (Indigenous, African American and English) female whose ancestors were both victims and patriots. My ancestry includes men who have served in the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, all of the Indian campaigns of the 17th and 18th centuries, Confederates and Union soldiers in the Civil War and World Wars I and II. The stories are not glamorous. These are the men who fought and returned home to live lives of "quiet desperation" unknown in the annals of time. 

 The women in my ancestry were invisible to me and the only woman I really knew that I could relate to was my mother. My mother was a strong woman who kept our family together and was responsible for our survival - both breadwinner and homemaker. She never became a great scientist or writer nor did she have any profession other than a nurse's aid. This is how she supported our family. I had no role model but her and during my formative years no national model of women of importance. My mother taught me what it was to love your family and community, keep a clean and safe home environment and always do what was in front of me to do. She did this by going to work outside the home when my father became disabled emotionally, keeping a spotless home, working in the garden, (her passion), canning or cleaning. She did this at all times with a song on her lips, a smile and gratitude for all we had. I learned a lot in my formal education and have been able to live a comfortable life style during my 74 years, but watching my mother and remembering her simple, homespun philosophy has been what has made the difference. Despite the fact that she had to work outside the home, my mother knew what it was to be a woman; compassionate, loving, loyal, joyful and nurturing. These are the qualities that we need in this country if we are to be "great again," not the qualities of attaining power and wealth by destroying the foundations upon which we live or die. I have a dream that when all the women of this country come to understand this we can reclaim our rightful position in society and become the promise of the free world.

  

White Privilege and the Bill of Rights

 There has been much debate during this chaotic year about systemic racism and white privilege. From my perspective, people of color use this term to discuss the lack of justice and opportunity for people of color in our society and the need to dismantle this. Members of the white community, in turn, look at their situation and do not see evidence of special treatment in terms of opportunity and justice. Indeed, most say this may have existed in the past, but these injustices have been addressed since the Civil Rights Laws were passed in the early 60's. This group believes that leaders such as Donald Trump are simply trying to "make America great again" by restoring law and order and certain amendment rights such as the right to bear arms or freedom of worship The other side responds that these issues have not been addressed due to the existence and actions of powerful, government condoned hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and other White Power Groups that keep America great only for the white population. Indeed, they say that the present injustices by the police that have led to violent deaths for people of color is proof of this and the only hope for this country is to elect a President who will "restore the soul of America."  I am not writing this to deny any of the above, but to give a definition of how I perceive white privilege, systemic racism and gender inequality in this country that exists in the very foundations of our government cannot be addressed by either of the parties led by white, land owning males. Until this is addressed, no forward movement can be possible. To do this, I have to go back to the founding of this country and the creation of the Constitution which contains the first ten amendments known as The Bill of Rights. 

The Founding Fathers "revised" the Articles of Confederation in a Constitutional Convention held in Philadelphia in 1787. The resistance of the state governments of the 13 United States against any entity that would take away their individual sovereignty was so great that the delegates that attended the Convention did so in secret. However, the economy of the country was in disarray and there were rebellions stirring in the states of Pennsylvania and Virginia as well as continued interference from Britain in regard to control of the Northwest Territory and its arming of the indigenous people living there. The Founding Fathers knew the country could not survive without some limited federal government that would have the power to tax, develop a singular currency and raise a standing army, so they created a federalist form of government with powers divided among a federal government, state governments and local governments. They also created within the federal government three branches of the government that would share the powers. A system of checks and balances was also set up to prevent one branch of the government from usurping the power, thereby creating nothing more than another absolute monarchy. Despite the genius of this Constitution, the states felt that more protections were needed to insure that this new government would not take away the individual rights these men had fought so hard to obtain for themselves. Therefore, before the Constitution could be ratified ten amendments that were part of the Constitution were added. These ten amendments, although part of the Constitution, are known as The Bill of Rights. Here is where my understanding of white privilege and systemic racism comes into play. 

All of these freedoms are wonderful and the federal system of government set up by the Constitution should have lived up to the words of the preamble : "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." But it hasn't. Why? Because of the very things the people of this country see still active in society today, white privilege, racism and sexism.  Unfortunately, those who want to change this are blaming the conservative white majority and their leader, Donald Trump when the problem stems from the very foundation of this government and how those rights in the Bill of Rights were enforced for generations and are still enforced with this attitude today. The idea that America was ever great for all the people living here is false. The idea that the Founding Fathers had a "soul" is false. 

We the people in the minds of the white landowning men who wrote the Constitution meant only one group - white, Christian men who owned property. Amendment 4 of the Constitution protects citizens from unlawful seizures of their property. In 1787 who owned the property - white males over the age of 21. In fact, included in their property were slaves and females. This interpretation of the right to ownership of property was the basis for the Dred Scott Decision handed down by the Supreme Court just before the outbreak of the Civil War.  Married men were free to discipline their wives and children without any reprimand because they were "property." Indigenous people who were not considered citizens had no rights to property, in fact their property was continually stolen in the name of the good of the country and Manifest Destiny. Women were citizens but only for the purpose of establishing voting representation for the men who controlled the government because they were the only ones who had the right to vote. Blacks were also considered citizens without voting rights because the southern states wanted them included in the count for determining the election of the white male leaders. The Constitution only counted them as 3/4ths of a citizen, however. When the white landowning males who still hold the economic and political power in this country, convince people that they will "make America great again" or "restore the soul of America," I wonder how this can be done without taking a good look at the basis for building a "great" country or a country with a "soul" that existed when? We cannot restore anything. 

We must take a look at these interpretations of laws that have existed for only one group for generations and undo that thinking to make the words of the preamble to the Constitution mean anything. The foundation of justice in this country has been created by interpretation of laws meant for only one group of people. Because court interpretations become the basis for justice, our country is trapped in unending cycles of partisan struggles for power to change the make up of the courts so that justice can prevail. I believe we need to take a look at what has been left out of the Constitution in regard to justice and make the reforms there. The first place we need to start is with Roe vs. Wade.

Amendment 4 to the Constitution was used as a basis for females to make a decision over controlling the reproductive rights of a woman when the Roe vs. Wade Decision was passed down in 1976. It took 200 years for the courts to acknowledge this as a right for females because Amendment 4 was never intended to give women the right to their property (their bodies). When it was written women and children were considered property. Because this was not outlined in the Constitution in the first place and because the rights listed in the Bill of Rights were only for men, it has taken 200 years of struggle to get a white court imbued with the idea of white privilege and sexism, to pass down a decision based on Amendment 4. Unfortunately, this right is in danger still. The bitter battle in the Senate over the appointment of a conservative female who for all intents and purposes understands the law and says she will interpret the law based on what is in the precedents and foundation of the law demand will in no way resolve this battle. There is still within the thinking of the courts the implicit bias of sexism that somehow thinks giving a woman the right to decide what to do with her reproductive rights is a threat to the "family values" of this country or the rights of the unborn. It amazes me that people think the rights of the unborn supersede the rights of the living. Until the courts recognize the rights of a living citizen in this country to decide what to do in terms of having a child, the argument of the rights of the unborn holds no water. What is needed in this country is an amendment to the Constitution that guarantees every citizen the right to have agency over their bodies. From there, the system of justice needs to get involved if law enforcement decides there has been an abuse of this right that leads to an unjust death (and this does include the unborn). 

This blog should in no way be interpreted as my support for abortion. I have had two marvelous births and would be hard pressed to ever consider aborting or harming a life I created. This is about making the Constitution that has worked for only one group of people for over 200 years start to work for "all the people" and other sentient beings on this planet. 

A Whistleblower's Story is Finally Told

 It's been thirteen years since my lawsuit against Oregon Youth Authority and the Education Service District I worked for for six years has been resolved. After my case was settled, I was physically, emotionally and financially bankrupt. I received a pittance of what my damages were but I decided not to appeal the decision, take what money they gave me and move forward with my life to rebuild and heal both physically and emotionally as well as financially. That has been a long journey. I have had flashbacks due to PTSD since the time of the lawsuit. My last serious one was when I took my case involving a traffic ticket that I believed was a set up to court in 2013. I had a few minor ones when I returned to Louisville, KY my home town after losing my home on the Oregon Coast to slowly re enter the world of volunteer work and leadership positions within the community and be a homeowner once again. During the five years I was there, I rebuilt my finances, continued to write and became able to finally qualifying for another home. In addition, I became a strong community leader and advocate recognized for my social consciousness and leadership abilities, especially as a member of the Portland Neighborhood Association's Board of Directors and establishing the Friends of the Library group for the Portland Library. I worked with the Education Committee to improve educational opportunities for youth in public schools. In addition, I worked with the League of Women Voters to try and bring back civics into the school curriculum and stop the Charter School Movement in Kentucky that was fueled by religious based organizations that wanted to receive public money for their religious based schools.  As a retired history teacher, I continued my writing and advocating for teaching American history to reflect the true story of our history not just White Man's political history. The reason I wrote The Peacemaker during my retirement in Oregon was to bring this story to the attention of our country. I took things slowly and did not take on anything I didn't think I was ready for, but I soon reclaimed my reputation and confidence. After three years, it was time to look for the right home that fit with my writing and vision of a sustainable economy. All this time, I avoided partisan politics and continued my independent status. 

I tried for two years to find the financing in Portland to purchase a home where I could do urban homesteading and work with the organizations that were bringing fresh food into the depressed neighborhood as well as planting trees and pollinating flowers to bring life back to the asphalt urban jungle. I volunteered in clean up projects and planting community gardens. I wanted to stay there, but the financing never became available. That is why I now live in Charlotte, NC working with my daughter on a property I have purchased to develop and restore and reclaim for organic gardening and a wildlife habitat and save the beautiful trees on the property from developers. I have stayed out of the politics of a partisan, divided country and used my writing to try and bring awareness to the problems inherent in this country since a republic that disenfranchised over half of its people was established in 1789, hoping that my writing and work I was doing on my property would be enough. I have been an independent voter since the election of 1988 separating myself from the partisan party politics of the country, but things have been happening since 2001, the ending date of my book The Peacemaker that I can no longer ignore.

 I have started to take a strong stand on my social media outlets and, although I will not vote for either of the major political candidates, I am taking a strong stand on what I see as reforms that need to be made in this country that are not being addressed by either political party or their leaders who are actually controlled by the corporate lobbyists who fund their election campaigns. I also think it doesn't matter which white, land owning man is elected President because our whole system at every level is broken, corrupt and in the hands of special interest groups. President Trump says he represents the people, but in fact, he represents the military, fossil fueled industrial complex and Wall St. billionaires while convincing one small group of people, his base, that he supports "the people" in their desire to return control of the country back to the common man. What this group wants, however, is a return to the time when Washington represented their White, Anglo-Saxon Christian views that has made this country "the great defender of freedom" instead of what is has been since its inception, an imperialistic empire building country like that of the English Empire. In doing this, President Trump has equated patriotism with jingoism, my country right or wrong, and labels any protests that happen as being unpatriotic and defying all of those symbols that represent our country and its imperialistic empire building. Please know that I abhor violence and am sad that property and business are being destroyed in the name of protest. This is not the least bit helpful. This is why I have decided to vote for Mark Charles for President and why I now feel the need to talk about my whistle blowing and what I have learned about its importance that goes far beyond what I did as a teacher to expose corrupt educational practices in a juvenile detention facility where I worked as head teacher and program developer for six years. 

One of the platforms of Mark Charles's candidacy is a rewrite of Amendment 13, that he says did not end slavery but only turned it over to the prisons. The following is the text for Amendment 13;

13 amendment of the Constitution

• Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Thirteenth Amendment ( Amendment XIII) to the United States Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. In Congress, it was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, and by the House on January 31, 1865. 

When I taught American history, even working hard to give a true picture of American history, I taught the 13th, 14, and 15th Amendments as one block of votes, 13 abolished slavery, 14th Amendment gave them citizenship and the 15th Amendment gave African-American males the right to vote. I never really delved into the importance of the 13th and 14th Amendments beyond that. The only one I emphasized was the 15th because it gave African-American males the right to vote before females, by making them citizens. Knowing how the 14th Amendment has been used throughout its passage, most recently in the Roe vs. Wade case I now know that although the 13th Amendment abolished slavery the 14th Amendment did something for females that has been of extreme importance in bringing about civil rights for females in this country. The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1868, granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States—including former slaves—and guaranteed all citizens “equal protection of the laws.” The added phrase at the end of that Amendment has been very useful to ethnic groups that may not have been slaves or women who were invisible, but no less recognized as citizens, in this country in 1868. Mark Charles has now brought something very important to the attention of the country. The extra verbiage in the 13th Amendment did not abolish slavery, it simply put slavery under control of the criminal justice system. 

The prison system (many of them for profit as The Shawshank Redemption points our quite well) uses the criminals in their care for all kinds of slave labor for which they receive money. In looking at the population of these prisons, the population of people of color far exceeds the population of the white community or other ethnic groups. As I read the 13th Amendment I began to think that criminal justice reform needs to begin with getting rid of that part of the amendment. That's not nearly so bad as Hitler's death camps, but if our prisons are to be reformed we need to take the profit out of it and put the money into rehabilitation programs instead. This is now where my whistle blowing experience comes in. 

When I was hired at my last position where I worked in a juvenile detention facility, I was hired because my resume made me a perfect candidate for the place. I had certification in language arts (either math or language arts certification was a requirement) a master's in social work with a specialty in juvenile justice, and experience in working with students with disabilities through an inclusion program that made me familiar with all the laws surrounding teaching students with disabilities and modifications needed based on their Individual Educational Plans. Since finding someone who actually lived in the small town where the camp was located was difficult the Special Ed Teacher would come only on certain days and check in with me about how the plans were being implemented. In addition, I had created an impressive independent living program for students in my consumer economics class at Chemawa Indian School outside of Salem, Oregon where I was living at the time.  All these things made me the right candidate to set up the academic part of the program and work with the other full time teacher who was also certified but in health. He could help me with math and science but his expertise was in the vocational part of the program. I went to work setting up teaching programs that would help students integrate their academics with experience in the vocational part as well as start setting up career programs for graduating students. 

Things went smoothly for a while but there were red flags from the start. one of them involved the showing of movies in the classroom. I had been unaware when I started the job that the reason for the vacancy was the resignation of the special education teacher who worked with my partner after she had filed a sexual harassment suit against him for showing The Klan of the Cave Bear. I didn't know anything about this movie but as I became familiar with the camp and its population (many of the long term residents were there for sex offenses) I understood why this movie should never have been shown at all let alone being offensive to the female employee. As I struggled with trying to find out what the policy was regarding movies, I realized there was none and that movies of this type were not only shown in the classroom, they were used by the GLC's (general life coordinators) during free time. I asked the head of the camp about this and he told me that what I came up with would be the policy for the whole camp. That was my first problem. I became the scapegoat for taking away the movies from the inmates because I was rigid and not able to understand the needs of hormonal teenagers. These were not hormonal teenagers, they were sex offenders, rapists and murderers who not only didn't need to see movies like this in school, they should not have been subject to them at all, but I was put in the position of being one who changed it all for them. In addition, as I started implementing a lot of programs, I noticed my teaching partner's nervousness as though I had something against him or would charge him again. That thought was not on my mind at the time. 

 The second one which was the one that brought everything to a head was the releasing of students during the school day to work with a supervisor basically to do labor projects that involved clearing brush, cutting down trees, digging trenches, etc. for community landowners who needed cheap labor for these projects. The students' were paid five dollars an hour for this work and it went into an account that was primarily to be a savings account for when they were released but they were allowed to use a portion of that sometimes to get pizza or even go into the city to eat at a fast food restaurant. If they worked during the school day, they received elective credits to go toward their diploma. Of course most of the work took place during the school day and many of the students were also on the GED program so there was no problem with getting them excused since they were just studying for the GED tests anyway so credits were not that important so going to work during the school day was not a problem until. . . Another thing changed after I came to work there. 

In 1996 Oregon passed Measure 11. This was a measure that changed the whole system of juvenile justice. Since young people were getting more and more involved in felonies and violent behaviors, Measure 11 required a 5 year 10 month prison sentence for anyone over the age of 15 accused of a crime that was associated with violence;  i.e. murder, assault, armed robbery and rape. That changed the face of Oregon Youth Authority. No longer were juveniles sentenced for 2 years or less, they were spending their whole high school life and beyond in prison. GED programs and credit recovery were no longer viable so the different facilities where students were locked up started high schools where students actually graduated. Attaining a diploma even if the student could return to high school was now the focus. At the same time the GED tests were becoming harder and harder to pass and the thought was let's get these kids a diploma because they had been the trouble makers in school and most schools did not want them back. That is where I came in. My expertise and knowledge of credits, standards and performance tests was invaluable as well as my knowledge of the IEP (Individualized Education Plan) program. When the program changed, releasing students for work changed as well and once again, I became the heavy. 

I talked with the Camp Coordinator and tried to explain all this to him and for a while, things worked well. We established a work board that I coordinated and set the schedule for when a student could be released for work or not. About one-third of the students at the 26 bed facility were on IEP's which meant that if going to work violated a modification they needed they could not go. That led to a problem because I had worked with the Special Education teacher to set up a tutoring program in coordination with local volunteers who worked with them two days a week. This was a requirement. In addition, I worked with tutors who came in to tutor for the GED program also, so those were days when the students could not work. As demands for students to go out on work crews increased I once again became the heavy for adhering to the school demands over work demands. The money coming in for the work program was important to the people who ran Oregon Youth Authority and the demands for me to sacrifice the education for work release increased more and more and my teaching partner certainly was not on my side. Over and over, he was sent to me to try and persuade me to release the students. When I refused he was astounded. "Why do you want to keep these students here and make things hard," he asked? I simply told him I was doing my job as an educator. Having been only a teacher of electives, I don't think he really understood although I kept trying to explain, but the situation was getting more and more unpleasant and I was having difficulty controlling the students in class when they couldn't go to work. Again, no one took my side. They went along with the label of me being a rigid teacher who could only enforce rules and I have to say the men at the camp agreed with them. 

Things became especially difficult when my husband died suddenly. My teaching partner kept going to the principal with complaints that I was working too hard and a lot of my problems stemmed from coming back to work too soon and working during the summer. It was too much for me. That could not have been further from the truth. My job has always been a source of comfort in times of stress, but things were becoming difficult. Things went from bad to worse when my teaching partner decided to retire and his job became available. The camp did need a vocational teacher to run the shop but the numbers of students did not really support two fully certified teachers. One of the ways that the numbers had been inflated was to count students released for work as being in school because when the credits were assigned at the end of the day, these students were listed on the count because they were receiving elective credits. Sometimes, we had only two students in class and I think my partner liked that. 

Be that as it may, when he retired, a job posting went out for a teacher. I pushed for one with experience in shop because that was the bulk of the work the second teacher did in addition to supervising GED testing and help with classroom instruction. There was a teacher who lived in the city who was certified in elementary education and worked as a substitute. She was a good teacher but in my opinion was not qualified for the job. I made more trouble for myself when the principal told her that I didn't want her to have the job. Things were going from bad to worse. I was having more and more difficulty with the students and my partner who was retiring was absolutely no help. The job had been advertised in bigger communities. That's how I had learned about the job and had actually moved to the city to take the job. This was a man who came in and asked about the job one day. I told him he would have to speak with the principal at the ESD (Education Service District).  He briefly mentioned that he had experience working with special education students but he had no vocational experience. I told him again he would need to work that out with the Education Service District and Human Resources. 

Two days later my principal called and asked me what I thought about the man. I said he seemed nice, he did have special education experience but could he run the bike shop? Evidently, what my principal reported was that I liked this man and wanted her to hire him. Again, not the truth. He was hired and immediately went to work becoming a buddy with the students instead of a teacher. He was lax and had almost no knowledge of standards or how to work in programs that required meeting standards and testing in order to get a diploma let alone vocational experience, but he quickly established himself as the one who could work with the students. I had set up several independent study programs for students who were just one or two credits shy of graduation as a way of letting them be released for work. I had to do this because what the other teacher was doing was assigning credits in English by letting them write a report about what they did at work. That would have been okay with me, but the reports were read and thrown away and they were nothing that could be considered worthy of English credit. 

When the new buddy came in he became the one everyone wanted to be the main teacher. No one wanted to work with me because I was too rigid. So, to keep the peace I let the new partner set up the program for a student who only needed a credit in English to graduate and be released. He showed it to me and it looked great. The problem was the student was not doing what he was supposed to do and when I pointed that out, my partner said he would take care of it. Things were getting more and more difficult for me.

Students were allowed to use the classroom computers for independent work because the computers at the camp were off limits. In order to use the computers, a teacher had to log in and then monitor what the students were doing as well as the web sites they were using. I was working in a different classroom one day when I heard my partner give the password to one of the students he was working with. I became suspicious and had the computer tech come out and check usage of the computer. What he found were dates of use on weekends and after school hours. In addition, one of the web sites was Hitler.com a site used by a proclaimed Nazi skin head. At the same time I asked my partner to show me the completed file of independent study work that was due at the end of the week. What he showed me was definitely not worthy of a credit. I told him what needed to be done and he said he would take care of it. Not only did the student not complete the work, my partner turned in the transcript to the office as complete and the student graduated. What happened then was unbelievable to me. 

When I reported the incident, instead of asking my partner for the completed work, I became the one who was investigated and the end result was that I was to be transferred to a facility more suited to my rigid style. It was at that time that I obtained a lawyer who informed my employers of my intent to sue if they transferred me. A transfer would have meant selling my home that I had purchased with my husband and move back to Salem where the work was. When that happened I was put on administrative leave with pay while my allegations were investigated. Part of my allegations was that the environment had become so hostile, I did not feel safe there. And I was right. I received anonymous phone calls and was stalked when I went out in public. After a whole semester on leave in which no one came to me for lesson plans nor let me be involved in teaching in any way, I was called back to work under a Letter of Reprimand that was to serve as a warning with a plan of assistance that I was to follow in order to make it possible for me to work there. I could not go back to work and my attorney filed suit on my behalf. which resulted in what I described above. I know about the corruption in the prison systems. Although this was a juvenile camp with responsibilities to provide education and other programs to rehabilitate youth so they could return to society, this was nothing more than a revolving door. The camp operated to keep youth in line the best way they could and keep employment for as many people as possible. The work/study program was a farce and I now know that the verbiage in the 13th Amendment keeps marginalized people, even youth, at the mercy of servitude for the benefit of those in charge not for the person imprisoned. Let's start criminal justice reform by de funding the police and by this I mean giving them more training on deescalating violent situations where their help is needed but then employ the help of others who might be able to assist in keeping these corrupt institutions from being no more than a revolving door. I share this story not as a victim but from someone who has first hand knowledge of what is happening in the prisons so that justice may be served.  

Prophecy From The Peacemaker

 September 11, 2001

Paul Littlebear looked out the window of the taxi winding its way through New York traffic toward Newark, New Jersey's international airport. He leaned his 6'2" frame forward; tapping on the window separating the driver from the two fares in the back. "Is traffic always this bad?"

"Just sit back and relax, Buddy. You're going to get to the airport on time."

Relax. Paul never did know how to relax. He looked at his twin sister, Pauline, calmly stroking the beads on the ancient belt she held in her long, slender fingers. Although the belt was worn and tattered, its value was immeasurable. Paul studied his sister holding the priceless covenant chain. How could two people who looked so much alike be so different? Paul looked at the sleek, raven hair so much like his own, hers in braids and his tied in a pony tail reaching to his shoulders. Pauline's blue eyes were fascinating and inviting, his were brooding, announcing stay away from me. Pauline's eyes met her brother's as she said, "Settle down, Paul, we'll make it."

"We'll make it." Those words reminded him of that time years ago when those words helped him get through the court ordered drug rehab program and his first year of sobriety. Paul's irritability reminded him of the truth of the saying, "One Day at a Time." Paul kept telling himself to think only about today's events; nothing else mattered. He took a few deep breaths, sat back and closed his eyes. He was tired, in fact exhausted.

"Here we are, right on time." Paul jerked, opening his eyes as the taxi pulled over to the loading zone under the United Air Lines sign. He opened the door and stepped out, helping his sister before grabbing the luggage from the trunk. After tipping the driver, the two walked into the airport terminal to check in for United Air Lines Flight 93 headed for San Francisco.

The Peacemaker begins and ends on September 11, 2001. That date in American history was the defining moment for America as we faced the beginning of the 21st Century which would be full of challenges brought on at the very beginning of our history, cycles of never ending wars, recessions and depressions, and the unending struggles to unite the country so that it could live up to the words listed in the Preamble to the Constitution - 

 We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. 

Those who were around on September 11, 2001 wondered about those words as the United States faced the dawn of a new millennium. Anyone who had lived through the 20th Century and who studied the history of this country could tell you that at that time we were far from living up to the promise of these words written by our Founding Fathers in 1787. What went wrong? What would the 21st Century hold with the threat of nuclear warfare, terrorism, the slow disappearance of  the Middle Class, urban unrest and violence not only in the home but on urban streets everywhere? What was going to happen to the environment suffering under the intense heat of global warming?

These issues continued to be part of the debate in 2009  when I published the first edition of The Peacemaker, revising it in 2010. When I finished the book, Barack Obama had been elected to the Presidency - another watermark in changing the course of American history. This is what I wrote in the Epilogue to the book :

As of June 8th 2008, the Oneida Land Claim dispute is still stalled in the federal courts. There is still controversy in every part of the nation over Indian sovereignty and whether indigenous people (changed the term from Native Americas) should pay state and federal taxes. In the summer of 2008 Wall St. took another dramatic downturn and the economy is in another deep recession. The United States is deeply entangled in war in Iraq, and Israel and the Palestinians continue waging war. Osama Bin Laden will probably die from old age (wrong) despite the billions of dollars spent chasing him. History was made in the Election of 2008 pitting a female and African-American male in a dramatic race for the Democratic Party's nomination for President. Barack Obama was elected the first African-American president: however, Obama's mother was Caucasian.

The Peacemaker is about realizing our unity. America is a country of blending. We are not an Aryan nation. We are one people from many different ethnicities and cultures. We are one nation and the key to our unity must be in coming together as one celebrating our different heritages and traditions that enrich us as we put aside past hurts and grievances. If we cannot make peace in our families or in our communities we cannot make peace in the world. We must become a nation of peacemakers - not peacekeepers. A peace that is kept with weapons of destruction is not peace at all. We must learn to resolve differences with words of love and forgiveness not by overpowering those who differ with us. In Alex Haley's book Roots Kunta Kinte's teacher during his manhood training teaches that you do not get rid of an enemy by killing him. Instead, you create generations of enemies among the descendants who continually seek to avenge that death. 

As we make peace with the human race, we must also make peace with the earth that sustains us. We must learn to live in harmony with the earth once again and help it heal from centuries of abuse. We are children of the same creator and of one family no matter which creation story we believe. We are all peacemakers. Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me. 

 As I write these words in 2020 I look around me and what do I see. I see weather catastrophes, wildfires, flooding, intense storms and wildfires recurring every year wiping out the homes and fortunes of the people living in drought prone areas and on disappearing shore lines. I think about social media and the decline in American decency and literacy and inability to think critically about events - primarily because we, as a nation, have lost our connections to the earth that sustains us and have surrendered to partisan politics and "education" by celebrities or mass marketers instead of reading and dialogue. I think about the emotional tirades of people screaming about "erasing" history because they really don't know anything but the lies of white man's political history that have been propagated by those white land owning men who founded this country to serve them and not "we the people." 

The Peacemaker is a generational saga a story that incorporates the history of all the people in this country - a family living out the formation of a country that moved from 1720 to September 11, 2001. Although it is the story of one family it is truly not his story (those who founded the republic) but our story. It is the story of the struggles for those left out of participation in the "democratic republic" and explains how we got to where we were on September 11, 2001 and why we are where we are today.  

When I finished the book in 2008, Obama had just been elected President. The book ends on September 11, 2001 but there is an Epilogue with some predictions about the nature of an Obama Presidency and what I think should be important. Unfortunately. President Obama was unable to bring the country together and in 2016 everyone knows who was elected President - a minority President which shows the need for reform in the Electoral College.

Mr. Trump has been President for four years. It has been a time of a division so great that I am wondering if we will ever unite. Trump's presidency began with national and international protests challenging the validity of his election. For four years members of the opposing party have been crying about this but have done almost nothing to reform the Electoral College. That is the problem. President Trump's advisers did a better job of playing the Electoral Map and building on the sketchy politics of the Democratic Party. Now, after four years, we have a repeat of the 2016 election with even more division and hate and a world wide pandemic that has somehow been made a issue by the Democratic Party. 

Bernie Sanders further split the Democratic Party by bringing out the corruption and control of corporate America which also controls the funding and in return, controls the leaders they get elected to office. What has been done about this? Have there been any efforts to establish term limits for members of Congress? Congress has surrendered its legislative power to partisanship so strong that nothing can be accomplished. What about lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court? And during all this the average public sits around concerned about Mr. Trump's abuse of power when they don't realize we have given him that power. We have become a country ruled by executive orders, government regulations, and the fossil fueled lifestyle promoted by the military industrial complex. I don't know and don't really care which Presidential candidate wins the election, but I will predict in four years it is going to be the same ole same ole unless we go back into history and look at what went wrong and then try to re invent the American democracy. That is why I wrote The Peacemaker http://kentuckywoman.net. 

 

It's About Systemic Racism - Not Individuals

 This blog was inspired by posts from two people on my social media page who were irate (as they should be) over the release of a man incarcerated for domestic violence because of the Covid 19 Virus. This man killed the woman who was responsible for his incarceration and then as far as I can recall, killed himself. That, in itself, could be another blog. The posts I read were angry (as they should be) over the fact that this man was released from prison and then killed his victim. The picture of the man indicated that he was Caucasian.  On one of the posts, in response,  I simply asked, "What would you have done?" The angry response showed that the person did not even read my comment or understand that it was a question but simply responded (paraphrase) I don't know how this can be more obvious, an accused, dangerous person released from prison? 

I really had been interested in an answer, perhaps to stimulate a conversation on this topic. After that response, I started thinking about the situation through a lens of experience working in the criminal justice system and knowing the dilemma of making sure inmates' health is protected and that they do not die as a result of the incarceration. This problem has gone far beyond treatment in prisons and has been taken to the streets to demand social justice on the part of colored people who find themselves in contact with law enforcement. 

The nation, in general, is divided; people are angry, mob behavior has come in to take the place of order. I cannot help but think about how Radical Republicans and scalawags took advantage of the chaos in the South to destroy a Reconstruction that was based on "malice toward none and justice for all." The challenges we face in this country because of this is one of the reasons we are still fighting the Civil War, but this is not what my blog is about. 

It is about systemic racism that was the basis for disenfranchising the majority of the American population from participation in a supposed democracy and the struggle to incorporate others through using the Constitution, especially the Amendments known as the Bill of Rights throughout our history. One of the things I notice about the very vocal group that makes up much of President Trump's base is that the efforts of these disenfranchised groups to obtain their rights are somehow a threat to their "rights" and an attempt to erase our glorious history. So long as this is what is being promoted and people (on both sides) are unwilling to start thinking and reading beyond jingoistic phrases and rhetoric from political leaders who want to stay in power, we will continue to fight the Civil War with ignorance and unwillingness to face how our very Constitution and, many times, the way civil rights is interpreted by the court system to continue the back and forth ignorant, emotional tirades that each group uses to prove, "racism doesn't exist" and no progress can be made. Therefore, I write this blog knowing that unless I have some celebrity post something that validates what I am saying, no one will pay much attention. In spite of my resistance against doing this, I am writing the blog because at least I can put the subject to rest for me. 

Overcrowding in the prison system has been an issue for generations. In fact, I was encouraged when both sides of the aisle came together to make progress on criminal justice reform. In fact, President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, encouraged him to make criminal justice reform the pivot point of his election. Instead, the President and his advisors chose to stick with the economy, and rely on his rallying cry to his "base" in huge events that did nothing but stir up jingoism and knee jerk responses. That backfired on him and he is now gathering as much support for his administration as being non racist by dividing the country even more in this "who is most at fault?" I do not blame the Trump Administration entirely for this division, I also do not like the Black Lives Matter" group's approach to that group being the group that is demanding reform rather than look at the idea of racism in general against all those disenfranchised from the "democratic" system set up in 1787 and go to the root of the matter. 

So, I asked myself the same question and my response gave me insight into systemic racism that exists and still gets covered up because of all the noise. As stated earlier, the criminal incarceration system is responsible for the health of inmates in their care regardless of the nature of the crime, even those on death row. When I worked in the juvenile justice system in Oregon, I became aware of the protocols in place to protect the physical health and safety of the inmates that were always under investigation should an inmate die or be injured while in their custody. The dilemma faced by the people running the prison system has been greatly exacerbated due to a virus that requires social distancing, hygiene and face masks. Whether this prisoner was accused of murder or perhaps a less violent offense, the system is required to protect them all. How to best do that when the prisons are overcrowded in the first place? Take a look at releasing some prisoners. Here is the point I am making about racism.

Why choose this white man who was accused of murder over some other populations that were in for less violent offenses? In fact, that was what part of the criminal justice reform act was all about? I am sure that there were many inmates who fit this description who might have been released to homes with ankle bracelets and monitors and visits by parole officers instead of the one inmate (who happened to be white) accused of violent crimes. In this manner room could have been made to isolate those criminals who were more of a threat to society and protect them from Covid 19 while following all of the recommended protocols. I believe his release was about systemic racism in the way white prisoners are treated over people of color. Maybe my readers, if any, don't see it this way, but if you don't, instead of responding with angry, judgmental words, I would be interested in knowing what would you do? Or, if you are a Christian, what do you think Jesus would do? .