Gaza In Context

by Shenell M. Albert

In the past week, the conflict surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian occupation has escalated tremendously. A quick review of the international response to the conflict outlines the stark contrast amongst the opposing opinions of the United States' mainstream media and the rest of the world. The absence of any sort critical speech towards Israel is revolting. Despite everything we have heard in the media - Palestinians, by natural law and by the societal laws drafted by international bodies (UN, Geneva Convention, etc) of which Israel is a part of; are defending themselves against an occupying force. I feel in writing these types of pieces it's hard to be anti-Zionist without being considered anti-Semitic (there's been pretty successful propagating of that idea by the Zionists so far). Once you buy into the idea that Judaism=Israel then it's easy to settle into the concept of the sins of the Zionists are the sins of the Jews are the sins of the Israelis. These arguments force me into this sort of false tri-chotomy of extremes that I am very uncomfortable with.

So far, 450 Palestinians have been killed with more than 2000 injured. Over the past 7 years, approximately 15 Israelis have been killed compared to 5000 Palestinians. The Zionists are fighting an army of mostly untrained militants with homemade bombs that you and I could make in our garages while Israel attacks civilians with Apache helicopters and F-16 bombers purchased with the $15 million we give them per day (not a typo). All this while they violate 66 UN resolutions and ignore IAEA regulations. They claim these attacks are retaliatory actions for the breaking of the cease-fire agreement chartered in June 2008, but do not concur that they did not completely obey any of the cease-fire regulations from the day of its founding. In fact, the most intense violation of the cease-fire occurred on November 4th 2008, a day when all international eyes were cast on the American Presidential election, Israeli forces assassinated 6 members of Hamas.

The first stipulation of the cease-fire (Israel would drastically reduce its military blockade of Gaza) was completely ignored. Inhabitants of Gaza were forced to eat grass, denied vital medications, denied fuel, and most importantly denied food. UNRWA convoys as well as supplies sent to Gaza by the European Union were all denied entry. Did the United States protest? No! In September 2007, American academics condemned British calls for the boycotting of Israeli universities but the world remains silent at the bombing of the Islamic University of Gaza (another UN violation). In Gaza, you cannot travel across the border in either direction without Israeli permission. I have listened to nauseating accounts from friends who have been beaten by the IDF.

I am trying hard to not come off vitriolic but something needs to be done. If we go as far back as Abraham we find that the region we know as Israel is the land of the Canaanites thus rightfully belongs to the Palestinians. On the other hand, genetic analyses are mostly null and void in this context when you consider any Palestinian whose great-great-grandmother was raped by a Crusader could be genetically (Jewish) it deflates the idea. In the historical context, there is much to be said of the responsibilities of the former occupying imperial power, Great Britain.

In 1917, Britain established the Balfour declaration after much prodding from a Zionist organization in Britain who called for the creation of a Jewish state after the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire. When Britain received the mandate over Palestine, they created Jordan and planned to split the remaining territories between the Jews and the Arabs. When Palestinians got word of this they rejected any part of the mandate including Zionist representation - a move that has been historically considered to be proof of Palestinian anti-Semitism when it was only a defensive maneuver. At this point, Jewish immigration already begun, and the Arabs responded by rioting. It is important to note both Jews and Arabs quietly coexisted in Palestine before the migration. The British, to counteract Arab rioting, passed the "Passfield White Paper" which allowed for no more than 15,000 Jews to migrate to Palestine every year for five years. In the brief period of migration that occurred before the passing of the "Passfield White Paper", there was considerable upsetting to the economic stability in Palestine. Immigrants formed numerous collectives and adapted many Judo-centric policies including Jews-only hiring, etc. After WWII and the Holocaust, the "White Paper" was still in effect, but former migrants in Palestine organized mass illegal immigration campaigns to bring displaced Jews in Europe to Palestine. Though the "White Paper" prevented millions from coming into Palestine, under its rule hundreds of thousands still entered.

In 1945, the US and the UN, concerned for the remaining survivors of the Holocaust, (both the US and Britain refused to open their country to Jewish immigrants at this time) put considerable pressure on Great Britain to open Palestine for immigration. They finally conceded and the resulting anger led to the formation of the UN partition plan. At that time in Palestine, there were 1.2 million Arabs versus 600,000 Jews with only 8% of the land being owned by the Jewish. In the face of this clear population disparity, the UN partition plan gave Israel approximately 50% of the land.

Despite all of the transgressions branded in this history, let us consider that an Israeli who is born an Israeli cannot help that fact and cannot help that injustices may have been committed for him or her to be born an Israeli; by the same token a Palestinian is born into his or her world without choice. We become what we are by what we do, not by who our distant ancestors were. And it is precisely in this respect that today's Israel sins grievously, regardless of fantastical divine rights granted by scribes or the historical political rights granted by guilt-ridden European politicians. For it is in the simple lack of human compassion, the adamant refusal to accept the tragic historical circumstance of the people alongside whom destiny has placed the Jews of Israel (which mirrors their own prior and current tragedy), the cynical manipulation of Palestinian acts of despair to "justify" the systematic destruction of a people, their land, their history, their culture, their very ability to live lives that we could call acceptably human, that the political class of Israel, and their supporters and enablers at home and abroad, in the U.S., Europe, the Arab lands, and anywhere else, deserve the harshest reprobation that we in our unbowed consciences reserve for them. May history prove more clement to them than they have been to their victims.

The truth about Gaza

By Adam Sheets

It is crucial that one has her/his facts straight about Israel’s war on Gaza. What events brought about this dreadful situation? What needs to be done to make it stop? These questions will be answered in the content of this article, using concrete facts from a variety of news sources.

Let’s first investigate the recent cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. The cease-fire began in June 2008. The terms were as follows:

1. Israel would drastically reduce its military blockade of Gaza.
2. Israel would halt all military incursions into Gaza.
3. Hamas would halt all rocket attacks into Israel.

From the outset of the cease-fire, Israel did little to ease its military blockade. As a result, Gazans continued to suffer from a lack of food, fuel, financial aid, electricity, clean water, medical supplies, and more. This has been, inarguably, an attack on innocent Palestinian civilians.

• Gaza faces a humanitarian "catastrophe" if Israel continues to prevent aid reaching the territory by blocking crossing points, the head of the main UN aid agency for the Palestinians said on Friday ... Israel had restricted goods into Gaza despite the truce, which calls on militants to halt rocket attacks in return for Israel easing its embargo on the territory ... Israel also held up deliveries of European Union-funded fuel for the power plant, which generates about a third of the electricity consumed by Gazans... Ailments associated with insufficient food were surfacing among the impoverished coastal strip's 1.5 million population, including growing malnutrition.
  --Haaretz Israel News, Nov. 21, 2008 [1]
• A former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, has told the BBC she was taken aback by the "terrible" conditions in Gaza on a recent visit. Mrs Robinson said it was "almost unbelievable" that the world did not care about what she called "a shocking violation of so many human rights" ... Israel tightened a blockade on Gaza after Hamas took control there in 2007 ... "Their whole civilisation has been destroyed, I'm not exaggerating," said Mrs Robinson ...Israel says the blockade, under which it has allowed little more than basic humanitarian aid into Gaza, is needed to isolate the militant group and stop it and other militants from firing rockets into Israel. Israel came to a truce with Palestinian groups in June this year, but Mrs Robinson said this had had little effect on people's lives and "just brought a bitter taste in the mouth".
  --BBC News, Nov. 4, 2008 [2]
• The UN in the Gaza Strip says it will run out of food aid in two days unle Israel's blockade - which it describes as "shameful and unacceptable" - eases. The UN refugee agency UNWRA, which distributes food to half of Gaza's 1.5m people, called the blockade "a physical as well as a mental punishment". Israel is now allowing a limited amount of fuel acro the border, but it is still blocking food deliveries ... In a statement, UNWRA spokesman Christopher Gunne said food distribution operations would end on Thursday unle Israeli authorities allowed deliveries of wheat, luncheon meat, powdered milk and cooking oil without delay. "This is both a physical as well as a mental punishment of the population - of mothers and parents trying to feed their children - who are being forced to live hand to mouth," he said ... "It is a further illustration of the barbarity of this inhuman blockade." ... "It is also shameful and unacceptable that the largest humanitarian actor in Gaza is being forced into yet another cycle of crisis management," Mr Gunne added.
  --BBC News, Nov. 11, 2008 [3]
• International aid agencies, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, have said virtually no medical supplies were reaching Gaza. --Haaretz Israel News, Nov. 9, 2008 [14]
• The UN has no more food to distribute in the Gaza Strip, the head of relief efforts in the area has warned. John Ging said handouts for 750,000 Gazans would have to be suspended until Saturday at the earliest, and called Gaza's economic situation "a disaster". Israel earlier denied entry to a convoy carrying humanitarian supplies... The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) distributes emergency aid to about half of Gaza's 1.5m population. "We have run out [of food aid] this evening," said Mr Ging, UNRWA's senior official in Gaza. "Unle the crossing points open... we won't be able to get that food into Gaza," he told Reuters news agency ... Also on Thursday, Israel refused permission for a group of senior European diplomats to visit the coastal enclave. It has also prevented journalists, including those from the BBC, from entering the territory.
  --BBC News, Nov. 13, 2008 [4]
• Since June 2007, Israel has allowed little more than basic humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip. Many there hoped that policy would change, five months ago, when Hamas and Israel agreed to a truce. But while there were some increases in the amount of aid allowed in, Israel's strict restrictions on the movement of goods and people into and out of Gaza largely remained... Serious fuel shortages have led to widespread power cuts acro Gaza City. That, in turn, has caused problems in pumping water to homes, and sewage to treatment plants. Israel is preventing many aid workers, and all journalists from entering Gaza too ... "I never thought we would see days like this," says Monther Shublak, head of Gaza's water authority. "The water system was severely stretched even before this crisis, but now, things are much worse. For the last four days, around 40% of people in Gaza City have had no acce to running water in their homes at all." ... "But we are putting all of our resources into sewage pumping. The health consequences of that system totally failing are too worrying to think about, but it could happen unle things change."
  --BBC News, Nov. 20, 2008 [5]
• Israel has refused to allow cash to enter Gaza in recent weeks to ratchet up pressure on the ruling Hamas militant group. With the supply of currency dwindling, banks have limited withdrawals over the past two weeks, and some have posted signs telling customers they cannot take out any more money ... The United Nations halted cash handouts to 98,000 of Gaza's poorest residents last week, and economists and bank officials warn that tens of thousands of civil servants won't be able to cash their paychecks next month ... "No society can operate without money, but that's the situation we are reaching in Gaza," said Gaza economist Omar Shaban ... Israel and Egypt have restricted movement through Gaza's border crossings since the Islamic militants of Hamas violently seized control of the coastal territory in June 2007. Since then, closures have been eased or tightened, depending on the security situation. But even in quiet times, when Gaza militants refrained from firing rockets at Israeli border towns, only limited shipments of food, medicine and commercial goods were allowed in... Shlomo Dror, an Israel Defense Ministry spokesman, questioned the seriousne of the currency shortage. "We are used to the Palestinians inventing things and we are looking into their claim,” he said.
  --Washington Post, Nov. 24, 2008 [6]

Despite the intense blockade against Gazan civilians, the cease-fire held until November 4, 2008. On that date, the Israeli military made an incursion into Gaza and killed six Palestinians. The Israeli government sought to justify these actions, saying that they suspected these Palestinians of plotting to kidnap Israeli soldiers. Palestinian fighters responded to the attack by launching rockets into Israel. Thus began the unraveling of the cease-fire.

• At least six Hamas militants have been killed after Israel's first incursion into the Gaza Strip since June's truce. Israel said its troops had uncovered a tunnel along central Gaza's frontier which had been dug by militants intending to abduct Israeli soldiers. Clashes ensued when troops were sent to thwart the threat, Israel said. One militant died, Palestinian reports say. A subsequent Israeli air strike on Hamas positions in southern Gaza killed at least five fighters, medics said. An Israeli army spokeswoman said the air strike targeted militants who had fired mortars at Israeli forces... Tuesday evening's fighting broke out after Israeli tanks and a bulldozer moved 250m into the central part of the coastal enclave, backed by military aircraft, says the BBC's Aleem Maqbool in Ramallah. Residents of central Gaza's el-Bureij refugee camp said a missile fired from an unmanned Israeli drone flying over the area injured another three Hamas gunmen. A truce between the two sides had held since it was declared on 19 June. Israel said the raid was not a violation of the ceasefire, but rather a legitimate step to remove an immediate threat.
  --BBC News, Nov. 5, 2008 [7]
• An Israel Air Force air strike in the southern Gaza Strip killed at least five militants and wounded several others on Tuesday, Palestinians said. Earlier, Israel Defense Forces soldiers killed a Hamas gunman and wounded two others on Tuesday in the first armed clash in the Gaza Strip since a ceasefire was declared in the territory in June, Palestinian medics said ... An Egypt-brokered cease-fire agreement between Israel and the Gaza Strip was signed earlier this year, and went into effect on June 19. The IDF argued that the raid did not constitute a violation of the cease fire, but instead was a legitimate step to remove an immediate threat to Israel from Gaza, which is controlled by the Islamic militant group Hamas.
  --Haaretz Israel News, Nov. 5, 2008 [8]
• Two weeks ago, an already fragile humanitarian situation resulting from the mounting effects of months of shortages, saw a dramatic downturn. The fighting resumed, with an Israeli army incursion into Gaza and a retaliatory barrage of militant rocket fire.
  --BBC News, Nov. 20, 2008 [5]

As the cease-fire began to crumble, the violence from both sides intensified. Efforts to redeem the cease-fire ultimately failed.

• Palestinian armed groups in Gaza remain committed to a truce with Israel if Jerusalem reciprocates, Hamas's Gaza leader said on Friday, even as militants launched more attacks from the coastal territory ... "I have met with armed factions over the past two days and they stated their position clearly: they are committed to calm as long as (Israel) abides by it," said Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas's most senior representative in Gaza. --Haaretz Israel News, Nov. 21, 2008 [9]
• Hamas announced on Sunday that militant groups in Gaza have agreed to cease cross-border attacks if Israel opens crossings into the coastal territory, Ma'an news reported.
  --Haaretz Israel News, Nov. 24, 2008 [10]
• After expressing contradictory positions on Sunday, Hamas' leadership on Monday adopted a united stance: The cease-fire with Israel, which expires this Friday, will not be extended ... Hamas' spokesman in the Gaza Strip, Ayman Taha, said the movement had concluded that there was no point in extending the truce "as long as Israel isn't abiding by its terms" - though he added that talks on continuing the cease-fire were still taking place. Specifically, Taha said, Israel was supposed to have expanded the truce to the West Bank - something Hamas demanded but Israel in fact never promised - and opened the Gaza border crossings, and "this hasn't happened."
  --Haaretz Israel News, Dec. 16, 2008 [11]

Following the end of the cease-fire, Israel moved closer to an invasion of the territory. The Israeli government claimed that this was the only remaining option to eliminate rocket attacks from Gaza. However, as cited in the sources above, this was clearly not the case. Israel had failed to abide by the terms of the cease-fire. For the overwhelming majority of the six-month truce, Israel had refused to ease its military blockade of Gaza to any significant degree. In addition, it was the initial violator of the cease-fire when it sent tanks and aircraft into Gaza and killed six Palestinians on November 4, 2008. In fact, there is evidence that Israel was planning to strike Gaza even while the cease-fire was still in effect.

• Barak told the assembled lawmakers that the defense establishment spent months preparing for the Gaza operation.
  --Haaretz Israel News, Dec. 29, 2008 [16]

In the interest of peace, Hamas, and especially Fatah, have firmly established that they are willing to participate in negotiations that are based on internationally recognized borders and rights.

• On June 6, 2006, Haniyeh met Dr. Jerome Segal of the University of Maryland in the Gaza Strip ... At the end of the meeting, Haniyeh dictated a short message he asked Segal to transmit to President Bush ... In the second paragraph, Haniyeh laid out the political platform he maintains to this day. "We are so concerned about stability and security in the area that we don't mind having a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders and offering a truce for many years," he wrote ... Haniyeh called on Bush to launch a dialogue with the Hamas government. "We are not warmongers, we are peace makers and we call on the American government to have direct negotiations with the elected government," he wrote ... In his own letter, Segal emphasized that a state within the 1967 borders and a truce for many years could be considered Hamas' de facto recognition of Israel. He noted that in a separate meeting, Youssuf suggested that the Palestinian Authority and Israel might exchange ambassadors during that truce period. This was not the only covert message from Hamas to senior Bush administration officials. However, Washington did not reply to these messages and maintained its boycott of the Hamas government.
  --Haaretz Israel News, Nov. 14, 2008 [12]
• The Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, said on Saturday his government was willing to accept a Palestinian state alongside Israel within the 1967 borders ... Haniyeh told his guests Israel rejected his initiative ... He said the Hamas government had agreed to accept a Palestinian state that followed the 1967 borders and to offer Israel a long-term hudna, or truce, if Israel recognized the Palestinians' national rights... In response to a question about the international community's impression that there are two Palestinian states, Haniyeh said: "We don't have a state, neither in Gaza nor in the West Bank. Gaza is under siege and the West Bank is occupied. What we have in the Gaza Strip is not a state, but rather a regime of an elected government. A Palestinian state will not be created at this time except in the territories of 1967." ... “Our conflict is not with the Jews, our problem is with the occupation," Haniyeh said.
  --Haaretz Israel News, Nov. 9, 2008 [14]
• The Palestinian Authority has placed a full-page advert in Israel's Hebrew newspapers to promote an Arab peace plan first proposed in 2002. The Saudi-backed initiative offers Arab recognition of Israel in exchange for an end to Israel's occupation of land captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. It also proposes what it calls a just solution for Palestinian refugees. The Israeli government has noted "positive aspects" in the plan but has not formally accepted it ... Peace Now, and Israeli campaign group, welcomed the publication of the adverts. "On behalf of a majority of Israeli citizens who support peace with the Palestinian people on the basis of a two state solution - we embrace the Arab Peace Initiative and urge both governments to endorse it and negotiate the final status agreement in its spirit," a statement from the group said ... The text reads: "Fifty-seven Arab and Muslim countries will establish diplomatic relations with Israel in exchange for a full peace accord and the end of the occupation."
  --BBC News, Nov. 20, 2008 [13]
• U.S. President-elect Barack Obama proclaimed himself "very impressed" with the Arab League's peace plan when he discussed it with President Shimon Peres during a brief visit to Israel four months ago, Peres said Tuesday ... The plan, originally proposed by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in 2002 and later adopted by the Arab League, states that Israel would receive full relations with the entire Arab world in exchange for a full withdrawal from all the territory it captured in 1967, including East Jerusalem, plus a solution to the refugee problem. The Bush Administration has said it views the plan positively, but its own road map peace plan and the understandings reached at last year's Annapolis summit have served as the basis of its diplomatic program.
  --Haaretz Israel News, Nov. 19, 2008 [15]

Since Israel began its strike on Gaza, 4 Israelis and 391 Palestinians have been killed [18]. The White House said that Israel will cease its attack when Hamas has agreed to a truce. Hamas said they are open to any cease-fire propositions. A cease-fire has been proposed, but Israel rejected this offer.

• "In order for the violence to stop, Hamas must stop firing rockets into Israel and agree to respect a sustainable and durable ceasefire," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.
  --BBC News, Dec. 29, 2008 [17]
• Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has rejected international calls for a 48-hour truce in the Gaza Strip to allow in more humanitarian aid... The 48-hour ceasefire plan to allow more aid into Gaza, was proposed by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha told AFP news agency that his group was open to any ceasefire propositions as long as they meant an end to the air strikes and a lifting of the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
  --BBC News, Dec. 31, 2008 [18]

The international community must continue to demand that a cease-fire be implemented. In order to be successful, any agreement must call for 1) an end to Israel’s blockade of Gaza, 2) an end to the Israeli invasion of Gaza, and 3) an end to all rocket attacks into Israel.

References:

[1] "UNRWA chief: Gaza on brink of humanitarian catastrophe." Haaretz Israel News 21 Nov. 2008. .

[2] "Gaza residents ‘terribly trapped’." BBC News 4 Nov. 2008. .

[3] "UN warns over Gaza food blockade." BBC News 11 Nov. 2008. .

[4] "UN ‘has run out of Gaza food aid." BBC News 13 Nov. 2008. .

[5] "Gazans despair over blockade." BBC News 20 Nov. 2008. .

[6] "Gazans using tattered notes because of cash crunch." Washington Post 24 Nov. 2008. .

[7] "Palestinians die in Gaza clashes." BBC News 5 Nov. 2008. .

[8] "Hamas: Six Palestinians killed in first IDF raid since Gaza truce." Haaretz Israel News 5 Nov. 2008. .

[9] “Haniyeh: If Israel abides by truce, so will Palestinian groups.” Haaretz Israel News 21 Nov. 2008. .

[10] “Report: Gaza militants agree to cease rocket fire if Israel opens crossings.” Haaretz Israel News 24 Nov. 2008. .

[11] “Agreement in Hamas: Cease-fire to end Friday.” Haaretz Israel News 16 Dec. 2008. .

[12] “Haniyeh recognized Israel in 2006 letter to President Bush.” Haaretz Israel News 14 Nov. 2008. .

[13] “Arab plan explained in Hebrew ads.” BBC News 20 Nov. 2008. .

[14] “Haniyeh: Hamas would accept state under 1967 borders.” Haaretz Israel News 9 Nov. 2008. .

[15] “Peres: Obama ‘very impressed’ by Arab League peace plan.” Haaretz Israel News 19 Nov. 2008. .

[16] "Barak: We'll use every resource to stop 'criminal' rocket fire from Gaza." Haaretz Israel News 29 Dec. 2008. .

[17] “Israel vows war on Hamas in Gaza.” BBC News 29 Dec. 2008. .

[18] “Israel rejects Gaza truce calls.” BBC News 31 Dec. 2008. .

The Conspiracy Skeptic: Alex Jones and Endgame

The Conspiracy Skeptic: Alex Jones & Endgame

The Philosophy of Nietzsche

The Philosophy of Nietzsche

TEN THINGS EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT RACE

(View Original)

Our eyes tell us that people look different. No one has trouble distinguishing a Czech from a Chinese. But what do those differences mean? Are they biological? Has race always been with us? How does race affect people today?

There's less - and more - to race than meets the eye:

1. Race is a modern idea. Ancient societies, like the Greeks, did not divide people according to physical distinctions, but according to religion, status, class, even language. The English language didn't even have the word 'race' until it turns up in 1508 in a poem by William Dunbar referring to a line of kings.

2. Race has no genetic basis. Not one characteristic, trait or even gene distinguishes all the members of one so-called race from all the members of another so-called race.

3. Human subspecies don't exist. Unlike many animals, modern humans simply haven't been around long enough or isolated enough to evolve into separate subspecies or races. Despite surface appearances, we are one of the most similar of all species.

4. Skin color really is only skin deep. Most traits are inherited independently from one another. The genes influencing skin color have nothing to do with the genes influencing hair form, eye shape, blood type, musical talent, athletic ability or forms of intelligence. Knowing someone's skin color doesn't necessarily tell you anything else about him or her.

5. Most variation is within, not between, "races." Of the small amount of total human variation, 85% exists within any local population, be they Italians, Kurds, Koreans or Cherokees. About 94% can be found within any continent. That means two random Koreans may be as genetically different as a Korean and an Italian.

6. Slavery predates race. Throughout much of human history, societies have enslaved others, often as a result of conquest or war, even debt, but not because of physical characteristics or a belief in natural inferiority. Due to a unique set of historical circumstances, ours was the first slave system where all the slaves shared similar physical characteristics.

7. Race and freedom evolved together. The U.S. was founded on the radical new principle that "All men are created equal." But our early economy was based largely on slavery. How could this anomaly be rationalized? The new idea of race helped explain why some people could be denied the rights and freedoms that others took for granted.

8. Race justified social inequalities as natural. As the race idea evolved, white superiority became "common sense" in America. It justified not only slavery but also the extermination of Indians, exclusion of Asian immigrants, and the taking of Mexican lands by a nation that professed a belief in democracy. Racial practices were institutionalized within American government, laws, and society.

9. Race isn't biological, but racism is still real. Race is a powerful social idea that gives people different access to opportunities and resources. Our government and social institutions have created advantages that disproportionately channel wealth, power, and resources to white people. This affects everyone, whether we are aware of it or not.

10. Colorblindness will not end racism. Pretending race doesn't exist is not the same as creating equality. Race is more than stereotypes and individual prejudice. To combat racism, we need to identify and remedy social policies and institutional practices that advantage some groups at the expense of others.

Democracy Now tribute to Studs Terkel

The legendary radio broadcaster, writer, oral historian, raconteur and chronicler of our times, Studs Terkel, died last month at the age of ninety-six in his home town of Chicago. Today, a Democracy special tribute: we spend the hour on Studs Terkel. Over the years, Terkel has been a regular guest on Democracy Now! We play a wide-ranging interview we did with him in 2005. We also feature a rare recording of Terkel interviewing the Rev. Martin Luther King at the bedside of the gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. “My curiosity is what saw me through,” Terkel said in 2005. "What would the world be like, or will there be a world? And so, that’s my epitaph. I have it all set. Curiosity did not kill this cat. And it’s curiosity, I think, that has saved me thus far.”

Democracy Now tribute to Studs Terkel

Friday Flashback: Talking Heads - "This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)"