If you’ve read Robert Caro’s biographies of Lyndon Johnson, you know what it’s like to be kidnapped by a historian who’s also a great story teller. The reading lamp burns late.
I’ve just finished a new book on Illinois history that will do the same thing for you. Continue reading
On November 25, Great Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May returned from Brussels with approval from the other 27 European Union (EU) member states for a deal on Brexit, the British commitment to exit the EU pursuant to the results of the June, 2016 referendum. The deal is based on May’s Chequers plan, named after the official Prime Minister’s manor house where it was hammered out with her ministers this June, though it caused the resignation of her two most prominent hard-line pro-Brexit ministers, who saw it as a surrender of British independence and control over its borders. And further concessions were forced in the intervening months by the EU’s resolute position against making exit easy for any member, and by particular issues such as the dispute with Spain on the status of Gibraltar, and fishing rights in waters that could revert to British control. Continue reading
Polish boy carrying the logo of the ruling PiS (Law and Justice) Party at a pro-PiS demonstration
After the collapse of East European communist regimes, the watchword among Western European political elites and political scientists was “conditionality,” a term borrowed from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) lexicon to express the terms upon which the new regimes could win coveted admission to the European Union (EU) and consolidate democratic capitalism. The EU expected an economic conversion compatible with EU regulations, but added a political requirement never imposed on the current membership, “respect for and protection of minorities.” Poland and Hungary, the countries that triggered the domino transition from Communism in 1989, were on the EU membership A-list. What went wrong? Why is the new watchword “democratic backsliding”? Continue reading
The midterm elections are over. Candidates have been elected and unelected. Ballot issues have been passed and rejected.
What hasn’t changed one iota, however, are the catastrophic harms to people, communities, the natural world and our republican form of self-government caused by the assertion of constitutional rights for corporations, and by political campaign money being defined as First Amendment-protected free speech. Continue reading
Power from the Sun. Photo by Robert E. McGrath
While renewable energy technologies have made tremendous strides in recent decades, financing and investment options for those who want to go green have remained scarce. The Clean Energy Credit Union (CECU), chartered by the American Solar Energy Association in 2017, aims to fill this gap.
It’s about time for some innovation on the financing side of Clean Energy; after all, it’s not as if this is a fringe industry. Even the World Economic Forum concluded in 2016 that solar and wind power would soon be the preferred choice for large-scale energy systems and small-scale clean energy technologies are providing increasing options appropriate for individual buildings and personal residences (On this topic, I recommend John Farrell’s report, “Is Bigger Best in Renewable Energy?”). Continue reading
If the confirmation hearings over the last couple of months haven’t focused attention on our courts, I’m really not sure what can.
But as much as the federal courts receive the attention of the media and our nation’s law schools, the truth is that the state courts—Champaign County Court, Piatt County Court, Macon County Court, etc.—and the Appellate and state Supreme Courts likely have a very strong impact on your and your neighbor’s daily lives in a more direct way than many of the U.S. Supreme Court decisions, or even Federal District Court and Federal Appellate Court decisions, do. Continue reading
“Praise the Gods, Martin Luther King is dead.”
Monroe Haynes was an 18-year-old in Vietnam fighting a war he did not understand, with people he did not know, when he heard his commander proclaim this statement. Just barely an adult, Haynes knew only that he was fighting for peace in a foreign land whilst a freedom fighter was martyred back home by the people he was fighting for.
After serving two years in this war, Haynes was honorably discharged and diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, categorizing him as a completely disabled veteran according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Returning home, he saw the place he had left through a lens warped by trauma. He received his barber’s certification in Compton, California, and began working in a barber shop in an attempt to normalize a stress he could not escape. At one point when he was visiting his family in Mississippi, he was picked up by the police on minor charges and landed in prison, where his life took a new turn. Continue reading
This eight-year-old girl (on the right in the photo) traveled 4,000 miles and spent four months in detention to get a hug from her mother. They were reunited last week at Willard Airport in Champaign. The news reports about children being separated from their families at the border are not such far-off stories. Some have Champaign-Urbana as the destination of their long trek north.
This past June, the girl left her home in Guatemala, accompanied by her aunt and cousin. They were detained when they came across the US-Mexico border. The other two were released, but because she was not with a parent, the eight-year-old was held. She was first put into a detention center, where she stayed for three months. With the help of RAICES (Refugee And Immigrant Center For Education and Legal Services), a nonprofit in Texas that has freed thousands in similar situations, she was placed in foster care with a family that had opened up their home. When she moved on, the little girl carried a slip of paper with the names of other girls at the house she left behind. Continue reading
This year’s Prison Labor Strike was one of the most amazing mobilizations of liberatory politics in the past decade. It was the latest iteration in the most recent generation of prison rebellions, which has included labor strikes in Georgia prisons in 2010, the three Pelican Bay hunger strikes in California 2011-2013, and the direct predecessor of the latest action: the strike against prison slavery in 2016.
The authoritarian nature of prison bureaucracies prevents us from compiling a precise chronicle of what takes place behind the walls. However, according to the lead organization in the strike, the network of prisoners known as Jailhouse Lawyers Speak, actions occurred in 16 states and federal prisons. In addition, over 200 people went on strike in the Northwest Immigration Detention Center. Continue reading
“I want kids to see that it wasn’t just Martin Luther King making things happen in the 1960s, it was local folks here as well. Just as it is today.”
Katie Snyder, Education Program Specialist, Museum of the Grand Prairie
The new exhibit at the Museum of the Grand Prairie in Mahomet, 1968: A Time for Every Purpose, respects the mandate of the museum to preserve artifacts that will help later generations understand the daily life of earlier residents of Champaign County—but the founder probably didn’t anticipate displaying a poster for one of John Cage’s infamous musical “happenings” in its 50th anniversary exhibit. Through these and other unexpected items, the exhibit on the cultural and political watersheds of 1968 succeeds in conveying the many ways in which the people of Champaign County both lived through and shaped the transformations of that time. Continue reading
Nurses march for single-payer health care
The parasitic presence of private insurers in our health care system is one of the things that drives up overall medical costs in the United States, costs that are higher than in any other industrialized county, and with poorer results. Despite this fact, President Trump falsely tells the American public that a Medicare for All system would cost more than our present profit-driven system.
I will take France, where I have spent a number of years, as an example. But other Western European countries, like the Netherlands and Germany, are similar. In France, health care is regarded as a right accorded to all citizens and legal residents. Insurance is provided by tax-funded, nonprofit bodies called mutuelles. In 2016, the per capita expenditure on healthcare in France was $4,600. In the United States, it was $10,348. Continue reading
The O’Jays with Trump
Who does Trump see when he looks in the mirror? Like many of us over the proverbial hill, he likely does not acknowledge his elderly self; he sees his younger self, glamorized through the pronounced image he cultivated over decades He sees a potent man who has a younger wife and adoring fans. Even his unchanging hairdo must help reinforce his delusion.
How do we come to our view of Donald J. Trump? In this Hall of Funhouse Mirrors presidency, his distorted image has elasticity. To some who love him he is a straight-talking macho hero who satisfies a revenge fantasy against an overly sensitive multicultural society. For others he is a variegated nightmare. Is he plotting and diabolical? Stupid and incompetent? Belligerent and immature? Narcissism personified? A wily mogul? A stable genius? All or none of the above? Continue reading
Tell me a little about yourself and your past creative work.
I am a French native and a PhD student in French Linguistics at the University of Illinois. I am very passionate about social justice, especially regarding anti-racism and intersectional feminism. Most of my artwork is related to social justice. My art is mostly graphite on paper, but I also paintsometimes with watercolors or oil. A lot of my artwork revolves around the Black Lives Matter movement. I have drawn a lot of portraits of Black people who were killed by police. I also created a series specifically about Black women, the #SayHerName series. I have written illustrated short comic strips on street harassment and micro-aggressions called Unbothered and Unimpressed: the Side Eyes Series. Continue reading
Open Scene Open Mic w/ Host DJ Silkee
Wednesday, Nov. 14, 6-8pm at IMC
Join the Urbana Public Arts Program and Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center for the next installment of Open Scene Open Mic, a downtown showcase of poetry, spoken word, music, and artistic expression designed to promote community, creativity, and connection! Bring your latest!
Ja’Naea Modest/DJ Silkee has been deejaying for four years in the Central Illinois area. She has been able to open up for local artists as well as some well-known artists (Mystikal, Young Dolph, Tink, Tweet, D Low, DJ Self), does private parties and residencies at clubs and bars in the Champaign area. Silkee has always had a love for music and the fascination of deejaying. Her mother introduced her to music at a young age. Due to her mother being ill a good portion of her life, she decided to put that passion on the back burner to take care of her until recently. She also promotes and organizes different events in the community, and is an instructor for C-U Girls Rock.
Open Scene Open Mic is a multigenerational event! Bring the whole family for activities and a chance to showcase talents!
Democratic Revolution vs. Corporate Rule: It’s Up to Us!
Monday, September 24th, 7-9PM
309 W Green St, Urbana – Unitarian Universalist Church of Urbana-Champaign
Free & open to the public. Free childcare is available, please email us the ages of the children.
Join Move to Amend’s National Outreach Director Greg Coleridge for an inspiring call-to-action and discussion on the nationwide movement to pass a 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to end corporate personhood.
➔ Local Leaders will join Greg and relate Local Issues to this Movement!
➔ Find out about specific actions we can take in Illinois!
➔ Learn the history of how the Supreme Court got us here and what it will take to abolish corporate personhood and get big money out of politics!
➔ Join us to learn how to work with those we elect in November to grow a democratic revolution to prevent corporate rule!
➔ Get personally inspired and motivated to join the movement!
Sponsored by:
The Social Action Committee of the Unitarian-Universalist Church of Urbana-Champaign, contacts: Doug Jones 217-377-6787 djones42@gmail or Nancy Dietrich 217-337-0334 nancydietrich01@gmail.com and Move to Amend For more information contact Milly Harmon at barnstorming@movetoamend.org 916-318-8040 MoveToAmend.org
Flyer: CU_Move_to_Amend_single_quarter_page_R3_flyer_9_24_18
Drawing of Illinois Indians, ca. 1735
This past spring, two U of I Trustees set out on a secret mission to solve the seemingly endless Chief Illiniwek problem once and for all. And they did it. But I doubt they’re happy with the result.
They hoped to return with Chief Illiniwek on a pedestal. Instead, they came back with his head on a stick. Continue reading
Back in February of 2018, I was astonished and excited when I learned that the American Library Association’s Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) was taking a look at the names of its book awards, asking if the award names are in line with the association’s core values. They were going to start with the name of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award.
In truth, I was also skeptical. The book series that Wilder wrote—and in particular The Little House on the Prairie—are at the heart of how people think about the US and its history. Changing the name of that award struck me as impossible, especially in light of activist work I have done. I had spent over twenty years trying to get the University of Illinois to change its sports teams’ nickname and get rid of its mascot, so I knew from experience how tenaciously people hold on to things for which they have deep emotional attachments. I’d hazard a guess that there are just as many people in the Midwest playing Indian as there are people who play (in musicals, pageants, and plays) that they are Laura and her family! Continue reading
Aretha Franklin’s musical talents were legion. Incomparable singer that she was, it is hardly surprising that multiple critics have identified her as the greatest voice in popular music of the 20th century. Labeled the “Queen of Soul,” she was in actuality a renaissance woman of many genres, from jazz to opera. Although sometimes underrated, she was also acknowledged to be a superb pianist and musical arranger. And let’s not forget how songs like “Respect” became de facto anthems of the civil rights and feminist movements of the day.
What is too often overlooked is the behind-the-scenes role that Ms. Franklin played in directly supporting the civil rights movement. Her father was Clarence L. Franklin, a famous Detroit-based preacher, civil rights activist and close friend of Dr. Martin Luther King. One of his most notable ventures into the activist arena was to organize the 1963 Detroit Walk to Freedom. Continue reading
Jennifer Hanner, a first-year teacher from Harts, W.Va., center, holds a sign, outside the state Senate chambers at the Capitol in Charleston, West Virginia. Teachers statewide went on strike on February 22, 2018 over pay and benefits.
Photo by John Raby/AP/REX/Shutterstock (9435169b)
Labor Day has come and gone. It is always a great day for celebrating the history and contributions of American workers and the achievements of the country’s labor unions. In the wake of the holiday, however, an assessment of labor’s fortunes and future is in order, especially in the context of ongoing legislative and legal attacks, as well as of the Trump administration’s rollbacks of worker rights and benefits.
The list of setbacks is long. The current administration, for example, has cut funding for the National Labor Relations Board, further stymying this agency’s ability to protect labor rights under current law. It has issued an executive order making it easier to fire federal employees, by reducing the length of the appeals process. Obama-era rules to extend overtime pay to a larger number of workers have also been undone. Continue reading
“The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking, and thus we drift toward unparalleled catastrophe.” – Albert Einstein, 1946.
“To hell with these maniacs.” – Premier Nikita Khrushchev, talking about his military advisors during the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962.
“The nuclear bomb, does that bother you? I just want you to think big Henry, for Christsakes.”– President Richard Nixon to Henry Kissinger, discussing how to respond to a North Vietnamese military offensive, 1972.
“They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen …”– Donald Trump, addressing the North Korean leadership in August, 2017.
“War deprived us of our happy lives,” and “war should not be repeated.”– Kasaoka-San, Hibakusha, June 10, 2018.
In June, I travelled to Hiroshima, Japan, with two friends. We stayed at the World Friendship Center, an organization established to promote world peace in the aftermath of the first use of the atomic bomb on a civilian population. The US dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and on Nagasaki two days later. The Center has a small guest house and is currently run by two long-time Urbana folks, Dannie Otto and Barb Shenk, who are in the middle of their two-year volunteer engagement. Continue reading
