(Only yesterday, there was a glimmer of hope. Now, the step forward has gone backward on another aspect.)
Tag: Human Rights
It’s Still PRIDE Month! Here’s Peace & Justice History for 6/18. Now Have Some Big Fun!
| June 18, 1571 King Sebastian of Portugal enacted penalties for violation of censorship legislation. The fines could be as much as a quarter or half of the violator’s legal possessions, plus the threat of exile to Brazil or an African colony. Death sentences were also not uncommon. Seized books were burned and burnings were supervised by Roman Catholic priests. |
| June 18, 1840 The Oberlin Non-Resistance Society was formed at the Ohio college by students who believed “that the Gospel of Jesus Christ inculcates the duty of peace and good-will.” They were inspired by abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison’s New England group of similar name. They rejected all use of violence even in the name of duty to country. “We must submit to the ‘powers that be,’ and ‘obey magistrates,’ except when their requirements conflict with God’s laws; when we are meekly to endure the penalty of disobedience ‘threatening them not.’ ” Though denounced by the faculty and ignored by the student newspaper, the group was among the first in a succession of peace- and justice-oriented organizations begun at Oberlin. Oberlin’s peaceful tradition |
| June 18, 1941 Less than two weeks before a scheduled march on Washington, its chief organizer, (Asa) A. Philip Randolph, was invited to the White House by President Franklin Roosevelt. Randolph was the president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first successful black trade union. He, along with activist and singer Bayard Rustin, had issued a “Call to Negro America to March on Washington for Jobs and Equal Participation in National Defense on July 1, 1941.”  Roosevelt was wary of the prospect of such a demonstration and desirous of developing support for a war effort. Randolph told Roosevelt he would abandon the march plans only if the president would stop job discrimination in both the defense industry and the government. Before the end of the month, Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802, which barred government contractors from discriminating in hiring on the basis of race, color, creed or national origin.  A. Philip Randolph and Eleanor Roosevelt The order, sometimes called a second emancipation proclamation, was the federal government’s most significant action on behalf of the rights of African Americans since post-Civil War reconstruction of the 1870s. |
| June 18, 1948 A United Nations commission approved and recommended to the General Assembly an International Declaration of Human Rights, recognizing that “the inherent dignity and . . . the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world . . . .” Text of the Declaration: . . . |
| June 18, 1970 The U.S. Congress passed the 26th amendment to the constitution, lowering the voting age to 18 for all elections—federal, state and local. The amendment went into effect just 100 days later after 38 state legislatures had ratified the amendment. |
| June 18, 1979 SALT II (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty), an agreement to put limits on both America’s and the Soviet Union’s long-range missiles and bombers, was signed by Presidents Jimmy Carter and Leonid Brezhnev. This was the first arms-reduction treaty between the two superpowers. It was signed despite the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan the previous year.  Read more on SALT II’s control of weapons of mass destruction |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryjune.htm#june18
The Best Way To Learn About Autistic Pride Is To Learn It From Autistic People
That’s a thing I began learning during my years working in schools, but I’ve really picked up a great deal more from fellow blogger Barry. Here is his Autistic Pride Day blog post!
Well, I Suppose They Made An Effort? + More In Republican Prejudice
Tell-It Report: Army Renames Fort Lee After a Black Soldier to Maintain Confederate Fiction by Michael Harriot
Barred from using the names of Confederate soldiers, the Trump administration “restores” the names of seven military bases that once honored the losers of the Civil War. Read on Substack
In Gullah Geechee communities, a “tell-it” was a designated lookout, community warning system and the most trusted source for news and information. The Tell-It Report is ContrabandCamp’s weekly roundup of the Black stories that deserve more attention — from politics to entertainment.
President Donald Trump has reinstated the names of Army bases that once honored Confederate leaders. But, contrary to what he announced, Fort Lee won’t be named after Robert E. Lee, but a Black soldier named Fitz Lee.
Trump’s recent travel ban is preventing Haitian children scheduled to undergo heart surgery from traveling to the United States for their life-changing procedures.
The Grammys are adding a “traditional country” category just months after Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” earned her Country Album of the Year.
Read the full stories below:
Trump renames Fort Lee after a Black soldier because he can’t use Robert E. Lee
Continuing President Trump’s efforts to remove diversity measures enacted by his predecessor, the Army announced it was reverting to the original names of seven bases whose names were changed in 2023 because they honored Confederate leaders. Despite his statement on Tuesday in which Trump said one base would be restored to Fort Robert E. Lee, it will not actually honor the Confederate general who led the fight to keep slavery legal.
Instead, Fort Lee in Prince George’s County will be named after a Black soldier, Pvt. Fitz Lee, the New York Times reports.
In 2023, the Biden administration renamed the bases honoring Confederate leaders. Fort Lee then became Fort Gregg-Adams to honor two Black leaders, Lt. Gen. Arthur J. Gregg and Lt. Col. Charity Adams. By law, names of Confederate soldiers can’t be used on military bases, hence the bait and switch.
Lee was a Buffalo soldier who fought in the Spanish-American War. Born in Virginia, he received the Medal of Honor in 1899 for risking his life to save wounded comrades in Cuba. Shortly after the mission, he suffered from vision loss, swollen limbs and abdominal pain stemming from kidney disease. He died at age 33.
Though the bases’ original names are back, like Fort Lee, they will not honor Confederate leaders. Instead, they will be named after the soldiers “who served in conflicts ranging from the Civil War to the Battle of Mogadishu,” the Army announced in a statement on Tuesday. No women are honored in the rebrand.
Along with the newly dubbed Fort Lee, bases included in the change are Fort Pickett, Fort Hood, Fort Gordon, Fort Polk, Fort Rucker and Fort A.P. Hill. Earlier this year, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth changed the names of Fort Bragg and Fort Benning, now honoring World War I and II veterans, respectively, with the same last names instead of Confederate soldiers.
“We won a lot of battles out of those forts. It’s no time to change,” Trump said during the announcement, CBS News reports. “And I’m superstitious, you know? I like to keep it going, right? I’m very superstitious.”
The Department of Defense originally spent about $39 million to change the names of military installations named after Confederate figures, CBS 6 Richmond reports. Although the changes are expected to take effect immediately, no estimated cost for the revamp was announced, according to CBS News.
Trump’s travel ban is blocking Haitian children from getting stateside surgery
Lifesaving procedures for more than a dozen Haitian children and young adults with serious cardiac issues have been stalled or canceled due to Trump’s travel ban, NBC News reports
The ban, which went into effect on June 9, extends to 12 countries and bars foreigners seeking legal immigrant status as well as those seeking visas from entering the U.S., according to CBS News.
The International Cardiac Alliance is an aid organization that has sent more than 100 children from Haiti to the U.S. for heart surgery. Though a proclamation made some exemptions, including for U.S. citizens and those traveling for the World Cup and the Olympics, those undergoing medical procedures with the alliance’s help were not on that list, according to NBC. Its waitlist includes at least 316 Haitians in need of heart surgery, ranging from infants to young adults.
The organization’s executive director, Owen Robinson, told the New York Times that finding adequate medical help in other countries will be difficult.
Sixteen-year-old Fabienne Rene and her family were counting on travel to treat her rheumatic heart disease. Her father, Fignole Rene, told NBC that they don’t know what their alternative option would be.
“I was not waiting to hear something like that,” Rene told the outlet in Creole. “We know for sure that there is nowhere in Haiti we can have this possibility. The only option that we have was just waiting to have an open door from the Cardiac Alliance.”
According to the NYT, Trump’s decision to prevent Haitians from visiting is because they stayed in the states longer than their visas permitted 25% of the time. In addition to Haiti, the 12 countries on the travel ban list include Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, The Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Trump also issued partial suspensions for Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
Trump has restricted travel for these 19 Black and brown countries because he deemed them “high-risk.” However, just last month, he gave white South Africans asylum, claiming they were subject to “white genocide.”
His administration also rescinded Haitians’ temporary protected status, which prevented them from being deported, and revoked a program that allowed them to move to the U.S, according to the NYT.
Grammys to add ‘traditional country’ category after Beyoncé’s historic win
The Recording Academy announced that they would be breaking up the country album category, adding a “traditional” category and renaming the existing category to “contemporary.” And Beyoncé fans don’t think their decision’s timing — coming just months after “Cowboy Carter” won big — is coincidental.
“The community of people that are making country music in all different subgenres came to us with a proposal and said we would like to have more variety in how our music is honored,” the Academy CEO Harvey Mason told Billboard. “They said, we think we need more space for our music to be celebrated and honored.” According to the outlet, the new category was proposed in previous years.
Fans pointed to the not-so-subtle racist shade that they believe stemmed from “Cowboy Carter” winning both Best Country Album and Album of the Year, the first time Beyoncé has won in both categories.
An anonymous music executive told Phil Lewis that the academy’s intentions are clear. The executive pointed to the academy adding Best Dance Pop Recording category after Beyoncé’s “Renaissance” and “Break My Soul” won.
“Now, the same thing has happened again.” the executive explained for What I’m Reading.
“There are probably some country purists in power that aren’t happy with her winning Best Country Album — especially after she was snubbed completely from the CMAs — and suddenly the country album category is being divided into two categories.”
Beyoncé is currently on the Cowboy Carter World Tour. The show and album pay homage to country’s Black roots and call out the industry’s historic efforts to erase Black legacy and impact from the genre.
During her acceptance speech for Best Country Album, she expressed gratitude for those in the genre who accepted “Cowboy Carter.”
“We worked so hard on it,” she said. “I think sometimes genre is a code word to keep us in our place as artists, and I just wanna encourage people to do what they’re passionate about and to stay persistent.”
ICYMI
Former host of MTV’s “TRL” and BET’s “Teen Summit,” Ananda Lewis, has died at 52 on Wednesday after a long battle with breast cancer.
Sly Stone, the legendary frontman of Sly and the Family Stone, died on June 9 at age 82.
Silentó, the 27-year-old rapper who created a viral hit with “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),” was sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty in the fatal shooting of his cousin.
A Milwaukee jury convicted Maxwell Anderson of killing 19-year-old Sade Robinson, whose body was found dismembered after she went on a first date with Anderson.
Misty Copeland announced that she is retiring after 25 years with the American Ballet Company.
Solange’s Eldorado Ballroom opens in Houston.
Included (and blamed!) In The Immigration Crackdown In Dem Cities: Trans People
IOKIYAR, & More, In Peace & Justice History for 6/16
| June 16, 1961 Following a meeting between South Vietnamese envoy Nguyen Dinh Thuan and President John F. Kennedy, the United States agreed to increase the presence of American military advisors in Vietnam from 340 to 805, and to provide direct training and combat supervision to South Vietnamese troops. The number of U.S. personnel rose to 3,200 by the end of 1962.  President Ngo Dinh Diem and President Eisenhower in DC, five years earlier |
| June 16, 1965 A planned civil disobedience turned into a five-hour teach-in on the steps and inside the Pentagon about the escalating war in Vietnam. In two days, more than 50,000 leaflets were distributed without interference at the building that houses the U.S. Department of Defense. A World War II artillery officer, Gordon Christiansen, turned in his honorable discharge certificate in protest. |
June 16, 1976 South African police opened fire on black students peacefully protesting the requirement to learn Afrikaans, the language of the small white minority that enforced the racially separatist regime known in Afrikaans as apartheid. Neither black nor colored (other non-white or mixed race) South Africans could vote or live where they chose. Over 150 South African children were killed and hundreds more were injured in the shooting—what became known as the Soweto Massacre. fact: Soweto stands for: SOuth WEst TOwnships The History of Apartheid in South Africa Read more on Soweto |
| June 16, 1992 Former Reagan Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger was indicted for his participation in the Iran-Contra affair, charged with four counts of lying to Congress and prosecutors. He had concealed the secret arrangement to provide funds to the Nicaraguan insurgent contra rebels with profits from selling arms to Iran, which in turn were to encourage the release of hostages held by groups allied with Iran.  President Ronald Reagan with Caspar Weinberger, George Shultz, Ed Meese, and Don Regan, discussing the President’s remarks on the Iran-Contra affair. The Reagan administration (1981-1989) had been circumventing the legal ban on material support for the terrorist activities of the contras. Iran had needed the weapons for its war with Iraq, and it was hoped that Iran would respond by encouraging the release of hostages being held by Islamist groups in Lebanon. President Reagan had publicly and repeatedly promised never to negotiate with terrorists, and had maintained the break in diplomatic relations with the Iranian revolutionary government. Weinberger and the five others charged were all pardoned by President George H.W. Bush six months later, days before the trial was to start, and shortly before President Bush would be leaving office. More on Iran-Contra pardons |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryjune.htm#june16
Monday AM Greeting-
Some Meme’s
Hello All. Life has been very busy lately, but here are some meme’s that I hope you can enjoy and use.
The Education President
Peace & Justice History for 6/15
| June 15, 1917 Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman were arrested and charged with conspiracy to obstruct the draft for America’s recent declaration of war with Germany in World War I. They held a number of rallies to discourage young men vulnerable to the new draft from cooperating. They laid out their position in the nearly 100,000 fliers they distributed with their NoConscription League Manifesto. “. . . this democratic country makes no such provision for those who will not commit murder at the behest of the war profiteers. Thus the ‘land of the free and the home of the brave’ is ready to coerce free men into the military yoke.” The Emma Goldman Papers The No-Conscription League Manifesto Alexander Berkman biography |
| June 15, 1942 The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) was founded in Chicago by a group of students including James Farmer and Bayard Rustin. They found inspiration in Mahatma Gandhi—and his nonviolent victory over British colonial rule of India—for their struggle to achieve full legal rights for African Americans.  CORE history Read more about CORE |
| June 15, 1966 The James Meredith March Against Fear [see June 6, 1966] arrived in Granada, Mississippi, and was met by hundreds of members of the local Negro (African-American) community. A rally was then held in the town square to encourage voter registration. During the rally, a representative of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) placed a small American flag on a Confederate War Memorial (it was later removed, considered a desecration by the local white population).  Grenada County had recently hired four Negro voter registrars and, following the rally, and again following a speech that night by Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., ßhundreds lined up at the courthouse to register to vote, 160 just on this day, a total of 1300 over the next two. Shortly thereafter, however, the Negro registrars were fired, and 700 registrations were invalidated for alleged technical violations of the local ordinance. |
| June 15, 1970 The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in U.S. v. Sisson that conscientious objectors, those who refuse military service or to bear arms for moral or religious reasons, need not base their beliefs on the tenets of an organized religion. Visit the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors |
| June 15, 2011 Three months after the meltdown at the local nuclear power plant, the Fukushima, Japan, city government announced it would give dosimeters (devices that measure the intensity of radiation) to 34,000 preschool, elementary and junior high school students. |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryjune.htm#june15
Scottie's Playtime 