Hands Up. Don't Shoot.

It's been said repeatedly this month. Protesters have chanted it all across the nation. It seems like such a simple message to understand. So why do so many police officers and G-O-TEA media pundits act as if it's incomprehensible?

"Hands up. Don't shoot!"

That message came here to Southern Nevada last night as protesters gathered on Martin Luther King Blvd. in North Las Vegas for the 51st anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, "I Have a Dream" speech... And to remember the life and legacy of Michael Brown.



"Hands up. Don't shoot!"

Las Vegas Metro Police still seem to have a tough time understanding this. And they're not alone. In St. Paul, Minnesota, Christopher Lollie was tased and arrested for simply sitting in a park as he was waiting for his kids to be released from preschool. In Beverly Hills, California, film producer Charles Belk was arrested and detained because he "matched the profile of a suspected bank robber". And in Hartford, Connecticut, outrage over the stunning and arrest of Luis Anglero, Jr., has grown so strong that Hartford Police Chief James Rovella actually joined protesters demonstrating against his arrest.

"Hands up. Don't shoot!"

In North Las Vegas, police weren't just at peace with demonstrators. They were hugging, engagung in conversation, and posing for photos last night. For a moment, it looked like a real breakthrough.

And frankly, this is what we need more of. As we've said before, this problem isn't just limited to Ferguson and other areas of Missouri. It's happened here, and it's happened elsewhere in America. It's part of the legacy of institutionalized racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and all other forms of xenophobia America has struggled with since the first European settlers arrived on this continent. While we've seen much progress in building bridges in the last 51 years, there's still so much more to be done.

"Hands up. Don't shoot." Hopefully one day, we won't have to say that any more. Hopefully one day, we can all join hands and put the guns away.

The Dream & The Arc

This week, we've been looking at the last 50 years of the civil rights movement, along with the way forward for the next 50 years. While we've seen plenty of accomplishments in the past half-century that would make Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., proud, there's still far more to do to fulfill the dream. We've been reminded of both this week.

As the rest of the nation was honoring Dr. King's legacy on Wednesday, some on Capitol Hill were playing petty political games. They whined about the lack of conservative/Republican speakers at the official commemoration on Wednesday. Well, why didn't any of them accept the invitation to attend?

And that's not all. As Brian Beutler reported this morning, not even pleas from Republican "leaders" weren’t enough to get them to the Lincoln Memorial! Why was that? Were they just too busy fear-mongering over rumors regarding Cory Booker's sexual orientation?



In this day and age, it's depressing that these kinds of homophobia laced "Girlie Man" personal attacks still exist in our politics today. But on the other hand, it's encouraging that the Democratic US Senate Nominee in New Jersey is taking on the homophobia head-on by tearing down the logical fallacy behind the insult, which is that gay men are not "man enough" to serve their communities and country. Finally, we're starting to see elected leaders break the cycle of institutionalized homophobia and transphobia.

Of course, bigotry still exists. Racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, religious hatred, and other forms of bigotry still reveal their ugly heads today.

There are many days when we notice the dream under attack. Yet despite the attacks, the dream lives on. And ultimately, the dream succeeds.



While hate remains, love can't be stopped. While bigotry remains, equality can't be killed. The arc of history may be long, but it ultimately bends toward justice.

Keep Pursuing the Dream.

Fifty years ago, he had a dream. Today, the dream is still here. We've come a long way since then, but there's still far more to do to fulfill it.

That's what we heard today from the official commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. , described the dream at the March. And many are continuing the effort to fulfill it now.

Fifty years ago, John Lewis also spoke at the March. Today, Rep. John Lewis (D-Georgia) noted what's changed in the past half-century. He also reminded everyone of what still needs to change.



Two years after the March, the Voting Rights Act became law. That opened the doors to greater voter participation as "legalized" voter suppression was done away with. But now, voter suppression is on the rise again as Congress has not (yet) fixed what the Supreme Court broke earlier this year.

This is just one example of the many highs and lows we've experienced in the past fifty years. President Obama also spoke today. He highlighted all that's been achieved, but he also mentioned the problems that remain today. Another one has to do with economic inequality.



Even as we've seen progress on legal equality, economic inequality is still very much the norm. However, it doesn't have to be this way. Former President Clinton also spoke today, and he talked about what we can do now to begin fixing it.



We can reinvest in our schools. We can invest in the rest of our public infrastructure. We can give more people the opportunity to work. We can invest in a better future again.

But will we? Will we invest in our people? Will we ensure the fundamental right to vote? Will we demand more and better opportunities? Will we keep pursuing the dream?

For our sake, and for the sake of future generations, we must.

The DREAM v. The Nightmare

Today, President Obama, national civil rights leaders, and many more Americans are commemorating the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. That was when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. , gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. 50 years later, there has been much progress... But there's also much more to do to achieve Dr. King's dream.

On Monday, we examined one major civil rights struggle in our time that we've yet to resolve: immigration reform. American families have been ripped apart, and many people still live in fear. Yet despite the US Senate passing comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) legislation back in June, the G-O-TEA run House has not taken any action on it. Instead, Republican House "leaders" are busy peddling manufactured crises (all over again).

And herein lies the newest problem for CIR. Because Congressional G-O-TEA "leaders" are demanding more manufactured crisis drama this fall, they plan to kill CIR by tossing it to the wayside in the midst of ongoing budget battles. Their plan is to essentially run out the clock on CIR by turning up the fiscal histrionics.

Of course, Jed Lewison is calling BS on the G-O-TEA's latest and greatest excuse for failing to act on CIR.

Saying that the calendar is the problem is the same thing as saying that the House has been too busy and will be too busy to deal with immigration reform. This House, too busy? Seriously, can you think of a dumber claim to make than that the laziest, most do-nothing House of Representatives ever was doing too much other stuff to deal with immigration reform?

Moreover, even if you accepted that line of thinking, you'd at least have to concede that in making room for other stuff, House Republicans were implicitly saying that it didn't think immigration reform was all that important. In other words, if they really thought it was important, they'd make time for it, right?

Yes, in September in October, they've got some fiscal stuff they've got to take care of, but they've known this forever. Even if you accepted the notion that they couldn't pass immigration reform at the same time as dealing with those fiscal issues, it changes absolutely nothing about the fundamental dynamics at play—or the fact that they have already had months to act and will still have plenty of time to act after raising the debt limit.

Never mind that the debt ceiling was never a crisis until Republicans decided to turn it into one. Never mind that the House had all of July to pass CIR legislation. And never mind that Republicans can still do the right thing by stopping the reckless hostage taking, letting a fair budget and debt ceiling raise pass, and resuming work on actually important issues (like CIR).

50 years ago, Dr. King had a dream. Today, many Americans are keeping the DREAM alive. But right now, the usual "TEA" tinged suspects in Congress are more interested in foisting an economic nightmare on the world than fulfilling the dream. That's the real tragedy here.

The dream is still here... But will enough Republicans finally agree to drop the nightmare threats and let the dream become reality?

The Dream Reaches New Frontiers.

Tomorrow will mark the official 50th anniversary of the historic March on Washington. This is the march where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his now famous "I Have a Dream" speech. So of course, we've been talking here and elsewhere about how far we’ve come since then... As well as how far we still need to go to achieve that dream.

State Senator Pat Spearman (D-North Las Vegas) touched on this back in June, as Southern Nevada locals were celebrating the US Supreme Court's rulings on marriage equality. Those marked major achievements in LGBTQ civil rights. Yet even now, much more needs to be done.



In May, the Nevada Legislature passed SJR 13 to undo the state's current constitutional ban on marriage equality. It came after weeks of powerful testimony and nerve-wracking deliberation.





And it's still far from over. SJR 13 must pass the Legislature again in 2015 before facing voters for final approval in 2016. It's a long process to undo a horrible mistake made a long time ago.

This also reflects the current state of LGBTQ civil rights nationally. There have been some major achievements in recent years, but we still have more to do to achieve full equality under the law and in society. While the recent Supreme Court decisions were major steps forward, anti-equality campaigns in Arizona and New Mexico remind us of what still needs to be done.

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But then again, New Mexico is becoming the new state on the front line for marriage equality as four counties are now granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Even as some Republican lawmakers there are throwing a temper tantrum over this, at least one law suit there has already been decided in favor of equality. And the state's Attorney General decided not to defend marriage discrimination.


This week, we're being reminded of the ongoing struggles for civil rights. However, we're also having to notice current and emerging struggles for equality. The dream is far from over. Rather, the dream continues to expand to new frontiers.

Tenemos un Sueño (DREAM).

This week, we're remembering the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech and the historic March on Washington where he delivered it. Much has been accomplished since then. And there's still more to do now.

And it spans far beyond what some media pundits traditionally consider "civil rights". Case in point: comprehensive immigration reform (CIR). Millions of American families have been torn apart, millions of workers have been exploited, and many communities have been full of strife. And it's all due to (the lack of) nine digits.



So is there a chance to finally change this for good? Maybe. Nearly two weeks ago, Rep. Joe Heck (R-Henderson) met and prayed with immigrant rights activists. And while he had some encouraging words at his town hall last week, he wouldn't commit to backing those words with concrete action.

And why is that? Oh, he and other House Republicans still fear their 21st Century Know Nothing base. Never mind that a growing number of Republicans are urging their own party to shape up and pass CIR. Far too many in the G-O-TEA are too busy fawning over racist rodeo clowns and pandering to their base to do anything serious on immigration reform.

But as we've discussed before, it doesn't have to be this way. Republicans like Rep. Heck can do something truly bipartisan and get a real CIR bill to the House floor. There are real people suffering under the status quo. No one will actually suffer if CIR is brought to the House floor.

Fifty years ago, Dr. King had a DREAM. And now, the DREAMers and other immigrant rights activists continue to remind us of this. Will Congress be able to drop the petty politicking for long enough to realize this?

The Dream Still Lives (Despite Recent Nightmares).

Last Saturday, we reflected on the upcoming 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. We remembered how much our nation has grown since then. We also noticed what still needs to be done to achieve Dr. King's dream.

Today, the latter is becoming even more painfully obvious. For one, the usual G-O-TEA suspects continue to race-bait the already tragic shooting death of Chris Lane, the Australian student and baseball player attending a college in Oklahoma. He was allegedly gunned down by "three bored teens". Yet while Australian media have zeroed in on our dangerously violent culture and incredibly lax gun laws, right-wing media here are twisting facts and building up tension in a desperate attempt to prove "Reverse Racism!!! White people under attack!!!"

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And that's not all. Just over a month after his acquittal in the Trayvon Martin murder trial, George Zimmerman took his "victory tour" to the very factory that produced the gun he used to kill Trayvon Martin. No, I'm not even kidding.

Part of what made the Zimmerman acquittal hard to take was the shooter’s utter lack of remorse for killing Martin. Even if you believed every word of his self-defense claim, it had to be hard to imagine having no regrets about the death of a teenager. Even Sean Hannity, who normally appears conscience free, asked Zimmerman if he had “regrets” about getting out of his car and following Martin, which led to their confrontation and the boy’s shooting. “It was all God’s plan, and for me to second guess it or judge it,” Zimmerman told Hannity, his voice trailing off.

That’s the kind of cluelessness that would lead a guy to tour the factory that made the gun he used to kill Martin, and to pose grinning with a star-struck factory worker like he’s Frank Sinatra visiting a local trattoria.

It’s particularly sad that Zimmerman’s visit came on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, which was commemorated Saturday by a civil rights convening that included Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon’s parents. The issues of racial profiling, stop and frisk and stand your ground laws are animating a new movement for racial justice, and Martin has become a symbol of the way young black men are treated at the hands of police as well as vigilantes like Zimmerman. “Trayvon Martin was my son, but he’s not just my son, he’s all of our son, and we have to fight for our children,” said Fulton told the crowd.

Yet even in the wake of this, Sybrina Fulton marched in Washington. And she reminded us of what must still be done. She reminded us of the dream that still lives, even amidst her son's tragic death.

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Despite the compoinding tragedies and the constant setbacks, the dream still lives. The dream is still here. Do we want it?


Sadly, the radical right's celebration of George Zimmerman's slaying of Trayvon Martin and distortion of Chris Lane's untimely death are clear reminders of the recent setbacks. Yet despite all this, the dream still lives. Can we finally make it a reality?

We Still Have a Dream.

Fifty years ago, he had a dream. Martin Luther King, Jr. let the nation and the world know it was time for change. He played a critical role in advancing civil rights and putting America on a path to equality.



Today is the day to reflect on half a century of progress. However, that's not all.

Today is also the day to realize the progress we must still make. Remember what Rep. John Lewis (D-Georgia) said? Well, he also had something to say yesterday. After all, he was there with Dr. King that day.

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There have been many ups and downs in the past half century. We've experienced the sorrow of Trayvon Martin's passing. We've also experienced the triumph of Antoinette Tuff's amazing heroism.

We all have the right to vote, but can we all vote. We all have the freedom to choose, but what are our choices? We all have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but can we pursue any of it?


Today, we reflect on the past. And we notice the present. And we build a better future. And we never lose sight of the dream.

A New Phase Seeking Genuine Equality

Coolican has a great column this morning where he allows Jim Crow survivors to tell their own stories of escaping "de jure" segregation in The South. It's really worth reading.

However in reading that, I was also reminded of the continuing "de facto" segregation we often face in society today. Even though "de jure" segregation was dropped here in Nevada during the 1960s, the combination of "The Great Recession" and chronic inequality has led to continuing struggles for minority communities here. All one needs to do is drive down Eastern Avenue to (minority-majority) East Las Vegas and North Las Vegas to see the great poverty in our community, then drive back up Eastern to see how well manicured neighborhoods in Henderson's (mostly white) Seven Hills and Anthem have been minimally impacted by the recession.



And it's not just Nevada. Despite the progress toward legal equality since the 1950s, America has been sliding back in the last 40 years as wealth has increasingly become concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. And no, Mitt Romney, this is not about "envy". This is a serious problem. Without a functioning middle class, we don't have a stable pool of consumers to buy stuff, and the economy ultimately suffers.

Many folks remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., for his work to fight legal racial inequality. And yes, that was a great part of what he did. However, he didn't stop there. He also worked to combat economic inequality. And he laid the foundation for new frontiers of The Civil Rights Movement.



Both Coretta Scott King (Dr. King's wife) and Bayard Rustin (who helped organize the 1963 March on Washington and worked closely with Dr. King) stood with Martin Luther King during his life, and both kept his legacy alive from 1968 onward by reminding us that injustice anywhere means injustice everywhere.

One of the great things that Martin Luther King achieved was the tying together of all these injustices and pushing for the end to inequality and injustice everywhere. And we still need this today. Whether it's unjust wars, poverty in our communities, xenophobic attacks on Muslim Americans, or the denial of full legal equality to LGBTQ Americans, the work has to continue. That's probably what we should think about today.

Tuesday Reads

Before I leave the door this morning, I just wanted to share some stories I'm keeping my eye on:

- Rep. Joe Heck (R-WAY uphill from my house) gets another mention in today's Sun. Basically, he's basking in the glow of all the media attention and love from GOP leadership. Sounds nice, I guess, but will he remember that District 3 needs a representative in Congress (not just another politician looking to use this seat to jump to higher office)?

- Justin McAfee, of The Nevada View, wonders if the "tea party" can really last much longer. It seems whenever times are turbulent, American politics gets shaken up by extremists and/or opportunists hoping to benefit from populist rage. Will the teabaggers eventually join the likes of The Know-nothings, The Populists, and Ross Perot's Reform Party in the dustbin of history?

- Today's Reno Gazette Journal has an interesting article on Bill Raggio, "The Lion of the Legislature", who was forced by a foot injury to retire from The State Senate. Wow. He's been winning and losing elections almost as long as my dad has been alive!

- And finally, it sounds like Maven was feeling as frustrated as I was yesterday. Really, what have we done with Dr. King's dream?

In the next week, I'll continue to track the aftermath of the Arizona Tragedy, what's coming up in the 2011 session of The Nevada Legislature, and take a look at what Nevada's members of Congress are up to. Stay tuned!

Where Has the Dream Gone?

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., had a dream. All too often, we don't talk about the entire dream. And all too often, we don't want to talk about our failures over the last four decades to get anywhere close to that dream.





So where are we? And what has happened to King's dream? When did the dream become this nightmare?









Not that long ago, it was easy to just laugh off "tea party" extremism as silly... But look at what's happened. And for far too long, questions of inequality have been placed aside. And as we wonder when our occupation of Iraq will end, when our occupation of Afghanistan will come to a close, and when another military invasion and occupation might ensue, we must wonder if we've become far too much of a culture of violence.

When did we forget this...



And embrace this?





What happened? What happened to Dr. King's dream? Where have we gone wrong in the last 43 years? Why are so many of our people still treated as "second class citizens"? Why do we never have the resources to help our people help themselves, but we somehow always have more money to wage more wars? Why have we become so violent toward each other?

These are the questions I have today. As six people have been buried in Tucson, our country is still mired in two wars abroad, Congress is set to debate (again) why we should or shouldn't have access to affordable health care, and federal courts consider whether queer folk actually have Constitutional rights, we need to ask ourselves what happened to Dr. King's dream... And how we can finally turn the dream deferred into the dream fulfilled.

Martin Luther King, Jr... Nearly 50 Years Later

Of course, we remember this...



But do we remember this?



Simon Balto explains this at LA Progressive.

King’s willingness to embrace changes and evolutions in his political and moral thought, the global lens through which he viewed the problems of the poor and oppressed, and the tenacity with which he inserted justice and morality into American political and social discourses serve as powerful, yet often overlooked, components of his legacy. Without question, the traditional rendering of King—the one that will be recalled this MLK Day in schools, churches, community forums and political rallies across the country—is important, poignant, and powerful.

Yet, at best, it’s only half the story, and it disingenuously smoothes the rough edges of both King’s politics and American social, political, and racial history. Today, when we commemorate King solely through lenses of national triumph and racial conciliation, and portray, for example, Barack Obama’s electoral success as the ultimate realization of the Reverend’s dream, we do so only by carefully selecting from both King’s personal and American national history.

In a modern context that devalues dissent and rubber-stamps it as unpatriotic and irrational, it’s important to remember that King wasn’t always considered the hero that we now commemorate, and much of that had to do with his contemporaries’ discomfort with his jarring criticisms of American society. In our reimaginings of 1960s America today, the collective forgetting of both the radical elements of King’s politics and society’s general animosity toward them is perhaps explained by the fact that many of those problems that he critiqued have only worsened since his murder; and if there’s one thing that most American political and social discourses don’t make much room for, it’s our national mistakes and flaws.

Though it’s easy to celebrate the accomplishments that King saw through to some sort of tangible completion, it is less comfortable to reckon with those that he couldn’t fix and that remain unrepaired. The wealth gap in the United States is more staggering than ever. The commitment of budgetary resources to military and defense spending dwarfs—and worse, robs from—spending on human welfare and social justice. The reactionary invasions leading to the disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan (and Iran? Pakistan? Yemen?) are proof of the persistence of militarist and imperialist American impulses. And despite claims of postracialism, we have plenty of daily reminders that racism still exists, even if, scientifically speaking, race does not.

Yep, yep, yep. It's easy to just embrace the contemporary caricature of MLK as a "civil rights icon", and just as easy to forget all of what this person and so many social justice activists of the movement were working for.

He spoke out against the war in Vietnam. He fought alongside union organizers. And of course, he paved the way for friends like Bayard Rustin to later build on earlier civil rights advances to push for LGBTQ equality.



And of course as we start this new decade, we have to ask just how much progress we've really made in the last 50 years. Sure, Barack Obama is now President. That isn't something to lightly dismiss. Still, there's so much that's yet to be done.

Racial inequality persists even to this day. Economic injustice still plagues this country. Discrimination against women and LGBTQ people still hurts us.

Yes, we've seen plenty of progress. However, there is also still so much work to be done.