All posts by Janet Powe

news, US

Sprucing up Trump Tower BLM-style

Great to see the BLM paint job outside the obscene low-class Trump Tower in New York City.

Unfortunately Trump is unlikely to see it in person as he doesn’t visit his hometown anymore, because he is so universally hated there.

Hopefully the paint job will put off people spending their money at the hotel and hasten the demise of Trump Inc.

The shine was taken off the whole affair somewhat though, after the sighting of Mayor Bill de Blasio joining in with the roadworks.

This is the same Bill de Blasio who was singing the praises of the New York cops when they were brutalising peaceful protesters.

The same mayor that imposed curfews in a dangerous attack on the freedom of assembly that is meant to be guaranteed in the US constitution.

The same Bill de Blasio who got elected – as did some other Democrat politicians – on the promise of addressing police racist violence, militarisation and general corruption, but then after getting into office doing nothing.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CCboII8Jfzf/?igshid=1if8m87ytdqn3

But de Blasio aside, it’s still good to see some irritant being rubbed into the eyes of the man in the high castle.

There’s more on thumbing it to Trump Tower at the New York Times:

NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio grabbed a roller Thursday to paint “Black Lives Matter” in front of the namesake Manhattan tower of President Donald Trump, who tweeted last week that the street mural would be “a symbol of hate.”

De Blasio was flanked by his wife, Chirlane McCray, and the Rev. Al Sharpton as he helped paint the racial justice rallying cry in giant yellow letters on Fifth Avenue in front of Trump Tower. Activists watching chanted, “Whose streets? Our streets!”

“When we say ‘Black Lives Matter,’ there is no more American statement, there is no more patriotic statement because there is no America without Black America,” de Blasio said. “We are acknowledging the truth of ourselves as Americans by saying ‘Black Lives Matter.’ We are righting a wrong.”

The mayor announced the plan to paint “Black Lives Matter” in front of Trump Tower last month after earlier saying the slogan would be painted on streets at several locations around the city. Trump responded via Twitter that the mural would denigrate “this luxury Avenue” and “further antagonize New York’s Finest.” De Blasio tweeted back that Black Lives Matter is “a movement to recognize and protect the lives of Black people.”

Rahima Torrence, 20, who was among the people slapping yellow paint onto Fifth Avenue, said that even though the mural might be a symbol, “it’s the beginning of something more.” She said the location in front of Trump’s own skyscraper “shows that we matter and it shows to him that you can’t ignore us.”

news, US

US workers to strike for Black Lives in major breakthrough

Reproduced with kind permission of Socialist Worker:

by Nick Clark

A coalition of trade unions and campaign groups in the US is organising a “strike for black lives,” set for Monday 20 July.

Tens of thousands of fast food, ride-share, nursing home and airport workers in more than 25 cities are set to strike for a full day. Others will stage a walkout for eight minutes—the amount of time police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd’s neck during the arrest that killed him.

The national strike will also involve marches led by workers.

Strike organisers are demanding action by bosses and the government against systematic racism that fuels poverty for black people. Organisers say black people make up a disproportionate number of those who earn less than a living wage.

They are also demanding guaranteed sick pay, affordable health care and better safety measures for workers forced to work during the coronavirus pandemic.

Movement for Black Lives—a coalition of organisations involved in the Black Lives Matter movement—is also involved.

Unions involved in the strike include the SEIU, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the American Federation of Teamsters and United Farm Workers.

Organiser Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson said corporations “claim to support black lives. But their business model functions by exploiting black labour—passing off pennies as ‘living wages’ and pretending to be shocked when Covid-19 sickens those black people who make up their essential workers.

“Corporate power is a threat to racial justice, and the only way to usher in a new economy is by tackling those forces that aren’t fully committed to dismantling racism.”

Racism

Nursing home worker Trece Andrews said she felt racism was to blame for why she has spent years being passed over for promotions.

“I’ve got 20 years in the game and I’m only at $15.81 (£12.50) per hour,” she said. “We’ve got the coronavirus going on, plus we’ve got this thing with racism going on. They’re tied together, like some type of segregation.”

The call for a strike came as evidence submitted to the trial for the murder of Floyd revealed horrifying new details about his final moments.

Audio recorded on a police officer’s body camera reveals that Floyd pleaded, “They’ll kill me, they’ll kill me” and cried out for his mother and children.

The transcript of the recording covers the moments before and during Floyd’s arrest. It includes the time he is pinned to the ground with officer Derek Chauvin’s knee on his neck.

In the transcript, a frightened Floyd pleads, “Please don’t shoot me,” and “I’m sorry” as police officer Thomas Lane approaches him with a gun in his hand.

Later, officers try to force Floyd into the back of a police car, as he panics and tells them, “I’m claustrophobic,” and, “I’m not resisting.”

On the ground Floyd tells Chauvin, “You’re going to kill me.”

Chauvin replies, “Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk.”

events

Emergency protest of Met’s Cressida Dick Tottenham visit – Friday 10 July 4pm

Update 3:30pm BST 10 July 2020

Protest today against Crassida Dick is cancelled

We understand that Tottenham Hotspur Football Club cancelled the meeting with Cressida Dick today after news of our protest reached them. The meeting is off – so our protest is cancelled.

Cressida Dick and other apologists for the racist harassment of black youth by the police should be aware that this is just the beginning of our campaign. We fight on until we achieve victory.

Called by Haringey Stand Up To Racism

Call out for emergency protest.

Cressida Dick, Met police chief, is visiting Tottenham on Friday July 10.

Yesterday in Parliament she justified the Met police strategy on Stop & Search and on racial profiling. Let her know we oppose the racist police force.

Protest on Friday July 10, 4pm

Outside Tottenham Hotspur stadium, High Rd, Tottenham.

End racist stop and search

No to racial profiling

Scrap Section 60 stop and search 

There’s also a protest at Tottenham police station on Saturday against stop and search:

Haringey Stand Up To Racism

End Stop & Search
Scrap Section 60
Ban the Taser

Peaceful Protest Saturday 11 July 12 noon – 1.30pm

outside Tottenham police station, High Road N17 9JA

Thanks to all who made last Saturday’s protest in Duckett’s Common a success. This week we take the campaign back to Tottenham Police Station on the High Road. Bring banners and placards – let’s keep up the momentum!

Black Lives Matter
This is a static, socially distanced protest. Wear a mask.

Please share and circulate to your networks.

Facebook event

Instagram here

Twitter here

news, UK

3 cops share racist material on WhatsApp of Kayode Ewumi meme

More disturbing news emerged today from inside the police – this time the Cambridgeshire Constabulary.

One officer has been suspended and two others placed on restricted duties after sharing racist material on WhatsApp.

An image of actor Kayode Ewumi that had previously gone viral was reposted but with the word “monkey” added underneath.

Kayode Ewumi meme

That was followed up with another officer posting a photo of a monkey hanging from a tree.

One of the officers in the officers’ unit is from a black and minority ethnic background and the vile messages found their way to his phone.

His 17-year-old son saw the images when using his parent’s phone and contacted the media.

“I felt it was my duty to speak out about this. It has really upset my family. I’m speechless and shocked. I think we should expect more from police officers.

Yes we should expect more but sadly the evidence – if further evidence were needed – is piling up about the institutional racism that plagues the police force.

It is past time that officers who have committed racist offensive be sacked from their jobs forthwith, but here we again have suspension on full pay and so called “restricted duties”.

Enough!

news, UK

Michael Holding and Ebony Rainford-Brent – our latest BLM stars

Michael Holding and Ebony Rainford-Brent’s hard-hitting and moving speech on the striving for racial justice stirred sports fan and others. Thank you.

Michael Holding in his prime was a magnificent fast bowler in the all-conquering West Indies cricket teams sides of the 1970s.

Both the England and West Indies team and all the officials took part in the Take The Knee event at the beginning of the first test match of the series.

Holding on white power…

“Everybody has heard about this lady in a park in America who was asked by a black man to put her dog on a leash, which is the law,” Holding said.

“She threatened this black man with her whiteness, saying that she was going to call the police and tell them there was a black man threatening her.

“If the society in which she was living did not empower her or get her to think that she had that power of being white and being able to call the police on a black man, she would not have done it.

“It was an automatic reaction because of the society in which she lives. If you don’t educate people they will keep growing up in that sort of society and you will not get meaningful change.”

Ebony Rainford-Brent

One-time international cricketer Ebony Rainford-Brent said her piece, and she didn’t hold back either.

“I’ve been in team environments, dealing constantly with people referring to ‘your lot,’” she said with tears in her eyes.

“I questioned myself why I stayed sometimes so long, I love the game, I think it has so much more to offer.

Former English cricketer Ebony Rainford-Brent broke down when speaking about the impact racism had on her during her time playing cricket. (Image: Sky Sports)
Former English cricketer Ebony Rainford-Brent broke down talking about the impact of racism

“But it can be really difficult dealing with that day in day out.”

Ebony said education needs to change:

“It can’t be a ‘black person’s problem’, it has got to be everyone’s problem. We have got to want a society that is representative and supports people from different backgrounds,” she said.

“That’s what it is for me. We need honest conversations, opportunities and people in positions of power. And then we can change the landscape.”

Invention of the filament light bulb

Say his name: Lewis Howard Latimer – inventor of the light bulb, as we were reminded in the history lesson from Michael Holding. Thank you again.

Lewis Howard Latimer – inventor of the light bulb
Lewis Howard Latimer – inventor of the light bulb
news, UK

Roberts brothers Darren and Darrell and Osime Brown – 3 steps for justice

Table of contents
Roberts brothers and Brown casesStop these deportations
Step 1: Read more about itStep 1: links to background
Step 2: Find your MPStep 2: MP lookup
Step 3: Write a letter templateStep 3: letter template
The Windrush BetrayalGet the book, watch video

The Home Office plan to deport UK-born Darrell and Darren Roberts to countries they have NEVER been to. Due to failures of social services they have never received UK citizenship. Despite serving their time, they face deportation due to short prison sentences.

Darrell and Darren “were taken into the care of social services when they were 13 after the deaths from cancer in quick succession of their mother and later of the uncle who looked after them when she died. Their father had moved abroad before their mother’s death and they have had no contact with him for decades.” (The Guardian) 

The Home Office similarly plans to deport Osime Brown, a 21 year old autistic man, to Jamaica (a country he left when he was 4 and has no current family connections with). He has been in the UK for 17 years. He was wrongfully incarcerated and has been sent a deportation notice.

These injustices demonstrate failures of social services and the Home Office, underscoring the evident systemic racism that lies within.

The following link is a call to action, urging people to educate themselves on these stories and write to their MP (including an email template). Unfortunately, the official UK parliament petition website does not allow petitions about individuals, and Parliament does not acknowledge or recognise petitions from other websites.

 shorturl.at/fsFJ9 

Download resource (also reproduced below): Download

Step 1: Read more about it

Darrell and Darren Roberts’ case

Osime Brown’s case

The National Autistic Society’s response to Osime Brown’s case 

Background on deportation and Windrush Scandal 

Step 2: Find your MP’s contact details

Click here!

Step 3: Write to your MP

Feel free to write your own words or use the following template:

Dear _____________ MP,

My name is ______, I am ______ years old and have been constituent of ______ for _____ years. I am writing as I’ve recently read of a few similar stories that have completely angered me (though not completely shocked). 

Today I read the news that London-born twins Darrell Roberts and Darren Roberts are facing deportation to countries they have never been to. Due to indisputable failures of Ealing social services, these London-born young adults, never received UK citizenship. 

Similarly, an autistic 21-year old man named Osime Brown faces deportation to Jamaica, which he left when he was 4 years old – he has no family connections there. He too was terribly failed by the social care and education system. Here is a link to the National Autistic Society’s response to this injustice, as well as their letter to the Home Secretary.

As your constituent, I am urging you to take action, revoke these deportation notices and stop these deportations. These stories demonstrate failures of social services and the Home Office, underscoring the evident system racism that lies within. 

Please use your position of power and influence to stop these deportations, along with the many others I have not mentioned today, and push conversation and action in parliament to address the Home Office’s horrible history of deportation of Black UK-born or raised residents. 

I look forward to hearing back.

The Windrush betrayal

The Roberts brothers and Osime Brown are just the latest victims of the WIndrush scandal.

When former prime minister Theresa May introduced her infamous ‘hostile environment’ regime it led to many people from the Windrush generation and their descendants being caught in the Home Office’s unfair and draconian measures to hunt down ‘illegal immigrants’, even though these people were originally invited to the UK by the British government.

Many who came to the ‘Mother Country’ did not regularise their status by seeking British citizenship or a passport.

Then when they accessed public services under the new regime, they were unable to produce documents proving citizenship and one thing led to another.

People lost their jobs, were billed massive amounts for health care services, were deported and some went on holiday and were then refused re-entry to the country.

Tragically others committed suicide or were drive to despair and mental illness by the constant worry of the knock on the door from immigration authorities.

Journalist Amelia Gentleman has written the definitive investigation of this continuing scandal and you can order your copy here:

The Windrush Betrayal by Amelia Gentleman

Watch her recent talk at the Bookmarks bookshop:

news, UK

Bianca Williams police say sorry but accused of lying to excuse racial profiling

London police have finally apologised to British sprint star Bianca Williams after the racial profiling outrage perpetrated on her and her husband Ricardo dos Santos – and their baby three-month old baby – at the weekend.

The pair were stopped and handcuffed for the ‘crime’ of being black while driving a luxury vehicle – a Mercedes.

Sorry is definitely the hardest word for the Metropolitan Police Service. Getting the apology out of them was like pulling teeth.

The cops apologised yesterday – apparently after pressure form the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.

And their boss, Commissioner Dame Cressida,  apologised again today in parliament before the Home Affairs Select Committee.

But the apologies are hardly just recompense for the vicious racial profiling, which is why the Met is facing the prospect of being sued by Williams.

Police accused of lying to excuse actions against Bianca Williams

In an attempt to defend their actions, the police appear to have made up a story about Bianca Williams driving at speed on the wrong side of the road. Here’s what they said, in part, in their statement:

Officers witnessed a vehicle that was being driven in a manner that raised suspicion, heavily braking and accelerating which included driving on the wrong side of the road. They indicated for it to stop but it failed to do so and accelerated off. The officers caught up with the vehicle when it stopped on Lanhill Road. The driver initially refused to get out of the car.

“That is false, we were never on the wrong side of the road. We were driving down through single-width roads,” insists Williams.

“We only found out about us driving on the wrong side of the road once they tweeted.

“This isn’t the first or fourth or fifth time, it must be about the 10th. It’s getting ridiculous.

“We are planning on taking it down the legal route. I feel very hurt by their actions, and to witness my partner being taken away and for me to be taken away from my son, my heart hurts .”

Police racial profiling on the rise?

This is just the latest in an avalanche of such encounters. Whether it is the heightened awareness following the BLM protests or the police actually becoming more racist in their practice is hard to say, but either way it is pouring fuel on the fire.

The police have now also been forced to refer themselves to the Independent Office for Policing Conduct. (IOPC)

The IOPC was set up to replace the discredited Independent Police Complaints Commission. However, nothing has changed at the new rebranded institution apart from the name.

The IOPC is still very much a case of the police investigating the police, so don’t expect any relief to come via that route.

Ban Section 60 stop and searches

Bianca Williams’s trauma resulted from a police search in Maida Vale west London that seems to have been carried out under Section 60.

This law, in which the stop and search powers were reinstated in August last year, now allows police, from the rank of inspector upwards, to put in place powers over large areas to stop and search without providing a reason.

Section 60 powers can be enforced borough-wide, and even on a number of adjacent boroughs, on the flimsiest of pretexts, such as the suspicion that a knife was about to be used to commit a crime or such a weapon was seen in the hands of someone on the streets.

Campaigners are gearing up to ban the use of Section 60 searches.

The prevalence of stop and search has no proven effect on either deterring the commission of a crime or detection.

BLM protests continue to take place around the country, with two planned for London this weekend – on Saturday and Sunday.

events

London BLM protest weekender, Saturday 11th US embassy 2pm, Sunday 12th Marble Arch 2pm

Protest called by All Black Lives UK

As per last week, start 2pm Marble Arch and marches to Parliament Square (not Downing Street).

BLM protest on Saturday 11th Assemble US embassy 11th July

Part of a nationwide turnout for Breonna Taylor and all innocent black people in the UK and US.

We are marching against institutional racism!

#LDNBLM

art and culture

Statues and history done right in an era of BLM: Kara Walker’s Fons Americanus

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Following the controversy surrounding the long overdue toppling of Confederate statues in the US and those of slave traders here in the UK, the Black Lives Matter movement is charged with wanting to erase history.

No, we want to tell the true story of what happened in history and its legacy today.

What follows is an excerpt from the Tate Modern celebrating American sculptor Kara Walker’s Fons Americanus –

Delve deeper into 2019’s Hyundai Commission by Kara Walker

TRANSCRIPT

Photograph of Kara Walker's 'Fons Americanus' at Tate Modern
Kara Walker Fons Americanus Tate Modern 2019 (detail). Photo: © Tate​ (Matt Greenwood)

INTRODUCTION

ART TERM

Allegory

Allegory in art is when the subject of the artwork, or the various elements that form the composition, is used …

‘My work has always been a time machine looking backwards across decades and centuries to arrive at some understanding of my “place” in the contemporary moment.’ – Kara Walker

Kara Walker is an artist whose work explores ideas around identity, race, sexuality and violence. She works in a variety of mediums, including painting, print-making and installation. For Tate Modern’s 2019 Hyundai commission, Walker has created a large-scale public sculpture in the form of a four-tiered fountain. Fons Americanus questions how we remember history in our public monuments. At the same time, the work presents a narrative on the origins of the African diaspora.

Fons Americanus is inspired by the Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace, London. The memorial was designed in 1901 and unveiled in 1911 to honour the achievements of Queen Victoria who was the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1837–1901), as well as the Empress of India. Rather than a celebration of the British Empire, Walker’s fountain inverts the usual function of a memorial and questions narratives of power. Walker explores the interconnected histories of Africa, America and Europe. She uses water as a key theme, referring to the transatlantic slave trade and the ambitions, fates and tragedies of people from these three continents. Bringing together fact, fantasy and fiction, Fons Americanus stands as a representation of this narrative in the form of an allegory or fable.

Photograph of Kara Walker's 'Fons Americanus' at Tate Modern. Detail shows captions on the wall
Kara Walker Fons Americanus Tate Modern 2019 (detail). Photo: © Tate​ (Matt Greenwood)

The full title of the work is painted on the wall of the Turbine Hall. Written in Walker’s own words, the text encourages us to confront a history often misremembered in the UK. She presents the artwork as a ‘gift … to the heart of an Empire that redirected the fates of the world’. Walker has signed the work ‘Kara Walker, NTY’, or ‘Not Titled Yet’, in a play on British honours awards such as ‘OBE’ (Order of the British Empire).

WHY A MONUMENT?

The Victoria Memorial outside Buckingham Palace, London being unveiled for the first time in 1911
The Victoria Memorial outside Buckingham Palace, London being unveiled for the first time in 1911

Walker’s choice to create Fons Americanus in the form of a public fountain is significant in the wake of recent student demonstrations to take down monuments that celebrate colonial histories in both the US and UK. Fons Americanus turns the celebration and honouring of monuments inside out. The monument asks uncomfortable questions by exploring a history of violence against Black people of Africa and its diaspora that is often unacknowledged.

As you enter the Turbine Hall, you first encounter a smaller monument of Shell Grotto. Taking the form of scalloped shells from art historical depictions of the Roman goddess Venus, Walker’s shell encases a weeping boy inside a well, almost completely submerged in water. His head floats just above the surface as if drowning or emerging from the depths, with pools of water running from his eyes.

Walker’s Shell Grotto connects to the ruins of a colonial fortress on Bunce Island in Sierra Leone. Bunce Island was one of many commercial forts where European slave traders and African merchants traded and captured men, women and children ready for them to be sold on the plantations of the New World or America.

Walker’s weeping boy and well question how these traumatic histories are now celebrated. The weeping boy bounces back from the depths of waters to interrogate what we choose to remember and what we forget. How can we see the monuments in our public spaces in a new light?

More at Tate Modern by following the links below:

events, news, UK

Hands off Sistah Space – defend services for women survivors of abuse

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Protest to support black women’s organisation in Hackney at 5pm on Friday 10 July.

Sistah Space is threatened with closure by Hackney Council.

Violence against women has increased markedly during the pandemic.

This is already a vastly under resourced sector, so it is outrageous that the local government cannot at the least dip into its reserves to keep Sistah Space operating.

Please give your support to the black survivors of domestic and sexual abuse.

Donate to the gofundme and join the protest.

@sistahspace_