December 15, 2016
By Brandon I Brooks
Managing Editor
“We have to keep going,” said Reverend Jesse Jackson to all those anxious about the coming Donald Trump era in the United States.
“Deep water doesn’t make you drown. You drown because you stop kicking.”
Jackson spoke to the Sentinel/L.A. Watts Times recently about the factors contributing to Trump’s victory and the strategies needed to navigate through the pending administration’s potentially harmful policies.
“[Hillary Clinton] had a two and a half million vote margin victory,” Jackson told the Sentinel.
“Yet, the loser won and the winner lost because of something called the electoral college, a group of overseers of the popular vote. If this were in South Africa or Mexico, or Britain or France and the loser had a two and a half million vote win and yet the loser won, it would be incomprehensible.
“The rules must be changed. We must wipe out the electoral college. It has no useful function in today’s world of one person one vote…”
Widespread voter suppression tactics were also a contributing factor, Jackson said.
“They may come in the form of voter ID. They may come in the form of only one day to vote,” he explained.
“Take a state like California or Pennsylvania you only have one day to vote. Given the distance that people have to travel to work in California… many people leave (for work) before the polls open or come home after the polls are closed. That is a form of voter suppression. Making precincts less accessible is also a form of voter suppression.”
Trump he said, spent lots of time accusing Democrats of voter fraud but no evidence of fraud was ever found. However, there was plenty of evidence pointing to voter suppression tactics. These tactics chip away at the civil rights African Americans and other minorities fought so hard for in this country.
“We got the right to vote in 1965 for the first time in 85 years,” said Jackson.
“But we’ve been denied the protected right to vote. The crown jewel of [the African American] struggle is the protected right to vote. But in Florida, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Michigan [during this election] there was voter suppression.
“We want the protected right to vote.”
And, the first issue when it comes to that Jackson explained, is Trump’s potential pick for attorney general, Jeff Sessions.
“The attorney general determines, voting, women’s rights, workers’ right to organize…,” Jackson said.
Sessions, a four-term Alabama Republican has been described as a “hard-liner” on free trade and immigration, arguing that prospective immigrants don't have constitutional protections. He has opposed efforts to overhaul prison sentencing, back off the war on drugs and legalize marijuana.
“We must protest vigorously against Jeff Sessions.,” he said.
“He has made it very clear that he does not support the voting rights act. We cannot have an attorney general who is against the voting rights act, arguing the case to diminish it in front of the Supreme Court.”
In addition to the AG issue, Jackson listed several other issues that will absolutely need to be addressed during the Trump administration’s term, in order to maintain a safe level of human rights in the United States. He mentioned things like changes in voting policies and procedures, gaining more access to media ownership for African Americans, more roundtables on urban policy and fighting to keep the Affordable Healthcare Act in place.
“In the future we should have supervised Federal elections, not states’ rights,” Jackson said.
“Number 2, 18-year-olds should be automatically registered to vote. Number 3, there should be voting on all campuses. Number 4, we should have pictures on ballots so people can see who they are voting for…
“The second issue is telecommunications. We must have our share of media ownership. The third is healthcare. They plan to replace affordable health care without an alternative. If it’s repealed it must be replaced immediately. Twenty two million people now have affordable health care because of Obamacare.
“Those persons losing their healthcare may never recover. People will die between the time when they kill it in January and the three years before it comes up again. They will have debt issues, etc. We should fight for affordable health care.
“We need to fight to wipe out student loan debt and make education affordable and accessible again. We should demand an urban policy. We need a White House conference on urban policy to address the causes and cures of violence. We need to address things like the impact of poverty and plans to rebuild cities torn apart by homelessness.
“If we maintain our will to fight back, we can win even though the odds are against us…”
Jackson turned 75 earlier this year, and on December 17, he will be here in Los Angeles to continue the celebration at the Beverly Hilton hotel.
December 08, 2016
LAWT News Service
Compton and Alaska Native youth leaders will join Compton Mayor Aja Brown and the First Lady of Washington State, Trudi Inslee at the White House Roosevelt Room on Thursday, December 8 as featured participants in the Roundtable on Diversity, Youth & the Outdoors. Also joining the Roundtable will be representatives from REI, the Campion Foundation, and other nonprofits, foundations, and corporations focused on programs that use the outdoors as a platform for leadership development.
"We are extremely excited for the opportunity for Fresh Tracks to visit the White House under President Obama's administration,” remarked Mayor Brown. “Fresh Tracks has been a phenomenal experience for Compton youth, that has exposed them to once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that will foster their drive and passion to be global leaders that are dedicated to expanding access for their communities."
The Roundtable, hosted by the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Obama Administration’s My Brother’s Keeper Initiative, aims to identify ways to expand initiatives to connect urban and opportunity youth with the outdoors.
The youth participating in the roundtable are alumni of Fresh Tracks Leadership Expeditions, a partnership between IslandWood, the Sierra Club, and the Children & Nature Network’s Natural Leaders Network. Fresh Tracks, which launched in August 2016, was inspired by the Obama Administration’s commitment to connecting more young Americans to the outdoors.
Fresh Tracks brings together emerging leaders from culturally diverse communities for two-week expeditions that combine cultural sharing, outdoor exploration, service learning, and workforce education. The August expedition connected two cohorts of participants from the Los Angeles area and Alaska Native communities.
Jared Savage, 18, a high school senior in Compton California says, “What I take from Fresh Tracks is that I can push myself farther than what I think I can do. If I set limits on myself, I won’t be able to reach my full potential.” Since completing Fresh Tracks, Savage earned his private pilot’s license and hopes to someday fly youth from Compton to Alaska so they have similar experiences.
Joining Savage in Washington will be Esau Sinnok, 18, of Shishmaref, Alaska, a community imperiled by the effects of climate change. After Fresh Tracks, Sinnok began his sophomore year at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. “After I graduate from college I want to go back to Shishmaref Alaska my hometown and run for president of the tribal council so that I can make a positive change for future generations.”
For more information about Fresh Tracks visit: islandwood.org/freshtracks.
December 08, 2016
By Charlene Muhammad
Contributor Writer
Some 10,000 water protectors in camps at Standing Rock, North Dakota and supporters worldwide claimed a victory after Pres. Barack Obama halted construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL).
Jo-Ellen Darcy, the Army’s Assistant Secretary for Civil Works announced the Department of Army would not approve an easement allowing the pipeline to cross under Lake Oahe.
She said there is a need to explore alternate routes, as well as an environment impact study on how the 1,172 mile $3.8 billion pipeline would affect the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. The Tribe heavily relies on the lake and Missouri River for drinking water.
Darcy’s office had announced on November 14, 2016 that it was delaying the decision on the easement to allow for discussions with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, whose reservation lies 0.5 miles south of the proposed crossing, the Army has reported.
Dave Archambault, II., chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, said it will be forever grateful to the Obama Administration for the historic decision.
“We want to thank everyone who played a role in advocating for this cause. We thank the tribal youth who initiated this movement. We thank the millions of people around the globe who expressed support for our cause. We thank the thousands of people who came to the camps to support us, and the tens of thousands who donated time, talent, and money to our efforts to stand against this pipeline in the name of protecting our water,” Archambault said in a statement posted to the Tribe’s website, StandWithStandingRock.net.
“We especially thank all of the other tribal nations and jurisdictions who stood in solidarity with us, and we stand ready to stand with you if and when your people are in need,” he continued.
Throughout the effort, Archambault stressed the importance of acting at all times in a peaceful and prayerful manner, and that is how they will respond to the decision, he said.
The Tribe and supporters looked forward to being able to return home and spend the winter with their families and loved ones, and celebrating, but many people vowed not to leave the camps.
The first, Sacred Stone Camp, was established in April on the land of Ladonna Brave Bull Allard, a Standing Rock Sioux historian. The other, Oceti Sakowin Camp, also known as the “Big Camp,” was established as hundreds of tribal nations and worldwide supporters, descended Standing Rock to help protect the water. That included 2,000 of veterans who were still making their way to Standing Rock at press time.
“I think the war has just begun,” Allard stated. “Everybody’s getting ready to march and stand up. Indian people, we already know. We’ve been through this 500 times. We know they lie. We trust no one. We have a long history of not trusting,” she stated.
She stated DAPL workers never stopped working and vowed to continue.
Indeed. Energy Transfer Partners and Sunoco Logistics Partners openly defied the Obama Administration’s decision, and announced in a press statement that it would keep constructing the pipeline.
“In spite of consistently stating at every turn that the permit for the crossing of the Missouri River at Lake Oahe granted in July 2016, comported with all legal requirements, including the use of an environmental assessment, rather than an environmental impact statement, the Army Corps now seeks to engage in additional review and analysis of alternative locations for the pipeline,” read the companies’ joint press statement.
“The White House’s directive today to the Corps for further delay is just the latest in a series of overt and transparent political actions by an administration which has abandoned the rule of law in favor of currying favor with a narrow and extreme political constituency,” the document continued.
The Dakota Access Pipeline would connect the Bakken and Three Forks oil production areas in North Dakota to an existing crude oil terminal near Pakota, Illinois, according to the Army. It’s projected to transport approximately 470,000 barrels of oil per day, with a capacity as high as 570,000 barrels.
Approximately 200 Native tribes and tens of hundreds of environmentalists and activists united to protest (self-dubbed ‘water protectors’) the pipeline. It would be detrimental to their food and water, the Natives argued.
They’ve been met by brutal law enforcement and private security forces who’ve unleashed police dogs on unarmed men, women and children, pepper spray, concussion grenades, and water cannons in sub-freezing temperatures.
In September, the Standing Rock Sioux sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to block the operation of Corps permitting for the Dakota Access Pipeline, saying it improperly granted permits, but was denied.
The construction, which runs within half a mile of its reservation in North and South Dakota, would destroy sites of cultural and historical significance, the Tribe further argued.
And it has, according to Allard. DAPL workers have desecrated 380 sacred sites, including the burial sites of her son and others, she said during a Mni Wiconi (Water is Life) Benefit panel discussion held to raise money for the Tribe’s legal fees on Nov. 25.
Allard’s been on the ground for more then eight months now. She was compelled to get involved because of what was happening to her son’s grave, she said.
“What happened at the camp was the youth became the leaders…They stood up…The youth is who people listened to … They are who understood what was happening more than we did. They are our leaders,” Allard stated.
David Walker, Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Councilman at Large said the Dec. 4 announcement by Darcy was good, not only for tribal people, but for all people.
“We all don't have all the answers, but for today, we can rest our heads knowing that our voices were heard. We raised our voices up through the direction of our ancestors. Through prayer and our spirituality, we were given guidance to raise our voices and raise awareness and to be acknowledged from the most powerful person in the free world, Pres. Obama and his administration, that in itself says a lot,” Walker stated.
December 01, 2016
By JAMES MacPHERSON
Associated Press
Dakota Access oil pipeline protesters will not follow a government directive to leave the federal land where hundreds have camped for months, organizers said Saturday, despite state officials encouraging them to do so.
Standing Rock Sioux tribal leader Dave Archambault and other protest organizers confidently explained that they'll stay at the Oceti Sakowin camp and continue with nonviolent protests a day after Archambault received a letter from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that said all federal lands north of the Cannonball River will be closed to public access Dec. 5 for “safety concerns.”
The Corps cited the oncoming winter and increasingly contentious clashes between protesters, who believe the pipeline could harm drinking water and Native American cultural sites, and police.
“We are wardens of this land. This is our land and they can't remove us,” said protester Isaac Weston, who is an Oglala Sioux member from South Dakota. “We have every right to be here to protect our land and to protect our water.”
The vast majority of the several hundred people fighting against the four-state, $3.8 billion pipeline have created a self-sustaining community at the sprawling camp, which is on Corps land in southern North Dakota, and have put up semi-permanent structures or brought motor homes and trailers in advance of the harsh winter.
On the unseasonably warm Saturday, people were chopping wood and setting up tents at the encampment, which is more than a mile from a Missouri River reservoir where the final large segment of the pipeline is yet to be completed due to the Corps consulting with the tribe. Authorities had set up a staging area about a mile away on a hill overlooking the site.
Dallas Goldtooth, a protest organizer with the Indigenous Environmental Network, said it is “an atrocious example that colonization has not ended for us here as indigenous people,” and that the government’s request will escalate already rocky tensions.
Representatives from the Army Corps of Engineers didn’t immediately return multiple messages Friday or Saturday seeking comment and verification of the letter. Last month, the Corps said it would not evict the encampment, which started as overflow from smaller private and permitted protest sites nearby and began growing in August.
President Barack Obama raised the possibility of rerouting the pipeline in that area earlier this month, something Kelcy Warren, CEO of Texas-based pipeline developer Energy Transfer Partners, told The Associated Press is not an option from the company’s standpoint. Obama said his administration is monitoring the “challenging situation” but would “let it play out for several more weeks.”
Some of the protests have resulted in violent confrontations – one woman suffered a serious arm injury last weekend – and more than 500 people have been arrested since August.
The Corps’ letter, according to Archambault, said that those who stay on the land after Dec. 5 may be prosecuted, and that there’ll be a free speech zone south of the river.
Archambault said Saturday that he doesn’t believe the Corps will forcibly evict people from the camp, adding that the tribe is working to provide protesters protection from the elements on its reservation, which is south of the Cannonball River, but offered few details.
It's the federal government’s job to peacefully close the camp because it allowed people to stay there in the first place, Gov. Jack Dalrymple said in a statement Saturday.
“Our state and local law enforcement agencies continue to do all they can to keep private property and public infrastructure free from unpermitted protest activities, and its past time that the federal government provides the law enforcement resources ... to enforce their own order to vacate,” the Republican said.
Republican U.S. Sen. John Hoeven and Democratic U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp said the protesters need to move for public safety.
“The well-being and property of ranchers, farmers and everyone else living in the region should not be threatened by protesters who are willing to commit acts of violence,” Hoeven said in a statement Friday. He also called on the Obama administration to let work on the pipeline move forward, saying, “this difficult situation has gone on too long and we need to get it resolved.”
Heitkamp said the Corps’ order is “a needed step to support the safety of residents, workers, protesters and law enforcement.”