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Racist Donald Trump Says Kamala Harris ‘Happened to Turn Black’

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Original article by JESSICA CORBETT republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Former U.S. President Donald Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, answers questions from moderator and journalist Rachel Scott during the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Chicago, Illinois, on July 31, 2024. (Photo: Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images)

“This unhinged and shameful person should never be near the presidency again,” said Congressman Robert Garcia. “He’s a disgrace.”

Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s long and well-documented history of racism garnered fresh attention on Wednesday after the Republican nominee’s comments about Vice President Kamala Harris, his presumptive Democratic opponent, at a convention for Black reporters.

During Trump’s appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) event in Chicago, he was asked about racist claims from some Republicans that Harris is a “DEI hire,” a reference to the diversity, equity, and inclusion policies targeted by the GOP.

“She was always of Indian heritage and she was only promoting Indian heritage,” Trump said. “I didn’t know she was Black, until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black. So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she Black?”

Harris, whose nomination process is set to begin Thursday, was born to an Indian mother and Jamaican father. As she recalled in a 2019 debate, she was “a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day.” She went on to graduate from the historically Black Howard University.

Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah, who announced on social media Tuesday that she “decided to step down as co-chair from this year’s #NABJ24 convention,” reported Wednesday that “the crowd has actually been gasping and upset at Trump’s attacks on NABJ, Kamala Harris’ racial identity, etc.”

While some right-wing figures celebrated Trump’s comments about Harris’ identity, there was also significant backlash beyond the convention.

Sharing a video on social media, Nebraska state Sen. Megan Hunt (D-8) said: “Unreal, racist, worth watching, and I have to say it’s a good thing that he’s out on the record in serious spaces talking about how he really feels. Keep it up, here’s your guy, conservatives.”

Congressman Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) declared: “This unhinged and shameful person should never be near the presidency again. He’s a disgrace.”

Harris campaign communications director Michael Tyler said in a statement that “the hostility Donald Trump showed on stage today is the same hostility he has shown throughout his life, throughout his term in office, and throughout his campaign for president as he seeks to regain power and inflict his harmful Project 2025 agenda on the American people.”

“Trump lobbed personal attacks and insults at Black journalists the same way he did throughout his presidency—while he failed Black families and left the entire country digging out of the ditch he left us in,” Tyler continued, echoing the campaign’s comments ahead of the Wednesday event. “Donald Trump has already proven he cannot unite America, so he attempts to divide us.”

“Today’s tirade is simply a taste of the chaos and division that has been a hallmark of Trump’s MAGA rallies this entire campaign. It’s also exactly what the American people will see from across the debate stage as Vice President Harris offers a vision of opportunity and freedom for all Americans,” he added. “All Donald Trump needs to do is stop playing games and actually show up to the debate on September 10.”

Harris supporters and anti-racism advocates have anticipated such comments from Trump and his allies and expect them to continue. Sung Yeon Choimorrow, executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, wrote Monday in a Common Dreams opinion piece, “As a society, we cannot simply brush off verbal attacks and racist misogyny as acceptable speech.”

“Working towards real systemic change in a world that recognizes and addresses the real harm caused by anti-Asian and racialized misogyny,” she argued, “will take all of us speaking up against these kinds of attacks that have been allowed to go on for far too long.”

Original article by JESSICA CORBETT republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Continue ReadingRacist Donald Trump Says Kamala Harris ‘Happened to Turn Black’

International coordinated actions shut it down for Gaza

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Original article republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Across the United States, Australia, and the UK, Palestine solidarity activists took action on April 15 as part of global call to strike for Gaza

Protesters blockade the entrance to O’Hare International Airport in Chicago (Photo: Dissenters)

April 15 marked yet another global day of solidarity with Palestine, in which activists across the globe in countries such as the United States, Australia, and the UK took action for Gaza. Activists were responding to a global call to strike for Gaza, which originated within Palestinian civil society.

In the United States, the global strike for Gaza also coincided with the day that taxes are due in the country (Tax Day). Activists used this as an opportunity to highlight how much of taxpayer money goes to the weapons industry.

In several cities, activists strategically targeted sectors of the war machine, including the offices of Lockheed Martin in Arlington, Virginia, the largest weapons manufacturer in the world. Activists who occupied the Arlington office highlighted that Lockheed Martin receives billions of dollars in taxpayer money each year, which is used to produce the arms that Israel uses to kill Palestinians.

While activists occupied the building, protesters outside marched up to the office doors, staging a rally and shouting at employees inside the building to quit their jobs. 

Activists also blockaded the entrance to a facility belonging to Boeing, another massive weapons manufacturer that supplies Israel, in St. Charles, Missouri.

A facility of weapons manufacturer Pratt and Whitney was also targeted in Connecticut, where organizers blocked the entrance to the factory to impede production. 

On the same day, several activists blockaded the road going to the Chicago O’Hare International Airport, blocking Terminals 1 through 3. Over 40 protesters were arrested after taking this action, who have as of now all been released.

Several bridge blockades took place in the Bay Area. Protesters first stopped traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge, holding banners that read “Stop the world for Gaza” and “End the siege on Gaza now!”

Protesters later took further action and shut down the Interstate 880 in Oakland. Altogether, the California Highway Patrol announced the arrests of 38 people. 

In London, activists with Palestine Action targeted the office of BNY Mellon, demanding that the bank divest with Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons company. BNY Mellon offices in Manchester were also targeted. 

In Adelaide, Australia, pro-Palestine activists occupied the office of Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s office. Activists said this action had been undertaken to “protest the government’s ongoing complicity in, and facilitation of, the genocide occurring in Gaza—a genocide which has been enabled by international forces, like Australia, to continue for over six months.”

In Melbourne, hundreds gathered in front of the parliament building, demanding that the Australian government stop cutting deals with Elbit systems. 

Original article republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Continue ReadingInternational coordinated actions shut it down for Gaza

Chicago Joins ‘Historic Wave of Lawsuits’ Against Big Oil

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Original article by BRETT WILKINS republiahed from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Environmental activists march during the Global Climate Strike in downtown Chicago, Illinois, on September 15, 2023.  (Photo: Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images)

The city alleges the industry “funded, conceived, planned, and carried out a sustained and widespread campaign of denial and disinformation about the existence of climate change and their products’ contribution to it.”

Chicago on Tuesday joined the growing list of U.S. cities and states suing Big Oil for lying to the public about how burning fossil fuels causes and exacerbates the climate emergency.

The administration of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a progressive Democrat, filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court against ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, Shell, ConocoPhillips, Phillips 66, and the industry lobby American Petroleum Institute, which “funded, conceived, planned, and carried out a sustained and widespread campaign of denial and disinformation about the existence of climate change and their products’ contribution to it.”

“The climate change impacts that Chicago has faced and will continue to face—including more frequent and intense storms, flooding, droughts, extreme heat events, and shoreline erosion—are felt throughout every part of the city and disproportionately in low-income communities,” the suit contends.

In a statement, Johnson said that “there is no justice without accountability.”

“From the unprecedented poor air quality that we experienced last summer to the basement floodings that our residents on the West Side experienced, the consequences of this crisis are severe, as are the costs of surviving them,” he added. “That is why we are seeking to hold these defendants accountable.”

Climate campaigners welcomed the lawsuit.

“Big Oil has lied to the American people for decades about the catastrophic climate risks of their products, and now Chicago and communities across the country are rightfully insisting they pay for the damage they’ve caused,” Center for Climate Integrity president Richard Wiles said in a statement.

“With Chicago, the nation’s third largest city, joining the fray, there is no doubt that we are witnessing a historic wave of lawsuits that could finally hold Big Oil accountable for the climate crisis they knowingly caused,” he added.

Chicago joins eight U.S. states plus the District of Columbia and numerous municipalities across the country that have sued to hold Big Oil accountable for deceiving the public about its role in the climate emergency.

“To date, eight federal appeals courts and dozens of federal district courts have unanimously ruled against the fossil fuel industry’s arguments to prevent these lawsuits from moving forward in state courts,” noted the Center for Climate Integrity. “In 2023, the U.S. Justice Department added its support for the communities. The U.S. Supreme Court has denied Big Oil petitions to consider the industry’s appeals of those lower court rulings three separate times, most recently in January.”

Angela Tovar, Chicago’s chief sustainability officer, told the Chicago Sun-Times that “the fossil fuel industry should be able to pay for the damage they’ve caused.”

“We have to see accountability for the climate crisis,” she added.

Original article by BRETT WILKINS republiahed from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Continue ReadingChicago Joins ‘Historic Wave of Lawsuits’ Against Big Oil