Cynthia McKinney on the Sean Bell Verdict

Cynthia McKinney
Statement on the Sean Bell Verdict
April 26, 2008

"[T]he legislation and histories of the time, and the language used in the Declaration of Independence, show, that neither the class of persons who had been imported as slaves, nor their descendants, whether they had become free or not, were then acknowledged as a part of the people, nor intended to be included in the general words used in that memorable instrument. . . . [A]ltogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior, that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect."

And with that, the United States Supreme Court ensured that the 20th Century would be defined, as W.E.B. DuBois wrote, by the color line. So, while we might be outraged at the Sean Bell decision itself, it comes directly from the flawed jurisprudence that gave us the Dred Scott Decision in 1857, Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, Bakke in 1978, Croson in 1989, Adarand in 1995, Gratz in 2003, and all of the Ward Connerly-inspired attacks on the very same affirmative action hard won by students facing water hoses and dogs; men and women facing jail, lynch mobs, and death.

Interestingly, according to Attorney Roger Wareham of the December 12th Movement's International Secretariat, the criminal justice system in this country "always finds a rationale for letting off cops who kill black and brown people." Indeed, police officers seem to know that they can kill certain people with impunity.

Just in New York City alone, Wareham rattles off the murders that have defined police-"communities of color" relations over two generations:

Clifford Glover, 1972
Louis Baez, 1978 shot (22 times)
Randolph Evans, 1979
Eleanor Bumpers, 1985 (a grandmother)
Amadou Diallo, 1999
Patrick Dorismond, 2003
Sean Bell, 2006

Sadly, New York City isn't the only city, with this plague. In 2001, the Dayton Daily News reported that Cincinnati topped the list of police killings of Blacks, having had 22 people shot, 13 fatally. All black men. Three unarmed. Plus two additional deaths due to police use of chemical irritants.

The 2001 "Cincinnati Intifada" lasted for three nights after a white police officer murdered an unarmed black teenager. Timothy Thomas was the fifteenth black male killed by Cincinnati police over a six-year period. I traveled with Ron Daniels and others to Cincinnati to support the call by black residents, including Reverend Damon Lynch III and 36 other ministers, for a boycott of that city. Still reeling from the effects of the boycott, Cincinnati made headlines again in 2003 when the world watched as one black and five white police officers repeatedly beat Nathaniel Jones with batons and then left him in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant, only to be pronounced dead later at the hospital.

The "Benton Harbor, Michigan Intifada of 2003" lasted two nights after the murder of an unarmed black motorcyclist by white police officers. Adding insult to injury, the residents of majority-black Benton Harbor are reeling under an attempted takeover of the last "undeveloped" beachfront property on Lake Michigan. The residents are under attack by the Whirlpool Corporation, that wants to develop "Benton Shores" and move all of the residents completely out of the town. The purported goal of the development is to turn Benton Harbor into one of the "hottest vacation destinations in the country," to include a members-only indoor water park, and a Jack Nicklaus golf course. According to Reverend Edward Pinkney, the valiant leader who is trying to save Benton Harbor for the people, Harbor Shores will result in a complete takeover of Benton Harbor, a city that is 96% Black. Reverend Pinkney has been in jail since December 14, 2007 on trumped- up charges including violation of probation, for writing an article calling the chief judge racist. Mrs. Pinkney called the Office of Michigan Congressman John Conyers, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee to ask for justice for the residents of Benton Harbor and for her husband. Shockingly, Chairman Conyers refused Mrs. Pinkney's plea to get involved in this heroic struggle of a 96% Black community in his own state. When I visited Benton Harbor, it was clear to me that Reverend Pinkney has the full support of the area's residents, black and white, as they struggle to maintain the character of their community. Reverend Pinkney is recognized by the people as true hero and occupies a jail cell because of it.

Finally, however, someone broke the silence and admitted it. Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper wrote in his book, "Breaking Rank," that white police officers are afraid of Black men. He develops this theory in a chapter of the book entitled, "Why White Cops Kill Black Men." Finally: a hint of truth coming from the other side. In a June 16, 2005 interview with the Looking Glass News, Stamper says that he personally believes "that white cops are scared of black men. The bigger or darker the man, the more frightened the white cop. I can't shake that; it's a belief I will take to the grave."

So while the corporate press would have us believe that reporting on what a former Vice Presidential nominee says about a Presidential candidate is a discussion of race, the prospects are that black and brown men and women will continue to be murdered by police officers who, fundamentally, seem scared of black people. That fear apparently extends to the larger community because juries construct ways to let murderous police officers escape just punishment.

Roger Wareham, and the December 12th Movement International Secretariat raise, inside the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, the details of the type of police abuse in which a 92-year old grandmother, Kathryn Johnston, is murdered by police in Atlanta, Georgia and her family still has not seen justice or been made whole. Or where a young black male, also in Atlanta, can be sitting in his mother's car and is murdered because the police presume that the car is stolen.

The December 12th Movement has asked for United Nations Rapporteurs to come to the U.S. on fact-finding missions so that the U.S. can finally be listed as a major human rights abuser and a Rapporteur assigned to this country. Already, the Special Rapporteur on Racism and Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance is coming to the U.S. from May 18 - June 6 and will be in New York City on May 21st and 22nd. The December 12th Movement is scheduled to have a hearing for him at the Schomberg Center where the issue of police killings will be raised. The Rapporteur is also scheduled to visit DC, Chicago, Omaha, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Miami, and San Juan.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur for Summary and Arbitrary Executions, Mr. Phillip Alston, is conducting a Mission to the U.S. in June. The Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is also interested in reports of police abuse. If a consistent and systemic pattern of abuse exists (which it clearly does in the United States), the United Nations General Assembly can pass a resolution which helps creates international public opinion and perhaps the political will to stop it.

Certainly, doing the same thing--a cycle of protest without punishment--will net the same results. Something different must be done. That's why I authored legislation to deny federal funds and the use of federal equipment to any law enforcement unit found to have violated the civil rights of the people it is organized to protect and serve. Imagine if we had the laws on the books and the apparatus of enforcement. Imagine if juries wouldn't grant impunity to killer cops.

Some of you have written to me suggesting that we do something different: perhaps a full-scale boycott. Perhaps a full-scale, all-out political response--something many in this generation have never done before.

Bobby Kennedy always said, "Some men dream of things that are and say why. I dream of things that never were and say why not."

It is not impossible for us to have justice. We don't have to lose any more people to police abuse, brutality, or murder. But, in order to change things, we're going to have to do some things we've never done before in order to have some things we've never had before.

Are you willing to entertain that idea? Today? Right now? If we demand more of our elected representatives, I'm convinced we will get it. And it should be clear exactly what is needed if we don't get what we demand.

To read more of my writings, please visit www.allthingscynthiamckinney.com.

McKinney Wins In Michigan

Michigan Greens Apportion, Elect Convention Delegates Unanimously

For Immediate Release
April 20, 2008

Green Party of Michigan
www.migreens.org

For More Information, Contact:
Fred Vitale, Chair chair@migreens.org
GPMI Media Committee jalp@triton.net


McKinney Wins 13 of 19 Statewide Votes for 1st Ballot at GPUS Convention July 10-13 in Chicago; 3 for Nader; 1 Each for Mesplay, Swift, Uncommitted; Locals Will Pick, Instruct 5 More Delegates

Party Starting Drives to Boost Membership, Recruit Record Number of Candidates; Will Post "Announced" Candidates List Online by May 13 to Help Groups Considering Endorsements

Other Michigan political parties may be having problems allocating and seating national-convention delegates. But not the Greens.

At a statewide meeting Saturday in Romulus, the Green Party of Michigan (GPMI) unanimously agreed on ten men and nine women to serve as delegates to the GPUS Presidential nominating convention July 10-13 in Chicago.

Also, GPMI Elections Co-ordinator John Anthony La Pietra announced the results of a statewide membership poll taken to bind those state-selected delegates' votes on the first ballot in Chicago. Former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney got 64% of the first-place votes in the poll, earning 13 delegates. Consumer advocate Ralph Nader -- the 1996 and 2000 Green Presidential candidate, but running as an independent this year as he did in 2004 -- finished second with 17% of the vote and three delegates. Kent Mesplay of California and Kat Swift of Texas each also earned one delegate; one vote in the delegation will go to the convention uncommitted.

The poll also invited members to list their preferences beyond a first choice. La Pietra reported detailed alternative results (counted using instant-runoff voting and approval voting) which delegates may use to help make up their minds on how to vote in any later ballot.

Five GPMI locals -- Detroit Greens, Flint Greens, Huron Valley Greens, Traverse Bay Watershed Greens, and Van Buren County Greens -- qualified to select and bind one delegate each. The State Central Committee will fill any vacancies and find alternates.

But 2008 is not only a Presidential election year. Other candidates and issues were also hot topics of discussion Saturday.

GPMI's share of the ambitious national goal of 1,000 Green candidates in 2008 is 67. "That's half again as many as we've ever had before," notes La Pietra. "But we're about a third of the way there already." And, along with a membership drive, the party will reach out to more potential candidates using free, on-line, and alternative media and invitations to groups GPMI partners with on issues.

One new effort is an official list of candidates who have taken specific steps to show they are serious about running for a place in the Green column on the November 4 ballot. GPMI will post a list of these candidates on its Web site www.migreens.org by May 13.

Some groups that endorse candidates schedule their process around that date -- the deadline for Democrats and Republicans to file for the August 5 primary. But candidates of Greens and other parties can't get on a primary ballot, so they may not get equivalent official status until after the primary. GPMI hopes its list will give endorsing groups and voters more timely notice of Green candidates.

A breakout session in Romulus discussed ways to help Green candidates co-ordinate statewide. GPMI is focused on five campaign themes: ending the Iraq War, universal health care, the global environment, the economy, and the energy crunch. Members reported on policy ideas and actions ranging from helping "re-house" unfairly evicted families to a Truth Commission on affordable water for people versus profitization of water systems in the Detroit area and to fighting sulfide mining in the UP.

The meeting unanimously reaffirmed GPMI's support for the "Compassionate Care" medical-marijuana proposal on the November ballot. Greens also welcome the discussion of universal health care that would surround another proposed ballot issue, but have some doubt that the current proposal goes far enough in providing health care to people instead of subsidies to health-insurance corporations.

GPMI is looking at one more statewide meeting before the GPUS nominating convention, possibly in the Lansing area in mid-June. And Michigan Greens in Chicago may invite the newly-nominated Presidential ticket to "follow them home" to GPMI's own nominating convention the following weekend, July 19-20. Such a campaign visit might tie in with planned rallies in Benton Harbor five years after Governor Granholm's visit to that city, and her unkept promises to help its people, after riots sparked by the Terrance Shurn incident.


created/distributed using donated labor


Green Party of Michigan
548 South Main Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
http://www.migreens.org
734-663-3555

GPMI was formed in 1987 to address environmental issues in Michigan politics. Greens are organized in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Each state Green Party sets its own goals and creates its own structure, but US Greens agree on Ten Key Values:

Ecological Wisdom
Grassroots Democracy
Social Justice
Non-Violence
Community Economics
Decentralization
Feminism
Respect for Diversity
Personal/Global Responsibility
Future Focus/Sustainability

Rally for Mumia Abu-Jamal

Kat Swift, Cynthia McKinney, and Kent Mesplay

On Saturday, April 19th, Green Party's Presidential Candidates, Jesse Johnson, Kent Mesplay, Kat Swift and Cynthia Mckinney spoke to the rally for Mumia Abu-Jamal in the wake of the recent appeals court ruling finding judicial bias in his sentencing hearings while refusing to address the judicial bias and prosecutorial misconduct during the underlying trial.

Here is the audio of Cynthia's speech

Kent Mesplay: An Open Letter to the Organizers of Science "Debate" 2008

An Open Letter to the Organizers of Science "Debate" 2008:

I would like to call attention to the apparent exclusion of alternative party candidates from the “Science Debate 2008.” Global Climate Change, in particular, is an important Green Party topic as it affects public health and safety, contains social injustice elements and is related to non-sustainable development. Moreover, as an Air Quality Inspector II for the county of San Diego, the issue is close to my vocation and avocation.

Selection of a “15% rule” of popularity for inclusion is arbitrary, capricious and unscientific. Some points must be made regarding “viability.” In 2004 the Green Party presidential candidate, David Cobb, was statistically capable of being elected president (see Richard Winger’s Ballot Access News). Especially during the primary election season, events such as yours further perpetuate the myth that there are only two political parties in this country by excluding alternative parties and limiting actual debate. Our candidates do quite well when they are heard. Would you now exclude Mrs. Clinton as she appears to not be a viable candidate? How about excluding John McCain since a broad coalition of progressives are united in seeing an end to Republican control and damage? Your “formula” does not account for the roughly half of the potential voter population perhaps being sufficiently inspired by an actual multi-party debate to register to vote and to participate. Nor does the benchmark account for late-breaking campaigns with “exponential” growth: witness the late-breaking run of Matt Gonzalez who nearly won the mayor-ship of San Francisco!

A Green Party presidential candidate would do well enough in your “debate” to subsequently poll over 15%. If you are accepting two Democrats then certainly you have room for one Green (and our party could decide whom to choose). I ask that you allow a Green to participate, especially in light of the subject matter and the reality of onerous, inconsistent ballot access laws that, together with exclusion from polls and “debates,” effectively outlaw political free speech.

Gore would not have done as well as he did had Nader not inspired people to register to vote by his run (a scholarly study backs this up). Plus, more Democrats voted Republican in Florida in 2000 than voted Green. Are you interested in facts or propaganda? It would seem the latter.

Thank you for reconsidering,

Kent P. Mesplay, Ph.D.
www.mesplay.org

Science Debate 2008 - candidates shut out and we make our own

Posted by Kat Swift in April 8th, 2008

so there was this group who wanted presidential candidates to come to the Science Debate 2008, at least three Green Party candidates, said we’d be there.

Then the exclusion came when a specific poll was used as one of the criteria - when have you ever seen a green candidate in a mainstream poll?

So off we were to protest our exclusion and guess what? the mainstream three candidates who were allowed in the debate blew them off! No debate.

They could have had a debate with at least three candidates and probably more.

so we’re still going to Philidelphia on April 18th:

Delaware County, PA Green Party and Democracy Unplugged present
A Third Party candidates Forum on Friday, April 18th at 7:30
at Swarthmore Borough Hall 121 Park Avenue
(first floor Council room)

green shirts and white electrical taped mouths….why won’t the “top three” answer the questions:

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20080317_Among_science-debate_questions_put_to_candidates.html

Faith discussion is more important it seems….what about faith that your president is willing to be challenged on matters of national security vis a vis science and technology and other hot topics of the century?

Drug War Chronicle: The 2008 Presidential Campaign: On the Left, the Greens and the Nader Campaign

The 2008 Presidential Campaign: On the Left, the Greens and the Nader Campaign

Drug War Chronicle
Issue #532, 4/18/08
StopTheDrugWar.org
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/532/2008_presidential_campaign_green_party_nader


With the Democratic Party presidential contenders offering little more than tepid reforms on the margin of drug policy and the Republican nominee largely promising more of the same old drug war (look for an article next week on major party contender crime and drug policies), people seeking radical reforms in US drug policy are looking beyond the two major parties. Last week, Drug War Chronicle examined the alternative on the right, the Libertarian Party, and its presidential campaign. This week, we turn our view to the left, to the Green Party and the independent campaign of Ralph Nader.

While third-party alternatives like the Greens or Libertarians have not succeeded in winning large percentages of the popular presidential vote -- the 2000 Nader Green candidacy garnered only 2.7% of the national vote, and the 2004 competing Nader and Green candidates combined for little more than half a million votes nationally -- in a close election, third parties could throw a state's electoral votes to one or the other of the major party candidates. Just to take one example, countless Democrats are still fuming that the 2000 Nader campaign cost them the election by garnering slightly under 100,000 votes in Florida.

"A third-party campaign could make a difference in a tight race," said Bill Piper of the Drug Policy Action Network, the lobbying arm of the Drug Policy Alliance. "In this election, it could come from either side of the political spectrum."

While conservatives and libertarians interested in drug reform have the Libertarian Party, for liberals and progressives, the Green Party comes closest to a palatable drug policy. In its most recent social justice platform, adopted at the 2004 national convention, the party calls for -- among other things -- repealing "Three Strikes" laws and mandatory sentencing, an end to asset forfeiture for unconvicted suspects, a moratorium on prison construction, the decriminalization of victimless crimes including marijuana possession, the legalization of industrial hemp, and "an end to the war on drugs."

"Law enforcement is placing too much emphasis on drug-related and petty street crimes, and not enough on prosecution of corporate, white collar, and environmental crimes," said the platform. "At the same time, we must develop a firm approach to law enforcement that directly addresses violent crime, including trafficking in hard drugs. Violence that creates a climate of further violence must be stopped. Police brutality has reached epidemic levels in the United States and we call for effective monitoring of police agencies to eliminate police brutality."

While the Green Party platform has its contradictions -- it calls for marijuana decrim and an end to the drug war, but also defines selling drugs as "violent crime" -- it is miles ahead of the major parties on drug policy. And the current crop of Green Party presidential candidates appear to be ahead of the party platform.

Former Democratic Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney looks to be the front-runner for the party nomination at this stage, primarily because of her high name recognition and national reputation. On her web site, McKinney says bluntly, "We want to end the war on drugs now!"

In addition to targeting communities of color, "the War on Drugs has become a war on truth, taxpayers, civil liberties, and higher education for the poor and middle class, and sadly, it has also become a war on treatment, addicts, and reason," says her statement. It also "provides cover for US military intervention in foreign countries, particularly to our south, and that this increased militarization is used to put down all social protest movements in countries like Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and elsewhere."

"This is a big issue for Cynthia, especially as it impacts communities of color and regarding the prison industrial complex," said John Judge, a McKinney press spokesman.

It's also a big issue for other Green candidates. "Drug policy is a big issue for me, it affects my daily life," said contender Kat Swift, a San Antonio-based political activist and former co-chair of the Texas Green Party. "I work at a homeless center, and we deal with drug issues all the time. We're across the street from a park with a lot of illegal drug sales. I've also had friends and family members arrested for having a joint."

Swift said she is looking to long-time drug reform activist and former Connecticut Green Party gubernatorial candidate Cliff Thornton, and his group, Efficacy for guidance on drug policy issues. "Cliff has submitted an amendment to our drug policy plank that would call for legalizing and regulating all drugs, and I don't know that I differ with him on this at all," she said.

For Swift, drug policy is a pivotal issue. "This is an area where race and class and even how we treat women and children is at play," she said. "This is about the prison-industrial complex and keeping people in their class."

"I am opposed to the war on drugs," said contender Kent Mesplay, who came up in California Green Party politics and now serves as a delegate to the Green National Committee. Calling the drug war a "vestige of Puritanism," he added that "it is, in effect, a war on poor people with terror for us all when we realize how completely the US government attempts to micro-manage our lives. It would be far better to have governmental agencies put money and effort into actually educating people as to the science of drug use."

And just in case that wasn't clear enough, Mesplay added, "Yes, I have smoked marijuana and I favor its decriminalization."

Neither the other Green Party presidential contender, Jesse Johnson, nor the Nader campaign responded to Chronicle requests for information on their drug policy positions. Johnson's campaign web site does not mention drug policy, nor does Nader list it among his "Twelve Issues that Matter in 2008," although his web site says it is open for more issues and he has embraced drug reform in past campaigns.

According to the Green Party web site, McKinney stands alone at the head of the pack in the delegate count, but that's with only three states having decided. The contest for the party's nomination will be on until the party national meeting later this summer.

Once again, people for whom drug reform is a major issue will have a choice, whether on the left or the right. They can vote for parties and candidates who support their drug policy positions, but who have little to no chance of winning, or they can vote for a Democrat in hopes of obtaining reforms on the margins, or they can vote for the Republican despite their drug policy convictions.

[This article was published by StoptheDrugWar.org's lobbying arm, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also shares the cost of maintaining this web site. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so. Writing staff attempted to craft this article with full journalistic integrity as we do with our 501(c)(3) publishing.]

Green Presidential Debate - Feinstein, Riles KPFA backstage interview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqJHHRCdaWk
15:48

Former Green officeholders Mike Feinstein (Mayor, Santa Monica) and
Wilson Riles, Jr. (City Council, Oakland) are interviewed backstage by
Larry Bensky on Pacifica radio station KPFA, Berkeley, California,
immediately preceding the Green Party 2008 Presidential Debate, January
13th, 2008. Herbst Theatre, San Francisco. www.cagreens.org www.GP.org
www.feinstein.org

Watch the debate!www.gp.org/2008-elections/presidential-videos.php

For more video of Green Party events and members
http://www.youtube.com/user/mfeinsteintube
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=mfeinsteintube

Happy Earth Day!

From Cynthia McKinney
(http://www.runcynthiarun.org).....


Hello all! I was invited to deliver an Earth Day
message to the students at Cal State Northridge.
I hope you enjoy my remarks:

Cynthia McKinney


Earth Day Celebration
California State University, Northridge
April 15, 2008

I would like to thank the students at Cal State
University, Northridge for inviting me to speak
on campus today. I have just returned from an
exciting trip to Mexico City and I'd like to
share some of my observations with you this
afternoon.

First of all, it is important to note and ask the
question why is it that the corporate press are
not even touching the events playing out right
now in the capital city of our neighbor to the
south and their importance to us? Had I not
actually been there myself, I would be hard
pressed to convince any audience that events of
this magnitude were actually taking place
anywhere in the world, let alone in a country as
important and close to us as Mexico.

A quick review of today's press shows us that we
are currently being titillated by news of sex
tapes featuring Marilyn Monroe and another such
tape featuring an unnamed British Royal. The top
of the news hour greets us with information of an
intemperate statement made by a former television
executive about a current Presidential candidate;
video is plentiful of the contorted Presidential
theatrics around the Olympic Games Opening
Ceremony in Beijing. We were treated today to
the visual of the Pope descending from the
Alitalia jet. But, while we have more television
stations that feed us 24-hour news, we are less
informed. We have more and more political
pundits feeding us, what Fred Hampton described
as "explanations that don't explain, answers that
don't answer, and conclusions that don't
conclude."

CNN even tells us in a feature story who suffers
as a result of a choice made by our policy makers
to emphasize ethanol as a preferred method of
weaning a hulking, overfed economy off its
petroleum-based consumption habit. But they
forgot the other half of that equation: who's
winning? And it's the "who's winning" part that
is just about always the key piece of
information, that could guide us, especially when
the choices of our elected leadership diverge
from the core values of the voters who elected
them.

And yet, as we speak, the Mexican Senate Chamber
has been occupied. The massive rally held today
has probably just ended, and some of the
opposition Members of the Mexican Congress are
inside the building on the dais and have
announced a hunger strike. Days ago, one of the
leading papers in Mexico City had a photo of the
Chamber of Deputies of the Mexican Congress with
an unfurled banner covering the Speaker's
Rostrum, proclaiming the Chamber "Closed." The
banner was hung by elected Members of the Mexican
Congress who constitute the Frente Amplio
Progresista that has dared to draw a line in the
sand against U.S.-inspired legislation just
introduced to allow foreign corporate ownership
of PEMEX, Mexico's state-owned oil company.

Mexican women are energized around the idea of
nation. The idea of patria. I wrote my Master's
Thesis on the "Idea of Nation." And to see the
women, in their t-shirts and kerchiefs, so
committed to their country, their nation, their
identity. To them, that's Mexico's oil, natural
gas, electricity, land, and water and it ought to
be used by the Mexican people first and foremost
for their own national development. But sadly,
it's the public policy emanating from Washington,
D.C. that threatens that.

But to tell that story accurately, would also
require that the U.S. corporate press expose why
this citizen outrage exists in the first place.
And to tell that story, they would have to expose
the fact of a stolen Presidential election, where
a private U.S., Georgia, corporation, possibly
played a role in stripping citizens of their
right to vote and have their votes counted.
Well, while that might sound like what happened
in the United States, centering in Florida, in
the U.S. 2000 Presidential election, I'm really
talking about the 2006 Mexican Presidential
election in which the popular candidate didn't
win because all the votes weren't counted.

According to Greg Palast, the U.S. corporation
involved in the Mexican move was none other than
that now infamous Georgia-based company:
Choicepoint. We know that in Florida,
Choicepoint, then doing business as DataBase
Technologies, constructed an illegal convicted
felons list of some 94,000 names, many of whom
were neither convicted nor felons. But if your
name appeared on that list, you were stopped from
voting. Greg Palast tells us that for most of
the names on that list, their only crime was
"Voting While Black."

Under a special "counter-terrorism" contract, the
U.S. FBI obtained Mexican and Venezuelan voter
files. Palast learned later in his investigation
that the U.S. government had obtained, through
Choicepont, voter files of all the countries that
have progressive Presidents. Many Mexicans went
to the polls to vote for their President, only to
find that their names had been scrubbed from the
voter list, and they were not allowed to vote.
So now, not only in the United States, but in
Mexico, too, one can show up to vote and not be
sure that that vote was counted, or worse, one
can show up duly registered to vote, and not even
be allowed to vote.

I guess this is the way we allow our country to
now export democracy.

Unlike in the United States in 2000, Mexico City
was shut down for 5 months when Lopez Obrador,
Mexico's Al Gore, refused to concede and instead,
formed a shadow government.

The issue in the 2006 Mexican election was
privatization of Mexico's oil; it is the riveting
issue taking place in Mexican politics today.
Teachers on strike at the same time as the
Presidential elections in Oaxaca, one of the
poorest states in Mexico, began their political
movement as a call for increased teacher salaries
and against privatization of schools. Due to
heavy-handed tactics used by the government
against the teachers, tens of thousands of
citizens joined them and took over the central
city area of that state. Today, after Mexico has
added teachers and those who support teachers to
its growing ranks of "political prisoners,"
teachers are still protesting their conditions,
the reprisals taken against them for striking,
and now, the teachers' union is a committed part
of the national mobilization against
privatization of PEMEX.

I was invited to participate in the Second
Continental Workers Conference. The first
meeting was held in La Paz, Bolivia. And so,
people from all over Mexico and eight different
countries told of their struggles, their hopes,
their ideals, their values, their patriotism,
their desire for peace—no more war.

Representatives from Chiapas, another one of
Mexico's poorest states, told us of the
indigenous struggle for land and
self-determination, the low-intensity warfare
waged against them, and how now they, too, count
themselves a part of the national mobilization
against PEMEX privatization.

While I was there, mine workers had taken over
the mines, and so, could only send a handful of
inspiring representatives. They are pressing for
the right to unionize, denied to them by the
Government. And the mine workers are a part of
the solid front forming in Mexico to protect this
powerful idea of nation.

I participated in one of the many rallies
organized by opponents of the government's plan
to offer up Mexico's patrimony to the insatiable
multiple U.S. addictions. One woman removed her
brigadista t-shirt and gave it to me—proud that a
citizen of the United States came to stand with
them.

Today's front page of La Jornada says that the
women, who marched 10,000 strong on the day that
I was there, have renewed their protests and
civil disobedience. The threat of violence and
bloodshed is very real.

Now, why should this massive social, political,
and economic upheaval in Mexico, aside from its
human rights implications, be important to us up
here in the United States?

Because the sad truth of the matter is that, in
many respects, it is our military and economic
policies that are causing it. Of course, I
recognize that all the way back to the practice
of Manifest Destiny and the declaration of the
Monroe Doctrine, U.S. policy decisions have at
times sent shock waves to places outside our
borders. You could say that the modern version
of that is NAFTA.

In 1993, the Democratic majority in the United
States Congress supported then-President Bill
Clinton's push for passage of the North American
Free Trade Agreement. The stated purpose of the
legislation was to remove barriers to trade and
investment that existed in North America. The
propaganda had it that the objective was to lift
all boats, in Canada, the United States, and
Mexico through trade and investment. The result
is the stripping away and transfer of Mexico's
patrimony in terms of their natural and human
resources. And the Mexican people are taking a
stand against it. They are taking the same stand
that the little people in Haiti, Venezuela,
Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and
Argentina have taken. With the power of the
vote, the people of these countries dared to
believe that they could peacefully defeat the
colossus to the north. And they did.

And so, in a way, now, I guess I understand why
the corporate press can't tell you and me the
truth about the valiant stand for dignity that's
going on in Mexico, because to truly cover the
story, they'd have to uncover and point out some
inconvenient truths.

One of those inconvenient truths particularly
meaningful to me: There comes a time when
silence is betrayal.

We, the little--and yet so powerful--people in
this country have been way too silent for way too
long on all the issues that mean so much.

Dr. King also said that our lives begin to end
the day we become silent about the things that
matter.

On one of my early days in Congress, I was late
for a vote. I looked up on the board and only
saw green votes; I presumed that the vote was a
non-controversial item on the calendar. Since I
was among the last to vote, there was no time to
inquire. I pressed my green button. Afterwards,
I learned that the vote might have been what
others would have called an "easy" yes vote, but
for my conscience it was a no vote. Later that
night, my heart sank as I watched the news. One
man of 78 years was so angered by that vote that
he threw stones. Only thing, he had a heart
attack throwing stones, and died.

My heart sank. I felt personally responsible for
that man's death and vowed that I would never
cast what they call easy votes, again. My one
vote would not have changed the outcome of the
tally on the resolution. But my one vote would
have been true to my values and my ideals that
everyone is entitled to human rights that are to
be respected.

I got into trouble often after that, because I
recognized my responsibility to read the
legislation, think analytically, question
critically, and vote independently.

That was while I was in Congress. But now that
I'm not, does that mean that the responsibility
is gone? No.

I happened to vote against NAFTA, and I'm glad
for that. But imagine if the all the voters in
the entire United States understood that
something as simple as a vote in a federal
election might determine who lives and who dies
in another country. Imagine, if we in the United
States were as certain of the possibility of
peaceful change through the vote as were the
people of Haiti, Mexico—despite having their
election stolen from them, Venezuela, and the
rest. Then we would vote Members of Congress out
of office who support Plan Colombia. We would
vote Members of Congress out of office who
support Plan Mexico—which like its Colombian
counterpart, is the military answer to the cry of
the people for dignity, self-determination, and
that idea of patria. We would not vote for any
political party that did not have as its agenda
extending the same respect and love of life to
all others as we reserve for ourselves.

And so I come to the additional meaning of Earth
Day, today. I met people in Mexico City who are
willing to die in this struggle—But they
shouldn't have to because the United States wants
their oil. Let us express our respect for the
planet that sustains us by first showing love to
our brothers and sisters beside us. We voters in
the United States do have as much power as the
voters in all those other countries. All we have
to do is believe in ourselves and use it.

Finally, I'd like to recognize the role of
student activists in promoting change. Of
course, it was high school students who faced the
water hoses and the dogs in the civil rights
movement. It was the university students who
faced the riot gear and the bullets in the
anti-war movement. The current
anti-globalization, pro-peace rallies are all
organized and led by young people. Keep it up
and don't ever give in.

Remember that Bobby Kennedy always said "Some men
dreams of things that are and say why, I dream of
things that never were and say why not."

Thank you.

In Depth Interview with Cynthia McKinney

Interview with Cynthia McKinney, Green Party presidential candidate, and Cindy Piester, chair of Citizens for Impeachment, filmed on Feb. 27, 2008.

Grab your popcorn this one is an hour and twenty-one minutes long, but well worth it.

http://www.allthingscynthiamckinney.com/node/319

Polidoc Productions Video of Cynthia McKinney

Green at Last, Green at Last, Thank God Almighty She’s Green at Last!!


Polidoc Productions video of Cynthia McKinney

After years of courtship by members of the Green Party, Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney left the Democratic Party and signed on with the Greens. Ms. McKinney was the first African-American Congresswoman elected in Georgia and represented Georgia’s fourth congressional district, from 1993 to 2003 and from 2005 to 2007. Often ridiculed by the mainstream press over a scuffle she had with a Capitol Hill Police Officer, she is renowned amongst Greens for questioning the Bush administration’s involvement with 9/11, despite her own party’s opposition. Her vocal anti-war stance is a platform that Green Party members can rally behind Her ability to present the Green Party as The Party for Peace and one that can bring social and economic justice to minorities will bring an added dimension to Green Politics.

www.runcynthiarun.org

Cynthia McKinney for President - Explosivo Verde

Cynthia McKinney's Green presidential campaign stops at the Zero Point Art Space in South Los Angeles at the Explosivo Verde Green Party party. Organized by the Los Angeles Greens Saturday, April 12th.
www.runcynthiarun.org



VIDEO: Cynthia McKinney for President - Explosivo Verde
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0qmUMGXZ9s
20:13

The video is a little dark, but the sound and content is good.

Hawaii Retains Ballot Access Through 2018

Charlie Howe from Illinois who gathered 5,700 signatures in the Arizona effort was in Hawaii and helped with this effort. On April 3rd, The Green Party turned in approximately 1,500 and needed only 663 good signatures. This effort allows the Green Party to place its candidates on the ballot through at least 2018. The National Ballot Access Committee helped the effort in Hawaii by donating $2000.

Arizona Green Party Gains Ballot Access!

"Individuals and State Green Parties from all around the nation should be proud of their united effort to gain ballot access in Arizona. This effort represents the good aspects of the Green Party and what we can do when we work together" said Richard Scott, Co-coordinator Arizona Ballot Access Drive. "Working together for change is refreshing and Arizona petitioners have had their spirits buoyed by this incredible flow of financial and on-the-ground help."

There have been numerous guest from out of State helping in both Tucson and Phoenix. Charlie Howe from Carbondale, IL helped in the Phoenix area for a week and assisted with gathering of over 1000 signatures. There have been many more volunteers including Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates. 9 people helped over the last weekend and together assisted in the gathering of over 1000 signatures in the Phoenix area. Craig Thorsen decided to stay and help for another week and others have volunteered to travel to Arizona to help in the final week of effort. Tucson has had 4 volunteers including Kevin O'Connor who has assisted for a week and helped increase Tucson numbers by 2000.

The National Ballot Access Committee helped the effort in Arizona by donating $5000. The early donation helped motivate efforts to seek matching funds. Arizona did a mail solicitation not only for funds but included blank petitions which are now being returned partially or totally filled. Then Greg Jan stepped up to help by setting a goal and motivating all to help Arizona reach the goal. The goal was reached by February 26th. "I can't thank everyone enough," said Scott, "Arizona would never have made it on its own".

Arizona's requirement is for 20,449 good signatures and the Green Party submitted over 35,000 signatures.

Illinois Green Party Files Record Number of Candidates

By the end of today's slating deadline, the Illinois Green Party expects to have some 60 candidates for offices across the state, concluding a major statewide recruiting effort for candidates at federal, state and county levels.

Since the slating period began in early March, the party has added 7 candidates for U.S. Congress and 1 candidate for U.S. Senate for a total of 15 federal legislative offices. Sixteen state legislative candidates were added for a total of 19. At the county level, the
party recruited 10 new candidates, including 5 in Cook County, to bring the total to 26 county candidates across the state.

Illinois ballots will also feature a presidential candidate chosen at the Green Party National Convention in Chicago, July 10-13, 2008.

"Our hard work to establish the party in 2006 has led to the Green Party becoming more competitive in 2008," said Rich Whitney, the 2006 Green Party candidate for governor, who received more 10% of the vote. "I'm encouraged by not only the number of candidates, but the high caliber of candidates for offices at all levels of government."

FULL LIST OF CANDIDATES

C-SPAN wants to know, "What issue in this election is most important to you"

C-SPAN wants to know, "What issue in this election is most important to you, and why?" Shoot a short video response to this question and post it on our YouTube page! Now through the eve of the Pennsylvania primaries, you can upload your video to the YouTube/C-SPAN webpage at www.YouTube.com/cspan. Visit this page to learn more about the project and to share your video. Focus your response on a single issue, and make sure it includes your name and home town. Some of your videos will air on C-SPAN starting on Sunday, April 13, during "Road to the White House" and other C-SPAN political programs. We look forward to hearing -- and seeing -- what our viewers have to say during this historic election!

Global Greens Congress in São Paulo, Brazil, May 1st-4th 2008

86 different national Green Parties from all over the world are meeting in São Paulo, Brazil, for the 2008 Global Greens Congress, next month to discuss international strategic planning and build unity among Green office holders and Green Parties.

U.S. Greens know we're part of the only political alliance in the world today, whose values and global organization can possibly match the international scope of problems we confront.

In truth, Greens are the world's best hope for a survivable, sustainable and peaceful future. Greens in the U.S. are proud to be part of this powerful global movement.

expected results
• Globally, we aim to draw strategies to overcome the climate crisis, considering a post-Kyoto Protocol world and the sceneries that the Greens will have to face.


• We want to identify the actions directed to commercial trade between countries, considering the globalized economy, the international law and the development of technological alternatives, seeking joint initiatives that must be taken by Green Parties and Social-Environmental Movements.

• Nationally, regionally and locally, we expect to establish specific demands that, through Green politics, can be included in the agendas of our present and future governs.


The Global Greens seeks to:

* promote the Global Green Charter among the Green Parties of the world, as well as kindred groups and society at-large;

* stimulate and facilitate action on matters of global consequence; and

* deepen communication among Green Parties and Federations everywhere

Greens: 2008 is Congress's last chance to assert the rule of law and impeach Bush and Cheney for high crimes and abuses of power

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org

Greens encourage passage of a New Hampshire House bill endorsing impeachment, citing widespread Bush Administration war crimes, deception and misinformation, torture, warrantless surveillance, 9/11 cover-up


WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders and candidates called on Congress to use the remaining months of the Bush Administration to impeach and remove President Bush and Vice President Cheney from office for massive abuses of power and violations of the law.

"This is Congress's last chance to show that presidents are not above the law, and that grave abuses of power will not go unpunished," said John M. Wages, Jr., Mississippi Green candidate for the US House (1st District) in an April 22 special election and the November 4 general election (http://www.VoteJohnWages.com).

Greens across the US are encouraging passage of a New Hampshire House of Representatives bill on impeachment. NH House Bill 24, which was introduced by State Rep. Betty Hall and will come to a floor vote on April 16, is similar to one passed in Vermont in November, 2007.

Harold Burbank, Connecticut Green candidate for the US House (District 5), is helping to organize a major rally to promote the impeachment bill on Monday, April 14, (3 pm to 11 pm) at the Capital Center for the Arts, 44 South Main Street in Concord, New Hampshire (http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8480).

"Dan Ellsberg, Ramsey Clark and Bob Bowman, all supporters of my campaign, responded immediately to my request of them to speak at Betty Hall's Impeach Bush-Cheney Rally. An aircraft carrier task force organized around the Abraham Lincoln is steaming to the Persian Gulf as we speak to engage Iran. New Hampshire can help prevent World War III if it passes HR 24 on April 16, and it should," said Mr. Burbank, who is also a member of Veterans For Peace.

The four candidates seeking the Green presidential nomination -- Jesse Johnson, Cynthia McKinney, Kent Mesplay, and Kat Swift -- have all strongly supported the Green Party's call for impeachment. Ms. McKinney introduced a motion for impeachment in December, 2006, her final month as US Representative from Georgia.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, other top Democrats in Congress, and the leading Democratic candidates have dismissed impeachment.

"The refusal of Democratic leaders and the two Democratic Senators running for president to seek impeachment is a sign that Democrats, when they regain the White House, wish to enjoy the same unrestrained executive power and impunity. If Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton are elected in November, some of the worst Bush policies will remain in place. Both Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton have supported and voted for the US Patriot Act, and both intend to continue the occupation of Iraq in some form," said Carol Brouillet, California Green Party candidate for Congress in District 14 (http://www.communitycurrency.org).

Green Party leaders listed impeachable "high crimes and misdemeanors" committed by the Bush White House:


* manipulation of intelligence and numerous deceptions to persuade Congress, the public, and other countries to support an illegal war, including fraudulent allegations about Iraqi WMDs, collusion between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda, and attempts by Saddam to obtain nuclear weapons materials; Vice President Cheney continued to repeat some claims publicly after the White House had conceded that they were not true


* cover-ups of the administration's knowledge of information about the impending 9/11 attacks, including Attorney General Michael Mukasey's recent claim about a pre-9/11 phone call from Afghanistan about the impending attacks, the Bush Administration's failure to pass this information on to the 9/11 Commission, and Mr. Mukasey's misleading statement about FISA restraints and the administration failure to investigate the call (see article links below)


* encouragement of torture, 'extraordinary rendition' of prisoners to exact information, denial of habeas corpus and due process, in blatant violations of the Nuremberg and UN Charters as well as the US Constitution


* warrantless surveillance of US citizens


* hundreds of 'signing statements' meant to exempt the Bush Administration from executing over 1,000 federal laws passed by Congress


* censoring and tampering with scientific research to conceal the seriousness of global warming


* threats to attack Iran despite Iran's lack of any real threat to the US



Greens noted the special role that Bush Attorneys General John Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzales, and Michael Mukasey have played in advocating and defending many of the above abuses, including Mr. Mukasey's recent lack of objection to water-boarding.

The effects of these crimes and abuses of power include:


* the deaths of more than 4,000 US service members and possibly one million Iraqi citizens, as well as countless more maimed because of the US invasion and occupation; displacement of possibly two million Iraqi civilians


* anger and hostility towards the US and US citizens throughout the world, especially in Muslim nations


* broken treaties and alienation of US allies


* damage to US democracy and entrenchment of the administrations' unconstitutional doctrine of 'unitary executive power'


* danger to captured US military personnel and citizens in retaliation for torture committed at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay, and other sites


* a possible regional or global conflict if the US attacks Iran


* plunder of taxpayers' money for the benefit of arms makers, oil companies, and other corporate profiteers like Halliburton and Blackwater


* severe threat to public health and the environment in coming decades because of the White House's failure to address climate change


* cost of the war to US taxpayers, through 2007: $456,000,000,000 $4,100 for every American household $1,500 for every American $3,400 for every taxpayer $11 million per hour $275 million per day (http://www.nationalpriorities.org/cms/publications/local_cost_of_the_iraq_war_through_fy2007)



Greens noted that some of the Bush Administration's offenses were carried out with the cooperation of Democrats and Republicans in Congress.

The Green Party of the United States passed a resolution in July, 2003, urging impeachment of President Bush (http://www.gp.org/position/st_2003_07_impeach.shtml). Greens have maintained an impeachment page (http://www.gp.org/impeachbush) and a petition for impeachment (http://www.gp.org/action) on the party's web site.


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193

Video of Green presidential candidates
http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/presidential-videos.php

Green candidate database for 2007 and other campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml

Green Party News Center
http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml

Green Party Speakers Bureau
http://www.gp.org/speakers
For Green speakers on the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, visit
http://gp.org/speakers/spp.shtml

Green Party ballot access page
http://www.gp.org/2008-elections

Links to Green Presidential Candidates' web sites
http://www.gp.org/committees/pcsc/index.shtml

2008 Green National Convention: Live Green, Vote Green
http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/index.shtml

Media credentialing
http://www.gp.org/committees/media/kit.shtml

Links to Green Presidential Candidates' web sites
http://www.gp.org/committees/pcsc/index.shtml

Articles on Attorney General Mukasey's testimony on a pre-9/11 call from Afghanistan on the attacks and the Bush Administration's powers of surveillance under FISA:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/

Same article posted at
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/03/8071/
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/04/04/doj/index.html
http://citmedia.org/blog/2008/04/03/a-lie-or-terrifying-negligence-why-wont-journalists-demand-an-answer/
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/28/BA69VROE9.DTL

~ END ~

Green Party Update On The 2008 Election

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, cell 202-904-7614, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@gp.org

ILLINOIS

Illinois Greens select US Senate candidate, run record number of US House candidates

PEORIA -- Illinois Green Party delegates, meeting at the party's convention this past weekend, nominated Kathy Cummings to run for the US Senate. The meeting took place at the Bradley Student Center in Peoria, March 28-29.

Illinois Greens also selected delegates to attend the Green Party's national convention, to take place in Chicago, July 10-13 (http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/index.shtml). The Illinois Green Party is allotted 44 delegates out of a total of 836 at the convention (http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/Delegation-Size.php).

Four Illinois Green candidates for the US House addressed the meeting: Omar Lopez, Steve Alesch, Jerome Pohlen and Rodger Jennings. The candidates discussed party growth, alternative energy sources, immigration reform, and the Green Party's strong opposition to the US occupation of Iraq.

Last week, Sheldon Schafer announced his campaign for the US House in District 18, the latest of at least 11 Green candidates for Congress in Illinois. More Green congressional candidates are expected to announce before the filing deadline on Monday, April 7.

Illinois Green Party http://www.ilgp.org
Contact: Patrick Kelly, Media Coordinator,
773-203-9631

US Senate nominee: Kathleen Cummings [WEB SITE]

Congressional candidates:
3rd District: Jerome Pohlen
4th District: Omar Lopez http://omarlopez2008.org
5th District: Alan Augustson http://augustson2008.us
9th District: Morris Shanfield
11th District: Jason Wallace http://www.electwallace.us
12th District: Rodger Jennings http://www.rodgerjennings.net
13th District: Steve Alesch http://www.votesteve.org
16th District: Scott Summers http://www.summersforcongress.com
17th District: Troy Dennis http://www.troydennis2008.com
18th District: Sheldon Schafer
19th District: Vic Roberts http://www.vicroberts.net



WISCONSIN

Cynthia McKinney wins Wisconsin Green Presidential Preference Primary

OSHKOSH -- Cynthia McKinney received a majority of the votes cast in the Wisconsin Green Party Presidential Preference Primary. Ms. McKinney received 79% of the vote; Kent Mesplay received 10%; write-Ins for Ralph Nader 5%; Kat Swift 2%; uncommitted 2%; and Jesse Johnson 1%. (Mr. Nader is running as an independent and is not seeking the nomination of the Green Party of the United States.)

The primary was held on Saturday, March 29 during the Wisconsin Green Party's Spring Gathering and Presidential Preference Convention at the River Center at the Gruenhagen Conference Center, University of Wisconsin in Oshkosh.

Wisconsin is allotted 24 delegates to the Green Party's national convention.

Wisconsin Green Party
http://www.wisconsingreenparty.org
Contacts:
Ron Hardy, Co-chair, 920-292-8129
Cindy Stimmler, Co-chair, 715-417-0637

Green Presidential Candidates:
Jesse Johnson http://www.jesse08.org
Cynthia McKinney http://www.runcynthiarun.org
Kent Mesplay http://www.mesplay.org
Kat Swift http://www.voteswift.org


MORE INFORMATION


Green Party of the United States
www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193

Video of Green presidential candidates
http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/presidential-videos.php

Green candidate database for 2007 and other campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml

Green Party News Center
http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml

Green Party Speakers Bureau
http://www.gp.org/speakers

Media credentialing
http://www.gp.org/committees/media/kit.shtml

Green Party Meeting Monday April 14th

Our next meeting will be Monday April 14th, from 7pm-9pm at the GAGV on the 5th floor of The Rochester Auditorium Center, 875 E.Main St at the corner of Prince St.

We will be discussing Green Party presidential candidates, our nominating process, and the selection of delegates to the 2008 Green National Convention: Live Green, Vote Green will take place in Chicago, from Thursday, July 10th to Sunday, July 13th.

April 8th Special Election for Congress

Barry Hermanson is the Green Party's candidate for this Tuesdays special Congressional Election. Barry has spent is life working on improveing wages for workers.

http://www.barryhermanson.org/

* Co-author in 2003 of San Francisco's minimum wage initiative, improving wages for 54,000 people.
* Co-chair, S.F. Living Wage Coalition (1999 and 2000). Passed legislation that increased wages and provided health care for 20,000 workers.
* Past president of one of the largest neighborhood merchant associations in San Francisco.
* Chair of the board of a non-profit housing corporation which provides low income housing in S.F.
* Former co-chair, S.F. Local Homeless Coordinating Board.
* Member, California Universal Health Care Organizing Project
* Barry's former business Former small business owner in S.F. employing more than 3,000 workers during 25 years of operations.


U.S. Budget Priorities



This chart represents the 2007-2008 U.S.
discretionary budget, the portion of the budget that the President and
Congress create each year. It does not include Social Security,
Medicare, Medicaid and interest on the national debt.

Pentagon: On August 5th,
2007, the Democrats in Congress voted 208 to 12 to provide the Dept. of
Defense with $460 Billion in funding for the year. Next year, President
Bush is asking for $515 Billion.

Iraq: Bush wants $196 Billion
for the war in Iraq this year. Capitulating to veto threats, House
Democrats have consistently supplied money without restrictions.
National debt will increase by more than $2 TRILLION.
The “New Direction Congress”

The portion of the budget already devoted to the military is approximately 60%. But according to Nancy Pelosi's
year-end message, the "New Direction" Congress is "authorizing funds to
begin increasing the size of the Army and Marine Corps."

This is
madness! We have more than 800 military bases around the world. We
don't need more. We spend as much as the rest of the world combined.
Additional spending will not make us safer.

Crumbling Infrastructure
I-35W
in Minneapolis Structural stability of bridges is rated on a scale of 0
to 100%. The I-35W bridge in Minneapolis scored 50%. The Doyle Drive
approach to the Golden Gate rates only 2%.

The U.S. military has
been far stronger than any potential opponent for decades. Yet, in
recent years, we've doubled military spending at the expense of
investing in our people. As a result, the economy is increasingly
vulnerable.

Bad trade deals and manufacturing flight have
hollowed out our industrial base. Outsourcing and lack of vocational
training have weakened our middle class. Our universities produce too
few engineers, scientists, doctors and nurses. We continue to rely on
old technology that spews pollution into our air and water. Much of our
infrastructure is reaching the end of its useful life. Each day,
national debt mounts.

The collapse of the Soviet Union was
accelerated by its invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Just as we are
doing today in Iraq, the Russians poured resources into war. Similarly,
the Roman Empire's attempt to control too much territory was a major
reason for its disintegration. We now have more than 800 military bases
around the world. Even more are planned.

The good news is that
Americans have always been remarkably resilient. By moving away from a
war economy, we can return to fundamentals: investing in education,
career training, green jobs and technology innovation. We must end
George Bush's nightmare in Iraq, then shift our priorities into
sustainable economics and fiscal responsibility!

The choice is simple. Do we continue to invest
in military might or do we invest in people?

Cynthia McKinney in Mexico City

Cynthia McKinney
Segundo Encuentro Continental de los Trabajadores
Mexico City, Mexico
April 4, 2008


Brothers and Sisters in the Movement

I am happy to be here in Mexico City where the people all over Latin America are on the move:

On the move for justice, self-determination, and peace.

I love that you have created a Power to the People movement with your votes that is stronger than the mightiest military force on the planet!

With the power of your vote you have taken your countries back.

Now, all we have to do is to count all the votes in the United States and Mexico!

In the 2000 U.S. Presidential election, an estimated six million people went to the polls and voted, but their votes weren't counted.

In 2000, and again in 2004, Democrats helped to install Republicans into power rather than fight for the victory that the voters had given them.

As a result of this kind of collusion, the Democratic majority in our Congress has failed to impeach Bush. They have failed to institute a livable wage, stop the multiple wars the U.S. is fighting right now, and they have failed to protect human rights anywhere in the world, including even at home.

That's why I left the Democratic Party.

I refused to become complicit in war crimes, crimes against humanity, crimes against the peace, spying on the American people, and ripping our Bill of Rights to shreds.

And so I declared my independence from the U.S. leadership that gave us tax cuts for the wealthy and a country 53 trillion dollars in debt and Hurricane Katrina.

To my brothers and sisters at this Conference and in the United States, I say:

Hands off Haiti!

Hands off Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Argentina now making a claim for the Falklands!

Hands off Venezuela and Ecuador!

No to Plan Mexico; No to Plan Colombia! Hands off Pemex!

And finally, it was on this date, 40 years ago, that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered.

We now know that Dr. King was murdered as part of a conspiracy that included his own government. Hatched in the bowels of the Pentagon, where so many other regime change operations have been hatched, the government of the United States launched regime change at home on Black America. We blacks in the United States have long known the pain and the consequences of having authentic leadership snatched from us; of having someone else pick our leaders before we pick them ourselves.

I am proud to join this international movement for self-determination; for justice and for peace. Despite today's difficulties, we must never let our dream be deferred. We in the U.S. gain inspiration from your successes here so we can carry the struggle to every nook and cranny of the United States.

Que vivan los pueblos de america!

Wikinews Interviews Cynthia McKinney

Wikinews interviews Cynthia McKinney

March 7, 2008

Wikinews: Why are you running for president?

Congresswoman McKinney: It is clear that the country needs an additional political party that is not beholden to special interests or corporate lobbyists. Just 5% of the electorate, voting for a third party candidate gets the nation just that. Therefore, for those who are tired of the ability of special interests and corporate interests to subvert the will of the people, their values, or change their policy makers, winning the 5% is the best way to infuse structural change into our political system.

A victory for the Green Party in this election is possible and necessary. The alternative we present will appeal to the large numbers of disfranchised voters who do not see the major party candidates addressing their issues. In order for a democratic government to work in the public interest, it has to be both transparent and accountable. If 5% vote Green, it will put a third chair at the table of American politics, and it will open the door to the people to see what is going on inside the two-party system that has become controlled by corporations and the expanding power of a military, industrial, and intelligence complex that President Eisenhower warned of in 1960. The Green Party will represent the voices of the majority of diverse and disfranchised voters and citizens and will directly and effectively address their issues.

I spent my birthday last year protesting in front of the Pentagon. At that rally, I stated that upon winning a majority of the seats in the Congress, the Democratic representatives should have repealed the Bush tax cuts, repealed the Patriot Act, the Secret Evidence Act, and the Military Tribunals Act. And that the majority in Congress should have voted a livable wage for America's workers. And that someone should be trying to locate the $2.3 trillion lost by the Pentagon to pay instead for jobs, health care, and education. I was saddened by the Democratic majority's failure to stop funding the war, and declared my own independence from a national leadership that gave us war crimes, torture, and crimes against humanity. Unfortunately, there is not a major party candidate in the race that has not voted to fund this war. And that vote to fund what is clearly an immoral and illegal war is a vote of complicity in the torture and war crimes that are being committed as part of this war.

The deep economic morass which is facing our country today is not being adequately addressed. We are witnessing, through the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the greatest wealth transfer in our history from Black and Latino households. Yet, while they are being asked to tighten their belts, the CEOs of the banks that caused this crisis are reaping maximum pay. Even the solutions proposed by the major candidates focus on using taxpayers' funds to reimburse the banks instead of funding alternative refinancing in the poorest communities. It is clear that in this scenario, the banks always win.

Well, I think it's time that the people win. Our children shouldn't have to graduate from college one hundred thousand dollars in debt. That is a policy choice made by public policy makers. We don't have to have 48 million Americans without access to health insurance, and even more who are under-insured. Our Congress doesn't have to authorize an increase in national borrowing to nearly $10 trillion shrouded in secrecy. This country should not have racial disparity gaps wider now than at the time of the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. But these are the facts about conditions that Americans are forced to live through every day. Sadly, our policy makers would rather have our country spend $720 million a day on war. Just imagine what that amount could buy in a single payer health care system, education subsidies from Head Start to university, or green technology home conversions and sustainable, safe and non-polluting energy sources.

Politics can change things. I have seen that in my lifetime. But we must have policy makers committed to the kind of public policy that reflects our values and those policy makers must be more than marionettes whose strings are pulled by forces not seen or understood by the voters. Those are some of the compelling reasons why I chose to leave the Democratic Party after many years and to run for President on the Green Party ticket.

WN: You were a Democrat until not too long ago. Why the switch to the Green Party?

Congresswoman McKinney: The Green Party is an international party that makes policy in other countries in the world. Due to the importance of environmental issues, Green issues are the issues of today. The Ten Key Values of the Green Party stress us getting along with each other in harmony with the planet that gives us life. We need to get along with each other, and we need to respect our environment. The Green Party also is not constrained in its policy positions by considerations of large corporate donors because the Green Party is supported by individuals who share its values, not large donors intent on gaining concessions at the expense of the people and the U.S. national interest.

WN: If elected, how would you handle Iraq?

Congresswoman McKinney: I would instruct the Joint Chiefs to draw up a plan for the orderly withdrawal of all U.S. troops from the country. I would dismantle our military bases in the area, and I would also demand that U.S. and other international corporations relinquish any claims to Iraqi oil or other resources and withdraw as well. I would encourage the Iraqi people to select their own leaders through the ballot box with assistance from the best minds in the universities regionally and in the world, in very much the same way that the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa was written. I would support the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to inaugurate a just peace and I would deploy a Peace Corps to the country that would work in concert with the reconstruction needs of the Iraqi people and their leadership.

I would go further than Iraq. I would deconstruct AFRICOM, the new continent-wide U.S. military command set up in Africa, to show the world that the United States has more to share with it than its military might, destabilizing covert operations, nukes, bombs, and missiles. I would work with the Congress to make sure that the face of U.S. engagement with the world is not a military one.

WN: How would you handle abortion?

Congresswoman McKinney: I would not change Roe v. Wade, I would protect and expand women's reproductive rights, and I would work with Congress to bolster family planning and protection against sexually transmitted diseases here and abroad. I would also support better sex education in our schools and community centers, as well as making safe and healthy preventive measures available through heath care providers and community programs to reduce unwanted pregnancies and the spread of HIV/AIDS. Many factors come into any woman's decision to get pregnant or have an abortion. We are still missing effective policies to insure safe, affordable and effective birth control for both genders, programs that support education and employment for single parents, courts that insure child support payments, and available health care through pregnancy and childbirth, and for children.

WN: There are thousands reading this right now. What could you say to convince them to give you their vote?

Congresswoman McKinney: People in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Haiti, India, Italy, Nicaragua, and Spain decided that even during their deepest national tragedies, they would vote their values, their dreams, and their aspirations. The governments that resulted were not just face-changes, but were governments reflective of the people's deep longing for real change. As a result, policies are being offered and implemented that reflect the truest values of the people--they want to enjoy peace and the right of self- determination.

I believe in the good that our government can do to respect civil liberties, the dignity of work,
restorative justice (not just incarceration for profit), and peace. I believe that whoever wins the
general election right now, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton or John McCain, the people will still need a third party with standing to keep them accountable. But to achieve these goals, 5% of us are going to have to do something we've never done before in order to have something we've never had before. I am taking a stand for justice and for peace. I hope others willing to step outside of the two-party paradigm will join me in an effort to make the structural change in the political system that our country so urgently needs.

Cynthia McKinney: "Is Power Redefining the Politics of Women?"

Cynthia McKinney
Rutgers University Annual Women's Month Symposium
"Is Power Redefining the Politics of Women?"
March 28, 2008

I would like to thank the Students Association, the faculty, and the Administration for thinking about me and inviting me to be here this afternoon with you as we celebrate Women's History Month.

It is appropriate to think about the status of women here at home and around the world because we also just celebrated International Women's Day. Of course, as a Black woman, I'm committed to improving the status of both women and Blacks.

The theme of this year's Women's History Month Symposium is "Women Redefining the Politics of Power." I believe that we should also investigate the extent to which "The Powers That Be," that is, "Power" with a capital "P" has redefined women's politics—to the detriment of women. So I have entitled my speech, "Is Power Redefining the Politics of Women?" I believe we should also ask the same question with respect to African-Americans.

Here's why.

It was my father who literally pulled me into the political arena and taught me its power.

You see, I saw, in my life, a direct benefit from the kind of political action that presses a specific demand. We were not involved just to be active—we were involved with a purpose, to make a difference. Of course there were men and women who were involved because they sought adulation from others and politics was a way to get that, but it was important for me, and those around me, to be able to distinguish the sincere candidates of change from the sycophants. It was important that candidates and incumbents alike, voters and constituents, be the ones pressing the system at all times, with nothing in mind but our interests, therefore making a difference for all of us. We felt that anyone holding an official position, not pressing for our interests, was not working on behalf of the community. We were trying to redefine the politics of power.

My story starts with my father who was arrested in his Army uniform, still on the train coming home from Europe, and when that train stopped, he went into the station to taste that white water. He drank from the white water fountain, still in his U.S. Army uniform, and promptly got arrested.

That was my father's welcome back to the United States after serving his country to make the world safe for democracy.

Shortly after that, my father became one of Atlanta's first Black police officers. He couldn't arrest Whites even when they were in the midst of committing a crime; the Black officers would have to call a White officer to make the arrest; there were certain parts of town the Black officers couldn't venture into; and they couldn't even change into and out of their uniforms inside the Atlanta Police headquarters. They would have to trek down the street and around the corner to the Black YMCA. So my father would protest all of this, in his uniform, most times alone, because the other Blacks were too afraid to join him. For 20 years, while he was a policeman, my father watched as others received promotions based on whatever the indignity was that he protested. From my father's experience, I learned service without expectation of reward.

And then one day, my father decided that it was insufficient to protest public policy, one ought to make public policy. So, he ran for office: two times he ran, and two times he lost. Because both times he ran were before the Voting Rights Act was law.

But then in August of 1965, after Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law, things changed for Black people across the South—things changed for our country.

From the film American Blackout, you get a bit of this history and the story of what happened to me—twice—and how the Black vote was systematically disfranchised, not only in my elections by the use of crossover voting, but also in our last two Presidential elections by various Republican schemes uncontested by the Democrats.

The Voting Rights Act mandated that election laws and certain practices prevalent in the South change or be discontinued. With the elimination of those practices, backed by the strong arm of the federal government and the Courts, the landscape changed in Georgia and my father ran for office and won.

That was an interest, in this case, Black people, redefining the politics of Power (with a capital P).

With his position in the Legislature, my father could use the power of his position to inject his values into the system and make the system respond. He immediately, then, filed a lawsuit against the State of Georgia for its discriminatory hiring practices, won that lawsuit, and the State of Georgia was under a court decree on hiring until my father's ouster from the Georgia Legislature by the same forces and methods that targeted and ousted me in 2002.

I wanted you to have this background so you can understand why I believe that the political process, even as imperfect as it is today, can do powerful things to help people and change circumstances. Why I believe that we can use the tool of our vote to obtain from the political system what we need to be free, to be treated equally, to find justice, and to live in peace. Frederick Douglass told us that power concedes nothing without a demand. It is clear that the political system can deliver, but we need to be clear on what is the demand.

According to United for a Fair Economy, racial disparities in 2004 were in some cases worse then than at the time of the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.—that on homeownership, without public policy intervention, it would take 1,664 years to close the racial gap in home ownership in our country.

In 2005, United for a Fair Economy explored the disparate impact of Bush's "Ownership Society" economic program that saw Black and Latino lives shattered as unemployment, income, home ownership, business ownership, and stock ownership plummeted.

In 2006, United for a Fair Economy focused on the devastating and embarrassing effect of government inaction before, during, and after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. They focused on car ownership and the relationship between vehicle ownership and race. In the case of New Orleans, car ownership literally meant the difference between losing or saving one's life.

In 2007, United for a Fair Economy explored Black voters' attachment to the Democratic Party, and in a piece entitled, "Voting Blue, but Staying in the Red," they explored goals that the Democratic Party should have put at the top of its agenda for its first 100 hours in the majority. While noting that the Democrats didn't even mention Katrina in their agenda, United for a Fair Economy concluded that Blacks and Latinos voted in the November 2006 elections in the blue, but due to a failure of public policy to pay attention to their needs, they continue to live in the red.

In United for a Fair Economy's 2008 report, they explore the sub-prime mortgage crisis and note that the largest loss of wealth in U.S. history is being experienced by the Black and Latino communities with an estimated $92 billion being lost by Blacks and an estimated $98 billion being lost by Latinos. And while families who are losing their life savings and their only major investment, policy makers are asking them to tighten their belts. But the banks' CEOs are walking away with record remuneration.

Sadly, United for a Fair Economy isn't the only research organization
to find glaring and intolerable disparities by race in our society with
no appropriate public policies enacted to address them. Hull House
did a study that found that it would take 200 years to close the gap
in the quality of life experienced by Black Chicagoans and white
Chicagoans. There has been no public policy initiative taken up by
the mayor or the governor of Illinois to begin closing that gap.

Several years ago, the New York Times published a finding that nearly half the men between the ages of 16 and 64 in New York City were unemployed. There was no initiative by the mayor or the governor of New York to begin addressing such pain.

Every year, the National Urban League publishes a study, "The State of Black America," in which the ills and disparities that persist in this country are catalogued. Every year, the story is basically the same. Only public policy can address these glaring disparities.

Pressing the system with a public policy demand constitutes an interest redefining the politics of Power. That's power with a capital P. Now, that same Power likes to use politics to advance its own, not others' interests.

Now, what I've learned is that the rich folks of this country (Power with a capital P) know what government can do and they know how to press a demand in their interest. That's why they've got lobbyists pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the political system so the corporations and individuals they represent can get what they want.

That's what the Jena 6 District Attorney meant when he went to the high school and announced to the students that with the stroke of a pen he could ruin their lives. He could use the power of his position, the power of politics, to impose his values on the community at large.

It is to wield and influence the power of position and the power over the public purse, the power over public policy, that we engage the political system. Not merely to hold positions. Dr. King said that the Negro in Mississippi must be able to vote, but the Negro in New York had to have something for which to vote. The power to make public policy in our interest is that "something for which" we vote.

The statistics reflecting life for Blacks in the United States cited in repeated studies reflect, in my opinion, a dismal failure to translate our votes into an agenda that eliminates disparities and presses our interests. As United for a Fair Economy concluded, Blacks vote in the blue, but stay in the red. That I maintain, is politically dysfunctional.

Please understand that a three trillion dollar federal budget and 51, including the District of Columbia, multi-billion dollar state budgets, and thousands of multi-million dollar county, school board, and city budgets hold the possibility of doing a tremendous amount of good; however we are now seeing that a lot of bad can be done when that kind of money and power are put in the hands of those who are not well intentioned, or to those who are easily swayed off course by proximity to power and wealth.

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. I was not raised in a family where doing nothing was an option.

So, I participated in protests with my father, to get the Civil Rights and the Voting Rights Acts passed; I faced an armed Alabama Klan with my father; and I eventually ran for office as a part of my father's vision—it surely was nothing I was too much interested in doing. I was content to support good candidates.

But, the '60s and '70s, despite the challenges, were heady times for the movement because my father's generation identified a problem, fashioned a solution, implemented that solution, benefited from their sacrifices, and then relied on succeeding generations to continue pushing the Movement forward.

And move forward our country did.

The women's movement, the gay liberation movement, the American Indian Movement, Puerto Rican independence, Chicano pride, and a powerful antiwar movement formed a synergism that propelled success on many different fronts—but also set the stage for the setbacks that were to come from Power's reaction. And that is Power with a capital P.

While the American patchwork of humanity was being stitched together for real change in our country, the government didn't sit still. Its response was COINTELPRO, the Counter-Intelligence Program, a program whose mission it was, in the words of the FBI, "to misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize" Black leadership in this country. I would posit to you that we, the keepers of the flame in my generation, failed to fashion a response to the concerted and largely successful COINTELPRO attacks on authentic leadership that surfaced as a result of our struggles.

This official, government-led attack on communities' authentic leadership is chronicled in Ward Churchill's book, the COINTELPRO Papers. There, we see that in 1918, J. Edgar Hoover was concerned that Marcus Garvey, "excites the Negroes." The story of the government's interest in this authentic community leadership is available on the internet and should be understood to extend to today's cultural icons, hip hop artists, community activists, and even pro-peace and environmental leaders.

But, in 1965, a document stamped by the CIA, described what I call regime change on Black America. It said somewhere at the top there must be a Negro who is clean who can step into the vacuum and chaos once Dr. King is either exposed or assassinated.

This memo described exactly what I saw taking place in Georgia while I was in the Legislature and the issue was who was going to go to Congress from Georgia's new Black-opportunity district. The Speaker of Georgia's House and the Governor of my state got together and decided who the next Black Congressperson was going to be before the people in the new district even had had the chance cast one vote.

That's when I decided to run--because I saw how the Democratic leadership of my state intended to trick Black people in Georgia's new, but poor and rural Black belt Congressional district. Voters would invest their dreams and precious votes, in a candidate who, unbeknownst to them, had already been pre-selected to protect the status quo and not them—the voters. This was Power's response to my agitation from the Legislature to get more Blacks from Georgia into the U.S. Congress.

I witnessed this and pulled the plug on it. That's how I became a Member of Congress from Georgia. I had the temerity to think the people should have a representative, too, and the people agreed.

(Parenthetically, I agitated with other civil rights leaders in the state for more Black judges, too. And the beneficiary of that agitation then turned around and ran against me in the 2002 election, going to Congress, voted into office by Black voters, but only after having been pre-selected by the White Power structure in my state.)

So, an immediate challenge was to understand the scope of the problem associated with true representation. I had to learn the truth before I could fashion a public policy intervention that the numbers cry out for. And that's what I've done throughout my political career—focus on the issues and the appropriate public policy intervention necessary to make ours a more just and peaceful country.

That meant, at times, also telling some inconvenient truths. However, telling those truths comes from my observations and experiences inside the world of politics.

Now, would my experiences lead me to believe that the need for civil rights is over?

The answer is an emphatic no.

But I would quickly posit that Power wants you to believe that the need for civil rights is over. Power doesn't want you to think about pressing a demand for a group of people, Power only wants you to press a demand for your single Black self. Power wants the freedom to go about satisfying its interests and wants you to redefine what your interests are.

I would suggest that statistics like those in the reports of United for a Fair Economy are a reflection of what happens when civil rights are no longer vigorously pursued. Statistics like those can only occur when everybody in charge of the shop goes home and leaves the shop untended. Or rather, when public policy interventions are not sought to resolve communities' problems.

So now, let me turn to women.

The United Nations informs us that women have not achieved equality with men in any country; that most of the world's poor are women; roughly 50% of women experience some form of domestic violence; and the use of rape as a weapon of war is becoming more evident.

It is the struggle of women for equal treatment in the political life of our country that has motivated women to become candidates for office. Did you know that even before women had the right to vote, women ran for President of this country? Between 1964 and 2004 there have been 50 women on at least one state ballot in November for President of the United States. But not until 1972 and the run of the unbought and unbossed Shirley Chisholm did women candidates do well. Chisholm got over 400,000 votes—at that time a record--and sent 151 delegates to the Democratic Convention.

The only woman to ever appear on the ballot in all 50 states plus D.C. was Dr. Lenora Fulani in 1988. In 1987, Congresswoman Pat Schroeder formed an exploratory committee, but declined to run after not being able to raise enough money. It was at this press conference that she cried and the media derision of women candidates truly began. However, by 2006, in an LA Times/Bloomberg poll, only 4% of registered voters said that they would not vote for a woman presidential candidate.

While this is certainly progress, it is public policy progress that ought to motivate our political activism and provide a measure of our effectiveness.

So for example, women are present and achieving influence in politics and in the labor force; but even today, with a woman Speaker of the House and a woman running for President, women still earn less for the same work than men.

Even worse, when a woman runs for office, I've noticed something terrible about the reportage.

At first, the press pays real close attention to the clothes—even the choice of colors is newsworthy. Then there is the issue of wearing a dress or pants. Then there is the cleavage issue—how much is too much.

I went to Catholic schools and so I cover up. But even that's not acceptable: I receive messages that I wear too many clothes!

What kind of accessories adorn the outfit is even worthy of a mention. And don't wear the wrong shoes! Remember the recent photo with the question, "Is America ready to watch a woman age?"

I remember having a conversation with a former Black woman U.S. Senator who lamented that the situation was even worse for Black women because we're either the "mammy," or "Sapphire," or the jezebel. And that because of pre-conceived ideas held largely by White men about Black women, and those images are played out on television every day, you'll almost never read adjectives like "bold," "sassy," "intelligent," used to describe Black political women because those aren't the characterizations of Black women in popular and historical culture.

Keeping women inside the confines of a pre-determined box could become a politically useful tool.

The authors of "Rebuilding America's Defenses", the Project for a New American Century, wrote that genotypically specific bioweapons could become a politically useful tool. And given the facts of MK-Ultra, the Tuskegee Experiment, and COINTELPRO, I have my senses finely honed to detect politically useful tools in use by people who don't want freedom, peace, equality, and justice for the rest of us.

Professor June Scorza Terpstra wrote an article entitled, "Hollow Women of the Hegemon," found at http://carolynbaker.net. Professor Terpstra's theme is that more and more of what we are seeing in politics today are women who represent the Hegemon, rather than women who follow the traditional role of political women which used to be to challenge the Hegemon, or as I've used it earlier, Power with a capital P. According to Terpstra, Madeleine Albright and Condoleezza Rice represent examples of this. And, remember, it is far easier to get positive press when you are or can be of service to the Hegemon than when you're challenging it.

Dr. Terpstra reaches back to the writings of Franz Fanon to remind us that the real tragedy is the extent to which powerful women now do the bidding of the global masters. It is this distinction that we must remember and constantly ask ourselves when we see candidates. The Hegemon, has responded to our successes, and as Terpstra informs us, is now about the business of using women to carry out tasks that serve its interests. Terpstra forces us to recognize that it's no longer the way it used to be: that voters could have confidence that women were in politics not to advance their own oppression. You could somewhat be sure that a woman elected to office was there to advance the collective interests of women.

Terpstra concludes that we, who are standing with the oppressed and for liberation, need new rules, strategies and tactics to deal with the dangerous realities of a new gender and color-blind imperialism.

So, now we know: clean Negroes as described in that CIA document, and "Hollow Women" are politically useful tools of the Hegemon. They are the example, not of women and Blacks defining power, but of Power (capital P) redefining the politics of Blacks and women. Hence, the name of my remarks to you this afternoon.

Now, if Terpstra is correct and we are entering a new gender and color-blind imperialism, what are we to do about it?

I think the solution lies in us never veering from our goals—to keep our eyes on the prize. And the prize is a public policy result.

We vote to have power over public policy, power over the use of the public purse. We vote for the agenda and platform that will move our interests forward. Politics is the authoritative allocation of values in a society and we want public resources directed to our values.

I want to subsidize education so you're not a hundred thousand dollars in debt just because you want to get an education!

I want a single payer health care system so Americans can stop spending so much and getting so little!

Don't show me wrinkles on a woman's face, tell me what you're going to do to protect Social Security so our parents and so we can age with dignity!

I do believe it is possible to have this discussion if we demand it. And we can have authentic representation, too, if we demand it.

Therefore, I'm working with a nation-wide group of displaced Hurricane Katrina survivors and their supporters from the Black-nationalist, labor, and environmental communities who are prepared to wage a different kind of action in what is now a different kind of struggle.

While the nature of the struggle has definitely changed, our objectives have not. We must never forget that Dr. King was murdered just as he was about to launch the Poor People's Campaign, to demand economic justice as well as peace and political justice. The notion being put forward by some in the corporate press that today somehow marks the end of the need for civil rights is, as George Carlin said, the part of the American dream you believe only when you're asleep.

The Hegemon is counting on you to fall asleep. And my mother tells me often that this world isn't going to change unless women change it. But the change agents will not be the women of the hegemon. So, stay alert. The people of our country need you.

Thank you.