Doing what I hate, with love.

As I mentioned earlier, the tree quilt is resting in the cedar chest for a bit, as I have a few other things I must get done. Things which mean figuring out the math, measuring, cutting, and ironing. All things I hate. Some of that is done for now, and I’m onto a teeny tiny blanket stitch done with quilting thread, and love. Lots of love.

Wopila

Wopila1

© C. Ford, all rights reserved.

NC Pastor’s Job Plan for Black People.

CNN's Carol Costello speaks to Angela Rye and Thomas Rodgers (screen grab).

CNN’s Carol Costello speaks to Angela Rye and Thomas Rodgers (screen grab).

Apostle Thomas Rodgers, Sr. of Antioch Road to Glory International Ministries in North Carolina told CNN host Carol Costello that black Americans should receive “dual citizenship” so that they could find jobs in Africa.

“African-Americans are the only people in the world who do not seek dual citizenship,” Rodgers said. “That’s why Chicago gangs, California gangs, the Crips and the Bloods and Detroit in Michigan — we have gangs in the streets because blacks have no vision, they have no leadership.”

“You’ve also talked about building a road back to Africa,” Costello noted. “Can you explain that?”

Rodgers replied: “Matter of fact, where our ancestors came from, from the Indian Ocean all the way across the Atlantic Ocean, that’s 4,000 miles and we want to go back and help with the highways all the way across, to create jobs, train rails, pipelines, oil, petroleum. They create jobs for young people that can’t find jobs here, that the Democrats have not did.”

“I think it would give young people in prison [jobs] just like Great Britain did,” he opined.

Er…is he referencing what I think he’s referencing? Holy isht. No, no, that’s not a good idea. Nope.  You can read the rest of his, um, ideas here. There’s video, too.

The Last Word: Chairman David Archambault II.

The protests at Standing Rock. Ruth Hopkins has a good column about watching the feds, and why they are so distrusted. If you hadn’t read it before, catch it now. Revos.2040 breaks the news that the Army Corp of Engineers do not have a written easement for Dakota Access. Mike Myers has a wonderful column up on the Ties That Bind, about the Haudenosaunee Confederation’s longstanding treaty with the Sioux Nations.

Josue Rivas is doing incredible work, documenting the protectors and life at the camp.

A young warrior at the opposition to Dakota Access Pipeline.

A young warrior at the opposition to Dakota Access Pipeline.

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School has started for the children at the camps. The 2016 Tribal Summit will take place as planned, and there will be discussion about the pipeline. Pow Wow is on, and Sacred Stone Camp will have information and education booths up.  We stand, not only for ourselves, but for all people. Please, don’t lapse back into resignation, don’t let weariness win. We have been fighting for hundreds of years. The camps in this one resistance have been standing for 5 months now, since April, and we are not going to stop now, so please, don’t you stop either. We must endure, and every voice, every signal boost, every supply, every donation, every person who comes to the camps, you hold us up, you brace the foundation of our obligation to and protection of our earth, our water. We still need help. Holler, shout, spread the word, signal boost, please! Join us, stand with us. Come to camps. If you can’t, please signal boost, send or drop off supplies, or donate. Sign the petitions, whatever you are able to do!

Support Sacred Stone Camp. Legal Fund Help. Support Native Youth.  Sign the Petition. Sign urgent petition.

About this ^ last, because I’m sure someone somewhere will be offended. If you look at Etsy, or any other site where people sell stuff, you will always find a fucktonne of people happily appropriating all things Indigenous. Non-Indigenous people run around wearing Plains headdresses with abandon, people dress up as “Pocahotties” and all kinds of other thoughtless, bigoted isht. If you’re one of those people, this last applies. If you know one of those people, this last applies. If you’re busy making money and taking advantage of appropriating Indigenous culture, the very least you could do is to support those you rip off.

35.

John F. Kennedy. Whitehouse.gov.

John F. Kennedy. Whitehouse.gov.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy often gets credit for serving as president during the Civil Rights Movement of the early 1960s, but the man beloved for championing African-American rights and working to eradicate poverty was assassinated before he could fulfill his promises to Native Americans.

Just 11 days before winning the 1960 election, Kennedy called for a “sharp break” from past Indian policies. That included termination policy, which severed tribes’ special relationships with the federal government, divided reservations into private ownership and sought to assimilate Indians into full citizenship.

Kennedy pledged to reverse termination policies, making a “specific promise of a positive program to improve the life of a neglected and disadvantaged group of our population,” he wrote in an October 28, 1960, letter to Oliver La Farge, president of the Association of American Indian Affairs.

“My administration would see to it that the Government of the United States discharges its moral obligation to our first Americans,” he wrote, promising better education and health care, access to federal housing programs, increased economic opportunity and “genuinely cooperative relations” between Indians and federal officials.

“Indians have heard fine words and promises long enough,” he wrote. “The program to which my party has pledged itself will be a program of deeds, not merely of words.

Yet Kennedy failed to live up to those words, said Thomas Clarkin, a history professor at San Antonio College and author of the 2001 book Federal Indian Policy in the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations. Kennedy, who was assassinated after serving 1,036 days in office, was a transitional president, bridging the gap between the termination policies of the 1950s and the more sympathetic Indian policies enacted during the ‘60s and ‘70s.

[Read more…]

Marvel Does Star Wars.

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This was a very steady week for comics, as DC Comics continues to roll out their Rebirth-branded books and Marvel’s midway through Civil War II. Around the edges of both of those events hide great little comics, and though they’re not included on this week’s roundup, readers looking for big action and want to clue into the big tentpole events should check out DC’s Action Comics #962 (that’s a Superman comic) and Marvel’s Captain Marvel #8. This week in the roundup: Star Wars; a New York-centric indie comic; a tech-obsessed reintroduction to a great DC hero; and a wonderfully weird anthology.

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Cover for Star Wars #22. Cover illustrated by Mike Deodato Jr. Photo courtesy of Marvel Comics.

This Star Wars comic series from Marvel attempts to fill in the gaps between the original trilogy and today’s films. At this point, the events of A New Hope have already taken place, and readers get to see Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie, and a few new characters continue to stick it to the empire. It’s interesting to read a Star Wars adventure in as short a burst as a comic book, but the pacing is perfect, and the character interactions all feel true to the series. This issue sees the heroes trying to attack an imperial star destroyer, and it feels classically hopeless for the protagonists. This Star Wars series is recommended reading for anyone feeling like they need their SW fix.

Also covered by The Creators Project: Beef With Tomato, Blue Beetle Rebirth #1, and Island 10.

Cops Demand An Apology from 49ers.

Colin Kaepernick -- via Facebook.

Colin Kaepernick — via Facebook.

What a way to start a morning, with yet another cop union red-faced and screaming, insisting that all and sundry get on their knees, you must worship at the altar of cop!

he union representing more than 2,000 police officers in San Francisco complained to the National Football League and the San Francisco 49ers over Colin Kaepernick’s protest against overaggressive policing, KNBR-AM reported.

“Not only does he show an incredible lack of knowledge regarding our profession and ‘officer involved’ shootings, but also shows a naivety and total lack of sensitivity toward police officers,” San Francisco Police Officers Association (SFPOA) president Martin Halloran said in the letter, which was sent to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and team president Jed York.

[Read more…]