The implication and action of leaving "high risk" populations to fend for themselves is a policy of eugenics. We are disposable, and with 40% of the country having at least one chronic illness, that makes 40% of us disposable as a "drag on the nation" to some, and a sacrifice to capitalism for others.
Matthew is joined by co-author David M. Perry of the Bright Ages where they discuss the book, how it peels back the layers of Medieval Europe to expose not a dark or backward age, but one with diversity, culture, and more. They explore how we can see our modern age within it, with all the mess that comes with being human- the highs and lows.
24 arrested in Georgia for enslaving immigrant farmers, and the Coup had a power point
Kyle Rittenhouse, the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, and Jim Crow's legacy
The mentality of those who believe putting cops in schools will end the fights at East High school, is a mentality that using a stick is how you keep order, especially among Black and Brown populations. It is a colonial mentality. It also is one that doesn't understand the dynamics of our society, of behavior, the threat of violence through police may create order but it won't create safety; many times not the former either. What does this tell us about these people? How can we understand our so...
In the face of fights at Madison schools, it seems white parents are calling for cops in schools. But another district, which at the surface level seems to have had a worse fighting problem, solved this through community and community alternatives. Affluent white parents should do the same, or at least commit the resources to do so. What are they scared of? And then to wrap up, a couple of high profile examples of police lying, again, and one of them is within Madison.
"Searching for Black Confederates: The Civil War's Most Persistent Myth" by Historian Kevin Levin, is a thorough documentation and presentation of how Black, camp slaves, served as a central part of the army of Southern succession. But did not serve as soldiers, were not seen as soldiers, and the debate to allow them to be soldiers or not betrayed the project of the Confederacy- that the subjection of Black people to slavery, with White masters, was the God ordained order of things.
White genocide and the Great Replacement Theory, are conspiracy theories with Nazi and anti-Semitic roots. GOP reps, conservative news, and more have fully embraced these ideas, ideas that argue for genocide for all non-white people. It is becoming a normal idea for the GOP voting population too. What are these ideas and theories and where did they come from?
This week, Matthew highlights a few stories about police and corrupt behavior around the country and Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes was just the target of dog-whistle journalism.
"They Came Before Columbus" is a popular enough book that claims Africans came to the Americas and played a significant role in shaping Indigenous Histories. The book, and research, uses a bad process of sorting through history, misaligned times, leaps of faith, misquotes, and more than what I actually cover. For those of us who have lost a lot of our history, it can be easy to fall into more fantastical views of the past, oversized importance. But this is bad history, and it is also a duplicati...
As the US continues with withdrawal from its latest colonial project in Afghanistan, Matthew talks about what history can tell us about crumbling empires, especially in the face of climate change.
Tying together the Global War on Terror, the Afghanistan withdrawl, and the Proud Boys causing violence in LA.
Police reform isn't a new idea or concept, and for many reasons, it will fall short. Reform will never get at the roots of the problems- which extend beyond law enforcement itself.
In this episode, Matthew looks at President Obama as an example of how Democrats at every level fail to wield power effectively, and how a change in the perception of these failures is important to progress.
Defund the police has become a rallying cry, while "very smart people" have said and reported that people don't support defund, that it is a bad slogan, and that it hurts Democrats. Some of this is wrong, some of this is the wrong way to think about it. And most of it isn't engaging in police, defund, and our justice system in good faith. Let's talk this stuff through, and follow the evidence, especially on how polling can give us the wrong information depending upon how we ask the questions....
We're stuck in a cycle of how we engage and talk about police and crime. Our news media plays a key component of this. Manufactured consent is where the media presents information in a way that upholds the social order. This impacts how we think and talk about police, crime, and what public safety actually is.
Reviewing before a deeper dive, the complications with police reform, the problems with police, and how reform falls short of getting to root issues.
Matthew's taking the week off, and has chosen this episode to revisit. The media and moderate pushback against accusations of the resurrection of Jim Crow have begun. As soon as people, mostly Black, started to say the GOP was pushing Jim Crow laws, mostly white men decided to climb their self-built pedestal of the only "objective" truth-tellers to say this was an overreaction. In response, Black writer and thinker Jamelle Bouie said, "Jim Crow wasn't Jim Crow, until it was." We must look at the...
There has been a national rise in gun violence across the United States, and some blame police reform efforts with no supporting data. In fact, the data tells a different story, with an increase before "Defund" calls, an increase before tepid defund efforts, and an increase in cities that have increased police budgets. Instead, the data points to the proliferation of gun ownership, unemployment, a breaking social fabric, and an unresponsive government. Let's explore this complex subject a bit mo...
American myth-making often paints its victims as passive entities, not central players to the world around them. But those enslaved constantly resisted, creating the conditions for recognition of emancipation.
Too often we're not having the right conversations; the panic around CRT is one of those. While education is good, the conversation about why it is happening, and the exactly what, is how we understand these moments.
Not a specific dive, but a conversation of ugly realities of race, democracy, and the United States, creating anxiousness about the present and near future.
On this episode, originally released in September of 2021, Matthew explores the role of police in society, their effectiveness, and why the idea of defunding them isn't actually scary.
Assistant UW-Madison Professor Kevin Lawrence Henry Jr joins to dig deeper into critical race theory and how it is applied, exploring some of the more challenging tenets and examples of it out in the real world.
Critical Race Theory (CRT) has been used as a catch-all for "diversity" and confrontation of racism in the United States. Most people rejecting it have no idea what CRT is and isn't, have spent no time actually reading about it from people who actually know what it is. In this episode, we'll explore, at a high level, what CRT is and isn't, and how this framework, well, functions in ID'ing and assessing functional racism in American society.
Madison's failure to purchase a permanent homeless shelter for men was the fault of a small, yet an unsurprising group of Alders. Their rationals were rooted in anti-Black racism, and classism, but also fully developer supported, and it continues a cycle of Madison's failure to invest in justice initiatives that make structural changes. It's a shame such a small group has held up issues of justice, but this seems to be a habit for them.
America is racist: It's a simple answer to a bad question. There are some more revealing questions to ask, such as when did institutional racism end
Matthew's off this week. But he wanted to revisit this episode from December, 2020. On this episode, Matthew talks with Nada Elmikashfi talk about climate change, the failure of the US to lead, how the future world-leading nations will be the ones leading on climate, and what race and capitalism have to do with it all.
Abolish the police, re-imagine public safety. This is a must, we must dismantle law enforcement as we know it, re-imagine public safety in investing in people, communities, mental health, housing, education, healthcare, and more. Their history is intertwined with racial and class oppression, protecting the ruling class and their property over justice. This is beyond them being bad at the job they alleged they do. Ill-tempered, lack of accountability, not solving the social ills they respond to, ...
The media and moderate pushback against accusations of the resurrection of Jim Crow have begun. As soon as people, mostly Black, started to say the GOP was pushing Jim Crow laws, mostly white men decided to climb their self-built pedestal of the only "objective" truth-tellers to say this was an overreaction. In response, Black writer and thinker Jamelle Bouie said, "Jim Crow wasn't Jim Crow, until it was." We must look at these laws in the context of intent, and the larger conversations of votin...
