International Day of the Victims of Forced Disappearence

Without a Trace

I first published this two years ago. Making people disappear seemed to be province of cruel dictators, authoritarians, not the United States. Things have changed since January of this year. Immigrants are being swept up by ICE with no due process. They may be put in camps here, or flown elsewhere to prisons, or back to the situation they were desperate to leave behind. Families are left to find loved ones.  How far we've fallen.

August 30 - International Day of the Disappeared

Tens of thousands of individuals are made to disappear every year around the world. To increase awareness of this perpetual violation of basic human rights, August 30 is set aside to increase awareness of the plight facing millions every day.

According to the UN proclamation, "Enforced disappearance has frequently been used as a strategy to spread terror within the society. The feeling of insecurity generated by this practice is not limited to the close relatives of the disappeared, but also affects their communities and society as a whole."

I was always aware this was happening, but it was a back burner issue. That changed. A music video from Playing for Change brought home the impact of forced disappearances and focused my attention on the issue. The links is above. Stalin, Hitler and Mao purged millions of people. Stalin summarily scooped people up, never to be heard from again. Most estimates from scholars and historians tend to range from between 20 and 60 million. In his book, “Unnatural Deaths in the U.S.S.R.: 1928-1954,” I.G. Dyadkin estimated that the USSR suffered 56 to 62 million "unnatural deaths" during that period, with 34 to 49 million directly linked to Stalin.

The history of the US is stained with this crime against humanity. The genocide of the indigenous peoples on this continent and slavery separated millions from their families and loved ones. 

In the past decade over 100,000 individuals have disappeared in Mexico.

 A Serious Violation of Human Rights

Having been removed from the protective precinct of the law and "disappeared" from society, victims of enforced disappearance are in fact deprived of all their rights and are at the mercy of their captors. Some of the human rights that enforced disappearances regularly violate are:

• The right to recognition as a person before the law;
• The right to liberty and security of the person;
• The right not to be subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
• The right to life, when the disappeared person is killed;
• The right to an identity;
• The right to a fair trial and to judicial guarantees;
• The right to an effective remedy, including reparation and compensation;
• The right to know the truth regarding the circumstances of a disappearance.

Enforced disappearances also generally violate various economic, social and cultural rights for both the victims as well as their families:

• The right to protection and assistance to the family;
• The right to an adequate standard of living;
• The right to health;
• The right to education.

People disappear for many reasons, broadly categorized as voluntary (e.g., wanting to start a new life, escape debt) or involuntary (e.g., abduction, accident, mental health crises, death). In contexts of conflict and repression, disappearances are often acts of forced disappearance committed by state or non-state actors to instill fear, eliminate dissidents, or serve political motives. (on-line sources)

Racist Attitudes Beget Racists Acts

"Where Woke Went to Die"

Woke is now defined in Webster's as being “aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice),” and identified as U.S. slang. It originated in African American English and gained more widespread use beginning in 2014 as part of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Racist acts in Jacksonville Florida are just a symptom of a much larger problem. It is important to understand that racism is a learned behavior. The most recent hate crime, the shooting of three innocent people, is the product of policies that tolerate, even promote racism in Florida and throughout the country. Racism, bigotry and hatred are encouraged, as can be seen in the increase in reported hate crimes.

The FBI released an update to hate crime stats in March with more complete data, and it showed the number of hate crime incidents had increased by 11.6 percent from 2021 to 2022.

The racism is coming from the top.

At a vigil for the three who were gunned down because of their skin color in Jacksonville, DeSantis got booed, and for good reason. His so-called anti-woke rhetoric encourages bigotry, racism and hatred. His take on slavery is pure Jim Crow.

The Associated Press got reactions from several sources directly affected by the shootings. 

Florida State Rep. Angie Nixon: “We must be clear, it was not just racially motivated, it was racist violence that has been perpetuated by rhetoric and policies designed to attack Black people, period.”

Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan: “I’ve heard some people say that some of the rhetoric that we hear doesn’t really represent what’s in people’s hearts, it’s just the game. It’s just the political game. Those three people who lost their lives, that’s not a game. That’s the reality of what we’re dealing with. Please let us stop viewing each other as pieces on a game board and let us please start to see each other’s humanity. “

Rudolph McKissick, senior pastor of the historic Bethel Church in Jacksonville: “As it began to unfold, and I began to see the truth of it, my heart ached on several levels.”

In contrast, the reaction from Governor Ron DeSantis makes no mention of the climate of hate that fomented the shooting. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis: “This guy killed himself rather than face the music and accept responsibility for his actions. He took the coward’s way out."

DeSantis chose to focus on the perpetrator rather than the bigger picture of the climate of hate that makes such acts more prevalent. The others who commented didn't miss the point. They got the bigger picture.

(The seven harmful racial practices are from the NEA.)

Three Things

 Get Together

This Song Elicits Three Things for Me

First:  I heard a Trumpian from Iowa tell people like me, "We couldn't possibly be  Christian because we're too liberal." Yeah, well, I think people who put up barriers couldn't possibly be Christian because they are too willing to exclude when we're supposed to love everyone, no exceptions. But then I think I'm being too harsh by excluding them.

Second: We are so much more effective when we are working together. There can be common ground if we are united in the commandment that we love our neighbor. Together we can find solutions that lifts people up and freely offers them the dignity they deserve.

Third: We need to change our opinions about the poor. They have not brought this on themselves. Blaming the poor vilifies them and justifies hard heartedness. By doing so, we've created an us vs them mentality. 

Getting Beyond Charity

It is the unfair distribution of wealth and holding back our gifts that results in a world that is now more divided than ever. Almost a billion people go hungry every night. 16,000 children die from hunger related causes every day. 37 million Americans rely on foodbanks and soup kitchens. We can find solutions that transform and last. Our efforts need to go beyond charity to mutual aid. In mutual-aid systems, people work cooperatively to meet the needs of everyone in the community. It’s different from charity, which features a one-way relationship between an organization and recipients, and often responds to the effects of inequality but not its causes. Mutual aid is an act of solidarity that builds sustained networks between neighbors. As prison abolitionist Mariame Kaba explained to the New Yorker: “It’s not community service — you’re not doing service for service’s sake. You’re trying to address real material needs.” -Amanda Arnold/ The Cut.com

Am I a hippy? I never thought so, but if that is what you want to call me, I'm okay with that. I am inspired by verses like this, ”And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” (Hebrews 13:16 NIV)  It shows the importance of serving and helping others, especially vulnerable people who do not have enough to eat.

 

Strangers at Our Door

Policy Misses the Point

Politicians in this country like to blame each other for the increase in the movement of people in the world. Worldwide, migration and immigration continue to rise. Instead of looking for the root causes for immigration, the policies proposed are all about keeping people out, fueled by a heightened fear of people of color.

Donald Trump and his imitators are stoking the flames of hatred and fear with incendiary language. They call those wanting to come here; Invasion. Aliens. Killers. Criminals.

Our solutions are draconian. We put them in camps. We send them back to Mexico where gangs prey on them. We build walls. We tell them they are not welcome. The worst of it is targeting children by separating families. The new plan is to expel children of immigrants born here. 

I think that's unconstitutional. The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees citizenship at birth to almost all individuals born in the United States or in U.S. jurisdictions, based on jus soli. But Trump bought three justices to go with three other conservatives. Nothing in the constitution or settled law through precedent is safe anymore.

Why Migrate Here?

According to the UN, Some people move in search of work or economic opportunities, to join family, or to study. Others move to escape conflict, persecution, terrorism, or human rights violations. Still others move in response to the adverse effects of climate change, natural disasters, or other environmental factors.
https://www.un.org › global-issues

The root causes of immigration have not changed, and the policies we employ do not address these issues. The solutions we employ are all about punishment based on demonizing  people in search of a better life. 

The demonization of "The Other" is something we have struggled with since our colonial days. It was also baked into our constitution. The Three-Fifths Compromise was reached among state delegates during the 1787 Constitutional Convention. It determined that three out of every five slaves was counted when determining a state's total population for legislative representation and taxation. Something learned from the compromise is that the Constitution could be changed for the better. Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment (1868) later superseded Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 and explicitly repealed the compromise. Is that safe anymore?

For one nation under God, immigration should be a moral issue. Foreigners or refugees are not to be oppressed.

Israelites were to call on their empathy for refugees because they had been treated cruelly as refugees when they were made into slaves in Egypt. They were instructed not to cheat foreigners or take advantage of them in any way. Most Christians know Jesus’ instruction to “love your neighbor as yourself” but may not be aware that Mosaic Law has the same instruction for how to treat foreigners. The command to treat them as “native-born” would have been shocking to people in Moses’ day. World Vision 

And what did Jesus think about all this? I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me. Matthew 25:35

The question becomes, do policies of oppression and denial make us a nation of hypocrites? 

What I've written seems a little dark. Let me offer the following as an offering of hope. The City of Immigrants by Steve Earle. 

(Photo by Katie Moum)

Is Ignorance Bliss?

Decidedly Not

Ignorance is the lack of information, knowledge, understanding or education. Too often, arrogance and ignorance go hand in hand. Arrogance can lead a person to ignore something important, and ignorance of other's abilities and talents can also make a person arrogant.

(Mar 24, 2021 the daily coach)

Surya Prakash Mohapatra gives more insight:
Suppose you have gone to a new city for the first time. In one evening, you are walking on a suburb street. The street lights are on and you are enjoying the walk. All of a sudden the lights go off and there is complete darkness. How do you feel? Well, you feel scared, stressed and anxious, don't you? But why is it so? The cause of your fear is your ignorance about the place and situation.

The example about ignorance is simple yet profound. Sree Sree Thakur Anukulchandra says, "Ignorance creates anxiety for man, and wisdom gives man peace. Ignorance is the cause of grief, and knowledge is bliss."

The primary cause of Ignorance is 'ego'. People with obsessed ego are self-centered. They believe that the world revolves around them and they are at the center of everything. They believe that they deserve all the attention, adulation and respect from everyone else. 

How to Deal with Ignorance

There's an entire political constituency that deals in ignorance. The leaders of this movement are enriching themselves at the expense of those who follow them. The odd part is, they make money by offering products, mostly supplements. 

There's really no way to avoid them. So how can I deal with them? Since I can only have a direct influence on myself, I found these tips by Weylie Li helpful.

• Feed Your Mind with Digestible Information
• Ask Yourself Honest, Yet Sometimes Uncomfortable Questions
• Become Super-Forecasters by Collaborating With Others
• Constantly Look for Alternative Opinions
• Curb the Impulsion to Assign Judgments to Events

How do you deal with ignorant people?

Think Aloud offers 10 simple ways to deal with ignorant people.

1. Self Control
2. Don't expect too much from an ignorant person
3. Ask a friend for advice
4. Try to be kind
5. Ignore them
6. Try to have an honest conversation
7. Be emphatic
8. Entertain your mind
9. Wait for them to make a mistake
10. The best defense is a good offense.

Best Ignorance Quotes

1. “Ignorance is the night of the mind, but a night without moon or star.” – Confucius

2. “Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

3. “The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance.” – Herodotus

4. “The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about.” – Wayne Dyer

5. “Not ignorance, but ignorance of ignorance, is the death of knowledge.” – Alfred North Whitehead

6. “You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant.” – Harlan Ellison

7. “Truth is, by nature, self-evident. As soon as you remove the cobwebs of ignorance that surround it, it shines clear.” – Mahatma Gandhi

8. “Entire ignorance is not so terrible or extreme an evil, and is far from being the greatest of all; too much cleverness and too much learning, accompanied with ill bringing-up, are far more fatal.” – Plato

9. “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.” – Daniel J. Boorstin

10. “Ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is poverty. Ignorance is devastation. Ignorance is tragedy. It all stems from ignorance.” – Jim Rohn

The Shape of Things to Come

 

Climate Change is No Hoax

For those of us who are in denial about how climate shapes our lives, Reuters is reporting how climate events on the other side of the world could cause food prices to skyrocket. 

This is merely a foretaste of what climate change will bring us. You may believe that global warming is a hoax. You may end up eating those words.

• Wheat worries: China's growers are facing “disaster” after heavy rains, Ukraine might lose 20% of its winter-grain yield because of poor weather, and Australia's wheat and barley output might fall by a third next year because of el Niño.
• Even less-tasty news: A slump in global cashew demand has pushed Ivory Coast's industry to the verge of collapse, and heavy rain in the west-African nation is raising fears of disease in its cocoa crop.

These events, by themselves, are not proof of climate change and global warming. The severity and increasing frequency of these events are. The orange skies and unbreathable air in the eastern part of the United States are the result of a very dry winter in Canada. The National Geographic warns the orange skies are the future. We better get used to it.

We tried to control the world around us pulling ancient matter from the ground and burning it, eradicating entire chunks of ecosystems, without bothering to think about long-term ramifications … We forgot that we can’t just take without consequences; we forgot that we’re inextricably part of a larger system.

- Elizabeth Weinberg, Unsettling Extinction Together (2022)

There's a line from a 60's tune, Shapes of Things, used as inspiration for the title of this article, "Will time make men more wise?" 

The lyrics in the second verse ask, 

Now the trees are almost green
But will they still be seen?
When time and tide have been
Fall into your passing hands
Please don't destroy these lands
Don't make them desert sands

It seems greed and self interest got in the way.

Things That Work / Moving Forward

 

Nothing erases the past. There is repentance, there is atonement, and there is forgiveness. That is all, but that is enough.

- Ted Chiang, The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate (2007)

None of us can change the past, but when time is right, we all need to be ready to move on. Or, as one friend often said, "Thus encouraged, we press on."

We all make mistakes. We say and do things we live to regret. 

And yet, there is grace and forgiveness. We can all begin again.