Racism, The Crown, More

 CONSORTIUM TAKEAWAY:  Ellen Kennedy, World Without Genocide, said “terrible things are happening here…legal systems needed to protect vulnerable from harm with the  rollback of LGBT rights in US and murders of transgender people here.  We need to get involved.  Upper Midwest Consortium for Holocaust and Genocide Education and Research held this webinar Tuesday: The Holocaust: An Introduction From 4 Perspectives. http://worldwithoutgenocide.org/

 MUST SEE DOCUMENTARY, GRANITO:  Suggested by Paula Cuellar Cuellar in my U of Minn. OLLI class on human rights in Central America and available on DVD.   Where do US foreign aid checks go?  Under Reagan, the Guatemalan militay junta received USA tax dollars and practiced genocide against Mayan indigenous people in Guatemala.  A trial in Spain convicted several in the military of genocide.  The elites confiscated the Mayan farmers’ land.  Fearing that the Mayans would act to reclaim their property, the military murdered the natives.

Boston University humanities professor Ibram X. Kendi writes:  “If racism is eliminated, many White people in the top economic and political brackets fear that it would eliminate one of the most effective tools they have at their disposal to conquer and control and exploit not only non-Whites, but also both low-income and middle-income White people.”

Plan to read National Book Award winner “Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive Hisotry of Racist Ideas in America.”https://www.ibramxkendi.com/stamped

In the Netflix movie “Fruitvale Station” a Black man is ordered off a train in the Bay Area and then is shot by a cop.  No white people were asked to leave the train.  What would you have done if you were standing next to the deceased man?  To get a perspective, read George Yancy’s book, “Backlash: what happens when you talk honestly about racism in America.”  Take away:  we can’t continue to hide behind “white privilege.”http://georgeyancy.com/

MOMMIE DEAREST.  In the fourth season of  The Crown, all four of the royal adult children are summoned to the palace for separate audiences with the Queen who is sobered by their anger and frustration.  With three million British working class people jobless, the Queen is not in a charitable mood to entertain Prime Minister Thatcher when she comes to call.  Furthermore, Charles temperament regarding Princess Diana makes him a dubious choice for king and crown.https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/margaret-thatcher-queen-elizabeth-face-190357479.html