Category Archives: Antiracism

January 28, 2020 · 10:29 pm

27 January 2020

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Treadmill walking.
Stretching.
Blink.
The Peat-Bog Soldiers – Paul Robeson
Liberation VII. Free at Last – Czech National Symphony Orchestra
Duo for Violin & Viola in the Quarter-Tone System: I. Andante – Teng Li & Benjamin Bowman
Duo for Violin & Viola in the Quarter-Tone System: II. Tempo di marcia – Teng Li & Benjamin Bowman
Duo for Violin & Viola in the Quarter-Tone System: III. Maestoso – Teng Li & Benjamin Bowman
Duo for Violin & Viola in the Quarter-Tone System: IV. Allegro – Teng Li & Benjamin Bowman
Shostakovich – Symphony No. 13 in B Flat Minor – Op. 113, “Babi Yar”: II. Yumor – Russian State Symphony Orchestra
Music Written in Terezin by Gideon Klein
Piano Sonata: I. Allegro con fuoco – Jaromir Klepac
Piano Sonata: II. Adagio – Jaromir Klepac
Piano Sonata: III. Allegro vivace – Jaromir Klepac
Trio:  I. Allegro – Czech String Trio
Trio: II. Lento – Variation on Moravian folk song themes – Czech String Trio
Trio: III. Molto vivace – Czech String Trio
Dance – by Hans Krasa – Czech Folk String Trio
Four Songs on Chinese Poetry by Pavel Haas – Karl Prusa & Jiri Pokorny
A Survivor from Warsaw – Simon Joly Chorale, David Wilson-Johnson, Robert Craft & Philharmonia Orchestra

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January 7, 2020 · 11:33 am

Mankato 1862

Trapdoor opens.
Short fall.
Eternity embraces.

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January 7, 2020 · 11:31 am

Driven

Driven by hunger,
driven to violence,
driven in battle,
driven from home.

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December 30, 2019 · 8:05 pm

New Year’s Eve Witness

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The New Sanctuary Coalition encourages this action as a witness on New Year’s Eve:

 

🙏🏽Please share widely🙏🏽
Immigrants are dying in detention. This Administration separates families, and locks parents and children in cages. They are inhumane and evil.
Come together in community and solidarity with migrants and refugees at the border and in detention all over the United States.
Let us keep those who have been unjustly stripped of freedom in our hearts.
We will not look away from injustice and inhumanity.
‪At 11pm on New Year’s Eve, let’s light‬ up the night sky and illuminate the beginning of a new decade of freedom.

Share a picture or video of your lit candle and tag us. Use the hashtags #lightacandle #dontlookaway #FreeThemAll

Watch for my picture. I hope to see yours.

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December 30, 2019 · 7:59 pm

27, 28, 29 December 2019

Accumulated over 10,000 steps each day. No focused exercise on any of the days so no real play list. On 29 December 2019, these were the songs that played through the day:

Wounded Knee – Micki Free
Wovoka – Redbone
Sitting Bull’s Medicine Song – Kevin Locke
Ghost Dance – Robbie Robertson & The Red Road Ensemble
Heart of the World – Mary Youngblood
Sacred Praises – Brule
Shimmer Prayer for Cleaning the Water – Joy Harjo
Red Streaking into the Water – R. Carlos Nakai
Dreams of Wounded Knee – Bill Miller
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee – Buffy Sainte-Marie
Wounded Knee – Walela

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December 26, 2019 · 5:55 pm

26 December 2019

Treadmill. Walking, some jogging (slow). Stretching. Blink.
Many and Great – Jon Sarta
Peyote Healing – Verdell Primeaux, Johnnie Mike, & Robbie Robertson
Lakota Forever – Brule
For My People – Litefoot
Now That the Buffalo’s Gone – Buffy Sainte-Marie
The Prayer – SupaMan
Meadowlark Sunrise – Fire Crow
Treaties – Frank Waln
Akua Tuta – Kashtin
You’re a Brave One – Joanne Shendoah
Wash Your Spirit Clean – Walela
Brave Heart – Luis Cachiguango
Old One Wise One – Thunder Bird Sisters
Trail of Life – Sharon Burch
Coyote Dance – Robbie Robertson & The Red Road Ensemble
Many and Great – Jon Sarta

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October 17, 2019 · 11:59 pm

17 October 2019

In honor of Congressman Elijah Cummings of Baltimore, sharecropper’s son and a giant for justice. Assembled this morning, this playlist features songs about Baltimore, songs from artist with connections to Baltimore, and songs by Fannie Lou Hamer – a sharecropper’s daughter, a sharecropper, and a giant for justice. 

Walk. Morningside Gardens.
On Being a Sharecropper – Fannie Lou Hamer
Run Mourner, Run – Fannie Lou Hamer
Streets of Baltimore – Gram Parsons
Silver – Rik Ocasek
Raining in Baltimore – Counting Crows
You Think You’re a Man – Divine
Baltimore – Audra McDonald
Precious Lord – Fannie Lou Hamer
Baltimore – Nina Simone
This Little Light of Mine – Fannie Lou Hamer
Baltimore – Lyle Lovett
Road to Hell – André De Shields
Baltimore – Randy Newman
Baltimore Fire – Charlie Poole
Baltimore – Prince
I Know Where I’ve Been – Queen Latifah
Amazing Grace – Fannie Lou Hamer

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October 17, 2019 · 10:23 pm

Andy Henriquez – #CLOSErikers

IMG-0663We honor the memory of Andy Henriquez, 19 years old. He begged for medical attention in solitary confinement on Rikers Island. He died there due to neglect in 2013.

From time to time, I have had the honor to stand with the community working to close the jail complex on Rikers Island and replace the jails with smaller justice centers based in four of the New York City boroughs. People directly affected by the Rikers jails led this effort.

Today the New York City Council voted on a proposal. I joined the community for a rally in the time before the vote. Participants were invited to read brief statements honoring individuals who had died on Rikers.

I read the words about Andy Henriquez. He was arrested for participating in a heinous crime. He  was held for three years without a trial. He was held in solitary confinement. He complained of pain and called for medical attention as did others held near him.

He needed to be held accountable for his role in that crime. But that would have involved a speedy trial. And it would not have involved dying alone in a cell. Whatever he did, whatever he did not do, as a child of God, he deserved better. So did Mohamed Jollah for whose brutal murder Andy Henriquez was arrested. So do all people.

May today’s New York City Council vote mark steps on the journey to a criminal justice system that emphasizes restoration and rebuilding community.

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October 9, 2019 · 1:29 pm

“I am a man”

In 1879, Chief Standing Bear of the Ponca people successfully argued that Native Americans are “persons within the meaning of the law” with the right of habeas corpus. The result of case, held in a U.S. District Court in Omaha, meant that Chief Standing Bear became the first Native American judicially granted civil rights under U.S. law. 

Nebraska recently unveiled a statue of Chief Standing Bear in the U.S. Capitol. A recent story about the statue and Standing Bear in The Washington Post story quotes Standing Bear’s affirmation of common humanity during his trial:

On the second day, Chief Standing Bear was called to testify, becoming the first Native American to do so. He raised his right hand and, through an interpreter, said: “My hand is not the color of yours, but if I pierce it, I shall feel pain. If you pierce your hand, you also feel pain. The blood that will flow from mine will be the same color as yours. The same god made us both. I am a man.”

“I am a man.” – Sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennesse.

“Ain’t I a woman,” – Sojourner Truth.

“I am a person. I am a human being.” – Countless people in countless situations.

Again and again, people have had to make that assertion as they struggle for civil rights and human rights in the face of oppression, discrimination, and prejudice.  The struggle continues today. It is shared across all social identities as structures grant privilege to some but  not to all. Key to creating and maintaining that privilege is denying the humanity of other people. When will we ever learn that everyone – everyone – is a human being entitled to basic human rights? When will we ever learn to treat one another with respect and love?

For Chief Standing Bear and Sojourner Truth and the sanitation workers of Memphis, may we renew our efforts to eviscerate, in the word of the CoInspire Conference, racism, sexism, ageism, ableism, homophobia, and all systems of privilege and oppression.

Learn more about Chief Standing Bear:

The Trial of Standing Bear – a PBS film

Chief Standing Bear: The Trail Ahead

The Story of Chief Standing Bear (.pdf)

“I Am a Man”: Chief Standing Bear’s Journey for Justice

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July 31, 2019 · 8:32 am

30 July 2019

Walking. Morningside Gardens.
Good Morning Baltimore – Hairspray
Baltimore – Tori Amos (on YouTube)
The Lady Came from Baltimore – Tim Hardin
Dancing in the Streets – The Mamas and the Papas
I Cover the Waterfront – Billie Holiday
Barefoot in Baltimore – Strawberry Alarm Clock
The Calloway Boogie – Cab Calloway
The Earl of Baltimore – Terry Cashman
Streets of Baltimore – Gram Parsons
Aerial Boundaries – Michael Hedges
Raining in Baltimore – Counting Crows
Hungry Heart – Bruce Springsteen
Dream Rag – Eubie Blake
Road to Hell – Andre De Shields & Company (Hadestown)
Baltimore Fire – Charlie Poole & the North Carolina Ramblers
Way Down in the Hole – Blind Boys of Alabama

Tomorrow’s list will also focus on songs about Baltimore or performed by artists with Baltimore connections or that were featured in The Wire.

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