There are no seperate races among the species Homo Sapiens Sapiens. There are only superficially different ethnic groups. The only race of humans is the Human Race.

relayer@q.com

Great Article.

There is obviously a great deal of Americans who would love to see Bush and Co. disgraced and booted out of office. It would satisfy a well deserved feeling of vengence. It would add stability to our republic. It may even lead to positive changes in our laws keeping presidents accountable to the rule of law to a greater degree.

Flip side. That middle twenty percent that decides elections, decides that congress is engaging in petty partisan politics (as injust as that chanrge may be), and the White House goes to the Romney, Guilliotti, McCain gang. Then what happens is the radical left floods Commondreams.org with recriminations of the democrats for blowing the 08 race. Oh yeah, thats right, you don't like the Dems. They aren't radical enough for you. Lets create a new party that will suck just enough vote to put the righties back in office.

I'm disgusted that anybody would make the accusation that had Al Gore won in 2000, we would have gone to war in Iraq. Preposturous.

Conyers blew it and is continuing to blow it. This is a national crisis! Bush/Cheney have committed impeachable offenses.
Either than or Nixon and A. Johnson should have their presidential reputations restored.

For Conyers to just sit there while all these crimes have been/are being committed is to be complicit.

Conyers should not run for re election. Elect someone who will actually fulfill their oath of office in his place.

In my view Reverend yearwood is tarnished by his association with Conyers and can not possibly be in a position to see the motivations of his 'mentor' in an objective manner. In addition, being a 'long time' anything (Africa American/ Asian/ Southern) anything is nothing but a code word for a sell out who masqurades intentions to pacify those oppressed- and that does include White Americans as well.

On what observations and evidence does Rev Yearwood glibly trot out these specious interpretations of the 'public'? If anything - I feel Cindy Sheehan is probably the most authentic person mentioned in the article (once).

It reads to me like an apologist piece for Conyer's who should now get off the government gravytrain. A few focused elections - where sell outs who are disguised as advocates of the people should be voted OUT of office. I know I will do my best to convince my community, friends and any one I have influence over to stop Conyer's from returning to his office.

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right let us strive to finish the work we are in, to bind up our nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations." - Abraham Lincoln.

As I temper myself once again with Lincoln's call to human dignity I also watch the beginning segments of FAHRENTHEIT 9/11 - segment 1: Was It All A Dream; segment 2: It Was All Too Real - and the Black Caucus of Congress one by one steps forward to contest the election of 2000 needing just one signature from a Senator - no Senators came forward.

Race is the Tripwire? Race is the 30 foot apartheid wall being built in Palestine and along the USA and Mexico border.

Divide and conquer continues to work so well. Like the fear mongering mantra of "al Qeada" racial fear is continually stirred up, but it is of course spiked with the all to real slavery and indentured servitude economics - still prevalent for 40 million Americans and a paycheck away for 100 million others.

My only current ploy is to use photos of Depleted Uranium infected babies and photos of dust storms to show that the genocide so gleefully carried out by some is in actuality the looming noose of suicide prophesied by Krushchev as he banged his shoe 50 or so years ago.

Maybe there is another ploy, perhaps some kind of racial reconciliation at the encampment in DC from September 22-29 (MECAWI.org).

The wounds are deep, but there is hope - after scrapping away the facade we are human after all, with the capacity for dignity.

I don't understand why Congressman Conyers race is even a factor in this discussion. We are all Americans, and we are all extremely worried about President Bush's blatant disregard for the rule of law and his failure to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, as he is sworn to do, as President of this country. Congressman Conyers needs our support, give the man a chance to spin his web around the White House and all of the criminals inside. l think Congressman Conyers knows what he is doing and is doing a great job. Patience, my friends, patience. You are attacking the wrong person. We should all be united in getting to the bottom of all the crimes the Bush administration has committed. Leave the strategy to the experts, I am sure Congressman Conyers knows how the game is played. Please don't underestimate the man, you don't know what his next move will be!

We all know the next move - let me put it to you this way - if I came into YOUR office - don't YOU have the power to say to the police -not to arrest me. That's a condemnation of the higest order - he did nothing - to prevent US citizens - concerned citizens - from being arrested in HIS office!!

As for African American leaders - what can I say - the ones with integrity get shot - and the ones allowed to live are the ones designated to explain why there is still no change - why there is contuing roll back of equal rights guarantees, why no one came Cynthia McKinney's rescue on what was an OBVIOUS set up. But cheer up - because every single leader allowed to exist in congress for any period of time must pass the litmus test of betraying themselves and their people and values to join in.

This is becoming farcial. How stupid do they think we are - and more importantly -how stupid are we?!?!/

Constance - I love your intentions - unfortunately manipulators love it even more. Playing the game / Working with the system - ?!?!?

Don't get me wrong I am not an anarchist - but at some point - we have to call the cesspool a cesspool and not a swimming pool.

Very good, very thoughtful, very nuanced article. The fact is that race does matter in this country. If you are a person of color you still get treated differently unless you are very rich. Unfortunately, politicians of every background often get sucked into compromises, even though they may do some good as well. There are very few people who don't become hacks. Rep. Conyers apparently found it easier to be a progressive standout when the Dumbocrats hold on power was not so tenuous. I remember some years back when the first Mexican-American candidate for sheriff was running against an "anglo" candidate in our county. Lots of people urged us to vote for him, just because he was from the same background as us. A friend of mine had the best response: "A cop's a cop." The guy was elected and has served ever since. He is a right-wing fascist who harasses immigrants and stages warrentless sweeps through poor areas. My friend was right. A cop's a cop, and a politician is a politician. Also, to the person who wrote that we should all unite around whoever the Dumbocratic candidate is in order to throw out the neo-cons once and for all--remember this, Bill Clinton had neo-cons in his administration, and so will Hillary, or whoever their candidate is.

Way to go Rev!!!

It is time to turn up the heat in the street!!! The Democrats for whatever reason have decided to wait until November 08 in hopes that the best of the GOP candidates will crash and burn in a Democratic landslide.

The problem is, we are in a Constitutional crisis! The executive branch, especially in the last 6 years, is out of control and out of balance with Congress. Impeachment is the only way to restore that balance. I don't want even a Democrat as President to have access to the powers that George W. Bush has accumulated with his signing statements, the Patriot Act,the Homeland Security Act and numerous other recently passed laws.

These accumulated powers, coupled with a stacked right-winged deck in The Supreme Court and a corrupt Justice Department, spells disaster for any future ligitimate dissent in this once great Country of ours.

Congress seems immobilized to stop the power grab by the Bush Administration, and has failed to defund the continuous wars that are exhausting our military and economy and continues to kill and injure thousands of innocent civilians and military personnel.

I deeply respect Congressman Conyers, but this is his moment in history to step up and play out his role in bringing down the Regime that will be an end to us all if left unchecked.

I salute Rev.Yearwood, Cindy Sheehan, Ray Mcgovern, and the 400 or so other committed progressives who stood up in the Halls of Congress to demand that Impeachment, the Constitutionally mandated remedy for this crisis, be implemented immediately!

Rev. Yearwood is kind in not reporting the words of animus and rebuke credited to Rep. Conyers. The Democrats are confident that their majority would impeach Bush-Cheney et al. But they don't think the Republicans in the Senate would vote to convict. There is a fear that the Democrats APPEAR weak and vindictive. Then again, should they manage to convict, it would be left to Nancy Pelosi to "clean house" of the Rovian-infected judiciary, confront a Cheney-designed state dept., and do battle with a D.O.D. which would find it hard to construct a new day in Iraq.

Froms Conyers' very telling retort,"It will make me look bad!" to Cindy Sheehan, everything seems to be all about image. The Democratic Leadership does not want to "divide the country."[from a recent response by Diane Feinstein to our request for impeachment]

The Dems have decided to ignore our cries for action, in favor of a sweeter victory in `08. They think we can over-power Rove-designed vote caging [a massive disenfranchisement of millions of people of color, especially in the military]; the Rove-controlled Diebold voting machines in states such as Ohio and Florida; and the army of Republican lawyers [including U.S. Attorneys] amassed to intimidate voters.

We will continue to demand what they've already decided not to give us. If it's all about appearances, what will the Dems look like when the Republicans steal another election?

RE: UNIONS AND THE CONYERS IMPEACHMENT ACTION?

Bill Witherup July 26th, 2007 7:43 pm
"Were there any trade union members, especially officers, in the contingent that faced off with Rep. Conyers?"

Good question. No mention of any. And 'impeachment union' searches turn up nothing at all on labor oriented magazines In These Times and Labor Notes.

RE: ONLINE POLITICAL TALK ON A PROGRESSIVE WEBSITE vs ACTION TO CHANGE POLITICAL STRUCTURE - A VITAL QUESTION

Bill Witherup July 26th, 2007 7:43 pm
"I am a bit doubtful that online chatting can change the political structure. But I am interested in further dialogue. Bill Witherup, Director of Gene Debs Labor Ensemble: www.debslaborensemble.org.

Agreed. This is a question periodically raised by posters.

In theory, the commondreams website can function as a place to educate progressives, provide a feeling of solidarity, and help them formulate their ideas - and then act on them. Certainly there are many 'activist' websites and actions posted.

Whether most commondreams readers/posters follow through, and are as active in communities - where it is a question of organizing resistance among those who do not more or less agree with you from the start - is another question.

I certainly hope they do. I have raised this question. Ultimately, people must square their rallying cries and often sharp analyses with what they do in the world.

I do think that the question of specific, local activities in particular communities and organizations should be more central than it is.

btw - your link didn't link.

To those who are confused by the intransigence of Pelosi, Conyers and others, I suggest we start to think about the time when J. Edgar Hoover held sway in Washington. Hoover didn't worry about being fired because he had files on everyone. If Hoover, back then, was able to compile dossiers on prominent politicians sufficient to insure his tenure, imagine what the NSA might have acquired to fill the files on today's members of Congress.

There may be great embarrassing moments in Conyer's past, as in just about everybody elses, that he'd go far to avoid having exposed.

This could be way off the mark but what else could explain why these prominent Democrats behave so much like Republicans and why so many of them continue to avoid talking about the long history of U.S. imperialism; U.S. occupation of Iraq rather than the "war" crap, and much, much more.

THOMAS BOHLEN: right on!
GLAXIA: I have thought the same thing... what have "they" got on these people to shut them up so effectively?

Not too much is wrong with either Bush or Cheney. They are merely agents carrying out their duties, and so far their performance has been excellent.

In all fairness, put yourself in their shoes. If you were the president or the VP of a nation whose economy, especially as of recent, is mainly based on war, what would you do, other than changing your economic base? In one way or another the people in all the 50 states of these United States of Israel are carrying out defense (read war) related work. The fact that the regime has to lie to its subjects and trample on the Constitution is a necessary part of carrying out its mission. How else could the president start a war with Iraq if he didn't lie? How else could Bush expand the war if the Congress didn't authorize pre-emptive strikes?

I'm sorry to say this, but it's true. You are a warmonger nation, and I can show you nearly 1000 military bases all over the globe to back up my claim. You live on the carcass of other human beings. You have to kill in order to eat and survive.
Calling me crazy or any other name won't change the facts.

"Were there any trade union members, especially officers, in the contingent that faced off with Rep. Conyers?"

Bill,

I was there, but left (figuring we made our point) just before the arrests started. I am a member of the AFGE, and I'm sure ther were other union members there, but no, no one pushing impeachment as the offiial position of a union. I know of no unions that have taken an official position on impeachment.

Frankly, while the AFGE takes a good analysis on issues, most of the the mainstream unions seem worn-out and sold-out. For now, the bosses have won.

Salia,

Excellent point! In particular, every American that continues to purchase gasoline without exhausting all alternatives, (including moving or canging jobs) is particularly complicit in this oil-soaked violence.

Just imagine the stuff being pumped into all those car's tanks is the blood of Iraqi children (it practically is) and you will have no trouble finding alternatives.

On September 12, 2001, when a group here at the Merton center decided to head downtown fot a vigil, thay all headed into cars, even though a bus goes right past the center to downtown (just 3 miles away) evey 12 minutes. My brother stepped out to the bus stop, the others asked "do you want a ride?" My bother replied "didn't the events of yesterday mean anything to you???"

The One Party Cor-"Pirate" System is a Failure

It fails the American People and the World.
No matter what color they are.
It's Wealthy Fascist War mongers ruining the World!
If I have to look at Michael Forbes ugly face one more time,
I'm going to Puke!
Endless Billionaires with nothing better to do,
Then try to steal a crust of bread out of a baby's mouth.
The American experiment is a failure.
All we have left is Dogma.
When too few, control too much,
What else is possible?
Without constant vigilance and periodical updates any system would fail.
Flush the Viruses from the System.
Reboot!

I figure that the reason impeachment is off the table is because they are planning to file criminal charges against these idiots. I believe that these idiots should be put on trial at the Hague like the Serbian generals and other WAR CRIMINALS.

Accusing the group that descended on Conyers of racism is a cheap and weak-minded ploy. One wonders if the intention is to suggest that any non-black who is upset with a position or stance of a black politician is a racist?

This is the equivalent of any criticism of the Israeli government being immediately equated with Anti-Semitism. It's a cheap and sad ploy advanced by cynics or dolts. Unfortunately, it works.

It occurs to me that this practice could feed on itself ad-nauseum. If Oprah had led the group Monday, it could have been a gender-based attack on Conyers. If Reverand Sharpton had led it, it still could have been an inter-denominational prejudice. On and on and on.

These cheap ploys will continue as long as the public is dumb enough to eat them.

Place: White House, the Oval Office

Time: November 2005

Occasion: Meeting of Congressional Republican leaders and President Bush regarding the renewal of the USA Patriot Act

Tell-tale exchange between Bush and one of the visitors:

"Mr. President," one aide in the meeting said. "There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution."

"Stop throwing the Constitution in my face," Bush screamed back. "It's just a goddamned piece of paper!"

Telling, isn't it, that Honorable Bush thinks of the Constitution as damned by God, not blessed by God?

This should give us pause for reflection.

God Bless America.

RE: NOT GETTING IT...

mirf59 July 27th, 2007 10:57 am
"Accusing the group that descended on Conyers of racism is a cheap and weak-minded ploy....These cheap ploys will continue as long as the public is dumb enough to eat them."

Or for as long as progressives fail to forge strong inter-racial alliances.

Don't you GET that the charge is not a right wing ruse, but a problem between estranged progressive communities?

This is not about race but it is about race.
As a Viet Vet it was not the Charlie who was so much our enemy it was "THE MAN"; the one who sent us there.
You want equality by color, then it is blood-red upon a white, red, black, brown, or yellow man.
To those of us who seen the color upon our comrades we did not think of the skin we thought of the man the friend we had lost; and all we wanted was to get bck to the real world.
In the real world a mans skin even his religion or culture and poverty are used to divide peoples and allow certain practices against one group, sometimes no matter how horrific as in our torture of Arabs, by a process of selective dehumanization.
This may not be a popular belief today but the very ease at which our military killed Iraquis, in Gulf War I and 12 years of no fly bombing and straffing, up to todays invasion and occupation is without a doubt one of the largest cases of Genocide by dehumanization in recent history.
The US is a white run country and even Conyers is just a proverbial token black man in congress and so are all the members of the black caucus, as they are limited to fighting for Black Causes or Uncle Tom support of bills they do not agree with in order to have a say in DC at all.
If the Katrina victims had been predominately white middle class Americans would what is going on there be allowed?
Hundreds of thousands of poor black people deliberately uprooted and spread all over the country, paid a few doolars in a form of welfare, so that more affluent white people would have a vacation spot in their place.
Today it is the brown race the whites are helping by destroying and denying their humanity, and yes it is for predominatley white finacial means and has nothign to do with Freedom Democracy or defending this country.
Yes we have black men and women integrated into service, notice tho that those you see on the tube are predominately very young white men led by predomiately white officers, and these black men have dehumanized the brown skinned Iraquis as have their white counterparts.
Not too long ago in and still is in every major American city a white bias against black citizens unless that city is predomiantley black with seated eleced black managers.
Yet there is no bias against whites in the predominately black citys especially when it comes to police shooting down a citizen multiple times or abuse of civil liberites cases.
Persoanlitys is personalitys.
Todays hate against he browns and acted upon by Blacks whites and Latinos of brown skin can be taken back home and turned agaist those blacks and latinos by the same white old comrades in arms.
Most libeals are white, minoritys on the other hand are only fighitng to have same stature without skin color involved and are not liberals they are humanist; it isn't liberal to want to be known for your worth as a human being by your actions and inner strengths as all people shold be.
Very few liberals have ever faced stuggles with grinding poverty, deliberate discrimination, or gone to war fought with men against a weak and mentally destroyed people such as were the Vietnamese, Iraquis or any of the myriad countrys we have slaughtered people in ,so know very little of how those who have realy do feel.
American military men like the ability to easily destroy the enemy, the more that get killed the better, and the true status of just how many Iraquis we killed in first invasion and the extent of the destruction we inflicted upon Iraquis will not be allowed to be shown as films etc are all secret today.
And that is what the Amerifan polulace wants to happen.
To those who say Conyers should save America not because of race and then in the same breath say he has been a strong advocate for blacks, an oxymoron statement, forget that he has had to fight to survive in a white dominated environment from his first day in office.
He is no different than his white counterparts he will survive.
The truth is the very same hatred engendered towards Iraquis or black, brown or yellows who stand in Americas way overseas can be just as badly discrimianted here when and if poverty or some National emergency laws are put in effect.
I point out the outright hatred beng spoken of towards the Latinos by a goodly portion of those in states who have never lost a job never paid a latios medical bill or in some cases spoken to a Latino.
I hear Americans saying today it is not race when they are afrid because our nation has always used race behind tis expansionist policys and now is crying for those races to protect what, a flag, an Suv, beign able to sit in a restaruant and eat beside a white man?
We in this contry have a lot to think about and while race is an issue survival is the greatest issue and for us to survie in freedom we had better be mending some racial fences and doing it dfamn quick .
Do it honestly, with conviction and do it as an equal or daqmn streight we are all going to hell in the same basket, ignorance.

Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr. you got it right - very somber words indeed, along with McGovern's posting earlier. Don't let the right split the left/progressives, resulting in an internal squabble. Divide and conquer (again). Maybe Rep. Conyers is apprehensive about being swift boated and smeared with some "misdeed" uncovered during the illegal wiretapping. Rep. John Conyers, don't sweat it. Move forward with impeachment, you'll get re-elected, a nice letter to editor and $20 from me, though I'm on the left coast. Bush/Cheney will get theirs and can join Scooter, Delay, Vitter, Bob Allen and others in the GOP hall of shame. Also, recall back in 2000/2001 when Black Congressional Caucus could not get one DEM senator to sign off on their motion regarding voting misdeeds and undercounts. Yeah it's old news; "don't want to rock the boat" let's play along, DEM senator's silence was compliance. And the reward? W gets appointed president by the Supreme Court - we know the results. It's unfortunate, but it appears that African Americans must be subjected to a higher threshold for pain, suffering and sacrifice (along with Native Americans before them). So, now we want John to stand tall, while many of us remain silent after thousands were disenfranchised in 2000 and then five years later our citizens left to drown in the toxic after math of Katrina. So know John Conyers, "not ready to make nice" - impeach now. You've done great work, you can do even better. BTW, I was politially passive, but after Katrina I realized enough is enough, these mad men have no heart and soul, then I got on board and active with the peace/progessive movement and started calling out the GOP/right wing nuts on their destructive NEO-Conning/snake oil policies.

What the so-called 'progressive' movement needs to do is to focus on the issues we have in common. As long as people identify as 'black'or 'brown' or 'red' or 'green' or 'pink' or 'female' or 'male' or 'gay' or 'transgender' or 'lesbian' or whatever, it is much the same as people identifying with a nation above our common humanity. Each subgroup becomes pre-occupied with their own agenda, which has some degree of legitimacy, but it also places each group in competition with all other groups. The result, confusion as to which way is forward, which plays right into the hands of the power structure. As long as people are fighting among themselves for a small piece of the pie, the plutocrats will manage to make off ninety percent of the pie. The power structure is, itself, the problem. If anything, the American Revolution was a revolution against the concentration of power into a few hands and placing that power into the hands of "We the People."

As many of us can see that transfer of power didn't go very far without the transfer of wealth as well. Land, at the time of the Revolution, was the principle form of wealth and in our history one goal of the progressive movement concentrated on distributing the land in a more equitable manner. That goal needs to be remembered. The Industrial Revolution changed a whole lot in the way people sustained their existence. One result was the concentration of wealth/power into fewer hands. We are now a feudal/industrial society instead of a landed feudalism. The form changes, the essence remains to same.

Back to my point, sub-group identities include reactionaries in their sub-groups. Again, what progressives, i.e., those who believe that power rightly rests in the people, all of the people, need to focus on the issues that affect all of life. If the war were to end tomorrow most of the peace movement would go back to their divisive politics and/or their futile apathy. I hope "Enough said."
dbdibble@sbcglobal.net

Here is Part 2 of this article:

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/08/03/2964/