Tag Archives: race and poverty

Dear Mr. Trump: Will You Advance a Moral Agenda?

By Mark | December 30, 2016

Tomorrow night, as people around the world gather to celebrate the coming of 2017, Reverend Dr. William Barber II, along with several other leaders of the American faith community, will be congregating at the historic Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, DC for what they’re calling a National Watch Night service. The purpose of the gathering, […]

Posted in Civil Liberties, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged Ben Carson, Donald Trump, Education, God, Higher Ground Moral Declaration, human rights, Jeff Sessions, morality, morals, National Watch Night, poverty, prison reform, public education, race, religion, sentencing reform, Steve Bannon, voting rights, William Barber | 246 Comments

John Sinclair on his efforts to bring down the U.S. government, superintendent Ben Edmondson on the state of Ypsi schools, and musician Cash Harrison on the inspirational power of heartache… on episode 49 of the Saturday Six Pack

By Mark | September 19, 2016

The last episode of the Saturday Six Pack is now available online. If you’re so inclined, you can either scroll to the bottom of this post, where you’ll find the Soundcloud audio embedded, or just click over to iTunes, were you can download it in podcast form. I know it doesn’t mean much coming from […]

Posted in Ann Arbor, Detroit, Education, History, Politics, The Saturday Six Pack, Uncategorized | Also tagged 1960's, 1968, 1969, 1971, Alan Haber, Albion College, Beach Boys, beatniks, Benjamin Edmondson, Bill Haley and His Comets, black Muslim, Black Muslims in America, Black Panthers, black separatism, Bleak house, bombs, Brendan Toller, Buick, Cash Harrison, Charles Dickens, Chick Berry, Chris Sandon, Chuck Berry, CIA, class, communes, cops, Danny Fields, Danny Says, Dave Valler, Davison, Detroit Riot, dismantling of public education, Domino's, Domino's Pizza, Down Beat, dropouts, drug fiends, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Elijah Mohammed, Flint, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, fucking, Grande Ballroom, greasers, guns, hippies, hipster, hipsters, Huey P. Newton, Iggy and the Stooges, Iggy Pop, James Osterberg Jr, Jazz, John Lennon, John Sinclair, John Sinclair Freedom Rally, Leni Sinclair, Malcolm X, marijuana, Maybellene, MC5, Miles Davis, Mothers of Invention, Muhammed Speaks, music, Nation of Islam, panties, Patrick Elkins, police, pot, poverty, President Dave, prison, prison reform, Psychedelic Rangers, public education, punk rock, Pussy Riot, R&B, racism, revolution, rhetoric of violent revolution, rhythm and blues, Rob Tyner, Rock and Roll, SDS, Shaka Senghor, Students for a Democratic Society, Tanya Bowman, The Eagles, threats to public education, Tom Hayden, Trans-Love Energies, University of Michigan, White Panther Party, Xavier Small, YCS, Yoko Ono, Ypsilanti Community Schools | 7 Comments

The ONE Campaign’s caravan to stop in Ypsilanti to discuss putting and end to global poverty

By Mark | September 13, 2016

On Wednesday evening, representatives from the ONE Vote ‘16 Caravan will be pulling into Ypsilanti’s Cultivate Coffee and Tap House and engaging local voters in a discussion about global poverty and how critical it is that our elected leaders take the problem seriously. Following is my discussion with Juliet Vedral, the U.S./Canada Press Secretary for […]

Posted in Civil Liberties, Politics, Ypsilanti | Also tagged 2016, Africa, Bono, bounce houses, call to action, caravans, Cultivate Coffee and Tap House, debates, Democratic National COnvention, disease, Donald Trump, ebola, elections, foreign policy, gender inequality, Hillary Clinton, HIV, inequality, Juliet Vedra, national security, ONE, ONE Vote, poverty, Republican National Convention, sexism, terrorism, virtual reality | 4 Comments

Judge Carlton Reeves, sentencing three white men to prison for the murder of a black man in Mississippi, delivers a powerful speech on the legacy of lynching

By Mark | February 15, 2015

In the early hours of June 26, 2011, 18-year old Deryl Dedmon, who had been drinking with friends, drove his pick-up truck over a man by the name of James Craig Anderson in Jackson, Mississippi, killing him. Dedmon was white. Anderson was black. Dedmon fled the scene of the crime, but, thanks to surveillance camera […]

Posted in Civil Liberties, History, Uncategorized | Also tagged 100 Years of Lynchings, A New History of Mississippi, affirmative action, Andrew Goodman, Carlton Reeves, death penalty, Deryl Dedmon, Dylan Butler, Emmett Till, Equal Justice Initiative, George W. Lee, hate crimes, Jackson, Jafrica, James Cheney, John Aaron Rice, lynching, Lynching in America: Confronting the Terror of of Racial Terror, Mack Charles Parker, Medgar Evers, Michael Schwerner, Mississippi, Mississippi: An American Journey, n-word, race, racism, slavery, University of Michigan Law School, Vernon Dahmer, white power, Willie McGee, Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America | 9 Comments

Ann Arbor found to be much better than Ypsi at educating students in poverty?

By Mark | February 3, 2015

Given that the Washtenaw International Baccalaureate High School in Ypsilanti recently finished second in statewide ACT rankings, beating out all of the awesome schools in Ann Arbor, I wasn’t really surprised to see today’s headline in the Ann Arbor News reaffirming their academic superiority. People need to feel awesome about themselves, and that’s OK. And […]