Marco Rubio’s Flat Earth Minstrelsy

climate change

By Sikivu Hutchinson

Ever since misbegotten Republican retread Alan Keyes burst onto the scene as the anti-Obama in 2008 it seems as if every presidential race demands at least one hyper-assimilationist alpha male of color who embraces the Christian fascist God, Guns n’ Gays shtick more zealously than his overseers. In a recent interview with CBS, newly announced GOP presidential candidate Marco Rubio “judiciously” conceded that being gay is not a choice but drew the line at supporting legal and constitutional protection for gay couples, claiming that “supporting the definition of marriage as one man and one woman is not anti-gay; it is pro-traditional marriage.” In the same interview he reiterated his willful ignorance of the science behind climate change. Both viewpoints represent a repugnant backwards conservatism more in lockstep with the Party’s demographically challenged white fathers than the “fresh” “new” constituency Rubio says he’s trying to appeal to. Rubio’s nose-thumbing climate change denialism is especially dangerous for the younger generations that he claims to represent. Failed by segregated high stakes test-happy public schools, Millennials who already struggle to grasp basic science and math don’t need a Gen X flat earther who gets his discredited theories about climate change from the Bible. And while Rubio demonizes cap and trade policies as “dangerous” to the economy hedge fund billionaires, construction conglomerates and the Koch brothers are among his top ten donors.

Cynically looking to play the ethnicity card, Rubio and his handlers haven’t even bothered to do any market research on his supposedly built-in ethnic constituency. According to the National Resources Defense Council, nine in ten Latinos believe climate change is destructive and should be substantively addressed by the federal government (indeed, 92% of Latinas believe government intervention should be a priority). Climate change ranks second only to immigration reform as the most important political issue for Latino voters. According to the Latino Decisions group, “86 percent are convinced that we have a moral duty to give our children a clean planet and that our ancestors worked and cared for the Earth, so we must continue their heritage and legacy by fighting climate change and protecting the environment.”

Banking on his bright-eyed bushy tailed persona and Latino heritage, Rubio’s brownface antics are offensive to millions of undocumented, working class people of color who see nothing but nativist anti-immigrant hysteria and capitalist greed oozing from the GOP’s platform. They are offensive to the scores of queer and trans youth of color who are overrepresented among the incarcerated, homeless and foster care populations (unlike fellow candidate Rand Paul, Rubio has yet to say a peep about mass incarceration’s impact on Latinos. The private prison operator GEO Group is one of his top ten donors). Contrary to Eurocentric images of same-sex marriage, African Americans and Latinos are more likely to be in same-sex families and partnerships than are whites. Same sex families of color are also more likely to live at or below the poverty line; a stat that underscores the perniciousness of Rubio’s opposition to same sex marriage, climate change, reproductive rights and the Affordable Care Act. While corporate Dem Hillary Clinton is hardly a panacea for communities of color, a GOP presidency in brownface would plunge gay, lesbian, trans and undocumented families of color even further into poverty.

By 2044 the U.S. will become a “majority minority” nation with whites declining to 45% of the population. This means that the long term health, ecological and social impact of climate change will wreak the most destruction on poor and working class communities of color—communities already overburdened by policies that allow mega-billionaire businesses like the Koch brothers’ to profiteer and pollute with impunity. Rubio’s fealty to big business, anti-undocumented immigrant nativism and the homophobic Religious Right solidly aligns him with the very forces that would ensure the 1% remain status quo—only with a new generation of brown (and black)face flat earth minstrels doing their bidding.

Twitter @sikivhutch

Marco Rubio’s Flat Earth Minstrelsy
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#CollegeNotPrison: Secular Community Steps Up

Over the past several years, increasing militarization and policing on school campuses have made African American, Latino and Native American students even more vulnerable to harsh discipline, criminalization and pushout than ever before. When youth of color come onto high school campuses they often see scenes like this:

Gardena High School, L.A., CA
Gardena High School, L.A., CA

 

For African American students criminalization begins as early as preschool, with black students accounting for 48% of school suspensions despite comprising only 18% of the preschool population. By contrast, white students comprise 43% of all preschoolers and 26% of those suspended. Nationwide, LGBTQ and disabled students of color have some of the highest pushout rates among all student groups. Last year Black Skeptics Los Angeles became part of the Dignity in Schools campaign, a nationwide coalition of organizations working to end school pushout and redress the institutional conditions that contribute to it. As a result of these deepening trends, our First in the Family Humanist scholarship focus has expanded to include youth who are or have been system-involved.

 

For the third year of Black Skeptics Los Angeles’ First in the Family Humanist scholarship fund the secular community stepped up and helped us exceed our fundraising goal for 2015. We’d like to thank the following donors for their advocacy and generosity:

Hugo Cervantes (2013 & 2014 winner)
Hugo Cervantes (2013 & 2014 winner)

 

Bridgette Crutchfield and Minority Atheists of Michigan

Zach Moore

August Brunsman IV

Mai Dao

Mandisa Thomas and Black Non-Believers

Roy Speckhardt and the American Humanist Association

 

Jamion Allen, Tiare Hill, Elizabeth Hernandez & Kelvin Manjarrez, 2014

Darlene Pineda

Kirreck Williams

Daron Scott

David Duncan

Susan Walsh

Greg Epstein

Steve Schlosnagle

Catherine Crompton

Donald Wright

Greta Christina

James Underdown

DeAngela Morant

Victory Yates, 2013 winner, CSULB

Jennifer Taylor

Michael Lightsmith

Black Beyond Belief

Andrew Tripp

Phillip Aubrey, 2013 winner, Babson College

AJ Johnson

Debbie Goddard

Amelia Pergl

Ruth Seid

Chris Stedman

Bri Van Til

Stef McGraw

Sincere Kirabo

Perde Williams Jr.

#CollegeNotPrison: Secular Community Steps Up

#DeathByCop

Death by cop coffins
600 plus coffins of police murder victims

 

Yesterday Black Skeptics Los Angeles participated in and endorsed the #DeathByCop demonstration and die-in in downtown Los Angeles. The demo was organized by the Youth Justice Coalition (YJC) and featured Black Lives Matter L.A., the Dignity and Power Coalition against Sheriff’s Violence and other local activist groups that have been on the frontlines of protesting state violence, terrorism and police murders in communities of color in Los Angeles as well as nationwide. The protest took place on the same day the nation was rocked by yet another revelation of a videotaped execution of an unarmed black man by a white police officer in South Carolina.

According to the Youth Justice Coalition, Los Angeles “leads the nation by far in law enforcement killings of community members”, with African Americans (who are 9% of L.A. County’s population) accounting for a whopping 28% of those killed by law enforcement. YJC reports that “since 2000 (according to data furnished by the District Attorney’s office)…there has not been a single prosecution of these cases” and that the D.A. will not investigate cases that involve use of force until law enforcement conducts its own internal investigation. One of the key policy changes that the Los Angeles coalition is pushing for is the creation of an elected citizens’ review panel that would have full subpoena powers to investigate, advise on and participate in the adjudication of cases of police brutality, shootings and killings of civilians.  Los Angeles has long been a major epicenter of police violence—from the Watts Rebellion of 1965, to the murder of African American homemaker Eulia Love in 1979, to the 1991 beating of Rodney King to the civil unrest of 1992 and into the present where “At least 617 people have been killed by law enforcement since 2000”, a figure that breaks down to one person a week.

the Youth Justice Coalition, Los Angeles “leads the nation by far in law enforcement killings of community members”, with African Americans (who are 9% of L.A. County’s population) accounting for a whopping 28% of those killed by law enforcement. YJC reports that “since 2000 (according to data furnished by the District Attorney’s office)…there has not been a single prosecution of these cases” and that the D.A. will not investigate cases that involve use of force until law enforcement conducts its own internal investigation. One of the key policy changes that the Los Angeles coalition is pushing for is the creation of an elected citizens’ review panel that would have full subpoena

Death by cop
powers to investigate, advise on and participate in the adjudication of cases of police brutality, shootings and killings of civilians.  Los Angeles has long been a major epicenter of police violence—from the Watts Rebellion of 1965, to the murder of African American homemaker Eulia Love in 1979, to the 1991 beating of Rodney King to the civil unrest of 1992 and into the present where “At least 617 people have been killed by law enforcement since 2000”, a figure that breaks down to one person a week.

 

#DeathByCop