Define reform

Alan Suderman reporting on Anita Bonds victory

Bonds’ victory will likely lead to plenty of hand-wringing among self-style progressive and/or reform voters, who often tend to be white and relatively new to the city and have seen their votes split among several of their chosen candidates in the last three at-large elections. Bonds’ victory follow similarly patterned wins by Councilmember Vincent Orange in 2011 and 2012. Orange eked into office with 29 percent of the vote in the 2011 special election and won 40 percent of the vote in last year’s Democratic primary, beating Sekou Biddle by only 1,746 votes.

There’s a clear appetite among the majority of the city’s voters for fresh blood on the Council. (Orange had previously been a Ward 5 councilmember and, like Bonds, has been a fixture of the local Democratic Party.) Yet no candidate has been able to bring together the disparate groups of voters looking for change in a strong majority or even a simple plurality. That might be because the reform-oriented candidates just haven’t been that impressive, but it’s more likely because “reform” means different things to different people; there’s no organized effort or group powerful enough to make or break any candidate who wants to claim the reform mantle. It’s an open casting call, and the people who answer it are often convinced of the rightness of their crusade.

In 2006 Adrian Fenty carried every precinct in the city running on reform. 4 years later Fenty was dumped in the Democratic primary because black people thought that reform was just code for push all the black people out of the city. I could be wrong, but I think the word reform is toxic in the black community.

Now the policies of gentrification have been put in place by Democratic and predominately black city councils and mayors. Electing black Democrats does not seem a solution. But it does not surprise me that white candidates running on a reform platform are not finding much support in the black community.

Candi Patterson for the Washington Teachers Union

It’s Official – I’m Running in the WTU elections!

Good afternoon to all of you. It’s official on April 30, 2013- I declared my candidacy for Washington Teachers’ Union (WTU) General Vice President again. This time, I am running on the Elizabeth Davis (known as Liz) slate. It’s an opportunity for a new start, for new beginnings- a time to take stock of where we’ve been, where we stand and how much needs to be done for DC teachers and school personnel.

Good luck and God speed.

Why does Kaya Henderson have a job?

D.C. spending plan cuts programs and staff at dozens of schools

Mayor Gray has continued Fenty’s school smashing policies. Had he changed course there might be some protection from the One City Two Campaigns scandal. As it is he has continued Fenty’s policies and so now is as unpopular as Fenty.

Candidates forum at SOME

SOME Hosts Candidates Forum for April Special Election

Statehood Green Party candidate and army veteran Perry Redd explained that he had experienced homelessness himself after leaving the military.

He contended the city has not done enough to address family homelessness, which has risen steeply since the recession. The number of homeless families in DC increased by 46 percent between 2008 and 2011, and an additional 19 percent between 2011 and 2012, according to the results of annual homeless counts.

Frumin REALLY does not get it:
Statements made about homelessness led to the topic of the city’s

scarcity of affordable housing. Frumin proposed a $500 monthly voucher for teachers, policemen, firemen and other city employees to be put towards rent or mortgage.

This will do exactly nothing for workers in food service, retail, hospital, and hospitality, the sector of our workforce most likely to become homeless. Besides we do not need vouchers, we need low cost housing.

Attorney Paul Zuckerberg (D) added that the city needs to be more meticulous in where the fund’s money is actually going.

“I want to see housing money going towards real housing units,” he said. “We need to make sure it’s going to housing and not the pockets of lobbyists and special interest groups.”

Excellent point, if there are not more units available, then DC is just chasing its tail.

Silverman is just hopeless:

“The key component to preventing homelessness is making sure folks have jobs,” said Silverman. “We need to look at who is employable and who is not.”

In other words, we have to decide who gets thrown under the bus.

Silverman, who said her work at the fiscal policy institute has given her insights into the challenges of workforce development, also spoke in support of putting money into job training programs and adult literacy programs.

In other words, she is looking for ways to direct city money into the pockets of her fellow advocates, not create a jobs program for the City’s army of unemployed.

Patrick Mara and Anita Bonds could not be bothered to show up, so we can write them off.

Not the opiate of the masses

I can certainly understand why Karl Marx thought that religion was the opiate of the masses. History is replete with examples of how religion was used by rulers to deflect and deligitmize rebellion.

However, when you look at actual rebellions, religion is usually an important factor. Below is an imcomplete list of rebellions that were guided by relgious movements.

Palm Sunday and Easter
Such was the quality of Christ’s ministry that people from miles around gathered to welcome Christ to Jerusalem and spread palms in his path. Such was the quality of the Sermon on the Mount that the Roman occupation took fright and crucifed him a week later to put and end to the insurrection. Indeed, they knew not what they did.

The Great Uprising of 1831
The English peasant rebellion was an anti-tax rebellion, but it was inspried in part by a Lollard preist, John Ball.

And it is not hard to see why Wycliffe’s bible had such a radical effect upon the peasants who read it. Imagine being intimidated all your live by your local priest, and seeing the bishop from afar living in his palace surrounded by finery. Then imagine reading the Book Of Acts for the first time:

44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common.
45 They sold possessions and chattel [They sold possessions and substances, or goods], and parted those things to all men, as it was need to each.
46 And each day they dwelled stably with one will in the temple, and brake bread about houses, and took meat with full out joy and simpleness of heart, [Forsooth day by day they lasting together in the temple, and breaking bread about houses, took meat with gladness and simpleness of heart,]
47 and praised together God, and had grace to all the folk [praising together God, and having grace to all the people]. And the Lord increased them that were made safe, each day into the same thing.

The contrast between those words that the wealth of the medieval church must have been staggering. You can’t read the Book of Acts without realizing that Christianity preaches equality and any political doctrine that teaches otherwise is contrary to Christianity. It must have been an intoxicating experience to the English peasant.

German Peasant’s Rebellion
143 years later, the peasants of Germany had precisely the same reaction to the New Testament. When given the chance to read the word of God for themselves, they realized it bore little resemblance to the teachings of the medieval church. Martin Luther and other leaders of the Reformation turned against them, but the cat was out of the bag. Once people could read the word of God for themselves, the old obediance would never entirely return.

The Dutch Revolt
You just cannot separate the Dutch war for independence with the Dutch Reformation. The two are so intertwined as they cannot be separated. The Dutch revolt was driven and shaped by Calvinism.

The Indian Independence movement
While Ghandi was careful to build a multi-reglious movement, he completely embraced Hindu ascetism as part of his message of non-violence. Religous commitment on the part of his followers, of whatever religion, gave them the strength to maintain non-violent discipline in the face of violent provocation.

The American Civil Rights movement
It is not a coincidence that it was led by black ministers. It is not simply that the black church was the only institution that completely belonged to the black community. The Gospel of Jesus Christ that enabled activists to maintain non-violent discipline in the face of violence.

The Philppine Snap Election
Corazon Aquino’s devout Catholicism sustained her in the aftermath of her husband’s murder and enabled her to overthrow Marcos without violence.

Poland Solidarity
Although the intellectuals who led the Committee for Workers (Polish acronym KOR) were secular Jews, the Solidarity movement itself was led by devout Catholics like Lech Walensa.

Happy Easter!

How our country got this way

Culture of Cruelty: How America’s Elite Demonize the Poor

The struggle for a living wage

Walmart Fighting Bill That Would Grant Living Wage to Employees in D.C.

The mega-retailer—which is set to open six stores in D.C., the first two later this year—is among a number of opponents to a proposed bill that would force national retailers with stores larger than 75,000 square feet and annual revenues of over $1 billion to pay an hourly living wage of $11.75 and offer benefits, reports the Post.

The bill was introduced by D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson and is backed by 11 of his colleagues.

Three cheers for Phil Mendelson, I didn’t know he had it in him.

I don’t know whether this is the result of the Respect DC activists, pressure from Giant and Safeway, of just the mere thought of all those part time Walmart workers filling up DC’s homeless shelters, but it seems DC Council is going to do the right thing. Hurray!