The Mason Moment March 1, 2022

I speak about the resistance of the valiant Ukrainian people, the rising of the peace-loving people of Russia, and the examples they give us.

The Mason Missile, February 26, 2022

Greetings, Americans! I’m currently reading the hardcover book of The 1619 Project, the series of articles published in the New York Times about the history of racism in this land of the free, and how it’s permeated throughout our society. Racism has done this, and we must grapple with it like adults if our nation is to heal and grow. (I acquired my copy from the Free Library of Philadelphia, https://freelibrary.org/.) Conservatives have long acted like education is not for the training of the mind to think independently, or to expand people’s horizons and learn new things; to them, it’s the dumping of words pre-approved by people in power, telling the students “This is what WE want you to know, and don’t go any further!” They also accuse teachers and professors of “Indoctrinating” students with Marxist, America-hating propaganda, which is an act of projection. An example of this is in the tail end of the regime of t---p, when he announced the forming of the “1776 Project,” as a response to the 1619 Project. (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/how-trump-administration-s-1776-report-warps-history-racism-slavery-n1254926) This was along with his order to ban diversity training in federal agencies. (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/why-trump-administration-slashing-anti-discrimination-training-n1239903) It as if the entire goal is to say “Let’s not talk about it,” accusing such educational programs of causing division and America-hating. The whole approach of conservatives to dealing with race is to NOT deal with it, unless they want to excite white voters to vote against their interests in favor of corporations and the über-wealthy who don’t care squat about them. The same idea to repress the 1619 Project also started the move in the Texas state legislature, and signed by Governor Greg Abbot, to pass a bill forming the “1836 Project,” a similar effort to propagate about Texas-exceptionalism, and to hide the long and terrible history of racism in that state. It took its name from the year when the Republic of Texas declared its independence from Mexico. The reality was, in 1821, Stephen Austin asked the Mexican government (which won its independence from Mexico the year before) to be allowed to settle 300 families in this sparsely populated region of the country, along the Brazos River, and the settlers mainly came from the US South and had slaves, and slavery was outlawed in Mexico (https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/texas-declares-independence); the constitution of the Republic of Texas, modeled after the United States constitution, allowed slavery. (https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/alamo-republic/) Slavery, racism- are THESE terrible things worth glorifying? Or were the authors of the bill seeking to hide it? Either way, prohibiting students from hearing or reading this part of Texas’ past a detriment to people seriously out to learn. I know that, as legend goes, Americans aren’t great students of history, but we have to and CAN disprove that. We have to learn our history, all of it, particularly from the perspectives of African-Americans, Native Americans, Asian and Pacific Islands people, Latinx people, people descended for Eastern European immigrants, and women-the voices of those who have traditionally not been heard. As George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Do we want to repeat the past of slavery, genocide, repression of workers, warmongering, and contempt for immigrants? I’m sorry that, due to deadlines, I have to wait until next month’s Missile, to talk about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a sovereign nation. But don’t work, I’ll have plenty to say. On that note, stay safe stay strong, and stay together! Victory to the Ukrainian people! America will be free! Bye!

The Mason Moment, Feb. 21, 2022

I call for the need for serious discussion and learning about racism problems in this country, past and present.

Mason Moment February 14, 2022 (Sequence 2)

I speak about transferring from Spotify, and of the recent rash of banning of books in schools.

The Mason Missile, January 30, 2022

Greetings, Americans! Over the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, Torah portion Beshalah, Exodus 13:17-17:16; after the Israelites left Egypt for the Promised Land, Pharaoh is angry that he let them leave slavery under him, and he orders an elite chariot unit to attack them. The Israelites, terrified by the chariots, and they turn against Moses, saying, “Is it for a lack of graves in Egypt, that you brought us here to die in the wilderness?”, and talked about going back into slavery in Egypt. Moses tells the people to not fear, “The LORD will battle for you.” God tells Moses, “Tell the Israelites to go forward,” and Moses lifts his rod over the Red Sea, and the water part to let the Israelites through. After they cross to the other side, the Egyptian chariots attack, but God allows the waters of the sea to come down on them. Pharaoh was originally frightened by death of the first born, including his son; rulers seldom do handle problems until it affects them personally; he therefore “gets tough” and tries to reassert his power over the Israelites, his former slaves. Tyrants, both political and economic, hate it when their once-docile subjects challenge their tyranny; when the once-oppressed people make gains, they old regime temporarily pulls back, but they plot again to take their former power back and put their subjects back down. That’s what the MLK weekend is about-the ongoing fight against tyranny and for freedom and justice-it never ends. Any advance towards a more just and democratic society isn’t guaranteed, and that its defense is ongoing. Upcoming is African-American History Month, and we’re up against efforts to force school boards throughout the country to ban books dealing with Black History or LGBTQ+ issues, acting like they’ll hurt white people’s feelings-this, from the faction that mocks people protesting racial and religious attacks as “snowflakes” and telling them to just put up with it. The latest of this is from Tennessee, where the McMinn County School Board ordered the banning of the graphic novel Maus by Art Spiegelman, depicting the horrors of the Holocaust- depicting the Jews as mice and the Nazis as cats.( https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/holocaust-novel-maus-banned-in-tennessee-school-district) This came the day before Holocaust Memorial Day. The board complained about so-called “bad language” and a picture of a naked woman! Can a person be more ignorant? More stupid” One genius on the board said “It shows people hanging, it shows them killing kids, why does the educational system promote this kind of stuff? It is not wise on healthy.” It’s because it’s HISTORY, dumbo, a terrible historical event, and people have to learn about it, so we don’t go through that again! These are the deep thinkers deciding on your kids’ education, Americans. Still,their favorite enemy-of-the-month remains the evil “Critical Race Theory,” which (as I’ve said for the HUNDRETH time!) is a 40-year-old study about race as a social construct, which is pervasive throughout the legal system and in our politics, and not an individual attitude. It came about from the work of such legal scholars as Derrick Bell, Kimberlé Crenshaw, and Richard Delgado, examining such patterns of discrimination as which areas of a city are “redlined”, which decides the residents’ ability to attain a loan, for one thing. It is also a tool for sociologists and literary experts to see the effects of racism in school funding, policing, utilities, advertising, movies, and so forth. (https://www.edweek.org/leadership/what-is-critical-race-theory-and-why-is-it-under-attack/2021/05) It is prevalent in law schools and graduate studies, and not-repeat, NOT! - taught to kindergarten kids to make them hate themselves. The conservative reaction to CRT has always been the logical fallacy of “exaggerated extrapolation,” that it would cause such terrible things as discrimination against white people, gay activism in schools, the Black Lives Matter movement, and school shootings. This is immature, unwilling to confront one of the greatest stains and impediments to the development of our democracy. Plus, the conservative attitude has always been self-centeredness, believing that everything should be as THEY want, whether it’s schools, neighborhoods, and sexuality; they don’t do a thing, they’re not forced to do a thing, yet they demand the right to penalize an dpolice other people’s behavior.; it’s all about them, and they’re like little kids who don’t want to share. This is what we’re dealing with in our politics and in our country; it’s gone on all through our history, taking different forms, different eras, and different power relations within our country. We must never give up our part of the fight; we must study the news, organize, educate ourselves on the issues, and finally, get out there and VOTE, and not allow anything or anyone to stop us. Our forebears went through this so that we can vote and have our rights, and I believe they’re looking on us; can we let them down? Stay safe, stay strong, and stay together! America will be free! Bye!

The Mason Moment Jan. 17, 2022

I speak about fighting homelessness, and the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and how we must keep it going.I screwed up the opening credits, sorry.

The Mason Moment, January 4, 2022

I speak about the danger of censoring library books dealing with race and LGBTQ+ issues, and of rededicating ourselves to preserving our democracy.