Views in brief

April 23, 2015

Where Chuy dared not go

IN RESPONSE to "Did the mayor's race change Chicago politics?": It's all about the (D).

If a campaign can't win an election, it can at least educate the electorate. Chuy's campaign, sadly, did neither. Bound by the constraints of his mutual Democratic Party affiliation with Rahm Emanuel, there were places Chuy dared not go.

One of his television commercials began promisingly with Chuy standing in front of a school shuttered by the Emanuel administration. Chuy did not identify the school. He mentions the number of schools closed--50--but never tells us where the schools were located.

Scared to name names, Chuy never goes into exactly who makes up the unelected school board. He never details the insider connection between Penny Pritzker's position on the school board and the handouts she received from TIF funds to help build one of her fancy Hyatt hotels. He never slammed home the fact that these handouts were taken directly out of a fund meant for Chicago Public Schools.

Image from SocialistWorker.org

Likewise, Chuy never attacked Rahm for appointing Deborah Quazzo to the same school board. Again, he never draws the line that shows how money was funneled from the school board directly into Quazzo's pocket. Watching him debate Rahm was like watching a boxer who learned the tactic of rope-a-dope, but never learned to throw a knockout punch.

Contrast this with the Tim Meegan campaign for 33rd Ward alderman. Meegan went after his opponent, incumbent Deb Mell, and the machine she represented with everything he had. He was not afraid to be specific. Tim detailed Deb's connections and the money and favors they funneled her way. He told the story of the patronage her father passed out to his family and friends. Unlike Chuy, Meegan actually "articulated a scathing critique of Emanuel," and the machine he runs. Tim accurately identified himself as fiercely independent.

The difference is all about the (D) after Chuy Garcia's name. He consistently pulled his punches and kept his campaign within certain limits. With one eye always on his future, Chuy knows that his future lies in the Democratic Party, and he was not about to burn that bridge.
Guy Miller, Chicago

Readers’ Views

SocialistWorker.org welcomes our readers' contributions to discussion and debate about articles we've published and questions facing the left. Opinions expressed in these contributions don't necessarily reflect those of SW.

Blind to the blindspot

IN RESPONSE to "Tarred with the same brush": Sylvestre Jaffard quotes the two paragraphs below to try to prove that the authors of White Blindspot did not underestimate white workers. But in fact, these paragraphs are from the Progressive Labor Party (PL) document which the authors were denouncing:

White workers today are generally better off than the Black people, who are engaged in a militant struggle for more jobs, housing and full political rights. But even today, where white workers are fighting for the same demands, they are also ruthlessly wiped out, like the unemployed coal miners of Hazard, Kentucky, or the 80,000 laid-off white railroad workers, victims of the Johnson-bosses-union gang-up or the Teamsters shot at in a recent Tennessee strike.

They, too, meet up with violent repression at the hands of the ruling class...

Of course, PL, then and now, has been anti-self-determination. But White Blindspot is just another liberal, moralizing approach.
Andrew Pollack, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Using health as a weapon

IN RESPONSE to "A fighter's life in danger": Thank you for this eloquent and informative article on Mumia Abu-Jamal's health crisis. Mumia is one of the greatest writers, commentators and media critics of my generation, and his wrongful conviction and wrongful incarceration have always been part of an effort by the police to silence one of the most eloquent and powerful critics of their racist brutality.

In view of the recent suspicious death of MOVE member Phil Africa, I hope SocialistWorker.org and other independent/alternative/left media will investigate what appears to be not only widespread medical neglect of prisoners--many of whom, like Mumia and the MOVE people, are wrongly convicted, and most of whom are nonviolent--but possible intentional medical malpractice perpetrated by hospitals in collusion with prisons.

No more extrajudicial executions! Free Mumia and all innocent and nonviolent people!
R.B. Wilk, Woodstock, New York

Ambivalent about the Indiana boycott

IN RESPONSE to "No hate in this state": As a homosexual socialist in the heart of Indiana, I have extremely mixed thoughts about the reaction to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).

On one side, I'm extremely grateful to see the public denunciation of this bigoted bill that seeks to soothe angry religious citizens who feel they're being oppressed (when in reality they're only losing some of the privilege they never should have had in the first place). It's extremely gratifying to see businesses boycott the state, to see celebrities denounce Gov. Mike Pence, and to watch as he slowly sinks into an unelectable position.

What worries me, however, is the economic force in the backlash. I fear that the businesses boycotting the state are the primary reason Pence has taken a step back from the original wording of the bill. Considering this man's history, particularly his old campaign sound bites against the LGBT community, as well as women and people of color, I do not believe for one second he cares that people hate him for his bigoted views. What's forced this change is the loss in more than $100 million from the state. The backlash here shows the copious amount of power that capital currently has in this nation.

Surprise, surprise, right? No one would have ever thought that money ruled in America. But it did.

When I attended the rally described in the article, I was gratified to see the people standing up, screaming, chanting, "This is what democracy looks like!" Making our voices heard.

Standing in front of the crowd was one individual holding up a sign that proudly proclaimed, "Socialist for Equality" (I was positioned in the middle of the crowd with a sign that read "Bigotry is not a Right"). Some lawmakers were present, listening to the concerns of the constituents they were called on to represent. Even Republican lawmakers were present, denouncing the bill that they voted for, telling the people that we truly did understand the law, even though Governor Pence and his cronies would tell us we didn't. That felt genuine.

What fills me with fear is seeing how little that seemed to matter (Pence couldn't be bothered to show up that day--indeed, no one who supported the bill made an appearance, even in the form of the counter-protest). What's caused this backpedaling and frantic scrambling for a fix to the broken bill has been the economic push.

Recently, Memories Pizza in Walkerton, Indiana, came out in public support of the RFRA and announced that it was glad to be able to refuse catering services to same-sex weddings. I visited their Facebook page to leave a bad review and was taken aback to see how many competing private pizza places were advertising their own brands on the page, exploiting both the hatred that fueled the RFRA and the righteous backlash in order to make a quick buck.

I've seen this trend all across the board. Indy Pop Con did the same thing, capitalizing on the collective national indignation towards the RFRA in order to ensure people that they would never discriminate and all are welcome. The public response? People vowing to support and dedicate their talents to Indy Pop Con.

Nearly everywhere I look, I see businesses exploiting the righteous indignation in order to present themselves as a more inclusive place. As people rush to give them their money to express support, their workers become even more burdened and are still oppressed under increasing demands from the bourgeoisie.

The private sector can't help but exploit. If there's a movement, there's a business exploiting it in order to make some cash. While I am very grateful that Governor Pence is pushing for a revision that protects me from being at an even larger disadvantage in the private sector (because let's face it--we're all disadvantaged unless we're born into a hefty amount of capital), I do feel guilty that my gain has been won at the exploitation of an otherwise righteous and pure fight for justice and equality.
Dakota Ed, from the Internet