Monthly Archives: July 2024

The number of university courses referencing topics such as diversity and social justice has risen significantly since the Black Lives Matter movement and the end ofthe Covid-19 pandemic, data suggests.

According to the Open Syllabus database, anonline open-source platform that catalogues and tracks trends inmore than 20million syllabuses across more than 120 countries, 5.9per cent of courses mentioned diversity in 2023 an uptick from 4.2per cent in 2018, and a record high for the period 2008-23 for which information isavailable. Of the major anglophone sectors in the database, the rate was highest in the US, at 7.6per cent.

While use of the term equality has largely hovered around the 0.5per cent mark globally, it is as high as 1.2per cent in the UK.

Meanwhile, references to inclusivity have shot up in recent years. In 2023, 0.9per cent of courses mentioned inclusion, which was almost double the rate of five years before. In Canada, it was even higher, at 1.7per cent.

Carrie Paechter, professor of childhood, youth and family life at Nottingham Trent University, said mentions of diversity would be higher because it was a good catch-all term, but was unsurprised to learn that references to inclusion were on the rise.

Particularly the more forward-thinking universities are really starting to think about inclusivity for neuroatypical students, or those from care backgrounds, or with hidden disabilities, students who are carersthings that we have started to think about that were rather ignored in the past, she said.

Joe Karaganis, Open Syllabus founder, said that there had been a clear rise in the appearance of the three key terms, particularly since 2019, and that their growth seemed to be correlated.

I think the change in 2018-19 is significant, he told Times Higher Education. Its the year when in the US, at least BLM and the [George] Floyd murder pushed these issues into the curriculum for classes dealing with race, social justice and adjacent topics.

The proportion of courses referencing social justice rose from 0.5per cent in 2019 to 0.9per cent last year, while racism was also cited more, as was racial justice.

Covid and Black Lives Matter probably combined to make us think more about some of those things in terms of social justice about Black Lives Matter, and equality, diversity and inclusion in terms of Covid because it was very much in our faces as staff in terms of who had access and who didnt, said Professor Paechter.

References to diversity were most frequent in sociology courses, with mentions in 16.1per cent of syllabuses, followed by history (15per cent), media (12.5per cent) and education (10per cent).

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com

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How Black Lives Matter and Covid reshaped university syllabuses - Times Higher Education

In a speech at the 2024 RNC, Johnson spoke openly about why he switched parties, citing the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests as the catalyst.

DALLAS Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson spoke on why he switched parties during his speech at the 2024 Republican National Convention.

Mayor Johnson stuck very much to Tuesday's theme of public safety, citing it as the main reason he split from the Democratic Party.

Johnson, who hasn't spoken much on his transition from blue to red, shared that a catalyst for his switch to the Republican Party was the Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd in 2020.

"I've been a Democrat my entire life, albeit a conservative one, but when those activists tried to scare my kids, my fellow Democrats were silent," Johnson said.

In contrast, Johnson said he was supported by conservatives, even though he was not a member of their party at the time. Johnson also detailed that support and funding for policing is a policy that lined up more with his beliefs growing up.

"I grew up in high-crime neighborhoods," Johnson said. "What we wanted was more and better policing, not less."

Johnson has said in the past that he believes Dallas' growth and success can be partly attributed to the fact that he's "always run the city like a Republican mayor would run the city."

"I wanted to say I didn't leave the Democratic Party because they left me first," Johnson stated. "But the truth is, on matters of public safety, the Democrats were actually never there for me, for Dallas families, or for the American people."

Johnson went on to lambast his former party further, saying as a whole, Democrats have failed to maintain safe cities.

"Today's woke Democratic Party is with the criminals, not with the victims," Johnson said. "Democrats are good at using safe words, but terrible at building safe neighborhoods and safe cities."

With Johnson at the helm, Dallas is the largest city in the U.S. to be led by a Republican mayor. Mayor Johnson cited his leadership as the reason for a three-year reduction in violent crime in Dallas.

In the past, Johnson and Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia, have credited that number to a policy of hot spot policing, where police will heavily target areas where crime is known to occur.

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Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson reveals reason for party switch in 2024 RNC speech - WFAA.com

The media stoked unrest by feeding the public false narratives.

Im thinking about another summer, back in 2020; the worst of my life. On top of Covid, which had me isolated from most of the world, there were the BLM protest/riots that were not just on TV constantly, but going on within hearing distance of my home in Richmond, Virginia. Week after week, police planes and helicopters flew over my head. Night after night, the often violent protesters hit the streets, ostensibly to express their outrage over George Floyds death at the hands of the Minneapolis police.

Floyd, whod served a five-year prison sentence for a home invasion during which he put a gun against the abdomen of a female victim (some hero), was just the flashpoint, as Richmond, like any American city, had its share of discontents who were sick of being Covid shut-ins and wanted the release of the mask-free nightly ruckus in the streets. The media, normally a reliable echo of the government's often absurd masking directives, went silent on the mask issue in this instance. Apparently, we were witnessing some new social justice importance/risk calculus that hadnt yet been articulated to the public.

The summer was handled reverently by the media, because the perception at the time was that white police officers were brutalizing black men across America. A handful of videos can have a powerful effect when spread over the Internet. Consumers of mass media accept, at this point, that convicted Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd by kneeling on his windpipe on May 22, 2020.

However, theres a counter-narrative in the dark places where no media oxygen is needed to keep it alive. Before examining that, let's look at the origins of the BLM movement, which sprang from the police killing of Michael Brown in 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri. Most people remember the Hands up, don't shoot murder that took the life of a young black man, but how many know that Brown never said that? That was a lie spread by bystanders that the media amplified without seeking corroboration, which is its usual practice, especially in racial matters. In fact, Michael Brown was the aggressor. He tried to take away the arresting officer's gun after the cop told him not to walk in the middle of the street, which is a sure way to end one's life.

The grand jury declined to indict the officerWilsonwho pulled the trigger, and then, on March 4, 2015, the Obama DOJ issued an exhaustive, 86-page investigative reportthat concluded there is no credible evidence that Wilson willfully shot Brown as he was attempting to surrender or was otherwise not posing a threat.

Black Lives Matter is based on a big lie the media propagated, and still does. That lie, repeated so many times, has now become axiomatic in progressive circles. That's their truth. In August 2019, the Associated Press ran a storyabout Brown's death, describing it like this: Words were exchanged, the white officer confronted the 18-year-old Brown, who was black. The situation escalated, with the officer and Brown scuffling. The officer shot and killed Brown, who was unarmed. That's a textbook example of how the media lies without actually telling a lie, and it happens all the time.

Nearly two years later, On May 24, 2021, six years after the DOJ report was released, PBS ran an interviewof Michael Brown's father, conducted by Yamiche Alcindor, a journalist whos also worked for The New York Times and NBC News. The interview was conducted as if the Obama DOJ report was never released. Alcindor described Michael Brown to his father as a teenager walking down the street. That's it. PBS correspondent Judy Woodruff introduced the bogus interview with this: Nearly seven years ago, 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Woodruff, who like Alcindor was aware of the DOJ report, neglected to mention the rest of the story because it doesn't fit the narrative.

False narratives like this one are spread by some prominent Democrats. On August 9, 2019, Kamala Harris tweeted: Michael Browns murder forever changed Ferguson and America. His tragic death sparked a desperately needed conversation and a nationwide movement. We must fight for stronger accountability and racial equity in our justice system. Michael Brown wasnt murdered.

On the same day, Elizabeth Warren tweeted: 5 years ago Michael Brown was murdered by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Michael was unarmed yet he was shot 6 times. I stand with activists and organizers who continue the fight for justice for Michael. We must confront systemic racism and police violence head on. Brown was unarmed, but he was trying to arm himself with a cops gun. No systemic racism was involved in his death.

Fast forward to the George Floyd incident. After the twisting of the Michael Brown story to fit in with the systemic racism narrative, how reliable are the events of that day in May as the media has told them? The public heard from the media repeatedly that Floyd told the officers he couldnt breathe while Derek Chauvin had his knee on his neck area, but they didn't hear that Floyd said the same thing when the police tried to put him in their car.

An autopsy Hennepin County coroner Andrew Baker conducted 12 hours after Floyd died found no evidence suggesting he died of asphyxiation, but a new coroner's report was issued two days later, after the Minnesota Attorney General, Keith Ellison, met with Baker. This one said Floyd died of asphyxiation. Floyd had pre-existing health conditionscoronary artery disease and hypertension. Dr. Baker told the Hennepin County Attorneys office that Floyd had a fentanyl level of 11 ng/mL in his body, which he said was a fatal level; 3ng/mL could even be fatal, he added. Floyds level can cause pulmonary edema, and Floyds lungs were swollen to two to three times their normal size at the time of his death. One artery was 75 percent blocked. Moreover, theres police body cam video footage from the time when Floyd was put into the ambulance (which police called before Derek Chauvin began kneeling on his neck) showing that the oxygen tubing was tied up, not even connected to the oxygen source. That mightve been a fatal mistake.

The Minneapolis police chief said on the witness stand during officer Derek Chauvins trial that he didn't recognize the technique that Chauvin used to subdue Floyda maximal restraint techniquebut three Minneapolis police officers stated on camera in the film, The Fall of Minneapolis,that they were trained in that particular MRT, which employs a knee on the side of the head. While Chauvin was wrong (and perhaps criminally wrong) to have kept his knee on Floyds neck area for so long, there's reasonable doubt he was guilty of murder.

A strong case could be made that George Floyd died of medical complications brought on by his panicked overreaction (both physical and verbal) to being arrested for passing a phony $20 bill, during which he appeared to be out of control, and high on something. Methamphetamine was also found in his blood. But Chauvin was tried in a heavily-fortified building surrounded by barbed wire. A mob was waiting outside, ready to do to that building what they'd already done to the third precinct police stationburn it and wreck it, with no resistance from the Minneapolis police department. The mob wouldn't have stopped there, however. They wouldve burned much of Minneapolis. One thing was clear. Only one verdict would do. The jurors knew their lives depended on it.

The lesson is that we're just one media-driven false narrative away from total mayhem again. It's time for the public to stop trusting that corrupt, dishonest media. That's the same media that gave us no inkling that Joe Bidens too addled to be reelected until the evening of the Presidents alarming debate with Donald Trump. Suddenly, they had to act shocked because their dishonesty and incompetence was revealed.

Link:

Looking Back On the BLM Summer - Splice Today

The first Festival of Collective Liberation organised by Black Livers Matter UK took place in London on July 13. The programme included of panel discussions and workshops, as well as book stalls, art and music.

Aside from the large-scale opening and closing sessions, the day was organised around two 90 minute time slots, in each of which ten sessions were available at a time across the building. From this vast list, I opted for Reflections on Sudan: 1989 2024 and Blood and Smartphones: The Genocide in DR Congo.

Lina Dohia led the panel on Sudans recent history, discussing how the Rebel Support Forces (RSF) transformed from a paramilitary wing of the state army to a powerful force of its own. Across all industries, from hotels to banks to mining, the RSF is the biggest employer in Sudan and a mercenary power internationally legitimised by selling its services to the EU and Middle Eastern states. Speakers across the panel emphasised the disenfranchisement of people living on the Sudanese peripheries from which the RSF recruit, and noted the impact of neoliberalism that has left young people with no option but to sell their bodies as fighters in petroldollar wars.

Speakers Hamid Khalafalah and Asil Sidahmed outlined Sudans post-independence cycle of short-lived democracies, military coups and revolutions, and traced the root cause to how Sudanese identity has been complicated by centuries of Ottoman, Egyptian, and Anglo-Egyptian colonisation, with the British cherry-picking particular tribes to run the country when they left. This legacy of historical colonialism was connected to ongoing exploitation in the late capitalist world economy, with members of the panel highlighting that US sanctions were only recently lifted when Sudan agreed to normalise relations with Israel.

The discussion of genocide in DR Congo, led by Tatiana Giraud, raised number of similar themes, including significant Western sway in wars labelled as tribal by mainstream media. Giraud spoke at length about the estimated two million women who have been raped since the start of the Second Congo War, and the urgent need to regulate tagging of metals mined in the Congo to identify a paper trail from big corporations to child labour. Panellist Luc Kangele (Genocost) explained that the cobalt, coltan, and uranium mined in DR Congo are vital to US military supremacy and the future of nuclear warfare. He also emphasised the human and environmental cost of electric cars, whose battery production has polluted rivers, destroyed ecosystems, resulted in birth defects, and threatens the Congo Basin, the worlds second largest rainforest in the world and largest carbon sink.

A concluding session brought together Sudanese, Congolese and Palestinian speakers, along with a video presentation from a Haitian comrade, in a panel structured around Ruth Wilson Gilmores concept of organised abandonment. The panel, chaired by Mohammed Elnaiem of the Decolonial Centre, discussed commonalities across the impacts of late stage capitalism and the rise of militarism across the world, pointing out that international solidarity is based on identifying these specific commonalities. In an insightful concluding comment, Lina Dohia insisted that solidarity must be rooted not only a common enemy, but also in shared values.

~ Tallulah Griffith

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Report from Black Lives Matter UK Festival of Collective Liberation - Freedom News