Category Archives: Government Oppression

Voters in Boston will be asked to winnow the field of potential at-large city councillors from 15 to 8 in next Tuesdays preliminary municipal election. This years race features a large and diverse field of candidates vying for four spots. The top eight finishers in the balloting will go on to a run-off election in November.

Four incumbents Annissa Essaibi-George, Michelle Wu, Michael Flaherty, and Althea Garrison will compete alongside 11 other candidates to earn one of your four votes. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Heres a look at the candidates, in the order they will appear on the ballot:

Erin Murphy is a veteran Boston Public School teacher and first-time candidate for office. She lives in Dorchester and is a single mother with four children. She has been candid about her position on tackling the opioid epidemic by providing recovery servicesand addressing the mental health needs of those struggling with addiction. She has taken a leave from her teaching position to run for office.

Im feeling upbeat, energized and positive, Murphy told the Reporter on Tuesday. Ive been working hard since I got on the ballot... I feel energized by talking with people and connecting with neighbors in Dorchester but also in all of the other neighborhoods in the City.

She has received endorsements from a number of trade unions, including Bricklayers Local 3, IBEW Local 103, Local 2222, Ironworkers Local 7, Laborers Locals 223, and Pipefitters Local537.

Michelle Wuwas first elected to the Boston City Council in November 2013 at the age of 28, becoming the first Asian-American woman to serve on that body. She topped the ticket in the last municipal election in 2017, garnering more than 65,000 votes in a year that also featured a mayoral race.

Everywhere I go people are eager to get involved in city government, she told the Reporter this week. Im hopeful that will translate to higher turnout and people will show up to the polls on Tuesday.

Wu has also emerged as a sometime critic of the Walsh administration and, even more frequently, of the MBTA. She has gained endorsements from state Attorney General Maura Healey, Teamsters Local 25, the Ward 15 Democratic Committee, the Boston Teachers Union, the Greater Boston Labor Council, MA Womens Political Caucus, and an assortment of elected officials.

Priscilla Flint- Banks is a lifelong Boston resident with an extensive background in civic activism. She has worked as a banker, housing counselor, and foreclosure prevention specialist at Mass Affordable Housing Alliance (MAHA), and payroll and general service director for the City of Boston. She is a founding member of Mothers for Justice and Equality (MJE), co-founder of the Black Economic Justice Institute (BEJI), and is the job chair for the Black Economic Council of MA (BECMA.) In 1986, she assisted in the rewriting of the Boston Resident Job Policy (BRJP). If elected, Flint-Banks says she would focus on economic development, community engagement, affordable housing, and living wages through good job standards.

Althea Garrisonwas sworn in as an at-large member of the City Council in January 2019, filling a vacancy left when US Rep. Ayanna Pressley resigned to take her seat in Congress.Garrison finished in fifth place in the Nov. 2017 municipal election at the lower end of a large gap (27,311) between her fifth place finish with 18,253 and the fourth-place finisher Annissa Essaibi-George, who racked up 45,564 votes.

Garrison is unique among the current crop of councillors in that she has served one term in the Massachusetts House of Representatives (92-94). She worked for 34 years as a clerk in human resources for the Massachusetts State Comptrollers Office and is the vice-president of the Board at Uphams Corner Health Center in Dorchester. She has been endorsed by Boston Firefighters Local 718.

Martin Keogh is a life-long resident of Boston who grew up as one of seven children in Mission Hill and Hyde Park. He received his BA from Boston College, and attended Mass School of Law after which he practiced law. He has worked as a lawyer for the Boston School Committee and the Boston City Council from 1991-2001. He has run for office before an unsuccessful bid for Register of Probate in 2014 and city council in 2013. He lives in West Roxbury.

Alejandra St. Guillenwas born and raised in Mission Hill. She is a parent, wife, and public advocate who says she will work on solutions for equity in education, increased affordable housing, safety of neighborhoods, transit equity, and socially just solutions for climate change. She is a graduate of Boston Latin School, a City Year alumna, and holds a B.A. in Economics and African-American Studies from Wesleyan University and an M.Ed from City College.

She currently resides in West Roxbury with her wife, Josiane, their son, Jose Alejandro. St. Guillen has been endorsed by Mayor Martin Walsh, State Rep. Liz Miranda, UNITE HERE Local 26, SEIU 32BJ District 615, and Right to the City VOTE.

Michel Denis is running on his five-point platform of environmental education, low-income housing, increasing jobs and employment, entrepreneurship, and public safety. Denis says he would host an annual, curriculum-based BPS job fair for seniors, and partner with local businesses to establish a Venture Capital Summer Internship Program for BPS juniors.

Annissa Essaibi-George is a mother, a former Boston Public Schools high school teacher, a small-business owner, and a lifelong Boston resident was elected to the City Council in November 2015. She is a first-generation American and the daughter of Tunisian immigrants.

Weve worked really hard on the council in this last term, and Im hopeful that the voters will appreciate that and vote for me when they go to the polls a week from today, she told the Reporter on Tuesday. What Ive been sharing with the people of Boston since I was last elected three years ago is that Im working hard every day, and I dont take the honor that they have given me lightly.

She added, Were focused on the big picture issues, were task-oriented and making sure that every resident in Boston has access to high quality of life, that kids are attending high quality schools, and that we are working every day to improve those services where we may have failed residents.

She has been endorsed by Attorney General Maura Healy, Mayor Walsh, the Boston Teachers Union, Teamsters Local 25, and the Ward 15 (Dorchester) Democratic Party Committee, among others.

Jeffrey Ross is an attorney making his second attempt to win election to the council. After graduating from Northeastern University Law School, he worked as a researcher of institutional oppression in the legal system. As an attorney, he became an advocate for immigrant communities and LGBTQ+ families. Ross says he wants to work on formulating a new neighborhood-based AMI (area median income) model to encourage more affordable housing. He is also focused on issues of transportation, environment and open space, public safety, and affordable, healthy food.

Domingos DaRosalives on River Street in Hyde Park and is a husband, a father of four, and a small business owner. He has called Boston home since 1978 when his family moved here from Cape Verde. He grew up in Roxbury, Dorchester, and Hyde Park. After graduating from Madison Park High and earning a degree from the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology, DaRosa devoted himself to youth outreach and mentorship. He says he hopes to restore trust between the government and local communities. He has been endorsed by the Ward 15 Democratic Committee.

Michael Flahertyis a South Boston native Michael Flaherty who is seeking election for the fourth straight time since winning an at-large seat in 2013. He previously served on the council from 2000-2008 including a term as council president and challenged the late Thomas M. Menino for mayor in 2009. He is a former assistant district attorney.

Flaherty is a former member of Teamsters Local 25, and has regularly earned endorsements and broad support from Boston-based unions, including Pipefitters Local 537, IBEW Local 2222, Ward 15 (Dorchester) Democratic Party Committee, and the Boston Teachers Union. He was a longtime advocate for the Community Preservation Act, which was finally adopted by the city in 2016. Flaherty placed third in the last city election with 51,763 votes, some 7,000 behind second-place finisher Ayanna Pressley.

Herb Lozano, a Mattapan native, is a first-time candidate who says he hopes to bring more diversity to the council. He served as a legislative aide to former state Rep. Carlos Henriquez. He told WBUR that Ive put in front of folks ... especially men of color, to let them know that there are no men of color on the City Council. So I think Im bringing that diversity as someone who identifies as a Latino [and] as an African American.William Kingis making his second attempt to win election to the council. In 2017, the 28-year-old finished seventh in a field of eight, earning 8,773 votes. He graduated from Boston Tech Academy in 2007 and went on to study social science at Quincy College. King says that if hes elected hell focus on education, public safety, housing, sustainable energy, and the opioid epidemic. He has been endorsed by the Ward 15 Democratic Committee.

David Halbert is a Dorchester resident who says hes running for an at-large seat because he truly believes in the power of government and public policy not just to sustain people, but to uplift them. He has worked on the staff of Boston City Councilors John Tobin, Sam Yoon, and, later, for Governor Deval Patrick. He has been affiliated with East Boston Main Streets and the Young Professionals Network of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts.

Halbert favors a hybrid elected and appointed school committee and a civilian review board and partnering city agencies with Boston Public Schools to create career opportunities for students.He was endorsed by the Ward 15 (Dorchester) Democratic Committee.

Julia Mejia is a single parent and immigrant who arrived in Dorchester from the Dominican Republic when she was five. She has worked as a producer at MTV and is the founder of two civic engagement organizations in Boston. Her vision is focused on fighting for quality public school education and resources for teachers, pushing affordable housing policies that protect tenants and encourage homeownership, and expanding meaningful civic engagement opportunities.

Julia is a graduate of Dorchester High School and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Mount Ida College. She was endorsed by the Ward 15 (Dorchester) Democratic Committee.

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Tuesday's mission: Choose 8 from 15 for citywide Council - Dorchester Reporter

If the silence of many local New Democrats in Surrey, B.C., over the slandering of their own federal leader by a local Hindu nationalist is any indication, the pro-India lobby is getting stronger in Canada.

Many local NDP representatives, who often come from trade unions and tout their philosophy of international solidarity, have failed to stand up against Parshotam Goel, who described Singh as mentally retarded and called for a boycott of the NDPs federal leader during a press conference held in Surrey on Aug. 15 in response to a question about human rights for the people of Kashmir.

Goel is a supporter of the right-wing Hindu nationalist Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis actions in Kashmir, where the Indian government has recently intensified its military presence and repression after revoking the special status given to the state.

Phones and Internet services have been disrupted, as the region remains cut off from the rest of a country that claims Kashmir is an integral part. Kashmiri politicians have been detained, while physical violence continues to be applied to dissidents with impunity.

Modi and his supporters claim that the move was necessary to contain terrorism and violent struggle for an independent Kashmir. They have gone to the extent of labelling anyone who criticizes their approach to Kashmir as anti-national.

Goel is associated with the Laxminarayan Hindu temple in Surrey, which hosted Modi in 2015. During the Aug. 15 press conference to support the Modi governments decision on Kashmir, Goel insulted Singh after being asked about a recent statement by the NDP leader criticizing the Modi government for committing human rights violations in Kashmir.

He doesnt deserve to be NDP leader, Goel said about Singh when asked about Singhs comments at the press conference by Omni TV reporter Haroon Gaffar. I would especially tell the general public, boycott openly of such a mentally retarded person, Goel added.

Earlier in August, the federal NDP had issued a statement on the repression in Kashmir:

New Democrats are deeply concerned by reports of the Indian governments crackdown in recent days in Kashmir. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently took steps to revoke section 370 of the Indian constitution, which granted Kashmir considerable autonomy, and moved to arrest top Kashmiri political leaders, deploy thousands of troops, impose a shutdown of telephone and internet services and restrict peaceful assembly.

One month since the press conference, there has been no public reaction to Goels comments from most NDP MLAs in Surrey or Singhs party.

Notably, some NDP MLAs are close to the Indian consulate and the lobby group known as Friends of India. They have frequently attended public events where Goel and officials of the Indian government were present. Recently, some of the MLAs participated in a series of events organized and sponsored by the Indian consulate, but they have stayed away from rallies and demonstrations held in solidarity with the people of Kashmir. They have even refused to make a statement on Kashmir, saying this is a federal matter. This despite the fact that NDP MLAs and MPPs in Alberta and Ontario have strongly spoken out against the oppression in Kashmir.

All this suggests how influential the pro-India lobby has become in Canadian politics. If the NDP, which claims to be a champion of social justice, cannot stand up for the underdog and even for its own leader, then there is something seriously wrong with its current crop of political leaders.

Link:

BC supporter of Modi's actions in Kashmir insults NDP leader Jagmeet Singh - Ricochet Media

Liberation?

Patrick Gathara

How the recently deceased Zimbabwean ruler, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, should be remembered is a question that has split opinion across Africa. Many have hailed him as a "liberation hero" who led the fight to end white rule in Zimbabwe, while others have insisted that his transformation into a murderous dictator had tainted whatever good he had achieved in his earlier years.

It is indeed a curious debate. One would think an answer would be readily available given the continent's depressing post-colonial familiarity with similar Jekyll-turned-Hyde autocrats.

Across Africa, those who led the fight against colonial rule and those who came after them became just as brutal as those they had deposed. As Mmusi Maimane, leader of South Africa's opposition Democratic Alliance noted last year in a speech in the Senegalese capital Dakar, the same pattern is repeated. "First comes the era of colonial rule unjust and exploitative. Then comes independence along with a new, democratically elected government. And then follows years, even decades, of oppression by the very same people who were meant to deliver freedom."

In this context, there is a need to examine the terminologies we employ. What exactly does 'liberation' mean when one continues to be oppressed? What does "independence" mean when post-colonial elites continued to be dependent on their former masters?

Take the case of Kenya. At 'independence' in December 1963, the country remained a British dominion with the British queen as sovereign, her functions were performed by her representative, the governor-general who served at her pleasure and was commander-in-chief, exercised executive authority, could summon, prorogue and dissolve parliament and appoint or remove the prime minister, whose main role was merely as an adviser. Jomo Kenyatta, the independence hero and first prime minister, who is usually pictured receiving the articles of independence, had virtually no power.

Although, for many, 'liberation' is synonymous with freedom, it is plain that few of the peoples 'liberated' from colonial rule actually got freedom. As related in Charles Hornsby's opus, Kenya: A History Since Independence, in the run-up to 1963, anti-colonial activist Jomo Kenyatta asked his future subjects, "If you cannot obey the present [colonial] laws, how will you be able to obey our own laws when we have them?"

After he ascended to power and transformed Kenya into a republic and himself into a president in 1964, few could tell the difference between his government and that of the colonials he had replaced. Hornsby quotes one of Kenyatta's contemporaries, Masinde Muliro, describing the situation just three years later: "Today we have a black man's Government, and the black man's Government administers exactly the same regulations, rigorously, as the colonial administration used to do."

Excerpted from: 'What went wrong with African liberation?'.

Courtesy: AlJazeera.com

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Liberation? - The News International

One night at a watering hole outside of Seattle, Ralph Taylor overheard a man a few beers in bragging about how easy it was to get certified as a minority business owner, thus gaining access to potentially millions of dollars worth of state contracts.

Taylors ears perked up. He asked the man exactly how this all went down, and the man told him the Office of Minority and Womens Business Enterprises (OMWBE) the Washington state office that certifies small businesses for these government contracts had a relatively lax application process. All Taylor had to do to get a Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) certificate, the man said, was provide a sworn affidavit that he belonged to a specific minority class and submit a photo ID. Then hed get approved.

There was a potentially huge payoff: Washington state agencies have a budget of almost$3 billion per year to contract with businesses. Right now, small businesses with white owners get more than six times as much money as small businesses with black owners. But as part of an initiative by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D), the state is attempting to level the playing field and award more money to women and people of color. Last year, minority- and women-owned businesses were awarded around $154 million, with nearly $90 millionspent on contracts with certified MBEs.

A few years after that bar conversation, Taylor, who works in the risk management industry, applied to have his own business, Orion Insurance, certified as minority-owned. And in 2014, Washington state awarded him an MBE certificate. It was a remarkable turn of events because, for most of his life, Taylor has been treated as a white man.

HuffPostRalph Taylor took a test that showed he had 4% African DNA. He now wants his small business certified as minority-owned.

That hasnt stopped Taylor from launching a crusade to be legally recognized as Black, based on his own sense of identity and the results of a genealogy test that revealed that he has 4% African DNA.

When Taylor applied to the very same office for a similar federal certificate(a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise, or DBE), his application was rejected on the grounds that he didnt meet their criteria of someone belonging to a minority group.

In a letter to Taylor informing him of the denial, the office wrote, The laws governing the state and federal certification are different. While OMWBE has certified an application by your Firm to the Washington State MBE program, that certification is not binding on the Federal DBE certification program.

Flummoxed, he says he contacted the OMWBE by email and phone to fight the denial. I asked, What is the Black culture? he recalls one afternoon in Seattle when we meet downtown outside the federal courthouse, at his behest, so he can demonstrate to me how his racial status changes from Black on state property to white on federal property. He asked the OMWBE to clarify why they excluded him from the program even after, he says, he provided additional evidence of his proposed blackness, including his DNA test results.

According to Taylor, the office questioned whether he was truly part of a minority group.Taylor says he tried to clarify again: Is it Condoleezza Rice, is it Snoop Dogg? Is it Dr. Dre? Or is Ludacris? Or is it Colin Powell? I mean, thats a wide variety of people there, so what is Black culture? They said something to the effect that, If you dont know what it is, thats because youre not Black.

So, he sued the OMWBE. Beyond his own racial status, Taylor claims to be fighting for a greater good, exposing flaws with affirmative action programs.

DNA tests complicate perceptions of race.

HuffPostDNA tests are becoming increasingly popular, though they only look at a small fraction of our genetic materials.

DNA test kits are often marketed as novelty items something fun to bring up at a dinner party or romanticized as a means to unlock fairy tales hidden in our past. Or theyre the subject of true-crime sagas, with podcasts like Serial inspiring Reddit pages fixated on convicted murderer Adnan Syeds case. DNA tests have even gotten glossy Netflix treatment with documentaries like Making A Murderer.

More recently, these kits entered our politics when Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren revealed the results of a genetic ancestry test to back up earlier claims of indigenous heritage. Warren was criticized by some tribal leaders for implying a relation between DNA and tribal citizenship, and she subsequently apologized.

These controversies aside, DNA kits have become cheaper and more popular; 23andMe, for instance, was originallypriced at $999 when it came to market, but now kits cost around $99. And yet, University of Pennsylvania sociologist Wendy Roth says we still dont fully understand what happens when we send our saliva off to a laboratory and we dont know how to properly interpret the results.

Right now I dont think that [companies selling at-home genealogy kits] are generally doing a good enough job of explaining how these tests should be interpreted and what the limitations are and what some potential negative impacts could be, says Roth, whose work is focused on DNA as it intersects with culture and identity.

Humans share 99.9% of the same genetic makeup, so at-home genealogy kits only look at a small fraction of our genetic materials. These tests are then further limited by the fact that the majority of people who have taken them have predominantly European ancestry (white people love this stuff!) so they are less accurate for other groups.

HuffPostUniversity of Pennsylvania sociologist Wendy Roth says we still dont fully understand what happens when we send our saliva off to a laboratory.

Still, companies are getting frighteningly good at identifying Americans of European descent who have never even taken a genetic test themselves. Law enforcement agencies, for example, use existing samples to triangulate information and solve crimes; it was a distant relatives DNA that led to the capture of the suspected Golden State Killer.

Despite all this, Roth says these tests are not particularly accurate as a means of determiningracial ancestry. Race is not something that is just genetic. Genetics play a part, but only a part, Roth explains. The way that sociologists define race is something that is socially determined, that refers to aspects of your biology or your ancestry. But its only referring to them.

Black cultural theorist and author Mychal Denzel Smith agrees. DNA is not telling you your race, because race is not a biological fact, he says. Race is a social and political construct. It is something that is lived.

For his part, Taylor tells me that he has always considered himself multiracial and sees race as fluid. DNA, he says, will prove that our racial makeup is just genetic mutations at the end of the day.

Roth says that understanding race as a social construct can sometimes lead people to think that they can pick and choose their race as they like, without consequence. In a qualitative study she conducted in 2018, Roth found that white respondents were most eager, of all respondents, to change their ethnic or racial identity. They wanted to discover ancestry that made them distinctive or exotic, or they wanted a more specific tradition to distinguish themselves. Roth called this phenomenon symbolic race.

People want to be able to enjoy the privileges or the benefits of a racial group without any of the costs, she says, adding that shes working on quantitative studies to further explore these patterns. They dont experience any discrimination, and because they dont have to tell anyone that they have this ancestry or this identity, they can just use it when its advantageous for them and hide it when its not.

Could DNA impact affirmative action laws?

All 50 states have an OMWBE or equivalent. The amount that each state allocates to minority contractors varies, as does the impact of each program. One recent report commissioned by Washington state discovered that some MBEs felt that certification was actually a detriment because it can be viewed by other firms and agencies as a stigma.

Butthe majority of the country still sees a benefit to affirmative action, and the number of Americans saying they favor such programs has risen in the last few years.

Affirmative action programs are trying to adjust for a specific form of oppression which has to do with racial hierarchies, the legacy of slavery, the legacy of Jim Crow, the legacy of lynching, the legacy of redlining. It is specifically meant to address that, cultural theorist Smith explains, adding that race is something that is lived.

Similarly, writer and HuffPost Black Voices Editor Taryn Finley sees affirmative action programs like the OMWBE to be a sort of corrective to historic racial injustices. Its not a fix-all, but it levels the playing field for people of color, for marginalized people.

Finley takes umbrage with Taylors method of exposing what he says are flaws with the system, and says the ends do not justify his means. If you look at a lot of the loudest voices, the folks who are going up against affirmative action are people like Ralph Taylor, who dont know how to use their privilege or relinquish their power in ways to actually help marginalized folks.

HuffPost"Being able to tip-toe back and forth across a line between 'now Im Black, now Im white, now Im multiracial' -- thats not identity. Youre playing a game," says HuffPost Black Voices Editor Taryn Finley.

So how might DNA tests impact whos eligible for affirmative action programs? The truth is, the issue has not yet been legally tested.

In 2003, when these tests were in their infancy and still costly, Alan Moldawer, a father of adopted twin boys, made headlineswhen he said he was considering using the outcomes of a genealogy test to try and secure financial aid for his kids on the grounds of their minority status. While white-presenting, his twin boys were 9% Native American and 11% North African, according to the tests Moldawer commissioned. It was one of the first reported instances where DNA tests were raised as a possible entry point to affirmative action programs.

More recently,a judge this year allowed Princeton student Nicole Katchurs lawsuitagainst the Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University to proceed. Katchur, who is white, is suing for racial discrimination, claiming that an admissions officer told her that if she were to take a DNA test and discover Native American or African-American lineage, her chances of getting accepted into the medical school program would go up. (The medical school is seeking to dismiss the suit.)

The case was reminiscent of Fisher v. University of Texas, in which Abigail Fisher sued the University of Texas in 2008 for what she perceived to be anti-white bias in its admissions process. Fisher lost in 2016 when the Supreme Court upheld the universitys use of race in admission decisions.

What Taylors case and these college-based lawsuits have in common are the questions they raise about the gatekeepers of these programs who gets to decide whether someone is a deserving applicant or not. And more often than not, the first barrier to entry is phenotype (what we look like) rather than genotype (what our genes reveal).

When it comes to race, how we see ourselves isnt always how others see us.

Despite attempts to codify race, it is not as static an idea as many would like. In her book The Limits of Whiteness, sociologist Neda Maghbouleh explores how Iranians and other Middle Eastern Americans moved across the color line and documents how the U.S. Supreme Court used Iranians as a racial litmus test to determine the classification of other Middle Eastern or Arab people. Drawing on work by Middle East historian Nina Farnia, Maghbouleh shows how between 1909 and 1939, Iranians skin color was classified and reclassified as white and nonwhite by claimants in eight separate Supreme Court cases.

In 1896, in the landmark case Plessy v. Ferguson that led to the infamous separate but equal principle, the Supreme Court drew the color line in a different place. Justice Henry Billings wrote a majority opinion that refers to the one-drop rule or the idea that any person could be Black even if not discernible to the naked eye.

Taylors case somewhat oddly and uncomfortably evokes Plessy. A small amount of centiMorgans (the unit of measure of DNA) reveals some distant African ancestry, allowing him to claim access to an affirmative action program.

Smith cautions against this protocol. Thats just getting us into another position in which we are trying to scientifically determine something that does not exist scientifically, he says.

HuffPostDNA is not telling you your race, because race is not a biological fact, saysBlack cultural theorist and author Mychal Denzel Smith.

Roth further notes that the sheer volume of African-informed DNA has no bearing on how race is constructed socially. Should Taylors 4% be enough for society to accept him as Black? What if his results came back with 44%, or 64%?

I think what makes the difference is how the person is seen by others within their community. If the person is seen by others within their community as a white person, then the percentage doesnt matter, Roth argues. In the case of somebody who has a very small percent, like 4%, its very unlikely that that is going to be visible enough that its going to influence peoples interactions with them.

Roths position is one that has historically guided government agencies.

Take the U.S. census. The census was originally filled out by an enumerator who went door to door and filled out the survey for you. As Roth points out, these people were often neighbors who may have known your family history chances are, they might have known if your grandfather was a Mulatto or a person who was white and so may have filled out the forms based on their knowledge of your family history, in addition to how they took in your appearance.

This changed in the 1960s and 70s with mailouts and that simple shift in data collection had a more profound sociocultural impact. The meaning of this race question just completely shifted without anyone really paying any attention to it at all, Roth explains. It really went from something that was all about how youre seen by others to how you mark yourself.

There are many more recent instances where how we are viewed by other people has been instructional as to how were viewed in the eyes of the law. A recentLos Angeles Times investigation revealed businesses in at least 18 states won certification as minority contractors by claiming Native American status, even though birth, census and other government records identified the firms owners or their ancestors as white.In response, two House committees are investigating.

In Brazil, eyeing someones racial makeup has been at the heart of a protracted legal battle, after the government introduced a quota system for federal jobs and made the postings public. People started hunting down and searching peoples Facebook and social media profiles, sleuthing and cross-checking to see if their named racial backgrounds matched with how they appeared in photographs.

Taylor went through a similar process in his quest to be awarded federal minority designation after he was denied. He attempted to submit scores of Excel spreadsheet data with the names of people who were awarded federal minority status alongside hyperlinks to the LinkedIn profiles or company websites, in an effort to reveal how many people were, he says, gaming the system. Taylor claims that his own research into states minority business owner programs shows that 65% of enrollees were white, based on his perception of their photos. The spreadsheet was ultimately disallowed by the 9th Circuit court as evidence.

When I asked the OMWBE over email about the validity of Taylors claims, they said: This is not an area of fraud our program has seen.When I asked about whether it ever turns down applicants, the office said, Each year is different depending on the number of applications we receive.

HuffPostTaylor believes he should qualify as a minority.

Is being Black about more than DNA?

Taylor is tall and surprisingly soft-spoken. He rarely raises his voice, even for emphasis. Nonetheless, he has loudly advertised his identity with contemporary stereotypes. To flex his Black culture bonafides, Taylor argued that he was a member of the NAACP, subscribes to Ebony Magazine and takes a great interest in black social causes. In 2017, he changed his birth certificate to reflect what he says is his multiracial status of Black, Native American and Caucasian.

He says he has received death threats as a result of his story. In order to prove to his detractors that hes not pursuing his case for financial gains, he took a polygraph test, which he shared with me: It was never about the money, he says, adding he hasnt benefitted financially from his MBE status.

When he talks to me about this in the bar, the conversation turns, inescapably, for a moment to Rachel Dolezal. Dolezal, who now goes by Nkechi Diallo, was the woman who sparked outrage in 2015 when it was revealed that she had been posing as a Black woman for most of her adult life, despite being born white. Taylor says he feels sorry for Dolezal, and wished he could have told her that all she had to do was identify.But this kind of physical code-switching is typically only a one-way street.

Being able to tip-toe back and forth across a line between now Im Black, now Im white, now Im multiracial thats not identity. Youre playing a game, says Finley of HuffPost Black Voices. Its a very nefarious way of using your privilege, and I dont think that youre genuinely trying to expose a flaw in the system.

Nicholas K. Geranios/APThis July 24, 2009, file photo shows Rachel Dolezal, who made headlines for saying she was Black, even though she had been born white.

Finley, who took a DNA test herself to uncover her own previously unknown family history, is 10% European. But, she says, Im a Black woman. My lived experience as a Black woman cannot be passed [as white].

Smith also takes exception to Dolezal and Taylors claims to Blackness. He roots Black culture in a community of people with shared experiences.

Theres the common experience that all of our ancestors had of slavery. They formed culture out of that. You have the common experience of segregation. They formed culture out of that, he says. If you cannot point to your life as a shared experience with those people, then how can you claim that status?

Taylor, however, sometimes claims that affirmative action entry points shouldnt be focused on race at all. Instead, he says equal opportunity programs should look more at socioeconomics in part because, in his telling, we are all multiracial. Simultaneously, Taylor claims that his 4% African DNA results mean that he should be considered Black enough to qualify for the OMWBE program anyway.

In December 2018, the 9th Circuit judges unanimously ruled against Taylor, and in favor of the OMWBE, which the court argued did not act in an arbitrary and capricious manner when it determined it had a well founded reason to question Taylors membership claims.

Smith expresses some sympathy for the gatekeepers of these affirmative action programs. What were trying to determine is if you are a part of a class of people that has been discriminated against and therefore you are eligible for the corrective program, right? Its really, really confusing and tricky to do, he says. What were asking then is for you to prove a history of discrimination on the basis of how you look. Thats difficult for anybody to suss out.

Is this just trolling to make a point?

Speaking with Taylor at the bar outside of Seattle, its hard not to wonder if, frankly, he isnt just trolling us all and the government.

Taylor says he has already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars litigating his case. He jokes that hes willing to live out of his car if it means seeing this through to the end, though what that end looks like is at this stage unclear. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his case over the summer, and he has run out of appeals to the 9th Circuit. But he says he plans to reapply to the OMWBE for certification later this month.

In a June 2019 email to the director of the Washington state OMWBE, which he shared with HuffPost, Taylor inquired about resubmitting the paperwork to get his DBE certification and be recognized federally as a minority business owner. In the note, he states that hes sending in his newly amended birth certificate, but asks should I have the certificate amended to state that I am black without any other ethnicities and adds I can also have the certificate amended to state female if that will help.

The glibness is part of Taylors point he wants to expose the flaws in the process of becoming minority certified, and more broadly with what he says is the somewhat arbitrary nature of the affirmative action system.

The system the way it is now needs to break, he says.

Kayvon Afshari, Lindsey Davis and Emily Bina contributed reporting.

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A DNA Test Revealed This Man Is 4% Black. Now He Wants To Abolish Affirmative Action. - HuffPost

Headed by Arakanese youths, a discussion titled Youth and Democracy was hosted in Sittwe, capital of Arakan state on 15 September, on the occasion of International Day of Democracy.

Panelists discussed the role of youths in restoring democracy in the country. During discussions, a panelist who led the talks said that Myanmar was adopting nominal democracy.

I see the NLD government that took power to move the country closer to democracy ostensibly uses the word democracy. It does not adopt democratic policies in reality, said Ko Toe Toe Aung, secretary of the Sittwe Universitys Students Union.

Elements of a democratic system in the regions of ethnic people are few and people have faced dictatorial powers, he said, adding that their regions were lacking the rule of law because civilians were killed without any reason.

The government should build mutual understanding with ethnic people across the country, reduce its oppression of ethnic people and welcome the attempt of ethnic people to promote their own culture, young people said in the discussion.

A female activist said that women need to participate in different sectors so that the country could evolve into a democratic society seamlessly.

If a bird is used as a metaphor for building a democratic country, women and men are each a wing of the bird. So, women should participate in different areas, whether its political, economic, and educational or any other social institution that can improve the quality of peoples lives, said activist Ma Tin Cho Htwe.

The discussion was held at the office of the Arakan Youth New Generation Network in Sittwe and over 20 youths participated in the discussion.

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Myanmar practises nominal democracy: Arakanese youths say - Burma News International

IOK matter of survival of Pakistan: Firdous

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan Monday called for unity among different segments of society, including religious and political, to effectively highlight the plight of Kashmiri people.

Speaking at an All Parties Kashmir conference here, she said there were close bonds between the Pakistani nation and Kashmiri people, adding that Pakistan was incomplete without Kashmir.

She said Kashmir was not a political issue but a matter of survival of Pakistan. It is a matter of pride for the nation that a daring leader in the form of Imran Khan is today the prime minister of Pakistan, who has openly challenged Indian PM Modi, she said.

Talking about the governments endeavours to project Kashmir issue, particularly after August 5 illegal actions of Indian regime, she said it was for the first that the European Parliament had discussed the issue of Pakistan.

She continued that the declaration issued by the Human Rights Council was a big success of Pakistan. However, she emphasised that there was a lot to be done yet for settlement of Kashmir issue as per the UN Council resolutions.

India, she noted, had unleashed a wave of oppression in the Occupied Kashmir but the Kashmiri people there were standing firm with regard to their just struggle for the right to self-determination.

She said, It is part of our faith that oppression perishes when it exceeds limits. Dr. Awan contended that the government had effectively highlighted Kashmir dispute at the international level under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan and achieved diplomatic successes.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, she said, had in unequivocal terms exposed the fascist face of Modi government. She said Imran Khan will effectively raise the voice of Kashmiris in the UN General Assembly.

Earlier, in tweets, she said the government's stepsfor prosperity of people and national development had started yielding results. She said the government was implementing the agenda of economic reforms under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan and taking measures to improve the countrys economic condition.

She explained that enhancement of tax revenue and reduction in fiscal deficit were the governments priorities, adding that Rs580 billion tax in the first two months of the current fiscal year had been collected against Rs509 billion in the corresponding period last year.

Moreover, she said six lakh more people had filed tax returns. The credit for this success goes to Prime Minister Imran Khan, who for the first time turned tax revenue collection into a national movement, she said.

Dr. Awan noted it was for the first time that the government income, not of rulers, was increasing. This is a good news for the country and the nation, she remarked.

She said 73 percent reduction in the current account deficit was a major achievement, while there had been a significant increase in exports and decrease in imports. She said Rs70 billion had been received from two cellular companies under license fee, and another Rs70 billion was expected to come from another cellular company.

As a whole, she noted Rs200 billion would be received from this sector, adding that the government was striving to promote economic activities and facilities the business community. Dr. Awan said the government had reduced its expenditures and no supplementary grant was approved during the two months, and the government saved Rs246 billion due to appreciation in the currency value during the last few weeks.

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IOK matter of survival of Pakistan: Firdous - The News International

A few months ago, an art project appeared online that offered people the chance to see just how one of the most widely used photo research databases would categorize them.

People can upload photos of themselves to the project, called ImageNet Roulette, where they're matched against the "people" categories of ImageNet, the 10-year-old photo database at the heart of some of the biggest machine learning efforts. The system then classifies people based on similar photos tagged in the database.

The results are frequently wacky it thought Donald Trump Jr. was a "steward/flight attendant" but also often offensive. As exhaustively aggregated on social media since the project resurfaced recently, caucasian-appearing people are generally classified in terms of jobs or other function descriptors; darker-skinned people or even just dark pictures of anyone are frequently described in terms of race:

Women, as well, are often classified by how the algorithm assesses their appearance:

The author of this article gave it a try, as seen in the illustration at the top, and was categorized as "draftsman, drawer: an artist skilled at drawing," which is about as wrong as it can be.

This is, in fact, the point of the project, created by Trevor Paglen, a noted technology artist who has received a MacArthur Fellowship "genius" grant.

Paglen and his co-creator, Kate Crawford, co-director of the AI Now Institute at New York University, say explicitly that the project is a "provocation designed to help us see into the ways that humans are classified in machine learning systems."

"That is by design: We want to shed light on what happens when technical systems are trained on problematic training data," Paglen and Crawford say. "AI classifications of people are rarely made visible to the people being classified. ImageNet Roulette provides a glimpse into that process and to show the ways things can go wrong."

ImageNet, the giant image database used by the project, hasn't directly addressed the web tool. But as the tool went viral, reinvigorating the debate around the development of artificial intelligence systems and the biases that can be introduced through existing datasets, ImageNet announced this week that it would scrub more than half of the 1.2 million pictures of people cited in its sprawling collection.

"Science progresses through trial and error, through understanding the limitations and flaws of past results," ImageNet said in a statement. "We believe that ImageNet, as an influential research dataset, deserves to be critically examined, in order for the research community to design better collection methods and build better datasets."

ImageNet Roulette returned to wide attention on Monday in connection with an exhibit called "Training Humans," which opened last week at Fondazione Prada, a modern art museum in Milan, Italy.

Paglen and Crawford say they don't generate the offensive descriptions, which they say come solely from the language categories that ImageNet uses.

It's the same language structure that ImageNet uses to catalog all of its 14 million images into 22,000 visual categories the same language structure that has influenced the work of research teams from some of the biggest names in technology, including Google and Microsoft, which have used it in competitions to refine the algorithms driving their own object recognition systems.

Concern that such programs can embed racial and gender bias in artificial intelligence systems has been at the forefront of artificial intelligence discussions in recent months as companies and law enforcement agencies increasingly adopt facial recognition technologies to identify everyday people with greater accuracy.

Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, used Amazon's technology, called Rekognition, to build a database of 25,000 publicly available arrest photos. It then ran the official photos of all 535 members of Congress against the database which, it said, identified 28 of the lawmakers as other people who had been arrested for alleged crimes.

Facial recognition surveillance by governments and large institutions "threatens to chill First Amendment-protected activity like engaging in protest or practicing religion, and it can be used to subject immigrants to further abuse from the government," the ACLU said.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has been sounding similar alarms throughout this year.

In January, Ocasio-Cortez pointed out that facial recognition algorithms "always have these racial inequities that get translated, because algorithms are still made by human beings, and those algorithms are still pegged to basic human assumptions."

In May, in questioning AI experts at a hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, she elicited testimony that today's facial recognition technology is ineffective, to a statistically significant extent, in recognizing anyone other than white men:

"So, we have a technology that was created and designed by one demographic that is only mostly effective on that one demographic, and they're trying to sell it and impose it on the entirety of the country," she said.

ImageNet Roulette would appear to substantiate that assertion, and to that extent, it accomplishes its goals in a vivid manner.

But notwithstanding how the project has been described in publicity materials and news reports this week, ImageNet Roulette isn't itself a sophisticated artificial intelligence system. It's an art project, one that created and uses its own algorithms to tell ImageNet how to process photos. Like any other algorithm, it's subject to whatever biases are shared by its coders.

Moreover, ImageNet is primarily intended to be used in recognizing and classifying objects, not people. It said using ImageNet to classify people has always been "problematic and raises important questions about fairness and representation," suggesting that projects like ImageNet Roulette aren't a rigorous test.

Other AI experts raised similar doubts.

Peter Skomoroch, the AI venture capital investor who is the former principal data scientist at LinkedIn, went so far as to call ImageNet Roulette "junk science," writing on Twitter: "We can and do examine these issues using real machine learning systems. That's not what is happening here.

"Intentionally building a broken demo that gives bad results for shock value reminds me of Edison's war of the currents."

(Skomoroch was referring to the campaign in the late 1880s by Thomas Edison, an advocate of using direct current systems, or DC, to deliver electricity, to discredit Nikola Tesla's alternating current system, or AC, which powers the United States' electric grid today.)

Paglen and Crawford couldn't be reached directly for comment, but they've been discussing ImageNet Roulette widely online this week as their exhibit opens in Milan.

In a 7,000-word essay they posted Wednesday, Paglen and Crawford said their purpose wasn't to discredit AI and facial recognition technologies.

Instead, they said, it was to demonstrate to everyday people that the algorithms used to train such systems the rules the systems follow are fundamentally flawed because they're written by people, and people are flawed.

"ImageNet is an object lesson, if you will, in what happens when people are categorized like objects," they wrote. "And this practice has only become more common in recent years, often inside the big AI companies, where there is no way for outsiders to see how images are being ordered and classified."

That's a valid criticism when it comes to Imagenet, even though it's considered to be among the most reliable and vital databases used to train object recognition systems.

Imagenet was built beginning in 2009 using a catalog of descriptive labels created by WordNet, an academic database designed in 1985 to slot all of the nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs in English into categories called synonym sets, or "synsets."

The word "dog," for example, is assigned to sets related to canines, carnivores, mammals, vertebrates, animals and so forth. It pops up in categories related to wildlife and sports ("sled dog" and "sleigh dog"), food ("frankfurter" and "hot dog"), smithwork ("dog-iron" and "firedog," which are other words for "andiron") and pursuit ("to dog," or to chase after).

Because WordNet is value-neutral, it seeks to recognize all synsets that a word like "dog" can fit into, and not all of those sets are politically palatable "dog" also shows up in sets related to women's appearances ("frump, dog: a dull unattractive unpleasant girl or woman").

Because WordNet lists such meaning, they're picked up by ImageNet, and in turn by ImageNet Roulette. When you shift your attention to words that can relate to race, gender and the like, you can quickly see where things go wrong.

Paglen and Crawford contend that datasets like ImageNet "aren't simply raw materials to feed algorithms, but are political interventions," because "at the image layer of the training set, like everywhere else, we find assumptions, politics and worldviews."

Racial assumptions in data systems, in particular, "hark back to historical approaches where people were visually assessed and classified as a tool of oppression and race science," they wrote.

ImageNet said this week that it recognizes that "WordNet contains offensive synsets that are inappropriate to use as image labels." Specifically, 437 subcategories of the "people" set are "unsafe" (that is, offensive regardless of context), and 1,156 more are "sensitive" (meaning they're offensive depending on the context).

ImageNet said it has been working on the problem for a year and is removing all 1,593 "unsafe" and "sensitive" subcategories. And it said it's removing its database links to all of the photos in those subsets wiping out 600,040 of the images in the "people" set and leaving only 577,244 intact, or fewer than half.

"Finally, our effort remains a work in progress," the project wrote. "Our research report is awaiting peer review and we will share it shortly. We welcome input and suggestions from the research community and beyond on how to build better and fairer datasets for training and evaluating AI systems."

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Playing roulette with race, gender, data and your face - NBC News

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysias new Foreign Policy Framework under the Pakatan Harapan government has been launched and will serve as a definitive guide for Wisma Putras foreign policy direction.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the framework was a result of thorough and comprehensive reviews and assessments as well as consultations with various stakeholders.

This participatory approach has become the cornerstone of the current government in upholding and promoting cardinal principles such as transparency, openness and good governance.

Foreign policy cannot be effective if it contradicts the expectations and realities of the domestic environment.

Therefore, inter-agency cooperation in implementing policies formulated by the government is important, he said at the launch of the new framework at Perdana Putra here yesterday.

Dr Mahathir said the basic elements of Malaysias foreign policy remained the same, with differences in the way the country approaches certain issues.

The overarching theme of this framework is Change in Continuity. This will be the direction of the implementation of our foreign

policy.

We are living in a world where changes take place at a rapid pace. These changes bring both challenges and opportunities.

It is, therefore, only logical that Malaysia does not stick to the traditional methods of engagements and instead proactively seeks to explore new approaches, he said.

Dr Mahathir outlined three approaches that Malaysias foreign policy would take, which included participating actively in discussions at various international fora where Malaysia is already a member.

For international fora that Malaysia is not a member, the country will aim to influence the decision-making processes.

Malaysia will also be looking to shape the discourse on emerging issues such as Industrial Revolution 4.0 and the blue economy.

Dr Mahathir also said that Malaysia would continue to pursue an independent, principled and pragmatic foreign policy, founded on the values of peace, humanity, justice, and equality.

The country, he said, would continue to maintain friendly relations with all countries and seek peaceful resolution of disputes based on international law and norms.

Despite that, Malaysia reserves the right to express its opinion and if necessary, its protestations, against injustices, oppression and other crimes against humanity that is committed by any nation.

Malaysia has never shied away from what it believes to be a responsibility and commitment to mankind, he said.

Dr Mahathir also expressed concern on powerful countries unilaterally imposing their will on others, while violating international agreements and United Nations resolutions.

There are also powerful countries imposing unilateral sanctions, not respecting trade agreements and blatantly disregarding multilateral framework.

This affects not only the particular country singled out but other countries also.

Malaysia will submit what it must but it will be under open protest, he said.

The 80-page document can be accessed at the Foreign Ministrys website.

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New Foreign Policy Framework, new approach - The Star Online

Enoch Powells 1968 Rivers of Blood speech has infamously seared itself into the British public's mind for its apocalyptic hyperbole and guttural prejudice but less so for its conspiratorial nature. Powell warned of the demographic change brought about by immigration which, if not dealt with, would lead to irrepressible damage and the destruction of Britain itself.

He speaks of positive forces and vested interests exerting undue power and control. He railed in particular against white oppression, facilitated by the state through equal-rights legislation, which would enable immigrants to organise to consolidate their members, to agitate and campaign against their fellow citizens, and to overawe and dominate the rest.

Powells speech, which was denounced as extreme by the Tory leadership at the time but struck a chord with millions, remains more relevant than ever over half-a-century-later and demonstrates the importance of 'demographic conspiracies especially when it comes to immigration and the far right.

Demographic conspiracies argue that immigration and multiculturalism are not merely negative influences on society which should be slowed, stopped or reversed, but the product of an intentional plan by elites to weaken or even eradicate national (or European) identity. The origins of these ideas are difficult to pin down and come from multiple sources dating back to early 20th century eugenics and Nazi Germany, such as the 1934 pamphlet produced by the Research Department for the Jewish Question entitled Are the White Nations Dying?.

More recent incarnations include Bat Yeors Eurabia: The Arab-Euro Axis (2005), which argues that European and Arab elites have collaborated to ensure the Muslim domination of Europe as well as Renaud Camus The Great Replacement (2011) which similarly posits that elites are seeking the replacement of white Europeans through mass migration and subsequent demographic change. The phrase white genocide which can be found in more extreme circles, and particularly amongst the alt right (as well as on Donald Trumps Twitter feed), reflects the same ideas in a more hyperbolic fashion.

The three most deadly far right terror attacks this decade (with two occurring this year) have all made explicit reference to demographic conspiracies. Anders Breivik focused heavily on the alleged Islamisation of Europe in his manifesto, inspired by Eurabia conspiracy theories. Patrick Crusius, who killed 22 in El Paso in August, rationalised his attack targeted at the local Hispanic population by arguing that he was defending my country from cultural and ethnic replacement brought on by an invasion. Brenton Tarrant, responsible for the Christchurch mosque shootings in March which killed 51 (who entitled his own manifesto The Great Replacement) similarly argued that the attack was to show the invaders that our lands will never be their lands, our homelands are our own and that, as long as a white man still lives, they will NEVER conquer our lands and they will never replace our people.

Yet, demographic conspiracies should not be seen as fringe enterprises restricted to gullible extremists they have an increasingly mainstream appeal. Crucially, they feed into wider decline of the West narratives promoted by mainstream right-wing and conservative writers who argue that nefarious elites are purposefully undermining the majoritys way of life. Indeed, conspiratorial language has become an important rhetorical style for populists and their supporters more generally.

Take The Times columnist Melanie Phillips book Londonistan: How Britain is Creating a Terror State from Within (2006) as an example. In the book, written in the aftermath of the 7/7 attacks, Phillips describes multiculturalism as an attack on the nation which had been 'imposed by the revolutionary left. Multiculturalism has become, she argues, the driving force of British life, ruthlessly policed by a state-financed army of local and national bureaucrats enforcing a doctrine of state-mandated virtue to promote racial, ethnic and cultural difference and stamp out majority values.

With such a dystopian presentation of immigration and its outcomes, it is perhaps no surprise many seek to explain it through grandiose and farfetched conspiracies. When Britain is described by Phillips apocalyptically as a decadent society, weakened by alarming tendencies towards social and cultural suicide, again, many are likely to ask questions about how such a status has emerged which cannot be answered through conventional means.

Such language is likely to strike a chord with a British public seduced by conspiratorial thinking (Opinium found in a survey that three in five Brits believe at least one conspiracy theory). Evidence that the country has become increasingly concerned about demographic changes brought about by immigration is well documented and played a key role in the vote to leave the EU in 2016 (although sentiment has become more positive towards immigration since the vote). It is, however, clear that the public is becoming more mistrustful and suspicious of the governments role in immigration policy which has lent currency to far right demographic conspiracies.

In a 2018 report by Sophia Gaston published by the Henry Jackson Society, polling indicated that 58% of the UK believe the government is hiding the true cost of immigration from the public and 51% believe that the government has deliberately sought to make British society more ethnically diverse through immigration over the past 20 years. Such views rocket to 75% and 70% amongst Leave voters and 64% and 63% amongst Conservative voters. It is therefore clear that conspiratorial thinking relating to immigration is widespread and appears in both moderate and extreme forms.

Debates over immigration and demographic change are an inevitable part of the democratic process and are likely to become sharper over the coming decades as white majorities decline. Yet, there is a worrying tendency towards viewing such processes as being dictated by shadowy elite plots. This is always likely to play into the hands of the far right, for whom conspiracy theories are presented as reasoning for extreme solutions.

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The great replacement theory: a historical perspective - Open Democracy

On Wednesday, September 4th, Judge Anthony Trenga of the U.S District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia ruled that the Terrorist Screening Database colloquially referred to as the "Watchlist"was unconstitutional. The case was brought forward by the Council on American Islamic Relations on behalf of 23 Muslim American plaintiffs.

In his decision, Judge Trengaa Bush appointeeheld that the Watchlist was a violation of the due process clause of the Constitution and of the Administrative Procedures Act. He reasoned that the procedures currently available to those on the Watchlist did not provide notice concerning whether a person has been added to or remains on the Watchlist, what criteria is used in adding individuals to the Watchlist, or an opportunity to rebut the evidence upon which the government relied in making that determination. Consequently, he held that the Watchlist "does not provide to a United States citizen a constitutionally adequate remedy under the Due Process Clause."

But even though the having the infamous Watchlist declared unconstitutional can be seen as a significant win for the Muslim American community, the remedy requested by the Plaintiffs is narrow and is unlikely to affect the many other policies that target Muslims. And without addressing the context in which the Watchlist exists, this decision risks the ultimate creation of what could amount to two Watchlists for two classes of people. One for U.S. citizens, including notice, the opportunity to rebut one's listing, and whatever other procedures the court deems appropriate; and a second Watchlist that is not bound to any of those procedural requirements for all non-U.S. citizens, who, at any given point in time are not on U.S. soil.

Further, the ruling gives no indication that Judge Trenga believes the foundation of the Watchlist is problematic. Consider a question in his ruling asking what "kind of remedy can be fashioned to adequately protect a citizen's constitutional rights while not unduly compromising public safety or national security." As with other national security policies that have been challenged, this statement seems to be rooted in the idea that the Judge views the Watchlist, to some extent, as a legitimate counter-terrorism intervention and one that might be refined and reformed.

After more than 15 years of the the Watchlist was established, the ruling underscores a key premise of the War on Terror: Muslims are seen as guilty until proven innocent. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the same tropethat placing Muslims under suspicion somehow makes American more secureis stressed in the government's response, in which they state that "plaintiffs request this relief on the basis of very little evidence, and in the face of compelling Government declarations showing that such additional procedures could not be implemented without considerable risk to national security." As in other War on Terror policies, the actual rights of Muslimsboth citizens and non-citizensare not seen as a given but are positioned to compete head to head with the state's theoretical right to fight terrorism in the way it deems fit.

Important though it is, the ruling affects only American citizens and non-citizens living on US soil. The numbers are also quite small as American citizens, comprise (with lawful permanent residents) a mere 4,600 out of a list of 1.16 million people. This victory underscores the premise that non-citizens who do not live in the United States are not entitled any practicable rights in the War on Terror. This is important because non-citizens living abroad have been targeted en masse not just through the Watchlist, but through U.S. militarism in Muslim-majority countries that have left over a million dead.

This ruling also has the potential of being misrepresented to the public as an indication of America's renewed commitment to rule of law and constitutional protections, remedying the excesses of the war on terror - when in fact it leaves this excesses largely untouched..

Even as we hail this important but limited victory, it's important to capitalize on its momentum and work to disrupt the entire apparatus of the War on Terror. We need to disrupt and subvert dominant narratives of Muslim criminality that allow policies like the Watchlist to be initiated in the first place, while discarding those attempts at counter-narratives that adhere to unsophisticated representations of the good versus bad Muslim dichotomy.

The premise of collective responsibility must be categorically rejectedespecially so long as the U.S. continues to pride itself on the notion of innocent until proven guilty. Lastly, we must acknowledge the totality of the U.S.' collateral damage, from those subject to extra scrutiny at airports to those being bombed in their home countries for nothing more than adhering to Islam. And for those of us who identify as Muslim Americans, we must embrace and uplift the humanity and rights of Muslim non-citizens, lest we be complicit in their oppression.

Dr. Maha Hilal is the Co-Director of Justice for Muslims Collective, an adjunct Professor at George Mason University, an organizer with Witness Against Torture, and a Council Member of the School of the Americas Watch.

The views expressed in this article are the author's own.

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Admitting the Terrorism Watchlist Was Unconstitutional is Important, But Not Nearly Enough | Opinion - Newsweek