Category Archives: Government Oppression

What comes after the anniversary of a tragedy? Earlier this month, many of us participated in memorials and retrospectives on the changes to American society in the two decades since the attacks of 9/11. We were among the many American Muslims who wrote about the impact of 9/11 on civil rights. As co-executive directors of Muslim Advocates, we were asked to document how the Patriot Act enabled mass surveillance and profiling of Muslims by local and national government, how a Bush-era immigrant registration program (NSEERS) effectively created a Muslim registry, and the many ways that the stereotype of Muslims as terrorists has fueled decades of anti-Muslim hate crimes and bullying. So what comes next?

Profiling, surveillance and over-prosecution of marginalized populations in this country are nothing new.

After 9/11, we were part of a group of Muslim lawyers who helped create a Muslim legal advocacy organization because we knew that things could get much worse for American Muslims. We knew and took seriously the way this country has discriminated against Black Muslims and other marginalized communities.

Simply put, profiling, surveillance and over-prosecution of marginalized populations in this country are nothing new. Trump's frenzy about an "invasion" of gangs across our southern border was not all that different from Democratic politicians' warnings about "super predators" during the passage of the 1994 crime bill. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X were just two of many civil rights leaders under constant FBI surveillance, and the Black Panthers were targeted with the blunter, more violent end of that stick. Many in our families were alive when Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps upon zero evidence of wrongdoing. Anti-German sentiment led to bans against teaching the German language and COINTELPRO and the McCarthy hearings painted anyone with communist beliefs as an enemy of the state. Even further back in our history, the Chinese Exclusion Act explicitly banned an entire race from emigrating to this country, and Jim Crow laws did everything short of slavery to control non-whites. And of course, all of this took place on the land of the many Native peoples who were killed or forcibly removed from their homes over centuries of repeated falsehoods and betrayal by the United States government.

So, yes, it has been twenty years since 9/11. But it has also been 77 years since Korematsu, 100 years since the Tulsa massacre, 131 years since the massacre at Wounded Knee, 139 years since the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act and 199 years since the Denmark Vesey rebellion. In other words, we need to see the bigger picture. We believe something much more transformative is possible if we demand that post-9/11 reflections are connected to the rest of American history and that we learn from all of it.

There is a terrible theme that runs throughout the story of the United States: when a group of people are seen as a threat, state power has been used to oppress them. More specifically, political interests have built and solidified their power by ramping up fearnot just stoking a fire, but creating it. American communities are thus pitted against each other, and eventually there is public support for government overreach that is outrageously outsized to the supposed threat.

Monuments and memorials should help us learn about our history and grow from it. When we were asked to opine about all the ways American Muslims suffered in the aftermath of 9/11, we knew it wasn't enough. We want to also talk about what this means for today. What does this mean for oppression in all its forms right now? And then the really difficult question: are we complicit in any of it?

Abuse of power hurts not just the abused, but also the abuser. Everyone needs to heal from these past harms, so we all must ask these questions. We could start on anniversaries. What if every commemoration of every atrocity was a step on a path toward truth and reconciliation? Maybe, then, we could see our way out of this dangerous cycle, heal the fractures in our society, and finally write a new American story.

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Opinion | It's Been Two-Hundred Years, Not Twenty: Targeted Repression in the US Started Long Before 9/11 - Common Dreams

INDONESIA

Academic experts on radicalisation in universities say Indonesia has its own radicalisation problem that does not take its cue from overseas events, but radicals could nonetheless become emboldened.

Indonesia has been concerned for some time about radical Islamic ideologies in schools and universities as well as in wider society, with young people increasingly targeted through online channels propagating extremist views. The government has attempted to counter this with moderate religious content on social media, and an ongoing review of the religious education curriculum.

The government has also set up a Religious Moderation House on every university campus, with all universities covered by last year.

Through academic discourse, inter-religious dialogue and seminars, the Religious Moderation House develops stronger commitment to nationalism and the Indonesian constitution; tolerance and willingness to work together with other religious groups; anti-violence; and incorporates local traditions and wisdom.

The reality is that the Talibans rise to power is Afghanistans internal affair, but terrorist groups here may see it as a victory over Western hegemony, BNPTs spokesperson General Eddy Hartono said in Jakarta on 22 August.

This is dangerous. They think if the Taliban is able to take power, why cant they? Then they would campaign for a caliphate in Indonesia.

Ridwan Habib, a terrorism analyst at the University of Indonesia, said the Taliban victory may not directly intensify the terrorist movement in Indonesia, but indirectly it may have an impact.

The Taliban victory can inspire terrorist groups here to fight for an Islamic state, he said. In other words, the Taliban victory ignites their spirit and motivation to build a Sharia-based power.

However, universities concerns about a re-emergence of radical thoughts and ideology were misplaced, according to some analysts. Yeni Huriani, a senior lecturer at the State Islamic University of Bandung or UIN Bandung, told University World News: Even when so-called radical thoughts are [expressed] in universities, there is nothing to worry about, because they are merely thoughts, ideas. By nature, universities are hubs of ideas and thoughts.

She added: Radicalism among common people and that in universities are clearly different. Radicalism in universities, among academics, is a form of reasoning.

Commenting on recent research revealing that 10 state universities in Indonesia have been exposed to radical ideology, Huriani maintained that the research findings, directly and indirectly, are often pre-determined by who funds the research. If its the secular groups that fund it, then we can predict the findings: Religious adherence is bad.

However, the Taliban victory could influence discourse in other ways in Indonesia. If there is anything to worry about from the Taliban rise to power, it is the likely setback in the discourse on womens issues in Indonesia and among Muslim communities, Huriani said.

Soon after taking over in the Afghan capital Kabul, the Taliban announced they would respect womens rights, forgive those who fought them and ensure Afghanistan does not become a haven for terrorists.

Im one of those who are not convinced. Lets see what they really do, she said, referring to the Talibans previous rule, when they largely confined women to their homes, banned television and music, and held public executions.

Huriani believes this could resurrect the debate on womens issues in Indonesia. We will go back to discussing whether in Islam women are allowed to work in public services, [and] pursue careers, issues which so far in Indonesia have been put to rest and for which we have reached general agreement.

Its a tiring discourse, she asserted.

Muhamad Murtadlo, a researcher at the Religious Affairs Ministry, said radicalism in universities has no clear definition. Very often the definition is too simplistic: People or a group of people are radical if they support the idea of an Islamic caliphate, he said, noting the caliphate concept is an interesting topic of political discussion. And in any discussion, some would agree and some others would not.

Abu Tholut, former leader of the terrorist group Jamaah Islamiyah, the group responsible for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people and which is dedicated to establishing an Islamic state in Southeast Asia, refuted the view that the Talibans triumph would give rise to terrorism in Indonesia.

There has never been any evidence that Muslim groups victories overseas caused terrorism at home. He pointed to Ayatollah Khomeinis rise in Iran after 1979, and the Mujahideen triumph over Russia in Afghanistan, causing Russian forces to withdraw in 1989, [which] triggered euphoria in Muslim communities but not terrorism, he said, when addressing a discussion forum at the University of Indonesia on 21 August, less than a week after the Taliban took over Kabul.

What has often caused terrorism and radicalism is the act of oppression on Muslims or invasion against Muslim countries by foreign powers, Tholut said, referring to the birth of ISIS or Islamic State that was caused by the United States invasion of Iraq.

Tholut, who has served time in jail for terrorist offences in Indonesia and also fought with the Taliban in Afghanistan during the 1990s, said: Terrorism was rising just when the US and NATO invaded Afghanistan in 2001. So victory does not cause resurgence. Invasion, oppression, injustice, killing does it.

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Taliban victory raises fears over campus radicalisation - University World News

Editor,

Apropos of the news item, Congress at crossroads as Mukul weighs his options, (ST, Sep 21, 2021), the former CM, Dr Mukul Sangma will throw a major surprise that is going to astound one and all prior to the next assembly polls. Visibly at loggerheads with Vincent H Pala, the political drama in the run-up to the 2023 assembly elections has started to unfold here and speculations are rife that Mukul may well switch sides with the saffron brigade. The re-induction of the former Home Minister, RG Lyngdoh besides other local political party leaders into the Congress fold may well seem to be in favour of Pala but that may not be enough to cut the ice in the next elections with the saffron party gearing up to form its own majority government in the state. Well, that may seem unachievable now, but in politics, as in cricket, the audience may never know how the game changes. A full-fledged BJP-led government in Meghalaya may rest much on how, also, Mukul responds to the political game plan as there is an aura of dissatisfaction when it comes to the NPP government here headed by Conrad Sangma. This first time CM has not been able to handle any issue on expected lines and many have even rated him as being one of the disastrous CMs, Meghalaya has ever seen. Another term for him seems unlikely at the moment but much may also depend upon how Garo Hills reacts to him in his next show. His governance, so far, has been more or less being centered on that part of the state and one may argue that this is alright since successive CMs of the state have only neglected that region. Nonetheless, I would prefer not to put my money on the re-inducted lot into the Congress.

Yours etc.

BC Paul

Shillong 4

Editor,

The Central Govt. has recently warned that Bank clientele that fail to link their PAN (Permanent Account Number) with their Aadhar Card by the deadline of September 30, 2021 would find their life-long bank become inoperative. Furthermore, it has been reported that a penalty of no-less than rupees one thousand would be levied from defaulters post the target date. Incidentally, the Govt. has been dithering on the specific deadline from one time to another for reasons best known to it. Out of the blue, I have been informed that this date-mark of September 30 next has been re-scheduled to March 31, 2022. Such inexplicable deferment of those at the helm tells its own story!We will recall that when Aadhar Scheme was initially launched it was spelled out that Meghalaya, Assam and erstwhile State of Jammu & Kashmir were exempted from its purview. Thus, indubitably it was a sigh of relief for the tribals of Meghalaya as they are being unshackled from the income tax net. Coincidently, it may be pertinent to reiterate that way back one of my letters entitled: The Dark Aspects of Aadhar (ST July 11, 2017) had figured in these columns where I had elaborately focused on how Aadhar enrolment by way of letting ones fingerprints imprinted and scanning of iris on a mechanical devise is actually compromising our Right to Privacy of which the Honble Apex Court has upheld as a Fundamental Right. To make matters worse, Aadhar enrolment, I had stated would metaphorically turn us into a dog under an electronic leash.Hence, the assertion of Anurag Thakur, Union Minister of State for Finance that September 30 shall be the deadline for the Banks account holders to link their PAN and Aadhar to their respective account numbers has thrown all concerned into a welter of inexorable confusion, especially the indigenous tribals of Meghalaya who have not yet included themselves under the Aadhar regimentation. Arguably, I hope that the residents of Meghalaya are exempted from the purview of this deadline in question, provided the initial notification that Meghalaya was out of the loop of Aadhar architecture is still operative.

Yours etc

Jerome K Diengdoh,

Via email

Editor,

The state capital witnessed a series of demonstrations post the August 13, 2021 incident. In fact, a large number of organisations have mushroomed, each echoing the same call suspension of the police officials involved in the alleged encounter killing of former HNLC general secretary- Cheristerfield Thangkhiew. Yes, granted that it is every citizens right to express themselves as long as they do not create a law and order situation and disrupt lives, however the recent sit-in at the U Kiang Nangbah statue a few meters away from the Civil Hospital saw a large gathering of people accompanied with a lot of noise with speaker after speaker delivering their speeches while those gathered there were cheering them at the top of their voices. The road alongside any hospital is normally a NO HORN ZONE in order to provide some quiet and tranquility to the ailing patients. If only those in the sit-in had been sensitive and considerate enough towards the patients of Civil Hospital and had taken their protests elsewhere and spared the patients from the ruckus outside the hospital it would have shown their courtesy towards those inmates. Surprisingly the Government did not prohibit the gathering around a hospital zone. Why is the Government so compliant? Henceforth, we as citizens expect the Government to prohibit such public gatherings especially at places where there is need for silence and sanctity such hospitals, schools and colleges and places of worship.

Yours etc.,

Jennifer Dkhar,

Via email

Editor,

Contrary to the expectations of a moderate government after a long period of oppression, the plans put forward by the Taliban government in Afghanistan give an indication that its policies will not be much different from that of the previous Taliban regime. As for college education, women students will be allowed to study in universities but with tough restrictions. They will have to comply with Islamic dress and code and there will be segregation between men and women. It is indeed reassuring that women are allowed to study in universities. However, the conditions attached to the grant of permission to women students indicate the hollowness of the Talibans talk about transformation. Women are not allowed to go to work either. It should be recalled that women demonstrators were recently assaulted in Kabul. All these indicate that the new Taliban regime is likely to implement regressive policies. Their approach to women and girls have not softened.As for school education, girls were excluded from returning to secondary schools. The Taliban regime allowed boys and male teachers to attend the secondary school classes. There has been no mention of girls or women teachers. Even if girls are allowed to attend schools, there will be segregation by sex. In the primary schools, boys and girls are attending separate classes. Reports reveal that many boys have refrained from going to school in solidarity with Afghan school girls.An interesting feature of the Talibans education policy is that female students will be taught by women and classrooms will remain separated as per the rules of the Islamic sharia. When required, men will be allowed to teach women, but in accordance with the sharia. It is ironic that education that transforms minds and promotes progressive ideas is being imparted to Afghan students in an oppressive and stifling atmosphere. It seems that the Taliban government is concerned more with the gender of the teachers than with their academic achievements. It may be recalled that the new Taliban government formed consists of only men. All these exemplify the Talibans male patriarchal oppression and discrimination against women. Amid great curiosity about how far the Taliban has changed, it is reassuring that education will be allowed, though there are restrictions.

Yours etc.,

Venu GS,

Kollam

Link:

Mukul and the ensuing assembly polls - The Shillong Times

With Brexit, the pandemic, the energy crisis and cuts to benefits all combining to create difficult months ahead, Reverend Joe Haward considers what can be learnt from the true meaning of apocalypse

Commentators, the mainstream media, and business leaders have for months called the joint impact of the Coronavirus pandemic and Brexit a perfect storm of threats to the UK. Added to this volatile situation is the current energy crisis as wholesale gas prices skyrocket.

The huge demand on gas as a result of people working from home, and an extremely bitter winter, has seen supply strained. But, as Nafeez Ahmed notes for Byline Times: The gas crisis is thus part of a wider systemic failure. We are now experiencing a series of amplifying feedback loops between different crises within human and earth systems, with crises in the climate and energy systems mutually accelerating one another.

These accelerating systems will mean a particularly painful autumn and winter for people across the country as gas prices rise further, throwing millions into fuel poverty. The effects of Brexit and the Coronavirus crisis have also seen food prices rise, as well as the cost of living increase.

The Prime Minister has repeated in interviews that the Government will do everything we can to help people, to help fix it, to make sure that we smooth things over. Yet, when directly told that the cut to Universal Credit, plus the rise in household energy bills, will plunge families into deeper poverty, his Government continues to refuse to help.

Boris Johnsons mantra that the market will fix this is are the prayers of an ideologue who chatters incessantly whilst the world burns around them. Over the coming weeks, the market will be of no use to people thrown further into economic despair.

The pandemic, Brexit, climate crisis and energy emergency is a deadly combination; a perfect storm of disaster the Four Horsemen of the apocalypse.

Films and stories about the end of the world have always been in popular. In recent times, Hollywood has given us a variety of versions of how humanity deals with the Earths demise whether by aliens, asteroids, global warming, or nuclear fall-out.

2012, released in 2009, was a popular blockbuster imagining a world destroyed by earthquakes and tsunamis and humanitys will to survive in the face of global extinction. When the pandemic hit in 2020, Steven Soderberghs 2011 film, Contagion about a deadly virus that spreads around the world saw a massive spike in downloads on streaming services.

Such stories have always fascinated us, in part, because they are just that stories. Like fairy tales and mythology, we tell them to remind ourselves of deeper messages about the world we live in, relationships, and the human spirit. Tales of the apocalypse also make for entertaining horror stories.

The Four Horsemen of the apocalypse are a good example of such horror stories. Mentioned in the strange and difficult to interpret Book of Revelation, these figures have generated paintings, poetry, and fiction; fearful creatures who will bring war, famine, and death upon the world. But they have always been part of a bigger picture.

The word apocalypse comes from the Greek apokalypsis which means to uncover, unveil or reveal. Rather than fire and destruction, apocalypse was understood by some ancients as a revelation of things as they really were.

Early Christians didnt see the apocalypse as the end of the world but an annunciation of another way; an unveiling of reality but also of how they believed things were going to eventually be. Part of this apocalyptic announcement, found in a variety of early Christian writings, was that the social and religious orders which had killed and scapegoated innocent victims had been exposed as murderous.

Early apocalyptic thinking believed that, instead of this murderous ideology, a new world was breaking into the present in which love, forgiveness and justice had the power to overcome oppression and tyranny. There was a liberational aspect; a belief that human freedom and flourishing were intricately connected. This wasnt freedom understood as unlimited choice, but determined by choosing well for mutual prospering.

In a sense, the dramatic and devastating images Hollywood provides us with when we think of the apocalypse are helpful in that these ancient people believed that a new world was coming and its impact would shake the foundations of the Earth.

The apocalypse, then, was not about the planets destruction, but about rescue from the powers that enslaved. By unveiling oppressive systems, society was being called to wake up from its numbness and imagine a different world, working collectively to bring that world into being a work encapsulated by loving your neighbour.

History reveals that when the Church climbed into the Empires bed, the lust for Power corrupts this Rule. But beyond the structures and systems of institutions, there are still apocalyptic people who believe that radical change is possible.

Brexit, the Coronavirus, the climate emergency this Government has unveiled itself as unwilling and incapable of taking the decisions required to enable the UK to thrive.

Short-sighted, reacting only when the situation is already out of control, it blunders and deceives for populist electoral gain. This behaviour will work for some voters, but eventually the destructive power of these storms of incompetence may leave the Government capsized as events overtake it.

But the challenges facing the world are beyond the whims and desires of one government. Community cohesion will be vital, working together to support the most vulnerable alongside an apocalyptic approach to creating societies that can navigate our way through the coming tempest.

Reverend Joe Haward is a community and business chaplain

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The New Winter of Discontent Will Expose the Corrupting Forces Strangling Our Society Byline Times - Byline Times

Photo by Universal Eye on Unsplash

This article is the second in a series of articles that NPQ, in partnership with First Nations Development Institute (First Nations), will publish in the coming weeks. The series will highlight leading economic justice work in Indian Country and identify ways that philanthropy might more effectively support these efforts.

How does one describe the role of a Native community development financial institution (CDFI)? I sometimes say that our job at Four Bands Community Fund, the CDFI where I have worked for the past decade, is not so much about economic development, but nation building. At the end of the day, thats why we do what we do.

Its a point worth emphasizing. I am a citizen and enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux nation. We are a Lakota community of about 18,800 people living on 4,267 square miles, including the small 5,000-person town of Eagle Butte, and are a sovereign nation. And we view the world from a very different lens than mainstream US society.

In the US, diversity is celebrated in theory, but the practice is often quite different. Some readers might remember a moment in 2015, when the story of the Racist Soap Dispenser went viral. This viral video featured a Black hotel guest who was attending DragonCon in Atlanta trying to get soap from an automatic soap dispenser, but the soap dispenser could not read non-white skin pigmentations. The only way for the man to trigger the soap dispensing process was for him to cover his hand with a white paper towel. What does this tell us about US society?

This experience reminds us that even goods and services in the economy are white centered and white dominated. The white-centered nature of science and technology is replicated across the US, including the ways in which we think about capital and access to capital. How was this racist soap dispenser created, and how did it make its way into the bathrooms of a major international hotel chain without testing this product with people of diverse skin pigmentation?

Quite simply, the racist soap dispenser was created by a homogenous group of product developers who sat around the table and designed a soap dispenser, a useful metaphor for how the economy overall has been constructed.

Each period of Native American history is riddled with capitalistic legal maneuvers justified by the politics of the era that forced land cessions, ignored treaties, and imposed regulations on the use of Indian land. By the 1880s, despite attempts at genocide and mass land dispossession, Native Americans still had 138 million acres of land owned communally. A group of homogenous thinkers deemed this way of living an unproductive use of resources and allotted the lands. With a stroke of a pen, Native American land ownership went from the collective to the individual, disrupting centuries of good resource management practices and wealth accumulation.

The Native American land base also shrank to 48 million acres during this era. In the same stroke, all Native American people were declared incompetent to handle their land-related decisions, so the federal government held the title in trust for the allottee. The policymakers at the time were aware that by holding the title to the land, all financial tools would be inaccessible. To this day, any attempt a Native American makes to leverage the land in a sale or in a lease for development, business, or homeownership, requires the approval of a US cabinet official, the Secretary of the Interior.

Small victories were won for Native American rights as the decades passed in the first half of the 20th century, but there was little to no private lending to Native American individuals for agricultural needs, homeownership, or small businesses.

Meanwhile, the federal government put more time and resources into assimilation efforts, such as the 19521972 so-called voluntary relocation program. It was a public policy carried out by officials at the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to assimilate Native Americans, eliminate tribal governments, and open up Native lands for non-Native development. Individual asset and household wealth levels have been largely stagnant since the 1970s.

Finally, in recent decades, several federal agencies have deployed loan guarantees to incentivize private creditors to begin lending to Native American individuals on trust land. Simply put, a loan guarantee is a contractual obligation between an individual, a lending institution, and a third party. In the event the borrower defaults, the third party assumes the debt obligation. For Native American transactions, the third party is usually the federal government.

Loan guarantees in Indian Country have become our white paper towel. For decades, the only way for financial institutions to see and value our land is if we placed a white paper towel over it, a loan guarantee, and the capital is dispensed. The expressions of racism have been manifested in the financial algorithms of lending institutions, especially within the way trust land is valued as if it had no value. Trust land is synonymous with Indian Country (and some Audubon Societies, but mostly Indian Country). The convenient narrative has been trust land cannot be used as collateral, therefore limiting wealth generation for Native Americans under the guise of prudent underwriting. As a recent article in the UCLA Anderson Review stated, this has resulted in hundreds of billions of dollars in lost wealth for tribal members who hold their land without full property rights.

But if Native American land is trust land, who manages the trust for the Cheyenne River Sioux land in our alleged beneficial interest? The answer, of course, is the federal government through the BIA. The BIA manages our largest asset: our land. By design, it is very difficult to leverage that asset and grow individual wealth. In fact, it is nearly impossible, white paper towels notwithstanding. In short, a primary driver of Native American poverty, both for the Cheyenne River Sioux and many other Native nations, is the bureaucracy surrounding our leading assetland.

In any other world, if you have an asset managed through a trust fund and you dont like how the trustees are managing your asset, you can fire them. You can say, Look, youre not getting me the best return on my investment, and we dont like what youre doing. And weve been screaming that for hundreds of years. The system doesnt work! Or more boldly, it works, but was designed and continues to function based upon oppression and exclusion.

We no longer have the patience or time to delay. Our families have experienced many decades of persistent poverty, and we know its not accidental. Its structural.

Under the current structure, the consistent outcome is that even good financial institutions end up behaving badly and refusing to mortgage trust land. Why? Ignorance or bad governance may play a role in some cases, but by and large the lack of investment is a rational decision based upon a cost-benefit calculation.

Simply put, the cost for financial institutions to manually underwrite loans on trust land is deemed too high when calculated against the interest and fee earning schedule of the loan. Therefore, many financial institutions have rationalized their failure to invest as a way for them to mitigate risk. The formula has been set.

But if the trust lands are supposed to benefit Native communities, we need to rewrite that formula so that the benefits of trust lands can be realized. The time for action is now.

Those of us working in the Native CDFI field believe that financial institutions are well positioned to actand to catalyze further action in philanthropic circles. If small CDFIs like Four Bands, which process a few million dollars in loans a year, can figure it out, surely larger financial institutions can follow our lead. Simply put, we need financial institutions to lead the charge as product developers, brokers, and providers of the vast majority of capital to individuals and organizations. Financial institutions can convene a diverse set of thinkers to design a mortgage product that will have the ability to leverage the 56 million acres of land held in trust by the federal government. And Native CDFIs would be pleased to sit at that table with them to assist in this process.

Today, the Native borrower who brings five acres of tribal trust land to her lender is told it is an ineligible property type, and it becomes the borrowers problem to overcome. It is not a problem for a Native grandmother caring for three of her grandchildren and working a full-time job as a Head Start cooks problem to solve!

We must stop asking the individual to overcome the structural. We must support the institutions who see the opportunity, design the products with transparency and dignity, and dispense the capital. Those institutions do exist in the form of Native CDFIs. The support many of us need is capital.

At Four Bands Community Fund, weve adopted a revolving loan fund model certified by the Department of Treasury as a Native CDFI. There are over 70 Native CDFIs operating across the nation as a response to the lack of access to capital for our respective Native communities. We are setting our own financial product development table, designing appropriate financial products for our Native markets, and dispensing capital as we see the opportunity.

As one saying goes, how you perceive is how you proceed. Its important that the team at Four Bands and every other Native CDFI is from and of the communities we serve. Our perceptions are made up of the truths and experiences that reflect our communities. Therefore, we proceed and create appropriate products to dispense our capital. Our approach to lending is based upon the relationships we have with our borrowers and our nation-building mission.

We do not say, We dont lend on trust land, and send our borrowers out the door. Further, we do not devalue the asset of trust land when the borrower wants to leverage it. Instead, we work alongside the borrower within the ecosystems which have stipulated possibility for decades.

We persistently ask questions: Why cant you leverage trust land? How do you measure market value of a home when a conventional mortgage market hasnt existed for 30 years? Then we reach out to our colleagues and resource networks for best practices in the field and we answer the questions.

We demystify the process for the borrower and educate the gatekeepers at adjacent institutions. To date, weve dispensed over $21 million to the underestimated Native markets in South Dakota. In 20 years, we have started and expanded 483 small businesses overall. Within the past three years, weve closed over 39 mortgages on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation, which is largely trust land.

We refuse to succumb to the tyranny of thinking that lending in Indian Country is too complex. Martin Luther King Jr said it best: Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.

Lets stop creating loan guarantees and risk pools to clean up the injustice in the system. Lets fix the system instead. Please stop handing us white paper towels.

Original post:

Rewriting the Rules: Putting Trust Lands to Work for Native American Benefit - Non Profit News - Nonprofit Quarterly

WILLS POINT, TX Gospel for Asia (GFA World and affiliates like Gospel for Asia Canada) founded by KP Yohannan, issued this Special Report on the horrific realities girls face, child marriage, human trafficking, abuse & exploitation, and the restoration & redemption that God brings to their lives.

In her article for The New York Times, Hannah Beech shares the stories of Nyo and Phyu, two teenagers from Myanmar who were trafficked to China at age 16. A neighbor promised to find them waitressing jobs, but after 10 days of traveling, the girls realized that was not their fate. They tried to run away twice, but they were caught and locked in a room.

The girls were split up, each paired with a supposed husband, although no marriage paperwork was ever filled out, to their knowledge, writes Beech.

After going home with their new husbands, both girls were locked in rooms. Nyo was often beaten and raped by her husband. Phyus husband repeatedly injected drugs into her arm before forcing her to have sex. Eventually, Phyu and Nyo both gained access to the internet. This allowed police to track the girls down, prosecute the traffickers and husbands, and send the girls back to Myanmar.

But the traumatic experience left both girls with painful life circumstances.

Nyo ended up giving birth in Myanmar to a daughter by her Chinese husband. Phyu suffered physical and psychological damage from the abuse she experienced.

Before this happened, Phyu was so happy and active, Phyus mother told Beech. But they gave her something to make her forget and trigger her sexuality. They beat her. She doesnt know she is ruined.

Bride and child marriage trafficking makes up only a small percentage of the trafficking of girls, a trade that has grown rapidly in recent decades.

of trafficked girls are used for sexual exploitation.

of trafficked girls are used for forced labor.

are used for other purposes (such as forced child marriage, exploitative begging or coerced criminal activities).

of total victims in 2004 are comprised of girls.

of total victims in 2016 are comprised of girls.

When many think of trafficking, they imagine a woman or teenage girl being forced to work in a brothel. While this does make up a large percentage of cases, the trafficking of girls can take a variety of forms. For some, like Ashmita, it means working as a domestic servant.

After Ashmitas father died, she and her mother moved into someones home to earn a living doing housework. Later, Ashmitas mother sent her to work in another familys home. Ashmita, who wasnt yet 10 years old, was forced to wash dishes and clothes, mop floors and massage the legs of her employer. When Ashmita grew physically tired from the labor the house owners demanded, she was beaten and slapped. One time, the woman of the house put chili powder in Ashmitas eyes.

For other girls, human trafficking means forced labor in the internet pornography industry, massage parlors that function as fronts for sexual exploitation, or beggar mafia networks. Whatever the form of trafficking, it leaves a deep, long-lasting mark on a girls psychology.

Trafficking victims often find it difficult to overcome the traumatic reality of their exploitation and share details with law enforcement authorities that could aid in prosecuting their traffickers, states the U.S. Department of State.

Girls in areas of political instability, conflict or oppression become especially vulnerable to forced child marriage and human trafficking.

Trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation occurs within all conflict areas considered, including sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Middle East, South-East Asia and others, reports the UN. In some refugee camps in the Middle East, for example, it has been documented that girls and young women have been married off without their consent and subjected to sexual exploitation in neighbouring countries. Abduction of women and girls for sexual slavery has been reported in many conflicts in Central and West Africa, as well as in the conflicts in the Middle East. It has also been reported that women and girls are trafficked for forced [child marriage] in the same areas.

Reports of such conflict-related trafficking occasionally make international news. The world waited for the return of more than 200 girls kidnapped in 2014 by Boko Haram in Chibok, Nigeria. News outlets recounted how the Islamic State group forced Yazidi and Christian girls into sexual slavery. In some regions, however, political instability has made the trafficking of girls an everyday reality often overlooked by the rest of the world.

Girls in areas of political instability, conflict or oppression become especially vulnerable to forced child marriage and human trafficking.

North Korean girls attempting to flee government oppression may face the greatest risk for exploitation. In China, the only country they can directly cross into, they must try to be invisible. If they are caught, Chinas government will send them back to North Korea, where they will likely face prison time for illegally exiting their homeland (which may involve starvation, sexual abuse or physical torture). As a result, North Korean women and girls easily become prey for traffickers.

According to a report from the Korea Future Initiative, the vast majority of North Korean trafficking victims are girls or women aged between 12 and 29, and many became ensnared in sexual slavery less than a year after fleeing North Korea.

Most of these girls and women end up in prostitution in brothels near the China/North Korea border, while others become entrapped in the growing cybersex trade.

Girls aged as young as 9 are forced to perform graphic sex acts and are sexually assaulted in front of webcams which are live-streamed to a paying global audience, explains the Korea Future Initiative.

In every story, there is conflict that disrupts the protagonists life. And in the stories of many girls lives, antagonists like exploitation, abuse trafficking, forced child marriage or discrimination have brought so much conflict and destruction they have nearly destroyed hope. Without intervention, many girls will never have the chance for an education or a career. They may suffer from lasting health problems due to teenage pregnancy, forced prostitution, rape or physical abuse. They may live the rest of their lives believing they shouldnt expect anything better.

There is, however, a God who created each girl and each woman. He hears the cry of the powerless and the needy and comes to their aid, and He gives them strength to overcome trauma and oppression. There are also many people working to combat trafficking, promote education and teach the value of girls. Many of these advocates were themselves once girls whose stories were defined by tragedy and abuse. Yet these women have risen above those obstacles, and they are helping other girls and women find similar freedom.

Ruths story shifted from tragedy to hope after she met some Christian women serving in her community. They befriended the teenager, encouraged her and invited her to church. There, Ruth heard a GFA pastor share about the love of Christa love that was overwhelming to a girl whose own parents didnt value her. Ruth decided to follow this God who actually loved her.

Later she moved to another city to receive training from the church about how to help other hurting people just like herself. Before she left, she went to seek her fathers blessing, which in her culture is requested by bending down and touching an elders feet. Instead of blessing her, her father kicked her in the face.

During her time in Bible college, Ruth grew closer to Christ. Around the time she graduated, her pastor from her village told her she needed to come back home. Ruths father had changed, he said.

When Ruth got off the bus in her village, her father was waiting for her, and something happened that had never occurred before: He hugged her.

What had caused such a dramatic change in his attitude?

He had become a follower of Jesus, like his daughter. After God transformed his life, Ruths father began to value and support Ruth, knowing she was a gift from the Lord and not a burden.

Lasting global change in the treatment of girls starts when people recognize the value of each girl as a human being created by God. Those who recognize this will protect girls lives and challenge attitudes demeaning girls as less valuable than boys.

Lasting global change in the treatment of girls starts when people recognize the value of each girl as a human being created by God. Those who recognize this will protect girls lives and challenge attitudes demeaning girls.

In South Asia, where rates of gender-biased abortion are still highdespite it being illegalGFA workers have the opportunity to show through their example and counsel that girls have dignity and value as image-bearers of God. These men and women are able to bring change not only to girls lives but also to entire families and communities. As the mindsets of parents and community members change, girls live in a safer, more supportive environment.

One day, GFA pastor Kanish heard some concerning news from Rajika, a woman who attended his church along with her four daughters. Rajikas husband, Sushil, had already been addicted to drugs. Then, after Rajika gave birth to their fourth daughter, neighbors began to mock Sushil for having no sons and only daughters. The disappointment and humiliation pushed Sushil further into a pit of depression and substance abuse. He began abusing his wife and children.

Thankfully, Pastor Kanish was equipped to talk to Sushil: The pastor himself had three daughters and no sons. Unlike Sushil, Pastor Kanish cherished his daughters. When he visited Rajika and Sushils home, he challenged Sushils attitude toward his daughters. He explained to Sushil that his daughters were blessings from God, not burdens.

Through the pastors encouragement, Sushil decided to depend on Jesus instead of alcohol and drugs. He began to pray regularly, and he welcomed others to his home for prayer meetings. As Sushils mindset and lifestyle were transformed, he overcame his addictions and started loving his wife and children instead of abusing them. He thanked God for restoring his life.

As God transforms the attitudes of people like Ruths father and Sushil, a broad impact sweeps through entire families and communities. When just one person chooses to value and support his or her daughter, this changes not only her life but also the lives she will impact one day. Moreover, this support shows others an example of a healthy family dynamic.

Give to Help Girls at Risk

If you want to help girls at risk in South Asia, consider a one-time donation to stand in the gap for children who have been rescued from desperate situations into Bridge of Hope but still lack permanent sponsors to cover their monthly needs to remain in school.

About Gospel for Asia

Gospel for Asia (GFA World, http://www.gfa.org) is a leading faith-based mission agency, helping national workers bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across Asia, especially to those who have yet to hear about the love of God. In GFAs latest yearly report, this included more than 70,000 sponsored children, free medical camps conducted in more than 1,200 villages and remote communities, over 4,800 clean water wells drilled, over 12,000 water filters installed, income-generating Christmas gifts for more than 260,000 needy families, and spiritual teaching available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry. For all the latest news, visit our Press Room at https://press.gfa.org/news.

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Traumatized and Exploited Rewriting the Tragedies of Girlhood | Part 2 - Patheos

Tugging at the folds of the traditional hijab dress, two young sisters jostle and laugh to try to get their mother's attention as she fries onions on the stove.

Along with their 6-month-old sister, the girls are oblivious to the threat they now face from the Taliban, Afghanistan's new rulers.

Their mother, Nabila, is one of 250 female judges ordered not to return to work by a regime that doesn't condone women in senior positions. CNN is only using Nabila's first name for her own protection.

Nabila said she feared reprisals, not only from fundamentalists, but also the men she once jailed. When they came to power, the Taliban opened the gates of prisons, releasing thousands of convicted criminals.

"Now we do not feel safe; the same criminals are going after my own life, the lives of my family," Nabila said. "God forbid if they seek revenge."

After the Taliban takeover in mid-August, a few dozen women judges fled Afghanistan, and those left behind are now in hiding, according to Judge Vanessa Ruiz from the US-based International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ).

All of the judges who worked under the former Afghan government -- male and female -- have been now replaced by Taliban appointees, two judges told CNN.

But Ruiz said women judges feared their gender made them particular targets for a regime that assigns greater value to men.

Many of the women judges presided over the worst cases of violence against women, including rape, murder and domestic abuse.

"They would be angry at any judge who sentenced them, but that a woman had official authority, and sat in judgment of a man, is rage of a completely different order," said Ruiz.

The IAWJ and other organizations are racing to find a safe passage out for the women -- but they say they need more help from the US and other Western nations, before it's too late.

The risks for Afghanistan's women judges pre-date the Taliban's takeover of the country.

In January, two Supreme Court judges were shot dead in Kabul by unidentified gunmen, though the Taliban denied responsibility, according to Reuters.

Since then, threats against Afghan women -- and people affiliated with the former government -- have intensified.

Last week, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michele Bachelet told the Human Rights Council her office had heard "multiple allegations" of the Taliban going door to door, looking for specific government officials and people who had cooperated with the United States.

Furthermore, she said women had been "progressively excluded from the public sphere," and faced increasing restrictions in "numerous professional sectors."

Nabila said it wasn't long before she received death threats.

"A day or two after the Taliban arrived in Kabul, my personal number was called and I was threatened with revenge, threatened with murder," Nabila said.

She canceled her phone numbers, and the family is now moving from house to house every few days to avoid being tracked down.

Another judge, Bibi, has been in hiding with her three young children since the Taliban entered Kabul.

"My worst fear is that my kids ... they can't see their mother being killed," said Bibi, who is only using her first name for safety reasons.

"We haven't slept well, we haven't eaten well. We just wait, we have stopped living like a normal human being."

Bibi had to leave her workplace in a hurry as Kabul fell and wasn't able to return to her office, which contains all her work files and her personal information, including her photograph, phone number and home address.

She fears the Taliban -- or former prisoners -- could use the information to track them down.

"They feel like it's their right to find me, to hit me, to kill me, they don't have anyone to be afraid of," she said.

Both Nabila and Bibi and their families are trying to leave Afghanistan with the help of organizations including the IAWJ, but progress is slow.

Ruiz said they are doing all they can, but their resources are limited, and she urged Western countries to do more.

"Governments need to be better, more agile, more generous frankly, in giving admission to people who are in danger in Afghanistan right now," Ruiz said. "You've got to cut the red tape when you're dealing with an emergency, and we're dealing with an emergency."

Ruiz said the US in particular should be trying to help these women, as several dozen of the judges passed through a judicial education program funded by the US government. "It's their association with us, in many ways, that puts them at risk," Ruiz said.

The US says it has continued to evacuate Americans, Afghans and other nationals from Kabul, even after the August 31 deadline. Two evacuation flights left Kabul in the last two weeks, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told a Senate Foreign Relations committee hearing on Tuesday.

"We will continue to help Americans -- and Afghans to whom we have a special commitment -- depart Afghanistan if they choose, just as we've done in other countries where we've evacuated our embassy," Blinken said. "There's no deadline to this mission."

Only a few dozen women judges have managed to escape Afghanistan so far.

One experienced judge made it out on a flight from Kabul to Poland along with family members including eight nephews and nieces.

But it wasn't an easy journey.

"I was at the airport gate for two nights with too many crowds, and I had a lot of kids with me," said the judge, who did not want to be named to protect family members still in Afghanistan.

"The three days and two nights I had in Kabul Airport were really the worst nights of my life, but we got through it. I had no (other) hope of survival."

She knew she had to flee the country after the Taliban tried to track her down.

"Five Taliban came to my area asking my neighbors about me," she said. "When I knew the Taliban came after me, I relocated from that area also, because I was so scared if they found me."

As well as fearing for their families, the women are also mourning their hard-won careers.

"Now I feel like I lost everything," the experienced judge said. "Imagine you have a personality, a career, respect, a home, a car, a life and everything, and suddenly you leave in one set of clothes on your body and leave the country -- now how would you feel?"

For those stuck in Afghanistan, the frustration and fear are mounting.

"We that are left behind, we all express our anger, disappointment," Bibi said.

"We have (been) deprived of our right to work," said Nabila. "We find it impossible for us to live in Afghanistan."

Ruiz of the IAWJ said they won't give up until every woman judge is safe.

"We're not going to abandon them. We're not going to forget them. And we're not going to let the world ignore them," Ruiz said.

"We will not stop until this job is completed, and every woman judge who is threatened, and wishes to leave Afghanistan is able to do so."

Despite the dangers, Nabila is dedicated to her chosen career path and hopes to one day return to the bench.

"I do not regret all about the field I have chosen and for which I have studied for many years," Nabila said.

"We have been working for many years to combat violence, oppression and injustice, and I want to continue with my work."

Nabila's bravery is driven by a passion to protect Afghanistan's most vulnerable women, and to try to create a better future for her daughters -- a generation that now faces a dark reality under the new regime.

The-CNN-Wire & 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

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Afghanistan's women judges are in hiding, fearing reprisal attacks from men they jailed - Action News Now

15.Sep

September 15th, 2021

In early September, Crimean resident Nariman Dzhelyal woke up to masked people climbing his fence. A few days prior, his house had been searched, so he quickly realised what was going on. About a dozen Federal Security Service (FSB) officers escorted him to a facility, where he spent the rest of the day handcuffed with a bag on his head, unable to eat, drink or even use the bathroom.

Two men enacted a good FSB, bad FSB'' play with Dzhelyal, accusing him of directing others to blow up a gas pipeline. By 4 am, Dzhelyal was put face to face with another detainee. I managed to ask if he was alright, he shook his head. They beat you? He nodded in response, Dzhelyal recalled in his letter from prison.

The FSB made sure he had no lawyer present, so the full picture became clear to Dzhelyal only later. The authorities claimed that a group of Crimean Tatars blew up a pipeline under Simferopol in August after Ukrainian intelligence trained them and paid them $2,000. Dzhelyal, a respected leader of the Crimean Tatar community, was accused of organising the attack, and now faces up to 15 years in prison.

As with other cases put forward by the FSB, almost no information is available to the public. Locals are unsure if there was even a pipeline explosion. With the lack of evidence, another explanation arises: Dzhelyals arrest is a logical step in the state persecution of Crimean Tatars - an ethnic group that the Russian government perceives as a threat.

Crimean Tatars are a Turkic nation and an indigenous population of the Crimean peninsula. Following the Russo-Turkish war, Crimea became a part of the Russian Empire at the end of the 18th century. Decades of Russian colonisation climaxed during World War II, at the end of which Stalin forced the deportation of over 200,000 Crimean Tatars to Central Asia as a collective punishment for perceived collaboration with Nazi forces. Many dozens of thousands died as a result.

The exiled people began to return to their homeland only in the late 1990s. During the subsequent decades, Crimean Tatars gained recognition as native people of the peninsula for the first time in centuries, and as a result, many became loyal to Ukraine. This allegiance became a problem when their homeland was seized and annexed to Russia in 2014.

Following the Russian appropriation of Crimea, the indigenous groups representative body, the Mejlis did not recognise the Russian occupation, causing Russia to label it an extremist organisation in 2016.

According to human rights activists, about 80% of political prisoners from Crimea belong to the Crimean Tatar nation. The pretext for jailing many of them was their supposed ties with Hizb-ut-Tahrir, an Islamist group freely operating in Ukraine and most of Europe.

Nariman Dzhelyals case signifies a drastic change. Up until a few years ago, only a religious fundamentalist or an extremely vocal opposition member was considered a real threat by Moscow. Dzhelyal was always diplomatic and soft-spoken, carefully watching his words; his sole crime was representing his people as a deputy head of the Mejlis, and being one of the last civil leaders of the Crimean Tatars who stayed in Crimea.

In 2014, President Vladimir Putin admitted the wrongdoings of Moscow before the Crimean Tatar nation, and vowed to reinstate their rights and good name in full. Seven years later, Crimean Tatars face 15 years in Russian prison merely for their ethnicity. On World Democracy Day, its worth remembering that the occupation of Crimea was not only the biggest attack on the sovereignty of a European nation in decades, but also a return of state repression of a whole indigenous population.

Image by FreedomHouse

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Crimean Tatars face increased oppression by Russia - Fairplanet

With the decision to end the use of the Come and Take It slogan at the University of Texas at San Antonio, the university is bowing to the demands of the few and overlooking those of us who have come to interpret the slogan as one of empowerment for our UTSA community.

To me and countless others Come and Take It does not symbolize what UTSA President Taylor Eighmy or the handful of loud opponents claim. Yet, a mere 960 signatures on a petition swayed the leaders of a university with over 30,000 students to make a decision that affects us all.

For me, the so-called symbol of racism and exclusion has evolved to represent defiance in the face of those who want to deny our civil rights. We can use the slogan to defend our rights in the name of racial equality and justice instead of clinging to a historical interpretation that many of us have no connection to. Does that make me racist, as opponents of the slogan would have you believe?

As a Black student growing up in New York, I learned that Texas and the states of the former Confederacy had a long history of oppressing Black and Hispanic communities. My education thoroughly covered the racial legacy of divide, violence, and oppression in the South, but Come and Take It was not included in that legacy.

Come and Take It in the U.S. dates back to the American Revolution, when Col. John McIntosh used the phrase to defy British troops at Fort Morris in Georgia.This defiance in the face of oppression can be translated into a modern-day interpretation in defense of civil rights.

Even co-opted by 2nd Amendment activists, the phrase serves as a reminder to Black and Hispanic communities of our own rights to defend ourselves against racial violence. The defense of the rights of Black and Hispanic people, by arms or without, gives people like me a right to claim Come and Take It as our own.

Instead of making the hasty decision to end the use of a slogan that many of us hold dear, UTSA could have gauged the feelings of students and alumni. The university could have leveraged the alumni association and its media to distribute a survey, or helped the Student Government Association put the decision to a vote. There could have been some effort to open the floor to discussion as to why the slogans meaning may vary wildly among students. If the consensus was to find a new slogan that captures UTSAs fighting spirit, the university and its students could feel good about arriving at a decision together.

But the university chose to listen to a small but vocal group that insists on stamping the slogan as racist, though modern interpretations are far from it. If Come and Take It is the racist symbol the 960 petition signatories say it is, then by what right can we keep the symbols of the Texas flag? By what right can we keep the cities so named Jefferson, Houston, and Austin? Do the residents of these cities themselves consider themselves racist for still living in towns that were named after people of our honored past that did not have views aligning with our own? By what right can we keep anything in our history if it cannot be re-imagined, or if we hold ourselves guilty of the sins of our fathers?

I respect Kevin Eltifes statement in defense of the traditions and history that mean much to students, alumni, and other Texans. The chairman of the UT System Board of Regents stepped up to challenge UTSAs decision to get rid of a slogan that has come to mean many things to many people. Those of us who have found our own meaning in the Come and Take It slogan shouldnt feel guilty about upholding a tradition that weve reinterpreted. Instead, we should feel empowered to defend ourselves against the loud and oppressive few.

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Come and Take It: A symbol of defiance reinterpreted by UTSA students and alumni - San Antonio Report

Today is Constitution Day. It is an appropriate time to celebrate the accomplishments of American constitutional law. But it is also a good time to consider whether we have been too soft on some of its greatest failures. I suggest three such rulings cry out for far more condemnation than they have so far received: The Chinese Exclusion Case (1889), Euclid v. Amber Realty (1926), and Berman v. Parker (1954). These rulings are well-known to specialists in their respective fields (immigration and property law). All three have their critics. But they rarely get much attention in law school constitutional law classes, and most lawyers either assume they are right, or even remain largely unaware of them.

In this post, I cover the Chinese Exclusion Case. Euclid and Berman will be dealt with in future posts.

Most members of the legal profession are aware of the "canon" of great Supreme Court constitutional law decisions that virtually everyone supports, and considers to be major positive milestones in constitutional history. Brown v. Board of Education is probably the most famous example. If your theory of constitutional interpretation rejects one of these, it's a serious strike against it.

On the other hand we also have rulings that are part of what has come to be known as the "anticanon" of constitutional lawdecisions that are almost universally reviled, and seen as exemplars of grave errors we should not repeat. In the closest thing we have to a canonical article about the anticanon, Columbia law Professor Jamal Greene identifies Dred Scott v. Sandford, Plessy v. Ferguson, Lochner v. New York, and Korematsu v. United States as the most widely recognized "anticanonical" rulings. I think there are several others that are at least close to that level, such as Buck v. Bell (1927) (upholding mandatory sterilization of the mentally ill) and Pace v. Alabama (1883)(upholding laws banning interracial marriage and penalizing interracial "fornication" more than the intraracial kind).

What enables a decision to "achieve" anticanonical status? Greene suggests it is largely a matter of historical happenstance. Later generations of legal commentators found these cases useful examples of ideas and legal doctrines they wanted to stigmatize. That is surely true to an extent. But I think there are also some more systematic patterns here.

If you look at the most prominent anti-canonical cases, it turns out they have a number of common characteristics. First, they feature (or at least are believed to be feature), terrible legal reasoning. But that by itself is far from enough. Lots of decisions are poorly reasoned. The second, and much more restrictive condition, is that they are believed to have had terrible real-world effects. Dred Scott, Lochner, Plessy, and Korematsu, all are seen as having had horrific consequences for large numbers of people: slaves, unskilled workers, racial minorities, and Japanese-Americans subject to detention in awful internment camps. I think this belief wrong in the case of Lochner. But there is no doubt it is widely held.

It isn't just that these decisions are seen as having bad effects (lots of cases are like that). Rather, the effects in question are believed to have been on a very large scale, seriously harming many thousands of peopleor even more.

Third, mostbut not allof the anticanonical decisions upheld government policies that promoted racial discrimination and oppression. That's certainly true of three of the four cases on Greene's listDred Scott, Plessy, and Korematsu. The same goes for Pace and to some extent even Buck v. Bell (blacks were far more likely to be subjected to forced sterilization than whites). If there is an original sin of American constitutional law, it is race-based oppression.

By these criteria, the Chinese Exclusion Case, Euclid, and Berman all richly deserve to be added to the list.

The Chinese Exclusion Case is the 1889 decision in which the Supreme Court first decided that the federal government had a general power to exclude immigrants, for virtually any reason it wanted. The Court's legal reasoning was execrable. The Court did not try to link this power to anything in the text of the Constitution. Instead, they upheld it based on the idea that the power to exclude migrants is one that every sovereign nation must be assumed to have. In so doing, they completely ignored the many flaws in this "it's gotta be in there somewhere" theory. I listed several of them here. They also ignored the insistence of leading Founding Fathers, such as James Madison (the "father of the Constitution") and Thomas Jefferson, that no such power was ever granted to the federal government. In his Report of 1800, addressing this very issue, Madison even specifically warned against the theory the 1889 Court adopted:

The reasoning here used, would not in any view, be conclusive; because there are powers exercised by most other governments, which, in the United States are withheld by the people, both from the general government and from the state governments. Of this sort are many of the powers prohibited by the Declarations of right prefixed to the Constitutions, or by the clauses in the Constitutions, in the nature of such Declarations. Nay, so far is the political system of the United States distinguishable from that of other countries, by the caution with which powers are delegated and defined, that in one very important case, even of commercial regulation and revenue, the power is absolutely locked up against the hands of both governments

In other words, the fact that a given power is enjoyed by the governments of other nations is no reason to assume that the US federal government must have it. The whole point of the American experiment was to set up a new and better form of government, not merely imitate those that came before. What was the 1889 Court's response to Madison's argument and others like it? Crickets.

The effects of the Court's decision were massive. In the short run, it upheld the deeply racist Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, whichas the name impliesbarred most would-be Chinese immigrants from entering the United States. As a result, many thousands of people were condemned to a lifetime of poverty and oppression. In the medium to long-term, the decision facilitated other exclusionary immigration legislation, much of it also motivated by racial and ethnic bigotry, such as the Immigration Act of 1924, which barred most European immigrants, in large part because of prejudice against Jews and southern and eastern Europeans.

The Chinese Exclusion Case also helped lay the foundation for the "plenary power" doctrine, which to this day exempts immigration restrictions from most of the individual-rights constraints that apply to virtually all other exercises of federal power. That has led to a pattern of constitutional double-standards in immigration law that, to this day, authorize a variety of injustices that courts would strike down as unconstitutional in virtually any other context.

When it comes to racism, the Chinese Exclusion Case is hard to beat. As already noted, the legislation it upheld was itself motivated by racism, and the ruling had the predictable effect of setting a precedent for future racist immigration restrictions. But it's important to recognize that the racism here wasn't limited to the law the court upheld. It was also explicitly present in the Court's own reasoning. Justice Stephen Field's opinion for the Court explicitly indicates that "[t]

The embrace of racism here is much more explicit than anything in Plessy v. Ferguson, where the majority was careful to (disingenously) claim that the law in question was not intended to oppress African-Americans. It is, notable, however, that the Chinese Exclusion case was brought to us by most of the same justices who decided Plessy just seven years later, and embodies many of the same types of bigoted assumptions.

I would be happy to see The Chinese Exclusion Case completely overruled in a decision that adopts Jefferson and Madison's position that there is no general federal power to restrict immigration. Such an outcome is, obviously, highly unlikely.

But there are a number of more moderate ways to get rid of this terrible precedent. The most obvious is to overrule the holding that the power to restrict immigration is a virtually unlimited, nontextual power, and instead lodge immigration restriction in Congress' power to regulate foreign commerce (as advocated by a number of legal scholars).

In this scenario, Congress would still have broad power to restrict immigration. But that authority would be limited in the same ways as Congress' power to regulate interstate commerce (listed in the same phrase in the Constitution). The Supreme Court has enforced some structural limits on the latter.

More importantly, an immigration-restriction authority based on the Foreign Commerce Clause would be subject to the same individual-rights limitations as other exercises of federal power. That means no more judicial deference to immigration restrictions that discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, political views, and other categories that would be prohibited in other contexts. It also means immigration detention and deportation would be constrained by the same constitutional due process rights that apply to other laws. No more toddlers being forced to "represent" themselves in deportation cases!

Even this more limited overruling of the Chinese Exclusion Case is highly unlikely to happen in the near future. But it is at least something the Supreme Court should think about.

In the meantime, lawyers, legal academics, and others should consider why this awful ruling doesn't get nearly as much opprobrium as it deserves. At the very least, we should give up the still-widespread assumption that it is obviously correct. And law professors should include it in their introductory constitutional law courses (which most currently don't), and treat it as a highly consequential decision open to serious question.

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Terrible Supreme Court Decisions that Should be Added to the "Anticanon" of Constitutional LawPart I - Reason