His advisors are ohhh so smart
but hubris is a funny thing
just ask Nixon
for Peter Rodino
2/15/25
too late for a bourgeois solution,
it’s gotta be a revolution,
people in the streets,
people getting killed,
gotta be like in France or in Russia, …
but there’re so many circuses
Christmas Eve, 2024: Los Angeles CA
Getting dark, rare rainy day in LA. My wife and I are in town visiting our younger daughter for the holiday. Her boyfriend is coming to take us out for dinner after he showers; he’d had to work today. She suggests we walk down to the little corner bar and wait there.
We’re the only customers. We sit at the bar, order and chat with the owner tending bar, asking if she wants to close up early. She says she’ll stay as long as she has business.
After awhile two Latino – Chicano? from elsewhere in Latin America? – men come in and sit at the other end of the bar. They look like they’ve just gotten off a shift and are having a few before going to their homes, and hopefully their families for Christmas. They order their cervezas and put money in the jukebox – Bob Marley. The three of us with our daughter in the middle are engaged in our own conversation, and then the bartender comes over and asks what we’d like, the men want to buy us drinks. We raise our drinks and toast, they follow suit, … it’s Christmas
Of course I had to reciprocate.
They didn’t know much English, and I know less Spanish, but as my daughter’s boyfriend arrives I’m speaking happy Spanglish with the men, laughing in our beers; I wished them a “Feliz Navidad” and they wished us a “Merry Christmas” – you get the picture. Walked away feeling peaceful and happy, reveling in the spirit of the day bringing strangers from disparate corners of the world and society together. We’re all people.
The next morning, hazy, walking to the metro station, I wondered … Are those two men going to be deported?
Now THAT’S customer service!
Hannaford’s, Friday morning. I was there to exchange the jar of olives I had bought the day before for one without pimentos. Having selected the correct olives, I walked to the checkouts; a long line at each of the two registers that were open.
An older gentleman at the end of one, shopping cart overflowing, noticed what little I was holding. He kindly said I could go before him. I thanked him.
He began, “I came here 55 years ago. Way different then – people pumped your gas, cleaned your windshield, bagged your groceries … .” I said “Yeah, things have changed. They don’t even have a customer service desk here anymore.”
He went on, pointing “They have all these registers, and only two are open. Worse at Price Chopper, though.” I agreed. He said “They want to train everybody to use those self-checkouts.”
I responded “Of course. That way they can have less people working here that they have to pay. More profit for the company.” He answered “I don’t know … .”
Out of nowhere, a store employee appeared and said to me – “I can help you over here right now sir!”
something about a candle and flame
when I was a kid, I fought with my fists
and usually lost
now I’m an adult, and I fight with words
but I’m not afraid to lose
I’m only one person
Hate Cannot Drive Out Hate.
Good afternoon. My name is Brian Walsh, and I’m a member of Jericho’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee. I’ve been asked to briefly give some context as to what we are doing here today.
Like you, I was horrified by the brutal events of October 7, and remain aghast at the atrocities being committed in Gaza and the West Bank nearly unabated since. And, despite being aware of our country’s history of slavery, indigenous genocide, racism, xenophobia, and general intolerance, I have been distraught by the rising tide of anti-Arabic, anti-Islamic, and anti-Semitic rhetoric and violence occurring in this country.
But, as we would like to think, this is “liberal” Vermont. Our “Brave Little State” is “exceptional,” somehow immune to the hateful things happening elsewhere. Until it is not.
On the Saturday evening after Thanksgiving, November 25th, in what State’s Attorney Sarah George called “a hateful act,” three young Palestinian men were gunned down in Burlington. We had to face the reality that Vermont is just not that special.
Our DEI committee quickly issued a statement condemning hate and violence, and a couple of us began to meet with some members of this MMUU Fellowship to organize this event.
Since the holidays had already begun, we realized time was tight. We chose this weekend, celebrating the birth of the Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, as an appropriate time. As we began meeting, we rapidlyly came to the conclusion that the kind of hatred that led to the Burlington shooting is not new to Vermont, nor is it limited towards Arabs, Muslims, or Jews.
We recognize that the hate that led to that shooting is similar to the hate that led to the recent vandalism at an Isle La Motte farm flying a Pride flag. It is the same kind of hate that led to a bomb scare at a drag story hour fundraiser last weekend in White River Junction; and it’s the same kind of hate that led to anti-BLM graffiti being spray-painted onto a car and house where a Black Lives Matter sign was displayed right here in Jericho, on Rte 15, just a few years ago.
Therefore, today’s gathering is not just in response to the shooting of those three young men, nor just to the rise of anti-Jewish, anti-Muslim, anti-Arab words and actions. And we’re not here to talk about hate. While we recognize that hate exists, we’re here to honor the legacy of Rev Dr King, and promote the power of love, to and for all people, regardless of their skin color, ethnic origin, spiritual beliefs, gender or sexual orientation.
But, please do not mistake our intention for naivete. We recognize that people have their own opinions, and value their right to share them, peacefully and respectfully. And we also understand that all people are entitled to defend themselves; Malcolm X called self-defense “intelligence.” We do not expect our words and actions here to solve the issues of our society, or even those here in town. But we are committed, as our Declaration of Inclusion states, to Jericho and our environs being a welcoming place, without hate, for all people. We believe, in MLK’s words, that “Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
At this time, I want to thank all of you attending, and all of you watching from elsewhere, for being here.
I also want to take a moment to recognize the work of Beth Esmond, Jean Archibald, Holly Millheiser, Jenn Fink, Rick Peyser, Destinee Pierce and, especially Maria Rinaldi, who worked so hard to make this event a reality.
“died in vain” – on the 160th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, Jericho VT
Interesting back and forth last summer regarding the placement of Jericho’s war memorial, but since Sunday November 19 is the 160th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, it might be more important to remember his words and reflect on their meaning today:
“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
“Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
“But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863
Based on what Lincoln said that day at the site of our Civil War’s bloodiest battle, it’s clear that, if he were somehow alive today, he would believe that our country still has a way to go before we can actually, finally, say that that war has been won.
Remove this Monument to White Supremacy
I was flabbergasted by the ethnocultural insensitivity and harmful stereotyping of indigenous people on the Brown family monument at Browns River Middle School. But learning that marker was originally erected 110 years ago, according to local historian Gary Irish (BFP August/11/23), puts the monument’s language into historic context.
The year 1913 was squarely in the middle of a 30-year or so stretch of xenophobic reaction, intense bigotry, and racist violence in the United States. Those years witnessed the legalization of “separate but equal,” the acceptance of eugenics as a “science,” the revival of the Ku Klux Klan (as well as the film Birth of a Nation celebrating the terrorist organization’s original incarnation), the segregation of federal employment, a number of white-initiated race riots, immigration restrictions, and at least two thousand lynchings of Black Americans. The period also witnessed the erection of over 400 monuments commemorating the “Lost Cause” of the Confederacy.
It is interesting, and important to note that most of those Confederate monuments were placed not in cemeteries, but in front of courthouses and other public buildings as reminders that, 30-plus years after losing the Civil War, the treasonous former Confederate slaveowners and their families were back in charge of the South. Those markers were meant not as soldiers’ memorials, but as paeans to white supremacy.
Many of those Confederate markers, especially after George Floyd’s murder and the resulting protests, have been rightly removed from public areas and placed in museums.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/confederate-statues
Most of us here in Vermont are shocked and disturbed by what’s happening to history education in Florida and other states. We understand that learning accurate history, with all its blunders and horrors, is not to make us feel good or proud of an imaginary/idealized past, but to help upcoming generations create a better future.
The Brown family monument is problematic not only for its language, but also because of its lack of historic context and questionable accuracy. As a student of history myself and being aware of current historiographic standards, I find it doubtful that such a monument could be erected in a public setting today.
In order to prioritize accurate history education, it is inconceivable to allow the Brown family marker to remain in place near our, or any, public school. It is time to have it removed and placed in a museum with appropriate and correct context, not only of the marker, but also of the time in which it was erected.
SAS
Seinfeld is my all-time favorite tv show. I can, and often do, quote dialogue verbatim. I’m a big Lou Reed fan, and I like a lot of Dylan. I quote them too. Speaking of quotes, I’ve used several of Albert Einstein’s in my history classes; I used one also in my campaign speeches running for union office.
I’ve eaten bialys, knishes and latkes (ok, my mom called ‘em “potato pancakes”). I love kosher dill pickles and can tell a New York bagel from a Montreal one, but please don’t ask me “Which is better – corned beef or smoked meat?” Know that I have several Schwartz’s: The Musical handbills on a wall in my office.
My daughter’s mother and I sent her to a synagogue preschool. We celebrated Hanukkah and Passover with her when she was four and five and decided she was Jewish. I co-coached her t-ball team with the father of one of her Jewish friends from there then, and had fun at a Purim party where the Brooklyn-born rabbi was dressed as Sandy Koufax.
I know the difference between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, and have posted appropriate salutations on Facebook for each. I’ve been to Auschwitz. I’ve read Maus and objected to it being banned by school districts.
My politics are Marxian socialist. I believe the world would be a better place had Rosa Luxembourg not been murdered, and had Trotsky won out over Stalin. Howard Zinn has had the biggest impact on my understanding and teaching of history. A school board chair was unhappy with me for his son choosing CO status after I explained it was an option while covering the Selective Service Acts.
I’ve demonstrated for human rights and marched against war and fascism. After Charlottesville, I stood up against anti-Semitism. I’m not Jewish, but I have Jewish friends. Seems like I always have. We agreed which side we were all on.
But now, sadly, I have less Jewish friends than I had a few weeks ago. I support Palestinian rights, and I am opposed to the slaughter of innocents in Gaza. Seems they think that makes me suddenly anti-Semitic now.
Celebrate St Pat’s Day, Ignore the Irish Slave Memes
It’s that time of the year again – mud season, Daylight Savings Time, “March Madness,” and celebrating Irish heritage. Having a wee bit of the “olde sod” in my multi-ethnic gene pool, I like St Paddy’s Day.
While it’s a day to celebrate, there has been a disturbing development in recent years around March 17. Some people have begun promoting a pernicious myth via social media – that the Irish people were America’s first slaves, and that Irish slavery was greater both in numbers and cruelty than African slavery.
It is certainly true that indentured laborers were often abused by their employers. Later, many if not most Irish Hunger (An Gorta Mor) refugees of the 1840s and ‘50s (the largest non-English speaking, Catholic immigration to the US up to that time) were exploited by capitalists and persecuted by nativists. It is important to remember that these poverty-stricken Irish were fleeing a deliberate ethnic genocide that decimated Ireland’s 1840 population by half in less than ten years.
Despite these very real horrors, however, there is absolutely NO truth to the assertion that the Irish, or any other non-African or non-indigenous people, were enslaved in any way resembling that of African slaves in the Americas. This pernicious falsehood was created and advanced by racists and other nefarious people to denigrate Black Americans and their very real grievances regarding their history of slavery.
Historians have thoroughly debunked these malicious lies. Don’t fall for them, and please don’t repeat them.
So enjoy St Patrick’s Day, stay safe, celebrate your heritage whatever it is, and beware that some people use history as a weapon to divide us.
Slainte!
Jericho West 
