I came across the Stratford High School incident a couple of years ago when I was doing some research on the so-called ‘War on Drugs’. I mentioned the incident in passing conversation with Pinky this morning and she hadn’t heard of it. I showed her some photos of the police raid and she was shocked; subsequently she asked me to mention it here.

In November 2003, Goose Creek (South Carolina) police conducted an armed raid at Stratford High School, ostensibly to find drugs and weapons. Guns were drawn and pointed at students as they were told to lie on the ground with their hands behind their heads. Police dogs were also used to search for drugs. No drugs or weapons were found.

Here is some school ’security’ video, plus police video of the event:

There it is. - Daisy.

[ Bunny: Daisy, what was the reaction from the community - esp. the students and their families? ]

[ follow-up note from Daisy: The response was mixed. The ACLU later brought a class action suit on behalf of some of students at the school against the City of Goose Creek and the police department. However, some students, staff, and parents defended the actions of the police and school principal:

Others can’t say enough good things about [School Principal] McCrackin. The Stratford High Student Council sent a letter to the Berkeley County School Board in support of the principal. Describing him as a “dedicated, selfless individual,” the students said he puts them first.

“When asked why, on his school walkie-talkie, his number was 2, he said that this was because his students were number one,” the letter stated. “He would not do anything to endanger his students or do anything without probable cause.”

On Friday, students and teachers held a rally outside the Crowfield Boulevard school. They held signs encouraging motorists to honk if they supported McCrackin.

Junior Lauren Shull, whose mother teaches at Stratford, said she stands behind the actions of the school and the police.

“They’re trying to keep the school safe,” the 16-year-old said.

(from The State (South Carolina), Answers elusive in school raid, November 16, 2003)

Actually, what was most remarkable to me, even more than the actual events depicted in video, was the inability or unwillingness of the above students to recognize state violence. ]

[ Pinky: Thanks Daisy. Just in case some of our readers may not be familiar with the term 'state violence', can you please explain what you mean by that in a nutshell? ]

[ Kim: And using small words? ]

[ Daisy: The kind of state violence I was referring to here is the use of force by a state against its own citizenry. State violence can target its victims in various ways - physical harm, systematic violations of rights or freedoms, mental / psychic / symbolic warfare, etc. State violence serves the interests of the state, is coded (and widely accepted by the citizenry) as 'legitimate', and generally goes unpunished. In contrast, forms of violence that do not serve the interests of the state are criminalized and the 'individual perpetrators' punished, usually by being sent to jail, but other times 'only' brutalized, or simply killed by agents of the state (police, FBI, etc.).

Of course there are other kinds of state violence, such as when it's directed towards people of another country. The most well-known example is just called 'war', but there are other classes as well. ]

Historic day here in California. Today the California State Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality and found that the current ban on marriage between same-sex couples is unconstitutional. Finally.

IMHO, U.S. courts have not been faring very well in regards to fairness, especially recently. So today’s decision was a real victory for anybody who dislikes arbitrary attacks on logic or dignity. Hopefully the rest of the U.S. will get its act together and follow suit.

Re: the picture above, generally we get 10 times more bad news than good news around here so I only have a grumpy picture of myself. I’ll make a new one with a not-grumpy face and replace later.

Newspapers have their place, but for anyone who wants to read the Supreme Court’s actual opinion, it’s here. Enjoy.

Bunny

The Hawaii People’s Fund, along with the Hawaii Community Foundation, are the folks that gave us the grants that has allowed us to work on the Hawaii series. I just found out HPF has a video on YouTube - please check them out.

We’ve received a few e-mails from people asking when we’ll be releasing the Hawaii: The Colony series. Well, the short answer is (not to be a smartass…): “When we’re ready.” Producing an interconnected series of episodes is a lot more complicated than making any of the individual, ’self-contained’ videos we’ve done before. We’ve designed each episode to relate to the others in the series, but we’re also hoping that each one will also be able to stand on its own to some extent. None of this is easy to do - capitalism, imperialism, and colonialism aren’t exactly the stuff of dinner-table conversation here in the U.S., and explaining how they’re all linked together is even more of a challenge. And doing it using easy-to-understand language is a challenge deluxe! (Seriously, I think if it were easy to do somebody else would have already done it.)

Personally, the best thing about working on this project has been how much it’s forced me to rethink many of the assumptions and feelings I have about U.S. history, and actually the meaning of the United States itself. It’s been profoundly clarifying for me, I hope some of you will find it useful too. (Uh, I mean, when it comes out… Sorry, I think because I can see the whole thing all finished in my head I keep on talking about it like it’s already done…) There are some parts where the writing still needs to be fleshed out but I’d say it’s about 80% done.

So please be patient - we are working very hard over here! ^_^

pinky

[ note from Bunny: I think the first Star Wars movie took something like four years to make, so we are right on schedule. ]

This is my current favorite TV show on the internet: The Hemo Wai Bros. (www.hemowai.tv). If everybody cared about their people and land as much as these guys do, state violence and ecocide would be ancient history already. And they’re hilarious.

Here’s an excerpt from one of their episodes about GMOs, called Making Monstas.

Posted by Bunny.

[ p.s. I wasn't able to successfully link to the videos at hemowai.tv so I had to recode and park on our server. Go to hemowai.tv to watch all the episodes in their entirety. ]

Looking for a little extra money? The F.B.I. will pay you to be their mole (if you have the right “look” and if the information you give them leads to an arrest). The targets: vegans, peace activists, street artists, and other degenerate-types:

“…[ The F.B.I. was looking for ] an informant—someone to show up at “vegan potlucks” throughout the Twin Cities and rub shoulders with RNC protestors, schmoozing his way into their inner circles, then reporting back to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, a partnership between multiple federal agencies and state and local law enforcement. The effort’s primary mission, according to the Minneapolis division’s website, is to “investigate terrorist acts carried out by groups or organizations which fall within the definition of terrorist groups as set forth in the current United States Attorney General Guidelines.”…” (Matt Snyders, Minneapolis/St.Paul City Pages, May 21, 2008)

Read the whole article here.

- Bunny

[ Kim: Since when are peace activists terrorists? ]

Yesterday the U.S. Senate voted to spend an additional $165 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It seems almost unbelievable that the United States government - broke as it is - thinks wars of aggression are so important that we should borrow money from other countries in order to keep having them. Can you imagine this kind of logic operating at the personal level?

Bunny: Hey Pinky, can I borrow $12?

Pinky: What for?

Bunny: I want to buy a baseball bat.

Pinky: You don’t play baseball.

Bunny: Yeah I know, I just wanted something to go hit dogs with.

Pinky: Why not buy food instead? You don’t even have enough money for food.

Bunny: If I kill enough dogs I’m sure some of them will have food I can take.

Pinky: Okay, sounds reasonable. Here’s $12 dollars. Pay me back $18 next month (gotta pay interest, you know)…

Bunny: Probably not. But I give you permission to one day collect $100 from my kittens… if I ever have any.

I have zero respect for any of the senators - Democrat or Republican - who voted for the war funding. This is something that representatives from both parties voted for, so maybe we can stop talking about them as if they were each other’s mortal enemies. Obviously both parties believe in empire - they only disagree on the exact method and language used to acquire it.

~ pinky

[ note from Bunny: Why'd you make me hitting dogs in your make believe example? I haven't hit a dog in over a year. ]

Yay! Two years after publishing our mini-episode Students Against Rice Eaters, we receive this e-mail:

message: I think the Hippocratic oath is a brilliant idea. Here is my draft of it:

“I will honor the gift of my life, and others by using my skills to manifest peace and end suffering. I will not use my education and skills to increase the suffering of mankind either directly or indirectly. I will act on this pledge above personal or national economic gains and ambitions.”

Manifest Peace,
Linda
Dongguk University, Seoul, S. Korea

Judging by the e-mails we receive (or in this case, don’t receive), this episode is probably one of our least popular episodes. Which is kind of sad because to me, I think this is actually one of our most important episodes. People write us e-mails all the time asking things like “Yes, I agree with your points but what can I do?” Well, when I feel like I’m in an advice-giving mood I often write back saying something like “Stop supporting unfair, oppressive, and violent practices.” Which also implies that we’d have to start with an examination of all our relationships, know how our thoughts and actions are connected to the lives of others, etc., etc. - none of this is easy to do. But everything I know about history suggests this is a practical way to start bringing about change. Even the U.S. war machine - arguably the most powerful, violent institution the world has ever known - needs a regular somebody to go make toast in the morning.

~ pinky

note from Bunny: For those of you who have never watched the video, here it is - all 1 minute 36 seconds of it!

For the past three years, Bunny, Kim, Mimi, and I have observed Memorial Day by spending the day in silence. But since writing doesn’t require talking I think it’s okay for me to write a post in this diary.

For our international readers who aren’t familiar with ‘Memorial Day’, it’s a national holiday here in the U.S. that was created to remember and honor people who died while in military service to their country. When I was younger I used to always get it confused with ‘Veterans Day’ because that one is also about people who served in the military (although for that one you don’t have to die in order to be honored). To add to my confusion, in practice both holidays are observed in near-identical fashion: lots of flag waving, parades, day off from school and work, sporting events with U.S. Air Force jet plane fly-overs, fabulous mattress and automobile sales events, backyard BBQ parties, etc. Anyway, American culture is complicated.

We (cats) first started observing Memorial Day by not talking after Kim had brought up the question, “How are we going to celebrate Memorial Day?” Considering the somber nature of the event the word “celebrate” struck me as not fitting so well. So we started talking about it and in the end we all decided to use the day as a day of reflection, to just be silent and think about the meaning of the day.

This morning we got an e-mail from a soldier serving in Iraq asking if we are “anti-soldier”, and if we “even celebrate Memorial Day at all”.

I wrote back saying no, we are not “anti-soldier” in theory, although in real life lots of times I don’t agree with what soldiers actually do (regardless of why they do it, or who compels them to do it). I do respect people who are willing to put their life on the line for what they believe in, but I don’t think the military encourages soldiers to think deeply about what they believe in. Usually they are told what they should believe in - that’s different. I also respect people who serve the greater good, but I think the military generally serves the interests of the ruling elite, not “the People”. So it’s complicated.

As for Memorial Day, I think in general it represents War Culture. For example, why do we have a day to remember people who fought for ‘peace & justice’ as it’s defined by The State, but we don’t have a holiday for those who fought The State in the name of peace and justice? The absence of such a holiday is War Culture. And is it really honorable to memorialize the soldiers who fought and died in wars, without also acknowledging the millions of innocent civilians who died as a direct result of those same wars? The valuing of some people’s lives and the dismissal of others’ is also War Culture. These kinds of contradictions help us to see why Memorial Day is a national holiday, while, say, federal and state employees don’t get a day off to celebrate ‘LGBT Liberation Day’. Which, by the way, would be a fabulous holiday and I would be very happy to celebrate it!

Personally I know a lot of soldiers and former soldiers and at a personal level I like most of them; seems to me like they’re more or less like everybody else. But I also have to be clear that they are supporting a system that I oppose. The military industrial complex is a problem, not a solution.

Now back to silence. This keyboard is super noisy.

~ pinky