22 States Have Never Sent A Black Woman To Congress

 These charts are from the Pew Research Center.

Irish Citizens Repay A 173 Year-Old Debt

The Irish have a long memory for those who help them. The following is part of an article by Alyssa Newcomb at NBC News.

It was a gesture born of suffering and kindness carried over generations.

In 1847, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma sent $170 to Ireland during the Great Famine — a time of mass starvation on the island. More than 170 years later, Ireland has returned the favor, helping to raise more than $2 million for the Navajo and Hopi nations, which have been hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Donors said they felt like it was a chance to pay the good deed forward.

“I saw that Irish people were starting to donate and share the story of Choctaw Nation and the historical symmetry really affected me," said Paul Hayes, a native of Tipperary, Ireland, who runs Beachhut, a technology public relations firm said in an email. "Sending the actual amount of $170 personally after 170 or so years felt like the right tribute across the ages."

The Navajo Nation reported more than 2,700 coronavirus cases and 70 deaths as of Monday, a rate of infection that makes it one of the worst outbreaks in the United States. . . .

The sentiment runs deep in Ireland where the memory of the Great Potato Famine — which claimed more than one million lives by the time it ended in 1852 — endures to this day. And that’s why strangers were inspired to make a symbolic gesture of goodwill toward people living across an ocean, 5,000 miles away. The donations sent on GoFundMe include messages of hope and gratitude from people in Ireland.

"The care shown generations ago was not and will not be forgotten," said Jonathan Legge, CEO of &Open, a bespoke gift-giving company based in Dublin.

“An overdue debt repaid on behalf of our ancestors to your ancestors. Stay strong,” read a note attached to one $30 donation.

“I am currently unemployed so I'm sorry that my donation is not more, but I hope that this little contribution will make some positive difference in the same way those donations 173 years ago were sent with the same hope for ancestors of mine,” another donor who gave $10 said on the website. “I stand in solidarity with my Native American brothers and sisters during this time of crisis and send this message with love, respect and hope for the future.”

When the Choctaw Nation paid it forward all those years ago, it was empathizing with Ireland’s plight based on its own experience. During the 1830s, 60,000 Native Americans had been forced by the federal government to relocate from their ancestral lands and move west on what is now known as the Trail of Tears. Thousands of people died during the devastating trek.

In 2017, Ireland honored the Choctaw Nation with a sculpture of nine stainless steel eagle feathers stretching 23 feet high. The next year, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar visited the Choctaw Nation in Oklahoma.

Chief Gary Batton of the Choctaw Nation said adversity can “bring out the best in people” and said he’s happy to see his ancestors’ generosity inspiring donations to other Native American tribes.

“We are gratified, and perhaps not at all surprised, to learn of the assistance our special friends, the Irish, are giving to the Navajo and Hopi nations. Our word for their selfless act is ‘iyyikowa’ — it means serving those in need,” Batton said in an email. “We have become kindred spirits with the Irish in the years since the Irish Potato Famine. We hope the Irish, Navajo and Hopi peoples develop lasting friendships, as we have. Sharing our cultures makes the world grow smaller.”

The donations are being used to buy critical supplies, including food and personal protective equipment.

Elizabeth Warren Answers Trump's "Pocahontas" Smear

Donald Trump is afraid of Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts, so he tries to belittle her at every opportunity by referring to her as "Pocahontas" (not realizing that in doing so he is displaying his own racist attitude toward Native Americans).

In her latest e-mail to her supporters, Senator Warren answers Trump's smear in her own way -- with class and displaying reverence for Native Americans. She writes:

I was honored to speak yesterday at the National Congress of American Indians’ Executive Council Winter Session & Tribal Nations Policy Summit.

I’ve noticed that when my name comes up, Donald Trump likes to talk about Pocahontas. So I figured, let’s talk about Pocahontas. Not the tale that's been twisted for centuries – but the real Pocahontas, and her story of heroism. And bravery. And pain.

I also told the story of my parents, because they were real people too. My mother’s family was part Native American. And my daddy’s parents were bitterly opposed to their relationship. So when Mother was 19 and Daddy had just turned 20, they eloped.

I get why some people think there’s hay to be made here. You won’t find my family members on any rolls, and I’m not enrolled in a tribe. I respect that distinction. Tribal membership is determined by tribes – and only by tribes. I never used my family tree to get a break or get ahead. I never used it to advance my career.

The love they shared, the struggles they endured, the family they built, and the story they lived will always be a part of me. No one – not even the President – will ever take that part of me away.

And yesterday I made a promise to the tribal leaders: Every time someone brings up my family’s story, I’m going to use it to lift up the story of their families and communities.

Elizabeth

Standing Rock Demonstrators Are Victorious (For Now)

What a difference a day makes! Yesterday, I reported that Donald Trump was supporting the Dakota Access pipeline, and that North Dakota's governor was ordering all the demonstrators to disperse or be removed this week. Things looked dark for the thousands of Native Americans who had gathered at Standing Rock to protect their sacred ground and their water (and for the thousands of friends who had joined them, including 2,000 U.S. veterans). It was looking like a showdown was looming with the 76 law enforcement agencies at the site.

All of that has now changed. On Sunday, the Army Corps of Engineers notified the demonstrators that no easement would be granted to the Dakota Access pipeline to pass through or near the Standing Rock reservation. They said they would be studying other routes for that pipeline.

The demonstrators are celebrating, and they should. Without help from the media, the courts, or the government, they stood their ground for months against the greed of Big Oil -- and they won. It's not only a victory for Native American rights, but for the free speech rights of all Americans.

We can only hope that this victory is final. The Big Oil interests might go to court to overturn the Army Corps decision -- or they may just wait for Trump to be sworn in and let him overturn it. The CEO of the company building the pipeline has said he is "100 percent sure that the pipeline will be approved by a Trump administration" regardless of what the Army Corps decides. And that might be true (since Trump has a financial interest in Phillips 66, and that company would benefit from the pipeline completion).

A great victory has been achieved at Standing Rock, but I fear the fight is not yet over.

Trump Sides With Big Oil To Support Dakota Access Pipeline

For many weeks now, the Native Americans at Standing Rock (and many of their friends) have been trying to stop the building of the Dakota Access pipeline. That pipeline will disturb the graves of their ancestors, and put their water supply in serious jeopardy (the very reason it was changed from a route that did not go through their territory).

They have been opposed by the forces of Big Oil, who have marshaled at least 76 policing agencies from 10 states to stop the demonstrations. The peaceful demonstrators have been abused by those agencies, and the governor of North Dakota has ordered them to be removed from the private property they are camping on (claiming their living structures are not safe for the winter weather).

Now they have even worse news. The incoming president, Donald Trump, has made it clear that he is siding with the interests of Big Oil, and against the Standing Rock demonstrators. They will get no help from the federal government.

This is one more action showing that Trump is going to be a corporate-friendly and ate-free speech president. And he is going to act to improve his own financial situation, regardless of how that affects ordinary Americans.

While Trump has divested his interests in the company building the pipeline (worth between $500,000 and $1 million), he does have between $100,000 and $250,000 invested in Phillips 66, which will get 25% of the oil from the pipeline when it is finished.

Trump's corrupt policies have begun, and he hasn't even been sworn in yet.

Americans Coming To Grip With Their Dark History ?

These charts are made from a new YouGov Poll done between June 5th and 7th of a random national sample of 1,000 adults, with a 4.1 point margin of error.

I must say I was rather pleasantly surprised at this survey's results. It tells me that many Americans are starting to understand and admit that not everything in our history was good. In fact, especially in our actions toward Native Americans (and African slaves), our history is pretty dark -- full of heinous acts based on a view of white privilege and superiority.

This has in the past been something most Americans didn't want to admit (or even discuss). Even as late as the 1950's and 1960's, when I was in school, the idea of "Manifest Destiny" was being taught in all the schools -- which is little more than a thinly disguised excuse for white superiority. It was the idea that Americans, mostly white and christian, had the right to use any means necessary to achieve their goal of expansion.

Maybe we are finally moving beyond this hideous view of U.S. history. A plurality of 40% will now admit that the U.S. committed genocide against Native Americans. I think that should be a higher percentage, but it's only recently that we will even discuss the possibility that we committed genocide.

It does get better though. A clear majority of 57% say the U.S. did commit "crimes against humanity" in its westward expansion. About 52% say the government owes an apology to Native Americans, and a whopping 80% believe it is important to preserve Native American cultures.

Maybe America is finally starting to grow up.

Minority Population Distribution In The United States

I found these charts very interesting, and I thought you might also. They were made by Randy Olson, and featured in The Atlantic. They show the distribution of minority populations in the United States (on a county-by-county basis). The top chart shows African-Americans, the second chart shows Hispanics, the third chart shows Asians, and the fourth shows Native Americans. For each chart, the darker areas show the highest percentages of each minority group.

There is one more chart, and it is shown below. It has all the races put together, and shows just what a diverse nation we really are. The darker counties are the counties with the most diversity. I'm sure the teabagger Republicans would like to see all of these maps get a lot whiter, but that ain't gonna happen. The days of an overwhelmingly White America are gone -- and they are not going to come back. It's time for all of us to learn to live together, and to realize that being an American has nothing to do with race, ethnicity, or skin color.