Dear Progressive Reader,
As the country experiences record-breaking and dangerous heat waves, award-winning cartoonist Mark Fiore illustrates that “There is, yet again, abundant evidence that humans and their fossil fuel contraptions are causing climate change.” Meanwhile this week Tina Gerhardt reports on the disconnect between President Joe Biden’s promises on climate and his actions in relation to the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline project. And Jim Goodman and Anthony Pahnke write about attempts by individuals and states to block Biden’s promised federal aid to disadvantaged farmers of color.
Glenn Sacks, a teacher in Los Angeles, pens an op-ed this week on the importance of teaching about racism in schools. Jeremy Mohler looks at the importance of community schools for better educational outcomes. And Katie Wills Evans examines the role of mutual aid in schools during COVID to care for students and teachers.
From Minneapolis, Sarah Lahm discusses the sentencing of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd, and the quest for real justice. Meanwhile, Ryan Thoreson of Human Rights Watch notes that more than 110 bills have recently been introduced into state legislatures to block transgender rights. And Jeff Abbott reports on efforts in the Guatemalan congress to pass a law giving amnesty to members of the military who committed war crimes during that country’s decades-long civil war.
This weekend marks the 245th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Today, as we look back on American history—a history of racism, inequity, and injustice—we know that that document was flawed. It contained racist language about American Indians, and it did not contain an end to the system of human slavery for African Americans, nor the right of women to participate fully in society as voters. These last two would be addressed later through legislation, but legacy of these omissions continues to this day.
Progressive journalist and ardent foe of McCarthyism Josiah William Gitt died in October 1973. Following his death, The Progressive published a series of excerpts of his writings in May 1975. On independence, Gitt wrote (in February 1940), “The power of wealth pervades the daily lives of all of us to such an extent that we are in effect denied the rights with which the Declaration of Independence declares we are endowed . . . just as effectively as though they were not our legal rights. Men cannot have real freedom so long as they are not economically free.”
And historian Howard Zinn, who regularly wrote for The Progressive, reminded us in a June 2003 column, “According to the Declaration of Independence— the fundamental document of democracy—governments are artificial creations, established by the people “deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,” and charged by the people to ensure the equal right of all to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” On this Independence Day, let’s remember the progressive possibilities in this document that has inspired activists for democracy around the globe, but we should also be clearly aware of its shortfalls, and of our responsibility in making its promises a reality.
Keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.
Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher
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