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Dear Progressive Reader,
Two statues are coming down today with little fanfare in Charlottesville, Virginia. The city that, in 2017, was the scene of a violent rally and counter-protest ([link removed]) , and the tragic death ([link removed]) of activist Heather Heyer during the Trump Administration, today is removing ([link removed]) the statues (both erected in the 1920s) of Robert E. Lee and Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson from public display. It is about time. Most media reports seemed to miss the connection (although it does appear in our Hidden History calendar ([link removed]) !) that it was the same day, six years ago, that the Confederate flag was finally removed from the state capitol in
Charleston, South Carolina. As Fred McKissack Jr. wrote ([link removed]) in an op-ed in 2015 for our Progressive Media Project (now called Progressive Perspectives ([link removed]) ), “Pulling down the Confederate battle flag on the grounds of the South Carolina capitol is a step in the right direction. But our country’s problem with race won’t be solved by one long-overdue gesture.”
Minnesota-based educator Yohuru Williams noted ([link removed]) in 2017, “The Confederate flag, monuments, and memorials are not harmless remembrances of an honorable war, but of our deepest shame as a nation. They perpetuate an acceptance of the long, ugly history of racial oppression, in spite of emancipation that followed it. They are symbols of hate, representative of an inglorious past built on the immoral underpinnings of racial slavery.” This removal of the symbols of racism, slavery and colonialism echoes across the Atlantic as well, as art historian Eddie Chambers chronicled in an article last June. “Parallels can—and should—be drawn between the belated removal of Confederate statues and monuments throughout the South, and the similarly belated removal of statues of brutes such as [British slave traders] Colston and Milligan,” Chambers wrote
([link removed]) . “What started in Minnesota [following the murder of George Floyd] has the potential to do more than address systemic problems in the United States; people on the other side of the Atlantic have taken these protests into remarkable, extraordinary, and wholly unforeseen directions.”
This week, President Joe Biden issued ([link removed]) an executive order addressing economic opportunity. It includes a provision to ban or limit “non-compete clauses” in employer contracts. This issue has been covered extensively in The Progressive, particularly in articles by Stephanie Russell-Kraft ([link removed]) and Sharon Johnson ([link removed]) .
Also this week, Biden met with civil rights leaders to hear their concerns regarding voting rights after a recent House bill failed ([link removed]) a procedural vote in the Senate. Meanwhile, citizen activists are taking matters into their own hands. As Luis Feliz Leon reports ([link removed]) , a new generation of “freedom riders” have launched a campaign for voting rights. And in Janesville, Wisconsin, union activists and concerned citizens are leading the charge to keep a “vulture” private-equity firm from taking their jobs to Mexico. “The battle in Janesville reflects the growing economic polarization as fast-climbing wealth for private equity firms and the financial industry in general is coupled with a decline in the middle class in towns like Janesville,” writes ([link removed])
labor journalist Roger Bybee.
In international news, Lobato Felizola tells the story ([link removed]) of the Brazilian environment minister forced to resign last week after U.S. authorities opened an investigation into his role in illegal wood smuggling; Edward Hunt chronicles ([link removed]) the role of the United States in supporting oil extraction in Guyana in spite of the Biden Administration’s professed concern over fossil fuels; and Medea Benjamin describes ([link removed]) a Cuban-American activist leading a pilgrimage to oppose the continued U.S. blockade of his home country.
Finally, Kathy Kelly calls for a pardon for drone-whistleblower Daniel Hale. “Hale’s honesty, courage, and exemplary readiness to act in accord with his conscience are critically needed. Instead, the U.S. government has done its best to silence him,” she says (Hale%25E2%2580%2599s%20honesty,%20courage,%20and%20exemplary%20readiness%20to%20act%20in%20accord%20with%20his%20conscience%20are%20critically%20needed.%20Instead,%20the%20U.S.%20government%20has%20done%20its%20best%20to%20silence%20him.) . And journalist Isiah Holmes, writer for The Progressive and the Wisconsin Examiner, investigates ([link removed]) how he was investigated by local law enforcement and the FBI for simply covering Black Lives Matter protests in Wisconsin last summer.
Keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.
Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher
P.S. –If you don’t already subscribe to The Progressive in print or digital form, please consider doing so today ([link removed]) . Also, if you have a friend or relative that you feel should hear from the many voices for progressive change within our pages, please consider giving a gift subscription ([link removed]) .
P.P.S. –We need you now more than ever. Please take a moment to support hard-hitting, independent reporting on issues that matter to you. Your donation today will keep us on solid ground and will help us continue to grow in the coming years. You can use the wallet envelope in the current issue of the magazine, or click on the “Donate” button below to join your fellow progressives in sustaining The Progressive as a voice for peace, social justice, and the common good.
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