Opinion

Part Four (of Four)

Residents’ lack of basic rights (cont’d.)

Public safety

The right to public health and a clean environment for healthy living, which I explored in Part Three, is inseparable from freedom from dangerous sidewalks and streets, and especially residents’ and visitors’ rights to public safety. Columbus is the state king and queen of homicides by guns, and (perversely) a national leader. The mayor and Columbus Public Health respond with little more than an unhelpful, inaccurate slogan: It is “a public health crisis.” Among a multitude of distractions and misunderstandings is the fundamental misconstrual of public health itself. They say little to nothing about broader social reforms including education, training, jobs, social supports, and accessible and affordable health care itself.

(Dedicated to the memory of Ghassan Kanafani, an iconic Palestinian leader and engaged intellectual who was assassinated by the Israeli Mossad on July 8, 1972)

 Years before the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, US media introduced many new characters, promoting them as ‘experts’ who helped ratchet up US propaganda, ultimately allowing the US government to secure enough popular support for the war. 

“The inescapable conclusion is that a right to abortion is not deeply rooted in the Nation’s history and traditions. On the contrary, an unbroken tradition of prohibiting abortion on pain of criminal punishment persisted from the earliest days of the common law until 1973.”

She is absolutely my favorite human rights activist and historical figure from the twentieth century. Who could not be in love with and awe of Fannie Lou Hamer?

A poor, black, Mississippi sharecropper with a sixth-grade education–it was rumored that Coretta Scott King, the refined, highly educated wife of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, once refused to share a platform with a woman of so little education–bedeviled two United States senators, a President, the Democratic Party, and every white supremacist in Mississippi with her uncompromising talk about racism in America. And that voice! She had a molasses-thick southern accent, and her voice had a frank and unapologetic tone that put the listener on notice that she was going to say what needed to be said and there would be no sugar coating. If Barbara Jordan sounded like God at His most prim and proper, Hamer sounded like your best sistah friend who reminded you she told you not to go out with that no good so-and-so in the first place.

Kona Craft Kitchen is located in the new Bridge Park Development in Dublin The restaurant had its grand opening in March 2022, and as of June executive chef Anthony Schulz has launched new, clearly marked, intentionally vegan selections on the menu.

For those who eat a plant-pure diet for health reasons, or those vegans seeking optimal thriving health, you will be delighted that the offerings lean towards whole foods (though they do use oil), and gluten-conscious (not containing gluten, though produced in an environment that does use wheat), and there are peanuts on the soba noodle (made from buckwheat flour).

Part Three (of Four)

Residents’ lack of basic rights (cont’d.)

Adequate city services

I can call attention to only a selection of the principal lost or stolen rights. These include the right to maintain on a legal and customary basis well-established, recognized, and historic neighborhoods. This right embraces the maintenance of the legal residential status of each property as well as the compacts that govern property transfers and illegal amassing of collections of hundreds of rental properties in an area that is zoned as residential. It also includes upkeep and repair of the properties. This includes contracts, public health, and public safety.

NorthSteppe’s, HomeTeam’s, and others’ houses all too often feature broken front doors, windows, and doorbells; insufficient trash containers irregularly put out or returned according to code; and broken sidewalks. Broken water and gas pipes are common, as well as appliances. Many yards are strewn with trash; upholstered furniture; drinking game paraphernalia; portable toilets, tents, shelters, and other structures; open fires; and large quantities of alcohol provided free—all without required permits.

 Ignorance might be bliss, arguably in some situations, but not in this case. Here, ignorance can be catastrophic as western audiences are denied access to information about a critical situation that is affecting them in profound ways and will most certainly impact the world’s geopolitics for generations to come. 

In our second hour, we are joined by ALAN MINSKY, JAN GOODMAN and MYLA RESON for a deep dive into the anti-democracy crisis now threatening the future of the PACIFICA RADIO NETWORK. That full hour of detailed discussion can be found at https://youtu.be/keAkQycl7Bg?t=3865

Video starts at the beginning of the segment. If it does not, move your cursor to 1:05:08 for the Pacifica start point.

Part Two (of Four)

In the shadows of democracy (cont’d.)

City Council appointments and elections

The process of filling public offices, especially City Council, is a key element in the reproduction of undemocracy from one iteration of office-holders to their successors. The city boosters in the media never comment on this.

Until the election of Elizabeth Brown in 2015 (reelected in 2019), no Council member had been elected without first being appointed to office since Mary Ellen O’Shaunassey in 1995. In 2019, Brown did not even complete nonpartisan Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.

More recently, Shayla Favor and Rob Dorans gained their seats by submitting 500-word essays and resumes. They were not elected to office

These appointees, including mayors, typically rise from their “holding pens” (to quote one long-time civic activist) or school practice yards in the Franklin County Board of Elections, Columbus Board of Education, or minor City positions. They do not join the ranks of the rulers first by popular election.

Community Festival (ComFest) kicks off Friday, June 24 at noon in Goodale Park.

After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, ComFest is back live and will feature over 150 musical performances, workshops and community-oriented programming over three days.

In 2022, ComFest is celebrating 50 years of community, social activism and education.  In addition to the line-up of the city’s best music spread over four stages, workshops, comedy and other special programming will be featured at the Peace and Healing Pavilion. The much-loved Street Fair also returns with one-of-a-kind vendors, arts and crafts, local food and progressive community organizations.

Visit the ComFest Museum located in the air-conditioned Goodale Park Shelterhouse and travel back to the early years of Columbus’ favorite festival.