The=SPECIAL BLACK IndypendenT HISTORY MONTH CALENDAR, P12= #232: feBRUaRy 2018 • IndypendenT.oRg

TenanTs UnITe! p8 JUdah fRIedlandeR: woRld ChaMpIon p18 ReMeMBeRIng URsUla le gUIn p22 Jani Cauthen (center) and her children Jamya (left) and Jahsiah Montrevil. ERIN SHERIDAN

TheIRlIfe faTheR afTeR was ReTURned depoRTaTIonTo haITI. now whaT? lydIa MCMUllen-laIRd, p5 2 COMMUNITY CALENDAR The IndypendenT

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Ellen Davidson, Anna Gold, FEB 3–FEB 25 YORK Voice of Mali," is a tireless SUN FEB 11 about their home turf in the Alina Mogilyanskaya, Ann Various times • $18 Acclaimed biographer Da- advocate of women’s 6:30PM–9:00PM • $30 aftermath of the violence Schneider, John Tarleton THEATER: OR CURRENT vid Nasaw leads a discus- issues and an explosive PARTY: QUEER SOUP as they try to come to grips RESIDENT sion on how Donald Trump performer. NIGHT (QSN) SPECIAL with their outrage over the EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: This family drama throws rose to great wealth and LINCOLN CENTER EDITION: SOUP + SLOW brutal incident. John Tarleton the covers off an eccentric power in this liberal, capi- 10 Lincoln Center Plz JAMS VDAY VIDEOLOGY BAR & CIN- little universe that has sur- talist mecca. He speaks Intimate, sexy, soupy — EMA ASSOCIATE EDITOR: vived on fortitude and self- with Gwenda Blair (The SAT FEB 10 dress up and get down 308 Bedford Ave., BKLYN Peter Rugh deception; a universe that Trumps: Three Generations 2PM–4:30PM • FREE at this Valentine's event now lies shivering in the of Builders and a President) SCREENING: THE UNTOLD benefi ting the New Sanctu- WED FEB 21 CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: cold glare of unexpected, and David Cay Johnston HISTORY OF THE UNITED ary Coalition and QSN. 6:30PM–8:30PM • FREE Ellen Davidson, Alina STATES Soup, pie, desserts, prizes, SCREENING: 16MM FILM Mogilyanskaya, Nicholas untenable revelations. Visit (The Making of Donald Powers, Steven Wishnia theaterforthenewcity.net Trump ). Visit gc.cuny.edu/ The Vito Marcantonio deejay, cash bar. NIGHT: EARLY SHORTS for showtimes and tickets. publicprograms to register. Forum is launching a four- PELS PIE CO. BY RENOWNED FEMALE ILLUSTRATION DIRECTOR: THEATRE FOR THE NEW CUNY GRADUATE CENTER session series based on 446 Rogers Ave., BKLYN DIRECTORS Frank Reynoso CITY 365 Fifth Ave., Elebash Oliver Stone’s multi-part A selection from the likes 155 1st Ave. Recital Hall documentary. This series TUE FEB 13 of Susan Seidelman, Mar- DESIGN DIRECTOR: will focus on events lead- 6PM–4AM • $20 in ad- tha Coolidge, Julie Dash. Mikael Tarkela WED FEB 7 WED FEB 7 ing up to World War II and vance, $25 at the door THE NEW YORK PUBLIC 6:30PM–8PM • $10 adults, 7 PM • FREE the beginning of the Korean MUSIC: MEHANATA LIBRARY DESIGNERS: $8 students and seniors PANEL: NARRATIVES War. Future screenings BAR’S 20TH ANNIVER- Fifth Avenue at 42nd St Leia Doran, Anna Gold PANEL: WHAT ART FROM INSIDE March 10, April 14 and May SARY FEAT. EUGENE HÜTZ SPEAKS TO THESE TIMES How can storytelling 12. OF GOGOL BORDELLO THU FEB 22 SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER: This panel brings together convey the experience of MULBERRY BRANCH Special performances by 7PM–9PM • FREE Elia Gran four artists in the exhibition incarceration? Be it photo- LIBRARY, COMMUNITY gypsy punk originators PUBLIC FORUM: WHICH “An Incomplete History of graphs, podcasts or fi ction ROOM Eugene Hütz and Sergey WAY IN KOREA? INTERN Protest: Selections from workshops, panelists Nigel 10 Jersey St. Ryabtsev of Gogol Bordello As Trump threatens to Erin Sheridan the Whitney’s Collection, Poor, Virginia Grise, Russell and klezmer legends Frank give North Korea a "bloody SAT FEB 10 London & Deep Singh. . nose," learn why diplomacy GENERAL INQUIRIES: 1940–2017” to speak about Craig and Virgilio Bravo [email protected] their aesthetic approaches bring stories of incarcera- 8PM–12AM • $10 sug- MEHANATA BULGARIAN is the only strategy for a to the political urgencies tion beyond prison walls. gested donation BAR successful resolution of SUBMISSIONS & NEWS TIPS: of the present. Speakers Following this panel, there PARTY: HEARTS AND 113 Ludlow this crisis. [email protected] include Ja’Tovia Gary, Dan- will be a short reception ROSES VALENTINE'S BROOKLYN COMMONS iel Joseph Martinez, Julie to celebrate the opening DANCE MON FEB 19 388 Atlantic Ave., BKLYN ADVERTISING & PROMOTION: Mehretu and Dread Scott. of the exhibition “Prison Calling all reds and cupids! 8:45PM • $12 [email protected] WHITNEY MUSEUM OF Nation.” Join the Democratic So- SCREENING: LA HAINE FRI FEB 23 AMERICAN ART APERTURE FOUNDATION cialists' Feminist Working When a young Arab is 7PM–9PM • FREE VOLUNTEER CONTRIBUTORS: 99 Gansevoort St. 547 W 27th St. 4th Fl. Group for a Valentine's arrested and beaten TALK: WOMEN OF THE Linda Martín Alcoff, Camille dance. unconscious by police, a RAMAPOUGH LENAPE Baker, Gino Barzizza, Bennett WED FEB 7 FRI FEB 9 MAYDAY SPACE riot erupts in the impover- NATION Baumer, Emily Bell, José 6:30PM • FREE, reserva- 7:30PM–9PM • FREE 176 St Nicholas Ave., ished suburbs outside of Photographer Lisa Levart Carmona, Valerio Ciriaci, tions required MUSIC: AWA SANGHO BKLYN Paris. Three of the victim’s will discuss and show im- Rico Cleffi , Renée Feltz, PANEL: TRUMP’S NEW Awa Sangho, "the Golden peers wander aimlessly ages from her new series Bianca Fortis, Lynne Foster, Lauren Kaori Gurley, David Hollenbach, Georgia Kromrei, Gena Hymowech, Gary Martin, Oliver Martinez, Lydia McMullen-Laird, Charina Nadura, Mike Newton, Donald Paneth, Federico wInTeR fUnd dRIVe UpdaTe! di Pasqua, Dean Patterson, we haVe RaIsed $22,450 as of JanUaRy 31. To ReaCh oUR goal of $35,000, Astha Rajvanshi, Mark Read, whICh Is CRUCIal To haVIng The ResoURCes we need In 2018, we haVe eXTended Reverend Billy, Jesse Rubin, Steven Sherman Pamela Somers, oUR fUnd dRIVe deadlIne ThRee MoRe weeKs To feB. 21. If yoU enJoy ReadIng Caitrin Sneed Leanne Tory- The Indy eVeRy MonTh, please gIVe whaT yoU Can Today. IT MaKes all The Murphy, Naomi Ushiyama, and dIffeRenCe. Amy Wolf. onlIne: To MaKe a one-TIMe oR ReCURRIng MonThly ConTRIBUTIon, VIsIT VOLUNTEER DISTRIBUTORS: Erik Anders-Nilssen, Eric IndypendenT.oRg/donaTe. Brelsford, Chris & Pam Brown, CheCK oR Money oRdeR: Joseph Epstein, Ed Fanning,

February 2018 Kim Frazcek, Lew Friedman,

The IndypendenT//388 aTlanTIC aVe., 2nd fl.//BRooKlyn, ny 11217 Ashley Marinaccio, Mindy Gershon, Tami Gold, Allan Greenberg, Zack Kelaty, Bill Koehnlein, Michael Korn, Jane LaTour, Dave Lippman, Saul Nieves, Liam Reilly, and Carol The IndypendenT Smith. The IndypendenT 3 feBRUaRy IN THIS ISSUE

"Women of the Ramapough The romance genre has been WWW.AWASANGHO.COM Lenape Nation,” which explores objectifi ed since its inception, but the tribe’s ancient, mythological has grown into a genre primarily stories surrounding matriarchy. written for women by women. Levart will be joined by several of Some of the foremost authors of the women who participated in the genre and a few of the young, the project. diverse voices actively work- AMERICAN INDIAN COMMUNITY ing towards its evolution come HOUSE together to turn the tables, and 39 Eldridge St., 4th Fl. woman-splain the appeal, power and strength of romance to an fIghTIng To sTay, p4 FRI FEB 23 open-minded, male moderator. Ravi Ragbir keeps his head held 8PM • $15 STRAND BOOK STORE high. MUSIC: THE SKATALITES 828 Broadway Jamaica's premier ska band apaRT, p5 since 1964, the Skatalites backed FRI MARCH 2 a family grapples with the artists like Bob Marley and Toots 7PM–8:30PM • FREE trauma of deportation. and The Maytals. They bring their SCREENING: JOHN WATERS' infectious brand of bluesy, jazzy PINK FLAMINGOS The eConoMICs of IMMIgRaTIon, ska to town with the Alchemys- Pink Flamingos tells the story of p6 tics and Moha. the unforgettably terrible Babs a closer look at what BROOKLYN BOWL Johnson (Divine) and her battle immigrants bring to this 61 Wythe Ave., BKLYN with a criminal couple (David country. Lochary and Mink Stole) who aim SUN FEB 25 to steal her title as “The Filthiest news BRIefs, p7 1PM • FREE Person Alive.” This screening is Death, taxes and the subway. PARADE: CHINESE LUNAR NEW part of an ongoing exhibit hosted YEAR by the Morgan Library on Waters’ when a hedge fUnd owns yoUR Year of the Dog is upon us. confi dant, Peter Hujar, on-view BUIldIng, p8 CHINATOWN-LOWER MANHAT- through May 20. uptown tenants get organized. TAN THE MORGAN LIBRARY & MU- SEUM BaBy, IT’s Cold InsIde, p10 SUN FEB 25 225 Madison Ave. Stricter heating regulations are 6PM–8PM • $10 in effect this winter. MUSIC: THE NEW SCHOOL SUN MARCH 4 AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ ORCHES- 11AM–5PM • $3 BlaCK hIsToRy MonTh CalendaR, TRA MARKET: VINYL REVOLUTION p12 This 22-piece orchestra directed RECORD SHOW a centerspread pullout to help by Bobby Sanabria brings it with Two rooms, 55 dealer tables, you track this month’s festivities. big band mambo, jazz and more. 1,000's of rare and collectible BRONX MUSIC HERITAGE vinyl records… Beer! DJ Laura Blood Money, p14 CENTER Rebel Angel spins all day. THE WOMEN WITH Why the uS is wasting billions

1303 Louis Nine Blvd, Bronx BOHEMIAN HALL & BEER GAR- THE GOLDEN PATRICK KWAN on endless war. DEN VOICE: Awa Sangho MON FEB 26 29-19 24th Ave., Queens belts Malian marvels at dIssenT on TRIal, p15 7PM • $15 Lincoln Center, Feb. 9. Mass arrests. overzealous PANEL: LET'S WOMAN-SPLAIN prosecutions. the J20 saga ROMANCE! continues. DOGGY-STYLE: Celebrate the Year of MyThs of BlaCK poVeRTy, p16 the Dog in Manhattan’s how the wealthiest nation on Chinatown this month. earth maintains a permanent underclass. JUdah fRIedlandeR foR pResIdenT, p18 Before you laugh, hear what the February 2018 February comic has to say.

MUsICal CaRTogRaphy, p20 Lift off with Khruangbin airlines. The IndypendenT The laBoR of loVe, p21 a new book explores faith, immigration and workers power. woRlds Beyond, p22

TED RALL Remembering ursula Le Guin. 4 REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK

whaT we’Ve leaRned fRoM RaVI RagBIR

By Renée Feltz waiting areas, accompaniment volunteers often emerge Within hours, Ragbir was re-

with a new understanding of how broken the system is, leased. He welcomed his rela- WELCOME BACK: WILL COLEY t was with a mix of excitement and dread that I and an outraged determination to stop their separation. tive freedom after more than Ravi Ragbir is greeted by wrote down the courtroom where a federal judge That outrage came to the fore when ICE detained two weeks “locked in a box, in a his wife, Amy Gottlieb, would decide on Jan. 29 whether to release Ravi Ragbir at his routine check-in on Jan. 11, handcuffi ng cage.” But he said he was clearly and supporters after Ragbir from an immigrant jail. Just weeks earlier, him in front of his wife and denying him a chance to targeted because of his activism, being released from ICE I was shocked when agents arrested Ragbir dur- talk to his lawyer, despite pending reviews of his immi- along with several other immi- detention. ingI a routine check-in. Flipping my reporter’s notebook gration case and a challenge to his original conviction. grant leaders nationwide. shut, I jumped on the subway with enough time to arrive The response was a mass protest by his supporters, After accompanying Ragbir to his last check-in with early and get a seat at the hearing. It was a busy day, including members of New York City Council. They ICE, lawmakers — including Councilmembers Ydanis but I had learned a lot from Ragbir and felt dedicated were joined in their demand for his release by members Rodriguez and Jumaane Williams, who were arrested to showing up. I also wanted to see if his refusal to be of Congress, and then by the judge at Ragbir’s hearing protesting his detention — are calling for him to be dehumanized had the same impact on the judge as it on Jan. 29. granted a “permanent presence in the United States” did on me. As I sat in the packed court- I fi rst met Ragbir in 2011, when I accompanied him room with other reporters who to his check-in under the Intensive Supervision Appear- were moved into the jury box to ONE MAN’S REFUSAL TO ance Program (ISAP), run by a private company that make room for a mix of clergy, contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement family and New Sanctuary vol- (ICE). In an article for The Indypendent I wrote about unteers, U.S. District Judge Kath- BE DEHUMANIZED how he and several friends nervously gathered at the erine Forrest announced she had ISAP offi ce in downtown Brooklyn, wondering if this carefully reviewed the “entire record in this matter” that would relieve him of the check-in ordeal. His De- would be the day ICE agents decided he was being de- and concluded: fense Committee and lawyers will ask ICE to extend ported because of a single offense for which he had al- “The Court in fact agrees with the Government that his current stay of deportation on Feb. 9 as they con- ready served his time. When he confi rmed it wouldn’t, the statutory scheme ... allows them to do what was tinue to appeal his case. Meanwhile, the New Sanctu- Ravi texted a group of supporters: done here. But there are times when statutory schemes ary Coalition’s next accompaniment training is sched- “Left ISAP. All is good,” he wrote. They texted back may be implemented in ways that tread on rights that uled for Feb. 26. messages like, “Thank God. Thank God.” are larger, more fundamental. Rights that defi ne who This was the fi rst time I saw the strategy Ragbir we are as a country, what we demand of ourselves and the New Sanctuary Coalition aims to activate con- would develop into an offi cial accompaniment program what we have guaranteed to each other: our constitu- gregations and other allies in their “accompaniment that trains volunteers to join immigrants at their check- tional rights. That has occurred here.” program,” and offers a weekly legal clinic to help ins, in order to show ICE they have community support. The courtroom erupted in cheers as Judge Forrest those facing deportation manage their cases. For The workshops have drawn hundreds of new allies to said the way Ravi had been detained was “unnecessar- more information visit NewSanctuaryNYC.org or the basement of Judson Memorial Church, home of the ily cruel,” seeming to acknowledge what I and so many call 646-395-2925. New Sanctuary Coalition of New York, which Ragbir others have witnessed while reporting on Ragbir and co-founded and now heads. After witnessing the an- accompanying him and other immigrants at their ICE guish of immigrants and their loved ones in the check-in check-ins. SOME PLACES YOU CAN FIND The IndypendenT BELOW CINEMA VILLAGE SAVOY BAKERY FORT WASHINGTON CONNECTICUT MUFFIN OUTPOST CAFE BRONX 14TH ST 22 E. 12TH ST. 170 E. 110TH ST. LIBRARY 429 MYRTLE AVE. 1014 FULTON ST. 535 W. 179TH ST. MOTT HAVEN LIBRARY SEWARD PARK LIBRARY LGBT CENTER MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS DEKALB LIBRARY RED HOOK LIBRARY 321 E. 140TH ST. 192 EAST BROADWAY 208 W. 13TH ST. LIBRARY INWOOD LIBRARY 790 BUSHWICK AVE. 7 WOLCOTT ST. 2900 BROADWAY 4790 BROADWAY HUNT’S POINT LIBRARY LES PEOPLE’S FEDERAL WYCKOFF STARR COFFEE ALIGN BROOKLYN 877 SOUTHERN BLVD. CREDIT UNION 14TH TO HARRY BELAFONTE INDIAN ROAD CAFE SHOP 579 5TH AVE. 39 AVENUE B 96TH ST 115TH ST. LIBRARY 600 W. 218TH ST. 30 WYCKOFF AVE. 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‘My KIds don’T haVe a dad’ as The TRUMp adMInIsTRaTIon’s IMMIgRaTIon polICIes TaKe hold, faMIlIes lIKe ThaT of Jean MonTReVIl aRe lefT To pICK Up The pIeCes

By Lydia McMullen-Laird ter in Lower Manhattan after ICE took Montrevil into custody on Jan. 3, he was fl own to the Krome Detention Center in Miami and de-

t the beginning of January, Jean Montrevil was running ported 13 days later — one of nearly 100 deportees on an ICE charter ERIN SHERIDAN a successful passenger van service in Queens and helping plane headed to Haiti and the Dominican Republic on Jan. 16. to raise three children with his ex-wife. These days Mon- Montrevil describes his detention and subsequent deportation as trevil, 49, wakes up each morning in a childhood friend’s “a shock.” He was at home on his lunch break when ICE arrested basement in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, wondering how he him, even though he had a check-in scheduled for mid-January. “They willA survive in a country he barely remembers and whose language didn’t have to come to my house,” Montrevil said. “I never missed a he’s struggling to relearn. check-in in 15 years.” When Montrevil asked the ICE agents why they Back in New York, Jani Cauthen pushes ahead as best she can while arrested him, one of the agents replied, “Don’t you see who we have working a day job and supporting her 19-year-old daughter, who she as president now?” had through a prior relationship, as well as raising their two youngest Cauthen suspects ICE and the Bureau of Immigration Appeals (BIA) children, ages 14 and 10. worked together to orchestrate the deportation, despite a pending ap- Cauthen’s oldest daughter, Janiah Heard, recently began her fourth peal of the original deportation order that was issued by ICE in 1994 semester at Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, New York. She worries it while Montrevil was serving an 11-year prison stint for possession of may be her last as her father is no longer available to help cover her cocaine. The deportation order was based on a law that was passed af-

college expenses. “I try to keep a positive mindset,” said Janiah. “But ter Montrevil’s conviction and therefore unconstitutional, Montrevil’s ELIA GRAN now my dad is no longer here with me. What do you do?” lawyer, Joshua Bardavid, has argued. DIFFICULT Their youngest son, Jahsiah Montrevil, is a freshman at Brooklyn After serving out his sentence, Montrevil met Cauthen on a blind TIMES: Jean Tech High School who likes to play with his Rubik’s Cube. These days date and they started a family and a business together in Queens. But Montrevil’s he’s trying to solve a more diffi cult problem — how to help his father the deportation order continued to weigh heavily on Montrevil and he 14-year-old son return to the country he called home for 31 years. “A part of me is fell into a depression that affected their family life and ultimately led Jahsiah. missing,” Jahsiah wrote in a campaign to help raise funds for Mont- to the couple’s divorce. “I don’t regret anything. He’s a super dad. He revil. “You never really know how to feel, but somehow you just feel it. puts his kids fi rst,” Cauthen said. … I know if he was here, he’d want me to keep going,” he said. Montrevil was fi rst put in immigration detention in 2005. In 2007, FATHER & Jahsiah did exactly that, and started a change.org petition on Jan. 3, he and Ragbir co-founded the New Sanctuary Coalition, an inter- DAUGHTER: the day Montrevil was detained. The petition calls for halting Mont- faith immigrant rights network in New York. Montrevil was nearly Jean Montrevil revil’s deportation and has garnered over 12,000 signatures so far. “I deported again in 2010. Cauthen suspects he continued to be targeted and his daughter am asking you to help as a son and an immigrant rights activist. If you by ICE because of his activism. Janiah Heard rest were me and I was you, wouldn’t you want me to help?” Jahsiah wrote When Montrevil was fi nally deported earlier this month, Cauthen last July following in the petition’s call to action. said she wasn’t angry or sad but immediately got into “fi ght mode.” a demonstration “I’ve been dealing with it for so long,” she said. “So I developed a outside ICE numbness to it.” headquarters in eSCaLatiNG DePoRtatioNS The experience of being in immigration detention was torture for Lower Manhattan. Montrevil, who says he never wanted to be locked up again after The Trump administration’s increasingly aggressive moves to deport spending more than a decade in prison. “For 17 years, I tried my best longtime residents like Montrevil, who have no violent criminal his- not to ever get in trouble again. I did everything [ICE] asked me to do.” tory, has caused fear in immigrant communities across the nation. In Deportees to Haiti are sent to jail upon arrival unless they are picked Seattle, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began deporta- up by a family member who can prove Haitian citizenship and will tion proceedings on Dec. 20 for Maru Mora Villapando, a key orga- take responsibility for housing the deportee. “I’m afraid of that pro- nizer at the Northwest Detention Center Resistance in Tacoma. cess. And I know people who [have] already died,” Montrevil said on In Detroit, Jorge Garcia, a 39-year-old landscaper with no criminal Democracy Now! last year. record, was deported to Mexico on Martin Luther King Jr. Day after Cauthen said she put together a network of people who could help 30 years in the United States. And in New York, Ravi Ragbir, execu- pick up Montrevil. “In Haiti you have to claim bodies like they’re lug- tive director of the New Sanctuary Coalition, was detained on Jan. gage,” she said. 11. He was held until Jan. 29, when a federal judge ordered his release Montrevil arrived in Haiti without any possessions and said he had February 2018 February after his supporters staged a series of protests. to wait for Jahsiah to mail him his phone, a portable charger, socks, The Haitian community is particularly vulnerable after the Trump underwear and clothing. “I opened up that package and was so happy, administration’s decision to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for like a kid on Christmas.” close to 60,000 Haitians last November. With mass deportations for Haitian TPS recipients slated to begin in July 2019, many more Hai- tians could suffer the same fate as Montrevil’s family. BaCK iN haiti IndypendenT The Cauthen says Trump’s policies are separating families and contrib- uting to dysfunctional households while failing to take into consid- Two weeks after his return to Haiti, Montrevil said adjusting to his eration the children of the immigrants they are deporting. “My kids new life might take longer than he expected. Haiti has changed sig- don’t have a dad. My son’s going to graduate from high school in three nifi cantly since he left for the United States in 1986. It was the poorest years and there’s no guarantee that his dad’s going to be here.” Despite protests that erupted outside an immigration detention cen- Continued on page 23 6 ANALYSIS

IMMIgRaTIon, Made In The Usa

By Paddy Quick for public schools in much of the nation. Most impor- through the desert, or paying as much as a year’s income CHARLYNE ALEXIS tant, the Social Security Administration allows anyone, to smugglers. he United States population consists almost including undocumented immigrants, to obtain Social Many immigrants also don’t understand that the entirely of immigrants and their descen- Security numbers and then pay Social Security taxes. higher wages in the United States also come with a dants. The only Americans whose ances- In addition, many undocumented immigrants use other much higher cost of living. In any case, immigrants tors did not come here from abroad in the people’s Social Security numbers to work at jobs where from poor countries typically send a large proportion of last 500 years are Native Americans, and they are required — which means that they pay taxes their income to their families back home. allT except enslaved persons traffi cked from Africa came into the system, even though they are not eligible to re- The “push” factors — the need to escape poverty, un- here voluntarily. ceive any benefi ts from it. employment and violence — are often more important. Yet the history of immigration in the United States The third myth, promulgated by Trump, is that im- Immigrants from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guate- is one of bigotry against successive “othered” ethnic migrants plague the United States with crimes from mala are fl eeing cities that have among the highest mur- groups, beginning with the infl ux of Irish Catholics murder to rape to theft. In reality, immigrants, wheth- der rates in the world. The poverty, dictatorships and during the 1840s potato famine. The Chinese Exclusion er documented or not, are arrested and convicted at natural disasters endured by Haiti similarly fuel emigra- Act of 1882 virtually prohibited Chinese people from a lower rate than that of people born in the United tion. In Mexico, the 1994 North American Free Trade entering the country, denied them citizenship and pre- States. This difference is particularly striking when Agreement devastated farmers and agricultural work- vented them from bringing family members over. The low-income immigrants are compared with similarly ers, by allowing imports of cheap U.S.-grown corn to Immigration Act of 1924 was designed to exclude Jews, poor native-born people. overwhelm the market. Italians and others from southern and eastern Europe. Does immigration from low-wage countries drive International treaties oblige the United States not Until the national-origins quota system was repealed down the wages of U.S. workers? One argument against only to allow people to apply for asylum from outside in 1965, it allowed barely 100 immigrants a year from that is that a growing economy needs additional work- the country, but to ask people who are being consid- China and less than 1,000 from Jamaica, Trinidad and ers — who can come from either immigration or teen- ered for deportation if they wish to claim asylum. To Barbados combined. agers becoming old enough to work and replace people be granted asylum, people must document a claim that Today, the main immigrant groups targeted are Lati- who’ve retired. But in the United States, the birth rate they are being persecuted because of their membership nos — particularly those from Mexico, by far the larg- of slightly less than 1.9 children per woman is below of a cognizable group. Poverty doesn’t qualify, and est single source of immigrants — and Muslims. Donald the rate of 2.1 that is necessary to maintain a stable neither does fl eeing a high level of violence, except for Trump blames them for declining wages, accuses them population. This means that an increasing proportion domestic violence in places where it is not recognized of polluting America’s character and calls them crimi- of the population will be elderly people who must be as a crime. nals and terrorists. He channels the anger that should supported by those currently working. Immigrants fi ll The United States bears a large part of the responsi- be directed at corporate America against immigrants. that gap in the workforce. bility for this, and thus has a moral obligation to ame- The problem comes when immigrants are denied the liorate that damage. It has a long history of intervening same labor rights as other workers. Employers use the militarily or otherwise to support repressive govern- thRee aNti-iMMiGRaNt MYthS threat of deportation to pay undocumented workers ments — and, from Guatemala in 1954 to Honduras in below minimum wage, refuse to pay them for all the 2009, to aid or abet the overthrow of democratically- Much of the opposition to immigration is based on a hours they worked and require them to work in danger- elected governments perceived to be inimical to U.S. few widespread myths: That immigrants are criminals ous conditions. corporate interests. and parasites who collect welfare and don’t pay taxes. Racism and xenophobia form a lethal combination In reality, undocumented immigrants very rarely re- that threatens to undo many of the achievements of the ceive public assistance or unemployment benefi ts. These WhY PeoPLe eMiGRate past in making a better and more just life for Ameri- benefi ts are limited to U.S. citizens or those legally au- cans. Defending immigrants’ rights is an essential com- thorized to be in the country, and the documentation re- People immigrate to the United States for two main ponent of any struggle to build a progressive movement quired to apply is daunting. The two public benefi ts the reasons: “Pull” factors that make them want to come in this country. undocumented have automatic access to are emergency- here, and “push” factors that make them want to leave room care and the right of children to enroll in public their home countries. For people in low-wage nations, Paddy Quick is a Professor of economics at St. Francis schools, although local school authorities frequently a main pull factor is the possibility of making more College and a member of the union of Radical Political challenge this. money. That has to be balanced against the diffi culty economists (uRPe). The second myth is that undocumented workers don’t of leaving the communities where they grew up, leaving pay taxes. First, they pay sales tax on things they buy. their family behind and having to learn a new language Second, if they pay rent, it indirectly goes to their land- and adjust to a foreign culture — not to mention the lords’ property taxes — the main source of fi nancing life-threatening risks of crossing the border by trekking MIC CheCK! lIsTen To oUR Indy aUdIo and IndysTRUCTIBle podCasTs on ITUnes & soUndCloUd Today. February 2018

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SEE YOU IN COURT opment projects like the After a fi ve-year campaign by environ- Penn Station renovation FREE DEMOCRACYNOW.ORG mental activists, New York City Mayor and the Second Avenue RIDER: Gov. Bill de Blasio announced his intention Subway. Noting that Cuomo hopes Tune In Live Every Weekday 8-9am ET to divest over $5 billion in city pension the MTA has wasted to escape money from fossil fuel stocks by 2022. billions of dollars on from his METROPOLITAN TRANSIT AUTHORITY • Audio, Video, Transcripts, Podcasts Coupled with the January announce- superfl uous projects MTA funding ment, the city fi led a lawsuit against dear to the governor obligations and • Los titulares de Hoy (headlines in Spanish) fi ve of the world’s largest oil companies (who has systematically force the city — ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, Shell, underfunded it), critics to foot the bill. • Find your local broadcast station and schedule ConocoPhillips — for damages related charge that the city is to climate change. The de Blasio ad- being asked to bail out the MTA, with- • Subscribe to the Daily News Digest ministration also plans to sue leading out any guarantee the money will actu- Big Pharma companies implicated in ally go towards fi xing the subways. Follow Us @ DEMOCRACYNOW the opioid epidemic. HEAR THE ROAR COUGH IT UP Between 1.9 and 2.6 million women A 16-member task force convened by and their supporters marched Jan. TO CELEBRATE THE PUBLICATION OF HER NEW BOOK Gov. Andrew Cuomo to explore the 20–21 in 407 cities in all 50 states for possibility of congestion pricing on the second annual Women’s March. New York City roads issued its report In New York, as many as 200,000 in January. Under the committee’s pro- demonstrators fi lled Columbus Circle posal, trucks would be charged $25, and adjacent streets before marching taxis and other for-hire vehicles $2 through Midtown. Donald Trump’s to $5 per ride to travel in Manhattan election has spurred record numbers of south of 60th Street. Revenues raised women to run for elected offi ce. Two IN PARTNERSHIP WITH would be put towards the city’s ailing women candidates — Jessica Ramos subway system, funding for which, has and Alessandra Biaggi — recently an- habitually been diverted by the gover- nounced they are mounting primary T H U F E B 1 5 nor and his predecessors. In a chick- challenges against incumbent Dems 2 0 1 8 · 8 PM en-or-egg twist, the report concludes, who have helped the GOP maintain “Before asking commuters to abandon control of the State Senate. Ramos, a their cars, we must fi rst improve mass former union staffer has left her job “Stories are transit capacity and reliability.” at City Hall to take on Jose Peralta in magic. You Advocates of the pay-to-drive plan Queens while Biaggi, a former Hill- can start wars say it would ease the drive of those who ary Clinton advisor is gunning for the with stories. decide to pay the toll and improve mass Bronx-Westchester district that belongs transit options for those who don’t. to Jeff Klein — recently accused of forc- So how do Mayor de Blasio and Sen. Michael ibly kissing a female staffer. stories work Gianaris (D-Queens) have proposed these days instituting a millionaire’s tax to cover now that we’re additional subway costs. ARE YOU REGISTERED TO at warp VOTE IN 2018? speed?” COUGH IT UP II: Voting is one small but important THE RECKONING way to be politically active. In 2018, In addition to congestion pricing, Gov. New York will hold party primaries A READING AND Cuomo wants to tag the city with half for federal offi ces on June 26 and for February 2018 February the bill for emergency subway repairs state offi ces on September 11. General PERFORMANCE and cover the full $18 billion cost of elections will be on Nov. 6. For voter the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s registration information, visit the NYC WITH MUSIC, VISUALS, (MTA’s) 5-year capital budget. City- Board of Elections at www.vote.nyc. dollars — subway and bus fares, taxes ny.us. AND ELECTRONICS — comprise 70 percent of MTA reve- IndypendenT The nue and the city has already committed $2.5 billion to the capital budget, more THETOWNHALL.ORG than it ever has in the past. @TOWNHALLNYC | #TOWNHALLPRESENTS Under Cuomo’s proposal, the state would also seize property taxes from TICKETS AT TICKETMASTER.COM AND THE BOX OFFICE 123 W 43RD ST NYC areas surrounding recent MTA devel- 8 HOUSING

RaTs In The hallway woRKIng Class woMen of ColoR and yoUng whITe soCIalIsTs JoIn foRCes agaInsT a pRIVaTe eQUITy slUMloRd

By Georgia Kromrei leading public protests against Kessner and suing him in the evenings when her daughter has to make house to win rent abatements. In 2007, burdened by numer- visits. She plans to leave her two-bedroom apartment he rats just tore the grate open,” Marie ous lawsuits and bad publicity, and unable to convert to her son someday. “ Miranda tells me, pointing to a large hole the units into high-rent luxury apartments fast enough Before taking me on a tour of her building, Marie outside her building at 231 East 117th to keep the portfolio profi table, Kessner sold the build- cooks me breakfast. I’m the second guest to visit her Street in East Harlem. “I see them coming ings to Dawnay Day, a British private equity fi rm. apartment in 15 years; the fi rst was Alex Nicoll, her so- out of there all the time.” The thick metal Dawnay Day paid $225 million for the 47 build- cialist upstairs neighbor. Her cat, Oreo, joins us. Marie Tslab is bent back despite, she said, multiple repairs by ings. They then had 2,149 open violations of the city’s is allergic to cats, but said she would rather live with a the building’s residents. housing code, including lead-based paint hazards and cat than the rats. She credits Oreo with keeping the ver- It was late August, and Marie, a 66-year-old for- broken windows. Still, it was an attractive investment. min out of her apartment. She trained him to jump up mer salsa dancer and waitress, and I had just come The fi rm planned to replicate a strategy that had been through a hole in the wall to her son’s bedroom when from a tenants union meeting held in the back offi ces successful for them in London’s Brixton neighborhood, she calls his name. of Manhattan Legal Services. Eight tenants from 231 once home to bohemians and Caribbean immigrants: Some tenants had cautioned me about Marie. They East 117th met to discuss strategies for confronting It would push out long-term, low-income tenants and said that she was loud and opinionated and could be the building’s owner, Emerald Equity, a private equi- renovate the buildings to deregulate the apartments somewhat abrasive. She didn’t disagree. Her loud na- ty fi rm, and doing something about their horrendous and attract richer tenants who’d pay higher rents. ture is a source of pride and an emotional tool that she living conditions. Dawnay Day began major renovations as a prelude has used against her landlord. Emerald Equity and the company it hired to over- to eventual mass evictions, but the fi nancial crisis inter- “The reason they do anything for me is because I got see the six-story walkup, ArchRock Management, vened. By September 2008, the fi rm was in bankruptcy. a large mouth,” she said. “We got people together and was harassing undocumented tenants, threatening to It sold off many of its holdings, including a $34 million we have a lawyer.” call Immigration and Customs Enforcement if they Lucian Freud painting and the East Harlem buildings. On July 1, when the gas went off for the entire build- complained, and forcing many to move out. There had In December 2016, after multiple changes of own- ing, Marie started to collect cellphone numbers of peo- been no hot water in the building since Aug. 1, and the ership, Emerald Equity bought the 47-building port- ple in the building and looped them into a group chat gas had been shut off July 1. Some tenants had been folio for $375.5 million, with the aid of $350 million on WhatsApp. She and another tenant went to Man- without gas for nearly a year — the result of unpermit- from Brookfi eld Property Partners, an “alternative hattan Legal Services to ask them to intervene. ted construction in seven recently vacated apartments, asset manager.” At a Sept. 28 town hall meeting in East Harlem, Ma- which workers were converting to luxury homes. The purchase price worked out to about $317,000 rie got a chance to tell Mayor Bill de Blasio about her The tenants had recently formed a union and fi led per unit — relatively cheap by New York standards — and her neighbors’ plight. The mayor said that offi cials a lawsuit against 231 E 117 LLC, the limited liability but 96 percent of the units were rent-stabilized, with from the Department of Buildings wouldn’t leave with- corporation that serves as a shell for Emerald Equity. tenants paying well below the potential market rents out talking to her. The next morning, inspectors from They discussed a rent strike, seeking rent abatements for the area. Emerald Equity would never see a return the department visited 231 East 117th St. and issued and how to reach residents of other buildings owned by on its investment if those people were allowed to stay. fi nes against Emerald Equity for the illegal construc- the company, in the hopes of forming a coalition. In the The company picked up where its predecessors tion. Marie and her neighbors celebrated, but didn’t months that followed, their organizing efforts would left off. It charged fees for routine maintenance or stop making plans to keep organizing. provide a glimpse into both the potential of tenant- ceased performing maintenance at all, and began led struggles against gentrifi cation and the nitty-gritty threatening undocumented tenants with calls to im- • • • challenges facing them — at a time when profi t-seeking migration authorities. investors are trying to drive out tenants in many of In September, three weeks after their fi rst meeting at New York City’s 900,000 rent-stabilized apartments. • • • Manhattan Legal Services, the 231 East 117th tenants union met again, crowding into 4E, Alex Nicoll’s place. • • • Built in 1910, 231 East 117th Street is one of the Alex, originally from a bedroom community in oldest buildings in the portfolio. Its red-brick facade Connecticut, moved into the building after graduat- 231 East 117th is one of the 47 East Harlem buildings casts a handsome image over the leafy street between ing from Boston College with a degree in English and that comprise the “Dawnay Day portfolio.” They were Second and Third Avenues. Inside, the wide marble signifi cant student loan debt. He took an entry-level built between 1900 and 1961. By 1980, when Steven fl oors and spacious stairways that connect the build- job as a recruiter at a prominent fi nancial fi rm, and Kessner, the son of a taxi driver from the Bronx, be- ing’s 35 apartments were surely gan consolidating the portfolio, white fl ight, redlining, once pristine. Now thick con- crime and a drop in city services had led to a sharp struction dust hangs in the air. HOW TO DO A RENT refusing to pay rent will almost certainly get decline in property values, and scores of buildings were Zippered plastic coverings, like you an eviction notice. It is a good idea to abandoned. Kessner bought up entire lots at a time. He body bags, shroud residents’ STRIKE put your rent money in escrow, so the court purchased one lot in 1981 for just $15,500. doors — a concession won by the knows you have it. Having a lawyer greatly Most of the apartments in the portfolio were rent- tenants union to prevent the dust Few sounds on earth are weaker than the feeble increases your chances of success. stabilized — a form of rent regulation New York City from entering apartments. voice of one, so forming a tenants association Computer technology has greatly increased enacted in 1969, which has since been taken over by Marie moved to 231 East 117th greatly improves your chances of winning bet- the risks. As Housing Court cases are public the state. Rent-stabilized tenants have the right to re- in 1986, while the building was ter conditions in your building. You can either records, companies have amassed lists of the do it on your own or with the aid of a community new their lease, can’t be evicted without a legal cause, still owned by Kessner. She re- tenants involved and sold them to landlords, group such as the Crown Heights Tenant Union, are exempt from arbitrary rent increases and have the calls those days when drug deal- who use them to blacklist suspected dead- Flatbush Tenants Coalition, CASA in the Bronx ing was rampant in East Harlem beats and troublemakers. The state Offi ce of right to form a tenant union. However, their apart- or the Cooper Square Committee in Manhattan ments can often be deregulated — often illegally — if and how, more than once, she Court Administration stopped selling individu- — who can also connect you with other people als’ names in 2012, but it continues to provide they move out, which has led to widespread harass- saw dead bodies squirreled be- in the neighborhood facing similar problems or ment by landlords. hind the building. a daily electronic feed of information on have the same landlord. pending cases — and “it’s not hard” to match By the time Kessner was done, he owned 47 build- She doesn’t dance much any- The rent strike is a time-honored tactic, as it the case’s index number to the tenant’s name, ings, housing more than 5,000 people. He saw himself more, but she still dreams of hits the landlord in the pocketbook. You tell your

February 2018 lawyer Jamie Fishman said at the time. as an entrepreneur, but tenants complained of freezing having a dance studio — not for landlord that you are withholding all or part of apartments, holes in the fl oors where rodents could herself but for her son, who has your rent until there is adequate heat, broken — STEVEN WISHNIA move freely in and out of their homes, and a chronic traveled as a backup dancer with windows are fi xed, or whatever. You can also lack of hot water. Beyoncé and Missy Elliott. Her fi le an “HP action” demand that Housing Court Neighborhood groups led by Mexican immigrants daughter is a social worker for order repairs, and try to win a rent abatement and the Movement for Justice in El Barrio, the New Child Protective Services, and for the time you had these problems. Rent strikes are legally risky, however, as The IndypendenT York extension of the Zapatista movement, started Marie often babysits her grandson 9

RaTs In The hallway woRKIng Class woMen of ColoR and yoUng whITe soCIalIsTs JoIn foRCes agaInsT a pRIVaTe eQUITy slUMloRd

moved into the East Harlem building with his several stories and jumped onto the pant leg of cousin John. a tenant, who shook it off and chased it out of

The apartment’s main attraction for him was the building. ISAAC LIPTZEN its price. He didn’t realize the building was rent- stabilized. He didn’t know what rent stabiliza- • • • tion was, but it was one of the few places he could afford. After moving in, however, Alex As the meeting resumed, a disagreement felt isolated from the community. He had no broke out that was trivial to some and crucial roots in East Harlem and didn’t speak Spanish. to others. “It was a strange space to be in,” he told me. “I As a temporary solution to the lack of gas, didn’t really have a choice about moving to that management had installed cheap electric apartment, but at the same time I make more stoves. Florencia Aguilar, from 4D, said the money than some entire families.” concession was granted too easily. She’d joined Rents in the building vary widely. Marie the tenant union over the issue of the gas, and Miranda pays $840 a month. One newer ten- thought the electric stoves would just be a tem- ant pays $2,200 for an apartment with the porary fi x. She prefers cooking with gas, and same fl oor plan. She is undocumented and worried about an increase in her monthly elec- shares it with 10 other people, including four tric bill. She and several other female tenants small children. threatened to leave the union if their concerns Alex and his two roommates pay nearly were not taken into consideration. But now $3,000. A few months after he moved in, their that the stoves had been installed, it was dif- living room ceiling collapsed. No one was in- fi cult for the union to backtrack. jured, and repairs were made quickly. Alex was The argument underscored an uneasy bound- relieved. But when he mentioned the incident ary between Alex and his neighbors, which he to some of his neighbors, he learned that he and the DSA as an organization are struggling was not the only one in the building whose with. DSA is mostly white and majority-male. ceiling had fallen in. More distressingly, he was Its young, college-educated members are large- the only one whose ceiling had been promptly ly disconnected from the working-class com- fi xed. Other tenants had had to wait weeks and munities of color they seek to empower. Their even months. budget constraints are real, but they do not Alex started talking more frequently with the have the same stakes in the community as long other tenants and met Marie Miranda, whom time residents. he described as the building’s “connective tis- Here in East Harlem, DSA members are sue.” He also got in touch with the Democratic learning how to organize in spaces where the Socialists of America (DSA). Like many young strongest protagonists are working-class wom- people who were inspired by Bernie Sanders’ en who often provide for their families through

presidential campaign, Alex joined DSA after the use of their stoves. Those women were con- GETTING ORGANIZED: Longtime ISAAC LIPTZEN the 2017 inauguration of Donald Trump. He cerned that cooking on an electric stove is more residents of 231 E. 117th St. and members of paid dues but was not an active member. As expensive, and that they can’t turn the heat up the Democratic Socialists of America meet conditions in his building grew worse, though, or down quickly. They also fretted that their and strategize after a shared dinner of cooked he turned to the organization for help. children would singe their hands if they touched potato salad, pastelillos and rice. DSA members provided the knowledge and the hot coils on the burners. expertise that Alex and his fellow tenants need- “To me, the issue of the stoves didn’t make ed. Lawyers at Manhattan Legal Services didn’t much difference, but it’s also certainly a gen- UNAFRAID: “The reason [the landlord] does have time to teach tenants about the intricacies dered thing,” Alex later refl ected. anything for me is because I got a large mouth,” of rent-stabilization law, but the socialists did. Walking through the building with Marie says Marie Miranda, a tenant leader who has February 2018 February That night in September, 30 people packed one day later in the fall, I perceived the unmis- lived at 231 E. 117th Street since 1986. into Alex’s apartment. He served strong home- takable smell of burnt nopal cactus. We peered brewed beer. Marie offered guests pasta shells through an open apartment door, where two stuffed with ricotta cheese. Spirits were high, Hispanic women were wrestling with a smoking but as the meeting was about to begin, the comal (a Mexican-style griddle) on the stove. sound of a loud scream fi lled the building. Peo- Although outrage over the electric stoves has IndypendenT The ple streamed out to see what was happening. On subsided, not everyone has gotten used to them. the fi rst fl oor, several tenants were contending That same day, Marie and I also managed to with a rat. It was enormous and not scared of enter 5D, one of the empty units at the center of humans; ArchRock Management hadn’t pro- all the illegal construction. The door was open, vided any extermination services, despite nu- merous requests. The rat had dropped down Continued on page 11 10 TENANT RIGHTS

TURn Up The heaT on yoUR landloRd

By Steven Wishnia their heating system so the boiler goes off and on,” the heat can be back on by the time the inspectors come. Maria Santana says the heat

e haven’t had heat for over a week,” says JoAnn at 911 Walton Avenue came on for about two days after HPD issued STEVEN WISHNIA “ Broaddus of the Bronx. “When it comes up, it only a violation earlier in January, but then went back to being on for only comes up for 15 minutes or half an hour. That’s not 15 minutes a day. enough to warm up the apartment.” At 911 Walton, HPD records posted online show that tenants com- Broaddus, a 67-year-old retired clothing-store plained about the heat on eight days in December and seven in Janu- Wmanager, was one of about 40 tenants protesting outside 911 Walton ary, including four out of fi ve days during the New Year’s cold wave. Avenue and its twin, 923 Walton, on the evening of Jan. 24. The two, But the building has no outstanding heat violations: The conditions blocky U-shaped six-story buildings built in the 1920s on the ridge earlier in the month were found to have been corrected, and the com- sloping down from the Grand Concourse to Yankee Stadium share a plaints from Jan. 20 and Jan. 24 were still open as of Jan. 25. At 923 boiler. She lives on the sixth fl oor, and wonders if tenants lower down Walton Avenue, tenants complained on four days in December and are any warmer. nine in January, including fi ve days in a row from Jan. 4 to Jan. 8. It They aren’t, according to Maria Santana, 63, who’s lived on the has four Class C no-heat violations outstanding, based on complaints fi rst fl oor for 22 years. “Muchas problemas con la calefacción,” she from Nov. 27 and Jan. 8. HPD found the Jan. 15 and 16 complaints says. Speaking in Spanish through an interpreter from the local hous- corrected. The one from the Jan. 19 is still open. ing organization Community Action for Safe Apartments (CASA), The tenants of the two buildings fi led an “HP action” in mid-Jan- she says there’s no heat at all in the morning, and it comes on for uary, demanding that a Housing Court judge order the landlord to maybe 15 minutes in the afternoon or evening. provide adequate heat and hot water. “When there’s no heat, I can’t even sleep in my room,” she says. Another problem is that not all tenants can complain safely. Those She has to go into a room that doesn’t have a window and use an who live in apartments that aren’t rent-stabilized have no legal right to electric heater. renew their leases, so they have a strong incentive not to make trouble New York City law requires that from Oct. 1 to May 31, all build- for their landlords. Mexican-born tenants at 1231 Broadway in Bush- ing owners must provide tenants with enough heat to keep the inside wick, a building with chronic heat problems, say their landlord regu-

temperature at least 68°F from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. if it’s below 55° out- larly threatens to call immigration if they complain. STEVEN WISHNIA side. At night, the inside temperature must be at least 62°. This winter Lack of heat often goes along with other problems in a building. OUT IN THE COLD: is the fi rst heating season that stricter regulations enacted last year HPD lists 152 outstanding violations at 923 Walton Avenue, includ- Tenants at 911 and 923 have been in effect; the old law only required heat overnight when the ing leaks, mold, broken fl oors, defective electrical outlets, and peeling Walton Ave. in the South outside temperature was below 40°, and it didn’t have to be more than lead paint — the last accounting for most of the 23 Class C violations. Bronx rallied on Jan. 24 55° inside. What galls the two buildings’ tenants is that their landlord is getting to demand adequate heat The city Department of Housing Preservation and Development rent increases for major capital improvements. At 911 Walton Avenue, and hot water for their (HPD) is responsible for enforcing the law. Tenants can call 311 to the state has approved an increase of $13.39 per room per month for apartments. complain if there’s no heat or hot water in their apartment or building. elevator repairs. That means Martha Marin, who says she’s already When they do, HPD tries to notify the building’s owner or manager, spending half her income as a school offi ce assistant on her $1,562 and may also try to contact tenants to see if the heat’s back on. If it rent, will have to pay $54 more. FRUSTRATED: Maria isn’t, the agency will send an inspector. “It’s ridiculous,” says JoAnn Broaddus. “I’m cold. I’m too old for this.” Santana has only had From Oct. 1 to Jan. 16, HPD says it received more than 61,000 sporadic heat this winter separate complaints about lack of heat. Its 217 inspectors have tried to even as her landlord received check out complaints more than 63,000 times, about one-fourth of its state permission to increase total attempted inspections during that period. the rents in her building. Lack of heat or hot water is an “immediately hazardous” Class C violation, which must be corrected “imme- diately.” If the landlord doesn’t, HPD can issue fi nes of $250 to $500 a day for the WHAT YOU CAN DO Third, write and call the landlord to demand that the heat or hot water season’s fi rst offense, and $500 to $1,000 be turned on immediately. Send letters by certifi ed mail, return receipt a day for a second offense. It can also hire If you’re not getting adequate heat or hot water, the Metropolitan requested, and keep copies for yourself, so they can be used as evi- a private contractor through its Emergency Council on Housing, a citywide tenants-rights group, recommends that dence in court. Repair Program to fi x the boiler or deliver you take four steps. fuel, billing the costs to the landlord. Fourth, buy a good indoor/outdoor thermometer and keep a log of the Last winter, HPD received more than First, call the city Central Complaints Bureau at 311 immediately to exact dates, times and temperature readings, both inside and outside. 109,000 separate complaints that resulted complain. Keep a detailed record of your complaint reference number, If the lack of heat or hot water persists, organize the other tenants to February 2018 in 3,449 inadequate-heat violations. It and if you’re going to be out during the day, have a neighbor or friend fi le an HP action to demand that Housing Court order repairs. charged landlords $1.8 million for heat- be available to let the city inspector into your apartment — inspectors related emergency repairs, and collected a often show up unannounced. — STEVEN WISHNIA similar amount in civil penalties. The problem with the system, says law- Second, get other tenants in your building to call 311—at least once yer Gregory Baltz of the Urban Justice every day, until the condition is corrected.

The IndypendenT Center, is that “when a landlord structures 11 [End of Year Giving]

sion. There was a more pressing item on the Remember WBAI RaTs In The hallway agenda. Marie had complained to ArchRock Continued from page 10 that the building’s porter was not taking out Become a BAI Buddy monthly the garbage or cleaning the halls, and that the recessed lighting on. It was lunchtime, she suspected him of dealing drugs across subscriber before Jan. 1, and and the construction workers had left their the street. In the hallway outside her home, receive a Bai Bag, membership gear leaning against the wall. he’d told her she had better watch her back. The living room and one bedroom had No one in the tenant union trusts the police card for discounts around town, been enlarged and divided into a dining area to help. The union instead appealed to the and and a chance to be included and kitchen, with mauve walls and grey wood DSA to provide Marie with volunteer escorts floors. The kitchen was equipped with stain- while she walks home from her daughter’s in an Apple iPAD give away! less-steel appliances, including a dishwasher place late at night. and an enormous black glass-top oven. There “I feel responsible,” said Alex. “Just giving To sign up: was a separate cabinet with a washer and a her a can of pepper spray isn’t enough.” dryer, and the bathroom had a modern toilet www.wbai.org/baibuddy.php and a new shower stall with a glass door. It • • • was another world compared with the other apartments in the building. On Jan. 28, Marie Miranda cooked potato salad, pastelillos and rice for a group of 30 • • • socialists and Emerald Equity tenants gath- ered in Alex’s apartment for the DSA Hous- Alex Nicoll started the Dec. 10 tenant ing Working Group meeting. The socialists union meeting by reading a chapter in How- came to hear the tenants’ experiences, and ard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United tenants came to give powerful testimony of States about tenant uprisings in the Hudson landlord abuse. There was standing room WBAI Valley in the 1830s. As he read in English only as people crowded into the living room from his laptop screen, a neighbor uneasily and leaned in from the kitchen to hear the translated the dense text about a showdown tenants speak. between a sheriff and his mounted posse of One by one, in Spanish, the tenants gave 500 against 1,800 tenant farmers who re- harrowing accounts of abuses spanning de- fused to pay rent. cades, including the death of one tenant’s Just Out From International Publishers “That’s exactly what we need,” Olga father due to management’s negligence, lease Piña, a 20-year building resident, interjected. renewal notices sent late, irregularities in rent www.intpubnyc “Where’s our 1,800? Why isn’t everyone here histories, bathrooms without working sinks, at these meetings?” mold and mildew, infestations of cockroach- Olga later told the group that many His- es and bedbugs, and the most recent eight- panic tenants have not joined the union due month period of construction, when ceilings to either a miscommunication or a misun- collapsed pipes burst and tenants were fre- derstanding about who can take part. They quently left without basic services. said that Johnson Atkinson, the lawyer from Tenants also voiced frustration at the Manhattan Legal Services who is represent- pace and limitations of the lawsuit. Law- ing them in their suit against Emerald Equity suits move slowly, and while progress is and ArchRock Management, told them they being made on getting rent abatements for needed a Social Security number in order to several of the most affected tenants, cock- be a client. roaches infest many of the apartments. The “He said to me: ‘I only defend legal peo- super was away in Venezuela, so no one was ple,’” Olga said. cleaning the building. In December, the Fire Another Hispanic tenant confirmed Olga’s Department was called when an electric account. This was met by dismay from the stove caught fire. On Jan. 24, the hot water other tenants. went out in the whole building after a pipe Atkinson did not return multiple requests burst in one of the newly renovated — and for comment. now rented-out — apartments. International Publishers is proud to offer The tenants agreed to set the record Emerald Equity, ArchRock Management straight both with Atkinson, and with the and Brookfield Property did not respond to this new edition of Togliatti’s insightful Spanish-speaking tenants reluctant to par- requests for comment. A letter from Con and informative analysis of Mussolini ticipate in the union. You don’t have to be a Edison shows that the owners owe $10,000 citizen or have a green card to join a tenants’ in electric bills. The Buildings Department fascism, with a forward for the current union or take part in a rent strike. Landlords issued seven Environmental Control Board are bound by leases regardless of their ten- violations in September, which are still out- times by noted scholar Vijay Prashad. ants’ immigration status. standing. No one from the landlord showed “You mean I can tell my people they can up at the hearing to dispute the violations, In total there are 8 lectures on different come to the meetings?” Olga whispered to and the unpaid fines now total $10,580. February 2018 February Marie in Spanish. There is a stop-work order posted on the aspects of fascism. Next on the agenda was the issue of non- front door of the building. Two of the lectures are devoted to the payment notices. All of the tenants involved Meanwhile, in December the City Council in the rent strike had received calls in the last approved a de Blasio-backed rezoning plan concept of “Corporativism”, a topic over week threatening them with eviction if they for East Harlem that will allow for the con- did not pay up. Several tenants voiced their struction of high-rise towers. The new mar- which there is a good deal of confusion. Indypenden The commitment to remaining on strike. It would ket-rate apartments coming are expected to give their lawsuit for repairs more leverage. greatly increase the gentrification pressures This is a historic work but also has Others wavered. in the neighborhood. “I don’t necessarily want a nonpayment particular relevance today. notice on my record,” said Alex.

Order via our website or call: 212-366-9816 T The tenants agreed to postpone their deci- 12 13 Ask Ask Your Ask Your I AM NOT YOUR I AM NOT I AM NOT YOUR I AM NOT is a twelve-part epic is a twelve-part epic is a twelve-part epic — Hughes’s homage to — Hughes’s homage to — Hughes’s homage to DANCE: FANCY FOOTWORK IN Ellington, accompanied by tap dancer Max Pollak. Featuring an BRONX MUSIC HERITAGE CENTER children $10 MUSIC: ASK YOUR MAMA: 12 scopic jazz poem suite, the struggle for artistic and social freedom at home and abroad at poem that Hughes scored with musical cues drawn from blues and Dixieland,gospel,boogie-woogie, ences, West Indian calypso and African drumming — a creative CENTER SAT FEB 24 2PM • $5 donation SCREENING: NEGRO Writer Jamesec- Baldwin’s refl and the necessity for multi-issue connects the ongoing struggle for black freedom and equality to today’s movements. $10 Southern brunch served at 2 p.m., screening at 3 p.m. Discussion to follow the fi l m . FREEDOM HALL ST. W 128TH 113 SAT FEB 24 8PM • $53–$88 PERFORMANCE:SOUNDTRACK ‘63 A live musical documentary cover- ing the 1963 Civil Rights Movement up to today’s Black Lives Matter Movement with spirituals, protest songs and current popular music performed by an 18-piece orches- tra. Jazz, hip-hop and soul mix with a captivating video installation of archival footage and animation, along with commentary by Cor- Dr. nel West and poets Sonia Sanchez and Abiodun Oyewole. THEATER APOLLO 253 ST. W 125TH Ellington, accompanied by tap the struggle for artistic and social poem that Hughes scored with SAT FEB 3 2PM–5PM • FREE PERFORMANCE: STILL, WE RISE Part of a free open house weekend at the Apollo Theater, featuring performances, previews and pre- culture sentations black honoring and success. Apollo Amateur Night’s Capone, Apollo Comedy Club’s Mugga, the LaRocque Bey Dance Theatre company, Soul Sci- ence Lab and more are on the bill. THEATER APOLLO 253 ST. W 125TH SAT FEB 3 5PM–10PM • FREE PARTY: FIRST SATURDAY: BLACK HISTORY MONTH Gather and celebrate activists and artists from the national and global African diaspora through a dynamicdynamic evening evening of of music, music, dance, dance, literaturelm. Visit brooklyn- and fi museum.org for a full program. MUSEUMBROOKLYN 200 EASTERN PKWY., BKLYN SAT FEB 3–MARCH 31 6PM • FREE PHOTOGRAPHY: “FATHER FIGURE:FIGURE: EXPLORING EXPLORING ALTERNATE ALTERNATE NOTIONS OF BLACK FATHER- HOOD” Since 2011, Zun Lee has embedded himself in the lives of African- American families, many of them from the Bronx and Harlem, pho- tographing the intimate details of their everyday lives. This exhibition brings into focus the narratives of real fathers as caretakers, interro- gating and dispelling stereotypes of black masculinity and absent fathers. BRONX DOCUMENTARY CENTER COURTLANDT AVE.,614 BRONX SAT FEB 17 7PM–9PM • $7, $5 for students, free for kids under 12 DANCE: FANCY FOOTWORK IN THE DIASPORA The event will trace the routes of rhythmic footwork from Africa and Europe to the Western Hemisphere with a discussion led by dancer and choreographer Mercedes Ellington, accompanied by tap dancer Max Pollak. Featuring an Afro-Peruvian zapateo perfor- mance by the Afro-Peruvian Ensemble. BRONX MUSIC HERITAGE CENTER 1303 LOUIS NINE BRONX BLVD., SAT FEB 17 7:30PM–9PM • $20, seniors $15, children $10 MUSIC: ASK YOUR MAMA: 12 MOODS FOR JAZZ A multimedia concert performance of Langston Hughes’s kaleido- scopic jazz poem suite, Mama the struggle for artistic and social freedom at home and abroad at the beginning of the 1960s. MamaYour poem that Hughes scored with musical cues drawn from blues and Dixieland,gospel,boogie-woogie, bebop, Latin cha-cha, Afro-Cuban mambo music,u- European infl ences, West Indian calypso and African drumming — a creative masterwork left unperformed at his death. JAMAICA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER 153-10 JAMAICA AVE., QUEENS SAT FEB 24 2PM • $5 donation SCREENING: NEGRO Writer Jamesec- Baldwin’s refl tions on the boundaries of race and the necessity for multi-issue coalition-building in the Civil Rights Movement. Rich historical footage connects the ongoing struggle at the Apollo Theater, featuring performances, previews and pre- culture sentations black honoring and success. Apollo Amateur Night’s Capone, Apollo Comedy PARTY: FIRST SATURDAY: BLACK and artists from the national and dynamic evening of music, dance, literaturelm. Visit brooklyn- and fi museum.org for a full program. 200 EASTERN PKWY., BKLYN PHOTOGRAPHY: “FATHER FIGURE: EXPLORING ALTERNATE NOTIONS OF BLACK FATHER- HOOD” Since 2011, Zun Lee has embedded from the Bronx and Harlem, pho- tographing the intimate details of their everyday lives. This exhibition gating and dispelling stereotypes of black masculinity and absent fathers. BRONX DOCUMENTARY CENTER COURTLANDT AVE.,614 BRONX at the Apollo Theater, featuring performances, previews and pre- culture sentations black honoring and success. Apollo Amateur and artists from the national and dynamic evening of music, dance, PHOTOGRAPHY: “FATHER FIGURE: EXPLORING ALTERNATE HOOD” from the Bronx and Harlem, pho- gating and dispelling stereotypes of black masculinity and absent fathers. BRONX DOCUMENTARY CENTER COURTLANDT AVE.,614 BRONX BASQUIAT

GLENN, 1984 JOSH GIBSON JEAN-MICHEL LAROCQUE BEY SONIA SANCHEZ LANGSTON HUGHES JOSH: THE BLACK The play dramatizes the life, loves and ultimately the tragic decline of Josh Gibson, who, with 962 career home runs, was one of baseball’s greatest slug- Gibson’s own personal demons prevented him from playing in the THU FEB 15 Contemporary artists and col- laborators pay homage to the resounding legacy of Jean- Michel Basquiat. In celebration of the ways in which art shapes that has inspired them and their mer creative director of Def Jam, MUSEUMBROOKLYN 200 EASTERN PKWY., BKLYN 6:30PM–8:00PM • $11 ARCHAEOLOGY OF CENTRAL PARK Before Central Park, there was 300 free African Americans and recent immigrants from Germany diversity, political activism and 190 UNDERHILL AVE., BKLYN Contemporary artists and col- Michel Basquiat. In celebration mer creative director of Def Jam, 200 EASTERN PKWY., BKLYN diversity, political activism and THRU FEB 18 Various times • $15 per screening FILMFILM SERIES: SERIES: FIGHT FIGHT THE THE POWER:POWER: BLACK BLACK SUPERHEROES SUPERHEROES ONON FILM FILM FromFrom blaxploitation blaxploitation icons icons to to supernatural avengers to anti- colonialcolonial outlaws, outlaws, this this series series spot- spot- lights industry-defying images of blackblack heroism heroism and and empowerment empowerment lmslms that that are are as socially as sociallyinin fi and fi and politicallypolitically subversive subversive as they as they are are downright fun. More info at bam. org. BAM ROSEBAM ROSE CINEMAS CINEMAS 30 AVE., LAFAYETTE BKLYN THRU FEB 23 9AM–5PM9AM–5PM weekdays weekdays • FREE • FREE EXHIBITION:EXHIBITION:“IDENTITY”“IDENTITY” “Identity” showcases works berber that that explore explorein imageryin imagery fi fi of of peoplepeople of of the the African African diaspora. diaspora. The exhibition features pieces byby nine nine artists artists who who use use a variety a variety of tools including embroidery, soft sculpture, quilt and mixed media. With elements of swag, spirituality,spirituality, icons, icons, music music and and socialsocial justice, justice, the the works works illustrate illustrate thethe varying varying backgrounds backgrounds and and traditionstraditions that that govern govern the the artists’ artists’ lives.lives. ARSENALARSENAL GALLERYGALLERY THE ARSENAL BUILDING, CEN- & FIFTH ST. 64TH TRAL PARK AT AVE. FEB 8–FEB 25 8PM Thu–Sat, 3PM Sun • $18, students and seniors $15 THEATER: BABE RUTH The play dramatizes the life, loves and ultimately the tragic decline of Josh Gibson, who, with 962 career home runs, was one of baseball’s greatest slug- gers. Despite his abilities, Major League Baseball club owners and Gibson’s own personal demons prevented him from playing in the big leagues. FOR THE NEWTHEATER CITY 155 FIRST AVE. THU FEB 15 7PM–9PM • $25 TALK: A TRIBUTE TO BASQUIAT Contemporary artists and col- laborators pay homage to the resounding legacy of Jean- Michel Basquiat. In celebration of the ways in which art shapes lives, each participant discusses a work of art in Basquiat’s oeuvre that has inspired them and their practice. Participants include Cey Adams,ti artist graffi and for- mer creative director of Def Jam, and photographer Maripol. MUSEUMBROOKLYN 200 EASTERN PKWY., BKLYN THU FEB 22 6:30PM–8:00PM • $11 CLASS: SENECA VILLAGE & THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF CENTRAL PARK Before Central Park, there was Seneca Village, home of some 300 free African Americans and recent immigrants from Germany and Ireland. It was a center of diversity, political activism and an important stop on the Under- ground Railroad. Then, in 1857, it was violently razed to make way for the future park. Learn more about this important facet of New York history. PROSPECT HEIGHTS BRAINERY 190 UNDERHILL AVE., BKLYN By Indy Staff Design by Mikael Tarkela ON FILM colonial outlaws, this series spot- mer creative director of Def Jam, for the future park. Learn more Women, . ALAIN LOCKE ANGELA DAVIS ANGELA ELIZABETH NUNEZ WED FEB 7 7PM–9PM • FREE TEACH-IN: THE POWER OF BLACK FEMINISM A discussion on the history of black feminism and its lessons for a new generation of activists today. This gathering will also be WED FEB 21 6:30PM–8PM • FREE TALK: FREED AFRICAN AMERI- CANS IN THE WEST VILLAGE African Americans in Greenwich Village during the 19th century formed an enclave of free and self-emancipated people living, working and thriving within the nes of an oppressiveconfi soci- ety. Learn of several little-known but not forgotten abolitionists, entrepreneurs and radical think- ers whose efforts enhanced the lives of many, especially within the community known as Little Africa at this talk hosted by scholar Jamila Brathwaite. HUDSON PARK LIBRARY 66 LEROY ST. the start of a month-long reading group on Angela Davis’ Race, and Class FREEBROOKLYN SCHOOL AVE., CLINTON BKLYN 372 by Jeffrey by by Jeffrey Jeffrey THE NEW NE- . The NewThe Negro: The NewThe Negro: 6:30PM • $5 demand a response to the coun- try’s racism? Especially today, is there an onus on writers of color to shine a spotlight on racial injustice? Hear from authors Elizabeth Nunez 8PM • $45 in advance, $50 day of MUSIC: THE 6TH ANNUAL “FUNKY FAT TUESDAY” George Clinton lands the mother- ship for a night of ass-liberating funk. Uncle Jam hosts what’s George Clinton lands the mother- 6:30PM–8:30PM6:30PM–8:30PM • $15 • $15 TALK: BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL: FASHION AND CONSCIOUSNESS on the impact of Brathwaite Sr.’s unstraightened hair and dark MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK 6:30PM • FREE GRO: THE LIFE OF ALAIN LOCKE Alain Locke was a writer, phi- losopher and the architect of the philosophy behind the Harlem Renaissance, an awakening ofof artistic artistic creativity creativity and and racial racial pride centered in Harlem. The new biography, Locke came to his view of Harlem ness.ness. A book A book signing signing will will follow. follow. SEARCHSEARCH IN IN BLACK BLACK CULTURE CULTURE MALCOLM X BLVD. 515 TUE FEB 6 6:30PM–8:30PM • $15 TALK: BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL: FASHION AND CONSCIOUSNESS Documentary photographer Kwame Brathwaite and his son Kwame S. Brathwaite join historian ect Tanisha Ford to refl on the impact of Brathwaite Sr.’s pioneering “Black Is Beautiful” photographs. Beginning in the late 1950s, Brathwaite helped popularize an Afrocentric vi- sion of female beauty featuring unstraightened hair and dark skin, then considered exotic in mainstream American media and popular culture. MUSEUM OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK 1220 103RD FIFTH AT AVE ST. TUE FEB 13 6:30PM • FREE BOOK LAUNCH: GRO: THE LIFE OF ALAIN LOCKE Alain Locke was a writer, phi- losopher and the architect of the philosophy behind the Harlem Renaissance, an awakening of artistic creativity and racial pride centered in Harlem. The new biography, Life ofThe Alain Locke Stewart, tells the story of how Locke came to his view of Harlem as a crucible of race conscious- ness. A book signing will follow. SCHOMBURG CENTER FOR RE- SEARCH IN BLACK CULTURE MALCOLM X BLVD. 515 TUE FEB 13 8PM • $45 in advance, $50 day of MUSIC: THE 6TH ANNUAL “FUNKY FAT TUESDAY” CELEBRATION WITH GEORGE CLINTON & PARLIAMENT FUNK- ADELIC George Clinton lands the mother- ship for a night of ass-liberating funk. Uncle Jam hosts what’s become an annual Mardi Gras celebration for a sixth straight year. B.B. KING BLUES CLUB & GRILL 237 42ND W. ST. TUE FEB 27 6:30PM • $5 DISCUSSION: BLACK WRITERS IN A POST-OBAMA AMERICA Does literature by black writers demand a response to the coun- try’s racism? Especially today, is there an onus on writers of color to shine a spotlight on racial injustice? Hear from authors Kaitlyn Greenidge, Bernice Mc- Fadden, Garnette Cadogan and Quincy Troupe in a panel discus- sion moderated by the novelist Elizabeth Nunez HISTORICALBROOKLYN SOCIETY 128 PIERREPONT BKLYN ST., Documentary photographer pioneering “Black Is Beautiful” GRO: THE LIFE OF ALAIN LOCKE losopher and the architect of the TUE FEB 13 SPIKE LEE SPELLS FOR

SCHOOL DAZE

WITH CAROLEE

PRINCE DESIGNS) GEORGE CLINTON

UNTITLED (SIKOLO KWAME BRATHWAITE MON FEB 26 6:30PM • FREE TALK: THEATER-IN-BLACK IN HARLEM This free-ranging conversation will touch upon the legacies of Harlem theater companies that include W.E.B. Du Bois and Regina Anderson’s KRIGWA and Langston Hughes and Louise Thompson’s Suitcase Theater, as well as successive companies such as those developed by Amiri Baraka and others. SCHOMBURG CENTER FOR RE- SEARCH IN BLACK CULTURE MALCOLM X BLVD. 515 MON FEB 5 8PM–10PM • FREE BOOK LAUNCH: BLACK WIZARDS Candace Williams is a black queer nerd living a double life. By day, she’s a middle school humanities and robotics teacher. By night, she’s a poet. NEWACE YORK HOTEL 20 ST. W 29TH February 2018 February follows follows February 2018 INDYPENDENT THE

SCHOOL DAZE SCHOOLSCHOOL DAZE DAZE offers a deft mix of offers offers a deft a deft mix mix of of SchoolDaze SchoolDaze W. E. W. B. DU BOIS CANDACE WILLIAMS CANDACE 11AM–4PM • FREE with museum TALK: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FRED- ERICK DOUGLASS Wish Frederick Douglass a very happy 200th birthday. Gather aroundaround Douglass, Douglass, Mr. Mr. portrayed portrayed byby historian historian Michael Michael Crutcher, Crutcher, to to 7PM • $15 SCREENING: Spike Lee will be on hand to introduceintroduce this this special special 30th 30th anniversary screening of his fresh, funny and formally auda- lm. cious fi a self-styleda self-styled radical radical (Laurence (Laurence Fishburne) as he tries to shake up political consciousness at an his- toricallytorically black black college. college. Bursting Bursting SchoolSchoolDaze Daze ing insightfully on colorism, class and African-American identity. 30 AVE., LAFAYETTE BKLYN 9PM9PM • $20 • $20 COMEDY: BLACK HISTORY Join comedic emcee Radha- MUSprime along with her trusty sound God, DJ Jahmedcine, and special guests as she celebrates the 28 most important days of the year. 425 ST. LAFAYETTE THE INDYPENDENT BLACK CELEBRATE HISTORY MONTH! SUN FEB 11 11AM–4PM • FREE with museum admission TALK: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FRED- ERICK DOUGLASS Wish Frederick Douglass a very happy 200th birthday. Gather around Douglass, Mr. portrayed byby historian historian Michael Michael Crutcher, Crutcher, to to learn aboutght for his lifelong fi equality and ask him about his role in abolishing slavery. NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY CENTRAL PARK170 WEST SUN FEB 11 7PM • $15 SCREENING: SpikeSpike Lee Lee will will be be on on hand hand to to introduce this special 30th anniversary screening of his fresh, funny and formally auda- lm. cious fi a self-styled radical (Laurence Fishburne) as he tries to shake up political consciousness at an his- torically black college. Bursting with energetic musical numbers, SchoolDaze comedy and commentary, touch- ing insightfully on colorism, class and African-American identity. BAM ROSE CINEMAS 30 AVE., LAFAYETTE BKLYN SUN FEB 18 9PM • $20 COMEDY: BLACK HISTORY MOMF! Join comedic emcee Radha- MUSprime along with her trusty sound God, DJ Jahmedcine, and special guests as she celebrates the 28 most important days of the year. JOE’S PUB 425 ST. LAFAYETTE 14 WAR PROFITEERS

$700 BIllIon foR whaT? how RUnaway MIlITaRy spendIng Keeps Us fRoM MeeTIng oUR Real needs GARY MARTIN By Mark Haim posed need to fi ght a “war on terror” became the ra- military that costs more than the next 11 top spenders tionale, although the supposed enemy was a ragtag combined. Note, too, the “military budget,” which de- n recent years the peace movement has often non-state actor with no territory, no military assets vours more than half of all discretionary federal spend- felt like a neglected stepchild, largely ignored and only a handful of fi ghters. What was never ac- ing, does not include the CIA, Veterans Administration, by many left-liberal groups. It seems that end- knowledged was the reality that the growth in so- military disabilities and many other expenses. ing war and militarism is just not on their agen- called “Islamist terror groups” was largely blowback da. When the Women’s March was organized — the result of and reaction to U.S. intervention in Iat the time of Trump’s inauguration, opposition to the region. the CoMPLeX war was not on their radar. Although it was added to the mission statement, it’s received little attention So, why is the MIC ascendant in the USA? Who benefi ts and is not among the eight Unity Principles on their website. And among many politicians other- MANY LEFT-LIBERAL GROUPS IGNORE wise deemed “progressive” we’ve seen no sense of urgency regard- ing ending the “endless war” or THE PENTAGON’S SWOLLEN BUDGET even for beating some swords into plowshares. EVEN AS IT DEVOURS RESOURCES THAT Of course it wasn’t always this way. During the later years of the Bush Administration the Iraq COULD BE PUT TO MUCH BETTER USE. War became an albatross around the neck of the GOP. Many citizens were deeply op- eNteR DoNaLD tRuMP and how? posed to the war, therefore a goodly number of Dem- While a defi nitive answer is hard to pin down, a few ocratic politicians, including Barack Obama, made While the left was appalled by the positions Trump took possibilities, not mutually exclusive, include: A domi- ending the U.S. role in Iraq a signifi cant plank in on virtually all issues, his neo-isolationist campaign nant military position goes hand in glove with the con- their platforms. rhetoric led some to believe that perhaps he’d be less in- trol of global fi nancial institutions; it backs up control But Obama’s opposition to the Iraq War did not terventionist than Hillary Clinton. Unfortunately, the of resources, markets and labor in less developed coun- represent a broader rejection of U.S. militarism and President is quite different from Trump on the stump. tries by U.S. and transnational corporations. Geopoliti- the military-industrial complex (MIC) that President He has surrounded himself with generals and repeatedly cal dominance assures the ability to intervene at will in Eisenhower warned the nation against back in 1961. threatened to blow North Korea off the face of the Earth. confl icts, either directly, as in Libya, or by proxy, as in Obama, in spite of his Nobel Peace Prize, dramatical- Trump campaigned on the bogus claim that the U.S. Yemen, or both, as in Syria. ly escalated drone warfare; surged troops to Afghani- military was “depleted,” and, in offi ce, he has pushed stan; bombed seven predominantly Muslim nations; massive increases in the Pentagon budget. Sadly, a bi- Continued on page 20 intervened in Libya, Syria, Somalia and numerous partisan majority in Congress gave other countries, and initiated a trillion-dollar nuclear him all he asked for than then weapons modernization program. some. The administration had re- The lack of meaningful progress on the peace front quested upping the military budget BY THE NUMBERS during Obama’s eight years in offi ce is really no sur- for fi scal year 2018 (FY18) to $668 prise. There has been a continuity of support for glob- billion, an increase of $57 billion al hegemony throughout the entire post-WWII era. from the FY17 appropriation of $611 BILLION 2017 U.S. military budget. While there have been a outliers here and there, the $611 billion. Congress ended up mainstream of both major parties has supported mas- authorizing $700 billion, adding $700 BILLION 2018 U.S. military budget. sive military budgets and the dominant presence of the $32 billion to the Pentagon’s re- U.S. military on every continent, in every ocean, in the quest. The Senate vote was 89 to $595 BILLION Total 2016 military spending of China, Russia, Saudi skies, in outer space and in the cyber realm. The mili- eight, with most Democrats joining Arabia, India, France, U.K., Japan and Germany. tary calls this “Full Spectrum Dominance.” their GOP colleagues in showering During the Cold War, the supposed threat of Com- extra billions on the military. $89 BILLION Increase in U.S. military spending from 2017 to 2018. munism was the justifi cation for super-sized bud- It is worth noting that, accord- gets and a continuous stream of wars and interven- ing to the Stockholm Internation- Estimated cost of implementing nationwide free public February 2018 $75 BILLION tions—some overt, others covert or proxy—none of al Peace Research Institute, the college tuition as proposed by Bernie Sanders. which had anything to do with defending the United FY17 appropriation exceeded the States—and none of which ended in victory. These military spending of the next eight SOURCES: STOCKHOLM INTERNATIONAL PEACE RESEARCH INSTITUTE, were sold to the American people as being fought to largest spenders combined, six of BERNIESANDERS.COM “defend freedom” or “support democracy.” which are U.S. allies. And the in- After the Cold War ended it became more diffi cult crease means that in 2018 U.S. tax-

The IndypendenT to justify such a massive military. Post-9/11 the sup- payers will be footing the bill for a 15 PROTEST

J20 TRIals To ResUMe feds TaRgeT 59 ReMaInIng defendanTs “This brilliant collection shows how the dismal neoliberalism of the corporate Democrats combined with the dark genius of the right to put a malignantly narcissistic, racist, sexist, and nativist white- nationalist mogul in the White House. The contributors point the By Indypendent Staff a request it dropped in August when way to an independent and genuinely Left politics beyond what

the site’s host pushed back. DAVID HOLLENBACH n Jan. 18, the govern- In recent court fi lings, the gov- contributor Nancy Fraser rightly calls “the Hobson’s choice between ment announced it ernment says it is now targeting reactionary populism and progressive neoliberalism.” was dropping charges “defendants who: (1) engaged in —Paul Street, author, They Rule: The 1 Percent v. Democracy against 129 people identifi able acts of destruction, vio- swept up in mass ar- lence, or other assaultive conduct; Orests while protesting Donald Trump (2) participated in the planning of on Inauguration Day 2017. the violence and destruction; and/ “I’m glad it’s over,” Adam Simp- or (3) engaged in conduct that dem- son, one of the defendants who had onstrates a knowing and intentional expected to attend a pretrial hearing use of the black-bloc tactic on Janu- the following day in Washington, ary 20, 2017, to perpetrate, aid or D.C., told The Independent. abet violence and destruction.” ay in There was cause for celebration for Those still slated to stand trial in- hich w those whose charges were dismissed, clude journalist (and former Indy W as well as the six defendants who contributor) Aaron Cantú. Attorneys EA? were acquitted by a jury in December. for Cantú, who attended the demon- KOR War? Yet, in a statement, the U.S. Attor- stration as a reporter, are seeking to reats and nd ney’s Offi ce for the District of Colum- have the charges against him dropped Th c Truce a bia said it would continue to pursue on First Amendment grounds. Olympi a case against the remaining 59 de- The remaining defendants pros- R macy? fendants, the “core group that we O Diplo believe is most responsible for the destruction and violence that took A TOTAL place on Inauguration Day.” “This is a victory, but the OF 21 A Forum nd fi ght is far from over,” said Sam Thursday, February 22 , 7 to 9 pm Menefee-Libey, a member of the TRIALS ARE Dead City Legal Posse, which has PLANNED. @ The Brooklyn Commons provided housing and mutual aid Olympic to the defendants. “The U.S. At- Truce 388 Atlantic Avenue (near Bond St) torney’s Offi ce continues to zealously ecuted in a series of trials, mainly in prosecute many who were protest- groups of at least four. The next trial As Trump threatens to give North Korea a "bloody nose," learn why ing a proto-fascist president and the is expected to begin in March, with diplomacy is the only strategy for a successful resolution of this crisis. solidarity among defendants and sup- prosecutions stretching into the fall. porters remains strong.” A total of 21 trials are planned. Ÿ Is North Korea really a threat to the United States? Ÿ Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer “Every trial is a new universe,” the What’s the history of US nuclear policy toward North Korea? Ÿ What is the “freeze for a freeze” proposal? Kerkhoff originally sought convic- presiding judge, Robert Morin, re- Ÿ What is the Olympic Truce? tions against 234 people in relation marked at a Jan. 19 motion hearing. to the Inauguration Day protest on At the same time, the American Juyeon JC Rhee, is a first William (Bill) Hartung, is charges that carry decades in pris- Civil Liberties Union is moving ahead generation Korean immigrant Director of the Arms and Security on, including “conspiracy to riot.” with a lawsuit against the D.C. Met- grassroots organizer. Rhee has Project at the Center for International Thirteen individuals accepted lesser ropolitan Police Department for ex- worked for decades on de- Policy, His articles have appeared in the plea deals but dozens of defendants cessive use of force on Inauguration New York Times, the Washington Post,

militarization, peace and unification in 2018 February refused and government has already Day. Demonstrators were kettled, Korea. She’s a Board member of the Los Angeles Times, The Nation, and spent millions prosecuting the al- pepper-sprayed and, according to the Nodutdol for Korean Community the World Policy Journal. Hartung has appeared regularly on CBS 60 Minutes, leged rioters for what, by its own lawsuit, denied food, water and bath- Development, and of the Korea NBC Nightly News, the Lehrer Policy Institute. admission, amounts to $100,000 in room access for several hours. Two Newshour, and more. property damage. plaintiffs accuse offi cers of subjecting The IndypendenT The brooklynpeace.orgFor the most // [email protected] part, prosecutors ap- them to // unnecessary718-624-5921 rectal searches brooklynforpeacepear to be grasping at straws. They in order to humiliate them. BROOKLYN FOR PEACE have cited the dark clothing demon- brooklynpeace.org • [email protected] • 718.624.5921 brooklynforpeacestration attendees brooklynforpeace wore as proof of a conspiracy and last year sought the IP brooklyn4peace brooklynforpeace addresses of 1.3 million internet us- brooklynforpeace brooklynforpeace ers who visited the protest’s website, 16 RACE & CLASS

feaR of a BlaCK planeT UndeR The RepUBlICan pUsh foR welfaRe CUTs, RaCIsM BoIls

By Nicholas Powers is smart, decisive and a straight, white male. “I 1915 fi lm Birth of a Nation. In it, Gus, a Black will be the greatest job producer that God ever federal soldier — a brute — tries to rape a white ever tell anyone,” my mother created,” Trump promised. He is exhibit one on woman. In the state-house scene, Black elected “ hissed, “that we’re on welfare!” I how privilege warps self-image. In a Mar-a-Lago offi cials put their dirty feet on desks; they eat sputtered, “Okay.” She let go, an- portrait he commissioned, our president looks chicken, drink, fi ght and act loutish. They were grily. People shuffl ed to the win- like Alexander the Great crossed with Fabio. “coons” in power. The white audience cheered dow where a tired man scanned On the other end, conservatives see the poor the Ku Klux Klan chasing them out to “redeem” Ntheir papers. That was 1982. Passing a poster of as expecting handouts for nothing. Sen. Orrin the white man’s country. President Ronald Reagan, she shot him the mid- Hatch (R-Utah) recently said, “I have a rough I saw Birth of a Nation in a college fi lm dle fi nger. Later, I realized he’d risen to power by time wanting to spend … trillions of dollars to course, and, watching it, my chest tightened. branding women like her “welfare queens.” help people who won’t help themselves … and Here was the myth that lay in the heart of the In late 2017, Donald Trump smiled as the expect the federal government to do every- U.S. Here were the characters that racists saw GOP passed its Tax Cuts and Jobs Bill. The Re- thing.” He was followed by Sen. Charles Grass- when they looked at me, my family and friends. publicans want to slash Medicaid, food stamps ley (R-Iowa), who wanted to repeal the estate and welfare. The defi cit their tax bill created tax because the rich invest, unlike the poor who will be used to justify that. Yet, why attack the “are just spending every darn penny they have, BeWaRe oF the DoG WhiStLe needy? In American conservativism, the inter- whether it’s on booze or women or movies.” nal enemy of the nation is the idle poor — spe- The modern GOP thinks the poor are para- It is an iconic photo. I always wonder at it. In cifi cally, the poor of color. sites, an idea inherited from older conservatives, 1957, soldiers guarded nine Black teens walk- Republicans talk of prosperity, dignity and schooled in social Darwinism and eugenics. It ing to school in Little Rock, Arkansas. White self-reliance. Peel back the rhetoric, and rac- is deeply familiar. I’ve known this rhetoric my Southerners spat slurs as if the civil-rights ism boils underneath. Tax cuts and calls to end whole life because it was aimed at me. movement were a second Reconstruction. welfare are dog whistles for white supremacy. Eighty years after Northern occupation, federal The real effect of their policies is that people troops were back in an attempt to force at least will suffer and thousands will die as they fall WheN NoNWhite MeaNS NoN- a semblance of Black equality. through gaping holes in the safety net. huMaN Today, a memorial stands to the Little Rock Nine at the Arkansas state capitol. When they “Blacks are lazy.” “Blacks complain.” “Blacks integrated the school, each step inside was a DeaDLY Math always want a handout.” I heard it all before literal and symbolic trampling of open racism. and hated it. My mom came home, bone-tired Alongside African-Americans’ legal victories Every day, I see homeless people ask for money. from work. My aunts, uncles and friends were was a cultural one: White supremacy, if not de- Every. Day. On the street or lurching in a train, wrung dry from work. I was always told to feated, was somewhat delegitimized. they shake cups for loose coins. Most of us look work “twice as hard.” We were running from a When the white backlash came, politicians away. A few give wrinkled bills. Many wince stereotype: the “parasite coon.” could no longer speak in bald racism. Repub- with disgust — mostly, I think, because we’re Racism bends vision into preset images. licans, who were rebounding after decades afraid of becoming them. We already live such The underlying spectrum is from fully human of New Deal Democratic dominance, used a precarious lives. whites to animalistic nonwhites. At the bottom, “Southern strategy” to corral racist Democrats. How do we justify poverty in a land of abun- in the right-wing worldview, Africans are still It cleaned up bigotry with euphemism. dance? The U.S. is the wealthiest nation in his- framed as monkeys: bestial, lustful and stupid. Lee Atwater, a political strategist for Reagan tory. The annual federal budget is nearly $3.5 The white racial imagination changes with and George H.W. Bush, spelled out the mechan- trillion. All of us pour into it. Our paychecks the level of control over Black people. In the ics. “You start out in 1954 by saying, nigger, are slivered. Corporations cough up cash. Even Antebellum era, the Southern planter class pro- nigger, nigger,” he breezily instructed. “By undocumented workers pay taxes. Yet, out of moted the docile Black as proof of slavery’s be- 1968 you can’t say nigger. So, you say forced 326 million people, 43.1 million live in poverty. nefi cence. “Mammy” happily served her mas- busing, states’ rights. You’re getting so abstract In the Deep South, Midwestern Rust Belt ter. “Uncle Tom” happily served his master. now that you’re talking about cutting taxes towns and public housing all over the nation, “Sambo” did too. They were portrayed as pets, and a byproduct is Blacks get hurt worse than people cling to food stamps and Medicaid. kept by a superior race. whites.” It was a cruel calculation. The Black These needed programs lie on the Republican After the smoke of the Civil War cleared, the poverty rate was higher and the need for social chopping block. President Trump has pushed white racial imagination, fueled by fear of free programs, greater. drug testing for food stamps and work require- Black people, created more menacing imagery. The So, when Richard Nixon called for “law and ments for Medicaid. Rep. Paul Ryan wants to rapist, Black male brute was a threat. The wan- order,” the Republican voter heard “Blacks.” cut Social Security and Medicare. ton Black Jezebel was a threat. The “coon” was a When Reagan praised states’ rights and at- Again, why attack the most vulnerable? May- sambo gone bad; he was lazy, cynical and mean. tacked “welfare queens,” the Republican voter be it’s because the poor vote less. When they “Bad” Black images rose with white fear. The heard “Blacks.” When Bush hammered Demo- do, they vote for Democrats. Maybe it’s because Black Codes were written with the pen of white crat Michael Dukakis in 1988 with the infa- Republicans — like all of us — don’t see just panic. The Ku Klux Klan rode at night to kill mous Willie Horton ad — Atwater’s baby — with their eyes, but also with their ideology. freedmen and reclaim the land. As the Radical Republican voters saw “Blacks.” The GOP is led by a business elite that does Republicans sent troops to guard Black voting Each political invocation of the “bad” Black, not have a natural base. Since the 1970s, it has rights, property and bodies, former Confed- whether the parasite-coon, brute or baby-mak- allied with Christian evangelicals, jingoists erates hated federal soldiers for forcing racial ing Jezebel, heralded cuts to social programs. and racists to ride reactionary movements to equality. “States’ rights” transformed into a Poor Blacks got hurt worse than poor whites. power. It fuses our class and racial hierarchies call to arms for white supremacy. They also got hurt with them. President Lyndon to cut off interracial, working-class solidarity. In 1877, a deal to resolve the disputed presiden- B. Johnson’s 1965-68 War on Poverty had saved It is kept going by feeding its voting base with tial election of 1876 ended Reconstruction. Fed- millions of lives. What was not being saved was political “red meat” via Fox News and other eral troops left the South. White militias killed, the idea of welfare itself. Republicans gave it a February 2018

right-wing outlets, which channel resentment at raped and beat Black people who tried to vote. Black face, even though the majority of welfare immigrants, the poor and especially, the poor Southern “Redemption” had begun — a political recipients had been (and still are) white. of color. cycle of Black freedom confronted by white back- After campaigning against “welfare queens,” The GOP employs a Manichean ideology lash. It used “bad” Black imagery like the Brute Reagan said in his 1981 inaugural address, with two poles, opposed but bound together. or Parasite Coon. It was violent. It spoke the lan- “Government is not the solution to our prob- On one end, there is the “job creator,” who guage of states’ rights and small government. lem, government is the problem.” He cut pay-

The IndypendenT comes off like Hercules in a business suit. He D.W. Griffi th romanticized this terror in the ments to the working poor, cut a million people 17 feaR of a BlaCK planeT UndeR The RepUBlICan pUsh foR welfaRe CUTs, RaCIsM BoIls off food stamps and cut job programs. He coming to the rescue; he was the Redeemer then gave tax breaks to the wealthy. of White Supremacy. He promised border Fifteen years later, President Bill Clinton in walls. He promised “law and order.” He even his 1996 State of the Union speech said, “The promised to save Medicaid, Medicare and era of big government is over.” Later that Social Security for the “deserving poor” — year, he signed the Personal Responsibility down-on-their-luck white people. and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act; it They needed it. Blatant white supremacy, ended welfare as an entitlement, limited ben- left behind by global capitalism, had hit a efi ts and forced work requirements. He then nadir. Deaths of despair hit a heartland ru- repealed parts of the Glass-Steagall Act and ined by opioids and joblessness. Seeing no let big Wall Street banks play in the markets. future, they turned to Trump — who, having In 2005, George W. Bush tried to priva- no plan, turned to the GOP — who tried to tize Social Security. He was stopped cold by “solve” this problem with a massive tax cut Democrats and a disbelieving public. for the wealthy. The Republican strategy of displacing racism At this point, it doesn’t matter if this or onto welfare and other social programs satis- that Republican is personally racist. They fi ed the GOP’s business elite. It did not help can toast marshmallows on a burning cross their base, who were trapped on both ends. for all it matters. The GOP cannot credibly Over them was a top-heavy GOP whose busi- take a race-neutral position when its poli- ness leaders and donors were destroying the tics has been based on racism for the last 50 very social programs the white poor needed. At years. The effects of its policies are race-spe- the other end, they were trapped by their own cifi c. And class-specifi c. And deadly. racial bias against “big government.” We won’t see them, and we won’t know What racist voters could not see in the their names, but people will die. Quietly. In- footage of federal troops protecting Black visibly. Ten thousand of us will die. Former children going to school in Little Rock was Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers ana- that the soldiers were not just protecting ev- lyzed the Congressional Budget Offi ce report eryone’s right to attend public institutions. that 13 million people will leave Obamacare They were protecting the very possibility of when the individual mandate is repealed. He having them. said on CNBC, “When people lose health in- surance, they’re less likely to get preventive care, defer health care they need, and they’re FeaR oF a BLaCK PLaNet more likely to die.” Ten thousand. Ten thousand. I repeat it. “It’s not a bigger government we need,” Not just a number. It’s someone shaking Barack Obama said in his 2013 State of the with fever. It’s someone fi ghting for breath. Union address. “It’s a smarter one.” I cringed It’s getting a phone call that someone you as he spoke. The fi rst Black President felt he loved died, far away and alone because they had to soothe a public raised on the racial couldn’t afford treatment. stigma of big government, assuring them that How many people have they killed? On he wasn’t going to sell white people into slav- my laptop, a video plays of the GOP cheer- ery to pay off the federal debt. ing the tax bill. I turn it off, go outside and Just a year before, former Speaker of the see a line of people waiting for free food at House Newt Gingrich launched a short-lived my neighborhood church. Old men, work- presidential candidacy by calling Obama ers, a neighbor I know, all wait with carts. A “the most effective food-stamp president in mother stands with them, trying to hold two American history.” He was asked about it squirming kids. She’s tired. I look at her and and squirmed like an eel. see across 30 years to my childhood and the Months later, Pat Buchanan bellowed on moment I learned to be silent. TV, “Barack Obama is a drug dealer of wel- fare.” He contrasted him with candidate Mitt Nicholas Powers is a professor of african Romney’s work ethic. Romney was caught on american literature at SuNY old-Westbury a hot mic saying, “There are 47 percent of and author of The Ground Beneath Zero the people … who are dependent upon gov- (upset Press, 2013). this article originally ernment, who believe that they are victims, appeared at truth-out.org. who believe government has a responsibility to care for them.” Again, race works its magic between the lines. Again, the parasite coon is a shadow in the text. After Obama’s 2008 victory, fear of a Black planet became a rising rage. Black Democratic pollster Cornell Belcher noted on Roland Martin’s TV One show, “You saw a LYNNE FOSTER spike in racial aversion. … Whites see it as February 2018 February we’re losing power to them.” It was Birth of a Nation again, only this time, federal troops didn’t just attempt to force racial equality: They obeyed the com- mands of a Black President. Each news cycle brought fresh proof that the United States IndypendenT The was slipping out of white hands. A Latina was on the Supreme Court. Confederate stat- ues were torn down. Black people rioted and protested in the streets. When Donald Trump glided down the escalator, he was a one-man Ku Klux Klan 18 ONE-ON-ONE

The ChaMp! CoMedIan JUdah fRIedlandeR spIlls The Beans on TayloR swIfT, hIs BaRBIe doll & U.s. IMpeRIalIsM

By Peter Rugh blandness encroaching in from every angle and That’s probably why we got Trump. This guy you just feel it. So I think it’s more important who’s obsessed with winning. ou might have seen him at this than ever to fi ght back. year’s Women’s March in January: Trump is terrible as a president and a person. A large man with a shaggy beard, When did you become political? But I think he’s an appropriate president for long, unruly hair, the brim of a the country, unfortunately. And you know this trucker hat covering his eyes and a I’ve always been interested in human rights and I whole “world champion” persona that I do on BarbieY doll in his hands. Look a little closer — did a lot of cartoons and comic strips when I was stage satirizes that — this narcissism, this gloat- that Barbie is carrying a miniature sign. “Sex- a kid. When I was 11 I did one about the Lech ing and bragging about yourself. There’s more ism & racism are two ingredients of capitalism,” Walesa and Polish workers’ rights. I remember layers to it but that’s one of the themes. Trump is it reads, and the man holding the dolly is none my dad reading the paper and him screaming at probably the most extreme example of a narcis- other than stand-up comic Judah Friedlander, it or seeing stuff on TV and just screaming at it. I sist and of hate and all these things that exist in aka Frank Rossitano of the long-running sitcom, was raised to really be skeptical and critical, and our country. Many people go through life trying “30 Rock.” think and analyze and look at things from differ- to think that we don’t have these ugly sides. But DROPPING IN: “Activist Barie” is an ongoing Instagram art ent perspectives, not just your own. you do and if you don’t acknowledge, you can’t Judah Friedlander project, Friedlander explains, using humor to get About seven or eight years ago, I started do- make it better. during his recent visit more people to feel more comfortable with dis- ing shows overseas in Europe, mostly England One of the reasons Trump might win again is to the Indy offi ce at the sent. The comedian, whose special “America is but other countries too. I thought, “I’m going to because so many people who don’t like Trump Brooklyn Commons. the Greatest Country in the United States” is cur- go to these countries and will learn a lot about view him as the only problem. They’re like, “If rently available on Netfl ix, dropped byThe Indy them,” which I did — but I really learned more we just get rid of Trump, everything’s going to offi ces recently for a wide-ranging conversation about my own culture. It’s kind of like if you’re go back to normal and be perfect.” Trump did on why this country is so fucked-up, fi ghting in a bad relationship, and whoever your partner not invent mass incarceration. He did not invent back and being a world champion. is, they’re not good to you. All your friends are for-profi t health care. We had all these problems like, “Why are you with this person? They’re before Trump. With him in offi ce things are in PETER RUGH: Tell us about your new stand- horrible to you.” You can’t see it because you’re danger of getting much, much worse. But the up special. so wrapped up in them. Then a few years go by, problems that we have he didn’t start. you’re not in that relationship anymore and now JUDAH FRIEDLANDER: It’s a documentary you have perspective and you can see it. When you are president what are you going to performance of stand-up shows that I did over That’s sort of like what going to Europe do about New York’s crumbling infrastructure? multiple nights in small venues, mostly the Com- was for me, where I’m like, “Okay, I’m not so edy Cellar here in New York. I made it 100 per- wrapped up in the U.S. system. I’m outside it and We’re not going to have more trains. We’ll have cent on my own. No outside fi nanciers or produc- I can look at it from a distance and be able to longer buses. I’m going to build buses that are 30 ers and I did it on a very low budget. It’s fi lmed in analyze it a little better.” miles long. That way, if your bus breaks down, black and white. I wanted it to sort of look like you walk a mere 29 miles to your destination. a Jim Jarmusch fi lm from the early ’80s or like a How does your material play overseas? There’s no delays. It’s a fl awless plan. We’ll get punk rock hand-held video. I’ve watched specials rid of the trains from the subway. Then, if we over the years and, for the most part, I’ve never Great. They know we’re a very powerful coun- have fl ooding from the next hurricane, just canoe liked the way they were fi lmed. They’re always try when it comes to money and military power. through the tunnels. That’s why I keep telling very high tech. There’s crane shots, all kinds of, Other countries pay attention to us. Despite all people, “Practice your swimming.” Swimming you know, smoke machines. Stand-up is a simple of our problems we’ve got to remember we’re a lessons are the key to surviving the future. art form. It’s kind of like jazz in that sense. And very entertaining country. No matter how bad I think it should be fi lmed in a very simple way. things are, it’s pretty entertaining. Some people Looking back on your experience with “30 Content-wise, it’s all satire on American ex- here watch reality shows for that train wreck Rock,” what stands out to you most? ceptionalism. It’s called “America is the Greatest mentality. That’s how they watch our news. Our Country in the United States” and you can’t ar- news is their reality show. First of all, my standup act is completely differ- gue with that. It deals with all the major issues of We’re taught in school and if you turn on the ent than what I did on “30 Rock.” A lot of my government oppression and hypocrisy — racism, news and listen to a Democrat politician or Re- act and certainly this stand-up special, is satire sexism, imperialism, fascism. I’ve been doing publican politician, they all say the same thing: on U.S. domestic and foreign policy and how im- stand-up since 1989 and I’ve always liked trying America is the greatest country in the world. perialistic it is, as well as oppressive, and how, to fi nd comedy in really serious areas where you Not only that, they say America is the greatest in many ways, it all basically stems from white wouldn’t think it would exist. country in the history of the world. And then supremacy and corporate supremacy and every- they’ll always say whenever someone is running thing falling under those umbrellas. I loved your bit about Taylor Swift and the for president that we’re here to elect the leader But what was great about “30 Rock” is that it tourism slogan “Welcome to New York.” of the free world. I always wondered how come was a very well written show. They had tons of no other country gets to vote for the leader of jokes and then the stories were actually funny. We’re the only city whose slogan is sarcastic. the free world? Well, it must be because we’re The writers were very good at both those two Taylor Swift has a song called “Welcome to New the greatest country. The other countries don’t things: the storyline and the jokes, and how they York” and when that came out the city made her deserve to vote for the leader of the free world. intertwined and connected. They would write it some kind of offi cial tourism ambassador. But and then they would rewrite it. They’d fi lm and when she sings “welcome to New York” it’s not Your comedy parodies that attitude. then they’d edit it and make it even tighter and done in a sarcastic way. It’s done in a friendly, tighter, so there was nothing extraneous. open-hearted way. I think she doesn’t understand Yeah, and I think that creates a lot of problems New York is what I’m saying. because if you’re taught this is the greatest coun- You’re working on new stand-up material now? February 2018

try, we’re number one, we’re the best but you’re It’s emblematic of how the city has changed. struggling through life, you can barely make Yep, mostly just in New York. I’m usually doing rent, etc., then you must think, “Well, there must about two to four shows a night, 15 minute sets. Today, so much of New York just feels like this be a glitch. There must be somebody we should And then I’m doing hour-long sets, about once giant, dull, slowly creeping corporate oppres- blame for this.” So people get taught, “Oh it’s every two or three weeks at the Comedy Cellar, sion. From the chain stores everywhere to the those immigrants that are messing up this coun- sometimes at The Stand. Then there’s a couple

The IndypendenT skyrocketing rents and cost of living, it’s this try, otherwise we’d be perfect.” little rooms in Brooklyn I do fairly often too. 19

adVeRTIse In

You prefer stand-up over acting. ally because some violence broke out. Whoever owns the news, they I view acting as a part of fi lmmak- don’t want people protesting that ing and I love fi lmmaking. It’s a much. And unfortunately it’s a very different art than stand-up. very small minority of the popu- The Indy Stand-up is immediate. When you lation that protests. So I take Ac- UnIQUe aUdIenCe make a movie, you get the idea, tivist Barbie to protests and use a you write it down, and you get a little humor to hopefully get peo- budget, you look for locations, you ple to say, “Okay, well, this looks affoRdaBle RaTes look for actors, and then you fi lm it different than what I saw on the all. From the time you had the idea news and maybe maybe this would to the time you screen it you’ve had be good to go to.” ERIN SHERIDAN peRsonal aTTenTIon to wait six months to fi nd out if it’s The other angle of Activist Bar- any good. With stand-up you fi nd bie is that it’s about sticking up for out within about one second. I like people and fi ghting for people’s that immediacy, being there with rights who may not look exactly foR MoRe InfoRMaTIon, the audience present and two feet like you. If only black people are eMaIl [email protected] oR Call 212-904-1282 from me. But I do love fi lmmak- fi ghting the oppression of black ing too and yeah this year I will do people, the chance of progress is some more acting stuff. very small. Everyone needs to stick up for everyone. If only gay people What’s the role of comedy in are fi ghting for gay people, what The IndypendenT these polarized times? does that say about humanity? People should look at everyone as The country is at war and most brothers and sisters and if there’s people don’t realize it. There are one particular group that’s getting wars going on on many different oppressed, everybody should be levels. Even amongst the political fi ghting for their rights. right — the struggle for power from the white supremacist ex- And what’s with the “world tremists to the religious extrem- champion” attire? ists to the more sort of main- GLOSSOLALIA stream, corporate Republicans. The “World Champion” stuff And anything to the left of the started out as just making fun Republicans, there’s a war going of the show-offs, the braggarts. a new album by on there too when you look at When Facebook came around, it SPIRIT OF... gender, when you look at race. In started morphing into a subver- these times, art is extremely im- sive comment on narcissism in portant, especially comedy. society in general. I used to do all I don’t like telling people what these jokes about these ridiculous to think but I like getting them to athletic achievements and would think. Most people are not dumb. be quite humble and modest, like Many people might have been mis- “Actually, I’m a real-life superhe- led or misguided but they’re not ro. Isn’t that amazing?” dumb. Human beings in general But, if you break it down, the are kind of hardwired to fear and World Champion, is a champion to fear things that are different. If of and for the world and for the you get someone to laugh about rights of all the humans and ani- something and it’s something mals and plants and the atmo- they’re either against or don’t even sphere and water in the world. think about, they might actually The World Champion is someone start looking at it from a different who who fi ghts for the rights of angle. I’m kind of a pessimist but the people on the planet, as well I’m a fi ghter. It’s important to try as being a phenomenal athlete. “...the saddest, most beautiful thing I’ve to fi ght with love not with hate. heard all year.” 2018 February Where does “Activist Barbie” fi t —  ­€‚ƒ„ †‚‡. €ˆ into all this?

It’s a sort of on-and-off art project SpiritOf.bandcamp.com on Instagram. It’s a little Barbie IndypendenT The doll and I take her to Black Lives Matter protests, anti-nuclear war with North Korea protests. I fi nd the mainstream media, in general, hates protests. They usually never cover them and if they do it’s usu- 20 MUSIC

KhRUangBIn: an aUdIo woRld ToUR

Con Todo El Mundo By Khruangbin the pulsating picking style synonymous ca music popular in mid-cen- LateNightTales, 2018 with surf has its roots in Lebanese music. tury suburban living rooms. GLOBAL

During France’s occupation of Cambodia These songs will inevita- INFLUENCES: The MARY KANG and Vietnam, yé-yé melded with Southeast bly inspire you to dance and members of Khruangbin. By Brady o’Callahan Asian folk stylings and, during the Viet- get lost in the groove. “Ma- nam War, American troops brought soul, ria Tambien” sounds like a surf-rock Spaghet- otten as they are, imperialism funk, R&B and the discordant guitar rock of ti Western soundtrack with a killer beat. Al- and our globalized mass culture that era east. In Thailand too — an important bum-standout “Evan Finds the Third Room” can sometimes produce unique American waystation during the war — mu- invites you to say “yes” to the beat and you’ll and beautiful, if unintended, sicians incorporated Western infl uences into fi nd your body unwittingly agreeing. It feels hybrids. Case in point: Texas- their traditional music. so good, you can’t help it. Rbased Khruangbin, who play the Music Hall All of this brings us to present day Texas Some naysayers may caution against at- of Williamsburg on April 13 and 14. The and Khruangbin. A shared love of Thai funk tempting to blend all these infl uences into one band’s name roughly translates to “airplane” and rock records from the in Thai and their new album, entitled Con 1960s and 1970s — pre- Todo El Mundo, is Spanish for “with the served on the internet via BLENDING MANY whole world” — fi tting, since their infl uences niche Blogspot sites — gave span the globe. the band a guiding aesthet- Thai rock and roll, soul, surf rock, French yé- ic. Khruangbin’s follow-up INFLUENCES INTO ONE yé, Levantine chalice drum rhythms — Khru- to their 2015 debut album, angbin is the manifestation of an idealized uni- The Universe Smiles Upon SOUND. versal harmony: a melding and collaboration of You, incorporates a new bag cultures without stripping any of their unique of tricks learned from Indian and Middle- sound, but Khruangbin is a shining example voice and experience. Differences in sound and Eastern infl uences, like the Iranian instru- that it can work, and that it works better than style are recognized, showcased and celebrated, mental funk group the Black Cats and Indian you’d ever imagine. Con Todo El Mundo re- all while serving the universal groove. bands like the Fentones. ally is for the whole world. The elements that comprise Khruangbin’s Con Todo El Mundo kicks off with the hot, sound are not wholly original in and of them- sticky “Como Me Quieres,” and stays in the selves, but are the product of cross-cultural groove for 43 minutes straight. Sharp drums pollination stretching back decades. Dick set the pace, the bass bounces alongside and Dale, for instance, the godfather of surf gui- the lead guitar dances around it all. It’s not tar, started out as a child accompanying his “easy listening,” but it’s super easy to listen to, loud-plucking uncle on tarabaki drum. Thus almost a sexier, modern-day take on the exoti-

here, given the massive amount being spent. But consider many and others — seem to be doing quite well maintain- endless waR, endless spendIng that, beyond spending suffi cient to provide reasonable de- ing militaries suffi cient to defend their countries from at- Continued from Page 14 fense, military expenditures provide no benefi t; they don’t tack, but without establishing bases or maintaining fl eets protect us or the environment; they fail utterly to improve in every part of the world. A military that is involved in frequent confl icts is one our quality of life. Unlike infrastructure, they are not an The simple answer is, “we don’t, but they — the MIC that gets to test weapons in the fi eld of battle. New tech- investment in our future. — do.” The citizenry would be far better off if our nation nology provides a competitive edge both in combat and Moreover, military spending is capital intensive and abandoned the role of global hegemon, led the world into in the world arms trade. Selling military hardware is very produces far fewer jobs than spending in most other sec- multilateral disarmament negotiations and redirected bil- profi table. This is one of just a handful of markets in tors. A 2011 study by Robert Pollin and Heidi Garrett- lions into investments in our people and infrastructure. which U.S. fi rms are still dominant. Peltier of the Political Economy Research Institute found The trick is fi nding a way to mobilize millions of citizens Having an adversary that can be portrayed as a threat is that dollarfor dollar green energy spending produces 16 to unite behind a broad progressive platform that includes helpful in efforts to rally the populace around the fl ag and percent more jobs than military spending. Healthcare making the move away from militarism, and fi nding the the government, which is seen as a protector of the safety produces 31 percent more. And education yields a whop- points of political leverage to advance this agenda. Sadly, of the nation. As George Orwell put it, “War is peace.” ping 125 percent more. And these are investments in a all much easier said than done. So, the complex feeds forward. The contractors benefi t. brighter future. They spend tens of millions each election cycle on can- Speaking of education, consider that the $89 billion in- Mark haim is a longtime advocate for peace, justice, sus- didates and have spent more than a billion this decade crease in military spending from FY17 to FY18 exceeds tainability and climate action. he serves as director of on lobbying. Their return on this “investment” is huge, the $75 billion estimated incremental cost of making Mid-Missouri Peaceworks, a grassroots activist group.. profi ts in the tens and hundreds of billions. Congress gets public colleges tuition free for all, as Bernie Sanders pro- the donations and it also brings home the pork, military posed. And of course there are so many other needs that bases and contracts in their states or districts. An exam- we could be meeting if we reined in the Pentagon’s blank- ple, the Lockheed Martin F-35 fi ghter is being produced check budget. by contractors in 46 of the 50 states. Even Bernie Sand- On the fl ip side, the GOP tax cuts for the wealthy are ers supports this program, as it provides jobs in Vermont. going to swell the defi cit and provide a rationale for put- And the military, like any bureaucracy, thrives on an ex- ting Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and many other panded role, more jobs, promotions, resources and a more programs on the chopping block. Clearly we’d do better February 2018

central role in our culture. to cut the military instead.

CoStS & BeNeFitS the BottoM LiNe

Militarist cheerleaders love to point out that the MIC pro- Why, you may ask, does the United States need a military

The IndypendenT vides a signifi cant number of jobs. There is some truth with global reach? Other nations — China, Japan, Ger- 21 BOOKS bluestockings radical bookstore | activist center | fair trade cafe 172 ALLEN ST • 212-777-6028 bluestockings.com

FEB 6 • 7–9:30PM TALK: Davey Davis chats about San Francisco, contemporary dystopia, queer communities and their debut novel, the earthquake room.

FEB 17 • 7–9:30PM BOOK LAUNCH: Kyla Schuller’s new book, The Biopolitics of Feeling, tells the origin story of modern notions of race, sex and feminism.

MARCH 1 • 7–9:30PM PANEL: A discussion on sex work and how fIghT foR $15 TooK off motherhood with How Mamas Love Their Babies author Juniper Fitzgerald and illustrator Elise Peterson. Beyond Fifteen: Immigrant Workers, Faith Activists, and the Revival of the Labor Movement By Jonathan Rosenblum Beacon Press, 2017 campaigns. Although most of the cam-

paign’s canvasses identifi ed unemploy- MARTINEZ OLIVER ment as a top problem among workers, in By Steven Sherman SeaTac they learned that it was the struggle with multiple low-paying jobs, and all the onathan Rosenblum’s Beyond Fifteen: Immigrant consequent family and health problems, Workers, Faith Activists, and the Revival of the that was most urgent. Labor Movement is an impressive addition to the The SeaTac campaign threaded a needle through the considerable list of books this year that take stock numerous dilemmas posed by U.S. labor law, dominant Jof recent social movements and try to map out more union strategies and alliances between the local govern- effective strategies. His focus is on the struggle to organize ment and Alaska Airlines, the airport’s most important airport workers in SeaTac, Washington, where he was an carrier. Responding to community demands was an im- organizer. He delivers an especially vivid account, bring- portant element. A fi ght erupted between workers and ing to life concepts like respecting the priorities of com- employers over whether prayer time for Muslim workers munity members and framing a struggle as a moral issue. should be treated like normal break time, as the work- With all the practicality that an inside view of an organiz- ers desired. This isn’t the sort of demand unions are ac- ing campaign implies, he offers a radical vision of what customed to, and some cultural resistance needed to be needs to be done. overcome, but when the campaign embraced it, it opened Like many writers on U.S. labor issues, Rosenblum up alliances with imams and mosques. Another way the looks back to the period ending in the mid-1970s, when campaign built community alliances was by framing its the benefi ts of capitalism, in this case in the airline indus- demands as moral issues, which clergy could speak about try, were more equally spread. He highlights the way the authoritatively — a tactic it used when it disrupted an stability of unionized, decent-paying jobs made possible Alaska Airlines shareholder meeting with speeches and the political career of Adam Smith, the son of a SeaTac gospel songs. Airport ramp serviceman, who was elected to the House The unions had been reluctant to try to organize the of Representatives in 1996. The next generation would airport workers into unions quickly, because their situa- not be so fortunate. Airlines were deregulated in the late tion made it complicated and diffi cult under labor law. But 1970s, ostensibly on the grounds that it would benefi t con- with pressure from workers to move forward on union- sumers. That eroded protections for workers, and airlines izing, the campaign moved towards a hybrid strategy, also repeatedly exploited a change in bankruptcy laws that in which it threatened a citywide referendum on what made it easier for corporations to escape commitments to amounted to a union contract — a $15-an-hour minimum workers — something rarely mentioned in populist ac- wage — if Alaska Airlines balked at unionization. When counts of “what went wrong.” The airline crisis triggered the company did, the campaign moved forward with the by the 9/11 attacks became a whirlwind of union-busting referendum. As it overcame legal challenges to the vote, via bankruptcy protection, as airlines reorganized them- organizers and workers also overcame union leadership, selves, fi ring unionized workers and replacing them with which wanted to run the campaign in the kind of staff- low-wage workers hired through subcontractors. heavy format they were comfortable with. Instead, the So SeaTac Airport became a low-wage workplace, of- energy and knowledge of the workers was continuously ten staffed by immigrant workers doing jobs that were in- foregrounded. The referendum passed by just 77 votes, creasingly unhealthy and unpleasant, as corporations used and spurred increased union membership at the airport. their growing power to shift burdens onto workers. This It reverberated through neighboring Seattle, where newly was the context for the organizing campaign. Many with- elected socialist City Councilmember Kshama Sawant led in the union movement were rethinking both the focus on the charge for a similar increase in the minimum wage, business unionism — trying to accommodate business so and helped inspire “Fight for $15” campaigns nationally. that workers could share the benefi ts — and the turn away Rosenblum describes all this with verve and empathy. February 2018 February from organizing campaigns in favor of political contribu- Individual workers, organizers, clergy and politicians tions. The massive unemployment after the economic cri- come to life and illuminate aspects of both the larger con- sis of 2008 undermined the hopes of business unionism. text and the particular campaign. These little-known sto- Co-founded by Michael Ratner Many union leaders hoped that Barack Obama’s election ries of contemporary working-class struggle could make (1943-2016) President, Center as president would lead to a “card check” law that would for quality television drama, if scriptwriters ever tire of for Constitutional Rights; and enable unions to organize workplaces simply by signing the drug trade. hosted by movement lawyers Heidi IndypendenT The up a majority of the employees, but Obama never seriously Rosenblum compares the state of the labor movement Boghosian, Executive Director, A. pushed for it. to the protagonists of the 1960s fi lm The Flight of the J. Muste Memorial Institute; and These failures led to an opening for a new approach Phoenix. Its characters fi nd themselves stranded in a des- Michael Steven Smith, New York epitomized by SEIU’s Fight for a Fair Economy, which ert after their plane crashes. Near death, they realize that City attorney and author. tried both to change the national conversation about in- equality and launch large-scale private-sector organizing Continued on page 23 22 BOOKS

a CReaToR of woRlds

By John Tarleton have abolished private property, government, armies, laws, police, courts, prisons and possessive pronouns ith her ability to conjure up whole and made human solidarity the norm? new worlds that challenge how we In this work, Le Guin accomplishes a rare literary see our own and to inhabit them feat — bringing to life a nuanced and richly imagined with deeply human characters, she utopian society — while juxtaposing the two rival was one of the great radical fi ction worlds through the story of Shevek, a brilliant Anar- Wwriters of our time. resti physicist and a committed anarchist who eventu- Ursula Kroeber Le Guin — daughter of a famous ally tires of the groupthink of his own society. Seek- anthropologist and a writer, genre-busting author of ing new scientifi c knowledge and understanding, he more than 20 novels, volumes of poetry and transla- becomes the fi rst member of his world to ever return tions, hundreds of short stories and numerous chil- to the mother planet of Urras. The rituals and behav- dren’s books — died, Jan. 22 in Portland, Oregon at iors that are considered normal under capitalism have the age of 88. never seemed stranger than when viewed through the Her 1974 classic the Dispossessed begins, “There eyes of this baffl ed visitor. When his journey ignites was a wall.” But Le Guin implored readers to gaze uprisings on both Urras and Anarres, Shevek must beyond walls; past the constraints of our present and weigh his own values and act. into the possibilities that emerge when our barriers the Day Before the Revolution (1974): Set 170 drop, to image new futures. These days, when those years before the events described in the Dispossessed,

in power are obsessed with borders and walls and re- this is a tender short story about growing old and dy- EMILY GAGE turning the world to a stultifi ed past, her work is more ing. It describes the fi nal day in the life of Laia Asieo relevant than ever. Odo, an aging revolutionary icon whose writings will Here are a few of the highlights. inspire the uprising that leads to the founding of An- the Left hand of Darkness (1969): Long before arres. While the movement she has given her life to discussion of gender fl uidity entered the mainstream, races toward a decisive general strike, Odo’s thoughts Le Guin wrote this groundbreaking work of feminist drift through a labyrinth of memories. The story’s science fi ction. rueful fi nal sentence will make you sit up straight and Set on Gethen, a wintery planet whose “ambisexual” ask yourself an important question. inhabitants can change gender from month to month, the earthsea Series (1968-2001): A boy wizard Left hand follows the evolving views of an interga- trains at a school for magic and goes forth to vanquish lactic envoy whose conventional outlook on gender the evil that threatens the land. Long before the har- is challenged by the Gethenians he encounters. The ry Potter juggernaut came along, Le Guin’s six-part book’s most famous line: “The king was pregnant.” earthsea series delivered coming of age adventures the ones Who Walk away From omelas (1973) : that crackle with mystery and wonder. Along the way, In what is perhaps the most well known of Le Guin’s she spurred the imagination of millions of tweens and short stories, the prosperous citizens of Omelas en- teens, and gave adult readers plenty to think about joy the good life. But it comes with a fateful bargain as well. — they must accept the perpetual torment of a small child locked in a squalid closet who cannot be assisted or comforted or allowed to see the light of day. As the youth of Omelas come of age, they are each brought face-to-face with the child. If they can accept what they have seen or rationalize it away, they can remain in Omelas and continue their comfortable lives. For the rebels who can’t bury their con- sciences, they have no choice but to leave Omelas, each in search of a IN HER OWN being. And even imagine some real grounds change often begin in art, and very often in place in the world they can call home. for hope. We will need writers who can our art — the art of words.” February 2018

WORDS the Dispossessed (1974): Which remember freedom: poets, visionaries — the would you prefer? To live on Urras, an realists of a larger reality. — URSULA K. LE GUIN “Hard times are coming, when we will be Earthlike world abundant in wealth Nov. 2014, speaking at the National Book wanting the voices of writers who can see and natural resources yet plagued by … We live in capitalism. Its power seems Awards. alternatives to how we live now, and can brutal hierarchies of privilege? Or inescapable; so did the divine right of kings. see through our fear-stricken society and … Any human power can be resisted and Annares, a barren lunar wasteland its obsessive technologies, to other ways of

The IndypendenT where a colony of anarchist settlers changed by human beings; resistance and 23 32 Years of Celebrating music of peace and resistance

me up after school on Fridays and after lIfe afTeR that we usually just go hang out, maybe depoRTaTIon at Chuck E. Cheese or Dave & Buster’s.” Feb. 10 Continued from page 5 Jahsiah is building a website about Mon- trevil’s case to raise awareness about the ROD MACDONALD unfair treatment of immigrants. He thinks country in the Western Hemisphere then it’s especially unfair that his father is being as now. However, the 2010 earthquake deported for a crime he committed decades that killed 300,000 people forced many ago. “He did a crime when he was 19 years Feb. 17 from the countryside into the cities, old. He should be able to go on and live his JERRY EPSTEIN where the streets are crowded and in- life as a regular human being.” MEMORIAL CONCERT timidating, Montrevil said. “I left when I Janiah says she needs Montrevil in order Jeff Davis + Julia Friend was 17 years old, I used to walk and was to apply for financial aid and might have afraid. Now it’s different.” to take a semester off to save up money. + David Jones Montrevil is living in a different neigh - Montrevil is heartbroken that he can’t borhood now than where he grew up be there for his children anymore, he and is trying desperately to pick up the said. “I grew up without a father, I never Feb. 24 local Creole dialect so people won’t dis - want that to happen to my kids. This is GENERATIONS: cover he’s a U.S. deportee. He says people a tough situation for all of us, but what Mike and Aleksi Glick stigmatize deportees for “blowing an op - can I do?” portunity” at a better life. “I don’t want He’ll continue to fight his case in court, + Steve Schalchin to give people the idea that I’m from the but after years of struggle he’s lost faith States, that I’m a deportee, so I have to in the U.S. immigration system. He re - COMMUNITY CHURCH OF NEW YORK UNITARIAN-UNIVERSALIST be careful.” grets putting his life on hold for years in 40 East 35th St. (between Madison & Park) New York, NY, 10016 The only consistency Montrevil has in America, waiting for a resolution to his his new life in Haiti is his cup of coffee in case. “I think that was a big mistake. I Doors open 7:30; Wheelchair accessible; 212-787-3903 the morning and a daily phone call with lost all those good years,” Montrevil Jahsiah and Jamya his 10-year-old daugh- said. “I’m just going to focus on what I peoplesvoicecafe.org ter. “I live my life for my kids. I love my can do here. If I get lucky, I’ll come back, Suggested donation: $20. $12 PVC subscribers kids and I never wanted to be separated but I have to make a life here now.” He is More if you choose; less if you can’t; no one turned away from them. This is why I put up a big fight hoping Cauthen can send one of his vans for many years,” Montrevil said. to Haiti so he can start a transportation Life in New York is difficult, says Cau - business there. then, who is struggling to keep up with In the meantime, Cauthen will focus on the finances and taking care of their kids her kids and supporting them as best as in the aftermath of Montrevil’s deporta- she can while they wait for a final out - tion. “Everything is a mess.” come on Montrevil’s case. “I don’t want When Montrevil was abruptly de- my kids to be one of those stories that SUBSCRIBE TO THE tained, one of his Ford E-350 vans, which ‘Oh, my dad was deported. That’s why I he used for his transportation business, got arrested,’” she said. was left abandoned. Cauthen tried to Cauthen intends to keep fighting and move the vehicle, but Montrevil had the hopes to go to law school someday so INDYPENDENT keys on him and the van eventually got she can help change the immigration sys - a boot on it. Montrevil’s four employees tem in the United States. “[ICE] thought will have to find a new job and Cauthen that by them deporting him that the Jean is trying to wind down the van service on Montrevil story is going to die [and] it’s top of her regular day job and taking care not. I’m going to advocate for him to the 12 ISSUES / $25 | 24 ISSUES / $48 of the kids. “It’s crazy — me trying to best of my ability because what they did get things in order when he was the boss is wrong.” is hard.” THE PERFECT GIFT FOR A FAMILY LiFe Without DaD MEMBER, FRIEND OR YOURSELF! Jahsiah says life is different without his dad, who he describes as “fun.” “He picks SUBSCRIBE NOW: ...... NAME...... build something new, a so- the present but little in the ADDRESS...... fIghT foR $15 cial-movement union. His way of a roadmap of how to Continued from page 21 advice is to “aim higher,” get there, and experienced CITY, STATE...... ZIP...... offering a moral critique of organizers, who suggest EMAIL...... 2018 February they have the parts to the capitalist system; “reach refinements of present-day make a new plane from wider,” by redefining the la- practice but don’t seem to the wreckage and manage bor movement to include all fully grasp the depths of the MAKE OUT A CHECK OR MONEY ORDER TO "THE INDYPENDENT" AND SEND TO: to fly to safety. Rosenblum workers; and “build deep- transformation necessary. THE INDYPENDENT 388 ATLANTIC AVE., 2ND FL, BROOKLYN, NY 11217 implores readers to recog- er,” by developing workers’ Jonathan Rosenblum does nize that the union move- leadership skills and taking justice to both sides in his Indypenden The ment as we know it will not their ideas seriously. worthy contribution to this be revived, but lying in the The writers of “what is literature. wreckage — the organiza- to be done” literature are SIGN UP ONLINE AT tions, coalitions, practices often polarized between that have been developed — academic dreamers, who

INDYPENDENT.ORG/SUBSCRIBE T are the materials needed to offer grand alternatives to