Monday, January 25, will be a momentous and solemn day, as the House sadly transmits the Article of Impeachment for Donald Trump to the Senate.
Our Constitution and country are well-served by our outstanding impeachment managers – lead manager Rep. Jamie Raskin and Reps. Diana DeGette, David Cicilline, Joaquin Castro, Eric Swalwell, Ted Lieu, Stacy Plaskett, Madeleine Dean, and Joe Neguse. I salute them for the great love of our country, dedication to our democracy and loyalty to our oath with which they have proceeded, as they ensure that no one is above the law.
The House has been respectful of the Senate’s constitutional power over the trial and always attentive to the fairness of the process. When the Article of Impeachment is transmitted to the Senate, the former President will have had nearly two weeks since we passed the Article. Our Managers are ready for trial before the 100 Senate jurors.
The Senate will begin Trump’s second impeachment trial the week of February 8. They call it “Stormy Monday.” For Donald John Trump, Tuesday and the coming weeks will be just as bad.
Election 2020 has been a long time coming. More than 95 million ballots have been cast as of this writing. If you opted to vote in person, be sure to confirm your polling place location before heading out.
Thirty years ago, now-Columbia Law School professor Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term intersectionality, “a lens through which you can see where power comes and collides, where it interlocks and intersects. It’s not simply that there’s a race problem here, a gender problem here, and a class or LBGTQ problem there. Many times that framework erases what happens to people who are subject to all of these things.” Midwood Investment & Development’s demolition of 204 South 12th Street will erase LBGTQ history and Black history from public memory. The fight to save the Gloria Casarez mural intersects with the fight to save one of the few extant buildings associated with the Underground Railroad.
Casarez was a civil rights leader and LGBTQ activist, and the first director of Philadelphia Mayor’s Office of LGBT Affairs. Her mural adorns one of the interconnected buildings owned by Midwood. The building to the right of the mural is the former residence and place of business of Henry Minton, a leading Black abolitionist and elite caterer whose guests included John Brown, Frederick Douglass and Frederick Douglass, the Father of the Underground Railroad.
Midwood plans to demolish the property and build apartments for the “demographic moving to Philly” (read: white people). In an op-ed published in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Erme Maula, a lifelong activist for justice and equality, wrote:
The Gloria Casarez mural at 204 S. 12th St. is scheduled for imminent demolition by Midwood Development and Investment. Midwood plans to knock down the former 12th Street Gym and build a 31-story building in its place.
Anyone who knew Gloria and her impact on Philadelphia knows that the loss of the mural is a massive loss for our city. The mural was erected in 2015 to honor Gloria Casarez, a local Latina activist who died of breast cancer in 2014. Gloria dedicated her life to civil and economic rights. She brought communities together to find common ground and common vision. As a student, she organized other students to push for affordable housing and an end to homelessness. As the city’s first director of LGBT affairs, Gloria led Philadelphia to adopt the broadest protections for LGBT people in the nation.
On Monday, October 19, 2020, there will be a “Keep Gloria on 12th” vigil in front of the mural from 5pm to 6:30pm, followed by a Town Hall via Zoom at 7pm. The town hall meeting will provide a space to “plan further actions to stop the erasure of our lives, our achievements, and our history that Gloria fought to preserve.” The vigil and town hall are open to the public. To register, go here.
A live-recording of the musical “Hamilton” was filmed at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in June 2016. The original Broadway production is now available on Disney+ streaming platform.
The film has brought attention to the national bank that Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton proposed in 1790. A year later, Congress granted a 20-year charter for the First Bank of the United States. Thomas Willing, who arguably was still a slaveholder, was the national bank’s first president.
Hamilton throws shade on Thomas Jefferson who opposes the bank charter:
A civics lesson from a slaver. Hey neighbor, Your debts are paid cuz you don’t pay for labor.
The bank charter was not renewed. Instead, the assets of the First Bank of the United States were liquidated. According to Visit Philadelphia, Hamilton “never set foot inside of the structure.” But a slaver, Stephen Girard, did. Girard purchased the property in 1812.
Now known as “The Bank of Stephen Girard,” the structure was later renamed Girard National Bank.
The National Historic Landmark has been closed for decades. It was opened to the public for one day in 2018.
The pop-up exhibit curated by Drexel University’s Lenfest Center for Cultural Partnerships made no mention of Girard. A National Park Service ranger told me Independence Historical Trust wants to focus on Hamilton and financial literacy. However, facts are stubborn things. Slaver Girard’s name is engraved in the glass dome that was added when the interior was redesigned in 1902.
According to his will, Girard owned at least 30 slaves (h/t Penn & Slavery Project). In the course of digging the foundation for a new subway station in 1911, Girard’s slave pen was uncovered.
Girard’s slave dungeon matches the description of a slave pen in “Slave Life in Georgia: A Narrative of the Life, Sufferings, and Escape of John Brown, a Fugitive Slave, Now in England” published in 1854.
In 2018, Friends of Independence National Historical Park (renamed Independence Historical Trust) was awarded an $8 million grant from the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program to restore the First Bank.
Today, I am proud to be here to announce that the commonwealth has made a commitment to support the reopening of this historic landmark. The state’s investment will help reopen the central bank that once served as the foundation to modern United States fiscal policy, into a museum.
There was no mention of slavery or Stephen Girard. As the nation grapples with the long overdue reckoning on racial injustice, taxpayers’ money must not be used to whitewash history. Girard’s nearly 100-year association with the historic landmark is the untold story behind the neoclassical facade. If Independence Historical Trust ignores the building’s history -- and Alexander Hamilton’s involvement with slavery -- we will tell the rest of the story.
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From Washington, DC to Seattle, Washington, the streets are filled with thousands of protesters demanding justice for Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and all victims of police brutality.
Music has long fueled movements for social justice. In 1936, Lead Belly denounced racial segregation.
Civil rights activists vowed they weren’t going to let nobody turn them around.
In 1964, Sam Cooke said “a change is gonna come.”
James Brown implored everybody to get involved.
In 1975, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes told us to wake up; no more sleeping in bed.
In the wake of the lynching of George Floyd, “the world has changed so very much from what it used to be.” Spotify’s Black Lives Matter playlist has nearly 850,000 likes.
The national death toll from the coronavirus is 54,161 and counting. The grim statistic didn’t stop Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp from relaxing his stay-at-home order and allowing some businesses to reopen including barbershops, hair and nail salons, bowling alleys, and massage and tattoo parlors.
Given the favorable data, enhanced testing, and approval of our healthcare professionals, we will allow gyms, fitness centers, bowling alleys, body art studios, barbers, cosmetologists, hair designers, nail care artists, estheticians, their respective schools, and massage therapists to reopen their doors this Friday, April 24, 2020.
On Monday, April 27, 2020, movie theaters, restaurants that offer dine-in service and private social clubs can hang an “open for business” sign on the front door.
At the time of Kemp’s announcement, Georgia had 18,947 COVID-19 cases with 733 deaths. As of this writing, there are 22,695 confirmed cases and 904 deaths.
There are idiots and then there are “covidiots” like Kemp from whom President Donald “Let them drink bleach” Trump is now keeping his social distance. During a coronavirus task force briefing-cum-carnival show, Trump said:
If you ask me am I happy about it? I’m not happy about it, and I’m not happy about Brian Kemp.
African Americans say Kemp is out of pocket. They are staying home.
With a covidiot like Kemp in charge, there will be many rainy days and nights in Georgia.
