J. Edgar's Ghost

“The FBI took a shotgun approach to target and harass protesters partly because of its belief that dissident speech and association should be prevented because they were incipient steps toward the possible ultimate commission of an act which might be criminal.” 1976 Senate Report on the FBI

The FBI has come up with a new threat, BIE, which means Black Identity Extremists. Echoes of cointelpro in the 1960’s and 70’s when the FBI spied on civil rights activists and leaders, including Martin Luther King, Jr. If you actively protest the killing of unarmed black people by white police officers this might make you a “black identity extremist.” If you march, picket, hold a sign at a rally or follow Black Lives Matter on social media you might land on the FBI’s radar. Are black human rights activists -- because that’s what we are really talking about here, human rights -- a threat to the republic? More than the resurgent KKK and white supremacists armed to the gills? As far as I can determine, Black Lives Matter doesn’t advocate for the wholesale killing of white people; it’s goal is to stop the unjustified killing of unarmed black people by police officers.

What is missing in all the media furor over presidential condolence calls to the kin of fallen service members? Put aside the Orange Buffoon’s idiotic blathering -- by now we should know that Trump will always say the wrong thing, then lie about what he said, then attack someone when they question his lie. The question not being asked is why the United States deploys military personnel to places like Niger. Why are we there? Why are US military forces still based in Japan and Germany, Italy and England and South Korea and Turkey? Why are US soldiers in Kuwait? Why is the US still in Afghanistan after 16 years of futility? These are the questions that should be asked, debated, and justified.

Such a debate will never happen. The empire is a force that can only be perpetuated, never questioned. The military budget is sacrosanct. To argue against military spending is to be branded as someone who “doesn’t support our troops.” OK, I don’t, because I see America’s military power as a destabilizing force in the world, a force that is used to impose America’s brand of cut-throat capitalism and market domination.

The temperature soared to 102 degrees in Santa Barbara yesterday, a record, The heat was thick, oppressive. I watched the hills for signs of smoke, but thankfully saw none. The winds were calm. I sat on the deck with a cold IPA and listened to a podcast on FAIR.Org. Inside the apartment every fan was going full bore but having no real effect. I thought of the memoir I’m reading, For Love of the Dollar by J.M. Sevrin, an undocumented immigrant’s tale of survival in the northeast of America in the last decade of the 20th century, around the time Disney was scrubbing Times Square in NYC, making the area safe for tourists and small children. This made me think of the gentrification happening here in SB, on Haley Street and along Milpas, big projects on small lots, with limited parking and the usual exorbitant price tags that no wage worker can afford. Across the country affordable housing is in short supply, but in SB the supply is infinitesimal. The retail corridor on State Street is struggling mightily, and losing, the battle against behemoth Amazon and many storefronts sit vacant, windows staring. City fathers and mothers and the merchant class lay the blame for State Street’s woes on the homeless, demand the police run the homeless off to places where they can’t be seen by tourists. Out of sight, out of mind, but still a problem, only for someone else. The five mayoral candidates talk about leadership, vision, water, and housing, but the problems faced here are much larger than any of them will admit. The SB I was raised in died many years ago and is never returning. Another foodie joint, craft beer hall, wine bar or yoga emporium isn’t going to save the city.

And so it goes.