Join Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Bill Fletcher Jr. for an urgent discussion of settler colonialism, white supremacy, and a history of exclusion
Not “A Nation of Immigrants”: Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion, a new book from Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, debunks the pervasive and self-congratulatory myth that our country is proudly founded by and for immigrants, and urges readers to embrace a more complex and honest history of the United States.
Whether in political debates or discussions about immigration around the kitchen table, many Americans, regardless of party affiliation, will say proudly that we are a nation of immigrants. In this bold new book, historian Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz asserts this ideology is harmful and dishonest because it serves to mask and diminish the US’s history of settler colonialism, genocide, white supremacy, slavery, and structural inequality, all of which we still grapple with today.
While some of us are immigrants or descendants of immigrants, others are descendants of white settlers who arrived as colonizers to displace those who were here since time immemorial, and still others are descendants of those who were kidnapped and forced here against their will. This paradigm shifting new book from the highly acclaimed author of An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States charges that we need to stop believing and perpetuating this simplistic and ahistorical idea and embrace the real (and often horrific) history of the United States.
———————————————————————————————————
Get the book, Not “A Nation of Immigrants” from Beacon Press: http://www.beacon.org/Not-A-Nation-of-Immigrants-P1641.aspx
———————————————————————————————————
Speakers:
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz is a historian, writer, speaker, and professor emerita at California State University East Bay. She is author of numerous scholarly Indigenous related books and articles, including Roots of Resistance: A History of Land Tenure in New Mexico and The Great Sioux Nation, as well as a memoir trilogy and is author of the award-winning book, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States. Her book Loaded: A Disarming History of the Second Amendment was published in 2018, and her new book, Not “A Nation of Immigrants”: Settler Colonialism, White Supremacy, and a History of Erasure and Exclusion is out now from Beacon Press.
Bill Fletcher Jr is the former president of TransAfrica Forum; a Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies; and in the leadership of several other projects. Fletcher is the co-author (with Peter Agard) of The Indispensable Ally: Black Workers and the Formation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, 1934-1941; the co-author (with Dr. Fernando Gapasin) of Solidarity Divided: The crisis in organized labor and a new path toward social justice, and the author of “They’re Bankrupting Us!” And 20 Other Myths about Unions. Fletcher is a syndicated columnist and a regular media commentator on television, radio and the Web.
This event is sponsored by Beacon Press and Haymarket Books.
Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/bNvn0jVWcfw
Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org
Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks
More Episodes
Mar 1, 2021
On the Road With Abolition with Mariame Kaba, Dean Spade, and more (6-12-20)
We are in a historic moment brought on by the consistent exertion of people power across the country and around the world. This has brought us to a place where our communities are poised to win significant victories against the violence of policing on a large scale. To guide us in this moment, we need to hold central that Abolition is both a vision and a political strategy. Part of this strategy is recognizing and actualizing that we cannot call for reforms that further entrench and legitimize policing in any form as a solution to social, economic or political problems. As prison industrial complex abolitionists, the reforms we call for in our demands must be aimed at diminishing the political power of policing.
How can we assess which proposals to support or to oppose in our organizing? What are some abolitionist proposals? Join Dean Spade, Woods Ervin & Kamau Walton from Critical Resistance, K Agbebiyi from Survived and Punished NY and Mariame Kaba from Project NIA and Survived & Punished to discuss these questions and more. Join us for this conversation to deepen our shared analysis and to discuss how we use abolition as a politic, practice and framework to move us toward liberation and self-determination.
Co-sponsored by Critical Resistance, Project NIA, Survived and Punished, Reclaim the Block, and Black Visions Collective.
Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/GHdg4dqBMyk
Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org
Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks
Mar 1, 2021
Celebrating Juneteenth with Charlene Carruthers, Marc Lamont Hill, & Critical Resistance(6-13-20)
Join Critical Resistance for their annual fundraiser: this year a conversation with Charlene Carruthers & Marc Lamont Hill in honor of Juneteenth!
Two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued ordering states in the confederacy to release their slaves, Black people in Texas achieved their liberation from chattel bondage. On June 19,1865, General Order Number 3 was read from the Ashton Villa balcony in Galveston, Texas, that demanded that slaveholders free their slaves. That day, Juneteenth, has become an annual occasion for celebration, reflection, and education about the meaning of freedom and the on-going, universal struggle for liberation from domination.
These questions about the true meaning of freedom are more relevant than ever to the work of abolitionists and those working to eliminate the prison industrial complex (PIC) and its attendant harms.
To explore the legacy of Juneteenth and ongoing struggles for Black (and international) liberation, CR is happy to host a conversation between two prominent Black thought leaders and firebrands, Charlene Carruthers (BYP100 cofounder) and Marc Lamont Hill (BET news host).
For more information on Critical Resistance: https://criticalresistance.org
Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/UazJ0_7o1vA
Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org
Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks
Mar 1, 2021
This is an Uprising! with Boots Riley and Noname (6-15-20)
Join us for a conversation on art, politics and revolution with Boots Riley and Noname.
—————————————————
The global uprising against racism and police violence has brought millions of people around the world into the streets to make Black Lives Matter, and has catapulted radical demands for police and prison abolition into the center of public consciousness.
It’s also brought new urgency to discussions of reform and revolution, challenging the power of capitalism, imperialism, and colonialism in the 21st century, and the role of artists can as participants in political struggles.
Join us for a wide-ranging conversation on art, politics, and revolution with Noname and Boots Riley, hosted by Khury Petersen-Smith.
Noname is a rapper from Chicago. She’s the founder of Noname’s Book Club.
Boots Riley is a rapper and filmmaker from Oakland.
Join Noname's Book Club here: https://www.nonamebooks.com/
Get a copy of Boots Riley's Book here: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/489-boots-riley
Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/_i12zRBXObI
Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org
Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks
Mar 1, 2021
Covid 19, Bolsonaro, and Resistance in Brazil (6-16-20)
Join us for a special video conference with front line leaders in the fight for social justice in Brazil.
————————————————————
30,000 Brazilians have died from Covid-19 according to official figures, soon to be second highest number in the world behind the United States. The real number is twice that and more than 1,000 are dying each day. Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro flouts social distancing, has fired two health ministers, and is toying with a coup all as unemployment skyrockets.
Meanwhile, a coalition of more than 500 left-wing political parties, unions, and social movements are pushing for impeachment and, after two months of lockdown, street protests against Bolsonaro’s neo-fascist movement are on the rise at least partially inspired by the uprising in Minneapolis and in towns and cities across the United States.
————————————————————
Presenters:
Preta Ferreira is a coordinator of the Homeless Movement of Downtown São Paulo (MSTC) and was one of the main organizers of the campaign to free Workers Party leader Lula from prison.
Sonia Guajajara is the executive coordinator of the Association of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil and was the Party for Socialism and Freedom’s vice-presidential candidate in 2018.
Moderated by Sabrina Fernandes from the editorial board of Jacobin Brasil.
————————————————————
Sponsored by Haymarket Books, Jacobin Brasil, Left Movement for Socialism, Insurgência, Resistência, Ruptura, Punto Rojo, Spectre, New Politics, No Borders News, and Rampant.
Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/YhaAYAQ0KU4
Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org
Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks
Mar 1, 2021
#SayHerName Charleena Lyles: Police Murder and the Uprising for Black Lives (6-16-20)
Join Katrina Johnson, Michael Bennett, Nikkita Oliver and Jesse Hagopian to talk about justice for Charleena Lyles and Black Lives Matter.
Katrina Johnson, Charleena Lyles' cousin, will join Michael Bennett, Nikkita Oliver and Jesse Hagopian to talk about the struggle for justice for Charleena and the new uprising for Black Lives.
The mass uprising in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd around the world has created bold new possibilities for the Black Lives Matter Movement. Bold incentives are being taken around the country to defund, disarm, and dismantle policing.
As the African American Policy institute raised by launching #SayHerName, much of the focus of police violence has been given to the killing of Black men, and Black women and transgendered people have not received the same attention. The recent murder of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old African-American emergency medical technician, who was fatally shot by Louisville Metro Police Department by police is one case that deserves more attention. Another is Charleena Lyles.
On June 18, 2017, two Seattle police officers entered the apartment of Charleena Lyles. The police had been called by Charleena because she feared someone was breaking into her home. Within minuets of entering the apartment, the officers shot her down in a hail of seven bullets, with at least three of them in the back. The officers alleged they had to use lethal force because Charleena had a paring knife. One of the officers was supposed to have a taser, but had not properly charged it, so he did not bring it with him–a violation of department policy. Charleena was pregnant and was killed in front of three of her four kids, who had to be carried over her body to leave the apartment.
Join a conversation about next steps in winning justice for Charleena and her family and how her story connects to the new movement for Black Lives in the streets today.
Katrina Johnson works for the Public Defenders Association as a Project Manager diverting people out of the criminal legal system into community based resources—instead of jail and prosecution. Katrina became a social justice activist/advocate and spokesperson for her family in June of 2017, after her first cousin Charleena Lyles was killed in her home in North Seattle after police officers responded to the location to investigate a theft Charleena had reported. Katrina works with other families who have lost loved ones to the use of lethal force in Washington State and around the county.
Michael Bennett is a three-time Pro Bowler, Pro Bowl MVP, Super Bowl Champion, and two-time NFC Champion. He has gained international recognition for his public support for the Black Lives Matter Movement, women’s rights, and other social justice causes. In 2017, he was named one of the 100 Most Influential African Americans by The Root, was the Seattle Seahawks nominee for the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year award, and was honored along with his brother Martellus with a BET Shine a Light award for exceptional service. He is the author of Things That Make White People Uncomfortable.
Nikkita Oliver is a Seattle-based creative, community organizer, abolitionist, educator, and attorney. Nikkita is the co-executive director of Creative Justice, an arts-based alternative to incarceration and a healing engaged youth-led community-based program.
Jesse Hagopian is an award-winning educator and a leading voice on issues of educational equity and social justice unionism. He is an editor for Rethinking Schools magazine and is the co-editor of Teaching for Black Lives, and editor of More Than a Score: The New Uprising Against High-Stakes Testing.
Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/vAM_XkdCXJY
Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org
Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks
Mar 1, 2021
Appalachia and the Health of the Nation with Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson and more(6-17-20)
Join Barbara Ellen Smith, Lesley-Marie Buer, and Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson as they discus single health issues such as black lung, overdose deaths, HIV and hepatitis C, COVID-19, in Appalachia and what they reveal about the cracks in America's health and health care systems in general.
————————————————————
Most responses to these single issues have done little to change the overall systems, but there are initiatives and groups that offer glimpses of what change could look like. They will explore topics such as mutual aid, researcher/clinician/community member coalitions, harm reduction, street medics and how they can be applied in Appalachia and beyond.
Lesly-Marie Buer is an activist and public health practitioner at Positively Living/Choice Health Network in Knoxville, Tennessee. Her work on substance use and harm reduction has appeared insuch publications as Boston Review, the Journal of Appalachian Studies, and North American Dialogue.
Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson is a 33 year old, Affrilachian (Black Appalachian), working class woman, born and raised in Southeast Tennessee. She is the Co-Executive Director of the Highlander Research & Education Center in New Market, TN. She has served as president of the Black Affairs Association at East Tennessee State University and the Rho Upsilon Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. She is a long-time activist working around issues of mountaintop removal mining, and environmental racism in central and southern Appalachia, and has served on the National Council of the Student Environmental Action Coalition. She is an active participant in the Movement for Black Lives and is on the governance council of the Southern Movement Assembly.
Barbara Ellen Smith has participated in and written about movements for social justice in Appalachia and the U.S. South for more than forty years. She is professor emerita at Virginia Tech
————————————————————
To order a copy of Rx Appalachia: https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1496-rx-appalachia
To pre-order a copy of Digging Our Own Graves: https://bookshop.org/a/1039/9781642592757
For more info on the Highlander Research & Education Center: https://www.highlandercenter.org/
Watch the live event recording: https://youtu.be/Gi2rOa2Wvo0
Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org
Follow us on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks