Cherri Foytlin's blog

Former - and Present - Trump Supporters Need Room To Turn Around

Cherri Foytlin — Sun, 26 Mar 2017 13:46:34 +0000

Some of you may not like what I am about to say, but I'm going to say it anyway.

It is time to stop calling Donald Trump and his associates "Republicans." They are definitely far right-wing extremists, but can you imagine Ronald Reagan having this much play with Russians? The Party of Lincoln? Yes, I know all about Lincoln and his egregious assaults on native peoples, but do you really think he would have been able to stomach the gross-ness of DT?

To tell you the truth, I live and work around mostly Republicans, and while we may not agree on everything, we mostly want the same things for ourselves and our children. This man and his cronies only want what is best for himself and his cronies, that much is obvious.

Personally, since he was elected, I have been calling DT, his fam, and hill-top supporters "the Donner Party."

(Photo credit: From the cast of "The Donner Party - A New American Musical")

If you'll remember, the Donner's were a family of colonizers that led a group of settlers across the lands toward California in the late 19th century. Due to some advice from a dishonest and deceitful author named Lansford Hastings, the party got stalled at a pass in the dead (no pun intended) of winter.

Lost and alone, they not only "resorted" to cannibalism, they actively murdered people and ate the corpses so that they would live. This is how I see the present-day Donner Party - through their sad moral corruption, they actively eat people up for their own gain - and with no remorse.

Whatever you call them, we must leave room for folks to turn around, without feeling like they have to be on the defensive, without feeling like they have to defend that party line.

The real questions for past or present Trump supporters now are:

Do you love your party more than your country? Is your hate for, and fear of, people not like yourself stronger than your love for yourself, your children, and your country? And, if you contributed to this wrong, what are you going to do now to make it right?

Of course, there will always be die-hards who, well, die hard, but we are definitely seeing some buyers' remorse here. We should welcome that, not ostracize the ones who are coming around.

The truth is, many were duped, and in part because they sincerely felt as though they were not being heard.

While you will never hear me say that anyone should stay quiet in response to hate or ignorance, we should try to infuse compassion in our response to a remorseful mistake, when that is possible, and leave people room to turn around. Once you learn better, you do better, but it's hard to learn anything when people are putting you down or calling you names.

In the meantime, and from the rest of our ends, we must continue to fight to not be eaten. That means all people of good conscience, must now stand to face this cruel winter. Together, with hard work and good faith, the Spring will come again.

Let us do more than hope, that someday there will be others who look back with gentle disgust and an odd curiosity, to a time when we were forced to take a super wrong turn, yet made our way out to be stronger and smarter than we were before.

Fighting Back

Cherri Foytlin — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 03:28:52 +0000

I don't know when I started the tradition of taking a picture of my shoes. Maybe it's because I want to remember all the ground I stood on before. I don't know, but I've got feet shots of me in forest fires, oil spills, raging flood waters, the mountains, the desert, the Gulf, Europe, Canada, and on and on.

These are my feet, and those are my shoes. I lost all but these and another pair in the flood, even my moccs are gone. It's funny how things come and go. Shoot, some days I feel like I spent most of my life so far just trying to hold on to what someone or something was trying to take away.

These cuts this Donner Party (my not-so-fond nickname for POTUS 45 and company) has in store, I know what they mean to me and to most people. They mean suffering.

My grandma was visited by meals on wheels before she died, and school lunches helped sustain me, and WIC helped me feed my babies, and tax returns help me to stay afloat, and we are counting on those Pell grants to help my kids get through college - to give them a chance, so they can benefit us all.

If something happens to me - my kids' only support - I'm going to need good healthcare, by doctors who have done the research to try and help me, and social security if I am to leave these sweet babies too soon.

Chances are, you need all that too.

And please don't you tell me about work. I've worked every day of my life since I was 13-years-old, paying taxes the whole way too.

Still, they try to tell me that I'm entitled? ENTITLED?!

Ya damn right I'm entitled. By blood, sweat and tears of me and every generation behind me, I am entitled to benefit from my life.

Of course, what does any of that matter if I can't leave the babies and their babies the gifts necessary for life: clean and healthy water, air, and land?

What right do these handful have to eat folks up? What right do they have to take from the babies and the grandmothers? Come the f on.

These are my shoes, and that is Two Rivers Camp, and this is me fighting back.

Tags:

Resistance

Letter to St. Charles Parish Sheriff Greg Champagne in Response to Comments About Standing Rock

Cherri Foytlin — Sat, 03 Dec 2016 15:05:45 +0000

Climate and Environment

Originally posted on the , as President of the National Sheriff’s Association.

We too have been to Standing Rock, yet our experiences appear to have been very different than yours. While there, and at adjacent resistance camps, we have seen and participated in only prayerful ceremony and actions - all of which included prayers for yourself, the other officers and the families of all involved.

If you are looking as to who has engaged in acts of war, sir, it might be best to see who came for one. A simple Internet search will produce countless images of unarmed Water Protectors being confronted by military-grade weaponry pointed at them by law enforcement.

The several key points that you left out of your assessment require bearing to the public in a way that travels beyond your extreme bias and obvious misunderstanding of both the issue and of the local Louisiana landscape as well.

For instance, you neglected to mention that the Army Corps of Engineers – a U.S. federal agency under the Department of Defense – has
With reference to your assertion that the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe has no claim to the lands that the Dakota Access Pipeline disturbs, you show a complete and utter disregard to both history and the Constitution of the United States, which openly declares that treaty law is the law of the land.

Under the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty between the U.S. and the Great Sioux Nation, Article 11, the tribe not only retains off-reservation hunting rights to the area, but also under article 12, “no cession of land would be valid unless approved by three-fourths of the adult males.” Yet, in an act of continuing land theft, the U.S. government has never obtained that consent, an issue the U.S. Supreme Court has
You also mentioned sacred sites and burial grounds in your writings, yet you failed to discuss the fact that on September 3 of this year, only hours after Standing Rock Sioux legal representation filed evidence in court that documented a culturally significant site in direct line of the pipeline route, Energy Transfer sent bulldozers to destroy the location. Paid company mercenaries - armed with dogs and pepper spray - were used to shield this egregious and cowardly act, which ended with peaceful protectors being
So you see, sir, the argument has always been about the water and protecting it for the millions of Americans who depend upon it for drinking and thus for life.

Yet of all the ignorant and misguided remarks in your accounting, I take the most extreme offense to the false idea and narrative that the environment and people of the state in which you and I both reside have not suffered largely, due to the disproportionate number of pipelines below our feet.

By your assertion, the opposition to the pipeline “is not reasonably based upon legitimate environmental concerns,” yet since 2010, there have been over 3,300 leaks or ruptures of crude oil or other hazardous liquids from pipelines in the United States. These incidents have not only released toxic chemicals into soil, water, and air, but have also killed 80 people, injured 389 more, and collectively cost $2.8 billion in damages.

Louisiana is not excluded from these pipeline disasters. Since 1996, there have been 391 significant pipeline spills or leaks in Louisiana, spilling 216,166 barrels of hazardous liquids, including crude oil, refined petroleum products, propane, ethane, etc. In just crude oil alone, there were 208 reported leaks or spills, resulting in 124,861 barrels released.

The most recent oil spill from a pipeline in Louisiana was last September, in which over 5,300 gallons of crude oil was discharged, and 200 birds were oiled.

In late July of this year, there were three pipeline spills in ten days. These are not uncommon incidents. In fact, the National Response Center receives approximately 1,500 oil spill notifications for Louisiana each year. This represents approximately 20 percent of all spills occurring in the United States.

Supplementary to your concern for our “energy independence,” it might be noted that Dakota Access parent company Energy Transfer is also building the Bayou Bridge Pipeline here in Louisiana.

The Bayou Bridge Pipeline that will cross 11 parishes in our state, displace 600 acres of wetlands, cross 700 bodies of water, and endanger life and livelihoods of fisherfolk in the Atchafalaya Basin. The end point for this sister pipeline to Dakota Access is being constructed with the singular goal of Energy Transfer and its partners receiving opportunity for the best refining cost for their product, before exporting through our ports to foreign countries across the globe. Both the Dakota Access and the Bayou Bridge Pipelines are for the profit of this corporation only.

However, we will agree with you on one thing with regard to your report. “Facts do not weigh in favor” of the tribe or the water protectors, or the State of Louisiana - but only when you refuse to see them.

Further, we stand with you when you say that it is “time for everyone to move on in reference to the Dakota Access Pipeline and stop putting further strain on the citizens and law enforcement officers.”

It is time to end both the Dakota Access and the Bayou Bridge pipelines.

#NoDAPL #NoBayouBridge #WaterisLife

Sincerely,

Monique Verdin
Citizen of the United Houma Nation

Cherri Foytlin
Louisiana Resident
State Director of Bold Louisiana

Tags:

DAPL

Bayou Bridge Pipeline

climate and environment

police

What It Means To Be A Grassroots Organizer

Cherri Foytlin — Sat, 02 Jul 2016 16:01:02 +0000

Organizing and Engagement

Somebody asked me what it means to be a "grassroots organizer"?

I certainly can't speak for everyone in that role, because every experience is different and although most struggles are similar, the path is very different depending on participants, history and place ... but I will do my best.

- Being a grassroots organizer means having your heart broken and repaired a thousand times over - sometimes several times in one day.

- It means that you hardly, if ever, get to turn off the lights and walk out the door free from it all. There is no 9 to 5 schedule, and weekends are just a social construct.

- It means looking out your window and seeing your failures, and looking into the eyes of the elders, the young, the lost, and knowing that you have to keep trying.

- It means feeling small sometimes.

- It means finding your power and using it to help others to feel big, so we can all grow stronger together.

- It means getting spit on by scared people, and uplifted by the brave.

- Sometimes it means spending all day fighting for folks to be able to keep a family's lights on, while coming home to find out your internet has been disconnected for lack of payment.

- It means spending days writing a proposal for funders, only to be told politely that you have wasted your days.

- It means dealing with colonizers, racists, classists and patriarchal people and systems, who knowingly or unknowingly continue their colonizing, racist, classist, patriarchal ways. And you often either have to clean up or step around their vomit.

- It means being on the ground, exhausted, up to your armpits in the most recent disaster, while folks sitting in an air conditioned office thousands of miles away collect funds from caring people to "do something" about the same disaster.

- It means begging for a small portion of those funds later, which you may or may not get, based on what fits into those office chair allies' multi-million dollar annual budgets and their decisions concerning your effectiveness.

- It means educating those who do not know they are uneducated. And soaking up the condescension of those who only know the worth of non-traditional "traditional education."

- It means speaking truth to power, and accepting the full consequences of that.

- It means sleeping in your car, in a laundromat parking lot, on a lonely night in the middle of nowhere, because nowhere is where the struggle happens to be at the moment.

- It means going to too many funerals, holding the hands of too many mourners, and discussing it all with too few who care.

- It means losing family and friends because they just "don't get you anymore."

- It means finding your family in people who "get" you completely.

- It means being optimistic and pessimistic at the exact same time.

- It means, finally falling into bed knowing that you did the best you could, with what you had, and realizing it is often still not enough.

- It means waking up, and starting in again anyway.

- I guess, for me, it means being grateful for the opportunity to meet the obligations to the life I have received, being able to die someday knowing I did my part, and hoping that the generations coming after me might be a little better off for it.

That's all I got for now, but grassroots-identifying folks, help me out. Reply in the comments - what does being a grassroots organizer mean to you? I'd love to know your thoughts ... In the meantime, and if you haven't heard it lately, from the bottom of my heart - thank you, thank you, thank you. Much love to you, and sweet victory to us all.

cf

(photo credit: Karen Savage)

Tags:

grassroots organizing

COP21 and the Invisible Jungle of Calais

Cherri Foytlin — Sun, 13 Dec 2015 13:52:59 +0000

Im/migration

On December 7, 2015, while participating in events surrounding the 21st Conference of Parties regarding Climate Change (COP21), I had the opportunity to join a group that included an artist, several documentarians, activists, and Gulf Coast front line leaders Juan and Bryan Parras, in visiting The Jungle - a “refugee camp” in Calais, France.

Our intention was to witness first-hand the migrant crisis now happening across Europe, as people flee from the devastating effects caused by climate change, economic disaster, and the resulting rise in terroristic activities in their countries.

Over 7,000 people from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Ethiopia and Eritrea, live in the now 15-year-old encampment. The asylum seekers usually stay for several months while trying to relocate to a new home somewhere in the world. In The Jungle, most are trying desperately to reach England, where it is rumored that applications are processed faster and work is more easily available. Calais is the closest point to that destination. Many are killed along the way.

I submit to you below my testimony as a witness to what I learned during my visit. You will see few actual people in the photos, however, I only took their image if I was asked or given permission. Many of the residents are hesitant to participate in this way because of worries that recognition in a photo could put their lives, or the lives of their families back home, in danger. Out of respect and understanding of their wishes, it was important to me to stay within those safety-driven parameters.

When we first arrived at the camp we were introduced to Amir, who had traveled over 3 months to The Jungle from Ethiopia. He seemed happy to see us, and shook hands enthusiastically. Afterwards he led us to a multi-layered, tarp-covered dwelling. The one room building was about 10 foot by 8 foot, with a small wood burning stove in the corner, and served as a kitchen/dining area for Amir and several others. Amir and his friends made us each a cup of warm tea, garnished with harvested wild mint. It was a welcome refreshment on the chilly day.

Amir spoke English fairly well, but several others who used the communal area did not. They were all men, boys really, from , recent attacks on The Jungle, which included tear gassings by French authorities, had left them with little doubt of their not being wanted.

War and violence is another reason that many are in the camp. Darfur, a region of the Sudan, has been devastated by armed conflict since 2003. Ethnic cleansing within the region has caused continued displacement. Yet again we see that violence is exacerbated by climate, the region continues to suffer desertification – a type of land degradation that includes the loss of water source, vegetation and wildlife due to drought conditions. This leaves the population vulnerable to disease, poverty, and the rise of terrorism, as cultures compete for resources.

Art is everywhere in The Jungle. Everything from political statements, to encouragement, to beautiful murals meant to remind people of their homelands or of the beauty that is life. The art installation is shaped like two jungle gyms overlapping each other and covered in plastic. In the smaller dome at the front, there are photos with quotes of former and current residents of the camp. Inside the big dome are beautiful works of art by both a professional artist and from the residents of all ages. It is there where camp gatherings and some classes are held regularly.

As we were hanging around the Art installation, we learned that the ground we were on was once a toxic waste dump. “That is why the French let us stay here,” we were told. Evidence was easy to find, exposed asbestos lie on the ground in several places around the camp. in at least one of the five communal taps. The area surrounding the camp appears to be industrial, with smoke stacks clearly visible.

“I’ve (been) coughing,” Marya, a mother of five, told me. Pointing to the smoke, she added, “It makes (the) children sick.”

I met Marya by the makeshift playground in the women and children’s part of the camp. She had traveled alone to The Jungle from Iraq, with here three youngest children in tow. Tears filled her eyes, as she explained in broken English that her two older children had been killed by a bomb, just prior to her travel. She took my hand and set it on the head of her youngest son, who was about three-years-old, pointing to the others – about 5 and 7 respectively - her voice cracked and she put her hand to her heart. “All I have now,” she said.

There are
Tags:

COP21

Climate Change

The Jungle

Calais

Blind Pessimism and the Criminalization of Children

Cherri Foytlin — Fri, 30 Oct 2015 13:49:37 +0000

Criminalization and Justice

Race and Racial Justice

Monday’s , , , and , a 10-year-old black girl with autism was ripped from a tree by five officers, after she had an outburst in class. By the time her grandmother arrived at the school, the officers had the child on the ground with a knee in her back, allegedly restricting her breathing. “Why do they [the police officers] hate me?” she asked her grandmother later.

Unfortunately, stories like these continue to be common, the effects of which go well past those directly involved. Former classroom teacher and Lowndes County, Alabama, based community organizer, Catherine Coleman-Flowers, provides analysis to the effects of the normalization of these acts to society at large.

“To constantly be bombarded with this type of violence on the part of officials representing the state is akin to trauma, and in the case of black people and brown people, racial trauma. It is unjust, immoral, and unlawful,” she explains.

Adding, “The attack and subsequent arrest of this [Spring Valley High] student was no more justified and lawful than the assault of the marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Extreme methods of punishment including the criminalization of childlike behavior in a school are a sure sign of a sick nation.”

Not everyone sees it this way, however, even with video evidence public perception of child arrests is divided. In the case of Spring Valley High, some have defended Deputy Fields’ actions. Many of them have said that the student should have “done what she was told” in the first place. Most have explained that they must “wait for more information,” that watching a few minutes worth of video does not tell us the whole story. I agree. We know very little about this girl.

While most everyone has seen the video of the altercation by now, a lesser known interview of fellow classmate, Niya Kenny, began to shed some light. In a discussion with local South Carolina station WTLX, Kenny, who was also arrested for expressing her contempt for the officer’s actions, can be heard saying, “I know this girl don’t got nobody, and I couldn’t believe this was happening.”

I doubt that it is hard to imagine, but this is not the first time a child has acted out at school. In fact the video brought to my mind a memory of a situation I observed in my own school experiences.

My friend Jamie always came to school in a long sleeve, flannel shirt. This was sixth grade in the 80s, and most other boys were wearing novelty t-shirts with puffy chevron jackets, or velour tops with corduroy pants. He stood out in this way, but in most other ways he was nearly invisible.

He always sat at the back of the class. He was not a good student, but never seemed to care about it anyway. He was quiet and preferred to be by himself, so mostly everyone – including the faculty – left him alone.

He rode my bus, so I knew him, but he sat in the front by himself. I have to admit I never really paid him much mind to him either, until one day on the playground when I saw a few boys chunking rocks at a stray dog that had wandered up to the school yard. I remember watching as Jamie not only defended the dog, but also gave the scruffy looking puppy a bit of some sort of food that he had in his pocket.

That afternoon, I sat next to Jamie on the bus, and we talked (well, mostly I talked), and we began our brief friendship.

I don’t remember what started the fuss the day that our relationship ended. I just remember Jamie, in his flannel shirt, holding onto his desk with white knuckles as our teacher stood over him. She was demanding that he rise from his seat and go to the principal’s office, but Jamie had the opposite idea. He was flat out refusing to move.

Visibly frustrated, our teacher turned to us and commanded that we keep doing our work, but of course we didn’t for a second take our eyes off of the act of insubordination happening at the moment. It didn’t matter, because as soon as the words crossed her lips she turned and rushed out of the classroom.

She came back with our principal, Mr Brandon. He was a big man with broad shoulders. He too was a quiet guy, but when he did speak, his deep voice could strike fear in the most misbehaving of students.

Mr Brandon took our teacher’s place towering over Jamie in a menacing way. Jamie did not appear phased, even as he sat in the shadow of this large man. In no uncertain terms, Mr. Brandon repeated the demand that Jamie get up and follow him to the office. Honestly, I thought he was going to jerk him out of the desk and haul him down the hallway in similar fashion to what recently happened in South Carolina.

But then, just as it seemed that all hell was about to break loose, we saw Mr. Brandon’s demeanor soften. Slowly he got down on one knee, gently touching the boy’s shoulder. In a quiet, soothing voice, one that we had to strain to hear, he looked Jaimie in the eye and said, “Come on, son. Let’s talk.”

Jamie looked at him sideways, jerked away from his touch, but he eventually he got up and stomped into the hall and down to the office.

We never saw Jamie again. Our teacher came and gathered his things, and although there were plenty of whispers between the teachers in the hallway, but no adult ever really told us what had happened.

In fact, we probably would never have known the fate of our classmate, except another kid in our class had been living next door to him. He told us how the police had arrested Jamie’s father and how he had been charged with child abuse. It seems that Jamie’s dad had a nightly habit of getting drunk and beating his son. For Jamie, that childhood trauma was over, he was off to stay with relatives and I sincerely hope to a better life than the one he had been living.

Jamie was lucky. He was lucky because someone took the time to look behind his behavior and to work in his best interest. Jamie, a white boy, was given the privilege of understanding, a privilege often denied to children of color.

According to the , , we are risking the losing of contributors to the success of our intertwined humanity. This blind, unknowing, pessimism puts us at risk of denying the greatness of individuals to whom we may have all one day benefitted from. We risk losing them, even before we know their full potential.

And it is not like we do not have innumerable examples of children who have made mistakes or lived traumatic and adverse childhoods, yet have become amazing contributors to our world. To those ranks, we can look at the positive effects of people like Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Vincent Van Gogh, Allen Iverson, and Jackie Robinson, to name a few.

Racism and blind pessimism only leads us to the unjust notion that you can take a small sliver, a moment, of a person’s life and pass judgment upon their entire being. By doing so we are not only denying a child the human right to safety, but also ourselves and our society the opportunity to benefit from the gifts that they have the potential to give.

I can’t say that Jamie went on to do great things, or even that he ended up in a place much better off than where he began, but I can say that he deserved a chance, and that he deserved to be approached with respect and to be treated like a human. I can say that every child does.

Tags:

Spring Valley High School

juvenile justice

criminalization

school to prison pipeline

Catherine Coleman-Flowers

18 Questions I Asked at BP's Headquarters (Before Being Jailed)

Cherri Foytlin — Sun, 19 Apr 2015 18:25:51 +0000

Climate and Environment

Disaster, Response and Renewal

Health and Wellness

Last week I was part of an since this disaster began. Five years later, and we continue to deal with sometimes overwhelming and consistently devastating economic, ecological and human health impacts to our region.

Image courtesy of RAN.org.

And so, below I submit to you the full list of questions as read aloud to BP at their head corporate office in America on April 15, 2015, complete with the possible truthful response on the behalf of BP (written by me), followed by the official response provided by BP. Read on:

Q1: How are you planning to clean-up the , banned in the UK and other countries, when there were less toxic dispersants available?

Truthful response: Well, I mean sure, Corexit is outlawed in the UK because of its adverse effects on marine life, and yes, the ?

Truthful response: We wanted to make sure that a large number of claimants were pushed into litigation where we could get out our high-priced lawyers to use our as long as possible. Unfortunately, after the Exxon Valdez spill the public is onto that tactic, so we had to look like we were going to make this easy and do the right thing, while actually playing the same old game as used in other spills – that’s where the repeated attempts to take it to the Supreme Court came in handy!

BP’s actual response:

Q6: Why won’t you face the truth of the continuing disaster?

Truthful response: we just care for our money a whole, whole, WHOLE lot more

BP's actual response:

Q8: Why did you spend so much on PR, and then claim that you cannot afford to take care of the people and ecosystem that you injured?

Truthful response: It’s true, if you are going to sell a load to the public.

BP’s actual response:

Q9: Do you have a conscience?

Truthful response: No.

BP’s actual response:

Q10: With so much BP oil still unaccounted for, why did you stop clean-up efforts?

Truthful response: Please see our answer to Q6 above.

BP’s actual response:

Q11: Why do you think you are above the laws that everyone else must live by? If a judgment had been ruled against us, and we not paid, our assets would have been liquidated and sold to pay our debt, why do you think our laws do not apply to you?

Truthful response: Seriously? That's what they do? We had no idea, I mean, geez...really, we had no idea! It must suck to be you.

BP’s actual response:

Q12: How could you be okay with ?

Truthful response: We did not choose to burn endangered sea turtles, those turtles chose to be burned. Our independent research has confirmed those turtles had every opportunity to turn their crusty shells around and stay out of the oil. They didn't. It must suck to be a turtle too.

BP’s actual response:

Q14: Why did you of clean-up during the height of the spill?

Truthful response: Dude. Show a little respect for ? Gulf walruses... lol, I mean really. Plus, anybody who thought we could really clean up all that oil was actually lying to themselves.

BP’s actual response:

Q15: Do you know what false advertising means?

Truthful response: We take our commitment to false advertising very seriously. In fact, .

BP’s actual response:

Q17: Why did you
BP’s actual response:

Q18: We invite you to come and see and hear the continuing damage that your company has caused. Will you
Places:

Houston

The Condor and the Eagle

Cherri Foytlin — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 15:53:26 +0000

Climate and Environment

Culture and Traditions

Organizing and Engagement

Race and Racial Justice

More than 500 years ago, before the arrival of the first Europeans, vast civilizations flourished in what is now called the Americas.

Trade routes and commerce had long been established across the Rockies and the Andes, from the farthest northern to the farthest southern regions of the Americas. It has been said that this was the time of union for Indigenous Peoples, the time of the Condor and the Eagle.

The Condor represents the Indigenous Peoples of the south, while the Eagle represents the Indigenous Peoples of the north.

Hereditary Chief Phil Lane Jr., a member of the Yankton Sioux Tribe and Chickasaw Nations who has devoted much of his life toward the actualization of the reunion of the Condor and the Eagle, explains the prophesied decimation of the connection of the previous “kinship network, based in spiritual and cultural relationships” of the two.

“Respected scholars… believe that 80 – 100 million Indigenous Peoples perished from disease by the mid-1600’s, a catastrophe on an even greater scale than the ‘black deaths’ in Europe. Many more died afterwards as the direct result of hostile colonial policies.

“All of these prophecies predict, after a long and bitter wintertime of 500 years, that the ‘Reunion of the Condor and the Eagle’ will begin slowly and then rapidly accelerate following the end of the long-count of the Mayan Calendar, December 12, 2012, and the beginning of the fifth Sun. It is prophesied that this spirituality based movement, led by Indigenous Peoples, will ultimately result in a great era of compassion, peace, justice and prosperity that will unite all members of the Human Family.”

It is in this time of reunion that the wounds of injustice, of colonization, oppression, and greed – wounds that have been borne for generations - will begin to heal. And this spiritual Springtime will birth a galvanized and reunited human family.

VIDEO: Watch the preview clip for “The Condor and the Eagle” by filmmakers Sophie and Clément Guerra.

This long spiritual winter has begun to thaw, and more and more people are awaking to find themselves in a bleak world where the symptoms of industrialization, which stem from the disease of colonization, has become a cancer to many lands and waters.

"As the industrial corporations push further and further their destructive projects, destroy more and more Mother Earth, the people are now rising up. From outside, it seems to be tragic; but from inside, a spiritual giant has awakened. It is the reunion of the people that were already linked together. It is a reunion beyond borders. It is a reunion around the world," explains Lane.

With respect to this time, filmmakers Sophie and Clément Guerra have initiated a campaign to send four indigenous leaders affected by this destructive industrial nightmare to become ambassadors to this reunion.

“We reached a point in our lives where we felt that we could no longer keep our eyes closed as if our future, and that of our children, was not on the line. We began to see the world more clearly, becoming more aware of the injustices that are going on in the world. During our awakening, we witnessed an incredible movement building and being led by indigenous people and wanted to support their efforts. When you are aware, you have a responsibility to act,” they explain as a part of their Indiegogo fundraising campaign.

“For many years we watched many environmental disasters as a result of extractive industries. When we heard about the tar sands we knew it was time to act. We quit our jobs, took our ten years savings and began our journey to North America.”

Their project,
Places:

Houston

A Terrible, Terrible Choice - Gulf of Mexico Oil Industry Veteran Speaks Out

Cherri Foytlin — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 15:13:54 +0000

Climate and Environment

Economy and Work

Health and Wellness

This is part two of a three part series featuring an insider look at the oil industry in the Gulf of Mexico - including environmental practices, worker-related injuries and deaths, and the industry’s economic and political influence - through the lens of thirty-five-year oil worker Randy Comeaux. See part one
No doubt these risks are one reason why an oil worker’s average wage is around $100,000 a year. Where else could you make that much on a high school education?

One has to wonder, are offshore oil workers paid to die?

“I think oil workers make a terrible, terrible choice that their job is worth the risk,” states retired Gulf of Mexico compliance inspector Randy Comeaux.

VIDEO: “Your job vs Your Life” – Oil industry veteran Randy Comeaux details the plight concerning injuries and fatalities among oil workers in the Gulf. Drawing from his 35 years of experiences in the field, Comeaux explains that the numbers cited in the study may actually be considerably lower than the realities of the job.

“It’s a very strong culture, that they cultivate, that ‘what happens offshore, stays offshore,” he says.

Adding, “And enormous amounts of incidents and accidents are not reported… Instead, what (the companies) will do is they will take an injured worker, take him to a doctor, get him taken care of, and... put him in the office filing training records, so he’ll have zero lost days.”

Oil worker injuries are not counted by US regulatory agencies or insurance companies if no time was lost on the job. Comeaux says this is the motivation for keeping workers going in some capacity, even after an injury.

“That’s a very, very common practice,” he explains. “Obviously because if a worker is injured, your worker’s comp rate goes up, so why report a worker injured?”

“In one of the ship yards down in Larose, a forklift backed over one of the workers, where it broke his leg. They took him to a private doctor, got a cast… put him on the owner’s private jet, flew him back to his hometown in Mexico, gave him $10,000 in cash, and told him not to come back. They didn’t file an accident report. Things like that happen, unfortunately.”

“They don’t want the regulatory agencies knowing, they don’t want the insurance companies knowing, they don’t want upper management knowing, and consequently we have a lot of bad information going to the upper offices, and we still got a lot of people getting hurt offshore,” adds Comeaux.

The South Louisiana resident sees this lack of reporting as a problem that stretches beyond individuals injured or killed, but one that affects the safety of workers across the industry.

“The terrible thing about it is when bad things happen the real truth doesn’t come out, because it is suppressed by the worker, by the person in charge of the field, and the lesson learned never really comes out. And it’s not a good situation. Our industry lacks integrity.”

“If people would sit back and tell the truth about a situation, it would be so easy to figure out what happened and to fix it, so that it didn’t happen again. If people would just report what happened, to where BSEE [Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement] could go out and help them, but nobody wants to report anything,” he says.

Why wouldn’t workers report injuries to superiors or regulatory agencies themselves?

“A lot of these companies recruit neighbors. I mean they will go to a town and hire 150 people. Bring them and train them, and come out with 50 people that they will put on the rig, so that anything that you say affects your next door neighbor. So your next door neighbor is on your butt, ‘man you’re getting us in trouble here.”

Comeaux says that in addition to worries about fellow worker’s livelihoods, whistleblowing in the oil industry is met with direct intimidation from other workers and superiors alike.

VIDEO: Listen to retired oil worker Randy Comeaux explain how whistleblowers are received by the industry and fellow employees.

“In our industry, whistle blowing is frowned upon. When you talk to the administrative branches of all of the companies – oil companies and service companies, they will tell you a story of how whistle blowing is an integral part of safety and compliance and (that the whistleblowers) are rewarded,” he explains.

Laws and regulations on paper support the industry’s claims. Workers have safe guards that protect them under the Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989. And according to the
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Louisiana

Not One Step Back!

Cherri Foytlin — Mon, 09 Mar 2015 18:29:29 +0000

Climate and Environment

Economy and Work

Land and Housing

Race and Racial Justice

This is my full speech from the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, on Sunday, March 9, in commemoration of the 50th Commemoration of Bloody Sunday. Due to time constraints, the original was cut down to one minute, so I am sharing my full thoughts here.

Good afternoon! My name is Cherri Foytlin, I am the mother of six beautiful children, and I live in Rayne, Louisiana.

I would like to first recognize the land with which we are now standing as Muskogee Creek lands. I would like to remind you that the country known as the United States of America began with acts of genocide and that the blood of people of color spilled on this ground began 283 years ago. Violence in Selma against people of color did not begin or end 50 years ago – Selma is now!

As Reverend (William) Barber said, we come here to today not in celebration, but to remember and to know that there is still much work to be done in order to protect the rights of all people.

The thing is, at the time that Dr. King was taken from us, he was not finished in his work. And he left us a pretty large mandate of what he felt was needed to secure our futures. He called it The Poor People’s Campaign. It was his hope to mobilize the poor to be empowered to take action in our lives, to be at the front in building a society of inclusion and equality.

To do so we must be honest about where we have come from, and where we are today. The truth is that since the day that Dr. King was murdered, there are 10 million more people living in poverty in the United States. In fact, this town – Selma, has a poverty rate of 45 percent.

It is time to understand that this is not an accident, that the systems in this country are built to make this so, and that poverty is violence to all of our peoples.

We must remember the words of not only Dr. King, but of our dear Brother Malcolm who spoke of the knife driven in the backs of people of color. He spoke specifically of the dangers of celebrating a knife half removed.

A few minutes ago we crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge, under that bridge is the Alabama River. This river is highly polluted. Our children cannot fish, swim or drink from this river without worry of becoming ill from these pollutants which were put there by several paper making corporations.

Twenty-five minutes from where we stand now, in the predominantly African-American community of Uniontown, residents are overburdened by the adverse effects of a poisonous landfill, a polluting cat-fish facility and they live with the terror of a coal ash dump.

The corporate assault on our air, land and water, which can more often be found in poor and minority communities, is nothing short of terrorism. It is an assault on our communities that deserves an equal response of protection.|

I have been poor my whole life, and I have been hungry. But the truth is that there are many ways to starve.

Today I am still hungry. I am hungry for education equality.

I am hungry for healthcare rather than no care.

I am hungry for a fair justice system.

I am hungry for truth.

I am hungry for freedom and respect.

I am hungry for full inclusion at the table of representation.

I am hungry for peace.

I am hungry for reverence toward our beautiful Mother Earth.

Mainly, I am hungry for an evolution of consciousness. For the understanding that every child is worth the struggles of this time, that every child has value, that THEY are our most precious natural resource.

On this day, we find ourselves at the point where past and present meet, we must be moved to think and act with the future in our minds and hearts.

It is time to complete Dr. King’s vision. It is time to reignite the Poor People’s Campaign!

Forward together! Not one step back!

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#gulfsouthrising

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