I pledge allegiance to humanity

When the Equifax data heist was announced I figured my data was stolen. I put a credit freeze on all three credit reporting services (doing it through Equifax was free). I signed up for a credit reporting service through my insurance company (not through Equifax). I tried to get my current credit reports but couldn’t because of the system overload.

But I didn’t think the mess would spread way beyond financial. Waldo Jaquith tweeted:

In some states, using only the information found in Equifax’s records, you can screw with people’s voter registrations.

Amadi responded in a tweet:

Ask yourself who might want the kind of info in the Equifax hack and for what purpose.

I’ve been quoting and linking to Melissa McEwan of Shakseville a lot over the last couple years. Over that time and quite a bit since January she has been highly critical of the nasty guy, documenting his travesties. She discusses both the well reported stuff and the important but obscure stuff. Then she explains it well.

Such as this bit: The nasty guy isn’t making life difficult for just illegal immigrants. He doesn’t like legal ones either. The Department of Homeland Security has issued plans to collect social media info on all immigrants. This includes permanent residents and naturalized citizens. And the net is to include all US citizens who communicate with them.

Citizen advocates are alarmed, saying it is “an invasion of privacy and deters freedom of speech.”

McEwan is especially frightened of this announcement because her husband is a naturalized citizen. This could prompt the gov’t to start surveillance of her highly critical blog. Will she soon no longer be safe here?



An example of McEwan’s insight and criticism of the nasty guy is this look at why he is so upset with the football players who take a knee or link arms during the national anthem. In sports people with highly different politics can root for the same team. White boys can have black and female role models. It costs nothing to be a fan, no one has to buy the souvenirs or even a ticket. It isn’t exclusive to the wealthy. It is a way of uniting people. And the nasty guy doesn’t want that.

Commenter xpctmr adds another angle. Professional sports is a distraction from daily troubles. White folks can admire black folks.

So for black players to say, "Hey, by the way, since you care so much about me, how about acknowledging that even I, in my relatively privileged position, suffer racist attacks and am at risk of being unjustly killed, and that people all over this country who look like me are, too, including my family and loved ones?" breaks the implicit understanding (by whites) that black folks should know (and stay in) their place, and not interrupt a ceremony white folks are using to escape their lives, nor pop their privilege bubbles.

White people don’t want to be reminded that in the same stadium black folks are experiencing racism while they try to enjoy the game.



Carina, a guest on Shakesville, explains why she stopped saying the Pledge of Allegiance many years ago. Her reasons are especially important when the pledge is for allegiance to a country now led by a tyrant. She offers a new pledge:

So, no, I do not pledge allegiance to a flag, a flag which is changeable, which can change hands from a true leader to a tyrant in a heartbeat. I pledge allegiance, instead, to the very best of what that flag has represented. I pledge allegiance to freedom, to liberty, and to justice. I pledge allegiance to humanity. I pledge allegiance to my sisters and siblings of the human race, the downtrodden, the forgotten, the marginalized. I pledge allegiance to this Earth we share. I pledge allegiance to Black lives. I pledge allegiance to every woman and person who desires bodily autonomy. I pledge allegiance to indigenous water protectors. I pledge allegiance to the undocumented, the detained, the banned, the deported.

I pledge allegiance to myself, to always remain true to what lives in my heart. I pledge allegiance to you and me. That is my pledge. And this pledge I will stand for.

Even as Houston is recovering from Hurricane Harvey the debate over Confederate monuments continue to rage. While waiting for monuments to be taken down TransGriot proposes what might take their place. TransGriot describes herself as a black trans woman. Her choices:

Barbara Jordan, first black woman elected to the Texas Senate and the first black elected to the Texas legislature since Reconstruction. She was also elected to the US House in 1972 and part of the Watergate impeachment hearings.

George Leland, a black man who succeeded Jordan in the US House and chair of the House Select Committee on Hunger.

Kathy Whitmire, first female mayor of Houston who broke the power of the “good old boys.”

I’ve heard others say you want to to honor history of the South? Let’s replace Confederate monuments with monuments to those who battled slavery, such as Harriet Tubman.