The Case for the National Slavery Memorial and Aid to our HBCUs

Can America design, permit, construct and solemnize a National Slavery Memorial on the National Mall in the District of Columbia and still remain standing? Yes it can. Such memorial would only make our nation of brothers and sisters stronger. Germany erected the Holocaust Memorial to the murder of six million European Jews during the reign of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers Party from 1933 to 1945 in Germany and Nazi occupied Europe in the center of its capital Berlin and opened the memorial in 2005. Germany located this memorial to a dark chapter in its history, not in some peripheral location, but right in the center of its capital, Berlin, steps from its Brandenburg Gate and its parliamentary building, the Reichstag.

By the same token, the slavery practiced in the United States after its founding in 1776 inflicted great pain on the enslaved people captured in Africa; transported across the Atlantic; and, treated as chattel in these United States. This inhumane institution and the machinations of the Slave Power almost destroyed our nascent democracy. It is only fitting and proper that a National Slavery Memorial be erected on the National Mall in view of the Lincoln Memorial, who was martyred by the Slave Power and in view of the Jefferson Memorial, whose children with the enslaved woman, Sally Hemings, were determined not to have any of the rights of a U.S. citizen under the Dred Scot U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1857. The children of the author of the Declaration of Independence and our third president, Thomas Jefferson, were determined to be chattel under that 1857 decision.

In the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in 2020, there was an outpouring of support for the black and African-American communities across our land. The establishment of a Online National Directory of Donors to the National Slavery Memorial would allow citizens and corporate persons to donate to the NSM. In a land of over 330 million people, so many donations would be made, far outstripping the funds needed to design, permit and erect the NSM, that the excess monies would go to out Historically Black Colleges and Universities based on their student population in 2019. That would be hundreds of millions of dollars.

100 Questions after the Killing of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor: with Policy Recommendations and The Chicago Tragedy: Our Silence on the Daily Violent Death of Young Black Men, Boys and Bystanders Nationwide

What is “systemic racism?” What is “structural racism?” It is important that you write down what you think it is. Many mounted their soap boxes after the killing of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in 2020 and said they would fight structural racism and demand accountability. Yet nothing happened and structural racism/statism has been redoubled by these self-same people. Read about the hurdles, burdens and barriers put in the way of the citizenry by the state to get an education, get a job, start a business, run a business, put a roof over the citizen’s head, put food on the plate of their children and to pursue happiness as they see fit. Blacks in America have one-eighth the net worth or whites which makes every hurdle higher, every burden heavier and every barrier thicker. Then there is the daily violent death of our young black, men, boys and bystanders that our nation ignores: The Chicago Tragedy.

The School-to-Prison Pipeline: How the Public School Monopoly and the Teachers’ Unions Deny School Choice to High-Needs Black, Hispanic, White, Asian, and Other Students

Some of the best performing public K-12 schools in New York and Connecticut are public charter schools peopled by high economic needs black, Hispanic, white, Asian and other students but the public school monopoly and the teachers unions work diligently to prevent their expansion, working instead to limit them. The public school monopoly and teachers unions also work diligently against vouchers and education savings accounts for high-needs students. Adults against children is never fair. Our children should be first and not third. Three out of five black kindergarteners in Harlem are in public charter schools. Their parents know something that we don’t.

“American” as the first category for your race, creed, color and ethnicity, The first day of post-racial America!

What color is an American? There is no color but we are a people, whether we were born here or immigrated here. The passage of the legislation proposed by this book will be the first day of post-racial America!

My experiences and observations serving as a reserve officer in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps and as an immigrant contributed to the ideas behind the book Check “American” and the 2020 Census.

China, once the world’s leading civilization, slips beneath the totalitarian sea of the Communist Party of China.

While China has grown prodigiously after the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, the Communist Party of China crushed the liberal democratic movement in Tiananmen Square in 1989 and has steadily expanded its control over the Chinese people and economy.

Her annual growth rates have gone from ten percent or better to 8%, to 6% to 4%. Their housing bubble has burst. Their population is projected to shrink from 1.4 billion to less than a billion etc. Supreme leader Xi Jinping and the CPC now face the eleven principles of history and economics which challenge their continued hegemony over China and her people. Does the CPC believe the Han Chinese are not capable of self-governance though liberal democratic elections along with freedom of speech, press, assembly and religion?

Connecticut’s Constitution was a model for the U.S. Constitution, but Connecticut has since lost its constitutional footing.

All free governments are instituted for the benefit of the citizen. That sounds pretty normal for a constitution of a democratic country and can be found at Article 1, section 2 of the Connecticut Constitution. Connecticut, however, has among the worst pubic finances and debt of all 50 states, due to the state being run for the state and not the citizen, thanks to her politicians and judges. Can she regain her constitutional balance to serve the citizen or will she continue to underperform the rest of the nation economically and lose citizens and capital to other states and continue to make life more difficult for the poor with rising costs and structural statism/racism so carefully crafted by her leading political class?

Climate Change, Environmental Equity and Liberal Democracy: Safeguarding the planet without burdening the poor or weakening democracies.

Climate change is a compelling issue, but how is it balanced with environmental equity to our poor? We all love the environment and should do whatever we can to help it provided it doesn’t raise the cost of living for the poor. The present climate debate is about enabling the continued consumption habits of the well-to-do regardless of burdening the poor and their ability to pursue a better future. Tesla automobile drivers, specifically, and electric vehicle drivers are generally affluent and consume far more carbon than the average citizen, ergo they are carbon pigs. Few are willing to take the vow of poverty to address climate change. We all, including the author, could do better and consume less carbon, but individually and collectively we chose not to. Learn about concepts such as “carbon neutral,” “zero carbon,” “net carbon zero 2050” and “Tesla carbon pigs.” Learn about promising technologies such as solar, wind, nuclear fusion, e-fuels, hydrogen and fuel cells which can help our environment.

Should Rule of Law countries, such as the United States of America put themselves at a competitive disadvantage to totalitarian, single party dictatorships such as China, North Korea and Cuba and authoritarian countries such as Russia? Why do we weaken democratic nations and put the supply chain of necessary elements through the Communist Party of China? A green economy is six times more resource intensive in copper, aluminum, cobalt, lithium, rare earths, manganese, etc. than a carbon based economy but we won’t grant permits for more strip mines and refining facilities here and expect these mines and refining facilities to be erected in countries with poor environmental controls and weak rule of law traditions. Is that a dangerous policy for democracies? Is that fair to the poor in the United States and outside of the United States who would also like to pursue their happiness and live a better life?