A PORTRAIT OF ITHACA COLLEGE PRESIDENT TOM ROCHON IN VERSE

by Dubian Ade

Image source: campuslately.com

He has no shame

his dry mouth

talking empty things as

if reading from a teleprompter

his commitment to diversity.

He is a string of arbitrary 

alibis hastily put together

Posture bent to one side

wringing his hands he

wipes his forehead

with the Klan hood

stuffed in his back pocket

He dresses himself well.

Eats well. Lives in a house

owned by the institution.

Drives a car that is owned by

the institution. Swipes with a 

credit card owned by the

institution.

Makes over 500,000 dollars a

year.

Adjunct faculty make less

than 20,000 a year. Can't even

afford the roof over their

heads. Staff work overtime to

feed hungry families. Hand to

mouth

students pay 60,000 to be at

the college. Tomorrow it will

be 70,000. It is not unusual to

see them struggle.

Students of color can barely

afford this institution at all. 

Meanwhile, he lives

comfortably.

In his spare time he enjoys

structural racism and white

supremacy.

When he is not busy, he is

finding new ways

of domination. Appoint new

trustees. Change the provost.

Silence the newspapers.

Punish the faculty.

You can find him re-imagining

blue skies.

Still hasn't apologized to Tatiana 

Sy

A body of lies 

he doesn't give a shit about

people of color.

His favorite word is "dialogue"

As in "listen to me talk about

bullshit"

His favorite color is money

When he grows up he wants to

be an obnoxious, wealthy,

incompetent, white supremacist,

president of a college institution.

He has two jobs. The first is

president of Ithaca College. The

second is as chairman of

Tompkins County Financial, where

he makes another 60,000 a year.  

When he speaks to the campus

body, his fly is generally showing.

He is generally fearful. He wrings

his hands. He stands awkwardly.

He is white fragility.   

sweat patches under his arms

he makes a fool of himself.

The campus body is humiliated for him.

Once he compared racism to having a bad hair

day.

He is the inside joke among students and

faculty

He is the kind of person who tries

To sneak out of the front entrance

of the administrative building to avoid student

protesters.

When he comes to work in the morning, he

sneaks in through the side door to avoid

people.

Not a people person.

Ask him a question about structural racism and

he will run circles around you like a wet dog

chasing his tail.

Ask him if he cares about Black lives

and he will let you know that Black lives are

your issue.

He will infiltrate a Black church because he

wants "dialogue" and desecrate it with his

whiteness 

They say he studied social movements in order

to suppress and ignore them.

He happily signs off on every microaggression

that runs by his desk

He thinks that an institution of higher

education should run like a business.

He is a puppet who sits in the lap of the board

of trustees.

He refuses to resign.

He has no shame.

THE DECOLONIZER strongly urges President Tom Rochon's immediate resignation.

---

Dubian Ade

THE DECOLONIZER
December 2015

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THE NEWSFEED, DECEMBER 2015

University of Missouri Demands (via thedemands.org)

National Mobilization of College Campuses

This month has been an electrifying time for student activism on college campuses across the country. Following the well-publicized University of Missouri protests that led to the resignation of Mizzou president Timothy W. Wolfe, media coverage has shined light on the countless student movements that were already building nationwide. According to thedemands.org, students of color from at least 65 different colleges and universities have put forth a list of demands. The website goes even further to link student demands to the national demands of Black Lives Matter protesters. Many student organizers, fed-up with the structural racism perpetuated by institutions of higher education, have called for the resignation of chief administrators. Ithaca College students most notably have called for the resignation of President Tom Rochon, and through the Student Government have officially placed a no-confidence vote.

Jennifer Laude

U.S Marine Guilty for the Murder of A Filipino Trans Woman

On December 1st, U.S marine Joseph Pemberton was found guilty  of homicide by the Olongapo City Regional Trial Court for the 2014 killing of Filipino transgender woman Jennifer Laude. Pemberton was on a break in October 2014 after participating in a United States colonial military operation in the Philippines. Laude and Pemberton met at a disco in Olngapo City and the U.S marine strangled Laude in a hotel room after discovering that she was a transgender woman. The Olongapo City Regional Trial Court has sentenced Pemberton to 6-12 years and a forced payment of 4.5 million pesos (130,000 U.S$) to the Laude family. The court has also ordered he pay 50,000 pesos for civil indemnity, 155,255 as reimbursement for the wake and burial, 50,000 for moral damages, and 30,000 for exemplary damages.

The Philippine government has also served five subpoenas to the U.S. Embassy. The situation has strained the relationship between the two countries and many Philippine transgender rights activist have called for the cancellation of the Philippines-United States Visiting Forces Agreement. Protesters have railed against the special treatment of Pemberton, who is currently been held at a U.S facility instead of a Filipino jail. The Philippines, which was formally colonized by the United States, is occupied by thousands of U.S marines who come to train on Philippine soil each year.       

Daniel Holtzclaw Trial: #BlackWomenMatter

Former Oklahoma City police officer Daniel Holtzclaw has been charged with raping 13 Black women and is currently on trial. Holtzclaw used his position on the force to do background checks on numerous women, stalk them, and ultimately coerce them into sex. Holtzclaw was fired from the force in January of 2015. In the first proceedings of the trial defense attorney Scott Adams made numerous racist attempts to discredit the testimonies of the affected women by focusing heavily on incriminating them. Irrelevant questions about their drug use were also pursued as if this some how justified the disgusting actions of Holtzclaw. The trial was before an all-white jury in a justice system that has historically failed to protect woman of color from sexual abuse and white supremacist patriarchy. The trial also failed to get the proper media attention that it should. In early November the courtroom was nearly empty and the large scale support enjoyed by men of color who are victims of policing violence was absent for the women in this case. Two more woman came forward to testify against Holtzclaw in late November. On December 10th in a wonderful turn of events, Holtzclaw was found guilty of 16 of the 36 charges brought against him and will be facing time in prison. Sentencing will be set for January 21st.

Freddie Gray Trial Begins In Baltimore

The trial of Baltimore police officer William G. Porter for the extrajudicial murder of Freddie Gray began December 2nd. Porter, who is Black, is the first of six Baltimore City police officers to stand trial for Gray's death. Porter has pleaded not guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter, assault, reckless endangerment, and misconduct in office. On April 12th, 2014 Freddie Gray suffered a fatal spinal cord injury at the hands of Baltimore police officers which incited a series BLM protests. Prosecutors say that Porter failed to seek out medical attention for Gray and neglected to seat-belt him in the transport van when it was clear that he had serious spinal injuries. Prosecutors are trying Porter first because he can serve as a material witness against the other officers in the case.

Muslim Taxi Driver Shot in Pittsburgh

In Pittsburgh a Muslim taxi driver was shot in the back Thanksgiving day by an anti-Muslim passenger. The 38-year-old man, who chooses to remain unidentified, had picked up the passenger in what seemed to be a normal car ride. The passenger began ranting about ISIS and asked where the taxi driver was from. He replied that he is against ISIS and that he is from Morocco. The driver then proceeded to talk about The Prophet Muhammad. Once the taxi reached its destination in Pittsburgh's Hazelwood area, the passenger asked the taxi to wait while he retrieve his wallet in the house. The passenger returned with a loaded rifle and shot at the back of the car as the diver took off. The taxi driver is in stable condition with a bullet wound between his shoulder blades. The council on American-Islamic Relations has called for the Justice Department to investigate the incident as a hate crime. Anti-Muslim sentiments have been increasingly violent especially with the Paris attacks and the rejection of Syrian refugees.

White Supremacist Terror In Minneapolis

The November 23rd attacks on Black Lives Matter protesters outside of the Forth Precinct have left five Black males injured. #Justice4Jamar #4thPrecintShutdown protest had remain non-violent when four white men infiltrated the crowd with ski masks and kevlar vests. When the men began shouting racial slurs they were asked to leave by protesters and escorted to their car. Once at their vehicle the men opened fire. Police officers intentionally delayed their response, taunting protesters and telling concerned activist that "they had asked for this." They proceeded to pepper spray protesters waiting for the ambulance and continued to break up the encampment. 26-year-old Daniel Macey, 27 year-old Joseph Backman, 21-year-old Nathan Gustavsson, and 23-year-old Allen Scarsella have all been accused of the shooting. All face various counts of riot and assault with a dangerous weapon. They are due in court in January.

---

The Newsfeed

THE DECOLONIZER
December 2015

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DECOLONIZING OUR MENTALITIES ONE STEP AT A TIME

by Emilio Paqcha Benites

Artwork by Luna Enriquez (Image source: Flickr.com)

A first step to decolonizing our mentalities is to be aware of the characteristics of a colonized mentality. Here is a list to get started:

Manipulating or letting someone else manipulate nature to satisfy the desire of a non-necessary commodity.

Eating food without thinking about the sacrifices that took place to produce it.

Throwing any amount of food away knowing that someone is dying of hunger somewhere in the world.

Fantasizing about wealth even though it means the poverty of someone else.

Putting a monetary value to education, health, and food.

Equating intelligence with social status or skin color.

Believing that racism doesn't exist.

Thinking that poverty is the result of a person's bad choices.

Thinking that a capitalistic society gives every one equal opportunity to succeed.

Believing that borders are the doors to a distinct culture.

Thinking that the only person right is you.

Thinking that there is a unilinear way to evolve as a society.

Admiring a society while assuming that their misfortunes are a result of its existence.

Accepting poverty.

Thinking that we are individual beings.

Believing that violence and destruction is human nature.

Separating the past present and future as different times in our lives.

Believing that there is only one way to reach God...

..to be continued by those who are in the process of decolonizing their mentalities.

---

Emilio Paqcha Benites

THE DECOLONIZER
December 2015

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ARTIST OF THE MONTH: JULIA DE BURGOS

(via claridadpuertorico.com)

Julia de Burgos is considered to be one of the greatest Puerto Rican poets of all time. Born in poverty in Carolina in 1914, Julia  persevered and became a renowned poet in Puerto Rico. By the time she immigrated to the United States in 1940 she had  published two collections of poetry. Julia's poems were a precursor to feminist anti-colonial politics. She herself became a vocal advocate for Puerto Rican independence. Her more famous works are El Rio Grande de Loiza,  Poema para Mi Muerte (My Death Poem), and Yo Misma Fui Mi Ruta (I Was My Own Path). 

---

Decolonizing Culture

THE DECOLONIZER
December 2015

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TO THE OFFICERS

by Leah Grady Sayvetz

On a Tuesday morning in early November, on my way driving to work, I was stopped at the bottom of Elm street by a traffic jam, not atypical for 8am on a week day. Thinking nothing of it, I patiently waited for vehicles to move on so that I could pull out onto Floral Ave. The car ahead of me seemed somewhat thoughtless in how they had stopped across a lane of traffic on Floral and did not appear to be moving.

An elderly black man turned up Elm, having just come from the Martin Luther King Blvd bridge, and stopped his car next to mine to let out his passenger, a middle-aged black man. As I saw these two men say good bye, I realized that the driver of the car ahead of me, a white man, had just jumped out of his vehicle and was now pointing a gun at the younger of the two black men. It suddenly became clear that we were surrounded by undercover police.

Dear Officers,

That Tuesday, did you feel like you did your job well, pursued justice, kept our community safe, by staging this surprise arrest of my neighbor, a black man? Had you been told- perhaps you yourselves had even collected evidence to suggest or confirm- that this individual was committing crimes? Did these supposed crimes have anything to do with illegal drugs? Were they violent or nonviolent crimes? I want us to stop and think, first, before even answering these questions. Before even asking them, really.

For here we are on a Tuesday morning in rush hour traffic and here is the scene you have staged for everyone to watch and learn: You are armed white men pointing guns at a black man. What message does this send to those of us who happen to drive by? To those of us who are white, does it perhaps reinforce the myth that blackness is criminal? To those of us who are white does it perhaps reinforce the myth that black lives don’t matter? I would claim yes. To anyone driving by who is a person of color, does this scene perhaps reinforce the very real fear that they or their loved ones could be stopped by the police at any time for little or no reason at all, to have guns pointed at them, to be interrogated, dehumanized, shot, killed? 

What about black and brown children in the car being driven to school, who see you with your guns pointed at a black man this morning? You know that these children hear the news so often of yet another black body slain by police or security guards with no criminal prosecution of the murderer. What kind of fear do you think your show of force this morning instills in these beautiful children? A real and founded fear.

Ok, now if you’ve thought about that, but you still feel justified because you were doing your job to “fight crime,” I want us to have this conversation: How can you call ANYTHING that my neighbor may be accused of a CRIME, when the real and monstrously enormous crimes of our governments and corporations go unchecked and unaddressed?

The real crime is every single mother, father, and child without adequate housing. The real crime is every child not fed good healthy food. The real crime is every youth, every adult, not employed, not employed meaningfully, not paid a living wage. The real crimes is mass incarceration of people of color, of poor folks. The real crime is the theft of trillions of dollars from US tax payers to build weapons, to invade other countries, to torture. The real crime is our governments’ complete disregard for Native treaties, leaving our Native brothers and sisters without land, homes, food, work, clean air, clean water, clean soil. The real crime is the imprisonment and forced slave labor of over 2 million people in our country, most for nonviolent offenses, for crimes of poverty, for the crime of being abandoned and targeted by the system, for the crime of being black, for the crime of being poor. The real crime is so many millions of Americans who don’t have access to health care. The real crime is Wall Street making billions of dollars off the whole mess, off of even our visits to the doctor. The real crime is mothers and fathers who fled here for their lives and their children’s lives, who are being deported and taken from their families.

The real crime is our export of violence and poverty to resource-rich countries so that we can enjoy cheap fossil fuels and cheap factory goods. The real crime is our flying drones which kill children, fathers, mothers, blowing up wedding parties, tribal counsel assemblies, assassinating anyone anywhere in the world without due process. The real crime is our rape of the earth, our extraction of fossil fuels, releasing carbon into Earth’s atmosphere in quantities to ensure the planet’s warming and climate catastrophe. The real crime is White Supremacy which built this country by the massacre, enslavement and displacement of its original inhabitants, by the kidnapping and enslavement of 12.5 million Africans (“How Many Slaves Entered The US?” Henry Louis Gates Jr., Jan. 6, 2014. theroot.com). The list of crimes goes on, far beyond the end of this paragraph, beyond the end of this page. When will our law enforcement begin to address these?

---

Leah Grady Sayvetz

THE DECOLONIZER
December 2015

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STRAIGHT, NO CHASER

Good Cop > Bad Cop

by Patrice Lockert Anthony

The Big Easy (Image source: morefilms.de)

In 1987 Columbia Pictures released a Jim McBride film called, The Big Easy. The screenplay was written by Daniel Petrie, Jr, and starred Dennis Quaid (Detective Lt. Remy McSwain) and Ellen Barkin (A.D.A. Anne Osbourne). It was filmed on location in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Remy McSwain sees himself as an honest cop. He arrests the bad guys. He serves the community. He also, with the participation of other cops on the squad, helps himself to monies from the “widows and orphans” fund. This is okay for him because he uses it to pay for his kid brother’s college tuition.

After he’s caught (on tape) accepting a bribe for protection; he is exonerated after some of his fellow cops arrange to magnetically erase the evidence being held in the evidence room. He’s happy about the outcome.

Remy doesn’t think any better because this is how it’s always been. His father, and other relatives before him, now, and probably future generations of McSwains would have been "innocently” on the take if not for a state assistant district attorney.

Enter Anne Osbourne. There’s some powerful chemistry here. They feel the tug of attraction, but Ms. Osbourne is there to expose corrupt cops. Cops on the take. Cops who murder. She’s after bad cops. She wants them gone (investigated, charged, and doing time). Problem. The "good” cops aren’t helping her do her job.

Unfortunately for their mutual attraction; Anne is the prosecutor when Remy is caught with his hand in the cookie jar. She is dismayed on account of the attraction, but also certain of the conviction. She has an eye witness, and the tape. Too bad that’s not enough.

After the trial, Remy’s family throws a party for him. Everyone is celebrating. Remy has his uncle (a cop) all but kidnap Anne to bring her to the party. Remy hasn’t figured out yet that Anne isn’t amused.  She informs him, “You still don’t get it, do you? Why don't you just face it, Remy; you’re not one of the good guys anymore?”

Why am I sharing this movie plot with you, my readers? It’s because there is a larger lesson to be learned . . . by real life cops. Precincts are tight places. Everybody knows other folks’ business. This is true because in a precinct, you are your brother’s (and sister’s) keeper. Cops have to support each other. They need to know they have each other’s backs. When that support spreads to knowing who’s corrupt, however, who’s racist (and commits racist acts, or any of the other isms), who bullies, and bashes, who uses excessive force; it is no longer having your fellow cop’s back. It is corruption. When a cop fails to come forward, or find some way of shining a light on what is wrong in the ranks; that cop becomes complicit in any wrongdoing, any crime committed. A cop who knows, yet fails to shine that light is also guilty.

Cops everywhere hate it when people (witnesses) refuse to come forward. It makes their job more difficult and feeds into a frustration that makes it all but impossible to serve the community well.

Community members who witness crimes should, in whatever way possible, endeavor to shine a light on the problem and help the police solve the crime, and help make the community a safer place.

This is just as true, if not more so, for cops. Cops carry guns, mace, sticks, and the badge of authority to bend people to their will. That means the members of the community have to place their trust in them to do what’s right.

Too often that trust is violated. And every time it is violated; it is because someone on the force knew better, or at least suspected, and yet refused to shine the light. Edmund Burke said that, “The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” We don’t need any more facile explanations, or defensive posturing. No more ignoring the problem, or dismissing the painfully obvious. No more deflecting. No more lying. If you’re not participating in the solution . . . if you refuse to shine a light on what is wrong at the precinct . . . if you are still in lock-step with allowing the corruption, and enjoying the privilege and power of the badge, well . . . “Why don’t you just face it . . . you’re not one of the good guys anymore?”

In faith~

---

Patrice Lockert Anthony

THE DECOLONIZER
December 2015

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BRIEF HISTORIES: THE REBELLION OF TUPAC AMARU II

by Dubian Ade

Tupac Amaru II

The very last ruler of the Incan Empire was publicly assassinated before the people of Cuzco by the Spanish Viceroy Don Francisco de Toledo in 1572. His name was Tupac Amaru, the rightful heir of the Incan throne who was shafted in a series of political maneuvers by the Viceroy and his own Incan officials. The crowd of thousands mourned over his death as the Spanish crown moved in to begin the genocide in Peru. October of that year Toledo ordered the Libro de Tasas, a document which began the process of systematically annihilating all vestiges of Inca rule.

It is said that Tupac Amaru was survived by two daughters, Juana and Magdalena, who found refuge with the Archbishop of Lima. Juana would later marry the curaca of Surimani and Tungasuca named Condorcanqui. Her decedent was Jose Gabriel Condorcanqui, who would later be known as Tupac Amaru II.

The colonizing process in Peru moved forward with harshest domination. The Spanish Crown regarded the Indigenous peoples as its immediate subordinates. The Christianization of indigenous populations was made into policy. The repartimiento system, which allotted plots of land and native labor to Spanish colonizers, was introduced. The conditions on the repartimientos and in the mines in which Indigenous workers toiled were absolutely deplorable. For the native members of the mitta who were forced to work in the obrajes the situation was particularly atrocious.  

  

The country was divided into small jurisdictions called corregimientos. Each corregimiento was overseen by a corregidor. Many of the corregidors were Spanish viceroyalty and the unregulated abuse from the corregidors ran rampent. The corregidors collected increasingly large amounts of taxes from the Indigenous people living in these areas for the purpose of keeping them in a perpetual state of debt to the Spanish colonizers. Native rights to trade were restricted. The Christian church generally became an extortion ring as tribute was demanded as well as fees for baptisms, weddings, and burials. The native ruling class of the curacas generally aligned themselves with the Spanish colonizers and served to reinforce the exploitation of the impoverished native sectors. The gradual worsening of conditions for Indigenous Peruvians continued for more than a century.

In the late 1700’s the Corregidor of Tinta, Antonio Arriaga, had a notorious reputation for ruthlessness and colonial tyranny especially among native people. Arriaga’s callousness was further amplified by the imposed Bourbon Reforms which raised taxes significantly in the corregimientos. In 1777 a curaca of Tinta traveled to Lima to express his grievances and to represent the natives of the region before the Spanish administration. After talks with the corregidors proved fruitless, Jose Gabriel Condorcanqui traveled back to his home in Tungasuca, Tinta. He changed his name to Tupac Amaru II.

On November 4, 1780 Tupac Amaru II and a few others ambushed Antonio Arriaga on his way home from a dinner party. Arriaga was taken prisoner in Tungasuca and large ransom was demanded from the Spaniards. On November 10^th before a crowd of dispossessed Indigenous people, the hated Arriaga was executed.                       

Arriga's execution set all the conditions needed for a massive Indigenous up-rising. Within a matter of days Tupac Amaru II had assembled a crew of several hundred people. Amaru used the money secured from Arriga’s ransom to win over the loyalty many more native people.  On November 17^th 1780, the rebel force successfully attacked Sangarara as Spanish troops fled to a nearby church. The church caught on fire after being pelted by the rebel forces. Over 500 Spaniards were killed. The victory at Sangarara greatly encouraged many natives to join the insurgency.

It is said that Tupac Amaru’s forces numbered close to 60,000 at this point. The rebel forces moved southward and split into three factions, some of which went to the region of Ayaviri and Azangaro. Many cruelties and atrocities were committed by the forces in Ayaviri and Azangaro against Spanish sympathizers.

Tupac Amaru returned to Tungasuca on December 14^th and with the partnership of his wife Micaela Bastidas staged two failed attempts to take the city of Cuzco that January.  Though the insurgency was widely supported by the native curacas and the rebel army was significantly larger than the Spanish forces, the insurgents were unable to overcome the Spanish defenses. Receiving word of the revolts, the Spanish colonial administrator Jose Antonio de Areche had heavily armed the colonial militias and ordered troops to be imported from Lima and surrounding areas. Spanish defenses were able to successfully repel the rebel forces.

The defeats at Cuzco were a serious blow for Tupac Amaru’s army, which took refuge in Tinta to recuperate. By this time more than 17,000 of the Spanish forces from Lima had arrived under General Jose del Valle y Torres. Fighting began on March 12, 1781 and a series of battles in the Vilcamayu Alley led to the complete defeat of the rebel army at Checcacupe on April 6, 1781. Tupac Amaru, Micaela Bastidas, their two children, and numerous others were captured. Sixty-seven insurgents were hung in Tinta.

The captives were taken to Cuzco were they were tortured. On May 18^th, by order of Jose Antonio de Areche, Tupac Amaru was forced to watch the execution of his wife and children. His tongue was ripped out of his mouth and his limbs were tied to four horses running in different directions. When that failed to dismember him he was beheaded, his body was burned, and his remains were distributed among the native villages. Afterwards, Areche banned the use of the Quechua language in the Peruvian territories and commanded that all documents, folktales, and literature in Quechua be destroyed. In addition all of Tupac Amaru’s property was thoroughly destroyed and all members of the Incan royal family line were hunted down by the Spanish administration and viciously murdered.       

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Brief Histories, Dubian Ade

THE DECOLONIZER
December 2015

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