The Torpedo Factory Art Center: War and Art is an Oxymoron

At the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria. VA. Somewhat of an oxymoron, with the torpedo you can see in this photo along with art gallery and art stores. The US Naval Torpedo Station, first built after World War I, had 5000 workers during World War II. The factory was not racially segregated, unlike most of the rest of Virginia. Bayard Rustin and A Philip Randolph were organizing a March on Washington to force FDR to integrate the war industry in 1941. The president accepted the petition but stopped short of integrating the armed forces. In 1948 the same threat of a March on Washington forced Truman to integrate the armed forces. 

 

Damage Control: “USA Today” Article Deflects Criticism of the Ukrainian Government

The cherry picking of the corporate media undermines any pretense of objectivity. Today, USA Today cherry picked in order to favor Ukraine against Russia. Its headline, “Ukraine: Head of Amnesty International chapter quits. Russia begins attack on eastern Ukraine,” deflects criticism of Ukraine for endangering the civilian population. Amnesty International, which is hardly taking a pro-Russia position, criticized Ukraine for launching missile attacks from schools, hospitals and other heavily populated areas. If Palestinian groups like Hamas are accused of doing the same in order to protest Israeli atrocities against Palestinian civilians, why not draw the same conclusion about Zelenski?  Just because Zelenski, who has proven to be a master at PR, reacted irately to the Amnesty International report, it doesn’t mean that the report lacks substance. The damage control argument in favor of the Ukrainian governments is that the report is a “tool of Russian propaganda.”

 

Nowhere in the USA Today article is there mention that the person who resigned, Oksana Pokalchuk, is herself Ukrainian. The article does everything to create the impression that the Amnesty International’s report just represents the viewpoint of one current within the organization. Thus Pokalchuk claims that Amnesty International released the report “ignoring the advice of staff members, who urged the group to revise its report.” It goes without saying that not everyone in the organization is going to agree with such a controversial opinion. But why does USA Today underscore the negative reaction to the report? What should be underlined is the horrible consequences of the actions of the Ukrainian army, another reason for which Washington should be a voice in favor of reaching a peace agreement and not the war’s prolongation. 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ukraine-head-of-amnesty-international-chapter-quits-russia-begins-attack-on-eastern-ukraine-cities/ar-AA10nqKa?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=ab3da162ff9b4fa9bcfb639009239b9b

 

Haiti was a source of inspirations for slaves and African American freemen-women prior to the Civil War. It still is for many

Beall-Dawson house museum, Rockville Maryland

I found it interesting that the surrounding community around the Beall-Dawson house, which was a slave plantation prior to the Civil War, was inhabited by slaves and free African-Americans and they called the community “Haiti.” At the time, Haiti was practically taboo for the establishment in the U.S. because of the example it represented. The Haitian revolution led by General Toussaint Louverture (who was born into slavery and then became a freeman who fought with France and then led the rebellion against it) was perhaps the only slave uprising in history in which the slaves took power and retained it. This was an awful example for the U.S. southern slaveholders who northern political leaders didn’t want to defy. Haiti at first was not even recognized by the U.S. even though their recent revolution of independence paralleled ours of 1776. Nevertheless, for African Americans, Haiti was a source of pride and inspiration as it is for many to this day.