by Ken Toole | Jun 28, 2024 | Uncategorized
This image depicts an African American man joining Confederate troops marching off to war.
Almost immediately after the Civil War, the losers began a propaganda campaign to reframe and rehabilitate white supremacy. This movement, which is now referred to as the “Lost Cause,” carries on today. They claim the Civil War was not about slavery. It was a matter of “States Rights” and industrialization in northern states versus a romanticized agrarian South. Understanding the power of symbols in the public square, advocates of the Lost Cause moved to place monuments to the Confederacy in cities and towns across the country and to name public facilities like schools, parks, streets and highways after leaders of the Confederacy. All of this to support and promote the institutional racism of Jim Crow and marginalization of African Americans in society.
Most people assume these monuments were placed shortly after the Civil War, but that is not the case. The monument pictured above was placed in The National Cemetery at Arlington in 1914, almost 50 years after the war ended. According to the American Historical Association, monuments put in place during this time “were intended, in part, to obscure the terrorism required to overthrow Reconstruction, and to intimidate African Americans politically and isolate them from the mainstream of public life.” The Confederate monument which was in Women’s Park in Helena was commissioned in 1914 by the Daughters of the Confederacy. It was replaced in 2017.
In the 1950s and 1960s, there was another surge in the placement of Confederate monuments across the country in response to the civil rights movement. For example, after passage of the Civil Rights Act and The Voting Rights Act in the 1960s, 27 monuments dedicated to Confederate soldiers who had fought against “the federal enemy” were installed in Texas. Of course the Confederate battle flags we see all over Montana (most often next to Trump flags) are part and parcel of the same Lost Cause strategy to defend and protect white supremacy.
In recent years there has been a strong national movement to remove these commemorations to the Confederacy and white supremacy. The efforts to remove these symbols and change place names has become a flashpoint for controversy and, in some cases, violence, in many communities. Since 2017 and the murder of George Floyd, along with the Charleston church shooting and the Unite the Right Rally, 160 monuments across the country have been removed or torn down.
That brings us to Ryan Zinke and Matt Rosendale and their vote to reinstall this monument. The proposal failed in Congress, but the vote was a slap in the face to the African American community and advocates for equality as they were preparing to celebrate the Juneteenth holiday less than a week away. Unfortunately dog whistles and race baiting have become the order of the day among Republican politicians. And the rhetoric provided by advocates of Lost Cause propagandists that assume the mantle of historical accuracy and patriotic sentiment leaves people confused about the inherent bigotry of their phony facts and rewriting of American history. Zinke and Rosendale are finely tuned to the negative power of race baiting in the political process. Even though Rosendale is leaving public office, it should come as no surprise that he would join Ryan Zinke in jumping on this issue in an election year.
In Germany people don’t put up monuments to Adolph Hitler and the Nazi regime. Is it only in America that we celebrate white supremacist losers?
by Guest Writer | Jun 22, 2024 | City
After the previous safety levy for the City of Great Falls failed in the last election by a wide margin, 9,095 no to 5,620 yes, the city went back to the drawing board, beginning by appointing another advisory group to study the issue. We decided to put out a few thoughts as this advisory begins its work.
Don’t waste a lot of money on polling and/or promotion- People in the city are already talking about commissioning a poll to find out what people think. Truth is people have just been hit with large property tax increases. We don’t need polling and messaging to tell us passing any kind of property tax increase will not be popular. Make clear what is being proposed and trust people to make their own conclusions.
Quit Playing Politics with an “Advisory Committee”- It is hard to figure out the logic for the appointments made for this committee. Apparently there was no application process for citizens who might have been interested in participating. And no process for deciding what qualifications the City wanted for members. Worse yet, it appears that political consideration rather than knowledge of related issues was a major driver. The members of the committee are: Sandra Guynn, Mike Parcel, Wendy McKamey, Jeni Dodd, George Nikolakakos, Aaron Weissman, Tony Rosales, Thad Reiste, Joe McKenney and Shannon Wilson.
Separate Fire and EMT funding from Police and Crime- Fire and emergency medical services are fundamentally different from policing. Wrapping them together in a levy forces voters to take or leave the whole thing. Very few people have a negative view of the services provided by fire and emergency personnel. Like it or not the same can not be said of police.
Make Clear Economic Arguments to Justify Increased Taxes- Rick Tryon’s crime task force back in 2021 didn’t do anybody any favors. It ended up producing a laundry list of expensive items which many citizens did not understand or support. To the extent the city wants to put an increase in the budgets of the police and local courts, it should emphasize things that save money like jail diversion programs, drug treatment and use of un-armed personnel wherever possible. In the area of fire protection, people should understand that their home and business insurance rates are directly ties to the safety rating of the local fire department.
by Ken Toole | Jun 22, 2024 | City
The first law of holes is, “If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.” So it is with Great Falls Mayor Corey Reeves, and his refusal to issue a proclamation for Pride Month on behalf of the City of Great Falls.
First a quick recap. June is Pride Month. Across the country and the state of Montana, the LGBTQ+ community organizes events and celebrations to educate the public about the history of oppression they have faced and to bring people together around the progress that has been made and the work that is yet to do.
Here in Great Falls the LGBTQ+ community requested Mayor Reeves issue a city proclamation acknowledging Pride Month as has been done for numerous other groups in Great Falls. Reeves refused. Pretty bad.
But then he went one step further and issued a statement explaining why he refused to issue a proclamation which just dug the hole deeper. In the typical fashion for homophobia, he denied any form of bias against LGBTQ+ people while refusing them equal treatment. The statement he issued said, “My goal is to ensure that all citizens are treated with equal respect and dignity, without government interference in personal matters.” Bad enough but Reeves just kept on digging himself into a deeper hole.
It is no accident that more than 75 homophobic (and racist) stickers were put up around town following Reeves statements and the resulting controversy. Hardcore bigots hide under their rocks waiting for this kind of opportunity to spread their poison. Thankfully community volunteers are busily finding these stickers and removing them.
Next the Mayor formally issued his new process for proclamations. The whole thing is poorly worded, contains grammatical errors and is generally confusing and unclear. But what is clear is that the process is illegal. He clearly states that he will deny applications for a Mayor’s proclamation which contain things in the list below.
Proclamations will not be issued for:
- Matters of political or religious nature or individual conviction
- Matters with potential political controversy or which may suggest an official City position on a matter whether or not under consideration or to be voted upon by the City Commission
- Events or organizations with no direct relationship to the city of Great Falls
- Matters concerning personal life choices that government should not interfere with
https://greatfallsmt.net/cityclerk/proclamation-request-form
Aside from being virtually unintelligible, the process says he will consider things like “matters of political, or religious or individual conviction.” Decisions based on these factors by government entities is prohibited in state and federal civil rights law. The Mayor’s thoughtlessness and attempts to justify his actions have exposed the City of Great Falls to litigation. He just keeps on digging.
by Ken Toole | Jun 22, 2024 | Uncategorized
Beautiful summer day. My 11-year-old grandson, Rhys, has been visiting for the last week. We decided to load up the kayaks and head to the pond at the Pelican Point boat launch on the Missouri. After a couple of paddles around the pond with Gramma and the dogs, we decided to head out. The place was getting crowded.
While I was loading the pickup, Gramma and Rhys decided to walk down to the launch site on the river to use the latrine before the drive home. On a sunny Friday afternoon in June, the boat launch was packed with people coming and going. Families, people fishing, folks dropping boat trailers to pick up their rafts at the end of the float. Others are putting in rafts and other watercraft to head down river. There are only three or four campsites here, and this guy was hunkered down in one of them. Rhys pointed to this truck and said, “Look at that Gramma…and look at what it says on the bottom.” Guess he wanted to make sure Gramma got the full impact of this jerk’s political message.
So, my questions are, what is this guy trying to do? Is he hoping to persuade people? Is he looking for fellow cult members? Is he hoping to start an argument with some passers by so he can exercise his Second Amendment rights? Does the Castle Doctrine apply to RVs in public campgrounds? Actually, I don’t care much. I just hope these people crawl back under the rocks they came from soon.
by Helena Lovick | Jun 18, 2024 | Elections
In 2017, in Las Vegas, a man decided to convert his firearm with a bump stock to allow him to rapidly fire over 1,000 bullets in 11 minutes into a crowd at a music concert. That mass shooting, in the endless stream of mass shootings in America, may have stood out to you because that coward murdered 60 people and wounded more than 850 people in those 11 minutes.
The vast majority of Americans support common sense gun regulations
The majority of Americans support common sense laws to prevent and reduce gun-related deaths like that horrific mass shooting in Las Vegas. Time and time again, the Republican extremists in our Congress and state legislatures bow down to the gun lobby and refuse to enact any reasonable measures to stop this insanity. But surprisingly after that mass shooting in Vegas, the Trump Administration issued a federal ban on bump stocks.
Our hijacked Supreme Court of the United States Doesn’t Care
But this June, the Supreme Court of the United States has struck down the Trump era law banning bump stocks.
SCOTUS says 60 people murdered in 11 minutes is not fast enough. We gotta have more bump stocks.
If nothing else, let this ruling open your eyes to the fact our Supreme Court has been hijacked with right wing extremists completely divorced from the will of the people. And you can lay the blame for that (and the fall of Roe v. Wade, and so much more) at the feet of convicted felon and former president Donald Trump. Because of Donald and his Republican enablers, the three Supreme Court Justices he appointed have shifted the balance of the court so they can make these right-wing fever dream legal interpretations.
Nobody is coming to save us — we have to save ourselves
We have to dig our country out of this mess and right now we can’t rely on an entire branch of our government to do it.
Let’s continue the calls for court reform and vote for people we can work with to stop and repair the damage. And hey, even conservative Justice Alito noted that Congress can change the law. Democrats are calling a vote this week. Will Republicans do the right thing or will they line up in lock step with the gun lobby again?
