Category Archives: Make a Difference

Projects that are making a difference, improving lives, and building communities.

Catalyzing Inclusive Urban Economies- by Ainesh Dey

The Dynamics of Urban Economies in India 

 In the rapidly changing landscape of urban economies in India, nuanced civic engagement, enhanced transparency, accountability, and representation have come to the forefront as significant issues. This piece seeks to investigate the shift in the public administration’s discourse from a traditional solution to a more collaborative one  with the aim of creating  inclusive and sustainable policy frameworks.

The prospect of nuanced civic engagement in democratic processes plays an important role in spearheading transparency, accountability and representation. It also strengthens  the overall socio-political and economic character of contemporary administrative discourse. At a time when we are experiencing a paradigm shift from traditional redressal of grievances to instances of collaborative solution building, considerable emphasis has been laid on the effective streamlining of policy frameworks, thereby making them more inclusive and sustainable.

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Women GroundBreakers & STEM: Lulu Copeland

When Deborah asked me to be part of the Women GroundBreakers Storytelling panel, Serving our Diverse Communities, I knew I had to say yes. She had said yes many times when I reached out. This is my turn. So, here’s my story… (Deborah coached us on telling our story, starting with something easy to share and for others to absorb, consider something that might shock people…then try to blend into something somewhere between the two.)

Politics, Supreme Court and Decisions 2024 – by Marc Brenman

Very recently, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that only Congress could keep anyone off a ballot due to “[engagement] in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof,” under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. The Colorado Supreme Court had kept Donald Trump off the state’s ballot because of his participation in the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. The Court was silent on whether Trump has committed insurrection or not. Allegedly, the Court’s 9-0 decision was due to its fear that political chaos could result if it ruled in Colorado’s favor.

This judicial philosophy is know as consequentialism, making decisions based on the anticipated consequences of the decision. Other major ways of making decisions include stare decisis, depending on previous decisions; strict constructionism, depending on the plain black letter words of Congress and the Founding Fathers; and Originalism, depending on the intent of the Founding Fathers and authors of the Constitution.

The current conservative majority of the Supreme Court has pretended to be Strict Constructionists and Originalists. They showed this tendency for example, in the anti-abortion decision, where they noted that a right to abortion is nowhere found in the Constitution. They shoved the decision off to the states to make. But wait! Secretaries of the states have always made the decision as to who would be allowed on ballots. So the current Court is at a minimum inconsistent, if not hypocritical. Another example of them straying from their beliefs is their decisions on gun control. Here they ignore the plain, original language of the Constitution, which prefaces a right to bear arms with the phrase “a well-regulated militia.” Clearly, no individual acting on his own is a well-regulated militia or a militia of any kind.

If one thinks along the consequentialist lines of the current Supreme Court, where does one end up? The next shoe to drop will be the Court’s decision on Trump’s desired immunity from prosecution. If the Court rules that he is immune, they are giving up American democracy and creating the probability of an American emperor. If the conservative majority rules this way, they will have ignored what President George Washington tried to teach us when he refused to become king.

American democracy has been a mixed bag; we’ve had only about about 140 years without slavery, 100 years of women’s rights, about 80 years of Asian-American rights, about 50 years of children who don’t speak English being able to get a public education, and less than 50 years of disability rights and environmental justice. Even those timelines were sullied by Jim Crow, segregation, redlining, domestic violence, discrimination, and inadequate enforcement of civil rights laws. It was a noble experiment, now ready to be handed back to white male nondisabled suprematists who have nostalgia for slavery and declared War on Women. Trump and his American Nazis are ready to declare victory. About 38 to 48% of the American electorate are ready to surrender their human rights to achieve their view of economic prosperity. This is similar to the Peoples Republic of China, and includes about 52% of white women, half of people with disabilities who vote Republican, and even a substantial minority of African-Americans and Hispanics, all voting against their self-interest.

There seems to be no remedy for masses of people who desire to harm themselves. Undocumented people coming across the southern border have tried to save us from ourselves. Their criminal conviction rate is about 45% below that of native‐born Americans in Texas. But maybe Texas is an aberration. On the other hand, these undocumented people have been growing our food, caring for our children, fixing our roofs, mowing our lawns, and generally doing all the hard work we’ve gotten too lazy to do.

Meanwhile, Democratic congresspeople and mayors in Michigan and senators from Maryland and Virginia are focusing on issues a third of a world away in Palestine instead of serving their constituents. For example, 47% of Cong. Tlaib’s constituents are Black, who have no stake whatsoever in the Middle East, but have many domestic challenges and needs. There must be some middle ground. But as the saying goes, if you see a turtle on its back on a fencepost, it didn’t get there by itself.

Governor “King on Steroids” Mark Robinson – by Terry Howard

 

on steroids“Martin Luther King on steroids!”

Huh? Did I hear that right? No wait. Maybe it was a buildup of wax in my ears. Did I see that right? Or perhaps it was a coffee smudge on my eyeglasses. 

But no, as much as I’d like to blame it on my lying eyes or deceitful ears, I heard and read that right. Those were the exact words from the mouth of former president Trump in endorsing Republican Mark Robinson for governor of North Carolina. But he didn’t leave it at that – “I think you’re better than Martin Luther King. I think you’re Martin Luther King times two.”

Okay readers, calm down and take a deep breath. We’ll get through this. I promise.

Continue reading Governor “King on Steroids” Mark Robinson – by Terry Howard

Women GroundBreakers Storytelling: Serving Diverse Communities

On March 7, 2024 we celebrated Women’s History Month with a panel of Women Groundbreakers whose work locally and globally serving diverse communities will Inspire & Instruct. Facilitated by Deborah Levine and sponsored by the American Diversity Report and G100 Women Leaders, the panel shared their expertise and experience. CLICK to hear their WUTC interviews.

**CLICK for PANEL RECORDING**

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Why not a “Sully” Sullenberger for President? – by Terry Howard

Some voters are burned out on outrage!” 

That’s the recent headline in a national publication. That outrage? The eyebrow raising rancor, silliness and general awfulness surrounding the upcoming presidential election.

And the truth is that if we strike out the first four letters in the word “outrage” what’s left are three letters many voters are particularly burned out on…. age…as in President Joe Biden’s age! Count yours truly among them. Shucks, if I had a dollar for every time Biden’s age is cited in the news, I could purchase a luxurious mansion in Miami, Malibu (or, eh, Mar-a-Lago). 

Continue reading Why not a “Sully” Sullenberger for President? – by Terry Howard

Overcoming Bias: A Guide to Skilled Skepticism – by Sondra Thiederman

Don’t you love being right? I sure do. I think that’s one reason most of us are afflicted with what’s called “confirmation bias” – the pesky habit of noticing only the evidence that proves our previously held beliefs correct. In other words, we see what we expect to see.

This is where our biases – our inflexible beliefs about categories of people – trick us into jumping to the wrong conclusions. Once we get it into our heads that members of particular groups “all” – because they are members of that group – share a particular characteristic, our brain just can’t resist proving that bias right.

Continue reading Overcoming Bias: A Guide to Skilled Skepticism – by Sondra Thiederman

“Mrs. Good Trouble”: Amelia Boynton Robinson – by Terry Howard

civil rightsSome people are just made to cause, as the late Congressman John Lewis called it, “good trouble.” They’re contrarian by nature. It’s in their DNA. It ignites their fury. It explains their courage to put life and limb at risk for what they believe in.

Which brings us to African American History Month 2024 and to “Mrs. Good Trouble” herself, the late civil rights pioneer Amelia Boynton Robinson, inarguably the matriarch of the voting rights movement. Now if you subscribe to that familiar saying, “behind every great man is a woman,” then I’ll say, “behind every great movement is a woman.” Many of them in fact.

Continue reading “Mrs. Good Trouble”: Amelia Boynton Robinson – by Terry Howard

Civil Rights: A Most Righteous Hangover – by Ashok Panikkar

How Outrageous Successes of the Civil Rights Movement Weakened Minorities
and Destroyed Liberal Society  

The Nineteen Sixties promised a new chapter in US history, with the election of a young charismatic President, John F. Kennedy. However, the perfect storm of the Vietnam War, multiple assassinations (JFK, RFK, MLK, MX), the Cuban missile crisis, and continued segregation in the South, turned it into an extremely turbulent decade. Taken together, the failures of the Reconstruction (1865–77), Brown v Board of Education (1954), and President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, shattered America’s self-image as “The City Upon A Hill”, destroyed faith in the political system, and forced the nation to question its foundational assumptions.  

Continue reading Civil Rights: A Most Righteous Hangover – by Ashok Panikkar

TEACHING GUIDE: Untold Stories of a WW II Liberator

Untold Teaching Guide This Teaching Guide accompanies the documentary: Untold, Stories of a Word War II Liberator.  The Guide includes excerpts from the documentary’s letters as well as discussion questions for students and additional resources. It also includes section on the Nuremberg Trials and on newspaper journalists accounts of Holocaust death camps.

Untold: Stories of a World War II Liberator proves that there are always new truths to learn and new heroes to celebrate when studying the horrors of the Holocaust. This work is arriving at a critical time; as the voices of survivors and liberators pass, those who teach history are confronted with increasingly loud cries of distortion and denial. A resource such as Untold allows students to both learn about and humanize the Holocaust.”
~ Dr. Rich Quinlan: Director, Holocaust and Genocide Education Center
Chair, History Dept./Saint Elizabeth University

“Deborah Levine’s work continues to be of utmost importance for students of all ages. The specific story of ‘UNTOLD’ must be told today and forever, so that the words ‘Never Again’ never lose their meaning!”
~ Avi Hoffman: CEO, Yiddishkayt Initiative, Inc.

“Many liberators such as Levine’s father kept their experience largely secret So the publication is an important resource for Holocaust education and research…and a very readable introduction to the journey of the Jewish community over the past century”
~ The Rev. Dr. John T.Pawlikowski: Founding member of the US Holocaust Center, Prof of Social Ethics/Catholic Theological Union

Note: Also available are Deborah Levine’s memoirs: The Liberator’s Daughter and The Magic Marble Tree,  upon which the documentary is based.  They include the wartime letters with eye witness accounts.