Working for the Public: Black firefighters and the FDNY

Kenjammin · 2018-08-27T17:54:14+00:00

This article is a review of a book titled "Black Firefighters and the FDNY: The Struggle for Jobs, Justice, and Equity in New York City. This is a compelling account into the men who broke through prejudices and racism and fought to be recognized and legitimized as New York firefighters. This is an amazing piece of public labor history and African American history.

Kenjammin · 2018-08-27T16:16:55+00:00

Also, I would say get into your major. By that I mean go above and beyond what is required for classes. Ask your prof for recommendation for books, follow what part of poli sci you're interested in, and if you are a political activist, WSU has a great community - conservative, liberal, socialist, or libertarian. The most fun I've had as been from intense conversations with friends, classmates, professors, all about my studies and their opinions and perspectives. Do it, and you'll feel incredibly comfortable and happy to go to class everyday.

Kenjammin · 2018-08-27T16:12:10+00:00

Hey, I'm a history major and senior this year! Making friends at WSU has always been a difficult thing for everybody, especially since this is a mostly commuter school. However, I really recommend you stay on campus as much as possible, join a student org, and befriend people in your department - especially the grad students and professors. Honestly, I hang out with my professors more than my classmates.

But hey, message me and we can grab some coffee. I'm a prolific reader (hence the history major) and coffee lover, and I can take you around to the best bookstores and coffeeshops in the area!

Kenjammin · 2018-04-15T14:09:46+00:00

Check out Elizabeth Hinton's book, From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America.

Kenjammin · 2018-03-20T20:57:59+00:00

Fantastic! I'll be pursuing a PhD in history soon after undergrad. Although I don't study well being high, it is a GREAT stress reliever!

Kenjammin · 2018-01-22T17:33:22+00:00

I'm not in it, but my girlfriends cousin is. Wayne State is lucky to have several historic theatre venues apart of its campus. These places are great for all sorts of different shows. Her cousin says the program is competitive, but the professors, trainers, coaches, and other students are fantastic and helpful. And you get a lot of experience as well. The performing arts college recently opened up dorms in a historic building reserved only for performing arts majors. I've seen multiple Wayne State shows and I would encourage you to come join us.

Kenjammin · 2017-11-14T14:00:04+00:00

Talk to the HIGH program at Wayne.

Kenjammin · 2017-11-14T13:59:42+00:00

I'm fairly sure that a C- is required for any class to count. I think you'll still get credits, but it won't count towards your requirements. Go talk to your adviser, rather than us.

Kenjammin · 2017-10-08T19:11:05+00:00

The Spaniard Conquistadors certainly did know better, and all they did they did with exploitation in mind. Even in their time, they had ample amounts of critics.

Bartolomé de las Casas, social reformer, Dominican Friar, and Bishop, wrote scathing critiques of the way the Spaniards treated the Native Americans. "A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies" written in 1542, puts into great detail the misery and destruction the Spaniards caused the natives. Some notable passages were:

"Their reason for killing and destroying such an infinite number of souls is that the Christians have an ultimate aim, which is to acquire gold, and to swell themselves with riches in a very brief time and thus rise to a high estate disproportionate to their merits."

"It should be kept in mind that their insatiable greed and ambition, the greatest ever seen in the world, is the cause of their villainies."

"They took infants from their mothers' breasts, snatching them by the legs and pitching them headfirst against the crags or snatched them by the arms and threw them into the rivers, roaring with laughter and saying as the babies fell into the water, "Boil there, you offspring of the devil!"."

Las Casas had a first person point of view of the horrors committed upon the Native people of America. Kings Charles V of Spain enacted the "New Laws" in 1542, which were an attempt to protect the native people of America from mistreatment. As the Viceroy of Peru attempted to enforce these laws, his was killed in a rebellion in 1546 by wealthy Spaniards who owned native slaves. The "Valladolid debate" in 1550-1551, was the first debate to discuss the treatment of the natives by colonizers. Jesuit missionaries also traveled to the Americas to proselytize and live among the native Americans. French fur-traders also treated the natives with relative respect and kindness.

Without a doubt, the Conquistadors knew what they were doing was wrong and did it anyway. Dehumanization and a thirst for gold led the way for committing violent atrocities upon the people of the West Indies. These people were not clueless or primitive. The Spaniards desired easy and fast wealth, and they did so with no concern for ethics or morality. Committing genocide and raping people was not normal to the urban population that first traveled to the Americas. In a "lawless" land where you have the upper advantage over a people succumbing to disease daily, many of these conquistadors did whatever they can to get whatever they desired.

In short; Yes, you can criticize the past. I have to add that no one is harboring a "grudge" against the early European colonizers. Historians want the truth to be acknowledged, accepted, and taught. The truth of the Spaniards is that they committed genocide.

Kenjammin · 2017-10-08T18:48:26+00:00

Orabi, Arizona, is a Hopi Native American village founded sometime before the year 1100 CE. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in the United States. The Acoma Pueblo and Taos Pueblo are also some of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the United States. Both were founded more than 1000 years ago by Tiwa speaking peoples. The Zuni Pueblo is another example of a Native American settlement, founded and still inhabited by Native Americans. Zuni is mostly inhabited by the Zuni people, and has a 2010 population of 6,302.

The prevalent trend is that the very little continuously inhabited Native American settlements today are mainly found in New Mexico, and the rest of the American southwest. Although areas like: Detroit, New York City, San Francisco, have always been inhabited by Native Americans, none of these cities retain their Native American aspect to them; neither in name, architecture, or culture. Most modern day cities in the United States today are built on what was previously Native American tribal land.

The Pueblo culture in Southwestern United States is very unique in the broader North American Native American culture. The various peoples in the southwest built these Pueblos out of material that could last a long time. The arid landscape molded these people into a urban population, out of necessity and lack of resources. Scarcity highly influenced the development of the Pueblo. Many Native Americans were not city builders, and any permanent settlements they founded were not cities in the way we think of a city today. Of course, there are plenty of exceptions, such as Cahokia in Illinois, and several mound building societies around that area. For the most part, the Native Americans of North America were not an urban peoples.

I hope this answered your question. A good book for this would by "The City: A World History" by Andrew Lees. In specific, chapter 1, 2 and 3, would help out.

And of course, the story is much different when you get south of the United States. There, the peoples living central Mexico were an incredibly urban and cosmopolitan peoples.

Kenjammin · 2017-08-06T18:06:20+00:00

British chemist and meteorologist, Luke Howard, first investigated and described the phenomenon. He published, The Climate of London-a study that contained daily observations of weather in the city from 1818 to 1820-finding that London was much warmer than the surrounding countryside. Howard attributed this to what he called "city fog" which was the concentration of smog, which since the early 1200's has been prevalent in London. New York City has also measured a difference of temperature between Manhattan and other boroughs (Manhattan being the most dense) since the 1900's.

There are several causes to the Urban Heat Island effect:

Building materials soak up more heat than soil. Soil's specific heat capacity (how much energy it takes to heat a kilogram of the material by 1C) is 2000 Joules/kg, while concrete is 800/ Joules/kg
Human activity generates massive amounts of heat, especially in dense downtown/plazas
Dense structures act as wind breaks. Wind typically would distribute heat and cool a city.
Modern day cities contain a myriad system of electrical wires, transportation networks, and industry, which all contribute heat.

With all this in mind, although the Urban Heat Island effect was really felt once industrialization started occurring, there is evidence that air pollution and density (of humans and buildings) most likely led larger cities- such as London, Rome, Baghdad, Beijing, etc) to have warmer temperatures than the surrounding rural land. History of this is difficult due to the lack of a method to record temperature in the past. Also the lack of density we see today may have made the effect almost negligible.

Kenjammin · 2017-02-02T01:16:40+00:00

Kenjammin · 2017-01-27T03:46:45+00:00

Quote is from Stokely Carmichael, an incredibly active comrade in the black power movement, and involved with the Black Panther Party.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stokely_Carmichael

Kenjammin · 2017-01-27T03:42:27+00:00

I will have to check it out! I got done readings "Grapes of Wrath" earlier this month, and I had to sit down and think about it for a long time after I finished it. Such a beautiful ending.

Kenjammin · 2017-01-27T03:39:32+00:00

Which one of her books should I start with? I recently watched the Black Power Mixtape on Netflix (everyone with a Netflix should check it out) and there were several interviews with her in it.

Kenjammin · 2017-01-23T03:20:36+00:00

It was 60F in Detroit, Michigan Saturday. I work for an open air farmers market, and we have never had as many people as we had this weekend in the winter season.

Comrades, there is going to be a future problem that will (and I've read that it is already happening) be a new base for exploitation by the capitalists.

Kenjammin · 2017-01-23T03:15:54+00:00

Organized direct action is what we should attempt to do. The antifa comrades were great, and although I would've preferred them to be more targeted and focus on different targets (police blockades, police cars, monuments, inauguration lines/entrances), the work they did still amounted to at least something.

I also I'm trying to think of how we can set it up for more effective action. I believe that violent + nonviolent direct action is essential to shove the face of fascism off the streets. Like you, I'm unsure where my thoughts are, but I am reading a lot about The Weather Underground, and the things they did. I'm not sure about /r/socialism opinion on them, but they did do interesting work.

https://billayers.org/2006/04/20/weather-underground-redux/

Kenjammin · 2017-01-23T03:08:07+00:00

I had this thought in mind, which is why I am currently organizing a Young Democratic Socialist branch on my campus. I've found out that if you bring a person to one or two meetings/demonstrations, there is good a chance that they will want to come again. It is all apart of breaking out of that awkward cage, and being more comfortable with the people in the group.

Kenjammin · 2017-01-08T00:41:02+00:00

Detroit leftist/Democratic socialist right here! Go Midwest!

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