Undeterred by Stars and Bars, or Stars and Stripes

Mississippi-born Women Wrote Their Own Chapters

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ineteenth through Twenty-first Centuries

Twelve alphabetically by last name

Vicksburg, Mississippi

Myrlie Louise Beasley (Evers-Williams) American author, journalist, civil rights activist

Yazoo City, Mississippi

Debra Marie Brown United States District Judge, United States District Court, Northern District of Mississippi

Sunflower County, Mississippi

Mae Bertha Carter American Civil Rights Movement activist

Montgomery County, Mississippi

Fannie Lou Hamer American voting and women’s rights activist, Civil Rights Movement leader, Freedom Democratic Party cofounder and vice chair, National Women’s Political Caucus cofounder

Leland, Mississippi

Thelma Houston (née Jackson) Leland, Mississippi, American Grammy-winning singer and actress

Vicksburg, Mississippi

Evelyn Jarvis (Evelyn Preer) American stage and screen actress and jazz and blues singer (1910s-1930s)

Brandon, Mississippi

Mamie Evelyn Locke American politician and educator

Laurel, Mississippi

Mary Violet Leontyne Price (Violet Leontyne) American soprano, leading performer at the Metropolitan Opera, and one of the most popular American classical singers of her generation

Pascagoula, Mississippi

Toni Deniece Seawright American actress and singer-songwriter, 1987 “Miss Mississippi”

Forest, Mississippi

Constance Slaughter-Harvey Mississippi judge

Holly Springs, Mississippi (born into slavery)

Ida Bell Wells (Wells-Barnett) American investigative journalist, educator, and early civil rights leader and activist, her lifetime dedicated to combating prejudice and violence, and fighting for women’s equality

Kosciusko, Mississippi

Oprah Gail Winfrey American talk show host, actress, television producer, media executive, philanthropist.

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either felling statues nor defacing monuments, neither lowering nostalgic flags nor censoring insignias of the past will change the substance and stature of men and women; strengthen their character, and affirm their resolve to relate with and help one another in writing new chapters for the present and coming generations.

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Betrayal has Many Faces and Forms

Persian spawn, Western formed: Who is Shirin Ebadi?

She is the daughter of a law professor, an elite woman with a law degree, a profession practicing law, a husband and children, a “country house” and city apartment in her homeland. 

She accepts a highly questionable and politicized prize, and later deserts her country for Western ports in the United States and the United Kingdom—countries whose leaders have for generations tormented her homeland and its people; countries whose deciders and executioners have assassinated Iran’s leaders, propped up an Iranian dynastic dictator (dynasty founded by Reza Shah Pahlavi; last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi), manufactured and propagated twisted pretexts, and executed relentless, egregious, multi-faceted attacks on the Iranian people.

Her profile reads

• Iranian political activist and Lawyer
• In Iran a former judge, human rights activist, Defenders of Human Rights Center founder.

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hirin Ebadi is, therefore, a learned woman. No victim! Facts of history are surely not lost on her. Yet she accused her compatriots, including her husband, of betrayal.  

In 2016, Shirin Ebadi took to the New York Times—the rag that brought the world nonexistent Iraqi weapons of mass destruction as pretext for slaughtering, maiming, and disabling In Utero millions of Iraq’s people; its art objects, historical relics, and cultural traditions. In her opinion piece, Ebadi wrote (as was published)

“In August 2009, I was betrayed by both my husband and my country.”

Beware the one-sidedness of “me” accounts, or “memoir.” This is what one can infer from her narrative.

After Ebadi left her husband and homeland, her husband apparently had a new fling with an old flame and was caught on camera by “agents.” His paramour had reportedly prefaced their fling with reminders that his wife had long gone.

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amera-carrying agents, their partners, and superiors apparently arrested Ebadi’s husband, according to interpreted texts of her religion; threw him in prison; and threatened him with death if he didn’t read a prepared statement against his Western prizing-winning bride. Thus:

“‘Shirin Ebadi did not deserve to receive the Nobel Prize. She was awarded the prize so that she could help topple the Islamic Republic. She is a supporter of the West, particularly America. Her work is not in the service of Iranians, but serves the interests of foreign imperialists who seek to weaken Iran.’”

Ebadi’s husband followed orders, escaped death, and lived another day in his homeland.  Shirin Ebadi got to travel the world, adopt and reside in any country she chooses, and pontificate on this and that—as freely as she chooses, or as demanded by her prize givers.

T

he Malleable may betray kin, country, or contract

Shirin Ebadi was covered in news stories in 2007.

Canadian residents “Shahir Shahidsaless and his wife Faranak Shakoori filed a lawsuit against Ebadi in US District Court in Manhattan. The Toronto man reportedly said “Ebadi suggested they both write a book in response to Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations, which argues Islamic and Western societies are incompatible.”

When asked about the suit, Ebadi reportedly write in an email that “her literary agent and Random House recommended she not publish the second book because it would damage sales of her future books.”

In the Wikipedia profile of Ebadi is this:

According to the Associated Press, on August 27, 2007, Ebadi was sued by a Canadian author and political analyst, Shahir Shahidsaless—who writes and publishes in Persian. The plaintiffs allege that Ebade “reneged on getting a publisher for a book she had requested him to write under her supervision, titled A Useful Enemy.

The initial suit was dismissed not on the grounds of substance, as the case was never tried; but because the court lacked “jurisdiction.” The case is said to be pending. The latest update of the Wikipedia file was May 24, 2020.

I

n 2004, while presumably still an Iranian compatriot (not yet an expatriate), Forbes magazine listed Ebadi among their “100 most powerful women in the world” and among their “100 most influential women of all time.”

Also that year, Ebadi sued the US Department of the Treasury “because of restrictions” regarding the United States release of her memoir. After Ebadi won the case in court, Random House, in 2006, released to Western audiences Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope by Shirin Ebadi with Azadeh Moaveni, edited by US novelist David Ebershoff. BBC 4 then serialized a reading of the book.

In June 2009, Shirin Ebadi reportedly established her exile headquarters in the United Kingdom. Five months later, her country of origin froze her bank accounts. Thereafter, Ebadi was as free as the breeze—to travel the world and lecture the world; write books, with or without other writers and editors’ help; and be assured that her books will be published by major publishing houses. 

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etrayal has many faces and forms. Often betrayal is betrayal of oneself.  

Sources

Ebadi, Shirin “Tricked Into Cheating and Sentenced to Death” opinion March 3, 2016 https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/06/opinion/sunday/tricked-into-cheating-and-sentenced-to-death.html

CBC “Toronto couple sue Iranian Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi over book deal” August 24, 2007 https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/toronto-couple-sue-iranian-nobel-prize-winner-shirin-ebadi-over-book-deal-1.672144

Shirin Ebadi Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shirin_Ebadi

CNN “Shirin Ebadi Fast Facts” CNN Editorial Research June 11, 2020 (timeline’s latest update)

https://www.cnn.com/2013/01/01/world/meast/shirin-ebadi---fast-facts/index.html

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Homelessness amidst flair, glittering wealth

Big State, Big Bucks, Big Neglect

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oor amidst “Richest”

RT documentary now playing “USA: Being poor in the world’s richest country” June 15, 2020: 

• “43 million people in the US now live below the poverty line, twice as many as 50 years ago.
• Three times more than during the 1930s Great Depression
• “1.5 million children” in the United States are homeless
• “Entire families are tossed from one place to another to work unstable jobs that barely allow them to survive.
• “In the historically poor Appalachian mining region, people rely on food stamps.
• “In Los Angeles, the number of homeless people has increased dramatically.
• “In the poorest neighborhoods, associations offer small wooden huts to those who no longer have a roof over their heads.”

Focus on California

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oneyed California Governors, Senators, Members of Congress amidst homelessness

Key California politicians, estimated Net worth

Governors

• Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (former California governor) $10 million https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-politicians/democrats/jerry-brown-net-worth/

• Gavin Newsom (California Governor): $10-20 million https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-politicians/democrats/gavin-newsom-net-worth/

US House and Senate

• Dianne Feinstein (US Senator 1991-present): ): $80 million https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-politicians/democrats/dianne-feinstein-net-worth/

• Kamala Devi Harris (US Senator 2016- present) $4 million https://moneyinc.com/kamala-harris-net-worth/

• Darrell Issa (Member of US Congress January 3, 2001-January 3, 2019) $357 million https://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/how-much-does/the-10-richest-members-of-congress-and-how-they-earned-their-fortunes/

• Barbara Lee (Member of US Congress 1997-present) $240,507 (2015) https://www.opensecrets.org/personal-finances/net-worth?cid=N00008046&year=2015

• Nancy Pelosi (Member of US Congress 1987- present) $120 million (ranging $43 million to $202 million) https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-politicians/democrats/nancy-pelosi-net-worth/

• Scott Peters (Member of US Congress January 3, 2013-present) $45 million https://www.latimes.com/projects/how-much-are-they-worth/scott-peters/

• David G. Valadao (Member of US Congress 2013-2019) $3.7 million-$17.5 million  https://www.latimes.com/projects/how-much-are-they-worth/david-valadao/

• Maxine Waters (Member of US Congress 1991-present) $90,000 minimum https://www.latimes.com/projects/how-much-are-they-worth/maxine-waters/

The cofounder of a conservative and libertarian think tank, California Policy Center, commented in April of this year on the circular nature, and therefore the failure to solve the problem of homelessness.  This is some of what Edward Ring wrote.

California policies, touted as helping homeless people find shelter, “have little to do with helping the ‘unhoused’” [contemporary pseudonym for the homeless] find permanent housing. If these policies were indeed designed or intended to help the homeless find permanent housing (not refugee camps on streets or anywhere else), “the problem [of homelessness] would have been solved years ago, Ring wrote.

There is a “hidden agenda” that effectively perpetuates the problem states, individuals and organizations claim to end. Ring points to “a Homeless Industrial Complex [that] has arisen in California that acquires power and profit by pursuing an utterly dysfunctional strategy.”

Observing conditions in Los Angeles, he says policy makers and their partners feed an insatiable giant with tax dollars. For example, “instead of rounding up homeless people, sorting them according to their various challenges – drug addiction, alcoholism, criminality, mental illness, laziness, or just bad luck – and moving them into supervised camps in low cost areas of Los Angeles County, the Homeless Industrial Complex enriches itself promoting the problem, advertising that there is a problem, contracting out a show or progress; but never actually solving the problem.

Citing the Los Angeles example, he notes that wasting more than $8 million on the building of a 154-bed shelter cannot possibly succeed in housing the existing “tens of thousands of homeless people.” Providing no more than “140 apartments” at a cost of more than $200 million will not secure “permanent supportive housing” for the thousands of people languishing in temporary shelters.

“Locating supportive housing and shelters in inexpensive areas would solve the problem” but constructing “solutions” on high value land returns greater income for the industrial complex. Public bureaucracies get funding to expand. “Nonprofit” corporations and their for-profit subcontractors get public funding and tax incentives. The longer the game is drawn out, the more income is accrued by the Homeless Industrial Complex. 

Failure to Solve Homelessness

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ews Accounts

September 9, 2019, Judith Prieve, East Bay Times https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2019/09/09/why-after-19-years-city-says-rv-dwellers-need-to-move-off-private-site-thats-welcomed-them/

• “Antioch RV dwellers’ future uncertain at private site they’re on: City to check on possible zoning change that may let them stay”

February 6, 2020, Aly Brown, The Press https://www.thepress.net/news/city-of-antioch-submits-application-for-gov-gavin-newsoms-homeless-trailer-program/article_4565fedc-490d-11ea-a157-0fb0360b8671.html

• “City of Antioch submits application for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s homeless trailer program: Officials and advocates say they will be used for transitional housing”A day before the deadline, officials met to approve an application requesting “three to five of Newsom’s 100 trailers intended to house homeless residents throughout the state.

“If Antioch qualifies, it will be able to house three to five individuals per trailer. City council documents originally indicated 10 people would live in a trailer — a figure that was later corrected during the council meeting.”

March 23, 2020 East County Today https://eastcountytoday.net/antioch-city-council-set-to-discuss-future-of-homeless-encampment-ad-hoc-committee/

• “Antioch City Council Set to Discuss Future of Homeless Encampment Ad-hoc Committee”

April 20, 2020 The Press https://www.thepress.net/news/contra-costa-county-delivers-sanitation-stations-to-slow-covid-19-in-homeless-camps/article_35ed138e-8371-11ea-9044-5339e55c9483.html

• “Contra Costa County delivers sanitation stations to slow COVID-19 in homeless camps”

April 26, 2020 East County Today https://eastcountytoday.net/antioch-firefighters-battle-homeless-encampment-fire-along-highway-4-v2/

• “Antioch: Firefighters Battle Homeless Encampment Fire Along Highway 4”

May 5, 2020 The Press https://www.thepress.net/news/contra-costa-county-shelters-250-homeless-individuals-in-hotels-during-shelter-in-place/article_1a4875c6-8f0e-11ea-9e51-b36210934838.html

• “Contra Costa Health, Housing & Homeless Services (H3) recently announced it has sheltered 250 individuals experiencing homelessness in hotels and motels through Project Roomkey.”

May 29, 2020 San Diego Union Tribune https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/california/story/2020-05-29/arrest-made-after-california-homeless-fed-poisoned-food

• “Arrest made after California homeless fed poisoned food”

• “One person was arrested after eight homeless people were given poisoned food that sent several to the hospital   [Source Southern California authorities]

 Antioch is a California city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area along the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta. It is the second largest city in Contra Costa County; its population, according to the 2010 census 102,372.

In 2016 the East Contra Costa County experienced “a 32.5 percent increase” in homelessness.  Just over half of these were in Antioch. The number of East Contra Costa County residents sleeping in cars, homeless encampments and empty buildings had risen by one-third and there was reportedly “little help available in the region.”

East County had but a “few shelters,” Antioch’s shelter had only “20 beds” and these were “available only to the mentally ill.” Brentwood and Bay Point, also in Contra Costa County, each had one shelter “limited to women and children.”

May 26, 2016 Rowena Coetsee Mercury News https://www.mercurynews.com/2016/05/26/east-contra-costa-countys-homeless-population-increases-by-double-digits/

“East Contra Costa County’s homeless population increases by double digits

May 20, 27, 2019 Annie Sciacca East Bay Times https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2019/05/20/we-just-havent-kept-with-the-pace-of-housing-needs-homelessness-in-contra-costa-on-the-rise/Big State s homelessness amidst flare and wealth

• “New data: Contra Costa’s homeless population up 43 percent: ‘We just haven’t kept with the pace of housing needs,’ county services director says”

• Despite the nation’s robust economy and low unemployment rate, Contra Costa County’s homeless population rose a startling 43 percent from two years ago”

• Also in the biennial report figures were Alameda County’s 8,022 homeless people, up 43 percent; and Santa Clara County’s 9,706 homeless people, up 31 percent from 2017.

E

ntrenched in California’s State Mansion

Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. - Estimated net worth $10 million

Secretary of State of California January 4, 1971 – January 6, 1975

34th Governor of California January 6, 1975 – January 3, 1983

47th Mayor of Oakland January 4, 1999 – January 8, 2007

Attorney General of California January 9, 2007 – January 3, 2011

39th Governor of California January 3, 2011 – January 7, 2019    

Gavin Christopher Newsom - Estimated net worth $20 million

San Francisco Board of Supervisors Member (2nd district) January 8, 1997 – January 8, 2004

42nd Mayor of San Francisco January 8, 2004 – January 10, 2011

49th Lieutenant Governor of California January 10, 2011 – January 7, 2019

40th Governor of California January 7, 2019 -

Sources

RT doc “USA: Being poor in the world’s richest country” June 15, 2020 https://www.rt.com/shows/documentary/491765-being-poor-richest-country/

Time of broadcast available on RT’s schedule page

https://www.rt.com/shows/documentary/491765-being-poor-richest-country/

LA Times “California’s members of Congress are worth at least $439 million” Iris Lee, Christina Bellantoni. March 5, 2018 “The total net worth of California’s delegation was at least $439 million in 2016”https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-richest-california-lawmakers-20180305-story.html

Also

“Two freshmen made the millionaires list: Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) and Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana).

Ro Khanna: minimum $27 million https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-richest-california-lawmakers-20180305-story.html

Lou Correa’s (2019-2020): $1-5 million https://celebstrendnow.com/lou-correa-net-worth/

Lou Correa estimated net worth 2016-2018: 6 million

https://www.rollcall.com/wealth-of-congress/

https://www.opensecrets.org/personal-finances/net-worth/Lou-Correa?cid=N00037260&year=2015

https://www.latimes.com/projects/how-much-are-they-worth/scott-peters/

https://www.latimes.com/projects/how-much-are-they-worth/nancy-pelosi/

California Globe “How the Homeless Industrial Complex Plans to Destroy Venice Beach: The City of Los Angeles intends to use bailout funds to buy distressed properties and use them to house the unhoused” Edward Ring, April 22, 2020 https://californiaglobe.com/section-2/how-the-homeless-industrial-complex-plans-to-destroy-venice-beach/

Edward Ring is cofounder of  the California Policy Center (CPC, formed 2010), a 501c(3) nonprofit think tank associated with the State Policy Network (1992 Arlington, Virginia HQ), an umbrella nonprofit organization of conservative and libertarian think tanks acting as a public policy clearinghouse and advisory on fundraising, operating nonprofits, and communicating ideas. The CPC advocates for school choice and the right not to join s union. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Policy_Center

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