A $15 Minimum Wage Would Be Life-Changing for Workers and Save the US Billions per Year

Beyond the working families who will get a raise, every single American taxpayer has a stake in raising the minimum wage.

by

Ken Jacobs

 

Published on Monday, February 15, 2021 

by

Business Insider

Chefiatou Tokou chants during a Labor Day march in Boston on Sep. 4, 2017. (Photo: Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Last month, Congress reintroduced the Raise the Wage Act, legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour and give 32 million working people a much-needed raise. Increasing the minimum wage is an urgent, necessary step that President Joe Biden and Congress must take to combat the nation's pandemic-induced economic crises.

A $15 minimum wage would be life-changing for many workers and their families — it could mean the difference between poverty and being able to put food on table, building a savings account, or investing in their children's future.

Raise the minimum wage, lower the dependency on safety nets 

Beyond the working families who will get a raise, every single American taxpayer has a stake in raising the minimum wage. When corporations like McDonald's pay poverty wages, workers often turn to public safety net programs to make ends meet. Our recent study finds that families of half of the workers who would receive a pay increase under the proposed $15 minimum wage bill in Congress are enrolled in one or more public safety net programs, at a cost of $107 billion a year. 

Some lawmakers, including Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, are calling on Congress to employ a process known as budget reconciliation, which allows legislation that changes government spending or revenues to pass by a simple majority vote, not subject to a filibuster.

Our study on the public cost of low wages supports Sanders' contention that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour could have a measurable savings to the federal budget — a key consideration in determining whether the legislation meets the criteria for moving through the reconciliation process. This is backed up by new research finding that a $15 minimum wage could save the federal budget of at least $65 billion per year.

The federal minimum wage has stalled at $7.25 an hour since 2009 – the longest-ever period without an increase since the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed in 1938. A $15 minimum wage would bring savings to our safety net system — funds that can be redirected to other essential needs. As we look at recovery from pandemic-related unemployment and recessions, it is especially important that cash-strapped states are able to target public funds for maximum community benefit. 

In our study, we look at working families in the 42 states that have not passed a $15 minimum wage law. Two-thirds of fast-food workers, half of childcare workers, and three out of five homecare workers in these states are paid so little that their families rely on public assistance. 

These are workers like Taiwanna Milligan, a McDonald's worker from Charleston. Taiwanna is raising three children — her son, who has sickle cell disease, and her niece and nephew — on a paltry $8.25 hourly wage from McDonald's, stitching together safety net programs like Medicaid and food stamps to make ends meet. 

Compounded by wage stagnation is the economic and racial inequality the pandemic has laid bare. Many low-wage workers — disproportionately women and workers of color — are in service occupations and are more likely to rely on public transportation for their commute. They work every day to meet our essential needs while placing themselves and their families at a higher risk for COVID-19 exposure. Corporations have not increased pay to compensate for the increased hazards workers face. 

Raising the minimum wage is an important step in addressing this racial inequality exacerbated by the pandemic. A new study finds that minimum wage increases help advance racial equity. Other research shows additional positive effects, such as reducing child poverty and neglect, and improving children's health and adult mental health. The effects will also bring budget savings.

A $15 minimum wage would begin to lift up our nation's working families at a time when they desperately need the most help. When workers and their families benefit, so does our entire community. 

The unprecedented health and economic crisis we're in today demands a bold plan and swift action. President Biden was right when he exhorted, "A crisis of deep human suffering is in plain sight, and there's no time to waste. We have to act and we have to act now."

© 2021 Business Insider

Ken Jacobs is an economist and the Chair of the UC Berkeley Labor Center.

The Fight for a $15 Minimum Wage Is a Fight for Racial Justice

Democrats need to stop playing games and use their majorities to pass a $15 minimum wage right now—we can't wait any longer.

by

Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II

 Published on Saturday, February 13, 2021

by

In These Times

"Hundreds of people are dying a day from poverty. Many of them are low-wage workers, tipped workers, people getting sick unnecessarily. Meanwhile, tens of millions of people still lack healthcare," said Rev. William Barber. (Photo: Mike Brown/Getty Images)

Sixty-two million people in the United States make less than $15 an hour. And here’s the truth: the fight to raise the minimum wage to a living wage of $15 is as important as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. For Black people, it’s taken us 400 years to get to $7.25 an hour. We can’t wait any longer. People in Appalachia can’t wait any longer. Poor white people, brown people, we cannot wait any longer. And we won’t be silent anymore.

The low-wage workers, tipped workers, people making less than $15 were already in a kind of depression before the Covid-19 pandemic hit. This is deadly. Hundreds of people are dying a day from poverty. Many of them are low-wage workers, tipped workers, people getting sick unnecessarily. Meanwhile, tens of millions of people still lack healthcare. 

"We cannot get this close and then fall back. We say to President Biden, to Democrats, to Republicans, to senators, to all of them: don't turn your back on the $15 an hour minimum wage."

When it comes to the $15 minimum wage, some politicians say they’re worried about small businesses. But we have to ask them, have they voted for universal healthcare for everybody? Because if they were really worried about small businesses and their costs, they would pass universal healthcare so that small businesses didn’t have to pay that money to cover their workers. If they were really worried about these businesses, they would pay people a living wage. Because guess what? The people with living wages are going to spend that money, and guess where they’re going to spend it? Back in the businesses. 

We cannot get this close and then fall back. We say to President Biden, to Democrats, to Republicans, to senators, to all of them: don’t turn your back on the $15 an hour minimum wage. Listen: 55% of poor, low-wealth people voted for this current ticket. That’s the mandate. The mandate is in the people who voted, not in the back slapping of senators and congresspeople. It’s the people who voted. And if we turn our backs now, it will hurt 62 million poor, low-wealth people who have literally kept this economy alive, who were the first to have to go to jobs, first to get infected, first to get sick, first to die. We cannot be the last to get relief and the last to get treated and paid properly. Protect us, respect us, and pay us. 

The truth of the matter is, there can be no domestic tranquility without the establishment of justice. That’s not what Rev. William Barber says — it’s what the Constitution says. The establishment of justice precedes domestic tranquility. And you can only hold domestic tranquility when you promote the general welfare of all people. 

Now, some argue that a $15 wage can’t pass through budget reconciliation. That’s nothing but an excuse. The fact of the matter is, when Republicans wanted to pass tax cuts and cut welfare, they used reconciliation. One time, when the parliamentarian gave them the wrong answer, they fired the parliamentarian, and got another parliamentarian to give them the right answer. So there’s one set of rules that apply for corporations, and there’s another set of rules when it comes to poor and low-wealth people. And that’s why we’re saying to Democrats: Don’t play the reconciliation game. It only takes a simple majority of 51 votes to overturn what the parliamentarian says. Let’s be real about this. People turned out to vote and it’s time for this to happen.

"We have to act like we have one shot on this. Tomorrow is not promised. It's time to push, through every non-violent tool we have."

Back during the New Deal, people said to President Roosevelt that the minimum wage was going to break to the country. You know what Roosevelt said to them? He said any business that doesn’t want to pay people the minimum wage does not belong in America. He said you don’t have a right to exist in this country if you don’t want to pay people a basic minimum wage. 

Fifty-seven years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. called for a $2 an hour minimum wage, which would be over $15 today. A few weeks ago, all the politicians were saying, let’s follow Dr. King. Let’s hear Dr. King’s message of love. Well you can’t hear the message of love without hearing the love and the justice connected together. To go backwards on this would be morally indefensible, constitutionally inconsistent and economically insane. 

We cannot address racial equity if we do not address the minimum wage of $15. There’s no such thing as racial equity when you just address police reform and prisons but you don’t address the issue of economic justice. And if you address economic justice, guess what? It helps Black people, and white people, and brown people, and Latino people. It helps everybody. Everybody in, nobody out. 

When people regardless of their race, their color, their creed, their sexuality, their disability, come together to fight to change the narrative, to demand, and to vote — this is the coalition that the aristocracy and the greedy always fear. My grandmama used to say, ​“Work while it is day, because the night comes.” She got that out of the Bible. And Isaiah 10 says, ​“Woe unto those who legislate evil and rob the poor of their rights, who make women and children their prey.” 

We have to act like we have one shot on this. Tomorrow is not promised. It’s time to push, through every non-violent tool we have. We know that in every battle, if we fight, we win — and if we don’t fight, we can’t win. 

Let’s go forward together, not one step back.

This piece is adapted from remarks made at a Poor People’s Campaign Moral Monday event on February 8.

Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II is national president and senior lecturer of Repairers of the Breach. His books include: "The Third Reconstruction: How A Moral Movement is Overcoming the Politics of Division and Fear" (2016), "Revive Us Again: Vision and Action in Moral Organizing" (2018) and "We Are Called to Be a Movement" (2020). Follow him on Twitter: @RevDrBarber

© 2021 In These Times

SOCIALISE BIG PHARMA

Big Pharma Must Share Their Vaccine Knowledge and Technology With the World—Now

To stop the global pandemic, rich countries need to stop hoarding vaccines.

by

Stephen Cockburn

Published on Monday, February 15, 2021 

by

CNN

Howard University Hospital staff members received Covid-19 vaccination doses on December 15, 2020 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

Just over a year ago, the world looked on in shock as the Chinese city of Wuhan imposed the first coronavirus lockdown. Since then, people around the world have made extraordinary sacrifices and have shown great solidarity in containing the spread of the virus.

Yet, when it comes to rolling out vaccines, the world's political leaders seem to have forgotten that we are all in it together.

The European Union has in recent weeks been engaged in a dispute with vaccine makers after AstraZeneca admitted it was expecting a major shortfall in production, and has been accused of prioritizing deliveries to the UK. In response, European officials have introduced temporary export restrictions on vaccines produced in its territories, giving member states the option of limiting exports outside the EU to countries like the UK, the United States and even South Africa.

On the surface, this may look like a fight over contractual commitments gone awry, but it reveals a much uglier truth: Wealthy countries are locked in a self-defeating and ultimately avoidable zero-sum game over vaccine supplies. And it is a game that poorer countries will inevitably lose—to the cost of us all.

Rich countries have ordered enough doses to vaccinate their populations three times over, while 9 in 10 people in nearly 70 poorer countries are unlikely to be vaccinated at all this year. This is according to analysis in December 2020 by the People's Vaccine Alliance, a group of organizations including Amnesty International campaigning for free and fair distribution of vaccines.

We know that when it comes to Covid infection and prevalence, nobody is safe until we are all safe. But the efforts of almost every rich country to snatch up vaccines reminds us of wealthy travelers paying for speedy boarding at the airport. They might be seated first, but the plane will only take off to its Covid-free destination once all the passengers —both rich and poor—are on board.

 

While Europeans are right to be concerned about what this dispute might mean for their access to a vaccine, we need to remember that this is a concern shared by everyone across the world.

 

The situation in South Africa underscores exactly why the world can't afford to engage in this everyone-for-themselves approach. As new variants of Covid-19 emerge, including a new strain identified by South African scientists that appears to be more contagious than the original strain, the stakes have become even higher for ensuring rapid and equitable delivery of vaccines.

"The European Union has pre-financed the development of the vaccine and the production and wants to see the return," say EU officials, with the bloc having invested €2.7 billion (about $3.3 billion) into research and development of several vaccines. However, many South Africans have also contributed by participating in trials to test the vaccines precisely because they thought this might be their only chance of receiving one.

 

Mtshaba Mzwamadoda, who is from a township in the south of Cape Town, told the New York Times that he was signing up to be in Johnson & Johnson's clinical trials because he believed this was his only chance. "The people at the top, they're going to get the vaccine, the people who have power."

 

Getting the vaccine to the world's poorest will require an approach based on solidarity rather than competition, with governments and companies working together to boost global supply rather than fight over it.

 

There are some glimmers of hope: The recent news that companies including Pfizer, Sanofi, GSK and Curevac have struck deals with each other to produce more vaccines shows that progress can be made together. But these deals are just a drop in the bucket. Meeting the scale of the global challenge will mean taking such collaboration to a whole new level.

 

The EU can start by dropping its opposition to measures proposed by India and South Africa at the World Trade Organization, which would waive intellectual property protections for life-saving products used to tackle Covid-19. The proposal would facilitate technology transfers so that Covid-19 medical products, including vaccines, could be produced more quickly and affordably by manufacturers around the world.

 

With both rich and poor countries alike now struggling for supply, these proposals are a no-brainer for rapidly scaling up vaccine production so that everyone can benefit.

Pharmaceutical companies must fulfil their human rights responsibilities too, which is why Amnesty International is campaigning for companies, including AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, to share their knowledge and technology so that everyone in the world will have a fair shot at a vaccine.

 

So far, neither governments nor companies have been willing to truly work together on the scale that we need. But if we want to come out of this global crisis together, sooner and with our consciences intact, then that must change.

Stephen Cockburn is head of economic and social justice at Amnesty International. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own.

'Beyond Outrageous': Big Pharma Using Loophole to Get Taxpayers to Fund Billions in Fines for Fueling Opioid Crisis

"The tax code is so rigged for the rich that even when they kill people they get a tax break."

by

Kenny Stancil, staff writer

 Published on Friday, February 12, 2021 

by

Common Dreams

"While tens of millions of Americans are experiencing extreme economic hardship and dealing with intermittent and often inadequate governmental support for unemployment, food, housing, and small business continuity," said Robert Weissman of Public Citizen on February 12, 2021, "Johnson & Johnson, McKesson, Cardinal Health, and Amerisource-Bergen are laughing all the way to bank." (Photo: Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images)

Four pharmaceutical corporations that agreed to pay a combined $26 billion to settle lawsuits resulting from a deadly opioid crisis they helped create reportedly plan to recoup a portion of those costs by deducting roughly $4.6 billion of the payouts from their taxes—sparking intense condemnation.

Big Pharma is attempting to make the public cover some of the fines related to lawsuits filed by dozens of state and local governments highlighting the culpability of opioid manufacturers and distributors in the deaths of an estimated 70,000 people per year.

As Public Citizen president Robert Weissman put it in a statement released Friday, "The drug companies are settling with taxpayers (local government entities) and then demanding that taxpayers pay part of the cost (via a federal tax subsidy)."

The Washington Post, which analyzed regulatory filings, reported Friday that "as details of the blockbuster settlement were still being worked out, pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson and the 'big three' drug distributors—McKesson, AmerisourceBergen, and Cardinal Health—all updated their financial projections to include large tax benefits stemming from the expected deal."

Settle and deny guilt for fueling a deadly opioid epidemic? There’s a billion-dollar tax write off for that, drug companies claim. Great sleuthing by @dmac1 & @kevinschaul https://t.co/ACCGOfwAFz

— Aaron C. Davis (@byaaroncdavis) February 12, 2021

Weissman called it "beyond outrageous for the drug makers and distributors to take a tax deduction for their settlement of city and county claims relating to the drug companies' alleged role in creating and worsening the opioid addiction epidemic."

"Making this scheme even more infuriating," he added, "is that the opioid manufacturer and distributor companies are preparing to claim billions in tax subsidies via a Covid-19 relief provision."

According to the Post, "U.S. tax laws generally restrict companies from deducting the cost of legal settlements from their taxes, with one major exception: Damages paid to victims as restitution for the misdeeds can usually be deducted."

The newspaper noted that "Congress has placed stricter limits on such deductions in recent years, and some tax experts say the Internal Revenue Service could challenge the companies' attempts to deduct opioid settlement costs."

But the ploy might work, as The Week noted, thanks to the CARES Act, which "opened up billions of dollars in tax breaks to companies regardless of pandemic suffering."

The Post provided an example of how one of the companies may exploit the loophole: "Dublin, Ohio-based drug distributor Cardinal Health said earlier this month it planned to collect a $974 million cash refund because it claimed its opioid-related legal costs as a 'net operating loss carryback'—a tax provision Congress included in last year's coronavirus bailout package as a way of helping companies struggling during the pandemic."

Four drug companies that fueled the opioid epidemic paid $26 billion in legal settlements.

Yet they are getting $4.6 billion of it back through tax write-offs.

The tax code is so rigged for the rich that even when they kill people they get a tax break.https://t.co/KwMQdubrxF

— Dan Price (@DanPriceSeattle) February 12, 2021

"Whether the payments will be deductible may hinge on specific word choices in the final terms of the settlement," the newspaper reported. "Though recent changes to the tax code have attempted to close loopholes that permit companies to deduct taxes when they have committed wrongdoing, many companies now push to make sure their settlements include a 'restitution' payment for victims—the 'magic word' that often qualifies them for deductions."

"Greg McNeil, whose son became addicted to opioids and died from an overdose... said $26 billion is only a small fraction of the epidemic's financial toll and argue[d] the proposal doesn't include what many family members of opioid victims want the most: an admission of guilt," the Post added.

Not only do "all four firms disavow any wrongdoing or legal responsibility," the Post noted, but there is now a chance that Big Pharma could make the public foot part of the bill for its corporate malpractice—in the midst of the devastating coronavirus pandemic.

"While tens of millions of Americans are experiencing extreme economic hardship and dealing with intermittent and often inadequate governmental support for unemployment, food, housing, and small business continuity," Weissman said, "Johnson & Johnson, McKesson, Cardinal Health, and Amerisource-Bergen are laughing all the way to bank."

Our work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Feel free to republish and share widely.

 

'Sociopathic': New Reporting, GOP Lawmaker Account Suggest Trump Sided With Violent Mob During Capitol Attack

"Trump wanted those storming the Capitol to keep him in power. There is no ifs or buts about it," said Rep. Ilhan Omar.

by

Jake Johnson, staff writer

Published on

Saturday, February 13, 2021

by

Common Dreams

Trump insurrectionists attack police storm the Capitol building on January 6, 2021. (Photo: Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

As a violent mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol Building last month, then-President Donald Trump rejected pleas from Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy—one of his top GOP allies—to call off the assault and remarked, "Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are."

Reported by CNN late Friday and publicly confirmed by a Republican lawmaker who voted to impeach Trump last month, the details of the former president's comments during a phone call with McCarthy while the Capitol was under attack on January 6 came after Trump's attorneys presented their falsehood-riddled case against conviction on the fourth day of the Senate impeachment trial, with a verdict expected as early as Saturday.

"Trump is guilty. Some people will vote to acquit him anyway, but that doesn't change the fact that he's guilty."
—Judd Legum, Popular Information

Trump's attorneys contended that the former president wanted the demonstrators who marched to the Capitol just after his now-infamous speech to peacefully protest, but observers said CNN's reporting makes that argument even less credible than it was Friday afternoon.

"The CNN scoop blows up two Trump defenses: That he wanted rioters to be peaceful (LOL), and that he wielded into action to contain the damage," tweeted the Washington Post's Greg Sargent. Trump did not publicly comment on the attack until hours after it began, releasing a video praising the insurrectionists and urging them to go home.

Judd Legum, author of the Popular Information newsletter, argued that the CNN report "should really end any doubt about whether Trump is guilty."

"Trump is guilty," Legum wrote. "Some people will vote to acquit him anyway, but that doesn't change the fact that he's guilty."

Shortly following the publication of CNN's story, Republican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington—one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump last month—confirmed the news outlet's reporting on the call in a statement posted to Twitter.

"When McCarthy finally reached the president on January 6 and asked him to publicly and forcefully call off the riot, the president initially repeated the falsehood that it was antifa that had breached the Capitol," Herrera Beutler said. "McCarthy refuted that and told the president that these were Trump supporters. That's when, according to McCarthy, the president said, 'Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.'"

Addressing the former president's aides and former Vice President Mike Pence, Herrera Beutler added, "If you have something to add here, now would be the time."

In a segment on CNN's reporting Friday night, MSNBC's Chris Hayes said if the account of Trump's comments is true, "that's sociopathic."

"That's a quote for a movie villain—not the president of the United States," said Hayes.

“If that is true, that is sociopathic. That is a quote for a movie villain—not the President of the United States,” says @chrislhayes discussing the new reporting on Trump’s phone call with Kevin McCarthy during the January 6th riot. pic.twitter.com/TRvu6QwOpk

— All In with Chris Hayes (@allinwithchris) February 13, 2021

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), the Congressional Progressive Caucus whip, said the CNN reporting further confirms that "Trump wanted those storming the Capitol to keep him in power."

"There is no ifs or buts about it," Omar added.

THE FIGHT CONTINUES
George Floyd: Malcolm X’s visionary speech in Africa

By Jeune Afrique
Posted on Tuesday, 2 June 2020 
  

Malcolm X as he speaks at a news conference at the Hotel Theresa in Harlem, 

New York on May 21, 1964 (AP Photo/FILE)


In 1964, during the Organization of African Unity (OAU) summit in Cairo, Malcolm X tried to make his "African brothers and sisters" aware of the discrimination experienced by African-Americans. A speech that foreshadowed the African emotion felt 56 years later around the George Floyd affair in the United States.

https://www.theafricareport.com/29231/george-floyd-african-authors-sans-frontieres-in-solidarity-with-african-americans/


The President of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat has spoken out against the murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American father of two children, who died from suffocation following an incident where a white policeman in the American city of Minneapolis placed his knee on Floyd’s neck for over seven minutes.

Mahamat strongly condemned the “murder that took place (…) at the hands of law enforcement officers” and offered “his deepest condolences to the family of the deceased and to all his relatives.”



1/3:Je condamne fermement le meurtre de #GeorgeFloyd, survenu aux #EtatsUnis aux mains d'agents des forces de l'ordre. Je présente mes plus sincères condoléances à la famille du défunt ainsi qu’à tous ses proches. https://t.co/9SxU2r0zy2

— Moussa Faki Mahamat (@AUC_MoussaFaki) May 29, 2020



In the same text, the Chadian recalled that in 1964, the Organization of African Unity – the forerunner of the AU – had adopted a resolution against racial discrimination in South Africa, Rhodesia and the United States.


South Africa is like a vicious wolf, openly hostile to black humanity. But America is cunning like a fox, friendly and smiling on the surface, but even more vicious and deadly than the wolf.

With regard to the United States, the OAU then recalled that “the existence of discriminatory practices is a matter of deep concern to OAU Member States”, urging “the government authorities of the United States of America to intensify their efforts to ensure the total elimination of all forms of discrimination based on race, colour or ethnic origin.”
Summit attended by Malcolm X

During this summit in July 1964, Malcolm X, the emblematic leader in the struggle for the rights and dignity of African Americans, was invited as an observer to make a poignant pan-African plea on the discrimination that African Americans were then suffering on the other side of the Atlantic.

A radical and visionary speech that Jeune Afrique is sharing today:

Excellencies,

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The Organization of African American Unity sent me to attend this historic African Summit Conference as an observer to represent the interests of the 22 million African-Americans whose human rights are violated daily by the racism of the American imperialists.

READ MORE United Nations on racism and marginalisation against people of African descent

The Organization of African American Unity was created by a cross-section of the African-American community in America and is modelled, both in letter and spirit, on the Organization of African Unity.  

Malcolm X holds up a paper for the crowd to see during a Black Muslim rally in New York City on Aug. 6, 1963. (AP Photo)

Just as the Organization of African Unity has called on all African leaders to overcome their differences and unite around the same goals, for the common good of all Africans, the Organization of African Unity has called on African-American leaders in America to overcome their differences and find common ground through which they can work together, for the common good of African-Americans.

Because these 22 million African-Americans now reside in America, not by choice, but only by a cruel accident of our history, we firmly believe that African problems are our problems and that our problems are African problems.

We also believe that, as heads of independent African states, you are the shepherds of all the African peoples around the world, whether they are still on Mother Earth or whether they have been dispersed overseas.

Some African leaders at this conference have suggested that they have enough problems to be concerned about the African-American issue.

With all due respect for these positions, which I respect, I must remind you all that a good shepherd will leave 99 sheep at home that are safe to go rescue the one who is lost and who has fallen into the clutches of the imperialist wolf.
Vicious police dogs

In America, we are your long-lost brothers and sisters. And if I’m here, it’s only to remind you that our problems are your problems. As African-Americans wake up today, we find ourselves in a strange land that has rejected us. And, like the prodigal son, we turn to our older brothers for help. We pray that our pleas will not fall on deaf ears.


We have been forcibly removed and shackled from the mother continent, and for more than 300 years now in our new land, America, we have been subjected to the most inhumane forms of physical and psychological torture.

Over the past decade, the world has seen our men, women and children attacked and bitten by vicious police dogs, brutally beaten with police batons, or sprayed with high-pressure water jets that ripped off our clothes and the flesh of our members, throwing us down the drain like garbage.

READ MORE China-Africa: ‘Enough is enough’, as #BlackChina anger spreads

All of these atrocities were inflicted on us by the US government authorities, through its own police force, for no other reason than to claim the recognition and respect accorded to other human beings living in America. The US government is unable or unwilling to protect the lives and property of your 22 million African-American brothers and sisters.

We are helpless, at the mercy of American racists who murder us at will, for no other reason than the fact that we are black and of African descent.

Last week, an unarmed African-American educator was murdered in cold blood in Georgia; a few days earlier, three civil rights workers mysteriously disappeared, perhaps also murdered, simply because they were educating our fellow Mississippians in Mississippi about the importance of the vote and their political rights.

Our problems are your problems.

We have lived for over 300 years in this American den of racist wolves, in constant fear of losing our lives or being torn to pieces. Recently, three Kenyan students mistaken for black Americans were brutally beaten by the New York police. Shortly afterwards, two Ugandan diplomats were also beaten by the same police, who had mistaken them for African-Americans.

If Africans are treated like that when they are just visiting America, imagine the multiple sufferings that your brothers and sisters who live on this earth endure.

Our problem is your problem.

No matter how much independence Africans gain on the mother continent, if you do not wear the traditional dress of the country you come from all the time when you visit America, you could be mistaken for one of us and suffer the same mutilations that we go through on a daily basis.

Malcolm X addresses a rally in Harlem in New York City on June 29, 1963. 

(AP Photo)

Your problems will never be fully solved until ours are solved. You will never be fully respected until we, too, are respected. You will never be recognised as free human beings until we, too, are recognised and treated as free human beings.

Our problem is your problem.

It is neither a black problem nor a specifically American problem. It is a global problem, a problem that involves all of humanity. It is not a civil rights problem, but a human rights problem.
America, worse than apartheid South Africa

We pray that our African brothers have not freed themselves from European colonialism only to be defeated and dominated. Do not let racism be whitewashed by American “dollarism”.

America is worse than [apartheid] South Africa because not only is it racist, it is also deceitful and hypocritical. South Africa preaches segregation while at the same time practising it. At least they practice what they preach. America, on the other hand, preaches integration while practicing segregation. It preaches one thing while deceptively practicing the opposite.

READ MORE Achille Mbembe on how to restore the humanity stolen by racism

South Africa is like a vicious wolf, openly hostile to black humanity. But America is cunning like a fox, friendly and smiling on the surface, but even more vicious and deadly than the wolf.

This wolf and this fox are both enemies of mankind; both are hunters; both humiliate and maim their victims; both have the same goals; both differ only in their methods.

READ MORE Will Africa manage to speak with a single voice on the Libya crisis?

If South Africa is guilty of violating the human rights of Africans here on Mother Earth, then America is guilty of more serious violations against the 22 million African Americans living on its soil. And if South African racism is not a domestic issue, then American racism should not be a domestic issue either.

We implore the independent African states to help us bring our problem to the United Nations on the grounds that the United States government is morally incapable of protecting the lives and property of African Americans. On the grounds also that the deterioration of our situation is clearly becoming a threat to world peace.

Out of frustration and despair, our young people have reached the point of no return. It is no longer time for us to be patient and turn the other cheek. We assert our right to self-defence, by whatever means necessary, and we reserve the right to retaliate against our racist oppressors, no matter how great the odds, in the face of adversity.

We are well aware that our future efforts to confront violence with violence – an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth – could create a racial conflict in America that could easily degenerate into a violent, global, and bloody war.

In the interest of world peace and security, we therefore implore the leaders of independent African states to propose an immediate investigation into the situation of African Americans under the auspices of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

A final word, my beloved brothers, on the occasion of this African summit: “No one knows the master better than his servant. We have been servants in America for more than 300 years. We have a deep knowledge of this man who calls himself ‘Uncle Sam.’ Therefore, you must heed our warning. Do not escape European colonialism to become even more enslaved to a deceptive and friendly American dollar.

May Allah’s blessings of health and wisdom be upon you all.

Malcolm X

Artificial Intelligence 'could let 

humans talk to animals' in  real-life Dr Dolittle

So much effort has gone into teaching systems such as Siri and Alexa to understand us that using AI to decode animal communication could be a logical next step.

Talking to animals, in the way Dr Dolittle did, might seem more like appropriate subject matter for a family film than serious scientific research.

But Professor Michael Bronstein at Imperial College London says that Artificial Intelligence could provide the key to unlocking completely alien languages – such as the complex songs of whales.

Bronstein is already working on an AI chatbot that could decipher sperm whales’ unique language even though it has no points of reference with any human communication.

He does concede, though, that the first conversations between humans and whales may be “only be a rough approximation of the true depth and meaning of what they’re saying” because our lives and reference points are so completely different.

Sperm whales are able to communicate with others of their kind over huge distances 

(Image: Getty Images)

Nevertheless, Professor Bronstein heads a team at the Cetacean Translation Initiative – or CETI – which has been set up in the hope of one day decoding the secret language of sperm whale communication.

In a paper published in Scientific Reports in 2019, the team documented some encouraging first steps.

It might be a bit more complicated then Dr Doolittle

They made thousands of recordings of whale communication which, after analysis, enabled them to make detailed predictions about which specific whale was likely to “speak” next.

But they still had no idea what the mighty beasts were actually saying.

Professor Michael Bronstein believes we could train an AI to interpret the songs of whales 

(Image: TWIITER)

It’s not even clear if animals have a language in the same way that humans do – making any attempt at translation doomed to failure.

Professor Sophie Scott, a leading expert on the neuroscience of voices and speech, told the Daily Star that while many animals are vocalising all the time, most – for example pigs – “don’t seem to be saying very much.”

“However elephants and dolphins,” she adds, “seem to have huge complexity to their communication.”

Octopuses, too, she says, clearly have complex problem-solving intelligence. “But with no common frame of reference, it’s hard to see what we could find to talk about.”

Professor Scott told the Daily Star that Elephants have their own complex language

 (Image: BBC/Royal Institution/Paul Wilkinson)

Birds, too, she says, could be sharing complex information about themselves as part of the day Dawn Chorus.

She says that the research that Dr Alan McElligott did at the University of Roehampton into communication with goats and other animals shows there’s a lot we can learn from our four-legged friends even without AI.

The problem would be that the lives these creatures lead are so thoroughly alien, it will be a lot harder to learn their language than it was – for example – an explorer meeting a previously un-contacted group of humans.

Dr Alan McElligott undertaken extensive research in the field of animal communication

 (Image: PA)

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When Europeans first met the people of Polynesia and Australia, after a separation lasting thousands of years, they still ate similar foods, and lived in broadly similar social groups.

The use of AI enables ideas and wider concepts to be interpreted, rather than words and sentences.

We are working with very different tools to American neuroscientist Dr John Lilly, who hoped to use dolphin communication to teach NASA how to talk to aliens.

If, or when, we eventually encounter alien intelligences we will both need AI to interpret for us 

(Image: Getty Images)

In recent years, so much effort has gone into the development of teaching computers to understand human speech – with systems such as Siri and Alexa – that decoding animal communication could be a logical next step.

Professor Bronstein told New Scientist. “I think it’s the right time, with the right data and with the right expertise, to possibly solve this problem.”

Ironically, communicating with actual extra-terrestrial intelligences – who may well have their own AIs that would “speak” to ours – could be an easier challenge than learning to chat with the wide and varied array of intelligences we’ve been sharing the planet with all along.