COVID, Police Terror, and Ruling Class Contempt For Popular Demands

Ron Desantis Supports Don’t Say Gay Bill, The Avenue For Peace In Ukraine That Politicians Are Ignoring, Remembering Nicholas Heyward Sr.

In this episode of By Any Means Necessary, hosts Sean Blackmon and Jacquie Luqman are joined by Sarah Brummet, an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation in the Central Gulf Coast to discuss the Don’t Say Gay bill introduced in the Florida legislature and supported by Governor Ron Desantis, the chilling effect that this bill would have on educators in Florida and how it fits into other attacks against education in the state, the effect that this bill would have on LGBTQ youth, who already are at higher risk for suicide, and the hypocrisy of Florida legislator justifying this bill with appeals to youth safety while also allowing COVID-19 to infect largely unvaccinated children unmitigated.

In the second segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Medea Benjamin, Co-Founder of CODEPINK: Women for Peace to discuss avenues for diplomatic solutions to the current crisis over Ukraine under the Minsk protocol, the Biden administration’s undermining of the accords by sending so-called lethal aid to Ukraine and its involvement in the original 2014 coup, the imperial hubris of the military-industrial complex as it artificially escalates the threat of war with Russia as Europeans and Americans speak out against war, and how Russiagate influences the Democrats willingness to pursue peace.

In the third segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Donna Heyward, activist, organizer and widow of late organizer Nicholas Heyward Sr. to discuss the naming of a street for Nicholas Heyward Sr., an organizer against police terror and the father of Nicholas Heyward Jr., who was killed by New York police, the lack of accountability and justice that Heyward Jr. received and the injustice of the system that let his killer walk free, and the work that Heyward Sr. and Donna have done for their community and against police terror.

Later in the show, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Kristine Hendrix, President to the University City School Board, Junior Bayard Rustin Fellow with the Fellowship for Reconciliation and contributor to the Truth-Telling Project and "We Stay Woke" podcast to discuss the fallout following the police killing of Amir Locke and the failure of Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey to deliver on his campaign promise to ban no-knock warrants, the lifting of restrictions against COVID-19 and the political and media campaign to cover up the dismal COVID response by pushing the idea of endemic COVID, and former Vice President Mike Pence admonishing Donald Trump over the January 6th riot and the Democrats’ refusal to do anything of substance in response to the riot.

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