Columnists From The United States

"Every year, someone from my high school gets killed from gun violence. It's one of the scariest statistics that I live with on a daily basis. Like, who is it going to be this year?"

"I think that my book is relevant to the current, you know, alternative-facts-post-truth situation that we're seeing, not only because of the way that my father as a character plays into this whole discussion, but also because I feel like one of the reasons that we fall into these echo chambers and stop listening to one another is because we think that we have to have all of the answers. And we think that the answers are simpler than they really are. And so what I discovered through the writing of the book was that, wow, OK, so multiple explanations can be true to some extent. And I think that, in that sense, this discovery that I went through in the book can sort of inform and help people sort of let go of this obsession with having just one answer."

"writing, to me, is so important 'cause it allows me to think publicly about ideas that I'm working through as a lawyer or I'm working through as an organizer or as I'm working through as a parent, for example."

"as a trained lawyer, what I try to do is use my legal skills to help organizers figure out how to wage campaigns against oppressive institutions. Sometimes that means reducing power for the police. Sometimes it means trying to close a jail or a prison."

"police abolition is not mere police absence, all right? It's not just the disappearance of police. Just like slavery abolition just didn't mean that slaves would disappear, it means that we will fight to create a society where Black people can live with dignity and freedom and peace and justice and build the kind of relationships and communities that they deserve, right? So that's a complete restructuring of what we understand the United States to mean at that time."

"If you receive a medical diagnosis that was harmful and scary and you - and a doctor had to give you an answer in two minutes, that would be insufficient, right?"

"I don't think I'm going to see the total eradication of police presence in my lifetime. I don't think my baby's going to see it in their lifetime. But what can happen in all of our lifetimes is the will and the commitment and the courage - right? - to have the courage to make sure that it does happen in the future."

"A lot of the times the people who make the decision to kill people - if they make that decision, it's because of patriarchy. It's because they're trying to control someone else's sexuality, especially if it's a woman, and they are concerned about, she's going to sleep with someone else - or if they're concerned someone else is going to try to sleep with her. So then that leads to a homicide. Or it's two men who are fighting or going back and forth, and one feels as if their manhood has been disrespected. And so we see the No. 1 reason for certain kind of homicides is a petty argument that escalates."

"I had to understand the history of police inadequacy to these harms and then learn that, well, the police weren't created to respond to these harms in"

"The police can't fight patriarchy. They perpetuate it in so many circumstances."

"why all these killings happening in the first place? Why are people conditioned to kill each other? Why is it true in the United States but not true in other parts of the world?"

"That's what law school allowed me to have - was time to actually read abolitionist literature - you know, read "Abolition Democracy" by Angela Davis, read her other book "Are Prisons Obsolete?" - the more time I had to study, you know, works from, like, Naomi Murakawa. I mean, I just had so much time to start learning the history of police, the function of police, how this word crime is a social construct, how there's so much sexual violence in this world - in this country, in particular - and it's not all reducible to what to do with a rapist - right? - because most people who commit sexual violence will never see a day in prison. And so police and prisons are currently inadequate responses to the sexual violence that we have right now. They're currently inadequate responses to the homicides that we have right now - right? - the harms of our nightmares. You look across the country - the police clearance rate for murders is something like 40-50%, which means that 40-50% of people accused of murdering someone are just arrested and charged - not even convicted, right?"

"One thing that we can do is make sure we have an avenue that prevents that violence from happening in the first place. Police do not prevent that violence. They make people more precarious. And then once they exit jail if they are arrested, they go back to the same circumstances where they then have to protect themselves."

"One avenue is prevention, right? We need gun buyback programs. We need people doing street violence interruption programs. A second set of avenue is responding. So we have prevention and we have response. And response really is a local - is really a local endeavor. Sometimes it happens through these formal restorative justice processes. Sometimes it happens informally - right? - with the families trying to come together and mediate the conflict between those people, right? And then a lot of times it's not the case that they want people to go to prison. What victims and survivors often want is some measure for them to be heard, some level of accountability. And when we have more options than prison and police, that the survivors of harm and violence choose that - you know, for sexual violence and for homicides and attempted homicides, right?"

"One reason why I love defund the police is because it's a policy demand. It's actually a policy demand. One critique of Black Lives Matter from people who are sympathetic to its cause is that it didn't mean anything. Where is the policy? Where is the plan? What are you really asking for? Black Lives Matter is just a slogan. And so then, you know, six years later, in 2020, instead of saying Black Lives Matter, people started saying take away resources from the police as a very specific policy demand, well, now that's much harder to co-opt. We're hearing people say, well, this is the policy that we want. We want you to take away resources from the police, and we want you to invest it in all of the other resources that make us safe. We want better schools. We want better housing. We want health care. We want quality jobs. We want to be able to work with dignity. We want child care. We want our student debt canceled. So we want to remove resources from the carceral state and pour into all of these other avenues that make us live healthy lives full of dignity and joy."

"if we truly want to undermine and reduce homicides, we have to reduce our reliance on police."

"I hope that more people are being called to be molders of that society, molders of that consensus, instead of just reflecting the current consensus that we have - because that's where all the oppression lives."

"I had received some hatred before, but it was nothing compared to what came after my book was - my book about Stephen Miller was published, where people were sending me racial slurs, telling me that I should be deported to Mexico, you know, very much attacking my family and, like, who - where I come from. And so that is what made me all of a sudden want to say my name correctly here in the United States."

"There's many valid and powerful ways to show pride in our cultures and where we come from."

"This internalized English language supremacy, like, what it did was like it created, like, a real - I don't know - like, this almost, like, self-hatred, where I didn't understand what had happened until many years later, when I was reading the Mexican author Reyna Granda, who writes about subtractive bilingualism and how, you know, this practice of forcing children to stop speaking their native language and to see it as something bad also causes children to internalize this disdain, you know, the dominant white culture's disdain for their own culture and their own selves. And for me, what that did is it created a lot of self-destructive behavior where I was, you know, cutting my wrists as a teenager. I was, you know, binge drinking, drug abuse, a lot of self-destructive behavior. And then also, my mother, when she would make mistakes in English, you know, I would correct her. And I would say really, you know, monstrous things like learn English. And this is something that, you know, I look back on with, like, an immense amount of pain. And it wasn't something that I was able to fully confront until I saw Reyna Grande talking about this - internalizing this disdain for her mother."

"she came from Puerto Rico, where they also have, you know, this English language supremacy, like, decades of U.S. colonial policies that cast English as a superior language. You know, this was a school where a majority of the kids were Mexican American or children of immigrants. And they, you know, the mostly white teachers, they wanted us to learn English as quickly as possible. So the parents at the time thought that this was a good thing, that it would result in us, you know, being bilingual and knowing English faster. But what happened is, like, this ended up in many cases supplanting our native language."

"when I was a kid. I grew up in San Diego, on the border with Tijuana, with a Mexican dad and a Puerto Rican mom. Spanish was my first language. But I went to a private Episcopalian elementary school, where it was against the rules to speak Spanish. You know, the teachers referred to me as Jean Guerrero. And if we were caught speaking Spanish, we had to stay in detention and we had to write, I will not speak Spanish, I will not speak Spanish a hundred times. This was during a period of intense anti-Mexican and anti-immigrant hate in California. And, you know, I wanted to please the teachers. I knew how much my mom was sacrificing for me to go to that school. She - at that point, my parents had split up. And she was a single mom. There was a struggle for her. And I just - I wanted to do well in school. And so I internalized, you know, the teacher's disdain for Spanish. I internalized this idea of my language, my parents' language as being delinquent. And I mostly renounced Spanish. And I adopted that identity as Jean Guerrero."

"there is a very strong feeling that's attached to saying my name the way that it's meant to be said. You know, like, I feel embodied. I feel, like, deeply rooted in my ancestors and my mother's sacrifices for me, my abuelita. My grandmother, you know I feel them inside of me. Like, I feel different when I say my name."

"A major turning point for me was in high school, when I came across Luis Alberto Urrea's book "The Devil's Highway" about a group of Mexican men who die trying to cross the militarized border. That book has a lot of Spanglish in it. And it was the first time that I realized that the voices of people like my mother and people like my father could be made into art. And that book inspired me to pursue a career as a journalist in Mexico, which is the first time that I began to refer to myself as Jean Guerrero for the first time since I was a kid. But when I came back to the U.S., you know, I started my career as a - in public radio. And I remember asking myself when I was signing off of stories, like, do I want to refer to myself as Jean Guerrero or as Jean Guerrero? And ultimately, I chose the Anglicized version because I - there was some feeling in me that I was going to be judged by my mostly white managers as trying to be provocative or something if I claimed Jean Guerrero. So I again, I reverted to this Anglicized pronunciation and didn't think much about how I was pronouncing my name for many years as I was, you know, covering the impact of the Trump administration's immigration policies, you know, covering white nationalism, the rise of white nationalism. I wrote a book about Stephen Miller, Trump's senior adviser. But then I began to receive a lot of hate mail that was directed at me based on my family, based on my background, you know, people sending me racial slurs about my Mexican-ness, people telling me that I should be deported, really ugly stuff that was rooted in my identity as a Mexican and Puerto Rican woman. And that, for me, was a huge turning point where I decided, you know, I want to say my name correctly now. I want these people snarling at me to, you know, shrivel at the sound of my name, Jean Guerrero. Like, that is who I am. And I want to show that I am proud of it."

"I asked if this obsession with foreskin is healthy, much less worthy of a movement modeled on the struggle for human rights. Clearly, some men harbor deep-seated issues regarding their members. I can’t help but agree with the babe characters on the TV show “Sex and the City” who, with the exception of slutty Samantha, enthused that shafts devoid of hoods were more pleasant to gaze upon and touch than intact ones. I just hope that guys who spend their lives feeling wounded by circumcision, and the women who enable them, find new hobbies."

"Peyser questioned intactivist Anthony Losquadro whether the obsession with foreskin is healthy. From outside, it is quite clear that the American society is obsessed with foreskin – with removing it! Similarly, when some Jewish people claim that circumcision is vital to Jewish identity, they are also being obsessed with foreskin – with removing it. Whatever kind of penis Peyser enjoys gazing upon and touching should not have any relevance to what surgeries her children or any children are subjected to. She closes the article by hoping that “guys who spend their lives feeling wounded by circumcision, and the women who enable them, find new hobbies“. We counter that we hope that men and women who make their livelihood by cutting normal healthy genital tissue from non-consenting minors are the ones who should find another career, especially including those mohels in Peyser’s natal Queens who feel that their religion entitles them to suck blood with their mouths out of infant penises they just cut."

"Most of the fascist functionaries live as unguarded as I do. I could slip a knife between Max Rafferty's ribs. The Agnews and Du Ponts, the Rockefellers and Morgans, all of the Getty, Hunt, and Hughes types who sneak around in armored cars and jets are just as reachable. Anyone who will come out of his bomb shelter can be had. Imagine what Nixon's armored car would look like if I stepped out of the alley and hit it with the anti-tank rocket launcher under my coat—a ball of fire. Hell will be their reward."

"Now that the smoke has cleared from last month's big shoot-out in the Dade County corral, let's take a closer look at one aspect of Anita Bryant. The lady is, incidentally, a phenomenon- that rarest of rare birds these days: a female entertainer willing to stand up to the vilest and most scurrilous kind of public abuse for the sake of morality, simple decency and Holy Scripture. But it's the "one aspect" I want to zero in on. Anita doesn't want her children taught in tax-supported public schools by sex perverts. Do you?"

"If you believe that America is and should remain a nation of laws and borders — and if you understand the logistical and physical challenges of walking 1,000 miles through Mexico — there is a relatively simple, firm way to respond to migrant caravans. To the migrants, the message is simple. The United States will secure its border and enforce its immigration laws. In accordance with those laws, it will summarily deport illegal entrants and interpret its asylum statutes in accordance with their meaning and purpose. If you do complete the journey, you will not be released into the American interior but instead held at the border. Rather than risk a fruitless journey, it is better to turn back now."

"Teens do not exist on an island. The connection between parental emotional health and the emotional health of their kids is well established. Moreover, the way parents raise their kids can, of course, directly affect emotional health."

"One of the enduring mysteries of modern political discourse is the way in which smart people — who are not remotely anti-Semitic — impose curious, unworkable double standards on the nation of Israel. Let’s take, for example, the response of many on the left to the so-called Great Return March, an effort by thousands of Gazans to storm the Israeli border. After all, the international legal standards are clear. A nation has the right to protect the integrity of its border, and that right is supplemented by an inherent right of self-defense in the face of a hostile foreign power. Hamas — which rules Gaza — rejects Israel’s right to exist and remains in a state of perpetual, declared war with Israel. Any reasonable person contemplating the consequences of a border-wall breach knows that chaos and bloodshed may result."

"Jihad is the secret these investigators are keeping, but only from themselves. It drives the murder spree against infidel troops. It also is part of the culture that renders U.S. utopian plans to train an Afghan army and police force dead on arrival. Not saying so doesn't make it go away. It just wastes the lives of our people. Does anyone care?"

"The idea that the Georgia voting law is voter oppression, you're saying black people can't figure out how to vote? It's insulting!"

"As long as, every night, a black child does less homework than a white child, and substantially less homework than an Asian-American child, we're always going to have this problem. Which means it comes back to the home."

"Race has never been less significant a factor in American success, but it has never been more significant a factor for the Democratic party's success."

"Poor, Paul Pelosi. First, he’s busted for DUI, and then gets attacked in his home. Hammered twice in six months."

"Let's all watch Alec Baldwin blame the gun."

"Larry Elder is a dangerous idiot. And I mean Trump level dangerous."

"I argue the left is the problem. They don't want to hear thoughtful disagreement whether its about climate change, whether its about racism, whether its about what the welfare state has done to the family. [...] So I urge my friends on the left to look into the mirror and ask yourself: Do you really want to have a conversation or do you really want to just denounce the other side?"

"I like where the ball was landing under [Donald Trump's presidency]. Don't look at his swing! I didn't follow him on Twitter [...] because I thought he tweeted too much on stuff I didn't care about. But I care about where the ball landed on immigration. I care about where the ball landed on the economy, on regulation, on putting conservatives on the courts. I cared about all that stuff and for my money he deserves an A+, in the face of relentless hostility. 91% of the media: negative news. Much of his own party: negative. And still this guy persevered and barely lost the election. Americans didn't repudiate Trump's policies, they repudiated Trump's personality."

"I got a phone call [after Obama got elected] from someone from the UK and they said 'President Barack Obama just got elected, the first African-American president. Yet you did not support him. Wasn't that a bit awkward?' And I said 'For him or for me?'"

"[About Barack Obama being elected president in 2008:] I didn't think it made some deep statement about America. I'm in Los Angeles and in, I think it was 1969, LA, which was the third largest city at the time, voted for a black mayor and voted for him four times. He ran twice for governor of California, the largest state in the union, and barely lost both times. And so I thought a statement was made a long time ago of how fair America is and Obama just came along and benefited from it. [...] [According to a 2007 Gallup poll examining prejudice against race, gender, age and religion], Obama had a lower hurdle, an easier path to the White House than [his opponents Hillary Clinton, John McCain, and Mitt Romney], who were far more well funded and far more experienced and far better known. So don't give me this crap about how Obama somehow made a statement about how fair America is. America has been fair for a very very long period of time and he simply benefited from the changing racial attitudes that Americans have been engaging in for decades."

"[My father] was a life-long Republican [...] My father used to always say Democrats want to give you something for nothing. And when you're trying to get something for nothing you almost always end up getting nothing for something."

"If harmony and spirit get a club anything the sensational Phillies are getting it: A visit to the bench yesterday revealed the rare thing of a ball club cemented together by warm friendships for the manager and among the men. The old Phils of Dooin days and the youngsters as well, took occasion to whisper a word for Pat. Evidently Pat is a pal as well as a boss. At least every last player is for him and his policies."

"When a man of his natural physique can eat what he wants, drink what he wants and do what he pleases in the open air all the year around, it isn't any wonder that he prolongs his athletic career and stands off the slowness and staleness that comes to the best of them as the years go by. [...] Honus has a poetic nature in this respect, although he is anything but a poet. But the open air, the trees, the streams and the wild freedom of the woods have a fancy for him, and in this environment only is he happy. Is it any wonder then that he retains his vigor and conserves much of that dash and speed that makes him the annual wonder on the ball field?"

"Pitt is credited with having been the first team to identify its football players by numbers on the uniforms. It started many years ago as a bright idea to sell more programs. Yesterday I learned another version from Jim Jerpe Jr., son of a famous baseball writer for the old Gazette Times. He says that when he registered at Pitt, from which he was graduated as a chemical engineer, he was told by the late Karl E. Davis, the then graduate athletic manager, that Jim's dad was responsible for the numbering, which Davis instituted. It seems, according to what Davis said, that Jerpe Sr. complained about the difficulty of covering football games in those days before elevated press boxes, when writers trudged up and down the field, and in protest wrote a story in which he reported that a player named Joe passed the ball to another player named Joe, who took off on a run and was stopped by another player named Joe."

"James Jerpe, the sporting writer of Pittsburg [sic] who has been blind for the two past years but continues his good work in the game in spite of that affliction, may be tendered a benefit game. is working it up. His plan is for a team of National League stars to meet a team of American League stars, the receipts of the game to go to Jerpe. It is some test of the popularity of a writer when ball players will turn a hand for him."

"Official scorers, rule makers and others identified with the statistical end of baseball, should get together soon on a uniform system of scoring, particularly with regard to what is and what is not a base hit. The "baseball uplifters" have ceased their racket; football is over and plenty of time can now be given to a matter that is very important, but which, it seems, has been neglected for many years, particularly last year, when official scorers were hopelessly divided in the matter of scoring a fielder's choice that comes up when a batsman sets out to advance a runner by sacrificing, but gets his base through a play that fails to get the man ahead of him. In some cities they scored this play a hit; in others they gave the batsman nothing excepting a time at bat and still in others the scorers compromised by scoring it a sacrifice hit. A season of this kind of scoring could render team batting figures obsolete. Such a play may come up just often enough in one city where it is scored a base hit to make a material difference in team batting over the club in another city where the scorer does nothing but charge the very successful bunter with a time at bat when a perfect play is made on the man going to second and fails, allowing both runners to land safely."

"The Chinese are formidable, clever, hard-working, disciplined people. They’ve achieved economic miracles. They’re not supermen. We can beat them if we do the things America does best."

"As we saw on Jan. 6, when elected leaders defy the law, they invite their followers to do the same. Chaos reigns, the courts become powerless, and mob rule (directed by an authoritarian leader) prevails. When [Donald] Trump lambastes judges and prosecutors and promises to "weaponize" the Justice Department, judges must maintain a zero-tolerance policy for officials' (and former officials') defiance of laws and court orders and ignore their claims of persecution. Judges should continue to denounce the contempt for courts, the law and truth Republicans routinely display. If courts do not mete out severe consequences for willful disregard of the law and attacks on the legitimacy of the courts, Trump will succeed in ripping up the foundation of our democracy. Judges simply must hold the line."