Research Notes #7
Is it Spring yet?
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Is it March already?
Wow - I cannot believe it is already the 3rd month of 2021. This month marks the one-year anniversary of the first set of lockdowns, here in America, for COVID-19. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have been living in a state of confusion, but the end seems near as the vaccines roll out. One thing that living in these strange times has done is to shine a brighter light on the issues that we already face in our society. Systemic racism, rampant misogyny, and violence in the name of nationalism. These are just a few of the many ills of the White Supremacist Patriarchy.
I know that I can be trying, sometimes, with my insistence on discussing the White Supremacist Patriarchy, but I truly believe that the only way we can ever make real, lasting change in our country is to face the past and stop pretending nothing is wrong when SO MANY THINGS are wrong for so many people. With that in mind, the newsletter this time will focus on a few of the ways in which I am working toward a higher level of consciousness in reference to these societal ills. I hope that you can take away some good information from my unlearning adventures and branch out on your own open-minded journey.
Unlearning the past
This week I started a course, through the LBJ library, entitled We The People: a work in progress. Each Wednesday evening in March, from 5-6:30 pm CT, there will be a speaker discussing the history of the United States and how we can work toward a more equitable future by making the promise of the framers a reality for every human.
The first week started off strong with Dr. Hasan Kwame Jeffries, from the Ohio State University, speaking on why we must confront the hard history of our nation. He discussed how educators need to include the difficult discussions in the teaching of history so that students can truly understand the legacies of the framers, many of whom were enslavers. A particularly illuminating part of the presentation centered around the window of President Madison’s home, at Montpelier, that overlooked the plantation where the estate sat. From that desk, Madison wrote the Bill of Rights, while gazing out at fields where enslaved people were toiling throughout the day.
When we learn about the founders of our nation, we often do not talk about how much of their living (not a side job, but their full income) was made off the profits of plantations. Their money came from owning other people. The fact that he could sit in that chair and see those people in the fields and not give them the same rights he was writing into the Constitution is a hard history that needs to be faced. Madison, Jefferson, Washington, and so many others never freed any of the people they enslaved. Not one.
Montpelier is now a site of historical significance that conveys the history of the founding of America alongside the history of the enslaved community that resided there. The website for the museum states:
The Madison family enslaved over 300 individuals. These enslaved men, women, and children made the Montpelier plantation function and tended to the most intimate needs of the Madison family. The Atlantic system of race-based slavery dehumanized enslaved people; it broke their bodies and destroyed their families, and denied their most basic human rights. For the enslaved, Madison’s notions of liberty were a dream denied. Montpelier honors the lives of the enslaved through ongoing slavery interpretation and a new groundbreaking exhibition, The Mere Distinction of Colour. Thanks to the active descendant community, whose members have graciously shared their family’s histories with us, we continue to explore ways to tell a more complete American story. (montpelier.org)
As Dr. Jeffries pointed out - we must stop having historical amnesia, rationalizing evil, and creating false narratives in order to move forward. Educators need to teach both the history of the founding, through the story of the Constitution and the men who wrote it while teaching the simultaneous history of violence done to enslaved people in the service of liberty. The harsh reality of our history is necessary to confront so that we can stop continuing the past. Here are a few resources to get you started on your unlearning journey!
Listen: Teaching Hard History Podcast
Read: Understanding and Teaching the Civil Rights Movement
Watch: Dr. Jeffries TED Talk: Why we must confront the painful parts of US history
Follow the money
Here in Tennessee, there are only a handful of places to purchase groceries. Publix, Kroger, Target, and Walmart are the large chain stores in the area. 30 minutes away there is a Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, but those are located in Nashville, which means that a shopping trip to one or both could take upwards of 2 hours on a weekday and even longer on our standard, Sunday shopping excursion.
I stopped actively shopping at Walmart approximately 10 years ago for various reasons, but mainly because the Waltons are anti-union. Target has a sorted history with unions as well so I try to shop there sparingly. Whole Foods is owned by Amazon, which I am also boycotting, so they are out. That leaves, Publix, Kroger, and Trader Joe’s.
Then, in January, we learned that the heiress to the Publix company helped to fund the event that led to the insurrection at the capital on the 6th. Publix attempted to distance themselves from her, but in the end, we know that she is making money from the groceries we purchase there. In response to this, I immediately started digging to find out where the money from Kroger goes, to see if they would be a good alternative for groceries. In the meantime, I started a monthly donation to the Southern Poverty Law Center to offset the money I have already given to Publix over the past 2 years of shopping there.
My go-to site for this research is opensecrets.org. This site allows you to follow the money to see where corporate giving is being funneled. The site also shows the lobbying that these corporations are doing in Congress making it a serious rabbit hole for wonks like myself. In the case of Publix, in the 2020 election, 61.76 of contributions went to Republican candidates, 30.28% went to Democrats, and 7.96% went to others (Conservatives). For Kroger, the numbers were slightly better at 58.86% for Democrats, 38.88% for Republicans, and the remaining 2.26% for others (Conservatives). This page shows the totals for a number of chains across the country - Top Contributors, Food Stores for further reference.
After this research, the best option would be Trader Joe’s, but the second has to be Kroger since we don’t have access to any of the other stores on the list. A highlight, for our friends in Western New York, is Wegman’s, who gave 80.98% of contributions to Democrats in 2020. Although they were selling Trump wine for a time in 2017, which spurred a boycott, they seem to have come away with a more progressive contribution portfolio in 2020.
Open secrets also offer information on lobbying, which can really make you lose hours of your life. I’ll put that link right here, in case you are interested. Campaign contributions are only one way in which I research products for conscious consumerism. I have also considered the effects that the production of goods has on the environment and the exorbitant amount of money that corporations make by having prisoners produce their goods for pennies on the dollar. Through research into corporations doing harm through their production practices, both to people and the earth, we have removed several products from our rotation.
Being a conscious consumer is a lot of work, and I realize it is a privilege for me to be able to shop consciously in the first place, but in the end, it is worth it. Continuing to give to non-profits as an offset for products you cannot avoid is a good practice if you have the means and ability to do so.
Review: Organic Consumers Association
Join: United Food and Commercial Workers Union,
Watch: Eco-minimalism with Shelbizleee
Read: adbusters.org
Thank you for reading the Research Notes Newsletter! If you have comments, questions, or suggestions for future research, please let me know in the comments. I look forward to a lively discourse.
I remember nights at the Continental, but even further back than you, as you know! Saw The Damned, Nona Hendryx, The Bangles, X, and countless others play there. Also, of course, we loved to dance upstairs. What a glorious dump it was! I, too, can no longer do a 4 a.m. close, but have many fond memories of being there until 4, then going to The Towne Restaurant until 5:30 (a.m., natch).