Recently in Racism Category
...and, for good measure, criticizes feminists for decrying violence against women.
On his radio show yesterday, Rush Limbaugh said,
Obama's patriotism is not being attacked in an ad. McCain's just out there saying he's putting his own personal political ambition ahead of the country's. It's -- you know, it's just -- it's just we can't hit the girl. I don't care how far feminism's saying, you can't hit the girl, and you can't -- you can't criticize the little black man-child. You just can't do it, 'cause it's just not right. It's not fair. He's such a victim.
Ah yes, those ridiculous feminists trying to convince the American people that domestic violence is a bad thing -- even if she was asking for it. And that ridiculous media, daring to publish anything favorable about a black man.
I can't say I'm surprised, though. It's Limbaugh.
Seems like an appropriate moment to republish Samhita's "fuck you" to Limbaugh:
Ann mentioned this in her last PETA WTF? post, but I decided it needed more attention.
Just when you think PETA couldn't get any worse, they take their ad campaigns to another level.
Apparently PETA is petitioning to buy ad space on the fences that are being constructed along the US/Mexico border to display these racist and offensive ads. From PETA:
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals plans today to announce an unusual marketing pitch to the U.S. government: Rent us space on the fence for billboards warning illegal border crossers there is more to fear than the Border Patrol.The billboards [pictured], in English and Spanish, would offer the caution: "If the Border Patrol Doesn't Get You, the Chicken and Burgers Will -- Go Vegan."
"We think that Mexicans and other immigrants should be warned if they cross into the U.S. they are putting their health at risk by leaving behind a healthier, staple diet of corn tortillas, beans, rice, fruits and vegetables," said Lindsay Rajt, assistant manager of PETA's vegan campaigns.
We already know they could use some help when it comes to objectifying women. But apparently they also need a serious race and class analysis check over at PETA. Stat. Without even getting into what's fucked up about the message they are trying to send about meat consumption and mexican vs american culture, let's begin with the images on the ad, which are borderline racist and definitely offensive to me. Then how about supporting the screwed up US immigration policy by BUYING ad space on these fences?
News flash PETA: promoting animal rights through misogyny, racism and the objectification of women is NOT the way to go.
Thanks to Cesarina for the link
via Renee comes the latest PETA nekkid-lady ad, featuring U.S. Olympic swimmer Amanda Beard:
The argument against this ad is not that Amanda Beard is being exploited. The issue here is that once again PETA is employing the tired old tactic of using a conventionally beautiful woman with conventionally "perfect" body, posed naked or nearly naked, to call for animal rights. But the thing I hate most about this particular PETA propaganda is that it takes what should be a message of empowerment, Love-Your-Body-style, and turns it into yet another affirmation of the female ideal. As Renee puts it, "It seems that they respect the rights of animals far more than they respect women. Consider that they don't use images of male nudes, nor do they use images of women with varying body sizes."
As you'll recall, PETA has defended this advertising strategy with the weak response that "sex sells." It's an excuse I expect from Axe and Maxim, but not from a movement that is supposedly about justice.
Oh, and we're not done yet! From Debbie at Bitch (via Vegans of Color) comes the horrifying news that PETA now wants to advertise on the border fence between the U.S. and Mexico.
While many view the contentious border fence as a government fiasco, an animal rights group sees a rare opportunity.People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals plans today to announce an unusual marketing pitch to the U.S. government: Rent us space on the fence for billboards warning illegal border crossers there is more to fear than the Border Patrol.
The billboards, in English and Spanish, would offer the caution: "If the Border Patrol Doesn't Get You, the Chicken and Burgers Will -- Go Vegan."
WTF?! I have no words. This is so fucked-up, even for PETA.
Via The National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (full disclosure: that's my day job and I wrote this press release)
The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that some Latino citizens in the Rio Grande Valley on the US/Mexico border are being denied access to their citizenship rights based on documentation issues. Their citizenship is being called into question (despite years of residence and employment in the United States, and even successful background checks) due to their birth to midwives in private residences.The National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health believes this is a racist and unfair practice, which leaves these individuals scrambling to prove citizenship with other documents, where for others a birth certificate is sufficient. This practice unfairly targets Latino citizens on the border and those who were born to parteras or midwives in private residences, a common practice among Latinos. Further, the fact that once additional documentation has been provided some individuals are still being denied makes it clear that the State Department is discriminating against these individuals along the border in Texas.
Join the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health in decrying this discriminatory practice, so we can ensure that all US citizens regardless of race, nationality or place of childbirth are granted access to their rights.
Full press release available here.
Contributed by Adrienne Elyse Wallace
It's been about eight months since the murder of Tarika Wilson.
Reporting on her tragic murder, Christopher Maag of the New York Times wrote:
A SWAT team arrived at Ms. Wilson's rented house in the Southside neighborhood early in the evening of Jan. 4 to arrest her companion, Anthony Terry, on suspicion of drug dealing, said Greg Garlock, Lima's police chief. Officers bashed in the front door and entered with guns drawn, said neighbors who saw the raid.Moments later, the police opened fire, killing Ms. Wilson, 26, and wounding her 14-month-old son, Sincere, Chief Garlock said. One officer involved in the raid, Sgt. Joseph Chavalia, a 31-year veteran, has been placed on paid administrative leave.
On August 4th an all-white jury acquitted Sgt. Joseph Chavalia. Chavalia's attorney said in response: "What kind of world would it be if we didn't have police officers...Joe was doing his duty."
Oh shit, I'm sorry - I didn't realize that killing a woman holding her baby was in the Lima, Ohio Police handbook. The fact that Chavalia was acquitted speaks volumes. His actions were sanctioned by the jury. The take away message is that it's okay to shoot a black woman holding her child. I mean the racism is apparent in the actions of the police officer and the media that covered the shooting but conveniently lacked follow up coverage. Why isn't this story important, why aren't people outraged? Citizens of Lima have spoken up - why aren't they receiving attention from folks outside of the black activist community? It seems the death of a black woman at the hands of a white police officer is fine, even forgettable - at least to twelve jurors and a slew of media outlets. However let me just say:
Tarika Wilson, I will not forget you.
Adrienne Elyse is a general badass who works in the anti-domestic violence movement by working for economic justice. She lives / works / loves in Massachusetts (which is now, officially for lovers).
Sometimes I google things like "feminism" or "sexism" and this time via a google search for sexism I came across this gem. It is a series of clips from Disney movies depicting masculinity and then deconstructing the ways these characterizations of manhood deploy as standard.
There are some other ones in the 'related' section such as this one on racism in Disney.
An Arizona radio shock-jock named Jon Justice (oh, the irony) recently targeted Pima Country Legal Defender Isabel Garcia with a truly disgusting hate-speech campaign. Pima helped organize a protest of Sheriff Joe Arpaio -- a man known for scores of immigration raids, blocking female inmates' access to abortion, and some stupid ideas about gender. (Read more from Jenny Dreadful.) And because Garcia dared to call attention to the fact that Arpaio is doing nothing but creating racial divisions with his "narrow-minded and ignorant policies," she drew the ire of local bigots.
Radio host Jon Justice, in particular, had a really disgusting response to Pima's critique of Arpaio:
...Jon Justice posted a few offensive videos of himself with a piñata with Isabel's likeness, caressing it and making comments about "wanting to take it home with me," among a few other comments about "chorizo" and "viva la raza." Mr. Justice has since removed the video, as well as the one that followed it, which we found to be even more offensive.
Maegan la Mala distills what's going on here:
They did what they do best, spout hate, targeting Garcia, her life (because let's be real this is about life not just making a living) and her body as a Latina woman. There were calls for her to be fired and a very clear message was sent that the body of a Latina woman is fair game.
I apologize for being late to posting about this. I really encourage you to read more from the bloggers who have been covering it from the start. There are comprehensive lists at the Sanctuary and Latino Politico.
Coalicion de Derechos Humanos, a Tucson group that Garcia works with, has posted a list of ways to take action on Garcia's behalf, against this sort of ugly hate-speech.
Hanaa Rifaey doesn't sleep much. I'll let her explain why. But the next time you find yourself pissed at another policy done wrong, know that Hanaa is on it. And you can be, too. Even if it's a small step, it'll add up.
Here's Hanaa...
Jack has a great post up at AngryBrownButch (and Feministe) about a new Demos report on the instability of the Black and Latino middle class. Jack shares some really interesting insights from childhood, and it inspired me to share some of my own thoughts.
From the report:
African-American and Latino families have more difficulty moving into the middle class, and families that do enter the middle class are less secure and at higher risk than the middle class as a whole. Overall, more African-American and Latino middle-class families are at risk of falling out of the middle class than are secure. This is in sharp contrast to the overall middle class, in which 31 percent are secure and 21 percent are at risk.
My parents are Cuban exiles, who immigrated here in the 60s shortly after Fidel Castro took power in Cuba. The reason why class has such different implications for immigrant families in the US is because they bring their class histories with them from their countries of origin.
The United States House of Representatives has issued an apology for slavery and Jim Crow.
Congress has issued apologies before -- to Japanese-Americans for their internment during World War II and to native Hawaiians for the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom in 1893. In 2005, the Senate apologized for failing to pass anti-lynching laws.Five states have issued apologies for slavery, but past proposals in Congress have stalled, partly over concerns that an apology would lead to demands for reparations -- payment for damages.
The Cohen resolution does not mention reparations. It does commit the House to rectifying "the lingering consequences of the misdeeds committed against African-Americans under slavery and Jim Crow."
I really like what Melissa Harris-Lacewell (who I have a tremendous intellectual crush on) had to say about it:
Jessica Yee, who has occasionally contributed posts to Feministing, writes on Racialicious (original post at Shameless) about 5 year old Adriel Arocha who is being banned from his Houston-area kindergarten class. Why, you ask?
As an Apache, he has long hair that he has been growing in his Native cultural tradition that "violates" this school's dress code rules.The kicker though is that the school board is willing to make exceptions on religious or other "proven" moral grounds, but doesn't think that being Native American cuts it.
Yee points out that growing your hair is a tradition in many Indigenous cultures: "Long hair carries our life experiences and reminds us about the teachings we've received along the way."
But apparently that's not good enough for Superintendent Curtis Rhodes, who says, "I was trying to find out what recognized religion they are that discusses they cannot cut their hair and the information I received then was basically it's their choice." Sounds like a real charmer. If you want to give Rhodes a piece of your mind, his contact information is here.
Ophelia at Feminocracy observes something about the language used to discuss two very similar -- and very tragic -- cases in which a pregnant woman was murdered, her uterus cut open, and the fetus stolen.
The details provided about Kia Johnson's death are gory and detailed. Words like "eviscerated" jump out at you as you read the account. They call her a corpse. They note that the foul smell emitting from the body that was in "moderate decomposition" is how they found her.Bobbie Jo Stinnet is called a "slain mom", a "pregnant woman" who had her "womb" cut open.
Kia is an "eviscerated pregnant teen."
Yes, there were gory descriptions of Bobbie Jo Stinnett's murder published, too. But I do notice a difference in tone -- especially in the headlines -- between the coverage of her and that of Kia Johnson. I think it's less subtle when you see those headlines (all from CNN) next to the pictures of these women:
Maybe this particularly resonates with me because I work as an editor, and I see it as a heartbreaking example of why language matters. How word choice can humanize (and dehumanize). How racism can pervade what probably, to the writer of those CNN headlines, seemed like straightforward, cut-and-dried sentences.
Apparently it is OK to determine gradients of assimilation when granting people citizenship status in France. According to the BBC, last week, a Muslim woman was denied approval of her application for citizenship because she has not shown that she has been able to assimilate effectively into French society.
Social services reports said the burqa-wearing Faiza M lived in "total submission to her male relatives".Faiza M said she has never challenged the fundamental values of France.
Her initial application for French citizenship was rejected in 2005 on the grounds of "insufficient assimilation" into France.
She appealed, and late last month the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative body which also acts as a high court, upheld the decision to deny her citizenship.
It appears that no matter how many times Muslim women talk about how their religious choices may not always be directly connected to their experiences with patriarchy, no one listens.
My first ever print piece is up at the American Prospect about the blog Stuff White People Like. Enjoy!
From today's New York Times:
Indian versions of Vogue, Rolling Stone, OK!, Hello, Maxim, FHM, Golf Digest, People and Marie Claire have all sprung up this year, and GQ and Fortune are soon to follow. They join familiar names like Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping and Reader's Digest. [...]Some, like Maxim, seem to pride themselves on pushing the envelope of good taste even further than they do in their home markets. The magazine's July issue includes the feature "48 Ways to Get a Gori" (gori is Hindi for fair-skinned woman, and is used in this context to mean a foreign white one). Some ideas the article offers: keep in mind most American women are extremely angry at Indians for stealing their jobs; don't ask an Italian woman if her family is part of the mob; to approach an Israeli woman, try a suicide bomber joke.
Ugh.
(h/t Isaac.)
You've probably already seen it in the course of your morning blog reading, but this is the cover of this week's New Yorker:
The artist, Barry Blitt, explained it this way:
I think the idea that the Obamas are branded as unpatriotic [let alone as terrorists] in certain sectors is preposterous. It seemed to me that depicting the concept would show it as the fear-mongering ridiculousness that it is.
That may be true among the New Yorker's lefty and elite readership. But in large swathes of the country, it's certainly not a given that this image of Obama is "preposterous." In fact, is is a perfect visual summary of what Fox News spews and what right-wing emails allege every day. As Ta-Nehisi puts it, "Expect that image to be on tee-shirts within two weeks."
More at Racialicious, Michelle Obama Watch, What About Our Daughters, Jack and Jill Politics, and Feministe.
UPDATE: Verchiel has contact info for the editors:
webcomments@newyorker.comthemail@newyorker.com
The Mail
The New Yorker
4 Times Square
New York, NY 10036
via Michelle Obama Watch, this video from Brave New Films is a stomach-churning reel of all the vile Fox News clips about Michelle Obama. We've blogged about several of these individual incidents, but it's pretty appalling to see them all put together like this:
Isn't it depressing that the election is still months away and already there are this many examples? Brave New Films has a rundown of what's in the video, and a petition you can sign to tell Fox to stop the racist, sexist smears.
Here's a charming one. Via Jezebel, we find out that the attorney for 26 year-old Kelsey Peterson - a 6th grade math teacher who plead guilty to raping her 12-year-old student - is blaming the victim by using racist stereotypes:
"I resent the term 'child.' You're baby-fying this kid. This kid is a Latino machismo teenager."
You know, so he was asking for it. Just disgusting.
So I watched this segment on 60 Minutes this weekend (which was a rerun of an old episode) about African Americans using genetic genealogy to find out about their family history. Unsurprisingly, a lot of people are finding out that they have white relatives. The whole segment is super interesting but it killed me that not once did anyone talk about the rape of black women and how that figured in to this genealogy. Wtf, 60 Minutes?
Don Imus, whose oh-so-charming "nappy headed hos" comment last year got him fired (and rehired) from his radio show, has once again proven him to be a grade-A asshole and racist.
During a conversation about [Dallas Cowboys cornerback Adam] Jones' run-ins with the law, Imus asked, "What color is he?" Sports announcer Warner Wolf said Jones — formerly known as Pacman — is "African-American." Imus responded: "There you go. Now we know."
Imus is trying to defend his comments by saying he was making a "sarcastic point." Uh huh.
Contributed by Jessica Yee.
As proud as I am as a Native woman, by all accounts from the federal governments across North America, this is a difficult thing to prove.
In both Canada and the United States, being legally recognized as a Native person means you have to be biologically measured; by your blood quantum in fact, as to how Native you really are before you can officially become one. For women in Canada this system is particularly more oppressive, since up until 1985, if we decided to marry outside our race, it meant losing our legal status as “Indian”.
The whole structure of being a “registered Indian” was something the colonizers started as a way to differentiate which racist laws were to be forced upon which population of colour. For our people, besides our land, treaties, and basic human rights being taken away, being registered also meant attending residential, boarding, or mission schools which systematically stripped us of any cultural identity and are now responsible for the generational repression that permeates so many of our communities.
It's no secret that there's an appalling lack of diversity in the fashion world. And Vogue Italia thinks it has the answer: the issue that hits newsstands today will feature only black models, and all of the feature articles are related to black women. As you can see from the cover image above, they're calling it their "Black Issue."
Now, while fashion magazines definitely need to make their content and models more diverse, I think this issue is an absolutely terrible idea - one that only further Others black women and serves as kind of a sad band-aid to gaping wound.
By creating a "black issue," Vogue Italia is positioning a "normal" issue as white. Not to mention, diversity isn't a black-white thing. This issue of the magazine makes women of color who aren't black invisible.
And while I think there are positives to the issue - the fact that it's getting so much media attention means that there will be more of a conversation about race in fashion - I can't help but think that this is a somewhat empty gesture by a magazine hoping to avoid widespread change. Because if they put out their "black issue," then no one can accuse them of being racist, right?
“Mine is not a magazine that can be accused of not using black girls,” said [Editor Franca] Sozzani, noting that Naomi Campbell has had several covers, and that Liya Kebede and Alek Wek have also had covers.
Ri-ight. What do you think?
On an episode of Fox News Watch this weekend, conservative pundit Cal Thomas revealed that there are no black women who aren't the "angry black woman." (Cue scary music!)
Here are a few snippets from the transcript, Michelle Obama Watch has more here and here. You can also watch the video here.
CAL THOMAS: In this campaign, we are being asked to accept three things simultaneously, the first woman with a credible chance of being president, the first African-American with the chance to being president and, whoever Michelle Obama is going to be styled, the angry black woman, first lady? This is an awful lot....
THOMAS: I want to pick up on something that Jane said about the angry black woman. Look at the image of angry black women on television. Politically you have Maxine Waters of California, liberal Democrat. She’s always angry every time she gets on television. Cynthia McKinney, another angry black woman. And who are the black women you see on the local news at night in cities all over the country. They’re usually angry about something. They’ve had a son who has been shot in a drive-by shooting. They are angry at Bush. So you don’t really have a profile of non-angry black women.
And then, I shit you not, someone is like - oh, but Oprah isn't angry! Well, thank goodness for Oprah.
To tell Fox News what you think about their coverage of Michelle Obama, email them here or call 1-888-369-4762.
I was so excited to go see Sex and the City. Like most feminists with any shred of race or class analysis, I have always had a love hate relationship with Sex and the City. There were things about that show that were so god awful that I literally had to tune them out completely to enjoy the show. As a woman of color inundated by media that fails to ever acknowledge who I am or that what I am is valid, I am used to this type of spectatorship. And Sex and the City has always been one of those shows that always made it worth it, because for better or for worse, the show always made me feel better, especially if I was feeling heartbroken (which has been often!).
So naturally I was most excited to go see the movie with two of my best gal pals. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my lofty expectations. Disappointment would be an understatement. Did I laugh? I sure did, but I am stupid like that sometimes. And honestly, I couldn't tell if I was laughing at the movie or with it for most of it.
Fox's Senior Vice President of Programming Bill Shine told the Politico that the producer responsible for labeling Michelle Obama "Obama's baby mama" in a segment "exercised poor judgment." Uh, yeah, I'd say so. (So much for a heartfelt apology.)
Via the newly-launched Michelle Obama Watch, created by What About Our Daughters. (Add it to your blogrolls, and get involved in keeping tabs on the media!)
Via What About Our Daughters comes this image of Sasha and Malia Obama, from an exhibit in NYC titled "The Assassination of Hillary Clinton/The Assassination of Barack Obama":
The artist says he meant to be "provocative." “It’s art," he says. "It’s not supposed to be harmful. It’s about character assassination -- about how Obama and Hillary have been portrayed by the media.” Um, yeah. I'm sensitive to free-speech concerns, but this exhibit strikes me as way more than offensive. Assassination is a real -- not a theoretical -- threat. And this exhibit is seriously disturbing -- on all sorts of levels.
These bluntly racist images are not "philosophical and metaphorical." I don't see this "art" as critiquing how the Obamas' race has been dealt with in the media. This is just adding to that media portrayal, amplifying the racist filth that's already being spewed. (More visuals from the exhibit here. Trigger warning.)
The chat is over, but you can still read it. Some of it was even more upsetting to me than the original article. A number of things really pissed me off. Here’s just a quick sampling.
An example suggested to me is that women of color are subjected to pressure NOT to reproduce -- one such report spoke of long term norplant type stuff as a condition of parole. This is different from the pressure TO reproduce that is the subject of much choice energy. The women's movement must protect women of color from this particularly female oppression, if the reports I received are true.
If??? Exhibit A of why a real knowledge of and concern with intersectionality is necessary. A prominent feminist doesn’t know if the fact that women of color are pressured, tricked, bribed, and who knows what else into not having children is disgusting.
In response to a question about reconciling feminism with “the fact that racism, poverty, etc., disproportionately affects women of color and poor women vs. men of color and poor men?”
I do not know that racism disproportionately affects women of color vs. men of color or poor women vs. poor men. It would be interesting to think about how you weigh the oppressions. Men of color are disproportionately in prison and disproportionately subject to the death penalty. [Emphasis mine, I’ll come back to this later]Well see, that’s the point. Because race and gender intersect for women of color, and you can’t leave class out of this either, there’s a bigger bang to that oppression buck. Which you would be aware of if you weren’t so busy concentrating on the oppression of “women” by which you clearly mean middle class white women. Because if you didn't know, you could ask somebody.
And, to clarify what I thought must surely be a misstatement basically blaming black women for Clarence Thomas being on the Supreme Court, she says
Several news sources, including the New York Times reported that polls showing that black voters backed Clarence Thomas were influential in determining the vote of the southern Democrats to confirm. It is a demographic fact that more black voters are female than male.
The same is true for white women. Yet I don’t see Hirshman taking the blame for Samuel Alito and John Roberts. I wonder why…
And, one last thing. I could do this for a long time, but I’m worried about experiencing a rage blackout.
In comments about making the choice to have a family Hirshman states
the heterosexual reproductive family is a fount in inequality. I think motherhood and family should be a central concern of feminism, starting with insisting that men shape their lives with the expectation that they will bear half the burden of child rearing and home making forever.
Right. But how does this ideal work with some men you specifically mentioned earlier? Men of color who are more likely to be incarcerated and given the death penalty? How can those men “bear half the burden of child rearing and home making forever”? What about their partners? You can’t share half the work with someone who is in prison or dead. But I guess that’s just a side note to be bargained in a coalition meeting.
A new initiative has been introduced in Washington DC to try and curb a recent wave of crime. The new tactic is being compared to a police state, possibly for good reason. From the Examiner:
Under an executive order expected to be announced today, police Chief Cathy L. Lanier will have the authority to designate “Neighborhood Safety Zones.” At least six officers will man cordons around those zones and demand identification from people coming in and out of them. Anyone who doesn’t live there, work there or have “legitimate reason” to be there will be sent away or face arrest, documents obtained by The Examiner show.
There are many problems with this kind of plan (efficacy, legality, etc) but most concerning is what kind of rights are being violated in favor of security. Sound familiar? Violent crime is a huge problem here (DC has been called the Murder Capital) and that needs to be addressed, definitely. But we need to find a way to address the root causes of this crime (poverty, joblessness, drugs) without holding people living in low-income neighborhoods hostage in their own communities.
From a half-page ad in the NY Times:
One of American's Most Popular Pastimes. Americans spend a lot of time in their cars. Not because they want to. But because of massive traffic congestion. And almost daily gridlock. For many people, commutes to work and school and daycaer can take up to three hours a day. According to traffic management experts, it's only going to get worse if our population continues its present growth rate. In many American cities, it's the same stress with our schools, our emergency rooms, our public infrastructure, even our water resources. A majority of Americans agree that runaway population growth threatens their quality of life. But with US Census projects indicating our population will explode from 300 million to 400 million in thirty years and 600 million in 2100, quality of life for future generations will be gone unless we take action today. The Pew Hispanic Research Center projects 82% of the country's massive future population increase will be a result of immigration between 2005 and 2050. And for every four new U.S. residents whether from births or immigration, approximately three more cars are added to our roads, increasing gridlock, energy use and greenhouse emissions. Together we can do something about it. We're the nation's leading experts on population and immigration trends and growth. Visit our websites to learn more and find out how you can help. Because wasting hours in your car is one pastime you can do without.
The organizations sponsoring: American Immigration Control Foundation, Californians for Population Stabilization, Federation of American Immigration Reform, NumbersUSA and Social Contract Press.
You can see a larger image of the text here.
Ta-Nehisi considers the fist-bump moment between Barack and Michelle on Tuesday night:
Anyway, that fist-bump, that moment between those two--alone--tops all the speeches I saw last night. I think it says so much. Tell me if I'm out of line here, but there was something organically feminist about that gesture. The confidence of it reminded me so much of the sort of certainty I see in so many women who learned way before college that they would have to stand on their own.
I think that little gesture is striking (Ta-Nehisi has a video clip) because it was a visual representation of a partnership, a signal that this victory is something they've accomplished together. It's an entirely different image than the "you go get 'em, honey!"-style hug or reassuring pat on the arm that we're used to seeing from candidates' wives. Like Ta-Nehisi, I have to say it gave me some hope that if he's elected, we'll be getting a presidential partnership. Much like Bill Clinton's "two for the price of one" deal in 1992.
Speaking of Michelle Obama-Hillary Clinton parallels, Kathy G. warns that the right is about to turn all its anti-woman vitriol toward Michelle. As she puts it, "radical, unfeminine, unpatriotic -- remind you of any other right-wing caricatures of a certain prominent Democratic woman with a famous husband?"
In a few weeks I am going to the Allied Media Conference in Detroit, one of my favorite events of the year mainly because of the showcase of local organizing work that is going down in the D. When the time is near, I will be live-blogging, but I wanted to put up a quick blurb about this video that goes into one of the biggest problems in Detroit and most other cities in the United States which is displacement and gentrification. It is also from my homie and comrade, Ilana Invincible's (hot HOT female MC) new album, Locusts. Check it out and vote if you can.
And if you are in the Bay on Friday, please PLEASE check out her show. Flyer after the jump.
My friend and colleague and (hero and rockstar writer) Jeff Chang spreads the word on the fate of the Jena 6 and the case that is being mishandled and more so as the mainstream media fails to pick it up. There have been new developments and we must get the word out.
This Friday, special judge Thomas Yeager will consider a motion made on behalf of the Jena 6 to remove Judge J.P. Mauffray from their cases. Mauffray had previously denied motions by 5 of the defendants to recuse him from their cases. But last week, the Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeals appointed Yeager to preside over this unusual hearing in Mauffray's own courtroom.
We have touched on Jena several times if you want background. You can also read Jeff's full post here which gives a good background. Spread the word and let's keep this up on the blogs at least since the mainstream media is failing us.
Regina McKnight - the South Carolina woman who was who was convicted of homicide after she gave birth to a stillborn baby - has had her conviction overturned.
McKnight was the first woman in South Carolina to be convicted of homicide by child abuse due to a stillbirth. Lynn Paltrow, executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW), says that McKnight "was convicted on junk science and was not fairly represented at trial."
NAPW, who has been instrumental in bringing attention to cases like McKnight's (of which there are far too many), has the full story.
Feministe, the Oklahoma Women's Network Blog, RH Reality Check and the ACLU also have more.
Contributed by Jessica Yee
The internets have been a buzz lately with the abhorrent commentary from the two radio deejays in Alaska who asked in early April, “Have you made love to the Yukon and peed in a Native woman?�
Sure it was in response to an old racist saying in Alaska, and sure those two have now returned to the airwaves having gone through some sort of “sensitivity training," but it’s all been truly telling of the climate on violence against Alaskan native women (that’s a term I’m learning being a First Nations woman in Canada!)