News and Views

When Catcalling ISN'T just an annoyance:There was a time when if you rebuffed a stranger’s advances, if you didn’t give him your phone number he would just call you a bitch and tell you that you aren’t shit. And as his friends laughed at his witty response they would all walk or drive off.

Now, young Black women have to choose between some bug-a-boo calling their cell phone or risk getting shot. 18-year-old Mildred Beaubrun and her friends were getting gas and something to drink at a gas station after a night out when they came across a vehicle of animals who wanted a phone number.

“Hey, baby, what’s your phone number?” they called out as the cars traveled west through Orlando.

Then the banter grew more aggressive. The men threw a T-shirt, then an AA battery, at the Nissan. One of the women threw a broken cell-phone charger back. At one point, the HHR swerved into the Nissan’s lane and tried to run the car off the road.

When the Nissan turned north on John Young Parkway, the HHR followed. Then, at Princeton Street, a shot rang out. Shrapnel flew as the bullet pierced the door and struck 18-year-old Beaubrun, who was sitting in the back seat.


Kindergarten teacher has class vote disabled 5 year old boy out

More about the voting out of the five year old child here



Enlightened Justice


Supreme Court Unaminously Okays Racial Profiling:Either racial profiling is odious and unconstitutional, with personal and social consequences for communities of color -- or it's not.

On April 23, the U.S. Supreme Court, without any dissent, decided that it was not. The ruling obliquely, but forcefully, slammed the courthouse door on any attempts to challenge this widespread law enforcement practice.




US Agricultural Policy: The Farm Bill Debate



Too poor to [parent



How Memorial Day Started and what does it mean today?




Obama and the US-Latin American Time Bomb




A Primer on Plan Mexico:On October 22, 2007 President Bush announced the $1.4 billion dollar “Mérida Initiative,” security aid package to Mexico and Central America. The initiative has fatal flaws in its strategy; instead of leading to a stable binational relationship and peaceful border communities, its military approach will escalate drug-related violence and human rights abuses.




John Edwards Poverty Campaign meets with Media Blackout:On Tuesday, the day before he announced his support for Barack Obama, former Senator John Edwards launched a campaign to cut the nation's poverty rate in half in the next ten years. You can be excused if you hadn't heard about it. Only one major daily newspaper -- the Philadelphia Inquirer -- covered the event, which took place at a Baptist church in North Philadelphia. (Larry King on CNN, Matt Lauer on the "Today Show" on NBC-TV, and Michele Norris on NPR interviewed Edwards about the topic in recent days, but they were more interested in whether he was going to endorse Obama or Clinton).

On Wednesday, of course, Edwards' presidential endorsement lead the nightly news, rocketed through the blogosphere, and landed on the front pages Thursday morning. Once again, "horse race" journalism prevailed over policy ideas aimed at addressing serious problems




McCain and the Lobbyists: A true Story




Winning the Rural Vote



What Color is Your Orgasm? Sex-Positive Advice in Black and White

Hmm. Somehow, our history books ignored the fuck out of this one

BLACK CIVIL WAR SPIES
Via:delux_vivens





The Memorial Day Massacre



Race and Appalachia

And blogger "dna" from the toosense blog adds the missing links:This is better than most American coverage. But even this piece doesn't talk about the history of coal mining in the region. After emancipation, coal mining companies sought an advantage over unions by hiring former slaves as scabs since, the unions were racist, wouldn't allow blacks as members. The companies didn't have to fulfill many obligations to this new, unorganized labor force, and a lot of white miners lost their jobs. So it actually makes sense that people would see race relations as a question of pure exploitation; with one side dominating the other. That's the history of the region. Of course, what the white people could have done was take in black people into the unions, thus leaving the idiot, exploitative bosses with nowhere to turn. But they didn't. And then the blame was pushed on the negroes. How absolutely sensible.

Black Woman calls 911 to report an ex-boyfriend who was about to kill her....

Over at Anti-racist Parent, a WOC notes that among the life-lessons that she teaches her girl child, is to not trust the police, because they are less likely to help POC, and in fact, are more likely to make a bad situation worse.

That post has been rattling around in my head for a while, and this story that I saw some time ago at Shakesville brought it to the fore. I had to avoid dealing with the story for a while, because it hit way too close to home.


This is horrifying


Sheila Jones called 911 because her ex-boyfriend had broken into her house. According to Jones, he had a knife. But for three hours, authorities did nothing.

Her call for help began when an angry ex-boyfriend barged into her house.
Sheila’s first call was recorded at Metro Nashville’s 911 Center at 2:08 p.m.
Sheila to 911: “Get the police here now. My life is threatened. Please God. Please God. Please God. Get me police over now. He’s got a knife on me. My life threatened.”
In fact, Sheila’s 911 ordeal dragged on for almost three hours - through call after call.
[. . .]

Sheila: “Get out of my house.”
911: “Is he a boyfriend?”
Sheila: “He’s ex. Get out of my house. He’s outside now. He just went outside.”

“You’re emotional, you’re desperate and you call for help. Then what happened?” asked Phil.
“Nothing,” Sheila said.

And why did they do nothing? Why didn’t Jones receive any help? What kind of horrible lack of resources is this police department dealing with? (emphasis mine)

“I got one call that said they were en route to you and a more important call came up so they diverted to that call,” Sheila remembered.
“I’m saying a knife, my life. I’m wondering what kind of call they got. Was somebody actually dead then or something?”
So where was the officer? NewsChannel 5’s investigation discovered he was out helping another officer on a traffic stop.
“That’s so ugly,” Sheila said bursting into tears when she heard that bit of information for the first time.
“Just sitting here, it feels like it just happened. That’s how I feel right now, like it just happened just now, and to know that they put a traffic stop over that.”

But it gets even worse. Much, much worse.


Read more at When Authorities don't give a shit

Just last year, I wondered why exactly people were criticizing the police as an institution. Now, little by little, I am totally beginning to see their point of view

People and Power Series

People & Power- Broken promise- 06 Feb 08- Part 1

A look at how the UK's highly skilled migrant worker programme could result in thousands of talented migrants being deported.

People & Power- Broken promise- 06 Feb 08- Part 2

The second part of this report.


People & Power - Taylor Un-Made - 18 Jul 07 - Part 1

In Taylor Un-Made Al Jazeera's Gabi Menezes traces the story of Charles Taylor -- a man who went from being President to war-time suspect.

People & Power - Taylor UnMade/Re-Taylored - 18 Jul 07 - Part 2

In Taylor Un-Made Al Jazeera's Gabi Menezes traces the story of Charles Taylor -- a man who went from being President to war-time suspect./The Power of One:In Re-Taylored People & Power profiles the extraordinary work of a 25-year-old Liberian child activist.