Desmond Tutu (image via Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation)
If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.
Internet friend and fellow Ta-Nehisi Coates commenter Sergi (also known as HappySurge and @SadBastardBar) left the following poem in our open thread yesterday, in memory of Trayvon Martin and all the other boys who have been killed, and will be killed, in the same way, killed for being young, male, and black. If you can participate in today’s Million Hoodies for Trayvon campaign, particularly if you’re in NYC and can go to Union Square at 6 pm, please do so.
As I’ve said elsewhere, Trayvon was first his family’s and his community’s boy. But he was an American. He was my boy, too.
May his memory be for a blessing.
*********
For You, Who Used to Be
When you were born,
there was a bullet waiting
in a bigot’s gun.
The first time your mother held you,
the first time you saw your parents argue,
the first girl that bothered you
on the playground
before you knew what you two were supposed to do
with each other;
that bullet was always waiting,
like a guardian angel,
to kiss you when you fell
to covet grace before you and violence most of all.
Posted in Emily L. Hauser, Now That's Some Racist Bullsh*t, Read Me!, Respect
Tagged MILLION HOODIES, Trayvon Martin
Last November, I wrote about an amazing teenager from Ann Arbor named Katy Butler (HERE and HERE.) She and her friend Carson Borbely put a petition on Change.org to try to force legislative change on what became known as the “License to Bully Bill”.
Well, Katy is back at it. Because she has been such an activist on the issue of bullying, starting at the tender age of 16 and continuing now that she’s 17, she is very well-informed about the issue. She recently found out about a new documentary film called “BULLY” that follows several teens who are dealing with bullies and reveals the impact this has on them and their family and friends.
But there was a problem.
Continue reading
Posted in Do The Right Thing, Eclectablog, Read Me!, Respect
Tagged anti-gay bullying, bully, bullying, Katy Butler
See update below.
Genuine sorrow: Davy Jones has died of a heart attack, aged 66.
I loved him once, as only a very little girl can, with a kind of ache that would sit on my little girl heart whenever I saw his beautiful face. His voice was lovely, and he and his Monkee friends are, I’m sure, a big part of why I have such a big place in my heart for absurdist humor. Because if you think The Monkees was just a little kids’ show? Look again. It was madness. Wonderful, inspiring madness.
But in the family and in the home in which I live as a 47 year old, Davy is best known for his collaboration with children’s author Sandra Boynton (also a purveyor of absurdist humor, if you think about it) on the song “Your Personal Penguin.” He sings the part of the penguin.
So in his memory, in real gratitude for his pop presence in my life, and with tears in my eyes, I offer you this: Davy Jones, singing “Your Personal Penguin” (after the jump). May he rest in peace – may his memory be for a blessing.
Posted in Emily L. Hauser, Now Hear This!, Personal Tales, Respect
Tagged Davy Jones, heart attack, Personal Penguin, Sandra Boynton
So a couple of weeks ago, this rapper I’d never heard of before he really pissed me off — really pissed me off.
In a video shot for the online presence of XXL Magazine, rapper Too $hort said:
When you get to late middle school, early high school and you start feeling a certain way about the girls. I’m gonna tell you a couple tricks… A lot of the boys are going to be running around trying to get kisses from the girls. We’re going way past that. I’m taking you to the hole….[Push her] up against the wall or [pull] her up against you while you lean on the wall. Take your finger and put a little spit on it and you stick your finger in her underwear and you rub it on there and watch what happens.
So. Here we have a grown man of some renown advising pre-teen and teenaged boys to sexually assault girls. Which, you know: Awesome.
Initially, Too $hort appeared to apologize on Twitter, if with a certain lack of understanding, explaining that he’d been “in character” and had gotten carried away, but he changed tack fairly quickly, essentially lashing out at those who took the video as anything other than a joke.
Which, you know: Awesome. (And hence my reference to him here).
HOWEVER.
In the meantime, having been swamped with responses, reactions, stories and no little anger, Too $hort (nee Todd Shaw) gave an interview to Dream Hampton, a writer with Ebony and one of the women involved in WeAreThe44% (a reference to statistics that show that 44% of American girls are assaulted before their 18th birthday). This time, here was what Too $hort said:
Posted in Emily L. Hauser, Respect, War on Women
Tagged Dream Hamptom, Ebony, sexual assault, Too Short, XXL
Having posted about Hoekstra’s Superbowl commercial, I feel it’s important that I also post the apology of Lisa Chan, the actress, for the part she played in the entire debacle. I must say, I kind of feel for her. Good on her for stepping up and speaking out:
“I am deeply sorry for any pain that the character I portrayed brought to my communities. As a recent college grad who has spent time working to improve communities and empower those without a voice, this role is not in any way representative of who I am. It was absolutely a mistake on my part and one that, over time, I hope can be forgiven. I feel horrible about my participation and I am determined to resolve my actions.”
“It was absolutely a mistake… I am determined to resolve my actions.” This young woman should open up a clinic and teach people what real apologies sound like. (Too $hort? I’m looking at you).
The Lovings in 1965. (C) The estate of Grey Villet
HBO premieres a new documentary tomorrow, appropriately enough on St. Valentine’s Day and in the middle of Black History Month, about Richard and Mildred Loving, the couple whose marriage led to the Supreme Court’s 1967 Loving v. Virginia decision that struck down bans on interracial marriage that were still in effect in 16 states.
I’m setting the DVR to record this program, and encourage everyone else to watch it as well. Meanwhile, in advance of the airing of this new documentary, here is a compendium of recent news articles and blog posts about this amazing couple and the strength they displayed in the face of rank discrimination. Continue reading
I’m totally stunned and sad. Can’t say much more about it, so here are some videos.
Here’s what President Obama said about the birth control contre-temps:
That’s what feminism sounds like.
Crossposted at Emily L. Hauser In My Head.
