mnemosyne

b. medusa 10 December 2007 8:07:35 am

today is International Human Rights day. so let’s begin shall we…

EDIT: just found this after completing the post:

Seven Year Old Alexis Goggins Shot Six Times Protecting Her Mother

A 7-year-old-girl is being hailed as an “angel from heaven” and a hero for jumping in front of an enraged gunman, who pumped six bullets into the child as she used her body as a shield to save her mother’s life.

Alexis Goggins, a first-grader at Campbell Elementary School, is in stable condition at Children’s Hospital in Detroit recovering from gunshot wounds to the eye, left temple, chin, cheek, chest and right arm.

“She is an angel from heaven,” said Aisha Ford, a family friend for 15 years who also was caught up in the evening of terror.

The girl’s mother, Selietha Parker, 30, was shot in the left side of her head and her bicep by a former boyfriend, who police said was trying to kill Parker. The gunman was disarmed by police and arrested at the scene of the shooting, a Detroit gas station. Police identified him as Calvin Tillie, 29, a four-time convicted felon whom Parker had dated for six months.
[...]
Ford said she dialed 911 on her cell phone as she walked into the station.“The first operator clicked off and I dialed again and told that operator a guy with a gun was holding me hostage with a mother and baby and threatening to kill us. I told her the name of the gas station and then she said they didn’t have a unit to send.”Ford said she paid for $5 of gas and slowly returned to the vehicle, stalling for time as she handed Tillie the change. She said she kept stopping and starting the pump, hoping the police would show up.“I told him I needed more gas and took money out of my purse and went back into the station,” she said. The attendant, Mohammad Alghazali, 30, said he noticed Ford was crying and she told him what was happening. He called 911 as he heard shots coming from the vehicle.
[…]
Alghazali said a police car on a street nearby arrived in less than a minute after his call.

an update on her condition can be read here. a fund has been set up for Alexis, checks should be made out to the Alexis Goggins Hero Fund & sent to the following address:

Campbell Elementary School
c/o Alexis Goggins Hero Fund
2301 E Alexandrine St
Detroit, MI 48207

for information, call (313) 494-2052

ADDITIONAL INFO (courtesy of all about race): Alexis is a special needs child, due to a massive stroke she suffered as an infant. she walks with a limp & has a weak left eye. her right eye was just removed.

Alexis, who walks with a limp, slipped momentarily on the icy sidewalk and as she helped the girl up, she saw the man and recognized him as Tillie. He was holding a gun.
[...]
Before Tillie could fire again, Alexis jumped over the seat between her mother and the gunman and begged him not to shoot her mother.

The police report said Tillie “without hesitation” pumped six shots into the child.

G*TD*MN M*THAF*CKIN SORRY *SS PIECE OF SH*T!!!!!

(i don’t usually bleep myself here, but i don’t want to be excessively disrespectful to my readers. all 2 of them.)

also contact the msm & ask them why they’ve ignored this story.

CNN
Phone: 404-827-1500

Fox News Channel
Phone: 212-301-3000

ABC News
Phone: 212-456-7777

CBS News
Phone: 212-975-4321

NBC
Phone: 212-664-4444

MSNBC
Phone: 201-583-5000

Newsweek
Phone: 212-445-4000

Associated Press
Phone: 212-621-1500

Reuters
Phone: 646-223-4000

United Press International
Phone: 202 -898-8000

i don’t have to tell you why this is a human rights (as well as police brutality) issue do i?

i can’t believe i missed this story until now. much respect & gratitude to Sylvia, Nez, Carmen D., Ann & all other bloggers covering this.

• activism , assholes , capitalism run amok , community , disability , domestic abuse , feminism , gender , history , imperialism , infrastructure , networking , oppression , organizing , police brutality , politricks , poverty , privilege , racism , rape , sexism , violence , war , war is a racket
• Comments(1)

b. medusa 25 November 2007 9:52:16 pm

of 16 days of activism against gender violence (see sidebar logo), running from Nov 25 – Dec 10. this year’s 16 day campaign theme is “Demanding Implentation, Challenging Obstacles: End Violence Against Women.” today (Nov 25) is The International Day Against Violence Against Women.

other important days include:

Nov 29 – International Women Human Rights Defenders Day
Dec 1 – World Aids Day
Dec 10 – International Human Rights Day

finally the Carnival Against Violence Against Women is being held @ Black Looks. deadline for submissions is Dec 6. please head over there for more info (additional info & links on the 16 day campaign can be found there also).

• 16 days , activism , feminism , gender , oppression , sexism , violence
• Comments(0)

b. medusa 9 August 2007 10:59:48 am

i’ve alluded to the fact that i’m a disabled veteran, but i generally don’t talk about it much. mostly i just try to put much of my service out of my mind, the good as well as the bad. the last four & a half years have made that hard. but stories like this & this tear holes in my soul.

i joined the army @ the age of 20 in 1979, not long after there stopped being a separate women’s army corp. the phrase sexual harassment didn’t even exist. not long after i reached my first duty assignment, a sista i went through basic training with was gang raped. her immediate supervisor was involved along with several others (i never knew the exact number, she & i never discussed it – the number i heard was somewhere between five & eight). nothing was done to the rapists, not even an article 15 (non-judicial punishment). the victim, on the other hand, was treated like a pariah, like she was crazy, like she was lying (even by other women on post). she was ostracized, & given shit work assignments. she remained under the supervisor who had been involved in her rape. she finally had a nervous breakdown. thankfully, she got transferred early (i think she had to reenlist to pull that off).

given all that, when i was raped by an acquaintance a few months later, i shut the fuck up. i confided in my roomates, but swore them to secrecy. most of them knew about the gang rape incident, all went along w/ my wishes (as far as i know). this was not my only encounter w/ sexual harassment, it is the only one i haven’t blocked successfully. another incident that occurred during a seond tour overseas (where i was one of about 50 women stationed with approximately 400 men) has been trying to push its way out of my subconscious, but i’ve blocked it for so long only tiny fragments come through. one thing that has come through is that in the entire nine & a half years i was on active duty, i received my only article 15 for not going to work the day after it happened. sexual harassment (or whatever actually happened) was no excuse because i didn’t report it. i had even forgotten that.

the incidents i’ve just described i never even brought up during my medical discharge evaluations, but i know they had/have serious implications on my mental state. the army discharged me because i was diagnosed w/ acute depression w/ suicidal tendencies, the va calls it psychosis. today i would just have ptsd. here’s another aspect of the atrocities that happen to women, in this case women in the military. every time (EVERY. FUCKING. TIME.) i hear about a woman in the military being raped or sexually harassed, i relive my own experiences. i know i’m not the only one. ha, i’m actually feeling remorse because i don’t feel this body slam of emotions for every woman. but actually i do, just not so acutely.

we have to fix this shit.

EDIT: please read the posts linked above & follow the links within those posts. Black Amazon, Vox ex Machina & Automatic Preference have also blogged on what is happening in the Cassandra Hernandez case. the more exposure we give to this injustice, the more likely this shit will be put right.

• feminism , gender , health , militarism , oppression , sexism , violence
• Comments(5)

b. medusa 26 June 2007 12:56:39 pm

i’ve read some fantastic stuff about the amc & added a few new woc bloggers to my bookmarks. i will be adding to my blogroll shortly. obviously i’ll update this as more bloggers update their blogs after their return. but there’s plenny of great stuff they have to tell already:

• black amazon @ having read the fine print sez
  

  “So rather than try and create homogenous transnational movements, international solidarity between various self concerned peoples DOING WHAT MATTERS TO THEM can be just as effective.”

  and sez this

  “We have grown accustomed to being alone and discounted and thinking of our spoken experiences as us addressing personal needs to be heard.”

  (i’d just like to say, before i die i hope i get a chance to get one of those amazonian hugs.)

• nadia of no snow here has post amc reflections, & a more comprehensive roundup
• sudy (a womyn’s ecdysis) live-blogged (w/pics!) throughout & tied it all together w/ a beautiful poem. btw, i have had Grace Lee Boggs autobiography reserved @ the library since march, only to find out today that its no longer available.
• bfp (women of color blog) also live-blogged (& didn’t miss a step on what else was going on either). don’t miss her notes from the “Hijacking The Master’s Tools” panel & [if you're a woc or trans poc] the woc caucus notes.
• ubuntu has up a list of zines published by woc & an excerpt of Audre Lorde’s “Transformation of Silence Into Language & Action.

head on over to these outstanding blogs & read what they have to say dammit! hell, you shoulda been reading them before now anyway!

• activism , community , discussion , feminism , information , internet , media , networking , organizing , woc
• Comments(0)

b. medusa 29 May 2007 10:14:34 am

from brownfemipower:

As you all may know, Women of Color Blog (brownfemipower.com) is currently directing readers and supporters to the blogs (and pay pal buttons) of some really great feminists of color media makers. These amazing women are raising money so that they can attend the Allied Media Conference being held in Detroit on June 22-24th. While there, they will have the opportunity to participate in the women of color track that is being sponsored by Incite! Women of Color Against Violence.

I strongly encourage you to dig a little into your piggy banks, sofas and sock drawers-cash in your pop bottles, pick up pennies off the sidewalk-and donate it to one of the amazing bloggers on this list. You will be helping to support ground breaking and necessary feminist action-ending violence against women of color and their communities in all it’s manifestations through the use of media technology.

To get more information and see a list of the bloggers who are accepting donations, please visit: http://brownfemipower.com/?p=1440.

• activism , community , feminism , fundraising , gender , journalism , media , networking , organizing , woc
• Comments(0)