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
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b. medusa 27 July 2007 12:30:22 pm

if you’ve wondered where all the recent xenophobic bias regarding Chinese imports was coming from (& if you haven’t you should’ve), wonder no more. Zuky provides perspective & history in Food, Racism, Capitalism:

Fear and fetishization of freaky food is among the most common expressions in the USA of anti-Asian racism. Schoolyard taunts about eating dogs, cats, and rats are as familiar to Asian American ears as “ching chong”, “flied lice”, and high-pitched kung-fu-movie noises (usually inexplicably accompanied by stiff flat hands which appear terribly ill-prepared for action). What I find rather amazing is that so many non-Asians continue to find these moronic clichés funny and/or fascinating, to the point that lurid stories about tainted Chinese food have been at or near the top of corporate fake-news for weeks.

…

I must say that it strikes me as a little surreal that the modern corporate culture that gave the world the Big Mac is actually talking gastronomical smack about the ancient culture that gave us noodles and dumplings and culinary contributions far too numerous to get into here. Is catfish from China really more of a threat to our national nutritional regimen than, say, hormone-pumped antibiotic-injected water-added nitrite-preserved meat-product accompanied by high-fructose corn-syrup, insecticide-sprayed artificially-colored produce and genetically-modified starch? Or could the ban on catfish from China — initiated in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana before being backed nationally by the FDA — be somehow related to the fact that Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana are the three biggest US producers of farm-raised catfish?

quotes don’t begin to do this article justice. you really must read it in its entirety.

• assumptions , capitalism run amok , cluelessness , food fight , health , media , racism , white supremacy
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b. medusa 25 July 2007 8:15:54 pm

more from the boston globe (no registration required, thank you very much), via the ABW:

Deeply imbedded attitudes about race influence the way doctors care for their African- American patients, according to a Harvard study that for the first time details how unconscious bias contributes to inferior care.

Researchers have known for years that African-Americans in the midst of a heart attack are far less likely than white patients to receive potentially life-saving treatments such as clot-busting drugs, a dramatic illustration of America’s persistent healthcare disparities. But the reasons behind such stark gaps in care for heart disease, as well as cancer and other serious illnesses, have remained murky, with blame fixed on doctors, hospitals, and insurance plans.

In the new study, trainee doctors in Boston and Atlanta took a 20-minute computer survey designed to detect overt and implicit prejudice. They were also presented with the hypothetical case of a 50-year-old man stricken with sharp chest pain; in some scenarios the man was white, while in others he was black. full article

excerpted from “Tests of trainee doctors find signs of race bias in care” by Stephen Smith; Boston Globe, July 20, 2007

the tests are online @ implicit.harvard.edu/. i took a couple of them, it was fun & interesting. i encourage you to take one, or several. also visit the continuing conversation @ the ABW’s blog.

• assumptions , discussion , information , poc , racism
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b. medusa 25 April 2007 9:19:16 am

Anarchist and immigrant workers in Chicago sparked the battle that brought us the 8 hour day. Now immigrant workers need the support of all workers to guarantee their equal treatment and protection in these times where being an immigrant is a crime. Join us in Bmore and DC as we stand in solidarity with immigrant workers to say no one is illegal!!

Here’s what’s happening:

BMORE 05.01.07

• United Workers Association demonstration in support of Baltimore day laborers. 3325 E. Baltimore St. @ 12pm
• Red Emma’s May Day Blowout w/ DJ Cullen Stalin, Ryan Harvey, James Sarsgard [Noble Lake], S.O.N., the Starbucks Workers Union, and United Workers Association 2640 St. Paul St. @ 6pm

DC 05.01.07

• An immigrants rights interfaith coalition is organizing a rally around 3 central demands
• Legalization for all Immigrants
• Stop the ICE raids
• Make DC a sanctuary city
• speakers/performers will include
• Sonia Umanzor (FMLN DC)
• Ricardo Gallardo (Latinos Unidos)
• Sin Fronteras band and a dance collective
• S.O.N.
• and more!

2pm – 7pm @ Malcolm X Park in DC (16th & Euclid)

(h/t to Son of Nun – medusa)

• activism , art , class , community , event , hierarchy , immigration , music , oppression , racism
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b. medusa 25 April 2007 8:41:13 am

…there were hand written journals & i kept one for about 16 years. last night i looked through the last journal for something i had written years earlier.

but first a word from a blogger i really admire:

The Primary Contradiction

I’m sharing this story with you all not to shame this person nor to start any public battles, but to relate an experience shared by too many people of color in the progressive movement. Anytime we try to hold white allies accountable for their actions, we take a huge risk. Whether that is the loss of a personal relationship, a smeared reputation, or simply the wrath of someone whose ego we have bruised, people of color in all strata of the left have an uphill battle in challenging white supremacy. Good people, you and I have seen and experienced many examples of white ally catastrophe.

and a word from a blogger i just discovered who did a three part series on racism:

Feline Formal Shorts

After all, so-and-so is such a good feminist/lefty/blogger/politico/”ally” that they couldn’t possibly be racist (or sexist, ableist, heterosexist, or what have you) . . . Mentioning race is a problem. Calling attention to your racial differences is a problem. Talking about racial group phenomena is a problem. If we ignore it, then it won’t be a problem any more, right?

finally, the words i wrote so many years ago after years of heartbreaking/disappointing intimate relationships:

its almost scary how easy its becoming to detach myself – physically & emotionally – from fucked up boyfriends. thank god, after all, haven’t i had enuf?

yesterday detachment served me well in separating myself from white so-called activist allies.

i’ll let a blog commenter have the last word:

nanette said (in response to TPC post above)

…Don’t look back or loop back around to give someone time to catch up (unless you want to) – the pathways are all well marked, the bridges built and it’s time for people to find their own ways across them.(emphasis mine – medusa)

• activism , assimilation , blackness , cluelessness , community , hierarchy , oppression , racism , white privilege , white supremacy
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b. medusa 25 April 2007 8:38:58 am

link to the original post which inspired the flyer – here

• blackness , cluelessness , gender , hierarchy , oppression , privilege , racism , white supremacy
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b. medusa 9 April 2007 6:38:59 pm

Join editor and illustrator Michelle Wright @ Red Emmas for a reading from Broken Utterances, an exciting new anthology of black feminist thought, published by Three Sistahs Press, a new independent Baltimore press we’re really excited to see. More info…

• art , author , books , class , event , gender , racism , sexism
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b. medusa 27 March 2007 6:30:35 pm

Nobody Passes starts by tearing binary gender norms to shreds, and then proceeds to examine the perilous intersections of identity, categorization, and community in order to challenge the very notion of belonging. From activism to academia, immigration to appropriation to cruising for sex, hip-hop to disability culture to trans communities, Nobody Passes challenges societal mores and countercultural norms, asking, “If we eliminate the pressure to pass, what delicious and devastating opportunities for transformation might we create?” @ Red Emmas. More info…

• art , author , books , discussion , event , gender , privilege , racism , sexism
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b. medusa 16 January 2007 4:11:45 pm

‘White Out: The Continuing Significance of Racism’
edited by Ashley W. Doane & Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, published 2003

“Whiteness studies adds that the “personal interrogation of position” will make whiteness visible and thereby undermine the perpetuation of an unjust racial order. There is an assumption here that if white people would only become conscious of their whiteness, more just behavior would follow. One might ask if becoming conscious of whiteness could not just as easily produce white-supremacist movements or lead white people to feel relieved that they have privilege and others do not…”

right off the bat an unquestioned assumption is challenged. i knew @ this point that this book was not going to be like most of the books i’ve read on whiteness. pleasantly, i was not disappointed. not only is ‘White Out’ a book on whiteness that doesn’t center on whites, it exposes the racism of color-blindness, something both whites & poc espouse, although whites are most likely to engage in color-evasive language. “What appears to haunt these color-evasive accounts, then, is the understanding that recognizing race might be construed as racist. But why is it that recognizing one’s culpability in racist practices,…is so difficult to acknowledge?”

if that wasn’t enough, it goes the extra step of examining the white privilege inherent in the designation biracial & multiracial. finally, ‘White Out’ speaks on the eventual “darkening” of whiteness, the negative impact this darkening (combined with ongoing separatism) will have on struggles for equality, & strategies for avoiding continued marginalization. the language is neither overly simple, nor needlessly arcane; it is neither accusatory nor apologist, & @ less than 300 pages it is not overly time consuming. clearly a book that can & should be widely read, so @ the risk of sounding like a cliche, ‘White Out’ is definitely a must-read.

• activism , color-blind racism , white privilege , white supremacy
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b. medusa 14 December 2006 9:36:02 am

“i don’t see color,” he said proudly. i snorted in derision, apparently something he wasn’t expecting. “what’s the matter with you?” he asked. “nothing,” i replied. “it’s you who has the problem.” “how so?” “color-blindness isn’t an attribute, it’s a defect,” i began. “in all forms. color-blindness regarding race means you don’t see people of color, the struggles they incur because of color, or the privileges you accrue because of whiteness.” i couldn’t let his remark pass. i’d heard it so many times before it made me nauseous.

color-blindness ≠ equality. in fact it is just one of the more recent strategies deployed to maintain white privilege. particularly effective because some poc go along with & enable this strategy. once again the phenomenon of poc aiding in their own oppression.

additional reading – ‘White Out: The Continuing Significance of Racism’ , A.W. Doane & E. Bonilla-Silva; ‘Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States’, E. Bonilla-Silva. cited in C. G. Robbins essay “How to Hide Structured Racism“

• color-blind racism , white supremacy
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