March 2012
“Angela Davis, former Black Panther, is the go-to commentator on any protest or...”
– From LA Weekly. The audio for the Citizens For Immigrants interview is here. (via racialicious)
“While affirmative action might just seem like just a liberal-minded way to get...”
– Supreme Court Considers Rejecting Affirmative Action From College Admissions Process (via sociolab)
Angela Davis on violence
when she was in the California State Prison - 1972
Interviewer: A year ago the black panthers were much more active. We heard much more about that type of struggle. Is the time of the black panthers past?
Angela Davis: The black panthers still exist, and the black panthers are still extremely active in the Oakland community and communities all over the country. I’m not sure whether or not you are aware of what is now happening in the black panther party and the kinds of things that the members of that party are doing now.
Interviewer: No but tell me.
Angela Davis: First of all, if you’re gonna talk about a revolutionary situation, you have to have people who are physically able to wage revolution, who are physically able to organize and physically able to do all that is done.
Interviewer: But the question is more, how do you get there? Do you get there by confrontation, violence?
Angela Davis: Oh, is that the question you were asking? Yeah see, that’s another thing. When you talk about a revolution, most people think violence, without realizing that the real content of any revolutionary thrust lies in the principles and the goals that you’re striving for, not in the way you reach them. On the other hand, because of the way this society’s organized, because of the violence that exists on the surface everywhere, you have to expect that there are going to be such explosions. You have to expect things like that as reactions. If you are a black person and live in the black community all your life and walk out on the street everyday seeing white policemen surrounding you… When I was living in Los Angeles, for instance, long before the situation in L.A ever occurred, I was constantly stopped. No, the police didn’t know who I was. But I was a black women and I had a natural and they, I suppose thought I might be “militant.” And when you live under a situation like that constantly, and then you ask me, you know, whether I approve of violence. I mean, that just doesn’t make any sense at all. Whether I approve of guns. I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. Some very, very good friends of mine were killed by bombs, bombs that were planted by racists. I remember, from the time I was very small, I remember the sounds of bombs exploding across the street. Our house shaking. I remember my father having to have guns at his disposal at all times, because of the fact that, at any moment, we might expect to be attacked. The man who was, at that time, in complete control of the city government, his name was Bull Connor, would often get on the radio and make statements like, “niggers have moved into a white neighborhood. We better expect some bloodshed tonight.” And sure enough, there would be bloodshed. After the four young girls who lived, one of them lived next door to me…I was very good friends with the sister of another one. My sister was very good friends with all three of them. My mother taught one of them in her class. My mother—in fact, when the bombing occurred, one of the mothers of one of the young girls called my mother and said, “Can you take me down to the church to pick up Carol? We heard about the bombing and I don’t have my car.” And they went down and what did they find? They found limbs and heads strewn all over the place. And then, after that, in my neighborhood, all the men organized themselves into an armed patrol. They had to take their guns and patrol our community every night because they did not want that to happen again. That’s why, when someone asks me about violence, I just, I just find it incredible. Because what it means is that the person who’s asking that question has absolutely no idea what black people have gone through, what black people have experienced in this country since the time the first black person was kidnapped from the shores of Africa.
“Why don’t black people surf? That can be answered with another race-based...”
– Loving this piece by Tetsuhiko Endo throwing down some serious history to debunk the myth that Black people don’t swim (or surf) on the R today. (via racialicious)
On the rich getting less rich: "People who don’t... →
inothernews:
I don’t know whether to cry or pull my hair out or both.
Would someone just think of the rich people?!
February 2012
“So let’s have a little less talk about how the poor should learn to manage their...”
– Barbara Ehrenreich (via fragiilebones)
“We do not have more major mental illness than most other countries. But we may...”
– Why does America lead the world in school shootings? – Global Public Square - CNN.com Blogs (via sociolab)
“I’m not going to settle for a country where a few people do really well, and...”
– President Obama speaking to UAW (via brooklynmutt)
Microfinance debt causes suicides →
First they were stripped of their utensils, furniture, mobile phones, televisions, ration cards and heirloom gold jewelry. Then, some of them drank pesticide. One woman threw herself in a pond. Another jumped into a well with her children.
Sometimes, the debt collectors watched nearby.
More than 200 poor, debt-ridden residents of Andhra Pradesh killed themselves in late 2010, according to...
100,000,000 workers grind India to a halt in one...
taringanjing:
One of the world’s largest ever strikes began at midnight on Monday 27th Feb and will end at midnight tonight. Up to 100,000,000 Indian workers from different sectors and industries are calling for a national minimum wage, permanent jobs, and much more.
Read More
“The experience of women who seek abortion and other reproductive services is as...”
– Blog This Rock: Abortion Rights Poetry Contest
A reproductive rights themed poetry contest!! You guys, this is so cool and there is even a cash prize! I really encourage you to submit something!
(via becauseiamawoman)
“For medical experts, the appearance of external genitalia tends to be considered...”
– Regulating Middlesex by Anne Bloom, found in the anthology Fault Lines, edited by David M. Engel and Michael McCann (via reinventionoftheprintingpress)
“Some bodies can afford plastic surgery, braces, and weekly facials, while others...”
– Donna Nicol (via croatoan)
Five Myths About Women in Combat →
fuckyeahfeminists:
This is from May, but consider Santorum’s recent bullshit comments about women not being able to ‘handle’ combat just as well this is relevant. Thanks to the reader who suggested I post this!
Here’s the list. Click the link for explanations and the whole article.
Women are too emotionally fragile for combat.
Women are too physically weak for the battlefield.
The presence...
“So when the Irish, when Germans, when Italians were coming, and they didn’t...”
– Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Race-The Power of an Illusion (via lati-negros)
“Being a Black man in America is like having another job.”
– Arthur Ashe
American athlete and social activist
(via coffee-talk)
“As a mounting body of research is showing, wealth can actually change how we...”
– Why it matters that our politicians are rich - Ideas - The Boston Globe (via sociolab)
“The only way you can truly complain about Affirmative Action is if you ignore...”
– Elon James White (via humanformat)
“America touts itself as the land of the free, but the number one freedom that...”
– Tom Morello (via iwanttheairwaves)
“The result of these differences, say researchers who work on money and social...”
– Why it matters that our politicians are rich - Ideas - The Boston Globe (via sociolab)
Extreme poverty in US has more than doubled since... →
anticapitalist:
A policy brief recently issued by the National Poverty Center (NPC) reveals that the number of households in the US living on less than $2 a day per person has increased by 130 percent since 1996, from 636,000 to some 1.46 million today.
This means that some 4 million people in “the richest country on earth” (according to US capitalism’s apologists) are surviving on less than...
shakethecobwebs:
I am inherently valuable
I am inherently valuable
I am inherently valuable
I am inherently valuable
I am inherently valuable
I am inherently valuable
I am inherently valuable
“Anyone who knows anything of history knows that great social changes are...”
– Karl Marx (via sinidentidades)
Woman: Can I have birth control?
Government: No.
Woman: I got pregnant because I didn't have birth control and I don't want the fetus. Can I have an abortion?
Government: No.
Woman: I gave birth to my child but since I wasn't expecting it, I can't afford daycare. Can I have help paying for it?
Government: No.
“This tribe called “Women of Color” is not an ethnicity. It is one of the...”
– Aurora Levins Morales, My Name is This Story from Telling to Live Latina Feminist Testimonios.
(via mujerinterrumpida)
“You make yourself strong because it’s expected of you. You become confident...”
– Jodi Picoult (via thepajamawarrior)
Things You Shouldn't Say To...
fuckyeahfeminists:
journeytoanewcreation:
People suffering from depression:
“Stop being so negative!” “You choose to be sad” “You don’t even have anything to be sad about” “There are millions worse off than you, just get a grip!”
People struggling with self-harm:
“You’re just doing it for attention!” “Those cuts aren’t even that bad” “You don’t even have a reason to cut/burn yourself” “You...
The psychological poverty trap →
Shafir has proved that anyone faced with adverse conditions will consistently make bad economic decisions. An experiment he conducted with Mullainathan and Zhao placed financially-savvy Princeton students from prominent families under the stressful and rushed conditions that poor people face every day. They were given questions to answer in a series of timed rounds, but were permitted to...