really cool graphic sent over the Emily’s List listserv. its a striking visual that goes beyond the superficial arguments of Affirmative Action in terms of gender, or race and the uproar of Sotomayor’s “Wise Latina” comment. Just looking at what the implications of this image mean, and how this may be the start of a change in the make-up of the Supreme Court, once some Justices start dying or resigning, is incredibly exciting.
when Ramey Ko from the Organization of Chinese Americans addressed the Texas State House about voter identification legislation and name ID discrepancy issues (often between legal transliterate names and within the Asian American community, Representative Betty Brown asked “Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese — I understand it’s a rather difficult language — do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?”. check out the video here.
WHOA. so many things: that she asks Mr. Ko and OCA to behoove “its” citizens, like they have any sort of power or control over the entire Asian American population to urge them to change their names. while i understand Mr. Ko represents the Organization of Chinese Americans, Representative Brown continually asking questions about the Chinese, Chinese names, and elections back in China is another case of ignorant non-Asians assuming all Asians are Chinese. that Rep. Brown just wants people to change their names for the ease of others and the American English system downplays the significance of names and an aspect of one’s identity to the outside world, and maybe even more etymologically and culturally interesting/silly is that Rep. Brown’s name is “Betty Brown”. it’s true that many Asian Americans have casually adopted names like “Stan”, “Robert” or “Sally” so communication with American counterparts is easier, but that is their own choice. i have wondered how my life would be different if i went by my Chinese name “Yiming” instead of Iris. but choice of identification and representation is key here because it’s personal and individual. i watched Affair of the Necklace last night (wouldn’t recommend it except to look at French period clothing and Adrian Brody or Simon Baker with long curly hair), but the story is about one girl trying to restore her family’s name, and thus reputation. while speaking in front of the court, Jeanne de la Motte-Valois pleads ‘Monsieur, you out of all people know the importance of a [god-given] name and a home where it can flourish…’
Statements from Representative Brown’s office initially said the quote was taken out of context, and the “race card” was being used to divert attention from the real issue of voter identification. However, in recent days since Thursday, she has released an apology through her office and through a personal phone call to Ramey Ko. I have to agree with Mr. Ko’s reaction, because an apology about simply the phrasing Rep. Brown used disregards the heavy implication behind her words, even in the broadest terms of cultural and ethnic identity, the ‘minority’ concept, and who is an american. Rep. Brown may not think she’s being racist, elitist, or coming from a position of privilege (race, class, government representative, etc), and that too big of a deal was made out of nothing, but her comments, whether or not implied, point to deeper points of discrimination we all still need to deal with: yes, most people agree that everyone is (for the most part) equal, but past that one thin, superficial line – there is more complex thinking and processing about implications and equality to what extent that still needs to be done.
tonight in the crowded backroom of busboys & poets on 14th & U, the editors and several contributors for the new book yes means yes: visions of female sexual power & a world without rape read excerpts of their new work. Miriam Zoila Perez of Radical Doula read from her “When Sexual Autonomy Isn’t Enough:SexualViolence Against Immigrant Women in the United States”. Latoya Peterson of Racialicious read “The Not-Rape Epidemic”. and among others, Jaclyn Friedman “In Defense of Going Wild or: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Pleasure (and How You Can, Too). it was inspiring to hear from writers so coherently and intelligently talk about this powerful conception of rape culture. there’s so many intersecting points of gender, race, sexuality, media, and class that have created this complex culture. particularly thought-provoking was Miriam Perez’s piece that for immigrant women crossing the border, rape is almost an accepted part of their reality (their price of admission to pay the smugglers). after listening to their readings, i was convinced that a rape culture does exist. it’s a serious crime, and treated as so, but then on the other side, it’s also blamed on the victim, there’s the conception that it only happens to women, and that it’s something that will always exist. these women all talked about getting rid of the culture of rape – not just the action of it but the connotations and dangers surrounding it. this has moved up to the top of my ‘must-buy’ book list once i have the funds to do so.
i’m going to try and be more diligent about this ’series’ i’ve decided to do. i guess my deadline is january 20th, when obama takes office and the news will be actually what he is doing, and not just predictions of what he will be doing. while the issue of immigration is often seen as being overshadowed by the financial crisis, and the talks about healthcare reform, there is not a dearth of articles talking about immigration not being discussed in the news. working at The Migration Policy Institute also helps.
“I’m not particularly impressed with raids on plants that grab a handful of undocumented workers and send them home, leaving the company in the position where it can just hire the next batch.” Obama said in a 2007 interview with the Des Moines Register. (more…)
ah, an inspiring story for the new year. b/c that’s what new year’s is all about right – starting over, people getting together, hope that this year will be better. this is about a story where mayor nutter, fairly beloved in the city of philadelphia, announced plans to close 11 branch libraries, and how a very diverse group of people came together in a matter of months to organize and demonstrate against such a move. and they were able to win a court-stall of the mayor’s plans. groups of African American block captains, along with white anarchists from West Philly – two groups that normally wouldn’t be seen working together, now mobilizing their communities, getting lawyers and citygroups and everyday people involved to save these libraries. (pictures from a rally to save the libraries held on december 6, and youtube video that the Eagles football team paying their debt back to the city would be enough to save the libraries)
this article talks about how the usual ‘professional’ protesters, those who are anti-establishment, and anti-everything were involved, almost in a ‘of course’ manner. but the strength of this coalition was that other people who may not have been associated with the young anarchists got just as deeply involved. a previously unpolitical 3rd and 4th grade teacher, whose school does not have a library, became a volunteer in the Obama campaign doing all the grassroots heavyduty work of knocking doors and making phone calls. that she felt inspired she was a part of the change got her to become involved in this coalition – a political activist is born. (more…)
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sent:
reasoning:
this election season with two formidable candidates running for the Democratic nomination – all the talk revolved around who they were, or that they were the token “black” or “female” candidates. people couldn’t stop discussing race and gender, and the uglier sides of racism and sexism. in these days of political correctness, we aren’t supposed to talk about those things, sure it still exists, but most of us are above that sort of thing and treat everybody equally and respectfully. i think we are on the right path, making concerted efforts to see people on their merits and hold them accountable for their own words & actions. but we cannot deny that race, gender and sexuality exist, at times – it’s like the huge pink, polka dotted, wearing skinny jeans, with a beret and smoking a cigar elephant in the room – and that snap judgments are often made based upon these identifying factors.
the debate around affirmative action seems to be whether or not to acknowledge these differences. (more…)
i don’t think the concept that america is becoming more racially diverse and ‘multicultural’ is a surprise to anyone living here. i think the big news here is how fast it’s happening, much quicker than originally predicted. and we’re already starting to see the effects. the focus on ‘illegal’ immigration, along with the bad economy and outsourcing has given rise to tremendous racial hostility, there’s going to be more xenophobia and strife before this gets better. in a way, i don’t blame a lot of the working class americans who live in small towns that are having difficulty adjusting. it’s become more difficult to just work hard and make an honest living, and the most obvious reason may actually be the undocumented workers in the town willing to receive much less for just as much labor. there needs to be more proper and respectful efforts of integration, it’s frustrating when legislators and politicians are scapegoating latinos and instituting expensive band-aid solutions like building a giant wall. i like this cartoon’s point of showing how mccain’s campaign of showing how ‘american’ he is, actually demonstrates how far detached he and his image are from what is really going on in the country.
i just got my 3rd and last shot of Gardasil. i am now protected against certain types of HPV, particularly the strains that have been shown to cause cervical cancer. woo. i didn’t actively seek out the vaccine, it was one i had definitely heard of, these “one less” commercials are on constant play if you turn on the TV, but it was something i didn’t think i needed. and while vaccines have done a lot of good, i’m wary that soonwe’ll be vaccinating ourselves against everything in the world, and simply start a new series of bacteria, germs and illnesses. i went in to get a physical in january, and my doctor immediately advised that i should start on the gardasil track. i knew that SL had done it and she said it was painful and expensive. but dr. madden assured me that it was now covered by insurance – it was a huge fight that doctors took on against the insurance companies, “how can you deny people something that could potentially save their lives?” i was still a bit hesitant, but the doctor was insistent. i was also somewhat convinced when she said, “how amazing is it that we’ve developed a vaccine against a cancer? think about the implications that soon we’ll have something for every cancer, and no one will have to suffer.” unfortunately, the first shot hurt like hell, and committed me for 6 months to this new health and scientific experiment that i wasn’t necessarily ready for or on board with. (more…)
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Michelle Obama’s appearance on The View, greeting all the co-hosts with the fist bump, or “terrorist fist jab“.
reasoning:
what the media has decided to cover has been all over the place: election coverage has been crazy – either totally serious, and contentious, or completely ridiculous. it’s hard to look at the game of politics sometimes b/c how the politicians react, what they say, what they do can ultimately affect the decision of who is going to be chosen president, who is going to lead this country and represent us to the rest of the world. but if one is reassured that even if the worst candidate is chosen, there are enough checks and balances in place that the country will go, then the absurdity of American politics is kind of fun.
that said, i love seeing Michelle Obama everywhere on the news, internet, and political blogs.
Dr. Watson, half of the team that helped to uncover the DNA helix model, has been regarded as the father of modern genetics, so his recent remarks there’s such a thing as Jewish intelligence, or that a reason why there is a disproportionate amount of black basketball players may be gene related. this interview with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. a Harvard professor who studies race discourse in the West, is interesting because it doesn’t just dismiss Dr. Watson as an old-fashioned, codgy elite White racist. as he’s the “father of genetics”, he’s been called upon to make comments about our most complex, and puzzling social issues: homosexuality, obesity, race, and race in relation to sexuality.
what was most interesting to me was Louis Gates, Jr does not consider Dr. Watson a “racist”, but more of a “racialist”. he does believe there is some key to genetics’ ties of race and human characteristics like intelligence, athletic ability, or demeanor. the distinction may come from a “racist” simply buying into long-time stereotypes from media and history of racial inferiority and superiority. certainly the argument can be made that there may be a truth, or a genetic basis for why those stereotypes exist, so how is Dr. Watson not just an academically, and scientifically intelligent racist?
it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?”. check out the video 
SexualViolence Against Immigrant Women in the United States”. Latoya Peterson of 
what he is doing, and not just predictions of what he will be doing. while the issue of immigration is often seen as being overshadowed by the financial crisis, and the talks about healthcare reform, there is not a dearth of articles talking about immigration not being discussed in the news. working at The 
matter of months to organize and demonstrate against such a move. and they were able to win a court-stall of the mayor’s plans. groups of African American block captains, along with white anarchists from West Philly – two groups that normally wouldn’t be seen working together, now mobilizing their communities, getting lawyers and citygroups and everyday people involved to save these libraries. (
