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This weekend, Melissa Harris-Perry did a segment on how “guns are the only recurring theme in all shootings.” (Video and transcript at link.) It is a great segment, and I encourage you to watch/read it, if you have the opportunity.
One of the observations MHP made, given that tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of George Zimmerman having killed Trayvon Martin, is that if George Zimmerman had not been carrying a gun, Trayon Martin would probably still be alive.
Gun proponents like to say things like “guns don’t kill people” and make specious arguments about how people would just carry knives if guns were taken away, but these are deeply dishonest claims.
The truth is, guns empower lots of people to do violence they wouldn’t otherwise do. George Zimmerman was not going to get out of his car and stalk Trayvon Martin with a pocketknife. We need to be honest about that.
Gun proponents know damn well that guns and knives are not the same, and not just for the damage they are capable of doing. “Guns aren’t the problem!” they bellow. “If you take away guns, people will just use knives!” As if there isn’t something different, something special, about guns.
But of course there is. No one knows that better than they do. That’s why they fight so determinedly not to give them up.
” —Melissa McEwan (via katesloan)
This is missing the systemic racism and bigotry behind the police shootings of African Americans that occur every 36 hours in this country. Bad people use guns to do bad things, but we must always remember to search for the true reason why Trayvon’s death happened, why so much of our society defended Zimmerman, and why President Obama didn’t acknowledge shit.
(Source: shakesville.com, via reagan-was-a-horrible-president)
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(Source: paxamericana, via pieceinthepuzzlehumanity-deacti)
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Not posting this on critink because I don’t want to answer a thousand angry messages unless it’s because of a less-flippant more-educational post, but I had to post this somewhere.
Apparently this is Cultural Appropriation Cracker.
I’m very much in love with you right now, just so you know.
I just died and went to cleverness heaven. Cultural Appropriation Cracker. Genius.
(Source: janczewska)
Rebloggable as requested.
Clara Lemlich Shavelson (March 28, 1886 – July 12, 1982) was a leader of the Uprising of 20,000, the massive strike of shirtwaist workers in New York’s garment industry in 1909. Later blacklisted from the industry for her labor union work, she became a member of the Communist Party USA and a consumer activist. In her last years as a nursing home resident she helped to organize the staff.
Early years
Lemlich was born March 28, 1886 in the Ukrainian village of Gorodok to a Jewish family. Raised in a predominantly Yiddish-speaking village, young Lemlich learned to read Russian over her parents’ objections, sewing buttonholes and writing letters for illiterate neighbors to raise money for her books. After a neighbor introduced her to revolutionary literature, Lemlich became a committed socialist. She immigrated to the United States with her family in 1903, following a pogrom in Kishinev.
Lemlich was able to find a job in the garment industry upon her arrival in New York. Conditions there had become even worse since the turn of the century, as the new industrial sewing machine allowed employers to demand twice as much production from their employees, who often had to supply their own machines and carry them to and from work. Lemlich, along with many of her co-workers, rebelled against the long hours, low pay, lack of opportunities for advancement, and humiliating treatment from supervisors. Lemlich became involved in the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union and was elected to the executive board of Local 25 of the ILGWU.
Lemlich quickly made a name for herself among her fellow workers, leading several strikes of shirtwaist makers and challenging the mostly male leadership of the union to organize women garment workers. She combined boldness with a good deal of charm (she was known for her fine singing voice) and personal bravery (she returned to the picket line in 1909 after having several ribs broken when gangsters hired by the employers attacked the picketers).
To Gaza I did not go | Gideon Levy -
I am a little journalist who partially misappropriates his role and betrays his mission. Granted, I do run around the south, between the sites of destruction and traumatized residents. On hearing a siren I lay on the ground and cover my head with my hands, or find dubious refuge in some children’s clothes shop. I even gaze at Gaza from the highest hilltop in Sderot, but to Gaza I do not go, about its suffering I do not report. And as it is with me, so it is with every Israeli journalist.
The last time I was in Gaza was in November 2008. I reported then on an Israeli missile that hit the children of the Indira Gandhi nursery and killed their kindergarten teacher in front of their eyes. That was my last story from Gaza. Since then Israel has banned Israeli journalists from entering the Strip, and the journalists accepted this with typical obedience and subservience. Over the years they turned out to be the most loyal (and admired ) public servants: They know the beast’s soul. They know that their readers and viewers don’t want to know what is really happening in Gaza, and joyfully fulfill their desire. Not a word of protest from the journalists, whose government prevents them from filling their essential role.
Not that all are devoid of courage: The daring among them reported over the years from sites of war or natural disasters around the world. Heroes that they are, they were in Iraq, Libya, Syria, and even little me was in Sarajevo under a bombardment, in Japan when the earth shook and in Georgia went it went to war. The government of Israel did not express any self-righteous concern for our well-being, and we fulfilled our role, even when it was dangerous. Only not in Gaza, an hour and a quarter’s drive from our homes, a place that affects our lives immeasurably more than Fukushima.
During Operation Cast Lead, my colleague Amira Hass managed to get into Gaza via Egypt, thanks to her dedication, determination and second passport. This time no one even tried.
That’s how it is that Israel knows almost nothing about what is happening in Gaza. Somebody is making sure of that. [++]
(Source: theamericanbear)
SETTLER NEWS: Israel agrees to stop shooting fish in a barrel so long as fish agree to stay in barrel, starve.
(via theamericanbear)
Thankful For Her: What Woman Are You Grateful For This Thanksgiving? -
Have an unsung female hero in your life? Now is the chance to thank you. Tag your story of photo with #thankawoman.
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Today in labor history, November 19, 1915: Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) organizer and songwriter Joe Hill is executed in Utah after having been framed on a murder charge. While in prison, Hill sent a telegram to IWW leader Big Bill Haywood: “Goodbye Bill. I die like a true blue rebel. Don’t waste any time in mourning. Organize!” In a later telegram, he added, “Could you arrange to have my body hauled to the state line to be buried? I don’t want to be found dead in Utah.”
(via reagan-was-a-horrible-president)
definitely going under my ‘shoe porn’ tag ehehe
D I Y
(via carex)
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