Here is the link to the City Lab article and the link to the actual website, Turn On Detroit’s Water.
h/t to amomenttothink for retweeting this.
boooooooooooooooooost
signal boost
!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOOK AT THIS SHIT !!!!!!!!!!!!!
An Unarmed Black teen was just shot dead by police on #BlackOut Day.
19-year-old unarmed teen, Tony Robinson, was shot and killed by police in Madison, Wisconsin last Friday night. According to several news sources, Madison Police Chief Koval said they received calls looking for a man who had committed battery and was jumping in and out of traffic One of the police officers, Matthew Kenny, spotted Tony and then proceeded to follow him into his apartment and forced his way in after claiming to “hear a disturbance inside”. the unarmed teen then “got into an altercation” with the Officer who then shot him 5 times in the chest, and dragged him out to the street while he bled out. He was later rushed to the hospital where he later died.
Large Protests have already begun in Madison and are quickly spreading all over.
#StayWoke #BlackLivesMatter
Sorry to ruin #BlackOutDay but this is why it exists in the first place.
Friends, let me tell you about Rebecca Gomperts.
Rebecca Gomperts is a sea captain, a certified physician, and the founder of Women on Waves, a Dutch pro-choice non-profit organization that brings reproductive health services to women in countries with restrictive abortion laws.
This is how it works:
- Rebecca Gomperts and her team installed a specially constructed mobile clinic aboard a commissioned ship.
- They sail to countries with restrictive abortion laws, answering phone calls and e-mails from women who need another way out.
- Upon landing, they take the women who come to them aboard the ship, and then they take the ship out into international waters.
- There the laws of the flag ship are in effect.
- They then perform non-surgical medical abortions, while walking the women through the process.
- They sail back to shore, and once they depart, they continue to follow up with their patients to ensure they remain healthy and safe.
In response, Rebecca Gomperts and her team have been:
- hit by eggs thrown by physically violent pro-life activists
- met with resistance by government officials of the countries they visit
- been forced to disguise themselves and their patients to save the women who come to them any public shaming (which the media helps to perpetuate)
- and once, harassed by two war ships sent out by the Portuguese military
And yet they continue to answer the calls and e-mails of women who want their help, providing reproductive counseling and teaching them how to circumvent the dangerous laws of their country when necessary.
Director Diana Whitten is telling their story in her documentary, VESSEL. It’s a beautiful doc, a necessary doc, and the film is premiering this week at SXSW. Please show your support for these women on social media. It’s so incredibly important.
Here’s VESSEL’s facebook page. Here’s their twitter. Here’s their instagram. Use #VesselLanding to tweet at them.
Women on Waves can be found on their official site, their facebook page, and their twitter.
If you’re in need of reproductive counseling or an abortion service, you can find Women on Wave’s international support and informational collective on Women on Web.
These people are heroes. Rebecca Gomperts is a hero. What they do has and will save countless lives. It’s so incredibly important that their story is told and the struggles of women living in countries governed by restrictive abortion laws (including the United States) are brought to light.
Squidalicious: On Autism Murder Apologists
This is important. This needs to be read.
This is something much more important than what much of tumblr Social Justice Warriors talk about. It is bigger than most of the things I have seen being talked about on tumblr.
This is people getting murdered by people they trust because of something that is not their fault. This is people being murder apologists and that is not okay.
Whenever I see a news story about an autistic child being murdered by a caretaker, it’s always “don’t you dare judge them!” or “I understand why…” “oh it’s hard to take care of an autistic child…”
And it happens with other disabilities too! Part of society thinks it’s okay to murder the disabled. Part of society thinks it’s okay to forcefully sterilize people with disabilities.
I have high functioning autism and I have been told I should not reproduce. This has been said to my face. On more than one occasion. And all of those times it was when I mentioned that there is a good chance that autism might be genetic.
And you hardly hear about this from anyone other than the apologists for it. Those that justify it and think it’s not only okay, but should be standard practice! And yet the only social justice blogs I have seen make mention of it in depth is real-justice-walugi, ughsocialjustice and disneyvilliansforjustice. Not one blog that identifies as a “Social Justice Warrior” seems to care about this issue.
And it’s terrifying for me. Forced sterilization is barbaric and disgusting, and yet it is openly done to the disabled in first world countries. Doctors recommend it.
Thankfully, not one in my family is like that, but think for a moment.
If my mother dragged me down and had me sterilized tomorrow, people would support it.
If she murdered me, people would be more sympathetic towards her than me. I would be dead, and people would be crying for her. It’s asinine.
That is ableism. That is worrying and destructive ableism that ends lives. And none of the “social justice warriors” care. They care about what words you use. They act like pointing out that there are different levels of autism in the worst offense against us. They focus on the downright petty and act blissfully unaware of the important things.
They do that while there are innocent people getting their most basic human rights taken away simply because they are disabled.
It has to stop. And I’m seeing nothing being done outside of the disabled community.
~Cadence
reblogging this again for the commentary.
i am not normally in favor of the “stop talking about your oppression because mine is worse!” attitude. but arguments about white headcanons for fictional characters get tens of thousands of notes, and this article link has 25.
it is legal to pay disabled government workers less than minimum wage.
people regularly get away with murdering us.
i’ve been fired for failing to pick up nonverbal cues at least twice, and ended up homeless on one of those occasions.
the richest and most visible group claiming to speak for us is a hate group dedicated to eradicating our existence.
the ‘wheelchair ramps’ that would allow us to interact with institutions are almost entirely absent.
i could go on and on and on. but apparently none of that is remotely as interesting as some celebrity’s latest sexist tweet. look, guys, i don’t want you to stop talking about other stuff. i just want you to talk about this too.
Hey guys
Grace is my Real Life Friend, I’ve known her for years, and her brother REALLY NEEDS HELP. To be exact, he needs a bone marrow donor. He has one chance in 50,000, but who knows, maybe you’re that chance.
From the Help Ed Facebook page:
Our dear friend Edmund Fox has been diagnosed with a rare form of Epstein Barr Virus, which has developed into lymphoma and hemophagocytosis. Despite enduring punishing treatments (including chemotherapy), his condition is such that he now requires a bone marrow transplant, and soon. An added complication means there may be a 50% chance he will die within a year.
With the chances of finding a match only 1 in 50,000, we are appealing to everyone to improve these odds by registering as a bone marrow donor. Even though you are unlikely to be a match for Ed, you may help save the life of another fellow human being – just think about what that would mean to them, and their friends and family.
In just 5 minutes you can register with either one of these charities, who will send you a do-it-yourself swab/spit-it, which will be used to analyse your DNA and test for a match – it’s that simple:
Anthony Nolan – http://www.anthonynolan.org/ (ages 16-30)
Delete Blood Cancer – http://www.deletebloodcancer.org.uk/ (ages 18 to 55)
Grace and her family are spreading the word around. I’ve seen tumblr achieve some incredible things, so please, if you can – click on one of the above links and see if you’re eligible to register. (And it probably goes without saying, but please spread this around!)
“Lucasfilm is holding an open casting call in Chicago on November 14…”
yes????? go on
“…in search of a young woman in the 17-18 range to play a character named Rachel in ‘Star Wars: Episode VII’…”
GO ON
“…she is described as street smart, independent, and athletic…”
YES???? YES AND??????????
“…and the role is open to all ethnicities, multi & bi-racial.”
hey guys the full list of cities (which includes cities in michigan and minnesota) is here: http://www.opencastingcall2013.com
Ohh signal boosting!
because apparently a 20 year old indian woman in london cannot ask for help during a tough time for everyone in her bracket without people hating her
okay so, this is basically a rehashing of this post
you may have seen it around, and i’m exceptionally grateful to everyone who reblogged and donated (and i know for a fact so is my mother and my cat.
however nothing has changed in our situation (except we got internet back)
in this kind of time, i would prefer to, you know, keep that page up! it’s well organised and looks nice, and has an easy payment method!
unfortunately, the people who regularly sent me hate mail on anonymous until i finally gave up and switched anon off have resorted to the dirty, underhand, and frankly hurtful tactic of reporting me for being a fake/scam/not actually real
(i’m fairly certain i’m real)
(let’s not get into existentialism here)
so yes
this is still that post
just with a different payment method, so in the event these pricks ‘win’, i can still
ask for help
which is all i’ve ever been doing
is asking for help
not forcing anyone to do anything
just
asking for help
we still can’t move due to the places in our price bracket being ‘No DDR’
we still have cut back on everything from food intake to water
i still am looking for work, and in the event i still cannot find any, i still am going to apply to another terrible course i hate just so we can get benefits enough to cover our cut-back food bills
if you can donate, my paypal is wickedlovelyprettyshit@gmail.com(don’t judge me i was young)
if you can’t, or don’t want to, please reblog thisor tweet it or share it on facebook i don’t mind or care
all the information can be found in the post i linked at the top of this one
Detroit cop who killed 7-year-old girl walks free after mistrial
Detroit police officer Joseph Weekley was spared a felony conviction on Tuesday over the killing of a 7-year-old girl after a jury deadlocked and a mistrial was declared, according to Detroit Free Press.
Weekley shot and killed Aiyana Stanley-Jones on the night of May 16, 2010, as officers executed a search warrant on the duplex her family lived in. The officers entered Stanley-Jones’s home searching for a murder suspect who was later found in the adjacent unit, throwing a flashbang grenade into the room where the girl was sleeping with her grandmother, then shooting her in the head seconds later.
The series of events was partially caught on tape by a camera crew following the officers that night. A&E producer Allison Howard, one of two people who filmed the raid for the show “The First 48,” eventually released that footage of her own accord and now faces charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. Footage shot from outside the house shows officers lobbing a flashbang grenade into the living room. Seconds later a gunshot rings out.
Lawyers for the prosecution cited the footage to claim that Weekley shot the girl from outside, before even walking in to the building. Weekley’s defense insisted it was just a tragic accident and that the girl’s grandmother had attempted to hit the officer’s gun.
Weekley was subsequently charged with felony involuntary manslaughter and careless discharge of a firearm resulting in death, carrying with them the potential for 15+ years in prison. However, both charges failed to stick on Tuesday afternoon, after three straight days of jury deliberations failed to produce a conviction.
signal boost #2 because let’s be for real, had this been the pic of a little white girl surrounded by disney princesses with the words “innocent shot by cop” this would have had thousands of notes in hours, a lifetime movie, book etc. instead, mostly the poc community weeps while everyone else fails to feel as much empathy towards this kind of verdict.
#CHANGEBRAZIL Masterpost: Understanding the cause
I sure hope you are seeing a bunch of stuff about Brazil, either on Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook or TV. But I need you to understand what is going on. What’s truly going on around here. So I prepared this masterpost, a list of links that should explain this to you!
Some background:
- Brazil is one of the most corrupt governments in the world
- Our government doesn’t take care of us
- And goes unpunished, leaving us conformed
- Mostly because we have laws that they can manipulate to protect themselves, seen here and here.
- There’s so many problems with our government it’s hard to list everything.
What triggered the people:
- Is Brazil ready to host the 2014 World Cup? (With this government? No.)
- Football being used to distract the people from the World Cup and corruption issues
- In Brazil, you work 5 months a year to pay tax. By the age of 70, the average Brazilian will have worked 30 years just to pay tax. Brazilians pay around 61 different taxes
- “Several of these stadiums risk becoming white elephants,”
- José Sarney, an undistinguished but influential former president, earns 62,000 reais a month
- 81 senators in the upper house will have parity with the country’s Supreme Court judges, earning R$26,723.13 (£10,063) a month.
- The bus pass is now 20 centavos (10 cents) more expensive in 22 May. 10 cents for each bus ride (some people take 2 different buses to get to work, so that would be at least 4 bus rides a day) for each person in São Paulo alone (with a population of 11.32 million), we know damn well what are they doing.
Where the protest begins
- First protest in Porto Alegre in March 2013, when protesters convinced the local city hall to reduce the fare price.
- In Goiania, 16 May also before the prices were officially changed, where two buses were incinerated and two buses were stoned, but leaving no victims on behalf of the protesters.
- There was another protest in Goiania, on 6 June, where the fares were brought back to their previous price by judge Fernando de Mello Xavier.
- An then finally, São Paulo.
- I say finally because the São Paulo protests were everywhere in the news.
- The city hall announced the raise of the tickets prices from R$3,00 to R$3,20, starting on 2 June. It’s one of the most expensive bus tickets in the country.
- Not just the bus tickets, but healthcare, economy and education are being left aside in order to steal from us and invest as much money as possible in the 2013 Confederations Cup and the 2014 World Cup.
- 13th June 2013: The day 5 thousand protesters occupied Avenida Paulista, one of the most important avenues in São Paulo. There was a worldwide repercussion to it.
- There was also a protest on 16 June in Brasília, our capital, right before a Brazil vs Japan football match. “They are building these overpriced stadiums and are not worrying about the situation of their own people.”
- There was a protest today on Maracanã, one of the stadiums where 2013 Confederations Cup is taking place, a match between Italy and Mexico. And yes, it was violent.
- In all of these cases, most of Brazil’s media websites (like Veja, one of the most important and influential Brazilian magazines) blamed the protesters, saying the police was violent because they were violent first, saying the protesters deserved what they got, calling them troublemakers (among other names)
- Even though “innocent people” (non-protesters) were injured by the police, like people passing by and reporters.
- I won’t link you pictures of the victims specifically, but you can see some here. TW violence TW blood TW bruises.
Examples of the police being violent with protestants (TW violence):
- A group of people are yelling “no violence” in portuguese, as the police shoots rubber bullets at them
- Same scene, from another point of view
Repercussion:
- Please Help Us Change Brazil: Why we are saying #changebrazil
- There are protests about this all over the world!
- Dublin, Ireland, scheduled for 1pm local time Sunday in sign of solidarity with Brazilian protesters, many of whom are university students.
- Dozens of demonstrations are also being organized in other cities, including Paris, Madrid, London, Berlin, Brussels, Boston, Chicago, New York, Toronto, Montreal, Mexico City and Buenos Aires. In general, the actions are scheduled for Tuesday.
So please, hear us out! Don’t let the media fool you about what is going on. Support us, we want to change Brazil! I will be updating this post with more information and news! Please reblog, watch this video and support us!