This is what the school-to-prison pipeline looks like. This is how black youth criminalized.
- She was doing a science experiment
- She’s being charged as an ADULT
- She’s being charged with a FELONY
If this all goes the way the prosecution wants, this young woman will be LEGALLY discriminated against for the rest of her life. No voting, housing discrimination, employment discrimination (as if getting a job while black isn’t hard enough), etc. etc.
There is a petition up … spread the word.
http://www.change.org/petitions/the-bartow-police-and-bartow-high-school-drop-charges-against-kiera-wilmot
Hey, remember this from yesterday? Go ahead and hit up the petition.
I’m just going to keep reblogging this. Followers, PLEASE sign the petition.
Everyone knew that the Supreme Court’s hearing last week on the Indian Child Welfare Act would be an emotional one. After all, the case, Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, involves the potential adoption of a Native infant by a white couple, and largely hinges on how the law defines a “parent.” But the hearing also revealed a troubling and deeply consequential fact: Americans remain dangerously uninformed about the basics of tribal sovereignty, and what it means for the relationship between the United States and Native tribes and nations.
It doesn’t help that the story behind the Baby Girl case is itself a complex one. In 2009, a Latina woman named Christy Maldonado gave birth to a baby girl whose father, Dusten Brown, is a tribally enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation. Although Maldonado and Brown had been engaged, the relationship soured before the girl’s birth. Brown had once wanted to marry Maldonado, but the two separated and lost touch. Brown wasn’t even told of the birth of his daughter. Maldonado then decided she didn’t want to raise the child, and attempted to put the baby up for adoption. Melanie and Matt Capobianco, a white couple in Charleston, S.C., assumed pre-adoptive care of the girl, whom they named Veronica.
Four months later, Brown was served with Maldonado’s intent to place Veronica up for adoption. Brown immediately went to court to stop the adoption—just before leaving for a one-year Army tour of duty in Iraq. South Carolina courts agreed that the Indian Child Welfare Act, or ICWA, protects Brown’s parental rights and granted him custody of Veronica. The U.S. Supreme Court is being asked to consider, among other things, whether a parent who doesn’t have custody can invoke rights under ICWA.
Congress signed off on ICWA in 1978—but only after four years of grueling legislative hearings and reviews. Natives and their allies fought long and hard to convince lawmakers to enact a policy to curb what were disturbingly high adoption rates of Native children to white parents.
At the time, about a third of Native children were fostered and adopted into white families; in states like Minnesota that have large Native populations, 90 percent of Native adopted children were raised in non-Native homes. These adoptions, which severed tribal community ties, fundamentally jeopardized Native nations’ ability to continue to exist. The passage of ICWA was a seminal victory in halting that trend.
The law makes clear a crucial distinction: State courts lack jurisdiction over the adoption of Native children. It recognizes instead that tribal governments hold that jurisdiction, and are best suited to decide Native children’s adoption, regardless of whether the child in question is born on or off reservation land. ICWA has been challenged unsuccessfully in the past 35 years, but a ruling that denies Brown’s parental rights in this case could signal the start of the historic law’s dismantling.
Yet as the high-stakes case has moved through the courts, putting ICWA in a rare media spotlight, people have struggled to discuss it accurately, because many still struggle with the idea at the law’s core. Americans tend to think about movements for equity and racial justice through a civil rights lens. But in order to fully appreciate ICWA’s breadth, a wider frame is required. We need to remember that Natives hold a unique relationship with the federal government, one that is based on tribal sovereignty, not solely on a set of rights.
What’s that mean? In short, Native tribes and nations are governments, which use their tribal sovereignty to guide their own self-determination. Among many other things, tribal sovereignty recognizes that tribal governments, like the Cherokee Nation, are fully capable of determining who holds citizenship in a given Native nation. The U.S. government recognizes nearly 600 tribes and nations—and each of those tribal governments set out the criteria by which they confer citizenship. Sovereignty and citizenship are not actually up for debate as the court considers baby Veronica’s fate, and yet they keep coming up.
News outlets ranging from CNN to local newspapers have so often repeated inaccuracies about the case, that the National Indian Child Welfare Association compiled a fact-check document to dispel troubling myths generated by the media. National Public Radio’s esteemed legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenburg opened her report on the case with two sentences that demonstrate a common ignorance of what it means to be a Cherokee Nation citizen. “Christy Maldonado’s ethnic background is Hispanic,” Totenburg began in her first sentence. “Dusten Brown considers himself Cherokee,” she said in her second, leaving room for doubt as to whether or not Brown is, in fact, Cherokee.
The irony, of course, is that there is no Hispanic nation to which Maldonado officially belongs, yet Brown is an enrolled citizen in the Cherokee Nation. It’s not about self-recognition in an ethnic group. It’s about citizenship that was bestowed by a tribal government—in this case, by the Cherokee Nation. If Brown were not a citizen of a tribal nation, ICWA wouldn’t apply to his case. Totenburg’s ambivalence about Brown’s citizenship doesn’t help her audience understand that Brown’s case pivots on his position as a Cherokee.
Some of the Supreme Court’s justices seemed to also be confused about Cherokee Nation citizenship. Justice Stephen Breyer, the high court’s pragmatist appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1994, questioned the basis under which the father is considered a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. “Because, look, I mean, as it appears [Brown] had three Cherokee ancestors at the time of George Washington’s father,” Breyer remarked.
The Cherokee Nation determines citizenship based not on racial ancestry, but on the Dawes Rolls—a set of documents created 120 years ago that are now used to establish enrollment. By those standards, there is absolutely no question that Brown is, indeed, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. Yet questioning his citizenship is a way of questioning Brown’s standing in the case—if he were not Cherokee, then his claim under ICWA would be void.
Breyer went on to attempt to make the case about rape, positing in part that “a [non-Native] woman who is a rape victim who has never seen the [Native] father could, would, in fact, be at risk under this statute that the child would be taken and given to the father who has never seen it and probably just got out of prison, all right?” It’s at best an unfortunate and insensitive hypothetical, but again, for clarity, this case is not about rape—it’s about whether Brown can retain custody of his daughter.
The most shocking arguments came towards the close of the hearing, when the Capobianco’s attorney asserted that the courts threatened to tell “adopted parents to go to the back of the bus […] basically relegating the child to a piece of property with a sign that says, ‘Indian, keep off. Do not disturb.’ ”
This argument reveals the true cultural, if not legal dispute at the heart of this case. ICWA was enacted in response to the unsustainable practice of handing off Native children to white parents, who assimilated them out of their Native heritage. The law rightfully placed Native children at the center of the debate, and as Veronica’s father, Dusten Brown has used it to make his custody claim. The plaintiff attorney’s argument attempts to subvert ICWA’s reasoning and, instead, re-center white adoptive couples as victims. The plaintiffs have attempted to put tribal sovereignty itself on trial.
It’s not surprising that Native news outlets like Indian Country Today have had superb coverage of the case, but it’s time for mass media to catch up with some basic understanding. Although it is called Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, the couple has never actually gone through with the adoption. While the white couple has been assigned a potentially misleading adjective, the Baby Girl has been stripped of her identity as a Cherokee citizen. A better name for the case, one that takes into account a minimal understanding of tribal sovereignty, might be White Couple v. Baby Girl (Cherokee). With any hope, the Supreme Court—which has a mixed history when it comes to these kinds of cases—will remember the history ICWA was written to correct.
(via aragingquiet)
LGBTQ* Check Yourself Post
There has been a ton of privilege and way too much (trans*, cis-*, geronto-, bi-*, pan-, *too many to name*)—PHOBIA around Tumblr since we went on hiatus.
Let’s start leading by example and remember that we cannot request equal support with a clear mind if we don’t show the same with an understanding heart.
“I have decided to stick to love…Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and SpeechesPhoto Source: University of Chicago, Queer and Associates
“Interesting” that the post quote MLK, but the card does not address the problem of queer-on-queer racism in a single square…
(via ashleyrealitymurphy)
I’m going to be forced to see the newest Trek film. Not by any particular person, but by my own sense of fatalism.
And to explain? I am a Trekkie. I have been since the age of eight or so, when a teacher recommended that I give it a shot. I watched TNG growing up, and I loved it. Loved it so much. I loved these people and these ideas and the things they tried to do.
My first crush was on Wesley Crusher. DON’T YOU JUDGE ME, I was the damn target audience for that boy!
I never quite got DS9. I didn’t get Enterprise, but I watched it. And I loved the beginning of Voyager. It’s still my favorite, before it became “Seven of Nine and her Backup Band!”
And I resent the new reboot movies.
I resent them because Star Trek, for me, was always about limitless possibilities. I resent them because instead of moving forward, it feels like the world is clinging to the familiar. I resent them because if they had been called anything other than Stark Trek, I’m sure I’d be a huge fan.
I resent them mostly because they feel like an excuse. An excuse to exclude long time fans. To exclude those who know the history. To exclude women, and POC and representation at large. Because they can just fall back on canon, and canon is a huge swath of white dudes.
And Uhura is awesome. Zoe Sandala’s portray of her is awesome! But she bears the weight of every single female voice, and that’s horrible. You have Kirk’s mother, Spock’s mother, and Uhura. Do non-fans even know what the names of the first two characters? Do they know Amanda? Do they know Winona?
TNG had a female counselor, a female doctor, a female security head. There were women at the helm and in engineering and in the sciences. Women in uniform and not. Women in skirts and pants and civilian clothes. There was a mix of people on that ship. I know, it’s a tv show, and not a movie. There was more room. There was way more room.
But you know what? I kind of feel that the Trek movies aren’t using the room they’ve got very well. And I feel like Abrams is just using canon as an excuse to do the things he wants to do and ignore the things he wants to ignore, and screw over the fans at the same time.
And the depression I feel when the commercial focuses in on an unfamiliar blonde woman in her underwear is just staggering. After Crusher and Troi, Pulaski and Nerys, Yarr and O’Brien, Geinan and Leeta, Dax and Dax, Janeway and Torres and Seven and Kes?
That the Trek world, for women, has once again, been shrunk down to Uhura, and a cheap shot of a woman in her underwear, strikes me as being so unbelievably depressing.
Yeah—I think the TV shows represented race (which I know you mention) at least a tiny bit better, too. There’s basically Uhura and Sulu and nobody else in the new movies. (The new one, of course, is even whitewashing a character who was played by an actor of color in TOS.) TNG was not a whole lot better (other than Worf, you basically just had recurring, not regular, characters in Guinan and Keiko O’Brien), but DS9 had a number of major characters of color.
I definitely agree that they could be using what space they have in the movies a lot better. There’s no way that either of the new movies passes the Bechdel test, and I doubt that they pass the race version (two named characters of color talking to each other about something other than a White character) either.
I will be seeing the new one, but I feel pretty damn resentful of the lack of women and POC, too.
"Black women wake up in the morning, look in the mirror, and see Black women. White women wake up in the morning, look in the mirror, and see women. White men wake up in the morning, look in the mirror, and see human beings."
— Michelle Haimoff, on privilege (via jatigi)
(Source: homoarigato, via aragingquiet)
"I understand the strong emotions by some people about our family’s decision to care for a pet. As a father, it is important to make sure my children develop a healthy relationship with animals. I want to ensure that my children establish a loving bond and treat all of God’s creatures with kindness and respect."
—
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback MICHAEL VICK, after adopting a dog back in October. He was recently spotted inside a pet store in New Jersey attending a training / obedience course for his dog.
Good guy.
(via the New York Daily News)
I understand people not liking Michael Vick to a certain degree but it’s incredibly off-putting when people are like, frothing-at-the-mouth passionately angry about him being allowed to play football again or, idk, be alive
Especially when it’s people who have never gotten remotely as mad over NFL players with histories of abusing women
(via dignified-and-old)
TRUTH
Like, what is the fucking point of the justice system if we’re not going to allow people to do their time and then come back and have lives again, might as well just shoot anybody who’s committed a crime if we’re going to be like that
Black man tangentially involved in the abuse of dogs does hard time and still gets shit for it, white man directly involved in multiple sexual assaults gets a slap on the wrist from the league and nobody cares
(Roethlisberger)
Honestly, it sounds like he is legitimately trying to ensure that his kids grow up respecting and caring for animals so that they would never treat animals cruelly—against all odds (considering how we structure and run our institutions), a case of real rehabilitation.
(via cristaanne)
"
In case you didn’t catch it in the original post let me reiterate.
Often in my life in situations where I’m told by usually Nice White Ladies that you’re just so angry, fuck yes I am angry.
It makes me angry when I feel like I am in danger because some White dude(s) catcalls or follows me and I tell them no and they call me a nigger bitch.
Maybe in your world when things like that happen, everyone is calm and polite. Maybe in your life a man who would do that, after you politely explain that it’s inappropriate says, “aw shucks I’m sorry ma’am.”
In my life that does not happen.
"— Wherein I talk to an anon who does not deal with anger well and is I guess trying to tell me that being angry never helps. BIG Tw y’all. Some of the stuff I talk about is no bueno. I actually took out a bit I feel is maybe too raw for right now. (via nudiemuse)
(via popelizbet)
"… is it revolutionary for white people to get mainstream recognition for talking about homophobia in hip hop, when queer hip hop artists of color are routinely ignored? The fact of the matter is, the success of “Same Love” is largely due at least in part to white audiences being more receptive to white straight men talking about oppression than oppressed people, as well as the comfort of being able to remove themselves from misogyny and homophobia because the oppression at hand is the fault of Black people in hip hop. What could be more revolutionary than that? How about listening to queer people of color?"
— Race + Hip-Hop + LGBT Equality: On Macklemore’s White Straight Privilege By Guest Contributor Hel Gebreamlak at Racialicious (via glitterlion)
(via popelizbet)
Let me begin by saying that I am a fan of your publication. It is smart, savvy, and hilarious and on the right side (IMO) of the American political divide. Satire as a comic form is difficult to nail, especially in print. It must masquerade the truth a few layers under the mockery of something…
(via native-detroiter)
"
I am the first African American editor in comics.
I’m sorry if this somehow displeases you. I’m sorry if it causes you to involuntarily groan in annoyance at my bringing it up. These are common reactions among industry pros when I mention this fact. If it’s not true, by all means, please prove me wrong: I’ll be happy to celebrate whomever was the first black guy in, but it is a reasonable and important distinction for many African American fans and pros. I’m sorry if it annoys you, but it has significance for many of us.
I am also, to my knowledge, the first African-American writer in comics, though people in this biz are quick to haggle and parse that claim. I’m not sure why none of the various self- congratulatory histories of comics ever mention this. Amid all the wonderful histories that have been written, noting the pioneers of the Golden and Silver and Modern Ages, trumpeting these firsts, I am not mentioned anywhere. And, whenever I mention it myself, it is, every time, excised from the published text. I haven’t figured out if the companies think I’m arrogant in making the claim, or if they’re embarrassed to have been in business nearly fifty years before allowing a black man a seat in their front office.
"— Christopher Priest (via youngbadmanbrown)
(Source: youngbadmangone, via angelsscream)
"African American adolescents tend to have more success in school if their parents instill in them a sense of racial pride, reducing their vulnerability to the effects of racial discrimination from teachers and peers."
—
Can Instilling Racial Pride In Black Teens Lead To Better Educational Outcomes? (via biyuti)
Imagine that: people do better when they feel good enough about themselves to counteract the bullshit that attacks them. Across the board.
(via zuky)
(via educationforliberation)
we all know sites of racial profiling for men, i need to know why we’re in the year 2013 and nobody has done any racial profiling type organizing around hospitals and birthing women.
Excellent fucking question.
I have a migraine or I would write more about the experience of reading my medical records from my labor & delivery, and how clearly my race & class privilege shone between the lines of nurses’ notes. But it was so blindingly obvious.
(Source: iinventedeverything, via searchingforknowledge)
Come ON people, I have seen posts about shopping get more attention than this petition. Please help get this message out there. Post on Facebook and other sites. This is a grave injustice.
A reminder of who Marissa Alexander is and why this is an urgent issue:
PARDON MARISSA ALEXANDER WHO WAS JAILED FOR 20 YEARS IN FLORIDA FOR TRYING TO PROTECT HERSELF AGAINST AN ABUSIVE EX-
Marissa Alexander was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Marissa is the victim here. Her husband beat her while she was pregnant. After yet another beating, Alexander fired a warning shot which traveled through a wall and into the ceiling. That shot saved her life. She didn’t kill anyone. Prosecutor Angela Corey did not take into account that Marissa Alexander had a court injunction against her crazed husband. She had given birth 9 Days earlier and was trained to use a weapon and earned a concealed weapons permit. Whilst the Stand Your Ground Law has been successfully used by other people in the State of Florida, that law didn’t apply to Marissa Alexander although she was a victim of Domestic Abuse.
I will be reblogging this all day every day until we have the signatures. If all of my followers alone signed this petition, there would only be 2k more needed!
(via iamthecrime)
