race and racism

Funds Needed Immediately: Help Save Lakota Sioux Sacred Land!

by Cara August 20, 2012

The Pe’ Sla area of the Black Hills in South Dakota is sacred to the Lakota people, the indigenous inhabitants of that land. As a result of colonization, a non-Native family now privately owns this area and is planning on auctioning it off to the highest bidder. The Lakota people need this land to perform [...]

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Arrested at Hospital for Demanding Medical Care, Woman Dies in Jail Cell

by Cara March 29, 2012

Trigger Warning for medical neglect and abuse, police abuse, and discussions of the child welfare system The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports: Anna Brown wasn’t leaving the emergency room quietly. She yelled from a wheelchair at St. Mary’s Health Center security personnel and Richmond Heights police officers that her legs hurt so badly she couldn’t stand. [...]

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Fund for Troy Davis’ Family

by Cara March 5, 2012

On September 21, 2011, Troy Davis was killed by the state of Georgia for the murder of a white police officer, despite incredible doubts about his guilt and many years of strong efforts to save his life. Hopefully you’re familiar with his story; I was writing about it years ago, and many others never stopped. [...]

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Book Review: The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

by Cara December 6, 2011

Few find it surprising that Jim Crow arose following the collapse of slavery. The development is described in history books as regrettable but predictable given the virulent racism that gripped the South and the political dynamics of the time. What is remarkable is that hardly anyone seems to imagine that similar political dynamics may have [...]

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New Congo Rape Statistics Inspire Competitive Headlines, Not Much Else

by Cara May 12, 2011

A new study about the ongoing rape epidemic in the Congo has some rather terrifying statistics to offer. According to USA Today, 420,000 women are raped in the DRC every year. Or, if you ask the Boston Globe, 1,152 women are raped every day. The Guardian reports that 48 women are raped every hour. And [...]

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Louisiana Law Forces Many Sex Workers to Register as Sex Offenders

by Cara March 22, 2011

Trigger Warning for descriptions of sexual violence and abuses against sex workers Last week, Jordan Flaherty wrote an article at Colorlines about how sex workers are being punished under an archaic and punitive law that specifically targets those who are convicted of selling oral or anal sex (as opposed to vaginal sex). The law makes [...]

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Arizona Bill Would Require Hospitals to Check Patient Immigration Status

by Cara February 15, 2011

Arizona legislators are working on a new anti-immigration bill that is essentially the hospital equivalent of their notorious SB 1070. The new bill, SB 1405, would require all hospitals within the state to verify the immigration status of all patients. If a patient cannot prove that sie is in the country legally, hospital staff would [...]

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Help Kelley Williams-Bolar, Mother Jailed For Sending Children to “Wrong” School

by Cara January 26, 2011

Yesterday, I wrote about the horrific case of Kelley Williams-Bolar (pictured left), a woman who has been jailed for ten days and slapped with a felony record — which will prevent her from obtaining her teacher’s license — for sending her children to a school district other than the one they lived in. My analysis [...]

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Mother Jailed For Sending Her Children to the “Wrong” School

by Cara January 25, 2011

Last week, a woman was sent to jail for ten days, placed on two years probation, and ordered to complete 80 hours of community service for a felony conviction. Her crime was fudging documents so that she could send her two daughters to the “wrong” school district, in the richer Akron, Ohio suburb where her [...]

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“This Is a Maid”: Which Rape Accusers Are Worth Listening To?

by Cara January 14, 2011

Trigger Warning for rape apologism, brief descriptions of sexual violence Former pro-baseball player Lenny Dykstra (left) was recently accused by a woman, his former housekeeper, of repeated sexual assault. According to the woman’s claim, Dykstra forced her to perform oral sex on him every Saturday. Earlier this week, prosecutors declined to file charges, apparently citing [...]

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