Support the Pelican Bay Prisoner Hunger Strike

Tomorrow, July 1st, prisoners in the Security Housing Unit (SHU – aka solitary confinement) will begin a hunger strike to demand an end to some of the cruel and inhumane living conditions that they are subjugated to. Most of the prisoners who coordinated the hunger strike are have been held in long-term and indefinite solitary confinement. I was privileged to represent California Coalition for Women Prisoners at one of the Solidarity Team meetings last month. Support from the outside is so crucial for the brothers and sisters inside.

The demands of the hunger strike are:

1. END “GROUP PUNISHMENT” where an individual prisoner breaks a rule and prison officials punish a whole group of prisoners of the same race.

2. ABOLISH “DEBRIEFING” and modify active/inactive gang status criteria. False and/or highly questionable “evidence” is used to accuse prisoners of being active/inactive members of prison gangs who are then sent to the SHU where they are subjected to long-term isolation and torturous conditions. One of the only ways these prisoners can get out the SHU is if they “debrief”—that is, give prison officials information on gang activity.

3. COMPLY with recommendations from a 2006 U.S. commission to “make segregation a last resort” and “end conditions of isolation.”

4. PROVIDE ADEQUATE FOOD. Prisoners report unsanitary conditions and small quantities of food. They want adequate food, wholesome nutritional meals including special diet meals and an end to the use of food as a way to punish prisoners in the SHU.

5.EXPAND AND PROVIDE CONSTRUCTIVE PROGRAMS and privileges for indefinite SHU inmates—including the opportunity to “engage in self-help treatment, education, religious and other productive activities…” which are routinely denied. DEMANDS INCLUDE one phone call per week, one photo per year, 2 packages a year, more visiting time, permission to have wall calendars, and sweat suits and watch caps (warm clothing is often denied even though cells and the exercise cage can be bitterly cold).

See http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com/ for more info

Women’s Prison Visit

I’ve been volunteering with California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP) for three months now, mainly as the legislative intern. I follow a bunch of bills that have to do with various pieces of the criminal justice system/prison industrial complex. I write letters of support for or opposition to these bills, and have lobbied with them in Sacramento. I’ve also responded to prisoner mail, gathered signatures for parole petitions, helped to plan an put on a film event, and spoke on the organization’s behalf at the Oakland Public Hearing on Gang Injunctions. Our work is multifaceted and on Friday, I had the privilege to participate in what is probably the most important work that CCWP engages in: prison visits.

At 6:30am five of us met at the MacArthur BART station and drove 2.5 hours down to Central California Women’s Facility (Wikipedia has some great history on CCWF including the organizing by people on the inside and out against poor medical treatment that was the beginning of CCWP.) Diana Block, famous revolutionary, was the most experienced volunteer having been with CCWP since its first days. She explained to the two of us who were on our first visit that we would each meet individually with someone for an hour and that we would see 4 or 5 people that day. We were supposed to talk with them, take notes on what issues are coming up for them (ie: health care, abuse, parole, education, domestic violence, legal support), and figure out what sort of CCWP might be able to offer. In describing the events of the day I will skip the description of the several annoying interactions we had with guards and instead focus on the incredible people I met.

During the first visit I shadowed Kelly, who has been on this visiting team for a year. We visited first with Karen Narita. I first heard of Karen a month or so ago when CCWP started collecting signatures on a petition for Karen’s parole. She has been approved by the board for parole, for a second time (Schwarzenegger turned her down the first time). As of Friday, California Governor Jerry Brown had 19 days to make a decision about Karen’s parole. We talked a lot about the anxiety she is experiencing as she waits to learn whether she will be released, or if she will spend another year, or more behind prison walls. She told us that they’ve been on lockdown seveal times in the past couple of weeks because of bomb threats that an inmate has been making… there are so many things I could say about how completely ridiculous this is, but I’ll save it for another time. We talked about her faith and her plans for when she gets out. As we hugged goodbye I thought about transferring calm to her, and luck, too.

My next visit was with Joy. Her beautiful smile immediately warmed my heart. She has been up for parole 23 times before and has managed to create a very positive attitude. She told me that “it just gets better with age” She shared several stories with me about her health, her conviction, and how important CCWP’s newsletter, The Fire Inside, has been for her during her time inside. Reading stories about other women’s experiences, women she knew from other prisons but hasn’t seen in years has been very healing for her. She says she feels like she’s not alone. I gained a new appreciation for CCWP’s work after my conversation with Joy.

Natalie is a CCWP member who submitted writing for CCWP’s recent event showing the documentary Juvies. Three of our high-school aged interns read her writing. I got to meet with her for my third visit of the day. She is one of the founding members of the Juvenile Offender Committee (JOC), a group of prisoners at CCWF who have come together to help each other with cases and fight for overturning their sentences of life without the possibility of parole (LWOP). Natalie got an LWOP sentence at age 16. Ten years later she believes that we have the power to change these harsh and ineffective policies and that she will one day leave prison. Such fire!

Meeting Terah was like greeting the sun. Beauty emanated from her core and radiated out and touched everyone in sight of her. It was so powerful for me to be in her presence. After talking with her for about 20 minutes I was overcome with the thought “WHAT ARE THEY DOING IN HERE?!?!?” How sad that we can think of no other solution to harm in our communities than to warehouse people. Terah talked to me about her life before prison, being in school, being gay and asked that I share part of my life with her, too. I left her knowing that I have a new penpal

My last visit of the day was with Cynthia. Cynthia tutors other inmates in college algebra. She likes to crochet and create handmade cards. She has been incredibly inspired by the work of hte JOC that Natalie started. She talked to me about her mom and how their relationship didn’t really begin until she was sent to prison. It sounds like she is really struggling with a bunch of complex emotions she has had since her mother’s death several years ago. She told me that sharing with a stranger like me who was connected to an organization she cares deeply about is often times much easier than sharing with people she’s doing time with.

After these visits I have a newfound understanding and respect for CCWP’s work. In addition to better understanding the importance of The Fire Inside to people who are locked up, I am so grateful for the work they do to coordinate visits with people inside. The direct support the organization is able to give to women and trans people is huge in and of itself, but through these visits CCWP is able to prioritize the voices and ideas of people who are most affected by the system and make those voices central to the work they do to END THE PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX.

County Jail Workshops Week 2

This week was my second visit with two groups of guys in county lock up. The first week we talked about the differences between individual and institutional racism. This week we went deeper into what institutional racism looks like, who it most directly impacts, and who is responsible for it.

After sharing with the new folks what we did last week and what they had been thinking about since we last met we dove into the main activity: pictures of a poor neighborhood. I asked them all to spend 5 minutes imagining and then silently drawing a poor neighborhood. In the second group someone immediately shared out that he didn’t have to imagine a poor neighborhood. He grew up in one. He knew exactly what it looked like. Many other people nodded in agreement.

Some of the guiding questions I asked as they drew included:

• What do the streets look like? What are the condition of the roads and sidewalks?
• What sort of businesses do you see in the neighborhood? What is available for people to buy and what is not available?
• Where do you see people in the neighborhood and what are they doing?
• Where do people live?
• What sort of transportation is there? How do people get around?

After they drew their own picture I had them share out what they see in poor neighborhoods while I drew whatever they said. Here are the collective drawings from both groups.

You can see there are several liquor stores, graffiti on buildings, people buying and selling drugs on the corner, vacant lots and boarded up buildings, police cars always on the street, undercover officers, corner groceries that sell little to no fresh produce, overcrowded schools, community centers, trash cans on fire, sex workers on the street, adult video stores, people experiencing homelessness, factories emitting pollutants, SRO (single room occupancy) hotels, and more. One of the white guys in the veterans group pointed out that we were drawing an urban poor neighborhood. He was from a small, mostly white, working-class town in Appalachia, which also had a lot of poverty, but looked different than what we were drawing. He had us add a river where people go to fish because they don’t have money to buy enough protein for the family. In our drawing of a poor, urban neighborhood people identified people of color and kids as the people who are most impacted by the neighborhood.

In regards to who is responsible for creating poor neighborhoods they listed local and federal government, housing authority, propaganda/media, community members, gangs and drug dealers, city planners, development corporations, gang injunctions and other policing policies, real estate companies, and the alcohol and beverage control. As the discussion went on people pointed out how a lot of times people in poor communities don’t have access to the decision-making process either because the poor-performing schools don’t teach the process, or because the communities have been so disenfranchised that either they don’t know about the process or they don’t feel like they have any power over it. One participant pointed out that many people in poor communities have so many obstacles in their everyday life that they don’t have time to get involved in local politics.

The big highlight of this week’s workshops was the extra session I was able to have the younger group. Because of schedules we did the drawing exercise with all 40-some people in the pod, which made it rather difficult for every person to engage. Luckily we got to reconvene a while later in the small group and share responses. Several of them had read the introduction to the New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander that I had copied for them and were really into it. We spent a lot of time venting frustration and hurt about the system: the gang injunctions, police in the neighborhood, dehumanizing treatment by guards. Cole shared that the gang injunctions don’t stop crime they “just make things sneakier”. Either gangs are finding other ways of doing business or they are doing business in a different neighborhood.

We then turned our focus on what to do about it all. I asked them to dream a little, to think about what real solutions to community issues would be. They brainstormed in four groups of three. Here’s the report back.

In case you can’t see the photo they said that the community needs:

• Education: safe youth centers, mentorship from adults in the family and from people who you can relate to, know your rights workshop, smaller class sizes (that was my favorite one)
• Build a Movement: leaders, youth, grassroots leadership, fundraising, read up on past movements and victories
• Rec. Centers: fully funded and more of them
• Community Meetings: build trust and understanding, build collective power, learn about proposed local legislation

I left both of these workshops feeling totally energized. Jails and prisons are places of isolation lacking light and love, and I certainly feel that when I’m there. Many of the guys have shared stories of guards on power-trips from taking away “privileges” like use of the microwave and shower time to beating the living daylights out of inmates. In my very limited time there guards have imposed rules unnecessarily, requiring me to remove staples from reading packets, when every other time Ida and her interns have passed things out staples were allowed. My first workshop was cut short by a guard in order to “do count”, when they have the authority to let programs continue. Despite these frustrating encounters and demoralizing stories I leave feeling quite rejuvenated. I think that speaks to the power and love of the people I’m getting to know and that this sort of work, adult education, ignites something in me. I am learning so much from my time with these guys about all these nuanced ways the system manifests and kills the community and the people in it. And I am incredibly appreciative that they have so quickly expressed their loving, tender selves and their passion to see and create a different world.  I’m really looking forward to next week’s workshop, to deepening these relationships, and learning from them.

Stop the Gang Injunctions Part 2

I am still feeling electrified by the phenomenal outpouring of people who came to Stop the Gang Injunctions in Oakland last night. Around 5:30pm people started showing up at Oakland City Hall. Hundreds of people came out. 224 of them signed up to speak up on the issue. And while there were people on both sides of the issue, the vast majority of people there last night were demanding an end to these policies that further target youth of color for imprisonment. I saw a grip of my fellow Bradenistas, dozens of organizers I’ve met in my 3.5 months here, and countless youth and families (more pics here). Many of us stayed until around 12:30am (that’s 7 HOURS we were there!) until the final vote. While the council did not defund the injunctions there were some real victories, which Critical Resistance lays out here!

It was a real honor to represent California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP) at the hearing. CCWP deeply believes that solutions to community violence don’t include policing and prisons. We believe that healthy, safe communities are built through education, affordable housing, jobs, and access to health care, especially mental health care!

More info on the gang injunctions:

• http://stoptheinjunction.wordpress.com/
• I first blogged on the gang injunctions on February 24th.
• WATCH THIS VIDEO!!!!! It is incredibly long That’s right we were there 7 hours. So here is a guide on how to find the parts you may want to watch most, including segments of some of my friends and some of the incredible organizers in the community

1:52 Gang Injunctions start getting explained by the City Attorney

2:02 Vice Mayor Desley Brooks begins asking serious questions

2:19:45 Speakers begin

2:58 Your’s truly makes an appearance (mom and dad, are you so proud?

3:20 A UU (with a Standing on the Side of Love t-shirt) speaks out against the gang injunctions

3:22 My friend, and Critical Resistance superstar, Ari speaks truth to power!!!!

3:28 Robbie, from Causa Justa::Just Cause (another org. I’ve been volunteering at) takes an institutional, long-term perspective on the issue.

3:34:45 Oscar Grant’s uncle speaks out about how the strategy of further policing gangs just creates more violence

3:40 Stop the Gang Injunctions Coalition (STIC) begins a presentation, with a powerpoint!

3:57 One of the young people listed on the Gang Injunctions “put[s] a human face on the gang injunctions” and breaks down how they are creating more problems, NOT solutions.

4:02 One of the main organizers

4:22 Michael, another young man listed on the gang injunction speaks about what it’s like to be a target of the police.

4:42:45 Rachel Herzing of Critical Resistance

4:53 Arthur, of All of Us or None tells us what democracy looks like

4:54:30 Council member Desley Brooks

5:00 Council member Nancy Nadel refuses to fund ineffective policies

5:20 Vice Mayor Desley Brooks lays it down for her fellow council members! Lays. It. Down.

5:30 Council member Rebecca Kaplan identifies some important victories, but then sadly doesn’t get the intersections of LGBT liberation and anti-racist practice. Thankfully, someone shouted out some knowledge, “Not all gay people are white!” Thank goodness someone brought it up.

Institutional Racism in a County Jail

Recently I was honored with an invitation to help facilitate workshops on Institutional Racism at a local jail in the Bay. My new friend, Ida, who I met through California Coalition for Women Prisoners and who works in the local jails, wanted a white person to come in to talk to some of the guys who are incarcerated there about the aspects of racism that are harder to see, but that we all experience. She thought it was important that the guys hear from a person who is privileged by systemic racism (via the neighborhoods I’ve lived in, the public schools I went to, the GI Bill my grandfather got through the war that veterans of color did not get, and much more).

Last week, I had my first meeting with a multi-racial group of men who are in a veteran’s pod at the jail. I was amazed during our first go around at how willing and eager they were to share their experiences and connect with the topic. When the conversation first started they all could easily bring up examples of personal racism they had experienced: racist family members, physical attacks on friends, verbal harassment, Klan acitivity, and more. No one initially gave examples of institutional racism. But as soon as I introduced the *Iceberg Framework* (see description below) they were immediately able to think of examples as this group of 12 really had all been in two of the biggest institutions in our country: the military and the prison industrial complex. One of the most salient examples for me was when they all collaboratively listed off the ways the military teaches racism by “othering” the enemy. For each war from WW2 until now they could list off the racist slurs that the military taught them and other troops to direct at the people they were fighting. I won’t repeat them here, but I was really struck at how easily this and other examples came to them and also felt really appreciative that they were willing to share and confront these lessons they had been taught.

Today, I met with a new group of younger guys at the same jail. It was again a multi-racial group and at the beginning a lot of them said that growing up in San Francisco they had not experienced a lot of racism. They seemed to see racism as a problem in the South, but not here in California. As the conversation continued though I heard them talk how students in the schools they went to were tracked into different programs often based on race. One guy shared about how his town was segregated heavily along racial lines and that most of the good schools and nice stores were in the white part of town. They also talked about how racial lines are drawn in prisons and jails. People of different races are discouraged from talking or associating with one another. This often comes in the form of intimidation and real violence by prisoners themselves, but isn’t discouraged in any real way by prison officials.

I’ve already learned a lot from both of these groups. It’s been a rich sharing of experiences and I feel so privileged to have this opportunity to get to know this dynamic and caring group of people. I will be continuing these workshops for the next 5 weeks, so more to come soon.

Iceberg Framework of Racism

* note: The Iceberg Framework of Racism draws on the notion that, like icebergs, the most dangerous part of racism is not the stuff that we can easily see but the stuff that is hidden under the surface. Personal/individual racism, in the form of individual hateful speech and even violent acts can be extremely damaging and even deadly. However, because we can see and hear it, it is much easier to address than institutional racism. Institutional racism is often harder for us to see because it is carried out through the laws and policies of institutions, which most of us have little access to understanding.

Here is a quote I used from Kwame Ture (aka Stokely Carmichael) to help explain the concept to folks in the workshop:

When an unknown racist bombs a church and kills four children, that is an act of individual racism, widely deplored by most segments of the society. But when in that same city of Birmingham, Alabama, not five but five hundred Negro babies die each year because of a lack of proper food, shelter, and medical facilities, and thousands more are destroyed physically, emotionally, and intellectually because of conditions of poverty and deprivation in the ghetto, that is a function of institutional racism. But the society either pretends it doesn’t know of this situation, or is incapable of doing anything about it. And this resistance to do anything meaningful about conditions in that ghetto comes from the fact that the ghetto itself is a product of a combination of forces and special interests in the white community.” (Ready For Revolution 532-533).

Against Violence in All Its Forms: Women’s Liberation and Abolishing the PIC

tabling at California Coalition for Women Prisoners

This past Saturday, San Francisco Women Against Rape organized the Walk Against Rape. Fellow Bradenista, Adrienne, and I tabled for California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP). I was so thrilled at how many young people were out to demand an end to sexual violence in our community. (More pics below.)

Our main duty at the event was to get support for 4 women who have been approved by the parole board for release. Most of the women have spent 20 years behind bars. Both Tammy Sue Walters and Cynthia Feagin were youth when they committed their crimes and have spent half their lives behind bars.  Marisol Garcia and Karen Narita are survivors of domestic violence and were convicted of crimes associated with their abusers. At the event we asked people to sign letters to the Governor to approve their release. You can sign the letters too by clicking on each woman’s name above. Other CCWP members recently attended a Domestic Violence Day at one women’s prison in California and talked about being startled by the incredible number of women incarcerated there who had experienced domestic violence. Women’s Liberation and the end of the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) are tightly connected. I feel so blessed to work with an organization that is working for both.

In a recent post I commented on people’s desire to talk a lot about the lack of women’s rights in Arab/Muslim countries without giving as much air time to the abuse of women and trans people right here at home. I’m sorry, do they think that 1 out of every 6 women experiencing rape in her lifetime is an acceptable statistic? And human trafficking? I learned this year that the SuperBowl is one of the biggest human trafficking events in the US. Domestic violence shelters and crisis lines around the country have been experiencing cuts for decades. Survivors of assault have limited resources and little opportunity to receive real justice. And no I don’t think real justice is imprisoning abusers, though of course there are some people who need to be isolated from the rest of society, and yes, I am a feminist. We desperately need people in the US to talk more about domestic violence and sexual assault and to get creative and smart about alternatives to dealing with it. The current system is not working.

So, what are the alternatives? How do you think we should handle sexual violence in our communities? What resources already exist and what resources, services, and systems do we need to create to respond when it happens? And for prevention? Please share your thoughts.

Latinas Unidas Against Rape

Clothesline Project

Clothesline Project

Clothesline Project

Clothesline Project

May Day Celebrations

CJJC goin fierce at the rally!

May Day in San Francisco was such a day of beauty. I am so indebted to Catalyst for creating such a rad network of people for me to plug into. I’ve been in the Bay less than 3 months, yet I saw so many lovely people I knew yesterday at the March and Rally. I saw lots of my fellow Bradenistas, a large crew from Causa Justa::Just Cause where I’ve been volunteering a few hours a week, and folks from a grip of other organizations all out to celebrate the rights of workers and all people around the globe (more pics below).

May Day/International Workers’ Day means a lot of different things to people. I’ve spent some time reflecting on what the significance of this holiday is to me. Besides being really

grateful for the 40-hour work week I have a few special reasons to be appreciative of all the people who fought for workers’ rights, some with their lives. Both have to do with the importance of unions.

Now, before I begin, let me say that unions have a lot of problems. I think we all know that. As a former member of a teacher’s union in New York City, I saw those problems play out in a number of ways, many of which directly hurt students. However, unions play such a critical role in protecting workers that I don’t believe the solution is to scrap them altogether. I’ve seen the reasons we need them.

Reason #1: In my third year of teaching, I worked for a principal who judgment was at best poor and at worst criminal. The entire administration created a culture of fear among teachers. It would take a volume of books to explain all the politics and egos that were at play here, but suffice it to say that they were playing games with teachers’ jobs and students’ well being in the name of test scores. There was, across the hall from me, a first year teacher who was doing her damnedest everyday, and from everything I saw was excellent. I was consistently impressed with the work they produced and the way she handled the intense workload. One day, out of the blue, she was fired. The reasons that are still unclear to me, and I think to her as well. See, first and second year teachers are not protected by tenure or unions and can pretty much be fired without cause. What an abomination for her 25 students. With only a couple months of school left they had to adjust to a whole n

ew teacher and mourn the loss of the one they had grown to love. She was not protected by unions but luckily many other teachers in the building who were also being intimidated and threatened by the administration were. These are all teachers that work their tails off, but are targets in a school that is mismanaged. And students are the real losers in the end.

Reason #2: My first year of teaching was the 2006-2007 school year at a school that can most simply be described as a s**tshow. I felt like I was on panic mode the entire 2 years that I worked there, which may explain why myself, and the other 9 first-year teachers didn’t notice the thousands of dollars that we weren’t getting paid. Our union representative though was great at checking in with us. We started a battle with our administrators towards the end of the year that looks like it is just about to come to an end, 4 years later. We have won a grievance for lost wages! YAY!! We haven’t seen the money yet, but it is promised to us. This would not have been possible without a union.

And so, on May Day, I celebrate the work of unions that has protected my fellow teachers from administrative corruption. I also dedicate myself to being part of conversations and actions that strive to mend the many problems that do exist. La lucha sigue!

The National Alliance for Filipino Concerns were killin it! Best chants of the march!

My fellow Bradenista, Madi, marching with the Chinese Progressive Association

Fellow Bradenistas repping the struggle to protect Glen Cove, an indigenous sacred site in the Bay Area that the local government is threatening to desecrate

Days of justice

Today is being called a day that, “we will all remember where we were when we heard the news”. Osama bin Laden is dead. I learned this news via social networking sites. Mere minutes after the news was put out by the press I saw a couple dozen posts by friends blasting the news. I also saw posts accompanied by words like “good riddance”, “Go USA!”, and other jubilant remarks. President Obama tonight ended his speech with the words, “Justice has been done.” How sadly small his ideas of justice are.

Let us not be tricked into thinking that Osama bin Laden’s death means justice for the 3,000 people killed in the 9/11 attacks, nor for the more than 19,000 Afghanis, 900,000 Iraqis, and 5,500 US troops killed in the war on terrorism. And what about justice for the more than 1.7 million people injured in the war? Is it justice for the people of the United States to have more the 2.5 million people killed or injured abroad so that we could kill one man? I do not feel like justice has been done here.

The days that I will remember where I was when I heard the news will not include today. They will include the day that we declare we will not drop one more bomb in Afghanistan or any other part of the world in the name of ending terrorism. And the day that we have built twice as many schools in Iraq and Afghanistan as we blew apart. It will include the day we spend just as much money on protecting the US people from the threat of foreign terrorism as we do on protection from the domestic terrorism of Wall Street, the prison industrial complex, and poorly preforming schools in low income communities and communities of color throughout the country.

I will remember the day we pay reparations to the people of the Pacific Islands for testing nuclear weapons on their land, to the indigenous people of North America for stealing their land (which is still happening) and killing their people (which is also still happening), and to the descendants of millions of Africans who were killed and enslaved in the United States. The legacies of these events live on. White people, I’m talking to you right now. These things have been done in our names and in the names of our ancestors for centuries, for our protection and profit. These are some of the reasons that people around the world are angry with the United States government and the people of the United States who are complicit with our government’s actions. These are some of the reasons that more than 3,000 of our fellow citizens died on September 11th, 2001.

I hope my words are not confused to mean that I think Al Qaeda was justified in it’s actions in 9/11. I do not believe death ever equates to justice. We have become confused as a people about the meaning of this word, for justice has been co-opted. I invite other people to leave their thoughts on what justice would look like for the people of the United States, Iraq, Afghanistan, and all others hurt by terrorism in all its forms, whether committed by AlQaeda or the state terrorism of the USA.

Love and Thanks to my Republican Dad

My dad and I are very different. For one, my dad calls himself aRepublican. I am decidedly not. I actually abhor nearly every bit of Republican policy and discourse. Nevertheless, my dad has had a profoundly positive impact on who I am today.

My dad the feminist. I would call my dad a feminist, though I’ve never heard him identify as such. Evidence: a) He is one of the few men I know (of any age) who has female musicians in heavy rotation in his music selection. Aretha Franklin, Bonnie Raitt, Tina Turner, and more. b) Despite divorcing when I was quite young I have never heard mydad say anything but positive things about my mom. He has always praised her for the great job she did raising me. c) Throughout my life I have heard my dad express deep admiration and appreciation for his mom, my grandma. I’ve heard him say countless times, “Grandpa always used to say that he wouldn’t have had a pot to piss in if it weren’t for Grandma”. She took care of the finances in the house during the 50s and 60s. Who can really calculate the impact on a young girl when she sees and hears her father appreciate the contributions of other women?

My dad the anti-racist. My dad stands up against racism when he sees it. My dad lives in a small, small rural white town in Indiana and frequents a small, yet wildly popular bar there. Not too long ago we went there for a drink and a friend of his at the bar was telling some story that took a turn for the… rather racist.My dad directly told him that wasn’t cool and clearly delivered the message that he didn’t want that kind of talk in his space. Another story I heard a couple of years ago is that when I was quite young, 6-8 years old probably, my dad confronted his, then, father in-law (my step-grandfather) about his use of the n-word. We were over at their house pretty regularly and my dad insisted that his father in-law not use racist language like that around me, even in my step-grandfather’s own house. Though we have different analyses of racism (mainly that I focus more on the systemic variety) I am so proud to have a father that fights back when he encounters it in his personal life. Go Dad!!

My dad the supportive parent. Perhaps the most incredible thing about my dad is the way he listens and supports me. One of the best, and unexpected consequences of my parent’s divorce was the countless car rides we had, especially after my mom and I moved to Illinois and then when I went to college. It takes about 5 minutes for us (maybe more me) to get to politics after discussing the weather and quick life updates. Though he doesn’t agree with me about the solutions to the world’s ills, he has ALWAYS listened to me. I can be screaming and scathing in the car about something he says and he will always listen to my viewpoint. He also never misses an opportunity to tell me that he is proud of me. I find it confusing to this day how he can be proud of the work I do when it is in stark contrast to the policies he supports. And while it is confusing I also feel very supported. Our conversations have helped me flesh out what I believe and develop my vision for the world. I can only hope that one day I am half as good a listener and supportive parent as he is.

Dad and my nephew, passing down the love to the next generation

In this weekend’s Anne Braden Session we had an opportunity to reflect on the possibilities of organizing and engaging white people from a variety of class backgrounds and political ideologies. My dad is a shining example of how people are much more than the political parties they ascribe to. Though I’ve been working at it for the better part of 28 years I believe he may come over to radical, liberatory politics one day. Thanks dad. Thank you for who you are. Thank you for who you have shaped me to be. I love you. Happy Birthday.

Bill Maher: One More Reason I Don’t Call Myself “Liberal”

I watched Real Time with Bill Maher for the first time tonight. It was the Feb. 18th episode. While I agreed with some points made about the causes of the budget crisis and the importance of unions, I was left at the end of the show with a feeling of… horror? Is that the right word? Perhaps something a little less intense than that, but not much.

One of the last topics of the night was about the Pro-democracy movements happening right now in the Arab countries. Not surprisingly, Bill Maher decided to put the light on the treatment of women in the Arab world, the backwards-ness of Arab/Muslim men. It really seems to be a favorite topic of many white liberals in the past decade. A disagreement started between Bill who stated that Arab men need to get their shit together when it comes to women’s rights and need to stop cutting off their heads (these are close to the actual things he said, unfortunately I don’t have a transcript or a way of watching it again, stupid HBO). I was so glad that he had a guest who suggested that we Americans not act like we have it all figured out. Patriarchy and violence against women are alive and well in the United States of America, as well. Bill Maher insisted though that U.S. is doing way better on those fronts than Arab countries.

From what he said, I can only assume that Bill Maher is uneducated about these issues in the United States. Statistics from Middle Way House, a domestic violence shelter/crisis line/educational and prevention program provider that I used to volunteer at, tell a much different story.

• A woman is beaten every 15 seconds in this country. One million of them report to hospital emergency rooms. Over 1,000 die every year from the beatings or stabbings, or gun shot wounds.
• A woman is raped every 41 seconds in this country. It is estimated that two in four women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetimes; one in four will be raped.

I’ve been learning a lot from my new volunteer placement at California Coalition for Women Prisoners, like

• 71% of women in California prisons report experiencing continual physical abuse by guards or other prisoners.

I’ve also learned about some crazy laws that continue to punish and imprison battered women who fight back to protect themselves and their children, violence against trans men and women in and outside the Prison Industrial Complex, and women and children who are trafficked in this country.  I wonder if Bill Maher knew these statistics, if he would still argue that getting decapitated by your spouse is really worse than getting stabbed or shot to death by them. I’m certainly not going to make that argument.

After watching this show, I really understand better what I’ve heard folks saying for  quite some time now about white liberalism being far more dangerous than right wing extremists. The violence and injustice against women isn’t less present in the US, it’s just less visible, and a lot of that comes from white liberals pointing the finger at Arab men and stoking the flames of Islamaphobia, instead of taking responsibility for knowing, and doing something, about injustice here at home.

On a brighter note, Happy 100th International Women’s Day everybody! Celebrate by watching this beautiful, brilliant piece on today’s Democracy Now!: “Women’s Rights are Workers’ Rights:” Kavita Ramdas on History of International Women’s Day and Challenges Women Face 100 Years Later.